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.