Calling All Ghost Stories!

I love a good ghost story! I tried this a few years ago, but now that I'm juggling three blogs, I hope I will get responses this go around.

So, got a good ghost story? Maybe it's something that happened to you. Or to your roommate's cousin's dog's trainer's mother. Or perhaps it is town legend.

Whatever it might be, please share!

Thanks!

XO

AB

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

I love a good ghost story.

I love them so much, I go on ghost tours. I also buy books from areas I've been to about their haunted locations--the Virginia Historic Triangle (Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown), New England, one specifically on Boston and, of course, Staten Island.

So, with Halloween only a few days away, I invite you to share your favorite ghost story. Extra points if they include a personal haunting!


Also, as you can tell from my counter and the news, election day is one week away. This is a reminder for everyone who is of voting age and a registered voter, please go out and vote. I know I will!

Minute-by-Minute Replay!

11:00: On the job. Kris calls Grant and Jason and asks if they want to go investigate a church turned funeral home turned museum in Buffalo. They agree and brief everyone on it.

11:02: Everyone leaves Rhode Island to Buffalo.

11:03: Kris says that someone died during a wake while it was a funeral home. And it's so active, the volunteers won't go in. They meet with a director, who gives them the rundown. The curator explains it is to preserve the history of Buffalo. The director says they see a shadow man.

11:04: Personal experience! She picks up a picture that keeps winding up on the floor. The director also says people feel children as well as if they are being watched.

11:05: The curator's six years-old son was waked in a room. The tour guide points out her brothers toy box.

11:07: That shadow man really gets around. Tour Guide explains how they found 33 urns that were never claimed. Children and man have been reported down in the basement. She hopes her brother is one of them

11:08: The set up begins.

11: 09: Lights out. The girls go into the kitchen to do some EVP work.

11: 11: The Krises go through Jimmy's toy box and get emotional. We hear a sound as Kristyn is talking about being a mom and losing a child. It sounds like a boom.

11:15: Kris and Kris go to investigate the door, which made the sound. Kris says she saw something move in the doorway. They radio to make sure no one was at the door.

11:16: Jay and Grant say the door was locked, but the Krises easily opened the door. Something unlocked the door.

11:17: Kris Williams celebrates she saw something. Jay and Grant take the thermal into the hallway. They focus on the door.

11:18: Tango and Steve take a crack by the door. They do an EVP session. Steve thinks he feels a cold spot and gets Tango to feel around.

11: 19: Grant and Jay take an EVP session and magnetic field detector in the viewing room. They think they make contact with Jimmy.

11:20: There are more people than Jimmy, apparently. And the machine goes crazy! It's like a lights show.

11:24: We hear knocking from the attic as the light show ends.

11:25: Steve and Tango do some EMF readings while our favorite plumbers go to the attic to investigate. The readings are high.

11:26: Especially on the floor. Steve goes to the basement and finds wiring with a high EMF reading. De-bunked.

11:27: Grant does a thermal scan of the attic. No animals spotted.

11:28: More knocking. Jay declares them footsteps. Grant goes back up to the attic to investigate.

11:29: Something is coming at Grant. That's it--they've finally pissed off a ghost.

11:32: Grant interviews that he heard whispering before the shadows started moving.

11:33: Jay goes up--you already pissed off whatever is living up there. Why make it madder? He hears a sigh, Grant hears an older woman.

11:34: Jay sees the figure and gets out of the attic. They decided to send more victims up there. Tango is their first sacrifice.

11:35: Tango fits in the attic. He starts to antagonize it--asking it to do something. He gets nada.

11:36: The Krises go to the basement for thermal sweeps. Kris hears something.

11:37: EVP starts and Kristyn catches something on the thermal.

11:41: Turns out to be a reflection. De-bunked. We return to the attic. Tango starts cursing. The censors must've loved that. It's actually pretty funny.

11:43: Tango gets nothing, lights on and they clean up.

11:44: Steve and Tango starts analysis. Steve gives Tango grief about his "Candy Apple" red headphones. Tango spots something.

11:45: It's the sounds Grant and Jay heard. Now Steve spots something on the video. They see something move and freak out. They bring in the rest of the team, minus Kristyn.

11:46: Steve points out a mist that floats across a room and disappears. They rule it out as something on the lens. De-bunked.

11:47: They play the footsteps. They hear a voice that says "We want..." It sounds like it belonged to a chain smoker.

11:48: They get another EVP. A woman says something like "We went there..."

11:52: Preview for next week. Apparently a woman got beheaded in next week's locale!

11:53: THE REVEAL! Jay and Grant worry about how Tour Guide will react. They tell her about the Krises and the door. They show it to her.

11:54: Tour Guide looks ready to pass out from the door. Now, they are heading into the attic.

11:55: EVP time. Smoker's "We want..." She thinks it says "What do you want?" She freaks out. So would I and I like ghosts.

11:56: She thinks the female voice is speaking Polish and sounds familiar.

11:57: Tango apparently caught something. It says "Leave me alone." And it is male. Tour Guide is completely freaked out.

11:58: Grant and Jay tell Tour Guide how to deal with the ghosts. They tell her she is safe. And that the place is haunted.

11:59: They leave and Tour Guide has composed herself. They talk about her and how glad they are that Kris got see something.

12:00: End.

Ciao, GHI!

Looks like "Ghost Hunters International" has ended its run (for now). And we still don't know what happened to Shannon or Brian. Oh well.

The finale finds the team in Transylvania, where they first investigate Banyff Castle. The tour is led by a man who speaks very good English and he tells them about some of the hauntings: the ghost of young boy, strange lights, etc. The gang sets up and Robb and Brandy do an EVP session near where the boy is said to be seen. On Brandy, she seems like a good case manager and replacement for Donna. She was just kinda introduced a few weeks ago, quickly replacing Kris Williams mid-episode. In fact, until they put Brandy under her, I thought she was Kris! They do bear a resemblance, especially in night-vision! Anyway, Robb and Brandy hear something and are spooked.

Meanwhile, Barry and Dustin decide to try and debunk the mysterious lights and shadows students at the castle have reported seeing. They debunk the shadows, but not the lights. In fact, they spot more lights coming from the castle--and includes a room that no longer has a floor. That meant no one could be in it. Just to be on the safe side, Barry has everyone report their locations. Brandy and Robb are right where we left them while Andy is command central, trying not to fall asleep. They call him out for some more investigating before Robb orders them to decamp.

Brandy and Barry go over the evidence, but there isn't much I could hear. Robb and Andy go back to report that they think the castle has paranormal activity before moving on to a castle owned by Vlad the Impaler--AKA the inspiration for Dracula. Dustin is especially excited. They arrive and climb an infinity more stairs than my family did at the Bunker Hill Monument to reach the castle. During the investigation, they do an simultaneous EVP session in three different spots--mostly targeting Vlad. When listening back, they find one spot that showed some promise and focused their investigation there. Unfortunately, not much time is dedicated to Dracula's castle despite it being the entire show description on the Time Warner guide. Even my sister, noticing the time, said, "They're not going to find anything."

They found something, but like before, I couldn't hear it. Andy and Robb wrap up the series, saying that nothing will change even once they are back in America: Brandy will find more cases, Barry will want new equipment and Dustin will send more stupid videos to him.

And so, Ghost Hunters International drives off into the sunset, but I figure it'll be back. Not right away, but in due time. Meanwhile, we only have to wait two weeks for the new season of Ghost Hunters, which I will do better in covering. In fact, I'm thinking of experimenting with real time blogging while watching (if I can). Keep your eyes peeled!

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble...

So, time to squeeze two days into one blog post while I try not to blather on!

We drove the half-hour from Boston to Salem. We checked in to the Hawthorne Hotel, a rather swanky place to lay your head. It is furnished in a classic style, evoking a late 19th/early 20th century hotel decor. The room though was small, especially since my family of four was sharing it. The bathroom was even smaller. I like historic things, but not if they make me feel claustrophobic. Those who like staying in such hotels and don't mind small rooms will love it though it is a bit pricey.

We mostly focused on Salem's maritime history on Friday, a time that's greatly overshadowed by the Witch Trials. Salem's maritime area was one of the first national historic parks, still staffed by park rangers. One took us to the Narbonne and Derby houses. The Narbonne house had been lived in until the 1960s and the rangers decided not to restore it. So you have radiators next to fireplaces or a smoke detector in a low-ceiling, 17th century room. It's a great study in contrasts and best illustrates the passage of time. The Derby House was built by one of America's first millionaire, a man who owned the ships who went to sea to get the goods. His ceilings were higher since he could afford to hit such rooms. And his family had an affinity for the color green. In the visitor's center, there was brief video on the history of Salem's maritime might. It lasted from the middle of American Revolution, when many of Salem's ships were used as privateers, to around 1807 when Jefferson ordered an embargo on American exports. Even still, America hoped that Salem's trade would come back so they built a new, shiny Customs House, which we toured next. One of the surveyors was Nathaniel Hawthorne and his job was slow, so he ended up writing The Scarlet Letter. Upstairs, we saw the original eagle that sat atop the house--a replica sits there now.

That night, after a great dinner at Victoria Station (if I were more knowledgable on food, I'd compliment but I don't think you want to read another food comment of "delicious"), we went on a haunted Salem tour. Others in Salem told us we were going on a good tour and they were right. Our guide took us around many places of Salem (the town hall, Joshua Ward house, old jail, etc) and told us the history of the place as well as the ghost story. I would definitely recommend it. It's not something where they stick you in a haunted place for some time nor is it just ghost stories, but history. For instance, we learned about the sheriff who arrested most of the people in the Salem Witch Trials, Jonathan Corwin. Of course, it is believed he still haunts where his house stood (the Joshua Ward house) and he is not a friendly ghost like Casper. We took pictures, but it was raining so we can't tell if they are ghost orbs or the rain. Paging Grant or Jason!

The next day we went to the Salem Witch Museum. We were herded into a small auditorium where they used wax figures to tell the story of 1692, mostly focusing on victims Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor (probably most well known from Arthur Miller's The Crucible). After that, we were sent into another room. We were told the history of the pagan midwife who was morphed by Christians into a witch, told by the stereotypical witch (think Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz"). Next we were told about modern day Wiccans. Along the wall was a timeline regarding witchcraft, including the trials and Macbeth (which was written due to the Gunpowder Plot). Strangely, Harry Potter was left off. From there, we went to the Salem Witch Trial memorial, where you walk in a park next to a cemetary. Stone seats appear to line the walls, but when you get close you realize each bears the name of the 19 victims. Rebecca Nurse's stone still had candles and George Burroughs' had flowers.

We walked back to the waterfront to the famous House of Seven Gables. We toured the house, which was built by sea captain, whose grandson lost the house so it was purchased by another sea captain. This one was a relative of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who became close with the captain's daughter. It was she who told Hawthorne of the house's past (and of it's seven gables. It only had three when Hawthorne was alive) and encouraged him to write. When the house was purchased by a woman hoping to start a settlement house, she knew the draw would be for tourists to feel as if they were in the novel. She put the other four gables back on and built the secret staircase Cliff may have used. We climbed up the narrow stairway and stood in the small room. Next door, they had relocated the house Nathaniel Hawthorne had been born in so we went on a tour. It's an average 18th/19th century house, filled with stories about Hawthorne. Apparently, he didn't take criticism well and if any story received negative reviews, he burned it.

That afternoon, we saw "Cry Innocent," a re-enactment of the trial of Bridget Bishop. The show started by a fountain, where the town crier tells us that a warrant has been issued for Bishop. She appears and the constable arrests her. He drags her to town hall while she tries to resist. We follow along to be the grand jury of her trial. We sat in the town hall and various witnesses were called forth to bear witness against Bishop. She wasn't a pleasant woman and often quarreled with her neighbors, as well as been widowed twice--her second husband falling off a roof! We were able to ask questions in between two blocks of testimony before voting. We voted to free her, though in real life, it was decided there was enough to go to trial. She was later found guilty and became the first to hang. The actors were young but very good, particularly the actress who played Bridget Bishop. She conveyed while these neighbors might be afraid or hold a grudge against her. Because of how aflicted the girls were, no actress portrayed them--they were represented by chalkboards with their names written on it. The actress often stared at this wall, as if watching the girls' strange sight, pausing when addressing them and showed great talent to act to something that wasn't there. I suggest anyone who goes to Salem tries to get a ticket to see this.

And thus our vacation ended. We drove back to Salem, arriving at 11:30 PM back here Saturday night. Tomorrow I should post the pictures I toook. I'm the genius who has owned her camera for two years and finally figured out how to use flash just this past vacation.

Who You Gonna Call?

Ghost Hunters International! Okay, not as catchy as Ghostbusters, I'll admit.



GHI is the spin-off of Sci Fi's hit series, Ghost Hunters. A TAPS team was assembled and sent to investigate hauntings overseas. GH regulars Andy, Brian and Donna joined Rob and newcomer Shannon. They met up with Barry, an Irish investigator the TAPS team had worked with previously, to explore European hauntings. The first part of the season ended back in March with the second part starting this past Wednesday. Shannon is inexplicably gone but former TAPS regular Dustin has come in her stead. I just wish there had been an interviewing saying why Shannon had gone.

The gang flew to New Zealand to investigate Larnach Castle in Dunedin. Deborah explains that the owner, Larnach, lost two wives then found wife # 3 cheating with his son. He shot himself in Parliament. She says she's been pushed, people smell port and tobacco in an empty room, see orbs among other things. All through this, I'm wondering why they keep captioning the poor woman. Yes, she has an accent but I can understand her perfectly! After listening to the stories, the gang sets up their cameras and microphones. They go lights out.

Now, TAPS and GHI don't look for evidence more than they look for ways to disprove the haunting. Andy realizes the porous wood is releasing the port and tobacco smells the people have reported. Brian realizes the steps are designed in a way that would cause people to trip if they weren't careful and feel as if they were pushed. But they do capture a picture that seems to have a shadow in the shape of a man staring at them that they can't explain. And both Brian and Barry claim to have seen someone within minutes of each other.

I love Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International because it's a ghost show that won't scare me. They aren't going to use tricks or filmed segments to boost up the fear fact (I'm looking at you, A Haunting). Sometimes, things happen, sometimes, they don't. But the team members are always entertaining themselves. Whether it's Steve being scared of something, Dustin and Brian reacting to a large spider, or Jason and Grant sitting in a supposedly haunted room just talking, it's wonderful to watch.

So tune in! Maybe some of you nonbelievers will be converted. Sci Fi channel at 9 PM.