Author: Fiona Broome

Hollis, NH – Blood Cemetery’s Small Grey Ghost (A True Story)

Despite many years of ghost hunting, I still enjoy visiting Blood Cemetery (aka Pine Hill Cemetery) in Hollis, NH.

It’s an isolated spot with more than its share of ghost stories, and I like it there.

Well, I used to like it there…

Here’s a true ghost story from Blood Cemetery

The evening before Halloween night in 1999, the sunset was magnificent. It was a warm evening, and a fine time for some photos at Blood Cemetery.

Since this ancient New England cemetery is on a hill, its headstones can look magnificent — or eerie — against a colorful sky.

Everything was fine until I was about halfway through my roll of film. (Remember, this was 1999, before digital cameras were reliable, and long before phones included cameras.)

The light was starting to fade, and my attention was drawn to an area just east of the Farley family graves.

Looking through my camera’s viewfinder, I was dismayed to see something grey-ish move between me and one of the headstones. It had very fuzzy edges, and it was the same color as the headstone.

“Oh. Great,” I sighed. “It’s a cat.”

I waited for it to move out of the way so that I could take more photographs.

Then, as I watched, the “cat” vanished into the headstone.

I nearly dropped my camera.

Really. It vanished. It took about half a second for the image to completely disappear.

It went into one of those half-tall headstones at Blood Cemetery. (It was not a child’s marker, as I discovered when I returned on November 1st.)

The grave is near the center of the cemetery. There is no way an animal could leave that graveyard without being seen, even at dusk.

The cemetery isn’t that large, and a wide grassy area surrounds the headstones.

Plus that, the stone that it vanished into is one of the smaller stones in Blood Cemetery. There wasn’t any place for an animal to hide.

(I looked, just in case. I really wanted a reasonable, logical, normal explanation.)

I saw the remains of a faerie ring a few feet away, but that’s all.

Over 15 years later, I still ask myself: Why did I think it was a cat?

Why it wasn’t an actual, living cat

Sure, Blood Cemetery seems to have more than its fair share of cats.

But what I saw would have been a small ghost, but a very large cat. The furry shape was about 2 1/2 feet tall, and I’m not certain how wide.

It was big. It was very fuzzy around the edges, which — from a logical (perhaps skeptical) viewpoint — suggested a massive Angora-type cat that had just been rolling in the dust so his fur was standing up.

  • It was too “fluffy” (fuzzy-edged) to be a dog.
  • And, it was far too large for any other kind of grey-colored field or domestic animal.

Too late, I realized that I’d seen… a ghost?

I don’t know. Maybe.

What else could it have been?

But I took a few photos anyway, just in case. (They didn’t reveal anything startling.)

Since then, I’ve promised myself that I will never not take a photo, when something unexpected shows up at a cemetery or any haunted site.

But, about 24 hours later, at that same Blood Cemetery location, my Halloween night experience was even stranger.  If it was a ghost, it was a quirky one.

Read about it in the next article:  Ghostly Mischief on Halloween Night

Hollis, NH – Weird Things You’ll See at Blood Cemetery

When you first see Blood Cemetery, it may seem like a quaint New England burial site.

Spend a little time there, and you’ll realize it’s downright eerie… even in broad daylight.

Weird things to look for, at Hollis’ Blood Cemetery

When you visit Blood Cemetery (aka Pine Hill Road Cemetery, Hollis, NH), watch for these things.

Are they actually ghostly…? Maybe not, but they certainly fit the term “paranormal.”

For example, watch the trees. They’ll seem to move, even when there is no breeze. Several of us have noticed this during multiple visits.

If you’re there and you’re not sure if you’re seeing something paranormal, glance outside the cemetery. Then compare the trees’ movement at Blood Cemetery with nearby wooded areas.

When I visited, and in broad daylight, the trees were still (not moving) elsewhere, but the trees inside Blood Cemetery were swaying and/or the leaves fluttering vigorously.

Watch for fog that slowly seems to engulf this cemetery and nowhere nearby, yet the cemetery is near the top of a hill. I’ve heard several independent reports of this, including one from a former policeman.

Then there’s the music people hear. Here’s one story:

A Nashua nurse was in her car with friends, and they were listening to the radio. As they approached the cemetery, static interrupted the music, followed by dirge-like organ music. Shortly after they passed the cemetery, the static returned and then their previous music was restored.

There are natural explanations for this, but it’s a common story in the vicinity of haunted cemeteries in the northeast.

Bu, in this case, the nurse is otherwise very level-headed. She’s very skeptical of paranormal reports. That’s why her tale is worth noting.

Several readers have reported sensing something angry in the cemetery. A few others have seen a lone figure standing in the cemetery after dark.

(I’ve seen this myself. By the time I got to the top of the cemetery, he’d vanished. But, with clear sight on every side, I saw no evidence that he’d walked away.)

A not-ghostly warning

This is frustrating for serious ghost hunters: The Hollis police are rumored to play pranks on people near Blood Cemetery at night, to discourage visitors and vandals.

According to one police officer, they cover themselves with ghostly sheets, and hide behind the headstones.  When someone enters the cemetery, the police leap up, shouting, and chase the trespassers out.

Nevertheless, we doubt that anyone’s out there with a fog machine, a wind machine, or broadcasting dirges on the radio.

“Blood Cemetery,” aka Pine Hill Cemetery in Hollis, New Hampshire, is one of New England’s most interesting haunted cemeteries.

You should visit it first during the day, especially late afternoon. Observe everything carefully.

Be prepared to be surprised. Or even terrified.

Hollis, NH – Abel Blood’s Mysterious Ghost

Abel Blood is one of the many ghosts haunting Hollis, New Hampshire’s “Blood Cemetery” (actually Pine Hill Road Cemetery), near Nashua, NH.

According to legend and first-person stories, Abel Blood is the eerie, solitary figure that people see at the top of the cemetery… but then he vanishes as they approach.

His gravestone is also haunted, and very credible sources describe chilling, visual changes on Blood’s gravestone.

Abel Blood’s history

Abel Blood — possibly Hollis’ most famous ghost — was buried at Pine Hill Road Cemetery in Hollis, New Hampshire, in 1867. His daughter (?) Betsy Blood is buried with him.

Studying his past to find reasons for his ghost to haunt Hollis, the records aren’t as clear as I’d like.

It appears that an Abel Blood had married just seven years before his death, but I haven’t had time to see how many Abel Bloods were in that area, and which records can be attributed to him. Here’s one of them.

Abel Blood's marriage record

And I think this is his daughter’s death record.

Betsy Blood Thompson’s death certificate

 

But here is part of a New Hampshire probate record from 1867, showing that Abel Blood had no children. So, there must have been more than one Abel Blood in the Hollis area, in that same general era, or Betsy died before him… or this story is more murky than I’d expected.

Abel Blood's probate record

 

In history books, there are no references that suggest the occult connections mentioned in local legends.

In fact, Abel Blood’s genealogy and the town’s history suggest that he was a very Christian man and lived a good, law-abiding life.

It’s possible that he haunts the cemetery, and his life story – unraveled – might reveal a reason.

But no matter what the reason, most local ghost hunters agree that Abel Blood haunts the cemetery nicknamed “Blood Cemetery.”

The ghost of Abel Blood

According to local legends, Mr. Blood’s headstone changes after dark. The finger on the stone that points heavenward during the daylight hours, moves.

When Abel Blood’s ghost walks at night, the finger on the stone points towards the ground.

In fact, one of our Hollow Hill investigators led us to this cemetery, to see it in the daylight.

He had been there just once before, late one Halloween night, and he’d seen the famous headstone.

Revisiting that site with me – in daylight – he was shocked. Until that moment, he’d believed that Abel’s finger always pointed downward.

(Simulation of what others have reported seeing. The image on the right side isn’t an actual photo.)

 

Note: The finger on the headstone was actually chipped off years ago. If you visit the cemetery, the outline of where the finger was — and part of the base — remains. However, this is old vandalism. You can tell by the lichen on the chipped-off area.

A disappointing first visit

I visited the cemetery twice on 11 Oct 1999, taking a few photos for this website, not to capture anomalies.  I took 20 photos during the day and later at dusk, with a Kodak Advantix AF camera, using Fuji Advanced film, 200 ASA.

The photo below was taken at dusk. It has an orb towards the upper left corner of the photo.  The orb is faint, but it’s there.  (Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

I wasn’t using a flash with the camera, so that’s not a reflection from dust or moisture.  (It was a dry evening, anyway.) It’s too round to be an insect.

Blood cemetery graves, Hollis, NH

 

Here’s my report from 11 Oct 1999:

The photo was taken at 6:30 pm. It was dusk and the sun had just set, behind me, but it was still light enough not to need a flash camera.

The cemetery is surrounded by farmland, currently an almost fully-harvested field of pumpkins. There was nothing in the area to reflect the scant remaining light of the day, or to create a reflection or lens flare.

This photo shows the oldest gravestones in the cemetery, mostly from the late 18th century and early 19th. I saw no orbs in real life, and only took the photos as an afterthought when something “felt odd” among those gravestones.

HOWEVER…

Later visits were far more productive. See these articles:

More about Abel Blood’s grave location is at Find-A-Grave.

More information about the town of Hollis is at the official Hollis, NH website.

And I have no idea if the band, Abel Blood, has any connection to the ghost story.

 

 

 

Burkittsville, MD – The REAL Blair Witch Ghosts – Pt. 2

First read The Real ‘Blair Witch’ Ghosts – part one

Any site that’s witnessed

  • Battles

  • Suffering, and

  • Graves where the dead were not allowed to rest…

It may be haunted.

Where the “Blair Witch Project” was filmed has all of those from Civil War times.

By 1862, wounded and dying Civil War soldiers in this area were placed in as many as 17 makeshift hospitals. Some of those “hospitals” were actually Burkittsville homes and businesses,  including the town’s tannery.

Those soldiers’ ghostly voices are still heard throughout the town.

… But the site of Burkittsville’s tannery may be the most haunted.

The tannery was torn down, but the site is still haunted.

Anyone who parks his car there overnight may find the vehicle marked with footprints from soldiers’ boots, where the car was kicked or even trampled by the ghosts of marching men.

But there are other ghosts in the area, too.

Stories — loudly proclaimed as “fiction” by some Burkittsville historians — explain why the area may be haunted.

In one account, the retreating Confederate Army paid a man named Wise to bury approximately 50 bodies.

Mr. Wise accepted the money.

… But then he tossed the bodies in an abandoned well.

Shortly thereafter, he began seeing the ghost of Sergeant Jim Tabbs of Virginia, who complained to Mr. Wise about being uncomfortable.

Mr. Wise returned to the mass grave and discovered that the body on top was that of Sergeant Tabbs, and the corpse was face down. Mr. Wise turned the body so it was facing upwards.

He thought that would be the last of it.

He was very wrong.

Perhaps the spirits of these men revealed the truth to the local officials. Whatever the cause, the authorities confronted Mr. Wise. They forced him to dig up–and properly bury–the fifty bodies that had been left in his care.

Stories say the ghosts never bothered him again, but did they truly rest in peace?

Many other fallen Southern soldiers were left behind as a necessity of war. The good people of Burkittsville recognized that something must be done for the dead, so they buried them in shallow graves. The local residents expected that, once the fighting stopped, the troops would return to bury the men properly.

When the fighting stopped, no one returned for these comrades’ bodies. Finally most — and perhaps all — of the bodies temporarily buried in the older section of Burkittsville’s Union Cemetery, were exhumed in 1868 and re-interred in Washington Confederate Cemetery.

Was this sufficient to put their souls at rest? According to Troy Taylor in his book, Spirits of the Civil War, there have been odd and ghostly occurrences in the vicinity of those shallow graves. Many nights since then, eerie lights from long-extinguished campfires appear in the nearby open fields, and dot the mountainside.

However, the mountainside is also the source of a ghostly energy that visitors to Burkittsville can experience even now. Its history is one of the great stories of the Civil War.

At sunrise on Sunday, September 14, 1862, both the Union and Confederate soldiers expected to surprise each other with an attack. It was later known as the Battle for Crampton’s Gap, but the location is now called “Spook Hill.”

On that fateful morning, the Union soldiers carried only rifles into battle. They were able to travel faster than their Confederate counterparts, who were still pushing cannons uphill when the fighting began. The Union Army’s First Division, Sixth Corps, were overwhelmingly successful in battle.

Many Confederate soldiers died struggling with the heavy cannons. Their lingering spirits are the “spooks” of Spook Hill.

The site of this battle can be found at the edge of Burkittsville, near the Civil War Correspondents’ Memorial Arch, in Gathland Park. If you stop your car at Spook Hill and set it in neutral, you will feel the car being pushed by the spectral hands of the Confederate troops.

They are still struggling to push their cannons to the top of the hill, and achieve victory in the battle which they lost over 130 years ago.

In public, Burkittsville residents claim that this is merely an optical illusion. However, a local resident, Stephen, quietly assures me that the road has been tested using construction levels and transits. Cars do indeed roll uphill, though not as readily as they did before the road was recently repaved.

trees-haunted-pennymathewsOthers insist that the hill is magnetic, and that force is what pulls the cars towards the top. No one has successfully tested that theory yet.

If Spook Hill contains massive amounts of a magnetic ore, this would explain why Heather’s compass did not work properly in the movie, The Blair Witch Project.

Nevertheless, with ghostly campfires, bodies in dry wells and shallow graves, footprints at the former tannery/hospital, and the events at Spook Hill, the tale of what happened to three college students in The Blair Witch Project seems almost pale by comparison to real life.

For more information about haunted Burkittsville and vicinity, ask your local library for these books and videos:

Other websites related to Burkittsville, and Civil War ghosts:

This two-part article originally appeared at Suite 101, in November 1999.

Burkittsville, MD – Real ‘Blair Witch’ Ghosts – Pt. 1

By now, most people know what’s fact and fiction in the 1999 movie, The Blair Witch Project.

The Blair Witch.. didn’t impress me. Here’s what did.

Frankly, as an actual ghost hunter, the movie didn’t impress me. Sure, The Blair Witch Project was stylish in its own way, but a lot of it didn’t make sense to me.

I mean, in that era, only idiots went camping without a map they could easily read, and a hiking compass, and…

Okay, that’s the tip of the iceberg. I won’t even mention the ending, which made no sense and had no real context.

Despite that, I felt drawn to the location where it was filmed: Burkittsville, Maryland.

There was a certain vibe… an odd energy that seemed to lurk beneath some scenes in the Blair Witch film.

Even today, few seem know the actual haunted history of Burkittsville.

It has layers and layers of paranormal and unexplained phenomena, going back centuries.

The tension may have started with a feud.

The town began as “Dawson’s Purchase” in 1741. In the 1790’s, Joshua Harley and Henry Burkitt arrived in the area. From the start, they competed to control and eventually name the town.

Although Burkitt owned three-quarters of the land by 1810, the competition seemed concluded in 1824 when Harley secured the official Post Office as “Harley’s Post Office.”

However, Joshua Harley’s death in 1828 left Burkitt with the last word. He named the town Burkittsville before he, too, died in 1836.

The participants in this 40+ year rivalry may haunt the town, but there are far better explanations for Burkittsville’s ghostly spirits.

In fact, paranormal events and tragedy cover more than 100 years of Burkittsville’s history.

Even earlier, a genuine monster was reported nearby. And, according to reports, it’s still there.

As early as 1735, nearby Middletown was settled by German immigrants.

According to legends repeated in the Middletown Valley Register in the early 20th century, the community was terrorized by a monster called a Schnellegeister.

The word means “fast spirit or ghost” in German, but neighbors nicknamed it the “Snallygaster.”

Whatever its name, its colonial reputation mixed the half-bird features of the Siren with the nightmarish features of demons and ghouls.

The Snallygaster was described as half-reptile with octopus limbs, and half-bird with a metallic beak lined with razor-sharp teeth. It can fly. It can pick up its victims and carry them off. The earliest stories claim that this monster sucked the blood of its victims.

It is disturbingly similar to the movie’s descriptions of the Blair Witch.

No one knows whether the Snallygaster caused the hasty sale of most of “Dawson’s Purchase” (later Burkittsville) in 1786, and the remainder in 1803.

However, George Wine, who bought the final acreage, did not live to confirm the purchase. His death may be part of the story.

The name “Snallygaster” was a joke to some in the 20th century, but the monster been documented in the Burkittsville area as recently as 1973.

Another 18th century German settlement, Zittlestown, a mere seven miles north of Burkittsville, was also plagued with supernatural events.

Like Middletown, residents feared a large and vicious animal-spirit which was rarely seen.

An 1880’s book by anti-suffragist Madaleine Vinton Dahlgren (widow of Admiral John A. Dahlgren), documented the troubles of that community.

That’s ample evidence that something terrifying lurked in the Burkittsville area. It was certainly an ideal location for the Blair Witch Project.

However, most of Burkittsville’s actual ghosts are men who lost their lives in the Civil War.

Learn those stories, from an unscrupulous Civil War gravedigger, to spectres of the dead who push cars uphill today, in The Real ‘Blair Witch’ Ghosts – Part Two.

Psychic Preparations for a Ghost Hunt

Wild flowers at a NH cemeteryPsychic skills and sensitivity can be useful during ghost investigations, if the psychic is skilled, understands the risks involved, and maintains appropriate boundaries.

But, simply being psychic — and I believe that most people are psychic — isn’t enough.You need to maintain your psychic boundaries, as well.

It’s easy to be “too psychic” on ghost hunts. If you’re picking up energy from other researchers as well as the ghosts, it can feel like a dozen radios are blaring at once.

That’s where boundaries come in.  They protect you and your team, and can be helpful to the spirits, as well.

Consider these preparations to enhance your psychic ghost hunting skills.

Clear your mind.

Before a ghost investigation, jot down anything that you can think of that you need to do.

Whether you need to remember that tomorrow is trash day, or if you have a book to return to the library, if that thought keeps swimming around your brain, write it down.

Just a few notes may be enough. The point is to reduce the self-talk in your head.

Eat well, but not too much.

Before every ghost hunt, eat a light meal. Include some protein, since it digests more slowly than carbs and will prevent hunger pangs during your research. Never overeat. Whether you get heartburn or just a heavy feeling, too much in your stomach can be a distraction. Likewise, avoid spicy foods if your digestion is sensitive.

Skip dessert. Carbohydrates can contribute to drowsiness or anxiety during investigations.

Of course, avoid alcohol, too much caffeine, and unnecessary drugs.

  • Alcohol can distort your perceptions more than you realize at the time.
  • Caffeine “jitters” can compound your anxieties during a scary ghost hunt.
  • Unnecessary and/or recreational drugs can also alter your perceptions and impair your psychic abilities.

However, if you are under a doctor’s care and should take medications… take them.  Just make sure your team leader knows about this, in case the occasional side effect or a food interaction could affect your investigating.

Also, caffeinated beverages can have a place in your backpack.  After an exhausting investigation, some researchers rely on caffeine to be sure they’re sharp enough for the commute home.  (On the other hand, many teams gather in a nearby coffee shop after an investigation.  They can exchange notes and eat a light meal that refreshes them enough to drive home, safely.)

Note: If you make spirit contact through a ritual of any kind, especially one that uses substances that put you in more direct contact with spirits, make sure your team leader knows about this, ahead of time.

Generally, ritual contact and the use of some substances should be kept separate from general ghost investigations.  In fact, I usually recommend two separate investigations:  One to determine what’s at the site.  Later, a second investigation by those who will make psychic or spiritual contact, to help the spirit communicate and cross over.

“Wash off” the day’s energy, if that helps.

Before an investigation, make a clean break with the energy of that day.

  • Some people take a drive with the windows open.
  • Others like a hot shower or bath.
  • For some, the answer is a few minutes in a comfortable chair with classical music playing, or binaural beats that refresh them.
  • Light exercise or a few minutes of dancing can “shake loose” any negative energy you’ve picked up.
  • Or, you may enjoy watching part of a TV show or movie that helps you disengage from the day’s activities.

If you need an activity that marks the closure of the workday or school day, be sure to include that, no matter how rushed you are.

Have a partner or coach at your elbow.

Even the best of psychics can become vulnerable.   Always designate a team member to check on you regularly and make sure you’re okay.

  • Clearly explain what you need.  Checking on you should not become a distraction for either of you.  Often, a visual check — just a glance to see how you look — is enough. Or, it could be a simple exchange once an hour, along the lines of: “Everything okay?” “Yes, everything’s fine.” “Good. I’ll check again in an hour.”
  • The person should know what’s normal for you when you’re working as a psychic.
  • The team member should be very clear about what’s not okay.
  • If you get into trouble, your partner or coach should be confident enough to act quickly to get help, no matter what you say.
  • Your partner should know exactly what kind of help you might need, and how to get that help for you, right away.

Know the risks.

Demon-like Photo by Michal Zacharzewski, Poland - SXCIn recent years, many psychics has been deceived by entities that did a really good job of pretending to be ghosts.

As a result, I’ve almost completely reversed my previous policies related to divinatory tools and trance mediums.

It’s not that I’m phobic about Ouija boards, and I won’t flee from the site if someone goes into a trance.  I’ve simply developed a healthy respect for what can go wrong on an investigation.

In recent years, we’ve seen far more frightening things than we did in the 1980s and 1990s.

I’m not talking about angry, territorial ghosts. They’re simply annoying.  Either get away from them or imagine yourself far larger than they are, and tell them to back off.

I’m concerned about dangerous and malicious entities. Whatever those are, they’re not part of ghost research.  So, due to the increasing number of reports like this, I’ve established new rules and recommendations for working in this field.

If you’re going to work as a psychic in a haunted setting, make sure you’re not alone.  Make sure a team member checks on  you, regularly.  And, if things make sure someone is watching you — not taking photos or using an EMF meter or ghost-related app — to be sure you’re safe.

Photo credit: Michal Zacharzewski, Poland