Who Haunted Betsy Bell?
Betsy Bell
An alternate reading of M.V. Ingram’s history of the infamous Bell Witch haunting suggests a sinister secret at the heart of the mystery. This from Victorian Gothic:
The visitations began with sightings of strange animals about the Bell homestead, and of a unknown girl in green swinging to the limb of a tall oak. Soon there came an unaccountable knocking about the door and exterior walls of the house, followed by scratching and gnawing sounds that searched from room to room. It assaulted the boys in the night, ripping the sheets from their beds and pulling their hair as they tried to sleep. Whenever candles were lit to investigate, they would soon hear screams coming from their sister’s room.
Betsy Bell was 12 years old in 1818 when she became the thrall of an unseen tormentor who, for some three years, relentlessly beat her, mangled her hair, pinched and pricked her…
Ohio Family Claims To Be Haunted By Ghosts Having Sex
This certainly raises all sorts of questions. CBS Cleveland reports:
An Ohio grandmother and her 4-year-old granddaughter say they have caught ghosts having sex inside their house.
Speaking to CBS Cleveland, Diane Carlisle said this visitation was the latest in a series that goes back to when she first moved to her Euclid home 12 years ago. Her photos prove it, she said.
This time, her granddaughter Kimora saw a man’s bare backside and a woman’s legs with high heels still on. At other times, they’ve seen men, women and children in various rooms and in her backyard.
Even her dog had an experience better to forget than remember. Walking up the stairs from the basement, something caught its hind legs and held them. Now, the dog avoids the basement.
The rest of the family has learned to live with them, Carlisle said.
“[My granddaughter, daughter and I] have grown with them around,” she said. “At times…
Where Does The Law Stand On Selling Haunted Houses?
Someone’s assertion that one of the bedrooms in my apartment is haunted got me thinking about this. Do landlords and house sellers have an obligation to disclose paranormal activity and the presence of spirits? Mental Floss writes:
It all depends on the where the house is and the way the laws are worded there.
Some states require sellers to disclose “emotional defects” that could impact and stigmatize a property. This includes traumatic events like murders and suicides, reported paranormal activity and even proximity to homeless shelters.
In Virginia, emotional defects like murders and ghost sightings only have to be disclosed if they physically affect the property (Blood running from the walls? Gotta tell the buyer). In California, sellers do have to disclose emotional defects, but only in a very limited way. The state Civil Code requires that a death on the property only needs to be disclosed if it occurred less than three years…
The Spirit Photography Of William Hope
Why do people believe that photographs have the power to capture what we cannot see with our eyes? The Public Domain Review presents a ghastly, ghostly collection from William Hope:
These photographs of ‘spirits’ are taken from an album of photographs unearthed in a Lancashire antiquarian bookshop. They were taken by a controversial medium called William Hope (1863-1933). In about 1905 he became interested in spirit photography after capturing the supposed image of a ghost while photographing a friend. He went on to found the Crewe Circle – a group of six spirit photographers.
By 1922 Hope had moved to London where he became a professional medium. The work of the Crew Circle was investigated on various occasions, exposing Hope as a fraudster. However, many of Hope’s most ardent supporters spoke out on his behalf, the most famous being Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
“Shadow Land”: Memoir of a Medium
Elizabeth d’Espérance, one of the star mediums of the Victorian era, penned a fascinating memoir filled with rich descriptions of altered states and otherworldly visitations. An often-overlooked, first-person account of the 19th century seance from the perspective of the medium herself, Shadow Land is the subject of a recent review at VictorianGothic.org:
Elizabeth d’Espérance grew up in a tired old house on the East End of London, filled with dark, oak-paneled halls and desolate, forbidden rooms that compelled her to explore. “I was very fond of wandering about from one empty room to another,” she wrote,
“and of sitting with my dolls on the broad low window seats, whence I would be fetched with an exclamation of horror and wonder by our servant, who considered my liking for the haunted rooms as “uncanny” and unnatural, threatening me with the ghosts and their vengeance if I persisted in invading their domains by myself.
“I could never quite understand…
Spiritualism was the Psychedelic Movement of the 1870s
…complete with altered states, free love, and millenarian ideals. In this piece, Victorian Gothic discusses “The Lighter Side of Victorian Spiritualism”:
“One important and often overlooked aspect of Victorian mediumship is that it could be enormous fun,” says Alex Owen in The Darkened Room: Women, Power and Spiritualism in Late Victorian England. This is the picture that emerges when one looks particularly at the “star mediums” of the 1870′s, who were known for performing theatrical, full-body materializations for eager audiences.
In a dim seance room, the medium would enter a closed cabinet wherein she would tap the mysterious psychical forces that would allow her to manifest one of her spirit familiars. This familiar would then emerge to from behind the curtain to entertain the assembled sitters. Each medium had her own repertoire of otherworldly entitles at her command, each with his or her own distinct personality, speech patterns, favored tricks and antics. They could be…
Lovecraft’s ‘The Shunned House’ Is For Sale
Interested in investing in demonic real estate? The home was built in 1763 by Stephen Harris, a wealthy merchant. Subsequently his children died and his wife descended into madness — in real life, not the Lovecraft story. Additionally, there likely are colonial-era corpses buried in the backyard. The Lovecraftian notes ominously:
The home at 135 Benefit Street in Providence, Rhode Island, that’s featured in H.P. Lovecraft’s story “The Shunned House” is for sale. And if you’re looking for “a particular house on the eastern side of the street; a dingy, antiquated structure perched on the abruptly rising side-hill, with a great unkempt yard dating from a time when the region was partly open country” and you’ve got $925,000, it could be yours.
The house had a colorful history even before Lovecraft wrote about it, none of which is mentioned in the real estate listing however. Aside from a giant monster buried in the basement (which can,…
Video of Alleged Ghosts at Gettysburg
The following video was allegedly filmed at Gettysburg by Delia and Tom Underwood in Nov. 2001. Horses on a footpath? Teenagers messing around? Or the ghosts of Confederate soldiers marching off a 10 foot drop and up into the trees?
How Ghosts, Superstitions, and Vampires Have Been Used for Psychological Warfare
Interesting article from Cyriaque Lamar on io9.com on the history of “occult” warfare:
Military psy ops aren’t limited to leaflets, propaganda broadcasts, and Korean pop music. In the past, the US military has played on their opponent superstitions of vampires, ghosts, and astrology. Here are some strange examples.
In World War II, US forces exploited the Nazi’s predilection to put stock in superstitions and the occult. The Rand Corporation’s 1950 memorandum “The Exploitation of Superstitions for Purposes of Psychological Warfare” details how pseudoscience connoisseur Joseph Goebbels counteracted Allied attempts to strike fear into the superstitious strata of the German population.
Another curious incident noted in the Rand document occurs in Italy, where British military created a giant manikin to scare rural residents. A large, shambling creature was assembled to freak out superstitious locals…
Spiritual Sightings Map of London
Perfectly timed for All Hallows’ Eve, London’s leading esoteric bookshop, Watkins Books, has published a Spiritual Map of London:
Have you been a witness to the paranormal? Had a spiritual experience in a place that has a special energy? Do you want to locate the nearest mind, body & spirit courses, pilgrimages, and secret society lodges? Visit Watkins’ spiritual sightings map to discover and share those special spots.
We’ve listed here lots of special places that make up a spiritual map of London, but feel free to contribute spiritual sightings from all over the world – let’s make a spiritual map of the Earth! (Click on Submit Incident to add your own sighting)
Australians Driving Over 110 MPH to Summon Ghost of Dead Motorcyclist (Video)
Neil Keene writes in the Daily Telegraph:
It could be one of the most bizarre reasons ever offered by a speeding driver — “A ghost made me do it.” But that is exactly the story being put forward by superstitious motorists hitting speeds of up to 180km/h on a road north of Newcastle, supposedly to conjure a ghost.
Port Stephens police have issued a warning to drivers after it emerged that young people were driving at dangerously high speeds along a stretch of Lemon Tree Passage Rd to conjure the spirit of a 20-year-old motorcyclist killed in a crash with a speeding driver in the area three years ago.
A handful of videos have been posted on YouTube, allegedly showing a ghostly bright light appearing in the rear windscreen of cars that start driving at dangerous speeds.Some locals are convinced the light is that of the motorcyclist’s ghost, in pursuit of people who drive dangerously.
Time Travel, Chasing Shadows and The Harlequin on The Black Fridays
The Black Fridays Episode 15 — Jason Ouffut
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The Black Fridays welcomes Jason Offutt. Jason is a syndicated columnist, author, college journalism instructor, and a “fan of all things strange”. We talk with Jason about ghosts, Shadow People, and even a guy who invented a time travel machine.
We had a great time speaking with Jason and hope you enjoy it!
Find out more about Jason at www.from-the-shadows.blogspot.com
‘Bottled Ghosts’ Sold in New Zealand Auction
Via BBC News:
Two glass phials said to contain the ghosts of an old man and a young girl have sold for NZ $2,000 (U.S. $1,395 / £935) in an online auction in New Zealand. The auction attracted more than 200,000 page views on the Trade Me website.
Avie Woodbury said the ghosts had been captured in her Christchurch house by an exorcist and stored in holy water. The top bidder, an electronic cigarette company, said it was looking for ideas on what to do with the ghosts.
Ms Woodbury told bidders she had experienced “bizarre activity” in her home.
“I would get things like the jug boiling itself, touching on the back of my neck, voices from other rooms, and items going missing then turning up in weird places,” she said.
The Secrets of My Success!
The Infinite and the Beyond — Podcast: Episode #003 — The Secrets of My Success!
Website • iTunes • Direct Download • RSS
In this episode of The Infinite and the Beyond, we acknowledge the use of glitter in a Midsummer Sabbat and discuss anomalous pets and what to do if you think you have one. As recent experiences have led my to wonder if I truly have a ghost cat in my apartment because up until now I’ve been the only one who has thought to have witnessed the mysterious feline wandering the hall.
We also discuss the benefits of backgrounds and the freedom to wander through your path as paganism is not a set-in-stone faith tradition, but is one which develops through exploration and personal introspection.
We hear what composer Kristian Stout has evolved into as I play the song "Simple Pleasure" performed by his band The Evolutionaries who have previously been featured on such podcasts as Thelema Coast to Coast and the ever popular deo’s Shadow.
I say thank you to Kia Dragon from the podcast Pagan Chaos Magic who had some wonderful things to say about me and the beginning episodes of this podcast. I respond to listener email and have some laughs doing it.
In A Corner in the Occult we learn about famous 19th century French occultist and magickian Eliphas Levi who authored many influential texts on occultism and magick and has inspired such notable individuals in occult history such as Aleister Crowley, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, Arthur Edward Waite and even organizations such as The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Ordo Templi Orientis.
We begin a new show segment with an introduction to my other favorite text which should occupy nine future episodes as we make our way through the book. And later in the show, we continue with our discussion on community, that we began in Episode #002 – Beyond 93!, by addressing covens.
To message the show please go here.
