haunted – Page 3

Tag: haunted

Is This Georgia Hospital Haunted?

Posted on August 11, 2014October 12, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, Decide For Yourself

Click here for the original article or scroll down for Tara Herrschaft’s story.

Is This Old Hospital Really Haunted?

The Child Advocacy Center of Coffee County, which serves five counties is in the process of moving into a historic building on East Ward Street.

The building was the county’s hospital from 1935 to 1953, then served as the library and even board of education.

Author and Former Assistant Superintendent Julian Williams worked in the building as the assistant superintendent.

He says ghosts are known to haunt the building. Not only has he written a book about it, he has seen the ghost himself. “It’s just a very practical building to use. And it’s too nice to throw away I think. A lot of history, and I don’t know where the ghost would go.”

The child advocacy center bought the building for just $500.

In addition to their services, they’re adding a rape crisis center and onsite mental health therapy.

<3 Anna

Italy’s Most Haunted Island For Sale

Posted on August 4, 2014October 12, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, Have Some Extra Cash Laying Around?

You can find the original article here or scroll down for the original story.

Italy to sell off the world’s most haunted island

The island of Poveglia, in the Venetian Lagoon, was used to house black plague victims in the 14th century.

A small island in the Venetian Lagoon, considered one of the most “haunted” places in the world, will be up for auction next month as part of Italy’s desperate attempts to offset the effects of the economic crisis, according to a report in British daily The Telegraph.

The 70,000-square-meter island of Poveglia was at the heart of a conflict between Venice and Genoa during the 14th century. Fortifications and other artifacts of the war can still be found there. During the 18th century, the island served as a quarantine station for ships en route to Venice that supposedly carried the black plague with them. Ships were ordered to wait 40 days at the island, to ensure that none of the passengers or crew were infected with the disease.

After two cases of the plague were discovered on the island, it was declared closed-off and used to quarantine others with the disease. Since then, tales began to spread of those who perished on the island and their ghosts, who supposedly haunt the island to this day.

In 1922, a geriatric hospital was opened on the island, functioning until 1968. Rumors spread that the hospital administrator, crazed by the haunted island, would conduct lobotomies and other experiments on patients. Supposedly, the mad doctor eventually threw himself off the hospital’s roof.

According to the report, the Italian government is hoping to market the island as the ideal spot for building an exclusive, luxurious hotel. The auction, planned for next month, includes a 99-year lease on all of the structures on the island, the hospital, the fortifications and also other ruins.

The same auction will feature other Italian properties, including a monastery in the town of Taranto, southeastern Italy, as well as a 15th-century castle in Gradisca d’Isonzo, a town near the Slovenia-Italy border, built to defend against the Turks.

The asking price for Poveglia has yet to be disclosed, but the Telegraph learned that one of the military structures on the island previously sold for 8.3 million euros ($11.5 million). Italy is reportedly planning to put 500 other structures up for sale over the next year, in order to make up a 500 million euro budget deficit.

<3 Anna

Haunted Houses Popular In Houston

Posted on July 29, 2014October 12, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, Houston’s Haunted Mansion Sells

Click here for the original article or scroll down for Elizabeth Rhodes’ story.

Houston Haunted Mansion Sells For Almost Double Asking Price

It turns out that even a scary looking, unfinished home can sell in the Houston real estate market.

A five-bedroom, 4,861 square foot mansion at 2309 Wichita Street has sold for almost double the asking price. With an initial listing price of $150,000, the so-called “haunted mansion” sold for $251,000 after approximately 25 bids.

Nick Ugarov, a real estate investor, is the proud new owner of the spooky looking mansion that sits just east of Texas 288 near Dowling Street. Ugarov was the 17th person to bid on the property.

Charles Fondow, the home’s former owner, spent 31 years renovating and expanding the property, although the project was not completed before his death in 2011. Deutsche Bank purchased the property soon after, although it was not put on the market until earlier this year.

Although unsure about his exact plans for the Riverside Terrace mansion, Ugarov knows he does not want to demolish the structure.

“I am finishing the project in [Fondow’s] memory,” Ugarov tells the Houston Press.

Let’s just hope that doesn’t mean another 31 years of unfinished haunting business.

<3 Anna

Woman Haunted By Louis XVII

Posted on July 21, 2014July 3, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, A Poltergeist Story

You can find the original story here or scroll down for STV’s article.

Woman Haunted By Poltergeist Who Claimed To Be Prince Louis XVII

As part of its Supernatural Week, today This Morning met a woman who claimed that as a youngster she and her family were haunted by a poltergeist, who later apparently identified himself as Prince Louis XVII.

Shirley Hitchings and her family lived in fear of the ghost they nicknamed ‘Donald’, as he banged objects around their house, tore up clothes, and even made them levitate.

Today Shirley joined the show to share her supernatural experience, and how it all began years ago in 1956 when Shirley was just 15.

“A key appeared [on a bed] and then that night we were woken, and it was just horrendous mayhem. Things were flying around, things were thrown. Loud bang, bang, bang. And we all go up… dad went and thought it was the pipes and the electricity, and we that first night we just huddled together in the kitchen.

“I held onto my father and said, ‘please, make it stop, make it go away’.”

Shirley added: “This went on for three or fourth months, night after night, and we were really [scared].”

The family resorted to calling in a priest to perform several exorcisms, as well as holding séances to try to get to the bottom of the supernatural activity, but nothing worked.

“[The poltergeist] was basically laughing at us. My mum called him Donald…. And after it went on and on, we found out who he was.”

A paranormal expert helped the family get to the bottom of the activity, leaving a pen and paper in a locked room to see if the spirit would communicate with them.

“At first it was gibberish, and it was half French and half English, but it gave us a clue. And Mr Chibbett, he was the researcher, he analysed it, took it away, and it was just general things at first.

“But then as time went on and Mr Chibbett would talk to him, and he was writing one day and said, ‘please tell us who you really are’…

“We were all sitting in the kitchen and he went into the back room and there were three or four sheets of paper and he signed himself Your Royal Highness Prince Louis Capet.

“Apparently Capet isn’t a name that the French Royal Family were know by – they were know as Bourbons, so that was the first clue, and Chibbett’s ears pricked up.

“He was the Dauphin, the second son he said of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI that lost their heads.”

Shirley continued: “He said he died escaping here coming across the English Channel, the boat went down, he was with an Austrian count, who was the first cousin of his mother who was instructed to get him out of France.”

All of this was divulged in the spirit’s letters, and asked why he would have turned up in Shirley’s family’s home, she said: “All he would say is I looked like his sister and we never got any more, we didn’t know why he was there, he would never say.”

Obviously skeptics were suspicious of this story, but over the years the family invited a number of paranormal experts as well as members of the media into their home to verify the stories, with one reporter sleeping in the same room as Shirley – who had her hands and feet tied – to experience the sensation of the spirit’s interactions with her.

<3 Anna

Want To Buy A Haunted House?

Posted on July 14, 2014October 12, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, Check Out This Illinois Home

Click HERE to read the original article or scroll down

Haunted House On Sale For A Song

If you’ve always dreamed of owning a mansion but don’t have the funds required to make it a reality, then this property on the market in Illinois could be just the ticket.

The Hiram B Scutt Mansion, former home of the Civil War veteran and barbed wire tycoon who gave it its name, is up for sale for just $159,900 (£95,000).

Built in 1882, the three-storey, red-brick building in Joliet covers 4,960 square-feet and is on the United States’ National Register of Historic Places.

But as the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, that’s probably because it is – the sprawling residence is also said to be haunted, Patch.com reported.

The house was bought by real estate broker Brian Kearney in 2004. Two years later football players from the University of St Francis rented out the building and threw a party.

But during the festivities a 19-year-old man called Steven Jenkins was shot dead.

Within a year of the murder, local historian and John Wilkes Booth impersonator Seth Magosky bought the large house –he planned to open the P Seth Magosky Museum of Victorian Life & Joliet History.

But less than six months later he died suddenly at the age of 39.

And some people believe the two men – as well as the original Scutt inhabitants – live on in the house.

In 2010, Edward Shanahan, a spiritual observer, psychic reader and paranormal host wrote a blog post for Chicago Now in which he described the mansion as a ”paranormal gem”.

He wrote: “The years that have past, has seen many human tragedies within its four walls, from sudden deaths to a murder in the past that have left their emotional energy in the place.”

However, real estate agent Marcia C Cronin told Patch.com that an energy reader had said the mansion is not haunted.

So, it looks like the jury’s out. Either way, it’s a bargain.

<3 Anna

Britain’s Haunted Pubs

Posted on June 30, 2014October 12, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, Lots Of Spooky Places To Visit In The UK

Check out the article (including a video!) at the link below.

Haunted pubs: Where there’s a chill there’s a way

By Andrew Don, 28-Apr-2014

The UK is estimated to have more than 1,000 haunted pubs, with many of their licensees making capital out of spirits — and not just the liquid variety. Andrew Don reports.

<3 Anna

Illinois’ Haunted Insane Asylum

Posted on June 16, 2014October 12, 2014 by Anna Abner

Or, A Very Creepy Place To Visit

You can find the original article here or scroll down for Corey Schjoth’s story.

Haunted Travel: Illinois’ Haunted Insane Asylum

Located west of Peoria in the small town of Bartonville, the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane was originally built in 1897 in the style of a medieval castle, but was never used. Legend says the building was constructed on top of an abandoned coal mine that compromised the integrity of the building. The official explanation that was given was that having a castle like structure didn’t fit the modern sensibilities of treating the “insane,” and they wanted to use a cottage like design instead of having one large building. The building was demolished and rebuilt, and by 1902, the Asylum reopened and began treatment of the “incurably insane” under the direction of Dr. George Zeller.

Well respected, Dr. Zeller treated his patients using therapeutic methods for “curing the insane,” instead of more experimental treatments that were popular at the time, like electro-shock therapy, lobotomies and hydro-shock therapy. He also used newspapers to educate the public about mental illness and offered training programs to nursing students. In the 1920s, Dr. Zeller published a book Befriending the Bereft, The Autobiography of George Zeller, which chronicled his daily experiences at the asylum, many of them strange and mysterious.

One such popular story took place in the asylum’s nearby cemetery. Funerals were held for those whose bodies were never claimed by the family. The staff didn’t know most of the patients, but out of respect, they would gather around as the coffin was lowered into a grave that was marked only by a numbered headstone. A gravedigger named Manuel A. Bookbinder often stood next to a large elm tree as the service took place. Sobbing and moaning loudly with his hat removed, Bookbinder attended every service and always displayed his mournful cries even though he never knew most of those who were being buried.

When Bookbinder finally passed, a service was held, and as his coffin was being lowered into his grave, sobbing and moaning was allegedly heard by the staff coming from the elm where he always stood. As they turned to see where the noise was coming from, they allegedly saw Bookbinder standing there, sobbing and moaning loudly as he always did. Shocked by the experience, many of the staff ran from the site; Dr. Zeller ordered his men to remove the lid of the coffin to see if it was empty, but when they did, Bookbinder’s body was still in his coffin. When they turned back towards the elm, the figure reportedly vanished.

Within a few days, the elm tree that Bookbinder stood next to began to wither. Attempts were made to save the tree, but as it finally died, Dr. Zeller ordered the elm to be removed. As the ax man swung into the tree, sobbing and moaning could reportedly be heard. Unnerved by the experience, the ax man left and when another attempt was made to remove the tree, this time by fire. Once again, as a fire was started at the base of the tree, sobbing and moaning was reportedly heard. All attempts to remove the tree where halted from then on.

By the 1950s the asylum reached its peak with a population of 2,800. Then, over the course twenty years, the asylum’s population began to decline, and eventually closed its doors for good in 1972. Many of the thirty three buildings were abandoned, and most were demolished; only the hospital buildings remain, and attempts to renovate those structures has been difficult.

Paranormal investigators over the years have reported seeing apparitions, shadow people, disembodied voices and doors that open and close by themselves. It’s uncertain who would haunt the building — maybe the patients, the staff or even Bookbinder himself? Maybe the patients have never left because the time they stayed there were of good memories.

When I visited the asylum one humid summer day, I definitely felt intimidated by the size of the structure. Under a gloomy sky the gray imposing building stood out from the surrounding neighborhood, void of any trees; it felt like nature itself was keeping it distance. The black windows stared down on me as I walked around taking my pictures trying to gain my courage to get closer to the building, to maybe find a window low enough to see inside. Unfortunately, at the time I was unable to see inside, but I’m hopeful I will soon return and contact the owner to get a chance to explore the inside of such a historic and legendary building.

<3 Anna