Category: Ghosts & Hauntings

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A guest sent this weird video

As you can imagine we don’t get the same kind of guests as other more conventional museums. Everyone who visits is interested in weird things. That’s why they come to see our collection of oddities and artifacts that include everything from a Fiji Mermaid to a haunted skeleton. However, some visitors bring a little something of their own. I often talk to guests who have strange tales to tell of things they’ve encountered.

After a tour, one woman told me about the strange things that they experienced in their home. She told me she would send video that showed a ghostly orb. I agreed to blur out the face of her child for privacy, but here is the video that she sent.

Near the end of the video, at about the 5-second mark, you can see a small trace of light that appears from the lower left and rises up to leave the frame to the right. She said that they encountered things like this and had even experienced what seemed to be the spirits of dogs that wandered into the bathroom. She did not feel these were dangerous. In fact, she felt like they gained protection from the watchfulness of these entities.

Shadowman-3
Shadowman by Timitzer
[CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
We have guests who have shared their experiences with Bigfoot, UFOs, and other strange encounters.

Not all are positive stories. Another guest shared that he had multiple encounters with Shadow People. They seem to have followed him as he has moved to different locations and he experiences tension and dread from these encounters.

Most of the tales, however, are one-time events, brief encounters that have no real evidence, but they know what they saw, what they experienced. They just seem glad to find someone who can hear the story and appreciate it for what it is, a bizarre experience that they can never forget.

We take such tales seriously and offer help to those who need it. Some are interested in advice on how to deal with such entities and want to do a clearing to remove them. Others are willing to share space with the spirits and just want to better understand how to get along.

We always welcome the weird experiences of our guests. If you have bizarre pictures or video that you want to share let us know and we’ll try to include your encounters in future blogs. In the mean time, know that the Museum is a place where such things are definitely respected. To coin a phrase: “We are ready to believe you!”

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Shocking footage: Teen possessed through phone app

You’ve heard stories about bad things happening through a Ouija board, but a phone app should be safe enough, right? See what you think after watching this disturbing footage of a teenager from Peru who appeared to be possessed after playing with a Ouija game on her telephone. You can see the full story in this news article.

Connecting with entities through these portals is serious business and should not be done lightly. If you plan to play with a Ouija board here are some things that you must do to be safe.

  1. Never do this alone. Make sure someone is around to keep an eye on you. If something goes wrong you want someone there who can notice and help.
  2. Create a protected spiritual space. You might say a prayer and sing a hymn before you begin. You might cast a circle. Do something from your own spiritual practice to call protection to you and ward off darker entities.
  3. Don’t just ask for anyone. This is the spiritual equivalent of  walking out in the street and yelling “Anyone want to come home with me?” Aleister Crowly recommended calling upon specific people and entities. This is a good plan.
  4. If something feels wrong, stop. End the session immediately.
  5. Record your session. It’s good to have a record, but it’s also a way to detect if something odd happened that has been removed from your memory.

If you follow these guidelines you can have an interesting connection with the spirit world. Of course, even these steps don’t guarantee your safety. There is a risk any time that you open this door. Learning what is out there and how to ground and protect yourself are critical.

Of course, sometimes people get hold of Ouija boards and realize that it’s not right for them. If you have a board that you need removed I provide this as a free service to people in the Austin, Texas areas. I will take the board away and see that it is properly handled. I will also perform a sage cleansing of your home to help dispel any lingering negative energy. If you need this service, please contact me directly.

This is the time of year when the veil between worlds is thin, so it’s a great time to reach out. Be smart. Be safe. Have a great Halloween (or Samhain if you will). Take time visit us at the Museum for some extra-spooky fun.

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Ghost hag stalks children in Ft. Worth museum

You take your children to the Fort Worth Museum. After a day of educational fun you come back home and review the pictures of the day.

“Who’s that?” your child asks pointing to someone in a picture. With a chill, you realize that there is something unearthly in the picture. Something that was there with your child!

This is the exact experience that one gentleman had. Here is a picture he took in a little mock grocery store exhibit they had set up for younger children.

photo of a grocery store exhibit for kids with miniature shopping carts, shelves full of items and a checkout register
This looks like harmless family fun

In this next picture things look a little different. What is that strange figure in the upper right?

a photo of the grocery store exhibit in the museum with a ghostly figure in the upper right
What is that thing in the top right of the picture?

Do you see? Look again…

Closer view of the mysterious draped figure that seems void of color with exagerated arms and hands
Seriously! What is that?

The original post discussion was on Reddit by KRAMERisCRUNK. He says that when he took the picture he did not see anyone in that part of the exhibit. Skeptics insist that he was mistaken, but they weren’t there, were they?

In the discussion is this comment:

[–]CagedGod

Hello, employee of the museum in question here. When we had the Titanic exhibit, our security guards would relay stories about how the 1st class bedroom mockup would randomly have its blankets messed up as if someone had been in the bed. Then the boiler room portion would have some of the boiler doors opened up.

Is this just a weird camera trick or is it evidence of the unseen world? If it is an apparition, what is its reason for being around these children? Is it just watching or does it have another purpose?

Most spirit encounters aren’t actually harmful. They are just strange and surprising because they defy our understanding of reality. The main spirit in our own Museum is sometimes even helpful in her own way and we definitely feel that she watches over things. (We are going to attempt to make contact with her and any other spirits in the area on Wednesday the 28th. Reserve your spot.)

I cannot draw any conclusions about this photograph. I do take the photographer at his word that he did not notice anyone there when he took the picture. It remains a mystery…and we like those.

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Mark Twains final work dictated by Ouija board?

Title page of Jap Herron
Title page of Jap Herron

It’s 1917 and there is a deal of controversy about a new book called Jap Herron. Why the controversy? The publishers claimed that the book was written by Mark Twain, dictated through a series of sessions with a Ouija board.  The book can be read in its entirety through the publicdomainreview.org site. This was weird in a number of ways. Twain was one to poke fun at such things. In 1866 he wrote an account of attending a seance in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.

Twain’s family was not happy about the book. His daughter Clara sued to halt publication. The woman who published the work, Emily Grant Hutchings, was not interested in a court battle, so she agreed to halt distribution and most copies were destroyed. It is a blessing of the technical world that we can have access to it at all. I hate when any kind of creation is completely destroyed.

While Twain was the most famous, he was not the only author said to reach across the veil and type their works through a planchette. In 1913, a 17th-century woman named Patience Worth, who said she was killed in an Indian raid, began to communicate with Pearl Curran. Shortly after the first sessions, Patience began to dictate poetry, novels, and plays. The link between Pearl and Patience became so strong that they were eventually able to abandon the board and the words just came into Pearl’s mind so she could speak them outright. (Dictating one letter at a time must be grueling!)

The site patienceworth.org contains a large collection of her poems. Her books Hope Trueblood and The Sorry Tale are available to read online. There is also a contemporary book, Patience Worth : a psychic mystery by Casper Yost, that gives you an idea of how this was seen at the time.

Jane Roberts began communicating in 1963 with an entity that identified itself as Seth. Over time they accumulated a good deal of information that was published as The Seth Material. I also found some interesting video on YouTube of Roberts talking about her encounters with Seth. All of this work seems more geared to spiritual teaching rather than literature.

Recently, the band The Mars Volta claimed their album The Bedlam in Goliath was inspired by a Ouija board. This NPR review lets you hear some of the album and considers the Ouija claim. There is also a YouTube video of an interview with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (WARNING: CONTAINS SOME ADULT LANGUAGE) where he talks about the more troubling aspects of that experience.

If we consider talking boards to be gateways to other worlds and other beings why wouldn’t they want to express themselves? It seems like a great way to keep in touch with one’s public. Of course, who gets the royalties?

If you are in the Austin, Texas area, I will be participating in a special event presented by the Austin Horror Society centered around talking boards. It’s at Sherlock’s pub on Tuesday, October 13th and it’s free! See more on the Facebook event.

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Weird world of spirit photos

Photo of a young lady posing in front of a skeleton on display
One of our Museum guests poses with Emily, the haunted skeleton. Alas! No ghosties.

When someone in the Museum seems to have an especially strong connection to Emily, our haunted skeleton, I always try to take a couple of photos of them standing next to her. I take two so that I can see any differences between them. If I was using a proper camera rather than my phone I’d use the automatic feature to take several frames. That way if there is any sort of anomaly such as an orb I have a better chance to catch it.

The idea of photographing ghosts is almost as old as the camera itself. The first reported ghost photo was taken by a man named W. Campbell in 1860. It was a picture of a chair which, when developed, was found to contain the ghostly figure of a boy. Early camera technology was primitive and very long exposures were required to get a good image. Everyone had to remain very still for a minute or so. Any movement or someone stepping in or out of the picture would create a ghostly apparition. Campbell maintained that this was not the case in his photo. (I looked but have not yet found a copy of this image to share.)

1872 photo of a bearded man with a faint figure of a woman
First spirit photo taken in 1872
Photo of Mary Todd Lincoln in black with a ghostly figure of Abraham Lincoln resting his hands on her shoulders
Photo of Mary Todd Lincoln with the apparition of Abraham behind her

However, after the rise of spiritualism, people began trying to capture images of ghosts on camera. The original king of spirit photography is William H Mumler. His first spirit photo shows the apparition of his deceased wife. Mumler became the first one to do portraits of people that contain ghosts. His most famous one is probably the photo he took of Mary Todd Lincoln which shows her husband standing behind her in an apparent gesture of tenderness.

Remember that these were in the days before digital photography and enhancing photos with Photoshop (or the freely available GIMP). Everything had to be done on glass plates. If we assume the Lincoln photo is faked it still shows a remarkable amount of skill!

Others began to do spirit photos. William Hope started his own line of photos in 1905. Here are examples of his work.

Early 1900s photo of several people seated around a table as a ghostly hand reaches up from a mist
A ghostly hand rises up to rap on the table during a seance.
Early 1900s photo of a seated man as squiggles of light surround him
This man appears to be surround by swirling mists of energy.
Early 1900s photo of a famly visiting a deceased man. An apparition peers leans into the picture.
A ghostly photobomb?
A larger collection of Hope’s photos is available for study. Here is another excellent collection of spirit photos from various sources by photographers Jack and Beverly.

Of course, with all of these apparent fakes does that mean that there were no legitimate spirit photographs taken? Before you decide you might want to take a look at this photo gallery from the folks at paranormal.about.com. These are the cream of the crop from many, many submissions that people receive.

We actually have a video, recently received from a guest that shows some unusual activity. We need to mask a child’s face for privacy reasons but the we will share it with you. If you have ghostly photos you have taken, please share them with us! You might be featured in a future blog!

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Hendrix seance artifact up for auction

Waxwork of Jimi Hendrix posed playing guitar
This wax figure of Jimi Hendrix stands in Mme Tussauds of London
Photo by Denis Bourez [CC BY 2.0] via Wikimedia Commons.
We have a number of bizarre artifacts in the Museum of the Weird, but I don’t think I’ll be able to talk Steve into bidding on this one. It’s a hair charm that Jimi Hendrix wore and it contains some of his actual hair!

You don’t think that’s weird enough? According to this article from the radio station 3WV site, this charm was actually used in a séance held by Guitar World Magazine in 1993, 23 years after the guitarist’s death in 1970.

Celebrity séances are not at all unusual. Who wouldn’t like the opportunity to talk to somebody famous? Even in the Bible we have the tale of King Saul who asked the Witch of Endor to put him in touch with Samuel (1 Samuel, Ch 28). That did not go so well.

Harry Houdini, famed turn-of-the-20th-century magician who spoke out aggressively against mediums and séance, died from an accident in 1929—Halloween night to be exact. For years after his death, his wife, Bess, worked to contact him through an annual séance. They were supposed to have a code word he would giverher to prove it was him. Her final attempt was in 1936. While the code was never received, a horrible storm raged over the rooftop where this final event was held. It seems that the storm was isolated to that area and did not affect those surrounding. Weird…

A story in the biography of William Butler Yeats tells how the poet was inspired by a séance to do automatic writing, which resulted in his book A Vision.

Photo of Mary Todd Lincoln
Portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln somewhere between 1860 and 1865. This is around the time she tried to contact her dead son.

After their son Willie died, Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln, held several séances in the White House. Abraham was also said to have had some troubling dreams and visions that could have pointed to his assassination in 1865. Lincoln was not the only First Lady with an interest in this sort of thing. This article on FirstLadies.org describes ways that many presidential wives brought more than cookie recipes into the White House.

Some stars such as Elvis, John Lennon, and Michael Jackson attract a lot of attention. I talk to someone at least once a week who would like to reach Elvis if they could.

So, if we had this very personal item from Jimi Hendrix would we be able to contact him? There’s really only one way to find out. What I do know is that, before you go to bed, if you focus deeply and ask sincerely, Hendrix—or anyone for that matter—can visit you in your dreams. You might be very surprised at the connection!

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Our haunted hotel neighbor

Photo of the Driskill Hotel
The amazing Driskill Hotel is just a few blocks up the street from the Museum of the Weird
Photo by Nika Vee [cc-by 2.0] via flickr

A few blocks west of the Museum of the Weird lies a beautiful, old hotel called the Driskill. It was built in 1885 by cattle baron Colonel Jesse Driskill and designed to be the finest hotel this side of the Mississippi in its day. The hotel has been fully restored to its original glory and is one of those places where time disappears once you enter. It’s also very haunted.

Celebrities Annie Lennox and Johnette Napolitano both are reported to have had experiences in the hotel. Napolitano was inspired by hers to write the song Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man (see the video).

The ghost of a suicide bride haunts the corridors and is occasionally encountered by guests.

The ghost of a young girl, daughter of a U.S. Senator, who was killed after a fall down a marble staircase, is said to bounce a ball and disturb the doors and fixtures in the upstairs bathroom.

Some have reported a strange disturbance in their room. The bathroom mirrors are fogged as though someone had a shower and mysterious scribbling is found on the pad between the beds. The first occurance was discovered when the couple returned to their room one afternoon. The second was discovered when the people awoke that morning!

Staff in the hotel have told me about touches and pinches they have received working in parts of the building, especially on the top floor. In some cases it seems that the spirits will haze the new people a little by giving them some special attention until they show respect.

Several years ago, a colleague and I had our own encounters. We took a digital camera to the 5th floor to take pictures around the legendary room 525. As we stepped down from the elevators into the old part of the hotel my camera ran out of battery. I had thought they were good, but apparently not. We satisfied ourselves with simply walking around and taking the place in. Later, on the street, I activated the camera again to see if it had enough juice to pull the motorized lens back in so I could put it away. It came up with full charge and worked fine for several hours. It just didn’t want to work on that floor.

My colleague reported strolling around on that hallway and hearing a woman’s voice singing what sounded like an old tune in the vicinity of 525. There was work being done on the rooms and they appeared to be unoccupied at the time. He said it sounded “old” to him, not like modern singing, and that I would know what he meant if I’d heard it.  He was with two other people who heard the same thing and could not determine a source for the singing.

Photo of LBJ and his family watching television
LBJ watches the 1964 election results from his suite at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas.

The Driskill is a delightful place. It’s housed many wealthy and powerful people. During the time that the Texas State Capitol was built, the legislature held meetings at the Driskill. LBJ watched his election results there. Many other politicians have made it their center while in Austin.

The next time you are by the Museum, take some time to walk up the street and visit our neighbor. You are guaranteed an experience, though it may not necessarily be a ghostly one. Of course, if you do encounter something otherworldy, please let us know!

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Haunted mirrors

photo of an Asian woman brushing her teeth in a mirror with a ghostly figure of a Victorian woman reflected behind her
Are mirrors gateways into other worlds?

Mirrors are creepy. They show us a backwards view of our own world, suggesting that there is another realm just beyond. Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass gave us that image of what it might be like to pass into that world. Of course, he’s not the only one.

Jewish tradition dictates that mirrors should be draped when someone dies, a tradition that was adopted by the formal traditions of Victorian mourning. Reasons for this vary with the source. Some say it’s more about peace for the mourners. Others say it’s about the dangers of these spirit doorways which are more vulnerable at the time of someone’s passing.

Some of us have played Bloody Mary and similar games, actually daring something to reveal itself in the mirror. Is this childish or unwise? Are these just silly, spooky thrills or do we actually risk opening the door to let something nasty in?

Photo of a Victorian mirror hanging over a table with a bust statue of a woman
Does this mirror on the Myrtle Plantation contain the spirit of tortured souls?
Photo by Corey Balazowich [CC BY-ND 2.0] via flickr
There are many instances of haunted mirrors. One famous legend involves a mirror on the Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana. It is said that this mirror holds the spirit of Sara Woodruff. After Sara died this mirror was accidentally left uncovered and she will appear or leave handprints here.

Of course, there are haunted mirrors right here in Austin, Texas. The famously bespooked Driskill Hotel, a few blocks from the Museum, has the Maximilian Room. It’s named for the Mexican Emperor Maximilian and contains mirrors that he commissioned for his wife, Carlotta, before he was killed in an uprising. They were beautifully crafted in France, but never delivered. Three years after Carlotta died, The Driskill purchased the mirrors and hung them in an elegant new dining room, often used for weddings.

Legend has it that a mysterious White Lady is sometimes seen reflected in the mirrors. Some suggest that this apparition is the Empress Carlotta.

Do you have any stories of strange things in a mirror? Do you think they really can be doorways to other worlds? Share with us.

In the mean time, we take care with our mirrors, because you just never know.

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Tickets please

Funny ghost poster.
Poster in the London Underground takes a no-nonsense view of ghosts. Screen readers refer to this text.

I admit, I’m fond of the British. They generally have an admirable calm and dignity that is worth imitating. Submitted for your perusal is this poster, found in a London Underground, addressing the presence of spirits. It’s obviously a joke—and a good one—but reports of ghosts in the tube system are commonplace.

This Daily Star article describes encounters with “a girl with ‘coal-black pits for eye sockets’” that first emerged in the 1980s, and is still making appearances. Other regular encounters include the mad ghost of Sarah Whitehead, also known as the Black Nun, who haunts the Bank Station.

Of course, London is not the only place with haunted trains. According to this Silicon India News article there are ghosts spotted in stations all over the world. Here are a few doozies:

  • Caobao Road Subway Station in Shanghai, China, has frequent break downs that seem to get better once the trains are free of the station. One story suggests that a man was dragged onto the tracks by a spirit!
  • Panteones Metro Station in Mexico City—the name literally means “Graveyards”— was built near two old cemeteries.  Workers hear mysterious knocks on the walls and have seen indistinct, shadowy shapes moving around. Screams are sometimes heard along the tracks.
  • Guards at Waterfront Station in Canada have seen a number of bizarre reflections of past passengers. One saw a 1920’s flapper complete with music from the era that vanished as approached.
  • Connolly Station in Ireland was badly damaged during a 1941 bombing attack. A soldier in grey has been seen roaming the platform and a guard watching the security camera saw two figures in military gear who disappeared when he investigated.

Why do ghosts return to these subways? Do they think of them as special places? They are certainly places where people have spent a lot of time. When I die I hope I don’t find myself trapped in someplace that was part of my day-to-day, mundane world. Imagine spending the afterlife sitting at that red light, or trapped behind a keyboard?

We’re interested in your weird travel encounters. We’ll share the interesting ones here.

 

 

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Ouija does it…

ouija_boards
Three talking boards await clearing by Doc Saul Ravencraft.

As I give tours to visitors at the Museum of the Weird I tell them about my role in making sure that everything our owner, Steve, brings to the Museum is safe for display to the public. We have young people and drinking people who come in and we don’t want anything that will be spiritually challenging or that might follow you home.

Recently, Steve walks in with these three talking boards that I think he bought from an estate sale. If you are alive, you know that talking boards (Ouija is treated as a trademarked brand name by Parker Brothers) have a reputation for ghostly activity and demonic possession that would make for a good horror film. Though, it usually makes for a bad horror film; the 2014 film Ouija only hit 7% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you are dead, you might find these corridors of communication to be pretty interesting. (I’m not sure what our readership is from beyond.)

Are talking boards dangerous? Are they invitations to dark spirits? Are they a telephone to relatives on the other side? Are they a party game that is more hoax than hex?

ouija_does_it
May 1, 1920 cover featuring Ouija board art by Norman Rockwell

Talking boards haven’t always had this terrible reputation. When they were first made commercial by William Fuld in 1890 spiritualism was in its heyday. People didn’t have an Xbox to gather around so they found other ways to entertain themselves. A séance made for a fun evening, whether you were a true believer or not. (It still does.) It was a common enough part of Americana that Norman Rockwell chose it for the May 1, 1920 cover of The Saturday Evening Post.

To get a feel for all of this, I highly recommend looking through the on-line Museum of Talking Board’s gallery. There are some beautiful and quirky versions of the talking board.

The darker reputation of the Ouija board is a more recent phenomenon. It’s not hard to find terrifying tales by people whose game turned into something supernatural. Religious and skeptical groups cry out against them, though for opposite reasons. Even so, the boards remain popular, with the classic boards selling more. Beautiful, artistic versions of the board are widely produced.

Of course, you don’t need to buy a fancy board to make a connection. You can make your own talking board with a piece of paper, Scrabble® tiles or any number of methods. For homemade methods it’s common to use an overturned glass. There are also games, such as the more recent Charlie Charlie, that look to connect with nothing more than a piece of paper and a couple of pencils. (Some of the Charlie Charlie videos are pretty funny.)

On my end, I used my own methods to clear these talking boards of any previous spiritual presence they might contain. The Ouija Queen board went to another collector and the other two came into my own. Will they be tools for amusement or will they open gateways into terror? Time will tell. Until then, I leave you with this brief TV ad by Parker Brothers.