Ursi's Eso Garden

A New York Times story today - getting in on the Halloween theme - discussed "Supernatural Cleaning Methods", a tongue-in-cheek look at how to get rid of ghosts in your house.



The chill of autumn has arrived, and it’s time to make your home cozy and snug. Replace those broken shingles, seal the window frames, start the water boiling and throw in some scented nutmegy things, or a rabbit if you’ve been disappointed in love.

But what to do about that ghost that has been making such a racket, scaring the guests and making it impossible to sleep? Sure, you can kid yourself that it’s a squirrel on the roof or a rattling pipe or a fog that comes up from time to time. (On Narragansett Bay? Sure, pal, that’s credible.) But eventually, when guests and family members become truly frightened, something must be done.

Such was the case with Kathleen Whitehurst, an artist in Arnaudville, La., who scoured the countryside to salvage materials with which to build her home and guest house, the picturesque l’Esprit des Chenes. Visitors complained of creaking stairs, sounds in the night. Some fled in terror. Finally, Ms. Whitehurst called in a specialist.

“She came all the way from Arkansas,” Ms. Whitehurst said in a telephone conversation. “She sat on my couch, and within 30 minutes she says, ‘Yes, you do have a ghost in your house.’ She goes into a trance, she came back to her body, and said, ‘He’s a Baptist minister, wearing a white robe, and he’s roaming the house.’ ”

The reason for this problem, incredible as it may seem, was recycling. Ms. Whitehurst had found three Gothic windows in a junk pile at a demolished church, and the ghost had come along with them. The specialist did what is often recommended in these cases, asking Ms. Whitehurst and two friends to make a circle with her around the lost spirit, and tell it, sympathetically but firmly, that it was timeto move along.

“All of a sudden, you could feel the electrical energy moving — it was so intense that all the hair on the back of my neck and hands was standing up,” Ms. Whitehurst said. “And when she said the final words” — Go, go! — “we got that zapped feeling. And he went up, and he’s never been back since.”

You don’t believe in ghosts? Then you are either tragically out of step with the times or possibly a slovenly spiritual housekeeper looking for an excuse to avoid tidying up. A recent Google Internet search for getting rid of ghosts yielded nearly two million hits. By comparison, a search for cleaning rain gutters yielded 191,000.

In a Harris poll last year of 2,000 adults, 41 percent said that they believed in ghosts. Although the National Association of Realtors says that it is not the legal obligation of a real estate agent to tell a prospective buyer about alleged haunting, many agents, like Diane Ragan of Keller Williams Realty in New Orleans, feel that if they hear of something that may distress a buyer, they have the duty to pass it on.

“Just last week I got a call from a past client who was calling for a friend who’d leased a place and wasn’t happy because it was haunted,” she said. “He wanted his deposit back. I told him the best thing his friend could do was plead his case.”

Can These Stubborn Spiritual Stainbuckets Never Be Removed?

Before attempting to cleanse a household of ghostlike sounds and scents, the homeowner must first determine whether such sounds and scents are actually of the other world. Happily, there is no shortage of instruction manuals on the subject. One, an e-book called “Is My House Haunted? A Practical Guide,” was written by Bonnie Vent, the medium who founded the San Diego Paranormal Research Project. Those who dismiss the paranormal may wish to check out her Web site, sdparanormal.com, and read the transcript of her conversation with the comic George Carlin, which occurred after his death. (Few were as skeptical of the afterlife as he.)

Ms. Vent’s guide, which costs $7.97, contains a paranormal activity log in which to record such things as electrical devices going on and off, unexplained noises and cold and hot spots. It lists common misconceptions, including the notion that “paying someone to spread lotions and potion all over the house” will make the spirits go away.

“What does work? Communication!!!” writes Ms. Vent, who is one of those people who is paid; her cleansing services cost $125 an hour. “This does not necessarily mean that they will leave, but you should be able to work out a livable situation.”

She also offered a word of warning: “There are people who will take advantage of others by using holy water, burning sage and spreading salt around the perimeter of the house. Spirit people are people — these things have no effect in the long term. You really have to get to the root cause.”



Also, as His Intimates Knew, Uncle Fred Never Flushed

With ghosts so plentiful, it is reassuring to note that most haunting sites, even those with logos dripping blood, take their responsibilities seriously, reminding homeowners concerned about paranormal activity that they should first seek more mundane reasons for strange activity. The tools may include tape recorders, video equipment and infrared photography.

Read more ...

Jokes and puns poke fun at the characteristics and behavior of ghosts.

What does a little ghost call his mother and father? His trans-parents! What rides do little spirits like best at the amusement park? The roller ghoster! Who writes all the books about haunted houses? Ghostwriters, who else? What did the ghost bride throw to her bridesmaids? Her boo-quet! Who represents ghosts in Congress? The Spooker of the House! What spirit serves food on a plane? An airline ghostess! What shows do ghosts like best? Phantom-mimes!

101 Ghost Jokes by Lisa Eisenberg & Katy Hall; illustrated by Don Orehek.
Scholastic, 1988 | 24 Pages | PDF | 1.3 MB

Introduction by Emily Dorothy Scarborough "The Imperishable Ghost":

Ghosts are the true immortals, and the dead grow more alive all the time. Wraiths have a greater vitality to-day than ever before.

They are far more numerous than at any time in the past, and people are more interested in them. There are persons that claim to be acquainted with specific spirits, to speak with them, to carry on correspondence with them, and even some who insist that they are private secretaries to the dead. Others of us mortals, more reserved, are content to keep such distance as we may from even the shadow of a shade. But there's no getting away from ghosts nowadays, for even if you shut your eyes to them in actual life, you stumble over them in the books you read, you see them on the stage and on the screen, and you hear them on the lecture platform ...

Contents:

• The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
  
• The Shadows On The Wall by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
  
• The Messenger by Robert W. Chambers
  
• Lazarus by Leonid Andreyev
  
• The Beast With Five Fingers by W. F. Harvey
  
• The Mass Of Shadows by Anatole France
  
• What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien
  
• The Middle Toe Of The Right Foot by Ambrose Bierce
  
• The Shell Of Sense by Olivia Howard Dunbar
  
• The Woman At Seven Brothers by Wilbur Daniel Steele
  
• At The Gate by Myla Jo Closser
  
• Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe
  
• The Haunted Orchard by Richard Le Gallienne
  
• The Bowmen by Arthur Machen
  
• A Ghost by Guy De Maupassant

Famous Modern Ghost Stories by Various, edited by Emily Dorothy Scarborough.
First Published 1921 | 303 pages | PDF | 1.0 MB

Also available at Project Gutenberg.

'The Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained' consists of fourteen broad-subject chapters covering a wide range of high-interest topics: Afterlife Mysteries; Mediums and Mystics; Religious Phenomena; Mystery Religions and Cults; Secret Societies; Magic and Sorcery; Prophecy and Divination; Objects of Mystery and Power; Places of Mystery and Power; Ghosts and Phantoms; Mysterious Creatures; Mysteries of the Mind; Superstitions, Strange Customs, Taboos, and Urban Legends; and Invaders from Outer Space.

Each chapter begins with an Overview that summarizes the chapter’s concept in a few brief sentences. Then the Chapter Exploration provides a complete outline of the chapter.

Further each chapter contains photographs, line drawings, and original graphics that were chosen to complement the text; in all three volumes, approximately 300 photos and illustrations images enliven the text. The Steigers, prolific writers on the paranormal, have written an encyclopedia for believers. The volumes are meant to "explore and describe the research of those who take such phenomena seriously". Almost everything from mediumship to crop circles is taken at face value. Even Houdini's attacks on phony mediums are interpreted to suggest he was taking on frauds and not real mediums. The work covers material of interest to a large segment of the public in a way that is clear and readable.

The Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol 1
Gale Cengage, 2003 | 377 pages | PDF | 7.1 MB
The Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol 2
Gale Cengage, 2003 | 335 pages | PDF | 9.2 MB
The Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol 3
Gale Cengage, 2003 | 357 pages | PDF | 7.2 MB
by Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger.

Tune in to this page on October 31st at 5:00 PM (eastern time) for the live, three-continent broadcast!

This Halloween join The New England Ghost Project (United States) as they broadcast from the haunted Sprague Mansion in Cranston, Rhode Island; Haunted Devon (England) as they broadcast from the haunted Salem Chapel in East Budleigh and The Treasury Bar in Plymouth, Devon; and Haunted Australia (Australia) as they broadcast from the haunted Theatre Royal in the old gold mining town of Castlemaine in Victoria.

This is guaranteed to be a night of extraordinary intrigue as they take you on a journey into the realm of the unknown, the unexplained, and the unbelievable on three continents!

Halloween/Samhain 2007 - Special Broadcast by Ghostvillage Radio.

You may also like to listen other paranormal radio shows from the archive.

Ghostvillage is dedicated to providing ghost research, evidence, and discussion from around the world. We welcome and explore all viewpoints, from the skeptical to the religious, and from the scientific to the metaphysical.

Explore Ghostvillage by Jeff Belanger.

Related Entry:
Ghostly Talk

Picture above: Rev. Ralph Hardy, a retired clergyman from White Rock, British Columbia, took this now-famous photograph in 1966. He intended merely to photograph the elegant spiral staircase in the Queen's House section of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. Upon development, however, the photo revealed a shrouded figure climbing the stairs, seeming to hold the railing with both hands. Experts, including some from Kodak, who examined the original negative concluded that it had not been tampered with. It's been said that unexplained figures have been seen on occasion in the vicinity of the staircase, and unexplained footsteps have also been heard.




Picture above: Visiting the grave of her mother in 1959, Mrs. Mabel Chinnery took a photo of her husband waiting alone in the car. When the film was developed, the two were so surprised to see the figure in the backseat was her mother.


See more: 15 Famous Freaky Ghost Pictures by KNBC.

See also: Top 10 Haunted Places In Chicago by KNBC.

This book serves as both supernatural atlas as well as a solid storytelling resource for STs wanting to flesh out the locales of their own, private World of Darkness within their own chronicles. If you're a reader of science or dark-themed fiction, then there is no doubt that, at some point or other, you have experienced the hairs on the back of your neck rise with the creepily detailed description of a place or a thing that serves as a backdrop or, sometimes, as a focal point to a story.

The book starts with 'The Swimming Hole': At the bottom of a body of water, there is a cave where you can trade your blood for wishes. As ol' Ben Franklin used to say, "If men were granted half their wishes they'd double their trouble." Even more interestingly, the force protects the water and the owner wants to drain it; too bad for everyone nearby ...

I like also 'The Whispering Wood' - an arboreal Bermuda Triangle. It's both the literal "haunted forest" as well as the spiritual and philosophical "dark wood" that everyone finds themselves lost in from time to time ...

HUH!

World of Darkness: Mysterious Places
White Wolf Publishing, 2005 | 138 pages | PDF | 8 MB

Written by Kraig Blackwelder, Rick Chillot, Geoff Grabowski, James Kiley, Matt McFarland, Brett Rebischke-Smith and Chuck Wendig with interior artwork provided by Sam Araya, Greg Boychuk, Vince Locke, Chris Martinez, Mark Nelson, Jim Pavelek, Durwin Talon, Jaime Tolagson, Andrew Trabbold, and Cathy Wilkins.

For over 100 years Spiritualists and others in the field of psychic research have tried scientifically to prove that people have souls that live on after death. Spiritualists have often used spirit photography as proof of survival-after-death. Photography itself dates back to the 1840's and has progressed from daguerreotypes to the highly evolved photography that we know today. Amazingly, spirit photography which first appeared in the mid-nineteenth century also continues to evolve and is alive and well in this twenty-first century.



Spirit photography began with one man, a Boston engraver named William H. Mumler, who discovered ghostly images of individuals on a photograph he had taken of a colleague in 1862. Mumler, who had been casually experimenting with his camera at the time, claimed to have had little or no interest in spiritualism. The news of Mumler's discovery quickly spread around the world and shortly after Mumler started a business as a medium/photographer claiming he could call up deceased celebrities, strangers and family and friends of well-paying clients. He charged ten dollars per photograph at a time when an average portrait cost merely pennies. Mumler's portrait sittings were like any other, a person would sit for their own picture expecting their deceased friend or relative, a spirit "extra," to appear not in the studio but in the negative and prints.

Beyond the Grave: A Brief History of Spirit Photography
by Anne Harney and Leigh McCuen.

During 30+ years of collecting we have often found that a sub-collection will just appear without our being aware that it was happening. This is the origin (really appropriate when you think about it) of our collection of spirit photography. We acquired an original edition of Brewster's book on the Stereograph and read his instructions for making a spirit photograph. We then realized that we already had a stereo card that gave him credit as well as more than 30 other stereos of "spirits". We had read about Mumler and were delighted to acquire some of his carte-de-visites. We then picked up additional carte-de-visites and cabinet cards here and there and a few books on the subject. Jack and Beverly's Spirit Photographs

Approaching photography and photographer literally as a "medium," this exhibition considers how historical and present-day practitioners utilize and reference intrinsic mechanics of light-sensitive media to achieve spiritual allusions and illusions. The title of the show is a nod to the early-twentieth century painter Wassily Kandinsky's landmark book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911), which heralded artists as the leaders of a new spiritualist age. Many of the makers represented here are from New England or have ties to Boston, an area that gave rise to spirit photography itself as well as one of the most notable mediums in Spiritualism's history. Concerning the Spiritual in Photography by Leslie K. Brown.

Related Entry:
Do You Believe? - A Ghostly Gallery

Are there such things as demons, ghosts or the devil? Following circumstantial research and in cooperation with top-calibre scholars, this film sheds light upon, unmasks and takes the magic from centuries-old superstition and also reports on breathtaking, super sensory experiences. It also shows if, and where, things that cannot be explained really do exist?

Anyone interesting in ghosts and unexplained mysteries
will enjoy this movie! Duration 50 minutes.



For more see the category Ghosts & Spirits.

Some strange stories and ghostly tales about the London Underground:

Aldwych: This station was closed in 1994 (not becasue of ghosts) although it is still currently used for parties and trendy opening nights. However the "fluffers" people who clean the tunnels and stations claim to have been scared by a fugure who appears on the tracks at night. The station is supposedly haunted by an actress who believes she has not enjoyed her last curtain call. Aldywch used to be on the site of the old Royal Strand Theatre.

Bank: The spirit of the so called "Black Nun" was roused by workmen who were building Bank station in the last century. The "Nun's" brother Phillip Whitehead was a cashier and was executed in 1811 for forgery. The Nun - Sarah, wearing black waited for him outside the bank every evening for 40 years until she died. To this day, it said that she still searches for him along the platforms.

Covent Garden: A tall man in a a frock coat, tall hat and gloves is said to be pacing the tunnels and has been seen since the 1950's. When he appeared in the staff rest room the staff demanded a transfer - no wonder they look so miserable.
The ghost is supposed to be actor William Terriss who was fatally stabbed near the Adelphi Theatre in the Strand in December 1897. Apparently William regularly visited a baker's shop which stood where today's Tube station was built.

Elephant & Castle: When this station is closed people say that you can hear the staps of an invisible runner, strange tappings and doors being thrown open.

Farringdon: A 13 year old trainee hat maker, Anne Naylor was murdered in 1758 by her trainer and the trainer's daughter. People calim to hear her cries echoing down Farringdon Station. She has been nicknamed "The Screaming Sceptre".

Highgate: In 1941 Highgate station was rebuilt to join an extension from the Northern Line. However the project was abandoned and the cutting became overgrown. Nevertheless residents still claim to hear eerie sounds of trains going through the cutting.

South Kensington: Now here's a sighting of a ghost train. A passenger from the last westbound tube saw a train pull into South Ken station in December 1928. An ear-piercing whistle broke through the night and the passenger spotted a ghostly figure in a reefer jacket and peaked cap hainging from the side of the engine. Both the man and the train then vanished into the tunnel never to be seen again.

View "Ghosts On the Underground" which first broadcast on the 31st October 2006 on "Five". It tells stories about ghosts that have been seen on the london underground. Runtime 47 minutes.




Related Entry:
Paranormal Places UK

The ruins of Vlad Dracul's Palace, Tirgoviste, Romania



Medieval Heads, Mirepoix, Ariege, France



Lindisfarne Priory, Holy Island, Northumberland, England



Human remains, Monolithic Church of Saint-Jean, Aubterre-Sur-Dronne, Dordogne, France



Melrose Abbey, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Over the last eleven years THE MARSDEN ARCHIVE has become widely recognised as a unique picture library specialising in the fantastic and the supernatural.
Exclusively holding Simon Marsden's extraordinary and powerful black and white images the collection contains material from the British Isles, Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Romania and the USA.
Categories include haunted houses, mystical landscapes, romantic ruins, gothic graveyards, secret gardens, fantastic follies, crumbling castles, grotesque gargoyles, moonlit abbeys and many more.

The Marsden Archive

The finest in ghostly photography!

I believe that another dimension, a spirit world, runs parallel to our own so-called 'real' world, and that sometimes, when the conditions are right, we can see into and become part of this supernatural domain. The mystical quality of my photographs reflects this ancient order and they attempt to reveal what is eternal. -- Simon Marsden

See also: Simon Marsden Photographer

This is an Internet-based talk show that primarily discusses ghost and haunting phenomena. You can listen live, via online archives and through their podcast.

The hosts, Scott L., Doug, Will, and Karma are amateur paranormal enthusiasts who would like to eventually prove scientifically that the paranormal is actually normal. To listen to Ghostly Talk on Sunday nights from 6pm to 9pm Eastern Time, select a link depending upon your connection speed from the Main Menu at the left. You must have an MP3 player installed on your system.

Ghostly Talk
Internet Talk Radio Show about Ghosts, Ghost Hunting, and the Paranormal

For your listening pleasure:

Lisa and Tom Butler on EVP: Voices Beyond the Grave? (03/01/2007)
Total time of this podcast 56 minutes.



The authors of the book There Is No Death and There Are No Dead (Link to Amazon), Lisa F. and Tom W. Butler are the directors of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP), which was founded to provide objective evidence that we survive death in an individual conscious state. Over the years, the Butlers have discussed the unusual phenomenon of Electronic Voice Phenomena on both television and radio, and acted as consultants for the marketing of the 2005 hit movie "White Noise". The Butlers talk with Tim Swartz about the history of EVP, provide information on the latest research into EVP, and and will also play some audio of their most compelling spirit voices from beyond the grave.


Chris Fleming: What Awaits us on the Other Side? (02/22/2007)
Total time of this podcast 55 minutes.



What awaits us on the other side? One of the preeminent paranormal researchers in the world, Chris Fleming is the co-host of the popular Biography channel TV show "Dead Famous". In it, he investigates ghostly phenomena and paranormal occurrences that surround famous celebrities and historical places. Chris will talk about his most interesting paranormal experiences both while filming his TV program and during his lifetime, and will talk about what it is like to be able to see ghosts. He will also describe what he believes awaits us all on the other side.


UFO Journalist Sean Casteel Describes His Theories About ETs. (02/15/2007)
Total time of this podcast 55 minutes.



Sean Casteel is an UFO journalist and author of a number of books, including his most recent The Excluded Books of the Bible (Link to Amazon), in which he describes why he believes that aliens are angelic creatures, not demons or mad extraterrestrials from outer space. Listen Sean about his theories on UFOs and why he believes that aliens are angelic creatures who are not to be feared.


More at Mystery Tour - Investigating the Unknown with hosts Kim Guarnaccia and Tim Swartz explores the strange world of the paranormal, ghosts, UFOs, conspiracies, monsters and everything else weird and unknown.

Seventy years ago this month, what is still considered one of the best ghost photographs of all time was taken at Raynham Hall, Norfolk. Ever since, it has been held up as convincing evidence for the existence of spectral forms but, as Alan Murdie discovered, long-forgotten files on the case point to a different conclusion. The photograph known as 'The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall' is probably the most famous picture of a ghost ever taken. Captured on 19 September 1936 by two photographers, the picture shows a curious transparent image, suggestive of a hooded figure, apparently descending a wooden staircase in Raynham Hall, Norfolk.

The Raynham Hall photograph taken by Captain Provand and Indre Shira on 19 September 1936

The photograph is visually impressive and has been reproduced in numerous books and articles since the 1960s, and more recently on television and websites as photographic proof of the existence of ghosts. However, a file which has been in the possession of the Society for Psychical Research for some 70 years reveals that the Brown Lady picture is not all that it seems and that there is, in all probability, a mundane explanation for it. [1] Rather than proving the existence of ghosts, it raises interesting questions about the status of anomalous photographs and the very process of perception itself.

Read more ...

For people researching EVP they will quite often find references to the Spiricom research performed by The Metascience Foundation under the direction of Dr. George W. Meek and Bill O'Neil, who recorded real-time communications with Dr George J Mueller who had died six years before the device, called Spiricom, was invented.. Here is a complete online version of George W. Meek's original report about his Spiricom device: Spiricom – An Electromagnetic- Etheric Systems Approach to Communications with other Levels of Human Consciousness. Next you will find a two hour recording of George Meek explaining the Spiricom research as well as the presentation of the significant contacts made through Spiricom. This includes the many contacts made with Dr George J Mueller who was credited with helping in the research by lending his expertise from the other side. Direct links to the streaming audio (MP3): Spiricom - part 01 Spiricom - part 02 For a short audio extract (and transcript of what is being said) please see here.

Bill O'Neil and the Spiricom device The worlds of spirit, according to George Meek

See also The research of George W. Meek.

Really fascinating stuff, isn't it? Genuine or hoax? Impressive or otherwise?

Oh! And don't miss to explore the World ITC - Instrumental Transcommunication. The use of TVs, radios, telephones, computers, and other technical equipment to get information from the other side.