by Sharon | Mar 9, 2019
Here’s a true story about a haunted house by the railroad tracks.
I love haunted house stories, but add the railroad tracks and I’m thrilled. I do love old railroad tracks and railroad depots. I love model railroad trains. There is just something extremely special about them. It may be all the old movies I saw or old books I read as a kid, or that my grandmother’s house had the railroad tracks and depot beyond her backyard. I loved climbing on the fence to wave at the conductor when he’d pull into the station. It was a thrill I’ve never forgotten. This is where my brother taught me to climb the old walnut tree in the backyard, but the conductor couldn’t see me, so I’d hang on the fence. We’d also have a great view from the back upstairs bedroom window, but I preferred the fence.
Was my grandmother’s house haunted? Is this a story about that? No, this was just an introduction. I have shared some experiences about my grandmother and her sister, but this isn’t my story, it’s from JoAnne who came to the coffee shop one morning to share her story.
The house came alive at night.
That was an excellent opening that got everyone’s attention right from the start. When JoAnne was a child, she and her mother would visit her Aunt Louise and cousin Sadie. They had great fun together and were almost like sisters.
At breakfast one morning, Aunt Louise whispered to her sister Martha, I heard it again last night. There was a bouncing ball on the stairs and she heard a man yell, “Billy, stop bouncing that ball down the stairs, you’ll break the window.”
Martha was uncomfortable talking of ghosts in front of JoAnne, but Sadie didn’t seem to be bothered or traumatized by living in a haunted house. Nevertheless, Martha said it must be the train rattling the whole house when it came by. It was all she could think of to say since she didn’t hear the bouncing ball or the man shout out. The house was well insulated and some distance from the tracks, but if you listened, you could hear the train whistle while it passed to warn travelers when it crossed the road down the street. JoAnne always found the sound comforting.
She asked her cousin if the house was haunted and she answered in the affirmative. She saw a woman in her bedroom a few times looking for something. At first, she thought it was a burglar and shouted out to her mom, but when she came in the room and turned on the light, no one was there. Her father, Uncle Fred, looked throughout the house and checked the windows and the doors, but nothing was there. Sadie remembered seeing her several more times and finally she stopped coming, but there were others.
JoAnne was intrigued and wanted to see a ghost. They thought they arrived on the train. At one time the old house was a boarding house a several decades before they moved in. Neighbors spoke of all the interesting people who stayed at the boarding house for one night or longer. There was a wedding there once and one elderly woman did die in her sleep in one of the middle bedrooms with windows on the side of the house. One particular neighbor claimed to see a woman looking out the window.
JoAnne had to check that out, but never saw anyone in the window, but she did see shadowy figures in the stairway when she looked through the large window on the other side of the house.
A few years later, JoAnne and her mother moved into the old haunted house near the railroad tracks.
JoAnne’s father was a traveling salesman and was in a serious accident. He was in the hospital for several weeks, but didn’t survive the internal injuries he suffered and never awoke from the coma due to the head injuries sustained in the accident.
It was a sad day when they arrived. Sadie was welcoming and for a few months the girls shared a room before JoAnne decided to move into the room next door overlooking the front of the house.
JoAnne’s mother moved into one of the middle bedrooms. Her aunt and uncle had the master suite at the back of the house.
There were six bedrooms upstairs with three bathrooms, not counting the one in the master suite. There were two bedrooms downstairs with an adjoining bathroom. There was a full basement that had old furniture and numerous boxes filled with a variety of items. No one went into the basement and no one spoke of the basement. One of the downstairs bedrooms was used as Uncle Fred’s office and the other was Aunt Louise’s sewing and craft room. The two remaining upstairs bedrooms were guest rooms available for visiting relatives.
JoAnne became aware of the noises outside her bedroom door and the sound of the bouncing ball on the stairs. She remembers it was a Saturday night, just about a week after she moved into a room of her own that she heard the breaking of glass. “Now you’ve done it!” she heard a man’s voice boom. Joanne slipped under the covers and tried to cover her ears. The fearful cries and screamed that came from the child brought goose bumps to her arms. She wanted to help, but was too afraid to leave the security of her bedroom.
She listened to see if her mother, aunt or uncle would investigate, but no one seemed to hear what she did. She heard what she believed to be the basement door open and slam closed, then the bolt slide into place. “Stay there until I calm down,” the man said. Then she heard the back door open and close.
JoAnne knew the child, the bouncing ball and the man were ghosts that had been there for a long time, but this was different.
She went downstairs and opened the basement door.
Old furniture and boxes were scattered around the basement. She was afraid to go down into the basement alone, so she closed and bolted the door before returning to her room.
At breakfast she shared her experience of the night before. Uncle Fred told her never to go down into the basement again. JoAnne had never seen her uncle angry before.
At church a few hours later, she couldn’t sit still and slipped out the back to walk in the garden and cemetery a short distance from the church. It was quiet and peaceful.
“You staying at the old Corwin place?” an old man asked.
“I’m staying with my Aunt Louise and Uncle Fred,” she answered.
“Yes, that’s the old Corwin place.”
JoAnne thought their conversation was over when he asked, “Any strange things going on over there?”
She knew exactly what he meant and told him of her experience and how angry her uncle became when she told him she opened the basement door.
“Aw, the basement,” the old man said and walked away.
JoAnne didn’t follow the old man. Part of her wanted to know about the basement and another part didn’t. She wanted to forget the whole thing ever happened.
Activity escalated in the old house.
JoAnne thought it was her fault for opening the basement door. Her mother found a furnished apartment they could move in during the following week. Her mother was working and felt it was time for them to have a place of their own.
They had just gotten settled into their apartment when Sadie called and asked her Aunt Martha to come to the house. Something terrible had happened.
Sadie had attended summer church camp that weekend and when no one came to pick her up, she decided to walk home. When she got there, the house was dark and she found both her mother and father at the bottom of the basement stairs.
Martha called the police and they waited out on the front porch.
After the funeral and the reading of the will, Sadie gathered up the remaining clothes and personal items and walked out of the house for the last time.
Fred and Louise left the house and all their belongings to Martha. Sadie could choose to live with her Aunt Martha or her Aunt Brenda and Uncle Ralph in Kentucky. After dinner at the apartment, Sadie left with her aunt and uncle.
JoAnne was afraid of the old house, but she and her mother moved back in.
They cleaned the house from attic to basement. They had a huge yard sale. They had a priest bless the house. They donated some of the old records and photographs of the house and families that left albums in the basement to the historical society.
There didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the basement. Sadie had remarked about hearing chains rattling down there, but no one dared go in there to investigate. That’s why it was so strange for Louise and Fred to be found down there.
The old man JoAnne met at the church cemetery came for a visit about a month later to see how they were getting along. JoAnne asked him about the basement.
He explained that in the 1950’s the house belonged to a couple with a small boy. The couple were a bit strange. They practiced some kind of black magic and had several people staying there that shared their interests.
“Something was always going on there at night and lasted until just before dawn.” He paused for a minute then continued. “That big window was broken in the stairwell I noticed one day and asked the man if he needed help fixing it. He said it didn’t need fixing and told me to mind my own business. After that, the place was empty, but a neighbor complained of hearing a child crying. The police found nothing except some cats behind the house and thought that was what the neighbors had heard.”
“Later there was a stench about the place and the police were called again. They entered through the broken window and discovered the little boy chained to the wall, dead.”
The house remained empty for quite awhile, then someone fixed up the old place and sold it. People lived in the house for awhile and then moved out. It was sold about a dozen times before Louise and Fred bought it.
What lured them to their deaths in the basement remains a mystery. Sadie still blames JoAnne and Aunt Martha for the death of her parents. She’s happy in Kentucky with her father’s brother and his wife and three boys. Did opening the basement door escalate the haunting activity? It seemed to stem more from what Louise and Fred were doing than with opening the basement door. They were practicing some black magic that got out of hand. They found some old books they’d been reading before Martha and JoAnne arrived. Every evening they’d go down in the basement and perform their rituals. The residual ghosts of the previous residents replayed the bouncing of the ball and the breaking of the window. JoAnne believes it was a warning to her to make her aware of what was going on in the basement. Fred’s anger was due to the possibility of JoAnne learning what he and his wife were doing in the basement during full moons and solstices.
This was discovered when Martha and JoAnne cleaned the basement.
JoAnne soon grew to love the old house. Yes, it is haunted, but those who haunt the house cause no trouble. There’s a ghostly priest who comes by in the evening, but several ghostly nuns stay there. At night they hear prayers. It is as comforting as the train whistle she hears in the distance.
Was that creepy enough for you?
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Mar 7, 2019
My Ghost Hunting Group met at our favorite coffee house the other morning.
Many of them keep a journal of their paranormal experiences. I don’t keep one and neither does my friend Barbara. We usually remember our experiences when prompted by another member who shares something or asks a question. Maybe this blog is my paranormal journal of sorts.
My experiences seem to repeat from time to time. For example, there’s a place where I pick up “ghosts” in my car. This is the route I take to go to the bank and to the vet. This particular corner seems to be where they hitch a ride. I don’t especially like it, because they seem to suck the air out of the car. I open the windows and the moon roof to bring more air in. I’m also hoping the added air will suck them out. They don’t need to hitch a ride with me. They can get where they want to go on their own.
I did share this experience at one of our gatherings and others have experienced the same thing on this same corner and also when they leave the cemetery.
Spirits do attach themselves to you.
That’s why it’s a good idea to let spirits know they can’t hitch a ride with you, especially when you’re on your way home.
I know on my recent trip to the vet, I had a few spirits with me. For one, my little Yorkie was barking and growling at something that wanted to get in her seat. She was having no part of it. For two, before we walked into the waiting room, several dogs were barking and whining. I just hope they don’t connect the mayhem with me –I may be looking for another vet.
I do tell my hitchhiking ghosts to get out and not to follow me, but they do what they want. Some follow others out the door and hitch a ride home with someone leaving the vet’s office. Or they go to the various examination rooms snooping around and causing havoc.
I’m wondering if these spirits just want to have fun or if they are looking for a place where they can be comfortable. I always make it a point to drive by mortuaries so they have a chance to find their way to the light and go where they belong, but who am I to say where they belong.
Carla has been plagued by a ghost.
“It started when I was a little girl,” she began. “We were on a camping trip with my aunt and uncle and cousins. We had separate tents — one for each family, but I wanted to be with my cousin, so I was allowed to set up my sleeping bag next to hers.”
After dinner, sitting around the campfire, Carla’s aunt told of a ghost of a little girl that has been with her her whole life. She sees her reflection in the mirror or in a window. It’s odd when she doesn’t see her from time to time.
Carla’s mother remembers that little girl and when she first attached herself to her sister.
“I remember when you were having trouble at school,” Carol said.
“Yes,” Candy said with a faraway look in her eyes — remembering. “I remember when these boys used to follow me around and tease me. Sometimes they would push me. I don’t know why they targeted me to pick on, but it was horrible.”
This little ghost girl was able to knock them down and kick sand in their faces. Instead of this helping Carla, it made me more angry and escalated the situation.
“Come to think of it,” Candy said, “This little girl was not helping me at all.”
But as the story goes, this little girl had been taunted years earlier by another group of boys who were responsible for her death. It was claimed to be an accident, but many believed it was murder.
Ruth Ann, the ghost girl, was a good student and a pretty girl. She lived on the poor side of town, but with the busing, she was assigned to that school along with a whole bus load of other kids. They may have been picked on, too, but Ruth Ann was the main target for this group of bullies.
Ruth Ann missed the bus one afternoon, because she was locked in the bathroom. By the time the janitor heard her pounding on the door and screaming, the bus had already gone without her.
She had no choice, but to walk home.
Rocks were thrown at her — it seemed from all directions. Ruth Ann took off running, but one hit her in the head. When she fell to the ground, the boys circled around her and continued throwing rocks. Some were grabbing at her clothes.
It’s a tragic story and days before DNA testing, but since those accused were from a “good family” and Ruth Ann was from the wrong side of town, nothing much was done about it.
Ruth Ann attached herself to Candy, Carla’s aunt to protect her from the bullies.
Why did she attach herself to Carla during that camping trip?
Carla was having a bullying problem at school. She was a good student and the girls and some boys were calling her a geek and other unflattering names.
It seemed over the years with Aunt Candy, Ruth Ann acquired more skills of protecting the human and seeking revenge upon the bullies. In the lunch room she became quite adept at exploding the catsup and mustard packets to soil the users shirt or blouse or to dump their food on the floor. She thought it great run to have tatter tots scattered in the path of the bullies and watch them slip on them while they were carrying a tray of food.
Eventually, the bullies stopped tormenting Carla, but Ruth Ann continued bothering them.
Carla and her aunt do see Ruth Ann from time to time, but she may have moved on to other children who are experiencing bullying. It may be Ruth Ann’s calling in her afterlife to help others and encourage bullies to change their ways.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Feb 2, 2019
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Is the Winchester Mansion really haunted?
Psychics have visited the mansion and believe spirits still roam around the grounds and the mansion. The ghost of Sarah Winchester has been seen by many over the years.
On one particular visit, I’ve been there several times, there was a séance I attended. Sadly we didn’t contact Sarah Winchester that night, but I gathered she wasn’t going to be summoned by the likes of psychics and amateur “ghost hunters.”
I didn’t like the way the séance was going so I excused myself and followed footsteps I heard in a corridor. With the echo, your guess would be as good as mine as to where I was going and, of course, I got good and lost. I heard doors open and close. I felt cold spots. I saw orbs of light dancing around. I even saw groups of women in black scurrying away. Door knobs turned. Windows rattled. I was given quite a show of activity, I can’t claim was all of the paranormal nature.
I found the kitchen. I heard someone ask, “Would you like tea, dear?”
I promptly answered, “No thank you.”
I looked around, but no one was there. The kettle wasn’t on and I didn’t want to find out what would happen if I answered, “Yes, thank you.”
I went into another room and sat down. I wanted to take in my surroundings.
I heard someone playing the piano off in the distance. I understood Sarah Winchester was an accomplish pianist. Would I be so lucky to hear her play?
I sat stiffly in the chair. I could feel the movement of cold air moving around me. I thought the spirits were as curious about me as I was about them.
“Why aren’t you at the séance?” I asked to no one in particular.
“Follow,” was the disjointed EVP sound I heard.
I wasn’t sure if it meant I was followed or I was to follow. To be honest, I wasn’t leaving the chair. I wasn’t going to be led around that house of mystery and step out a door that wasn’t at ground level or get any more lost than I already was at the moment.
“Is Mrs. Winchester receiving guests this evening?” I asked, just to break the silence.
A door opened to my left. The piano music had stopped quite awhile ago.
I felt the room turn icy cold.
“This can’t be good for Mrs. Winchester’s arthritis,” I said absently.
“No longer a problem.” I heard distinctly. I quickly turned around to see who had spoken to me.
Nothing was there.
“Are you Mrs. Winchester?” I asked hopefully.
I received no response, but a fire started blazing in the fireplace.
“Better?” I heard.
“Yes, thank you. Can you tell me how to get back to my friends and the séance?”
“No.”
All right, I was just going to sit tight until someone came looking for me.
I don’t know what happened, other than falling asleep with the cozy fire blazing.
My friends found me after the séance and we headed for the motel.
I can’t really tell you much about the séance and the rest of the weekend. I did have a lovely walk in the gardens before we headed for home, but I felt as though I was walking in my sleep.
Once I arrived home, I felt refreshed, but had a very sketchy memory of the Winchester Mystery House.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Jan 22, 2019
There’s a legendary haunted estate not far from my home.
Many of my ghost hunting friends have visited this place several times over the years, bringing in psychics and other paranormal investigators who have all experienced the same creepy feeling … some even refusing to walk inside.
That’s basically the my feeling when I was invited to visit the place. I could feel my heart racing before we even arrived on the property. I could also sense that we were not welcome — even though we received permission from the home owner.
I’ll admit I’m not all that brave when it come to exploring haunted places. I do have a fascination about the whole paranormal realm, but I won’t put myself in harm. I don’t like being pushed or knocked down — which has happened.
I’m not immediately prone to anger, but with whatever was in the basement of this house wanted to provoke anger and feed off of it.
I mentioned this to my friends before entering the house.
I’m not sure if they heard me or just ignored me because I’m usually the first one to leave an investigation.
We heard very clearly “Get Out!” and much profanity … but we continued investigating the house. I loved the antiques and was surprised by how neat and tidy the house appeared since no one was physically living there.
It was interesting that the farther away from the basement I moved, the calmer I felt … until I opened the door to one of the bedrooms and immediately jumped back.
I later learned of family members who occupied that bedroom were into the dark arts. It is believed they invited some evil entity into the house and it decided to occupy the basement … But there was definitely something going on inside that bedroom.
I heard growling and saw dark shapes moving around. There were knocking sounds coming from a clocked closet door. I heard voices of crying out for help, but I wasn’t stepping foot in that room.
I did call out to them to move into the light, but informed there was no light only darkness and it was blazing hot inside.
I explored some of the other upstair bedrooms.
I could feel a lot of sadness throughout the house.
There had been suicides in the house as well as deaths of natural causes. So, this estate was haunted by a number of entities.
I was curious about those people who had lived and died there and their feelings about the place. I did hear one woman say it was a great place to raise their family, but when some cousins came to stay they got into the dark arts and left the chaos from their rituals behind them when they moved out.
I heard arguing downstairs and decided to see what was happening among my friends and suggest we leave … or at least step outside.
We didn’t need to feed the anger and rage that fed the “beast” in the basement.
It was interesting to see how everyone was on edge after exploring the basement. I suggested they go upstairs and explore there or explore the grounds … but they wanted to stay and argue.
I took the arm of my friend, Barbara, and forced her to come with me outside.
It was almost as though she was in a trance once we got outside on the porch. We sat down on some chairs and after a few minutes Barbara was back to her ol’ jolly self telling me how scared she was in the basement.
“There was something growling at us and swearing … I wanted to leave, but Hank insisted we all stay together and explore every inch of the basement.”
Barbara did return inside the house to get everyone else outside.
It was interesting to watch how at first they continued arguing … but then suddenly stopped … They didn’t seem to know where they were or what was going on.
After a few minutes in the fresh air, everyone was calm and back to “normal”.
I think in some ways that scared me more than what I heard and saw inside the house.
I thought it funny how at one point the “house” wanted us to leave and when we decided to leave the “house” wanted us to stay and explore some more. The front door even opened for us.
Fortunately, we’ve all had enough and were soon on our way back home to have another Real Ghost Story to share.
Thanks for stopping by.
Be sure to check out some of the ghost hunting equipment below to see what you can discover in your own home and surrounding area.
Sharon
by Sharon | Jan 20, 2019
I enjoy having interesting discussions with my ghost hunting friends.
We had a lively discussion and finally settled on ghosts are tied to a particular location and spirits are free to roam as in the expression “free spirit.”
Now that I think of it, there were ghosts at my parent’s old place that seemed to belong there. They were primarily in the yard. They didn’t follow them when they moved, but the new owner complained about lights turning on and off and the electric bill being more expensive each month.
I doubt these ghosts went inside to cause problems for the new owners. I believe the new owners brought their own spirits with them. Or attracted new ones.
The house was located approximately 5 miles away from a hospital and there was a cemetery across the street from the hospital.
I know I’ve had spirits trying to come home with me after visiting someone in the hospital or cemetery. I’ve had to be very firm with them to stay where they were and to not follow me home.
I have heard that spirits feed off the electrical system.
My cousin has seen her deceased father in her car waiting for her when she’s shopping at night. It’s comforting for her to know he’s still around to look out for her, but she has had to charge her battery regularly or replace it before the warranty is up. She has had the car checked to see why the battery is being drained, but there is no mechanical explanation.
There is always a fear that spirits will follow you home.
Many times they do, but we must not invite them to do so, unless you want to. The problem is most of us don’t know what we’re inviting in. Too often what we believe to be children turn out to be demons that create all kinds of problems.
I had once been of the belief of allowing ghosts and spirits to stay where they are, but when they impact my life in unpleasant ways, I have been forced to send them on their way elsewhere. Preferably “into the light.”
There can be ghosts, demons and spirits in antiques and old homes.
There is plenty of old haunted stuff out there waiting to be picked up by someone and brought into their homes. I have a friend who picked up an interesting piece of wood that was once part of a picket fence in front of an old house that was being demolished. He had it in his car and pretty much forgot about it, but he was getting speeding tickets, parking tickets and also had people running into him. He attributed it to that old piece of wood.
He later put that piece of wood in his yard to stake up a rose bush. It wasn’t long that sprinklers would turn on and off, he had a couple of pipes burst because of high water pressure and the rose bush died — some may believe from over watering or lack of watering which is possible, but he believes it had to do with that old haunted piece of wood he picked up.
This can be true of many things that one finds.
I found an odd coin that I believed to be lucky, but it was anything but. My lucky day was when I lost it.
To tell you the truth, I was tempted to leave it some place for someone else or even throw it out, but I kept it thinking I would do some research on it — of course, I never did. I only hope whoever has it now is having better luck with it than I did and has taken the time to research it.
I hope this article was helpful and informative or got you thinking of some of your own personal experiences involving ghosts and spirits. I’d love to hear about them.
Please leave a comment below or send me an email: sharon@twocansonastring.com
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
by Sharon | Dec 6, 2018
I haven’t been adding real ghost stories to this website for awhile … mainly due to a personal experience that still bothers me. I won’t be writing about it any time soon. I don’t know about you, but there are times a paranormal experience does scare you so seriously that you have to take a break for awhile. That is the reason for my absence …
Since it has been raining, I thought the atmosphere was right to once again tell you a real ghost story. This one happened to me when I was young visiting my great-aunt.
I remember reading a fictional story about a fireplace that was haunted. Then I saw this really great Halloween project of a skeleton in a fireplace.
Then I remembered my own personal experience about seeing the ghost of a woman standing near the fireplace from many years ago.
I love sitting near a roaring fire, listening to music or reading a good book. It’s fun to sit by the fire with family and friends and tell ghost stories, too . . . or just chat.
I suppose the most memorial experiences are those that happen to us as children. That seems true for me.
I was at my great aunt’s house and it was really cold in the house. The heat was on, but the living room seemed uncommonly cold. My father suggested making a fire in the fireplace, but she adamantly refused.
We were bundled up in blankets and drinking hot chocolate.
I looked longingly at the fireplace and the stack of wood logs that set outside and a few inside that were waiting to be lit. Then, out of my peripheral vision a ghostly apparition of a young girl, no older than me, floated to the fireplace. She was wearing a nightgown from an era gone by. I watched silently.
When she turned around, I screamed.
The front of her nightgown was gone and her face and body had been burned. The flesh was red and raw hanging onto her bones.
It took awhile for my parents to calm me down. My great aunt may have seen her, too. She calmly explained it all to us.
“I’ve been having dreams since Martin and I first moved in here,” she began. “It was a little girl who was playing in the living room with her dolls.”
That’s how the dreams always began. Some would continue with her playing. As the months and years of having this same dream, the scene changed with a man walking in and throwing one of her dolls in the fireplace.
My great aunt could feel the sadness in the child upon being scolded and losing one of her cherished dolls.
More time passed, but the dreams continued and were expanded.
When the man left, the little girl went to the fireplace to retrieve her beloved doll.
I remember my great aunt telling us she awoke screaming, “No, don’t!”
From what I saw, the little girl, evidently, did retrieve her doll, but caught herself on fire in the process.
My great aunt was so disturbed by this that she never lit a fire in the fireplace since. It was a warning to her that she took to heart.
I remember my grandmother scoffing at her sister by saying, “You aren’t playing with dolls, my dear. There’s no reason for all of us to be freezing because of some silly dream about a child who once lived here.”
She walked over to the fireplace, lit a match and it went out. She lit another with the same result. I don’t know how many she lit before she gave up.
I didn’t see the ghostly child blow out the matches, but there was a part of me that was relieved my grandmother didn’t succeed in lighting the logs in the fireplace.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sharon
