Category: Haunted House

An Account of a Night in a Haunted Hotel

An Account of a Night in a Haunted Hotel

Or, Do You Believe In Ghosts?

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The Mirror in the Last Haunted Hotel

Written by Benjamin Radford in 2017

It was just before two in the morning; the place smelled old and I wasn’t much fresher. I stood quiet and still, alone at the top of the carpeted stairs in one of the most famous Old West–related haunted houses in America: the St. James Hotel in the small town of Cimmarron. It’s in northern New Mexico not far from the Colorado state line.

The historic hotel, built in 1872 as the Lambert Inn, was a prominent stopover for various gold-fevered prospectors and assorted ne’er-do-wells headed west. A parade of rooming outlaws and lawmen added to the hotel’s legend, including Wyatt Earp, Jesse James, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Annie Oakley. Jesse James was said to favor room 14, for example, and today most of the rooms are named for the gunslinging celebrity who allegedly quartered there.

The two-story St. James has kept maintenance in that historic part of the hotel to a bare minimum; the wallpaper is peeling, the doors are scratched, the blood-red carpet and wooden floors are worn. There are modern rooms on the property, but if you want a taste of the Old West and to imagine what it was like to stay there in the 1800s, it’s about as close as you’re going to get. Most of the furniture is antique—or at least quasi-antique—if not from that exact era, with allowances made for modern fire code regulations and minor amenities. A large mirror sits near the top of the stairs. Despite its pocked and blistered silvering, it is in good shape for its age and has surely held the reflections of countless farriers and farmers, harlots and handymen, gunslingers and ghost hunters who roomed there.

The bar of the St. James Hotel.

I’d spent much of the past eighteen hours investigating the grounds, interviewing people, doing historical research at the local library, photographing the area, cataloging claims, reviewing evidence, and taking notes. I’d spent much of the past eighteen years doing more or less the same thing in dozens of other supposedly spooky locations in North America and around the world. Though approaching each new mystery with an open mind and a boyish investigative eagerness to find ghosts and solve mysteries, I had to admit, in this hotel and at this late hour, to a certain numbness, a discouraged cumulative emotional and intellectual exhaustion with evidence that never seemed to improve, no matter the location, reputation, or particulars. It’s a sea of teasing second- and third-hand stories seemingly accepted as self-evident documentary evidence, a litany of twice-told tales “confirmed” by psychic visions, “feelings,” and sciencey Radio Shack beepy things.

I’d seen mirrors in many supposedly haunted locations associated with some ghostly lore—though I hadn’t come across any tales at the St. James related to that particular mirror—and I’d seen cases where mirrors played a role in explaining some ghost sightings. I was curious to see if there were any odd reflections one might mistake for a ghostly image that could be created by a camera flash. I took a handful of test photos, including a few of myself in the mirror. As the sharp click of the shutter faded and the flash burst slowly left my eyes, I met my mirrored gaze and grew, pardon the word, reflective.

I’d paced the decaying halls for an hour searching for any unusual or (seemingly) supernatural phenomenon. As my mind wandered, I wondered what I should look for. I’d read and heard about specific scary events at the St. James (of varying degrees of credibility), but none had manifested themselves to my skeptical eye or equipment. Many of those ghost stories were anonymous anecdotes from a time before the area had electricity—century-and-a-half-old reports of ghostly goings-on, vengeful spirits, and murderous mayhem, all clearly rooted in folklore.

I wondered what would genuinely frighten me. As a longtime movie buff (and the director of two short films), I have developed an eye for how directors and cinematographers frame their shots. TV and film scenes are a series of carefully composed images. A scene’s lighting, camera angle, color, actor blocking (positioning), focus, and many other elements are carefully considered and chosen to achieve a specific effect and reaction from an audience: suspense, surprise, humor, and so on.

It was likely much easier to be scared in the years before the light of science chased the shadows from the dark corners of the world. Our (Western) forefathers lived not so long ago in a world populated by unseen malevolent spirits such as fairies, vampires, and witches. Fear has its roots in the unknown, and as more and more is known about the world around us (ranging from mapping remote lands to understanding germ theory), it stands to reason that the world becomes less and less frightening. Fearsome monsters once rumored to roam South America and Africa or lurk in the murky depths of the oceans are now known not to exist. There is of course a cryptozoology-influenced middle ground, but most modern monsters are all too human and largely created by the news media: school shooters, candy-bearing pedophiles, foreign terrorists, and so on. We have become passive consumers of other people’s interpretations and depictions of what we fear—or are expected to fear—and much of that is visual.

The haunted hallway in the St. James Hotel.

This careful staging for visual clarity and maximum effect is most obvious in scenes where actors are sitting around a dinner table and are carefully positioned so that none have their back fully to the camera or are blocking other actors. Once you begin to notice it, it’s hard to miss the family or group unnaturally sitting around a table in a C-shaped semicircle so that the camera can see what they’re doing. By recognizing (and trying to strip away) the artificial cinematic conventions of ghosts, demons, and the supernatural from our expectations about the real world, we can try to imagine what agenuinely supernatural experience might be like. There is no reason to expect that genuinely supernatural creatures or entities would hew closely to our mass-media-mediated expectations of them.

As I stood at the top of the stairs, I tried to picture what I might see in the mirror in one of the region’s most famous haunted houses that might startle or frighten me—something that would nudge the needle of my internal Skeptometer into the Believer zone, no matter how slightly or briefly. Like many people, I endorse the famous X-Files phrase “I Want to Believe.” I do want to believe—but more so I want to know; belief by itself is cheap, as cheap and transient as doubt. What’s important is understanding the reasons and evidence that make a claim plausible or dubious. I wanted something real, something profound and soul-shaking and unmistakable, to occur. Not some later-noticed and tortuously enhanced small flash reflection orb in the corner of some photo, one mild “anomaly” among hundreds. Not some ambiguous dark blur or “shadow figure” whose origin as a long exposure is obvious to photographers and skeptics (but apparently few others).

No, I wanted something real, something both intellectually and emotionally compelling, something I hadn’t seen dozens of times before. Something that would make me question reality, make me doubt my experience-informed, science-based, heretofore generally negative conclusions about the quality of the evidence for ghosts.

I didn’t want to let my imagination run wild—after all, it was dark and so late it was early, and I was tired. I’d had a long drive and not enough coffee. I was all too familiar with the dynamics of psychological priming and suggestion at spooky locations, certainly enough to know that I’m not immune to it. As Richard Feynman sagely noted, a cardinal rule of science is that “you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”

Still, as my heavy-lidded gaze slowly shifted from spot to spot around the mirror, changing focus in the sickly yellowish glow cast by hallway light bulbs, a few visions came into my head. Bloody Mary was the most obvious, the most famous mirror-based ghost story. I pictured her suddenly appearing in the silvered gleam and reaching out toward my face with the classic, dramatic cliché of a pallid outstretched hand and filthy, cracked nails preparing to exact revenge upon the living—me, in this case, I assume—for daring to summon her.

Or maybe, I mused, like the Hispanic ghost La Llorona—and as in Kubrick’s The Shining—she’d appear as a beautiful woman before suddenly turning terrifying. Or would the ghost be closer to Sadako (Ringu), the long-maned Japanese girl who might climb out of the mirror and slowly, inexorably crawl toward me over the worn wooden floor in muted blue cathode-ray light of unknown origin?

I sought a pure, genuinely foreign experience, something unmistakably supernatural that could not be the product of a tired mind, a mild hallucination, or a half-forgotten memory of a scary film scene. It makes sense that our primal fears draw from our familiar bodies and lives, of course; Stephen King understands this and has mined deep fears from the ordinary for decades. If cats feared ghosts, those feline phantoms would surely have tails and walk on all fours; a cat skull—not a human one—would haunt their fervid nightmares.

No matter how deeply I mined my memories or imagination, all the scary, ghostly images I could conjure came from movies: the swarming luminous semi-transparent skeletal wraiths in Raiders of the Lost Ark; the creepy demonic face pushing though a flexible opaque fabric on the poster of Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners; the glimpse of a homeless subway rider’s rat-like tail in Jacob’s Ladder; and so on. Over and over when I tried to picture a real ghost, a genuine spirit of the undead, I drew not from my own personal subjective fears or experiences but from those of other people—and even those were not genuine but completely artificial computer-generated images carefully rendered and constructed by talented visual effects artist strangers. They didn’t know me; they didn’t know my personal fears. They were creating and dispensing memetic fear widgets that I had absorbed and internalized.

These were not organic fears summoned from the depths of my dark unconscious.

These were images created commercially by humans specifically for the purpose of scaring other humans—often using tired tropes such as skeletons (which honestly have never scared me; bones don’t frighten me because they prevent me from collapsing in a soft fleshy lump).

Those were the obvious Hollywood camera-friendly ghosts. But in my years of investigating, I’d never seen anything even close to resembling those. The best “ghost” videos were either fakes (occasionally clever but more often fairly obvious) or so ambiguous as to be close to worthless (reflections in windows, unnoticed long exposures, and so on). There’s no bell curve distribution to quality ghost evidence; instead it’s more of a pyramid shape, with the vast majority of ghost photos being of very poor quality, and the most compelling mysteries very rare.

I watched and waited, studying my reflection. I was tired. I felt as old and faded as the wallpaper.

I felt each minute standing silently in front of the old mirror.

I felt each hour at the hotel.

I felt each year doing the same investigations at dozens of places just like it, looking behind closed doors for spooks that weren’t there.

The search for some ghostly sign, the interviews with believers, the countless fruitless photos and videos and Rorschach EVPs—all that seemed to amount to nothing more than sound and fury: a handful of shadow, a fistful of rain.

As those thoughts lazily wandered through my mind, I returned to the moment and focused on my reflection again.

I sighed and finally gave up. There was nothing for me here or anywhere else I searched. I decided to end it. I was done. I took one last long look in the silver-pocked mirror on the second floor of the haunted St. James hotel and went to bed. Despite a lumpy bed in an old hotel, I slept better than I had in years.

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Haunted Bible on Sale

Haunted Bible on Sale

Or, Do You Believe In Ghosts?

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Haunted Bible on Sale on Ebay for $180,000

Written by Billy Hallowell, Feb. 2016

A seller in the U.K. has placed a “highly haunted” Bible on eBay, asking prospective buyers for a stunning $180,000 to purchase the holy book.

The seller claims that a friend who owns the book was “attacked several times by spirits” soon after gaining possession of it, and is so terrified that she no longer wants it.

“The last time she was attacked, she was pulled by her hair and dragged down the stairs getting bruises all over her body, which is when she thought enough was enough and she decided to give it to me so I could keep it for her in my empty house in Cumbria (England), while I was living in America,” the official item description reads.

The seller continued, “She didn’t want to get rid of it then, as it had sentimental values to her.”

The [seller said that they are] also “scared of keeping it.” For the time being, the book is apparently in an empty room inside of a “local ancient church.”

“I decided to put it up for sale, but because I know it is a very valuable antique item with its cover being leather, and having both black & white and colorful pictures throughout the whole book, which as I have been told dates back to the 1800s, hence the high staring bid!” they wrote.

The text concludes by saying that psychics examined the Bible and found that “many spirits are attached” to it, offering up a cryptic warning to anyone who has enough money to purchase it.

“I accept no responsibility for any poltergeist activities that this Bible might bring into your dwellings,” the seller said. “And I’m not to be held accountable to any incidents of the sort.”

An offer for £50,000 was already reportedly turned down, as the seller believes that the Bible holds the power to bring in a larger sum, the News & Star reported.

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Haunted Franklin Castle

Haunted Franklin Castle

Or, Is This Ohio House Haunted?

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The Creepy, Death-Filled History of Ohio’s Most Haunted Mansion

Written in March 2016

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Built in 1881 in Cleveland, Ohio, Franklin Castle gets its name from the street it sits on—Franklin Boulevard—and gets its reputation from the mansion’s dark history of unfortunate deaths. The imposing house was commissioned for Hannes Tiedemann, a German immigrant. With 20 rooms and elaborate fixtures, including turrets, gargoyles and a ballroom, the place truly looks like a castle out of a fairy-tale.

A short ten years after it was first built, Tiedemann’s 15-year-old daughter died of complications from her diabetes. Shortly afterwards, Teidemann’s mother passed away.

Then over the next three years, three more of Tiedemann’s children died, sparking speculation and suspicious in the community. Rumors flew about the family, involving sexual scandals and murder—perhaps linking the terrible alleged crimes to the house’s haunted reputation.

To distract himself and his wife from their grief, they performed extensive remodeling on the house, making it even more elaborate than ever before. During Prohibition, there were even unfounded rumors of hidden passageways used for bootlegging.

Teidemann’s wife died at the age of 57 in 1895, just four years after the first death in the house. The house was sold to new owners, and Teidemann would die some years later with no heirs to inherit his wealth.

It is believed that Teidmann’s wife stayed behind, in spirit form, after the sale of the house. Known as the Woman in Black, it’s said she is sometimes spotted lingering on a certain balcony and upstairs rooms.

In the 1960’s the house was inhabited by a family of eight, who soon began to experience some otherworldly encounters. The Romano family reported multiple ghost sightings, and even turned to exorcisms on the house, and ghost hunters. Eventually the family chose to leave the house than stay in the haunted place.

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Want to Tour a Haunted House?

Want to Tour a Haunted House?

Or, Guests Are Welcome At Haunted Altona Homestead

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Ghost Tours of Altona’s Haunted Homestead

Written by Goya Dmytryshchak in March 2016

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Sarah Langhorne died in 1871, but many people claim to have seen her ghostly apparition peering from a window of Altona Homestead.

The homestead, built by Sarah and husband Alfred in 1842, has long had a reputation for being haunted and has attracted international attention from paranormal investigators.

Now Lantern Ghost Tours will run guided tours of the homestead from next month as part of the National Trust Heritage Festival.

Company founder Jacqueline Travaglia says there have been numerous sightings of a forlorn Mrs Langhorne, who missed city life and whose beauty stopped her from making friends.

Her life was marred by tragedy after she lost two of her children.

“Sarah gave birth to Henry Langhorne at the homestead,” Ms Travaglia said. “He died aged seven months and she also lost a teenage daughter.

“Although Sarah is long departed, people have seen a sad woman’s face staring out from the lounge room window.”

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Is Manilla School Haunted?

Is Manilla School Haunted?

Or, Paranormal Investigators Take Closer Look

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Investigators Checking out Haunted Hallways at Manilla School

Written in March 2016

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In March 2014, the IKM-Manning School District made the tough decision to close the Manilla middle school, which had been a staple in that community since 1915. For the past two years, the building has been for sale and sitting empty—or has it?  A non-profit organization, Ventures Paranormal Investigations of Manilla, says there may be something otherworldly residing in the Manilla building, and they will be conducting their own investigation into reported activity on Friday, April 15. Ventures Paranormal has reported visitors have been able to capture doors closing on request, shadowy figures and humming on the second floor. Previous investigations have picked up and recorded electronic voice phenomena (EVPs) and electromagnetic fields with the K2 meter along with noises and other unexplained phenomena. The one session scheduled for 8 to 11 p.m. that evening was opened up to the public for a cost of $25 a person and has already sold out. Attendees will be allowed to bring their own equipment, including cameras, video and tape recorders and any other paranormal investigative equipment they would like. They are also allowed to use equipment provided by Ventures Paranormal. And for one night at least, whatever walks the halls at the Manilla school will not walk alone.

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Paranormal Crew Rescued From Haunted House

Paranormal Crew Rescued From Haunted House

Or, Ghosthunters Couldn’t Hack A Night In A Haunted House

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Ghost Hunters Rescued From Derry Haunted House

Written in March 2016

ghost-hunters-rescued-from-derry-haunted-house

Two ghost-hunters had to be rescued after becoming trapped in Derry’s best known haunted house.

A number of ghostly tales have for many years been associated with Boom Hall which was built in 1779 on the banks of the River Foyle at Culmore.

The historic building has been vacant for decades and has fallen into such a state of disrepair that the building and the area has been cordoned for a number of years because of fears that it could collapse.

However, it has emerged that the fences around Boom Hall have not deterred would-be ghost-hunters from having a look around the building.

Two men recently became trapped in the dilapidated building while on the lookout for ghosts in the dark of night.

A fire crew was called to the scene to help the two men to safety.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that the rescue operation had taken place.

A spokesperson said: “We received a call at 7:24pm to a report of an incident at premises at the Culmore Road area of the city on Saturday 13th February.

“One fire appliance from Northland Fire Station was deployed to the scene of two men requiring rescue assistance from a property in the area.

“Firefighters were able to rescue the two men using keys provided by the property’s keyholder. Both men were uninjured.”

The NIFRS said the rescue operation lasted for around one hour.

It is understood the two men told their rescuers they were interested in ghosts and that’s why they were within the walls of Boom Hall.

When built, the building was named after the boom which had been placed across the Foyle during the Siege of Derry in 1689.

The boom was broken by ships which relieved those who had taken part in the siege within Derry’s Walls.

Throughout its history, Boom Hall was home to some of the local area’s best known families.

However, for many years, the building has been neglected although there are plans currently being discussed for its regeneration.

In relation to the ghost stories associated with Boom Hall, number of them were outlined in a book by Madeline McCully called Haunted Derry which was published last year.

One story involved a girl who was a relative of the family who lived at Boom Hall at the time.

She had been sent to Boom Hall to remove her from the attention of a young groomsman employed in her own home in England.

However, the young man followed her and hid out in the stables where they had secret trysts.

When they were discovered the girl was locked in an upstairs corner bedroom but the young man got away.

The girl pined and a few weeks later the bedroom went up in flames.

The family frantically tried to get into the room but to no avail.

When eventually the flames were extinguished the ashes were searched for the body of the young girl but nothing was found.

Legend has it that the ghost of the girl can be seen walking along the corridor at the top of the house.

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Haunted Loftus Hall Celebrates 666 Years

Haunted Loftus Hall Celebrates 666 Years

Or, Learn More About Ireland’s Most Hunted House

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Ireland’s Most Haunted House Celebrates 666 Years

Written by IrishCentral in March 2016

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Loftus Hall

Isolated on the Hook Peninsula in Wexford, the once stately Loftus Hall is said to have been haunted by the devil and by the ghost of a young woman. This year the house is celebrating its 666th birthday with a series of spooky events.

The mansion, with a history of ghostly occurrences and misery, opened its doors to the public for the first time in 30 years in 2012. Would you be brave enough to take the tour?

In August 2014 a tourist snapped a shot of a ghostly female figure in the grounds. Thomas Beavis, 21, from Lewisham, snapped this shot while he was on the the tour.

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Is that a ghost in the window?

It wasn’t until he’d left the Loftus Hall grounds that he noticed the figure – who is believed to be the spirit of little Anne Tottenham – and the face of an old lady at the window.

Loftus Hall is a 22-bedroom period mansion on Hook Peninsula in County Wexford. The house is set on 60 acres, overlooking a lonely stretch of the southeast coast. Since it was abandoned over three decades ago, the grand building has only had structural repairs.

Owner Aidan Quigley now hosts guided interactive tours, which he says are not for the fainthearted.

Built over the remains of Redmond Hall, and home of the Redmond family since around 1350, in 1666 it became the home of the Loftus family and was renamed Loftus Hall.

The ghostly tours are based on the story of Anne Tottenham and a visitor to the house in the 18th century whose body, during a game of cards, went ‘through the roof’, leaving a hole in the ceiling which is visible to this day, and left young Anne in a state of terror.

She was put into a room known as the Tapestry Room to rest, and it is here that she stayed completely silent until her death in 1775. The Loftus family abandoned the house in the early years of the 20th century.

Over the years since, servants claimed to have seen a dark, mysterious figure roaming the halls, causing disturbances.

On March 1 Quigley unveiled a new program of events for Loftus Hall’s 666th anniversary year, including an incremental restorative walled garden project launch, the opening of a new interactive visitors center and the Raymond Le Gros Norman Festival.

Quigley and his family purchased the Hall in 2011 and have been working on reviving and consolidating it as a unique tourist destination ever since.

“We didn’t have a blank canvas, as such, to work with when we purchased Loftus Hall, as it came with over 600 years of history, intrigue and some rather unexplained spectral phenomenon. However, we were determined to make the Hall’s 666th year rather special with a broad appeal to people of all ages and interests,” Quigley said.

Whilst Loftus Hall has provided hugely successful house tours and paranormal investigation lockdowns, particularly popular at Halloween, Aidan and his team are determined to showcase the other elements of the hall.

“The gardens and grounds of the hall are hugely significant. In the 17th century Henry Loftus took great care in enclosing the gardens to preserve newly planted fruit trees with high stone walls,” said Quigley. “We plan to progressively restore the five-acre garden in the spirit of the period and aim to plant trees, flowers and shrubs that would have been available to Henry Loftus in the 17th century. Fortunately, the walls are in a reasonable state of repair and some of the original garden ornaments remain on the property.”

Quigley also revealed the plans for the new visitor center which will open to the public on June 6. The new center will give visitors the opportunity to discover more about the fascinating heritage of Loftus Hall. A historical timeline will chart key moments in the hall’s history, such as the invasion by Norman knight Raymond Le Gros, the Redmonds’ Cromwellian battle, and the 4th Marquess of Ely’s extensive renovations in anticipation of a visit by Queen Victoria.

Quigley, who is currently in his final year of a Conservation and Restoration Diploma, is focused on broadening the historical appeal of the area and is working closely with Wexford County Council, The Three Sisters Bid Team and Failte Ireland’s Ireland’s Ancient East initiative to showcase the culture and appeal of Wexford.

“Wexford has a rich and varied offering, it’s coastal and rugged, lush and beautiful, historical and contemporary. By working together with local authorities, tourism providers and neighboring counties, Wexford and the southeast has the potential to become the go-to tourist destination for national and overseas visitors.”

“If we, collectively, can offer an experience that is unique, exciting, fresh and appealing, the region is destined to flourish.”

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Ghost Caught On Camera

Ghost Caught On Camera

Or, Footage Shows Ghostly Shape Over Haunted Organ

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Spooky footage shows ‘ghost-like’ object floating above organ in ‘haunted’ ancient cathedral

Written by Ruth Halkon in March 2016

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[The Lincoln Cathedral] is said to be haunted by the ghosts of plague victims, a spooky cleric and a chaotic imp that caused havoc until it was turned to stone.

And now a daytripper may have captured one of those strange apparitions in the flesh.

Paul Jackson took the bizarre footage while visiting the ancient Gothic building with his son on February 6.

The 46-year-old IT engineer caught what appears to be a sprightly spirit passing across the width of the Willis Organ while on a roof tour.

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He explained: “We didn’t spot anything strange at the time but when I was reviewing the footage I noticed this orb and thought, ‘What on earth is that?’ I didn’t know what it was.”

Paul shared the mysterious video on his his YouTube channel ArcturanMegadonkey where it has been viewed 14,215 times.

Several users commented on the spooky clip, offering their ideas for what the ghostly shadow could be.

Dean Edelsten suggested it was a ghoul that “guards the church grounds for night hawkers” while David Hopper wrote: “Wow very spooky.”

Others were more sceptical of the sighting, with some claiming it was a reflection, a pigeon or even a hoax.

One quipped: “Its a crisp packet. walkers would be my guess. cheese and onion late 2015.”

Paul told the Lincolnshire Echo he himself was not convinced it was a ghost, but said it was certainly a bit of a laugh.

He said: “I personally think the best explanation is that it’s a high powered torch from the tour group below the organ.

“I love the cathedral – it’s a stunning building so I hope the video will encourage more people to go on cathedral tours and see it for themselves.”

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World’s Most Haunted Jail

World’s Most Haunted Jail

Or, Step Inside The Essex County Jail–If You Dare

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World’s Most Haunted Jail

Written by Jack Williams in March 2016

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With its long history of haunting and a ghost that is not afraid to go bump in the night, it’s a wonder anyone would want to spend time in this former jail.

But that’s exactly what an abandoned location photographer has done, spending time in this haunted facility capturing a series of spooky images.

Will Ellis visited the creepy cell block, which still contained the remains of furniture and messages in graffiti.

The Essex County Jail , in New Jersey, USA, opened its doors in 1837, and contained a total of 300 cells.

It is a hot bed of paranormal activity with many reports of cold spots, shadowy figures and disembodied footsteps.

And according to Ghost Eyes blog while it was closed down for public use years ago – there’s still a few remnants left over from the past.

It says: “A former security guard tells the story of an “Old Man Brown” who still watches over the cell blocks.

“It is believed that this is the spirit of a former warden. There are many places where people get the feeling that they are not alone in small spaces, or that they are being watched, and these instances are usually attributed to the ghost of Old Man Brown.

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“Perhaps concurrent with this haunting, people can often hear phantom footsteps close to the old warden’s quarters, which was always patrolled regularly by guards.

“The most flamboyant story about Essex County Penitentiary is the inmate in the Central Hall who managed to commit suicide by lighting himself on fire.

“How the man managed to pull this off is still a mystery, but fire had consumed 90% of his body.

“There is still a charred mark on the concrete outside the cell in the shape of a man in the fetal position, which is typical in burning deaths.

“The spirit that is said to haunt this section of the jail seems to be angry and violent, as this is where abusive EVP’s has been captured and pushes and hair-pulling have occurred.”

The jail was closed in 1970 and has since become a haven for abandoned photographers who document its decaying state.

Photographer Will, 26, said: “The place is completely overgrown, so you really can’t get a good look at the building from the outside, and half of it is in ruins.

“But when you first enter the cell block, it’s breath-taking.”

Essex County was designed by British architect John Haviland – who also designed the renowned Eastern State Penitentiary.

The jail – which was also known as the Newark Street Jail – is the oldest building in the county, and was once used to shoot scenes in the 1991 movie Malcolm X, which starred Denzel Washington.

A fire broke out in the abandoned jail around 10 years later, and today it is a location for squatters and drug dealers.

Will added: “You could immediately tell the place was inhabited, and most of the cells had evidence of squatters – clothing, junk food wrappers and garbage.

“I was inside for several hours and I did run into several men who were living there, for the most part they were friendly and respectful.

“I can understand why a place like this would be more attractive to someone in their situation than living on the streets or the shelter system – here, at least, they have some degree of privacy and freedom, and a space they can call their own.

“For me it’s also about capturing the mood and spirit of the place.

“That mysterious atmosphere is what initially drew me to these buildings, and that’s ultimately what people are responding to.

“Once I draw people in with the visuals, they’ll usually stick around long enough to hear a bit more about the history, which is often just as compelling.

“In a place like this, I want to tell the story of the structure itself, as well as the people who lived within it.”

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Top 4 Most Haunted Dehli Sites

Top 4 Most Haunted Dehli Sites

Or, Only Visit These Places During The Day

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Don’t Try After Sunset: The Most Haunted Places in Dehli

Written by Arjun Pandey in Feb. 2016

Delhi, the capital city of India, has more than 1300 monuments. Some of them have deep dark secrets. It is also widely believed that many of them are haunted, harbouring in their shadowy recesses djinns, ghosts, spirits and more. So hold your nerve as we at Delhipedia take you on a tour of the most ghostly corners of the city in our first episode of “Haunted Places in Delhi”.

Agrasen ki Baoli

Agrasen ki Baoli

Built by Maharaja Agrasen during in the mid-14th century, this monument is a 60m-long and 15m-wide classic step-well (baoli). It has 130 steps made of red stone that lead to a water reservoir. The well, though it has now dried out, is said to exert a mesmeric effect that compelled many people to jump to their death. Many swear that the intensity of ‘unnatural vibrations’ increases around you as you go further down near the reservoir. It is also referred to as the ‘Baoli of the Unseen’.

Presently, the rooms considered dangerous are secured with gates. When the baoliwas filled, it contained filthy black water, which fascinated mostly dejected and depressed admirers. The murky, mystic waters apparently exerted a hypnotic pull, compelling those fatally attracted to its dark depths to jump.

Dehli FEROZ-SHAH-KOTLA-FORT
Feroz Shah Kotla Fort

Feroz Shah Kotla Fort

Situated in the heart of the city behind ITO Press Lane and just next to Kotla Cricket Stadium, our [next] stop is Feroz Shah Kotla Fort. As you near the structure — once the headquarters of a dynasty which ruled over north India — the buzz of the city seems to fade into an eerie silence. Built in 1354 by Feroz Shah Tughlaq, it is said to have djinns residing amid its ruins and dark alleys.

Every Thursday, locals can be seen lighting candles and incense sticks in select dark spots, offering bowls of milk and grain to appease the djinns and hoping for their wishes to come true. At times, you can also see mentally disturbed people coming here to find solace. Unlike ghosts, djinns are supposed to be shapeless beings who can marry and also bear children. Distinct from us humans, they are formless and can ‘live’ for many centuries. But like humans and ghosts — and unlike angels– they can be bad and moody. Legend has it that when Iblis, a djinn, refused to bow before Adam, Allah cast him out as the devil. The bad djinns prey on young women, especially if said young women are left unguarded or drying their hair on the roof!

Dehli Jamali-Kamali Masjid
Jamali-Kamali Masjid

Jamali-Kamali Masjid

Notable Sufi saints Jamali and Kamali were buried here in 1535. Today it is believed that this tranquil masjid is haunted by djinns, and many claim to have experienced paranormal activities here. In addition to hearing screaming voices coming out of the graves, on many occasions visitors have complained of being slapped by ‘invisible hands’ or being chased away by ‘mysterious wind’. It is advised not to venture here after sunset, although the screams can apparently be heard even in broad daylight.

According to legend, djinns live in a parallel world to that of humans. It is believed that God created humans out of sand and djinns out of fire. Some djinns are known to be good and others bad. While humans can’t see them, djinns have the power to cross-over between both worlds. Sometimes, djinns step into the human world and decide to stay permanently in abandoned places. This, it is said, is what happened in Jamali Kamali. For so long was the site abandoned that djinns decided it was a safe place to set up house. When annoyed by uninvited human guests, they are not averse to delivering the odd slap.

Dehli Khooni Nadi
Khooni Nadi

Khooni Nadi

Khooni Nadi (Bloody River) in Rohini is believed to be haunted. It is said that the river tries to pull inside whoever enters and many have died. The lives lost here have often been assumed to be suicides but the cases are still mysterious. If you’re ‘lucky’ you may hear crying noises and other spooky sounds near the river.

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