Prairie Specters

Heayweights of the Paranormal - Alcatraz Island

2012-01-27T16:12:00.004-06:00

San Francisco has many a said haunted location from buildings to cemeteries and the most famous hot spot of mystery is Alcatraz Prison. The now closed prison the ghosts are not so quiet, sounds of ghostly footsteps and the real sounds of cell doors opening and closing also echo throughout the empty haunted corridors. Visitors, Tour guides, and paranormal investigators and workers have all reported feeling many localized "cold haunted ghost spots" in certain common areas, and the feeling that they are not alone.

The prison on Alcatraz Island, a lonely outcropping in the middle of San Francisco Bay, was opened in 1933 as a maximum-security facility for America's most dangerous criminals. Among its most celebrated internees were Chicago crime boss Al Capone and Robert "Birdman" Stroud. Life on Alcatraz was hard: Inmates were lucky to spend one hour a day outside their cells, and those so favored usually spent the time breaking rocks.

Violating prison rules could mean months of solitary confinement, sometimes in the Hole, a tiny cell with no light. The prison was shut down in 1963, and Alcatraz Island became a national park site. But the building still stands, and some of the poor souls that served time and died there seem to be locked forever behind its dank walls.

Several visitors have reported hearing moans, agonized cries and chains rattling in cell blocks A, B, and particularly C. A psychic who visited the site claimed to identify the unruly spirit of a man named Butcher inhabiting the place. Prison records confirm that Abie Maldowitz, a mob hit man nicknamed Butcher, was killed by a fellow inmate in the laundry area of cell block C. The D cell block is supposedly haunted as well, with visitors reporting cold spots and the sound of phantom banjo music coming from rooms that once housed Al Capone.

What is DOP (disappearing object phenomenon)?

2012-01-24T17:16:00.001-06:00

DOP - disappearing object phenomenon - is a relatively common phenomenon in which an object disappears from view and later inexplicably returns. For example, a person puts their car keys on a kitchen counter, where they are always kept. When the person goes to get them, they are gone. A thorough search turns up nothing. Later, the keys are found on the counter where they were originally put (or some other obvious place.

It's difficult to document a genuine DOP occurrence because people can be careless, simply misplace things or be forgetful. But there are many compelling stories from people who are certain they looked for the object in the place that it later appears. In some cases, people audibly call out for the object to be returned - and it is. In some rare cases, the missing object has actually been seen materializing out of thin air. It is also known as the "borrower" phenomenon. It may be related to poltergeist phenomena.

Unexplained Noises heard from the Sky!

2012-01-24T16:41:00.001-06:00

Weird. I wonder if it has something to do with the magnetic storm we are having today.

http://www.cjme.com/story/video-unexplained-noises-heard-sky-north-battleford/40843

Why are there so many ghost stories about a "woman in white"?

2011-10-20T21:58:00.001-06:00

By Esther Inglis-Arkell

Does your town have a Woman in White? Of course it does. There is no town that doesn't have a woman in a white dress who wafts around drafty halls of the local manor, or paces the widow's walk of the local hotel. Find out about the woman in white legend, some local examples, and share your own stories of ghostly women in white. I know you have them. Everyone does.

The I remember living in was mostly open land until the 1960s. It was built up in the few decades between then and the time I arrived. The only old structure in the entire town was a large Catholic school, and so that is where the Woman in White used to hang out. Some say the school building used to be a convent and the woman was a nun in love with a priest, some say it used to be the house of a robber baron and the woman was his unfortunate wife, some say it was always a school and she was a lovelorn teacher. It doesn't really matter. Just as long as a ghostly woman gliding over the grounds, the reason could be supplied later.

White Women or White Ladies, are an international phenomenon. In Holland and Germany, centuries ago, they are said to be healers and gentle spirits. German legend has them appearing at noon, blindingly beautiful in the light. Dutch legend has them haunting graveyards during the night, the spirits of healers passed from the earth. They are not necessarily ghosts. Often they're treated more as elves or earth spirits, though they began as humans. Up in Ireland, and more northern countries, wailing women in white are said to foretell death. Down south, in Mexico, the La Llorona legend has it that these women in white drowned their children, and lurk by water to drown more. Yūrei, in Japan, are vengeful spirits attached to certain objects or places, and attack the people who come into contact with them. But these are all old legends.

In modern woman in white stories, there is always a tragic love story. The woman in white is rarely someone's sister, daughter, or mother. Oh, she maybe be any or all of those things (It's a pretty safe bet that she's someone's daughter.), but those aren't the things that her legend is dealing with. One of the next major towns I lived in was on the coast. A restaurant that overlooked the ocean was built on a beach famous for being the landing ground for bootleggers bringing alcohol close to San Francisco by boat, and loading it on to trucks to make the journey into the city. This much is true. The idea that a woman in white walks the edge of the cliff (or what the less romantic among us would call the parking lot) is not as well established, but the legend continues. Supposedly she was the bootlegger's girlfriend, while having a less wealthy lover on the side. The bootlegger killed her. It's not clear whether she was killed at that drop off point or whether her body just washed up there, but the important points; love, sex, betrayal, murder, are there in most Woman in White Legends. She's someone's unhappy wife, or illicit lover, or suicidal betrothed, or some other sad tale of romantic woe.

San Francisco itself has a rather unusual ghost -an urban woman in white who walks outside. Most cities have figures that appear in the windows of great old houses, or flit through the walls or along the roofs of old hotels, but we have one that walks up and down California Street, a high-traffic road that crosses the entire city. Our outdoor woman in white is said to be Flora Sommerton. She was eighteen in 1876, a celebrated beauty, an heiress, and the toast of society. Her parents decided to cement her status by forcing her to marry a wealthy older man. Flora's legend is as confused about the details as any other. According to one version she fled down California on the day of her wedding, in her wedding dress. Another has her running out on everyone on the evening of her betrothal in a white ballgown. What's atypical about Flora is she shows up again - just not alive. Fifty years later, in Butte, Montana, a woman's body in the same white dress was found in a hotel room. The room was supposedly covered in clippings about the disappearance of Flora, but the body was never positively identified.

What also stands out about Flora is her age. All women in white seem to be young and pretty, but Flora is just a few years out of the stage when we would call her that other ubiquitous phantom, the Girl in White. Any places that don't have a Woman in White will tend to have a little girl in a white dress floating around a house, staring at people. While Women in White are generally glimpsed from afar and go away soon, little girl ghosts have more of a personality. Sometimes they're solemn and sad, staring at people from windows and doorways. Sometimes they're mischievous, can be heard laughing or running around, and will hide things in the house. Sometimes, they're downright Japanese-horror-movie malevolent. (It's not a coincidence that Linda Blair spent most of The Exorcist in a white night dress.) But they're always around.

Perhaps there's a reason for that. Perhaps young girl ghosts grow up into Woman in White ghosts, and then when they can't squeeze into the dress anymore they head over to Butte, Montana. Whatever the protocol, it's clear that the Woman in White shows up anywhere and everywhere, including your town, right now - possibly reading this over your shoulder. Go ahead and look. I'll wait.

2011-09-27T19:40:00.003-06:00

Hey everybody! Currently we are working a couple articles featuring some new locations in and around Regina. I hope to have them up in the next few weeks.

In the meantime here is an article about " True Believer Syndrome."

The true-believer syndrome merits study by science. What is it that compels a person, past all reason, to believe the unbelievable. How can an otherwise sane individual become so enamored of a fantasy, an imposture, that even after it's exposed in the bright light of day he still clings to it--indeed, clings to it all the harder? --M. Lamar Keene

True-believer syndrome is an expression coined by M. Lamar Keene to describe an apparent cognitive disorder characterized by believing in the reality of paranormal or supernatural events after one has been presented overwhelming evidence that the event was fraudulently staged. Keene is a reformed phony psychic who exposed religious racketeering—to little effect, apparently. Phony faith healers, psychics, channelers, televangelist miracle workers, etc., are as abundant as ever.

Keene believes that "the true-believer syndrome is the greatest thing phony mediums have going for them" because "no amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie." That those suffering from true-believer syndrome are consciously lying to themselves hardly seems likely, however. Perhaps from the viewpoint of a fraud and hoaxer, the mark who is told the truth but who continues to have faith in you must seem to believe what he knows is a lie. Yet, this type of self-deception need not involve lying to oneself. To lie to oneself would require admission that one believes what one knows is false. This does not seem logically possible. One can't believe or disbelieve what one knows. (Belief is distinct from belief in, which is a matter of trust rather than belief.) Belief and disbelief entail the possibility of error; knowledge implies that error is beyond reasonable probability. I may have overwhelming evidence that a "psychic" is a phony, yet still believe that paranormal events occur. I may be deceiving myself in such a case, but I don't think it is correct to say I am lying to myself.

It is possible that those suffering from true-believer syndrome simply do not believe that the weight of the evidence before them revealing fraud is sufficient to overpower the weight of all those many cases of supportive evidence from the past. The fact that the supportive evidence was largely supplied by the same person exposed as a fraud is suppressed. There is always the hope that no matter how many frauds are exposed, at least one of the experiences might have been genuine. No one can prove that all psychic "miracles" have been frauds; therefore, the true believer may well reason that he or she is justified in keeping hope alive. Such thinking is not completely illogical, though it may seem pathological to the one admitting the fraud.

It does not seem as easy to explain why the true believer continues to believe in, that is, trust the psychic once he has admitted his deception. Trusting someone who reveals he is a liar and a fraud seems irrational, and such a person must appear so to the hoaxer. Some true believers may well be mad, but some may be deceiving themselves by assuming that it is possible that a person can have psychic powers without knowing it. One could disbelieve in one's psychic ability, yet still actually possess paranormal powers. Just as there are people who think they have psychic powers but don't really have any such powers, there may be people who have psychic powers but think they don't.

www.skepdic.com

The Best Ghost Videos Ever Taken - About.com

2011-07-26T21:41:00.001-06:00

By Stephan Wagner

http://paranormal.about.com/od/Ghost_Videos/ig/Best-Ghost-Videos-Ever-Taken/

PS mobile

2011-07-26T21:07:00.001-06:00

Prairie Specters now has mobile support.

Fort San Video

2011-07-26T21:00:00.000-06:00

Have a look at this new video. Let me know what you think in the comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgGMQndHIe8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Devil's Toy Box

2011-04-06T21:18:00.003-06:00

“The Devil’s Toy Box”

Written by James Paradie

Published in the White Mountain Shopper on October 1st, 2010

Authors Note: I am just reporting this and not claiming that I have done it, so please don't confuse me as the one who invented this theory. I am also not saying that you will get demons if you make this device as this story is for entertainment purposes only. I know this story or the Devil's Toy Box is extremely hard to find on here (believe me, I know, I had a very hard time finding the material for this myself), but that does mean I made this up. Any questions regarding the Devil's Toy Box can be sent to Joshua P. Warren at www.joshuapwarren.com Other then that enjoy the article.

You’ve heard about Ouija Boards, Frank’s Box, Glass Swirling, but have you ever heard of a device named “The Devil’s Toy Box”? This device is somewhat unknown within the community of the paranormal. What’s the reason behind it’s unknowing? Is it because it has the name “devil” within it? Like demonic creatures are going to come in from the mirror, reach out, grab you, and take you the depths of the underworld? No. Or at least that’s never been reported.

The Devil’s Toy Box is where you take six mirrors; you can use any size, but the other mirrors must be of the same size; then, you form a cube with the mirrors. Although who created this technique is unknown at the moment the man who made it popular is fellow paranormal junkie, Joshua P. Warren. Mr. Warren first discussed the paranormal gadget on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory.

But, you take six mirrors of the same size, put them into a cube form…Okay, what else do you do? Do you do any special séance or do you put some witch spell on it? Neither. You simply let it sit and let it do it’s “work”. Supposedly if you were to let this sit for awhile the six mirrors, according to Mr. Warren, cause a back and forth energy loop. Over time you could be hearing strange noises coming from the cube. Growling and other weird noises have been reported coming from the mirror. However, this is only from Mr. Warren’s word and I have not been able to touch base with other reports of anyone else doing this and I haven’t either. Would you do it?

Some would say not, and to stay clear away from anything that has to do with mirrors within the paranormal world. Some sources have told me that negative energy loves to use mirrors as an entrance point and exit from our world to their world. Then, some religions, such as Wicca, use The Devil's Toy Box to capture and remove negative spirits. The Wiccans also believe that the reason they leave is because of the mirrors and they can't stand the sight of themselves.

An Ouija Board may be considered dangerous, but a device that supposedly causes growling noises to come from it? With how neat this device sounds it’s too bad that so little information can be retrieved about it, but maybe there is a reason for that. It could be just some sort of false hocus pocus to get people scared sheetless (no pun intended) or maybe something a little more “devilish” then what it intends?

Entity Caught on Video During Paranormal Investigation

2011-02-28T09:01:00.003-06:00

Call it an apparition, ghost or entity. Something is captured on video during a paranormal investigation of a house in East McKeesport, Pennsylvania.

Apparition Caught By Doreen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qcLzVsy50Q
Investigator Doreen captures an apparition. She was up on the second floor of a home, she was in a room by herself when this was caught.

Barb King is the founder of the PA. Dept of Paranormal Investigations or PDPI, a non-profit investigative team based in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania vicinity. She describes Doreen Hill as "a strong investigator with good skills," then adds, "I trust her totally."

One evening in March, 2009, Doreen Hill and a handful of researchers from the Pittsburgh Paranormal Society accepted an invitation to investigate a rental property in East McKeesport, Pennsylvania.

The mother and her two sons living there felt threatened. The family witnessed shadow phenomenon in the stairway leading to the second floor. Vile odors wafted through the residence. They began sleeping on the living room floor before finally retreating to a relative's house since they did not have anywhere else to go.

When investigators arrived, there was a "TERRIBLE" smell in the home. They asked the tenant to check her refrigerator to see if maybe something had gone bad... nothing.

Two investigators immediately decided to check things outside.

Doreen escorted the mother upstairs to escape the stench, shoot video, and maybe run an EVP. Being somewhat "sensitive," she was drawn to a bedroom currently being used for storage. The mother returned downstairs to be with her children and to check on what everyone else was doing.

Doreen shot some video without incident.

Routinely checking what her Sony Handycam Hybrid DCR-SR45 had captured, her eyes more than likely popped out of her head reminiscent of some 1940's animated cartoon.

"I never saw that apparition in my view finder," Doreen explained. "After an hour or so, I wanted to check my video and that is when I saw her! I could not believe it and ran downstairs to show the tenant and the founder of the paranormal group what I caught. When I got downstairs, I found everyone in the basement because one of the investigators got pushed against a wall and they were making sure that she was okay."

The apparition can be clearly seen at 0:06 seconds as the camera pans slowly left and is really blurred at 0:16 seconds as the camera pans very quickly to the right.

We have three choices here:

1.) Deliberate hoax? Doreen Hill's integrity and her lack of technical savvy negate any hint of hoax.

2.) Mistake? To counter skeptical arguments that she merely recorded her own reflection or someone else in the house, Doreen says, "As far as the colors I was wearing....I know for a fact that I was wearing a black shirt with white lettering and jeans. The shirt I was wearing was the shirt I wore when I was with Pittsburgh Paranormal Society." This is no reflection or accidental capture of any living person present in that dwelling. The family is African American. No one in attendance dressed in the manner of this apparition. This is no orb or pareidolia.

3.) Real deal? Shawn Kelly, the Founder of the Pittsburgh Paranormal Society, states for the record, "The video is for real and it is a true apparition. It is the best piece of evidence out there to this day."

'Haunted' church ravaged by ghost hunters

2011-02-17T15:14:00.005-06:00

CBC News

A 190 -year-old church in Quebec has become the target of ghost hunters amid rumours the building is haunted.

The 19th century St. John's Anglican Church in Gore, Que., has been plagued by unwelcome visitors of late, and both the church's warden and the Anglican diocese are considering abandoning it.Some of those breaking in are simply vandals, but others are doing more than just mischief. Spectre-seeking late-night crowds have begun congregating in the church after rumours it was haunted started to spread online.

Rumours were started on chat sites that at one time the church's congregation committed mass suicide. Although the stories had no basis in fact, they soon had supernatural thrill seekers and ghost hunters breaking in to the church at night. They've been performing seances on the grounds, trying to conjure up the spirits of the dead.

In the process, the ghost hunters are despoiling one of the few remnants of the 19th-century village of Shrewsbury, a Scottish and Irish settlement founded in the 1820s. The village, located within the modern-day municipality of Gore, disappeared over the last century because of disease and a lack of fertile soil.Jim Kyle, the church's warden, says almost every week another tombstone is desecrated or another piece of the church defaced.

"It sickens me to know that there are people out there with so little to do with their lives that this is what they take pleasure in," Kyle said.

Kyle's grandmother once played the organ in St. John's, but now it lies in ruins, along with the church's original furniture.

"They think if they do this they'll anger the ghosts, and the ghosts will come out," Kyle said.

The Anglican diocese is preparing to deconsecrate St. John's Church, putting an end to Anglican services there.

"It's sad. It feels in a sense like we got defeated.... We've had to give up after almost 200 years," said super archdeacon Edward Simonton, a rector in Rawdon, Que.

But the community of Gore hasn't lost all hope. The community plans to apply for provincial funding to restore St. John's as a non-denominational church where people can still hold baptisms and weddings.

Gore is about an hour's drive north of Montreal.

The church was built in 1858.

Video

Location - The Regina General Hospital

2011-02-10T14:21:00.011-06:00

The Regina General Hospital began construction in 1909. Originally, the building had a 100-bed capacity, cost over $100,000 and took two years to complete. Additions were built onto the main structure in 1913 and 1927, upgrading the facility to a 410-bed capacity. Additional construction took place in 1949, upgrading the building's capacity to 800 beds - and again in 1966, with a final addition constructed in the late 1990s.

There are a number of reported spirits haunting this hospital. Many people have seen an elderly nurse who rushes around the hallways of the hospital at speeds not humanly possible. There has also been many reports of people seeing a lost little boy wandering the old wing of the hospital and then suddenly disappearing. Some people have also claimed to see the ghost of an older nurse standing behind them but when they turn around she disappears.

The Tulip Staircase

2011-02-10T13:32:00.003-06:00

Ancient footfalls often resound in the Queen’s House at the Naval College in London. Nothing is known of the hooded figure climbing the steps aside from his apparent grief and the glimmer of a ring on the first or second finger of his right hand.

Taken in 1966, Reverend Hardy and his wife used time-lapse photography, perhaps in an effort to capture an image of the ghost, on the unused staircase. Off limits to the public, the staircase was barricaded to prevent visitors from wandering about; I guess no one thought to tell the ghosts… After the photo was developed and the images found, it was examined by photographic experts, including Kodak, for its authenticity. Further attempts to duplicate it using props and actors yielded disastrous results, leading experts to conclude that the photo is genuine and there’s some creepy thing crawling up the stairs at the Naval College.

Ghosts are trying to make contact with living friends using mobile phones, a paranormal expert claims.

2011-01-12T13:14:00.004-06:00

The Sun

The number of mystery calls to mobiles attributed to spooks has rocketed by 43 per cent in the last four years, a study found.

Spectre investigator Phil Hayes from Paranormal Research UK believes a third of all hauntings are now through mobile phones.

The calls often feature heavy static and the voice sounds faint and distant, he revealed. Nine in ten show as "withheld number" or "000000000000" on caller ID.Statistics show two thirds of all paranormal phenomena feature sounds, with just 20 per cent being actual sightings of ghosts and 15 per cent based on smell.

Around half of audible hauntings were captured on voice recorders by specialist spook hunters, with eight per cent coming through TV or radio.New research shows one in three Brits claim to have seen an apparition in a photo or captured paranormal footage on their mobile.The study by Tesco Mobile revealed Paranormal Research UK have seen a 70 per cent upsurge in paranormal evidence in the last year due to people using their phones.

More than half of Brits claimed they would try to capture a sighting of a ghost — but one in five admitted they would be terrified and run away. Three in five people say they know someone who has experienced paranormal activity, with half having felt an unexplained shiver down the spine when entering a room. Phil Hayes said: "There is evidence to suggest that ghosts can use phones to communicate, with reports of people receiving phone calls from deceased relatives."

Lance Batchelor, CEO of Tesco Mobile said: "We'd recommend those brave enough to capture any spooky sightings should MMS or email their pics to the paranormal society for investigation.

"Keep your camera phone on the highest quality resolution setting and use the recorder to capture the noise of any spectral sounds."

Heavyweights of the Paranormal - The Winchester Mystery House

2011-01-09T17:14:00.007-06:00

In 1884, a wealthy widow named Sarah L. Winchester began a construction project of such magnitude that it was to occupy the lives of carpenters and craftsmen until her death thirty-eight years later. The Victorian mansion, designed and built by the Winchester Rifle heiress, is filled with so many unexplained oddities, that it has come to be known as the Winchester Mystery House.

Sarah Winchester built a home that is an architectural marvel. Unlike most homes of its era, this 160-room Victorian mansion had modern heating and sewer systems, gas lights that operated by pressing a button, three working elevators, and 47 fireplaces. From rambling roofs and exquisite hand inlaid parquet floors to the gold and silver chandeliers and Tiffany art glass windows, you will be impressed by the staggering amount of creativity, energy, and expense poured into each and every detail.

We may never know for sure if Mrs. Winchester built her house to accommodate the spirits, but over the years the story has come down that she believed her life was unavoidably affected by departed souls. Presumably she wanted to be friendly with the “good” spirits and avoid the “bad” spirits – and the way to be friendly with the “good” spirit, it seemed, was to build them a nice place to visit.

According to this theory, Mrs. Winchester accommodated the friendly spirits by giving them special attention. For example, it is said that there were only three mirrors in the entire house at the time of Mrs. Winchester’s death. Legend has it that spirits hate mirrors, since the sight of their reflection causes them to vanish.

This is why Mrs. Winchester’s servants and secretary reportedly used only hand mirrors or went without.

The mansion also contained a profusion of light sources, from gas jets and countless candles, to electric light bulbs. Supposedly spirits feel conspicuous and humiliated by shadows, since they cannot cast their own.

Was Mrs. Winchester making a special effort to please her spirits companions?

In any case, for nearly thirty-eight years, the round-the-clock sawing, sanding, and hammering at the Winchester Mystery House™ never ceased – not even on weekends or holidays. It was never a rush job. Mrs. Winchester had all the time in the

world – at least, all the time needed to maintain a steady pace. With her financial freedom, she was content to honor whatever whims came from her imagination and from the spirits she believed were guiding her.

Haunted Places In India You Don't Want To Visit, or maybe you do

2011-01-05T11:15:00.009-06:00

About.com

Think of ghosts and your blood runs cold. There are certain haunted places in India where you wouldn't put your step on. These places are haunted with ghosts from a very long time and if you pay them a visit they get hysterical leaving you unconscionably struck with fear.
The list will make your hair stand as it could be one of those places you paid a visit to recently.

1.The Shaniwarwada Fort – This famous fort is in Pune, the land of many ruins. The Shaniwarwada Fort is now a tourist place where millions flock to see this beautiful palace. The haunting story of this palace is that some of the locals who stay close by hear the cries of Narayan, the heir of the kingdom

who was chased by his assassins on a full moon night.

2.Sanjay Nan – This place is located in New Delhi. The Sanjay Van is one place where you would not want to visit. It is said that a lady in white often walks the forest area and most of them who have been in this area close to Sanjay Nan have seen her appear and suddenly disappear.

3.The Raj Kiran hotel – This hotel is said to be a perfect place to spend if you are not afraid to be with a ghost. There is one particular room on the ground floor at the Raj Kiran Hotel which is spooky and haunted. Guests who have stayed at this hotel have said that their bedsheets were pulled off in the middle of the night and when they awoke, it was still thrown off them. The Raj Kiran Hotel is situated in Mumbai.

4.Ramoji Film City – This is another spooky haunted places in India. Situated in Hyderabad, this Ramoji Film City haunts the women and troubles them every time they are alone or with a group of girls. At the Ramoji Film City, the light men who are on the top often get pushed over and receive multiple injuries.

5. Sumas – Situated in Gujaart. The Sumas is yet another haunted places in India where many have complained about the voices they have heard as you take a walk along the beach. Especially at night you would hear voices telling you to turn around and not go further into the beach for it is dangerous and dogs in that area keep howling and seem uncontrollable. This is said to happen as Hindus burn their bodies in this area.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T16:55:00.001-06:00

Whew ... I'll tell you don't forget you blogger password. What a ordeal that was. Anyways, hope to post more material in the next few days.

Hunt for Ghosts near Nordegg

2010-08-13T11:53:00.009-06:00

Western Wilderness Adventures is offering an unusual weekend getaway for visitors who want to test their supernatural detection powers.

All I can tell you is that either you’re going to love Cabin #3 or you’re going to run screaming into the woods as if your hair is on fire. Because that’s where … well, you’ll find out.

A new ghost hunting camp perched on soil that’s soaked in ghost lore offers a wilderness adventure that promises pay-offs in the form of sightings, hearings and – if you’re lucky – an unforgettable night of fright.

There’s no running water, no telephones, no disturbances of any kind at this rustic camp, other than the kind that might make your skin crawl.

How to track a ghost

Will Baker, 28, owner and operations manager of Western Wilderness Adventures, tested the property near Nordegg (west of Red Deer) for a year to ensure it was ghost-active but visitor-friendly.

“Ghosts and spirits walk the grounds here, and this is a chance to learn all about investigating such phenomenon,” says Baker, who is First Nations and a member of the Chippewa of Sarnia.

“We launched our ghost hunting adventures at the beginning of April, but I’ve been doing ghost hunts here with family and friends for the past year, and that made me confident that if guests came I could produce results that it is haunted.”

Get the right ghost gear

You need the right stuff to hunt ghosts and Baker provides it all at the camp. “We make sure that what we use is something you can buy yourself if you learn here and want to do more on your own later,” he says.

A digital voice recorder is used “to keep a record but also to keep up on disembodied voices that you can hear.” A portable laptop enhances and isolates sounds. An EMF meter (electromagnetic field detector) tracks ghost energy. A video camera captures sightings. A night vision scope shows things you wouldn’t see otherwise.

Enjoy your weekend

Okay, about Cabin #3: there have already been several “very successful” ghost hunting camp weekends over the past month or so, says Baker. Cabin #3 is where the little girl ghost tends to appear. She pulls on your covers. She asks you to play.

You can book a weekend here or call (403)846-9026 for more information.

Travel Alberta Blog

Return to Fort San

2010-08-13T11:16:00.007-06:00

Lately we had a chance to return to Fort San and wander the grounds taking pictures. The years have not been kind to the site as well as the vandals. Almost every building, which was firmly boarded up last time we visited, has now been torn open and furniture and debris thrown about.

While walking the grounds we met many other curious persons as well. Unfortunately nothing of the supernatural kind. We left with plans of returning on another day in the evening.

Several weeks later on driving by the site it has once again been plastered with no trespassing signs and trailers blocking the way in. So much for procrastination. Hopefully we can once again get in contact with the current owners and get permission to explore the grounds and buildings in the evening.

Watch here for more updates on the Fort San location.

Spooky encounter for Bristol Old Vic architect

2010-07-21T21:19:00.010-06:00

The architect leading the redevelopment of the Bristol Old Vic claims to have seen the theatre manager who worked there 200 years ago.

The ghost of Sarah Macready appeared to Andrzej Blonski as he climbed the back stairs at lunchtime. He says she was wearing a long, white crinoline dress, had black hair and a pretty face. When he tried to speak to her she vanished.Mr Blonski told the BBC that he has never believed in ghosts and - prior to their meeting - was not aware of her legacy at the Bristol Old Vic.

"The thing that really got me was that she smiled - she was a friend and then she vanished," he said."But then I was really very, very happy - at the moment I'm quite emotional about it because I think that if there is a ghost, it's someone who cares about this building."

The architect believes that her smile is a sign that she approves of the current redevelopment work taking place in the theatre.

Andrzej Blonski says he has sensed ghostly presences on the stairs before, and caught a whiff of lavender perfume.This distinctive scent has also accompanied some of her previous appearances since her death.

A security guard in the 1980s smelled lavender in the air while on patrol along the passageways below the auditorium. The Alsatian dog by his side froze and started barking.

The guard also says he heard a woman's voice tell him to "get out" and he felt her breath on his face.

Andrew Stocker, who gives tours of the Bristol Old Vic, said Sarah Macready's hard work was part of the key to the theatre's early success.

"She was an actress originally - she had an affair with William Charles Macready. He married her and he basically gave her the keys to the theatre and she worked here for over 10 years.

"She was a lady that ran this building seven days a week and she was an incredible lady."

The project manager from the team redesigning the Bristol Old Vic had a more shocking experience. Mr Blonski says that he was physically pushed. He ran away and now will not use the "haunted" staircase.

Sarah Macready is not the only spirit said to haunt this old playhouse. The ghost of a boy who died in an accident in the paint shop in the 1950s has been spotted as well as the 18th Century West End actress Sarah Siddons.

Mr Blonski says he feels the building is alive with its past: "It's got a very strong spirit - the spirit of the people who have passed through it and I connect to that. Somehow this place has got to me."

Prairie Specters

2010-07-21T20:48:00.004-06:00

Hey there readers sorry for not posting in a while. I had some busy life issues to deal with but I can devote more time back on PR now. I hope you like the sites new look. Go ahead and comment on it as I'm very curious on what you think. Watch for a new post about our return trip to Fort San in the next few days.

Thanks.

Stalking 'ghosts' of a violent past in Saskatchewan's Fort Pitt

2010-06-04T12:28:00.006-06:00

When Wayne Brown scans the landscape, he's adding a generous overlay of history to a familiar terrain. We're touring the area where Fort Pitt once stood, about 60 km northeast of Lloydminster. An early Hudson's Bay post and base for a North-West Mounted Police detachment, Fort Pitt is now a catchbasin of memories from events that fired up the country 125 years ago.

"This portion of the province, adjacent to the North Saskatchewan River, is so rich in history it absolutely reeks," Brown says.

In his mind's eye, the amateur historian and writer is back in 1885, musing on the part the region played in the Northwest Resistance.

Not far from here, nine people, including two Roman Catholic priests, were murdered at Frog Lake in April of that year, and all hell broke loose in this part of west-central Saskatchewan.
Soon afterwards, Cree warriors laid siege to Fort Pitt, forcing the defending North-West Mounted Police to escape down the ice-filled river to Fort Battleford.

"They only had a short time to make their escape, which they did toward dark. They pulled a scow down to the river, got it afloat and piled in and made the harrowing journey all the way to Battleford," Brown says. Rising from the river valley, the flat land where the fort stood blends in with the broad expanse of prairie that climbs away to the horizon. While there are interpretive panels where buildings once stood, you'll need some imagination to help stir visions of the past if you visit here.

Fort Pitt is rich in heritage. The first fort was built in 1829, and hosted many of the early explorers who were passing through, Brown says.

A second fort was built after the original one burned down. Even before the Northwest Resistance, the remote enclave had witnessed violence.

"There was even a real Wild West gunfight between two American gold-seekers in March 1859," Brown says. "One guy died of his wounds; the other was slightly wounded."

The second fort was really a conglomeration of buildings -- a fort in name only, possessing no palisades and a zero inventory of big guns, he says. Nevertheless, it was headquarters for a detachment of NWMP commanded by Insp. Francis Dickens, son of Charles Dickens.

"Dickens had less than a sterling reputation as a leader, and it wasn't long after he escaped with his men to Battleford that he would quit the force he'd served in for a dozen years. But the fort was totally non-defendable, and you can't blame Dickens for abandoning it during the rebellion."

While there is little evidence of the fort's presence, it's still a fascinating place to visit, Brown adds.

"Go there on a calm autumn evening and the whole place is alive with ghosts. I'm not kidding: You can feel the presence of them in the dusty fall air." It is truly an eerie feeling, but not without good reason, he says, strolling through the old fort graveyard recently rejuvenated by Saskatchewan's parks department. Nor is that the only reminder of the tenuous nature of life during that era.

"Somewhere, not far from the fort, there's a mass grave of probably hundreds of First Nations people who died in the smallpox epidemics and who knows who else."

LINK

The Vancouver Sun

UK Museum gives up the ghost.

2010-05-19T15:32:00.010-06:00

A city council believes it may have proof that ghosts really do exist after something strange was caught on film at a Victorian museum.

Security cameras in Belgrave Museum in Leicester appear to have captured pictures of ghostly apparitions in the grounds of the museum.

Curator Stuart Warburton said: "The security cameras at the back of the hall triggered off one night at about 4.50am, and then suddenly ... two figures appear on the film.

"The camera freezes for about five seconds and then the figures disappear. And then we have a mist that swirls along the top of the wall, which we cannot explain.

"The hall is haunted, there is no question about that," Mr Warburton added.

There have been supernatural sightings here before. The museum gardener, Michael Snuggs, is convinced he has seen a ghost.

"I was standing in the house and from the top of the stairs, this figure appeared and walked down the stairs.

"At the bottom, she looked through the window at the garden, and then just turned and smiled, and walked through to the kitchen," Mr Snuggs said.

Belgrave Hall, a Victorian townhouse, was originally owned by the local MP, John Ellott.

Many believe that one of his daughters is still present here now - as the ghost of Belgrave Hall.

Haunted or not, the security camera footage is now being tested as experts are determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Cemetery Etiquette for Ghost Hunters

2010-04-28T15:17:00.005-06:00

Enthusiastic ghost hunters sometimes forget that--for many people--cemeteries are solemn places with clear rules of etiquette.

Here are a few suggestions for your visits to cemeteries:

Not everyone believes in ghosts. In any cemetery, you may find genealogists, historians, and descendants of the deceased. You may also find people who love to photograph (or transcribe) headstone engravings. Others may be doing gravestone rubbings, though this has become a less popular hobby due to decaying stones.

Babbling happily about ghosts may distract or offend these people, who expect respectful silence in a cemetery.

If someone is visiting the grave of a recently deceased family member, your comments may upset them. They often prefer to think that everyone who has crossed over, is in a happier place... not lingering around a cemetery.

It's best to speak in subdued tones, and not approach strangers unless they initiate conversation.

Joking is generally inappropriate. I'm not saying you have to be dour, but some jokes are in very poor taste. Sure, people get nervous and manage to say the worst possible things, sometimes. Try to avoid offensive patter.

As a guideline, here are a few "jokes" that could irritate the dead, and probably annoy the living as well:

"Oops, didn't mean to shout loud enough to wake the dead. Ha-ha-ha."

"Gee, he must have been a cheapskate, not giving his wife her own headstone."

"So, when do the ghouls show up, huh? Ha-ha-ha."

"Let's leave soon, I'm feeling dead tired."

"Can't you take a joke? I mean, hey, you're looking pretty grave. Ha-ha-ha."

You get the idea. If someone starts joking, stop them immediately or leave the cemetery. We've seen jokers suddenly twist an ankle, or encounter other odd problems; we're still not sure if the ghosts were "getting even."

Obey the laws. If the cemetery says, "Closed dusk to dawn," get permission to visit it after hours. If you inadvertently stay past dusk, remember that you are breaking the law; leave cheerfully and quickly when you realize your mistake. Likewise, if the gate is locked, it just might be a hint that you're not allowed into a private cemetery. Stay out!

Protect what's in the cemetery. Do not lean on fragile headstones, much less sit on them. Don't use shaving cream to reveal inscriptions; many of them contain perfumes or other ingredients which contribute to decay. Acid rain has already done enough damage! A halogen flashlight at a sharp angle will reveal nearly as much--and sometimes more--than shaving cream would.

Respect the deceased. They may consider their cemetery "home," and you are visiting--or perhaps trespassing--on their property. It's okay to ignore belligerent, territorial ghosts, but be as understanding as you can.

Step carefully on graves. Leave no litter. Speak in soft tones; joking or loud voices can annoy and/or frighten some spirits and reduce your chances of getting a great photo.

Some people recommend waiting at least a half an hour before taking photos, and then quietly asking permission of the deceased, in a respectful manner. Fiona doesn't do this, but many ghost hunters do. Use your best judgement.

It is generally inappropriate to take your pet into the cemetery. If you must, be certain your pet is on a sturdy leash (particularly if he is frightened by spectral appearances), and that you clean up after your pet. If your pet disturbs others, including the spirits, take the animal back to the car (or return him to your home or a kennel, if it's a hot day). Use common sense.

Move or remove nothing. Leave plants, markers, badges, ribbons, and so on, exactly where you found them. Do not pick anything, even autumn leaves from the trees. However, if you find empty beer cans or fast-food wrappers, you can help the cemetery caretaker by putting them in the trash.

Do not eat, drink, or smoke in the cemetery. Step outside the cemetery if any of these pastimes are necessary.

Hollowhill.com

The Moose Head Inn

2010-04-26T15:24:00.010-06:00

KENOSEE LAKE -- One of Saskatchewan's classic ghost stories has a new twist. It may even have a happily-ever-after ending. But don't bet on it.

When Dale Orsted bought the Moose Head Inn at Kenosee Lake in 1990, he believed he was extending a tradition that began in the late 1960s when Ethel and Archibald Grandison constructed and operated the building as a dance hall for teens. Orsted, now in his 40s, spent his summers at this resort community located about two hours southeast of Regina. He remembers with great fondness Grandison Hall and its owners.

"They were great people. And they were in their 60s when they started this," says Orsted.

When Archie died around 20 years ago, Ethel sold the dance hall and Orsted bought it from a third party in 1990. The bottom floor of the Moose Head Inn is a restaurant, the second floor a cabaret/nightclub and third floor is an office and small apartment where Orsted lives.

Soon after the purchase, a curious thing happened. Glasses, ashtrays and knick-knacks went missing from the bar area of the nightclub.

At first, Orsted thought the missing items were the result of former employees, with keys, slipping into the club to nip keepsakes. But changing the locks on all the doors made no difference - items still went missing. Then they started reappearing. And then things got really weird.

"It started out with banging -- it sounded like somebody was trying to break into the place," Orsted said in an interview at the club. "The banging would go on for hours. It was super loud. . . "I'd phone the police because I thought it was a burglar. I phoned two or three times and they came in here with their guns drawn. But there was no one here."Orsted and his former manager and roommate Jeff Stephen were scared. They installed a security camera above the bar and after one incident, the banging could be heard clearly on the audio portion of the tape. But there were no images. The best police could do was suggest the sounds were coming from outside.

"This was before we thought it was a ghost," explains Orsted. "Now, I know I actually had the ghost's sound on videotape."

Orsted, his girlfriend and Stephen learned to live with the strange noises for a while. But when they carried out renovations in 1992, all heck broke loose.

"We started to tear out the carpets and, that same night, it started to go nuts. It took a week to get the carpet out and a new one installed. And every night, about four or five in the morning, this place would just start going."

Noises emanating from the nightclub area were so deafeningly loud they sounded like horrible car crashes. Orsted later concluded through experiments conducted with several strong friends the only item in the building capable of producing those window-rattling crashes was a large steel desk hoisted several feet into the air and dropped to the floor. He could only guess the desk was being levitated and dropped.

The bone-jarring collision sounds weren't the only strange goings on. The dishwasher in the bar started up and turned off by itself, and doors on stalls in the women's washroom swung back and forth as cleaning staff looked on in fear. Mop pails flew across the dance floor with no apparent source of propulsion and lights in the building went on and off without a human touch. And more. . . "There's been nights when there's maybe 20 people sitting around in here after hours and the doors just all of a sudden fly wide open," says Orsted, pointing to the heavy, double security doors at the side and rear of the bar. "And then they'd slam shut."There's lots of people that have seen and heard this stuff."

Orsted became so concerned about the strange happenings he actually moved out of the building for two years, preferring instead to commute from his home town of Estevan.

In the meantime, stories about Saskatchewan's haunted nightclub began appearing in ghost books and newspapers. Television stations in Regina and Minot, North Dakota sent reporters to do stories on the strange phenomena occurring at the Moose Head Inn. And a national television news magazine did a piece about a paranormal investigator from Winnipeg who came to the Moose Head to study the ghostly happenings first hand. His conclusion? Orsted's club seems to be an example of a 'classic haunting'.

"I didn't, myself, see or record anything unusual," investigator Roy Bauer said in a phone interview. "This (conclusion) was basically from the information they gave me, and from my past investigations. The classic haunting seemed to fit the best."

Bauer says that in a general way, he and his colleague 'probably make better skeptics than believers' when it comes to things ghostly.

"But you do have to have an open mind to investigate them because, supposedly, ghosts don't exist." Not long after Bauer completed his investigation a psychic from Winnipeg contacted Orsted claiming to have clues as to the identity of the Moose Head ghost. Orsted said her detailed knowledge of the club, including its previous design and decor, was impressive considering she'd not set foot in the building. And while he chose not to present Ethel Grandison with the list of clues the psychic felt might solve the mystery, he was intrigued by how insightfully she connected the ghostly happenings to the renovations.

In fact, when he considered all the fuss attending the replacement of the carpets, he wondered whether the ghost might be that of a handyman who used to work at the building. In a vain attempt to appease the entity, he tried reversing some of the changes made to the interior of the club. The level of activity rose and fell, but the haunting continued. Frightening new episodes included being awakened in the middle of the night by door knocking, doorknob fiddling, and what sounded like a man moaning in the hallway beyond the apartment door.

"It'd be scary," Orsted recalled. "But at least you knew you were safe if you were locked in a room upstairs. I'm more afraid of a burglar than a ghost."

In the summer of 1997, Orsted staged a 'psychic fair' at the Moose Head, with several psychics on hand to do palm and tarot card readings for customers. He and two female employees who had also experienced the ghostly shenanigans used the occasion to participate in a seance with one of the psychics. Its purpose was to shed some light on the Moose Head's invisible resident.

"She told us to imagine a big blue tarp over the whole building," said Orsted, who admits he had more trouble than his co-workers concentrating on the process. "And then she said 'picture a big cone coming out of the building and take it right up to the heavens and you'll see three angels. Out of the seance emerged information about three ghosts: a cleaning lady, a young male who had drowned and an old man. With assistance from the Moose Head group, the psychic said she was able to convince two of the three entities to leave the premises. The third -- the old man -- didn't want to go. According to the psychic, the stubborn one was the ghost of Archibald Grandison, late owner of the dance hall. And she said he had a request for Orsted.

"He said he wanted me to look after his wife because she was getting old," Orsted said, adding Ethel Grandison lived in the house next door to the Moose Head. Orsted wasn't taking any chances. He agreed to do so.

In spring, 1999, Ethel Grandison passed away. Ever since, there's been no trouble with ghosts at the Moose Head Inn. Not yet, anyway."I don't think there's been enough time yet to say that it's definitely gone," says Orsted, pointing out it's been just over a year since Ethel died. "And if there really were three ghosts, well. . ."

On the Victoria Day long weekend in May 2000, the Moose Head Inn sponsored its fourth annual 'psychic fair'. 'Cher', the woman who led Orsted and his staffers through the seance many believe determined the existence and identity of the ghost, was present with her daughter and fellow psychic 'Chalaine'. They were joined by a third psychic named Robert Morrow.

The psychics' verdict? To a person, they're convinced the Moose Head Inn is still haunted.

"I was in there last night," says Morrow. "And with me, I'm all over the place. I'm in the kitchen, I'm upstairs, I'm in the lounge, I'm in the slot room, I'm in the bar. I feel a presence in there. Very strongly."

Virtual Saskatchewan - Dave Yanko

What is a Residual Haunting? by Dave Juliano

2010-04-23T09:01:00.004-06:00

Do you see the same apparition doing the same things all the time? Do you hear the same noises, possibly at the same time of day, each time they are heard? Does that ghost seem to not even realize that you are there? If the answer is yes to any of these, you may be witnessing what is known as a residual haunting. Some of the most famous hauntings appear to be residual ones.

A residual haunting is a playback of a past event. The apparitions involved are not spirits, they are "recordings" of the event. I believe that this will be the first type of haunting that main stream researchers will recognize and study. There are numerous theories on how these residual hauntings come to be. The main one will be discussed here.

Video and audio tapes capture sounds and images on a film of special material that has been oxidized or rusted. Certain building materials, such as slate used in older castles and stone structures and iron nails used in many older buildings, have properties similar to that of the tapes. When a traumatic event occurs or a time of heightened emotions, these materials record the event for future playback. Everything is made up of energy and energy cannot be destroyed. The materials store the energy created by these traumatic events and plays them back at a later time. The Tower of London's ghost of Anne Boleyn and the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall are two famous examples of residual hauntings. We are not sure what causes the playback of the events, that still remains a mystery. Is it the right weather conditions, the witness's energy or sensitivity or some type of energy release? That is the question that we as researchers are trying to answer.

As I said, in a residual haunting, there is no spirit involved. This type of event is not dangerous at all so if you ever have the chance to witness one, do so without fear and enjoy it. This type of haunting has to be considered when investigating a haunting. When my group goes to a haunted location, we spend the first hour split into two teams. One team maps out the area, noting any EMF readings and Temperature readings so we have guidelines to judge other readings by. We also make note of how the building is constructed and set up. The other team is conducting interviews with witnesses. The questions are setup to find out if the activity sounds like a spirit, poltergeist, residual haunting, etc. If we feel the activity is a residual haunting we will set up a stakeout in the location the ghost is often seen or heard. This is the best way to observe and possibly capture evidence of the event. It may take many return trips and hours of sitting there staring at nothing. It is very tedious but if it something occurs, you will forget very quickly about all the time you sat waiting for it to happen.

The Shadowlands

Canada’s Top Five Haunted Places

2010-04-16T09:29:00.010-06:00

Like many other places in the world, Canada has it fair share of ghost tales and haunted buildings. I have researched the most active haunted places to date and came up with 5 that Canada has to offer.

Gibraltar Point Lighthouse

Gibraltar Point Lighthouse on Toronto Islands was first constructed in 1803 and was totally finished and operational by 1809. Local legend states it haunted by the first lighthouse keeper JP Radan Muller. Muller had been murder one misty night by drunken soldiers from Fort York looking for bootleg beer. The soldiers had cut Muller up and buried his body somewhere on the beach. The soldiers where charged but later acquitted. In 1893 a coffin was found buried on the beach with a jaw bone still inside it but it has never been known if it ever belong to Muller. The lighthouse since time is no longer on the shore line since the sand has built up, but lies 100 meters inland. Its not being used and is boarded up but people say on misty nights you can hear a mans voice moaning and even some people have reported ghostly figures roaming the grounds.

Screaming Tunnel

The “Screaming Tunnel” was built by Grand Trunk Railroad in the early 1900’s and is located near Niagara Falls. The tunnel was meant for railroad cars but shortly after finishing the structure World War 1 had begun and GTR went bankrupt never finishing laying tracks in the tunnel. Now there’s 2 different legends but both basically have the same story line. First legend is said that a little girls parents where separating and her father take hers down by the tunnel and buried her alive. Second legend involves the little girls parents fighting over her and somehow the house catches fires. Well the little girls ends up getting set ablaze as well and runs down to the tunnel. As she runs through the tunnel screaming for help she eventually falls in the middle and dies. Anyways legend has it if you enter the tunnel and stand in the middle and light a match, something will blow it out and you should be able to hear screams in the distance. Horrible story but makes a great ghost legend.

By Town Museum

The By Town Museum was built in 1827 in Ottawa Ontario. The building was used as storage and treasury during construction of the Rideau Canal. The building is located at the entrance locks of the Rideau Canal and is the oldest surviving stone building in Ottawa with 2 feet thick stone walls. It officially became the By Town Museum in 1951. There is said to be a few different ghost haunting this museum. One of the people that is suppose to be haunting the museum is the builder of the Canal “Colonel John By” and another is his assistant “General Dunan Mc Nab”. Staff at the museum over the years have reported strange events like TV’s turning on and off, lights staying on after being turned off, strange messages appear on computer screens when no one is in the room, voices of men yelling and even some angry voices saying “Get Out”. Some visitors mostly women to the museum have reported being pushed hard but no one is in the room, while other have heard children crying in the doll exhibit and seen dolls wink and move. Even to date this is suppose to be one of the most active haunted places in Canada.

Skeleton Park “Mc Burney Park”

Back in 1813 to 1865 this park was known as Kingston’s Upper Cemetery. What this was, was a mass cemetery/grave site containing more then 100,000 bodies which all died from contagious epidemics. In 1894 Municipal government tried to remove the remains but many locals objected due to fear that contagious diseases might start again if dug up. The cemetery was transformed into Frontenac Park in 1895 and then became what it is known as today “Mc Burney Park” in 1965. It is said that over the years many different remains have surfaced through out the park thus giving it the nickname “Skeleton Park."

Original Article

Trifter

The ghost in my garage: Riddle of the tyre depot phantom whose calling card is a pre-war penny.

2010-04-07T08:22:00.006-06:00

Gothic castles, deserted mansions, ivy-covered old houses - all of them perfect haunts for a ghost.

But how about something as modern and mundane as a tyre depot in sensible South Yorkshire?

According to owner Nick White, a supernatural visitor has been running riot at his garage, which was originally a chapel and also served as a makeshift mortuary during the Second World War.

The uninvited guest has thrown stones and coins at staff, and stacked up piles of tyres and moved them around the building while it was locked up overnight.

The ghostly figure, which materialised from time to time dressed in the style of the 1940s, is said to have first made its presence felt in 2003 but vanished (so to speak) after Mr White took over the business three years ago.

Now, however, the odd goings on have started again, with pre-war coins turning up mysteriously on the garage floor in two strange incidents a month apart. Mr White found the first of the old penny pieces, dated 1936 and bearing the image of George VI, when he arrived for work one day in February.

The second copper coin, dated 1938, was lying in almost the same spot when Mr White, 35, and one of his mechanics turned up at the depot in Doncaster last week. Mr White said: 'I took all the strange stories with a big pinch of salt when I bought the place. But I wouldn't like to say it's not true any more. There's no logical explanation for the two old pennies turning up like they did. I wish there was. 'It's a little bit scary knowing that there's something happening while the place is locked up at night.'

Previous owner Nigel Lee once called in a clergyman to perform an exorcism.

Mr White added: 'Nigel told me all about the tyres being moved around when the place was locked up at night and customers witnessing small change and stones coming out of nowhere and flying here and there.

'It's all right being sceptical about these things, but I'm the owner of two very old pennies now, and I'd love to know where they came from.'

Mail-Online

Location - Indian Head Rental House

2010-03-23T13:43:00.010-06:00

Can a home have a 'feeling'? Can past tragic events forever leave their mark on the building in which they happened?

Prairie Specters was asked by a reader to come out and visit their home. The home-owner was in the process of moving out but wanted to share some of the past events with us.

"Once I moved in I immediately felt like there was a dark cloud over the house, there was a cold uneasiness about the house and I quickly began to hate being there. After months of always feeling like I was being watched, more loud bangs and strange noises from the basement I started to question my sanity. I was so frightened to go in the basement ..."

A man was rumored to have hung himself in the basement. A second death incurred in the home as well. Interested in finding out more we packed up our gear and headed out to Indian Head to visit the home.

Part I

The house, we were told, is over 100 years old and like most older homes is quite small. The upstairs having a common area, kitchen, and two small bedrooms and a bathroom that appear to have been added on to the original home. Right away I can tell this home has a uneasy feeling to it. After a brief tour the owner describes the experiences they have been having, most of which seem to involve the basement. Shadows would be seen moving in the kitchen around the area leading down to the stairs.

"I would take my laundry to a laundromat because my washer and dryer were in the basement, I didn't even like going to the bathroom at night because I had to walk past the basement stairs to get to it. "

Loud bangs were a common phenomena in the home. Most coming from the area directly under the stairs.

"While I was painting the walls going down into the basement a very loud bang came from underneath the stairs, so loud I could feel the vibration in my feet. The original owner of the house had hung himself in the basement 20 years ago..."

The reluctant , but brave :), owner led us into the small basement to have a look around. Again the same uneasy feeling was present here as well. We took photos and I placed a digital recorder near the space under the stairs. Light bulbs have a tendency to explode down here, our guide explained, the evidence crunched beneath our shoes. They had an electrician out to try to find the cause but he came up empty handed.

The small basement has weird feeling to it. You can feel it as a sort of vibration in your feet. I thought it may be the train tracks the run nearby, but after checking for a train I ruled that out.

It was while we were down there the second time a loud bang was heard upstairs. I was standing directly under the living room where it seemed to originate and could feel the vibration from the wooden floor above. We quickly moved upstairs and found nothing had fallen or anything to explain the bang we had heard. I got the impression that something did not like us being in the basement.

With nothing initially showing up on the photos or digital recorder we decided to leave but with a plan to come back soon after we had done some more research and with some more equipment for a longer visit.

[ photos to follow ]

Part II

Dead Steve Irwin tells dad everything's okay, where are my socks

2010-03-23T08:59:00.003-06:00

MUSCLING in on the wacky turf of La Toya Jackson, Bob Irwin has gone public about a beyond-the-grave dialogue with Steve.

Woman's Day reports its psychic Deb Webber hooked Bob up with his late son during a private reading at his remote Queensland property, according to the Courier-Mail.

Bob said the psychic left him with "goose bumps" by relaying things only he and Steve knew about.

The clincher? Steve wanting to know what Bob had done with the old socks and hat he'd pinched years ago.

"We talked about so many things, some too personal to talk about," Bob said.

"He told me everything is OK, not to be sad and to keep up the fight, to continue looking after the animals."

news.com.au

Heavyweights of the Paranormal - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

2010-03-11T15:02:00.006-06:00

Three days of the bloodiest fighting of the American Civil War have forever etched these hallowed fields into the memory of a country and a people. But in the hundred-plus years since the last shot was fired and the last man fell, there continue to be reports from the fields of the fallen: reports of spectral armies still marching in step, of ghostly sentinels and horsemen, of mournful women in white, and the ghostly wails of orphans and animals alike.

The Gettysburg Battlefield was the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1 to July 3, 1863, in and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the county seat of Adams County, which had approximately 2,400 residents at the time. It is now the site of two historic landmarks: Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg National Cemetery.

The town was the center of a road network that connected ten nearby Pennsylvania and Maryland towns, including well-maintained turnpikes to Chambersburg, York, and Baltimore, so was a natural concentration point for the large armies that descended upon it.

To the northwest, a series of low, parallel ridges lead to the towns of Cashtown and Chambersburg. Seminary Ridge, closest to Gettysburg, is named for the Lutheran Theological Seminary on its crest. Farther out are McPherson's Ridge, Herr's Ridge, and eventually South Mountain. Oak Ridge, a northward extension of Seminary Ridge, is capped by Oak Hill, a site for artillery that commanded a good area north of the town.

Directly south of the town is Cemetery Hill, at 503 feet (153 m) above sea level, a gentle 80 foot (24 m) slope above downtown. The hill is named for the Evergreen (civilian) cemetery on its crest; the famous military cemetery dedicated by Abraham Lincoln now shares the hill. Adjacent, due east, is Culp's Hill, of similar height, divided by a slight saddle into two recognizable hills, heavily wooded, and more rugged. Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill were subjected to assaults throughout the battle by Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps.

Extending south from Cemetery Hill is a slight elevation known as Cemetery Ridge, although the term ridge is rather extravagant; it is generally only about 40 feet (12 m) above the surrounding terrain and tapers off before Little Round Top into low, wooded ground. At the northern end of Cemetery Ridge is a copse of trees and a low stone wall that makes two 90-degree turns; the latter has been nicknamed The Angle and The High Water Mark. This area, and the nearby Codori Farm on Emmitsburg Road, were prominent features in the progress of Pickett's Charge during the third day of battle, as well as General Richard H. Anderson's division assault on the second.

Dominating the landscape are the Round Tops to the south. Little Round Top is a hill with a rugged, steep slope of 130 feet above nearby Plum Run (the peak is 550 feet (168 m) above sea level), strewn with large boulders; to its southwest, the area with the most significant boulders, some the size of living rooms, is known as Devil's Den. [Big] Round Top, known also to locals of the time as Sugar Loaf, is 116 feet higher than its Little companion. Its steep slopes are heavily wooded, which made it unsuitable for siting artillery without a large effort to climb the heights with horse-drawn guns and clear lines of fire; Little Round Top was unwooded, but its steep and rocky form made it difficult to deploy artillery in mass. However, Cemetery Hill was an excellent site for artillery, commanding all of the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge and the approaches to them. Little Round Top and Devil's Den were key locations for General John Bell Hood's division in Longstreet's assault during the second day of battle, July 2, 1863. The valley formed by Plum Run between the Round Tops and Devil's Den earned the name Valley of Death on that day.

Northwest from the Round Tops, towards Emmitsburg Road, are the Wheatfield, Rose Woods, and the Peach Orchard. As noted by General Daniel E. Sickles in the second day of battle, this area is about 40 feet higher in elevation than the lowlands at the south end of Cemetery Ridge. These all figured prominently in General Lafayette McLaws's division assault during the second day of battle.

After the battle, the Army of the Potomac and the citizens of Gettysburg were left with appalling burdens. The battlefield was strewn with over 7,000 dead men and the houses, farms, churches, and public buildings were struggling to deal with 30,000 wounded men. The stench from the dead soldiers and from the thousands of animal carcasses was overwhelming. To the east of town, a massive tent city was erected to attempt medical care for the soldiers, which was named Camp Letterman after Jonathan Letterman, chief surgeon of the Army of the Potomac. Contracts were let with entrepreneurs to bury men and animals and the majority were buried near where they fell.

Two individuals immediately began to work to help the town recover and to preserve the memory of those who had fallen: David Wills and David McConaughy, both attorneys living in Gettysburg. A week after the battle, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin visited Gettysburg and expressed the state's interest in finding its veterans and giving them a proper burial. Wilson immediately arranged for the purchase of 17 acres (69,000 m²) next to the Evergreen Cemetery, but the priority of burying Pennsylvania veterans soon changed to honoring all of the Union dead.

McConaughy was responsible for purchasing 600 acres (2.4 km²) of privately held land to preserve as a monument. His first priorities for preservation were Culp's Hill, East Cemetery Hill, and Little Round Top. On April 30, 1864, the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association was formed to mark "the great deeds of valor ... and the signal events which render these battlegrounds illustrious", and it began adding to McConaughy's holdings. In 1880, the Grand Army of the Republic took control of the Memorial Association and its lands.

On November 19, 1863, the Soldiers' National Cemetery was dedicated in a ceremony highlighted by Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The night before, Lincoln slept in Wills's house on the main square in Gettysburg, which is now a landmark administered by the National Park Service. The cemetery was completed in March of 1864 with the last of 3,512 Union dead were reburied. It became a National Cemetery on May 1, 1872, when control was transferred to the U.S. War Department.

The removal of Confederate dead from the field burial plots was not undertaken until seven years after the battle. From 1870 to 1873, upon the initiative of the Ladies Memorial Associations of Richmond, Raleigh, Savannah, and Charleston, 3,320 bodies were disinterred and sent to cemeteries in those cities for reburial, 2,935 being interred in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond. Seventy-three bodies were reburied in home cemeteries.

Ghost Picture taken at one of Britain most haunted buildings Gwrych Castle

2010-03-02T12:43:00.003-06:00

Ghost Picture taken at one of Britain most haunted buildings

A company boss Kevin Horkin was taken pictures at Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales, the picture looks like a woman looking out of a first floor window. Kevin didn’t notice anything unusual until he downloaded the pictures to his PC. Kevin believes that the picture captured a ghost as it’s impossible for anyone to stand at the window because the floor in the room is completely destroyed.

North Wales Paranormal group have confirmed that many sightings have been recorded at the castle.
Local history claims that the first castle at Gwrych was built by the Normans in the 12th century. It was seized by the Welsh prince Rhys ap Gruffydd (the Lord Rhys) of Deheubarth in about 1170 who then rebuilt the timber castle in stone. This castle was later destroyed by Cromwell’s army following the English Civil War of the mid-17th century.

The later castle at Gwrych was begun in 1819. The castle is a Grade 1 listed building set in a wooded hillside overlooking the Irish Sea. It was the first Gothic folly to be built in Europe by a wealthy industrialist Lloyd Hesketh. Bamford Hesketh, his son, inherited the title of Gwrych in his early 20s and used his vast fortune to build the 4,000-acre Gwrych Castle Estate.

The castle once had a total of 128 rooms including the outbuildings, including twenty-eight bedrooms, an outer hall, an inner hall, two smoke rooms, a dining room, a drawing room, a billiards room, an oak study, and a range of accommodations for servants. There are nineteen embattled towers and the whole facade is over 2000 yards. Many feel the castle’s outstanding feature was the castle’s 52-step marble staircase.

Newssubmit

Children's 'ghosts' haunt Picton cemetery

2010-01-22T15:32:00.003-06:00

DOES this photograph show the figures of two children, born nearly a century apart, walking in their own paranormal playground?

The family who took this picture while on a ghost tour in Picton, NSW, swear there were no children inside the St Mark's Cemetery.

Which begs the question: who, or what, is out there?

Local legend has it that the two children are David Shaw and Blanche Moon, who died 60 years apart.

Blanche was crushed to death in 1886 when a pile of sleepers that she and a number of children were playing on slipped.

David was the son of a minister who died in 1946 from polio.

The woman behind the lens of this mysterious photo, Renee English, said she was "a sceptic" before undertaking the ghost tour on January 9.

"When we were standing at the bank looking into the Cemetery I was just snapping away and making jokes about the whole thing and asking when the ghosts were going to come out," the Port Macquarie resident said.

"I know that when I took that photo there was no-one else in the cemetery. The only people we saw were a family of four about 10 minutes later but those kids were clinging to their parents the whole time.

"When we uploaded our photos and saw the children all the hairs on my arm stood up and I just went cold all over.

"That night I couldn't sleep at all and I'm never watching a scary movie again.

"I wasn't a believer in ghosts, but now I'm intrigued."

Local historian Liz Vincent conducted ghost tours in Picton, claimed to be Australia's most haunted town, until her death last year. Since then, her husband John and daughter Jenny Davies have taken up the mantle.

"Picton's just so haunted," Ms Davies said. "We find people always love to see their photos afterwards because most of these things aren't visible to the naked eye."

One of the tour's most popular figures is Emily, a lady who was hit and killed by a train in 1916 while taking a shortcut through the Redbank Range Tunnel, also known as the Mushroom Tunnel, to visit her brother.

Emily Bollard resided near the railway line and was a single woman aged in her 50s. Before taking her shortcut, she didn't check the timetable and was hit in the tunnel by a train coming from Thirlmere. She died instantly.

"She likes to move among the participants and loves to touch their hair and body, particularly their arms and legs," Ms Davies said.

"Those on the tour often say that they've also felt a cold wind blowing through the tunnel."

"Above taken from "couriermail.com.au ". )

50 Berkeley Square

2009-12-16T10:30:00.006-06:00

50 Berkeley Square is one of the most haunted houses in the UK. There are a number of ghosts that are rumored to haunt this gruesome building.

The earliest report of a haunting is the ghost of a little girl who was killed by a sadistic servant in the nursery. She has been seen on the top floor, sobbing and wringing her hands in despair.

In the 1700s, a young woman called Adeline, lived at the house with her evil uncle. One day she tried to escape from him by climbing out a window. She fell to her death and since then, her screaming ghost has been seen hanging from the window ledge many times.

During the 1870s, the building was vacant and neighbors reported hearing screams and loud cries coming from the locked house at night. They also heard the sound of furniture being dragged across the floor, bells ringing and and windows being slammed shut. Even though the house was deserted, furniture and books were thrown out the windows onto street below.

Years later the house was occupied by a Mr. Dupre, who locked his insane brother in a room on the top floor. He fed the insane man through a special opening in the door. This room was said to be the heart of the haunting, and is called the Haunted Room.

In 1850s, a maid was staying in the haunted room overnight. The owners of the house were shaken from their sleep by awful screams coming from her room. They opened the door to find her lying on the bed, her face hideously twisted, her eyes fixed, staring in terror. She went insane and died in hospital the next day, unable to describe what she had seen.

A young man said that he did not believe in ghosts and made a bet that he could spend a night in the haunted room. He arranged for a bell to be rigged up in the room so that he could call for help if he needed it. With his friends sleeping downstairs, he went to bed in the haunted room, holding a gun for protection.

At 2 AM, his friends heard the bell ringing violently. They ran upstairs and heard the sound of a gunshot. As they entered the room, they found the poor young man lying against the wall, his eyes wide and his face contorted in fear. He was dead but there wasn’t a mark on him. The smoking gun was in his hand and there was a bullet hole in the wall.

By 1872 the house had a horrific reputation and nobody would live in it. A man called Lord Lyttleton decided, on a dare, to spend a night in the haunted room. He armed himself with a shotgun and, during the night, fired it at something that jumped out at him from the darkness. When he turned on the light, there was nothing there.

On Christmas Eve, 1887, two sailors named Martin and Blunden, were looking for a place to spend the night. When they came across the empty house in Berkeley Square, they decided to break in and sleep there, unaware of the house’s ghastly reputation.

They chose the room at the top of the house to spend the night. The haunted room.

During the night they heard shuffling footsteps coming up the stairs and a horrific smell entering the room. The door creaked open and some shapeless thing came through the doorway.

Martin managed to rush past it and raced down the stairs to the street, leaving his terrified companion Blunden behind.

He found a policeman and returned to the house just in time to see Blunden jumping out the window, screaming in horror. His body landed on a spiked railing at the front of the house. He was impaled on the spikes and died instantly. Police searched the house but found nothing.

By the 1900s the house was occupied by an elderly couple who acted as caretakers but this couple were never allowed to go into the haunted room. The only key to the room was held by a man who called every six months and spent several hours in the room after having first locked the couple in the basement.

Today, the house is occupied by Maggs Bookshop, and employees working there still report strange happenings. A young woman saw a mass of brown mist, move quickly across the room and then vanish. A cleaning lady felt the presence of a ghost following her around the house. A man was walking upstairs when his glasses were torn off his face and thrown across the room.

Employees are not allowed to go up to the top floor. They say that there’s a police notice hanging on the wall inside the house that was put up in the 1950s. It states that the top floor of the house is not to be used, even for storage.

Paranormal Group Finds Bones Behind Historic Mansion Wall

2009-12-08T10:08:00.008-06:00

A historic Brooke County, W. Va., mansion is at the center of a police and paranormal investigation after skeletal remains were found hidden behind a brick wall.

Gene Valentine, the building's owner, told Steubenville news station WTOV that it all started when a paranormal research group came to the Aspen Manor to hunt for ghosts.While there, some members of the Brooke County Paranormal Society said they sensed someone was buried in a basement wall and said they followed the voice to the area."A couple of the psychics that were part of that group got physically sick when they went down there and they couldn't figure out why," said Valentine.

The paranormal group came to the 76,000-square foot mansion in search of spirits, but had no idea they would find skeletal remains."It wasn't what we actually went in looking for," said Kathy Larntz, a member of the group.Larntz said they found a bone on the floor, so she picked it up thinking it was probably an animal bone. She kept digging, and as she did, she found more and more bones.Sheriff Richard Ferguson said the bones had "been chopped up into pieces" and had saw marks on them.The remains were removed from the wall and are being sent to the state medical examiner, who will determine if they are human or animal."They found some questionable bones and I still cannot confirm or deny that they're human," Ferguson said. "They appear to be very old, but still intact, and we have no time frame. We're actually looking back into the history of this area.

"In the meantime, in the former nuns' quarters, Larntz said she, her husband and another investigator made another finding. She said the trio was using electronic voice phenomenon equipment and heard clicking sounds."Nuns would use these clickers when kids would get like really loud (and) wouldn't settle down, they'd start clicking," she said.Valentine said he isn't surprised by the findings."I've had a few psychic friends walk through here and they've had really bad reactions in the house," Valentine said. He said he is restricting access to the mansion until the sheriff's department gets more answers.

The sprawling Aspen Manor mansion was built in 1895 by the Vandergrift family as a boys' getaway that hosted gambling and cockfights.Later, the Catholic community took over and turned it into an assisted living home where nuns and priests once lived. The mansion has since been converted to a bed and breakfast.

(above taken from "WTOV9.COM".

Capela dos Ossos — the Chapel of the Bones

2009-11-16T12:50:00.012-06:00

Located next to the Church of St. Francis in the medieval town of Evora, it’s a large room decorated with the bones of more than 5,000 monks, exhumed from local churchyards to be used as building materials way back in the 16th century. As you enter, you pass under this doorway. Its inscription, translated from the Portuguese, means ““We bones here, for yours await.” Nice and creepy.

According to legend, the 16th century Franciscan monk who created the chapel did it not to freak people out or scare them, but to prod visitors into a spirit of quiet contemplation. “Life is fleeting!” the bones are meant to imply. “See?!”

On the other side of the doorway, as you exit, is this cheerful little motif, restored in 1810. The monks who built the chapel got creative with their bones, using them not just to fill wall space, but to create all sorts of decorative patterns. It’s more or less what I imagine a Martha Stewart Halloween special would be like.

Not everyone who visits the chapel is inspired to contemplate the mysteries of death, however, judging from the many graffiti-inscribed skulls that line the walls. Ana Gomes, I hope someone writes on your skull when you’re dead.

As an added bonus, the monks decided to hang two corpses on the wall from a chain — that of a woman and a child. They’ve been there for hundreds of years, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. No one is sure exactly who the unlucky pair are, but rumor has it they were cursed by a powerful man and were refused burial in local cemeteries.

The strangest part about the Chapel was that it didn’t seem all that creepy. There was something sanitized and touristy about the whole thing, with ropes sectioning off the walls so you couldn’t get too close, and an information kiosk just outside the door.

By Ransom Riggs Mental Floss

Tomb Raiders Digging WWII Graves Witness Inexplicable Phenomena

2009-11-03T08:26:00.004-06:00

A few years ago the so-called 'black archaeologists,' people conducting independent excavations in the places of World War II battles and looking for precious war trophies, were extremely active. Sometimes during their search they would encounter very strange phenomena.

Bonfire hanging in the air

In 1997, a group of six people headed to Luban in the Leningradsky region, where the ruins of Makaryevsky monastery destroyed during the war rest amidst the swamps. Nearing the ruins, the group noticed bonfire flames. They were shocked to find out that the bonfire was hanging right in the air. As soon as they approached the ruins, the bonfire disappeared.

The "black archaeologists" fixed a camp in the ruins. Throughout the night, they were bothered by wild human screams originating from the woods. None of them rushed to help.

Next morning, one of the archaeologists went to the woods and got lost. He came back three hours later, with his clothes dirty and insane look on his face. He never told his friends what happened to him.

Mines in Myasnoy Bor (Meat Pinewood)

One of the most famous anomalous zones connected to World War II is a marshy valley Myasnoy Bor located 30 kilometers away from Novgorod. Many warriors of the Soviet Second Attack Army, divisions of German Wehrmacht, Spanish “Blue Division” and other troops perished in this area during the Lyuban Offensive Operation of 1942. Many unburied remnants are left here.

Galina Pavlova, head of the group “Search” from Engels city in the Saratov region told about an incident that happened to her in 1997: “The woods of Myasnoy Bor are scary and mystical. As soon as you are left there by yourself, the woods start making sounds. You can clearly hear yells “Hooray,” as if restless souls of the perished warriors still carry out an attack. The day we found the mines, I was behind the guys on a trail. I stopped at a spot that was excavated many times before. Suddenly, I saw that trees were leaning towards the same spot although it was not windy at all. I called the guys, and we found a decomposed wooden box and old mines.”

Alexei, a "black archaeologist" who used to excavate in the woods near Bryansk where Russian front was located in 1942-1943, told an interesting story.

“We excavated the bodies of six Russian and 11 German soldiers, four of which were Wehrmacht soldiers in a swamp trench shelter. We cut the logs and discovered decomposed German boots with bones sticking out. Then we began a more careful excavation, and found pelvic bones, a spine, and ribs. Little by little we dug out remnants of four people. It was getting dark. We left the skeletons at the trench and camped out on a meadow about 200 yards away.

At night something happened. We were woken up by Valera, a guy on duty. He told us that something weird was going on. We got up and started listening carefully. We could hear German speech, songs, laughter and clatter of tracks. It was very scary.

In the morning we went to the trench. It looked the same as when we left it. But when we walked a little further, we saw tank ditches and, most amazingly, fresh tank tracks.”

There is an anomalous zone Zheltoyar, better known as Novokhopersk anomalous zone, in the eastern part of Voronezh region, near the town of Novokhopersk.

Members of an expedition of the Voronezh committee for studying anomalous phenomena led by a famous researcher Genrikh Silanov managed to take pictures of people clad in soldiers’ uniform near tents. A plane phantom appeared on one of the photos. The researchers believe that these were the pictures of World War II. One of the pictures showed a silhouette of a Czech soldier. Later the researchers found that a Czech division that was a part of the Soviet Army used to be located in that area.

Silanov believes that the pictures were typical “chronal mirages” created by the so-called “memory fields” connected to dramatic events that occurred in the past.

Walpurgis Night - The Other Halloween

2009-10-30T13:06:00.005-06:00

There's a penetrating chill in the wind. The bright moon rises behind the shivering, nearly naked trees. A profound sense of foreboding permeates the darkness. This is the night, after all, when witches ride their broomsticks through the sky, and the natural world is forced to confront the powers of the supernatural.

No, it isn't October 31 and this is not Halloween. It's April 30 and it's Walpurgis Night.

Like Halloween, Walpurgis has its roots in ancient pagan customs, superstitions and festivals. At this time of year, the Vikings participated in a ritual that they hoped would hasten the arrival of Spring weather and ensure fertility for their crops and livestock. They would light huge bonfires in hopes of scaring away evil spirits.

But the name “Walpurgis” comes from a very different source. In the 8th Century, a woman named Valborg (other iterations of the name include Walpurgis, Wealdburg and Valderburger) founded the Catholic convent of Heidenheim in Wurtemburg, Germany. She herself later became a nun and was known for speaking out against witchcraft and sorcery. She was canonized a saint on May 1, 779. Since the celebration of her sainthood and the old Viking festival occurred around the same time, over the years the festivals and traditions intermingled until the hybrid pagan-Catholic celebration became known as Valborgsmässoafton or Walpurgisnacht – Walpurgis Night.

The Other Halloween

Although not widely known in the US, this May-Eve night shares many of the traditions of Halloween and is, in fact, directly opposite Halloween on the calendar.

According to the ancient legends, this night was the last chance for witches and their nefarious cohorts to stir up trouble before Spring reawakened the land. They were said to congregate on Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains – a tradition that comes from Goethe's Faust. In the story, the demon Mephistopheles brings Faust to Brocken to consort with the coven of witches.

To ward off the witches’ evil, the citizenry would burn bonfires, sprinkle holy water and adorn their homes with talismans of blessed palm leaf. One of the best ways to keep evil at bay, they thought, was through noise. This is an idea that probably dates back to early man. On Walpurgis Night, the citizens would ring bells, bang drums, crack whips and beat blanks of wood onto the ground. As technology advanced, they would shoot firearms into the air.

Walpurgis Night even features its own version of Trick or Treat in some parts of Europe, especially Germany. In Bavaria, for example, where the celebration is known as a Freinacht or Drudennacht, the young might roam the neighborhoods pulling mischievous pranks, such as wrapping cars in toilet paper and smearing doorknobs with toothpaste. In Thueringen, Germany, some of the little girls dress up as witches, wearing paper hats and carrying sticks.

In Finland, where the holiday is called Vappu, the ordinarily reserved Finns run screaming through the streets wearing masks and carrying drinks.

Halloween-like scarecrows make an appearance, too. Life-size or smaller strawmen are created and ritually imbued with all the back luck and ill will of the past year. They are then tossed on the Walpurgis bonfires along with worn-out, burnable household items.

A Time of Magic

Some believe that Walpurgis, like Halloween, is more than a time of ritual spellcasting – that it is a time when the barrier between our world and the “supernatural” is more easily crossed.

Winifred Hodge writes in Waelburga and the Rites of May, “Since this is a turning-tide when the season is not quite one thing or another – a ‘between-time,’ it is very suitable for occult divination and spellcraft: a time to take advantage of the thinner veils between the worlds and the fact that our minds are temporarily focused away from everyday affairs and onto the magical energies of Nature's spring tides. This is a time for looking into that which is coming into being and which should be, for seeking deep roots of life-knowledge and life-mysteries, for love-magic and spells of growth and change, conception and birth – in fact, for almost all the elements of what is often called 'women's magic.'"

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-28T10:08:00.003-06:00

The Ouija Board - A Reflection In the Mirror

2009-10-27T13:44:00.006-06:00

In the oft-misunderstood spirit of Halloween, as the days grow shorter and the nights grow darker, the cool winds of autumn pull at our coat tails and coloured leaves litter the streets. We revel in the excitement of our children, as visions of ghouls and ghosts become mixed with sugary notions of fun and costumed trickery.

October is the month of dying seasons, when our thoughts often turn to those people that have passed before us. In contrast to the historical idea of Samhain (commonly referred to in Wiccan circles as All Hallows Eve) and also known in Catholic traditions as All souls Day, most people these days take pains to celebrate this typically convoluted and commercialised holiday at the end of October, the vast majority having little idea of the real sentiment behind the celebration at all.

Mixed in with these month long advertising frenzies for plastic costumes, candy and a general condoning of impious attitudes toward the dead, is a yearly flood of interest in what may be the most misconstrued item of occult renown the world has ever known; the Ouija Board.

If you were to step out your door and ask any number of people you may run into on the street, what a Ouija Board is, there will be no mistaking the widespread familiarity people have with this lettered board and harmless planchette; people will expound on the creepy powers of Ouija, they will warn of the dangers and extol memories of past transgressions, usually at the mercy of some terrifying encounter with demonic influence, and most will relay the idea that the Ouija Board is an ancient practise of magical commune with the dead. Most would do this, though most would be completely wrong.

The Spirit Board, as the Ouija is generically referred, is by all accounts a very recent invention. In fact Ouija, a word whose etymology is entirely unknown and is widely believed to be completely made up, is a trademarked product name, owned by Hasbro. Yes, the toy company.

The Spirit board and each of its hundreds of various incarnations is, in all seriousness, a toy; though it didn’t necessarily start out that way. A man by the name of Charles Kennard, along with his attorney and associate Elijah Bond, made application to the US Patent office for a planchette and lettered board on May 28, 1890, and subsequently received US Patent #446,054 for what they termed ‘Psychographs, with sound producing numbers’. In the patent document, at the very top, the classification for the product is specified as “Toy or Game”.

In 1901, Kennard, through the ‘The Kennard Novelty Company’, handed production of the Spirit Board over to his employee William Fuld, who coined the term Ouija (most believe he fabricated the word from the French “oui” , meaning ‘yes’ and the German ‘ja’, also meaning ‘yes’). It was Fuld’s ingenious marketing of the product, hence forth known as the Ouija Board, that skyrocketed it’s popularity among both competitors in the Toy and Game making industry of the turn of the century, but also among the wildly growing Spiritualist movement of the same time.

During his reign as the worlds only Ouija manufacturer, Fuld was the complainant in many trademark and patent infringement lawsuits, against others who saw a financial opportunity in selling what may be the highest profiting entertainment device conceived of prior to modern electronics.

At the conclusion of Fuld’s life in 1927, he held exclusive rights to the use and manufacture of the game, though his estate brokered a deal with the budding toy manufacturer Hasbro in 1966, to have them purchase the rights to the Ouija franchise, and since that point, the Ouija Board has been manufactured and distributed by the Hasbro Toy Company exclusively.

This somewhat bland history of the Ouija Board -now also known by many other names, such as The Angel Board, The Spirit Communication Board, Planchette Ghost Board, Ghost Board, and a host of other such terms- says nothing about the game’s ability to either communicate with the dead, or to open gateways of spiritual commune, or to scare the bejesus out of kids and adults alike. It says nothing about the efficacy of the concept of Spirit Board communication as a tool for Ghost Hunting or spiritual research, and it says nothing about the legitimacy of the concept as anything more than a novelty.

The legendary ability of Ouija Boards to facilitate question and answer periods between educated paranormal investigators, or ignorant teenagers or even robe wearing psychic charlatans, and the dearly departed, is founded on nothing more than the glorified marketing of Mr. William Fuld at the height of western society’s most gullible period of development. This was a time when flimflam was a respectable profession among salesmen, when snake oil and mechanically aided séance were rampantly offered to anyone with the means to afford the scam. (Though one wonders how far we’ve really come)

In your impromptu street survey (as suggested earlier), you would certainly have encountered a preponderance of expert advice for how to deal with the Ouija Board, and likely at least a few warnings to avoid the use of this toy, for fear of inviting such forces as demons, inter-dimensional creatures, evil spirits and even the devil himself, right into your home, or even your own soul (depending on the theistic beliefs of the advisor in question). Popular culture has simultaneously vilified and mystified the reputation of the Ouija Board; there is a general consensus that mistreating or disrespecting the so-called power of the Ouija Board is akin to taunting a violent bully when there’s no way to escape his inevitable wrath.

In fact, the government of Great Britain has banned the sale of Ouija board and the like since the 1970’s, though this legality is based more on the idiotic behaviour which people will partake in on their own accord, rather than any demonic or otherwise influence exerted by the board.

In reality, the Ouija Board, by that name or by any other, is a simple collection of cardboard, or wood, and plastic. There is no ritualistic practise in its manufacture or sale, there is nothing special about any part of it, except…the person who intends to use it.

And a great many people have criticised the intention of the people who would find themselves using such a toy for anything other than party tricks.

Dr. Jimmy Lowry has been outspoken about the fallacy of Ouija Boards, and of the mindset that fools regular people into believing that the simple act of placing your hands on a plastic planchette will somehow open a doorway to another realm. His theistic damnation of the toy does seem to be a bit much, but his point remains as poignant to the agnostic as to the devout parishioner.

So what is happening when a pair of would-be mediums tempts the spirits with the use of a Spirit Board?

The most popular theory, the Ideomotor effect or automatism -essentially this is the psychological process by which an idea or suggestion creates a subconscious action intended to complete the idea- is a fancy way of saying that the results achieved by users of Ouija Boards is entirely self-inflicted. Others suggest that there is an element of telekinesis involved, which might explain the vastly divergent results experienced by so many people; some experience immediate and dramatic response from the board (or from their own psyche, depending on which explanation you subscribe to), while others experience little to no response at all.

But throughout all of this we are faced with a truth, a truth that is ignored by so many people, in so many various positions and endeavours on spiritual fronts. In our world, our reality, which includes some of the strangest natural phenomena, some of the weirdest science and the oddest environmental influences conceivable by man, why do we jump to the conclusion that the effects shown to us (or by us) through the Ouija Board are the will of ghosts or demons? Is our obsession with death and the hereafter so compelling that we actively seek out ways to express our own hopes and fears in that regard through toys?

The answer to that last question is most definitely ‘yes’, though the first question is a little harder to satisfy. Of the possibilities, most significantly including the untapped powers of the human brain, we give credit for the awesome potential of mankind to the mysteriously safe entities of fantasy and dream. It’s a cop out…it’s an excuse and a way to avoid the ultimate culpability, to avoid the admission that we are all, ultimately accountable for our actions, our words and our thoughts. If we buy into the marketing of Fuld or his predecessor Kennard, and we accept that it is the influence of the hereafter that affects our fates, then we are no longer responsible for where that influence takes us.

In the end of it all there is no reason to fear the Ouija; it is not a demonic doorway, nor is it a tool for communicating with the dead…it remains a toy, and a fun house mirror of our own fears and fantasies. Though, in so much as there is no factual reason to avoid the game of fortune telling with a Spirit Board, there is also no reason to connect it to what should be a hallowed celebration of those people who have passed on before us.

(above taken from " Paranomal People ". )

Haunted Objects

2009-10-16T09:27:00.004-06:00

Can a seemingly harmless and inanimate object such as an old watch or piece of furniture contain the psychic energy of its previous owners? Can everyday objects be haunted? In a recent visit to the popular auction site eBay I happened to find several supposedly haunted items being sold. Everything from old tools and photographs to dolls and jewellery, all of it purportedly haunted. There was even a haunted mansion for sale in Colorado. It seems that there is no shortage of haunted, cursed and generally spooky stuff for sale these days.

Some objects are said to be cursed, other seem to be animated by spirits. Other notoriously haunted objects are vehicle; phantom ships, ghost trains that steam through the night air on their old runs, even if the railway line has been long removed. Some famously haunted objects have fascinated the public consciousness for years. We have all heard about The Hope Diamond, the Flying Dutchman and King Tuts tomb, all of which are reportedly cursed or haunted items, which many feel retain the essence of long dead souls.

I have no doubt that the majority of so called haunted items being sold on online auction sites today are just plain old junk. Junk wrapped in a nifty, compelling and mysterious story and sold to novelty collectors. To each his own, I always say. I also have no doubt that much of the mystery surrounding famous objects such as King Tut’s tomb is the result of myth and legend. Tall tales which haven’t hurt Egypt’s tourism trade one tiny bit.

That being said, I do believe that some places and items can retain the energy of human beings. Our thoughts and emotions create energy, our lives create energy. It isn’t that much of a stretch for me to imagine that type of energy being stored in a house or other objects. The stronger the emotional energy attached to an object the more likely it will be to display paranormal behaviour.

Some have labelled this phenomenon a psychic echo; I prefer to think of it as residual psychic energy. The term psychic echo implies that energy has bounced off of an object; I feel that this is misleading since it seems that psychic energy is absorbed by the objects involved and not simply reflected.

While many of the items being touted today as genuinely haunted or possessed objects, the truth is that most of them are nothing but pure basement clutter. Be careful though when you are perusing the flea market stalls, thrift shop shelves and online auctions, because though quite rare, possessed objects are most certainly real.

(above taken from "Level Beyond,Jeffry R. Palmer ". )

Ghost hunter zeros in on former Saxony Motor Inn, Edmonton

2009-09-30T12:31:00.003-06:00

Spirits may be lurking at a once luxurious west-end hotel.

Staff have reported TVs, toasters and microwaves being unplugged sporadically at the former Saxony Motor Inn, now a Howard Johnson Hotel, 15540 Stony Plain Rd.

Unexplained footsteps in stairwells and bangs on the doors have also been heard.

The strange events have piqued the interest of a local ghost hunter, who's launched a paranormal investigation at the inn.

After speaking with several chambermaids and guests, Sean Seerey, a veteran tarot card reader and hospitality consultant at the hotel, did a late-night reading in a second-floor suite.

While he did the reading, Seerey said the room became so cold he could see his breath.

"It was 23 or 24 degrees outside that night and I could see my breath (in the room)," said Seerey, 45.

The Saxony was a posh 40-room Spanish-style hotel when it opened in 1966.

But over the years, its high-class facade crumbled.

In the 1980s a strip club operated at the inn and later, a bingo hall.

On Dec. 21, 1990, Lorraine Wray, a 46-year-old masseuse, was found strangled in the bathroom of her business, a massage studio in a strip mall attached to the hotel.

"Spirits are either lost or they're observing something or they've got an agenda they need to accomplish before they move on," said Seerey.

While walking through the halls during late shifts, Seerey says he felt a spirit move through his body. He says he's also smelled rose perfume.

Front desk manager Debbie Hart says longtime staff members speak of a trick-playing spirit named Bob who lives at the hotel.

Over the years at the hotel, staff recall lights flickering in the lounge, footsteps in the stairwell when no one is there, and knocks on doors.

"The older staff say it's Bob playing again," said Hart.

(above taken from "edmontonsun.com/ ". )

Is it a ghost or Carbon Monoxide?

2009-09-16T15:06:00.006-06:00

Good ghost hunters approach each case they investigate with an air of skepticism. It's not that we want to doubt witnesses or don't want to believe in an afterlife; it's that we have learned through years of research that humans are fallible and many seemingly normal things in the world can produce out of the ordinary results. So what if some hauntings are the result of something very normal in some homes, such as an old furnace?

Old buildings and hauntings seem to go hand in hand. Yes, the older a building is the more likely it is to have experienced something either dramatic or traumatic that could have left an energy imprint behind and resulted in a haunting, but older buildings are also more likely to have an older heating system, fireplace or low-efficiency water heater that runs on natural fuel. As the natural fuel is consumed by these systems, carbon monoxide (CO) is emitted as a by-product and must be safely vented out of the area. If not properly vented, CO poisoning, which accounts for approximately half of the poisoning deaths in the US each year, can occur.

Many times, people experiencing hauntings give very similar accounts.

It's an older home or building.
Everyone and everything was fine when the family moved in.
One or more family members started feeling watched, experiencing anxiety, etc.
This was followed by flu-like symptoms, such as occasional headaches and nausea, pallor and drowsiness.
And then some family members developed memory problems, paranoia and began to see things.
The family pets were even affected
Everything slowly returned to normal after the family left the haunted site.

While not to say hauntings haven't happened through the years, if this scenario occurs in a place with a badly ventilated, natural-fuel system of some type, then a carbon monoxide leak must be taken into account since the above are also symptoms of slow CO poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas, so many people never realize they have it in their home until it's too late. That's why CO is often referred to as a "silent killer." Sadly, early symptoms are even frequently missed by physicians due to their similarity to the flu. Since the source of CO is usually a badly ventilated, natural-fuel-consuming system, it also explains why it's most common in the winter, as that's when those systems are most likely to be used in a home.

Interestingly, reports of hauntings spike in the winter as well. Because of that correlation, any time a paranormal investigator is called in to a document a haunting, especially if activity peaks in the colder months, a carbon monoxide check should be conducted. It could save lives. ( Above taken from " examiner.com".)

Ghost Stories of Saskatchewan 3

2009-09-08T09:40:00.006-06:00

Saskatchewan and ghost stories. They go together like a grinning scarecrow in a whisper-dry October field. In 1995, Dundurn successfully published and reprinted numerous times the original "Ghost Stories of Saskatchewan". Since that time, an eerie wealth of supernatural accounts have surfaced in this seemingly quiet prairie province.

In this third collection, a quiet cemetery appears to be a portal between the worlds of the living and the dead, a Victorian mansion-turned-restaurant in Moose Jaw remains occupied by the spectral image of the original lady of the house, and a weary traveler near Flaxcombe stops for coffee in a diner that burned to the ground a decade earlier. There are historical tales and personal accounts, legends and lore. And there is much to keep the dedicated ghost fan awake late into the night. Here the reader will find triple the history, mystery, and chills from one of Canada's established authors in the paranormal genre.

Jo-Anne Christensen is the author of several best-selling regional ghost story books and short-story collections, including Ghost Stories of Saskatchewan, More Ghost Stories of Saskatchewan, Ghost Stories of British Colombia, Campfire Ghost Stories, and Haunted Hotels. She lives with her family in Edmonton, Alberta, though her heart is always one province to the east.

Prairie Specters was happy to sit down and speak with Jo-Anne Christensen and are very happy to be featured in Ghosts Stories of Saskatchewan 3 as well as have a number of pictures inside as well. Thanks Jo-Anne! Can't wait for number 4!

Buy it today!

The Ghost Month

2009-09-03T14:53:00.002-06:00

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. During the Qingming Festival the living descendants pay homage to their ancestors and on Ghost Day, the
deceased visit the living.

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased.
Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths. Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mache form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors. Elaborate meals would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living.

Ancestor worship is what distinguishes Qingming Festival from Ghost Festival because the latter includes paying respects to all deceased, including the same and younger generations, while the former only includes older generations. Other festivities may include, buying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.

Railway enthusiast delves into stories of supernatural

2009-08-26T09:34:00.002-06:00

Ghost trains. Phantom travellers. Poltergeists and demons. Perhaps humans haven’t been the only ones riding the rails way down the line.

Nova Scotia author Jay Underwood tries to unravel the truth behind such spooky sightings in Ghost Tracks: Surprising Stories of the Supernatural on Rails.

The Elmsdale writer delves into a range of spectral stories — everything from a grey lady haunting Inverness County tracks to dreams of a white horse becoming a harbinger of death on the Merigomish line.

Along the way, he offers earthly explanations for the lore’s possibly supernatural origins.

But Underwood, 51, is certainly open to the latter, having once seen what he believes was a ghost.

It happened when he was about 14, living with his family at a Royal Air Force base in Abingdon, England.

"My bed looked out through the bedroom door and down the hallway toward my sister’s room," he recalls. "I woke up late one night and saw a little girl standing in the hallway and I thought, well, it’s my sister Sara because she sleep-walked, so I got up and I went to put her back to bed, put my arms around her and they went right through.

"So I locked myself in the lavatory and spent the rest of the night there. . . . Afterwards I thought that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do because a ghost could probably walk through a locked door anyway. But anyway, that was the sum total of it. It seemed quite real at the time."

Underwood says he didn’t talk much about the experience afterward, telling his grandmother (who believed in the supernatural) only years later when the family had moved to Canada.

Besides, he says, many who report supernatural experiences often face ridicule as a result.

"This is one of the things I found when I was writing the stories of the railway ghosts. It tends to get treated the same way as an unidentified flying object. A lot of people think they’ve seen them, but they don’t like to talk about it for fear of being dismissed as a crackpot of some kind. And what they may have seen may or may not have been a ghost but they know they saw something. And I spoke to several people who believed they saw or experienced something."

But that’s not to say Underwood buys into every spooky story he hears. In fact, he makes it clear that many of the book’s tales can be traced to far more human factors. Some appear to have grown out of train wrecks and other railway-related deaths seemingly tied to things like unfamiliarity with new technology, or overwork or lack of maintenance.

Even the prevailing mood of the times may have conjured some spirits in people’s minds. Underwood points to the gloom pervading the Commonwealth after Queen Victoria’s death as a factor.

"All these stories, it seemed to me, happened within a certain time frame, especially around the death of Queen Victoria and that seemed to me to be a pivotal point not just on Canadian history but in British history too because a queen who had reigned for that long and was so loved to suddenly die, it was a massive change in the way the society viewed itself. . . .

"At that time Canadians were still proud to call themselves members of the British Empire and when the head of the empire died suddenly there was this uncertainty about . . . what would the empire become without her presence. So a lot of that seems to be a reflection of the melancholy that pervaded the empire when she died."

But then again the rails had been steeped in superstition almost since the beginning, from a fear of the number nine to beliefs that dreams foretold pending deaths.

Fear of new technology may have inspired such beliefs too, he says, especially in the wake of numerous wrecks and accidental individual deaths.

Even in the late 1800s and 1900s, Underwood says, railway companies were emphasizing safety "so that when something did go wrong people would say, ‘Well, we did everything we were supposed to do and the accident still happened — there must have been some other force at work.’

"There was a certain amount of lack of sophistication associated with that era. . . . The world was transitioning from a Victorian era into what we are today, and in Victorian times there were still a lot of people who clung very strongly to tradition and superstition."

In many cases, though, lack of familiarity with new technology may have caused wrecks, explosions and freak accidents that lent themselves to ghostly interpretations.

But perhaps not all.

Underwood believes the tale of the Whiteside Terror, which he chronicles in Chapter 5, could be true. Without giving the whole story away, suffice to say it involves, at one point, a ghostly hand gripping a human neck.

"I believe the Grey Lady of Inverness certainly could be," he adds of another story about a female apparition people have claimed to see and hear around old railway tracks near Judique.

"I think in this day and age people like to use science to explain everything," says Underwood, a longtime journalist who is also president of the Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society. "And I don’t believe that science can explain everything, in some cases. You know they’ve tried to use science to explain the Shroud of Turin, but they never have completely."

(above taken from "TheChronicleherald.ca ". )

Beban House's ghostly past continues to spook workers

2009-08-19T09:12:00.007-06:00

He is slow on his feet and loves to take mid-morning, afternoon and evening naps, but Slater seems to have caused quite a commotion at Beban House since his arrival.

The family pet now calls the Nanaimo Tourist Information Centre home, but his owner fears the cat has stirred up the building's ghostly past. Employees at the Nanaimo Tourist Information Centre in Beban Park are familiar with the buildings haunted history. But it was only recently that they started to take it a little more seriously. Recurring incidents left them with chills down their spines and prompted them to contact the Vancouver Island Paranormal Society to investigate their ghostly suspicions.

Mark Drysdale, executive director of Tourism Nanaimo, says he's not convinced there are ghosts roaming the rooms and halls of the historic building. He doesn't even believe in ghosts. But after moving his cat into the building, strange things started to happen with no good explanation. Co-worker Amanda Envoy shares Drysdale's practicality, but they both figured it couldn't hurt to seek the opinion of a professional ghostbuster.

Rob Turner with the Paranormal Research and Investigation Group is still reviewing the evidence they collected in Beban House on the night of July 4. Envoy is eager to find out the results, even though she passed up on the opportunity to sleep over with the ghostbusters while they conducted their research. She's already spooked enough and didn't think trying to meet and greet the ghosts, if there are such a thing, would be in her best interest.

"Lets just say if ghosts do exist, then there's one here," Drysdale said with a laugh.

Beban House is one of Vancouver Island's most well-known hauntings, which was even featured on the television series Creepy Canada.

Before becoming Nanaimo's tourism building the top floor was used as a daycare. The operator of the facility often heard stories from preschoolers about an oddly dressed child playing with a red rubber ball. It was later realized that it is more likely one of the Beban's Chinese servants, a young boy who died in the house.

Drysdale has heard all the tales, but it wasn't until a few unexplained incidents got his wheels turning. Doors and windows he had locked were opened. Doors he left opened were locked. A vital key went missing and then reappeared weeks later. And Slater who was locked in a room over a weekend was sitting in the foyer on the following Monday. It's a mystery because the door to his room was still locked and there was no other way out.

Drysdale called the security company a few times to check to see if the alarms had been set off at any time or if they had detected any movements inside the building. The security records came back clean. That's when the tourism team decided to call in the experts.

Even when Drysdale and Envoy are in the office all alone, they never really feel alone. It's not that they feel like someone they can't see is staring at them. But rather, there's a presence of someone else in the room, on the stairs or in the corridor. Despite the eerie feeling, they don't believe the ghosts, or spirits, to be evil.

"It all seems to be quite harmless," said Envoy. "But it still creeps me out."

(above taken from "Canada.com ". )

The Beban house is a beautiful home that was built by Frank Beban, British Columbia's leading timber baron. A mansion built on 160 acres of land, 3 miles north of Nanamio. In 1953 the city of Nanamio purchased the estate and eventually in 1997 it was turned into the Nanamio Tourism Headquarters. Through out the years before the estate became the headquarters it also served as a daycare centre, which is when it seems stories started to come to life by the young children. Children claimed that there were other children that dressed differently hanging out with them playing with balls of their own.

Eventually after some research of the daycare providers it was discovered that children once resided in this estate and even more info came out that they were the Chinese servant's children to the original owner Frank Beban. A young Boy has said to have died in the house of an accidental death.

After several investigations by ghost hunters and the curious there have been numerous accounts of weird and unexplained happenings, Psychics claim that there is more than the spirit of the little boy. The unexplained encounters have been recorded as water taps turning on, messages left on the answering machines and doors mysteriously opening and closing. Not to be left out is the strange eerie feeling of being watch when in the basement.

The Black Hope Curse

2009-08-17T13:46:00.006-06:00

Just outside of Houston, Texas, is a neighborhood filled with upscale homes and manicured lawns. In the early 1980s, Sam and Judith Haney settled in at the far western edge of the development. Sam described it as their dream home:

“When we bought the house in Newport, it was the house that we had always been looking for. So, it was the house that we intended to stay at for a long period of time.”

But there was a morbid secret about the Haney’s perfect home, one that soon turned their lives into a never-ending nightmare. Sam said it all began when a mysterious old man showed up at their door with an ominous warning:

“This elderly man told me that he had noticed that we were putting a swimming pool in our backyard and that there was something about our backyard that I needed to know about. So I followed him around to my backyard and he pointed at the ground and said that there are some graves right here. And he marked a spot on the ground where they were. And I really didn’t know how to react to that. I didn’t know if he was just joking. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to joke about something like that.”

Using a backhoe, Sam decided to see if the man’s alarming claims were true. Sam says it wasn’t long before he hit something:

“And at that point, we stopped with the backhoe and we got down into the hole and continued digging by hand. There were pine boards. When we lifted up the first board, we could see an indentation of a skeleton form. It didn’t take long to figure out that it was actual human remains.”

Sam immediately called the Sheriff and county coroner who conducted an official exhumation. Most of the bones had turned to powder. But 25 fragments were found, some so brittle that they disintegrated when touched.

A second coffin, located alongside the first, hadn’t been disturbed. Inside, two wedding rings were discovered on the frail index finger of the exposed skeleton. Judith Haney was mortified by the discovery:

“They handed me the rings and it was sickening to think that I had desecrated somebody’s grave.”

Wanting desperately to do the right thing, the Haneys decided to find out whose remains were buried in their backyard. The search led them to a longtime resident named Jasper Norton.

Years earlier, Norton had dug several graves in the area. He told the Haneys that their home and a dozen others were built on top of an old African American cemetery called Black Hope. The deceased were mainly former slaves. The last burial was in 1939, and as many as 60 people were interred there in paupers’ graves. The two people buried in the Haney’s backyard were Betty and Charlie Thomas. They died during the 1930s and their graves were eventually forgotten.

Judith and Sam Haney made an extraordinary decision. They reburied Betty and Charlie in their yard, and prayed their spirits would rest in peace. But, according to Judith, peace was not forthcoming:

“There was a clock in my bedroom and one night it started sparking and putting out a sort of blue glow.”

When Judith checked the clock, she found that it was unplugged. That was only the beginning of the Haneys’ ordeal. On another evening, Sam went to work the night shift, leaving Judith alone:

“I heard the sliding glass door open and I heard what I thought was Sam saying, ‘What you doing?’ Everything was quiet, the sliding glass doors were locked, and I thought, ‘Well, you know, you must be losing your mind. This really must be getting to you.’ But much to my amazement that’s not where the story ended. In the morning I awoke, went in my closet to get my red shoes, and I could not find them anywhere.”

Sam backed up Judith’s story:

“So, of course, I started looking for them and went through all of her closets where she normally puts things. And we just couldn’t find them. We had walked just a short distance from where the gravesites were and I could see something on the grave. And they were both side-by-side like someone had just picked them up and carried them over and laid them down on the gravesite.”

Even more disturbing to Sam was the realization that this was Betty Thomas’ birthday:

“And I kinda got the feeling that it was like Charlie was giving Betty a birthday present.”

Judith felt she knew what was going on:

“I began to come to the realization that this was not all in my mind and that this had to have some relationship to Betty and Charlie’s graves being disturbed. Their spirits were saying, ‘This isn’t right.’”

The Haneys were not alone. A dozen of their neighbors also reported lights, televisions and water faucets turning on and off, and unearthly sounds and supernatural apparitions. Worse, these bizarre events were becoming malicious.

Like the Haneys, Ben and Jean Williams thought that they had found their suburban paradise when they moved into the same neighborhood. But Jean said she never felt at peace in the house:

“After we moved, in everything changed. When I tried to plant new plants, they just would not live no matter what I did. You know, fertilizer or whatever, they still would not live. And I constantly had a foreboding feeling, a feeling of things are not right or something bad is about to happen.”

The Williams said that near their flowerbed, sinkholes appeared in the unmistakable shape of a coffin. The Williams would fill them in, only to have them reappear a few days later. The Williams also felt their ideal home was being invaded by a menacing presence. Random shadows slid along the walls, followed by whispered words and a putrid smell. At the time, the Williams’ granddaughter, Carli, lived with the couple. During the blazing heat of summer, Carli said she would stumble into bone-chilling pockets of ice-cold air:

“It would be very, very chilly and you’d have this feeling of foreboding, or just, you know, like something wasn’t right. Anywhere in the house you’d have a feeling that you were not alone. Somebody was watching you. It terrified me to be in the house by myself. The toilets used to flush on their own. As the water went down I could hear, it was almost like conversations. You could hear people murmuring to themselves. It was a presence or spirit or something there. Something that wanted to be heard. Wanted me to know that it was there.”

Jean Williams had no doubt as to the source of the disturbances:

“I absolutely believe that all of these things happened to us because we were on the graveyard, and that we were simply going to be tormented until we left there.”

Ben said he and Jean debated what to do next:

“Me and Jean, we talked it over. And she said, ‘Well what can we do? Walk off and leave it?’ She said, ‘We ain’t got enough money to pay down on another home.’ I said, ‘We’ve always been fighters. We’re gonna stay right here and fight it and try to beat it.’”

According to Ben, it wasn’t long before he got his chance:

“I came home from work around ten after twelve from the midnight shift, and I walked straight to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door, and that’s when I seen these two ghostly figures. And they went straight backwards into the den. And then they started heading right down the hall to Jean’s. And it was standing right about a foot and a half from the end of the bed. The only thing I really thought of was, ‘They ain’t messing with me wife.’ As I dove through it, I felt a sticky cold sensation in my body.”

Down the street at the Haney’s, Judith said the disturbances caused her life to unravel:

“I was crying all the time. I was frightened. I was scared of doing my daily routine in my own home.”

The Haneys decided to fight back in court. They sued the builder for not disclosing that their home was built over a cemetery, in part, so that everyone would know what was happening at their subdivision. A jury awarded them $142,000 for mental anguish. But a reversal ruled on legal grounds that the developers were not liable. The verdict was thrown out and the Haneys were ordered to pay $50,000 in court costs. Sam Haney recounted the total cost of their ordeal:

“At that point we decided to file bankruptcy. All in all, we ended up losing the case, losing the money, losing the house.”

The Williams also explored legal recourse. But they say that they were told that without definitive proof of a cemetery on their property, nothing could be done. It was then that Jean made a decision that she will forever regret:

“That was the last straw. You want a body? I’ll show you a body. So, I thought to myself, I can dig about two feet a day and I knew I would reach a body.”

But soon after she started digging, Jean felt ill. Her adult daughter, Tina, volunteered to finish the job. After digging for a half hour, Tina also fell ill. Carli Karluk was there that day:

“I remember her saying that she was, that she felt funny. She was getting dizzy as well. She put the shovel down and she went back inside. And she just laid down on the couch. She’s like mom, daddy, I don’t feel right. There’s something wrong. The last thing I remember her saying was, ‘Mommy, take care of my baby, take care of my baby.’ And she looked so scared.”

While waiting for paramedics to arrive, Jean tried to keep her daughter conscious:

“Almost immediately her eyes started glazing over. And I was talking to her, trying to talk her out of dying. ‘Please Tina, talk to me.’ And all this time her eyes were changing until they got to the point where I knew that she wasn’t responding at all.”

Tina had suffered a massive heart attack. Two days later she died. Jean burdened the blame:

“I realize that I had desecrated another grave and now I’m paying. I told Ben, ‘We have to get out of here. It doesn’t matter what we lose, what we had.’ And I knew that if we didn’t, that I was not going to make it, because my fight was gone. I could fight no more.”

The Williams escaped to Montana and later moved back to another house and another neighborhood in Texas. Today they are a happily growing family, no longer plagued by mysterious noises, horrific apparitions or heart-breaking tragedies.

Back in their old neighborhood, none of the current residents have reported any paranormal activity. No one has ever been able to explain what happened to the Williams or the Haneys.

Great Grandmother’s Ghost: Cellphone Picture

2009-07-31T10:33:00.003-06:00

Interesting story is starting to circulate the web about a ghostly image of a supposed great grandmother who makes her appearance on a cell phone picture is making noise across blogs this morning. The story was posted on LitRockFM's website when a listener submitted the story. Kasey claims that while babysitting her 22 month-old niece, she took a picture with her cellphone and noticed an older woman in the background. According to the story, nobody was in the room at the time and no TV or mirrors were around to produce that image. (above taken from "GhostTheory ". )

The Screaming Tunnel - Ontario

2009-07-28T12:47:00.003-06:00

There is a tunnel under the old railroad tracks just to the west of the Queen Elizabeth Way in Niagara Falls. It is known locally as the Screaming Tunnel. A path wanders through the tunnel and then up to an empty field on the hill. But the field was not always empty.

At one time, a large farm house stood in the field at the top of the hill, and in it lived a happy family. Then one night, the house caught fire. A young daughter was trapped in the house, and the only way to escape was through a wall of flames. The brave young girl covered her face with her arms and ran into the fiery doorway. Her long hair and her long nightgown began to smolder as she burst through the flames and rushed out of the house.

When the night air struck her smoldering clothing, it burst into flames, enveloping the girl in a raging inferno. The girl screamed in agony and ran blindly down the hill, away from the fire-stricken house. She staggered into the tunnel under the train tracks, her screams echoing and re-echoing through the night. Overcome by the flames, the girl fell to the floor of the tunnel, wailing in agony. She rolled frantically on the floor of the tunnel, trying to douse the flames, but her efforts were weak and ineffective. She was quickly overcome, and burned to death in the tunnel under the tracks.

After that night, anyone that dares strike a match in the tunnel under the tracks will hear the agonized death screams of the burning girl, and a ghostly wind will instantly blow out the match.

How (not to) be a Ghost Hunter- A tongue in cheek guide

2009-07-27T15:06:00.008-06:00

How (not to) Be a Ghost Hunter- A Tongue in Cheek Guide

Original Link

So you want to be a ghost hunter. Being a ghost hunter is easy, all you need to do is spend a few hours watching television, you can learn all about it. There are wonderfully real and accurate paranormal shows all over cable television. Watch them and you too can be an expert. But what if you don’t have cable television? Never fear I have watched all the shows and I can tell you what to do:

Preparing for a Ghost Hunt

1. Ghost hunting is an exciting and thrilling hobby. Your time spent ghost hunting will be action packed. Ghosts are drawn to activity, so have fun and be high energy. Don’t stay in one place too long 2-3 minutes is more than enough. You never see the guys from TAPS sitting around for hours do you?

2. Your mind is more open when you are under the influence of drugs and alcohol. So be sure to have a couple beers before you go, and bring a few extra along in the cooler. I would never advocate the use of illegal drugs but let’s just say this: Too bad they are illegal because they would be great help on a ghost hunt. Also if you have smokers on the team, be sure to bring cigarettes. Ghosts are attracted to the nicotine and you can often see the ectoplasm of many ghosts hovering around smokers.

3. The more the merrier, bring all your friends! Make it a party. Ghosts love parties, and if something gets trashed- well who cares? It isn’t like the dead can complain right?

4. Asking permission to investigate a site is for amateurs, the real die-hard ghost hunters don’t care. Break in if you have to, it’s in the name of science after all.

5. Do NOT do any sort of research on the site before you go, it is much better if you go in not knowing what the claims are or what to expect.

Using Your Equipment

1. Never warn a ghost that you are going to take a picture; it is much better to surprise them. If you say “flash” or give any sort of warning, they will run off.

2. Orbs are great evidence of paranormal phenomenon, don’t use night vision, not only are these cameras expensive, but they also can’t capture orbs. Use a very bright flash or spot light to capture these ghosts.

3. Never take a tripod, they are too bulky and they will slow you down. Keep moving when you are taking photos. Never take 2 shots of the same spot. Most ghost hunters have a nice steady hand, so they won’t have to worry about the camera jiggling.

4. Set your shutter speed to a slow speed. Ghosts move very fast so you will need the slow shutter speeds, this is especially helpful for capturing rods, and paranormal ribbons.

5. Bring crystals, Ouija boards, divining rods, etc you never know when they might be helpful.

6. Bring an EMF detector, a KII if you can, if you see the numbers go up, you have a ghost and ghosts like to communicate through them.

7. When doing an EVP session, make sure you whisper- you wouldn’t want your voice accidentally caught on tape. Keep the conversation moving; don’t pause too long in between questions. NEVER video tape an EVP session, it is a waste of film; you have an audio recording, anything more is overkill.

8. If you can’t find equipment that will do what you want, build your own. There is no need to waste time conducting scientific testing to evaluate the tool, if it lights up, is shiny or makes cool noises- it works!

9. If one of the television ghost busters uses a new tool- don’t waste any time getting it. These shows have hundreds of highly-paid researchers to look for new gear, if they use it, it must work!

10. If you can’t get the equipment to work the way TAPS does, then you must be doing something wrong, so keep trying. In fact you should spend the majority of your time trying to duplicate the same cool results they get.

Developing Your Investigative Style

1. You don’t get a television show for nothing- these people on TV know their stuff! If they do it, there is no need to question. Never question the pros. They know what they are doing; you really don’t need to know why they are doing something, if Paranormal State then that should be enough for you.

2. The best answers for paranormal activity is usually the most irrational, when explaining paranormal activity don’t let skeptics try to throw logic into the mix. And always give a full explanation- such as how the ghost was feeling, what they were thinking and so on.

3. Use your instincts; your first impression is usually right. Don’t dig around trying to find explanations for something, remember your test taking advice from school, “The first answer you choose is generally correct”

4. Think on your feet, never pause to evaluate a situation, chances are you will miss your opportunity to capture a ghost. If you hear a noise, run blindly toward it; don’t pause to think about what might be the source. Besides, you are totally safe, it is just you and your friends in the abandoned building- what could possibly go wrong?

5. Don’t ever get bogged down on researching other people’s theories, develop your own and stick with it. If someone questions you, make something up or confuse them with mysticism or throw some technical sounding terms at them. Try to create your own phrases by combining technical and new age terms such as “isochoric manifestation of a cosmic energy relative to the ethereal plane in pseudo-corporeal form”. Don’t worry if you don’t understand what you are saying- no one else will either, and you will look very smart! REMEMBER! You are the paranormal "expert" make sure you let everyone know that!

Dealing With Clients
1. Try to always keep in mind, the client has no idea what is going on. Don’t waste time talking with them or getting their opinion. If you do have to interact with your client, don’t ask a bunch of personal questions. It isn’t any of your business what is going on in their lives; never ever ask about drug or alcohol abuse, histories of mental illnesses, recent stresses or other personal information. In fact, never ask questions; let them tell you what they want to. Not only is this much more professional, but asking a bunch of questions will only encourage them to bug you..
2. If the client does start to bug you, asking annoying questions about why you do something or stuff like that, it is easy to shut them up by simply asking, “Don’t you watch Ghost Hunters?” If they did, they would know what you were doing, and if they don’t… well they are beyond help.

3. Make sure you state your rates up front and always collect payment before you start investigating. Only amateurs do an investigation for free. The only exception to this is if you are trying for a TAPS family membership- then you have to work for free because they say so. But don’t worry; you will still make a ton of money doing personal appearances when you are accepted as a member. (Did you know that recently autographs of TAPS members sold for $35 each? - you do the math!)

4. Always try to sell your client a paranormal cleansing while you are there. (even TAPS members can charge for this one!) This is very easy to do, just burn some white sage, say a few prayers and sprinkle some holy water around. It is guaranteed to get rid of the ghosts and will make your team extra money- so it is a total win-win!

5. Don’t ever give a client a copy of any evidence. They will sell it or use it to write a book and will take all your glory. You captured the evidence using your equipment- you have sole rights to it and can use it whenever and wherever you wish. When you do post evidence, make sure you include all the important facts, time and date it was captured, the exact address where you caught it, and if you can post GPS coordinates so other people can find the haunted site- the only time you should not do this is when there are other teams in the area. This leads me to my next point.

Working With Other Teams

1. Ghost hunting is a competitive business. NEVER EVER work with another team, unless they can do something for you. But as soon as you get what you want out of the relationship, cut all ties.

2. Your best bet is to bad-mouth, harass, and run down other teams. Let everyone who will listen know why your team is so much better than theirs. Spy on them, try to post nasty messages if they have a message board, and make fun of them whenever you can. The only teams worth working with are TAPS, Penn State, GHI or other TV teams; everyone else deserves nothing but your disdain.

3. Your best bet is to just break up the other teams. If you find a weak member do everything you can to steal them. Good people will jump ship to go to another team at a moment’s notice- remember that and watch for your opportunities to talk trash to those people and turn them against their team.

4. If you do get someone to switch sides, make sure they take as much personal and private information as possible. Use what you can to better your team, and leak all the dirty laundry- it will only make them look bad and you look good.

5. Never take the advice of a more “experienced” investigator. Sure, there are people who have been investigating for 20-30 years, but let’s face it, if they were really any good, they would have a TV show, so don’t bother with them. You know just as much as they do, and why would they help you anyways? Be suspicious of those people, they just want to steal from you or ruin your excellent reputation.

Evidence

1. If at first you don’t notice anything in your audio or photos, use fancy software to enhance it. When you do this, you will be surprised how much you will find. Don’t ever publish unaltered evidence- that is boring. Make sure you enhance it until you will be sure everyone else will be able to see or hear what you did.

2. Never ever question your findings; this will make you look ignorant. And if by chance you discover something you published is wrong- never, never, ever retract it. No one else is as smart as you so chances are if you missed it, they will too. It is much better to leave it up and just run with it.

3. If you can’t find any compelling evidence, it is ok to fake it. The only way to gain credibility is to post exciting evidence. This will help you gain more exposure and you will eventually have the chance to find real evidence later.

4. Be sure you know how to spot other people’s fakes and call them out on it every chance you can. If they try to call you out on your fake evidence, or even question your real evidence, personally attack them. This will show what losers they are and no one will listen to them.

Putting Together and Promoting Your Team

1. It is much better to start your own team than join an established one. If you must join an established team, try to make changes to suit your needs as soon as possible. Especially if they don’t do things the way it is done on television. If they try to question you, simply tell them, “Well that is the way (insert your favorite TV team here) does.” That is all the explanation anyone should need.

2. Start building trust within your team immediately. Never do a background check on a potential team member. That is an invasion of privacy and besides, what they do in their personal life has no impact on your ghost hunting.

3. People with jobs and families will just hold you back. Try to find people who don’t have any responsibilities or goals other than ghost hunting.

4. Go EVERYWHERE together in your team t-shirts. Try to attract as much attention as possible. Dress crazy, be loud, do what ever it takes to attract attention. This is especially important if there is a television camera or a reporter nearby. Do whatever it takes to be photographed, or even better, interviewed in your t-shirt! All press is good press. (above taken from "The Examiner.com Author: Cheri Esperon". )

Micheal Jackson's Ghost at Neverland

2009-07-05T21:58:00.002-06:00

MICHAEL Jackson fans are in a frenzy over a possible sighting of the star's GHOST at Neverland.

An eerie shadow resembling Jacko's figure appeared on a wall in the singer's former home during a live television programme last week - and walked across the corridor. It moved quickly from left to right before disappearing.

The spooky sighting came during CNN's 'Inside Neverland', which featured an interview between interviewer Larry King and Michael's brother Jermaine.

Neither the presenter nor the cameraman noticed the spectre. But after it was posted on YouTube fans picked up the shadow and rumours spread across the internet like wildfire.

During the programme - aired a week after his death - Miko Brando, Marlon's son and a long-term friend of Jackson's, takes a film crew on a tour of Neverland.

At one point their camera is pointed down a long hall-way when the shadowy figure appears at its far end.

Chat forums were flooded with messages from fans last night who insisted the shadow was Michael's ghost. (above taken from "The Sun ". )

Mexico's Isla De Las Muñecas

2009-06-30T14:49:00.002-06:00

Mexico's Isla De Las Muñecas (Island of the Dolls) near Mexico City looks to be a dark and curious place, filled with old doll parts placed there over 50 years by Don Julián Santana, a hermit who died in 2001.

Island of the Dolls

Above is a short video about the place. More from Bizarre:

...The Island Of The Dolls is a shrine to a dead girl who was said to haunt (Santan), and in whose honour he collected dolls, to calm her restless spirit.

“There are many stories about why the dolls are here,” says Don Julián’s cousin, Anastasio, one of several family members who now curate the island, welcome visitors, and charge a token fee to take photos.

“Some people claim Don Julián was mad, and that he’d fish dolls out of the canal believing they were real children, and that he could nurse them back to life. But the real story is that, soon after Don Julián arrived on the island, he came to believe this place was haunted by the spirit of a poor young girl who drowned in the canal. So when he saw a doll floating past he took it and put it on a tree, both to protect himself from evil and make the dead girl happy. But one doll wasn’t enough; soon Don Julián had made the entire island into a shrine.”

For decades, Don Julián amassed a huge collection of dolls that had been rejected by their owners, either plucking them out of the canal as they bobbed past, or scavenging toys from rubbish heaps on rare excursions from his secluded home.

In later years, locals began to trade old dolls with Don Julián in return for home-grown vegetables, and before his death the hermit’s cadaverous collection covered every inch of the island – each unloved toy receiving a second lease of life as part of his surreal shrine.

Paranormal divers plan summer of ghost-hunting in Tampa Bay

2009-05-28T09:00:00.002-06:00

By GAYLE GUYARDO
Media General News Service
Published: May 26, 2009

Those who die at sea might never leave the water — body or soul. And if they’re still there, perhaps haunting the reefs and shipwrecks where they perished, Paranormal Divers aims to find them.

The Cape Coral-based company is preparing for a summer of ghost-hunting in Bay area waters, with investigations of the Gunsmoke, a shrimp trawler that mysteriously sank with a cargo of marijuana 14 miles west of Egmont Key in 1977; the Blackthorn, a Coast Guard buoy tender that collided with a freighter in 1980, killing 23 seamen; and the waters beneath the old Sunshine Skyway, where 35 people died after a freighter rammed the bridge in ‘80.

“We pick a wreck that has some potentially haunted history and then we check it out,“ says Lee Ehrlich, president of Ghost Pros Paranormal Inc.

The company films its search and sells the videos, which weave in the story of the site — fact and lore — and the Paranormal Divers’ experience.

“We look for the stories, the romance,“ Ehrlich says. “We’re putting the ghost back in the ghost ship.“

At each site, the dive team first sets up sonar drones to record the underwater sounds. The recordings are analyzed “to determine what sounds you are not suppose to hear ... possibly sounds of the paranormal,“ Ehrlich says.

To capture the sights, Paranormal Divers has teamed with Tampa-based SeaViewer Underwater Video Systems, whose clients include The Discovery Channel, NOAA’s National Weather Service, The Army Engineers and ESPN. SeaViewer’s high-definition studio cameras were used to film scenes in the Russell Crowe movie “Master and Commander”.

Once all the recorded data is collected, Ghost Pros will plan a nighttime excursion. At the Gunsmoke, Ehrlich says, divers will thoroughly explore the wreckage.

“What makes the Gunsmoke compelling is nobody knows what happened,“ he says.

The trawler was found abandoned and sinking in January 1977, according to news accounts. Ehrlich says two people disappeared.

“We want to go into that ship, really see what’s in there,“ he says.

The divers will also watch for the telltale glow of bioluminescence light forms and listen for unusual sounds.

Ehrlich says he’s not trying to convince anyone of paranormal activity.

“We offer our evidence in good-faith for both Scientific (as applicable) and Entertainment value, and it is up to the viewer to believe what he or she feels is the truth,“ according to a disclaimer at http://www.ghostpros.com.

But the sites Ghost Pros explores are rich in lore, and the explorations are fascinating, Ehrlich says.

“If you were to die in some strange setting,“ he says, “wouldn’t you want to know that someone was looking for you?“

Location - Bekevar Church

2009-05-12T09:50:00.008-06:00

What is it that haunts this iconic church south east of Kipling? Stories tell of church bells ringing on there own, a male presence who protects the church, strange smells and an uneasy feeling.

We decided to do an initial investigation of the location and learn what we could.

The Bekevar Church is a Municipal Heritage Property located within the Rural Municipality of Hazelwood No. 94, approximately nine kilometres southeast of the Town of Kipling. The property features a large, wood-frame church with twin spires, built in 1911, an iron gate adorning the property's entranceway, and a cemetery, all surrounded by landscaped, treed grounds.

The heritage value of the Bekevar Church lies in its architecture. Representative of the Hungarians who settled in the area, the property follows traditional church design, incorporating Gothic Revival-inspired towers and pointed-arch windows in the building. These elements complement an interior layout, inspired by the Great Church in Debrecen, Hungary, features a sharply truncated nave and an unusually large transept comprising the main body of the church, an uncommon arrangement in Saskatchewan.
The congregation is predominately seated in the transept in a semi-circular fashion around the sanctuary. Built between 1911 and 1912, the Bekevar Church is the last remaining building from the Hungarian settlement of Bekevar.

This trip we were just passing through and had not made arrangements for a tour or access to the building so out initial visit was just on the church grounds. While we were there we had no strange events occur. I try not to give my wife too much information on a location before we visit just to get her gut reaction to the sites. At this location she had felt like someone was watching her from the inside the church.

Hopefully I will be able arrange something for our next visit so we can investigate some of the stories attached to this amazing old church.

Location - Roche Percee

2009-04-28T10:26:00.006-06:00

A mile south of the village of Roche Percee, off Highway 30, lies the massive landmark of sandstone known as pierced rock, or Roche Percee. The wind whistling through the many holes caused early natives to revere it and fear it. it also served as a benchmark - and one suspects as a calling card or bulletin board.

Hunters and early travelers out of Red River (Winnipeg) or Montana used it as a guide post and even General Custer and his famed 7th Cavalry stopped here once to inscribe their names for the future generations to read in eerie awe.

The rock itself was originally twice it's present size, but the erosive forces of wind, frost and rain have reduced it. the most important damage was done during a 1922 thunderstorm when lightning shattered the crown and knocked off the upper half. The mass of rubble thrown down contained many of the early Indian paintings.

Well we decided to take a road trip to check out this great Saskatchewan landmark and we were not disappointed. Tucked away in a rugged little valley the rocks poke out of the trees in the distance. My initial impression was that the stone formation have really shrunk from how they looked in the 1910 picture, which I posted above, but are still an impressive sight.

Climbing up we took a closer look at the scores of names and dates carved into the soft sandstone formations. The dates ranged from this year to all the way back to the 1800's. It sad to see all the really old carvings are being covered by the new but for the most part the writing is respectful without any lewdness. It is my understanding the majority of the native carvings were destroyed when the arch was hit by lightning.

Back behind the major rock formation is a number of other portions of rock in a wooded area. Some of the formations have small tunnels winding threw them as well as a larger cave-like tunnel. Past visitors have given the rocks a mystical reverence and walking amongst them I can understand why. Some have even said the rocks are haunted. This whole area is know for being haunted by beings know as "Rugeroos." Old Indian spirits that change into animals. They are vicious and will harm you if you don't leave when you see them. They don't speak but will growl.

Investigating the site we did not feel any menacing presence or something that did not want us there. But we did have two strange experiences. The first was by my wife when I had returned to the car to fetch something. She was taking pictures when a shadow fell across her as if somebody was standing on the stone above her. She assumed I had returned and climbed up there but on standing up to look around nobody was around. The second encounter was when we were getting ready to leave. My wife went one way taking the dog with her and I went another way and lost sign of them. Just then I heard the heavy panting of an animal in my left ear and right away assumed my dog had decided to follow me. I turned around but nothing was there. Then it occurred to me the panting was right in my ear and my dog would have to riding on my shoulders to duplicate the noise.

All in all it was interesting trip and we plan to return soon for another visit.

Interesting Site - The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo

2009-04-24T11:15:00.008-06:00

In 1599, local priests of Palermo, Sicily, mummified one of their recently deceased brothers, a holy monk named Silvestro of Gubbio, and interred him inside the catacombs so that they could continue to pray for him following his death. This was the beginning of what was to become a most macabre museum.

Subsequently, the catacombs became filled with dead friars. But this was to set a trend whereby the local people wanted their own relatives mummified. Such was the desire for this unorthodox practice, that wills were written to include a choice of attire; some expressing a wish to have a change of clothing after a given period.

It wasn't long before there were hundreds of mummies contained in the catacombs. Today, eight thousand mummified corpses line the walls like a 3D catalogue of death.

The catacombs are vast and the corpses are displayed in a variety of ways. Some are in closed coffins, some of which have had a side panel removed in which to view the body. But most are coffinless and are displayed on full view to the public. The relatives would pay donations for the upkeep of the catacombs, and whilst payments were received their loved ones corpse was given its own position, where many were posed in a lifelike fashion. However, once donations stopped, the corpse would be relegated to eternity on a shelf!

Although most are so old that little remains but a dressed skeleton. Some still have skin and hair, and in a few cases they still have their eyes!

Time and gravity has taken its toll, distorting a lot of the corpses, creating a gruesome image where the mummies appear to be screaming in an eternal agony.

Perhaps the saddest sight is that of the babies and children. A few of which hardly seem to have altered since death; their beauty and innocence suspended in time, creating an image not unlike a long forgotten doll, abandoned in a musty attic.

The most famed of the children is Rosalia Lombardo. Nicknamed the Sleeping Beauty, she almost appears at sleep in her open coffin, and looks as perfect as any sleeping child. She died of pneumonia in 1920 aged 2, and was embalmed by a secret method invented by Dr Solafia of Palermo. It is now known that the method consisted of using formalin to kill bacteria, alcohol to dry the body, glycerin to stop the body from becoming over dry, salicylic acid to kill fungi, and zinc salts to give the body rigidity. Rosalia's family are said to have visited her body often. (above taken from "Ghostsamongus.net ". )

Historic mental institution demolished

2009-04-24T09:55:00.008-06:00

A building that was once on the leading edge of psychiatric research and patient care in Saskatchewan has met its date with a demolition crew.

The facility, known for years as the Weyburn Mental Hospital, was completely closed in 2004. Despite attempts to preserve the structure for alternate uses, none was found, leading to the demolition that began in earnest several weeks ago.

This week, the contractor at the site allowed media and a few especially curious community members to go behind the safety fences for a last look around.

Many of the buildings in the complex have already been gutted, leaving a skeleton of steel beams, a convoluted maze of pipes and the roof to be torn down.

Dotted around the site are mounds of ripped-out steel, concrete and other left-overs, including old wheelchairs and appliances.

Millions of bricks

The hospital was an imposing fixture in Weyburn, with some 500,000 square feet of space sprawled across a large plot of land on Queen Street. An estimated 4.5 million bricks went into its construction, with it's oldest section dating back 90 years.

In its heyday, it had room for 2,000 patients.

Among those allowed inside the fences were Anne and Joe Robillard, who separately found jobs at the hospital in 1952. Joe was a painter. Anne, a nurse.

By 1953, they had fallen in love. They married and continued working at the hospital for three decades, accumulating a lifetime of memories. As they scanned the growing piles of rubble, they recalled how one room often hosted dances for patients and staff.

The ballroom wall lay in a heap next to the courtyard where the couple first met.

"It used to be a good place," Anne remembered. "I just hate to see it go."

"It is kind of a crime," Joe added, noting how the building had fallen into disrepair. "You know, it's been let go."

Debra Button, the mayor of Weyburn, said the city is losing an important structure.

"It's all wide open, and it stands so naked and so, so vulnerable," Button observed. "This majestic, huge building that... seemed that it was such a strong fortress. And it's so open and vulnerable. I'm struggling."

Button said the city, which now owns the property, has not decided what will be put on the site once the building is gone, though front entrance is being preserved.

Memorial planned for site

Repairing the building, Button said, was beyond the city's financial ability. She said it would have cost an estimated $1 million to $1.5 million just to restore heat.

Even razing the site is estimated to cost $5 million, a bill the provincial government has promised to pick up.

Alton Tangedal, a Regina-based architect, has been asked to design a fitting memorial for the site.

"It's really an opportunity for people to remember, reflect on, you know, how much better we've done in dealing with people that are dealing with mental issues," Tangedal said, referring to a time when people were routinely institutionalized at the Weyburn Hospital.

Another element of the hospital that cannot be saved is a mural depicting an aspect of the Regina Riot of 1935.

It was created in 1955 by a patient at the hospital, James Eadie, whose therapy included painting.

Preserving his work would have cost an estimated $250,000.

Instead, archivists have taken several high-resolution photos of it.

In a nod to the building's goliath structure, the province's Culture Ministry has asked that 400,000 bricks be preserved. Some are destined for another historic site in the province, the old Claybank Brick Factory, where they'll be incorporated into a display.

The demolition is expected to take all summer and wrap up in the fall.

(above taken from "CBC.ca ". )

Location - Kerrobert Court House

2009-04-14T09:31:00.004-06:00

Constructed in 1920, the Court House is a focal point in the community. Designed by the Provincial Architect Maurice W. Sharon and built by Wilson and Wilson of Regina at a cost of $145,750.00; this imposing brick and Tyndall stone building was the seat of the Kerrobert Judicial District. The building with its beautiful historic park surroundings are now the home of the Town of Kerrobert Municipal offices as well as legal, accounting and other professional services in the town.

There are rumors that the Court House is haunted. People have heard whispering voices, in otherwise empty rooms, and footsteps ascending the main stairway and walking through the Court Room in the early hours of the morning. Some say the ghost has something to do with an old skull which was locked in the basement Evidence Room – it dates back to a 1931 murder trial which was defended by John G. Diefenbaker, a future Prime Minister of Canada (1957 – 1963).

Castle figure wins 'ghostly' competition.

2009-03-27T15:17:00.005-06:00

An eerie picture of a figure in period costume at the window of a Scottish castle has won a competition to find the world's most convincing "ghostly image".

The picture, taken in May 2008, appears to show a man or woman wearing a ruff, looking through a barred window at Tantallon Castle in North Berwick, East Lothian.

No mannequins are used at the castle, and there are no costumed guides. Three photographic experts have confirmed that the photograph was not manipulated.

Christopher Aitchison, a visitor who took the photograph said: "I was not aware of anyone or anything being present in my picture, only noticing the anomaly when I got home. I did not notice any nice old ladies wearing ruffs walking around the stairs!

"Some people have suggested it's just light reflecting on rocks, and one person suggested it may be King James V of Scotland."

Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, who has made many studies of the supernatural, launched the investigation a month ago. He asked members of the public to submit ghostly images for experts to analyse.

More than 250 pictures were received from all over the world, and there was then a public vote on which people thought were the most convincing photos.

Camera shy

Professor Wiseman, himself a confirmed ghost sceptic said that the importance of faces to our lives means our brains are programmed to see them even where they don't exist: "I suppose it could be another visitor looking a bit strange. Perhaps someone will come forward."

The study is part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival, and will be discussed at a one day public festival called "Hauntings" which will examine the evidence for the existence of ghosts.

Co-organiser Dr Caroline Watt from Edinburgh University said: ""Even though we had the public submit their most mysterious photographs, the images we received don't provide compelling evidence for spirits. If ghosts are out there, it seems they are somewhat camera shy. "(above taken from BBC News". )

Living a Haunted Lifestyle

2009-03-25T10:28:00.006-06:00

As a ghost hunter or paranormal investigator you tend to live a life full of haunted locations and very haunted individuals that contact you to assist them in learning why they are haunted. In many instances it is the location but a few are the actual person who contacted you .

Where ever they go they are haunted by real ghosts. And because of your chosen hobby or interest in the paranormal so are you!

The term Paranormal lifestyle in politics can often be used in conveying the idea that society be accepting of a variety of different ways of life—from the perspective that differences among ways of living are superficial, rather than existential.

Paranormal or Ghost Hunter Lifestyle is also sometimes used pejoratively, to mark out some ways of living as elective or voluntary as opposed to others that are considered mainstream, unremarkable, or normative.

Within anarchism, lifestylism is the view that an anarchist society can be formed by changing one's own personal activities rather than by engaging in class struggle.

In business, "Paranormal lifestyles" provide a means by which advertisers and marketers endeavor to target and match consumer aspirations with products, or to create aspirations relevant to new products. Therefore marketers take the patterns of belief and action characteristic of lifestyles and direct them toward expenditure and consumption. These patterns reflect the demographic factors (the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic levels and so on) that define a group. As a construct that directs people to interact with their worlds as consumers, lifestyles are subject to change by the demands of marketing and technological innovation.

Paranormal Subcultures can be distinctive because of the age, race, ethnicity, class, location, and/or gender of the members. The qualities that determine a Ghost Hunter or Paranormal subculture as distinct may be linguistic, aesthetic, religious, political, sexual, geographical, what types of equipment you use are don't use or a combination of factors. Members of a subculture paranomal investigation group often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style, which includes fashions, mannerisms, and argot.

The study of paranormal subcultures often consists of the study of symbolism attached to clothing, music and other visible affectations by members of diverse paranormal subcultures, and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. Subcultures have been chronicled by others for a long time, documented, analysed, classified, rationalized, monitored, scrutinized. In some cases—think of homeless subcultures or criminal gangs or skateboarders—subcultures have been legislated against, their activities regulated or curtailed.

But paranormal subcultures also talk about themselves, constantly. It is helpful to think about subcultural narratives, told either by subcultures or about them by others. Subcultural narratives—whether one approves or disapproves, what one assumes about a subculture, the tone of one's engagement with a ghost hunting subculture—are a matter of position-taking.

10 SIGNS THAT YOU LIVE A PARANORMAL LIFESTYLE

1. You never miss any paranormal programs on television. A week without watching ghost Hunters Jason and Grant is week without sunshine.

2. Your paranormal group meets more then once a week.

3. You hunt for ghosts and ghost photos on the internet every chance you get.

4. Your library is 90% paranormal related books.

5. Your house or place of work is very haunted.

6. You visit haunted cemeteries and other locations more then once a week.

7. Your a member of the TAPS Family and proud to post it on your web site or myspace page.

8. Your spouse and partner complains that you'd rather be with dead people then be with them.

9. Your looking for a paranormal partner who digs your lifestyle.

10. You are... have been... or am trying to have intimate relations with a ghost.

(above taken from "Haunted America Tours by Randy Merchant ". )

The St. Louis Ghost Train

2009-03-20T10:58:00.004-06:00

For a province that's just over 100 years old, Saskatchewan is home to a surprising number of ghost stories, legends and mysterious occurrences. One of our most enduring mysteries is the "The St. Louis Ghost Train", a strange phenomenon named after the central-Saskatchewan village where it occurs.

Although he'd never seen the ghost train, Serge Gareau grew up in the vicinity of St. Louis and was well familiar with the stories.

When an Alberta couple came to Saskatoon for a visit about five years ago, Serge and his wife Gail decided to see whether they might amuse their friends with a little paranormal entertainment. They got more than they bargained for.

The foursome hopped into Gareau's vehicle and drove 130 kms (80 miles) northeast of Saskatoon to St. Louis. They arrived around 11 p.m., well before the prescribed hour of midnight. They pulled up beside the abandoned railway track in the rolling countryside just north of town, left the motor running to provide heat against the cool autumn evening, and waited.

"We sat there for about an hour, and nothing was happening," Gareau recalls. "And then all of a sudden we saw this light. It was just like a train coming. A bright light coming at us, with a little red light towards the bottom."

Enthralled, the Gareaus and their friends watched "for a good two hours" as the steady white beam and its crimson companion appeared to approach, but never arrive. As time skipped by, chatter in the automobile turned to the source of the light. They decided to investigate.

With the light plainly visible through the windshield, they drove straight at it on a rough old road running parallel to the track bed.

"We drove, and drove, and drove. And all of a sudden the light was gone. When we looked around, it was right behind us!"

Gareau said it "scared the hell" out of at least one member of the party.

The ghost train has been a part of St. Louis for as long as anyone can remember. When the rail line was abandoned and the tracks removed years ago, some thought the phenomenon would end. It didn't. Locals say the ghostly apparition can still be seen almost every night.

Whatever it is, its enduring nature is fertile ground for imaginative legends and theories. One of the most persistent of these involves a hapless conductor who was struck down and decapitated by a train while doing a routine check of the tracks. It's said the bright, yellowish light belongs to the old steam locomotive pulling his train. The smaller, red one, is the lantern he's using in a futile search for his head.

St. Louis Mayor Emile Lussier, who runs a hotel at the foot of the iron bridge once used by the old trains, admits "I'm not much of a believer in this kind of stuff." But he, too, has seen the light.

A few years back, Lussier and his brother-in-law went to the crossroads with a somewhat daring plan in mind.

"So far as we knew, nobody had actually walked the tracks. So we did," says Lussier.

They walked about a mile along the old track bed, without seeing anything. Then suddenly, "there was a light right at our heels -- a strong light that cast shadows. When we turned around, it was gone."

Lussier and his partner went back to town and reported their experience to a group of friends and relatives. Tantalized by word of the encounter, Lussier's son and some friends decided to go out to the old track bed to see for themselves.

Lussier went with them, but stayed at the crossroads as the boys hiked off down the old track bed. As he watched them in the distance, something very strange occurred.

"The light lit everyone up. It looked just like a globe -- really bright. And yet, they didn't see a thing."

Lussier points to that episode as an indication the "phantom light", as some people in St. Louis prefer to call it, "appears in two very different ways".

There's been speculation that people who observe the light -- and there have been hundreds of them over the years -- are merely seeing automobile headlights from a distant highway, says the mayor. But he's been told scientists studied the phenomenon and discounted the headlights theory.

"They couldn't find anything that would explain it," Lussier says.

"I don't think it's car lights," says Rita Ferland, one of the few people who've seen the phantom beam in broad daylight.

Ferland, of St. Louis, said she and her mother were picking wild raspberries beside the old track bed a few years ago when "all of the sudden the light came out".

"It was amazing," says Ferland. "It appeared to move along the tracks and get brighter, and then that was it. It was gone. Very weird." (above taken from "Virtual Saskatchewan by Dave Yanko ". )

Cowboy Ghost at the Pub.

2009-03-10T15:13:00.004-06:00

Seems to been a lot of ghost cowboys in the news recently. I like this one a whole bunch better then the previous cowboy ghost I posted. Have a look.

Lazyowl

THE ghostly figure of a cowboy walks in front of a roaring fire in a haunted pub and is caught on video.
Locals are convinced paranormal forces are at play and that the spooky sighting is definitely a ghost.
Just visible is a Stetson style hat and a waistcoat.

Caught as pals tested out the video mode on a new mobile phone, the strange presence was NOT seen until the recording was played back.

And landlords have told of similar spooky goings-on in the same pub in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.
Filmed by local Andy Willett and pals Macca and Vince Bundy, the bizarre footage spooked all three.

“It has to be a ghost,” Mr Bundy, 43, said. “There is no other explanation.”
“We didn’t see it while we were sitting there, only when we played the video.

“I couldn’t believe it.

“You can make out a hat and a waistcoat. I’ve never seen a video as clear as this before. It’s not a fake, it actually happened.”

The Tunstall pub called the Ancient Briton, now a derelict site after it was targeted by arsonists, was thought to be haunted.

Mr Bundy, who has hung on to the footage for three years, said: “One previous landlord told a local his young son used to talk to ‘another little boy’.

“And one tenant’s child spoke of a cowboy who used to pick-up his socks.”

Ghost Rides Rocking Horse

2009-03-04T11:04:00.002-06:00

"Finally, I can share this video with everyone. It dates back to 1992 but just became digital as far as I know. For years, this recording of an apparent ghost riding my nephew’s rocking horse was misplaced and in a not so digital format. "

Ghost Rides Rocking Horse

"When my nephew was young, his grandmother found an old rocking horse at a garage sale in Colorado and sent it to him. Late at night, his mother and father would hear the rocking horse squeaking. In an attempt to “catch” their young son sneaking into the room and riding his rocking horse they set up a video camera. The camera captured something else at play as you will see.

I also find it interesting that my nephew asks his father, “Who’s that” when he is riding the horse before leaving the room. The “other” rocking horse rider begins about 2:14 into the video or so." (above taken from "Phantoms and Monsters". )

Our Plans for 2009

2009-02-24T11:52:00.014-06:00

Hey there everyone!

I just wanted to post some information on the sites we here at Prairie Specters are working on visiting this year. Plan is we are going to be visiting some northern Saskatchewan and Alberta locations so here's hoping things work out.

Fort Battleford
Saskatchewan Hospital
The Crooked Trees

Fort Saskatchewan

A return trip to Weyburn and Fort San.

P.S. Be on the look out for Ghosts of Saskatchewan 3 in your local bookstore. Your favorite blog Prairie Specters will be one of groups featured in this new book. Thanks.

Early Ghosts of Canada

2009-02-24T10:43:00.008-06:00

The early French and English settlers thought that the new land was too young for ghosts. According to Canadian author Catharine Parr Traill, there had to be centuries of human habitation before ghosts could exist. But it was not long before soldiers and settlers were complaining of ghosts and poltergeists in the woods and cottages of early Canada.

On October 15, 1785, two British officers stationed at Sydney, N.S., reported the figure of a young man, pale as death, passing through their quarters. It sent a sorrowful glance in their direction, then vanished. One of the soldiers recognized the face of his brother who, he assumed, was enjoying good health and living in England. They later heard that the man had died in England at the very moment the apparition was sighted in Sydney. This is among the best-known ghost stories of all time.

A poltergeist was said to be responsible for strange happenings at the Cox cottage in Amherst, N.S. Objects flew through the air. Lighted matches fell from nowhere. Small unexplained fires broke out. Pounding sounds were heard on the roof and words appeared mysteriously on the bedroom wall. The cottage itself rocked on its foundations, furniture would move from place to place, turn upside down or pile up on top of each other. Household items would disappear, objects would fall from the ceiling and table knives would even fly through the air.. All the disturbances took place between 1878 and 1879, always in the presence of Esther Cox.

Esther herself would become feverish and her body would swell leaving her screaming with pain. She would be slapped across the face with such force that left a hand imprint. Pins would come out of the air and stick into her body leaving her marked from head to toe with scratches and once it was reported that she was stabbed repeatedly in her back with a clasp knife. Perhaps, one of the most terrifying events was the night in Esther's room when everyone heard the sound of writing and saw deeply indented in the wall the threat "Esther Cox, you are mine to kill".

Neighbours maintained that the 18-year-old Esther was possessed by the devil. Others argued that she was responsible for all the commotion because she was unhappy in love. With all the unquestionable and unanswered actions it became no longer safe to have Esther in the house so she left, never returning. Esther survived the ordeal and eventually married. To this day no one really knows what went on in the Cox cottage.

In all the provinces and territories there are houses that are said to be haunted. Their ghostly reputations are based on what people describe having seen and felt in their rooms. There are reports that the 19th-century judge, T.C. Haliburton, may be glimpsed now and then in the study of his former house in Windsor, N.S. Similarly, a short, bald man resembling William Lyon Mackenzie, and a dark-haired woman, are said to wander the corridors of Mackenzie House in Toronto.

Ghosts and poltergeists may come and go, but there is one ghostly image that remains on permanent display. This is the well-known "Ghost Photograph"" in the archives of the B.C. Parliament Buildings in Victoria. It is a group photograph of 11 members of B.C.'s first Legislative Council, plus the clerk. It was taken on December 12, 1864, at New Westminster, B.C. The legislators posed for the photographer on the outside stairs of a wood-frame building. The clerk, Charles Good, was sick in bed that day and was unable to be there ""in person."" Yet he appears on the photographic plate ""in spirit,"" or at least in a blurry way. There are many ways to account for Good's image. One is that in the early days of photography, time exposures were common. Perhaps Good did arrive for the photographic session, but late. Perhaps he positioned himself on the landing at the last moment, thereby creating the blurry image." (above taken from "Farshores". )

Native Skinwalkers

2009-02-13T12:16:00.007-06:00

Possibly the best documented skinwalker beliefs are those relating to the Navajo yee naaldlooshii (literally "with it, he goes on all fours" in the Navajo language). A yee naaldlooshii is one of several varieties of Navajo witch (specifically an ’ánt’įįhnii or practitioner of the Witchery Way, as opposed to a user of curse-objects (’adagąsh) or a practitioner of Frenzy Way (’azhįtee)). Technically, the term refers to an ’ánt’įįhnii who is using his (rarely her) powers to travel in animal form. In some versions men or women who have attained the highest level of priesthood then commit the act of killing an immediate member of their family, and then have thus gained the evil powers that are associated with skinwalkers.

The ’ánt’įįhnii are human beings who have gained supernatural power by breaking a cultural taboo. Specifically, a person is said to gain the power to become a yee naaldlooshii upon initiation into the Witchery Way. Both men and women can become ’ánt’įįhnii and therefore possibly skinwalkers, but men are far more numerous. It is generally thought that only childless women can become witches.

Although it is most frequently seen as a coyote, wolf, owl, fox, or crow, the yee naaldlooshii is said to have the power to assume the form of any animal they choose, depending on what kind of abilities they need. Witches use the form for expedient travel, especially to the Navajo equivalent of the 'Black Mass', a perverted song (and the central rite of the Witchery Way) used to curse instead of to heal. They also may transform to escape from pursuers.
Some Navajo also believe that skinwalkers have the ability to steal the "skin" or body of a person. The Navajo believe that if you lock eyes with a skinwalker they can absorb themselves into your body. It is also said that skinwalkers avoid the light and that their eyes glow like an animal's when in human form and when in animal form their eyes do not glow as an animal's would.

A skinwalker is usually described as naked, except for a coyote skin, or wolf skin. Some Navajos describe them as a mutated version of the animal in question. The skin may just be a mask, like those which are the only garment worn in the witches' sing.

Because animal skins are used primarily by skinwalkers, the pelt of animals such as bears, coyotes, wolves, and cougars are strictly tabooed. Sheepskin and buckskin are probably two of the few hides used by Navajos; the latter is used only for ceremonial purposes.

Often, Navajos will tell of their encounter with a skinwalker, though there is a lot of hesitancy to reveal the story to non-Navajos, or (understandably) to talk of such frightening things at night. Sometimes the skinwalker will try to break into the house and attack the people inside, and will often bang on the walls of the house, knock on the windows, and climb onto the roofs. Sometimes, a strange, animal-like figure is seen standing outside the window, peering in. Other times, a skinwalker may attack a vehicle and cause a car accident. The skinwalkers are described as being fast, agile, and impossible to catch. Though some attempts have been made to shoot or kill one, they are not usually successful. Sometimes a skinwalker will be tracked down, only to lead to the house of someone known to the tracker. As in European werewolf lore, sometimes a wounded skinwalker will escape, only to have someone turn up later with a similar wound which reveals them to be the witch. It is said that if a Navajo was to know the person behind the skinwalker they had to pronounce the full name, and about three days later that person would either get sick or die for the wrong that they have committed.

According to Navajo legend, skinwalkers can have the power to read human thoughts. They also possess the ability to make any human or animal noise they choose. A skinwalker may use the voice of a relative or the cry of an infant to lure victims out of the safety of their homes.
Some tribes believe that skinwalkers and other witches can use the spit, hair, or shoes and old clothing of a person to make curses that will attack that specific person. For this reason many Navajo will never spit or leave shoes outside. They also take great care to see that any hair or nail clippings are burned. Children are advised that if they urinate outside to kick dirt over the spot so that a skinwalker cannot use it to make a curse against them. (above taken from "Wikipedia". )

Heavyweights of the Paranormal - The Whaley House

2009-02-10T13:33:00.008-06:00

This 1850s brick house has long been la haunted spot and it lives up to its ghostly reputation. Located in historic Old Town San Diego, the “birthplace of California,” the Whaley House stands today as a classic example of mid-nineteenth century Greek Revival architecture.

Few houses in San Diego are as historically important as the Whaley House. In addition to being the Whaley Family home, it housed a granary, the County Court House, San Diego’s first commercial theater, various businesses including Thomas Whaley’s own general store, a ballroom, a billiard hall, school, and polling place. Significant events, such as the siezure of the court documents and records in 1871, and the suicide of Violet Whaley in 1885 profoundly affected Thomas and Anna Whaley. These events, as well as the hangings which occurred on the property before the house was constructed, have suffused the Whaley House with an air of mystery and added to its reputation as something more than just California State Historic Landmark #65.

The earliest documented ghost at the Whaley House is “Yankee Jim.” James (aka Santiago) Robinson was convicted of attempted grand larceny in San Diego in 1852, and hanged on a gallows off the back of a wagon on the site where the house now stands. The local newspaper reported that he “kept his feet in the wagon as long as possible, but was finally pulled off. He swung back and forth like a pendulum until he strangled to death.” Although Thomas Whaley had been a spectator at the execution, he did not let it disuade him from buying the property a few years later and building a home for his family there.

According to the San Diego Union, “soon after the couple and their children moved in, heavy footsteps were heard moving about the house. Whaley described them as sounding as though they were made by the boots of a large man. Finally he came to the conclusion that these unexplained footfalls were made by Yankee Jim Robinson.” Another source states that Lillian Whaley, the Whaleys’ youngest daughter who lived in the house until 1953, “had been convinced the ghost of “Yankee Jim” haunted the Old House.” A visitor to the museum in 1962 mentioned that “the ghost had driven her family from their visit there more than 60 years [earlier]… her mother was unnerved by the phantom walking noise and the strange way the windows unlatched and flew up.”

Many visitors to the house have reported encountering Thomas Whaley himself. The late June Reading, former curator of the museum, said, “We had a little girl perhaps 5 or 6 years old who waved to a man she said was standing in the parlor… We couldn’t see him. But often children’s sensitivity is greater than an adult’s.” However, many adults have reported seeing the apparition of Mr. Whaley, usually on the upper landing. One said he was “clad in frock coat and pantaloons, the face turned away from her, so she could not make it out. Suddenly it faded away.”

The specter of Anna Whaley has also been reported, usually in the downstairs rooms or in the garden. In 1964, “Mrs. Whaley’s floating, drifting spirit appeared to [television personality Regis] Philbin.” “All of a sudden I noticed something on the wall…,” Philbin reported. “There was something filmy white—it looked like an apparition of some kind…I got so excited I couldn’t restrain myself! I flipped on the [flash]light—and nothing was there but a portrait of Anna Whaley, the long-dead mistress of the house.”

Other visitors have described seeing or sensing the presence of a woman in the courtroom. “I see a small figure of a woman,” one visitor said, “who has a swarthy complexion. She is wearing a long full skirt, reaching to the floor. The skirt appears to be a calico or gingham, small print. She has a kind of cap on her head, dark hair and eyes and she is wearing gold hoops in her pierced ears. She seems to stay in this room, lives here, I gather…” None of the Whaleys fit this description, but the house was rented out to numerous tenants over the years. Perhaps the mysterious woman in the courtroom was one of these.

Another presence reported by visitors and docents is that of a young girl, who is usually found in the dining room. Psychic Sybil Leek encountered this spirit during a visit in the 1960s. “’It was a long-haired girl,’ Sybil said. ‘She was very quick, you know, in a longish dress. She went to the table in this room and I went to the chair.’” Urban legend has it that this is the ghost of a playmate of the Whaley children who accidentally broke her neck on a low-hanging clothesline in the backyard, and whose name was either Annabel or Carrie Washburn. There are no historic records of any child dying this way at the Whaley House; nor is there record of any family named Washburn residing in San Diego at the time. It is believed that the legend was believed to have been started by a one-time employee of the Whaley House, in an effort to add to the house’s mystique.

Even animals aren’t left out of the singular occurances. A parapsychologist reported he saw ‘a spotted dog, like a fox terrier, that ran down the hall with his ears flapping and into the dining room.’ The dog, he said, was an apparition. When they lived in the house, the Whaley’s owned a terrier named Dolly Varden.

Another video of an apparent full body apparition

2009-02-09T14:27:00.004-06:00

Video of an apparent full body apparition...supposedly of a 'cowboy'. It was also filmed in night-vision. Frankly, this may be an overlay deception. I'm interested in observations. Here is the statement with the video: The P.I.T. Crew investigators reveal the best full body ghost footage they have ever seen. In fact, this may be the most authentic paranormal activity ever caught on camera by an investigation team. With two on site deaths, the team asks, is this apparition the spirit of a dead former employee? (above taken from "Phantoms and Monsters.". )

Couple thinks dog literally rose from the ashes.

2009-01-28T12:44:00.003-06:00

CENTENNIAL - The Nichalsons don't expect you to believe something beyond the laws of physics is at work on their backyard patio.

But they do want you to knowthat the image that has now appeared on their grill cover certainly does look a lot like their old dog Fletcher.

"It's very freaky," Steve Nicholson said. "It is a little spooky."

"Yep, we've joined the club," his wife Peggy added with a smile.

She's referring to the seemingly endless parade of images that have been appearing on rather normal things in recent years (or at least as long as the internet has been around).

Go ahead. Google "George Bush on a piece of toast." Or "Elvis on a rock." Or "Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese."

Who knows? Maybe one day soon you will be able to Google "Fletcher on a grill cover" and see what has come to the attention of the Nichalsons as of late.

Here's the story. Fletcher was the couple's chocolate Lab. When he was 13, a vet told them the dog needed to be put to sleep.

"We had to pick a day, because he was really starting to suffer," said Peggy. "We were just so sad about having to do that."

That was a few years ago.

Over time the couple's memories of Fletcher started to fade. They even decided to get another Lab. His name is Bodie.

Then a few days ago, something happened that caused both Peggy and Steve to start thinking about their old pooch.

"We were getting set to grill," said Steve. "[Peggy] came running in and told me there was something amazing out there."

Steve went outside to look at the grill cover, and that's when he saw it as well.

"It really looks like a Lab," he remembered thinking.

"I see a very old Lab," added Peggy.

When 9NEWS compared the image on the grill cover with the old pictures of Fletcher, it's hard to instantly blow them off as another party solely interested in selling another item on eBay.

In fact they don't want to sell it at all.

Here are a few things to consider when trying to make up your mind on the issue. The family did place Fletcher's ashes in the backyard shortly after he died. The grill is under an area of the porch where condensation has clearly and repeatedly fallen down onto the grill, and its cover, below.

"You can see the drip marks," said Peggy.

And right beside the image is something that looks a lot like a fish jumping out of water.

"I'm a fly fisherman and I used to take Fletcher with me. He loved it. He would just sit there and stare just like that," said Steve.

Is it a forgery? Perhaps. Is it coincidence. Very likely.

But is it also a sign of something else? Who knows?

Judge for yourself.

Ghost girl appears in Chilean video

2009-01-21T08:49:00.004-06:00

In Chile, a woman named Cecilia Muñoz went on a ghost hunting expedition to a building that is notorious for reports of a ghost of a little girl that is said haunts the basement level of the building.

Cecilia and her mother decided to make a visit and do some amateur ghost hunting of their own. Given that there was no real activity captured the first few hours, her mother suggested that she go down to the basement with a group of children. The mother theorized that if there was a ghost of a young girl, then the ghost would feel more comfortable around children and possibly make an appearance.

What follows next is a video that shows three young men and a young girl being recorded throughout a basement. In a split second on the film, it’s claimed that the ghost of the girl makes her appearance.
Not being really clear, you can see what they are talking about.

Link to Video

In this frame, you see one of the young men walking, right to his side you see what appears to be a little girl wearing a dress. You can see her wearing black shoes and white socks.

According to the witnesses, she was not accounted for in the group. The only other female in between the young men was not wearing a dress at that time.

There's nothing wrong with a little Halloween in January.

2009-01-19T12:07:00.007-06:00

Ghost stories are usually best told around Halloween, but sometimes things that go bump in the night, or in this case the woods, don't wait for October.

Almost everybody who hunts has a tale about some spooky something that turned a hunting trip into a B-grade horror flick. Most of the time the spooky is easily explained.

Ghosts turn out to be fog, bigfoot was just a squirrel and goblins are just imaginary gobbledegook.

Then there's what happened to my 16-year-old son, Hunter, in Stanton, Tenn.

First, Hunter isn't a kid who gets spooked very easy. He's hunted by himself for years, ignoring the dark, the noises and the creepy shadows. I've probably been rattled more times by the "what's that" effect of being alone in the dark than he has.

But what happened while he was deer hunting two weeks ago in Stanton still has him buffaloed.

He was sitting in a ground blind on the edge of a cut cornfield waiting for the sun to come up and a slight fog to get out of the way. When things cleared he would be able see 400 yards or more in almost every direction and he thought seeing a deer wasn't a matter of if, but of when.

Trouble was, he couldn't keep his mind on deer hunting.

Just before daylight something pushed him in the back. He jerked around expecting so see a stick blown by the wind or a crazed chipmunk or his little brother playing a stupid joke?

Hunter saw . . . nothing.

He sits down again and gets pushed again.

Nothing there.

By the time legal shooting rolled around he was a 16-year-old basket case.

Sit. Push. Look. Nothing.

So he sat there and the pushing kept on. Sometimes he was pushed in the back, sometimes from the side. Twice he said "it" almost knocked him out of the chair.

He checked for broken chair legs. He checked to see if the chair was sinking in the mud. He checked to see how hard it would be to have the blind exorcized.

Hunter was so intent on finding a rational explanation when we got home we checked with the U.S. Geological Survey to see if there were earth tremors in the area that day. Nope. Bizarre storms? None. Nearby road construction? Not so much as a gravel truck.

As for the irrational? It turns out Stanton has it's fair share of spooks, most hailing from the Civil War.

There's a military uniform that's sometime seen walking around with nobody in it. A Civil War doctor has been seen still wearing his bloody uniform. A Civil War-era soldier who's sometimes seen staggering along the highway near the Hatchie River Bottoms . . . that would be the highway that runs by the farm.

And it was just coincidence that Hunter pitched the blind by a huge old oak tree . . . with what looks like a sunken grave at it's roots.

Talk about a new meaning for deer rattling.

Who knows what it was. But if you can have Christmas in July, there's nothing wrong with a little Halloween in January.(above taken from "Knoxville News Sentinel Co.". )

Drink coffee, see dead people.

2009-01-14T12:36:00.003-06:00

HEAVY coffee drinkers are more likely to have hallucinations or feel "the presence of dead people", according to new research.

A UK-based study quizzed 200 students on their caffeine intake and found those with the highest consumption were also more prone to report seeing, or hearing, things that were not there.

Those who consumed a daily equivalent of seven cups of instant coffee or more - high caffeine users - were three times more likely to have extra-sensory experiences than low users, who had less than one cup daily.

The Durham University study took in all caffeine consumption including coffee but also tea, caffeinated energy drinks or chocolate bars and caffeine pills.

"This is a first step towards looking at the wider factors associated with hallucinations," said lead author, Simon Jones, a PhD student at the university's psychology department.

"Previous research has highlighted a number of important factors, such as childhood trauma, which may lead to clinically relevant hallucinations.

"Given the link between food and mood, and particularly between caffeine and the body's response to stress, it seems sensible to examine what a nutritional perspective may add."

When under stress, the body releases a stress hormone called cortisol. More of this stress hormone is released in response to stress when people have recently had caffeine.

It is this extra boost of cortisol which may link caffeine intake with an increased tendency to hallucinate, say the scientists.

"However, one interpretation may be that those students who were more prone to hallucinations used caffeine to help cope with their experiences," said study co-author Dr Charles Fernyhough.

"More work is needed to establish whether caffeine consumption, and nutrition in general, has an impact on those kinds of hallucination that cause distress."

People taking part in the study reported "seeing things that were not there, hearing voices, and sensing the presence of dead people".

Mr Jones said such hallucinations were not necessarily a sign of mental illness, and around three per cent of people regularly heard such voices.

Results of the study are published in the academic journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Has a ghost been captured on video?

2009-01-09T09:05:00.002-06:00

A Lancashire landlord got more than he bargained for on a ghost hunt night at Samlesbury Hall.

Dave Moore, 36, who runs The Victoria pub in Watkin Lane at Lostock Hall, claims he came face-to-face with a spooky sight which appeared to have the face of a Victorian woman with long, curly hair and wearing a V-neck dress.

Video Link

He said: "I'm not zooming in and out ... it came right at me. At the time I saw it clear as day. It looked like someone dried up.

"It had a woman's face with curly locks of hair. This was 5am. We'd been there since about 9pm and nothing really had been happening.

"I was looking up and there was a noise to the left me and she appeared. Then I went to look without the torch being there and it was gone. It was about 20 foot up in the air and she came as close as four foot away from me."

Dave and 10 of his staff went on the ghost hunt as a Christmas night out on December 16 and some of the women were reduced to tears by events throughout the night, including strange noises and objects apparently moving.

He will now show the video to staff at Samlesbury Hall in Preston New Road. The staff hope to get it analysed by Living TV's Most Haunted team when they visit for a show later this month.

At the moment, it can only be viewed on the screen of Dave's digital camcorder as he does not want to export it to prove it has not been tampered with.

Dave, who is a former Royal Marine, added: "I thought my eyes were playing tricks. I don't believe in all this kind of stuff. I've been showing it to people in the pub and they've been saying 'it must be something but what is it?'

"It's the only thing really throughout the night that I couldn't explain. Movements and noises - it's an old building and wood expands.

"It comes into the torch as a solid figure, it's not transparent. I'm scratching my head. I just want to know what it is." (above taken from "Lancashire Evening Post". )

Diver “Pino Termini” claims to see Steve Irwin’s ghost

2009-01-08T14:15:00.009-06:00

After a small break for the Christmas holidays Prairie Specters is back with a story about Steve Irwin, a personal hero of mine.

Pino Termini of Naples in the south of Italy has spent more hours underwater than most. Having dived for the Italian Navy for seven years he now spends much of his time travelling the globe in search of the ultimate diving experience. None of this prepared him for what he claims to have seen during his last expedition. Last month he arrived at Port Douglas in tropical North Queensland for his eighth time, The Great Barrier Reef being one of his favorite playgrounds. He had heard that Batt Reef was worth a plunge into the deep blue. He chartered a boat from Port Douglas and made his way out to the area he planned to explore.

‘As I started my dive I saw somebody and was surprised because I saw no other boats around, then I noticed that the person had no oxygen tank or mask, the person swam towards me and I realised that it was none other than the crocodile hunter himself: Steve Irwin. I freaked out, but he looked calm and at peace’

‘I have seen a lot underwater but never a ghost. It was as if he was looking after the spot where he met his end, I felt that I should not impose myself on his turf as it was his and it seemed as if he was caring for the living creatures there.’ Termini said of his traumatic diving experience. We are not sure whether to believe Termini’s story but he swears by it. We contacted a number of diving shops in the town and they had heard nothing about anyone spotting Irwin’s ghost. Steve Irwin died in September 2006 at Batt Reef near Port Douglas, while diving.

He was fatally pierced by a stingray. A number of charities to protect wildlife have been set up in his memory. (above taken from "Ghost Theory". )

The Best Pareidolia Ever

2008-12-18T09:17:00.005-06:00

The term pareidolia (pronounced /pæraɪˈdoʊliə/) describes a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse. The word comes from the Greek para-paraphasia, disordered speech)—and eidolon—"image" (the diminutive of eidos—"image", "form", "shape"). —"beside", "with" or "alongside"- meaning, in this context, something faulty or wrong.

Have you seen Jesus today? The photo above may be a good chance. You can see the clear profile of a giant bearded man with closed eyes. It does resemble common representations of a fellow named Jesus. Even though that enormous Jesus head doesn’t quite fit into the rest of the image. What’s going on there? The child died short after the photo was taken”.

Child?

If you look carefully you may recognize that the photo is of a Victorian couple, with a small child sitting on the knee of the man. And then you may realize that that child is Jesus. Or rather that the big white hat of the little one is Jesus’ forehead and his tiny right forearm is Lord’s upper beard. Jesus’ hair is the vegetation in the background. Simply amazing.

“What is most likely, and maybe no less compelling—are the false head and other anomalies just ‘meaningless’ coincidences in which we find/attach/force/desire meaning?”, she asks.

That we first realize a giant face in the photo, even though it doesn’t fit the rest of the image, is probably not a coincidence. We have more neurons dedicated to promptly identifying faces than the ones that recognize Victorian kids sitting on their dad’s lap. That’s why pareidolia happens so often with faces. You don’t usually see Victorian kids in the clouds.

An explanation that I hope doesn’t make this any less compelling: this is really the best pareidolia case ever.

Phone calls from the dead

2008-12-10T10:56:00.003-06:00

This is a phenomenon in which people literally receive phone calls from the dead. The deceased caller usually had a close relationship with the recipient.

In such calls, the telephone usually rings normally, but may sound flat and abnormal. Usually the connection is bad and the voice of the deceased fades. The voice is recognizable, however, and usually speaks familiar or pet names and words. The phone call is terminated abruptly, either by the caller or by the line going dead. If the voice is too faint, the recipient may hang up in frustration.

If the recipient knows the caller is deceased, he or she may enter a state of shock and hang up immediately. If the recipient does not know that the caller is dead, he or she may talk as long as thirty minutes. Usually such calls occur within twenty-for hours after the caller's death, although, some calls have been reported as long as two years from the time of death.

Generally the purpose of such mysterious calls seems to be to leave a farewell message, or a warning of an impending danger, or information needed by the living. Actress Ida Lupino received a phone call from her father six months after his death; he told her the whereabouts of some papers to settle his estate.

Other calls have been made in apparent observance of holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries. The caller may just speak a phrase such as "Hello Mom, is that you?"

Such phone calls have gone in the opposite direction too. The caller carries on a normal conversation with the recipient only to later discover the recipient was already deceased at the time when the call occurred.

Although there is no satisfactory explanation for the strange calls from the dead, there have been several theories put forth. One holds that the dead do place the calls through supernatural manipulation of the telephone mechanisms and circuitry. Another holds that they are hallucinations caused in part by Psychokinesis (PK) accomplished subconsciously by the recipient. Other theories suggest that the calls are pure fantasy, or tricks played on the living by low-level spirits.

Most modern parapsychologists do not take such calls seriously. In the early twentieth century, investigators modified the telegraph and wireless with the hopes of communicating with the dead. Thomas Edison, whose parents were Spiritualists, worked on but never completed a telephone that he hoped would connect the living with the dead. During the 1940s the "psychic telephone" experiments were conduct in England and America in attempts to reach the dead. Again, interest arose in the 1960s when Konstantin Raudive announced that he had captured voices of the dead in electromagnetic tape.

Red Eyes in the Darkness

2008-12-02T08:12:00.003-06:00

Two red lights stare at Chris Black's motion-controlled camera from an impossible vantage point. Click on the picture to get a closer look. The lights are in the upper center part of the photograph.

Dry brown leaves cover the floor of deer hunter Chris Black’s wooded property near Park Hills in Southeast Missouri. Black keeps a small camper there during deer and turkey seasons and, while he sleeps in the camper to get an early start, motion-controlled digital cameras strapped to trees take photographs of, hopefully, deer.

He captured lights on those cameras in 2006, lights that shouldn’t have been on his property miles away from roads. He captured more this year.

Black thinks something highly strange is happening on his property.

“The same property, right before deer season, and more strange lights,” he said. “This time with three deer in the photo and these lights are fire red.”

A daytime photograph (above) shows two deer, one grazing and one apparently startled, maybe by the noise from the camera. Behind the deer is a plain of dead leaves and young trees. All normal.

Then there’s the night picture.

Three deer, one in the foreground, stand looking at the camera, their eyes shining with the flash reflection. But about 10 feet off the ground are two red lights set apart like eyes.

“They aren’t that hard to see,” Black said. “Right above the deers’ heads, they look like two red eyeballs without a face.”

Taillights? No. The trees in the night picture match the trees in the day picture. There’s no room for taillights in these images and the lights are much higher than any truck. But Black sees more than just the lights.

“There are a number of things in this photo which disturb me,” he said. “The first thing is the odd-looking expressions on the deer themselves. They look as if someone just screamed, ‘hey.’”

All three deer in this picture are looking directly at the camera.

“And they all looked at the camera at once,” he said. “None of the other photos taken during this three-day time frame show all the deer in the background looking in the direction of the camera at the same time.”

Black’s camera took 65 pictures, many of which have multiple deer in a frame.

“Usually, there will be one or two with their heads down feeding, and maybe one looking in the general direction of the camera, but never directly into it,” he said. “To me it looks like they are all focused on one thing and sort of mesmerized by it.”

After Black downloaded the photographs onto his computer, he took a closer look at the red lights – that one frame the only one with the red lights – and didn’t like what he found.

“When you zoom in on the red light on the left; now this is going to sound off the chart, but I swear when I zoomed in on it, I can see a face in the light,” he said. “It’s not at all hard to see. Plain as day there is a little face inside the glow. To me it resembles (a) little devil face.”

Black and his father stayed in the camper most of the first week of deer season, Black’s brother came the fourth day. That night Black’s brother slept in a bed against the far edge of the camper next to the canvas wall. The next morning, something was bothering Black’s brother.

During the night, something happened. While Black’s brother slept with his arms above his head against the canvas, he something touched his arm.

“He said he didn’t move because he thought it might be a deer’s nose pushing against the canvas of the camper,” Black said. “He said he wasn’t asleep but he felt something solid touching or pushing against the canvas and against his arm. He said it moved from one side of his arm, towards his head, then back along his arm.”

The brother froze, not wanting to startle whatever was outside.

“Then he fell back to sleep,” Black said. “It was only then that I told him about capturing the lights on my trail camera. I just think it’s awful strange that he would experience something weird like that in the same weekend that I captured more weird (stuff) on my camera.”

But Black wouldn’t have considered a paranormal explanation for the two red eyes staring at his deer camera if it wasn’t for the lights he captured two years ago.

“It seems like there are just too many things to pass off as imagination, or coincidence,” he said. “I’m convinced that this property is haunted. In some way, by something, but I don’t know what. But when it gets caught on camera that’s hard evidence that I’m not seeing things. (above taken from "From the Shadows" by Jason Offutt )

Mysterious image captured by local news crew in Argentina

2008-11-27T10:55:00.002-06:00

The footage was shot at a cemetery in a province of Argentina called Córdoba.
The Argentinean news crew while reporting on a different matter, manged to capture what appears to be a person walking on the roof of the cemetery.

Video Link

According to personal and groundskeepers, there was no one at that time on the roof doing repairs or any other checks. The roof is not accessible to regular visitors.

Interesting video, but not enough evidence to call it a “ghost” or to deem it supernatural. However, notice how it moves very unnatural. Almost like it glides.(above taken from the Ghost Theory )

What are Orbs? by Dave Juliano

2008-11-26T14:27:00.005-06:00

What are these balls of transparent light we find in photos taken in allegedly haunted places? I won't tell you I know the answer to this question. No one has the true answer to this question yet, but that's part of the job of researchers and investigator.

One of the leading theories concerning what orbs are and the one that I lean towards the most is that they are not the spirit at all. The orb is the energy being transferred from a source (i.e. powerlines, heat energy, batteries, people, etc) to the spirit so they can manifest. This may not even be a conscious thing the spirit is doing, just a natural way they get their energy. This would explain why the orbs are round balls. According to the laws of Physics energy being transferring like that would assume is natural shape of a sphere. This theory can also be tied into the EMF readings we get during spirit activity.

I always approach things with a bit of skepticism, so when I saw all these websites start showing off these photos as ghosts, I was just as weary as most of you. I just had to try it for myself. I took a 35mm camera that I had used regularly for 6 years in all types of lighting and weather and had never gotten an orb or other unexplainable photo before and went out with a few seasoned field investigators on a cemetery investigation. One of the investigators was psychic and she pointed out a few areas we should take photos, so I did. I also had ghost footsteps walkup behind me twice and I turned around quickly and took photos of the empty air. When I got my photos developed, I had these orbs and fog in those photos that I was told to take, as well as the footstep ones. All my other photos were normal. Coincidence?

Since we do not know what orbs truly are, just that they seem to be found mainly in areas where there is ghost activity, I will tell you what they are not. On a normal investigation there are about 10 people using 10 different cameras, 35mm and digital, and many speeds and brands of film. They all get their film developed at separate places. Let's say only half of these investigators get some orb photos. Are these water spots or dirt on the lens? That would mean that 5 people all had similar dirt on their lens and all 5 did not clean their lens either. Are these orbs film processing errors? Well the 35mm cameras all had their film developed in different locations and used different film so that is very unlikely. The digital cameras can't have film-processing errors.

I am aware that some people feel that the orbs on a digital camera are an error in the digital processing of the image. When that error does occur in digital photos, the objects tend to be square in nature, not round and they cannot be semi-transparent, the pixel behind would have to be corrupted also. I will not even address the precipitation theory, no legitimate researchers takes photos in any form of precipitation. What about dust and dirt being stirred up? Can that be the cause of the orbs? If that were the case, I would think that there would not be normal photos in a sequence of photos from the same camera and location. All of the shots in a sequence should have the dust or dirt in it. We find that most orb photos do not appear in consecutive photos. All photographers present should get orbs if it is dust being stirred up as well.

These are just a few things for the skeptics to think of when they are condemning an orb photo as a fake or fraud and some things for investigators to consider when checking their photos for positives.