The Nelson House is an imposing edifice by anyone’s standards. Three stories tall and on a hill overlooking the York River, the house was believed to be for a time, the headquarters of British General Cornwallis during the American Revolution, and was a frequent target of American and French cannon fire during the siege of Yorktown. […]
real haunting
The death, resurrection and retribution of Zona Heaster Shue, The Greenbrier Ghost
Zona Heaster Shue was born in the mountains of West Virginia. Raised around Richlands, as far as we know, Zona never left Greenbrier county in her too short lifetime. Even now, Greenbrier county is far removed from the hustle and bustle of city life, with a population of about 34,000, spread out over a thousand […]
The ghosts of St. Helena’s chapel of ease and Land’s End light – true hauntings from South Carolina’s sea islands
St. Helena Island, a sea island located in the Port Royal Sound of South Carolina has a long history. Some say it’s the oldest settlement in the United States, founded shortly after its discovery by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, a Spaniard looking to colonize the sea islands, some time around 1520. Port Royal, located on […]
A True Ghost Story from the Sea: The Curse of the Charles Haskell
At top, Tropical Storm Ida, Stephen Fields Beach, Plymouth, Massachusetts. I fear thee, ancient Mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribbed sea-sand. I fear thee and thy glittering eye, And thy skinny hand, so brown.’ – “Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest! This body […]
True Confessions: In which the author relates his own encounters in the land of Sleepy Hollow
Above: The shot I was taking in Washington Irving’s Sunnyside when the lady laughed. People are always asking me if I believe these stories, they say “Todd, do you believe these stories?” That’s neither here nor there. But I will offer up a couple of experiences I’ve had, both coming from the Sleepy Hollow area […]
Peter Stuyvesant: A citizen of old New Amsterdam, carrying on nearly 400 years later in New York City
Statue of Peter Stuyvesant, St. Marks-Church-In-The-Bowery. Before there was New York, there was New Amsterdam. Founded by the Dutch in 1614, New Amsterdam occupied much of the tip of lower Manhattan, with today’s Wall Street taking its name from the outer walls of the settlement. New Amsterdam was a company town, ran by the Dutch […]
A warlock’s curse? The ghosts of Salem’s Howard Street Burying Ground
Salem’s Howard Street Burying Ground with the Old Jail in the Background Giles Corey married three times, the last time when he was pushing eighty years old. When his second wife died in Salem Village, Massachusetts, he married a third time, to a lady by the name of Martha, who had two grown boys. Martha […]
Tales of Old Stony Brook II: Of William Sidney Mount, spirits and Spiritualism
The Hawkins Mount House. In Richard Matheson’s classic novel from the 1970s, Hell House, a team of investigators are sent to spend a week in a haunted house to provide definitive proof of life after death. Almost immediately, a conflict breaks out between the scientist, who while not doubting the existence of the supernatural, or […]
