Category: US – Other

Read THIS Before Ghost Hunting at the Haunted ‘Queen Mary’ Ship

A haunted ship. A world once restricted to the ultra-wealthy. And a chance to experience all of it, yourself.

Here’s what to know before you go ghost hunting there.

For many people visiting California, the haunted ship – the Queen Mary – is a must-see. And a must-investigate.

Some ghost hunters claim the ship is home to over 100 ghosts.

Whether or not such high numbers are accurate, the Queen Mary “ghost ship” is still an iconic haunted site, and worth visiting if you’ll be in the Los Angeles area.

Note: If you’ve always wanted to spend the night on the Queen Mary, I recommend doing so, soon. As an April 2018 article in the L.A. Times explained, “An engineering report has warned that the ship urgently needs $5.7 million in fixes and requires a total of $289 million in repairs over the next five years.”

If the money isn’t raised in the next five years… well, I’m not sure what the alternative is. That’s why I recommend spending the night in the near future, if it’s on your bucket list.

You’ll probably want to start with the history of the ship. The Queen Mary ship site features a summary: The Queen Mary – A Trip Across Time.

Of course, one suite on the ship – Stateroom B340 – is legendary. It’s also open to overnight guests. Here’s a Forbes article: The Queen Mary Opens Up Its Haunted Hotel Suite For An Overnight Ghostly Experience.

Note: If you’re uneasy with the Ouija board in the room, bring it to the front desk and ask them to store it until after you check out.

If you’ll be investigating the ship’s ghosts and haunted rooms, listen to the following podcast. It’s nearly an hour long. It’s well narrated in a “ghost story” style, and – even better – it includes a superb interview with Commodore Everette Hoard (ship’s historian) of the Queen Mary.

He provides some intriguing insights. They could be especially useful if you’re looking for triggers to prompt ghostly activity or EVP responses.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/r__5_AnpUsA

And finally, this article could save you money, time, and perhaps some irritation. It’s by someone who spent the night at the Queen Mary. (To read the entire article, visit What’s It Like to Spend the Night Aboard the Haunted Queen Mary?)

Here are some of the many tips from that article:

humorous ghost divider

If you’re arriving from LAX, which we were, they don’t have a hotel shuttle between the Queen Mary and the airport. (Or they didn’t at the time, anyway.)

We Uber’ed it for $80. A taxi will cost you about the same…

I was sort of surprised about the security out front. Not that there were guards with machine guns or anything. Just staff to direct you to the appropriate place, depending on whether you were checking in or coming just to have dinner or do a night activity.

Our luggage gave us away. It was pretty obvious we were there to check-in so up the elevator to Level 3 or “A” Deck we went to.

Check-In at the Haunted ‘Queen Mary’

There’s really nothing special about check-in. It’s the same as anywhere else basically.

Except if you’ve always wanted to stay aboard the ship. Then you might be giddy and bursting with excitement like I was!

Also, I was enamored with the decor. It wasn’t as grand as I’d expected. Dated really. Yet, I was okay with that. It retained its authentic charm.

The check-in lobby’s centerpiece
The Stairs across from the lobby. But gives you a good sense of the decor/atmosphere.
Time zone clocks above the check-in. Not sure they’re still functioning though.

Tips

  1. If you drive yourself, be prepared to pay for parking. ($22 for overnight.)
  2. If you’re not driving there yourself, and you want a cheaper option than Uber, Lyft or taxis, SuperShuttle and Prime Shuttles go to and from the Queen Mary also. It would’ve cost us about $35 total for the both of us to get there. We did book a shuttle back to the airport through the hotel. (We went with SuperShuttle for $30 for the both of us. That’s a $50 savings over Ubering it!)
  3. You can also use public transit to get there. That will also save you a bit of money on transportation cost, but you’ll have to trade time for money. (Meaning it will take you a little longer to get there.) Also, you wouldn’t want to do this if you had a lot of luggage to schlep around. There will be walking involved.
  4. Maybe ask if there non-adjoining rooms carry sound from neighbors a little less. (We’re thinking the door in our room that adjoined to our neighbor’s maybe contributed to being able to hear them so well?)

Read more at Haunt Jaunts’  What it’s like to spend a night aboard the haunted Queen Mary

humorous ghost divider

RESOURCES

If you’re going to spend much time or money (or both), learn as much as you can, before your visit.

19th century divider - leaf

And… BEFORE YOU GO, WATCH THIS VIDEO. THE SHIP HAS LOTS OF STAIRS.

Elva Zona Heaster’s Ghostly Testimony – West Virginia

Greenbrier Ghost

Late October is a great time for ghost hunting… and not just on Halloween.

October 20th is also the wedding anniversary of Elva Zona Heaster and her murdering husband, “Trout” Shue.

If I were in West Virginia and could investigate her grave (or his), I’d be there on October 20th. Anniversaries usually trigger extra ghostly activity. And, when the wedding soon led to murder… well, that improves the odds of an eerie graveside investigation.

Elva Zona “Zonie” Heaster is one of the few documented, ghostly detectives.

According to her mother – and the jury at Trout’s trial – Elva solved her own murder.

elva zona heaster
Possible photo of Elva (may have been taken after her murder)

Elva was born in 1873 at Greenbrier, West Virginia (USA) to Jacob Hedges Heaster (1847 – 1917) and his wife, Mary Jane Robinson (1849 – 1916).

Elva was one of nine children in the family, and the elder of two girls. (Elva’s sister Lennie was born seven years after Elva.)

Elva was also one of the county’s most beautiful young women.

Her first boyfriend was Albert Carr. (He later married – twice – and named his daughters Elva and Zona. So, it seems like he never quite got over Elva Zona Heaster.)

Elva may have married George Woldridge. They had a baby boy in November 1895. The child may have died or been raised by someone else. The records aren’t clear about the baby’s fate, if George was Elva’s husband, or what happened to George.

A year later, Elva fell in love with Erasmus Stribbling “Trout” Shue, who’d been born in 1861 in Augusta, Virginia. (His parents were Jacob and Elizah Shue.)

elva and husband
Elva Zona Heaster and Trout Shue, in happier times

Evidence suggests that “Trout” was a heart breaker – and perhaps a wife-murderer – even before he arrived in town and courted Elva.

Trout had already been married to Allis (or Allie) Estilline Cutlip, Lucy A. Tritt, Ellen Estilline Cutlip, and Annie Williams. (Ellen and Allis may have been one person. Like many records of that time, spelling errors are commonplace.)

His first marriage (to Allis) ended in divorce, with cruelty cited.

His second wife (Lucy) died suddenly, hit on the head “by a falling brick.”

It seems as if most of Trout’s neighbors believed he’d killed Lucy, but they had no proof.

The other one or two wives… I haven’t found records for either of them, yet.

So, Elva was Trout’s fourth or fifth wife. (Apparently, his goal was to marry seven women.)

Trout was described as a drifter, and worked as a blacksmith near Elva’s home.

The couple married on October 20th, 1896, about a year after Elva’s baby (with George Woldridge) had been born.

From the start, it appears that Elva’s mother was uneasy about the ever-so-charming Mr. Shue.  In fact, some accounts say that Mrs. Heaster hated Trout on sight.

Then, on January 23rd, 1897 – shortly after the couple had been married just three months – Trout sent a boy to the Shue house on an errand. The boy found Elva, dead at the foot of the stairs.

By the time the doctor arrived, Trout had already brought Elva upstairs to her bed, wrapped her neck in a bright-colored scarf, and generally prepared the body for burial.

(The reference to the scarf, and the odd, flat appearance of Elva’s hair, face, and neck, suggest that the photo – near the top of this article – was taken after she’d died. Postmortem photos were common in some regions, as a memento of the deceased.)

Because Trout seemed so distraught at his wife’s death, the doctor did only a cursory examination. He decided that Elva had fainted and fallen down the stairs to her death.

(Only later were questions raised about the blood near her body, and the possibility that she was pregnant when she was killed.)

Elva was buried in an unmarked grave at Soule Chapel cemetery.

About a month after Elva’s death, over a period of four nights, her spirit appeared to her mother, Mrs. Heaster.

Elva’s mother said that Elva looked like she was “flesh and blood,” not a ghost.

Elva explained to her mother that Trout had killed her. To confirm that she spoke the truth, Elva told her mother several things that her mother could not have known at the time . And, to demonstrate that Trout had broken her neck, Elva (the ghost) rotated her head in a full circle.

Elva’s mother visited the sites Elva had named, and verified the details that Elva had shared. Everything confirmed that Elva’s spirit really had visited her mother.

So, Mrs. Heaster went to the county prosecutor and convinced him to open Elva’s grave for an autopsy.

As expected, it turned out that Elva’s neck was broken, but her windpipe had been crushed as well. She hadn’t been the victim of a fall.

Trout was charged with murder. On July 11th, 1897, he was sentenced to life in prison, where he died of an unknown epidemic on March 11th, 1900.

Elva’s mother’s story never wavered. She always insisted that her daughter’s ghost had appeared to her, and revealed the murder.

The story is so odd, I believe her.

Where is Trout Shue buried?

His body is in an unmarked grave near West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville. (That retired prison is open for tours, as well as overnight investigations.)

If you’d like to investigate the prison cemetery, it’s part of Whitegate Cemetery. You’ll find it along Tom’s Run, about 3/4 of a mile from the main route into Moundsville on Fourth Street.

Where is Elva Zona Heaster Shue buried?

To investigate Zona’s grave, go to Soule Chapel Methodist Cemetery. It’s in Meadow Bluff, Greenbrier County, West Virginia, off the old Kanawha Turnpike. (I recommend checking other parts of that cemetery, as well. She’s probably in the family plot, but – since the grave was unmarked for more than 80 years – it’s not her guaranteed location.)

The Man Who Wanted Seven WivesMore reading and resources

For the full story, read The Man Who Wanted Seven Wives – The Greenbrier Ghost and the Famous Murder Mystery of 1897. That book presents the most thorough account of the entire story.

Haunted HomelandOr, if you’d like to read more about the Greenbrier Ghost and others, I recommend Haunted Homeland: A Definitive Collection of North American Ghost Stories.

The writing style is colorful and the stories are well-researched.

Bell Witch, TN – references and resources

These are just a few of many websites and articles related to the Bell Witch hauntings.

Most of these links have been online since 1998, and offer authentic information about this genuine haunting.

Unfortunately, as of 2016, some of these links no longer work. (Currently – 2016 – they’re noted with an asterisk before the link.)

I’m leaving them in place, in case they return. Otherwise, you may be able to find archived copies at the Wayback Machine.

Bell Witch Sign - story

Bell Witch websites

  • The Bell Witch, a website by Pat Fitzhugh, author of The Bell Witch Haunting.
  • If you’re serious about the Bell Witch, start with the original book: The Bell Witch Red Book, transcribed from the story publishedin 1893 or 1894.
  • Bell Witch Central, a Yahoo! Club associated with Pat Fitzhugh’s book and website.
  • “Official” Bell Witch Fansite, created by a Bell Witch enthusiast. Lots of information.

Bell Witch resources (in addition to the ones at this website)

(If any of those links don’t work, it’s worth searching at the Wayback Machine for cached copies.)

Additional reading – Recommended books

Haunted Cemetery Tour – Otterbein, Ohio

This video – “Haunted Cemetery – Ghastly Sounds…” – isn’t a “ghost” video, but a tour and history of an Ohio cemetery that’s worth investigating.

We need more videos like that, to help ghost hunters find worthwhile sites.

Interested in ghost hunting in haunted cemeteries? Here's a quick way to get started.However, I didn’t see or hear anything especially scary in this video.  Most of the night video quality is poor – weak sound and blurry camerawork – but that’s not what I was watching for.  In general, this video provided some good history and ghost stories, and I’m confident this is an active (ghostly) cemetery.

There’s a certain mix of sounds and silences, images and shadows… it adds up to a “gut feeling” about some locations.  Almost invariably, they turn out to be haunted.  I’m pretty sure this is one of those sites.  If I were in Ohio, near this cemetery, I’d visit it regularly for research.

In the video, the woman mentions some spooky sounds.  Maybe I missed them; the soundtrack isn’t great.

What I did hear – between normal, rural night noises – sounded like footsteps.  If the woman filming the video was alone, or her companions weren’t moving around while she was standing still… yes, those sounds are kind of spooky.

The mausoleum is creepy.  It has that sterile/tragic combination that often marks a site that seems to attract shadow people.  I have no idea why.  It’s as if they need to fill in the void with their forms… but maybe I’m putting the cart before the horse.

All in all, this video got me interested in this cemetery, enough to compile some useful links if you’re investigating that site.  And then, I discovered another haunted cemetery with the same name, also in Ohio.

Resources if you’re investigating Otterbein Cemetery in Franklin Co.

Another haunted Otterbein Cemetery, in Perry County, OH

There’s also an Otterbein Cemetery in Darke County and one in Marion County, Ohio.

Originality – The person who filmed this didn’t let her video skills hold her back. Though the quality isn’t great, the information and the impressions I got from this video made it intriguing.  It’s also thought-provoking because I’m trying to understand why I feel so certain that the site is haunted… and has shadow people.

3-stars

Credibility (Doesn’t apply. This is mostly a “this is the cemetery and what’s known about its ghosts” video.)

3-half-stars

Haunted Brown Springs Cemetery, Oklahoma

Brown Springs Cemetery in Oklahoma caught my attention.  This location looks so good – if you take proper precautions – it’s worth investigating

First, check the description and links on this Oklahoma history webpage:  Brown Springs, Thackerville, Oklahoma.

Then, watch this “Panic Attack Videos” presentation, which includes language – audio and captions – that is not safe for the office. (Ignore the cheesy graphic in the video screenshot. It’s a good video.)

  • The on-site portion of the video gives a hint of why this could be a powerful location for research.
  • Then, it shows why you shouldn’t bother going there unless you have a large research team… including big guys with stakes (or at least baseball bats).

(As of Jan 2016, the following link will take you to that video’s location at YouTube, but you’ll need the channel owner’s permission to see it.)

https://youtu.be/jicCxgPihPs

This could be a highly dangerous location, due to the living, not the dead.  And, I wouldn’t want to see threatening violence escalate.  That could be a tragedy waiting to happen… again, because of the living, not the dead.

However, with enough bouncer-type team members – and some good maps of the area, so you know which dirt roads are dead ends – a site that is active at night should be worth investigating during somewhat safer daytime hours.  (Here’s a link to one map with a general overview: http://www.oklahomahistory.net/brownspr/bsprmap.jpg )

Mostly, I like this video because the guys seem very normal and they don’t leap to paranormal explanations for what could be ordinary things.

Yes, the video could have been staged.  (Their YouTube description says that they enjoy “pranks,” and some of their videos seem like fake, staged silliness.)

That’s not the point. 

Interested in ghost hunting in haunted cemeteries? Here's a quick way to get started.Fake or not, I liked the first video, because it shows one good reason never to ghost hunt by yourself. That kind of real-life scare can happen anywhere.

Okay, Brown Springs Cemetery is known for trouble, but that trouble started at some time in the past.  You should never put yourself at risk by ghost hunting alone or unprepared.  You do not want to be at a haunted site on the night when trouble begins at that location.

In the next video, “World’s scariest ghost hunt that never happened,” the guys explain that Brown Springs isn’t one of their “prank” locations.  (Like the others, this video contains not-safe-for-the-office language.)

In the next video (linked below), you’ll see why you’ll want a good 4WD vehicle, leg covering (in case of snakes), and good hiking shoes.

Early in that video, one of the guys talks about hearing gunfire nearby, confirming the risks of visiting Brown Springs Cemetery, even in broad daylight.  And then… they get lost.  So, have GPS and a good hiking map and compass.

This is another video with not-safe-for-the-office language.  You’ll be tempted to stop after the 10-minute mark since that’s when they leave the cemetery area.

However, if you’re planning a trip to the site, watch to the 12-minute mark.  You’ll get some useful tips about road hazards in and out of the Brown Springs Cemetery location: Specifically, place logs in the deepest ruts in the road.  (At the end of the video, they go to the nearby casino.)

Here’s the link to that video, but (as of Jan 2016) — like the first one I linked to — you’ll need the channel owner’s permission to view it:

https://youtu.be/4IS_uFJ3IYs

Additional Brown Springs references

In A walk through the vineyards: Ishmael and his descendants, by Judy Vinyard Beebe, I found a reference to one person in the cemetery.  Augustus “Gus” R. Vineyard, b. 1840, Mississippi (to Corder Vineyard and Debbie Bowen), d. ca. 1900, Gainesville, TX.  Married Mary Phillips, b. 1842 in TN, d. 1880, Gainesville.  At Ancestry.com, I found that they had five children including a daughter, Elizabeth Phillips Vineyard, b. 1870, death date unknown.  (Other children:

  • Mealer Phillips Vineyard
  • John Wesley Vineyard
  • William Phillips Vineyard
  • Robert Lee VineyardThe fact that this one family leaps out of the records… that’s a paragenealogy line I’d follow.
  • I’d also research the Love family members buried there since the cemetery is in the middle of nowhere, it’s neglected, and the county is Love County.  That’s significant.
  • And, in case Brown Springs is related to the Brown family – which seems likely – I’d start with the Love/Brown/Crockett Bible Records.
  • I’m also seeing references to the Chickasaw Nation in connection with that cemetery.  Will all of this lead back to the proverbial “Indian burial grounds” where hauntings are often reported?

Note: Browns Spring Cemetery – with an S – is a different location.  It’s in Georgia.

Brown Springs, OK – Too Scared

If you can see this Brown Springs video by “Panic Attack Videos,” watch it. It’s interesting and credible.

[Update: Video made private by “Panic Attack Videos” on YouTube – link was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DttYnOd1RPw  However, the video was so compelling, I’m leaving the link here in case you want to try to access it.]

This video looked like the real thing to me.  There is no reason for grown men to act that frightened… unless they were.  And, if you check some of their other videos from that site, I think you’ll be impressed with the location.

This was a very short video and — because it’s so brief and the guys panicked —  it’s not terribly scary.  However, it’s exactly what happens in a genuinely haunted sites… even if you’re a guy who’ll get out of a car to confront unknown people pursuing you.  (That refers to part of the video featured in my Hollow Hill article.  It’s an amazingly risky thing to do.)

Basically, the guys arrive at Brown Springs — in Love County, by Thackerville, Oklahoma — and stay just a few minutes.  Then, a sense of evil and danger overtakes them and they decide to leave, quickly.

Strong language made this video not safe for office viewing, and the authenticity — suggesting something truly frightening — made this video unsuitable for family viewing, too.

Originality

2-half-stars

Credibility

4-stars