The Tower of London

The Tower of London, dating back over 900 years, is known as one of the most haunted places in Britain. In 1078, the first stone section of the tower was built and commissioned by William the Conqueror. It slowly morphed over time with additional structures and towers being added. Like Alcatraz, much human suffering went on within the cold stone walls including executions, imprisonment and torture. It wasn't just reserved for the lowly criminal but for the famous and powerful as well. Social stature mattered not for the Tower of London!

One recorded haunting from the 19th century was from a Crown Jewel keeper E. L. Swifte. He and his family were having dinner in the Martin Tower when his alarmed wife spotted a moving object. Both he and his wife witnessed what looked to be a cylindrical object, resembling that of a lab tube, filled with blue bubbling fluid. Tube or not, the wife claimed it tried to grab her (not sure how a tube with no hands would do that but it gave the wife that impression). The tube seemed to be an apparition as Swifte tried to throw a chair at it but it went straight through it. Ịt then vanished into thin air.

Of the famous that haunt the Tower, there are reports that the headless ghost of Anne Boleyn meanders the eerie corridors of the White Tower. She was one of two wives that were ordered for execution by husband, Henry VIII; the other being Catherine Howard. Anne is also spotted in the Chapel of Saint Peter ad Vincula where she watches over her own grave under the altar. Catherine on the other hand can be heard screaming behind the door of the room she was kept in before her execution.

Other famous ghosts are Thomas A. Becket who struck down the Traitor's Gate with a crucifix, witnessed by a priest. People have also seen 12-year-old King Edward V and his 9-year-old brother Richard Duke of York in the Bloody Tower still wearing the white gowns they were imprisoned in.

Foggy figures, soldiers, and 16-year-old Lady Jane Grey haunt the battlements of the Tower of London. Whole squads of soldiers have been seen marching the grounds.

This place has no shortage of ghosts as you can see! These famous rumors intrigued the BBC and they teamed up with paranormal investigators to try and capture some of these ghostly images using special cameras that convert night-time into day and infra-red light, aka "black cameras". They also used temperature gauges, and other devices to prove or disprove some of these haunting claims. Though they could disprove much of what seemed odd about the Tower, there were still 10% of their experiences that baffled them. They also came away with "wonderful" images including unusual orbs of light. They claimed they were much less skeptical after their investigation.

The final interesting tidbit about the Tower of London is that there are always ravens present at the Tower. It is legend that if the ravens were ever to leave the tower, England would perish!

The Borley Rectory Hauntings

What binds a non-earthly soul to the physical dimension? From history and research is seems that it generally lends to a life cut short (usually traumatic in some way), or unsolved business.

There are enough allegations of emotionally charged events at the Borley Rectory, located near the Suffolk border in the eastern portion of England, to fill all of those requirements. During a séance, co-held by Harry Price, a paranormal investigator who had leased the premise in the late 30’s from Reverend Lionel Foyster and his wife, Marianne, he would uncover what he felt to be one of the strongest presences at Borley Rectory. But before we reveal the results of that séance, a brief history of the house is in order.

The history of Borley Rectory begins with the building of a gothic Benedictine monastery in the 13th century. Those were not genteel times and legend has it that a monk and his lovely young love-interest, a nun from a nearby convent, were both done-in while trying to elope the establishment and start a new life together. They were captured and the monk was hung while his fiancé was walled up, alive in the cold walls of her convent. Two lovers torn apart to be isolated forever… Was it she who had been seen wafting through the garden, head bent in sorrow? Was she the girl in white who roamed the property searching for her lost love?

After its stint as a monastery, it was sold off as a residence and a rectory was soon added in 1862 by Rev. Henry Bull and his family. Reverend Bull had become pastor of Borley Church in 1862 and despite local warnings, built the rectory on a site believed by locals to be haunted. Over the years, Bull’s servants and his daughters were repeatedly unnerved by phantom rappings, unexplained footsteps and the appearance of ghosts. Reverend Bull seemed to find these happenings as wildly entertaining and he and his son, Harry, even constructed a summerhouse on the property where they could enjoy after-dinner cigars and pleasurably idle away the time waiting for an appearance of the phantom nun who roamed the property.

After Reverand Bull passed on in one of the more famous of the haunted rooms (the Blue Room), his son Harry inherited the establishment and position until he himself passed on in 1927. Following Harry’s footsteps was Rev. Guy Smith who was so unnerved by the spectral sights and sounds, that he left the rectory just one year after moving in.

After Smith’s hasty departure, the house was then inhabited by Reverend Lionel Foyster and his wife, Marianne. The house only seemed to be getting warmed up as their experiences grew in intensity and frequency. Without any explanation, they found themselves locked out of rooms, windows would suddenly smash and personal items would vanish under their noses. Ịt wasn’t uncommon for them to hear unnerving noises from all over the house. As time went on, these mischievous antics turned aggressive and Marianne was actually accosted one evening. She was thrown off her bed in the middle of the night and even slapped by invisible hands of which she was helpless to do anything about! The final straw was when she was nearly made unconscious by a mattress that was held over her face. Someone obviously didn’t like Marianne. Perhaps it was jealousy from a female ghost that caused these physical transgressions?

The involvement of Harry Price came about after a paper asked him to investigate these poltergeists activity following a popular story written by the paper. It was during his investigation that writings on the wall started to appear, usually when Marianne was present. The writing’s ghostly owner seemed more sympathetic to Marianne compared to the other ghosts as some of the messages scrawled were, “Marianne, please help get” and “Marianne light mass prayers”.

Price was more of a guest at the manor until the Foysters moved out in 1935 at which point he leased the house for a full year for deeper investigation. Now that Price had the house to himself for an extended period, he ran an ad for other paranormal investigators to help him monitor and document the ghostly activities. He had to weed through some not-so-savory types though, but he ended up working with 40 people to uncover some of the fascinating history of Borley Rectory.

During a séance, an alleged spirit named Marie Lairre came through and told the group that she had been a nun in France but had left her convent to marry Henry Waldegrave, the son of a wealthy family whose home had previously stood on the site of Borley Rectory. The tale turned grim when she declared that her husband had taken her life and placed her remains in the cellar. To Price, she seemed to fit the profile of the ghost that haunted Borley Rectory.

One spirit during a séance even gave a fascinating prediction that the former nun’s body would be found in the ruins. Though the spirit said the house would burn down that night, thus revealing the location of the bones, it wasn’t until 11 months later that a fire was started by the new owner, Captain WH Gregson, as he was unpacking library books when an oil lamp fell over and started a fire. The fire spread fast through the manor and the rectory was in shambles, later to be demolished in 1944.

Since previously unattainable areas were now exposed, Price decided to excavate the cellar where he indeed found a few small bones, which seemed to be those of a young woman. Was this the proof needed to validate the story of the betrayed nun? Regardless who the woman was, she was given a proper religious burial and finally laid to rest.

UPDATE!

We reported that the wife of Lionel Foyster reported many paranormal incidents at the rectory. After doing more research on December 8, 2006, we learned that Mrs. Foyster found an envelope with her name on it. Her name was Marianne & she believes this was actually written by the entity. The entity wrote her name, when Mrs. Foyster found it, she wrote "What do you want?". The next day, below her question was the word "Rest", believed to be written by the entity. We obtained a copy of it & here it is below.

Alcatraz Hauntings

Alcatraz: Home to wrongdoers, gangsters, and… ghosts. It's no wonder this federal penitentiary is rumored to be haunted by the men who lingered there. It has all the ingredients to hold a person's tormented soul: misery, confinement and fear. Ịt is even rumored by the Native Americans to be an energy portal where evil spirits are allowed to come through. This may explain "The Thing" with glowing eyes that has been witnessed by prison staff and inmates alike. There are reports of ghostly figures, screams, banging metal doors, putrid smells and sobbing.

Death was no stranger to Alcatraz. The first reported ones were in 1857 where Daniel Pewter and Jacob Unger passed away under a landslide while excavating between the wharf and the guard-house. There were fatal confrontations between fellow prisoners, guard beatings, and failed escapes off the island. For many, Alcatraz was the last stop before entering Hell which is why it is sometimes called Hellcatraz.

To this day, there is an unexplained disturbing event that occurred in the isolation block of the prison, known as "The Hole" or the "Strip Cells". This level was located on the bottom floor of the prison, in Cell Block D, where they kept inmates who broke the more serious of rules at Alcatraz. They would be stripped of their clothes and held in a cold cell that only contained a sink, toilet, and a small light. They were given a mattress but only at night and it was promptly removed in the morning to ensure continual discomfort and punishment. In the 1940's it was reported by the guard that a figure seemingly from the 1800’s haunted the block. The apparition was seen on several occasions and prisoners claimed they had been attacked by a man with glowing eyes. Since The Hole was an isolation chamber, it's likely that most guards thought the on-going screams claiming attack were hallucinations. On one particular evening, one inmate screamed the night through that he was being attacked by the man with glowing eyes but was ignored by guards who had become numb to such claims. After a night of screams and pleading he finally fell silent. The door to his cell was opened in the morning and the inmate was found dead, a horrible grimace marred his face and handprints were visible around his throat. An examination later determined that these marks were not self-inflicted. This victim, whether at the hands of the glowing-eyed ghost or by an irritated guard, became a ghost of Alcatraz himself as he was reported in a line-up with other inmates but promptly vanished to the amazement of everyone present.

Numerous psychics have reported cold spots, harsh and sudden emotional bursts, apparitions claiming abuse, vibrations and a myriad of other ghostly traces. In fact, there are few spots in the prison where you can't see or feel other worldly energies including the hospital, the Warden's House, Cell Blocks C and D, the lighthouse, the therapy and utility rooms.


Ghosts of the Rock
The inhabitants of Alcatraz penitentiary included some of the worst examples of humanity - and the conditions in which they were held were often harsh. Many died in the prison or whilst trying to escape, others lost their sanity. There are many tales of their spirits returning to haunt the prison.
One of the most famous ghosts is said to be that of Al Capone. Capone was kept at Alcatraz towards the end of his life and would play his banjo in the shower room. Years after his death there have been reports of ghostly banjo music coming from the empty shower.

A utility corridor was the scene of the deaths of inmates Coy, Cretzer and Hubbard - killed by a hail of bullets and hand grenades after a failed escape attempts. Their ghosts are said to be active and still haunt the area.

As well as these famous hauntings, Alcatraz appears to be home to numerous minor ghosts. Unexplained sightings and noises - often sobbing - are commonplace, especially in cellblocks A and B. The smell of smoke when there is no fire and the presence of unexplained cold spots are some of the other supernatural activites that have been reported.

Anyone visiting Alcatraz is likely to feel the place's strange atmosphere. Psychics can often go further and identify the exact location and nature of previous events and possibly even the identity of the ghosts associated with them.

It seems that even in death there is no escape for those condemned to Alcatraz island.

The Winchester Mystery House

The Winchester Mystery House is one of the most famous haunted houses in America with enough of a following to-date for daily public tours. The house, now a historical landmark, is located in San Jose California and building started in 1883 and didn't end until Sarah's Winchester's death, 38 years later in 1922. So why so long and to the tune of 5.5 million dollars? Because ghosts told her to do so!

Sarah was the heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune. She originally lived in New Haven and prior to moving to California lost both her only child Annie and then her husband John. Deeply grieving, she turned to a medium for solace and information. The medium told her that her husband was present and that there was a curse on the family which took his life and their daughter's because of the many people who died from the Winchester gun. He then told her that the only way to prevent her own death was to move west and build a house for the spirits. But there was a catch to this plan. Ịf she stopped working on the house, the curse would take her life. So Sarah did exactly that. She left her home in New Haven and headed to California (under ghost guidance) where she bought a large parcel of land and started construction on her Victorian home. While she lived in the ever growing behemoth, she continued her séances to her husband and other spirits. She had a bell tower added and would ring it to summon the spirits at night, and ring it again to dismiss them. It was said that she built a séance room in the middle of the house and would enter it alone to conduct her communications.

The mental stability of Sarah was in question because of the very odd design of the house. Doors were joined to windows, numerous staircases with 13 steps each that often led no where but the ceiling, doors opened to brick walls, double-layered skylights, double-back hallways, doors that dropped off to the landscaping below, upside-down stair posts and so on. Sarah claimed that these oddities were to confuse the bad spirits that had used the Winchester gun to kill. No one ever figured out her fascination with 13; the steps totaling 13, the 13th bathroom having 13 windows, 13 drain holes in the kitchen sink, most windows had 13 panes of glass, there were 13 cupolas in the greenhouse, the walls had 13 panes and the list goes on.

Some of the current haunting evidence include pages turning on their own, organs playing by themselves, banging doors, voices, dancing spots of light, cold spots and actual sightings of "fog like" people.

The Queen Mary Haunting

The Queen Mary was in service for decades as both a World War II transport ship and a luxury liner. It wasn't intended as such at the time, but the Queen Mary was named "The Grey Ghost" during the war because of the color she was painted to make her stealthy in the war-time waters.

In her time, the Queen Mary carried seasick sailors, destitute stowaways and wealthy vacationers. With this kind of history it's not surprising she saw her own share of deaths, now a hair shy of 50. In fact, there are so many haunting that some parts of the ship are now barred from the public. But for the paranormally curious there are still haunted tours of the cabins and halls that housed death. You can also lodge at the Queen Mary but after reading this, you may have second thoughts.

Of the numerous deaths, there was a young seaman by the name of John Henry who lied about his age to procure a position on the Queen Mary and was soon crushed to death while trying to flee a fire. To this day, knocks and bright lights can be heard around engine room 13 where the young man met his untimely death. Ịt's even been reported that the door to the engine room is sometimes hot to the touch or that mixed in with a ball of light is tendrils of smoke.

If spooky little girls like the ones in the Shinning scare you then you'll want to stay clear of the pool area. A girl from third class thought she'd have some fun and slide down the banister but a sudden wave upset her course and she broke her neck on the fall. She now wanders the pool area and nursery looking for her doll or mommy. She is not alone though. In the 30's and 60's two other women met their unfortunate deaths in the pool area and are seen periodically in that area.

War always brings atrocities but how about a cook that was cooked because the troops on board didn't like his meals? They stuffed him into the oven and burnt him alive as a lesson for bad cuisine. His screams still echo his horrible death to this day.

If you're still feeling brave enough to consider sleeping on the Queen, there was also a reported visitor that slipped a steward some cash in exchange for finding a 'willing' female passenger to keep him company for the night. After stowing his luggage, a female companion was found and they retired for the night. In the morning the man was missing from the dining hall so the steward went to find him. What they found instead was the corpse of the female companion! They could not locate the male guest, his registration information for that room nor his luggage, which people swore was checked and stowed. He simply vanished and left only a trail of blood and rumors.

The Queen Mary is home to 49 deaths but she was also surrounded by death. In an attempt to avoid enemy ships, she zig zagged her way into her companion ship, nearly cutting it in half, and was forced to leave 300 survivors in the water to be eaten by sharks or drowned. It is reported that mysterious pounding on the side of the Queen Mary is those men trying to signal to come on board.

The in-house psychic, Peter James, claims that he has communicated with over 150 separate ghosts on the ship. Peter gives bi-monthly ghost tours of the ship and claims to have made numerous contact with various ghosts, including a few mentioned above. From the sheer number and type of deaths that occurred, it seems plausible.

This is surely one of the most haunted places of modern time in America.

The Berini Haunting

"Where do all the lonely people go? Where do I belong?" These were the words softly uttered to Rose Berini from a little boy dressed in white roaming her upstairs hall. This boy wasn’t one of her two children though asking odd questions, he was not of this world .

The poltergeist experiences, later named The Berini Hauntings by paranormal researchers, started shortly after Joe Berini moved his wife and two of her children from a former marriage into his ancestral New England home in the late 1970s. Unbeknownst to the family then, the home had its own history of mystery, which would unfold, benignly at first, then into horrifying experiences that would drive them from their home in search of help.

Their first otherworldly visitor was a little girl whose voice penetrated this dimension one evening in May, 1979, and declared to Rose, “Mama, mama, this is Serena.” Neither Joe nor Rose knew of any girl in the family’s past by the name of Serena—at least then. What they did come to know soon enough was that when Serena visited them, something significant was about to happen to the family, usually of dire consequences. After Serena’s first visit, their daughter Daisy went to the doctors to have her tonsils taken out, except during the operation there were complications, which resulted in her heart stopping, and she nearly perished. The timing of Serena’s visit and Daisy’s near death experience did not go unnoticed by the Berinis.
Serena’s visit to the family also coincided with the stroke of Joe’s grandmother and a night in November before the elderly woman passed away. Her connection to the family seemed strong as Joe remembers waking up to Serena’s voice to find his wife choking next to him in her sleep. After shaking her awake, she shares with him that her ex-husband was choking her in her dream.

Children seemed to be the theme early on in the Berini hauntings and though there was a lull from late 1979 to March 1981, another child made an appearance to Rose. A little boy, dressed fully in white, was roaming her upstairs hall. Like Serena, these were not frightening experiences and she described them to researchers as, “A very peaceful experience.” Unlike Serena whose mission seems to have been to warn the family of danger, this young boy seemed to be searching for an object. The boy, witnessed by Joe, was seen entering each bedroom then settled on the floor of the hallway in search of something, sight unseen. Curious, Joe later pulled up the floorboards and found a medallion of the Virgin Mary.

Through family inquiry, the Berini family learned that Joe’s father, Carlos, had two younger siblings that had died in the house. There was Serena, who had passed away at the tender age of five, and a young boy by the name of Giorgio, who was gone at eight.
What I find interesting here is that there wasn’t a family investigation into these tragedies. One child is tragic, but two is suspicious. The fact that both chose to haunt the ancestral home is very unusual. Had these children been killed? And if so, by whom? Ịt was unlikely the older brother could have done it because he was relatively young himself. The father? Joe heard the little boy say to him on one occasion, “My oldest brother is the only one who can help me.” What did he mean? Help him from what? That very sentence was the beginning of the terror. It was shortly thereafter this statement that objects started to move in unpredictable fashion with phones flying, doors slamming open and shut and objects being yanked from Rose’s hands.

This turn of events led the Berinis in search of spiritual help. They asked two priests to come and bless the house, which they did with prayers and holy oil. There was a quiet spell after the rituals but it wasn’t for long.

The entity that descended upon them shortly after seemed straight from hell, though it once proclaimed itself “A minister of God.” It was a male, hunch-backed figure with oversized feet wearing a black cape. It brought with him fury and intimidation including flying objects, bookcases being moved, and eventually physical attacks. The children were hit on several occasions but Rose took the brunt of the figure’s venom. On one occasion Rose was struck by an opened freezer door but this was mild compared to what was to come.
One evening Rose was yanked from bed at night, suspended in the air, then dropped to the floor. Another night Joe was called back from work to find their bed leaping several feet in the air and Rose cowering in the corner with a crucifix.

The final straw was a carving knife jammed into the kitchen table. The Berinis left the house and again sought spiritual help. The second exorcism seemed to work as the hauntings vanished. It was at this point the family welcomed the Psychical Research Foundation to investigate their claims.

Personal Comment: Through my research of the paranormal, and as I mentioned earlier, it is unusual for a child to haunt a dwelling, let alone two. What causes hauntings is often an attachment to the physical, sudden departure from this life or unfinished business. Something pulled these children back to the physical dimension and also opened the door to the negative entity. From the sounds of it, the grandfather (the children’s father) had already passed. Was he the cloaked figure?

Like most hauntings I guess this haunting will remain a mystery.

The Curse of The Bell.Witch .... (An American Haunting)

What if you were vengeful and utterly unrestricted by the veil between the physical and the next dimension? That’s exactly what Kate Batts had going for her. She was a spiteful old woman who believed that she had been cheated in a land purchase by John Bell and was hell bent (literally) on tormenting him and his children, or at least his favorite 12-year old daughter, Betsy.
On Kate’s deathbed, she vowed to haunt the family of the Bell’s who had done her wrong. After her death, she made good her promise. It felt to the Bell family that this ghost took no other pleasure than tormenting them incessantly. Kate pinched their noses, poked needles into them, threw kitchen objects about, screeched at them in her now notorious high-pitched voice, pulled hair and was a presence that none of them could escape.
Kate’s wrath was particularly directly at John and his favorite daughter, Betsy. With the wife and other children she was sometimes heard crooning softly, saying something pleasant, or just ignoring them completely. John and Betsy were not so fortunate. Kate enjoyed mentally and physically torturing them with her shrieking voice or physically punishing antics.
Gossip moved as quickly then as it does now and this was a much talked about event in the small farming town of Adams, Tennessee. People were deeply fascinated by the rumors and some even came from hundreds of miles away to visit the place of unrest. Some spectators were greeted with handshakes, some with shrieks and some with a full dialog of warning. So popular did the story become that General Andrew Jackson, the future President of the United States, gathered a few friend to investigate the story himself. He and his cohorts wanted to either debunk or repel the feisty spirit of Kate Batts.
Jackson and his men were in for a surprise though. When their wagons stuck fast to an otherwise smooth and flat road, their jests of dealing with the witch came to a halt. No matter how they examined, pushed, cursed or whipped the horses, their wagon was not moving. Ịt was said that Jackson, in a fit of frustration and resignation, declared, “By the eternal, boys, it is the witch." Much to the amazement of Jackson and his men, the legendary screech could be heard from a nearby bush that replied, “"All right General, let the wagon move on, I will see you again to-night." Moments later the wagon and horses were suddenly free to move about. There wasn’t a person present that could account for the voice’s owner or its whereabouts.
Kate wasn’t miserly in her haunting antics and bestowed upon Jackson and his men the same torturous treatment as she had John and his daughter Betsy. Jackson’s bedcovers were repeatedly yanked from his body and his men were delivered the same pinches and pokes as the family were. Jackson and his men realized they were no match for the Bell witch and hastily abandoned their adventure first thing in the morning.
Ghosts never die so it was not surprising that the haunting of Kate lasted the duration of John Bell’s life. In fact, the ghost of Kate Batts was said to have been responsible for John’s death.
In October of 1830, John Bell was rumored to have suffered a stroke and taken ill. While he was bedridden, his family found him in a particularly bad state of stupor and position. Alarmed, his son ran to the medicine cabinet to fetch what he thought was his father’s medicine. After administering it, the family heard the witch’s glee as she victoriously declared she had poisoned John herself the night before with that vial and this last dose was surely his undoing. True enough, it was. The contents were later examined by a doctor and found to be very poisonous.
Kate was not satisfied with death alone. She sang in merriment at John’s graveside and was still heard singing happily as the last person hastily left.
Notable points: This story is popular enough to have spawned several recent movies of which include the Blair Witch Project and The American Haunting. It is also noted as one of the very rare poltergeists that caused a man’s death.