HGB Ep. 568 - Haunted Beijing

Moment in Oddity - Tabitha Babbit Circular Saw (Suggested by: Duey Oxberger)
 
Back in the early 1800s there was a woman by the name of Tabitha Babbit who was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts. She was a member of the Shakers which was a millenarian restorationist Christian sect founded in 1747 in England and then organized in the United States in the 1780s. They were originally known as the "Shaking Quakers" because of their ecstatic worship style which included singing, dancing and shouting during church services. Babbit would often watch men at the local sawmill using two-man whip saws with considerable difficulty. She realized that half of their motion was wasted. She was a smart woman who pondered ways to create the same results as the two-man saws with more efficient effort. A weaver by trade, Babbit's idea was to create a round blade that would rotate by being connected to her pedal powered spinning wheel. Her prototype was then connected to a water-powered machine to maximize the effectiveness of cutting lumber. A larger version was later installed in the sawmill. There are some that dispute whether Tabitha Babbit did indeed invent the first circular saw. Due to the Shaker's religious beliefs, Babbit did not patent her invention. In their society, actions taken such as patents were prohibited due to the thought that intellectual properties should be shared by the entire community without restriction. While some believe that the story of Tabitha Babbit and her invention of the circular saw is simply Shaker lore, the idea of the first circular saw being derived from a spinning wheel, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Eli Whitney Birth

In the month of December, on the 8th in 1765, Eli Whitney was born in Westboro, Massachusetts. Eli was known as an inventor, manufacturer, mechanical engineer and has often been considered to be the "father of American technology". Despite all of his contributions to American society, Eli is most well known for his invention of the cotton gin. He attended Yale College and graduated in 1792. It was then that Whitney determined that if a machine could clean the seeds from cotton it could be quite profitable for the South. He set about drawing up plans for his invention and in ten days, Eli had a rudimentary model that could separate the cotton fibers from the seeds. In 1794, he received his patent for the cotton gin. Unfortunately for Whitney, Southern planters were not willing to pay for the use of his invention. This was due to the simplicity of the machine's design allowing for the pirating of the idea. This put Eli's company out of business by 1797. His patent was not allowed to be renewed in 1807 which led Whitney to surmise that,"an invention can be so valuable as to be worthless to the inventor". Eli Whitney never sought a patent for any additional inventions.

Haunted Beijing

Beijing is a city with over 3,000 years of recorded history. Not only is this a city with a rich history, it has a rich culture, some of which is surrounded by folklore and the supernatural. There are several haunted locations in this capital city of China. Chaonei (Chow nay) No. 81 is found in the Dongcheng District and is a unique brick structure with an obscure history that seems to be mostly connected to the Catholic church. No one really knows why it is haunted, but it is said to be one of the most haunted locations in China. There is the Huguang Guild Hall, a haunted theater. A home for royalty, the Prince Gong's Mansion, has a couple ghosts stories. The Bell Tower may be connected to a young woman's ultimate sacrifice and now it occasionally rings out her haunting cry. And the Forbidden City itself has some creepy stories. Join us for the history and hauntings of Beijing, China.

The Chinese have a rich culture when it comes to ghosts. On our Legends of Taiwan episode, we discussed the Hungry Ghost Festival that is observed in that region. This festival entails performing rituals that honor dead ancestors. During the festival, it is thought that the spirits of the dead came from the underworld and mingled around the living. This was the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. That day is called Ghost Day and the seventh month is called the Ghost Month. The Chinese believe that after death, a person is split into three different souls. The po part goes with the body to the grave, while another part goes to judgement and the hun part goes into an ancestral tablet. The po and hun make up the elements of a hungry ghost and it is referred to that way because those elements need to be nourished by offerings that are brought by descendants. At some point, the po and hun eventually make it to the underworld. But there are other kinds of spirits in Chinese folklore, at least ten of them. They are similar to what we would think of as demons.

The yāoguǐ is called a Weird Ghost and is said to have been concerned only with material things in life. They can transform into any physical object. The báguǐ (baggooee) is a Drought Ghost and they were full of lust in life and now create hot winds. The mèiguǐ (maygooee) is a Trickster Ghost and they caused people to be confused in life and can become animals in death. The gǔdú-guǐ (gwoodoo gooee) are Venomous Ghosts and they were hateful in life and can transform into insects in death. The lìguǐ (Ligooee) is a Pestilence Ghost that harbored grudges in life and causes disease and decay in death. There is a specific spirit called a Hungry ghost that is èguǐ (ehgooee) in Chinese and these were arrogant people that can now on gaseous forms. The yǎnguǐ Yawn gooee) is a Nightmare Ghost that was a fraud in life and can transform into pure darkness now. The wǎngliǎng-guǐ (wong leeon gooee) are Goblin Ghosts and were corrupted in life and take the essential energy within rocks and trees. The yìshǐ-guǐ (yeeshe gooee) are Servant Ghosts who were corrupted by their desire for accomplishment in life and in death can transform into blinding light. And finally there is the chuánsòng-guǐ (chewann sone gooee) or Messenger Ghosts, which were litigious in life and can transform into any person. With all these spirits hanging around, it isn't surprising that the Chinese have no issue believe that certain locations can be haunted.

Beijing is the capital of China and the discovery of "Peking Man" indicated that humans have been living in the area since the Neolithic period. The first formal city was built in the 11th century BC and was called Ji (Gee) City. Eventually, this connected with Xianyang (Shen Yawng) in 221 BC that was under the rule of the Qin (Chin) Dynasty. There were name changes and different dynasties that ruled through the years. Under the Mongol Yuan (You ahn) Dynasty in 1261, Ji City became the seat of power and thus the capital of China. Beijing would get its name during the Ming Dynasty in 1403. That dynasty would also rebuild the imperial palace and this would become the Forbidden City. The Chinese feudal dynasty period ended in 1911  and Beijing was no longer the imperial capital. By 1949, it would be the capital of China again. Beijing is a city with over 3,000 years of civilized history and one part of that history is the Chaonei (chow nay) Church.

The main building is distinctive and very unChinese in design with a French Baroque style that seems plucked out of the Victorian era. The property is made up of three buildings and is surrounded by a concrete wall that opens up at a pair of opaque metal doors. The plot is 8,100 square feet and has a few deciduous trees that partially conceal the three buildings here. There is the main house, a larger second house and a garage. Three dormer windows and a brick chimney decorate the mansard roof on the main house, which is two-and-a-half-stories with a basement. The exterior is made from brick with a Flemish bond and metal drainpipes run down the facade. The front entrance is framed with two rectangular columns that hold up a small stone balcony. The larger building is three-stories high and has a single-bay tower on one corner. This has the same French Baroque styling with four dormer windows piercing the mansard roof. The garage is a small dilapidated brick building with a gabled roof. Until 2017, all these buildings had been left abandoned and vacant. Vining plants covered most of the exterior walls and most of the windows had broken panes. The interiors featured broken floorboards and peeling plaster.

Finding an accurate history for the building is difficult as any records before the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 have been lost or are incomplete. Most historians believe the building was constructed in 1910 and run as the North China Union Language School. The school mainly taught missionaries from the west how to speak Mandarin. A couple decades later, the teaching program expanded to anybody interested in learning the language, which included businessmen, diplomats and scholars. There are some historians who disagree with that history and say the building was built in 1900 and used as a house by the French manager of the Beijing–Hankou Railway at that time. Another account says that the Imperial Chinese government built the structure and gifted it to either the British government or the Catholic Church. This definitely became the property of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing in the late 1930s. When World War II started, a group of Belgian Augustinian nuns moved in and used the place as a clinic until 1946.

The Irish Presbyterian Mission moved in next. Now there is a legend told about the time after this. The house was said to have been given to a Kuomintang officer who fled to Taiwan in 1949, leaving behind a woman who was either his mistress or wife. That woman then hanged herself in the house in dispair. There is no record to support this story. In the 1950s, the Communist government took control of the property and used the buildings for government business. The Red Guards occupied it for a time, but its said that they didn't stay for long because the place scared them. In 1980, the State Administration for Religious Affairs and United Front Work Department put forward an order that any property that had once belonged to a religious organization had to be returned to that organization, along with all their property. It would take until 1994 for the Catholic church to prove their connection to Chaonei and the Beijing Patriotic Catholic Association took ownership. At that point, the buildings were slated for demolition, but the church suggested that perhaps the buildings could be used as a Vatican embassy in China. It saved the complex from the bulldozer, but the property remained neglected. The government listed it as a historic property in 2009 and the Catholic church still owns it. The buildings were renovated starting in 2017 and they can be rented out. Before the renovations, the property was a magnet for urban explorers.  

Author and urban explorer Andy Smart visited the location several times to conduct paranormal investigations. Despite the fact that there are no records to back up deaths in the house, Smart wrote on his blog justturnleft.com in 2015 that he met a guy named ‘Jimmy’ Zhang Sunyin who went to school near Chaonei No 81 and he said, "When I was at school we used to walk past there every day. We all knew of the stories and tales about that place and that they probably weren’t true. However, most of the neighborhood, all the local people living around here and surrounding know that a girl had died in there at some time. They all know! We all think that the house is a very bad place. We don’t know why, we can just feel it." So if there wasn't some officer here who left a woman that hanged herself, what other reason is there that this place would be haunted? Another bit of lore that is shared claims some urban explorers died in the building in 2007. And then, despite the fact that no one knows the origin story of this place, a legend claims a priest who built the place disappeared before it was completed and that he haunts the place. 

The Chaonei No. 81 or Chaonei Church is said to be "Beijing's most celebrated 'haunted house'." The legends about this location inspired the idea to use it as a set for the 2014 3D horror film, "The House That Never Dies." Production began on that in 2011 and would take three years with the filmmakers eventually deciding to film at different locations. But the cast and crew did visit the house and the director studied 3,000 pages of data on the house that helped give him a vision for the film because of the stories of haunting activity. That film would become the highest-grossing Chinese horror film of all time. Stories of hauntings date to the 1970s. A man named Li Jongyie told the New York Times in 2013, "Even in the 1970s, people thought the house was haunted...As children, we would play hide-and-seek in the house, but we didn't dare come in by ourselves." Three construction workers were doing renovation work in 2001 and during that they opened up a hole in the basement and saw a flash of light followed by a ghost appearing. They ran terrified from the building and wouldn't return to work. The ghost most commonly claimed to be haunting the house is a woman. Her screams have been heard throughout the years. The house was always said to be cold, even in the summer and people walking by have always felt uneasy. For years, it was written in chalk outside the gate that there were no ghosts. But locals disagree.

The Huguang Guild Hall is an opera house in the Xicheng District. There are said to be four great theaters in Beijing and this is one of them. The theater was constructed in 1807 and today is part of a complex that includes the theater along with the Wenchang building, Xiangxian Temple and Chuwan hall. The interior has a stone floor and the decor features red, green, and gold. The hall hosts a museum of the opera's history in Beijing. In 1912, the Chinese Nationalist Party was founded here. Sun Yat-sen was the Premier of the Republic at that time and he was chosen as the party chairman. During World War II, the theater was used as a home for the poor. Legends claim that the theater was built over a former graveyard and we already know that is bad news here in America. Now imagine in a place like China where ancestors are so revered and their burials are so well kept. There are some angry spirits said to be here. Screaming is heard in the courtyard and don't throw anything into the courtyard or an audible voice will scold you, but its not coming from anybody who is living.

The Prince Gong Mansion is today a 650,000 square foot museum and tourist attraction with gardens. The mansion was built in 1777 during the Qing (Ching) dynasty for a court official named Heshen, who was apparently a real dirtbag. Historians claim he was the most corrupt official in all of Chinese history. The mansion gets its name from the sixth brother of Emperor Wenzong of Qing (Ching), Prince Gong, who was given the mansion in 1851. In 1921, Prince Gong's grandson offered the property to the Benedictines and they renovated what had become a dilapidated mansion. The Catholic church used it as part of a university until the priests were deported. It was used as a business property and in 1996 became a tourist attraction. The most recent renovations were completed during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Two supernatural stories are connected to the mansion and that corrupt official named Heshen. The Emperor Qianlong (Chee ahn long) was a mischievous little boy and one day he decided to scare one of the imperial concubines. He snuck up quietly behind her while she was putting on her makeup and the shock caused her to jump and she accidentally hit him with her comb. A lady of the court saw the concubine strike Qianlong and she reported it, which resulted in the concubine's disgrace and she committed suicide. Qianlong felt guilty about this and he insisted on seeing her body. He bit his finger and left a mark of blood on her neck, so he would recognize her in the next life. Heshen was born shortly after the concubine's death and he had a birth mark on his neck. Qianlong believed that Heshen was the reincarnation of the concubine. So that's the first paranormal story here. This earned Heshen favor with the Emperor and could be why his corruption went unchecked. The only good thing about Heshen seemed to be his devotion to his wife, Feng Shi. The couple's youngest son died in battle and Shi was completely devastated and became ill. It was said that she died of a broken heart. And that may be why her spirit continues to haunt the Prince Gong Mansion. Her ghostly wails are heard and her apparition is seen wandering in the gardens wearing a white dress.

The Bell Tower in Gulou (Goo low) has a legend going back to the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Yongle wanted a large bronze bell to be built to help keep the city's time and so he ordered a blacksmith named Deng to do the work. There was a ton of pressure on Deng to get this done on a tight timeline. An immense amount of heat was needed and the furnace just wasn't getting the job done. Deng's daughter came to visit and she noticed how stressed her father and his craftsmen were and so she threw herself into the furnace and that act of self-sacrifice gave the furnace the boost it needed and the giant bell was finally cast. The bell seems to have absorbed the spirit of Deng's daughter. This is revealed occasionally when the bell goes xie, xie, xie (“shoe, shoe, shoe”) instead of the normal gong, gong, gong. Why would the bell be ringing about shoes? Apparently, before the young woman leapt into the furnace, a worker tried to grab her and only managed to get one of her shoes, so she is asking for her shoe back.

And then, how could the Forbidden City not be haunted?! The Forbidden City is the imperial palace complex that was commissioned by Emperor Chengzu of the Ming dynasty in 1406 when he made Beijing the capital of China. The imperial family began living there in 1420, but even most of them didn't have full access to the property. Only the Emperor was allowed full access to everywhere and that's why it was called the Forbidden City. The buildings were built with feng shui in mind and the most important buildings honor the sun with their position. Hundreds of buildings were constructed with 980 of them surviving today. A twenty-six foot high city wall was built around the complex with three layers of bricks on each side. The four corners have towers and a legend claims that when one needed to be put back together, the artisans couldn't do it. It was repaired by the immortal patron or deity of architecture in China, Lu Ban. He was an actual person and invented many things during his lifetime from 507 to 444 BC. Upon his death, he became a god in Chinese folk religion. The Forbidden City was an imperial palace until 1924 and had housed 24 emperors in that time. Today, it is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and a museum. 

One of the spirits here is thought to be a concubine named Zhenfei. The Guangxu Emperor had fallen in love with her in 1887 and this didn't please the aunt of his wife who was the Empress Dowager Cixi. Cixi also didn't like that the emperor had plans for political reform. When his plans failed, she somehow was able to assume power. She banished the concubine Zhenfei to a corner of the Forbidden City, where she was forbidden to see the emperor. The Empress Dowager ordered her killed in 1900, so she was drowned in a well and her family wasn't allowed to retrieve the body for a year. An inscription on the well tells this story, but it doesn't share that from that time, a weeping woman dressed in white has been seen walking around the city. Haunting flute music is also heard when no one is in the Forbidden City at night. There are also stories of ghost dogs being seen at the edges of the Forbidden City’s labyrinth. Don't worry too much about the ghosts here though because the doorways have high thresholds that must be stepped over and tour guides will tell you that they are there "because ghosts can’t jump, and they’d be trapped inside the room." How many other ghosts are here? Could be countless as some claim the Forbidden City is cursed because Emperor Yongle was said to have slaughtered over 2800 people in his harem when trying to suppress an alleged sex scandal. A fire broke out a few years later and some saw it as punishment for the Emperor.

Another ghost story shared about the Forbidden City dates to 1995. Apparently, a security was watching TV in the guard's room when two other guards came bursting into the room. They were breathless and scared. They said that they saw a woman dressed in all black walking around, so they went to tell her she needed to leave. She kept walking away from them and they finally managed to corner her at a locked door. They ordered her to turn around and when she did, they saw that she had no face. The guards were so scared, they dropped their flashlights. The other guard joined them to retrieve their flashlights and the woman was gone. The flashlights were still on the floor and still on.

Beijing is a huge city with millions of residents and a rich culture connected to the spirit world. Is it possible that ghosts walk among some of the locations in Beijing? Are these places in Beijing haunted? That is for you to decide.

HGB Ep. 567 - 1886 Olde Park Hotel

Moment in Oddity - Dr. Suess House (Suggested by: Michael Rogers)

There is a very strange tower of a home located just outside of Talkeetna, Alaska. The home looks like it came straight out of a children's book. The outward appearance looks like 12 different homes all stacked on top of eachother with each subsequent house, smaller than the last. This is why it is known by locals as the Dr. Seuss House. The house itself has no correlation to the actual author, however the whimsical nature of the building's structure is the reason for the moniker. The home stands a towering 185 feet high. The creator and builder, Phillip Weidner, calls the structure his "poem to the sky". There are various ladders and staircases to the different levels which, according to what you are traversing, have a total of 14 to 17 floors respectively. The home is still currently under construction and due to the owner's day job as one of Alaska's top trial lawyers, Weidner finds it difficult to find the time needed to complete this unusual structure. He surmises however, that once it is complete, he and his family will enjoy the tower and he looks forward to sitting atop it to enjoy the Northern Lights in the future. We definitely recommend looking up photos of this unique home because it certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Phillips Brooks Born

In the month of December, on the 13th in 1835, Phillips Brooks was born. He was born into a wealthy New England family. He graduated from Harvard in 1855 and after a brief stint as a school teacher at the Boston Latin school, he began to study for his ordination in the Episcopal Church in 1856. While in seminary, Brooks preached at Sharon Chapel in Fairfax County, Virginia. After graduating in 1859, from the Virginia Theological Seminary, Phillips Brooks became an ordained deacon and in 1860 he became an ordained priest. His sermon at Harvard's commemoration of the Civil War's dead garnered Brooks nationwide recognition. After time spent in Germany, Brooks spoke of "thrilling music" and "thrilling incense" during church services. He encouraged many aspects of the liturgical movement, including congregational singing during the liturgy. Phillips Brooks had several publications based upon sermons and preachings he had delivered, but one thing he is most well known for today, is his authoring of the Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem" which was based on the text that Phillips Brooks wrote in 1868.

1886 Olde Park Hotel 

The Olde Park Hotel has stood for over 130 years in Ballinger, Texas, which is known as the Greatest Little Town in Texas. From the outside, the hotel looks pretty unpretentious, but it has a storied history. The building has housed not only a hotel, but a brothel, a boarding house, school, restaurant and antique store. Today, it is run as an event host that can be rented. This is mostly for ghost hunts because this hotel is said to be one of the most haunted hotels in Texas. Join us for the history and hauntings of the Olde Park Hotel!

Ballinger, Texas was a railroad town. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway built a line west from Brownwood that terminated in a new town they built. They decided to name the town for a stockholder in the railroad company, Galveston attorney William Pitt Ballinger. The line was completed in 1886 and the town would be incorporated in 1892. Ballinger is home to one of the few Carnegie libraries still operating in its original building. This opened in 1909 with funds from Andrew Carnegie. The towns economy exploded around cotton production and the railroad. Soon saloons were popping up and outlaws started showing up. Gun battles happened occasionally. The current downtown historic district features a courthouse square with many buildings dating back to the late 1800s. These buildings include not only the library. but the Texas Theater, the historic post office, the County Building and City Hall. And then there is the Olde Park Hotel.

Pinning down a history of the hotel is very difficult. A flood in 1905 wiped out the official records in Ballinger. As we said, the hotel is unpretentious. The architectural style is hard to describe and pretty simple. Clearly, this is a building that has been added onto through the years. It is believed that it started as a white, two-story house that existed before 1886 as it appears in a picture dated before that time. The house would become a hotel in 1886 known as the Three Sisters Hotel. Ballinger would become a rough and tumble place that outlaws gravitated towards. The hotel would be multi-purposed into a bordello twice and the first time would have been in the 1800s. Outlaws more than likely stayed at the hotel, especially when it was a brothel. These outlaws could have included Sam Bass who committed the biggest train robbery in US history, the Newton Boys who were bank and train robbers and had stolen more than any other gang at the time they were caught, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, John Wesley Hardin was a gunfighter who killed his first man at age 15, Emmanuel "Mannen" Clements headed the ruthless Clements family who were cattle rustlers and gunfighters, and Jim "Killer" Miller aka,"The Deacon" who was a gunfighter." He got his nickname because he attended church and didn't drink or smoke. Bonnie Parker grew up in a nearby town and that's why its thought that she and Clyde had stayed here at some point. 

When prohibition started, the hotel became a place for bootlegging. Some time in the early 1900s, Washington Hampton Secrest II owned the hotel and called it the Secrest Hotel. The Keel family would buy it in 1922 and they owned it for multiple generations. The hotel would get the name Olde Park Hotel at that time. The history of the hotel also claims that this was called the Royal Hotel at some point and that the building would serve as a meeting house, boarding house, school house, restaurant, music store, a brothel for a second time and antique store. Jeanette Findley Truehardt was the owner who bought the hotel and opened it as an antique store. In 2016, Dan and Connie LaFave purchased the building from Jeanette. The couple began their own ghost hunting team in 2009 called Graveyard Shift Paranormal Investigations and that is why they were attracted to the hotel. They focused early on with local private hauntings. They branched out to bigger locations and the ghost town of Helena, Texas became one of their favorite places to investigate. Dan has penned four books, one of which is about the Olde Park Hotel. 

The couple renovated the 10,000 square foot hotel, creating 10 themed rooms. There is the Pink Room upstairs that is also known as Helen's Azalea Suiteroom in honor of Helen Keel. The Green Room is upstairs and is the only room with original furniture from the Keel family. There's also a doll in there called Ginny. The Rice Marriott Room is also known as the Red Room and is decorated with red and white pinstripes and was named in honor of the son of a previous owner of the hotel. The Yellow Room was also named Iona’s Oleander Suite named after Jeanette’s grandmother, Iona. There's a doll named Abigail in there. Downstairs is the LaFave’s Master Suite and its decorated in gold and burgundy. Preston’s Parlor was once Jeanette’s grandson’s room. The Pruiett Wildflower Room is named after “Tex” Pruiett Keel who was one of John and Virginia Keel’s sons. The Chrisco’s French Bordello is named after Jack & Juanita Chrisco and has blue and gold colors and a haunted mirror. The Presentation Room has a 10 foot movie screen and there is also the Secrest Sitting Room, Anne's Theater and Virginia's Country Kitchen.

Despite having all these rooms, the hotel is not run like a traditional hotel. The hotel is run as a haunted venue that can be rented for an evening. There are claims of over two dozen spirits at this hotel. Talk of haunting activity has been going on in Ballinger for decades. When Jeanette had the antique store, people would ask if they could go upstairs and when they came back down they would ask if the place was haunted. Many customers would tell her that they saw somebody walking around upstairs who would disappear. There was also the spirit of an older gentleman who liked to sit in an armchair on the second floor and a woman in a period dress was seen by a customer and she assumed she was dressed up since this was an antique shop, so she went up to her to ask about a price and the woman disappeared. Also during the antique store days there was a doll kept in the main store room that was not for sale. That was because the porcelain doll belonged to the current owners mother, and she once witnessed it levitate between two shelves of its own accord. A psychic told Jeanette that there were thirty spirits in the hotel. 

The LaFaves had experiences right from the beginning that continue. They decided to share the building with other paranormal enthusiasts. Part of the reason we have hauntings going on here is that Dan has brought in a lot of haunted objects, including dolls, and some of the wood they used for renovating came from the ghost town of Runnels. Location is also involved as the hotel is right across from the courthouse where criminals were hanged back in the day. That first night that Dan and Connie stayed in the hotel, they slept in the downstairs owner's suite. Dan was awakened by something caressing his scalp. He at first thought it was Connie, but when he opened his eyes he saw another woman. He jumped out of bed and the woman disappeared. She had been wearing a dress from the 1800s that was black with white and red on the sleeves. She had long black, curly hair. And she was completely solid. If she hadn't disappeared, he would have thought she was fully human. Dan thinks she was one of the working girls from the brothel days. That was the beginning of hearing disembodied footsteps and seeing a variety of ghosts that included children, a cowboy and other painted ladies. Cold spots are felt and disembodied voices are heard. There are nose pictures involving perfume and cigar smoke. People claim to be touched, pushed and scratched.

The couple decided to create a toy room for the child ghosts. Activity increased after that. They also set up a doll room, which features dolls from all over. Dan purchased a porcelain doll he named Ginny. This is the doll that is in the Green Room, which is also called the Honeysuckle Suite. The doll apparently moves around in this room and is found in different places. The first-floor hallway has a workshop at the end and women always feel uneasy in there. A male ghost haunts the workshop and Connie describes him as being a grumpy old fart. Although he is worse than just yelling "Get off my lawn." He can be violent. Dan was leading a tour with seven women and when he took them in the workshop, the spirit got angry. A woman suddenly said that she saw something peek out of a room and then pull back. Everybody looked in that direction and watched to see if whatever it was would appear again. And sure enough it did. A small, shadowy child specter walked between two rooms. This spirit was followed by a taller spirit dressed like a cowboy. This figure was so big it blocked out the whole hallway. The light was out in the workshop, so Dan flipped it on and the workshop ghost hurled an object that crashed across the room. One of the women fainted dead out. Several of the women ran from the workshop and exited the hotel. They were done with the tour.

Dan says upstairs in the back is the most haunted area of the hotel. Psychics have claimed that a room in that area has given them visions of a man attacking a woman. He grabs her by the throat and pushed her up against the wall. No one knows if he actually ended up killing the woman, but the energy in that room is quite dark. Nick Groff investigated the hotel over two nights for his Death Walker series during Season 2. He mostly ran around with what he called his Puckwudgie, which is a glorified spirit box, and tried interacting with the spirits of this man and this woman. Groff repeatedly asked for the man to touch him or try to attack him and nothing ever happened. Nick did claim to feel nauseous a couple of times and got some interesting stuff to come across the Geo Port, but nothing earth shattering. A Para Lyte went off during the night while he was sleeping and he heard disembodied footsteps in the hall and then a Paranormal Music Box went off.

Other spirits that might be here include a couple of the infamous outlaws. In March 1887, Emmanuel Clements was shot and killed in a bar in Ballinger by a man named Joseph Townshend. Townshend was ambushed by Jim Miller who was known as The Deacon and assassinated. Jim Miller was later hanged by a mob of people in 1909 after he killed a deputy marshal. The Deacon is said to haunt the hotel now and possibly Clements. We will say that the name Emmanuel came up multiple times on Groff's spirit box. Could the shadowy cowboy figure seen near the stairs be one of these outlaws? People have taken to calling him Slim. He apparently likes to whistle. There is another huge shadow cowboy that acts like a marshal in the place, policing the other ghosts. He is seen everywhere in the hotel. 

A lady of the evening named Annie hangs out on the second floor in the Traveler's Suite. She likes to talk on EVPs and has identified herself by name. There is a spirit that likes to stand by the downstairs bathroom and people call him Glenn. An unidentified old woman wanders the hallways. Several of the child ghosts have been identified as Dennis, who has blonde hair, Benjamin, who is 9-years-old and loves to talk and play in the play room, and an unnamed 5-year-old boy, who loves trains and the play room. Several previous owners are thought to be here. Kay Seacrest is one of them and she generally appears in a dress from the 1800s. One group staying overnight had Dan investigating with them and Dan asked the spirits to demonstrate the walking of cowboy boots and sure enough, there were the sounds of boots walking across the floor.

The Ghost and Getaways Blog investigated and they reported, "We investigated the 1st floor but we spent most of our time on the 2nd floor.  One team member reported a creepy feeling and having unexplained noises on their audio recorder near and in the LaFave’s Master Suite, however we were not able to get enough data to establish validity of the recordings or who it might be.  Other than that, there wasn’t much to report for the 1st floor.  We just seemed to gravitate to the second floor. In the Pruiett Wildflower Room, team members reported activity on the Rempod and a creepy feeling. Twice they spent the night in that room and reported activity throughout the night. Nothing was significant or frightening enough to drive them out of the room but they did NOT have a quiet night. We spent much of our time in the upstairs hallway and going towards the back. We had erratic EMF activity and could not find a reason or the source for it.  Using a laser grid, we may have seen shadows down towards the end.  I say that we may have seen shadows because, after a  while, the lights kind of play tricks with your eyes.  At least it does with me.  While we were not able to document shadows with a camera, a few of us are pretty certain we saw something. We also had some hits on the Parascope but they were erratic and did not seem to be in direct response to questions.  We used a Ghostbox as well but didn’t get any responses that seem to coincide with a direct question.  Most of our activity seemed to be with the Parascope and K2 meters."

Stephanie Hendricks wrote in September 2024, "I recently visited here August 24th 2024 for an overnight investigation and I must say this place is definitely haunted. Before we even began our investigation or even setting up our equipment , we heard weird sounds, footsteps, knocks and just an overall feeling of being watched and followed. Dan gave us the rundown on what all was accessible to us and then the tour and history of the place. After we did the tour we went about our way picking our rooms and deciding where we wanted to set up certain equipment and which items like motion activated lights or motion activated sound items to put in the areas we knew it would definitely trigger the most. I sat on my own adventure while the other two did the things they needed to do and I must say, even before it got dark I caught footsteps following me, breathing down my neck, deep heavy feeling of not being wanted, a deep growling sound and tugged from behind on my shirt. 

As it got dark, Dan was nice enough to do a spirit box session with us that most definitely brought all the spirits out to play. The voices that came through was insane, the answers we got when would we ask questions were so accurately answered it definitely made the hairs on my entire body stand up. He also was amazing enough to do a seance session with us and our EMFs were going crazy. The Para Light was going so high we all had a very eerie feeling, we felt heaviness in the room, footsteps outside the room, a scream, our motion triggered balls were lighting up like crazy in the doorway and the hallway. A dark shadow appeared in the doorway that one of the people I came with was so terrified he said he felt as if he was being held down in his chair. There were crying sounds that sounded so clear it’s as if the woman was standing right next to us. Dan went about his was and headed into his room and us 3 started our investigation. Dan has a room called “The Box” which is a mixture of the Estes method and his own where you put on blacked out googles with light flashing and headphones you put on that are totally noise canceling and a spirit box in a small dark room. No one but me would do it first. This has got to be the most disturbing part of my investigation. Not only was I in total darkness in a room, I was all alone on the 2nd floor as the other 2 were downstairs watching everything. I began my session and not even 3 minutes later there was loud footsteps, banging on the door and mind you I’m wearing noise cancelling headphone and I was grabbed on my right arm so tightly as if someone was telling me to get up or get out that I threw off my equipment and ran the heck out so fast and did not look back. Another encounter in the doll room I had was I had told Jolita one of the haunted dolls who is in a glass case to let me know she knew I was there in some way that when I came back I would know either something was off or changed and that I was going to come later to investigate the room more in depth. I came back about 20-30 minutes later and her head was turned a different direction. Trust me I had so many more experiences like knocking on my door, seeing movement outside my door, part of a leg/foot running away as I opened my door to my room BUT a hard shove out of a room that clearly didn’t want me there. From door opening and voices telling me to leave now, I would definitely recommend you visit this place and experience what we did. Like I said so much more happened that was totally insane I will definitely be back." 

The Olde Park Hotel has seen over a hundred years of history and some of it hasn't been pleasant. On top of that, many haunted objects have been brought into the hotel. And it runs as a haunted attraction during the Halloween season. Have all of these things led to paranormal activity? Is the Olde Park Hotel haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 566 - La Purisima Mission

Moment in Oddity - Hidden Message in a Bottle Found in Lighthouse Wall (Suggested by: Jenny Lynne Raines)

We love lighthouses and there is one located in Corsewall, Scotland at the most northerly point of the Rhins of Galloway that contained a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. A message in a bottle was found within the lighthouse wall. The message was written using a quill and ink and it was dated September 4th, 1892. Written in cursive were the names of the three engineers who installed a new lens and lantern at the top of the lighthouse. Once the task was accomplished and the lighthouse was re-lit, the team sat down with that quill and ink to record their names and to describe the purpose of their work at the lighthouse. The men then rolled up the paper and placed it inside a glass bottle. They then inserted the bottle into an empty space in the lighthouse wall. And there the bottle sat for 132 years. Recently there were engineers hired to make some repairs to the lighthouse. The men discovered the hidden bottle and retrieved the note from within. The engineers were astonished to discover that the paper described the exact same task that they were currently working on. The note read, "Corsewall Light & Fog Signal Station, Sept. 4th 1892. This lantern was erected by James Wells Engineer, John Westwood Millwright, James Brodie Engineer, and David Scott Labourer, of the firm of James Milne & Son Engineers, Milton House Works, Edinburgh, during the months from May to September and relighted on Thursday night 15th Sept. 1892. The following being keepers at the station at this time, John Wilson Principal, John B Henderson 1st assistant, and John Lockhart 2nd assistant. The lens and machine being supplied by James Dove & Co. Engineers Greenside Edinburgh and erected by William Burness, John Harrower, and James Dods. Engineers with the above firm." Finding a mysterious message in a bottle after being hidden for 132 years, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Danish-Icelandic Act of Union Signed

In the month of December, on the 1st in 1918, the Danish-Icelandic Act of Union was signed. This treaty agreement established Iceland as a fully sovereign state in a personal union with the Danish king. The state was then known as the Kingdom of Iceland but was still connected to Denmark through a shared monarch. Iceland then had its own flag, government and control over their domestic affairs, however, Denmark was responsible for managing Iceland's defense and foreign affairs. The treaty contained a clause wherein both Iceland and Denmark could request a reevaluation of the agreement in 1940. This clause allowed for the possible dissolution of the union if no new compromise could be made within three years. In 1944, Iceland wanted to have the issue of its constitutional status and the question of full independence settled. Due to WWII, negotiations with Denmark could not be conducted. On June 16th, 1944, Althing, which is Iceland's national parliament, abolished the 1918 Act. The following day, the Constitution of the Republic of Iceland was established.

La Purisima Mission (Suggested by: Marisa Tull)

La Purísima Mission is located in Lompoc, California. The Spanish mission once covered nearly 300,000 acres and was established to evangelize the local indigenous people known as the Chumash. The mission was successful with as many as 24,000 cattle and sheep and over 2,000 people. There was a major earthquake and the Chumash eventually revolted and the mission was abandoned. Eventually it was restored and is today a state historic park with stories of hauntings. Join us for the history and hauntings of La Purisima Mission. 

Lompoc (Lom poke) is based on the Chumash (choo mash) word lumpo'o, which means "in the cheeks." The Chumash apparently liked to name things for body parts and they were the main people group living in this area. This town has a very diverse history starting with the indigineous people groups who lived and hunted here for 10,000 before the first European settlers arrived. The Spanish building their mission would utterly change the culture and a devastating earthquake in 1812 would change the landscape. After the mission was abandoned, a Temperance Society decided to make this their mecca and they purchased 43,000 acres in 1874. By 1888, Lompoc was an officially city and it began to thrive as a port was built for shipping. The railroad would change that at the turn-of-the-century and agriculture would become a main focus for the economy. The area would become known as "The Valley of the Flowers." Then it was discovered that diatomaceous earth could be mined here and major mining operations began for that and that is still one of the main employers here. Vandenberg Air Force Base was established here as Camp Cooke in 1941 and it was the first Air Force missile base. When the Space Shuttle Program began, there were high hopes to use the base as a launch pad. The explosion of the Challenger in 1986 shut down the West Coast Program for good. The area went into an economic crash, but tourism helped bring it back and one of the top places to visit is the refurbished mission. This is the most authentically restored mission in California's mission system.

The mission begins with Father Junipero Serra who was born in 1713 in the village of Petra in Spain. His parents worked in the crop fields and that is what he did as a child. But he would visit the Franciscan friary that was near his home and his heart was really pulled that way. At the friary he was educated and his parents allowed him to become a novice in the Franciscan order when he was 17. He eventually became a full member of the Franciscan order and was given the name Junipero. In 1737 he became a full priest. The man was brilliant and he earned his doctorate and he decided yo go on a foreign mission and that is how he came to be in the Americas. He began in Baja California, which was under Spanish military rule. He and his fellow priests only had spiritual control. Father Serra noticed that as they moved through Baja California that the native population was dwindling. They were killing the indigenous people with disease, particularly syphilis. He moved further into California and he devised a plan to build three missions along California's central coast.

Serra planned the mission, but he didn't get to see it come to fruition. He had passed away in 1784 from tuberculosis. His successor was Spanish priest, Father Presidente Fermin de Lasuen. He was born in 1736 and became a Basque Franciscan. Lasuen would be known as the "forgotten friar," and he was often lonely and depressed. The priest should've been memorable as he founded nine of the twenty-one missions in California. He dedicated the La Purisima Mission on December 8, 1787 with a focus on evangelizing the Chumash. The Chumash had a difficult decision to make. They could either convert to Catholicism and join the mission or they would have to leave the region. In those first few years, several thousand Chumash were baptized into the Catholic Church. The price would be heavy for the Chumash. The Spanish brought many diseases with them. Hundreds died from chicken pox and measles. 

Those first years there was a lot of building at the mission as well. Over 100 adobe buildings were built and livestock were raised. A water system was designed that would help with the growth of crops. This was a prosperous time for the mission until the morning of December 21, 1812. The Santa Barbara earthquake shook the ground beneath the mission, scaring the priests, soldiers and indigenous people. This quake wasn't too bad, but the one that followed fifteen minutes later was so intense that the adobe walls of the buildings shattered and most of the mission was turned to ruin and rubble. The priests described it as "presenting the picture of a destroyed Jerusalem." Damage happened at all the missions within a 100 mile radius. Soldiers at the Presidio in Santa Barbara abandoned it, opting to build thatched huts, which proved to be a good idea because the area was played by earthquakes for months. The Presidio is a haunted location itself with stories of ghostly nuns and priests and soldiers. Not only was La Purisima Mission decimated, but a large fissure opened in the hill behind the mission and several feet of mud washed out from the crack. It was impossible to rebuild at this site.

Father Mariano Payeras (Pah ye rahs) had become the leader of the mission and he made the decision to rebuild in the location where it is located today, four miles northwest in the Canyon of the Watercress. A Catholic community grew up around the chapel and 1,000 Chumash converts called this home. Father Payeras was loved by everyone and was zealous in his work. Father Payeras was born on the island of Majorca in 1769. He joined the Franciscan order and traveled to Mexico to attend a missionary school. Then he worked at four missions in California for the rest of his life, ending at La Purisima. He wrote a catechism in the language of the Chumash that was never published, but proved useful at the mission. Father Payeras was given an ecclesiastical burial under the church's pulpit after he passed away on April 28, 1823 at the age of 53.

A rebellion had started in Mexico while Payeras had been in charge of the mission and the relationship between the Chumash and the Catholics was becoming strained. The supply ships had stopped coming and so a black market started with people looking for food and supplies. As the tensions rose, the Spanish made it worse by forcing the Chumash to work for very little money. Mexico fought for its independence from Spain and won in 1822. With the ousting of Spain from Mexico, the mission system started to lose its hold in California. And the Chumash at La Purisima rose up against the heads at the mission, locked themselves in the church and they controlled the mission for a month before Spanish soldiers from the Presidio marched on them and killed sixteen of them. Others were wounded. Pillars throughout the site still bare the battle scars to this day. Many of the Chumash ran off after this. There was soon no support for the missions. By 1845, the missions had been secularized and La Purisima was auctioned off by the Mexican government. A man named Don Juan Temple bought it for $1,100.00. This would be the time when the Mission Period became the Ranching Period.

The Catholic church acquired the title to Purisima in 1874 after going to court, but there was no reestablishment of the mission. The land was sold in 1883, without including the cemetery or the church, which by this time was in ruins. The Residence Building was used as housing, a blacksmith shop, a barn,  a general store and saloon. Eventually this building was abandoned after a fire destroyed part of the building. The Union Oil Company bought the land after this and then deeded it to the Landmark Club of California in 1905. They made a deal that the club had to repair the Residence Building, but they weren't able to raise the capitol needed and the Union Oil Company got the title back. The Catholic Church retained ownership of the chapel through this whole time and they joined the Union Oil Company in 1934 in giving the property to the County of Santa Barbara. California and Santa Barbara County bought more land, growing the property to 507 acres. This became La Purisima Historic Monument under the Division of Parks. The National Parks Service used a Civilian Conservation Corps Camp to help restore the site. This is today, a living museum. A museum, with ghosts.

For decades, people have claimed that the mission is haunted. Perhaps one of the most haunted locations in California. There are those who claim there is a dark energy here. There can be no doubt that the docile Chumash being forced into conversion and work and having their land taken, has left behind some negative energy and feelings. Ghostly soldiers have been seen by volunteers, docents and visitors. Cold spots are felt and people often feel that they are being watched. The corridors are filled with shadowy figures. When these figures are approached, they silently disappear. Many unexplained sounds are heard, including disembodied footsteps and whispers. Doors slam shut on their own. There are also reports of a spirit, people call the Weeping Woman. Visitors claim to hear her cries near the cemetery and others have seen her apparition wearing period clothing.

At the time when the mission moved from the Mission Period to the Ranching Period. At this time, there was a fiesta held on the site and a woman named Anita caught the eye of two different men. These men were named Jorge and Vincente. They challenged each other to get Anita's attention. The men were going to ride horses and try to grabbed three chickens that had been buried up to their necks. They were to ride at a full gallop, grab and chicken and wring its neck. Jorge didn't get any chickens and Vincente got all three. Jorge later fought with Vincente and he killed Vincente. The body was buried somewhere around the soldiers quarters. Jorge ran and was never captured. The spirit of Vincente is said to haunt the Soldier's Quarters. 

Bill Henry was a long time docent and he had several experiences over the years that he shared with the Lompoc Record in 2012. He was dressed as a soldier for a presentation and he felt something push or shove him from behind. When he turned, there was no one behind him. Early one morning he was opening up the park buildings and he had his young granddaughter in tow. Both of them suddenly started hearing what he calls “death chants.” The granddaughter was terrified  by them and wouldn't return to the property. Henry also saw the spirits of three girls perched in the window seat of the Cuartel. Henry says of the mission, "There are some things that just cannot be explained away, including sounds, lights without a visible source and random movements."  Bill told Ghost Adventures that he was cleaning up after Founder's Day festivities and he went into the Soldier's Quarters and saw bare footprints in the sand in an area that is locked up and the public doesn't have access.   

Another worker named Arthur Carlos said that the way the Married Soldier's Quarters were set up was that the wife and soldier shared a bed and there were cots for daughters. Boys were supposed to sleep outside. Arthur was sleeping overnight and he was on a cot, when he was awakened by something. He looked towards the door and he saw a soldier with a leather jacket and this figure gave him a very menacing look. He said to himself, "Ok Art, get a grip. You're just imagining things and this isn't real so don't worry about it." So he looked away and then he looked back a couple minutes later and the figure was closer. Pretty soon, the spirit was standing over him. The menacing look was still on the spirit's face and then it reached down and grabbed his neck. Arthur wrenched his neck to the side and his eyes popped open. He was like, oh I was asleep and dreaming, but then he realized that his adam's apple was really sore and throbbing. He was really freaked out after that and he won't sleep alone in that room again.

One visitor to the site said that she felt a sudden chill while exploring and she felt as though something were behind her. She turned a saw a shadowy figure the mission. The figure vanished as quickly as it appeared and she was quite shaken by the experience. Another woman had been visiting and she had dressed up as a vaquero and she was walking near the Sacristy Door, a place where women were not allowed during the mission time and this woman was thrown back up against the door. That woman never returned to the mission.

A volunteer at the mission was working late and they heard faint chanting in the chapel. He was the only person at the chapel, so he couldn't figure out where this chanting was coming from. He went to investigate and the chanting stopped. One day, there was a man playing music on a guitar in the chapel and he stepped over the grave of Father Payeras. His guitar immediately went out of tune. When he stepped back to where he had been, it went back into tune. He again stepped over the grave a few minutes later and the guitar went out of tune. The guitarist looked down and realized he had stepped over the grave, so he stepped back and the guitar was back in tune. He moved away from the grave because clearly, someone was not happy with him stepping over the grave.

Richard Senate is a world-renowned paranormal investigator out of California. He is a California historian and lecturer, so he has visited the mission many times. On one of those visits, he led a team of students and psychic researchers. He said, "Independently, the group’s members felt cold spots throughout the church at the Mission." Many had an odd feeling and one of the students said he had a sense of fear or unease while inside the church. Senate was told by someone who had worked on the Civilian Conservation Corps team in the 1940s, that he and other workers unearthed five small skeletons from under the tile floor of the church. Senate asked this worker to join him at the mission and show him where the skeletons had been found in the chapel. Those spots matched up with where the students had felt cold spots. 

Senate told Ghost Adventures that he has had three dramatic experiences at the mission. He was in the chapel alone one day and walking down the center when he got really dizzy and he looked down to catch his bearings and when he looked up, there were three Native Americans kneeling on the floor up near the altar. He described them having long hair and one had a blanket thrown over their shoulders. Their clothes were all dirty and ripped up and he distinctly remembered seeing one with pock marks all over his face. He believes those marks were from small pox. And Senate was positive that this wasn't a vision from the past or something residual because one of the Native Americans turned and looked at him. And then they all just disappeared. The second experience happened in the Weaving Room. Senate was standing near the door and he heard flute music. It was just a few notes and he didn't see what was causing the sound. Senate took the crew over to the Padre's Quarters and it was here that he saw the ghost of a greyhound dog. It was curled up on the floor sleeping. It woke up, look at Senate and then disappeared.

Novelist Tamara Thorne was at the mission and she heard disembodied voices speaking something other than English. A visitor named Steve claimed to see the ghost of a Padre in the Padre's Quarters. It's believed this was the ghost of Father Payeras. The bed in here always seems to mess itself up too. A docent named Dee Lonnon said, "I went out one night, and I was one of the last people to see the building be closed up and locked. I wanted to be there when they opened the room the next morning. By 7 a.m., I took my dogs out there for a walk, and sure enough, the bed was messed up, just like someone had been under the covers overnight." Now maybe an animal sneaks in somehow, but the place is locked tight. Steve Schuler-Jones was the operations ranger at La Purisima and he had many experiences. He was the contact for the security company and he got several calls that the alarm had been triggered. He would drive to the site and fine nothing out of the ordinary.

Ghost Adventures investigated the site in June of 2009. The evidence they collected included hearing a baby crying, battle cries, knocking and flute music. They caught several EVPs which captured "come here," "lay down," "sit up," "do you belong here," some Spanish words and the name Vincente", "lay down", "sit up", "do you belong here?" They captured an orb of light floating by the altar. On a thermal camera they captured something that looked like it was a figure standing out in the field. Maybe it was a Spanish soldier. They also caught what sounded like residual sounds of a man speaking in the field. There were people who said the thermal image was nothing. Someone going by CWilsonLPC defended the thermal signature caught by Ghost Adventures saying, "With regards to the thermal photo, it’s relatively hard to debunk, the area they pointed at was towards the south of the mission (alongside Purisima Road), if it was a false positive, there would have been heat signatures of all the animals in the paddocks there since from their direction, alongside any heat signatures from passing vehicles and wildlife in the brush, the paddocks would have been adjacent to their angle, there is the possibility of a trespasser since people do hike the trails there at night, but it would have been extremely unlikely since the trail access points come from the far north of the mission complex (at the base of Mission Hills neighborhood, a good 45-60 min hike), and the only other access points would have been guarded (all Purisima Road entrances). The Spanish soldier guess is reasonably accurate however, since the Spanish were outside the complex during the revolt while the native Chumash were inside."

Zak and crew also experienced the really common occurrence of the bed getting messed up on its own in the Padre's Quarters. The mattress and sheets were pushed up. Nobody was in the room from the time they were shown the room. When the room was first shown, the bed was neatly made. They crew also had a bizarre temperature fluctuation that we've never seen before. Their temperature gun went from 70 degrees to 40 degrees in the weaving room. Maybe it was a malfunction, but if not, that is really weird. 

La Purisima Mission is a reminder of a history where the indigenous people were pushed into changing their culture to suit strangers to the land. We have found time and again that subjugation of native people and causing their deaths through sickness or war, leaves a psychical energy that manifests in a supernatural way. Is that what is happening at La Purisima Mission? Is the mission haunted? That is for you to decide!