The Widow Jane Mine is a 145-year-old cement mine that has been said to feature the ghost of a young woman walking between the stone pillars of this cavernous man-made mine. The ghost is presumed to be that of Jane, a young widow who walks the mine in her long white dress.
The mine is a great place to visit to witness an amazing feat in US history as some of it’s cement provided the foundation for the Statue of Liberty and New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.
The mine sometimes plays host to events such as a horror film viewing or even an occasional party. The mine has even been a recording studio, mushroom farm, and provides some of the ingredients in Widow Jane Whiskey. Have a story about the Widow Jane Mine? Leave it in the comments below.
If you are looking for excitement and adventure, we’ve got you covered. We have four Escape Rooms, a Game Room, Party Rooms, and two Indoor Haunted Attractions. We offer team building events, private events and corporate events.
We have 4 escape rooms to choose from:
Snatched – Snatched away and in an unknown location. Can you find the clues to escape before you become our next victim?
Escape the Bayou – You’ve woken from a night on Bourbon Street to find yourselves in the Queen of Voodoo’s shack.
Quarantine – The Emergency Alert Broadcast has issued a virus outbreak alert. Virus 3008 is spreading. Get out in time or succumb.
Kountry Khaos – A short hillbilly mess of Khaos. Escape in 5 minutes or Luanne and her 3 brothers have a new pet.
Brought to you by the makers of Nightmare at 3008 in Fultondale, AL you’re in for quite a ride. Come check out the newest and best escape rooms in town.
Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, born Herman Webster Mudgett, was born in 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Mudgett was born to a wealthy family and was considered to have above-average intelligence. He assumed the alias H.H. Holmes when he started his career as a con artist, committing numerous frauds and scams before becoming known as one of America’s first and most prolific serial killers.
Making of a Serial Killer
Holmes became a surgeon upon college graduation and it is believed that throughout his university career, he made a habit of stealing corpses and collecting on fabricated life insurance policies. He had practiced surgery on animals as a child, and it is believed that he also used the stolen bodies to perform deranged experiments. Holmes told so many lies, that many of his own accounts contradict themselves making it tough to discern truth from his world of deception and murder.
H.H. Holmes Murder Castle – A Revolting Renovation
In 1886, Holmes took over a drug store and had it renovated into a block-long, three-story boarding house, which would become his own personal playground of terror. He turned the building into “an elaborate maze of death traps,” according to Biography.com. While the ground floor maintained the appearance of a drug store, the upper floors were converted into his own personal apartment, with an elaborate set of rooms designed specifically for torturing and killing. “It included stairs and hallways that led to nowhere, oddly angled hallways and rooms with no windows,” according to choosechicago.com. His disturbing dwelling included a gas chamber of sorts, used to, you guessed it, gas his victims. In the basement, an incinerator was used to dispose of the bodies, making it nearly impossible to determine just how many people he killed.
Over the years Holmes lured hundreds of unsuspecting women to his drug store with promises of love or money, then tortured and killed them. In 1893, Holmes generously invited visitors to the Chicago World’s Fair to lodge at his hotel during their stay. Unfortunately, many of those visitors never left.
H.H. Holmes Murder Castle Interior Diagram.
America’s First Serial Killer
While he was committing these atrocities, Holmes was simultaneously continuing his insurance schemes. It was one of these schemes that led to his capture and eventual execution. A former business partner, Benjamin Pitezel, whom Holmes had promised a large sum of money, but never delivered, turned him into the authorities. During his trial for the insurance fraud case, he managed to commit at least five more murders; surreptitiously killing the backstabbing business partner and three of his children.
H.H. Holmes mugshot. America’s first serial killer.
Holmes was tried for the murder of his business partner Pitezel and was easily convicted. He appealed his murder conviction, but lost the case and was hanged in Philadelphia on May 7, 1896, just shy of his 36th birthday.
Just before he was hanged, Holmes claimed: “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing.”
“I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing.” – H.H. Holmes
Investigators were able to confirm that 9 deaths occurred in the Murder Castle. Holmes himself confessed to the murders of 27, but there is ample evidence that he killed upwards of 200 people during his reign of terror.
Where is the H.H. Holmes Murder Castle Today?
After Holmes was executed, an assumed partner and caretaker of the murder castle, Pat Quinlan took up residence in the building. It is believed that Quinlan committed suicide after being tormented by hallucinations and visions. His ominous suicide note read, “I couldn’t sleep.”
Weeks after the hanging, Holmes’ murder castle was set aflame by an arsonist. The building was nearly ruined but the first floor remained standing and was converted to a sign shop and a bookstore. It wasn’t until 1938 that the site was truly given new life; a U.S. Post Office was constructed upon the abandoned locale.
The H.H. Holmes Murder Castle was torn down in 1938.
Murder Castle’s Haunted Grounds
One postal employee shared her haunting experience; she entered a hallway while investigating a strange noise, only to find a hallway lined with folding chairs. She retreated to the lobby, and then upon returning to the hallway, found the line of chairs had mysteriously stacked itself.
There have been several reports from post office employees of seeing a ghostly figure of a woman in the building, or outside in the courtyard where the murder castle once stood. Visitors report hearing the haunting sound of a woman humming or singing in unoccupied areas of the building.
H.H. Holmes in Print and Hollywood
In 2003, the story of H.H. Holmes was written into a best-selling novel by Erik Larson titled The Devil in the White City. The story intertwines true events of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, the fair’s architect Daniel H. Burnham, and Dr. H. H. Holmes and his murder castle. Leonardo DiCaprio owns the book’s film rights and a big screen adaptation of The Devil in the White City is currently in the works. Leo is set to play the role of H.H. Holmes.
Evan Peters’ American Horror Story: Hotel character, James Patrick March, was also based on H.H. Holmes as was the hotel that the season was based off. AHS: Hotel had other interesting true life inspirations such as the Cecil Hotel Amanda Lam missing persons incident. It’s getting all too real.
Did Holmes Escape His Own Death?
Recent rumors have surfaced that Holmes may have escaped his execution. Locals believe that Holmes may have been able to bribe prison guards to help him escape. Holmes had requested his coffin to be encased in cement and buried 10 feet below the surface. Ironically, his reasoning was to avoid grave robbers who might use his corpse for experiments and dissection.
One theory was that Holmes escaped to South America. A report in 1898 from the Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean claimed that Holmes was able to bribe his priest, lawyer and jailors to bury another inmates’ body in Holmes coffin. The report suggests that after the hanging, the undertaker’s carriage left the prison yard with Holmes still living body and that he then escaped to San Parinarimbo, Paraguay. However, that town doesn’t truly exist on the map.
Holmes Exhumed in 2017
Did the H.H. Holmes escape his own death? We may never truly know. In 2017, Mudgett descendants petitioned to exhume the body of Holmes in an effort to identify if his body was indeed buried in his cement tomb. Anthropologists at the University of Pennsylvania are still conducting tests.
The result of the exhumation confirmed that H.H. Holmes’ body was indeed in the tomb.
Was H.H. Holmes “Jack the Ripper?”
More rumors abound that H.H. Holmes could have been “Jack the Ripper.” Jeff Mudgett, a Holmes descendant, found 2 diaries in which Holmes examines his participation in the murder of several prostitutes in London. The timing was right as Holmes may have been in London at the time and there were similarities in the brutality between “The Ripper” and Holmes murders. While the theory is interesting, the claims are loosely put together and there has yet to be any conclusive evidence and there may never be.
6601 244th Street SW, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043, United States
Every Friday & Saturday, 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm, from October 3-November 1 (Day of the Dead), 2025.
The last 3 Sundays in October + October 30, 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Saturday, October 25, is Family Fun Day from 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Nile Nightmares Haunted House in Mountlake Terrace, Wa
Nile Nightmares is set to deliver the screams again for 2025! Experience a living nightmare this Halloween Season as the Nile Shriners present their 15th annual Haunted House!
Nile Nightmares Haunted Attractions
Curse of the Nile
Ghost Town
Boot Hill Mine
The Cabin In The Woods
Ballinger Cemetery
3D Circus
Witch Maze
Hillbilly Holler
Deadmans Cove
Beer and Wine Garden (21+), Food Truck, Live Entertainment, Vendors, Artists’ booths
Fear Garden: Beer and Wine Garden (21+) Featuring seasonal drink specials.
Food Trucks, Live Entertainment, Vendors, Artists’ booths, and more!
4 Escape Rooms at the Nile in Mountlake Terrace, Wa
There’s more fun at the Nile Nightmares Haunted House than ever. We currently have four five-minute escape rooms for those daring enough to try their hand at survival.
All general admission and VIP tickets are sold on a specific date. Please arrive on the day listed on your ticket. Tickets are also available at the Door.
There is this mysterious looking old building that people stare at while driving on Texas State Highway 67 through Ballinger. This building is easy to see as it looms adjacent to the courthouse. Everyone wonders what the building is and what happens inside. For people who actually do dare to stop to visit and go inside……they soon feel its history and ghosts.
Historic Cowboy Haunt
The historic circa 1886 Olde Park Hotel was originally used as a cowboy lodging, meeting hall, schoolhouse, courthouse (while the courthouse across the street was completed in 1889), as well as housing a brothel/bordello twice during the earliest days of Ballinger, Texas development. The original building has been added on to & renovated over the years, used as a bed & breakfast, restaurant, rental to hunters, apartment rentals & and has served as a retail Music and Antique Store With lots of foot traffic, it is located next to a very popular restaurant which was once one of the old saloons in town. With a passion for Texas history, paranormal researchers Dan & Connie LaFave purchased the hotel in July 2016 with a wish to preserve its unique history, its style, and its spirits. The hotel up to that time already had a secret for decades as to being highly rumored to be haunted. Dan and Connie soon heard from many people as to all its paranormal haunting story folklore and soon also had their many experiences.
The Ghosts of The Olde Park Hotel
Some of the ghost stories include talking with women who used to live in the building when it was a parlor house, and then not realizing that they weren’t employees of the antique store. Other spirits such as “Glenn” and “Cowboy” have been noticed by employees, as well as apparition sightings of the brothel women, with voices and doors opening and closing by themselves. People used to walk around the upstairs of the building encountering other people. They would ask questions only to see those people disappear into a room. They would soon find out, when downstairs, that the antiques store had no other employees. The former owner has reported that she feels there are close to 30 identified ghosts in the building which was once told to her by a proven psychic. Footsteps, and strong cold spots accompany the phenomenon along with visitors being touched. Dan LaFave tells visitors that if they suddenly have the feeling of spider webs on their skin and face…..that signals that something bigger as to the paranormal is probably about to occur. People have mentioned that they have had their clothes tugged on and report feelings of extreme uneasiness in the building. Guests who have come to explore the paranormal stories heard and who then also decide to stay overnight encounter a lot. Some guests have encountered extreme scary haunting events, and they have left in the middle of the night. People who come to explore will experience heavy footsteps that sound like cowboy boots, doors opening and closing by themselves and sometimes even locking on their own. There are ghostly voices and noises heard. Objects in the hotel move on their own. People are touched quite often by unseen forces. The scariest moments for some are when they see and encounter the numerous dark shadow figure entities of the hotel. The spirits also late at night like to jiggle the old doorknobs and then sometimes open the room doors while people are sleeping inside.
2476 San Diego Avenue, San Diego, CA 92110, United States
The Haunted Whaley House
Bad omens had been following the Whaley family for years. Long before the tragic deaths of Thomas Jr. and young Violet, who took her own life in the parlor of the home. It seemed a curse had fallen on the Whaley House and even after moving 500 miles away, Thomas Whaley and his family could not escape its torment.
The Haunting of Whaley House
Early days at the Whaley House
In 1857, Whaley began construction on a home in which he and his wife Anna would raise their children. Like many structures built in the 1800’s, the home became the site of several other businesses, including a granary, a courthouse, a school, a general store, as well as San Diego’s very first commercial theater. Five years before the home was built, Thomas Whaley witnessed a public execution; the hanging of a boat thief named James “Yankee Jim” Robinson. The gallows were constructed on a parcel of land that had at one time been a graveyard; the very same parcel of land that Thomas Whaley purchased and upon which he built his cursed family home.
Not long after the family moved into the home, Thomas Whaley began noticing that something was amiss. He complained of the sound of loud footsteps that couldn’t have been made by his dainty wife or young children. He concluded that the spirit of Yankee Jim was haunting the residence. While living in the home, Thomas and his wife Anna had 3 children; Francis, Thomas Jr., and Anna Amelia. Tragically, Thomas Jr. died of scarlet fever at only 18 months of age. That same year Thomas Sr.’s general store was destroyed by arson.
In 1859, in an attempt at starting over, the Whaleys moved to San Francisco where they added 3 more children to their family: George, Violet, and Corinne Lillian. Several years later, in 1868, the family moved back to San Diego and returned to settle back into the old homestead.
Til death do us part…
Violet Whaley
Years later, Violet Whaley was married to a man named George Bertolacci. However, two weeks into the marriage, her new husband left in the middle of the night never to be heard from again. She would later learn that Bertolacci had been a con artist who only married her in hopes of acquiring a dowry. So humiliated by the betrayal and the backlash it caused to her reputation, Violet sunk into a deep depression. In 1885, Thomas Whaley found his daughter Violet lying in a pool of blood. She had shot herself with his handgun.
22-year-old Violet died in the parlor of the home, leaving behind a sorrowful note:
“Mad from life’s history,
Swift to death’s mystery;
Glad to be hurled,
Anywhere, anywhere, out of this world.”
She borrowed the poem from Thomas Hood’s book of prose, Bridge of Sighs. Violet was the first of four family members who would die inside the Whaley House. Anna Whaley, as well as Francis and Corinne Lillian all died in the Whaley residence, though of natural causes.
The family that haunts together…
Parlor Room
While Yankee Jim was the first spectral inhabitant to be reported at the Whaley House, there have been reports of hearing an infant wailing as well as witnesses who claim to have seen an apparition of a sad young woman sitting alone in the courtroom. An overwhelming feeling of melancholy, and a distinct feeling of being watched have passed over many visitors to the home, especially while in the parlor.
While on tours of the home, visitors have had their flashlights suddenly snuff out, and have reported hearing an empty chair begin to creak. Otherwise healthy visitors have reported a feeling of unease followed by dizzy spells that mysteriously disappeared once they left the residence.
A retired police officer reportedly approached a woman from behind who appeared to be crying. When he asked if she was okay, the woman turned around and smiled. When he shined his flashlight directly on her, she vanished in front of his eyes.
A tour guide vehemently believes Thomas and Anna still inhabit the home. On one occasion, the guide heard a woman’s voice ask: “Why are you here?”
Phantom Philbin?
In 1960, the Whaley House was repurposed into a historical museum. According to Wikipedia, the US Commerce Department deemed the residence an official “haunted house.”
Regis Philbin once visited the museum, and reported having a spooky interaction with Anna Whaley.
“There was something filmy white, it looked like an apparition of some kind, I got so excited I couldn’t restrain myself! I flipped on the [flash]light and nothing was there but a portrait of Anna Whaley, the long-dead mistress of the house.”
-Regis Philbin
Travel Channel and LIFE magazine both assert that the Whaley House in San Diego, California, is “The most haunted house in America.”
Screams In The Dark – Northern Michigan’s Largest Haunted Event – Multiple Attractions in one location! Consistently voted the #1 Haunted Attraction in Northern Michigan.
The Reaper’s Dungeon in Walterboro, South Carolina
The Woods – Deep, dark, eerie, and infested with the endless screams of tortured souls! The Haunt begins with a 20-25 minute hayride that drops you off at the start of our over 1/2 mile long Deadly Hollows Haunted Trail.
108 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, NY 11701, United States
The Real Amityville Horror House
The story behind the real Amityville Horror house is a gruesome tale. The horrific murders that took place in the Amityville home in November of 1974 forever haunt this tainted residence. And what followed has been told and retold.
The Amityville Horror Story
Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr., otherwise known as “Butch,” was convicted in 1974 for murdering his entire family in a cold-blooded shooting spree. His mother, father and four siblings were all shot dead in the Amityville home while they slept.
DeFeo, who was 23 at the time of the murders, was the eldest of the family’s five children. While originally fabricating a story about a mob hitman who was responsible for the bloodbath, DeFeo eventually confessed to the murders, asserting that “voices” within the house had convinced him to do it. He was arrested by Suffolk County Police and charged with six counts of second-degree murder.
Robert “Butch” DeFeo remains incarcerated at Sullivan Correctional Facility in New York. He has been denied all appeals and continues to serve out his six consecutive life sentences.
Accounts of Paranormal Activity
Two years after the murders took place, George and Kathy Lutz, along with her three children from a previous marriage, moved into what they imagined would become their dream home. In fewer than 30 days, the terrifying truth drove them from the home and nearly their sanity.
After fewer than four weeks of living at the Ocean Avenue home, George and Kathy Lutz left behind nearly all of their worldly possessions and fled to live with a relative outside the city. They never set foot in the residence again. But what drove them to swoop up their children and flee?
The real Lutz Family from Amityville Horror
Reports of paranormal activity began almost immediately. Danny, one of the Lutz boys, reported that he was swarmed by flies while unpacking clothes in his new bedroom. Minutes later, the insects disappeared without a trace. On more than one occasion, Danny recalls levitating above his bed. Random objects were said to have flown across a room without warning. The eyes of a hellish hog appeared to glow red in the night, and the walls oozed a green goo of unknown origin. A voice reportedly warned the local priest to “GET OUT” while he prayed incantations in a vain attempt to rid the house of its pesky poltergeists.
None of these accounts could ever be verified by anyone outside of the Lutz family, but over the years, George and Kathy’s stories never changed, and neither did their children’s. They passed lie detector tests and surprisingly reaped very little financial reward for the notoriety the house brought them.
When the Lutz family moved out of the Amityville House in 1977, they had hoped to leave the paranormal activity behind. Unfortunately for them, it seemed the haunting was not attached to the house itself, but to their own family. They claimed that they continued to be haunted for years after departing the infamous house. And the new owners, who purchased the house for far below what the Lutz’s had paid for it, never reported any unusual activity in the home.
George and Kathy Lutz divorced in the 1980s; George had become prone to bouts of rage and was at times feared by his stepchildren. In 2004, Kathy died of emphysema, and two years later George succumbed to a long illness. Their three children currently live in and around New York City.
Where is the Real Amityville Horror House?
The home was built in 1927 at 112 Ocean Avenue in Long Island, just south of New York City. However, the address has changed and now sits upon 108 Ocean Avenue. The original address was expunged from all maps at the behest of one of the subsequent owners because of the notoriety of the films. The home has been remodeled several times and the paint has changed. Don’t confuse the movie home for the true home as they don’t look exactly alike. The easiest way to recognize the real Amityville Horror house is by its half-moon windows that have haunted all of us since the first movie.
Popular Culture
The murders and the subsequent paranormal activity associated with the house inspired numerous books and films.
Jay Anson wrote a book titled The Amityville Horror which was released in September 1977. The text recounts the tribulations of the Lutz family during their brief occupancy of the home.
The 1979 hit movie, The Amityville Horror, was later adapted from the book and documented the chronicles of the Lutz family. George Lutz, who was known to be a bit “out there,” and possessed numerous books on Satanism and sorcery, was portrayed by actor James Brolin.
In 2005, Ryan Reynolds starred in a remake alongside actress Melissa George. While the film grossed over $100,000,000 worldwide, it was critically a bust.
The story continues to inspire filmmakers nearly 50 years later with the forthcoming Amityville – The Awakening, expected to hit theaters in January 2017.
5932 Colonial Valley Rd, Spring Grove, PA, United States
Fridays and Saturdays 6-11pm, Sundays and weekdays 6-10p
Experience 6 Huge Attractions on 62.5 acres. These attractions are all unique featuring real LIVE actors, annimatronics and props. The best of the BEST reside HERE! Patrons have returned year after year to see the growth and expansion. We are also the home of Kim’s Krypt Kampout. A Summer Scavenger Hunt overnight, interactive experience. RIP Skip the line pass available. Food vendors, horror games, FREE parking, the best line entertainment around plus a killer gift shop and surprise guests making appearances. KimsKrypt.com for info. and tickets!
