What are your supernatural/weird local legends?

[Bluegill]

The Pope Lick Goat Man (http://www.gcbro.com/KYjef004.html)

I’ve been hearing about The Goat Man ever since I was little; he was seen late at night near the Pope Lick train trestle, but the versions I’d heard said that he lured people onto the tracks, not warned them off. (Please, no comments about the name “Pope Lick:…”)

Most descriptions of the monster call it a "goat man," with the body of a man and the head of a goat, and in the film it is depicted this way. However, the descriptions of its actions appear to have much more in common with Bigfoot. I suspect that at the time this beast was being seen, no one knew what a Bigfoot was.
For example, descriptions of the creature's cry refer to a long, loud wail, possibly in mimicry of a train whistle. The creature also would scream at people on the trestle, allegedly to warn them off, but perhaps also to demand that they leave its territory. Also, in earlier years when the area supported several farms, farmers would sometimes find their sheep ripped apart.

The stories scared me when I was little. Of course, now that I’m an adult and a skeptic, I don’t put an credence in them. And in any case, the stories are so goofy that I don’t think there are many serious believers, anyway.

Sleepy Hollow Road (http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:zFKPvWxwxUMJ:www.louisvilleghs.com/sleepy_hollow.htm+kentucky+%22sleepy+hollow%22+cha nting&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1)

Imagine driving through a serene isolated lane late at night, the moon is full in the sky. It is the only light illuminating the area, and as you drive the trees all around you cast a shadow on the road obscuring the road ahead, you have nothing but your headlights to guide you now. Silence is all you can hear….
Sleepy Hollow Road is just that, a solitary place that at night time is as dark and foreboding a place as you can imagine; an area eerie enough to ward off even the most adventurous soul. Sleepy Hollow itself is located near the eastern edge of the border between Jefferson and Oldham Counties in Kentucky.
There are a few stories and urban legends attached to the area. Among them is that of the black hearse, it is said to begin to follow you as you travel along the road, it appears suddenly from out of nowhere. The hearse will continuously increase its speed, thereby causing many drivers to run off the side of the road and plunge into the thirty-foot ravine that borders Sleepy Hollow Road.

Another of the lesser known of the three stories of Sleepy Hollow is the “Devil's Point” which in the 1970's and early 80s was rumored to be the area where satanic rituals were held. Many residents that live in the area have claimed to have heard chanting and screaming coming from nearby. The area is also rumored to have been populated by bonfires and figures in dark robes.

I actually don’t recall hearing about the hearse before now, but some friends I made at the University of Louisville told me all about the satanic rumors. We drove through that area at night several times afterward, discussing the rumors, and it is pretty creepy.

I guess every place has its weird little legends that aren’t quite famous enough for non-locals to know about it. These stories are essential to local flavor, I guess, and in turn help outsiders who hear them get a sense of community history.

I thought it would be interesting to hear about local tales from your neck of the woods, if you know any.

[Dcdrac]

Where I grew up it was Borley and its Rectory,, which birnt down in 1939. I spent the nigt at the hamlet once and while spooky was certainly not haunted.

[vbloke]

Oddly enough, in the town where I grew up there were three reported ghosts - all of which haunted local pubs.
Personally, I think it was another type of spirit responsible for the chanting and singing heard.


Orange Tree public house, Old Market Place
This monk sings his praises in the basement of the pub, while upstairs a ghostly woman haunts one of the rooms.

Victoria public house
Beer mugs and wine glasses were thrown off the shelves by an invisible presence, while mysterious cold spots appeared over the building. Top (http://forums.randi.org/#)

[Jeff Corey]

A few miles south of where I grew up, there were the mysterious "Moodus Noises" that were supposedly unexplicable rumblings centered around Moodus CT.

[Tirdun]

Where I grew up in southern MD it was the Moll Dyer witch, Crybaby bridge and the ghosts of Point Lookout.

Moll Dyer is based on some local history, in 1697 an accused witch (and her dog. there's always a dog) was supposedly chased out of her home on a winter night. She died clutching a rock where the Leonardtown jail now stands and there's supposedly a handprint on the big rock out front. Never bothered to go check.

Trying to nail down Crybaby bridge is like asking where "dead man's curve" is. Everybody knows exactly where it is, except everybody will tell you a different bridge. At least one seems to be caused by wind on the bay.

Point Lookout was a Civil War prison. Hauted as all get out. Wish I knew that when me and my sister were playing for hours there on family outings. :rolleyes:

[Bluegill]

Where I grew up it was Borley and its Rectory,, which birnt down in 1939. I spent the nigt at the hamlet once and while spooky was certainly not haunted.

I remember being scared reading about Borley Rectory when I was little.

[Orb]

I live outside of Pittsburgh, PA - near the airport. This is our famous local spooky spot. "Damien's Grave"!!

Muhahahaha!

http://www.pittsburghnewage.net/ghosthunter/files/damian_grave/index.htm

[Kochanski]

Well I am from Long Island so we have the Amityville Horror: http://www.amityvillehorrortruth.com/

Don't know if there is any truth at that website, I basically don't pay a lot of attention to this type of poo ;)

[LeCynthia]

We have a covered bridge and no two haunting tales are the same about it. I've always thought bridges (covered especially, or old railroad bridges) get too much attention in local hauntings.

[sackett]

In Big Horn, Wyoming, where I grew up, there’s a well-established bogey, Old Man Gatz. He lives somewhere “up the crick” in a house nobody can quite locate. Children who misbehave get sent to stay with Old Man Gatz for a while, and when they come back they’re the best-behaved and hardest-working children you ever saw. Some people even say that those kids never grow an inch taller for the rest of their lives!

Once when I was 14 or so, for a prank I impersonated Old Man Gatz in dim light, wearing a shapeless coat and an oversized cap pulled down low. Old Man Gatz has a scarey voice, a fierce dog he’s just about to whistle up, and a half-grown lout of a son who’s out in Idaho just now, but he’ll soon be back and then you kids better watch yerselfs!

Shame on me; I scared a whole new generation of Big Horn children, and by now their children probably believe in Old Man Gatz. Who knows what monstrous forms the dog and the son have grown into?

[Mojo]

Around where I live, we have a legend of strange beings who nobody has ever seen.

The only evidence for their existence is that small pieces of card bearing the words "while you were out, we called to read your gas meter" are sometimes found.

[Flo]

The Dahu (http://www.vidonne.com/html/dahu-reignier.html#science).

[Overman]

In Chicagoland, there is a graveyard called bachlor's grove. Its actually pretty famous as for being one of the more "haunted" places in the US. I spent the night over there on Halloween about 10 years ago during my pre skeptic days.

Guess what?!?!?!

Nothing happened.

It was cold, but I did get to make out with a girl I brought, and back then that was a pretty big deal!

[Correa Neto]

Here in Rio we have a few. For example, some woos claim a mountain, the Pedra da Gávea, is actually a Sphinx-like monument built by Phoenicians (or Atlanteans, of course). Its supposed to be hollow, with a tomb inside (treasure included), plus the standard "portal" that depending on the woo, leads to another dimension and/or the inner Earth. Sure, UFOs come in and out of it.

Check
http://phoenicia.org/brazil.html
http://www.viewzone.com/gavea.html
http://www.almacarioca.com.br/hist02.htm

Actually the "face" is an erosional feature developed at the base of a granite sill (a tabular intrusive magma body) near its contact with gneisses. The "hieroglyphs " are also an erosional feature, but one developed using fracture systems.

And regarding the alleged "Greek" or "Phoenician" pottery found at Guanabara Bay, cited at the provide links... Back in the late 60s or early 70s (typing from memory here) a diver wanted to have for decoration purposes at his house, some ancient pottery like the ones found at Mediterranean shipwrecks. However, he could not have the "real deal". He had the idea of leaving copies of Greek pottery to age at a certain spot at the bay. Someone else found the vases and the rest is (woo) history.

As a woo once said, I took away all the magic of the place...

[sesmo_k]

In my nearest local town, Alnwick in Northumberland, UK, there is a pub called the Cross Keys. Legend has it that

"Over 200 years ago, the owner of the Cross Keys pub in Alnwick suffered a heart attack as he changed the display of bottles in the window and cursed the bottles as he died. A few years later, the bottles were moved again only for the same fate to befall the person concerned. They have remained there ever since, untouched and covered in dust and cobwebs."

Its true they are still there, covered in dust and whatever else. When they renovated the place they didn't even touch them.

Down the road the other way is the Elsdon Gibbet. Its supposed to by a replica of a gibbet used to hang a murderer over 200 years ago. Apparently, on the anniversary you can hear the sound of the condemned man screaming on his way. I have to admit, its prettyspooky there, especially at night. There's even a replica head on it (the body was stolen some years ago by a bunch of drunk farmers!)

[Nyarlathotep]

I Looooooooove local folklore and that includes quite a few ghost stories.

One I particularly like is the haunted Goldfield Hotel (http://www.allstays.com/Haunted/nv_goldfield_goldfield.htm).

A bit closer to my home is Virginia City. It's an old west town that is still pretty well preserved (as a tourist attraction) there are several shost stories. One of my personal favorites is the supposedly cursed Faro table in back of the Delta Saloon. It is called the Suicide Table (http://www.computer-vet.com/travel/vc/thenandnow/cstreet2.html) (scroll about midway down). Of course, there are LOTS of allegedly haunted buildings in the town.

Besides ghosts, we have not one but TWO lake monsters. The first is known as Tahoe Tessie (http://www.newsreview.com/reno/Content?oid=oid%3A21708), and she lives, obviously in Lake Tahoe. The second is in Walker Lake (http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=1215&id=15321). One of the stranger legends has to do with a water serpent. The Walker Lake Paiute have believed that a large water monster, similar to the Loch Ness Monster, resides in Walker Lake. An early newspaper account in the San Francisco Cable told of a sighting near Goldfield, Nevada:

“…a man named Peters is said to have discovered the serpent some time ago in shallow water near the shore, and on being aroused it disappeared in deep water. There is also said to be legend among the Paiute Indians near Shurz concerning the existence of a great serpent in Walker Lake”. (6)

Legend says that two serpents, a male and female, live in Walker Lake and arrows fired by the Paiute warriors simply bounced off their thick hide. Indian children were cautioned not to make fun of the legends out of fear of the serpent’s anger. Legend also says that these two serpents originated in Mono Lake. An article in the Review Journal, on June 4, 2000 remarked that when the Northern Paiute were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands “moving the tribe also took them away from the serpent that members of the tribe believe dwells there. The tribal offices have a photo purportedly showing the serpent, which bears a striking resemblance to the Loch Ness monster.” (7)



Walker Lake and its monster aren't well known nationally, but the monster is well known enough to locals that a float of it would appear in the Nevada Day parade every year when I was a kid.


I could go on and on and on....

[jimlintott]

The best one around here is the St. Louis Ghost Light (http://www.philcampagna.com/stlouisghostlight/ghost.html) . The really strange thing about this is that it is real. I have seen it myself and so have countless other people. I'm sure it isn't a ghost train or any other of the legends that surround it. I've always thought it was cars as the tracks lead right to a bridge that has the tracks down the middle and vehicle traffic on either side. The highway itself turns away quite abrubtly after the bridge. Supposedly cars have been ruled out.

If you google (http://www.google.ca/search?q=st+louis+ghost+light&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official) it you'll find lots of questions but not many answers.

[El Greco]

There are many exciting legends in Greece. Here's one I particularly like and still can't decide whether it was pure BS or some kind of optical phenomenon:


From here (http://www.matala-crete.com/matala_crete_info/crete_customs_events/6.html)

The phenomenon of Drosoulites

Every year, on the anniversary of the battle of Fragokastello (May 17th ), when the dawn breaks, the visitor sees a long procession of visions. There are people, dressed in black, with their weapons shining under the morning sun, walkers and riders, marching from the ruined church of Agios Charalambos and advancing towards the fort.
They reach the sea and disappear into it , with the first rays of the sun. They are called Drosoulites. The phenomenon usually last about 10 minutes. Many have tried to explain this in a scientific way, and at one time it was explained as a mirage from the coast of north Africa, but still there is no accepted consensus. The appearance of the Drosoulites is so real, that is is documented over the ages. In 1890 a transient Turkish army, took the images for rebels and opened fire on them. Even during the last World War, a German patrol opened fire on the visions.

[Rachel1031]

I grew up in Tennessee, and we boast the humdinger of U.S. ghost stories. Old "Kate" imprinted pretty deeply on me as a kid.

As an adult, I would say "Oh, I don't believe in ghosts - but I do believe in the Bell Witch". (I was afraid of pissing her off. I didn't want her to think she had something to prove to me!)

Check her out at bellwitchfansite (I can't post URLs yet)

And for the record, I don't believe in the Bell Witch. :eek: But I do believe it was the greatest hoax poltergeist story in U.S. history!

Kate's faithful admirer, Rachel

[Ashles]

This is one the type of which is very common in the area around which my maternal family came from. I am assured by people who believe it really happened.

This version I heard of the story happened about a year or two ago near Aughrim Co.Galway(Ireland).

This guy drives from Ballinasloe to Kilreekill and decides not to take the new A road, as he wants to see the scenery.

The inevitable happens and when he reaches the outskirts his car breaks down - he's stranded miles from anywhere.
Having no choice he starts walking on the side of the road, hoping to get a lift to the nearest human habitation.
It's dark and raining and pretty soon he's wet and shivering.
The night rolls on and no car goes by, the rains are so strong he can barely see a few feet ahead of him.

Suddenly in the distance he sees the headlights of a car coming towards
him and it slows and then stops next to him - without thinking the guy opens the car's door and jumps in. Seated in the back, he leans forward to thank the person who had saved him when he realises there is nobody behind the wheel!

Even though there's no one in the front seat and no sound of any engine, the car starts moving slowly. The guy looks at the road ahead and sees a curve coming (remember, this is in the hills and there is a steep,steep drop beyond the curve). Scared almost to death he starts to pray, begging the Lord for his life. He hasn't come out of shock, when just before he hits the curve, ahand appears through the window and moves the wheel!

The car makes the curve safely and continues on the road to the next bend. The guy, now paralysed in terror, watches how the hand appears every time they are before a curve and moves the steering wheel just enough to get the car around each bend.
Finally, the guy sees lights ahead. Gathering his courage he wrenches open the door of the silent, slowly moving car, scrambles out and runs as hard and fast as he can towards the lights.
It's a small town.

Wet and in shock goes to a roadside bar,which is open, and asks for a drink.
They find some Whisky and give him a shot. And he starts telling whoever will listen about the horrible experience he's just been through.
A silence envelops everybody when they realise the guy isn't drunk, and is really frightened - he's crying and shaking. So they give him more booze and talk about what they should do, whether to call the police or find a priest, or what.

But just then two strangers walked into the bar. And one says to the other, "Look, that's the fecking eejit that got in the car when we were pushing it."

(That was a mean trick to make you wade through all that just for that gag wasn't it, but admit it, you were hooked for a bit)

[Tim Van Haitsma]

At a local college there is a rumor that the Chapel is haunted.

I just found this out a few months ago. I went to that college, my buds and I would break in late at night and drink beer and generally cause trouble in that building. I am 90% certain that we are the source of that local legend. One our favorite things to do on saturday night was re-arrange the pulpit and front of the sancutary.

[LeCynthia]

There's two old cemeteries near hear that are all children and 1 adult. I pointed this out to someone and their reply was, "Someone should start a ghost story about those." I'm sure that's how most stories start.

[Nyarlathotep]

There are many exciting legends in Greece.

Isn't one of the Greek Islands (I forget which) nototrious for vampire legends?

[Numenaster]

Here in Oregon we have the Oregon Vortex, at oregonvortex.com, which is one of those places where optical illusion makes it appear that people are leaning and water flows uphill. I've never bothered to go there: the Oregon Caves are much more interesting, and woo-free.

[El Greco]

Isn't one of the Greek Islands (I forget which) nototrious for vampire legends?

Um... doesn't ring a bell. Actually, in spite of our proximity to Romania, the blood-sucking undead are not too popular here. I did a quick search in the Greek net but didn't find anything specific. I was unlucky enough to find 'supernatural.gr' (don't go there, it loads extremely slowly and is only in Greek), a site that embraces every single stupid thing that has ever surfaced on this Earth :mad:

[Jon.]

Here in Oregon we have the Oregon Vortex, at oregonvortex.com, which is one of those places where optical illusion makes it appear that people are leaning and water flows uphill. I've never bothered to go there: the Oregon Caves are much more interesting, and woo-free.

My wife and I went to Northern California and Oregon on our honeymoon. When we were driving from the Oregon Caves (which were wonderful) to Crater Lake (which is one of my favourite places on earth!) we saw signs for that place and thought it looked like a tacky tourist trap. It took about 3 milliseconds to decide not to go.:D

[Nyarlathotep]

Um... doesn't ring a bell. Actually, in spite of our proximity to Romania, the blood-sucking undead are not too popular here. I did a quick search in the Greek net but didn't find anything specific. I was unlucky enough to find 'supernatural.gr' (don't go there, it loads extremely slowly and is only in Greek), a site that embraces every single stupid thing that has ever surfaced on this Earth :mad:


Heh. I even remember reading on the form that the Greek variant on the vampire takes (bald and with a distended belly) and what it is called "Vryokoklas" (or something close). But the island I heard the myth originated on, escapes me.

[Blondin]

We have a Native Weather Prognosticator in my area of Northern Ontario. You read or hear about him every once in a while dispensing his predictions about how much more cold weather or snow we can expect, etc.

Even though his predictions are always either so vague they could apply to any year, phrased with built-in escape clauses or just plain wrong the local paper and radio stations still check in with him like they've been doing for the past 20 years.

One day I found out that a cow-orker was from the same reserve so I asked her if she happened to know the guy. "Yes," she said, "He's my dad."

I asked her what her friends and family thought about his weather prognostications to which she said, "Oh, he makes that ***** up. He just uses it as a way to get his name in the paper 'cause he thinks it helps his hunt camp business."

I told her the joke about the Indian Chief who called the weather bureau to see what kind of winter to expect (you know the one with the punchline about the Indians gathering wood like crazy) but she'd already heard it.

O wise and ancient one...

[Psiload]

Well I am from Long Island so we have the Amityville Horror: http://www.amityvillehorrortruth.com/

Don't know if there is any truth at that website, I basically don't pay a lot of attention to this type of poo ;)

Booooring!

C'mon... we've got much better kookery than that here on the lawnguyland.

We've got:

Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant- a defunct power plant that never generated a single watt of electricity. Built at an ourageous cost to taxpayers back in the 80's, was never allowed to open(environmental protestors, anti-nukes, etc...) Its empty shell in now fertile ground for seedling conspiracy theories.

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab- One of these days it's going to spawn a black hole that will consume the entire planet! :eek: Won't that suck?

Camp Hero Military Base in Montauk- An old Air Force base abandoned(or so "they" want you to think!) back in 1969. Was supposedly where the "The Philadelphia Experiment" took place. Is now home to a group (the first wave) of alien visitors... "reptoids" to be specific.

http://www.subversiveelement.com/ReptiliansatMontauk.html

There is even one intrepid internet loon who has tied all of these sites together, and he even threw in the crash site of TWA Flight 800 to boot!

http://www.geocities.com/electrogravitics/bm-comp.html

And then there's Plum Island Animal Disease Center- An off-limits to the public island located just off the tip of the north fork of Long Island where homicidal maniacs (like Hannibal Lechter) are allowed to stroll along the beach and frolic in the surf. Also where the guv'mint "invented" Lyme Disease, and stores recovered UFO's and Nazi gold. Oh yeah... and Captain Kidd's treasure stash is also buried somewhere on the island.

This island is jam packed with kooky hotspots!

[zakur]

Haunted theaters: http://www.prairieghosts.com/oh-day1.html

Haunted college: http://www.prairieghosts.com/oh-day2.html

Other various hauntings: http://www.flyernews.com/article.php?volume=53&issue=13

And recently we had some sort of mysterious howling creature in the forest. Some say it was the Buckeye Sasquatch. Experts said it sounded like a human.

The tabloids picked up the story. HOWLING BEAST TERRORIZES OHIO TOWN screamed the headline in the Weekly Sun.

The Sun's article quoted earwitnesses, and added an EYEwitness, a "Dan Rockwood of Detroit" who claims he saw the beast during an Aug. 26 camping trip at Indian Lake.

"It was just a split second, but I could tell it was built like a man or a big ape —skinnier than a bear — and covered in reddish brown hair," the article quoted Rockwood.

The article finished: "The following morning, park rangers investigated the scene. They found unusual scratch marks running up several trees, but no other signs of the mysterious intruder."

On Wednesday, Indian Lake Park Manager Frank Giannola said — surprise, surprise — that he has had no reports of howls or howling beasts or scratch marks on trees

"I don't know what they're talking about," Giannola said, laughing. "I have no reports of howling, unless you count a drunk."

:D

[El Greco]

Heh. I even remember reading on the form that the Greek variant on the vampire takes (bald and with a distended belly) and what it is called "Vryokoklas" (or something close). But the island I heard the myth originated on, escapes me.

'Vrykolakas', it's just the Greek word for vampire.

Ok, I searched a bit more and it looks like the island could be 'Kammeni', which is in fact the volcano-island across Santorini. It seems that the legend sprung exactly because of the volcanic composition of the ground in these two islands: Apparently, large quantities of sulfur in the subsoil delay significantly the rotting of the dead. I found a few threads devoted to this in another strange forum, 'esoterica.gr'. Actually it looks like several islands have vampire myths, including Mytilini, Amorgos, Chios and Samos. Another thing that I just found out is that the word 'Nosferatu' comes from the Greek word 'nosoforos' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu).

Damn it, I didn't know all these! Isn't there anything we Greeks haven't discovered first ? :D

[ysabella]

I grew up in the Bay Area, not so far from...the haunted Toys R Us! (http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/toysrus.htm) :eek:

[Nyarlathotep]

'Vrykolakas', it's just the Greek word for vampire.

Ok, I searched a bit more and it looks like the island could be 'Kammeni', which is in fact the volcano-island across Santorini. It seems that the legend sprung exactly because of the volcanic composition of the ground in these two islands: Apparently, large quantities of sulfur in the subsoil delay significantly the rotting of the dead. I found a few threads devoted to this in another strange forum, 'esoterica.gr'. Actually it looks like several islands have vampire myths, including Mytilini, Amorgos, Chios and Samos. Another thing that I just found out is that the word 'Nosferatu' comes from the Greek word 'nosoforos' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu).

Damn it, I didn't know all these! Isn't there anything we Greeks haven't discovered first ? :D


Cool. I am glad to know that my memory isn't totally failing.

[Jeff Corey]

Booooring!

C'mon... we've got much better kookery than that here on the lawnguyland.

We've got:

Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant- a defunct power plant that never generated a single watt of electricity. Built at an ourageous cost to taxpayers back in the 80's, was never allowed to open(environmental protestors, anti-nukes, etc...) Its empty shell in now fertile ground for seedling conspiracy theories.

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab- One of these days it's going to spawn a black hole that will consume the entire planet! :eek: Won't that suck?

Camp Hero Military Base in Montauk- An old Air Force base abandoned(or so "they" want you to think!) back in 1969. Was supposedly where the "The Philadelphia Experiment" took place. Is now home to a group (the first wave) of alien visitors... "reptoids" to be specific.

http://www.subversiveelement.com/ReptiliansatMontauk.html

There is even one intrepid internet loon who has tied all of these sites together, and he even threw in the crash site of TWA Flight 800 to boot!

http://www.geocities.com/electrogravitics/bm-comp.html

And then there's Plum Island Animal Disease Center- An off-limits to the public island located just off the tip of the north fork of Long Island where homicidal maniacs (like Hannibal Lechter) are allowed to stroll along the beach and frolic in the surf. Also where the guv'mint "invented" Lyme Disease, and stores recovered UFO's and Nazi gold. Oh yeah... and Captain Kidd's treasure stash is also buried somewhere on the island.

This island is jam packed with kooky hotspots!
And Northport, where devil-worshipping teenagers killed a kid after ingesting angel dust and spray painting the name of their god all over the town park.
The name? You guessed it.
"Satin".
These freaks worshipped shiney fabric.

[El Greco]

And Northport, where devil-worshipping teenagers killed a kid after ingesting angel dust and spray painting the name of their god all over the town park.
The name? You guessed it.
"Satin".
These freaks worshipped shiney fabric.

Same here (http://www.rickross.com/reference/satanism/satanism25.html)

[sinclairmcevoy]

:confused: I grew up in a house that definitely had something wrong in it. All of us (7 kids) and mom and dad heard and sensed and sometimes saw some stuff that was just plain scary. Friends and other family who spent nights there would often mention hearing and sensing stuff at night which matched what we all had experienced. They didn't know about it beforehand and some swore never to set foot in that place again. After we moved it was made into a fourplex of apartments, my dad overheard a guy telling his buddy about this place he had just move into. He said he actually saw "ghosts". Scared the crap out of him. Same house, different people. I don't know what was going on there but I absolutely would not stay inside if no one else was home. I was never so glad to move out of a place. I was only 11 when we left it, and only heard some things when I was home alone -- what I thought sounded like footsteps upstairs-- but I hated being in that house by myself.

[Jeff Corey]

Shrooms in the basement.

[kittynh]

We had a goat man in Bowie Maryland. The vice principal of my high school was KILLED by the goat man. He was driving home late at night, and the goat man jumped in front of his car causing to wreck it.

We all believed it.

[kittynh]

Our house in Manitowoc Wisconsin is haunted. By Mr.Hubbard, the first owner.

We were the only ones that didn't have a run in with him. I have to admit at night the front screen door would bang at about 10 at night. We would joke and say it was "the old guy with the beard" going out for the night so he wouldn't scare our daughters if they woke up at night. We'd say, "Bye old guy!"

When I was researching our house history, I found Mr.Hubbard, an old guy with a white beard! (whooooo!)

I just never could get "scared" enough to see Mr.Hubbard. Even after we moved the next owners left after 3 months because they saw Mr.Hubbard in the basement. They actually had the house blessed. I could have told them Mr.Hubbard was NOT a Catholic.

Mr.Hubbard never bothered us, and if he choose to bother the other people that moved in it just shows his good taste. But he was famous around town.

It should be noted I was told before we bought the house about the "ghost". I asked if it meant we got a discount. Hey, if only he carried a bloody head, then we would have got quite a deal.

[LostSoul]

Here in San Antonio we have the "ghost tracks". Legend has it that a few years back a school bus got stuck on the tracks blah blah blah. Well if you go to that crossing and put your car in neutral, the ghosts of the children will push you over to the other side. It's a very popular place on Halloween.

[Ozymandias]

wwuw. weird-wi. coym/

There's an entire website devoted to those in my state. This site is listed on crank.net.

(remove the u, y and spaces-can't post urls yet.

[Orphia Nay]

My old school has a 'ghost', Mary Esther, who supposedly died/hung herself in the clock tower, and in one upstairs classroom when the hanging fluorescent light swings, that's supposed to be her swinging on it.

Also there are UFO 'sightings' here from time to time, which have even made the front page of the local paper. :rolleyes:

[sodium20]

this is a link to my local witch http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2006/03/03/molly_leigh_witch_profile_feature.shtml

[Smart_Cookie]

Winnipeg (and Manitoba) have some interesting things.

There's a church in a near-by town, St. Andrews on the Red, where - they say - if you run around the church 3 times at midnight on Halloween, you'll disappear.

And...there's an old downtown restaurant that folks swear is haunted. It's an old building - originally a masonic temple. We were in there a few years ago, rehearsing a play in the 3rd floor of the building (the upstairs was a small theatre venue for a time). I walked through a small, brick room/place back stage and felt a cold cold chill that freaked me out for a long time. It was extremely creepy. But I never saw or heard anything in particular.

However, now I'm doubting there was anything there. Probably just my mind playing tricks on me! :)

[LW]

Actually, in spite of our proximity to Romania, the blood-sucking undead are not too popular here.

But they used to be. A French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefont describes in his travel book (Relation d'un voyage du Levant, 1702) how he witnessed a vampire hunt in the Mikonos island in 1700.

The whole story is too long to include here, but a quarrelsome man was murdered (Tournefont doesn't give his name) and a couple of days later reports begun to circulate that he had been seen wandering about. That started a period of general panic in the area which finally ended when they burned the body. [Burning his heart and chopping the body to bits weren't enough...]

[fsol]

In my nearest local town, Alnwick in Northumberland, UK, there is a pub called the Cross Keys. Legend has it that

"Over 200 years ago, the owner of the Cross Keys pub in Alnwick suffered a heart attack as he changed the display of bottles in the window and cursed the bottles as he died. A few years later, the bottles were moved again only for the same fate to befall the person concerned. They have remained there ever since, untouched and covered in dust and cobwebs."

Its true they are still there, covered in dust and whatever else. When they renovated the place they didn't even touch them.



This reminds me of the boat in "ye old trip to Jerusalem" In Nottingham.

http://ukpi1.tripod.com/ukparanormalinvestigations/id24.html

Covered in dust, as if you touch it you are meant to die.

[Hindmost]

here's a list for CT.

http://theshadowlands.net/places/connecticut.htm

I was looking for the ghost in Pettibone's Tavern in Simsbury (used to be the "Chart house") and found this list.

glenn:ghost:

[Serenity]

This thread couldn't go on without mention of Dudleytown. Rumored to be haunted and containing one of those silly vortex's - yeah, ok. I've been there and it is quite tranquil and beautiful to walk through the ruins of an old town reclaimed by the land... mostly stone walls, foundations, and root cellars. My mind kept trying to picture what the town was like at its peak in the 1850's and slowly declined to a smattering of foundations and waterworks. I found myself imagining a bustling place with lots of mining going and horse carriages traversing its rocky narrow roads. I didn't witness any paranormal activity to speak of, nor was I expecting to. Just a good ol' romp through history, that's all.

A more sensible account of the place can be found here:
http://www.legendofdudleytown.com/explain.html

I just noticed it's mentioned on the link you posted Glenn.

[Kopji]

The best one around here is the St. Louis Ghost Light (http://www.philcampagna.com/stlouisghostlight/ghost.html) . The really strange thing about this is that it is real. I have seen it myself and so have countless other people. I'm sure it isn't a ghost train or any other of the legends that surround it. I've always thought it was cars as the tracks lead right to a bridge that has the tracks down the middle and vehicle traffic on either side. The highway itself turns away quite abrubtly after the bridge. Supposedly cars have been ruled out.

If you google (http://www.google.ca/search?q=st+louis+ghost+light&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official) it you'll find lots of questions but not many answers.

**** jimlintott, that link about blew me off the chair with the music. easy on that.

[Kopji]

Just about any place in Arizona that's old enough seems to have haunted stories associated with it. You need at least three newspaper stories to be officially "haunted". Being haunted is pretty good for business.

We have at least three nearby haunts:
The spookiest one is the upstairs floor of a bar called the Museum Club:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/AZ-MuseumClub.html

I don't know if the site mentions it but the ghost is supposed to be a violently bad one that wants to kill you or cause accidents. neato.

The next one is at the Riordan Mansion. "Old lady in the corner room with a cold spot kind of thing". For a couple weeks ahead of Halloween the staff holds flashlight tours and sometimes attempt to scare kids.

http://www.carpenoctem.tv/haunt/az/
(Bad color warning)

The third one is a nice old house that was so stigmatized nobody would move into it. Murders or something... Was a bed and breakfast for a while but is now a realty office. The place has changed owners so many times I forget the original name or story behind it, I'll have'ta check on it.

The really cool ghosts live in Jerome and Prescott. :rolleyes:

[sat556]

I have a pretty old 'Ghosts of England' book and my favourite in there is the story that in a village called Willingham, which happens to be near me, there are demonic mice which can be seen chasing pet cats down the road.

[UrsulaV]

My wife and I went to Northern California and Oregon on our honeymoon. When we were driving from the Oregon Caves (which were wonderful) to Crater Lake (which is one of my favourite places on earth!) we saw signs for that place and thought it looked like a tacky tourist trap. It took about 3 milliseconds to decide not to go.:D

It IS a tacky tourist trap! The best kind!

It's cheesy, run-down, worlds-biggest-ball-of-twine kinda hokey. If you like that kinda thing for pure kitsch value though, the Oregon vortex is an absolute must-see. It's Oregon woo in its purest and most lowbrow form. You gotta love it.

[Hamradioguy]

Since kittynh is now in New Hampshire, ask her to recount the legend of Ocean Born Mary. (I actually visited the Ocean Born Mary house when I was a kid but didn't get to lift up the hearth or dig in the garden......)

[Flange Desire]

Drop bears!
http://geocities.com/muirnin/db.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_Bear

[DeVega]

Well, here in Scotland we have the infamous "Falkirk Triangle" - Honest...

http://www.ufoarea.com/events_bonnybridge_ufo.html

[Numenaster]

My wife and I went to Northern California and Oregon on our honeymoon. When we were driving from the Oregon Caves (which were wonderful) to Crater Lake (which is one of my favourite places on earth!) we saw signs for that place and thought it looked like a tacky tourist trap. It took about 3 milliseconds to decide not to go.:D

A wise decision. The lava tubes and lava field north of Bend are also really, really impressive.

[Hellbound]

Oregon...

*shudder*

I lived there for about 6 months. Acupuncture clinics and crystal shops everywhere. I still have nightmares.

[Serenity]

Oregon...

*shudder*

I lived there for about 6 months. Acupuncture clinics and crystal shops everywhere. I still have nightmares.Don't get me started on Sedona, AZ. The beauty of the area maintained my sanity and desire to explore. I thought I was dropped into a New Age Metaphysical Convention

[UrsulaV]

Don't get me started on Sedona, AZ. The beauty of the area maintained my sanity and desire to explore. I thought I was dropped into a New Age Metaphysical Convention

Grossly overpriced now, too, but god, the scenery is beyond spectacular.

[Bluegill]

But just then two strangers walked into the bar. And one says to the other, "Look, that's the fecking eejit that got in the car when we were pushing it."

(That was a mean trick to make you wade through all that just for that gag wasn't it, but admit it, you were hooked for a bit)

By gosh, I really need to remember that one next time someone asks me for a ghost story!

[varwoche]

When I was about 5, the neighborhood kids (myself included) were in dire fear of the boy who spits through his handlebars -- an older kid who supposedly was able to launch life-threatening lugees through the handlebars of his 10 speed bike.

[luchog]

Don't know too many of the local haunted-house legends, since I always thought such stuff was crap. But I do recall one, mainly because a girl I used to date believed it strongly at the time.

In Bremerton, WA, just a few blocks from the Navy shipyard, there's a 5-story, very creepy-looking building. Local legend, believed mostly by those under 20, is that it's an old insane asylum that was converted into a cheap apartment building. There are stories of various ghosts of former inmates, which one in particular depend on who is telling the story.

The unfortunate thing for the legend, is that it's not a former asylum. It's formerly Navy housing, built around WWII; and converted to private apartments a few decades later. The girl I was dating at the time was rather disappointed to hear about it; but had a skeptical streak, so she got over it pretty quick. She really enjoyed watching "Alien Autopsy" with me because, in her words, she "always thought that kind of thing was crap, and it's cool listening to someone who knows what they're talking about explain why."

[gruk]

Well, in Stockholm, there's teh "Ghost tube train", a mysterious silver-coloured train taht occasionally stops and lets people obn (or off), to then rapidly leave. If you step on it, you never know when you'll get off!

Of course, there are a few metallic-coloured trains, they even look different on the inside (they're easy-clean trains, usually deployed when there's been a big event, so as to make the overnight clean-up easier) and a few metallic-coloured engineering trains that usually just go past stations. But...

[TimmyBerry]

Supposedly, some of the buildings on campus of my Univ. are haunted. The downright creepiest location I know of is the floor above the one I work on. Co-workers agree that there's something going on up there (though nobody's reported any deaths yet. :p). It is basically a storage area: an entire floor full of old chairs, boxes, tables, filing cabinets. If one stays up there long enough, their brain tends to get stuck on "Need to get out" thought.

[Beelzebubba]

Here in good ol' South Carolina, we have the Lizard Man. He made quite a stir in the late 80s after a few sightings near Bishopville and the surrounding swamps. CNN, CBS News, and all the other big outlets did stories on him in late 1988.

Check him out on weirdus.com/stories/SC01.asp

[kookbreaker]

I have snickered heavily at the General Wayne Inn Ghost.

http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/pa/house2.htm

To quote:

2) First to speak was the leader of the others, a friendly, courteous German Hessian soldier by the name of Wilhelm, who liked to hang out in the cellar. He was killed during a Revolutionary War battle, while fighting for the British. He couldn't rest because he was buried in only his underwear. Wilhelm was mortified that his Superior officer had his body stripped of its clothes, which included not only his fine uniform, but his new boots as well, so another soldier could wear them. He said that he was still searching for his uniform, so he could be buried honorably & properly.


Interesting that they could not get any details, such as his regiment's name. Also interesting is that 'underwear' is more of a 19th century (and later) concept.

Hessian Soldiers also did not wear boots. They wore shoes with long gaiters.

No mention of what battle he was killed at. Eight other Hessian ghosts that the medium says were killed on the battlefield. No battles were fought within any effective distance of the Inn, and the ones that were fought were light on casualites for Hessians.

Good thing they didn't try for a last name. Thanks to the HETRINA, we pretty much know the name of every Hessian soldier who arrived on American shores. Similar records are available for other Germanics (Anspachers, etc)

The Inn is now closed after one of the owners probably killed the other. It is to become a Jewish recreational center.

[Steven Howard]

I don't know of any particularly interesting Long Beach legends. The Queen Mary is supposedly haunted, I guess. And there's a story that Babe Ruth's ghost haunts the site of a downtown bar that he got thrown out of once. (Although if Babe Ruth haunted every bar he ever got thrown out of ...)

When I lived in Denver, I went on a "haunted houses" tour one Halloween. I'm not sure how seriously anybody took it. One of the "haunted" sites was a vacant apartment in a very nice Victorian building and just about everybody on the tour asked for information about renting it.

[tube]

When I was in high school in the late 70's in Missoula MT, I began to hear stories of "devil worshipers" that held their ceremonies in a nearby campground in Pattee Canyon. Though I asked various people I knew about this, I was never able to get a first-person account.

[Hellbound]

Tube:

We had similar stories every Halloween. They supposedly hid out in some of the caves around the area to perform their rituals. There were even stories of people finding ritual items, red robes, blood stains, bones, etc in caves after Halloween, and children disappearing while trick-or-treating. Of course, in a town with a population of 1500 that happens to be the largest "city" in the county, I always wondered why we didn't hear more about these missing children...

In any case, as my own form of protest, I started dressing up as a Devil worshipper every Halloween :D

[Nyarlathotep]

When I was in high school in the late 70's in Missoula MT, I began to hear stories of "devil worshipers" that held their ceremonies in a nearby campground in Pattee Canyon. Though I asked various people I knew about this, I was never able to get a first-person account.

I think every town has the place where their resident coven of devil worshippers allegedly persforms ceremonies. Around here (here being Carson CIty, Nevada) it is American Flats. American Flats is the site of an old, abandoned mine up in the mountains.

[Starrman]

wwuw. weird-wi. coym/

There's an entire website devoted to those in my state. This site is listed on crank.net.

(remove the u, y and spaces-can't post urls yet.

http://www.weird-wi.com/

Let a fellow Wisconsinite (at heart) help you out. I'm actually on my way to Madison this afternoon - I will be investigating several bars for signs of spirits.

And who needs ghosts when you have Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer? I often wonder why someone would be afraid of a ghost (if one existed) - so many real people are far more frightening.

[tube]

I think every town has the place where their resident coven of devil worshippers allegedly persforms ceremonies. Around here (here being Carson CIty, Nevada) it is American Flats. American Flats is the site of an old, abandoned mine up in the mountains.

Hey, thanks for the follow up. I figured as much, but it has taken this long in my life to harness the Internet for such worthwhile activites as trading "devil worship" stories. One strange spin I heard back then was that some intrepid investigator allegedly traced back the stories to a couple who chanced upon a Masonic initiation and mistook it for "devil worshipers". In a panic they screamed back to town and told the sheriff. The Masons of course were wearing hooded robes.

[Nyarlathotep]

Hey, thanks for the follow up. I figured as much, but it has taken this long in my life to harness the Internet for such worthwhile activites as trading "devil worship" stories. One strange spin I heard back then was that some intrepid investigator allegedly traced back the stories to a couple who chanced upon a Masonic initiation and mistook it for "devil worshipers". In a panic they screamed back to town and told the sheriff. The Masons of course were wearing hooded robes.

Hmmmm. Interesting. THough, IIRC, Masonic ceremonies are always held indoors, precisely because that means no one will stumble upon them accidentally. Still, I'm no expert so I don't know.

I have no idea how American Flats got its reputation. I never looked into it. I have always assumed that it is because of the 'satanic' graffiti. Though it seems far more likely that the graffiti comes because it is also a spot where local teens go to get drunk and/or stoned and there is always the yahoo who decides to shock his peers by writing 'Satan Rulez!' or somesuch on the side of a building.

[Orthoptera]

When I was in high school in the late 70's in Missoula MT, I began to hear stories of "devil worshipers" that held their ceremonies in a nearby campground in Pattee Canyon. Though I asked various people I knew about this, I was never able to get a first-person account.

I well remember the devil-worshiper flap of the late '70s: it was my first revelation that normal adults might propagate ghost stories, and my first encounter with the endless FOAF (friend of a friend) circle. Working at a local newspaper, and at the same time fulfilling an Anthro Folklore project, I interviewed 25-30 people trying to get to the bottom of these black(or white)-robed figures roaming the rural prairie. As you can guess, the stories all dead-ended, or, in the couple of first-hand accounts, were obvious, convoluted fabrications by people who were, let's say, not on an even keel.

One of my favorite versions was the "chained hand", where devil worshipers stretch a chain across the road to stop a car, with presumably ill intent. The driver "stomps on the gas" and drives through the obstruction, not stopping until they reach home, where they --you guessed it-- find the severed hand entangled in the chain. Those of you who saw Mad Max may remember the scene where Kundalini loses his hand in a similar manner-- it's a pretty old urban legend-- but my friends, upon seeing Mad Max, were convinced that (director) George Miller had heard of our local tale and incorporated it, and no amount of argument would sway them. And they believed the local version was also "true", even when I showed them many different accounts of the same story happening to different people, because, --you guessed it-- "they can't all be lying".

[kookbreaker]

Must be a lot of one-handed Satanists out there.

"This time it'll work for sure! OWW! Curse it all, that was my last hand."

[tube]

Flashing forward to the present, the state of Washington has "Mel's Hole" an 80,000 foot deep hole near Ellensburg WA. This interesting claim all started with a man identifying himself as "Mel Waters" on the Art Bell radio show. It became quite the paranormal soap opera. http://www.seattlechatclub.org/MelsHole.html

Yes, there is even a Mel's Hole discussion board, which reminds me of the pithy words of Boomhauer, in the pilot episode of King of the Hill; "It's a show about nothing".

http://www.melshole.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi

[C S Costa]

Out here in the Jersey Pines we have the famous Jersey Devil.
But there used to be a local legend of the ghost of Crazy Mary.
She supposedly haunted an old rundown house just around the corner from where I grew up.
The truth was that Crazy Mary wasn't a ghost or even mostly dead.
She was just a very old woman who seldom left her home or able to afford to keep it in repair.
This was discovered by a pair of local teens who entered the house late one night and were confronted by Mary holding her cane up in a very threatening manner.
Sadly, since her passing, she hasn't returned to haunt the old neighborhood.

[Beady]

I used to belong to a Civil War reenactment group. Civil War battlefields are replete with ghost stories and urban legends (ie the Mythbusters' "Son of a Gun" episode). Anyway, here's a ghost story that has absolutely nothing to do with a ghost, but you'll never convince the witnesses:

About 30 years ago, we were reenacting the rather obscure battle of Cross Keys, Kentucky, over a long weekend. Kentucky is comparatively central to the reenactment community, so there must have been well over a thousand participants, including cavalry. We were sitting around the campfire in the evening when one of our group, Bill, decided to break open a can of fruit cocktail he'd brought from home. Bill was feeling less than charitable, for some reason, and refused to share; he downed the entire can himself. Then, somewhere along about midnight, we all crawled into our lean-tos and bedded down.

Couple of hours later, a summer thunderstorm rolled through the area, and the wind, rain, thunder and lightening were putting on quite a show when that fruit cocktail began roiling in Bill's guts. Bill threw on his rubberized-canvas poncho and began a sprint through the middle of the campground, toward the port-a-potties on the far side. His route took him straight past where some horses were tied up, his poncho waving in the wind as the thunder and lightening blasted all over. The horses spooked, of course, which spooked those people in the general area who were awake to see it all.

Those of us in the know spent the rest of the weekend trying not to choke, since all anyone else could talk about was the "phantom." Before the weekend was over, it seems that Bill had become headless, with eyes of fire(!?), and screeched like a banshee. Given the cause, that last bit may well have been true. Anyway, by the time everyone left for home, we were the only ones not claiming to have seen "it."

[Dogdoctor]

Hawaii has a lot of such beliefs. A common one is if you remove anything especially Hawaiian artifacts or bones then you will be cursed and bad fortune will follow you till you return the items to Hawaii. There is enough belief in this that rocks and sand and other items are returned via mail every year by visitors who have become convinced they are cursed.

[Nyarlathotep]

Hawaii has a lot of such beliefs. A common one is if you remove anything especially Hawaiian artifacts or bones then you will be cursed and bad fortune will follow you till you return the items to Hawaii. There is enough belief in this that rocks and sand and other items are returned via mail every year by visitors who have become convinced they are cursed.

Heck, they even made a Brady Bunch episode about it.

[Serenity]

Heck, they even made a Brady Bunch episode about it.Tabu-Woo :D I remember that episode well.

DogDoctor - I remember hearing about that from some natives during a visit to the big island of Hawaii - Pele's curse they called it. Volcanoes National Park was "breathtaking". I though Pele was attempting to choke us to death with sulfur dioxide fumes. It was really difficult to breath at times.

[Crazytree]

We actually have a Satan-worshipping colony here in the foothills of Los Angeles. Ritualized S&M... the whole shebang.

[tube]

We actually have a Satan-worshipping colony here in the foothills of Los Angeles. Ritualized S&M... the whole shebang.

Hmmmm. Sounds like a John Rechy novel.

[Dogdoctor]

DogDoctor - I remember hearing about that from some natives during a visit to the big island of Hawaii - Pele's curse they called it. Volcanoes National Park was "breathtaking". I though Pele was attempting to choke us to death with sulfur dioxide fumes. It was really difficult to breath at times.
Pele is often portrayed as a vengeful goddess and yes this is often considered one of Pele's curses. There are many beliefs about Pele. Pele is part of their spiritual beliefs and so becomes part of the folklore beliefs also. Another one (or more) has to do with a hitchhiker who is Pele.

[Correa Neto]

Here in Brazil there are a number of roads where the ghost of a beautifull woman dressed in white (usually described as being blonde) is blamed for crashes.

I seem to remember someone once told me about similar tales at another country. Anyone know of similar tales? Any idea on how such urban legend propagate?

[Beady]

Here in Brazil there are a number of roads where the ghost of a beautifull woman dressed in white (usually described as being blonde) is blamed for crashes.

I seem to remember someone once told me about similar tales at another country. Anyone know of similar tales? Any idea on how such urban legend propagate?

The earliest version of this tale I know of is in Homer's Odyssey. Assuming that such stories existed before they were written down, the general theme would seem to be pretty old and almost unreasonably common. At bottom, it's probably a morality story about our desires leading us to our doom, or some such.

[Correa Neto]

Now that you pointed out, I can see that there are indeed similarities between the sirens and the "woman in white".

Both somehow seduce male travellers and lead them to some sort of disaster.

Interesting.

[jj]

I live in the Pacific Northwest - We have Bigfoot. Well, we have the legend of Bigfoot.

I used to live in New Jersey - there it was the "Jersey Devil".

Before that, in the Mahoning Valley of Ohio - there it was the magical disappearance of people, leaving brown places where nothing would grow. I forget the name for it.

[DierdreAlwyn]

In Delaware, we have a whole bunch of stories. Fort Delaware is supposedly haunted by Confederate soldiers who were imprisoned there. I went there with a friend once when I was a kid. Her parents locked us in one of the powder rooms and scared me half to death. :D Never saw a thing, though.

Then there's a road off of Pike Creek where things jump in front of your car. At my old elementary school, the founder haunted one of the bathrooms and the basement. At Cooches Bridge there's a headless British soldier wandering around. In the woods by my house, there's a guy with a rifle that kills children.

When you live in a state with nothing to do, you have to entertain yourself somehow.

[desertheathen]

I grew up near Goldfield, which Nyralathotep referenced. Never heard any claims that it was haunted and I lived near there until I was 16. My dad grew up in Goldfield itself and never mentioned any stories about it being haunted.

The town I grew up in, Tonopah, NV, had several supposedly haunted sites. There was the abondoned Knights of Columbus Hall. As a kid I would walk past it after school on the way to my Grandma's house and if an older kid joined me they would try to spook me by claiming to see something. I never saw anything, to my dissapointment.

Also the Mizpah Hotel was supposed to be haunted. Ate there with my family hundereds of times growing up and never saw anything.

There were also tales of "devil worshipers" up on "T-mountain" killing cats or babies or something. Played up and down on that mountain as a kid, no dead babies or cats.

I think half the reason I grew up to be a skeptic was hearing all these fantastical stories about places I spent a lot of time near or in and never seeing anything.

[Godmode]

There was a house in one of the towns I lived in as a child, that was famous for being haunted. It's even been in several books about hauntings. I had become friends with someone who lived right across the street from it.
The first time I spent the night, I was very surprised to see lights go on randomly, until her father told me about automatic light timers. It's strange that the people writing those books didn't know about them.

[Hellbound]

Before that, in the Mahoning Valley of Ohio - there it was the magical disappearance of people, leaving brown places where nothing would grow. I forget the name for it.

jj,

That's just the after-effects of my orbital lasers, don't worry about it. Nothing paranormal.

Although, you'd be amazed how many people from Ohio can figure out my global conspiracy. That's paranormal, I tell you.

:D

[Kenny 10 Bellys]

I'm in Central Scotland and work in the Bonnybridge Triangle, one of THE top hot-spots for UFO activity in the world. We dont really have any weird religious nonsense (well, all religion is nonsense but you get the point) and instead we have settled on seeing lights in the sky at every opportunity. The fact it lies near a small airport midway between our two largest airports and southwest of our busiest military airbase is besides the point, our local council are building alien visitors centres already.

[jj]

jj,

That's just the after-effects of my orbital lasers, don't worry about it. Nothing paranormal.

Although, you'd be amazed how many people from Ohio can figure out my global conspiracy. That's paranormal, I tell you.

:D

You sound like somebody who's been to Ohio. Have you had the misfortune? :)

I grew up there. Left.

Thing is, these "tales of the Mahoning and Shenango Valley" things date back to the time before the Civil War. You had your satellites up then? You were alive then? ***YIKES*** :dl:

[Hellbound]

Um, noooo...jj, of course I wasn't.

That would be...um...silly, yeah.

By the way, can you tell me the exact lattitude and longtitude of your current location?

:D

I've been through Ohio, but never stayed. I knew a few people from there, though, in my time with the military.

Trust me, Oregon is worse.

[GreyPilgrim]

I admit to being completely sold to the whole ghost / woo woo thing before I became a born again skeptic. I think I was really always attracted to this castle because it was bang in the centre of a huge sprawling urban run down housing estate (called Hylton Castle....I'm sorry if anyone is from the area but come on guys, it is a bit shoddy, you must admit). It always seemed strange having a number of council estates around, yet in the middle is this we had(what seemed at the time) medieval ruin with a whole bunch of folklore and mythology to boot.

http://www.lhi.org.uk/projects_directory/projects_by_region/north_east/sunderland/hylton_castle/

Anyhoo, as a young teen it was somewhere to go on a night with your friends, and maybe a few beers, because you could actually get inside it, go up to the upper levels and scare the bejeesus out of yourselves. The ghost element is essentially:

Baron / Lord Hylton owned the building and surrounding areas
Finds young stableboy asleep one day when he should be working
kills said stableboy for sleeping on job with a variety of implements depending on who is telling story
Ghost of murdered stableboy roams the castle and surrounding lands yelling "I'm cold...I'm cold"....
Our local accent / dialect would pronounce that "aaaahm caaaarrrrdd", which is written down as "Ahm Cauld"
Hence the ghost is known locally as "The Cauld Lad of Hylton"

As I have said earlier, the estate which has sprouted around the castle is also called "Hylton Castle", and one of the local pubs is called "the Cauld Lad" (Google it...it's a rough place and the pool table has a hell of a roll on it).

The sad thing is, the more I've actually researched the castle, it shrinks a bit in my estimation. It's no longer some massive fortress which had knights and dungeons&dragons style warriors defending it...it seems it's just the remaining portion of a large stately house for some typical landed gentry type. Still, you've got to dream eh?

Would love to hear from anyone else on the forum from the same area who may possibly understand the phrase "we mackum, yay tackum"

[GregC]

I work in a cityhall that has a theater. The theater is supposedly haunted. They've been doing renovations to the building lately and no one has reported any ghosts. I guess Eva has an aversion to work.

[Beady]

The sad thing is, the more I've actually researched the castle, it shrinks a bit in my estimation.

"When you know how the trick is done, the magic goes away." -- Mrs Beady