Hollow Hill

Can You Go Ghost Hunting During the Day?

It’s true that ghost hunters may get the best research results after dark.

Maybe it’s like radio stations that can be heard more clearly without interference from the sun.

Whatever the reason, after-dark ghost hunts usually seem more successful.

However…

Daytime ghost hunts aren’t a waste of time.

In fact, at some haunted places, ghosts can be even more startling than at night.

Daytime ghosts at Gilson Road

Gilson Road Cemetery in Nashua, New Hampshire (USA) is haunted day and night.

Ghostly energy builds there each day, starting around 11:30 or noon.

Pay close attention to the woods in back of the cemetery. Even in broad daylight, you may sense (or even see) some very odd things.

One autumn afternoon at Gilson Road cemetery, I saw a figure in what looked like a capote — a hooded coat usually made from a Hudson Bay blanket — as he walked through the woods about 100 feet from me. I was a bit alarmed because he looked like he was carrying a hunting bow, or perhaps a very slender rifle.

Then, he walked behind a tree. That tree’s trunk was narrower than the man I thought I’d seen… but he seemed to disappear behind it.

And then he never emerged.

I trudged back to where the tree was, and there were no footsteps in the damp ground. There was also no place he could have gone without me seeing him.

By night, eerie lights seem to flicker in those same woods. Animals are “too quiet,” or suddenly seem to panic for no reason. A few people see a hooded figure with glowing eyes. Compasses and EMF meters go haywire. Strange things happen.

That energy is gone by dawn. Around noon the next day, the cycle starts all over again.

More daytime ghosts

In Texas, I like downtown Houston’s La Carafe wine bar at 813 Congress Street. Though the bar is closed in the morning, people who work there report odd discoveries when they arrive to open for business. It’s haunted enough to provide anomalies, 24/7.

Look for locations with a long history of power struggles or violence. Battlefields are a good example. (Gilson Road Cemetery in Nashua, NH, was the site of multiple Native American wars, as well as violent clashes with colonists.)

Check your daily commute. Look for roadside historical markers. Many indicate sites of violent clashes and intense, emotion-rich meetings of powerful people. Something important happened there. The question is why, and did it at least leave some residual energy?

Former hospitals, funeral homes, and politicians’ homes are also good sites for daytime paranormal research.

If your only available research time is during daylight hours, don’t worry. Somewhere nearby, at least one site is haunted, day and night.

Ghosts don’t only come out at night.

Many haunt during the day, waiting for someone to notice them.

You may need to investigate several sites to find one that’s active in daylight, but with enough patience and persistence, you’ll succeed.

Carpe diem!

Katy, TX – Train Depot Orb, Ghosts

On Saturday evening, 25 June 2005, we returned to the old depot in Katy, Texas.

This was my only ‘ghost orb’ photo, and it’s a good example of how hard you may have to look to see orbs.

This orb is large, but it’s very difficult to see. If it wasn’t so large, I wouldn’t bother posting it at all.

Out of about 30 photos of the depot and the caboose next to it, this is the only one with an orb that seems fairly real. (Orbs in two other photos could have been reflections from light sources.)

Of course, that’s what makes a site credible. If we saw orbs in every photo, or more than half of them, investigators would have to question humidity, dust, pollen, bugs, and so on.

One credible orb isn’t enough to confirm a haunted location. That’s not the only reason I recommend this challenging location for casual research.

The energy at the depot, and consistent, independent, psychic impressions by our investigating team… that’s another story.

Our experiences at the depot suggest a few gentle spirits at the old depot, possibly residual energy from people who worked there, and those who have happy memories of traveling by rail to and from Katy.

There is something considerably stronger at the caboose.

Initially, our collective ‘gut feeling’ is that the caboose is haunted by an old railroad conductor.

He’s not too happy with the caboose sitting still.
He’s annoyed that it’s not moving, it’s not keeping its usual schedule.
And, he doesn’t like people getting very close to the caboose, either.

He’s not malicious, just annoyed. He keeps looking out the back window (facing away from the depot) and checking his watch.

This was our second visit to the “old town” area of Katy, and the depot.

2014 update: I’m not personally monitoring that location now, but reports continue to confirm that the site is mildly haunted.

Because it’s such a public location next to a busy street, it’s not a great research location.

However, it’s a good, fun investigation site. It’s ideal for those who can visit during the day, or just want to see if they can detect anything, psychically or with ghost hunting tools.

Houston, TX – False Evidence at Old Greenhouse Road

Hair that looks like ectoplasm - Houston, TX

Old Greenhouse Road, on the outskirts of Houston (Texas), has numerous ghost stories. Most of them repeat tropes I’ve heard before in multiple locations.

Are they urban legends? I’m not sure.

I investigated Old Greenhouse Road, anyway.

My husband and I parked our car just off the road, near the “haunted” bridge, to take photos.

Though the road is the site for the ghost stories, I felt drawn to the little path through the shrubs, just past where we parked our car.

That’s where I took several photos.

Those who know me in real life know that I’m very skeptical of anomalous photos. As often as I can, I return to the location – in daylight and at night – to see if I can debunk whatever’s in the picture.

Debunking the Ecto Photo

Initially, I couldn’t debunk this photo. Not at Old Greenhouse Road, anyway. We visited several times and none of the pictures looked like the one on the lower right, taken in 2005.

Those two photos were taken within seconds of each other using a film camera without a flash.

Digital photos might have looked the same.

It was dusk and the sun was directly behind us, highlighting the dirt path. About 50 feet ahead of us, the trees and shrubs were very dark.

Something there… it seemed very eerie. I hoped my photos would show something unusual. (In other words, I wasn’t 100% unbiased.)

Initially, I thought this might be an “ecto” (ectoplasm) photo.

At the time, that was intriguing. I rarely see convincing ectoplasm in photos. In fact, it’s usually smoke or someone’s breath.

But then…

Later experiments revealed the most likely cause of the red-orange line across the photo.

It was probably a strand of my own hair. (It’s auburn.)

Generally, I wear a scarf or otherwise pin my hair back, so it won’t get in front of the camera lens.

In this case, I’d forgotten.

Ghost Photo Tests with Hair

Though the following pictures aren’t exact matches, I think you’ll see why I’m at least 99% sure the “ecto” at the Houston site is my hair.

Here’s one photo of my hair in front of the camera lens, highlighted by the flash.

Fiona's hair highlighted in a fake "ecto" ghost photo.

And here are a few hairs, held in front of the camera. Once again, the flash highlighted them.

Hair that looks like ghostly ectoplasm.

Since those experiments, I’ve been very careful to keep my hair pulled back – preferably under a kerchief or scarf – when I’m taking photos at haunted sites.

Meanwhile, I can’t dismiss every story at Old Greenhouse Road in Houston. Frankly, it’s a difficult location to research. Speeding cars and sharp twists in the road increase the danger of investigating in low-light conditions. I won’t put myself – or my team – at risk, especially at a site that seems to match the “urban legend” profile.

But, for those who’d hoped my photo proved something ghostly at Old Greenhouse Road, I apologize. My initial assessment was wrong, and – even if it’s not a flash photo – hair can explain translucent streaks, when the color matches the haircolor of the photographer.

ghostbat

That doesn’t debunk the streak in the Gilson Road photo. I have never found an adequate explanation for that.

There are several differences. One of the main ones: I was the photographer. My hair was not purple. And, the texture in the original photo is significantly different. (Plus that, the purple streak photo was at Gilson Road Cemetery. We couldn’t debunk the majority of our photos taken at that very haunted site.)

Boston, MA – Ghosts of Boston and vicinity

NOTE: These reports are from readers unless otherwise stated. We cannot confirm every location, safety, accessibility, or how “haunted” each one is. Before travelling considerable distances, call ahead to verify site information.

OUR INVESTIGATIONS

Concord – A local cemetery

One of my most startling daylight photos includes a skull on a Concord headstone that stares back at you, if you know where to look. It’s in downtown Concord, and it looks like this:

Skull eyes on Concord gravestone

Haverhill – Bradford College

Investigated 11 March 2000, with several residual haunting manifestations, and one encounter with an actual ghost. The college is now closed. Read our March 2000 report, Summary of Ghosts at Bradford College.

Lynn – Lynn Woods State Park: Dungeon Rock

This was the scene of intense publicity and spiritualist activity in the 19th century, when site owner Hiram Marble claimed that 17th-century pirate Thomas Veal contacted him with directions to a pirate treasure buried in Dungeon Rock.

The tunnel at Dungeon Rock has been sealed with an iron door which is usually open. Take a strong flashlight, and wear shoes with sturdy rubber soles; the cave/tunnel floor is often water-covered and slimy. Park near the Rose Garden entrance to Lynn Woods, for the shortest walk to Dungeon Rock.

Lights and apparitions, and an eerie atmosphere are still reported in this vicinity. The Marble family is buried nearby, having never found the treasure; they lost their own fortune in the process.

(Source: Our own research and visits to the site, and Snow, Adventures…, p. 20 – 30)

Tyngsboro, MA – Tyng Mansion – John Alford Tyng and others may haunt the Tyng Mansion and the nearby family cemetery. However, since the four-part story begins with a ghost who haunts nearby Nashua, NH, I’ve reported this as a New Hampshire haunting. (Tyngsboro — or Tyngsborough — is just across the state line between NH and MA. One practically blurs into the other.)

These are my articles:

OTHERS’ REPORTS

Danvers – Danvers State Hospital
This may be one of the “haunted mental hospitals” featured on a popular Fox Channel broadcast. The hospital was closed in 1990, after many years as a sanitorium and then a sanitarium, possibly for the criminally insane. (A more likely Fox location is Waltham’s Metropolitan State Hospital, see below.)

The Danvers hospital site has been described as “haunted” since the early 1960s, and probably earlier.

Danvers has a colorful history. In Colonial times, Danvers was called Salem Village, and it’s where most of the murdered “Salem Witches” lived in 1692, not today’s town of Salem.

Steady reports (from 2/01 through the present) suggest that the property is actively patrolled by the police, and posted against trespassing. I’ll repeat my standard warning, NEVER trespass on private and/or posted property unless you’re prepared to be arrested.

To get to Danvers State Hospital area: The hospital is on top of a hill overlooking Rte. 1, and it can be seen from Rte. 128. The closest intersection is Rtes. 1 & 62 (Maple St.) and the buildings are old and brick. Don’t confuse them with the newer nearby condos and golf course.

(Source: Readers of Hollow Hill, local legends, and assorted online histories, including the Lovecraft link to this hospital.)

Melrose – 39 Linden Road – A private residence – no trespassing!
This 1894 house, now divided into apartments, is said to be haunted by two ghosts. One is the carpenter who built the house and is angry about what has been done to the house since. The other is the ghost of a woman who died in one of the apartments.

There are frequent footsteps on the stairs, or the phone or doorbell rings, and no one is there. Also, the lights have been turned on and off by some invisible force.

This site has been investigated by a psychic, who confirmed much of the information.

(Source: Myers, Ghostly Gazetteer…, p. 115)

Newburyport – Charles Street Schoolhouse
HOAX – The story was that a schoolboy was beaten and thrown into the cellar of this school in 1858. His ghost supposedly appeared many times from 1871-3, mostly in one classroom. Later revealed as a hoax by several of Ms. Lucy Perkins’ students.

(Source: Snow, Strange Tales…, p. 128)

Nahant – near Egg Rock
Nearly every coastal area has one of these stories. It’s probably just a legend, but — in case it has some truth — here’s the basic information:
Around the autumn of 1815, an Italian named Faustino rowed out to Egg Rock to pick some unusual flowers for his fiancee, Alice. However, a squall came up and Faustino drowned trying to return to shore. Alice’s ghost can still be heard at the rocks of Nahant calling, “Faustino! Faustino!”

(Source: Snow, Strange Tales…, p. 155)

Nahant – near Swallow Cave
Another legend: A 17th century witch, named “Wonderful,” appears among the rocks at Swallow Cave (near Forty Steps) at Nahant. The site is just north of Boston near Lynn and Salem, MA. Then 70 years old, “Wonderful” was instrumental in helping the men of Lynn defeat approx. 40 Narragansett Indians who raided the settlement in 1675. She accurately predicted that they would hide in what is now called Swallow Cave, a 5-foot opening on the shore that opens to a 24-yard deep cave. Today she is seen day and night, but usually at dusk, near the cave.

(Source: Snow, Strange Tales…, p. 156)

Orleans – Orleans Inn
Mary, a friend from my earliest Hollow Hill conversations, reports that the Orleans Inn — one of the oldest buildings on Cape Cod — is haunted. She tells me that lights go on and off, doors open and close on their own, and there have been “cold spots” found inside the building. Other manifestations include fleeting visual appearances, and the sound of voices.

(I don’t really need an excuse to visit the Orleans Inn, since it’s a lovely hotel in a great location. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for an ideal place to spend a night or two, and maybe find a few ghosts, visit the Orleans Inn.)

Rockland – private residence on North Avenue
Maryellen Garland, another friend of Hollow Hill, reports that her childhood home in Rockland is haunted. In particular, she mentions a bedroom at the rear of the house, near the attic. She says that her hair was pulled, her closet door opened by itself, and electrical appliances would turn themselves on and off. In addition, she reports figures visible in mirrors upstairs, and that members of her family have seen the ghost of an old man roaming through the house. He leaves an odor of onions as he walks.

Southbridge – private residence on Cross Street
An anonymous visitor to Hollow Hill provided information about a haunted private home. Objects move from room to room, and people in the house sometimes feel something brush against them.

Taunton – private residence on Tremont Street
An anonymous friend of Hollow Hill reported a haunted duplex on Tremont Street. Twice, members of her family have coincidentally moved into one particular apartment, and both times moved out due to hauntings. In addition to unpleasant sensations among people visiting the apartment, the reader has a photo taken at a Christmas party when the television was off, but the screen clearly shows the image of a woman’s face.

Waltham – Metropolitan State Hospital
Some claim that this was a site used for the Fox Channel “scariest places” program. See back issues of The Boston Globe newspaper for details.

Similar to Danvers, it was on private property. According to one reader, the hospital has since been demolished.

Is That Noise a Ghost? Maybe Not!

As I write this, it is December (2005), a time of year when many people start hearing “ghostly noises” in their homes.

In many cases, these will be ghosts.

However, there may be logical explanations, and those should be considered, first:

Temperature changes cause houses to moan, shift, and creak. Desert climates have the widest temperature swings between day and night, but even temperate climates have seasonal changes that can cause your house to shift slightly. And when a couple of floorboards rub against each other and echo in an attic, the noise can sound like someone in agony.

Settling houses make snaps, thuds, creaks, and groans. If your house is new, it may be settling. A hastily-poured foundation, or one poured at the wrong time of year, can produce outrageous noises for years after the house has been built.There are other reasons why a house can “settle.” If you’ve had an earthquake in your region, your house may now be settling back into place. If you’ve had unusually high rainfall, or a drought, the ground around your house will shift. A piano or waterbed moved in or out of a room can cause the whole house to readjust itself.
Critters in the walls or attic can sound bizarre. The scurrying noises alone can sound like little ghostly footsteps. A bushy tail of a squirrel or raccoon, rubbing on all sides of a narrow passageway inside a wall or alongside a chimney… Well, you’ll be convinced that a ghostly woman in a full Victorian skirt just passed you.If two animals decide to argue or chat within your walls, in your basement, or overhead in your attic, sometimes they sound like ghostly whispers, or a full-fledged argument in a strange dialect!
Check for even smaller critters, such as wood ants or termites. If they’re weakening the house’s structure, the house will moan and groan as it shifts its weight.
Is there construction going on near you? Perhaps rocks tumble from their recently-blasted niches, at a certain hour of the night when the temperature dips low enough to cause contractions and shifts. The roof of a new house can make astonishing noises, especially at night. Ask anyone who’s put a roof on a house, or repaired one, about the nails that pop out overnight.
If it happens at the same time every night, it’s not necessarily a ghostly hour. Temperatures and humidity change at night. When these natural effects reach a “critical mass” level, the house may shift. A loose shingle may pop up again. The mortar in your chimney may contract just enough to cause dust to echo as it tumbles to the ground or hearth. These kinds of things happen night after night. It’s part of the natural cycle of a house.This “critical mass” effect is usually at approximately the same time, each night. Seasonal changes and unseasonable variations can shift the hour back or forward, but it’s still within the same approximate time period.
Do you live near a commercial area? You may live far enough from a shopping center that you don’t hear the garbage collectors’ trucks. However, when they lift one of those huge containers of trash and empty it into the truck… wow! If that noise echoes off a neighbor’s siding or cement wall, it can seem as if something is crashing on your patio, or in an another room, particularly if the windows are open.

Not all ghostly noises are this easily explained. However, consider the logical answers first. Perhaps your noise is a ghost, but you won’t know unless you use your critical thinking skills to explore the alternatives.

And, just because the noise could be faked, or caused by something logical… well, that doesn’t mean that it is.

Webmaster’s note: When I was a kid, I used to hear noises in the attic overhead, many nights. My parents dismissed my insistence that it was a ghost. “Squirrels in the attic,” they replied, and nodded sagely.

Well, we did have a lot of very friendly squirrels in our neighborhood, and a nest in our backyard. I tried to accept my parents’ logical explanation of the noises.

However, when we were selling our house and had it inspected, I mentioned the squirrels in the attic.

“No evidence of that,” the house inspector replied. “I’ll check again.”

And so he did. And he found no place where a squirrel could get into the attic, and no evidence that animals of any kind had been up there.

So, even when the answer seems logical, it might still be ghosts. I may never know if our house’s nightly noises had been a ghost, or something else.

Gilson Road Cemetery, NH – Odd Flowers

This isn’t a ghost story, but it’s odd.

Are people drawn to sites like Gilson, and feel an impulse to add to it’s weirdness…? (Rhetorical question. Clearly, they are.)

Here’s the story:

A photographer contacted me on 20 Apr 2002 to report three daffodils tied to a sagging tree branch towards the back of Gilson Road Cemetery, Nashua, NH.

I visited, and he was right about the flowers, and they were still fresh. They’re shown in the photo, below. (The branches and rocks aren’t really purple. It’s just the color of the light, the day I took this picture.)

flowers at Gilson

Why would someone do this?

There are several possibilities.

3 flowers at Gilson - another angle One is for sentimental reasons; there are many unmarked graves at the back of Gilson Road Cemetery. Someone might know who’s in one of those graves, or feel a connection with one of the rumored ghosts back there.

Maybe the date – April 20th – has some connection with a grave in that cemetery?

Or perhaps this was just a nice thing to do in remembrance of the many people in marked and unmarked graves at this rural cemetery.

Then again, maybe someone found some flowers and just wanted to do something quirky, or to use them in a photograph.

(I’m pleased with my own photos of the flowers.)

But, for all I know, perhaps some prankster thought this would be something strange and noteworthy. (I’m not sure this post will provide their sought-after 15-minutes of fame, if that was the purpose.)

We’ve seen a lot of odd items pop up at haunted sites, and – while noting them – generally ignore the efforts.

It’s not ghostly. It’s just weird.

Please don’t leave anything at cemeteries, unless its a bouquet on Memorial Day, or something like that.