SPIRITS on the GO!
National: The greater United States
Hebrew Cemetery:
Kecoughtan Road
Hampton, Va
Verna Peddi
This cemetery is located on Kecoughtan Road in Hampton, Va. This cemetery is located on the right side of Kecoughtan Road near the city of Newport News. The cemetery is recognized by the wrought iron fencing and brick pillars at the entrance to the cemetery. Also another obvious trademark of Jewish burial is that all are buried with their feet facing east. This cemetery is not very large and at the time of visitation, the cemetery had an all brick building built in the center. The Hebrew cemetery is closed at sunset, so to visit in the evening when the phenomenon occurs is not possible. I believe the oldest plot is 1899.
We went to visit the graveyard during the day in the afternoon in 2000. When we entered the grave yard, it appeared to be like any other cemetery. Lawns mowed and edged and the graves well maintained. We approached the brick building in the center of the yard and to our surprise it was horribly junked. The windows were not intact. They were broken and some were just plain open. There was a lot of lumber and broken down furniture found inside. We even found a broken toilet just laying there. The building was completely brick with the Star of David built into the brick on the front of the building.
While I was there with my friends Alison and Ginger we did not pick up on any thing strange. I did feel a lot of energy from the brick building. I made it a point to stay away from it while we were roaming around. Something was telling me to keep my distance. We took our time and read all the tombstones and enjoyed the scenery. I have visited the cemetery on many occasions after the first time there and did not run into any paranormal activity. The story still remains that there was a light visible from the windows of this building. This light moved up and down like it was on some sort of pull device. Since there is no electricity that could be found to feed any light to this building, it has remained a mystery. Since my first visit there the building has been destroyed.
Denver, Colorado (seperate webpage)
The Ohio State Reformatory
Mansfield, OH
by: Jeanne Davis
The Ohio State Reformatory is a castle-like structure that was built in 1886. 155,000 prisoners passed through the gates until it was closed in 1990. In the 90's, the prison was the setting for several movies including "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Air Force One". These days, the prison is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is open for tours.
In the evenings, the prison has ghost tours and ghost hunts. On June 27th, my sister and I attended one of the ghost hunts. There were about 100 people present, and we were split into several smaller groups for the prison tour. Our guide told us stories of the various hauntings, and shared his own personal stories.
One story took place in the Warden's living quarters, where the Warden's wife accidently shot herself. Later, the Warden suffered a fatal heart attack in his office. Tour guides have reported hearing male and female voices in these rooms. In another room, a chair has been seen moving across the room. Our guide said that he felt someone touch him once while sitting in the chair.
The cell blocks are a dark and scary place. They're stacked about 4 tiers high, and are very rusty and run down. We heard stories of prisoners killing their cellmates, and of people being pushed from the upper tiers to their deaths.
The Sci-Fi series "Ghost Hunters" had investigated the prison and left an "X" above the door of a cell where they'd seen movement. The "X" is still there. We also saw several sites from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption".
After the tour, we were let loose to roam around on our own until 6am if we wanted. Once the groups broke up, people scattered, and it wasn't crowded at all. The place is huge, and even with 100 people wandering around, we were on our own most of the time. It was very dark, and we armed ourselves with our flashlights and cameras and my K2 meter. We roamed the cell blocks, the living quarters, the chapel, the numerous scary stairways and hallways, and the "chair" room. My K2 meter wasn't registering anything through most of the building. I did get a lot of orb photos, but the place was very dirty and dusty in many areas. We spent some time sitting in the chair room with the K2 meter and video recorder, but no one wanted to play. We talked with other participants in passing, and it seemed that the spirits were quiet that night. No one else was getting any activity either. We ended up staying until around 2 AM, and then called it a night.
The experience was a lot of fun, even if we didn't find anything. We'd recommend it if you're ever in Ohio and looking for an interesting and unusual night. I'm including a couple of photos from the hunt.
For more information, see the prison's website at www.mrps.org
