Page 80 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - September 2021

80 7 Famous Ghost Stories That Are Total BS

7 Famous Ghost Stories

That Turned Out To Be

Total BS

by Stephanie Ashe

People love a good ghost story. For some, it's
about the thrill of being scared and for others,
it's part of a bigger belief system.

Whether it's based on a creepy town legend or
someone's real-life experiences, these stories
can be entertaining and fun — as long as they're
not happening to you.

Unfortunately for all of us who want ghosts to
be real, there's often a logical and non-
supernatural explanation for many of the
experiences that are attributed to ghosts. Some
of the most famous ghost stories in the world
even fall victim to being debunked. Not to burst
your bubble, but here are seven of those
debunked stories.

Three sisters made up the Hydesville
hauntings. really did murder his entire family in the home.
At his trial, he said that voices in the house made This story was debunked when Vic Tandy, a
him do it. When George and Kathy Lutz moved lecturer at the school and part-time ghost hunter,
Maggie and Kate Fox were responsible for an
in, they may or may not have experienced discovered what was later called "the fear
elaborate spiritual hoax that began in their
Hydesville home in New York, according to something supernatural. What we do know is frequency." By measuring infrasound levels, he
that they worked closely with DeFeo's attorney determined that high frequencies can cause
Smithsonian magazine. The girls told a neighbor
to either fabricate or exaggerate the hauntings, people to see optical illusions, get chills, feel
about hearing sounds in the house that
according to ABC News. Out of this, the Lutzes anxious, and other effects. In other words, it can
responded to their words, indicating there may
hoped to secure book and film deals, which they make you really sure you've seen a ghost, even
be a ghostly presence. Their mother sent them to
live with their older sister Leah in Rochester, did, and the attorney hoped to give credence to if you haven't. And it turns out, the levels in that
his client's "not guilty" plea, which he didn't. Coventry University cellar fall into a range
and the story took off.
where those effects are to be expected.
DeFeo was sentenced to life in prison where he
Leah joined her sisters on a tour displaying their
still resides and eventually admitted to ABC that A photo of the Wem Ghost is probably
medium capabilities to anyone who would
listen, often holding seances and sharing he lied about the voices. No other tenants have a fake.
reported anything spooky in the Amityville
messages from the spirits. A rift occurred
house since.
between the sisters, and Maggie eventually A fire erupted in the Wem Town Hall in
denounced their work, giving a live Shropshire, England, in 1955. As the fire raged,
demonstration of how they had pulled off the The "Anson Light" ghost was a resident name Tony O'Rahilly took a photo
stunt. debunked by iPhones. that would become infamous. In it is the image
of a young girl, later claimed to be Jane Churm,
Years later a skeleton was found in the walls of In Anson, Texas, there was a mysterious light who accidentally set fire to the town in 1677.
their childhood home, leading some to wonder if that appeared at a particular spot on a highway
there was any truth to the spirits. It was each night. The legend goes that a grieving Though O'Rahilly swore the photo wasn't
determined that the "skeleton" was really just an mother disappeared as she was searching for her doctored, and while a photography expert
assortment of random bones, some of which son who had also recently disappeared. The light agreed, another Shropshire resident may have
belonged to a chicken. from her lantern remained to this day, becoming proven otherwise. He found a 1922 postcard
known as the "Anson light." with a strikingly similar young girl in it, lending
Amityville wasn't as horrifying as you credence to the theory that O'Rahilly did, in fact,
think. This story was no match for a group of college tamper with his photo.
students and their iPhones, who figured out that
the lights were actually the headlights of cars (Continued on Page 81)
Arguably one of the most famous ghost stories
in America began in an unassuming house in coming from another nearby highway.
Amityville, New York, in 1974. If you've seen
any of the films based on the events, you know The Coventry University ghost has a
the story — a family moves into a house that had scientific explanation.
recently been the site of horrifying murders.
They begin hearing voices, seeing ghosts, and On the campus of Coventry University in
experiencing other paranormal activities before England, there's a 14th-century cellar home to a
ultimately fleeing their home in terror. ghost — or so people thought. Those who
visited the cellar said that they had paranormal
Part of that is true, but exactly how much of it, experiences, with some reporting seeing the
we may never know. ghost of a woman. Even a self-proclaimed witch
reportedly couldn't stay down there for more
The home's previous owner Ronnie DeFeo than a few moments.