During the last few years, there has been an increased interest in ghost hunting, both in the United States and worldwide. Shows such as Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State and Ghost Adventures-to name just three-have sparked a flurry of spirit seekers to visit locations reputed to be inhabited by people who have traveled over to "the other side." Costa Ricans-expats and locals alike- also seem to have caught the ghost-hunting bug. So the question arises: Where can you find haunted locations in Costa Rica?
Perhaps the best-known location for paranormal activity is located within the shadow of Irazu Volcano. Some 38 miles from San Jose, near Cartago, is the Sanatorio Carlos Duran. Driving from Cartago, as you head toward Irazu, follow the road to the left which heads to Prusia and you will find it there. Dr. Duran felt that the location and the climate would make a perfect place to treat patients stricken with tuberculosis and leprosy and so, in 1915, he built the hospital.
Throughout the years, the sanatorium/hospital was transformed from a medical facility to an insane asylum and, for a time, also served as an orphanage. However, the Colossus of Costa Rica, as Irazu is known locally, decided in 1973 that Dr. Duran's hospital had run out of time. The 1973 volcanic eruption forced the hospital to close once and for all-at least for the living.
Residents in and around Cartago have long reported spectral encounters throughout the hospital grounds. Ghost Hunters International, a spinoff of the popular Ghost Hunters show on the American SyFy channel, made Dr. Duran's sanatorium one of two Costa Rican locales that were investigated. Encounters range from sounds, feelings of sadness, shadow images, and items being tossed out of the patient's rooms. One of the more persistent stories is that of an image of a nun who is seen on the grounds. Perhaps she is tending the sick in the next world, much as she did in this one.
The town of Cartago is also home to a famous ghost tale. In Parque Central, Cartago, you can visit Las Ruinas de la Parroquia -a spot where churches, of one type or another, have stood since 1575. Legend has it that in the 1800s, a young priest fell in love with his sister-in-law and had a scandalous affair. The affair was discovered by his brother, the mayor, who killed the priest in a jealous rage. Soon after the murder, the original church was destroyed during the earthquake of 1841. It was then rebuilt and almost immediately after completion, it was destroyed again in the quake of 1910. An earthquake continually halted all attempts at reconstruction of the church, prompting the townsfolk of Cartago to give up on reconstruction, deducing that the grounds were evil and haunted. Although only the outer walls of the building remain, visitors tell of a headless spirit who continues to roam the church grounds.
The other site, which the Ghost Hunters International team investigated, is San Lucas Island. Though inhabited by various indigenous groups since roughly 1000 A.D., the island is best known for its infamous prison. Prior to its construction in 1873, under the orders of Tom'as Miguel Guardia Guti'erre, it was used by the Spanish as an internment camp for natives who were subsequently killed at the site of their ancestor's burial grounds.
During its tenure, San Lucas had a reputation as both one of the most dreaded prisons in Central America and as the final destination of some of the most horrific criminals in Costa Rica. Murderers and rapists were intermingled with political prisoners and, as might be expected, many perished. There are countless stories of torture and of the suffering of those sentenced there. Among the many ghostly encounters recorded is that of a nurse who was reportedly raped and killed by the prisoners while she was treating them. It is said her ghost can be found in one of the holding cells which has two drawings of a woman-allegedly made with her own blood.
San Lucas is now a national park and there are several tour companies offering the adventurous the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the ancients and of the ghost hunters.
For those seeking a more inviting location to check out the paranormal, a visit to the beach at Playa Grande is recommended. Rumored to be an ancient burial and ceremonial site of one of the long forgotten tribes who lived in the region, Ticos and non-Ticos alike have reported various ghostly encounters. At the very least, there is the sun, the sand, and the ocean which can certainly compensate for a lack of paranormal activity.
Costa Rica also has its' own version of the banshee. Although she is known throughout much of Central and South America, La Llorona (the Crier) has a unique Costa Rican identity. Maria, (the Crier's name) apparently got involved with someone while she was married and had his child. In despair, she is said to have thrown the baby into the river before taking her own life. She wanders the length and breadth of Costa Rica, usually near water, looking for her lost child and crying a warning to those thinking of having an affair.
Ghost hunting in paradise? Why not? It's just another facet to explore in this green and beautiful land of Pura Vida.
Source: The Costa Rica News
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(Lismore Hospital)
I got asked this question recently and have been pondering it, graveyards are where bodies are stored in the ground yet it is not where people die.. In most hauntings throughout the world ghosts tend to linger around where they die or pass on. So therefore with this theory hospitals should be very haunted.
Hmmm.. What do you think..? Graveyards or Hospitals..?
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Ouija boards have played roles in movies before. The Exorcist's Linda Blair talked to "Captain Howdy" with one just before she went nuts and started projectile vomiting, one spontaneously burst into flames to frighten views in Paranormal Activity, and more than one slumber party has been creeped out when the Ouija is jokingly pulled forth during the witching hour.
As far as board games go, the Ouija is the scariest and the most mysterious (sorry, Clue fans). So... when is Hollywood going to take advantage and make a Ouija-centric film? Well, we hear that it's finally going to happen.
Surely, you're already imagining a bevy of scantily-clad girls running around a darkened house after an impromptu Ouija session seems to raise a mysterious being from the Netherworld... but we're hearing the film is going to take a different track altogether.
According to rumors, Michael Bay and some of the Lost writers are involved, so moviegoers can expect a much more action-adventure-type feeling for the flick. Think: Jumanji-meets-Poltergeist.
Early negotiations are ongoing and there's no script, but things look hopeful for a full-length Ouija movie.
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Are spirits real? Is there any "proof" that ghosts and apparitions are NOT products of an over active imagination or wishful thinking? Is there really an afterlife, or is that something we tell ourselves to feel better? In this article we are going to take a quick and easy look at some of the best PROOF that paranormal experiences are real, and the implications they have for those of us who remain in the living as well. Care to know more? Continue reading as we take a closer look below!
FILED UNDER: THE TYPES OF ACTUAL EVIDENCE IS OVERWHELMING
If ghost stories were ONLY the types you see on TV...it would be easy to write them off as entertainment, or imagination. But the truth is, there are so many different types of experiences with apparitions, and the "afterlife" that it's impossible to explain them as simple tricks of the brain.
There are literally MILLIONS of events like the ones listed below each and every year, and they all point to the same reality. (which IS, that this reality is NOT all there is!)
After Death Communications
Crisis Apparitions (Spirits who appear to people many miles away at the moment of their death)
Death bed visions
Near Death experiences (where deceased family and friends are seen)
And of course, there are MEDIUM readings where information comes through thats impossible to explain away through conventional means, even if the skeptics, and debunkers want you to BELIEVE that the readings are simply good guesses, luck or outright cheating.
And remember, when you REALLY start to look at the whole spectrum of super natural experiences, you really start to see how many of them there are, and they ALL point to that very same place.
* Out of body experiences
* Remote viewing
* Psychic abilities
* Past life memories (especially those in small children that are later proven to be true)
The truth is, there is way too much to list here. And they all seem to suggest that THIS reality is only a fraction of the spectrum of our spiritual awareness. And that MAYBE our authentic selves are really spiritual beings, trapped in the limiting confines of a physical body for a fixed period of time...and when that body disappears, what REMAINS is our spiritual selves.
(and that THIS self is who you really are...and what endures and persists AFTER death, and quite possibly, lives on forever!)
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