A Haunting We Will Go

A visit to Antietam Battlefield

2010-06-10T15:11:00.000-04:00

Like Gettysburg Antietam Battlefield in Sharpsburg Maryland saw it's share of death. The battle claimed more than 23,000 men killed, wounded, and missing in one single day, September 17,1862
I had heard stories of hauntings so I wanted to see it for myself
Some claim that Dunker Church is haunted by soldiers

One of the most impressive areas of the battlefield is an area called Sunken Road or Bloody Lane,
Things like gun fire, have been heard. Smoke has been smelled and voices heard in this area.

Farmers had used this road to travel and on the day of battle Confederate General Hill placed all of his men (about 2,600) on this road. When the Union Army arrived with 5,000 men the fighting was so horrific that the
It was told that the Blood was literally "flowing like a river". This battle was one of the bloodiest battles fought at Antietam. More than 5,000 men lost there lives here.

Another area of the battlefield famous for being haunting is Burnside Bridge

Sounds of phantom drums have been heard here, along with blue lights near the bridge at night.

Other places on the battlefield with reports of hauntings include the Pry house.

This home was used by General McClellan as his headquarters during the battle. General Hooker was also brought here and treated of wounds he recieved in the battle as was General Israel B. Richardson, Richardson died 6 months later in this house from his wounds.
Reports here include seeing a woman in old fashioned clothing walking down the stairs. Footsteps have also been heard going up and down the stairs and faces in the window of a woman.
It is a fact that General Richaardson wife came and took care of him on his death bed. Could this be her?
We will never know, but I left Antietam knowing I had visited yet another haunted battlefield.

Talking to Ben

2010-06-10T11:51:00.000-04:00

As mentioned in my previous post we were able to use the "ghost box" while in Gettysburg with some results.
Of course being a true ghost hunter I wanted to wait until night to get out on the battlefield and choose one of my favorite spots. Sach Bridge
Sach Bridge ws used by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to retreat into Virginia after the battle. It has also been report that three Confederate hangings took place from the bridge rafters. The area around the bridge was also used as a field hosptial and rumor has it that unclaimed bodies are still buried in the woods there.
We arried early just before dark and took a look around

As dark approched we met up with a friend of mine from Facebook who lived in town. Mary had been investigation the area often and we enjoyed meeing her. It was also nice to have a third person along. This way we felt like if three of us heard the same thing on the ghost box that it wasnt our imagination
As we began walking around we took some photos

We also started asking questions.
First we ask if we could get a name...crackle...gibberish, then clearly we heard BEN
How old are you ben. 22 came the answer
Where are you from Ben,, more static..then JOHNNY REB, MA'AM
We ask things like are you trapped here YES
Do you have any brothers or sisters..SISTER
I ask do you know what year this is? We got the number FOUR, which confused me, because the battle was in 1863, I then said "Ben the battle was July 1863" I got answer FOUR, it then cccured to me that the Confederates crossed the bridge JULY FOUR,
We then ask..Ben are you tired, do you want us to go..NO WALK
so we walked..I wasnt about to argue with a ghost ha ha.
We went to the other side of the bridge where we took more photos, walked around ask a few questions. Just look how big this orb is between my husband and I in this photo that Mary took of us.

Then once again ask. Do we need to go. YES we got this time.
We thanked BEN for talking to us..Told him to stay there (you should always do this so they dont follow you home) and left. We went back into the bridge itself and took some more photos. Here are some of them

Notice the orbs in these photos
All in all it turned out to be an interesting night, and I am looking forward to going back to this location again.

Gettysburg Trip Reviewed

2010-06-10T10:38:00.001-04:00

My trip to Gettysburg over the weekend turned out great as usual. We took our new "ghost box" radio we made from the radio shack 12-587 transistor radio. At first I wasn't sure how we were suppose to be able to "talk" to a spirit using this, but as we played with it awhile I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was working.
It did take a little practice but as I worked with it and ask questions I was finding that the answers I was getting did make sense and they were always given in the same voice. Now you might be wondering what I mean by that so let me explain.
The idea behind the "ghost box" we made is to modify a simple radio so when you set it on scan it does NOT stop on channel but keep scanning. Once locked in place, it will continue to scan until you manually release it. Picture your car radio, as you scan for a station you hear different DJ voices and snips of commercials ETC. On this "box" it works a little like that..Only we seemed to receive more static, then out of that static we would hear a single word.
For example at one spot I ask..If anyone is here can you give me a name
I heard the names TOM and EMMETT, I also got the words DEVIL ( I was at Devils Den) I heard the words SWORD, ROCK, and a few more in this area
Very interesting to say the lest

Gettysburg Trip

2010-06-04T08:58:00.000-04:00

I'm heading back up to Gettysburg this weekend for a few day. I will be back here soon with some updates on the trip and hopefully some ghostie adventures.
We are trying something new this time. It is a ghost box, made from the shack hack (radio from radio shack). I have never used one before so I am curious to see if we really pick anything up with it.
Guess wil see.

"The Lady" revisited

2010-05-14T23:09:00.000-04:00

As some of you know already my grandson went through a time when he saw spirits/ghost. Several years ago he had contact with one ghost that we lovingly refer to as " The Lady". This lady showed herself to him when he was barely three, and he saw her on at lest three seperate occasions at a local children's petting farm. "The lady" we believe was married to a civil war veteran and they farmed what was at one time land from a local plantation. This gentleman we lovingly refer to as "The Papa" and also showed himself to my grandson. My daugheter and I were both witness to him spending at lest 40 minutes "walking and talking with something"
At three the grandson was not really able to let us know very much about what he saw, but now at 5 he still remembers.
Recently we revisted the farm to see just what those memories still hold.

Upon arrivng at the farm I ask him if we could go visit the Davis Family Cemetery where the family who onece lived here is buried.

As we heading up there my grandson told me that the cemetery was where he saw "the lady". Yes we replied. We ask him if he thought he might see her that day. He wasn't sure but he did go on to tell us that she looked "different" than we did. He ran on ahead of us and into the gates and up to the first grave, where he promtly said to us..I saw her (we had not pointed out the grave in anyway) He then moved to the next grave and said Him Too...

Photo showing my grandson standing by the grave of the "papa"

I was amazed at home much he remember,and even though he didnt "see" anyone there that day. I do believe he was given a special gift.

Spooky Places

2010-04-14T09:39:00.001-04:00

As you know I always try and find the most haunted area's of Gettysburg to visit (which is almost everywhere in Gettysburg) and since I had to stay an extra few days due to some health problems my husband had, I opted for a night at the Colton Motel. While this is not one of the best motel's in town, it was clean and cheap. It is also suppose to be haunted. This motel sits where the left flank of Pickett's Charge took place on the third and final day of the battle. 12,000 men marched shoulder to shoulder and some of the bloodiest fighting took place where the motel now stands. It is also directly across the street from the National Cemetery and Evergreen Cemetery.Some of stories that have been reported from this motel claim that showers turn on by themselves, doors lock, beds mysteriously turn down, photo have been taken by guest that show full blown Confederate Soldiers, and even on guest has reported that she saw a Confederate Soldier in her room about three A.M. He was standing in the bathroom doorway where she had left the light on all night. According to the story she woke up freezing cold and when she went to turn off the air (which is just outside the bathroom door) she saw him. As soon as she turned on the light he was gone.
Also mysterious fogs have been seen outside some rooms near the office. (We were next to the office)
While we did not experience any of these things our-self, it does leave me curious enough that I plan on booking this motel again.

What the heck is this

2010-04-14T09:08:00.001-04:00

I've been going through my photos from our weekend in Gettysburg and ran across this one on my husband's camera, I am leaning towards it being a lighting issue but then on the other hand I am thinking hmmm
What do all you other Casper Chasers (locals word for Ghost Hunters) think?

The photo was taken at Culps Hill just a few minutes before I saw the orb.

Culp's Hill

2010-04-12T15:57:00.003-04:00

Our trip to Gettysburg this time was on a more historic level instead of ghost hunting, but if you follow this blog at all you know I had to have at lest one experience. We did our day thing and then headed out to what I call the most creepy place on the Battlefield. Culp's Hill. This night's adventure left me still feeling the same way. Several other ghost hunters or "Casper Chasers" as some of the locals call us were in the area. I walked off in the direction of Spangler's Spring which is suppose to be haunted by the Woman in White. According to local legend, she is either a Civil War Nurse who comes to the spring in search of water for the wounded men, or a woman who commited sucide after being jilted by her married lover. I like to think she is the nurse, but no matter who she is, more than one person has claims of her existance.
I was standing near the spring taking my first photos. When I put the camera to my eye to look through the shutter I was startled by a white orb. At first my mind would not accept it, and I pushed the camera away. I quickly looked again and there is was, coming closer. Take the picture my mind said and I did just as it moved. This is the result of that photo.

After taking a few more photos I went over to talk to the other ghost hunters and was informed that "something" had thrown a large seed pod at one of them. She went on to tell me that she believed it was the woman in white who she claimed had played with her before. She said that in the past that she had thrown rocks into the woods only to have one thrown back.
It proved to be an interesting night indeed
Here are a few more photos that have orbs in them taken in the area of Culps Hill

Guess what

2010-04-09T21:36:00.002-04:00

Guess where I am going for the weekend? GETTYSBURG PA...
ghost stories to follow!

Local History

2010-01-21T23:29:00.002-05:00

Just a few miles from where is I live is the beautiful Lee Hall Mansion.Built between 1851 and 1859, Lee Hall Mansion was home to affluent planter Richard Decauter Lee. One of the last remaining antebellum homes on the Virginia Peninsula. Just three years after it was built the family had to abandon the home as the Peninsula became one of the first battlegrounds of the Civil War. Used briefly as the Confederate headquarters of Major General John B. Magruder and General Joseph E. Johnston a small skirmish was fought on the property. As far as we know there were no reports of anyone dying during this battle. What then has caused the rumors of haunting in the old house? The policy is to not talk about any ghost, but I was told by a guide that voices are heard, singing, and a man talking in the house when they were there alone. I have personally witnessed a door opening on its own, and also know for a fact that there are reports of the town-homes next door having had strange occurances. They sit on what was once part of the plantation property. As far as I know no one has done a paranormal investigation in the house. I have made several trips there now and have never captured anything on film. Nor have I tried any EVP recordings. It is howver a beautiful place to visit and full of history.

Main House

Kitchen

Short Update

2010-01-16T10:18:00.001-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted to this blog in such a long time. I will be updating with some new stories soon.

Devil's Den

2009-11-19T22:55:00.027-05:00

"Devil's Den" Located in Gettysburg PA. has the reputation of being one of the most haunted areas of the battlefield.

Drum rolls, and gun shot sounds are a common sound in this area
For some reason camera's used in this area do not function properly Batteries that were new just moments before die for no reason and photos will show up black. It is believed that this is caused by what happened after the battle.
Photography was still new during the Civil War. Photographer Alexander Gardner was at Devil's Den a few days after the battle before the dead were removed. In order to get a better shot, he instructed his assistants to move the bodies of dead soldiers to different locations, so he could take photos..We now believe that he moved one particular man to the pile of rocks so he could take photos. This has become one of the most well known photos of the battle.

Some people believe that the spirit of the solider can not rest, and it is him that causes the camera's of modern day tourist not to work. Once they leave the area the camera is fine. Many visitors report hearing disembodied sounds, see orbs and have even seen shadow people in the woods nearby.

The first time I saw the above viedo I thought it was a fake. I had never been to Gettysburg. Now after visiting this area several times I am leaning towards it being real.
I have been both during the day and at night and find it most unusual.

On our recent trip this past Oct. my husband caught this orb on film. (It is at the very top of the photo)

This orb is very tiny and at the top center, but when we lighten this photo it shows up clear on the computer.
Can it be a fluke in the camera? Of course. Orbs are not really considered evidence, but they do make you think

Random

2009-10-29T21:12:00.001-04:00

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of my favorite cemetery shots that I have taken over the years...These are random photos and are in no particular order

Tell me what you think

2009-10-25T22:12:00.002-04:00

I have a photo in my files that I had not paid any particular attention to until I did my previous post. I was searching through looking for photos that had orbs in them when I saw this one of the cannon. Just for the heck of it I put it into Picasa so I could fill in the light to see what might show up. Much to my surprise I found this.

Click on photo and enlarge on your computer to see the details clearly

Look closely in the red circled area..Do you see the young solider? No one was there when the photo was taken..At lest no one of our world..
Let me know what you think

The Camera's Eye

2009-10-25T00:57:00.020-04:00

Now that things have settled down somewhat from my trip to Gettysburg a few weeks ago, I thought I would go back and talk a little about some of the ghost stories surrounding the area that the "ghost hunt" took us on. As I mentioned in the previous post we were taken out to an area called "The Grove" which is on the edge of East Cemetery Hill where much of the fighting on the second day took place. One of the units fighting that day were the Louisiana Fighting Tigers. These rough and tough men were not just your ordinary solider, but were made up of the worst of the worst. Most of the men were murders or worst and had been serving time in prison when the war broke out and were promised their freedom if they fought. You can only imagine the surprise on the Union troops when they came rushing at them out of the woods that day not only rifles but hammers, rocks, sticks, knives and bare fist. The union army struck back with anything they could find and the woods were full of dead and injured men when it was over. Like much of Gettysburg men were buried where they laid in temporary graves, until months and even years later they were removed and placed in cemeteries.
Fast forward to modern times: A new middle school is built along side the battlefield. Where the stadium now stands we know that several bodies had been buried. It was along this area that my blog friend Linda and her daughter Amanda, and Amanda's friend Darci, my husband and myself explored. With Linda's permission I am posting the photos that she captured that night

This strange mist showed up in one of the first photos. No one was smoking, it was not cold enough to see your breath, and nothing we can explain made this mist. We did not see it with our eyes. Only with the camera.

The next few photos are of orbs in the area.
Now I know a lot of people don't believe an orb is anything but dust, and yes some of this might be dust, but I do believe some of these are true orbs because they seem to hold there own light

See the orb at the top

This one is near the wall

Some of the stories of haunting of this area include woman being pinched..sounds of gun fire, smells of tobacco,

Here are some photos from my previous visits to the same area

Is this dust in every photo? Or could it be the energy of lost souls, still haunting the grounds of Gettysburg...
You decide

Carved In Stone

2009-10-24T00:12:00.001-04:00

I had heard the following story before my recent trip to Gettysburg, so of course I had to go and find this rock. I stood there for a few minutes looking at it and wondering if I should take a chance and trace the name with my finger....
Do you think I did? Read the story and then decide.
Answer at the bottom of this post.

(Please note this story was found on the Internet and in no way do I accept any credit for it. If for some reason there is a copy-right associated with this story and I have no rights to reprint it here please let me know and I will remove it ASAP...
The photograph is my property and I do have the right to post it..
Thank You.
From: Haunted Gettysburg by Jack Bochar & Bob Wasel

Since the battle fo Gettysburg and even before, myriads of tales, sightings and unconventional occurances associated with Gettysburg have been abumdant. One legend, in particular, is worthy of repeating here, for tangible testimony exists to the core of the account.

Near Devil's Den, to the right of Smith's 4th New York Battery, stands a rock, on which can be found the name, "P. NOEL" carved into it. Some locals in Gettysburg contend that the name was simply a battlefield maintenance worker who, many years ago, carved his name into the rock for reasons only known to him. Others, however, strongly argue that a young girl, named Pauline Noel, was the owner of the name carved into the rock. They said that years ago, Pauline lived in the area on her father's farm. One of life's enjoyments to Pauline was to accompany her father whenever he worked in the fields. On one disasterous day, Pauline went with her father as usual, enjoying the farming and his company when, the wagon hit a rock, throwing the young girl off. Horrified and in shock, the father jumped off only to find he was too late. What he witnessed was the lifeless body of his sweet daughter Pauline, mangled - and decapitated.

They claim that many people through the years have seen the headless body of Pauline Noel roaming the battlefield in search of her head. Legend also maintains that Pauline's spirit, while roaming the battlefield, came upon that rock and, using her fingers, burned her name into that very stone. You may believe whatever you want, but remember Pauline's story when you visit and touch the carved rock. However, - beware to those who dare run their fingers in the etched grooves of P. Noel - there awaits another part of the legend!

So did I trace the letters?

NO WAY!!!!
Legend says if you do...you will have bad luck the rest of your life!

Ghosting Around Gettysburg Part 2

2009-10-21T23:57:00.000-04:00

After the disappointment of the "Ghost Hunt" I debated about taking a different tour. I knew I wanted to go on another one, I just wasn't sure who to pick. I have always heard that the Ghost of Gettysburg (Mark Nesbitt) had the number 1 tour, but have never booked it because I have all but memorized his books Ghost of Gettysburg. I thought I would be bored and know all the stories.
Mark has several different tours to choose from, but on the night we went the only thing offered was the Baltimore Street Tour.
When we arrived we found a large crowd, in fact it was so large that they divided us into two groups. Our guide Rogers started the tour in the courtyard, telling us not only the battle history, but the history of the home that is now the tour headquarters,

After spending a few minutes there we went across Baltimore Street to the Twin Sycamores Where we were told stories of modern day haunting. This home was standing during the battle and to learn more about it click on the link I have listed.

We then headed up the street where we heard more stories, including the one of a little boy who was an orphan. It seems that some of the young ladies at the College took pity on the young boy and hid him in there room. He stayed there for several days until the headmistress heard about him and came knocking on doors. The girls hurriedly sent him to the balcony outside the window and closed the curtains. When the headmistress knocked she made the girls come downstairs leaving the poor child outside in bitter temperatures. Several hours later they were allowed to return to there room where they rushed to the window. When they opened it, no one was there.
What had happened to the boy? They hurried outside thinking he perhaps jumped or fell, but did not see him, nor any footprints in the snow. Many years went by and new students came. The story managed to be passed on as countless students recounted it. One night one modern day young lady was studying in her room. She heard what sounded like a tapping on the window. Thinking it must be the wind she opened the curtains and there on the other side was the blue face of a young boy. She screamed and ran from the room. By the time she returned with someone the face was gone..and in its place the words

E-M P-L-E-H (Help Me)

On the out side of the window..

We also heard several other stories and very much enjoyed this tour.Would I recommend it?

Yes, this one was worth the time and money. We were also very lucky to capture two photos of "interest" I am posting them here for your judgement..

The first was taken by my husband as he looked down an alley way

You can click on this photo to enlarge it. See the yellow snake like trail?
It seems to go into the wall.
Some people believe that this is spirit activity.

The next photo also has some strange lights in it.
At first I thought maybe it was the reflection of a light source, but that does not explain how the lights are in more than one place in the photo.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think

Ghosting Around Gettysburg-Part One

2009-10-15T20:47:00.002-04:00

If you want to take a ghost tour in Gettysburg Pa. you can find one on most any corner. For my trip this year I choose two. The first one I will tell you about was booked through the Farnsworth House Inn.

What drew me to book this tour was the advertisement that you are taken on a ghost hunt and allowed to use "real" ghost hunting equipment.

We were all gathered into the cellar of the house where we were met by a very giggly young tour guide. She seemed to have a hard time explaining what we were suppose to do with the equipment without breaking into laughter and I found her very unprofessional. She did manage to finally tell one story and at the end of it we did hear a muffled sound which was a bit hard to believe since it seemed to come on cue at the end of her story. We were at this point all given a bag with our equipment and taken outside.

I found the equipment was very basic. We were given a set of dowsing rods. A temperature gauge, an EMF detector (which lights up when spirits are present) a voice recorder, and a night vision viewer that also had infra-red. When I asked the guide to show me once again how to use this piece she stated that ours had the broken button and that area of the viewer did not work. This should have been my first clue that this tour was going to be a bit of a bust. The viewer reminded me a bit of a kids toy and although I did see something move across the trees at one point because the viewer was not working properly I couldn't tell what it was.

We were taken out to the edge of the tree line in an area near the middle school and told of three areas that were suppose to have high paranormal activity. I had visited these area's on two other tours so I already knew the basic story. Once there the guide plopped herself down on a tree stump and we were set loose for approximately 30-40 minutes.

My husband and I had met up with a fellow blogger for the tour so we did enjoy teaming up with them.
I did get several hits on the EMF detector but no photo's of any interest. I had my own voice recorder with me but have not reviewed it yet. If I find anything on there I will be sure and post about it.

One of the young ladies that was in our group did have good luck with the dowsing rods and was able to get some simple yes and no answers. She felt as if she were connecting with one of the soldiers.

All in all I was a bit disappointed in this tour. Especially for the money. I personally felt that the guide could have made it more interesting if she had investigated with the entire group for a few minutes before breaking us into groups. Would I recommend this tour...No I am sorry to say that I would not. However this does not mean that I would not recommend other tours given by the Farnsworth House Inn. I have taken the combo tour of the attic and basement and found it to be very very good. Of course we all know that the guide makes the tour and perhaps if you were to take this same tour you might be more impressed or the young lady who was giving it might do a better job on a different night..

Next..Ghost of Gettysburg Tour(Mark Nesbitt)

Heading up to Gettysburg

2009-10-10T01:42:00.000-04:00

I'm leaving for Gettysburg Pa. and will be back in a few days. Hopefully with lots of new ghost stories.
I will at lest be offering one review. On Sunday I am taking the Ghost Hunt tour via The Farnsworth House On this tour we will be using equipment to "hunt" ghost so it should prove to be interesting. I will be back with a full report soon.

Up Coming Ghost Stories

2009-10-03T01:40:00.002-04:00

Sorry I have been so lax in keeping this blog active. It seems that work and life has got ahead of my fun. Don't despair though. Next Sat. (Oct 10th) My husband and I are leaving for Gettysburg PA.
As you know this is one of if not the most haunted places in the United States. It is well known for both it's Civil War history and it's battlefield Ghost. One of the fun things to do in Gettysburg is take a local Ghost Walk. We do plan on doing this along with doing a little ghost hunting on our own. While I am there this time I plan on doing some investigations using dowsing rods.

For more information on the use of dowsing rods visit This page
Using the rods should be fun and even though it won't be "proof" of anything it will be fun to see if I can get them to cross.

You may or may not remember that the cabin we stayed in last fall while there was reputed to be haunted. While we did not have any personal experiences in the cabin, I did get one strange photo when I downloaded them to the computer

Click on this photo to enlarge it and check out the photo frame
I see what appears to be the reflection of an older man. I even see the hat he is wearing. There was no one else in the cabin when the photo was taken. Could this be our ghost?
I have to admit I am a bit nervous that we are staying in the same cabin this trip. Since I didn't see the photo until I got home I was unaware of what showed up.
Either way it should prove to be an interesting trip.
I will be back in about two weeks (or less) for updates and to tell you about the trip.

A little local Ghost Hunters

2009-09-14T01:30:00.001-04:00

This is a recent show from "Ghost Hunters"
This episode was filmed locally at the beautiful Edgewood Plantation. Although I have not been inside I have driven by several times. After watching this show I may have to talk the hubby into a romantic get away weekend.

Haunted Town

2009-09-13T01:17:00.002-04:00

Do you think an entire town can be haunted? Well, according to what I have been reading on the Internet the town of Atchison Kansas is.

In fact the Travel Channel has done a special segment called Haunted Town that depicts many of the haunted places in Atchison, including Sallie's House, Benedictine College, and more.

Some of the reports I've read include Atchison Street where a woman once lost control of her horses plunging into the river and drowning. It is said that her voice can be heard calling to those who are walking along the river to come join her.

At Jackson Park an area called Molly’s Hollow where couples go to "park." Is haunted by a young woman named Molly who was found hanging in a tree. Her killer was never found. In addition to Molly’s chilling cries, many witnesses also claim to have seen a ghostly figure hanging in the tree where her body was discovered.

A Kearny & 5th Street Home is said to be haunted by a friendly ghost. Not only has the ghost been known to help the gentleman owner into his over coat, but the lady of the house while out of town commented that she would love a cup of tea. When she arrived home, she found a cup, saucer, tea bag, and spoon were sitting on the counter and the tea kettle was on.

A North 2nd Street house is know as Sallie's, the Heartland Ghost home.– Sallie, the “Heartland Ghost,” is said to haunt this house that once belonged to a local doctor. The tale of Sallie’s ghost has been featured three times on the popular 1990’s paranormal television show Sightings, as well as Unexplained Mysteries. Sallie is a six year old child that died in the house. For more information on this house visit The Sallie House

To learn more about the town of Atchison Kansas Visit here

Highway Happening

2009-08-31T17:01:00.001-04:00

I had the strangest thing happen to me last night. I was traveling home from my mom's house (about a 40 minute trip). My husband was driving and I was fully awake. We had been talking just moments before.
My husband's driving makes me a bit nervous sometimes so I was paying close attention to the road.
My husband was safely changing lanes and I glanced in the direction of the lane to our left that he was about to change too. For a split second I swear someone was in the middle of the lane. It caught me by such surprise that I actually gasp for breath. It only lasted for a second, but I swear I could see legs. It was as if they jumped out of the way, but no one was really there.
In the next second we were in the lane and I could see long skid marks where at some point someone had applied there breaks.
I couldn't help but wonder if there had been an accident of some kind at this point in the road.
Do you think I really saw something? Of was it the over active imagination of a long day?

Guess What

2009-08-31T01:17:00.001-04:00

Guess where I am going on Oct. 10 ? You got it. I am heading back to Gettysburg PA. for a few days, and you know what that means..MORE GHOST STORIES

Stay tuned.

Night Light Anyone

2009-08-25T08:58:00.001-04:00

(Photo is mine and was taken in Sept. 2008 in the attic of the Farnsworth house) As you know I love Gettysburg and the ghost found there so when I found this article on the net this morning I thought I would share it. I have been to Farnsworth house, for a ghost tour and smelled the roses in the basement. Only one other woman and myself smelled them among everyone there. Very strange. My husband and I plan on going back to the Inn for another tour in October.

Please note that I ~~STOLE~~ Borrowed, this article off the Internet and in no way take credit for it or any part of this article

Real men don't fear ghosts - do they?

A haunted Gettysburg inn quivers with stories of the supernatural.

Ghosts galore
For more information on the Farnsworth House Inn, located in Gettysburg, Pa., go to www.farnsworthhouseinn.com.

By Pete DiPrimio

of The News-Sentinel

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Real men sometimes sleep with a night light.
Is that so bad?
Ghosts sometimes do show themselves if you know where to look.
Does this sound farfetched?
Let me explain.
I am lying in a bed designed for Civil War-era comfort, which is appropriate considering this is a pre-Civil War-era room in a pre-Civil War-era bed and breakfast. Specifically, it is the Farnsworth House Inn of Battle of Gettysburg fame. It was once occupied by Confederate sharpshooters. It is currently occupied, if you believe in the supernatural, by at least 14 ghosts, seven of whom are regulars and one of whom is, well, not nice.
Hanging across from me on a 19th-century-styled wallpapered wall is an antique mirror framed by carved hardwood. It's the kind of mirror that reflects this world and, if you have an active imagination, the next.
At this moment, with the clock ticking well past midnight, my imagination is off-the-charts active. It tells me to look into the mirror to see if something is looking back or if something is in bed with me ready to strike with beyond-the-grave force. There is nothing there, I tell myself with closed eyes, except my own reflection. Do not look. Do not be foolish. Go to sleep. But sleep doesn't come, and thoughts of what the mirror might reveal overpower. I open my eyes and see …
Hold that thought.
Here are a few facts. My 15-year-old, won't-stop-texting son, Vince, and I have traveled from Bloomington on a ghost-hunting, history-enlightening quest to this famous south-central Pennsylvania town. We have brought a digital camera, a camcorder, a digital tape recorder and open minds. We have booked a ghost-hunting tour and a couple of other ghostly expeditions as well as a battle-field tour.
I have read the history of the Civil War-changing battle as well as the history of the 199-year-old Farnsworth House. (Its red brick side is marked by more than100 bullet holes courtesy of Union soldiers trying to take out those Confederate sharpshooters.) We have come because we know of its haunted reputation amid Victorian elegance.
We are prepared, ready, engaged.
And then comes the first curveball.
We arrive at the inn to discover our room was changed from two single beds to one romantic queen-size bed. This won't work. Another room is available, free of charge — if we want it.
In most circumstances, this would be wonderful. For instance, I would not have to listen to the constant beep of Vince's cell phone signaling yet another text message, or his rapid-fire (can a thumb really move that fast?) response. He could text — even talk — to his girlfriend in Dad-free peace.
But we are staying in a haunted inn, one of the most haunted places in America if you believe the Travel Channel. This is a place known for ghostly cats and ghostly children and ghostly Confederate soldiers and ghostly women and, oh, yes, that one nasty spirit.
It has 10 bedrooms where things sometimes really do go bump in the night. It has a cellar with a coffin and a history of unexplained occurrences. It has an attic that, if you roll a ball along the wooden floor, something sometimes rolls it back.
Did we really want to sleep alone?
Yes, I could mention my concern to the inn people. I could say, “We are too scared to sleep alone.” I also could put on a pink dress, ask for a pacifier and give my son a wimpy example I could never live down.
We'll do it, I say.
Cool, Vince says.
And then we hear the ghost stories. One involves Mary, perhaps a nurse during the Battle of Gettysburg. She appears to the smell of flowers. A guest once sprained his ankle. He wanted to take a tour of the battlefield, but didn't know if he could make it. He told a waitress at the inn's restaurant that he suddenly felt tired. So he went to bed. The waitress noticed a floral smell around him as he left. The next day he was refreshed. His ankle was fine. He took the tour. Mary had healed again.
A guide tells us that once during a late-night tour in a supposedly haunted grove of woods at the base of Cemetery Hill (the scene of some of the fiercest fighting) a man appeared. He was dressed in a Confederate uniform. The guide assumed the man was dressed for a battle reenactment. The guide himself was dressed in 19th-century clothing. But the man never said a word. He walked through the group, and everyone noticed the sudden chill despite the warm night. The man went into the woods. Some of the people tried to follow him, but he had disappeared.
Was it a re-enactor or a ghost?
Hold that thought.
I get the McFarland Room, a charming room well-decorated with photos of dead people and paintings of cats and children that rates as one of the inn's most haunted. Its rocking chair has been known to rock by itself.
Recent guests wrote in a journal next to the bed that the alarm went off even though it hadn't been turned on, that a woman was tapped on the shoulder by an unseen presence while lying in bed, that another woman felt pressure on her neck as if invisible hands were trying to strangle her, that a ghostly cat had run through the room and disappeared under the bed, that people heard unseen men whispering and an unseen child giggling, and watched coins move on their own.
Adding to the eeriness, we have just returned from a late-night ghost-hunting tour — it includes ghost stories and devices that can detect ghosts by measuring temperature, electromagnetic waves and magnetic waves (plus divining rods) — in which the guide mentions that nasty spirit. At first, he only calls the ghost “W” because he says calling him by name might cause a chilling reaction.
Later, of course, he tells us the name — Walter. He was a Confederate soldier who had received a “Dear John” letter, which left him bitter toward women. Then, he was shot and killed in the Farnsworth House, which left him really bitter. All that negative energy was trapped inside the house. Sometimes it manifests itself toward women who invoke his name or provoke him.
For instance, Walter once threw a chair at a woman (her boyfriend caught it to prevent serious injury) who dared Walter to show himself. He shoved another woman's head into a chair. He dislocated the guide's wife's shoulder just for saying Walter's name.
So, I begin wondering, what if Walter can tell I'm thinking his name. What if he's in a bad mood, there aren't any women staying in the inn and he has to go all poltergeist on somebody.
So, yes, I leave on a couple of lights because if a ghost is going to play hardball with me, I'll see it coming in time to play back. I'm not scared, you see. Just prudent.
And so I look into the mirror, check out every shadow, consider every noise. Nothing happens except I have a lousy night's sleep.
Not so for Vince.
He stays in the Schultz Room across the second-floor hall. He says he twice has ghostly encounters. He insists he is not lying or imagining. Who knows? Perhaps a ghost, tired of Vince's never-ending texting, pays him back.
Vince says he wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of a man's moaning. In the morning he takes a shower. The backstop to the door is in place. When he gets out of the shower, the backstop has been removed and placed on a chair by his bed next to a stuffed cat. His room remains bolted shut from the inside so no one from the inn could have been playing a prank.
Eerie? You bet. Proof? Not quite. Still …
Here's a final ghost story. We are on our last ghost-hunting excursion and the guide has a tale to tell.
It seems a woman was on a late-night tour in that same wooded grove just below Cemetery Hill. She thought she saw a little girl in the darkness where no little girl should be. She took a picture with her digital camera. When she saw the picture, she screamed and ran back to the group.
“What's wrong?” the guide asked.
“Look at this,” the woman said.
The image showed, not a picture of a girl, but of a dark shape hanging by a noose. The girl, it seemed, was a ghost.
She had supposedly hanged herself in the woods and still haunts them and those who dare visit.
Night lights, anyone?

News Letter

2009-08-18T09:10:00.004-04:00

I am a big fan of the news letter I get each week from Paranormal.About.Com. It is filled with all sorts of information from ghost to the loch nest monster. This week it talks about signs of a haunting and how to tell if your house has activity. You can check it outHERE

Happy reading

P.S.
Make sure you check out the photo gallery under readers photos. My photo from the Jenny Wade house in Gettysburg is there. (Sept. 08)

Photo

2009-08-09T01:43:00.003-04:00

I've been meaning to post this photo. I purchased it when I was in Gettysburg last May. I saw it on my first trip up there last Sept. as a painting. It was beautifully haunting and I couldn't stop thinking of it. This past trip it was available in a photo and I snatched it up. I've changed the mat to black, and it is now in a place of honor in my house.

If I am not mistaken the photo/painting is titled The Widow. I find it somehow romantic that the gentleman (ghost) is standing next to his beloved as she morns for him.

Book Surprise

2009-07-30T10:58:00.000-04:00

got a nice surprise in the mail this week. An advance copy of this book.

I first heard of Author Beth Brown a little over a year ago when I was browsing in my local book store. Her book Haunted Battlefields: Virginia's Civil War Ghost, caught my eye.
Along with being an author Beth is the founder of a group called "Virginia Society of Paranormal Education and Research (VASPER)".

Now you all know how much I love my ghost, so I of course I contacted Beth to let her know how much I enjoyed the Battlefield book.. She wrote me back and mentioned that her group had just done an investigation at Berkley Plantation in Charles City VA. a few weeks prior. I was very excited at hearing this because it turns out that the weekend after her group had been there my husband and I had been for a visit.

While there that day I had asked the tour guide to tell me about the ghost stories I had already head about the plantation. The guide then mentioned that a group out of Richmond had just come down for an investigation. I started putting two and two together and realized that was the same group that Beth was in. What a small world!

Since then I have been following Beth via her web page A few months ago I found out that she has a new book coming out called "Haunted Plantations Of Virginia"

Several weeks ago Beth had a contest asking her fans to write a review on Amazon.com about the Haunted Battlefields book. In turn she would enter your name into a contest for a chance to win An advanced autographed copy prior to the public release of her new book Haunted Plantations. I was really excited when I found out I had won!!

The book came in the mail yesterday and here is what I found out from Beth..
I am the first person (besides her editor, publisher, and herself) that's seen the book. They just arrived at the publisher's warehouse today.

I am so honored to have the first copy. I have been reading on and off all day (I had to work), and I am almost finished. I can't put it down! Of course the first thing I did was turn to the chapter on Berkley Plantation. I won't spoil the book by reveling to you exactly what happened there but I will tell you that the place is haunted!

I am not sure how many book stores across the U.S. will carry the book, but you can order a copy via Amazon.com.
I highly recommend the book for anyone who loves these type of stories and especially if you plan on being in or live in Virginia.

The book has already inspired me to take a couple of road trips. I have to check out some of the homes she has listed and of course you know what that means..I will share my adventures with all of you! Until then

Happy Haunting....

Whaley House Tour

2009-07-02T12:01:00.015-04:00

A friend of mine recently visited the Whaley House, Located in San Diego California

The Whaley House has been called the most haunted d house in the United states by the travel channel. The Whaley house was haunted even before the house was built and the family moved in. The first ghost to be reported was the ghost of James “Yankee Jim” Robinson who was hanged in 1852. He was hanged on the property that was used as a gallows before Thomas Whaley purchased the property and built the house. According to the San Diego Union, after the Whaley family moved in, they heard the sound of heavy footsteps moving around the house and concluded that these footsteps were made by “Yankee Jim”. Years later, many visitors to the house said that they saw the ghost of Thomas Whaley
Four family members of the Whaleys died in the house including Anna Whaley. The ghost of Anna Whaley has been seen by visitors in the garden or in the rooms located downstairs. Furthermore, some visitors claimed that they have seen an apparition of a woman in the courtroom.
A spirit of a dog was captured; it is said that the dog was a spotted fox terrier; the apparition of the dog was caught running into the dining room in the house. The Whaley family used to own a terrier named Dolly Varden when they were still alive. The dog died of natural causes and is said to lick the bare legs of women and is mostly seen by children....

While my friend was in the home, she said that the batteries in her camera died, only to have full charge again once she left the house. Also she said that she turned her cell phone to silence while in the home, yet when she entered the chidlrens bedroom, it rang..TWICE and no one was there.
Here is her tour exactly as she gave it to me....

First lets see the courtroom. Originally built as a granary this room was expected to be rat proof because of its brick construction but it wasn't. This room was also used as a school house, a billard hall, a ballroom and a church. From 1869-1871 Mrs Whaley rented this space to the county of San Diego for use as the courthouse.

Next is the general store, Whaley was foremost a business man, and the original design of the house had this in mind. In the earliest found documents he sold buckwheat, macaroni, leaf lard, clear pork, codfish, preserved fruits, oysters, lobsters, pickles, and tomato catchup. His merchandise also included household wares such as wooden wares, tin wares, hardware, and stationary. As well as all manners of clothing such as boots and shoes. Later in the years he also dabbled in liqueur sales such as champagne, ale, porter, hock wine, and schnapps.

As we round the corner we enter the dining room. The chairs are circa 1860 walnut and covered with actual horse hair. The original kitchen was outside and the floor cloth was made of oilcloth and painted with many layers of varnish

Rounding the corner we have two ways to go. Across from us in the rear downstairs bedroom or the guest chamber. General Sedgewick stayed here durning his campaign to attract a transcontinental railroad to locate its pacific coast terminus at San Diego.
Stories passed down from the family say that Lillian Whaley used this room as she got older and her health declined.

Now we move upstairs

From here there are three ways to go. Striaght ahead lies the theater, to the left the master bedroom and on the right the childrens rooms. Lets start at the theater.

Feel free to have a seat, the theater, was leased to Mr Thomas Tanner from Oct 1868 thru Januay 1869. His group was called the Tanner Troupe, and they boasted a diverse repertoire from dramas to comedy. Mr Tanner died shortly after the theater was opened and the troupe was disbanned, so in 1869 this room was rented to the county for meetings of the board of supervisors and the storage of county records

Now lets move onto the Whaley's master bedroom. The orignal bedroom suite is walnut and the hand woven coverlet is circa 1850.

Now lets go to the most haunted room in the whaley house. The children's room is considered cottage style. It is said the dolls will be moved in the dark hours of the night and that the puzzle will be scattered across the floor when employees return for work the next morning.

As we leave the upstairs the last room we visit is the rear bedroom. The furniture in this room is not original to the Whaley family but is from that time period. It is also unkown who would have used this room, employees spectulate that it would have been used for up to four children or visiting family members

As we head back downstairs be aware that there have been stories of Mrs Whaley standing at the head of these stairs in a frock coat and pantaloons.

From here we will visit the Study, and the palor which are attached to each other.
Thomas Whaley was also a city clerk, notary of the public, realtor and real estate investor as well as the railroad secretary. His did much of his paperwork and correpsondce in the study.

This chair rocks by itself

Now to the parlor, it is furnished with items that originally belonged to the Whaley's. The pump organ was Anna's and still works today. She was a musical woman who passed this love onto her children. In fact her son George played professionally at Horton Hall in San Diego's new town.

Mist In The Hall

2009-06-26T00:06:00.003-04:00

One of my co-workers Who for the sake of her privacy we will call Betty is a huge fan of ghostly things like myself, and when I arrived at work today she called me aside to tell me what had happened to her sister this week. I forget her sisters name but for the sake of this blog we will call her Linda. Linda's mother in law (Whom she did not get along with) passed away four days ago. Last night Linda was laying in bed and suddenly got very cold. She looked out into the hallway where she saw a mist. Thinking it was smoke she sat up and took a second look. The mist was growing thicker, and the room colder. All at once the mist took on a human shape and started to come into the room. Linda Yelled out, NO I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU...And snapped on the light. As she did the last of the mist disappeared and the room grew warm. Linda said she knows it was the mother in law.
Both the girls (Linda and Betty) grew up in a haunted house and both have had these type of experiences before. Betty said she told Linda to set up a video camera tonight and see what happens. I told her to also make sure she has her regular camera close by...Freaky huh

Note from previous post

2009-06-10T20:19:00.003-04:00

I wanted to add a note about my last post. I had described the claw marks found in the river bed/bridge area as fossil like. I probably used the wrong word here. They did not actually find fossils but found claw type marks as if someone had tried to claw there way out of the water. The part about finding finger nails is as I remember the story. I would think any type of marks found in wood or clay after almost 150 years would be hardened, there fore I used the word fossil.
Sorry for any confusion. Also please remmeber this is a story that was told to us and there is no documentation that I am aware of.
Thanks

A story from Gettysburg Ghost Walk

2009-06-09T13:41:00.007-04:00

I promised to tell you one of the ghost stories that I heard on the ghost walk in Gettysburg. The one that stood out in my mind that night happened here.

The area you see here may not look like much now, but on July 4, 1863 this area was known as WILLOUGHBY RUN. It was all dirt with a creek running through it. During the combat, the Confederates used the seven foot banks of Willoughby Run both as an entrenchment and a place to get some relief from the blazing sun and the heat of the battle.
It's said that on the last day of the battle as the troops were pulling out that a sudden thunderstorm hit the area and cause a flash flood of Willoughby Creek (there actually was a storm like that on July 4th.) It trapped several troopers and drowned them, and you're supposed to be able to hear their cries to this day. The stream crosses town, and it's been reported that if you get too near a storm grate that ghostly hands will grab at your trouser cuffs in an effort to pull themselves out of the surging waters. We were told that the little stream and a footbridge were still there a few years ago, and that when the city went to close it off (as shown in the photo above) that they found both fossil type claw marks and human finger nails embedded into the sides of the dirt. We were also told that Some of the wounded soldiers were down in the entrenchment and that for several days after the battle that the water ran red with blood.
Now I don't know how true any of this is, but it made for a good ghost story, and I don't mind admitting I hurried across that area and on down the sidewalk.

Ghost walk

2009-06-06T00:59:00.007-04:00

My copy of "The Ghost Hunter's Field Guide..Gettysburg and Beyond, by Mark Nesbitt" is well worn and has proven to be a valuble resource when I have visited Gettysburg. One of the statements he makes has stood out in my mind and gives you something to think about.
I am not quoting it exactly the way it reads in the book, but it is something to this effect.
"Five-One thousand men were killed or wounded in the three day battle. Out of this three days they actually fought about 24 hours. When broken down this means that for every hour that they fought 2,125 men were shot. Every minute of that 24 hours 36 men where hit, so every two seconds a man was hit. For twenty-four hours."

When most of us think of this three day battle we tend to think of those men, but what is sometimes forgotten is the people who lived in the town of Gettysburg.
On June 1st of 1863 the town of Gettysburg had a population of 2,400. I was told on a recent tour of one of the homes in the area that when the troops pulled out on July 4th, that approx. 23,000 men were left behind. Almost every home had to take in a wounded solider or help to bury the bodies. A lot of these men died within the weeks that followed. It's little wonder with these statistics that Gettysburg is haunted. And of course being haunted everyone has a story to tell.
Look on any corner and you will find some sort of "Ghost Walk"

Mark Nesbitt "Ghost of Gettysburg" tour has been nominated as the #1 tour in Gettysburg, but for my trip this time we choose a different company to take a walk with. We opted for Sleepy Hollow tours.
Sleepy Hollow of Gettysburg Candlelight Ghost Tours is owned and operated by Cindy Codori-Shultz. Cindy is the 6th generation granddaughter of Nicholas Codori, of the Codori Farm, site of Pickett's Charge. Although Cindy did not give the tour the night we went we did have the opportunity to meet her while there and enjoyed talking with her. She seems like a very nice lady and her tour guides were well informed and interesting.
The night we took our tour we went with Amanda

She was a delight and told us several very interesting stories. Unlike the worst ghost tour I ever took in Richmond VA where we were rushed up and down hills and told stories at such a fast pace that we got very little out of the story I was pleased not only with Amanda's story telling ability, but also with the pace at which she told her stories and the way she lead the tour. She made sure everyone was together before she started talking, gave us time for questions and photos and seemed generally interested in having us as her guest.
I will try and relate some of those stories in my next post

Fire Fly From Hell

2009-06-02T10:46:00.006-04:00

I'm back from Gettysburg and actually have a few things to report that we found a bit "unexplainable"

Do you remember in the movie Peter Pan, when Tinker Bell first comes in the window and the little boy sees her and starts yelling Fire fly from hell? Well, this is exactly how my daughter felt while in Gettysburg. Everyone had gone inside the cabin but her and she was just standing outside staring into the woods. She said she was seeing what she thought was a campfire. She could clearly see the light. Now no one was camping near us and the woods were not part of the campground so there is no way a fire should have been in that area. She said she stepped off the porch to take a closer look and the light was still there, as she walked toward it, it disappeared and in its place was a ball of light just hovering around the trees. Just about this time I stepped outside to see what she was doing, and as she turned her attention to the sound of the door opening the light was gone. She was quite exacted as she told me what she had seen. I told her I had heard of this type of thing happening before in Gettysburg. I have read several times on the Internet and in books on the hauntings, of people seeing strange lights.
I didn't think anything else about it and we all went to bed. About four A.M. I heard her get up and go outside. Now it was dark and raining so I could not imagine her going far. We had port-potties but they were up the path a bit, so I knew if she had to pee she was probably on the side of the cabin. I waited until I thought she had time to "do her thing" then I went out to check on her. Once again she was staring into the woods. MOM...It is back she exclaimed. I swear to you I saw this BIG ball of light, just dancing around. She went on to tell me that as she went closer to it that it seemed to come closer to her and then start to chase her as she came back towards the cabin. She said it was at lest 6 inches round and there is NO WAY that it was any kind of bug.
My daughter by the way is almost 25 and was not waking up from a night mare. She was fully awake. So what did she see? It depends on if you believe in spirit orbs. I don't think she was much of a believer in any kind of "ghost" before this trip.
Now she will be the first to tell you that it is haunted.
Also while we were there we both heard cannon fire coming from the battlefield. No re-enactments were going on..
We heard voices in the night, and far off singing. (we were not camping near anyone and were in woods backing up to the battlefield. This happened on two different nights when it was well after the ten pm closing of the battlefield and it's roads.)
One night we heard a loud sound. I can't even describe it. At first I thought it was a horse, since there were horses in the area, but it was a horrible sound. More like something or someone in desperate pain.
What ever it was send us running into the cabin.
Is Gettysburg haunted? Do you believe the tales you hear? All I can tell you is what I believe, and what has happened to me...

To be continued

Blog on Hold Until around June 1st

2009-05-17T15:20:00.001-04:00

This blog will not be updated again until around June 1. I am leaving on Saturday for five days in Gettysburg PA

Gettysburg Trip

2009-05-13T00:10:00.003-04:00

I have recently been in touch with Allen Gross who is one of the top professional paranormal investigators in the U.S., Mr. Gross has opened his own store and museum in Gettysbug and while I am in the area he has invited us to come by for a visit. I am looking forward to meeting him and taking a look at some of his spirit photography.
To learn more about him please visit
http://www.waynesboroghosts.com/Allen-Gross.html
I will be leaving for Gettysburg a week from Saturday and returning home around the 30th. Hopefully with lots of stories to tell..

count down

2009-04-28T11:40:00.002-04:00

Three weeks and counting...Do you feel the spirits stirring?

(photo taken in front of Jenny Wade grave site)

On My List

2009-04-20T13:27:00.002-04:00

It’s just a little over a month now until my trip to Gettysburg PA. I am already thinking ahead to make sure I visit all the hot spots for haunted activity which in Gettysburg is just about everywhere.
Did you know that Gettysburg has been listed as one of the most haunted places in the U.S
On my trip to Gettysburg last year we took several of the ghost tours. One of those was to the Farnsworth House.
One of the most famous ghost in the house is a lady named Mary She often lays down on the bed with the guest. There is also the ghost of a small boy who was hit by a carriage in front of the house while playing. His father rushed him into the house where he died a few minutes later. There are sounds in the attic of footsteps of soldiers. The bullet that shot and killed Jennie Wade was suppose to have come from this window.

Do you see the white mist? I can’t explain how it got there. The window is clear glass and overlooks the street and when looking out the window you see other buildings. There was nothing that should have caused this abnormality on the disk. Notice the heart shape? The photo was taken while sitting in the attic listening to stories about the house and the hauntings. While there the door to the attic opened on its own. There is no way anyone went in or out. I was sitting near the door and it is at the top of the stairs. I would have seen anyone who opened the door if they tried to run down the stairs without being seen.

I’ve put this house on my list to take a closer look at.

Updating

2009-04-07T12:16:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to let everyone know this blog is temporarily on hold. I will be updating it from time to time, but honestly don't have anything lined up right now in the way of places to visit that have a reputation for being haunted. I am going to Gettysburg PA in May, and hopefully will post something before then, but if not you can be sure that I will be back with some stories to tell from there.

Dear Anonymous

2009-03-29T00:15:00.006-04:00

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Difference Between Ghosts and Spirits":

Jennifer

I think you are watching to much TV.

What you stated is incorrect. Ghost and Spirits are one of the same. There is no difference.

What you need to do is put down the TV remote control and go to the library and do some research.

Before you post anything on the Internet about the paranormal, please know what you are talking about.

Don't mislead the public with what you've learned from TV's Sci-Fi channel.

Next time, please know the facts before the post anything

Dear Anonymous
First of all thank you for the nasty comment, it is always so nice to know people care and that they have nothing better to do with their time than to go around and criticize others. However Next time you plan on leaving a comment nasty or other wise you should be sure and scroll down to the bottom of the blog and read the disclaimer. THIS BLOG IS FOR ENTERTAIMENT ONLY therefore nothing should be taken seriously Most of my post on local folk lore/hauntings are based on information that I have taken from other sources. I can not be held responsible if these sources are incorrect. . Second of all I am NOT Jennifer. If you had read the entire post you would know that that particular article was from someone named Jennifer who runs a paranormal group. I, ME, PATTY do not belong to any said groups. Again if you had taken time to read the blog you would know this. I have repeated several times on this blog that I write this for fun, I ghost hunt for fun and blogging should be for fun, and not for others to run around and leave nasty comments on. So if you will pardon me, I'm going back to my TV now. I think there is a rerun of ghost hunters on.

P.S. I also reserve the right to moderate comments and if you come back by again yours will be deleted and the moderation turned on. And just so you don't miss it. I am posting the disclaimer here again

Please note that this blog is for entertainment only. Most areas of this blog do deal with ghost, hauntings and the paranormal. I understand not everyone believes in ghost or hauntings. If you feel uneasy about these subjects please skip this blog and continue on to somewhere else. Comments are always welcome, but I reserve the right to delete those that are offensive to me or those who do believe in ghost and hauntings. Most of my post on local folk lore/hauntings are based on information that I have taken from other sources. I can not be held responsible if these sources are incorrect. In talking about the Paranormal I will usually let you know if this is a personal experience that has happened to myself or someone I know. Most but not all photos used on this blog have been taken by me personally. I usually try to let you know within the post if I have "borrowed" a photo from somewhere else. Please keep in mind that a blog is just that. A personal diary. Nothing written within these post will be published by me anywhere other than on a blog.I am not an author, or a paranormal investigator. I do not associate with any group publicly that is a licensed group of the Paranormal. Again. These post are for entertainment only

Creepy

2009-03-21T00:41:00.003-04:00

I don't often blog about places that I haven't been to myself, but this caught my eye. I was watching "A haunting" tonight on TV and the episode was about Dartford Cemetery in Greenlake, Wisconsin. I have to tell you it really creeped me out. I normally don't mind cemeteries, but after watching this show I don't think I would want to go here even in the day time.
The following is from Unexplained Research and tells you about the show and the cemetery

A Haunting, Featuring the Dartford Cemetery

By Ashley Allgood

11/10/07 - The People’s Media Company

I am a huge fan of the Discovery Channel’s TV show "A Haunting." The show is in the top 10 shows for my TIVO to record. I’ve always loved ghost stories but I make a point not to watch the show too late at night. The show has a spooky host walking you through a real life ghost story. "A Haunting" reminds me of "Unsolved Mysteries" with it’s reenactments plus first hand accounts from the people who experienced the horror. I will honestly admit the show does a great job of creeping me out!
The most recent episode was called "Legend Trippers." Three brave teenagers take it upon themselves to investigate their town’s local legend. A "Legend Tripper" is someone who casually investigates alleged haunted places so they can decide for themselves if it is haunted.

The teens go to "Dartford Cemetery" which is located in Greenlake, Wisconsin. Legend has it that if you sit upon the top of the mausoleum a ghost will push you off. Yeah, sure let’s go there! I think not!

The show starts off with some teens sneaking into the cemetery late one night. They take a peek at an Indian grave first. According to the website featured on the show "Unexplained Research" apparitions of an Indian chief have been known to repeatedly appear. The teens climb upon the mausoleum and then start to tell the story of what happened on Halloween to some teens from their school.

The story: A teen, Nick gets online in search of something fun for him and his friends to do on Halloween night. He comes across the website "Unexplained Research" which has a list of supposed haunted places in Wisconsin. He decides to go to "Dartford Cemetery". This "Legend Trip" has a dare which is something the seeker must do in order to prompt the super natural occurrence. This dare is to sit on top of the mausoleum. So, of course Nick and his friends (John & Christian) decide to take the dare.

The fact simple that these boys are walking through a cemetery at night on Halloween is creepy enough for me. They walk around the cemetery and try to provoke a ghost to come out. But nothing happens except one guy playing a joke on another. They do climb upon the mausoleum and after awhile they see a crack. This scares them since it wasn’t there before. They climb down and before John can get down he is pushed. He yells telling his friends someone just pushed him! The two other guys are shocked since they didn’t even tell their friend about the legend for fear he’d be too scared to join them. Nick heads back to the car with John since he’s a little more than freaked out. The other guy Christian, though wants to check things out a little more. Brave guy, right? I guess they didn’t remember one of the major rules of horror movies. NEVER SPLIT UP!

More and more spooky things keep each happening to each of the boys like names and dates changing on tomb stones & seeing people. The confused and scared boys head home not speaking of what they saw. Only later after Nick has a dream about the cemetery they decide to talk about it. The story passes from one teller to the next.

The show returns to the original teens who were checking out "Dartford Cemetery" and I feel their experience was VERY creepy. Evil seems to follow them outside the cemetery!

I am sure this show will draw a lot of people to be one of the many Legend Trippers. But Nick and his friends will never return! I personally don’t blame them.

The show also showed information on another haunted location called "Witch Road" which is located in Rosendale, Wisconsin. You can find more information on Witch Road at "Unexplained Research."

Want to go check it out for yourself? Hop over to MapQuest and plan your trip. Just please don’t invite me along!

Sources: http://www.unexplainedresearch.com/media/a_haunting_featuring_the_dartford_cemetery.html

Video was found on YouTube.

The Hanging Tree

2009-03-15T20:54:00.006-04:00

*Click on photos to enlarge*

We stopped by the Ferry Plantation house yesterday to take some outside photos.

You might remember that I was there two weeks ago for the “Spirit tour”. We didn’t think the house was open, but walked around the front to get a few photos and as we did my daughter peeked in the window. We were talking about how we didn’t think the wind was what was making the nose we heard the night we were there. (You might remember we head taps on the glass upstairs) Rebecca shook the shudder a bit and Just as she looked in the window my grandson walked up behind her and his reflection in the glass startled her. She then picked him up to take a peek inside and as she did a face stared back at her. It was the director of the house, who was probably just as frightened. She (the director) came to the door, and we reminded her that we had been on the tour a few weeks ago. We stepped into the hall for a few minutes to chat. I wanted to know more about a couple of things that had been mentioned on the original tour. The first being the hanging tree out back.

In documents from the house we know that three slaves were hanged from it. The tree was struck by lightning at one point and I couldn’t help but wonder if the top branches that were struck are the ones that the hanging took place on or if it could be some of these that are remaining.

I don’t recall being told what year the hangings took place but know it was at lest as far back as the mid 1800’s. I was told however that a psychic has visited the tree and felt as if the bodies were thrown to this side of the tree. Which is the back of the tree if your walking from the house towards it.

I have to admit I felt a bit creepy walking around the tree. It wasn’t just from the thoughts of men hanging from the tree it was from knowing that I was walking on a scared Indian burial ground.
Yes a burial ground. That is the other thing I was dying to know more about. I had heard there was one somewhere on the property. As it turns out it was a large area of the back grounds. I am not sure how it was discovered but was told that almost immediately after it was that the owners put in this to keep the curious away.

Those are tennis courts and all of this grass area still has remains in it and also all around and under the courts. A one point some Native Americans visited. They left in a hurry saying they would never come back and said something about how the bodies could not rest because sacred things had been stolen and needed to be returned. Of course no one has any way of finding out what these “things” are.
I also saw the tree that was planted by Sally Rebecca Walke. Records indicate that this Southern Magnolia was planted in April 1863 in memory of her fiancé who died during the Civil War Measured at 131 inches circumference, and 75 ft. tall, in 2001.

The house also has a working well with an old pump that still works

Also if you look closely out back you can see the original road that ran out behind the house. (The front of the home was near the river)

I was really glad to get a chance to learn more of the history of the home and not just the “haunted” side. As much as I love the paranormlal I have to admit I am glad I don’t live near the home. I was told yesterday that some of the guest of the people who own the homes that were built on the plantation land had been by the house talking about dreams of men hanging in the trees and Indians cutting down the bodies and taking them away. Vivid dreams, but then again look how close the houses are.

*Note
Just to clarify things you should know that The Ferry Plantation house sits in the middle of a neighborhood in a cul de sac (court). Several Houses are on all four sides of Ferry Plantation home. These houses sit on what was once the land of the Plantation house.

Haunted Carter’s Grove

2009-03-12T00:24:00.008-04:00

The windy road known today as Route 60 leads from Williamsburg to Newport News. VA. and if your not paying attention you won’t notice the dirt driveway that once led to Carter’s Grove Plantation. Built in the early 1700’s it was once one of Virginia’s finest plantations. It was closed to the public around 2003, but tales of hauntings still linger among the locals.

From what I’ve been told a black man in raggedy clothes can be seen walking towards the Plantation from Williamsburg. Could this be the ghost of Jim, a slave who once worked at the Governors Place and walked the eight miles every Saturday night back to the Grove to see his family. From what they say he died of a broken heart when he came home one weekend to find that his wife and children had been sold and no one knew how to tell him where to find them.

During the time the plantation was open for tours flower petals could be found on the floor after being placed in what is known as the refusal room. Both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington offered marriage proposals to two different young ladies in the room and were turned down. Rumor has it that one of these young ladies still angry at herself for not accepting the life she could have had tears up the flowers any time they are left in the room. She especially hates white carnations. Could this have been what was offered to her along with the proposal? I suppose we will never know.

Steps are sometimes heard in the halls. A phantom harp is said to play, and another legend of Carter’s Grove is that Colonel Banastre Tarleton hacked the staircase as he rode his horse up the stairs to wake his troops during the Revolutionary War.

Click to open in new window where photo will be enlarged

I drove past the plantation today, and on a whim stopped at the beginning of the drive. The gates are locked now with big NO Trespassing signs in plain site, but for just a moment I jumped out of the car and took a few photos. When I loaded the photos and took a look I found something unusual in the upstairs window in the center of the house.

Take a look and tell me if it is my imagination or do you see a man wearing white pants and a red shirt. Could this be Colonel Banastre in his Revolutionary War Uniform?

I may never know now that the plantation is privately owned but from what I have read sometime in the future the new owners according to the terms of the sale have to open the house one day a year for tours. You better believe when they do, I will be there.

Seeking the Past

2009-03-06T11:28:00.003-05:00

Mark your calenders. On May 23th. I will be returning to Gettysburg Pa. I can't wait to see what adventures I will find in this most haunted city.

Gettysburg, 1889: "In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream, and lo! The shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls."

General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
Former Colonel of the 20th Maine Infantry

In search of spirits

2009-03-02T00:27:00.001-05:00

The night was cold with rain and wind. Just perfect for a visit to a haunted house, and that was exactly where I was headed. My daughter and I pulled up the Ferry Plantation house in Virginia Beach about a half hour before schedule. We arrived early due to the weather and the fact that even though I grew up in Virginia Beach and have lived in the Hampton Roads area most of my adult life I had never been to this house. Thankfully another person was arriving the same we were and showed us the way up to the house which was a short distance from the parking area.
I loved the house from the minute I walked in and at no time felt uncomfortable.

As you can see it is full of warm cozy furnishings.
We were given a short tour, told some stories then allowed to move about on our own. One of the local paranormal groups was there for this tour and had brought some equipment in which we were allowed to use. We grabbed a infra-red thermometer and a set of dowsing roads and set off to see if we would have any type of experience
We had heard the story of Sally Rebecca Walke who lived and died in this house, She seemed to respond when asked questions using the dowsing rods my daughter has in her hands. (young lady in the photo in the middle is Sally)

Some people believe that when a spirit is present that there energy will cause the rods to cross. We used them for simple yes and no questions. We would ask them to cross for yes and then ask the sprits to uncross them for us. It worked over and over.

We also heard the story of Henry a slave who died here. His room was at the top of these stairs. Its been turned into a storage room now.

We were told he had been chained to the wall at some point (not sure if this is a true story, We heard it from a teenage boy that was there with the paranormal group).

Rebecca seemed to be taken with this area and we spent some time there using the “ghost hunting equipment”

We never could get the meter to flash, but the dowsing rods did cross several times.
We moved on to other areas of the house. I was anxious to see if Eric the child that had died in the house would communicate with us. We made our way to the gift shop where I took out my voice recorder. We ask Eric if he was there, waited for a response. (It is believed that voices of the dead can be heard with a tape recorder. What we can not hear with our ears can be picked up electronically) We then asked him to make a noise for us. For several minutes we could hear what sounded like a tapping noise at the window. Both my daughter and I could hear it and of course realize that it can easily be de-bunked due to the rain outside, but it only seemed to tap when we asked it to. Was it our over active imagination? I am not sure, but it was enough to make us both nervous so we didn’t stay in there long. When I played back the recording. I can hear the knocks along with what sounds like a voice saying pretty girl, and also in response to me asking if Eric wants to come play…a YES, Before we took out the voice recorder we had used a pendulum in this room and ask simple yes and no question. When ask if Eric was in the room it swung in the direction of yes, when asked if he wanted to play, it swung no, and when asked if he was frightened, yes, when asked if he would play later, it stood still and shook as if there was an undecided answer.
Our hostess had also used a pendulum in another room and it seemed to be responding to “something”.

I really enjoyed roaming around this house and tried to spend time in the areas that were suppose to have the most activity.
On the third floor is where the Nanny's room had been. She had died when she was descending these stairs

The way the story goes is she caught her heel on the third step from the top, and over the years others have either fallen up or down these stairs at the exact same spot.
Other than the tapping we did not have any personal experiences, but really enjoyed our evening and I plan on going back again.
Here is a slide show of random photos of the house.

In search of the spirit world

2009-02-24T00:43:00.002-05:00

This coming Saturday is the day that I am going on the “spirit tour” at the Ferry Plantation house in Virginia Beach. I am looking forward to the tour and like any good ghost hunter hope to have the ultimate experience and see something. However like any good ghost hunter I also believe in being prepared as far as knowing the history of the house/property. Not every spirit is nice and I don’t want to get caught off guard and suddenly wonder why I feel sick, or find things being thrown off shelves. At the same time I want to make sure I pay attention to which room or rooms that have shown activity in the past. This lead me to a google search on the house. I found several articles, but nothing that really talked much about the hauntings. Then I found information on a book called “Haunted Virginia Beach” and was able to read excerpts from the book. I was really excited to read about Eric, a child who died in the house. It seems that he likes to play tricks on people. He has also been seen on the steps. Another child, a young girl has been seen in the dinning room along with a woman. There is a spirit of a man who is called Henry. He was a servant and his job was to lead people from the boat landing up to the house. Over the years some of the land has been sold and modern day houses built. It has been reported that one of the neighbors had his patio furniture moved more than once during the night. It is thought that Henry was just making way for his unseen guest to enter the Ferry House . Upstairs a woman is seen. She was the nanny and footsteps are heard pacing back and forth between her room and the nursery. A woman is also seen by the downstairs fireplace. Cold spots have been felt in this house and shadows have been seen.

I can’t wait!

In The Woods

2009-02-15T23:46:00.005-05:00

One of the most haunted places in my area is a place called Old House Woods. I have heard stories about this area for several years so we decided that it was time to check it out...

In the day light that is. With all the stories I had heard I was not about to go here at night.
Here are a few of the most famous stories.

Some of the recurring tales are about British Redcoats, pirates, skeletons in knights armor, mysterious groups of shoveler digging, ghost horses and cows which appear and disappear before one's eyes, a full rigged Spanish galleon which vanishes in thin air, mysterious floating lights in the woods similar to lantern light, and a "Storm Woman" who floats above the pines warning fishermen of impending gales.

Whew, that is enough to scare anyone. As you can see from the photos. These woods look creepy in the daylight.

Looking up and down the road in both directions.

The thick woods.

We didn't stay long and headed instead to the beach area where
Blackbeard, the famous pirate captain supposedly brought some of his treasure here to hide it. He forced several of his men to dig the hole at gunpoint. And then, he shot them, and threw their bodies in the pit with his takings. This is an old pirate superstition that is supposed to protect his treasure from thieves and other adventurers. And some have claimed to have seen men, madly digging in the night,
while another person supervises with his pistol in hand

I've heard the stories of how people digging for the treasure disappear never to be seen again. I wasn't about to take any chances, but.....Ok I confess. I did take one of these pretty shells for a souvenir. Shhhh don't tell anyone. I am not sure how good of a pirate I would make if one of these ghost takes me out to sea on the mysterious ship that has been seen in the area.

Revisiting Rosewell Ruins

2009-02-15T21:52:00.005-05:00

Today I returned to Rosewell Ruins in Gloucester VA. I had visited this location last spring and had been wanting to return. All was quiet today but I can certainly see why this place is suppose to be haunted.

Stories have been told at Rosewell. Everything from slaves buried in the Cellar walls, to a mysterious lady who walks the front steps every night.

From Wikipedia,

Rosewell Plantation in Gloucester County, Virginia, USA for more than 100 years was the home of members of the Page family, one of the First Families of Virginia. Begun in 1725, the huge brick Rosewell mansion overlooking the York River was one of the finest in Virginia. Through much of the 18th century and 19th centuries, and during the American Civil War, Rosewell Mansion hosted the area's most elaborate formal balls and celebrations.

Rosewell Mansion and part of its history were described by author James Joseph McDonald in "Life In Old Virginia" (The Old Virginia Publishing Co., Norfolk, Va., 1907) thus:

"The mansion is substantially built of brick, three story and basement. The foundation walls are three and one-half feet thick. The reception hall is large, the ceilings lofty, and the whole mansion is indicative of refined taste and wealth. From the upper windows, a magnificent view is had of the surrounding level lands and the waters of the creeks and the York River.
"During the life of Governor Page, Thomas Jefferson was a frequent and welcome visitor there. While on one of his visits he wrote the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence in what is now known as the 'Blue Room,' situated on the northwest corner of the second story of this house."
The elaborate Flemish bond brickwork, the towering three stories, and the siting of the mansion were all meant to recall elaborate London homes of the era. In that sense, Rosewell was among the most sophisticated early buildings built in America.

The Rosewell Mansion was destroyed by fire in 1916. Today, a largely undisturbed historic ruin, the site has been the subject of archaeological work which has revealed many artifacts and shed light on some aspects of colonial life and architecture previously unclear.

Page family of Virginia
Governor of Virginia John Page (1744-1808) was the grandson of Rosewell's first owner, Mann Page (I). He grew up there, and was a classmate of Thomas Jefferson at the College of William and Mary in nearby Williamsburg where he graduated in 1763. John Page fought during the American Revolutionary War, attaining the rank of colonel. He also served multiple terms in the U.S. Congress and the Virginia General Assembly.

Other notable members of Virginia's Page family also include Governor Page's brother Mann Page III, his great grandfather, Colonel John Page of Jamestown and Middle Plantation, author and U.S. Ambassador to Italy Thomas Nelson Page, and Virginian Railway builder William Nelson Page; Confederate General Richard Lucian Page.

A family legend says that the courtship of John and Margaret Lowther Page began with an exchange of poems.

In 1790, John Page was a 47-year-old widower serving in the First Congress of the United States. Congress was meeting in New York, and it was there that he met Margaret Lowther, who was about 30 at the time. According to the legend, John escorted Margaret to a party and later realized that she had left a glove in his carriage. He sent the glove back to her with a note reading

"Taking 'G' from 'Glove' leaves 'Love'

Tis that I offer thee."

Margaret replied with another note:

"Taking 'P' from 'Page' leaves 'Age,'

And you are too old for me."

Perhaps Margaret was only teasing, or perhaps she soon had a change of heart, for the couple was married a few months later. They continued to write and exchange poems during their marriage.

Up coming haunt

2009-02-10T09:00:00.004-05:00

On Saturday February 28th I will be joining in on a "spirit tour" of the Ferry Plantation House in Virginia Beach VA. It is said that this place is home to at lest eleven ghost including the spirit of Grace Sherwood, The Witch Of Pungo. I am really looking forward to this tour. From what I understand we will be taken on a full tour of the home's three floors and told the history and stories of the spirits that haunt them. At the end of the tour we will be given free time to explore on our own. Camera's are allowed, so you can be sure I will be posting lots of photos and talking about the night here.

It makes me wonder

2009-01-29T22:52:00.002-05:00

While surfing the net I ran across this news story. You have to see this!

As Promised

2009-01-27T22:13:00.001-05:00

As promised I visited two of my favorite old homes today. The first is Endview Plantation. (Here is a brief history of the plantation)

Built in 1769 by William Harwood. By the outbreak of the Civil War, Endview had passed out of direct ownership of the Harwood family and was purchased by William’s great-grandson Dr. Humphrey Harwood Curtis. Dr. Curtis was one of two physicians in the county at this time. The 1860 census shows that Curtis owned $8,000 worth of real estate, $21,000 worth of personal property and 12 slaves. By 1861 Dr. Curtis was off fighting the Civil War, but returned home and retreated with his family to Danville VA. for the remainder of the war. Federal troops occupied the Endview property and remained in and around the area until the end of the war. In early 1864, the Federal government confiscated the plantation and relocated seven African-American families there to farm. The Curtis family returned after the war and within a few months regained possession of there things.

As you can see the farm and land has a rich history so it is no surprise that the home is also associated with hauntings.

Reports have said that a woman has been seen crossing the road from the cemetery towards the house during re-enactments that are held at the Plantation. This woman is known as the woman in white. Reports also show that the room, that was used as a nursery has curtains that open after they have been closed for the night. Civil War re-en actors who would stay in the cabins (built for them to stay in during re-enactments) have reported ghostly happenings. Doors open and close on their own, cold spots appear even in the summer, and many of them felt a presence when they were alone and heard disembodied voices.

With these stories in mind I arrived early and joined a tour. No photos were allowed in the home itself but I did get a lot of shots of the outside.

These last two photos are graves of the Curtis family. I may be mistaken but I believe the child's grave is their child (They had 11). It is documented that one child a girl age 8 died in the home. She was suffering from intestinal worms and the "cure" at that time was arsenic. Her father being a DR. administered the dosage and she was given to much and died.

After I walked around the grounds near the house, I went back a bit further to the natural spring.

It is a bit hard to see in this photo, but when I visited last summer it had quit a bit of water in it. We were told that this spring was one of the main reasons that soldiers stayed here on the property during the war as it was one of the only natural springs in the area.
I continued on and found the Hargrove Cemetery. Several children and adults are buried here, and it is believed that there are several more unmarked graves.

Beyond this area through a field is where the famous "haunted" cabins were. I had never been back there and must admit I was a bit nervous. After all I was the only one walking around the property and could not see the house from where I was at. It is the dead of winter and this place looked creepy...I wondered how long it would take anyone to find me if something happened ha ha..
I took a deep breath and moved forward.

What I found back there were a bunch of old run down cabins that were once used for the re-en actors. It made me wonder why there are no longer in use. I felt very uneasy in this area and didn't stay long.
I had been at Endview awhile and knew I needed to hurry if I was going to make the tour at Lee Hall

I was very disappointed in this tour and will not waste your time talking about it. The tour guide was very brisk and rushed us from one room to another.
The only interesting part of this home was at the end. I met a lady and her daughter who had been on the tour with me at Endview. It seems that they were also interested in ghost and we started talking. It turned out this was the highlight of my day because the daughter (who is about 10) "see and feels" ghost. The mom "senses" things and together they were a lot of fun. The daughter said she felt a friendly presence there at Lee Hall. She mentioned this to the tour guide. Of course she phoo phoo the idea and within a minute of us talking to her the men's bathroom door swung open on it's own and hit me in the leg. We all started laughing and the daughter told the tour guide...well the ghost you don't have just went into the bathroom. I loved it.

Anyway and the mom, daughter and I started talking we of course turned the conversation back to Endview. I asked them if they had walked the grounds to the old cabins and they had said no, then the daughter told her mom she wanted to go and told her mom that she wanted me to come along..

Since the two homes are on the same road it took less than five minutes to return to Endview where we were told we only had a half hour before they closed, so we hurried to the back area where I once again took some photos. Both mom and daughter felt creepy and the mom said she felt as if someone was there. I am far from psychic but had to agree. I don't think it had anything to do with the cabins, but more with the land. Perhaps it was the spirits of the slaves or the soldiers of long ago. I suppose we will never know. While there the mom and daughter both turned on the recording area of there cell phone. Mom asked...Is someone here, Can you tell me your name, why are you here (with time between each question to hear an answer)
Then she played it back. If I hadn't been there I wouldn't have believed it, but clear as a bell when asked CAN YOU TELL ME YOUR NAME..I heard a clear whisper..STEVEN
We had a name..Steven..

One my first trip to this plantation I did not especially feel like it was haunted. Now I am not so sure. I suppose it depends on what you believe. Do spirits linger? Can they interact with the living?
Here is one thing that did happen that I haven't mentioned...
Take a close look at these two photos

Do you see the difference?
Yes the door is open..
The first photo was taken at 1:23
The second one was taken at 3:36
Could someone have come down the path in those two hours and opened the door? Of course they could have. We can always debunk the photos. After all I wasn't the only person to take a tour that day...but maybe, just maybe it was STEVEN, going out for a walk...

Upcoming investigations

2009-01-25T00:18:00.003-05:00

I have a trip planned on Monday to revisit two of the local homes in my area that are reported to be haunted. The first of these is Endview Plantation.

I stopped in here last summer but did not get any impressions of anything out of the ordinary. However I only visited the house and small cemetary that is on the property. Since then I have learned the following information and will be taking a walk back to that side if the property.

Civil War re-enactors who would stay in the cabins near Endview Plantation in Newport News would report ghostly happenings. Doors open and close on their own, cold spots appear even in the summer, and many of them felt a presence when they were alone and heard disembodied voices.

The second home on my list is Lee Hall Mansion.

During my first visit there, I asked if there were any ghost stories. I was told there was one of a woman, but they didn't seem to want to talk about the story.
I do know of one person who lived in the town homes that have been built on the adjoining land next to the mansion (this all belonged to the family at one time) and she told me strange mist has been seen on the grounds of the mansion, and also she along with others have reported strange things happening in there apartment/townhome.
It should be interesting to see if my visit next week shows me anything "strange"

White House Ghost

2009-01-20T22:59:00.001-05:00

As we all know the White House has new residents tonight. Congratulations to President Obama and his family. May you have four years filled with peace,love and hope. May you bring the change this country needs, and may we all come together as one people united the way this country is meant to be....God Bless you as we travel this road together.

Now with that said Let's talk about some past residents. Residents who refuse to leave...Those who linger on and have been seen by countless people.

Yes I am talking about GHOST. Did you know that the White House is one of the most haunted houses in America? One of the most frequent sightings is that of former President Abraham Lincoln. He has been seen near his bedroom (which he never used as a bedroom but as an office)Grace Coolidge,Franklin Roosevelt’s staff members and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands are among those who claim to have seen him.
President Harry Truman claims Lincoln once knocked on his bedroom door and Winston Churchill flatly refused to sleep in the room that was once known as Lincoln’s sleeping chamber. After having sighted the ghost of Lincoln.
Even more modern day Presidents like Richard Nixon were Among the many witnesses to the various sightings of President Lincoln – aside from the ones previously noted – were Theodore and Eleanor Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson and Maureen Reagan.
Although the ghost of Abraham Lincoln is said to be the most active –other Ghost are said to reside in the house too.
Presidents Harrison,Andrew Jackson, and John Tyler have been seen.

Presidents are not the only ones who have been said to haunt the home. Reports show, that the wife of President John Adams has been seen." Dolly Madison has been seen in the rose garden on several occasions, and is said to have appeared when Edith Wilson – wife of Woodrow Wilson – made plans to have the rose garden replanted. As the gardeners prepared to go to work, Dolly appeared to them and told them to leave her garden alone and not bother her arrangement. The gardeners were so frightened that they fled in terror and refused to make any changes to the rose garden. To this day, it’s still arranged in the same way as it was when Dolly Madison was alive and well in the White House"
Willie Lincoln, one of the son’s of President Lincoln who died in his childhood at the White House, has been seen by a number of witnesses – including White House staff members
A British Solider has been seen along with The ghost of Major Henry Rathbone, who’d accompanied President Lincoln to the theater on the night of his assassination.
Humans are not the only ghost that have been seen...
a spectral black cat has also been viewed by a multitude of people. According to witnesses, the cat appears in the basement of the White House immediately preceding a national tragedy, such as in the case of the Stock Market crash and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Sighting are not the only thing that happens at the White House..Sometimes only sounds are heard..
Did you know that the screams of President Grover Cleveland wife have been heard. She is the first woman to give birth in the White House and it is said to be be her during the pains of childbirth.
Footsteps have been heard and even the smell of laundry soap are some of the oddities that go on.

Of all of the spirits that are reported to walk the floors of the White House, Abraham Lincoln seems to be the one whose sightings have a specific purpose. His ghost is said to become particularly active during times of war, when he’s seen and heard restlessly pacing the hallways and knocking on bedroom doors throughout the day and night. Also during such times, witnesses tend to see his gaunt figure standing at the window of his bedroom or the Oval Office, looking out over what were once the battlefields during the Civil War.

The fact that Lincoln is sighted so frequently is of particular interest, since both he and his wife – Mary Todd Lincoln – were known to have conducted séances in the White House, in an attempt to contact the spirits of their deceased sons. Both strong believers in the existence of the afterlife, the Lincolns devoted a great deal of time trying to establish contact with the youngsters, and were said to be quite open-minded about interaction between the two planes of existence.

Please note that all of this information was "borrowed" from the Internet and was not written by me personally..

updates

2009-01-16T23:44:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry that I have been neglecting this blog. I haven't been out doing much site seeing the last few months. Ghost hunting seems to be a warm weather hobby. I have however been thinking of some of the things I want to check out once the weather opens up a bit this spring.
There is a lot still in my own backyard (as the saying goes) to explore.
One of the places I have been wanting to go to for a long time is the Ferry Plantation house in Virginia Beach. This house was the site of the trial of the only convicted witch in Virginia, Grace Sherwood in 1706. Many people say the house is haunted by Grace, and I have heard that some of the local paranormal groups have spent the night there and rumor has it that in addition to Grace there are at lest ten other ghost living there.

Other things I want to do is make a return visit to both The Lee Hall Mansion and The Endview Plantation. Those two may be coming up in the next week or so, and if possible I will go to the house in Va. Beach, It is only open on Saturdays and I have one off soon, so check back in with me.

Something to look forward too

2009-01-09T09:14:00.003-05:00

Author Beth Brown has a new book coming out in the early summer that will feature the haunted plantations of Virginia. I have not had the chance to meet Beth, but have read her book on the haunted battlefields in our area and highly recommend it. I am really looking forward to this book, because I have had a chance to visit many of the places she will be talking about in the book. In a recent blog comment I asked Beth about advance copies of the book and she replied that they may be available about eight weeks before they hit the stores on sites such as amazon.com.
Be sure and check her out and keep up with the release information if your interested.

Tears in the snow

2008-12-31T00:09:00.006-05:00

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.

Wish List

2008-12-21T18:57:00.004-05:00

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

And the winner is NOT ME

2008-12-08T13:15:00.002-05:00

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?

Photo

2008-12-05T00:09:00.000-05:00

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.

As Promised

2008-12-01T11:59:00.003-05:00

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

Revisting an old haunt

2008-11-21T22:31:00.000-05:00

You may remember me posting last year about the young woman who haunts the Public Records Office in Colonial Williamsburg.
For some reason when I went then I did not photograph the family cemetery, so on Monday while we were there I stopped by to take some photos,
I am reposting the story again for anyone who missed it the first time.
I have never experienced any paranormal activity at this site, but do find the old graves interesting.

Public Records Office

Jones Family Graves

Jones Family Graves

Jones Family Graves

Public Records office

Is the oldest archival building in North America. It once housed important documents. In 1784 it was converted into a grammar school. From 1789-1824 was rental property. In 1824 it was the office for the clerk of Chancery Court. In 1855 was acquired by the neighboring female Academy, which was located on the grounds of the Capital building. And in 1862 southern troops took refuge inside.
Near the turn of the century David Roland Jones and family owned it. They had seven children, and none of the girls married or left home. One of the daughters Edna became restless and when she met a man named John Mince she fell in love. Her father forbids the relationship. They made plans to run away together and meet at the Governors Place, which had burned over a century earlier. . Edna waited until dark and hurried to the meeting. One the way she was struck and killed by a speeding couch. It is thought that her spirit rushed home so that her father would not discover her deception.
Since that night she has been seen roaming the property.. She has also been seen at the Jones family cemetery. Her ghost has been photographed indeed the graveyard where her body rest. Strangers have heard her calling out as they make there way through the property.

Ghost Photo

2008-11-19T17:39:00.000-05:00

Remeber the photo I told everyone about of the "boy" on the bed in the mirror at the Jenny Wade house? I haven't realeased the photo publicly yet because I have it in a photo contest that ends on Dec. 1....

This is what the contest had to say about it.
Keep your fingers crosses that it will be good enough to win...
After the contest is over I will be submitting the photo to several paranormal sites to see what they think..

Thank you for the photo. After carefully reviewing we agree that there appears to be something in the mirror that doesn't belong there. I can't say with certainty that it is an image on the bed but it certainly is interesting

xxxxxxxxxx

Ghostly Images of Gettysburg

One of my favorite things

2008-10-05T00:31:00.000-04:00

One of the most interesting things we did while in Gettysburg was take a ghost walk with the Ghostly Imagines Tour Company. They took us to the former Children's Orphanage (Now the soldiers museum.) It seems that during the Civil War one solider was found dead clutching a photo of his three children. The picture was printed on October 19, 1863, in the Philadelphia Inquirer with a story under the provocative headline: "Whose Father Was He?"

The article said "a Union soldier was found in a secluded spot on the battlefield, where, wounded, he had laid himself down to die. In his hands, tightly clasped, was an ambrotype containing the portraits of three small children ... and as he silently gazed upon them his soul died. How touching! How solemn! ... It is earnestly desired that all papers in the country will draw attention to the discovery of this picture and its attendant circumstances, so that, if possible, the family of the dead hero may come into possession of it. Of what inestimable value will it be to these children, proving, as it does, that the last thought of their dying father was for them, and them only."

Amos' wife, Philinda Humiston, living in Portville, New York, eventually came upon a news account of the photo. So much sympathy was poured out for the Humiston family that the proceeds allowed for the creation of an orphanage in Gettysburg for children of soldiers.

Philinda moved to Gettysburg and for awhile ran the orphanage. She remarried and moved away leaving the children (in the orphanage) in the care of a young woman by the name of Rosa Carmichaels. Rosa was very cruel to the children. She would beat them, and chain them to the walls in the basement. There was a room that Rosa put the Orphans in to beat called the pit. She had 14 to 19 year old boys called stick boys. They carried large sticks to beat the boys as well as girl orphans. She also place the children in a cave type dwelling that has been nicknamed "The Pit".
Some of the children died while in her care, and are said to haunt the basement
and yard. Some visitors have had their clothes and bodies tugged at by invisible spirits.

The group I was with walked out to the stone wall that runs along the orphanage. The guide had warned us that some people have trouble taking photos there or have strange things show up on the camera. Several people around me took photos that came out with nothing but a white rope like streak running through the photo. When I tried to take photos I could not get my camera to work. I checked it and to my surprise found that my batteries were completely drained. We had just put fresh batteries in that had been charged just prior to going on the tour. (Thankfully we had extra batteries)
Once inside they took us in and let us see the pit and also where the children had been shacked. While listening to our guide the chain that separated the room suddenly started to swing. No one was near it and everyone in the group witnessed this. Suddenly one lady cried out..Oh my god..I just heard a voice say Help Me..someone help me. At one point they put the lights out and we sat in total darkness for five minutes. Do you know how long five minutes is when you can not see your hand in front of your face and you know you are sitting in a haunted place. Well, let me tell you it is a long time. Once the lights came back on our guide played a tape for us with EVP (recordings) taken by a local paranormal group. You could hear children's voices on the tape. He also showed us some photos that people had taken over the years and that the paranormal group had taken. They showed orbs and steaks of while. Then on the last photo he pulled out you can see three little face peeking around the chain...yep..the one that kept swinging..
It was really awesome!
If you ever get a chance to go to Gettysburg make sure you take this tour.
Be sure and click on each photo to show it full size.

Photo hanging on the wall is of the three children and is like the one found in the dying soldiers hand.

Our guide Bob talking with one of the other people on our tour. This is at the wall that is haunted and where my batteries went dead when we first arrived

The chain that moved on its own

My husband checking out the chain to make sure it is not rigged to move (It wasn't)

A view of the pit....The doll had been placed there and we were told sometime when people come in it has moved to a different location on its own

Haunted Gettysburg

2008-07-26T00:59:00.000-04:00

My books arrived and I have already devoured the first one. Mark Nesbitt is an excellent author and the books are interesting and an easy read. I am making a list of "must see" places to visit. I know for sure that one of them will be the Farnsworth House. My friend Harry who is big into ghost hunting went there about two months ago and highly recommends visiting it. (He actually stayed there). They offer a ghost walk and tour, and I think unless something comes up to change my mind this is the one I will be taking.
Here is some information I found on the web about the place

Gettysburg - Farnsworth House Inn - Considered by many to be one of the MOST haunted houses in America! The first house in Gettysburg to be investigated by renowned psychic Carol Kirkpatrick, as well as Ghost Hunters International, a crew from Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Southern California. The crews from "Sightings" (Sci-fi Channel), "Unsolved Mysteries", and The History Channel have done filming here. Mary, a spirit from the Civil War era walks the corridors of the Inn at night. There is also a civilian man carrying a child wrapped in a quilt. You can hear him sobbing in an upstairs room. A midwife is seen watching over a young woman in labor. Three Confederate sharpshooters remain at their posts in the garret of the house. A soldier carries a wounded comrade into the cellar of the house. His voice is heard singing to comfort his dying friend, who dies in the catacombs of the cellar. Cold spots have been detected. "Balls of white energy" were photographed as white "auras" of energy throughout the house. Guests report many strange happenings on their stays here!

Getting the history

2008-07-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

They say that the first step to any good investigation is getting the history of the place you are about to investigate. I thought this might be a really good way to learn the history and hear the ghost stories about Gettysburg ahead of time
The first THREE volumns in this series are in route to my house and should be arriving in a few days. Thank you amazon.com for used books! Once I get through these I will order the other two.

Something Strange in this photo

2008-07-23T00:20:00.000-04:00

Click on photo to enlarge

Ok tell me if this is my imagination or do you see the back of a Revolutionary War soldier. I see the back of shoulders/backpack, the head and hat and a musket gun. It looks to me as if they were crouched down or perhaps had been hiding behind something that is no longer there. I see it/them just to the right of the slabs that are leaning up against the tree (those slabs by the way are a grave stone). This picture was taken at the same children's farm that my grandson first saw "The Lady". I took it on a recent trip there when I was trying to find the area of the first photo. Where I took this photo is almost if not the exact spot where the first one was taken last summer. Could this be one of the "shadow" people we hear about?
Let me know what you think.

Ghost of Gettysburg

2008-07-21T22:48:00.000-04:00

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WteXzuyBE5g&hl=en&fs=1]

Sneak Peek

Sneak Peak

2008-07-21T00:52:00.000-04:00

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WteXzuyBE5g&hl=en&fs=1]

Sneak Peek

Strange, really strange.

2008-07-19T00:50:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I want to know what you think of this. You know how I am obsessing about this trip to Gettysburg right. Well all of last week I searched high and low trying to find a copy of the moive (Which by the way I highly recommend for you Civil War buffs out there). I finally found a copy of the movie at my local Blockbuster and we watched it. Tonight I mentioned to my husband I wanted to see it again, but my grandson was here so we decided instead to find a movie for him. I opened the drawer on my entertainment center that holds my tapes and guess what was there. A tape of none other than GETTYSBURG. Ok your thinking so what is strange about that.
Well, believe it or not, the writting on the tape over is my dad's handwritting.
My dad has been dead three years.
Now don't freak out. I have other tapes that belonged to my dad in there. but I swear I do not remember EVER seeing GETTYSBURG. It wasn't in the back, it was the third one in.I have to ask myself did he put it there, as a way of saying to me on some level. GO, no matter what Go.

Strange I say...Really really strange.

Gettysburg Dreaming

2008-07-09T00:46:00.000-04:00

My husband and I are totally psyched about our trip to Gettysburg. It is still ten weeks away, but we have our entire trip planned in our heads. Of course you know that 99% of it will include ghost hunting In anticipation of that I ordered this book today. In The Ghost Hunter’s Field Guide: Gettysburg & Beyond by Mark Nesbitt.

In The Ghost Hunter’s Field Guide: Gettysburg & Beyond, renowned ghost story author,
historian, and paranormal investigator, Mark Nesbitt, explores the world of the paranormal,
focusing on the town of Gettysburg and the infamous battlefields that surround it.
The first half of the book delves into the history and phenomena of “ghosts,” reviews generally
accepted paranormal theories, discusses best “ghost hunting” practices, and presents the reader
with plausible explanations as to why paranormal activity is so prevalent in Gettysburg.
The second half of the book addresses the actual paranormal investigation. Designed to be used in
the field, the town of Gettysburg and the battlefield are divided into six sections. The reader is
provided with historical information, photos, maps, driving directions, and paranormal
investigative tips and techniques unique to each geographic area. Experienced and amateur “ghost
hunters” alike will profit from the advice and guidance offered in this one-of-a-kind book.

We also plan on taking his ghost tour. It has been voted the best ghost tour in America

Recommending a book

2008-07-04T00:43:00.000-04:00

You may or may not know that I love walking around a battlefield almost as much as I love walking through a cemetery, so when I saw this book on a recent trip to the book store I had to take a closer look.

Although I didn't get the book yesterday because I had already committed my money to others I had wanted for awhile, this book is now on my "Must Have" list.
I did however jot down her web page and if you get a chance drop in and view her photos. Also there are a couple of really good EVP's there.

* Update
I received a very nice letter from Ms. Brown letting me know she now has a blog, go check it out HERE
She has some really great articles on the paranormal there.

Something To Ponder

2008-07-02T00:42:00.000-04:00

Look what I saw yesterday.

I was waiting in the car to meet up with the paranormal group when this huge crow landed on the fence about 15 ft away from me. I am not usually superstitious, but I knew a crow can have several different meanings when seen. Some folklore say they are good luck, some bad, so I thought it was interesting when I found this:

Ravens, and to a lesser degree Crows, are very magickal creatures.

Raven with her plumage as dark as the void between the stars, is a citizen of the afterworld. She travels between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Being native to both worlds, Raven naturally has great knowledge and Power to effect transformations.

Raven is associated as a Wicca symbol because of this power to move between the worlds, and create new realities as she chooses.

According to the Medicine Cards "If Raven appears . . . you are about to experience a change in consciousness. ... Raven is the messenger that carries all energy flows of ceremonial magic between the ceremony itself and the intended destination."

Do you think he might have been traveling from one world to the next? It does seem kind of interesting that there was a cemetery on the property doesn't it.
It gives me something to think about.

2nd ghost hunt

2008-07-02T00:39:00.000-04:00

Well the second ghost hunt with my grandson went about the way I expected. Nothing happened. If you remember back last Feb. we visited a local children's farm, and while there visited the graves of the last owners. While at that small cemetery my grandson who was two at the time told us he saw a lady in the woods. We saw no on but when I took a photo of the area this is what I got.

Since then this photo has been shown to anyone who will listen to me talk about it, including a local paranormal group. (Not the one that I went out with over the weekend) This group has shown some interest in my grandson (although they feel the photo is matricking). After several months we finally set up a time for them to meet with him at the same farm in hopes of him seeing something again. It didn't happen this time. I was pretty sure it wouldn't because he seems to have slowed down on these "sightings" of his. I think he is being influenced by his mom (and perhaps others) who are telling him that there are no ghost. Although my daughter is ok with me taking him out ghost hunting, she really and truly does not believe in it. (She thinks it is fun, she just draws the line in agreeing there might be something there)
Anyway, we have been back to this farm several times over the last few months and he has not talked about anything being there. I don't know if what ever he saw has moved on, or simply choosing not to show itself. Others have had personal experiences at this farm and there is talk of it being haunted, but yesterday it was just a quiet place for my grandson to play. (We went in after hours which was great for him, he loved it the cows loved it, everyone loved it but those of us wanting him to see the ghost ha ha). One of the investigators from the group did take lots of photos and those will be analysed in a few days so who knows maybe something will show up, who know. Oh well on to the next hunt....I am thinking about going back to Richmond on Sunday. They have some cool battlefields there and there is a lot more of Hollywood Cemetery I want to see

Review of my ghost hunt

2008-06-30T22:50:00.000-04:00

Saturday evening my husband and I met up with a local paranormal group to go ghost hunting in a cemetery about 40 minutes from our house. This was my first time meeting them, so I wasn't sure what to expect. They all seem nice, but I didn't get a chance to talk to anyone other than the usual hello's because everyone went off on their own once we went inside. The cemetery itself was very interesting and had mostly old graves. Most of them were from the later 1800's to early 1900's with some from the civil war. We walked around about an hour and during this time I found a lot of family plots. Several of these were surrounded by the old iron fences. I love these kinds of graves and find it comforting somehow that the families are buried together. You don't find that often now days. When I was growing up my parents would take me to Georgia where my grandparents lived and we always went out in the countryside to an old rural cemetery where my great grandparents were buried. In those days the graves were still raised a bit above the ground with the dirt making a mound of sorts. I found a few here that reminded me of those except these were covered in ivy.

Also one thing I noticed about this cemetery was it seemed to have a "feel" about it. The only way I can describe it is it seemed to have high energy. At one point I was especially drawn to three graves surrounded by one of the fences I mentioned.
I was inside the fence looking at the grave in the middle when all at once I felt dizzy. I told my husband who was sitting outside the fence waiting on me that I felt "weird". At that point I came out and found the lady who was in charge of the hunt. Without telling her what had just happened I asked her to go inside and see if she "felt" anything. She took her EMF meter and did a reading around the area. Everything was normal until she scanned the center grave. At this point the meter reached a .4 reading. While this is in no way a high reading she said there was no reason for it to be past a 0-2 because there was no source of electricity to cause a spike. One of the other women on the hunt with us came over at this time and said that it smelled different to her. That there seemed to be a vacuum here with NO smell where the rest of the areas to her had an old smell to them.

I had my voice recorder with me but do not seem to have any type of EVP that I can detect and nothing shows up in my photos, but all the same it was an experience for me that I usually don't have.
Nothing usual happened the rest of the time I was there and I had an enjoyable time looking around and taking photos. When I got home I listened to my recorder and within the first seven minutes of entering the cemetery I got a very clear EVP. This was recorded BEFORE I stopped at the graves were I got dizzy.
I am posting it here and would like to know what everyone thinks it is saying. When you click on the link it will take you to a site where the recording is at. You will need to click on the download bar and it should load to your computer where you will be able to listen to it in what ever type of player you have.
Let me know if you have trouble listening to this and I will try and send it to you a different way
http://www.badongo.com/file/10153498

I won't tell you yet what I hear, because I really would like someone else to tell me what they think first.

Visiting Endview Plantation

2008-06-27T22:51:00.001-04:00

The Hauntings
Endview Plantation
Used by both sides during the civil war as a hospital. Reports have said that a woman has been seen crossing the road from the cemetery towards the house during re-enactments that are held at the Plantation Reports also show that the room, that was used as a nursery has curtains that open after they have been closed for the night.

The History and Tour
Yesterday we took a trip to Endview Plantation. This plantation is one of the smaller ones that we have visited. It is located about 10 minutes from my house and I have passed by it several times without stopping. Although there is both Revolutionary War and Civil War history recorded here, the owners center more on the Civil War. During this time the home was owned by Dr. Humphrey Harwood Curtis. The young doctor established his medical practice at the plantation in 1856 and married Maria Whitaker in 1858. The 1860 census shows that Curtis owned $8,000 worth of real estate, $21,000 worth of personal property and 12 slaves. As disease and fighting took their toll, the Confederates used Endview briefly as a hospital.
The tour proved to be interesting due to the fact that we were the only ones there at the time. The guide was very friendly and took his time talking with us and answering questions.
We got a tour of all the rooms which included the Doctors office where we saw some of the original old medicine bottles. A few pieces of the Curtis family clothing and furniture are still in the home.
At this time the history of the home is still being researched and no one knows yet where the out buildings such as the kitchen and slave quarters were.
We did get to see the family cemetery and a natural spring on the property. Also they have day camp for kids there.
For girls ages 8-12. Includes tour of local historic sites, needlework instruction, etiquette, parlor games, dancing, campfire cooking.
For boys and girls ages 8-12. Includes camp life, drills, skirmishes and basic soldier’s equipment.
One thing I did notice while we were they is how hot the room the girls were in. They were sitting on the floor listening to a story and reading. I thought to myself.
BORING. According to the web page for the plantation the parents of these kids were paying about 100.00 to a 150.00 for the camp. Better them than me.

My Opinion...Is it haunted?
I would say no, not this one, although some stories have been told.
I think it is just a lovely old home, but no investigations have been done (I asked) on the property, so perhaps something may happen later to change my mind.

The Ghost at Westover Plantation

2008-06-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

While visiting the beautiful Westover Plantation I took a short walk to the cemetary where the Byrd family is buried. I had read about the tragic love story of Evelyn Byrd and wanted to see her tomb. While standing there taking photos "something" brushed my arm. I thought it was a spider web and went to brush it away only to find nothing was there. I commented to my husband that Evelyn must have touched me. Is the place haunted. I would say YES to this one.

Story of Evelyn Byrd
(Taken from the Internet)

This stately plantation is said to be haunted by the lovely, Evelyn Byrd. Miss Byrd, was born in 1707. She was the daughter of William Byrd II.

Mr. Byrd was a very prominent statesmen during the colonial era. He was an advisor to the governor of Virginia and the founder of the city of Richmond, to name just a couple of his jobs during his lifetieme.

Evelyn when she was young, was considered an intelligent child, but on the other hand she was also considered to be spoiled. Although, Evelyn has been dead for over 250 years, many witnesses have reported seeing her at Westover.

When Evelyn turned 10 years old, her father sent her to England to be schooled. It was here that Evelyn fell in love with a man, many historians believe to be, Charles Morduant. But her father was adamantly against the relationship.

He ventured as far as telling Evelyn,
QUOTE
as to any expectation you may fondly entertain of a fortune from me, you are not to look for one brass farthing...Nay besides all that I will avoid the sight of you as of a creature detested.

So with heaviness of heart and reluctantly, Evelyn returned to Westover in 1726, forgetting the romance. But William Byrd would live to regret his decision. Because in 1737, Evelyn Byrd, many say died of a broken heart.

Evelyn has been spotted at Westover over the years. The first time was in about 1738, when Evelyn's dear friend, Anne Harrison, saw Evelyn walking towards her in the gardens of Westover.

Another relative of the Byrds, committed suicide here in 1777. William Byrd III was distressed over financial matters and committed suicide at Westover sitting in his favorite chair in his bedroom.

The first wife of William Byrd III, Elizabeth, was killed at Westover when a heavy cabinet fell on top of her, crushing her to death.

It is said that William Byrd III can still be seen at Midnight slumping over his favorite chair in his old bedroom. Elizabeth, it is said, you can hear her wailing still echoing through the halls of Westover, still awaiting for someone to help her.

Ghost Hunt

2008-06-26T00:28:00.001-04:00

The next few days should prove to be exciting. Coming up on Saturday night I am going on a ghost hunt with a local paranormal group to a cemetery. Then next Tuesday I will be meeting with the group I told you about a few weeks ago that is interested in spending some time with my grandson. We will be meeting at the farm where he first "saw" the ghost lady I have in my photo. The group wants to spend some time with him. I am guessing that they will set up some equipment in the area and see if anything happens. Both trips should provide some interesting post, so check back for them. In the mean time here is a slide show from The Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond VA. (This is NOT the same cemetery that I will be going on with the group this weekend). I know I showed a few photos from there in a previous post, but with approx. 75,000 people buried there I thought you might like to see more.

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Photo's Day One

2008-06-23T02:03:00.000-04:00

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For more information on Bacon's Castle and what happened to us there go to my Other BlogDoes It Go Bump In The Night

Richmond Vampire

2008-06-23T00:27:00.000-04:00

As you know from my previous post, I visited the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond VA today. The cast iron dog is not the only "haunted" story that comes from the cemetery. There is also a legend of The Richmond Vampire. Read the story below, and enjoy the photos. I have to tell you vampire or not this mausoleum was creepy.

From Wikipedia

The Richmond Vampire is an urban legend that began soon after a collapse on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad's Church Hill Tunnel at Church Hill, a district of Richmond, Virginia, which buried several workers alive on October 2, 1925.

The story told of a blood covered creature with jagged teeth and skin hanging from its muscular body that emerged from the cave-in and raced toward the James River. Pursued by a group of men, the creature took refuge in Hollywood Cemetery, where it disappeared in a mausoleum built into a hillside bearing the name W.W. Poole.

Gregory Maitland, founder of Night Shift, a Richmond-based group that researched urban legends and oral traditions, and the Virginia urban legend and folklore expert of the Virginia Ghosts & Haunting Research Society (VGHRS), became interested in the Richmond Vampire story. His study of the disaster confirmed that after the tunnel collapsed a living being escaped from the wreckage. It was, however, a big and strong 28-year-old railroad fireman, Benjamin F. Mosby (1896-1925), who had been loading coal into the steam tank of a train with no shirt on when the cave-in occurred and the oven ruptured.

Mosby's upper body was horribly scalded and several of his teeth were broken before he made his way through the opening of the tunnel. Witnesses reported he was in shock and layers of his skin were hanging from his body. He died later at Grace Hospital. It was from there that the story took on a life of its own through decades of retelling.

Hollywood Cemetery-Richmond VA

2008-06-21T22:55:00.000-04:00

I visited Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond VA today. Among the graves this was my very favorite. It is the statue of the cast iron dog. I had heard this story for a long time and was excited to have found the grave. Hollywood Cemetery has appox. 75 thousand people buried there. Here is the story of the Iron Dog

The cast iron dog used to sit out in front of a general store in Richmond. A little girl used to visit the store with her father weekly and always petted and talked to the cast iron dog while her father did business inside. The young girl later died of scarlet fever. During the civil war, which broke out soon after the young child died, the demand for iron was high. The cast iron dog was placed on the grave of the little girl. This was done to prevent it's being melted down and used to make weapons and to preserve it as a work of art.

This dog is said to guard her grave, and comes to life to chase people from her grave site. It has also been known to move on occasion. Many people have reported seeing it pointed in one direction and passing it later, it was pointed in another direction

Bacon's Castle

2008-06-21T00:22:00.000-04:00

Bacon's Castle was Built in 1665 by Arthur Allen, Bacon's Castle is the oldest documented brick house in America. In 1676 it was taken over by Nathaniel Bacon and his men, who rebelled against the governor of Virginia and burned down Jamestown.
It took four years before Mr. Allen got his home back. The house had been passed down several generations and owned by numerous families. Additions to the house have been made at lest three times.
The family owning the home in the 1800's had both indentured servants and slaves who worked in the house and the adjourning fields. An original slave house is still on the property.
Several of the windows in the home had initials or names etched into them, including one which had an entire love letter from one of the young owners to his wife.
I am sorry I can't remember their names, but it was a bit of a sad story. They were only married about four years before she died at the age of 25 (or so)
Also we saw two previously hidden pieces of wall which was covered with sketches and signatures of the house's previous occupants.
This was by far one of the best tours that I have been on. The guide was very knowledgeable and took us to three different levels of the home, and the basement. The basement was the original kitchen.
The top level was where both indentured servants and slaves slept. One room was furnished to show a bedroom. The door was roped off so no one could go in, but as I stuck my head in the door I felt the energy in this room was "different". I made the comment that the room felt weird. My daughter seemed to pooh pooh this idea until about three minutes later when she was carrying my grandson down the stairs. She took one step and fell down the remaining stairs. (about 4 steps)I screamed out her name and rushed to her. Thankfully they were both ok and she jumped right up, more embarrassed than hurt. On the next level my grandson seemed to trip over his own feet falling to the floor. We all got the giggles at how clumsy they both were, but when we got outside my daughter swore to me that a ghost pushed them. She said "mom we never fall" I asked her did she really feel as if she was being pushed. She said she wasn't sure, because it happened so fast, but swore the rest of the day it was the ghost. I later read on the Internet while searching for more information on the home that during another tour someone had fallen down those same stairs.
this is also the same stairway that the young lady who haunts the house was said to trip on in the video at the end of this post.
Could it just be coincidence? Perhaps, or perhaps there is a ghostly presence that pushes young ladies down. You be the judge.
Just a side note here. While in the home on the main level, my grandson told his mother that he saw a papa outside near a tree, There was no one out there, or at lest no one we saw.
In my opinion, I did feel as if Bacon's Castle had some activity. I would love to get into this house at night with a ghost hunting team. I plan to make another visit back there soon.
In the meantime here is a
podcast of one of our local radio stations Halloween Haunts talking abut the castle
for photos of the house and grounds itself see my blog at Autumns Meadow
Also there are photos there of Lawnes Creek Church Cemetery where the mysterious fireball is said to have some from.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWP7woe6QrQ&hl=en]

Fort Delaware Hauntings

2008-06-19T00:13:00.000-04:00

(Photo Courtesy of Harry Flagle)
"FORT DELAWARE, Del. (AP) - June 19, 2008 -- Ghost Hunters from a Sci-Fi Channel TV show of the same name say they have found evidence of ghosts at Fort Delaware."

Did everyone watch last night's Ghost Hunters Show on Ft. Delaware?
I watched it with great interest since I had already heard some of the stories. I have a friend that visited a couple of years ago and told me then that the place was haunted. During the Civil War, Fort Delaware was a prison for Confederate Prisoners of war. During the war, more than 2,400 people died there, on Pea Patch Island.

Here is his photo of what appears to be a woman (possibly a slave) holding a baby.

(Photo Courtesy of Harry Flagle)

The Door

2008-06-14T22:57:00.000-04:00

I have to tell you about the cool thing that happened tonight. My husband and I were invited to the home of an old friend of mine. C and I grew up together but had not seen each other in about twenty years. We do occasionally stay in touch via email or myspace, and I recently mentioned to her that I am into ghost hunting She wrote back and told me that she has one in her home. As it turns out the house is an old farmhouse about 150 years old and now sits in a quiet neighborhood with other homes around it. I loved it of course from the minute I walked in since that type of house is my dream home. I got a tour of the house and the grounds and a bit of history on the home. C and her husband are not sure who the original owners were, but they didn’t think anyone had died there. They had owned the house about ten years and they said there has always been a ghost or two, (they are not sure but feel like there is both male and female energy there) C went on to tell me that she has heard footsteps coming from upstairs in the part of the house that does not have an upstairs. (Only part of the house has the second floor) She went on to tell me that the door to one of the rooms downstairs opens on its own. Also just so you know the house is on the market for sale and that they are really having a hard time selling it.
It seems that every time someone comes to see the house, they leave saying the house feels strange or they smell an odor in the bedroom (the one with the door that opens)

Upstairs there is a small room that sits empty. C said she thought it might have been some sort of storage closet. I spent a few minutes in there, I noticed it had a window. For some reason I felt that this room had a female spirit that looked out the window as if waiting for someone to return home. I am not a sensitive, but have read in more than one case that hauntings in a home of this age seem to be women waiting for someone who does not return from the Civil War. The really strange thing about this room is it has the original door clasp and it was placed on the outside of the door as if someone was trying to lock something in the room instead of being in the room itself to lock someone out.
At no time did I feel uneasy or think there was any negative energy in this room or anywhere else in the house.

When I went back downstairs I and did not notice any type of smell. I went into the room in question several times to check.
Each time I made sure the door was closed well. At the end of the night I was not convinced the house had a spirit. Until we got ready to leave that is…..

The door was open, just slightly, but it had been closed security I am sure. C showed me that just turning the knob would not open the door. You had to push it after you turned the knob. No one had been near the door. At lest no one human.
I hope she invites me back. I suggested to her that I come sometime when it would just be her and I at home. I want to do some EVP recordings. See if anything shows up.
I will let you know if I get a chance to go back.

Don't bug me. I'm ghost hunting

2008-06-08T00:10:00.001-04:00

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The Rosewell Plantation Ruins are located in Gloucester Virginia. This is about a half hour drive from my daughter's house. I have been interested in visiting for a while now because of all the reports that I had read about it being haunted. Since we were so close to home we decided to take a picnic with us. (I had read somewhere that there was a table) When we arrived we stopped at the visitors center where we paid our four dollars each to get in. While there we got a brief history of the place and watched a short film. Being anxious to learn more about the paranormal activity I question the worker there, who was happy to tell me that most of the stories could be explained. One example she gave me was that evidence of rats living in the walls had been found when the ruins were excavated Also she debunked the story of an old car blocking the drive, by telling me that someone living in the area had parked it there. I was still hoping to have some sort of experience so we drove a short distance up to the main area itself. My first thoughts were awe at how tall the structure is. The photos do not do it justice. I am not sure if you can call an old ruin beautiful, but I certainly thought it was. There was only one other person visiting while we were there. There was a woman by herself so we hurried and ate our lunch while she was looking around.

Now before I go any further let me tell you right up front, that it only took me about five minutes to debunk any and all ghost stories about this place. There is NO WAY there can be any ghost out there because.
THE DAMN BUGS WOULD HAVE EATEN THEM!!
I have never seen so many flies, gnats, bees and creepy crawlies in my entire life.
It was bad enough that we picked the hottest weekend we have had so far (Temps at 100 degrees) but the BUGS ate us. In fact it was so bad that as soon as we finished our sandwiches my husband retreated to the car. My daughter was a bit braver, but soon started cussing and yelling about the bugs. They were all over her and my grandson. For some reason when we first got there they were not bothering me. I told my daughter she could go to the car that I wouldn't be mad and she was about to when my grandson told me his momma and Dean were bad. He told that he would stay with me and go Ghost Hunting! I thought that was so funny and so sweet, since he is only three. After a few minutes they did give in to the bugs and went to the car. I was determined to see everything in the area so I walked back to the ice house, which is near the river. The woods were pretty, and I keep waiting for the temperature drops or noises I had read about but nothing happened. While there I did do some EVP recordings, but it doesn't appear to have anything on it other than my own voice. I had planned to do one in the family cemetery, but the bugs that had plagued my family earlier were now chasing me so I gave up and ran for the car.

We headed out of there and stopped at the Abingdon Episcopal Church. This church has a connection to the plantation because tombs of the Page family who were the original owners had been moved there. The bodies themselves are still buried at Roswell, so I have no idea why they moved just the tombs there except that some of the other family members are laid to rest in the church cemetery. Perhaps there is not enough of the remains to move? I am not sure.

The church and the cemetery were interesting and thankfully there were no bugs here. We spent several minutes walking around. I didn’t feel like the place had any type of activity although I did get a cold chill as I approached one area near a front corner of the cemetery. I am not sure who was buried there, but there was a grave sitting off a little near the trees. The feeling only lasted a moment and didn't happen again while I was there. I had not thought to get the recorder out of the car so I didn't do any EVP work, but may go back to that area again sometime.
Oh I forgot to mention. My daughter did have one experience at the ruins. As she approached and looked in the cellar area (By the way pretend you are not reading this part because we were told not to go into the center of the structure, but you know I am like a little kid and can't listen) she screamed and jumped back. She said she had seen something move in there. I looked and didn't see anything, and took a photo so I could use the flash as light and nothing shows up.
You can view the photo of the cellar in the slide show above.

So is Rosewell Plantation and Abingdon church haunted? I can't say for sure. All I know is it BUGS me that I didn't see anything but BUGS!!
Enjoy the slide show.
Oh also you might want to turn your volume off or down before you click on it to watch it. I added this really annoying spooky music.

My List

2008-06-05T23:52:00.000-04:00

I am taking a week's vacation soon, and of course you already know what want to do. Yep go ghost hunting. I know there are only so many hours in a day, so I made a list of what I really want to get to during my time off. Of course we all know that night time is best when trying to capture the paranormal. Unfortunatly I won't get to do most of these at night, but it will still be fun to viist.
Here is my list.

Places to visit while on vacation

Berkley Plantation
Visitors to the restored mansion have reported seeing and hearing the ghost of a little drummer boy. The apparition of a tall, gaunt man has been seen walking along the riverbank, sometimes walking side-by-side with the little drummer boy along the old picket fence that runs up the hill to the cemetery.

Edgewood Plantation,
Haunted by Elizabeth (Lizzie) Rowland She died in 1870 at the age of 47. It is said that she died of a broken heart while waiting for her love to return from war. Before she passed away She etched her name on the upstairs bedroom window Legend has it that she still waits for him watching from the upstairs window. She is friendly

Westover Plantation
said to be haunted by Evelyn Byrd, daughter of William Byrd II When she was 10 years old she was sent to England to live and go to school. While there she met and fell in love with Charles Morduant. Her father was against the relationship and she came home to live at Westover in 1726 forgetting the romance.
William Byrd would live to regret his decision. Because in 1737, Evelyn Byrd, many say died of a broken heart.
Evelyn has been spotted at Westover over the years. The first time was in about 1738when Evelyn's friend, Anne Harrison, saw Evelyn walking towards her in the gardens of Westover.
Another relative of the Byrd’s committed suicide here in 1777. William Byrd III was distressed over financial matters and committed suicide at Westover sitting in his favorite chair in his bedroom.
The first wife of William Byrd III, Elizabeth, was killed at Westover when a heavy cabinet fell on top of her, crushing her to death.
It is said that William Byrd III can still be seen at Midnight slumping over his favorite chair in his old bedroom. Elizabeth, it is said, you can hear her wailing still echoing through the halls of Westover, still awaiting for someone to help her.

Rosewell Plantation.
Only thing left if ruins, but Reports of hauntings at the site are frequent. Music is heard playing, guests are seen descending an invisible stair, boys with lanterns stand where doorways once were and a woman in a red cloak rushes into a rose garden. Also, strange drops in temperature, odd noises and perhaps chatter from slaves as they return from working in the fields.

Bacon’s Castle-1655
An iridescent ball of light has often appeared and disappeared. Also seen is a woman with black eyes and a white scarf around her neck. Things have been moved around and smashed in the home.

Williamsburg Ghost Tour
This tour is based on L.B. Taylor’s books “The Ghost Of Williamsburg” and is approximately an hour and a half walking tour on the streets of Colonial Williamsburg.

Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond VA
Hollywood cemetery has numerous ghost stories including a dog statue that comes "alive" and is the home of the infamous "Richmond Vampire".

The Boxwood Inn
10 Elmhurst Street, Lee Hall Village, Newport News, VA (757) 888-8854
The gentle spirit here is said to be one of Nannie Curtis. Harmless activity is the norm, such as doors opening and closing on their own. She is also said to enjoy knocking on doors in the morning. Sleeping in is apparently not her idea of fun for this world. There is also an elderly gentleman, holding a cane, who appears on occasion

Old House Woods.
Some of the recurring tales are about British Redcoats, pirates, skeletons in knights armor, mysterious groups of people with shovels digging, ghost horses and cows which appear and disappear before one's eyes, a full rigged Spanish galleon which vanishes in thin air, mysterious floating lights in the woods similar to lantern light, and a "Storm Woman" who floats above the pines warning fishermen of impending gales.

Abingdon Church
Reported to be haunted by a white figure, first seen in 1863 by a Union soldier. The young cavalry soldier was separated from his unit and came upon the church. He went inside to hide from Confederate troops, but when he entered the church, he saw a ghostly white figure descending the stairs from the North Gallery

Endview Plantation
Used by both sides during the civil war as a hospital. Reports have said that a woman has been seen crossing the road from the cemetery towards the house during re-enactments that are held at the Plantation Reports also show that the room, that was used as a nursery has curtains that open after they have been closed for the night.

Kings Arms Tavern

2008-06-05T00:04:00.000-04:00

I haven't mentioned any of the huanted establisments in Colonial Williamsburg for a few days so I thought I would take up where I left off with the Kings Arms Tavern

It is believed to be haunted by a woman named Irma. She lived and died in the 1700'a
As the story goes she died because of a fire when a candle was dropped. She isn’t seen very often, but she is heard speaking to staff and people have felt her presence. Irma blows out candles and helps the staff. She is very friendly. Rumor has it that the staff says goodnight to her each night upon closing for the evening.

Duddley Diggs House

2008-06-02T23:00:00.000-04:00

Dudley Diggs House Yorktown VA

Dudley Diggs inherited this house from his father at age 16. Soon after he married Martha Armistead and they lived happily for ten years. Sadly she died wile giving birth to their second child. Dudley remarried two years later but never forgot his beloved Martha. The story has it that he felt that she never left his side and talked to her spirit in times of trouble.
She is said to haunt this house even today.
While visiting Yorktown over the weekend we walked past the Diggs house. The present owner happened to be out it the yard, and I stuck up a conversation with him. When I asked him about the ghost he was more than happy to talk about her.
He showed me the window to the room where Martha died (last window to the left upstairs in the photo). He went on to tell me that they had moved into the home three years ago and while he himself had never felt or seen anything that the family cat would not go into that bedroom. He also said that his wife feels the percents of Martha and that his brother has seen her coming down the stairs. He said she is very friendly. I talked with him awhile hoping that perhaps he would invite me in, but he didn’t so we moved along.

Second floor window of room where Martha Diggs died in childbirth

The Moore House

2008-05-31T23:55:00.000-04:00

The Moore House, near Yorktown, Virginia. May, 1862 Photographed by John Wood & James F. Gibson and Photo (I took) of how it looks today

The Moore House is another of Yorktown's haunted houses. Located on the battlefields along the river it was built by Lawrence Smith II and sitting on a 500 acre plantation this home was called” Temple Farm." In 1754, Lawrence Smith’s son, Robert, who was the third generation of Smiths to work this farm, inherited this farm. In 1760, due to financial reasons he was forced to sell the family's 500-acre estate to his brother-in-law, Augustine Moore.

During the Revolutionary War, The Moore House and farm was the spot picked by British Commander Cornwallis to sign The Articles of Capitulation to end the Revolutionary War on October 19th, 1781.

During the Revolutionary War. a stray bullet shot and killed Augustine Moore Jr. while he was working the family fields.

Also a local merchant by the name of John Turner, came to watch the shelling of the British Army in Yorktown just days before they surrendered. He was wounded as a result of the shelling and died in his wife's arms. There was nothing she could do to save him. John Turner's remains are buried in the Moore House family graveyard, which is near the Moore House. The dates on the graves are from 1730 - 1800's, the final resting place of the families who lived here.

The manifestations of the entities started making their appearance after the Park Service fully restored the home to its 18th century decor and style.

Sheets on the bed in the master bedroom have been found with indentations as if someone had been sleeping in this bed.
Tour guides showing groups around the home felt that an unseen, friendly presence was overseeing their tour.
Sheets on the beds in the bedrooms on the second floor look like others had slept in them.
In the parlor, there was a depression in a red velvet chair, like someone was sitting there.

I have made two trips to this house this week. The first one was with my daughter and grandson. (Yes, he did tell us he saw something there. He said there was a lady on the porch with my daughter when she posed for a photo, and no, nothing showed up)
I also took a photo on the porch and just as soon as it was snapped I heard a noise. I jumped and got off that porch in a hurry.
The second trip I made was today to take photos of the graves. It was to late the first day to get good photos. I was not as impressed with this home as I was the Nelson House, but it was on my list of places to visit

Me sitting on the steps of the Moore House

*Footnote
Want to buy this beautiful home. You can for only $1,200,000
*est. monthly payment: $5755.69
I found a listing for it while I was doing reasearch on the house...

The Nelson House

2008-05-31T22:55:00.000-04:00

Front of house from street

Back of house from the yard

(Part One)
As I mentioned yesterday I took a quick tour of Yorktown VA. I've been several times, but had not really looked into the haunted history other than to read the stories. This time I went with the intent to explore. My first stop was the Nelson House. Home of Thomas Nelson, Jr. (1738-89) Most of the Nelson House is original, including the bricks and most of the mortar in the outer walls. It is a beautiful home with some lovely gardens and is reputed to be haunted. Reports include a young male entity of a British soldier who was killed in the Siege of Yorktown. His apparition has been seen on occasion in various spots around the house. Footsteps and cold spots, are also reported. The sobbing of a woman was heard coming from an empty third floor room.
We did not go inside, but spent several minutes wandering around the property.
Part Two Coming Soon

Check This Out

2008-05-30T23:51:00.000-04:00

I ran across this article today while searching for paranormal information. It was posted today so check it out!
Ghost Boy

Also I did some snooping ( I mean investigating) around in Yorktown Va. yesterday. I will be posting about it soon.

Enjoy your day..

My Personal Experience

2008-05-27T22:56:00.000-04:00

Warning, this is a slightly long post, but please read it all you won’t be sorry.

Have you ever noticed when you talk to other people that you either believe in ghost or you don’t? According to a 2003 Harris Report (sorry I couldn’t find a current one) 51 % of all adults believe in them.
Out of those numbers I am not sure how many people have actually had a paranormal experience, but it got me to thinking
Why do some people see things and others don’t.

I would love to see a ghost. Yet I can’t seem to see a darn thing. I visit all the local haunts. I ramble through the graveyards. I always have my little voice recorder and my courage (ha ha) I rarely go out of the house without my camera in case “something” is there. Yes I know I took that really awesome photo of the lady and man at the tree but if my grandson hadn’t told me he “saw her” I wouldn’t have the photo. But I want to see something. Feel something. Hear a noise anything. Darn the luck I can’t even get a breeze half the time. As for EVP’s if I’m lucky I might get a slight whisper on a recording that might or might not be something. Yet I can watch shows like Ghost Hunters (Yes I know that is on TV and they have a zillion dollar budget with all the best equipment) and they get awesome stuff.
Sigh!
I never have any luck…….
Well, hmmm there is that “one time” that something happened to me. I suppose I should tell you about……Do you want to hear it? You do? Ok, clap your hands together really fast and say. I DO BELIEVE I DO BELIEVE I DO I DO (oh wait that is for fairies, oh well use your imagination, it might work for both)

My one and only experience with a “ghost” came when I was working at the information booth at a large mall in a near by city.
You see the mall I was working at is haunted. I even knew it was haunted. I had talked to some people who had worked there for years, and I had heard all the stories. I just didn’t believe them, until “something” convinced me other wise. Before I tell you what happened to me let me give you a little background.
When this mall being built back in the 1980’s one of the workers fell off the roof and died before he reached the hospital. Also a former security guard died while working there (I am not sure if he died in the mall or not, so the person in the food court might have been him not clear on this part) but someone had a heart attack in the food court and died. The food court is on the second floor so the mall and is built in the shape of a square so there are several hallways.
Also the mall had been remodeled several times taking away a theater that had been on the second floor leaving storage rooms. This left a lot of hallways open.
For years the security guards had talked about strange things happening.
Noises in the back halls. Smells of pipe tobacco late at night when the stores were closed. Feelings of being watched.
Even the mall office workers reported things.
Papers would be moved. Staplers and tape dispenser would not be where they left them; just little things that make you go hmmm.
They all told me it was haunted..
Yeah right I said.

So what happened to change my mind?
Well…..

One of the security guards and I had got to be pretty good friends. She would stop by everyday to visit when she did her rounds, and as we got to know each other better she told me that she “felt” the ghost. I just brushed her off, and then she told me the same thing again and again. She confessed that she was frightened to go in the back halls by herself.
At the time I really didn’t believe in ghost, but there was that side of me that is the little kid in all of us and I got brave and said…Ok…Show me this “ghost”
So she lead me up the back way behind the food court and into “the halls” We were chatting about other things just walking along when suddenly I just stopped. To this day I don’t know why I stopped, I just did, I looked down at my arms and had chill bumps on them. I think I said something like, oh creepy indicating to my arms, when I noticed hers were the same way. I brushed it off as my imagination and kept walking. We got to the part of the hall where she said she “felt” something. I looked around, Nope, nothing. No chills, no weird feeling, nothing, nada, just a hall. So we started back, and as we turned a corner something really strange happened. All at once I felt hot and cold at the same time. My skin was like ice, yet it felt like my blood was rushing through my body and it was really hot.
I am not sure If that makes sense, but I don’t know how else to explain it. I looked at my arms again and I had chill bumps. The feeling only lasted a few seconds, but I knew something had happened. Something besides us was in that hall. I don’t mind admitting that it frightened me. I got out of there as fast as I could. I worked there for several years after that and it took me a long long time before I would go back into those halls. I never denied that the mall was haunted after that happened and that one experience set me off on the path I am one today….To find the ghost!

*Footnote
I never saw it but I was told there was a photo taken by the mall personnel (It was one of those old fashioned Polaroid's that develop on there own) It was of a child and the Easter bunny. A "man" showed up in the photo and no one else was standing there. The claim is that it was the worker who fell off the roof.
Also I heard about how two female employees of a small store had "seen" an older man in the store one night. They were between him and the door and no one else was in the store. When they turned back around to asked if he needed help he was gone.

The Old Mill

2008-05-26T00:25:00.000-04:00

The Robertson Windmill
Williamsburg's first serial killer stashed his young victim's bodies here, and it is said to be haunted by them.

I have not been able to document this information, but thought I would post it anyway

Visiting with Aunt Pratt

2008-05-25T23:41:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful time today at the Shirley Plantation and the highlight of course was seeing the portrait of Aunt Pratt. She sat in her place of honor in the first floor bedroom overlooking the beautiful James River.
I have to admit the picture gave me the creeps. There was just something about it that kept me from starting at it for more than a few seconds at a time. Maybe it was the stories I had read, or maybe it was her eyes. All I know was I didn't like her and neither did my grandson. The entire time we were in the room he seemed very uneasy and while the guide was telling us the story of the portrait I walked him over to the window to look out. When we got ready to leave the room my daughter and I both asked him if he liked her (Aunt Pratt) and he said no. I asked him if he saw her and he said yes. I then asked him where he saw her at and he pointed into the foyer way. I took him out there and asked him where, and he pointed to the stairs. We had not gone up there at all during the tour. Once we got outside he was very clingy for a few minutes and he sat on the bench on the porch. I rubbed his back for a few minutes and before long he was ok again and ready to get down and play. He loved walking around the ground but definitely did not like the inside of that house.

Sherwood Forest Plantation

2008-05-25T22:57:00.000-04:00

On the way home from the Shirley Plantation we stopped at the Sherwood Forest Plantation. It was a beautiful old home that had been owned by our 10th President John Tyler. I didn't know much about the history of this plantation so when I got home I did a bit of research and found that the house has a ghost. Known as the Gray Lady she has been seen by several people over the years. I'm kind of glad I didn't know she was there because we were the only ones visiting the grounds this afternoon. The house itself was not open for tours so we really didn't pay much attention to it other than to peek in the door and two of the windows when we first got there. I don't remember seeing a rocking chair, and my grandson did not seem to have any kind of experiences while we were on the property. I did find out while doing research on the plantations in the area that there is at lest one other one that has some haunting, so I will be going back soon. In the meantime here is the information on this gray lady.

Below is information from the plantation website about her.

*For more photos of the house and grounds visit my Other blog

The Gray Lady is called that because she apparently wore gray. This leads to the assumption that she was in the service of the family that owned the house when she lived there, because servants then wore gray when cleaning at Sherwood Forest.

"It is thought that she was a governess, who had charge of a small child at one time here," Payne says. "She would take the child from a first floor bedroom (which is now known, appropriately, as the Gray Room) and walk her up through the hidden staircase to a second floor nursery. There, she would rock the child on her lap in a rocking chair."

Unfortunately, the child was ill and died soon after. This presents a speculative motive for the Gray Lady's ghost to remain in the house. It could have been that the Gray Lady was not nearby when the child passed away, or she might have perceived that had she been more attentive the tragedy would not have occurred. No one knows for sure.
What is known is that ever since, the sounds of the Gray Lady have been heard in the house - always in the same forms. Her footsteps are heard going up or down the hidden stairway, and the sound of her rocking is heard in the second floor nursery and in the Gray Room.

Aunt Pratt

2008-05-23T23:01:00.001-04:00

Look where I am going on Sunday!
(They won't let you photograph in the house, but you know I will be back with loads of photos of the grounds)

PLEASE NOTE I STOLE THIS INFOMRATION FROM THE SHADOWLANDS WEBSITE AND IN NO WAY TAKE ANY CREDIT FOR IT, IT WAS WRITTEN ENTIRELY BY
Stacey Graham (WyntersMoon@theshadowlands.net)

Gracing the southern Virginian colony and commanding a view of the James River, Shirley Plantation began building in 1723 by Edward Hill III for his daughter, Elizabeth. Hill’s sister, Martha, had left for England to study, leaving behind an unsigned portrait of herself. A strong mouth and deep eyes dominated the painting, almost daring one to ignore its presence in the room. Martha later married an Englishman, Hugh Griffith, and remained in England. Though the portrait is known by the family as “Aunt Pratt,” no one seems to know the source of the name Pratt.

In 1858, long after Martha’s death, the family noticed the painting rocking violently against the wall above the mantel in a third story bedroom. Moving the noisy portrait to the attic only intensified its turbulent actions. Knocking was heard around the house and word got out that the plantation was infected with a rather boisterous picture. The Civil War soon surrounded the plantation and the residents of Shirley were caught up in the turmoil of having their home turned into a field hospital as General McClellan transported over 8,000 injured and dying men out of Virginia. With their access to the James River close by, injured men were transferred onto Union ships and the dead were buried in the family cemetery. There is no mention of Pratt’s activity during this time, they probably had more pressing matters to worry about.

After peace ensued, the portrait was taken out of storage in the attic and placed on the first floor in a place of honor for the old gal. Though happy for a while, it soon began its rocking and the hunt was on for someplace that the picture would remain quiet. Finally placing the picture in Martha’s second floor bedroom, it remained relatively quiet for the next few years.

In 1974, the Virginia Travel Council loaned the portrait with other items associated with psychic phenomena to an exhibit at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. Once placed in a display window, the picture began to rock so vigorously that the seal of Virginia, which was placed beside it, began to swing from side to side in front of spectators. Aunt Pratt made her national television debut on NBC-TV as a reporter on his way to lunch stopped by to see what all the ruckus was about and caught the rocking on tape. It caused such a disturbance that it was removed from the exhibit and crated up. The night shift reported hearing crying and rocking in the storage room. One morning it was found on the floor outside the storage locker, some thought she was making a break for the exit…

After being returned to Virginia, the portrait was taken to Linden Galleries in Richmond, Virginia to help repair the damage to the frame. While there, workers would tell of bells ringing, though there were no bells on the property. The portrait was finally placed back at Shirley Plantation and is seemingly happy in it’s second floor bedroom. Tours are available of the mansion though you may have to pay more to see the rocking… ;)

Review of tour at Williamsburg

2008-05-22T23:03:00.000-04:00

If you’re planning on going on the Legends, Myths, Mysteries and Ghosts walking tour in Williamsburg expect it to be a waste of time. They say you get what you pay for and we paid 12.00 a ticket. It was worth about $5.00. On a scale of 1-10 this tour was a 4. The only reason I gave it that high is the first story was told in the Wythe House and that is one of the ones I had hoped to get inside of so that excited me. I did like the storyteller in this house, but it had nothing to do with the house. She told a story about a house in Gloucester VA. I plan on looking into it more and won’t spoil it by mentioning yet what it was. Anyway while I was the house I didn’t see or feel anything usual. Nor did hear Lady Ann running up the stairs. (See story on Wythe house)

The next stop was the Governors Mansion where we listened to, two stories. We simply changed rooms and new interpreters told the next story. I thought that sucked because they advertised that we would go to THREE places. The stories they told here again had nothing to do with the house or any house in Williamsburg. These last two were pretty lame and I had a hard time paying attention.. Also they did not allow any photos to be taken inside, and as you can see from the ones below, photos are a waste of time at night.
On the bright side I did get to carry the lantern. No one volunteered when the guide asked for someone so I spoke up. What the heck at lest that was cool. Our tour guide was funny so we did enjoy him and he was real sweet and walked my daughter and I back to the starting point. Along the way he pointed out a house that is suppose to be haunted. I had not heard any stories about it, so I took a photo of it and will do a bit of research on what he told me, so be looking for that later in the week. I understand there is at lest one other walking tour in Colonial Williamsburg. I think it is based on the books Ghost of Williamsburg by L B Taylor Jr. I suspect that will be more to my likening and the only reason I didn't asked for it this time is I thought we would do more walking and get in the homes. Live and learn as they say.
Oh also some weird guy latched on to my daughter. I guess he thought she was cute because he was like a puppy and kept right on her heels. He even jumped in the photo of her that I took. Just goes to show you live people are stranger than the dead ones. Ha Ha.

Me carrying the lantern

Outside the George Wythe house. (daughter with strange guy)

Our group outside the governors mansion
Notice the orbs (or dust depending on what you believe about orbs)

My daughter and I with the guide after the tour.

Haunted Maze

2008-05-21T23:33:00.000-04:00

One of the most beautiful buildings in Colonial Williamsburg is the Governor’s Palace.
My ex-husband use to be a master gardener there in the kitchen gardens and although I have never been inside the palace itself I have spent time on the grounds.

Home of seven royal governors including Lord Dunmore, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. In 1780 the capital was moved to Richmond and in 1781 during the siege of Yorktown the palace was used as a hospital.. In 1781 the palace was burned to the ground killing one patient. In 1930 restoration of the palace began. While rummaging through the gardens archaeologists discovered a human skeleton. They continued to dig and found 156 men and two women. They also found musket balls with teeth marks on them indicating that they were bodies from the hospital. Because there was little anesthesia during the Revolutionary war the wounded suffered great agony. Most died from blood loss, shock, or infection. Theories of the women identity include that they are either family members who had followed the soldiers or more than likely nurses.

It is reported that a strange light appears in the palace at night when no one is there. When investigated it disappears.

The maze behind the building is supposed to be haunted by soldiers from the civil war and revolutionary war. The wall in front of the mansion is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of a criminally insane escapee of Eastern State Mental Institution, who in the 1920s slit a woman's throat.

Read It

2008-05-21T23:08:00.000-04:00

If your a fan of TAPS and the Ghost Hunters you have to read this book.

I checked it out from the library yesterday and I am almost finished with it..
Great stories!

Blandford Church

2008-05-21T23:04:00.001-04:00

I LOVE, and I repeat. LOVE old cemeteries. One of the best I have ever been to is Blandford church in Petersburg VA.

Listed as one of the top ten most haunted cemeteries in the country. There are reports of running pursuits through the grave lots, soldiers shooting from behind the cover of the headstones and other creepy stuff. My daughter and I took my grandson there last July (he had just turned two in May) and while walking around he told us he saw a "Papa". When asked where the man came from he walked over to a grave stone and laid his hands on it. Right there he said. This would be the first of many sightings that my grandson tells us about. Later that same day we were looking at some deer that were grazing in the back area. We had taken my grandson out of his car seat and let him stand next to us in the car (We were the only ones there and we were going about 3 miles an hour) He suddenly gasp and told us he saw a man. When asked where he all most crawled out the car window trying to point to the front bumper of the car. It really spooked my daughter and I. It was almost dark and we decided we better get out of there. It was just getting to creepy.

Later that night my grandson woke her up (he was sleeping in her bed at the time) and told her there was a papa in the room with them. She was really alarmed. She said she was afraid to look and told him to put the covers over his head and go to sleep. The next day we burned some sage and she didn't have any more problems with him sleeping. Could the ghost from the cemetary have followed her home?

Anyway I plan on taking a trip back there again soon. In the mean time enjoy the photos.

(The following information came from the Internet)

The cemetery adjacent to Blandford Church has been used as a burial ground since the early eighteenth century. The oldest marked grave dates from 1702. Among the more noted individuals buried within the cemetery is one foreigner, Major General William Phillips, British citizen and commander of the British troops during the April 25, 1781 "Battle of Petersburg." Phillips died on May 13, 1781 in Petersburg following a fever that was most likely malaria or typhus. A memorial stone, erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1914, stands adjacent to Blandford Church, marking the general location of Phillips' secret burial, done at the direction of his deputy commander, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. For more information on Petersburg's Revolutionary War history, follow the link on the left.

In June 1866, the first Memorial Day was celebrated in honor of the 30,000 Confederate soldiers buried on Memorial Hill inside the burial ground. For more information about Petersburg's Civil War history follow the link on the left.

The cemetery's gravestones, sculptures, and tombs represent a diverse array of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century styles of funerary art. In addition, some plots feature exquisite examples of nineteenth century decorative iron fences. A walking tour, highlighting some of the monuments and burial sites in close vicinity of the Church is incorporated into the Church tour, weather permitting. More extensive cemetery tours are offered throughout the year, including a Halloween evening tour on October 31. Check the Calendar for additional information.

Begin your tour of Historic Blandford Church and Cemetery at the Blandford Visitors' Reception Center, 111 Rochelle Lane, Petersburg, VA 23803, (804) 733-2396. The reception center features a display of artifacts associated with the history of the Cemetery and Church as well as a gift shop.

A Ghostly Tale

2008-05-20T23:32:00.000-04:00

In 1984, my husband and his now ex-wife lived at an old farmhouse that was on an acre of land in Oakhurst, NJ. They lived in the upstairs of the house along with her son and two daughters from a previous marriage.
They shared the home with friends who lived downstairs with their two children.
They shared the kitchen and both used the living room by dividing it with a blanket.

One time while they were living there the friends went out of town for a few days.
One of the nights while the friends were gone my hubby and the ex were upstairs in their bedroom watching TV. The kids were suppose to be asleep but one of them keep making noise and acting up so. They both dashed out the door, to the girl's room to scold her.

My husband glanced out of the corner of his eye, and saw what he thought was the downstairs roommates wife coming up the stairs, dressed in her white nightgown. When they got back from the daughters bedroom he asked his(ex)wife if the couple was back from their trip. She said, no, but she thought she saw her, too. When they looked downstairs, all the lights were off.

When the friends got back, they asked them if they had ever saw any ghosts in the house. The Male said that he saw ghosts through the blanket that separated his side of the downstairs from the living room, but only through shadows of what appeared to be people in the living room, partying. He just passed it off as him smoking too much pot.

Now for a bit of history on the house.
It seems when they moved in there was a large stain on the wall at the bottom of the stairs.
The wall was made of horsehair instead of sheet rock and no matter how many times they washed the stain it would always come back.

They eventually found out about the house. It had been built before 1900, and at some point a woman fell down the stairs, smashing her head against the wall at the bottom. After discovering what happened, they addressed the spirits in the house and told them there was no need to bother them because they weren't going anywhere. It must have worked because for the rest of the time they lived in the house, they weren't bothered anymore, but that stain stayed.