Spring Break Horse And Buggy Ride

by | Apr 22, 2019

I don’t know what has been going on lately … but have you been experiencing more paranormal activity … Things going “bump” in the night?

Or sounds that have you jumping out of your skin … or feeling a bit anxious?

With some of the sounds I’ve been hearing I’m not sure if they are inside or outside the house. At first I thought there were car doors slamming … then I wasn’t sure. I usually don’t look out — That’s right, I’m afraid what I might see …

It does seem that many ghost hunters are experiencing more activity — sometimes needing to run out of places they’re exploring … Then going back … All I can say is that something different is going on …

I’ve been enjoying spring break and a buggy ride … and meeting some people …

I enjoy the old part of town.

There are modern shops, but there is evidence of the old depot and some of the old shops. I especially like the trees that grow in the parkway casting shadows along the walkway.  Listening to the wind blow through the trees gives an eerie sound that feed the imagination.

I have heard the clip-clop of horse hoofs and I have seen phantom horse drawn buggies among the modern traffic on the street from time to time.

Last week, I noticed a horse drawn wagon going through town. Spring Break comes at different times for the public schools and the private schools and the different colleges in the area. I don’t know if someone hired them or they were just out to see if there was an interest in a wagon ride. It’s nice when you have out-of-town guests visiting to treat them to a horse drawn wagon ride. It’s something they enjoy and will tell their friends and family back home.

I especially like it when there is a mix of people, young and old. On this particular day it seemed to be an impromptu group selected by the young man at the reins.

“Do you want a ride?” he called out.

Several people climbed on and my cousin and I decided to join them.

One man asked, “Do you do Haunted Hay Rides?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact we do. There is a favorite place we go that always gives everyone a scare. Do you want to go?”

Everyone seemed to be in agreement. We were headed toward the old movie theater. I had heard stories about how popular it was during the days of silent pictures and continued with the talkies. Today there are larger ones that have replaced it, but it is still used for private showings.

Since it was daylight, no one expected to see anything spooky, but our driver said it would give us a scare. I wondered what he had planned.  This may not have been as impromptu as I originally imagined.

One young woman spoke how at one time there was an element that would come to town (of course from Los Angeles). One of the projection rooms was used for gambling. One game got a bit out of hand and there was gun fire, but the movie watchers didn’t notice because the shots seemed to correspond to the gun shots of the western that was playing.

We were told to squint just a little and look at the front of the theater. I thought I saw a man in a suit with a hat — he looked like a private eye of days gone by. Others saw people coming out of the theater eating popcorn. One man pointed to the roof. He said there was a man up there smoking a cigar. It seemed strange, but several of us smelled cigar smoke. Power of suggestion or there was someone real or in spirit form smoking a cigar.

Not too far from the theater was the old hospital that many claim to be haunted. One woman spoke about the stories her grandmother told of the old haunted hospital. One man on the ride told about when he was a kid, he and some friends went out there one night and they heard screaming coming from the building. The woman confirmed that the third floor was for patients who received electroshock therapy. Even when the third floor was shut down, many of the nurses heard crying and screaming coming from the third floor.

I felt a sudden chill and others in the wagon remarked how they, too, felt cold. Neither my cousin nor I heard any screaming, crying or distress.

We just about jumped out of our skin when the driver’s cell phone started playing music. We were on our way back to the old part of town, our ride was coming to an end.

Many of us went to a restaurant to continue talking and telling stories. I’m always interested in the experiences of others or urban legends from other places.

Leo’s Story

Leo is from Vermont and is visiting his daughter and son-in-law. When he was a child, his mother took him shopping for school clothes. She was always looking for bargains and the basement seemed to have all the discounted clothes. They were going down in the basement when he began to feel ill. Before they got to the last step, he heard a man shout, “Run! Get Out!”

His mother started running up the stairs leaving him behind. He shouted, “Wait for me! Don’t leave me!”

She kept running right up the stairs and out of the store. Leo caught up to her at the bus stop. The look on his mother’s face told him not to say anything.

Days later, his grandmother came with bags of school clothes for him. His mother refused to go in that store again or any store for that matter. She was afraid from that moment to leave the house.

His grandmother tried to find out what happened that day, but his mother wouldn’t talk about it. Leo told her that he wasn’t feeling well as they were going down in the basement. He heard a man yelling to run and get out. His mother ran, forgetting all about him.

This remained a mystery until a few years ago when there was an article in the newspaper about it being the 100th year anniversary that a man committed suicide in the basement of that store. His mother must have heard what he heard and perhaps saw the ghost of the dead man, which he hadn’t seen.

That was a bit creepy for a Real Ghost Story. I hope you enjoyed it!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharon

Dolls Creep Me Out

by | Apr 11, 2019

I may not be alone — dolls creep me out.

I felt this way before Chucky! There has always been something creepy about them.

But a Raggedy Ann doll?  What could be creepy about it?

It’s not the doll, but what’s in the doll.

Ed and Lorraine Warren renowned demonologists and paranormal investigators have Annabelle locked up in their private creepy Occult Museum in their house in Monroe, Connecticut.  Ed Warren passed in 2006, but Lorraine Warren continues with paranormal investigations.

The story of Annabelle is well known, but for those who may not know I’ll give a brief history. In the 1970’s a woman bought a Raggedy Ann doll at a hobby shop for her daughter’s birthday. Her daughter was an adult and a nursing student. It seemed lots of young girls liked having dolls and stuffed toys on their beds — perhaps a connection to their childhood and home. And, I remember how popular these dolls were to make in all sizes.

As you can see from the picture above, Annabelle was a fairly large Raggedy Ann doll.

As the story goes, two nursing students shared an apartment and the Raggedy Ann doll was a prominent figure in the house. As long as it was a doll and behaved as a doll, everything was all right, but it didn’t.  There were “messages” written on parchment paper — which the girls did not have in their apartment. The doll would move from one bedroom to the living room . . . and was seen standing on her own.

Of course, this frightened the girls and they consulted a psychic.  They were told how a little girl, Annabelle, died on the property and her soul was in the doll. They were also told that the little girl wanted to stay and live with the young nursing students. They agreed and were very sympathetic to the story.

As time passed, the doll’s behavior got more erratic and violent until the Warren’s were called in and the doll had to be removed. The doll had a demon inside, not a child. This demon was biding its time until it would eventually possess one of the nursing students.

This possession thing is what creeps me out. I try not to think about demons, but they are very much a part of the paranormal as angels. And, too, often they are encountered in antiques.

We, as collectors, have a kind of romantic attachment to stories and wanting to preserve the old, but we do, at times, encounter things that we can’t handle or don’t want to handle.

I’ve never really liked puppets or marionettes.  I thought they were just creepy.

My brother got a Howdy Doody Marionette for Christmas one year and I stayed away from it.  Gary got good at manipulating the strings and having him walk around and up and down the stairs and even do a little dance, but I wasn’t amused, I was afraid of it — it just wasn’t natural.

I’m not claiming it was possessed, I’m just saying I didn’t like it. Howdy Doody was fine on television, but not in the same room with me. And it was fine for my brother to have as long as he kept it in his room.

Well, it seemed this toy would be in other parts of the house. Maybe my brother was trying to scare me, but he claimed he left it in his room.  I guess one day, this little marionette got in my mother’s way and it was put out in the trash.

As my mother admitted decades later when I asked her what happened to Howdy Doody, she admitted to throwing it out. “That thing kept staring at me. I swear it moved, crossing its legs and folding its arms.”

Throughout the day she kept hearing something in Gary’s room. She thought maybe there was a mouse in the house, but all she saw was that marionette.  She studied it as it seemed to study her each time she went into the room.  She moved it in the closet and it returned to the desk.

She got a paper bag out of the drawer and put Howdy Doody in it and put it in the trash. When my brother and I came home from school, she had some cookies for us.  We did go out to play for awhile, but after dinner when we were doing our homework, nothing was said about the missing Howdy Doody doll.

I asked my brother about it and he just shrugged and said, “One day it was gone. I was glad to see it go.”  Then he leaned closer and said, “You were right, that thing was creepy.”

Sometimes there are real demons possessing items and sometimes things are just creepy with the help of our imaginations . . . or . . . not.

I hope you liked this post about creepy dolls — maybe you have a story or two of your own. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below or you can email me: admin@twocansonastring.com

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharon

Follow-Up On The Previous G Team Video

by | Mar 18, 2019

I Have This Love-Hate Thing Going On With Dolls … Haunted Dolls

I’ll write stories about haunted dolls and videos about them … but I won’t be investigating them on my own or with my friends … They just creep me out!!

Today I have two YouTube Videos to share with you. One is from Patty of the G Team and the other is from Heather of Heather’s Hauntings who is Patty’s daughter.

These two videos are recording the same events … each with a bit of a different perspective.

I truly have to hand it to people who bring haunted stuff home with them — even after doing the smudging and other protective clensings … stuff happens!!

I think you will enjoy both of these videos.

Heather’s Hauntings Video was the first one I watched … So … I thought I’d present them to you in the same order I watched them.

G Team Paranormal Investigators Video is a follow-up on the previous video where Patty and Omar shared his haunted dolls.

Oh my goodness … did you jump at the opening of Heather’s video?  Did you get cold chills after watching the G Team video?

I’ll admit to both … I never claimed to be brave …

I do love ghost stories and to a degree of getting scared … or getting that creepy feeling along with goosebumps … and I can laugh at myself when I do get scared or startled … Something is definitly up with those dolls …

I’m not going to give them my home as their playground … I accept they’re haunted and don’t want to video them in my home doing their moving and ringing wind chimes and who knows what else.

We can protect ourselves with prayers and crystals and sage and smudging or other clensing methods … all are effective … but sometimes evil entities do slip in and cause health problems … bad luck … or just mischief — which can be very serious and extremely annoying …

And they can be dangerious and harmful … Most people like to think they can’t hurt us … Well, they can and this is not just a harmless game or hobby … It is serious and sometimes there are unforeseen consequences …

Well … I’ll get off my soapbox for now and thank you for stopping by and visiting my blog.

Sharon

Keeping A Ghost Hunting Journal

by | 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

Is There A Difference Between A Ghost And A Spirit?

by | 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