Ghostly Dresses DIY Costume Tips

Today's post shares some Halloween costume tips straight from the costume designers from the old 'Ghost Whisperer' show.  At least I think it's old...is that show still on the air?  I love how these 'Ghostly Dresses' look worn and tattered, musty and old.  Just what one would expect a Ghostess to wear?  And their tips are simple enough for even the most novice among us to be able to implement and come away with some 'rottenly good' Halloween threadbare frocks!

Halloween costume tips from the 

'Ghost Whisperer' costume designer!

 
Practical tips for perfecting a Ghostly Wardrobe from the TV show Ghost Whisperer:

PRACTICAL TIPS FOR PERFECTING A GHOSTLY WARDROBE

Use old clothing or buy items from the local Thrift shop

*You’ll find great treasures and keep your costs low

Age the items by using pumice stones, sandpaper, paint or oil

*Different fabrics will have various results: chiffon ages wonderfully, while denim is harder to distress

Be eco-friendly by using safe products such as water-based paints, glues and glitter

Layer fabrics to create dimension and visual interest

*Try using dirt with glue to age the garment

Throw the dirt and glue on, let it dry and see what happens

Here are a few Ghost Whisperer trade secrets:
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR PERFECTING A GHOSTLY WARDROBE
Use old clothing or buy items from the local Thrift shop
*You’ll find great treasures and keep your costs low
Age the items by using pumice stones, sandpaper, paint or oil
*Different fabrics will have various results: chiffon ages wonderfully, while denim is harder to distress
Be eco-friendly by using safe products such as water-based paints, glues and glitter
Layer fabrics to create dimension and visual interest
*Try using dirt with glue to age the garment
Throw the dirt and glue on, let it dry and see what happens
- See more at: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1506854.php/Ghost-Whisperer-Costume-Designer-gives-great-Halloween-costume-tips#sthash.wbnSY1Fu.dpuf

Here are a few Ghost Whisperer trade secrets:
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR PERFECTING A GHOSTLY WARDROBE
Use old clothing or buy items from the local Thrift shop
*You’ll find great treasures and keep your costs low
Age the items by using pumice stones, sandpaper, paint or oil
*Different fabrics will have various results: chiffon ages wonderfully, while denim is harder to distress
Be eco-friendly by using safe products such as water-based paints, glues and glitter
Layer fabrics to create dimension and visual interest
*Try using dirt with glue to age the garment
Throw the dirt and glue on, let it dry and see what happens
- See more at: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1506854.php/Ghost-Whisperer-Costume-Designer-gives-great-Halloween-costume-tips#sthash.wbnSY1Fu.dpuf

Here are a few Ghost Whisperer trade secrets:
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR PERFECTING A GHOSTLY WARDROBE
Use old clothing or buy items from the local Thrift shop
*You’ll find great treasures and keep your costs low
Age the items by using pumice stones, sandpaper, paint or oil
*Different fabrics will have various results: chiffon ages wonderfully, while denim is harder to distress
Be eco-friendly by using safe products such as water-based paints, glues and glitter
Layer fabrics to create dimension and visual interest
*Try using dirt with glue to age the garment
Throw the dirt and glue on, let it dry and see what happens
- See more at: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1506854.php/Ghost-Whisperer-Costume-Designer-gives-great-Halloween-costume-tips#sthash.wbnSY1Fu.dpuf

'Ghost Whisperer' Costume Designer gives great Halloween costume tips - See more at: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1506854.php/Ghost-Whisperer-Costume-Designer-gives-great-Halloween-costume-tips#sthash.wbnSY1Fu.dpuf

'Ghost Whisperer' Costume Designer gives great Halloween costume tips - See more at: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1506854.php/Ghost-Whisperer-Costume-Designer-gives-great-Halloween-costume-tips#sthash.wbnSY1Fu.dpuf

'Ghost Whisperer' Costume Designer gives great Halloween costume tips - See more at: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1506854.php/Ghost-Whisperer-Costume-Designer-gives-great-Halloween-costume-tips#sthash.wbnSY1Fu.dpuf

The Dark Hedges - A Haunting

Well, it's the most spooky month of the year again....the perfect time for some of my favorite things like Jack O'Lanterns, Legends and Haints.  And truth be known some of the present day Hallowe'en customs that we celebrate here in America have their origins in the magical land of Ireland.  So I thought it was the perfect time to share a little story about an eerily beautiful location that comes with it's own 'Ghost'! It even has a sinister sounding name....The Dark Hedges!

The Dark Hedges are located in Northern Ireland in Ballymoney, near the village of Armoy, along a stretch of Bregagh Road.  What makes this stretch of road so unique is the picturesque Beech Tree Canopy that covers the stretch of road leading to what is was formerly known as Gracehill House. Gracehill House was a Georgian mansion belonging to the Stuart family in the 18th century.  The family planted the Beech trees that line both sides of the road, to serve as an impressive landscape feature for visitors coming up the long driveway to the mansion.  And there they've grown for over 300 years.

What makes The Dark Hedges so stunning,  is how they've grown across the drive towards each other,  and have entangled themselves in such a way to form a lovely Tim Burton-esque canopy over the road.  They form a long, naturally arched tunnel in which the light and shadows play in a most beautifully haunting way.  The gnarled branches seem to be a bit foreboding in appearance, while at the same time quite breath-taking to behold.  The old trees appear as though  they may come to life at any moment and pluck you right up with their gnarly branches.  So it's no wonder that a 'Ghost Story' is inevitably attached to this magical site.

Local legend speaks of a supernatural specter that haunts the hedges along the road.  She is known as "The Grey Lady".  She is rumored to be the restless spirit of a former maid that worked at the mansion who had died of mysterious circumstances centuries ago.  The apparition has been spotted gliding along the side of the road and vanishing as she turns the corner past the last beech tree.  Still others believe her to be a lost spirit from an abandoned graveyard rumored to lay hidden in the dank, dark earth of the nearby fields.  But the best tale is the one that takes place on All Hallow's Eve.

For on Hallowe'en night, when the veils between the spirit world and ours grows thin....it is said that the Grey Lady herself is joined on her nightly walk by the tormented souls of those other restless spirits buried beside her in the forgotten graveyard.  Nothing like a lil' Hallowe'en Awakening and Midnight Processional to get the blood racing and the heart pumping, eh?!  I don't know about you...but I don't think I'd be brave enough to venture down that spooky stretch of road alone at night, especially on All Hallow's Eve! 

Orange Tree Photo Wallpaper from Next Trip Tourism
Dark Tree Photo © Bob McCallion (all rights reserved)  Image can be purchased here!

Creepy "Dollhouse"

Well the stores are getting in their Halloween Merchandise full force now which is always mondo-exciting!  Looking forward to Halloween falling on a Friday this year!  I've been scouring the web for 'spooky' ideas for a Halloween Carnival themed party this year.  In my searching, I landed on this creepy video from a lesser known musician that I just happen to love.  She has a breathy, haunting voice that I never tire of listening to.  Her name is Melanie Martinez, and I first saw her on "The Voice".  We thought she had a really unique sound that was far more interesting than most of the other cookie cutter singers.  She didn't make it to the end, but apparently she is recording, as this official video is for her new EP out on iTunes titled "Dollhouse", and the song is of the same title.  The video is creepy in a good way, and that disturbing melancholy is what makes it so interesting .  Unfortunately, the lyrics will probably hit home for a lot of people who were raised in dysfunctional families, but again, that's what makes it so good!

Spooky MAY-hem in Florida!

Time for some SPOOKY MAY-HEM!

Well it's almost the end of May, and you know what that means right?  It means it's time for Spooky Empire's MAY-hem Convention in Orlando, Florida.  How dreadfully delightful that the Ghoulies have come to town.  They kicked off the 3-day event last night with a Day of the Dead Poolside Opener Party, complete with eats,drinks, music and make-up!  A most frighteningly festive way to get the party rolling and start getting in the mood for the upcoming Halloween season.  The Convention rolls back into O-town in October, just in time for the Halloween happenings, adding a Zombie Walk and Hearse & Creepy Car Show! 

 

On Saturday and Sunday, there will be a variety of spooky events happening, including horror movie film festivals, live shows and events, costume contest, horror art, and lots of macabre merchandise to procure for this year's Halloween Yard Haunts.  There will also be autograph signings and photo ops with some of your horror movie favorites, such as "Halloween" Director John Carpenter, Robert Englund aka Freddy Kreuger, Lana Parrilla the Evil 'Snow White' Queen from TV's "Once Upon a Time", Pat Carroll, the voice of Ursula in Disney's "Little Mermaid", and Nick Castle aka Michael Meyers from "Halloween"....just to name a few. You can check out the full list of attendees here!

The event looks to be a virtual Spook Fest full of all things Creepy and Cool.  For any of you Halloween-Heads living in Florida, or just visiting here on vacation.....be sure to check it out this weekend Friday-Sunday, tickets available at the door.  And be sure to catch the video below of Pat Carroll (aka Ursula) doing a reading of the famous intro dialogue from Disney's Haunted Mansion ride...you know, the one you hear when you are in the elevator waiting to go inside and the walls start stretching!!  She has one of the the best 'evil laughs' in the business!  Love her!
(All images © Spooky Empire, Halloween Extreme image © Ricky Brigante)

For Sale - Disney Haunted Mansion

Well, sort of.....
Would you want to live in a Haunted Mansion? Not just any old Haunted Mansion mind you, but Disney's Haunted Mansion? Well, not the 'actual' Haunted Mansion on Disney Property, but would you be interested in living in a replica of the Haunted Mansion? 

That's right, for the scary low price of just $873,000, you could live in your very own exact replica of The Haunted Mansion in a gated community in Duluth, Georgia!  The Mansion Replica was built by Designer and Disney Contractor, Mark Hurt in 1996.  And yes, every 'deadly' detail of the architecture is precise, because Mr. Hurt measured the real Disney Mansion to make certain it was exact. 

 
Included in the listing is a 2 story library, elevator and official Haunted Mansion plaque on the front gate.  Mark paid special attention to detail because he wanted it to be authentic!  There's even a 'spine-tingling' surprise awaiting guests in the 1st floor bathroom.  As they wash their hands in the sink...the lights begin to flicker and Ezra the Ghost appears in the mirror.  Oh  so spooky!

Talk about the perfect pad for hosting next year's big Halloween Bash!  But don't bother scheduling a tour unless you can pre-qualify.  The listing was set to expire on Nov. 1st, and as of Oct. 26th, it had 45 bids on Ebay.  Fortunately, none of those bids had met the seller's asking price, so chances are good that it's still on the market.  So for those of you who've always wished you could live in the Haunted Mansion....here's your chance.  Of course the house does include the one complimentary Ghost in the bathroom, but you'll have to attract the other 998 Happy Haunts on your own!  So the question is....if you had the money, would you want to reside in the 'Haunted Mansion'?

Ghost Story - Island of Deadly Dolls

“He is the intermediary between us, his audience, the living, and they, the dolls, the undead, who cannot live at all and yet who mimic the living in every detail since, though they cannot speak or weep, still they project those signals of signification we instantly recognize as language.” 

~ Angela Carter "Wayward Girls and Wicked Women

Halloween is all about being spooked right?  And let's face it, there are a LOT of SPOOKY people, places and things in this world.  One such spooky place that I just learned of may be old news to some of you, but it was all new to me, so I thought the Halloween Countdown was a great place to share it.  I saw it on my homepage yesterday, and the image was so creepy that I had to investigate it further...

 

This is one of the creepiest Tourist Attractions in Mexico and it's called "The Island of the Dolls", or in Spanish, “La Isla de la Munecas”!  Creepy Dolls rank right up there with Creepy Clowns in my book.  I think there is something disconcerting about seemingly innocent, childlike things having a dark and sinister side to them, that really taps a nerve in our collective psyche!  So here is the bizarre tale....

A hermit by the name of  Don Julian Santana, moved to the island.  Now he was married, but is rumored to have lived the last 50 years of his life alone on the island.  When he moved there he discovered a small girl drowning in the canal and was unable to save her.  He was understandably quite distraught by the events.  Later, Don Julian found a doll floating in the water, and he believed it had belonged to the drowned child.  So he fished it out of the water and hung it up in a nearby tree.  He did this to honor the young girl's spirit and to help protect the island from any further tragedy.

This marked the beginning of his obsession with collecting old, broken dolls and placing them all around the island and the waterways.  He was also said to have fished other old dolls from the waters believing them to be drowning children.  But other stories recount the man as being tormented by the spirits of the dolls, and his collection and placement of the creepy dollies was as a shrine to appease the spirit that was tormenting him.  He believed he could hear the dolls whispering and that the spirit was beckoning him to come into the water.

Now you may or may not think the man was just slowly succumbing to his own madness, and perhaps he was.  But there is one last chilling twist to this terrifying tale.   Apparently, in 2001, old Don Julian was discovered by his nephew, drowned in the very same canal, at the same place where he'd found the young girl.  Coincidence?  Or are there more malevolent forces at work on that island?

The island is now being operated by Santana's family, as one of the world's weirdest and creepiest tourist attractions.  But there have been many a visitor who has felt the unnerving sense that the dolls are watching them.  They've claimed to have witnessed the dolls moving their broken limbs, blinking their eyes, and whispering through the trees.  As such, it is now recommended that visitors offer the spirits a gift of appeasement upon first stepping foot on the island.

I've included a video below that has some good images of the very creepy mutilated dolls, along with a recounting of the tale.  So what do you think?  Do creepy dollies make your skin crawl?  Do you think there could really be discontented spirits on the island that drove Don Julian slowly mad, and eventually beckoned him to his own watery grave?  And would you dare go there for a visit?

State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers - A Haunting

“The consequences of our crimes long survive their commission,

and, like the ghosts of the murdered, forever haunt

the steps of the malefactor”

~ Sir Walter Raleigh

While in Salem and the surrounding area this October, I made my husband drive me to a location that I've been reading about and eager to visit for the last 6 years. Every time we went to Salem previously, we just ran out of time to make it over to Danvers. It's actually not that far from Salem. In fact, Danvers, Massachusetts is said to be the actual place where the Witch Trial hysteria began, because back in that time....Danvers was known as Salem Village. In fact, it was there that the notoriously fanatical, Witch Trial judge Johnathan Hawthorne resided. He lived high atop Hawthorne Hill in a home his father had built. But it's what was built on that hill later that I was interested in.
On that very same, scenic hill top, in 1878, a mammoth Gothic mansion was built for the care and keeping of the mentally ill. Not being restricted by the PC world in which we now live, this architectural masterpiece was aptly named The State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers. Guess they just came right out and called 'em what they were back in those days...ha! The building itself is called the Kirkbride building, named after Dr. Thomas Kirkbride. And it is built in the shape of a bat, with two wings extending out to each side where the males and females were housed respectively. The farthest ends of each of those wings were called the 'wing tips' or A and J wards, and they were reserved for the worst of the 'criminally insane'! (I would NOT have wanted to work on those wards.) The facility was built to accommodate about 600 patients and was likened to a small city because it was almost completely self-contained. And in the beginning, it had a great reputation. The Asylum even had its own morgue and burial grounds on site.
But in the 40's - 50's, state budget cuts ensued and overcrowding began to plague the beleaguered hospital whose population had swelled to over 1200. The condition of the building and the patients began to deteriorate rapidly. Reportedly, as a desperate means to control the burgeoning population, the doctors began employing horrific treatments that were used in that era such as Full Frontal Lobotomies, Experimental Drugs, Hydrotherapy and Shock Treatment. This allowed them to keep their mentally insane patients subdued, but with sometimes adverse and even fatal consequences. "Poorly clothed and sometimes naked, these legions of lost souls were shown pacing aimlessly on the wards, lying on the filthy cement floors, or sitting head in hand against the pock-marked walls." (Deutsch 1948)
Eventually in 1992, Danvers State Mental Hospital shut its deteriorating doors for good, and the building itself sat silent for 14 years. The building was considered extremely dangerous with rotting floors falling through in certain wards, so full time security was placed on site to apprehend would-be ghost hunters, urban explorers and thrill seeking teenagers. But the general consensus of psychics and paranormal investigators who've been fortunate enough to visit during that time....is that the place was extremely haunted with lots of residual negative energy from those tortured souls who'd been housed there and experimented on over all those years. There have been many reports of apparitions and orbs and cold spots by those who were able to get inside its rotting walls. And the decaying institution was also the perfectly haunting location in which to film the horror movie, Session 9, in 2001. It was also believed to be the inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham Sanatorium in "The Thing on the Doorstep".

I longed to go there and photograph the beautifully creepy Gothic architecture. But alas, I had no idea that the site was literally minutes from our hotel in Peabody all these years. Thank you GPS and iPhone for finding this place for me this Autumn! So we searched it out on our last day in New England this month. Unfortunately, the eerie, haunted, dilapidated structure had been purchased in 2005 and turned into an apartment building (Avalon Danvers) up on Hawthorne Hill! This haunted hill with so much history, albeit somewhat negative....was now a nice clean apartment complex. Luckily, they did keep the main center part of the building in tact and refurbished it to its former grandeur on the outside, but the long bat wing wards were demolished to make way for progress.
I would have preferred to see it in its dilapidated state, as it makes for far spookier photographs. However, the day we went, the skies were very overcast and cloudy as a cold front was making its way in. And those clouds and bare branches on the trees in front of the Gothic facade still allowed me to work a little photo magic to recreate the Haunted Insane Asylum on the hill, as I had read about it and envisioned it in my spooky lil' mind! It does beg the question....does a building retain the horrors and negative energy of its former dwellers? And does bulldozing this place down to create new apartments somehow cleanse the space of said negative energy....or do those lost souls still dwell there? Photos 1,2,6 © 2011 Wendy A. (All Rights Reserved) Could not find copyright info on the other photos.

Til' Death Do We Part - A Haunting

"At first cock-crow the ghosts must go
Back to their quiet graves below."
~ Theodosia Garrison

As a photographer who loves Halloween, it's only natural that I am drawn to things that look dilapidated and decayed. So when we travel around I do a little research to find those dwellings that have a 'story' to them....specifically 'Ghost Stories' or places with some other tragic past. Not only are those places always atmospheric, but they give you the eebie jeebies when you are walking around them. And they always seem to feel like there is some other presence there. But being easily spooked, I am no where near brave enough to actually venture inside them. (Actually I did walk around and photograph an old abandoned jail once which was really cool.) But sometimes you don't even have to go inside because it's been my experience that the specters of yesterday can be found haunting the entire space where they've met their demise. It's as if they are tied to the entirety of the dwelling. So it's not uncommon to sense shadows, or to feel like something has passed by you, or even worse....gone through you! It's a disconcerting feeling to say the least. But since I have such a fondness for those on the 'other side', I usually don't get too freaked out when those things occur.

The house above is a clapboard house in Salem near the waterfront. And the story circulating around town was that a successful Merchant named Benjamin Hubbard, owned the house that sat near to the wharf. And he had fallen in love with a young lady named Eliza, to whom he was set to be married. Now the back story was that Eliza was very lovely indeed, and had as such, attracted the jealous ire of another young woman in the village named Lillith, who had fancied Benjamin since their childhood, and who was rumored to be dabbling in witchcraft. Because of the rumors, Lillith had become somewhat of a pariah in town. She became increasingly bitter over the treatment she was receiving from the townsfolk, and quite jealous of the fair bride to be. So on the day of the wedding, Eliza was walking with her Father to the Chapel, which could be seen from the Hubbard Homestead, when she suddenly went limp and fell to the ground. They tried to revive her, but it was no use, Eliza expired there on the sidewalk in her Father's arms. No official cause of death could be found, but since Lillith was spotted by wedding guests watching Eliza walk to the chapel, they of course accused her of using witchcraft to put a death curse on the poor girl.

Benjamin was understandably devastated by the loss of his beloved Eliza. Inconsolable with grief, he took his own life in the solitude of the home that he had planned to share with his bride. As the years passed, there were many accounts of seeing and hearing spirits in the old Hubbard Homestead. And because of that, no new residents ever remained in the house for long before leaving. Mainly what was reported was an apparition of a forlorn man looking out the window that faced toward the Chapel, and sightings of a ghostly woman in a wedding dress walking down the sidewalk and then disappearing into the house. Many speculate that the couple who were struck down before they could unite on the earthly plane, now spend eternity trying to reunite in death.
I took a lot of photographs of this house, hoping to perhaps catch a glimpse of the love lorn apparitions, but I found nothing in over 50 images, until I got to this one. And when I saw it...well it gave me chills!!! ;o)

Tree Spirits in the Cemetery

These are photos I shot at West Wardsboro Cemetery in Vermont. I love the simplicity and slight spookiness of the old, small white picket pence and stone wall in front. It beckoned me inside. And the cemetery itself was quite lovely with stately trees and a backdrop of gorgeous fall foliage. But most instantly noticeable were two very stately, barren trees that seemed to stand guard in the middle. They seemed to give off their own aura, and what felt almost like a hushed distant warning. I can only describe it as a heightened sense of unease when walking too close to them. So what was it about these particular trees anyway?

I read somewhere that the Native Americans called Trees, the Ghosts of the Forest. And sometimes told tales of certain trees that were 'haunted' by evil spirits. The early settlers of course scoffed at the Indians' absurd beliefs, often taunting them and threatening to cut the trees down for firewood. That was until the fateful night that one over smug settler tried to chop into the tree with an axe, that promptly flew out of his hand, hit the tree and ricocheted back on top of the man himself.....severing an artery. The poor unfortunate man bled to death under those very trees he mocked. Guess that will teach him!
I like to think of Trees as Sentinels or Guardians over the land they oversee. Like the two large foreboding trees in the photo above that I took at that cemetery in Vermont. When I was walking through that graveyard, as I always do, shooting pictures and enjoying the reverence I feel there....it was those two trees that seemed to keep sending out a 'vibe', for lack of a better word. They just seemed to tower over their dominion in a somewhat unsettling manor. And I did give pause, as I thought that perhaps they may not appreciate strangers like myself encroaching on their sacred domain of the afterlife. But other than that slight uneasy feeling when venturing beneath them, I noticed nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. UNTIL...I returned home and viewed my photos! And sure enough, there were the tree spirits clear as day, scowling at me, warning me no doubt...to turn back while I still could, lest I join them there forever!

So there is a moral to this story, and those cautionary tales of the Native Americans. Some forces and spirits in this world, be they evil or benign....aren't readily apparent to the casual observer. One must be open to the magical ways and always on high alert....as you never know when those entities may choose to show themselves for who or what they truly are! ;o)All Images © 2006 Wendy A. (All Rights Reserved)

Dead Men Wear TopHats

The house above is located in Vermont, as you can see, it is quite large and has many floors and rooms. That's because in its heyday it was a hotel, a boarding house, a brothel and an apartment. It hasn't been occupied in many years, due mainly to its long and tragic history. You know how some places just seem to cling tightly to the negative energy that inhabits them....well this was one of those places.

When it was a hotel, it was quite the showstopper, and as such, it attracted rich oil barons from the city who wanted a weekend getaway in Vermont. The hotel had a successful run for awhile until the first tragedy struck. Apparently one of the oil tycoons had learned while he was there vacationing, that he just lost his entire fortune on a risky business venture. Unable to face the mounting debt and ruin that awaited him back in the city, the man put on his top hat and coat, and preceded to hang himself from the rafters in an upstairs room. Soon after, the rich quit coming as they found death from financial ruin to be too distasteful for them.

So the hotel was shut down and reopened a year or so later as a boarding house. The lady who ran the boarding house had acquired a bit of a reputation due to the large number of females who seemed to reside in the large house on a permanent basis, and the equally large number of 'gentlemen' callers who frequented the house at all hours of the day and night. Rumor was, the 'Madam' had a shrewd head for business and was a force to be reckoned with if a 'customer' was unable to pay his tab. Well apparently one such swindler came through pretending to be quite wealthy. He stayed several days, enjoying the company of several of the ladies of the house, and basically raked himself up quite a tab. The 'Madam' let the man stay on a 'tab' because he was so nattily dressed and well spoken. He had expensive clothes and shoes, and flashed some money around, so she was confident he'd not only pay his bill, but would be a big tipper to boot. However, the man was nothing but a two-bit con artist who never had any intention of paying a cent.

On his last day, he packed his things and was about to just walk out the front door, when he heard the clicking of a trigger being cocked. The 'Madam' of the house pointed the barrel of a gun at his back and asked him to kindly step back inside, because he must have inadvertently forgotten to pay his tab. The man laughed and pulled his pockets inside out to show that he had not a penny to his name. He then belittled the ladies and the Madam with some verbal abuse before turning around to walk back out the door. He made it to the end of the porch when the bullet when through his head.

Needless to say, the 'Madam' was arrested, the boarding house/brothel was shut down yet again and it remained empty for quite a few years before someone finally bought the property and attempted to use it as some low rent apartments. However, the owner mismanaged his funds and didn't have the money it took to keep the place up. The angry tenants eventually moved out of the structure because it was literally falling in around them. But more than that....many of them could not deal with the many sightings of ghosts and the constant sounds of a gun firing in the night. A maintenance man had gone to the top floor to work on a broken pipe when he saw what he swore was a man in a suit and top hat hanging from the rafters. It scared him so badly, he ran all the way down and out the front door and refused to go back.

The property is now owned by the bank, but there are other houses near it. And the people that live in those surrounding homes all tell of accounts of seeing a dapper gentleman in a top hat walking on the porch. I found this home and its history to be rather fascinating, so I took many photos of it in hopes of capturing some orbs. I found no orbs at all in any of the photographs, until I got to this image....and I couldn't believe my eyes!!!! (Click on the image to see it larger.) ;o)

Haunted House for Sale

For those of you who have been searching long and hard for that perfect 'Haunted House' to buy and inhabit....I have great news! Yes, one of the premier Haunted Houses in America is now up for sale. The "Amityville Horror House" in NY, is now on the market for a mere $1.15 million. By my accounts, that makes the selling price far more terrifying than the house itself. But then again, how can you truly put a price tag on a bonafide, real life Haunted House like the Amityville Horror House? Not only does it have an authentic 'bloody' background story, but it's also been made famous by Hollywood in an original 1979 horror movie (and some bad remakes). The background is that the DeFeo family who lived in the house, met their untimely demise at the hand of the disturbed eldest son Ronald DeFeo Jr., who shot and killed both of his parents, two brothers and two sisters execution style while they slept in their beds.

The house was later bought and inhabited by George and Kathy Lutz who lived there for a month, reportedly experiencing assorted psychic phenomena and an onslaught of terror at the hands of demonic spirits. They eventually fled the house. A book was written, the now famous movie "The Amityville Horror" was made, and the rest is not only history, but is apparently widely debated and often disputed. But the fact remains that this was indeed a true house of horrors in it's past, and is thereby considered to be a 'Haunted House' by many. And although its appearance has been altered to try and conceal its identity and slow the progression of curious on-lookers (especially at Halloween)....it is now up for sale, with all ghosts included! Muwahaha!