Ghosts and Hauntings

The Prince Rupert Hotel in Shrewsbury

2013-12-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

If you're after a really scary night, The Prince Rupert Hotel in Shrewsbury, Shropshire could be the hotel for you. In room six, guests have reported seeing the figure of a jilted bride hanging from the ceiling, while room seven is believed to be haunted by the ghost of a young man who killed himself after an unhappy love affair. Apparently, the disturbances in room six were so unnerving that it has now been turned into a conference suite

Prestbury - The Most Haunted Village in Gloucestershire

2013-04-29T18:43:00.004-07:00

You will find the charming village of Prestbury, with its thatched and timbered cottages, on the north-east fringe of Cheltenham. It was made part of the Cheltenham Borough in 1991 following a boundary change.

Apparently more paranormal activities have been experienced here than almost any other village in England. Only Pluckley in Kent is said to boast more ghosts haunting its streets. It is, therefore an excellent place to visit during the build up to Halloween if you want to match a walk with the seasons.

Having parked your car in the small public car park just off Mill Street, an ideal pub to visit before or after your walk is the 17th century Plough Inn, Mill Street. The Plough Inn which is said to have begun life as a bakery, stands opposite 12th century St Mary’s Church where the ghostly Black Abbot is said to reside.

This delightful thatched pub serves well-cooked basic pub grub and a fine selection of real ales, which are all served with a smile. It also boasts a picturesque garden at the rear.

Your walk starts at the car park. On leaving it turn right into The Bank and right again into Mill Street then walk on in this direction until you reach the B4632 which – despite being a B road – is very busy. Caution is advised before crossing. Having crossed the road, walk 100 yards to the left until you reach a stile and a way marker. On entering the first field walk diagonally left until you reach another stile.

Now it is a matter of following a well-worn track, bearing slightly to the left until you come to a stile which bears right and takes you to yet another stile and a field leading to Queen’s Wood, which will appear in front of you. Now cross a track, having climbed a stile each side of the track, and enter the field that abuts the wood. This walk does not take you into the wood, instead keeping it on your right you follow its boundary and then a path which dips down past several old oak trees to a stile that returns you to the main road. As you walk this section Cheltenham’s famous racecourse comes into view, also the magnificent 15th century Tudor Manor House, once the home of Lord Ellenborough, a former Governor General of India, now the Hotel de la Bere, which like so many buildings in this area is reputed to be haunted.

Once you have crossed the road again, turn right and follow the pavement which bears left through a stylish housing estate. Soon you will spot a track on the left hand side which leads to a gate, and then a kissing gate and a field. You will now be approaching the Hotel de la Bere on the right and be close enough to admire its ancient architecture properly.

At this point a well-worn track, which appears on the horizon to the right, will guide you back to Prestbury. Having passed a series of paddocks and fields you will cross a footbridge and gate that would have once provided a crossing over a fast moving stream. This year it is bone dry, not a spot of water to be seen.

Keeping the hedge to your right aim for the right hand corner of the field where you will discover yet another kissing gate and a minor road that leads to Shaw Green Lane. As you walk this lane you may encounter a ghostly rider, said to be a royal dispatch rider. Walk this lane without hearing the spectral hoof beats and you will come to a footpath that travels through the houses and will take you back to Mill Street. You could return home at this point, or have fun wandering round Prestbury, spotting the many streets and buildings that are reputed to be haunted. These include:

Sundial Cottage in the Burgage where you might hear a young girl playing the spinet. As the Burgage is a medieval passage, you might well encounter a phantom with an arrow through his heart who is said to appear from time to time too.
Reform Cottage, Deep Street, is built alongside a monk’s burial ground, so be prepared to see a ghostly monk or two.
In Mill Street you may well spot Mrs Pree’s ghost who glides along the road towards the fields. As this street is the scene of many hauntings, you may also meet the Black Abbot wandering there, also a man dressed in a mackintosh.
Stand outside the Plough Inn and be prepared for the sound of horses hooves galloping down the street. Herdsmen once found it difficult to get their sheep to pass the Plough Inn and dogs are sometimes seen to cower beside the front door.
High Street is home to a ghostly old lady in a large hat, a singing ghost and a woman in long cloths and a mob cap who glides two feet above the surface of the road.

Chickamauga, Chattanooga Tennessee

2012-03-06T19:47:00.001-08:00

The Battle of Chickamauga was one of the most important battles in the Civil War. It was a confederate victory and is considered by historians to be the most significant Union loss of the war. The battle also saw the second highest casualties of the war, behind Gettysburg. In the aftermath of the battle 34, 624 Americans were killed and another 24,430 were wounded. In a twist of ironic foreshadowing the river that the battle is named for was named by the Cherokee Native Americans before the battle took place and can be loosely translated to mean “river of death”. But perhaps the Cherokee had their own reasons for calling it river of death.

The Chickamauga battleground is claimed to be the home of many paranormal entities. Some claim that one of these ghosts dates back to a time before the civil war. It is said during the battle that many of the soldiers claimed to see a six-foot humanoid on the battlefield. It is said that the figure would drag off the dead bodies and wounded, and some claim to have seen it eat the dead. The creatures most striking feature was its piercing green eyes. Sightings of Old Green Eyes as locals affectionately call him still continue to this day. Other apparitions are said to haunt the ground as well. A mysterious lady in a white dress is often seen wondering the battlefield; perhaps looking for a lost loved one. The most interesting of all these sightings, though, are those of whole cavalries.

David Lester is a Civil War buff that takes part in the yearly reenactments of the battle. He claims that about five years ago, he and several of his friends went to say hello to some fellow confederate soldiers that were camped nearby. Lester found their unwillingness to break character charming and admired their dedication to the reenactment. Lester and his friends returned to their campsite several hours later and turned in for the night. The next morning when they got up, the campsite they had visited the previous night was gone. So were the confederate soldiers they spent hours with. There wasn’t even a sign of a fire or stakes in the ground where the tents would have been.

Babenhausen Barracks

2012-03-04T23:54:00.002-08:00

At the German Babenhausen Barracks (now a museum) the ghosts of German soldiers, some in World War II era uniforms, have been reported. Lights are said to turn off and on by themselves and voices are heard in the basement. Footsteps and commands are allegedly heard at night, supposedly without physical cause. Legend has it that if a soldier happens to visit the museum and pick up a telephone, a woman will at times be heard “talking backwards”, unintelligible, in neither German nor English. The town was the site of a witch burned at the stake in the 19th century, and her ghost is said to have seduced, and then killed, several German soldiers since then. Pictured above are two American Soldiers at the Barracks in 1974

The USS Hornet

2012-03-01T23:30:00.003-08:00

The USS Hornet was a flagship vessel in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was one of the most highly decorated ships of that time period. She was also a pinnacle part of the Vietnam War and had the honor of recovering the astronauts returning from the moon in the Apollo 11 and 12 space missions. This success also has a dark side as this decorated warship has seen over 300 deaths. Most of which were men struck down in battle, but others died in freak accidents like snapping cables that decapitate sailors or men accidentally being sucked into air intake pipes. The hornet, for all its success, also has the highest suicide rate of all the ships in the Navy.

The ship was retired in 1970 and was docked in Alameda, California and was opened up to the public in 1998 as a museum. It was then that many of the visiting tourists and crew aboard the ship began having paranormal experiences. Doors opening and shutting with no visible force, disappearing tools, objects moving by themselves, and the apparitions of sailors carrying about with their duties as if it was still 1944 are among the paranormal claims. Some people even claim that the ghosts on board the ship can be hostile in nature with claims that some have been pushed and grabbed by an invisible force while on board the ship.

The USS Hornet is a ship rich and history and possible rich in paranormal activity as well. Perhaps the cause for all this activity is the tragic past and abundance untimely deaths. Regardless of the cause of the haunting, the ship is notorious for its historical value as well as its ghosts. It is often called the most haunted vessel in the American Navy.

Bell Witch

2012-02-26T21:45:00.002-08:00

The story of the Bell Witch has been a mainstay around campfires in the Tennessee area for many years. It is considered to be the most well documented haunting in American history. In 2005 the story received national attention when it served as the basis for the movie An American Haunting starring Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland. The movie, unfortunately, was not an accurate retelling of the story. It took the basics of the story and shoehorned it into a Japanese style ghost-revenge flick. The real story of the Bell Witch is far more interesting and frightening than the movie ever thought about being.

In the early 1800s a man by the name of John Bell decided to follow the lead of many other Americans at the time and seek opportunities out west. He uprooted his family from the Carolinas and moved to the Red River community in Tennessee, present day Adams, Tennessee. John was very successful in Tennessee. He acquired a large amount of land and a large house in Tennessee to raise his family. He also became a high-ranking official at his local church. His success would unfortunately come with an unbearable price.

The haunting did not start until 1817, after the Bells had been settled in their new house for several years. One day John was inspecting his crops when he spotted something strange in his field. He slowly approached the animal armed with his gun. The creature was an abomination of nature. It seemed to have the body of a large dog, but with an unusual head that resembled a rabbit. John took several shots at the animal before it got away from him. John thought nothing more of the incident, as guns in that time period were not known for being accurate, so he just assumed he had missed the strange animal.

Side note: Why do you think wars in this time period were fought where people stood in line and took turns taking shots at each other? It was to increase the chances they would hit something. This is not a joke, but the truth. This is how inaccurate weapons were.

That same night the Bells began hearing strange noises outside of their home. Sometimes it would sound as if someone was beating on the house from the outside. Other times it sounded as if an animal was loudly gnawing on something. As time went by the Bells frequently began experiencing these noises. The Bell men would often rush outside when the noises would start and try to find the source of the disturbances but to no avail. One day the noises moved to the inside of the house. The children began claiming that they were hearing the gnawing noises coming from within their rooms and were having trouble sleeping. The activity became more intense when the children began complaining that something was jerking the covers off them and taking their pillows while they tried to sleep.

As time passed the entity appeared to gain strength. Soon the family started hearing a faint voice in their homes at night. What the voice was saying was impossible to determine, but it appeared to be the voice of a feeble old woman. The voice eventually become more clear and would sing church songs, quote scripture, and sometimes even took part in conversations, though the voice was always cynical in these discussions. The entity even began identifying itself as the “witch” of Kate Batts, a former neighbor who John had several verbal altercations with after a slave purchase between the two ended badly.

The Lady of Bachelor's Grove

2012-02-24T01:06:00.001-08:00

This photo was taking at Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery in Illinois. While it does not get the press that Illinois Resurrection Cemetery does, many experts in the field of the paranormal consider it to be one of the most haunted graveyards in the world. So what is so unique about a photo of a women sitting on a stone in a graveyard? According to the people who took this photo the woman was not there when the picture was taken. The photo was taking by Mari Huff who is a member of the respected paranormal investigating group Ghost Research Society, so this helps lend some credibility to the story. In my opinion, it looks to be a staged photograph but I definitely think the photo’s authenticity is worth a debate.

Tower of London Ghosts

2012-02-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

The Tower of London ghosts are certainly some of the most famous of the many British ghosts. Everybody knows the story at least one.
Some parts of the Tower of London date back over 900 years. Many of its buildings have been a place of imprisonment, torture or execution so it is little wonder that there should be so many ghosts. What is surprising however, is the sheer variety of spectres.

Anne Boleyn
Anne is one Tower ghost, of whose life and death one cannot read without being moved. It seems inconceivable that anyone could accuse one's own wife of such terrible crimes. The crimes of adultery, high treason and incest with her brother.
That her spirit seems to be unable to find peace and that Anne Boleyn's ghost has been seen both at the Tower where she met her death and at Hever Castle, where Henry courted her, is probably not too surprising.

Princes in the Tower
Perhaps the most pathetic of the Tower of London ghosts are the Princes in the Tower. Edward V, aged 12 and Richard Duke of York, aged 10 were imprisoned and probably smothered on the orders of Richard III. Their ghosts, sometimes holding hands, have been seen in various rooms in the Bloody Tower where they were incarcerated. In 1674, two small skeletons were found in a chest and given a Royal funeral. Recently, the bones were exhumed and forensically examined. Although the results were inconclusive, it was determined that the bones belonged to male children of the correct age.

Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury
One of the most horrifying appearances by any of the Tower of London ghosts is the annual re-enactment by phantoms of the Lady Margaret Pole execution. Supposed to be a beheading, in the end she was simple butchered

Sir Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh has also been seen around Byward Tower by modern day guards. During his 12 years imprisonment here, he was allowed to wander at will. On that occasion, he was released. However, he upset King James VI and lost his head on 29th October 1618.

Demolition workers photograph 'ghost of former guesthouse worker'

2012-01-26T06:17:00.000-08:00

Demolition workers were given a fright after photographing a ghostly figure peering through the window of a derelict Victorian guesthouse.

The photograph showing a figure standing at the window of the derelict Victorian guesthouse in Kendal,

The image is said to bear an eerie resemblance of Frances Grimshaw, who worked at the guesthouse and stood for hours at the same window taking bookings.

David Grimshaw, a former resident at the property, said he was convinced the figure is the ghost of his mother, who died nearly a year ago aged 87.

He believes her spirit may have appeared to protest at the demolition of Meadowbank House, which she adored.

"That is my mother. I'm totally convinced – no one else looks like that. She had glasses and big earrings and she used to wear a dress with a bow at the front," he said.

"She used to stand in that room for hours on the phone – it was the guesthouse reception and she took bookings from there.”

Mr Grimshaw, 59, a managing director, who now lives in Bedford, said: "She would have been horrified if she had known the house was being demolished because it was beautiful, so maybe that is why she's turned up."
Demolition supervisor Robert Johnson, 38, of Heysham, took the photograph of the house shortly before it was knocked down, earlier this week but it was only later that he noticed the ghostly figure.
"It wasn't until I got home and showed my wife that we spotted the woman," he said.
"You can see the jewellery on her and everything. I've always been a sceptic but I'll have to believe in ghosts now."
Colleague Stuart Shan, 34, from Blackburn, Lancashire, said: "The day before we took the photo we were stripping the building inside and I noticed the chandelier swinging on its own.
"We said at the time the place felt strange. My hairs were standing on end when I saw the photo. I believe it is a ghost."
Dave Armstrong, of Kendal contractors Cox and Allen, said the five-gabled building, which was originally a dentist's in the early 1900s, has been taken down to be replaced with a new commercial property.
He said he could not explain the image of the woman. "There was only a black wall behind the window, we had taken everything out – there were no visible features or anything with a skin colour."

Littlecote House Ghost

2012-01-19T10:20:00.000-08:00

The story of the Littlecote House ghosts relates how a local midwife was woken late one night and offered a large sum of money if she would attend to a woman who was in urgent need of her services, but she had to be blindfolded. She agreed and was taken to a big house where she was instructed by a masked man to deliver a baby to a masked woman. The baby, a boy, was safely born whereupon the masked man grabbed the child and threw it on the roaring, open fire and held it there with his boot until it was dead. The midwife was devastated but as she made a final check on the progress of the mother, she had the presence of mind to tear a piece of cloth from the bed curtains. And as she was led, once again blindfolded, down the steps of the house, she counted them one by one.
The poor midwife kept her silence until, on her deathbed, she revealed the terrible secret. Immediately, suspicion fell on 'Wild Will Darrell' of Littlecote House. It was even suggested that the mystery masked mother might be his sister and that Darrell himself may be the father. The number of steps up to the manor agreed with the number given by the midwife and when a search was made of the house, in one bed-chamber a hole was found in the bed-curtains that matched exactly the piece torn out be the midwife. Darrell was arrested but it was said that there was not enough evidence to convict him and he walked from the court, a free man.
Divine Justice
But there is a higher law and it is a matter of history that Wild Darrell was killed when he was thrown from his horse while hunting in 1587 at a spot now known as "Darrell's Stile". His twisted spectre has been seen both at the scene of his death and in a bedroom in the house itself. But Wild Darrell is not the only Littlecote house ghost. In 1970, a journalist saw the figure of a midwife carrying a baby in the haunted bedroom. He rushed to fetch his camera and when he returned, the figure had vanished.
The phantom mother
Another Littlecote House ghost seems to have appeared to Peter de Savary soon after he became owner of the property. He decided to hold an auction sale of unwanted furnature and other stuff from the house. As he was walking around the house on the morning of the sale, he encountered a mid-aged woman dressed in modern clothes in one of the corridors. Before de Savary could ask her how she came to be there, the woman spoke. She told him that he was wicked and evil for removing her baby's clothes from the chapel. She told him that if he returned the box to its proper place, he would prosper. However, she warned him, no good would come if he failed to do this. She then seemed to disappear before the startled man's eyes.
de Savary remembered the box. He had removed it from a window ledge in the chapel. He eventually found it amongst the other items for sale. When the box was opened, it did indeed contain baby clothes and some paper that dated them to 1861. Not surprisingly, he put the box back on the chapel window ledge where he had originally found it.
Blue Lady
A woman in a blue gown has also been spotted by a guide on the staircase. There was a rope across to prevent access by visitors and the apparition walked straight through it. Perhaps, not surprisingly, there is heard the sound of a crying baby in the haunted bedroom.
And there is also an animal ghost at Littlecote.

Golden Fleece, York

2012-01-15T15:54:00.000-08:00

The Golden Fleece is actually a pub. However they have four rooms for guests which is why it is listed under Haunted Hotels. The proprietors actually admit to having no less than five ghosts. Differant accounts of them make reference to different spectres. However, on one Golden Fleece ghost, all accounts agree. That of Lady Alice Peckett, wife of John Peckett who was landlord of the pub in 1702 and Lord Mayor of London.
One of the guest rooms, known as Lady Peckett's Room, seems to a favourite haunt of hers. However, she has also been seen by many guests as she walking up the staircase or gliding along the corridor. It is Lady Pechett who is 'blamed' for objects and furnature being moved. But it couldn't be her who activates the hand dryer in the gents lavatory of the bar in the dead of night, could it!

Cleopatra's Needle - Phantom Suicide

2012-01-13T17:28:00.000-08:00

This 3,500 year old, 68 foot tall monument, which has absolutely no connection to Cleopatra, was a gift to the British Government from the people of Egypt in 1819 to commemorate the victory of Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.
There were severe difficulties transporting the obelisk and several sailors were drowned during its journey. It was not until 1878 that the monument was finally erected on the Thames Embankment.
Mocking laughter can sometimes be heard from the area around the stone obelisk as well as unearthly screams. Whether these belong to the lost sailors is not known.
Another River Thames ghost seen here is a ghostly naked man who has been seen dashing from behind the monument and jumping into the cold water which accepts him without the faintest ripple. Strangely, Cleopatra's Needle does seem to be a magnet for those suicides intent on drowning themselves in the River.
It is interesting to note that the two sphinxes at the base of the pillar actually face the wrong way as Queen Victoria thought this was more aesthetically pleasing. When the column was erected, a 'time capsule' was buried underneath. It contained a bizarre assortment of objects including a gentleman's razor, a box of cigars and pictures of female Victorian 'pin-ups'.

Ghost Monkey - Athelhampton Hall, Dorset

2012-01-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

This must be one of Britain's most exotic animal ghosts.Athelhampton House boasts a ghost monkey. The house was originally built by the Martyn family who's family crest was a monkey sitting on a tree stump and their motto was, "He who looks at Martyn's ape, Martyn's ape will look at him". And it is Martyn's ape who haunts the hall.

The tragic story is as follows. The ape had freedom of the house and could wander as it chose. One of the daughters of the Martyn family had an unhappy love-affair and determined to kill herself. Maybe the ape sensed something had upset the girl, as pets often able to do. Whatever, as the girl climbed the hidden stairs to the secret room, the ape followed her unobserved. The poor girl put an end to her life feeling, no-doubt, that she was totally alone in the world.
But she was not alone, the ape was with her. What frantic attempts were made to find the girl or how long it was before she was found, we are not told. However, by that time, the poor monkey had starved to death. The ghost monkey is never seen but its spirit can be heard vainly scratching at the panelling of the secret room and staircase in an eternal, frantic attempt to escape.

Drury Lane Theatre Royal Ghosts

2012-01-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

Drury Lane has been called one of the world's most haunted theatres. The appearance of almost any one of the handful of ghosts that are said to frequent the theatre signals good luck for an actor or production. The most famous ghost is the "Man in Grey", who appears dressed as a nobleman of the late 18th century: powdered hair beneath a tricorne hat, a dress jacket and cloak or cape, riding boots and a sword. Legend says that the Man in Grey is the ghost of a knife-stabbed man whose skeletal remains were found within a walled-up side passage in 1848.
The ghosts of actor Charles Macklin and clown Joe Grimaldi are supposed to haunt the theatre. Macklin appears backstage, wandering the corridor which now stands in the spot where, in 1735, he killed his fellow actor Thomas Hallam in an argument over a wig. ("Goddamn you for a blackguard, scrub, rascal!" he shouted, thrusting a cane into Hallam's face and piercing his left eye. Joe Grimaldi is a helpful apparition, purportedly guiding nervous actors skillfully about the stage on more than one occasion. Stanley Lupino claimed to have seen the ghost of Dan Leno in a dressing room.

Chillingham Castle Ghosts

2011-12-28T10:16:00.000-08:00

Most of the Chillingham Castle ghosts are not the literally, 'tortured souls', that one might expect to find given the atrocities that went on there. Built over 800 years ago to stop the Scots from invading England. Anyone captured would find themselves in the Dungeon with its Torture chamber, the floor of which slopes to allow the blood to drain away.
There was no escape except death and prisoners made marks on the walls, which can still be seen, counting off the days until this merciful release from their unendurable suffering. If a prisoner was really unlucky then he came in for the attention of John Sage.
John Sage
This cruel and sadistic torturer, who died about 1200, has often been seen wandering around the castle. He used to take great pleasure in his grisly work, even devising new and 'improved' methods of inflicting pain on his victims. During the three years he held the job, he is said to have tortured to death over 7,500 people and killed several hundred others in various ways.
At the end of the war with the Scots, wanting to rid the castle of the prisoners, he rounded up the Scottish adults and older children being held and burnt them to death in the court-yard. He then took an axe, which can still be seen, and hacked to death the smaller children in the Edward room. The chandelier in that room sometimes swings by itself and people report a foul smell and strange atmosphere.
John Sage's undoing was when he accidentally strangling his girlfriend as they made love on the 'torture rack' in the castle dungeon. Unfortunately for John Sage, his girlfriend's father was a Border Reiver who said that he would gather a great army and attack the castle if Sage was not put to death. John Sage was publicly hanged from a tree in the castle grounds in front of a very large and enthusiastic crowd. And as he slowly died, people cut off pieces of him as 'souvenirs'. So ended the life of a truly detestable man.
Radiant Boy or Blue Boy
The most famous of the Chillingham Castle ghosts was the 'Radiant Boy' or 'Blue Boy'. The sound of a young child in absolute terror or fear would be heard at the stroke of midnight in the Pink Bedroom coming from a point where a passage had been cut through the 10 foot thick walls. The sound would suddenly cease and the wraith of a young boy, dressed in blue and surrounded by a bright aura would approach the old four-poster bed.
In the 1920's, building work was being carried out and the bones of a child were discovered along with scraps of blue bones were discovered. These were interred in the local graveyard and the Radiant Boy ceased making his appearances.
However, people who sleep in the bed in the Pink Room, report that one wall of the room still lights up with bright flashes of blue light.
Two lady ghosts
A Chillingham Castle ghost who can be seen today haunts the 'Inner pantry'. She is very frail and dressed in white, hence the name by which she is known. A watchman who slept in the room to guard the silver that used to be store there, saw the woman whom he assumed to be a guest. She asked him for water and as he turned to get her some, she disappeared. It has been suggested that the reason the spectre was so thirsty was that she had been poisoned.
Lady Mary Berkeley is another Chillingham Castle ghost. She is not seen but the rustle of her dress is heard by visitors or they feel a sudden cold chill as she endlessly searches for her husband. He scandalised the area when, in the 1600's, he seduced and ran off with his wife's younger sister. Poor Lady Mary was left all alone in the castle with just her small baby girl for company.

Castle of Mey (Barrogill Castle), Scotland

2011-12-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

Haunted castles don't come much more modern than this. The Castle of Mey or, as it was originally known, Barrogill Castle is not a medieval fortification but was built in the 16th century by George Sinclair, the 4th Earl of Caithness. It is the daughter of his son, the 5th Earl, who haunts the castle.
The story goes that Elizabeth Sinclair fell in love with a ploughman who worked on a local farm. Her father was horrified that she should consort with a 'commoner'. So he imprisoned her in a room at the top of the castle's tower to prevent her from seeing him.
Some people say that one day she leaned too far out of a window to try and catch a glimpse of her lover working in the fields and that she fell to her death. Others say that she was so unhappy that she threw herself from the tower window.
Whatever the truth is about her demise, today the so-called 'Green Lady' can sometimes be seen sadly drifting around the castle. The place that she is most often observed is the tower room in which the lovelorn girl was imprisoned.

Carlisle Castle, Cumbria

2011-11-20T04:41:00.000-08:00

Carlisle Castle is haunted by the ghost of a woman. In 1823 a soldier saw and challenged her. When she failed to stop, he lunged at her with his bayonet . When the bayonet went through her and struck the wall behind, he collapsed with freight and died of shock shortly after. A woman's skeleton wearing a Scottish tartan and holding the skeleton of a small child was discovered bricked up in the Captain's Tower in 1820.
In 1992, movement sensors outside the gift shop were triggered three nights in a row by something invisible.

Ghost of Threadneedle Street

2011-11-19T02:40:00.000-08:00

Although it was an execution that is responsible for the ghost of Threadneedle Street, it is is not the spectre of the hanged man who haunts the area in and around the Bank of England.
In the early 19th century, it was not just murder that carried the death penalty. Many far less serious crimes also did. And it was for forgery that Philip Whitehead, a former employee of the Bank of England, was charged at the Old Bailey on 2nd November 1811. He was found guilty and hanged in early 1812.
In order to spare the feelings of his sister Sarah, the fate of her unfortunate brother was not made known her. One day, she turned up at the Bank and asked to speak to Philip. The clerk, probably not realising who she was, told her the full story. Poor Sarah, the shock drove her mad. Every day after she would enter the Bank of England and ask to speak to her brother. She was always dressed in a black dress with a black veil over her head and face. This earned her the nickname, the 'Black Nun'.
She would even accost Bank customers. She accused Baron Rothschild of stealing £2,000 from her to which he responded by giving her a half a crown and saying that he would pay her rest of her money the following day.
Eventually, in 1818, the Bank officials had had enough. They paid her a large sum of money on condition that she stayed away. She must still have retained a certain amount of sanity, enough to know when she was 'on to a good thing', and she promised not to darken their doors again. And, at least in life, she kept her word.
Sarah returns
However, when Sarah died, she was buried in the church yard of St. Christopher-le-Stocks which later became part of the Bank's gardens.
Maybe this is why, many times since her death the so-called 'Ghost of Threadneedle Street' has been seen, late at night, both inside and outside the Bank and also in Bank Underground Station. She is still dressed in black but now she also has strangely red painted cheeks. And looking at the ground, she invariably asks the observer the same question, 'Have you seen my brother?'

Claydon House

2011-11-18T01:47:00.000-08:00

Now owned by the National Trust, the haunted house of Claydon House was the home of the Verney family for over 400 years.
Sir Edmund Verney was Standard Bearer to King Charles I at the Battle of Edge Hill in 1642. The victorious Roundheads demanded that Sir Edmund relinquish the flag. He bravely refused to do saying, "My life is my own. My Standard, the King's". So, Cromwell's men ran him through. But still they could not wrest the Standard from his grasp, so they hacked off his hand and took the Standard and its grisly attachment off in triumph.
It was not until much later, from a ring upon one of its fingers bearing the likeness of the King, that the hand was identified as belonging to Sir Edmund.
The appendage was pried from the flag staff and returned to Claydon House, Sir Edmund's former home, for burial. But ever since, the ghost of Sir Edmund Verney has appeared at the house, apparently searching for the rest of his body which is forever missing on the field of battle.
Grey Lady
Another specter to be found to be found here is the 'Grey Lady' whom some have identified as being Florence Nightingale. It could be possible. She lived many happy years in the haunted house and even kept a pet owl there. I wonder if she ever met Sir Edmund!

50 Berkeley Square

2011-09-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

50 Berkeley Square is a reportedly haunted townhouse on Berkeley Square in Mayfair, in Central London. In the 1900s it became known as "The Most Haunted House in London"; mostly due to Peter Underwood's description of the house in Haunted London.

History and Occupants

The four-storey brick town house was constructed in the late eighteenth century. From 1770 to 1827 it was the home of British Prime Minister George Canning, commemorated by a plaque on the house today. The house was then bought by the First Viscount Bearsted, who rented the property to one Mr Myers. It was later bought by BP.
Since 1937 the building has been occupied by Maggs Bros, a firm of antiquarian book dealers. In 1998 the building was thought to be the oldest unaltered building in London.

Legend

Legend varies, but mostly states that the attic room of the house is haunted by a spirit of a young woman who committed suicide there. She purportedly threw herself from the top floor windows after being abused by her uncle; and is said to be capable of frightening people to death. The spirit is said to take the form of a brown mist; though sometimes it is reported as a white figure. One, rarer, version of the tale is that a young man was locked in the attic room, fed only through a hole in the door, until he eventually went mad and died.
In the Victorian era at least two deaths were said to have occurred after people spent the night in the room. However, the first ghostly happenings were reported by George Canning, who claimed to have heard strange noises and have experienced psychic phenomena whilst living there.
After George Canning's residency in 1885, the house was bought by a Mr. Myers, who had recently been jilted by his fiancee. It was said that he would lock himself in the attic room and slowly went mad over the rest of his life. During his stay at the house, it fell into gross disrepair and it is during this time that its reputation began to build.
As a bet, in 1872, Lord Lyttleton stayed a night in the building's attic. He brought his shotgun with him, and during the night fired at an apparition which had appeared. In the morning, he attempted to find what he had shot at, but could only find shotgun cartridges. The next year the local council brought a summons to the house's owners for failure to pay taxes, but due to the house's reputation as haunted they were let off.
In 1879, Mayfair reported that a maid who had stayed in the attic room had been found mad. It was later reported that she died in an asylum the day after. On the day she was found, a nobleman purportedly took up the challenge to spend a night in the room, and his was the first death recorded in the house. The coroner pronounced him dead of fright.
It is said that after one nobleman had spent the night in the attic room, he was so paralysed with fear that he couldn't speak.
In 1887, sailors from HMS Penelope stayed a night in the house. By morning one was found dead, having tripped as he ran from the house. The other reported having seen the ghost of Mr. Myers, coming at them aggressively.
Victorian medium Florence Cook held a seance at the house and claimed to have contacted the spirits of those killed by the ghost.
No phenomenon have been reported since the house was bought by the Magg's Brothers in the mid 1930s and though many contemporary media outlets reported happenings at the house, more recent investigators claim nothing untowards has ever taken place there. They remark that Lord Lytton's story The Haunted and the Haunters – bears a remarkable resemblance to the supposed hauntings at 50 Berkeley Square.

Dragsholm castle, Sealand

2011-09-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

Dragsholm castle, Sealand, is one of Denmark’s best known haunted castles and was constructed during the 12th century by Bishop of Roskilde. When the castle was finally completed it became home to royalty and nobles alike.
Like all castles from this period, stories of ghosts and weird sounds are a plenty. Dragsholm with its own dark and ghastly history is no exception and comes complete with three ghosts.
The first of these is the Grey Lady who is reputedly said to be that of a maiden employed with in the castle. She was struck down by a toothache which left her in great pain. The maiden distressed and troubled, sort help and eventually the toothache was cured.
It is said that after her death, she returns the castle each night to make sure that everything is in order as a sign of thanks to those that helped cure her pain.
The second of our ghosts, The White Lady and the most tragic of the three, is a story about young love. It involves a young girl (a daughter of one of the Dragsholm castles former owners) who for her sins fell in love with a worker at the castle. Due to their birthrights, she of noble birth and he a commoner, had to keep their lover for each other a secret from her father. This went on for some time until one day the girl’s father found out about the whole affair.
He went into a violent rage and ordered his servants to lock his daughter away and imprison her within the walls of the castle.
During the early part of the 20th century workers were tearing down some old walls for a new toilet complex. To their horror they came across a small recess in one of the walls which contained a small skeleton wearing a white dress.
Her young child like sprit has been seen roaming the corridors of the castle.
Our last ghost is that of the Earl of Bothwell, who was held prisoner inside Dragsholm castle for 5 years during the 1500’s. It was said that imprisonment turned the Earl mad and he died still imprisoned in 1578.
The Earl has been seen riding into the courtyard of the castle with his horse and carriage with many visitors claiming to have heard the horses hoof beats upon the cobbled yard.
In recent years a group of parapsychologists from America undertook some investigative work into the so called activities within the castles walls. Their findings had shown that in some areas of the castle that there were extreme amounts of radio and electrical activity.
During 1937, the castle came into the ownership of the Bottger family who have since converted it into a hotel

"Mystery of the Thirteen Souls",

2011-09-07T05:44:00.000-07:00

The Joelma Building, one of the most imposing buildings in Sao Paulo, burned down by more than four hours on February 1st, 1974. The result of this tragedy were 345 injured and 189 killed. Even today experts ensure that the place is surrounded by a strange spiritual energy. Witnesses said the building Joelma carries a curse.

In 1948, there was a house where is now Joelma Building. There lived a chemistry professor, Paul Campbell, 26 years, along with his mother and two sisters. Paul shot and killed his mother and sisters and buried the bodies in a pit that had built in the backyard. After Paul committed suicide. The police worked with two hypotheses for the crime. The first is that the family would have rejected a girlfriend. The second is that Paul would have killed his mother and sisters because they had serious health problems and he did not want to take care of them.

The mystery of the death of the entire family has never been solved. After the recovery of bodies, a firefighter also became a victim of the curse and died of corpse infection. The triple murder-suicide shocked the population of Sao Paulo and became known as "The Crime of the Pit". The place became famous for being haunted.

In 1972, the house gave way to a modern building of 20 floors. It was the Joelma Building. Because of the Crime, the number of the street was changed, but the curse was not forgotten.

On February 1st, 1974, at 8:45 am, a short circuit in the air conditioning of the building started the fire. With nowhere to run, people panicked. The heat reached 700 º C and many jumped from the top of the building. The fire virtually destroyed the Joelma. There was no water in the cars of the Fire Department ladder Magirus and only managed to reach a part of the building.

Thirteen people managed to escape by elevator, but could not save themselves. The bodies were not identified and were eventually buried side by side in St. Peter's Cemetery in the capital. The thirteen bodies gave rise to the mystery of the thirteen souls and to them are attributed miracles.

After the fire, the building was four years closed for construction. When reopened, it was renamed the Plaza of the Flag. Witnesses said the dead spirits roam the building today. The Building Joelma has dozens of empty rooms, but the attempt to rid the place of spirits continues. The stories about the old Joelma are still a great mystery. Some believe, some doubt and some are sure that everything is true.

Princess Theatre, Melbourne

2011-09-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

Spring Street facade
Address	163 Spring Street
City	Melbourne
Country	Australia
Designation	Victorian Heritage Register
Architect	William Pitt
Owned by	Marriner Theatres
Capacity	1488 seats
Opened	1857
Years active	1857-
Current use	musicals, opera
www.marrinertheatres.com.au/hireprincess.htm

The Princess Theatre is a 1488-seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia.
It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Ghost sightings

The theatre has experienced several reported ghost sightings.
On the evening of 3 March 1888, the baritone Frederick Baker, known under the stage name "Frederick Federici", was performing the role of Mephistopheles in Gounod's opera Faust. This production ended with Mephistopheles sinking dramatically through a trapdoor returning to the fires of hell with his prize, the unfortunate Dr Faustus. The audience was spellbound. As the audience held its collective breath as Federici was lowered down through the stage into this basement, he had a heart attack and died immediately. They laid him on the floor, lifeless, in his crimson vestments. He never came back onstage, never took the bows. When the company was gathered together to be told that Federici had died, they asked, "When?". Being told of what had happened at the end of the opera, they said, "He's just been onstage and taken the bows with us." Since then, many people who have never heard of the Federici story have claimed to see a ghostly figure in evening dress at the theatre. For many years, the third-row seat in the dress circle was kept vacant in his honour.
When a documentary was made nearly 80 years later, by Kennedy Miller in the early 1970s, a photograph of the film set revealed an ashen-faced, partly transparent observer. No-one on the set saw the figure on that day; only the photograph revealed 'the ghost'.

Monte Cristo Homestead

2011-09-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

Monte Cristo Homestead

Monte Christo Homestead is an historic Australian property located in the town of Junee, New South Wales. Constructed by local pioneer Christopher William Crawley in 1885, it is a double-story late-Victorian manor standing on a hill overlooking the town.
The Crawley family remained in residence until 1948. The house then stood empty under the care of several caretakers until 1963 when it was purchased by Reg and Olive Ryan, who restored it to its current condition. It operates as a museum, antique store and tourist attraction.
Monte Cristo is claimed to be Australia's most haunted house, with reports of ghostly figures, strange lights, invisible forcefields, phantom sounds and animal mutilations. These are attributed to several tragic incidents in the property's past including the murder of a caretaker in 1961 and the imprisonment of a mentally impaired man for many years in the dairy. During the Crawleys' occupation a young child is said to have been fatally dropped down the stairs, a maid to have fallen from the balcony, and a stable boy to have been burnt to death.
Monte Cristo's reputation is well known within Australia, thanks partially to several television shows including segments on the property. These include the current-affairs show Big Country in 1977, the travel show Getaway in 1992, the paranormal based game/reality show Scream Test in 2000, and Ghost Hunters International 14 January 2010.

Ghosts and spooky goings on at Jamaica Inn

2011-09-02T06:01:00.000-07:00

Most Haunted said "one of the spookiest programmes ever recorded..."

Many people who have stayed here have reported strange incidents in the night and we have been sent many photographs from guests. Popular TV programme Most Haunted featured Jamaica Inn in what they said was one of the spookiest programmes they had ever recorded!

Previous managers of Jamaica Inn have heard conversations uttered in a foreign tongue. Could this be the Cornish language?
For years there have been many stories of hauntings at Jamaica Inn and recently the Ghost Society has made in-depth investigations and compiled a report based on their findings. The areas of substantial interest to the investigation were, The Smuggler's Bar, The Stable Bar, the restaurant and upstairs in bedroom four.
Murder at the Inn: Many years ago, a stranger stood at the bar enjoying a tankard of ale. Upon being summoned outside, he left the half finished ale and stepped out into the night. That was the last time he was seen alive. The next morning his corpse was found on the bleak moor but the manner of his death and the identity of his assailant still remain a mystery.
Previous landlords, upon hearing footsteps tramping along the passage to the bar, believe it is the dead man's spirit returning to finish his drink.
Who is the stranger sitting motionless on the wall outside? In 1911 there was much interest and correspondence in the press concerning a strange man who had been seen by many people, sitting on the wall outside the Inn. He neither spoke nor moved nor acknowledged a greeting but his appearance was uncannily like the murdered stranger. Could this be the dead man's ghost? And what strange compulsion drove it to return to the same spot so often?
With such an extensive history, including several centuries of smuggling, Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn is probably closer to the truth than we care to believe. It would explain the clatter of horses hooves on cobbled ground heard in the depths of night...
During the early 1900s the Inn was used as a temperance house but there have always been spirits of a different kind at Jamaica Inn.
On a moonlit night, when all is still, how can any earthly person explain the sound of horses' hooves and the metal rims of wheels turning on the rough cobbles of the courtyard? Yet there is nothing to be seen!Who can explain the uneasy footsteps heard pacing the corridors in the dead of night? Who is the strange man in a tricorne hat and cloak who appears and then walks through solid doors?