Investigations Of The Ghost Type

My wife and I love visiting places with a paranormal history and we have done investigations in some of them.

Missouri State Peniteniary (twice) - We have investigated this prison twice, once by ourselves and another time with our oldest grandson.

We were able to get EVP's on death row. While our guide isolated us in the solitary confinement cells that were completely without light, my wife felt something touch her arm. She told me to stop doing it but it wasn't me.

While down there, we heard one of the women on our tour scream and rum out of her cell and out of the prison itself. We still don't know why. When we were left to explore the dungeon area, yes that's what it was called as whippings, etc., ocurred down there, two women whisked by us, sayoing they had seen something around the corner where they had been taking pictures. They snapped no picture, as they were too scared...I have no words for people who bring a camera to a haunted place then run without taking pictures of the very thing(s) they came to want to see. The logic escapes me. Anyway, I ran to the direction where from which they had fled, my grandson behind me but we found nothing.

They do hav a limited supply of EMF meters, etc., if you don't have your own.

The Ohio State Reformatory (where Shawshank Redemption was filmed) - Saw a shadow figure while walking an upper deck line of cells. It darted back too quickly to photograph. I ran down to see if I could catch it but to no avail. No EVP's or anything else. They did provide pizza and Coca-Cola, though.

Myrtles Plantation - Nice place and great grounds but nothing of the paranormal to report.

Abraham Lincoln's house in Springfield - We made the last tour of the day and once complete, the ranger locked the house up. While walking across the street, I took a picture of the house, but it wasn't until we returned home that we saw a child's face in an upstairs window.

The Pythian Castle - This building was once the meeting place of the Knights of Pythias. After the knights moved from this building, a scholl for children of members who had died was started. Reports of a headmaster who was known for his uber discipline actions was later arrested because of them. After our tour, I took a picture of a window and captured the image of an old man along with a child's face, too.

Muriel's Restaraunt - This restaraunt is located in the same building as our favorite French Quarter hotel, the Place d Armes. We have had several experiences in the Place d'Armes during several of our stays there: hearing children running down the hallway, my wife feeling something sitting on the bed next to her, a loset door opening by itself even after I slammed it and tugged hard on the knob it still opened, the bathroom doo opening by itself, while sleeping, I was awakened by our headboard rattling against the wall; difficult to do as it is secured to the wall by screws.

Appartitions have been seen here. They keep a table set for the first owner, and a guest in a small area in the back.

There is a seance room upstairs.

LaFitte's Blacksmith Shop - This building has the title "longest standing building to sell liquor in North America." It can;t claim to be the oldest bar serving alcoho as that goes to a bar in Canada, but it is the oldest building to continuously sell alcohol since its erection, since even as it operated as various businesses, they sold liquor even during prohibition.

Reported to be haunted we found nothing. A certain tour company will tell you taht faces appear in the fireplace. Yeah, no.

The Crescent Hotel - TAPS did an investigation here and recorded several things, including a video of a shadow wearing a confederate hat. Very haunted. My wife and I experienced physical feelings of someone sitting on our beds. We also heard soft knocking at our door. Our oldest grandson peeked around the corner leading to another hall and he heard a voice beckoning him to "come here." He did not. He quickly returned to us. Their spa area is great too. Eureaka Springs is a hidden gem in the Ozarks.

The Felt Mansion - Felt, yeah, I went there, nothing nor did we see anything here.

The Saugatuck Dunes Correction Facility - Now torn down. We found nothing but old desks and files thrown about the place, some old over turned bed frames but bothing paranormal.

I did take some shots of the outside and when we got home, I found a picture with what looked like a hooded, robed figure standing next to an outside wall. Upon further examination, I discovered it to be a play of shadows. Too bad.

We plan on continuing our forays into the unknown and hope to use our new equipment in our investigations.

 

Oh, if you are ever able to go, I would recommend the French Quarter. There are cautions, but overall, it is a chuck of Europe deposited in America.

There are many strange things happening in the French Quarter and the areas surrounding it. Plantation row, Manchac swamp and so many other places. Iset the Manchac swamp as the abode of my character "Rudy the Rougarou."

 

There used to be a fellow we called Papaw Campo who lived in the Bayou Ycloskey / Baker’s Ditch area who was know by a few locals to make homemade Absinthe.
Real Absinthe made from wormwood is illegal in the United States but every now and then I’d go “fishin” and whilst I was at it, I’d stop and buy a half pint or so to take back to my apartment on Chartre St. (French Quarter)
I personally disliked the stuff but I had it when friends would stop by to visit.

One poor fellow whom I treated to a little more than a taste of the evil substance swore that he saw ghosts going through the walls of my apartment.
Now, I never saw anything like that but later on, I did discover that there was a staircase in between the walls separating the apartments.
It seems that the old house that was made into apartments was a “cat house” back in the day and the staircase was there so the bouncer could peek through a peephole to make sure the lady of ill repute was doing what she was supposed to do and her visitor was “civil”.

Were there really ghosts going through the walls or just a hallucination brought on by imbibing real absinthe…..or both? Dunno.

 

@Yvonne Smith "My mom told me about going to a church meeting where they had several Catholic nuns from a mission as the guest speakers. She said they were all sitting around the table (it was at a restaurant) and suddenly, one of the nun’s faces turned into something like a death mask, and then turned back into her regular face.
My mom was totally shocked, but she never had any idea what happened to cause it or why, and apparently, no one else saw it happen."

In the French Quarter, exists the Ursuline Convent. It has a very dark reputation from its inception. Young women were tempted by the French King to travel to New Orleans ostensibly to marry gentlemen of the highest breeding who owned large properties and were very wealthy; they even hung posters with painted pictures depicting the lavish life to be found there.
Unfortunately, the posters were false and the reported lavish life styles and gentlemen of the highest breeding were all lies. In fact, the overall makeup of the population of New Orleans, was 99% male, and the "gentlemen" were in fact thieves, killers and rapists, quite the opposite of what was represented to the young women.
France had to come up with a way to placate those men who had been released from prisons and asylums and their solution was to export women to "occupy" the raucus masses.
The young women arrived, each with a large box. Those boxes resembled coffins in their shape, the girl were referred to as the Filles a la Cassette. The young women were taken to the Ursuline Convent for housing as it was the only building large enough to house and ensure safety for them.
Now, legend has it that vampires traveled from Europe in those boxes, which were storred in the attic of the convent. To this day, no one is allowed access to the attic and every request is shrugged off with a "Nothing to see but ild records and dust up there."
Suddenly, strange deaths began to occur and they were attributed to vampires; suspicion was cast upon the boxes brought into the convent.

The Convent remains Vatican property and is an island unto itself. I could go on about the sealing of the attic's windows with silver nails that had been blessed by the Bishop, or how, if any repairs need to be made to the roof, the Bishop must be present, and other happenings there but it would take up much space. Oh, by the way, I snapped a picture of the hatch to the attic space and it is held closed by a very large size section of lumber, which is itself bolted to the wall.

 

Ah, @Bobby Cole, you are regarded wll by @Yvonne Smith.

"here used to be a fellow we called Papaw Campo who lived in the Bayou Ycloskey / Baker’s Ditch area who was know by a few locals to make homemade Absinthe.
Real Absinthe made from wormwood is illegal in the United States but every now and then I’d go “fishin” and whilst I was at it, I’d stop and buy a half pint or so to take back to my apartment on Chartre St. (French Quarter)
I personally disliked the stuff but I had it when friends would stop by to visit.

One poor fellow whom I treated to a little more than a taste of the evil substance swore that he saw ghosts going through the walls of my apartment.
Now, I never saw anything like that but later on, I did discover that there was a staircase in between the walls separating the apartments.
It seems that the old house that was made into apartments was a “cat house” back in the day and the staircase was there so the bouncer could peek through a peephole to make sure the lady of ill repute was doing what she was supposed to do and her visitor was “civil”.

Were there really ghosts going through the walls or just a hallucination brought on by imbibing real absinthe…..or both? Dunno."

That is such a real tale, I can almost imagine myself there! Thank you.

We have been to New Orleans a total of 2 - 3 times a year since 2009, with the exception of the faux-pandemic. We have many friends who live down there and they refer to us as locals with a long commute. We do indeed love the French Quarter.

Yes, I am familiar with the recipe for real absinthe and its illegal status. The Olde Absinthe House in the Quarter sells a nasty mockup of it. We tried it and the taste was awful: no sugar cube.

We also love the swamps and bayous. They are beautiful.