A Ghost a Day Read online

  JUNE 18, 2001 RAMOJI FILM CITY

  Hyderabad, India

  In Ramoji Film City, Hollywood India, most of the hotels are haunted. The city is said to be built on the war grounds of the Nizam sultans. Witnesses have reported that the lights at the studio continually fall and that the operators who man them have been known to be pushed. Some have been seriously injured. And whenever food gets left behind in a room, it's thrown about by an unseen force. The most bizarre incidents are the inexplicable marks that appear on the mirrors. Most are in script resembling Urdu, the language spoken by the sultans. The ghosts appear to be attracted to women, apparently finding some sort of supernatural amusement by tearing their clothes and knocking on the bathroom doors while they are in them.

  Attempts to exorcize the spirits have failed. So the women of Ramoji Film City will have to continue enduring the spectral wrath of the Nizam sultans.

  JUNE 19, 1864 VILLAGE INN

  Dracut, Massachusetts

  Formerly known as the Black North Inn, the Village Inn is one of the oldest restaurants in Dracut. Rumors that it was involved in Prohibition were substantiated when a hidden bunker was found on the property. But is it haunted?

  If you talk with some of the staff, they will quietly tell you it is. During the evening, disembodied footsteps have been heard, the swinging doors have opened and closed by themselves, and the ghostly image of a woman has appeared in the barn. But Chris, the current owner, who is a bit of a skeptic, told the most compelling story. One night while he was working in the tunnel between the restaurant and the barn, he saw a young boy with suspenders and a straw hat. Knowing the young man didn't belong there and fearing he would get into the liquor, he chased him. Before he could catch him, the boy simply disappeared. He searched everywhere, but could not find him. All the exits in the barn were locked, so there was no escape, yet he vanished. No one can explain his disappearance to this date. Now Chris isn't as skeptical, as he once was.

  JUNE 20, 1893 LIZZIE BORDEN HOUSE

  Fall River, Massachusetts

  This popular bed and breakfast was once the scene of gruesome ax murders. On the morning of August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden allegedly “found” the bodies of her father, Andrew Jackson Borden, and her stepmother, Abby Durfee Borden, bludgeoned in their home. Seven days later, Lizzie was arrested for the crime. During the investigation, the police located what they believed to be the murder weapon, or part of it. A hatchet, missing a handle, was found in the basement. The theory was that the handle must have been removed because it was soaked in blood. And although the police had been unable to find blood-soaked clothing, Lizzie, a few days after the murder, admitted to burning her dress that had been soiled and torn. Despite the belief of many that Lizzie was responsible for this heinous crime, she was acquitted on June 20, 1893. And it wasn't until 1927 that she succumbed to pneumonia and met her demise.

  But do the souls of Lizzie's slaughtered family still roam the halls of the Borden estate? Many who have visited say they do.

  Guests at this B&B have witnessed shoes slide across the floor. Others have reported that their sleep was interrupted by the heartbreaking sound of a woman weeping. Electronic devices malfunction and repeatedly turn themselves on. And perhaps if you make a visit to the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast, you could be the next patron to experience being tucked into bed by unseen hands. Hopefully, unlike Abby Borden, you will escape your stay without developing a splitting headache.

  TERRIFYING TIDBIT

  For a small price, you can bring a little bit of the Lizzie Borden house home. The gift shop sells authentic brick dust, collected from decaying bricks in the haunted basement.

  JUNE 21, 1300 THE OSTRICH INN

  Colnbrook Berkshire, England

  The village of Colnbrook on route from London to Bath was a stagecoach stopover. Many wealthy travelers carrying large sums stopped there before continuing on their way for an appearance at the courts of Windsor Castle. The owner of the inn, a man named Jarman, devised a plan to alleviate them of their burden. He would offer them his best room and provide them with an overabundance of ale until they were sufficiently drunk. After they retired, he would wait until they nodded off and then undo two bolts in the ceiling that caused the bed to tilt downwards, sliding the unsuspecting guest into a boiling vat. Once they were out of the picture, he would steal their horses and belongings. This went on for several years, until one of his potential victims got up in the middle of the night to relieve his bladder of all the ale he'd drunk and thus escaped his fate. Jarman was tried, convicted, and executed. Before he gasped his last breath, he confessed to the jailer that he had killed sixty people. Today, Jarman's victims are said to haunt the inn; unfortunately for them, they learned the true meaning of being “dead drunk.”

  JUNE 22, 1893 MESSENGER GHOST

  Tripoli, Lebanon

  The battleship HMS Victoria was the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Sir George Tryon. While completing a complex set of maneuvers off the coast of Lebanon, the ship was accidentally rammed by the battleship HMS Camperdown. Heavily damaged, within fifteen minutes of the collision, it capsized and sank. Although most of the crew had abandoned ship, many were dragged below the surface by the giant whirlpool created by the sinking ship.

  Meanwhile, in the seaside town of Broadstairs, England, Mrs. Kingston was busy in her upstairs bedroom. Suddenly, a loud bang, the sound of an explosion, frightened her. Her heart raced as a phosphorous orange light appeared in the corner of the room. Unable to react, she stood in awe as the eerie glowing mass began to change, morphing into a human shape. Her son, a sailor, appeared before her. How could that be? After all, he was at sea thousands of miles away.

  He smiled, then spoke, “I'm safe now, mother. Don't worry. I'll see you soon.”

  Then, as quickly as he had appeared, he vanished. Although it disturbed her, Mrs. Kingston slowly pushed the event out of her thoughts, chalking it up to her imagination. Several days later, on July 3, there was a knock on the door. It was a messenger with a telegram from the Admiralty. “We regret to inform you but your son has drowned with his ship, HMS Victoria on June twenty-second.” The same day he appeared in her room!

  TERRIFYING TIDBIT

  The number one sighting of spirits is the messenger ghost — the spirit of a recently deceased person, returning to set a loved one's mind and heart at ease.

  JUNE 23, 1882 THE GHOST OF THE LOS TIRADITOS

  Benson, Arizona

  The story goes that back in the 1800s, when Arizona was still a territory, three Mexican men were wrongly accused of robbing a train. The railroad town of Benson was typical of the wild west, where gunslingers, thievery, and gambling had become common. Ignoring other possible suspicious characters, the town fixated on three Mexican men. They were subsequently hanged on the main street of the town and, due to public disapproval, were not permitted to be buried within the hallowed grounds of the cemetery. Rather, they were buried across a wash, outside the perimeter of the Seventh Street Cemetery, in shallow graves marked by wooden crosses.

  Since the hanging, the Mexican community has proclaimed the men's innocence. As a way to pay tribute to Los Tiraditos (the lost castaways) they tend to their graves and place beautiful handmade paper flowers atop them. Candles are often lit, especially during All Saints Day, when the poor souls of these men are remembered.

  However, legend has it that if you walk through the cemetery at night, you can still hear the moans of Los Tiraditos pleading for their bodies to be dug up and buried within the walls of the graveyard. Unfortunately, due to erosion of the ground, their pleas for help will forever go unanswered.

  JUNE 24, 1974 ROBERT THE DOLL

  Key West, Florida

  Robert Gene Otto was born in October 1900. His parents were known to be cruel to their servants. When Robert, now called Gene, was six, one of the servants, who practiced voodoo, made him a doll. Naming the doll Robert, Gene made it his constant companion. When
things went wrong for Gene, he blamed it on Robert. Visitors to the house swore they had seen Robert move and heard him giggle. Finally, in an attempt to bring peace to the house, Robert was banished to the attic.

  Gene grew up to be a great artist, and when his parents died he moved back into their house with his wife, Anne. He found Robert and once again they became constant companions. Robert was moved to the turret room, where he sat in a chair looking out the window. As children walked by the house, they grew frightened by the doll, which they believed to be moving.

  As Gene grew older, he became more reclusive. Eventually Gene died with Robert right by his side. Anne sold the house and left Robert behind, and the daughter of the new owners found the doll. Tortured by Robert's presence, the family gave it away to a museum. The house is now a bed and breakfast with a couple of permanent tenants. Anne they say, haunts the turret room. And the spirit of Robert splits his time between the attic and the doll at the Key West Martello Museum. It has been said that the servant used a voodoo spell to entomb an evil spirit in Robert all those years ago. And those who visit him today just might agree.

  TERRIFYING TIDBIT

  Tourists who visit Robert at the museum are advised to ask permission of the doll when taking his picture. If you do, it's been said, fortune will come your way, while those who do not will suffer the consequences.

  JUNE 25, 2007 KELLS IRISH PUB

  Seattle, Washington

  According to the Seattle Times many of the shops located in and about Pike Place Market are haunted. One of the more active locations is Kells Irish Pub, and when looking into the history of the building, it's easy to understand how the ghosts found their way to this drinking establishment. At one time, E. R. Butterworth and Sons, a mortuary, inhabited the building Kells now occupies. The mortuary's business was thriving so much that in 1923, short on space, it had to be relocated to Capitol Hill. The Irishman who owns the pub, Patrick McAleese, informed the Times that his business is located where the embalming room and crematorium once existed. Perhaps this explains the scores of ghostly sightings associated with the pub. Karen McAleese, the owner's sister, first noticed the ghost of a tall man in a suit jacket with long, thin hands as he meandered out of the kitchen, walked to the end of the bar, and disappeared into thin air. Patrick recalled an experience years earlier when his parents had owned Kells. A mirror hanging on the back of the bar crashed to the floor and shattered. His sister added that the mirror had inexplicably shattered into a neat little pile. When the parents ran back into the closed bar to see what had happened, aside from the broken mirror, all they found was a single candle burning. It's ghostly activity like this that has made Kells Irish Restaurant and Pub the happening place for “spirits.”

  JUNE 26, 1970 USS HORNET

  San Francisco, California

  Decommissioned June 26, 1970, the USS Hornet aircraft carrier (CV-12), nicknamed the Grey Ghost, rests its weary bow as a museum in the San Francisco Bay.

  The Grey Ghost has seen its share of tragedy. Beginning with its maiden voyage in 1943, she destroyed more than 1,400 Japanese aircraft. However, over 300 men lost their lives on board, through combat, suicides, and accidents, and it is from among these that the USS Hornet's paranormal activity is believed to emanate.

  The onboard catastrophes included explosions, men walking into the propeller blades, and the decapitation of at least three men when the cable to the plane-launching catapult snapped. On more than one occasion, a headless sailor has been spotted roaming the catapult area of the ship. Footsteps and disembodied voices are often heard echoing throughout her empty halls. Toilets flush of their own accord. Tobacco smoke hangs thick in the air. And sightings of phantom officers have been reported. But has there been any proof? In fact there has. One witness to the paranormal anomalies was a young man who photographed an empty chair. Upon review of the photograph, he noticed the transparent figure of a man in an old fashioned uniform sitting in the chair. Apparently the chair wasn't so empty after all.

  JUNE 27, 1864 GHOST RIDER

  Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia

  In 1864 William T. Sherman met Joseph E. Johnson of the Confederates at the battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Four thousand brave soldiers lost their lives that day. Today, the area is known as Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. While driving through the park, a man and his teenage son encountered the fright of their lives. According to www.11alive.com, they were startled by the sudden appearance of a man crossing the road with his horse. But this wasn't just any man. It was a ghost.

  The father frantically hit the brakes as the ghostly apparition continued to move toward them. The image of the soldier was so clear that both the driver and his son were able to make out the Union uniform he wore and the saber he carried. Then, while the pair looked on in fright, the soldier and his steed crossed the road and vanished through a fence.

  The driver of the vehicle also told his story to a professional ghost hunter, Kevin Fike. It is Fike's belief that the man and his son encountered a residual haunting; emotionally charged locations, such as battlefields, become the prime locations for these types of hauntings.

  TERRIFYING TIDBIT

  In a residual haunting, the spirit does not interact with the living. It is more like a video clip that is associated with a traumatic event. The event, for whatever reason, is known to replay over and over again.

  JUNE 28, 1914 THE AUTOMOBILE THAT STARTED WORLD WAR I

  Sarajevo, Bosnia

  Graf and Stift made some of the most luxurious automobiles of their time, and one of the most prestigious customers of the company was the Austro-Hungarian court. So it was only natural that Archduke Franz Ferdinand would take his new red Graf & Stift limousine on a state visit to Bosnia.

  While driving through the crowded streets of Sarajevo, he was approached by a man named Gavrilo Princip. Gavrilo drew a gun from beneath his coat, firing two shots into the open touring car, killing the Archduke and his pregnant wife Sophie. It was the event that started World War I. It appears the violent demise of the Archduke and his wife left a ghostly imprint on this stately limousine.

  After the Archduke's death, the car was purchased by General Potiorek, who developed mental problems and later died in an insane asylum. It was then purchased by an army captain who died in an accident after hitting and killing two peasants in the road. The next owner was the governor of Yugoslavia, who had four accidents in four months, one causing the amputation of his arm. He sold the car to a doctor, who lost his life when the car overturned and crushed him.

  The tragedies continued with each successive owner either injured or killed in tragic accidents. In all, thirteen people associated with the car died until it was taken out of service. The apparently haunted Graf & Stift automobile now sits in the War History Museum in Vienna, where it can do no more harm.

  JUNE 29, 1869 THE MURDER OF LOUISA FOX

  Belmont County, Ohio

  Not willing to allow their thirteen-year-old daughter to marry a local coalminer, Thomas Carr, the Fox family withdrew their consent for the two to wed. They told Louisa she was too young and warned her of Carr's reputed taste for violence. Agreeing to her parent's wishes, Louisa broke off the engagement. It seems the Fox family never predicted just how violent Carr could be. On January 21, 1869, while Louisa and her little brother walked home, an enraged Carr crouched behind a fence at the corner of the road that led to the Fox home-stead. Just as his ex-fiancée strode past, Thomas sprang from his hiding place. As later reported by Carr, he sent Louisa's brother, Willie, on his way so that the two could talk. Then, after a few moments, Carr retrieved a razor out of his pocket. Kissing her goodbye for the last time, he slashed her throat from ear to ear. Releasing his rage, he stabbed poor Louisa fourteen times, before dumping her in a ditch. Willie, who watched in horror from a distance, raced home to report what had happened.

  Carr spent the night in hiding then, after realizing he would be caught for his crime, attempted suicide. He first tried to sh
oot himself. When that didn't work, he cut his own throat. But death did not find him that easily. Rather, he was arrested, convicted of his barbaric crime, and sentenced to hang. On June 29, 1869, moments before his sentence was to be carried out, Carr confessed to fourteen other murders.

  Today, Louisa's ghost is most often seen wandering throughout the valley where a self-proclaimed serial killer cut her life short. Passersby have witnessed the apparition of a young girl weeping. Her tears of sadness and betrayal touch the hearts of all who hear her.

  JUNE 30, 1900 MOUNT WASHINGTON

  New Hampshire

  Alan Ormsbee and William Curtis were hiking up Mount Washington in the summer of 1900. Not an easy task, since the mountain is the highest peak east of the Mississippi. But they were well-equipped, experienced climbers, so they had little to fear, or so they thought. A ferocious snow and sleet storm developed out of nowhere. The winddriven sleet pelted the men as they made their way up the precipitous peak. But the treacherous ice and snow made their journey impossible. Just two miles from the Summit Hotel, beaten by the elements, they died. Three days later, rescuers discovered their frozen bodies in the snow.

  A wooden cross was erected near the spot where Ormsbee had succumbed and a bronze plaque was eventually placed where Curtis had died. A weather observatory was built at the summit. Soon after, the presence of the two climbers was felt. Dark figures have been seen moving about the building, objects move on their own accord, distorted faces have been seen in boarded up windows, and worst of all are the sounds. Crews from the observatory have heard the thud of footsteps, rowdy disembodied voices, and even the melody of ethereal music reverberating off the walls of empty rooms. One night during a raging snowstorm there was a knock at the door. Puzzled, one of the workers went to investigate. No one was there. Yet there on the ground was the heavy brass plaque dedicated to Curtis. When the weather cleared, the plaque was returned to its original location and refastened to the rock. But that was not the end of it. Defying logic, the event has replayed itself several times. There are those that believe these unexplainable events are the results of William Curtis's ghost completing the journey in death that he was unable to complete in life.