Hollow Hill » Spring

Old Town Spring – ghost photo detail

Fiona Broome — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:39:41 +0000

Several people have commented on this ghost photo. Below, we’ve included a sketch to show one interpretation of the figure in the photo. The picture at the left has been modified only to enhance the contrast, and to add a circle to indicate where the face is. Other than that, this photo is exactly as it originally appeared.

On the right, Fiona has sketched the figure to indicate some of the features.

That ghost would be full-size–about six feet tall, or a little shorter. That is, if you could see Fiona’s reflection in the window–which you can’t–it would be about the same size as the ghost. (Fiona was wearing a dark purple cowl neck sweater, no hat, and she looks nothing like the ghostly figure.)

There are many other interpretations of this ghost photo. Some people see a full figure within the circle. Others see a cowboy in chaps.

We’re the first to admit that this is one of those “either you see it, or you don’t” photos, and it may be nothing more than a quirky reflection from the flash on the window.

However, the bank’s robberies took place in the 1930s, and the town has ghosts dating back to its “wild west” days. So, any figure from these eras is likely.

Old Town Spring – ghost in the bank

Fiona Broome — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:37:39 +0000

Old Town Spring has earned a reputation as “the most haunted town in Texas.” Whether or not that is true, it has some very dramatic ghosts. One of the most haunted buildings in Old Town Spring is in the old bank building in the middle of the 100 block of Midway. It’s just a few doors away from another famous haunted site, Wunsche Bros. Cafe and Saloon.

However, we have yet to capture anything dramatic in photos at Wunsche Bros. Cafe and Saloon. By contrast, the bank is profoundly haunted.

The little brick building–seen in the photo at left–has been the home to many shops since the 1930s when it was the Spring State Bank. In the 1930s, the bank was the site of at least two robberies involving gunfire. One team of bank robbers may have been included the famous Bonnie and Clyde.

THE BANK IS GONE, BUT THE GHOSTS REMAIN

Today, the bank is a memory, as shops move into the building… and then move out. The reason that this prime real estate sits empty again (as we write this in January 2006) may simply be ghostly energy–residual energy–in the old metal vault that’s still part of the building. Or, if our suspicions are right, at least one ghostly figure may be trapped inside this building, looking for the cash deposits that left when the bank did, over 50 years ago.

On the night of January 6th, 2006, we returned to Old Town Spring to investigate some of its many haunted sites. On this chilly Friday evening, our focus was on the old bank building at 115 Midway, in the middle of Old Town Spring’s popular shopping district.

This painted brick building sits amid quaint gift shops, cafes, and antiques stores. Most weekends, tourists and locals browse the streets, shop, and pause for great food, especially traditional Texas fare such as steaks, burgers, and barbeque meals.

AFTER DARK, THE MOOD CHANGES

The sidewalks roll up early in Old Town Spring. Restaurants such as Puffabelly’s and Wunsche Bros. Cafe and Saloon remain busy and boisterous, but the surrounding streets are dark and quiet… except for the old bank building. Something walks inside that building, and it’s not a night watchman. Most of the windows of the old bank are covered with paper, and a sign indicates that the empty building is for rent. However, you can look into some of the windows. If you do, you may feel that–if you could peer into the darkness a little better–a figure or even a terrifying face might appear at any moment. It’s that kind of place.

UNEXPLAINED, INTERIOR ORBS

Most of my photos that night are a little odd. The night was entirely still, and this building has been empty for months. The windows are all sealed tight, as are the doors. There was no reason for dust to be circulating, to cause multiple orbs. But, in many of the pictures, that’s what we see. The photo at the right is the only reasonably “normal” picture of the evening. It was taken through the window next to the bank building. Those shutters are indoors. I’m not sure about the architectural plans, but that wall may have been an exterior wall, left “as is” when it was attached to neighboring shops.

Most of my other photos are filled with orbs of all sizes. Most also include glare from my flash, so I have to discount the orbs as lens flares.

However, one photo still makes us scratch our heads and wonder what it is.

IS THIS A GHOST?

Below, you can see two copies of the same photo. On the left, I’ve posted the picture exactly as I took it. (It doesn’t show up very well online. The original is better.) Yes, the camera’s flash could account for everything in this photo… but I don’t think that it does. I have a dozen other pictures with the flash in them, and not one features anything this odd.

On the right, I’ve enhanced the picture’s contrast and put a circle around the face of the figure. To me, it looks as if he’s wearing a brown, 1930s-style hat. Below the circle, I can see the outline of shoulders, a tall white collar, and it looks as if he’s wearing a brown suit jacket.

We’ve already had several other interpretations of the figure in the photo. Perhaps spirits manifest differently to different people, and use the available energy in the picture to “reach” them? (If you click on the right photo, you can see a sketch of what we first saw when we looked at this picture, and additional details about the ghost: Old Town Spring – ghost photo detail.)

What’s especially intriguing is that everyone seems to be describing a similar figure… but he manifests in different ways to each person.

I’ve taken thousands of photos, and most of them aren’t worth comment. However, now and then I see one that stands out because it’s different. There may be very logical explanations for it, and this may be just a play of the light, a quirky reflection, and my own imagination.

That said, I wanted to share it with you because–whatever else it is (or isn’t)–it’s an interesting photo.

Old Town Spring – haunted bank

Fiona Broome — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:34:21 +0000

Old Town Spring–just north of Houston, Texas–is haunted. Some claim that it’s the most haunted town in Texas. I’m not sure about that, but it’s definitely an eerie place after dark.

There are several locations that fascinate me, but one of the best is the old bank building.

The bank is easy to recognize; it’s the brick building with bulletholes, in the middle of the 100 block of Midway. It’s on the same side of the street, and just a few doors down from, the haunted Wunsche Bros. Cafe and Saloon.

In the photo at the left, you can see one of the bullet holes in the bank’s brick exterior. The Spring State Bank–as it was called–was the site of at least two robberies involving gunfire. One may have featured the famous team of Bonnie & Clyde.

DO THE BANK’S GHOSTS LINGER?

In January 2006, the bank building was empty once again. Shops move in, and soon move out. Few people will admit that the building’s ghosts are a problem, but–with a violent history like this–it’d be odd if there wasn’t some haunted energy there. We keep revisiting this building because there’s something there, inside and outside the old bank.

Sure, there’s residual energy. After two gunfights, that’s normal for a town with the “wild west” history of Old Town Spring.

But, my gut feeling is that there’s at least one figure walking around inside that building, after dark.

GHOSTLY MIST – FIRST HAUNTED EVIDENCE

During a November 2005 ghost investigation, I captured a couple of odd photos at the bank. In the images below, you can see a light or mist forming at the right side of the photo. I’d have dismissed the picture at the right as a finger or insect in front of the lens, but the left photo makes it clear that this was an anomaly that formed while I was taking the pictures. These pictures were taken a few minutes apart. A bug wouldn’t be hovering that long in one spot in front of my lens… not without me noticing it, anyway.

Those are intriguing photos… the kind of pictures that demand additional investigations. Sometimes, you can find explanations for these kinds of images. In this case, we couldn’t.

Spring, Texas ghosts, pt 2

Fiona Broome — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:18:40 +0000

The vicinity of Spring, Texas features many wonderful cemeteries, and Old Town Spring has the reputation of being very haunted. On Sunday evening, 22 May 2005, we visited several cemeteries in the area, with interesting results. Photographs–especially “ghost orbs”–are just one anomaly that we note when investigating a site that is supposed to be haunted. We also use EMF and compass readings, EVP (recordings of ghostly voices), and other detection techniques.

However, one of the most frustrating (and telling) signs of a genuine haunting is when an otherwise reliable camera won’t work properly. That is what happened at Cemetery #1 (as we’re calling it) on 22 May 2005:

Black photos and lost photos

We use the famous “sparkle” camera to tell when a site is probably producing orbs and other anomalies in photos. Then, we rely on our digital cameras, since they are more sensitive to the electrical disturbances that seem to accompany orbs.

On this evening in Spring, Texas, a digital camera (which we’d used reliably since January 2002) worked fine at Wunsche Cemetery, and then recorded nothing but blackness–for over 25 photos–during our stop at Cemetery #1.

At our next stop, investigating a rural cemetery in the area, the camera was still a little odd but recorded about 30 good photos–many with orbs–that we could see on the camera’s preview screen. In fact, we reviewed the photos several times during our drive back to Houston.

However, upon arriving at home, when the camera card was placed in our desktop computer, an error message said that the card wasn’t formatted. We received the same error message on our laptop computer, and even in an external card reader. A restart of the desktop didn’t resolve the problem. We had no choice but to reformat the card… and we lost over 100 photos from that evening.

Oddly, another team of researchers was at Cemetery #1 when we arrived, and–although she probably didn’t hear me complaining to my husband about my camera–one of the other researchers announced similar camera problems. When she showed me her camera’s preview screen, it showed all-black images (full frames) just as mine did.

Polarity?

Because most of the “sparkles” seemed to appear around two trees, and we were standing between them, my husband speculates that the trees may be energy sources, like two poles. My camera was fine when I was in other parts of the cemetery, but when I stood between the two trees, all of my photos turned out black.

We’ll return to this cemetery during daylight hours to measure any electromagnetic energy that is there. The cemetery is not near any power lines, and–although we were in a residential area–it’s unlikely that we were near underground cables. Nevertheless, it’s worth checking, just in case.

Cemetery #2 (also our nickname, referring to a different cemetery)

We visited another cemetery twice on May 22nd, once during the day and once after dark. This cemetery is larger and slightly more rural than Cemetery #1. It’s also full of ant hills by day, and has considerable uneven ground that makes after-dark visits risky.

Our daytime digital photos–now lost–produced several with very odd blue areas around some of the more isolated headstones. There were also two huge black, winged figures (perhaps vultures) that flew up from the back of the cemetery and seemed to vanish.

Digital photos at night–also lost during the reformat–produced numerous good orbs. Our film photos showed only orbs from insects.

Spring, Texas ghosts

Fiona Broome — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:13:46 +0000

Wunsche Cemetery

Wunsche Cemetery is a lovely little cemetery with a big reputation, located between the feeder road and I-45, immediately after the Cypresswood exit, heading north. This can be a challenging place to stop, although there is a small parking area for visitors. (You will be re-entering feeder road traffic, including cars leaving I-45 that may still be driving at interstate speeds.)

We checked Wunsche Cemetery twice, and feel that it may have some low-level hauntings. However, we were there during daytime hours and at dusk; it may be better after dark.

Wunsche Bros. Cafe

This is one of the few sites in Old Town Spring that seems very definitely haunted. We have no conclusive outdoor photos yet, but several good indoor pictures. The restaurant graciously escorts patrons upstairs when a staff member is available to show guests around. You’ll be climbing steep stairs to see a rocking chair that we’ve observed rocking when no one was nearby.

Cemetery #1 (our name for the cemetery, not its real name)

This cemetery is in a quiet, residential area and we’re not comfortable sharing the exact location at this time.

Because the cemetery is well-sheltered from breezes, bugs can be a problem. These are our best photos from our second visit there:

The orb in the tree (right photo) is probably a true anomaly. The two orbs in the photo on the left are probably insects. See a closer look at this photo, below.

The orb on the left (Orb #1) has the right translucency, but genuine “ghost orbs” are almost perfectly circular; the irregular shape of this orb suggests that it’s a moving insect captured on film.

Orb #2 on the right is the correct shape, but it is a little too brilliant and the edges are slightly fuzzy. This also suggests an insect, but it’s possible that it’s a very odd “ghost orb.” Because of the insects in the area, we have to discount this second orb as well.