Real Haunts

The Screaming House of Union, Missouri

The Amityville Horror became infamous in the paranormal world for all the unbearable activities that the Lutz family was subjected to on a daily basis. One of the more incredible facts about that particular case is that the Lutz family only stayed a mere twenty-eight days before fleeing. But what if there was a midwestern home where a family was terrorized so thoroughly that they only lasted thirteen days before running for their lives? For those unfamiliar, the Screaming House of Union, Missouri, is one such place, and the LaChance family was the one victimized.

The Haunting of the Screaming House

In 2001, corporate trainer Steven LaChance and his three children were coping with a terribly emotional event when his wife, the mother of the children, simply left them. Crammed in a tiny apartment, Steven took his two sons and only daughter to the town of Union, which is roughly fifty miles south of St. Louis. Prospering at his job, Steven rented the multistory home from a local property management firm. Classic white, with an open porch, idyllic yard, and all the charms afforded it, the LaChances were thrilled to be starting anew. On the day of moving in, a sedan pulled up with the windows down as the passengers shouted to Steven and his family, “Hope you will get along well with them,” before driving off in a frenzy. Puzzled by what they meant, Steven and his family were about to find out in very short order just exactly what it was they meant.

Lights were the first thing the family began to notice. In the evenings, it would seem as if incredibly bright lights were being shone right through the windows into the home. Rushing outside, there were no bright lights originating from anywhere. The lights did not malfunction within the home, but there were electrical charges felt by the family. A contractor Steven hired came in and could find no source of an electrical malfunction in the home. They would describe an electrical current feeling that would pass across the back of their neck or sensations of an inside tickling that would manifest. There is a strong belief in the paranormal community that these sorts of electrical charges typically occur near a supernatural portal. Someplace where the negative energy or entity is coming through from.

The Screaming Begins

The activity in the home began to increase rapidly. Doors often opened and closed on their own. Steven’s children were often afraid to walk from one room to another without being escorted by one another or Steven himself. One of his sons had a terrifying encounter with a demonic-looking creature resembling a clown. Wild frazzled red hair, long white face with no eyes, and a gaping razor-toothed mouth. It is believed this is also the entity responsible for constantly rearranging and moving objects within the home, and in particular, the children’s rooms. Screams were regularly heard within the home. Steven and the children later described these as a deep, male voice that both growled and shrieked without provocation to absolutely deafening levels.

Terrified, Steven sent out a flurry of emails to paranormal groups, including the Warrens, but he never heard a reply. The final straw was one evening when the home began to violently shake and scream at the same time. Steven’s children were in their rooms and began to scream themselves from the horror. Rushing to them, he could not reach his daughter as her bedroom door would not open. Steven began thrusting and shoving with all his weight against the door to get it to budge or break, but it would not give the slightest inch.

The deafening screams increased, and with his daughter wailing on the other side, Steven looked to the sky and shouted, “God help me!” The door instantly opened. He picked up his daughter, not looking back towards her closet where even more screams emanated, and they ran out of the home. His daughter later claimed she heard pounding and lots of different voices coming from deep within the closet. Outside the home, Steven looked through the window to see a black, shadow figuring flying from room to room looking for them.

The Catholic Church and the Screaming House

Paranormal groups and the Catholic Church were called in to investigate the home. Historically, the home was supposedly built on the remains of a slave quarters cabin from the pre-Civil War era. Within five hundred feet of the home was an older cemetery, while across the street in a separate home, a violent axe murderer once took place. Steven and the group believed the entire land was poisoned by a bloody history.

Paranormal groups have documented dozens of EVPs and photographs of the activity in the home. Such documentation has not come without a price, while some investigators have been bitten or scratched. The Catholic Church issued a rare 156-page report on the home, claiming it was indeed manifested with a strong demonic presence. The Screaming House of Union is one of the more unknown haunted house cases ever documented, and from the events inside, may be one of the most diabolical ever.

What is the address of the Screaming House of Union, Missouri?

809 N Christina Ave, Union, Missouri 63084 is the best address that FrightFind can provide. Interestingly, there is no Google Earth information, and real estate sites do not have any information on this property. It may be that the area is under development, or perhaps the Internet is not even willing to go to this location. Please be mindful of the property owners and do not trespass.

The Screaming House of Union, Missouri

@frightfind The Screaming House of Union, Missouri & it’s unsettling history. #fyp #frightfind #missouri #scary #spooky ♬ original sound – FrightFind

In the bustling and picturesque neighborhood of Greenwich Village, the many streets lined with hundred year old plus brownstones gives off that classic New York City vibe. A lot of old world Manhattan charm still exists in these city blocks and homes. But for one totally unassuming building on West 10th Street, it is locally known as the “House of Death” and it has quite an active paranormal presence.

Is the House of Death in New York Haunted?

Apartment 2W

The four-story brownstone building was constructed sometime during the late 1850s, just before the Civil War had started. The lower Manhattan area neighborhood was indeed home to many aspiring New York City socialites as well as some philanthropic businessmen. In fact, James Johnston was largely responsible for the Metropolitan Underground Railroad, was said to be one of the first tenants of the building. One of the most startling claims from local historians and paranormal enthusiasts is that since many tenants have come and gone, living over the many decades in the building, that there is a claim of up to twenty-two individual spirits roaming its halls.

The Ghost of Mark Twain

One of the twenty-two spirits is said to be that of infamous author, Samuel Langhorne Clemens who went by the recognized pen-name of Mark Twain. Clemens was said to be a resident of the building briefly between the years 1900-1901 and there is even an aged plaque there commemorating his stay there. But the building is not where Clemens actually died, he moved on from New York City and died in 1910 in Redding, Connecticut. Although Clemens died in another nearby state, somehow his spirit is haunting the building.

The first sighting of it occurred sometime in the 1930s when a resident saw the much recognizable spirit of Samuel Clemens staring out the window. As the spirit was approached it turned to the resident and meekly said, “My name is Clemens, and I has a problem here I gotta settle”, before disappearing. While Clemens ghost has been seen many times, historians have absolutely no leads as to what the problem is that the spirit is referring to that must be settled. The only lead may be that Clemens was in debt to financial creditors throughout a portion in his life and that he might be referring to an unsettled debt. Other times, his spirit appears in a classic southern gentleman’s all-white suit drifting near the bottom of the staircase displaying a sad expression on his face.

Jan Bartell Investigates the House of Death

Clemens wasn’t the only writer whose spirit is said to be lingering in Building 14. Author and actress Jan Bartell once lived in the building as well. She and her family had taken up residence on the top floor in 1957. At first, all was going well with Bartell but late one afternoon she personally witnessed a very large and formidable black shadow manifest in full view of her and drift right across the room. Stunned and greatly shaken by the sighting, Bartell and her family employed the help of a psychic medium to come in and try to help explain what was happening.

The psychic claimed to have felt the spirits of many people who had died and were buried under the building. Also, the spirit of a dead child was said to be active along with the spirit of an aborted baby. The aborted baby was said to have belonged to a widow who lived in the building whose husband died in the Civil War. Devastated by her loss, she chose to abort the child out of both melancholia and delirium. Bartell later moved out and chronicled some of her experiences in a book she wrote. Among other incidents she encountered was the icy cold touch of a pair of unseen hands to the back of her neck and her hair as well as objects moving and a low growling noise that could be heard. Spindrift: Spray From a Psychic Sea was the firsthand account that Bartell wrote on her experience what was later called the House of Death.

Murder at the House of Death

The building made national headlines briefly in 1987 when prominent New York City attorney Joel Steinberg moved in with his girlfriend, Hedda Nussbaum and their two small children, Lisa and the infant Mitchell. Steinberg, high on cocaine, savagely beat both Hedda and Lisa to a point where the younger girl was legally declared brain dead by the beating. Steinberg was convicted and served a lengthy prison sentence for his crime in the young girl’s death. To this day, the floor on which they stayed occasionally is known to have a flicker of lights going on and off at very odd times. A possible cry for help from the young Lisa’s spirit even after all these years.

Today, the building is still rented out to various tenants on various floors and keeps a rather normal profile. In such a populous city as New York, the long grim history of the building is possibly only one of many that exists there. But on the sidewalks of the city that never sleeps, it holds true that neither do the spirits.

For paranormal enthusiasts who are excited by the proposition of investigating or exploring a haunted cemetery, those in New Orleans are always at the top of the list. But for those looking to visit a cemetery in a city that doesn’t have as much hustle, bustle and the same level of paranormal activity with the most gothic tombstones in the South, the Bonaventure Cemetery just east of Savannah, Georgia is a must see.

Records with the city show that the area which is now the Bonaventure Cemetery was once a sprawling plantation during the 1800s owned by John Mullryne. In 1846, the land was turned over and a cemetery was formed in its place. At over one hundred and sixty acres, the cemetery is vast in size and definitely an active place.

Is the Bonaventure Cemetery Haunted?

The most famous ghost of the Bonaventure Cemetery is that belonging to a spirit called “Little Gracie”. She was born to W.J. Watson, a man who owned a famous luxury hotel in Savannah during the late 1880s. At the age of six, Gracie died from pneumonia and her father was so heartbroken that he had a life-sized headstone sculpted in her image where he would regularly leave her flowers.

Over the years, people have reported if flowers are left at her gravesite, that the eyes of the statue will cry tears of blood. Whether it is over her unexpected death or her father moving away is anyone’s guess. Other times, the spirit of Gracie in a white dress is seen by visitors running amongst all the various tombstones in the cemetery.

Another famous statue inside the cemetery is said to come alive at times. The statue of Corinne Lawton was sculpted after her she drowned herself in the Savannah River in 1877. Her family was reportedly so ashamed she had taken her own life, they had her headstone face away from the rest of the family plot. Reports are that the face of Corinne’s statue smiles at friendly and respectful visitors to her plot while at other times, her face is capable of twisting up at anyone who scowls at her statue.

For those who are interested, the Bonaventure Cemetery is completely open to the public and there is no cost to enter it. It is regarded that for those visiting, bringing a camera is actually encouraged. Whether it be for a moving statue or to capture their beauty itself, the Bonaventure Cemetery is agreed to be one beautifully haunted place.

Every year, thousands of visitors crowd the Niagara region of New York state and Canada for a glimpse at the absolutely breathtaking Niagara Falls. The majestic views of cascading water, which is said to course through the falls at a rate of thirty-one hundred tons of water per second, bring in an estimated thirty million visitors to the Niagara area each year. With so many visitors, hotels are a necessity. A couple of miles downstream is one of the more premier hotels, the Radisson Hotel Niagara Falls Grand Island and it is haunted in particular with the spirit of a young girl named Tanya.

Is the Radisson Hotel Niagara Falls Grand Island Haunted?

During the 1800s, the Whitehaven Settlement found its particular way around the Niagara Falls area. Settling in on the far eastern side of Grand Island, a wealthy man named John Nice colonized this particular part of the island, in fact, he was the first unofficial supervisor of the area. Along with his wife, he built an enormous mansion on the island and ended up having ten children by her. One fateful evening in 1848, a fire broke out and the mansion was fully consumed. According to local legend, the only casualty was a young daughter, presumably named Tanya.

Over the years, with the advent of tourism, the property was sold and owned at first by Holiday Inn and eventually purchased by what was to become the Radisson Hotel Niagara Falls Grand Island. Not long after the hotel’s construction in 1972, employees and visitors at the hotel began to experience unexplained things. The most troubling of these discovered was the issues with the elevator. It had a tendency to get stuck between floors and on floors themselves. The buttons would not work, or would somehow all be pressed at once. Repairmen are called and can never duplicate the malfunctions with the elevator, although an unnamed repairman claimed to be examining the button panel and saw the reflection of a young girl in the door only to turn around and find the elevator empty.

The Ghost of Tanya

The employees and locals chalk all this behavior up to Tanya. She’s often described as a small, pale-skinned girl, about six years old, with blonde hair and wearing a nightgown from an older period in time. Guests have seen her in their rooms at night. She has been known to shake the feet of a sleeping guest to wake them and alert them of trouble. While no trouble has been found, this appears to be an otherworldly cry no doubt originating from the night of her fateful death. Objects have been known to become rearranged in the room. Doors both lock and unlock for housekeeping.

If anything young Tanya’s has never been violent or destructive in any way. Few paranormal groups and researchers have examined the hotel and find that this ghost of a small child is exactly that….a child. There is no harm in her presence and many repeat visitors to the hotel have found her soul to be quite endearing and a testament as to her love for her home area.

Located in San Francisco, California, and built in 1889 by a German immigrant, the Westerfeld House has played host to a most eccentric selection of guests and tenants over the many years. Russian czarists, famous musicians, and even a Satanic filmmaker have been mainstays at the home at one point in time. Looking closer at the Westerfeld, the activities both created and documented by LaVeyan Satanism follower Kenneth Anger is perhaps what stirred up most of the paranormal activity and opened up doorways to Hell.

Is the Westerfeld House in San Franciso Haunted?

The multistory home’s most haunted area is without a doubt, the top floor tower. Overlooking the many hilled views of the Bay Area, the top floor was frequently occupied by Anger’s most personal guest, found of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey. The room is said to have been the chosen area for a number of Satanic rituals personally performed by LaVey in the home. Among one of the highlights is a pentagram that was etched into the hardwood floor to serve as a more permanent origin for performing rituals.

LaVey is also said to have kept a small pet lion in the room with him as well, with photographs providing evidence of this. There are claw marks that have been found in the wood of the top floor, while most point to the damage done by the lion years ago, some have wondered if the claw marks have been scratched in by demons that were conjured.

Invocation of My Demon Brother

One of the more bizarre and documented activities was Kenneth Anger’s documentary film short called Invocation of My Demon Brother. The film is a noir-style mashup of quick edits depicting nude men and women amongst a bevy of ritualistic scenery. Mock sacrifices alongside a cameo by LaVey as Satan all played with a soundtrack that emits hissing, growling, and bass sounds make for very disturbing viewing.

These days, the Westerfeld House with over twenty-five rooms is owned by local real estate developer Jim Siegel. The rooms are rented out to various tenants who claim that while they have not experienced any direct malevolent activity, they do report overwhelming emotions and physical presences in the home. Nightmares are wholly common, as are various banging sounds throughout the house. Current owner Siegel has said that he was well aware of the home’s various tenants and dark history. Upon buying the home he has said,

“One of the first things I did was have the house blessed by Buddhist monks”.

While the blessing has assured him and he claims the home isn’t haunted, there are still reports of a certain uneasiness upon entering there. Whether this is all psychologically manifested in a visitor’s mind or is a result of the house’s past activities, it serves as no deterrent as the home stands quite popular even to this very day.

The Haunted Barton Mansion in Redlands, CA

Lying just one hour east of Los Angeles, the Barton Mansion is one of the most active paranormal locations in all of California. The West Redlands area home has been subjected to chilling and very dark accounts of shapes, shadows, pestilence, and Satanic rituals. How did a seemingly picturesque home become so supernaturally ill-fated?

Is the Barton Mansion Haunted?

Beginning in 1859, Dr. Benjamin Barton and his family purchased 640 acres of San Bernardino land for the most reasonable sum of only five hundred dollars. Settling into the area, Barton started working to acquire more land and came to own a very successful vineyard and winery. With more settlers passing through to settle in the new area of Los Angeles, Barton decided to retire as a practicing medical doctor in 1866. It was then that he began construction on what was to become the infamous Barton Mansion.

Inspired by Victorian influence, the beautiful two-story home was the pinnacle of construction for the times. With not many forests around in the area, the home was built with clay bricks that were fired in large kilns. Paranormal historians have said that this was to be Barton’s first mistake as the clay that was used to build the home came directly from a nearby Native American burial ground.

Dr. Benjamin Barton

The history of the Barton Mansion started with local ancestors of the Native Americans who begged Barton not to disrupt that particular area of land. The ancestors claimed that the burial ground was not to be disturbed or else an unholy pestilence would be unleashed. Barton dismissed the warnings completely and took them to be superstitions.

Almost immediately after construction of the house, Barton’s wife collapsed and succumbed to death. Advancing in age and shaken to his emotional core by the death of his wife, Barton became a recluse in the home. Shutting himself off to the outside world, Barton decided to contact another one: the underworld.

Barton and the Occult

Being quite educated as well as knowledgeable, Barton made use of his extensive personal library to contact his wife and children. During this time he became quite engrossed with magic rituals of Satanic origin and principle. Loud noises and red lights were known to have pierced through the uncovered window panes of the home late at night. One of the more daring presumptions of Barton’s spell casting was the use of human bodies.

The West Redlands area was still not too populated, however, the recent railroad expansion towards the California coast did bring in a contingent of transient workers. While there were no official arrests or records preserved, the oral legend of transients disappearing when looking for lodging at Barton’s house has held up over the years. With him being a medical doctor, the belief is that he surgically harvested the body parts of such people so as to provide the necessary parts for his ungodly rituals. Without warning in 1898, Barton died with his death remaining a complete mystery.

With immediate family all deceased, the mansion and property Barton owned went to extended family who eventually wound up selling the property. Of all things in 1920, the mansion was converted into a mental hospital. Over the next fifty years, the mansion eclipsed from a mental hospital into a nursing home for the terminally ill. Five decades’ worth of mental insanity coupled with the deaths of all the terminally ill in the mansion did nothing but amplify the already dark matter in the mansion.

Care workers had shared stories of seeing dark and menacing shadows dancing along the walls. Other workers reported objects moving, and foul smells that were never fully explained. In the late 1970s, a storm destroyed part of the mansion and it was officially closed and sold back to the local government.

The Barton Mansion Ghost Video

In 2001, a group of teenagers took a video recorder into the long-abandoned mansion to chronicle the insides. Decades worth of horror stories about the mansion had done much to pique the teen’s many interests in the place. A video clip from their footage went viral in the paranormal community after a most remarkable discovery. The clip is of the teens exploring floors on the staircase when after panning the initial hallway, they turn to see the apparition of a tall, terrifyingly pale demonic creature.

Fleeing down the stairs, the teens made quick haste to leave the property. Paranormal enthusiasts examining the footage agree that the terror in the teen’s voices appeared genuine as well and the video technology used at the time was incapable of digital manipulation. The clip remained online and still is a highly debatable piece of paranormal evidence.

Aside from the teenagers visiting, the mansion has been subject to other visitors. Nearby residents had reported seeing hooded figures entering and leaving the mansion as well as finding discarded animal carcasses near the property, insinuating that rituals were taking place. Today the mansion has been bought, sold, and converted into a spacious business office complex as well as an event hosting business. Picturesque with a modern update, the mansion still exists, totally unassuming from the outside, but still with a dark history on the inside.

The late Vatican exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth was fond of reminding both the faithful and the skeptical, that one of Satan’s primary goals is to the destroy the family. It’s an old strategy to divide and conquer loving souls in hopes of thwarting them of their heavenly reward. Some would say that Amityville operated under a similar strategy of division with paranormal delusions of terror. However, there is one haunting that is considered just as devastatingly terrifying as Amityville, and that is the Smurl Haunting House of West Pittston, Pennsylvania.

Is the Smurl House Haunted?

In 1974, the Smurl family purchased a double block duplex style home for their large family. Parents Jack and Janet needed lots of room for their four young daughters, as well as Jack’s parents who were going to live with them as well. Being a staunch Roman Catholic family, the Smurls joined the local parish and were quick to make friends in the small neighborhood community.

The first sign of paranormal activity occurred when the family was awakened by bizarre banging noises on the walls and ceilings. Given that the home was older, not much was considered in terms of something sinister being the origin. As the months went by, foul smells began to emerge with no reasonable explanation as all the plumbing was deemed functional. Terror fully manifested one evening in the family living room when the Smurl’s dog, a German Shepherd mix, was picked up by an unseen force and thrown violently against the wall in full view of the entire family.

Months and months went by as the terror grew. The Smurls were rebuffed by the Catholic Church as their claims were not taken seriously by clergy who demanded more proof than they could provide. Things still worsened as Jack’s mother suffered a devastating heart attack at home while the appearance of what only could be described as “black masses” floated throughout the home accompanying with them sudden room freezing temperatures.

The months turned into years as the Smurls met everyday firm with resolve and perseverance. One late afternoon the youngest daughter was doing her homework at the kitchen table when the overhead ceiling light began to furiously sway. With a sudden snap, it broke loose and fell with the child dodging herself out of the way by mere inches. A heavy lighting fixture that both Jack and his father installed with secure, thick 14mm bolts had ripped themselves straight out of the drilled hardwood.

Convinced that whatever demonic entity was in the home wanted to do them bodily harm, the Smurls were committed to being extra vigilant. Then one evening with the family out and the home to himself, Jack Smurl was sexually assaulted by a succubus in the family living room. The shame and violation he felt only turned into anger when Janet had revealed to him that she too had been sexually assaulted. Her assaulter was completely unseen as it was in the middle of the night in bed while Jack was kept asleep.

Later Janet said that she was completely paralyzed by something and unable to struggle against her unseen attacker. The Smurls had finally had enough of the torment and reached out for help, only this time it didn’t yet come in the form of the Catholic Church, but instead came from a pair of paranormal investigators.

Ed and Lorraine Warren Investigate the Smurl House

Ed did his best at using religious provocation to bring out whatever was in the home as known medium Lorraine had taken to extensively touring the home looking to connect with whatever was there. Sitting down with the Smurls, the Warrens concluded that there were four presences in the home. There were two women, with the younger being past the age of a teenager, who she felt had a malevolent tendency. Another was the spirit of a man who Lorraine felt had died in the home decades earlier or on the physical property itself. Finally, there was a powerful demon who reigned over the home and supernaturally forced the home’s three spirits to torment the Smurls.

Against such powerful odds, the Warrens put the family in touch with an Episcopal priest who came and performed an exorcism on the home. As the activity dwindled to a degree, word spread throughout the neighborhood and into the local media. Soon news vans and reporters were staked out on the neighborhood block, looking to break any new information. As a result, the Catholic Church sent a priest to live in the home briefly with the Smurls so as to not appear cold to the situation. After half a week, the priest left due to no activity surfacing. However, the Smurls underwent a second and third exorcism shortly thereafter.

Finally, in 1987 the family had enough of the activity in the home and moved. Weeks into their new home, the solitary black mass manifested and the terror slowly began again. Reaching out with one final plea, the family was able to procure a fourth and final exorcism, this time from the Catholic Church. Details about what went on during it were kept secret, but it was believed to be the longest, and most powerful of the four exorcisms the family endured.

Today, the family remains out of the paranormal spotlight. Both of Jack’s parents are now deceased, as is Jack himself who died in 2017. Janet and her now adult daughters still reside near the West Pittston area and have reported no paranormal activity since that final exorcism. In the demonic battle for the souls of the Smurl family, the Smurls surely won.

The Salem Witch Trials are legendary among historians and horror fans alike in the United States. The seventeenth-century scandal started when the uncontrollable fits of a minister’s daughter and niece had no medical explanation. The extreme Puritan faithful reckoned the mannerisms were consistent with the devil and witchcraft. The only question was, who is a witch? What happened next was one of the most incredibly violent and accusatory purges in legal history. A modern-day Inquisition replete with conspiracy, torture, and death. The Salem Witch Trials had more questions than answers after ruining the lives of over two hundred people and executing nineteen. With so much purported witchcraft, the location begs the question of, are there any haunted places in Salem, Massachusetts? The Joshua Ward House is one such haunting location in Salem.

Is the Joshua Ward House Haunted?

George Corwin was the local sheriff in Salem during the witch hunts. He was a ruthless man who did not hesitate to torture suspected witches. In 1697, four years after the Salem Witch Trials had ended, Corwin died in his home of a suspected blood clot. Due to his notorious reputation during the trials, his family feared his body would be dismembered or stolen by victim’s families. To counter this, his body was entombed in the basement area of his home. Later in 1784, a builder named Joshua Ward constructed this home over the ground of the Corwin home. Renowned American architect, Samuel McIntire, designed the interior which is still present today.

The Ghosts of the Joshua Ward House

Historians who have held seances over the years conclude that there are three distinctively different spirits haunting the location. The first is that of George Corwin himself. Visitors report to have the feeling of someone or something, wrap what has been described as cold hands around their necks, and gently squeeze. Corwin was a brutal man who often resorted to strangling those of witchcraft into a confession. In fact, historical documents show he was nicknamed as, “The Strangler.”

The second spirit is said to be Giles Corey. A bullish farmer who was accused of being a witch during the trials, he was personally tortured by Corwin and his men by the method known as crushing. Corey was laid flat and heavy stones were placed upon his body, as the weight was to coerce him into confessing. A fighter to the end, Corey is famous for asking for “more weight” while being crushed to death. His ghost has been responsible for knocking various items off shelves throughout the house, as well as stacking up books that his spirit takes right off the shelves.

Image taken of the unknown ghost at the Joshua Ward House

The final ghost in the home is that of an unidentified and accused witch. Reputed to be a victim of Corwin’s own hand, the young woman has no formal identification or backstory. Adding to the supernatural mystery, the home was purchased in 1981 by a realty company looking to use it as a satellite office. At the employee Christmas party, many polaroids of the house were taken and one of them of an empty hallway showed something most shocking. A ghostly woman dressed completely in black. To this day it is thought that she is responsible for the crying sounds heard in the house, no doubt centuries old residual screams from the torture she endured at Corwin’s hands.

For the present day, the Joshua Ward house is something of a boutique hotel, now called The Merchant. It’s registered as a historical landmark there in Essex County and every year receives thousands of visitors. For many locals though, they say that there is something eerie and unsettling about the place, and all too many confess to taking other streets late at night and avoid having to pass by it whenever possible.

Woodlawn Cemetery Circus Train Tragedy

On June 22, 1918, at approximately 4 am in the morning, veteran train driver Alonzo Sargent fell asleep at the helm of his 21-car locomotive and crashed into the temporarily-stopped Hagenbeck-Wallace circus train carrying 400 circus performers. The haunting accident happened just outside Hammond, Indiana.

The colliding train was moving at nearly 40-miles per hour and the collision decimated the three rear cars carrying many performers. The train held over four hundred passengers who worked for the circus. Many perished on impact, and many more after a roaring fire broke out from the train’s kerosene lamps. 86 men, women, children are said to have died from this tragedy with 127 reported injured. The disaster did not discriminate, taking the lives of “showmen” including clowns, trapeze artists, lion tamers, the strongman, “roustabouts” and more from all walks of life. The total body count is close, but not exact because of poor employee records and many bodies burned to ash from the inferno. No animals were harmed.

Haunted Showmen’s Rest. The Circus Graveyard at the Chicago Woodlawn Cemetery.

Days later, fifty-three of the recovered bodies were buried in a mass grave plot on the outskirts of Chicago in a patch of cemetery land purchased by the Showmen’s League of America. Only five bodies were ever officially identified and given a proper burial.

The mass grave markers have no specific headstones instead using markers such as “Unknown Male No. 39,” or circus names such as “Baldy” or “Smiley,” or even circus job such as “4 Horse Driver.” Five stone elephants were erected to honor the fallen circus workers.

Since then, more circus performers have been buried at Showmen’s Rest and the section of Woodlawn Cemetery has grown to 750 plots. Still, no animals have been buried at the cemetery. Forest Park’s cemetery is only one of four Showmen’s Rest Cemeteries in the United States. The others are Southern Memorial Park in Miami, Florida, another Woodlawn Cemetery in Tampa, Florida and Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Oklahoma.

Is Showmen’s Rest haunted?

The Showmen’s Rest Cemetery is one of the more uniquely haunted graveyards in the United States, even more considering the tragedy that befell the victims of its mass grave. Chief among the disturbances is the sound of elephants crying in the distance even though there are no elephants buried on site. An Oak Park Police Officer once reported the actual ground beneath him vibrating as if an elephant were physically trampling past him. There is no official documentation by cemetery employees as to when the paranormal activity first began at Showmen’s Rest.

Laughter and circus music are also heard at odd hours. Due to the otherworldly sounds, various EVP and investigation sessions have been conducted by paranormal groups over the years. While nothing sinister has turned up on the EVPs, an unusual circumstance of the electronic equipment being jammed or drained of battery life is said to happen quite frequently.

The Clown Cemetery

Showmen’s Rest in Chicago is also known as the Clown Cemetery for the clowns who have been buried there. Clowns from the 1918 train disaster and more have been buried at Showmen’s over the years. During the 1918 Hammond Train Wreck, “Big Joe” Coyle, a circus clown, lost both his wife and children who were trapped in the inferno. He could not get to them, although he tried to reach them, he was pulled back from the flames by his comrades. He wept as they perished.

Coyle would go on to manage a vaudeville show titled “George White’s Scandals” where the famous Three Stooges would begin their career. “Big Joe” Coyle worked as a clown into the 1950s, albeit he was sad and had a very hard life. He died 42 years after the tragedy in 1960. His final resting place is not known.

Each year, Showmen – men, women, and children who work in circuses and carnivals – come to Showmen’s Rest to pay homage to their brethren from the train disaster and many other fallen comrades over the years. This is typically run around Clown Week which has given Showmen’s Rest at Woodlawn the nickname of “The Clown Cemetery.” Not to be confused with the “Clown Motel” in Nevada which rests next to a cemetery itself.

Myths of the Showmen Cemetery

A few myths have come about over the years. People have said that elephants were buried at Showmen’s Rest and that several perished attempting to save lives at the disaster. Woodlawn Cemetery representatives confirmed that there are no animals at the cemetery and they are “not allowed to bury animals on their premises.” The representative did mention that many get confused because of the “cemetery’s proximity to a nearby zoo.”

In all regards, if ghosts do exist, there are many reasons why they would be at Showmen’s rest. The show must go on.

Prisons are notorious for being very haunted places. Built to last decades and decades, they are enormous structures housing some of the most brutal killers that society has ever seen. The people who spend their lives in them are confined to tight living quarters and subject to incredibly high amounts of violence, brutality, and many times, death. There is no joy to be found in them except among those who serve smaller prison sentences or are unexpectedly reprieved. For over one hundred and thirteen years until its closing in 2009, Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee is one such place and is considered to be very haunted.

Brushy Mountain’s Violent Past

Opening in 1896, Brushy Mountain was originally built after a bitter coal miner labor dispute in the area. Coal miners were not contracted as much for the East Tennessee coal mines and local convicts were used instead as their labor price was practically free. The state legislature got involved and the coal miners were put back to work and the prison was built to house the convicts. The prison was geographically isolated by the surrounding Cumberland Plateau and the Frozen Head State Park. The prison property was built deep into the mountainous rock and actual stone from the site was used in the construction of the prison. From a nature standpoint, escapes were few and unsuccessful as the terrain was just too treacherous.

Holding almost six hundred inmates, the closeness of the state’s hardened criminals yielded human misery every single day with a long-standing rumor that the prison averaged one prisoner death a week. In fact, fencing had to be installed over the upper cell balconies because inmates frequently pushed one another to the concrete below. Brush Mountain was a prison with a validated execution chamber with the primary method being electrocution. For the time the prison was in operation over one hundred executions took place. Not to be outdone, there were numerous race riots, fires, random prison killings, and death by natural causes inside there as well. Its construction on top of the nearby limestone helps to validate a theory that proposes there is an element to limestone that somehow amplifies paranormal activity. Coupled with the fact that the prison property was also built in and around coal mines that had suffered an occasional collapse and miner deaths, the entire site was considered to be utterly grim.

Is the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary Haunted?

One of the most famous ghosts to haunt Brushy Mountain is that of an inmate named Jack Jett. He was a little person and he had the misfortune of developing a reputation as someone who snitched on other inmates for having contraband. One evening while he was making a call to his mother on one of the prison phones he was stabbed multiple times in the back of the neck and bled to death. Inmates had reported the phone receiver levitating off the hook and then back up to it again. Also the small phone area was said to have a tremendous cold spot and general sense of dread when standing there. No doubt from the violent and unexpected death Jett suffered.

Normally considered a sanctuary, one of the most haunted parts of the entire site is the prison chapel. EVP recordings within the chapel are some of the most active to be found anywhere. While visiting the chapel, various paranormal groups have captured such words as “hell”, “beast”, and “pain” inside there. Whether or not the EVPs are part of a leftover sermon or not remains to be seen. Former inmates have told stories of seeing objects in the chapel area mysteriously float across the room as well as cold spots that occurred even on the hottest of summer days.

As typical with most prisons, “the hole” is a dungeon-like cell that serves as the ultimate type of solitary confinement. Mental illness was often born there as the conditions bordered on torturous. Floating light orbs have been seen there and given the fact that there is no natural light makes their presence even more concerning. The orbs seen are not white and yellow in color which indicates more gentle spirits, but instead are purple and red which mean that whatever is in there is aggressive in nature. Audio recordings have also picked up the sound of footsteps and whispers within the solitary area as well.

Tour the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary

Since the prison closed officially in 2009, it has been developed into something of a tourist attraction. Self-guided tours are available as well as guided group tours. Don’t worry if you are touring the prison alone, there are former prison guards on site to answer any questions and tell you some spooky stories.

The prison is surrounded on all three sides by running water and in the paranormal world, it is said that spirits cannot cross swathes of water. Despite no prisoners physically being there any longer, the water still seems to be keeping decades worth of spirits there.

The hospital is the most important place in humanity’s world. Life begins there, and it certainly ends with death there. Diseases are cured, stitches sewn, and miracles made. Perhaps the truest and most manifested physical source of hope people have, the hospital is crucial to humanity’s survival. But what becomes of hospitals that have been abandoned for reasons of finance, location, or bigger facilities? Often too elaborate and expensive for demolition, the hospitals are simply left to the ruin of the elements. And as many paranormal seekers have found, these abandoned hospitals aren’t so quiet. The Old South Pittsburg Hospital is quite possibly the most haunted hospital in the entire United States.

Is the Old South Pittsburg Hospital Haunted?

Located a dozen miles outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Old South Pittsburg Hospital is perhaps one of the most active and terrifying abandoned hospitals in the South. As far back as 1778, a Native American tribe called the Chiaha inhabited the land that the hospital was eventually built on. Peace was a mainstay until decades later when both Union and Confederate forces came through and slaughtered a large amount of the Chiaha. Some mass graves were used, and after the Civil War, the property was abandoned all the way up to 1959 when the South Pittsburg Hospital was built to help the growing area populations. After a slew of wrongful death and malpractice lawsuits, on top of haunting rumors, the South Pittsburg Hospital closed in 1998. And that’s when the ghost hunters began to take a closer look.

Paranormal seekers would conduct overnight stays in the hospital in attempts to gauge the full level of activity. Abandoned medical furniture such as gurneys and wheelchairs would move on their own. Leftover hospital beds have been known to relocate to other previously empty patient rooms without any human involvement. The second floor of the hospital was home to the emergency room and general admissions. A large EVP presence has picked up a rather disturbingly large amount of screams from men, women, and unfortunately children. No doubt that their screams came from whatever reasons brought them to the hospital in the first place.

The Ghosts of the Old South Pittsburg Hospital

The third floor of the hospital is where the majority of the surgical operations were performed and is said to be the most active. A shadowy figure ranging seven to nine feet in height floats in and out among the rooms. This particular spirit is no fan of the living and ghost hunters have claimed to have not only seen the spirit but audibly hear it tell them to “get out!”. Some ghost hunters have theorized the shadow figure to be demonic in origin as a foul smell can be accompanied whenever its presence is very close at hand.

There has been reported physical deaths of nurses while on duty at the hospital, so there have been sightings of ghost nurses in the building. One, in particular, is referred to as the “naughty nurse” as she has been known to get physical with some unsuspecting ghost hunters by touching them in inappropriate places. Given the demonic association with the shadow figure on the third floor, it’s anyone’s guess as if it is truly a leftover spirit of a nurse who was employed there, the ghost of a long passed Chiaha tribe member, or something much more sinister.

Given that the hospital had a maternity ward, there is the spirit of a child that is in the building as well. Affectionately named “Buddy” by paranormal groups, the spirit is believed to be of toddler age. There have been reports of objects being rolled towards unsuspecting ghost hunters and visitors by Buddy in an effort to have them roll it back and play with him. One unidentified ghost hunter claimed to have heard Buddy’s spirit ask softly if she would please pick him up and hold him. As endearing as Buddy’s little spirit is, there has not been any malevolent activity associated with his presence.

Visit the Old South Pittsburg Hospital

To help further advocate that there is life after death, the Old South Pittsburg Hospital is fully endeared and accommodating to the paranormal and ghost hunting community. It is operated by paranormal enthusiasts who actually open up the hospital for investigations and their website is fully accommodating to any questions or tour inquiries. There are both daytime and nighttime tours as well as overnight investigations for the crazy brave. According to various groups, there is simply no “perfect” time in which to capture a shadowy figure on film or record a disturbing EVP. Simply put, the activity there is running twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week….just like a real hospital.

In 2012, all Keith Linder and his girlfriend Tina wanted, was to enjoy their newly rented house in Bothell, Washington. A suburb near Seattle, Keith was employed as a software engineer with Microsoft at their headquarters and enjoying all the area had to offer in terms of leisure. Everything was a total living dream for him and Tina, starting what should have been an exciting new chapter in their lives. But instead, they were subject to a pure living hell at the hands of an unseen paranormal entity.

Is the Bothell Hell House Haunted?

Shortly after moving into the somewhat newly constructed home, the first sign of anything suspicious is when household objects such as car keys and silverware began to disappear. Writing off the missing objects as simple misplacements, nothing strange was suspected. Then one evening while watching television, a potted houseplant in a heavy ornate vase, levitated in full view of both Keith and Tina before shooting up into the air and shattering to the floor! Trying to make sense of the plant tumbling, Keith and Tina still dismissed what they saw. Weeks later, thunderous banging sounds began to occur on a regular basis. Descending from the upstairs attic, always at night, it verged on near foundational damage as the sounds were that loud, but no actual damage could be found. At other times upon waking in the morning, Keith and Tina would go downstairs to their kitchen and find every single kitchen cabinet and drawer pulled wide open.

The nightly bangings increased and reaching out, Keith and Tina found some local non-denominational ministers to generically bless the house. After the blessing, a few days passed with no further activity, so to celebrate the new house and job, a housewarming party was thrown. Hours into the party, guests complained of cold spots and being touched or pushed by an unseen force when nobody was around. As the evening ended with only a guest or two in the house and in full view, one of the few remaining plants levitated, flew across the room and smashed to the floor. At this point, Keith and Tina came to the realization that there must be an entity of supernatural origin in the home and it is not willing to leave. After an impromptu sage smudging and Bible quoting session, Lindler soon discovered that, like his keys and silverware, his Bible was now missing as well.

The paranormal activity in the house steadily increased as the weeks went by. Doors were now slamming, and the home began experiencing electrical issues. Worse yet, Keith took a mysterious fall down the stairs, horribly injuring his patella. Shortly thereafter on a Sunday afternoon, all the upstairs light fixtures in the home exploded all at once. Desperate to find any information Keith was able to locate one of the former tenants who used to live in the house. She refused to set foot on the property, but reportedly said, “that house is living Hell”.

Bothell Hell House Investigations

Day after day, the attacks increased in frequency and devastation. Keith and Tina began reaching out to paranormal experts in the field. Along came documented paranormal researcher Don Phillips, who was based in the United Kingdom and upon hearing of all the violent and constant activity in the home, was on the first flight out to Seattle. While most previous ghost hunters to the home used seances and spells to help, Phillips relied more on scientific methods that showcased the electromagnetic pulses of paranormal activities within the home. Phillips took upon himself the absolutely monumental and grueling task of staying in the haunted home with his tech team for over two weeks. After all was said and done in the investigation, Phillips and his team walked away with over four hundred recordings of vocal phenomena as well as twenty-eight of them in direct response to questions.

For reasons only known to itself, the entity manifested briefly into the appearance of a middle-aged woman, tired, disheveled, yet angry and nasty looking. The appearances were never captured to video, but still offered no clues as to why they are haunting anyone who lives in the home. Sometimes in 2016, it became all too much for both Keith and Tina to handle, and they decided it was best to end their personal relationship with one another. Both have moved out and Keith currently resides in an apartment near Seattle and reports no ghostly activity has followed him. As for the house? It still stands and was recently occupied. However, the newest tenants say there is still paranormal activity ongoing in the house.

Is the Changeling House Haunted?

In 1968, musical composer Russell Hunter was just looking to get away from it all. Tired of the hustle and bustle of New York City, he decided to seek time away to the Cheesman Park area of Denver, Colorado. Hoping that the change from crowded skyscrapers to the beauty of the Rocky Mountains would inspire his musical writings further, he was all enthused about his new move. What was meant to be a time of serene inspiration, instead turned into a stay of pure paranormal terror.

The house in question was rented by Hunter for a measly two hundred dollars a month, which was a steal for 1968 considering that the home was well over two thousand square feet and sat quietly in a welcoming neighborhood. However, Hunter soon found out that the rent for the home was so affordable because nobody else was willing to put up with all the baggage that came with it.

The Haunting of the Changeling House

Not long after arriving and moving in, Hunter was finding himself subject to very early morning wake-up calls of the unexplained variety. Extremely loud and forceful bangs punctured the early morning silences he had while trying to sleep. The wrappings were so loud and strong in their intensity that he claimed if one put their hand to the wall you could feel it actually vibrate. Surprised and looking for answers, he would go about the house to find doors opening and shutting at random as well as the kitchen being thrown around into disarray. Even during waking hours, an unknown thud sound would tumble down the main staircase.

Unexperienced in the paranormal, Hunter did the only thing he could and began searching through the house as thoroughly as possible to reveal what might be causing the frequent disturbances. In his quest for answers he found of all things, a hidden staircase in one of the house closets. Eager at pursuing his newest discovery, he found that the staircase took him straight up to the third floor of the home and into the attic where he made yet another shocking discovery. He found an old, rusted-out trunk that contained a set of antiquated school books and a journal. When reading through the journal, he discovered that the writer was a young boy, who was disabled and unable to leave the home and he wrote constantly about his love for his favorite toy, which was a red rubber bouncing ball. Hunter now realized that the source of the commotion that was keeping him up was that of a young ghost.

Troubled more than ever, Hunter then reached out to psychics who helped conduct a seance in which the young boy’s ghost made contact. He communicated that his body was buried under the house and that his parents had put him there when he died so as to make sure their fortune was not to be willed to other family members who would squander it. To ensure this further, his parents adopted another boy who resembled him and thus the moniker of “The Changeling House” was born.

Sure enough, the child’s bones were found under the house by Hunter. However, the activity in the home became quite violent as windows and mirrors would explode at random whenever Hunter walked by them, scarring his body with bits of broken glass. The banging and constant wrappings also increased in both frequency and intensity.

Russell Hunter only lasted a few months longer before he simply couldn’t take it anymore, and moved across the city into a newer home. However, the child’s ghost seemed to follow him and he was subjected to the all too familiar sounds of torment. Reaching out to a local Episcopal minister, Hunter had both himself and his new home blessed and that ended any further paranormal activity.

In the years to follow, much research on the home was conducted by both freelance journalists and paranormal enthusiasts. It was found that construction on the home was made in 1893 after the land had been home to an actual cemetery for close to thirty years. Since a short sale was conducted, not all the bodies were dug up and moved when construction began. The house was indeed built on top of a cemetery and this is a possible explanation for all the paranormal activity there.

The Changeling House Moves To Hollywood

As the years passed, a popular horror film chronicled the haunting there, and the 1980 film The Changeling, starring Academy Award Winner George C. Scott opened to rave reviews. More importantly, the home was actually demolished after the land was once again sold out, this time to a high rise apartment complex company. In one last show of strength, Russell Hunter actually attended the demolishing of the home and not to be outdone, so did the boy’s ghost. In one final and grim twist of fate, as the home was being torn down, one of the home’s windows mysteriously popped from the home’s frame and crashed into the head of the bulldozer operator. He was killed instantly.

Warehouse of Horrors haunted house in Largo Florida

The 2018 version of our Haunted Warehouse will be even bigger than last year’s. Besides the warehouse, you can also decide on a Virtual Reality Experience (addn’tl fee), and visit several food trucks. Last year’s event was very popular and we received so many compliments on our creativity. Remember – ALL PROCEEDS go to charities in the local area. Please share this with your friends!

Have you ever been to a haunted house that is really haunted?

Come visit Tremble-Rot the Haunted House

in Waycross Georgia…

We are all gonna die…why not die happy!