December 31, 2008

Tears in the snow



Not far from where I live is the town of Gloucester. Like most small towns it has its tragedies, but none so great as the one that happened one dark winter night. It was sometime in the 1800's that a lovely young girl named Elizabeth went with her father to London. While there she met a handsome young man and fell in love. Alas it was not meant to be because they soon returned home. Her father who was against the match intercepted the letters and they never heard from each other again.
Now the young girl longed for her love so much that she fell ill and died.
Friends say she lost the will to live, and on a late November afternoon they buried her in a grave at the foot of the garden. Snow begin to fall as the grief stricken father made his way back to the house, heart broken that his only child had died.
As the story goes a former butler angry at the family dug up her grave as soon as it was dark. He planned to steal the expensive jewlery she was buried with. He dug away the snow and soon reached the coffin where he found the body. He took the jewels from her neck and reached to take the ring on her finger but found it stuck so he took a knife and cut off her finger. Much to his surprise and horror the young woman who was not dead but simply in a coma woke up. He ran into the night never to be heard from again.
Somehow the young woman crawled across the yard and up onto the porch of the house. Her father who sat by the fireplace lost in thought and grieving paid no attention to the stratching at the door. Perhaps he thought it was one of the dogs, or just the wind.
The next morning the young woman was found outside the door.....Frozen under a pile of snow. There was a trail of bloody foot prints leading from the garden.

To this day when the first snow falls and the fire is crackling in the hearth...the new generations of this family still see the apparition of a young woman walking up the staircase..the rustling of the petticoats. If you look out into the snow, you can see the bloody footprints leading from the garden..She has at last found her way home.
And in the spring near the steps of the house grow the most beautiful violets. Watered by the tears of a young girl, seeking refuge from the snow


I first heard this story when I went on a "ghost tour" of Colonial Williamburg.I was touched by it as soon as I heard it and it was my favorite stories about hauntings in our area.
It can also be found in Volume 1 of The Ghost of Virginia by LB Taylor Jr.

I plan this spring to visit the area where this story took place.

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December 21, 2008

Wish List



Dear Santa
As you already know (because Santa knows everything) I love to visit old graveyards and houses and battlefields, and just about anywhere that ghost would live. A lot of information is on the Internet but I like books too. L. B. Taylor Jr. is one of my favorite local authors and I would love to get some of his books from you this year. Since he has about 18 on Virginia Hauntings any one of them will be fine with me. I'm not picky....Oh and Santa, I think Barnes and Noble is open late..

Love
Patty

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December 8, 2008

And the winner is NOT ME

Well I received the list this morning of winners from the ghostly images contest and my name was not among them. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. I really thought that it was a good photo, but I guess someone had a better one. Oh well, I can always visit next year and try again. On the bright side I got my newsletter today from About.Com paranormal and my photo was one of the featured articles for this week.
Winner or not the Jennie Wade house was an awesome place to visit. I didn't expect the image in the photo, I didn't see anything when I took it. What I did experience while there was the chains next to one of the beds moving. Of course I thought it was rigged so I went over and touched them I could feel a pressure on the chain as if someone was actually moving the chain. It's funny because at the time I really wasn't alarmed. I just shrugged it off and moved to the next room. I spent quit a bit of time in the house, and was there alone. Now I am kicking myself for not using the tape recorder and trying to capture some sounds. Oh well, there is always next year.




I included this photo, becaues it shows the mirror from a different angel..There is nothing strange in this shot.

One end of the chain, you can see there is no way it is rigged

Me holding the chain

The other end of the chain, again how could it have been rigged?

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December 5, 2008

Photo

Check It out....I made about.com paranormal gallery!!

Just click on the words ghost photo
My Ghost Photo

This is NOT the photo contest mentioned in the previous post. I contacted them today for a list of winners and was told that they will have them available on Dec. 15th so I won't know until then how I did in that contest. However I am very excited that Steve Wagner of about.com paranormal gallery published the photo. They are usually very picky about what they put on that site, so I feel honored.

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December 1, 2008

As Promised

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE AND IS BEST SEEN IF YOU SET YOUR PAGE VIEW TO ABOUT 125 ON THE ZOOM



I promised several months ago that on Dec. 1 I would release the photo I took of the mirror in the Jennie Wade house.(Gettysburg PA) What you are seeing is the blue frame of a mirror..If you look at the right hand side of the photo near the word "permission" you will see a wooden rail which is the bottom of the bed..The white area you see at the center of the photo is the quilt that was on the bed..Now look again..Do you see the misty white figure sitting on the side of the bed? Keep looking. Find the words "be copied without" The ghost is there. I can see the legs dangling off the side. Look again..Do you see the body and the head. Ok I know not everyone believes, but you have to admit this is an "interesting" photo.
I haven't heard from the ghostly images people in Gettysburg yet, so I have no idea if it placed in the photo contest, but either way I think I got something.
I will be re-posting some information on the Jennie Wade house soon to the paranormal section so you can learn more information about the house and who she was.
In the meantime let me know what you think of the photo

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