A Haunted Ripley Museum

The last time I read about Ripley Museums they were dealing with a shortage of Shrunken Heads.When you think of all the things to be found there it seems likely that some hauntings may happen,This appeared in AOL News.(A few highlights.Click the link at the end for the full account.Info about a TAPS tour also.)

"...you might want to head down to St. Augustine, Fla., the oldest city in the United States and home to the first -- and oldest -- Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, Castle Warden.

Both the city and the museum are reputed to be haunted.

In fact, The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS -- the real-life ghost busters of the Syfy Network's popular "Ghost Hunters International" series – have been to Castle Warden and other eerie spots around St. Augustine, searching for signs of a real haunting.

Castle Warden is a historic mansion, built in 1887 by millionaire William Warden. The building, which resembles a medieval fortress, became a hotel in the 1940s, where Robert Ripley was a frequent visitor.

The building was acquired by Ripley's heirs after his death in 1949, and in December 1950, it opened as the original Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, housing many artifacts from Ripley's personal collection of amazing oddities and curiosities from around the world.

There's everything from an Abraham Lincoln life mask to a vampire slaying kit to the erector set Ferris wheel that's two stories high that took a guy 17 years to make -- it's pure insanity at every turn."
On the truly freaky level, Ingwersen adds that visitors to Castle Warden often report hearing mysterious voices or catching glimpses of apparitions in the labyrinthine, four-story, 25-room building. He said that some claim to smell smoke from a fire in the 1940s that killed two women who were in the building when it was a hotel.

Now we get into the paranormal, where sensitives and psychics consistently come into these rooms and they keep getting these same premonitions and feelings that something terrible happened in that building. So that's one of the reasons why we think it's haunted."

Those are among many cases of ghostly occurrences that have been reported at Castle Warden, according to Ingwersen.
"We've had various people that have called the police because right up there on the third floor, they'll see a woman at a window, screaming. That window's been boarded up since 1950, but they see her screaming..."
http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/syfy-network-ghost-hunter-dustin-pari-targets-ripleys-oldest-museum/19619042

THE MACKIE HAUNTING

When I first saw this, I thought it was the familiar one about the country singer and his place that has been on several mainstream programs.This is a different spelling though and a different story...from About Paranormal

"By now it must be clear to you that not all hauntings are benign. They can sometimes - although rarely - be far more physical and threatening than a fleeting shadow drawn by Casper the Friendly Ghost.

What took place at the Machttp://paranormal.about.com/od/trueghoststories/a/aa102807_4kie farmhouse beginning in February, 1695, for example, is one of the most active and violent poltergeist cases on record. I was also well documented, having been witnessed and experienced by more than a dozen upstanding members of this Scottish community. Andrew Mackie, described by neighbors as "honest, civil and harmless," lived in the modest farmhouse with his wife and children. The property had been known to be haunted, but the Mackies experienced nothing out of the ordinary there... until that February.

The attack on the Mackies began with an assault of stones and other objects, thrown by some invisible force. Several family members were struck and injured by the missiles. The family sought the counsel of Alexander Telfair, the parish minister, who upon arrival experienced first-hand the bewildering phenomena. Whatever the entity was, it "molested me mightily," Telfair said, "threw stones and divers other things at me, and beat me several times on the Shoulders and Sides with a great Staff, so that those who were present heard the noise of the Blows."

The hateful presence was unrelenting. The Mackies testified that it attacked their children one night in their beds, delivering forceful spankings. More than once "it would drag People about their House by their Clothes," an investigation described. A blacksmith narrowly escaped death when a trough and plowshare were hurled at him. Small buildings on the property spontaneously burst into flames and burned to cinders. During a family prayer meeting, chunks of flaming peat pelted them. A human shape, seemingly made out of cloth, appeared, groaning, "Hush... hush."

This being the late 17th century, the Mackies were quick to attribute the phenomena to demons. On April 9, Andrew Mackie enlisted no less than five ministers to exorcize the farmhouse of the demonic spirits. But the ministers were to have their hands full throughout the ritual. Stones hailed down on them. A few of the minister, including Telfair, claimed that something had grabbed them by the legs or feet and lifted them into the air. The clergymen were not willing to yield victory to the entity, however, continuing their exorcism efforts for more than two weeks. Then on Friday, April 26, a voice from the invisible specter declared to them, "Thou shalt be troubled 'till Tuesday."

When that day arrived, the witnesses watched in astonishment as a dark, cloud-like shape formed in the corner of the Mackies' barn. As they stared, the cloud grew larger and blacker until it nearly filled the entire building. Blobs of mud flew out of the cloud into the faces of the witnesses. Some were gripped by some vice-like force. And then... it vanished, just as it promised it would."
http://paranormal.about.com/od/trueghoststories/a/aa102807_4.htm (Mackie)

Reporter Scared On Ghost Hunt

Groups generally have a protection ritual or prayer before beginning to investigate,Sounds as if shr missed it.Seriously,this can be a dangerous job.

"I AM scared - I think I've let a ghost into my own home.

Having spent days investigating all things ghostly, dozens of haunting tales have flooded in.

But here is one of my own - involving blackouts, creatures in my bed and my once-adoring cat too spooked to come near me.

It began when two ghostly children mysteriously appeared in the background of a photo of Picton cemetery sent to The Daily Telegraph.

Since Tuesday my work days have been a blur of mist, mysterious figures, orbs and the question of what, if anything, is out there. So it was a relief to be heading home for a night in.

But there was to be no relaxing in front of the TV as my house was plunged into darkness moments before I arrived. At first I thought it was a routine blackout - only to soon find out it had affected only a handful of the more than 60 houses in the street.

*
It was strange coincidence but a night with no electricity gave me a chance to imagine what life was like circa 1886, the same year 11-year-old Blanche Moon died at Picton.

Three hours later and the lights were restored so I headed for bed. But hopes of slumber were ended after a nasty eight-legged creature ran across my pillow. Nothing like a spider to wake you up faster than three shots of coffee.

After these few strange instances, I was ready for a few cuddles from my cat. My 13-year-old cat Dilly is usually only too willing to rub against my legs.

But not that night. In fact, ever since the first story about the Picton ghosts appeared, my once faithful feline won't have anything to do with me.

He bounds away with a wild and terrified look in his eyes.

His fear is akin to someone who's just seen a ghost"

The picture is of Amy Dale the reporter and her cat.Thanks for the story.

Paranormal Pastimes In New Orleans

You may go for the Mardi Grais or maybe not, but when you are in New Orleans there are many things of interest in the Paranormal field.
I was going through some old videos and remembered the gracious use granted of some vacation photos by a fellow Etsy Artist used i my Voodoo posts last year.Viola, then came an interesting article about Haunted New Orleans so thought together they would make a nice post as Mardi Grais approaches..
Voodoo In New Orleans


"Haunted New Orleans by Sarah Amandolare


New Orleans is a haven for fun-loving revelers, but beneath the surface of this colorful coastal city lay ghosts and spirits—perhaps more than in any other city in the United States. We’ve narrowed down New Orleans’ plethora of scary places to six, including a hauntingly beautiful cemetery, an alleyway with a past and a bar beloved by Tennessee Williams.
The Haunts of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
The oldest cemetery in New Orleans is also the most haunted. St. Louis No. 1 “is a grand European mixture of ornate marble tombs, crumbling memorials and narrow, winding footpaths,” according to Haunted America Tours. But that’s not all. Because of high water levels in New Orleans, which made underground burials difficult, St. Louis No. 1 (there’s also a No. 2) is home to many above-ground tombs and mausoleums. Stroll the “maze-like” grounds and you’re likely to hear sad cries from within the crypts, and see misty ghosts roaming about. Marie Laveau, known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, is the most feared ghost in the cemetery, often appearing to visitors as a black cat with red eyes....
Full aericle http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/feature-articles/2008/october/Haunted-New-Orleans.html

Hauntings,"Demoted Angels"

Paranormal investigator and author Scotty Roberts on Coast to Coast AM Radio discussed the nature of demonic forces and hauntings.
He also talked about spirit beings such as fairies, and his work with Tarot cards.

In conducting investigations into ghostly phenomena, he stressed the importance of the credibility of the investigators who use detection devices such as the Ghost Box. He's concluded that ghosts of deceased people do exist-- some are trapped here, some want to communicate, and there are also demonic spirits that want to distract or cause difficulty.



Roberts described an episode of demonic attachment he underwent, in which the apparitions of two scraggly children appeared at the foot of his bed. He recommended Adam Blai's website which looks at demons from a religious perspective.

Beings such as fairies, leprechauns, elves, and elementals could be thought of as "demoted angels"-- they remained neutral in the angelic war, and thus were bound with the Earth, he offered. They may have started out as greater beings, and over time receded in size, influence, and visibility, he suggested. Regarding the Tarot, he said the cards don't always tell you what you want to hear, but rather what you need to know. Starting in July, Scotty Roberts will host a new show on Dark Plains Radio.

http://www.deadreckoningtv.com/

http://religiousdemonology.com/ Religious Demonology

The Jewelry Box

This is a story that was told to me last year.
The Jewelry Box

Another incident happened about 6 years ago. I lived in a three bedroom house with my two daughters and son in law.

My son in-law (Cranston) who worked at a moving company, he worked the night shift.

Well, he brought home this old jewelry box which contained 3 pieces of cheap earrings. On the front of the box had a picture of a girl in the colonial days. It was painted on the box.

Well, what Cranston failed to tell us, 'til later, was that, some of his coworkers had also brought home the box to their families and then brought it back to work, without saying why.

Anyway, he brought it home to give my daughter, Tanya, thinking maybe she may want it. She said she felt uneasy whenever she was near the box. And felt really strange when she first laid eyes on it. So one day she decided to ask me if I wanted the jewelry box. I told her no, since she herself, felt right out uncomfortable with it. So she put it on the shoe shelf located near the back door.

As the weeks went by, Cranston mentioned to a Hawaiian coworker, about the box. And how we, his family, didn't feel good about keeping it, or even having it in the house. His friend advised him to burn the box, because, we weren't the only ones, that felt strange about the box.

It was about 10:30 PM when he and his friend were discussing about how to burn the box. Strangely about 10:30 PM, Cranston actually punched out from work, and already had plans to destroy the box.

Meanwhile, back at our house. I was getting ready for bed. Duane ( my boyfriend) and I had just gone under the covers. My two daughters and a friend were in the dining room they were playing Scrabble. Now the Dining room is located right by the back door.

At approximately 10:30 PM my daughters noticed that the dining room became very extra quiet. So quiet, that they recall, they could have heard a pin drop. That the air in the dining room became very still and very silent.

At about the same time. Duane and I heard this loud, bloodcurdling, scream. It was from a girl, who. we didn't know, but it was loud and at first she screamed with horror and then moaned and wept. We sat up in bed and looked at each other, that very moment we knew we both heard her, I panicked, I thought it was my daughter Tanya, thinking that Cranston and her were fighting, I asked Duane to check on her, in the meantime, I sat up in bed, thinking, oh my goodness, what will the neighbors say, being it was so late at night.

Duane must have been gone for only one minute or so, he returned to the room calmly, I took one look at him and asked, what happened. He looked stunned. Said nothing is wrong. Not agreeing with him, I said you must be joking. I then ran to the dining room, to check it out myself. My kids were quiet, they looked up at me and I was furious. I asked them, if they heard that girl scream.
They all said no, that there was no noise, at all. I looked at them with disbelief. The cry of this girl was so loud and horrible. She sounded so much in pain. No one but Duane and I heard her. I stood in the dining room with my kids and their friend. I couldn't believe it. There's got to be an explanation. But there wasn't.

I returned back to my room, where Duane was waiting up for me. We both didn't say a thing. We were both in shock.

The next morning. We all sat around the dining room, trying to make sense of the night before.

We then realize that at the precise time 10:30 PM, it was then decided on how Cranston was going to destroy the jewelry box. It was 10:30 PM, the precise time, that my daughters recall how still the air was in the dining room, how quiet, it was. And it was the precise time , 10:30 PM, that Duane and I both heard that bloodcurdling scream and the moaning and weeping that followed.

The box took almost 3 hours to burn. Cranston used a small torch.

To this day, I have no explanation.

You Tube ofThe Great Eastern

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Ghost Ship The Great Eastern

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Another famous Ghost Ship is The Great Eastern.It's only successful venture was the part it played in laying the Trans Atlantic Cable.It was considered cursed from the beginning.

The Great Eastern was the Titanic of its day. Built in 1857, at 100,000 tons it was six times larger than any ship ever built and, like the Titanic, seemed destined for trouble.

The double hull was unique but difficult to build. Construction men fell to their death while working at deadly heights. Other gruesome accidents took the lives of other workers.Construction of such a massive ship involved millions of hand-driven rivets. An estimated 1,000 workers were hired to comprise 200 “rivet gangs” to get the job done. Because someone small had to squeeze inside the narrow space between the double hulls, young “bash boys” were hired to do this work.

These boys spent 12-hour days in the space between the hulls, enduring the deafening thunder of the riveters’ hammers. After construction was completed, some of the men working as riveters could not be found. There were rumors that they had been accidentally sealed into the hull of the ship.This was soon forgotten.

When its builders tried to launch it on January 30, 1858, it was so heavy that it jammed the launch mechanism and stopped dead.

Even though it was eventually put afloat, it lay in harbor for about a year because the money had run out to finish it. The Great Eastern was then bought by the Great Ship Company, which finished it and put it out to sea.

During its sea trials, a huge ventilator explosion killed at least one man and scalded several others with boiling water.

One month later, its builder, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, died of a stroke.

Despite its size, the cursed ship never carried a full complement of passengers, not even on its maiden voyage.
On her fourth voyage, it was badly damaged in a storm, necessitating costly repairs.

In 1862, while carrying its record number of passengers - 1,500 - it sailed over an uncharted area and tore open its bottom... saved from sinking only by its double hull.

On several occasions, a strange hammering noise of an unknown source could be heard far below decks. The crew said it could be heard even above the gale of a storm and sometimes woke sailors from their sleep.

The ship continued to lose money for its owners, but was successful in helping lay a transatlantic cable in 1865. Better ships built for the purpose soon replaced the Great Eastern, however, and for 12 years it sat rusting until it was eventually sold for scrap metal.

As it was being taken apart, the source of the ship's bad luck, perhaps (and the phantom hammering), was discovered: within the double hull was the skeleton of the master shipwright who had mysteriously disappeared during construction

You Tube Haunted Queen Mary Part !

The Haunted Queen Mary

One of the most famous of all cruise ships, the Queen Mary - now a hotel and tourist attraction - is said to be host to several ghosts. One may be the spirit of John Pedder, a 17-year-old crewman who was crushed to death by a watertight door in 1966 during a routine drill. Unexplained knocking has been heard around this door, and a tour guide reported that she saw a darkly dressed figure as she was leaving the area where Pedder had been killed. She saw his face and recognized that it was Pedder from his photographs. A mysterious woman in white has been sighted near the front desk. Typically, she disappears behind a pillar and does not reappear. Another ghost, dressed in blue-gray overalls and sporting a long beard, has been spotted in the shaft alley of the engine room. Ghostly voices and laughter have been heard by the ship's swimming pool. One employee saw the wet footprints of a child appearing on the pool deck... with no one there.

An interesting video from UTube covers this information.Should you wish to view the second half or Part 2 you will find the links below
Part 1
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tj4wbhgzUVg
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN_kaXPIK90&NR=1

Rudy's Story Of The Haunting Doll

When Dr Warren was home the summer between his second and third years at UVA Medical School a very peculiar thing happened to his Sister.
She collected dolls and had since they both were small children.She brought home with her a "new" addition to her collection.It was an antique doll with a china head and kid leather body dressed in a long white Christening gown with a matching bonnet.The dress and cap were trimmed with handmade lace,a bit of white ribbon was tucked around the edges.She had little black leather boots. All the stitching had been done by hand.
His Sister was quite delighted with her.She had bought the doll at an Estate sale in the Georgetown area near the University where she was a junior.

Rudy who later turned out to be a sensitive, had a gut reaction of intense dislike for the doll."It was a terrible feeling.",he said.."I didn't know what to say.I just could not stand to look at the thing."His mother and sister ignored his comments about the bad feelings and continued to talk about what the doll's life must have been like, the beauty of the stitching and where in the room for the collection she would look best.

Two nights later, the family was awakened by a series of loud thumping sounds coming from the room where the collection was on display.All of the family rushed to the room and saw nothing.This happened twice more that night and for the next three nights.Then the lights started flickering on and off as well.By the end of the week the door was slamming.They were all edgy by this time even the older Dr.Warren.
Rudy's claim that it must be the doll did not seem so amusing.By the middle of the next week as the hall lights were now flicking and the thumping was even louder,hid father said"Damm it I have a case in the morning.Get rid of that doll."
His sister gave it to a cousin.
Within a week, the cousin's husband had burned the beautiful little doll because of all the thumps and flickering lights in their house.Their rocking chair was also rocking wildly.
We will never know what was involved but it sounds as if the doll was haunting both houses.

The Ghost Who Missed The Bus

Long ago in the rural and poor mountain area of North Georgia where I grew up,There was one school for all grades.I rode one of the three School busses.On the route to school we went by a "Hainted" house.The locals called ghosts "haints."There were many stories about the near tumble down relic.
My two neighbor boys and their father saw "Two big balls of fire goin'in and out a there at the full moon" I liked to hear about it every month.
One morning a little first grader JW who always sat in the back and looked out the window yelled to the driver "Wait,Here he comes."He saw a "big boy a wantin'to catch us."No one else saw any one.This happened about three or four times and the driver,Mr.Gailey, was getting pretty tired of it.Every time and just past that house.People began to tease JW about seeing Haints.On the next day,Mr.Gailey stopped the bus and said "OK Ain'nobody here ,JW." JW replied "Here he comes."Whether it was a trick or an appearance,the door of the bus opened.Kids sitting near the front said it felt like a cold breeze came through,and they heard steps.Some of the rest of us screamed.Mr.Gailey gunned up that bus and we left in a hurry.
After that, no one teased JW any more and he never asked to wait for the boy who missed the bus again.

The pendant in the picture is from Etsy.com.From the shop of rocktasticplastic