Ghostly Apparitions: Banff Springs Hotel

Located in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, nestled within the majestic Rocky Mountains rests the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Built in the Golden Age of the Canadian Pacific dynasty, this luxury Scottish Baronial style hotel is rich in ghostly lore.  Visitors and staff have reported seeing ghostly apparitions on many occasions.

It is said, in the 1920's, a bride nicknamed "the doomed bride"  tragically fell to her death when her wedding gown caught fire by the candles that lit the stone staircase. Panic overcame her and she slipped - tragically falling to her death. Employees report hearing strange sounds emanating from the bridal suite and seeing the apparition of a women in a flowing white gown on the staircase.
 **It has proven difficult for me to find any source of information about who this woman was, and if in fact the tragedy took place. 

Another well-known resident apparition is that of a former employee, named Sam McCauley who was a Scottish immigrant and longtime bellhop at the hotel. Shortly after retiring in 1967, Sam passed away and it is said he returned after his death to continue the job he loved. Visitors who have lost their room key have been approached by a man dressed in a 1960's style bellhop uniform, who assists them - then vanishes the moment spoken to.

There are many other reports of paranormal activity throughout this castle-like hotel; from faces appearing in mirrors, to bar-stools spinning on their own and tables moving by an unseen force.  With so much traffic though it's doors, who's to say that some energies have not imprinted or returned to such a magnificent place.

There are also a number of ghostly, unusual tales in and around the facility itself.  "Nearby Lake Minnewanka ("Lake of the Water Spirit"), which was believed to hide a half-man, half-fish demon by the Native Americans in the area." (Source: Dark Destinations)

This place is in the top 10 must visits on my paranormal road trip bucket list!

The Other Side of Truth

The Other Side of Truth: The Other Side of Truth

'The Bloodiest 47 Acres in America'

The Missouri State Penitentiary was nicknamed 'the bloodiest 47 acres in America' by Time magazine in 1967 due to the numerous violent deaths and brutal assaults that took place there.  The prison dates back to the early 1800's and housed some of America's most violent criminals before becoming decommissioned in 2004. 

In 2009 the prison opened its doors to the public offering tours of the site. Since then, reports of disembodied voices, apparitions, and sounds of slamming cell doors have been made. Back in June, the team from TAPS came to the penitentiary to investigate the claims of paranormal activity there. An upcoming episode of Ghost Hunters will air their findings in November.

I have not found a whole lot of information regarding the unexplained occurrences claimed to be going on here. However, I did come across a disturbing article from a former inmate called The Wall. I am looking forward to seeing what TAPS found, if anything, during their investigation.

Paranormal YouTube

For my readers who enjoy watching YouTube videos that focus on paranormal content - check out these channels.

UnexplainedArchives
GhostWatching
ParanormalTV
UFOTV

Terror In The Shadows

Documentary Film "Children of the Grave" 

Shadow people, shadow folk and shadow beings describe a strange entity that has been experienced by numerous people world wide.Their presence is often bound to a home or person within. Shadow people often cause terror to those who see them - as their dark, human, silhouette forms are feared to be malevolent.

Skeptics are quick to label the experience as ones imagination or a hallucination- and in some cases that would be true. However, cases where groups of people witness the same phenomenon are harder to label as such.

The image in this post is a well-known photograph from the documentary film "Children of the Grave". It shows a number of shadow people in the woods along Zombie Road near the Meramec River in Missouri. There were numerous eyewitnesses to the shadow people that appeared in the woods that night.

More research by investigators is being done as the phenomenon becomes more widespread. Everyone wants to discover who or what they are. Anyone have an experience that they would like to share? Email me with your experience and I will make it a post here on my blog.

Soul Catcher: Trail of Fears

Talented filmmakers Philip and Christopher Booth recently released another paranormal documentary film called Soul Catcher: Trail Of Fears. A dark and tragic period in American history is brought back to life by the Booth Brother's. The film takes its viewers on a "supernatural expedition" into the Native American spirit world - exposing the horrifying reality of Indian boarding schools and the inhumane injustices done to the children that were taken from their parents and sent there.  Some of the best EVP and thermal imaging evidence to date has been captured in this film.  A must see!!



This movie, along with their other films, can be purchased online at Spooked TV.

Ghost Of Goodnight Lane

Director Alin Bijan brings us a chilling, new, independent, horror film inspired by actual events occurring at his production company, Media World Studios, located in Dallas, Texas. The film is called "Ghost Of Goodnight Lane" and stars Billy Zane (Titanic), Lacey Chabert (Mean Girls), Danielle Harris (Halloween), Matt Dallas (Kyle XY), along with Richard Tyson (Black Hawk Down) is currently in production and being filmed on location at the haunted studio.  Story Line: "When the staff inside a renovated film studio finds a co-worker dead one morning, the pieces of a forty year puzzle add up to an angry ghost who has let the last person step inside her house. But will they ever get out alive?" (IMDb)

For a number of years, Bijan, staff and visitors have experienced paranormal activity there. They began keeping a daily log of the strange events which includes seeing an apparition of an unknown man, heavy equipment moving on its own and a person getting slapped in the face by an invisible hand. Recently, a paranormal investigative team came to the studio and conducted a series of field tests. Their findings along with the recorded EVP evidence concluded that the building is haunted.

As a huge fan of horror films, especially those based on true events, I am excited for this film. I will post the trailer as soon as it is released.

Here is a clip from Good Morning Texas - Billy Zane Does Dallas 
Also be sure to read Paranormal Experts: Ghosts Haunt Dallas Film Set!

American Ghost Hunter: Documentary Film

American Ghost Hunter has become a highly anticipated documentary film created by Chad Calek and Ryan Buell. The two claim to have recorded the "most compelling ghost evidence ever captured." Currently Chad and Ryan are on tour presenting this film across the United States. The film takes the two on a journey back to Calek's haunted childhood home. Please visit the website for more info and attend the tour if you are able.

I am excited for this film. My hope is that it will open the eyes to those who are quick to call the paranormal bullshit and dismiss what is a frightening reality for some. My only disappointment is that the film will not be be brought to Ontario, Canada for this tour. I would have loved to have attended and met with the guys to share my own story from my childhood home.

Supernatural Road

Kelly Road in Ohioville, Pennsylvania, is a one mile stretch of road that has numerous mysterious reports of paranormal activity and unexplained happenings.  Along this dark, heavily forested road there have been sightings of apparitions as well as strange sounds being heard. Witnesses say that animals behave strangely when on this stretch of road - often becoming aggressive. No one seems to know why this area seems to have supernatural energy, but some believe it is the land itself that was cursed by Native Americans after having it taken by white settlers. Others say recent cult activity has caused the unexplained activity.

Paranormal Activity Forces Relocation Of Ride at Theme Park

As ground preparation for a new thrill ride at one of Britain's amusement parks was underway, paranormal activity forced management to relocate the attraction to another spot in the park. The activity, which was reported by staff, included cold spots, the feeling of being watched and the sighting of an apparition at the site. Park employees believe that an ancient burial ground was disturbed causing the paranormal activity.

"The Haunted Boy, The Secret Diary Of The Exorcist"

Yesterday, Spooked Television and SyFy announced filming of the haunted Rolling Hills Asylum in Bethany, New York for their new paranormal feature, "The Haunted Boy, The Secret Diary Of The Exorcist". Based on true events, the film captures the real exorcist's diary written by the actual priests that performed the infamous 1949 exorcism of a 13 year old boy which later became Hollywood's scariest movie, 'The Exorcist'.

Paranormal filmmakers, the Booth Brothers, who are well known for their previous films Spooked, Death Tunnel, Children Of The Grave, and The Possessed, bring forth the "most accurate" eye witness account behind the real life story of "The Exorcist". "The Haunted Boy, The Secret Diary Of The Exorcist" is set to premiere on SyFy and on DVD, Halloween 2010.

Paranormal Researcher Ryan Buell

"Paranormal researchers use science to do real life ghost busting, taking on suspected hauntings of all kinds. In this interview, a pair of seasoned paranormal investigators discusses their unusual work."


Part 2, Part 3

Paranormal Conference- West Virginia

Reminder - 2008 Haunted West Virginia Ghost & Paranormal Conference will be held on August 29th/30th at the Old Sumnerite School in Parkersburg. The Sumnerite School was the first free black school south of the Mason-Dixon-line and offers up a host of hauntings.

Haunted South Africa

In England and throughout Europe numerous castles remain with tales of paranormal activity. Good Hope is Africa's haunted castle.

Located in Cape Town, South Africa, the castle was built in 1666 as a replenishment station for ships en route between Europe and the far east. The castle also served as a fortress from foreign attackers and later became home to the governor and his officials. Today, the castle is a national monument open to the public and home to the Castle Military Museum.

A number of ghostly encounters have happened on site by those who work at and visit the castle. Sightings of apparitions, unexplained sounds and a feeling as if one is not alone have all been reported here.

Other well known haunts in Africa: The Flying Dutchman

Paranormal Abilities to Be Tested

Dallas Psychiatrist's Paranormal Abilities to Be Tested by Noted Debunker James Randi - MarketWatch

Tuning Into The Other Side- Frank's Box

I recently spoke with Frank Sumption, creator of Frank's Box, and asked him where the idea for his device came from. Frank's Box is believed by many to provided a means of communication between the living and those on the other side.

I read an article in a 1995 Popular Electronics on EVP, tried it once, but didn't get anything. So I set the magazine aside. I came across the magazine again in 2000, and decided to try it again, this time I got voices using white noise. From there it was just a process of trying different methods,like EVPmaker. While using EVPmaker I kept getting messages that seemed to be relayed from spirits that couldn't use the computer, so I was wondering what else I could use. After about a week, the box idea kinda popped into my head fully formed. It was based on using voltage tunable radio modules from older digital car stereos, and tuning them with a random voltage derived from white noise. I had used the radio modules in the 90s for AM DX, so I think my own mind might have just provided a solution based on past experience. I used random voltage because I was using EVPmaker at the time, and it's based on a random function. We found out on the EVP-ITC yahoo group that the sweep can be linear, or even done by hand in 2007.

I started with EVP in 2000, and made the first box in the summer of 2002.

I've always done my "sessions" from home, I don't go to supposedly haunted locations, and it kinda irks me that most think you have to go haunted houses to make spirit contact. They treat it like year round Halloween, and if it's not scary, it can't be real. All that TAPS stuff is mostly Hollywood, and urban legend--I think.

I have gone to the Stanley Hotel here in Colorado twice so far on invites to speak, and I don't get anything different than I get at home. I don't think the place was even haunted till after the movie The Shining. My "opinion" is that most of the haunting evidence is created by the participants, and is mostly suggestion. With no observer, I think there is no haunting. Of course that's a simplification, there has to be something that gets people's attention, but I think it's intentional. Going to a haunted location maybe a way of making death easier to deal with.

Frank

My thanks to Frank for taking the time to share his story with me and my readers.

Our Supernatural World

Since the beginning of time humans have had experiences with angels, demons, ghosts, spirits, and other beings from the paranormal realm. To our ancestors these beings shared their world; belief in their existence was a spiritual and powerful one that governed their everyday life.

Today, it seems as though many have lost touch with their spirituality and have become consumed by a material world. When one experiences something "out of the ordinary", most often they are met with ridicule or speculations that they made it up, were imagining things and so on. That being said, I am beginning to see that more people are starting to pay closer attention to paranormal subject matter. As a result, people are allowing their minds to be more open to a supernatural / spiritual world.

Paranormal investigators along with documentary filmmakers have gathered undeniable proof time and time again that there is more to our world than what skeptics would have you believe. Their collection of EVPs, photos of Shadow People and apparitions, including footage of other phenomena, sends a powerful message. A message that our ancestors believed was vital to their physical existence - we coexist with a supernatural world. A world that should not be ignored or denied.

~Today marks my 500th post! I want to thank my readers, subscribers, and all those who have shared their own experiences with me. I can't wait to see what the next 500 brings!

Clapham Wood

Located in West Sussex, England, Clapham Wood is an area of woodland with a history of strange and unexplainable happenings. Starting in the 1960's, local people began reporting UFO sightings, unusual phenomena and animal disappearances on a regular basis. Although never proven, Clapham Wood was also believed to be the site of satanic ritual, which could explain the missing animals. Others believe that this site is the center of crossing ley lines and the activity is a result of the energy there.

For more -Read Paranormal Taverns article.

Spielberg to launch UFO and paranormal social network?

"Hollywood mega-director Steven Spielberg is reportedly setting up a social network for people interested in paranormal and extra-terrestrial activity, inspired by his own personal experiences with the unknown.

The focus of the network will be on people who have an interest in, or have experienced paranormal phenomena, and the network may feature multimedia content of UFO sightings, paranormal activity and user-based content.

Stories of Speilberg's own personal experiences with ghosts are widely known; his stay in the Excelsior House led him to become so frightened by alleged ghosts that he fled the room and moved 20 miles away, forming the inspiration for the movie 'Poltergeist'.

The network may have been originally in development with Yahoo, but the project was abandoned before it was launched. But reports suggest that the idea lives on, and a team of developers are aiming for a mid-year launch."

Article Source :Live News

Ghosts To Blame

"Romanian cops have closed a vandalism investigation that left local houses in ruins by concluding ghosts were to blame.

Families living in Lilieci reported windows broken, bicycles flying through the air, objects moving on tables and candles blown out when there is no wind.

When they complained they were being hounded by evil spirits to police they were laughed at.

But after officers saw the evidence with their own eyes they filed a report saying that ghosts were to blame.

Mircea Hadimbu, 68, who says his house has now been completely wrecked, said: "The windows started to break one by one. I saw two bicycles moving through the air on their own."

His sister Melentina Bocancea, 78, who lives nearby, added: "There were cups flying around the house and candles I lit were blown out as soon as I put a match to them even though there was not a breath of wind in the house."

A police spokesman said: "There were bottles and things flying around. I did not know what to dodge first. We can find nothing to suggest it was anything other than what the people claim."

A priest has been called in to perform exorcisms of houses in the town in the hope that the attacks will finally stop."

Article Source: ANANOVA