NEW HAUNTED EARTH DOCUMENTARY SOON TO BE RELEASED

In the background are the chapel and guardhouse - The military chapel is the oldest  in Britain

Our latest documentary, `Tilbury - Legends of a Tudor Fort` which is in edit, will be available to view on Saturday, March 15th, 2014.

The shoot encompasses a number of locations in Essex and Kent, and English Heritage have allowed us to shoot in areas at the fort which are not open to the public.

Walking away from the raised `Dead House` mortuary

One of the more interesting, if not morbid locations was a 17th century building known as the `Dead House`.
It was used over the centuries as a makeshift mortuary above the gate leading to the rear of the fort.

The floor still has an original trap door where cadavers (dead bodies) were dropped into a waiting cart below before being taken away for burial.

Chris Halton pictured with some sizeable activity inside the `Dead House`

Many people died at Tilbury, men women and sadly, children. The highest mortality toll was from either drowning, or from malaria, which was epidemic from the nearby wet marshes. In past times the soldiers at the fort called it, `Essex Ague`.

It wasn`t until 1875 (following a serious outbreak) that a connection between the disease and the fort`s own water supply was forged. After this, there were no further outbreaks.

During our visit to the `Dead House`, we were able to pick up activity, and undoubtedly the room (as with many other locations) is haunted.

A sketch showing the fort in the 17th century

The documentary includes visits to the old `New Tavern Fort` in Gravesend, as well as Coalhouse Fort in East Tilbury.

This is our most ambitious project yet, and has already resulted in many hours work both filming or compiling video.

Georgian houses which were once occupied by senior officers

My personal thanks to the staff at Tilbury Fort - manager Kevin Diver and assistant Jennifer, who assisted and facilitated the location for a shoot.

Tilbury Fort is regarded as one of the best preserved bastion forts in the whole of Europe, and it`s site plan has changed little since 1680 when it was completed by Sir Bernard DeGomme, architect to Charles II.


We still have much to edit, and am hopeful that we have some interesting paranormal activity.

Pictured with Chris Halton is the manager, Kevin Diver and assistant, Jennifer - staff of English Heritage

GHOST HUNTER CLAIMS CAPTURE OF GHOSTLY MONK IN MEDIEVAL CHURCH WINDOW

Is this a ghostly monk or an example of pareidolia?

An amateur snapper thinks she might have captured a series of phantom photo bombings.

Laura Dickson, from Sittingbourne, has taken several photographs in which ghostly figures mysteriously appear.

The latest incident took place during an afternoon shoot at St Peter and St Paul Church in Borden on Wednesday.

When she returned home to view the results of her work, the 26-year-old was stunned to discover one picture of a church window seemed to include the spooky spectre of a faceless monk in a habit.

It is the fourth time she claims an apparition has inexplicably turned up in a photograph she has taken.

Machinist Laura, 26, said: "People might say it's a trick of the light, but I think it's definitely something spiritual.

"I've always believed there's a spirit angel looking over me, so maybe these images are connected with that.

"When I looked at what I'd taken at the church when I got home, I saw straight away what I thought was a monk in a habit.

"I blew it up on my computer to have a closer look and it confirmed what I originally thought.

"I called my mum, and she saw it straight away as well."

Father John Lewis, vicar at the church for nine years, remained sceptical of Laura's claim to have inadvertently photographed a random wraith.

But his description of St Peter and St Paul's history added further intrigue.

He said: "The existing building dates from 1160, something like that.

"I believe the original church was founded by monks from Leeds Abbey."

Her passion for all things afterlife has not affected her boyfriend, 42-year-old Bradley Smith, who she said refused to join her on a haunted hunt around the Borden church.

She said she has since returned to the site, but the window was empty both of human and spectral beings.

"I've photographed the church three or four times before and it's the first time I've seen anything like this," she said.

Source: KentOnLine

CHRIS HALTON GUEST ON UNKNOWN ORIGINS RADIO - TONIGHT!

Tonight Monday Feb. 24th at 9 PM EST (2am, 25th February - UK time) I will be appearing as a guest on Unknown Origins Radio. It`s a late hour for me, so I hope you`ll be able to tune in to the show.
I will be talking on a range of topics related to my work and the paranormal.

Live Link to Show:
http://darkmatterradio.net/unknownorigins.html

SIR ALEC GUINNESS SAW A GHOST WHEN FILMING IN INDIA

Sir Alec Guinness played Marley’s ghost on the big screen and was resurrected as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films.

But the Oscar-winner also had a real-life otherworldly encounter, according to letters published for the first time today.

Then 69 and a devout Catholic, Sir Alec said he saw a ghost while in Bangalore filming David Lean’s A Passage To India.

In a letter to his wife Merula dated March 23, 1984 he wrote: ‘Last night I heard my bathroom door click open. I was immediately awake and called, “What’s that?”

‘A very conventional white ghost appeared, an elderly... woman in grey white and heavily veiled.
‘I couldn’t make out her face. She moved... with dignity down the side of my bed and as I clicked on the light she disappeared.’

Guinness, whose credits include The Bridge On The River Kwai and The Ladykillers as well as Marley’s ghost in the 1970 film Scrooge, told his wife if he hadn’t seen a spirit then he must have been dreaming ‘while sitting up and awake’.

Although deeply religious, Sir Alec was interested in the psychic world and reportedly told James Dean not to drive on the day the star died in a crash in 1955.

Piers Paul Read, Guinness’s official biographer, last night said he was not aware of the letter.

He said: ‘Alec was quite superstitious... In the Navy he also had a premonition about being drowned in an oncoming storm. I don’t think he claimed to be psychic but he was open to the idea.’

In other letters acquired by the British Library, Guinness reveals he and director David Lean, who had worked together five times previously, were barely speaking during the filming of A Passage To India.
Their rows lead Sir Alec to write: ‘I don’t think I will ever bother to do a film again.’

In another letter he delights in having been to Mass as he feels it allows him to keep on hating Lean.

Source: DailyMail

IS THIS A REAL GHOST - OR AN ATTEMPT AT GETTING FREE PUBLICITY?

Spooked staff at one of Britain's oldest pubs believe they have caught a ghost on CCTV.

The freaky footage, which appears to show a shadowy figure flickering into view by the bar, was filmed at Ye Olde Man and Scythe in Bolton.

Manager Tony Dooley spotted the spectre when he checked the cameras on Friday morning and found they had mysteriously stopped recording at 6.18am.

"I came down and saw a glass smashed on the floor so I was instantly suspicious and went to check the CCTV and found it has stopped working," he said.

"We checked the footage and it revealed this figure.

"To be honest I was a bit concerned - I'm a bit of a sceptic when it comes to ghosts but you become more of a believer when you see things like that."

The pub, which dates from 1251, is the fourth-oldest pub in Britain and is reputedly haunted by the Seventh Earl of Derby, James Stanley.

The royalist, whose family originally owned the inn, is said to have spent the last hours of his life there before he was beheaded in 1651 towards the end of the Civil War.

The chair he sat in before he was taken outside and executed is still in the pub today - and some say so is he.

Hundreds of soldiers and civilians were also killed outside the pub in the Bolton Massacre of 1644.

With such a bloody history, it has long been considered a hotspot for paranormal activity and a psychic evening held there in 2006 reportedly found it to be haunted by at least 25 spirits.

Among them is said to be a woman who hung herself in the cellar several centuries ago as well as an eight-year-old girl and a phantom dog.

"There have always been rumours it is haunted and we've had psychic readings done here in the past," said Tony.

"Occasionally you hear things and wonder if it's just the building settling down or whether it's something else.

"It's the fourth-oldest pub in Great Britain so it's had its fair share of deaths and whatnot."



Source:ManchesterEveningNews

If you look very carefully, you can just see someone creep low through the door before the `incident` occurred and just after the door grandly flings open with a card or notice being thrown..
The cowled head with the flashing light as it rises (probably a prop) is pure theatrics. If you look carefully, there is someone standing in the background - very faint, but very much present.
As usual, there is scant information, but more importantly, you will read that the pub trades heavily on it`s history. There are thousands of ancient properties in the UK, and spiritual manifestations appear to have a `half life` over the years before they fade completely.
Or to put it another way, have you ever seen a caveman era ghost?
I suppose the heavy play on history is an attempt to justify this `haunting`.But you have to ignore the `dressing` of the story to see what is actually there. A staff member with a blanket over his or her head.
Not impressed.

NEW VIDEO FROM HAUNTED EARTH - THE GHOST SHOW

Here is a compilation video of some of our paranormal incidents shot either on night investigations or during daytime documentary shoots.

We hope that you will all enjoy.

Incidentally, our next show will be `Tilbury - History of a Tudor Fort`, which has been delayed through the current bad weather in the U.K. However, we are optimistic that the filming will be finished soon, and the video shared. It is probably our most ambitious project yet!



The Vimeo link will be provided as soon as practicable.

AND NOW A HAUNTED AMERICAN BAKERY

Laura Fleming, owner of La La Li Bakery & Patisserie in downtown Westmont, shows where this single bowl from a stack fell to the floor while she and others were in the room baking on one Thursday night. 

WESTMONT – As the chefs at a local Westmont bakery work late into the night concocting sweet creations, it’s not uncommon to hear the sound of padded footsteps or equipment banging throughout the shop.

La La Li Bakery & Patisserie owner Laura Fleming said these are the audible sounds of the shop’s friendly ghost – Mrs. Lindstrom.

Fleming said she and her employees at the bakery, 20 N. Cass Ave., often hear strange noises or see different “events” take place since opening her bakery at 20 N. Cass Ave.

“At Christmastime, there were some cookies that had disappeared,” Fleming said. “I knew they were made … and a week later, the cookies were on the cart ... I said, it must be Mrs. Lindstrom and at that time a pan came flying off the shelf between us.

“She doesn’t hurt us, she just entertains us. We just leave her alone … she’s not harmful and she doesn’t scare us.”

Eleanor Lindstrom owned Lindstrom’s Bakery in the same space from some time in the 1960s through the early 90’s, according to Fleming, whose Westmont business opened about three years ago. Lindstrom passed away on Dec. 17, 1995.

On several other occasions, the bakery’s old gas oven has been pre-heated and ready for cooking when she comes to open the shop in the early morning.

“At night we turn off the oven but in the morning, the oven is on at the right temperature,” she said.

Other times, equipment will randomly fall or recipes will mysteriously be laid out on counters – Mrs. Lindstrom’s recipes, Fleming said, adding that most “events” occur late at night.

Fleming said she has yet to have any real-life ghostbusters out to the store.

“It’s more just trying to figure out what’s going on,” Fleming said. “I just don’t want them to upset her.”

PARTIAL MANIFESTATION CAUGHT ON CAM AT HAUNTED CLOPHILL CHURCH

A PAIR of paranormal investigators have captured 'video evidence' of a supernatural being in a deserted Bedfordshire church.

The UK Haunted team posted their spooky outing to St Mary's Church, Clophill, on YouTube earlier this week.

Alex Duggan and Michael York, based in Northampton, are the duo behind the footage and say they only noticed the apparition after a fan pointed it out.

Alex said: "We actually shot the video in the summer of 2012 but last week someone commented on the footage saying that they could see something. When we slowed it down it was obvious. [Watch the video below]

"At first I thought it was glare from the infra red light but it seems to be moving in a different direction from the camera.

"Slowing it down, you can see it does actually turn into the shape of the figure that turns its head, looks and then disappears."

The experienced ghosthunter says that he and the team have had other supernatural experiences in the grounds of the church.

"It's a pretty eerie place, right in the middle of a field", Alex added. “I was in the graveyard a few months ago when I heard a woman shriek. At another point I was standing on a grave - but didn’t realise it - and through my voice box gadget I heard the name ‘Frank’.
“I looked down and saw that I was standing on the grave of a man named Frank.”

For decades St Mary’s has been at the centre of haunted tales: one involves a coven of witches who supposedly held a Black Mass at the church one dark night in March 1963, and whose evil spirits still linger around the ruined building.

Reports of locals camping out on the night of Halloween night in a bid to witness these ungodly goings on are also not unheard of.

Last year, the church featured in independent feature film The Paranormal Diaries: Clophill directed by local man Kevin Gates,

”Before we came we had heard lots of stories about demonic activity at the church and we wanted to see it for ourselves”, Alex added.

When it comes to naysayers, he is adamant that the Clophill footage speaks for itself.
"I would say 'be open minded, but dont be fooled'. You see these things on TV and think 'that's a load of rubbish' but when you are in control of the environment like we were, you know what is real and what is not.

"We would never say to people 'you have to believe this', we leave it open for other people to decide."



Source: BedfordshireOnSunday

The video is excellent in as much as it shows a partial light manifestation. I`ve captured these anomalies quite a bit over the years, and I actually am able to see these anomalies clearly on any investigation when they appear, or more frequently in my own home.

Here are two videos of such anomalies that I wish to share with you.

From a haunted airfield:

IS THE FAMOUS WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE IN CALIFORNIA REALLY HAUNTED?

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California has been a popular tourist attraction for many decades, and its bizarre and spooky history has made it one of America's most famous haunted homes.

According to legend, Sarah Winchester, the widow of firearms tycoon William Winchester, was told by a psychic medium that the family estate was cursed by the ghosts of people killed by Winchester rifles. The only way Sarah could escape the curse, so the story goes, was to move west from Boston to California and build a new house... and keep on building it, non-stop, for the rest of her life. It seems she took this advice very seriously, supervising round-the-clock construction on the property from its groundbreaking in 1884 until her death in 1922.

Along with the paranormal rumors, the house's strange reputation also comes from the seemingly random pattern of construction (there were never any blueprints), which includes dead-end corridors, secret passages, and stairways that suddenly double back or lead outside the building. The randomness is allegedly due to Winchester's attempt to outwit or confuse the ghosts which wandered the mansion's halls.

It's been said she even conducted nightly séances to protect herself from the spirits as she worked on the building plans (the “séance room” is one of the house's attractions), and many of the house structures are based around variations of the number 13, possibly in an attempt to ward off troubled spirits.

But is the Mystery House really haunted? That remains to be seen, but there have been numerous reports of strange phenomena in the house over the years. Many paranormal investigators (including legendary showman Harry Houdini) have visited the mansion to determine if spirits were present, and the building's caretakers have reported strange, unexplained occurrences... including the sound of breathing in Sarah Winchester's bedroom.

Story: FearNet

But the report doesn`t end here.

In July 2012, a video surfaced showing a chandelier at the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose unexplainably shaking for several minutes. The phenomenon has spooked some people who work at the mansion.

Chris Turner, a staff member who was the only eyewitness, said the incident occurred three weeks ago before closing time. He recorded 18 seconds of video of the chandelier from behind a glass door.

Turner showed fellow staffer Lindsey Huffman, Winchester Mystery House’s Marketing Coordinator.

“We weren’t having an earthquake,” Huffman said. “There’s nothing to explain what was happening.”

Tour guide Suzanne Hirsh told Huffman that she and four visitors saw another chandelier swaying in another room moments before.

“She’s white as a ghost,” Huffman said. “At this point, both parties didn’t realize they’d experienced the same thing at the same time at different parts of the mansion.”
KPIX 5 showed some tourists the video. “I’m undecided. I need to see it for myself,” said Claire Shanley of Bend, Oregon.

“The place is haunted right?” asked Tiffany Babinsky of Columbus, Ohio. She said she thought a ghost was to blame.

“I think it’s the air conditioning,” concluded Melissa Adams of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Huffman said there is no air conditioning at the house or evidence of a prank.

As the story goes, this 160-room mansion with its doors to nowhere and bizarre hallways is home to spirits that the late Sarah Winchester consulted to counter a curse.

“It was very scary,” said Huffman. “Once in a while we’ll get a door closing or lights flickering but this is the most substantial experience employees have felt at this house in a few years.”
In fact, the tour guide who saw the chandelier shaking told Huffman she refuses to lead the last tour anymore.

Story: CBS San Francisco

GOD SENDS A SIGN IN A PHOTOGRAPH - APPARENTLY

California pastor Danny Goia and wife Daniela claim they've received a sign from god in the ghostly image of a veiled woman hovering in the background of a photograph.

'I can clearly see the face,' Daniela said. 'I can even see the long hair. I can see, like a veil that covers all the way to the floor.'

The couple, who preside over First Romanian Pentecostal Church in Anaheim, said the photograph came to them through a member named Radu.

Radu declined to appear in person for television news crews, but explained that he had taken a picture of a co-worker at an Irvine warehouse two weeks ago and saw the figure floating over the man's shoulder.

Radu claimed not to have altered the image in any way.
Radu and his wife were recently baptized at the church and married later that day.

'The next day was when this photo was taken,' Daniela told CBS 2.
'God is trying to reveal to the people before something major will happen,' Danny Goia added.



The pair believe that the image is both a message from God and an angel watching over their new member.
Danny Goia presented the image to his flock on Thursday during church service, admonishing them to prepare for big events.

'God wants to say, 'Hey, get ready. Get well with me because something good is gonna come soon,' he said.

Source: DailyMail

My thoughts:

Why would God want to show him/herself as something that looks more like the Angel of Death?
Surely if it was God, a more pleasing and self assuring image would have been more appropriate?
You would think that in the circumstances with half the world killing itself and others over religion, God would have a better platform elsewhere to do good than appearing as a `selfie` in some religious persons photograph?

The image looks actually to be a reflection of the glass/perspex in the background.
But as always, you decide for yourselves.

`LOST` HAUNTED EDINBURGH HOUSE BELONGING TO `MOST EVIL MAN IN SCOTLAND` REDISCOVERED ...

Research has revealed that the house was incorporated into the current Quaker Meeting House at Victoria Terrace.

A HOME reputed to have belonged to the most wicked man in Edinburgh – and thought to have been lost for hundreds of years – has been found by researchers.

The house of horrors belonged to Major Thomas Weir, known as the Wizard of West Bow.

Once a pillar of the community, he shocked the city after admitting crimes including bestiality, incest with his sister and communicating with the dead.

After his prompt execution in 1670, his West Bow abode was shunned for two centuries – said to be haunted by several ghosts.

It was presumed to have been destroyed in 1878 after a number of dilapidated old houses at the head of the West Bow were demolished.

But through painstaking historical research, Cardiff University historian Dr Jan Bondeson claims it was not razed and was in fact incorporated within a newly built chapel – today the Quaker Meeting House at Victoria Terrace.

The senior lecturer has written about the spooky find in this month’s Fortean Times, a magazine for lovers of the unexplained. He said: “Major Weir’s house in the West Bow was recognised as the most haunted in Edinburgh. Although no person dared live there, its windows were lit up at night, with weird shapes flitting past the dirty panes and strange music coming from inside.”

Many children – including the father of Robert Louis Stevenson – were told to avoid the Major’s residence and to be wary of a ghostly coach pulled by six fiery horses.

Dr Bondeson said: “Contrary to local belief, Major Weir’s house still stands today.

Major Weir`s home before re-development

“This is a matter of some interest for Edinburgh antiquaries, since the area around the Lawnmarket and the Bowhead is one of the most ancient parts of the city, containing many of the existing pre-1750 buildings in the Old Town.”

Manager of the Quaker Meeting House Anthony Buxton was amazed at the revelation. He said: “This was the first time I had been told Major Weir’s home was actually here. I have to say, from my reading of its history I thought it had been demolished by people who did not want anything to do with it. That said, one of my staff some years ago said he had seen Weir walk through the wall. If Dr Bondeson is right, his house is in our toilet – which seems quite appropriate.”

Historian Des Brogan, the director of Mercat Tours, described Major Weir as a “larger than life character”.

He said: “Weir was like an early Jekyll and Hyde and when he was executed it was a great cause célèbre in Edinburgh. When Weir was burned the staff he used to carry was also thrown in to the fire and it wriggled about like a snake.”

‘Right ingredients to become hot spooky tourist draw’

The new discovery makes the Weir residence a key rival to two other spots for the title of Edinburgh’s most haunted.

Mary King’s Close has become a huge tourist draw thanks to its supernatural heritage. But the sealed off Old Town street struggles to compete with Greyfriars Kirk – said to be one of the most haunted spots in Britain. Home to a violent spook called the Mackenzie Poltergeist, between 1990 and 2006 there were 350 reported attacks and 170 reports of people collapsing.

One tourism source said: “This new discovery is interesting. The Weir home has all the right ingredients to become a hot spooky tourist draw.”

Source: EdinburghEveningNews


About Major Weir

Major Thomas Weir (Carluke, South Lanarkshire 1599 - Edinburgh 1670) was a Scottish soldier and presumed occultist, executed for witchcraft.

Weir was a Covenanter who professed a particularly strict form of Presbyterianism. His spoken prayers earned him a reputation for religiosity which attracted visitors to his home in Edinburgh. He served under James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, as a lieutenant in the Army of the Covenant. He was known as the "Bowhead Saint", because his residence was near the top of the West Bow, off the Grassmarket, and "saint" was a popular epithet for Calvinist zealots.

Weir was a native of Carluke (Kirkstyle) in Lanarkshire, descendant of one of the most powerful and ancient families of the County, the Weir-de Veres. He was the son of Thomas Weir, Laird of Kirkton, and his wife Lady Jean Somerville who was reputed to possess clairvoyant powers. His grandfather was William Weir, or Vere, of Stonebyres Castle who married Lady Elizabeth Hamilton. Weir was a signatory to the Solemn League and Covenant and an officer in the Scottish anti-Royalist army. As a Lieutenant, he served in Ulster during the Irish Rebellion of 1641. In 1650, he obtained the post of commander of the Edinburgh Town Guard, thus acquiring the rank of major. When the defeated royalist general Montrose—branded a traitor for changing sides—was brought to Edinburgh for execution, Weir notoriously mocked and abused him during his custody.

Following retirement, Weir fell ill in 1670, and from his sick-bed began to confess to a secret life of crime and vice. The Lord Provost initially found the confession implausible and took no action, but eventually Weir and his spinster sister, Jean Weir (known to her friends as 'Grizel'), were taken to the Edinburgh Tolbooth for interrogation. Major Weir, now in his seventies, continued to expand on his confession and Grizel, having seemingly entirely lost her wits, gave an even more exaggerated history of witchcraft, sorcery and vice.

She related how many years before a stranger had called in a "fiery" coach to take her brother to Dalkeith and how during the short trip another man had given him "supernatural intelligence" (Chambers) of the Scots' defeat at Worcester that same day. (In fact, Cromwell's Commonwealth Commissioners in Scotland had been based in Dalkeith and would have been among the first to know the outcome of the battle—though not, of course, on the same day.) Grizel maintained that Weir derived his power from his walking stick, topped by a carved human head, giving rise to later accounts that it had often been seen parading down the street in front of him.

Whilst as a high-ranking public figure Weir was not believed at first, his own confession together with that of his sister sealed his fate. Both were quickly found guilty at their trial and sentenced to death.

While awaiting execution, they were confined in the former leper colony at Greenside below the Calton Hill. Weir was garrotted and burned at the Gallowlee (literally, "gallows field") on the road between Edinburgh and Leith (a site later occupied by the Shrubhill tram depot, then bus garage, near Pilrig on Leith Walk). His last words, while being urged to pray for forgiveness, were reported as, "Let me alone—I will not—I have lived as a beast, and I must die as a beast". Weir's stick was consigned to the flames after him, reportedly making "rare turnings" in the fire. Shortly before his end Weir had made a further public confession of incest with his sister, who was executed in the Grassmarket. The remains of the Weirs were buried at the base of the gallows at Shrub Hill, as was the custom of the time.

The Weirs' house in the West Bow stood empty for over a century because of its reputation for being haunted. It was said that one of Weir's enchantments made people ascending the stair think they were descending in the opposite direction. It was eventually bought cheaply in about 1780 by an ex-soldier William Patullo who moved in with his wife. They are said to have fled the house on their first night there after experiencing a strange apparition of a calf approaching them in the night, propping itself up with its forelegs on the bed-end and staring at them in bed.

According to Walter Scott, the house, which remained unoccupied after the incident, was demolished in 1830. However, recently the house was found to have actually been at least partially incorporated into the Quaker Meeting House at No. 7 Victoria Terrace.

The story of Weir has been proposed as an influence on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The 2000 novel The Fanatic by James Robertson features Weir as a character and uses the events surrounding him as a central aspect of the novel's narrative and themes.

FORMER MONASTERY IN CUMBERLAND, R.I CLAIMED TO BE HAUNTED

CUMBERLAND, RI- Ghost hunters are trying to determine if an old monastery in Cumberland, which is now a public library, is haunted.

Stories of voices, spirits even unexplained door slams have people very curious to see what the ghost hunters found.

"I have found things here at the monastery; rocks on the seat of my car after my car was locked and I've walked," said Marylou Boyer.

And the ghostly stories continue.



Library director, Celeste Dyer said, "One of our staff members said she heard someone calling her name. Whoever was calling her name was using her full name which is unusual cause none of us ever call her by her full name."

Dyer won't tell us everything the ghost hunters investigated, but says they did record vibrations.

Throughout the Cumberland library remains parts of the monastery built in 1900. A fire in 1950 destroyed one of the main buildings.

Among the spooky places… the infirmary, a stair case with flaking plaster walls, and an outdoor grave.

About a ten–mile hike from the library brings you to Nine Men's Misery, considered one of the most haunted areas.

"The ghostly rumor is that if you come up here at night, sometimes you will hear moaning," Said Dyer.

But very few believe in ghosts.

Batty Hamilton said, "I don't really think I do. I've yet to see one."

Marylou Boyer claims it's haunted. She said, "Once I thought something was touching me and I turned quick and I thought I saw a shadow."

Story:ABC6

A NAIL SALON IN PENNSYLVANIA HAUNTED BY A LITTLE GIRL?

Florida is hot. Georgia is backward. Texas is big. Tennessee is racist. California is expensive. Texas is big.

And Pennsylvania, according to Google, is haunted.

Google last week released results of queries that summarize any state with just one word, based on its autocomplete method that predicts searches based on popular activity from other Google users on the web.

My Vong and Savan Yiv don’t disagree with Pennsylvania’s status at all. They claim the Kennett Square building they work in could be haunted. But the spirits, they say, are friendly.

Last month, Yiv was at the register at Polished Salon on Union Street closing down for the day when she said she saw a figure pass by her. The air suddenly became cold, and something smelled “funky.”

“I chased it,” she said. “I didn’t get a good look at his face. I followed it through two doors and then it disappeared.”

Then over a week ago, Vong said she saw a “figure” as she was closing up for the day. She remembers it was a little girl with long black hair covering her face.

“Something walked by me, and it was really creepy,” she said.

Vong brushed it off and went to Boothwyn, where she lives. Later that night, she said her 6-year-old son was brushing his teeth when he saw a little girl with dark hair.

“She followed me home,” Vong said.

Later that night, Vong’s boyfriends said he felt something tugging on his leg, pulling him off the bed. Now, he won’t stay in the apartment unless others are there.

“He’s freaked out now,” Vong said.

Yiv said she too has seen the spirit of the little girl with black hair.

“I don’t know who she is, but she’s light-skinned and she’s curious,” she said. “Some people have told me maybe she’s trying to look out after me.”

Yiv said she wears a necklace her mother gave her to ward off spirits. She said she’s not afraid of the spirits because of her Cambodian culture.

Vong, meanwhile, said she is certain she saw a ghost.

“I believe in spirits,” she said. “I know what I saw.”

Source: DailyLocal

THE HAUNTED LEGENDS OF TAMWORTH CASTLE

TAMWORTH, more than most other English towns, is blessed with many ghoulish and ghostly legends, dating back in time immemorial.

No-one knows if there is any truth in them, but they are probably based on actual happenings in our wonderful history.

Visitors to the Castle and members of staff who work there very often tell of inexplicable goings on – a sudden chill in the air; the sound of moving furniture in empty rooms; fleeting glimpses of spirits floating across rooms and passing through thick, solid walls; poltergeist activities and many more stories that make people's hair stand on end.

But there are two ghostly legends that are told more often than any others.

One favourite story relates to a young, beautiful woman, dressed in white.

It belongs to the legendary tales of King Arthur and the Round Table.

It is said that the young lady was captured and imprisoned by an evil knight, Sir Tarquin, who was an enemy of Arthur.

After a while the lady fell in love with her captor, although he did not reciprocate her feelings.

Then King Arthur despatched noble Sir Lancelot to deal once and for all with Sir Tarquin.

He challenged the miscreant to release the young maiden, but Sir Tarquin refused and a sword fight ensued in Lady Meadow, whereby Sir Lancelot dealt a fatal blow to his adversary.

On learning of Sir Tarquin's death, the young lady was inconsolable and climbed to the battlements of the Tamworth fortress, threw herself to the ground and was killed.

The legend says that her voice can still be heard on certain nights, wailing her despair to the four winds from the top of Tamworth Castle.

Poor old Lancelot! The story does nothing to enhance his reputation as a chivalrous knight, famed for saving damsels in distress.

Sadly, the tale, although a good one, holds no credence.

All King Arthur stories are legends about pre-Saxon days when, as far as we know, there were no castles or battlements in Tamworth, nor have there been any signs that any ever existed.

Tamworth's most famous ghost story dates back to the 9th century, when a lady called Editha, (not to be confused with St. Editha of St. Editha's church), established a nunnery in Polesworth, known as Polesworth Abbey.

It survived and flourished, even though this area suffered repeated invasions from Viking marauders, who often targeted places of worship for their spoils of battle.

When, in 1066, King Harold was defeated at the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror shared the lands and properties of the vanquished among his nobles.

It was his Champion and personal friend, Robert de Marmion, son of William de Marmion of Normandy, who was granted the fortress at Tamworth, among other estates.

Robert immediately instigated the building of a stone keep in the fortress, probably using slave labour, Tamworth men and boys, to haul the large stones from the quarry to the top of the mound.

It was the beginnings of the Castle you see today and the Marmion's tyrannical rule over the good folk of Tamworth.

He and his extended family remained stewards of the Castle for over 800 years.

Most of the Marmions were despised by the local populace, as in the time of their tenure, through plagues, fires and famine that hit the town, they rarely lifted a finger to help the people. But they were never hesitant in taking men from the town to fight their battles.

On his acquisition of the Castle, Robert de Marmion did nothing, or very little, to endear himself to the people.

Much worse, he fell foul of the law and with the church as, seeking more land to enrich himself, he expelled the nuns from the abbey at Polesworth and 'acquired' the place for his own personal use.

Having been turfed out of their home, the nuns sought refuge in a convent at Oldbury, near Atherstone.

The legend says that one night, shortly after their expulsion, Robert was visited by Editha in a dream.

She had apparently risen from her grave and made her way through the castle walls in order to haunt him.

Dressed as a veiled nun, wearing black and with a crozier in her hand, she admonished him for his treatment of the nuns and whacked him hard with her crozier.

She said that unless the nuns were returned to their rightful place, he would suffer a violent, torturous death.

The apparition scared the wits out of the noble baron, so much that, looking for a shoulder to cry on, he confided with his friend Sir Walter de Somerville about the dream.

Sir Walter noticed how shaken the baron was, but could not console him.

Robert de Marmion died in 1101.

It is said that he went to his grave still harassed by nightmares caused by the visitation of Editha's ghost.

In common with most ghost stories, there are variations to this story.

Another version says that it was the Champion's grandson, the third baron Robert Marmion, who expelled the nuns and whom Editha visited in 1139.

It also states that it was he who allowed the nuns to return to Polesworth Abbey.

In a document that still exists today, written by the fourth baron, Robert de Marmion, it states that his father gave the nuns the abbey at Polesworth as a gift.

This, of course, is a gross misrepresentation of the truth.

In fact the Marmions were returning to the nuns their own property and restoring their rights to them. This document epitomises the unpleasant attitude of the Marmion family.

Even though the third baron had complied with Editha's wishes, he was still to suffer a violent death, being killed in Coventry in 1143.

Apparently to this day, Editha, often seen in her black robes, still walks the floors and passes with ease through the solid walls of Tamworth Castle.

I regard myself as a somewhat sceptical man who doesn't believe in ghosts.

But ask me if I would spend a night alone in Tamworth Castle with just candles for company – not on your life!

Story: TamworthHerald

HOW TO SPOT FAKE GHOST VIDEO AND FAKE PHOTOGRAPHS

One of the biggest problems with sharing paranormal activity, is how it is appreciated or shared by the viewing audiences.

Certainly in the last few years standards have dropped as more and more fraudsters have discovered how easy it is to forge activity, and in the process this has reflected heavily in the media who continue to share the fraudsters work through videos or images sold to them by independent news agencies who are perhaps even more disreputable than the hoaxers or the media they trade through.

Now of course, many new followers of the paranormal are very gullible and very soon fake material - which is often fantastic or outlandish becomes the template for what they believe is genuine.

Certainly many newspapers and magazines - particularly the `red top` newspapers, have very little respect for their readers.

I recall on one occasion I was required to `dumb down` a piece written for a women`s magazine as the editor claimed that their readers are too thick to understand.

I refused, but they instead altered it themselves and passed it off as my own work. I was not very impressed.

I realise that I could never address and put right the glaring frauds and hoaxes that abound the news sites and the internet in general, but through this video I should be able to distinguish for you what is right and wrong with regard to day time `ghosts` caught on cam, and some very questionable photographs claiming the capture of a spirit.

The common denominator is that both can be easily created with limited experience on any home computer.

I hope this video helps you to improve your ability to distinguish fake from fact

Chris Halton

AUSSIE HISTORIC BAR CLAIMS ACTIVE POLTERGEIST EVENTS CAUGHT ON TAPE

The Carlisle Castle Hotel bar, in Newtown, New South Wales

Creepy video footage appears to show ghostly figures and bottles of expensive wine flying off shelves in a 'haunted' Australian hotel.

The Carlisle Castle Hotel bar, in Newtown, New South Wales found itself serving a different kind of spirit, as surveillance cameras captured the moment bottles fell to the floor behind the bar with nobody near them.

Licensee Peter Bradbury says that if it is a ghost, it has high-end tastes.

"Red wine seems to be the choice, apparently he likes the red," he told the Australian Telegraph.

"Expensive wine too, he picked a Kilikanoon last night, which is about $27 a bottle."



In another creepy clip, bartenders and locals are given a fright as a wine glass falls from a high shelf, smashing on the bar. A third video appears to show a ghostly figure dancing in front of the cameras.

Staff say spooky things have happened at the hotel "many times", with one saying they'd seen a beer tap turn on of its own accord.

Bradbury has started posting footage of what he describes as a "thirsty ghost" on the hotel's Facebook page, inviting locals to speculate about what might have caused the paranormal activity.

Local Cat Stuart suggested it could be the work of a man who used to live in the building.

"It might be old Peter," she said. "He used to live upstairs and helped around the Carlisle [in the] early 1990s. I think his bust is still displayed behind the bar."

Some regulars say the wine bottles were probably knocked over by vibrations in the floor - with others suggesting it might all have been set up in an attempt to drum up custom.

But Bradbury remains open minded, telling local a newspaper: "When we saw the bottles and glasses just start flying off shelves, we saved it and put it up on our Facebook page for a bit of a laugh, really - but we don't know what it is."

Story: DailyMirror

My thoughts:

Putting matters into a clearer perspective, the `dancing ghost` (see video from newspaper link)  is nothing more than a fibre moving in an ambient breeze. It`s translucence can be ascribed to it`s close proximity to the camera lens.
Regarding the poltergeist activity. I noticed that on the clips shared, any person could get access behind the wine display units. From a concealed position it is easy to create the effect of wine bottles being ejected.
I also noticed some editing cuts which sadly looks very suspicious.
I can find nothing whatsoever in this video  that suggests paranormality through any event which is unexplainable. No objects are raised or carried by `unseen hands`, nor is there anything that would make these events unique. As always, I wasn`t there but with most pub or bar hauntings, the cause appears to be more publicity related than spiritual.
If this is a real haunting, why has it suddenly started?  Of course (they say) it has to be a past resident ....
I have to say, this isn`t that impressive.