residual recording

Living with Spirits

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 6 Comments

Thanks to Toni from Virginia for sharing these stories with me!

Toni has had paranormal experiences her whole life.  Both sides of her family have psychic abilities, so she is used to regularly receiving communications from spirits.  Her earliest encounter happened when she was four years old.  At the time, she lived in a house on Long Island.  Built by a sea captain, it was always dark and creepy, no matter the weather.  One cloudy day, Toni was going up to the second floor via the staircase that led to the maid’s quarters when she heard a woman’s voice call out to her.

“Toni, Dear.  I need to talk to you.”

Toni paused on the stairs, searching for the woman.  The voice sounded like it came from close by, but there was no one around.  “What do you want to tell me?” Toni asked.

“Come upstairs to the attic,” the woman said.

Toni was not in the mood for this.  “Can we do this later?  I want to take a nap.”

The spirit of the woman did eventually come back to speak to Toni, but not until she was six years old.  Even as a young child, Toni was not afraid of spirits.  Her mother taught her to embrace her psychic abilities because it was a gift from God.

After her parents divorced, Toni went to live with her mother, Libby, in Cullowhee, North Carolina.  The house that they stayed in was built by Toni’s maternal grandfather, Joe.  A large house, it has an attic, four bedrooms, a parlor, dining room, living room, and a kitchen.  The house is located on Cherokee land and was constructed using the wood from her grandfather’s various lumber camps.  Over the years, many people have lived and died in this house, so it known to be haunted.

Sometimes Grandpa Joe’s spirit would drop by for a visit.  One time, Toni and her mother were sitting together in the living room.  Toni’s mother had been thinking about Grandpa Joe all day.  As she was sitting there, Toni distinctly heard a male voice inside her head say, “Tell Baby that I’m here, that I love her, and not to be worried.”

Toni said that Grandpa Joe had come through to her just then and that he had a message.  She then repeated the words back to her mother, who started crying.  “Baby” had been Libby’s childhood nickname.  Toni had not known that “Baby” was her grandfather’s nickname for her mother when she received the message.

Another day, Toni was sitting on the front steps having coffee when she heard her grandfather’s spirit calling for her mother from inside the house.  “Baby?  Baby?  Where are you?”

Toni answered him.  “Grandfather, it’s Toni.  Mom is out shopping.  She’ll be back later.”

“Okay.  Tell her that I was looking for her,” he said.  Then she felt his presence leave the house.  Toni let her mother know about Grandpa Joe’s visit when she got home.  Later that night, he came to visit her mother in a dream.

Toni liked to have sleepovers at her house when she was a teenager.  One night around nine o’clock, she and her girlfriends heard footsteps coming down the stairs.  No one else was home with them at the time and they didn’t see anyone standing there.  From the bottom of the steps they heard a female voice call out, “Toni, Dear.  It’s time to go to bed now.”  The spirit had a beautiful voice but did not make a physical manifestation.  The girls were so spooked that they were too afraid to stay inside the house.  Instead, they all went to sleep outside in their cars for the night.

During another sleepover, Toni and her friends decided to use a Ouija board.  Toni’s mother was not pleased with this, but she didn’t stop them from holding the séance.  She encouraged them to say prayers for protection though.  The spirit came through the board and told one girl that her boyfriend would have a car accident.  Later, the board flew off the bed and hit the window, breaking it.  Two months later, the girl’s boyfriend got into a terrible car accident just as the spirit had said.  Thankfully, he survived it.

Toni wasn’t the only one who had encounters with spirits in that house.  One evening, Toni’s mother, Libby, was relaxing in her bedroom.  Toni had left for a date and the house was quiet.  Libby could see the stairs from her bedroom.  She heard a woman in heels walking back up the stairs.

“Toni, is that you?” she called out, thinking her daughter had forgotten something.  When Toni didn’t answer, Libby knew that her daughter had left the house.  The footsteps continued up the stairs.  Even though Libby didn’t see anyone, she could smell lavender perfume in the hallway, which was not the kind of perfume that Toni wore.  The room grew cold and the family dog, Pepper, started barking.  It would seem that the female spirit walking around Toni’s grandfather’s house prefers to stay invisible.  Perhaps she is the one who opens the doors and windows, and messes with the lights, even when the house stands empty and the power has been shut off.

Do You Have a Ghost Story?

Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview.  I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

Want even more Ghost Stories?

Check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post.  It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go. 

For more ghost stories, paranormal phenomena, and updates, follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill. 

Are you a paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?

Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?

Maybe you just can’t get enough of the paranormal and want to connect with other like-minded individuals.

Then check out my new paranormal advertising group on Facebook, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!

Get Your Ghost On!

Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook.  We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!

Spook - Official Mascot of The Ghost Post
Spook – Artist Credit – Mara Cordova

 

 

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The Musical Ghost

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to Michelle from Northern Vermont for this story!

Many old houses in New England are home to the dead, as well as the living.  In some cases, the ownership can be traced back to one or two families that have lived in the same neighborhood for generations.  This leads to the current owners accepting the spirits of the previous residents as being connected to the house.

Michelle’s father-in-law’s home is over one hundred years old.  It’s a two-story house with a full attic and basement.  The house has furniture, antiques, phonographs, paintings, and firearms from as far back as the mid-1800s.  The large home was built by Michelle’s father-in-law’s uncle, Nathan.  Uncle Nathan is known for ‘haunting’ the house.

In 1993, Michelle and her husband, Shawn, went to visit his father for Christmas.  Michelle’s father-in-law worked as a volunteer firefighter, so there was always the chance that he would be called away in an emergency.  In the middle of the night, Michelle awoke to the sound of piano music coming from downstairs.  She woke up her husband.  Shawn said that he could hear the piano music too.  Then the music stopped.

They heard footsteps walking across the floor and the carpet, and over to Shawn’s father’s desk.  Shawn sat on the edge of the bed, holding his gun, and wondering if he should go see what was going on.  At this point, they were worried that someone had broken into the house.  The footsteps continued up the stairs and then halted on the landing next to the grandfather clock.  Just as suddenly as it had all begun, the strange noises ceased.

The next morning, Shawn asked his father if he had received a fire call late that night.  His father said that he had not.  Michelle and Shawn told him everything that had happened.  That’s when they found out that there hadn’t been a piano in the house for many years.  According to Shawn’s father, Uncle Nathan enjoyed playing the piano when he was alive.

Media Announcement:

I recently did an interview with Tim Weisberg of Spooky Southcoast: Paranormal Radio Podcast.  We talked about my interest in hauntings, why I write ghost stories, and discussed theories on the paranormal.  Be sure to catch the show on SpookySouthcoast.com: Episode 524 – The Ghost Post – Tara Theresa Hill.  

Do You Have a Ghost Story?

Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview.  I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

Want even more Ghost Stories?

Check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post.  It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go. 

For more ghost stories, paranormal phenomena, and updates, follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill. 

Are you a paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?

Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?

Maybe you just can’t get enough of the paranormal and want to connect with other like-minded individuals.

Then check out my new paranormal advertising group, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!

Get Your Ghost On!

Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook.  We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!

cropped-spook
Spook – Official Mascot for The Ghost Post – Copyright 2017

The Haunted House Experiment

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to Skip Gibson for sharing his story! Skip is a paranormal investigator and has worked with The Society for Psychical Research on various cases. This story is about Skip’s experiences while investigating the historic Bolton Mansion in Levittown, Pennsylvania.  

When Skip was taking a psychology class in college, one of the assignments was to come up with an original experiment.  He decided to study people’s reactions when they stayed overnight in an allegedly haunted house.  He chose the Bolton Mansion, a historical house in his town that has a reputation of being haunted.  Built in 1687, the Bolton Mansion has twenty-seven rooms and was home to the highly respected Pemberton family for many generations.

By the time Skip was to conduct his experiment in 1971, the house had been vandalized and needed extensive repairs.  For safety precautions, the participants had to sign waivers and emergency personnel had to be kept on standby.  Skip documented reactions of fifty-six believers and non-believers, ranging from 18-70 years old.  The whole project lasted several months and included the assistance of staff from Drexel, Temple, Princeton, and Pennsylvania University, as a well as a grant from the psychical research society.

The locals knew about some of the ghost stories surrounding the Bolton Mansion.  Some have heard and seen the spirit of a black woman calling for help from one of the windows.  There is also the story of the ghost of a woman who is constantly searching for a lost child who disappeared while wandering the grounds.  The night that they did the experiment, no one had any paranormal experiences, although Skip did notice something interesting.  The people who believed in ghosts were less afraid than those who stated that they did not believe in the paranormal.

After the initial experiment was complete, Skip and the various university staff continued to study the house.  They wanted to see if they could capture anything on film.  They did an initial walk-through of the premises to make sure that they could map out how they would proceed through the house.  This was done so that they would never enter the same room twice.  They had a special kind of film back then that was revolutionary for the time.  It would pick up heat, electrical charges, and radioactive energy.  Since the film was highly sensitive, they sealed the house up for thirty days before filming to make sure that the rooms had had a chance to cool down.  They took three shots of each room.

Some of the pictures came back showing dry rot in the wood.  Others showed funny shapes like a glowing, white triangle with some sort of tail.  They did manage to catch fully developed apparitions on the second and third floors of the house.  In one of the rooms on the third floor, they captured an image of a man wearing a civil war uniform, standing with his back to the camera.  Then another photo revealed the figure of a woman holding up her skirts as she walked up the stairs.  None of these apparitions were visible at the time that the pictures were taken.

There is some historical information that supports the two figures that appeared in these pictures.  A family diary kept in the Bucks County Courthouse in Doylestown, PA later revealed that there had been two suicides in the house.  One of the Pemberton sons who had fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War had returned home to ask forgiveness of his family.  When his request was refused, he hung himself from the landing on the third floor.  His body had been discovered by a young female servant.  Three weeks later, the same servant shot herself.  It was rumored that she and the son had been in love with one another.  Suicide was considered both a sin and a scandal at the time and public knowledge of this would have been suppressed.  At the time that the pictures were taken, neither Skip, nor the rest of the university staff knew about the events that had occurred in the house.

Sources:

http://www.boltonmansion.org/history-of-the-pemberton-family.html

http://www.boltonmansion.org/history-of-the-mansion.html

Do You Have a Ghost Story?

Send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview.  I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

Want even more Ghost Stories?

I have launched a ghost story magazine via Patreon called The Spirit Hour.  For a dollar a month, you get complete access to all the stories in the ghost story magazine, so that you can read them whenever you want.  A new ghost story will be posted once a month. 

Also, check out The Ghost Post’s YouTube channel for audio recordings of The Ghost Post.  It’s perfect for camping out, sleepovers, or anytime you just want to hear a ghost story on the go. 

For more ghost stories, paranormal phenomena, and updates, follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill. 

Are you one of the following: A paranormal writer, artist, or investigator?

Or

Do you have a paranormal-themed business or Facebook group?

Then check out my new paranormal advertising group, The Paranormal Hotspot: The Market for All Things Paranormal. There is no set promotion day, so you can promote your business, art, or group every day for free. You can also post links to sites where you sell your products or services. Our mission is to help paranormal businesses, artists, writers, and investigators connect with fans and consumers!

Get Your Ghost On!

Check out our CafePress store featuring The Ghost Post’s official mascot, Spook.  We’ve got awesome coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more!

Spook Giant Coffee Mug
Spook – Coffee Mug – Copyright 2017

 

 

The Back Room

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 1 Comment

When I was a little girl, Grandpa Freddie lived in the basement apartment of my Aunt Marianne’s house.  I knew that Grandpa’s wife, Tessie, had passed away three years before I was born.  Grandpa Freddie wasn’t happy talking about Grandma Tessie, so I would pester my mother for stories about her.  Mom told me that Grandma Tessie loved reading, bird-watching, singing, and helping people.  Tessie was a family nickname for Theresa.  Mom said it was too painful to name me after her mother, so she gave me “Theresa” as a middle name instead.

Grandpa Freddie watched me after school and on weekdays during summer vacation.  For some reason, I was always scared of the back room by the kitchen.  The bathroom was located at the end of the small room where they kept the washer and dryer.  It was almost always dark in the back room and I was convinced that something was waiting to grab me.  I would come out of the bathroom and rush through the archway to get back to Grandpa’s kitchen.

At some point, I concluded that if there was a ghost there, it was probably Grandma Tessie.  If that was true, then I shouldn’t be afraid of her.  She was an ancestral spirit and if anything, she would be protective of me.  I stopped running out of the bathroom area, but there was still a sad atmosphere about the place.  Sometimes I would even get the sensation of being watched.

I later learned that the watched feeling might have been an electromagnetic field caused by the washer and dryer, but somehow, I was not convinced.  Years after Grandpa Freddie died, I told my mother about the strange vibes that I would get in the back room.  Then Mom told me this story.

One day, when she was already sick with cancer, Grandpa found Grandma Tessie passed out in the bathroom.  When he tried to pick her up, he saw that she was dead and in his fright, he started shaking her and calling her name.  Miraculously, she came out of it and he took her to the hospital.  She eventually passed away some months later.

Residual hauntings occur when there is no consciousness behind the paranormal activity.  It is the remaining energy imprint from either a repetitive event or a tragedy that took place, not an individual soul that can interact with people.  I did not know that my grandmother had almost died in the bathroom by the back room and yet, I always felt odd in that area.  I think that I picked up on the intense energy that my grandfather must have left behind in that room when he found his wife dying.

What do you think?  Could this be a type of residual haunting?  Have you or someone you know ever experienced a residual haunting before?  Let me know in the comments.

If you have a real ghost story that you would like to share with The Ghost Post, send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview.  I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

For more ghost stories, paranormal phenomena, and updates, follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill.

Haunted Roads in South Wales

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 2 Comments

Thanks to Gafyn from Swansea, Wales for this story!  You can also read Gafyn’s first story, Adventures with Ghosts. 

Gafyn grew up in Cilfynydd, Pontypridd in South Wales.  The area is known for high levels of spirit activity.  This is thought to be partially due to The Albion Disaster, a devastating mine explosion that killed “290 men and boys” in June, 1894.  For more information on The Albion Disaster, please see, “Albion Colliery: The Forgotten Mining Disaster” by Rhiannon Beacham of BBC News.

One day when Gafyn was in his late teens, an older friend of his invited him out for a drive.  The friend would not reveal anything about where they were going, but Gafyn sensed that it had something to do with the paranormal.  Sometimes his friends liked to see if Gafyn could pick up on ghosts that were in the area.  It was all in fun, so Gafyn decided to go along with it.

They had been out for a while when a car appeared behind them.  It seemed to come from out of nowhere.  Gafyn thought that it looked like a Ford Capri.  The car was close on their tail.  Trying to shake it off, his friend started swerving, but the car kept up with them the whole time.  That was when they noticed two other things.  The car behind them was not making any noise as it sped along the road and the car had no one inside of it.

Then just as suddenly as the car had first shown up, it disappeared again.  The road that they were driving on was a single road with tall hedges on either side.  There were no gaps for a car to turn off the road.  Gafyn and his friend went back to see if they could find the car, but came back empty-handed.  They scanned the area for skid marks or tire tracks and found none.  They drove back to where the mysterious car had originally appeared and still couldn’t locate it.

Figuring it would be easier to search the area when it was light out, Gafyn returned the next day.  After another fruitless endeavor, he stopped by The Queen’s Head, a well-known local pub.  Gafyn told his story to the bartender and discovered that many people had come in over the years to report a car crash where the vehicle vanishes and is never found.

Other strange things are known to happen in Gafyn’s neighborhood after dark.  Sometimes a little girl appears walking along the road looking lost.  People will stop in their cars to give her a lift.  Then as they are driving her back home, she suddenly disappears from the back seat of the car.  Gafyn once ran into a couple who had just experienced this and were frantically searching the road for the missing child.  Gafyn explained the legend to them and they felt better about it, albeit a bit spooked.

To read more about Gafyn’s adventures, check out Gaf’s Other Interests on Facebook.

If you have a real ghost story that you would like to share with The Ghost Post, send me an email to theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview.

I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

For more ghost stories, paranormal phenomena, and updates, follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill.

Too Many Ghosts

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 1 Comment

Thanks to Jodee DeSimone from Grand Junction, Colorado for this story!  Jodee also shared some of the pictures that she had of her house and the surrounding neighborhood.

dance-hall
Old Dance Hall – Grand Junction, Colorado

There are many theories about what causes a haunting.  Some think a person’s immense unhappiness, unfinished business, or a refusal to detach from material objects can cause a soul to become earthbound.  Sometimes the circumstances surrounding the death, especially if it is sudden or particularly violent, may influence a spirit to stay behind.  In other cases, a spirit may not even be aware of the passage of time or that they have died.  Perhaps they may fear punishment for things that they have done or worry that they will be alone when they cross over.

Paranormal investigators, ghost hunters, Mediums, psychics, and other ghost fanatics are still trying to figure out what exactly causes a haunting and how to help spirits find peace.  Another answer they are seeking is why some places seem to attract more hauntings than others?  One possible reason is that certain areas may be portals for spirits to pass through during their travels.

Jodee DeSimone is a psychic Medium who lived in such a place for three years.  Built during the 1800s, the house was teeming with spirit activity.  It had three stories, but only two of them were accessible, as the entrance to the attic had been closed off by a previous owner.  All the bedrooms were located on one side of the house.  The house also had a creepy, unfinished basement where the family found a cat’s skeleton.

little-girl-2-cropped
Possible Image of Little Girl Ghost, Anna

Two specific ghosts made their presence known to Jodee and her family.  One ghost was a little girl named Anna.  She liked to follow Jodee’s young granddaughter around.  The second ghost was a male who appeared as a tall, dark spirit wearing a top hat.  The little girl ghost, Anna, was afraid of him.  The tall man seemed to have some sort of control over the other spirits in the house as he would stop them from talking to Jodee whenever she tried to question them about why they were still there.

Things only became worse when the house next door to Jodee’s family was condemned and eventually knocked down.  The ghosts that were haunting that house moved into Jodee’s home.  Doors and cupboards would open and slam shut every night.  Lights would turn themselves on and off randomly.  The scents of coffee brewing, cigarette smoke, tobacco, and cooking would permeate the house at night, along with the echoes of ghostly conversations.  Sensing the spirits, the family dog would growl and bark throughout the night.

christmas-tree-2
Close Up of Apparition by Christmas Tree

During their time in the house, the family was sick or got injured often.  Jodee even once felt someone push her off a chair while she was trying to hang a screen.  The house never stays rented for long.  Jodee has tried doing research on the house’s history, but is unable to find anything about its background.  For now, the reason for the hauntings remains a mystery.

christmas-tree-1

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If you have a real ghost story that you would like to share with The Ghost Post, send an email with your contact information to Tara Theresa Hill at theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. 

I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

Follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill for more updates and paranormal phenomena!

The Ghost of Marillac Hill

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 1 Comment

This story was told to me by one of the campus security guards when I was a student at the College of Mount Saint Vincent.  For my previous ghost stories about Marillac Hall, please see “A Strange Welcome” and “I thought I was Alone.”

This story is about the hill that runs beside Marillac Hall.  The steepest hill on campus, it rises steadily at almost a ninety-degree angle.  You can easily take a tumble on it if you are not careful.  It’s near impossible to traverse in snow and icy weather and during a big storm, the rushing rainwater turns into a waterfall.

There is a legend about a ghost nun who walks around campus.  Supposedly, she walks along the grounds by the administration building late at night and toward the early hours of the morning.  Her journey ends when she gets to the top of Marillac Hill and mysteriously disappears.  No one knows who she is or why she does this.  Some think that perhaps this is her spirit guarding the school.  Another theory is that this is a residual haunting and her apparition is a recording of something that she did frequently in life.

Being a homebody, unless there was a play or another campus event that I was interested in attending, I was usually in my dorm after the dinner hour.  Even when I lived in Marillac Hall, I didn’t go out much after dark.  One time in my senior year, I went to a visit a friend who was then living in Marillac.  I was dorming in Spellman Hall that year because it stayed open year-round and I wanted a room that I could stay in during the breaks.  We hung out until after midnight.  My husband, then fiancé, was an RA on duty, so he couldn’t come and pick me up.  Even though it was a safe campus, it could still be risky to walk around in deserted areas after dark.  One of the services our college offered was a security escort between buildings and back and forth to the front gate.  I had never used it before, but when the front desk encouraged it that night, I decided that I’d better be safe than sorry.

Spellman is up the hill from Marillac.  The guard came and picked me up to drive me back to my dorm.  I don’t remember it being particularly foggy that night.  As we were driving up Marillac Hill, the ghost story of the nun came to mind.  Now, I was trying not to look out the car windows for fear of seeing something.  As we approached the top of the hill, I saw a patch of mist right in front of the car.  I couldn’t say it was a fully developed apparition because it wasn’t well-formed, but a cold shiver passed over me as we drove through it.

Within a few minutes, we were back at Spellman.  I thanked the guard for the ride and went inside.  Wondering if I had really seen anything, I asked the guard at the front desk if he believed the legend of the ghost nun of Marillac Hill.  He said that he wasn’t sure, but that a buddy of his, who also worked security for the Mount, had had a strange experience once.

The guards always did periodic rounds of the campus to make sure that everything was safe.  One night, one of the guards was driving by when he saw a nun walking along Marillac Road.  Being polite, he rolled down the window and called out, “Good evening, Sister!  Need a lift?”  Thinking she must not have heard him, he tried again.  When she still didn’t respond, he decided to follow her just to make sure that she was okay.  He watched as she turned toward Marillac Hall.

“Okay, she must be one of the nuns who lives there,” he said to himself.  Having driven this far behind her, he still had to drive the car into the dorm’s parking lot to turn around.  As he was about to do a U-turn, he noticed that the nun had walked past Marillac’s front door and toward the porch.  For many years, the porch doors had been kept locked to make sure that there was only one entrance and exit for the building.  Thinking that she must be confused, the guard got out of the car to help her.

“Wait!  Sister, you can’t get in that way.”

When she finally turned around, the guard saw that the woman had no face.  The apparition dematerialized right in front of him, leaving him standing alone on the deserted porch.

If you have a real ghost story that you would like to share with The Ghost Post, send an email with your contact information to Tara Theresa Hill at theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. 

I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

Follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and on Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill for more updates and paranormal phenomena!

 

The Presence

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 2 Comments

Thanks to Regina for this story!  To read Regina’s first story, please see A Medium’s Rite of Passage.

Most of the houses in Regina’s neighborhood in North Philadelphia were built during the early 19th century.  It was rumored that some had been constructed over an old cemetery, so there was no surprise that the town had a reputation for hauntings.  Regina was about eight when she started noticing strange things happening in her house.

The previous owner of Regina’s home was an alcoholic who died while living in the house.  Sometimes, Regina would see a male apparition.  One day, Regina came home and saw a man sleeping on the couch.  At first glance, she thought the man was her father.  Then she watched as the figure got up, walked through the closed door, and down the block before fading away.

The dining room was also known for strange activity.  Sometimes in the middle of the night, disembodied voices could be heard among the tinkling of the chandelier as it swayed back and forth.  The floor had a mysterious stain that couldn’t be removed.  Regina’s parents constantly tried to cover the dark mark, but it always managed to come through whatever carpet that they laid over it.

The eeriness permeated the rest of the house’s atmosphere, but only Regina and her sisters seemed to notice.  As a young child, Regina was afraid of going upstairs by herself, especially at night.  There were two chips in the paint that looked like gaping eye sockets.  Even with her back turned, she felt like they were watching her.

Her parents’ closet door would open on its own.  Outside their bedroom was a perpetual cold spot about five feet in diameter.  It didn’t matter what time of the year it was, the iciness was always there and light always left the hallway in shadow.

One Easter, there was a terrible fire next door that caused extensive smoke damage.  Regina’s family decided to move a few months later.  A suffocating, almost violent feeling hung in the air as they packed up their belongings.  Regina’s father went to drop some things off at the new house.  On his return trip, Regina decided to go with him.  Her mother, Rachel, and brother, Janiero, stayed behind.

After Regina left, the temperature in the house continued to drop until it was so cold that her mother and brother’s teeth were chattering.  Janiero had to use the bathroom.  They heard a creaking noise coming from upstairs.  Looking up, mother and son watched as Regina’s bedroom door slowly closed on its own.

If you have a real ghost story that you would like to share with The Ghost Post, send an email with your contact information to Tara Theresa Hill at theghostpostreporter@gmail.com to set up an interview. 

I’m always in the mood for a good ghost story! 

Follow Tara Theresa Hill on Facebook and Twitter at @TaraTheresaHill for more updates and paranormal phenomena!

 

Nightfall at Pennhurst Asylum

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ Leave a comment

This past summer, my husband and I won two tickets for a public ghost tour of Pennhurst State School and Hospital from the Pennhurst Paranormal Association. Timothy Smith runs Pennhurst Paranormal Association and maintains Pennhurst, conducting ghost tours and teaching visitors about the asylum’s tragic history. Tim and the staff of Pennhurst Paranormal Association are experienced, professional paranormal investigators. Everyone was kind and patient in answering both my questions and those of other tour members. The tour was focused on finding evidence of hauntings through the use of ghost hunting equipment, which they also showed us how to use. Pennhurst Paranormal Association hosts both public and private ghost tours of Pennhurst State School and Hospital.

The drive through the picturesque historical town soon ended, bringing George and me to a stop on a dark, country road next to a water tower. Thankfully, Tim sent one of his team to come and find us because we might have never found the place in time for the tour. Pennhurst Asylum was designed to be an isolated location, which undoubtedly helped in keeping the truth behind it a secret for many years. We had to drive down a winding path through the woods just to make it onto the campus, and it was already after dark.

I felt a shift in the atmosphere from the second I saw the dimly lit structures of the buildings looming above. I was thankful that there was a large touring group that night. After having done some preliminary research online, I was anxious about going. Before now, everything that I had done with ghosts had been low-key or happenstance. This was my first time being with a professional group of paranormal investigators that had ghost hunting equipment. We toured two buildings that night, Mayflower Hall and Devon Hall.

In the first building, we went into a kind of common hall where patients used to congregate. Paint was peeling off the walls and water pooled on the floor in some areas from recent rain. Members of the Pennhurst Paranormal Association told us background history about Pennhurst. The place was known for “womb to tomb care.” Many of the occupants spent their whole lives in Pennhurst, whether they needed to be there or not. Family members were encouraged to drop their children and relatives off and told not to look back as return visits might only upset the patient and disrupt the treatment.

Images of people being abandoned by their families, helpless to stop any ill treatment that might befall them filled me with unspeakable horror. I asked why these spirits were still here. Why hadn’t they moved on after so many years? Pennhurst was officially closed down in 1987. This prompted a discussion about hauntings and whether the spirits see the place as we do now.

Without proper funding, Pennhurst was understaffed, poorly managed, and incredibly overcrowded. This allowed for the medical staff to abuse their patients and for patients to accidentally harm themselves or each other. Severe punishments even included surgically removing the patient’s teeth so that they could not bite in defense. This was done without anesthetics. The mentally disabled were not seen as equals and it was easy for the staff to disregard them.

One story that was told to me was about a telephone lineman who was working on repairing the phone system when a patient came up to him and started swaying. After a few minutes, the patient began banging his head into the doorframe. The lineman hailed a nurse who was passing by for help, but she said that she didn’t have time to take care of the patient because she was so overwhelmed with work already. Meanwhile, the patient that she refused to help had blood pouring from the self-inflicted gash on his head.

We had been in the common room for a few minutes when I felt someone take my hand. Thinking it was my husband, I turned around to see that he was standing a few feet away from me. There was no one standing either next to or behind me. I jumped, pulling my hand back. When I brought this up to the tour guides, they said that people often reported being touched or having someone grab their hand in that room. They said that teenage boys used to be here in this section and that was their way of showing affection. We also got some cold spots in that room.

Next, they brought us to Emily’s room. Emily is the spirit of a sweet, thirteen-year-old girl who has the mental capabilities of a five-year-old. There were various dolls and stuffed animals on her bed. We communicated with her via an EMF (Electromagnetic Field) reader which spiked every time she got excited or came near us. She seemed to prefer females and enjoyed when the female tour guides and I took turns singing nursery rhymes to her.

While I was standing in that room, I suddenly saw a small, green orb. I followed it into the darkness down the hallway into another room, but it disappeared. I came back to Emily’s room. At that point, we said goodbye to Emily and went back outside to join other group members who were planning on visiting Devon Hall. Devon Hall is known for having great EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena). Tim, the association’s leader, took us there.

At one point, I remarked that I kept hearing what I thought to be footsteps following behind us. Tim said that while that was possible, it was more likely that I was hearing the steady dripping of water down the wall. He was accustomed to hearing these noises, so he could debunk them. He even showed me where the water was coming from so that I could see for myself. While we had sufficient light to see by, this was mostly provided by flashlights that we carried along with us during the tour.

First, we went upstairs to inspect some bathrooms in Devon Hall where they had gotten great EVPs in the past. I sometimes get mental flashes of spirits when I enter rooms. It kind of reminds me of taking a picture because I only see the ghost for a second or two before they vanish. When we entered the bathroom, I saw an image of a little boy sitting in the bathtub. I grabbed George as he went to lean against it.

“Don’t sit there!” I hissed. He had no idea what I had seen until I told him later. I didn’t want him to upset the spirit.

Tim showed us how EVPs were made. He had a recorder that would only record when someone was speaking. He would ask a question, wait twenty seconds, and then ask the next question. Later, when he would play the recording back to the group, the ghostly voices would show up in between Tim’s questions. Since the recorder only records when someone is speaking, in theory, there should have been no gap between Tim’s questions during the playback.

The bathroom was a horrible place. Tim asked if the ghosts were repentant of what they had done during their lives, but they seemed to be proud of how they molested and raped young boys. They staked out claims on stalls and threatened to harm Tim if he entered them. Clutching my St. Michael pendant for protection, I envisioned a circle of white light around our group. Thankfully, I had managed to convince George to carry a protective talisman as well. The creepiest thing about this whole situation was that while I didn’t hear anything while I was standing there, Tim’s EVP recordings showed that there was someone in the bathroom with us. This someone was getting angrier at what they took as an intrusion of their territory.

We trudged down to the basement. At this point, I was looking at the cracked plaster and broken sinks and thinking to myself that I should have brought a face mask since I am super sensitive to dust. We entered another bathroom. Apparently, they are a great source for EVPs. We had a brief discussion about whether this was because the water is a good source of energy for spirits. Then we started another EVP session.

Tim made contact with another spirit who obliged us by reading the writing that was on people’s shirts to show that he was there. Then Tim asked if he would go and see if he could get Dr. Fear for us. That was actually the man’s name, although it would have been an appropriate nickname for him as well since he instilled fear in his patients. His soul apparently came here after his passing. I wondered how this was an appropriate punishment for his evil deeds since he seemed to be able to lord over the suffering souls that were still trapped here.

Moments after Tim called for Dr. Fear, I got a flash image of a spectacled man in a lab coat walking over to our group. In my vision, he came over and placed his hands on both a young woman’s and my husband’s shoulder as if he was peering over a group of medical interns. Just then George and the young woman complained of feeling a cold spot right where I had seen Dr. Fear appear.

Tim began asking Dr. Fear questions. Dr. Fear stated that while he remembered who Tim was, he didn’t really care about his presence one way or the other. One of the female tour guides asked if he was a real doctor. The ghost half chuckled into the EVP recorder. Of course, he was a real doctor. The way that he said it made it seem as if he thought she had asked a stupid question. She had been trying to insult him, but he had dismissed it.

One of the things we had discussed were the missing bodies of patients. Patients had died or gone missing and their bodies had never been accounted for. It was thought that they might have been buried somewhere on the campus in unmarked graves. Tim asked Dr. Fear what happened to the bodies.

“I burnt them,” crackled over the recorder, followed by low, eerie laughter.

I felt cold all over after that. Tim offered to keep taking us around the buildings. The next stop would have been back to the Mayflower building. There was the ghost of a nurse on one of the upper floors who was reported to administer ghostly shots to people. George and I decided to leave. We still had a three-hour drive back home and I felt emotionally and spiritually sapped after that encounter in the basement.

I was exhausted for days following this visit, even with my spiritual cleansings. Tim later told me that was one of their strongest EVP sessions. While I don’t consider myself a Medium per say, I do feel like spirits tend to manifest strongly when I’m around. This was easily the most terrifying ghostly encounter that I have ever had. There is nothing like being in a silent, near pitch dark room and having someone who you cannot see answer you.

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Emily’s Room – Mayflower Hall

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My Haunted Vacation

~ Tara Theresa Hill ~ 4 Comments

Dear Readers,

Happy Haunted Holidays from The Ghost Post!  Please be advised that this will be the last post for 2016 as next Sunday is Christmas.  The Ghost Post will resume posting new stories on January 2nd, 2017.  I have a lot of new things in the works for 2017, including a ghost story magazine.  Please stay tuned for more real ghost stories!

Best,

Tara Theresa Hill

For our five-year wedding anniversary, George and I decided to go to Washington, D.C.  We both love history and he wanted to see the space exhibits at the Smithsonian.  Since hotels outside of D.C. were cheaper, we stayed in a hotel in Virginia and drove into D.C. each day.  I can usually count on at least one ghostly encounter per trip.

One of the attractions that we did was called Monuments in the Moonlight.  This was a nighttime trolley tour of D.C.’s national monuments.  Some of the scheduled stops let you out to explore.  The tour included a drive through Arlington National Cemetery.  Since it was already dark, they didn’t let us get out of the trolley.  The trolley was an open-air one, so that you really got great views and pictures as they coasted by the monuments.

I was leaning with my fist on my chin, gazing out at the cemetery.  My reverie was broken by the appearance of a glowing figure.  At first, I took it to be a statue of a Civil War soldier that had been lit up somehow.  I saw the uniform with the buttons down the front and the cap.  I even noted that he had a handlebar mustache.

“That’s an amazingly detailed statue!” I thought to myself and shifted around in my seat to get a better look.  The figure was gone.  We had only just passed by it, so I should have been able to see it.  I turned to my husband.

“Did you see the glowing statue of the Civil War soldier?”

“No.  What statue?”

I pointed behind us.  “There in the woods.”

“Honey, statues don’t generally glow.”

Then it hit me.  I hadn’t seen a statue at all, but a full-blown apparition of a Civil War soldier on the eve of the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.