Ghosts & Hauntings – Page 7 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Steve Busti

GHOSTLY GUEST CRASHES WEDDING PARTY PHOTO

MOTW-0602511-Ghost_Wedding_Photo — Something isn't quite right with this picture. What's that floating above the soundboard? (Courtesy Karen Hanlon)

People at a wedding reception at the Newman Wine Vaults in St. John’s believe they caught an image of an uninvited and otherworldly guest.

Newlyweds Matt White and Danielle Hann said one of their friends was shocked by the digital image she took at the June 18 event.

“Karen [Hanlon] was staring at this camera and she came running out with the camera saying, ‘Look what I just took! Look what I just took! There’s somebody in the picture,” said White.

On the right-hand side of the photograph, some see a figure that seems to be wearing a white top and floating in the air.

“Somehow it’s not as creepy in the daylight,” said White.

But it still makes Hann uneasy.

“I don’t know, it’s still creepy,” she said.

St. John’s folklorist Dale Jarvis said it might be explained away as a reflection or a light flare, but he added that the Newman Wine Vaults does have a haunting history.

“It is one of those places that continually generates new ghost stories. So, this is part of that tradition for the space,” said Jarvis, who has collected many St. John’s ghost stories.

Jarvis is the organizer of the city’s “haunted hike” – a tour of the downtown area that recounts many of the stories he has been told.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website said the history of the wine vault is unclear.

It’s believed to have been built in the early 19th century, and was used by the English mercantile firm Newman and Company to age port wine from Portugal in St. John’s – a tradition that began in the late 17th century and continued until the late 19th century.

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Steve Busti

HAUNTED ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ MANSION FOR SALE

Season 10’s “American Idol” house is not some Victorian-era mansion or even an abandoned mid-century modern from the 1960s, yet the contestants on Fox’s hit show claim that the place is indeed haunted.

Built in 2008 the home now abandoned by the singers, has hit the Beverly Glen real estate market with a listing price of $12,000,000.

First reported by celebrity site TMZ, reports of paranormal activity began with “bizarre flickering lights” followed by an infestation of spiders. A few of the reality show stars told OK! Magazine that they saw “a hand falling down from the ceiling.” (They also admit to watching a horror movie at the time.)

But apparently the last straw was when several of the cast-mates “claim they watched a bed sheet suddenly take on a life of its own and float down an empty hallway.”

That and the roof leaked a little bit during a torrential Los Angeles rain storm.

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Steve Busti

IS THE OLDEST HOUSE IN AMERICA HAUNTED?

The Fairbanks Homestead: Oldest Haunted House in America?

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 4:53 PM on 14th April 2011

It’s the oldest timber frame house in America, lived in for generations by the same family and lovingly kept just as it was in its early Colonial days.

But what the Fairbanks House lacks in modern facilities it seems to make for with … strange spirits.

The house in Dedham, Massachusetts, was built between 1637 and 1641 by English settlers Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks.

Today the house is a museum, but it could very well one of the most haunted houses in America.

Justin Schlesinger, one of the museum directors whose ancestors built the property, said: ‘There’s always been weird things happening in the house, from the doorbell going off a million times to flashlights never working.’

He added that there are sometimes footsteps heard on the stairs when no one is there. Also, a newly-installed alarm system went off every night for several weeks with the alarm company unable to offer an explanation.

If there are such things as ghosts, he said, ‘this would be the logical place for them to be.’

For decades now, throngs of visitors from all over the world, from school children to distinguished architects, have toured the house, entranced by its authenticity.

MOTW-041711-Oldest_Haunted_House_in_America_2 — A gentler age: Portraits and china bring a dash of colour to the living room

Over the centuries, there must have been some deaths in the house, museum business manager Lee Ann Hodson said.

There’s even been a shocking murder. In 1801, one of the Fairbanks sons, Jason, was convicted in the killing of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Fales, in a nearby pasture. She had apparently spurned his marriage proposal.

He was hanged from the gallows on Dedham Common in one of the most sensational murder cases of the time.

On a whim last year, Mr Schlesinger, 25, asked a ghost-hunting group, The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS, to come in and see what they might find.

MOTW-041711-Oldest_Haunted_House_in_America_3 — A house full of history: Tools and items from the early Colonial days litter the property

He spent a a night in the house with the TAPS investigators.

‘We heard footsteps in the beginning,’ he said. ‘Up where the children used to sleep.’

The TAPS group made audio recordings all night in an effort to detect anything out of the ordinary.

They told him after reviewing the tapes that they did record some sounds.

‘They thought it was kids, because they got some laughter on the recordings.’

Schlesinger admitted that he didn’t get much sleep that night while the group camped out on sleeping bags in the house’s tiny parlor, especially when his cell phone went off in the middle of the night and began playing organ music.

‘I don’t know if scared is the right word,’ he said.’Maybe startled or confused.’

The ghost hunters told him not to worry, that if there were spirits in the house, they were likely his own family and wouldn’t harm him, thebostonchannel.com reports.

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Steve Busti

FAMILY CAPTURES POLTERGEIST ON VIDEO

A spooked family have called in a real-life ‘ghostbuster’ – after claiming to have captured on video a poltergeist moving a chair across a bedroom.

Lisa Manning and her children Ellie, 11, and Jaydon, six, have fled their house in terror several times because of bizarre goings-on.

They include pots and pans being thrown around the kitchen, window blinds moving up and down by themselves, lights being switched on and off and drawers being opened.

Last week they were even forced to climb out of a window after being trapped in their living room when the door locked by itself.

Now they have been advised to wear crucifixes by a priest after capturing video footage of a chair moving by itself in Ellie’s bedroom.

Carer Miss Manning, 34, shot the film two weeks ago after putting hidden cameras in the family’s home in Holbrooks, an area of Coventry.

The 52-second clip shows a wardrobe door opening before a pink swivel chair moves slowly backwards towards the wall.

Poltergeist haunts Coventry house

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Steve Busti

5-year old boy snaps ghostly photo

This spooky series of photos was posted on Lon Strickland’s Phantoms & Monsters blog. Whether they show a real apparition or not, they certainly do send chills up your spine.

Here’s the story as it was submitted by a reader from West Sussex, UK:

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A couple of years ago a neighbour and I were discussing ghosts and the paranormal. She said she had something to show me. On her cell phone were 3 pictures taken by her 5 year old son at 5am in the morning. His mother had gone downstairs to get a baby bottle heated up for her 8 month old son. You can see the edge of the bed and her husbands bulky legs under the quilt. The cot with her 8 month old son is in the left hand corner.

The eldest 5 year old son, who had hopped into her bed snapped the pictures as he usually likes playing with her cellphone. It’s a common occurrence with him. She came across the photos when clearing out her phone of clutter some months later. The time stamps on the photos were removed when I transferred them over to my computer and then an external hard drive. However, I did witness the time stamps, dates and the pictures showed they were taken within 3 -7 seconds of each other.

The picture shows a woman that looks nothing like my neighbour, the head shape is all wrong and it appears she is wearing a suit and skirt. When you enhance the picture certain features look terrifying. My neighbour stated she had been in her dressing gown and pj’s.

MOTW-030411-Ghost_Photo_5 — Enhanced photo showing details

My neighbour has had lots of paranormal activity in her house over the years and has witnessed on one occasion a red-eyed being staring through her dining room window at night. Her husband has also witnessed the same strange going’s on. I have no reason to disbelieve my neighbour as she is one of the most honest and open people I know.