Hat tip: @ThePoeMuseum, via tweet
This is pretty cool. The Poe Museum in Richmond was selected by People Magazine to represent Virginia on its list of state-by-state haunted places. Only one location per state was chosen.
Places I’ve been:
- The Poe Museum
- Clinton Road
- St. Mark’s Church
- Gandini’s Circus
- Mount Moriah Cemetery
- Emily’s Bridge
I’ve driven past a couple of others, including The Stanley Hotel, but didn’t stop to wander around. Never once did I see, hear, or spidey-sense anything out of the ordinary. Bummer! I suppose the legend accompanying the location is what prompted People to select it for each state.
There are plenty of other places in NJ and NYC that are reputed to be haunted. I’m a little surprised nothing in Cape May made the list, such as The Southern Mansion; the exclusion of the Pine Barrens doesn’t surprise me, as it’s probably too general an area to pin down a specific location for regular Jersey Devil sightings. There’s a book I believe is titled Haunted New Jersey, which is a really fun read. Lower Manhattan is also chock full of reputedly haunted places, so why St. Mark’s edged out the others is beyond me. I’m also a little surprised that Arnaud’s edged out The Myrtles in Louisiana.
Anyway, I thought this haunted stuff might be an interesting diversion from the crap Nicky’s been posting on VF, FB, and his blogs, now that he got his wi-fi working after a week of blissful silence. It had to have been more than a wi-fi outage, because he could have hard-wired into his modem/router if his only problem was his antenna. 😉
The movie theater here in town is supposedly haunted, but I’ve never encountered anything weird or ghostly, and neither has a friend of mine when he was a projectionist and stayed late alone years ago. The apartments above the theater are also said to be haunted and at least one person moved out because of weird stuff they claimed their experienced.
No great surprise they picked the Bell Witch Cave for Tennessee, but it might have ben a nice change of pace to go with Rugby. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby,_Tennessee
I know of at least one reported haunting there, and I seem to recall a couple of others. I didn’t have a chance to meet the ghost that is supposed to haunt the B&B She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed and I stayed in one anniversary weekend several years ago, though, as we were in the wrong room. 🙁
My place of employment is supposedly haunted, it’s an old theater in Worcester, MA. It was even on Ghost Hunters. Unfortunately, I don’t believe in ghosts, but it’s got some really creepy old areas. And it was neat seeing where I work on television.
I’m unfamiliar with the haunted theater in Worcester, now my curiosity is piqued.
The bar I used to work at in Cambridge was haunted. I was apparently the only one who ever agreed to work the basement bar alone. But hey, he never bothered me and I never bothered him, we were good.
It is the Palladium on Main St. It’s more of a concert venue now, but it was a legit theater when it opened about 100 years ago, and has gone through changes to a movie theater and then music venue. I have never seen anything there to make me think it is haunted in the 14 years I have been working there (plus I don’t believe in ghosts, so there’s that). But it definitely has a history of haunting, so much so it was featured on television. Let me see if I can dig up a youtube clip or something from that episode.
Well, that didn’t take long. Stuff from The Palladium starts at about 26 minutes in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd47vZL8Xps
Hah! Unless it’s something with my computer producing those intermittent electronic buzzes, this is funny. The theater is kinda cool, though.
Huh, I never knew that about the Palladium, and I’ve been there for a bunch of shows. Awesome!
Those buzzes are happening when I watched it too, they aren’t in the original version. Looks like the audio is out of sync as well. Either way, it’s a neat old building.
And I have probably run into you at some point Drew, since I have been working there since 2000.
Hah, we may have, though you’ve more likely met some of my buddies who jump on the p2p shows there, as they’re around a lot more often. When I’m in Worcester it tends to be smaller places like the Raven and Ralph’s unless there’s a band I’m really stoked about seeing like King Diamond.
Which was awesome. He put on a great set. I actually took that night off to enjoy it instead of working. I’m not sure what you mean about p2p shows though? I assume you mean pay to play? If so, we don’t do that there, never have.
A lot of places in the Northeast are reputedly haunted, which makes sense given the Revolutionary and Civil War histories. There’s a restaurant (I forget its name) that used to be an inn back in the 1800s about 20 miles from me that was featured on one of those paranormal/ghost shows. Jonathan Maberry was inspired to write his Pine Deep trilogy by the ghost stories/legends in my general area. I’d be willing to bet there are some supposedly haunted places in and around New Hope — if not the theater, then maybe some of the inns and/or restaurants, or even the covered bridges a bit farther north.
We still have loads of really cool old stone farmhouses that were built in the 18th and 19th centuries very near my house. I’d love to buy and live in one, except that they’re all way too darn close to whichever road goes by them, which makes sense if you think back to the days of horse and wagon (or carriage) transportation. Who wants to risk driving a wagon 100+ yards up a muddy track to get to the house, and getting stuck near the road? Tractor + wagon = fine. Horse + wagon = not so good.
In the end, if I didn’t see any ghosts in Gettysburg, I’ll probably never see one — not that I believe in them, anyway. If anything sets off a voltmeter in my house, I’d be checking the wiring, not looking for ghosts. 😉
Which reminds me, we so gotta meet up some day! I’m still kind of shocked at how close Mr. Mayberry lives to me.
Stinky can vouch for me. I’m normal-ish ;P
Not any more, he doesn’t.
Drat! It is a pretty area too.
I’d also like to meet you sometime, Pixi. I’m semi-normal. Perish the thought! Hopefully, Stinky can vouch for me, too.
Yes, SpicyPixi is “normal-ish” 🙂
If I’m lucky, you’ll say the same about me. I wasn’t too weird, was I? Not everyone who likes creepy stuff is a creeper, right?
I used to do some work at Langley AFB and in one unfinished basement room I got the creepiest feeling when I was doing field work by myself in an old building- only one underground in that building at the time. There was no artificial lighting in it, just a small window and part of the floor was depressed and raised oddly. Just cold concrete and lots of stains. I had to touch all over it measure it properly. I later found out one of the buildings there was supposedly haunted. I thought it must be that one, since I found out later it had been an autopsy room. Bodies were elevated on the concrete to drain.
Nope, no suspicious activity ever noted there other than my heebie jeepies Instead the office building I enjoyed coffee and bagels in before meetings was the haunted one. Never felt it. Go figure. Personnel claimed once it was renovated the haunting stopped.
That’s funny, because so many property owners of these places featured in ghost shows claim the haunting started when they began renovations.
Renovations can go either way, in activating or decreasing spirit activity. It’s considered a rather large bug-bear in gathering legitimate proof of a haunting.
Fortunately, nobody ever died in my barn, so … fingers crossed!
Also I’m really chuffed to see that Heceta Head was chosen for Oregon. It’s absolutely gorgeous there but I can confirm that is hella creepy at times both on the cliffs where the light house rests and beach below it. Lots of Great White sightings in the area too.
I’ve never been there, but it does sound … nice, with a slight element of “I’m not looking over that cliff from less than three feet away.” I’m not kidding; it really does sound nice. I just don’t have a thing for standing on the edge.
There are sea caves in the cliff-side under the buildings which can be accessed when the tide is very low but one must be quick. There’s also an amazing waterfall near by that feeds the creek that flows directly into the sea there. Devil’s Elbow beach has been important to me since I was wee and it’s likely that the majority of my mother’s cremains will end up there soon 🙂
Oh, wow! Holy crap, Pyris!
I once worked in a haunted Wal-mart. Yes, you heard that right.
I can actually believe that, one of the newer Walmarts back in Eugene used to give me a migraine every time we shopped there. I actually like shopping for food so it was rather strange that’d I’d only develop migraines after visiting THAT particular store, no matter how short the visit or who I went with.
One of the more interesting things about ‘hauntings’ or spirit activity in general is that it seems tied into an area’s energy. There are places, both in nature and in urban environments, where nothing of consequence ever happened at all that collect negativity and imo Walmarts are kind of excellent storage for stress, despair, aggression and other such feelings. Any hungry thing in the area would likely find it a tempting treat.
Here in Evansville, we have the Willard Library, which is supposedly haunted. I’ve lived here for twelve years and have not once set foot in it, so I only have second and third hand accounts of paranormal activities inside.