HGB Ep. 481 - Haunted Inns of Cape May

Moment in Oddity - Poop Eating Pitcher Plants

Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. These plants can be found on every continent with the exception of Antarctica and some can even be seen in movies like the cult classic 'Little Shop of Horrors', ala the killer Venus Flytrap who lusts for human blood. These interesting plants secure their meals through various methods. Some utilize sticky, almost flypaper type mucus lining to trap their meals, others employ a snap trap method for survival and still others have hair like appendages which point inward to force their prey to move towards the plants' digestive organ. These plants all rely on their meal coming to them and they require a diet rich in nitrogen to survive. But what if their usual meal isn't so readily available? In higher altitudes where insect prey is not so plentiful, a type of pitcher plant has taken to eating poop. Yes, you heard correctly, I said poop. This is the Nepenthes hemsleyana (nah-pen-thees hem-slee-awnna) pitcher plant found in the forests of Borneo. These plants can grow very large, some as tall as 10 feet in height and they have developed a symbiotic relationship with the Kerivoula hardwickii (Carry-voo-la Hard-wicky-eye) bats. The bats have found the large pitcher plants a convenient and safe place to roost during the day. They then utilize the bowl, although not a porcelain one, to make their guano deposits. This keeps the plants thriving with rich nourishment. Carnivorous plants are certainly interesting and unique, but plants feasting on a fare of feces, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Falkland Island War

In the month of April, on the 2nd, in 1982, the Falkland Islands War began. This was an undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom. This conflict was over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The latter being a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean near the tip of South America. Argentinian troops invaded and occupied the British colony. On April 5th, the British dispatched their naval task force and Air Force to engage the Argentinian forces before launching an amphibious attack. This ultimately ended the conflict in 74 days with an Argentine surrender on June 14th, returning the islands to British control. During the 10 week conflict, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders were killed. This major dispute surrounding the territories' sovereignty stemmed from Argentine's assertion that the islands belonged to them and that the military action was justified to reclaim the islands. The British government regarded the action as an invasion of a territory that had been a Crown colony since 1841. Falkland Islanders who have been the primary inhabitants of the islands since the early 19th century, are primarily descendants of British settlers. They also strongly favor British sovereignty. Neither state officially declared war, although both governments declared the islands a war zone.

Haunted Inns of Cape May (Suggested by: Becki Fleming)

Cape May in New Jersey is one of the oldest seaside resort towns in America and has one of the largest collections of 19th century buildings in the country. Three hundred and eighty acres of the town are part of a historic district. Many of these historic locations are now inns that are reputedly haunted. They all are unique with their own character and charm and at least one should be on your bucket list for a stay. Join us as we share the history and haunts of nearly a dozen haunted inns in Cape May!

Cape May is nestled on the southern tip of New Jersey and was home for a time to the Kechemeche Indians of the Lenni-Lenape tribe. This tribe believed that the shiny quartz pebbles that washed up on the beaches held some kind of power that would bring good fortune and wellbeing. Early settlers and traders started to refer to these as Cape May Diamonds. The largest of these is on display at the Cape May County Museum and weighs in at 1,800 carets. The numbers of the Kechemeche dwindled drastically due to illness and disease and by 1735, were almost nonexistent. Those that were left were reloacted to Oklahoma with other Lenape tribes. The first explorer to discover the island was Sir Henry Hudson and he did this in 1609. It was later explored by Cornelius Jacobsen Mey in 1621 and that is where it gets its name, although initially it was just called Cape Island. English colonists settled and built the island into a prosperous fishing and whaling colony and by the mid 1700s, people started using it as a vacation destination. Visitors were brought in from Philadelphia by sloops, schooners, horse-drawn wagons and stagecoaches. There were no official inns at the time, so guests were housed in residential homes and taverns. Eventually there would be boarding houses and hotels added to the town. Cape May has a very haunting air about it. Every street seems to be oozing with spiritual activity, which is why so many places here are said to be haunted.

Hotel Macomber

The Hotel Macomber sits at 727 Beach Avenue and when it was built in 1916, it was the largest frame structure east of the Mississippi River. The hotel was built in the late Victorian Provincial Shingle Style which is American in origin and pushed back on the fancy ornamental patterns of the Victorian Queen Anne styling with plain, shingled surfaces and re-embraced Colonial American architecture. At the time, this was being used in many seaside cottages. The architect and builder are unknown, but the first owner was Sarah Davis and its original name was New Stockton Villa. The hotel had three-and-one-half stories above a raised basement, a two-story porch and a gable roof on the front with shed dormers along the sides. The first floor opened up into a lobby with a living room to the left. That room led out onto a glass-enclosed porch. Past the lobby and living room was a large dining room serviced by a large kitchen. The second and third floor had the exact same design with two suites at the forefront that featured their own large bathrooms, several smaller rooms with private baths and then a couple of joined rooms that shared a bathroom. 

Today, the Hotel Macomber is a family-run boutique hotel with the award winning Union Park Restaurant. The hotel sits right across from the beach and has spectacular views. Despite its height, the hotel isn't equipped with an elevator, so you do need to be able to climb stairs to stay there. The suites are called Captain Mey's and come with a porch. The Cornelius Rooms are oceanfront suites without porches. The Berths IIs are rooms with two beds that offer both ocean views and non-ocean views. The Jacobsens are standard rooms with lacy canopy beds. And finally there is the Osprey's Nests, which is the biggest ocean front room with the most expansive views. The hotel offers the perfect setting for weddings. And even better for us, reportedly the hotel has several ghosts.

The original owner, Sarah Davis, had a hard life. She had a daughter named Cannell who died of encephalitis in the 1920s. Sarah couldn't get past her grief and eventually took her own life at the hotel in 1934. She loved the hotel and is said to have remained to make sure that things run smoothly. She turns on cheery music and does chores around the hotel like unpacking for people and ironing clothes. Guests claim to see her coming down the stairs and standing by the check-in desk. And she may have been joined by her daughter Cannell. People have seen the spirit of a little girl in the hotel and psychics claim that she is Cannell. Sarah isn't the only owner haunting the place. Another couple that ran the place are said to have returned to the hotel after death as well.

Room 10 is thought to be the most haunted room in the hotel. The main ghost that haunts this room has been nicknamed "The Trunk Lady." The spirit is believed to belong to a Hotel Macomber regular named Irene Wright whom everyone called "Miss Wright." She started coming to the hotel in the 1930s and always arrived at the hotel alone with a large trunk. She never married and had no children. Miss Wright always stayed in Room 10, wore lots of perfume and talked everyone's ear off. It is thought that she died sometime in the 1970s and has returned in the afterlife to one of her favorite spots. Of course, she brings with her the phantom scent of perfume. Guests and employees have reported hearing the sound of a trunk dragging down the hall. Her apparition has been seen rocking in one of the rocking chairs on the porch. And banging on doorways is attributed to her too. Craig McManus is a well known psychic in Cape May who has penned several books on the subject of haunted Cape May. He told NJ.com that he sensed five ghosts during a seance at the Hotel Macomber. "He said one was a woman, Irene Wright, a widow from Reading, Pennsylvania, affectionately known as the 'trunk lady' who always stayed in room 10 with her steamer trunk. This room was active mostly during the months of June and November. McManus said that one night while staying in room 10, he was awoken twice by loud banging on the door. He jumped up, opened the door, only to find that no one was there. He was later told that he was the only visitor staying in the hotel that night. Eventually he digitally recorded a woman’s voice saying 'I'm still here.'"

A hardworking waitress who dates back to the Great Depression is another one of the ghosts here. The story here is that she was poor and would occasionally steal food and one day she choked to death on a chicken bone. Her spirit has stayed here and she is angry, so she likes to move silverware and glasses around, she flickers the chandelier lights in the dining room, pushes people into the walk-in refrigerator and her full-bodied apparition has been seen floating in the kitchen in a ragged dress.

The basement harbors the spirit of a grumpy old man. People call him the "Growler" and that is because he likes to growl and groan. He likes to knock things over too. There are possibly other children ghosts here to that play with Cannel. During the summer, there are sounds of children talking and laughing when there are no children around. And a spirit known as the friendly farmer hangs out in the lobby and greets guests sometimes. And one room has an arguing couple that no one sees when they open the door. There definitely seems to be a large number of spirits hanging around Hotel Macomber.

Inn at 22 Jackson

The Inn at 22 Jackson is located on one of the busiest streets in Cape May and is, of course, a restored Queen Anne Victorian. The inn is navy blue, purple, white and outlined with lights. The inn is three stories and has a veranda on the first and second floors. The house has been through several owners and each one has had their own haunting experiences. One of the owners named Maria McFadden would often feel as though someone were walking by her in the kitchen when she was the only person in the kitchen. Legends have claimed that the spirit here had been a nanny named Esmerelda who lived on the third floor turret and she had supposedly died tragically in the house. But there are no records to back that up. However, there was a family who lived here in the 1950s named the Wolfes and the children had an imaginary playmate named Esmerelda. A psychic who walked the property believes that the spirit here is named Anne and she does seem to like the third floor.

Windward House Inn (Now Closed)

Windward House Inn Bed and Breakfast is also located on Jackson Street at 24 Jackson Street. This bed and breakfast boasted over 30 years of hospitality, but appears to be closed today. This house was built in 1905 in the Edwardian Victorian style with three porches. The family that built it lived in it until the 1940s. After it was sold, it was opened as guest cottages and then in 1977 it was bought by Owen and Sandy Miller and they opened this as the Windward House Inn. They filled the bed and breakfast with Victorian furniture. Some of the doors have stained glass door and others have beveled glass. Sandy Miller said that they had experienced some unexplainable things. Once they had a guest come to them and say that they thought a guest had been locked in the bathroom for a really long time and that perhaps something had happened to that person. The bathroom locked via a hook and eye system. She and her husband broke through an outside window and found that the bathroom was completely empty. It happened again two weeks later, but this time they just pushed hard on the door and broke the lock. Again, the bathroom was empty. 

A psychic believes that the restroom had once been a storage closet that previous owners had kept valuables inside, so perhaps that is why the door keeps getting locked. She also believed there are two spirits in the house that mostly hang out on the first floor. A woman from a much earlier time and a man from the 20th century. There is also a ghost on the third floor. A guest awakened one night and heard the clicking of shoes across the floor like heels on wood, only the floor in this room was carpeted. The woman heard the footsteps go into the bathroom and she panicked that someone had gotten in the room, so she ran into the bathroom and found no one. This room has been called the Wicker Room and is said to be the most active. One guest saw the full-bodied apparition of a hazy woman sitting on the edge of the bed. The South Jersey Ghost Research Team got evidence that led to believe that an Irish maid is the spirit.

Angel of the Sea Bed and Breakfast

The Angel of the Sea is truly glorious with a wraparound porch and intricate gingerbread details! This is a large bed and breakfast located at 5 Trenton Avenue that has 27 rooms spread out through two buildings and has been open since 1989. The rooms are Victorian themed and full of charm. This was built in 1850 as a summer cottage for Philadelphia chemist William Weightman. Weightman had introduced quinine to the United States for a malaria treatment. The house is not standing on its original site. In 1881, Weightman decided he would prefer an ocean view and he hired a bunch of farmers to move the house, but the house was too big for this to be accomplished. So, the farmers decided to cut the house in half. They would move each section separately and then reconnect the house. They accomplished this by rolling the sections on tree trunks using mules and horses for power. Now, anybody who sees the inn today can see that this is not two halves of a house pushed together perfectly. The farmers weren't able to do that, so they improvised by enclosing the sides of the house that weren't together, so now it looked more like two buildings. When Mr. Weightman died in 1905, the house was sold and it served a number of purposes from a hotel to a guest house to a restaurant.

The house would move again after suffering significant damage during a 1962 Nor'easter. It was going to be demolished, but Reverend Carl McIntire bought the house and had both sections moved by flatbed truck to its current spot on Trenton. From 1962 to 1981, the Angel became a dormitory. By 1982, the place was uninhabitable and left abandoned until 1988. Developer John Girton bought it with his wife Barbara and crews up to 75 people worked round the clock to get the Angel back to restored, following original designs. The Angel opened a year later after $3.5 million and over 103,000 man hours of labor. John and Barbara sold the bed and breakfast to their daughter Lorie Whissell in 1995, who ran it for the next 20 years. In 2015, Theresa and Ron Stanton bought the Angel of the Sea. Somewhere along all the moves, the Angel seems to have picked up some spirits. People who have stayed here have experienced their beds vibrating, televisions turning off and on of their own accord and strange photos.

The Victorian Lace Inn

The Victorian Lace Inn converted to condos in 2018, but before that, it was a bed and breakfast located at 901 Stockton Avenue. This had been built in the Colonial Revival style with cedar siding in 1869. Things that happen her include objects disappearing and reappearing, disembodied footsteps and furniture moving on its own. Paranormal investigator Cindy Starr-Whitman stayed here with her husband and they heard the footsteps and heard the sound of things moving around even when nothing was moving. She also said that when things were cleaned up and put away, they would reappear again.

Cape May Puffin Suites

And the haunts just continue on Jackson St at 32 Jackson Street. This is home to the Cape May Puffin Suites, which are four individually owned and operated vacation rental condominiums. This location was designed in the Dutch Colonial architectural style and features a large wraparound front porch. Investigators that have stayed at the inn have captured EVPs and gotten EMF spikes. Orbs are a common occurrence in pictures too.

Peter Shields Inn

The Peter Shields Inn is the former summer cottage of wealthy businessman Peter Shields. Shields hailed from Pittsburgh and he joined a group of entrepreneurs that wanted to reclaim Cape May’s former glory, so they set up the Cape May Real Estate Company in 1903. Shields was the President. Philadelphia architect Lloyd Titus designed the cottage in the Georgian-Revival architectural style and it was completed in 1907. The Shields didn't stay long following two devastating things. The Cape May Real Estate Company went bankrupt and the Shields 15-year old son Earl was killed in a boating accident. The family returned to Pittsburgh and sold the cottage. It eventually served as a private residence, an exclusive club for boat-owners, the Tuna & Marlin Club and as the Peter Shields Inn. There are nine rooms and a restaurant. The spirit that haunts this inn is thought to be Earl, the Shields' son. Travel Channels Ghost Stories featured the haunting here in 2010. 

Psychic Craig McManus told CapeMay.com, "I can remember a few years ago getting a call from a woman who was staying at the Peter Shields Inn.  She had asked if I would do a channeling session with her, which I agreed to do.  It would be held in her room on the third floor of the house...As I walked into the expansive house and mounted the grand staircase, I could sense the ghost of a young man.  The woman working there at the time told me it was the ghost of Peter Shields.  I would later research him to learn what I have just related in the above paragraphs.  He was indeed a torn and defeated man, finally resigning his post as president and leaving town in 1912. As I conducted the channeling for my client, the large bedroom door, which was closed, kept opening slowly—very slowly.  The windows were closed and there was no noticeable draft, yet something was opening the door—three times in a row.  I invited whoever wanted to come in to join us, as long as they did not interrupt my channeling session. There was a definite presence in the room. It was not trying to communicate. It just watched us from the sidelines. I felt nothing but the feeling of being watched. Sometimes ghosts are inquisitive instead of being talkative. This ghost was giving me the silent treatment, and it eventually left the room." 

McManus returned to the inn the next Spring and heard from staff that they thought they had a ghost named “Ernest” and that many of them had seen him. McManus then said, "After dinner, I made a trip to the restroom, which is located on the lower level in what used to be the home’s cellar. This area was also an after-hours bar called the Tuna & Marlin Club in the 1940s and 50s.  As I moved past a large bust of Shakespeare standing in the corner of the basement, I was overwhelmed with a dreadful feeling of remorse.  Not panic or anxiety,  just sadness and despair.  I had just walked into something or someone that I was not about to take lightly.  It was not a malevolent energy at all, just a strong one.  Had I found Ernest, or did Ernest find me? I raced upstairs to let a friend, who was dining with us,  know what just happened. 'Someone either died down there, or was murdered,' I told her. My friend and her husband went downstairs next to check out the energy.  On their return, they confirmed the strong feelings that they too could sense.  Both friends were energy workers and I felt they may be able to offer a solid second opinion when it came to sensing ghostly energies." 

The Southern Mansion Bed and Breakfast

The Southern Mansion is located at 720 Washington Street and was built in 1863 for Philadelphia industrialist George Allen. Architect Samuel Sloan designed the mansion in the Italianate villa style and the construction was completed by Henri Phillipi. The Victorian home is three stories and crowned by a cupola. It is framed by clapboard and has a front porch the surrounds three sides. George Allen and his descendants owned the house for 83 years. The last Allen to live here was Ester Mercur and when she died in 1946, her husband sold the whole house including the furniture for $8,000. The mansion was converted into a boarding house and this caused structural weakness. The house was also painted a stark white. The mansion was poorly maintained and by the 1980s the license for the boarding house was revoked. In 1994, a family named Bray/Wildes were vacationing in Cape May when they saw the horrible condition of the mansion. They purchased the house and went through all the furniture and artwork, salvaging what they could and filled 25 dumpsters with garbage. 

Then they began the massive renovation placing new I-beams for support and replacing all the electrical and plumbing. Five chimneys were rebuilt with the original bricks, the house was returned to its earth tone color and the slate and tin roofs, copper gutters, brackets, porches, soffits, trims, moldings and fascia boards were replaced. The property had gardens at one time and these were replanted. The Southern Mansion was reopened in the Spring of 1996 with further renovation to a new South Wing being completed in 1997. This inn claims to have the biggest suites of any of the bed and breakfasts on Cape May. They host weddings here as well. And the mansion also hosts a couple of ghosts. The last descendant in the house, Ester, had been an alcoholic and she finally died from that in the house. She likes to explode glasses, particularly during toasts at weddings. One of the strangest stories about Ester comes out of the kitchen. The chef was mixing some batter when all of a sudden the colors green and purple bubbled up in the batter. And that bubbling up eventually exploded up onto the ceiling. 

Owner Barbara Wilde said of Ester, "It's just like she's saying, 'Look at me.' I lived here during the whole renovation and nothing ever bothered me. I'd feel it, but it wasn't scary." The South Jersey Ghost Research Group investigated in 2004 and several members were touched and cold spots were felt. Psychic Craig McManus claims that Ester is joined by another ghost who might be the real culprit behind the smashed glasses. This was Daniel Crilly who had been one of the owners of the boarding house. Apparently he would smash wine battles in the house. Other unexplained things that happen in the inn include doors locking by themselves, eerie feelings especially in lower meeting rooms and the strong smell of roses.

The Queen Victoria Bed and Breakfast

The Queen Victoria Bed and Breakfast is located at 102 Ocean Street and is made up of three buildings: Prince Albert Hall, The House of Royals and The Queen Victoria. Before any of these houses were built, the Columbia Hotel was here. The massive fire that destroyed much of Cape May in 1878, destroyed this hotel. The Queen Victoria building was built using several styles: Italianate Villa (the twin turret windows), Edwardian (the front porch), and a French-inspired mansard roof. The land here was purchased from Charles W. Potts by Douglas Gregory who was a Delaware River pilot and he had the home built for his family in 1881. The property has exchanged hands through the years and served as a community service center for the Navy, a medical practice, a summer boarding house, apartments and now the inn, which was opened in 1981 by Dane and Joan Wells. They sold to Doug and Anna Marie McMain in 2004. There are nine guest rooms in this building.

Prince Albert Hall was built in 1882 by Douglas Gregory as an investment property and it was operated as a boarding house. Subsequent owners also ran it as a boarding house. In 1989, the house was renovated into the hotel it is today. There are six rooms in this building and there is a large porch, third floor roof deck and English gardens. The House of Royals was built in 1876 by Charles Shaw, who also built the Chalfonte Hotel and the Emlen Physick Estate. The first floor was a general store offering stationery, sundries, and patent medicines. The second floor was a gentleman’s gambling club. This club had both private rooms and a large community room. The third floor was more than likely a brothel. This building survived the fire. It's the most beautifully decorated of the three buildings and has ten rooms. 

One of the most well known ghost stories connected to this property entails a woman descending from the third floor on the stairway and making her way to the front desk. She then disappeared. This is in the House of Royals and many people believe that this is a young woman who worked in the brothel and that she probably died there. She brings with her the strong scent of perfume, cold spots, and she likes to bump into beds and people. Rooms end up in a disarray sometimes and sometimes the electricity goes out completely on the third floor. And there is a story that a toilet exploded on the third floor and the ghost was blamed for that.

Chalfonte Hotel

The Chalfonte Hotel sits at 301 Howard Street and is one of the oldest original hotels here. It rises three stories with a belvedere and a two-story porch. This was built as a private home for Henry W. Sawyer in 1875. Sawyer also designed the house and it was built by William Moore and Brothers. The house is covered in gingerbread accents. Additions were made in 1879. Sawyer sold the hotel in 1888. The Richmond Satterfield family bought the place in 1911 and ran the establishment for 50 years. Anne LuDoc and Judy Bartella bought the hotel in 1978. The current owners, Robert and Linda Mullock, bought the Chalfonte in 2008. There are several rooms and suites and two cottages for rent. The Magnolia Room hosts breakfast and dinner and the King Edward Bar serves up drinks. This hotel has no elevator and just recently got heat and air in the rooms, as in just in 2021. There are no phones, no clocks and no televisions in the rooms. 

According to psychic Craig McManus, one of the main spirits here belongs to a young woman who is often seen holding a baby up in the cupola and looking towards the ocean. It is thought that she lost her husband at sea and she is watching and waiting for him. The haunting is most probably residual. Another spirit who is here seems to be a grumpy man. McManus was investigating one night and he caught an EVP of a male yelling, "McManus, F*ck you!" The Mullock family owns the hotel and Dillon Mullock was outside the hotel when he looked up and saw a figure walking in the hallway. There should have been no one in the hotel as Dillon was the only one there. He ran inside to catch the intruder and found that the hotel was indeed empty.

Elaine's Cape May

Elaine’s Cape May is located at 513 Lafayette Street. This is a true destination location and incorporates a boutique hotel, restaurant, Phinney's Pub and Patio Bar. And this place sits right next to the Washington Street Shopping Mall. The building was constructed in 1864 and was purchased by the Read family in 1899 who made this a large plantation home for their family. The Reads had one daughter who was named Emily and she was a sickly child who eventually died in the house. This became The Winchester, a large tavern inn. Elaine's used to host a dinner theater and ghost tours. There are many ghost stories connected to this location. Emily's spirit is thought to still be here. She is either a prankster ghost or there is another spirit here that likes to play tricks. These include covering a room in feathers and hiding tools. Emily is heard calling out for her mother and crying. A bartender has had several experiences with Emily and he claims that he usually sees light rather than a full-bodied apparition. It's like a spectrum of light through a prism with all different colors like a rainbow.  Guests have seen the spirit of a young lady wearing Victorian clothing. Even delivery people have seen the ghost. A man on a tour took a video of a cloud of light disappearing into the building. Other things experienced include disembodied laughter of children, batteries draining and floral smells. The most haunted room is believed to be Room 6.

Cape May is a quaint seaside getaway with plenty of Victorian architecture to enjoy. A step into this village is like stepping back in time. Which is something any of us can use. A chance to step away from the chaos of the real world. Perhaps that is why so many spirits are attracted to this area. We only covered the inns, but there are ghosts haunting so many other buildings and even the very streets. Maybe. Are these Cape May Inn haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 229 - Haunted Cemeteries 5

 
Moment in Oddity - Piano Playing Teens Get Chlorosis

A German physician named Dr. F. Waetzold published a short essay in 1899 in which he claimed that young girls who played the piano had an increased chance of developing mental disorders. According to Dr. Waetzold, his research had uncovered some alarming links between piano-playing and neurotic disorders. One disorder was chlorosis or ‘green sickness’, which is today known as hypochromic anemia and causes a greenish hue to the skin. The Doctor claimed that girls who studied the piano before the age of 12 were six times more likely to contract chlorosis or neuroses than girls who did not play the piano. He wrote, “It is necessary to abandon the deadly habit of compelling young girls to hammer on the keyboard before they are 15 or 16. Even at this age the exercise should be permitted only to those who are really talented and possessed of a robust temperament.” Apparently, the piano was not the only dangerous musical instrument. He claimed “studying the violin appears to produce even more disastrous results." Either Dr. Waetzold was surrounded by young musicians whose playing hurt his ears to the point he needed an excuse to make them stop or something about his research was decidedly very odd!

This Month in History - Inaugural Voyage on the Erie Canal

In the month of October, on the 26th, in 1825, New York Governor DeWitt Clinton made the inaugural voyage on the Erie Canal. Ground was broken on the canal in 1817. It took eight years to complete at a cost of $7 million and stretched for 363 miles. It was the second longest canal in the world at that time. The canal linked Lake Erie to the Hudson River and Governor Clinton predicted that it would create "the greatest inland trade ever witnessed." Many called the Erie Canal, "Clinton’s Folly" or "Clinton's Big Ditch." It took the Governor nine days to complete his trip along the Erie Canal and at the end he poured a barrel filled with water from Lake Erie into the Atlantic and called it a "wedding of the waters." His prediction about the Canal was right. Shipping costs dropped by 90 percent, settlers flooded west and the canal paid for itself in nine years.


Haunted Cemeteries 5

The three cemeteries we are featuring in this episode are some of the most well known cemeteries in the world. They also happen to be famously haunted. Each has beautiful and ornate monuments and have become favorite spots for taphophiles. Hollywood Forever has become the final resting place for a plethora of deceased celebrities. Some of them haunt the cemetery even today. Greyfriar's Kirkyard has a long history that includes Bloody Mackenzie who apparently still haunts the cemetery. Highgate Cemetery has gorgeous Gothic architecture and a story about a vampire that calls the graveyard its home. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of these three unique haunted cemeteries!


Hollywood Forever

The Hollywood Forever Cemetery sits on 62 acres with over 80,000 gravesites. The cemetery is one of the oldest in Los Angeles and it is the only one in Hollywood. It was founded in 1899 by the Hollywood Cemetery Association and originally called Hollywood Cemetery.  At that time there were 100 acres in total, but RKO Studios bought 40 of the acres and built a studio that eventually became Paramount Studios. The graveyard is a veritable who's who of dead celebrities. These celebrity burials include Mickey Rooney, Douglas Fairbanks, Jayne Mansfield's cenotaph, Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino, Peter Lorre, Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone, Judy Garland, Bugsy Siegel and two of the Little Rascals, Alfalfa and Darla Hood. *Fun Fact: Our moderator Ronda was attacked by the guard duck that is at Johnny Ramone's grave.* There are more than celebrities here. Important historic figures in the building of Los Angeles have their final resting place here as well.

A convicted felon named Jules Roth purchased a 51 percent stake in the cemetery in 1939 and he proceeded to use cemetery funds for personal expenses and luxuries for the next six decades. One of those luxuries was a yacht he claimed would be used for spreading ashes, but it actually became a party boat. The cemetery fell into disrepair and it was so bad that when Cass Elliot was being cremated in 1974, several of the crematory bricks collapsed around her body. Relatives of the interred began moving the bodies of their loved ones and in 1986 a class action lawsuit was filed against Roth. Roth also was racist and would not allow minorities to be buried at the graveyard and this included Hattie McDaniel of "Gone with the Wind" fame. In 1998, Roth died bankrupt. After his burial, it was discovered that the cemetery endowment fund was missing about $9 million.

In 1998, Tyler and Brent Cassity purchased the property for $375,000 and they invested millions in renovations and renamed the site Hollywood Forever. One of the items they added was a granite monument for Hattie McDaniel. The cemetery has become a cultural center and every year features a Dia de los Muertos Festival. Controversy still continued for Hollywood Forever though. Brent Cassidy and his father were indicted for a Ponzi scheme in which they stole $450 million from a funeral company they ran selling pre-burial expenses. The renovation funds for Hollywood Forever came from those stolen funds. The men went to prison in 2010. Tyler Cassity was not charged in the case and his brother Brent sold his interest in Hollywood Forever to a family-owned trust.

We wanted to mention a burial that is special to us and that is Maila Nurmi's grave. She became the first ever television horror host in the 1950s. We all know her as the fabulous Vampira. Vampira was born when Nurmi attended Choreographer Lester Horton's annual Bal Caribe Masquerade in a costume inspired by Morticia Addams in 1953. She made her skin pale white and wore a tight black dress. Television producer Hunt Stromberg, Jr. saw her and knew she would be perfect to host horror movies on the Los Angeles television station KABC-TV. Nurmi's husband Dean Riesner came up with the name Vampira. Nurmi's characterization of Vampira was inspired by the Dragon Lady from the comic strip Terry and the Pirates and the evil queen from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She hosted "The Vampira Show" from 1954-1955. She also appeared in Ed Wood’s cult film, "Plan 9 From Outer Space" among other films. She died of natural causes in 2008 and was buried in the Griffith Lawn section at Hollywood Forever.

Hollywood Forever is incredibly haunted. Many ghosts apparently walk the grounds. One of these spirits belongs to William Randolph Hearst. He isn't buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, but the grave of his mistress Marion Davies is located there and he likes to visit in the afterlife. Rudolph Valentino's grave is the site of an apparition of a woman in a black dress and many claim this woman is Ditra Flame. Ditra had been seriously ill in the hospital when she was a little girl. Valentino was freinds with her mother, so he showed up at the hospital bearing a single red rose. He whispered to her, “You’re not going to die at all. You’re going to outlive me by many years. But one thing for sure—if I die before you do, will you please come and stay by me because I don’t want to be alone either. You come and talk to me.” Valentino was right. Ditra got better and he died a few years later from complications from gastric ulcer surgery. As an adult, she brought red roses to his crypt every year on his death date. She died in 1984 and ever since then, people claim to see a ghost woman in black kneeling in front of Valentino’s tomb. Some visitors have seen a rose just appear in the vase on the wall. Disembodied footsteps have been heard and there is a feeling as though being watched by someone unseen.

Clifton Webb was an actor who appeared in the films "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Laura" and he played Mr. Belvedere in "Sitting Pretty," "Mr. Belvedere Goes to College" and "Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell." He died of a heart attack at the age of 76. He is buried in crypt 2350 in the Abbey of the Psalms Mausoleum. Visitors claim to see his apparition in a suit at the crypt and to hear whispering voices and see strange flickering lights there as well. There are occasional reports of a cold swirling draft that leaves behind the scent of cologne.

Virginia Rappe was a silent film actress who also was an alcoholic. She died after attending a party hosted by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Her bladder ruptured while at the party and she was rushed to the hospital and died a few days later. The rumors swirling around were that Arbuckle had raped her at the party and that because of his size and the violence of the encounter, her bladder was ruptured. He was even tried for rape and murder. He was acquitted, but his life was ruined. What really happend to Rappe is a mystery. Some say she had a botched abortion. Others claim that she tickled Arbuckle and he accidently kneed her in the abdomen when he jumped. She was buried at Hollywood Forever and it is believed that her spirit is at unrest there because of her tarnished reputation and unsolved death. Witnesses feel cold spots and hear the sounds of a woman sobbing.
 
Greyfriar's Kirkyard

Edinburgh, Scotland is considered one of the most haunted cities in all of Europe, particularly with Edinburgh Castle sitting above the city as a type of haunted sentinel.  The Castle is said to be the most haunted location in Edinburgh, but Greyfriar's Kirkyard could give the Castle a good fight for that title.  Burials have taken place here since the 16th century and the cemetery sits between an old melancholy hospital and a menacing looking prison.  The tombstones and statuary are ornate and beautiful.  The term "kirk" means "church" and so a kirkyard is a churchyard.  A churchyard is a cemetery that is on church property. The church that sits here is named for the Franciscan Friary that originally was located here and managed by the Greyfriars, an order of Franciscan monks.  The Franciscan Order originally landed in Canterbury from Italy in the 13th century and spread across what we call the United Kingdom today.  The Order was later split into two different groups known as the Conventuals - friars that were in the cities - and the Observants - who wanted to keep the old more isolated ways.  The Franciscans in Great Britain became known as Greyfriars.

Roman Catholicism was pushed out of Scotland in the 16th century.  A group of people signed covenants in Scotland binding themselves to maintain Presbyterian doctrines and denouncing the Pope and the Catholic Church.  They became known as Covenanters and they proved to be a big issue for King Charles I.  The National Covenant was signed at Greyfriar's Kirk in 1638 and it was an oath to maintain the reformed religion and reject all superstition of the Catholic Church.  When King Charles tried to push new reforms on the Covenanters, they revolted and defeated the King in the Bishops' War.  Wars continued and the Covenanters became the de facto government of Scotland.  Later, Oliver Cromwell, fighting for the English Parliament, would defeat the Covenanters and by 1652, they were decimated.  In 1679, another rebellion was formed, but it was knocked down once again and 1200 Covenanters were taken prisoner and put into the Covenanters' Prison at Greyfriar's Kirkyard.  Conditions were awful and many were executed.  By the end of their imprisonment, only 400 Covenanters were alive and they were sold into slavery, most of them dying when the ship transporting them wrecked.

Sir George Mackenzie, who was a Scottish lawyer, became the Lord Advocate implementing the reforms of King Charles II in Scotland and he was the one who not only imprisoned the Covenanters, but had most most of them executed earning him the title of "Bloody Mackenzie."  Prior to this, Mackenzie had been involved in witch trials.  Mackenzie died in 1691 and is buried, ironically, in Greyfriar's Kirkyard in a large mausoleum. Reports of Mackenzie's ghost haunting Greyfriar's Kirkyard began in the 20th century after a homeless man decided to seek shelter in Mackenzie's Mausoleum during a rain storm.  He had noticed that he could get through an opening in the back of the structure.  After he entered, he began to rummage through the coffins like a grave robber and he fell through the flooring that had rotted away, into a pit full of bones.  This pit was where plague victims were buried.  As is the case in so many cities in earlier centuries, it was impossible to do individual burials during times of plague and so mass burials were conducted.  The homeless man ran screaming from the building and now the poltergeist of Mackenzie has been taking out his rage about this desecration on visitors.  The ghost injures people to the point of cuts, bruises and even broken bones.  Most of these attacks happen in the Covenanter's Prison area, so apparently Bloody Mackenzie has returned to his roots.  There is a mausoleum inside the prison called the Black Mausoleum and this is where much of the activity occurs.  And if the hundreds of personal reports do not convince people the place is haunted, perhaps the true story of how the Exorcist Colin Grant died shortly after trying to cleanse the entire kirkyard, and particularly the Black Mausoleum, might convince them.

Greyfriar's Bobby is another famous resident at the kirkyard.  The story is told of a night watchman named John Gray who took on a Skye Terrier as his partner and named him Bobby.  Gray eventually contracted Tuberculosis and succumbed to the disease in 1858.  He was buried at Greyfriar's Kirkyard and Bobby took up vigil at his master's grave.  He refused to leave, even in bad weather and so the townspeople took care of the dog, bringing him food and water and Bobby would sometimes leave to have a meal at a nearby shop.  Bobby kept vigil for fourteen years and then he was buried in the kirkyard and a monument was erected in his honor.  The accuracy of this story has been questioned for years and some have surmised that Bobby was just a stray dog that had taken up residence in the graveyard.  At the time, many strays would live in graveyards.  Whatever is the case, a beautiful monument was built for the dog.

Highgate 

Highgate Cemetery opened in 1839 outside of London. Churches at that time were having a hard time dealing with all the burials, so a plan was implemented to build more cemeteries known as the Magnificent Seven. Highgate was one of them and it was designed by Stephen Geary. The cemetery was dedicated to St. James by Right Reverend Charles Blomfield and burials were sold to people for a limited period or for perpetuity. The graveyard is very Victorian in style with Gothic tombs and it became a very fashionable place to be buried and people enjoyed visiting. Wildlife and wild flowers have made the cemetery home. Notable areas are Egyptian Avenue and Circle of Lebanon and notable burials are Jane Arden, Karl Marx, Elizabeth Siddal, Ellen Wood, Feliks Topolski and William Michael Rossetti. By World War II, the cemetery was abandoned for the most part.

For all of its beautiful monuments and ostentatious memorials, Highgate has a dark side. Rumors of Satanic ceremonies and cult meetings have been rampant. And tales of ghostly experiences have been received by the local newspapers. One man wrote that his car broke down outside of the cemetery. He got out of his car and looked towards the gates of the cemetery and saw an apparition with red eyes. The spirit appeared to be glaring at him and the man was terrified. Some have referred to this as the Devil Ghoul. A spirit on a bicycle was seen by a woman. She was frightened as she watched him make his way up a steep incline. Another ghost was said to be seen wading in a pond. Our infamous Lady in White appears here as well. Could she be the one who is the wailing banshee that many have reported? Another man was knocked to the ground by a creature that swooped down from a wall of the cemetery while he walked down Swains Lane. The creature then disappeared as the headlights from a passing car shone into the cemetery.

Several similar experiences are shared in Westwood and Simpson's The Lore of the Land, "My fiancee and I spotted a most unusual form about a year ago. It just seemed to glide across the park. I am glad someone else has spotted it." And, "To my knowledge the ghost always takes the form of a pale figure and has been appearing for several years." And, "Suddenly from the corner of my eye I saw something move, which seemed to be walking towards us from the gates, and sent us running up Swains Lane as fast as we could."

The most bizarre story about Highgate features a vampire. The Highgate Vampire story dates back to the 1960s. A group of paranormal enthusiasts started investigating the cemetery in the late 60s. One of their members named David Farrant decided to stay overnight on December 21, 1969. Farrant claims in interviews that he saw a very tall and pale figure that appeared to be inhuman with hypnotic eyes. Some time later, a man named Sean Manchester claimed to see a similar supernatural entity. He also said that he found the carcasses of foxes, drained of blood in the cemetery. Manchester came up with an idea that a vampire had been brought to England in a coffin in the 18th century and interred at Highgate. All of the Satanic rituals that took place later, woke up the vampire. Manchester and Farrant became rivals and a public interview of the two caused a frenzy of people vampire hunting in the cemetery. the police had to intervene and kick people out of the cemetery. Both men continued to return to the cemetery with their supporters to find the vampire.

Do several spirits wander around the cool mists of these three cemeteries? Are the ghosts of celebrities hanging out in Hollywood Forever? Is Bloody Mackenzie at Greyfriar's Kirkyard in the afterlife? Does Highgate have a vampire hiding in the darkness? Are these cemeteries haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 171 - Casey Moore's Oyster House

 
Moment in Oddity - Exploding Killer Lakes
Suggested by: Michael Rogers

In all of recorded history, there have only been two exploding killer lakes and they were both in the country of Cameroon. The first occurred in 1984 at Lake Monoun and killed 37 people. The second occurred at Lake Nyos in 1986 and was more deadly. Three thousand animals and 1,746 villagers were killed during this event. So what exactly is an exploding killer lake? Basically, these are lakes that were formed from a hydrovolcanic eruption that created a crater in the lakes. Carbon dioxide builds up within this crater over time, just like the CO2 in a soda bottle. The water serves as a type of cap keeping the CO2 locked down, but sometimes something happens that causes that cap effect to shift. It could be an earthquake or even a monsoon-like rainstorm. In the case of Lake Nyos, it appears that a simple landslide broke the surface and released a giant cloud of carbon dioxide. It exploded upward and stripped the air of oxygen. This could happen again and scientists are looking for a way to prevent it in the future. Exploding killer lakes certainly are odd!

This Day in History - Thomas Paine Writes "These Are the Times That Try Men's Souls"

On this day, December 19th, in 1776, Thomas Paine publishes his first essay in a collection of essays that would become "The American Crisis." Thomas Paine, was born in Thetford in Norfolk on January 29, 1737. He met Benjamin Franklin in London and asked the man to help him emigrate to the new colonies. He did so in 1774. Paine settled in Philadelphia and became a journalist. He wrote articles on various topics, but in 1776 he wrote the pamphlet "Common Sense" and established himself as a revolutionary propagandist. He had only been in the colonies for a year, but he committed himself to American independence. During the Revolutionary War, Paine wrote a collection of essays and compiled them in "The American Crisis." The first of these essays was published on the 19th and began with the famous line, "These are the times that try men's souls."

Casey Moore's Oyster House (Suggested by Alicia Taylor)

Tempe, Arizona is the seventh largest city in the state of Arizona. The town was built on an agricultural base and grew out of the combining of two distinct pioneer towns. Many of the original historical structures built in Tempe have survived and its one of the town's greatest attributes. One of these buildings was originally a family home that is now a restaurant named Casey Moore's Oyster House. Locals love to gather for a beer and seafood. Patrons and employees all claim that the restaurant is haunted by several spirits. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of Casey Moore's Oyster House.

For 1,500 years the Hohokam People called the future Tempe, Arizona home. They were here until 1450, leaving behind innovative canals they had built to bring the waters of the Salt River to their crops. Those same canals laid the foundation for the current irrigation system. Charles Trumbull Hayden came to the area in 1870 and established a settlement along the Salt River that he named Hayden’s Ferry. He built a flour mill, warehouses, blacksmith shops. There was also a ferry to cross the Salt River. The flour mill still stands as a historic structure and was operated until 1990. The Hayden home also still stands today. Hispanic families arrived from northern Mexico and established a nearby town called San Pablo. Eventually, Hayden's Ferry and San Pablo combined to form Tempe. There is a place in Greece called Vale of Tempe and an Englishman named “Lord” Darrell Duppa, who had helped establish Phoenix, suggested the name Tempe because it had the same lush beauty of the Vale of Tempe. The railroad came in 1887 and Tempe soon became an important business and shipping center because of the agriculture in the area. 

Education in Arizona can trace its origins to Tempe. In 1885, the Arizona legislature chose Tempe for the Territorial Normal School, which trained teachers for Arizona schools. William A. Moeur and his brother Benjamin were prominent members of Tempe and William helped set up the public school system in town. He was a member of the first school board and chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors from 1912 to 1915. In 1910, he and his wife Mary built a home on three lots at the corner of 9th and Ash. The house is a mix of architectural styles. The roof is Victorian with gabled vents, front and dormer with a bellcast copper roof. The house itself is Western Colonial with the typical square floor plan and columned porch. There are two stories built mostly from brick and there is a sun room at the south end of the house. Masonry blocks outline all the corners and edges of the home. It is a larger home consisting of 4,061 square feet. William lived in the home until his death in the house in 1929. His wife Mary remained until she died in the house in the 1940s.

The house passed through several owners and there are discrepancies as to the variety of businesses it housed. It definitely was a boarding house for a time and some claim that it was a bordello as well. In 1973, it underwent extensive renovation to open it up as a restaurant. It was called Ninth & Ash. In 1986, another owner bought the property and did even more renovating. A covered patio on the northeast corner was enclosed as was a covered patio along the north facade. A fire escape staircase was added to the west facade and the sun room on the south facade was also enclosed. The nicest addition was adding several pieces of stained art glass to the window panes. This restaurant was called Casey Moore's Oyster House and it is the current business there. It originally had been at 7th St. and Maple, but had been displaced.

The restaurant's website claims that Casey Moore was born in 1886 to Irish immigrants. She loved to sing and play the piano and she invited friends and neighbors to her house often. The restaurant is apparently named for her, but we're not exactly sure why or how she is connected to the restaurant. The interior of the bar is decorated in a Scottish motif, while the outside is very Irish. A real fun fact about this bar is that  it has its very own Blarney Stone. This is not one that you would want to bend over backwards and kiss though. This one has been thoroughly peed upon! This is a bathroom area outside for the men. You just step inside, unzip and donate your beer back to the bar. Okay, so you pee on something that is suppose to be a replica of the Blarney Stone. There is a motion activated waterfall and a little moat to wash away your contribution. There is also a koi pond and a band of stray cats that hang around the spacious patio.

The restaurant has reports from neighbors, patrons and employees about strange occurrences and sightings. While we usually hear 3am being the magic hour for spooks, it would seem that 4am is the witching hour at Casey's. Neighbors report seeing a couple dancing in an upstairs room when no one is suppose to be in the restaurant. Police have been called out to investigate the intruders and there is always no one there. The alarms are even still set. It has been surmised that since William and Mary died in the house, that this ghostly couple is them still enjoying their house in the afterlife. Did they used to dance in the house and this is some kind of residual energy?

Workers claim that utensils fly off tables in the upper area and interestingly, forks end up hitting the same spot on the wall. Place settings, chairs and tables are moved about during the night and employees find them in a disarray in the morning. A full room of customers has witnessed paintings come crashing down from the wall and lamps above tables swing by themselves. The apparition of a young woman has been seen. She is described as having dark black hair and light eyes. People wonder if she was a prostitute in the brothel and whether she was murdered upstairs. She disappears when people's eyes meet her gaze. Most only see her from the corner of their eyes. Some claim she expresses displeasure when couples get a little romantic in the restaurant.

A bartender named Austin Owen claimed that during reconstruction an old photograph was found of a young boy. One of the owners kept the photo. Employees claimed to see the spirit of a young boy roaming about the house and when the owner showed the picture to the employees, they agreed that the ghost resembled the boy in the picture.

The restaurant embraces the tales of hauntings. The website states, "It’s no secret in and around Tempe, that 'Our House' has a mysterious history. In the wee hours of the morning, passers-by have seen a woman dressed in 'turn of the century' clothing dancing in our upstairs dining room. Articles disappear and suddenly show up in odd places. Neck ties are 'tugged' and objects become weightless However, strange this may seem to some, the spirits that linger in this old establishment are “family” to us here at Casey’s."

As we researched, we found another haunted restaurant that had been run out of a historic property in Tempe, the Hayden House. The restaurant was called Monti's La Casa Vieja and it had been the oldest restaurant in the city covering 11,000 square feet. It had been in business for 60 years when it closed on November 17th in 2014. The owner, Michael Monti, wanted to pursue other avenues and the cost of beef was too much. His father opened the restaurant 1956 and it was known for its Roman bread, steak and historic memorabilia. A real estate firm bought the site and plans were made to develop two high-rise towers on the site. The house was rumored to be slated for demolition, but it was a protected historic property. We're not sure of the state of the site today.

The hauntings reported here were two different types. The full-bodied apparition of a cowboy had been seen in one of the rooms named the Mural Room. The Fountain Room featured disembodied laughter and the sound of clinking glasses and cutlery. Do these restless spirits still remain on the property even though the restaurant is no longer open?

Tempe has a long history with many historic structures that could be retaining the essence of those who built the town. Is Casey Moore's Oyster House haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Podcast 8 - The Mysterious Podcast: Mystery Manor and the Winchester Mystery Home

Moment in Oddity - Robert the Doll

Robert Eugene Otto was given a doll in 1906 from a servant of his family when he was a child.  The doll wore a sailor's outfit and had small beady eyes with an expressionless face.  The servant disliked the family and practiced black magic and voodoo and it is believed that he cursed the doll.  Eugene's parents told stories of hearing Eugene talk to the doll and then hearing a different voice answer Eugene back as if the doll could really talk.  Neighbors reported seeing the doll look out of windows and move about from window to window and claimed they heard weird giggling when no one was home.  Eugene died in 1974 and the doll was relegated to the attic until another family moved into the home in Key West and a young girl took ownership of the doll.  She soon was waking up in terror at night claiming that the doll was trying to kill her.  Robert the Doll now resides in the Fort East Mortello Museum in Key West.  People claim to see the doll's expressions change and the doll seems to hate to have its picture taken.  When people snap pictures without asking him for permission, people claim to feel cursed and the display area around Robert is covered with notes of apology as people attempt to erase the curse.  So is this doll really alive or just the object of superstition and overactive imaginations?  Whatever the truth may be, the doll is certainly odd.

This Day in History - The Gunpowder Plot

On this day, November the 5th, in 1605 a plan to kill King James I of England was suppose to unfold.  England's Parliament was to open on that day and the plot included blowing up the House of Lords.  If successful, the bombing would not only have killed King James, but many members of the Monarch's family and the Privy Council.  The plotters met in taverns for several months to finalize their plans.  Robert Catesby was their leader and Guy Fawkes was given charge of the explosives.  The plot was foiled when an anonymous letter tipped off the authorities.  A search was made of the House of Lords and Fawkes was discovered where he was guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder, enough to level the House of Lords.  Fawkes was arrested as were several other conspirators.  Catesby was killed in a battle a little while later.  Fawkes and the others that were arrested were tried and ordered to be hanged, drawn and quartered.  The thwarting of the Gunpowder Plot has been commemorated ever since with the ringing of church bells and the modern day Bonfire Night.

Two Mysterious Places - Mystery Manor and the Winchester Mystery Home

There is a haunted house attraction in Nebraska that is commercially named "Mystery Manor," but this is not some warehouse that has been converted into a bunch of rooms designed to scare teenagers to their core.  Mystery Manor was a home at one time. First let's get the legend out of the way about the Hall family.

The year was 1887 and William Hall had paid for a home to be built for him and his wife Greta in Sharpy

County in Omaha, Nebraska.  Nebraska had become a state in 1868 and the year 1887 found the state embroiled in a controversy due to the sensational hanging of William Jackson Marion for murder.  This would be a case that would bring public executions under scorn and lead to Nebraska adopting lethal injection for dispatching criminals.  Evidence was circumstantial against Marion and the entire state was paying close attention to the trial.  A guilty verdict was given and Marion was hanged until he was "dead, dead, dead."  The proverbial cow poo hit the fan four years later when the man that Marion was accused of killing was found in Kansas...alive and well.  We imagine that the elite of Omaha probably discussed the controversy for years following the hanging as they gathered in Hall Manor, William and Greta's fabulous home.  Little did any of these people know just how dark the lives of their hosts would turn one day.

William Hall was a very wealthy man and much of his money was invested in the Stock Market.  On October 23, 1929, a day that became known as Black Tuesday, the Stock Market suffered an unparalleled crash that caused millionaires to become paupers overnight and lead the nation into the Great Depression.  Many men threw themselves from windows and killed themselves in various other ways over the shock and loss.  William Hall was one of the men who lost everything in the crash and then he lost his mind.  As we discussed in our podcast on the Villisca Axe Murders, axes as murder weapons were not unusual.  They were a weapon of convenience.  William had an axe and he was going to use it.

Greta had no idea what William had planned for her.  In his rage and insanity, he took his axe from the shed and in a frenzy he killed Greta, chopping her body into multiple pieces.  The next morning, after realizing what he had done, William gathered up Greta and placed her in a grave at the front of the home.  Somehow, Greta's brother, John Martin, found out about the murder and a week after Greta had died, John showed up at Hall Manor and found the axe William had used.  He turned the axe on William and killed him in similar fashion to the way his sister was murdered.  John dumped William into the same shallow grave as Greta.  The reason the name "Mystery Manor" was used for the haunted house attraction is due to a real mystery that seems to have taken place after John had avenged his sister's death.  He was found dead with an axe buried in his skull and no murderer was ever found.  Legend tells the tale that William Hall came back as a ghost and did away with his brother-in-law.  This is the story the attraction tells. 

The real mystery about this place is the truth about its history.  During the time that William and Greta were suppose to be living in the house according to the legend, the place was serving as housing for the the Union Pacific Railroad, a bordello in the early 1900s where the Madame was murdered along with her son and as a tuberculosis hospice from 1910-1916 where 296 people died. The house was then broken up into apartments until it fell into disrepair and became condemned.  In 1983, it was bought by Wayne Sealy and converted into the haunted attraction that it is now.  There was a time when the home was a private residence before the brothel, but as to who owned the house, we do not know.

So what is the truth about Mystery Manor?  Many years have passed, but the evidence of hauntings at the building leads many to believe that several spirits are at unrest.  A woman in a blue dress has been seen on several occasions by people going through the haunted house attraction.  They believed she was an employee until she either disappeared or they were told that no one fitting the description worked at the house.  Investigators have felt a very dark presence that seems to hold power over the other ghost residents.  A paranormal investigation group out of Kansas City, named Elite Paranormal, conducted an investigation at Mystery Manor and they collected EVPs saying words like, "can't," "behind you," "you're wrong" and "you frightened."  People also heard tappings on a trunk in one of the rooms.

The business office on the main floor is known to have a lot of activity, which includes a feeling of being watched and people are sometimes touched.  A few years ago, a dead cat was found in the ceiling of the second floor.  The owner, Wayne Sealy, went to get a garbage bag to put the cat inside and when he returned, the cat was gone leaving only the imprint of a cat's body in blood.  The stain is still there.  The attraction is full of props and machinery, all of which turn themselves on and off or move around.  A psychic claims that a woman named Claire who had worked in the brothel is present in the building.  Wayne Sealy's son Mark who manages the attraction has said, “The building has stuff happen all the time.  Every once in a while, we’ll find the teddy bears from the child’s room lined up here on the stairs. They just get put here. We think the ghost uses this almost as the house’s lost and found. If someone loses a baseball hat the night before, we’ll find it here.”

Omaha is considered one of the most haunted cities in Nebraska.  Is this location one of those haunted places?  That is for you to decide.

Now join us as we move further west to San Jose, California to introduce you to probably the weirdest home ever built.  William Wirt Winchester lived from 1837-1881 and his father Oliver established the Winchester Repeating Firearms Company.  William was a part of the Winchester company for his entire life.  The company designed the Winchester Rifle in its various models and these became known as the "gun that won the west."  William married Sarah Lockwood Pardee in 1862 and died from tuberculosis in 1881.

After William's death, Sarah moved to California with her sister and in 1886 she bought an eight room farmhouse.  Sarah was very superstitious and she felt as though she were cursed and she sought answers from a medium named Adam Coons.  He confirmed Sarah's fears and told her that she was being haunted by the spirits of the people who had been killed by Winchester Rifles.  Coons directed Sarah to make the move to California and he told her to build a home for her and the spirits and he warned that if she ever stopped building on the house, she would die.

Sarah was very wealthy and she used her fortune to begin renovations on the farmhouse.  Then she started adding rooms.  She instructed anyone working on the house to continue building 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The house grew to seven stories with the installation of an observation tower, but after the 1906 Earthquake, the house was lowered to four stories when the tower toppled.  The front area of the house was badly damaged and Sarah had the entire front portion of the house sealed off because she thought the spirits were angry with her since they did not protect the house nor her from the quake.  She herself was trapped for several hours in her Daisy Room after the earthquake.  The Grand Ballroom was one of the rooms sealed off and it was built almost entirely without the use of nails and contains two leaded stain glassed windows with mysterious quotes from the work of Shakespeare. 

No official plans were ever drawn up of the Victorian style house and the foreman John Hansen followed Mrs. Winchester's plans rather than common sense or his own expertise over the years causing chaos.  That chaos is revealed in staircases that lead to ceilings, doors that open up into walls and windows that face walls.  One staircase goes down for seven steps and then rises for eleven steps.  The number thirteen shows up in a variety of way from thirteen panes in windows to thirteen ceiling panels in the rooms to thirteen steps in many of the staircases.  Five and a half million dollars was spent in total on construction.  We have discussed in previous podcasts the lore about mirrors and how spirits fear them as objects that could entrap them.  Sarah had only three mirrors in the immense mansion to appease the good spirits.  It is thought that Sarah may have used the weird layout of her home to confuse the evil spirits, but others argue that the weird layout was simply from unplanned construction.  Whatever the case, the house is weird.

Sarah died on September 5th, 1922 and the construction immediately stopped.  But Sarah did not leave the home after her death.  She reportedly haunts the home.  Brent Miller was caretaker of the home from 1973-1981 and he heard breathing and footsteps in the room that Sarah Winchester died in.  A friend of Miller's caught a picture of an apparition in coveralls when he came to visit.  Another caretaker turned off all the lights and locked up one night and when he got into his car he glanced at the house and saw that every light on the third floor was lit.  Unused kitchens sometimes give off the scent of a warm meal, particularly chicken soup.  Paranormal investigators report feeling icy spots, organ music, orbs, locked doorknobs turned and moving lights.

There is no doubt that the house is unusual, but is it haunted?  That is for you to decide.

For more information and tours of the Winchester Mystery House:  http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/index.cfm

HGB Podcast 5 - The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

This Moment in Oddity - Dr. John Osborne's Skin Shoes

Outlaws and the Old West go hand in hand.  One such outlaw could be found in the Wyoming territory and he went by the name Big Nose George Parrett because he had...well...a big nose.  So large in fact, that when it came time to bury him in his coffin he wouldn't fit until several men pushed down upon the pine lid.  Dr. John Osborne claimed the body of Big Nose George and decided to use his body for study, particularly his brain since he thought that George was criminally insane.  The good doctor's wife had been committed for being criminally insane and he thought studying Big Nose George's brain would help him find a cure.  In the end, many people might consider Dr. Osborne the insane one because of what he did with George's body.  The doctor removed skin from George's chest and legs and then had it sent to a tannery with orders to create a pair of shoes from the skin.  Dr. Osborne wore his shoes proudly.  As a matter of fact, they were on his feet at his Inaugural Ball in 1893 when he became governor of the state of Wyoming.  The good doctor also went on to become assistant Secretary of State under President Wilson.  The shoes still exist to this day and can be seen in their new home at the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, Wyoming.  Shoes made from the skin of an outlaw certainly strikes me as quite odd.

This Day in History - Nuremberg Trials Begin

On this day, October 18th, in 1945 the trials against World War II war criminals begin in Nuremberg, Germany.  Nuremberg was chosen as the site for the trials because it was considered the birthplace of the Nazi Party since it held propaganda rallies there and the Reichstag Nuremberg Laws were passed there.  Those laws were the anti-semitic laws that led to the destruction of Jewish businesses and finally the round up of Jewish people.  The trials were conducted before an International Military Tribunal and by October 1st, 1946, twenty-two war criminals had been tried.  Twelve of those convicted were sentenced to death, among them were Reich Marshall Hermann Göring, Julius Streicher, Hans Frank and Alfred Rosenberg. Three others that were convicted were sentenced to life imprisonment and four other convictions led to prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years. Three men were acquitted.  The war crimes they were accused of ranged from enslavement to persecution to murder and to extermination.  One other man was tried in absentia and that was Martin Bormann.  Other war criminals who were not tried because they had committed suicide before the trials were Robert Ley, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels and, of course, Adolph Hitler.

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is located in downtown Hollywood at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.  The architecture of the hotel is in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style featuring rounded Moorish windows and wrought iron chandelier and lights with a giant lighted sign atop the edifice.  The architects were Fisher, Lake & Traver, a short-lived architectural firm that also designed the Stillwell Apartments in Long Beach and the Phoenix Westward Ho Hotel.  If the name of the hotel makes you think of a president, that would make sense because the hotel is named for President Teddy Roosevelt.  Stalwarts of the Hollywood community financed the building of the hotel and included Mary Pickford, Louis B. Mayer, Sid Grauman and Douglas Fairbanks.  The hotel climbed to twelve stories and featured 300 rooms when it was finished and it officially opened on May 15th, 1927.  The Grand Opening was celebrated with several celebrities from Charlie Chaplin to Will Rogers to Greta Garbo.

The Roosevelt fell into decline in the 1950s and a new owner remodelled, painting the hotel a horrid seafoam green and demolishing the historic archways.  The beautiful painted ceilings were also covered.  The wrecking ball came calling in the 1980s, but the Radisson bought the building and attempted to restore the Roosevelt to its former glory using historic photographs for guidance and they did a good job.  Thompson Hotels later bought the Roosevelt and they manage it to this day.  Parts of the Walk of Fame line the outside of the hotel and the building beckons visitors to enter and transport back to the Golden Age of Hollywood.  The hotel features vintage bowling lanes, an Olympic size pool with a David Hockney mural painted on the bottom, live theatre and the Tropicana Bar.  Unfortunately, the hotel has been extensively renovated and modernized by Thompson Hotels, which makes it perfectly comfortable for the modern era, but most certainly has lost a bit of its glitzy charm.  Despite the interior renovations, the Roosevelt Hotel is one of the few historic treasures remaining in this area, along with the Chinese Theater that is a block to the east and the El Capitan Theater that stands on Hollywood Boulevard as well. 

The grand Blossom Ballroom of the Roosevelt hosted the very first Academy Awards in 1929 and it was banquet style.  Thirteen statuettes were handed out by Al Jolson and Douglas Fairbanks and the entire ceremony lasted a mere five minutes.  This was the only time the Oscars were hosted at the hotel because it was not large enough for later ceremonies.

One of the hotel's most famous guests practically made the Roosevelt Hotel her home.  Marilyn

Monroe lived in a poolside suite for two years after her star began to rise.  She had begun as a model and that career started to take off just as she found herself newly single having gone through her first divorce of...well...many.  Thus she made the hotel home and enjoyed sitting in a dark corner booth at the Cinegrill, which is named Teddy's today. The room was the largest and best in the hotel and that suite is now named for her.  Marilyn also posed for her first ad ever - an ad for suntan lotion - on the hotel pool's diving board.

Other famous people would make the Roosevelt Hotel home as well.  Clark Gable and Carole Lombard lived in a penthouse there and that penthouse is now named for them.  Along with the name change came a price change.  A penthouse that Gable paid $5 a night for now runs a whopping $3,500 a night!  Montgomery Clift lived at the Roosevelt during the filming of "From Here to Eternity" and paced the hallways of the ninth floor as he memorized his lines.

You may know Errol Flynn as Robin Hood, but did you know him as a bathtub ginner as well?  The Roosevelt had a barber shop and Flynn used a back room there to brew his famous gin recipe.  And if you have seen The Little Colonel starring Shirley Temple, you may recall the fabulous tap dancing routine she does with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in the film.  They practiced that routine in the Roosevelt Hotel on the stairs between the ballroom and the lobby.

With so much activity and so many famous people coming and going throughout the years, one would imagine that the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is haunted and it reportedly does host a few specters.  As mentioned before, Montgomery Clift had stayed on the ninth floor and paced the hallways.  Apparently, his spirit liked the hotel so much, that he has returned and can be seen pacing the floor and also practicing his trumpet.  Room 928 had been his room and people report feeling cold spots in the room and both maids and guests have been touched in that room.

A mirror that had once been in Marilyn Monroe's Suite was moved to a wall in the lower elevator foyer.  People claimed to see the reflection of Monroe in the mirror.  Recently, the mirror was moved into storage.  Monroe is not stuck to just haunting her old mirror though.  She has been seen and felt in her suite, which was room 246.  She also has appeared in the Cine Grill and the scent of her perfume lingers.

Carole Lombarde has been seen hanging around the penthouse she once shared with Clark Gable.

A couple of non celebrity ghosts hang out in the Blossom Room.  Psychics claim a nervous man in a tuxedo resides in there on occasion and also another man in a white suit has been seen near and playing the piano.  Piano music has been heard coming from the room when no one is there as well.

Unseen entities occasionally take a dip in the pool.  The website http://haunted houses.com reports: "Security guards have seen ghosts take a late night, early morning swim in the pool. One such ghostly resident decided to do so at 3 AM in the morning, to beat the crowds. While the security cameras picked up his image in the pool, when a security guard went down to investigate, he communicated through walkie-talkie that no one was there. Waving his hands at the camera. However, on the security camera, the guard was waving his hands right through the apparition's head!"

Poltergeist activity abounds with mysterious calls coming into the switchboard in the lobby from empty rooms.  Rooms are locked and unlocked on guests.  Disembodied voices are heard in various rooms as well.  A ghost that takes on the appearance of a little girl calling herself "Caroline" has been seen by hotel staff skipping about the lobby and some guests have seen her in hallways.

So is the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel still playing home to celebrity guests who died long ago?  Are ghosts creeping around the place?  That is for you to decide.

Cult of Weird provided the skin shoe story on today's episode and you can find more details on that here:   http://www.cultofweird.com/death/human-skin-shoes/