Haunted Places Around The World
Haunted Highgate Cemetery
Like many of England's most famous places, Highgate Cemetery in Highgate, London is perhaps one of the most actively haunted cemeteries in the UK. Opened in 1839, Highgate serves as the final resting place of a long list of famous people including Douglas Adams, Karl Marx and Radclyffe Hall. Highgate Cemetery boasts ghost sightings, vampires, aliens and botanical splendor. During the pinnacle of its popularity, Highgate Cemetery was a place where the rich and aspiring rich tried to outdo each other, thus rendering the gravestones and carvings more and more gaudy as the years passed. This haunted graveyard finally succumbed to near-ruin, with no gardening or repair being done. In the 1980s, a group began, in an effort to bring back the graveyard's former glory.
Reports of the ghosts of Rossetti and Dickens top the list for spectral sightings. The cemetery houses over 50, 000 dead, 168,000 engravings and nearly 900 famous people residing within the walls of this architecturally fascinating graveyard. There is the Egyptian Avenue, a famous path connecting both halves of the property, with numerous ghost glimpses along its famous route. The Circle of Lebanon house urns and vaults complete with catacombs. The ghosts walk this path, too.
Haunted Highgate Cemetery includes stories of vampires from medieval Wallachia. Some claim to have found dead animals drained of blood, while others blame negative occult practices.
Witnesses report both a man in a top hat and a bicycle rider. Stories from the early 1900s show a remarkable rise in the number of ghosts sighted and the unseen touches, winds and sounds emanating from the mausoleums and arches. A 1930s story told of a man walking through the cemetery to get home, who was confronted by an imp-like creature. The story spread and became a part of the lexicon of ghost tales about Highgate. Victorian London perpetuated and exaggerated much of the gossip and story telling that focused on haunted Highgate Cemetery. The Victorians loved a good other worldly scare and soon reports of haunted headstones, ghosts walking among the few living visitors and evil demons abound. Highgate Cemetery reflects a time in London's history when elegance and image were everything. The cemetery's flora and fauna show a distinct Victorian flavour and the structures borrowed ancient architecture and design from the middle east and gothic influence. Visitors to Highgate often report icy touches on the cheeks, whispers, cries and hushed talking. Visible specters visit less frequently since the Friends of Highgate group began the cleanup and restoration. But you'll find that in London, ghosts never really leave for any significant length of time. Highgate Cemetery, one of the most haunted places in one of the most haunted cities in the world.
Reports of the ghosts of Rossetti and Dickens top the list for spectral sightings. The cemetery houses over 50, 000 dead, 168,000 engravings and nearly 900 famous people residing within the walls of this architecturally fascinating graveyard. There is the Egyptian Avenue, a famous path connecting both halves of the property, with numerous ghost glimpses along its famous route. The Circle of Lebanon house urns and vaults complete with catacombs. The ghosts walk this path, too.
Haunted Highgate Cemetery includes stories of vampires from medieval Wallachia. Some claim to have found dead animals drained of blood, while others blame negative occult practices.
Witnesses report both a man in a top hat and a bicycle rider. Stories from the early 1900s show a remarkable rise in the number of ghosts sighted and the unseen touches, winds and sounds emanating from the mausoleums and arches. A 1930s story told of a man walking through the cemetery to get home, who was confronted by an imp-like creature. The story spread and became a part of the lexicon of ghost tales about Highgate. Victorian London perpetuated and exaggerated much of the gossip and story telling that focused on haunted Highgate Cemetery. The Victorians loved a good other worldly scare and soon reports of haunted headstones, ghosts walking among the few living visitors and evil demons abound. Highgate Cemetery reflects a time in London's history when elegance and image were everything. The cemetery's flora and fauna show a distinct Victorian flavour and the structures borrowed ancient architecture and design from the middle east and gothic influence. Visitors to Highgate often report icy touches on the cheeks, whispers, cries and hushed talking. Visible specters visit less frequently since the Friends of Highgate group began the cleanup and restoration. But you'll find that in London, ghosts never really leave for any significant length of time. Highgate Cemetery, one of the most haunted places in one of the most haunted cities in the world.
Haunted New Orleans
Ghost Stories Louisiana New Orleans is often referred to as the most haunted city in the whole of the United States. With an old history, mixing a number of cultures, traditions and customs, Nola has seen it all. Built on a swamp, New Orleans holds a strong position on the Mississippi River and the location meant a rapid growth of import and trading. Although most of the wealthy tended to build their mansions outside the city and away from the swamp, the legend and lore of the area encompass both the city and surrounding land. Many of the older plantations carry their own history with ghost stories arising from slave tales and Indian burial grounds. Mix in African practices and voodoo rituals and the legends become more sinister and frightening.
Because of her trading and travelers, New Orleans had more than a few cutthroats, thieves, cheats and criminals. In a climate of dense heat, humidity, insects and questionable land conditions, the city survived in spite of the more horrific elements that grew out of the international flavor. The beauty of the balls and society functions, the markets and shops... combined with tales and ghost stories of unspeakable fright. Haunted stories like the Myrtles plantation ghost and spirits haunted the LaLaurie House abound in New Orleans. Haunted cemeteries and tombs, bars and downtown buildings have a story to tell.
Because of her trading and travelers, New Orleans had more than a few cutthroats, thieves, cheats and criminals. In a climate of dense heat, humidity, insects and questionable land conditions, the city survived in spite of the more horrific elements that grew out of the international flavor. The beauty of the balls and society functions, the markets and shops... combined with tales and ghost stories of unspeakable fright. Haunted stories like the Myrtles plantation ghost and spirits haunted the LaLaurie House abound in New Orleans. Haunted cemeteries and tombs, bars and downtown buildings have a story to tell.
The Dumas Brothel In Butte, Montana
The Dumas was designed and built as a brothel in 1890 and remained active as a brothel until 1982, making it America's longest running house of prostitution. It was one of the first two story brick structures built in Butte's famous Red Light District along Mercury Street. And ironically, the Dumas is the last survivor of an area where vice thrived and women worked hard, lived hard and sometimes died hard.
One of the Ghosts -
"On Feb 8th 1955 Madame Elenore Knott of the Dumas Brothel had made a decision to change her life.She had decided to run away with her lover and start a new life.Her lover was a married Butte business man. Elenore waited patiently with suitcase in hand but her lover never showed. In the morning Elenore was found in room 19 of the Dumas Brothel, dead of an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol."
The house was built in 1890 in a Victorian Brothel style and is the last example of that type of architecture known to exist in the United States. Its three-stories feature skylights, several large parlor rooms, and the basement holds several “cribs”, smaller rooms with just enough space for a bed. The rear entrance of the hotel was in a small brick-lined alley off Wyoming Street known as Venus Alley, where many more "cribs" were located. Underground tunnels lead to various Butte buildings, allowing certain well-to-do patrons some privacy while conducting their “business”.
The prostitution business at The Dumas Brothel was officially shuttered in 1982 for income tax violations, when the last Madame, Ms. Ruby Garrett, could no longer afford to pay income taxes.
One of the Ghosts -
"On Feb 8th 1955 Madame Elenore Knott of the Dumas Brothel had made a decision to change her life.She had decided to run away with her lover and start a new life.Her lover was a married Butte business man. Elenore waited patiently with suitcase in hand but her lover never showed. In the morning Elenore was found in room 19 of the Dumas Brothel, dead of an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol."
The house was built in 1890 in a Victorian Brothel style and is the last example of that type of architecture known to exist in the United States. Its three-stories feature skylights, several large parlor rooms, and the basement holds several “cribs”, smaller rooms with just enough space for a bed. The rear entrance of the hotel was in a small brick-lined alley off Wyoming Street known as Venus Alley, where many more "cribs" were located. Underground tunnels lead to various Butte buildings, allowing certain well-to-do patrons some privacy while conducting their “business”.
The prostitution business at The Dumas Brothel was officially shuttered in 1982 for income tax violations, when the last Madame, Ms. Ruby Garrett, could no longer afford to pay income taxes.
Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse
Located at the southern end of Gasparilla Island you'll find the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse. Right next to the lighthouse sits its twin, a building that served as the lighthouse keeper's assistant's home. Originally built in 1890, these two buildings were nearly lost to the sea. By 1970, the shoreline had been eroded by hundreds of feet and the sea was beginning to reach the lighthouse foundation. Local concern grew and the government took steps ensure the lighthouse would be around for future generations.
When phosphate was discovered several miles upriver from the lighthouse's future location in the early 1880's, the phosphate was shipped down the river on barges to Port Boca Grande and then loaded onto ocean-going vessels. Due to the increased business of the port,
Congress appriated $35,000 for the construction of a lighthouse at the southern tip of Gasparilla Island in 1888, and the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was born.
Lighthouse keepers and their families lived and worked in the lighthouse from 1890 until 1951. The Boca Grande lighthouse served as a home for the lighthouse keeper and his family, and the twin building next to it served as home to the assistant lighthouse keeper. The keeper would take care of the light until midnight, and then his assistant would tend to the light for the rest of the night.
The Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is thought to have two ghosts. During the lighthouse's history, the young daughter of one of the keepers died in the dwelling, most likely of diphtheria or whooping cough. Tour guides say that she can be heard playing in one of the rooms of the building's upper floor. A former park ranger who led tours of the lighthouse, often pointed to a doorway on the second floor and told visitors that it was one of the little girl's favorite places to play. the former ranger also said that at midnight, the little girl can be heard upstairs playing.
The second ghost is said to be the headless specter of a Spanish princess named Josefa. Legend says that a Spanish pirate, Jose Gaspar (aka Gasparilla), buried his treasure in the sand close to where the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was to be built some ninety years later. Apparently, Gaspar fell in love with this Spanish princess he had kidnapped. She wasn't interested and when she rejected his love, he drew his sword in a fit of rage and cut off her head. Shamed by what he had done to Josefa, Gasparilla gathered up her lifeless body and buried her in the sand on the island. Unfortunately for her, his love for her was so great that he didn't want to leave her and legend says he carried his beloved's head with him for the rest of his days. Reports say that her headless spirit has been seen wandering the beach on Gasparilla Island, presumably looking for her head.
The U.S. Coast Guard automated the light in 1956. Ten years later, in 1966, the Coast Guard removed the light from the building, which was deteriorating due to neglect and beach erosion. In 1972 Lee County took over ownership of the lighthouse and surrounding 13 acres, and began a long process to save the building. Funds were raised by the Gasparilla Island Conservation Association, and the lighthouse was restored.
The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and in 1986 the lighthouse was relit and returned to service as a working Coast Guard light. In 1988 the lighthouse and surrounding land was transferred from Lee County to the State of Florida and became Gasparilla Island State Park.
The Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is open to the public. Although it's fenced off, you can get a great view of the lighthouse from the nearby park and beach. The assistant keeper's house is now used as a house for the park ranger.
When phosphate was discovered several miles upriver from the lighthouse's future location in the early 1880's, the phosphate was shipped down the river on barges to Port Boca Grande and then loaded onto ocean-going vessels. Due to the increased business of the port,
Congress appriated $35,000 for the construction of a lighthouse at the southern tip of Gasparilla Island in 1888, and the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was born.
Lighthouse keepers and their families lived and worked in the lighthouse from 1890 until 1951. The Boca Grande lighthouse served as a home for the lighthouse keeper and his family, and the twin building next to it served as home to the assistant lighthouse keeper. The keeper would take care of the light until midnight, and then his assistant would tend to the light for the rest of the night.
The Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is thought to have two ghosts. During the lighthouse's history, the young daughter of one of the keepers died in the dwelling, most likely of diphtheria or whooping cough. Tour guides say that she can be heard playing in one of the rooms of the building's upper floor. A former park ranger who led tours of the lighthouse, often pointed to a doorway on the second floor and told visitors that it was one of the little girl's favorite places to play. the former ranger also said that at midnight, the little girl can be heard upstairs playing.
The second ghost is said to be the headless specter of a Spanish princess named Josefa. Legend says that a Spanish pirate, Jose Gaspar (aka Gasparilla), buried his treasure in the sand close to where the Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse was to be built some ninety years later. Apparently, Gaspar fell in love with this Spanish princess he had kidnapped. She wasn't interested and when she rejected his love, he drew his sword in a fit of rage and cut off her head. Shamed by what he had done to Josefa, Gasparilla gathered up her lifeless body and buried her in the sand on the island. Unfortunately for her, his love for her was so great that he didn't want to leave her and legend says he carried his beloved's head with him for the rest of his days. Reports say that her headless spirit has been seen wandering the beach on Gasparilla Island, presumably looking for her head.
The U.S. Coast Guard automated the light in 1956. Ten years later, in 1966, the Coast Guard removed the light from the building, which was deteriorating due to neglect and beach erosion. In 1972 Lee County took over ownership of the lighthouse and surrounding 13 acres, and began a long process to save the building. Funds were raised by the Gasparilla Island Conservation Association, and the lighthouse was restored.
The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and in 1986 the lighthouse was relit and returned to service as a working Coast Guard light. In 1988 the lighthouse and surrounding land was transferred from Lee County to the State of Florida and became Gasparilla Island State Park.
The Old Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is open to the public. Although it's fenced off, you can get a great view of the lighthouse from the nearby park and beach. The assistant keeper's house is now used as a house for the park ranger.
St. Augustine
The exploration of old inns, especially those with a history of haunting, has always fascinated me. I made the three-hour drive from Tampa to St. Augustine on a chilly morning in January. Visiting the “oldest” city in America was something I had wanted to do for some time but life kept getting in the way. As soon as I exited the highway I knew this was a special town, after all, it isn’t everyday that one gets to visit the oldest permanent European settlement in North America.
Immediately upon entering historic St. Augustine, I came upon the visitor’s center. I stopped in to
stretch my legs and pick up a map. The center was teeming with travelers eager to absorb information and begin their exploration. Once I had my map in hand, I plotted the places I wanted to visit. I knew I wouldn’t be able to see everything during my short stay, but I wanted to see as much as possible. I planned on visiting the Castillo de San Marcos, Flagler College, the St. Augustine Lighthouse, San Sebastian Winery and at night I was going to take a ghost tour. But first I wanted to check out my accommodations. For the next three nights, I would be calling the Casablanca Inn home. This thoughtfully restored 1914 Mediterranean revival bed and breakfast overlooks Matanzas Bay. The inn has been completely updated to the highest standards with great attention to period detail coupled with luxurious and modern appointments. I stayed in the Coach House, which is located directly behind the main house and has a private entrance. It overlooks the brick-paved historic Charlotte Street and is an easy stroll to all areas of the historic district. Complimentary parking in a public lot a block away meant that I could explore the 440-year-old city without the worry of driving. St. Augustine boasts 27 Bed & Breakfast inns, many of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I couldn’t think of a better place to encounter a ghost. St. Augustine embodies traditional Southern hospitality and charm, but also revels in a tumultuous and sometimes eerie past. It was plundered by pirates in 1668, and was a battleground during the Seminole War of 1836. This town has weathered hurricanes, fires and a devastating outbreak of yellow fever. The early settlers had incredible religious faith and perseverance. These elements combine to make a fitting backdrop for ghost tales and unexplained phenomenon. During my stay, I had the chance to visit a few of these remarkable inns. The inns I visited were all members of the Inns of Elegance, an elite group of romantic bed & breakfast inns located in the historic district of St. Augustine. If you've always wanted to spend some quality time with ghosts, then you may want to spend the night at one of the following bed & breakfast inns with a history of ghostly tales. Innkeepers aren't timid about telling ghost stories, but they also will assure you that your stay will be a pleasant one. Whether you're a skeptic or believer, these inns offer some unique charm, with or without ghost sightings. The Lady with the Lantern is the legend at the Casablanca Inn. The Inn's haunted heritage began to take shape during the early twentieth century at the height of prohibition. Much of the illegal rum secretly brought into the United States from Cuba entered along the St. Augustine waterfront. The Casablanca Inn, then a boarding house known as the Matanzas Hotel, became the setting for much bootlegging activity. The story centers on the innkeeper, a young woman who provided protection for the smugglers from federal agents in return for a fee. She would stand watch on the balcony, swinging a lantern back and forth to warn the smugglers when federal agents were in town. When the agents were gone, the smugglers set up shop in her boarding house and sold liquor to the guests and locals who were familiar with the operation. She eventually fell in love with one of the smugglers. The story continues that she waved off her lover one night. He avoided the agents, but stayed in the coming waves of a hurricane. He was lost at sea and she was heartbroken. The widow has long been dead, but other hotel guests and fishermen passing through the inlet say they often see the swinging lantern atop the Casablanca Inn. Now owned by Nancy Cloud and Michael Miles, the Casablanca Inn is still in business today as a popular Bed-and-Breakfast and Martini Bar. At the Casa de la Paz, you might witness a young woman carrying a small suitcase wearing a long, narrow skirt, a traveling jacket and a wide-brimmed hat. Her name was Mabel, she and her husband had stayed at the home many years ago on their honeymoon as a guest of the owners. On their last day in St. Augustine, the young husband decided to take a boat out for a day of fishing. Mabel stayed behind to pack and wait for his return.
Out of the clear blue skies, a terrible storm came up that day, capsizing his boat. He never returned to his new wife. She was so upset that she stayed in St. Augustine and grieved herself to death. Her spirit has never left the house; she is still waiting for her husband to return. She is often seen at the top of the stairs, with her bag packed, ready to depart. It is said that you will know she's near when you feel that odd feeling that someone is behind you or feel a cold air pocket on the stairs.
The St. Francis Inn has the proud distinction of being the oldest continuously operating inn in America. The home was built in 1791 by Sergeant Gaspar Garcia, who was given the land by the King of Spain with instructions to build a home with defense measures in mind. The European settlers not only worried about being raided by the natives, but fluctuating relations with the British brought commotion to the area as well. After changing hands a couple of times, the home was purchased by Colonel Thomas Henry Dummett of Britain’s Royal Marines in 1838. After Colonel Dummett's death, his daughter Anna converted the family home into an inn and took in the first paying guests in 1845. The home has operated as an inn ever since. According to Innkeepers Joe and Margaret Finnegan, ghost-friendly activities abound at the St. Francis Inn. The ghost legend is a love story. The story is set during the middle part of the 1800’s when a military officer and his family purchased the home. The officer’s nephew, who lived with the family, fell in love with Lily, one of the servants. Unfortunately during those class-conscious times, it was forbidden for the couple to be together, so they would sneak into rooms of the inn to carry on their secret love affair. When the uncle walked in on the lovers, he dismissed the servant and prohibited them from seeing each other. Forlorn, the nephew hung himself in the attic where they used to meet. Guests have reported seeing an apparition who walks the halls, sometimes carrying sheets or towels. Makeup is sometimes missing from makeup cases and found strewn on the floor. Guests are awakened in the night to lights and water being turned on and off. The Casa de Solana, the second oldest inn in St. Augustine, is also a ghostly haunt. While visiting the Casa de Solana, investigators from The Ghost Hunters University stated that the inn had “the most paranormal activity” they’ve sighted in St. Augustine. For years a mysterious blonde woman dressed in white has been sighted in the doorways of the inn. This ghost is a gentle and kind spirit. Folks speculate that this lady in white could be Mary Mitchel, the English bride of Spaniard Don Manuel Lorenzo Solana. When Spain traded Florida to Great Britain in exchange for Havana, Solana was one of only eight Spanish gentlemen allowed to remain in St. Augustine during the 20-year English occupation. A gentleman of immense wealth, influence and prestige, Solana built the home as his city residence. Mary occupied the Montejurra room, which is one of the most haunted areas of the home. Also in the Montejurra room there is a ghost named Victoria. Her strong connection with the room is understandable as she was born there and eventually died there as well. The spirits at Casa de Solana aren’t confined to the rooms inside the inn. There is a Spanish soldier who circles the courtyard and entry way. His real name is Fredrico but goes by Frederick. In the 1800’s, he used to guard the entrance to the home. One day while protecting the home, he was chasing Indians away and was killed with an arrow in the back. Known as the protector of the inn, he continues to watch over the inn and even the people in it. Former New York lawyer Robert Graubard owns the Bayfront Westcott House and the Bayfront Marin House, two of St. Augustine’s luxury inns located on the Matanzas Bay. There is a rich history here that makes your stay a wonderful walk in the past, however, where there’s history, there’s usually a ghost. The Bayfront Marin House has at least one ghost – most certainly the most dominant one. He is believed to be the spirit of Francisco Marin, after whom the inn is named. The innkeepers say Francisco seems to be a light-hearted soul, quite the partier and prankster. Their favorite story of Francisco happened last year when a guest in one of the first floor rooms came down in the morning to complain of the experience he had the night before. He said that around 2:00 a.m., the room above his was partying so loud that he finally went up the stairs and knocked loudly on the door. He said that no one came to the door, but that the noise stopped completely and he went back to his first floor room satisfied that he had gotten his message across. Thirty minutes later, the noise had risen back to its original decibel level and the guest was starting to get annoyed. He went back up to the room above his and knocked loudly and yelled that the revelers were disturbing him and his wife and that he would need to call the police if they didn’t knock it off. Again, the party guests failed to answer the door, but again it became immediately silent behind the door. The guest returned to his room and slept soundly with no further disturbance.
When the innkeepers informed him that there were no other guests in any of the rooms above his, he insisted that he see the party room because there must have been a mess left behind. The innkeepers opened the door to a spotless room left exactly as the housekeepers had left it the day before. The guest turned a few shades of pale when he realized that, indeed, no living person had been in that room the night before. Then he brightened and got very animated, thinking of all the ways he was going to describe this experience to his friends and family.
The innkeepers went on to say “Francisco doesn’t show up very often, but when he does, it is always in the spirit of fun. This last week we had trouble with one of the telephone lines in the inn. An expert with thirty four years experience in the telephone business came to trouble shoot. When he tapped into the line, which was completely dead from some problem at the street, there was a catchy tune playing that only came into his receiver. We asked him if in his vast experience in St. Augustine phone business, if he often encountered such ghost activity. His answer was…”more than you can imagine.” Evenings are when the ghosts of St. Augustine come out, and there is a wonderful array of ways to see them. After touring the Inns of Elegance, I capped the night off with the Old Town Trolley’s Ghosts and Gravestones Fright-seeing Tour. Aboard the trolley of the doomed, guests are taken to some of the city’s most haunted places, including the Spanish Military Hospital, the Old Drug Store and the Old Prison. The talented guides, many of which are actors from Flagler College, bring the area’s haunted history and ghost stories to life. Besides the trolley, there is also a walking tour, a tour by hearse, Ripley’s ghost train and even a haunted pub tour. I strolled down the dimly lit streets of the historic district as I made my way back to the Casablanca Inn. My trip was quickly drawing to an end, and since I gotten so caught up in the ghost stories and history of St. Augustine, I hadn’t seen half of what I had planned on seeing. A return trip to St. Augustine would definitely be in my future. And in case you were wondering, no ghosts visited me during my stay.
Immediately upon entering historic St. Augustine, I came upon the visitor’s center. I stopped in to
stretch my legs and pick up a map. The center was teeming with travelers eager to absorb information and begin their exploration. Once I had my map in hand, I plotted the places I wanted to visit. I knew I wouldn’t be able to see everything during my short stay, but I wanted to see as much as possible. I planned on visiting the Castillo de San Marcos, Flagler College, the St. Augustine Lighthouse, San Sebastian Winery and at night I was going to take a ghost tour. But first I wanted to check out my accommodations. For the next three nights, I would be calling the Casablanca Inn home. This thoughtfully restored 1914 Mediterranean revival bed and breakfast overlooks Matanzas Bay. The inn has been completely updated to the highest standards with great attention to period detail coupled with luxurious and modern appointments. I stayed in the Coach House, which is located directly behind the main house and has a private entrance. It overlooks the brick-paved historic Charlotte Street and is an easy stroll to all areas of the historic district. Complimentary parking in a public lot a block away meant that I could explore the 440-year-old city without the worry of driving. St. Augustine boasts 27 Bed & Breakfast inns, many of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I couldn’t think of a better place to encounter a ghost. St. Augustine embodies traditional Southern hospitality and charm, but also revels in a tumultuous and sometimes eerie past. It was plundered by pirates in 1668, and was a battleground during the Seminole War of 1836. This town has weathered hurricanes, fires and a devastating outbreak of yellow fever. The early settlers had incredible religious faith and perseverance. These elements combine to make a fitting backdrop for ghost tales and unexplained phenomenon. During my stay, I had the chance to visit a few of these remarkable inns. The inns I visited were all members of the Inns of Elegance, an elite group of romantic bed & breakfast inns located in the historic district of St. Augustine. If you've always wanted to spend some quality time with ghosts, then you may want to spend the night at one of the following bed & breakfast inns with a history of ghostly tales. Innkeepers aren't timid about telling ghost stories, but they also will assure you that your stay will be a pleasant one. Whether you're a skeptic or believer, these inns offer some unique charm, with or without ghost sightings. The Lady with the Lantern is the legend at the Casablanca Inn. The Inn's haunted heritage began to take shape during the early twentieth century at the height of prohibition. Much of the illegal rum secretly brought into the United States from Cuba entered along the St. Augustine waterfront. The Casablanca Inn, then a boarding house known as the Matanzas Hotel, became the setting for much bootlegging activity. The story centers on the innkeeper, a young woman who provided protection for the smugglers from federal agents in return for a fee. She would stand watch on the balcony, swinging a lantern back and forth to warn the smugglers when federal agents were in town. When the agents were gone, the smugglers set up shop in her boarding house and sold liquor to the guests and locals who were familiar with the operation. She eventually fell in love with one of the smugglers. The story continues that she waved off her lover one night. He avoided the agents, but stayed in the coming waves of a hurricane. He was lost at sea and she was heartbroken. The widow has long been dead, but other hotel guests and fishermen passing through the inlet say they often see the swinging lantern atop the Casablanca Inn. Now owned by Nancy Cloud and Michael Miles, the Casablanca Inn is still in business today as a popular Bed-and-Breakfast and Martini Bar. At the Casa de la Paz, you might witness a young woman carrying a small suitcase wearing a long, narrow skirt, a traveling jacket and a wide-brimmed hat. Her name was Mabel, she and her husband had stayed at the home many years ago on their honeymoon as a guest of the owners. On their last day in St. Augustine, the young husband decided to take a boat out for a day of fishing. Mabel stayed behind to pack and wait for his return.
Out of the clear blue skies, a terrible storm came up that day, capsizing his boat. He never returned to his new wife. She was so upset that she stayed in St. Augustine and grieved herself to death. Her spirit has never left the house; she is still waiting for her husband to return. She is often seen at the top of the stairs, with her bag packed, ready to depart. It is said that you will know she's near when you feel that odd feeling that someone is behind you or feel a cold air pocket on the stairs.
The St. Francis Inn has the proud distinction of being the oldest continuously operating inn in America. The home was built in 1791 by Sergeant Gaspar Garcia, who was given the land by the King of Spain with instructions to build a home with defense measures in mind. The European settlers not only worried about being raided by the natives, but fluctuating relations with the British brought commotion to the area as well. After changing hands a couple of times, the home was purchased by Colonel Thomas Henry Dummett of Britain’s Royal Marines in 1838. After Colonel Dummett's death, his daughter Anna converted the family home into an inn and took in the first paying guests in 1845. The home has operated as an inn ever since. According to Innkeepers Joe and Margaret Finnegan, ghost-friendly activities abound at the St. Francis Inn. The ghost legend is a love story. The story is set during the middle part of the 1800’s when a military officer and his family purchased the home. The officer’s nephew, who lived with the family, fell in love with Lily, one of the servants. Unfortunately during those class-conscious times, it was forbidden for the couple to be together, so they would sneak into rooms of the inn to carry on their secret love affair. When the uncle walked in on the lovers, he dismissed the servant and prohibited them from seeing each other. Forlorn, the nephew hung himself in the attic where they used to meet. Guests have reported seeing an apparition who walks the halls, sometimes carrying sheets or towels. Makeup is sometimes missing from makeup cases and found strewn on the floor. Guests are awakened in the night to lights and water being turned on and off. The Casa de Solana, the second oldest inn in St. Augustine, is also a ghostly haunt. While visiting the Casa de Solana, investigators from The Ghost Hunters University stated that the inn had “the most paranormal activity” they’ve sighted in St. Augustine. For years a mysterious blonde woman dressed in white has been sighted in the doorways of the inn. This ghost is a gentle and kind spirit. Folks speculate that this lady in white could be Mary Mitchel, the English bride of Spaniard Don Manuel Lorenzo Solana. When Spain traded Florida to Great Britain in exchange for Havana, Solana was one of only eight Spanish gentlemen allowed to remain in St. Augustine during the 20-year English occupation. A gentleman of immense wealth, influence and prestige, Solana built the home as his city residence. Mary occupied the Montejurra room, which is one of the most haunted areas of the home. Also in the Montejurra room there is a ghost named Victoria. Her strong connection with the room is understandable as she was born there and eventually died there as well. The spirits at Casa de Solana aren’t confined to the rooms inside the inn. There is a Spanish soldier who circles the courtyard and entry way. His real name is Fredrico but goes by Frederick. In the 1800’s, he used to guard the entrance to the home. One day while protecting the home, he was chasing Indians away and was killed with an arrow in the back. Known as the protector of the inn, he continues to watch over the inn and even the people in it. Former New York lawyer Robert Graubard owns the Bayfront Westcott House and the Bayfront Marin House, two of St. Augustine’s luxury inns located on the Matanzas Bay. There is a rich history here that makes your stay a wonderful walk in the past, however, where there’s history, there’s usually a ghost. The Bayfront Marin House has at least one ghost – most certainly the most dominant one. He is believed to be the spirit of Francisco Marin, after whom the inn is named. The innkeepers say Francisco seems to be a light-hearted soul, quite the partier and prankster. Their favorite story of Francisco happened last year when a guest in one of the first floor rooms came down in the morning to complain of the experience he had the night before. He said that around 2:00 a.m., the room above his was partying so loud that he finally went up the stairs and knocked loudly on the door. He said that no one came to the door, but that the noise stopped completely and he went back to his first floor room satisfied that he had gotten his message across. Thirty minutes later, the noise had risen back to its original decibel level and the guest was starting to get annoyed. He went back up to the room above his and knocked loudly and yelled that the revelers were disturbing him and his wife and that he would need to call the police if they didn’t knock it off. Again, the party guests failed to answer the door, but again it became immediately silent behind the door. The guest returned to his room and slept soundly with no further disturbance.
When the innkeepers informed him that there were no other guests in any of the rooms above his, he insisted that he see the party room because there must have been a mess left behind. The innkeepers opened the door to a spotless room left exactly as the housekeepers had left it the day before. The guest turned a few shades of pale when he realized that, indeed, no living person had been in that room the night before. Then he brightened and got very animated, thinking of all the ways he was going to describe this experience to his friends and family.
The innkeepers went on to say “Francisco doesn’t show up very often, but when he does, it is always in the spirit of fun. This last week we had trouble with one of the telephone lines in the inn. An expert with thirty four years experience in the telephone business came to trouble shoot. When he tapped into the line, which was completely dead from some problem at the street, there was a catchy tune playing that only came into his receiver. We asked him if in his vast experience in St. Augustine phone business, if he often encountered such ghost activity. His answer was…”more than you can imagine.” Evenings are when the ghosts of St. Augustine come out, and there is a wonderful array of ways to see them. After touring the Inns of Elegance, I capped the night off with the Old Town Trolley’s Ghosts and Gravestones Fright-seeing Tour. Aboard the trolley of the doomed, guests are taken to some of the city’s most haunted places, including the Spanish Military Hospital, the Old Drug Store and the Old Prison. The talented guides, many of which are actors from Flagler College, bring the area’s haunted history and ghost stories to life. Besides the trolley, there is also a walking tour, a tour by hearse, Ripley’s ghost train and even a haunted pub tour. I strolled down the dimly lit streets of the historic district as I made my way back to the Casablanca Inn. My trip was quickly drawing to an end, and since I gotten so caught up in the ghost stories and history of St. Augustine, I hadn’t seen half of what I had planned on seeing. A return trip to St. Augustine would definitely be in my future. And in case you were wondering, no ghosts visited me during my stay.
Bosworth Hall
It is said that "Bosworth Hall", which is to be found at Market Bosworth, in Leicestershire, England, is haunted. That in itself does not warrant an article. There are a plethora of haunted homes the world over. What warrants attention, and indeed mention, is the tragic and baleful story attributed to this imposing edifice, whether it be true or merely the invention of a macabre-minded fabulist and mythomaniac. Bosworth Hall's origins hark back to the last years of the 17th century, 1680 to be precise, and was the ancestral home of the "Dixie" family.
In 1758, Bosworth Hall was then the property of a certain Sir Wolston Dixie. He was, it would seem a cruel and arrogant fellow. Apparently, his daughter, Ann, was in love with the gardener's son, and when Sir Wolston became aware of the relationship, and the identity of Ann's amour, he is said to have been horrified, and livid with rage. He contrived a ghastly solution, which could only be the result of a demented mind. Sir Wolston duly set vicious mantraps in the grounds of Bosworth Hall, hoping to ensnare Ann's unsuspecting suitor, but as is often the case, events went horribly wrong. It was not the gardener's son who stumbled upon the mantraps but Ann Dixie herself. She had apparently arranged to meet her lover in his place of abode. This poor girl, as it can be well be imagined, must have suffered a most gruesome fate, and although she managed, with almost superhuman strength, to free herself from the devilish device and drag her pain-racked and torn body to her room, she succumbed, having lost too much blood.
Well if this story is, as suggested, true, and Ann's ghostly apparition still stalks Bosworth Hall in search of her one-and-only, then it can only be hoped that one day poor Ann will find the peace and solace she so rightly deserves; perhaps, once more to be reunited with her true-love. And, of the nefarious and savage Sir Wolston Dixie? Well, to hell with him!
In 1758, Bosworth Hall was then the property of a certain Sir Wolston Dixie. He was, it would seem a cruel and arrogant fellow. Apparently, his daughter, Ann, was in love with the gardener's son, and when Sir Wolston became aware of the relationship, and the identity of Ann's amour, he is said to have been horrified, and livid with rage. He contrived a ghastly solution, which could only be the result of a demented mind. Sir Wolston duly set vicious mantraps in the grounds of Bosworth Hall, hoping to ensnare Ann's unsuspecting suitor, but as is often the case, events went horribly wrong. It was not the gardener's son who stumbled upon the mantraps but Ann Dixie herself. She had apparently arranged to meet her lover in his place of abode. This poor girl, as it can be well be imagined, must have suffered a most gruesome fate, and although she managed, with almost superhuman strength, to free herself from the devilish device and drag her pain-racked and torn body to her room, she succumbed, having lost too much blood.
Well if this story is, as suggested, true, and Ann's ghostly apparition still stalks Bosworth Hall in search of her one-and-only, then it can only be hoped that one day poor Ann will find the peace and solace she so rightly deserves; perhaps, once more to be reunited with her true-love. And, of the nefarious and savage Sir Wolston Dixie? Well, to hell with him!
Old Sheep's Inn
The old inn, situated on the outskirts of London, proved to be a very eerie place to investigate for ghosts, if our research proved true.
The inn has always been a public house since it was first built in the late 18th century. The cellar is split into many rooms, and was used as a holding cell for prisoners being brought to the courthouses in London.
Katherine decided that we should carry out our ghost investigation in this old inn when she found out that a lot of the prisoners held in the cellars never left alive. The current owners of the inn told Katherine about some of the ghost activity that kept them awake at night.
Glasses have being thrown off tables, tables and chairs have been moved in the night, and strange ghostly figures have been seen, but the thing that interested our ghost team the most, were the ghostly screams coming from down in the cellar. The staff at the inn refuse to go down there alone, often don't go down there at all in the evenings.
We turned up at the old inn and began our paranormal investigation into the workings of the building. We placed a glass in the middle of table in the bar area ,and sprinkled flour around it. When we would return later on in the evening, the glass may have been moved. We also placed some motion detectors in the hallway between the bar and the cellar area, to catch a ghost that may move through beams.
We brought Annabel in to give us her initial opinions of the building. Walking into the bar area first Annabel told us of the ghost energy of the past 300 years that still resided in the building. She told us of people and noises, the smell of ale and talking and laughing.
Annabel found it very hard to concentrate on any one given thing, as she was beginning to tell us so before she stopped. Annabel asked to leave for a few minutes for some fresh air. This is something we had never come across before on our ghost hunts, and were quite shocked by this.
After a ten minute break Annabel came back in and told us that while she had been talking about the ghost energies still in the building, when a spirit had whispered in her ear proclaiming that "Those that will be judged will be done so here."
Then she saw a strange ghostly image of a man being tied up to a pole in the basement, and whipped to death. So shocking was this image, that Annabel had to take five minutes out just to clear her head again.
The ghost image was now returning again. The voice she heard had come from one of the patrons at the inn. She picked up on the name 'Robert'. The criminals were brought here to be held overnight, and many soldiers paid Robert to kill the prisoners during the night. This way, the soldiers could return home earlier than expected, and they would still be paid. Robert was very skilled in his killing of these men.
The inn has always been a public house since it was first built in the late 18th century. The cellar is split into many rooms, and was used as a holding cell for prisoners being brought to the courthouses in London.
Katherine decided that we should carry out our ghost investigation in this old inn when she found out that a lot of the prisoners held in the cellars never left alive. The current owners of the inn told Katherine about some of the ghost activity that kept them awake at night.
Glasses have being thrown off tables, tables and chairs have been moved in the night, and strange ghostly figures have been seen, but the thing that interested our ghost team the most, were the ghostly screams coming from down in the cellar. The staff at the inn refuse to go down there alone, often don't go down there at all in the evenings.
We turned up at the old inn and began our paranormal investigation into the workings of the building. We placed a glass in the middle of table in the bar area ,and sprinkled flour around it. When we would return later on in the evening, the glass may have been moved. We also placed some motion detectors in the hallway between the bar and the cellar area, to catch a ghost that may move through beams.
We brought Annabel in to give us her initial opinions of the building. Walking into the bar area first Annabel told us of the ghost energy of the past 300 years that still resided in the building. She told us of people and noises, the smell of ale and talking and laughing.
Annabel found it very hard to concentrate on any one given thing, as she was beginning to tell us so before she stopped. Annabel asked to leave for a few minutes for some fresh air. This is something we had never come across before on our ghost hunts, and were quite shocked by this.
After a ten minute break Annabel came back in and told us that while she had been talking about the ghost energies still in the building, when a spirit had whispered in her ear proclaiming that "Those that will be judged will be done so here."
Then she saw a strange ghostly image of a man being tied up to a pole in the basement, and whipped to death. So shocking was this image, that Annabel had to take five minutes out just to clear her head again.
The ghost image was now returning again. The voice she heard had come from one of the patrons at the inn. She picked up on the name 'Robert'. The criminals were brought here to be held overnight, and many soldiers paid Robert to kill the prisoners during the night. This way, the soldiers could return home earlier than expected, and they would still be paid. Robert was very skilled in his killing of these men.
The Georgetown Castle
The Georgetown "Castle" is located in an old industrial, red light district of Seattle, WA. A large 3 story, turn of the century, Victorian style home, was reportedly built in 1903 by Peter Gessner, who was a gambler and blackjack dealer at the famous Central Tavern in Seattle's Pioneer Square District. More...Having trouble with the local authorities for running "questionable" gambling and prostitution activities, he decided to move his operations farther out of town, to avoid too much unwanted attention, turning the home into an infamous brothel and gambling parlor. He died a gruesome death one year later, committing suicide in the house by drinking carbolic acid.
The home was then purchased around 1912 by Dr. Willis H. Corson who was a former superintendent and head coroner of the King
County Hospital, located close by. This hospital and it's grounds, which at the time surrounded the house, served as the county poor house and tent city for tuberculoses patients, as well as a crematorium that was used to burn the bodies.
The house has a long history of paranormal activity and unexplained accounts. Numerous violent and supernatural events surround the home. A prostitute was reportedly murdered with a shotgun by her john "Manny" on the second floor. There are reports of a ghostly apparition of a woman in black, with burning coal for eyes grasping at her throat, waking tenants from their sleep on the top floor. She is believed to be the ghost of a previous resident, a "Spanish woman," who possibly killed her newborn babies and buried them under the stairs surrounding the home. Countless reports of strange sights, sounds, mysterious voices and hidden rooms make this definitely one of Seattle's most haunted places.
This was to be my first paranormal investigation and my findings convinced me that the world of the paranormal was indeed real. There is definitely something strange about this house...
We received the call around 11PM that the house was available for an investigation, so we quickly grabbed our equipment. Some friends of friends were moving out of the property so this might be our last chance to view the place before the new owners renovated it. Having never been on an actual investigation, we quickly grabbed what little equipment we had. A camcorder, a digital camera, a couple flashlights, our TriField EMF Meter and a digital minidisk recorder with an external stereo mic. Having not being ready for the call, we scrambled to find as many flashlight batteries we could grab and took about 20 minutes to charge up the cameras. Boy Scout motto..."always be prepared..."
Having heard stories about the infamous Georgetown Castle, yet never actually seeing it, I was surprise to find that it was nothing close to a castle. Just a large 3 story Victorian that sat just off the street in a somewhat run down residential neighborhood of south Seattle The view of the house was skewed by trees and unkempt vegetation. The only thing you could see from the street was the large dark tower looming from out of the trees. In a poor state of disrepair, the house was covered with nearly a century's worth of peeling and cracked pink paint and loose siding. Beyond a short, rusty, chain link fence, the front porch leaned slightly to one side. Our first gut impressions were that this place is totally haunted.
We met the current residents on the porch. They had "prepared" the house for us, by turning out all the lights and lighting some candles. Excellent.... The first half hour was spent having a smoke, readying our equipment and getting the short rundown on the history of the house.
Including the residents, there were seven people total. Everyone was outside talking and the house felt calm, but even though we were all outside, I had the sense that there were still people (possibly other residents) walking around inside. Not that you could hear them or see them, but just sensed a presence. Not a paranormal presence, just that maybe there were other people there, maybe in the back of the house, packing or making dinner, just normal activities. I asked if there were anyone else inside, but there were none. Ok... weird... I didn't voice this feeling at first. Just took a mental note.
We decided the first thing to do was take an EMF reading from inside the front entranceway. Entering the dark hallway you could see a large wooden stairway leading up and turning to the right into the darkness. I immediately had the sensation of being watched from beyond the stairs. Not sure if this is just normal paranoia and instinct when faced with the unknown darkness, but I think it's important on an investigation to open up your mind to first impression. We set up the meter, turned up the alarm volume and stepped back outside to wait. The meter screeched and squawked right away. Not sure if it was picking up us or if we had set it up wrong, but it definitely was picking up something. I quickly snapped a few pictures and walked in alone. Again the sense that there were other people in there, just doing normal things. Because of this feeling, I felt comfortable walking around the first floor in the darkness, through the hall, through the living room, then to the back where the kitchen was. There was nobody there.
I quickly snapped a photo of the living room and the dining room. In the photo of the dining room featured on our website (see below) there appears to be something near the floor. Some sort of moving orb thing or reflection or raindrop on the lens. I'm torn on the subject of orbs, so you decide.
As the others looked around inside, my colleague Matt and I took a minute to walk back outside and around the house. Following the porch around to the left, the side of the house had a long rickety stairway leading to the second floor. Was this the stairs where the woman buried the babies? Not sure. Around the back of the house, there was a large yard and a tall bare wall of the back of the house that went all the way to the third floor. I looked up at the top floor and snapped another picture. It was starting to rain, so in the picture there appears to be an orb near the window, but it was probably a raindrop. A dirty cellar door led down to the basement, but the stairway leading down was so covered with spider webs, we decided not to go down there. I hate spiders... At this point I had the sensation again of being watched from the windows of the upper floors. The back yard was creepy, but just a normal dark back yard sort of creepy. The upstairs of the house had an entirely different sort of feeling. "That's where I need to go", I thought, even though part of me wanted nothing more to do with it.
The house had definitely seen many remodels. The walls were decorated in some rooms with multiple layers of thick paint, some rooms in old newspaper, some rooms had strange boarded up walls that appeared to at one time maybe be connected to others, or perhaps to conceal hidden rooms. The second and third floors were large in volume, yet the rooms and hallways offered little access to so much space. There was a lot of space behind the walls in many places, so I'm pretty convinced that it held a secret passage or two. Having been a gambling den and brothel during the Prohibition Era, I'm sure there was some questionable remodeling going on to conceal some questionable items.
On the second floor there is a large red room that used to be the stage. A ticket booth with a coat check was located at the room's entrance. The second we all walked in, the door of a desk on the other side of the room flew open. Not sure if it was because of the vibrations of everyone walking in on the old floor all at once, or what... but still the timing was interesting. Snapped another picture.
Around the back of the second floor, there was another stairway leading up and a heavy door that lead to a blue colored room. This room is supposedly where a prostitute named Magdalena was murdered. The door to this room, unlike other doors in the house would not stay open. If you held it open, it would almost pull out of your hands and slam shut. I'll admit it was a heavy door, but the sensation was more than just the gravitational pull of itself. It was almost like it was being pulled shut. We stood in the room for some time and listened to one of the residents dictate the story of the murder. When I played back the audio of this, an interesting thing can be heard. As she says "a prostitute was murdered in this room with a shotgun..." you could hear what sounds like a voice on tape shouting "NO!" after the word room. While corroborating this with everyone who was in the house later, everyone denied saying it. Could this be my first EVP?
The other's went back outside for another smoke, so I used the opportunity to get some clear audio. I started to approach the stairway alone and up beyond the stairs somewhere I could hear the sound of someone stumbling around. It sounded like someone who was wearing shoes that don't fit right or maybe too large and awkward. A woman in high heels or boots perhaps? I thought maybe one of the residents had gone up there to change clothes or something. A perfectly natural sound so I at first ignored it. Unfortunately the audio was off at this point. Deciding not to take on the upstairs on my own, I asked Matt to come along. At the top of the stairs, there was a smaller hallway with 2 or 3 small closet like rooms, then leading into a very large room they call the gambling room. Next to it was a small bar and surrounding it were openings to the other parts of the house. No doors, just larger open areas.
Now, take note that we were both wearing heavy boots with rubber soles. On the audio, our footsteps, when we walk are dull heavy thumps. When playing back the audio later, I heard another interesting thing. As I approached the gambling room, I say "Third floor, gambling room" and right after that, you can hear what appears to be 5 or 6 quick footsteps in the same room walking away from us. Light clicking footsteps that sound like high heels. At the time we were both standing still right next to each other in the same room. The others were, at this point, back downstairs on the front porch. There were no other people in the house, no other people on the third floor accept us, and something else walking around in the same room!
It retrospect, I wish I had heard the footsteps while standing there, not just on the playback, or I would have spent more quiet time on the third floor. Again, the ambience in the place seemed so natural, it was difficult get a sense of something out of the ordinary. I think the fact that there were so many people there made it difficult to concentrate and the fact that the residents were in the process of moving out that night, we had limited time to spend investigating, or I am sure we would have come up with more evidence. I am sure that if I spent a night alone in the house, things would have made themselves known. Even with the place full of people, you can sense activity there.
As far as a quick run through on our first investigation, I felt satisfied with our findings and observations. Because of the time, we made no attempt to make contact with any spirits there directly, however I would love to return some day and do a further investigation, perhaps with more video cameras and equipment, as well as some psychic minded people to attempt contact. Following our visit, the house was sold and completely renovated. I'm glad to see such a beautiful old landmark preserved instead of torn down, however I am totally jealous of the owners because it must have been a real thrill tearing out those walls and discovering what secrets they concealed.
The home was then purchased around 1912 by Dr. Willis H. Corson who was a former superintendent and head coroner of the King
County Hospital, located close by. This hospital and it's grounds, which at the time surrounded the house, served as the county poor house and tent city for tuberculoses patients, as well as a crematorium that was used to burn the bodies.
The house has a long history of paranormal activity and unexplained accounts. Numerous violent and supernatural events surround the home. A prostitute was reportedly murdered with a shotgun by her john "Manny" on the second floor. There are reports of a ghostly apparition of a woman in black, with burning coal for eyes grasping at her throat, waking tenants from their sleep on the top floor. She is believed to be the ghost of a previous resident, a "Spanish woman," who possibly killed her newborn babies and buried them under the stairs surrounding the home. Countless reports of strange sights, sounds, mysterious voices and hidden rooms make this definitely one of Seattle's most haunted places.
This was to be my first paranormal investigation and my findings convinced me that the world of the paranormal was indeed real. There is definitely something strange about this house...
We received the call around 11PM that the house was available for an investigation, so we quickly grabbed our equipment. Some friends of friends were moving out of the property so this might be our last chance to view the place before the new owners renovated it. Having never been on an actual investigation, we quickly grabbed what little equipment we had. A camcorder, a digital camera, a couple flashlights, our TriField EMF Meter and a digital minidisk recorder with an external stereo mic. Having not being ready for the call, we scrambled to find as many flashlight batteries we could grab and took about 20 minutes to charge up the cameras. Boy Scout motto..."always be prepared..."
Having heard stories about the infamous Georgetown Castle, yet never actually seeing it, I was surprise to find that it was nothing close to a castle. Just a large 3 story Victorian that sat just off the street in a somewhat run down residential neighborhood of south Seattle The view of the house was skewed by trees and unkempt vegetation. The only thing you could see from the street was the large dark tower looming from out of the trees. In a poor state of disrepair, the house was covered with nearly a century's worth of peeling and cracked pink paint and loose siding. Beyond a short, rusty, chain link fence, the front porch leaned slightly to one side. Our first gut impressions were that this place is totally haunted.
We met the current residents on the porch. They had "prepared" the house for us, by turning out all the lights and lighting some candles. Excellent.... The first half hour was spent having a smoke, readying our equipment and getting the short rundown on the history of the house.
Including the residents, there were seven people total. Everyone was outside talking and the house felt calm, but even though we were all outside, I had the sense that there were still people (possibly other residents) walking around inside. Not that you could hear them or see them, but just sensed a presence. Not a paranormal presence, just that maybe there were other people there, maybe in the back of the house, packing or making dinner, just normal activities. I asked if there were anyone else inside, but there were none. Ok... weird... I didn't voice this feeling at first. Just took a mental note.
We decided the first thing to do was take an EMF reading from inside the front entranceway. Entering the dark hallway you could see a large wooden stairway leading up and turning to the right into the darkness. I immediately had the sensation of being watched from beyond the stairs. Not sure if this is just normal paranoia and instinct when faced with the unknown darkness, but I think it's important on an investigation to open up your mind to first impression. We set up the meter, turned up the alarm volume and stepped back outside to wait. The meter screeched and squawked right away. Not sure if it was picking up us or if we had set it up wrong, but it definitely was picking up something. I quickly snapped a few pictures and walked in alone. Again the sense that there were other people in there, just doing normal things. Because of this feeling, I felt comfortable walking around the first floor in the darkness, through the hall, through the living room, then to the back where the kitchen was. There was nobody there.
I quickly snapped a photo of the living room and the dining room. In the photo of the dining room featured on our website (see below) there appears to be something near the floor. Some sort of moving orb thing or reflection or raindrop on the lens. I'm torn on the subject of orbs, so you decide.
As the others looked around inside, my colleague Matt and I took a minute to walk back outside and around the house. Following the porch around to the left, the side of the house had a long rickety stairway leading to the second floor. Was this the stairs where the woman buried the babies? Not sure. Around the back of the house, there was a large yard and a tall bare wall of the back of the house that went all the way to the third floor. I looked up at the top floor and snapped another picture. It was starting to rain, so in the picture there appears to be an orb near the window, but it was probably a raindrop. A dirty cellar door led down to the basement, but the stairway leading down was so covered with spider webs, we decided not to go down there. I hate spiders... At this point I had the sensation again of being watched from the windows of the upper floors. The back yard was creepy, but just a normal dark back yard sort of creepy. The upstairs of the house had an entirely different sort of feeling. "That's where I need to go", I thought, even though part of me wanted nothing more to do with it.
The house had definitely seen many remodels. The walls were decorated in some rooms with multiple layers of thick paint, some rooms in old newspaper, some rooms had strange boarded up walls that appeared to at one time maybe be connected to others, or perhaps to conceal hidden rooms. The second and third floors were large in volume, yet the rooms and hallways offered little access to so much space. There was a lot of space behind the walls in many places, so I'm pretty convinced that it held a secret passage or two. Having been a gambling den and brothel during the Prohibition Era, I'm sure there was some questionable remodeling going on to conceal some questionable items.
On the second floor there is a large red room that used to be the stage. A ticket booth with a coat check was located at the room's entrance. The second we all walked in, the door of a desk on the other side of the room flew open. Not sure if it was because of the vibrations of everyone walking in on the old floor all at once, or what... but still the timing was interesting. Snapped another picture.
Around the back of the second floor, there was another stairway leading up and a heavy door that lead to a blue colored room. This room is supposedly where a prostitute named Magdalena was murdered. The door to this room, unlike other doors in the house would not stay open. If you held it open, it would almost pull out of your hands and slam shut. I'll admit it was a heavy door, but the sensation was more than just the gravitational pull of itself. It was almost like it was being pulled shut. We stood in the room for some time and listened to one of the residents dictate the story of the murder. When I played back the audio of this, an interesting thing can be heard. As she says "a prostitute was murdered in this room with a shotgun..." you could hear what sounds like a voice on tape shouting "NO!" after the word room. While corroborating this with everyone who was in the house later, everyone denied saying it. Could this be my first EVP?
The other's went back outside for another smoke, so I used the opportunity to get some clear audio. I started to approach the stairway alone and up beyond the stairs somewhere I could hear the sound of someone stumbling around. It sounded like someone who was wearing shoes that don't fit right or maybe too large and awkward. A woman in high heels or boots perhaps? I thought maybe one of the residents had gone up there to change clothes or something. A perfectly natural sound so I at first ignored it. Unfortunately the audio was off at this point. Deciding not to take on the upstairs on my own, I asked Matt to come along. At the top of the stairs, there was a smaller hallway with 2 or 3 small closet like rooms, then leading into a very large room they call the gambling room. Next to it was a small bar and surrounding it were openings to the other parts of the house. No doors, just larger open areas.
Now, take note that we were both wearing heavy boots with rubber soles. On the audio, our footsteps, when we walk are dull heavy thumps. When playing back the audio later, I heard another interesting thing. As I approached the gambling room, I say "Third floor, gambling room" and right after that, you can hear what appears to be 5 or 6 quick footsteps in the same room walking away from us. Light clicking footsteps that sound like high heels. At the time we were both standing still right next to each other in the same room. The others were, at this point, back downstairs on the front porch. There were no other people in the house, no other people on the third floor accept us, and something else walking around in the same room!
It retrospect, I wish I had heard the footsteps while standing there, not just on the playback, or I would have spent more quiet time on the third floor. Again, the ambience in the place seemed so natural, it was difficult get a sense of something out of the ordinary. I think the fact that there were so many people there made it difficult to concentrate and the fact that the residents were in the process of moving out that night, we had limited time to spend investigating, or I am sure we would have come up with more evidence. I am sure that if I spent a night alone in the house, things would have made themselves known. Even with the place full of people, you can sense activity there.
As far as a quick run through on our first investigation, I felt satisfied with our findings and observations. Because of the time, we made no attempt to make contact with any spirits there directly, however I would love to return some day and do a further investigation, perhaps with more video cameras and equipment, as well as some psychic minded people to attempt contact. Following our visit, the house was sold and completely renovated. I'm glad to see such a beautiful old landmark preserved instead of torn down, however I am totally jealous of the owners because it must have been a real thrill tearing out those walls and discovering what secrets they concealed.
Disneyland's Magic Kingdom
Guests to the Disney establishments expect to come across ghosts and spirits when they visit the Haunted Mansion, but they certainly don't expect the experiences that many park visitors report about ghostly goings-on.
When Walt Disney decided to put in the Haunted Mansion, he was quoted
as saying -
"We’re going to have ghosts from all over the world... but we haven't got the ghosts in yet. We’re out and stay at Disneyland, so we guarantee them creaking doors and creaking floors." - Walt Disney, 1965
He had no idea how very prophetic his words might become when it came to the real deal at Disney World. The ghosts are real, according to those who have seen, felt and encountered them. Many, in fact, are said to walk the grounds, climb stair cases and peek out from around corners. Both child ghosts and adults are said to haunt both Disney World and Disneyland.
Although there are the few reports of actually seeing Disney himself, Walt's been pretty quiet in his silent overseeing of the empire he built.
Despite the rumors that have gone on for years about his supposedly being cryogenically frozen after his death, this is entirely false. Mr. Disney was cremated two days following his death and the ashes interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
But the following are true accounts of guest and employee reports as to the haunting of Walt Disney World. George is a ghost said to haunt the area of the Pirates of the Caribbean. It's said a beam fell on him and killed him.
"The ghost's presence has been acknowledged so well that the employees say good morning to him at the start of the day, as well as say good night to him at the end of the workday. If he is not respected, the attraction has been known to shut off on its own"
Employees have been known to talk about a ghost that haunts the Tower of Terror. He walks about when there are no guests.
A young blond girl has been spotted at the Spaceship Earth area at Epcot Center. She rides a car, sometimes with a young boy who is found around her.
What happens at Disney World, doesn't stay at Disney World, especially when its as interesting as the real deal. No animation, puppetry or any other "effect" in this phantom crowd. The Disney Ghosts walk. Believe it or not!
When Walt Disney decided to put in the Haunted Mansion, he was quoted
as saying -
"We’re going to have ghosts from all over the world... but we haven't got the ghosts in yet. We’re out and stay at Disneyland, so we guarantee them creaking doors and creaking floors." - Walt Disney, 1965
He had no idea how very prophetic his words might become when it came to the real deal at Disney World. The ghosts are real, according to those who have seen, felt and encountered them. Many, in fact, are said to walk the grounds, climb stair cases and peek out from around corners. Both child ghosts and adults are said to haunt both Disney World and Disneyland.
Although there are the few reports of actually seeing Disney himself, Walt's been pretty quiet in his silent overseeing of the empire he built.
Despite the rumors that have gone on for years about his supposedly being cryogenically frozen after his death, this is entirely false. Mr. Disney was cremated two days following his death and the ashes interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
But the following are true accounts of guest and employee reports as to the haunting of Walt Disney World. George is a ghost said to haunt the area of the Pirates of the Caribbean. It's said a beam fell on him and killed him.
"The ghost's presence has been acknowledged so well that the employees say good morning to him at the start of the day, as well as say good night to him at the end of the workday. If he is not respected, the attraction has been known to shut off on its own"
Employees have been known to talk about a ghost that haunts the Tower of Terror. He walks about when there are no guests.
A young blond girl has been spotted at the Spaceship Earth area at Epcot Center. She rides a car, sometimes with a young boy who is found around her.
What happens at Disney World, doesn't stay at Disney World, especially when its as interesting as the real deal. No animation, puppetry or any other "effect" in this phantom crowd. The Disney Ghosts walk. Believe it or not!
The Old Montreal Ghost Walking Tour
After an enjoyable dinner at Modavie I was ready to head to my next scheduled activity: a ghost tour of Old Montreal. Old Montreal Ghosts or Les Fantomes de Vieux Montreal was founded about 8 years ago by a local Montrealer, Eric Poulin, who got the idea for a ghost tour on one of his travels to London. Recently he has started to collaborate with Louise Hébert, owner of Guidatour and a very experienced tourism entrepreneur who has won numerous prizes from Quebec Tourism and in 2005 was also honoured as one of Chatelaine Magazine Top Ten Women of the Year. Both entrepreneurs together combined to provide a special experience in Old Montreal.
Old Montreal Ghosts offers a variety of tours: a traditional ghost walk that introduces visitors to the streets, alleyways and piers of Old
Montreal, to the locations of many historical events including fires, ghost appearances, political gatherings, hangings, crimes, heroic acts and unexplained facts. The Montreal Historical Crimes Tour makes visitors relive some of Montreal's most famous crimes through the testimony of victims and criminals.
I was going to partake of the New France Ghost Hunt, with characters dating back to the founding times of Montreal. Another ghost tour focuses on the Port area while a Scavenger Hunt is also offered where competing teams have to find answers to rally questions.
Based on these interesting offerings, I was sure a special experience was waiting for me. So just before 8:30 pm I went to a booth on Jacques Cartier Quay in the Old Port of Montreal to participate in the New France Ghost Hunt. Quebec was part of New France and Montreal's French regime lasted from 1642, the founding of Montreal, to 1760, when France conceded its overseas territories to Great Britain in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years War. The ghosts we would be meeting tonight would date back to that era.
Two ghost tours were being offered tonight: one in French and one in English. Together with a family from Battle Creek, Michigan, and another family from Boston I was ready to go searching for Montreal's ghosts. A lady dressed in a late-medieval costume called us together and explained to us how the tour would work. She handed out some critical accessories: a flag of New France as well as a lantern and designated a tour leader who would have to coordinate our efforts.
She gave us maps of Old Montreal that contained 4 stops at each of which we would have to locate the resident ghost and call him or her by chanting "Long live the King of France". This would make the ghost appear. And off she sent us on our treasure hunt for the ghosts of Old Montreal.
Well, it was a beautiful evening and hundreds of people on the outdoor restaurant patios on Place Jacques Cartier could attest to that. Our first ghost destination was located at Champ-de-Mars, a former parade ground for military manoeuvres, and since 1991 a place where the old fortifications of Montreal have been revealed. We went through our ghost calling ceremony and sure enough, the ghost of a young man appeared, telling us stories of young forbidden love, arson and his early death. He was a rather charming ghost that endeared himself to his audience with his French-Canadian accent and his bright smile.
Our next ghost location was just south of Montreal's City Hall, in the Place de la Dauversière, a public square next to Place Jacques Cartier that holds several works of public art as well as a statue of one of Montreal's most famous mayors, Jean Drapeau. Place Jacques Cartier itself at one point held a public market and a statue of British Admiral Nelson overlooks the square, however, the famous admiral interestingly faces away from the port area.
Having arrived at the proper spot, we were able to call up a young female ghost who told us tales of her voyage to North America and her love story with one of the sailors. She was also reaped away by an untimely death and her expressive playful demeanor was fitting for such a young girlish ghost.
Then we crossed Place Jacques Cartier and strolled to Cours Le Royer, a complex of huge warehouses that used to be the property of the religieuses hospitalières (nursing sisters) of Saint-Joseph, an order of nuns who rented out the warehouses to importers to generate revenue for their organization. The complex was built between 1860 and 1871 and features a cobble-stoned alley between the warehouses.
After some searching we found another ghost and went through our ghost calling ritual. A young male ghost talked to us of his journey to the New World and how he came into conflict with the authorities. In gruesome detail he depicted the torture techniques that were used at the time of the French regime. This ghost was the most scary of all and his anger at his fate was palpable. When he was finished telling us his story we started to proceed to search for our fourth and final ghost. As I looked back, this ghost was still standing on the rue Saint-Sulpice and his haunting gaze kept following our group, sending a chill up our spine.
Finally, on Place d'Armes, after a long search, we were able to find our last ghost. He was one of the "coureurs du bois", young men that used to venture deep into Native territory in order to negotiate with Indian tribes who were supplying fur to the merchants of New France. His stories made the early years of fur trading in wild and uncharted lands come to life.
Each of these ghosts shed light on a different aspect of life in New France in the 17th and 18th century, a time when adventure and danger were part of daily life. Our tour finished around 10 pm, a perfect time for me to walk back through the safe streets of Montreal to write up today's experiences and catch some sleep for my adventures tomorrow: a walking tour of Old Montreal.
Old Montreal Ghosts offers a variety of tours: a traditional ghost walk that introduces visitors to the streets, alleyways and piers of Old
Montreal, to the locations of many historical events including fires, ghost appearances, political gatherings, hangings, crimes, heroic acts and unexplained facts. The Montreal Historical Crimes Tour makes visitors relive some of Montreal's most famous crimes through the testimony of victims and criminals.
I was going to partake of the New France Ghost Hunt, with characters dating back to the founding times of Montreal. Another ghost tour focuses on the Port area while a Scavenger Hunt is also offered where competing teams have to find answers to rally questions.
Based on these interesting offerings, I was sure a special experience was waiting for me. So just before 8:30 pm I went to a booth on Jacques Cartier Quay in the Old Port of Montreal to participate in the New France Ghost Hunt. Quebec was part of New France and Montreal's French regime lasted from 1642, the founding of Montreal, to 1760, when France conceded its overseas territories to Great Britain in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years War. The ghosts we would be meeting tonight would date back to that era.
Two ghost tours were being offered tonight: one in French and one in English. Together with a family from Battle Creek, Michigan, and another family from Boston I was ready to go searching for Montreal's ghosts. A lady dressed in a late-medieval costume called us together and explained to us how the tour would work. She handed out some critical accessories: a flag of New France as well as a lantern and designated a tour leader who would have to coordinate our efforts.
She gave us maps of Old Montreal that contained 4 stops at each of which we would have to locate the resident ghost and call him or her by chanting "Long live the King of France". This would make the ghost appear. And off she sent us on our treasure hunt for the ghosts of Old Montreal.
Well, it was a beautiful evening and hundreds of people on the outdoor restaurant patios on Place Jacques Cartier could attest to that. Our first ghost destination was located at Champ-de-Mars, a former parade ground for military manoeuvres, and since 1991 a place where the old fortifications of Montreal have been revealed. We went through our ghost calling ceremony and sure enough, the ghost of a young man appeared, telling us stories of young forbidden love, arson and his early death. He was a rather charming ghost that endeared himself to his audience with his French-Canadian accent and his bright smile.
Our next ghost location was just south of Montreal's City Hall, in the Place de la Dauversière, a public square next to Place Jacques Cartier that holds several works of public art as well as a statue of one of Montreal's most famous mayors, Jean Drapeau. Place Jacques Cartier itself at one point held a public market and a statue of British Admiral Nelson overlooks the square, however, the famous admiral interestingly faces away from the port area.
Having arrived at the proper spot, we were able to call up a young female ghost who told us tales of her voyage to North America and her love story with one of the sailors. She was also reaped away by an untimely death and her expressive playful demeanor was fitting for such a young girlish ghost.
Then we crossed Place Jacques Cartier and strolled to Cours Le Royer, a complex of huge warehouses that used to be the property of the religieuses hospitalières (nursing sisters) of Saint-Joseph, an order of nuns who rented out the warehouses to importers to generate revenue for their organization. The complex was built between 1860 and 1871 and features a cobble-stoned alley between the warehouses.
After some searching we found another ghost and went through our ghost calling ritual. A young male ghost talked to us of his journey to the New World and how he came into conflict with the authorities. In gruesome detail he depicted the torture techniques that were used at the time of the French regime. This ghost was the most scary of all and his anger at his fate was palpable. When he was finished telling us his story we started to proceed to search for our fourth and final ghost. As I looked back, this ghost was still standing on the rue Saint-Sulpice and his haunting gaze kept following our group, sending a chill up our spine.
Finally, on Place d'Armes, after a long search, we were able to find our last ghost. He was one of the "coureurs du bois", young men that used to venture deep into Native territory in order to negotiate with Indian tribes who were supplying fur to the merchants of New France. His stories made the early years of fur trading in wild and uncharted lands come to life.
Each of these ghosts shed light on a different aspect of life in New France in the 17th and 18th century, a time when adventure and danger were part of daily life. Our tour finished around 10 pm, a perfect time for me to walk back through the safe streets of Montreal to write up today's experiences and catch some sleep for my adventures tomorrow: a walking tour of Old Montreal.
Crowley Hall
Work at Crowley Hall in England has had to be halted after suggested paranormal activity has taken place there.
Steven Newton of Manchester, UK had recently purchased Crowley Hall intending to turn it into flats and had begun work in early 2006. It had previously been reported in the newspapers that his team of workers found enough bones for four human bodies, hidden in an alcove behind a fireplace. Steven claims it was just after this that the haunting began.
"It has reached the point where some of these incidents that are happening here, have got so bad, that the builders have stopped work, and are refusing to come back to the hall. I am finding it very hard to get builders willing to work here."
One of the workers, who wanted to remain anonymous, told us that he had been working on replacing some flooring, when his toolbox flew across the room and smashed against the wall. He also told us of occasions when some of the other workers were physically pushed, on one occasion, almost down a flight of stairs. It was when one of the workers was bitten by an unseen force, that they felt they couldn't continue to work there any longer. This has left Steven in a position where he has had to call in expert help.
"I called the team of investigators after the police told me they could do nothing about these incidents. I think they thought me and my builders were mad or making the whole story up."
Crowley Hall, built in the late nineteenth century, has had it's fair share of controversy over the years. Originally built to operate as a hospital, then mental asylum, it ceased serving this purpose when its founder, Dr. Bernard Leys, died of a heart attack during an operation. It was after this incident that rumours surfaced of Dr. Leys carrying out unsanctioned tests on inmates. This has never been verified, due to a fire that broke out at the Hall, destroying all of Dr. Leys' notes and records.
The hall lay empty for a number of years, before re-opening as a childrens hospital during the seventies. There are a number of occurrences on record of paranormal happenings during this time. It has also been reported that the paranormal activity got so bad, that a medium was called in to cleanse the hospital of spirits. Once again, this cannot be verified, although no further reports of paranormal activity have been reported after this supposed cleansing. The hospital was closed when a bigger hospital was built, and the children were moved there.
Steven purchased the hall in 2005, and wasn't really a believer in the paranormal until now. He hopes that if the investigators can help to explain what's going on there, then he might be able to understand a little bit more of the afterlife, and continue with the work.
"All I want is to know is, what is going at Crowley Hall. Hopefully it'll stop me feeling as though I am losing my mind."
Steven Newton of Manchester, UK had recently purchased Crowley Hall intending to turn it into flats and had begun work in early 2006. It had previously been reported in the newspapers that his team of workers found enough bones for four human bodies, hidden in an alcove behind a fireplace. Steven claims it was just after this that the haunting began.
"It has reached the point where some of these incidents that are happening here, have got so bad, that the builders have stopped work, and are refusing to come back to the hall. I am finding it very hard to get builders willing to work here."
One of the workers, who wanted to remain anonymous, told us that he had been working on replacing some flooring, when his toolbox flew across the room and smashed against the wall. He also told us of occasions when some of the other workers were physically pushed, on one occasion, almost down a flight of stairs. It was when one of the workers was bitten by an unseen force, that they felt they couldn't continue to work there any longer. This has left Steven in a position where he has had to call in expert help.
"I called the team of investigators after the police told me they could do nothing about these incidents. I think they thought me and my builders were mad or making the whole story up."
Crowley Hall, built in the late nineteenth century, has had it's fair share of controversy over the years. Originally built to operate as a hospital, then mental asylum, it ceased serving this purpose when its founder, Dr. Bernard Leys, died of a heart attack during an operation. It was after this incident that rumours surfaced of Dr. Leys carrying out unsanctioned tests on inmates. This has never been verified, due to a fire that broke out at the Hall, destroying all of Dr. Leys' notes and records.
The hall lay empty for a number of years, before re-opening as a childrens hospital during the seventies. There are a number of occurrences on record of paranormal happenings during this time. It has also been reported that the paranormal activity got so bad, that a medium was called in to cleanse the hospital of spirits. Once again, this cannot be verified, although no further reports of paranormal activity have been reported after this supposed cleansing. The hospital was closed when a bigger hospital was built, and the children were moved there.
Steven purchased the hall in 2005, and wasn't really a believer in the paranormal until now. He hopes that if the investigators can help to explain what's going on there, then he might be able to understand a little bit more of the afterlife, and continue with the work.
"All I want is to know is, what is going at Crowley Hall. Hopefully it'll stop me feeling as though I am losing my mind."
Buxton Inn
Do you believe in real ghosts? Growing up I loved scaring people and my favorite Holiday was Halloween. As a young child I would stay up until two a.m. in the morning watching scary movies and was very open to paranormal activity. I have kept my experiences with real ghosts phenomena mostly to myself. I only have told a few close friends, but I never have been able to get the ghostly image out of my mind from the Buxton Inn. It still haunts me today!
The true haunting story of the Buxton Inn is a fascinating story and the building's history goes back to the early 1800's. The Inn(The Tavern) was built by Orrin Granger and served as a stage coach route. Some of the most famous people who stayed overnight were
Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, and William McKinley. The Inn(The Tavern) changes hands in 1865 and changes its name to the Buxton Inn.
Major Buxton became the new owner and ran it until 1905. After a series of owners, the Buxton Inn was sold to Orville and Audrey Orr, who presently own the Inn. The Orr family spent two years renovating the old Inn and that is when the ghostly guests started to make themselves known. The true haunting story of the Buxton Inn begins. Did they see real ghosts?
Before writing this article, I cleared my mind so I could go back to the night when I was in the Buxton Inn, at the age of 10 years old. While visting friends in Ohio, they took us to visit the Buxton Inn because of its intriguing eerie history. I was told about the real ghost, who haunted the main house and to be afraid. Back then I was not afraid of ghosts and was hoping to see one. The ghost stories started in the dark looking dungeon bar, which was located in the lower level of the Buxton Inn. If I remember correctly it was like a basement with oddly shaped stone walls. It was creepy looking and added to the real ghost legend.
Mr. Orr, stated he heard the locked front door open and the sound of someone walking up the stairs. He went to see if anyone was there and no one was there, which left him with no explanation. The Buxton Inn staff and visitors have heard, smelled, and felt the presence of a real ghost. They believe it could have been Major Buxton or Ethel Bounell, otherwise known as "the Lady in Blue". Incidently, Ethel Bounell(actress and singer) owned the Buxton Inn from 1934 until 1961. The Lady in Blue has appeared in corridors and guest rooms.
Others have said there was an unseen, but almost tangible presence of a real ghost that revealed itself. My parents and their friends were walking in front of me as we entered a corridor of the Buxton Inn. While walking through the open door entryway, I felt something but kept walking into the corridor. I remember how stunning the Buxton Inn looked as I was walking and then for some reason, I turned around quickly to look behind me. At 10 years old I was curious about this real ghost phenomena and jokingly turned to catch something. I had no idea as my parents and friends continued walking straight ahead, I would indeed see something.
My skepticism jumped right out the window when I saw a ghostly apparition move behind the door to the entryway. At 10 years old, I was awe struck and speechless. I finally had seen something that I could not explain and I only saw it by turning around quickly. Obviously, I caught something, because it hid very quickly behind a door. What I saw had a human shape and was made of light. The light was a bright white and in the blink of an eye went behind the entryway door.
The corridor we were in was well lit and you could see everything, so this light with a bright yellow contour moved quickly, but I could see it had a three-dimensional shape. I remember very few things at 10 years old, but this stuck in my mind and I never have forgotten how weird this experience was for me. Did I see a real ghost? To be honest, I don't know, but I never have felt or have seen anything like that since! I have had other wierd experiences, but not a strong physical presence like this I could see!
I believe there is more out there, then meets the eye. I was fortunate enough to turn around and catch a ghostly apparition moving behind a door. How did I know to turn around and catch this real ghost? Was I just overly curious? Looking back, I turned around because I felt there was something behind me and to my surprise, I saw it. On my next visit to the Buxton Inn, I plan to take my camera. Who knows, I might just see something or someone again! Do you believe in the true haunting story of the Buxton Inn? You can visit the Buxton Inn in Granville, Ohio and enjoy fine food and spirits. You might turn around like me and actually see a spirit!
The true haunting story of the Buxton Inn is a fascinating story and the building's history goes back to the early 1800's. The Inn(The Tavern) was built by Orrin Granger and served as a stage coach route. Some of the most famous people who stayed overnight were
Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, and William McKinley. The Inn(The Tavern) changes hands in 1865 and changes its name to the Buxton Inn.
Major Buxton became the new owner and ran it until 1905. After a series of owners, the Buxton Inn was sold to Orville and Audrey Orr, who presently own the Inn. The Orr family spent two years renovating the old Inn and that is when the ghostly guests started to make themselves known. The true haunting story of the Buxton Inn begins. Did they see real ghosts?
Before writing this article, I cleared my mind so I could go back to the night when I was in the Buxton Inn, at the age of 10 years old. While visting friends in Ohio, they took us to visit the Buxton Inn because of its intriguing eerie history. I was told about the real ghost, who haunted the main house and to be afraid. Back then I was not afraid of ghosts and was hoping to see one. The ghost stories started in the dark looking dungeon bar, which was located in the lower level of the Buxton Inn. If I remember correctly it was like a basement with oddly shaped stone walls. It was creepy looking and added to the real ghost legend.
Mr. Orr, stated he heard the locked front door open and the sound of someone walking up the stairs. He went to see if anyone was there and no one was there, which left him with no explanation. The Buxton Inn staff and visitors have heard, smelled, and felt the presence of a real ghost. They believe it could have been Major Buxton or Ethel Bounell, otherwise known as "the Lady in Blue". Incidently, Ethel Bounell(actress and singer) owned the Buxton Inn from 1934 until 1961. The Lady in Blue has appeared in corridors and guest rooms.
Others have said there was an unseen, but almost tangible presence of a real ghost that revealed itself. My parents and their friends were walking in front of me as we entered a corridor of the Buxton Inn. While walking through the open door entryway, I felt something but kept walking into the corridor. I remember how stunning the Buxton Inn looked as I was walking and then for some reason, I turned around quickly to look behind me. At 10 years old I was curious about this real ghost phenomena and jokingly turned to catch something. I had no idea as my parents and friends continued walking straight ahead, I would indeed see something.
My skepticism jumped right out the window when I saw a ghostly apparition move behind the door to the entryway. At 10 years old, I was awe struck and speechless. I finally had seen something that I could not explain and I only saw it by turning around quickly. Obviously, I caught something, because it hid very quickly behind a door. What I saw had a human shape and was made of light. The light was a bright white and in the blink of an eye went behind the entryway door.
The corridor we were in was well lit and you could see everything, so this light with a bright yellow contour moved quickly, but I could see it had a three-dimensional shape. I remember very few things at 10 years old, but this stuck in my mind and I never have forgotten how weird this experience was for me. Did I see a real ghost? To be honest, I don't know, but I never have felt or have seen anything like that since! I have had other wierd experiences, but not a strong physical presence like this I could see!
I believe there is more out there, then meets the eye. I was fortunate enough to turn around and catch a ghostly apparition moving behind a door. How did I know to turn around and catch this real ghost? Was I just overly curious? Looking back, I turned around because I felt there was something behind me and to my surprise, I saw it. On my next visit to the Buxton Inn, I plan to take my camera. Who knows, I might just see something or someone again! Do you believe in the true haunting story of the Buxton Inn? You can visit the Buxton Inn in Granville, Ohio and enjoy fine food and spirits. You might turn around like me and actually see a spirit!
The Whaley House
Located in San Diego, California, this is the current reigning champion for the nation’s most haunted house. The abode was partially built on an old cemetery, as well as some of San Diego’s first public gallows. The residence has stood there for the past 148 years. Placement of the house, has made it a prime scene for many gruesome acts over the past century. Because of this, vast arrays of ghostly sightings have occurred on this property. These include the ghost of a young girl who accidentally hung herself on a clothesline whilst running down a hillside. Noted thief Jim Robinson, was hung 5 years before the house was built. His place of death now resides between the parlor and music room. Visitors have reported feeling a coldness and constriction of the neck, when around the archway that separates these rooms. Along with these two ghosts, there are numerous accounts of phantom scents in some rooms, cries of nonexistent babies in other rooms, and various apparitions that have been seen in the house’s mirrors and windows.
Borley Rectory
Not to be outdone by the States, England is also host to a number of haunted places. The most haunted of which is, allegedly, Borley Rectory, in the small town of Borley, in Essex. The rectory (lodging for priests) was built in 1863, on the site of an ancient monastery. Interestingly enough, it was built on a spot that was already known to house a ghost (a nun who was bricked up alive, in one of the monastic cellars). The rectory has since had numerous sightings of the nun, as well as many poltergeist activities, where various objects would be smashed, or displaced. Strange sounds, odors
and cold spots are all known to occur there as well.
and cold spots are all known to occur there as well.
Coal Hill
The Coal Hill was in the late 18th century was according to local legend the favourite resort of all disembodied spirits who were permitted to "revisit the glimpses of the moon" in Leith. At that part of it nearest to the Tolbooth Wynd there were a number of ruinous houses, part of which were occasionally occupied by wandering out casts but for which no rent was either paid or expected.
Every one of these buildings had its ghost and the rumours which were spread regarding these appropriations sealed the fate of the houses which they were reported to haunt. No landlord would be insane enough to expend money on the repair of property for which he was not likely to find more substantial customers. Moreover had any one been found reckless enough to make the experiment he would have
laboured under the unwholesome dread of having visitations of the ghost to his own house. The natural history of ghosts is involved in some obscurity and this much is certain that they had an intense dislike to anything in the shape of improvement on the places that they frequented and were not slow to pour out the vials of their wrath on such as dare to make the experiment.
The house nearest to the Tolbooth Wynd was one of those curious wooden houses of which very few still exist in Scotland. It was four to five stories in height and entirely composed of wood and plaster. The front of the building being supported by posts and the only stonework was used for the chimney. It was the haunt of beggars, tramps and crooks. However in a wind it would shake and tremble which made many people think that it was going to collapse into the Water of Leith. Then at the beginning of the 19th century it was taken down as it was becoming far too dangerous. Its last occupant of the property was found dead it was rumoured that he had been very rich but had wasted all his money. The property was also used as a public house used by the porters and fish women. In fact the Landlord named Gow possessed a huge parrot which had picked up an abundant but not very choice vocabulary from the customers. He could swear and scold with the best of them and was so noisy that he frightened a horse with its cart into the Water of Leith.
This building was called for some unknown reason the Cat Nick or Neuk and was supposed to be haunted. However it was widely believed the stories had been started by the beggars and smugglers who left there contraband there. However the lovers of the supernatural would have none of it and as far as they were concerned the building was haunted by a ghostly seaman and made a lot of noise moving from one part of the building to another and not only this he had one leg shorter then the other! However any one trying to stay the night was met with unearthly laughter, banging, wet cloths around the face and many other fearful things which have been recorded this story may have been made up but there is strong evidence the following story is true.
Just along the road from the Cat Neuk was a house next to what was the Council Chamber and was haunted this time by a woman and she enjoyed breaking dishes. The last occupant was "Pig Jamie" and was constantly accused of breaking the dishes when he was drunk. However people came to the house including a minister and left convinced of the existence of the spirit. This was to be confirmed by the son of Pig Jamie who was a shoemaker and one day he was busy at his work when he chanced to look round and found the ghost quietly looking over his shoulder. A daylight visitation was completely new and he was so frightened that he fled from the building and never returned. The building was left empty and deserted and whatever happened to the ghost is not known. Fact or fiction I will leave that one up to the reader.
Every one of these buildings had its ghost and the rumours which were spread regarding these appropriations sealed the fate of the houses which they were reported to haunt. No landlord would be insane enough to expend money on the repair of property for which he was not likely to find more substantial customers. Moreover had any one been found reckless enough to make the experiment he would have
laboured under the unwholesome dread of having visitations of the ghost to his own house. The natural history of ghosts is involved in some obscurity and this much is certain that they had an intense dislike to anything in the shape of improvement on the places that they frequented and were not slow to pour out the vials of their wrath on such as dare to make the experiment.
The house nearest to the Tolbooth Wynd was one of those curious wooden houses of which very few still exist in Scotland. It was four to five stories in height and entirely composed of wood and plaster. The front of the building being supported by posts and the only stonework was used for the chimney. It was the haunt of beggars, tramps and crooks. However in a wind it would shake and tremble which made many people think that it was going to collapse into the Water of Leith. Then at the beginning of the 19th century it was taken down as it was becoming far too dangerous. Its last occupant of the property was found dead it was rumoured that he had been very rich but had wasted all his money. The property was also used as a public house used by the porters and fish women. In fact the Landlord named Gow possessed a huge parrot which had picked up an abundant but not very choice vocabulary from the customers. He could swear and scold with the best of them and was so noisy that he frightened a horse with its cart into the Water of Leith.
This building was called for some unknown reason the Cat Nick or Neuk and was supposed to be haunted. However it was widely believed the stories had been started by the beggars and smugglers who left there contraband there. However the lovers of the supernatural would have none of it and as far as they were concerned the building was haunted by a ghostly seaman and made a lot of noise moving from one part of the building to another and not only this he had one leg shorter then the other! However any one trying to stay the night was met with unearthly laughter, banging, wet cloths around the face and many other fearful things which have been recorded this story may have been made up but there is strong evidence the following story is true.
Just along the road from the Cat Neuk was a house next to what was the Council Chamber and was haunted this time by a woman and she enjoyed breaking dishes. The last occupant was "Pig Jamie" and was constantly accused of breaking the dishes when he was drunk. However people came to the house including a minister and left convinced of the existence of the spirit. This was to be confirmed by the son of Pig Jamie who was a shoemaker and one day he was busy at his work when he chanced to look round and found the ghost quietly looking over his shoulder. A daylight visitation was completely new and he was so frightened that he fled from the building and never returned. The building was left empty and deserted and whatever happened to the ghost is not known. Fact or fiction I will leave that one up to the reader.
Grey's Mill
Some of Maryland's most interesting history occurred along the Pataspco River. From Parr's Spring to Elkridge, the river valley's geography goes from a cold piedmont stream to a rugged, rocky gorge into a coastal plain. Many of my investigations have been in locations closely related to the river. Many paranormal investigators have concentrated on locales around Ellicott City. I like to dive deeper into the Pataspco River's haunted history.
This investigation took place in August 1984 in a location ½ mile downstream from the Frederick Rd. bridge at Ellicott City on River Rd. River Rd. veers right from Frederick Rd. and descends to the river bank. As soon as the road levels, about 400 ft. from the turn, you will see
the back wall of an old building against the hillside. Above this wall is a BG&E sub-station (on Frederick Rd.). This property is also owned by BG&E, though at the time of this investigation there was more building structure and the area was accessible to most anyone.
This area is known as Gray's Mill. It was originally a Methodist Church later enlarged and fitted as a paper mill. In fact, it was advertised in 1807 as the "largest paper mill in the U.S.". Edward Gray and other investors soon purchased the mill and transformed it into a major cotton duck plant. After a major fire, Gray rebuilt the plant into the largest cotton cloth mills in the U.S. and named it the Patapsco Manufacturing Company.
Gray built a large mansion adjacent to the mill where he and his wife and daughter lived happily for many years. In 1829, Gray's daughter Elizabeth married John Pendleton Kennedy and the couple lived together in the mansion. Kennedy was a well known writer and lawyer in Baltimore who had reached the pinnacle of social status at a fairly young age. He entered politics and was elected to Congress and later was appointed Secretary of the Navy under President Millard Fillmore. The list of guests and friends who visited and stayed at his home was astounding. Edgar Allen Poe, James Fennimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, Andrew Jackson, Commodore Perry, James Madison, Francis Scott Key and many more important writers and statesmen spent time at this mansion.
Kennedy's library was said to be the most impressive private library in the country containing many European first editions and works of famous friends that were never published. As well, Kennedy had a spectacular garden and grove. Washington Irving was known to spend many evenings sitting among the trees gazing onto the river. Elizabeth Kennedy would stand on the river bank and wave an American flag as the Union soldiers would hoot and holler from the train on the west bank of the river heading for Baltimore. All this would change in 1868 when the flood of the century swept through the valley and washed most of the mansion and contents away. The Kennedy's were devastated and forced to move from their beloved valley.
For several years, I had been told about strange lights and mists that emanated from the mansion area onto River Rd. at night. For many years previous, the river bank was a hangout spot for local kids until the state built mounds and barriers on the riverbank that blocked cars from parking. The sightings began after the parking areas were removed and the area was quiet in the evening hours. I had personally noticed fog in this area because it is swampy and there is a small drainage stream that flows through the location. I decided to investigate on a night when there would be minimal traffic on River Rd. (namely when the mill down river was shutdown).
I received permission to park my car on a small private lot on Frederick Rd. and walked down River Rd. to the Gray's Mill location. A friend who had worked with me previously accompanied me to the site. We decided to walk around the grounds as best we could and see if we could observe any activity. We started at 7:30 pm and used the remaining light to get our bearings to which areas of the site we would concentrate. The weather was very warm and humid in the mid 80's and clear.
I decided we would stick together because of the swampy terrain. We setup along the mansion remnants that included large pieces of granite strewn randomly. There is a small part of the back wall remaining, so we sat there and waited. As dusk came, the area comes alive with "peepers", small frogs singing in the moonlight. Behind the wall is a high bank that extends up towards "9 Mile Hill" onto Frederick Rd. We could barely hear the traffic on the main road above and behind us. It was very peaceful as the river riffled through the valley and the moonlight bounced off the water provided dancing lights against the opposite bank.
Around 10:30 pm, we heard sounds on the hill directly behind us. I figured it was a raccoon or a possum looking for a meal. After a couple of minutes, I heard a rustling in the high weeds to our left and could see movement. I pointed the flashlight towards the area and noticed nothing. As soon as I turned the flashlight off, I sensed a presence of something. My friend suddenly commented that he felt a chill sweep by his right ear. The being I sensed was definitely that of a woman. She seemed to be playing and happy and was definitely enjoying herself. I sensed that she was possibly a visiting spirit. I asked her to give us a sign of her presence. My spirit guide was with me and indicated that this woman's name was Katherine. I sensed a vortex or portal was somewhere near the wall though an exact location eluded me. There were several cold spots along the wall but none had the energy normally associated with a vortex. Her presence continued for another half hour. I tried to get an indication from this spirit if she was aware we were present. I walked around to see if I could get a better gauge of the presence. The best sign we could get was an occasional sweeping sound in the high grass.
This activity continued past midnight until we noticed a scent of honeysuckle. There were no honeysuckle bushes in the area and the scent was getting very strong, almost to the point of being sickening. Then we saw her! Directly in front of us at a distance of about 20 yards we noticed the misty shape of a woman with blonde or gray hair in a light blue dress moving left to right then proceeding towards the road. Then she would move back towards us. It was a very strange sight because it seemed she would "light up" occasionally revealing her facial features and hair. We watched this for a few minutes when I decided to try to communicate. I slowly got to my feet and walked towards her. I stopped and watched her move around me when suddenly she started moving towards me. Instantly, I was hit in the face with that sickly honeysuckle scent, this time it made my eyes and nose burn. I tried to look around me but could not see nor sense her. My eyesight was blurry and I was very uncomfortable. My partner said she moved off towards the road and he lost sight of her. I then realized that I should have restrained from making physical contact. This could have easily been a serious situation if this spirit was malevolent and, frankly, I know better. All indications are that this was a visiting spectre and that there was no residual haunting, at least by this spirit. We waited for another ½ hour but noticed nothing further. Frankly, that odor of honeysuckles was still on me and I was ready to get home wash it off. One interesting side note, when I did get home my wife thought I was crazy because she did not notice any scent of honeysuckles.
I have checked the name "Katherine" for many years and the best I can speculate is that Katherine was either a guest or friend of the Gray or Kennedy family who is drawn to this location. I never received any indications of sorrow or evil from her while she visited us that August evening. It's too bad that this is not the case with most of the phantoms I have contact with.
This investigation took place in August 1984 in a location ½ mile downstream from the Frederick Rd. bridge at Ellicott City on River Rd. River Rd. veers right from Frederick Rd. and descends to the river bank. As soon as the road levels, about 400 ft. from the turn, you will see
the back wall of an old building against the hillside. Above this wall is a BG&E sub-station (on Frederick Rd.). This property is also owned by BG&E, though at the time of this investigation there was more building structure and the area was accessible to most anyone.
This area is known as Gray's Mill. It was originally a Methodist Church later enlarged and fitted as a paper mill. In fact, it was advertised in 1807 as the "largest paper mill in the U.S.". Edward Gray and other investors soon purchased the mill and transformed it into a major cotton duck plant. After a major fire, Gray rebuilt the plant into the largest cotton cloth mills in the U.S. and named it the Patapsco Manufacturing Company.
Gray built a large mansion adjacent to the mill where he and his wife and daughter lived happily for many years. In 1829, Gray's daughter Elizabeth married John Pendleton Kennedy and the couple lived together in the mansion. Kennedy was a well known writer and lawyer in Baltimore who had reached the pinnacle of social status at a fairly young age. He entered politics and was elected to Congress and later was appointed Secretary of the Navy under President Millard Fillmore. The list of guests and friends who visited and stayed at his home was astounding. Edgar Allen Poe, James Fennimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, Andrew Jackson, Commodore Perry, James Madison, Francis Scott Key and many more important writers and statesmen spent time at this mansion.
Kennedy's library was said to be the most impressive private library in the country containing many European first editions and works of famous friends that were never published. As well, Kennedy had a spectacular garden and grove. Washington Irving was known to spend many evenings sitting among the trees gazing onto the river. Elizabeth Kennedy would stand on the river bank and wave an American flag as the Union soldiers would hoot and holler from the train on the west bank of the river heading for Baltimore. All this would change in 1868 when the flood of the century swept through the valley and washed most of the mansion and contents away. The Kennedy's were devastated and forced to move from their beloved valley.
For several years, I had been told about strange lights and mists that emanated from the mansion area onto River Rd. at night. For many years previous, the river bank was a hangout spot for local kids until the state built mounds and barriers on the riverbank that blocked cars from parking. The sightings began after the parking areas were removed and the area was quiet in the evening hours. I had personally noticed fog in this area because it is swampy and there is a small drainage stream that flows through the location. I decided to investigate on a night when there would be minimal traffic on River Rd. (namely when the mill down river was shutdown).
I received permission to park my car on a small private lot on Frederick Rd. and walked down River Rd. to the Gray's Mill location. A friend who had worked with me previously accompanied me to the site. We decided to walk around the grounds as best we could and see if we could observe any activity. We started at 7:30 pm and used the remaining light to get our bearings to which areas of the site we would concentrate. The weather was very warm and humid in the mid 80's and clear.
I decided we would stick together because of the swampy terrain. We setup along the mansion remnants that included large pieces of granite strewn randomly. There is a small part of the back wall remaining, so we sat there and waited. As dusk came, the area comes alive with "peepers", small frogs singing in the moonlight. Behind the wall is a high bank that extends up towards "9 Mile Hill" onto Frederick Rd. We could barely hear the traffic on the main road above and behind us. It was very peaceful as the river riffled through the valley and the moonlight bounced off the water provided dancing lights against the opposite bank.
Around 10:30 pm, we heard sounds on the hill directly behind us. I figured it was a raccoon or a possum looking for a meal. After a couple of minutes, I heard a rustling in the high weeds to our left and could see movement. I pointed the flashlight towards the area and noticed nothing. As soon as I turned the flashlight off, I sensed a presence of something. My friend suddenly commented that he felt a chill sweep by his right ear. The being I sensed was definitely that of a woman. She seemed to be playing and happy and was definitely enjoying herself. I sensed that she was possibly a visiting spirit. I asked her to give us a sign of her presence. My spirit guide was with me and indicated that this woman's name was Katherine. I sensed a vortex or portal was somewhere near the wall though an exact location eluded me. There were several cold spots along the wall but none had the energy normally associated with a vortex. Her presence continued for another half hour. I tried to get an indication from this spirit if she was aware we were present. I walked around to see if I could get a better gauge of the presence. The best sign we could get was an occasional sweeping sound in the high grass.
This activity continued past midnight until we noticed a scent of honeysuckle. There were no honeysuckle bushes in the area and the scent was getting very strong, almost to the point of being sickening. Then we saw her! Directly in front of us at a distance of about 20 yards we noticed the misty shape of a woman with blonde or gray hair in a light blue dress moving left to right then proceeding towards the road. Then she would move back towards us. It was a very strange sight because it seemed she would "light up" occasionally revealing her facial features and hair. We watched this for a few minutes when I decided to try to communicate. I slowly got to my feet and walked towards her. I stopped and watched her move around me when suddenly she started moving towards me. Instantly, I was hit in the face with that sickly honeysuckle scent, this time it made my eyes and nose burn. I tried to look around me but could not see nor sense her. My eyesight was blurry and I was very uncomfortable. My partner said she moved off towards the road and he lost sight of her. I then realized that I should have restrained from making physical contact. This could have easily been a serious situation if this spirit was malevolent and, frankly, I know better. All indications are that this was a visiting spectre and that there was no residual haunting, at least by this spirit. We waited for another ½ hour but noticed nothing further. Frankly, that odor of honeysuckles was still on me and I was ready to get home wash it off. One interesting side note, when I did get home my wife thought I was crazy because she did not notice any scent of honeysuckles.
I have checked the name "Katherine" for many years and the best I can speculate is that Katherine was either a guest or friend of the Gray or Kennedy family who is drawn to this location. I never received any indications of sorrow or evil from her while she visited us that August evening. It's too bad that this is not the case with most of the phantoms I have contact with.
Waverly Hills Sanitarium
Louisville, Kentucky Sanitariums are perhaps the creepiest of the haunted hospitals. When you combine the paranormal with mental deficiencies and insanity, you have a recipe for some scary telling.
Waverly Hills Sanitarium in Louisville, Kentucky is one of the most popular haunted hospital locations in the United States. It's reputation is one of desolation and sickness, disease and death. The Sanitarium was built in 1910 to quarantine people who were sick with contagious lung diseases like tuberculosis. When it was finally closed in 1961, over 63,000 patients succumbed to their condition at the Waverly Hills hospital, making it a primary facility in the Louisville area.
The death tunnel, or body chute was originally used to transport construction materials to and from the hospital's building site without having to take the circular road up to the hospital with trucks. Later, the chute was used to transport bodies of patients who had died. The tunnel allowed undertakers to bring the bodies down from the hospital out of view of the rest of the patient windows and sun rooms. It was felt that this helped to keep the moral up for those fighting the ravages of TB.
There are stories about nurses who worked at Waverly Hills, of doctors that hung bodies to drain them, of the haunting of the body chute and morgue area. There have been shadow balls rolling down hallways and some rooms more prone to mysterious paranormal occurrences.
Waverly Hills Sanitarium in Louisville, Kentucky is one of the most popular haunted hospital locations in the United States. It's reputation is one of desolation and sickness, disease and death. The Sanitarium was built in 1910 to quarantine people who were sick with contagious lung diseases like tuberculosis. When it was finally closed in 1961, over 63,000 patients succumbed to their condition at the Waverly Hills hospital, making it a primary facility in the Louisville area.
The death tunnel, or body chute was originally used to transport construction materials to and from the hospital's building site without having to take the circular road up to the hospital with trucks. Later, the chute was used to transport bodies of patients who had died. The tunnel allowed undertakers to bring the bodies down from the hospital out of view of the rest of the patient windows and sun rooms. It was felt that this helped to keep the moral up for those fighting the ravages of TB.
There are stories about nurses who worked at Waverly Hills, of doctors that hung bodies to drain them, of the haunting of the body chute and morgue area. There have been shadow balls rolling down hallways and some rooms more prone to mysterious paranormal occurrences.
- Room 502
- The Girl on the Third Floor
- Lady in Chains
- Children on the Roof Terrace
- The Boy with the Ball
The Tower Of London
During her long and illustrious 900 years, The Tower of London has developed into one of the most haunted places in Britain. She has been home to beheadings and murders, torture and hangings, as well as being a prison to Queens and Nobles alike.
Thomas A. Becket is "the first reported sighting of a ghost at the Tower of London."
During the construction on the Inner Curtain Wall in the 13th century, Thomas appeared apparently unhappy about the construction, and it is said he reduced the wall to rubble with a strike of his cross. Henry III’s grandfather was responsible for the death of Thomas Becket, so Henry III wasted no time building a chapel in the Tower of London, naming it for the archbishop.
This must have pleased Thomas’ ghost because there were no further interruptions during the construction of the wall.
The Bloody Tower was the scene of the infamous disappearance of the two princes; Edward V (12) and Richard Duke of York (10), who are thought to have been murdered in 1483 on the probable command of the Duke of Gloucestershire, who was to be crowned Richard the III. According to one story, guards in the late 15th century, who were passing the Bloody Tower, spotted the shadows of two small figures gliding down the stairs still wearing the white night shirts they had on the night they disappeared. They stood silently, hand in hand, before fading back into the stones of the Bloody Tower.
These figures were identified as the ghosts of the two princes. In 1674 workmen found a chest that contained the skeletons of two young children, they were thought to be the remains of the princess, and were given a royal burial not long afterwards. The story of the little princes is still to this day a heartbreaking story. They are "among the most poignant ghosts" in the Tower of London.
The most persistent ghost in The Tower of London is the ghost of Queen Anne Boleyn.
The King, Henry VIII, after learning the baby she carried for nine months was a boy and still born, accused by her of infidelity. She was taken to TOWER GREEN and was beheaded on May 19, 1536.
Queen Anne appears near the Queen’s House, close to the site where her execution was carried out. She can be seen leading a ghostly procession of Lords and Ladies down the aisle of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula.
She floats down the aisle to her final resting place. Queen Anne is buried under the Chapel’s altar. Her headless body has also been seen walking the corridors of the Tower. Sir Walter Raleigh lived quite comfortable compared to others who were imprisoned within the walls of the Bloody Tower. His "rooms" are still furnished as they were in the 16th century, and can be seen when visiting the Tower today. He was executed by James I, and has been seen looking exactly as he does in his portrait hanging in the Bloody Tower.
Thomas A. Becket is "the first reported sighting of a ghost at the Tower of London."
During the construction on the Inner Curtain Wall in the 13th century, Thomas appeared apparently unhappy about the construction, and it is said he reduced the wall to rubble with a strike of his cross. Henry III’s grandfather was responsible for the death of Thomas Becket, so Henry III wasted no time building a chapel in the Tower of London, naming it for the archbishop.
This must have pleased Thomas’ ghost because there were no further interruptions during the construction of the wall.
The Bloody Tower was the scene of the infamous disappearance of the two princes; Edward V (12) and Richard Duke of York (10), who are thought to have been murdered in 1483 on the probable command of the Duke of Gloucestershire, who was to be crowned Richard the III. According to one story, guards in the late 15th century, who were passing the Bloody Tower, spotted the shadows of two small figures gliding down the stairs still wearing the white night shirts they had on the night they disappeared. They stood silently, hand in hand, before fading back into the stones of the Bloody Tower.
These figures were identified as the ghosts of the two princes. In 1674 workmen found a chest that contained the skeletons of two young children, they were thought to be the remains of the princess, and were given a royal burial not long afterwards. The story of the little princes is still to this day a heartbreaking story. They are "among the most poignant ghosts" in the Tower of London.
The most persistent ghost in The Tower of London is the ghost of Queen Anne Boleyn.
The King, Henry VIII, after learning the baby she carried for nine months was a boy and still born, accused by her of infidelity. She was taken to TOWER GREEN and was beheaded on May 19, 1536.
Queen Anne appears near the Queen’s House, close to the site where her execution was carried out. She can be seen leading a ghostly procession of Lords and Ladies down the aisle of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula.
She floats down the aisle to her final resting place. Queen Anne is buried under the Chapel’s altar. Her headless body has also been seen walking the corridors of the Tower. Sir Walter Raleigh lived quite comfortable compared to others who were imprisoned within the walls of the Bloody Tower. His "rooms" are still furnished as they were in the 16th century, and can be seen when visiting the Tower today. He was executed by James I, and has been seen looking exactly as he does in his portrait hanging in the Bloody Tower.
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is one of the many homes of the present Queen of England, several of her royal ancestors, and "non-royal" spirits, one of whom, according to legend was an ancient Saxon hunter named Herne, who was renowned thought out the area for his outstanding hunting abilities.
One story tells of Herne, as one of the Royal keepers for King Richard II (1367-1400), who was hated by the other keepers for his extraordinary skills. One day the King was in danger of being trampled by an incensed stag while hunting and how Herne putting himself between the King and the stag was mortally wounded.
In the last 250 years, hundreds of people have claimed to have seen his spirit, often accompanied by his pack of hounds. In the early 1860's the tree from which he was found hanging, was cut down, and Queen Victoria kept the oak logs for her fire "To help kill the ghost". Her plan didn't work however.
Other legends tell of witchcraft and suicide, and a demonic horned being upon whose appearance brings illness and misfortune to all who see him, especially the Royal family. He can be seen in Windsor castle’s gardens with "his trademark stag’s head."
King Henry VIII has been seen walking the hallways of Windsor castle. His footsteps, along with agonizing moans, have been heard by many guests of the castle.
One of his wives, Anne Boleyn, has been seen standing at the window in the Dean’s Cloister, as well as, Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth I has also been seen in the Royal Library. She has been seen walking from one room to another. She is always dressed in a black gown with a black lace shawl draped over her shoulders.
King Charles I has been seen many times in the library and the Canon’s house, and although he was beheaded during the English Revolution, his ghost is seen as a whole. It is said he looks exactly like his portraits.
King George III had many bouts with mental deterioration. During these times he was kept out of the public’s eye. He can be seen looking out the windows located below the Royal Library where he was confined during the recurrence of his illness.
The first Duke of Buckingham, Sir George Villiers, is said to haunt one of the bedrooms of Windsor castle. And many spirits haunt the Long Walk, one of whom is a young solider who shot himself after, while on his guard watch, saw marble statues moving "of their own accord." His ghost has seen by other soldiers on guard duty afterwards.
One story tells of Herne, as one of the Royal keepers for King Richard II (1367-1400), who was hated by the other keepers for his extraordinary skills. One day the King was in danger of being trampled by an incensed stag while hunting and how Herne putting himself between the King and the stag was mortally wounded.
In the last 250 years, hundreds of people have claimed to have seen his spirit, often accompanied by his pack of hounds. In the early 1860's the tree from which he was found hanging, was cut down, and Queen Victoria kept the oak logs for her fire "To help kill the ghost". Her plan didn't work however.
Other legends tell of witchcraft and suicide, and a demonic horned being upon whose appearance brings illness and misfortune to all who see him, especially the Royal family. He can be seen in Windsor castle’s gardens with "his trademark stag’s head."
King Henry VIII has been seen walking the hallways of Windsor castle. His footsteps, along with agonizing moans, have been heard by many guests of the castle.
One of his wives, Anne Boleyn, has been seen standing at the window in the Dean’s Cloister, as well as, Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth I has also been seen in the Royal Library. She has been seen walking from one room to another. She is always dressed in a black gown with a black lace shawl draped over her shoulders.
King Charles I has been seen many times in the library and the Canon’s house, and although he was beheaded during the English Revolution, his ghost is seen as a whole. It is said he looks exactly like his portraits.
King George III had many bouts with mental deterioration. During these times he was kept out of the public’s eye. He can be seen looking out the windows located below the Royal Library where he was confined during the recurrence of his illness.
The first Duke of Buckingham, Sir George Villiers, is said to haunt one of the bedrooms of Windsor castle. And many spirits haunt the Long Walk, one of whom is a young solider who shot himself after, while on his guard watch, saw marble statues moving "of their own accord." His ghost has seen by other soldiers on guard duty afterwards.
Banff Springs Hotel
The Banff Springs Hotel lies in the heart of the Rocky Mountains in western Canada, only a two-hour drive from the city of Calgary, Alberta. Surrounded by mountain grandeur, by the Bow River and Lake Louise, the Banff Springs Hotel is a major tourist resort with all the amenities desired by travelers from all over the world. Yes, it has everything, including a ghost or two.
In 1888, the Canadian Pacific Railroad forged its way into the Rocky Mountains. Vice President of the CPR, William Van Horne saw the potential inherent in the scenic beauty of mountains, rivers and lakes, and the attraction of the wonders of the natural hot springs. He decreed the building of a luxury hotel, and thus the 250 room Banff Springs Hotel was born.
But, during the building of the hotel, the carpenters made a slight blunder. They created a room with neither windows nor doors. They did what workmen the world over have always done with blunders. They hid it, and the hotel was created with an extra room that no one except the guilty workmen were aware of.
The existence of the room wasn't discovered until a fire in 1926. The room was empty, naturally, but it was suggested that the existence of the hidden room might have been responsible for strange phenomena that had been occurring in the corridor that bordered the room. Shadowy apparitions had drifted down the hallway late at night, and a phantom bellhop offered his services to patrons in surrounding rooms. The room was empty, and inaccessible, so perhaps it became inhabited by people from -- the spirit world?
The hotel was rebuilt in 1928 in even greater luxury and became known as the Castle of the Rockies. The rebuilt hotel and the removal of the mysterious room may have eradicated the phantom figures from the hallway. But people say the bellhop still exists. He wanders through the hotel, still offering his services to patrons. He has even been known to open doors for people who have forgotten their key. If you need him, just give him a call. He's been dubbed "Sam."
And he's not alone. Others that wander the hotel are a bride who tumbled to her death from the staircase, a bagpiper with no head, and a bartender who tells patrons who have over-imbibed that it's time they went to their beds.
If you ever get the chance to visit Banff, it's a trip you'll never forget. The mountains, the rivers and lakes, the hot springs - all magnificent. And if you can get a room there (it's often full,) why not stay in the Castle of the Rockies, the Banff Springs Hotel? Oh, and while you're there, don't forget to tell Sam I said "Hi."
In 1888, the Canadian Pacific Railroad forged its way into the Rocky Mountains. Vice President of the CPR, William Van Horne saw the potential inherent in the scenic beauty of mountains, rivers and lakes, and the attraction of the wonders of the natural hot springs. He decreed the building of a luxury hotel, and thus the 250 room Banff Springs Hotel was born.
But, during the building of the hotel, the carpenters made a slight blunder. They created a room with neither windows nor doors. They did what workmen the world over have always done with blunders. They hid it, and the hotel was created with an extra room that no one except the guilty workmen were aware of.
The existence of the room wasn't discovered until a fire in 1926. The room was empty, naturally, but it was suggested that the existence of the hidden room might have been responsible for strange phenomena that had been occurring in the corridor that bordered the room. Shadowy apparitions had drifted down the hallway late at night, and a phantom bellhop offered his services to patrons in surrounding rooms. The room was empty, and inaccessible, so perhaps it became inhabited by people from -- the spirit world?
The hotel was rebuilt in 1928 in even greater luxury and became known as the Castle of the Rockies. The rebuilt hotel and the removal of the mysterious room may have eradicated the phantom figures from the hallway. But people say the bellhop still exists. He wanders through the hotel, still offering his services to patrons. He has even been known to open doors for people who have forgotten their key. If you need him, just give him a call. He's been dubbed "Sam."
And he's not alone. Others that wander the hotel are a bride who tumbled to her death from the staircase, a bagpiper with no head, and a bartender who tells patrons who have over-imbibed that it's time they went to their beds.
If you ever get the chance to visit Banff, it's a trip you'll never forget. The mountains, the rivers and lakes, the hot springs - all magnificent. And if you can get a room there (it's often full,) why not stay in the Castle of the Rockies, the Banff Springs Hotel? Oh, and while you're there, don't forget to tell Sam I said "Hi."
The Merritt House
The Merritt House, located on Oak Hill in St. Catharines, Ontario, was once home to William Hamilton Merritt, builder of the Welland Canal and long considered one of the "fathers of Canadian transportation".
Before the building became a radio station in 1938, this historic structure also served as a military convalescent home during the First World War, a brewery, and an Inn in the mid 1930's. With a lively past such as this, it is no wonder that the house was reputed to be haunted.
We here at Haunted Hamilton were invited to visit the infamously haunted locale by Diane Daniels, a fellow HH member who is a Radio DJ for 97.7 HTZ FM. Being highly interested in the historical aspect of the house, as well as the hauntings, we couldn't pass an opportunity like this up.
Stephanie and Daniel first visited the house on September 14, 2001 to conduct a preliminary investigation. Then, on September 20th, 2001, they went back, this time, accompanied by Haunted Hamilton's two resident psychics, Michele Stableford and Kate Kingston.
The following is a report of the entire investigation and our findings. Everything recorded here is true and actually happened.
The History
Born in 1793 in Bedford, New York William Hamilton Merritt was the son of a United Empire Loyalist who had fought during the American Revolution in the Queen’s Rangers commanded by John Graves Simcoe, future first governor of Upper Canada.
The Merritt family had found life unbearableas they werepersecuted Loyalists in the new American republic. They moved to the Niagara district in Upper Canada, settling in what became the area of St. Catharines. There, young William Merritt grew up, eventually taking up surveying and navigation with his Loyalist uncle in New Brunswick. At age 17, back in the village of St. Catharines, he ventured into a partnership in a “general mercantile business.”
When the War of 1812 began, William marched with the militia to serve under General Brock in the British capture of Detroit, went on to fight gallantly at Queenston Heights and Stoney Creek, was promoted to captain but was then taken prisoner at Lundy’s Lane in 1814. At war’s end he was released and returned home in 1815.
Merritt now began a partnership in another merchant business in the fast-growing St. Catharines neighbourhood. He bought land there, ventured successfully in developing local salt springs and, above all, began to envision a canal to connect Lakes Ontario and Erie across the Niagara peninsula. In 1818, at 25 and full of energy, he carried out a rough survey of his own projected canal route and that year submitted, to the Upper Canada legislature, a petition, signed by the influential settlers in his area, that sought an appropriation for a more accurate survey. Two thousand pounds was voted for this survey. Then Merritt proceeded to have the survey redone, raised more money, and finally sought an act incorporating “The Welland Canal Company” (named for the Welland River which would play a main part in the route). In 1824 the act was passed, and Merritt went to New York City to gain American investors for his project. His promotions succeeded, and the digging of the canal commenced in November of that year. Five years later, in November 1829, the first two vessels entered the completed canal to pass St. Catharines on their way to Buffalo. Merritt’s bold vision had been realized.
Our Preliminary Investigation
Upon first arriving at the Merritt House, Stephanie and Daniel were amazed at how beautiful the home looked. Being that they arrived fairly early, they wandered around the local premises of the home. It was fairly dark outside and the house was illuminated with it's outdoor flood lights, causing large shadows to cast upon the surrounding front lawn. The Carriage House which stood at the back of the Merritt House, looked like a historic gem in itself.
We met Diane at the back entrance, and she began by telling us some of the strange and odd occurances that have happened in the building. There have been distinct tobacco smells on the third floor towards the attic, cold spots around the house, the t.v. in the basement turning itself on, whispers calling out staff members names, and footsteps heard creaking across the old wooden floors. The above mentioned are just a few of the many unexplainable events that occur in the Merritt House on a daily basis.
As Diane continued to take Stephanie and Daniel through their tour of the house, they were introduced to a very cheerful lady who was the custodian at the Merritt House. She was very anxious to lead them to a room in the basement which held the radio stations music CD library.
The caretaker proceeded to explain how she was the last one out of the building late one Friday evening. Between the hours of 12 midnight and 6 a.m., the house is empty because the radio station plays pre-recorded material. She made sure that everything was clean and in order and that all the necessary doors were locked, including the one to the CD library. When she arrived the next morning, she was the first one to enter the building. She went to unlock all of the doors, and when she opened the CD library door, she was shocked to see that more than half of the CD collection had been thrown off the walls and onto a huge pile on the floor. The shelving units that hold the CDs were in tact and still had a few CDs sitting in their proper spots. We're not just talking about a few CDs here... literally hundreds of them were all on the floor, many of the cases cracked and broken. What an interesting way to start off the investigation!
We then continued to walk to the older part of the basement, the part that hadn't really been touched or renovated. There were two very interesting aspects to this basement, one of them being a door that led straight into a brick wall, the very foundation of the home. The doorway in itself was odd because it seemed to be trimmed with wood and had an old beveled door hinged to it.
The other interesting aspect of the basement are the underground tunnels that lay beneath the home. The tunnels are connected to the carriage house from the main building, with one tunnel extending north to meet the river and the other emerging by the river where the current Burgoyne bridge stands. The tunnels originally played a large part in the Underground Railroad, and were later used by bootleggers during the Prohibition days. The tunnels were sealed over for safety reasons in 1967.
After leaving the older basement area, we headed upstairs to the main floor of the house. This is where the front reception desk is as well as all of the recording and sound studios. Diane gave us a quick run-through of the studios and then we made our way up the winding staircase to the second floor of the home. (Notice that strange orange glow on the right side of the photograph below?)
Because the custodian was in that evening, as we mentioned earlier, Stephanie and Daniel were lucky enough to see the manager's office, which at one time was the master bedroom of the home. There was an antique marbled fireplace in the room, and Stephanie pointed out that it was obviously used alot since the top section of the rim was blackened by the roaring fire. If anything, you could definately pick up active vibes from this room. We immediately sensed that much time was spent in this room which served as a quiet retriet.
We then made our way across the hallway to the present day Board Room. We're not sure what this room used to be back in its day, but there sure was an active energy present. Diane showed us a large matted and framed photograph which rested atop the fireplace mantle in this room. It was an old restored photo taken of the Merritt House circa the late 1800's. This photograph is called the "Ghost Picture" as coined by resident staff. Within the photo, you can distinctly make out three ghosts. One is of an older gentleman with a long beard sitting on the verandah, and another one of a spirit walking across the stoney street, while another figure is visible to the left of the house, where the parking lot is. It is hard to see from this photograph above, but if you ever make a trip yourself to the Merritt House, be sure to ask about this particular photo.
After their tour around the second floor of the Merritt House, Stephanie and Daniel made their way to the attic of the home. The staircase that led up to the attic was the location of a tragic death in the home. Mary, the maid, lived in the attic's quarters, and on day while coming down the stairs, she tripped and fell to her death. Her spirit is said to haunt the upper floor of the home, and be the most vicious and reckless. Diane refused to go upstairs because it creeped her out too much. She tries to avoid that area as much as possible. When they began to walk up the narrow staircase, they immediately sensed a negative energy.
Stephanie made her way up the staircase first, and just as she was getting close to the top step, she saw a mist dart infront of her and dissolve to the left. It wasn't like a smoke mist or cloud, but rather a "wet" mist which Stephanie could only describe as resembling a custard texture. The picture to the left was taken just seconds after Stephanie saw the mist, and shows the exact spot of the sighting.
When Stephanie and Daniel were both in the landing of the attic, they felt overwhelmed by the intense amount of negative energy. When standing in the center of the attic, there are many doorways that lead in each direction. For some reason, Stephanie and Daniel were not able to move. It was like their feet were glued to the floor. Even though they wanted to proceed and investigate the rest of the rooms up in the attic, they just couldn't.
He took a quick shot of a doorway in one of the rooms, and as he was looking through the camera, just as his flash went off, he saw the silohette of a figure including a head, shoulders and a body. This immediately frightened him and they were quick to make their way down the stairs to the main floor.
After discussing their findings with Diane, Stephanie and Dan bid her goodnight and headed towards the car. As they were in the parking lot, another radio DJ caught them, and explained his frightening experiences while broadcasting. The tape reels would start to play on their own, which is next to impossible because the switch to turn them on is a rather large and stiff. Stephanie and Dan sure had much to talk about on their ride home that evening!
Before the building became a radio station in 1938, this historic structure also served as a military convalescent home during the First World War, a brewery, and an Inn in the mid 1930's. With a lively past such as this, it is no wonder that the house was reputed to be haunted.
We here at Haunted Hamilton were invited to visit the infamously haunted locale by Diane Daniels, a fellow HH member who is a Radio DJ for 97.7 HTZ FM. Being highly interested in the historical aspect of the house, as well as the hauntings, we couldn't pass an opportunity like this up.
Stephanie and Daniel first visited the house on September 14, 2001 to conduct a preliminary investigation. Then, on September 20th, 2001, they went back, this time, accompanied by Haunted Hamilton's two resident psychics, Michele Stableford and Kate Kingston.
The following is a report of the entire investigation and our findings. Everything recorded here is true and actually happened.
The History
Born in 1793 in Bedford, New York William Hamilton Merritt was the son of a United Empire Loyalist who had fought during the American Revolution in the Queen’s Rangers commanded by John Graves Simcoe, future first governor of Upper Canada.
The Merritt family had found life unbearableas they werepersecuted Loyalists in the new American republic. They moved to the Niagara district in Upper Canada, settling in what became the area of St. Catharines. There, young William Merritt grew up, eventually taking up surveying and navigation with his Loyalist uncle in New Brunswick. At age 17, back in the village of St. Catharines, he ventured into a partnership in a “general mercantile business.”
When the War of 1812 began, William marched with the militia to serve under General Brock in the British capture of Detroit, went on to fight gallantly at Queenston Heights and Stoney Creek, was promoted to captain but was then taken prisoner at Lundy’s Lane in 1814. At war’s end he was released and returned home in 1815.
Merritt now began a partnership in another merchant business in the fast-growing St. Catharines neighbourhood. He bought land there, ventured successfully in developing local salt springs and, above all, began to envision a canal to connect Lakes Ontario and Erie across the Niagara peninsula. In 1818, at 25 and full of energy, he carried out a rough survey of his own projected canal route and that year submitted, to the Upper Canada legislature, a petition, signed by the influential settlers in his area, that sought an appropriation for a more accurate survey. Two thousand pounds was voted for this survey. Then Merritt proceeded to have the survey redone, raised more money, and finally sought an act incorporating “The Welland Canal Company” (named for the Welland River which would play a main part in the route). In 1824 the act was passed, and Merritt went to New York City to gain American investors for his project. His promotions succeeded, and the digging of the canal commenced in November of that year. Five years later, in November 1829, the first two vessels entered the completed canal to pass St. Catharines on their way to Buffalo. Merritt’s bold vision had been realized.
Our Preliminary Investigation
Upon first arriving at the Merritt House, Stephanie and Daniel were amazed at how beautiful the home looked. Being that they arrived fairly early, they wandered around the local premises of the home. It was fairly dark outside and the house was illuminated with it's outdoor flood lights, causing large shadows to cast upon the surrounding front lawn. The Carriage House which stood at the back of the Merritt House, looked like a historic gem in itself.
We met Diane at the back entrance, and she began by telling us some of the strange and odd occurances that have happened in the building. There have been distinct tobacco smells on the third floor towards the attic, cold spots around the house, the t.v. in the basement turning itself on, whispers calling out staff members names, and footsteps heard creaking across the old wooden floors. The above mentioned are just a few of the many unexplainable events that occur in the Merritt House on a daily basis.
As Diane continued to take Stephanie and Daniel through their tour of the house, they were introduced to a very cheerful lady who was the custodian at the Merritt House. She was very anxious to lead them to a room in the basement which held the radio stations music CD library.
The caretaker proceeded to explain how she was the last one out of the building late one Friday evening. Between the hours of 12 midnight and 6 a.m., the house is empty because the radio station plays pre-recorded material. She made sure that everything was clean and in order and that all the necessary doors were locked, including the one to the CD library. When she arrived the next morning, she was the first one to enter the building. She went to unlock all of the doors, and when she opened the CD library door, she was shocked to see that more than half of the CD collection had been thrown off the walls and onto a huge pile on the floor. The shelving units that hold the CDs were in tact and still had a few CDs sitting in their proper spots. We're not just talking about a few CDs here... literally hundreds of them were all on the floor, many of the cases cracked and broken. What an interesting way to start off the investigation!
We then continued to walk to the older part of the basement, the part that hadn't really been touched or renovated. There were two very interesting aspects to this basement, one of them being a door that led straight into a brick wall, the very foundation of the home. The doorway in itself was odd because it seemed to be trimmed with wood and had an old beveled door hinged to it.
The other interesting aspect of the basement are the underground tunnels that lay beneath the home. The tunnels are connected to the carriage house from the main building, with one tunnel extending north to meet the river and the other emerging by the river where the current Burgoyne bridge stands. The tunnels originally played a large part in the Underground Railroad, and were later used by bootleggers during the Prohibition days. The tunnels were sealed over for safety reasons in 1967.
After leaving the older basement area, we headed upstairs to the main floor of the house. This is where the front reception desk is as well as all of the recording and sound studios. Diane gave us a quick run-through of the studios and then we made our way up the winding staircase to the second floor of the home. (Notice that strange orange glow on the right side of the photograph below?)
Because the custodian was in that evening, as we mentioned earlier, Stephanie and Daniel were lucky enough to see the manager's office, which at one time was the master bedroom of the home. There was an antique marbled fireplace in the room, and Stephanie pointed out that it was obviously used alot since the top section of the rim was blackened by the roaring fire. If anything, you could definately pick up active vibes from this room. We immediately sensed that much time was spent in this room which served as a quiet retriet.
We then made our way across the hallway to the present day Board Room. We're not sure what this room used to be back in its day, but there sure was an active energy present. Diane showed us a large matted and framed photograph which rested atop the fireplace mantle in this room. It was an old restored photo taken of the Merritt House circa the late 1800's. This photograph is called the "Ghost Picture" as coined by resident staff. Within the photo, you can distinctly make out three ghosts. One is of an older gentleman with a long beard sitting on the verandah, and another one of a spirit walking across the stoney street, while another figure is visible to the left of the house, where the parking lot is. It is hard to see from this photograph above, but if you ever make a trip yourself to the Merritt House, be sure to ask about this particular photo.
After their tour around the second floor of the Merritt House, Stephanie and Daniel made their way to the attic of the home. The staircase that led up to the attic was the location of a tragic death in the home. Mary, the maid, lived in the attic's quarters, and on day while coming down the stairs, she tripped and fell to her death. Her spirit is said to haunt the upper floor of the home, and be the most vicious and reckless. Diane refused to go upstairs because it creeped her out too much. She tries to avoid that area as much as possible. When they began to walk up the narrow staircase, they immediately sensed a negative energy.
Stephanie made her way up the staircase first, and just as she was getting close to the top step, she saw a mist dart infront of her and dissolve to the left. It wasn't like a smoke mist or cloud, but rather a "wet" mist which Stephanie could only describe as resembling a custard texture. The picture to the left was taken just seconds after Stephanie saw the mist, and shows the exact spot of the sighting.
When Stephanie and Daniel were both in the landing of the attic, they felt overwhelmed by the intense amount of negative energy. When standing in the center of the attic, there are many doorways that lead in each direction. For some reason, Stephanie and Daniel were not able to move. It was like their feet were glued to the floor. Even though they wanted to proceed and investigate the rest of the rooms up in the attic, they just couldn't.
He took a quick shot of a doorway in one of the rooms, and as he was looking through the camera, just as his flash went off, he saw the silohette of a figure including a head, shoulders and a body. This immediately frightened him and they were quick to make their way down the stairs to the main floor.
After discussing their findings with Diane, Stephanie and Dan bid her goodnight and headed towards the car. As they were in the parking lot, another radio DJ caught them, and explained his frightening experiences while broadcasting. The tape reels would start to play on their own, which is next to impossible because the switch to turn them on is a rather large and stiff. Stephanie and Dan sure had much to talk about on their ride home that evening!
The White Eagle Cafe & Saloon
Across the river from Portland’s shanghai tunnels, the White Eagle Saloon welcomed the seedier side of frontier life in the early 20th century. After the work whistle blew, men left docks hungry and searching for more than food. They’d board the trolley that lumbered up Mississippi Avenue and leapt off in droves as the conductor yelled out, “Next stop, Bucket of Blood!” So named for the brawls that erupted in the saloon and crept out into the night, the White Eagle’s less than pristine reputation rivaled the infamous tunnels in Portland’s Chinatown.
The two-storied brick building housed a “white” brothel upstairs and a “black and Chinese” brothel in the basement. The lonely spirit of
Rose wanders the thirteen rooms upstairs, her weeping heard to echo the silent rooms. Rose was a “working girl” and considered the personal property of the saloon manager. One of her paying customers had fallen in love with the girl and wanted to take her away from this life of danger and dead-ends. Frightened by the prospect of confronting the manager, Rose refused. When her young lover faced his cruel adversary, he was beaten nearly to death. Undaunted and sure of his love, he again pleaded with Rose to run away with him. When she refused, he grew enraged and stabbed her to death in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Rose didn’t let that little mishap daunt her spirit, patrons have reported being propositioned by a woman that could only be the ghost of the long-dead prostitute.
Now owned by the McMenamin Corporation, the previous owner had ventured upstairs only when needed. The rooms all have working locks though each time he attempted to enter the rooms, some would refuse to open while others stood ready for visitors. He closed off the upper level and simply let the inhabitants be. Another spirit that haunts the upstairs is that of Sam. Taken in as a child, he worked in the saloon the length of his life. When he died an old man, his shade continued to watch over his home. His belongings remained in his room though they have been found moved to other rooms on the second floor. Passersby have reported seeing the image of a man gazing from the second floor windows as they pass by, perhaps he’s watch over them too.
The basement held the secrets of saloon. The black and Chinese women brought in from the docks or sold as virtual slaves were held in tiny rooms and made to sell their bodies in lieu of beatings from the management. Children born to the women were disposed of quickly so they could return to work. The spirits of these desperate women clog the atmosphere, their pain etched into the walls and mark the air. A tunnel was dug to assist the owners in their nefarious deeds of drugging men and selling them to ship captains a quarter of a mile away on the Willamette River. Snaking through the banks of the river, the men never had a chance. One owner of the saloon in recent times had an office in the basement. At night, he would hear over the low hum of his television, music cascading down from the bar after closing. Another time, coins would fall from the ceiling into the basement. At one time, he felt what appeared to be a strong earthquake that shook the building to its core. When turning to the television, he could find no reports for what he had just felt. A waitress, beginning her decent down into the basement was shoved from behind, in full view of the owner. She tumbled the length of the stairs and sustained minor injuries.
The bar section is a long, narrow band that spans the building front to back. Tequila was the beverage of choice for many years, the patrons lining up to match the row of shot glasses on the bar. There is a small dance area near the back and live music dominates on many nights. The bathrooms apparently have been frequented by the spirits. One lady, while using the facilities, entered into a toilet paper fight over the stall walls with a friend, only to discover there was no one there after her friend had left ages earlier.
The two-storied brick building housed a “white” brothel upstairs and a “black and Chinese” brothel in the basement. The lonely spirit of
Rose wanders the thirteen rooms upstairs, her weeping heard to echo the silent rooms. Rose was a “working girl” and considered the personal property of the saloon manager. One of her paying customers had fallen in love with the girl and wanted to take her away from this life of danger and dead-ends. Frightened by the prospect of confronting the manager, Rose refused. When her young lover faced his cruel adversary, he was beaten nearly to death. Undaunted and sure of his love, he again pleaded with Rose to run away with him. When she refused, he grew enraged and stabbed her to death in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Rose didn’t let that little mishap daunt her spirit, patrons have reported being propositioned by a woman that could only be the ghost of the long-dead prostitute.
Now owned by the McMenamin Corporation, the previous owner had ventured upstairs only when needed. The rooms all have working locks though each time he attempted to enter the rooms, some would refuse to open while others stood ready for visitors. He closed off the upper level and simply let the inhabitants be. Another spirit that haunts the upstairs is that of Sam. Taken in as a child, he worked in the saloon the length of his life. When he died an old man, his shade continued to watch over his home. His belongings remained in his room though they have been found moved to other rooms on the second floor. Passersby have reported seeing the image of a man gazing from the second floor windows as they pass by, perhaps he’s watch over them too.
The basement held the secrets of saloon. The black and Chinese women brought in from the docks or sold as virtual slaves were held in tiny rooms and made to sell their bodies in lieu of beatings from the management. Children born to the women were disposed of quickly so they could return to work. The spirits of these desperate women clog the atmosphere, their pain etched into the walls and mark the air. A tunnel was dug to assist the owners in their nefarious deeds of drugging men and selling them to ship captains a quarter of a mile away on the Willamette River. Snaking through the banks of the river, the men never had a chance. One owner of the saloon in recent times had an office in the basement. At night, he would hear over the low hum of his television, music cascading down from the bar after closing. Another time, coins would fall from the ceiling into the basement. At one time, he felt what appeared to be a strong earthquake that shook the building to its core. When turning to the television, he could find no reports for what he had just felt. A waitress, beginning her decent down into the basement was shoved from behind, in full view of the owner. She tumbled the length of the stairs and sustained minor injuries.
The bar section is a long, narrow band that spans the building front to back. Tequila was the beverage of choice for many years, the patrons lining up to match the row of shot glasses on the bar. There is a small dance area near the back and live music dominates on many nights. The bathrooms apparently have been frequented by the spirits. One lady, while using the facilities, entered into a toilet paper fight over the stall walls with a friend, only to discover there was no one there after her friend had left ages earlier.
The Queen Mary
The Queen Mary One hears of claims of one place or another as being the "most haunted" whatever, be it a house, school, castle, or hotel. The Queen Mary does not officially make any of these claims, but if the stories and history behind this magnificent hotel/museum are true, it would have to be one of the most haunted places in the world. The Queen Mary, now permanently docked in Long Beach, California, and acting as a hotel and tourist site, was originally launched in 1934. She was, and is, twelve decks of art deco splendor. Known as "The Queen of the Atlantic," she also served as a soldier transport during World War II. She was retired in 1967 after 1001 crossings of the Atlantic, but some of her former passengers are said to have never left.
There are so many ghosts and stories surrounding this ship that I'll just list them according to the section of the ship that they are said to frequent.
There are so many ghosts and stories surrounding this ship that I'll just list them according to the section of the ship that they are said to frequent.
- D Deck OR Door #13 in Shaft Alley- This is one of the few ghosts that actually has a name to go with him, but I found two somewhat conflicting areas of his hangout. (Unless Door #13 is on D Deck, but I'm not sure.) Anyway, the ghost is that of John Pedder, an 18-year-old who was crushed to death in a watertight door as he tried to slip past it during a routine drill on July 10, 1966. At the time of the ship's renovation into a hotel, a guard claimed to have had a paranormal experience by the door where Pedder was killed. Seems that while patrolling with his dog late one night, the dog went wild with fear and would not go past the door. The guard then heard a "metallic" rolling sound that seemed to be coming at them at a great speed. The sound got so loud that the guard fled in terror. The door is no longer in place, and there is an escalator where it once stood. A tour guide claims that once as she left the escalator area, she noticed a darkly clad figure in back of her. He disappeared when she turned away briefly. She was later able to identify him as Pedder from photos.
- Forward Storage Room- sounds of children playing can sometimes be heard from this area of the ship where the archives are kept.
- First Class Suite Area- members of the staff claim to have seen inexplicable balls of light and the ghost of a man in a 1930's suit.
- Shaft Alley- a ghost dressed in blue overalls with black hair and a long beard has been seen by many people in the long space in the engine room that provides access to the propeller shafts.
- First Class Swimming Pool- the dressing rooms in this area are thought by mediums and psychics to be the center of ghostly phenomena. Many people have felt a presence and heard voices. The pool area is supposedly haunted by two women who drowned here. One is in 60's garb, the other 30's, so I suppose they died in two separate instances. (Either that, or one was WAY behind the times.) The sad ghost of a boy who died when he fell overboard near the pool is said to have been seen. People have heard the shouts and laughs of people having a good time, only to investigate and find the place empty. Wet footprints of unknown origin have appeared. The area is one of the most original and unchanged places on the boat. It is no longer open to the public except via the guided tour.
- Tourist Class Swimming Pool- haunted by the presence of a woman who drowned in it. (Didn't the ship have lifeguards?)
- First Class Lounge (now Queens Salon)- The ghost of a woman clad in a white flowing dress has been seen here.
- Bosun's Locker- Inexplicable pounding sounds emanate from this area occasionally.
- Cabin B340- This cabin is no longer rented out due to unexplained disturbances. It is thought to be the haunt of a murdered purser.
- Morgue- There are a few ghosts here, but considering that 2 GIs 16 crewmen and 31 passengers total have died on the ship, they really could be anybody.
- Kitchen- I had a hard time buying this story, but it is part of the history. Supposedly a cook was murdered here during WWII. His cooking was so bad that it caused a riot, and he was stuffed into the oven and killed. It is said that his screams sometimes startle visitors. There is also poltergeist activity here.
- I read of another crew member that haunts the Queen Mary, but it wasn't specified where. His name was 2nd Officer William Stark, and he was accidentally poisoned in 1949 when he drank tetrachloride that was kept by the staff captain in an old gin bottle. (Why in the name of God would anyone keep such a lethal substance in such an enticing container?)
The Cincinnati Subway
Most major cities have subway systems--New York, LA, Chicago, Washington. In the early years of the twentieth century, when the river trade was flourishing and it ranked in the top ten largest cities in the nation, Cincinnati decided to build one for itself. The major impetus was the draining of the Miami and Erie Canal, along which the subway would be built.
The idea really originated in 1884, when the Cincinnati Graphic printed an illustration showing trains chugging along underground, in an old canal bed covered with a new street. After their remarkably brief golden era, canals quickly became even more of a nuisance than they had been when they were bringing in trade. Many were partially drained; whatever water there was ended up breeding mosquitoes and
disease. The muddy canal bottoms were used as refuse dumps. Since the Miami & Erie cut right through the heart of the city, it was a particular eyesore in Cincinnati.
The plan was made in 1912 to built a sixteen-mile rapid transit rail system in a loop around the city, with a branch going underground and heading downtown. It surfaced at Brighton and Saint Bernard and ran aboveground along the Ohio River. The projected route of the rail system was as follows:
The original plans for the transit loop began at 4th and Walnut Street near Fountain Square. Now, the old subway system was going to run north along Walnut Street to the canal, and then when it hit the canal, it was going to follow under Central Parkway up through the Mohawk and Brighton areas to Ludlow Avenue. The subway was constructed only to a point just north of the Western Hills Viaduct, with a short tunnel under Hopple Street that was never completed. The line would have then run above ground in the canal along a section which is now Interstate 75, to Saint Bernard. The loop would then tunnel under a section of Saint Bernard and eastward in the open on private rights-of-way to a short tunnel under Montgomery Road in Norwood. It then would have run along a high retaining wall to another subway tunnel under Harris Avenue. Then it goes above ground again through the Norwood Waterworks Park, southward along Beech Street by the United States Playing Card Company to Duck Creek Road. The rest of the loop was never constructed but it would have run along a stretch of Interstate 71 to Madison Road. A tunnel would run under the Owl's Nest Park, through the hills to Columbia Parkway and along the Parkway on an elevated railway into the downtown area back to Fountain Square.
The cost, originally estimated at $12 million, was cut to $6 million and then voted on in 1916. More than 80% of Cincinnatians said yes to the new railway, but work wasn't begun until after World War One--January 28, 1920. Ground was first broken on Walnut Street where nowadays you will find office buildings, apartments and restaurants.
Despite several delays, the two-mile underground portion of the subway was completed by 1923. Inflation had destroyed the projected budget and caused the rail loop to be reduced in size.
In 1926 Mayor Murray Seasongood took control of the transit project from the county and gave it to the city, then estimated another $10 million needed to be spent to see it through to completion. Central Parkway, which was built atop the underground tunnels, opened in 1928, and that seemed to be all the transit Cincinnati residents wanted at the time, especially with such a steep pricetag for finishing the project.
Of course in 1929 any consideration of paying the millions evaporated when the stock market crashed and the country plunged into the dark depths of the Great Depression. Proposals came and went in the 30s, but none were implemented. One idea was to run trolleys through the tunnels, but the trolley cars were too long for the subway's bends. Another proposal, made by City Manager C.O. Sherrill in 1939, was to use them for automobile traffic, but the cost of the plan was too high.
A 1948 study finally mothballed the Cincinnati Subway for good, though efforts to do something with the tunnels have been constantly ongoing for more than half a century. Ideas have included a bomb shelter, a shopping and nightlife district, a massive wine cellar, and more rapid transit. The latest proposal is for another subway. Interesting trivia: according to the Internet Movie Database, the third Batman movie, Batman Forever, scouted the old subway tunnels as a shooting location at the time when Tim Burton and Michael Keaton were still attached. (Did you know Marlon Wayans was cast, fitted for the suit, and paid in full to play Robin in the Tim Burton version? That's a union contract for you, paid in full even when the company fires you arbitrarily.) Presumably it would have played the part of the Riddler's lair. The exterior of the Gotham City Hippodrome, where Robin's family would have been killed in an acrobatics accident, is based on Cincinnati's historic Union Station.
The subway project was scrapped without a single train ever having run. The debt incurred by the project wasn't fully paid until 1966, at a cost of $13 million--in addition to the lives of several workers. According to someone who e-mailed me, the subway is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the dead workmen. The only thing remotely resembling the paranormal which occurred while we were travelling through the subway happened when we were about a mile in; in the middle of a sentence we both heard a "shhh" sound, like someone shushing us. Creepy, but then again we heard lots of noises coming from traffic overhead.
Over the years Cincinnati grew in different ways, but not nearly as quickly as the subway's conceivers had hoped. Today it's only the third-largest city in the state. I-75 was built, destroying a large segment of the underground passage. But one of the Queen City's best-kept secrets is the fact that sections of the original subway still remain--including all four of the stations put in during initial construction.
In late March 2000 Rookie and I parked on Hopple Street in Cincinnati and walked down beside I-75, where the subway segments are. First we explored a smaller one, which ended rather abruptly under the Hopple Street/Martin Luther King Drive intersection. Getting into this was the hardest infiltrating either of us had done. Cincinnati Public Works apparently doesn't like people in their abandoned subways, because they had welded metal grates and bars across the only entrance. We managed to bend a grate up and squeeze through, and wouldn't have made it with another inch on our waists. (I've since been informed that this way in is now gone; they put a door up without a gap at the top, probably because of all the irritation from having people sneak inside so easily.) Subway stations often install an extensive network of Security Cameras for security measures. This network is monitored by officials at all times to look out for any suspicious activity that may be taking place in these stations.
The network also utilizes DVR recorders to record the footage caught by the cameras.
Next we found the major subway. The entrance to this one had a big metal covering on it, but there was a significant gap at the top which was easy to climb through.
Two tunnels run side-by-side at this point, separated by a wall with regular openings. Wooden tracks, bolted down, run the whole way (with a few gaps); they raise on one side corresponding to curves in the tunnel, so the trains could bank.
The east tunnel is empty except for some major flooding halfway through, while the west tunnel is occupied by a huge water main. I guess the city didn't want to entirely waste the space. There are also some newer chrome pipes running along the top of the left tunnel.
The subway contains at least three platforms, built along with the tunnel.
The idea really originated in 1884, when the Cincinnati Graphic printed an illustration showing trains chugging along underground, in an old canal bed covered with a new street. After their remarkably brief golden era, canals quickly became even more of a nuisance than they had been when they were bringing in trade. Many were partially drained; whatever water there was ended up breeding mosquitoes and
disease. The muddy canal bottoms were used as refuse dumps. Since the Miami & Erie cut right through the heart of the city, it was a particular eyesore in Cincinnati.
The plan was made in 1912 to built a sixteen-mile rapid transit rail system in a loop around the city, with a branch going underground and heading downtown. It surfaced at Brighton and Saint Bernard and ran aboveground along the Ohio River. The projected route of the rail system was as follows:
The original plans for the transit loop began at 4th and Walnut Street near Fountain Square. Now, the old subway system was going to run north along Walnut Street to the canal, and then when it hit the canal, it was going to follow under Central Parkway up through the Mohawk and Brighton areas to Ludlow Avenue. The subway was constructed only to a point just north of the Western Hills Viaduct, with a short tunnel under Hopple Street that was never completed. The line would have then run above ground in the canal along a section which is now Interstate 75, to Saint Bernard. The loop would then tunnel under a section of Saint Bernard and eastward in the open on private rights-of-way to a short tunnel under Montgomery Road in Norwood. It then would have run along a high retaining wall to another subway tunnel under Harris Avenue. Then it goes above ground again through the Norwood Waterworks Park, southward along Beech Street by the United States Playing Card Company to Duck Creek Road. The rest of the loop was never constructed but it would have run along a stretch of Interstate 71 to Madison Road. A tunnel would run under the Owl's Nest Park, through the hills to Columbia Parkway and along the Parkway on an elevated railway into the downtown area back to Fountain Square.
The cost, originally estimated at $12 million, was cut to $6 million and then voted on in 1916. More than 80% of Cincinnatians said yes to the new railway, but work wasn't begun until after World War One--January 28, 1920. Ground was first broken on Walnut Street where nowadays you will find office buildings, apartments and restaurants.
Despite several delays, the two-mile underground portion of the subway was completed by 1923. Inflation had destroyed the projected budget and caused the rail loop to be reduced in size.
In 1926 Mayor Murray Seasongood took control of the transit project from the county and gave it to the city, then estimated another $10 million needed to be spent to see it through to completion. Central Parkway, which was built atop the underground tunnels, opened in 1928, and that seemed to be all the transit Cincinnati residents wanted at the time, especially with such a steep pricetag for finishing the project.
Of course in 1929 any consideration of paying the millions evaporated when the stock market crashed and the country plunged into the dark depths of the Great Depression. Proposals came and went in the 30s, but none were implemented. One idea was to run trolleys through the tunnels, but the trolley cars were too long for the subway's bends. Another proposal, made by City Manager C.O. Sherrill in 1939, was to use them for automobile traffic, but the cost of the plan was too high.
A 1948 study finally mothballed the Cincinnati Subway for good, though efforts to do something with the tunnels have been constantly ongoing for more than half a century. Ideas have included a bomb shelter, a shopping and nightlife district, a massive wine cellar, and more rapid transit. The latest proposal is for another subway. Interesting trivia: according to the Internet Movie Database, the third Batman movie, Batman Forever, scouted the old subway tunnels as a shooting location at the time when Tim Burton and Michael Keaton were still attached. (Did you know Marlon Wayans was cast, fitted for the suit, and paid in full to play Robin in the Tim Burton version? That's a union contract for you, paid in full even when the company fires you arbitrarily.) Presumably it would have played the part of the Riddler's lair. The exterior of the Gotham City Hippodrome, where Robin's family would have been killed in an acrobatics accident, is based on Cincinnati's historic Union Station.
The subway project was scrapped without a single train ever having run. The debt incurred by the project wasn't fully paid until 1966, at a cost of $13 million--in addition to the lives of several workers. According to someone who e-mailed me, the subway is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the dead workmen. The only thing remotely resembling the paranormal which occurred while we were travelling through the subway happened when we were about a mile in; in the middle of a sentence we both heard a "shhh" sound, like someone shushing us. Creepy, but then again we heard lots of noises coming from traffic overhead.
Over the years Cincinnati grew in different ways, but not nearly as quickly as the subway's conceivers had hoped. Today it's only the third-largest city in the state. I-75 was built, destroying a large segment of the underground passage. But one of the Queen City's best-kept secrets is the fact that sections of the original subway still remain--including all four of the stations put in during initial construction.
In late March 2000 Rookie and I parked on Hopple Street in Cincinnati and walked down beside I-75, where the subway segments are. First we explored a smaller one, which ended rather abruptly under the Hopple Street/Martin Luther King Drive intersection. Getting into this was the hardest infiltrating either of us had done. Cincinnati Public Works apparently doesn't like people in their abandoned subways, because they had welded metal grates and bars across the only entrance. We managed to bend a grate up and squeeze through, and wouldn't have made it with another inch on our waists. (I've since been informed that this way in is now gone; they put a door up without a gap at the top, probably because of all the irritation from having people sneak inside so easily.) Subway stations often install an extensive network of Security Cameras for security measures. This network is monitored by officials at all times to look out for any suspicious activity that may be taking place in these stations.
The network also utilizes DVR recorders to record the footage caught by the cameras.
Next we found the major subway. The entrance to this one had a big metal covering on it, but there was a significant gap at the top which was easy to climb through.
Two tunnels run side-by-side at this point, separated by a wall with regular openings. Wooden tracks, bolted down, run the whole way (with a few gaps); they raise on one side corresponding to curves in the tunnel, so the trains could bank.
The east tunnel is empty except for some major flooding halfway through, while the west tunnel is occupied by a huge water main. I guess the city didn't want to entirely waste the space. There are also some newer chrome pipes running along the top of the left tunnel.
The subway contains at least three platforms, built along with the tunnel.
Dudleytown
Dudleytown, located in/near Cornwall, Connecticut, isn't actually a town so much as the ruin of a former farming community now. All that's there now are some foundations, root cellars, and chimneys. Dudleytown was founded by Thomas Griffis, who took title in 1738. Other families began arriving and settling down to farm, with the first Dudleys arriving in 1747. I've read that the area became known as Dudleytown because Dudley soon became the more prevalent of the last names in the community, and I've read it's because the original Dudley family was very involved in community affairs..
The first thing that should have been apparent was that Dudleytown was very poorly planned. It was a farming community in an area that was terrible for farming. It got little sun, and the ground was horribly rocky. There was an abundance of trees that had to be hacked down. Besides this, the place just seemed horribly unlucky.
In 1792 Gershom Hollister fell to his death during a barnraising at the home of William Tanner. There were also tales that he was murdered, but they are unsubstantiated and thought to be a result of the legend of Dudleytown. William Tanner himself was under suspicion, but never convicted of anything. He was said to have gone mad, rambling about demons and such. You must also consider, though, that he lived to be 104, so these ramblings might have been caused by senility.
In 1804 Sarah Faye, third wife of General Herman Swift, was struck and killed by lightning during a thunderstorm. Supposedly the General went mad afterwards. This incident is always brought up as part of Dudleytown history, even though the Swifts lived about five miles away.
Mary Cheney, wife of Horace Greeley, committed suicide one week before her husband lost his bid for the Presidency. She hung herself by putting a noose around her neck and kicking out the chair she was standing on. She was born and raised in Dudleytown.
The Carter family incident is another one that happened to former residents of Dudleytown. They moved to Dudleytown in 1759, and moved out in 1763. Indians slaughtered the family in their new home near Binghamton, New York.
There are various other stories of families disappearing, dying from disease, etc.
The first thing that should have been apparent was that Dudleytown was very poorly planned. It was a farming community in an area that was terrible for farming. It got little sun, and the ground was horribly rocky. There was an abundance of trees that had to be hacked down. Besides this, the place just seemed horribly unlucky.
In 1792 Gershom Hollister fell to his death during a barnraising at the home of William Tanner. There were also tales that he was murdered, but they are unsubstantiated and thought to be a result of the legend of Dudleytown. William Tanner himself was under suspicion, but never convicted of anything. He was said to have gone mad, rambling about demons and such. You must also consider, though, that he lived to be 104, so these ramblings might have been caused by senility.
In 1804 Sarah Faye, third wife of General Herman Swift, was struck and killed by lightning during a thunderstorm. Supposedly the General went mad afterwards. This incident is always brought up as part of Dudleytown history, even though the Swifts lived about five miles away.
Mary Cheney, wife of Horace Greeley, committed suicide one week before her husband lost his bid for the Presidency. She hung herself by putting a noose around her neck and kicking out the chair she was standing on. She was born and raised in Dudleytown.
The Carter family incident is another one that happened to former residents of Dudleytown. They moved to Dudleytown in 1759, and moved out in 1763. Indians slaughtered the family in their new home near Binghamton, New York.
There are various other stories of families disappearing, dying from disease, etc.
Oaks Alley Plantation
What better place to film a movie about creatures that walk the night than Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana? Seen in numerous films including, “Interview with a Vampire,” the plantation has it’s own way of making visitors feel welcome. A canopy of tall oaks shield visitors from sunlight as it frames the main house, its soft pink walls beckon to you relax under the formidable veranda. Is it no wonder that the original family was loathe to leave it?
The wealthy Creole family, the Romans, have left an indelible mark on the mansion. A lady in black strolls the widow’s walk or beneath the shade of the oaks.
Could she be the spirit of Louise Roman?
As a young woman, she ran to escape the amorous advances of a drunken suitor and fell, slicing open her leg on the iron hoop frame. Gangrene set in and to save her life, doctors amputated the leg beneath the knee. Was the drama of that night carved into life of the oaks? Does she still walk beneath the trees of her youth? Louise, in her late twenties, founded a Carmelite Convent in New Orleans and died peacefully many years later, so perhaps not…
Employees at the plantation are regularly visited by the supernatural. Lights turn off and on during tours, touches as they walk by certain rooms, the smell of lavender wafts through the room of the original lady of the house along with the presence of a shadow just out of the corner of the eye. Phantom carriages have been heard riding up a gravel road, the clip-clop of hooves resounding in the stillness that sometimes accompanies the sound. A child weeps, it’s plaintive misery being carried through time and echoes in the empty mansion.
Recently, a candlestick flew across a room while a tour was being conducted. Visions of a violent and deadly struggle accompanied one woman while on tour, she watched as two men of the house wrestled with a Confederate soldier. The soldier is pushed from a second floor balcony, his body was then dragged to the river and rolled in. Later, a houseguest reported intense back pain while on the veranda. As he moved away, the pain lessened but returned if he ventured back to the spot. He was so amazed by the experience that he shared it with his hostess who then revealed that that was the area in which the scuffle in the vision had taken place.
Clocks hold a time all their own at Oak Valley. In an old southern custom, the clocks are stopped at the exact moment of the last owner’s death (in this case, 7:30am). The clocks were not touched again since. Recently, several guides have found that many of the clocks were set to different hours around the house. Did they reflect the death of other family members or do they follow the mysterious ticking of a clock only heard but never seen in the mansion?
Perhaps the most intriguing question at Oak Alley pertains to a photograph taken by Mr. Bernard of Fort Worth, TX. While touring the rooms, he snapped a picture in the master bedroom. When the film was developed, the shade of a young woman with waist-length chestnut colored hair appeared to be gazing out the French doors towards to the alley. When sending the photograph back to Oak Alley for their opinion, at first glance they thought it was a dressmaker’s mannequin that is displayed in the room. Of course, however, the mannequin is headless so you may draw your own conclusions…
The wealthy Creole family, the Romans, have left an indelible mark on the mansion. A lady in black strolls the widow’s walk or beneath the shade of the oaks.
Could she be the spirit of Louise Roman?
As a young woman, she ran to escape the amorous advances of a drunken suitor and fell, slicing open her leg on the iron hoop frame. Gangrene set in and to save her life, doctors amputated the leg beneath the knee. Was the drama of that night carved into life of the oaks? Does she still walk beneath the trees of her youth? Louise, in her late twenties, founded a Carmelite Convent in New Orleans and died peacefully many years later, so perhaps not…
Employees at the plantation are regularly visited by the supernatural. Lights turn off and on during tours, touches as they walk by certain rooms, the smell of lavender wafts through the room of the original lady of the house along with the presence of a shadow just out of the corner of the eye. Phantom carriages have been heard riding up a gravel road, the clip-clop of hooves resounding in the stillness that sometimes accompanies the sound. A child weeps, it’s plaintive misery being carried through time and echoes in the empty mansion.
Recently, a candlestick flew across a room while a tour was being conducted. Visions of a violent and deadly struggle accompanied one woman while on tour, she watched as two men of the house wrestled with a Confederate soldier. The soldier is pushed from a second floor balcony, his body was then dragged to the river and rolled in. Later, a houseguest reported intense back pain while on the veranda. As he moved away, the pain lessened but returned if he ventured back to the spot. He was so amazed by the experience that he shared it with his hostess who then revealed that that was the area in which the scuffle in the vision had taken place.
Clocks hold a time all their own at Oak Valley. In an old southern custom, the clocks are stopped at the exact moment of the last owner’s death (in this case, 7:30am). The clocks were not touched again since. Recently, several guides have found that many of the clocks were set to different hours around the house. Did they reflect the death of other family members or do they follow the mysterious ticking of a clock only heard but never seen in the mansion?
Perhaps the most intriguing question at Oak Alley pertains to a photograph taken by Mr. Bernard of Fort Worth, TX. While touring the rooms, he snapped a picture in the master bedroom. When the film was developed, the shade of a young woman with waist-length chestnut colored hair appeared to be gazing out the French doors towards to the alley. When sending the photograph back to Oak Alley for their opinion, at first glance they thought it was a dressmaker’s mannequin that is displayed in the room. Of course, however, the mannequin is headless so you may draw your own conclusions…
Pawley's Island
Perhaps the most frequently told ghost story in Georgetown County is that of the Grey Man.
According to numerous documented accounts, he appears on the beach at Pawleys Island prior to hurricanes. Everyone who has seen the Grey Man says that he warns them to leave the island.
Residents who are wise enough to heed the Grey Man's warning always find their homes undamaged after the storm. Encounters with the Grey Man have taken place before every major hurricane that has struck the island for more than a hundred years.
The Grey Man is unquestionably a permanent resident of Pawleys Island, but what causes this kind spirit to warn unsuspecting residents of approaching danger? The answer may lie in one of three different accounts that exist about the origin of the Grey Man.
According to one legend, a young woman was walking the windswept, lonely beach not far from her parent's Pawleys Island home. She was in mourning for her childhood sweetheart who had recently died in a tragic accident on the island.
Her love had returned to Georgetown by ship after an absence of several months. He was so eager to see his beloved fiancee that, rather than wasting one more precious moment away from her, he took a shortcut across previously untraveled marshland.
With his faithful manservant riding a short distance behind, the eager fellow and his horse came to a sudden stop and began to sink rapidly into a patch of deadly quicksand. His manservant watched in horror, unable to help his young master, as the young man and his horse disappeared into the mire. When the young woman heard of her finance's tragic death, she was heartbroken.
After the funeral, she took to walking the stretch of beach where she and her beau used to stroll in happier times. This particular day was windier than most, but it suited her recent mood. She was alone with her sadness in the whipping wind, with the ocean crashing by her side.
Suddenly, a figure appeared ahead. As she walked closer, the young woman could have sworn it was her finance. With no fear, she walked toward him. "Leave the island at once," he said. "You are in danger. Leave the island!"
Then he disappeared.
The young lady hurried home to tell her father and mother about the strange, unsettling experience. Upon hearing their daughter's strange story, her parents immediately began making plans to leave Pawleys Island for their inland home. They did not know what danger they were fleeing, but they did know that their daughter was a sensible person and not prone to flights of fancy.
The family left Pawleys Island before dawn the following morning. That night, as they lay sleeping in the safety of their inland home, a fierce hurricane ravaged Pawleys Island. The hurricane destroyed most of the homes on Pawleys Island, but the home of the young woman's family was undamaged.
According to numerous documented accounts, he appears on the beach at Pawleys Island prior to hurricanes. Everyone who has seen the Grey Man says that he warns them to leave the island.
Residents who are wise enough to heed the Grey Man's warning always find their homes undamaged after the storm. Encounters with the Grey Man have taken place before every major hurricane that has struck the island for more than a hundred years.
The Grey Man is unquestionably a permanent resident of Pawleys Island, but what causes this kind spirit to warn unsuspecting residents of approaching danger? The answer may lie in one of three different accounts that exist about the origin of the Grey Man.
According to one legend, a young woman was walking the windswept, lonely beach not far from her parent's Pawleys Island home. She was in mourning for her childhood sweetheart who had recently died in a tragic accident on the island.
Her love had returned to Georgetown by ship after an absence of several months. He was so eager to see his beloved fiancee that, rather than wasting one more precious moment away from her, he took a shortcut across previously untraveled marshland.
With his faithful manservant riding a short distance behind, the eager fellow and his horse came to a sudden stop and began to sink rapidly into a patch of deadly quicksand. His manservant watched in horror, unable to help his young master, as the young man and his horse disappeared into the mire. When the young woman heard of her finance's tragic death, she was heartbroken.
After the funeral, she took to walking the stretch of beach where she and her beau used to stroll in happier times. This particular day was windier than most, but it suited her recent mood. She was alone with her sadness in the whipping wind, with the ocean crashing by her side.
Suddenly, a figure appeared ahead. As she walked closer, the young woman could have sworn it was her finance. With no fear, she walked toward him. "Leave the island at once," he said. "You are in danger. Leave the island!"
Then he disappeared.
The young lady hurried home to tell her father and mother about the strange, unsettling experience. Upon hearing their daughter's strange story, her parents immediately began making plans to leave Pawleys Island for their inland home. They did not know what danger they were fleeing, but they did know that their daughter was a sensible person and not prone to flights of fancy.
The family left Pawleys Island before dawn the following morning. That night, as they lay sleeping in the safety of their inland home, a fierce hurricane ravaged Pawleys Island. The hurricane destroyed most of the homes on Pawleys Island, but the home of the young woman's family was undamaged.
The Grant House
Nestled among the East San Jose foothills with only a two-lane road leading to the park through the mountains, the Joseph D. Grant County Park can easily be missed. This park boasts a beautiful house coupled with a few other out-buildings renovated to remind visitors of the days of yesteryear. The house has period pieces of furniture, an all wood foyer, hardwood floors in the rooms….and residents they never expected. For years the park rangers never questioned the footsteps, door slams, noises and moving things from the corners of their eyes. They merely chalked it up to someone else being in the house. When visitors stated that they saw someone or heard something in the house, the park rangers chalked that up to nothing more than imaginations.
The local newspaper contacted the park rangers stating they wanted to do an article on the house for Halloween. They in turn, contacted our paranormal research group. We made arrangements to all meet at the house at a pre-arranged time. It was difficult enough to find the park but to do so in the dark was even more difficult. You always read about places like this in scary books…the twisting and turning of the small, two-lane road, the deep darkness of the forest, the occasional red eyes peering back at you caused by a deer; all the qualities for a good horror story.
We made our way up to the park and then followed the path to the house. It was a gorgeous house; white, two stories. We brought in simple equipment. The reporter was nice enough. The camera gal was nicer yet. She followed us as well as she could, almost as well as a shadow. It wasn’t until approximately 10 p.m. that we began to notice the cold. This was a warm summer evening but there was an obvious drop in temperature. As we wandered through the house we noticed that some rooms were definitely very warm and some were very cold. The coldest rooms, we found out later, were the rooms that visitors made statements about having activity in and that the park rangers had disregarded their comments.
This beautiful house has a sordid past. The daughter of Joseph D. Grant killed three men and her sister; two of the men on the property, one of them somewhere else. She was apparently crazy, had some type of mental illness. As we talked and wandered through the house we came across her room. Her name was Edith. We stayed in Edith’s room for quite awhile. We tried to capture EVP. We caught pictures with orbs but there was more to this room. It was one of those rooms where you could feel the excitement in the air but you didn’t quite know how to put your finger on what was occurring. As nothing did occur, we began to file out of the room. The reporter was next to the last leaving the room and one of our members was last. She had a video camera and was filming. As she approached the doorway and as the reporter began to step through the threshold, our member felt a heavy hand on her left shoulder and stated so. The reporter turned around long enough to find our member being shoved into her, almost knocking them both over. The video camera was still running. The reporter did a nice article on us and on the Joseph Grant house.
Fast forward a year. We are asked back by the park rangers to do ghost tours for visitors. They planned to open up the house to after hours tours, something they have never done. As our group assembled again in the foyer of this wonderful house, again the feeling of excitement was in the air. The visitors with us that night could feel it too. Some ladies had their hair stroked while touring. Some visitors could see flashes of light in some rooms. As we stood in the foyer waiting for the visitors and the rangers to come downstairs, three of us heard what appeared to be furniture moving and crashing in a room to our left. Upon inspection, nothing was disturbed. It was at that point that the historian stated that that happened once before up in “J.D.’s” bedroom following a séance they held there. He had failed to mention that. He also failed to mention that the medium directing the séance tried to fling herself out of the window.
We were very lucky this night. We captured some great EVP. We got possible orbs in some rooms. But the most miraculous occurrence is that we believe we may have gotten pictures of two spirits. The Joseph D. Grant County Park was one of the most unusual houses we have ever had the pleasure to be in. We were pleasantly surprised to find that a house that is located out in the middle of nowhere and has never had problems reported before could be so haunted. Needless to say, we have changed the minds of the park rangers and the visitors to this house as well.
The local newspaper contacted the park rangers stating they wanted to do an article on the house for Halloween. They in turn, contacted our paranormal research group. We made arrangements to all meet at the house at a pre-arranged time. It was difficult enough to find the park but to do so in the dark was even more difficult. You always read about places like this in scary books…the twisting and turning of the small, two-lane road, the deep darkness of the forest, the occasional red eyes peering back at you caused by a deer; all the qualities for a good horror story.
We made our way up to the park and then followed the path to the house. It was a gorgeous house; white, two stories. We brought in simple equipment. The reporter was nice enough. The camera gal was nicer yet. She followed us as well as she could, almost as well as a shadow. It wasn’t until approximately 10 p.m. that we began to notice the cold. This was a warm summer evening but there was an obvious drop in temperature. As we wandered through the house we noticed that some rooms were definitely very warm and some were very cold. The coldest rooms, we found out later, were the rooms that visitors made statements about having activity in and that the park rangers had disregarded their comments.
This beautiful house has a sordid past. The daughter of Joseph D. Grant killed three men and her sister; two of the men on the property, one of them somewhere else. She was apparently crazy, had some type of mental illness. As we talked and wandered through the house we came across her room. Her name was Edith. We stayed in Edith’s room for quite awhile. We tried to capture EVP. We caught pictures with orbs but there was more to this room. It was one of those rooms where you could feel the excitement in the air but you didn’t quite know how to put your finger on what was occurring. As nothing did occur, we began to file out of the room. The reporter was next to the last leaving the room and one of our members was last. She had a video camera and was filming. As she approached the doorway and as the reporter began to step through the threshold, our member felt a heavy hand on her left shoulder and stated so. The reporter turned around long enough to find our member being shoved into her, almost knocking them both over. The video camera was still running. The reporter did a nice article on us and on the Joseph Grant house.
Fast forward a year. We are asked back by the park rangers to do ghost tours for visitors. They planned to open up the house to after hours tours, something they have never done. As our group assembled again in the foyer of this wonderful house, again the feeling of excitement was in the air. The visitors with us that night could feel it too. Some ladies had their hair stroked while touring. Some visitors could see flashes of light in some rooms. As we stood in the foyer waiting for the visitors and the rangers to come downstairs, three of us heard what appeared to be furniture moving and crashing in a room to our left. Upon inspection, nothing was disturbed. It was at that point that the historian stated that that happened once before up in “J.D.’s” bedroom following a séance they held there. He had failed to mention that. He also failed to mention that the medium directing the séance tried to fling herself out of the window.
We were very lucky this night. We captured some great EVP. We got possible orbs in some rooms. But the most miraculous occurrence is that we believe we may have gotten pictures of two spirits. The Joseph D. Grant County Park was one of the most unusual houses we have ever had the pleasure to be in. We were pleasantly surprised to find that a house that is located out in the middle of nowhere and has never had problems reported before could be so haunted. Needless to say, we have changed the minds of the park rangers and the visitors to this house as well.
Camarillo State Mental Hospital
California is a state with more than its fair share of ghostly residents, and true to the West Coast way of life, many of them deal with stars of past eras and horrific tragedies, the likes of which no other state can easily boast. While stories of the ghost of Marilyn Monroe and Howard Hughes are well known and accredited to dozens of locations, there are places where the presences of ghosts is not merely a fabrication to boost the tourist trade. In fact, were the places left in their original condition, no sane tourist would want to come within hundreds of miles of them. But while places, like aging stars, get facelifts and become something else, the soul remains the same. Such is the case with the Camarillo State Mental Hospital.
Built in 1936 in the small town of Camarillo, Camarillo State Hospital was touted as the largest psychiatric hospital. It housed merely 410 patients in 1936. The population grew to 1,082 in 193, and in 1957 it reached it's peek of 7,000 patients. Its hallways and cells were used to treat alcoholics, pedophiles, and those with mental illnesses, retardation, and violent tendencies. According to some reports, Camarillo was, in those days, a man-made purgatory in which the worst of the mentally diseased lived. The acreage around the facility was used as farmland, complete with a dairy. The patients had no need to leave the grounds for any of their needs, nor were they allowed to.
By the 1950s more than 7,000 patients, some as young as eleven years old, were housed at the massive facility. Patients wore tan jumpsuits to distinguish them from the doctors and to help capture those that attempted escape. Rowdy inmates were routinely kept under control with powerful drugs. Those that were still uncontrollable were subjected to barbaric treatments such as electroshock therapy. Ground-breaking cures for insanity were claimed to have been discovered, while Camarillo was simultaneously being accused repeatedly and constantly of patient abuses and negligent deaths. Most of their more celebrated treatments such as lobotomies, electroshock treatments, hydrotherapy shock treatments, isolation in restraints, etc. were later found to be inhumane and have since been banished. Electroshock therapy ended in the 1970's at Camarillo, and it finally closed as a hospital, amidst grand jury investigations, in 1997. Another routine or treatment was to immerse the patients in hot water, bring them out, and then wrap them in ice-cold towels. Still others were simply strapped to their beds until they'd exhausted themselves. Investigations of the hospital revealed other horrors such as brutality from the guards and inmates abusing and killing each other.
Camarillo Hospital had an abnormal amount of Hollywood connections. Famous individuals such as Marilyn Monroe's mother, Comedian Bob "Bazooka" Burns' daughter, Actress Gia Scala (who starred in movies with Glenn Ford, Gregory Peck and more), Edward G. Robinson's daughter-in-law, Silent film actress Catherine Smith, Actress and race horse stable owner Paula Stanway Thorpe, could also be found enslaved in this sanitarium. One of the first women to run for CA governor, Hazel Younger was the 4th woman gassed to death.
Troughout the years there has been many documented inccidents of deaths and brutality of the inmates. In the 1970's, Camarillo routinely overdrugged incoming patients with something they simply referred to as a "Number 1," which was mixed shots of Thorazine, Stelazine and Hyosine, or Serentil, Stelazine and Hyosine. This tranquilizer cocktail was discontinued in March 1976, due solely to people dying from it and grand jury inquisitions as to the circumstances of suspicious patient deaths at Camarillo. The Ventura County district attorney investigated more than 100 deaths at Camarillo State Hospital over the past three years (1976, 1977, & 1978) and charges of murder or manslaughter had been filed by the end of the year. 79 of the deaths included cases of drug overdoses, strangulation and possible gross negligence by hospital staff.
In another sad testament to Camarillo's incompetence and danger to its patients, Thomas Riddle, 37, had committed himself to Camarillo's drug and alcohol treatment center for detoxification. Yet two hours after he was admitted in Nov. 1976 as a patient, he was found dead, shackled at the hands and feet in an isolation room at Camarillo's acute psychotic ward. The autopsy said he died from asphyxia due to compression of the neck and a multiple drug overdose. Apparently the patient was full of vodka, methadone, valium, and barbituates when he was admitted but the staff did not check for other drugs in the system before they gave him a "Number 1" cocktail of heavy tranquilizers including Serentil, Stelazine, and Hycocine to subdue the patient. Riddle was subdued by five hospital employees, locked into leather cuffs, and tied down to a wheelchair. He was wheeled to the acute psychiatric ward. The staff psychiatric technician on duty that night, Mr. Borel, told the grand jury that he did not feel there was enough staff on the ward to subdue the patient without the heavy tranquilizers. The psychiatric technicians on duty that night all testify that no one choked the patient or went near his neck, yet the autopsy shows someone constricted his airflow at his neck. Only one witness, psychiatric technician Ronald Willis, failed to deny having seen a "bar strangle hold" or choke hold at the hospital. Such holds allegedly are used in some mental facilities to subdue patients. When Willis was asked if he had ever used the hold on a patient, or seen others use it on patients at Camarillo, he twice pleaded the 5th Amendment, saying it could incriminate him.
On Nov. 13, 1976, more horror stories about staff shortages, the mixing of dangerous drugs and possible incompetence of some employees at Camarillo State Hospital emerged Friday in the 4th day of public hearings before the Ventury County grand jury. One of the cases was the death by starvation of Steven Miller, 33, who died at Camarillo in Sept. 1974. The man in charge of the ward the night Miller died said to reporters that the ones to blame for Miller's death were your senators, your Dept. of Mental Health, and your governor.
In another case a 30 year old mentally challenged patient died on June 8, 1975 by choking on her own vomit, after the nursing staff tried for 24 hours to get a staff doctor to look at her. The nurses said the patient had gained 15 pounds in 4 days due to drinking water, and eventually the patient died before the doctor showed up to help.
In 1974, 20 year old Michael Rogers, also a mentally challenged patient, died. The testimony from Camarillo staff said that the patient had two "superficial lacerations" on his face, and when the staff went to stitch them up, the patient panicked and five male employees struggled to hold him down. He then went into cardiac arrest and died. The autopsy said his cause of death was he choked on his vomit, and the staff in charge that night said if they had it to do over, they would have put him in restraints, not tried to hold him down with people. After studying the patient's chart, it was found that the night Rogers died he was given an alarming cocktail of drugs from Dr. Moore, on duty that night. Dr. Moore gave Rogers Thorazine, Hyosine, Repoise, antihistamines, antiepileptic drugs and other tranquilizers, and the Physicians Desk Reference of 1974 warns about mixing some of those drugs together. Dr. Moore testified to the grand jury that Hyosine had been banned at Camarillo three months prior and that it may have been found to be linked to deaths.
Dr. Jacob P. Frostig, one of the world's greatest authorities on insulin shock treatment, came to Camarillo in Sept. 1939, after studying insulin treatment with its creator, at the Psychiatric Hospital in Warsaw, Poland. Insulin treatments consisted of a series of shots of insulin which lowered the blood sugar, producing a coma, during which time the doctors said the patients were "shocked" back to mental health.
In 1940 Camarillo had an insulin ward which held about 40 beds, separating men from women with a screen in the center. Patients were given a light breakfast at 6:30 AM, and then began injections of 10-500 units of insulin.
The first effects of the drug are drowsiness and excessive perspiration. In the second hour, the consciousness grows cloudy and the body becomes restless. In the 3rd hour, the patient sinks into a deep stupor, often crying out, twisting and writhing. Gags are affixed to prevent him from biting his tongue or lips. The coma deepens and the spasms continue in the 4th hour. Saliva pours from mouth and nostrils. In the 5th and final hour, a rubber tube is inserted into the nose while the patient is still unconscious and fixed in place with adhesive tape. Then the termination treatment is administered and the stomach is flooded through the tube with a solution of glucose (sugar) and salt. The glucose counteracts the effect of the insulin and the patient awakens quickly. The salt is administered to replace losses to the body by perspiration.
These treatments would continue on for 5 days, and on the 6th day, the patient was watched closely, then on the 7th day the patient rested. This would go on for several weeks at a time. The minimum was 15 shocks per patient, and the maximum amount of shocks administered per patient was 50, according to Camarillo doctors. Doctors found after 50 shocks, there needed to be lapses of 3 months in between treatments for the 2nd or 3rd cycle of treatment to work.
The insulin ward is described as having white cabinets on rollers with "EMERGENCY" in big red letters on them. Inside the cabinets were reportedly syringes of glucose, sedatives and adrenaline for emergencies.
In his first 6 months at Camarillo, Dr. Frostig finished treatments on 29 patients, with 23 discharged as cured, 4 being reported as partially recovered, and one who showed some improvement and another who failed to benefit and was pronounced hopeless.
In Mar. 1940, Dr. Frostig was treating 36 more patients at Camarillo, hopeful for similarly high rates of recovery. The insulin therapy was said to need 2 years in some cases, but if a patient did not respond within 2 years, he was deemed hopeless.
In 1940, most of the 200,000 mental asylum patients fell into two categories; schizophrenia and manic depression. Dr. Frostig said schizophrenics change personalities and become more seclusive, and that they become a hermit and experiences a gradual degradation of all mental capacities. He also stated that manic depressives are emotionally unbalanced, and suffer from long periods of either elation or sadness. According to Frostig, insulin treatment could cure both, as long as the conditions had not had enough time to get a head start. Dr. Frostig also reportedly used Metrazol, a powerful stimulant producing violent shock and convulsions on patients but he said he felt insulin was safer.
In the Spring of 1940, Frostig left to Stockton State Hospital to set up the second insulin therapy unit in the state. Frostig proclaimed he would devote his life to insulin therapy and the treatment of the mentally ill.
In September 1974, 35 patients died of smoke inhalation in a small seclusion room after apparently patient set fire to his bed sheets with matches. The psychiatric technician on duty that night, Francis Hartwell, said that he and one other nurse were the only ones supervising 45 patients that evening, and according to the hospital rules there should have been at least 4, he said. Additionally Hartwell said he was pulling his second 8 hour shift in a row that evening. Hartwell testified in front of a Grand Jury that the staffing is not proper to assure a safe shift. Hartwell testified that on the night that Cross died, he was kind of disoriented and disturbed. He had been roaming the halls. The patient had allegedly accepted medication to calm him down and agreed to sleep in a private seclusion room. Hartwell said he believed he had taken the matches and cigarettes away from the patient before placing him in the seclusion room, but the fire inspectors found two cigarette butts and burned matches on Cross' floor after the fire.
The first buildings on site at the Camarillo Hospital were what later became known as "The House of Style," and also the Unit 11 building, both built in 1934. In 1935, the Bell Tower building was built, and in 1936 the kitchen and dining area was added to the South Quad, and in 1937, the rest of the South Quad buildings. The south portion of the North Quad was built next, in 1940, and then the northeast side of the North Quad was built in 1941. In 1950, a small part of the southwest side of the North Quad was built, then in 1951, the Receiving and Treatments building was added to the eastern end of the campus, and the northwest side of the North Quad was finished. Therefore, the buildings that are the oldest are in the South Quad, then the south end of the North Quad, then the North end of the North Quad and the RT Building.
Unit 28, better know as the solitary/isolation units at Camarillo State Mental Hospital, was built in 1937 and housed psychiatric patients. There were many incidents of patients dying in restraints, heavily drugged, left alone in these isolation rooms. Barely large enough for beds, many of these rooms still have curtains in them.
The abandoned Camarillo buildings tell a story, most definitely. We find it odd that so few books and so little is written about the history of Camarillo State Hospital.
Over the following decades things began to slowly change at Camarillo. During the mid 1970s the house of horrors examined its policies and began working to actually heal the patients instead of locking them away. By the early 1990s patients were no longer wearing the familiar tan jumpsuits and were being taught real skills that could enable them to exist and function in the outside world. More children were admitted, and different types of therapies were developed. Patients were allowed to wear their own clothes, and even a petting zoo was added to help the development of the mentally challenged and children.
Toward the end of the Regan Administration, the President instituted a new legislative mandate of deinstitutionalization. It heralded the end of Camarillo, as patients were to be moved to other facilities or released back onto the streets. Camarillo finally closed its doors in 1997, marking the end of an era.
It is clear that brutality and deaths haunted Camarillo throughout its years. Scars left by the old administration plagued the hospital until it closed. Employees and renovators alike tell tales of phantom presences and moving objects, as well as several strangely coincidental deaths. Even people from the film industry, which has used the buildings for several set locations in movies, have reported strange encounters.
Most who enter the old hospital grounds are affected in one way or another. Headaches and nausea are common side effects, as are dizziness and fatigue. Many who enter feel they are being watched or threatened. While symptoms such as these can be attributed to the imagination, it is the eyewitness accounts that provide the most chilling view into the past of Camarillo State Hospital.
Among the reported activities are the voices and laughter of children at the building once designated as the children's center and the petting zoo. The beautiful woman in white, whom many assume to be a nurse, roams the hallways of the bell tower, only to vanish when confronted. There are reports of an old woman who walks the grounds outside the bell tower as well as a man who sits at the bus stop. There's even a chattering ghost in the womens restroom in the bell tower.
However, some of the most compelling stories come from those who either worked or lived there. A female janitor one evening got a shock when cleaning the womens restroom. As she bent to pick something up off the floor, she noticed a pair of legs, which she described as obviously belonging to a man, under the door of a stall. When she called out to the person in the stall, there was no answer. She pushed the door open only to find the stall empty and the legs gone. She refused to enter the restroom again.
Another employee, a nurse named Debbie, had an encounter when trying to sneak a cigarette during a rainy day. Not wanting to go outside in the rain, she opened the doors to the courtyard and lit up. No sooner had she taken her first puff than, as she put it, someone grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and shook her hard. However, when she looked, there was no one there.
A sixty-five-year-old nurse was grabbed by the hair and pulled backward out of a chair by an unseen assailant. She was, however, alone in the room. Her coworker, a ten-year veteran of Camarillo named Sheryl Downey, thought the stories eerie, but it wasn't until her own encounter with the supernatural that she truly believed.
She says she saw him as plain as day, as if he were another living resident of the hospital, but that she'd never seen him before, and he was wearing an inmate uniform from the old days of the asylum. He appeared during one of the busiest times of day, just after breakfast, walking into the womens restroom. When she called out to stop him, he continued as if he hadn't heard her. Sheryl called her coworker to roust the man out, but the room was empty. There were no other exits or windows, and the man could not have gotten out without at least one of the ladies seeing him, but the room was empty. As Sheryl pondered, her coworker screamed. The man was standing directly behind her. He then promptly vanished.
While on a location shoot in May of 2004, several filmmakers reported tools going missing, only to be found later in unopened rooms. Set builders talked of windows slamming on their own, microwave ovens thrown on the floor, and strange knocking on walls. Cold spots were also prevalent through the buildings. Several of the crew quit the set, stating the place was just too creepy for them.
There also appears to be something strange about the back road into the hospital, as it has been host to several unexplained car accidents. Although the road was not heavily traveled, car crashes on it were almost common. After one accident in which a nurse was killed, an autopsy showed that the otherwise healthy woman had suffered a freak brain embolism.
Camarillo State Hospital's reputation definitely played a huge roll in amplifying its fame, which has also spread its way through celebrities. Jazz legend Charlie Parker stayed for seven months after a nervous breakdown in 1947 and soon after recorded his hit, Relaxing at Camarillo. The old hospital is also rumored by some to be the inspiration for The Eagles 1976 hit, Hotel California. Movie producers for several big-budget films have used the site, but the buildings have taken on a new life since the 1997 closing.
In 2000 renovations began, and two years later the buildings that were once considered the most notorious forensic mental hospital in California opened its doors once again, this time as California State University-Channel Islands. The buildings look the same as they did on the outside. Inside, cells have been converted into classrooms and dorms. The restless souls, however, seem to remain.
Built in 1936 in the small town of Camarillo, Camarillo State Hospital was touted as the largest psychiatric hospital. It housed merely 410 patients in 1936. The population grew to 1,082 in 193, and in 1957 it reached it's peek of 7,000 patients. Its hallways and cells were used to treat alcoholics, pedophiles, and those with mental illnesses, retardation, and violent tendencies. According to some reports, Camarillo was, in those days, a man-made purgatory in which the worst of the mentally diseased lived. The acreage around the facility was used as farmland, complete with a dairy. The patients had no need to leave the grounds for any of their needs, nor were they allowed to.
By the 1950s more than 7,000 patients, some as young as eleven years old, were housed at the massive facility. Patients wore tan jumpsuits to distinguish them from the doctors and to help capture those that attempted escape. Rowdy inmates were routinely kept under control with powerful drugs. Those that were still uncontrollable were subjected to barbaric treatments such as electroshock therapy. Ground-breaking cures for insanity were claimed to have been discovered, while Camarillo was simultaneously being accused repeatedly and constantly of patient abuses and negligent deaths. Most of their more celebrated treatments such as lobotomies, electroshock treatments, hydrotherapy shock treatments, isolation in restraints, etc. were later found to be inhumane and have since been banished. Electroshock therapy ended in the 1970's at Camarillo, and it finally closed as a hospital, amidst grand jury investigations, in 1997. Another routine or treatment was to immerse the patients in hot water, bring them out, and then wrap them in ice-cold towels. Still others were simply strapped to their beds until they'd exhausted themselves. Investigations of the hospital revealed other horrors such as brutality from the guards and inmates abusing and killing each other.
Camarillo Hospital had an abnormal amount of Hollywood connections. Famous individuals such as Marilyn Monroe's mother, Comedian Bob "Bazooka" Burns' daughter, Actress Gia Scala (who starred in movies with Glenn Ford, Gregory Peck and more), Edward G. Robinson's daughter-in-law, Silent film actress Catherine Smith, Actress and race horse stable owner Paula Stanway Thorpe, could also be found enslaved in this sanitarium. One of the first women to run for CA governor, Hazel Younger was the 4th woman gassed to death.
Troughout the years there has been many documented inccidents of deaths and brutality of the inmates. In the 1970's, Camarillo routinely overdrugged incoming patients with something they simply referred to as a "Number 1," which was mixed shots of Thorazine, Stelazine and Hyosine, or Serentil, Stelazine and Hyosine. This tranquilizer cocktail was discontinued in March 1976, due solely to people dying from it and grand jury inquisitions as to the circumstances of suspicious patient deaths at Camarillo. The Ventura County district attorney investigated more than 100 deaths at Camarillo State Hospital over the past three years (1976, 1977, & 1978) and charges of murder or manslaughter had been filed by the end of the year. 79 of the deaths included cases of drug overdoses, strangulation and possible gross negligence by hospital staff.
In another sad testament to Camarillo's incompetence and danger to its patients, Thomas Riddle, 37, had committed himself to Camarillo's drug and alcohol treatment center for detoxification. Yet two hours after he was admitted in Nov. 1976 as a patient, he was found dead, shackled at the hands and feet in an isolation room at Camarillo's acute psychotic ward. The autopsy said he died from asphyxia due to compression of the neck and a multiple drug overdose. Apparently the patient was full of vodka, methadone, valium, and barbituates when he was admitted but the staff did not check for other drugs in the system before they gave him a "Number 1" cocktail of heavy tranquilizers including Serentil, Stelazine, and Hycocine to subdue the patient. Riddle was subdued by five hospital employees, locked into leather cuffs, and tied down to a wheelchair. He was wheeled to the acute psychiatric ward. The staff psychiatric technician on duty that night, Mr. Borel, told the grand jury that he did not feel there was enough staff on the ward to subdue the patient without the heavy tranquilizers. The psychiatric technicians on duty that night all testify that no one choked the patient or went near his neck, yet the autopsy shows someone constricted his airflow at his neck. Only one witness, psychiatric technician Ronald Willis, failed to deny having seen a "bar strangle hold" or choke hold at the hospital. Such holds allegedly are used in some mental facilities to subdue patients. When Willis was asked if he had ever used the hold on a patient, or seen others use it on patients at Camarillo, he twice pleaded the 5th Amendment, saying it could incriminate him.
On Nov. 13, 1976, more horror stories about staff shortages, the mixing of dangerous drugs and possible incompetence of some employees at Camarillo State Hospital emerged Friday in the 4th day of public hearings before the Ventury County grand jury. One of the cases was the death by starvation of Steven Miller, 33, who died at Camarillo in Sept. 1974. The man in charge of the ward the night Miller died said to reporters that the ones to blame for Miller's death were your senators, your Dept. of Mental Health, and your governor.
In another case a 30 year old mentally challenged patient died on June 8, 1975 by choking on her own vomit, after the nursing staff tried for 24 hours to get a staff doctor to look at her. The nurses said the patient had gained 15 pounds in 4 days due to drinking water, and eventually the patient died before the doctor showed up to help.
In 1974, 20 year old Michael Rogers, also a mentally challenged patient, died. The testimony from Camarillo staff said that the patient had two "superficial lacerations" on his face, and when the staff went to stitch them up, the patient panicked and five male employees struggled to hold him down. He then went into cardiac arrest and died. The autopsy said his cause of death was he choked on his vomit, and the staff in charge that night said if they had it to do over, they would have put him in restraints, not tried to hold him down with people. After studying the patient's chart, it was found that the night Rogers died he was given an alarming cocktail of drugs from Dr. Moore, on duty that night. Dr. Moore gave Rogers Thorazine, Hyosine, Repoise, antihistamines, antiepileptic drugs and other tranquilizers, and the Physicians Desk Reference of 1974 warns about mixing some of those drugs together. Dr. Moore testified to the grand jury that Hyosine had been banned at Camarillo three months prior and that it may have been found to be linked to deaths.
Dr. Jacob P. Frostig, one of the world's greatest authorities on insulin shock treatment, came to Camarillo in Sept. 1939, after studying insulin treatment with its creator, at the Psychiatric Hospital in Warsaw, Poland. Insulin treatments consisted of a series of shots of insulin which lowered the blood sugar, producing a coma, during which time the doctors said the patients were "shocked" back to mental health.
In 1940 Camarillo had an insulin ward which held about 40 beds, separating men from women with a screen in the center. Patients were given a light breakfast at 6:30 AM, and then began injections of 10-500 units of insulin.
The first effects of the drug are drowsiness and excessive perspiration. In the second hour, the consciousness grows cloudy and the body becomes restless. In the 3rd hour, the patient sinks into a deep stupor, often crying out, twisting and writhing. Gags are affixed to prevent him from biting his tongue or lips. The coma deepens and the spasms continue in the 4th hour. Saliva pours from mouth and nostrils. In the 5th and final hour, a rubber tube is inserted into the nose while the patient is still unconscious and fixed in place with adhesive tape. Then the termination treatment is administered and the stomach is flooded through the tube with a solution of glucose (sugar) and salt. The glucose counteracts the effect of the insulin and the patient awakens quickly. The salt is administered to replace losses to the body by perspiration.
These treatments would continue on for 5 days, and on the 6th day, the patient was watched closely, then on the 7th day the patient rested. This would go on for several weeks at a time. The minimum was 15 shocks per patient, and the maximum amount of shocks administered per patient was 50, according to Camarillo doctors. Doctors found after 50 shocks, there needed to be lapses of 3 months in between treatments for the 2nd or 3rd cycle of treatment to work.
The insulin ward is described as having white cabinets on rollers with "EMERGENCY" in big red letters on them. Inside the cabinets were reportedly syringes of glucose, sedatives and adrenaline for emergencies.
In his first 6 months at Camarillo, Dr. Frostig finished treatments on 29 patients, with 23 discharged as cured, 4 being reported as partially recovered, and one who showed some improvement and another who failed to benefit and was pronounced hopeless.
In Mar. 1940, Dr. Frostig was treating 36 more patients at Camarillo, hopeful for similarly high rates of recovery. The insulin therapy was said to need 2 years in some cases, but if a patient did not respond within 2 years, he was deemed hopeless.
In 1940, most of the 200,000 mental asylum patients fell into two categories; schizophrenia and manic depression. Dr. Frostig said schizophrenics change personalities and become more seclusive, and that they become a hermit and experiences a gradual degradation of all mental capacities. He also stated that manic depressives are emotionally unbalanced, and suffer from long periods of either elation or sadness. According to Frostig, insulin treatment could cure both, as long as the conditions had not had enough time to get a head start. Dr. Frostig also reportedly used Metrazol, a powerful stimulant producing violent shock and convulsions on patients but he said he felt insulin was safer.
In the Spring of 1940, Frostig left to Stockton State Hospital to set up the second insulin therapy unit in the state. Frostig proclaimed he would devote his life to insulin therapy and the treatment of the mentally ill.
In September 1974, 35 patients died of smoke inhalation in a small seclusion room after apparently patient set fire to his bed sheets with matches. The psychiatric technician on duty that night, Francis Hartwell, said that he and one other nurse were the only ones supervising 45 patients that evening, and according to the hospital rules there should have been at least 4, he said. Additionally Hartwell said he was pulling his second 8 hour shift in a row that evening. Hartwell testified in front of a Grand Jury that the staffing is not proper to assure a safe shift. Hartwell testified that on the night that Cross died, he was kind of disoriented and disturbed. He had been roaming the halls. The patient had allegedly accepted medication to calm him down and agreed to sleep in a private seclusion room. Hartwell said he believed he had taken the matches and cigarettes away from the patient before placing him in the seclusion room, but the fire inspectors found two cigarette butts and burned matches on Cross' floor after the fire.
The first buildings on site at the Camarillo Hospital were what later became known as "The House of Style," and also the Unit 11 building, both built in 1934. In 1935, the Bell Tower building was built, and in 1936 the kitchen and dining area was added to the South Quad, and in 1937, the rest of the South Quad buildings. The south portion of the North Quad was built next, in 1940, and then the northeast side of the North Quad was built in 1941. In 1950, a small part of the southwest side of the North Quad was built, then in 1951, the Receiving and Treatments building was added to the eastern end of the campus, and the northwest side of the North Quad was finished. Therefore, the buildings that are the oldest are in the South Quad, then the south end of the North Quad, then the North end of the North Quad and the RT Building.
Unit 28, better know as the solitary/isolation units at Camarillo State Mental Hospital, was built in 1937 and housed psychiatric patients. There were many incidents of patients dying in restraints, heavily drugged, left alone in these isolation rooms. Barely large enough for beds, many of these rooms still have curtains in them.
The abandoned Camarillo buildings tell a story, most definitely. We find it odd that so few books and so little is written about the history of Camarillo State Hospital.
Over the following decades things began to slowly change at Camarillo. During the mid 1970s the house of horrors examined its policies and began working to actually heal the patients instead of locking them away. By the early 1990s patients were no longer wearing the familiar tan jumpsuits and were being taught real skills that could enable them to exist and function in the outside world. More children were admitted, and different types of therapies were developed. Patients were allowed to wear their own clothes, and even a petting zoo was added to help the development of the mentally challenged and children.
Toward the end of the Regan Administration, the President instituted a new legislative mandate of deinstitutionalization. It heralded the end of Camarillo, as patients were to be moved to other facilities or released back onto the streets. Camarillo finally closed its doors in 1997, marking the end of an era.
It is clear that brutality and deaths haunted Camarillo throughout its years. Scars left by the old administration plagued the hospital until it closed. Employees and renovators alike tell tales of phantom presences and moving objects, as well as several strangely coincidental deaths. Even people from the film industry, which has used the buildings for several set locations in movies, have reported strange encounters.
Most who enter the old hospital grounds are affected in one way or another. Headaches and nausea are common side effects, as are dizziness and fatigue. Many who enter feel they are being watched or threatened. While symptoms such as these can be attributed to the imagination, it is the eyewitness accounts that provide the most chilling view into the past of Camarillo State Hospital.
Among the reported activities are the voices and laughter of children at the building once designated as the children's center and the petting zoo. The beautiful woman in white, whom many assume to be a nurse, roams the hallways of the bell tower, only to vanish when confronted. There are reports of an old woman who walks the grounds outside the bell tower as well as a man who sits at the bus stop. There's even a chattering ghost in the womens restroom in the bell tower.
However, some of the most compelling stories come from those who either worked or lived there. A female janitor one evening got a shock when cleaning the womens restroom. As she bent to pick something up off the floor, she noticed a pair of legs, which she described as obviously belonging to a man, under the door of a stall. When she called out to the person in the stall, there was no answer. She pushed the door open only to find the stall empty and the legs gone. She refused to enter the restroom again.
Another employee, a nurse named Debbie, had an encounter when trying to sneak a cigarette during a rainy day. Not wanting to go outside in the rain, she opened the doors to the courtyard and lit up. No sooner had she taken her first puff than, as she put it, someone grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and shook her hard. However, when she looked, there was no one there.
A sixty-five-year-old nurse was grabbed by the hair and pulled backward out of a chair by an unseen assailant. She was, however, alone in the room. Her coworker, a ten-year veteran of Camarillo named Sheryl Downey, thought the stories eerie, but it wasn't until her own encounter with the supernatural that she truly believed.
She says she saw him as plain as day, as if he were another living resident of the hospital, but that she'd never seen him before, and he was wearing an inmate uniform from the old days of the asylum. He appeared during one of the busiest times of day, just after breakfast, walking into the womens restroom. When she called out to stop him, he continued as if he hadn't heard her. Sheryl called her coworker to roust the man out, but the room was empty. There were no other exits or windows, and the man could not have gotten out without at least one of the ladies seeing him, but the room was empty. As Sheryl pondered, her coworker screamed. The man was standing directly behind her. He then promptly vanished.
While on a location shoot in May of 2004, several filmmakers reported tools going missing, only to be found later in unopened rooms. Set builders talked of windows slamming on their own, microwave ovens thrown on the floor, and strange knocking on walls. Cold spots were also prevalent through the buildings. Several of the crew quit the set, stating the place was just too creepy for them.
There also appears to be something strange about the back road into the hospital, as it has been host to several unexplained car accidents. Although the road was not heavily traveled, car crashes on it were almost common. After one accident in which a nurse was killed, an autopsy showed that the otherwise healthy woman had suffered a freak brain embolism.
Camarillo State Hospital's reputation definitely played a huge roll in amplifying its fame, which has also spread its way through celebrities. Jazz legend Charlie Parker stayed for seven months after a nervous breakdown in 1947 and soon after recorded his hit, Relaxing at Camarillo. The old hospital is also rumored by some to be the inspiration for The Eagles 1976 hit, Hotel California. Movie producers for several big-budget films have used the site, but the buildings have taken on a new life since the 1997 closing.
In 2000 renovations began, and two years later the buildings that were once considered the most notorious forensic mental hospital in California opened its doors once again, this time as California State University-Channel Islands. The buildings look the same as they did on the outside. Inside, cells have been converted into classrooms and dorms. The restless souls, however, seem to remain.
Channel Islands Dairy Farm/ Scary Dairy
Scary Dairy is located near California State University of Channel Islands, which was formally Camarillo State Hospital. Scary Dairy is tagged by gang members, and it is rumored to have had murders taken place in the area. Based on the old equipment left behind, Scary Dairy was more than likely used as a slaughterhouse. There are a lot of rooms in the building. Most of the walls have fallen down, and there seems to be lot of dumping in the area. Scary Dairy gives off a very bad vibe, and you can almost feel the ghostly energy. It's a cool place to check out in the day, but when night falls it is probably one of the scariest places to be, considering its past and recorded gang activity.
The Dairy was a part of The Camarillo State Hospital at one point in time. It was used as a means of therapy for the patients. they were sent from the Hospital over to the farm where they were to "work" with the animals. The experiments that went on there were horrific and unheard of. At some point in time, some of the patients managed to escape and set the farm a blaze shortly after they slaughtered the owner of the farm with his own equipment.It burned down, and was never rebuilt. There is a large barn that remains mostly intact. It has been said that a girl had hung herself from the barn and her ghost has been seen lurking around her death site.It has also been noted that the barn site had been used for satanic rituals at some point. Many people that come upon this site have said to encounter feelings of depression, uneasiness, a sense of being watched and some have even began to feel nauseated. Others had encountered batteries draining in their flashlights and cameras.
The County Parks Department has posted a “No Entry” without special permit sign. The park has become a paint ball, model airplane flying zone and a party haven, so entry and parking on University Drive are restricted. Police have cited numerous cars that park illegally at the University Drive entrance and some have found, driving in when the gate is open can result in a locked gate when you try to leave. So best to find legal parking or be prepared to hike a bit further, and realize that this is now a "gray
area" as far as access.
The County is planning at least 2 full-size golf courses here: the 16,000 outdoor amphitheater is on hold for now so the dairy’s history and future are numbered.
The Dairy was a part of The Camarillo State Hospital at one point in time. It was used as a means of therapy for the patients. they were sent from the Hospital over to the farm where they were to "work" with the animals. The experiments that went on there were horrific and unheard of. At some point in time, some of the patients managed to escape and set the farm a blaze shortly after they slaughtered the owner of the farm with his own equipment.It burned down, and was never rebuilt. There is a large barn that remains mostly intact. It has been said that a girl had hung herself from the barn and her ghost has been seen lurking around her death site.It has also been noted that the barn site had been used for satanic rituals at some point. Many people that come upon this site have said to encounter feelings of depression, uneasiness, a sense of being watched and some have even began to feel nauseated. Others had encountered batteries draining in their flashlights and cameras.
The County Parks Department has posted a “No Entry” without special permit sign. The park has become a paint ball, model airplane flying zone and a party haven, so entry and parking on University Drive are restricted. Police have cited numerous cars that park illegally at the University Drive entrance and some have found, driving in when the gate is open can result in a locked gate when you try to leave. So best to find legal parking or be prepared to hike a bit further, and realize that this is now a "gray
area" as far as access.
The County is planning at least 2 full-size golf courses here: the 16,000 outdoor amphitheater is on hold for now so the dairy’s history and future are numbered.