Ghost
Searching for Selma’s ghosts
Folk singer Bascom Lamar Lunsford penned those lyrics in 1924 about Jesse James, then-notorious outlaw of the late1800s. Lunsford doesn’t mention the James brothers’ whereabouts in March 1882, but any Selma resident doesn’t have to look too far. The infamous Frank and Jesse James were in the St. James Hotel in room 301.Remnants of the Jameses remain in the hotel — a portrait of a lady said to have been Jesse James’ mistress at the time now hangs in the hotel sitting room, and maybe even his ghost.
Barbara McCleskey and Jamie Amacker from Mobile had the pleasure of keeping Jesse James company during the American Ghost Hunter’s “The Hunt for Jesse James” in Selma this weekend.
“This is our first time doing an investigation,” McCleskey said. “We have been following the events on Chad Calek’s Web site and this was so close we had to go. We are both fans of ‘American Ghost Hunter.’”
So when Amacker called the St. James Hotel, she requested the room that Jesse had stayed in during his trip to Selma to visit a cousin.
The sold-out group not only looked at the hotel, they also did investigations on the Old Depot Museum and Adam’s Grove Church and cemetery. Every single place had recorded evidence of something paranormal.
Shea Whiterhurst came to Selma with Montgomery’s Southern Paranormal Researchers and had to tell Calek about the paranormal jewel of sorts that waited to be investigated.
“Shea told me she had an amazing place to hold an event,” Calek said. “She basically handed me this complete package and it was incredible.”
Calek has investigated many places believed to be haunted all of the United States — Alcatraz, Waverly Hills Sanitarium and many more — but this was his first time in Selma. He had concerns about whether Selma would produce any evidence.
“[Friday] night we went to Adam’s Grove Church and it was extremely haunted,” he said. “I usually don’t say that because things don’t usually happen in just that amount of time, but we had disembodied voices and then there was a loud bang.”
Calek and a few other hunters were sitting on the pulpit in the church. Calek looked over his shoulder because he thought he saw something move. Right after his eyes glanced that way, a shock was sent through the church.
“It sounded like someone kicked the stage area as hard as they could,” he said. “It happened and there was no one sitting where it came from.”
Luckily, the incident was caught on video. Other evidence was caught as well.
Amacker took her camera to Adam’s Grove Church and started snapping pictures. The photographs of the main part of the church where the congregation would sit didn’t show anything out of the ordinary. But when she focused her camera on the slave quarters above — where Calek seemed to be — things turned out a bit different. The photographs showed orbs, spirits captured on film that are in a sphere-like state.
When Calek found out, he just laughed and said it came with the territory.
The group also experienced sounds of husky breathing not unlike that of a preacher catching his breath before he launched into another fire and brimstone spell.
Just down from Jesse James’ old stomping grounds is the Old Depot Museum. The location makes one wonder if it made him itch for another score when he heard a train whistle nearby.
Chip Coffey, a psychic, investigated the museum Friday and found a few surprises.
“I was in the hallway looking at pictures and only April was down there with me, but she was at the other end of the hall,” Coffey said. “I was looking at her when I saw something walk behind her very quickly. It couldn’t have been another person because no one else was on that floor.”
Coffey also picked up on three spirits at the museum. One was an African-American girl named Liza or Eliza who was inside the museum. Outside the museum was the spirit of a man named James Bailey. Lastly, he picked up on a woman with the last name of Coggins or Scoggins.
“There are two types of hauntings — residual and active,” Coffey said. “The Old Depot has both. The residual hauntings are like an echo or an imprint on times. Active hauntings are things that are intelligently being done like the spirit that walked past.”
Another surprise Coffey happened upon was a picture and camera of another psychic who lived in Selma for many years — Edgar Cayce, “the Sleeping Prophet.”
“The photograph is worth a large amount of money,” Coffey said. “I think Selma should play up the fact that Edgar Cayce lived and worked here. There are so many people all over the world who are so interested in him and his readings.”
Back in the St. James Hotel, things were following suit with the rest of the weekend’s findings, and McCleskey and Amacker were in the middle of it.
“When we first got here, which was right after 2 p.m., I was trying to get my new phone to charge,” Amacker said. “I was having a hard time because I didn’t know how it worked since I got it yesterday. All of the sudden there was a hissing noise behind me.”
McCleskey thought it was the phone making the noise, but when Amacker asked if she heard the noise as well, it became clear that their first finding occurred.
They used a voice recorder to capture any electronic voice phenomena, which are electronically captured sounds that resemble speech, but are not the result of intentional voice recordings.
“We were trying to talk to Jesse and make him want to talk and Jamie asked what he thought about Sandra Bullock’s husband, Jesse James’ show, ‘Jesse James is a Dead Man,’” McCleskey said. “We started laughing, and when you play the recording back, you can hear a man at the end laughing.”
When Amacker was standing by the door to the room, they heard a light tapping noise on it. They quickly opened the door to be greeted by an empty hall.
They had other EVPs where it sounded like a man answering their questions.
In Lunsford’s song, a line goes “Well, it was Robert Ford, that dirty little coward, I wonder how he feel, for he ate of Jesse’s bread and he slept in Jesse’s bed, And he laid poor Jesse in his grave.”
Amacker decided to ask Jesse just what he thought of Robert Ford, who shot Jesse James in the back.
“Jamie pulled up a picture of Ford and asked, ‘Isn’t this your friend,’” McCleskey said. “Her arm turned blood red. It looked like someone had slapped her or scratched her. It was only in one spot.”
Regardless of that experience, McCleskey and Amacker said they never felt like Jesse James or any of the other spirits at the other places were dangerous.
The weekend was such a success that many people planned a trip back to Selma, including Calek. He wanted to have another weekend event, but focus on another Selma landmark — Sturdivant Hall.
Source: Selma Times-Journal
Debunk
The Philip Experiment – The Strange Story Behind the Movie The Quiet Ones
After watching the movie “The Quiet Ones“, on Netflix with my wife, the question came to mind, “is the movie really based on a real experiment, The Philip Experiment?”
A quick research left us with more question than answers.
“The Quiet Ones” is supposedly a film based on the events of the Toronto Society for Psychical Research in the 1970s, where parapsychologists tried to create a ghost to prove they are products of the human mind.
But that’s not what the movie presented.
What is the Movie “The Quiet Ones” About?
According to of the official website, the movie is inspired by true events.
The film stars Jared Harris (Mad Men and Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows), Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel).
John Pogue directed and wrote the screenplay with Craig Rosenberg and Oren Moverman and was based on a screenplay by Tom de Ville.
An Oxford Professor Joseph Coupland along with a team of university students conducted an “experiment” on Jane Harper, a young girl who harbors unspeakable secrets.
He invites introspective lad Brian McNeil to film his experimental treatment.
Jane has no memory of her past and she is repeatedly abandoned by foster families, she believes herself possessed by a doll named Evey that gives her telekinetic power.
Keeping her awake in an isolated house, Prof. Coupland intends that she puts her evil energy into an actual doll, thereafter destroying it to heal Jane.
What dark forces they uncover are even terrifying than any of them expected.
Good but was this the story from so called The Philip Experiment?
Watch The Quiet Ones Official Trailer
What is The Philip Experiment?
Dr. Alan George Robert Owen, a self-proclaimed ghost expert, created the Toronto Society for Psychical Research (TSPR) group.
The group consisted of his wife, an industrial designer, an accountant, a housewife, a student of sociology.
A psychologist named Dr. Joel Whitton also participated as an observer.
The Canadian parapsychologist group aimed for an experiment that would create a ghost. They wanted to prove their theory that ghosts are products from the human mind.
Phase 1: Create Philip
The experiments (which became known as The Philip Experiment) began in 1972.
The first objective was to create a fictional historical character.
They created “facts” to relate to the life of this character.
They wrote a biography and called him Philip Aylesford.
In his biography, they claimed that he was a seventeenth-century English nobleman, who was married to a beautiful but cold and hostile woman by the named Dorothea.
Philip then met beautiful gypsy by the named Margo, who made him fall instantly in love. Soon Philip and Margo became secret lovers.
Dorothea found out about Margo and accused her of witchcraft. As a result, Margo was burned alive.
Philip plagued with remorse, in the only way he could handle it was to fight in the battle of Diddington, where he died on the battlefield.
Phase 2: Communicate with Philip
With the help from a biography sketch artist that executed freehand drawing of their newly created man, the group move on to the next phase, communication.
The objective that, with Philip’s portrait, the group would easily believe that Philip Aylesford really existed.
The sessions began in September 1972. The group discussed Philip’s life, trying to visualize it with most details as possible.
For a year the sessions presented no result, apart from the occasional presence in the room feeling.
Until the Toronto Society for Psychical Research decided to take a different approach.
They changed the atmosphere to something more close to a tradition séance, dimming the lights while sitting around the table.
They included elements from Philip’s era.
For the surprise part of the group this technique produced the expected result, Philip manifested himself to the group.
The group got their first message from Philip in the form of a very clear beat on the table.
They asked questions in which he could respond with a tap to “Yes” and two to “No.”
Is This Really Philip?
But how could they be sure it was Philip’s ghost answering the questions.
They decided to directly ask for questions from Philip’s biography.
As a result, Philip was able to give accurate information from his history.
The séances continued with a larger range of unexplained phenomena.
Philip began to assume a personality of his own, with strong points of view on various subjects.
Beside the blows on the table, he began to moving the table, sliding from side to side, even over a thick rug.
During Philip’s manifestation, the group took notice of some singular characteristics.
The table would be “electric” to the touch, and the temperature would drop over the table.
It was as if Philip, in a way, became the table itself.
In front of a live audience, about 50 people, Philip made the lights flicker and even made the table levitate just an inch off the floor. All filmed as part of a documentary.
The Philip Experiment ran according to the initial expectations from the Group.
Although, against the main goal, the ghost of Philip never materializes in front of the group.
The Philip Experiment Conclusion
Even after the long time and strange events documented by the Toronto Society for Psychical Research (TSPR) group the results are inconclusive.
Seems like some concluded that this proved that ghosts do not exist, that they are simply creations of the minds. Others theorized that it may not have been Philip but another Ghost playing with researchers.
Outsiders just believe that all was a hoax.
It was not possible to confirm the events were produced by the ghost of a fictional character by the name Philip.
Is The Movie “The Quiet Ones” Based on The Philip Experiment?
Is there any truth between the film and The Philip Experiment to inspired it?
The connections are too slim.
Aside from the idea of an experiment with paranormal activities the movie produced by Lionsgate and Exclusive Media is a fiction movie inspired but not based on true events.
Besides the fact that the Script was heavily rewritten for budget reasons.
Learn more about other supposedly Based in True Story movies.
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Ghost
You Won’t Believe the Stories Behind this Haunted German U-Boat
Built in 1916, a German U-Boat, a submarine U-65, became notorious for being haunted by an unexplained number of events, from accidents to deaths. Even an exorcism took place inside the ship.
From 1871 until 1919, the German Empire built a strong military naval fleet.
It became known as ‘Kaiserliche Marine’, or the Imperial Navy, created with the intentions of German’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, to surpass the British fleet power.
By 1916, in Hamburg’s shipyards the U-Boats, U-60’s and U-65, were assembled, twenty-four submarines especially designed to operate out of the ports of Belgium.
U-boat is the English version of the German word U-Boot. The “U” refers to the German word “Unterseeboot” translating to “Underwater boat.”
Strange and Unexplainable Deaths in the U-Boat
By 1917, most of the fleet were complete. But since its construction, one of them, a U-65 became a legend on his own, but not of the good kind.
Construction workers from the U-65 were struck by a heavy girder that slipped from the crane killing one instantly in 1916.
Another worker was also injured in the accident and died days later at the hospital.
Months later, on January 26, 1917, the U-Boat was moved to the open sea for final tests.
During the tests, three crewmen became stranded in the engine room when the door supposedly got stuck or locked.
All three died of asphyxiation, but when rescue arrived at the scene the door opened without any problem.
The Haunting of the U-Boat
During joint maneuvers with two other U-Boats, days later, the captain ordered an Auxiliary to inspect the hatchways and the deck before submerge.
An operation witnessed terrified the Auxiliary Officer, he calmly and quietly walked across the deck and was swept overboard close by the U-boat’s propellers.
The ocean was reported to be calm and glassy.
Informed by the event, the captain ordered to stop the submerging process and stop the engines but the submarine continues to sink.
It dropped to the bottom of the sea with a crack in the forward ballast tank.
The U-Boat remained for 12 hours stranded at the bottom. The terrified crew spread the belief of a curse for the recent tragedy history.
Close to lack oxygen, the U-Boat surfaced by itself. The entire U-65’s crew became violently ill, including two sailors who died in a hospital from poisoning.
The German submarine returned to the shipyard for repairs from the collision with the bottom and to detect any problem with the engines.
Nothing abnormal was found and was cleared to be back to service.
But while re-arming the U-Boat, a warhead exploded taking the life of a Second Officer and eight sailors.
Nine other crew members were seriously wounded.
Ghost on Board
To calm the crew, in February 1917, Oberleutnant Karl Honig was appointed to command the U-65.
He was a regular officer with experience and had a high reputation serving on submarines.
A terrified crew boarded on the U-Boat to soon some of them claimed to have witnessed the dead officer with arms crossed standing on deck.
The fear took over upon arriving in Dover, England, during combat. The crew preferred to land under heavy bomb fire rather than to continue safely on board.
It was just after some steps on land the captain was hit by machine-gun bullets and died.
The rest of the U-65’s crew refused to re-embark against a War Council order, claiming that they will be doom for getting inside a haunted submarine.
To appease the crew the War Council sent in an exorcist.
But the curse or bad luck continued on board.
On that same night, the artillery operator fainted, when he woke up, he told he witnessed seeing the dead officer again with his arms crossed on the deck.
By the morning the sailor committed suicide and was found by the crew.
In the engine room, another sailor was involved in an accident that resulted in a broken leg.
The Weird and Mysterious End of the U-65
With only four months to end the WWI, on July 18, 1918, the Haunted U-Boat legend was already known throughout the German fleet.
About this time, an American submarine, USS L-2, patrolling off the coast of Ireland, at periscope depth, locked its target on the German U-Boat.
According to the American Captain’s transcriptions, he spotted a man with arms crossed on the deck of the German U-65.
But before he could confirm the order to release the torpedos the German U-Boat exploded in the mid air.
He tried to find the person responsible for firing without his orders, only to discover that all torpedoes were still on board.
The German Imperial Navy would have reported thirty-four lives were lost in that explosion.
after the end of the WWI, several sailors from the U-65 confirmed that they deserted and more stories from the inside of the submarine became public.
Many crew members and officials witnessed strange lights inside the boat. Another witness told a disembodied hand touched his face.
When the stories reached the other side of the Atlantic, an American journalist, Edgar Cayce made an investigation. He added more incredible unconfirmed paranormal stories.
What Officially Happened to the German U-65?
Not many records can be found from that era, especially after the WWII.
The “Kaiserliche Marine” issues and alternate report about the submarine, denying some of the events surrounding their U-Boat.
Most of the report’s actions had never existed. Though they admitted that “at some point, the submarine had carried out unexplained maneuvers that were beyond the control and knowledge of its experienced crew.”
The U-65 was built in Kiel rather than Wilhelmshaven in 1915, instead of 1916.
The German U-Boat sank 52 enemy ships on 11 patrols, while stationed in Pula during the WWI.
By the end of the war, on Oct. 28, 1918, U-65 was scuttled at Pula during the evacuation.
What really happened to that German U-Boat is still a mystery. With the years and lack of official documents, the legend continues to grow.
Would you like to know more Haunted Ships and Boat stories? Or send us a message on Twitter or Facebook.
Reference
Ghost
What You Didn’t Know About The Ghosts From the Silent Movie Theatre
The Silent Movie Theatre dedicated only to present “silent” films is also haunted by the ghosts from two former owners.
The Beginning of the Silent Movie Theatre
John Hampton and his wife Dorothy started the Silent Movie Theatre in 1942, on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Fifteen years after silent films became obsolete.
The theater, built in vintage 1940s Art Deco design with 158-seats, had the purpose designed by Mr. Hamptonad, to the preservation, and continuity of screening and enjoying silent movies.
Movies with stars like Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Felix The Cat, Rudolph Valentino and the Keystone Cops could be appreciated by young generations.
The legend tells that Clara Bow and Charlie Chaplin would come disguised with dark glasses and big hats, sat in the back of the theater, to watch their respective own movies.
The End of the Gold Age
John Hampton projected the films and created his own soundtracks by simultaneously playing records from his large collection of 78 records.
Mr. Hampton dedicated himself to preserve his huge library of 16mm prints, even if that meant he often placed his new finds into a tub full of chemicals above the theater.This is where he tinted and toned the pieces himself.
But his dedication had a price…
The exposure during the years to this high-level toxins was lethal to Mr. Hampton.
He was diagnosed with cancer in the 1970s and John Hampton passed away in 1990.
The couple closed the theater while battling the disease. He sold his silent film collection to the UCLA Film and Television Archive, in 1988.
Tragedy Strikes again at the Silent Movie Theatre
In 1991 a family friend, Laurence Austin, reopened the Silent Movie Theatre, renovated the building and added live music.
Laurence Austin ran the theater with the help of his lover, for seven years and also the projectionist, James Van Sickle also the projectionist.
But on January 17, 1997, while the Silent Movie Theatre was showing the 1927 film, “Sunrise” and proceeded by two short films
there were about 60-70 people in the theater at the time.
Among them, 19-year old wearing a golf hat, Christian Rodriguez entered the theater and was greeted by Laurence Austin as all customers.
Then he waited patiently in the back for the films to begin.
As soon as the second short movie started, “School Days”, Rodriguez asked Mary Giles, at the lobby, if was possible to buy advanced tickets.
She pointed him to see Austin at the ticket booth.
Rodriguez armed with a .357 Magnum Revolver demanded money, Austin turned the money over, but Rodriguez ignored the money and shot him in the face.
He turned to Mary and shot her twice in the chest.
People in the theater fled the building thru the backdoor while the murderer turned back to Austin’s body, shooting him two more times.
Laurence Austin died from the first shot, with 74 years old. Giles survived and described the shooter to investigators.
Conspiracy at the Silent Movie Theatre
LAPD arrested Rodriguez in the next month. He told police that he was hired for $25,000.00 to kill Austin. An additional $5000.00 to kill Giles and make it look like a robbery by James Van Sickle, 34.
Van Sickle was reported to be heavily in debt, he was listed as the sole beneficiary of Austin’s estate, valued at more than $1 million
Christian Rodriguez and James Van Sickle was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life without parole.
Two years later Rodriguez was also convicted of the attempted murder of Mary Giles.
Silent Movie Theatre Rebirth, Thanks to a Ghost
Charlie Lustman was riding by the Silent Movie Theatre when he believed he heard the original owner, John Hampton, speaking to him.
On Halloween of 1999, he re-opened the place, new wooden floors, a new screen and projection booth and a neon marquee.
The films were still accompanied by piano or organ music. But the changes couldn’t go too far.
Lustman attested that in case he try to make things different from the original purpose of the theater the paranormal activity would increase.
He received a black eye from a display case while preparing for a 3-D movie presentation in 2000. Minutes before the presentation the projector broke before the first 3-D session started.
It was clear, for him, the ghost that haunted the Silent Movie Theatre were not happy with his decision.
In 2006, Lustman sold the theater to the Harkham brothers.
The theater was again renovated and re-opened as a rival house called the Cinefamily, with an eclectic mix of Classic Sound and Silent Movies.
The Ghost from Silent Movie Theatre
Lustman and a former publicist for the theater heard the repeated jingle of keys while alone in the building.
The jingling of keys was a nervous habit from the prior owner Laurence Austin.
By the lobby, witness testifies to be shocked near the place Laurence Austin was shot.
At the same area, a red blood stain appears and disappears where Laurence Austin’s body felt to the floor.
A crimson-red blood stain has been known to appear and disappear in the approximate spot where a former owner, Laurence Austin, was gunned down by a hired hit man.
Austin’s ghost has also been seen, after hours, lingering by employees in the lobby over the years.
The projection booth is believed also to be haunted, not sure if by a former projectionist or one of the owners.
The first owner and creator of the concept of the Silent Film Theatre, John Hampton, regularly haunts the upstairs lounge. Which used to be his and his wife, Dorothy’s, apartment for over 45 years.
The Ghosts From the Silent Movie Theatre
The Silent Movie Theatre is located on the west side of Fairfax Avenue just north of the Farmers Market.
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