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Showing posts from June, 2009

GS Question of the Week

Do you think the Ark of the Covenant should be revealed to the public?

Reminder Sunday - Ghost Stories Carnival

You have 9 days to submit to the Ghost Stories Carnival July edition. Your submission must be in by 11 pm Central. Pick your best post between June 3rd and July 6th and submit it. No registration required. Your submissions must be paranormal related.

Magnolia Plantation

Note: This entry is in the process of being amended. I recently learned some details are not accurate. I hope to have the problem fixed soon. Jean Baptiste LeComte II received Spanish and French lad grants in the mid-1700s. Buildings began to erect in the 1800s. However it wasn’t until 1830 Magnolia Plantation saw it’s first residents. Jean’s son Ambroise and his wife Julia Buard and began turning the property in to large-scale cotton production. Using slave labor, they converted 2,000 acres wooded area in to huge cotton crops. Their profits allowed them to expand to three plantations using Magnolia as their home base. Most of Magnolia’s structures which include a blacksmith shop, a plantation store, a former slave hospital, eight brick cabins and a gin barn date between 1835 to 1850. The slave hospital housed the owners when the main house was burned by retreating Union soldiers during the Civil War in 1897. The house that stands today is a recreation of the original. Magnolia rem

Preston Castle

Preston School of Industry also known as Preston Castle or The Castle was built between 1890 – 1894 as a school to rehabilitate juveniles in Ione, California. The Castle stands on 230 acres bought from the Ione Coal and Iron Company at $30 per acre with 100 acres donated. The sandstone bricks were made at San Quentin and Folsom prisons and delivered via railroad at 6,000 bricks per car. The original plans consisted of five floors and seventy-seven rooms. It officially opened for business on July 1st, 1894 and remained so until 1960. It fell in to disrepair until 2001. The Preston Castle Foundation received a fifty year lease for the property and restoration began to convert it in to an arts college. The Castle has seen its share of death. Seventeen boys lost their lives in the hospital to diseases such as tuberculosis and typhoid fever. Sam Goins was shot in the back by a prison guard in 1922 during his third escape attempt. He was only 20. Starvation, isolation, and public paddling

GS Question of the Week

What makes a house scary? The ghosts or the appearance?

Reminder Sunday

You have 17 days to submit to the Ghost Stories Carnival July edition. Your submission must be in by 11 pm Central. Pick your best post between June 3rd and July 6th and submit it. No registration required. Your submissions must be paranormal related.

Hot Lake Hotel

Hot Lake Hotel was originally built in 1864 in La Grande, Oregon during the gold rush. It became THE place for vacationers as the 205 degree sulfurous Hot Lake were thought to have healing properties. A Dr. William T. Phy bought the establishment in 1917 and turned it in to a state-of-the-art medical facility known as the "Mayo Clinic of the West". Actually, the Mayo Brothers who established the Mayo Clinic were frequent visitors. Wild Bill Hickok and his Wild West Show also visited Hot Lake regularly. Prior owners and investors include Governor Walter M. Pierce and Senator Parish L. Willis. There Dr. Phy practice along side his son Marcus until his death in 1931 from a cold or alleged radiation poisoning. Marcus committed suicide a couple of years later. In 1934, a fire destroyed the ballroom and library. The remaining buildings went on to be a hotel. Then later an insane asylum, a nightclub, nursing home and restaurant in the 1970s. Nurses trained there during World War

Woodland Plantation

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William Johnson traveled from Nova Scotia along with his partner Capt. George Bradish in the 1790s. They settled in southeast Louisiana. Johnson became the first American chief river pilot and a prosperous sugar baron during a time when sugar cane was considered the new "white gold". However, he and Bradish was later involved in the illegal slave trade with pirate Jean Lafitte. In 1793 before the Louisiana Purchase, Captains Johnson and Bradish built Magnolia Plantation, four miles from Woodland. The two families remained at Magnolia until Johnson sold his shares. In 1834, he and his four sons built a home in New Orleans called Woodland Plantation. His son Bradish took over the plantation until his death in 1897. His heirs sold it to the Wilkinsons who owned it until 1997. Woodland was one of the few plantations to survive the Civil War. It's fruitfulness declined soon after. The plantation's worthiness picked up during Prohibition. Bootleggers stored their illegal

GS Question of the Week

Do you think Fire Starters really exist?

Linda Heights Hospital

In last weeks episode of VH1's Charm School, they featured the Linda Heights Hospital as a challenge location. The purpose was for the girls to face their fears while earning money for charity. This isn't the first time the hospital has been used for entertainment purposes. It was the backdrop for the pilot episode of ER and Moonlight TV series. In movies such as End of Days, Pearl Harbor and Outbreak. Garbage and Duran Duran used it for the setting in their music videos. But allow me to get in to the history of the building. Linda Vista Hospital was built in 1904 of the Boyle Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Originally named Santa Fe Railroad Hospital, it's primary purpose was to service railroad workers and the community. There is a rumor floating around that Howard Hughes often visited the hospital during his time in Los Angeles, occupying the entire top floor. The hospital closed in 1990. The reasons vary: high death rate, doctors murdering their pati

Corpse Roads

Corpse roads were a means of transporting corpses from remote communities to cemeteries in parts of Europe. Many such roads have disappeared. In spirit lore, spirits, phantasms, wraiths, and fairies traveled the land along special routes. These such routes were believed to be straight and have something in common with ley lines. Mazes and labyrinths would hinder their movements. Spirits would fly along a direct course close to the ground. Any obstructions such as buildings, fences and walls were kept clear to avoid them. The roads would begin or end at cemeteries and thus believed to have similar characteristics to allow ghosts to thrive. Corpses traveled along defined corpse roads to avoid their spirits returning to haunt the living. It was a widespread custom that the feet of the corpse be kept pointing away from the family home on its way to the cemetery. It was believed spirits could not cross running water. Often, corpses were taken over bridges in route to their burial. Other

Spearfinger

Long ago, in the woods, there was a woman named Spearfinger. This Cherokee witch was feared among her people along the eastern side of Tennessee and western part of North Carolina. She was described as being forty feet tall with skin like rock that no weapon could penetrate. With one long razor sharp finger, she would sneak up behind you, stab it through your back and yank out your liver, eating it in one gulp. More than anything, she loved the flesh of young children. Spearfinger could transform herself in to anything or anyone. You never knew if your friend or neighbor was actually them or the witch until it was too late. One day, an indian village knew Spearfinger was fast approaching them. They developed a plan to dig a huge pit, surrounding the village, and cover it with branches and leaves. When she fell in, they would strike and kill her. The whole village came together, putting the plan in to action. One particular boy had trouble pulling his weight. His clumsy nature hinde

GS Question of the Week

When you feel like you're being watched, who/what do you think is watching you? Guardian Angel? Spirit Guide? Ghost? Why?

Cutler-Majestic Theater

Built in 1903, the Cutler-Majestic Theater is one of the oldest theaters operating in Boston. Located at Emerson College, the theater was commissioned by Eben Dyer Jordan, son of the founder of Jordan Marsh, a Boston-based chain of department stores. In the 1920s, The Majestic was converted to accommodate vaudeville shows. Then later turned in to a movie house until 1983 under the name of Saxon Theater. In the mid-1980s, Emerson College purchased and restored it to its former beauty. Story goes a former Boston mayor died during a performance and is now often seen sitting at the theater. However, it's hard to determine which mayor it is. Several have died at the Majestic. There are also reports of a little girl who accepts hidden gifts and married couple who haunts the balcony. People refer to a room in the theater as "The Nightmare Room" because of a severe feeling of congestion and breathing difficulties.

Ohio Grassman

In 1869, the first Grassman was sighted in Gallia County, Ohio. Imagine seeing an ape-like creature standing at seven to nine feet tall with brown or reddish hair and a muscular build. What would your reaction be? Now a days, a camera would be retrieved and the next blurry video clip would hit YouTube fame. Some believed the Grassman is yet another Bigfoot in a different location. Those with a close encounter with the creature describe it as having a more human-like face and teeth. The History Channels investigative team Monster Quest went in search for evidence of its existence. Unfortunately, the evidence they recovered was inconclusive. Will the Grassman ever be identified?

Ghost Stories Carnival

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Welcome to the June 2009 edition of Ghost Stories Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to gather articles about the paranormal from around the blog-o-sphere. If you would like to submit an article for the next Ghost Stories Carnival, please read the guidelines . So, without further ado, sit back and start clicking away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Phylameana presents Do You Believe In Angels? posted at Phylameana lila Desy saying, "Poll and angel encounter stories". Fiction Asheesh presents Western Astrology - Astrology - Horoscope posted at My Free Horoscopes saying, "Basics of Western Astrology." Vichuda presents Ourang Medan Ghost Ship posted at Kota Medan City Indonesia Article Martin J. Clemens presents To Charge or Not to Charge, That is the Question posted at Paranormal People . Ghost Stories presents Green Man Tunnel posted at Ghost Stories Vera Nadine presents Medium Adventures: The Roman in the Bath posted at Vera Nadine . flo

GS Question of the Week

Do you think ghosts sometimes manifest through telepathy? Why or why not?