Thursday 26 December 2013

MEDIEVAL CASTLE RISING - NEW DOCUMENTARY FROM HAUNTED EARTH


Here we visit a 12th century castle Keep in the village of Castle Rising, Norfolk where Chris Halton narrates the history of the site, plus some of the royal personages connected to it. The most famous, Queen Isabella of France allegedly haunts the building, and during our stay some paranormal related material was also recorded.

This appears right after the end of the main documentary.

A special show for viewers over Christmas 2013.

Youtube Link:



Vimeo Link:

MEDIEVAL CASTLE RISING - A visit to a castle haunted by Queen Isabella of France from Haunted Earth Tv on Vimeo.


Monday 23 December 2013

THREE INFAMOUS AMERICAN HAUNTED HOUSES



Whilst numerous decisions go into buying a house, one would imagine that houses famous for being haunted would go unsold. Not so, it appears; there are numerous websites dedicated to helping potential buyers find haunted houses across the country. Whilst the infamous  supernatural activities reported within the movie-inspiring house in Amityville, NY have been mostly discredited, there are a number of properties that have far more grisly back stories. Here are the stories of three houses with bizarre, gruesome and haunted histories.

LaLaurie Mansion

New Orleans, LA is a city of legend, voodoo and a number of haunted houses. It is, perhaps, most famous for its French Quarter, which is both a mecca for tourists seeking the New Orleans experience of Cajun food, music and all-night drinking and a center for the iconic Creole architecture for which the Crescent City is known. Not far from the center of the French Quarter, on Royal Street, one can find the LaLaurie Mansion – owned, until recently, by actor Nicholas Cage.

Considered one of the most haunted houses in a city know for its ghosts, the mansion’s gruesome past dates back to 1832 when Delphine Lalaurie – who was known for her beauty and became one of the city’s most prominent socialites – moved into the house with her husband, Louis, a doctor, and their daughters. The Lalauries had a number of slaves and as rumor spread of their brutal treatment, the couple’s famous dinner parties were less and less well attended.

The slaves who worked in the house seemed to regularly disappear without explanation.

In 1834, a fire – believed to have been deliberately set – broke out in the kitchen and swept through the house, requiring the fire department to battle the flames. What the firefighters discovered behind a barred attic door may be the most horrific scene of torture, mutilation and butchery ever encountered within a domestic dwelling.

According to newspaper reports at the time, slaves were found suspended naked from the walls, strapped to tables and confined in small cages. A number of these slaves had been subjected to terrifying mutilations, such as having had their stomachs sliced open and their entrails wrapped around their bodies or having had their mouths packed full of animal excrement and sewn shut. Bodies parts were found in buckets or strewn across the floor. One female slave – still living – had had her limbs broken and reset at strange angles; another had had her arms and legs amputated.

The Lalaurie family escaped the house as a vengeful mob gathered outside; what became of them is not clear. Since that time , the house has changed hands numerous times and has served many different purposes. One thing that has remained consistent, however, is that each business venture or other project that has been operated from the house has quickly failed and many of the various owners and tenants have reported strange phenomena and disturbing occurrences.


The Borden House

Andrew Borden, a well-to-do businessman, lived in a fame house in Fall River, MA, with his second wife, Abby, and his two daughters, who were conceived by his first wife. On August 4, 1892, Borden and his wife were killed with an axe inside the house – Andrew’s head was severed as he sat on a leather couch in a downstairs room. Abby had been killed whilst making a bed in an upstairs room. The mystery of this double murder has never been solved. The property still stands and is, perhaps, one of America’s most famous haunted houses.

A number of rumors surrounded the family and their relationships; there were stories of tensions – even animosity – between the daughters and their step-mother. Other rumors had it that the daughters, Lizzie and Emma, were afraid that their father was planning to leave his estate to his second wife and her family. Andrew Borden was portrayed, after his killing, as an evil and mean man who neglected his daughters. Later research has revealed, however, that Borden was somewhat generous with Emma and Lizzie and that the latter – who became the prime suspect in the murders but was eventually acquitted – cared deeply for her father.

At the time of the murders, Lizzie and Bridget Sullivan, the housekeeper, were both at home, although Lizzie said that she had been outside the house at the exact time of the murders; having gone to the barn at the back of the house to fetch something. Emma was out of town, visiting friends, but the girls’ uncle, John Vinnicum, was staying with the family. It appears that Vinnicum was not in the house at the time the crimes were committed.

Lizzie was arrested and spent some 10 months in jail, awaiting trial. She was acquitted and continued to live in Fall River. She died in 1927.

The house is now known as the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum. Through the years, several visitors to the house have reported strange and disturbing experience or apparitions.

The Ridge Avenue Mansion

Pennsylvania is home to numerous haunted house stories and probably the most famous – a house once known, indeed, as the most haunted in America – was located at 1129 Ridge Avenue in the city of Pittsburgh. Also known as the Congelier House, the house was built by a wealthy Texan in the 1860s. Allegedly, Charles Wright Congelier lived there with his wife, Lyda. Also living with them was their maid, Essie. In the winter of 1871, Lyda found out that her husband was having a relationship with young Essie and it is said that she stabbed him 30 times before cutting off Essie’s head with a meat cleaver.

Sometime after the brutal slayings, a neighbor found Lyda sitting in a rocking chair, muttering to herself. She refused to respond to the neighbor’s inquiries and, as the story goes, the neighbor, approaching Lyda, noticed that she was cradling something wrapped in a pink blanket. When the neighbor reached out to touch the blanket, it unraveled and Essie’s head fell out and rolled across the floor.

Although it is not clear what became of Lyda, the mansion on Ridge Avenue would terrify locals for many years to come. It stood empty until 1892, when it began to be used to house railroad employees. It was not long before this idea was abandoned after a number of the tenants fled the house, claiming to have heard a woman screaming.

The house once again stood vacant for some time until a Dr. Adolph C. Brunrichter purchased it in 1900. After moving in, the doctor lived a seemingly quiet life and neighbors saw very little of him – although there were rumors of him conducting grizzly experiments on young women. In 1901, neighbors were startled by a piercing scream from inside the mansion, followed by what seemed to be an explosion or flash of light which swept through the interior, shattering every window. Brunrichter fled the house and disappeared before police arrived. During a search of the property, police found a decomposing body strapped to a table and five headless women buried in shallow graves in the basement.

Rumor had it that the doctor had been experimenting with attempts to keep the heads of the women alive after decapitation; it was even said that he had succeeded in doing this for very brief periods of time.

In the 1920s, the house was visited by Thomas Edison, who was apparently deeply affected by the place. He was constructing a machine that was designed to allow communication with spirits of the dead, but he died before completing it. In 1927, local police arrested a drunk who claimed to be Dr. Brunrichter. The man told police a strange tale of demons, sex orgies and torture – all of which, he claimed, had taken place in the house while he had lived there. Despite his confession, Police could find no reason to detain him and he was released, never to be seen again.

As strange and gruesome as this tale is, further research eventually concluded that there was probably little – if any – truth to it. Even though this location enjoyed its place among the most famous haunted houses in the country, there appears to be little evidence that Charles, Lyda and Essie ever existed. Shortly after the alleged second disappearance of Brunrichter, a huge gas explosion was said to have destroyed the house completely. In reality, a Marie Congolier a member of the real family that constructed the house, was killed in the explosion but the house itself remained undamaged. It was eventually torn down.

Some would tout the purchase of a haunted house – particularly a famous one – to be a novelty or even an investment. There are many such properties across America; some of their histories are urban legend, some real – and some a bizarre combination of the two.

By Graham J Noble

Source: GuardianLV


IS THIS THE GHOST OF A LINCOLNSHIRE MEDIEVAL MONK?



























A ghost who reportedly haunts Greestone Steps in Lincoln may have been caught on camera by a young ghost hunter.

Paul Otley took his daughter Kaya Jordan Otley on the Lincoln Ghost Walk on December 13 to celebrate his birthday.

When the group of 15 got to the Postern Gate and the Greestone Stairs they were told about a Monk who it is believed hanged himself from the archway.

Kaya took a picture on her mobile phone and it is claimed you can see the outline of a hanging figure under a stone archway.

Mr Otley said: "Once one person in the group saw what appeared on her photograph her phone ended up being passed around and it completely enhanced the experience for everyone.

"You can clearly see feet dangling above the ground and can make out the shape of a figure wearing a long robe, and the head at the top with something coming from the side.


"My daughter was completely spooked out although excited at the same time.

"I have been informed by people in this field that apparitions are often more likely to reveal themselves to children."

Margaret Whitby-Green, of Lincoln Ghost Walks, said it wasn't the first time he had been caught on camera.

"We believe there is a 16th century priest and a monk that haunts that area," she said.

"It is a very haunted area.

"He has been seen there a few times and we have got a couple of pictures in the past."

Source: LincolnshireEcho



Sunday 15 December 2013

BEST SEASONS GREETINGS FOR 2013




May I and Haunted Earth wish you the very best Christmas and I will see you all after Boxing Day as I am away tomorrow on a film project.

Being released Boxing Day is a new presentation from our recent visit to a very fog bound castle, at Castle Rising, in Norfolk which includes a historical tour followed by some strange activity detected on the day.

Until then,

                  Chris Halton


Monday 9 December 2013

AN AMAZING SPIRITUAL ENERGY LIGHTS UP A GRAVESTONE - ACTUAL VIDEO

Really odd light anomaly with an orb
Last Saturday evening, Haunted Earth tv shot an investigation within the ruins of St Peter`s Church, Alresford. Although the video is unprocessed, we certainly heard voices, captured strange light anomalies, and smelt an unusual herbal smell - like cannabis which seemingly followed us around.

In the summer, a day and night visit elicited the same smell which many attribute to the ghost of a woman called the `Grey Lady` or `White Lady`.
The impression was that this woman was more a recent burial, and that she seems interested in people visiting the church.

On our last summer visit we picked up the sound of someone walking around us, and some great EVP.

The new video will be available later, but an earlier visit is shared below (2nd down).

The church was built about 1300, by Anfred de Staunton, and which burnt down in 1971.
The ruins are perhaps in material at least, far older as the structure relied heavily on re-salvaged stone and Roman brick.

This energy seemingly floated in from outside the church
The church although a ruin is still used for burials, and the building remains are known to many paranormal groups for it`s sometimes very quirky activity.

One such investigator, John Hancock from nearby St Osyth, shared with me the most unusual paranormal capture that I have ever seen.

John takes up the story:

`The footage was just as it happened, I saw the light and have never had it before where it remained and got brighter and moved about. We was all mesmerised by it.
I do find Alresford does have an aura about it that I dont feel in other church yards.`
The grave was for a married couple (name withheld) who passed away in 1957 and 1968.



And here is a short version of our summer visit.





Saturday 7 December 2013

HAUNTED HAPPENINGS IN OLD HOUSE - IS THIS A SPIRIT ANOMALY CAUGHT ON CAM?

Former policeman Matt Hilton was living in a large Victorian house when strange happenings occurred. Now he’s using that experience as the basis of a new book – and has opened his mind to the possibility of paranormal activity elsewhere.

The author, from Abbeytown, near Silloth, insists he still takes sceptic’s approach when hearing stories about strange goings on.

But the 48-year-old has established his own group to conduct investigations and is looking for locations they could investigated.

He said: “We will do our best to offer alternative natural explanations, in the hope that what is left over or unexplainable is, in fact, paranormal.”

Matt says he has been open-minded about the possibility of places being haunted since the experiences he and his wife had 26 years ago.

“We experienced quite a lot of paranormal activity in the house – to the point where we gave up and left,” he said.

Much of the activity they experienced was the likes of unexplained bangs and items moving.

“My wife had nightmares. It frightened us,” Matt added..

“The group I’ve set up is looking for anyone who would like us to come in and do an investigation.”



Story: News&Star

Thursday 5 December 2013

CHARLES DICKENS - THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTMAS PAST

By Vic Zoschak

Charles Dickens 
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has become a beloved part of the literary canon – and for many an indispensable part of the holiday season. The story embodies the goodwill associated with the Christmas season – and it has the Victorians’ favorite elements of a good Christmas story: ghosts. Dickens wrote other Christmas tales that also incorporated phantoms and ghosts, as did his Victorian cohorts. But why this obsession with ghosts at Christmas time?


An All But Dead Holiday–With Pagan Roots

By Dickens’ time, Christmas was not much of a holiday. In fact, for most people it was still a work day. The Industrial Revolution meant fewer days off for everyone, and Christmas was considered so unimportant that no one complained. This was thanks to none other than Oliver Cromwell, the Lord and Protector of England in mid seventeenth-century England. Cromwell had toiled to eradicate Christmas altogether because the holiday had no scriptural basis; the Bible mentions no “holy day” other than the Sabbath and certainly doesn’t exhort Christians to celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25.

Furthermore, Cromwell knew that the date of December 25 was shrewdly chosen by early Christian officials who wanted to replace pagan rituals with Christian ones. The day was selected because of its association with two pagan holidays, Yule and Sol Invictus (the birthday of the Unconquered Sun). Both were celebrated in conjunction with the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. On this night, the boundaries between the physical and spiritual worlds were considered particularly permeable. It was believed that spirits would return to Earth to finish unsettled business - exactly what Jacob Marley does in A Christmas Carol.

Spinning a Winter’s Tale

While there’s scant proof that the Christmas ghost tale existed as a consciously undertaken tradition before the Victorian era, there is etymological evidence that the tradition stretches back at least to Shakespeare’s time. In “A Christmas Tree” (1859), Dickens writes, “There is probably a smell of roasted chestnuts and other good comfortable things over time, for we are telling Winter Stories–Ghost Stories, or more shame for us–round the Christmas fire.” That phrase “winter stories” and its variant “winter’s tale” had mostly fallen into disuse by Dickens’ day, but it refers to a fantastical yarn that one would weave to entertain interlocutors around a wintertime fire.

Christopher Marlowe
An even more specific connotation for “winter story” or its relative “winter’s tale” notably shows up in
Christopher Marlowe’s The Jews of Malta (1589) with a very specific definition: a “winter’s tale” is a ghost story.

Now I remember those old women’s words
Who in my wealth would tell me winter’s tales
And speak of spirits and ghosts that glide by night

Shortly thereafter Shakespeare would play on this meaning with A Winter’s Tale (1623), in which Prince Maximillius says, “A sad tale’s best for winter; I have one / Of sprites and goblins.” Later in Saducismus Triumphatis, Joseph Glanville’s treatise on witchcraft published posthumously in 1681, Glanville admonishes individuals who dismiss the existence of witchcraft as “meer Winter Tales or Old Wives fables.”

Robert Louis Stevenson would later evoke the winter’s tale with The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter’s Tale (1889). Though the story contains no ghosts of the usual sort, the Master cheats death multiple times. He essentially haunts his brother, Henry, who eventually exclaims, “nothing can kill that man. He is not mortal. He is bound upon my back to all eternity–to all eternity!” Later, after the Master’s body has been buried, Henry still does not believe the Master has perished. Henry is incredulous: “He’s not of this world, neither him nor that black de’il that serves him.”


A Victorian Predisposition for the Ghostly

The Victorian Age was one in which spiritual beliefs were constantly being upended by scientific discoveries. It’s no wonder that Victorians turned to spiritualism and other superstitions to distract from that state of uncertainty, or that seances, table rapping, and other fads took hold. Another of these was telling ghost stories, and Dickens was far from the only author to participate. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was noted for his rather eccentric spiritualism. Edith Nesbitt, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Rudyard Kipling all wrote ghost stories that often get overshadowed by their more famous works. And Henry James uses Christmas ghost storytelling as a frame for Turn of the Screw. Most importantly,Washington Irving had actually presaged Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and The Pickwick Papers’ Gabriel Grub character (a character visited by goblins in Mr. Warble’s Christmas tale) with his own depictions of the Christmas holiday, a relationship that we’ll explore in an upcoming post.

The tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas stuck. Slightly later, Eton Provost and author Montague Rhodes James would entertain his students with ghostly tales around the Christmas fire. HP Lovecraft’s “The Festival” was written for Christmas. And twentieth-century Canadian author Robertson Davies would spin ghost tales for Massey College students every Christmas season. Though not widely practiced, the winter’s tale lives on as a Christmas tradition.

Source: ILAB




Wednesday 4 December 2013

IS THIS THE GHOST OF THE WHITE LADY OF RUFFORD?


Is this a ghost in the doorway?

Look closely, and you may just be able to make out a ghostly image on these photos captured by a quick-witted teenager.

Cameron Hamilton caught the misty white figure on the snaps when he used his iPod Touch while visiting Nottinghamshire County Council's Rufford Abbey Country Park with friends.

Staff think he might have captured images of the ghostly White Lady of Rufford who, according to legend, is believed to be the spirit of ill-fated Arbella Stuart.

Cameron, 15, from South Drive in Bilsthorpe, Notts, said his belief in the supernatural has been bolstered after seeing the ghoulish snaps.

"I was quite surprised and was not expecting it. I believe in ghosts and the supernatural and this has further convinced me that they do exist, " he said.

His mother, Helen, said they were shocked by what they saw when they looked at Cameron's pictures at home, and went on to show staff at the country park.

"Cameron has taken it all in his stride," she said.

"Apparently he was reading the information panels in the Abbey 'Undercroft' about the ghostly legends of Rufford and decided to take some photos to see he could capture anything spooky on film.

Close-up of the doorway.

"It was only when he got home and we examined the film that we saw this image of a White Lady clearly in shot. You can make out the jewellery she is wearing and her face too."

The photographs show the arched stone doorway to the medieval Cellarium area of the ruins, and appear to show a misty white figure.

Debbie Hibbert, who manages the tourist information centre at Rufford Abbey, which is managed by Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: "It certainly looked like a figure - like a young woman in full old fashioned dress, hovering over the door."

Nottinghamshire County Council Visitor Services Manager Linda Hardy, who is based at Rufford Abbey, explained the history behind the legend of the White Lady.

She said: "There's a local legend that one of the ghosts of Rufford is The White Lady - who some say is the spirit of Arbella Stuart, tragic granddaughter of Bess of Hardwick.

"Her parents were secretly married at the Abbey. I've heard of one or two sightings of her by local people in past years.

"Maybe Cameron has managed to capture a genuine Ghost of Christmas Past."

Rufford Abbey hosted an evening event to look for ghosts a few weeks back - and with its background as a Cistercian Abbey and a grand country house, there have been numerous sightings of different ghosts throughout the years.

One type of white rose in the rose garden at Rufford Abbey is also named after The White Lady.

Source: TheGuide

My view:

To me this looks like a photographic anomaly caused by the light from the archway. I do not see what the media see, which is newspaper sales.


Saturday 30 November 2013

IS THIS THE GHOST OF A 9 YEAR OLD BOY?

The bereaved family of an American boy who was killed in a tornado are drawing comfort from a ghostly image of him they say has appeared in a photograph.

Nicolas McCabe, nine, died when his school was hit by the destructive winds in Oklahoma earlier this year. Six other youngsters were killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which had neglected to build a storm shelter due to lack of funds.

Now his father Scott has claimed Nicolas has returned from the dead as a spirit who is watching over his cousin Madison.

Madison (front) with what appears to be a partial apparition in the background.
Scott believes Nicolas appeared in an image of Madison playing with a sparkler during the 4 July celebrations. When family members saw it, their "hair stood up," Scott said.

In the picture a partial apparition of a figure can be seen behind Madison. The two figures in the image appear distinct from each other - with different skin tone and hair.

But doubters online have ascribed the presence of the spectral second figure to the camera shaking when the image was snapped.

Scott McCabe - believes late son was caught on camera
'They can say what they want. I believe. I believe he's watching over us,' said Scott.

McCabe described the moment he believes he set eyes upon his deceased son in the photograph.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," he said. "Nicolas loved the Fourth of July and he loved firecrackers." Speaking of the figure behind the girl, he said: "It's obviously not Madison. It's obvious there are two people there or one person there and one spirit there.

"My brother, when he saw it, he said the hair stood up on his neck. I was in awe. It touched my heart."

Source: Ibtimes



Monday 25 November 2013

BRITAIN`S `MOST HAUNTED` BUILDING - OR BRITAIN`S MOST HYPED BED AND BREAKFAST?

The Ancient Ram Inn, in the village of Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, is believed to be riddled with up to 20 spectres who torment the paying punters of the 12th century home. Above, owner Caroline Humphries
Welcome to Britain’s most haunted B&B  (Bed and Breakfast) - where terrified guests have been left so scared they have even jumped out of the windows.

The Ancient Ram Inn, in the village of Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, is believed to be riddled with up to 20 spectres who torment the paying punters of the 12th century home.

Built on an ancient pagan burial ground - and also believed to be the scene of child sacrifices and devil worship - the Cotswolds cottage is haunted by the likes of a murdered young girl called Rosie, a high priestess, and even a male sex demon, known as an incubus.

The strange goings on include a blood-curdling child’s scream, ‘electrified’ wooden beams, and even the touch of an invisible force.

Caroline Humphries, whose family has lived in the Ram Inn for nearly 50 years, said: 'My father won’t go anywhere without his Bible.'

But despite its ghoulish reputation, Ms Humphries is inundated with visitors who are desperate to spend a night in Britain’s spookiest lodgings, which were built in 1145 and costs between £25 and £30 per night.

Past guests have fled from the house in the middle of the night after claiming to have seen furniture flying around the bedrooms, visions of a little girl wandering the hallways, and have even been pushed down onto a bed by a randy incubus.

Is that a ghost on the staircase? The Ram Inn, built in 1145, has long been home to a variety of spooks
Some have leapt from first-floor windows at the back of the property onto a grass slope from a height of a few feet - but no one has been injured as a result.
Now, it is packed out with ghost hunters and horror writers - who are queueing up to spend a night with the demons.

One ghost investigator who visited the house was spooked when a presence pushed up against his back - and felt the wooden beams of the medieval house vibrate and tremble when he grabbed onto them in fear.

A mysterious child’s scream was even captured on video - seconds after a man’s voice is heard to shout: 'Get out!'

Ms Humphries, 51, said: 'When I was a child, I was so scared of the house I used to sleep in a caravan outside.

'It was normal for us to see people running out of the house, screaming in terror.
'Once, I woke up and found a chest of drawers hovering over my bed - before it crashed down the staircase.

'People have told us they’ve seen a high priestess sitting in one of the bedrooms, objects move and spin, and we used to hear the ghosts of murdered children screaming and crying in one of the bedrooms.

'We put some children’s toys in the room for them to play with and they don’t cry as much any more.
'The whole house is absolutely terrifying.'

Ms Humphries father, John, 85, was pulled from his bed by a spirit on the first night the family moved into the home - and after researching the history of the house, he was horrified to discover an ancient burial ground lay beneath.
                                   Video from the Ancient Ram Inn


And years later, while renovating the home, he discovered small bones and daggers under the earth - and believes that children had been sacrificed there to pagan gods years ago.
Ms Humphries added: 'Once we had disturbed one grave, we didn’t want to go digging any further, and we’ve left the house exactly as it stands.

'Paranormal experts love staying here, but we couldn’t carry on running the house as a normal bed and breakfast - it’s just too haunted.

'I don’t think we’ll ever be able to sell the house - no one in their right mind would buy it.
'But after nearly 50 years here, I’ve accepted that we have to live with some unwanted house guests.'

Story: TheDailyMail

My view:

Firstly, I have never met the owners of the `Ancient Ram Inn`, nor have I ever visited it. And in all probability, I never will. Here is why.

The building is certainly very ancient, and the history of the building as an Inn is fascinating.
But is it really as `bad` as they claim?

`A randy male sex demon, known as an incubus`, an unverified alleged `ancient burial ground` that no archaeologist or historian can confirm. Human sacrifice, and a witch being burnt to death. The building `shaking when touched by an investigator`,  quite a feat in a stone and timber framed building which should have created some structural damage. Many, many stories and not much else from the owners. And lastly, the many props that have been put into the house to enhance it`s ghostly reputation.

I cannot and will not deny that this place is haunted, but being over 900 years old you would expect some activity, and some fantastic captures on camera, which surprisingly are hard to find.

But regarding the unverifiable claims, and the stories generated by the owner, it is clear to me that this is nothing more than a `Halloween Haunted House` type business, determined to sell beds to get the punters in.

For anyone to claim that all of the legends are true, is simply ridiculous. If you are a serious investigator of the paranormal then you should take all of the claims with a pinch of salt. This place is more for the `thrill seeker`, and in that regard they will certainly get their monies worth, and possibly a few interesting photographs too.

But as Britain`s most haunted house, it is not. Unless you believe everything you read or are being told.

Chris Halton



Sunday 24 November 2013

GHOST OF A CAT CAUGHT ON HAUNTED SHANLEY HOTEL VISIT

Here is a video shot at an investigation held at the notoriously haunted, Shanley Hotel in Napanoch, New York.

Screenshot showing the upright tail of a cat crossing
the hotel corridor. (Image from video by Stephen Barcelo)
The video is mostly an interview with the owner, Sal Nicosia who explains more about the cat that haunts.
But watch from 1 minute in. Quite amazing! There is more footage of the activities of my own `ghost cat` below this report.



Video Source: stephen barcelo

My own `ghost cat` footage is my former little friend, Shelly who was absolutely devoted to me in life, and in death (she died over a year ago) and periodically she still appears, particularly at night when I am in bed, as sometimes I feel her physically as she walks in spirit across me. It isn`t unpleasant at all, and in many ways is quite reassuring.
Initially she appeared in the form of EVP of a cat purring within my own home. Afterwards, she started to `appear` as more contented purring on outside visits, and on one which was many miles from where she lived with me.
Here is such an example which was shot inside Thetford Forest in Norfolk. Watch from 13:08.



Cat`s are very spiritual creatures, and far more psychic than any human I`ve met. The reason is that their minds are 100% open to spirit, and they don`t suffer the same insecurities that many humans feel when confronted by the paranormal.

Historically, cat`s are linked to the devil, and that primitive fear of them is manifested by drawings and paintings which depict them as `Satan`s familiars`. Indeed many were walled up alive - and sometimes with their kittens, inside houses in a bid to keep the devil from entering the home.

And even in the 21st century, there are still humans that have this fear of these creatures.
I have never seen cat`s as `evil`, instead I have found them to be quite the reverse. However such an opinion in the 17th century could have led to a quick show trial for `witchcraft`, and a slow death by fire.

I have many more examples in my work of my cat`s evp. And here below is another example from my own home.




A sceptical thought was that somehow my camera motor/tape/battery, and indeed anything else was responsible for the purring. However, the argument is actually quite weak as all the activity thus recorded has been on three Hi8 tape DV camcorders. And as I use this equipment professionally, they are all checked and serviced regularly.

Chris Halton





Thursday 21 November 2013

NEW VIDEO FROM HAUNTED EARTH - `HOUSE OF THE ANGELS`




A journey to an unusual medieval building with a bloody past. Once owned as a private chapel to the Bishop of London, the church gained notoriety during the Elizabethan period when the then incumbent Bishop, Edmund `Bloody` Bonner, a hard line catholic, who was thrown into prison by Elizabeth I.

Bonner, was a brute, who tortured Protestants under Mary Tudor and refused loyalty to the new Queen. Bonner died in prison, and his ghost is alleged to haunt the church grounds and that of the former palace, now occupied by Copford Hall.

Even before you enter, there is a reminder at the entrance of a man who was nailed alive to the entrance door.

But despite the tales that regale this site, the most marvellous is that of the angels, in the form of the many fine quality paintings inside the church.

Join me as I take you through this fascinating building and share with you the many wonders that adorn it`s walls.

Copford stands testimony not only to the glorious art of medieval England, but also to it`s rich history too.
In this video, I was not able to record any activity to share, but regardless this building compensates for this well as you will see.

YOUTUBE VIDEO LINK:



VIMEO VIDEO LINK:




RE-VAMP OF HISTORIC HOTEL INCREASES GHOSTLY INCIDENTS


BRADENTON -- The former Manatee River Hotel has had thousands of guests in its 87 years, but some are wondering if a few never checked out.

Yes, Bradenton could have its own haunted hotel. Much of the hotel was gutted during its $21 million renovation to become the Hampton Inn & Suites, to form new rooms and walls. But a new door never stopped a ghost.

The stories can give chills to those who believe, which is why Liz and Ron Reed of the Paranormal Society of Bradenton Florida want to scan the hotel for ghosts and spirits of Bradenton's past.

"My husband and I are dying to get in there," Liz Reed said.

The two have every reason to believe entering the Hampton Inn is like entering the Twilight Zone.

"It's probably more active now that it's renovated because it has been disturbed and has changed things around," Liz Reed said. "Sometimes that can make it more active."

At one time, the hotel at 309 10th St. W. was an assisted living center and retirement center, where at least a few people spent their final seconds on earth, but those spirits might not even be the people who roam the halls at night, Reed said.

"It could be someone who loved the hotel, and their spirit decided to return," she said.

Several recent tales could help support the Reeds' case. Perhaps the spookiest is one from Bradenton Police Sgt. Tony Cerniglia.

While talking to a security guard contracted to watch over the property during the renovation, the guard told him a tile worker noticed something on the fourth floor.

"The tiler was doing tiling and said he looked down a hallway and saw a white female in a white dress at the end of the hallway. He put it on his cellphone and got a good picture of it," he said.

But Cerniglia hasn't seen the photo himself. That's how these stories usually go -- somebody hears it from someone but hasn't experienced it for themselves.

Reed has heard reports that the seventh floor is the most active for ghost activity. So has Dave Gustafson, director of the Bradenton Downtown Development Authority, with people alleging that objects seem to magically rearrange when they return, and it probably wasn't from the housekeeping staff. Gustafson has also heard second-hand stories of accounts of police walking their beat and seeing something strange in the windows while the hotel was boarded up.

Police Chief Michael Radzilowski said he doesn't recall any calls for service to the hotel through the years for paranormal activity. He hasn't seen any ghosts, either.

But it's not seeing the ghosts to detect activity, it's feeling their presence, Liz Reed said.

The couple are equipped with voice recorders, infrared cameras, laser grids and electromagnetic field detectors to see if there is a spirit among them.

The tales, passed on from generation to generation in Bradenton, say Clark Gable, Babe Ruth and Greta Grabo all stopped in at the Manatee River Hotel. Famous gangster Al Capone supposedly once stayed here, too. He did have a place in St. Petersburg and Miami, and Bradenton might have been the best place to stay the night to and from.

When the hotel was being renovated in the mid-2000s, local investor Darrell Reha was making improvements to the building before he wanted to bring condos to the assisted living home.

During that renovation, the contractor found a gun in the penthouse that appeared to be a .38 special revolver, Cerniglia said.

"I guess it was actually initialed A.C., which stood for Al Capone," he said. The contractors also found a guest log with Capone's signature on it, Cerniglia said he was told, but the location of the gun and log book today are unknown. Reha could not be located Wednesday.

A 1992 story about an auction of Capone's belongings said one of the items available was a glass water pitcher with the initials A.C. on it, so having his initials engraved on his belongings isn't out of the question.

Gustafson is not a believer in ghosts, but at least one experience challenged his skepticism. During his honeymoon 20 years ago, he stayed in a slave's quarters in Charleston, S.C., and woke up in the middle of the night and heard chains and people singing.

Maybe those spirits in transition are here, too, in Bradenton, and haunted hotels could be another segment for tourism.

"I think it's another opportunity, and I think it's really cool," he said.

The hotel staff understands the legends, but until they see proof, the stories are open for interpretation.

For what it's worth, the hotel was full during its opening night, and Wednesday morning, staff didn't have any reports of paranormal activity or bumps in the night, says Kelly Ann Dixon, director of sales and marketing for the hotel.

"With its unique and colorful background, there always could be a chance," Dixon said during a recent evening tour of the top floors.

Dixon said the Reeds are welcome to book a room and use their instruments to satisfy their curiosity.

"We welcome everyone as guests," she said.




The chance of seeing ghosts already prompted at least one visitor to stay the night. Nick Walsh, 11, was with his grandmother Mary Walsh at the hotel Tuesday, and was part of the first family to check-in. The 11-year-old said one of the reasons he wanted to come to the historic hotel was because of the stories.

"I heard that there's ghosts," Nick said.

Brian Long, director of development for the hotel's operator, Widewaters Hotels, isn't sure if he should embrace ghost stories at his hotels. Another group wanting to investigate paranormal activity contacted him during the Hampton Inn's construction, but he politely declined.

"I don't know if it's a benefit or a deterrent," Long said. "To a 3-year-old girl, that could be a deterrent."

Has he experienced any ghosts?

"I haven't run into any," Long said. "And if I would, I might not tell you."

Source: Bradenton

My view:

It is often discussed that when historic properties are renovated or extended, it generally stirs up more paranormal activity then was possibly seen before. This is an interesting story, and one that I will follow to keep an eye on any `ghostly` activity.


Sunday 10 November 2013

IS THIS A GHOST CAUGHT ON CAMERA?

IT is believed to be Edinburgh’s most haunted pub, with more spooky spectres than there are spirits behind the bar.

Now staff at the Grassmarket White Hart Inn have what they believe is a photo of a troublemaking ghost, captured by a family of Australian tourists.

It shows what staff claim is a ghostly female apparition near the venue’s main bar.

The spooky snap is believed to be a girl in a red dress who haunts the bar, a spectral hand visible at her side.

Such has been the excitement over the image, a ghost-chasing film crew has asked to spend a night locked inside the pub in a bid to capture unmistakable proof of the afterlife on camera.

Inn manager Michael Johnson, a self-proclaimed sceptic, said the couple’s daughter took the holiday snap about eight weeks ago on a night out.

Mr Johnson said he remembers the night well as he had been giving the pleasant couple “jip about the rugby”.

He said: “They were about the second last group to leave and they pulled on my shirt and said ‘look at this’.

“They’d looked through the photos and seen something a bit strange. She pulled it up on us and that’s when I knew it wasn't a hoax. She couldn't have done any computer graphics because she was still in the pub.”

Is this the `Red prostitute` ghost, or a slow shutter?
Mr Johnson said research carried out since the photo’s discovery had uncovered an unverified drawing of a prostitute dressed in red who is believed to have frequented the pub during the 1800s and been killed on the premises.

The White Hart Inn is central Edinburgh’s oldest pub, with the cellar dating back to 1516.

Poet Robert Burns is rumoured to have stayed there on his final visit to the Capital in 1791.

According to popular myth, Edinburgh’s notorious murdering duo William Burke and William Hare are supposed to have enticed several fellow drinkers away from the old pub to kill them at their nearby lodgings before selling the corpses.

Mr Johnson said of unexplained happenings at the inn: “A girl claimed her hair got pulled while she was changing a barrel. We've had a chutney bottle thrown at one of the staff. Two of the girls were working one night and the music stopped. They went downstairs and all the wires had been pulled out.

“We had a guy that came and did an audit and he could hear barrels moving. We've also had complaints about people being downstairs counting money and they could hear people walking upstairs despite the pub being shut.”

Scottish Ghost Adventures, a new production company started by investigator and senior producer Mark Connor, now wants to spend a night at the inn.

Mr Connor said: “Because of where it’s come from with the elderly couple and them being blasé about it, it’s obviously not something that’s been done through Photoshop.

“The most striking thing about the picture is how vibrant it is.

“With the hand being there, we've enlarged that and we can’t see any manipulation.”

Source: EdinburghNews


Friday 8 November 2013

THE MEDIEVAL MYSTERIES OF LITTLE WENHAM - HAUNTED EARTH SHOW

Here Chris Halton visits an almost forgotten 13th century Suffolk church which has some amazing medieval wall art, and as you always expect, a little bit of the paranormal too!

Historical background (from CCT website)
`This 13-century flint church, with a Tudor brick-topped tower, is hidden away up a track past one of the oldest houses in England. Behind the altar the walls are alive with Medieval paintings - pick out St Margaret with her dragon and St Catherine with her wheel. The saints are elegant and almost ghostlike, with strange blackened faces from the chemical alteration of the paint over time.. There are also wall plaques to the local Brewse family -- one with the doll-sized figure of John Brewse, kneeling in eternal prayer. `
As always, please like on Youtube if you enjoyed, and please do feel free to comment.

Youtube Link:



Vimeo Link:






18% OF ALL AMERICANS CLAIM THEY`VE SEEN A GHOST - STATISTICS

Many American children encountered costumed ghosts as they roamed the streets in search of candy and other treats on Halloween. Before bedtime, to avoid nightmares, some parents may try to reassure their kids that ghosts are not real.

But not all of those parents may buy their own reassurances:  Nearly one-in-five U.S. adults (18%) say they’ve seen or been in the presence of a ghost, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center survey. An even greater share – 29% – say they have felt in touch with someone who has already died.

Click image to enlarge
Claude Fischer, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, explored Americans’ persisting beliefs in some supernatural phenomena in a recent blog post.

“As we approach Halloween, note that most American adults in the 21st Century say that they believe in life after death and in the devil,” Fischer wrote, citing data from Gallup and other sources. “Over one-third say that they believe in the spirits of the dead coming back; about that many also say they believe in haunted houses.”

Despite the influence of modern secularism and science, he observed, “the magic has not totally gone.”

Does going to church help keep ghosts away? It’s impossible to say, but people who often go to worship services appear to be less likely to say they see ghosts. Just 11% of those who attend religious services at least weekly say they’ve been in the presence of a ghost, while 23% of those who attend services less frequently say they have seen a ghost, the Pew Research survey found.




A GHOSTLY NEW HAUNTED HOME


This is a story I have never told in print for fear that I would sound mad. It is the version of events as I remember them, so that the tale told by another member of my family might differ slightly in order or timing. But it is a true story, none the less. It happened, despite our collective reluctance to admit it, and my reluctance now both to tell it and to own it as mine. And before you ask, no, I don’t believe in ghosts. Only, as I say, this happened.

I was 16 when, one June, my family moved to a lofty Victorian villa in the Midlands: ivy-strewn, hidden behind trees, high-ceilinged and replete with corridors. This sudden gift of space was not before time. When people asked how many siblings I had, I tended to chirp “we are too menny” à la Jude the Obscure, or “we are legion” à la biblical possession. Ours, in fact, was the perfect situation for a horror story: three girls of 16, 15 and nine, a boy of 11 and one of barely four.

To be sure, our new house had a degree of notoriety. Local gossip held that it boasted three “presences”: a woman who stalked the ground floor, an elderly doctor forever racing up its stairs searching for a dying grandson and, in its upper reaches, the victim of an argument that had spilled over into murder. There was even what appeared to be the requisite bloodstain that could not be removed, since covered with carpet.
The more credulous would not step inside it. We were not so naive. And yet, there was something unsettling about our new home, a personality, a sense that we were installing ourselves in a place already occupied. It never felt quite empty. Doors would shut of their own volition, footsteps would sound. It felt as if we were being watched, assessed.

Very soon, this phoney-war period became the subject of nostalgia. For, when the house kicked off, it kicked off in epic style. Every night at 4am, someone – something – would tear up its stairs, rattling, then forcing open, the doors in its wake (all of which required proper turning and thrusting), until it reached my mother’s room, entering in a furious, door-slamming blast. Once – comically, but in ghastly, unequivocal fashion – it even seemed to relieve its excess energy with a few strokes on her rowing machine.

This may sound like nothing, but I cannot tell you the uncanny monotony of its nightly repetitions. We refused to recognise it, of course, being sane, a family of atheists and, above all, British. One night, my furious doctor father, up book-writing in the early hours, bellowed: “Whoever’s charging up and down the stairs, will they stop?”

His wife and children rallied indignant: “Well, it’s not bloody us.”
One night, emboldened by drink, I roared: “Shut the ---- up” and it did, briefly, before recommencing with still more emphatic zeal. (There was a silver lining to this episode: my little sister, then nine, recently alluded to my big-sister bravery with the line: “Hannah shouts at ghosts.”)

Back then, we didn’t use the G-word. In fact, we strove not to use any word at all – not to acknowledge our summer haunting, certainly not to discuss it. And so the house tried harder, with what, I imagine, would be referred to as classic poltergeist activity. We would return home to find the taps turned on full-force, requiring wrenching back into inaction. An oven, on the third floor, would have its rings switched to red hot, making the house’s already airless attics crackle dangerously with heat. After the second time it happened, we had it disconnected. It happened again. (And, believe me, as I write this, I too think it is mad.)

Matters became worse. One night, the boarded-over fireplace in my room ripped open with a clamour. I wrenched my pillow over my ears, telling myself it must be a trapped bird. In the daylight, I investigated. Behind the fireplace, crammed up the chimney, were Victorian newspapers recording the house’s murder. I couldn’t read them.

My mother started behaving oddly – pensive, distracted. We eldest and Nanny Williams, our beloved summer-holiday addition, interrogated her. Finally, she cracked. Waking in the night, she had seen a dead child. This is how she described it – not a ghost, but a dead child dressed in Victorian clothing, visible from the knees up. It had a certain logic: a child appearing to a mother. I became determined not to see any such thing. Sounds could be denied; but sights would be too appalling.

But my mother was not the only person to be so affected. The house’s most oppressive room, overlooking the garden, we still do not venture into. It is colder than the rest of the house, now a repository for our old toys, which adds a certain Gothic element.
Back then, however, my four-year-old brother occupied it. Like all youngest offspring, he was a golden child: charming, vivacious. That summer he changed: rendered quiet, hollow-eyed, with the air of a tiny old man. Asked why he was so exhausted as he sat yawning one morning, he answered: “Every night, it’s the same: the lady with the big bottom [a bustle? I wonder] and the two men fighting over my bed, then one man hurts the other and the lady screams.” From then on, he slept in my mother’s room.

My grandmother bedded down there next, innocent of that summer’s events, then refused to ever again. My mother braved it to prove her wrong. Next morning, the room was locked. When we quizzed her, she refused to divulge what had happened, saying only that it was “something to do with time”. Somehow this was – and remains – the most horrifying thing I had ever heard.

Still, the part of the narrative that brings most fear to the few friends in whom I’ve confided it is this. One bright August day, drinking tea in the kitchen, we elders – me, my sister, Nanny and mother – finally admitted that something was happening. We laughed and teased each other but, my God, it was a relief.
Suddenly, a mirror sprang off the wall and shattered. On the back of its glass, in an old-fashioned script, the numbers 666 were repeatedly etched, along with the message: “I’m going to ------- kill you all.” I know you won’t believe this – I don’t believe it. But it happened.

Like you, I am wary of ghost stories: their linear march and relentless building to a crescendo. This is a story with no denouement. Over time, a year or two, events gradually petered out. Again, I am told that this is standard form: ghosts (I can barely type the word) act up with newcomers, then they – and you – adjust. Plus, I like to think that Bettses are far more terrifying.

Today, I love my parents’ house with its greenery and servants’ bells. It is our home. Yet still it has the capacity to act up. Our neighbour’s new cleaner recently informed him that she would not be returning, having seen a woman walk through a wall (our buildings were once joined). On another occasion, one brother’s girlfriend remarked that everything in her room had shaken at 4am. Was there some sort of quake?
“Some sort of quake,” we replied.

Source: TheTelegraph

Coming Shortly .... Reader`s own ghost stories!



COPS ARE CONVINCED THAT THEIR PARKING LOT IS HAUNTED!

A ghostly image that danced through a police department's car park had officers believing their patch was haunted.

According to NBC Connecticut, surveillance video shows a ghost-like wisp of wind whirling around a car, ripping off the mirror, tossing it around a bit and then dropping right back beneath the door.



"At the end of his shift, he went out to his car and found his rear view mirror had been damaged and it was lying there next to his vehicle," Hartford police officer Lt Brian Foley said.

Initially, police thought the car had been vandalised, but CCTV footage showed a far spookier phenomenon.

"Some of the officers said they think the parking lot's haunted," Lt Foley said.

But NBC Connecticut meteorologist Brad Field said the image was scientific than supernatural.

He said conditions in the car park were "just right for a dust devil", which he described as a tornado-like whip of wind that tends to form over asphalt.

"The only way you can see the dust devil is that it picks up dust and debris into it," Mr Field said.

Source: YahooNews




Wednesday 30 October 2013

LATEST HAUNTED EARTH VIDEO - NIGHT IN A HAUNTED WELSH CEMETERY




Tonight we visit on a cliff and overlooking Tintern Abbey in Wales, St Mary`s Church ruins.
Originally dating back to the days of the medieval Abbey, the church was rebuilt in the 19th century. In 1972 the church became redundant, and in 1977 the church mysteriously caught fire and allegedly two youths died in the blaze.
Here, invited by (FPI) Forest Paranormal Investigations, we conduct a joint investigation of this very, very haunted site where a spirit claiming to be an `elemental` energy, makes contact. The K2 session with EMF meters provides an insight as the presence answers questions with answers that shudder one group member .....

(FPI) Forest Paranormal Investigations

Adam Heath - Team Leader
Paula Heath - Spiritual Investigator
Mark Adams - Tech and security
Vicki Thornton - Research and Events

LINKS TO FOREST PARANORMAL:
www.forestparanormal.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/groups/14278...
www.youtube.com/forestparanormal
https://www.facebook.com/groups/59129... (Quest of the Vampire FB page)

Youtube link: Suits most machines.


Vimeo link: Suits faster and newer machines.

READERS GHOST TALES AT HALLOWEEN - SARA`S STORY

My husband and I were married in 1989.  Wow, almost 25 years ago!  At the time he lived in an old house trailer that an elderly lady had passed away in.  I didn’t know this initially, but he eventually told me.  He’d had some experiences prior to us being married that he didn’t tell me either.

I honestly don’t know if he was afraid I’d be scared and not marry him or what, but he didn’t.  Either way, I started noticing things when I moved in.  Catching someone walk from one side of the room to the other in the form of a shadowy person, having tools taken out of their container and set on the kitchen counter and even empty cans taken out of the recycling and put on the counter.  The strangest thing that happened to me in the old trailer was when I started to do our laundry.  I was pulling out the laundry from the hamper and all my underpants were strung together!  (Like if you were to hang them on a clothesline and you clip two of them on the line together)  All perfectly strung together for some reason.  I asked my husband why he’d been messing around with the dirty laundry and he said he hadn’t.  I guess the lady is a feisty one and I’m convinced she’s followed us to two other houses.  So here is my original story:
 
I have my own ghost story to share.  I swear 100% of it is true.
Rewind to 20 years ago in 1993. We lived in a brand new trailer house. My son was sitting in the highchair with his sippy cup of milk and eating a hot dog. I was looking right at him and the sippy cup literally flew from the tray (at a high rate of speed) and hit the pantry door in the kitchen and fell to the floor. I was watching. I know he didn't do it. He was barely talking and just turned and looked at me like "what the heck."

Fast forward several years. Same child at about 16 years old. He came downstairs and asked if we have ghosts in the house. (We had moved to a new house in a new town I must add.) I said I suspect, but not positive (as I'd seen and experienced a couple of things) "well my cell phone and remote control to my tv keep moving. I set them down and when I go to get them, they're gone. Ok, I know what you're thinking and I agree, chaulk that up to being 16. Two days later, and this is where it gets really strange:

"Mom come upstairs, there is music playing out of my computer that I'm not playing." I told him to turn his speakers off which he did and comes back down and said it's still playing. I told him to unplug the speakers from the computer. Once again he comes down the stairs and says the music is still playing.

So I start to say to myself....hmmmmmm. "go upstairs and unplug everything. I don't care what it is, unplug it." I went up and double and triple checked. Every single thing from the monitor, mouse, hard rive, speakers was COMPLETELY unplugged from each other and the wall. And "I" could even hear the music coming directly from the HARD DRIVE! He'd even unplugged his tv. It was bluegrass music. Why? I'll never know.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Sara Jayne Evans Johannes


Sunday 27 October 2013

NEW WEBSITE TO SHARE WHETHER SOMEONE HAS DIED IN YOUR HOUSE


It's the website that is allowing people to rest easy (or cause them even more sleepless nights!) by pinpointing which houses were the site of an American horror story.
One year in the making, DiedInHouse.com is a new means of finding out if someone died in your home.

CEO Roy Condrey said he was inspired to create the site after a tenant renting a property of his in Columbia, South Carolina, informed him the place was inhabited by ghosts.
Under the impression there were laws in place to disclose a death in a residence, Condrey was shocked to find there weren't any.

Predominant US state laws only require the disclosure of violent deaths.
While the site is benefitting those who have long held the belief their house was haunted by pulling up relevant historical information, it is proving even more advantageous to homeowners or potential buyers.

It's much harder to sell a house at a premium price when a buyer knows something grisly has unfolded inside.
'It occurred to me that a service which told people who died in their homes before they moved in would be popular,' Condrey told the Houston Chronicle.

'It's harder to find things like this out than you think.' Texas, for example, is a non-disclosure state.
'Per the Texas Association of Realtors Seller’s Disclosure form it is not a requirement to disclose a non-violent death that occurred on the property,' said Houston real estate agent Danelle Reed.
'However, a violent death — like a murder — must be disclosed.'

According to Condrey, since sending the site live on June 1, he has had the most hits from people in Texas and California.

California residents, he says, are interested in the many famous murders and deaths in the state and the possibility that one may be linked to their house.
It costs $11.99 to submit a request.

Once a user logs on and enters an address, Condrey and his team of staff search through a multitude of sources to deliver information on previous owners and whether or not anyone met their demise inside the residence.

Some realtors are actively against DiedInHouse.com because it costs them money on what is known as 'stigmatized' properties.
However Condrey maintains he is providing a legitimate public service.
One case might have been the story of Janet Milliken, who moved to Pensylvania with her two children from California following the death of her husband.
She bought a house for $610,000 but would later find out it was the site of a recent murder-suicide.

Still trying to deal with her own tragedy, Miliken was faced with also dealing with the people who would come by to gawk at her new home.
Milliken sued for fraud and misrepresentation, claiming the owners and real estate agents duped her. 

However the judge ruled against her, saying Pennsylvania state law does not require agents to disclose such events to buyers. 
She’s since appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The stigma of a death in a home, especially a violent killing, is a powerful one, especially for families.
'It would bother me if I knew someone died in my house,' Condrey said. 
'For instance, I couldn’t live in a house where there was a murder-suicide.'
A quiet death, Condrey says, would be easier for some to deal with.

Thousands of requests have been serviced since the site's launch, Condrey said.
Even realtors are using the site to better familiarize themselves with a client's property.
'Some people don’t have a problem with knowing someone died in their home,' says Condrey. 
'But when you remind them that this knowledge could affect their home values, they change their tune.'

Source: DailyMail

Thanks to Paul Chadwick




Saturday 26 October 2013

BRITAIN`S `MOST HAUNTED` ROAD?



It is reputedly the most haunted highway in Scotland.

The A75 in Dumfriesshire is said to have had more reports of supernatural activity than any other road in the country.

The Kinmount straight on the road is the most notorious spot for sightings.

Bob Sturgeon said sightings were a weekly occurrence when he ran a snack bar on the route
John Hill, of Mostly Ghostly paranormal investigators, said: "So much has happened at this spot.

"A quick search of the internet would bring up the A75 as the most haunted road in Scotland and some say Britain.

"There are so many different things have happened on this road and been seen by so many different people as well."

Mr Hill and Mostly Ghostly founder Kathleen Cronie have researched the road's supernatural history to compile the first ever ghost coach tour of the road.

They have some spine-chilling accounts to relate.

It doesn't matter if you blame it on imagination or fact, it certainly affected [the lorry driver] badly”

"There have been screaming hags, eyeless phantoms and a menagerie of unearthly creatures witnessed on this famous road," said Ms Cronie.

She said one of the most infamous sightings was made by Derek and Norman Ferguson, in 1962.

"They were driving along here and the whole incident began with a large hen flying towards the windscreen of their car," she said.

"They then witnessed great cats and various other creatures as well as witnessing a phantom furniture van - which is a bit unusual to say the least."

Bob Sturgeon lives beside the A75 and used to run a roadside snack van - at Carrutherstown, near to the sighting "hotspot".

"There was very rarely a week went past without somebody telling me about some experience and usually along that Kinmount straight," he said.

His business was a frequent early morning refuge for traumatised lorry drivers who had parked overnight in nearby lay-bys.

"They weren't the kind of people who would talk to each other," he explained.

"They were long-distance drivers - they were well separated - so it wasn't as if there was a group of them gathered in a pub and passed round stories.

"Most of these things were all just individual experiences."

A common sighting was groups of dejected bedraggled people pulling handcarts or carrying bundles like some medieval camp followers.

One man was so shocked, he gave up lorry driving altogether and Mr Sturgeon never saw him again.

"He had been parked on the Kinmount straight and he had woken up at the back of three in the morning and he saw this 'parade' of people," he said.

"He said that it went on for ages and he had just frozen - he was in an awful state.

"It doesn't matter if you blame it on imagination or fact or whatever, it certainly affected him badly."

Documented reports of ghosts on this road go back at least 50 years.

As well as seeing assorted animals, horsemen and carriages, some drivers have been convinced they have run over people - phantom figures of men, women, couples emerging from the dark.

Story: BBC

IS THIS A REAL GHOST CAPTURED ON THE SITE OF AN OPEN AIR MEDIEVAL CASTLE `THEME PARK?`

This photograph appeared in a newspaper publicity feature for Halloween events around the areas of Bishop Stortford, and at Stanstead Mountfitchet `Castle` on the Essex/Suffolk borders.

Is this a ghost `resurrected` in a copy of a 900 year
old castle?
The ghost pictured was snapped in the Grand Hall of the medieval village at the castle in Stansted after the night watchman had commented on more than one occasion of feeling "not alone".

There are no further details.

The `Castle` is actually a re-interpretation of an earlier Norman wooden motte and bailey castle which disappeared eons ago.

Is this a real ghost attracted back to the site by a modern `medieval` interpretation, or something created on Photoshop as a Halloween publicity feature?

The `ghost` looks `artistically inspired`, but that is my impression.

A link to the newspaper feature is here:

`Ghost presence in Stortford increasing as groups prepare for spook-tacular Hallowe'en!`

I have previously never encountered this photograph before. To me the image has the `texture` of a ghost, but the scant historical facts surrounding the capture of the ghost are dubious.

The `castle` is advertised as `a unique open-air museum experience where the visitor can travel back in time over 900 years and truly witness life in a medieval Motte and Bailey castle`.

Fact or fake? You decide ..



Monday 21 October 2013

GHOST CAUGHT ON CAM RESPONDING TO QUESTIONS - TASTER FOR NEW HAUNTED EARTH/FPI INVESTIGATION

(left-right) Adam Heath (FPI), Sean Kim (Haunted Earth) and
Chris Halton at the church site.
On Wednesday, October 30th 2013 will see the launch of our new night investigation video with our friends at (FPI) Forest Paranormal Investigations.
On this occasion we visit a cliff top church ruin which overlooks Tintern Abbey in the beautiful Wye Valley - which borders England with Wales.

The church, St Mary`s, was made redundant in 1972, and burnt down by youths in 1977. It is claimed that two youths died in the flames that engulfed this Victorian church.

St Mary`s was originally a medieval church used by the monks from the Abbey as a place to retreat and to quietly contemplate.

Paula Heath and Adam Heath (FPI)
It was rebuilt in 1861, but proved difficult to climb for many parishioners, which may have been a main reason that the church was eventually abandoned.

The site has a haunted history with many strange and unaccountable events occurring.
Forest Paranormal have made this site an area of continued investigation, and due to the activity there.

In the forthcoming presentation you will see a fascinating interactive session using K2 EMF`s to register `yes`, `no` responses.

And below is a short clip that shows spirit responding to Paula Heath (FPI) with some fantastic results.
Much more in the main video presentation soon!