The Haunted BloG

TOP 10 Scariest Places In the World

2008-07-01T07:08:00.000-07:00

No. 1: Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Oswiecim, Poland.

Auschwitz death camp was in operation from May 1940 until its liberation by Soviet forces in January 1945. It is estimated that 2.1 to 2.5 million people were killed in the gas chambers during that time, of whom 2 million were Jews and the remainder were Poles, Gypsies and Soviet POWs. But this estimate is considered by historians to be strictly a minimum, because the total number of deaths at Auschwitz and its sister camp Birkenau can never really be known.

It is clear that Auschwitz-Birkenau was considered by the Germans to be one of their most efficient extermination centers as early as 1941 when the mortuary crematorium at the Auschwitz main camp was adapted as a gas chamber. Additional huts, called “bunkers,” were added around January 1942 and were especially active in the autumn of 1944 when extra capacity was needed for the systematic murder of Hungarian Jews and the liquidation of the ghettos. Between January 1942 and March 1943 over 175,000 Jews were gassed to death here, their bodies burned in open pits nearby.

By early 1943 it was clear that Hitler’s SS were using Auschwitz as a mass-murder factory. Twin pairs of state of the art gas chambers using Zyklon-B gas were opened in March and April 1943. The capacity of these crematoria was 4,420 persons. Once inside the chambers it took about 20 minutes for the gas to kill this number of people. The killings took place in the underground chambers and the bodies were carried to five crematoria ovens on an electrically operated lift. Before cremation, gold teeth, jewelry, and other valuables were removed from the corpses. Captured Jews, known as “sonderkommandos” were forced to work the crematoria under SS supervision.

Anyone who has visited Auschwitz-Birkenau is struck by the overwhelming sense of melancholy and foreboding; visitors have been known to break down in tears for no apparent reason and many have to abandon their tour groups without ever completing the tour. Visitors are struck not only by the horrific memory of the place, but also by the effect it has on the present day: birds still refuse to sing in the trees surrounding the death camps and there is little evidence of a thriving natural environment anywhere nearby. The silence, as they saw, is deafening, even after all these years.

People have reported cold spots and areas of intense emotional concentration. Recent reports have come in that while touring the camp some have been touched or even grabbed by unseen hands. One visitor report that someone or something tugged on her clothes and she heard a voice whispering to her but could not make out anything but one or two words. " Please and leave"!

As of date no paranormal group or investigator has released their findings of the most haunted place on earth to the public. But often tales of this the Most Haunted Hot Spot in the world has many haunted secrets yet to reveal.

Photographs over the years have revealed the presence of spirit manifestations in the form of misty apparitions, shadows, light anomalies and orbs. Given its history and the imprint of horror it leaves on the modern mind, Auschwitz-Birkenau is the most haunted place on earth.

No. 2: Whitechapel/Spittalfields, London East End, London, England.

The Whitechapel / Spittalfields area of East London has been actively settled since Roman times. Many of the historic buildings are built on the remains of old Roman settlements. Throughout the Dark and Middle Ages, the East End was a burgeoning commerce area, mostly inhabited by Anglos and Jewish moneylenders. In Elizabethan times the East End looked and smelled like something right out of one of Shakespeare’s history plays, and, in fact, the character of Falstaff (Henry V) is said to have been based on an innkeeper from the notorious East End. It was a place of soldiers and prostitutes, brawls and bawdy houses.

The coming of high Victorian morals did nothing to dull this seedy reputation and the Whitechapel / Spittalfields area, while known to humanitarians for its extreme poverty, was also known to all as the home of thieves, prostitutes, and the most derelict of English society.

In 1888 the Whitechapel area of London was the scene of some of the most brutal murders ever recorded: the famous Jack the Ripper crimes. Yet the murders – and the identity of Jack – remain unsolved, even today. Many assert that the killer was a doctor or was somehow connected to the medical profession; others believe the killer to have been Queen Victoria’s grandson, Prince Albert Victor, though nothing substantial has ever arisen to support the theory.

Five women, all of them poor prostitutes, were slaughtered by the mysterious Jack in the span of just four months, known collectively as “The Autumn of Terror.” Four of the women – Mary Nicholls, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes – were found in various streets and alleys throughout Whitechapel horribly disfigured and mutilated. The fifth – Mary Kelly – was the only victim murdered in an interior location; as such she was the most horribly mutilated, the death scene like something from a slaughterhouse.

Jack the Ripper enjoyed a brief career as London’s most infamous serial murder and the fact that he was never caught still adds to the mystery surrounding him. Nevertheless, it is thought that his horrible mutilation of Mary Kelly was his last act of violence and there is no evidence that Jack, whoever he may have been, killed again after November 1888.

Today visitors to London’s East End can walk the streets that Jack prowled and visit pubs and other locations he may have haunted in life – and death. Walking tours of the area are very popular and although Jack’s legacy is certainly the most enduring, other ghosts that haunt the East End are those of Jack’s victims, in various stages of mutilation; a ghostly band of Roman soldiers; a murderous sea captain’s ghost that haunts a local pub; and a mysterious black carriage drawn by ghastly white horses that approaches without a sound and disappears right before your eyes. These and other haunts, combined with the long haunted history of the East End make it one of the must visit ghostly locations in the world.

No. 3: Underground Vaults, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Far below the busy streets of modern Edinburgh lies a dark, forgotten corner of history. Discovered in the mid-1980’s, the Edinburgh Vaults had been abandoned for nearly two hundred years. Lying beneath the South Bridge, a major Edinburgh passage, the rooms were used as cellars, workshops and even as residences by the businesses that plied their trade on the busy bridge above. Abandoned soon after they were built due to excessive water and moisture, the vaults remain, unaltered, never illuminated by the light of day.

The South Bridge has stood since 1785 and it was around this time that the huge supporting arches were first divided for use by nearby businesses. The vaults were once bustling with life, the vast overflow of an ever-growing city.

When the vaults became mostly abandoned because of the unwholesome atmosphere they were still used sporadically by the poor and homeless of Edinburgh society. As with any great concentration of unhealthy people, there were outbreaks of plague and other devastating illnesses; many of the people who took refuge in the vaults ultimately died there. There is evidence that at least some of these people may have met untimely ends because it was here in the Edinburgh Vaults that the nefarious pair, Burke and Hare, plied their trade of providing cadavers to the nearby teaching hospitals of Infirmary Street.

Paranormal investigations have been conducted in the vaults practically since their discovery and to date the location has not failed to provide a wealth of disturbing and unexplainable activity. Recently visited by the crew from England’s “Most Haunted,” the vaults maintained their reputation as the spookiest place in Edinburgh – no member of the team would voluntarily return there.

No. 4: Greyfriar’s Kirk Cemetery / Covenanter’s Prison, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Greyfriar’s Cemetery has been considered haunted for generations. Its history is filled with the horrific, from deliberate headstone removal and desecration, bodysnatching and live burial, to witch burnings and use as a mass prison. Around 1998, however, a new and inexplicable phenomenon began occurring in the graveyard where visitors claimed to have encountered cold spots, nauseating smells, loud noises coming from empty tombs, and even physical injury. Many visitors and tour guides have been the victim of attack by unseen entities who leave bruises, cuts, and scratches on the unwary. People were routinely knocked unconscious and overcome by debilitating nausea and vomiting. Homes near the graveyard became plagued by poltergeist activities such as smashed china and glassware, moving objects, shadowy figures, and menacing, guttural laughter.

There are two areas of the cemetery where activity is extremely dense, one being the area around the MacKenzie Mausoleum (also called the Black Tomb) and the other in the gated area known as the Covenanter’s Prison.

It is said that George MacKenzie is the shadowy entity haunting the area near his family tomb. In the 17th century, MacKenzie, a loyal subject to Charles II of England, is said to have ruthlessly persecuted and imprisoned “unrepentant” Scottish Presbyterians who formally entered into what they called a “Covenant Between God and Country.” This act of Scottish loyalty excluded the authority of Charles II and it is said that MacKenzie soundly punished all those Covenanters he could round up. Many were imprisoned in harsh and unforgiving conditions in a small area inside Greyfriar’s and most of the Covenanters died there rather than revoke their oath. Since that horrible event, the Covenanter’s Prison as well as the MacKenzie Mausoleum have both been fearsomely active, although it was not until recently that the spirits said to inhabit the area have begun to strike out against visitors and nearby residents.

Currently, the Covenanter’s Prison area is only accessible to visitors accompanied by a tour guide; the MacKenzie Mausoleum is nearby and can be visited and photographed – at one’s own peril, evidently.

No. 5: Coliseum, Rome, Italy.

At the height of Rome’s power the Coliseum represented everything that was Imperial to the citizens of Rome. Gladiators would fight to the death here for the amusement of Caesar and the mobs; thousands of prisoners of war and victims of religious persecution met their end in the jaws of lions and tigers in the sandy arena of the Coliseum; and even those animals were decimated, for in its time the Coliseum consumed tens of thousands of animals, some reportedly driven into extinction by the Roman lust for blood and gore.

The workings of the Coliseum, the place where the real grit of life took place, were in the vaults beneath the sandy floor. Now long ago exposed by the ravages of time, there is still a pervasive feeling of awe associated with the lingering presence of a power so mighty it once encompassed the entire known world.

In the pits beneath the Coliseum, gladiators waited to fight, prisoners waited to die, and average Romans placed bets on the outcomes of myriad competitions. Such a fabric of life can’t help but wrap itself around the pillars and posts that make up the foundation of this ancient charnel house, and it is no surprise that many reports of ghostly activity have been associated with the Coliseum over the years.

Tour guides and visitors alike have reported cold spots, being touched or pushed, hearing indiscernible words whispered into their ears; security guards with the unenviable task of securing the ancient edifice have reported hearing the sounds of swords clashing, of weeping in the more remote areas, and, oddly enough most disconcerting, the sound of ghostly animal noises such as the roars of lions and elephants. Ghostly citizens have been seen among the seats of the Coliseum, and the sight of a Roman soldier standing guard, silhouetted against the night sky, is a common one.

With such ancient history and such a legacy of death and bloodshed, there is little wonder why the Roman Coliseum is one of the most haunted places in the world.

No. 6: Walachia, Transylvania, Land of Dracul, Romania.

“Beyond the green swelling hills of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes of forest up to the lofty steeps of the Carpathians themselves. Right and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range, deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where the snowy peaks rose grandly . . .

“Just then a heavy cloud passed across the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness . . . This was all so strange and uncanny that a dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time seemed interminable, as we swept on our way, now in almost complete darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon.

“We kept on ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the sky.”

-- “Dracula” by Bram Stoker.

“Perhaps the only place I felt Dracula’s presence was on a long, curving road that twists over the Transylvanian Alps. The area is so remote and impenetrable that no major road crossed this often stormy mountain pass until 1974. As my car climbed into the mist, traffic disappeared, and the radio stopped working. The road passes a dam and a hydroelectric plant guarded by a handful of soldiers standing alone in the gloom. And at the bottom of the road are the ruins of a castle.

Dracula’s castle.

Really.

Dracula created this fortress as a refuge. When the Turkish army surrounded him, he is said to have escaped through a tunnel and disappeared into the mountains.

His young son was strapped to the side of his horse but slipped off and was left for dead. His wife didn’t even try to flee. She threw herself to death from a tower window.

I stepped out of the car to take a look. But it was night now, and the climb to the castle would be difficult. I looked up at the dark mountains and started to shiver, glad to have a car to spirit me away.”

--Larry Bleiburg, The Dallas Morning News, January 2, 2005

We think that’s enough said!

No. 7: Unit 731 Experimentation Camp, Harbin, Manchuria, China.

“It is called the Asian Auschwitz and, in terms of inhumanity and horror, it certainly warrants this description. Yet there remains a fundamental difference with the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis against Jews: While Germany has shown deep contrition and remorse, the leaders the country that spawned the evil of Unit 731 still struggle to come to grips with what occurred . . . In the end at least 3,000 prisoners, mainly Chinese, were killed directly, with a further 250,000 Chinese left to die through the biological warfare experiments.”

In the gruesome world of Unit 731 the unthinkable was done on a daily basis. Prisoners, mostly taken in Japan’s conquest of Manchuria at the beginning of WWII, were subjected to unimaginable horrors. They were infected with diseases such as anthrax, cholera and even bubonic plague. To gauge the effect of these diseases on their subjects – whom they dehumanized by calling them “logs” – live, un-anesthetized vivisection was performed. In many cases the subjects would regain consciousness while the dissection was taking place.

Whole towns and villages were decimated by the ghoulish doctors and researchers of Unit 731 and the effects of their horrible crimes still resonate there to this day.

Parts of the Unit 731 complex still remain – there are buildings where frostbite experiments were performed, courtyards and open areas where prisoners were subjected to live bombs detonated at close range to enable researchers to evaluate the effect of explosives of the sort that Japanese soldiers were encountering in the fields. Other buildings where live human vivisections took place overlook the prisoner holding area and the long-unused railway station where the “logs” were offloaded for their horrible fate.

The Chinese government sanctioned the Unit and the surrounding area as a learning center for future generations of Chinese, and just recently visitors from the West have been allowed access to the killing fields at Harbin. But for many years there have been reports of paranormal activity associated with the old charnel houses: ghost lights and apparitions are frequently seen, including a ghostly figure that walks the empty precincts surrounding the frostbite units. Ghostly voices have been heard and anomalies frequently appear in photographs taken in the area. Recently, during the filming of a BBC television documentary, the English film crew experienced unexplainable problems with their lights and batteries – often a sure sign of ghostly activity. Many speculate that as the story of Unit 731 is more widely told, the ghosts of those tragically tormented and murdered there are becoming more and more active, and more anxious for justice than ever before.

No. 8: Palmyra Island Atoll, Pacific Ocean.

Many have extrapolated the question: Can an entire island be haunted? Palmyra Island, really an atoll along the rim of a long dead Pacific volcano, has a long history among sailors and landlubbers alike as being an unwholesome place. Perhaps best known as the location of a sensational 1970’s murder case detailed by author Vincent Bugliosi in his novel “And the Sea Will Tell,” Palmyra has long featured in many cautionary tales passed among old salts who know perhaps more than they care to about this troublesome speck in the ocean.

Many claim that there is a “malevolent aura” surrounding Palmyra, such as Richard Taylor, a yachtsman who gave testimony at the sensational murder trial:

“I had a foreboding feeling about the island. It was more than just the fact that it was a ghost-type island; it was more than that. It seemed to be an unfriendly place to be. I’ve been on a number of atolls, but Palmyra was different. I can’t put my finger on specifically why, but it was not an island that I enjoyed being on. I think other people have had difficulties on that island.”

Palmyra has been called the remotest place on earth, one of the last few truly uninhabited islands, lying near the very center of the Pacific Ocean, about 1000 nautical miles south-southwest of Hawaii and about one-half of the way from Hawaii to American Samoa. It is tiny – measuring approximately a mile and a half long and a half-mile wide. The island lies well off the major Asian/American shipping lanes. There is a huge bird population and an abundance of insect and reptile life. The interior is rain forest jungle and the entire island is surrounded by coral reef; the waters of the reef and the inland lagoons are prime breeding spots for gray and blacktip sharks that are found to be unusually aggressive in the waters surrounding Palmyra. Some visitors and servicemen who spent time on the island in WWII reported that the sharks took “one to two” victims a month. Even the native fish that populate the reef are poisonous because they feed on deadly algae that grows on the coral, making them deadly to consume.

Legends of the island appearing out of nowhere and nearly grounding vessels are intermingled with tales of buried pirate gold; even in modern times, in addition to the grisly murder of the 1970’s, there have been bizarre and deadly occurrences. Many of these tales include the crashes and unexplained disappearances of US fighter planes during the war – a history similar to the Bermuda Triangle legacy. But where Bermuda is inhabitable and has some redeeming attractions, there is nothing to redeem Palmyra Island, at least in the minds of those who have experienced it. Truly, as one man said, “only H.P. Lovecraft could have invented this place.”

No. 9: Catacombs, Paris, France.

Long ago, as the city of Paris grew, it became necessary to provide more space for the living. To do so, engineers and planners decided to move the mass of humanity least likely to protest: in this case, the dead. Millions of Parisian dead were quietly disinterred in one of the largest engineering feats in history and their remains were deposited along the walls of the chilly, dank passageways lying beneath the City of Light. They lie there to this day, in the eternal darkness, an Empire of the Dead.

The Paris Catacombs are infamous and much has been written about their history and purpose. A million visitors a year are said to walk the dank corridors and to stare at the bones and gaze fixedly into the empty eye-sockets of the long dead. Many of these same visitors, and some of their guides, have encountered more than just the silence in the catacombs: they have had encounters with ghostly inhabitants that roam the empty passageways and mutely follow the tour groups around.

Several report seeing a group of shadows in one area of the catacombs; as the living walk along, the dead follow in complete silence. To some the experience is completely overwhelming and tours have been cut short by the growing sense of unease. Photos have revealed orbs and ghostly apparitions, and EVPs have been recorded throughout the vaults.

The catacombs were first cleared in Roman times, with succeeding generations of Gauls and Frenchmen perfecting the Roman engineering. Now the catacombs are a veritable rabbit’s warren, and though many boldly enter without a guide, to do so puts one at risk of being lost there forever. There have been many reports of rash individuals who wandered into the catacombs for a laugh and who have never been seen again.

This, and many chilling tales of experiences in this Empire of the Dead, put the Paris Catacombs on our list of most haunted places.

No. 10: Magh Sleacht Plain, near Ballyconnell, County Cavan, Ireland.

Cavan is a sparsely populated county in north central Ireland, immediately south of the border with Northern Ireland and midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea. The countryside is dotted with lakes and hills, and the River Shannon, the longest in Ireland, originates in the rugged Cuilcagh Mountains in the west of Cavan.

Cairn tombs and crannog islands dating from ancient times abound in Cavan and Magh Sleacht Plain, near Ballyconnell, was once an important Celtic pagan shrine. Here was located the dreaded Crom Cruach, the Bloody Bent One, the Elder King, the Chief Idol of Erin.

In ancient days Magh Sleacht, which means “Plain of Adoration,” was the location of a mighty stone, covered all in hammered gold, which was the stone image of Crom Cruach. In those days, he was surrounded by twelve smaller stones, gods in ready attendance on the whims of the mighty Old One. Here parents came to sacrifice one third of their children to Crom on Samhain night (October 31st) in exchange for a year full of milk, corn, healthy cattle and a fertile growing season. The god horrified many because of his terrible demands and it was dangerous to worship him because worshippers themselves often died in the orgiastic bloodbath that he required.

The worship of Crom Cruach is said to have been demanded by King Tigernmas whom some describe as a Roman Chieftain, while others claim he was one of the last of the Formorian Kings. Still others believe Crom to be the manifestation of Moloch, the ancient god of the idolatrous Hebrews to whom they sacrificed half their newborn children in a trial by fire. The similarities do not end there. King Tigernmas himself died in worship of the Bloody Bent One, killed by rabid followers in an orgy of blood.

Many believe that the legend is simply that, a legend. Others point to the mention of Crom Cruach in the St. Patrick legend: they claim that when Patrick established Christianity at nearby Armagh, he went to Magh Sleacht and defeated Crom, and having done so, caused the golden idol to sink into the earth. In recent times, however, some followers of the pagan faith have rediscovered Crom Cruach and, perhaps he has been waiting patiently to answer their call.

Visitors to the plain of Magh Sleacht report strange occurrences including the sound of chanting and the smell of burning meat or flesh; others have photographed shadowy shapes that linger about the rocks near sunset; still others claim to have seen ghostly apparitions on the plain in the light of day.

Just as in ancient times, farmers and travelers are giving the old plain a wide berth. They believe that something has lingered there in a long and fitful sleep perhaps, but now it is awake again, hungry and fretful. Can it be that the Bloody Bent One has returned to his native homeland? There are many who think just that.

Countryside tours often include a trip to County Cavan. A side trip to Magh Sleacht may require an overnight stay in nearby Ballyconnell, but isn’t it worth it to experience the reawakening of one of the oldest deities known to man? Or, is it?

Bachelor Grove Cemetery Chicago

2008-07-01T03:26:00.001-07:00

The most haunted team are well aware of the wonderful infrared photograph that was taken by Jude Huff-Felz during a parapsychological investigation by the Ghost Research Society in Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, on August 10, 1991.

On 2nd January 2004 the alMost Haunted team set out for the cemetery in an effort to find this famous ghost. With instruments at ready, and several bottles of whisky left over from hogmanay in hand, the team carefully scanned the cemetery for any signs of abnormal activity. Suddenly the electromagnetic meter went wild - everyone became excited until we discovered that Bob was on his mobile phone ordering up pizzas and the UHF signal was affecting the reading. Sadly, despite 4 hours in the cold, three bottles of whisky and eight pizzas the team left without a single picture.

We did however manage to take a photo of the original photograph that was taken in 1991. This photo shows a young lady with long hair sitting on a tombstone. She appears to wear a light coloured dress that reaches her ankles.

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery has been in use since 1864. It was used by gangsters to dump their victims after brutal murders. The burial ground is very small and has a dank mysterious little pond.

Ruthin Castle Wales

2008-07-01T03:18:00.001-07:00

In 1163 the castle was in the possession of Lord Rhys, who ruled over Deheubarth at a time of stability and harmony, a time, moreover, of a renaissance of Welsh culture, music, poetry and law. After the death of this great ruler, conflict over the succession arose between his sons, and thereafter the important castle figures repeatedly in the turbulent years of dynastic struggles between the Welsh princes, and the wars between the Welsh and the English in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

Ruthin Castle is located in the town, Denbighshire, north Wales. The town is fairly small. It is now a Best western hotel. Originally, the castle, a Welsh fortress, has the reputation of being haunted – yes, like most castles – by a woman known as “The Grey Lady” for being dressed from head to toe in grey. She was the wife of the second in command at the castle when it was a fortress and was inhabited by the armies of Edward I. She has been seen wandering outside the castle, as well as the chapel and the medieval banqueting hall, hey she’s just taking a stroll, being in the dark for so long, that’s not fun –

According to rumors and legends, The Grey Lady’s husband was having an affair with a local peasant lady – tttttt naughty, naughty - and then she decided to murder her love rival with an axe, ouch, that hurts! When it was discovered, she was sentenced to death and executed for her crime, she was buried in the area around the battlements, as no local priests would allow her to be buried on consecrated ground. Her grave is still be seen today by millions of visitors. From time to time she has been seen wandering outside the castle; hey it’s much more fun outside!

Another soul that has been seen haunting the castle is a Medieval knight in armor wearing only one gauntlet (glove). There is a strange glowing ball of light that has been seen at the castle by many visitors and locals. Known as orbs it is believed that these orbs are the souls of the dead. They are probably stuck between two worlds and cannot find their way any more, too bad.

So if you feel like taking a tour at Ruthin Castle, be prepared for a spooky and freaky night, I’m sure you’ll love it.

Woburn Abbey

2008-07-01T03:17:00.002-07:00

Woburn has been the home of the Dukes of Bedford for over three centuries. Since the opening in 1955, millions of tourists have visited Woburn, inspecting its treasures and 3000 acre deer park; very popular for deer hunting.
The house was rebuilt by Inigo Jones in the mid-18th century and a century later, additional buildings were added to the house. Today Woburn has one of the most important art collections in the world as well as collections of English and French furniture.

So what could be haunting this nice castle? Many visitors have felt a presence in some rooms on the top floor of the castle. They were reflecting an tremendous atmosphere of misery and unhappiness- poor souls, probably can’t find their ways to a better place, it’s not fun to stay in the same place over and over again- So who are these ghosts? Well, apparently, many guests have said to see different figures, one of them one morning the Duchess found Paul Getty jumping up and down in the corridor where the guest bedrooms were situated. He told her that a woman guest had complained that the door to her bedroom and dressing room had kept opening in the night and she had to get up five times to shut them. The reason why Paul was jumping was to see if there was a vibration from the corridor affecting the doors.

The ghost of a monk is also haunting the Abbey and has been seen mostly in the crypt – ohh, it does sounds like The Tales of the Crypt- Freaky- where he was buried centuries ago. He is thought to be the abbot of Woburn who was hanged when he opposed Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn. But this monk is not the most powerful ghost on the premises. And the most recent haunting of the Abbey that took place is the ghost of a young man who was half strangled and later drowned in the lake – now, come one, that’s not nice, barbarians!- But he still likes to hang around from time to time. Guests claim that they have seen doors open and close for him as he enters the rooms.

The Abbey is not the only place to be haunted by a friendly ghost. The summerhouse is haunted by the Duke’s grandmother. Her plane mysteriously crashed on the east cost, she died at the age of 64. It is not her ghost that haunts the place but an overwhelming feeling of sadness, as if her unhappy spirit lives on and carries on- maybe she just likes it over there and just wants to stay. Who knows?

Mary King's Close: Ghosts beneath the streets of old Edinburgh, Scotland

2008-07-01T03:17:00.001-07:00

A close is a very narrow lane that joins two larger roads. It houses taverns, shops and residences. These lively closes are also practical shortcuts. Mary King’s Close was a 17th century street in the old city of Edinburgh, in Scotland. Much of the Close is still intact and in its original state. Shops and houses can be inspected - and some ghostly figures have been experienced over the years in this “Street of Sorrows.” Edinburgh is famous for its ancient and crumbling streets, with small closes everywhere. They probably have old secrets from the past, but the biggest dark secret is the one of Mary King’s Close. I would not adventure myself in there, way too claustrophobic!

The story began in the 17^th Century when the Close was just one of the many crowded cities in Scotland with many streets, houses and businesses all around. The conditions of living in Mary King’s Close were grimy, dirty, with people wandering all over. But that was not the worse of Mary King’s Close for people living there. At this time, Britain was having a terrible plague that was consuming the population and of course Scotland was not left out- hey you want to have friends in here- and privileged people decided to do something about it in a very cruel and inhumane way.

Mary King’s Close was mainly underground, and the city council decided to block the close instead of evacuating the tiny alley, from one end to the other they bricked it up – Not cool at all – As a result many people were left trapped inside those walls with the diseases running around – sure like little bugs- Their cries could be heard from the outside, no wonder it’s haunted, with all these poor souls trapped, not fun. Mary King’s Close was left like that for a year; that is a long time! Until the council decided to open it again; the bodies of those trapped inside being cut apart by local butchers so the remains could be carried through the streets and buried in mass graves around the city. It is estimated that between 400 to 600 people died in the Close, men, women and children. That’s for sure they did not have the penicillin at this time! The Close was permanently closed in the 19^th century. Now it is haunted by many ghosts, one famous is the one of a 10 year old little girl who died in the plague. Her name was Annie. Tourists with no prior knowledge of the ghosts or even the reputation of the close have reported seeing her. Dolls were left for Annie as these visitors really felt her presence. But she is not the only one. A ghost pretty mean, a landlord who in the past probably made the lives of his residents very miserable with high rent and poor conditions of living strongly haunts this place chilling the visitors of the Mary King’s Close.

Chillingham Castle

2008-07-01T03:16:00.001-07:00

Chillingham Castle located deep in the English countryside, between Newcastle and Edinburgh (Scotland), is one of the most haunted castles in the world. In the 1200s, this castle was known as the “Home of the Torturers”. The vicious torturer’s name was John Sage. He created the most painful and barbaric devices one could find. Brr, just to think about it, I would not like being in the patients shoes! His favourite was the cage, in which he would place his victims before lighting a fire beneath them. He would watch, as, bit by bit, the victim slowly cook from the feet up. You really have to be wired wrong to do such a thing! Sage's spirit still returns to Chillingham, and many say you can feel his breath on the back of your neck as you walk the cold corridors. Well it will not happen to me, because I would not visit this charming little place.

Many ghosts inhabit this little mansion and the most famous one is called ‘The Radiant boy”. No one knows his name or who he is; one just knows he had a very terrible and mysterious death. His bones are buried in a secret passage behind the wall-one will have to pay me big money just to set a foot in there!- Could he have been placed in the wall still alive? No one will ever know. But his spirit is here and haunts what is called the Pink room, people say he is emerging from the wall, a weird light surrounding him, his face has no form, no eyes, no mouth- it’s going to be hard for him to see where he’s going, watch that wall! But when night comes, the silent is shattered by cries and complaints of a child in pain. The bones are now interred at a local churchyard.

But this little boy is not the only resident of Chillingham castle. A famous ghost is Lady Mary Berkeley, the wife of Lord Grey of Wark and Chillingham. She spends her nights wandering in the corridors of the castle – well, she’s probably bored- She is looking for her husband who ran away with her own sister- now, this is not cool, traitor- Lady Mary was then left all alone in the castle with her infant child, and heartbroken. Visitors who came to visit Chillingham castle have often heard the rustle of an old fashioned dress or a chill as if the ghost of Lady Mary has walked by. This beautiful castle, though the story of many deaths, tortures and misfortunes, has since the 13^th century be owned by the same family, the Earls Grey- tea owner- and their relatives. The castle has been restored many times and is now open to the public.

Bell Witch Cave in Adams, Tennessee

2008-07-01T03:15:00.002-07:00

Bell Witch Cave is located in the small and sleepy town of Adams, Tennessee. The cave lies hidden on the side of a bluff on the former property of John Bell’s family house. It is a story to really make your skin crawl. The event started in 1817 and has always intrigued people since the early 19^th century. The Bells were successful farmers when something happened that turned their world upside down by a paranormal phenomena. The two main persons the ghosts were after was John Bell himself and his 12 year old little girl, Betsy. This spiritual creature was very strong minded in seeing John Bell dead. At the beginning the house was afflicted with knocking noises and scratching sounds and soon the sounds looked like dogs fighting and wings flapping around this big mansion. Dog fights? I would’ve not like being in the house at that time, boo no! But as the story tells, John Bell did in fact die at the hands of the Bell Witch.

The Bell family kept the secret for a long time. I would too, saying that your house is haunted, ghost no! But in 1818, John Bell has been afflicted with a strange disease that affected his jaw and tongue. Soon, the ghost claimed herself and said she was the witch of Kate Batts, a woman (his neighbor) who hated John Bell because of a bad business transaction. She started to threaten him and definitely stating she would kill him, poor guy, his life was just beginning to be Hell! The ghost was called the Bell Witch because it called herself that and was constantly harassing the Bell family

But after some time the Bell family could not keep the secret any longer and they had to tell someone. They told some of their closest friends. They asked some friends to come and sleep over just to see for themselves, I don’t know if I would like to be in a haunted house just to hear weird things, not my favorite sleepover! So they did, and they heard laughter and had the sheets pulled off of them, boo, put that back dude, it’s cold! But no one could defeat the Bell Witch.

Unfortunately, Betsy Bell was also a victim of the Bell Witch ghost’s cruelty. The Witch “Kate” has been torturing Betsy for days, pinching and slapping her and worse, pulling her hair, ouch, that hurts! But this is more than being a ghost, it is more like a demoniac phenomena such as infestation, oppression and possession of premises. Kate Batts had only one purpose and one purpose only, to kill and see that John Bell would die. He died after three years of being tormented him and his family. After his death the haunting subsided.

So who was really the Bell Witch? Kate Batts’ghost? Or just an entity that created itself? No one will ever know. But whatever the Bell Witch was, the residents of Adams, Tennessee believe she still hangs around. Hey, maybe I’ll go check it out, who knows…

Dudleytown in north western Connecticut

2008-07-01T03:15:00.001-07:00

Cornwall is located in the northwestern corner of Connecticut. There lie the remains of a small town now famous for the settlement of Dudleytown, which is said to be one of the most haunted places in the USA. Dudleytown was founded by Thomas Griffis in February 1645; the town was actually settled by—and named after—three Dudley brothers, who moved there a few years later. The founders of the settlement were the great grand sons of Edmund Dudley who had been minister of Henry VII of England. And these three brothers supposedly brought over a curse from England that infected the land ever since. Charming, looks like the curse decided to cross the ocean as well, probably wanted to seek new adventures!

People however do still explore Dudleytown and a lot of strange activity has been reported, paranormal phenomena such as dark creatures are roaming around those woods. They are said to chase down their human prey with ruthless abandon, causing madness from fear or sometimes mauling and killing their unfortunate victims. There are instances of strange lights and reports of demonic rituals. Strange sounds frighten would-be visitors away. Ghosts and poltergeists seem to be the only remaining residents. Are you sure you want to go alone in those woods? I’m not so sure, maybe another time, way other time. The most frequent event reported are large black shadowy beings that seem to guard the woods. Some others say that these shadows rise out of the foundations of ruined houses that scared the curious who wandered into the woods. Sure would scare me! I’d run so fast, I would probably be faster than the shadow itself! It is very well known that Dudleytown procures bad vibes to people.

But what happened back then to bring such a fright to people and instigate such a paranormal activity? Well the town began in 1740 as a farming town of around ten families including the great grandsons of Edmund Dudley. It was this family that brought Dudleytown to life but probably to its death as well. The inhabitants of the town supplemented their income by felling lumber to produce charcoal for the iron industry in a nearby town. It was a difficult life, but it seemed that most settlers of Dudleytown were doing wonderfully, until something manifested itself with full and violent force upon Dudleytown. People seemed to loose their mind and madness invaded the town. Some members were struck by lightning and died; others hanged themselves and some of them committed murders, diseases and so on. Oooh, that’s for sure I would not even set a foot near this town, too freecky, madness? Do people really loose their mind after seeing a big creature? Well, it seemed like it because they all had something in common, they all saw a big monster bursting out from the forest. Death and misfortune stroke the people of Dudleytown well over the 20^th Century.

So, is Dudleytown really haunted? It seems that everyone has a different opinion on this matter. But the many photographs taken by different tourists seem to suggest it is!!

The Lemp Mansion Located in St. Louis, Missouri

2008-07-01T03:14:00.000-07:00

The Lemp Mansion is one of the most haunted places in America. The story begins in the 1800s. A nice gentleman called John Adam Lemp came to America from Germany and settle his nest in Saint Louis, Missouri, a peaceful town at the time. He became a grocer and his store soon became very popular, quite a success, for a little immigrant, don’t you think? But it did not become popular because of its groceries but because of its beers. Germany is the country of beer. John Lemp brewed a full-bodied larger beer, a new taste for the American people. it was a light golden beer and was very different from the ones you can find at the time and from the English Ales. Then Lemp decided to leave the grocery business and devote his time entirely to the beer manufacture, which made him a millionaire. Cool, I would like to be a millionaire too, pretty nice way to make it to the top.

After his father died, John Adam Lemp built the business even more and became very famous. He built a brewery that was so big that it covered almost 5 blocks. By 1970, the Lemp brewery was the largest in St. Louis. In 1876, John Lemp bought a mansion that his father-in-law built. The mansion was so huge –hey, I would not mind having one like that, without the ghost of course – that it was occupied by the family but served as well as an office for the brewery company. He thought it was not big enough so he expanded it to make it a 33 room Victorian beautiful house. The decor of the mansion was odd in many ways. The atrium was decorated in a jungle theme, and in this room they kept exotic plants and animals. You had better need a map if you don’t want to get lost in there. A bunch of tunnel were built underground that would connect the house and the brewery. William Lemp Jr. son of John Lemp, constructed a ballroom, auditorium and swimming pool in these tunnels, that’s it? William J. Lemp was the first member of the Lemp family to live there.

Lemp beer was one of the great financial success stories in America. William Lemp, Sr. taught the business to his favorite son, Frederick, unfortunately, the long, hard work hours proved too much for Frederick Lemp and he died from heart failure in 1901 at the age of 28. His father was heart-broken and never recovered from his loss. He became a hermit, very few public appearances and used the tunnels for his daily trips from the mansion to the brewery. Just three years later, William J. Lemp, Sr. shot himself in his office at the mansion.

The paranormal events in the mansion started in 1977 when the house was sold. When renovation began to make the Lemp mansion into a bed and breakfast, workers were disturbed by inexplicable banging noises and objects moving about on their own, boo, spooky. Who wants to see a flying object anyway! What was most disturbing was the creepy sensation that they were being watched. Some of the men claimed that the unseen stares practically burned through them. Today visitors say they see strange lights and feel cold spots.

Well if you want to know more about this story, you can always go there, stay in one of the rooms and see what happens…..chilly…

Gettysburg Battlefield, in southern Pennsylvania

2008-07-01T03:13:00.000-07:00

Gettysburg a small town located in Pennsylvania is a historical landmark just at itself and is known to be one of the most haunted places in America. Give me a break! The battlefield is famous and will remain so for decades. The battle took place during the civil war in the United States, between the South and the North and has cost the lives of 48,000 brave soldiers. Many people believe that the Gettysburg battlefield is haunted by the souls of dead soldiers. Come on, is this for real?

The pall of gunfire and the smell of death hung heavy over Gettysburg at the end of the day on July 3, 1863. Tourists visiting the battlefield say they have experienced or seen paranormal activity, such as an energy orange light moving in the air. Are you sure it’s a ghost? Maybe somebody is having fun with people! However, the battlefield is not the only place that seems to be haunted by soldiers. The Cashtown Inn has its reputation as well.

During the Civil war, the ghost of an unidentified soldier has been seen walking the halls of the inn. People have heard his footstep in the attic, and he likes to knock on the door of Room Number 4 in the middle of the night. Boo, I would not sleep in this room, that’s for sure, a ghostly visitor? No thanks. The spirit was very active when the inn was undergoing restoration, but he still makes himself known when summer comes around, especially around the end of June and early July. Well, maybe he just wants to get a suntan! Another "ghost" or perhaps the same, had been seen in Room Number 4, I think it’s the same unless he has buddies; or standing in the one doorway that leads into the area behind the bar. "He" might have been caught, accidentally or because he chose to be, in a famous photograph of the front of the Inn. This picture was taken in the late 1890s, which apparently shows a man wearing what looks like a floppy, "slouch" hat-popular with Confederate soldiers-and an oversized shell jacket of the Southern infantry, because, as if appearing in an old 1860s style photo, he does not appear very clearly and is out of focus. Check your camera dude.

This Inn is not the only hotel haunted by dead soldier souls wandering around; I guess they are stuck between two worlds. The Farnsworth House Inn on Baltimore Street has a long, and some say haunted, history in Gettysburg. The original part of this house was built in 1810 and a brick portion was added in 1833. The house was built by John McFarland. The Sweney family occupied the premises during the Civil War battle, and then it was later opened as an Inn in the early 1900’s.

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, near Midlothian, Illinois

2008-07-01T03:12:00.000-07:00

Bachelor’s Grove is one of the most haunted cemeteries in the United States. Located near the south suburbs of Chicago on the edge of the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, Midlothian, Illinois the cemetery is abandoned and dishevelled. Ooohh…Spooky. For sure I will not go there, especially at night, no ghost for me. The name Bachelor’s Grove came from the fact that a lot of single men were living in the area and no one has been buried in there since the 1960s. Among the ghosts that are haunting this charming place are; a farmer with his horse pulling a plough, (whom drowned in a river), the White Lady who appears only during full moon, sure like the wolf and all, and of course a lot of mobsters and murder victims from the 1920s Chicago.

A lot of strange paranormal phenomena have been reported such as actual apparitions, unexplained sights and sounds and even glowing balls of light. But even the day one can feel some kind of presence, really frightening! Well at least one won’t be in the dark to find the way! The haunted history of the Bachelor’s Grove cemetery began in 1844 when the area was left behind as a burial ground, first called "Everdon's". It was actually the first burial in the cemetery and has been used until 1965, when things began to drift off until 1989 when another burial occurred, the ashes of a local were interred.

It is in the mid 1880’s that the cemetery was known at Bachelor’s Grove and has around 125 people buried in it. But problems began when the road leading to the cemetery became a popular “lover’s lane”, quite a charming place for a romantic date, don’t you think? Anyway, in 1965, it was closed because of the way it was left abandoned and forgotten, but this was only the beginning. People say that things have gotten worse and that satanic and occultists groups perform ceremonies, leaving behind them the remains of their Satanism, even Vandals have left few of the graves still standing and many tombstones have been stolen and stories report that the graves move by themselves.

To enter Bachelor’s Grove cemetery, you have to take a small gravel trail away from the turnpike, are you sure you want to go there? Beware of the spooky ghosts! It is on this small road that people have reported that they saw a white farmhouse that appears and disappears. The house is always described in the same way by visitors, as a white house with porch pillars, a swing and a soft light burning in the window, but it never stays in the same place and the house have been seen during daylight and night but there is no historical record stating that a house was ever being built there. Oohhh, strange…

The most famous ghost reported is the one of the farmer and his horse whom two forest rangers have spotted guiding his horse and plough more than one hundred years later. So, are you up for a little fright? You want a romantic date with your loved one, why not surprise her and take her to Bachelor’s Grove, I’m sure she’ll like it! Just be ready to spend a lot of night outside on the porch!

The Tower of London

2008-02-23T00:30:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-23T00:24:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-23T00:17:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-23T00:10:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-23T00:07:00.001-08:00

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

2008-02-22T23:42:00.000-08:00

"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)

2008-02-22T20:58:00.000-08:00

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.

2007-08-14T05:03:00.000-07:00

Love me to death

2006-11-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

There I was, alone, crying, leaning over Tushar’s grave, my best buddy’s grave. How could this have happened? Just a day before, he was so happy. He was in love and was ecstatic about it. He was going to ask his beloved to marry him. He was going to meet her when a speeding car hit him and he died instantly. The bouquet of roses he was carrying for her lay by the side of his lifeless body. It was a pitiable sight. Sadly enough, I think his beloved didn’t get the news of his death because I didn’t find any woman whom I hadn’t seen before, at his funeral.Each day after work, I would go to the cemetery to put flowers on his grave. I would sit beside his grave and cry. I had lost all interest in life. I felt like the loneliest person on earth. God had taken away the only person whom I cared for the most in the world. He had never been good to me. If anything bad could happen, it always happened to me. I didn’t have the slightest idea that things could get any worse than this.One day, I got an unexpected call at my apartment.“Am I speaking to Mr. Aditya?” asked a female voice. “Yes, this is Aditya speaking.”“Hi, my name is Alizee. I am…I mean I was Tushar’s girlfriend,” she said in an undertone.“Oh! So you came to know about it?” “Yeah, I was there at the funeral.”“Were you? I didn’t see you,” I said.“I know. I didn’t let myself be seen. Anyway, Tushar spoke very highly of you. I would love to meet you. Would you?”“Yeah sure,” I said. “I wish we had met before. Tushar hardly spoke about you with me although he had told me that the two of you used to meet at Hudson Park quite often.”“That’s right. So when can we meet?” she asked.“Let’s meet at Hudson Park then. Would tomorrow at four be fine with you?”“That would be great. See you then, bye,” saying this she hung up.There was no number on the caller ID.I couldn’t sleep that night. Due to some unknown reason, I felt excited on the thought of meeting her. I felt it strange myself. I kept on thinking about the conversation I’d had with Alizee. Even the next day, I couldn’t concentrate on my work. I left for home early. Sitting there on the sofa, I felt restless. I had never had any urge to meet Tushar's girlfriend before. I didn’t even know her name until Alizee called. I couldn’t understand why this was happening. Somehow I knew that I would enjoy spending time with her. Each minute seemed like hours. Finally it was time for me to go. I set out for Hudson Park. It was quite close to our apartment, even visible from the balcony. A sudden thought struck my mind. What was I doing? My best friend had died just a few days ago and I was going to meet his girlfriend. I was supposed to be sad, but I felt happy. I couldn’t do this. My conscience was pricking me. I could see Hudson Park from where I stood but my legs wouldn’t move further. Instead, I turned back and came back home.The next day she called.“I knew you wouldn’t come. Your conscience was pricking you I suppose?”“How did you know?” I asked.“It was just a guess. Aditya, there’s nothing wrong in us meeting. At least we can meet to share our sorrow on losing Tushar. Would you want to meet now?”“Alright, I’ll be there this time. I promise,” I said.“That’s better. Same place, same time. I’ll be waiting. Bye.”There was no number on the caller ID.I didn’t know what was happening to me. I was supposed to be melancholy but was feeling happy instead. Maybe it was because of Alizee. There was something in her voice that told me I wouldn’t regret meeting her. This was the first time I had been genuinely interested in a girl. It wasn’t that I was homosexual; it was just that I had never come across my kind of girl and somehow I knew that Alizee would be the perfect definition of my kind of girl. I reached Hudson Park at five minutes to four and waited. As I stood there, I heard a voice call me from behind. When I turned, I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my entire life. She was literally an angel. I was amazed by her beauty.“Hi, Adi,” she said.I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. She was so beautiful, I was mesmerized. She was a beautiful woman with beautiful features; long blonde hair, an almond shaped face, bright pink lips and big blue eyes. Her eyes were the most attractive. I had to say it, I couldn’t stop myself. When I spoke, I found I was stammering. “You’re the most beautiful piece of art I have ever seen.” She started to laugh. The sound of her laughter was like violins playing. “I know. Tushar used to say so too.” Saying this she stopped laughing. A tinge of sadness came over her face. Sadness didn’t suit her at all. I suggested we sit somewhere. We sat down on a bench under a tree. For a while none of us spoke. I had no idea what to talk about. I wanted to talk to her, to know her but I didn’t know where to start. Then she spoke. “Tushar and I used to sit at this very bench.” I didn’t know how to respond to that statement. Should I talk to her about Tushar and make us both feel uncomfortable or should I talk to her about something else and make her feel as if I was trying to take her mind off of Tushar? I thought over and said. “You really loved him a lot, didn’t you?”“Not as much as he loved me,” she said.Silence took most of our time. But whenever we spoke, it was as if I had known her for years. In order to break the awkward silence, I started talking about mundane things that had no significance in any conversation. Gradually, both of us got comfortable and we got a rhythm going. None of us had any idea of the time when we decided to leave. As she was about to leave, I asked her, “Alizee, can I have your number?” “I’ll call you,” she said and smiled. As I watched her go, I felt a sudden attachment to her. I felt fear of losing her, even though she wasn’t mine yet.That night I had never felt so restless before. I kept tossing and turning in my bed for what seemed like hours when I finally couldn’t take it anymore and got up and went to the balcony. The night was cool and everything was quiet. It was around 3 A.M. The streetlights were still on and I could see the moonlight illuminating Hudson Park. The sound of her voice still echoed in my ears. Why was it that I couldn’t stop thinking about her? I had never felt this way before. Could it be love? I had just met her. How could I love her? I shouldn’t be thinking this. She was Tushar's girlfriend. This is not right. In order to calm myself, I decided to take a walk in the park. I went down the stairs quietly not wanting to wake anyone up and headed towards Hudson Park. I went and sat on the same bench Alizee and I were sitting in the evening. But this time I sat where she had been sitting. I felt a rush of warmth running through my body. ‘Why is this happening to me?’ I thought. I wanted to stop this feeling. I wanted to run away from it. I got up and ran...but the feeling seemed to follow me like my shadow.I kept running and finally stopped when my legs gave way. From where I stood now, I could see the entrance to the cemetery; the cemetery where Tushar was buried. I felt guilty. I had forgotten all about him since I met her. I went into the cemetery and stopped at his grave. I bent down on my knees and tears rolled down my eyes. “Why did you go away? Look what you’ve done to me! Why did you leave me, leave her? Don’t you see? I want to love her, but I can’t! I have never felt like this and you know it! Do something! Help me! Help me.” and my words slowly blended away into the silence. My whole face was wet with tears. I hadn’t cried this much ever before, not even at Tushar's funeral. The thought kept sinking into me. I loved her, I really did. I got up to go back home. As I started walking, my foot hit something and I stumbled, falling on the grave next to Tushar’s. The tombstone was engraved with the following – ELIZABETH TAYLOR1979-2002“I Died For Love”“That’s exactly what happens when you love someone. It hurts, it hurts so much,” I said to myself. “I understand how it feels to have died for love. I've never done so, but trust me; I really know how it feels,” I said looking at the grave as if I was speaking to Elizabeth herself. I wiped off the tears from my face and headed back home. I was determined now that I would love Alizee no matter what. I would make her forget that she had ever loved someone named Tushar. I would love her so much that she would forget what sadness was.The next day, I was too depressed to go to work. The whole morning, I stood at the balcony staring towards the cemetery, pondering over what I had promised myself the previous night. Would I be able to love her as much as I expected myself to? Would she understand that I was ready to love her despite all odds? Would she by any chance be able to love me back after all that she has gone through? All these thoughts kept disturbing me. Since morning I was hoping that she would call me up. It was around noon when she finally did.“Listen Alizee, I need to talk to you about something; something very important for me and maybe for you too,” I said.There was silence from her side for a while, and then she said, “I’m coming to your place.”Before I could give her the address, she hung up. Maybe Tushar had given it to her earlier. Around fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang. It was her. She looked beautiful as usual.“What was it that you wanted to talk about?” she inquired.“Just…sit down, Alizee.”She sat down on the couch and I sat down next to her. I didn’t know how to start. After much brain storming, I finally spoke.“Well, I know this might sound stupid, but I think I’m in love with you,” I blurted out. I was feeling very awkward and I could see that even she was feeling a bit like me. There was a look of what seemed like surprise mixed with fear on her face. “I know I’m being unreasonable…” I continued, “…You will say that it’s been just a few days that we have known each other but to tell the truth, even I’m not sure why I’m feeling like this. I have never felt like this before. I know it must be very difficult for you to understand this. You still haven’t been able to get over Tushar's loss. I know he was a great person to be in love with. He would’ve kept you very happy. But you must realize the fact that he's gone and he's never coming back. Let bygones be bygones. And I believe that I can love you as much as he did, if not more. I’m not asking you to agree with whatever I’m saying. I won’t force you. It’s entirely up to you. It’s just that I want to see you happy and I know that I can give you that happiness.”As I stopped speaking, I saw a tear roll down her cheek.“Adi, it’s very difficult me right now. I’ve tired to get over Tushar but my wounds are still fresh. I need time and I don’t know how much. I like you, I like you a lot. But I don’t know if I’ll ever fall in love with you. I hope you understand,” she said softly.“It’s alright, Alizee. I understand how you are feeling right now. I’ll give you enough time. Starting right now, I give you…” she looked at me inquiringly. “…your whole life to think about it,” I concluded. A smile appeared on her face. She wiped off her tears and hugged me. Then she proceeded towards the door.“Can I call you now?” I asked, hoping to get her number this time.“I’ll call you.”That night I had a strange dream. I saw Tushar standing by the side of a road. There is a bouquet of roses in his hand. The bouquet bears a name tag. He waves to a woman on the other side of the road, Alizee. She waves back. Tushar starts crossing the road. Suddenly the name tag falls off. Tushar stops and bends down to pick it up. I could see that something was written on it in Tushar's handwriting but I couldn’t make out what it was. Just then I hear the sound of a car horn and as Tushar turned, I woke up. I was sweating from head to toe. Had I just seen the last few moments of Tushar's life? How was this possible? Was this some kind of sign from Tushar that he had heard what I had told him that night? But what puzzled me the most was what was written on the name tag. It must've been addressed to Alizee because the roses were for her. But there was no name tag at the accident scene. There had to be some logical explanation for all this. But then again, it was just a dream.The next day, Alizee called in the evening.“Can we meet in the park?” she asked.“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” I said and ran for the park. When I reached there, she was already waiting for me.“How did you get here so quickly?” I asked her.“I live nearby,” was her quick reply.We sat down on that very same bench we had sat before and chatted for hours. I was waiting for the moment when she would confess that she loved me too but it didn’t come that evening. When it was time to go home, I again asked her for her number even though I knew what her answer would be.“I’ll call you.”Why wasn’t she giving me her number? Why wouldn’t her number flash on the caller ID? I didn’t see her at the funeral, yet she said she was there. How could she reach Hudson Park so quickly? And the name tag? I had so many questions but no answers. There was definitely something that she wasn’t telling me.Days turned to weeks and weeks into months. We met each other often but that fateful moment never came when she would confess her love for me. Meanwhile, my suspicions kept on increasing. What they were pointing to was quite impossible. I sometimes went to the cemetery to put flowers on Tushar's grave and sometimes on Elizabeth Taylor’s grave too. It was she who had taught me to love beyond reason.Six months went by and I was losing hope now. I knew that it was good for me if she never confessed her love for me but somehow I couldn’t agree with myself. I was at war with myself. On one side, I was aware of the consequences if she confessed her love for me and on the other side I was also aware that if she didn’t, I would surely die without her. Either way, I was at loss. So I decided that the time had finally come to confront her. It was now or never. I knew what I had to do. That evening when she called, I told her this – “Alizee, I’ve waited enough and I can’t take it anymore. I know why you never gave me your number. I know why whenever you call, there’s no number on the caller ID and I know why you reach Hudson Park so quickly. I know that you love me, and I know what will happen when you confess your love but I don’t care anymore. I want to know the truth right now. Meet me at Hudson Park in fifteen minutes” and I hung up. I had a last look at the photograph of Tushar and me on the side-table. We had had it taken just a few months before his death. I cried thinking of what was to happen while I headed towards Hudson Park.When I reached the entrance to Hudson Park, I saw Alizee already waiting for me, just as I had expected. Suddenly, a vision flashed through my mind. It was as if I was having that dream again. I realized this was the place I had seen in my dream, the entrance to Hudson Park. Amazingly, I was standing at the exact place where Tushar had been standing in my dream. The only difference was that there were no roses in my hand. I started crossing the road to get to Alizee. And in my vision, Tushar is crossing the road. Then the name tag slips off. He bends down to pick it up. This time I see what’s written clearly-‘To Elizabeth Taylor, the love of my life.I love youTushar’Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle were complete. I was right. I was in love with a dead woman, a spirit. Tushar had come to know the same thing too. Maybe that’s why he wouldn’t speak of her much. Maybe that’s why he had to die. Maybe I was supposed to die too. She was there at the funeral, the grave right beside Tushar. I looked up at Alizee standing on the side of the road. She had tears in her eyes. I wondered why she was crying. It was I who should be crying. Just then I heard the sound of a car horn behind me and as I turned, the last thing I remembered seeing was a car speeding towards me.