BORLEY RECTORY, UK
In England, a country often associated with ghosts and haunted mansions and castles, Borley Rectory makes the claim of being "the most haunted house in England." And there's quite a bit of anecdotal evidence to support that claim. The rectory was built in 1863 next to Borley Church as a home for Reverend Henry Bull. Over the years it was the site of intense poltergeist activity, including spontaneous displacement of objects, strange odors, cold spots, the sound of galloping horses and ghostly apparitions. Even after the rectory was destroyed by fire in 1939, photos taken around the ruins of the building and the adjacent church continued to contain unexplained elements. One of the last residents of the house, Captain W H Gregson, reported that the spirit of a nun had been seen wandering the grounds on several occasions. After the nun was seen peering out of a window a few times, the window was bricked up. "The disastrous fire at the Rectory may have had some disturbing influence," Gregson wrote, "because during the night of the fire, several people report having seen me, accompanied by two 'strangers,' one, a 'lady, dressed in a grey cloak,' the other, 'a gentleman with a sort of bald head, dressed in a long black gown.'" Some of the most chilling experiences took place around Marianne, the wife of Reverend Lionel Foyster who took residence in the house on October 16, 1930. An entity attempted to communicate with Marianne through scrawled handwriting on the walls - an event documented in photographs. Other mysterious photos show a floating brick, an unknown floating ribbon-like thing and other ghostly figures. Anomalous images continue to appear on photos taken on the rectory grounds up to the present day. Just last July, 2000, a photo taken behind the church shows a mysterious orb.
THE TOWER OF LONDON, London, UK
The Tower of London, one of the most famous and well-preserved historical buildings in the world, may also be one of the most haunted. This is due, no doubt, to the scores of executions, murders and tortures that have taken place within its walls over the last 1,000 years. Dozens upon dozens of ghost sightings have been reported in and around the Tower. On one winter day in 1957 at 3 a.m., a guard was disturbed by something striking the top of his guardhouse. When he stepped outside to investigate, he saw a shapeless white figure on top of the tower. It was then realized that on that very same date, February 12, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded in 1554. Perhaps the most well-known ghostly resident of the Tower is the spirit of Ann Boleyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII, who was also beheaded in the Tower in 1536. Her ghost has been spotted on many occasions, sometimes carrying her head, on Tower Green and in the Tower Chapel Royal. Other ghosts of the Tower include those of Henry VI, Thomas a Becket and Sir Walter Raleigh. One of the most gruesome ghost stories connected with the Tower of London describes death of the Countess of Salisbury. According to one account, "the Countess was sentenced to death in 1541 following her alleged involvement in criminal activities (although it is now widely believed that she was probably innocent). After being sent struggling to the scaffold, she ran from the block and was pursued until she was hacked to death by the axe man." Her execution ceremony has been seen re-enacted by spirits on Tower Green.
THE QUEEN MARY, Long Beach, CA, USA
This grand old ship doesn't qualify as a house, of course, but it is quite haunted. Once a celebrated luxury ocean liner, when it ended its sailing days the Queen Mary was purchased by the city of Long Beach, California in 1967 and transformed into a hotel. The most haunted area of the ship is the engine room where a 17-year-old sailor was crushed to death trying to escape a fire. Knocking and banging on the pipes around the door has been heard and recorded by numerous people. In what is now the front desk area of the hotel, visitors have seen the ghost of a "lady in white." Ghosts of children are said to haunt the ship's pool. The spirit of a young girl, who allegedly broke her neck in an accident at the pool, has been heard asking for her mother or her doll. In the hallway of the pool's changing rooms is an area of unexplained activity. Furniture moves about by itself, people feel the touch of unseen hands and unknown spirits appear. In the front hull of the ship, a specter can sometimes be heard screaming - the pained voice, some believe, of a sailor who was killed when the Queen Mary collided with a smaller ship.
THE WHALEY HOUSE, San Diego, CA, USA
Located in San Diego, California, the Whaley House has earned the title of "the most haunted house in the U.S. Built in 1857 by Thomas Whaley on land that was partially once a cemetery, the house has since been the locus of dozens of ghost sightings. Author deTraci Regula relates her experiences with the house: "Over the years, while dining across the street at the Old Town Mexican Cafe, I became accustomed to noticing that the shutters of the second-story windows [of the Whaley House] would sometimes open while we ate dinner, long after the house was closed for the day. On a recent visit, I could feel the energy in several spots in the house, particularly in the courtroom, where I also smelled the faint scent of a cigar, supposedly Whaley's calling-card. In the hallway, I smelled perfume, initially attributing that to the young woman acting as docent, but some later surreptitious sniffing in her direction as I talked to her about the house revealed her to be scent-free." Some of the other ghostly encounters include: the spirit of a young girl who was accidentally hanged on the property; the ghost of Yankee Jim Robinson, a thief who was clubbed to death and who can be heard on the house's stairway where he died, and has sometimes been seen during tours of the old house; the red-haired daughter of the Whaley's sometimes appears in such a realistic form, she is sometimes mistaken for a live child. Famed psychic Sybil Leek claimed to have sensed several spirits there, and renowned ghost hunter Hanz Holzer considered the Whaley to be one of the most reliably haunted structures in the United States.
THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington D.C., USA
That's right, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. is not only home to the current President of the United States, it also is home of several former presidents who occasionally decide to make their presences known there, despite the fact that they are dead. President Harrison is said to be heard rummaging around in the attic of the White House, looking for who knows what. President Andrew Jackson is thought to haunt his White House bedroom. And the ghost of First Lady Abigail Adams was seen floating through one of the White House hallways, as if carrying something. The most frequently sighted presidential ghost has been that of Abraham Lincoln. Eleanor Roosevelt once stated she believed she felt the presence of Lincoln watching her as she worked in the Lincoln bedroom. Also during the Roosevelt administration, a young clerk claimed to have actually seen the ghost of Lincoln sitting on a bed pulling off his boots. On another occasion, while spending a night at the White House during the Roosevelt presidency, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was awakened by a knock on the bedroom door. Answering it, she was confronted with the ghost of Abe Lincoln staring at her from the hallway. Calvin Coolidge's wife reported seeing on several occasions the ghost of Lincoln standing with his hands clasped behind his back, at a window in the Oval Office, staring out in deep contemplation toward the bloody battlefields across the Potomac.
BALLYGALLY CASTLE, Ballygally Bay, Ireland
Ballygally Castle was built in 1625 by James Shaw. True to most castles in Europe, it is, of course, haunted. The most notable ghost in Ballygally is that of Lady Isobel Shaw, who was locked in a room by her husband James and starved to death. Said to be friendly, she amuses herself by knocking on doors and then disappearing. Another apparition is Madame Nixon who can be seen and heard walking around in her silk dress. When Ballygally was actually a castle it came under attack several times and many soldiers lost their lives. Consequently, their restless souls frequent the castle grounds in military uniform toying with guests, and perhaps searching for their enemies.
THE CRESCENT HOTEL, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, USA
This place is renowned for its possession and I have friends who can attest to its haunts. This 78-year old hotel is haunted by a number of ghosts, including Michael, an Irish stones man who worked in the hotel and took a fatal fall off the roof into an area that is now room 218. His ghost is said to still roam the halls surrounding the room. Also roaming the grounds is a gentleman in Victorian clothing who haunts the lobby, the confused ghost of Doctor Baker (who ran the facility in the 1930s when it was a hospital/health spa), and the ghost of a nurse dressed in white who wanders the entire hotel. A good friend of mine, who claims he has a knack for getting into trouble with the paranormal, swears that while he was staying in room 202 (a notably haunted room in the hotel) he saw the nurse ghost briefly when he entered his room. He also said that the nurse ghost played with the lights, touched his arm and shook the antique mirror that hung above his bed. When my mother remarried in Eureka Springs, I tried to talk her out of having the family stay in this hotel. She didn't listen but, luckily, we had a ghoul free weekend. Click here to read more history about the Crescent.
THE ROSE HALL GREAT HOUSE, Montego Bay, Jamaca
The Rose Hall Great House is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Jamaica due in no small part to the legend of its mistress, Annie Palmer. Palmer came to Rose Hall in 1820 and was known for her gruesome treatment of slaves. Considered a Black Witch by locals, she brutally tortured slaves and killed many of them simply because she was bored by them
THE CATACOMBS MUSEUM - Paris, France
If you know about Haussmannization, the grand remodeling of Paris in the 1860s, you may or may not know that the Catacombs of Paris were reconstructed in order to support the sprawling housing developments and massive boulevards that would come to define the city. Underneath the beautiful façade of Paris is a structural support system built of human bones. In order to strengthen his structure and alleviate the sanitation issues that were being caused by past improper burial, Haussmann had his team of workers dig up the remains of many of Paris' graveyards and use them as building materials for his project. And what, if anything, do we know about disturbing graves? Right, it pisses the dead off. Though only a small part of the catacombs are open to the public, there are many secret entrances and tourists and trespassers alike have attested to its haunting with stories and sightings of run-ins with ghosts of a bygone Paris. Expect to see apparitions ranging from the ancients to the revolutionaries and don't forget your flashlight if you go hunting. It's dark down there. Here is a nice history of the catacombs and a personal ghost hunting story.
RAYNHAM HALL - Norfolk, England
Raynham Hall is one of the most famous haunted places in the world due largely in part to its most famous ghost, the Brown Lady, who was captured on film in 1936 in what is said to be one of the most authentic ghost photos every taken. The Unexplained Site describes one of the first encounters with the spirit: "The first known sighting happened during the 1835 Christmas season. Colonel Loftus, who happened to be visiting for the holidays, was walking to his room late one night when he saw a strange figure ahead of him. As he tried to gain a better look, the figure promptly disappeared. The next week, the Colonel again came upon the woman. He described her as a noble woman who wore a brown satin dress. Her face seemed to glow, which highlighted her empty eye sockets." The photo has been examined multiple times by experts who all confirm it is authentic and untouched. The Brown Lady is said to have been confined in a room by her husband, unable to see her children. She soon perished in the room and has continued to haunt Raynham Hall clad in her brown dress.
THE BELL FARM - Adams, Tennessee, US
The Bell Farm has been made notorious through books, TV specials and movies. Most recently the events at this small Tennessee farm were dramatized in the 2005 movie An American Haunting. The story behind the Bell Farm haunting is so notable and recognized because it is said to be the only documented account in paranormal history when a ghost caused the death of a living person. Between the years of 1817 and 1821, the Bell Family was terrorized by some sort of entity, mostly said to be a woman, who became known as the Bell Witch or, more personally, "Kate." She is said to have perturbed and tortured John Bell (the father of the family and victim of a nervous system disorder) so much that it lead to his inevitable death. He was unable to sleep or recuperate and the ghost's antics worsened his condition. It is also said that a vile with a strange black liquid was found at John Bell's deathbed and that Kate herself claimed she gave it to him. Supposedly, in order to test the liquids validity, a drop was placed on the family cat's tongue and it immediately killed the animal. Though the haunting of the Bell Farm has been sensationalized many times over, it is still inarguable that something happened there during those three years. A family and a community were terrorized by an entity of some kind, and residents still believe Kate is up to no good.
EDINBURGH CASTLE - Edinburgh, Scotland
Edinburgh Castle, suspected to be one the most haunted spots in Scotland, is appropriately judged considering Edinburgh has been said to be the most haunted city in all of Europe, and possibly the world. The castle is a historical fortress and parts of it have withstood its 900 year history. A battleground of countless deaths, Edinburgh Castle can easily be thought of as an eternal spot of unrest for fallen soldiers. Other ghosts said to haunt the castle are a phantom piper, a headless drummer, the spirits of French prisoners from the Seven Years War and colonial prisoners from the American Revolutionary War and even a dog that wanders the castle's cemetery. Other areas of Edinburgh also have ghostly reputations: the subterranean vaults of South Bridge and a disused street called Mary Kings Close where victims of the Black Death plague were sealed up to die. What also makes Edinburgh Castle so noteworthy among the paranormal community is that in 2001, Dr. Richard Weisman took a group of 240 volunteers, ignorant of the castle's past, on a walk-through of the castle and its surroundings in order to gather paranormal data. Armed with every ghost busting tool imaginable, almost all the volunteers reported experiences such as drops in temperature, shadowy figures, burning sensations in the limbs, physical touching, and tugging at clothes. One woman was even brave enough to stay the night alone in a South Bridge vault. She reported hearing heaving breathing from the corner of the cell that got louder throughout the night and she saw strange flashes of light. What is most intriguing about the whole experiment is that even though none of the volunteers had any previous knowledge of what rooms had haunted reputations and which ones didn't, they reported the most amount of activity from the reputed locations and saw many of the same things as other tourists. Click here to read more about Edinburgh's grisly past, and here for more about Dr. Weisman's investigation.
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. Apart from the horendous and appalling loss of life and grief immeasurable, many people are overcome by feelings of grief and pain for months after visiting this terrible place.
GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD, PA, USA
Thousands of soldiers became casualties in or near the quiet Pennsylvania farm town called Gettysburg. The bloody battle ensued here on July 1st, 2nd and 3rd of 1863. It did not matter if they were fighting for the north or the south, their blood mingled in the streets or fields where they fell. Some died where they were wounded, some were carried to homes and makeshift hospitals where they later died, and other just lay suffering until death gave them relief. It is no wonder why Gettysburg is often called the most haunted place in America. They came, and then they died without ever finding the peace they need to move on. Many places in town have been reported to have ghost sightings, and the majority of them have had multiple sightings by numerous people over the years since the battle. Rarely will anyone deny the possibility that there is definitely some sort of presence here. During the fierce battle, many of the dead were brought into town and the stench of death, in addition to that of the animal dead from the streets and surrounding area was overpowering. The townsfolk used lilac water to cover up the smell of death and decay, and to this day it is said that the lilac smell is often noticeable at ghost sightings.
One of the most well known locations of ghost sightings has been the area of Devil's Den. There are many theories of how this mass of huge boulders got its name, but after the battle, it really didn't matter because the moniker fit so well to describe what happened there. The fierce fighting that occurred at Devil's Den on the second day of the battle claimed many lives. In the aftermath of the carnage, it is said that a war correspondent/photographer moved some bodies in order to snap a good photograph. The souls of those men moved for this reason are rumored to have never found peace, even to this day. On a visit to Spangler's Spring, you may encounter a "woman in white." It is not known who she is, but folks have continually seen this specter over the years since the 1880s. It is not reported to be connected with the Civil War battle in Gettysburg, but the legend is that she met her sweetheart at this spring and after one last meeting, apparently for him to tell her that their relationship was not going to work out, she took her own life and died in his arms. The woman in white still wanders the area, most likely with a broken heart that has lasted over a hundred years. One bit of phenomenon that seems to have countless reports is malfunctioning cameras of tourists. Often these sites are the places in Gettysburg that saw some of the fiercest fighting during those three summer days of 1863. Sometimes cameras refuse to work at all, sometimes the entire picture isn't there. There have been reports of things appearing on the developed picture that were not witnessed by the eye of the photographer while taking the picture. One place this has often occurred is called the Triangular Field. Another locality that does not seem to appreciate photographers is Devil's Den, which is understandable considering the circumstances with the war photographer mentioned previously. Often a photographer snapping a photograph of someone standing in the Triangular Field will see a very clear day and the field with grass in the background. When receiving the developed picture, however, the background behind his subject will recurrently only be black. The Jennie Wade House and Museum is thought by many to house a ghost of its own. Twenty year old Jennie was the only civilian to lose life in Gettysburg during the battle. She had been baking bread when felled by a sharpshooter's bullet. Her father had spent time in jail, and then after release was institutionalized and died in the "poor house." His spirit is said to now wander through the rooms of his daughter Georgia's house, where Jennie died while helping her sister.
In 1863, what is currently the Old Time Photos photography studio, General John Reynolds was carried by some of his troops after he became the first Union General wounded in the battle of Gettysburg. At the time, it was the George George house, and businesses and families occupying the building since 1863 have reported strange happenings. The blood of Reynolds is said to have soaked the floor boards, but is more than the blood left there of him today? It would be impossible to list all the houses, churches, and other buildings in the town of Gettysburg that have stories connected to ghosts. The site of what is now the Soldier's National Museum was the old orphanage in town. Cries of the long departed children have been heard echoing within the walls. The story is that the children were treated very badly at the orphanage, and their sobs remain through the ages as a reminder of their mistreatment. Although various buildings have been listed here, a great number of the spirit appearances have been on the battlefield itself. There are mutiple areas where the conflicts arose during the battle, and obviously where lost spirits still wander. Pickett's Charge, the Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard, and Little Round Top are just a few. There are currently places in Gettysburg that offer "ghost tours." Period costumed guides take guests walking through the streets by lantern light. Often folks do their own ghost hunting, however, and realize that if restless spirits actually exist, they will most likely be found on the battlefield itself.
One such site of stories over the years is what is known as the "high water mark." This is where the part of history known as Pickett's Charge occurred on the third and last day of the battle of Gettysburg. It was the turning point of the Civil War, although the fighting went on for nearly two more years. General George Pickett, following orders from Robert E. Lee, sent 13,000 Confederate troops across an open field and directly into the fire of the Union troops. They kept walking across the field, totally exposed to the bombardment of the Union, and they kept falling. For those who believe that spirits are sometimes left behind, and especially after violent death, where else but at a locality of such massacre would spirits still be calling out? So many of the soldiers who died here were very young men. We need to really call them boys because a great number of them never had a chance to reach their 21st birthday. Do their spirits cry out for peace and closure for some reason, or do they simply want us to remember what happened on these hallowed grounds? One of the heroes of the Civil War in general and Gettysburg in particular was Union Major General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. He survived the war going on to later become the Governor of Maine. In 1889, he spoke words that may describe the spirit sightings best... "In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls."
WINCHESTER HOUSE, San Jose, CA, USA
The Winchester House was built by Sarah Winchester, the wife of the heir to the Winchester Repeating Rifle fortune. She was obsessed with the spirit world, and believed that the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifles had taken the life of her husband and their child. She therefore did everything that she could to try and appease the spirits, lest they harm her. The unique mansion was opened for tours after her death, and many believe the house to be haunted by many spirits.
ALGONQUIN HOTEL, NYC, NY, USA
Many guests at the Algonquin Hotel have claimed to spot members of The Round Table, a group of writers that met at the Algonquin for lunch daily after World War I. Members of The Round Table (who called themselves the Vicious Circle) include Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Franklin Pierce, Robert Sherwood, Harpo Marx, Alexander Woollcott, Herold Ross, George S. Kaufman, Heywood Broun, Marc Connelly and Edna Ferber.
THE DAKOTA, NYC, NY, USA
In the sixties, the ghost of a young boy/young man was seen by a couple of construction workers at The Dakota. A girl dressed in turn-of-the-century clothing was seen by painters working at the building several years later. John Lennon, who was murdered outside the Dakota in 1980, is also rumored to haunt the area around the undertakers gate. To add to the eerieness, the building was also the setting for Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby.
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