Keg Mansion, located in Toronto, Canada, has gained notoriety for its captivating and chilling tales of ghostly encounters. Steeped in history, this iconic mansion is believed to be haunted by restless spirit of a maid who met her untimely demise by hanging herself within the mansion’s walls. It is said that her tormented soul still lingers, leaving an eerie presence that can be felt by those who dare to venture into the mansion.
The Keg Mansion is a historic Toronto landmark, has been home to several mysterious tales of ghosts and hauntings since it was built in 1867. This iconic building boasts an intriguing history, spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, making it one of the most haunted places in Canada.
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Today it is used as a restaurant known as Keg Steakhouse on Jarvis Street at Wellesley, but it used to be the home of one of the most prominent families in Toronto. But who is the one said to linger within the walls of the great mansion?
The Maid in the Attic at Keg Mansion
In the late 1800s it was owned by the Massey family, the most prominent families in Toronto. Lillian Massey was the daughter of Hart Massey. She was also the person running the mansion and named the estate Euclid Hall. Lillian Massey fell ill and she eventually died in her childhood home in 1915 and from then on the tragedies just kept on coming.
The Keg Mansion: The building is know a steakhouse restaurant. The Keg Mansion was formerly known as “Euclid Hall” and is today thought to be haunted. // Source: Wikimedia
According to the stories, it was Lilliam Massey’s maid who went and hanged herself inside of the mansion. Apparently the maid walked up the main hall of Keg Mansion, up the stairs to the oval vestibule and she brought her own rope she made a noose she hung over the wood railing. She was found hanging above the foyer, right by the grand staircase.
No one close to the maid, or other staff working at Keg Mansion really knows why she did it. Some claim it was out of grief because of the death of her employer, some say that she feared a big secret about her lover would come out after Lillian Massey’s death.
Shadowy Figures Following Visitors Throughout the Home
Either way it is said that after her untimely death, people that have visited the Keg Mansion as well as the staff working there have claimed to have seen the ghost of the maid haunting the mansion she once worked and died in. According to the people that claim to have seen her, she is still hanging in the middle of the room where she died.
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Reports have even been made of shadowy figures that follow visitors throughout the home and sudden bursts of unexplained energy. While some might not believe in ghosts, many who have visited Keg Mansion can attest to the fact that something definitely feels strange in the area.
Some believe it is the ghost of Lillian Massey herself that are still watching over the home she devoted herself to.
The Unexplainable Presence of a Little Boy in the Stairwells
The tragic tale of the hanged maid is not the only ghost story coming out from Keg Mansion though. There are also stories about what sounds and looks like the ghost of children roaming the halls. Legend has it that the ghost child or children roams the mansion’s stairwells and is particularly fond of visitors who are brave enough to make their way upstairs.
It is said a little boy fell down the stairs and died from the fall, and his spirit has been seen forever since in Keg Mansion. Families that come to eat there have experienced their children wanting to play with the boy in the stairs only becoming terrified because even the little children notices something is wrong.
Those who have been here say they can feel the presence when descending the stairs; however, no one has ever been able to explain just who or what it is. No matter which room someone is in at Keg Mansion, if you listen intently you can hear soft footsteps following your every move.
Tucked away in a remote corner of Suffolk lies a building with a sinister past – Borley Rectory. For centuries it had ghostly tales of nuns and headless horsemen in the night, but how much of it was true and how much was a hoax?
Borley Rectory, located in a remote corner of Suffolk, has long been shrouded in mystery and speculation of the paranormal kind. It even used to be described as the most haunted house in England, and that is saying something.
Rumors of hauntings in the large Gothic-style rectory have swirled around the property since its construction in 1862, but to this day no one can say for sure what lies beneath – are the stories simply urban legends, or is something even more sinister at work?
A Closer Look at the History of Borley Rectory
Borley Rectory was constructed in 1862 by Reverend Henry Bull, who served as Rector of the church of St. Mary between 1862 and 1892.
During this time, many paranormal occurrences were reported by members of the Bull family and visitors to the property, including sightings of phantom figures, unexplained noises and strange lights in the surrounding woods. The case remains unsolved to this day, with experts and amateurs alike still trying to uncover its secrets.
The Headless Horsemen
One of the things people claimed to have seen was the headless horsemen over four decades on various occasions, pulling a phantom coach. This was also the thing the wife of Reverend Smith saw when she later would call the Daily Mirror and get an investigation going in 1929.
The Death Coach: The “Death Coach,” a prominent figure in the folklore of Northwestern Europe, particularly in Ireland. The death coach is typically described as a black carriage, driven or led by a headless horseman known as the Dullahan. The appearance or sound of the death coach is believed to be an ominous sign, foretelling imminent death either for the observer or a close relative.
The Paranormal Activity in the Borley Rectory
Long before 1929 and the investigation that would follow, the rectory had been talked about as haunted for years. Paranormal activity was reported frequently in and around the Borley Rectory all the way back in 1863. Witnesses described mysterious footsteps, disembodied voices, and unexplainable lights in the surrounding woods.
The Bull Family: The Rectory used to belong to the Bull family that told countless of ghost stories about the place over the years. This image is photograph of Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull made before 1892
Others even claimed to have seen supernatural figures wandering around the rectory grounds. These reports were collected by investigators that visited the location over the years, creating an intriguing mystery that maintains its fascination today.
The Legend of the Monk and Nun
Before Reverend Smith and his wife moved into the rectory, the Bull family lived there for decades. On July the 28th, 1900, the 4 daughters of the rector claimed to have seen a ghost of a nun in the twilight, just outside of the house. They tried to talk to her, but when they got closer, the spirit seemed to just disappear.
So called ghost historians talk about a legend from the Benedictine monastery that according to legend was built around 1362. One monk allegedly had a relationship with a nun from the convent not far from the monastery.
Their affair was apparently discovered and the monk was executed and the nun was bricked up in the convent walls.
The Ghost of the Nun: One of the more enduring legends from the Borley Rectory was that it was haunted by a nun. Something that the children from the Bull family told about, as well a different mediums that held a seance at the place.
There was also once conducted a planchette seance in London about the spirits in the Rectory held by the medium Helen Glanville in 1938. She told that she had made contact with a young nun named Marie Lairre. She was a French nun that left her order in France to follow a man, a member of the Waldegrave family and owner of the Rectory in the 17th century.
She never got that far though and she was murdered inside of the house. Her body was buried in the cellar, or perhaps even thrown in a well that wasn’t in use anymore. She had tried to write on the walls for help from the afterlife to try to get the people to find her body.
The Skull at Borley Rectory
Fast forwarding to when Reverend Smith and his wife moved into the rectory in 1927, the wife soon started getting suspicious that something wasn’t quite right. Once she was cleaning the cupboard and came across a brown paper bag. When she peered inside, she found the skull of a young woman, and this is when things really started to take off.
The servant bell would go off, despite not being connected, there were lights in the windows and she kept hearing footsteps and this phantom coach carried by horses at night.
She got in contact with the Society for Psychical Research through the Daily Mirror, and they then sent a reporter writing about all the strange things that were happening in the rectory.
Paranormal Investigation of Price
Harry Price was a celebrated investigator who visited Borley Rectory in 1929 and really made the haunted house famous for the country as his accounts were printed in the Daily Mirror. He was attempting to uncover the truth of the supernatural phenomenons.
Harry Price
During his time there, Price recorded his experiences, noting mysterious phenomena such as cold spots in certain areas of the rectory and inexplicable noises. There were also things like a vase and other objects being thrown and mysterious spirit messages that were being tapped out on the mirror.
According to Mrs Smith, all of these haunted phenomena stopped as soon as Harry Price left the rectory, and she suspected it was him that was behind all the hauntings.
When Price published the study by the Society for Psychical Research, he rejected most of the rumors that people had reported on, however, most ghost historians discredit this report and books and TV are continuing to be intrigued by the story of the Borley Rectory.
The Exorcisms and Poltergeist Activity
The Smiths left in 1929 and Reverend Foyster moved into the rectory with his wife, Marianne and their adopted daughter, Adelaide.
Reverend Foyster wrote in 1930, a detailed report to Harry Price about the strange things they had experienced while living there. The bell ringing the Smiths had heard continued, the windows shattered and there were stones and bottles thrown by no one.
Marianne Foyster even reported to her husband that something had even thrown her out from her bed.
Reverend Foyster tried twice to repel the hauntings by exorcisms, but it didn’t go so well. In one of the exorcisms he was even hit by a stone in the shoulder.
After they moved out from the rectory in 1935, people speculated on what was going on in the house. Most blamed Marianne to be the mastermind behind the hauntings, and even though she blamed her husband and psychic researchers that came by to investigate, she later came forward with shocking news.
She had an affair with one of their lodgers called Frank Pearless, and she had used the paranormal rumors to cover up her lies and deceits. She also had a habit of making her friends fake hauntings to prank her husband. But everything? Marianne claimed not, and said that she really did believe some of the hauntings had been something real, although most could have been the wind.
The Borley Rectory Report
Harry Price couldn’t let the Borley Rectory be and rented the place in 1937. He let 48 observers stay in the house for longer periods of time and interviewed them about their stay there.
In 1937, Price published his findings from Borley Rectory in a report which has since become known as ‘The Borley Rectory Report’. In it, he concluded that the rectory was indeed haunted by several distinct entities and spirits.
Despite decades of debate, no one has been able to conclusively explain or disprove Price Harry’s findings. While some people suggest hoaxes or natural occurrences are behind the phenomena experienced at Borley Rectory, others remain adamant that its walls still echo with supernatural activity – mysteries we may never be able to explain.
The Fire
During the planchette seance in 1938, there was a second spirit that turned. The spirit identified himself as Sunex Amures, and claimed he would set fire to the rectory that year. He also said that the bones of a murdered person would be revealed then.
There was no fire in 1938, but in 1939, the new owner was unpacking boxes and knocked over an oil lamp. The fire spread quickly and the house was severely damaged. After they investigated, they concluded that the fire seemed to have been started on purpose.
After they did a quick search in the cellar of the burnt down house, they discovered two ones, something Price thought to have been the bones of a young woman.
Burnt Down: The Borley Rectory after the fire.
Borley Rectory – a Hoax?
Debate continues over the precise source of the paranormal disturbances experienced at Borley Rectory. While some suggest hoaxes or natural occurrences are behind the phenomena experienced, others remain adamant that its walls still echo with supernatural activity – mysteries we may never be able to explain.
Many investigators have revisited Borley Rectory since Harry Price’s initial investigation and it is still considered to be a site of major paranormal importance today. Even if Price himself has been thought to have faked many of the phenomenon when he conducted his investigation. Whether it was a hoax or not remains to be seen, but it remains an enduring mystery in the world of ghost hunting.
In 1938 it was confirmed that the legend of the monk and the nun bricked up in the convent had no basis in facts and now many speculate that it was the children in the rectory that made the story up for fun.
The skull Mrs. Smith supposedly was never accounted for, and the bones they found in the cellar was also debated. The parish refused to have a ceremony because they believed that the bones they had found belonged to a pig.
In 1944 it was demolished and the land divided before getting new buildings built.
Inside of the once stately building, horrible crimes were committed against women. The Nam Koo Terrace, otherwise known as The Wan Chai Haunted House in Hong Kong gives a testament to the ghosts of the past.
There is an old red brick historic building in Hong Kong that the plan is to make into a fabulous wedding venue. The Nam Koo Terrace is also one of the city’s most well known haunted houses and also goes by the name, Wan Chai Haunted House.
The Nam Koo Terrace (南固臺) is a two storied building on No. 55 Ship Street that is now mostly covered in moss. The historical building in the Colonial Eclectic style was built in 1915 and used to belong to the wealthy To family who were merchants from Shanghai.
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The Nam Koo Terrace also used to belong to Chun-man who rented it from the To family, a silk salesman who was also a member of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. This was until World War Two happened and he was forced to leave his home as the Japanese invaded.
The Deadly Military Brothel
Back in the day under the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong the Japanese soldiers used this building as a military brothel as well as a place of torture during the Second World War.
Comfort women or comfort girls were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with most historians settling somewhere in the range of 50,000–200,000.
Several of the buildings in the city turned into these so-called Comfort Houses for the imperial army. Luke’s College and the Tung Chi College were also converted into this type of building. Brothel is too nice of a name for it though as many women were brutally raped and according to the legends, also murdered.
After the war, the house went back to the To family who continued to use the house until 1988 when it was sold off. Perhaps because of the gruesome haunted rumors surrounding it?
The Headless Ghost of the Prostitutes at Nam Koo Terrace
It is said it is the ghosts of the women that had to stay in this place, so called Comfort Women haunt the building, roaming headless in the night. Some even go as far as claiming insanity after staying in the house and once, papers like the Oriental Daily covered one of these cases.
In 2003 on the 30th November, there was a paranormal investigation by a group of eight young middle schoolers that spent the night to test themselves and the haunted rumors. The night didn’t go as planned though and the group saw more ghosts than they bargained for.
After the night it was said that one of them claimed to have been possessed by one of the ghosts they had encountered. According to the police, three had to be put into psychiatric treatment from the trauma they experienced that night.
Perhaps in another world this would have been the thing that made people think twice about getting close to this cold spot of tragedy, but the opposite happened. Over the next few days people flocked to the place to get some of the same experience as the middle schoolers did and the house stayed in the headlines of the newspapers for a long time.
On the way to The Peak in Hong Kong sits the most haunted house in the city. The Dragon Lodge certainly looks abandoned, but who is said to haunt the place and whose voices echo in the night?
The Dragon Lodge (龍廬) is a haunted abandoned building at The Peak in Hong Kong that has passed through the hands of several owners over the years, and haunting legends keep piling up every time the building exchanges owners.
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Victoria Peak, or just The Peak, offers panorama views of skyscraper-flanked Victoria Harbour, Kowloon peninsula and craggy mountain peaks. It used to be a popular place for Europeans to settle and it shows in the architecture from the buildings in the area, the Dragon Lodge being one of them.
The Cursed Mansion on Top of The Peak?
Once a grand mansion, only the shell of it remains today with broken windows and graffiti on the walls. No one lived her but ghosts and trespassers. Today the estate on No. 32 Lugard Road struggles with ghost hunters trespassing and thrill seekers that try to get a glimpse of some of the ghosts that are said to haunt the place.
According to records, the Dragon Lodge was built in 1945 which means that it was built pre World War 2. We reckon that it was built in the early 1900s, possibly 1920s. For many of the owners, it didn’t go so well. One went bankrupt and another one died in the house and it seems like no one of the owners can keep the house for long.
There have been theories that the very house or the ground it sits on is cursed.
Decapitated Nuns in the Dragon Lodge
The worst legends about the house comes from the World War 2. At this time Japanese soldiers occupied the Dragon Lodge and used it for some sort of operation. The legend goes that they rounded up and decapitated several Catholic nuns on the premises.
Although hard sourcers for this atrocity are hard to come by, there were similar cases of horror all across Hong Kong and for the world for that matter in this time, so the very idea is not that hard to believe could have happened.
But when did the building start to become haunted? It was people living there all the way up to the 80s, at least in the 60s and 70s. After this though is when rumors started coming from the area as the inner roads started to become overgrown and the very building started to fall into disrepair. Today it is known as one of Hong Kong’s most haunted houses.
The Renovation of the Haunted House
In 2004 the house was bought for 74 million HKD and there was a glimmer of hope that it would be renovated to its former glory, but the house remained vacant and no one got the chance to move in. From the outside it looked like the curse was still holding up.
The new owners tried to renovate the house in 2017, but the construction workers were convinced that the place was haunted as they kept hearing strange noises of a child crying they couldn’t see or find anywhere.
The House only got a renovation on the outside then and updated on their security measures, leaving the inside completely untouched. As to why, perhaps we will never know.
A vacation inn in Hong Kong has been called haunted after people staying there have claimed to have seen ghostly apparition of people that have ended their life in the Bela Vista Villa.
Close to the sea there is a vacation home in Cheung Chau in Hong Kong where couples visit to have a romantic time together in the little bungalows by the beach. When staying at the place though, things can according to legend become more haunted than romantic though.
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Cheung Chau island (長洲) is just southwest of Hong Kong Island has a long history of being haunted and filled with spirits. There is even a festival that could have originated because of these evil spirits. This version tells that the island was plagued by pirates and even the plague itself in the 18th century and the local islanders wanted to get rid of them. Local fishermen then brought an image of the ancient god Pak Tai, the mysterious black God of the north to the island they paraded with throughout the island and it is said that the deity drove away the evil spirits.
But what is it about this quaint beachfront vacation home that draws so many people to end their life there in what has been known as The Haunted Bela Vista Villa, one of the most haunted place in Hong Kong?
The Resort of Charcoal Suicides
The Bela Vista Villa (東堤小築) is a collection of vacation bungalows in central Cheung Chau, close to the Tung Wan Beach and a popular vacation location that in later years changed the name to Miami Resort.
It is said that the building is the place for over 20 murders and suicide cases over the last 30 years and the Bela Vista Villa has been dubbed The Resort of Charcoal Suicide. People have come to this place from the rest of Hong Kong to end their life there for all sorts of reasons. What happened over the years was that it started to be a rumored haunted place as well though for the people that stayed there for their vacation.
The Ghost Haunting the Bela Vista Villa: It is said that people that have stayed there have seen a woman wearing red or traditional Chinese clothing as she is haunting the Bela Vista Villa as well as the beach.
The people that have stayed in the vacation home claim to have heard wailing screams in the night coming from the ghosts of the victims and seeing ghost apparitions of them, and it is said that the haunted ghost stories all started with a singular case.
The Murder Suicide and Ghosts of the Mother and Son
It is said that it all started the summer of 1989 when a woman together with her son vacated in one of the units. The 35 year old woman was having marital problems and was highly unbalanced. According to the stories, the woman was said to be the estranged wife of a Hong Kong pharmaceutical tycoon. He was cheating on her and the infidelity drove her mad.
She killed her son before herself. The mother dressed up in an all red outfit, possibly a Chinese traditional costume before hanging herself.
Read more: There are stories about jaded women haunting places wearing red all over the globe. Like with the haunting of
Read more: There are stories about jaded women haunting places wearing red all over the globe. Like with the haunting of The Lady in Red of Bang Pakong River
After this incident, it is said that the residents on the island have seen the mother and son wandering around. There have even been those who claim that they have been possessed by their ghosts as well.
Reclaiming life in the Bela Vista Villa
While the history of this place holds tales of tragedy and ghostly apparitions, the past is not destined to repeat itself forever. Over the years, efforts have been made to bring about an aura of peace and tranquility in the Bela Vista Villas, fostering a sense of harmony between the living and the departed.
The ghosts that once haunted this place fade into the annals of history, their presence becoming nothing more than whispers carried in the sea breeze. Now, the only spirits to be found are those of joy, laughter, and blissful contentment. As day turns to night, the vibrant atmosphere transforms into a serene sanctuary, where the only sounds to be heard are the distant hum of the waves caressing the shore.
Once a beautiful manor in Cologne, Germany, Haus Fühlingen continues to decay and fall into ruins with its dark and bloody past. Although an abandoned building, it is said to be filled up with ghosts.
In the city of Cologne in Germany there is an old manor house that is said to be haunted. Most of the former glory is gone now, and only the ruins and skeleton of the main building still stands.
The house of Villa Oppenheim, or as it is better known as, Haus Fühlingen on Neusser Landstraße 5A once belonged to the prominent Oppenheim family, rich from centuries of banking. Eduard Freiherr von Oppenheim built the place in 1884 to keep his horses. It had a racecourse and farm and he wanted it for training.
The Oppenheim’s sold the estate in 1907 as the soil wasn’t really suitable for the training he wanted and by a cruel twist, the home of the jewish family ended up in the hands of the Nazis, marking the beginning of the dark times of the place.
During the war the Nazi’s used Haus Fühlingen as a farm where they used forced laborers who used the house as sleeping quarters. According to both facts and legends it is said they hanged a man that is said to haunt the place.
The Hanged Man
Edward Margol was a 19 year old forced laborer from Poland who got entangled in a web of lies and paid with his life.
At the time it was a man named Ernst Kolb who was the tenant and landowner and he lived there together with his daughter at Haus Fühlingen.
The Nazis fabricated an accusation that he had sexually abused the tenant’s underage daughter. They brought him to a nearby brick factory and hanged him in 1943 for the false claims and he is said to forever wander the estate.
After his death, his body was sent to Bonn University where they dissected him in the anatomy department. What happened to his remains are not so certain, but they were most likely buried.
Other Tragedies
Fast forward to 1962, there was a former Nazi judge named Gerhard van K. living in Haus Fühlingen who hanged himself on the second floor on New Years Eve. People speculate that the two incidents are connected and that the judge was responsible for Margol’s death, although that has never been proven.
By 1967, the city of Cologne demolished part of the building and many of the doors and windows were bricked up. They also found two cars walled up within the walls of the house for no apparent reason.
No one really took care of Haus Fühlingen anymore and it started to show. From this time, many of the ghost stories about the place started being passed around by the locals.
Tragedy struck the house in 2007 again, long after the last person living there had moved. Haus Fühlingen was now abandoned after the widow of the judge, Alice van K. died, but people still visited. That year another suicide happened inside of the house were some young people visited the empty house were they found him on the second floor.
Ghost Hunters in Haus Fühlingen
After its dark history as well as the decaying exterior slowly being taken over by the weather and graffiti, the house has been stapled as haunted and an attraction for ghost hunters. The ones that come out from the house tell about strange light phenomena, shadows fleeting past them, the radio turning on and off by itself and feeling uneasy and sick while being inside.
A prospective buyer once brought a priest to drive away the spirits and ghosts haunting Haus Fühlingen. This proved to be inefficient though as the sightseeings of the paranormal and the darkness kept being reported on, and it looks like the ghosts are the only inhabitants of the house for the time being.
Haus Fühlingen has since 2008 been planned for a renovation to make luxury apartments, however as of now, they are still just plans and the future of the house is still uncertain. The city of Cologne is also in the process of trying to remove it from the list as a protected building, paving a way that one day, it could be torn down completely. Question is, will that help in stopping the reports of shadows around on the old estate?
A beautiful courtesan became mixed up in the politics that ended and started a dynasty in China. Today it is said she is haunting the Songpo Library in Beijing where she took her own life.
In that time when the emperor abandoned the human world, Wu crushed the enemy and captured the capital, bearing down from Jade Pass. The six armies, wailing and grieving, were uniformly clad in the white of mourning, One wave of headgear-lifting anger propelled him, all for the sake of the fair-faced one. The fair-faced one, drifting, and fallen, was not what I longed for. The offending bandits, smote by heaven, wallowed in wanton pleasures. Lightning swept the Yellow Turbans, the Black Mountain troops were quelled. Having wailed for ruler and kin, I met her again.
Once upon a time, a girl followed the love of her life to be with him, but it ended in tragedy. He gave up his country to save her, but also gave up on her in the end. A tale as old as time of a love turned cold and sour and the perfect setup for a ghost story in the former Songpo Library.
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In the former library known as Songpo Library in the Xicheng district in Beijing, China, it is said that a woman haunted the book aisles in the old Hutong. And according to reports, perhaps she is not the only ghost that are haunting the place.
The General’s Mistress
Wu Sangui: (吳三桂). 8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), a Ming dynasty military officer who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty in China and thought to be haunting the former Songpo Library..
The story in Songpo Library starts out with a famous general known as Wu Sangui (吳三桂) that lived from 1612-1678. He was originally a Ming Dynasty military officer that played a key part in bringing the Dynasty down and giving rise to the Qing Dynasty. In contemporary China, Wu Sangui has often been regarded as a traitor and an opportunist, due to his betrayal of both the Ming and Qing dynasties. Wu’s name is synonymous with betrayal.
When the great general Wu made this place his home he brought his lover with him, a courtesan named Chen Yuanyuan. Different accounts gives different tales about if Chen Yuanyuan really did live in this place, as it is also said it was to Kunming General Wu brought her, not Beijing.
General Wu Sangui is today known as a big traitor and is said to have betrayed the Ming Dynasty by allowing the Manchu army through the Great Wall he was put to guard, for a position in the Qing Dynasty.
It is also said that he betrayed the country for the love of his life, Chen Yuanyuan. Wu’s romance with and love for his concubine, Chen Yuanyuan, remains one of the classic love stories in Chinese history. A story tells that the Bandit King Li Zicheng kidnapped Chen Yuanyuan and for her freedom, General Wu had to betray his country.
The Eight Beauties of Qinhuai : (秦淮八艳), also called the Eight Beauties of Jinling were eight famous Yiji or Geji during the Ming-Qing transition period who resided along the Qinhuai River in Nankin. As well as possessing great beauty, they were all skilled in literature, poetry, fine arts, dancing and music.
Love Turned Sour in the Songpo Library
Perhaps the demands of the court Chen Yuanyuan (陳圓圓) suddenly became a part of were too much or perhaps the price of their love turned too heavy. Perhaps it even was as simple as he got tired of her, but their love soon started to dwindle.
Chen Yuanyuan (陳圓圓) was born to a peasant family in Jiangsu province, and on the death of her father, she became a Yiji. Chen became a leading figure in the Suzhou opera scene and thought to be haunting the former Songpo Library.
It is also said that Chen Yuanyuan had troubles with General Wu’s other wives, especially the one named Lady Zheng who was jealous of her. Terrible rumors tells that Chen Yuanyuan was raped and killed in the fall of Beijing. What happened to her is up for debate, many say that they lived in Kunming and she ran off to become a nun in a temple there. Another side of the story gave rise to the haunted rumors.
In 1642, she became the lover of the scholar and poet Mao Xiang. Subsequently, Chen was bought by the family of Tian Hongyu, father of one of the Chongzhen Emperor’s concubines. She was then either purchased for Wu Sangui by his father, or given to Wu as a gift by Tian.
In April 1644, the rebel army of Li Zicheng captured the Ming capital of Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide. Knowing that Wu Sangui’s formidable army at Ningyuan posed a serious threat, Li immediately made overtures to gain Wu’s allegiance. Li sent two letters to Wu, including one in the name of Wu’s father, then held captive in Beijing. Before Wu Sangui could respond, he received word that his entire household had been slaughtered. Wu then wrote to the Qing regent, Dorgon, indicating his willingness to combine forces to oust the rebels from Beijing, thus setting the stage for the Qing conquest of China.
She is said to have hanged herself in shame and because of her misfortune of being his concubine and not his wife. This is according to popular legend though. The heartbreak of losing her love caused her to take her life by hanging in their home. It is said that the girl still haunts the Songpo Library in the Shihu Hutong, where Wu once resided.
The Haunting of the Hutong
Today the Songpo Library grounds are open to tourists but the building no longer functions as a library. Observers swear they can feel her presence as she moves among the aisles of books today. Local residents have also reported hearing sounds of music and the unmistakable sound of a woman chanting. Could it be the ghost of Chen Yuanyuan, chanting scripture or something she sang on stage once upon a time?
Songpo Library: An old photo of Songpo Library.[Photo/Cri.cn]
There is also a story about a rickshaw driver that once brought a group of passengers to the Songpo Library on Shihu Hutong, or the Stone Tiger Hutong in the Western City. They paid their driver and suddenly vanished, leaving only a single peacock feather floating in the air. Like those that Qing officials wore in their hats. And the money he had gotten was not the Yuan Shikai coin, but an old copper coin with the name of the Shunzhi Emperor from the 17th century.
Perhaps it’s not only the ghost of Chen Yuanyuan that haunts the former Songpo Library, but the General himself as well? Late Ming dynasty historians left behind records describing Wu Sangui as a valiant and handsome general of medium height, with pale skin, a straight nose, and big ears. However, there was an obvious scar on his nose. He was neither muscular nor particularly strong-looking. However, he demonstrated great courage and physical strength from an early age and possessed excellent skills in horse-riding and archery.
Is this a person you have seen roaming the former Songpo Library lately? Perhaps it is a ghost?
Something strange is lurking in the shadows at Avenue Frochot’s notorious Haunted House in Paris. After a Chambermaid was supposedly killed inside of the house, there have been strange things going on according to the neighbors as well as some of the owners.
Enter at your own risk, as the mysterious Haunted House on Avenue Frochot in Paris is filled with secrets and dark forces just waiting to be discovered. Prepare yourself for a spine-tingling adventure that could lead you to discover a hidden world of terror or uncover the truth about what lies deep within the walls of this haunted abode.
Avenue Frochot, Home to Paris’ rich and famous
Avenue Frochot is home to some of Paris’ most affluent and powerful citizens where they live behind the iron fences. It’s also the home of a centuries old mystery – the Haunted House on Avenue Frochot.
Famous writers and artists of Paris’ bustling art scene have a history of passing through this beautiful avenue. The writers Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo lived here at one time and so did the painter Toulouse-Lautrec who had a studio at no. 15 .
People like Théodore Chassériau was neighbors to Gustave Moreau and movie director Jean Renoir and jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt also spent time in the avenue. There were also people like the composer Victor Masse, who died inside number 1, and this place are now remembered to be very haunted.
The Murdered Chambermaid
Although the whole avenue can look a little haunted with their glass stained windows, gargoyles on the front, there is one that is remembered as the most haunted mansion in Paris.
But it isn’t one of the powerful, rich and famous men that owned the houses that are said to be haunting it. The ghost is said to be the ghost of a chambermaid who was brutally murdered inside of the house at the beginning of the 1900s. While she was working for the director of the Folies Bergère. One day, she was walking up the stairs when she was stabbed with a poker. Her killer was never caught, and she is haunting the place now even after death.
It’s rumored that in the dead of night, eerie footsteps can be heard echoing off the walls of the Haunted House, even when it’s supposed to stand vacant. Some claim to have seen shadowy figures moving through the windows or even heard disembodied voices coming from within the walls.
The Curse of Number 1
From then on, there is said to be a curse of the house that was built in 1839. Mathieu Galey was a theater critic that died in the house, paralyzed on his bed, the same place and same position that the composer Victor Massé was a hundred years before.
Sylvie Vartan bought it in the 1970s, but fled from the house only a few days after moving in. Why? Well, many say it was because of the ghost haunting it.
Today, there is a professor of medicine living there, refusing any paranormal claims the house has. So perhaps, the curse somehow got broken, and the chambermaid finally moved on.
By the Venetian lagoon there is a house so cursed not even fishermen will fish near it. Many dark legends surround the Casino degli Spiriti, or The House of Souls, from black magic to the ghost of a heartbroken painter.
Right by the water there is a decaying of a once grand palace that is haunted by its own legends. The house of Casino degli Spiriti or the House of Souls was once a very beautiful building in Fondamenta Gasparo Contarini, overlooking the famous Murano island just across the lagoon.
The house of souls is actually part of the Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo, and the house is an annex which are more commonly known for its legends of ghosts, murder and spiritism. Today, there are so many versions of the legend as to just why it is so cursed.
The Ghost of Pietro Luzzo da Feltre
One of the most famous legends of Casino degli Spiriti is that of Pietro Luzzo da Feltre, a painter who lived in the 16th century, together with famous artists like Titan. This is at least the painter most associated with the legend, although we have proof that he actually died in war, not over unrequited love as this legend would have it as.
Casino degli Spiriti: The house, overlooking the Venetian Lagoon.
Anyway, this was at the height of the Renaissance and Italy was a culture center. The Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo was back then known for a meeting place for Venetian philosophers, artists and learned men.
Not a lot is known about Pietro Luzzo da Feltre’s life and not many of his works are preserved to this day. We do now know a couple of curious facts about him though. For one, one of his many nicknames was Morto da Feltre, where Morto means ‘dead’ or ‘dead one’. There are a couple of reasons why this was his nickname. It could be because of his joyless temperament, the fact that he looked ghostly or his peculiar hobby of exploring crypts and burial grounds.
Pietro Luzzo da Feltre’s legacy though is his demise because of an unrequited love rather than his art. The woman was known as La Bella Cecilia and it was said she had a cherub face and was also a singer. She however was Giorgione’s lover and model, another painter during that time and rejected Pietro Luzzo da Feltre when he fell for her.
According to some variations of the legend, he simply disappeared one day. It is believed that he killed himself in the annex he lived in that would be known as Casino degli Spiriti, unable to go on.
It is said that once, his artist friends saw him through the window a few days after his disappearance, and they hurried over to talk with him. But when they entered the room they thought they saw him in, it was empty.
Strange noises were heard at night after the place was abandoned. Could it be the ghost of Luzzo? Or perhaps it was religious cults gathering to invoke demons and do magic. According to legend his ghost is still in that house, still pining for the woman he could never have.
The Murder House
Later, after the artist of the Renaissance had left and the grandieu of the place started decaying overtime, it was used for various purposes. Casino degli Spiriti was the place venetian died from the plague as the house was used as a hospital. It was also used as an anatomical theater where they did autopsies. So a lot of souls came and left in this building.
In 1929, four people were found dead in the house: a priest, two brothers and a gondolier. There was no explanation of this random gathering of people or what had happened. They were apparently all missing their heads and their right hands, but they never got the ones that did it.
In recent years, the house is still not rid of its ghosts and gruesome history. Linda Civetta lived in Belluno and managed her family’s bar. She went to Venice in 1947 to resell cigarettes on the black market which was big business after the second world war. She was never able to return home. She was killed, cut up and thrown into the lagoon in a trunk. She was found right in front of this cursed building two weeks after her murder by a local fisherman.
Apparently she was carrying large amount of money and this was the motive behind her murder. The murderer was Bartolomeo Toma, a gambler and a gondolier named Luigi Sardi.
Even to this day, the local Venetian fishermen don’t go near that place to fish.
Ever heard of the haunted Kehoe House? The historic Bed and Breakfast in Savannah is said the house is filled with ghosts and has more than one chilling story, from spectral lights to mysterious whispers.
Welcome to the haunted Kehoe House, a bed and breakfast hotel on Columbia Square in Savannah, known for its strange and chilling ghost stories within the historic rooms that are served with the breakfast.
The Kehoe House was finished in 1885 and Willam Kehoe, an Irish immigrant that made his fortune in an iron foundry moved into it with his wife and 10 children.
It was sold in 1930 and has since then been used as a funeral parlor, a boarding house as well as a home. In 1990 it was sold and renovated into a historic bed and breakfast that it operates as today.
Read about more haunted hotels around the world: Here
The Kehoe House is said to be inhabited by many spooky spirits, from mysterious voices to spectral lights. Some believe that the house holds many secrets from its past.
Strange Happenings at Kehoe House
Savannah is often dubbed as one of the most haunted cities in America and the Kehoe House is filled with many strange and creepy stories.
Several people claim to have heard mysterious whispers when passing by certain rooms, and others claim to have seen ghostly figures lurking in the corridors. Others swear to have been pushed by an invisible force and felt a chill down their spine when entering certain parts of the house. Whether these stories are true or not, remains a mystery!
The Funeral Parlor
The most often told story is that the Kehoe family is still haunting the house, both William and his wife Annie Kehoe are said to still be seen on occasions in their former home. But it is not the only thing that made the house haunted according to the stories.
One of the things that led the Renaissance Revival house to being dubbed as a haunted house was from when it was used as a funeral home.
The Kehoe House was used for this for around 5 decades and many believe that those that passed through Goette Funeral Home still lingers.
The Ghost of the Two Twins
Perhaps one of the most chilling aspects of Kehoe House is the unexplained sounds and noises. Many visitors have reported hearing mysterious whispering and strange voices echoing through the house, as if invisible spirits are exchanging hushed conversations deep within its walls. Some believe these whispers are coming from those trapped in limbo, while others simply ignore them and leave as quickly as possible.
Another of the ghost stories that are told on the haunted pub crawls and from the tour buses is the story about the ghosts of 2 of the 10 Kehoe children that supposedly died inside of the Kehoe House. The most told legend is the horrible tragedy of the two twin boys playing and getting stuck in the chimney. Slowly as ashes fell and were breathed in, they suffocated and died.
This is a story that has been debunked several times as there are no paper trails that support these claims. But even though the story about the chimney is a lie, there are those that claim to have heard the sound of children playing and laughing even if the Bed and Breakfast doesn’t allow children to stay there. Sometimes they have even heard the voice of a small child calling out: Mommy.
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.
