Generally we think of exorcisms as a cleansing ritual to rid a location of the negative energies therein - completely clearing out any paranormal activity that could reside there. Exorcisms are a remedy to an unusual problem: an unwanted spiritual presence. And in a time when the paranormal seems to be on the rise, exorcisms have likewise seen increased use. But one family in the UK had their house exorcized only to find it had little effect on the mysterious presence in their home - and went back for a second try.
Psychics are often said to be naturally inquisitive and brave, with some of the bravest taking on the unknown personally in an attempt to guide the spirits of the dead to another realm where they can be at peace. But there are some locations that are so haunted that they have been known to terrify psychics on the spot - even sending some fleeing by an unknown force. One of these places is said to be Soldier's Orphanage in Pennsylvania.
1/22/12-
Scottish Castle Ghosts III
At one time, Bedlay Castle served as a defensive structure from the late 16th and 17th centuries. The castle is found in North Lanarkshire, where ghost tales of Bishop Cameron are told.
1/22/12-
The Haunted Fyvie Castle
Located in the village of the same name, Fyvie Castle is found in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The rich history of the castle includes a cast of characters, such as Robert the Bruce and William the Lion. In this article, you will learn more about the haunted history of Fyvie Castle.
If you enjoy history, then exploring the ghost culture of Scotland's castles should prove rewarding. The country is filled with tales and legends that often mix the rich history of the land. For example, in this article, you will learn about a haunted connection between one structure and the actions of William Wallace.
1/21/12-
Scottish Castle Ghosts II
When it comes to the ghost in haunted Scottish castles, there seems to be a lot of 'Green Lady' apparitions roaming about. In this article, you will encounter a handful of structures that are believed to house a ghost associated with this color.
1/20/12-
Scottish Castle Ghosts I
Scotland is a destination that has a wide range of castles – filled with historical memories, rich cultural significance, and plenty of ghost tales. From multi-colored lady ghosts to souls that remained unsettled, you will encounter a variety of castles in Scotland that are believed haunted in some way or another.
Edgar Allen Poe, the legendary writer and inspiration for much of the past two centuries' horror style was a man of much talent himself. But one of the macabre mysteries of his death has been the sudden appearance of a figure who once a year appears to pay him tribute at the site of his grave - before vanishing into the night himself like one of the characters of Poe's stories. But this year as crowds gathered around to watch the Poe visitor appear and pay his homage, the dead of night yielded no such visitor. Has this long time tradition gone away forever? And will the mystery ever be solved?
Meryl Streep, often said to be one of the most talented actresses in Hollywood, may be closer to the paranormal than we once thought. The actress has been haunted by mysterious sounds that suddenly appear in her guest house without warning. But as far as celebrities who see and hear ghosts, Streep is not alone. Hollywood has a long history of talented people who have had a brush with the otherworldly.
Of all the legends of the Kremlin and the things that went on within its walls there are a number of stories of unusual things going on, but few quite so incredible as actually seeing the ghosts of Vladimir Lennon and Joseph Stalin. But in the long list of people who have passed through the walls of this famous building, a number have appeared years later - long after their deaths. The Kremlin, according to hundreds of witnesses, is most certainly haunted.
It's a well known fact that big cats are not normally seen in the UK. Despite this, several reports of big cat sightings and mysterious attacks on animals has left investigators scratching their heads - wondering if an unparalleled investigation is in order. Despite the long held convention that the creatures simply do not exist in the wild in the UK, the evidence seems to be piling up after a recent attack.
Every now and again we come across the story of a community that has banded together to hunt a creature terrorizing them in a world where outside influence is unlikely to help. Even as newcomers to the village meet tales of the Oily Man with skepticism, the villagers themselves have decided to venture out in a hunt for the man at two in the morning in the hopes that they can capture this bizarre creature and put an end to his reign of terror.
When we examine the history of the paranormal, often we see how culture can influence the ways in which a society channels these experiences in very different ways. Whether the actual manifestations are themselves more cause or effect is still open for debate, but one of the more interesting manifestations has to do with the legendary "Ghost Sickness" of the Navajo and Lakotah tribes. Sufferers of this strange illness were afflicted by disease not thought to be caused by virus or bacteria, but rather a supernatural force from beyond the grave.
1/3/12-
Ghost Tales in the United Kingdom III
Not all ghosts are victims of a crime coming back to haunt the location of their murder, some are the tormented souls of criminals who took the life of another. In this article, you will meet some ghost tales from the United Kingdom that fit the above description, as well as a tormented soul that took her own life.
The Ghost of the Farmer
1/2/12-
Ghost Tales in the United Kingdom II
Some ghosts can't seem to leave the place where they died or their place of employment that they loved – especially when they left the earth with feelings of guilt. In this article, you will meet a few ghosts who are thought to reappear, as well as the ghost of a murdered young woman.
1/2/12-
Ghost Tales in the United Kingdom I
Sometimes, ghosts come back to reenact the scene of their death or a crime that eventually led to their end. Other times, the voices and cries of murder victims are believed to travel through the wind. In this article, you will encounter ghost tales of the United Kingdom that date back to around the 1700s.
In China, New Year's Eve is a holiday closely associated with ghosts, though it's forbidden to speak of them. And in the west while holiday spirit is often seen as a tradition, the paranormal is not normally one of those things we think about when the bells chime ringing in the new year. But looking around at local legends and customs of a great deal of the west it would appear more than a few haunted hot spots see activity exclusively around the new year.
On the occasion where a person has a troubled nights sleep haunted by dreams that mercilessly cloud their minds with sometimes frightening images, they may try in vain upon waking to banish them from their heads. But some of these horrifying nightmares have actually been major precursors to major cultural developments and world events. How many books would you guess had been written by authors after a particularly strange dream?
Of all the places in Ohio one might get a chance to encounter the paranormal, the Buxton Inn may not be the most dramatically or overwhelmingly haunted, but it certainly is one of the most interesting - with legends suggesting not only is it haunted, but haunted by a group of ghosts who are quite happy there. This seems to suggest that ghosts don't necessarily have to be drawn only by the tragic or to unfortunate circumstances in order to haunt a place. They may just appear when they're perfectly happy.
We've all heard of fire breathing dragons and may have even heard tales of certain cryptids with the legendary ability to exhale a plume of smoke or even flame. But one of the things about the human esophagus is it's not made to be a passage for intense heat or flame. So when we hear these stories collected by the legendary Charles Fort of people who could conjure up a pillar of flame from their own lungs, it seems something beyond conventional explanation may be necessary.
Poltergeists are often said to be attributed to a person rather than an incarnate spiritual entity among paranormal investigators. And if the phenomenon present is believed to be the latter, often it does center around one person. But what was the earliest case where this fact was demonstrated? When did spiritualists and those investigating the paranormal finally decide that it was likely a person and not a place that was required for a poltergeist?
During World War II, there was a desperate shortage of ships with trained crews to rescue any potential aircraft returning from long missions abroad that may crash into the sea with unpredictable weather patterns. And so when the USS Zaca was acquired by the Navy it was used as a supplementary rescue ship, rescuing pilots and others in the ocean. But as it struck land for the final time, the Zaca shortly fell out of commission after a trip through Hollywood and began its long final voyage of entropy. But some have said that not everything aboard the Zaca left it, including the spirit of one of its previous owners, the actor Errol Flynn.
The Mansfield Reformatory has a history of being haunted because of the way some of the inmates were treated. There are various parts of the prison that have a reputation for housing unsettled souls, spirits and ghosts. Whether it is the ghost of a former inmate, the warden's wife, or a murdered nurse – the Reformatory is an interesting place to visit if you are into paranormal activity.
12/10/11-
The Haunted Mansfield Reformatory I
When architect Levi T. Scott designed Mansfield Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, he had visions of creating a place where the boys sent for reform would receive spiritual guidance. He used old German castles as his inspiration when the building was constructed in 1896. By the mid-1900s, the reformatory did not meet the changing standards and Mansfield was closed. In this article, you will encounter some of the ghost rumors associated with the reformatory.
12/9/11-
The Ghosts of Eastern State Penitentiary II
It's no wonder the Eastern State Penitentiary has a reputation for being haunted – the punishments and conditions of the prison were cruel and unusual. In this article, we will continue highlighting the severe punishments, poor conditions and evidence of a possible haunting at the Eastern State Penitentiary.
12/9/11-
The Ghosts of Eastern State Penitentiary I
When it was first constructed, the Eastern State Penitentiary was the most expensive of its kind built in the United States. The design was so popular that 300 other prisons used Eastern State as its inspiration. With a history of harsh punishments and poor conditions, several ghost tales and stories of paranormal activity have been associated with this site.
When we think of ghost ships, we're supposed to imagine them as rare and transient vessels depicting a tragedy that befell the crew of a vessel a long time ago. Or else we imagine a derelict devoid of intelligence and holding a mystery on-board with all of the ship's passengers missing. But one story from the long and rich history of chiloe, suggests that one ghost ship, the Caleuche, could be so much more than a typical ghost ship. And the fact that the legend also suggests that it is seen by someone somewhere every night is no small matter either.
We've all heard the story of the haunted house at the end of the street or the spot on the other side of the county where once a year a car is said to reenact the macabre car crash that claimed the lives of those involved. These residual hauntings are often attributed to the same phenomenon as other ghostly encounters and said to be burned memories in space that call back to times of great emotion. But then it seems there is a growing wealth of accounts suggesting hauntings are not related to specific places alone, but to objects and occasions as well.
Al Capone was one of the most famous inmates of the prison and his spirit is believed to still haunt the island prison. In this article, you will learn about other paranormal activity known to happen at the prison, such as haunted cell blocks and weird noises.
It's said that people list public speaking on their list of top fears even more often than they list death itself, but when he was to perform the part of Mephistophales in an 1888 production of the opera Faust, he would face both at the drawing of the final curtain. But this was unknown to the audience and the other cast members, who all claimed that when doctors were coming to give aid to Federici as he lay dying back stage, he was also seen on the stage itself bowing to the delight of the audience for his incredible performance. And even though he was buried shortly afterward, it would not be the last time Federici would be seen on stage.
12/6/11-
Haunted Prisons: Alcatraz I
Some people come to Alcatraz to check out the rock pools or take pictures of the seabird colonies that call the island their home, such as Western Gulls and egrets. The National Park Service operates tours as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In this article, you will learn about some of the activity conducted at the prison that could have led to unsettled spirits refusing to leave.
It's not unusual to come across a strange court case involving circumstances that seem to share some element with the paranormal. Some court cases have suggested that murders have been enacted with some malevolent paranormal force acting behind them - though these specific cases are usually eventually attributed to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or a misrepresentation of the evidence at hand. But there is at least one case that covertly vindicates haunted houses and is cited as the reason that house sellers in horror films are obligated to reveal the paranormal nature of estates before they are sold.
The paranormal is a field of strange creatures, unexplained occurrences, and objects and beings that simply defy all known conventions instead spreading out into the fantastic. For every one part National Geographic, they are ten parts "Amazing Stories." And few creatures hold up to this analysis quite as well as the Elephant Men rumored to live in the dense foliage around Narrabeen Lake of Australia.
When we look back on the long history of the United States, we see in a way the sum of all folklore and legends mixed together as people explored a new nation. In many ways, the ideas of these people merged and created some of the most interesting stories of their time. But in other ways, they merged even as they were witnessing some of the most fantastic and alien landscapes known at the time. What we take for granted today was once a wild and unexplored frontier filled with mysteries - and one of the stranger mysteries to ever be told in the safe confines of the home when the wind howls at the door and the night creeps in on the candlelight is that of the Schneller Geist.
Legend Tripping is the term for youths attempting to have experiences of a paranormal nature by visiting the reported haunted hotspots in their area. Unfortunately, the practice also shares with it a certain degree of danger - particularly since many areas reported to be haunted are also private property or are in themselves naturally dangerous. But what can we learn about ourselves and our culture by examining the practice of legend tripping? And is there any precedent to the phenomenon in history that will teach us about them as well?
When visiting older graveyards and other locations where the dead are buried, you may come across a mysterious stone chair or bench along the way in the midst of the ancient tombstones. What are these chairs? And is there a reason that so many communities throughout the world have dubbed them "Devil's Chairs?"
Charles Dickens, the father of the legendary Christmas Story about an elderly man who is haunted by ghosts from the past, and representatives of the past present and future, was himself a believer in the scholarly pursuit of the paranormal. Of course this was coupled with a healthy dose of skepticism over the powers many of the mediums of the time claimed to have. In the end Dickens became most inclined to believe that the mind itself was a powerful gateway to realms that remain to this day unknown. And his ghosts in a Christmas Carol reflected the philosophy.
In reading the literature on Black Eyed Kids, you may soon start to notice several similarities. But there are a couple of facts that lend themselves to a deeper and more sinister mystery behind the phenomenon. While we may never know what BEKs are, the feelings involved in these stories are chilling. The individuals generally ask to be let into someone's house or car and the answer is always the same: No. But is it? Can we imagine that in all the accounts of these individuals someone may have actually decided to cooperate with them? Why have they not spoken up?
It's not wise to disturb graves, but could the energy from such a location actually work hard enough to bankrupt a billionaire? Yes, according to locals near the Cavan/Fermanaugh border. And it's worse than that. The megalith was moved to a nearby hotel - a hotel that is now only part of a vast and crumbling empire. Sean Quinn may have made a number of bad investments in recent history, but there are quite a few who are looking at his removal of a tombstone as the ultimate cause of his bankruptcy.
When ghosts try to communicate with the living, they attempt to appeal to the senses. One of the most popular methods is to make noises. The unexplainable sounds often alert people that they may be in the midst of a supernatural presence. In this article, you will learn about some of the ways ghosts make contact with your sense of hearing, as well as the significance of an Ouija board.
A Texas Ghost Town once held deep underwater has emerged after almost a century of being beneath a water reservoir recently revealing among other things an actual graveyard complete with tombstones - and residents. The graves, left undisturbed for nearly a century are just the most recent addition to the receding waves. And so with such a massive change, will they be joined by paranormal activity as well?
There is a place in New Jersey filled with a great and mysterious force so bone chilling that even the history of the place before it was visited by spirits is disturbing. Blairsden Mansion is famous not only for the macabre massacre that took place there in its distant past, but for the multiple beings that have taken up residence there living between the walls in a reality borrowed at once from the past and mankind's most fevered nightmares.
If you believe that ghosts have the power to communicate with the living, then you may want to get familiar with the different ways that you may encounter a ghost. They tend to use methods that will appeal to one or more of your senses. In this article, you will learn some of the approaches that a ghost will use to make themselves known.
In the 19th century India was seen as a mysterious country filled with exotic places and unknown cultural practices. Though the west had been in trade communications with the east for centuries, it was still a great mystery in many ways. And so as a result the cultures did not fuse at this point in substantial ways. Then, in the past 75 years tourism has grown substantially. But one thing the two cultures can agree on is the presence of mysterious forces in the universe - including ghosts. And one of the strangest legends is that of Dumas.
President Lincoln is remembered as one of the key historical figures in American History. Perhaps it is partially due to his assassination at the hands of John Wilk's Booth that he is remembered as a great president despite being in office through the entirety of a terrible Civil War. But in 1870 a second plot was hatched against him, long after his death. This time he was the target of petty criminals who aspired to undertake the greatest heist in American history - the theft of Lincoln's body from his tomb.
If you've been introduced to theater, whether as an actor or a member of the audience, you likely have heard of Shakespeare's powerful tragedy "Macbeth." And you may have heard of the odd tradition that surrounds this play. It is said that you should never utter the name of the play while you are currently in it - except while on stage. But where did this curse come from? And are there any accounts to back up the suggestion that it is cursed?
There are a number of incidents in the field of the paranormal that turned out to be more than just a few ghosts suddenly appearing in front of a frightened family or a distant observation of an extraterrestrial craft. In fact, it appears there are quite a few stories that make the paranormal less speculation and more a matter of immediate danger. Such was the case with several of the Mothman sightings, the discovery of the goblins at Hopkinsville, and the mysterious and terrifying encounter two miners had on Mount Saint Helens when a mysterious group of creatures began hurling boulders at their cabin. But what is it that generally turns the paranormal from simple fright to outright terror?
An inquest into the death of 50 year old Carndonagh resident Elizabeth Mcloughlin has resulted in controversy about the subject of spontaneous human combustion with at least one expert declaring the phenomenon a myth. For years scientists have argued over the possibility of spontaneous human combustion being a reality in some rare cases. And now it appears these scientists may be once again dusting off some of the oldest accounts and getting back into the controversy.
When we think of ghost photography we generally like to think about advanced cameras with filters that reveal more than meets the eye when encountering a ghost. But it may come as a surprise to some that some of the most incredible photography was taken by an engraver by the name of William Mumler. Among the photographs he took were some big names, even including Abraham Lincoln - years after his death.
There are few cultures quite so interested in ghosts as Japan. According to stories from the Iwate prefecture and Japanese lore, ghosts or Yurei are divided into categories that each hold a special place in the society and the minds of the people. And while many of the ghosts are terrifying and even dangerous, the legendary Zashiki warashi are said to be the mischievous ghosts of children who play pranks around the house and must be fed every day. Why do so many want them? They are also said to be the bringers of incredible fortune.
