Your local haunts

[onewyteduck]

Halloween is rapidly approaching so I thought it might be neat to hear some ghost stories.....

Here are a few from where I live!

www.theshadowlands.net/places/alabama.htm

Anniston - Anniston High School girl's locker room - The legend of Anniston High School's locker room is known widely through out the school. The legend is told to all the new coming female freshmen that go to their lockers to dress out for P.E. They are told by what we call the "upper classmen" maybe to give them a little scare or perhaps to warn them from a revengeful ghost. The legend varies in detail from person to person but the main facts of the story are almost always the same...a girl is late dressing in and leaves a precious item and decides to go back to get it while sending her friend to hold the buses for her, a man then tries to rape and kill her but ends up dead and the body never gets recovered and the obvious conclusion is never go into the girl's locker room by yourself, always go in with one of your friends and never leave anyone alone in there. The incident that started this legend occurred not too long ago. This is how the legend goes: There was this girl (name is unknown) who was the type who always dressed in for P.E. She was the first to dress in and also the first to leave and dress back out. One day while coming in from playing outside she was late in dressing out. It was the last period of the day and she was hurrying so that she wouldn't miss her bus. Her best friend was late with her and they only had 2 minutes to dress back out instead of their normal 5 minutes. While they was hurrying to dress back out, other girls, who was already dressed out, was leaving to go in the gym and wait for the bell to ring that signaled the end of the day. Her friend was faster at putting on her school clothes but she was more slowly and took her time. Deciding to wait for her, her friend sat on one of the benches in there to keep her company. They rode the same bus and knew that it was almost always one of the first bus to be there and didn't want to get left. Soon after the girl finished putting on her clothes and they both walked out to sit with the rest of the students in the gym to wait for the bell she almost forgot that she left her purse in her locker. The bell then rung but she was concerned about leaving it since it contained all her money. The girl's best friend offered to go back with her to get it but instead she insisted that she get on the bus and tell the bus driver to hold it for her until she got on. At least this way, the girl thought, both of them wouldn't have to miss it. So the girl ran down the steps and entered the locker room to get her purse and her friend ran out to get on the bus and she relayed the message to the bus driver. As the girl got her purse and began to close and lock her locker she heard the door creaked and thought someone had came in. Thinking it was her coach she called her name to let her know that she was still in there and not to lock the door just yet. "Coach...coach! It's me, I left my purse. Please don't lock the door just yet," she yelled but she got no answer. She then heard footsteps that seem to draw closer to her. She then began to grow scared and forgot about her friend holding the buses for her. Suddenly she heard loud breathing that was so loud she was sure the person was right behind her. She panicked and dropped her purse as she ran the other way around the lockers toward the doors but was yanked to the back of the lockers as she turned the corner. She kicked and screamed as the hands of a big strong man tore off her shirt and began to rip off the rest of her clothes. He began to strangle her and scream at her to shut up. She continued to fight back and scream but her voice became parched and she couldn't scream anymore. She still didn't give up. Her last attempt was to pull a set of lockers down upon him and he lay there motionless and breathless... He was dead. In a fright she ran out the locker rooms to the bus stop. But she had taken to long and despite her friends' desperate attempt to hold the bus she had been left. She was still frightened by what had happened and called her mom to come and get her. After telling the shocking story to her mother with great trouble of reliving the incident, they called the police but when they inspected the scene they only found the pulled down lockers, the girl's purse and a bath full of blood. The body was nowhere to be found. The girl was more shocked then ever. She was for sure the man was dead and the amount of blood on the floor was a great loss for him to still be alive. Her fear was just to great to go back to where she had been raped and strangled and they moved and were never heard of again. Her friend soon grew knowledge of the incident and couldn't help to feel guilty of what had happen. If only she had waited a little longer or went back with her, maybe...just maybe she could have helped her. The man was never found but many say that he still lurks in the locker rooms waiting for an unexpected girl that's by herself to take revenge on for his death. Many didn't take this seriously until the incident seemed to reoccur when a girl in the band who was to play at a football game was left by herself to get dressed in. They left her and played all night without noticing she was gone. After the game had ended she was sitting in the parking lot crying. She wouldn't say what had happened but appeared to have been strangled and her clothes ripped and covered in blood. She then moved away without telling anyone of her dreadful story. Maybe she met the ghost and had fought back just like the girl...or maybe not. But what else could explain it. This happened recently in 2001. That's 2 years ago. Many girls have been known to hear footsteps when no one's there, seeming to draw closer and the sound of lockers seeming to close and shut and the door creaking open as if to let an unwanted stranger in when no one is there. You might also feel a cold chill come across you and hear loud breathing seeming as if someone is right behind you but always cease when you turn around.

This was the first I've heard of this one. There was a rape that occured at the school in 2001 and I think it was probably spun off from that.

Anniston - Blockbuster - The store was robbed and 2 of the employees were killed the killer was caught but the store closed down and has remained standing. Many years before the Blockbuster incident the land on which the building sets was occupied by a gas station. In the late 1960's, a woman was brutally beaten, raped and murdered there. On the far right hand side is where her body was found. The murderer, on the other hand, never was. If you walk to the right side of the building which is were the killer supposedly exited the building you can feel the energy of the spirits it is in the form of like cold wind. - February 2005 Update: the building was partially torn down and remodeled. it is currently a doctor's office. the families of the men who were killed have left four crosses in the front of the building as a memorial.

There were actually 4 young men killed at the Blockbuster, 2 employees and 2 customers.

This is where I happen to work. Have never felt the "cold wind". One of our X-ray techs swears up and down that she has felt something touch her cheek and we have a radio that turns itself off and on. Who knows?

Anniston - Parker Memorial - Hauntings of a nun who killed herself by hanging herself in the main hallway. It has been known to still hear her kicking the chair out from under her feet and hearing the choking sounds late at night. The rope has been seen numerous times by many other churchgoers.

A nun hangs herself in a Baptist Church? Ah, yeah. Right.

Anniston - Stringfellow Memorial Hospital - The founder of the hospital Mary Stringfellow was an old organ player. The nurses say that if you are working the 3rd shift you can hear the organ being played in the chapel. But no one is there if you go and look. The other haunting is the story of a man committing suicide in one of the rooms by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun. Patients have said on numerous occasions that they can see the body of a headless man with blood on the wall in the corner of that room.

Never heard this one either.

Anniston - The Victoria - The Victoria was once a beautiful mansion. It's been adapted into a restaurant/hotel. Reports of the piano being played and footsteps in the main part of the building have scared more than a few visitors. Sometimes the glasses hanging in the bar clink, and a woman has been spotted on the upstairs landing.

This started about 5 years ago. Personally, I think it's just a gimick.

oxfordparanormalsociety.com.istemp.com/ ... klore.html

Hell's Gate Bridge
Oxford – Hell’s Gate – The bridge has earned this name because it is said if you stop on the bridge and turn around, the road behind you will look like the fiery gates of Hell. Many years ago a young couple lost their lives on this bridge. On a dark night, if you stop on the bridge and turn off all the lights, a member of the dead couple will get into the vehicle, leaving a wet spot on the seat.

The bridge was scary all right. But it was the simple act of driving over it that was the scary part. It creaked, moaned, and swayed like all get out and every time you crossed it you'd breath a sigh of relief and think, "cheated death, once again". It's closed off now.

[sgt.null]

It is said that the highway that connects Angleton and West Columbia (and also runs through Bailey's Prairie) is haunted by the ghost of one James Briton Bailey - for whom the area was named. According to legend, the ghost, carrying a lantern, roams across the flat land of Brazoria County - at night, constantly searching for a jug of whiskey.

It appears as a bouncing, white ball of light floating about four to six feet off the ground occasionally making an appearance somewhere between West Columbia and Angleton. A large number of folks have seen the phenomenon known as "Bailey's Light."

According to The Handbook of Texas, James Briton Bailey was part of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. He was born in North Carolina in 1779. Bailey was married at a young age and the couple had six children. After his first wife died, he married her sister and fathered five more children.

Bailey, known as "Brit," moved his family from North Carolina to Kentucky and apparently served in the legislature of that state. He was a very controversial figure and obtained a bad reputation. The story goes that he was prosecuted for forgery before he left the state.

After leaving Kentucky, Bailey turned up in Tennessee. He lived there for a number of years and later fought in the War of 1812. When the war was over, Bailey moved his family and six adult slaves to Texas. He settled on land that would later become part of Brazoria County. That specific area is known as Bailey's Prairie.

Bailey allegedly bought his land from the Spanish government. After Mexico won its independence from Spain however, the Mexican authorities refused to recognize his claim that the land belonged to him. Bailey would not give up his home even though Stephen F. Austin ordered him to leave the Austin colony.

Although Bailey and Austin apparently disliked one another, Austin finally recognized Bailey's squatter's claim to the land. He was given a league and a labor of ground on the east bank of the Brazos River. Brit Bailey was later commissioned as a captain in the local militia. At that time, Texans were loyal Mexican citizens and Bailey took the oath to defend the Mexican Constitution of 1824.

Bailey gained a reputation as being a troublemaker - he regularly engaged in brawls and evidently was a constant thorn in the side of Stephen Austin. Some were probably relieved when he finally died. Those who knew Brit Bailey may have thought that he died of just plain meanness, but history says that the tough old man succumbed to cholera on December 6, 1832.

In his will, Bailey demanded that he be buried standing straight up and facing the West. According to legend, he also wanted his rifle at his side and a jug of whiskey at his feet. The slaves who were digging the grave stole Bailey's jug of whiskey.

Nobody knows what causes the light to appear over Bailey's Prairie.

The vision of Bailey's Light has been prevalent in Brazoria County for years and the folks there are probably convinced the old Brit is never going to find that jug of whiskey and that's okay.

The light has been known to "chase" vehicles travelling on the highway late at night or in the early morning hours.

[emotional leper]

A few near me I want to check out.

Greenville - Children's Graveyard - A graveyard behind a gas station near Furman U., mainly for children. Tombstones range from the late 1700's to late 1800's. Lights, laughter, running sounds.

I love graveyards, anyway.

Greenville - Old Tuberculosis Hospital - Update: also known as Devil's Castle - Has since burned down - Reports of footsteps that break into a run, then screams, on the first floor. On the third floor feelings of being pushed accompanied by loud clattering in the hall and items moving, and apparitions. Singing has been heard- Formerly listed as Taylors - TB Asylum then a work release prison, & Travelers Rest - TB hospital/Insane Asylum.

I'll have to check into this one, to see if the anything has been done to the grounds since it's burned, but I think any TB Ghosts still hanging around the area might accept me more than somebody without anything in common.

Newberry - Newberry College - Keller Hall - The bell tower of this old and no longer used building is said to be haunted by a young woman who, during the Civil War, committed suicide by jumping out of the bell tower when she got the news of her boyfriend's death in battle. There have been reports over the years of screams being heard in the area and also of actual sightings of the woman herself up in the bell tower, watching from above.

Newberry - Newberry College - Kinard Hall - A ghost is said to haunt the 2nd floor of Newberry's Kinard Hall dormitory. Residents have reported water faucets turning on by themselves, cabinets and drawers that suddenly apen by themselves, as well as windows in some room which will open by themselves.

My Dad's Dad once taught at Newberry College, and it's not more than an hour's ride away. I might also get to meet some people who remember him.

Spartanburg - Converse College - Wilson Hall - there is a stairway to the bell tower. Legend has it that two men were arguing up there and one was pushed off. This is a ANGRY ghost. The door to the bell tower is locked. The ghost is said to have red eyes. I personally have not seen it, but one of my classmates did.

I would so love to get into a fight with an ANGRY ghost. The friendly ones just want to have bad cartoons made about them, and films with Dan Akroyd.

Spartanburg - Hell's Gates - Hells Gate is an older cemetery located in the heart of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Strange things like having a cell phone give a busy signal, when it was later confirmed that the line that was called was NOT busy. As well, we have seen many odd and unexplained lights within the woods of the graveyard. Trying to take pictures and the flash wouldn't work. Apparitions of children and a whitish mist.

I can confirm the mist, although it's generally just kids hotboxing a car and then letting the pot smoke out. Cellphones do tend to wierd out at odd moments in the graveyard, though I'd attribute any 'wierd' feeling felt there to the fact that most people who go there are smoking pot or doing other drugs, and are probably paranoid about the cops finding them, and just jittering over that.

Spartanburg - the Tanning Yards - Reports that a mischievous ghost is supposed to be out there.

If those are the same Tanning Yards I remember, someone needs to look up mischievious in the dictionary, and then learn that the correct word to use for anything you're going to encounter there as "EXTREMELY HOSTILE. WILL TERMINATE YOU WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE." If these are the same Tanning Yards I remember, it was a popular place to drag people to beat them bloody or kill them.

Spartanburg - TB Hospital - Recently Torn Down - Originally a sanitarium for people stricken with the disease. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people died within its walls. Strange occurrences have been reported.

Why, oh Pharoah? Why must you tear my people's homes down?! I'll have to check it out.

Woodruff - Seven Devils Bridge - This is a haunted bridge which many account, cannot be crossed on the stroke of midnight. Those who have tried to do so have broken down, screaming and crying uncontrollably. The bridge is near the price house and it is passable only by foot.

Once again, nearby, and I'd love to test it.

I'll have to get Josh on the line, and put the Team back together.

[Damelon]

The George Stickney House

The George Stickney House in Bull Valley, Illinois, has a unique design due to Stickney's belief in spiritualism. It is thought that he and his wife wished to communicate with their dead children. Today the house is the local police department, and it is claimed that police report strange sounds, objects moving around, lights turning off, and door knobs turning and doors opening by themselves. Other homes in the area are also rumored to be haunted. The nearby Holcombville cemetery includes tombs of the Stickney children and a person killed in the crash of American Airlines Flight 191

[Menolly]

Alachua - Newnansville Cemetery - On certain nights, ghostly figures will walk throuought the cemetery

Cedar Key - the whole island - There are a lot of presences here; just about every business in town has more than one ghost. Some are from the Seminole war.

Chief land - Antioch Cemetery - One of the hauntings is a small boy that likes to play hide and seek around the headstones. The other haunting is an unknown presence that more or less watches over the cemetery.

Gainesville - 13th Street Wal-Mart - A woman has been seen and felt by those of developed psychic sense. She is harmless and from observations made she was employed here up until three days before her passing. Roughly a month after, employees have seen and felt her presence, in particular, Infants and Girls wear. In other parts of the store, Jewelry, Crafts and Domestics, conversations and cold spots have been experienced when no one is around. Best times have been between the hours of 3:00 AM - 7:00 AM.

Gainesville - Archer Rd. - Goodys - Sounds of change being counted in cash office without anyone being in the room. Leaving the store neat at night and returning with it still neat and turning around and clothes being half off hangers with no shoppers in the store. Also alarm has sounded at 3:00am and security cameras shut off at the same time for no reason.

Gainesville - The Purple Porpoise (Pam's note: now Gator City, I haven't been there since it was The Old College Inn) - The Purple Porpoise has been a Gainesville institution for years and is about the close it's doors but the problem will probably go to the new owners. This is a college town and in the '60s a female student was brutally attacked and killed in the upstairs bathroom. To this day her ghost AND the violent ghost (more like an imprint) of her killer haunt the cramped hallway and restroom. She emits a feeling of hopelessness and fear while he is pure evil. Men are usually safe but numerous females have been attacked.

My former employer, UF Housing Department, denies this ever happened. However, Hyperception, a former Housing Security Senior Shift Lead, says many of their claims that the windows in Beatty Towers can not be opened enough to let a person through them is untrue...

Gainesville - The University of Florida - Beatty Towers - A girl committed suicide here by jumping off Beatty Towers into the street. People who have lived in the towers have often seen a ghostly figure walking through the halls and in some of the rooms. Strange noises have also been heard throughout Beatty Towers, along with things being moved around in the rooms. This girl's dorm has been around for years, and it is rumored that she was pregnant at the time of her suicide. Tom Petty, who is from Gainesville, sings about her in his song "American Girl."

Gainesville - The University of Florida - Thomas Hall Dormitory - with its red brick surface and gothic gargoyles at the entrances, is one of the oldest buildings on campus, dating back to the early 1900s. The building used to be used for classrooms and residents have been known to hear ceaseless banging coming from the radiators/heaters during the months when they aren't in use. The presence of an old employee is thought to haunt the building.

Gainseville - Sweet Water Bed and Breakfast Inn - There are two parts of this Bed and Breakfast. The pink house and the blue house. It used to be an old plantation of the family. Many people claim that the old blue house attic rooms have a spirit. Many claimed to be sleeping and have a heavy feeling on their chest. Also, the maids that clean the rooms experienced an old bureau having its door open and close. There is a scary feeling in those rooms. Even the owners claim to have seen an image in the window of the third floor.

Gainesville - University of Florida - Norman Hall - Norman Hall, now the College of Education, used to be the P.K. Young School. It is haunted by children who died in an elevator accident many years ago. People have heard the children running and laughing on the third floor during all times but mostly at night. The elevator that they died in is still there.

Gainesville - Wayside Antiques (Pam's note: Now a Chr-stmas store or some such, I think) - South On I-75 - Employees have reported to hear a voice from the back of the huge antique store call them by name, usually when they're opening or closing the store. Also, in one of the upstairs showrooms (right corner of the building facing I-75) is a antique dresser. A little girl, in period clothing, has been seen playing in the room around the dresser. She is usually only seen by psychics or those with honed psychic senses but others have reported a coldness or presence in the room.

Marion County - Ocala National Forest - There are many locations in the "forest" as it is know to locals. There are many secluded camping sites where the "rainbow people" ( a group of modern-day traveling gypsy-like people) have told stories of seeing ghosts of children that giggle with affection. Campsites have been found destroyed and scattered over miles of rugged terrain. One of the most famous of paranormal activities that occur in the forest is that of a man who wanders up and down the country roads. Dressed in a long hooded black coat (which is worn so you cannot see he face). Numerous travelers from Daytona Beach to Ocala have called local rangers and the highway patrol reporting a man laying on the side of the road, walking, and sitting on the guard rails of bridges late at night.

Micanopy - The Herlong Mansion - Inez was the oldest of 6 siblings. They fought for 20 some odd years over the house after their mother passed away. The day Inez took possession of the house she had a diabetic seizure and died possibly in her childhood bedroom. That room remains haunted. The Herlong Mansion is now a bed & breakfast and has been investigated by professional ghost hunters.

Newberry - Newberry Cemetery - There are about 70 orbs, a gatekeeper at the back gate of the cemetery, 3 shadow krakens, and other unexplained phenomena. Very strange place.

Ocala - Old Downtown Graveyard - Many people have had strange things happen in this graveyard. The most significant of which can occur almost any night. After dark if you drive thru the cemetery, near the back stretch over a large crack in the weathered roadway, your car will shift into neutral. This has happened many times to many people. All type of cars and almost all makes.

Ocala - Ritz Historical Inn - Rich socialite from NY would spend summers here and would have parties during prohibition. During one such party, a fire started (reason unknown) and several people died including the woman and her 2 dogs. To this day you can here the sounds of that party in her room and also the sounds of people running into the hall and down the stairwell trying to escape the fire.

[Cail]

www.ellicottcity.net/tourism/hell_house/

www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm

[Phantasm]

Where I work, although I've never seen anything.

Woman with a Lantern

Location: Glasgow (Lanarkshire) - Barlinnie Prison
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area outside the surgery wing and the bricked up entrance to the old execution block are home to a phantom woman dressed in Victorian clothing, holding a lantern.

[emotional leper]

Menolly, all those 'ghosts' in the Ocala national forest are the squatters and the drug-heads who set up all the meth labs.

[Menolly]

*nod*

So Hyperception says as well.

*giggle*