MOST COMMON HAUNTS

 

 



Haunts come in a variety of manifestations and are usually filed away into two main categories: intelligent and residual. The latter being defined as a paranormal event that is merely an energy imprint left behind by someone. These usually come in the form of apparitions that appear in specific locations, often performing the same acts, even sometimes happening at the same times. This category is highly favored by parapsychologists as many believe that most acts deemed supernatural or paranormal are caused somehow by the manipulation of existing energy.

The idea of intelligent haunts is not as widely accepted by those who consider themselves rational in modern society. These haunts are spirits of the deceased that can interact with the living by touching, talking, or moving things in real time. People have even reported manifestations that have appeared and spoken with them.

Through our study of ghost-lore and places that are alleged to be haunted, we have found the most common haunts seem residual, but there have been those that have responded to questions asked, and moved things when asked. These would be classified as intelligent. But, a skeptic would say other wise. Logically speaking, if you cannot prove it, then it is not to be believed.

Through our research, it seems that sensory haunts and redundant apparitions come most often. Inexplicable smells and cold spots appearing out of nowhere are among the top experiences, alongside mysterious footsteps and lights flickering on and off. Doors opening and closing on their own seems to happen a lot, as well as eerie lights emanating from places no lights should be. We have also been told of various instances where sounds such as loud bangs, crashes, and broken glass occur but nothing is found to be destroyed upon investigation.

But, in the realm of intelligent haunts, poltergeists seem to be the most observed. When paranormal activity really heats up, people can get pinched and slapped, stuff moves from place-to-place without anyone knowing why, and faint images of the deceased visit people and tell them things. Sometimes it seems these spirits are looking for someone or something, trying to resolve unfinished business.

Depending on where you stand when it comes to the paranormal, some of these theories might help you understand strange occurrences in your life. Others believe there are logical explanations for everything that happens. Of course, many acts can truly be debunked by a house being old, electric being bad, the wind, imagination, and other tricks of the mind. But, some cannot, and they are the occurrences that keep people like us wondering.

Besides, who's to say that one day a haunting won't be the logical explanation? Maybe someone will have a breakthrough and capture hardcore, irrefutable evidence of an afterlife, and spirits still existing there and being able to make contact with us. It might happen.

 

 

For more interesting stuff about haunts, check out our page at https://www.facebook.com/LouisvilleGhosts/.



 

 





THE WHISPERS ESTATE

The earliest records found of the infamous Whispers Estate date back to 1894, so that is when it is believed the house was built. Even if the entire history isn't widely available, everyone who's heard of it knows that it's a supposed paranormal hot spot with a dark and death-filled past.

A 10-year-old orphan, named Rachel, who was adopted by former owners, Dr. John and Jessie Gibbons, died from severe burns after starting a fire in the front parlor. It is said that she has been seen running through the house, trailing the smell of smoke behind her; people have also heard her name whispered in the hallways.

Jessie died of pneumonia in the master bedroom. Guests have reported waking up ill, unable to breathe, and with a relentless cough. The closet door has been known to open repeatedly and the doorknob turn over and over. Jessie has also been seen standing in the corner, watching those in her room.

An infant died in that same bedroom and the smell of baby powder and cries of an infant have been sensed in the room.

Two others who are alleged to have died there are a young boy who fell down the stairs and an old man who was found deceased in an upstairs bathroom; the cause of his demise is unknown. The sound of something tumbling down the steps has been heard in the night.

 

View from the upper window of the Whispers Estate.

The home used to be a bed and breakfast and is rumored to still be full of haunts. Patrons had heard strange whispers at night, fluttering through the various bedrooms and hallways. This has earned the old manor its menacing name. There was once a bed in what was dubbed the "Vampire Room" that was used on the set of the film Interview with the Vampire. The place is now only rented out for paranormal investigations.

 

 

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THE DEVIL'S GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK

Loftus Hall is a three story mansion that sits on the Hook Peninsula and overlooks the Celtic Sea at the southeastern tip of Ireland. Originally called just The Hall, the manor was built circa 1170 by Richard de Clare, the 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Around 1350, this  building was replaced by another and was later known as Redmond Hall. It fell under siege by English forces during the Irish Confederate Wars in 1641 because the owner, Alexander Redmond, was an Irish rebel sympathizer. The Redmond Family was able to barricade the castle and keep the English at bay. When the fog fell, the Irish Confederate Army snuck in, after hearing of the attack, and ambushed the English, fighting them off and protecting the estate.

More battles took place through the years, and the home fell out of the Redmond Family possession. It became Loftus hall in the middle 1600s when the Loftus Family bought it and restored much of the damage. In the 1870s, that building was torn down by John Henry Wellington Graham Loftus and the foundation was used to erect the current house.

Though Loftus Hall saw its share of battles and bloodshed--and no doubt family deaths--the ghost story that comes out of it stems not from anything related to these topics, but from a simple game of cards.

On a stormy night in 1666, an unexpected vessel docked on the shore of the Hook Peninsula, carrying a handsome young stranger who was granted sanctuary inside Loftus Hall. The daughter of the family, Anne, became close with the man during the time he was there. One night, he and the family were playing cards and Anne dropped one of hers on the floor. When she bent to retrieve it, she saw the man had a cloven hoof instead of a foot. She then stood and pointed this out and the man vanished through the roof in a fiery haze, leaving behind a gaping hole.

 

Nice hoof, eh? Sorry 'bout your roof, by the way. 



Soon after, Anne began to slowly lose her mind. It is rumored that the family then locked her away in her favorite room known as the Tapestry Room. Anne refused to eat or drink and she only sat in the corner with her knees tucked under her chin while awaiting the return of her abominable mystery man. But, he did not come back and she died in 1675. She was buried curled up because her legs would have broken if anyone tried to straighten them out.

After Anne's death, it is believed that the man with the cloven hoof returned and began haunting Loftus Hall. Loud clopping footsteps were heard echoing in stairwells and along corridors. Menacing laughter would ring out in the night. Items would be thrown across rooms and smashed to the floor. The smell of smoke was soon noticed in certain areas. These events became so intense that exorcisms were performed, but they only made things worse. Soon, the presence of two spirits were heard and felt as a woman's cries and also laughter joined the fray. The pale apparition of who people believe is Anne began to appear in the room where she died, as well as running along the halls. The shadow of a strange man started to appear in rays of sunlight and also candlelight, moving eerily along the walls. Some think that this devilish man and the tragic Anne Loftus are now locked in an eternal contest of Hide-and-Seek.  

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JAMAICA INN'S SAVAGE PAST

 

Notorious for pirates, smuggling, and other illicit activities, the Jamaica Inn at Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England is also known for phantoms and spirits hanging around the grounds. Author Daphne du Maurier published a novel about the place in 1936 and acclaimed filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock adapted it into a film that was released in 1939. In 1983, there was a miniseries about it made and also a 2014 TV film.

The current building was built in 1750, but there has been an inn present on the road since 1547. The etymology of the establishment's name either derives from the Trelawney Family who once owned the place, as two of the members served as governors in Jamaica, or from being a storehouse for Jamaican rum stolen by smugglers.

The dangerous Jamaica Inn.



Bodmin Moor is a part of the massive Cornubian batholith--a granite land mass that stretches across a large portion of Great Britain's south-western peninsula. It is a treacherous piece of land to access, and this is what made it a favorite location for smugglers to hide their booty. Allegedly, there are more than 100 different routes that lead to this terrible terrain. Wreckers used to use the rocky bays and crashing waves to capture ships and loot them, then leave the inhabitants for dead.

Bodmin Moor was known for so much treachery and brutality that no one can account for every ship wrecked there or every life lost on property. But, there is no doubt that the Jamaica Inn was a dangerous place for travelers to find themselves. A lot of them never found their ways back out.

Thanks to such a menacing history, the inn is said to be haunted by the wayward souls of the plunderers, pirates, and killers that had stopped there, as well as the victims who met doom at the edge of their blades.

Stories of phantom boats awash at the water's edge have been reported, the wailing of anguished spirits rising from them in the night. Wasted wraiths have been alleged to wander the roads nearby, drifting into nothingness on the winds.  The mysterious clop of hooves along the streets are heard, accompanied by the squeaking of the wagon wheels as the thieves make their way towards London. Legend has it that anyone who hears the moans of the iron carts will be cursed to endless poverty.

The most ghastly haunt of them all is about a man who was gutted in the dead of night by a stranger who lured him outside. The man's disemboweled body was found the next day. Many years later, it is said that his ghost returned on a cold night in January. Outside, the apparition was seen in the darkness, and as the landlord went to lock up his business, the ghost ran into the inn and was found drinking ale with his innards hanging out. Footsteps have been heard passing through there ever since. It is believed the spirit returned for the beer he left sitting on the bar the night he was eviscerated.

A very macabre and sensational tale coming out of the infamous inn. Who knows to what extent it is accurate, but it is certainly interesting. Hope you enjoyed it.

Please check out more ghostly stuff at our page, and please give us a like at https://www.facebook.com/LouisvilleGhosts/

 

 

The unwelcoming granite slab that is Bodmin Moor.

 

One of the rocky cliffs of Bodmin Moor.

 





THE MOVING COFFINS OF THE CHASE VAULTS

 

 

 

Located in Oistins, Christ Church, Barbados, at the cemetery of the Christ Church Parish Church, is a tomb of moving coffins known as the Chase Vaults. The legend, which dates back to the 1800s, claims that each time this vault is reopened, the coffins inside are found in different positions than they were previously left. The claim is unsubstantiated, but has been reported on a few occasions.

 

The first account of this alleged phenomenon to be written down came from James Edward Alexander in 1833, who stated that when the vault was opened in 1812 to bury Thomas Chase, the caskets of his two sisters, Ann Maria Chase (buried in 1808) and Dorcas Chase (earlier in 1812) were out of place from where they had been laid. Prior to that report, the church's old Rector, Thomas H. Orderson, told the tales, but was said to give a different version each time.  

 

Legend has it that the church sexton also discovered these events had happened in 1816 and 1819. A story that the family patriarch, Col. Chase, had actually murdered the girls, thus leading to a sinister force dwelling within the tomb, or the spirits of the girls being in a constant state of unrest, causing the coffins to move, began to spread. But, no evidence of this murder has been found to exist.  

 

An investigation of the tomb was ordered. Sand was sprinkled along the floors to capture any footprints, and then the vaults were sealed for eight months. Locals reported hearing screams and disturbing sounds ringing out from under the concrete. When the vaults were reopened, the coffins had been found thrown about, more disrupted than before, yet no marks in the sand.

 

After this, the caskets were removed from the vaults and reburied elsewhere. But, people say that the restless ghosts of the children still haunt the tomb, screaming in the night to be released.

 

Although no official documentation has ever been submitted to validate these claims, it is still widely believed that the coffins do move. But, others believe that this story is allegorical, created around the Masonic myth of the "Secret Vault" which symbolizes death and the Divine Truth. The stories of the Chase Vaults' rowdy caskets is said to be loaded with freemason symbolism, and that other Masonic allegories about moving coffins surfaced in the 1940s.

 

Myth or reality, it sure makes for a good story to tell around a campfire.

 

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ISLAND OF THE DOLLS

After an hour long canal ride south from the shore of the Mexico City barrio known as Xochimilco, is one of the creepiest and most bizarre places on Earth: Isla de las Munecas, or Island of the Dolls. It is an eerie island decorated with hundreds of filthy, aged, mutilated dolls dangling from trees, nailed to walls, and impaled on pikes.

This menacing island was once the home of a recluse named Don Julian Santana Barrera, who was the man that created the chilling spectacle. One day, Barrera came upon a small body floating in the river. When he pulled it out to see what it was, he discovered that a young girl had drowned. Not long after, he found a doll floating nearby, so he hung it from a tree as a sign of respect for the deceased. Soon after, tortured screams began to pierce the darkness at night, and whispers and footsteps could be heard in the silence around his hut, even though it was hidden in the woods many miles from the city. These harrowing events caused him to begin hanging more dolls to satisfy the girl's restless soul. For five decades, Barrera collected as many dolls as he could, either whole or missing limbs, and scattered them about the island, lumping them together in random spots. Barrera died in 2001 and his body was found almost exactly where he had found the girl's body half a century ago.

Being such a singular landscape, tourists began to flock to it once word got out. Apparently, the area is still haunted despite Barrera's devoted dedication to the young girl's spirit. People have reported hearing whispers and footsteps. Dolls have been known to blink, turn their heads, and move in other ways. Some talking dolls have even gone off even though they should have been too old to still operate. Shadows walking in the twilight and moonlight, as well as in flashlights and spotlights, have bee reported. The wailing of the young girl can still be heard, and the loud calls of what sounds like a man's voice have travelled the airwaves of the night.

Has the island altar created by Barrera for this young lady done more than just appease her? Has it made her feel like this is home, giving her no desire to leave? Is Barrera now trapped there with her, or has he decided to stay because it is his home? We'll never know. But, many people, tourist and native alike, will agree that there is indeed something out there on the ominous Island of the Dolls.

An area where a small gathering of the old dolls hang.

A collection nailed to a wall.

Almost looks corpse-like.

Severed doll heads impaled on pikes.

Don Julian Santana Barrera: the Man Who Hung the Dolls.

 

 

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CAVE HILL: THE FAMED CEMETERY IN LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY

 

If you come to Louisville, you'll find a lot of ways to spend your time:  you can go to bars and restaurants, there are sports games to watch, and a number of attractions, such as museums, Kentucky Kingdom, Churchill Downs, and even a really cool ghost tour in the NuLu district on East Market Street. <wink, wink> But, for those who may have a more morbid sense of adventure and sightseeing, there is always Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville's sprawling burial land for some of the area's most prolific inhabitants.

 

Once a part of the Johnston Family farm, Cave Hill was the first garden style cemetery set in the state. Originally, the idea of having a cemetery in the area hadn't even been considered, especially since the railroad ran right through the land. But, thanks to the increasing population and the outbreak of diseases, the city's Fathers elected to reconsider this notion. The city hired Edmund Francis Lee, a civil engineer out of Connecticut, to design the layout, and it was he who insisted they use the natural landscape to create the scenic cemetery. In 1848, the Cave Hill Cemetery Co. was chartered and the Victorian era burial arboretum was open for business.

 

Through the years, a number of famous people, locally or nationally, have been interred here. The most notable is boxing legend Muhammad Ali. Fast food titan and creator of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Col. Harland Sanders' grave is also here, as well as the famous explorer, George Rogers Clark. Late 1800s baseball center-fielder, Pete Browning, was laid to rest in Cave Hill. Also, the former Frito Lay magician, Harry Collins, has a life-sized monument erected upon his grave. Also buried here are numerous local politicians and businessman who helped build and mold the city.

 

Many of the markers are beautifully sculpted works of art that catch the eye. If you're ever interested in visiting Cave Hill, it is located at 701 Baxter Avenue, just a couple of streets away from the aforementioned NuLu History and Haunts Tour that people seem to like. 

 

There are also stories of hauntings here. If you'd like to hear about them, and more about Cave Hill, check out our book, Louisville's Strange and Unusual Haunts, slated for release by Per Bastet Publications later this year.

 

The statue of Frito Lay Magician, Harry Collins.

 

A fine example of some of the artistic sculptures around Cave Hill.