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Daytime Hauntings, Strange Mist, & a Mysterious Pair of Shoes….

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Daytime Hauntings in Texas

The following is an adapted excerpt from Paranormal Texas, my fun travel guide to haunted places near Dallas and Fort Worth. Check it out if you are looking for road trips to paranormal hot spots that are open to the public. There’s no need to creep around Arlington City Cemetery after dark and wait for things to go bump in the night.

In 2012, north Texas ghost hunters Martin Bravo and Clay Coleman accompanied CBS reporter Joel Thomas into Arlington Cemetery and captured several EVP’s in broad daylight. (Click this link to see – and hear – what they found.)

Gravemarker made of bois d'arc wood (photo by Tui Snider)
Gravemarker made of bois d’arc wood (photo by Tui Snider)
My Anomalous Photo – What do you think?

Like the aforementioned news crew, my husband and I also visited Arlington Cemetery in the middle of the day. As you can see in the photo below, I caught a strange misty column in one of my pictures.

Normally, I’d blame it on a dirty camera lens… However, this anomaly doesn’t show up in any of the other pics I snapped that day – and I took hundreds!

What do you think?

Do you see the misty column in this shot? (photo by Tui Snider)
Do you see the misty column in this shot? (photo by Tui Snider)
Haunted or not

As often happens, Arlington Cemetery is actually four smaller graveyards merged into one 10-acre area: the Old Cemetery, W.W. McNatt Cemetery Addition, the Masonic Cemetery, and the City Cemetery.

The most haunted section of Arlington Cemetery is reported to be the Old Cemetery section, which is the final resting place of early Texas settlers dating back to 1875.

Haunted or not, I certainly found the Old Cemetery to be the most interesting section of the graveyard. The oldest grave markers here include a couple of wooden ones made from bois d’arc trees. (That was the area where I snapped that photo of the mysterious mist.)

I’m also quite curious about the grave labeled “Mother” which you can see in the photo below. Why do you suppose it has a pair of shoes beside it and an empty photo frame?

Wonder what the story is here? (photo by Tui Snider)
Wonder what the story is here? (photo by Tui Snider)
Sinister or Peaceful?

While some folks claim to feel a sinister presence in this historic graveyard, I found Arlington Cemetery peaceful and inviting. My husband even mentioned that he wished we’d brought a picnic since it was so shady and serene.

Plus, after snapping that odd photo and learning about the daytime EVP’s captured here, I’d definitely like to return to this historic cemetery for an extended investigation…and a picnic!

Care to join me?

Haunted, perhaps, but very peaceful, too! (photo by Tui Snider)
Haunted, perhaps, but very peaceful, too! (photo by Tui Snider)
Plan your trip to Arlington City Cemetery

Address:
Arlington City Cemetery
701 S Mary St
Arlington, TX 76010

Please note: The above address actually takes you to Parkdale Cemetery. Once there, enter and wander down to the southeast section. You will know you are there when you start to notice older headstones, and if you’re lucky, a ghost or two!

tui-snider-alien-350
To read about more weird, offbeat, and overlooked places, check out my Amazon Best Seller, Unexpected Texas.

For ghost hunting hot spots, check out my recently-released travel guide to haunted places, Paranormal Texas. Happy travels!

Filed Under: Travel Photo Essays Tagged With: cemetery, evp, ghost, ghost hunting, ghost photo, grave, graveyard, historic, historic cemeteries, paranormal, paranormal texas, Texas, Tui Snider

True Spooks 2013: True Ghost Stories

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Picnic table skull (photo by Tui Snider)
Picnic table skull (photo by Tui Snider)

Welcome to the 2013 True Spooks blog carnival

No matter what you believe, ghost stories can be a lot of fun! Each year, I host a Blog Carnival with true ghost stories as its theme. If you’re still in the mood for more spooky tales after reading this batch, check out past years’ ghost stories at: True Spooks 2012 and True Spooks 2011, too.

Welcome to the October 25, 2013 edition of true spooks – share your ghost story:

Ajay presents Ajay Cheruthon’s Blog: The Ghost Tracks of San Antonio posted at Ajay Cheruthon’s Blog, saying, “Check out the mystery behind the Ghost tracks of San Antonio and what mysterious force pushes cars uphill.”

Patrick Keller presents Children who have spirit friends… posted at The Big Séance, saying, “This is one of several posts I’ve written as I read Andrea Perron’s anthology of the true events that the movie “The Conjuring” is based on, “House of Darkness House of Light”.”

Robin Bremer presents HAPPY Halloweenie- A different view of Halloween | Robin Bremer.net posted at Robin Bremer.net, saying, “Here is a different view of the Supernatural and Halloween”

Marcy Ebert presents Witch Confessions | Confessions of Witch Housewife posted at Confessions of Witch Housewife.

Patrick Keller presents Haunted Summer Reading Part One posted at News From The Spirit World, saying, “Part One of my guest post for News From The Spirit World. @BigSeance”

Ajay presents Ajay Cheruthon’s Blog: The British Columbia Feet Mystery posted at Ajay Cheruthon’s Blog, saying, “Check out the true story of human feet being brought ashore on the coasts of British Columbia.”

Patrick Keller presents Why do we assume? | The Big Séance posted at The Big Séance, saying, “Inspired by my students at my school, paranormal TV, and my experiences with EVP and paranormal investigation. Twitter is @BigSeance”

JeanNicole Rivers presents Homemade Hauntings: H. Annie Marshall (Violin Annie) | JeanNicole Rivers posted at JeanNicole Rivers.

Vadim Koystinen presents Spooky in style posted at BESTYLUS, saying, ““In Memory of the Late Mr. and Mrs. Comfort” is a photographic fable shot in 1995 for The New Yorker by uber photographic legend Richard Avedon.”

Patrick Keller presents My Rapper: Missing you, old friend | The Big Séance posted at The Big Séance, saying, “A look back at one of my more interesting paranormal research experiences. @BigSeance”

Vanessa Morgan presents On the set of a haunted house movie | Vanessa Morgan posted at Vanessa Morgan.

Patrick Keller presents Haunted Summer Reading Part Two posted at News From The Spirit World, saying, “Part Two of my guest post for News From The Spirit World. @BigSeance”

Robin Bremer presents Experiences in The Supernatural Video’s | Robin Bremer.net posted at Robin Bremer.net, saying, “Experience the supernatural. 1 1/2 Hours of videos of people telling about superantural experiences.”

Lily presents Psychics News | Tarot Blog | Connecting with the Afterlife – Should You Talk to the Dead? | Kooma Magazine posted at Kooma Psychic Blog ~ Kooma Psychics News ~ Kooma Tarot News ~ Kooma Tarot Readings ~ Kooma Psychic Readings, saying, “There comes a point in many people’s lives when they think about a deceased friend or relative. It may be that they wish they had told them certain things before they died, or are left with unanswered questions themselves.”

Robin Bremer presents What are Some Miraculous Signs, Miracles and Wonders From God? | Robin Bremer.net posted at Robin Bremer.net, saying, “Here are some of my supernatural experiences:

I am going to share some of my experiences with you that I have had in the supernatural, in order to show you that God is the same today as He was when He walked the earth. This is a relationship, a relationship has encounters, and I want to encourage you to expect to have supernatural encounters with God daily.”

Vanessa Morgan presents Abandoned haunted convent in the Netherlands posted at Vanessa Morgan.

Patrick Keller presents Flies and Hauntings: You Can’t Really Kill What’s Already Dead | The Big Séance posted at The Big Séance, saying, “Another article inspired by my reading of Andrea Perron’s “House of Darkness House of Light”, which is the true story and events that the movie “The Conjuring” is based off of. @BigSeance”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of true spooks – share your ghost story using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Technorati tags: true spooks – share your ghost story, blog carnival.

Filed Under: Travel Photo Essays Tagged With: Blog Carnival, cemetery, evp, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghost photo, ghost story, ghosts, graveyard, paranormal, shadow people, spirits

True Spooks 2012: True Ghost Stories

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Cemetery angel (photo by Tui Snider)
Cemetery angel (photo by Tui Snider)

 

 

Welcome to the 2012 True Spooks blog carnival

No matter what you believe, ghost stories can be a lot of fun. Each year, I host a Blog Carnival with true ghost stories as its theme. Last year’s was chock full of paranormal goodness, so if you’re still in the mood for more spooky tales after reading this batch, check out, True Spooks 2011, too.

True Ghost Stories:

Diane J. Reed presents Real Ghost Photo! posted at Bandits Ranch, saying,

“When I received an email from a friend asking if the Autumn leaves had peaked in my area, I decided to stop by the old farmhouse to take a photo of the glorious maple tree beside it. I didn’t think any more about it until that evening when my husband stumbled across the photo in our joint email account. “Honey,” he said, “where did you get this? Did you see the ghost in the window?” Sure enough, in the upper far right window of the farmhouse there appears to be a person staring outside, smiling at m “

Mandy Fleming presents My First Ghost posted at The Lost Creek Medicine Show, saying,

“The first ghost I ever saw was the best a paranormal investigator could hope for – a full bodied apparition.  Only I was not on an investigation.  I was a sophomore in high school in a sleepy little mining town in Kentucky.”

Charming Elements presents Dark Mysterious Encounter posted at Charmingelements.com, saying,

“I saw a figure standing just outside our house looking down at the ground. It was dressed in a long brown or black hooded robe. I was surprised to see anyone there at all. No one has any business being on our property at that hour of the night”

Linda Aksomitis presents Meeting the Ghosts of Bardstown posted at guide2travel.ca, saying,

“I’d never found any concrete evidence that ghosts really existed–even though I believed they did–until my trip to Bardstown, Kentucky. There, I communicated with Waleta using a divining rod, met some young mediums, and even snapped a photo of ghosts in the Jailer’s Inn where I stayed.”

Foxy presents The Haunting!!! posted at thegoldenfoxgirl.com saying,

“I’m not one to believe in ghost or things of that nature but last night something happened that I just can’t explain. I thought I would share the story with all of you and see if you can explain away this weird little happening.”

Patricia Lynne presents Scare Me Blogfest posted at Patricia Lynne, saying,

“The purpose of the Scare Me Blogfest is to write about the scariest book that you’ve read, Movie you have watched, Ghosts you have encountered, and/or to share your own scary story.”

Linda Poitevin presents Amityville Revisited: My Red-Roomed House posted at Parajunkee, saying,

“My husband and I both worked shifts, which meant I spent many nights alone.
While it became more and more difficult for me to go up to our room if DH wasn’t in the house (even in broad daylight, never mind the dark), I was a rational person and not about to give into my imagination…One night in the middle of winter, however, that changed….The three of us slept on the couch that night…and every other night that DH worked a nightshift for the rest of our time in the place.”

Cemetery angel (photo by Tui Snider)
Cemetery angel (photo by Tui Snider)

Other Anomalies: Not Quite Ghosts (but still quite odd!)

Vanessa Morgan presents Shadow People posted at Vanessa Morgan, saying,

“Shadow people are human-shaped hooded forms that can be seen out of the corner of your eye. Strangely enough, the amount of eyewitness reports is increasing at an alarming rate. Is this because more people are talking about this phenomenon so others are admitting to it? Or is something more eerie going on?”

Tui Snider presents Alien Gravesite in Aurora Cemetery: The Roswell of Texas? posted at Mental Mosaic, saying,

“Like many older cemeteries, the one in Aurora, Texas has a Texas State Historical Marker. While pioneers, cattlemen, farmers and soldiers often figure prominently on such signs, what makes this historical marker so unusual is that it mentions a spaceship crash in 1897. A spaceship crash? In Texas? In 1897? Yes, indeed! “

Basil presents CCR 016: Rob Skiba Interview posted at Canary Cry Radio, saying,

“Rob Skiba interview regarding nephalim, Shadow people, DNA, nimrod, fringe christianity, the new world order, revelations, end days.”

Overgrown headstone (photo by Tui Snider)
Overgrown headstone (photo by Tui Snider)

Ghost Hunting Tips:

Shelley Tucker presents Cemetery Etiquette for Ghosthunters posted at This Eclectic Life, saying,

“There is a word for people like me. I am a “taphophile.” Simply put, it means that I love cemeteries and graveyards. As much as I love wandering in graveyards, there are rules of etiquette that apply. If you are thinking of a visit to a cemetery, I hope you will keep these in mind.”

Jennifer Saksa presents WavePad Analyzes Electronic Voice Phenomena posted at NCH Software Blog, saying,

“When investigating paranormal activity audio, recordings can be made and analyzed later, sometimes bringing sounds and patterns to the surface that I didn’t pick up with my ears alone, but after I review the audio, using WavePad, there’s an EVP!”

That concludes this edition, but – as I mentioned earlier – if you’re still in the mood for more spooky tales, check out: True Spooks 2011, too.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of 2013 True Spooks – Share Your Ghost Story using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

 

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Technorati tags: true spooks – share your ghost story, blog carnival.

Filed Under: Haunted Travel, Historic Cemeteries Tagged With: Blog Carnival, cemetery, ghost photo, ghost story, ghosts, graveyard

True Spooks 2011: True Ghost Stories

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Ghostly photo taken in a Victorian home in Port Townsend, WA. (photo by Tui Snider)
Ghostly photo taken in a Victorian home in Port Townsend, WA. (photo by Tui Snider)

Welcome to the 2011 edition of True Spooks: True Ghost Stories

What are ghost stories doing on a travel blog? Simple! With Halloween right around the corner, I thought I’d let some masterful storytellers take us for a spooky trip to the world’s most haunted places, from tiny Italian villages, to middle class American neighborhoods. Sometimes the creepiest place of all is your own backyard.

Whether or not you actually believe in ghosts, a well-told ghost story can be a lot of fun. So get cozy, grab a snack, and read on for this year’s collection of true ghost stories:

Photo of a ghost?

Let’s start with a ghostly photo. I snapped this picture during a tea party at a historic Victorian home in Port Townsend, Washington. No one was smoking, but I had a new digital camera and was excited to experiment. I was especially interested in seeing how well it could work in low-light situations, so I didn’t use a flash at all. Most of the shots came out normal, or just plain blurry. This one, however, caught my eye because of the strange misty shape in it.

What do you think? Do you see a ghost in the photo above? Many people tell me they see a ghostly form, but interpretations vary. Some see a woman in a gown. Others tell me they see a woman’s face peering out from beneath a veil. Depending on which monitor I view the photo on, I see different things, too.

1. “Cleanliness is next to Ghostliness” by Tui Snider

Tui Snider (hey – that’s me!) presents True Ghost Stories: Cleanliness is next to Ghostliness posted at Mental Mosaic (You are here!), saying,

“Here are two strange experiences I’ve had, experiences that I can’t quite explain away. Both of them have to do with money appearing out of nowhere. I wish I could say pots of gold magically appeared on my doorstep, but that’s not the case. While that’s probably what would happen in a movie; in real life, odd experiences tend to be much more subtle.”

2. “Tales of a Fourth Grade Haunting” by Slade Roberson

Since I mentioned Slade Roberson in my ghost post, we’ll let him go next with his story, Tales of a Fourth Grade Haunting posted at Shift Your Spirits. Slade grew up in a really creepy haunted house, but kept his strange experiences to himself. Years later, Slade learned that his brother had also experienced weird things in their childhood home.

“To this day, my brother and I need only say three words — The Green House — and they speak of a very specific time and place of paranormal phenomena we experienced together as children.”

Even though Slade’s ghost story is high on the creep-factor, his writing style is so funny and engaging that I had a big grin on my face while reading it. Take this passage, for example:

“The Green House was guilty of aesthetic violations more than any other abnormal energy — it was supernaturally ugly. Scary ugly. A previous owner had gone to serious trouble to introduce fuglier than necessary elements into this split-level collision of styles and space.”

3. “Look For It, Baby” by Shelly Tucker

Shelly Tucker presents Look For It, Baby posted at This Eclectic Life. Shelly is a professional storyteller who even has a Mostly Ghostly section on her blog dedicated to her encounters with the supernatural. While she often travels to haunted places, what I love about this particular story is that it happened right in her own home.

“Some people do not believe in ghosts. I am not one of them. I don’t believe in aliens, but then I’ve never seen one of them. Show me one, and I might change my mind. Ghosts I have seen, and heard, and felt. On the occasion that I’m sharing with you, I heard one … the ghost of my own father.”

If you are in north Texas, you can catch Shelly at the Jupiter House Coffee (106 N. Locust. on the Square) in Denton, where she will be telling ghost stories from 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. on October 22, 2011. But be warned:

“Don’t worry about drinking coffee so late at night … the stories I plan to tell will make you too afraid to sleep.”

4. “Ghost Stories… Grab a Flashlight!” by Michelle Fabio

Michelle Fabio presents Ghost Stories… Grab a Flashlight! posted at Bleeding Espresso. Michelle is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer living in her family’s ancestral village in Calabria, Italy and savoring simplicity one sip at a time. Michelle shares three ghostly encounters, the first of which takes place in her bedroom:

“When I was a teenager, I used to joke with my family that there was a man living in my closet, which was really a cubby hole that ran the length of the top floor of the house on either side of the upstairs bedrooms. I used to hear strange noises, things shuffling, falling, just weird stuff that I was always a bit too afraid to investigate in the moment…Well it was all a funny joke until one day…”

5. “Here’s Johnny!” by Vickie Heully

Vickie Heully presents Here’s Johnny! A Ghost Blog posted at vickieheully.com. No one wants to be mocked, accused of lying or thought to be crazy, so choosing to speak up after a mysterious encounter takes courage. In fact, the first few times Vickie saw “Johnny,” she wasn’t sure whether or not to tell her husband:

“I didn’t mention it to Adam at first. When I eventually did, I laughed nervously. I just knew he was going to laugh and tell me I need to lay off the horror movies. But he didn’t. “No, I believe you,” he said, “cause… um… I saw it too.”

6. “The Mystery of the Roses” by Lisa Butler

Lisa Butler presents The Mystery of the Roses posted at Association TransCommunication. Although the idea of a disembodied artist creating a physical painting is new to me, dozens of these were created in the early 1900’s at spiritualist séances.

“The people attending the séance sat in total darkness, continuously singing until a loud clap was heard. The clap signaled that the painting was complete.”

Tom and Lisa Butler of Association TransCommunication (ATransC) share a series of coincidences surrounding one such spirit painting, in a post that also includes links to some EVP’s they have captured:

“While we were there, we recorded for EVP around the painting. We feel that we possibly heard from the woman’s mother, who via EVP, reassured the daughter that she was pleased with what she had done to the home through renovations”

EVP stands for “electronic voice phenomena,” basically, it’s a recording of a ghost, or other disembodied entity.

7. “Accidental Astral Projection Experience” by Fred Tracy

Fred Tracy presents Accidental Astral Projection Experience posted at Personal Development with Fred Tracy. Fred’s experience is not quite a ghost story, but I’m including it since sleep paralysis and out-of-body experiences have long been confused with ghosts.

“If you’re rolling your eyes at this point, I don’t really blame you. I’m open minded, but I’m also logical and practical minded. I have what can only be described as a “primal reflex” to castigate and dismiss anyone who is spouting off a bunch of nonsense they got from some esoteric book or learned from a “holy” teacher they pay $100 an hour. Nevertheless, my experience was SO vivid and unique that I can’t relate it to anything else.”

As I wrote earlier, it takes guts to share your strange experiences with others. As he says:

If anything, take this article as proof that perhaps some of that airy fairy nonsense people go on about may be true. I never would have believed it had I not experienced it first hand.

8. “Encounters with Ghosts” by Anna Conlan

Anna Conlan presents Encounters with Ghosts posted at Psychic but Sane. Now that you’re pleasantly creeped out and just a wee bit jumpy, let’s end this blog carnival with some practical advice about hauntings, from Anna Conlan, a professional psychic.

“I was both fascinated and terrified by ghosts growing up. My first brush with a ghost was when I was about five or six years old, in our family home. The more I developed my intuitive abilities in my early twenties, the more I perceived ghosts.”

Eventually, she overcame her fear of ghosts:

I realized that there was nothing necessarily negative about ghosts – treating ghosts as if they are negative doesn’t particularly help them to cross over.

On the other hand, she warns people who attempt to contact the deceased:

There is no point asking for advice from disembodied entities who have no more (or even a lot less) perspective than you do on your own life…Because if you are willing to open up to whoever comes through, you may actually be channelling the emotional body of a ghost who was the neighbourhood alcoholic (as an example). That’s the earthly equivalent of marching up to an addict on the street and asking them for advice on your latest life issue.

UPDATE: Two More Ghost Stories

Consider these next two stories, which came in shortly after I’d posted this carnival, to be a couple of encores:

Tina presents Ready for a spooky story? posted at Tina Tangos. Her story begins thusly:

We were sleeping relatively soundly, when I awoke with a start and thought I saw something, transparent and white, move past me. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or awake – I was in one of those “in-between” states.

I don’t want to give anything away, but the strangeness Tina experienced continues to escalate from here – check it out!

Arieel presents Egads, Ghosts? posted at Gardener’s Roost, saying:

I’d say I was between 8 and 10 years old, when this happened to me.
I wouldn’t call it a ‘ghost sighting’ but more an encounter with the other side.
We had moved into a 100-year-old home on Elm Street in a small quaint town in Massachusetts.
The house was HUGE and had lots of nooks and crannies to explore,
especially as a curious young kid.
Spider webs, bugs, critters, mud, nothing deterred the inquisitive spirit.

Read on to find out just what Arieel encountered in that big, old house!

What do you think about ghosts?

What do you think? Have you ever had a ghostly encounter? Let us know what you think in the comment box below.

Did you enjoy True Spooks 2011?

If you enjoyed these true ghost stories, please share this post with your friends and family via Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, the Ouija board and any other mode of communication you prefer. The more the merrier! Oh, and Happy Halloween to all y’all! :)

Filed Under: Travel Photo Essays Tagged With: Blog Carnival, ghost photo, ghosts, haunted places, Traveler's Show & Tell

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