GHOST NEWS

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Hounding what goes bump in the night: For four paranormal investigators, chasing ghosts is a common affair   By Jennifer Sami Staff Writer Photo/Jennifer Sami Paranormal investigator Denise Roffe, left, listens to fellow Ghost Hound Reese Christian at Tam's Backstage. Photo/Jennifer Sami The team checks for haunts at Tam's Backstage.       Always take a flashlight. Always travel in groups for safety. Just like any Halloween, these women are well prepared. Only, instead of hunting for candy, this foursome hunts for hauntings. Since Reese Christian, Laurie Filsinger, Sharon Mooney and Denise Roffe joined forces in early 2006, they have worked together on nearly 100 paranormal investigations throughout metro Atlanta and north Georgia. Roffe lives in Cumming, and Christian, Filsinger and Mooney are close by in Alpharetta, Sugar Hill and Gainesville respectively. The group met through Ghost Hounds, an Atlanta-based international network of nearly 4,000 paranormal investigators. When they first arrive at an investigation location, Filsinger and Mooney conduct baseline readings using electromagnetic field sensors and magnetic field indicators to measure disruptions in the magnetic field. The measurements could indicate paranormal activity, said Roffe, but could also be a result of an older electric outlet or other man-made components. By testing levels first, unusual readings can be measured based on change. "You look for fluctuations in those levels," said Christian. "Especially with quick fluctuations and there's no reason for that, then you can suspect there could be paranormal activity." While the other two are testing the electromagnetic field, Roffe is using a temperature sensor to measure the ambient air temperature. "When we have activity, there will be the proverbial cold spot where the temperature will suddenly drop," she said. "The most interesting one was at Six Flags. It was 79 degrees and we were outside ... we actually tracked this cold spot down to 29 degrees." Normal-Paranormal Christian leads the group through the property, guided by her "psychic sense" of the paranormal. The team then conducts various audible and electronic voice phenomenon sessions, where video and audio recorders are used to pick up sounds, images and conversations for proof. "Usually you don't have your results right there," said Christian. "You have to go home, comb through it all, listen to all of your digital recordings, watch all of your video and look for that one moment -- that one entity that might come through." "Then you have to, of course, first try to debunk it and find out a logical reason of why it might be. Once you've ruled out everything logical, then you can officially determine that it's paranormal." Mooney leads the electronic voice phenomenon session, where the group uses audio and video recorders to pick up sounds and conversations inaudible to humans. Prior to arriving at a location, Roffe researches the history of the building and shares some of the more significant facts with the rest of the group. Christian, the only self-described psychic in the group, is also the only one who is not given any information before the investigation. "When I go on any investigation, I'm never told where we're going or any of the history because they want to see what I can pick up as a psychic -- what energy might be in the place," she said. Finding a psychic for the group involved a great deal of trust, said Roffe, the group leader. But after meeting Christian, Roffe knew the group was in good hands. "Reese has blown us all away. She's been able to give us very specific things about things she would have no prior knowledge of," Roffe said, recalling a private residence they investigated. "There was no way for her to research or know about the family's history, and she was able to come up with names and dates that coincide with the family and even told us about situations going on. "She's just proven herself over and over again." While property owners call for the foursome's paranormal services, Roffe typically makes cold calls to historic properties, which she said are prone to more paranormal activity than newer properties. While not everyone responds positively to phone calls, Roffe said the owners usually admit they've noticed paranormal activity. Haunting work Ghost Hounds does not charge for their investigation services, and information gathered is used strictly for research. After every investigation, a report is filed with the property owner to let them know what was found. For property owners who suspect they are having poltergeist activity, or items moving around without explanation, Ghost Hounds can help. "We will come out and do the investigation, and if we find out there is poltergeist activity, we can bring someone who might do what is called a cleansing," Christian said. "That's someone who will cross spirits over, like a ghost whisperer." Filsinger works full time as a pet sitter and Mooney works for an insurance company. For more than two decades, Roffe has worked in childcare, but retired from the industry last year to work full time on her first book. Roffe's book, which she said is slated for a 2008 release, is on paranormal activity. Christian makes her living as a psychic. She said she was born with psychic ability and is able to sense paranormal activity through "images, or I'll get a movie or I'll get a sound or a smell or a taste." They say because they've been researching paranormal activity for so long, all four women have become desensitized to the fear associated with hauntings. But that wasn't always the case. "I used to scream when I saw a full body apparition [ghost movement] but I don't really do that anymore," Roffe said. "I get startled, but I think we scare them more than they scare us."

Local haunts

 

By Carleigh Kate Knight
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

It was just another early evening at Three Bears Café, and manager Malia Hennies was carrying food upstairs from a basement kitchen. The staircase light was burnt out, it was dark and she when she reached the top of the platform, she heard heavy footsteps following her. She turned around to thank the cook for helping her - but no one was there.

"It was very clear that someone was walking up the stairs. I got goose bumps and a cold chill. It was definitely creepy," said Hennies. "I believe in ghosts and perhaps another realm … but it doesn't frighten me like that. It's almost playful."

It seems everyone has an eerie, mysterious and unintelligible story. Some think its just their imagination, others deny it even happened and some, like Hennies, believe it is a ghost.

However you reconcile paranormal experiences - meaning something beyond the range of scientific explanation - it's hard to ignore the heart-stopping, skin-crawling and unsettling feeling of possibly encountering the supernatural.

Marietta, a town steeped in Civil War history, with several old buildings still intact and occupied, its not hard to find ghost stories. Joni Goodin, founder of Ghosts of Marietta, a walking ghost tour, collected the tales and now takes people on a 90-minute jaunt through the haunted places in town. She tells stories of a ghost dog in a local cemetery, a grieving sister and a mysterious fireman.

"The Kennesaw House is pretty fascinating. Some claim there are 700 ghosts there since it was once a Confederate hospital and morgue," said Goodin.

The house was built in 1844, and in 1855, the Fletcher family added on a bed and breakfast. They had three daughters, and it's believed that one of the daughters could still be there, according to Goodin.

"I'm not sure why. But they did live through the Civil War, a terrible time of tension and death. The Fletchers were Unionists, and it was really a period when families were being ripped apart and women were being left alone," she said.

Dan Cox, founder of the Marietta History Museum in the Kennesaw House, said he has many pictures of ghosts. "I've heard and seen all types of stuff. When I get here at 6 a.m., I hear footsteps. But I don't really believe in that stuff; it's just the imagination," he said with a laugh.

Ghost investigators and the paranormal community are trying to find out why ghosts haunt certain locations, and advances in technology are making it a little easier than relying on tales and legends.

Kevin Fike with Historic Ghost Watch and Investigation in Atlanta has surveyed several Marietta locations, including Three Bears Café and the Kennesaw House. He uses electromagnetic meters to note changes in currents, thermometers to detect changes in temperature, cameras and digital voice recorders.

"We use all the equipment and see if things pair up because usually you have several things going on," he said, adding that his team doesn't charge to investigate.

Marietta resident Rhetta Akamatsu is a member of a paranormal group called Ghost Hounds, an investigative group. "We want to learn as much as we can, not just think something or feel it. What can back it up," she said.

They do see some commonalities. Usually haunted places or ghost stories involve a young, unnatural, traumatic or unexpected death; one reason Civil War and Antebellum houses may be haunted.

"Old hospitals and prisons are usually haunted and places where a person might have an attachment," said Akamatsu, author of Ghost to Coast, a paranormal handbook to ghost tours, haunted hotels and investigation groups.

Each ghost expert has a different perspective on what these spirits are. Fike, a Methodist, suspects a ghost is a person without a body that hasn't chosen to ascend to heaven, typically because of unfinished business. Akamatsu, a Unitarian, believes that ghosts are energy released from a body after death that's not ready to move on.

Goodin, who fell into hosting ghost tours as a second job in Key West, isn't quite sure what they are - she just loves telling stories.

"The tour is for people who want to hear cool stories and get a huge dose of history … on a cool fall evening, it's nice to gather with a group of people and share experiences and stories," she said.

She said bring your camera and an open mind - people have reported strange feelings of grief in certain locations and street lamps have turned off when they walk underneath them.

"No ghosts have ever jumped out at us, but some strange and subtle things have happened."

 

'Poltergeist' 25th anniversary screening

They're Baaaack...

"Poltergeist" celebrates its 25th anniversary with a return to the big screen for one night only.

National CineMedia's Fathom and Warner Home Video Present Digitally Remastered Horror Classic in 250 Select Movie Theatres Nationwide on October 4

They're baaaack... Carol Anne and her family are back on the big screen in a special presentation celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Poltergeist" in select movie theatres nationwide on October 4th. The 1982 Steven Spielberg cult classic that incited a generation of movie fans to turn off their TVs and throw away their clown dolls has been digitally remastered in High-Definition and will include a never-before-seen 15-minute featurette on paranormal activity that explores actual cases involving hauntings and paranormal disturbances.

"Poltergeist" will be presented on the big screen by NCM's Fathom and Warner Home Video on Thursday, October 4th at 7:30 p.m. local time at 250 participating AMC, Cinemark, Georgia Theatre Company and Regal Entertainment Group movie theatres across the country. Tickets for this special one-time-only event can be purchased for $10.00 at presenting theatre box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. For a complete list of presenting theatre locations, please visit the website (theatres are subject to change).

"Poltergeist" tells the haunting story of suburbanites Steve (Craig T. Nelson) and Diane (JoBeth Williams), who suddenly experience paranormal activity in their home. What starts off as minor excitement quickly turns into nasty ghostly encounters. The disappearance of their daughter Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) forces the Freelings to bring in parapsychologists and a professional exorcist to exorcise their home. Written and produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, "Poltergeist" was a box-office success at the time of its release, grossing over $76 million dollars. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards. including Best Original Score, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Visual Effects and was one of the most entertaining horror films of its time.

Fans interested in paranormal disturbances will enjoy seeing interviews with Hans Holzer, a paranormal disturbance professional, and Colin Wilson, author and leading paranormal authority, during the featurette. They will share stories from some unbelieveable encounters they've heard and experienced as well as speak to the families whose lives have been altered by the collision with the spirit world.

"NCM FATHOM is excited to partner with Warner Home Video to bring this cult classic back to theatres 25 years after the original release of 'Poltergeist'," said Dan Diamond, vice president of NCM FATHOM. "NCM FATHOM has experienced great success in bringing classics such as 'Dirty Dancing' and 'Poltergeist' back into theatres giving fans an opportunity to meet, see something very special created just for the event and revel in their love for movies, all while experiencing it on the big screen again."

The remastered and restored "Poltergeist 25th Anniversary Edition," will be available on DVD on October 9th.

"'Poltergeist' is a great, classic American horror film from Steven Spielberg, arguably the most successful movie producer of our time," said George Feltenstein, WHV senior vice president, Classic Catalog. "The film has been digitally remastered from original picture and sound elements, and is sure to deliver the same spine-tingling terror on October 4th that it brought during its original release. For movie fans, it's an essential."

About National CineMedia

National CineMedia (NCM) LLC operates the largest digital in-theatre network in North America through long-term agreements with its founding members, AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark USA Inc. (NYSE: CNK) and Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC), the three largest theatre operators in the U.S., and through multi-year agreements with several other theatre operators. NCM LLC produces and distributes its FirstLook pre feature program; cinema and lobby advertising products; comprehensive meeting and event services and other entertainment programming content. NCM LLC's national network includes over 14,000 screens of which over 12,300 are part of the company's Digital Content Network (DCN). NCM LLC's DCN covers 156 Designated Market Areas. (49 of the top 50). During 2006, approximately 550 million patrons attended movies shown in theatres owned by the NCM LLC founding members (excluding Loews). National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 44.8% interest in and is the managing member of NCM LLC. For additional information, visit www.ncm.com.

About Warner Home Video

With operations in 90 international territories Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment. For more information on this and other titles distributed by Warner Home Video, visit www.whvdirect.com.

An MGM Release

A Steven Spielberg Production
 

Phantom airman lingers on
By Alex Barham
Borehamwood Times (UK)

It can be frustrating getting served in a pub sometimes, so imagine the trauma of getting a drink if you don't exist.

This is the plight of one ghostly visitor who has been spotted lingering in one of Borehamwood's oldest pubs.

The Battle Axes pub, in Butterfly Lane, built in 1890, is believed to be home to the ghost of a German airman.

The spectre of a man dressed in a German pilot uniform is regularly seen walking through the secluded country pub and is spotted loitering in the hedgerows nearby.

Amanda Sherwin, deputy manager of the pub, said: "We had a medium in one night having dinner who said you have ghosts in your pub.'"

Punters at the pub also reported spooky sightings of an old lady dressed in white bath robes roaming the pub's grounds.

advertisementLandlord Ali Yazdi claims that bottles are mysteriously opened or moved around the bar during the night and he thinks phantom guests are to blame.

One woman, who recalled in detail the ghostly encounter, but wished to remain anonymous, said: "As I drove past the pub I could see a glowing light in the hedgerow up ahead of me. As I drew closer the figure of an old-fashioned pilot was clearly visible."


It is believed the pub, located near Elstree Aerodrome, was the site of a plane crash.

Mrs Sherwin added: "Many years ago, a plane missed the pub and crashed in the hedge beside the road."

Bill Bailey, who has worked for Elstree Aerodrome for more than 50 years, said there had been a number of plane crashes and people killed near the airfield, but he had never experienced any ghostly occurences.

But, Borehamwood is no stranger to supernatural activity. The Gate Studios, built in 1928 and knocked down last year, was said to harbour the ghost of a man that fell to his death from rigging on a soundstage. The ghost, which haunted the building for more than 70 years, appeared to workers at the studios before its demolition.

 

Is historic health building also haunted?

By ERIN EDGEMON The Murfreesboro Post (Tennessee)     Orbs? in the historic structure. The happy sounds of children laughing and playing sometimes can be heard in the hallways but no one is there. Knickknacks are unexplainably moved out of their place on office desks. These kinds of tales are being told by some of those who work or have worked in the former Rutherford County Health Department building at 303 N. Church St. for the past 10 months or so. They say spirits of some sort, most of which seem to be children, are causing some minor disturbances in the building. “It is not scary,” said Linda Wilson, who works on the first floor of the building in the Rutherford County Drug Court offices. “Apparently they are good spirits. They have not hurt us or done anything.” The Rutherford County Health Department is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in the development of health care and public medicine in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. Until the building opened to the public in 1931, Rutherford County had no permanent public health care. The facility played an important role in the promotion of public health care programs and training of health care professionals in the South. The health department was one of four Commonwealth Fund of New York health projects that sought to bring modern health care to rural communities. It’s unknown who if anyone could be haunting the 76-year-old building. Some suspect the impressions of children, thousands of which must have come through the doors of the building over the years to receive some form of medical treatment, remain in the building. The building recently underwent a massive renovation now houses the Rutherford County drug court, human resources and archives. Wilson said she hasn’t felt the presence of spirits, but she has seen some things that can’t otherwise be explained. She mentioned a rag doll that sits on a shelf in a co-workers office. Several times since she and her co-workers moved into the building in mid-June, she and others have seen the doll’s left arm up in the air pointing towards the wall. A former co-worker who had small toys around her computer would often come into her office in the morning and find that they had be knocked over or rearranged. The presence of spirits was perhaps felt most by members of the construction crew. Charles Gilmore, a member of the crew, doesn’t know if he really believes in ghosts or spirits, but he had some encounters that he also couldn’t explain any other way. One day he was on a ladder on the second floor of the building when he heard a young girl exclaim, “No mama no, no mama no.” Gilmore immediately went to the nearest windows see where the noise was coming from. No one was outside. “I didn’t believe anything could manifest like that,” he said. While alone in the building one evening, another member of the crew apparently saw shadowy figures walking through the building and heard heavy footsteps on the slate stairs. Most of all the spirits seemed to make the process of renovating the building much more difficult. “It was just a nightmare job,” Gilmore said. “Nothing would work.” He said it almost seemed like the building didn’t want to have its face lifted. One thing after another would go wrong. “I call it the ghosts in the machine,” Gilmore said. “Nothing went right the whole time.” If there was a list of a 1,000 things to do, then only three of them would work out properly. Everything went wrong from materials not being delivered to the site or having materials mixed improperly and machinery failing to work. He said for the massive amount of hours the crew spent working on the renovation two new facilities of similar size could have been built with less headaches. Despite the problems, Gilmore said he never felt uncomfortable working in the building or being there by himself. Gilmore would often work in the basement in the pitch dark. “I never felt uncomfortable being in the building,” he said. “It is not a bad energy. Things are not being destroyed. It just didn’t want to be bothered.” But even now as Gilmore has moved on to other projects, he is having dreams about the renovation. He said it has weighed on his minds like no other project.

Ghost stories make the news at KSWT

 

BY DARIN FENGER, SUN STAFF WRITER

YumaSun.com

July 1, 2007 - 7:53PM

BENJAMIN HAGER/THE SUN

SPIRIT HUNTERS Don and Susan Swain look cautiously toward a high-energy spot on the ceiling at KSWT-TV, Wednesday in Yuma.

There's a reason even big and burly men won't walk through the darkened hallways of KSWT-TV alone at night. It turns out there's some interesting characters at the local TV station who aren't exactly on the payroll, partly because they don't work there, but mostly because they're dead.

Employees there have been swapping ghost stories for years. Some believe and others obviously don't. But those who say that the haunted happenings are true aren't just telling tales, they're recalling first-hand encounters with folks whose credits rolled a long time ago.

Just ask James Austin, supervisor of master control.

"It's not uncommon to hear someone walking behind you," says Austin, whose job has him roaming the station at all hours. "There's one ghost, Fred, who people have been talking about for years. People have heard someone pressing on the door code, opening the door, and going doing the hallway with jingling keys - but no one's ever there."

Then there is Austin's friend in the big black cloak and large-brimmed hat. That apparition appeared to Austin one time just inside the station's front door.

"Instead of me screaming like a girl I just decided 'Well, maybe it's time to skedaddle back to the studio!'" he said, laughing. "But I really felt like he was just observing. It was almost solid black and it was dark in there, but I definitely saw it there looking at me."

Austin has even seen other-worldly happenings reflected in the glass of the station's "munchie machine."

"I was there getting chips when I saw in the reflection a shadow walk by the break room door without a body on it," he recalled. "I was
immediately in the hallway and there was no one there."

Austin's seen so much paranormal activity at the station, he's actually worried that some day a mischievous spookster might try pulling a plug or flipping a switch on Austin's precious equipment.

"I've let them know 'Go ahead and haunt your butts off, but don't mess with my equipment!'" he said, smiling. "I don't want them screwing up what's going on the air!"

KSWT's otherworldly popularity has even warranted two investigations by The Yuma Spirit Hunters, this area's professionals in the ghost field. The Spirit Hunters visited in 2002 and just a few days ago - but more about that later.

Gayle Chango, another station employee, confirmed that Austin isn't the only one seeing people and things that shouldn't really be there.

"My previous general manager had seen the ghost several times," Chango said, describing a female specter. "One night he said 'There she is. Can't you see her?' I couldn't, but the doors were opening and shutting and there were only three of us working in the building at the time. It was kind of weird."

Chango's own experiences have been less visual.

"I've just had the hair-raising moments. I have no idea what it is. I just have to attribute it to the quote-unquote ghost," she said, adding that she's not afraid to be in the building after dark. "If there is such a thing as an entity here it's not caused any harm. If anything it's friendly, in my opinion."

Austin and Chango said station employees' awareness of the ghosts is split, typically by the length of time they've worked at KSWT.

"I think most people don't even know about it, just some of us old-timers," Chango said. "Most people don't normally talk about it too much."

Austin said that daytime employees probably don't see or hear much, either.

"It's usually after 3 a.m. when things get freaky anyway," he said.

Austin shared his own take on defining ghosts.

"It's an energy, an imprint that's left over. Emotions do have a tendency to be left behind," he said. "Sometimes spirits are a left over. They're caught in a loop."

Austin speaks with experience because he's seen spirits - and UFOs - all his life.

"I could also take off into a whole other realm of what I've heard called 'shadow people,' possible interdimensional travelers."

But how about hearing from the experts? The Sun arranged for Yuma Spirit Hunters to spend a recent evening poking around KSWT with their funky equipment to see if they could find anything - and they did.

"My wife got a picture of an energy orb," said Don Swain, operations manager for the ghost group. "We also found a high electromagnetic field in the building, but we couldn't pinpoint it to any particular area."

Swain offered a technical reason for those strange electronic readings, but his theory still involves spirits.

"It's natural for TV and radio stations to have such high electromagnetic fields," he said. "We actually believe that ghosts are based on electromagnetic energy, so they would be attracted to this kind of environment."

Austin said he was excited that the investigators found these points of interest. The topic has always sparked his imagination, but he quipped that he plans to keep working at not letting his imagination get the best of him.

"Otherwise you're going to be there at night scaring the tar out of yourself," he said, laughing. "Then you're like when you're a kid and you need a baseball bat, a teddy bear, and a flashlight!"

 

Gettysburg To Regulate Ghost Tours

by Matt Casey
Ghost tour operators in Gettysburg could be regulated by a borough ordinance as early as next year.

‘Ghost soldiers’ at Gettysburg

The Gettysburg public safety committee met with tour operators last week to discuss a draft of an ordinance that would govern how large and close together tour groups can be, and require tour operators to renew licenses yearly.

The purpose of the meeting was to collect input from the tour groups, said borough zoning officer Bea Savage.

Savage said the ordinance has not been further modified since the meeting, but the input of walking-tour promoters will be considered before she presents a new draft to the committee.

Promoters at the meeting objected most strongly to limits in the proposed ordinance, Savage said.

The draft of the ordinance would limit walking tours to 15 people including the tour guides, and would also require a buffer of one block or 500 feet between tour groups.

Susan Saum-Wicklein, owner of Gettysburg Ghost Tours, on Monday called the proposal “overly restrictive.”

She attended the meeting, and said she made similar comments to the committee in person and in writing.

She said the 500-foot buffer is unnecessary and would be difficult to abide by.

Saum-Wicklein also opposed. [link]

Haunted Berclair Mansion

by Mike Baird
Corpus Christi Spook Central, a local paranormal investigation group, will lug a parabolic microphone and audio recorders, infrared digital video cameras and electric magnetic meter into the shadows of the Berclair Mansion tonight to prowl for ghosts.

The Berclair Mansion

“We’re going there to disprove a haunting,” said Patrick Zapata, 33, the case manager for the investigators, and an assistant bridge inspector for the state. “We’re skeptics who started as hobbyists, but after all we’ve caught on our equipment, I now believe in ghosts.”

There won’t be any creaking floors at the Berclair Mansion, on U.S. Highway 59 in the little town of Berclair near Beeville, because the 22-room, 10,000-square-foot former family home of five spinster sisters is constructed of steel and concrete.

The hardwood floors don’t move, but voices and footsteps heard by visitors, members of the Beeville Art Association that owns the historic home and workers who helped renovate it in 1999 are all fair game for the spirit-seeking electronic equipment of the ex-skeptics.

“We’re just curious,” said Shirley O’Neil, 62, president of the art association. “We’d love to either have a ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ or would settle for a ‘maybe.’ ” O’Neil heard footsteps and voices last year while alone in the home turning off lights. “I thought someone saw me come in and followed me,” O’Neil said. “After I heard them, I went back through the house saying ‘Hello, hello, can I help you…?’

“There was dead silence — no one there.”

The investigators will set up equipment at about 7 p.m. and plan to watch several areas of the mansion through the night on monitors linked to the night-sight recorders.

They will ask questions, such as “Anyone here? Who are you? What do you want?” Zapata said. The parabolic microphone, used by bird hunters to amplify sound around them, connects to an audio recorder that will record the questions.

“We never hear any replies at the time,” Zapata said, “but when we play the tapes later, there have definitely been specific responses that are recorded.”

Since it was formed about two years ago, roughly 10 percent of the places investigated by approximately a dozen volunteers yielded results. Most recently the team recorded a voice in an upstairs bathroom of Miller High School that janitors had reported repeatedly.

“I hadn’t heard anything about that,” said Scott Elliff, superintendent for Corpus Christi Independent School District. “Certainly people have talked about a strong spirit of tradition at Miller for years, so maybe that’s what they heard.”

Still photos, video and audio items the investigators believe are credible are on their Web site, www.ccspookcentral.com. It also details many of the findings at places they have investigated, at Heritage Park homes, Presidio La Bahia Mission established in 1749 in Goliad, Blackbeard’s restaurant on Corpus Christi Beach, and at other locations.

Etta Terrell built the Berclair Mansion in 1936 at age 75 for $57,000 of her deceased husband’s and father’s fortunes made in sawmills, ranch equipment and oil field supplies. She died 20 years later in the home.

The final relative to have ownership wanted the home torn down, but heirs in 1999 had the provision set aside in court because of the prohibitive cost of about $90,000 to demolish it. After a museum in Houston and an art association in Victoria declined to take the home as a gift, the Beeville Art Association accepted it.

The first supernatural report came from landscape workers, who asked association members who was the old lady in the upstairs window who waved at them each morning.

They were told, “No one lives here,” O’Neil said.

“We’d like to think it’s Mrs. Terrell,” she said, “but either way there’s never been anything violent or a problem, and the house has been a gem for us.

“It the trademark of Berclair,” O’Neil said. “It keeps this pass-through town on the map.”

Seeking Spirits In A Psychic Town

by Andy Gallacher

June 8, 2007

I am, apparently, being helped to write these words by my spirit guide, an entity that spiritualist medium Matthew Greene says assists me with my work.

Road Sign in Cassadaga, Fl

“I can see a male energy,” says Matthew as he shuffles a set of rune stones around on a table at his home in the tiny town of Cassadaga, central Florida.

“I can see him around paperwork, a professional man, he could have been a teacher.”

Matthew is just one of about 40 psychic mediums who call Cassadaga home.

The community, just a short drive from Disney World, is a spiritualist camp established more than 100 years ago by a man called George Colby.

The camp’s historians claim he was brought here by his spirit guides, among them a Native American Indian known as Seneca.

Over the years it became an established community with its own temple, hotel and healing centre.

‘Orb’ spotting

Now the town attracts tourists, some of whom come for the tours of allegedly haunted buildings and others who want to speak to their departed loved ones.

“They come here for advice, they come here for comfort,” says Bob Cox, who is known as Reverend.

“Many, many people want to be reassured that their relatives are alright on the other side. They want to know where they are, what they’re doing. They want to talk to them.”

Spiritualism in Cassadaga is practised on a religious basis but when Reverend Cox is not in church he acts as a tour guide.

The tour includes a stroll down to the local pond, where visitors are encouraged to take pictures of what Bob calls “orbs”, spirits that float through the air but cannot be seen by the naked eye.

“Do you see the little light circles all through the darkness,” says Gale McGrath, from Fort Myers, as she holds up her digital camera for the gathered crowd.

“I was told they were pictures of orbs so that’s all I know, I don’t know how to explain it other than that.”

But Lang Mitskewicz, who tells me he swapped a night out on the town for the tour, is not convinced.

“I don’t really see anything that would make me believe in supernatural phenomenon. I saw a photo that seemed a little weird but that’s about it.”

Table-tipping seance

Almost every home has a sign outside offering the services of mediums. The waiting list for some can run from a few days to several months.

Some of mediums also run seance sessions, a practice popular in the 19th Century in the UK and something that for many remains controversial.

Among those offering sessions is Victor Vogenitz, a stocky Vietnam veteran. The seance I observed, with a family of eight, takes place in a cramped and darkened room at the back of Cassadaga’s temple.

Victor calls it a table-tipping seance, and once the room becomes almost pitch black, a heavy wooden table appears to move, at times violently, to each family member.

The creaks and taps are explained away as messages from the spirit world.

‘Parlour trick’

The atmosphere is emotionally charged, one of the family members, who I can’t see in the darkness, begins to cry as Victor tells the woman her deceased grandmother is in the room.

“She’s trying to hug them both,” says Victor, as the table moves toward two of the family members.

Once the lights go up after a three-hour session, when at times the table was spinning like a top, Mike Cassiaro has his own take on what happened.

“I do think it is somewhat of a parlour trick,” says Mike, as he talks to me away from the rest of his family.

“I think if you know that going in and you get an emotion out or make a connection then it’s no different from any other amusement.”

Other members of his family tell me they feel at peace after the seance, some even claim they saw flashing lights during the session.

I ask Victor about the accusation that he was somehow manipulating the table.

He replies: “I just say everybody gets the experience that they expect and some get more than they expect. This is not for everybody.”

The experience of Cassadaga seems very much to depend on the beliefs with which you arrive.

The people I met who wanted and expected to contact their deceased family members did so and left with those beliefs reinforced.

For the sceptical and curious little changed, but just about everybody enjoyed the peace and quiet of a place that feels a million miles away from the attractions of Florida’s theme parks. [link]

Daunted And Haunted

May 22, 2007 Our Strange World

by Craig Tansley
For A bunch of sceptics, we must’ve made a hilarious sight. I imagine Reg Ryan and his motley crew of ghosts, Mr and Mrs Crawley and co, would still be laughing, and really, what could be funnier?

Junee’s Monte Cristo, said to be the most haunted house in the world

A group of journalists, cynical by trade and nature, some too scared to stay in a haunted house, yet ready to proclaim to everyone what a load of nonsense all this ghost rubbish was.

Monte Cristo is a 19th-century homestead on the hills above Junee in western NSW, not far from Wagga Wagga. The town is unremarkable except for the fact Laurie Daley was born here, but Monte Cristo has been attracting its fair share of headlines.

It’s said to be the world’s most haunted house, and dozens of ghost hunters from around the world seem to have visited.

It has to be said, Monte Cristo has had its fair share of tragedy: a maid was pushed to her death here; in a tragic accident, a stable boy was burnt to death; and a maid dropped a little girl down the stairs after being pushed by a “supernatural force”.

To add to the drama, the mentally retarded son of a housekeeper had been tied up on a short chain by his mother for more than 30 years and in 1961 the caretaker of Monte Cristo was shot dead by a local inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

When present owner Reg Ryan moved into the property in June, 1963, he returned one night to find bright lights streaming out of every doorway and window, this despite the fact they hadn’t yet put the electricity on and owned only one kerosene lamp.

All very spooky background information, but to a group of grizzled reporters, this would be a walk in the park, surely? Well, let’s just say things didn’t work out so easily. I’m not saying I’m a believer, but I couldn’t wait to get out of that creepy place.

On a ghost tour (run every Saturday night, see http://www.montecristo.com.au) that night through Ryan’s incredible restored homestead, candles burnt down at vastly different rates, the temperature plummeted in one corner of a room nowhere near any air-conditioning vent (”Mrs Crawley is here, I can always tell,” says Ryan) and we were told one of the guestrooms we were staying in was haunted (but Reg refused to tell us which room until morning).

It wasn’t incredibly supernatural stuff, but there was something really creepy about being there.

Before the night was through, we’d lost two of our group - they’d elected to stay in town at a cheap motel rather than face the prospect of sleeping with ghosts - and two others asked to share a room. It was their talking through the night that kept me awake, not any ghost.

And who got the haunted room? Me, of course.

Apparently people sleeping in that bed have felt hands brushing their face.

I can’t report anything like that, I’m afraid, but I can say a group of eight battle-hardened journalists couldn’t have left sooner in the morning had they tried.

Family shares home with ghosts

Harlew Herald

10 May 2007

A GHOST of a young woman waiting for her soldier husband to come home and a mischievous little girl are just two of the strange goings on at a haunted pub, according to its landlords.

James and Linda Merchant heard rumours about ghosts at the Cock Inn, Stansted Road, Bishop's Stortford, which dates back to 1540, when they first moved into the pub two years ago.

But being a sceptic, James was not worried about the stories until he and his family started having experiences of their own.

The couple's daughter, Kelly, 21, who works at the pub, was once left terrified when changing a barrel. She said she felt a dark cold presence run through her and then without warning the cellar door shut locking from the outside.


"I panicked," she said. "I called for help and thankfully someone heard me and let me out."

Ashtrays often fly across the bar and things turn on for no reason.

Kelly added that she has been told that the ghost of a young girl haunts the cellar: "We have been told that she is bored and plays in the cellar. She likes to have fun.

"Apparently, her name is Emily or Amelie."

James said he has seen strange lights in the pub when no-one else has been around to cause them.

"Being sceptical you try and come up with a reasonable explanation for the lights - for example car headlights - but there just isn't anyone around when I get in," he said.

He said often barrels seem to be empty so he goes to change them only to find them half full. It will be okay once he gets back to the bar, then 20 minutes later it will happen again.

It is possibly another example of the little girl ghost playing up and looking for attention. Or it could be the woman waiting for her husband to come home from fighting overseas.

James said the ghosts seem to muck about by throwing things around. He said his 10-year-old son was left shaken when a box of Lego was thrown across the room. But the family is now getting used to the strange goings on.

"We love it now," added James. "The customers laugh about it - they don't see much of what happens because it normally happens when no-one is about."

The pub is in the process of arranging for a medium to come and investigate.

"It will be really interesting to find out more about the 'people' we share our home with," James said.
 

Scaring up a different kind of vacation
Monday, April 30, 2007

By Chris Welch, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune


Matt Erickson stepped into the third-floor motel room with several other wary travelers just before midnight.

Some turned on digital recorders to capture "electronic voice phenomena," known to aficionados as EVPs. Others snapped photos, seeking the fleeting image of a spirit.

Erickson's throat began to constrict. "I started coughing and choking, but as soon as I left the room, it stopped," he said. "Then I found out a guy had committed suicide in the room by cutting his own throat."

Strangely enough, that was exactly the kind of thrill Erickson hoped for during his vacation in Warwick, R.I., last December. The carpenter from Thief River Falls, Minn., had joined 85 people from around the country for the unusual weekend, which was organized by two Twin Cities men who have staked a claim on a heretofore unexploited travel niche: Group ghost hunting.

Dave Schrader of Circle Pines and Tim Dennis of Burnsville are leading groups as large as 220 people on trips to haunted hotels, spooky cruise ships and, this year, an abandoned prison.

Their booming paranormal vacation business didn't happen in a vacuum. In the past three years, TV lineups have become rich in supernatural offerings. At the moment, at least a dozen shows serve up ghosts, hauntings and mediums in one form or another.

It was against this backdrop that Schrader and Dennis started their online radio show in January 2006.

The weekly two-hour broadcasts of "Darkness Radio" made them celebrities among fanciers of otherworldly mystery. The show features interviews with the stars of the TV shows, along with demonologists, mediums and authors.

Last month, the show featured the president of the recently formed Twin Cities Paranormal Society. On that episode, the group's president, Lisa Hottinger, described its investigation of her own house. She produced a tape with several EVPs, including a muffled voice that was saying, "I'm not done cleaning."

After the show had been on the air for a month, Schrader came up with the idea of asking the stars of the TV shows to co-host weekends at haunted destinations.

"I basically did it to satiate my own desire to see these places and not have to pay for it," said Schrader.

The locations include the Queen Mary cruise liner, docked in Long Beach, Calif.; the La Quinta Inn in Warwick, R.I., reputedly haunted by former guests who committed suicide there, and the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo., famous as the setting of "The Shining." Travelers pay between $180 and $250 to attend the weekend events, not including transportation or lodging. Schrader and Dennis pay TV celebrities and paranormal experts to give talks and join in on nightly ghost hunts.

The success has led Schrader, 39, to close his small marketing firm to focus on "Darkness Radio" and the travel business. Dennis, 36, works as the operations manager for the Davidson Media Group, which owns two radio stations in the Twin Cities. Dennis produces the show, which streams live from 10 p.m.-midnight CDT on Sundays at www.darknessradio.com.

Schrader and Dennis said they have had experiences that make them curious about what happens to people after they die and that make them open to the idea of hauntings.

"I count myself as a skeptical believer," Schrader said. "But not every bump in the night is a ghost; sometimes it's just the pipes knocking."

A lot of other Americans share the "Darkness Radio" perspective: The most recent Gallup Poll to examine the issue (June 2005) reported that 37 percent of Americans believe in haunted houses; 16 percent are unsure, and 46 percent don't believe in them.

That so many Americans are believers isn't surprising to Jason Hawes, co-star of Sci Fi's reality show "The Ghost Hunters." Hawes is a star attraction on many "Darkness Radio" trips.

"There's always been an interest in the paranormal, but it wasn't always something people talked about," he said. "All these shows have given people permission to admit their experiences and talk about them."

Those who have taken the vacations aren't shy about sharing their stories.

Tracy Petsuch, a property manager from Coon Rapids, Minn., took a trip to the Stanley Hotel. She collected an EVP (and played it for a reporter; behind a lot of static, a ghostly voice seems to be saying "call me dead man"). She also heard footsteps running up to her hotel room door, she said. When she opened it, no one was there. "I just say it's fun," she said. "I can't blame someone else for not believing because nothing happened to them."

Matt Erickson, the carpenter who went to Rhode Island, said the best moments of the trip were sharing meals and downtime with the celebrities from "The Ghost Hunters" and "Darkness Radio." "They're all real down-to-earth guys," he said.

But would he subject himself again to choking sensations in the forlorn La Quinta Inn in Warwick?

"In a heartbeat," he said. "I didn't really think I'd have an experience like that on the trip, but I did. Why not explore what's out there?"
 

BOND CREW SHAKEN AND STIRRED BY GHOSTS!

August 17, 2006

The Bombay Times

Casino Royale unit feared that the 747 stunt jet was 'protected' by the spirit of a passenger - a woman - who died of a heart attack on board.

The shooting of the new James Bond flick Casino Royale ran into a bit of a problem recently, when jittery cast and crew of the flick refused to get on a jumbo jet - because they believed it was haunted, according to a UK tabloid.

Casino Royale unit feared that the 747 stunt jet was 'protected' by the spirit of a passenger - a woman - who died of a heart attack on board.

That's because there were claims that the lights and warning systems on the plane rapidly and randomly switch on and off - even when the jet has no power.

The crew also claimed to have seen the woman's ghost gliding up and down the aisles of the 30-year-old plane.

One unit member reportedly said, “We were asked to stay on it overnight for one scene, but several of the crew refused.

Some won't get on board at all because of the ghost. It's been a real problem.” The plane is a de-commissioned jumbo jet that cost £2million pounds.

The scene in the film requires 007 Daniel Craig to stop a villain from ramming into the plane with another plane. So what does the latest Bond Craig have to say? Is he equally petrified?
 

Ghosts Join Extras in Spooky TV Show   The dead are spooking actress Jennifer Love Hewitt and her Ghost Whisperer cast and crew by making blink-and-you'll-miss-them appearances in frames of film. Editors behind the scenes of the hit TV show, in which the actress speaks to ghosts, have started spotting sinister images when they check back through film. Producers think that perhaps the dead "extras" are trying to tell loved ones they've left behind they're OK, and so they've posted the split-second cameos on the show's official website. Love Hewitt says, "They (editors) find presences on film all the time. In one instance they froze the still and saw a person in the background who wasn't in the frame before or the frame after." The actress admits her show has helped grieving parents and spouses come to terms with their loss - and realize their dead loved ones are never too far away from them. She adds, "I was talking to a fan and she told me how her and her husband always sit down to have dinner together and watch the show and hold hands. It wasn't until the end of the conversation that I realised that the woman's husband was dead."

Haunted or not, historic St. Augustine lighthouse worth the trip

Sunday, June 11, 2006
LYNN EDGE
For The Birmingham News
Watching a recent episode of Sci-Fi Channel's "Ghost Hunters," I couldn't decide if I wanted them to find a ghost or wanted them not to find a ghost.
After all, they were climbing steps I had climbed, viewing museum exhibits I had viewed and lifting a bucket I at least had tried to lift.
If they did find a ghost, it meant I was lucky enough to have been in a place that really was haunted. If they didn't, it meant I was lucky enough to have escaped being in a place that really was haunted.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse is spooky enough in the daylight. I had to admire their courage in tackling the structure - and all those steps - at night. And I'm especially in tune with Steve, who doesn't like heights and hung back inside the lighthouse when he reached the top.
I might have had mixed feelings about the search for ghosts, but one thing I know: Fear of spirits or fear of heights aside, the lighthouse is worth the trip.
The structure has a long history, linked to the water and the city that surrounds it. After Pedro Menendez founded St. Augustine in 1565, he ordered a wooden tower built on the north end of Anastasia Island. It was manned by a single soldier to help identify incoming ships. The tower also served as a landmark for sailors attempting to locate the town from sea.
In 1683, the Spanish government replaced the wooden tower with a sturdier structure made of coquina stone.
About six months after Florida became a United States territory in 1821, the Territorial Council asked President James Monroe to build lighthouses at Pensacola and St. Augustine. The Spanish coquina guardhouse/ watchtower was converted into a true lighthouse. On April 5, 1824, Juan Andreu was named the first lightkeeper of the first lighthouse in the State of Florida.
By 1870, the coquina lighthouse was in danger of collapse. Construction on a new lighthouse began in 1871. This one, built of brick, was on a concrete foundation. It is this lighthouse that stands today.
With its black and white spiral and red top, the lighthouse is 165 feet tall and contains about 1.2 million bricks. There are 219 steps to the observation deck, including the granite steps leading up to the metal stairs. The observation deck is about the height of a 14-story building or the bridge of a destroyer.
The lens first was lit on Oct. 15, 1874. In 1936, the St. Augustine light became the last Florida lighthouse to get electricity.
The lens is the lighthouse's original first-order Fresnel lens dating to 1874. It stands 9½ feet tall and contains 370 hand-cut prisms set in brass frames. The beam can be seen up to 20 nautical miles (about 21½ land miles) out to sea.
And for those who believe in that sort of thing, "Ghost Hunters" found at least one ghost, a woman who calls out, "Help me." They also saw a ghostly form leaning over the stair railing looking at them.
How about that! I was lucky enough to have been in a place that really was haunted.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum is open to the public 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. The last tickets to climb the tower are sold 15 minutes prior to closing time. Children must be 44 inches tall to climb the tower and must climb under their own power. For children who don't qualify, free admission to the museum and the base of the tower is provided for the child and one accompanying adult. The child also receives a lighthouse coloring book and a pass to come back and climb when he is tall enough.
Admission to the museum and tower is $7.75 for adults, $6.75 for 60 and over and $5 for ages 6-11. Admission to the museum and grounds is $5 for adults; $4 for 60 and over and $3 for ages 6-11.
HOW TO GET THERE
To get to St. Augustine, take I-65 South to Montgomery. From Montgomery, take U.S. 231 South to I-10. Take I-10 East to Jacksonville. From Jacksonville, take I-95 South to St. Augustine. It is about 500 miles from Birmingham to St. Augustine.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
About St. Augustine, call 800-653-2489. About the St. Augustine Lighthouse, call 904-829-0745 or go to www.staugustinelighthouse.com.