PAKISTAN: Haunted House

It was a big house, but we had a small portion of it, which was small and rather old. The rest of the house was empty.Our portion was a large living room with a bathroom, kitchen and two bedrooms off the main living area. We were so thankful for it, a real house.

My mother took one bedroom and we three girls took the other. It seemed fine in the beginning, we were so glad not to have to live in a car or barn. We had no immediate neighbors, just empty lots on either side. Nice and private. In the following days we would come to understand why.

The first thing was the odd smell. It was unpleasant but not necessarily intolerable, something like dead, rotting flowers. Wet and moldy smelling. It was always in the living room outside the bathroom door. With the bathroom being right there we thought maybe it was a sewer problem. It wasn't. The continuous odor was soon followed by what sounded like hundreds of tiny people marching around in army boots up in the attic. But only above the living room in front of the bathroom door.
My mother checked out the attic standing on a small ladder just outside the bathroom where the crawl space was. But she saw nothing at all, even as the marching continued. Rats maybe ? The stench and noise alone would have probably driven most people out, but we couldn't leave. My mother made very little money and we had spent what we had on getting the house, so we just put up with it.

Then, one night not long after the sounds of marching had begun, we were awakened by the toilet flushing, again and again and again. We girls gathered on the old couch in the living room, crying and afraid, while my mother investigated. She was scared too, but I think, also excited. We were just scared. After some minutes she called us over and we could clearly see the handle moving, as if an invisible hand were flushing. It didn't stop. Then, as if to say, "you think that's something?", the faucet handles on the sink turned on full force and water began pouring out. My mother said not to be afraid, she was sure it was a nice ghost! We all slept in her room that night.

The next morning we begged my mother to stay home from work but she said we couldn't afford it, so we girls stayed outside all day. When she pulled in that evening we went inside together. Everything had stopped. The smell, the marching, the flushing, the sink, all quiet. As if none of it had ever happened.

We ate supper that night in the kitchen instead of the living room where we usually ate. My mother was telling us about her day when suddenly, a few feet away, from the broom closet, a radio began blasting rock n roll music. We owned one radio only and it sat quietly on the kitchen counter beside us.

My mother jumped up and flung open the closet door only to find silence and a broom. Then it was at the window blasting away like a live band there under our sill. She rushed outside after it, shouting for us to stay where we were. The backdoor slammed shut after her making us scream, but worse, the music was back in the closet.

My mother came back into the kitchen and started to say something when she heard it again too. She moved to be between us and it, looked at us strangely, then turned back and screamed at the music to leave her house now and not return. The sound of her voice scared me more than the music had but not as much as what was to come.

As if in response to my mother’s words, the music just stopped. Nothing but the sound of our crying remained. My mother gathered us into the living room and onto the old couch, where we talked quietly about trying to find another house soon. Maybe in a month or so. But as we talked, dust began to fall from the crawl space cover to the attic.

We shut up at once and my mother got up and began to walk slowly toward it. She hadn't taken three steps when tiny holes started appearing all over the crawl space cover, as if someone were up there punching thru it with an ice pick over and over again. We all froze, as much out of amazement as fear. Hundreds of holes appeared in seconds and then just stopped. We watched as the last bit of dust floated to the floor as if in slow motion. There is a silence of space and time that occurs only rarely through out our lives, an instant when everything in the universe ceases. This was one of those times.

SOURCE: DAILY TIMES

BLACKPOOL, BRITAIN: March, 2008: The Haunted Pub

SHIVERS of fear have chilled the spines of landlords at a Lytham pub.
Ghosts of a mother and son, who are thought to have made a suicide pact and drowned themselves in the early 1900s, are said to haunt the Ship and Royal, on Clifton Street.

So much so, Lee Jane, 30, and girlfriend Gemma Rogers, 27, are the first licensees in five years to dare live in the building.

The couple report hearing bath water running upstairs in a derelict area of the building which is boarded up and has no plumbing.

Mr Jane, who has run the pub for six months, said: "That area is part of the former Royal Hotel and there are 20 derelict rooms upstairs which don't have any electricity or plumbing.

"Nobody goes up there, it's all boarded up for health and safety reasons.

"But we hear water running, like from a tap. A mother and son who lived here are thought to have made a suicide pact and drowned themselves."

Mr Jane describes other recent spooky moments which have made staff at his pub scurry home in fear, including an internal telephone system which rings by itself.

He said: "There were four of us in the pub one night and we'd just finished cleaning up when the internal phone rang.

"There was no-one there when we answered and there was no-one in the building to ring the phone in the first place.

The office was all locked up so no-one could get to it."

In 1983 The Gazette reported another sighting of a ghost at the pub.

A tall dark figure, thought to be the departed soul of the late Squire John Clifton who died in Tenerife in 1928, was seen on the second floor.

It was not the first time.

In 1978, The Gazette reported: "Ghosts do have their acceptable faces. The case of interfering Charlie is the toast of the Ship and Royal.

"Charlie, thought to be the ghost of squire John Talbot Clifton, likes revisiting his favourite hostelry, orders meat from suppliers and tampers with the inn's files for what reason no one knows."

But Mr Jane says the ghosts won't frighten him and his partner away.

He said: "It's a bit spooky, but I keep an open mind. It doesn't stop me sleeping!"
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Spoleto, ITALY: The haunted house of Spoleto

After enduring howls in the night and creaking staircases for the past three years, an Italian family is preparing to sue the previous owners of their house for not telling them it was haunted.

Gaetano Bastianelli, 57, and his wife Stefania paid €120,000 (£94,000) for the modern home in the Umbrian town of Spoleto in 2005 - encouraged by the fact that all the furniture and fittings were left by the owners, right down to the coffee cups. "We considered it the deal of the century," said Mr Bastianelli.

The couple claim they were unaware that the house in Santo Chiodo road had been built close to the disused Pozzi Ginori cemetery, or that strange goings-on at the address during the 1970s had necessitated an exorcism - and prompted a visit from Perugia University's paranormal research team.

"The ghosts started their haunting on the first night," said Mr Bastianelli, a former long-distance lorry driver. "I woke suddenly at around one or two in the morning. There was water seeping from under the bathroom door.

"The hot water tap was pouring out boiling water and the room was full of steam. My wife was stunned, because she had turned off everything before going to bed."

He claimed that by next morning, malevolent spirits had left "luminous green mould all over the walls".

After that things got worse. He said the sound of chains rattling had alarmed his 10-year-old daughter, and claimed that the lawnmower and his wife's car had spontaneously combusted.

Now Mr Bastianelli has engaged a lawyer, Antonio Francesconi, to sue the previous owners for failing to inform him that the house was haunted.

"We have a good case," said Mr Francesconi. "Under article 1490 of Italian law, you have to tell buyers if there is anything wrong. I think that the previous owners will settle out of court."

A local historian, Sergio Grifoni, confirmed that an exorcism had been performed on a girl in the house in 1977.

"The local papers at the time said a girl had been possessed by the devil and had been taken to the bishop. Nothing helped, until Pope John Paul II prayed for her."

The episode was confirmed by Fr Gabriel Amorth, the Vatican's senior exorcist, who said: "Pope Wojtyla carried out an exorcism on this girl who was rolling around on the floor of her house."

He could not confirm whether the house was the same one in Santo Chiodo road.
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Haunted America: Rhode Island College

Rhode Island College, our beloved school in which we receive our education, has been discovered to be haunted. It turns out there have been ghosts lurking the campus for a long time and they are large in number.

Rhode Island College has been around for over a century and a half. It has seen many students come and go, as well as professors, doctors, and the like, but it appears that many of these students and educators may still be here.

There have been many paranormal sightings and activity over the entire campus. Sometimes they can be of students that used to attend just walking among us in the halls of the buildings or maybe even in the quad, as well as professors. Many reports have been made about students seeing a certain Professor Lloyd Matsumoto. He has been reported to have been seen in the Fogarty Life Science Building as well as here in our Anchor office. He has been known to say things like how the Red Sox are the greatest baseball team ever (poor soul). No one is sure how or why his spirit is haunting the campus, but it is believed that it has something to do with bovine feces.

There have also been reports of entire rooms full of ghosts having classes. According to the reports, these classrooms of ghosts are said to appear during free period. Now, according to the school policy, classes are not supposed to take place during the free period, as it is supposed to be a time for the students to get involved with campus activities or to just take a break. As such, there shouldn't be any actual classes taking place. So, unless the policy is being broken, there really is no other possible explanation.

Other reports have been made about ghosts being seen in the parking lots. Apparently, the ghosts, as well as their cars, can be seen throughout the day driving all around them, trying to find a parking place, especially a nice spot that is the shortest distance from their destination. These ghost drivers may have died trying to find a place due the lots being so packed everyday.

So is Rhode Island College truly haunted? I would say so given these undisputable facts. So be careful as you go throughout the campus. That person walking next to you in the quad or that professor giving you a lecture may not be of this world.

And don't get me started on the vampires in the dormitories.

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USA, OHIO: TV show finds strange episodes at Prospect Place mansion

TRINWAY - One does not have to tell residents of Southeastern Ohio about Prospect Place mansion.

Stories of the house and grounds being haunted are widely known. However, now the whole world is aware of the possible paranormal activities at the estate.

"In the past couple of weeks our contacts have gone up 150 to 200 percent," said George Adams, owner of the house.

The Sci Fi Channel series "Ghost Hunters" aired an episode Wednesday that was filmed at the mansion.

The show follows Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson and other researchers of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) as they travel the country visiting supposedly haunted locations to either prove or disprove ghostly claims.

Adams said that various e-mails had been sent over the years on having the show come to the house and the series finally contacted them on the matter.

"I myself try to look at everything with a rational eye and I think that's what the Ghost Hunters do," said Adams.

The team said on the episode that they believed there was some paranormal activity at Prospect Place, but did not give it an official stamp of being haunted. However, Adams stated that he felt that this did give them some vindication and validity to stories that have circulated over the years.

"Stories of dead bodies and such are a little extreme," he said. "We're not even really sure what paranormal means. It could be a quirk of physics, but something goes on here beyond the realm of known science."

Adams said that those who have toured the facility have reported everything from just an uneasy, queasy feeling to the sensation of being touched or hearing strange noises.

"Obviously something goes on here and it captures people," he said. "Everybody who goes on a tour has something happen. Every tour comes away with something, even if it's something little."

During their investigation, the Ghost Hunters uncovered two incidents that struck them. The first was when two investigators tried to coax a child ghost to play with a ball they had and footsteps were heard around them and they felt the floor shift as if someone was walking.

Adams said that since the Ghost Hunters were there they have obtained video of the ball moving on its own in another experiment and odd activity has seemingly increased.

The second incident was when investigators were approaching the barn and a thermal imaging unit detected a shape shifting black spot in the upstairs window. It registered too cold to be a person or animal.

"That was the prime piece of evidence they could not explain. They said they had never seen anything like it before," Adams said. "Even in my opinion it was unbelievable and interesting."

One myth the Ghost Hunters did debunk was the story of a small child, Constance Cox, who fell to her death and now haunts the home. They uncovered that she really died of consumption at 21.

Adams said the story was the result of a "previous misunderstanding" from a volunteer tour guide and they were aware of the error. The guide asked historians if there was anyone close to a young child who might have died in the house and then embellished the story.

However, they did uncover that some sort of incident did happen involving a bounty hunter in the estate's barn, but they could not confirm if he was hung as the story goes.

It's also been documented that the house was used as a stop on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War era for escaped slaves. Some stories have the ghosts of these former slaves haunting the house and that some also made animal sacrifices in the house's ballroom.

"There are many stories and local legends and there are usually some grain of truth to them," said Adams.

The mansion is currently home to the G.W. Adams Education Center, established as a non-profit organization in 2005. Adams sits as CEO of the group. The 29-room mansion was built in 1856 by his relative, George Willison Adams.

Adams and his partner Felix Spector, who died in December 2007, purchased the house from the Longaberger Company in 2005. Adams and the center's board of directors are currently working on renovations of the home and grounds. He said that the Ghost Hunters appearance will hopefully help drum up more funds for renovations, operation and maintenance.

The board of directors are looking to hold a barbecue and hoe-down later in the summer at the estate and other possible events.

At the end of the episode Adams invited the Ghost Hunters back for another investigation and they said they would love to return. He said they are in contact, but a second episode has not been planned.

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