Spirit Rescue International

The Tunnel Bar at Union Station Restaurant - Northampton, MA

2013-06-19T10:45:00.002-04:00

Is this an apparition/ghost? If so, are there two spectres?

This photo was taken just prior to the image in question

The original full image

NOTE: In November 2009 I received the following email from a reader, Lynn. I checked the history of the station and there were no mentions of apparitions or anomalies in the past. Let us know what you think...Lon

"This is The Tunnel Bar at Union Station Restaurant in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is located downstairs from the restaurant, which is an old, beautiful railway station. People from the street level would enter the tunnel, go up the stairs and meet their trains many, many years ago."

"My daughter's friend has taken successive photos (2) in which the second photo taken a few seconds after the first shows a woman in 50's or 60's green and aqua dress with an updo hair style. She is floating in a tilted position with no legs. The arms and hands look oddly grey and odd looking in shape. She is near people sitting on barstools and is elevated slightly higher than they are. The person taking the photo said the woman was not there when she took the shot. No mention was made about the man behind her, however, he looks normal and could have gotten out of his seat and was heading towards the door."

"We would like to know if this is indeed a ghost. There are many orbs in the tunnel, which some could be dust, but there are a few larger ones also."

Image of the bar from website

Hunterdon County, NJ Malevolent Haunting

2013-06-08T15:52:00.001-04:00

Final Report: April 17, 2011 - Hunterdon County, NJ

The client has been living at the location for almost a decade and has made attempts to have the location cleared but without success. Lots of noises and odd activity, including attacks on the client as well as a steady deterioration of the client's health and overall quality of life.

-----

Irene and I conducted a coordinate remote viewing session on Wednesday April 6th. Several SRI team members listened to the session live via Skype. This synopsis will be brief.

The RV was conducted in 5 phases including a few other exercises in order to isolate and clear the opposing entity. The entity was identified as a middle-aged male with a long full beard, dark clothing and heavy boots who possessed a very nasty disposition. There was also a teenage female spirit who was likely married in real-life to the male entity. There was a perception that this was possibly an arranged union. The female spirit was 'kept' and obsessed on by the male entity in life and in death.

To make a long story short, Irene was able to move this male entity away from the location. The female earthbound spirit may be moved later, though it seems not to be causing problems in the household.

The client was contacted by us immediately following the RV and advised of the session and given follow-up / support information. - Lon Strickler

-----

SRI team member JD offered her assessment of the RV session:

"I was one of the SRI Team members listening this evening. As Allswell said last week, observing it is enlightening as well as educational. Early on in the session, Lon announced he was in the basement facing an inside corner. Irene said she had to slow him down. When he had done everything she told him to do and he said he was still in the basement, she told him to take a break. Then she started him over again. This time he said he saw someone working metal. Irene was able to get him back on track and they quickly went through phases 2 and 3. In phase 4, Irene asked Lon where he was. He said he was on the back porch watching the girl in the doorway, she was "spinning like a top." Lon was trying to make sense of her action when she suddenly disappeared and the older man was suddenly in front of him.

Well the man got right in Lon's face, he said almost nose to nose, and was yelling and cussing Lon out. I had the impression the entity knew Lon was there. And boy, was this guy angry. I could feel it blasting out of the computer screen. Irene had Lon draw an up and down line, I think she called it a movement line. She asked him to go slightly up the line and asked him what he saw. he said he was at the foot of a stairway. She asked him to go up a little further and asked him what he saw. Lon said he was on a landing surrounded by rooms. She directed him into one of the rooms and had him describe it. Lon said it had a canopy bed, a couple of dressers a night stand and a window. He had the impression this was the girl's room. He also said he had the feeling the older man was "keeping" the girl. I had a feeling it was an arranged marriage. Then Lon said, "he's coming." Irene wanted to know how Lon knew. "I can hear his boots on the stairs."

Irene pulled him right up outside the house and asked him what he saw. Lon said he was looking down but all he saw was white light. She then lowered him down and asked what he saw. Lon said he was standing in the backyard looking toward the house. Irene gave Lon the targeting numbers again and Lon was back in the basement corner. She asked him to turn around. He said there were other rooms. She asked him to go 2 feet closer to the nearest room. He said there was a workbench and tools. Then the man was back, yelling and cussing at Lon. Irene had Lon go back to the line and move the pen up a bit. Lon said he was in a parlor. He could hear a piano playing, but no one else was in the room. Then the man came in, yelling and cussing. Irene said, "wait, wait, wait, wait." After a couple minutes of silence, Irene asked what he saw and felt. He said the man's face turned purple, then green and then he was gone. Then it felt like someone held my hands. Irene ended the session."

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Irene Allen-Block's assessment of the RV session:

"I must say here that the members were listening on Skype as the session proceeded. Their instructions were to remain quiet at all times - some even switched their mics off. At the end of the session everyone was allowed to relay their thoughts and experiences that they had during the session - that in itself was very interesting.

I know these sessions can be very tedious, long and drawn out as the viewer goes through all the procedures enabling him to come closer to the target. It has pleased me that there has been so much interest in it. Although untrained the team was able to follow along.

Mind you, for all the monitors out there your work is just as difficult and can be very tiring as you are having to use your conscious mind to keep track whereas the viewer is using their subspace. The session went well and was very informative opening up more avenues for us to follow with this case. Very well done, Lon"

Irene - Follow-up:

"Time to own up now. I did tell one of the members of the forum, on the night the RV session, what I had done - but not Lon. After I cleared the male I asked again if Lon could feel anything, I was at that moment in time holding Lon's hands. I was feeling the energy he was giving out."

-----

The client has added an update:

"Well it's been 10 days since 'Mr. Angry' was cleared. It took a few days but the energy of my house has changed so much. I'm no longer in a bad mood soon after I get home and beyond. My stomach problems, dizzy spells and headaches are gone. For the first time since I moved here 10 years ago I'm off all medications. Today the energy has changed a little to the negative. JD has advised me the 'girl' (remaining spirit) may now be lonely and not know what to do as she is not being controlled for the first time in over 100 years. JD has been wonderful in helping me heal after this 10 year nightmare! I've been working very hard to lose all the anger I've carried around for too long knowing this will make me happier, healthier and will keep unwanted angry away. I'm also doing the exercises I was advised to do. To Lon, Irene and JD - I can't thank you all enough! In a way it's like starting over."

The client forwarded a follow-up several months later:

"I wanted to take the time to re-thank SRI for helping me put my house back to a place of harmony and positivity. I had experienced too much negative energy and strange happenings. Turns out the house was much older than I was lead to believe and some of its long gone residents had never left. Thanks to Irene, Lon, JD and the SRI team, they are now at peace...as am I. I strongly urge anyone in need of answers and help with unwanted and unknown happenings to contact them. You wont be disappointed! These people are as good as they come!" - DAP, Hunterdon Co., NJ

Spirit Rescue International is a non-profit group that combines the resources of our affiliates worldwide in order to achieve a successful entity clearing. Our mission is to provide professional, confidential and ethical spiritual relief, including continued personal support and guidance at no cost to the client.

In memory of our friend & associate JD

Spirit Rescue International™
Providing no-cost professional spiritual help, personal support and guidance
Take the first step towards genuine peace of mind

The Haxby Entity

2013-06-01T18:14:00.000-04:00

These are the Spirit Rescue International case notes for a haunting that occurred in Haxby, North Yorkshire, UK during the late Winter & Spring of 2011. I also refer to this case as The Black Death Haunting:

Family of three was experiencing a variety of disturbing paranormal phenomena. There was a conference call between the clients and the SRI team that evening...we attempted to get an understanding of the activity:

Irene Block (verbatim notes):

This client contacted me last night concerned about the goings on in the house, apparently the problem has now been going on for the last 2 months causing the family distress and lack of sleep.

I had some of the team link up with him on Skype (the son was able to load it on his phone). While talking I asked the 2 of them to walk around the house keeping in contact with us on the son's cell phone; they went upstairs and into one of the bedrooms where they described a negative energy as being hit by an electric field no sooner had they detected it; the energy moved. Again they would find it in another room only for it to shift as soon as they detected it. This went on all through the upstairs of the house and it ended up they were having to chase it from one room to another. And at times they felt as if they were being touched, at other times they had the feeling of some pressure on their heads as if something was trying to crush them.

To be on the safe side I decided to stop this chase and asked the client to place the cell phone on its own in one of the rooms then to go downstairs and be quiet while we as a team were able to listen in. The team were instructed to make no noise at all during this exercise. We were able to hear knocks, bangs, footsteps and movements in the room. At one time something came very close to the phone and it sounded as if it was being moved. at other times unearthly sounds were audible like growls, sighs amongst other strange and disturbing noises.

The sense I got from this was that there was more than one entity in the house at least three, one was more dominant than the others and seemed to be controlling them, I have come across this type of thing many, many times in the 45 years I have been doing this work, and like to call the dominant one a puppeteer as it likes to control the lower ones like puppets, so this will be the term I will use in the reporting of this case.

It was obvious that these entities knew we were there and used us and the clients for their own entertainment as at one time I had asked the clients to stand still on the landing above the stairs and describe what was being felt. To me it was like the game of Blind Man's Bluff where a child is blindfolded and has to touch the nearest kid who then in turn would put on the blindfold all this happening as the other kids would run around the blindfolded one sometimes coming close but just keeping out of reach and at times touching and running away. This is exactly the sort of thing that was happening to the client and his son, one second the energies would come close enough to be felt and the next they would shift at what seemed to them a rapid speed only to return from a different direction sometimes touching them on the head or the face.

All the time this was happening it was to me like watching something unfold I was able to feel the vibrations that these energies were on and each time I tried to reach them they would escape me. This told me that they are not going to be easy to clear. I need to be in tune exactly with them, the energy radiating from the puppeteer is negative this is a trickster. The other energies were more mischievous. Whatever, last night they were all, in their own way, having fun at our expence.

The team picked up on some interesting information and this coming Thursday evening Lon and I have decided to do an RV to see if we can throw more light on the situation.

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Lon's RV synopsis

Irene and I conducted a remote view on this case on Thursday, April 14th. From the beginning of the session I sensed that there were going to be challenges. I was calm and relaxed but had some trouble concentrating through several of the phases.

Irene set the target coordinates for me and monitored the session. We systematically executed 4 phases in order to perceive the target and to gather as much information possible. Normally this procedure goes smoothly...was not going to be the case here.

In Phase 1, the coordinates (a set of two - four digit numbers) were given to me...from which an ideogram (a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept) was developed. The target was narrowed down to a subject and a structure in tandem. It was difficult to perceive characteristics with these targets. I attempted to keep the descriptions as simple as possible but I was simply not able to do so.

In Phase 2, there was an attempt to narrow down the actual target by probing for sounds, textures, temperatures, colors, luminescence, contrast and smells. Through this information I tried to focus in on any verticals, horizontals, diagonals, topography, mass and energetics as well as my overall 'feeling' of the target. In this instance, I was directed to an unknown 'area' where I heard talking and chanting...I later noticed three people. I detected black, white and a touch of red color as well as shiny gold metal. There was also a bitter herb taste and 'rotting' odor. I perceived a flat surface...a table.

In Phase 3, I made a rough sketch or drawing of what I was perceiving. At this point, the sketch included the objects in the 'area' including a table with two gold candlesticks, a 4 ft. golden sword embedded vertically in the table (point up) and a golden plate.

In Phase 4, I went into a deeper perception of the target. This included sense, magnitudes, emotions, physicals, subspace and concepts. The bitter herb was identified as dill and an acrid vinegar after taste.

At this point I started to feel nervous...shaking, not from fear or frustration, but just an odd nervous sensation. I noticed that the area was now a room....possibly 17th century English. There were rugs on the floor that reminded me of old tapestries. I started to hear quiet 'laughter' in my right ear and noticed a grinding sound nearby.

The room had a small fireplace or hearth and stone walls...very smoky. I start to feel groggy as if I have been drugged. I am laying back on a bed or table with the sensation that I'm being held down, though no one is around me. At this point I feel a sharp pain in my right forearm...it has been cut and is bleeding. I also sense 'electric shocks' in my rear end and back of the legs.

I am able to look towards the fireplace and notice the figure of a woman standing on the right dressed in a long black dress with a wide white collar. She has long dark hair and is drinking from a long stemmed goblet. The odd thing is that she looks to be an apparition. There are two very young girls dressed in similar black dresses, on their knees in front of the fireplace looking directly at the woman. I start to feel that they all should be sad about something, but they are not.

At this point, Irene instructs me to draw a 'time line' starting at the perceived period 'A' (1621...unknown location) and ending in real time 'B'. I start to move towards the present day and stop at period where I sense death, sickness and despair (1634...near London). I continue to move on the time line. In subspace, the woman again appears as an entity and is standing with shrouded corpses, all around her (1666...London). There is a feeling of indifference..."this has happened before and will happen again." I'm then standing by a river...I see an arched bridge and town on other side. It is a park-like setting with a carriage and horses. The woman is now standing by a tree...again as an apparition. She looks at me, places her forefinger to her lips 'hush', turns around and walks away...then fades away. (1701...near London).

After this I was unable to concentrate any further. The connection between Irene and I was simply lost....spiritually and literally. We feel the entity may have cut the Skype connection. We tried to reactivate the session with new coordinates but there seemed to be something 'blocking' my ability to work...Lon

ADDENDUM: SRI team members JD, Tammy and Karen listened to the session through Skype. BTW, Tammy kept notes of the session which are invaluable when I need to recall events while posting here.

In the aftermath of the remote view session we discussed the findings. Irene also made an attempt to remotely 'move' through the residence. The following notes were recorded by Tammy (verbatim notes):

JD said that scenes Lon has been describing here are just like ones from her Tarot card deck. Irene and Lon agreed they are dealing with a trickster entity. JD made the connection that dill and vinegar is brine for pickles. Irene said 'pickle' means someone who is naughty, mischievous.

Sword and sconces on table top is an altar. Tammy asked Lon if the woman by the fireplace was drinking blood taken from his arm. (not sure...Lon)

Irene, JD and Lon then made the connection that lying in bed having blood taken might have been a scene from the past involving bloodletting, before a person dies they did that to save them.

Irene asked Lon about the staircase in the house they RV'd last night. She tried to take the stairs: 1, 2, 3, 4...Lon's dogs began barking like crazy. You could hear people faintly talking on Skype, but it could have been someone's TV or radio, as it sounded like a radio that kept changing stations.

Lon sensed 1634, 1666, 1701 years for activity with this entity or property. Sensed this trickster entity has bothered a lot of people. The 1666 date Lon thinks was near London, connected to the entity and the vision of the woman with all the corpses surrounding her. (BTW...The Great Fire of London was in 1666).

Lon sees the entity always the same: pale, dark hair, black dress, white collar. When the woman gave Lon a "hush" sign with her finger to her lips, he lost everything.

When Lon saw Irene go up the stairs astrally, he thought the woman kicked at Irene, and Irene felt the rush of energy at that time.

New Try - Irene and JD

It was all silent, and when it was over, Irene gave her report and JD and Lon told what they experienced.

Even before the session began, Irene had shooting pain through her head, at the end of her eyebrow, not really the temple area, but mostly forehead.

Irene was in the living room to start with.

She stood at the conservatory door and something hit her and went past very quickly. She started to go up the stairs. She fought with every step...as if her foot kept catching and tripping up with each step, and as if she would fall down each step.

Irene felt panic in the bathroom.

"Find the Portal! Find the Portal!" kept repeating in Irene's head. The family were all in bed. Irene kept being driven to look everywhere but did not see a portal.

Irene was drawn to daughter's room, who used to live there. The room is empty now, and the entity uses this space to escape when it wants to be left alone.

As Irene searched downstairs, always being driven to find a portal, three times something rushed at her.

She went back upstairs, this time taking 2 steps at a time, and having no difficulty as before.

Irene checked the loft, and felt nothing there. The insistent message to "Find the Portal!" being said over and over was driving her crazy.

The entity then rushed at Irene very quickly and passed by, staying far enough so that she could not see it visually. But there was a strong sensation of being watched the whole time.

JD said she followed Irene throughout the house this trip, and tried consciously to hold the entity back, but it kept distracting her and 3 times it got past her controlled blocking it from Irene.

Irene said there was a great deal of anxiety and frustration from not being able to locate the portal she was being told to find. She felt there are two portals, actually. One is at the top of the stairs. The other may be in the conservatory.

JD said she was consciously trying to send any earthbound spirits at the house to Irene to be cleared. Irene was not aware of this, just the message to "Find the Portal", which may have been coming from the earthbound spirits wanting a way out.

Irene said the energy and activity seemed so much faster upstairs than downstairs.

Lon said he didn't feel the portal was very big.

JD felt the urgency for the portal to be found was from the earth bound spirits.

Irene was rushed as she tried to enter the Conservatory (a glass-walled room the family living there had built some 20-plus years ago).

Lon thought the portal may be in the floor of the conservatory. Feels there is something unsettling about the ground there. He kept seeing a flash in there.

The daughter's empty bedroom has residual energy in there from this controlling, trickster entity.

Irene heard laughing at the top of the stairs as she was climbing. She also heard muted music, which may have been coming from the son's room, if he left the radio on.

New Try

Irene tried to enter at the dining room table.

JD said she was not allowed in, kept suspended above the house, felt like a hand holding her back at her chest.

Irene said she kept jerking back and forth, trying to get in the room. Finally, put her hands on the door frame and forced herself into the room. She felt as she walked, it was one step forward, 3 steps back.

She went to the conservatory. There was a sense of electric prickles all over her face. Lon felt the electric prickly feeling on his mouth and saw light spots darting all over. Irene saw orbs flying all around.

As Irene brushed at the electric prickly feeling on her face, she looked and felt all around. Saw a dark mass at the end of the living room. As she got close, it dissipated. She walked around an oblong shape in the center of the room, like a coffee table. Went toward the conservatory again. Got hit by an electric field in her face again.

Pain behind her eyes too.

Could have been a portal in the conservatory. Definitely one at the top of the stairs. And the entity stays in daughter's empty room when it doesn't want to be disturbed.

JD asked, what would disturb it? Is the family religious, having religious practices? Irene said no.

Lon felt there was something coming up from the ground in the conservatory. He said the vibrations in that room are out of whack.

Four years ago, Irene helped this family with a non-human entity, but the Conservatory was one area they had no problem with.

Lon felt, if the entity opened a new portal in the conservatory, it is bringing up spirits it can completely control or letting them go if it can't control them. Plus, it has two human beacons of energy to feed on in the house, so it is happy.

Irene feels the entity is only imitating an earthbound spirit. She got to within 3 feet of it, and it did not feel like an earthbound spirit.

Irene will plan for future sessions at this house.

NOTE: The client has informed us of a photograph he took in the back yard 22 years ago...three year after they moved in and a few years before the conservatory was built. It is posted below.

Information has also surfaced that a church was built on or near this location in 1621...and was destroyed by fire. The deposition of the church contents, crypts and churchyard are unknown. Please note that this overall area has a recorded history that reaches back to the mid-1st century and includes Roman occupation, Viking invasions, Norman warlords, Royal squabbles, religious upheaval and civil conflicts...Lon

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Irene Block (verbatim notes):

From the moment the client contacted me on this case I began working on calming down the energy in the house. This is something I do with all cases. It helps when the time comes for me to clear the entity. The family from this day on for the first time in weeks reported being able to sleep easier in their beds, something that often happens when I do this.

Wednesday the 27th April

The previous Remote View session that we had done was worrying me and I decided the time had come to delve deeper into what was happening in this house. As I started to work I felt a raise in my vibrations it soon became obvious to me that I had reached a level that I had not intended to reach, a level I normally reach only when I clear.

Within seconds I was in the clients house at the foot of the staircase then it happened and this I was not expecting I saw myself standing on a stone floor. I was no longer in my clients home. I had no idea where I was at that moment, as I looked down at my feet the floor was covered with Rose petals. The atmosphere was gloomy and dull there was a sadness about this place.

I began moving in a circle round and round this floor all the time watching my feet and the Rose petals strewn about. I could hear in my head the nursery rhyme 'Ring a Ring a Roses' repeating and as I moved I began to sing along with this voice in my head repeating this rhyme over and over. As I did this I felt an energy shift. When this shift took place the atmosphere changed, within my vision everything was lighter the dullness was gone and the sad feeling had lifted.

The following day the client contacted me and reported that the whole house felt wonderful all of a sudden, I decided not to tell the client what I had done until I had spoken to Lon about it and I was certain of the events that I suspected had taken place.

I then told Lon about this experience and with his help it soon became apparent to both of us exactly what had occurred.

-----

Lon's final notes:

On Thursday, April 28th, Irene contacted me in order to tell me about her experience the previous night.

She had decided to conduct a solitary remote perception session at the client's location. During her session, she found herself at a location with a stone floor and rose petals scattered all about. As well, she continually heard and sang the nursery rhyme "Ring a Ring o' Roses" (or "Ring Around the Rosie") which, traditionally goes:

A ring, a ring o' roses,
A pocket full o’posies-
Atch chew! atch chew!
We all fall down

Many have associated the poem with the 'Great Plague' which happened in England in 1665. The invariable sneezing and falling down in modern English versions have given would-be origin finders the opportunity to say that the rhyme dates back to the 'Great Plague'. Rose petals were scattered and rose garlands were hung near corpses during the period in order to mask the smell of death. As well, a rosy rash was a symptom of the plague, posies of herbs were carried as protection and to ward off the smell of the disease. Sneezing or coughing was a final fatal symptom, and 'all fall down' was exactly what happened. (The line "ashes, ashes" in alternative versions of the rhyme is claimed to refer variously to cremation of the bodies, the burning of victims' houses or blackening of their skin)

If you remember from the remote view, I perceived the entity surrounded by many shrouded bodies and the year 1666. The 'Great Plague' started in England in 1665. As well, I had noticed the scent of roses throughout the session (I even commented on roses in the bathroom). Also, it was confirmed that a church was built in 1621 (a date I also perceived in the RV) in the vicinity of the client's house. The stone floor of this church may have been what Irene perceived. During the period, especially in the countryside, plague victims were housed in churches before burial.

The client says that the family is sleeping soundly and have noticed no recent activity. The client also commented today that his son (who is definitely a spirit 'beacon') has been experiencing a rose-colored rash for the past two months. Physicians could not diagnose or the cause of the rash. The client stated that since the day SRI got involved with the case the rash has steadily dissipated and is now gone.

I feel that Irene's recent solitary session finally persuaded the entity to move on. We plan to remote view the location again just to make sure any remnants of negative activity and/or an open portal are no longer present.

JD will offer instruction and support to the family in order to sustain a pleasant environment...Lon

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Irene Block (final verbatim notes):

This has been a very strange case...the info was not given to the client until tonight. Lon was able to throw light on my experience the following evening after it happened. But when we spoke tonight with the client and he told us for the first time about the rosy coloured rash that his son had had for the last 2 months and the fact that he had seen 3 doctors who could give no answer on what it was or what was causing it, stunned us. Plus the fact that in the last couple of days it has disappeared completely. Well, that was amazing!

What happened exactly that night "could it be that, what happened with me was all that was needed to move this entity on, was it that the entity just needed that acknowledgement of the plague and someone knowing what had happened to it at the time of death? Maybe, but I think we will never know completely". But then it's not our job to question...it's our job to help them find their way.

In memory of our dear friend and associate JD

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OK...what the hell was that?

2013-05-25T15:21:00.000-04:00

If we lived in California there'd be an easy explanation: Earthquake.

But we live in a small southern town, so there's no logical reason why our house mysteriously shook this morning at 6 a.m.

I was yanked from my sleep by what sounded like the loud, violent slamming of a door, followed by the rattling of the large piece of iron art on the wall above our bed. Simultaneously, my wife shot up off her pillow and one of our dogs - from the far, opposite corner of the house - began barking as if startled.

Something happened. But what?

At first I thought it was our son, up ridiculously early and, for some reason, slamming the door that leads to our garage. Getting a drink out of the garage fridge to pack in his lunch, maybe. But after the dog quieted and the rattling ceased, not a peep. I investigated.

When I found him sound asleep in his bed - instant chills. And, I'll admit it, a little fear.

But a quick, frantic check of every window and every door in every room revealed they were all closed and locked, including the door to the garage. The garage door was shut. The pool was running as scheduled. The newspaper was in the driveway. The night lights were on. The cash to give our neighbor's girl for Girl Scout Cookies was unmoved. Nothing was out of place.

Hmm. Panic melted into ponder.

Impossible for someone - or something? - to have been inside our house and left, seeing that everything was locked. And the fact that I'm typing this seems to prove that no one came into our house from the outside and is still here. (No, I don't think the call is coming from inside the house) So what then?

I'll be honest, weird things have happened in this house since we arrived in 2004. Light bulbs randomly flicker and burn out ridiculously fast. Ceiling fans turn on and switch speeds by themselves. One room, despite numerous tweaks from various companies, stays 12 degrees hotter than the rest of the house. Granted, those seem like merely electrical gremlins, effed-up venting or the lingering effects of lightning striking a tree across the street a few years back.

But when I snapped wide awake at 4:34 a.m. - no, I mean exactly 4:34 - for four consecutive nights and twice found a large, framed picture in our hallway not only off its wire hanger on the wall, but upright and undamaged on the concrete-slab floor directly beneath, that's when we consulted a psychic.

A "spirit guide" she said, trying to get my attention. That was years ago and, between you and me, I didn't totally buy it.

But this morning, I heard it. My wife heard it. Our dog sensed it. Our house felt it. We all experienced....something.

Spirit Rescue International: Clarification...and the Future

2013-05-20T10:51:00.000-04:00

Back in 2011, a particular group of skeptics were questioning Spirit Rescue International and what our real intentions were as a team. They were comparing founder Irene Allen-Block to those less-than-sincere psychic mediums that make a profit by duping people who are desperate for honest help. For those individuals who wish to ridicule, please take note of what we do as an organization. Hopefully the information can also assist others who have questions about our work.

To begin, Irene does not favor the moniker 'medium' - she does not directly communicate with discarnate entities. She does have the ability to channel but that is used only under extreme conditions. Her psychic gifts have been with her since she was a child. She has been very reserved about her abilities for the vast majority of her life. I suppose I can take blame for some of the misunderstanding by others because I encouraged her to open up more over the years. Spirit Rescue International has actually been around for about 5 years or so and initially the cases were handled very quietly. The name was derived from the act of 'spirit rescue' and that this is an 'international' group. There was no covert reason for the name / initials - the process was completely benign. (This was in reference to a statement about SRI International (SRI), founded as Stanford Research Institute)

What we do as a team is very difficult to explain to people who are not intimately familiar with the spirit world. If you go to the website and read how we respond and resolve cases I'm sure you will get a better appreciation of what we do. SRI uses techniques unfamiliar with most groups who claim to deliver, clear or exorcise earthbound and non-spiritual entities.

We use scientific and coordinate remote viewing techniques - very similar to those methods employed by Project Stargate and other global government agencies. The specifics of how we were disciplined and trained will not be disclosed - but I assure you, it is not as clandestine as some people may think. I will state that you cannot simple read a book or listen to audio recordings to learn what we refer to as 'astral perception'. Our developed techniques have proven to be enlightening when combined with objective interview, team consultation, extensive research and psychic skill, including the use of clairaudience, clairsentinence and clairvoyance capabilities.

Without going into further specifics, I'll simply say that we are a very serious organization who dedicate our time in helping those who have no where else to go. We do not request payment for our services and we do not seek celebrity recognition. Because of our intended sincerity, Irene becomes impassioned when people make false statements and preconceived notions about our undertaking. I hope you will consider this when posting opinions.

We recently endured a turnover of the team due, in part, to a lack of priorities and dedication to SRI's principles. Nonetheless, Irene and I insured that none of this brief turmoil affected service to our clients. In fact, an updated Code of Practice has been implemented as a result of the circumstances.

Spirit Rescue International is always searching for new associates who are dedicated in providing comprehensive research. No psychic or intuitive ability is required...simply team members who can supply intensive data on location history, geography, incident chronology, case comparison, etc. If you think you're up for the challenge, feel free to contact us. Lon

A History of Spirits at Harper's Ferry

2013-05-07T19:08:00.000-04:00

John Brown believed he could free the slaves, and he selected Harpers Ferry as his starting point. Determined to seize the 100,000 weapons at the Arsenal and to use the Blue Ridge Mountains for guerrilla warfare, abolitionist Brown launched his raid on Sunday evening, October 16, 1859. His 21-man “army of liberation” seized the Armory and several other strategic points. Thirty-six hours after the raid begun, with most of his men killed or wounded, Brown was captured in the Armory fire engine house (now known as “John Brown’s Fort”) when U.S. Marines stormed the building.

Brought to trial at nearby Charles Town, Brown was found guilty of treason, of conspiring with slaves to rebel, and murder. He was hanged on December 2, 1859. John Brown’s short-lived raid failed, but his trial and execution focused the nation’s attention on the moral issue of slavery and headed the country toward civil war.

It is said that the ghost of John Brown himself haunts the streets of Historic Harpers Ferry! In the early 80s, during a reenactment weekend, several witnesses saw a 're-enactor' with an amazingly similar appearance to legendary abolitionist John Brown. He was very polite, although a little frightening with his wide-eyed appearance. He even agreed to be photographed. However, when the photos were developed, Brown had disappeared!

The nearby KOA Kampgrounds has its own share of ghosts and paranormal activity! Restless spirits have been known to turn on lights after the Kampstore closed and apparitions have been seen walking along Civil War battlements still standing on the property!

Seemingly cursed by the heritage of the Booth family legacy, the Haunted Cottage has gone down in local legend, hidden and forgotten in the hills of Harpers Ferry, WV!

According to local legends, The Haunted Cottage is the most paranormally active location in all of Harpers Ferry! Tales of ghostly apparitions, shadowy figures and poltergeist-type activity permeate the history of this property…

Until now, the Booth House has remained unavailable to the public, lost and forgotten. Then, in 2009, the determination of two friends finally made it possible for research into the building’s dark legacy to come to fruition.

John Wilkes Booth himself probably stayed here. Strongly opposed to the abolitionists who sought to end slavery in the U.S., Booth attended the hanging on December 2, 1859, of abolitionist leader John Brown, who was executed for leading a raid on the Federal armory at Harpers Ferry (in present-day West Virginia). Unlike the rest of his family, John Wilkes Booth had always been a supporter of the South. He believed the Civil War was necessary to maintain Southern freedom. Booth resented the Northern position that slavery had to be outlawed. He attended the execution of John Brown (1800–1859), one of the most famous abolitionists (opponents of slavery) in history. Booth wrote that he considered abolitionists to be “traitors” and that they deserved the same fate as Brown. Booth had been rehearsing at the Richmond Theatre when he abruptly decided to join the Richmond Grays, a volunteer militia of 1,500 men traveling to Charles Town for Brown’s hanging, to guard against any attempt by abolitionists to rescue Brown from the gallows by force. When Brown was hanged without incident, Booth stood in uniform near the scaffold and afterwards expressed great satisfaction with Brown’s fate, although he admired the condemned man’s bravery in facing death stoically. Later he told his sister, Asia, “(John Brown) was a brave man; his heart must have broken when he felt himself deserted at the gallows.” Boothe’s fiance’ awaited him in Harpers Ferry after that dreadful night of assassination in 1865. He never arrived.

Objects being thrown and shadowy apparitions have been reported in the nearly 200 year-old Booth House. Otherwise known as 'The Haunted Cottage', this infamous property has had its share of horrors! Abused and suffering slaves lived in squalor in a small crawl space above the home’s living quarters.

Stories tell of moaning coming from the slave quarters. Feelings of dread have overwhelmed the few daring enough to go into the foreboding area! Strange glowing lights have been reported emanating between the cracks of the boarded windows outside.

NOTE: one of my passions is the study of the American Civil War. I was raised near Gettysburg, Pa and now live near Baltimore...so I have had fairly easy access to the eastern battlefields and sites related to the war. Harper's Ferry has always been a favorite 'haunt' of mine for several reasons. The ghost and apparition tales of John Brown have been swirling around there since he was hanged down the road in Charlestown and I have talked to people who swear he appeared and conversed with them over the years...Lon

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John Brown's Body

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, /|

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,

But his soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

Glory, glory, hallelujah, /|

Glory, glory, hallelujah,

His soul goes marching on.

He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord, /|

He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,

His soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back, /

John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,

His soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

John Brown died that the slaves might be free, /

John Brown died that the slaves might be free,

His soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down, /

The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,

His soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

Written: 1861 (The song originated with soldiers of the Massachusetts 12th Regiment and soon spread to become the most popular anthem of Union soldiers during the Civil War. The tune inspired Julia Ward Howe, after she heard troops sing the song while parading near Washington, to write her lyrics for the same melody, "The Battle Hymm of the Republic." Lyrics to Howe's moving lyrics are also posted below.)

Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Ward Howe

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,

He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword

His truth is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps

His day is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnish`d rows of steel,

"As ye deal with my contemners, So with you my grace shall deal;"

Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel

Since God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

The History of "John Brown's Body" - PBS

The strange story of Harper's Ferry, with legends of the surrounding country

A Ghostly Tour of Harpers Ferry

John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights

The Life, Trial, and Execution of Captain John Brown

The Shadows Among Us

2013-04-24T18:44:00.000-04:00

Here are a few anecdotes I've received over the years that reference 'shadow people' and related entities. My brief synopsis of these beings is that, for the most part, these are malevolent spiritual entities who seek out the living...especially the weak and the vulnerable. I once thought that they were strictly earthbound, but there may be instances where these entities have moved within our earth plane and other dimensions. They are described has human shaped, sometimes wearing a hat ('Hatman' entity), and are rarely seen except for fleeting moments. They usually make themselves known to children, especially at night, while watching them sleep. These entities CAN KILL. They possess the ability to excrete the 'life force' from the living over an extended period of time. Please read the following experiences and take heed...if you are encountering these beings, seek help!

Hello Lon - My experiences took place in the early 80's in Toronto, Canada, and just like the fellow writing of his experiences on your site, mine also took place in a very old house. The house then was at least 75 yrs old and has since been razed to the ground and a brand new structure built in its place. When my family moved in there we experienced the same sort of events, arguments, abusive situations, strange phenomena but not to the point where we all noticed it right away. In fact my younger brother was a skeptic up to the point where things began happening to him as well. I think he took this attitude to allay the fears he must have had. Our father moved out of the house after the first year and away to another part of the country so just the three of us were left. At one point we had family come and live with us before they too departed.

My experiences began with an event I will never forget when I was 16. It was summer and I had difficulty sleeping. This went on for one month approximately. Then one night I had fallen into a light sleep when I was violently awakened. I recall hearing a sound that I thought was an explosion and thinking that our stove must have exploded in the kitchen below me. I opened my eyes and looked around the room in the darkness but saw nothing to indicate anything was happening. Suddenly my bed began to shake violently up and down and it felt as though I was being electrocuted through my solar plexus. I couldn't move but I could see my feet moving as the bed was jumping up and down. Some objects rose up off my dresser and shot towards the bed I thought they would hit me as they approached with such speed. In fact they stopped suddenly and began to swirl around in a counter clockwise direction above me and from the center of this swirl a bright white light appeared and some voices which were like high pitched shrieks or nails on a black board said quite clearly. "The message we bring is to tell the people he is still alive." And then everything stopped suddenly. I was terrified and basically thought I would end up in a nut house. I remember shaking from fear so much I could barely get out of bed. I made my way to my mom's room to tell her about it at which point she assured me I was having nightmares. Say your prayers and go back to sleep she said. I returned to my room after an hour or more but I couldn't sleep. It was a long time before I could sleep there in fact.

The next event happened the following January. I was coming home very late one night and decided to take the short cut through the alley way by our street. I passed a parked van with windows all around and I saw a movement in the van which made me feel somehow by its shape, size and response that it was doberman someone had left outside in their van. I kept walking but the thought pestered me that someone should leave their dog out in mid winter in the night. So I went back to the van cautiously peering in but there was nothing at all. Not even a cushion or anything hanging from the ceiling. Ok I thought I guess I imagined it. I happily kept walking home and when I was in the alley I suddenly heard footsteps behind me in the snow. I got a little freaked out and when I turned my head I didn't see anyone there. As I got to the end of the alleyway and turned onto my street I looked back to the entrance to see if anyone was following me. What I saw shocked and terrified me. There was a streetlight right at the corner and in the pool of its light was standing this enormous creature. It was at least 8 feet tall and huge. What struck me was that its form was completely black, there were no reflective surfaces on it whatsoever. In fact the light was shining directly on it and it seemed to absorb that light. It had large things on its head which I took to be horns or ears and its fingers ended in points like claws and the feet as well. Its eyes were red completely and staring right at me. I don't think my feet touched the ground I ran so fast.

After that experience I had a few others with the same creature. Another night I came home late again and I fell onto my bed after shutting the door just wanting to fall asleep. My cat was in the bed with me when we both heard a voice laughing in the room. A masculine voice. My cat freaked out and ran to the door scratching and miaowing loudly to get out ,I opened the door and she took off. I just didn't want to believe anything was in there with me so I pointedly turned my back to the rest of the room and went to sleep. Another night I turned over and opened my eyes early in the morning and there was the same creature , smaller though, standing in front of my closet staring at me. I recall I got really mad and told it to eff off and turned around and went back to sleep. Meanwhile my brother had seen the exact same creature but his had yellow eyes. He confided the story to me years later when we had left the house and had no knowledge of my experiences. He told me he had awakened early one morning and found that he had left the light on in his room, thinking that he should get up and turn it off he turned onto his back and opened his eyes and there sitting on his bed's headboard was the same creature, talons on feet and hands, completely black with no reflective surfaces, but his was he said about 4 ft tall and squatting on the headboard staring at him with yellow eyes. He said he was terrified and decided not to turn off the light after all. I don't remember if he said it vanished quickly or if he shut his eyes and when he opened them it was gone. He said he never saw it again but had other strange experiences in that house.

One day we decided that we should trade rooms. So I moved all my stuff out to his room and vice versa. I teased him and said he'd have to share my room with a visitor but he was disbelieving. After I had moved to his room I had my last experience in that house that was in the shadow people realm. I woke up one night to a sound in my room like rustling. I was wide awake because I thought it might be a mouse. I switched on my lamp and looked toward the other end of the room but seeing and hearing nothing I lay down again with the light still on. I turned to look at the clock and saw that it was 2:20 am then I saw these two large globes of light beyond my night stand. I was frozen up on one elbow because I had been about to turn out my light again. They moved in a way that reminded me of balloons falling. The larger of the two was golden yellow in colour and the smaller was blue. They looked like spheres lit from within and emanating a misty light from their forms. I somehow could sense that they were intelligent. They knew that I was looking at them and they wanted me to see. The larger golden one floated almost majestically to the door whereupon it flattened to a pancake shape in under half a second and slipped under the door. The second smaller one followed along and did the same. I was very nervous and scared at that point but only because I had to go to the bathroom and this meant I had to go out into the hallway where they had vanished to. Our hallway was very dark and without a proper light as the house was old and not renovated very well. I waited for as long as I could which was about 15 minutes and then I cautiously opened my door and went. The hallway was pitch black so my plan was to inch my way to the bathroom with my back to the wall so nothing could sneak up on me and once I got there I could turn on the bathroom light to illuminate the hallway. I followed my plan through and as it turned out when I turned on the bathroom light it shone down onto the stairs and the first landing. In the light were two shadow people. I've only ever thought of them that way because there was no other way to describe them. They looked like shadows, only they were in the light. They didn't look like the other creatures I had seen, in fact they looked like people in the sense that they had a head and arms and legs and torso and hands. They threw up their hands as though in surprise, like I'd caught them unexpectedly and then they flew down the stairs without a sound. It took me a long time to come out of that bathroom as I didn't want to encounter any of these things again.

Unlike your other poster, these creatures never touched me, at least to my knowledge and never tried to hurt me. Although they did scare the dickens out of me. I recall telling these stories to people years later in other parts of the world and hearing similar tales and wondering just what they could be. Somehow we don't seem that much closer to knowing. I would conjecture though that as is the case with plant and insect life here we certainly haven't got all the facts in yet. Perhaps these creatures share the world we live in but in a different way and we have learned to ignore them or pretend they don't exist. Maybe they are trying to tell us they do exist. Perhaps like us there are those with good intenetions and those with not so good intentions. Its my opinion that we are getting closer to the truth everyday.

A side note here: I read a book a year ago called 'Initiation' by Elizabeth Haich in which she distinctly mentions the shadow people and the effects they caused in the lives of people she knew including her own son prior to WWII. If this is true then perhaps these are beings who've been with us for a very long time. Then again if they are time travellers then all things are possible.

Sincerely, Pema

-----

Hi, Lon, just wanted to tell you what I saw recently. I was out in my back yard, sitting a little bit off my back porch. It was warm, but there was a really nice breeze that night. I had shut off our outside security light, and I was just sitting in a lawn chair, enjoying the breeze. It was around 11:30 at night. Our next door neighbors are on vacation, and I've been watching their house for them. They live on the corner, and there is a street light at the edge of their property that lights up their yard really well. The only part that is mostly dark is the side of their detached garage. The streetlight is so bright that even with my security light off, it lights up half of our property. (We have a double lot.)

I was looking at the sky, when I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye. I saw what I thought was a person squatting down, then getting up and moving around my neighbors trash cans that are on the dark side of the garage, towards my home. I watched for a few minutes as what I thought was a person kept moving around. I had my cell phone, and I pulled up the number of the local police department so I could call them if this person looked like they were out to rob my neighbors. The shadow began moving, and it went past the garage into the light I realized with horror that there was no person attached to the shadow, it was just a big black shadow. It was much larger than a real man would be, around 7-8 feet tall. (Our neighbor is 6'6, and I see how tall he is up against his garage, and whatever this was was at least a foot taller than him, maybe a bit bigger.)

I gasped out loud, and it turned towards me. I was so scared that I couldn't even move. The shadow suddenly started lurching through the neighbor's yard, like it was coming for me. I jumped up off the chair, got tangled in it and fell. I glanced over at this thing as I tried to get up. It seemed as if the noise stopped it for a second. I jumped up and ran right into the house. Our door has a window, and as I was shutting the door, this shadow thing appeared in the yard right next to the overturned chair. It stood there for a few moments, and I swear it was actually looking at me, even though it had no facial features. Then it suddenly took off, and vanished from the part of the yard I could see. My husband died 4 years ago, and I live with my 14 and 19 year old daughters. They were watching TV, so I snuck past them upstairs and looked out all the windows. I didn't see this thing anywhere in the yard. I stayed upstairs for a while because I knew by looking in the mirror that I looked like a crazy woman and I didn't want to scare my daughters. I didn't tell them what I saw, because I didn't want them to be scared too. I didn't sleep much that night, nor Saturday or last night either! I don't know what this was, but it scared the heck out of me! Terry

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Hi...For a couple of years now I've been experiencing some strange things. For the last eight years I've lived in Cape Town, South Africa. The last three years, I shared a flat with my then girlfriend until she moved out and I was left all by myself. I had a feeling that the flat was haunted as I kept getting these weird feelings that we were not alone.

One night I was convinced that I heard someone walking through the flat, my ex didn't hear anything, although you are able to hear the people putting the switches on and off downstairs in their flat, you can tell the difference between walking and the switching off lights on and off. One day I had a friend over for dinner and she was standing in the doorway, and told that she had just seen a woman floating through the lounge through the wall leading to the bedroom, I never saw her. Then two nights in a row at midnight, my TV came on all by itself on a channel I don't watch and the volume was on 30, which is to loud too watch. I checked the timer and the it wasn't set as I never set the timer on the TV.

I'm now living in Mauritius, married and happy, but two years ago my step-father passed away, and I'm seeing more and more Shadow People. I don't why and the thing is I don't feel scared at all, even with the earlier experiences that I have mentioned. But one night, I was sitting at the PC surfing the net, and put everything off, in the doorway leading outside I saw the shape of something, a partial white outline of something in the doorway. It was definitely not a reflection, that was the first thing I checked, then I went to the lounge and was standing behind the couch and heard this voice whisper something in my ear. I couldn't make out whose voice it was, I turned but there was no one there except me.

After turning everything off I started going upstairs and felt this cool breeze brush past my leg, I looked down and nothing. Another time I had a fight with mother, and went to surf the internet, now I'm positive that in the corner of my eye I saw someone walk up to me, I just ignored it, and carried on staring at the PC. A bit later I turned around and there was no one there, all that time I thought it was my mother.

In all the things that have happened 9 to 10 times I'm not scared at all, but definitely curious. I have also found out that there are some haunted houses around where I stay, so I will try and investigate and let you know what I get, pictures and video footage if possible.

Regards
Paul

-----

Hello - Shadow people are some of the most menacing and frightening entities around. I believe they are of a demonic nature. Not only do these dark shadowy figures cause anxiety and terror but often enjoy terrorizing people in their beds. Most shadow people are not alone but have partners in crime. The shadows that terrorized me were never alone. Sometimes my bedroom would be filled with dozens, big and small. Some could touch me. These shadows would pinch me. It wasn't till I was maybe about age 9 that I finally told my parents about these entities and it caused quite a stir in my family. As usual my parents thought I was suffering from nightmares and suggested I eat less before bed time.

Without fail these Shadows returned every night. It wasn't until one night I couldn't stand hearing their laughter that I resisted their powers to make people catatonic or in a paralyzed state that the reality of the situation was no longer a joke to my Mother as my bed began to shake violently as if a giant hand was shaking it. I jumped out of bed and ran so fast that I don't even remember running to my Mom's room. I jumped on her bed in the dark and her bed started shaking too. She held me in her arms as she prayed out loud to God and slowly the shaking resided. By the end of the month we moved out of that home.

Now this is what I gathered from that experience. One; That house was extremely old. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. But there was a bad vibe there from day one. A lot of crazy things happened there with my family fighting all the time. Never in the history of my family had there been so many arguments and cases of domestic violence and abuse. Two; besides fights and arguments there was a vibe of mischievousness. When I played in that house it was almost as if all of us were in some kind of altered state, like some kind of dimensional trance. A good example of this was the movie ET where the kid gets aroused in the class room and he starts releasing the frogs. Yeah! I can't remember the whole thing. Let's just put it this way, I guess I went through intense puberty there. I remember having bad thoughts all the time. I remember my best friend Diana flirting with me and acting mature, but only in the house. When we played outside she was a normal kid. I swear this house had some effect on people's feelings and whatnot. The strange thing is that I don't remember much of my childhood in the house as I remembered most of my childhood in school or playing outside. I remember being cruel to my pets. I was never like that but I became a bad kid in the house. Outside I was quite normal.

The strange thing is that we moved about 5 blocks away from that house into a new apartment and I thought things were back to being normal for almost half a year with no incidents. No fights between Mom and Dad, when we all got together it was fun again. I noticed it right away the vibe change. I noticed that the old house was really dark inside. Half a year passed when I had my last incident one night.

It was early, maybe 2:30am I had woke up to use the restroom and I was maybe about 10 years old. I remember laying down in the bed and getting comfortable when I felt my bed got shoved from one side. At first I stood still as I thought maybe it was an earthquake. It passed and I played it off as just my imagination. As I began to fall asleep I had the sensation of being cold and clammy so I covered up. I felt feverish and I felt a small pinch on one of my toes. I became frightened as I looked around in the dark and saw 3 black outlines around my bed. The Shadows were back!

I became paralyzed as I screamed for help, I'm still not sure if I did try but nothing came out or if I imagined screaming out. The point is, I was freaking screaming! I felt some cold weight on my chest as I became face to face with one of these entities. Still paralyzed it looked me right in the eye and this is what I saw. It's eyes were black as black velvet and evil looking, but the outside rim of it's eyes was black line yellow line, black line yellow line all around the outside perimeter of it's eye in a pattern and it moved counter clockwise motion. It's two other Shadow friends had red and the other full yellow eyes. It was unreal as they all burst out in this wicked laughter and vanished and never bothered me like that again.

Shadow people can move objects and touch people. I believe they can physically hurt people. There are theories that Shadow people are alien beings. Some claim they are travelers from a different dimensional plane. Professor Stephen W. Hawkings has talked about shadow people being a real possible phenomena. Millions of people have had similar experiences and even video footage, photos of this phenomena. You are not alone, but the best we can do is share our experience and hope to learn as much as we can about this. I'm sorry about the sloppiness of my writing and spelling but hope that you can have a heads up to this strange phenomena. Good luck..Carlos

Darkness Walks: The Shadow People Among Us

Encyclopedia of the Unseen World: The Ultimate Guide to Apparitions, Death Bed Visions, Mediums, Shadow People, Wandering Spirits, and Much, Much More

Shadow People Who are they and where do they come from?

Spirit Rescue International™
Providing no-cost professional spiritual help, personal support and guidance
Take the first step towards genuine peace of mind

Spirits Endure at Herr's Ridge

2013-04-18T19:32:00.000-04:00

On the a recent episode of Haunted Collector, John Zaffis and his team conducted an investigation at the Inn at Herr Ridge...a location west of Gettysburg, Pa that has had a sustained reputation for paranormal events. Gettysburg is a hotbed of spiritual activity and the town relies on this notoriety in order to generate revenue. The notion that a haunting be curtailed at a renown business location does seems a bit disingenuous...especially when the Inn conducts regular 'ghost hunts' for public consumption and that lodgers want to stay there in order to satisfy their curiosity of the paranormal. Anyway...since 1815, the year it was opened for business, the Inn has a documented and sorted history.

The Inn was originally named Sweeney Tavern. One of its' early guests was Davy "Robber" Lewis, the so-called 'Robin Hood of the East.' In 1828 the Inn was renamed Herr's Tavern. Frederick Herr was quite a character...supposedly running a cathouse upstairs, a counterfeiting press in the basement and still used the Tavern as a stop on the Underground Railroad. He was alive to see the invading Confederate Army use his establishment for a field hospital during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.

The building changed hands and business during the years, becoming a dairy farm by the early 1900s. It was resurrected as Herr's Tavern once again in 1977. Since then, the paranormal phenomena has manifested on a regular basis, including forks stuck in the floor and the sounds of pots, pans, dishes and glasses shattering among other things. Once the owner and his associate were closing up for the night when they heard the door open and footsteps go down the bar, even though the door was locked. They were even more surprised when they heard a disembodied voice ask for a beer...twice. On several occasions, an unknown man is seen sitting at the bar. When a waitress approaches to take his order, he disappears. Footsteps have been heard going down the hall and turning the doorknobs. People have reported seeing a mother and baby looking out a window and on the stairs...hearing a crying baby and a soft lullaby. Some think it's Suzanne Herr, Frederick's wife, while others think that it's a woman that came to check on her husband when it was a field hospital. You can find more information on the Herr Tavern's haunted history at The Inn at Herr Ridge.

NOTE: Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Phil Lechak offers an intriguing study of field hospitals during the Battle of Gettysburg...Lon

Haunted Objects: Stories of Ghosts on Your Shelf

Ghosts of Gettysburg: Walking on Hallowed Ground

Haunted U.S. Battlefields: Ghosts, Hauntings, and Eerie Events from America's Fields of Honor

The Tillie Pierce House / The Woman In Black

2013-04-10T23:55:00.003-04:00

The following narratives describe encounters experienced by two readers:

TILLIE PIERCE HOUSE

Hi Lon!

After Phenomenology 105 was over at the Eisenhower Conference Center on March 24th in Gettysburg, my sister, Jeanne, and I stayed two nights at the historic, quaint and haunted Tillie Pierce House. We were the only guests in the Inn both nights so any noises were either ours, creaks of the old building or something paranormal. We stayed in the Pink Room, which is on second floor in the front of the house. Here is what happened the first night at around 4:20 AM: We both woke up to movement down the hallway towards the front of the house. It sounded like creaks on the floor as if someone was walking down the hall, but we also heard the noises above our room. Then we heard the creaks/knocks coming to our room. I looked at the door, expecting something to open it as "someone" was definitely AT our door. Then I felt a huge chill come over my entire body. (I was in bed.) (I get a chill/goose bumps when a spirit is near me, typically, so I felt the presence of someone very near.) The feeling lingered only a few seconds and then was gone. We slept the rest of the night in peace.

The following night at around 11:30 I sat in the hallway and tried to make contact with the ghost cat that has been reported. I was told that one could hear meowing and, two weeks ago, two people saw the apparition of a cat walk through a door. So I had my P-SB7 (ghost box) turned on and was calling out, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!", hoping to hear some meowing. Instead I heard the voice of a human spirit say, "Cat!" very distinct and clearly. That night in bed we heard some creaks in the house, but nothing like we had heard the night before.

The Tillie Pierce House is a beautiful, quaint and historic place to visit. The location is ideal and I truly believe it is haunted. The spirits are just curious and I never felt afraid.

Julie H.

Gettysburg Unearthed:: The Excavation Of A Haunted History

Ghosts of Gettysburg: Walking on Hallowed Ground

Haunted U.S. Battlefields: Ghosts, Hauntings, and Eerie Events from America's Fields of Honor

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THE WOMAN IN BLACK

One evening in 1991, while enjoying a nice walk on my first visit to London, I nearly bumped into a woman. Apparently I was distracted by the sights because I certainly didn’t see her before almost walking into her. She was wearing a black dress and bonnet (of a style from the early 1800s much as I had seen on display in London’s Victoria & Albert Museum). She held a small purse in her hands. Her face was plump and decidedly English. Her expression was quite sad. We stood less than an arm’s reach from each other, face to face. Her eyes barely caught a glimpse of mine because she was, with apparent despair, dropping her head as if defeated. As she did so, she asked, “Have you seen my brother?” Uncomfortably, I said, “I don’t know your brother, so I don’t know if I’ve seen him.”

Then I looked behind her. Four meters away stood two men looking at me. I thought that perhaps they were escorting this troubled woman who was out in the dark of London asking strangers questions. The two men said nothing. Then she and I walked past each other. After I walked five or six steps, I turned around to watch her, concerned about her and curious to know what she was doing. But she wasn’t there. This was an open area. There was no obstacle that could have blocked my view of her. There was nothing for her to hide behind. My view was not obstructed by people. She just wasn’t there. Puzzled, I continued my walk and said out loud, “Well, I guess this is creepy old London.”

I’m thinking that those two men didn’t see her and only saw me talking. Perhaps she was only visible to me. That would explain why they said nothing to me.

Anyway, nine years passed. Again, I had business to do in London and would soon go there for a second visit. So I went to a bookstore in Los Angeles to get a useful book about enjoying London. I like to walk and wanted something compact and not heavy. From the shelf, I removed a book titled, Walking Haunted London: 25 Original Walks Exploring London's Ghostly Past It featured several walking tours, each tour three to five kilometers long. To give the reader a better sense of history, the author usually began each by telling of battles and interesting commentary pertinent to the area. Then he wrote of specific ghostly events that have been observed by credible people such as Tower Guards, Winston Churchill, and countless people for a few hundred years.

At the bottom of page 23, I was intrigued to see a story tour titled, “The Woman in Black.” This was the story of Phillip and Sarah Whitehead. The author wrote that ever since she died, many people have witnessed that she appears out of nowhere with sad downcast eyes and is heard to say the one phrase she so often spoke in life: “Have you seen my brother?” My arms had goosebumps.

I could have lived my entire life without discovering the story of Sarah Whitehead. In fact, after that chance meeting with Sarah, the story eluded me for another nine years - and that book has since been out of print for many years. I contacted the Bank of England and they mailed information to me about Sarah Whitehead. I also contacted the author of the book and we chatted.

During my second visit to London, I was hopeful to see her again — and why not? For some reason I was fortunate to have had that experience. But I didn’t see her again.

I’ll never forget Sarah’s face. She looked as human, alive, and truly there as anybody. She didn’t look ghostly or like an apparition in any way. I marvel at the fact that Sarah was aware of my presence. She wasn’t talking to empty space. She wasn’t five feet to the side of me talking to nobody. She was extremely close and talking to me and only to me. I wonder what would have happened if I touched her hand and said, “Sarah, I’ve got some news for you. Philip is dead. Your search is over. It’s time to move on.” - Kent M.

The Hagley Woods Mystery: Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?

2013-03-31T11:57:00.003-04:00

On 18 April, 1943, four teenage boys from nearby Stourbridge, Robert Hart, Thomas Willetts, Bob Farmer and Fred Payne, were in the woods poaching. It was a chilly spring day in the rural Midlands area of England. They came upon an old hollow elm tree and decided it would be an ideal place to search for birds’ nests. Bob Farmer attempted to clamber up into the tree, but as he glanced down inside the hollow trunk he suddenly saw the empty eye-sockets of a whitened skull, staring up at him from among the twisted branches.

At first he didn’t realise what he was looking at and thought it must belong to an animal, possibly a oppossum. But as he pulled the skull out from the gnarled branches and saw a small patch of rotting flesh on the forehead, the remains of some hair, and metal fillings in the teeth he realized what he’d found. The boys panicked...they were on the land illegally, after all, and were afraid of being punished for trespassing. They vowed to forget their grisly find and tell no one.

After hours of hand-wringing the youngest boy, Tommy Willetts, felt uncomfortable about keeping such a secret and decided to tell his father what they’d found. Naturally his father then told the Worcestershire County Police, who went to the site the following morning. Inside and around the old tree they found not only the human skull, but an almost complete skeleton, a crêpe-soled shoe and some fragments of rotted clothing. During a careful search of the surrounding undergrowth a severed hand from the body was also discovered buried nearby.

The task of examining the body fell to Prof James Webster, then head of the Home Office Forensic Science Laboratory in the West Midlands. After a detailed examination at the lab at Birmingham, Professor Webster ascertained that the woman was probably about 35 years old and five feet tall. She had mousy brown hair and a malformed lower jaw. There was a cheap gold wedding ring, no more than four years old, and she had given birth at least once. He estimated that she had been dead for at least 18 months before she was found.

There were no marks of disease or violence on the body, but her mouth had been stuffed with taffeta and one hand had been severed and buried at the foot of the tree. The coroner declared cause of death asphyxiation and estimated the time of death to be around October of 1941, a year and a half before her body’s discovery. He stated that the woman was probably murdered and then pushed into the hole while still warm, as the body would not have fitted into the hollow trunk after rigor mortis had set in.

Professor Webster was able to reconstruct almost exactly what the woman had been wearing at the time of her murder, and it was then possible for the police to issue a description which must have been very close to the actual appearance of the mystery woman.

Most of the investigators thought it would only be a matter of time before she was identified. But the most unusual detail was that despite exhaustive searches through dental records, no trace of the woman was found. Even after a description of the woman and the specific irregularities of her lower jaw were published in dentists’ journals, and despite the fact that she’d had a tooth taken out from the right side of her lower jaw within a year of her death, there was no response. The only thing that the police were fairly certain of was that the woman was a stranger to the area. There were no local missing persons whose description matched that of the victim. As well, only one clue came from anyone in vicinity of Hagley.

This clue was in the form of a report from the executive of an industrial company. In July, 1941, he had been walking to his lodgings in Hagley Green, when he heard a woman’s screams coming from Hagley Wood. A couple of minutes later he met a schoolteacher walking in the opposite direction who had also heard the screams. The men phoned the police who arrived and searched Hagley Wood, but nothing was found. This incident was exactly 20 months before the body was discovered, and, considering the pathologist’s estimate that the woman had been dead for at least 18 months before she was found, seemed extremely promising. However, as with many clues in what the press were now calling the “Tree Murder Riddle, it was to lead nowhere.

Around Christmas 1943, graffiti began to appear on the walls of empty buildings in various parts of the West Midlands area.

The first message, written in large blocky letters in white chalk, said WHO PUT LUEBELLA DOWN THE WYCH-ELM? In the following weeks, the graffiti changed into WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM?...and so it has remained for over six decades.

Though the graffiti seemed to be the work of a hoaxer, there was the slim possibility suggested by the slogans that somebody knew something about the crime. Appeals for the mysterious graffitist to contact the police proved futile, though the messages continued to appear, and have so, intermittently up until the present time. However, the immediate result at the beginning of 1944 was that the unknown woman was given a nickname that even the police adopted.

There were and still are many theories as to the identity of ‘Bella’ and the mystery of her murder. But perhaps the most controversial was put forward at the time by Professor Margaret Murray, of University College, London. She was a respected anthropologist, archaeologist and Egyptologist, but her theories on the origins and organization of witchcraft, with her suggestion that it pre-dated Christianity, were controversial, and not taken seriously by many of her colleagues. Today some of her books have become cult titles including The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology(1921), The God of the Witches(1933) and the The Divine King in England(1954).

Professor Murray drew attention to the fact that the hand was missing from the skeleton when found, and suggested it was the sign of a black magic execution. She linked it with ‘The Hand of Glory’, traditionally obtained at the dead of night when it would be cut from the body of an executed criminal hanging from the gibbet or gallows. The hand was supposed to possess powerful magic, and was used to protect its owner from evil spirits, to reveal where treasure was buried or even to put people to sleep. She also drew attention to the ‘ancient tradition’ that the spirit of a dead witch could be prevented from causing any more harm by being imprisoned in the hollow of a tree. Inevitably no evidence was ever found to back this up and some people believed that an animal could have been responsible for removing the hand from the skeleton.

Another major theory, somewhat less extreme than the witchcraft explanation, and with a little more evidence to support it, emerged ten years after the discovery of the body and came in the form of a letter to the Midlands newspaper The Wolverhampton Express and Star. The letter was sent to the columnist Lt. Col. Wilfred Byford-Jones, who in November, 1953, had written a series of articles on the Hagley Wood murder. The mysterious person who sent the letter claimed to have information about the murder and signed herself ‘ANNA, Claverley’. According to this “Anna”, Bella was actually a foreign spy who had been part of a ring scouting out munitions factories in the area and reporting back to the Luftwaffe. The murder victim, ‘Anna’ claimed, was a Dutch woman who had arrived in England illegally about 1941 and had become involved in these activities. She had accidentally learned too much about a British officer who was a mole involved in the spy ring. In order to guarantee her silence, the officer and another spy killed Bella before dumping her body in the woods. The letter named the British officer involved, but he was discovered to have died insane in 1942.

Eventually when Byford-Jones and the police met ‘Anna’ they learned that the officer involved had been a close relative connected to a spy-ring selling secrets to Germany. According to Byford–Jones, some of Anna’s facts were subsequently verified, and apparently both MI5 and the police investigated her claims. Richard Deacon in his book, Murder by witchcraft: A study of the Lower Quinton and Hagley Wood murders mentions that there was contact with an ex-Nazi called Herr Franz Rathgeb, who had spent time in the English Midlands during the war, and knew a German agent named Lehrer who had a girlfriend also working a German spy. She was a Dutchwoman possibly called Clarabella Dronkers, who had lived in Birmingham, was about 30, and had irregular teeth. It is a known fact that a Dutchman named Johannes Marinus Dronkers was executed for spying by the British in December 1942, but whether there was ever a Clarabella Dronkers has never been proven.

Rumors that two German parachutists had landed and vanished in the Hagley area early in 1941 seemed to add more weight to the ‘spy’ theory. It all sounded somewhat promising when all of this came to light. The public became convinced that Bella had either been a spy or mixed up with spies. And when it emerged that her skeleton had disappeared from the Birmingham University Medical School, an outcry of conspiracy and cover-up began...though no prove was ever presented. Certainly if she was discovered spying for Germany by the British she would have been arrested and questioned and not executed and stuffed in a tree.

There were other theories, of course...that Bella was a prostitute who had picked up the wrong 'john' - that she had been a refugee fleeing the Blitz and had met a rapist in the woods - that she was a gypsy murdered by her tribe for some horrible misdeed. But for the people around Hagley Woods, the first two theories still held the most weight.

However, if Bella was a local woman sheltering from the blitz, then some clues should have turned up to her identity by now, either from relatives attempting to locate her or from relevant dental records, but nothing has ever been found, and it seems no-one knew anything about her.

The case is still open, though it has long since gone cold. With the body missing and over six decades between the murder and today, the only thing that is clear is that the chances of anyone uncovering Bella’s true identity and that of her murderer are so slim as to be impossible. Just as we may never be sure of Jack the Ripper’s identity, so too will Bella become a figure of myth and folklore.

But the mystery of Bella will not rest so lightly it seems. On August 18, 1999, a 200 year-old stone obelisk on the Hagley Hall estate was found one morning covered in graffiti in tall white letters, ‘WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WITCH ELM?'

Sources:
brian-haughton.com
criminalelement.com
mysteriousbritain.co.uk
paranormaldatabase.com
forteantimes.com
mysteriouspeople.com
BBC - Murder mystery returns to haunt village
independent.co.uk - Mystery. Murder. And half a century of suspense
Bella: An Unsolved Murder

Old Man Hayes / Stop Sign Encounter

2013-03-26T17:33:00.002-04:00

The following anecdotal accounts were received from 'Phantoms & Monsters' readers:

OLD MAN HAYES

This is a true story. When I was about twelve or so my family moved into a rural neighborhood called Hayes Glenn. It was some old farm land owned by a man named Mr. Hayes. We built a new home on five acres and moved in the winter of 1986. About a year or so later another house was being built next door to us. Being kids me and a good friend would hang out in the house while it was being built. One day we were just sitting in the unfinished house talking when we both heard foot steps coming down the hall right toward us. They were very loud because there was no carpet on the concrete foundation so they could clearly be heard. I looked down the hall and there was no one there. Thinking the owners were there we ran out of the house but I soon realized there was no body there.

A couple of weeks later I awoke up about two in the morning. My room was on the side of our house that overlooked the property that the house was being built on. I don't know why but I looked out of the window and clearly saw an old man standing outside of the house. I could see him in the moonlight. I went and woke my mom up but when she got to my room he was gone. Nothing else happened. The house was finished and a couple of years passed. I happened to be talking to a friend's dad who lived in the area. He was a police officer who, about 10 years before all of this, handled the case of old man Hayes...the farmer who had hung himself in a barn exactly were the neighbors house was built. JJ

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STOP SIGN ENCOUNTER

About two years ago, I had an experience which I will recount to you. I have been speaking of this more, but it took some time to reconcile.

I believe it would have been early March. I am an interiorscaper, which means I take care of plants in offices and estates. At the time, I had the contract to maintain the plant material in the executive offices at Electronic Data Systems in Plano, TX. Because I maintained the plants for the highest level employees (ceo, cio, etc..), I would do my work pretty much in the middle of the night by escort of their security personnel. I had the contract to do this work for them since 1998.

Once a week, I would leave my home, where I live in a country setting, and travel about 45 minutes in to Plano to do this work. On this morning, it was about 2:30am. I had loaded my van with my work materials, and started out on a very cold and unpleasant morning. It had been raining and the wind was blowing. I had my windshield wipers on because the wind was blowing water off the trees, though it wasn't raining at the moment. I turned on the residential street to make my way out and to the main roads. As I approached the first stop sign, my headlights illuminated a being.

This is how I describe it: First, I must comment that I was immediately struck by a terrible fear. I believe my neck hairs stood on end, and I realized later that I had popped out in a complete sweat. I never sweat, and it was very cold, but my shirt had huge armpit rings by the time I reached the toll road. So I instantly knew that I was seeing something very out of the ordinary at the first second.

I would say this being was about five feet tall. It crossed the road on the cross street in front of me. I had probably 10 or so seconds as my van approached the stop sign, and I had my foot on the brake pedal already when I saw it. (I was traveling slowly anyway). It was a glossy white color, and I could not discern any clothing. It was the same glossy white from its head to its feet. It did not turn its head to look at me, so I do not know what the eyes looked like. It moved in a very strange fashion. It did not seem to have any bend at a knee area, and shuffled rather than walked. The arms were very long, much longer than a person's, and they hung down much past where one would expect knees, and also had no bend where one would expect elbows. I believe the hands were large. The head was not very big, nothing like one sees looking up pictures of 'greys'. There was nothing threatening in its manner, but I was terrified, nonetheless. I must say it took every ounce of courage for me to turn my head to the left in the direction it had gone when I came to a stop at the stop sign. I saw nothing there, and I floored it and got the hell out of there.

Nothing strange or unusual happened on the rest of the trip, although I was really scared. And nothing has happened in all the time since then. I wish I had known that there would be no consequences from seeing it and I could have saved myself a lot of anxiety. I would love to see it again, if I could know for sure that again there would be no consequences, and I could look at it from behind an army of people who probably believe me to be deluded or a liar.

Obviously, I have no idea what it is. Except to say that I know it is not human. I guess it could be an alien from space, or a creature from another dimension.

Seeing it had a big effect on me. I have never been in the least bit afraid outside in the night (I breed and raise horses, and I have spent many, many nights out in the barn by myself waiting for a mare to foal) but I was very nervous outside after that. I also began to dread going to that account. It was eons before I could go by that stop sign without feeling that fear.

I have had some unusual experiences in my life, but nothing like this. I do not know what to make of this experience, other than to acknowledge that there is much more to this world than we know. I come from a well-educated family of engineers and economists, and they would have preferred no family member of theirs have an experience like this, which puts on in a category of 'kooks'. Kate

Strange Encounters : Bizarre & Eerie Contact With UFO Occupants

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Real-Life: Ouija Board Scare / Childhood Experiences

2013-03-09T19:08:00.002-05:00

OUIJA BOARD SCARE

I thought I would tell you about an experience my sister had many years ago.

She was around 15 or so and was at a friend's house for a sleepover. Her and a few other friends decided to play with a Ouija board in their garage. Her friend's mother was at work and her father was in bed, so they had no supervision. While playing with the board they asked if anyone who wanted to speak to them. They got a YES, they asked for a name. They got MOM, they asked for a message. They got UNDR BRIDG. They did not understand the message at the time.

Later, after they had gone on to bed, there was a knock at the front door. It was the local sheriff who had come to the house to tell the girl's father that his wife had been killed in a car accident on her way home from work that night. Her car was found submerged in water under a bridge just a few miles from their home.

To this day, my sister will not go near or even discuss the subject of Ouija boards.

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CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES

There are a few things that have happened in our home and one, when I was in Italy as a child. I will start from the most recent to the earliest.

About three years ago, I was in my bathroom and was just finishing dressing. I was thinking to myself that I felt I was putting on weight and that I should go on a diet. Then all of a sudden something smacked me on the backside. I turned and looked and nothing was there. I told my kids, my husband and my friends and no one had an answer. Then about six years ago, my daughter and I were in the kitchen. My daughter’s birthday was coming up, family and friends were sending her birthday cards and I usually display them on the counter above the dishwasher. There were about five cards facing front. We started to talk about where she wanted to go for her birthday and all of a sudden my daughter said "Mom, look!" All the birthday cards were facing back towards the back splash. Well, needless to say, we were scared out of our minds. I told my daughter that maybe it was my mother who passed on. She probably said nobody’s card would be as important as mine, only because she adored my daughter and spent much time with her when she was alive.

Now, going back ten years ago. My son was six and he had just lost his tooth. He came running down to the kitchen to show me and said, "Mom I just lost my tooth", and I, of course, made a big thing about it and said "OK we have to give it to the tooth fairy tonight." My son and I were at the kitchen table and he was sitting across from me. I went to put it in this silver antique tooth fairy box that someone had given my son as a baby gift when he was born. All of a sudden, the tooth went straight up about two feet from the table and made a left about five feet and then dropped to the floor and broke. I think my son, at first, was so scared he couldn’t even talk. We just looked at each other. All my son could say is "what was that?" I just said I didn't know, but don’t worry, the tooth fairy will still take it. I put in the box. Yes, the tooth fairy still came and yes I still have the broken tooth.

My earliest experience was when I lived in Italy at age four. I was sick and I was in my parent's bed. The bedroom was in a loft and I was about 20 feet away from the balcony. I woke up and I noticed a ball of fire that kept spinning around in place by the balcony. I couldn’t take my eyes away from it. Suddenly, it changed to a hand that came towards me very quickly and I put the sheets over my head and started to scream. My parents woke up and I told my mother and she said it’s probably because you don’t feel well. Well, 42 years later and I still haven’t forgotten it.

The Nightly Terror

2013-03-01T16:25:00.000-05:00

The following was submitted by a reader:

Hello - many years ago, a couple with 2 young boys moved into a venerable one-story house a few miles outside Portland, Oregon. The property was just down the road from us. We had known the wife through our church. After they had been in the house for a few months, they both began reporting strange activity. They had both heard something large and heavy enough to shake the ground with its footsteps come from the forest and walk around the outside of their house. In fact, it attempted to get in the house on several occasions. It also made growling and snorting noises. This happened several times, always at night.

On one occasion, the older of the two boys, then about 4, was heard talking with someone in his room during the late evening. The parents distinctly heard both the boy and a second, male voice. Both parents hurried into the room, to find the child reaching toward the open window, yelling, "No! No! Don't go! Don't go!" This was at first written off as an "invisible playmate", except that the window had been closed to keep the child warm and that he was not strong enough to open it alone.

The unknown being continued to prowl outside the house, and the family became horrified of what might happen if it got inside. They refused to go outside after sundown for any reason. After 6 months of fear and without the means to move, they discussed the situation with us one evening. We decided to try to eliminate it. Since both our husbands hunted deer and elk, they both had rifles if needed.

The men rigged spotlights all around the house, which was connected to a single switch inside. Late in the afternoon, they got into an old car that was parked on the property in plain sight of the house, and hunkered down out of sight. They remained there with some food, coffee and a walkie-talkie radio.

Shortly after sundown, we were inside the house and began to hear something walking the perimeter of the building. The ground shook with each step. We heard it slamming the walls, doors, and windows. I threw the switch for the lights, and the men stormed out of the car with rifles at the ready. They saw the tall weeds moving as though something large walk through it, but could not see what caused it. I was in contact with my husband by radio while we were inside hearing the sounds. The men heard nothing other than my voice on the radio.

We were terrified but, as a result of that night, there were no further disturbances at the house (as far as I know) and the family moved out a few months later. There had been several families in the residence since then, though none had reported any activity. The house was demolished recently to make room for a larger residence.

I will never forget the sound and fury we experienced that night. Most times when I mention the incident to others they usually say that it may have been a Sasquatch or another large animal roaming around. I doubt that very much since the men never heard or witnessed anything outside the house.

The real reason I am writing you is to get your opinion on a theory I have about this incident.

The woman had emotional issues and had several 'episodes' after she had given birth to her boys. I suppose this would be classified as postpartum depression nowadays. She was also very young, aged 16, when she was married to her 32 year-old husband. He was a member of a fundamentalist religious sect that is very strict when it came to family. In particular, she was expected to cater to all his needs - literally. I suspect that there was a lot of abuse, which then resulted in her emotional problems.

My question is - could this have been poltergeist activity? Could she have manifested a dark being or force?

I will end this email with one more disturbing detail. After the couple moved away, we rarely communicated again. They had moved to Idaho and lived in a very rural community. I was told later that the woman had died while giving birth to a fifth child - but I discovered soon after that she actually died of unknown circumstances that had never been made public. She was only 27. Thank you for reading - Rita

NOTE: though I don't know the full details of what happened in the family home, it is conceivable that this situation could have manifested into a poltergeist. These 'thought-form' entities are rarely benign and become quite strong in light of substantial emotional distress. If this fervent abuse continued after the family moved away, I suspect that the paranormal activity continued at the new location. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated circumstance. Stark abuse in any household can very easily result in a similar situation...Lon

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Reader's Personal Encounters With The Unknown

2013-02-14T15:41:00.001-05:00

Seems like I've been running into one kind of ghost or another most of my life. Around 16, I saw my friend's Grandfather after he had passed away, a shimmering, but very clear image, outside the house he died in. Like he was taking one last look before moving on.

At the exact moment that my Mother discovered MY grandfather in his bed, I was 30 miles away at work, heard a knock on the glass door, looked up and saw my Mom.

When I opened the door, it was just a co-worker knocking to be let in.

Here in Orange County, up in the hills is a place called Black Star Canyon. There have been spooky stories of strange goings on about that place for a 100 years. So...naturally, it's where EVERY teenager has to go check out!

The stories include strange Satanic rituals held there, Albino creatures, and the two young lovers who committed suicide. I, myself, saw a "floating green mist", and one night a whole group of us got brave enough to drive to the plateau at the top. That's when we saw 2 bright "Orb-like" objects floating down the mountain side by side coming right towards us. (it could NOT have been people with flashlights, because they were moving perfectly smooth) needless to say, we piled into our cars and sped off.

In the mid-seventies, I lived in a haunted house on Catalina Island.

351 Sumner Avenue. Lights would come on at night. Objects would disappear and reappear some place else. We could hear children laughing and running up and down the stairs. My friend's dog would stop at the front door whining and would not come in.

Do I believe in Ghosts or spirits from beyond? You betcha!

As for Bigfoot, haven't seen one yet. And as far as UFO'S & Aliens...

I think I'll save THAT story for another time.

David Garrison

Creating The Monster

2013-02-07T22:48:00.000-05:00

“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Dr. Victor Frankenstein was based on the real-life Johann Konrad Dippel (1673-1734), an 18th century scientist and alchemist who was born in 1673 near Mühltal and Darmstadt, Germany at, you guessed it, Castle Frankenstein. The story of Victor Frankenstein and the monster he created come from the novel Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, wife of the acclaimed poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Educated as a physician, Dippel set up a laboratory at Castle Frankenstein where he would be free to conduct his unusual experiments. Dippel (who often went by the name Konrad Frankensteina) spent a lot of his time with his hobby of alchemy...a popular pursuit of the day. Alchemy is a kind pseudo-scientific experimentation with the elements...whose ultimate challenge was to be able to turn lead into gold. Like Victor Frankenstein, Dippel was also fascinated by the possibility of immortality through scientific means. He really did use the parts of butchered animals and exhumed human corpses in his vain attempt to "engender life in the dead," in his own words.

Instead of rigging up the body parts to elaborate lightning-powered gizmos and spark generators, Dippel boiled skin, muscle, bone, blood, hair and organs in large vats. When the surrounding community got wind of what Dippel was up to, they eventually forced him out of town.

Shelly undoubtedly based her novel on Dippel's antics, since it is documented that she visited Castle Frankenstein in 1814 when she eloped with Percy.

“Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

MARY SHELLEY: THE WOMAN BEHIND THE MONSTER

English Romantic novelist, biographer and editor, best known as the writer of FRANKENSTEIN, OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS (1818). Mary Shelley was 21 when the book was published; she started to write it when she was 18. The story deals with an ambitious young scientist. He creates life but then rejects his creation, a monster.

"But success shall crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracking a secure way over the pathless seas: the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?" from Frankenstein

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died of puerperal fever 10 days after giving birth to her daughter. Mary's labor lasted 18 hours and then it took four hours to remove the rest of the placenta. She was one of the first feminists, the author of A Vindications of the Rights of Woman (1792), and the novel Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman in which she wrote: "We cannot, without depraving our minds, endeavour to please a lover or husband, but in proportion as he pleases us." In the intellectual circles of London, her acquaintances included the painter Henry Fuseli, Erasmus Darwin, Charles's grandfather, and William Blake, who illustrated an edition of her book, Original stories, from real life; with conversations, calculated to regulate the affections, and form the mind to truth and goodness, by Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Shelley's father was the writer and political journalist William Godwin, who became famous with his work Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793). Godwin had revolutionary attitudes to most social institutions, including marriage. In feminism he found an "amazonian" element. Among his other books is Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794).

In her childhood Mary Shelley was left to educate herself amongst her father's intellectual circle, the critic Hazlitt, the essayist Lamb, the poet Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who came into Godwin's circle in 1812. Godwin took a second in 1801, but Mary never learned to like her. In 1812 Godwin sent her to live in Dundee. Mary published her first poem at the age of ten. At the age of 16 she ran away to France and Switzerland with Shelley; they had met at the end of 1812. Percy and Mary married in 1816 - Shelley's wife Harriet had committed suicide by drowning. Their first child, a daughter, died in Venice, Italy, a few years later. In History of a Six Weeks' Tour Through a Part of France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland: With Letter (1817) the Shelleys jointly recorded their life. Thereafter they returned to England and Mary gave birth to a son, William.

The story of Frankenstein started on summer in 1816, when Mary joined with Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont near Geneva Lord Byron. She took a challenge, set by Lord Byron, to write a ghost story. With her husband's encouragement, she completed the novel within a year. At the Villa Diodati she had been a "silent listener" of her husband and Byron, who discussed about galvanism. At Eton College Shelley had become interested in Luigi Calvani's experiments with electric shocks to make dead frogs' muscles twitch. It is possible that his teacher, James Lind, had demonstrated the technique to Shelley. Byron and Shelley talked Dr Darwin's experiments with a piece of vermicelli. In her 'Introduction' to the 1831 edition Mary revealed that she got the story from a dream, in which she saw "the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with a uneasy, half vital motion."

FRANKENSTEIN; OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS (1818) The novel starts with series of letters from Robert Walton to his sister. Walton is an English Arctic explorer who spots a strange creature on a dog-sled. The exhausted Victor Frankenstein arrives, in pursuit of the creature,and while recuperating tells his story. He has been born into a wealthy Geneva family. After his mother dies of scarlet fever and becomes a student of natural philosophy and medicine. Inspired by occult philosophy and the teaching of his mentor, Waldman, he builds a creature in the semblance of a man and gives it life. It body is assembled from parts which Frankenstein has stolen from butcher shops, dissecting rooms, and charnel-houses. The creature is repeatedly rejected by those who see it, but the monster proves intelligent, and later highly articulate. Receiving no love, it becomes embittered. Frankenstein deserts his creation, who disappears. "I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I have deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." (from Frankenstein) Frankenstein hears that his younger brother has been strangled, but Justine, his family's servant confesses the murder. However, later the monster tells that he murdered William and framed Justine. Frankenstein then agrees to make a mate for the monster so that it will not bother anyone again. A wave of remorse makes him destroy the female. The lone creature swears revenge. He kills Frankenstein's bride, Elizabeth, on their wedding night. The scientist becomes mad, but recovers and chases the creature across the world. The two confront in the Arctic wastes. Frankenstein dies. The creature describes eloquently to Walton his efforts to seek out beauty and how crime has degraded it beneath the meanest animal. "He is dead who called me into being; and when I shall be no more the very remembrance of us both will speedily vanish. I shall no longer see the sun or stars, or feel the wind play on my cheeks. Light, feeling, and sense will pass away; and in this condition must I find my happiness." The monster leaps from the ship on a ice-raft, disappearing again in the darkness. - The novel contains no supernatural elements; the creation of the monster is described in the third edition on a rational scientific basis. Frankenstein is a scientist who challenges the Creator of the world with the possibilities of modern science, but is destroyed because he cannot anticipate the outcomes of his own acts. The story has also been interpreted as an exploration of the artist's - creator's - relation to society.

The first edition of book had an unsigned preface by Percy Shelley. Many thought that it is also his novel, disbelieving that only 19-year-old woman could write such horror story. However, when the book was published in 1818, it became a huge success, although it received mixed reviews. John Wilson Croker wrote in Quarterly Review (January 1818) that "the dreams of insanity are embodied in the strong and striking language of the insane, and the author, notwithstanding the rationality of his preface, often leaves us in doubt whether he is not as mad as his hero." Walter Scott, on the other hand, noted that the work was "written in plain and forcible English, without exhibiting the mixture of hyperbolical Germanisms with which tales of wonder are usually told" (Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, March 1818).

In 1818 the Shelleys left England for Italy, where they remained until Percy Shelley's death - he drowned during a heavy squall on July 28, 1822, in the Bay of Spezia near Livorno. In 1819 Mary suffered a nervous breakdown after the death of William - he died of malaria at the age of 3. Mary had also lost a daughter the previous year. In 1822 she had a dangerous miscarriage and she believed that she would die. Mary Shelley wrote to her friend Maria Gisborne about this loss and her husband's death, concluding the letter: "Well here is my story - the last story I shall have to tell - all that might have been bright in my life is now despoiled - I shall live to improve myself, to take care of my child, & render myself worthy to join him. soon my weary pilgrimage will begin - I rest now - but soon I must leave Italy -". Of their children only one, Percy Florence, survived infancy. In 1823 Mary returned with her son to England, determined not to-re-marry. She devoted herself to his welfare and education and continued her career as a professional writer. Sir Timothy Shelley, her father-in-law, was not eager to help her and her son Percy financially. Mary Shelley never married, but she flirted with the young French writer Prosper Merimee, and hoped to marry Maj. Aubrey Beauclerk.

None of Shelley's novels from this period matched the power of her first legendary achievement. Shelley gave up writing long fiction when realism started to gain popularity, exemplified in the works of Charles Dickens. She wrote a numerous short stories for popular periodicals.

The story of Frankenstein's monster has inspired over 50 films. James Whale's version from 1931, Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff, is considered a classic, and became the major source for a number of other adaptations. The monster kills little Maria on the lake and is hunted down and killed. All reviews of the film were not positive: "I regret to report that it is just another movie, so thoroughly mixed with water as to have a horror content of about .0001 percent... The film differs greatly from the book and soon turns into a sort of comic opera with a range of cardboard mountains over which extras in French Revolution costumes dash about with flaming torches." (Creighton Peet in Outlook & Independent, December 9, 1931) Mel Brook's parody Young Frankenstein (1974), starring Gene Wilder in the role of the famous doctor, was beautifully photographed - Brooks used many archaic optical devices, including the old 1:85 aspect ratio for height and width of the frame. The film received an Academy Award nomination for its script. Among its highlights is the scene in which Peter Boyle as the monster visits a well-meaning, lonely blind man, Gene Hackman, who nearly manages to destroy his guest. Kenneth's Branagh's film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) was faithful to the book. The director himself was Frankenstein and Robert De Niro played the monster under a heavy mask. - http://kirjasto.sci.fi

“Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemlance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred.' - Frankenstein's monster” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Frankenstein (75th Anniversary Edition) (Universal Legacy Series)

The Bride of Frankenstein (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection)

The Ghost of Frankenstein / Son of Frankenstein (Universal Studios Frankenstein Double Feature)

Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection [Blu-ray]

Rhodizite - Dynamic Amplifier

2013-02-02T18:44:00.000-05:00

I wanted to present an impressive crystal that is starting to be recognized by people who use metaphysical tools for healing, meditation and lightwork:

RHODIZITE

These tiny minerals, usually less than 3-4mm in diameter, are powerful amplifiers of energy and manifestation accelerators. The mineral is often crystallized in dodecahedral and trigonal formations...and can be found in Madagascar and Russia, and usually in the presence of Tourmaline.

The color of these tiny crystals are usually either yellow, grayish, light green, white or colorless, and you can sometimes get them in their matrix. They are not common, and are sometimes labeled as rare, but you can ususally find them at a reasonable price. Often they are sold in groups of three as this is how they are recommended to be used when keeping them on the body.

Their vibration can be felt very easily by most people. Even the bigger pieces may be classified as tiny.. and yet when you hold one between your fingers, you can easily feel a pleasant flush of energy...and their vibration may cause a flash of heat to go through your body.

The following quote by Simone M. Matthews keenly describes Rhodizite:

"...in recent months I had the pleasure of holding Rhodizite in my hands and the memory of the experience will stay with me forever. Do you remember as a child ‘exploding candy’, well this is the exact experience I had with Rhodizite an explosion of energy as I held it.

As I placed the Rhodizite on my palm, the tiny crystals felt as if they were crackling and popping, and I was literally blown away as many physically jumped off my hand and rolled onto the floor. Not perturbed, I returned the wayward pieces to my palm, only to have the exact same experience again. By this stage I was breathless with excitement and couldn’t wait to spend some time with Rhodizite to find out more about its energetics."

These are also powerful stones to use to aid you to improve psychic powers. This crystal's energy is known to be very powerful to awaken many psychic gifts, including telepathy, distance viewing and psychic visions or clairvoyance, and maybe other psychic abilities. This is a crystal that has no negativity within its vibration, nor is it even neutral, but has a powerful positive resonance that will magnify the energy of any other crystals / stones you use with them...as well as magnifying what you think about.

The size is really unimportant as they have a quite potent energy. They boost the effect of any other crystal, so if you have a piece of another type of stone, that you haven't found to be working effectively, use it with one of these little crystals.

Here are a few excellent references with more metaphysical details:

Sacred Stones: Rhodizite

Crystal Master: Rhodizite

Strange Beings In Black

2013-01-29T19:20:00.000-05:00

Back in September 2012 I was collecting information related to a strange incident that occurred in the L'Amoreaux neighborhood of North York in metro Toronto, Ontario.

On the evening of July 26, 2012 a girl in her late teens and her boyfriend were returning home after seeing the film 'Men In Black III', which had been released on the same day. As they approached her home they noticed a strange looking woman with long black hair who was dressed in a long black dress and high-heel shoes walking towards them as they pulled into the driveway. Even though the vehicle had dark tinted windows, the girl stated that "the woman made eye-to-eye contact with me." Alarmed by this frightening stranger, they immediately backed out of the driveway and pulled away from the location. The boyfriend decided to circle the neighborhood and then return back to his girlfriend's home. As the girl looked back, she was shocked to see that the woman was "walking very fast and following us." They increased speed and eventually lost their pursuant.

The girl call home to warn her brother about the strange woman. While on the phone her brother looked out the window and the same woman in black was standing directly outside the window wildly waving her arms and staring at him. He looked away...then looked again. The woman had vanished. But...he promptly noticed something else. A man dressed in a black dress suit and wearing ear plugs was walking in the street past the front of the house. The man looked straight ahead and was swinging his arms as he walked...almost like he was controlled somehow. The man proceeded down the street, still in sight of the witness, then unexpectedly vanished!

The girl and her boyfriend soon arrive at her home. The strangers were not in sight. After the witnesses detailed their experiences to each other they looked out the window to see if either of the strangers had returned. What they saw was a large black cat with bright eyes staring back at them. "It (the cat) almost seemed to know what we were saying and thinking" stated the girl. As they watched the curious feline it started to slowly walk toward the vegetation along the driveway...then it simply vanished before it reached the bushes.

Both the girl and her brother submitted audio statements to me...on separate days and apart from each other. Both statements were very similar in the description of specific details. I had made inquiries to investigators in the Toronto metro area as well as local officials. There have been no other similar incidents reported. I initially received this information by chance since it was brought up during an interview with one of the girl's relatives on an unrelated case. The relative noted the incident and I followed up on it.

The fact that these 'strangers' appeared on the same day as the movie release and that the witnesses had just seen the movie is interesting. The anomalous manner in which these series of sightings transformed seems to suggest that this was more than just a prank. The sensations experienced by the witnesses when the woman stared at them, as well as the atypical speed in which the high-heeled stranger displayed during its pursuit of the vehicle indicates possible supernatural traits.

The Real Men In Black: Evidence, Famous Cases, and True Stories of These Mysterious Men and their Connection to UFO Phenomena

Men in Black: The Secret Terror Among Us

UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have to Be Crazy to Believe

Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters

'Black-Eyed Children' Encounter - Casper, Wyoming

2013-01-24T17:27:00.000-05:00

I received the following email on Thursday 1/3/2013 in reference to a recent 'black-eyed children' encounter:

Mr. Strickler - I was listening to your radio interview with David Weatherly because I am seeking information concerning black-eyed children. I hope it is OK to direct my concerns directly to you.

I am a widow with a teenage daughter in Casper, Wyoming, an area west of the city near the county airport. The property had been in my husband's family for many years. I recently purchased an adjacent home and property after the owner passed away. This is where the story actually begins.

I settled on the new property just after Thanksgiving. Since it was purchased 'as is' it was fairly inexpensive but requires a lot of work. I hired an auction house to come in and remove the contents for future sale. The auction was scheduled for next week, but there have been a few odd things going when the items were first listed for sale.

I received a phone call from the auctioneer a few weeks ago. He wanted to know if I had any knowledge concerning the contents from the house. I told him that I didn't know the owner that well but that I did know that he had lived on the property since the 1950s. The auctioneer said that a young woman came into the auction house and told him that the property and contents were stolen and that it belonged to her family in North Dakota. She didn't give her name but assured him that she had documentation to prove her assertions and that she planned to take legal action if the sale continued. I contacted my attorney and the realtor who verified that the property sale was legal and that there were no prior claims to it.

The young woman, who was described as 'very plain, thin with long black hair', has not been heard from since. It was decided that the auction would continue as scheduled.

Then this past Tuesday, New Years Day around noon, someone rang the doorbell. I was in the kitchen and I knew my daughter would answer the door. I heard the door open and the voice of a young girl. My daughter soon yelled loudly 'Mom, come here'. As I walked down the hallway toward the door I noticed 3 girls standing on the porch. They stood without movement staring directly at me. As I approached, I was shocked when I soon noticed that their eyes were completely black in color. I asked if I could help them. The tallest girl asked if they could come in to talk about the house and property I had recently purchased.

I immediately replied that we were busy and that I would give them the phone number to my attorney if they had any inquiries. They just turned and walked away without saying anything else. Each of the girls had blonde hair and wore heavy winter clothing with boots. They seemed to be in their early teens. I watched as they walked toward the highway and eventually lost sight of them.

Since then we have not been contacted by anyone concerning the property. The auction has been postponed for other reasons and has not been rescheduled. My attorney continues to research the property records for any other information.

I supposed the most important question is - who are these children? Do I need to be concerned? I look forward to your comments. SA

NOTE: I contacted SA by telephone and plan to followup with her. Honestly, there isn't a lot I can tell her...this phenomena has few answers. I have asked her to document any strange activity and to contact me if needed. These incidents have been increasing according to David Weatherly and Jason Offutt who we interviewed recently. You can listen to the podcasts at BTE - Stitcher Radio or BTE PodoMatic. Lon

The Black Eyed Children

Darkness Walks: The Shadow People Among Us

The Green Children

2013-01-19T15:11:00.000-05:00

During the troubled reign of King Stephen of England (1135-1154), there was a strange occurrence in the village of Woolpit, near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. At harvest time, while the reapers were working in the fields, two young children emerged from deep ditches excavated to trap wolves, known as wolf pits (hence the name of the village). The children, a boy and a girl, had skin tinged with a green hue, and wore clothes of a strange color, made from unfamiliar materials. They wandered around bewildered for a few minutes, before the reapers took them to the village.

Because no-one could understand the language the children spoke they were taken to the house of local landowner Sir Richard de Calne, at Wikes. They both wore oddly-colored clothing that appeared to be metallic. Here they broke into tears and refused to eat the bread and other food that was brought to them. For days the children ate nothing until the villagers brought them recently harvested beans, with their stalks still attached. It was said that the children survived on this food for many months until they acquired a taste for bread.

As time passed the boy, who appeared to be the younger of the two, became depressed, sickened and died, but the girl adjusted to her new life, and was baptized. Her skin gradually lost its original green color and she became a healthy young woman. She learned the English language and when asked about her origins she stated that her and the boy were brother and sister, and had come from ‘the land of Saint Martin’ where it was perpetual twilight, and all the inhabitants were green in colour like they had been. She remembered that one day they were looking after their father’s herds in the fields and had wandered into a cavern, where they heard the loud sound of bells. Entranced, they wandered through the darkness for a long time until they arrived at the mouth of the cave, were "struck senseless by the excessive light of the sun and the unusual temperature of the air." She was not sure exactly where her homeland was located, but another ‘luminous’ land could be seen across a ‘considerable river’ separating it from theirs. They lay down in a daze for a long time, before the noise of the reapers terrified them and they rose and tried to escape, but were unable to locate the entrance of the cavern before being caught.

She later married a man at King’s Lynn, in the neighbouring county of Norfolk, apparently becoming ‘rather loose and wanton in her conduct’. Some sources claim that she took the name ‘Agnes Barre’ and the man she married was a senior ambassador of Henry II.

As if this were not strange enough, the same thing happened again almost 700 years later in 1887 in Banjos, Spain. A boy and a girl with green skin were found abandoned near a cave. They did not speak Spanish and wore unfamiliar clothing. Their eyes were described as Oriental in appearance.

As with the first account from England, both children refused to eat at first. The boy grew weak and died, but the girl survived, learned Spanish, and explained that she and her companion came from a sunless land. The account differs from the first as the girl was reported to have claimed they had been caught up in a whirlwind and found themselves in the cave. The girl died in 1892.

The children's true origins were never discovered. Scottish astronomer Duncan Lunan has suggested that the children were transported to Earth from another planet in error by a malfunctioning matter transmitter. Others say that they are members of a subsurface human culture, while others say they they were lost children whos green coloring was the result of malnourishment. It's even been put forward that both stories are actually the retelling of one story.

Arsenic has been put forward by some as the reason for the children’s’ green skin, and the possibility that they were real-life 12th century ‘babes in the wood’ which inspired the folktale cannot entirely be discounted.

-----

Paul Harris' Theory

The most widely accepted explanation at present was put forward by Paul Harris in Fortean Studies 4 (1998). First of all the date for the incident is moved forward to 1173, into the reign of King Stephen’s successor Henry II. There had been a continued immigration of Flemish (north Belgian) weavers and merchants into England from the 11th century onwards, and Harris states that after Henry II became king these immigrants were persecuted, culminating in a battle at Fornham in Suffolk in 1173, where thousands were slaughtered. He theorizes that the children had probably lived in or near to the village of Fornham St. Martin, hence the St. Martin references in their story. This village, a few miles from Woolpit, is separated from it by the River Lark, probably the ‘very considerable river’ mentioned by the girl in account.

After their parents had been killed in the conflict, the two Flemish children had escaped into the dense, dark woodland of Thetford Forest. Harris proposes that if the children remained there in hiding for a time without enough food, they could have developed chlorosis due to malnutrition – hence the greenish tinge to the skin. He believes that they later followed the sound of the church bells of Bury St. Edmunds, and wandered into one of the many underground mine passages which were part of Grimes Graves, flint mines dating back over 4000 years to the Neolithic period.

By following mine passageways the children eventually emerged at Woolpit, and here in their undernourished state, with their strange clothes, and speaking the Flemish language, they would have seemed alien to villagers who had not had any contact with Flemish people.

Harris’s ingenious hypothesis certainly suggests plausible answers to many of the riddles of the Woolpit mystery. But the theory of displaced Flemish orphans accounting for the Green Children does not stand up in many respects.

When Henry II came to power and decided to expel the Flemish mercenaries previously employed by King Stephen from the country, Flemish weavers and merchants who had lived in the country for generations would have been largely unaffected. In the civil war battle of Fornham in 1176, it was Flemish mercenaries, employed to fight against the armies of King Henry II, who were slaughtered, along with the rebel knights they had been fighting alongside.

These mercenaries would hardly have brought their families with them. After their defeat, the remaining Flemish soldiers scattered throughout the countryside, and many were attacked and killed by the local people. Surely a landowner like Richard de Calne, or one of his household or visitors, would have been educated enough to recognise that the language the children spoke was Flemish. After all it must have been fairly widespread in eastern England at that time.

Harris’s theory of the children hiding out in Thetford forest, hearing the bells of Bury St. Edmunds and thus being led through underground passages to Woolpit also has problems of geography. First of all, Bury St. Edmunds is 40km from Thetford forest; the children could not have heard church bells over such a distance. In addition, the flint mines are confined to the area of Thetford forest, there are no underground passages leading to Woolpit, and if there were, it is almost 50km from the forest to Woolpit, surely too far to walk for two starving children. Even if the Green Children originated from Fornham St. Martin, it is still a 16km walk to Woolpit, and as to the ‘considerable river’ mentioned by the girl – the River Lark is far too narrow to qualify for this.

The Green Children and Folklore

There are many aspects of the Woolpit tale which are found in English folk beliefs, and some see the Green Children as personifications of nature, related to the Green Man or Jack-in-the-Green of English folklore, and even the weird Green Knight of Arthurian myth. Perhaps the children are related to the elves and fairies which until a century or two ago, were believed in without question by many country folk. If the Green Children story is a fairytale, then it has the unusual twist of the girl never returning to her otherworldly home, but remaining married and living as a mortal.

Perhaps Ralph of Coggeshall’s slightly enigmatic comment that the girl was ‘rather loose and wanton in her conduct’ is a suggestion that she had retained some of her fairy wildness. The colour green has always been associated with the otherworld and the supernatural. The children’s fondness for green beans does suggest another link with the otherworld, as beans were said to be the food of the dead. In Roman religion, the Lemuria, was an annual festival in which people used offerings of beans to exorcise the evil ghosts of the dead (the Lemures) from their homes. In ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, as well as in Medieval England, beans were believed to contain the souls of the dead.

Though the Woolpit story is included in two 12th century sources, it must be born in mind that the chronicles of the time, though describing political and religious events, also listed many signs, wonders and miracles that would not be accepted today, but were widely believed at the time, even by educated men and women. Perhaps then, the strange apparition of the Green Children was a symbol of disturbed and changing times intermingled with local mythology and folk beliefs of fairies and the afterlife. Whatever the truth of the matter, unless descendents of ‘Agnes Barre’ can be traced, as some have suggested, or further contemporary documentary evidence unearthed, the story of the Green Children will remain one of England’s most puzzling mysteries. - Hidden History

Sources:
-Brian Haughton - 2007 - Hidden History
-castleofspirits.com
-myths.e2bn.org
-weirdsci.com
-William of Newburgh (1136-1198) - Historia rerum Anglicarum (History of English Affairs)
-Ralph of Coggeshall (died c 1228) - Chronicon Anglicanum
-Robert Burton - 1621 - The Anatomy of Melancholy
-Thomas Keightley - 1828 - The Fairy Mythology
-John Macklin - 1965 - Strange Destinies
-Paul Harris - 1998 - Fortean Studies 4

Is Wales the UK's Most Haunted Country?

2013-01-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

There's something strange going on in Wales – Welsh ghost are on the increase.

Welsh police forces received an unlucky 13 reports of supernatural spirits spooking homes last year, up from only two Welsh ghost incidents in 2010.

Ghosts have been spotted in bedrooms and gardens in Wales, peeping through curtains, and moving objects around their haunted homes.

One frightened caller in Pembroke told police they saw a ghost’s face in a pile of cushions.

A person from Denbigh told police they were assaulted by a ghost, while another caller reported being “grabbed” by a ghastly spirit.

In one spine-chilling report to Dyfed Powys Police, a Haverfordwest caller reported seeing their dad as a ghost.

And one caller’s son in Llandrindod Wells had a touch of the sixth sense after seeing a ghost in their garden.

The spooky sightings were among a total of 34 ghost sightings reported to police forces in Wales since 2002.

Welsh supernatural tour guide Jim Cowan was unsurprised by the sightings, saying Wales is considered one of the most haunted countries in the world.

The 47-year-old, who organises ghost walks as part of Wales History and Hauntings, said: “There are more sightings and reports of ghosts in Wales then anywhere else in the British Isles.

“There are all kinds of theories abounding and there are several leading experts on the whole idea of the supernatural who all recognise Wales appears to be one of the most haunted countries in the world.”

The paranormal activity has been revealed through Freedom of Information requests to Wales’ police forces. Gwent Police did not respond to the request for information.

North Wales Police received the largest number of ghost sighting reports in Wales, with a total of 17 calls between 2006 and this year.

Officers in South Wales Police have been called out to deal with 10 sightings of ghostly paranormal activity between 2007 and 2011.

Those fearing visits from the afterlife may be concerned to learn that officers were called to five ghoulish incidents last year – an increase of two from figures released in 2010.

Among the weird and wonderful sightings reported to the force since 2007, there have been three reports made to police in Cardiff, four in Swansea, one in Bridgend and one in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Dyfed Powys Police have received seven reports of ghost sightings between 2002 and 2011.

One spooked caller from Llanelli reported seeing a ghost peeping through the curtains, while one person in Pembroke said they saw a ghost’s face in a pile of cushions.

Last year South Wales Police revealed the force had received three reports of zombies and two of werewolves being spotted in neighbourhoods. There were also two sightings of vampires and six sightings of witches.

Superintendent Tony Smith said: “South Wales Police does get the odd weird and wonderful call, but residents and visitors needn’t worry about a supernatural invasion just yet. At the moment, we’re still in the business of keeping South Wales safe from crime rather than zombies or werewolves.” - Wales Online

NOTE: Yes - Wales is a country...one of four in the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). We've investigated several hauntings in south Wales at SRI...it definitely has a lot of paranormal activity, especially in the Llanelli area. Lon

The Appearance of Evil: Apparitions of Spirits in Wales

The Spirit World Of Wales - Including Ghosts, Spectral Animals, Household Fairies, The Devil In Wales And Angelic Spirits (Folklore History Series)

Among the Spirits

Myrtles Plantation Spectre Manifests During Television Segment

2013-01-03T20:49:00.000-05:00

A Louisiana reporter filming a segment on a haunted house became a part of the story when a 'spirited' guest made a surprise appearance on camera.

Vanessa Bolano, who works for the ABC affiliate WGNO in Matairie, was doing a report this week at the historic Myrtle's Plantation in St Francisville for a story about haunted happenings.

But as she looked over the video of her report in the edit room later, she noticed something strange.

Just as Bolano describes the 12 ghosts that allegedly live on the grounds of the plantation, one appeared to make its television debut, as something can be seen floating behind her.

Neither Bolano nor her cameraman had noticed the object during filming.

Bolano says that strange figure appeared as she was standing in the French Bedroom, which is widely believed to be the most haunted room in the house.

Myrtle's Plantation is regarded as one of the most haunted sites in America.

She would often listen in on conversations she wasn't supposed to, snooping in on her master's private talks.

One afternoon, Chloe was caught. According to legend, her master cut off her ear as punishment.

For revenge, Chloe baked a cake out of oleander leaves, which are poisonous. - Daily Mail

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THE MYRTLES PLANTATION

Built in 1796 by General David Bradford, this stately old home on Myrtles Plantation is said to be haunted be several restless ghosts. Some researchers say as many as ten murders have been committed there, but others, such as Troy Taylor and David Wisehart, have only been able to confirm one murder at Myrtles.

Even they agree, however, that the place is seriously haunted and easily qualifies as one of the "most haunted." These are some of the ghosts that allegedly haunt the house:

Chloe – a former slave who was allegedly hung on the premises for killing two little girls. (Those murders and even the existence of Chloe are in question.)

The ghosts of the two murdered children have been seen playing on the veranda.

William Drew Winter – an attorney who lived at Myrtles from 1860 to 1871. He was shot on the side porch of the house by a stranger. With his life's blood pouring from his body, Winter staggered into the house and began to climb the stairs to the second floor... but didn't make it. He collapsed and died on the 17th step. It is his last dying footsteps that can still be heard on the staircase to this day. (Winter's murder is the only one that has been verified.)

The ghosts of other slaves allegedly occasionally show up to ask if they can do any chores.

The grand piano has often been heard to play by itself, repeating one haunting chord.

Now a bed and breakfast, The Myrtles Plantation has opened its doors to guests who often report disturbances in the night. - paranormal.about.com

"It was a spectacular place to stay, if you keep an open mind. While taking the guided tour, I saw what looked like a heavyset African-American woman wearing an apron walk by the door, on the porch. Thinking it was a worker in period dress, I peeked out and no one was there. We stayed in the children's bedroom, and my best-friend (who was a non-believer at the time) experienced quite a bit of paranormal phenomena. She was held down in the bed and constantly poked all night. She was unable to move or cry out for help. She didn't think the stay was as great as I did. They let you ghost hunt on the grounds whenever you like, but you can't ghost hunt in the main house without an escort. I suggest setting up a video camera in your room and bring a tape recorder to obtain EVP." - Stacey Jones, founder of Central New York Ghost Hunters

The Myrtles Plantation: The True Story of America's Most Haunted House

Louisiana's Haunted Plantations

History & Haunting of the Myrtles Plantation

Archive: A Christmas Story....well, kinda

2012-12-24T18:42:00.002-05:00

I thought this strange narrative deserved to be posted once again. This story was forwarded to me in 1998. I was told that it is a true tale despite the bizarre details. Since it is holiday related I decided to post even though I had some reservations since many people despise the combination of death and Christmas:

Hello – I have a disturbing Christmas-related story that took place in a remote small town located on Mount Desert Island, Maine. My name is George and I have lived here all of my life. I hesitate to name the town since this story could carry unintended consequences for the residents. I know that the story is true because I was a witness to it.

It started in early December 1960 when I was age 12. Each week, my mother and I would walk to the local supply store in order to stock up on whatever we needed at the time. We didn’t have the car because my father used it for his work as a state employee. He was away from home for several days at a time. The walk wasn’t too far but it was a bit hard during the winter since we had heavy snow at times.

The store was owned by a wiry old man name ‘Big John’ Corneau. Big John was well-known in the area since he was a sort of legend after he had saved the life of a girl in the 1930’s who had been attacked by a rogue grey wolf. He would show the scars on his arms from the confrontation to the local kids when they would come into the store with their parents. Big John was also a storyteller – and I mean some real whopper tales, especially when it pertained to his personal history.

On this particular day, I was admiring Big John’s small Christmas tree with wooden ornaments that he claimed he carved himself. There were all sorts of animals, including bears, elephants, tigers, etc. There must have been 50 or so wooden ornaments. As I stood in amazement of the detail in these carvings Big John walked up to me and sat down in a rocking chair beside the wood stove. He lit his small black pipe, sat back and rocked away while watching me examining the Christmas tree. After a minute or so, John asked me if I believed in Santa Claus. I was surprised by the question but assured him that I no longer believed in the legend. John looked away, smiled and said “well, that’s good. I didn’t want you to be disappointed this year.” I was confused by his statement. What did he mean?

A few days later, my mother asked me to walk to the store for a few items she needed. My aunt had stopped over for a visit and my mother was busy with her so I made the lone jaunt. This wasn’t unusual since I was now old enough to do this on my own. When I reached the store, Big John was sitting in the rocking chair reading a magazine. He looked up and asked me if he could talk to me. I sat down on the small chair on the other side of the wood stove anticipating one of Big John’s tall tales. What he told me was more than I ever expected.

Big John’s demeanor started to change – whatever he was going to tell me was probably more serious than one of his typical parables. He looked into my eyes and said “something unusual happened last Christmas Eve.” He paused - then continued “I saw the dead body of Santa Claus.” Well, I’m not sure what my facial expression was but I can tell you what I was thinking – this old man was four quarters short of a dollar. Again he said “I really did see Santa Claus’ dead body.” I’m thinking to myself…why is he telling me this? He started to explain what happened.

Last Christmas Eve he was at home getting ready for the drive to his sister’s house on Christmas Day. He then heard a huge crashing sound in the woods near the house. He looked out the bedroom window but couldn’t see anything, so he decided to investigate. The snow was very deep all around the property and into the woods. It was a clear cold night and the moonlight was bright. Big John held a camp lantern in front of him as he made his way through the pine forest. Then he saw something lying in the snow. As he got closer he noticed a man with a blood-stained white beard and hair dressed in a tattered red-colored coat and pants. Big John knelt down to check the man’s condition. It was obvious that he was dead. In fact the body was terribly mangled though there was little noticeable blood. The body looked as if it had been dead for a few days. Big John explained that he reported finding the body to the authorities who soon retrieved the remains. He said that the police told him that they wanted to keep the death quiet until they determined the identification of the deceased. He agreed not to mention the incident.

I asked Big John “why are you telling me?” He smiled and said “because I have to tell someone.” He got up from his rocking chair, walked behind the counter and reached into a drawer. He walked back toward me and handed me a pair of wire frames without the lenses. “Take these….these belonged to Santa Claus”. I placed the wire frames in my pocket and told Big John that I had to get going because it was getting late. I bought the items I came for and hurriedly left the store – my head was buzzing all the way home.

For two days I wondered why Big John decided to tell me the story. I eventually determined that this was just another one of Big John’s ruses. I placed the wire frames in a shoebox and pushed it deep into the recesses of my messy closet.

On Christmas Eve my mother came home after walking to the store. I was sitting at the table working on a new jigsaw puzzle. I heard her asking someone on the telephone if they knew why Big John’s store was closed. By this time my father was home so he decided to drive to Big John’s house to make sure he was OK. After an hour or so my father returned and said that Big John wasn’t home but his car was in the driveway. He had also noticed smoke coming from the chimney so the fireplace was still burning. He decided to call the local sheriff and make an inquiry.

After several days no one had seen Big John. His relatives and friends were contacted but no one had any information. The sheriff was finally convinced that something was wrong so he entered the house. Nothing unusual was found – no clues as to Big John’s whereabouts. The next logical place to look was the store. Here is where the story gets fuzzy.

I had no knowledge of what the sheriff had found until my father told me a few years later. While searching the inside of the store, the sheriff and a deputy found a large mound of old rugs in the middle of the ground cellar floor. The deputy started to remove the rugs until he started to notice an unmistakable odor. Before he removed more rugs the district coroner was called to the location. What they discovered was both unusual and confusing. There were skeletal remains of a human body with a tattered red coat and pants. Well, I’m sure my jaw noticeably dropped. I told my father the story Big John had told me – eventually I told the same to the sheriff. I also retrieved the pair of wire frames and handed it over to the State Police.

Since that time I have not heard or seen anything further concerning this incident. I suppose there are various scenarios that could be created from the story but I just wish I knew what happened to Big John.

NOTE: at the time I received this story (1998) there had been no further information on Big John Corneau or the body found in the cellar. I did confirm (through a constable in Ellsworth, Maine who had acquaintances living nearby) that a situation with a few similar circumstances did occur in a hamlet in the northeast section of the island very near the Acadia National Park in the early 1960's. He was unfamiliar with 'Big John' Corneau or if the case was resolved...Lon

Update: The Willard Library

2012-12-12T17:58:00.000-05:00

This is an update to a previous post:

I received the following email from one of the library staff in September 2009:

Hi Lon,

I captured a couple of unusual photos from the Children's Room of the Willard Library ghost cam on September 13th.

I'm familiar with pareidolia but had some trouble debunking the pictures. The camera only refreshes every 10 minutes or so, and I'm reluctant at this point to say that these two photos captured a genuine ghost.

I've looked at this particular web cam for years without incident, but wondered what your opinion was.

Thanks.

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History of the Willard Library

More than 110 years old, Willard Library is the oldest public library building in the state of Indiana. The library, housed in a beautiful Victorian Gothic building in Evansville, is nestled gloriously near the downtown area of this southwestern Indiana city of 130,000 people, providing a sharp contrast with the modern high-rises and six-lane freeways.

The Willard Library Ghost Cams were inspired by the question "Is Willard Library Haunted?" It has become a fascinating, and somewhat credible, legend that drives thousands of people to search the library for remnants of lost spirits. The site is a virtual ghost hunting mecca. Take a virtual tour of the library with Greg Hager, Willard Library Director, and see if you can locate the cams hidden in the building. Libraryghost.com offers three cams for your ghost hunting pleasure. According to reports from visitors, some of the most frequent encounters with the legendary Lady in Grey have occurred in the children's reading room in the basement of Willard Library.

The first reported incident happened sixty years ago to a library employee who trekked through the snowy cold for his nightly duty. Since then, countless other employees and patrons have reported seeing this apparition, each giving an eerily similar description. Is the legend true? We'll leave that for you to decide.

The Grey Lady ghost was first reported to have been seen in Willard Library in the late 1930s by a custodian. Since that time, those looking—and not looking—for the apparition have reported unexplained events and sights.

Who’s Looking?

The Grey Lady was last reportedly sighted on August 10, 2010 in the basement hallway by the Assistant Children’s Librarian. Psychics visiting the library in 2007 say they were able to verify that a ghost has been there, and paranormal investigative groups have brought in equipment designed to locate it.

Several library employees have reported seeing the ghost, including Margaret Maier, Children’s Librarian, and Helen Kamm, Library Assistant.

During a visit to the library, lecturers from the University of Southern Indiana say they saw the ghost peering into water.

Policemen responding to a security alarm at the library spotted two ghosts in an upstairs window of the library.

A library patron reported an encounter with the Grey Lady in the library elevator, and a local weathercaster also reported an encounter with the spirit.

Hundreds of people look for the Grey Lady every October, during Ghost Tours sponsored by the library. Eight—hundred curious individuals attended the first such tour in the late 1990s, which have been a popular annual event ever since. Check the calendar of library events for upcoming tours. - Library Ghost - Tracking the Grey Lady

NOTE: In 1937, a janitor in the library claimed to have seen a ghostly veiled lady dressed in glowing grey standing before him while he was on duty. He was more shocked when he managed to bend down and saw that even the shoes of the lady were grey. Before the janitor recovered by the frightening event he encountered, the lady disappeared.

Several former and recent staffs at Willard have claimed seeing a grey lady apparition that appears suddenly and vanishes to nowhere.

Bettye Miller, who used to be a librarian at Willard, reportedly heard water running forcefully on the second floor when she was alone after closing time of the library. She went on to investigate what she had noticed and discovered that the faucet in the bathroom was turned itself on mysteriously.

Tri-State Genealogy Society members also experienced paranormal activity at the library. Two members of the society, who worked alone in the library, reportedly smelling a strong scent of heavy perfume during their research work at the cemetery record section.

Margaret Maier, an employee at Willard, claimed that the lady in grey was being disrupted by the construction and followed her on the way to her home during the Children’s Room’s renovation. She and her sister felt a cold air touching their skin and smelled a strong scent of heavy perfume.

There are many speculations on the origin of the lady in grey. Some say the lady ghost was migrated from the cemetery located near the library. Others believe that the woman died in the place where the library is situated during her early days. Another opinion about the lady is that the lady is the ghost of Louise Carpenter, the daughter of the library’s founder who lost a lawsuit against the Board of Trustees of the library claiming that her father was not in his right mind in donating the library to the public. Lon

More Haunted Hoosier Trails (Haunted Heartland Series)

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Little Boy Blue

2012-12-08T15:13:00.000-05:00

SRI Facebook group member Robin Smith submitted the following narrative. This is a ghost tale that I was not aware of:

Most everyone in the Copiah/Lincoln County area in Mississippi has heard about the "urban legend" of Little Boy Blue. This is the ghost of a little boy wearing overalls in the cemetery on Little Lane in Wesson, MS.

There are different versions of this ghost story. To this day he is un-rested and haunts the cemetery. During an outbreak of Scarlet Fever, a little boy around the age of 5 was a victim of the disease. He died and was buried - his tombstone is in the opposite direction than the rest of the headstones in the cemetery due to regulation of quarantine.

The legend is that if you drive up to the cemetery at night that you must turn off your car engine, headlights and cell phones. Within 10 minutes you will see either a red light or a blue light. If you see a red light that means that he does not like you and you need to leave. There will be a child's hand prints on the vehicle. If you see a blue light, that means that he likes you.

It was around Halloween 2012, I wanted to go to the cemetery and see if I would get the red light or the blue light. I dressed up as a nun, Keith dressed up as a Priest, my daughter Kristy dressed Gothic and our friend Tracy dressed up as a witch. We drove to the cemetery, killed the engine and head lights. We got out of the car and walked into the cemetery. My camera was working just fine. I took several pictures. Tracy's camera was on video. She tried her best to turn off the video so that she could take pictures. After being in the cemetery for 10 minutes, we headed back to the car. We sat there for 10 minutes, we never saw anything. I was thinking to myself, that this is just a story that people made up and there is no such thing as Little Boy Blue. When we got back to my house, I loaded the SD card in my computer. On the first video it was a blue light that went through very quickly. You could hear me & Keith talking in the back ground and then all of a sudden a child whispers, "I am little Boy Blue." We are all true believers now that Little Boy Blue does exist.

Is the blue light in the process of manifesting into an apparition? These screen captures came from a 2 second clip
I wanted to go back in the daylight hours to see if I could capture a picture of Little Boy Blue. As soon as I stepped out of the car, I had a cold sensation that chilled me to the bone. On one picture, I captured the image of a little boy that looks to be around the age of 5. He looks like Huckleberry Finn. He had on a hat, and there is a big tear drop on his face. - Robin Smith

Robin states: 'I can see a little boy peeking from behind the headstone. He has on a hat. He looks like Huckleberry Finn and he has a tear drop on his cheek. Then I see what looks like the Gerber baby. I can see several faces.'
Haunted Mississippi: The Most Haunted Locations

Civil War Ghost Trails: Stories from America's Most Haunted Battlefields

The Haunted Natchez Trace (MS) (AL) (TN) (The History Press) (Haunted America)

Catholic Church Establishes Exorcism Hotline

2012-11-30T20:12:00.003-05:00

The Catholic Church has established an exorcist hotline in Milan, its biggest diocese, to cope with demand. Monsignor Angelo Mascheroni, the diocese’s chief exorcist since 1995, said the curia had also appointed twice as many exorcists to cope with a doubling in the number of requests for help over 15 years.

“We get many requests for names, addresses and phone numbers; that’s why we’ve set up a switchboard in the curia from Monday to Friday from 2.30pm to 5pm,” he told the chiesadimilano website.

“People in need can call and will be able to find a priest in the same area who doesn’t have to travel too far.” And to that end, the number of demon-busting priests on call has increased from six to 12.

The Monsignor said he knew of one exorcist who had been seeing up to 120 people a day. “But with so little time per client he was only able to offer a quick blessing. That’s not enough,” he said. ”There should be two to four appointments a day, no more, otherwise it’s too much.”

It’s not clear why the number of suspected possessions has risen so sharply. But Monsignor Mascheroni said that part of the increase might be explained by the rising numbers of parents having difficulty controlling disobedient teenagers.

“Usually the parents call [because they are] concerned about a child who won’t go to school or who’s taking drugs or rebelling. In reality it’s not a demon, but when they’re 18 years old young people don’t want to be told what to do.”

He warned that many worried and vulnerable people were at risk from charlatans. “Magicians demand money; we … give our time, give benediction … all for free. It couldn’t be any other way.”

The Monsignor said that all those who sought help were welcomed. But he added: “The real diabolical phenomena, at least in my experience, are very rare.” He said that “mental phenomena, mental and psychiatric disorders” were often to blame for unusual behaviour.

Not all Catholic exorcists take such a pragmatic approach, however. Father Gabriele Amorth, who was the Vatican’s chief exorcist for 25 years, claims to have dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession.

Father Amorth said that sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church were proof that “the Devil is at work inside the Vatican”. He also claimed that satanic behaviour lay behind Vatican attempts to “cover up” the deaths of Alois Estermann, then commander of the Swiss Guard, his wife and another Swiss Guard, Corporal Cedric Tornay, in 1998.

Father Amorth also took a dim view of fantasy novels and yoga. Practising the latter, he once warned, was “satanic; it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter”.

The act of exorcism: Catholic practice

Defined by the Catholic Encyclopaedia as “the act of driving out, or warding off, demons, or evil spirits, from persons, places, or things which are believed to be possessed or infested by them, or are liable to become victims or instruments of their malice,” exorcism has been practised by the Church for centuries, but its use has increased dramatically over the last half century. - Independent

Deliver Us From Evil: A Guide To Spiritual Warfare And Exorcism

The Day Satan Called: A True Encounter with Demon Possession and Exorcism

Interview With an Exorcist

Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Contemporary Americans

An Exorcist's Field Guide: to Blessings, Consecrations and the Banishment of Malevolant Entities

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