A ghostly apparition from Lourdes is quickly becoming a major talking point in one Limerick city’s accessories shop.
A photo taken of a group of parishioners who travelled to Lourdes nearly 60 years ago has captured what appears to be a ghostly apparition behind the congregation.
The photo, which is in the window of Glow Fashion Accessories on Denmark Street, has been causing quite a stir among passers-by since it was put on display by the shop owner Deirdre O’Grady last week.
The eerie image shows a group shot of the Franciscan Pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1962.
However it wasn’t until six weeks ago that the supernatural figure was spotted by its owners while redecorating.
“The photo was hanging in my husband’s parents’ house for 50 years,” says Deirdre O’Grady. “My sister-in-law was part of the group which had travelled as part of the Franciscan Pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1962 and the photo had been hanging on the wall since. It was only in the last few weeks my brother-in-law took it down as he was repainting the house and the apparition in the photo was spotted,” she explains.
“The image had gone unnoticed until six weeks ago. My brother-in-law Des showed it to me three weeks ago and I thought it was fantastic and that it should be shown,” adds Deirdre.
“I decided to put it up in the window last week and within a day it had attracted a lot of attention,” she says.
“I don’t know what it is myself,” says Deirdre. “I’m open minded and I’m leaving it open to being scrutinised. People are welcome to come and make up their own minds. I’ll be leaving it up for the next week at least,” she adds.
My view? I wish newspapers would actually show what is alleged to be an apparition rather than making posed photographs. It makes life a lot more easier!
Story: Chris Halton
Here is our awaited video on my visit to `The Cage`, the medieval witches prison in St Osyth, Essex.
Our host Vanessa Mitchell was kind enough to allow us to film, and we were fortunate in the activity that we were able to record in our three hour visit. (Video below).
I was aware from some quarters that they didn`t think the cottage was haunted whereas others found the experience worthwhile.
Clearly, there is much evidence that it is haunted. But consider this. Most people that visit this building are in large groups.
From my own experience you often get the best results with as few as possible in attendance.
Another factor is that sound carries quickly in houses, so unless you personally know where everyone is located at any one time, it makes whatever you capture in terms of audio to be highly contentious.
Perhaps even more remarkable are the images (reproduced below) captured both inside the house, and also down a lane next door where reputably bodies were smuggled out from the prison in the dead of the night.
I found it a worthwhile and satisfactory experience, we hope you do too.
Both captured inside the landing. Note either shot is both on and off the mirror.
This was captured outside. Can you see the burial party?
If you enjoy the video, please `like` on Youtube and feel free to share.
The judicial system has come quite a way since the 19th century. Long gone are the days when justice could be found at the end of a rope. During a hanging in Wilmington the convicted would meet their fate on Gallows Hill, which is present day Market and Fifth Streets. Today the 500 block of Market Street looks like any other road in Wilmington, but the block has a gruesome history. It's known as Gallows Hill where public hangings took place in the early 1800s. John Hirchak with Ghost Walk of Wilmington said, "It was a real social event, public executions back then people used to be brought in, they'd like an open area, like what was up here so they could view the execution." Under this very ground some of the executed still remain Many of the victims were from other ports of call and they were tried here on land they had no one to claim body or pay for burial, they'd dig trenches around the gallows and bury them for free," Hirchak said. In 1860 Dr. William Price built a home on Gallows Hill. When his family moved into it they discovered they weren't alone. Lew Musser witnessed paranormal activity. He said, "Lots of things have happened at that house, one time someone wrote help on the window… There's also steps on the stairs in that house where you hear the steps of the condemned walking up to the gallows." No one among the living actually lives here anymore. The home is now an architecture firm. People still claim to see ghostly figures or bright lights in the windows of the home that has become a legend. "We have no doubt in our opinion, this is, in our opinion, the most actively haunted home here," Hirchak said. There's no telling how many bodies remain buried at Gallows Hill. A few decades ago, while renovations were taking place at the price house, a body was unearthed. The owner ordered it reburied on the property.
Many folks believe in ghosts, but few can say they’ve caught evidence of a haunting on video. Stocky’s Pizza employee Lori Evans says there’s not only a ghost haunting the recently opened Haughton, Louisiana pizzeria, but that it’s far from friendly. And she has some unnerving surveillance camera footage to prove it.
Last Saturday morning, Evans arrived at Stocky’s to find the ice scoop in the middle of the kitchen floor. When the staff left the night before, it was placed on top of the ice machine where it’s normally kept.
The ice-scoop where it is normally left
The discovery was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back,” Evans tells Kiss Country.
A number of similarly eerie incidents prior to that morning prompted her to scour the surveillance video to see just what was going on. What she discovered will make you shiver.
The following video was recorded on July 14 at a little after 6 a.m. — hours before the arrival of any of the staffers. Nobody was in the pizzeria at the time, confirms Evans.
Watch closely at the top left portion of your screen. What you’re seeing is two metal ice scoops flying off the top of the ice machine. Not falling, but FLYING! According to Evans, the way the scoops are stacked makes it very unlikely for them to fall, let alone be thrown halfway across the kitchen.
Over the past few months, Evans says several other inexplicable events have shaken up the staff, including flying bottles and a feeling that someone was watching them from the shadows:
The first thing that happened was when I was standing in the kitchen area at the dough roller working. All of a sudden a bottle of tobasco sauce hit me in the back then landed on the ground. I looked back because the bottle had been on top of the microwave. A server who was in the dining area actually saw it happen and we were both freaked out because it flew across room as opposed to just falling from its spot! We started wondering at that point. The tobasco sauce has been mysteriously thrown several times and busted on one occasion! Another time was when we were working and heard a loud crash in the back hall. When we went to see what it was, there was a broom and a dust pan both on the floor. They “snap” into a holder on the wall so they are never on the floor. They’d been hanging there fine all day with no problems and snap into seperate holders, yet both fell???? The motion sensors have gone off twice and the alarm company has called the owner to come out and check; to find nothing. Several of us have actually “felt” a presence and had the hair stand up on our arms/neck. When I came in that morning and found those on the floor, so far from their spot, I knew it was time to check it out on tape and we finally found evidence of activity!
Evans believes this surveillance video is proof positive that something paranormal exists in the popular establishment, besides the “heavenly” pizza and salad bar.
But who — or what — could be haunting the pizzeria?
Years before Stocky’s Pizza opened, the location was Walker Bros. convenience store. Evans tells Kiss Country that she’s heard a terrible automobile accident happened on the premises in which a woman was hit and her car actually smashed through the wall of the store. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Evans believes she never left.
Do you think the footage is convincing evidence that Stocky’s is haunted, or is there a more rational explanation for the flying ice scoops?
AN ORMSKIRK landlady believes a car that crashed into her pub may have awakened a restless ghost.
Linda Roughley, who runs The Plough on Church Street, Ormskirk has experienced several spooky moments since the accident earlier this year.
“Things have definitely started happening since the crash,” said Linda.
“I have seen bottles move and rattle on their own and when I am alone in the pub I have felt a hand on my back and felt a presence at the end of the bar.”
The Grade II listed building suffered thousands of pounds of damage on January 21 this year after a drunk-driver smashed into the pub in the early hours of morning.
Just days later, Linda began to notice not all was as it seems.
“The first thing that happened was when a full bottle of gin flew off the wall in front of lots of customers,” she said.
After noticing bottles were regularly moving on their fixed optic stands, worse was to follow when Linda was coming up from the cellar.
“Everyone had gone and I was cashing up when I saw the heavy charity box we have hanging up, spinning around on its own before flying off on to the floor.”
“I grabbed my partner and said “come on, we’re leaving!”
Linda is convinced the ghost is Nancy Balshaw who was innkeeper at The Plough in the mid-19th century.
“Nancy lived here for many years after taking over the pub, which was then called The Tavern, from her father Charles.
“She is buried in the graveyard of the Parish Church right opposite the pub but I think that something has upset her.”
Despite the ghostly apparitions, Linda says she has no problem with sharing the pub with her long-dead predecessor.
“She doesn’t really bother me in the day and it is only really at night that we have noticed things,” she said.
“The customers certainly don’t seem to mind and they are always asking me what Nancy has been up to.”
Linda is now hoping that local historians and even ghost hunters might venture into the haunted hostelry.
“I’m not spooked at all,” said Linda. “I’m glad she’s still here and I hope she finds what she’s looking for.”
Here is an interesting video captured in tunnels at Coalhouse Fort, East Tilbury, Essex.
The short video appears to show ectoplasmic energy materialising and de-materialising very rapidly.
Here is what the poster says: `I and my protégé hit the tunnels in darkness and managed to capture this ghostly image on camera. Alone In this location for several minutes we also recorded ghastly breaths and splashing footsteps. Please tell us what you think... as of yet we have no reasonable explanation?`
The fort has a history of such sightings and below is a digital still captured on a previous investigation.
Here is a clip worth reviewing - best viewed on full screen.
There are very definitely two fast moving `mist` anomalies shooting in to frame from left to middle.
Here is the posters own explanation:
I was ghost hunting with some friends at one of my favorite locations and recorded two shapes moving fast from left to right. Now, the two best natural explanations that could explain it would be car headlights and exhaled breath. I ruled out car headlights because 1) at the speed the shapes are moving, a car would have to turn on a dime 90 degrees to cause that movement 2) while there is a road that encompasses the cemetery, due to the geography and position of the area, a car’s headlights cannot shine into that specific area and 3) they’re not exactly shaped like headlights nor bright enough, as well that the first shape moves faster than the second, and headlights would be in sync.
As for breath, I can attest that there were only three other people, and they can all be seen to the right of me. These objects move in from the left. As well, during two hours of video, nowhere did I see any breath on video, and it’s highly unlikely that breath mist would just decide to show up at that moment. Plus, at the speed the objects are traveling, it makes the breath hypothesis even more invalid.
“My name is Marcio and I’m sending this photo for you to explain this phenomenon, I assure you this is no hoax. I don’t know when it was taken, I just know it was captured during a religious celebration, and it looks like an angel… what can you tell me about it?”
One of the most interesting photos I have received (click to enlarge), it no doubt looks like an angel, complete with wings and something in its hands… perhaps a harp?
Perhaps, fact is that there are some other white blurs in the photograph that don’t remind of any obvious religious imagery, and perhaps more importantly, there’s a little girl in a white dress in the same pose as the “angel”.
Or the opposite would be more appropriated.
We can explain the image as the result of long exposure of the film, which captured all the bright elements in the image – like those white and shiny – whilst the photographer shook his camera, by accident. Mix some pareidolia, and we have this image.
The illustration below may help to understand the effects in action here:
angel_blur
Highlighted in red are the sources of the blurs: the girl’s white dress, the white shirt of a man sitting at left and the shiny metal microphone stand up in the stage. All these elements were reflecting the ambient light, as well as camera flashes, producing the blurs that we highlighted in green.
The yellow arrows point the movement blurs produced by other sources of light and that are everywhere in the image. They also explain the “wings” of the angel, which are in fact blurs of the same white dress. Note the camera movement could be either going up or down, depending on the fact that the blurs were captured before or after the rest of the image.
Also note that the relative position between the white angel and the blur on its left side exactly matches the relative position between the little girl’s dress and the man in a white shirt. This match gives us reason to think our interpretation is correct, and this angel of light is just a blurred image of the little miss singing.
Here is a recording from a CCTV camera system reportedly captured in an unknown pub in Wales.
It appears to show a light anomaly appear from the right, and then travel along a corridor before disappearing.
Quite why the pub wishes to remain anonymous is beyond me, as due to the generally parlous state of pub trade in the UK, most would be more than happy to advertise these incidents to draw in ghost hunters.
For your thoughts and opinions.
THE Theatre Royal's resident spook is well known to anyone who has worked or performed in the historic Hobart playhouse. And he is even hailed as a hero, suspected of saving the building from a fiery fate.
The building itself dates back to 1837 and is Australia's oldest functioning theatre.
Beneath the theatre is a dusty void that used to be the Shades Tavern, a notoriously rowdy drinking hole frequented by actors and other less savoury characters.
There are conflicting legends about how Fred came to be a spectral fixture in the theatre.
Some say he died tragically on the stage, while others suggest he was murdered in the Shades Tavern.
Fred, a figure in old-fashioned clothes, has been seen wandering through the aisles. He's also been heard calling actors' names backstage.
Many actors claim to have spotted Fred watching them onstage during rehearsals.
Actress Jacki Weaver reported seeing Fred's dim figure sitting quietly in the dress circle and a wardrobe mistress once saw Fred wearing a costume and singing "gaily" down the aisle towards her, appearing to be solid and substantial before vanishing when he reached the stage.
He is blamed for occasional cold chills and slamming doors around the theatre and in 1984 received credit from some for saving the Theatre Royal from a potentially devastating fire.
The blaze was prevented from spreading and gutting the entire building only by a fire curtain that mysteriously dropped across the stage when nobody was in the building.
THE REVEREND GEORGE EASTMAN
THE Parsonage at Port Arthur is thought to have as many as seven different ghosts, the most famous of which is the Reverend George Eastman.
Eastman died in an upstairs bedroom in the mid-19th century. Ghostly activity began soon after.
Visitors since the 19th century have reported a range of strange phenomena, including the smell of rotting flesh, strange lights, moaning noises and ghostly apparitions in the house.
Eastman, a huge man, was a terrifying presence when still alive. A true fire-and-brimstone preacher, he was known for his savage and energetic homilies.
His imposing figure has been seen in the upstairs windows of his old parsonage.
In the 1980s, a group of tradesmen staying in the parsonage while doing renovations was driven from the building after a terrifying night of strange events.
Among the cacaphony of bangs and bumps, one of the men said he experienced a feeling of being pinned down hard by an invisible entity.
Another worker allegedly saw a woman dressed in white, accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature and billowing curtains.
Women often report a feeling of unease in the building.
IVY
STAFF at Hobart's Penitentiary Chapel historic site have come to refer to their resident spook as Ivy, even though some research suggests her name may, in fact, be Sarah.
She is more frequently smelt than seen, usually manifesting as a subtle waft of lavender perfume drifting through different parts of the building.
The chapel building which remains at the site was once part of the Hobart Penitentiary. Its prison walls were demolished long ago.
The T-shaped chapel was designed so free settlers and convicts could share the same church but sit in different wings. The could all see the same pulpit but not each other.
Two of the three wings were eventually converted into court rooms, where some prisoners were given the death sentence.
But for all the misery associated with the site, Ivy's feminine presence is generally regarded as a benign one.
As well as faint scent of perfume, she has also been known to open and close doors (once doing so while a film crew was shooting inside one of the court rooms). She sometimes gives her presence away with the sound of her long skirts swishing down the hallways.
One room, called "Ivy's Room", now houses several display cases of historic artefacts and a couch referred to as "Ivy's Couch".
A woman resting on this antique couch was once told by an angry female voice to "get out".
THE CHINAMAN
THE Drunken Admiral on Hobart's waterfront is better known for its seafood than its resident spooks.
But a mysterious death from the 19th century seems to have left the restaurant with a bad-tempered phantom.
Constructed in 1824, the building is one of the oldest in Tasmania and was variously used as a granary, an army barracks, an annex to the IXL Jam Factory and a warehouse before being converted into a restaurant in 1984.
Legend has it that a Chinese man was found hanged in the courtyard behind the building in the 1880s, but it was never clear whether he was murdered or committed suicide.
In the years since, there have been several sightings of a Chinese man wandering the courtyard and vanishing into a wall.
That wall is the back of today's toilets, which has led to some scary moments for those using the ladies' restroom.
Women using the toilet have occasionally reported the horrifying sensation of someone trying to throttle them while using the toilets.
As recently as 2008, a woman ran from the toilets into the busy restaurant yelling that someone had tried to strangle her.
A cafe owner has called in the ghost-hunters after claiming to have seen a spirit on his security camera.
Chills went down Dan Clifford's spine when he checked his CCTV and saw what he's convinced was a ghostly apparition hovering over a table set for two.
He summoned a team of ghost specialists, who said the sighting - said to be a figure of a woman - was the most striking evidence they had come across in almost 10 years.
Dan, 35, said yesterday: "The first time I saw the shadow moving on the camera my heart went nuts. I thought there was an intruder in the shop.
"But when I looked closer I realised it couldn't be a live human being - I could see right through it."
The CCTV image was taken in the dead of night after something set off a motion sensor. And Dan claims it's not the only evidence of ghostly goings-on at his Curiositeaz Vintage Tea Room in Perth.
He said: "Over the past few months, all the staff have experienced something.
"Some have heard voices. Others have witnessed chairs moving and one was pushed forwards and felt a chill right down their spine.
"We've also had a number of mediums stopping in because they felt something when they walked by.
"Some have told of feeling the presence of a woman, which fits with our newest image.
"I have always believed in the spirit world but I'd never experienced anything like this until we opened Curiositeaz less than a year ago. It's all been very exciting."
Dan has shown his CCTV images to ghost enthusiasts from Paranormal Investigation Scotland, and has talked to them about the other strange happenings at his cafe.
He has also fitted high-tech new cameras which take still and moving images if sensors detect anything larger than a cat.
He said: "We are very interested to hear what the experts have to say about the recent sighting.
"We want to prove to any sceptics that we have not tampered with any images."
A spokesman for Paranormal Investigation Scotland said: "This is the most convincing image we have seen in almost a decade, so we were keen to start looking into it."
The experts will return to the cafe next month, with some of Scotland's best-known mediums in tow. They'll monitor the tea room overnight for signs of ghosts.
Source: SottNet
Here are three CCTV videos depicting paranormal activity inside a warehouse.
The poster explains,` This video was taken at a warehouse my hubby used to work at and has since closed down. ( Company left state)There has been many experiences, there including a full body apparition that was seen by another employee who thought it was a real person.This video was taken by the security camera around 3:15 A.M. Hubby's boss even called the alarm company to make sure no one had turned off the security code. No doors were ever opened.`
My view: The shadow apparition is quite impressive, and I believe (from what I can see) that this is compelling footage.
The owner of a store at Midway Mall in Sherman, Texas, says something strange happened inside her store this weekend. The owner says some of her employees think they have a ghost in the store.
Early Sunday morning Rhonda Kohles says she got a strange call from 2 of her employees at her store Jaks at Midway Mall.
"To hear the scaredness in their voice, they were really freaked out about it," said Kohles.
"Oh yeah, all day Sunday we just tried to make explanations for it, all day, but yeah it creeped us out," said employee Ashley Hamons.
Hamons says when she opened the store, she came in to find several blankets off the shelf and on the floor.
Not sure what to think - she decided to check out the surveillance video.
The footage shows one blanket pop off the shelf at 9:36 p.m., then at 10:19 p.m., 2 more blankets fall off.
Rhonda says they've considered every logical possibility to explain it.
She says even if the air from the vents was strong enough, they aren't working on that side of the store.
But what if it was from the earthquakes that happened over the weekend? Well we asked her that too.
She says if that were the case, the large pictures on top the shelf should have fallen.
Whatever it was, it has just about everyone who's seen the video a little spooked.
ScienceDaily (June 28, 2012) — Archaeologists working at the site of La Corona in Guatemala have discovered a 1,300-year-old-year Maya text that provides only the second known reference to the so-called "end date" of the Maya calendar, December 21, 2012. The discovery, one of the most significant hieroglyphic finds in decades, was announced June 28 at the National Palace in Guatemala.
"This text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy," says Marcello A. Canuto, director of Tulane's Middle American Research Institute and co-director of the excavations at La Corona.
Since 2008, Canuto and Tomás Barrientos of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala have directed excavations at La Corona, a site previously ravaged by looters.
"Last year, we realized that looters of a particular building had discarded some carved stones because they were too eroded to sell on the antiquities black market," said Barrientos, "so we knew they found something important, but we also thought they might have missed something."
What Canuto and Barrientos found was the longest text ever discovered in Guatemala. Carved on staircase steps, it records 200 years of La Corona history, states David Stuart, director of the Mesoamerica Center at The University of Texas at Austin, who was part of a 1997 expedition that first explored the site.
While deciphering these new finds in May, Stuart recognized the 2012 reference on a stairway block bearing 56 delicately carved hieroglyphs. It commemorated a royal visit to La Corona in AD 696 by the most powerful Maya ruler of that time, Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' of Calakmul, only a few months after his defeat by long-standing rival Tikal in AD 695. Thought by scholars to have been killed in this battle, this ruler was visiting allies and allaying their fears after his defeat.
"This was a time of great political turmoil in the Maya region and this king felt compelled to allude to a larger cycle of time that happens to end in 2012," says Stuart.
So, rather than prophesy, the 2012 reference places this king's troubled reign and accomplishments into a larger cosmological framework.
"In times of crisis, the ancient Maya used their calendar to promote continuity and stability rather than predict apocalypse," says Canuto.
