Page 40 - 201210 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - October 2012

Top 10 Most Haunted Palces in the US The 10 Most Haunted Places in the United States Finding Dulcinea From coast to coast, the U.S. is strewn with haunted hideaways and tales of terror that have yet to fade away. We've rounded up ten of the scariest, in prisons, historical American buildings, and seemingly quaint locales - even a bed and breakfast. The spooky selections are counted down, culminating with the number one most haunted place in the country, an unexpected sunny city. Chicago’s Seedy Underworld 7. The White House is an epicenter of both 2. Travelers who want a full-on haunted Not to be outdone by spirits above ground, American government and paranormal activity. experience should head to the Lizzie Borden cemetery ghosts are among the most feared. In Many West Wing staffers say they’ve felt the Bed and Breakfast in Fall River, Mass. The Chicago, organized crime honchos made a presence of Abraham Lincoln and other legend of Lizzie is another heinous tale—this certain cemetery lagoon into their very own presidential figures, and even heard Abigail time with an axe. Borden’s parents didn’t make garbage pail. Paranormal investigators, be Adams doing laundry. it out alive, but visitors can try their luck as a warned. guest; some claim they’ve been tucked into bed 6. In St. Francisville, Louisiana, the Civil War- by an apparition of Lizzie’s mother. The next 10. The Bachelor Grove Cemetery in Chicago era Myrtle Plantation boasts having more ghosts morning, dig into a recreation of Lizzie’s last contains a lagoon that was a favorite body than any haunted house in the United States. breakfast, served by the inn’s hosts. dumping ground for Chi-Town gangsters. The Several paranormal factors collide to create a area surrounding the lagoon is said to have swirling storm of eeriness: a disrespected The Height of Haunted become the heart of local black magic and dark ancient Indian burial ground, historical rituals. Furthermore, attempts by paranormal murders, horrific suicides and gruesome war Things don't always go as planned, as one 1800s experts to investigate the area are continually deaths. Want ghostly proof? Inside the thief found out the hard way. Yankee Jim was thwarted as cameras and film mysteriously plantation’s lobby, the grand piano is known to caught stealing - and not just a pack of gum. As break down on the spot. play itself. if the public humiliation of being hanged for grand larceny wasn't enough, Jim's long legs What Lurks Behind Bars 5. If anyone remembers the Alamo, it’s the made certain his death would not be quick and sentries who died protecting the mission. In painless. Today, visitors to the site of his demise If the thought of prison induces spine tingling, fact, ghosts of these brave guards are said to report sensing Jim's drawn-out agony. The just imagine a ghostly version. The three haunt the Alamo grounds, which prompted the number one most haunted place in the U.S. holdups we’ve listed take being locked up in a city of San Antonio to abandon its plans to turn turned a sunny surf town into the host of a cell to an even creepier level. One is reported to the Alamo into a prison in the late 19th century. wretched execution. house a ghost brazen enough to stalk mobster Al Making prisoners sleep alongside ghosts Capone, another can’t shake off the spirits of seemed too cruel and unusual a punishment. 1. In a mangled execution at San Diego’s old prison guards, and a third leaves visitors Whaley House in 1853, “Yankee Jim,” who’d chilled to the bone. 4. Visitors to Gettysburg, site of the brutal Civil been arrested for grand larceny, was hanged. War battle, often experience a hair-raising blast But Jim was too tall for the noose, and his death 9. Alcatraz no longer houses human prisoners, from the past, hearing gunshots crack and was drawn out for more than an hour before but apparitions still cannot escape its formidable catching whiffs of gunpowder. This disturbing stunned spectators. Visitors have reported grasp. Certain blocks of the federal prison phenomenon gives tourists a taste of America’s feeling a sensation of tightening around their mysteriously remain 20 degrees colder than bloodiest battle, but doesn’t quite compare to throats upon entering the Whaley House, one of other areas. Some people believe the sudden the anguish of those who perished. Some 30 designated as haunted by the U.S. temperature drops indicate tortured spirits victims are said to remain in spirit at Department of Commerce. [] lingering in sequestered cells. Gettysburg, stuck in an eternal North vs. South struggle. 8. Even before it was left abandoned and CELEBRITY DEATH vulnerable to wandering spirits, the Eastern Murderous Revenge CERTIFICATES State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania was thought by by many of its prisoners to be haunted. On remote islands and tucked inside storied Michael Steen Notorious convict Al Capone, who also spent inns, unpleasant secrets linger. The next two time at Alcatraz, claimed to have been the haunted picks reveal how horrific crimes can preferred target of a resident ghost. Today, live on, lending an uneasy feeling to everyday paranormal activity is continually documented life. in videotaped ghost investigations led by experts and posted on the prison’s Web site. 3. On a small rocky island in Maine, the Seguin Island Lighthouse has a hard-to-swallow Shadowy American Lore backstory, purportedly haunted by a by a former keeper who murdered his wife with an ax and There’s something spooky hovering over then committed suicide. Supposedly, the America’s past. In the South, paranormal keeper’s wife had driven him insane by playing presences won’t leave a Louisiana plantation or the same song repeatedly on the piano, which Texas battleground behind. While in he’d given to her as a present. Visitors to the Gettysburg, Civil War wounds have yet to heal. island today say whispers of the song are carried in on Atlantic breezes. www.celebritydeathcertificates.org