Period ghost stories

[Rateye]

Afternoon all!

With the holiday approaching, I've been wondering about period ghost tales and such.

Anyone know any good legends of ghosts or warlocks from the colonial days and such.

Spooks, ghouls, fantoms and highwaymen???

Help a fella out?!

Rats

[Reginald Killingsworth]

Hmm...New England is full of them Rateye!

I have visited such areas as New Port Rhode Island and several Coastal villages of Main and Mass and parts of Long Island, NY.

Are you looking for ghost ships that meet their fate upon the rocky coast line? Female ghosts that beckon men and their ships to a watery grave? Ghostly images of battles that still take place through the centuries?

Or ...do you want them to be true ghost stories?

Let me know what you are looking for and I will be happy to send over a list of great books.

YHS

[Christine]

Real ghost stories have been posted on here before. Some were in the Way to a Pyrate's Heart section and then some were in Beyond Pyracy. And when I mean real ghost stories, stuff that has happened to some of the members on here, myself included.

[Rateye]

What I'm actually looking for is short shories which can be worked into simple vinnetts for holloween.

The banshee, lost lovers returning, witch hunts or trials, spectral events, soldiers returning to help the living, and so on.

I have a friend who works at a historical village and I've been composing some scenarios for their Holoween event.

So any good sources could be used and or combined.

I'm looking from colonial to about the civil war or so.

Thanks again!!

Rats

[Cheeky Actress]

Oh Rateye...are you talking about the village of Ushers?! Oh, that sounds like great fun...when in October will it be?

It time permits...(and I am not running about like crazy for my Salem, MA even) I would love to go...

Of course, this all depends upon time.

[Cheeky Actress]

Just a thought Rateye....

There are several 15 min skits that I've seen done in Salem, MA that I am sure people in the mid-west haven't even heard of...

Some of them are as follows:

The Fog

Request for a Haunted Ship

The Mask

and there are others...the run about 15 mins to 20 mins. I even have a few that are perfect for women folk, too!

PM me or email me....

[Hester]

I haven't read it yet, but you might try _Pirates, Ghosts, and Coastal Lore: The Best of Judge Whedbee_:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/089587295...glance&n=283155

Whedbee collected folklore from the Outer Banks of the Carolinas, and began publishing stories based on this research in the 1960s.

Cheers, Hester

[Caraccioli]

Real ghost stories have been posted on here before. Some were in the Way to a Pyrate's Heart section and then some were in Beyond Pyracy. And when I mean real ghost stories, stuff that has happened to some of the members on here, myself included.

The ones in this forum appear to have been deleted like the "What do you do for a living?" post with the great server clean-up a few months ago. (Everything that hadn't received a post after Nov 2005 in this forum is gone.)

I do remember a lot of ghost stories being told in that post, though.

[Rateye]

As always any and all would be greatly appreciated.

Yes my dear, that is exactly what I was thinking. I believe I will have off for next year. Though I'm trying to send plans early and if possible allow them to be used this year.

I have a plan for a carriage or wagon ride, to include:

Highwaymen?, Lycanthropy? Gouls and such

A haunted stretch of RR tracks. To be presented at the depot.

Possibly a witch or vampire hunt/ trial at or infront of the court house/ hanging???

A witch's cabin??

A tour of the hotel by lantern?

Then to finish off with..... The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

With Ward and his beast horse playing the horseman, and Brian?? playing Mr Crane.

We can have the scene from the party and the Brom Bones taunting and such, then go into the chase, while the spectators stand, sit etc in the gazeebo in the middle of town.

What's so great is the town is perfect after dark

rats

[Cheeky Actress]

What great fun, Rateye! I love to hear more...but you didn't state the date. I will go over to Ushers website to find out when it falls. It seems it will be a very busy fall for me.

I just found out that Mitch (Wild Bill Hitchcock) Posthuma is getting married October 5th! Ya, a big shock to me too...but so happy for him!

[Cpt Sophia M Eisley]

Greetings Rateye -

Sounds like you're putting together a fun outing. I don't know if I'd classify this as a ghost story, perhaps more of a spooky legend, but how about the tale of the Jersey Devil?

Speaking of spooky and ghostly tales, I sorely need to revisit some of these. I love reading stories of this nature, as it sets the mood for me for fall.

[Rateye]

Jersey Devil?????

Sounds Great!!!

Send it! Send it!! Send It!!???????????

Please!!!!!!!

He's what???

Well good for him! Still miss having him show up to events though!

R

[Matusalem]

Here in New Jersey is a local magazine called WeirdNJ, they always do a thing on the Jersey Devil, same people who do the cable tvshow WeirdUS. ANd the same magazine does a thing on the Wanaque UFO which is literally my backyard....like the edge of my property.

When I lived in Rhode Island, a school history teacher told us the tale of the Palatine ship off the coast of Block Island. Christine, this here is what ye be looking for. Here's another link. Story goes, that you can actually see a ghostly spectre of a ship in flames off the coast at midnight, around late December, early january...so I guess we missed the fireworks by a month.

Let's see now, I'm about 30 minutes drive from Sleepy Hollow, NY, that exact location of the Washington Irving story, I'll shoot a pic before today's big game.

[Matusalem]

Yep, I slipped across the Tappan Zee bridge to figure all about the legend of Sleepy Hollow (a.k.a. the Headless Horseman), the tale made famous by Washington Irving. Sleepy Hollow is undoubtedly a the wickedest town ever, even the police cars have the headless horseman motif on the side of the cars. Sorry, no Johnny Depp or Christopher Walken or Christina Ricci, but I will say that Sleepy Hollow cemetary is probably one of the best cemetaries I've ever seen. It's very hilly and lots of flora & fauna and dirt paths, and makes for the perfect setting for such a tale. The whole story goes down here at the Dutch reformed church built in 1697, shown here, plus the location of the bridge where the horesman shows up:

More shots of the Dutch church:

Up the hill looking down at the church:

Washington Irving's grave is also in the cemetary:

And there are also graves named Van Tassel (the Christina Ricci character)

But I was hoping the headless Horseman would come out of these bronze doors and play, but the cemetary/ park closes at sundown....no fun.

[BriarRose Kildare]

Totally Awesome.....Thanks for the Pics. Hugs to you, Matusalem.

[Misson]

There's always the "ghosts" of the yellow fever victims reputed to hang around the latrines at Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West. (I never saw 'em, though. Someone told me you have to believe in them to see them.)

o_O

[Matusalem]

Totally Awesome.....Thanks for the Pics. Hugs to you, Matusalem.

BriarRose, thank you! (hugs back)

Actually the pictures I took don't do justice to this place. If anyone is ever in the NYC area and is interested in doing cemetary shoots, or an interesting day trip, it's pretty tops when it comest to cemetaries, even by my seasoned Boston & New England standards. And not unlike the movie, the forests are very thick with spidery brush and trees, and hilly and winding...excellent for getting lost and not finding your way out. There are several etremely ornate mausoleums as big as my house, some of famous people such as Andrew Carnegie. WHat is also interesting about the Headless Horseman tale is the fact that the people & places are real but the story is purely fictictious. I guess it was Washington Irving's way of honoring friends. The real-lifeIchabod Crane was actually from Staten Island, NY, and the Van Tassell family were also close friends...therefore it's no coincidence to find tombstones in Sleepy Hollow with Van Tassel on them. The names just get immortalized in grade school storytelling and Hollywood.

[Christine]

Yep, I slipped across the Tappan Zee bridge to figure all about the legend of Sleepy Hollow (a.k.a. the Headless Horseman), the tale made famous by Washington Irving.  Sleepy Hollow is undoubtedly a the wickedest town ever, even the police cars have the headless horseman motif on the side of the cars.  Sorry, no Johnny Depp or Christopher Walken or Christina Ricci, but I will say that Sleepy Hollow cemetary is probably one of the best cemetaries I've ever seen.  It's very hilly and lots of flora & fauna and dirt paths, and makes for the perfect setting for such a tale.  The whole story goes down here at the Dutch reformed church built in 1697, shown here, plus the location of the bridge where the horesman shows up:

More shots of the Dutch church:

Up the hill looking down at the church:

Washington Irving's grave is also in the cemetary:

And  there are also graves named Van Tassel  (the Christina Ricci character)

But I was hoping the headless Horseman would come out of these bronze doors and play, but the cemetary/ park closes at sundown....no fun.

Wow, great pix! I actually was in that area last year in August. It was for a Dark Shadows convention in Tarrytown. Sleepy Hollow was close by. Both Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow are such beautiful towns. I'd love to go back again. I love how it's so different up there verses the city.

[Littleneckhalfshell]

Maybe the name Ichabod Crane was from a fellow from Staten Island, but the real 'school teacher' who Ichabod Crane was patterned after was a fellow that Washington Irving knew, named Jesse Merwin who was the school teacher in Kinderhook NY. see link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichabod_Crane

I went to High School at the Ichabod Crane Central School High School, our school symbol and mascot was a depiction of the Headless Horseman and our teams were know as 'the rider's' If you really want to see 'a sleepy hollow' check out Kinderhook NY, it still is.

[Matusalem]

I went to High School at the Ichabod Crane Central School High School, our school symbol and mascot was a depiction of the Headless Horseman and our teams were know as 'the rider's' If you really want to see 'a sleepy hollow' check out Kinderhook NY, it still is. 

...spoken from the man who prabably knows better than I

[BriarRose Kildare]

Tonight be a good nite for tellin' ghost stories fer sure...the wind be a howlin' and the climate is bone chillin'.

So any one got a good ghost story they be liken' to tell?

[Matusalem]

My all time favorite is the story of 'Resurrection Mary'. It is really a two-part story that takes place in the southwestern suburbs of Chicago. I lived in the windy city for two years, and I thought this story was mesmerizing.

Resurrection Mary

My account is this: A taxi driver was driving down the road, in the wee hours in the middle of winter. Upon he saw a teenage girl trying to hitch a ride. she was wearing a 1930's era white dress. Concerned that she, without a coat, might feeze to death, He offered a ride and she climbed in. They talked, then she asked to be let out by the resurrection cemetary, then she dissapeared and vanished. The second part of the story is that the bronze cemetary gates are bent, as if pried apart by human hands. the gates have impressions in them which resemble the fingers. It is believed that she was the ghost of a girl who was killed along the roadside while walking home from the Willowbrook ballroom back in the 1930s.

The south end of Chicago is loaded with ghost stories of the like, and all sorts of paranormal activity like Bacheler's Grove cemetary.

[BriarRose Kildare]

Ahh, thanks so much for the ghost story. You picked one of my favorite one's too. I have always enjoyed that particular story.

HUGS!!

[Lady Cassandra Seahawke]

Hey, do any of you ever watch the BIO channel on TV?

Last night they had an episode entitled "Haunting the Caribbean"

They stated that Blue Harbor in Jamaica is one of the most haunted sites in the world, including pirate ghosts. In fact they had a gentleman on that told of being in a bed and breakfast, laying in bed and being attacked by a pirate ghost.

They also told of several other instances of ghostly happenings. If you ever get a chance to watch, I recommend it.

[Mission]

I came across an actual period ghost story in Abraham Crowley's journal Crowley's Voyage Round the Globe as included in William Hacke's A collection of original voyages (1699) that I wanted to reprint when I found this thread. And now I've found it, so...

“[1686]But it is strangely observable, that whilst they were loading their Guns, they heard a voice in the Sea, crying out, Come help, come help, a Man over Board, which made them forthwith bring their Ship to,

__

thinking to take him up, but hearing no more of him. Then they came on Board of us to see if we had a Man wanting, for upon strict examination we found that in all the three Ships we had our Complement of Men, which made them all to conjecture, that it was the Spirit of some Man that had been drowned in that Latitude.” (Crowley, p. 40-1)