by Hans Holzer
GHOSTS
TRUE ENCOUNTERS WITH WORLD BEYOND
GHOSTS
TRUE ENCOUNTERS WITH WORLD BEYOND
HANS HOLZER
By the author of Witches and Hans Holzer’s Travel Guide to Haunted Houses
Copyright © 1997 by Aspera Ad Astra Inc.
First paperback edition 2004
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc.
151 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
Distributed by
Workman Publishing Company
708 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
Designed by Martin Lubin Graphic Design
Typesetting by Kryon Graphics, India
Manufactured in the United States of America
ISBN: 1-57912-401-1
h g f e d c b a
Holzer, Hans, 1920–
Ghosts/by Hans Holzer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-57912-401-1
1. Ghosts. 2. Supernatural. I. Title.
GR580.H56 1997 96-52613
133.1—dc21 CIP
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE The Nature of Life and Death
CHAPTER TWO What Every Would-be Ghost Hunter Should Know
CHAPTER THREE Ghosts and the World of the Living
CHAPTER FOUR What Exactly Is a Ghost?
CHAPTER FIVE Famous Ghosts
1 The Conference House Ghost
2 The Stranger at the Door
3 A Visit with Alexander Hamilton’s Ghost
4 The Fifth Avenue Ghost
5 The Case of the Murdered Financier
6 The Rockland County Ghost
7 A Revolutionary Corollary: Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale, et al.
8 The Vindication of Aaron Burr
9 Assassination of a President: Lincoln, Booth, and the Traitors Within
10 A Visit with Woodrow Wilson
11 Ring Around the White House
12 The Ill-Fated Kennedys: From Visions to Ghosts
13 Michie Tavern, Jefferson, and the Boys
14 A Visit with the Spirited Jefferson
15 Major Andre and the Question of Loyalty
16 Benedict Arnold’s Friend
17 The Haverstraw Ferry Case
18 “Ship of Destiny”: The U.S.F. Constellation
19 The Truth About Camelot
20 Her Name Was Trouble: The Secret Adventure of Nell Gwyn
21 Ghosts Around Vienna
22 The Secret of Mayerling
23 Royalty and Ghosts
24 A Visit with Robert Louis Stevenson
25 Bloody Mary’s Ghost
26 Spectral Mary, Queen of Scots
27 Renvyle
28 Is This You, Jean Harlow?
29 Do the Barrymores Still Live Here?
30 The Latest Adventures of the Late Clifton Webb
31 The Haunted Rocking Chair at Ash Lawn
32 A Visit with Carole Lombard’s Ghost
33 Mrs. Surratt’s Ghost at Fort McNair
CHAPTER SIX This House Is Haunted
34 The Bank Street Ghost
35 The Whistling Ghost
36 The Metuchen Ghost
37 A Greenwich Village Ghost
38 The Hauntings at Seven Oaks
39 The Central Park West Ghost
40 The Ghosts at St. Mark’s
41 The Clinton Court Ghosts
42 Hungry Lucy
43 The House Ghost of Bergenville
44 The Riverside Ghost
45 Ocean-Born Mary
46 The Ghosts of Stamford Hill
47 The “Spy House” Ghosts of New Jersey
48 The Strange Case of the Colonial Soldier
49 The House on Plant Avenue
50 The Whaley House Ghosts
51 The Ghost at the Altar
52 A Ghost’s Last Refuge
53 The Octagon Ghosts
54 The Octagon Revisited
55 The Integration Ghost
56 The Ardmore Boulevard Ghosts
57 The Ghost Who Refused to Leave
58 The Haunted Motorcycle Workshop
59 Encountering the Ghostly Monks
60 The Somerset Scent (Pennsylvania)
61 The House of Evil (New York)
62 The Specter in the Hallway (Long Island)
63 The Bayberry Perfume Ghost (Philadelphia)
64 The Headless Grandfather (Georgia)
65 The Old Merchant’s House Ghost (New York City)
66 The House on Fifth Street (New Jersey)
67 Morgan Hall (Long Island)
68 The Guardian of the Adobe (California)
69 The Mynah Bird (Canada)
70 The Terror on the Farm (Connecticut)
71 A California Ghost Story
72 The Ghostly Usher of Minneapolis
73 The Ghostly Adventures of a North Carolina Family
74 Reba’s Ghost
75 Henny from Brooklyn
76 Longleat’s Ghosts
77 The Ghosts at Blanchard
78 The Ghosts of Edinburgh
79 The Ghostly Monk of Monkton
80 Scottish Country Ghosts
81 The Ghost on the Kerry Coast
82 Haunted Kilkea Castle, Kildare
83 The Ghosts at Skryne Castle
84 Ghost Hunting in County Mayo
85 The Ghost at La Tour Malakoff, Paris
86 Haunted Wolfsegg Fortress, Bavaria
87 A Haunted Former Hospital in Zurich
88 The Lady from Long Island
89 The Ghost of the Olympia Theatre
90 The Haunted Rectory
91 The Haunted Seminary
92 The Ghostly Sailor of Alameda
93 The Ghost Clock
94 The Ghost of Gay Street
95 The Ship Chandler’s Ghost
96 The Ghost-Servant Problem at Ringwood Manor
97 The Phantom Admiral
98 The Ghosts in the Basement
99 Miss Boyd of Charles Street, Manhattan
100 The Haunted Ranch at Newbury Park, California
101 The Narrowsburgh Ghost
102 The Ghost in the Pink Bedroom
103 The Poughkeepsie Rectory Ghost
104 The Ghost at West Point
105 The Stenton House, Cincinnati
106 The Ghost at El Centro
107 The Ghostly Stagecoach Inn
108 Mrs. Dickey’s Ghostly Companions
109 The “Presence” on the Second-Floor Landing
110 The Oakton Haunt
111 The Restless Ghost of the Sea Captain
112 The Confused Ghost of the Trailer Park
113 The Ghost Who Would Not Leave
114 The Ghost at Port Clyde
115 A Plymouth Ghost
116 The Ghosts at the Morris-Jumel Mansion
CHAPTER SEVEN Haunted Places
117 The Case of the Lost Head
118 The Woman on the Train (Switzerland)
119 The Lady of the Garden (California)
120 The Ghost Car (Kansas)
121 The Ghostly Monks of Aetna Springs
122 Who Landed First in America?
123 The Haunted Organ at Yale
124 The Ghost on Television
125 The Gray Man of Pawley’s Island (South Carolina)
126 Haunted Westover (Virginia)
127 The Case of the I.R.A. Ghosts
128 The Last Ride
129 The San Francisco Ghost Bride
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br /> CHAPTER EIGHT Haunted People
130 The Strange Death of Valerie K.
131 The Warning Ghost
132 Jacqueline
133 The Wurmbrand Curse
134 Dick Turpin, My Love
135 The Restless Dead
136 The Devil in the Flesh (Kansas)
137 The Case of the Buried Miners
138 The Ghostly Lover
139 The Vineland Ghost
140 Amityville, America’s Best-Known Haunted House
CHAPTER NINE Stay-Behinds
141 When The Dead Stay On
142 Alabama Stay-Behinds
143 Arkansas Stay-Behinds
144 Georgia Stay-Behinds
145 A Tucker Ghost
146 The Howard Mansion Ghost
147 The Stay-Behinds: Not Ready to Go
148 Rose Hall, Home of the “White Witch” of Jamaica
149 There Is Nothing Like a Scottish Ghost
150 The Strange Case of Mrs. C’s Late but Lively Husband
151 The Ghost of the Little White Flower
152 Raynham Hall
153 The Ghost of the Pennsylvania Boatsman
CHAPTER TEN Poltergeists
154 The Devil in Texas
155 Diary of a Poltergeist
156 The Millbrae Poltergeist Case
157 The Ghosts of Barbery Lane
158 The Garrick’s Head Inn, Bath
CHAPTER ELEVEN Ghosts That Aren’t
Contacts and Visits by Spirits
When the Dead Reach Out to the Living
Unfinished Business
When the Dead Help the Living
159 Vivien Leigh’s Post-Mortem Photograph
160 How the Dead Teacher Said Good-bye
Bilocation or the Etheric Double of a Living Person
Astral Projections or Out-of-Body Experiences
Psychic Imprints of the Past
161 The Monks of Winchester Cathedral
162 The Secret of Ballinguile
CHAPTER TWELVE Psychic Photography—The Visual Proof
Communications from Beyond through Photography:
Track Record and Test Conditions
The Mediumship of John Myers
Authentic “Spirit Pictures” Taken at Séances
Spirit Photography at a Camp
Some Unexpected Spirit Faces
Photographing Materializations
The Physician, Catherine the Great, and Polaroid Spirit Photography
Mae Burrow’s Ghostly Family Picture
A Ghostly Apparition in the Sky
The Parish House Ghosts
BOOKS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED BY HANS HOLZER
HANS HOLZER IS THE AUTHOR of 119 books, including Life Beyond, The Directory of Psychics, America’s Mysterious Places, Windows to the Past, and Witches.
He has written, produced, and hosted a number of television programs, notably “Ghost in the House,” “Beyond the Five Senses,” and the NBC series “In Search of…” He has appeared on numerous national television programs and lectured widely. He has written for national magazines such as Mademoiselle, Penthouse, Longevity, and columns in national weeklies.
Hans Holzer studied at Vienna University, Austria; Columbia University, New York; and holds a Ph.D. from the London College of Applied Science. Professor Holzer taught parapsychology for eight years at the New York Institute of Technology, is a member of the Authors Guild, Writers Guild of America, Dramatists’ Guild, the New York Academy of Science, and the Archaeological Institute of America. He is listed in Who’s Who in America and lives in New York City.
Introduction
As we settle more securely into the new millennium, people’s interests in the cosmic continue to grow. Even ordinary Joes and Janes who normally wouldn’t be caught dead reading an astrology column are suddenly wondering what the second millennium will mean for them and this world of ours.
To begin with, the millennium came and went over a decade ago. Jesus was born not the the year zero but in 7 B.C., on October 9, to be exact, as I proved quite a while ago after fifteen years of archeological research. This business of the millennium was strictly hype, a promotion that was created to make people think something very special would happen in the year 2000. The psychological effects of this “millennium,” however, are already upon us—casting a shadow in terms of a renewed great interest in things paranormal, for instance.
Several new TV talk shows and documentaries dealing with psychic phenomena and the exploration of the frontiers of human consciousness have sprung up, filling the television screens with tabloid tidbits often lacking in depth and validating research. Fictional forays into worlds beyond are also currently hugely successful both in film and television, and in books and even Websites.
As a purveyor of genuine information regarding psychic phenomena, I welcome this resurgence of curiosity in worlds beyond the physical because contemplating these matters tends to make people think about themselves, their ultimate fate, and the nature of humankind itself.
When it comes to dealing with the hard evidence of life after death, there are three classes of people—and this may remain the case for a long time to come, considering how resistant humans are to embracing radically new or different concepts.
