Ghosts of Mount Misery on Long Island near Huntington, New York

On Long Island, New York there is a place that has earned a reputation for being haunted or cursed since before the area was occupied by Native Americans.  Mount Misery it is called today and it as well as the surrounding area is one of the most haunted places on Long Island.

Mount Misery Road near Huntington, New York.  The area is thought to be a paranormal hotspot and is home to many ghosts.

Settlers on Long Island were warned by the Native Matnecock tribe to stay away from Mount Misery. The believed that the land was cursed.  It earned its name from the land itself. Very hard to navigate and no crops would ever grow on it and it has been the scene of many deaths over the years and very strange things have happened to many people here. Once in its history, a strange hermit like man was found wandering around Mount Misery with a basket full of human heads! Many ghosts haunt this place.

Mount Misery Road comes to a dead end and then there is nothing.

Lady in White 

A woman named Mary is said to haunt Sweet Hollow Road as well as a nearby cemetery where some say that she is buried.  It is thought that her name was Mary.  One night she had a fight with her boyfriend as they were driving down Sweet Hollow Road.  She jumped out of the car and was struck and killed by the car behind them. Now she is seen walking along the road at night wearing a white dress.

Men in Black 

Strange men in dressed in all black have been seen walking around the area.  It is unknown where they are from or what they want. They have been known to approach people and ask off the wall questions.

Hell Hound of Mount Misery 

A phantom dog has been spotted roaming these woods many times over the years.  It is said that the dog is black and has glowing red eyes and does not quite look the same as an ordinary dog. It is supposed to be an omen of death if you see it.

Phantom Policeman 

A phantom police officer is also said to haunt Sweet Hollow Road.  If you are pulled over by the police on this road, he may be a ghost.  If her turns to go back to his car and he has a hole in the back of his head, you've just had an encounter with a ghost!

Sweet Hollow Road 

Ghosts of kids who were killed there in the 1930s are said to linger near a bridge. A few boys were said to have been hung from the bridge that passes over Sweet Hollow Road.  Their shadowy forms can still be seen hanging occasionally.  Many strange occurrences have happened on Mount Misery Road as well.

Sweet Hollow Road is haunted by several spirits.  Photo by longislandpress.com

Mount Misery is near the section of Sweet Hollow Road between Jerico Pike and State Route 110 and is the highest point on Long Island.  Mount Misery Road, is the best way to get to the hill itself.

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Spirits of Point Lookout Lighthouse - Scotland, Maryland

Built in 1830, Point Lookout Lighthouse guides the water traffic entering into the Potomac River from the Chesapeake Bay.  It has stood the test of time, guarding these waters for over 180 years.  However, over part of the lighthouse's history it has been manned by those of the spirit world.  Some believe it is the most haunted lighthouse in North America.

Point Lookout Lighthouse near Scotland, Maryland is thought to be the most haunted lighthouse in North America

The Point Lookout Lighthouse saw a lot of activity over the period of the Civil War.  It is said that prisoners may have been held there on the grounds, over twenty thousand to be exact.  A few may have died there as well, about four thousand!  They were buried there on the grounds, but most of the graves were relocated.  Lighthouse occupants have reported strange smells in within the building like the smell of death.  There have been reports of disembodied snoring sounds as well and furniture being moved around on it's own.  Doors have been known to open and slam shut on their own accord.

It is thought that ghosts of Civil War soldiers may haunt the lighthouse and grounds. Thousands of Confederate prisoners were buried here.

During the lifetime of the lighthouse operation, many shipwrecks occurred in the bay.  The Express was a well known wreck that occurred just of the point.  It is thought that one of the surviving crew rowed ashore in an attempt to get help.  Some believe this because of a spirit that has been spotted outside of the lighthouse on dreary, stormy nights.  The actual figure of a man in old sailor type clothing having a ragged distressed appearance has been seen standing outside on the porch of the lighthouse.  When approached he seems to disappear, moving back toward the water from where he came.  Sometimes the keepers could hear phantom voices outside as well as if someone were calling.

Monument at Point Lookout State Park dedicated to the Confederate prisoners of war who died here during the Civil War.

Today the lighthouse is owned by the State of Maryland as well as the surrounding area and parking is located at 11175 Point Lookout Road Scotland, MD.  It is also the location of what is now Point Lookout State Park.  The area is great for fishing, hiking, biking, boating, and of course you may try to sneak in a peak of a ghost or two.

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Spirits of Lake Shawnee - near Princeton, West Virginia

Lake Shawnee which is located in the southern tip of the state of West Virginia, was once a thriving place.  First a source of water for local farmers, and then an amusement park later in time.  However, there have been some gruesome events that have taken place on this ground that have made it one of the most haunted places in West Virginia.

The abandoned Ferris wheel at the site of a dilapidated amusement park along the shore of Lake Shawnee in West Virginia.  The park is believed to be one of the most haunted places in West Virginia.

Around 1783, Mitchell Clay who settled in the area with his wife Phoebe and family some eight years prior, went out hunting one day with some of his neighbors. When they returned two of his children were found slain by local Shawnee natives and another had been taken away. Mitchell and some other men gave pursuit, but the other child was not found and thought to be burned at the stake by the natives. This event became known as the Mitchell Clay Indian Massacre.  The children were buried nearby at the Mitchell homestead close the shores of what is now Lake Shawnee.

Historical marker commemorating the Mitchell Clay Indian Massacre

On the very same location of the massacre, an amusement park was built in 1926.  It was in operation for over 40 years.  However, some untoward things happened in the park that was the former killing ground and burial site.  A young girl was swinging on the swings at the park one day and a truck came too close to her and as she swung backwards, she slammed into the vehicle and died right there on the spot.  It is rumored that a man died in an accident on the Ferris wheel as well.  Lake Shawnee itself claimed a victim as well.  A young boy was swimming in the lake and he was later found floating.  He had drowned in the murky waters.

The abandoned rides at Shawnee Lake have become overgrown and create an eerie scene themselves.  Photo by Karen Stuebing

The amusement park still stands near Princeton, West Virginia on the shores of Lake Shawnee, although abandoned.  The ground is privately owned and is not open to the public. The dilapidated rides overgrown with weeds and plant life.  The hauntings continue however.  As it is reported that a man was mowing a field there on the grounds and was startled to find the ghostly image of a young girl sitting on the fender of his tractor.  He fled the scene never to return. The tractor, it is said, still sits in the spot where he left it and has become another feature of the overgrown landscape.  Also on certain nights, the sounds of children can be heard in the long abandoned park.

The abandoned swings at Shawnee Lake.  A scene where a little girl lost her life and is believed to haunt the grounds to this day. Photo by Karen Stuebing

References:

www.clayfamhist.org
www.paranormalknowledge.com
www.pbase.com/kstuebin/hauntedamusementpark

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The Willard Hotel - Washington, D.C.

There is a grand hotel in downtown Washington, D. C. that has been frequented by some very famous guests including Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, General John J. Pershing, Walt Whitman, Harry Houdini, and Charles Dickens.  However, a former President of the United States frequented the hotel on a daily basis and some believe he can still be seen there.

The Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. is thought to be haunted by the spirit of a former U. S. President

The Willard was created in 1847 when several hotels and office buildings were combined into one building by Henry Willard which gives the hotel it's unusual shape today.  The hotel actually served as a temporary "White House" when Calvin Coolidge became President upon Warren G. Harding's death.  He was waiting for his widow to move out of The White House.

President Ulysses S. Grant frequented the lobby of The Willard Hotel.  Many believe his spirit still lingers there.

President Ulysses S. Grant would sometimes stroll over to what was then, in the 1870s, "The Willard". Grant would unwind in the lobby of the hotel sipping brandy and smoking his cigars.  This was a well known fact and many business men wanting to influence the laws or political actions and change them or create them for their benefit, would visit President Grant in the lobby of The Willard.  It is said that after a time, Grant referred to these people as "lobbyists".  The word has stuck to this day even though they don't necessarily go to The Willard any more.

The luxurious lobby of The Willard Hotel, now known as The Willard Intercontinental

There are some visitors and workers in the hotel who claim to have seen the likes of Ulysses S. Grant sitting in his favorite spot in the lobby puffing on his cigars with wisps of smoke circling around him.  No lobbyists, just Grant enjoying his brandy and cigar as he did in life.  Perhaps because that is the only place where he found peace in his busy life...  that is until the lobbyists would come along.  His apparition would disappear just as quickly as it would materialize.

Willard Intercontinental
1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 628-9100

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Ghosts of Eastern State Penitentiary

Built in 1829 by the Quakers of Philadelphia, Eastern State Penitentiary was the first of it's kind.  Designed to keep prisoners isolated so they they could pay "penitence" for their sins, it gave birth to the word "penitentiary".  It was designed like a wagon wheel so that monitoring of the prisoners could be done from the center or hub where the guards were stationed.  The cell blocks sprawled outward from the central hub which housed the prisoners.  Giving the world's prisons this design, it failed in it's initial purpose of reforming the prisoners using isolation, but drove most of them mad.  Each having only a tiny window of light shining down from above.  Many of the tormented souls that spent their lives there and died there still remain.

Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia has many spirits that lurk among it's corridors and cell blocks

Eastern State has been one of the most studied paranormal sites around as it is deemed one of the most haunted places in the world by many.  It has been investigated by many of the well known paranormal teams and featured on many shows such as Ghost Hunters, Fear, Ghost Adventures, and Mysterious Worlds.  Many of the paranormal activities that go on here were captured by these teams and/or the investigators themselves.  Many staff members refuse to stay there overnight.

A Torrid History

Although the Quakers are a peaceful, religious people, when Eastern State was at the height of it's operations, the hired help were not so kind.  It is told that many forms of torture were used on the prisoners at times.  When a prisoner was not co-operating, sometimes they would be thrown into solitary confinement for weeks at at time in a place known as "the hole" which was literally a hole dug out under cell block 14.  Occasionally prisoners would be given what is known as a 'water bath' where in the Winter, they were totally submerged in water, then hung up and chained.  They would be found in the morning with a layer of ice on their skin. 

An overview of the wheel shaped cell blocks of Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia

Some prisoners would be driven insane from conditions and some of the punishments such as "the hole".  They would be placed in something called "The Mad Chair" where they would be strapped in extremely tightly and be denied food for days.  And finally some prisoners actually met their death via something called "The Iron Gag".  If a prisoner talked too much or would scream incessantly, they would be subjected to this device which was clamped to their tongues and the attached behind their backs to their hands and feet so that if they moved, the clamp would dig into their tongue.  Many bled to death via this device.

The prison was originally designed to hold 250 prisoners in 1829 when it was constructed.  Around the time of it's closure in 1971, it held over 1700 prisoners.  Overcrowded conditions also contributed to the miserable state of the inmates within Eastern State's confines.

So many of these tortured souls still roam within the prison walls.  Many of which are phantoms of the worse kind in that they are shadow figures.  These forms of spirits are believed to be of evil intent.  This makes sense considering where they have manifested and came to be.

Al Capone' Cell

In 1929, gangster Al Capone spent some time at Eastern State in cell block 7.  It is not known to be haunted by him however, Al Capone actually claimed to have been haunted during his stay there by St. Valentine’s Day Massacre victim James Clark.  He complained about being haunted by Clark's spirit nightly and that it would not go away.

Cell block 7 at Eastern State Penitentiary is where Al Capone was haunted by spirits of his past

Cell Block 4

A locksmith was working on an old lock and was having trouble when he suddenly was overcome by something he could not explain.  As if in a paralyzed state, he felt to be almost out of his body as he was having visions of distorted faces appearing on the cell walls.

The Haunted Guard Tower

It is said that the shadowy figure of a phantom prison guard can be seen keeping watch over the prison from one of the towers on occasion.  No one knows who it may be or what his history is at Eastern State, but for some reason he has chosen to keep watch over the prison walls.  Or maybe he does not have a choice in the matter.

Death Row

Although no executions were ever carried out at Eastern State Penitentiary, death row served as a transfer area where prisoners would spend their days until they were transferred to another prison to be executed.  Over the years, it has been reported that shadow figures have been seen in this area.  Also, spirits have thought have been heard crying or weeping.

Cell Block 12

Reported to be one of the most haunted areas of the prison, many have seen shadow figures moving about, passing from cell to cell as if trying to not be detected.  Sounds of laughter and sometimes ethereal whispers can be heard echoing within the walls and cells of this block.

Actual apparitions have been seen walking about this area of Eastern State Penitentiary.  Believed to be actual visitors, then it is learned that no other person other than the witness was in the area at the time.

Eastern State Penitentiary is open as a tourist attraction today.  Historical tours are given on a regular basis daily.  Haunted ghost tours are given in the yearly October feature called Terror Behind the Walls. 

The layout of the wheel shaped cell blocks of Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia

You can take an interactive on-line tour of Eastern State by using this link (http://www.easternstate.org/explore/online-360-tour).

Eastern State Penitentiary is located at
22nd Street & Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:

http://www.easternstate.org
crime.about.com