THE LEGEND OF THE DRY BODY

According to this legend the "Dry Body" would have been in life a man who fought a lot and beat his own mother. Due to the incredible evil inside him, as soon as he died, he became an evil creature that is usually camouflaged in the trunks of the trees, just waiting for some spoiled child to pass by. They say that despite his badness, the Dry Body, which is also known as Unhudo, would have regretted that he mistreated his mother and for that reason he punishes all children who show stubbornness or who respond to their mothers. Perhaps it was from this that the popular saying goes: "Whoever knocks his mother is left with a dry hand." 

There is also another theory about the origin of the Dry Body that says he would have been a very selfish, mean-spirited man who had grown a huge variety of fruits and grains on his farm. But after a dry season in which several people were starving, it is said that the farmer refused to share his stocks that he had stored in a huge quantity with others. The people got revolted and in the middle of the fight the farmer ended up dying of a heart attack. But after his death he would not have rested, his anger only increased and eventually turned into a cruel and vindictive creature. Legend has it that the creature that once was a farmer stands in the woods waiting for anyone who crosses his path and never lets other people approach fruit trees, which he thinks are always from his old orchard. 

The legend of the Dry Body is spread all over Brazil, especially in the states of Amapá, Paraná, Amazonas and Minas Gerais. There are also some Portuguese-speaking countries that also worship this legend.

In the interior of São Paulo the legend has gained a certain "vampire" touch. They say that the corpse is camouflaged in the woods preying upon unsuspecting people, when the unfortunate one passes by his side the entity sucks all their blood making them a Dry Body as well. But if no one goes near the entity for a long time it dies of hunger and looks like a dry tree. For this reason there are many dead trees with human aspects. 

In Ituiutaba, Minas Gerais, there is yet another variation of the legend. People say that the body of a woman who had been buried in the municipal cemetery did not remain in the bottom of the grave for more than a few hours. According to them, the earth expelled the body. It was as if the earth repelled the woman's body. The firefighters would have been called and in the absence of an explanation (and a solution) they would have taken the woman's body to a cave that sits in a mountain range south of the county and would have left her there for her eternal rest. But according to the locals who dare to walk the dirt road that is in the edge of the mountain, it is said that you can hear the cries and shouts of a woman coming from inside the cave. The saw where the cave is located is known as "Serra do Corpo-Seco".

 (Serra do Corpo Seco Ituiutaba)

OTHER REPORTS ABOUT SETEALÉM

Here some other reports about Setealém we can find on Luciano Milici's page:

Report 02: My daughter went to Setealém 

Antônia, a 40-year-old nurse, commented: "It happened this week, people. I was watching television. My daughter, Patricia, 7, was playing in the living room. She took a risk on a piece of paper and said, "Mom, I've got one day to go to the party at Dad's!" She was right. It was one day before the party. 

Before I said anything, the phone rang. Right at the time of the novel! I answered with anger. Mainly because the extension of the room was broken and I had to meet in my room. He was a man with a strange voice. Very thick and rough. - Ms. Antonia? Are you the mother of Patricia? - Yes it's me. Who wants to know? "You must go to the steps of the condominium to get your daughter." - Staircase? What staircase? Which condo? "I do not know, ma'am. Was not she wearing a green T-shirt when she disappeared? You can go up the steps to the condo... - Green shirt? My daughter does not even have a green shirt, you crazy! Listen here. I'm going to call the police, okay? My daughter is in the living room with me. We live in a condo, not a condominium. You're trotting at this hour, you... - "The man hung up. I ran to the living room and Patricia was there, still with her notebook and a lot of wax chalk. Yesterday, I sent Patricia to her father's house for the party. I put on her a pink blouse and a jacket on top. 

My ex-husband brought her back at night. Patricia grabbed me very hard when she saw me. I asked him if everything went well, he said that before he brought her, he went into the disgusting building of his new girlfriend and that Patty knocked juice down her shirt and so he needed to borrow a T-shirt from his girlfriend's daughter. That's right, my daughter was wearing a green T-shirt. He wanted to know if anything strange had happened, but she said no. He said that Patricia left the party all happy, but that on the return was strange and serious. 

Actually, my daughter was very weird. When he left, I tried to talk to Patty, but she did not open at first. I insisted a lot and she told me that when she went downstairs from the girlfriend's building in front of her father, she got lost and went to another building called Setealém. She said she was crying loudly and calling for her father, until a nice man with yellow eyes took her to his home. "God, baby, what's this crazy story?" "I said, with a cold neck. "The nice, yellow-eyed man telephoned here, Mama, but you told him that you were going to call the police and that I was here with you and he hung up. Then he sent me down the stairs of the building again and Dad found me."

Only recently, before I joined Orkut, did my daughter come and show me a sheet of paper with seven scratches. I asked what it was, and she said, "It's been days since I stayed at the man's house, away from you, Mother." I do not know what to say. My daughter had spent only a few hours away from me, but she is able to count with conviction every detail of the seven days she stayed at the house of the good-looking, yellow-eyed man who lives in Setealém. 

Report 03: The office boys 

Elisa from Bahia, posted the following comment: "Hi, my name is Elisa and I'm 17. Do not worry about this subject. Here in my city (I'm northeastern, ok?) three friends of mine are always talking about Setealém, Setealém, Setealém. That they went there and they know people who came from there and got lost here. 

They work in the street as office boys. I do not know if they're high on something, but they told me that this place is not even a neighborhood. And when they come back, they can not find the entrance any more, they said that it is very similar to here, but that there are differences that are frightening, they also said that it is a very big place, my friend Giba said that the people of Setealém know here but we cannot know about there. 

A girl from there he met said that some authorities here know Setealém, but they do not tell the people because they would not know how to explain what that place is. I think it's all a lie but as I found this community, I wanted to tell. They told me that many people who disappeared actually went there and found no way out. 

Peterson invented the worst of lies. He said that he met Marcelo, his cousin who disappeared in the 80's. He said that he talked to the guy and he does not even know he's gone. He thinks he's still in the 80's, just imagine! Peterson said his cousin got stuck in the '80s. What the fu**, right? Cheap lie. I just came in here to tell you this. 

Report 04: The Shopping mall bathroom

Júlio, a boy from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, told the following experience: "My name is Julio, I work at a gym in Porto Alegre. I was happy to see this community because that damn name does not get out of my head. Six months ago, I went with my girlfriend to the movies. We went to celebrate two years of dating. We did that basic celebration: we had dinner at the mall and then went to watch the movie. 

As soon as we left the session, we walked down the aisles to look at the windows. My girlfriend said she would buy a purse and asked me to wait for her next to a store. I suspected she wanted to surprise me with a gift, I agreed, and went to look at some magazines on the bench. I told her that I would wait there and she said she would not take long. As she walked away, I went to the bathroom that was right in the hallway in front of the store. There were four or five people in the place that is quite large. All the urinals, however, were occupied and so I went to a booth. 

Quick game, I did not even lock the door. I took my cell phone from my belt and placed it on a wooden trim. Oddly enough, I did not even spend two minutes in the booth. I heard children laughing in the bathroom and talking. As soon as I finished urinating, I left. I do not know if I can describe it, but there was something strange in the bathroom. I'm not much of a detail to notice. My girlfriend is. She's a virgo. Despite this, I noticed that something had changed. Starting with the lights that were yellow and not white. Very yellowish, I mean. A very thick green band crossed the wall and the mirrors were smaller. There was no one inside. Not the kids who had been laughing for a few seconds. 

I washed my hands and thought I was going crazy. For me the water was a bit too warm and very, very thick. Nasty, to be honest. I searched for paper and did not find it. I left shaking my hands to dry in the air. 

Outside the bathroom, I thought I might faint. I thought I'd gone out the wrong door or into some new hallway. Well, at least that's what I tried to believe. The mall was actually looking like a gallery. It was still a mall, conceptually, but it was much older and worn out. The light was dim, and the stores seemed cluttered with goods. All very ugly. I rushed to a more open area and was sure that I was no longer in a known place. Nothing was similar to what I had seen somewhere in my city or even on television. Starting with little details that startled me. 

There were aquariums the size of garbage cans scattered everywhere. Inside these aquariums, I identified a kind of cloth, I do not know, it looked like a piece of purple blanket that kept moving around within these aquariums. 

People would go up to these aquariums and put both hands up and start laughing! And these were ugly laughs, as if they were coughing with a cold-filled chest. I stood up, staring at these aquariums. People came in groups of two or three, leaning back and laughing. I whipped my head around quickly looking for my girlfriend. All I wanted was to understand what was happening and see a familiar face. People passed me and ignored me. They were similar to normal people, but still, they were not quite normal. They were similar between them, too. Not identical, like twins. I do not know how to explain. It's like when you travel to a different country where people have similar traits but also have particular traits. Oh, and the magazine was no longer there. 

At the site, a man was selling parts or something. He had a large rustic wooden table with several black objects that looked like iron. The objects had strange shapes: hooks, horseshoes, and gears. I got close and he asked if I would trade or buy. I did not answer. A girl about seven years old approached and picked up a piece of iron that looked like a black spoon and showed it to her mother. The mother approached and took out a wallet to pay. The girl pointed the spoon at me and I could see her face well. It was normal, but it also had something very strange. I do not know if it was the eyebrows or the distance from the eyes. I felt an inexplicable fear. The girl's gaze was full of meanness. 

The man replied to her: "No, no, he will not buy it, you can take it. I do not think he's even from Setealém." The mother looked at me in disgust. He took the spoon from the girl, put it back on the table, and pulled her daughter away from me, as if I had an illness. 

I started to get dizzy and sat on a wooden bench that was very much like the normal mall banks, except that it was much lower and just accommodated one person. I saw other banks like that in that place. A loud sound rang and everyone stopped and looked up. It was a loud noise like those ship horns that we see on film. 

After the sound stopped, everyone resumed their ways. I thought about my girlfriend and my mother. It could only be a dream. I got up fast and got so dizzy that I had to lean on a shop window that, I speak from my heart, sold live doves. Doves! A dozen doves walked there, tried to fly and pounced behind the glass case. I screamed. People started looking at me and pointing at me. They groaned. I decided to call my girlfriend. I put my hand on the belt and my cell phone was no longer attached to it. I'd forgotten about the trimmings. I went back down the hall and into the bathroom quickly. Three men were sitting on the bathroom floor. One of them, under the sink. They talked about something I did not even want to know. I jumped over them and entered the booth. My cell phone was still there. I locked the door, sat in the pot and tried to call my girlfriend, but I could not. The unit was simply turned off. I pressed the buttons hard, but it did not help. I heard children laugh again. 

I stayed there about ten minutes, until someone knocked on the door. He was the man from the magazine bench. He said he had seen me enter the bathroom and that my girlfriend was already waiting for me on his bench. He asked if I was feeling ok. The bathroom was bright and the mall was normal. 

My girlfriend did not believe me, but she saw that I was really very nervous. It was the worst day of my life. I ruined our celebration getting sick from the stomach hours later. I have not been back to the mall yet, and I'm seriously thinking about doing therapy. I thought I had gone crazy until I found this community with the same name as the man on that bizarre bench. Setealém. God forbid me to exist a place like that."  

 

Ps.: I'm not trying to infringe any copyrights and I did not write this post myself. This post was taken from Luciano Milici's Blog that you can visit HERE.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO SETEALÉM?

I have been looking for new paranormal stories these days online and came across some YouTube channels discussing parallel universes and ended up on a website where I found the story of one guy that went through a situation where he almost went to a place called SeteAlém and had made a community on the today extinct Orkut to find out if it has been an illusion or if anyone else in this world had gone through the same thing he did. His name is Luciano Milici and he is a writer and a screenwriter and here is his story: 

"It all started with a BuzzFeed list entitled "9 Stories That Make You Believe In Parallel Universes," where I commented, unpretentiously, about an event that occurred to me that I could not explain rationally. Repercussion and buzz (feed) were unexpected. Hundreds of people started asking me to detail my story and others I collected from the same genre. I received and am still receiving lots of messages and friend requests from people interested in these stories. 

 As I told (and will repeat below), more than ten years after the experience I lived, I created a group in the extinct Orkut (R.I.P.) where I kept in touch with people who went through something very similar to my story. What was most interesting was that the name and description of the community did not explain anything, precisely so as not to influence the accounts. When the group began to distort itself, I closed the community, not without first saving the content. I am searching for the compressed file on some HD or media. While I do not find it, I leave below the cases that I remember. Before you start reading, keep five points in mind: 

i. I do not know if the reports are true. I can only talk about mine. He is. 
ii. I will preserve the true names of those involved, for I am not authorized to tell their personal stories even after so many years. 
iii. If you are one of the people in the above cases and you want me to withdraw or correct your report, let me know. 
iv. If you have had a similar experience, please send me your report for inclusion here. 
v. Third-party reports have been rewritten by me. I did not change anything, I just changed the form, scored and made some corrections, without hurting the story. 
Note: I do not know if the name of the "place" is written Setealém, 7 Além or Cetealém. I just heard the name, I did not read it. 

Report 01: A ticket to Setealém 

1994. I was in the second year of college. I was nineteen and lamented the fact that I could only take classes at night time the next year. The first two years of college were obligatory in the morning, which made it difficult to search for jobs or internships. Until then, my experience had been a long time as the manager of a video-store, which was what Netflix was called at the time. 

Even living away from college, I loved the path way back. The long stretches on foot arriving at the bus stop for then taking the Subway allowed me to observe how different people were in their outfits, gestures and lines. All this was a subsidy for new stories that I wrote on a daily basis. I also used the time to read.

Normally, I would walk there to catch a bus, any bus - the first one to pass - because they all took me to a point on the avenue where I would easily access the Subway. No matter the name, number, or color of the bus, they were all obliged to go to the end of the avenue and then follow their itineraries. That was good, because I did not spend more than two minutes on the spot. 

That hot October afternoon, after an exhausting Mercadology class, I followed my usual path to a large, famous avenue a few minutes from the campus. I got to the point and I put a CD, I think it was of the Zumbi Nation, in the discman. The battery was coming to an end, and Chico Science's voice sounded demonic. A bus came and stopped. I got on and replaced the discman with a book. 

On average, the journey took twenty-five to thirty minutes because of the traffic, and when I was lucky to find an empty seat, I read several pages. That day, not fifteen minutes passed, and I felt the woman next to me on the bench poking me. I stopped reading and looked at her. "You're not going to Setealém, are you?" - she asked. I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand what she had said. Was it Santarem? She insisted: - This bus goes to Setealém. You better get down.

I smiled at her. The name "Setealém" had become clear, but the advice made no sense. I looked around and everyone, absolutely everyone on the bus was watching me. Another woman, standing a little further, said, "Yeah, go... come down, lad." Next to her, a young man with a briefcase in his hand nodded and was more incisive. "Come down!" Before I asked what was happening, the bus ticket reviser - who was looking at me too, with a bundle of bills in his hand - shouted at the driver: "Stop the bus, someone is getting down!"  

The bus stopped shortly. There was not exactly a bus stop, but I did not care. I got up quickly from the bench and headed for the open door. The people in the corridor pushed their way along with me.  

I got out. I confess that at the time dozens of thoughts came to my mind. Was it a private bus? No. There was a bus ticket reviser, after all. Did they confuse me with anyone? Perhaps.  

As soon as I stepped on the asphalt, the bus resumed the road, until, strangely, it turned right onto a slope of cobblestone. An unusual path.  

That name "Setealém" never left my mind. Was it a neighborhood? A city? I asked my acquaintances and even looked at the Guide to Streets, a sort of Waze from the last century, where his index finger played the role of the cart. No one has ever recognized this name anywhere or even anywhere else in the world. I know that days later I dreamed of Setealém, and since then, at least once a month, I see myself in its strange streets in my sleep.

The community on Orkut 

More than ten years later, I decided to use the then popular Orkut social network to find out more about Setealém. I created a community by that name, but I did not write exactly what the group was about. I wanted the name to bring answers. It was a way to see if my delirium made any sense.  

After a few weeks of marasmus, people from the furthest points of the country began to join the community asking the meaning of the term Setealém. At the same time as they asked, they also reported on their incredible experiences which, in general, closely resembled mine.  

With each new interaction, an interesting story emerged until, over time, the main goal of the community became distorted and eventually became a forum for generic stories of horror and fiction.  

As moderator, I deleted the community, not before copying each of the stories about Setealém. 

 

Ps.: I'm not trying to infringe any copyrights and I did not write this post myself. This post was taken from Luciano Milici's Blog that you can visit HERE.

THE LEGEND OF THE HUNTED CLOCK

This legend was well known in the eighties. The following names are fictitious.

Mr. Jones was a retired man who had as a hobby. He loved to spend his money buying antiques: buying furniture, lamps, old documents, etc.. Until one day, when a man of very poor appearance approached him. The man offered a clock that was actually very old, the price equivalent to approximately thirty dollars nowadays. John bought it quickly, and was happy to see that poor man with an expression of relief when he left.

He then asked his wife to hang that beautiful clock on the wall, just above the rocker nineteenth century. One day John was reading the newspaper, which was customary when his wife heard a very strange noise. Upon arriving in the room, she encountered a horrific scene: her husband lying on the floor, his head crushed by the clock and rocking chair collapsed to the ground. Traumatized, the lady sold the house and the furniture and moved in with relatives.

An antique dealer bought all the furniture and objects, except the clock, which was purchases by a woman in her early thirties. She was a divorced woman, who did not used to collect old objects, but had felt very drawn to this simple clock. She put the clock beside the bed since she thought it was too heavy to be hung on the wall. A week later, her children heard a strange noise coming from the woman's room. When they opened the door, they found the poor girl lying on the floor, crushed by the clock. Again, this object has been sold. 

They say this clock still goes from house to house, intact always victimizing people, destroying families mysteriously. 

Conclusion: If you see an antique clock being sold for a very low price, be suspicious! It may be this haunted clock, protagonist of a legend that even today gives rise to much discussion.

THE LEGEND OF THE SLENDER MAN

Some say that it all started in June, 2008 in a "Paranormal Pictures" photoshop contest launched in Something Awful Forums where contestants were required to turn ordinary pictures into something creepy or paranormal with the use of digital manipulation and that a guy by the name of Victor Surge posted two black and white pictures of unidentified children with a short description of a creature that would be "Slender Man". Others say that it may have been inspired by the villain called "Cabadath" sometimes referred as "Tall Man" of amateur adventures games entitled "Chzo Mythos" published by Ben Yahtzee Croshaw in 2003.

Nobody really knows about his origin... if he is an ET, someone from another dimension or just another new breed trying to survive. What is known is that he has been spotted right before the disappearance of many children.

Slender Man is described as a very tall and thin man like creature with big arms like tentacles or tentacles coming out of his back and no face, dressed in a black suit.

Slender Man became a well known mythical creature in many paranormal forums and boards and with time many other material about the creature popped on the internet and even some YouTuber projects like “MarbleHornets” for example started to upload entries with videos showing evidence of the real existence of this creature.
 
There was even an Episode of Dr Who Series called "The Silence" where a fictional religious movement led by Aliens portrayed creatures that looked just like The Slender Man – tall men like beings wearing black suits with featureless faces that had the power of mind control and made people loose memory when they looked away after seeing them.

Here it is a documentary video directed by Jared Hudson called "Slender Suits - The Documentary of the Slender Man", putting a little more light into the subject. Enjoy!

THE MARCH OF DEATH FROM SANDAKAN

During World War II, various human atrocities were carried out by all sides that fought it. The Japanese in particular did not spare their enemies, so much that they were protagonists on an event that left a dark mark in history: The March Of Death From Sandakan.

In the midst of war many British and Australian soldiers were eventually captured by the Japanese in Borneo, Indonesia. Asians forced their prisoners to walk for more than 247 kilometers in a heat of nearly forty degrees without giving them food or water. Many died of starvation or dehydration. And everyone who complained were punctured or beheaded by Japanese bayonets.

Therefore only six prisoners survived, they were the ones that fled in moments of distraction from their guards, otherwise they would have died along with their companions. This cruel episode was very well known because it was an act of mass torture that went public.

And now, almost seventy years later, Major John Tulloch was retracing the route taken by prisoners and ended up taking a picture. And what was supposed to be a simple recollection picture of the place proved something much more impressive, because it seems that the ghosts of those who had to live that infernal march are still walking around.

In the picture above taken by the Major, you can clearly see what appears to be skeletal figures of people walking in a scene that must be very similar to that which happened in the March of death from Sandakan. Were these the spirits of the dead soldiers, still trapped in the nightmare that led to their death?

MADAME DELPHINE LALAURIE

Delphine LaLaurie and her third husband, Leonard LaLaurie, took up residence in the house at 1140 Royal Street sometime in the 1830's. The pair immediately became the darlings of the gay New Orleans social scene that at the time was experiencing the birth of ragtime, the slave dances and rituals of Congo Square, the reign of the Mighty Marie Laveau, and the advent of the bittersweet Creole Balls. Madame LaLaurie hosted fantastic events in her beautiful home that were talked about months afterward. She was described as sweet and endearing in her ways, and her husband was nothing if not highly respected within the community.

At the same time, it is said, Madame’s friendship with infamous Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, began to grow. Laveau lived not far from LaLaurie’s Royal Street home and the two women became acquainted when Laveau did Madame’s hair occasionally. It is said that under Laveau’s tutelage, Madame LaLaurie began to act upon her latent interest in the occult, learning the secrets of voodoo and witchcraft at the hands of a might mistress of the craft.

Like all well-established members of society, the LaLaurie's kept a brace of slaves to help run their Royal Street home. Early on, there was nothing unusual about Madame's relationship with her slaves, although they all seemed to hold her in nervous regard. But eventually, whispers began to spread through the lower Quarter of the Madame's double life and of her growing abuse of those indentured to working under her roof. The whispers grew louder and louder, among the Negroes and the Free People of Color and were passed ear to ear throughout the tight-knit domestic community of the Old Quarter. But New Orleans socialites turned a deaf ear to what they considered "nonsense" and “superstition”- until the day Madame LaLaurie was seen chasing a young slave girl through the house and to her ultimate death on the cobblestone courtyard, three stories below.

The death, deemed an accident, and Madame deemed perfectly within her right to exact discipline on her property, nonetheless set off a chain of events that would assure Madame LaLaurie an eternal place in infamy.

It is said that, angered at the needless and awful death of the young slave girl, one of the older kitchen women deliberately set fire to the house. The flames had nearly engulfed most of the lower stories of the house by the time the fire brigade arrived on the scene. The kitchen woman, it is said, ran out to the fire brigade and, hollering something about the "poor souls" in the attic, led those who followed to the top of the burning house.

There are actual accounts, with notarized signatures of at least three witnesses of high standing, of the gruesome and horrible sights found in the dark and smoky attic that day. Dead and half-dead slaves, men, women, and children, were found in various stages of torment and pain - chained to the walls by shackles on their hands and feet, some lying prone, others forced to stand in crudely constructed wooden stocks, they had been subjected to unimaginable acts of morbid atrocity. Eyes gouged out; tongues hacked off and in some instances crudely re-attached; mouths and eyes sewn shut altogether; noses and ears sheared off; bones broken and reset in horrible, twisted manners; genitals mutilated - these were just some of the horrible sights that met the eyes of the fire rescuers and witnessed by ordinary citizens. Most of the slaves thus confined were already dead from torment or smoke inhalation; the others would not last long beyond this day of liberation.

The City was in an uproar. There were cries of vengeance against the Bitch LaLaurie; they wanted her blood; they wanted her skin. And Madame knew it. So, with the mob forming hot upon her heels, she escaped Royal Street and the French Quarter in her carriage, the horses dragging it madly away toward the swamps and Bayous south and east of the Quarter itself.

It is said Madame LaLaurie stopped and took refuge at the Pilot House (still standing) located on the shores of Bayou St. John, and that later she boarded a merchant schooner and escaped under cover of darkness. Where is still a matter of some debate. 

Dwelling deep in the verdant darkness of the piney North shore woods, it is said Madame’s anger at those who had stripped her of her previous life festered and grew along with her interest in the dark arts learned at Marie Laveau’s hand. Soon tales began to spread through the rural community of the "witch woman", the "devil’s wife", living among them and whose strange rituals filled the dark woods with fire and smoke and otherworldly chanting. An atmosphere of dread pervaded the little community and there were whispered stories of animal sacrifices and torture, of curses falling upon land and livestock, of children falling sick and wasting away, and soon the name of Madame Delphine LaLaurie began to be uttered again with fear and loathing.

It is rumored that her dark legacy lives on to this day and there are still numerous reports of midnight ritual fires along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain or in the deep woods adjacent to the St. Tammany Trace. When the subject is raised of a satanic cult still thriving in the area, some modern day residents of the now burgeoning town of Lacombe will wag their heads in a resigned "yes" - though few will talk openly about it.

This is the legacy of Madame Delphine LaLaurie, who dabbled in great mysteries and got a taste for blood that was never sated, as long as she lived. Some say, in fact, that she has never died, having paid for eternal life with generations of blood sacrifices.

As for the home on Royal Street, it was restored and renovated many times over the intervening years, passing through the hands of many a land-loaded New Orleanian. But an odd footnote is that no one and nothing has ever thrived at that location for very long. Since being abandoned by the LaLaurie’s on that fateful day long ago, it has housed single families, schools, clothing shops, and even a government freedman’s bureau, but none stayed established there for very long. In the 20th century it was converted to a collection of studios and small apartments and as I write this, a new wave of interior renovations is underway. But the tales keep surfacing nonetheless.

There are reported incidents of people seeing, feeling and hearing the ghosts of tormented slaves in the LaLaurie home, and there are even reports of the Madame herself being seen there. The docile house servants who entreated the assistance of outsiders when the house was about to burn to the ground are said to often return to their task - running and slamming doors and shouts are heard repeatedly. Nor are the spirits of the restless dead quiet: the reports of moans and weeping outnumber all others, and there are several who have seen the ghostly faces of the dead peering from the upper windows and the chamber of horrors that became the crucible of their miserable lives.

New Orleans is one of the oldest and most multi-faceted cities in the United States, and there are other tales, similar to those of the LaLaurie home that, sadly, have made their way into history. But the gruesome horror of this particular event was so ghastly that it stains the city's memory to this very day.

REAL HAUNTED DOLLS, PART 2

Annabelle The Haunted Doll

Annabelle was the focus of a case that famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren took part in during the early 1970's and is highlighted in the book The Demonologist. It has been stated that this is one of the most unusual cases of a possessed object on record.

In 1970 a mother purchased an antique Raggedy Ann Doll from a hobby store. The doll was a present for her daughter Donna on her birthday. Donna, at the time, was a student in college, preparing to graduate with her nursing degree and resided in a tiny apartment with her room mate Angie (a nurse as well). Pleased with the doll Donna placed it on her bed as a decoration and didn't give it a second thought until a few days later. With in that time both Donna and Angie noticed that there appeared to be something very strange and creepy about the doll. The doll apparently moved on its own, relatively unnoticeable movements at first, like a change in position, but as time passed the movement became more noticeable. Donna and Angie would come home to find the doll in a completely different room from which they had left it . Sometimes the doll would be found crossed legged on the couch with its arms folded , other times it was found upright, standing on its feet, leaning against a chair in the dining room. Several times Donna, placing the doll on the couch before leaving for work, would return home to find the doll back in her room on the bed with the door closed.

The Message

Apparently the doll not only moved but could write too. About a month into their experiences Donna and Angie began to find penciled messages on parchment paper that read "Help Us" and "Help Lou". The hand writing looked to belong to that of a small child. The creepy part about the messages was not the wording but the way they were written. At the time Donna had never kept parchment paper, on which the notes were written, in the house, so where did it come from?

The Medium

One night Donna came home to find the doll had moved again, this time it was on her bed. Donna had come to find that this was typical of the doll but some how she knew this time it was different, something wasn't right. A sense of fear came over her when she inspected the doll and saw what looked like blood drops on the back of its hands and its chest. Seemingly, from no where, a liquid red substance had appeared on the doll. Scared and desperate Donna and Angie decide it was time to seek expert advice.

Not knowing where to turn they contacted a medium and a seance was held. Donna was then introduced to the spirit of Annabelle Higgins. The medium related the story of Annabelle to both Donna and Angie. Annabelle was a young girl that resided on the property before the apartments were built, they were "happy times". She was a young girl of only seven years old when her lifeless body was found in the field upon which the apartment complex now stands.

The spirit related to the medium that she felt comfort with Donna and Angie and wanted to stay with them and be loved. Feeling compassion for Annabell and her story Donna gave her permission to inhibit the doll and stay with them. They were to soon find out however, that Annabelle was not what she appeared to be. This was no ordinary case and definitely no ordinary doll.

Lou

Lou was friends with Donna and Angie and had been with them since the day the doll arrived. Lou had never been fond of the doll and on several occasions warned Donna that it was evil and to get rid it of it. Donna had a compassionate tie to the doll and not giving much credence to Lou's feelings kept it. Donna's decision, it turns out, was a terrible mistake.

Lou awoke one night from a deep sleep in panic. Once again he had a reoccurring bad dream. Only this time somehow, something seemed different. It was as though he was awake but couldn't move. He looked around the room but couldn't discern anything out of the ordinary and then it happened. Looking down toward his feet he saw the doll, Annabelle. It began to slowly glide up his leg, moved over his chest and then stopped. Within seconds the doll was strangling him. Paralyzed and gasping for breath Lou, at the point of asphyxiation, blacked out. Lou awoke the next morning, certain it wasn't a dream, Lou was determined to rid himself of that doll and the spirit that possessed it. Lou, however, would have one more terrifying experience with Annabelle.

Preparing for a road trip the next day Lou and Angie were reading over maps alone in her apartment. The apartment seemed eerily quiet. Suddenly, rustling sounds coming from Donna's room aroused fear that someone had possibly broken into the apartment. Lou determined to figure out who or what it was quietly made his way to the bedroom door. He waited for the noises to stop before entering and turning on the light. The room was empty except for Annabelle whom was tossed on the floor in the corner.

Lou scoured the room for forced entry but nothing was out of place. But as he got close to the doll he got the distinct impression that somebody was behind him. Spinning around he was quick to realize that nobody else was there. Then in flash he found himself grabbing for his chest, doubled over, cut and bleeding. His shirt was stained with blood and upon opening his shirt there on his chest was what looked to be 7 distinct claw marks, three vertically and four horizontally, all were hot like burns. These scratches healed almost immediately, half gone the next day, fully gone by day two.

Paranormal Investigation: The Warrens

Donna finally was willing to believe the spirit in the house was not that of a young girls but inhuman and demonic in nature. After Lou's experiences Donna felt it was time to seek real expert advice and contacted an Episcopal priest named Father Hegan. Father Hegan referred their case to Ed and Lorraine Warren. Ed and Lorraine Warren immediately took interest in the case and contacted Donna concerning the doll. The Warrens, after grueling over the case facts for hours came to the conclusion that the doll itself was not in fact possessed but haunted. Spirits do not possess inanimate objects like houses or toys, they posses people. A spirit will attach itself to an object and this is what occurred in the Annabelle case. The spirit moved the doll around and created the illusion of it being alive. Truly, the spirit was not looking to stay attached to the doll, it was looking to posses a human host.

It first began moving the doll around the apartment by means of teleportation to arouse the occupants curiosity in hopes that they would make the predictable mistake of bringing a medium into the apartment to communicate with it. Which the girls did. Now able to communicate through the medium, the entity preyed on the girls emotional vulnerabilities by pretending to be a rather harmless young girl with which, during the seance, managed to extract permission from Donna to haunt the apartment. As demonic is a negative spirit, it then set about causing patently negative phenomena to occur; it aroused fear through the weird movements of that doll, it brought about the materialization of disturbing handwritten notes, it left a residue of blood on the doll, and ultimately it even struck Lou on the chest, leaving behind claw marks. The next stage of the phenomena would have been complete human possession. Had these experiences lasted another 2 or 3 weeks the spirit would have completely possessed if not harmed or killed one or all of the occupants in the house.

At the conclusion of the investigation the Warrens felt it appropriate to have a recitation of an exorcism blessing by a priest to cleanse the apartment. "The Episcopal blessing of the home is a wordy, seven page document that is distinctly positive in nature. Rather than specifically expelling evil entities from the dwelling, the emphasis is instead directed toward filling the home with the power of the positive and of God." (Ed Warren). At Donna’s request, and as a further precaution against the phenomena ever occurring in the home again, the Warrens took the big rag doll along with them when they left.

The famous Annabell can be found housed in a glass case at the Warren Occult Museum in Moodus, Connecticut. The museum is run by Lorraine Warren. Mrs. Warren relates that Annabell still moves about occasionally and is still known to make growling noises at unsuspecting visitors.

Haunted Doll Pupa

Pupa is said to move by herself. Often she is said to push things around in the display case where the family who owns her keep her. Since the passing of the original owner in 2005 the family reports that the haunted doll has become very active and seems to want to be released from where she is kept.

Still dressed in her blue felt suit, she has also reportedly pulled pranks aplenty on those who care for her. Often, Pupa was placed differently than when the family last saw her. More than once, the family have reported hearing a sound like someone tapping on glass as they pass Pupa's display case. When they turn to look, they have seen Pupa's hand pressed against the glass or her legs crossed when they were not before.

The particular doll in this article was original made in the exact likeness of the child in Trieste, Italy for the original owner.

The original owner had it from the age of 5 or 6 (1920's) until she died in July of 2005. The doll survived World War II, and many, many close calls to it's destruction over the years. The owner cherished it always through out her long life. The doll traveled from Italy to the United States then back to Italy and across Europe and finally to the USA once again where it is now.
The actual haunted doll you are looking at, is 14 inches tall and was made in the 1920’s. The head, arms, and legs and clothes are made out of felt, and are moveable, the hair is real human hair. The button sewn to her collar was from the owners Grandmother who died and was sewn on at the end of World War II.

The Doll who she lovingly called Pupa was even photographed with her and her brother in Italy Circa 1928.

Always she would say Pupa was alive and had a mind of her own. She even told her grand children stories that it was her best friend and most beloved confidant. She told them Pupa talked to her over the years and even saved her life.

Can a child's doll really be haunted? Pupa The haunted Doll might just be the real thing!

For more hunted dolls visit the Hunted Dolls Gallery On Hunted American Tours Website!

Source: HuntedAmericanTours

REAL HAUNTED DOLLS, PART 1

There is probably no one reading this who has not had a disturbing experience at one time or another involving that most simple and supposedly benign object, a child’s doll.

Ask around at any party where the conversation turns to the supernatural and someone will inevitably pipe up with a creepy story about an encounter with a doll that seemed to have a life and will all its own.

Across America there are some dolls about which there is no doubt, at least in everyone’s mind: they are most definitely haunted. As interest in haunted dolls and playthings keeps rising, it might be well to review these real LIVING DOLLS.

Robert The Doll

Probably the most famous haunted plaything ever, Robert is a doll that now resides in The East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida.

Many of you are already heard of Robert, the lifelong companion of painter Robert Eugene (called Gene) Otto, who received the three-foot-tall straw companion from his Bahamian nanny when he was just a small boy. The doll would be with him for the remainder of his life.

There are a number of stories about the nanny, obviously the pivotal figure in this doll drama. Many say that, although she dearly loved young Gene, she was mistreated and abused by his parents on a regular basis. Some versions of the tale have the nanny practicing the dark Voodoo arts and giving the doll to Robert out of revenge for her ill treatment, but there is nothing to support this being the case. Evidently, Gene received the doll, said to be a replica of him, as a gift of love. He promptly named it Robert.

To say that Robert stayed by Gene’s side is an understatement, for Gene was never without the little plaything. He even dressed it in his own clothes and spent hours on end playing in his nursery with only the doll as company. It is said that he was often heard talking to the doll and answering himself in an entirely different voice. Gene slept, ate and traveled with Robert by his side.

Within months after the arrival of the doll in the Otto household, strange things began to occur. Objects would go missing and turn up broken, Gene took to the unhealthy habit of sneaking out of his window and wandering the grounds at night, and his parents began to suspect him of all kinds of mischief. If he was caught in the act, Gene would always hold out Robert and say, “Robert did it!”

Soon the doll apparently became bolder. It no longer seemed to require Gene’s company to move about the house. In the still hours of the night, the servants would often wake to the sound of hollow, pattering footsteps. Too frightened to inspect the cause, they would usually cower in their beds until dawn.

As time went by, the Ottos grew older and each, in turn, died, leaving the adult Gene – and Robert – to live in the house. They spent several years there alone until Gene ultimately met and married a local socialite and took her home to live.

From the moment she arrived, the creepy doll disturbed the new Mrs. Otto and eventually she prevailed upon her husband to put it away. Robert was relegated to rooms in the attic, where he was to remain – mostly – for the rest of Gene Otto’s life.

“Mostly,” because, according to the stories, Robert often left the attic on his own. There are several accounts by the servants and Mrs. Otto herself of Robert being seen darting up and down the attic stairs. Mrs. Otto was often troubled by the sound of the doll’s dancing feet tapping the attic floor above her, and one time was alarmed to hear the doll’s voice singing in the old nursery. Upon entering, she found the doll sitting in one of Gene’s old rocking chairs. When she confronted her husband about taking the doll from the attic when it disturbed her so, she was met with the obtuse statement, “Robert did it!” yet again.

It was widely believed that the death of Gene Otto in 1972 would put an end to the ghostly activity of the haunted doll. It was quickly learned, however, that true evil never dies, and while the house stood empty reports of the awful doll still continued. Many people would hear the sound of singing coming from the house at night and on more than one occasion the gruesome doll is said to have frightened school children by peering out the window in the attic turret and making faces at them.

Eventually, a new family purchased the old house and Robert the Doll was discovered in his attic home and was promptly presented to the family’s youngest daughter, then aged 10, as a housewarming gift.

From the moment she received the doll the child was plagued by horrible nightmares. More than once, she claims, she awoke to find the doll sitting on her face, attempting, she believed, to suffocate her. It seemed that Robert intensely disliked being left behind by Gene and had no love for his new “owner.” It was also painfully obvious that he did not like little girls because he is blamed for having torn up and mutilated most of the young girl’s other dolls. When the family pet became mysteriously entwined in the cord of the nursery Venetian blinds, Robert was once again consigned to the attic.

When the family finally moved and the home was converted into the Artist’s House historic location as it stands today, Robert was donated to The East Martello Museum not far away. It quickly became evident, however, that Robert was still up to his old tricks.

Mandy the Haunted Doll

Mandy the Haunted Doll lives at the Quesnel Museum, which is located on the Old Cariboo Gold Rush Trail in British Columbia. There she is just one of over thirty thousand artifacts on display for the public, but there is little doubt that she is the most unique.

Mandy was donated to the museum in 1991. At that time her clothing was dirty, her body was ripped and her head was full of cracks. At that time she was estimated to be over ninety years old. The saying around the museum is, “She may seem like an ordinary antique doll, but she is much more than that.”

The woman who donated Mandy, also called Mereanda, told the museum curator that she would wake up in the middle of the night hearing a baby crying from the basement. When she investigated, she would find a window near the doll open where it had previously been closed and the curtains blowing in the breeze. The donor later told the curator that after the doll was given to the museum, she was no longer disturbed by the sounds of a baby crying in the night.

Some say Mandy has unusual powers. Many speculate that the doll has acquired these powers over the years, but since little is known of the doll’s history nothing can be said for certain. What is certain is the unusual effect she seems to have on everyone around her.

As soon as Mandy arrived at the museum, staff and volunteers began to have weird and unexplainable experiences. Lunches would disappear from the refrigerator and later be found tucked away in a drawer; footsteps were heard when no one was around; pens, books, photos and many other small items would go missing – some were never found and some turned up later. The staff passed these events off as absent-mindedness, but this did not account for everything.

Since her permanent placement alone in a display case, there have been many stories about encounters with the haunted doll. One visitor was videotaping Mandy only to have the camera light go on and off every 5 seconds. When the visitor’s camera was turned on another exhibit, it functioned just fine. (It is interesting to note that the same thing often happens when visitors try to photograph Robert the Doll in his Key West museum home.)

Some visitors are very disturbed by the doll’s eyes, which they say appear to follow them around the room. Others claim to have seen the doll actually blink, and still others say they have seen the doll in one position and minutes later she will appear to have moved.

Although they’re used to it by now, museum staff and volunteers still prefer not to be the last one working or locking up the museum at the end of the day.

THE DEVIL´S FOOTPRINTS

On the night of the 8th of February 1855, heavy snowfall blanketed the countryside and small villages of Southern Devon. The last snow is thought to have fallen around midnight, and between this time and around 6.00am the following morning, something (or some things) left a myriad of tracks in the snow, stretching for a hundred miles or more, from the River Exe, to Totnes on the River Dart.
 
The early risers were the first to find them, strange hoof-shaped prints in straight lines, passing over rooftops, through walls and covering huge areas of land. A set of the prints were even supposed to have bridged a two mile span of the river Exe, continuing on the other side as if the creature had walked over the water.
 
It soon became clear that the phenomenon was widespread, and some of the more scientifically minded examined the prints in detail. One naturalist sketched some of the marks, and measured the distance between them, it was found to be eight and a half inches. This spacing seemed to be consistant wherever the tracks were measured. It was also noted that the way in which they were set out, one in front of the other, suggested a biped rather than a creature walking on four legs.
 
Some clergymen suggested that the prints belonged to the Devil, who was roaming the countryside in search of sinners (a great ploy to fill the churches), while others rejected the idea as superstition. It is true that a feeling of unease had spread through some of the population, who watched carefully to see if the strange footprints would return. They did not and after a couple of days the news spread out of Devon and made the national press. The phenomena sparked correspondence in some of the leading papers including the Times and the Illustrated news. This brought more accounts to light, and led to a plethora of speculation by eminent scientists and lay men alike.

It seems that most of the Southern villages of Devon, from Totnes to Topsham, had been inundated with the prints in all manner of absurdities. Some stopped abruptly and continued after a large break, others stopped at walls as high as 14 feet, only to continue on the other side, leaving untouched snow on the top of the wall. Some were even said to have travelled through narrow apertures such as drainpipes.

The papers picked up that some kangaroos had escaped from a private Zoo belonging to a Mr Fische at Sidmouth, but the tracks description bears no resemblance to the tracks a kangaroo would leave. Sir Richard Owen, the eminent Biologist, suggested that the tracks were made by badgers, roaming the countryside in search of food. He explained the strange shape of the prints as the result of freeze-thaw action. This explanation only holds as much ground as the other theories given at the time, these included roaming racoons, rats, swans, otters and the theory that a hot air balloon passed over head trailing a rope. These could explain some of the tracks made that night, but certainly not all of them, unless all of the above were to blame in separate occurrences.

There are similar scattered cases from other parts of the world and also one written account in Britain. According to Ralph of Coggeshall, (who also recorded strange arial phenomena during his era) a writer from the 13th Century, on the 19th of July 1205 strange hoof print appeared after a violent electrical storm. In mid July these tracks would only be visible in the soft earth, and the electrical storm suggests some kind of natural phenomenon as yet unknown.

The Devil's Footprints remain an intriguing mystery that will only truly be solved if the phenomenon happens again and can be examined more closely.

THE GHOST GIRL OF THE VILLA MERCEDES SCHOOL

A strange apparition of a ghost girl was photographed by a teacher in a school auditorium, behind a group of students.

The unusual incident happened at the Normal School in Villa Mercedes, San Luis (Argentina), and the photo was taken at a security conference, offered by the inspector of police station, Gladys Perez and teachers, held in the auditorium of the establishment.

One of the teachers, decided to photograph the event and when downloaded the images taken with her digital camera, you can see the portrait of a girl sitting in the back and completely apart from the rest of the students, and that none of the participants had seen in the meeting.

Confused, she showed it to her colleagues, and all concluded that she had not attended the meeting, neither recognized nor considered a regular student of the college. All claimed that they never saw her in school, she had never attended school and had no records of this girl, officials said.

"Many people saw the image. Points. It's like a blurry figure sitting in place. Some say the ghost of the auditorium," said Daniela Rivas, director of the Normal School in Villa Mercedes, Cadena 3.

To further deepen the mystery, Professor Gaston Aseff, sent the picture for employees, specialized in images and detection of counterfeiting, which concluded that the evidence presented is a photograph that has not been tampered or altered or digitally manipulated.

GHOST CITY

Imagine the surprise of residents in a Chinese village that suddenly seen the emergence of a giant mirage of a 'ghost town' with towers and vegetation along the river in Xin'an Huanshan City in eastern China. The appearance came at the beginning of June after heavy rains and maximum conditions of humidity.

In the photo, you can see tall buildings, mountains and trees that seem to arise through the ghostly mist that had descended over the river at dusk in a place where people usually only see the skyline.

Some residents were so impressed with the vision that came to say that the city would be submerged and that may belong to a civilization that can be lost in time. But some experts do not believe in legends and ghostly apparitions, then tried to give their scientific interpretation of the phenomenon.

They believe that the vision may have been a mirage - an illusion so common in wet weather. The phenomenon is caused when moisture from the air is warmer than the temperature of the water, projecting images in the air. Normally, the mirage is typically cloudy and bright, like a reflection in the water view.

Okay that science always has an explanation for everything, but the Chinese mirage impresses as if it was truly "out of this world", don´t you think? Check out more photos below!

SCREAMS OF THE DAMNED

A geological group who drilled a hole about 14.4 kilometers deep in the crust of the earth are saying that they heard human screams. Screams have been heard from the condemned souls from earth's deepest hole. Terrified scientists are afraid they have let loose the evil powers of hell up to the earth's surface.

"The information we are gathering is so surprising, that we are sincerely afraid of what we might find down there", stated Dr Azzacov, the manager of the project in remote Siberia.

The second surprise was the high temperature they discovered in the earth's center. "The calculations indicate the given temperature was about 1,100 degrees Celsius, or over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit", Azzacov pointed out. 'This is far more then we expected. It seems almost like an inferno of fire is brutally going on in the center of the earth.

The last discovery was nevertheless the most shocking to our ears, so much so that the scientists are afraid to continue the project. We tried to listen to the earth's movements at certain intervals with supersensitive microphones, which were let down through the hole. What we heard turned those logically thinking scientists into a trembling ruins. It was a sometimes a weak, but high pitched sound which we thought to be coming from our own equipment,' explained Dr Azzacov.

But after some adjustments we comprehended that indeed the sound came from the earth's interior. We could hardly believe our own ears. We heard a human voice, screaming in pain. Even though one voice was discernible, we could hear thousands, perhaps millions, in the background, of suffering souls screaming. After this ghastly discovery, about half of the scientists quit because of fear. "Hopefully, that which is down there will stay there", Dr Azzacov added.

What really unnerved the Soviets, apart from the voice recordings, was the appearance that same night of a fountainhead of luminous gas shooting up from the drill site, and out of the midst of this incandescent cloud pillar a brilliant being with bat wings revealed itself with the words (in Russian): 'I have conquered,' emblazoned against the dark Siberian sky.

"The incident was absolutely unreal; the Soviets cried out in terror", says Mr. Nummedal. Later that night, he saw ambulance crews circulating in the community. A driver he knew told him that they had been told to sedate everybody with a medication known to erase short term memory. The Soviets use this drug in the treatment of shock victims.

WAVERLY HILLS SANATORIUM

During the 1800s and early 1900s, America was ravaged by a deadly disease known by many as the “white death” - tuberculosis. This terrifying and very contagious plague, for which no cure existed, claimed entire families and sometimes entire towns. 

In 1900, Louisville, Kentucky had one of the highest tuberculosis death rates in America. Built on low, swampland, the area was the perfect breeding ground for disease and in 1910, a hospital was constructed on a windswept hill in southern Jefferson County that had been designed to combat the horrific disease. The hospital quickly became overcrowded though and with donations of money and land, a new hospital was started in 1924.
 
The new structure, known as Waverly Hills, opened two years later in 1926. It was considered the most advanced tuberculosis sanatorium in the country but even then, most of the patients succumbed to the disease. In those days before medicine was available to treat the disease, it was thought that the best treatment for tuberculosis was fresh air, plenty of nutritious food and lots of rest. Many patients survived their stay at Waverly Hills but it is estimated that hundreds died here at the height of the epidemic. 

The place was huge with balconies perfect for catching sick air even on rainy days, since the disease attacks the lungs. Dedicated doctors who risked their lives to caring for patients. But the disease was cruel, and had no cure in the sanatorium patients died more than 63mil.

At the location a tunnel was built to bring doctors and people who worked at the sanatorium to the outside behind it, where doctors had their homes not to return to the city to bring the risk of the disease. But at the height of the epidemic with three people dying per hour, the tunnel was used to bring dead bodies to their families without the other patients to see... and became known as Tunnel of death.

Ghost researchers are always drawn to the fifth floor of the former hospital. The fifth floor consisted of two nurses’ stations, a pantry, a linen room, medicine room and two medium-sized rooms on both sides of the two nurses’ stations. One of these, Room 502, is the subject of many rumors and legends and just about every curiosity-seeker that had broken into Waverly Hills over the years wanted to see it. This is where, according to the stories, people have jumped to their deaths, have seen shapes moving in the windows and have heard disembodied voices that order trespassers to “get out”.

There is a lot of speculation as to what went on in this part of the hospital but what is believed is that mentally insane tuberculosis patients were housed on the fifth floor. This kept them far away from the rest of the patients in the hospital but still in an area where they could benefit from the fresh air and sunshine. This floor is actually centered in the middle of the hospital and the two wards, extending out from the nurses’ station, is glassed in on all sides and opens out onto a patio-type roof. The patients were isolated on either side of the nurses’ stations and they had to go to a half door at each station to get their food and medicine and to use the restroom, which was located adjacent to the station.

With the discovery of the antibiotics came the cure for tuberculosis, the disease was eradicated and the Waverly Hill Sanatorium closed its doors in 1961. They tried to reopen its doors in 1962 as a nursing home, but it soon ended with accusations of abuse of patients.
 
Is any wonder, after all of the death, pain and agony within these walls, that Waverly Hills is considered to be one of the most haunted places in the country?
 
The movie Death Tunnel was recorded in the sanatorium and based on real events that occurred there. The sanatorium has also appeared in an episode of Supernatural. So... How about spending a night there?

ANGEL CAUGHT ON CAMERA IN HOSPITAL

People in Charlotte are talking about an image caught on a security camera at Presbyterian Hospital.

People at the hospital say the image is an angel standing in the hospital's hallway.

The mother of a 14-year-old patient says her daughter is alive thanks to the angel.

SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION

In December 1966, the body of Dr. J. Irving Bentley, 92, was discovered in Pennsylvania, next to the consumption electricity meter of his home. In fact, only part of his leg and a foot, even with the slipper had been found. The rest of his body had been burned to ashes. The only evidence of the fire that killed him was a hole that was in the bathroom floor, the rest of the house was intact and had not suffered anything.

How could a man catch fire - with no apparent source of spark or flame - burning down his own body, without spreading the flames to anything around him? The case of Dr. Bentley, and hundreds of other cases like it have been labeled "Spontaneous Human Combustion" (SHC).

Although he and other victims of the phenomenon have been burned almost completely, the neighborhood where they were, or their clothes, often were left untouched.

Can humans be consumed by fire spontaneously? Many people believe that spontaneous human combustion is a real fact, but most scientists are not convinced.

What is spontaneous human combustion?

Spontaneous combustion occurs when a person breaks into flames because of a chemical reaction within, apparently not caused by an external source of heat.

The first known spontaneous human combustion was the Danish anatomist Thomas Bartholin, in 1663, when he described how a woman in Paris "was reduced to ashes and smoke" while asleep. The straw mattress on which she slept was damaged by fire.

In 1673, a Frenchman named Jonas Dupont published a collection of cases of spontaneous combustion in his book "De Humani Corporis Fires spontane".

Hundreds of cases of spontaneous combustion occurred since that time and have one common feature: The victim is almost completely consumed by flames, usually inside their residence, and medical examiners present reported having smelled a sweet smoke in rooms where the events had occurred. The peculiarity that the charred bodies had was that the extremities often remain intact. Although the torso and head are charred beyond recognition, the hands, feet and / or part of the legs may be unburned. In addition, the room around the person shows little or no sign of fire, except for a small residue left on furniture or walls.

In rare cases, the internal organs of the victim remain untouched while the outside was charred. Not every victim of spontaneous human combustion were simply consumed by the flames. Some develop strange burns on the body, although there was no reason for it, or emanate smoke. Not all caught fire has died: a small percentage of people had survived by spontaneous combustion.

Theories to ignite the human body needs two things: intensely high heat and a flammable substance. Under normal circumstances the human body does not have any of those features mentioned, but some scientists have speculated about the possibility of such events over the centuries. In the nineteenth century, Charles Dickens ignited great interest in spontaneous human combustion. One of the most popular suggests is that the fire is sparked when methane accumulate in the intestines and is ignited by enzymes. However, many victims of spontaneous human combustion, suffer more damage on the outside than inside their bodies, apparently contradicting this theory.

Other theories speculate that the origin of fire could result from a buildup of static electricity inside the body, or originate from an external geomagnetic force exerted on the body. An expert on spontaneous human combustion, Larry Arnold, suggests that this phenomenon is the result of a new subatomic particle called 'pyroton' which interacts with cells to create a micro-explosion. But there is no scientific evidence proving the existence of this particle.

If human combustion is not real, what actually happened with the charred remains of all these pictures?

One possible explanation is the wick effect, which states that a body in continuous contact with a live coal, a lighted cigarette or other heat source, acts much like a candle. The candle is made of a wick surrounded by a wax acid-resistant. When lighted the candle wax keeps it burning.

In the human body, the fat acts as a flammable substance and the victim's clothing or their hair as wick. The fat melts from the heat, soak the clothes and acts like wax, keeping the wick burning slowly. Scientists say that is why the victims' bodies are destroyed without the call to spread the objects around.

And what about the photos of burned bodies, but with the hands and feet intact?

The answer to this question may have something to do with the temperature gradient - the idea that the top of a seated person is warmer than their bottom.

Basically, the same phenomenon occurs when you hold a match with the flame at the bottom. The flame will often vanish, because the bottom of the match is colder than the top.