I would like to have information(and photos :) ) of your local haunted house. I love to see an old, abandoned house deep in the swamps of Louisiana.
Share your photos and info! :)

While I realize it's not exactly a haunted house, persay, probably Birmingham's most haunted place is said to be Sloss Furnaces. They have a big event in October there called Sloss Fright Furnace... anyway ...here is part of the story that goes along with it...

http://www.slossfurnaces.com//v1/main/images/main_photo.jpg

In the early 1900's, James “Slag” Wormwood, was foreman of the “Graveyard Shift”, the period between sunset and sunrise, where a skeleton crew of nearly 150 workers toiled to keep the furnace fed.

In October of 1906, James “Slag” Wormwood, lost his footing at the top of the highest blast furnace (known as Big Alice), and plummeted into a pool of melted iron ore. His body melted instantly.

It was reported that “Slag” must have become dizzy from the methane gas created by the furnace and lost his balance--but Slag had never set foot on top of furnace during his years of employment.

http://www.frightfurnace.com/images/panel6.jpg

Many thought that the workers had finally had enough of Wormwood’s slave driving, and fed him into the furnace--but no workers were ever brought to trial.

Sloss Industries soon discontinued the graveyard shift , citing numerous reports of accidents and “strange incidents” that decreased steel production.

The legend of “Slag” grew each year after his disappearance. Workers complained of an “unnatural presence” they increasingly encountered throughout the work site.

A night watchman in 1926 sustained injuries after being “pushed from behind” and told angrily by a deep voice “to get back to work.” The man, upon searching the grounds, could find no sign of any other living person.

In 1947, three supervisors turned up missing. Found unconscious and locked in the small boiler room in the southeastern part of the plant, none of the three could explain exactly what happened to them. All agreed they were approached by a man whose skin appeared badly burned and who angrily shouted at them “to push some steel.”

Probably the most horrifying tale occurred in 1971, when the night before the plant closed, Samuel Blumenthal, the Sloss Night Watchman, who was nostalgically taking a last look about, found himself face to face with “the most frightening thing he had ever seen.” He described it simply as “evil”, a “half man/half demon” who tried to push him up the stairs. When Blumenthal refused, the monster began to beat on him with his fists.

Upon examination by Dr. Jack Barlo, Blumenthal was found covered with intense burns. He died before ever returning to Sloss.

http://www.frightfurnace.com/images/panel3.jpg

There have been nearly 100 reports of suspected paranormal activity at Sloss Furnaces recorded in Birmingham Police records. From minor incidents such as steam whistles apparently blowing by themselves, to major sightings and the rare physical assaults. It is interesting to note that the majority of these reports happen in the months of September and October at night, during the old “graveyard shift.”

FOX and CBS have both done stories on Sloss Furnaces and many investigators of the paranormal have done studies on the old factory and determined it to have some of the highest rates of paranormal activities of any site they've ever encountered.

If you go to this website, you can watch a video by a CBS affiliate investigating the paranormal activity:
http://http://www.wjtv.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WJTV%2FMGArticle%2FJTV_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031770187051&path=!unexplained

Damn you Blazer! I was just typing something just like that! ;) :D

Damn you Blazer! I was just typing something just like that! ;) :D


Hah ...You can still add on. I'm sure that's not the whole story. There's so much about Sloss, I just told some of the main parts and parts I had known about.

Well, I was just going to say something similar to what you did... I must say, even in the daylight hours, Sloss is really creepy. I do love exploring it though.

I wonder if any rooms in the Sheraton are haunted? ;)

That sounds creepy:-(.
So no one works their anymore?

No. For years, it was abandoned, but the city and citizens came together in the early 1980s made the ENTIRE complex a "Museum of Industry."

No. For years, it was abandoned, but the city and citizens came together in the early 1980s made the ENTIRE complex a "Museum of Industry."


Yeah, it's been closed down for 30 years. An expensive, new visitor center is on the way soon. It's a National Historic Landmark now.

Well, here goes my local Ghost story. Creaseys Chapel is one of the oldest churches in SW Va. Its over 150 years old, creepy and forlorn. It is down to only 10 or so members nowadays. Anyway, about a mile down the road, there is this tall, abandoned house. Every night in October, there is said to be a hitch-hiker standing in the road. She is wearing all white. Most people stop for her, and she tells you to go a the next house on the right. Once you're their, you let her off, and she runs inside. Later you hear 2 gunshots, and she runs out with red eyes, and goes straigght throught the car, at you. If she passes through you, you;ll supposedly be killed. There have been 2 deaths at this same spot. It got so bad, VDOT had to bulldoze the house. But who knows......

Here is the beautiful, but creepy church. My whole family is buried behind it.

http://www.gbgm-umc.org/patrickcharge/images/creaseyschapel.jpg

Louisville's waverly hills sanitarium
http://www.pbase.com/phatmojo/waverly
http://www.prairieghosts.com/waverly_tb.html
http://www.pbase.com/image/164873/large.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/149899.jpg
http://www.prairieghosts.com/waverly2.jpg

There is no freaking way I would go inside that sanitarium. No way, no how, noooo sir! Evan doesn't like spooks.

Winston-Salem:
There are a lot of Ghosts in Winston-Salem. Winston-Salem was at one time, one of the greatest industrial cities in the country during the height of the industrial revolution! It is loaded with old houses, old skyscrapers, old buildings, old rowhouses and just old everything. You'll find a ghost story for almost every old building in the city!

http://img35.exs.cx/img35/1672/hanes.jpg

This is the story of the Hanes Mansion. Built in 1929 by James Gordon Hanes. Hanes was the founder of the Hanes Corp (like the T-shirts and underwear). The company is a household name. His old house is now used as an art gallery called The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA). I'm sure many of you have been there; it's a very popular and nationally known gallery. I took this from a guide to haunted houses and buildings in Winston-Salem

Here's a link to their website.

http://www.secca.org/

The Foyer
Another staff member and I were standing in the foyer the other day, and all of a sudden we heard what sounded like all these little footsteps, going - not like in the ceiling, and not on the ground, but kind of hovering in the air. I had heard this before, but she hadn't. We stopped and we went like (frightened look on his face).
It’s very faint, but clear. It sounds like it could be a rodent or something – but it’s not. Because there are way too many footsteps, it would have to be a herd of rodents.

The Offices
Several weird things have happened to me. Like my radio – it keeps changing stations.
It hasn’t happened in a while, but when I first came to work here, the radiator in my office didn’t work properly; it would blow hot air on me, all the time, year ‘round. I’d be sitting at my desk just burning up. But anytime we’d have someone actually check the workings, it wouldn’t blow at all.

But when I moved to the middle office, I bought a radio to put on my desk, and it kept changing channels, and the volume would just keep going up and going up. I’d walk out of my office to go to the workroom for something, turn around, and before I got back, the station would be changed. It would be turned to this Christian station, every time.

It was very bizarre. And I knew nobody here was playing a joke on me, because I’d literally walk out of the room into the workroom next to it, turn around and go back, and nobody could have gone by me to get there.

I would go home at night and come back in the morning and the station would be changed.

The Grounds
I’ve seen people standing outside on the grounds – for some reason I tend to see what I think are ghosts or apparitions in my peripheral vision; I can’t actually look at them straight on, but I see them, this happens to me quite a bit.
There have been several times when I’ve walked by my window and I’d see somebody standing by the trees, and go, “Somebody’s standing out there!” and turn around and look, and there wouldn’t be anybody there. You know, it’s just kind of a brief, fleeting thing.

Closing at Night
My experience was when I first started working here, back in the early eighties. It was probably six-thirty, and we used to have to turn the alarm off in the living room.
I was shutting the building down for the night, and I heard something like whispering.

And, you know, you rationalize this sort of thing, so I moved into the living room - and I heard someone very clearly speak my name. But when I spun around, no one was there. So I set the alarm and I got out of there.

The Artist's Apartment
We have an artist's apartment here, which is above the garage; it used to be the servants’ quarters, but we use that space now as guest quarters for visiting artists.
I know that we’ve had artists who have stayed up there who have been very uneasy about being there, they very much felt like there was a presence there.

I had heard from Doc Greer - who had worked with Mr. Hanes, he was his chauffer, he traveled with Mr. Hanes – he sometimes talked about a cook who lived there who had been killed in an automobile accident.

Big Al Carter was probably the most extreme case that I know of; he’s a very competent, big, burly, African-American man, you wouldn’t think he’d be afraid of anything, but after one night, he refused to stay there. He spent some time there and just said that he couldn’t do it, that there was a ghost or a presence or something, that it was really bothersome.

On one area of one of the walls, visiting artists have taken to scrawling some words or pictures, very artistic graffiti. There’s one picture – it’s not a real picture, it’s kind of a caricature of a ghost, and the writing says, “this is the ghost,” or “the ghost is here,” or something like that.

And recently, Mr. Imagination stayed there, and actually wrote something on the wall about the ghost being there and how he was okay with it, he was just trying to share the space.

The only thing I’ve ever been able to tie to those experiences was the presence of the cook who was killed. But that’s just me speculating.

The Gardener's Cottage
The gardener's cottage is fairly large, but the rooms are pretty small, and there’s an additional structure, and a second story, and then there’s an addition that has a master bedroom.
I did know, again from Doc Greer, that there was a suicide over there, that a gardener – and I don’t know who it was, at one time there were five gardeners on the grounds – this gardener went out to the garage and shot himself with a shotgun. He actually laid newspaper on the floor, very carefully, and somehow rigged up a shotgun so that he could shoot himself in the head.

Doc always thought that was – not humorous, but a little ironic, I guess - and I guess Doc had to deal with the end result of that suicide, because he was in charge of making sure everything was taken care of around here. And, of course, the mess that was created was not on the floor, but on the ceiling.

So years later, one of our directors lived there for a period of time, and she was really unnerved by being there. It is kind of isolated, and I think she was used to living around people a lot – she had to get used to the change - but I remember her coming in a number of times and talking about having the New York Times delivered and putting it on the bed, then she would go do something else, and when she returned, it would have been moved from the bed. This didn’t just happen once, but several times.

It got to the point where she would think, okay, I’m putting the paper here, I know I’m putting the paper here, I’m putting the paper on the bed, and when she wasn’t looking, it would move. Sometimes it would be on the floor, or it might be on the dresser, I really don’t know the details. I remember when she was telling it, I’d think, oh, well, maybe it’s the ghost of the man who killed himself. But I never really talked to her at length about it.

We never told her about the suicide, because she was too unnerved by the paper moving. We just figured, “Let’s not make this situation any worse than it is.” Because, though she finally kind of made peace with whatever was going on, I think it really did frighten her at first.

The Ghost of James Gordon Hanes
It was as dark as it could possibly be here at SECCA, and I was thinking, this is a real mistake; I’m here at two in the morning, wandering around in the dark. So I had to go to the alarm closet, which is in the living room, which is where the piano is, it’s one of the rooms that we maintain very much the way it was when Mr. Hanes lived here. As a matter of fact, his portrait hung over the fireplace in there – it’s been restored and actually it’s been moved to the library, which is actually where it originally hung, so we’ve moved it back there since.

And so, I felt my way along to get to a light switch, and flipped on a light, just the first light leading down the steps, and I was immediately very conscious of a presence in the room.

I’d never had an experience like this before. Never. Where I really knew that there was something there. I looked over, and in one of the wing back chairs, there was a man seated. It was kind of blue and hazy around this figure, and I immediately thought: That’s Mr. Hanes. And I don’t know that I recognized him, or looked at the portrait and looked at him and knew it was him, I just knew it was him.

And he was seated there in a kind of casual, jacket relaxed type of posture, and I just stood there, aware of that presence, and it lasted for a short period of time. I wasn’t frightened by it; it was just kind of normal. I know that sounds strange, but I didn’t feel threatened, I just felt like, oh, there he is.

I continued to look at him briefly, then I thought, well, I have to set the alarm and get out of here, and he just seemed to disappear, and I went ahead and set the alarm and left.

I have to say, after I thought about it, it frightened me a little bit, but at first it wasn’t a shocking thing really, it was just kind of, oh.

But I tend to take things pretty casually, you know, it wasn’t like – and I certainly didn’t feel concerned, or like something bad was going to happen, or there was a bad presence there, it was just a normal, natural presence that belonged there.

Nothing dangerous has ever happened at SECCA due to lurking spirits. None of these events have carried with them the feeling of threat; just wonder. Mr. Hanes was a remarkable man during his life, and his home remains remarkable.

If you lived there, would you want to leave?

The Tampa Theatre is supposedly haunted

http://www.freac.fsu.edu/HistoricPlaces/Sites/8HI00311_theater.gif
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/31/photos/tb-stairs.jpg

As well as the Cuban Club
http://www.lib.usf.edu/development/images/newsletters/fall2000/full/10.jpg

Link for Story:
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/31/TampaBay/That_haunted_feeling.shtml

This is some interesting but freaky and scary s**t. Later. :)

http://www.freac.fsu.edu/HistoricPlaces/Sites/8HI00311_theater.gif

That looks quite nice...!

Also, Matthew...got any ones in the Asheville area? I've heard of a few but do not know them well enough to know their name..:(

Here in England we have a show called Most Haunted that visits a different haunted place every week hope to see some of these on there soon, its a very popular show over here.

We have that show in the US as well since BBC owns TLC.

That show visited Waverly Hills sanitorium in Louisville and scared the poop outta me. Never got around to goin this past Halloween though. :(

The Brown Theatre in the Camberley Brown Hotel is also rumored to be haunted, but I dunno much about that history other than some friends of mine who have performed there say that the chandelier shakes. lol

http://www.dressings-sauces.org/2005_tech/images/hotel.jpg

We have that show in the US as well since BBC owns TLC.

Well, not to split hairs, but no, it doesn't. Discovery Communications owns TLC, and the BBC has nothing to do with them except it and Discovery have a partnership to exchange programming.

The BBC has nothing to do with Discovery or any of its networks other than that. It is against, or was against, Federal law for any foreign company to own a US media outlet. They can have parterships, but the controlling interest must be with the US company. I haven't heard anything about that law being changed.

Apparently the SciFi network airs a show called "Ghost Hunters" and they will be airing an episode that was shot in NC on August 24th. The two places they are visiting are the USS North Carolina in Wilmington and Mordecai House in downtown Raleigh.

Here is a little info on Mordecai: (Info from hauntednc.com)
http://www.hauntednc.com/images/mordecai/Mordecai.JPG
THE HISTORY:

Mordecai House - built originally by Joel Lane - is named for Moses Mordecai, not the first owner but rather the husband of Henry Lane's daughter Margaret. Originally built in in the mid 1780's,with additions added in 1826 by the state architect William Nichols, it was to become the center of one of Wake County's largest plantations. Currently it still houses original furniture and portraits of five generations of family. A successful plantation, it was many thousands of acres producing cotton, corn and wheat among other crops. Like most plantations it was worked almost entirely by slaves. Mordecai Historic Park now houses other historic buildings from the Raleigh area including Andrew Johnson's birthplace.

THE LEGENDS:

Does Mary Willis Mordecai Turk still watch over her home? Many have reported their encounters with a woman who fits her description. More than one person has seen what is believed to be Mary descend the staircase and enter one of the front rooms. Unkind remarks regarding Mary's photo have resulted in the photos being slammed down. A child on a school field trip became inconsolable and had to be taken back to school after she saw what she claimed was a man with a scar on his face appear and disappear by the Andrew Johnson house.

THE INVESTIGATION:

This second investigation occurred October 18, 2003. New staff member Chandra Milliken had experienced several recent events that appeared to be possibly paranormal. From 7:00 to 10:00 PM Seven members set up full equipment in the house. Also present were several staff members (including Chandra) and 2 local WTVD News members documenting our methods and the house's history. Everyone got a little more then they bargained for this time!

At 7:50pm during a routine videotaped interview of Chandra by Seven (the interview done in the foyer of the house) several orbs are captured on the video near Chandra.

Less then 30 minutes later the WTVD camera captures orbs in the east bedroom, something they discover when reviewing the tapes.

Later that evening another Seven member is on video with orbs seen near her. At 9:30PM A Seven member is sitting in a chair in the west bedroom (Mary's bedroom) when she feels it begin to shake.

We were fascinated by the events captured - they seem to be occurring in locations that have previously been the focal point of activity. The orbs are distinct on the video. Because of the extreme care taken with the environment due to the value of the antiques and historical documents, as well as the fact we have twice before extensively documented this house with no similar phenomenon, it is unlikely that the orbs can be easily explained by 'dust' or other mundane causes. Combined with careful elimination of 'normal' causes and evaluation of logs and data we feel it's very likely these orbs are real phenomenon.

Later evaluation of 35mm photos revealed one more surprising event. The appearance of a period dressed woman in the window of a building. The photo was taken from the outside of the building with high speed film, and examination of the room behind the window shows no physical cause for the image. The image is complete and continuous, not pieced together - in other words it appears to be complete behind the wooden frame of the window - like a person standing on the other side.

On a follow-up visit, investigators Jim Hall, David Gurney, and Waverly Hawthorne were allowed to go in the otherwise closed off second floor of the Andrew Johnson house and captured a picture of an orb-like anomaly.

I'll add a little more on my local ghost story-

http://www.hbghosthunters.org/creasychapel21-11-05.jpg

http://www.hbghosthunters.org/creasychapel1-11-05.jpg

I'll just quote exactly what the website says about Creasey Chapel-

Notes: We drove the whole length of the road and back. From what I understand there is several places through out the road that are haunted. From what I have heard there have been many killings on that road. I have heard stories from different sources . One story that I have heard is of someone's great grandfather getting murdered and dragged along the road by his killers. I also have heard of someone murdering a colored girl and burying her in a shallow grave and some one discovering her cause her hand was above ground. I also have heard of a haunted house on that road ..( see pics on down below)! Also I have heard stories of the church on that road that is haunted...I have heard tales of the lights coming on in side the church when no one was there ( they have motion detectors installed now ) .

Update ....A local historian told me that a body was found dumped in the graveyard at the church of a man ....whom Dennis Stockton killed (Dennis Stockton was a convicted murderer whom VA put to death for 2 murders). Stockton while in prison helped plan on of the US's only successful mass escapes from death row. When it happened he refused to go with the others in hopes of proving his innocence.

We checked out the church ( Creaseys Chapel ) ..we spent some time among the graves there. This was my stepson Blake's first outing with me. I let him use the voice recorder. I snapped pic's with my new Polaroid digital camera . Which by the way for some reason went through a unbelviable amount of batteries....It takes 4 triple A's ...it went through 12 within 5 minutes. I finally gave up and put the digital up and used my 35 mm . Barry my husband said that he thought that everything was at peace at the graveyard so we finished up there and went on down the road .

I feel a little disheartened when people overlook Asheville's place in the paranormal world. I mean, Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans have their own ghost tours, as do places like Tombstone and Key West, and they've all been featured on these Travel Channel shows about ghosts that draw major attention. Hell, even Atchison, Kansas had an hour-long special on its spirits! Why not us?

Essentially, every building more than a few years old in the Asheville-Hendersonville area is guaranteed to have a ghost, and this includes most of the major stops on the average tourist's itenerary. Biltmore House, the Grove Park Inn, and lots of downtown buildings host ghosts, but it seems Asheville can't get its own ghost show to save its soul.