Ghost Appearances I am writing this article the day before Halloween so I decided to make it about the paranormal. It won’t appear before Halloween, but soon after. The first thing I want to talk about is Lincoln’s ghost. In the Washington area this has been the most reported ghost sighting. From us ordinary people to heads of state have reported seeing it, especially in the White House. It was said that when Winston Churchill was a guest at the White House, he saw Lincoln’s ghost in an office he had set up near his bedroom. He never forgot it. The White House is quite historical and is said to be filled with other ghosts. President Harry Truman wrote about an experience he had when he was woken up from a sleep while president. He had heard a knocking on his door. He said he jumped up, put on a robe, and opened the door. To his surprise no one was there. He then went up and down the hall looking in the rooms, but still found no one. He decided to go back to bed and when he did, he then heard foot steps in his bedroom. The door had been locked. Again, he jumped up and found no one. He wrote in a letter he believed the place was haunted. Truman wrote about this experience and the letter is in his archive in his presidential library. Whose ghost could he have heard? Was it Honest Abe making his rounds and decided to give the president a once over? Many White House staff members have complained about strange noises. Could this be the place settling or is there a more ominous aspect to what is happening? A strange voice has been heard several times in the White House when no one seemed to be there except those who heard it. It is said to be the voice of the man who sold the land the White House is built on. The voice is said to be coming from the Oval Office when it is empty. Is it really an isolated voice? I would just like to mention the fact there are electronic devices all over the White House, perhaps more than anywhere else. It makes one wonder if one of them is picking up someone’s voice and it is being mistaken for some disembodied spirit. Some of the other spirits which have been reported as being seen were Willie Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. One of my favorite stories has to do with a guest at the White House. Many famous people have stayed there and on one occasion Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was a guest and was asleep in one of the bedrooms. She heard a knock on her door and when she opened it, she saw Abraham Lincoln standing there and fainted. There are places like police stations, prisons and even fire houses which have been reported to be haunted. Some of these places are the favorites of ghost tours. There is a place named Fire Station Number 9 in El Paso, Texas. It is said to be one of the more famous haunted places and it is thought the ghost is known to be that of Captain Woodard Bloxom who died after a fire in 1934. Firemen working there have complained of finding furniture scattered all over the place and feeling a presence. They have also heard footsteps on the stairs but there is never anyone on them. There is a police station in Chicago where police don’t like to be stationed at. It is said to be the 13th Precinct at Grand Crossing. Police are very unhappy if they are ordered to spend the night there. But will not go upstairs after dark according to the rumors. So why this fear of the place? Before I get into that I have good news, this was from a newspaper report in 1898. For years the ghost of a gray haired man with a covered face had floated around the station at night according to reports. There is a theater in Boston named the Cutler Majestic Theater which is 117 years old. A restoration was made in 2003 but the bones of the structure remain the same. It is said the theater is haunted. A man who was known as the mayor died in his seat at the theater in 1910. It is claimed he can be seen at times in the upper opera box seats. During a staff meeting in 2019 the meeting abruptly stopped when one of the staff said look up there, there is a ghost. It has been reported that seats lower themselves and doors open by themselves. It is amazing how many old theaters seem to have the same problems. People often ask what state has the most whatever. It could be people, money, cars and yes even UFO sightings, but would you like to know what state has the most ghost sightings? If you do, I will tell you it has been reported Texas has reported the most ghost sightings since 2005. Second place was California. That state has so many more people than the others I am surprised they weren’t first. People are always reporting seeing ghosts at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It has to be the most haunted place in this country. Ghost armies have been reported marching across the fields and individual soldiers who seem to be lost wandering around. I am going to report a sighting I reported last year because it is so uncanny. A tourist went into an old post office with his wife and inside he saw a complete field hospital with doctors and nurses running around taking care of wounded soldiers. When they came out, they went to a Gettysburg worker and congratulated him on the accuracy of the performance and he replied, sir we don’t have that enactment. They seem to have walked into either a time warp or something similar and when they went back, they just entered an old post office. Makes you think, doesn’t it? Just because a place seems to be haunted doesn’t mean it is evil or dangerous. Plenty of so called haunted places are harmless. If ghosts actually exist, we have to remember they are only people who may have lost their way somehow. Many people have had paranormal experiences and some of those people never talk about it. It makes them uncomfortable and they also do not want to hear it was their imagination or be laughed at. You can’t really blame anyone for not saying anything.
|
