Ghost Stories and other haunting tales

[mustang84]

I've always liked listening to ghost stories ever since I was a little kid. I've never actually seen a ghost before or had any ghostly encounters, but they still intrigue me.

It's said that late at night here at ISU in the Memorial Union, you can hear low moans in the Great Hall, which has names inscribed upon its marble walls of Iowans who died in WWI and WWII. I haven't actually noticed any noises, but sometimes when passing through there late at night you can feel a slight breeze even though the doors are closed.

--------

Also, near the town of Mount Ayr in southern Iowa, there is a small cemetery in the middle of a grove of trees called Tedrow Cemetery. Most of the graves are from the late 1800s when this area was first being settled. A man named Cylus Tedrow haunts the cemetery, a late night guardian against curious visitors. Legend says that he was an evil man that led a small cult who would do rituals in these woods late at night. Somehow he was murdered and his coffin was placed on top of a tree for all to see.

Anyway, if you go to this cemetery at night, you will hear moaning coming from the woods and sounds like a sheet of metal being banged against a tree. If you traveled by car, your car may not start if you are parked within the gates. And apparently if you don't leave fast enough, the ghost of Cylus will follow you around throughout the night. It is said that his dark figure can be seen in the woods, with glowing eyes and holding a blue lantern.

Edited March 12, 2006 by mustang84

[NOS2006]

That $h!'s scary.

My mom's told me some wicked ass $h! that scares the hell out of me.

[mustang84]

Here's another famous one I forgot, the Villisca Axe Murders house in Villisca, Iowa.

One the morning of June 10, 1912, a small community in Villisca, Iowa awoke to find 8 of their own had been brutally murdered by an axe during the middle of the night. What once had been a peaceful community where everyone knew and trusted their neighbors, attended church together and left doors unlocked, changed forever on that bloody morning.

Joe B Moore (43), his wife Sarah (39), their four children, Herman (11), Katherine (10), Boyd (7), Paul (5) and two visiting children, Lena (11) and Ina ( 8 ) Stillinger were found in the early morning hours of June 10. All had been brutally murdered while they slept in their beds sometime between the hours of 12:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. They had attended Children's Day at their local church and arrived home about 11:00 p.m. the night before.

After the bodies were discovered and law enforcement arrived, the law quickly discovered that they had already lost control of the crime scene. Neighbors had already filed into the house to witness the carnage and contaminated any evidence that might have been useful. The murderer/murderers had covered all the windows and mirrors of the home, and had covered the victims with blankets and clothing. A long, black handled axe lay against the wall in the downstairs sewing room where Lena and Ina lay. The mutilation of Lena and Ina was so severe that they were identified by their personal Bibles which were left on the dresser in their room. A bloody pan of water was found in the kitchen along with a half eaten meal. Kerosene lamps were carefully placed at the foot of each bed in both the parent's room and the sewing room. The chimneys of the lamps had been discarded and the wicks turned back.

Neighbors and law enforcement began to compile a list of suspects. No longer were doors left unlocked and everyone began keeping vigils at night to ensure the safety of their families. Accusations, rumors, and suspicion ran rampant. The state and neighboring counties sent in law enforcement agencies to assist with the thousands of interviews that took place, but the crime was never solved.

One of the prime suspects of the murders became Frank Jones, a very wealthy and powerful businessman. He was also a State Senator and very involved in politics. Joe Moore was once employed by Frank Jones but quit that job to open his own business. Jones and Moore soon became bitter business rivals. It was also rumored that Joe Moore was having an affair with the Senator's daughter-in-law, Dona and this further aroused suspicion.

Another prime suspect was Reverend Lyn George Jacklin Kelly who was a traveling minister, a peeping tom and a man with peculiar habits.  He had attended the Children's Day Services at the Moore's church on the night of the murders. He boarded a train during the early morning hours of June 10 and it was reported by an elderly couple, also on the train, that he talked about the murders before the bodies were discovered. Rev. Kelly confessed to the murders several years later, but charges were dropped after one trial ended in a hung jury and the 2nd jury acquitted him.

William Mansfield also became a suspect. He had recently been released from prison and was known to have associations with the other criminals. He became a suspect when his own wife, his infant daughter and his in-laws were murdered by an axe in Blue Island, Illinois in 1914. The murder scene in Blue Island was very similar to the Villisca murders. It was rumored that Mansfield was hired by Frank Jones. Similar axe murders had occurred in Kansas and Colorado in which Mansfield could be placed in these locations on the nights of those murders.

The house was originally built in 1868 and became the home of the Joe Moore family in 1903. Since the murders, ownership has changed hands several times. It was purchased by Darwin and Martha Linn in 1994 who have returned it to its original condition. All electricity and plumbing have been removed. Period furniture has been bought and placed as closely as possible to their reported positions on the night of the murders. Recent renovations have sparked reports of paranormal activity and have stirred an interest both locally and nationally. The house remains vacant but lamplight tours and overnights are available by appointment.

Edited March 12, 2006 by mustang84

[NOS2006]

Thanks for the pictures. I can't wait to go to bed now.

[capriceman]

I had so crazy stuff happen and witnessed....

ill tell about my house later. if i feel like it.

My uncles old house in Brooklyn, MI. a plan crashed trying to make an emergency landing on to the lake a block away from it. the plane crashed in the yard killing the piolit and passenger(s). thats supposedly the Explantion.

The things that happened that you can or can not belive it still just freaks me out.

Well he used to hold partys and stuff. On the coffe table there are usally peanuts and M & M's on it. The table doesn't rock and seems pretty level. Somtimes youll look and you see the bowl slide. The book shelf right next to it holds more novelty stuff then books but if you set your beer there or somthing and come back to get it it'll be pushed to the back or on a different shelf. but the items always move the same way towards the back of the house, the same way as the lake.

The pool table in the basement, you leave to go eat or B.S. and come back to finsh the game and the balls are moved around and the sticks are leaning against the water softner thing (its in the same room). The TV used to wander channels not in the broken tv way either. you''ll see this in the corner of the screen. 25, --, -3, 38, as if the channel was selected by the remote. problem is the remote lies broken resting on top of the T.V. no batteries in it. The Air hokey table. Will not work if its next to the north wall, but works every where out. And under the "vistor side" left circle never has a air flow even tho its been cleaned several times. His cats and dogs would somtimes be distracted and stare or bark to the 2nd story of the house.

In photos taken always next to the piano in the living room all have a cloudy thing in the left corner.

Home video camera's caught some crazy whiteish ball chillin in the living room. but the tapes usally end up not recording or the batteries die. I ll post some other stuff later.

Let there be skeptics, but i try not to belive but what i witnessed makes me think other.

[trinacriabob]

And it isn't even Halloween. Just before midnight PST and I come home to this.

At any rate, I can think of two:

1)

The Tate-LaBianca murders in L.A. perpetrated by the Manson clan. If you pick up that paperback and flip to the middle section where they have the B&W crime pictures, it really gives you a shudder or two or three or four. How those sickos (Manson et. al.) are still allowed to live is beyond me. The weird thing is that those houses (prime real estate) have sold and sold again. I don't think I could live there, no matter how nice. In fact, I know I couldn't live there.

2)

This one is really weird. I was a little kid. I didn't see it but there was a lot of fuss in the neighborhood we lived in on one fine L.A. morning. Could you imagine going out to get your morning L.A. Times and finding a body slumped up against the tree in the lawn strip between the sidewalk and the curb? Well, that was the case for one of our neighbors. Our street was heavily treed and was fairly dark at night. Apparently, a bludgeoning victim was "done in" elsewhere and "dropped off" in our neighborhood. Walking by that tree gave me the creeps.

Mustang, too much work in studio that you think of these topics? Cheer up, Spring Break is just around the corner!

[Nick]

What the hell is with all the scary stories tonight?!

I just got done reading through a thread on the Bimmer forums I go to about scary stories some of the members had...scared the crap outta me...

[ocnblu]

I love this kind of stuff. It's always fun to speculate. The house I grew up in was supposedly haunted. I never saw anything, but my mom and one aunt both were visited by something in the middle of the night, something standing at the foot of the bed (this happened on different occasions, in two different bedrooms). They said they awoke to a feeling they were being watched...

[Charger4U]

Im so sure my 110 year old house is haunted. Really late at night it sounds as if somebody is walking up my creeky stairs, numerous times. It really scares me when i hear that and im on my computer which is right above the stairs, sure makes the hair on my neck rise. Another thing i hear late at night is what sounds exactly like clanging dishes, which again scares me.

Edited March 12, 2006 by Charger4U

[capriceman]

Im so sure my 110 year old house is haunted. Really late at night it sounds as if somebody is walking up my creeky stairs, numerous times. It really scares me when i hear that and im on my computer which is right above the stairs, sure makes the hair on my neck rise. Another thing i hear late at night is what sounds exactly like clanging dishes, which again scares me.

Sure its not a Foundation problem?

[Charger4U]

my house has an evrything problem! lol

[lauren]

This isn't scary ghost story, but a ghost story nonetheless.

My boyfriend, Graham, and I went to a nearby town called Marion to look at a car. The guy never showed up and couldn't be reached on his phone, so we decided to just forget about it and go to lunch. I think it was Sunday because not a lot was open, except this cute little cafe and chocolate shop. It was a really old building but had been decorated with a lot of crappy murals of jazz singers and plastic Marilyn Monroe statues and plates...

After lunch Graham went to use the bathroom and he was washing his hands and something bumped up against him on this thigh pretty hard. He thought he had hit a towel rack or something, but there was nothing in the vicinity that he could have touched.

When he told me about it, I asked the waiter if the place was haunted, and his eyes got really big and he said "YEAH! In fact, it used to be so bad we had the place excorsized before we moved everything in!" He looked a little freaked out, but it was all pretty funny...Graham got ghostmolested

In my house in Clearwater, which was one of those old CBS 50s style Florida houses, I used to see this old woman in a flowery dress standing over my bed looking at me sometimes when it was late at night. My mom swears that the old woman who used to live in the house always wore this flowery mumu...but I'm prone to think that it was just my imagination. Ya never know though...

Th Grove Park Inn is a huge hotel and resort that is located in Asheville...This story comes from there:

A mysterious Pink Lady has been seen, felt and experienced by hotel employees and guests at The Grove Park Inn Resort in Asheville for more than three quarters of a century. Around 1920, a young woman dressed in pink fell to her death at the hotel's Palm Court Atrium. Separate accounts of unexplained severe cold chills in Room 545 and an apparition in a dense pink smoke, said to be a very gentle spirit, have been reported ever since.

When I worked at the Biltmore for a short time, we would get questions like "Is this place haunted?" Because it's an old creepy castle thing...but no one ever died there in all the years it's been in existance. Not even the owners were in the house when they died. However, some of the guides say that there is a ghost dog in the house...but they say a lot of things...

[Charger4U]

here is a piece on the Bullock Hotel down the street.

"The hotel was founded by Seth Bullock, Deadwood's first sheriff, and he has never left. His ghost walks the halls. Bullock was sheriff in the 1870s and died here in 1919 but was never really laid to rest. He was the sheriff "whose gaze could stop fights." Since then, nearly three dozen people have seen his ghost. These include guests, employees, and managers of the hotel."

here is a longer story

1876 saw the arrival of Seth Bullock and Sol Star to Deadwood, South Dakota. Moving their hardware store from Helena, Montana, they came in a an ox-drawn wagon piled high with mining equipment, dutch ovens, frying pans and chamber pots. On the very night they arrived in the camp, Bullock began to auction equipment and supplies to the highest bidder. That was the beginning of their successful hardware store business. Soon they bought a lot on the corner of Main and Wall Street (the current site of the Bullock Hotel) and within a year the partners built a new store and warehouse.

Bullock had been sheriff in Lewis and Clark County before his arrival in Deadwood. After the death of Wild Bill Hickok in August, 1876 the camp began to demand law and order, which resulted in Bullock’s appointment as the first Sheriff of Deadwood a few months later.

Tall with steely gray eyes, Bullock had an imposing appearance that commanded instant respect. His grandson would say of him later, "He could outstare a mad cobra or a rogue elephant."

Bullock was undaunted by Deadwood's lawless and dangerous nature and wasted no time appointing several fearless deputies to help him “clean up” the town. Before long, order had been established in the former hell-raising camp.

In the meantime, the hardware store continued to thrive. The rear east side of the building was utilized as a warehouse and the front part of the building as a the hardware store. In 1879 the building survived a fire and the hardware store continued to prosper. However, in 1894 the building was again struck by fire and Bullock decided to build Deadwood's first hotel over the original store and warehouse. The original hotel had 64 rooms and boasted a bathroom on each floor. In no time at all, the hotel was the most sought after luxury hotel of its time. A small building adjoined on the South side of the hotel was obtained by Bullock in 1900 and now is part of the Hotel.

Seth Bullock died of cancer in September 1919 in room 211 of the Bullock Hotel. He was buried on the high trail to White Rocks above Mount Moriah Cemetery. The gravesite, facing toward Mount Roosevelt across the gulch, was selected for its view of Friendship Tower, a view since obscured by a half-century growth of ponderosa pines.

However, according to dozens of reports, Seth Bullock continues to play host at his beloved hotel. All manner of strange occurrences have happened at the historic hotel according to both staff and guests. Reports include feelings of a strong paranormal presence inside several of the rooms and in the hallways of the second and third floors, as well as in Bully’s restaurant.

Others have reported actually seeing the tall ghostly figure of Bullock in various areas of the hotel, again, including the restaurant. Apparently Seth’s ghost wants to ensure that the staff is working hard, as paranormal events tend to increase when staff members stand idle, whistle or hum a tune. Plates and glasses have been known to shake and take flight in the restaurant, lights and appliances turn on and off by themselves, items are inexplicably moved by unseen hands, and showers turn on, seemingly of their own accord.

Many guests have reported hearing their name called out by a male voice when no one is present, or have been tapped on the shoulder by unseen hands. Others have heard whistling and many report the sounds of footsteps in the hallways when no one is there.

In the Bullock Suite, room #305, an antique clock that has not functioned for years will often chime when staff members come in to clean the room.

In Room #211 guests report that photographs taken in the room often produce strange anomalies. In one photograph a white cloudy figure can be seen hovering over the bed.

The Bullock Hotel has been the subject of the popular TV show Unsolved Mysteries.

Over the years the historic Bullock Hotel has undergone several renovations to upgrade the hotel with modern amenities; however, it loyally maintains its historic appearance and grandeur.

Today the hotel is the most photographed building in Deadwood and still provides the most luxurious historical accommodations in the area. The Historic Bullock Hotel & Casino offers historic deluxe accommodations, 24-hour gaming action, the Gentlemen's Bar, fine dining at Bully's Restaurant, and Seth’s Cellar for weddings, meetings, banquets and more.

here is the picture of the bullock hotel,

Edited March 12, 2006 by Charger4U

[trinacriabob]

here is a piece on the Bullock Hotel down the street.

"The hotel was founded by Seth Bullock, Deadwood's first sheriff, and he has never left. His ghost walks the halls. Bullock was sheriff in the 1870s and died here in 1919 but was never really laid to rest. He was the sheriff "whose gaze could stop fights." Since then, nearly three dozen people have seen his ghost. These include guests, employees, and managers of the hotel."

Hey, Chargerino - that's a neat piece of Romanesque architecture one sees in the West...often in mining and Gold Rush towns, stretching all the way to Northern California. And those trees behind it, it looks very scenic. Evidently, you live in a very picturesque area.

Edited March 12, 2006 by trinacriabob

[Charger4U]

yes i live in the Black Hills of SD. More pretty pics like that lie in the first post of this thread http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index...?showtopic=6762

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Well, just look to the left to see where I live.

Bobby Mackey's Music World. Does this ring a bell to you? Probably not, but it does have an interesting tale to tell...

In Wilder, KY, just across the Kentucky border from Cincinnati, lies Bobby Mackey’s Music World, a nightclub that some have called Kentucky's most haunted location.

The building was built in the 1850’s as a slaughterhouse and meat packing plant. The well in the basement, where blood from the animals was drained, still can be found there. After the slaughterhouse closed, the building became a ritual site for occultists who supposedly sacrificed animals there. The occult group's activities were exposed in 1896 during a spectacular murder trial that made national headlines.

A young woman named Pearl Bryan, pregnant by the son of a minister, sought an abortion from a Cincinnati medical student named Scott Jackson, who was allegedly a member of the Wilder, KY occult group. Jackson knew very little about how to perform an abortion and ended up only mutilating the girl horribly. Jackson and the minister's son, Alonzo Walling, ended up murdering the girl by severing her head, not far from the abandoned slaughterhouse. The men were eventually caught but never revealed what they did with the head. They were offered a deal to avoid being executed if they would reveal the head's location, yet strangely, they refused and took their secret to their graves.

During the 1920s to the 1970s, the place was inhabited by a number of sleazy nightclubs, and several murders took place here over the years, including a pregnant stripper named Johana who committed suicide on the premises in the late 1930s. In 1978, it became Bobby Mackey's Music World. People have had every type of ghost experience here, from hearing noises and screams, to objects being moved, to actual sightings.

Also, the place has been featured on the Travel Channel along with a book that states the following...

In 1991, there was an exorcism of a nightclub in Wilder,

Kentucky........ Claude Lawson claimed that the owner of

Music World - Bobby Mackey - was running a haunted

establishment and that he had been attacked by evil

spirits during the time he worked (and lived) there as a

caretaker.

It was a site for satanic activity and a cult murder in

1896 when the headless body of five-month-pregnant Pearl

Bryan was found. Two men - Alonzo Walling and Scott

Jackson - were arrested for murder after confessing to

the crime. Self-proclaimed devil worshippers and occultists,

they refused to tell investigating authorities the location

of Pearl Bryan's missing head, saying it would bring the

wrath of Satan upon them.

[capriceman]

http://theshadowlands.net/places/

scroll down they have a list of haunted places for your state then lookl at citys.

[lauren]

http://theshadowlands.net/places/

scroll down they have a list of haunted places for your state then lookl at citys.

that website has some scary stuff on it, but at least for Asheville, it's total crap. They have some nutso story about the Biltmore on there. George Vanderbilt never went "crazy", and must to the dismay of guests, there are no ghost stories save for that dog, but even thats made up by bored tour guides.

I used to work there, and had hoped there were some ghost stories, but really...there are none.

Oh well!

[Cory Wolfe]

Everyone must go to Gettysburg do one of those... um... you know... battle field tours or whatever they're called. Freaky stuff.

Anyways, around my area? I don't really know any off the top of my head... but I do know... you don't want to walk through Tait Road at night. That, too, is some freaky stuff. Even riding through it gives me the chills.

[MyerShift]

Never encountered anything odd, and I don't believe in this either. Until I experience something or see it myself, it'll be superstitious hoo-haw.

[capriceman]

Never encountered anything odd, and I don't believe in this either. Until I experience something or see it myself, it'll be superstitious hoo-haw.

I still dont want to belive it but the crap i have witnessed is so unexplainable. I am always skeptical. i even walk over were someone said the saw something and look and generaly look to see if there is something that caused it. I never try to make someone belive but i send them into my basement and they will not go back down there again unless im wiht them. they come up pale and i just whats wrong and they said what the F*CK is your problem! i would move man. Your house is haunted or somthing. I laugh and say dude its just in your head.

[tmp]

that website has some scary stuff on it, but at least for Asheville, it's total crap.

Oh well!

They have one for my neighborhood too:

Beverly Hills - Doheny Mansion - Night-shift groundskeepers will not stay employed, due to sounds, and screams inside the house. There are some sections that are gated and padlocked that have not been kept up in the home due to this.

This is pretty much crap, and the real story is better. Supposedly it is haunted. The original owner was the scion of the hugely wealthy Doheny family, and his dad built him this huge estate as a wedding gift. Mr. Doheny was shot to death by his male secretary (who then shot himself) in what was reported as a fight over money. But there were rumors that the secretary and Doheny were having an affair, and that Daddy found out and shot them both.

Mrs. Doheny lived there for about another 30 years or so, selling off the huge acreage in the backyard to a developer in the 50's to build the Trousdale Estates subdivision. When her children had moved on, she sold the estate and the reamining 18 acres to a Chicago businessman, who never moved in. In 60's the city of BH bought the site and put a reservoir on the upper part, keeping the grounds as a park. The house was used by the American Film Institute as a headquarters and is featured in tons of movies.

A creepy note- the police used the wrong type of tape when they taped the body: when the tape was removed, the finish on the floor came up, leaving the outline permanently visible. The floor was never refinished and the outline remains to this day.

Edited March 15, 2006 by tmp

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Some stuff on Gratz Park Inn here in Lexington.

The Gratz Park Inn is well-known as a haunted spot in Lexington, mainly for the reports of the ghost of the little girl who appears in the hallways playing jacks. The employees there are by now accustomed to guests mentioning the cute little girl in 1800's clothing wandering around, who are horrified when they are told of the ghost legend.

Though the ghost stories are a significant part of what interests people in Gratz Park Inn, their website opts not to bring the matter up.

[Mach5GTP]

This is a story my dad told us from his childhood.

When he was very young, say, 5, he had a grandmother that he was very close too. When she came to visit, my dad would invariably be playing on the floor of the house. She would just come up behind him, pat him gently on the head, and go on her way.

One night she fell ill, and my dad was left at home with a relative while his parents went to the grandmother's bedside. Later that night, my dad was playing on the floor, when (as he would later tell his sitter) he heard a door open, footsteps come up behind him, and felt a gentle pat on the head. Unlike other times, he turned to look for his beloved grandmother, but there was no one there. He became frightened and ran to his sitter and told her what happened. She comforted him as best she could, not knowing what to say. Later still, his parents came home with the sad news- his grandmother had passed away earlier that night.

Another dad-related story: my own father died a mere 8 days before my first daughter was born. That week, my very pregnant wife was at the grocery store, when she was approached by an older Hispanic man. He very politely and directly told her, "You're going to have a 10-pound boy." He said little else, and walked away. Later that week, we did indeed have a 10lb baby- that it turned out to be a girl instead of a boy does nothing to change my opinion that the man who told my wife that was, somehow, my father's spirit (my father having also been an older Hispanic man).

During our daughter's first several months of life, I would be sitting with her on my lap, or in my arms, and she would suddenly turn and look at something behind me. She would focus all her attention, and smile very sweetly, for 30 seconds or so, sometimes even letting out a little giggle. Again, I know that was my dad, playing with his little grand-daughter- and she loving it.

[Mach5GTP]

Ooh, remembered something else: when I worked at EGS Electrical Group in Skokie, IL, a few years ago, there was a sort of walkout by the cleaning staff. Apparently, one night as they went about their business in the basement o fthe building, where the company's lab space was, they starting hearing muffled screams, and- get this- horses. They claimed to hear horses braying and hoof sounds. (Man, I'm getting chills writing this!) They refused to go back to the basement. Unfortunately, I never go to explore the issue, as I was unceremoniously laid off right around then.

Freaky!