You know I always believed that if there are ghosts they were most likely mentally unbalanced while among the living. Depression, anxiety schizophrenia, etc... These illnesses are debilitating and often leave one with a sense that all is lost. They wonder what life could have been like without such ailments and feel cheated as a result. Frustration, anger and sadness are very real emotions with the severely depressed. I should know - I do know, as I suffer from depression and anxiety, and I feel all these emotions on a daily basis. I believe these ghosts are remaining behind in hopes of attaining all that was lost in the midst of their daily battle, and now that they are free, they don't want to leave. They want to experience all that they could not while alive. That's just my view - take it or leave it. Anyways, on with the story.
Ghost Stories Of British Columbia, Jo-Anne Christensen
Hauntings usually seem to be a human connection between the past and the present, but there are indications that some places are able to make those connections on their own. In the cool, fall weeks of October leading up to Halloween, one street in Victoria, B.C. is said to make such a haunting connection - by presenting a visual memory of the dirt-packed country road that it once was.
Witnesses to the eerie transformation are usually alone in their vehicles, between two and three o-clock on a Sunday morning. As they drive along Shelbourne Street, south of the Hillside shopping centre, they become convinced they have taken a wrong turn.
The confusion is understandable, for the ordinary city street lined with streetlights, houses, and shops has unexpectedly become an overgrown country road. Wild grass grows up between the tire ruts, and flowering broom and bulrushes bunch thickly together in the marshy ditches. The dirt road is deserted and dark, but just as the lone traveller begins searching desperately for a place to make a U-turn, the bright lights of Hillside are suddenly all around.
Have people see the 'ghost' of what Shelbourne Street once was, or have they momentarily travelled back to that time? It's a rare and fascinating phenomenon that occurs each October in Victoria's early morning hours.
The Suspect Returns
The man's name was Jim Hawthornthwaite and, in the early 1900's, he was member of British Columbia's Legislative Assembly. He made his living as a politician, and his home in Nanaimo, where he shared a house with a fellow by the name of Arthur Potts.
One evening, Potts heard a commotion in the living room and went rushing in to see what was happening. There, he found Hawthornthwaite, wild-eyed and alone, waving a fireplace poker in a defencive arc.
"Did you see him?" the politician raved. "Where did he go?"
Potts assured his friend that he had seen no one leave the room, then cautiously asked what had happened. Hawthornthwaite proceeded to describe a grisly and dramatic scene, claiming he was confronted by a native man who was covered in blood and brandishing a gore-smeared axe.
It is not know whether Potts believed the wild story, but the house-mates never spoke to each other of the incident again. In fact, it was years before Hawthornthwaite breathed another word about his fright - but when he did, he found a receptive ear.
It was Nanaimo's Chief of Police who had somehow inspired the retelling of this strange tale. Perhaps, over time, Hawthornthwaite had begun to doubt his own sanity, or perhaps he expected to be greeted with the chief's mocking scepticism, but he relayed the story in a somewhat apologetic, disclaiming tone. However, the politician's seeming lack of credulity did nothing to dampen the other man's enthusiastic interest.
As Bert Binny wrote in the April 27, 1958 edition of Victoria's Daily Colonist: The description of the Indian, his appearance and the setting provided an exact replica of the scene and character when an Indian had been taken into custody in that very room some years previously. He had murdered his wife with an axe.
It was one for the paranormal record books. The politician had been telling the truth.
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
DEATH BED VISIONS - Part Two
From the works of Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, And Haunted Places
A Dream Of His Sister's Death
Charles Downey had a dream that told him his sister Jean was dying. Since he had experienced similar dreams before the deaths of other members of his family, he was inclined to pay heed to the nocturnal revelation. "Either it's a dark Irish curse or a blessing," Downey said. "I had experienced a similar dream before the death of our mother, our cousin Paul, and a close school friend. Because of such a sorrowful track record, I knew that I had better pay attention to this sad dream about Jean."
When a telephone call from his brother-in-law David confirmed Jean's approaching death, Charles and his wife Marcy left immediately to be at her bedside. Jean's eyes did not open, but somehow she knew who was present in her room, and even where they were standing. As Charles bent to kiss her cheek, Jean spoke in a voice barely audible: "Don't worry, Charlie, they've come for me. Mom, Dad, Paul, Uncle Sean, they're all here, waiting for me just outside the window. And there's a lovely angel with them. She'll excort us to our heavenly home."
David was standing by the window when Jean asked him to step aside so the angel and the others might enter to take her home. Confused, David moved back from the window, and all those present in the room were startled when a whiff of wind suddenly stirred the curtains at the same time that Jean took a final breath.
Charles Downey wrote that his sister's face bore a lovely and restful smile as her sould departed with membeers of her family and her angel guide.
An Angel Appeared With Her Parents To Take Her Home
The Personal Experience of Steve Preteroti: "I saw three separate clouds float through the doorway into the room where Rochelle lay dying. The clouds enveloped the bed. As I gazed through the mist, I saw what at first appeared to be the form of a woman take shape. It was transparent and had a golden sheen. It was a figure so glorious in appearance that no words can describe it. The beautiful entity was dressed in a long, Grecian robe, and there was a brilliant tiara on her head. It had to have been an angel.
"The majestic figure remained motionless, with its hands lifted over my wife, seemingly engaged in prayer. Then I noticed two other figures kneeling by Rochelle's bedside. I recognized them at once as the forms of her deceased parents. They had come in the company of an angel to guide my beloved Rochelle to heaven. My wife's spirit duplicate appeared over her physical body, hovering above it horizontally. It seemed to be connected to Rochelle's body by a cord.
"The whole experience lasted for five hours. As soon as my dear wife had taken her last breath, the glorious angel, the spirits of Rochelle's beloved parents, and the spirit form of my wife vanished."
A Dream Of His Sister's Death
Charles Downey had a dream that told him his sister Jean was dying. Since he had experienced similar dreams before the deaths of other members of his family, he was inclined to pay heed to the nocturnal revelation. "Either it's a dark Irish curse or a blessing," Downey said. "I had experienced a similar dream before the death of our mother, our cousin Paul, and a close school friend. Because of such a sorrowful track record, I knew that I had better pay attention to this sad dream about Jean."
When a telephone call from his brother-in-law David confirmed Jean's approaching death, Charles and his wife Marcy left immediately to be at her bedside. Jean's eyes did not open, but somehow she knew who was present in her room, and even where they were standing. As Charles bent to kiss her cheek, Jean spoke in a voice barely audible: "Don't worry, Charlie, they've come for me. Mom, Dad, Paul, Uncle Sean, they're all here, waiting for me just outside the window. And there's a lovely angel with them. She'll excort us to our heavenly home."
David was standing by the window when Jean asked him to step aside so the angel and the others might enter to take her home. Confused, David moved back from the window, and all those present in the room were startled when a whiff of wind suddenly stirred the curtains at the same time that Jean took a final breath.
Charles Downey wrote that his sister's face bore a lovely and restful smile as her sould departed with membeers of her family and her angel guide.
An Angel Appeared With Her Parents To Take Her Home
The Personal Experience of Steve Preteroti: "I saw three separate clouds float through the doorway into the room where Rochelle lay dying. The clouds enveloped the bed. As I gazed through the mist, I saw what at first appeared to be the form of a woman take shape. It was transparent and had a golden sheen. It was a figure so glorious in appearance that no words can describe it. The beautiful entity was dressed in a long, Grecian robe, and there was a brilliant tiara on her head. It had to have been an angel.
"The majestic figure remained motionless, with its hands lifted over my wife, seemingly engaged in prayer. Then I noticed two other figures kneeling by Rochelle's bedside. I recognized them at once as the forms of her deceased parents. They had come in the company of an angel to guide my beloved Rochelle to heaven. My wife's spirit duplicate appeared over her physical body, hovering above it horizontally. It seemed to be connected to Rochelle's body by a cord.
"The whole experience lasted for five hours. As soon as my dear wife had taken her last breath, the glorious angel, the spirits of Rochelle's beloved parents, and the spirit form of my wife vanished."
Saturday, 29 October 2011
DEATH BED VISIONS - Part One
From the works of Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, And Haunted Places
By now you are probably wondering if I'll ever expand my sources, and venture outside of Brad Steiger's world. I promise you that I will, but there is still so many stories I want to relay to you from this great book. So bear with me while I continue to ride the 'Brad Steiger' train for at least a little while longer.
Deathbed Visions As Told To Reverend W. Bennett Palmer
Cloud-like Vapors And Luminous Clouds
Bill W. told Palmer that he saw the spirit of his brother as it disengaged from the dying body. The cloud-like vapor took on human shape, clapped its hands in joy, and passed upward through the ceiling in the company of an angel.
Jerry C. of Denver Colorado, stated that when his ten year old son died, he saw the child's spirit leave the body as a luminous cloud and rise upward toward the ceiling.
They Joined The Angels Two Days Apart
Mr. and Mrs. S., two members of Palmer's congregation in New Port Richey, Florida, were very ill and had been placed in separate rooms of their home to insure periods of peace and uninterrupted sleep for both of them. One afternoon, as Mr. S. rested in his bed, he saw the form of his wife pass the wall of his room, wave her hand in farewell, and rise upward in the company of an angel.
A few minutes later a nurse came into his room and informed him that Mrs. S. had passed away. "I know," he said, holding back his tears. "She had enough of this desperate struggle to maintain life. She came to say goodbye and to ask me to join her with the angels." Mr. S. died two days later.
An Oval Light Met By A Lovely Angel
When Mrs. Ernestine Tamayo entered her husband's sickroom in order to bring him the newspaper, she saw a large, oval light emerging from his head. The illuminated oval floated toward the window, hovered a moment, and was met by a lovely angelic figure. Within seconds, both the oval of light and the angel had vanished.
"I knew that Miles was dead even before I reached my husband's bedside," she told Palmer. "I had seen his angel guide come to take him home."
An Angel Came To Get Mommy
Richard Riggs's wife and nine-year-old daughter were killed in an automobile accident that left his six-year-old daughter Robin severely injured. Riggs entered little Robin's hospital room and steeled himself for the awful task of informing her about the death of her mother and sister.
But before he could break the sad news to Robin, she told him that she already knew about the deaths. "While I was lying hurt on the ground," she stated, "I saw an angel come to get Mommy. The angel started to go back up into the sky, but it stopped, came back for Becky, and took both of them into Heaven."
An Angel Tapped At The Window
Pastor Raymon Tigge had known for several months that his child, Samuel, would not recover from his lengthy illness. One warm July night, the entire family decided to sleep in the coolest room of their home. Tigge said that he and his wife were both awakened by a soft tapping at the window near their bed. They then saw an angel come through the window, walk over to the sleeping boy, kiss him, and leave.
A few days later, in an effort to divert the boy's mind from his illness, a friend asked Samuel what he wanted for Christmas. The boy shook his head soberly and replied that he would be in Heaven. He wouldn't need any toys there. Within a week, Samuel Tigge died.
His Friend's Soul Left During The Funeral
Dr. D. P. Kayser said that while attending the funeral of Dr. A. N Costello, a colleague whom he had known for more that 30 years, he watched his friend's soul leaving the body. "There was no question in my mind that Angelo was truly, clinically dead before the funeral," Kayser stated, "but I had once heard it said that 'real death' is not accomplished until the soul actually leaves the body."
Kayser knew that his friend's life had been one of kindness and service. "Angelo had always been a sincere, practicing Catholic, but even so, I was quite startled when I saw the spirits of a group of white-robed children materialize. Assembled near the coffin were more white-robed spirits, some of whom I recognized as deceased friends, relatives, and patients of Dr. Costello's."
As the funeral service progressed, Kayser was somehow able to observe the process of death: "I saw a vapor or mist gradually rise from the body in the casket. When the transition had been completed, the mist gradually took on the image of Dr. Costello. Almost at that very moment, a very beautiful angel robed in the purest white, approached the newly liberated spirit. In its hands, the angel bore a lovely wreath, the center of which supported a large white flower. With this floral diadem, the angel crowned the spirit body of Dr. Angelo Costello.
"When the spirit form was completely separated from the physical body, the image of my friend, the angels, and the attending spirits appeared to float away together."
By now you are probably wondering if I'll ever expand my sources, and venture outside of Brad Steiger's world. I promise you that I will, but there is still so many stories I want to relay to you from this great book. So bear with me while I continue to ride the 'Brad Steiger' train for at least a little while longer.
Deathbed Visions As Told To Reverend W. Bennett Palmer
Cloud-like Vapors And Luminous Clouds
Bill W. told Palmer that he saw the spirit of his brother as it disengaged from the dying body. The cloud-like vapor took on human shape, clapped its hands in joy, and passed upward through the ceiling in the company of an angel.
Jerry C. of Denver Colorado, stated that when his ten year old son died, he saw the child's spirit leave the body as a luminous cloud and rise upward toward the ceiling.
They Joined The Angels Two Days Apart
Mr. and Mrs. S., two members of Palmer's congregation in New Port Richey, Florida, were very ill and had been placed in separate rooms of their home to insure periods of peace and uninterrupted sleep for both of them. One afternoon, as Mr. S. rested in his bed, he saw the form of his wife pass the wall of his room, wave her hand in farewell, and rise upward in the company of an angel.
A few minutes later a nurse came into his room and informed him that Mrs. S. had passed away. "I know," he said, holding back his tears. "She had enough of this desperate struggle to maintain life. She came to say goodbye and to ask me to join her with the angels." Mr. S. died two days later.
An Oval Light Met By A Lovely Angel
When Mrs. Ernestine Tamayo entered her husband's sickroom in order to bring him the newspaper, she saw a large, oval light emerging from his head. The illuminated oval floated toward the window, hovered a moment, and was met by a lovely angelic figure. Within seconds, both the oval of light and the angel had vanished.
"I knew that Miles was dead even before I reached my husband's bedside," she told Palmer. "I had seen his angel guide come to take him home."
An Angel Came To Get Mommy
Richard Riggs's wife and nine-year-old daughter were killed in an automobile accident that left his six-year-old daughter Robin severely injured. Riggs entered little Robin's hospital room and steeled himself for the awful task of informing her about the death of her mother and sister.
But before he could break the sad news to Robin, she told him that she already knew about the deaths. "While I was lying hurt on the ground," she stated, "I saw an angel come to get Mommy. The angel started to go back up into the sky, but it stopped, came back for Becky, and took both of them into Heaven."
An Angel Tapped At The Window
Pastor Raymon Tigge had known for several months that his child, Samuel, would not recover from his lengthy illness. One warm July night, the entire family decided to sleep in the coolest room of their home. Tigge said that he and his wife were both awakened by a soft tapping at the window near their bed. They then saw an angel come through the window, walk over to the sleeping boy, kiss him, and leave.
A few days later, in an effort to divert the boy's mind from his illness, a friend asked Samuel what he wanted for Christmas. The boy shook his head soberly and replied that he would be in Heaven. He wouldn't need any toys there. Within a week, Samuel Tigge died.
His Friend's Soul Left During The Funeral
Dr. D. P. Kayser said that while attending the funeral of Dr. A. N Costello, a colleague whom he had known for more that 30 years, he watched his friend's soul leaving the body. "There was no question in my mind that Angelo was truly, clinically dead before the funeral," Kayser stated, "but I had once heard it said that 'real death' is not accomplished until the soul actually leaves the body."
Kayser knew that his friend's life had been one of kindness and service. "Angelo had always been a sincere, practicing Catholic, but even so, I was quite startled when I saw the spirits of a group of white-robed children materialize. Assembled near the coffin were more white-robed spirits, some of whom I recognized as deceased friends, relatives, and patients of Dr. Costello's."
As the funeral service progressed, Kayser was somehow able to observe the process of death: "I saw a vapor or mist gradually rise from the body in the casket. When the transition had been completed, the mist gradually took on the image of Dr. Costello. Almost at that very moment, a very beautiful angel robed in the purest white, approached the newly liberated spirit. In its hands, the angel bore a lovely wreath, the center of which supported a large white flower. With this floral diadem, the angel crowned the spirit body of Dr. Angelo Costello.
"When the spirit form was completely separated from the physical body, the image of my friend, the angels, and the attending spirits appeared to float away together."
Saturday, 22 October 2011
PHANTOMS ON ROADS AND HIGHWAYS - Part Four
This is the final chapter of Phantoms On Roads And Highways. As you can see I find this stuff fascinating. Maybe it's because these type of apparitions show themselves by complete surprise and out of the blue, which is the most horrifying. You be the judge.
SHE HANGS BY HER NECK DURING THE FULL MOON
From the works of Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, And Haunted Places.
By now it is unlikely that anyone really remembers the names of the witnesses who first saw the ghostly image of the young woman hanging from the bridge on the old country road near Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, but nearly everyone agrees that it was two truck drivers who had turned off the main highway at about midnight one night when there was a full moon. As they rounded the bend that approached the old bridge, the driver suddenly slammed on his brakes.
"Look ahead!" he said to his partner. "Look in the full beam of the headlights! There's a woman hanging there on the bridge." As the full impact of the sight penetrated his consciousness, the other man said that they should cut the woman down, as she might still be alive.
There could be few sights creepier than coming upon the swaying body of a hanged woman suspended from the girder of an old country bridge, but the two truckers knew they had to do something - whether it was midnight on a deserted gravel road or not. Their feet had no sooner touched the coarse road when the form of the hanged woman began to fade from their sight.
By the time that they reached the bridge, the woman, noose and all, had completely vanished. The two men stared at each other with open mouths, mouths no longer capable of articulating the fear and confusion that jammed their brains. Just moments before, they had both clearly seen the wretched figure of a hanged woman swaying above the worn wooden planks of the old bridge.
The second sighting of the ghostly hanging was by a young couple coming home from a Saturday night dance, who saw the same grim apparition on the dark and eerie country road. Then other truckers and townspeople began to see the form of the hanging woman in the light of the full moon.
We decided when our team went to investigate the apparition that we would have to be there on site on a night of a full moon, for the ghost had never been sighted at any other time. So on July 19, 1970, with the moon full above us, we sat in my station wagon with the psychic - sensitive Irene Hughes and a number of others, just a few yards away from that haunted country bridge. My associate Glenn and I wanted to see if Irene could pick up on the ghost and the events that led to the hanging without having any prior knowledge of what she might see. All Irene knew was that our research team had taken her out in the Iowa countryside and parked at a particular place.
Just a few minutes before midnight, someone whispered that Irene was in a light trance. "There's someone coming down the road," she said. Two or three people agreed with the sensitive. I strained my eyes to perceive a midnight visitor, but I could see nothing more than a traffic sign advising approaching motorists about the narrow bridge and its load limit.
Irene said nothing. She seemed to be tuned into another dimension, which the rest of us could neither see nor hear. The medium sat in silence for a few more moments, then she spoke, slowly, precisely: "I see a woman swinging in a circle. A circle of confusion. She is disturbed, confused. She feels betrayed. She feels like she wants to jump over the side of the bridge." A high, thin wail seemed to come from the direction of the bridge. Was it only the cry of some night-hunting bird, the distorted complaint of some farm animal, or the keen of a tormented soul? The frogs and crickets seemed undisturbed by any of the possibilities.
"I see a circle," Irene said, speaking once more. "I see a woman committing suicide from this bridge." (Again it must be noted that we had not told Irene what she might expect to see at this lonely country bridge).
"It was a suicide," Irene said. "But there was another person involved. This is most unusual. Usually when someone in spirit appears, they are dressed just as they were in life. I have never hand any spirit who comes to e wrapped in a sheet like so many people think spirits do. But that is just what I saw on the bridge. I saw what looked like somebody wrapped in a sheet!"
"A shroud?" I asked her.
"A shroud," she agreed. "And she tells me her name is Brown. Or maybe it was O'Brien. She was a brunette. I really don't feel that she was a sick person. I feel that this act was just a sudden thing in her life. I feel that there was a husband, but that he was not close by."
Irene sat quietly for a few moments, apparently sifting through the psychic impressions bombarding her from the bridge. "I'm hearing the name Helen," she said, resuming her reportage. "I feel that this woman was having a love affair with a doctor in the community. And I feel that you will find that there was a doctor who left the town rather quickly after this woman took her life. I don't feel that this woman was mentally ill or anything like that. I feel that her life was okay and then, suddenly, involvement with the doctor began."
A reporter who had accompanied us asked how many years ago this happened. Irene said that she had the feeling that it may not have been more than 16 to 20 years ago, around 1950.
"According to the information that I have," Glenn said, "that would seem to be exactly the time that the ghost began to appear."
"Look!" Irene said. "Can you see it? A form was very clear there for an instant."
It may be that our eyes were playing tricks on our group, but on the right-hand side of the bridge, there seemed to be a glowing figure.
"Oh, I see her so clearly," the medium said. "She's wearing a yellow dress." Irene suddenly stopped talking. Then after several seconds of silence, she said: "She keeps telling me, 'Honey, don't talk. Honey, don't tell them.'"
I asked if there was some reason why she didn't want anyone to know why she killed herself.
"I think it is the doctor," Irene said. "I think she was involved with a doctor who left soon after her death."
By this time the researchers had left the station wagon and were standing in the middle of the bridge. There were holes in the wooden planking and we had to move our feet cautiously in order that we not twist an ankle.
"I am getting the impression that some member of her family was from Philadelphia, but she came here from Kansas," Irene said. "I'm seeing a huge sunflower, and that is the sunflower state, isn't it?"
As discreetly as possible, we conducted a follow-up investigation after we spent several hours of a full moon night near the bridge with the legend of a young woman, originally from Kansas and fond of wearing bright yellow dresses, who had come to the area and become romantically involved with a local doctor. The young woman had committed suicide in despair over their impossible love affair, and public opinion, or conscience, had forced the doctor to leave town. While some informants believed that the ghost of the hanging woman might well be the suicidal Kansan, others said that the young woman in question had not hanged herself and that they were unaware of the legend of the haunted bridge.
It is possible, then, that the spirit of the young woman in the bright yellow dress may have hanged herself at the bridge in an earlier decade than the spirit who takes delight in frightening motorists who travel a dark country road. Or maybe she is only an urban legend, who shall be forgotten - until some night when the moon is full and someone turns the bend toward the old country bridge and sees her ghostly figure hanging there.
SHE HANGS BY HER NECK DURING THE FULL MOON
From the works of Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, And Haunted Places.
By now it is unlikely that anyone really remembers the names of the witnesses who first saw the ghostly image of the young woman hanging from the bridge on the old country road near Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, but nearly everyone agrees that it was two truck drivers who had turned off the main highway at about midnight one night when there was a full moon. As they rounded the bend that approached the old bridge, the driver suddenly slammed on his brakes.
"Look ahead!" he said to his partner. "Look in the full beam of the headlights! There's a woman hanging there on the bridge." As the full impact of the sight penetrated his consciousness, the other man said that they should cut the woman down, as she might still be alive.
There could be few sights creepier than coming upon the swaying body of a hanged woman suspended from the girder of an old country bridge, but the two truckers knew they had to do something - whether it was midnight on a deserted gravel road or not. Their feet had no sooner touched the coarse road when the form of the hanged woman began to fade from their sight.
By the time that they reached the bridge, the woman, noose and all, had completely vanished. The two men stared at each other with open mouths, mouths no longer capable of articulating the fear and confusion that jammed their brains. Just moments before, they had both clearly seen the wretched figure of a hanged woman swaying above the worn wooden planks of the old bridge.
The second sighting of the ghostly hanging was by a young couple coming home from a Saturday night dance, who saw the same grim apparition on the dark and eerie country road. Then other truckers and townspeople began to see the form of the hanging woman in the light of the full moon.
We decided when our team went to investigate the apparition that we would have to be there on site on a night of a full moon, for the ghost had never been sighted at any other time. So on July 19, 1970, with the moon full above us, we sat in my station wagon with the psychic - sensitive Irene Hughes and a number of others, just a few yards away from that haunted country bridge. My associate Glenn and I wanted to see if Irene could pick up on the ghost and the events that led to the hanging without having any prior knowledge of what she might see. All Irene knew was that our research team had taken her out in the Iowa countryside and parked at a particular place.
Just a few minutes before midnight, someone whispered that Irene was in a light trance. "There's someone coming down the road," she said. Two or three people agreed with the sensitive. I strained my eyes to perceive a midnight visitor, but I could see nothing more than a traffic sign advising approaching motorists about the narrow bridge and its load limit.
Irene said nothing. She seemed to be tuned into another dimension, which the rest of us could neither see nor hear. The medium sat in silence for a few more moments, then she spoke, slowly, precisely: "I see a woman swinging in a circle. A circle of confusion. She is disturbed, confused. She feels betrayed. She feels like she wants to jump over the side of the bridge." A high, thin wail seemed to come from the direction of the bridge. Was it only the cry of some night-hunting bird, the distorted complaint of some farm animal, or the keen of a tormented soul? The frogs and crickets seemed undisturbed by any of the possibilities.
"I see a circle," Irene said, speaking once more. "I see a woman committing suicide from this bridge." (Again it must be noted that we had not told Irene what she might expect to see at this lonely country bridge).
"It was a suicide," Irene said. "But there was another person involved. This is most unusual. Usually when someone in spirit appears, they are dressed just as they were in life. I have never hand any spirit who comes to e wrapped in a sheet like so many people think spirits do. But that is just what I saw on the bridge. I saw what looked like somebody wrapped in a sheet!"
"A shroud?" I asked her.
"A shroud," she agreed. "And she tells me her name is Brown. Or maybe it was O'Brien. She was a brunette. I really don't feel that she was a sick person. I feel that this act was just a sudden thing in her life. I feel that there was a husband, but that he was not close by."
Irene sat quietly for a few moments, apparently sifting through the psychic impressions bombarding her from the bridge. "I'm hearing the name Helen," she said, resuming her reportage. "I feel that this woman was having a love affair with a doctor in the community. And I feel that you will find that there was a doctor who left the town rather quickly after this woman took her life. I don't feel that this woman was mentally ill or anything like that. I feel that her life was okay and then, suddenly, involvement with the doctor began."
A reporter who had accompanied us asked how many years ago this happened. Irene said that she had the feeling that it may not have been more than 16 to 20 years ago, around 1950.
"According to the information that I have," Glenn said, "that would seem to be exactly the time that the ghost began to appear."
"Look!" Irene said. "Can you see it? A form was very clear there for an instant."
It may be that our eyes were playing tricks on our group, but on the right-hand side of the bridge, there seemed to be a glowing figure.
"Oh, I see her so clearly," the medium said. "She's wearing a yellow dress." Irene suddenly stopped talking. Then after several seconds of silence, she said: "She keeps telling me, 'Honey, don't talk. Honey, don't tell them.'"
I asked if there was some reason why she didn't want anyone to know why she killed herself.
"I think it is the doctor," Irene said. "I think she was involved with a doctor who left soon after her death."
By this time the researchers had left the station wagon and were standing in the middle of the bridge. There were holes in the wooden planking and we had to move our feet cautiously in order that we not twist an ankle.
"I am getting the impression that some member of her family was from Philadelphia, but she came here from Kansas," Irene said. "I'm seeing a huge sunflower, and that is the sunflower state, isn't it?"
As discreetly as possible, we conducted a follow-up investigation after we spent several hours of a full moon night near the bridge with the legend of a young woman, originally from Kansas and fond of wearing bright yellow dresses, who had come to the area and become romantically involved with a local doctor. The young woman had committed suicide in despair over their impossible love affair, and public opinion, or conscience, had forced the doctor to leave town. While some informants believed that the ghost of the hanging woman might well be the suicidal Kansan, others said that the young woman in question had not hanged herself and that they were unaware of the legend of the haunted bridge.
It is possible, then, that the spirit of the young woman in the bright yellow dress may have hanged herself at the bridge in an earlier decade than the spirit who takes delight in frightening motorists who travel a dark country road. Or maybe she is only an urban legend, who shall be forgotten - until some night when the moon is full and someone turns the bend toward the old country bridge and sees her ghostly figure hanging there.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
PHANTOMS ON ROADS AND HIGHWAYS - Part Three
The Phantom Warrior Who Raced Trains
From the works of Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, And Haunted Places
A travelling salesman was making the night trip from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Butte, Montana by train. He had been dozing lightly in a lower berth when he was awkened by what he later described as a "damned uneasy feeling."
He couldn't put a finger on what was troubling him, he told a reporter for a Chicago newspaper in the summer of 1943. There were no strange or unusual noises in the train. He could detect nothing that sounded wrong in the steady clicking of the wheels. For some reason he decided to lift his window shade.
That was when he saw the apparition. Outside of his window, so close that it seemed as if he might be able to touch them if he lowered the glass, was a brightly painted Indian brave on his spirited mount. The warrior bent low over the flying black mane of his horse and looked neither to the right nor to the left. He seemed to be mouthing words of encouragement to the phantom mustang as they rapidly gained on the train.
"I've seen them five or six times after that, in different parts of the Dakotas," the salesman said. "They seem to be solid flesh, but there's a kind of shimmering around them. It's like watching a strip of really old movie film being projected onto the prairie."
Railroad brakemen, engineers, and construction crews in the Dakotas and Wyoming have often spoken of the phantom Sioux and his determined race with their swift, modern iron horses. They couldn't beat the trains when they were alive, on old timer who knew the legend behind the spectral racers commented, but they seem to have picked up some speed in the afterlife.
According to tradition, Frederic Remington, the famous artist of the Old West, sketched the Sioux brave and his mustang from life as the inexhaustible pair raced the train on which he was riding in about 1888. Remington had heard from several travelers the same tale, of a determined warrior motive represented a tangible symbol of the encroaching white man, and the Sioux believed that if he could conquer the iron horses, his people could vanquish the paleface invaders.
With a marrow-chilling war whoop, the warrior would come astride the train engines as they entered a wide-open stretch of the prairie. The mustang would pound the plains until sweat formed on its lean, hard body. Only the greater speed of the locomotives would at last enable them to pull away from the chanting Sioux and his animal as he painted their images. Remington named his piece: "America On The Move."
Route 666: The Southwest's Devil's Highway
Although U.S. Route 666 is now officially known as U.S. Route 491 or 393, the legend of Camino del Diablo, "the Devil's Road," will be long remembered. The original naming of the highway had nothing to do with the Number of the Beast, or Antichrist - 666, as given in Revelation, the last book in the Bible. The highway was so designated because it was the sixth branch of an interstate route then known as U.S. 60. The section linking Chicago to Los Angeles became the legendary Route 66. And the Four Corners detour from Route 66 was renumbered 666 in August 1926. But some say the labeling the road with those numerals made it Satan's own road to perdition. The 190 miles of the former U.S. 666 starts at Gallup, New Mexico, winds it way through 70 miles of Colorado, then ends in Monticello, Utah.
According to numerous eyewitness accounts, on nights of the full moon, a black, 1930's vintage Pierce-Arrow roadster has appeared and run scores of cars, trucks, and motorcycles off the road. The ghostly automobile has been linked to at least five deaths.
Dr. Avery Teicher of Phoenix spent ten years documenting reports of the phantom Pierce-Arrow and the howling hellhounds that materialize to terrorize anyone foolhardy enough to pull of Route 666 and admire the desert landscape. According to Dr. Teicher, two members of a biker gang had both of their arms chewed off by the fiendish ghost dogs, and a third biker had 90 percent of his face eaten away. The least threatening of all reports from the Devil's Highway are those of a phantom female hitchhiker who vanishes whenever someone stops to give her a ride.
On January 21, 2003, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson stated his support to change the name of U.S. 666. The change became official in May 2003.
From the works of Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, And Haunted Places
A travelling salesman was making the night trip from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Butte, Montana by train. He had been dozing lightly in a lower berth when he was awkened by what he later described as a "damned uneasy feeling."
He couldn't put a finger on what was troubling him, he told a reporter for a Chicago newspaper in the summer of 1943. There were no strange or unusual noises in the train. He could detect nothing that sounded wrong in the steady clicking of the wheels. For some reason he decided to lift his window shade.
That was when he saw the apparition. Outside of his window, so close that it seemed as if he might be able to touch them if he lowered the glass, was a brightly painted Indian brave on his spirited mount. The warrior bent low over the flying black mane of his horse and looked neither to the right nor to the left. He seemed to be mouthing words of encouragement to the phantom mustang as they rapidly gained on the train.
"I've seen them five or six times after that, in different parts of the Dakotas," the salesman said. "They seem to be solid flesh, but there's a kind of shimmering around them. It's like watching a strip of really old movie film being projected onto the prairie."
Railroad brakemen, engineers, and construction crews in the Dakotas and Wyoming have often spoken of the phantom Sioux and his determined race with their swift, modern iron horses. They couldn't beat the trains when they were alive, on old timer who knew the legend behind the spectral racers commented, but they seem to have picked up some speed in the afterlife.
According to tradition, Frederic Remington, the famous artist of the Old West, sketched the Sioux brave and his mustang from life as the inexhaustible pair raced the train on which he was riding in about 1888. Remington had heard from several travelers the same tale, of a determined warrior motive represented a tangible symbol of the encroaching white man, and the Sioux believed that if he could conquer the iron horses, his people could vanquish the paleface invaders.
With a marrow-chilling war whoop, the warrior would come astride the train engines as they entered a wide-open stretch of the prairie. The mustang would pound the plains until sweat formed on its lean, hard body. Only the greater speed of the locomotives would at last enable them to pull away from the chanting Sioux and his animal as he painted their images. Remington named his piece: "America On The Move."
Route 666: The Southwest's Devil's Highway
Although U.S. Route 666 is now officially known as U.S. Route 491 or 393, the legend of Camino del Diablo, "the Devil's Road," will be long remembered. The original naming of the highway had nothing to do with the Number of the Beast, or Antichrist - 666, as given in Revelation, the last book in the Bible. The highway was so designated because it was the sixth branch of an interstate route then known as U.S. 60. The section linking Chicago to Los Angeles became the legendary Route 66. And the Four Corners detour from Route 66 was renumbered 666 in August 1926. But some say the labeling the road with those numerals made it Satan's own road to perdition. The 190 miles of the former U.S. 666 starts at Gallup, New Mexico, winds it way through 70 miles of Colorado, then ends in Monticello, Utah.
According to numerous eyewitness accounts, on nights of the full moon, a black, 1930's vintage Pierce-Arrow roadster has appeared and run scores of cars, trucks, and motorcycles off the road. The ghostly automobile has been linked to at least five deaths.
Dr. Avery Teicher of Phoenix spent ten years documenting reports of the phantom Pierce-Arrow and the howling hellhounds that materialize to terrorize anyone foolhardy enough to pull of Route 666 and admire the desert landscape. According to Dr. Teicher, two members of a biker gang had both of their arms chewed off by the fiendish ghost dogs, and a third biker had 90 percent of his face eaten away. The least threatening of all reports from the Devil's Highway are those of a phantom female hitchhiker who vanishes whenever someone stops to give her a ride.
On January 21, 2003, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson stated his support to change the name of U.S. 666. The change became official in May 2003.
Monday, 10 October 2011
PHANTOMS ON ROADS AND HIGHWAYS - Part Two
This is a conclusion to my last post from the works of Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, And Haunted Places. This next story take place in Britain.
Salisbury
In October 1959, Charles Collins, a salesman for an industrial engineering firm, was returning to London when he decided to spend the night at the Spread Eagle, a small eighteenth century coaching inn on the Western edge of Salisbury. Around midnight, Collins suddenly had the urge to get out of bed and look out the window. As he looked over the yard, he saw a man in eighteenth century costume ride through on a horse. He wore a mask and carried a pistol. Collins was captivated by the sight - until the man suddenly vanished.
In the morning, the landlord unhesitatingly told Collins that he had seen the ghost of a highwayman named Richard Savage, who had been hanged in 1730. Tradition said that he had sought refuge at the Spread Eagle, but the landlord turned him away. Ever since, he had returned to the inn to haunt it.
Historical records of the phantom highwayman go back to 1850, and the ghost has been seen on the average of once every five years. In 1962, Savage's spirit was seen by three American tourists staying at the inn.
Now we come back to North America. I've always been chilled at the idea of people messing around with Native American/Canadian burial sites or anywhere where you find ancient artifacts and refrain from reporting it or even caring. This has happened numerous times when corporations turn their heads to what lies beneath their newly purchases land so they can build and prosper as quick as they can. And I'm sure many of them live to regret it. This next story, albeit a subtle consequence, still raises the hair on the back of my neck.
The Spirits Of Pocahontas Parkway Toll Plaza
Over the years I have received numerous reports from truck drivers who make long hauls across the Plains states and who say that they have seen strange things. Most often, in addition to phantom hitchhikers of varying descriptions, they attest to having encountered spirits from the past - ghostly wagon trains, small bands of Native tribes people, stage coaches, and Pony Express riders.
On July 15, 2002, the driver of a delivery truck reported seeing three Native Americans approaching the recently opened Pocahontas Parkway toll plaza on state Route 895 in eastern Henrico County, Virginia. In a report filed by the toll taker to whom he related the account, the driver remarked that he had seen three breech-clothed warriors carrying torches walking in the middle of the highway. He blasted his horn to warn two more torch-wielding men who were clearly illuminated by his headlights. He wondered if some tribes-people were staging some bizarre kind of protest against the parkway.
The toll taker took the driver's report and added it to the list of stories from motorists who had seen strange and unexplainable phenomena. She knew that although she would report the incident to state troopers who would be right on the case, they would find no Native Americans parading with torches in the area.
Troopers who patrol the graveyard shift along the Pocahontas Parkway told Chris Dovi of the Richmond, Virginia, Times-Dispatch, that they had responded to dozens of calls similar to the one the delivery truck driver made on July 15. The first was on July1, then two nights later, when plaza workers reported hearing Indian drums, chants, whoops, and the cries of what seemed to be hundreds of voices. From time to time there would be seen the vague outlines of people running back and forth in the darkness.
Virginia state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller visited the toll plaza late on night in July and said that the high pitched howls and screams were real. She told Dove (August 11, 2002) that the sounds were not the kind o screams that a person in trouble would make, 'but whooping. There were at least a dozen to 15 voices. I would say every hair on my body was standing up when we heard those noises.'
An engineer working nights to complete the construction of the bridge in Parkway Plaza said that he and a group of workmen had seen an Indian sitting astride a horse watching them from below on the interstate. They were about to tell him to move on, that he wasn't allowed to ride a horse on the interstate, when both rider and horse disappeared.
Deanna Beacham of the nearby Nansemond tribe confirmed that none of their tribal members were engaged in any kind of protest against the Plaza. Although, she would not admit to a belief in tribal spirits roaming around near the plaza, she said that there were many rivers, streets, roads, and communities with Native American names in the region, so why shouldn't people see physical manifestations of that impulse.
Dennis Blanton, director of the College of William and Mary's Center for Archaeological Research, conducted a dig at the site of the bridge's construction at the plaza. According to his group's findings, there were artifacts scattered all over the site, dating back 5,000 to 6,000 years. Edward Halle, an area historian, agreed that the Pocahontas Parkway location had been home to tribespeople for a long time.
An area resident, who owned a business less than a mile from the toll plaza, said that 'hooting and hollering' had been heard near the place for years and that the local Native Americans had long declared that there were many spirits there. In his opinion, the plaza had been built on an Indian burial ground.
Salisbury
In October 1959, Charles Collins, a salesman for an industrial engineering firm, was returning to London when he decided to spend the night at the Spread Eagle, a small eighteenth century coaching inn on the Western edge of Salisbury. Around midnight, Collins suddenly had the urge to get out of bed and look out the window. As he looked over the yard, he saw a man in eighteenth century costume ride through on a horse. He wore a mask and carried a pistol. Collins was captivated by the sight - until the man suddenly vanished.
In the morning, the landlord unhesitatingly told Collins that he had seen the ghost of a highwayman named Richard Savage, who had been hanged in 1730. Tradition said that he had sought refuge at the Spread Eagle, but the landlord turned him away. Ever since, he had returned to the inn to haunt it.
Historical records of the phantom highwayman go back to 1850, and the ghost has been seen on the average of once every five years. In 1962, Savage's spirit was seen by three American tourists staying at the inn.
Now we come back to North America. I've always been chilled at the idea of people messing around with Native American/Canadian burial sites or anywhere where you find ancient artifacts and refrain from reporting it or even caring. This has happened numerous times when corporations turn their heads to what lies beneath their newly purchases land so they can build and prosper as quick as they can. And I'm sure many of them live to regret it. This next story, albeit a subtle consequence, still raises the hair on the back of my neck.
The Spirits Of Pocahontas Parkway Toll Plaza
Over the years I have received numerous reports from truck drivers who make long hauls across the Plains states and who say that they have seen strange things. Most often, in addition to phantom hitchhikers of varying descriptions, they attest to having encountered spirits from the past - ghostly wagon trains, small bands of Native tribes people, stage coaches, and Pony Express riders.
On July 15, 2002, the driver of a delivery truck reported seeing three Native Americans approaching the recently opened Pocahontas Parkway toll plaza on state Route 895 in eastern Henrico County, Virginia. In a report filed by the toll taker to whom he related the account, the driver remarked that he had seen three breech-clothed warriors carrying torches walking in the middle of the highway. He blasted his horn to warn two more torch-wielding men who were clearly illuminated by his headlights. He wondered if some tribes-people were staging some bizarre kind of protest against the parkway.
The toll taker took the driver's report and added it to the list of stories from motorists who had seen strange and unexplainable phenomena. She knew that although she would report the incident to state troopers who would be right on the case, they would find no Native Americans parading with torches in the area.
Troopers who patrol the graveyard shift along the Pocahontas Parkway told Chris Dovi of the Richmond, Virginia, Times-Dispatch, that they had responded to dozens of calls similar to the one the delivery truck driver made on July 15. The first was on July1, then two nights later, when plaza workers reported hearing Indian drums, chants, whoops, and the cries of what seemed to be hundreds of voices. From time to time there would be seen the vague outlines of people running back and forth in the darkness.
Virginia state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller visited the toll plaza late on night in July and said that the high pitched howls and screams were real. She told Dove (August 11, 2002) that the sounds were not the kind o screams that a person in trouble would make, 'but whooping. There were at least a dozen to 15 voices. I would say every hair on my body was standing up when we heard those noises.'
An engineer working nights to complete the construction of the bridge in Parkway Plaza said that he and a group of workmen had seen an Indian sitting astride a horse watching them from below on the interstate. They were about to tell him to move on, that he wasn't allowed to ride a horse on the interstate, when both rider and horse disappeared.
Deanna Beacham of the nearby Nansemond tribe confirmed that none of their tribal members were engaged in any kind of protest against the Plaza. Although, she would not admit to a belief in tribal spirits roaming around near the plaza, she said that there were many rivers, streets, roads, and communities with Native American names in the region, so why shouldn't people see physical manifestations of that impulse.
Dennis Blanton, director of the College of William and Mary's Center for Archaeological Research, conducted a dig at the site of the bridge's construction at the plaza. According to his group's findings, there were artifacts scattered all over the site, dating back 5,000 to 6,000 years. Edward Halle, an area historian, agreed that the Pocahontas Parkway location had been home to tribespeople for a long time.
An area resident, who owned a business less than a mile from the toll plaza, said that 'hooting and hollering' had been heard near the place for years and that the local Native Americans had long declared that there were many spirits there. In his opinion, the plaza had been built on an Indian burial ground.
Saturday, 8 October 2011
PHANTOMS ON ROADS AND HIGHWAYS - Part One
RESURRECTION MARY, ARCHER AVENUE, CHICAGO
From the works of Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, And Haunted Places
Chicago paranormal researcher Richard Crowe has quite a file on "Resurrection Mary," a beautiful phantom hitchhiker who haunts Chicago's South Side. "She was buried in Resurrection Cemetery on Archer Avenue, which is where she gets her nickname," Crowe explained. "During the 1930's, and 1940's, Mary was often picked up at dances by various people. She would ask for a ride toward Resurrection Cemetery, saying that she lived down that way. As people drove her home, she would yell at them to stop in front of the cemetery gates. She would get out of the car, run across the road, and dematerialize at the gate."
Crowe mentioned a report wherein two young men were fascinated by watching this beautiful blond dance by them, but when she passed near them they got the strangest sensation. That night when they got home, they told their father about this woman. They'd never heard of 'Resurrection Mary,' but their father recognized her by the description they provided.
"I investigated and found out that a week before this sighting, Mary had been seen dancing around the cemetery's fence," Crowe said.
Crowe told me that he had numerous first person accounts of people who have had Mary open their car doors and jump in, but he had only one going to the street address she gave him. According to the man's report, Mary had sat in the front between the driver and him. Their friend sat in the back seat. When they approached the front gate at Resurrection Cemetery, she asked them to stop and let her out. It was a few minutes before midnight, and the young men had protested, saying she couldn't possibly live there. According to the narrator of the story, Mary said, "I know. But I have to get out.
"So being gentlemen and she being so beautiful, we let her out, and she left without saying another word," he told Crowe. "She crossed the road running, and as she approached the gate, she disappeared."
The young man continued with his account: "She had given me her name and address, so early Monday morning, all three of us guys came to the number and street in the stockyards area. We climbed the front steps to her home. We rang and knocked on the door. The mother opened the door, and lo and behold, the girl's color picture was on the piano, looking right at us. The mother said she was dead. We told her our story and left. My friend and I did not pursue the matter any more, and we haven't seen her again. All three of us went into the service thereafter and lost contact with each other."
THE HAUNTED HIGHWAYS AND ROADS OF GREAT BRITAIN
People have been traveling about at night in carriages and coaches far longer in Great Britain than in the United States, so there seems little question that their shadowy highways should have an inordinate number of ghosts at the side of the road.
The A23
The United Kingdom's most haunted road is said to be A23 between London and Brighton, where numerous motorists have sighted a small girl with no hands or feet, a specter in a white trench coat, and a ghost dressed in cricketer's clothing.
The A465
On a stretch of the A465 near Bromyard in Herefordshire, villagers are concerned that the ghost of an accident from more than 60 years ago could be haunting the country road. A farmer reported as many as 26 drivers crashing into his fence during an 18 month period. Some motorists stated that they mysteriously lost control of their vehicles, that they felt their steering wheels pulled from their hands, as they approached the haunted area.
The A12
On a dark night in the 1970's, a lorry driver was traveling north up the A12 on a narrow stretch of road outside Blythburgh in Suffolk when he was horrified to see in the road ahead of him a man riding in a small cart pulled by a horse and a woman walking beside the cart. He swerved to attempt to avoid hitting them, but the road runs between high banks at that point. Thus unable to leave the road, he slammed into the pair and their horse and cart.
Shaking with dread and remorse, assuming that he must surely have killed the two, the driver stepped down from his can and began to walk back along the road, fearing at any moment to come upon the grisly remains. He found nothing. He walked back to his truck, looked underneath and around the vehicle. Nothing.
At last he drove on, baffled but relieved that he apparently had not harmed anyone. Later, he learned that the folk of Blythburgh often encounter the cart, the driver, and the woman crossing that piece of road, and the historians among them believe the ghosts date back to the eighteenth century.
Blue Bell Hill
Since 1965 dozens of drivers have slammed on their brakes to avoid hitting a pretty young woman in a flowing white dress standing in the road on Blue Bell Hill in Maidstone, England. The phantom is said to be that of a woman who was to have been a bridesmaid for her best friend when she died in a car crash the night before the wedding. Her spirit appears still dressed in her flowing bridesmaid's gown, still attempting to get to the wedding on time.
From the works of Brad Steiger, Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, And Haunted Places
Chicago paranormal researcher Richard Crowe has quite a file on "Resurrection Mary," a beautiful phantom hitchhiker who haunts Chicago's South Side. "She was buried in Resurrection Cemetery on Archer Avenue, which is where she gets her nickname," Crowe explained. "During the 1930's, and 1940's, Mary was often picked up at dances by various people. She would ask for a ride toward Resurrection Cemetery, saying that she lived down that way. As people drove her home, she would yell at them to stop in front of the cemetery gates. She would get out of the car, run across the road, and dematerialize at the gate."
Crowe mentioned a report wherein two young men were fascinated by watching this beautiful blond dance by them, but when she passed near them they got the strangest sensation. That night when they got home, they told their father about this woman. They'd never heard of 'Resurrection Mary,' but their father recognized her by the description they provided.
"I investigated and found out that a week before this sighting, Mary had been seen dancing around the cemetery's fence," Crowe said.
Crowe told me that he had numerous first person accounts of people who have had Mary open their car doors and jump in, but he had only one going to the street address she gave him. According to the man's report, Mary had sat in the front between the driver and him. Their friend sat in the back seat. When they approached the front gate at Resurrection Cemetery, she asked them to stop and let her out. It was a few minutes before midnight, and the young men had protested, saying she couldn't possibly live there. According to the narrator of the story, Mary said, "I know. But I have to get out.
"So being gentlemen and she being so beautiful, we let her out, and she left without saying another word," he told Crowe. "She crossed the road running, and as she approached the gate, she disappeared."
The young man continued with his account: "She had given me her name and address, so early Monday morning, all three of us guys came to the number and street in the stockyards area. We climbed the front steps to her home. We rang and knocked on the door. The mother opened the door, and lo and behold, the girl's color picture was on the piano, looking right at us. The mother said she was dead. We told her our story and left. My friend and I did not pursue the matter any more, and we haven't seen her again. All three of us went into the service thereafter and lost contact with each other."
THE HAUNTED HIGHWAYS AND ROADS OF GREAT BRITAIN
People have been traveling about at night in carriages and coaches far longer in Great Britain than in the United States, so there seems little question that their shadowy highways should have an inordinate number of ghosts at the side of the road.
The A23
The United Kingdom's most haunted road is said to be A23 between London and Brighton, where numerous motorists have sighted a small girl with no hands or feet, a specter in a white trench coat, and a ghost dressed in cricketer's clothing.
The A465
On a stretch of the A465 near Bromyard in Herefordshire, villagers are concerned that the ghost of an accident from more than 60 years ago could be haunting the country road. A farmer reported as many as 26 drivers crashing into his fence during an 18 month period. Some motorists stated that they mysteriously lost control of their vehicles, that they felt their steering wheels pulled from their hands, as they approached the haunted area.
The A12
On a dark night in the 1970's, a lorry driver was traveling north up the A12 on a narrow stretch of road outside Blythburgh in Suffolk when he was horrified to see in the road ahead of him a man riding in a small cart pulled by a horse and a woman walking beside the cart. He swerved to attempt to avoid hitting them, but the road runs between high banks at that point. Thus unable to leave the road, he slammed into the pair and their horse and cart.
Shaking with dread and remorse, assuming that he must surely have killed the two, the driver stepped down from his can and began to walk back along the road, fearing at any moment to come upon the grisly remains. He found nothing. He walked back to his truck, looked underneath and around the vehicle. Nothing.
At last he drove on, baffled but relieved that he apparently had not harmed anyone. Later, he learned that the folk of Blythburgh often encounter the cart, the driver, and the woman crossing that piece of road, and the historians among them believe the ghosts date back to the eighteenth century.
Blue Bell Hill
Since 1965 dozens of drivers have slammed on their brakes to avoid hitting a pretty young woman in a flowing white dress standing in the road on Blue Bell Hill in Maidstone, England. The phantom is said to be that of a woman who was to have been a bridesmaid for her best friend when she died in a car crash the night before the wedding. Her spirit appears still dressed in her flowing bridesmaid's gown, still attempting to get to the wedding on time.
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