Silvers Ghosts

Famous Ghost Photos...  

April 22, 2009

The Brown Lady

Probably the most famous ghost picture of all time, taken in 1936 by photographers Captain Provand and Indre Shira while shooting for Country Life magazine at England's historical Raynham Hall, which is said to be haunted by Lady Dorothy Walpole, who once lived at the Hall. She is known as The Brown Lady due to reports of the spirit being seen wearing a brown brocade dress. She officially died of smallpox, but rumors have it that she was pushed down the stairs by her husband after learning of an affair.



Toys R Us ghost

This image was caught on infrared film during a paranormal investigation at a Toys R Us in Sunnyville, California. The man seen leaning on the wall was not observed with the naked eye. Furthermore, high speed film shots taken at the same time as this one showed no trace of the leaning figure! The investigation that yielded this photo was not conducted without good reason....click here for more info


House Fire girl ghost

This picture was taken by Tony O'Rahilly in 1995, as Wem Town Hall, Shropshire England, burned down. The girl in the doorway was not seen at the time when the photo was taken. When examined by photographic expert Dr. Vernon Harrison, former president of the Royal Photographic Society, the photo was deemed genuine, in that it was not tampered with. In 1977 there was another fire in this place, started accidentally by a young girl by the name of Jane Churn. Is this her ghost?



Ghost of R.A.F. Airman

A ghostly face can be seen in this group photo of R.A.F. Airmen taken in 1919 by Sir Victor Goddard. (R.A.F. officer retired) Lending credence to the idea that this is actually a real picture of a ghost is the fact that members of the squadron pictured, easily identified the man. It was their fellow airman Freddy Jackson, an air mechanic who had been killed two days earlier in an accident involving an airplane propeller. The man in the close up is located in the top row, fourth from the left. Note the face to the right of the man pictured in the zoom....


The ghost of Chloe
Myrtles Plantation

A frequent visitor at Myrtles Plantation is the ghost of Chloe, a former slave hung for murdering two little girls. General Bradford's son in law, Clarke Woodruff, cut off the black woman's ear for eavesdropping, and she took her revenge by mixing oleander in the children's birthday cake. This photograph shows what many believe to be the ghost of Chloe seen standing between the two buildings.


Boothill Ghost

This photo was taken at Boothill Cemetery in Tombstone Arizona by Terry Clanton, cousin of the legendary Clanton Gang who shot it out at the OK Corral with the Earps and Doc Holliday. Clanton, also the webmaster of TombstoneArizona.com says "This is the photo that changed my opinion about ghost photos." He insists no one was in the background when the picture was shot. Pictured is a friend of the Clantons, the picture was made to look like an old west type photograph.


Back Seat Ghost

This photo was taken in 1959 by Mrs. Mabel Chinnery. Apparently no one was in the backseat when the picture was taken. Mrs. Chinnery recognized the person as her dead mother, whose grave she had just visited! She staked her reputation on the authenticity of the photograph.


Two Ghosts in a Buick

by FreyjaSilver | 0 comments

The Bell Witch of Tennessee  

Adams, Tennessee, in 1817 was the site of one of the most well-known hauntings in American history.

Known as The Bell Witch, the strange and often violent poltergeist activity that provoked fear and curiosity in the small farming community has remained unexplained for nearly 200 years, and is the inspiration for many fictional ghost stories, including the film, The Blair Witch Project.

A remarkable occurrence, which attracted wide-spread interest, was connected with the family of John Bell, who settled near what is now Adams Station about 1804. So great was the excitement that people came from hundreds of miles around to witness the manifestations of what was popularly known as the "Bell Witch." This witch was supposed to be some spiritual being having the voice and attributes of a woman. It was invisible to the eye, yet it would hold conversation and even shake hands with certain individuals. The freaks it performed were wonderful and seemingly designed to annoy the family. It would take the sugar from the bowls, spill the milk, take the quilts from the beds, slap and pinch the children, and then laugh at the discomfiture of its victims. At first it was supposed to be a good spirit, but its subsequent acts, together with the curses with which it supplemented its remarks, proved the contrary. A volume might be written concerning the performance of this wonderful being, as they are now described by contemporaries and their descendants. That all this actually occurred will not be disputed, nor will a rational explanation be attempted.

The Vengeful Ghost

Like most such stories, certain details vary from version to version. But the prevailing account is that it was the spirit of Kate Batts, a mean old neighbor of John Bell who believed she was cheated by him in a land purchase. On her deathbed, she swore that she would haunt John Bell and his descendents. The story is picked up by the Guidebook for Tennessee, published in 1933 by the Federal Government's Works Project Administration:
Tradition says, the Bells were tormented for years by the malicious spirit of Old Kate Batts. John Bell and his favorite daughter Betsy were the principal targets. Toward the other members of the family the witch was either indifferent or, as in the case of Mrs. Bell, friendly. No one ever saw her, but every visitor to the Bell home heard her all too well. Her voice, according to one person who heard it, "spoke at a nerve-racking pitch when displeased, while at other times it sang and spoke in low musical tones." The spirit of Old Kate led John and Betsy Bell a merry chase. She threw furniture and dishes at them. She pulled their noses, yanked their hair, poked needles into them. She yelled all night to keep them from sleeping, and snatched food from their mouths at mealtime.


Andrew Jackson Challenges the Witch

So widely spread was the news about The Bell Witch that people came from hundreds of miles around hoping to hear the spirit's shrill voice or witness a manifestation of its vile temper. When word of the haunting reached Nashville, one of its most famous citizens, General Andrew Jackson, decided to gather a party of friends and journey to Adams to investigate.

The General, who had earned his tough reputation in many conflicts with Native Americans, was determined to confront the phenomenon and either expose it as a hoax or send the spirit away. A chapter in M. V. Ingram’s 1894 book, An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch – considered by many to be the best account of the story – is devoted to Jackson’s visit:

Gen. Jackson's party came from Nashville with a wagon loaded with a tent, provisions, etc., bent on a good time and much fun investigating the witch. The men were riding on horseback and were following along in the rear of the wagon as they approached near the place, discussing the matter and planning how they were going to do up the witch. Just then, traveling over a smooth level piece of road, the wagon halted and stuck fast. The driver popped his whip, whooped and shouted to the team, and the horses pulled with all of their might, but could not move the wagon an inch. It was dead stuck as if welded to the earth. Gen. Jackson commanded all men to dismount and put their shoulders to the wheels and give the wagon a push, but all in vain; it was no go. The wheels were then taken off, one at a time, and examined and found to be all right, revolving easily on the axles. Gen. Jackson after a few moments thought, realizing that they were in a fix, threw up his hands exclaiming, "By the eternal, boys, it is the witch." Then came the sound of a sharp metallic voice from the bushes, saying, "All right General, let the wagon move on, I will see you again to-night." The men in bewildered astonishment looked in every direction to see if they could discover from whence came the strange voice, but could find no explanation to the mystery. The horses then started unexpectedly of their own accord, and the wagon rolled along as light and smoothly as ever.
Attack on Jackson?

According to some versions of the story, Jackson did indeed encounter The Bell Witch that night:
Betsy Bell screamed all night from the pinching and slapping she received from the Witch, and Jackson's covers were ripped off as quickly as he could put them back on, and he had his entire party of men were slapped, pinched and had their hair pulled by the witch until morning, when Jackson and his men decided to hightail it out of Adams. Jackson was later quoted as saying, "I'd rather fight the British in New Orleans than to have to fight the Bell Witch."

The Death of John Bell


The torment of the Bell house continued for years, culminating in the ghost’s ultimate act of vengeance upon the man she claimed had cheated her: she took responsibility for his death. In October 1820, Bell was struck with an illness while walking to the pigsty of his farm. Some believe that he suffered a stroke, since thereafter he had difficulty speaking and swallowing. In and out of bed for several weeks, his health declined. The Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee, tells this part of the story:

On the morning of December 19, he failed to awake at his regular time. When the family noticed he was sleeping unnaturally, they attempted to arouse him. They discovered Bell was in a stupor and couldn't be completely awakened. John Jr. went to the medicine cupboard to get his father’s medicine and noticed it was gone with a strange vial in its place. No one claimed to have replaced the medicine with the vial. A doctor was summoned to the house. The witch began taunting that she had place the vial in the medicine cabinet and given Bell a dose of it while he slept. Contents of the vial were tested on a cat and discovered to be highly poisonous. John Bell died on December 20. "Kate" was quiet until after the funeral. After the grave was filled, the witch began singing loudly and joyously. This continued until all friends and family left the grave site.
The Bell Witch left the Bell household in 1821, saying that she would return in seven years time. She made good on her promise and "appeared" at the home of John Bell, Jr. where, it is said, she left him with prophecies of future events, including the Civil War, and World Wars I and II. The ghost said it would reappear 107 years later – in 1935 – but if she did, no one in Adams came forward as a witness to it.

Some claim that the spirit still haunts the area. On the property once owned by the Bells is a cave, which has since become known as The Bell Witch Cave, and many locals claim to have seen strange apparitions at the cave and at other spots on the property.

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Gettysburg  

April 09, 2009

The Battle of Gettysburg


Following his success at Chancellorsville in May 1863, General Robert E. Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley for his second invasion of the north. Prodded by president Lincoln, Maj Gen. Joseph Hooker moved his army in pursuit, but was relieved just three days before the battle and replaced by Meade.



The two armies began to collide at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by the Union cavalry division, which was soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.


On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. Acroos the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.


On the thrid day of battle, July 3rd, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and sounth, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Pickett's Charge was repulsed by Union rifle and arillery fire at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans were casualties in the three-day battle. Although the war continued for two more years, Gettysburg is reported to being the turning point of the civil war.

Meades Headquarters

The battle that lasted from July 1st-3rd was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American civil war. Union Maj. Gen. Geaorge Gordon Meade's army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North.

Lee's Headquarters

Besides being a famous historical site, Gettysburg is supposedly one of the most haunted places in America because so many soldiers lost their lives in such a short period of time and in tragic ways. The battle resulted in 51,000 American casualties, including one civilian, a woman by the name of Jennie Wade who died when a stray bullet entered her window at the very beginning of the battle. It was a morbid massacre. Because of the instances of the brutal hand-to-hand combat and high number of deaths, it is believed that nearly all 40 miles of Gettysburg battlefields are ripe with paranormal activity. The most active location, however, is the area known as "Devil's Den"


Devil's Den, site of heavy fighting on the second day of the battle. For a very long time, some visitors to Devil's Den suddenly have a variety of camera problems-suddenly they jam, lock up, batteries seem to die-and when they leave the area, their camera works fine!

General Robert E. Lee

The rocky area full of massive boulders really does look like a lion's den. Due to it's unique layout, a sharpshooter was able to hide behind the rocks in "blind spots", and systematically take out hundreds of soldiers as they passed through unknowingly without being seen. Eventually, Union forces were able to use mirrors and field glass to determine the sharpshooters location and kill the man. Photography was in it's infancy during the civil war, and it is said that photograper/war correspondent Alexander Gardner was at Devil's Den snapping pictures right after the battle ended. In order to get a better shot, he instructed his assistants to move the bodies of the dead soldiers to different locations so he could get a better picture. Supposedly, he even went so far as to drag one particular fall soldier to the pile of rocks behind the blind spot so he could snap a picture and fabricate a story about the unrelated man being the infamous sharpshooter.
It is believed that since these men were not left in their final resting places, their souls have never found peace. From that infamous day on, photographers have had inordinate amounts of difficulty taking pictures in Devil's Den as well as in several other areas of notroious fighting.

Civil War drummer boys

Devil's Den hasn't changed much in the 146 years since the battle was fought, which could account partically for the high level of paranormal activity that takes place there. For the spiritis that exist in this location, the surroundings look exactly as they did the day they died, a factor which could lead the restless ghosts to believe that the war has never ended, as they continue to fight the same battle day after day.


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 tha thte lilic smell is often noticeable at ghost sightings.

OTHER ANOMALIES

Jennie Wade, the one civilian casualty, is said to wander the house where she died along with the ghost of her father, who was institutionalized after her death and ended up passing away in the "poor house". Several people have reported seeing a rugged man, barefoot, with floppy hat and sloppy, ragged clothes on the rocks at Devil's Den. According to Civil War buffs, this perfectly matches the description of the unkept, poorly dressed Texans who were at Gettysburg fighting for the Confederate army.

Cashtown Inn Bed and Breakfast

In 1863 this Inn was a witness as Robert E. Lees Confederate army passed in route to the battle of Gettysburg. In the days that followed, the Inn was a beehive of activity as the grounds served as an encampment for Confederate soldiers, it's rooms hostd famous Confederate Generals, and after the tragedy of battle, it's doors were opened to the wounded. The Inn is reported to being one of the most haunted structures in the Gettysburg area. Today many experience strange sounds, odd feelings and wandering apparitions in the Inns halls and rooms.


Union Major General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who led the famous downhill bayonet charge at Little Round Top, 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 spirites linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls."

General Joshua Chamberlain
Gettysburg official website
Gettysburg Ghost tours

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Waverly Hills Sanatorium  

April 08, 2009

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium Website

The massive structure called Waverly Hills stands 5 stories high and has seen up to 63,000 deaths in the 50 years it housed patients and is considered one of the most haunted structures in the world.



During the early twentieth century, Louisville Kentucky had the highest tuberculosis rate in the country, so a hospital was opened. Many of the patients remained here until they died. The dead bodies were pushed down a tunnel to the bottom of the hill. After the vaccine for tuberculosis was discovered, the hospital became a nursing home that is also now closed.


Many people left this earth from Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Death was a common occurrence at Waverly hills and most patients who entered Waverly, exited through what is known as the Body chute. This was a tunnel that led from the hospital to the railroad at the bottom of the hill that Waverly Sanatorium was built on. The bodies of the dead were slid down in an effort to hide the alarming death rate from the other patients. This was done in secret in an effort to keep morale high among the still living patients. There were also reports of "experimental" treatments on the residents of Waverly Hills that were considered by today's standards brutal, to say the least.



Many hauntings and much paranormal activity have been reported by visitors of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium.



At the main entrance it is reported that an ederly woman has been seen running out the front, her bloody wrists and legs in chains. She cries for help before dissipating into thin air.



One man encountered a little girl on the third floor and said she "wasn't normal". She kept saying that she has no eyes. He left the building and refused to re enter it. Some have seen her peeking out of the third story windows to the parking lot below.




Chanting children are heard on the roof of Waverly.



A little boy resides on the third floor. He plays with a leather ball and the sounds of a ball bouncing have been reported in this area of the hospital. Some have seen the ball roll down the hallways as if someone pushed it.



One of the most popular ghost stories at Waverly is room 502. In 1928 the head nurse hung herself from the light fixture in this room. She was 29 and believed to be unmarried and pregnant at the time of her suicide. In 1932, another nurse committed suicide when she jumped from the balcony of this room. A full body apparition of a female nurse in white has been seen near this room. People have also reported of having an unsettling feeling or of great despair in this area of Waverly. Especially pregnant women and some reported feeling sickness in room 502 before they even knew they were pregnant.



There have been reports of hearing voices from the death tunnel or "body chute. It is a 500 foot long tunnel that leads from the hospital to the railroad tracks below.



A man in a white coat and pants has been seen in the cafeteria and kitchen area and the smell of food is sometimes present in this area as well.



The fourth floor has been reported by some to be the most scary and "active" area of the hospital. There have been many reports of shadow like people walking the corridors or darting from one room to the next and doors slam by themselves often in this area.



A guard at Waverly reported seeing a floating head in one of the rooms late one night. He screamed and made it downstairs before he passed out. He never returned to the sanitarium.



Another guard reported seeing the flicker of a television from one of the bedrooms on the third floor. He went to investigate and found nothing out of the ordinary.


Waverly Hills Sanatorium is owned by Charlie and Tina Mattingly, who have done extensive refurbishing inside the hospital. It is rumored to one day be a hotel.

Click the link at top for information on tours and dates. This eerie piece of history is a ghost hunters heaven!

by FreyjaSilver