Righi - Ghosts, apparitions, and poltergeists : an exploration of the supernatural through history

Angela Conley

About the Author

Brian Righi graduated from DePaul University in Chicago and is the author of numerous books on ghosts and the paranormal. He developed an early love for the topic while traveling through Europe with his parents and continues even today to crisscross the United States, investigating tales of the supernatural and lecturing on his experiences. He currently calls Texas his home, where he lives with his beautiful wife Angela and his favorite cocker spaniel, Madison.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Ghosts, Apparitions and Poltergeists: An Exploration of the Supernatural through History 2008 by Brian Righi.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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First e-book edition 2011

E-book ISBN: 9780738722214

Cover design by Lisa Novak

Cover image Radius Images/Punchstock

Editing by Lee Lewis Walsh

Interior book design by Joanna Willis

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

To my beloved Angela,

for putting up with me and my ghosts.

Contents

Digging Up the Bones

A Witchs Brew

Here, Mr. Splitfoot

Talking Boards and Ghostly Goo

Things That Go Bump in the Night: Apparitions

Among the Spirits: Ghosts

Theyre Here: Poltergeists

Ghostbusters

Ghost Hunting 101

Acknowledgments

Writing a book of this magnitude is certainly not a solitary pursuit and, although only one name ends up on the spine, it really is an effort born from the sweat of many individuals. Having said that, I want to take the time to thank a few of the people who made this book possible. Many thanks to Bill Krause, Vanessa Wright, Karl Anderson, and the wonderful staff at Llewellyn Publishing for believing in the project. Also to Robert Larson for allowing me the time to write when I should have been working. To Carl Hullett and Les Ramsdell, two intrepid ghost hunters who took me under their wings and showed me the ropes. Finally, let us not forget all of the ghost hunters, mediums, theologians, and madmen who came before us and made this field what it is today.

Introduction

Like many in this rather unusual field of research, I first became interested in psychic phenomena at a very early age, a fact for which I happily blame my parents. I can remember as a young child sitting around the kitchen table at night with friends and family, as they sipped their strong- smelling coffee, and listening to my parents recount their experience of living in a haunted house in Germany. Each night I would sit glued to the edge of my seat, wide-eyed and terrified as tales of sinister ghosts returning after a tragic end filled my ears. Later that night, after all the guests had left and my parents tucked me into bed, the initial thrill and excitement of those stories began to wear off. Then every floorboards creak or rattling shutter was transformed by my imagination into the midnight ramblings of the scariest ghosts and monsters that ever lurked about a house. Under my bed, skeletons waited for the chance to snatch at my feet, while the closet housed the most ill-assorted collection of demons ever seen. Although I lost a lot of sleep at that age, I never lost my desire to hear more of the stories.

It was with this spirit that, at the age of thirteen, I was fully intent on spending the night in a real haunted house in hopes of encountering a ghost of my very own. At that time there sat an old, dilapidated farmhouse on the edge of Millers Pond, which every kid in the neighborhood knew was haunted. And why not? Werent all old, shabby, dark houses sitting empty on the edge of murky ponds haunted? In fact, local legend held that the house was home to not one, but two gruesome spirits. A vague taleno less embellished as it passed from one kid to anotherrecounted the tragic story of two young lovers who, when told they could no longer see one another, committed suicide in the house. It was said the boy hung himself in the attic over the separation and, when the girl heard of his death, she flung herself into the pond and drowned. Reports circulated among the kids on my block that late at night strange lights were seen in the abandoned structure, and if a kid were brave enough to enter the house at night, he would come face to face with the ghostly lovers. The perfect haunted house!

With such tales in our heads, I set out one night with several other young ghost hunters, without our parents knowledge (parents never really know what their kids are up to), and approached the house that sat on the edge of Millers Pond. Filled with the excitement and fear of our first ghost hunt, we were fully intent on capturing a real ghost, even if we had no idea in the world how such a thing was to be accomplished. Tentatively we made our way into the house and through its maze of dusty rooms. The moon rested high in the night sky and its beams lit the broken glass of the houses windows, playing tricks on our eyes. Did something just move in the darkened corner behind us? What was that noise in the ceiling above?

Now Id like to say that on that night we captured our very first ghost and became instant celebrities, but the truth of the matter is, at the first sound of a creaking board, we ran out of there as if the devil himself were chasing us. To this day I still havent captured a ghost or become a celebrity, but I have developed a love for ghost stories, which over the years has led me to other dark houses and moonlit cemeteries.