ALAN TONER - True Ghost Stories 2

by Alan Toner

www.alantoner.com

Copyright 2012 Alan Toner

www.alantoner.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from Author.

About The Author

Alan Toner was born on Merseyside. In addition to his true paranormal books, he has also published editions of his short horror fiction.

His website is: www.alantoner.com

Other Books by Alan Toner

True Ghost Stories

True Ghost Stories 3

True Ghost Stories 4

True Ghost Stories 5

True Ghost Stories 6

100 True Ghost Stories

100 True Ghost Stories Vol. 2

200 True Ghost Stories

Hammer Horror Remembered

Haunted Objects

50 Celebrity Hauntings

Creepy Doll Movies

A mong the many paranormal experiences reported in the White House over the years, there is one story in particular that really stands out from all the rest, given the great historical significance of the person involved: the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln's ghost is the most common and reported one. The spirit of the long-dead president is said to have haunted the White House since his assassination on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth, as the American Civil War was drawing to a close.

The spirit of Lincoln is said to appear in the room where the Lincoln bed is kept. Harry Truman once answered a 3 o'clock knock on his door and found no one there. He attributed the knock to Lincoln.

Lincoln is reported to return to the White House when the security of the country is at risk. He strolls up and down the second floor hallway, knocks on doors, and stands by certain windows with his hands clasped behind his back. One staff member claimed to have seen Lincoln sitting on his bed pulling on his boots.

One of President Harrison's bodyguards was kept awake many nights trying to protect the president from mysterious footsteps he heard in the hall. He grew so tired and worried, he finally attended a sance to beg President Lincoln to stop so he could get enough sleep to properly protect the president.

In addition to the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, many presidents, first ladies, White House staff members and guests have reported feeling other ghostly presences in the building. Unexplained noises have been heard, and some of those people have even experienced running into actual apparitions - even on the way out of the bathtub, in one particularly famous case. There is also a phantom black cat said to haunt the basements of the White House, the mall and the Capitol. The so-called "Demon Cat" is reported to appear just before national disasters.

Sightings of Lincoln's ghost were frequently reported during the long administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45). First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt used the Lincoln Bedroom as her study, and reported feeling his presence there late at night. During her visit to the White House, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands heard a knock on her bedroom door in the night; when she answered it, she reportedly saw Lincoln's ghost, wearing his top hat, and fainted. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who visited the White House more than once during World War II, told a story of emerging naked from his evening bath smoking his customary cigar, only to find a ghostly Lincoln sitting by the fireplace in his room.

When Lillian Rogers Parks, the seamstress, once investigated the sound of someone pacing an upper level of the White House, another staff member told her the room in question had been unoccupied, and "that was old Abe pacing the floor." Psychics have speculated that Lincoln's spirit remains in the White House to be on hand in times of crisis, as well as to complete the difficult work that his untimely death left unfinished.

B lue Bell Hill, in Kent, has become infamous for its so-called "road ghosts".

In a front page headline of the Kent Today paper of Tuesday 10th November 1992, it announced: "GHOST GIRL SEEN AGAIN".

Written by Emma Cooper, the article described a chilling new episode in the sage of Kent's most famous roadside phantom. This latest incident occurred around midnight the previous Sunday night, 8th November, near the Aylesford turn-off of the southbound carriageway of the A229 at Blue Bell Hill.

Ian Sharpe, a 54-year-old coach driver, was travelling home to Maidstone when a young woman suddenly appeared in the path of his vehicle. She ran towards him and, with her eyes fixed on his, fell beneath the bonnet. Stuck dumb with shock, Ian skidded his car to a halt, and nervously got out to take account of the accident.

He honestly thought he had killed her, and initially was too scared to look underneath the car. However, he eventually managed to summon the courage to take a look... and was stunned to find that there was nothing there! Despite searching the whole area around the car, he still found no trace of the mysterious figure's body. White-faced and shaking with fright, he went and reported the matter to the local police. After listening to his account, they immediately registered grim recognition in regard to the exact spot on Blue Bell Hill where the incident had occurred, and recounted to him the spooky legend of the ghost said to haunt that stretch of road.

When the officers accompanied Ian back to the scene, they too found nothing. There wasn't even any trace of damage to his car, suggesting that he could not possibly have encountered a real, living person. Despite this, Ian maintained to the police that he had not imagined the whole thing, and that the girl had definitely seemed real and solid. In fact, he was so convinced of this that he was even expecting the officers to come knocking at his door the following day to report the finding of the girl's body. They never did.

Another incident at Blue Bell Hill, which occurred back in 1974, also attracted similar widespread media interest. In the early hours of the 13th July, Maurice Goodenough, a 35-year-old bricklayer, came rushing into Rochester Police Station claiming he'd knocked down a young girl on Blue Bell Hill. Again, just like the 1992 experience of Ian Sharpe, officers found nothing at all at the scene of the accident to suggest that Maurice had actually knocked down a real girl.

In analysing the reports of the ghostly sightings on Blue Bell Hill, some people have regarded these incidents as stemming from a horrific car crash, which happened there in 1965. On the evening of Friday 19th November 1965, two cars were in collision on Blue Bell Hill. Three of the four young women in one of the vehicles died from their injuries, one instantly. One of the fatally injured was a bride-to-be. Her wedding was due to take place the following day. Unfortunately, it had been too late to inform the wedding guests, who dutifully gathered at the church the next day, only to be turned away.