The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings

by Haining, Peter

  Mystery of Everest’s Snow Ghost

  Source and date: Sunday People, 18 January 1976

  A ghostly “third man” helped Everest heroes Dougal Haston and Doug Scott in the last stages of their climb, it was claimed yesterday. Details of their remarkable experience were revealed by Dr Charles Clark, medical officer of the successful British team last September. There, in the biting cold and thin air on the roof of the world, they felt “a comforting presence at their side.” Haston and Scott, first to climb the southwest face, had to survive a night of horror just under the 29,002-foot summit. They had no food and were having trouble with their oxygen supply. “But both men told of a curious sensation that a third person had been sharing the snow-hole in which they bivouacked,” said Dr Clark. Doug Scott at home in Nottingham said, “We were on our way to the summit when I became aware of this thing on my left. I would not call it a person – more a comforting presence. It seemed to accompany us in the snow-hole and Dougal actually was speaking to someone.” [On 22 October 1978, the Sunday People ran a second story, “Ghost That Walked On Everest” in which mountaineer Nick Estcourt claimed to have seen “a figure plodding 200 yards behind me” who vanished as he climbed up to Camp Five at dawn when no one else could possibly have been on the mountain.]

  Haunted Park for Princess

  Source and date: Daily Telegraph, 28 June 1976

  Like so many rambling country mansions, Princess Anne’s new home in the Cotswolds is reputed to have a ghost in the grounds. Villagers in Avening recalled at the weekend how dozens of people had claimed to have seen an apparition on or near the 730-acre Gatcombe Park, where the Princess and Captain Mark Phillips are expected to take up residence in the autumn. And it could send a chill down the spine of the canine-loving couple since the ghost is said to be a headless dog. Mr Joe Hatherill, 74, a retired builder, who lives at Hampton Fields, the hamlet opposite the park’s main entrance, said, “I have seen it four times altogether and it gave me a right fright. It is a big black dog without a head which brushes up against you. I have lived here for five years and I promise I am not lying. Lots of my friends have seen it. Usually the dog is seen limping over the wall of the estate into the main road from Minchinhampton to Avening.” He knows of no local legends that could explain the ghostly hound, but the park can be an eerie place.

  I Speak to Hitler Every Day

  Source and date: Sunday People, 12 September 1976

  An “after-life” story by Adolph Hitler is being dictated through a ghostwriter. Psychic researcher John Rayner makes the astonishing claim that he is in daily communication with the infamous Nazi leader who killed himself in Berlin thirty-one years ago. Mr Rayner, an electronics consultant who has made a lifetime study of psychic phenomena says that Hitler is dictating to him a book on life after death. He says the spirit of Hitler moved into his life when he was experimenting with “automatic writing – idle doodling with a pen and pad in the hope that some disembodied entity would make contact.” The ex-Fuhrer, he says, is living in the after-life with his mistress Eva Braun and often meets with Goering and Himmler. Mr Raynor says that Hitler expresses no guilt or regret over the war or the mass killings for which he stands guilty. “He explains that this is because there is no guilt and no blame in the after-life.”

  Ghost Failed to Return

  Source and date: News of the World, 14 November 1976

  A nineteen-year-old Egyptian girl told her family that she would be blessed with supernatural powers. But first she had to die and be brought back to the world as a spirit or ghost. Her sister and three girlfriends held a séance at her flat in Cairo. Then they hanged the girl, Samia, from a chandelier until she was dead. When her ghost failed to appear, they girls panicked and called the police. They have all been charged with murder.

  The House of Demons

  Source and date: New York Post, 18 December 1977

  Terror gripped George Lutz of Long Island at the most horrific sight that ever confronted a husband. The woman on their bed had been his attractive blonde wife, Kathy. Now, suddenly, she had been turned into an ugly, unkempt old hag. But this is no ghost story for Christmas but just one episode in the life of the Lutzes, an ordinary family living in a big, six-roomed modern house, 112 Ocean Avenue, in the quiet town of Amityville on Long Island. Their account of twenty-eight days of terror in the house haunted by violent and malicious demons has gripped the nation. If you thought The Exorcist was terrifying and The Omen gave you nightmares, wait until you see The Amityville Horror, soon to be made on the real experiences of the Lutz family. When George and Kathy bought the house on Ocean Avenue there was only one snag, the estate agent confessed. Just a year earlier it had been the scene of a mass murder. A young man, Ronald Defoe, had murdered his parents, two brothers and two sisters – all shot while they slept. At his trial he said he heard voices telling him to kill his family. The Lutzes were not too superstitious – but took the precaution of calling in their family priest to bless the house when they moved in. Then the terror began. A deep masculine voice was heard commanding, “Get out!” This was followed by the continual sound of doors banging, an evil smell like dead rats filled the house, unblinking red eyes seen peering in the windows, swarms of flies, slime oozing out of the ceiling and many other eerie incidents. The Lutzes were now convinced their home was full of evil spirits and after one more night of horror when an invisible “something” climbed into George and Kathy’s bed they packed up and moved out. That was on 14 January 1976. Now a new family live at 112 Ocean Avenue. After remaining shuttered for a year the house was bought by Mrs Barbara Cromarty. She says, “I have experienced none of the apparitions that terrified the Lutz family. All that disturbs me is the hundreds of sightseers who drive up and down the street outside my house every week.’

  Spirited Sex

  Source and date: Daily Mail, 13 May 1978

  Spiritualists in America are now offering a unique new service to clients desperate to make contact with loved ones who have “gone over” to the other side – séances with sex. According to reports being circulated, astral necrophilia is now available from certain spirit mediums. For a fee of a thousand dollars, these mediums offer customers a chance to make love to partners who have died. The experience is claimed to be the ultimate erotic encounter.

  Ghosts of Disaster Flight 401

  Source and date: New York Daily News, 27 August 1978

  International airline crews have reported that the ghosts of a pilot and his flight engineer are haunting a fleet of jets. The phantom fliers are said to give warning of the possible danger and protect planes from crashes. According to author John G Fuller, the ghosts are those of Captain Bob Loft and Flight engineer Don Repo. They were among 99 people killed when the L-1011 TriStar Eastern Airlines Flight 401 from New York to Miami crashed in the Florida Everglades on Friday, 29 December 1972. Mr Fuller, who spent months travelling thousands of miles across the US to interview airline crew and relatives of the two men, says, “Numerous reliable eyewitnesses I spoke to have seen the ghosts appear on the L-1011 jets of Eastern Airlines in the States.” He claims that: A stewardess thought she saw smoke coming from a bulkhead wall. She investigated and was confronted by the misty figure of the dead pilot. Cabin crew checking the number of passengers on another flight called the pilot when a man in captain’s uniform ignored their questions and just stared in front of him. The pilot recognized Captain Loft – and then the figure vanished. The Captain and two crew of another jet saw the figure of the dead pilot. The flight was cancelled. A Flight engineer arriving at his seat to check the instruments before take-off found the ghost of dead engineer Don Repo seated there. The apparition told him before disappearing, “You don’t have to check out the instruments – I’ve already done that.” Don Repo appeared to one flight captain and also told him, “There will never be another crash on an L-1011, we will not let it happen.” A spokesman for the United States Airline Pilots’ Association said, “If you believe that old country ma
nsions and sailing ships can be haunted – why not a jumbo jet?”

  Lincoln’s Sad Ghost Haunts White House

  Source and date: Daily Mail, 1 November 1978

  The ghost of Abraham Lincoln walks the White House, knocking on doors, appearing to Presidents, their families and visitors, it is claimed. Theodore Roosevelt said of the wandering spirit, “I think of Lincoln, shambling, homely, with his sad, strong, deeply furrowed face all the time. I see him in the different rooms and halls.” The President’s ghost has been seen by almost every administration since. Witnesses have included Lady Bird Johnson who was apparently watching a TV special on Lincoln’s death when she suddenly realized that someone was compelling her to look towards the mantel. A plaque over it told of the room’s significance to Lincoln. And as she read it, she felt “a chill, a draft”. Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands was supposed to have heard a knock on the door of the Rose Room, where she was staying. She opened it and saw the tall figure of Lincoln. Sir Winston Churchill, uneasy about sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom, would often be found at night in a room across the hall. And Dwight Eisenhower told his Press Secretary, James Haggerty, that he had “often felt Lincoln’s presence”. [On 16 July 1986, Ronald Reagan was added to the list of Presidents who had seen the ghost in a story in the Daily Mail: “President Reagan has been telling dinner guests he has ghosts in the White House Lincoln bedroom and Rex, his dog, barks at the ghost and refuses to enter the room.”

  Smoking Ghost at Pam’s Wedding

  Source and date: Sunday People, 21 January 1979

  The handsome, cigar-smoking guest cut quite a dash at Pamela Eccleston’s wedding when she married Australian engineer Arando Sarraco at St Chad’s Church, Romiley, near Stockport, Cheshire. The man, wearing a smart grey suit with a dress shirt and bow tie, attached himself to several groups posing for wedding photographs. But no one knew who he was. Each family thought he was from the other side. Now they are convinced that he really was from the “other side” . . . of the grave. For when the photographs were developed there was no sign of the mysterious stranger – just gaps where he had stood. Pamela, 23, said, “I never really believed in ghosts before. Everybody remembers him because he was so distinguished. When I think back, I saw him puffing away on his cigar – but it never got any smaller.”

  Ghosts to Entertain Tourists

  Source and date: Daily Mail, 21 February 1979

  Ghosts are being lined up as a tourist attraction in an ancient English city. Parties of foreign visitors to Chester will be ushered round the favourite haunts of some of the city’s oldest – and most elusive – inhabitants. Tour manager Peter Beighton said, “The idea of ghost trips came to us because, quite frankly, visitors had complained that Chester was dead at night. Now we’ll show them that’s what dead doesn’t always lie down. The company has traced nine ghosts – including a Roman centurion minus helmet and a four-foot tall phantom who wears a scarlet cloak that trails behind him and has reportedly been seen in daylight. [Chester was the first town in Britain to organize conducted ghost tours of the kind that are now so popular throughout Britain, Europe and America.]

  The Real-Life Phantom Show

  Source and date: Memphis Commercial Appeal, 4 April 1979

  There was uproar in Memphis today when folk heard the story of Bert Gross and his family watching TV. Their house just went crazy. Insects suddenly filled the room, the TV set crashed to the floor and the fridge started spinning round. Neighbours hurried to catch sight of the commotion. The police came too. They all saw incidents and are now convinced that the Gross home is host to a poltergeist.

  Fire-Raising Ghost Brings Terror to Village

  Source and date: Daily Mail, 11 September 1979

  It all began at 5.30 p.m. on 6 August. Madame Gaby Bourdat was coaxing half a dozen cows along a road near the remote French village of Seron when suddenly she smelled smoke. Then she saw it – pouring out of a downstairs window in the abandoned farmhouse belonging to her neighbours, the Lahores. She rushed for help and, with the Lahore family, quickly doused the flames. Within two hours, two other fires mysteriously started – this time in the Lahores’ modern four-bedroom house across the courtyard. Since then 90 more fires have broken out in the Lahore home – and nobody knows how or why. Meanwhile the Lahores and their 250 fellow villagers are at their nerves’ end. Twenty gendarmes camp permanently at the farm. And the tiny hamlet in the French Pyrenees has been invaded by a succession of exorcists, psychologists, mediums and psychics all of whom have tried unsuccessfully to solve the mystery. Several of the eyewitnesses say each fire starts in the same manner. First comes the smell of smoke. An object is discovered within a circular spot, which is smoking. It bursts into flames. Edouard Lahore, 59, says, “They say it could be the work of a ghost or the rays of the Devil. I just don’t know.” The fires have also defied the efforts of an investigating judge, the prefect of police and Gregoire Kaplan, head of the Laboratory of Physical Analysis from Pau. Though nearly every conceivable item in the house has been burned – even clothes while they were being worn – lab technicians have been unable to identify a chemical agent. The strange “Affair of Seron” continues to smoulder.

  Rich Ghost in Fight for Cash

  Source and date: News of the World, 4 November 1979

  A pretty young London wife claims that the ghost of her wealthy friend has told her to fight the will that does not include her. The friend, Leon Taylor, left his estate of at least £80,000 to his two sons when he died on 14 February. But Mrs Charmaine Edwards says Mr Taylor, 43, promised to cut them out of his will and leave everything to her. She said, “The night after Leon died I woke up with a start to see his form standing at the foot of the bed as real as in life. A few days later I found him sitting in the passenger seat of my car as I drove along. He said, ‘You must fight them. Fight the will. We’re not going to let them get away with it.’ After that I went to various clairvoyants. Each time he spoke through them saying her would help me to fight the will.” Mrs Edwards claims she is entitled to the cash because she used thousands of pounds after selling her house to help Mr Taylor when he was short of ready money. She has blocked execution of the will through a High Court order.

  1980–89

  Paying Ghosts

  Source and date: Jacksonville Journal, Florida, 6 January 1980

  Things began to go bump in the night after a fifty-six-year-old millionaire shot himself in Jim and Corinne Succhi’s villa. “The doors opened and shut, water taps started to gush, electric lights flashed on and off, and at midnight we were roused by terrifying screams,” said Jim. He and his wife have sued the millionaire’s heirs for $50,000 claiming they suffered fear and sleepless nights in the haunted home. The millionaire’s lawyer told a court in Palm Springs, Florida, “I’ve heard of paying guests, but not paying ghosts. Even if it’s true that my dead client haunts the house, he has every right to spook where he pleases.”

  Hanged Man “Speaks”

  Source and date: Sunday People, 20 January 1980

  Four remand prisoners, who tried to raise their spirits in jail by playing with a Ouija board, got more than they bargained for. They say they raised a real spirit – a man hanged 100 years earlier at the same prison in Norwich. “We were scared to death,” said thirty-two-year-old Albert Atkins, one of the men who improvized the spirit-raising Ouija board with paper letters. “It spelt out ‘Alan Cook was hanged June 8 1879’ and added, ‘Bless you friend.’ ” There was little sleep for the four men that night. “All hell broke loose,” said Albert. “The table came right across the cell. Our water jug floated on the table. The other blokes stayed in their bunks, scared. The light was on all the time so there could have been no nonsense.” A prison officer’s check the next day showed that Cook had indeed been hanged at the jail 100 years before for the murder of Charles Stuart and four other people. A surprise sequel comes with a report from East London medium, Mrs Eugenie Dormer, that murderer Alan Cook contacted her during a séanc
e to thank Albert for helping him. She said, “Obviously this was a troubled spirit who had been earthbound and Albert’s action released him.”

  Ghost Keeps Gerald Free

  Source and date: Sunday Mirror, 2 March 1980

  Charlie the ghost has saved Gerald Bell from jail. When magistrates heard how ill his wife was because of Charlie’s antics they just couldn’t leave her alone in the house with a ghost. So they sentenced Bell, 25, to eighteen hours community service instead. Prison seemed inevitable when Bell, a suspended sentence hanging over him for a previous offence, admitted taking a parcel of clothing from a neighbour’s doorstep. Then the court heard about Charlie: the poltergeist made things go bump in the night, caused locked doors to open and threw ornaments about. Bell’s nineteen-year-old wife, Lorna, was so scared she often sat up all night rather than go to bed, magistrates at Darwen, Lancashire were told. Mr Peter Turner, defending successfully, appealed to the Bench to allow Bell to stay in the haunted house with his sick wife. After the hearing, the couple said they were putting the house up for sale.