Hi - my name is Marie. When I was in the 6th grade we moved to a small town in Florida called Starke. I hated it the moment I came here and because of it I became lonely. During the next few years I began seeing supernatural things in the woods outside of our house. One instance in particular really shook me up. My room has two windows in the corner and it being Florida and extremely hot I had a window fan in one of them. One night I was lying awake in bed and I heard a strange voice call out my name. It was a female voice and she sounded like she was in great pain. I kind of dismissed it out of my mind and it seemed to go away until a few hours later.
I was sleeping by this time and having fitful dreams of a fire when out of the blue I heard the woman's voice again only this time louder. It was directly behind my fan. It scared me so bad I crawled into our living room and told my dad what I had heard. He went outside to check on it and when he came back he said there was nothing there and chalked it up to my imagination. I went back to bed shaking and shivering and I heard her again. This time she was screaming "My house is on fire. Please come help me Marie!" I started crying at this point and had my dad check outside yet again. Nothing. Well I went back to bed and I didn't hear anything the rest of the night. The next night I heard her again. This time she was screaming "My children, their on fire! Marie you have to help!" This went on for about 2 weeks.
One night my friend stayed the night with me. I figured that maybe I was dreaming all of this and I would be safe with someone there. My friend was sleeping by the fan (she didn't believe what I had heard) when all of the sudden she heard "Marie? Where is Marie? You are not her! Go away!" she was hurdling profane language at my friend! You see I had not told my friend about my "ghost" and she was so scared she shoved me next to the window and went to sleep. The last night before "she" left I saw her. Again I heard her screaming at my window and I had learned to block it out but this night was different. She was screaming "Look what they've done to me! LOOK!" I turned my head to the window and I saw her. She was a tall very skinny woman in a white old colonial style dress, her hair was on fire, and her eyes were coal black. She looked at me with a sad smile and was gone, never to be seen again.
A few years later I was old enough to do some research. Back in the 1830's a woman lived out where I am with her 2 children. She was having a love affair with a black man and her neighbors and some other men came out and burned her house with her and her children in it. It is only rumored but that explains a lot of what she had said to me and I honestly think she watches over me now since I found out the cause. - "forwarded by the witness"
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DodgeCity - A second group of ghost hunters is taking a closer look at Wellington's Chisholm Trail Museum after they claim to have found evidence of paranormal activity.
Wichita League of Paranormal Investigators Jan Cohee of Wellington and Brendan Brannan converged on the museum, Friday night, setting up night vision cameras, voice recorders and electronic field radiation testers to see if their ghostly lightning might strike twice.
About a year ago, the group was in the museum and says they captured voices, thumps, heaving breathing and responses to questions.
"We had a lot of personal experiences," said Cohee. "When I was down in the basement, I had my camera in my lap and my legs crossed and it was picked up and put on the other side of my leg," said Cohee.
"We heard footsteps," said Brannan. "but it was kind of a cat and mouse game. You'd go in one room and hear it on the other end,"
The two investigators aren't the only ones who have felt something odd in the museum.
Patty Hatcher, a regular volunteer at the museum claims she saw a man appear in a doorway and then suddenly he was gone.
"I started to say hello and then he was gone - he was just like a tall gentleman," said Hatcher. "I can hear little footsteps upstairs,"
The two were hoping not only for sounds, but for more visual evidence of spirits in the museum.
As Cohee started her journey into the depths of the basement, she told of her first time in the museum's lowest level. Traveling to the right of the staircase, Cohee said she not only heard a ghost, but saw one.
"I turned to the right and I had seen something peek around this wall at me and then when I was walking up to it, I heard two taps and I was telling one of the other investigators to come here, that I had seen something around the corner at me and when I went back to listen to the recording, there was a 'help me'," said Cohee. "The tapping was a 'look here' and you can clearly hear the 'help me' - it was a white-looking mass - but you could see the facial features. You could see the eyes and nose, the mouth."
Feelings of electricity or soft touches are common, Cohee says, and she says she's experienced some before in the museum, but mostly the spirits come through audio capture.
Brannan related his story from last years hunt as he traveled to the third floor - the former surgical area of the former hospital - in search of ghosts. Near a room filled with old toys, the Wichita man said he got responses to a question asked in the dark.
"I said, is the fire truck your favorite toy, if it is could you please knock loudly twice and then there were two loud bangs in here," said Brannan. "I was just talking with the people downstairs and they said the guy that owned the santa suit (which is on display in the toy room) was a firefighter, so it's all coming together now,"
The two ghost hunters traveled in the darkened rooms, asking questions and waiting for responses, all as voice recorders and camera equipment rolled. The two still have to go over footage to make sure they didn't miss anything, but say more than likely that they will be back.
Museum volunteer Richard Gilfillan of Wellington has seen groups of ghost hunters come to the museum before, but says he wants solid answers.
"People are curious and so am I," said Gilfillan. "I want to see something, seriously. I want to see something concrete. I want solid evidence that they are here."
originally posted on 5/6/2009
Night at the Chisholm Trail Museum
As the sky darkened and Wellington residents were settling in for the night Saturday, members of the Wichita Paranormal Research Society started work at the Chisholm Trail Museum readying themselves for a night of spirit searching.
The group was drawn to the museum for it's nearly 100 years of history - not only the building itself, but also for the articles inside it.
"It's got such interesting history that we decided to investigate and see if we find something paranormal there," said Investigator and Public Relations Manager Sherry Curry. The group investigates every Saturday and focuses on authenticating evidence and documenting the existence of any paranormal activity via audio, video and other electronic means of equipment.
President of the Chisholm Trail Museum Board of Directors Richard Gilfillan says the building is one of Wellington's treasures and he's not surprised the group took interest.
The building was erected in 1916 by Dr. A.R. Hatcher to house the Hatcher Hospital and Clinic. His son, Dr. A.C. Hatcher, also a doctor, joined the staff in 1949 and later took charge of the clinic after his father's retirement. Dr. A.R. Hatcher died at age 75 in 1960. Then four years later, Dr. A.C. Hatcher, only 46, walked into the hospital with chest pains and died. With no one to run the hospital, it eventually closed and became a museum, Gilfillan said.
The former hospital is now home to everything from military mementos and uniforms, to old hospital equipment, farming tools and even some prehistoric fossils and mammoth bones.
Having spent many hours in the museum taking groups through the history of the County, Gilfillan says he's had children say the place is haunted, though he doesn't quite believe it himself.
"I think it's just the mannequins...they are a little creepy," the former teacher said. Automatic lights also seem to frighten younger visitors as they blame the change on ghosts.
This isn't the first time the society has been to Sumner County, however.
A trip to the Oxford Mill resulted in some spooky results.
"All of a sudden they heard glasses clanging. They had slid and had clanged into each other," said Curry. A male voice was recorded saying, "Have a seat" when Curry and another investigator walked outside, while she and another were touched on the elbow, Curry said.
The group has even visited the old Oxford High School in an attempt to make contact with spirits that have been left behind.
"The old high school probably more so than any of them. Nothing happened while we were there but we got a ton of audio back," she said.
Elliott says there is a story of a student who died in a bus accident and on the audio, he says the society picked up a young girl's voice.
"We picked up the voice of a little girl and there was nobody in the building with us, not even the employees," Elliott said.
After infrared cameras were placed on every floor of the museum and the members got their personal equipment ready - the hunt was on as the group split into teams.
Curry and Bob Gilmer took the third floor, an add-on to the building that was used for operations. Climbing the stairs by the light of their flashlights, the two entered the pitch-black third floor and started work. The pair introduced themselves to any spirits in the room and then started to ask questions and make requests.
"We aren't here to hurt you, we just want to communicate," Curry said. "If you can see me, move towards my green light." The light on the electro-magnet meter picks up spikes in electro-magnetic currents, which some believe are caused by the paranormal.
Lori Dewinkler and Conway Springs native Donna Chaffin first took the basement and then moved to the first floor military room, calmly repeating questions and requests.
Board member Brian Ferguson and Gilfillan even got in on the act, with Ferguson going down in the basement with the society members and Gilfillan keeping a watchful eye on the infrared camera feeds.
Though the night seemed quiet, the investigators say there was more going on than meets the eye.
"It stayed quiet with the exception of three different incidents on the second and third floor. We had one person at the end of the hall and you would hear footsteps at the other end of the hall and there was nobody down there," Elliott said. "I was there one time and heard it myself. It definitely sounded like somebody was walking around at the end of the hallway and there was nobody around."
That's not the only thing the investigators found. While discussions were taking place in the basement, digital audio recorders were able to pick up sounds the society members couldn't hear.
"They were just talking and weren't really asking questions and you hear a voice in the background say, 'It's all right,'" Elliott said. Another incident occurred under similar circumstances, the investigator said, this time with whispers holding a conversation in the background.
Elliott says it's more common to pick up voices on the recorders than to pick up visuals on still or video camera.
"It happens all the time," he said.
The museum seems to be one of the more active spirit centers in the County.
"It looks like it's pretty on par with the Oxford Mill," Elliott said. "Regardless, it doesn't seem to care what anyone's doing, it just does it's own thing," he said of the spirit caught on the recorder.
More results may come in later as more members of the team go over their audio findings, Elliott said.
Though not a believer himself, Gilfillan says he hopes more people will visit as a result of the ghost hunt.
"Maybe this will bring some attention to the museum. A handful of us work down there for nothing and it's strictly to help and promote the town so anything that brings attention to it is welcome," he said.
Searching for the Ghost Riders at the Chisholm Trail Museum
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Some people might be hesitant to admit that they believe in ghosts. But if you've ever heard a chilling bump in the night when you're home alone, ghosts might not be such a leap of faith. In fact, just over a third of American adults believe in ghosts. Perhaps more surprising is that 23 percent of adults polled said they'd personally seen or felt a ghost.
Every October, thousands of people pay to walk through commercial -haunted houses, in which costumed actors stand in for otherworldly spirits. Customers can get the adrenaline rush of scary "monsters" popping out at them for a few minutes without any risk of getting their souls stolen or becoming possessed. But real-life haunted houses are a different story. Sure, there are plenty of paranormal enthusiasts who intentionally stay in haunted hotels and hunt for ghosts. But what if ghosts found their way into your home? If the poll results mentioned above are accurate, these uninvited guests aren't such an uncommon occurrence.
According to the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP), there are some things to pay attention to if you suspect your house is haunted. You may have some brooding banshees or bothersome bogeymen on your hands if you experience the following: see apparitions, hear weird sounds, smell odd odors, feel "cold spots" within a room, notice objects that have been moved or observe your pet acting agitated. The five places on the following pages have certainly filled that bill, becoming the world's most notorious real-life haunted houses.
Twenty-three percent of American adults say they've seen a ghost or felt the presence of one
Whaley House
The Whaley House in San Diego was originally built on the execution grounds of James Robinson, nicknamed Yankee Jim. In 1852, Yankee Jim was convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to death by hanging. The hangman set the noose improperly, allowing Jim's feet to graze the ground, prolonging the hanging process. In 1856, Thomas Whaley bought the land where Yankee Jim had been killed and built a house for his own family. According to the youngest Whaley daughter, she could hear the sound of boots clomping through the house and suspected it to be the ghost of Yankee Jim.
Today, the Whaley House is a registered historic site and museum. Visitors and employees have reported seeing or hearing the ghosts of former owners Thomas and Anna Whaley. Thomas' ghost usually resides near the landing at the top of the staircase, while Anna's stays downstairs or in the garden. Television host Regis Philbin is among those who claimed to have seen Mrs. Whaley's ghost. Scents of cigar smoke and perfume have also mysteriously arisen at times. Because of the frequency of such ghost sightings, the Whaley House has been cited as one of the most haunted houses in the United States.
Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Calif., is one of the spookiest haunted houses in the United States. For 38 years, proprietor Sarah Winchester ordered construction workers to work on the bizarre home that famously contains a stairway leading nowhere.
FACES OF BELMEZ
A small cottage in the southern Spanish province of Jaen, in the town of Belm'ez, isn't haunted by ghosts, per se. The house is built, however, on burial grounds dating back to 1830 [source: Schweimler]. Inside the kitchen, the floor contains an unsolved mystery that has puzzled scientists and laymen for decades. Maria Gom'ez Pereira, who lived in the house, discovered a face peering up at her from her kitchen floor in 1971. Instead of a two-dimensional apparition, the face resembled a plaster casting that seemed to rise from beneath the house, as though a head was buried right below it.
Spooked by the strange facade, Pereira and her neighbors attempted to get rid of it by chipping away the cement with an axe. Yet upon doing so, they revealed more face casts, this time of older men and children. As word spread about the so-called "faces of Belm'ez," scientists stepped in to verify their authenticity and test whether they were paintings or fake castings orchestrated by Pereira and her neighbors. The painting theory was ruled out, but no conclusive evidence exists to pinpoint exactly how the faces got there.
Cast faces, like this one of Oliver Cromwell, appeared in the flooring of a Spanish home.
Blickling Hall
In October 2007, the National Trust of England named Blickling Hall the most haunted home in the country. Located in Norfolk, England, the stately house is said to have a special guest stop by every spring.
Blickling Hall was one of Anne Boleyn's childhood homes. Boleyn was the second of King Henry VIII's six wives. Henry was obsessed with having a male heir to the throne and consequently divorced Catherine of Aragon, his first wife, because none of the males she gave birth to survived. He gave it another go with Anne Boleyn, who also failed to produce a son (but did give birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I). To arrange his second divorce, the king cooked up adultery charges against Boleyn that stuck. Her punishment of allegedly cheating on one of the world's most powerful men at that time was death.
On May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn was beheaded. Every year, on the anniversary of her execution, Boleyn's headless ghost arrives at Blickling Hall in a carriage drawn by a headless horseman. But she hasn't lost her head completely in the afterlife -- she carries it along with her during her hauntings.
Every May 19, Anne Boleyn's headless ghost pays a visit to Blickling Hall.
ROSE HALL
The tales of the murderous Annie Palmer of Rose Hall still frighten children in Jamaica. Built in 1770, Rose Hall was a sugar cane plantation and home to Palmer and her husband. Palmer grew up in Haiti and learned voodoo from her nanny, which would later serve her in her dastardly schemes.
When Palmer became sexually unsatisfied with her husband, she began sleeping with slaves on the plantation. In order to keep them quiet about the affairs, she either killed these men or ordered other slaves to do so. Wanting to gain sole possession of her husband's wealth, she poisoned her first husband and later married and killed two other men. Her twisted sexual escapades continued as well. In case she encountered a man unwilling to pleasure her or a slave trying to escape, Palmer had a pit dug 16 feet (4.8 meters) below the house where she would banish these people. As her nefarious reputation spread around the island, she became known as the White Witch.
According to legend, Palmer cast a fatal voodoo hex on a housekeeper who caught the eye of one of her lovers. Supposedly, the housekeeper's grandfather later strangled Palmer to death. Her body was buried in an aboveground coffin in the eastern wing of Rose Hall. The White Witch's spirit, along with those of the slaves she had murdered, continued to haunt the house. When new tenants attempted to move into Rose Hall, they were quickly driven away from the haunted grounds. Eventually, in 1965, a couple bought the house and converted it into a museum. Yet even today, visitors and employees have reported hearing men's screams and doors slamming, as well as other paranormal phenomena.
Annie Palmer, known as the White Witch, lived in Jamaica's Rose Hall.
The White House
It must be hard for former presidential couples to adjust to life outside of the White House. After four or more years, they probably get used to never having to take out the trash, wash dishes or change a light bulb, not to mention the other amenities afforded to the most powerful people in the Western world. Perhaps that's why some have stuck around after their terms -- and lives -- ended. That's right, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is not only the most famous address in the United States, but also one of the most haunted.
John and Abigail Adams were the first presidential couple to live in the White House, taking residence in 1800. Abigail has lingered ever since, and her ghost is said to hang laundry in the East Room on occasion. Another first woman, Dolley Madison, has been quite territorial with White House renovations. During her husband's term, Dolley oversaw the landscaping of the Rose Garden, where presidents often meet with the media. When President Woodrow Wilson's wife tried to have the garden dug up, the story goes that Dolley's ghost appeared and instructed the workers not to tear up her beloved garden.
Going along with a rose theme, the Queen's Bedroom, which was once called the Rose Room, is known as a paranormal hotspot in the White House. It not only houses the bed of President Andrew Jackson but his ghost as well, which has been heard walking around the room. Jackson's ghost is rumored to hang out in the Red Room as well. People have seen Abraham Lincoln's ghost ambling down the halls and staring out of windows. He pays visits to the Lincoln bedroom at times as well.
Don't believe us? The White House Web site has a page devoted to its ghost sightings, once spotted by notable residents like Eleanor Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter's daughter.
Abraham Lincoln's ghost still hangs around the White House, particularly in the Lincoln bedroom.
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