A ghost in a red shirt used to haunt the Biennale Gardens in Venice. The former soldier had to uphold his promise to protect his hero, Garibaldi, even in death.
In the Castello district in Venice, in the Giardini della Biennale there is a statue of a soldier of Garibaldi, a hero of the Italian Unification. If you look closely though, there is another statue to see. Right behind Garibaldi’s statue there is a bronze statue of a lesser known soldier that is still standing guard, right behind Garibaldi’s back in the garden.
Garibaldi himself was an Italian general, patriot, revolutionary and republican. He is remembered as a big contributor to the Italian unification and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in the 19th century.
The statue of the soldier was once a man named Giuseppe Zolli. He was a local and studied at the University of Padua before joining Italy’s independence war in 1859. He joined what became known as the Camice Rosse, or the Redshirts. These were volunteering men that followed Garibaldi and fought against the Austrian Empire, The kingdom of Two Sicilies and the Papal States among others and were very famous at the time.
RedShirts: A typical redshirt worn by Garibaldi’s men
The young soldier, Giuseppe Zolli was so dedicated to this man that he swore an oath to always guard him, even in his death. Because he did die in service during the Mille Expedition or the Expedition of the Thousand, a mission to take back Southern Italy from Bourbon rule.
After he died he was buried on the island of San Michele, which is the cemetery of Venice.
The statue of Zolli wasn’t placed there until 1921, when people started to notice strange things happening around the war heroes monument. People reported of a ghostly soldier all dressed in a red shirt tripping and tugging at people passing by the monument. An elderly man living close by recognized the soldier as Zolli and told them all about his promise. The city then decided to erect a statue in his honor.
However, if you are looking for the ghostly soldier, he is probably nowhere to be found. After they placed the statue of the soldier, there were apparently no more sightings of the ghost, as he would be able to always stand guard of his hero, just as he promised.
Discover the creepy secrets hidden in the shadows of the St. Augustine Lighthouse! Uncover the truth about paranormal activity and ghost stories around this haunted location.
Have you ever felt a chill run down your spine while touring the St. Augustine Lighthouse? Explore its haunted history, find out what visitors have seen, and hear tales of ghosts, mysterious wet footprints around the keeper’s house, and strange occurrences that remain unexplained!
History of the St. Augustine Lighthouse
The current lighthouse is on Anastasia Island in Florida and was built between 1871 and 1874, but a lighthouse has been there long before that. Even as far as 1565, the place was used both for the Spanish and British government to guide their way through the waters with lit pyres.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse has a long history, with reports of paranormal activity dating back to the 1800s. It is rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of three former lighthouse keepers and their families, who lived and worked in the area during its heyday.
Visitors have reported numerous strange occurrences, including eerie shadows in dark corners, doors that open and close on their own, and even disembodied voices murmuring in the night!
Stories and Sightings of Paranormal Activity
Stories of paranormal activity at the St. Augustine Lighthouse have persisted for centuries. It is said that spirits of the former lighthouse keepers wander its halls, restless and cranky.
Visitors to the lighthouse have shared stories of hearing unexplained footsteps and disembodied voices, seeing strange lights and shadows moving around in the darkness, feeling an oppressive presence overpowering them, and even being able to peer into otherworldly realms!
The Ghosts of the Pittee Girls
Some of the ghosts that are said to haunt the lighthouse are the spirits of the Pittee Girls. On July 10th, 1873 there were four girls. Three of them Mary of 15, Eliza of13 and Carrie of 4 were sisters and daughters of the superintendent of the Lighthouse Construction. The last one was an unknown African-American girl who was 10 and her father may have also been working on the site.
The Pittee Girls: The two elders of the Pittee Girls along with an unnamed friend drowned when they were playing close to the lighthouse construction site. It is said that they are haunting t. Augustine Lighthouse to this day.
They were in a railway cart used for moving supplies and playing in it like it was a rollercoaster. One fateful day however the cart went into the water and trapped the girls under it. A worker on the site, Mr Dan Sessions saw it and tried to save them. But it was too late, and everyone but the youngest drowned.
After this, a lot of the paranormal activity that people say they experience are attributed to these girls like giggling in the night and the apparition of young girls running around in Victorian clothing. People that rented the keeper’s house have told that they have woken up in the middle of the night and a small girl has been standing by their bed before disappearing.
The Haunted Basement
In 1970 the keeper’s house had been empty for years. One day it burned down under mysterious circumstances and only the basement was left from the original building when they renovated it.
During the renovation, the workers reported about strange stuff happening around the house meant to house the keeper at St. Augustine Lighthouse, especially down in the basement.
Investigating and Documenting Ghostly Phenomena
For those brave enough to venture into the eerie depths of the St. Augustine Lighthouse, Paranormal Investigation teams have provided detailed reports on their experiences and findings while exploring the ghostly phenomena at the location. Many investigators use digital recorders, cameras and other devices to capture evidence of paranormal activity.
Evidence gathered can include detailed investigations into potential hauntings, recording video footage of unexplainable activity, or utilizing scientific techniques such as electromagnetic field (EMF) readings or voice analysis to uncover potentially supernatural occurrences. But can these be trusted as hard evidence?
Tales of paranormal activity around the St. Augustine Lighthouse are deep and wide. Reports of sightings here range from experiences with ghosts and strange noises in the night and although there is no concrete evidence of supernatural beings in the area as yet, visitors who have braved its depths never forget their eerie experience!
A paranormal investigator’s dream, the South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh have been investigated for its hauntings on many occasions and many have left with a feeling of having experienced something paranormal and ghostly in the dark.
In the late 18th century Edinburgh was a growing community with a limited space in the Old Town nicknamed Old Reeky because of the bad smell and old buildings. The city is built around seven different hills and there are five main bridges connecting the slopes and hills of the town. That is also the reason for the high rise buildings of Edinburgh were they chose to build on top of the old to utilize the uneven location of the city.
The people of Edinburgh started to utilize the spaces under the South Bridge in the Old Town to make more room for business. The spaces within the archers under the bridge are also known as the Edinburgh Vaults or Niddry Street Vaults as well as just the South Bridge Vaults.
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They look like a series of chambers next to each other and are actually of the 19 archers underneath the South Bridge. It was supposed to be a place with respectable businesses, but ended up becoming some of the more haunted corners of the very haunted city.
The Cursed South Bridge
According to legend, the place was cursed already from the start. The South Bridge that was built to connect the old town with the new town was completed in 1788, and already at the opening of it the locals deemed it as cursed.
The South Bridge: The largest arch of the bridge, seen from the Cowgate.
It was seen as a grand opening and one of the respected Judge’s wives had been selected to be the first resident to cross the bridge as she was the city’s oldest resident. However, she died before the opening. To keep their promise to the elderly woman though, they decided she after all would be the first person to cross the bridge, although it was in her coffin.
The locals in Edinburgh were scared, now thinking that the bridge was cursed because of the unusual opening of the bridge. And looking back at all that happened on the bridge and in the vaults beneath it, perhaps it indeed was.
In the start, the South Bridge Vaults underneath the bridge were mostly used as taverns, workshops and as storage space for merchants. However it wasn’t long before the well respected businesses started leaving the area because of the poor facilities. The building of the bridge and the vaults underneath had been constructed on a low budget and even the construction itself had been rushed. Therefore they had taken no precaution to seal the surface against water and built it with porous limestone and the place became a damp and dark place which constantly flooded.
The Damp and Dark Underworld of the Vaults
No later than 10 years after the bridge and the vaults opened, respectable businesses like shoemakers, goldsmiths started leaving the area and those that could afford it relocated elsewhere as the murky vaults flooded and the sunlight never shone inside the South Bridge Vaults. It was a place no one wanted to be, and only those that had no other choice remained.
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There was also a slum where the poorer people in town started to take over as the surrounding Cowgate area had developed into a slum during the industrial revolution. Crime, filth, poverty and murders were key words to explain the place as no sunlight came through.
More illicit businesses started to pop up in the area like brothels, shady pubs, gambling dents and illegal whiskey distilleries, turning the place into the red light district of the town.
The Legends of the Serial Killers Burke and Hare
A lot of horrible things happened inside these vaults during this time. Most of it, we will never know for sure. Legends however will be told. The South Bridge Vaults were where the body snatchers Burke and Hare were supposedly finding their bodies as well as killing them to sell them off to medical schools.
The Burke and Hare murders: The serial killings were sixteen murders committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures. Here depicted in an etching of Burke murdering Margaret Docherty (also known as Margery Campbell) by Robert Seymour.
Although this legend is often passed down as fact, there is no actual evidence that the South Bridge Vaults was the exact place they got their bodies from, although very likely. The place to find poverty struck people and those that no one would miss if they suddenly ‘disappeared’ was inside the dark and damp vaults.
The Rediscovery of the South Bridge Vaults
At one point during the 1800s, exactly when is unsure, they emptied the vaults for people and started to dump tons of rubble in the vaults, sealing them completely off and making them inaccessible for the public and were kind of forgotten for a long time.
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It wasn’t until the 1980s the tunnels to the vaults were rediscovered by a former Scottish rugby player named Norrie Rowan when he found one of the tunnels while he was renovating his flat. He spent the rest of his days excavating the vaults and rediscovering its history to make it accessible for the public once again.
The Ghosts of the South Bridge Vaults
There are many stories about who haunts the place today as the vaults have reopened and daily groups of tourists and paranormal investigators are taken down to the vaults to uncover the dark history.
Many people met their tragic fate on a daily basis down there in the vaults as well as suffered from horrible tragedies that affected the entire town. Like the Great Fire of Edinburgh that lasted for five days after it started in 1824 and took the lives of at least 13 people. There are many stories about victims that were trapped inside the chambers and suffered horrible consequences from then. Although there is no paper trail on this tale though.
There are many tourists that claim to have captured evidence of something paranormal going on, and they even make the newspapers from time to time. The same reports comes from the paranormal investigators that go down into the vaults and come back with what they see as proof of hauntings going on.
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Here are some of the ghosts that are said to haunt the vaults until this date and have gathered enough reports to be a part of the haunted ghost tour in Edinburgh:
The Aristocrat
One of the first ghosts that people have reportedly seen over the years is that of the Aristocrat. He is said to be a rich gentleman with a tall black hat and a beard. He is not seen as the most angry spirit as he is known for grinning at visitors while leaning against the wall. People do have a tendency to feel uneasy in his presence though, according to those who claimed to have seen him.
The Happy Shoemaker
There is also a room that is believed to belong to a shoemaker from that time that is said to still practice his profession as a shoemaker.
He is described as a man in his 50s and is one of the ghosts that are said to be friendly and are often seen smiling and laughing by visitors while he happily carries on with his shoemaking while wearing an apron.
The Veiled Woman
In the room with the shoemaker known as The Room of the Cobbler, there is a meaner spirit though and is known as the veiled woman. She is believed to throw small stones at visitors as well. She is seen as a young woman dressed in black while wearing a veil in the north west corner of the Cobbler’s Room.
Women have also reported about feeling an intense rush of grief, anger and a sudden and unexplained abdominal pain, which has left many to believe it is a woman that lost her child in a horrible way and she is still grieving.
The Caretakers Room
In one of the chambers there are reports of a man sitting by the fireplace. He apparently looks like one of the more chill spirits in the place as well with a drink in his hand and legs stretched out. By his side he has a dog that is reported to brush up against people’s legs or sniff them.
Little Jack
Then there is the small boy named Jack or James that are often spotted in the Wine Vault. He is mostly seen as a blonde curly boy around 6 or 8 years old, wearing a blue suit with the classic knickerbocker trousers. Some sources want to connect him to a missing child case from 1810.
He is often playing with a red ball at times and is known to try to hold the hands of female visitors and likes to play around if there are children around. Allegedly, if he spots a person he doesn’t want to enter the South Bridge Vaults he will tuck their sleeves or coat when entering the Blair Street Corridor.
According to the guides down in the vaults, he is afraid of one of the more well known ghosts wandering the narrow alleys and small chambers. And that is that of Mr. Boots or also known as The Watcher.
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The Watcher
Perhaps the most well known ghost in the South Bridge Vaults is that of The Watcher. There is a theory that he was a watchman and that is the reason he is known as The Watcher. Or maybe it’s because he always looks as if watching over something.
There are also alternative legends over the years that have tried to explain his presence, and many are also claiming him to be one of the slum landlords or even one of the body snatchers that hid his stolen bodies in the chamber known as The White Room. Today we can only speculate.
He is also called Mr Boots because of how many people in the vaults have experienced him. They can hear loud footsteps in The White Room or in the Niddry Street Corridor which is known as the most active place in all of the vaults.
His face has never been seen as it is hidden, blacked out or he is showing himself to the public with his back. He is supposedly this tall, slim and dark figure with a long flowing coat with his long hair in a ponytail. Sometimes he wears a hat and long boots. Sometimes he carries rattling keys and his breath smells disgusting of rotten teeth and whiskey.
People experiencing stuff within the vaults often get the feeling that he is trying to get them out from the narrow and claustrophobic spaces. Batteries on cameras die or malfunction when he’s present and he is known to push or pull people towards the exit as well as the phrase ‘Get Out’ has been heard on several occasions.
The Stone Circle
There are also rumors about an evil demon trapped inside one of the stone circles in one of the chambers. This is were the late Wiccan High Priest, George Cameron known as The Hermit set up his temple in the 90’s. It was in one of the vaults that have historic connection to the torturing of witches somehow.
According to him, he was trying to rid it from evil and built the stone circle which still stands today. He failed, however, to remove the evil that were supposed to be in the vaults and Cameron abandoned the room after he recommended to seal up the room to protect people from the evil within it. It is not sealed though as it is one of the stops on the tour through the vaults.
The Experience of the Hauntings
No matter the real story of the ghosts in the South Bridge Vaults and the true horror the people living there went through, the vaults itself are an interesting walk through time and history. And perhaps if you choose to go down into the dark chambers you too will hear the same that many claim to have on recordings and etched into their memories. The eerie sound of what can sound like children yelling and crying along with hushed voices and shuffling footsteps.
The story of The Lady Nak of Phra Khanong or Mae Nak Phra Khanong is a very popular ghost story in Thailand about a wife waiting for her husband even in her death.
Mae Nak Phra Khanong (แม่นากพระโขนง), meaning The Lady Nak of Phra Khanong is one of the most famous Thai ghost stories. Her hauntings are retold in countless movies, books and series and even today, you can visit a shrine in her honor to give offerings in Thailand.
The Story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong
During the reign of King Rama IV in the mid 1800s, there lived a woman named Mae Nak. She lived together with her husband, Mak on the banks of the Phra Khanong Canal in Bangkok until he was conscripted to fight in a war.
In many versions of the story it was a war against the Shan tribe where he was wounded and had to spend time away to recover. He was sent to central Bangkok where he was nursed back to health before being sent home.
During this time, Mae Nak was pregnant and waiting for her husband’s return, but the birth of their child would be struck with tragedy. While in labor, she died together with their child after a long and difficult birth. But instead of going to the afterlife, she turned into a powerful spirit called Phi Tai Hong Thong Klom (ผีตายโหงทองกลม), a vengeful and restless spirit of a person that suffered a violent or cruel death.
Finally when Mak returns home from the war after being healed from his injuries, he finds his wife and their child waiting for him and thinks they are alive and well as the news of their deaths never reached him. When neighbors try to warn him that they have already died, he refuses to believe them and lives together with his family in blissful ignorance.
Ghost Legend in Movies: The legend of Mae Nak Phra Khanong has been made into a movie on several occasions. Here actress Davika Hoorne in ‘Pee Mak Phra Kanong.
One day Mae Nak is preparing nam phrik, a type of Thai chili sauce, she drops a lime on the porch. The house was built in a traditional thai way with piles, so the lime fell on the ground under the house. Being a ghost, she makes her arm longer and picks it up from the ground. This is the moment when Mak realizes that his wife is in fact a ghost and his undying love turns to fear.
He tries to flee the house without her noticing and manages to slip away when lying about going to the toilet. In the dead of the night he escapes. When Mae Nak notices that her husband has left her, she goes after him. Mak hides behind a Blumea balsamifera (หนาด) bush. According to folklore, ghosts fear this bush and he is protected.
He finally reaches Wat Mahabut temple, a holy ground where ghosts cannot enter and is finally safe from the ghost of his wife, whose undying love for her husband is turning to anger and grief.
Mae Nak’s Spirit in a Jar
Mae Nak uses her anger and in her grief, she starts to terrorize the people of Phra Khanong for helping Mak to see the truth and leave her. She is finally captured by an exorcist, trapping her spirit in a jar that is thrown in the canal.
From there, the story has several versions for the continuing haunting of the ghost. In all versions though, some finds her jar in the canal and opens it and thereby freeing her.
This time it was the famous monk Somdet Phra Phutthachan that captured her spirit and trapper her in the jar. He was a widely recognized monk that they said possessed magical powers and confined her spirit in the bone of her forehead. He then binded it to his waistband. Legend says that the waistband is actually in possession of the Thai royal family. However, in other versions, the monk promised Mae Nak that she would be together with her husband in the next life, and she chose to go to the afterlife herself.
The Shrine of Mae Nak Phra Khanong
The Shrine: Mae Nak Phra Khanong shrine in 2009, part facing the canal// Source: Xufanc
The shrine to Mae Nak was built at Wat Mahabut until it was moved in 1997 to central Bangkok near the Suan Luang District and is located next to a large temple on Soi 77 by the Sukhumvit Road.
The Mae Nak shrine has a statue of her and her infant son. People often make offerings to her, giving her clothes, toys for her child, fruits, lotuses and incense sticks. She even has a display of beautiful dresses behind her. The people giving these offerings to her often ask her for help, either to have an easy childbirth or to help their husband be exempted from military conscription. They also asks her for the lottery numbers.
The Story Behind the Haunting
Although the legend of this Thai ghost story is well imprinted in the culture, there are no historical evidence of it being nothing more than a myth. But there are however, some similar stories.
In 1899 there was a story about the legend in the Siam Praphet newspaper. The author claimed that the story of Nak was based on the life of Amdaeng Nak (อำแดงนาก) that died when she was pregnant. Her living son was worried that his father would remarry and that he had to share his inheritance with his stepmother.
To prevent this, he invented the ghost story and dressed in womens clothing. When boats passed the house he threw rocks at them to make them believe it was the ghost of his mother that did it.
No matter the origin of the story, it continues to scare and inspire people and is an example of a living legend and Mae Nak’s story that refuses to die.
Number 54 in Junkerngasse, Bern in Switzerland might be hiding more than just old history and dust. The legends of this long abandoned house just won’t let go with the tale of the Headless Ghost Woman.
Taking a stroll down the eye catching Junkerngasse is like taking a stroll through time. The old architecture of old Bern, Switzerland is all around as the best preserved street in the city. The street was once called Edle Gasse (Noble Lane), and it gives a hint of who used to live here.
Read Also: Check out all of our ghost stories about Haunted Houses
Stately houses with Baroque façades and big garden terraces still give off these noble vibes as you walk along the old street, feeling the fresh air of the Swizz cities in your lungs as well as the old history of the city on your shoulders.
The Haunted Street: Junkerngasse street in the old part of Bern in Switzerland and was once a place were the rich lived. Today many of the old houses still remains, including the abandoned ones.//Photo by: Tony Badwy/wikimedia
The Haunted House on Junkerngasse
Along the noble houses there are prominent families and old money that can be smelled just as well as the wild gardens and decaying houses fight amongst themselves to be noticed. Inside Junkerngasse 54 though, it is said even the old ghosts of a headless ghost woman of the house who still lingers and suddenly makes an appearance.
Read Also: Check out all of the ghost stories from Switzerland
Junkerngasse 54 is an abandoned house and has been unoccupied for decades and therefore the legends and rumours of the house are old and plentiful like how it goes with many of the abandoned buildings. Most likely it was always used as a stable for nearby houses like the Von-Wattenwyl-House, but from the outside it looks like a normal residential building. Check out the picture from inside here.
Who started the story of the headless ghost woman originally is still a mystery as the house was built in the middle ages but left empty since the 1800s. Therefore names and faces, facts and dates are muddled.
Headless: The headless ghost woman seems to still lingers in the old parts of Bern.
According to the story however, around twelve and one in the morning the windows of the house opens and the ghost of a headless woman appears, laughing, creeping out anyone that catches a glimpse of her and is walking past.
There are also tales of a woman in black that seems to be walking through the rooms of the house. If this is suppose to be the same ghost as the headless ghost woman, or another additional ghost is unsure.
Das Gespensterhaus The Movie
Das Gespensterhaus (The Haunted House) is a film directed by Franz Schnyder . The horror comedy was filmed in Bern and Zurich in the spring of 1942 and premiered in Bern on August 28. One of the location of filming the movie was in Junkerngasse 54. It was based on Uli Wichelegger’s novel The Ghost House: A Story from the City of Bern.
The movie was set in the old town of Bern there is an abandoned house that is said to be haunted by deceased residents. The new journalist Rico Häberli receives the order from the editor Oppliger to scout out the house. He spends a night in the building and discovers a ghost. Together with the young owner of the house, he tries to get to the bottom of the matter.
An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.
