by Maureen Wood
OCTOBER 5, 2007 THE HAUNTED POLICE STATION
Ramol, India
A female ghost terrorized Ramol police officers working the night-shift. More than ten officers reported the ghostly activity. Invisible forces overturned tables and chairs and some police officers reported being strangled and pushed. In fact, some even complained of severe chest pain, as if from the pressure of a disembodied weight sitting upon their chests. The police officers became so spooked that when they arrived for work in the evening, rather than sit in their usual seats, they clustered around the front door.
After speaking with the villagers, the officers were informed that a young woman had in fact died while working in the mill, and they confirmed that her spirit was said to still roam the premises. They reported that the machines of the mill had been heard many times, even when it was empty of workers.
One local, hearing of the officer's plight, brought in a Tantrik, the Eastern equivalent of an exorcist, to rid the station of the ghostly visitor. After performing his ritual and capturing the spirit in a red pouch, he hung the picture of the deity Meldi Mata and the pouch on the wall. And although the police officers are still a bit leery, they have stated that all unusual spirit activity has come to an end. To ensure the young woman's soul stays at rest, however, the Ramol police officers continue to offer up prayers to the Meldi Mata shrine that remains on the wall.
OCTOBER 6, 1859 THE RINGING BELLS
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Early one Friday morning, the residents of the small town of Charlottetown were awakened when the bell of Saint James Church rang out. It rang just once. Thinking that odd, they investigated. On the way to the church it tolled a second time, again just once. As they approached the church, again it rang just once. Entering the church grounds, they heard it toll again for the fourth time, and then again for a fifth. As they stood in front of the church, it tolled a sixth time. When the doors of the church were flung open, a powerful wind blew through the doorway and three glowing women appeared, all dressed in white. The people stood in awe as the bell tolled for the seventh time and the doors slammed shut. They tried to open them again, but the doors were locked. Peering through the windows, they saw the three women float to the bell tower steps and disappear. The minister arrived and they unlocked the doors, only to find the church empty. The bell tolled for an eighth time, as they all ran up to the belfry. There was no one there. Puzzled, they searched the entire church and could not find a living soul. The bell rang no more.
Later that evening, the Fairie Queene, a local passenger ferry from Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island, failed to show. A few days later, the good people of Charlottetown learned that it had sunk on the day the church bell rang. Eight passengers — five men and three women — had drowned that day — the same number of times the bell had tolled.
TERRIFYING TIDBIT
When church bells are heard at sea, it means someone on the ship will die.
OCTOBER 7, 1849 THE GHOST OF POE
Baltimore, Maryland
Edgar Allen Poe was undoubtedly America's “Master of the Macabre,” penning such dark works as “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” Even his hideous death in October 1849 seemed somehow appropriate for a man whose life was shrouded by a dark mysterious veil. He was found lying in a gutter in someone else's clothes. His death was blamed on a series of afflictions, including alcoholism, rabies, a seizure, and even murder. No matter how one believes he met his demise, one thing is for sure, many believe his spirit is not at rest. Poe's spirit has been detected in several locations that he frequented in life, including Fort Monroe, his grave at the Old Western Burial Ground, the Worthen House Café, and most notably the Edgar Allen Poe House and Museum.
The Poe House and Museum is a typical five-room row house located at 3 Amity Street in Baltimore. He lived there with his grandmother, aunt, and cousin Virginia, whom he later married. Poe had a room in the attic where he penned several works, and although he traveled, he lived there until his mysterious death in 1849. Visitors sometimes get more than they bargained for when they visit Poe's old haunt. Cold spots, eerie lights, and spectral voices have been heard. Doors and windows mysteriously open and close. And worst of all, some have reported the sensation of a cold icy hand upon their shoulder. But does Poe haunt the building? Once during a power outage in Baltimore, the neighborhood went completely dark — except for a flickering light at Poe's house. Perhaps it was the master of the macabre inking one final story by the glow of a dancing candlelight.
TERRIFYING TIDBIT
Every January 19, Poe's birthday, a mysterious man wearing a scarf and a black top hat and carrying a cane visits his grave site. Since 1949, the Poe Toaster, as he is known, has left three roses and a bottle of cognac on his grave in the early morning hours.
OCTOBER 8, 1993 FILMING AT LITTLE ROUND TOP
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Scores of motion pictures depicting the bloody Battle of Gettysburg have been shot on location there. During the filming of Gettysburg in 1993, an unexplainable phenomenon occurred.
Due to the large number of soldiers required to depict the battle, the production company hired reenactors dressed in both Union and Confederate soldiers' uniforms to play the part. While filming at Little Round Top, and as the sun had begun to set, the reenactors decided to take their break and sat down upon the hill. It was there they met a disheveled old man wearing a tattered Union uniform and smelling of gunpowder. He spoke to the men of the heinous battle. Then, without uttering another word, he passed around handfuls of ammunition and then walked away, leaving a curious group of onlookers in his wake.
At first the group of men assumed the old soldier was part of the production team staff. But they soon realized their error when they brought the fistfuls of rounds back to the man in charge of handing out the props. As it turned out, the prop man was just as confused as the reenactors. Not only had he not been responsible for the distribution of the bullets, but also the ammunition in question was not a prop at all. In fact, the men sitting on Little Round Top that day had been given genuine musket balls — the same type used during the Civil War. Evidently, the disheveled old man was not a reenactor, but the real deal.
OCTOBER 9, 1960 MACKINAC ISLAND
Mackinac Island, Michigan
Mackinac Island is rife with reports of ghost sightings. Once you've listened to the countless legends, as well as the history of the island, even if you're the staunchest of skeptics, you may have reason to think again.
One of the most haunted locations on the island is the Mission House, a building used by Christians intent on converting the Native Americans of the time. It's been said that during its history a large amount of children living in the home came down with tuberculosis. Thinking that a damp basement was the remedy to their ailment, the children were locked in and quarantined. The rampant sightings of ghost children running throughout the basement and upper floors of the Mission today are an indication of how poor a remedy it was.
Other explanations for the haunting on the island could be attributed to the nearly 1,000 bodies that were unearthed while the land was being tilled. Or, perhaps, it was the skeletal remains that were dug up during the construction of the Grand Hotel. And if that's not enough, during the War of 1812, the British slaughtered seventy-five Native Americans there. Are these men among the restless spirits that are so often seen wandering through the homes and hotels of the island?
With so many sordid tales of death, it may be difficult to pinpoint the cause. Regardless, the fact remains that Mackinac Island is indubitably flooded with paranormal phenomena.
OCTOBER 10, 2007 DAUGHTERS OF UTAH PIONEERS MUSEUM
Salt Lake City, Utah
While monitoring the video surveillance cameras for the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, the Capitol Hill police department saw more than they ever thought possible. For a period of eight straight days, random motion-sensor alarms w
ere set off. When the officers arrived to investigate, they discovered a secured building. On several occasions, between the hours of 11:00 P.M. and 3:00 A.M., an unusual apparition of a woman's face began showing up on camera. Yet again, each time the police or staff investigated, they found no one present and the building locked up. Coincidently, during the eight days, a custodian noticed a young woman dressed all in black, sitting on a bench in the foyer. After explaining to her that the museum was closed, he walked toward her and guided her to the front door. The woman never uttered a word. The custodian opened the front door to let her out. However, rather than the woman walking down the steps, she floated above them, before vanishing. The museum has their own idea as to who the ghostly apparition is. It seems that twenty years before, a sampler (a piece of embroidered cloth) was stolen. Then one day, one of the staff recognized the item on eBay. The gracious new owners of the antique, once they realized it had been stolen, returned it to its rightful place at the museum. Perhaps this young woman had put a lot of heart and soul into her embroidered creation. Literally.
OCTOBER 11, 1780 RINGWOOD MANOR
Ringwood, New Jersey
The original manor, built in 1740, a much smaller version, was torn down in 1807 to make way for the now fifty-one-room estate. Ringwood Manor was home to numerous families prior to 1936, when it become property of the state of New Jersey. Today it is a very active museum, both paranormally and otherwise. In fact, Robert Erskine, General Washington's mapmaker, lived there during the Revolutionary War. Perhaps he took his role for Washington a little too seriously, as he's never left the manor. Well, not completely anyway. His ghostly apparition can still be seen at dusk, roaming the property, just behind the pond where his tomb lies. It is said that not far from where Erskine dwells there are unmarked graves of French soldiers. Their hushed foreign words can be heard late at night, floating atop the wind.
But what of the spirit within the walls of the manor? Curators and staff believe it to be Erskine's wife, making her rounds when the museum is closed. While locking up for the evening, staff make sure several doors are closed, yet they are wide open in the morning. But why do they suspect Mrs. Erskine? A visiting psychic informed the museum that Mrs. Erskine had become restless and unhappy with the plethora of visitors to her home. It seems that Mrs. Erskine will be eternally unhappy, since the museum is a popular site.
OCTOBER 12, 1898 LARNACH CASTLE
Dunedin, New Zealand
Constructed of the finest materials, this impressive castle was erected by businessman, banker, and politician, William James Mudie Larnach as a gift for his lovely wife, Eliza Jane. This expression of his undying love for her had all the makings of a fairy tale, but it ended more like a Greek tragedy. Eliza died alone in her bedroom of apoplexy shortly after they moved in. Grief stricken, but in need of companionship, William married Eliza's sister, Mary Alleyne. She too died tragically five years later from blood poisoning. William married again, this time to Constance, a woman twenty-one years his junior. Five months after his third marriage, his beloved daughter Kate died of typhoid at the tender age of twenty-one.
Tragedy struck again when William discovered that Constance was having an affair with his favorite son, Douglas. Guilt-ridden by what he had done, Douglas could not live with his betrayal and committed suicide. A few years later, with his business failing, William followed in his son's footsteps and shot and killed himself.
After his death, the castle and his estate were sold at auction. It became a private residence, mental asylum, and finally a world-class hotel. Sightings of the spirits of the Larnach family can be seen in many rooms of the castle, achieving in death what they could not obtain in life — togetherness.
OCTOBER 13, 1812 THE OLDE ANGEL INN
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
During the War of 1812, the inn was known as the Harmonious Coach House. Canada was in the firm hands of the British; however, in May 1813 American forces captured Fort George and Newark, as Niagara-on-the-Lake was called then. The British retreated, except for one officer by the name of Captain Swayze. He went to the coach house to bid farewell to the innkeeper's daughter, with whom he had fallen in love. As the Americans approached, he hid in the cellar. Troops searching the house found Captain Swayze in the basement and bayoneted him to death before torching the coach house.
The inn was rebuilt in 1815 and renamed the Sign of the Angel Inn. By 1820, accounts of ghostly sightings reached the local newspaper. The paper described a variety of ghostly activities including: footsteps heard in empty rooms, clinking of glasses, laughter, disembodied voices echoing throughout the inn, and the unnerving appearance of specters.
Today the inn is known as the Olde Angel Inn, and after nearly 200 years, the haunting continues. In addition to hearing the unexplainable noises, many patrons have seen dark shadows. The sighting of spectral red coats in the mirror of the women's bathroom has been frequently reported. But fear not. The innkeepers tell us that as long as the British flag flies over the door, they'll do you no harm. Then again, it seems Captain Swayze still holds a grudge. The American beer tap at the bar often malfunctions, while the British and Canadian taps work fine.
TERRIFYING TIDBIT
After a death in the family, it is believed that you should cover all the mirrors. This will keep the ghosts from using any mirror as a portal from one world to the other.
OCTOBER 14, 2009 THE SORORITY HOUSE SPIRITS
Bloomsburg, PA
According to www.ghosttheory.com a Bloomsburg University sorority house is plagued by spirit activity. Rumor has it that the girls of Phi Sigma Sigma are being frequented by unseen entities intent on getting their attention. The girls speak of strange occurrences ranging from faucets being turned on by themselves to all the fire alarms going off at once for no apparent reason. On numerous occasions it has been reported that the cries of children can be heard emanating from the interior walls, as if they were trying to escape. Then there's the physical contact. Several girls of Phi Sigma Sigma have reported having their hair pulled, as well as being shoved down the stairs. Coincidently, the area where they've been shoved is the same place that a dark shadow has been seen looming in the hallways and stairwell.
Numerous sororities occupying the location prior to Phi Sigma Sigma have reported similar ghostly tales. But to what do the sisters attribute all this paranormal activity? Well, one sister, having been intrigued by the paranormal all of her life, decided to take matters into her own hands. Using a Ouija board she attempted to make contact, and she received tidbits of information, the name Maggie and the year 1934 being the most prevalent. After a bit of research, she found that there had been a woman by the name of Maggie that died of natural causes back in 1934. Whatever the cause of the phenomena, they continue to this day. Perhaps Maggie is hazing her sisters from the other side.
TERRIFYING TIDBIT
Ouija boards, also known as spirit boards, are used as a method of communing with the dead. Many believe these boards should be used with extreme caution, as unsuspecting participants can inadvertently open a door allowing evil spirits to enter.
OCTOBER 15, 1999 THE GREY LIBRARY GHOST
Evansville, Indiana
The Willard Library, financed by Willard Carpenter, opened on March 28, 1885, almost two years after his death. The Victorian Gothic building is the oldest public library in the state of Indiana. According to the Willard Library website, it is thought to be haunted by the Lady in Grey, who first appeared in 1937 when she was spied by a maintenance man who went into the basement to stoke the furnace. It was 3 A.M. when the spectral figure of a veiled woman appeared to him and then faded away. He became so frightened by this image that he quit his job.
The Lady in Grey has made several appearances throughout the years. She has been seen by library workers, patrons, and even a policeman. In 1999, the Willard Library installed the world's first ghostcam, allowing millions of viewers to log in and remotely search for the Lady in Grey. But who is she?
The most accepted theory is that she is Louise Carpenter, the daughter of the library's founder. After his death, the bulk of Willard Carpenter's estate went to the library. Louise sued, and to her dismay, she lost. Embittered by her disappointment, she roams the library forever in search of her lost fortune.
OCTOBER 16, 1859 JOHN WILKES BOOTH HOUSE
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
The John Wilkes Booth House located in Harpers Ferry is steeped in history. During the Civil War, it was the place where abolitionist John Brown attempted to start a slave revolt. In 1859, Brown, along with sixteen men, some of them freed slaves, tried to seize a U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Unfortunately for the men, Colonel Robert E. Lee thwarted their efforts.
Is the John Wilkes Booth House haunted? Just ask the locals their opinion. The “haunted cottage,” as it's often referred to, has been the subject of many unexplainable ghostly sightings. Passersby have seen glowing lights in the slave quarters when no one is home. And translucent figures have been seen walking past the windows on more than one occasion.
Research into the property uncovered the fact that relatives of Booth owned the home. Booth was reported to have made a special visit to Harpers Ferry to attend the execution of John Brown. Evidently Booth had planned to return to the house and to the arms of his wife after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. However, that would never come to pass. Twelve days after the assassination, Booth, who had fled the scene, was tracked down by Union soldiers and killed. There are those that believe the ghost of John Wilkes Booth still roams this building, completing his journey home — an act he failed to accomplish while alive.
