The hanging was a public spectacle, attended by one Thomas Whaley, local businessman. He had come to San Diego in 1849 with the Gold Rush, and set up a business selling hardware, woodworking, and mining equipment. His business flourished quickly, but, it’s not quite clear, in 1855, when he decided to buy property to build a family home and new location for his business, why he chose the very spot where he watched Big Jim die. This is, in fact, what happened, and he built a single story granary and adjacent 2-story Greek Revival style, brick home. From almost the moment the family moved in, they began to hear ghostly footsteps, and feel a choking sensation in the area of an archway over the stairs to the 2nd floor. It was in this spot that Yankee Jim was hanged. Thomas became convinced that Yankee Jim Robinson haunted his residence.

In 1868, a theater troup operated out of the front upstairs bedroom, and the San Diego County Courthouse rented the former granary. Thomas ran a general store from the 1st floor of the house. In March, 1871, while Thomas was out of town, county officers raided the Whaley property and removed all court records and documents, abandoning the property and refusing to pay any rent owed. Thomas tried to sue the county for back rent. He lost, and remained bitter about it for the rest of his life.

Thomas Whaley and his wife, Anna, had six children. One of his daughters, Violet, either committed suicide or was murdered on the property in 1885. The youngest of their children, Lillian, lived in the house until her death in 1953. She was convinced that Yankee Jim haunted the house. Other guests and staff members at the Whaley house have encountered the ghosts of Thomas, himself, his wife Anna, who frequents the rose garden, their pet terrier, Dolly Varden, and a small, swarthy woman in calico who seems to live in the courthouse. Besides the ghostly footsteps, the sounds of activity in the former courtroom, guests have witnessed the apparition of a young girl, supposedly a playmate of the Whaley children, in the dining room. The frequency of these purported paranormal activities and the large number of people who have witnessed them have caused the government of the state of California to officially recognize The Whaley House as a haunted location. It is one of only 2 such locations in the state. The San Diego Paranormal Society conducts a monthly, night time “ghost hunt” at Whaley House, and offers special tours during October for Halloween season.

Every day, people come to tour Whaley House as an historic landmark. It was the first 2 story brick building in San Diego, housed the first commercial theater, served as a county courthouse and general store. How many of the visitors are there for the history isn’t clear. What is known is that of the 100,000 visitors per year, a large portion of them come to witness something extraordinary, something that will prove The Whaley House’s reputation as the most haunted house in America.

In 1870, Willard Carpenter dreamed of seeing a library built in his hometown of Evansville, Indiana. He purchased the land and financed the construction of a Victorian Gothic style building to house it. In 1883, Willard died after suffering a paralyzing stroke, before seeing the library completed. He left most of his wealth and property to the Library Board for the ongoing project. In March of 1885, The Willard Library opened its doors to the public.

In 1937, the night janitor trudged to the library at 3 AM to stoke the coal furnace. Upon entering the basement, he was startled to see what he described as an “all grey lady”, dressed all in grey, from face veil to shoes. He was so shocked that he dropped his flashlight as the apparition faded before his eyes. The night janitor resigned his position shortly thereafter.

The Willard Library’s Grey Lady roams the building in silence. Some say she is the ghost of Louise Carpenter, Willard’s daughter, who was snubbed by her father in his will. Others say not, because there is nothing malevolent about this apparition, as they assume Louise would be. The current library employees consider the Grey Lady as a member of the staff, and know that, every so often, they will see her. And they do see her…often! Hundreds, perhaps thousands of incidences of ghostly activity have been reported. She has been seen among the bookshelves, perusing titles. She moves books and lights, rearranges furniture, turns on water faucets, leaves strange objects. Her presence is sometimes announced by the strong scent of an old-fashioned, musky perfume. Who is she? No one knows for sure, but she may not be the only spirit connected with the library.

So, are you ready to see for yourself? The Willard library provides live “ghost cams” positioned in rooms of the building where the apparitions are frequently spotted. They are available online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you do spot something you think is unusual, just click the screen to save it and submit it to the library for their gallery. They are always looking for new ghost watchers, so pay them a visit at www.WillardGhost.com or www.LibraryGhost.com and check out the cams and image galleries. In October, the library hosts “ghost hunts” on the property, so if you are in the area, visit them. Then, let us know if you are one of the 48% of Americans who believe!

Ghostly tales have been told about Mammoth cave almost since the first guides began leading visitors through the underground rooms and passages by lantern light. Early man used the site as a burial ground, probably because they considered it the entrance to the underworld. Native American tribes used the area as a hunting ground, and shelter. European explorers and frontiersmen wandered through the subterranean tunnels, sometimes losing their way, and their life. Because of the minerals found in the cave, and because of the constant temperature underground, Mammoth Cave preserved some of these unfortunate visitors as mummies, which have been discovered over the years.

Many sightings of apparitions of men in period dress from the 1800′s have been reported. Some of the descriptions indicate that these spirits might have been former guides, or visitors. A woman’s voice, calling to a lost companion has been heard along the Echo River, a waterway that flows through the cave. This voice has been heard by both guides and visitors alike. One of the most famous ghosts, said to be heard and felt in the passages where he died, is that of Floyd Collins, a former owner of the area known as the Crystal Cave. While exploring the underground tunnels leading to and from the Crystal Cave, Collins became trapped by falling rock. After weeks of various unsuccessful attempts to rescue him, he died of exposure and exhaustion. The next owner of the cave displayed Floyd’s body there in a glass-covered bronze coffin for some time before he was eventually buried in the local churchyard. Some claim that his voice can still be heard calling for help along the path where he was trapped.

Is Mammoth Cave haunted? If two centuries worth of sightings and reports from guides and visitors are not evidence enough, perhaps the grudging testimony of scientists and skeptics, who have had strange and unexplainable experiences, might be. Even if there was no evidence of supernatural activity, the mystery, history and legends of Mammoth Cave are more than enough to make it a perfect Halloween Haunt!

Because of its location, Alton was a hub for the Underground Railroad, a network of homes with hiding places and tunnels to aid slaves escaping to freedom in the North. Alton was also the site of the seventh Lincoln-Douglas debate. It was the site of the first penitentiary in the state of Illinois, and during the Civil War, housed some 12,000 Confederate prisoners of war. During the smallpox epidemic of 1863-1864, thousands of prisoners died, and a memorial marks the site of a mass Confederate grave of over 1,300 casualties.

The Mansion House on State Street in Alton was once a hotel. In the 1830′s an old Indian fighter named Tom Boothby retired to the back downstairs apartment in the house. He had lost an arm and an eye in his adventures, and lived as a recluse, never leaving the hotel. The screams from his nightmares about the Indians coming to get him frequently woke his neighbors. Finally, after 2 years of uncomfortable retirement, Tom died in the night, still tormented by dreams of vengeful Indians. His screams and footsteps are still heard by visitors and residents of the Mansion.

The First Unitarian Church, built on the burned out ruins of a Catholic Cathedral, may still be the home to the spirit of a pastor who committed suicide there. The old Cracker Factory, which has been operated as an office building and antique store for many years, is supposedly occupied by several prankster spirits, who whistle, change radio stations and move objects around.

The Milton School in Alton was built in 1904, and in the 1930′s may have been the scene of the brutal murder of a little girl. The janitor, who was believed to be the culprit, committed suicide shortly thereafter. Both spirits are still said to haunt the school, which is now used as a factory which makes decorative glass objects.

Residents and visitors to Alton have experienced encounters with spirits and ghostly presences in many other locations in and around the city. A bus and walking tour of haunted locations is offered during the spring and summer, and special tours run during October for Halloween season. These tours are hosted by the author of “Haunted Alton” and are reportedly the only historically accurate tours of the many haunted sites in the city.

Tuberculosis is a very serious disease, and, before the discovery of antibiotics, a very contagious one. The treatment included seclusion from the rest of the population, rest and fresh air. Many Sanatoriums, as tuberculosis hospitals were called, were built on hills in rural, wooded settings, believing that the peaceful surroundings would be beneficial to the patients. Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened in 1910, and was built on top of a hill, to safely accommodate 40-50 patients. In the years following it’s opening, tuberculosis reached epidemic proportions in the area, and in 1926, a new, larger structure was opened, that could house 400 patients. It served as a tuberculosis hospital until 1961, when it was closed, renovated and reopened in 1962 as a geriatric care facility called Woodhaven Medical Services. This facility was closed by the state in 1981.

Waverly Hills has been called one of the most haunted places in the world, one of the top ten most haunted places in America, and the world’s most haunted hospital. Over it’s long history, Waverly Hills treated thousands of patients. Most did not survive the “White Plague”, as tuberculosis was called, prior to the use of antibiotic treatments. It is estimated that, in its 50 year history as a tuberculosis hospital, somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 deaths occurred there. In addition to the spirits of the many patients that are said to haunt the site, Room 502 has it’s own ghost. Legend has it that a nurse on the hospital staff learned that she had contracted the disease. Knowing the lengthy, futile battle she was facing, she chose instead to hang herself in room 502.

At the height of the epidemic, many patients died every day. To keep patient morale up, the hospital administration needed a discreet way to remove the dead. A tunnel, used also to receive deliveries of supplies and as a walkway for employees coming up or going down the hills to work in the winter months, was used to transport bodies from the hospital to hearses and trains waiting below the hill. The tunnel, called the Body Chute, or Death Tunnel was built before electricity was available, so, after descending about 30 feet, there is total darkness, except for whatever sunlight filters through the small circular vents that are spaced every 100 feet. Despite popular legend, bodies were not “dumped” into the Body Chute and allowed to bounce and roll down the hill to be disposed of at the bottom. Gurneys on rails were used to lower the bodies down the 500 foot tunnel. Paranormal investigators claim to have encountered many spirits on the long, dark walk.

The hospital has been featured on SyFy channel’s “Ghost Hunters” during their regular season, and they returned to Waverly for their Halloween live special in 2007. The movies “Death Tunnel” and “Spooked” were both filmed there. The French comic book series “Pandemonium” is based on the paranormal legends of Waverly Hills. Both French and British television Halloween specials have featured the Sanatorium and its history.

Waverly Hills is now privately owned, and public tours, both historical and paranormal, are offered daily. Arrangements can even be made for amateur ghost hunting nights. Special events are held at Halloween. Proceeds from the tours and other donations are used in the ongoing restoration of this historic site.

Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA, was opened in 1829 under the “Pennsylvania System”. It was the most expensive building to have ever been built in the United States at the time it opened, and it became the prototype for over 300 other prisons across the country. Designed by the Quakers to force inmates to look inside themselves and then to seek God, the Pennsylvania System placed prisoners in complete solitude for the duration of their incarceration, and drove many a sane man quite mad. Cells contained a bunk, toilet, table and a bible. The only light was from a slit in the roof, where sunlight, called the “Eye of God”, would filter in. If a prisoner had to leave his cell for any reason, he was hooded, so that he could not see the other inmates. Communication of any kind between prisoners was forbidden. Sometimes, in desperate need of interaction, prisoners would tap on pipes, or whisper through vents to each other. If caught, they were brutally punished.

It is said that the Quakers had nothing to do with the punishments that were meted out at the prison. It was the hired staff that designed and enforced the torture that the inmates endured. Punishments like:
The Water Bath. Especially popular during the winter months, the offender was dunked in a bath of ice cold water, and then hung on a wall for the night. Often a thin coat of ice would cover the prisoner’s body by morning.

Then there was the Mad Chair. Inmates were strapped into the chair with leather bindings, so tightly that no possible movement could be achieved. They might be left in this chair for days, with no food, until their circulation almost stopped from lack of motion and the tight straps. It was not uncommon for a man to go insane before this punishment was over.

Most gruesome of all was the Iron Gag. This was considered by the prison staff to be apt punishment for an inmate who broke the “no communication” rule. An iron collar was clamped around the prisoner’s tongue, with chains that attached to the wrists, which were then tied behind the back. This ensured that any movement would tear the tongue and cause severe bleeding. It was not uncommon for a prisoner to die from blood loss before this punishment ended.

In the 1840’s, author Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities) visited the prison, and was horrified at the conditions, causing him to write of the psychological torment of the prisoners. He wrote that incarceration at Eastern State Penitentiary was tantamount to being buried alive. The prison was intended to house 250 prisoners, but before it’s reform in 1913, over 1700 inmates were housed there. The state finally took over the prison in 1913 and the Pennsylvania system was abolished. The property continued to be operated as a state prison until it was finally closed in 1971. The history of the prison doesn’t end there, though.

During it’s restoration, a locksmith working in the cellblock was attempting to remove a 140 year old lock. As he removed the key, a powerful force struck him and held him paralyzed, while he witnessed tormented faces appear on the walls of the cell, and hundreds of figures swirled out of the cell and around the cellblock, as if he had released them from whatever had held them trapped for so long. The locksmith’s experience was so vivid that he trembled in fear whenever he told the story, even many years later. Since that time, employees and visitors alike have had countless paranormal experiences, including hearing giggling, whispers and weeping coming from within the walls. According to the Assistant Director, there are about two dozen paranormal investigations done per year at Eastern State. They almost always find evidence of activity. Eastern State Penitentiary has been named on many lists as one of the most haunted places in America. MTV’s “FEAR”, FOX’s “Scariest Places on Earth” and Sci Fi’s Ghost Hunters, all filmed here.

What better place to host a Halloween Haunted House? And they do! “Terror Behind the Walls” is a haunted attraction within the walls of the prison. There are actually five separate haunted places to be visited. Their FAQ’s explain that they will do their best to terrify you. For us, we think that the possibility of mingling with actual tormented spirits is terrifying enough! All proceeds from ticket sales to Terror Behind the Walls goes to the preservation of this 175 year old historic prison.