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The Ghost Within The White House

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Go beyond the walls of America’s historical residence and explore a mysterious tale of the ghost within the White House. Is the house of the President really haunted?

Step into a world of mystery and folklore as you explore the legend of the ghost within the White House. From tales of strange occurrences to sightings of inexplicable figures, the White House has long been rumored to be haunted. 

The White House is the official residence and workplace of the President of the USA and has been so since president John Adams from 1800. 

Discover what could be behind alluring tales of supernatural entities inhabiting America’s most famous residence.

What Happened in the White House?

Curious minds have been trying to uncover the truth behind this mysterious legend for decades. But some believe it’s more than just a myth—some believe there was an actual event that occurred in the White House sparking this intrigue. 

It all centers around an unexplained occurrence on June 13, 1927 that many claim involved strange voices and creepy shadows coming from the Oval Office. To this day, no one is quite sure what actually happened that night but theories range from paranormal activity to espionage.

Identification of the Ghostly Resident

For decades, there have been reports of a ghostly presence that occupies the White House. The name of this spirit has never actually been identified, but some believe it is former British Army Officer Major John Sylvester who died in the White House in 1814 after defending it from an attack by the British during the War of 1812. 

Others insist that it could be Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams, who supposedly still haunts the house even though she was never actually seen there in her lifetime. As with most rumored hauntings, no one will ever really know for sure who–or what–is living within these walls.

Unveiling of the Paranormal Presence

If a paranormal presence really does exist in the White House, it’s likely been lurking since at least the early 1800s. The strange events reported here include footsteps echoing throughout dark hallways, doors mysteriously closing and opening on their own, and even sightings of a spectral figure roaming the corridors. 

Most famously, however, are the Polk children’s accounts of Abraham Lincoln himself gliding through their bedroom late at night! Whether or not these stories are true remains to be seen; perhaps one day we may get definitive proof that something supernatural does indeed live within The White House walls.

Encounters with the Ghostly Entity

For decades, those living and working in the White House have reported encounters with the ghostly entity. One of the earliest recorded is First Lady Abigail Adams who supposedly hung her laundry near what would soon become the East Wing only to return and find it all gone! Since then, multiple members of staff (past and present) have also reported strange events occurring late at night. 

Perhaps most surprisingly are reports of Presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and even Ronald Reagan having unexpected meetings with a figure dressed in Abraham Lincoln’s clothing! Whether or not these accounts are true remains a mystery, but certainly lends credence to the notion that there might be more than just human residents in The White House.

Puzzling Paranormal Phenomena Reported at the White House

Sightings are not the only mysterious events reported in and around the White House. Evidently, some of these alleged ghostly visitors don’t limit themselves to visual phenomena! Strange sightings have been accompanied by noises such as unexplained footsteps echoing through the halls, creaking doors opening and closing by themselves, and even chandeliers rattling above presidents in their private chambers. 

Another curious occurrence is the mysterious disappearance of objects such as keys and small trinkets in the present day. Some speculate that this is due to a mischievous ghostly presence known as ‘The Grey Lady’. Could these occurrences be turned into something more understandable? Only time will tell in this puzzling paranormal investigation.

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The Infamous Haunted Lizzie Borden House

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The infamous Lizzie Borden House is said to be one of New England’s most haunted homes after a brutal ax murder happened inside. After the murders, there are tales that ghosts are still haunting it. 

Lizzie Borden took an ax
and gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

Step back in time to the home of one of America’s most notorious unsolved crimes – the Lizzie Borden House on Second Street in Fall River. Experience its creepy atmosphere and listen to its spine-tingling tales as you explore this legendary haunted house full of secrets and the occasional supernatural surprise!

Grab a candle, journey upstairs and learn the history of the infamous New England home. Find out how in 1892 Andrew and Abby Borden were discovered brutally murdered in this very house, passing down stories for generations to come. 

Who was Lizzie Borden?

Lizzie Andrew Borden was born in 1860 in Fall River Massachusetts and was given the name Andrew as well because her father so wanted a son. She grew up in an affluent family in what would later be known as the Lizzie Borden House. Although a rich family, her father was well known for being frugal and they had a complicated relationship to say the least. 

She grew up with her sister, Emma Lenora Borden and was involved in church activities such as Sunday school, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union as well as the Ladies’ Fruit and Flower Mission.

Two years after her mother died, her father remarried. They didn’t get along and Lizzie believed she had married her father for his wealth. Their live in maid, Sullivan claimed that both Emma and Lizzie rarely ate meals together with their father and stepmother.

Before the murders, tension grew in the family inside of the Lizzie Borden House. Her father kept gifting real estate to her stepmother’s family. Days before the murders the whole family was violently ill, and her stepmother feared poison as her husband was not really a popular man. 

Her father had also killed pigeons in the barn with hatches that Lizzie was upset about. She had built a roost for them and after a family argument, she was even sent away to New Bedford and didn’t return until a week before the murders. 

The Ax Murders in the Borden House

On August 4, 1892, her stepmother and father were found murdered by an ax in their home in broad daylight. When they questioned Lizzie Borden she made answers that were both strange and contradictory. 

The police investigation were later criticized for their lack of diligence as they did not even check her for bloodstains, only search her room superficially and let them stay in the house the following night after the murder. They also had a hatchet they thought could be the murder weapon, but never bothered to take fingerprints even though it was a method the police had started with elsewhere. 

Abby Borden: Lizzie Borden’s stepmother, Abby was found upstairs and had suffered 17 hits on the back of her head.
Andrew Borden: Her father, Andrew were found in the couch in the downstair sitting room murdered after being hit 10 or 11 times with a hatchet like weapon.

Lizzie Borden was arrested and put on trial that received a lot of media coverage nationwide. During the trial there was also another ax  murder that looked so similar to the Borden house, and many started to take Lizzie Bordens side and claim her innocence. 

In the end Lizzie Borden was acquitted on all charges and let off after many had come to her defense, including her maid, her sister and neighbors all testified that she never could have done it. 

Life After the Murder Trial

After she was acquitted from the trial of the murders she moved into a house with her sister and they stayed in Fall River. When coming out from the courthouse she said she was ‘The happiest woman in the world.’ 

But for the remainder of her days, she was an outcast in the Fall River society. Even if she by trial was found innocent, the fact that they never found the killer and the strange rumors about her continued and fuelled the idea that she might have done it after all. Even her maid, Sullivan confessed on her death bed allegedly that she had lied on the stand to protect Lizzie Borden. 

No one was ever arrested for the murders, but Lizzie Bordens guilt and motive has ever since been debated without any answers being found. 

The Hauntings in the Lizzie Borden House

After the gruesome murders in the Lizzie Borden House, the house itself has drawn attention to itself of being a haunted house where a lot of paranormal activity is going on. The house is preserved as it was and is hosting tours to continue to speculate what really happened that fateful and hot August day. 

It is said that the ghost of Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother, Abby and Andrew is haunting the Lizzie Borden House, still trying to get the truth about their murder out. 

One long time guide though has another explanation for the strange sounds many attributes to ghosts. After they put air conditioning in the house, the sound travels in a strange manner as Lizzie Borden House is filled with holes and cracks.  

The Lizzie Borden House: The busy street were the murder happened on 92 Second St, Fall River, MA, the home of Lizzie Borden at the time of the murders as it appeared in 1892.

Another haunting that is said to be going on is the death next door of a mother that murdered her children. A woman named Eliza Darling Borden had three children. She murdered two of them before taking her own life in 1848. One of the theories is that she killed herself in the house that would eventually become Andrew Borden’s in 1872. 

Even Lizzie herself is rumored to haunt the place. It is not only in the Lizzie Borden House she is said to haunt tough as she is also said to haunt the place known as Maplecroft, the home she lived in on French Street after the trial. For what is she haunting the place for though? Is it because of the grief and trauma after the horrible murders that happened. Or is it perhaps guilt as she herself really was the killer?

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Murder in the Well – Lizzie Borden

https://eu.heraldnews.com/story/lifestyle/travel/2021/10/26/lizzie-borden-house-fall-river-best-haunted-hotel-ghost-paranormal/8546497002/

https://lizzie-borden.com/history/

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The Haunted House of The Seven Gables in Salem

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In the eerie mansion in Salem of The Haunted House of the Seven Gables, also known as the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, discover what lurks in darkness and uncover secrets behind its perpetual terror.

Step inside The Haunted House of the Seven Gables and explore its halls of perpetual terror and darkness. The house is a 1668 colonial mansion in Salem Massachusetts, a place known for being a place of mystery and witchcraft.  

From ghostly figures roaming the corridors to mysterious tales of hauntings, prepare to discover what lurks in this fascinating haunted house.

“But as for the old structure of our story, its white-oak frame, and its boards, shingles, and crumbling plaster, and even the huge, clustered chimney in the midst, seemed to constitute only the least and meanest part of its reality. So much of mankind’s varied experience had passed there,—so much had been suffered, and something, too, enjoyed,—that the very timbers were oozy, as with the moisture of a heart. It was itself like a great human heart, with a life of its own, and full of rich and sombre reminiscences.”
― Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Novel

The House of the Seven Gables is a real house that was known as The Turner House or the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion before the novel inspired by it came out. The thing that made it famous was the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne when he wrote a gothic novel inspired by the house in the 1850s. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne: (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He wrote the novel The House of the Seven Gables inspired by the house in Salem Massachusetts he used to visit.

The novel follows a New England family and their home where he explores guilt, retribution and atonement. The story is filled with hints at the supernatural and witchcraft and influenced horror writers like H.P Lovecraft. 

Read Also: Find some novels about witchcraft like The House of the Seven Gables: Here

Hawthorne, most known for the novel The Scarlet Letter, was himself born in Salem and grew up hearing stories about the house. His great-great-great grandfather was one of the judges in the Salem Witch Trials which the house also had a connection to. 

Explore the Legends of The Haunted House

From legendary tales of cursed spirits trapping guests to mysterious hauntings that have been reported through the ages, explore the legends that make The Haunted House of the Seven Gables one of the most haunted locations in the world. Learn about the curses that lurk in its dark corners, and find out about the secrets this house has been concealing for centuries.

The house was built as a place for peace and quiet, but ended up being in the center of one of the most notorious witchcraft trials in 1692 to 1693 were over 200 people in the puritan New England town were accused of witchcraft. 

John Turner Jr. lived in the house at the time with his sisters and wanted to protect them from the hysteria of the locals that accused their neighbors, their friends and family for being witches and in league with the devil. A part of the protection was to build a hidden staircase with the fireplace. 

In later years there were also uncovered a hidden dining room and accounting room to hide if any in the family were ever accused of witchcraft. 

The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials was a product of mass hysteria that happened in the British Colonies as well as in Europe at the time. It all started when two small girls started having these fits of contorting bodies, making strange noises and speaking gibberish. 

The Salem Witch Trials: A series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom were executed by hanging (14 women and five men). One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people died in jail.

This type of affliction seemed to spread to other girls and they were all diagnosed with witchcraft. And when the girls were interrogated, they started naming names about who cursed them, and a witch hunt began. 

A total of 14 women and 6 men were executed in the witch trials by hanging, one by being pressed to death. Another 5 died while in prison. 

Although the Turner family remained safe during those trials, the imprint and trauma of the witch hunt remained in all of Salem and ringed back for generations, something Hawthorne also discusses in his book. 

The Ingersoll’s and Hawthorns Ancestral Sins

After being in the Turner family for 3 generations it was sold to Captain Samuel Ingersoll as there were no remaining heirs. He had a daughter named Susannah, a cousin of Nathaniel Hawthorne who knew well and would come to hang out with. 

When inside the house, Hawthorne was inspired by the house and its quirky features and old history. There they also talked about their families involvement in a dark past. Hawthornes involvement in the Salem Witch Trials and Ingersoll’s involvement in slavery as an example. 

Susannah even advised him to put a W in his last name, which originally was Hathorne, to remove himself from his ancestral sin. Hawthorne often wrote about his guilt for his family’s involvement and in his most famed work, The Scarlet Letter, he even opens up with an analogy for it all. 

Is the House of The Seven Gables Haunted?

Mystery and terror await you as you attempt to uncover the secrets of The Haunted House of the Seven Gables. If you ask many of the tour guides, they will be quick to reply with a no. However, there are many who tell about another side of the story. 

One of the ghostly silhouettes that are reported to be seen is that of Susannah Ingersoll. There are not only one, but many paranormal activities that are said to take place within the old house. 

Today the dark wooden house is made into a museum and gets plenty of visitors that are looking for something paranormal, and many claim to have found it. A psychic visiting the house claimed to see a young boy play near the gables as well. Little footsteps can be heard from the attic followed by giggles and laughs.

A man can be seen climbing up and down the infamous staircase and lights are turning on and off and even the water faucets have a habit of turning on and on on their own. 

so, would you like to visit and see for yourself whether or not the house is haunted?

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House of the Seven Gables – Salem Ghosts

House of the Seven Gables – Wikipedia

The Haunted House of the Seven Gables

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The History and Secrets of The Winchester Mystery House

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One of America’s most iconic homes is The Winchester Mystery House. Inside lies a fascinating history of the eccentric Sarah Winchester who created it as well as a ghost story or two.

The Winchester Mystery House has been an enduring American legend since its construction over a century ago. Located in San Jose, California, the 160-room mansion was created by eccentric heiress Sarah Winchester who believed it would protect her from vengeful spirits. 

Or so the rumors say at least, but is it really true? Uncover the secrets behind its haunted corridors and spooky stories as you explore this iconic landmark.

Who Was Sarah Winchester?

Sarah Winchester was born into a prominent and wealthy family in New England. She married into an even wealthier one that made their money from the gun business. It was said that at the time, she was considered to be one of the wealthiest women in the world.

Sarah Winchester: A rich widow that spent most of her inheritance on building her strange house that has puzzled everyone since she started building it.

She spent her fortune to build the sprawling Victorian mansion to house her vast fortune and to ward off spirits she believed were angry at her due to her family’s gun-making business. This belief that her family was cursed and haunted by those who were killed by the Winchester rifle started even in her lifetime.

Throughout construction of The Winchester Mystery House, Winchester gradually added new wings, staircases that lead to nowhere, doors, and other features that made the home increasingly complex and filled with mysteries until her death in 1922.

The Construction of The Winchester Mystery House

The Winchester Mystery House is today world known for its quirky features and haunted reputation, even before Sarah Winchester passed away herself. In 1895 she started to appear in the newspaper where the writers and the other locals speculated as to why this rich widow kept building the house for no apparent reason.

The Winchester Mystery House was built in an almost continuous 24-hour a day state of construction over 38 years. Sarah Winchester hired carpenters, plumbers and other craftsmen to work on the massive project day and night. 

She also employed physicians to keep her healthy during the arduous task of designing and building her fantastic home as her health was rapidly declining over the years as well. Because of this she had to take several breaks from the construction because she tired so easily.

In fact, according to legend, one room was built around Sarah while she slept so that she wouldn’t have time off from the project. Her workers named it the “Martini Room” due to her nonstop working style.

Unique Features in the Winchester House

The Winchester Mystery House contains many unique features, including staircases to nowhere, secret passages and hidden doors. This maze-like way of building her house led people to speculate that she did so to confuse the spirits that haunted her and her family and prevent them from hurting them. 

There are also odd windows, strange symbols on the floor and doors that open up into walls that people have speculated about ever since. In addition to these weird features, Sarah Winchester installed beautiful gardens within the property and added stained glass throughout the home. She even used her wealth to construct a lavish conservatory in The Winchester Mystery House with exotic plants from around the world.

If not to confuse the ghosts, why did she build such a peculiar house? A student writing his master’s thesis on it came to the conclusion that her goal was to keep workers employed and to express her artistic vision although it was ever changing.

Read about more haunted houses around the world: Here

After an earthquake in 1906, the house was severely damaged, and it never really got completely fixed. It was also at that time she stopped working on the house all together by 1910 except from maintenance. When she died in 1922 the house had 160 rooms, 2000 doors, 10 000 windows, 47 stairways and 47 fireplaces.

Just months after her death, her house became a tourist attraction and attracted everyone from paranormal investigators to the likes of Harry Houdini. And then over the years the ghost stories continued and grew.

Ghost Sightings and Supernatural Encounters

It’s not just the architecture of The Winchester Mystery House that has caught the attention of visitors; reports on supernatural encounters also abound. For example, Sarah Winchester’s spirit is said to still haunt reportedly haunt the house, along with other spectral apparitions and spirits of former employees. 

Still to this day the popular belief is that she thought she was haunted by those who died from the Winchester guns, and the guilt she felt from it and the money she got from it kept her as well as her home haunted. 

One of the most popular ghosts in The Winchester Mystery House is a mustached man named Clyde. He can be seen pushing a wheelbarrow down in the basement or trying to fix stuff around the house. Guests have sometimes commented about how they liked the actor in the white overalls and Victorian boater hat. When the staff replies that they haven’t hired an actor they figured that the worker Clyde has been at it again. 

Shadowy figures have also been spotted in corridors and doors have opened and closed without a discernible cause. Some visitors describe feeling an eerie presence when they explore this historic landmark that never seems to be completely at rest.

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A Haunted History – Winchester Mystery House

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The Ghost in Höfði house in Reykjavik

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In Reykjavik, Iceland, there is a haunted house called Höfði. According to local legend it is haunted by the ghost of a woman who poisoned herself. 

One of the most haunted houses in Iceland is Höfði. For the outside world it is perhaps best known for being the location where Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met up to talk about ending the cold war in 1986. So it is a pretty well known house in political history, but there is something else living in the house at night.  

For the locals the Höfði house was a well known house long before that meeting. The house in Jugendstil was built in 1909 for the French consul Jean-Paul Brillouin at Félagstún and has since been in the hands of powerful and rich people. But none of them have stayed for a very long time.  

In the memoirs of one of the people living there in the early days tells that the Höfði house is haunted by a young woman. She either drowned or died by suicide, were the latter is the most often told one. 

One of the people living in the house with his family was an entrepreneur as well as a poet named Einar Benediktsson. He was the one that named the house when he moved in in 1914 and had his own theory about who the ghost was. 

He claimed that the ghost was of a woman named Sólborg Jónsdóttir. Benediktsson was once a judge on a famous assault case and when Sólborg Jónsdóttir heard the verdict she poisoned herself and died. According to Benediktsson, he always had to keep the lights on at night as she would appear to him during the night, still distraught over the verdict and haunt Höfði, even to this day. 

Höfði house: According to the legend, the ghost haunting the house is Sólborg Jónsdóttir, a woman that may or may not were poisoned inside of it.

The haunting in the house got so bad that John Greenway that lived in the house in 1952 asked to be moved, that the house should be sold and the British consulate should move elsewhere. He was afraid of what he called: ‘Bumps in the night’, and even filed a special permission from the Foreign office to get out of there as quickly as possible. 

The same year Höfði was sold back to the Icelandic government and the official statement by the Foreign Ministry was: “We do not confirm or deny that the Hofdi has a ghost.”

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From Iceland — Time Capsule: Höfði

Höfði House and the poet Einar Ben | Hit Iceland

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Apollonia Schwartzkopf the Ghost at Bessastadir

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No place is free from a haunting on Iceland, not even the official house for the president known as Bessastadir were the ghost of a woman named Apollonia Schwartzkopf haunts the house after maybe have been the victim of poison.

Believing in ghost is nothing special or weird in Iceland. In fact, surveys shows that at least ten percent believes in the hidden people, otherwise known as elfs or Huldufólk. And no one is immune, not even the president of the country.

In the official residence of the president of Iceland at Bessastadir in Álftanes not long from Reykjavík, there is allegedly a ghost of a woman called Apollonia Schwartzkopf haunting the house, even to this day. 

Apollonia Schwartzkopf was a powerful and rich Norwegian woman who came to Iceland in 1722 after suing the governour of Iceland at the time called Niels Furhman for fraud after he tried to break his promise to marry her after being engaged for 14 years. At the time Iceland was a colony under the Danish crown.

The Danish man working as the governor on Iceland was condemned and had to have Apollonia Schwartzkopf staying with him at Bessastadir until she died under mysterious circumstances. 

Apollonia Schwartzkopf then came to Iceland and the wonderful house of Bessastadir to have Niels Furhman fulfill his promises as her husband as well as making him pay huge expenses for her as she was now lawfully his wife. But was it worth it though?

Poisoned by her Mother In Law?

Many sources of this story states that Apollonia died of a broken heart, although when looking at the details doesn’t seem very likely. The marriage with Niels Furhman at Bessastadir was not a happy one though, and according to all accounts they weren’t a good match in the long run. Sources say they didn’t sleep in the same bed or even dine at the same table together. She started to think that the mother in law was planning to poison her, something she confided in a man named Cornelius Wulff. 

Apollonia Schwartzkopf died not long after though under strange circumstances of an unknown disease after she ate some porridge she herself claimed to be poisonous on Pentecost day, or on 20. June in 1725 in some sources. Her Danish mother in law Karen Holm also lived with them, and it was believed that she had killed Apollonia Schwartzkopf with poison, although nothing was proven during the trial.

Haunting the President at Bessastadir

The ghost at  Bessastadir started to gain some attention when the influential people living in the house started speaking about her.

“I hear her at night, pacing the halls and going from room to room. Sometimes she comes up the stairs and walks in the corridors outside my room. And I say to her: ‘Please, Apollonia dear, be very welcome,’ ” the former president of Iceland and the world’s first elected female president, Vigdis Finnbogadottir, regularly told her visitors when they came to Bessastadir.

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Featured image: Wikimedia/OddurBen

Sjö dauðasyndir: 1. Apollonia Schwarzkopf, glæpasaga frá 18. öld | Hlusta.is

Kross Apolloniu Schwarzkopf | Gripur mánaðarins | Þjóðminjasafn Íslands

Ghosts, Elves Alive and Well : Iceland’s Belief in Supernatural Is No Fairy Tale – Los Angeles Times

Lögberg-Heimskringla – 16. tölublað (28.04.1995) – Tímarit.is 

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The Sunken House at the Bottom of Gardner Lake

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Can a house itself be a ghost? Strange tales have been sung of the sunken house at the bottom of Gardner Lake since it went through the ice so many years ago. And on quiet nights if you really listen, you can sometimes hear the piano of the house play music from underwater. 

The house of Gardner Lake was supposed to be moved over the lake when it was covered in ice in the cold winters of Connecticut. Thomas LeCount was a grocer from Connecticut that wanted to move his beloved and fully furnished two-story summer house over the lake to the east side for the perfect spot back in 1895. 

He thought moving the house over the ice would be more efficient than by land, but miscalculated how much the ice could take and on its travel it slipped and the ice cracked. They tried to get the house back on track, but gave up in the night to try again at first light. But they never managed to get the house over the lake and it remained stuck. 

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The Piano Playing from Underwater

But it took years to reach the bottom of the lake though and children would fish and swim around it in the summer and skate through it in the winter until it eventually disappeared forever under the dark water. 

The moving of the house didn’t demand any human lifes, neither were there any rumours of the owners circulating of hauntings and ghosts. So where do the haunting rumours come from then?

By now, most of the sunken house has rotted away, but the local fishermen still tell the legend that the sound of music, og the piano of the house can still be heard on quiet nights.

The Sunken House: The house remained for years dipping in the Gardner Lake before it became fully submerged and sank to the bottom.

Horror Movie Inspired by the House

In 2021 a movie based on the story of the house at the bottom of the lake was released. Called Deep Dive the movie takes the legend further and makes it a haunting horror movie set in France. 

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The Wizard of West Bow and His House of Horrors

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In what is now a place of religious worship there once stood a house plagued by demonic and haunted activity. And the legend from The Wizard of West Bow and his horror house in Edinburgh. 

‘It is certain that no story of witchcraft or necromancy, so many of which occurred near and in Edinburgh, made such a lasting impression on the public as that of Major Weir.
– Sir Walter Scott ‘Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft’, 1830

The West Bow House of horror is one of the houses that was known as one of Edinburgh’s most haunted. For a long time everyone thought the house was demolished, but traces of it can still be found on the jolly streets in Edinburgh’s Victoria Terrace. 

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It used to be the home of Major Thomas Weir, also known as the Wizard of West Bow after his death. He lived with his unmarried sister, Jean, mostly known by Grizel, in their house in Old Town. Originally from Lanarkshire, their mother had a reputation for having The Second Sight, but they were mostly known as devoted Christians.  

He used to be seen as an upstanding citizen as a Covenanter soldier with a good career in the army behind him. He was also a very strict presbyterian who would lead big groups of christians in prayer. In 1650 he was even appointed commander of the Edinburgh Town Guard. To everyone else, he was nicknamed as one of the Bowhead Saints. But look can be deceiving, and he hid some dark secret underneath the polished exterior. He has even been seen as someone that could have inspired the character of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Demonic Confessions

Around 1670 people started to notice a shift in Weir’s behavior. At one of their prayer meetings, he stood up and started to speak. He was then around 70 and people noticed that he seemed ill. He didn’t pray that day though, but started confessing to heinous acts instead. This included everything from bestiality, incest, witchcraft and communicating with the dead. 

House of Horror: The house of the Weir siblings at number 10 at West Bow.

In some versions however it was after Weir’s retirement after he fell sick these confessions started. And according to this version it was from the sickbed, not during a prayer meeting he confessed to his crimes. 

They called a doctor, but his confessions kept coming, insisting that it was all true. Even the Lord Provost would not believe in the confessions at first as they all came as a big surprise. They wanted to dismiss it all as him being mentally disturbed instead, but he kept repeating his sins, refusing to back down. 

Even his sister, Grizel, known as a quiet spinster, confirmed it all when they went to question her. Not even did she confirm what he had already said, but continued to confess more demonic activities giving testimonies of even more vile and exaggerating things. 

According to her he had once been taken away by a demonic stranger in a coach on fire and taken to Dalkeith, a town bordering Edinburgh. Exactly why Dalkeith would be a place a satanic coach would drive were never really explained. She even showed a mark on her forehead that looked like the shape of a horseshoe. She apparently proudly said it was a gift from the Devil himself.

There he supposedly was given supernatural intelligence in the form of a walking stick by a servant of Satan. This walking stick had a carved human head on the top and was supposedly a gift from Satan himself and was the one he usually used when leading their prayers. 

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Most cases of witches and wizards happened after someone else accused someone of sorcery. This case is a very different matter as they accused themselves. Why on earth would they further worsen the case for them, even Jean to the point of implicating herself in that manner? 

They were then taken away to the Edinburgh Tolbooth by the baileys where they were interrogated and found guilty. They both received death sentences. 

Executed for their crimes

Scotland was not a good place to be if you were condemned for witchcraft. Only Germany had more witch trials in Scotland during this time. Estimates reckon around 4400 witches were executed. And unlike England who hanged the witches, Scotland followed a more barbaric and continental law of burning them all. 

Taken by Satan: Depiction of Thomas Weir in his fiery coach.

While they both were waiting for their execution they were held in a former leper colony below Calton Hill. Major Thomas Weir was executed in 1670 at the Gallowlee that literally means gallows field. He was garrotted and burned together with his demonic walking stick. It was said that both took an exceptionally long time to burn. He was asked for his last words, but chose to not beg for forgiveness. He reportedly said:

 “Let me alone—I will not—I have lived as a beast, and I must die as a beast”

Grizel also died, but was hanged in the Grassmarket. According to reports her hanging was also dramatic and unrepentant. She supposedly tried to take off all her clothes in front of the crowd and refused to beg for mercy for her crimes. 

Their bodies were buried at the base of the gallows at Shrubhill according to custom of that time. But their death apparently wasn’t enough to cleanse their house for paranormal activity. 

Today we can only speculate about why he made those confessions. And even if some of them were actually true, why would he speak them out loud, and why would his sister also get implicated in it? 

Was it to clear their conscience? Or perhaps a fit of madness or some sort of illness? Did it have anything to do with their mother, Lady Jean Somerville, who was a reputed clairvoyant? Or did the two actually dabble in the occult? 

The Haunted House at West Bow

After their execution the house became abandoned and known as a haunted place where the locals reported seeing light in the windows although no one lived there as well as shadows moving around. There are also tales about music coming from the abandoned house. It stayed like that for over a century and legends surrounding the house continued to grow. 

For example they told a story about a  ghostly coach that was pulled by 6 horses spotted outside the abandoned building. 

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A couple bought and tried to move into the house in 1780 by an ex-soldier named William Patullo and his wife, but according to stories, they never stayed there for more than one night. They claimed to have seen ghostly apparition of demonic entities in the appearance of a calf staring at them in their bed. 

The house as it was was demolished in 1878 and the locals thought for a long time that they were done with the hauntings from the cursed Major. 

The Rediscovering of the Haunted House

However, it was discovered that a new house was built on top of it, today used as the Quaker Meeting House on Victoria Terrace. This wasn’t known before 2014. Apparently, the part of the house that still remains is now the toilet area of the Quaker Meeting House area. 

Today it is one of the more colorful streets of Edinburgh, with picturesque boutiques and cafes along the cobbled street. But the haunted rumors have still not died down. One of the staff working there claims to have seen the Major walking right through the walls. 

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References

The Most Haunted Places in Edinburgh’s Old Town – Dickins

Edinburgh’s most haunted locations | The Scotsman

The Wizard of West Bow: the dark secrets of Edinburgh’s haunted house of horrors

Neighbours from hell: Remains of wizard’s house of horrors are found… hidden inside a Quaker meeting place | Daily Mail Online

Major Thomas Weir – the Edinburgh man who admitted to witchcraft | The Scotsman

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The Haunted H House

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Some hauntings are bound to be debunked as soon as there are investigations. This is the case with The Haunted H House, but the true story could have ended so much worse than a ghost haunting. 

The story of the Hauntings of H House was first published in 1921 in the American Journal of Ophthalmology by William Willmer, and was a story of one of his clients. It detailed a family that moved into a new house in 1912 and immediately started experiencing strange things. 

This ghost story quickly found its scientific culprit, but then again, the details of the supposed hauntings the family thought they were under, was scary. Perhaps even scarier than harmless ghosts, as this specific scientific haunting was deadly.

The Family H and Their Hauntings

The family moved into a large house built in the 1870s somewhere in America that was described as ‘Rambling and high-studded,’ and only lit by the flimmering gas lights. In other words, a perfect location for a haunted house. The family is known only as Family H, and it is the wife of the house that tells:

“Mr. H and I had not been in the house for more than a couple of days when we felt very depressed. The house was overpoweringly quiet.”

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The Hauntings started in the small, but got even more detailed and vivid as time went on. And the hallucinations started to get more and more terrefying. 

“One morning, I heard footsteps in the room over my head. I hurried up the stairs. To my surprise, the room was empty. I passed into the next and then into all the rooms on that floor, and then to the floor above to find that I was the only person in that part of the house. Sometimes after I’ve gone to bed, the noises from the store room are tremendous, as if furniture was being piled against the door, as if china was being moved about, and occasionally a long and fearful sigh or wail.”

The Poisonous Gas: Although electricity was around during this time, many homes still used to light the house and war it up using gas. And it was a silent killer for many years in many homes.

The whole family felt it. The kids grew pale and lost their appetite, everyone suffered from headaches and they all started hearing things that weren’t there. Then the vision also started and they all started to believe they saw ghosts:

“On one occasion, in the middle of the morning, as I passed from the drawing room into the dining room, I was surprised to see at the further end of the dining room, coming towards me, a strange woman, dark haired and dressed in black. As I walked steadily on into the dining room to meet her, she disappeared, and in her place I saw a reflection of myself in the mirror, dressed in a light silk waist … On the night of January 15 we went to the opera. That night I had vague and strange dreams, which appeared to last for hours. When the morning came, I felt too tired and ill to get up. G told me that in the middle of the night he woke up, feeling as if someone had grabbed him by the throat and was trying to strangle him. He sat up in bed and had a violent fit of coughing, which lasted about five minutes … G had always slept heavily, never hearing a sound and nothing disturbed him. Now he was continually waking, answering the telephone and the doorbell, which had never rung, and looking for burglars, who never materialized.”

It was not only Mrs. H who had these visions, but her husband, her kids and her servants as well. They happened during the day as well as in the dead of night, and it wasn’t only the mind that got clouded, but their entire body felt ill. Even the plants in the house withered mysteriously.

“Sometimes as I walk along the hall I feel as if someone was following me, going to touch me. You cannot understand it if you haven’t experienced it, but it is real. Some nights after I have been in bed for a while, I have felt as if the bed clothes were jerked off me, and I have also felt as if I had been struck on the shoulder. One night I woke up and saw sitting on the foot of my bed a man and a woman. The woman was young, dark and slight and wore a large picture hat. The man was older, smooth shaven and a little balc. I was parelyzed and couldn’t move, when suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder and I was able to sit up, and the man and the woman faded away.”

The Poisonous Gas Causing Ghost Hauntings

This torture went on for two months with vivid and detailed hallucinations. Then Mrs. H got a visit from her brother that she confided in. He urged her to seek out a doctor as the reason for the haunting could be the furnace, not ghosts. 

And sure enough, when they had the house inspected, they found that the chimney pushed the carbon monoxide into their home and not out the chimney. There was also the case of the gaslights that also contributed to the problem as that type of gas at that time exhumed as much fumes as a car exhaust today. 

The scentless and sightless gas of carbon monoxide can lead to hallucinations, and in the worst case scenario, unconsciousness and death as it is poisoning you by blocking the oxygen to get into your blood. People often report that they hear noises in their ears, bells ringing, rushing sounds after being exposed to it. 

After the leaks were fixed, so was the haunted house. The family felt healthy and when they moved back into the house the visions stopped as well. 

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https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2016/10/the_ghost_story_in_a_scientific_journal.html

Chasing Ghosts: A Tour of Our Fascination with Spirits and the Supernatural by Marc Hartzman 

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The Mannequins Haunting the John Lawson House

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Sitting on the porch outside the historic John Lawson House, three mannequins sat on the porch for over a decade. No one really knew who lived there, or why the mannequins were there. And no one really saw when or if someone came and moved the mannequins’ positions, clothes and wigs. 

The old house is found in Wappingers Falls in New York and has probably seen its fair share since it was first built. It is a really old house built in 1845 by a man named John Lawson that is not known much about and were the name comes from. What is known of this man is that he is descended from the one of the first Europeans families that took over the area. But who lived in this house now, is uncertain and up for a lot of speculation.

But one day something strange appeared on the poarch that caught the curiosity of the locals and made people speculate in the haunted rumours of the house. A couple of dressed up mannequins without any explanation suddenly appeared, and to this day, we still don’t know the full story.

Read More: Check out all of our ghost stories from USA

The John Lawson House, sitting by the road and letting the paint peel therefore has an old story, and the house would by its historic architecture and age be a breeding ground for haunting house rumors and paranormal ghost stories. But it was in recent times that the house really started to be known as the creepiest house in America. 

Read More: Check out more ghost stories from haunted houses in the world.

The Mannequins on the Porch of The John Lawson House

In a span of a decade in the early 2000s, the house on 9A Main Street was known for housing a group of life size mannequins that sat on the porch of the house. In each of their rocking chairs the three mannequins sat in their vintage dresses, looking out on those passing the house. 

The Mannequins on the Porch: The John Lawson House was for over a decade a place of wonder when three mannequins camped out on the porch and started a rumour of the house being haunted. They would be dressed up in different clothes, wigs and hold onto different accessories. It was a mystery as to who or why did this.

The mannequins on the porch of the John Lawson House were of the kind you would find in clothing stores. What is weirder is that someone would change their clothes and their wigs occasionally. In pictures they wore everything from vintage dresses to normal mainstream fashion, often according to the seasons as well. 

The people orchestrating the mannequins would also get different props to hold in their hands like standard props like books opened for the mannequins to look like they just relaxed on their porch, reading as if they are taking the view in. There were however also occasions where the mannequins held onto things that made the weird sight, even weirder. Like when they held onto stuff like an empty birdcage or tool boxes. 

Whenever there was bad weather in New Hamburg, the mannequins would disappear from sitting on the porch so they would not get caught in the rain, but come back when the weather cleared up. 

Read More: Check out more ghost stories about haunted dolls like: Mandy the Haunted Doll, The Possession of Letta the Doll, The Haunted Barbie Doll in The Shrine on Pulau Ubin Island or Okiku — The Haunted Doll of Hokkaido.

What was this supposed to be? At the time, no one really knew who lived in the house, and no one really saw who changed the props or clothes of the mannequins in between sets. This of course led to people thinking the house was really haunted and people started to look to the old history of the house for an explanation. 

The Haunting Accidents near The John Lawson House

There are mainly two tragedies from the past the locals used to explain the reason behind the supposed hauntings of The John Lawson House, although the most disturbing thing yet seems to be the thing sitting on the poarch that everyone can see and touch. But can we really explain it? 

Historic Building filled with Dolls Living their Lives: The John Lawson House is thought to be one of the oldest houses in this area. According to some, this house is also a haunted one.

One of the dark legends connected to the John Lawson House comes from a terrible accident decades ago. Back in 1871 a freight train derailed close by the John Lawson House on February 6th. It ended up colliding with a passenger train that was unable to stop and it all ended in a big tragedy.

The train was carrying oil which caught fire and ended in an explosion only 200 feet from the John Lawson House. That night, 22 people were killed, and this is one of the events that are said to haunt the house. But what came first? Did the haunted legends fuel the urge to put eerie dolls on display, or did the dolls sitting there like the uncanny valley give a head start to the haunted rumours?

Another thing that is attributed to the haunting is the second fire that broke out in the neighborhood around John Lawson House. In 1877 on May 3rd, seven buildings burned to the ground and the John Lawson House was one of the few houses that survived the fire for some reason. There were at the time theories that the fire was arson and a very strategic one at that. If there were any casualties in the fire is unknown, but the ghost stories claim that there really was.  

If there was any local legends surrounding the the John Lawson House before the mannequins showed up on the porch is unknown. Or if these two tragedies have been told as a ghost story before they started hanging out on the poarch, is also unknown. Most likely the stories have been used to create the legend of a haunted house, not just the house of an eccentric.

The Haunting Mannequins

According to the legends told, the mannequins were haunted by the spirits of those that died in those two accidents. But as the article has already have stated, what came first, the hauntings or the mannequins is a bit unclear.  

There are also those that connect the dots that some of the mannequins are facing the site of the train derailing and others are facing the other historic house that survived the second fire.  Coincidence? Like most things in life, most likely. Or…

The strange house has made many theories about what really went down in the John Lawson House. The most likely scenario is of course the house was owned by some really committed pranksters or just some with a strange hobby. And although one can very easily find out who lived in the house or occasionally comes to rearrange 3 real life dolls outside on the Main Street, everyone loves a good mystery without an unsatisfying truth behind. Could this be one of the cases were the locals simply don’t want the truth and full story, as the life in these parts are boring enough?

Read Also: Another haunted case were the locals didn’t want the truth to ruin the fun local legend is the case of The Anson Lights Highway Ghost in Texas.

The Disappearance of the Mannequins of the John Lawson House

Relaxing: The mannequins relaxing with a book and a coffee mug on the porch outside of John Lawson House before they disappeared in 2016.

This strange house with its strange inhabitants started to become more than just a local legend of the quaint town of New Hamburg and the story of the weird mannequins started to draw tourists wanting to have a look around The John Lawson House and see for themselves what the thing was all about.

What outfits would they wear? What items would they clutch in their cold and stiff hands?

But if you are curious about the house and the mannequins, you are now in bad luck most likely as it seems that the pranksters got tired of the constant upkeep of the dolls. Today there are no more mannequins sitting on the front porch of the house.

One day in the summer of 2016, the locals in the town found that the porch was empty and the mannequins had simply vanished during the night. Even when the weather cleared up, they were nowhere in sight. No one really knows where they have gone or why they were there in the first place. 

Or is this simply another case of the: the story is better if we don’t know the truth? Because rumor has it they are found at a house near Route 9W, ready to create another urban legend, sitting ready in their outfits, reading a book and enjoying the nice weather outside.

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Inside The Mystery Of The John Lawson House And Its Haunted Mannequins