[Ghostlycast comment] A wicked list of ghost/paranormal resources for New Orleans!

Hotels, restaurants and tours! Read on.

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The Supernatural Investigators of Virginia have been ghost hunting in suspected haunted homes and buildings all over Virginia since 2006. This weekend the investigators invited NBC29 on one of their searches in the Shenandoah Valley.

On Saturday night, the group investigated the Miller-Kite House, an old home in Elkton that once served as a headquarters for Stonewall Jackson. The home, which is now a museum, played a significant role during the Civil War, and some say the soldiers that visited the house then are still there.

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In the hearts of all mankind resides a beast that is to willing to come forth and wreak havoc on our fellow man. My grandmother who was huge influence on my life once said to me, “Boy, in all of us lives a white wolf and a black wolf. The white wolf seeks to do good deeds but the black wolf desires to do evil and harm you must chose which wolf runs your life.” My grandmother had a curious knack for explaining things to us kids in a way we could understand while imparting some serious wisdom. Down through the ages there have lived people who have possessed the means the to do great good however they decided to let the ugly black wolf reign supreme and Louisiana’s Madame Delphine Lalaurie was one such person. Her home still stands today as a reminder to the residents of the French Quarter of the life of the woman who was one sick twisted super bitch.

In 1832, Doctor Louis Lalaurie and his new bride the beautiful Delphine moved into the grand Creole mansion in the hip fashionable French Quarter and Madame Lalaurie, as she was known by all who loved her, took 19th century New Orleans by storm. Delphine, threw lavish parties for the gentry of New Orleans society and spared no expense treating her guests like the aristocracy they all thought they were. At the beginning of all her famous parties soirees guests were struck by her immense opulence and wealth as she descended the stairs wearing the finest silk dresses and greeted all her guests individually by name. However what they didn’t realize was that Delphine was the most evil and despicaple person to ever to ever hit the New Orleans’ scene. Some may even say a genocidal madwoman.

The proverbial cat was let out of the bag at one of Delphine’s parties when a guest wandered away from the party and got lost while searching for the bathroom. Instead of finding the bathroom the guest the kitchen and discovered a most horrible sight, chained to the stove was the malnourished half naked form of a male slave cooking the food that the guests feed to their faces. Disgusted by what she saw the guest fled from the kitchen leaving the party never saying good night to her gracious host.

Virtually overnight bizarre tales of cruelty visited upon the madame’s slaves by her hand spread throughout the city of New Orleans like wildfire. At first they were thought were of as just mere rumors and folks did not take them seriously until an episode occurred that confirmed those rumors is a most awful manner.

One afternoon as a neighbor was lounging on his backporch he was torn from his reverie when a loud anguished scream came from the roof of the Lalaurie mansion. The neighbor looked up and watched as the Madame chased a young female slave probably twelve years old across the roof cracking a wip over head. The young girl was screaming for mercy as Delphine was yelling words that was unthinkable for a lady to be yelling. The neighbor was then shocked as he watched as the young girl came to the edge of the roof and Delphine pushed the girl to her death in the courtyard below. The neighbor was horrified by the almost demonic look on the Madame’s face.

When the authorities were notified of the slave girl’s death they immediately responded to the Lalaurie house and confiscated all her slaves. Although this was the time of slavery and slaves were considered property they were still considered human and treating them cruelly was a crime. Losing her slaves would not stop the Madame, she gave her relatives some money and had them buy the slaves back at auction to her they were her property and no one would take them away from her. The slaves that once lived in the hell of the Lalaurie house thought they had escaped the depredations of the mad woman however they were horrified when they learned they were being sent back to the madame in chans.

By this time the madame was considered a social pariah by those who once enjoyed her company and her parties. When an invitation was sent to their home they sent the invite back with an excuse that was an apparent lie. No one would have anything to do with the cruelest woman in New Orleans. As strange as it may seem some did stick by her the same folks who shared her same distaste for slaves. F-ing nazis.

By the Spring of 1834, Madame Delphine Lalaurie had completely fallen out of fashion with New Orleans’ society then something odd happened. On a hot may night an alarm of fire was shouted and the fire brigade was sent for an inferno raged at the Lalaurie mansion. By the time the fire brigade arrived hundreds of citizens surrounded the mansionwatching it burn to the ground. No one was sure if the lady of the house was home and wondered whether or not she escaped the inferno.

After putting the inferno out the fire fighters discovered several scenes in the home that could only be described as absolutely horrific. In the kitchen where the blaze started they discovered the charred naked body of a male chained to the stove they believed this man was the one who stated the fire. However they could not possibly be prepared for what awaited them in the attic.

On the top level of the house the fire men discovered a set of stairs behind a bookcase that led up to a door. When they busted through the door they discovered a scene straight out of a horror movie. On tables they discovered what looked like the bodies of male and female slaves who had died after being subjected to primitive attempts at sex change operations. Female slaves were chained to the walls with their breasts sliced off and stuffed in their mouths as well as male slaves with their genitalia cut off and stuffed down their throats. Those who were still alive but horribly disfigured begged for death and small children were trapped in cages like veal cows with their legs broken. When news of the horrific scene filtered out of the house a cry went up for the head of Madame Delphine LaLaurie to swing for her wicked crimes but the Madame was no where to be found some believe she may have been hiding in the house and when the smoke and crowds cleared fled into the night catching a ship that sailed to her native Paris, France. However, the legacy of Madame Delphine has been felt over the years a legacy of the ghostly variety.

For the first seventy years the mansion stood empty and was home for the transients who would dare to spend the night in the building the locals knew was home to some pretty frightening apparitions. When the building was rebuilt and became everything from a boarding school to luxury condos all who have lived there over the last century have reported the same ghostly going ons. The epidode of the madame chasing the young slave girl has been seen enacted on the roof many times ending with the young girl vanishing as she falls to her death. Many have witnessed a swirling black mass turning into a large half naked African American man carrying a wip that is said to chase children down the hall and dissappears before he catches up to them. Those brave enough to venture up to what used to be the attic have come down with stories of hearing screams of anguish and pleas for mercy and witnessing black shadows playing on the walls. One young mother was forced to flee her apartment in terror when she heard her her infant crying and walked into the room to see a black mass leaning over the crib attempting to pick the baby up.

Should it really be any wonder that the former home of Madame Delphine Lalaurie is Haunted. The abject terror that was visited upon those poor people so long ago should come as no surprise that their spirits are a more than a little pissed off. To them they can not rest they do not know what became of their tormentor they are forever stuck in the terror of the 1830s.

Rick E. Hale

t_seeker@hotmail.com

myspace.com/bldrdsun

For the most part paranormal researchers and investigators agree that the haunting of a location is precipitated by many factors. For example a human’s spirit can be left behind to roam their former stomping grounds if they committed the final act of desperation, Suicide. I personally believe the haunting ocurrs because the person who offed themselves may have had certain religious beliefs that caused them to believe that such a desperate act would cause them to burn in eternal hellfire and this fear causes them to remain in the realm of the living. The other most common circumstance is murder. Down through the history of paranormal research there have been many reported cases of a spirit being trapped until the person who committed the ultimate crime is brought to justice. The records indicate that when and if the criminal is brought to justice the haunting subsequently comes to an end as well. But what if the murderer is never apprehended and punished for their crime does that mean that the spirit is trapped at a location forever forced to wander the home although the crime happened decades if not a century earlier? Research would suggest unfortunately yes and there is a home in Villisica, Iowa that would suggest this is a sad fact.

In 1912, Villisca, Iowa was just like any normal midwestern town of it’s time. Peaceful hardworking folks, the real salt of the earth type eeked out an existence loving God and country however on the morning of June 10 all that would drastically change. The brutal murder of a local family and two houseguests as they peacefully slept in their beds would not only shock and dismay the state of Iowa but the entire United States and many would think if it could happen in a small town like Villisca where folks still left their homes unlocked at night, then it could happen anywhere. No one was safe.

On the morning of June 10, a neighbor of the Josiah Moore family was awakened from a deep slumber by the sounds of the Moore family horses neighing and kicking the barn doors. The neighbor, an elderly woman, thought it strange that after listening to the ruckus for fifteen minutes that a member of the Moore family did not emerge from the house and either calm or scold the unruly equines. I’m sure the neighbor thought enough was enough as she threw on some clothes and rushed over to the Moore home to see if anyone, it didn’t matter who, was going to bring an end to the racket.

At first the neighbor stuck her head through the open door and called out for anyone who may hear her voice, certainly someone would at least answer her call although no one did nothing about the horses, that would just be plain rude. When no one answered she walked into the home and began to inspect the first floor for signs of life. Nothing not a soul the home was as quiet as a prayer service. However all that would change when she climbed the stairs and peeked into the rooms.

The neighbor in a fit of terror ran from the home and immeditaely called the Sheriff’s office to report what she had seen. The neighbor reported to the Sheriff that some unknown assailant had brutally hacked the Josiah Moore family to death as they slept in their beds. Josiah Moore, Mrs Moore, their four children and two houseguests lay forever still in their beds in a house that was a true house of horrors.

The Villisca Axe Murder Case as it has come to be known is truly a mystery of the worst kind. The murderer was never captured and forced to answer for his brutal crime. There were a few suspects, a business rival of Josiah Moore, an insane drifter with religious delusions even a few cops were rounded up for questioning but all were released all had iron clad alibis and could answer for their whereabouts on the night a homicidal madman grabbed an axe and methodically went from room to room killing the eight people who slept soundly believing that when the sun rose the next day they would continue their lives. Sadly that was not the case.

Although the murder of these eight folks is sad and tragic what we are concerned with on this stop of our road trip is what still might remain at the Villisca home and if the rumors are true that the house is perhaps one of the most haunted homes in the United States if not the world. The home sat empty for many years until 1930, when a young newly married couple bought the house believing this was the place where they would plant their roots and eventually raise a little family of their own. They were sadly mistaken.

A few weeks after they moved in the Mrs. began to hear strange noises that sounded like breathing and a heavy person walking up the stairs as she slept at night. She dismissed the noises believing that an old house such as this made noises, it was just part of the old house settling. That was until she was awakened one night to the sound of a gut wrenching scream and when her eyes popped open she could see the solid shape of a man standing at the end of her bed weilding an axe. As the woman let out a scream the image faded away back into the shadows. When she reported the sighting to her husband he at first did not believe her, in fact, he believed his new bride was going mad and needed help that was until he began to witness the strange activity his wife had witnessed. Needless to say they left and never returned.

Sometimes folks report that their home shows signs of paranormal activity after a remodel. The ghost, probably lays dormant for many years until he or she sees that their home is being changed in ways they do not like, this would appear to be the case with the Villisca Axe Murder House. In 1994, the owners of the home began a major renovation that would change many of the physical features of the home and it would seem that this remodel would stir an unexplained energy that would scare the pants off all those involved.

The activity in the home started innocently enough: Workers tools would be moved from one location to another, cold chills would be felt throughtout the house even on days when it was hot, and strange noises that sounded like someone walking around would be heard in the night. Then things began to be kicked up a notch. The residents would hear what sounded like anguished screams ring through the house in the middle of the night and the family began to witness wispy forms that oftentimes took on the form of a little girl, a woman and a grown man. Could these be the spirits of Josiah Moore, his wife and one of the children attempting to make contact with the living? Perhaps.

Over the last ten years, many paranormal groups have been given access to the home to determine whether or not there is any truth to the hauntings of the house in Villisca and many have come away with interesting results. Numerous EVPs have been recorded that sound as if a woman is screaming and several others sound as if children are whispering just under the voice of the investigator. Several photos showing orbs and other anomolies have been taken perhaps proving that this home where a brutal murder once took place almost a century ago still holds some memory of of the once happy Moore family that met with such an unhappy end.

Rick E. Hale

t_seeker@hotmail.com

When I first started writing for this esteemed website I took us on a breathtaking tour of some of the most haunted locations around the world. Recently we visited the shores of jolly olde England and explored the haunted reputation that Ol Blighty certainly deserves, so I thought it fitting to come full circle and bring us back to the good Old US of A to take a look at some of the strangest locations, myths and urban legends that call our great nation home.

Compared to the rest of the world the United States is just a mere child, despite our short but illustrious history America plays host to some of the most terrifying ghosts, monsters and strangest stories that seem to put the other nations to shame. When I first conceived of this project I was just going to deal with the many reports of the dearly departed that still walk among us, however I thought that was somewhat unfair to the other tales that enrich our American culture and keep mysteries hunters busy. I hope you enjoy Roadtrip Into the Unknown.

The Curse of Dudleytown

Well hidden by the years of growth in the back woods of Litchfield County, Connecticut along the ominously yet aptly named, “Dark Entry Road” sits an enigmatic ghost town that has gained quite a reputation over the years as one of the most haunted and terrifying locations upon the North American continent, Dudleytown. Dudleytown, is one of those locations that has such a terrible reputation over the years it is almost impossible to seperate fact from fiction, and truth from Urban Legend. Those who have visited this eerie ghost town, which is nothing more than a few foundations grown over with weeds and trees, all seem to come away with stories that would keep even the toughest guy awake at night with nightmares. If the stories concerning this lost gem of Americana is true, Dudleytown could only be described as a town cursed and set up for disaster from the very beginning.

Those who have made Dudleytown, the focus of their paranormal meanderings claim that the sad little town was cursed well before it’s first foundation was laid in the late 1700s. It is widely believed that the Curse of Dudleytown began across the pond in Great Britain when the Barons Dudley committed a horrible act of treason in the royal court of King George II. No one is really sure what that act was and why it offended the King, however the treason sent the Dudley clan fleeing into the night for their very lives to the colonies of America and Connecticut.

By 1800, Dudleytown was considered a small and struggling community in the backwoods of Connecticut. Unlike the other towns that thrived and prospered in the area, Dudleytown experienced so many problems that they appeared to go well beyond coincidence and hovered in the realm of the truly strange and unusual. No matter how hard the farmers tried proper crops would never grow on the land. Some feel that the soil may have been to acidic which would not allow anything to grow while others believed that the very ground was cursed by the local Native American tribes who held the place as being evil and the abode of wicked spirits and perhaps this is what contributed to the hysteria that soon overtake the small community and force many to either flee or committ suicide.

One of the strange experiences at Dudleytown was that the general population never grew past fifty people at the most. The town had such a reputation for being cursed new and interesting people did not want to even come near this town on the decline. Those who stuck it out in Dudleytown, reported strange lights and terrifying apparitions that flitted among the trees even during the light of day. It was reported that suicide became a huge problem in the struggling town with at least one citizen going mad a month and hanging himself in the haunted woods that surrounded Dudleytown. Reports of demonic possession were commonplace and strange sicknesses that did not touch the surrounding communities broke out in Dudleytown viritually wiping out the community overnight. By the second decade of the 1800s, Dudleytown was completely abandoned and never again would another human soul live upon it’s haunted land.

In an interview with Playboy Magazine, comic actor and serious researcher of the paranormal, Dan Aykroyd declared that Dudleytown, Connecticut was the most frightening place in the United States and rightly so. Although the land is private property owned by the “Dark Entry Forest Association” with warnings that trespassers will be prosecuted, this has not stopped the intrepid ghosthunter from ignoring the law and venturing into one of the most haunted locations in the United States if not the world.

Those who have paid this desolate area a visit have reported so many strange experiences one would have to think that someone is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Many have reported strange voices crying out from among the trees and have witnessed dark entities flitting about the surrounding forest. Others have reported an intense feeling of dread and sadness as they walk among the remains of colonial village. Others have reported an intense desire to kill themselves and join the spectral citizenry of Dudleytown that seems to beckon them to their fate.

When one considers the strange tale of Dudleytown Connecticut we must consider the possibility that this little ghost town and the stories surrounding it are nothing more than Urban Legend, however if even 10% of the stories are true than the ruins of Dudleytown are not a place to be taken lightly and only those with many years in paranormal research and investigation and the local clergyman should pay this sad little cursed town a visit to determine what manner of evil called Dudleytown, Connecticut home.

I want to try something new with this series, if you are a reader and have had an experience with one of the locations that I will be writing about please let me know. You can either leave a comment here or contact me at t_seeker@hotmail.com. I and the editor of this website would love to hear from you and strange things you have come across. Thanks.

Rick E. Hale

Brian Hendrian is a deer hunter from Shelbyville and, when he gets a spare moment, a stalker of the supernatural. He’s been pursuing things that go bump in the night for the best part of 20 years but, so far, not one demon, let alone many.

“There are a lot of demon cases out there,” he explains. “But I think they are fabricated. I’ve never been involved in one myself.”

As ghost hunters go, Hendrian isn’t exactly type cast for the part. Quiet, relaxed and unemotional, he sits in his living room full of deer head trophies and doesn’t look the sort to be easily transported to a state of ectoplasmic joy by the prospect of seeing dead people.

But he is gripped by a burning curiosity to know the answer to the ultimate question: What happens to us when we die? And while maybe two haunting cases in 10 turn out to be worth his time, he’s experienced enough to become what he describes as a “skeptical believer.”

“People getting slapped, pushed around, voices that just come out of thin air, I’ve witnessed things I can’t explain,” says Hendrian, 34. “There is a lot of fraud out there, but not all of it is fraud.”

To help sort through the cases, he’s gathered around him a group of likeminded spirits, so to speak. He’s the founder of organizations that include the Shelby Paranormal Research Society, the United States Paranormal Society and the Shelbyville Cryptozoology Research Society.

The Cryptozoology folks hunt for “hidden animals,” creatures whose existence is not recognized by science: at least, not yet. Hendrian says there’s a lot of fraud in this area, too, but he believes there is credible evidence for the existence for both an “unknown biped” (Big Foot) and for something large and toothy slinking through the Illinois undergrowth.

“We get a lot of black panther reports in Illinois,” he says. “And I believe there is something out there.”

When on the trail of ghosts, he starts by a series of gentle e-mail or phone interviews with the person claiming their home or whatever is haunted. If it looks good there, he will follow up with a face-to-face meeting and, eventually, a site visit.

He says the best piece of ghost hunter gear yet invented is the thermal imaging camera, which has yielded some cool results for other groups. But they cost many hundreds of dollars, and he can’t afford one. So Hendrian and his colleagues make do with night-vision cameras, recording equipment and healthy doses of patience.

“It can get dead boring when nothing happens,” he says. “And you also need a sense of humor.”

His wife, Renee, has joined him on many hunts, and while she has experienced strange sounds and the icy presence of something she couldn’t see, so far she’s not been frightened out of her wits. But she says it will take something dramatic and scary to make science stop snickering and take the supernatural seriously.

“As technology advances, I think it might be possible to get some pretty definitive proof,” she says. “To maybe actually catch a full apparition on video for everyone to see it, and to where you can see nobody faked it.”

In the meantime, it’s back to the hunt for the truth and the more than occasional exposure of the fraudulent. Her husband and two of his fellow enthusiasts — one in Joliet, the other in California — host a weekly Internet radio show which features ironic awards distinguishing particularly blatant supernatural scams.

One of the Shelbyville ghost hunter’s favorites is the eBay vendor who claimed to be selling “ghosts in a bottle,” actual spirits banished and sealed in bottles by real live ghostbusters. “And people were actually buying this stuff,” says Hendrian. “It just gets more ridiculous.”

Source: http://www.paraurl.com/?WuWeP

“Return To Babylon” a silent film by Alex Monty Canawati is gaining interest among paranormal researchers as well as cinema experts for its spontaneous morphing of the actors into hideous monstrosities. “Return To Babylon” is a silent, black and white film based on Hollywood scandals and tragedies from the early 1900’s. Mr. Canawati ,who became a professional film maker in 1993, wanted to make a old style silent film. While walking back to his car one night he came upon a bag of what appeared to be trash, but after looking in the bag he found a case of factory sealed black and white film. This is how “Return To Babylon” came to be. As strange as it is to find 19 rolls of unopened black and white film it is nothing compared to what he would find while going over the raw unedited footage. Mr. Canawati along with a photography teacher from the Brooks Institute of Photography found the first anomalies while watching the film frame by frame in Febuary of 2004. No special effects were used in the production of “Return To Babylon” yet there are frames where actors hands morph into long, pointy, webbed hands. Noses suddenly become long and pointy, and faces hideously distort. According to the Brooks Institute of Photography the film “breaks all rules of cinema logic.” The frames have also been looked at by Dr. Albert Taylor, and several paranormal groups have seen the stills online and can offer no explanations for the strange morphings. Want to look at this strange phenomenon yourself? You can see the stills at the following links.
“Return To Babylon” Myspace Page 
Alex Monty Canawati Myspace Page 
“Return To Babylon” Paranormal Fan Page 

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