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The Curse of the Bridgewater Triangle

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By Lord Belbury - OpenStreetMap, ODbL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=94240385

Chief Metacom

Chief Metacom, was the Chief of the Wampanoag Tribe. After the death of his father and older brother in 1662, Metacom was thrust into the responsibility of being chief of his tribe.

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After the European colonists came to America and encroached into the indigenous territories, Metacom stepped aside and made multiple concessions to avoid violence breaking out between the two. Unfortunately, things took a hostile turn in 1675 and Metacom was forced to take action to prevent Puritan expansion.

He brought forth what is now called King Philip’s War, which was a losing battle to begin with since not even a year later, he found himself shot and killed in the Misery Swamp, on August 12, 1676. The shooter was a praying Indian named John Alderman, which means he was a native American that converted to Christianity.

After his death, his wife and nine-year-old son were both sold into slavery in Bermuda. Metacom’s body was cut into multiple pieces, his head was mounted onto a pike at the entrance to Plymouth, Massachusetts for over two decades, and the rest of his body was cut into quarters and hung from trees. But his right hand was severed and given to Alderman as a trophy for his kill.

A Gruesome History

Located in southeastern Massachusetts about 30 miles south of Boston, this area that covers about two-hundred square miles has seen more than its share of bloodshed and creepy sightings. In this article, we will delve into the haunted history that looms over this area.

From a long list of UFO sightings to supposed bigfoot encounters in the 1970s, I personally have no doubt that something is definitely amiss here. But what really caught my eye were two separate, and rather bloody, incidents that occurred.

Starting in the late 1990s, the police began to find a series dead cows. Not only were they dead, but they were also mutilated, some almost completely drained of blood. Due to this rather alarming phenomenon, the police suspected that they were used in some sort of ritualistic killings in the area.

When it comes to everything that has happened in this here, unfortunately this only skims the surface. In late December of 2014, on the outskirts of Ames Nowell Park which is on the border near Brockton and Abington, Massachusetts, the bodies of two women were discovered.

The cadavers were discovered on Sunday, December 28 by a young man walking his dog in the woods near his house. Needless to say, his morning was ruined when he stumbled upon a pile of severed body parts. In the local paper the man stated:

“I saw something pink. I thought maybe it was a dead animal because there’s a lot of poaching back here or maybe insulation because it was pink and a lot of people dump trash back here.”

§  Horror In The Bridgewater Triangle: Is There A Serial Killer Among Us? | Beyond The Bridgewater Triangle With Kristen Good (archive.org)

 The severed parts included a foot, calf, and part of an arm. The poor man was terrified because it seemed so recent, as he described for the reporters,

“When I saw it, I didn’t want to stay around here that long because there was no rot to it. It was all chopped up, you could see the limbs, how nice and neat they were cut…The guy that put it there put a fold-up chair on it and then put a bunch of wood on it so you can’t see it from the main path. All I know is I didn’t want to touch anything. I went in the house and told my sister and I dialed 911.”

§  Horror In The Bridgewater Triangle: Is There A Serial Killer Among Us? | Beyond The Bridgewater Triangle With Kristen Good (archive.org)

Police later identified the body on top as 20-year-old Brockton local Ashley Mylett, who had disappeared four weeks prior to the discovery of the bodies.

The one on the bottom was identified as 51-year-old Linda Schufedt, who had been living in Quincy, a neighboring town, when she disappeared all the way in July of the previous year. Both women had a history of heroin abuse and disappearing for lengths at a time, which is why their families weren’t initially alarmed by their absence.

Their killer was never found, and their case remains unsolved to this day, not much was ever even inferred about possible suspects.

Taunton State Hospital

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A place for the mentally ill, it began housing patients in 1854. Some of its more famous residents included Anthony Santo and Honora Toppan.

An Italian-American man, Anthony Santo was taken in because he started having hallucinations after his brain was damaged from a severe case of scarlet fever. He was forcefully admitted since his hallucinations had caused him to murder two of his cousins and a six-year-old girl by luring them into the woods, killing them with a knife, and stoning the little girl.

As bad as he was, what was almost worse were the crimes committed by someone who took an oath to do no harm, but apparently it meant very little to her. Honora Toppan, also known as Jolly Jane, was a nurse that worked at Taunton.

She wasn’t much of a nurse though, if you ask me. She would conduct painful experiments on her patients, killed her landlord, and even 4 elderly members of a family she worked for. Once she was finally arrested in 1901, she confessed to at least 31 different murders.

She wasn’t the only one who wronged her patients. Reports of many other doctors and nurses torturing the residents quickly spread after the place was shut down. The barbaric so-called treatments that they used on the patients included submerging them in water, keeping them out in the cold for long periods of time, electroshock therapy, and prefrontal lobotomies.

It’s no surprise with the gruesome events that the abandoned hospital has now become one of the most haunted locations in the Bridgewater Triangle. In the Goss building, the ghost of a man in white is known to appear on the third floor, and people report seeing the spirit of an elderly man walking on the grass of the grounds.

From the woods during the night, people can hear banging, screams and moans from inside the building, or see hazes, shadows, and shapes of people inside the buildings. To top it all off, patients and staff tell stories of cult activity from strange markings in the basement to suicides being made in the name of the devil. 

If you want to see for yourself whether or not these people are lying, the grounds for the Taunton State Hospital in downtown Taunton can still be visited today.

UFOs and Strange Phenomena

Remember when we mentioned UFO sightings earlier, well the list is surprisingly long for one area. Normally when people imagine UFO sightings, this isn’t the first place they think of. But it should be.

Starting all the way back before everyone knew what UFOs were, the first sighting was reported in both Roxbury and Bridgewater by multiple different people in 1760. Fast-forward a couple centuries to July 3, 1972. At least 26 people confirmed to have seen a triangular object in the sky near South Shore.

Fast-forward again to 2011, police received 21 separate reports of people seeing a sphere of fire in the night sky. Just what were they seeing? What was anyone seeing? And these aren’t the only strange sightings that people have reported in the Bridgewater Triangle.

In 1970, two different police officers said they encountered a large creature in the woods, and the creature very much resembled bigfoot. In 1971, another police officer claims to have seen a thunderbird.

A thunderbird is a mythological creature from North American indigenous peoples’ culture. It was considered one of the most powerful beings. This was because it could create thunder by flapping its wings and lightening by flashing its eyes.

Dighton Rock

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Native American culture plays a big part in the Bridgewater triangle. Take the Dighton Rock for example. Sitting in Berkley and weighing nearly 40 tons. It was originally located in the riverbed of the Taunton River before it was moved in 1963 to a nearby museum to preserve it while they were constructing a dam.

What made it fascinating were the strange carvings of different drawings, symbols, and writing. Historians identified them as petroglyphs, which are stone carvings that are made by pecking on the rock’s surface with a stone chisel and hammerstone.

However, other than the fact that it was carved in around 1680, historians are pretty much unsure of its origin or meaning. No one has been able to decipher the language or culture the markings came from, but some do propose that it could either be from native Americans or Phoenicians.

The good news about this though, is that if you want to visit it then you’re in luck, as it is still open to the public today.

Illuminati: Fact or Fiction?

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The concept of secret societies has been around longer than we can imagine. The idea that powerful figures in the shadows are controlling the world around us, has been popular in all corners of the world. 

From the Knights’ Templar, a military order that made it their duty to protect Christians during the crusades, to the Freemasons, who seem to sneak their way into every corner of American history, there is just no other group that seems to pique the interest of others, quite as well as a secret society. 

But out of all of the secret societies out there, there is one that is so sinister, yet so intriguing, that it continues to be the subject of conversation on almost every conspiracy site out there. Have you heard of the Illuminati?

Who was the Illuminati?

Most widely associated with the all-seeing eye at the top of the pyramid, the symbol for the Illuminati has taken many forms over the years. But what many people do not know, is that the original group used the Owl of Minerva as its symbol. As a symbol of wisdom and knowledge, as was the Roman goddess of wisdom, Minerva.

Of course, other than the symbol, there are also many things that most of us probably don’t realize about the Illuminati such as, it was a real group, less than five hundred years ago. 

During the time of the monarchy, royalty often abused their power and used their religion as an excuse to persecute those that did not share their same beliefs. Especially in Europe, where Royalty was very common during the 1700s. 

Therefore on May 1, 1776, a man named Adam Weishaupt decided enough was enough, and he created a secret group called The Order of the Illuminati. The group was born in an area called Bavaria, which is now a part of Germany. 

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Due to the abuse of power that was rampant in the state and church, Adam created the group as an opposition to government and religion’s influence on society and culture. 

He wanted to create a safe space for people to openly criticize the government, debate with others, and express their god-given right to free speech. 

Seeking to expand his way of thinking, Adam went on to recruit five law students at the school he taught at, the University of Ingolstadt. With the names of the students and every other official member being unknown, most of the public’s focus was on the professor himself. 

Being a professor of canon law at the college, it made sense that he was not fond of religion having such a large hold over people and their minds. He wanted to infiltrate the powerful institutions of his state so people could live in a world of equality and freedom. 

However, the more people he recruited, the harder it became for him to control his group. And soon, much more radical ideas made their way into the group.

What Happened to Them?

While the central idea of the Illuminati remained mostly the same, the methods it used became more controversial for that time period. With many members now encouraging the group to overthrow the government and abolish the church, it didn’t take long for them to establish a system of informants and spies. 

These members were used to gain information on influential members of society and use it to exploit them.

The true number of members is unknown since the Illuminati was never supposed to be discovered. It is estimated that more than 2,000 people joined the group across multiple different countries. 

But just as soon as it spread to France, the group was shut down. Authorities had managed to crack down on them and even discovered that Adam Weishaupt was the creator. After his untimely reveal, he was banished from Bavaria, and not much is known about him or his life after this.

It really is hard to believe that they were discovered, with how paranoid and careful they seemed to be. For example, the group initially did not trust anyone over the age of thirty, and even refused to recruit them at first. 

Then when someone did join, there was a lot of information they were required to produce about themselves that included; the names of their ancestors, their family and friends’ names, and the names of those they considered their enemies. 

As mentioned earlier, the members never used their own real names though, despite providing literally everything else about their lives. The leader, Adam, was only referred to as Brother Spartacus, and the rest of the members were divided into groups. These groups were the novices, minervals, and illuminated minervals.

Other Secret Societies

The Illuminati isn’t the only group that planned to overthrow the government and spread out among members of society. The first one is the New World Order, an extension of the Illuminati group. 

However, unlike the Illuminati, there is no evidence that this group has ever existed. The New World Order is the name for a supposedly secret emerging totalitarian world government, with all of the power in the hands of Illuminati members.

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Another one similar to this group, with hardly any evidence to prove its existence as well, is the Bilderberg Group. A secret group of elites from all around the world is believed to be the most powerful society to have ever existed. 

Unlike the New World Order, this theory emerged from actual meetings between powerful people that have happened many times in both the United States and the United Kingdom. 

The group that we saved for last is the one most similar to the Illuminati since there lies the evidence that it existed at one point, and actually, you may just recognize this particular one. Do you remember Cicada 3301? 

If the name sounds at all familiar, then you’re on the right track, as it isn’t the first time they were discussed on this podcast. Many episodes ago, we dove deep into who this group was and their impact on modern culture. 

As a brief reminder, Cicada 3301 was an anonymous group that took the internet by storm a while ago with their mysterious and mind-bending puzzles that seemed to lead all over the world. 

Those that managed to finish were supposedly asked to join their group, but there were many clashing stories on what happened if you managed to finish the puzzle. Theorists out there then proposed the idea that it was a recruitment project used by secret international intelligence agencies.

Evidence and Theories

There are many people today who believe that the Illuminati never truly disbanded and that many members continued to meet in secret and have spread across the entire world today. 

The people that believe this, also believe that they were responsible for many large-scale events that have happened throughout history. Some of these include the French Revolution, the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy, and even the terrorist attack of 9/11 that killed thousands of people in New York City in September of 2001. 

Even minuscule things, such as President Thomas Jefferson was once accused of being a member of the group, even though there was no evidence whatsoever. So, is there any proof? 

Well, it just so happens that a recovered letter from 1789 may be the answer. It was written by President George Washington, and in it, he described the Illuminati in detail and addressed them as a threat. Then, there are some more modern incidents that theorists like to use as hard evidence as well.

Take, for example, celebrities. One of the biggest theories is that many of them are members of the Illuminati, and were replaced with clones. It is a bit out there, but there are some videos that do make the idea seem a little less crazy. 

Searching youtube, you can find clips of celebrities all of a sudden just zoning out, and having seemingly robotic smiles on their faces. While there are most likely logical explanations for these occurrences, it definitely sends chills down your spine.

The Effect on Modern Culture

With a subject as popular as the Illuminati, it’s no surprise that it has taken the media by storm. With books and movies about it coming out left and right, the subject has quickly turned into one of entertainment.

For example, one of the most famous thrillers out there is The Da Vinci Code. This story mirrors the purpose and the effect the Illuminati had on society. It describes an underground group that guards an important secret, and if it came out the world would never be the same. 

However with all of these adaptations out there, many people quickly forget that it was once a real group, with real people, and it involved real consequences. 

While it may be thrilling, we must remember that it originally stemmed from people feeling so oppressed by their government, that they felt the need to meet in secret in order to express their opinions. 

The Jonestown Cult Massacre

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This article contains death and suicide-related material that might be sensitive to some audiences. Reader discretion is advised.

What was Jonestown?

In August of 1977, James Warren Jones, or more commonly known as Jim Jones, moved himself and several hundred of his followers to an agricultural commune in Guyana, a former British colony located in South America, near Venezuela and Brazil. 

Over the previous months, Jones had sent a few of his male followers to the land he had purchased, in order to clear away trees and build living spaces.

By the time he arrived with everyone else, there were 60 cottages, large kitchens and food storage areas, laundry rooms, an infirmary, two schoolhouses, and an open-air pavilion they would use for meetings and Jones’ preaching. 

With over nine hundred people living there, they formed what was called The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, or now known as Jonestown. This was part of The Peoples Temple, a church Jim Jones created and preached at in San Francisco.

Back in America, the group was actively involved in many different humanitarian causes in their community. They were made up of people of all races since Jones was very outspoken about how segregation needed to end and the immorality of racism.

Therefore, his followers were very active in diverse and low-income communities, given that they didn’t believe in capitalism. 

Once everyone was settled in Guyana, many people assumed that the community was living peacefully and aiding other people that needed help. Only, peaceful is not the word I would use to describe their way of life. 

The public started to become suspicious of Jonestown only when defectors that had managed to leave and make their way back to America told their stories to the press. Among them were Deborah Layton, and a couple, Tim and Grace Stoen. 

At first, they described how members of the settlement were often beaten, humiliated, and blackmailed into signing their possessions away, even before they moved to Guyana.

Jones had even managed to brainwash many of them into thinking that minorities were being imprisoned in concentration camps back in America. 

As if that wasn’t bad enough, they then went on to describe how the commune was run like an armed work camp, and Jones was constantly threatening mass suicide, or in his words “a revolutionary suicide” .

With the thought of their loved ones possibly being beaten and held against their will, American citizens formed a group called the Concerned Relatives. They were lobbying American authorities to investigate both The Peoples Temple and Jonestown so they could communicate directly with their loved ones. 

Due to the constant pressure from the public, on November 7, 1978, United States Representative Leo Ryan announced that he would form a congressional delegation to investigate stories and claims about Jonestown. 

It was then decided that someone from the government needed to see the compound in person. So later that month, Congressman Ryan traveled to Guyana in order to inspect the compound and meet with the residents. He wanted to determine if they were truly being held against their will or not. 

Before he was set to leave Jonestown, some members were able to attack him. Fortunately, he was able to leave on a truck while still unharmed, and a few members boarded the truck with him, claiming that they wanted to leave Jonestown. 

Unknown to Ryan, other residents had followed him on his way back to the airstrip so he could leave for America, and share the truth. But before he could board the plane, he was attacked and killed.

The Jonestown residents that followed him had shot and killed Ryan and seven other people. Three of them were press members, and eleven other people were also wounded.

Who was Jim Jones?

Born on May 13, 1931, in Crete, Indiana, Jones described his childhood as being treated like the trash of the neighborhood.

His parents were James Thurman Jones, a World War 1 veteran, and Lynetta Putnam. His father was an alcoholic, but also a mystic fortune teller. 

He identified as an underdog. According to Jones, he would constantly fight off bullies, rescue stray animals, and take home beggars from the streets. Jones was heavily influenced by Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mahatma Gandhi, and soon became interested in religion and the effect it had on people. 

Despite him being very intolerant of racism in America, people described him as a very weird kid. Apparently, he would hold funerals for small animals and he even stabbed a cat to death once. 

After his parents’ divorce, he spent the rest of his childhood with his mother in Richmond, Virginia, and then grew up to marry a nurse that was four years older than him in 1949. 

Together, they had five children. One of which was their own, and four of which they adopted. Two of Asian descent, one of Native American descent, and another child that was African American.

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In the mid-1950s, Jones opened his first church in Indianapolis and during this time he had no affiliation with a religious denomination. Due to his beliefs and family appearance, a majority of his congregation was made up of African Americans. 

In 1960 it was then called the Peoples Temple, and it became affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. Four years later, Jones was ordained by that church.

During the mid-1960s, Jones, his family, and about one hundred of his followers moved to a town in California called Ukiah due to fear of a nuclear holocaust.

By the time 1972 rolled around, Jones was holding services in San Francisco and Los Angeles. At this time no one was suspicious of him, in fact, he was loved and respected by politicians, the press, and the public. 

Not only was it due to his charismatic personality, he also claimed to read minds and heal people. It was paradise for Jones, an adoring public and obedient following, everything seemed perfect.

But in 1977, the press had started to ask questions about his operation and how it was being financially supported. Fearful that he would be exposed, he moved his family and around 900 followers to Jonestown in Guyana, which he had been planning for years.

Life in Jonestown and the Massacre

Six days a week, every healthy resident had to perform manual labor. But if they were in pain then they were out of luck because Jones confiscated all medication from residents, but kept himself habitually medicated on amphetamines and barbiturates. 

He would consistently conduct public punishments and humiliation, and sexual advances in private. This was especially easy for him because as the leader he declared that all men, except for himself, were naturally homosexuals.

Families were torn apart and he encouraged everyone to inform on one another, essentially breaking any sense of trust the followers had in each other.

As the sun went down, the moon came out and what was known as “White Nights” took place in the main pavilion. Everyone would meet as a group while Jones preached about government conspirators in America, the media, and how their relatives in America wanted to destroy the community that they had built. 

According to defectors and relatives, Jones would control all information that entered and left the camp. Letters were censored and phone calls were restricted or even scripted, according to relatives that claim they heard Jones telling their loved ones what to say on the phone. 

When it came to the news, it was whatever Jones said it was. Some of the things he told his followers include the KKK marching through the streets of America, concentration camps being created for African Americans and political dissidents, and even nuclear war on the verge of occurrence.

Jones even controlled who came and left the compound, with armed guards surrounding Jonestown 24/7.

Jones always knew that one day everything would fall apart and the compound would be put at risk. Thus came his loyalty tests, where he had his followers practice revolutionary suicide. 

To do this, he would have them all drink a fruit-flavored drink, similar to Kool-Aid, that he said was laced with poison. Once everyone drank it and realized that they were still alive, he would tell them they had passed yet another loyalty test.

Even with everything they had endured, no one could have known what was going to happen next.  After the shooting of US Congressman Leo Ryan and others at the airstrip, Jones sprung into action.

He proceeded to release radio orders to everyone that wasn’t currently in the compound to commit suicide as they had practiced. 

Back at the compound, he then enacted his plan for revolutionary suicide. The adults were given a fruit-flavored drink that was laced with cyanide, tranquilizers, and sedatives.

Those who refused to comply were forcefully injected with it, and those that tried to run were shot to death. 

Others were put in charge of using syringes to squirt it into the mouths of infants and children before they drank the poison themselves.

Jones himself was later found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.

November 18, 1978, went down as one of the most tragic days in American history. With over nine hundred American civilians dying at once, this marked the greatest civilian casualty in America’s history before 9/11.

The World’s Reaction

Once news of this tragedy reached people, everyone was devastated. Especially the families, who were also angry with what was allowed to happen to their loved ones. 

The government tried to have the bodies buried in Guyana, but the Guyanese government refused to allow it.

On top of that, the surviving family members wanted their bodies to be brought back so they could hold proper burial services and have a chance to say goodbye. 

Due to this, the government was forced to have the military complete a recovery of the bodies. The death toll was so large, so brutal, that many veterans from this time still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder due to this event.

Just imagine it. Bodies laying on the ground, practically on top of each other, for miles. Even children, over 300 of them.

If you would like a more vivid description, you can always look up the Jonestown massacre for yourself, as it is too disturbing for this website. Look at your own discretion.

They were all able to be brought back home for a proper burial, but their families will never receive justice. Every family has a story to tell, and some are more tragic than others.

To learn more about specific families that were involved in this tragedy, check out the link below. It contains more information and links where you can read their stories firsthand for yourself. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/i-didnt-want-her-to-go-the-families-who-lost-loved-ones-to-jonestown/2018/11/15/a4d1e9bc-e842-11e8-a939-9469f1166f9d_story.html

Ever since the tragedy that unfolded in Jonestown, the area in Guyana has remained uninhabited, a ghost town now overgrown by the surrounding jungle.

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May the Jonestown massacre victims rest in peace, and the family and friends take solace in the fact that they will never be forgotten.

The Haunted Hollywood Sign

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If you’ve ever seen “The Haunting in Connecticut” or “Poltergeist,” you know that ghosts can be just as unique and strange –just like when they were alive.

Is the Hollywood sign haunted?

The Hollywood sign has been reported to be haunted by many spirits and other phenomena including sightings of orbs, shadowy figures, ghosts, and unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by witnesses and supported by data collected from paranormal investigators.

It is said that seven people died during its construction and now their ghosts wander around the letters. Here are several other well-known sightings.

Orbs in the Hills

Hikers reported seeing glowing orbs floating above the Hollywood sign. On the National UFO Reporting Center, it was reported that an unknown person witnessed an extremely brilliant star or light, they had no idea that such things existed. It never moved; instead, it would vanish for a while before reappearing. This goes on for quite some time—about ten minutes.

Shadowy Figures

There’s also a story about how people who have climbed up on top of the sign have seen shadowy figures moving in the distance. Some people claim that these are ghosts from the past—that they’re people who lived in Los Angeles back when there were farmlands around them and not houses or movie studios.

The area around the Hollywood sign is near the Hollywood Forever Cemetery which is also has its own set of ghost stories.

Peg Entwistle

She was just 24 years old when she began her career as an aspiring actress who was not successful. She went up to the edge and jumped off to ensure that people would remember her. There have been many who attribute strange sightings and happenings at the landmark to her ghost.

For example, when the letter H fell off the sign in the 1940s, there were many who said it had taken its tumble down Mount Ida due to Peg Entwistle’s ghost.

Runyon Canyon Road

If you walk up Runyon Canyon Road at night, you’ll see ghosts walking through the woods around it—but if you try to follow them, they’ll disappear before your eyes.

And no wonder, Runyon Canyon Road has some pretty dark history.

Runyon Canyon was called “No Man’s Canyon”. It runs between Fuller and Franklin Avenue to Mulholland Drive. It was supposed to be a Gabrielino-Tongs camp and was deeded to “Greek George” Caralambo. Caralambo was a buddy of bandit Tiburcio Vasquez and donated his house as a hideaway.

Vasquez was hung in 1874 after the state offered a reward for his arrest. Although he wasn’t executed in Runyon Canyon, it was his hideaway. Hikers have reported seeing the ghost of a well-dressed, stylish guy who vanished without a trace.

The canyon became a popular hiking and camping site when it was sold and handed down through generations. Given the increasing number of hikers, the creepy ruins of the canyon – from the old building foundations to the empty tennis court and chimney – became a rumor grist for hikers. A butterscotch-colored mansion nicknamed the “wedding cake” in Runyon Canyon has been vacant and uncompleted for 16 years.

Building difficulties, divorce, gangs, drug-fueled parties, and alleged killings were common. According to plane attendant David Tollefson, the home is cursed.
Several witnesses said the palace was an Indian burial place before it became an extraterrestrial landing.

Police said the residence was a crack house with drug paraphernalia on the floor, which may have been murder grounds. The LAPD had doors pried open despite being nailed shut. The home was supposedly cursed.

Tom Ego created the house in 1993 for an Argentine couple who split and sold it incomplete.

Mr. Devine acquired it in 2004, but estate issues ensued. Christopher Meloni’s Hollywood Hills house is near Runyon Canyon Park, where Ozzie Nelson died in the master bedroom. Multiple owners have complained that the home is haunted, with bedsheets flying at night and locked doors opening and closing.

Welcome to Hell was scrawled in pink concrete behind the Runyon Canyon Park tennis court. Charles Manson’s family lived in an abandoned canyon mansion.
Few foundations remain.

Passersby reported hearing a magnificent party and seeing colorful lights on the second story. Malevolent voices told psychic investigators to leave. These are several hauntings in Runyon Canyon. A hiker died in 2014 on the Canyon’s hiking path, and the missing actress Lindsey Pearlman was discovered in 2022.

Hikers have reported hearing faint voices and seeing ghosts at these spots.
Whatever you believe about Hollywood’s most famous hauntings, there’s no denying that stories like these make for great campfire tales.

Why is the Hollywood sign haunted?

Every year, two to three people die jumping off the sign or climbing it.

The Hollywood sign has dozens of names carved into the letters. Some people have even tried to add their name to this list by carving it into the sign at night, but in order to get to it, they must hop a fence that is surrounding it.

If someone is on top of the sign, the police are called to later find out they were trying to commit suicide. Over its history, there have been many injuries and deaths from people falling off the sign.

Many people get up there to propose marriage, but sometimes things go wrong, and there is a tragic death.

They’ve even had heart attacks while climbing up.

Reasoning behind the stories

Numerous narratives circulated in the years following the famed actress’ death, putting people in terror. This may have been made up, but according to our research findings, there are not many reports of deaths caused by hikers or tourists going up there as often as people say.

Many YouTubers have filmed themselves trekking to the top of the sign and exploring the area there. You may observe several of them on YouTube.

The Hollywood sign might not be so scary, but there’s more of a dark side to Hollywood than just that. Death? No. Ghostly figures? Yes.

Witness accounts

One such account comes from actor James Dean, who said that he saw “a white figure” at the top of the hill while driving through the area one night. He told his friends about it later on, and they asked him why he didn’t stop to investigate.

His answer? “I’m not going up there.” But he died due to a tragic event (cursed car.)

Several witnesses have spotted Peg’s spirit in the neighborhood of the Hollywood sign. Park Rangers and hikers throughout the years have reported sighting a young lovely blonde-haired lady wearing 1930s-style attire in Griffith Park.

All these witnesses report that this ghost looks to be quite sorrowful. They frequently remark when they approach her, she suddenly vanishes.

One evening when a couple was walking their dog down the Beachwood Canyon path, they noticed their dog was behaving abnormally. Instead of romping about on the trail and in the bush as he usually did, he started to moan and stay back near them. A lady wearing old-fashioned attire stood in front of them.

A third witness account comes from an anonymous woman who says she saw a “ghostly figure” inside one of the letters while on her way home one evening after work back in 1981 or 1982 (she can’t remember exactly).

Another witness account comes from an older man who lived on Mount Lee and often walked his dog at night by the sign. One night, however, he noticed something strange: when he looked up at it from below, he saw that two letters had been removed from its name—and that made him feel very uneasy indeed.

What do you think?


Hikers, hunters, urban explorers, and ghost hunters have long been drawn to its ghostly presence. Every night when the sunset settles in on this west side hill overlooking the city, it lights up the entire area with an eerie glow. The letters are still lit with bulbs, but they are rarely used now. No one knows why, but many people had seen photos of the sign glowing before it was dark out when they took their picture, and they wonder if that was possibly the spirits doing.

It’s no wonder why so many people think there’s something supernatural about this iconic landmark. Would I visit? Maybe just from far away.

The Truth Behind The Conjuring 2

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After the success of the first film The Conjuring, which we discussed in a previous article, James Wan decided to grace us with yet another installment in the franchise. This time instead of staying in America, he focused on an investigation that took the Warrens, famous paranormal investigators, overseas to Enfield, England. 

When both an interview with the Hodgson family aired and news spread of the Warrens investigating their residence, the family was flung into the eye of the public. Many believed they were suffering and wanted to help, while many others believed that it was a hoax to achieve more government funding. 

Either way, the events that unfolded led the family to live through, as they describe, the most horrifying period of their life. It also gave the rest of the world an entertaining story to watch years later.

The Movie

The following article contains spoilers for the movie The Conjuring 2, so please read at your own discretion.

On May 13, 2016, director James Wan released the second installment in a trilogy, The Conjuring 2. Much like the first film, it centered on an investigation conducted by famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. 

However, there were a few very important details that differed in this film. The first is the year it takes place. Unlike the first one being set in the late sixties to early seventies, the sequel takes place in the late seventies. 

The second major difference is the location. Instead of taking place in America, the second movie took place internationally, in this case, The London Borough of Enfield, in England. 

The final major difference between the two is the fact that this one faced a lot more controversy than the original. Sure, there were a few people who claimed that Ed and Lorraine exaggerated what the Perrons were going through in the original film, but the overall backlash that the family and Warrens received when detailing their stories was much greater here. 

People worldwide claimed that the family was just making everything up to obtain more government funding, but the picture that James Wan paints in his movie tells us otherwise.

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Taking place in the seventies in England, the film circles around the Hodgson family, which is made up of the mother, Peggy, the two daughters, Margaret and Janet, and the two sons, Billy and Johnny. 

The movie starts off exploring the involvement the Warrens had in the haunting of the Amityville house. It is here that it becomes clear to Lorraine a demon is not only the source of the problems in this house, but it is also after the soul of her husband, Ed. 

Then it cuts to Enfield and the focus shifts to the Hodgsons, a struggling family where Peggy supports her four children while living in government-funded housing. They seem to live a relatively normal life until the second oldest child, Janet, begins to act strangely. 

It starts off with her sleepwalking and talking in her sleep. She even starts telling her family that the spirit of an old man is appearing and tormenting her, but with none of them seeing it, it’s hard for anyone to believe her. 

This changed once Janet soon showed symptoms of being possessed by something, and all signs pointed to the old man. The reason for this is because of the famous documentary that aired on BBC. 

In it, Janet and her sister were interviewed. But part way through, Janet seemingly lost control over her body, disturbed viewers, and ultimately led to Ed and Lorraine being sent by a priest. 

You see, Janet was unaware of what was coming out of her mouth, and didn’t even remember that she then claimed to be the spirit of a seventy-two-year-old man named Bill Wilkins. 

The documentary also contained interviews with Peggy and their neighbors, who described an incident where a wardrobe was moved on its own, as well as interviews with the two police officers that witnessed a chair moving on its own.

Because of all the media attention that the Hodgson case was receiving, the church needed to make sure that they weren’t involved in a hoax, especially after the Amityville incident, one that the Warrens swear was true. 

To ensure this, the church sent the Warrens to England to stay with the Hodgson family in order to collect evidence that something supernatural was really happening. 

While staying at the home, the Warrens conducted a seance with Janet in order to contact the spirit of Bill Wilkins. Both were convinced the family wasn’t faking anything, so they agreed to allow video cameras to be set up inside and outside the house. 

One night a camera caught Janet bending spoons and faking an incident, so the Warrens were forced to pack everything and leave. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after they left that Lorraine was able to have a vision that showed her just what was really happening at the Hodgson residence. The spirit of the old man was just being used as a tool to torment the family, when in reality he was just being used by a demon who wanted a soul. Much to our surprise, the demon turned out to be the same one from the Amityville house. 

Luckily in the end the Warrens were able to save the family and banish the demon back to hell. But what about the real Hodgsons? Were they as lucky as the movie’s ending shows, or were they really as tormented as the film made them out to be? 

The Real Story

According to the mother, Peggy, everything really started on the night of August 30, 1977. She said that Janet came into her room and told her that her brothers’ beds were shaking. 

Thinking it to be silly child’s play, she never put much stock into it, until the next night when she wished she had listened. 

While downstairs, Peggy heard a loud noise coming from upstairs. Tracing it back to the daughters’ bedroom, she burst in to find her daughters screaming. Unable to get a clear explanation out of them, she turned to leave the room. 

After leaving with her daughters, Peggy turned around for one final inspection, but she was terrified by what she saw. A large oak chest moved across the room and slid against the door. 

With the thought that it was trying to trap them in there, her mindset quickly switched to mother mode. She grabbed her children and they all ran across the street to their neighbors, the Nottinghams. 

Of course, worried for their neighbors who seemed to be in a great deal of distress, the Nottinghams called the police to come and inspect the Hodgson residence. The first logical explanation that they could think of was someone playing a prank on the family. Who knows? 

Maybe they snuck into the house to try and get a good scare out of them. This is what the two police officers were expecting when they inspected the house with the family and neighbors, but that was not what they got. 

The officers entered the house, slightly weary, but mainly with one goal in mind. To find the prankster and ensure this family never has to call them again. But the spirit had other plans in mind. 

They slowly walked through the house and checked every possible hiding place an intruder could be. Just when they thought that everything was fine and were about to leave, they all witnessed what the officers described as a “large armchair moved, unassisted, four feet across the floor”. 

What followed were the most terrifying and excruciating eighteen months of their lives, at least that’s how the Hodgsons described it. During this time, a number of occurrences plagued their family. 

Furniture would constantly overturn, toys were thrown by an unseen force, banging could be heard from inside the walls, and writing would also appear on the walls. The next occurrence that terrified Janet especially is still rumored to be fake. 

It happened late at night when she was trying to sleep. Janet told interviewers that while she was lying in bed, she felt like she was being watched. After what seemed like hours of trying to fall asleep, she must have because she awoke on the floor. 

Assuming she had a sleepwalking episode again, Janet went to get up. Only to discover that she couldn’t move. Suddenly, she could feel it. Around her neck, her bedroom curtains were wrapped tightly, as if they were trying to choke her. 

For Peggy, that was the last straw. Without knowing how to find someone that could help them, Peggy turned to the press in order to get their story out into the world. Hoping that someone would come and end their nightmare.

The press company she contacted was The Daily Mirror and they were very intrigued by her story. Obviously, it is unknown whether or not they actually believed her but a story was still a story. 

Along with their own employees, a photographer named Graham Morris and an independent paranormal investigator, Maurice Grosse, all showed up to investigate the Hodgson residence. 

It was then that things seemed to get worse. According to a 2012 interview with Janet, she told reporters that cups would fill with water, things would burst into flames, and disembodied voices would speak to her. 

But that was not the only problem. You see after all the reporters and investigators filled the house, things changed. According to them, nothing happened at first, but after a while, they then began to witness lego pieces flying across rooms.

 Maurice Grosse said that when he went to pick one up one time after it was thrown, it was hot to the touch. 

At one point, they even claim that a t-shirt flew off the kitchen table all the way to the other side of the room. Out of everything listed so far, the following occurrence is probably the one that is most hard to believe. 

According to the girls and Maurice Grosse, they were conducting an interview in the daughters’ room, when Janet started to levitate. She apparently levitated off of her bed and onto the floor, and to prove their claims, he had captured photographs of the supposed incident. But if there were photographs, then why does it seem so hard to believe?

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The reason can be found in the photographs themselves, ironically. If you look carefully enough, the stance of Janet’s body and legs appear as if she was only jumping off the bed.

 Not only that, but if you compare the three photographs of the incident in a row, she even creates an arch through the room, like someone jumping. 

Another one of the most famous parts of the investigation was the documentary aired on BBC that was produced by the Daily Mirror. If you look up the Conjuring 2 real interviews, you will be able to find the video yourself. 

It’s relatively similar to how it played out in the movie, just much less dramatic. However, a little chill ran through me when Janet started speaking in a different voice. 

It is really quite remarkable to watch. As she sits there on the couch next to her sister, you can see her mouth barely moving, as a deep and withered man’s voice comes out of it. As if it was speaking through her, the spirit said that his name was Bill Wilkins and that he had died from a hemorrhage in the living room. 

While the whole ordeal is a little hard to believe, after all a child could always just be playing games, investigators later confirmed that a man by that same name had died in their house. 

But the people had the right to be suspicious, as Janet later told interviewers that some of the occurrences were faked, just to see if the investigators would catch them. Such as the girls would bend spoons or be caught banging on the walls with brooms. 

Now, when it comes to Ed and Lorraine Warren, their part in the Enfield haunting was much smaller than the movie leads you to believe. In fact, Maurice Grosse said that they just showed up at the house, uninvited, and later left that same day. But whatever data they collected had them convinced that the Hodgsons were not lying. 

Unlike in the movie, Ed and Lorraine never stayed to exorcise Janet or anything like that. In fact, a priest had visited the home in the fall of 1978, and that is when Janet said that things began to quiet down. 

But they never stopped completely. In order to get away from the strange activity and their past that haunted them, they eventually left the home behind them after Peggy died, in the same chair as Bill Wilkins in the living room. 

Based on reports from the family that moved in after the Hodgsons left, things never really stopped. The family said that they would hear voices and occasionally see a man walking into rooms on the first floor.

Obviously, they were not prepared for what the house came with and ended up moving out after only two months.

According to reports from after the investigations officially closed, Peggy had a nervous breakdown. But she wasn’t the only person who suffered.

Janet said that the house was a very traumatizing experience, and she even spent time at a psychiatric hospital afterward because people at school would also bully her and call her “ghost girl”.

Parts That Were Fabricated

Now that the full story has been laid out, let’s go back and look at specific aspects of the movie that were fabricated for dramatic effect. The first is the scene where Janet is in her bedroom and all of the crosses on the wall are turned upside down. 

They made it clear that this never happened in real life. The next is the crooked man. While the crooked man itself is a real nursery rhyme, he did not play any part whatsoever in the real story. 

As it was made clear earlier, the Warrens actually played a much smaller role than the ones given to them in the movie, and the occurrences never completely ended. 

According to Peggy, who continued to live there with her son Billy until she died, she said that she still heard noises every now and then. Billy also stated that he always felt like he was being watched.

But none are as greatly exaggerated as the demon was, more commonly known as Valak the Defiler, the Profane, the Marquis of Snakes. Now, while there was no such evidence of this demon having any part in the real Enfield haunting, the demon itself is a real demon. 

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Mentions of this demon stretch back as far as centuries, but it doesn’t appear like a nun in the movie. Instead, it is depicted as a child with horns and wings, riding a two-headed dragon.

In fact, James Wan said he only depicted it as a nun in the movie because he wanted something that would mock Lorraine’s faith, and therefore make it more personal for her. 

But back in the seventeenth century, Valak instilled fear in many citizens that believed in God. He was first mentioned in the seventeenth-century grimoire titled “Clavicula Salamonis Regis” or “The Key of Solomon”. 

According to the text, he got his name because his ability was to find snakes and hidden treasures, all while leading an army of thirty demons. While the Bible never referenced him, “Solomon” was actually listed in the Vatican’s “Index Librorum Prohibitorum” or “List of Prohibited Books”. 

This list was surprisingly updated continuously by the church until they decided to scrap it altogether in 1966. But the grimoire itself has supposedly been found in the possession of many Catholic priests.

Due to all of these aspects that were fabricated for the movie, the film itself is an incredible piece of art, as almost any person who appreciates a good story would agree. But when it comes to people believing if the Hodgson family was lying or not, the audience seems to be divided. 

The believers out there often give the family the benefit of the doubt, especially fans of the Warrens. While others who believed that this case was a hoax, further used it as evidence that the Warrens were con artists. 

Plans For The Future

The Warrens had a long list of sinister cases throughout their career, three of which we have now covered on this website. If you would like to learn more about cases they investigated over the years, stay tuned to a dark memory and scary.fm.

Out of all the cases in their career, the Enfield haunting was probably the most controversial one the Warrens investigated. In fact, to this day people still say that it was a hoax, but the family says otherwise. 

We weren’t the ones who lived through it. The trauma that they sustained there continues to haunt the surviving members of the Hodgson family. Despite what you may think, just try to put yourselves in their shoes. A child never forgets something that scares them to their core. 

Want to Play Bloody Mary?

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Do you remember, Bloody Mary?

The game we all used to talk about playing as children,  has been around for a long time. However, it only became well known and established in the United States in the 1970s, for unknown reasons. 

But it didn’t take long for this legend to sweep America off of her feet. Soon, people were seeing Mary in numerous tv-shows such as the cult classic The X-Files, and more recent shows like Supernatural and Charmed. 

The legend of Bloody Mary is one that gives me chills just thinking about it, but my fear soon became all the more justified when I learned of the dark history behind this game.

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How to Play

Much like any other game, there are rules that must be followed to ensure success. Now, there are multiple different ways that you can play this game but the most common way goes as follows:

  1. If you want to summon Bloody Mary, the best place to perform the ritual is in your bathroom. With most bathrooms not having windows, it makes it easier to block out the light. 
  2. Gather the proper materials. In order for it to work, you must have some way of generating a lasting flame. Usually, a candle is the easiest option, and you will also require a mirror.
  3. Once night falls, bring all of your supplies to the bathroom and make sure that no one else is in there with you. Block out all possible sources of light, and light your candle in front of the mirror.
  4. Look up and make eye contact with your own reflection in the mirror. Slowly, begin chanting Bloody Mary thirteen times, slowly getting louder each time.
  5. After you finish, look up at the mirror again, but make sure you are not standing within arm’s length of the mirror, unless you want Mary to grab you. 
  6. If you survive, quickly extinguish the flame and leave the room, making sure to never use that mirror again. 

But what if you didn’t see anything? There are also other variations of the rules. Here are a few more options you can try:

  1. Instead of playing anytime at night, try starting the game at exactly midnight.
  2. Try chanting her name three or seven times.
  3. Run the sink water while chanting.  
  4. Spin in place each time you say her name.
  5. Instead of just chanting her name, repeat the phrase “Bloody Mary I stole your baby”, or “I believe in Mary Worth”. 

Now, if you have any concern for your soul, there are a few things you can try that may help dispel Mary’s spirit and save you. Here are some tips to survive your encounter with Bloody Mary: 

  1. As soon as you finish the ritual, try smudging the room, which is a native american practice of cleansing a room by burning sage. 
  2. Flick vinegar into the corners of the room. 
  3. Draw a cross with soap on the mirror for three nights in a row after you play the game.
  4. Important! NEVER,  break the mirror. This will set her free.

History Behind the Game

When it comes to rituals, the legend of Bloody Mary was not the first one that involved mirrors. In fact, mirrors have played a larger part in history than we thought. 

Years ago, during the 1800s, Europe was already crawling with their own superstitions involving mirrors.

For example, there was a way for someone to supposedly see the face of the person they were destined to marry. 

All they would have to do was wait until nightfall, and then walk up a staircase and past a mirror at midnight. When they passed the mirror, they would see one of two things.

Either their future spouse’s face, or a skull. If you were unfortunate enough to see the skull, it meant that you would die before you got to marry.

Who was Bloody Mary?

Now, there are many different versions of the Bloody Mary legend, and here are the most common few. 

The first one derives from the alternate chant mentioned earlier, the story of Mary Worth. She was a woman who lived during colonial times when suspicion of witchcraft was rampant.

Mary lived in a cabin just outside of her village where she was known for selling herbal remedies. 

Even though she sold stuff that was supposed to heal, that didn’t stop the townspeople from fearing her and calling her a witch. Eventually, little girls in the town started to go missing, and everyone suspected Mary, even though she claimed to have no knowledge of what was happening. 

What was even more suspicious was that she was slowly starting to look younger than her old haggard appearance. 

Things all came to a climax one night though when the miller’s daughter woke up hearing a strange noise that no one else could hear, but she found herself being drawn to its source. 

Her mother, incapacitated at the moment, shouted for her husband to follow their daughter because she was heading into the forest. 

After a crowd of other farmers joined the father who was chasing his daughter, they noticed Mary in the distance, standing next to an oak tree with a want in her hand. The wand was producing a strange glowing light, and it was pointed towards the miller’s home. 

Once she noticed the crowd that was now running after her with pitchforks, Mary began to flee back to her cabin. But it was too late. The farmer shot Mary in the hip with a silver bullet. 

Once they surrounded the now wounded Mary, they dragged her away, and burned her at the stake. Right before she perished, it is said that she cursed the village, saying if they ever spoke her name in front of a mirror ever again, she would return for her revenge. 

After her death, the mourning villagers raided her cabin, where they found rows of unmarked graves, full of the missing children. 

Now, the suspicious return of her youth finally made sense. The blood of the children she kidnapped, were keeping her young and beautiful.

Another version of who Bloody Mary was comes from a story that takes place a couple centuries later, right after the civil war. Let’s learn about Mary Whales. 

In this version, Mary Whales was not only a beautiful young woman, she was also very kind, and she was born to Old Man Whales and his wife, Virginia. 

However, he hated his daughter because when she was born, Virginia died due to childbirth complications, and for that, he blamed Mary. 

One night, he came home especially drunk and angry, and he burst into her room, stabbing her to death in her bed. Her screams were drowned out by the cries of the animals in their farm next door. 

When he left her body, she was covered in blood, and her head was nearly severed from her body. The next day, he picked her up and buried her body in the basement. 

Soon after her death, he learned that just because she was dead, that didn’t mean that she was gone. For multiple nights, she would appear in front of him, shouting father, and attacking him, causing him to flee to his barn. 

One time while he was shaving, she even appeared in the mirror and slapped him. After a short while with no incidents, Old Man Whales assumed that her spirit was done with him, but he was wrong.

After appearing in their house again and trying to attack him, this time she followed him to the barn when he fled the house. When he turned around, there she was. Staring at him, and pointing at a noose next to him. 

With that, Mary exacted her revenge. She was able to end the life of the man who took hers.

Both of these stories have no historical context at all, but there was a woman nicknamed Bloody Mary. She was Mary Tudor, or better known as, Queen Mary the First of England, who reigned from 1553 to 1558. 

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Mary was an illegitimate child of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Mary had a very difficult life. She was plagued with horrible menstrual pain and irregularity her entire life, and was treated like an outcast. 

Once she was finally able to seize the throne at the age of 37, she knew that she had to marry fast and produce an heir to secure her power. 

So, she married Philip of Spain, who was much younger than her at the time of matrimony. With her efforts and prayers, Mary was delighted to find out not long after that she was pregnant. 

Sadly, when the time came for her to deliver, nothing ever happened. She never bore a child, and eventually even her baby bump started to shrink. Mary thought that God was punishing her, when in reality, she suffered from pseudocyesis, or phantom pregnancy.

She wanted to be pregnant so badly, that her brain tricked her body and she developed all of the signs and symptoms that every other pregnant woman presents, except for a fetus. 

So how did she get the nickname Bloody Mary? Well, not only were her horrible menstrual problems a contributing factor, the more common reason is because she brought forward the Marian Persecutions. 

This was when hundreds of people were accused of being protestants and then burned at the stake, since Mary was trying to restore Catholicism as the primary religion of England. With all of this death on her hand, she ended up with the nickname Bloody Mary.

Real Bloody Mary Encounters

Just like with other famous legends, Bloody Mary has her own set of alleged encounters. While searching all over the web for stories, we found a few that will give you nightmares. 

The first one that stood out was the story of Lauren and her friend. In her words, they were feeling experimental one night while they were out on the road. When they stopped at a gas station with an outdoor restroom, they decided to try summoning Bloody Mary. 

The cool night air burned in their lungs as they entered the dark, damp restroom. It was clearly empty, yet they couldn’t shake the feeling that they were not alone. The putrid smell of mildew hit them surprisingly fast, yet they were undeterred, their mission clear in their mind. 

Lauren turned off the lights and they both approached the mirror. After splashing it with water, they started to spin around a repeat Bloody Mary three times. 

After they finished, Lauren’s friend went to flush a toilet while Lauren continued to stare into the mirror, only to realize that what little she could see of her reflection was slowly turning red. 

When her friend started screaming, they both ran outside the bathroom, fearful for their lives. 

Once they had light again, her friend finally noticed why Lauren’s reflection was turning red. Much to their horror, they realized it was because her face was actually covered in blood due to tiny, deep, fingernail scratches all over her face.

Another story that gave us chills was Marisa’s story. According to her, she just finished watching an episode of the famous show Ghost Whisperer, and it was actually about the legend of Bloody Mary. Feeling inspired by it, Marisa decided that she wanted to try and scare her friend. 

In an effort to achieve this, she looked into her living room mirror, spun around three times and chanted Bloody Mary. Nothing happened, unsurprisingly, so she went to the bathroom to try again. 

Even though her friend warned her not to, we closed the door, shut off the lights, and repeated the chant yet again. 

Looking into the mirror this time, she again saw nothing. When she was about to turn the light on, when something in the mirror stopped her. Looking closer, Marisa saw a black and white woman staring at her, with her mouth wide open. 

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Expecting a scream from the woman, Marisa stood still waiting, but nothing happened. Then, the apparition lifted her arms towards Marisa, but she noticed something. Her hands were covered with bright red blood, because her fingernails had been torn off. 

Her heart now pounding faster than it had ever been, Marisa felt hands grab her from behind. Screaming, she turned on the light and ran out of the bathroom. It turns out not only did she scare her friend, but she ended up terrifying herself.

Interesting and Bloody Facts

With everything we learned so far, we still don’t know how she appears. There are many different ideas about what Bloody Mary truly looks like, such as she either takes on the appearance of how she died, as a corpse. 

Or she appears like a haggard witch, ready to steal the souls of her unlucky victims. With all of the different concepts out there, there is one constant that is always described in her appearance.

She is always covered in blood, always. Whether it be on her face or hands, blood is unsurprisingly the one constant in Bloody Mary. 

What happens to you when you play the game also varies based on who you ask, based on the earlier stories submitted by people on the internet. Some claim she tries to grab you or strangle you, some say she screams and curses you or tries to steal your soul.

Lastly, others claim that she either wants to drink your blood or scratch your eyes out. No matter what the consequence for playing the game is, I think everyone can agree that none of them are pleasant. 

When it comes to this legend, why are we so captivated by it? Why do some many adolescents find it fun to play the game even when they know the most likely outcome?

There are many possible reasons, but perhaps the most logical one is that it fulfills our human desire for excitement or the thrill or being scared. 

No matter the reason, there are some things that you just don’t mess with. Or else you may find yourself in front of a mirror, in the dark, and a door that just won’t open. 

The Dark Legend of the Black-Eyed Children

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Who are the Black Eyed Children?

What would you do if you came across a child straight out of Coraline: a normal-looking child, except for black, soulless buttons for eyes? What if, instead buttons, they were simply black holes?

These Black Eyed Children are described as pale, between six and sixteen years of age, and, most notably, eyes that lack pupils or sclera, the white parts of a normal human eye.

There have been sightings of Black Eyed Children on highways, streets, and residential areas. Even more disturbing are reports of Black Eyed Children lurking in the shadowy corners of bedrooms; some people plagued with sleep paralysis have seen the children during their episodes. Documents of these children date back to the 1980s. A notable account from 1996 by a man named Brian Bethel details an alleged encounter with the Black Eyed Children in Abilene, Texas.

The Tale of Brian Bethel

A reputed veteran journalist for Reporter-News out of Abilene, Texas, Bethel claimed to have encountered the terrifying visage of the Black Eyed Children on a completely mundane outing to a communications office to pay some bills. While sitting in his car in a movie theater parking lot, around 9:30 at night, two young boys approached Bethel. One of them asked if Bethel would give them a ride back home, since they forgot to bring money to see “Mortal Kombat” at the theater. Bethel recalls being deeply afraid throughout the interaction, despite the seemingly innocent request. The sight of their coal-black eyes was the last straw; Bethel left the parking lot, glancing in his rearview mirror to find that the boys had vanished.

To corroborate his story, Bethel shared a similar account from a man named Jon Norwood, living in Portland, Oregon. The two met in an online chatroom called #Ghosts of the Undernet, around 1997. Norwood’s encounter took place around 11 at night, when a man named Doug asked Norwood for help dealing with some kids lurking around the man’s car. Norwood let Doug into his car, and together, they drove to wear Doug’s was parked.

“They looked way to intense for kids” wrote Norwood in his chatroom post about the children (emphasis added). The children insisted Doug was supposed to give them a ride home, but Doug refused. When he moved to get out of the car, Norwood noticed the “liquid black pool[s]” where the children’s eyes should have been.

Fearing for his life, Norwood sped out of the garage, but the oldest child – a boy Norwood guessed was around 14 – was waiting for them at the exit to the garage on the ground level.

When the children were around, Norwood experienced a “feeling of menace.” That feeling allegedly returned later that night. Norwood dropped Doug back at his car once the children were gone; Norwood was driving behind Doug, who was hit by a truck while he was attempting to cross an intersection while the light was yellow. He died on impact.

“I gave a police report, and the whole time, felt really freaked out and very exposed,” wrote Norwood. “I got back to my car, got in, locked the door, and waited. I saw the kids again, from about two blocks away.”

People who have seen them often report a general sense of doom, as Bethel and Norwood did. The aura of fear surrounding the presence of the Black Eyed Children, as well as their typical description, have inspired several conspiracy theories: the children are ghosts, demons, or vampires; they practice dark magic; they are alien/human hybrids.

Others believe these children are nothing more than morbid pranksters, and pictures of them are nothing but doctored vintage photos. Nonetheless, a few specific stories of Black Eyed Children fuel the legend – notably, the stories of Josh and Emma Colins and of their friends Jo and Remy. The four children were playing hide and go seek in the woods together. During the game, they got lost and were killed; the cause of their death was supposedly foul play. These dead children have been reported seen as lost children or hitchhikers, preying on, as Norwood describes it, any “good Samaritan” that is willing to help young children.

Other Stories of the Black Eyed Children

Although Bethel’s story was the first official sighting, Black Eyed Children have been spotted since the 1980s in Staffordshire, England.

For example, journalist Lee Brickley shared his aunt’s story about an encounter with Black Eyed Children. According to Brickley, his aunt – eighteen at the time – heard a child screaming for help while in Cannock Chase, a rural region of Staffordshire. The child was a six-year-old girl with completely black eyes. The little girl ran from Brickley’s aunt, disappearing into the woods.

Two more reports were set in the same place – Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, England – from 2014. In August of that year, a woman and her daughter heard a child screaming, like Brickley’s aunt had. The mother-daughter duo searched for the child, to no avail. When they stopped to catch their breath, a little girl suddenly appeared behind them; she was hiding her eyes behind her hands. The woman asked her if she was alright, and when the little girl uncovered her eyes, the mother immediately turned to protect her own little girl. Then, the Black Eyed Girl was gone.

A month later, a married couple were walking their dog in that same area. Unlike the other witnesses, this couple heard a little girl giggling. A child with black eyes materialized on the dirt path in front of them. They stared at each other for five minutes before the Black Eyed Child ran off.

Apparently, reports of Black Eyed Children had been increasing in Staffordshire between 2013 and late 2014, an average of one sighting per month.

The Black Eyed Children in the Media

YouTube is riddled with videos explaining the myths behind the Black Eyed Children. “Black Eyed Children: Let Me In” (2015) is the most famous movie featuring these children. This movie follows a filmmaker who travels to learn and retell as many stories of Black Eyed Children as possible. The movie was intended to be a documentary; however, it lacks credibility and is often regarded as more fiction than documentary.

A documentary-style TV series called “Monsters and Mysteries in America” discussed the Black Eyed Children in Season 1 Episode 2, “Badlands,” which aired on April 14, 2013. The episode includes an interview with someone who reportedly saw the children in Amarillo, Texas. The credibility of the accounts of Black Eyed Children is certainly in question. Regardless, the accounts that have percolated around the web are chilling. The very idea of monstrous children is enough to inspire fear and flame urban legends.

Origins of the Men in Black Phenomenon

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They wear many hats.

Men working for unknown organizations.

Men working for government agencies that deal in secrets and unusual activities.

Inhuman creatures who look like men but perform extraordinary acts.

And, most notoriously, the mysterious men who aid the government in hiding the existence of aliens and UFOs.

If you’re lucky enough to glimpse a UFO, you might also be unlucky enough to be visited by one of the so-called “Men in Black,” according to legend.

Encounters with the Men in Black

Take Harold Dahl for example. On June 27, 1947, Dahl was on Puget Sound with his son Charles and their dog when he saw six donut-shaped objects floating above the water. One of the objects plummeted, and debris hit Charles and the dog, injuring the former and ultimately killing the latter. Dahl took photos of the fallen object. He showed those photos to his supervisor, Fred Crisman, who went to Puget Sound and saw the object for himself, becoming a second witness.

A man in a black suit visited Dahl the morning after the incident. This man recited Dahl’s experiences the day before with absolute accuracy, then said, “What I have said is proof to you that I know a great deal more about this experience of yours than you will want to believe,” according to Gray Barker’s They Know Too Much About Flying Saucers (1956). The man warned Dahl not to talk about the sighting, or else.

Despite Dahl and Crisman later recounting their claims, the mythology behind the Men in Black has persisted, and other encounters feed the conspiracy.

Albert K Bender, the founder of the International Flying Saucer Bureau (IFSB), was also allegedly visited by men in black. Bender was a member of the Air Force; after he was honorably discharged, he and his parents moved to Bridgeport, Conneticut. Bender had what he called a “Chamber of Horrors” in his attic, containing items such as shrunken heads and original art. He was fascinated by the supernatural, which complimented his fascination with UFOs, leading him to found the IFSB in 1952. The organization gained global fame, with 600 members worldwide. The IFSB had a quarterly newsletter called Space Review that contained UFO sighting testimonies as well as theories. It was through Space Review that Bender orchestrated “C-Day,” a collective reading of a form letter written by himself by all the members of IFSB at 6 pm on March 15, 1953 as an attempt to communicate with alien life forms.

After starting IFSB, Bender began having disturbing experiences, such as a man with glowing eyes stalking him and a persistent foul odor from his attic. These experiences culminated in multiple visits from three men in black suits in July 1953 who demanded he stop his investigation into UFOs. Bender believed that these men were employed by an alien power. He eventually gave and ended the IFSB. Space Review’s last issue contained the following message: “The mystery of the flying saucers is no longer a mystery. The source is already known but any information about this is being withheld by orders from a higher source. We would like to print the full story in Space Review but because of the nature of the information we have been advised in the negative. We advise those engaged in saucer work to be very cautious.”

Albert Bender wrote an autobiography and moved to California, where he passed in 2016.

While the Men in Black remain in the realm of lore, the government’s involvement in UFO investigation is very real.

The Government’s History With UFOs

In the last couple decades, American politicians have been increasingly transparent in terms of research investigating UFOs, or UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena), as government agents like to call them. A video leaked of navy pilots witnessing UFOs in 2017 facilitated the de-stigmatization of UFO fascination, but the government’s history with UFOs began much earlier.

The U.S. military first saw UFOs on July 23, 1952 above Pottstown, Pennsylvania. F-94 Starfire fighter jet pilots spotted a large, silver, pear-shaped object. The object did not appear to have any mechanism that would allow it flight. The pilots also saw two smaller objects orbiting the larger for a total of 30 minutes.

Two more UFOs were spotted by an Air Force captain that same year, four days earlier, in Elkins Park in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Between 1947 and 1969, the U.S. military investigated over 12.6K UFO sightings worldwide as part of Project Blue Book. 701 of those cases remain unsolved[TR1] [TR2] .

The U.S. government is not alone in its dabbling in ufology. Canada, Denmark, Italy, and Sweden, and all had ufology programs sponsored by the countries’ governments, and France’s GEIPAN is still an active organization.

In 2008, U.S. Senator Harry Reid approved $22 million in funding to start a ufology research initiative called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, the existence of which was wasn’t made public until a decade later, when research documents from the program were leaked.

Another progression was made this year, when the Senate Intelligence Committee (headed by Senator Marco Rubio) called for a public report on UAPs. The report refers to UAPs as objects originating from Earth, which conflicts with their common association with the extraterrestrial.

Men in Black in Modern Culture

The Men in Black was cemented in American pop culture in 1997, when Men in Black was released, the first movie in an four-film franchise. The first three films starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as a sci-fi, buddy-cop duo; the latest movie in the series, Men in Black: International was released in 2019 and replaced the long-standing co-stars with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. An animated TV show targeted for kids premiered three months after the box office release of the first film and aired for four seasons, through 2001. Six video game spin-offs of the movie franchise have been released. Several books have been published on the subject of the Men in Black. They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers was mentioned earlier. Another famous title is The Real Men in Black by Nick Redfern. This book discusses Albert Bender; the MIB’s relation to Mothman, a phenomenon that haunted Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the ‘60s, and to the Loch Ness monster; and interviews with leading Men in Black researchers .


 

Beware of the Krampus

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I’m sure most of you enjoy Christmas, in fact, it may be the one time where we forget about all of the negativity and darkness that surrounds us throughout the year. But, was it always this way? 

For many people, long ago, it may have been the exact opposite, thanks to, the Krampus. 

Unlike the happy, jolly character of Santa Claus, who goes around rewarding children for behaving with presents, the Krampus is the polar opposite. With an image that definitely does not provoke joy, he goes around punishing children who have been naughty. 

From leaving coal in their stockings to beating them with sticks and branches, and even throwing them in his sack and bringing them back to his lair, he was a figure that parents would use to scare their children into behaving.

In fact, he was so feared, even adults began to chastise other adults who would dare mention his name, or dress up as him. This was most likely due to the fact that based on his appearance, he closely resembled the devil.

Legend Of Krampus
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The fear and paranoia became so bad that at one point, during the Inquisition, Krampus was banned. No one was allowed to dress up as him or celebrate him. If so, they faced execution.

But that didn’t stop his legacy from spreading across the world, no matter how many times he was suppressed. Perhaps no one could keep him from doing what he was created to do. Punish. 

Celebrating Krampus

Los Angeles, California, a location with one of the greatest celebrations held in honor of the Krampus, called a Krampuslauf. 

Many people gather for live metal music, vendors, delicious German food, where Krampus originated from, and many performers dressed head to toe as the creature himself. This is something that is enjoyed by thousands that flock to the celebration.  

Another part of the festival is something that is even recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage List. They put on a traditional eighteenth-century play that is directly based on the original Nikolausspiel, or Nicholas Play, that was put on in Central Europe centuries ago. 

The performers even use old translated German scripts for the show, a tradition that has since died out in Austria. 

With music, lights, and fun costumes, it’s easy for everyone to get caught up in the excitement of celebrating Krampus, but few are aware of just how dark his origins really are.

Origins of the Krampus

As mentioned earlier, the Krampus originated many centuries ago in Germany, as the name Krampus itself comes from the German word “krampen” which means claw.

Although there are many different possibilities as to his exact origin story, there is one specific example that can be pinpointed as the most common story. 

The story itself dates all the way back to when paganism was very popular, and Norse mythology was rampant. It is said that Krampus was the son of Hel, who was commonly misconceived to be the Norse Goddess of Death. 

However, that was only what her name meant. 

In mythology, she was never actually recognized as a god, but merely the ruler of the underworld. This is because neither of her parents were gods, her father, a trickster named Loki, only ever achieved the status of demi-god. 

When people described her, it was said that she was half flesh-colored, like a human, and the other half of her was blue. It was also a safe bet to say that you never wanted to cross her because she had a threatening, harsh, and extremely cruel personality.

Much like his mother, Krampus was not to be messed with. He was a symbol of evil, a punisher of naughty children, and some would say, the devil himself. Basically, he was the opposite of Saint Nicholas. 

So why do we need him? Well, some say that he was a necessary evil, sort of like the yin to Saint Nick’s Yang.

Krampus’ History

There were times in history where he was banned, and no one was allowed to celebrate him. Aside from what happened during the inquisition mentioned earlier, there were plenty of other times where he was banned from society. 

In the twelfth century, due to the resemblance of the devil, the Catholic church tried to banish Krampus and his celebrations. 

Then, centuries later, in 1934, Austria’s Conservative Christian Social Party actually succeeded in banning him in their country. 

Another group that succeeded in their efforts to ban Krampus, actually existed during the same time period. The nazis banned Krampus, but for a different reason. 

Due to his origins being rooted in paganism, that was an automatic red flag to their party, as anything outside of the norm was considered a threat.

Other Dark Traditions

Krampus is not the only dark tradition that surrounds Christmas. To start off, let’s look at Frau Perchta, a tradition from Austria and Bavaria. 

She is a witch who comes to decipher which children have been naughty or nice. Instead of rewarding the good children, she slits the abdomens of naughty children and stuffs their corpses with straw. 

Perhaps an even darker one is the story of Hans Trapp from France. He was a man who used witchcraft and made deals with the devil to become rich. After he was excommunicated from the Catholic church, he was an outcast and began roaming the countryside dressed as a scarecrow. 

After years of living this way, he became obsessed with the idea of tasting human flesh. He kidnapped a shepherd boy and killed him by cooking him over a fire. However, before he could take a bite, God struck him with lightning, killing Hans. 

According to the legend, he returns to France on Christmas and goes from door to door looking for a young child to devour.

Sadly, there is a large list of stories like these that prove Christmas is not as bright and happy as it always appears on the outside. None of them are quite as terrifying as Iceland’s story of the Yule Lads.

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Imagine, 13 different creatures, each set out on Christmas eve to find children and terrify them in their own unique way. From stealing farm animals to removing all sources of light from a room to scare a child afraid of the dark, there was nothing these creepy creatures wouldn’t do.

But perhaps the worst part was their pet. 

A ferocious cat, who liked to feed on, unsurprisingly, children. This beast is much worse than Krampus though, as it does not care who it eats. 

While Krampus only takes children who have been naughty, the cat takes whoever it can sink its teeth into.

Like many things that lurk among us, they may appear bright and joyful, but they come from things so dark that our minds can never truly grasp them. 

Christmas is a time of the year that is supposed to bring joy to all children, but for some, it’s a time of dread because they know what comes for them on Christmas Eve, instead of jolly old Saint Nick. 

So, instead of you better watch out for Santa Claus, perhaps the song should go, you better watch out for the Krampus, because he is coming to town, and he won’t be so generous, no matter how much you pout. 

The Dark History Behind Bobby Mackey’s

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Wilder Kentucky, home to many things. One of them is Bobby Mackey’s Music World. A bar and nightclub that features a mechanical bull. 

When country singer Robert Randall Mackey, or Bobby for short, bought this large building to fulfill an old dream of his to play live at his own place, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. 

Deep below the building lurked a dark basement with a well that many call the gateway to hell. With all of the dark history that this building contains, it’s no surprise that Bobby Mackey’s is now one of the most haunted places in America.

Located next to a railroad track, the outside of the building looks like every other bar or restaurant you may visit in a small town, with white paint on one side and bricks on the other.

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 Once you enter, your senses are overtaken by the dimly lit red lights that run over the bar, red lights on the walls, and a red Bobby Mackey’s sign. After walking around a bit, any chance you had at having a normal night goes out the window when you read the sign that the staff put up that says:

“Warning to our patrons: this establishment is purported to be haunted. Management is not responsible and cannot be held liable for any actions of any ghosts/spirits on this premises.” 

In 1850, a slaughterhouse and meat packaging plant was constructed on that land. It was very large, and in the basement of the building sat a well. At the time, this well was used to dispose of the slaughtered animals’ blood, guts, and waste. 

Later, in the 1890s, for reasons unknown, the slaughterhouse was shut down, and the well was just left to sit there, day after day, year after year until it was made a key part in ritualistic sacrifices by many different satanic cults. 

Many of these rituals involved what researchers say to be both animal and human sacrifices, possibly even disabled children. The Satanists would do this in order to prove their loyalty to the devil himself and gain his favor.

Headless Pearl Bryan

A lot of this had been rumors and stories passed around town in order to scare children at the time, but it wasn’t until the town saw a truly horrifying crime in 1896, did they start to believe their own stories. Let’s dive into the story of what happened to Pearl Bryan. 

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Pearl Bryan was a young woman who was living in Greencastle, Indiana in 1896. Growing up in both a religious family and community, you can imagine how scared she was when she became pregnant by her boyfriend, William Wood, the son of the local Methodist minister. Wood then convinced her to get an abortion. 

He contacted his friend Scott Jackson who was a dental surgery student in Ohio, in hopes that he would be able to help with the procedure. Unknown to him though, Jackson was rumored to have ties to a satanic cult that practiced in the torn-down slaughterhouse in Wilder. 

Pearl left her home on February 1, 1896, and told her family that she was going to Indianapolis, but that was the last time they would ever see her alive. Since she was actually meeting Jackson and his roommate Alonzo Walling in Cincinnati. At the time, she was already five months pregnant. 

Unfortunately for her, Jackson’s skills were very incompetent. The first thing he and Alonzo had tried was to induce an abortion using cocaine, and it didn’t work. Then, they tried to use dental tools and ended up botching that as well. 

Nearly an hour later, they had a crying, frightened, and bleeding young woman on their hands, and no idea what to do. 

With little to no options left, they decided to take her across the Ohio River to Kentucky and snuck away to a secluded area near Fort Thomas. It was here that they killed Pearl by severing her head from her body with dental tools while she was still conscious. 

Afterward, they dumped her body about two miles from the abandoned slaughterhouse but kept her head. In fact, they were only able to identify her body by her shoes. 

This is because the company’s imprint was on the shoes she had been wearing at the time, and they were able to confirm with the authorities that they had sold them to her. 

Some of her blond hair was later found inside a valise in Jackson’s room. So where did Pearl’s head go? Many believe that it was used in a satanic ritual and dumped in the well at the old slaughterhouse due to the rumors about Jackson. 

Luckily, this story at least ended with some sort of justice. In 1897, both Jackson and Walling were put on trial and sentenced to death by public hanging. Her boyfriend Wood made a deal with authorities to save himself, but he had to testify against the two of them. 

The two of them were also offered a deal, life sentences for the location of Pearl’s head, but they refused. Perhaps they were afraid of Satan’s wrath if they revealed the location because the cult was involved. 

It is said that as the noose was being slipped around Walling’s neck, he said he would come back and haunt the area for all eternity, and it seems that he has followed through with promise.

Buck and Red

After standing for almost half a century, the old slaughterhouse was finally torn down, and in its place, stood a brand new casino and nightclub. Only this wasn’t just any ordinary nightclub, it was also a speakeasy, or in simpler terms, an illegal bar because it was the 1920s.

Buck Brady purchased the place in 1933 and renamed it the Primrose. Things went smoothly for about a decade, and then one of the frequent patrons, a shady mobster named Red Masterson, decided that he too wanted a piece of the profits.

So he did what mobsters did best, he tried to muscle his way into the business, but Buck wasn’t having it. He refused to sell anything to Red or his men, and soon things escalated. The mobsters began to threaten and harass the bar’s customers to the point where he decided to take matters into his own hands, and he drew a gun on Red. 

With his bad luck, the mobster of course ended up surviving, and poor Buck was charged with attempted murder and was forced to sell his bar in 1946. 

Most people assumed he left town on his own, ashamed to ever come back, but it wasn’t until authorities found his body in the building’s basement, right next to the well, that they knew they were wrong. 

Coroners ruled it death by suicide, another body to add to the land’s casualties.

Johanna and Her Lover

Fast forward to the 1950s, the bar was bought by a new man and renamed the Latin Quarter. Not much is known about who the man was himself, but his daughter is a whole different story. Johanna was her name, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. 

Her father was very protective of her, so she was never allowed to go near men. But Johanna soon caught the eye of a performer at the bar that worked for her father. Her long, soft locks and the sweet smell of roses she left behind, was enough to tempt any man. 

With Johanna returning his affections, they began their forbidden love affair. Soon after, she became pregnant with his child. Both terrified of what would happen if her father found out, they quickly made plans to run away and begin their new life together. But someone else had found out, and the first thing they did was tell the father. 

Of course, he disapproved of the singer, so he had her lover murdered. 

Grief-stricken, she did the only logical thing she could think of at the time, she poisoned her father. Now left with no one in her life, she decided that life was no longer worth living. 

So, the same night that she killed her father, Johanna ended her own life, in the basement, right next to the well. Leaving nothing behind but the smell of her rose perfume, once sweet, but was now bitter with death.

Real Experiences

With how tragic her ending was, I’m not surprised that Johanna finds it difficult to leave the bar, even decades after her death. In fact, there are a number of people who claim to have seen her or felt her presence. 

One employee who worked there said that they have seen a woman who calls herself Johanna behind the bar, and when she disappears, apparently the sweet smell of roses lingers. 

But she wasn’t the only one who has had an experience with her spirit, because Bobby’s wife, who would help run the bar, claims that she would often be overcome with the scent of roses whenever she was in the basement.

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Also, according to her, when she was pregnant, she would still stay at the bar and help her husband manage the place. Then one day, while she was vacuuming the stairs of the building, she felt the arms of a man wrap around her waist. 

Her first thought was “Oh, it’s probably Bobby”, but when she turned around, there was no one there. Panic set in when she felt the arms pick her up, and the next things she knew, she had been thrown down the stairs. 

When asked what happened, she described the spirit as a man who fit the description of Alonzo Walling, one of the students that killed Pearl. She said he screamed at her “get out, get out!”. She now refuses to step foot in the bar ever again.

Not everything that happens at the bar is as sinister as what happened to Bobby’s wife, with multiple patrons coming forward constantly and describing the experiences they had in the bar. 

One patron claims to have experienced multiple things over a span of time, including feeling a suffocating heat, seeing a trash can fly across the room, and seeing a man with a handle-bar mustache yell at him “die game, die game”, in the men’s restroom, which is Latin for “dying well”. 

Perhaps slightly more scary, is the claim by the former caretaker of the building. According to the man, he was possessed by a demonic spirit when he was living there, and even according to Bobby, he witnessed his exorcism on-site by an ordained minister. 

Other staff have also come forward and shared their experiences with Bobby as well, although he remains a skeptic himself. 

According to one of his managers, she too has experienced unusual things in the bar. She said that when she normally closes the place for the night, she goes around the property to lock all of the doors, and turn off all of the lights and appliances.

But sometimes when she would return to open again, she would find all of the lights turned on, the doors unlocked, and the jukebox on, playing the song, Anniversary Waltz. 

A skeptic could say that maybe someone else had just arrived before her to open the business, which could be true. But it still doesn’t explain how the jukebox could be playing a song it doesn’t have or playing at all when it isn’t even plugged in. 

Some other ghosts that have been known to frequent the establishment are Buck Brady, the former owner of the nightclub before he killed himself, and the headless spirit of poor Pearl, still wandering around, looking for her head.

Paranormal Investigations

If you want to visit the place and try to see one of these lost souls for yourself, then good news. This place is open to everyone, just like a normal bar. 

One time, this place was featured on an episode of Ghost Adventures, and in the episode, they had the staff lock them inside overnight, so they could make sure they were getting the full experience.

Once night fell, they started to taunt the spirits in order to get a reaction to capture on camera, and they were most certainly not disappointed. 

The member of the crew who was leading the investigation ended up with three claw marks going down his back, with no explanation as to how they got there.

Bobby Mackey’s Music World is a great example of something that hides among us and feigns innocence before it sucks us into our waking nightmare. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. A place that has a history more bloody than some of us can stomach. 

Animals and humans being sacrificed, a woman being decapitated when she was still conscious, and one too many suicides in the basement, perhaps this place will never be able to outgrow the dark shadow cast upon it.