The Ghosts of Railroads Past...

In keeping with my last post, I've been thinking a lot more lately about how much I've enjoyed railroads over the years. They're still my favorite means of transportation, and it's quite sad seeing how rail travel has died out over the years. People might say that the automobile killed streetcars and passenger railroads, but that's not entirely true. They were still very popular when the transit systems were dismantled. It was mainly a change in public mindset brought on by billions of federal dollars spent to build national highways. In nearly every metropolitan city across the nation (and many small towns in between), it was possible just 60 years ago to get almost anywhere via interurban streetcars and trains.

Since the mid-1800s, railroads shaped and formed this land and our cities. The stories of Casey Jones and John Henry are forever remembered in their old folktales. And it's hard to travel anywhere without passing (or crossing over) an old railroad line, if you know where to look. Many of our towns sprang up from railroad lines snaking across the landscape. Sadly, many of them died out when the trains disappeared. In the Cuyahoga Valley alone, I can think of several towns that have disappeared off the map when the Cleveland Terminal & Valley Railway was sold and switched entirely to freight.

Slowly, I'm working on compiling together some of the thousands of old legends and myths associated with the railroads. Eventually, I'll be setting aside part of my website for them, but there's a lot to wade through before I get there. I find railroad ghost stories just as fascinating as the golden age of steam. Just in Ohio, there are dozens of ghosts associated with train wrecks and accidental deaths from the Ashtabula Train Disaster to the tragedy outside Republic, Ohio, or even the specter of Lincoln's Funeral Train. Even one of my first visits to a haunted place as a teenager was train related: the old depot in Galion, Ohio.

All of the hauntings I've heard have involved steam locomotives, oddly enough. I'm sure there are diesel engines behind hauntings out there somewhere, but I'm content to stick with steam. It's a dying technology; if we don't keep teaching generations about operating old steam engines, they'll become mystifying museum relics. Few people who are alive today can operate an old engine. They require skill and finesse you won't find in a simple diesel engine. Perhaps that's why when it comes to historic preservation, I think railroads are so important.

Interestingly enough, we owe much of the current railroad preservation efforts to two men: Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg. They pioneered railroad pictorial books and started the California State Railroad Museum. Much of our history would be forgotten were it not for these two men. And what's even more interesting is they were a couple. Yes, railroad preservation owes a lot to two gay men. You can still see their private car the Virginia City (complete with its elegant interior that would make Liberace jealous) in California.

The Never-Ending Forgotten History of the Valley...

After a lot of debate, I decided to bring back the Haunted Cuyahoga section of my website. Yes, a lot of my old research (and some rescued documents from Jaite Mill) were turned over to Jeri Holland of Cuyahoga Valley Paranormal about a year ago. I'm still leaving much of the valley's hauntings in her experienced hands. Still, there's so much I've wanted to write about... and so many corrections to make from the old information I had posted. Most of the old pages hadn't been updated since the time when I started looking for ghosts in the Cuyahoga Valley around 1999. Sadly, a lot of that information was total speculation; a lot of research over the years changed what is real from what is urban legend.

In September, Jeri's book Haunted Akron: Ghosts of the Rubber City will be published by The History Press. In it are a few stories from the valley in the southern part within Akron city limits. Since we both feel passionate about history and tossed tons of researched material back and forth over the last few months, we've both been excited by all the new discoveries in both bizarre local history and haunted places. There was the murder of a mixed-race man in a long-since-vanished town, a gruesome suicide at an old canal lock, and a haunted pond in Green Township. But when I scoured old maps and newspaper articles sent to me by Jeri and pinpointed the real location of the "haunted River Styx railroad bridge," you can't imagine how excited we both were.

And there's so much more to tell about; so much so that Jeri is already planning a second Haunted Akron book. At the same time, we're working together to get a early start on teaming up as co-authors for a book on ghosts in the Cuyahoga Valley tentatively planned for The History Press next year. I'm slowly adding some new discoveries to my site, though a lot of it will remain hidden until the book eventually is written and released (though I may share some stories at library talks before then). It's hard to keep all these stories to myself. I've always know that the Cuyahoga Valley has had some wild tales in its past; I ever expected the list to keep growing.

While not all stories involve ghosts directly, there are plenty of downright creepy sites to see. Along Riverview Road, I found the site of a fatal shooting by an "insane," drunken husband. Near a old canal lock, there are apple trees growing which are likely the offspring of trees planted by French traders in the 1600s. And, of course, one tale is a particular favorite of mine: the railroad station along the Valley Railway built on top of an old Irish cemetery! Yes, the bodies are still there... and I'm pretty sure that no one--not even the National Park Service--realizes it.

Hopefully before the heat of summer dies down, I'll have a chance to check out some of these places and (perhaps) have an investigation or two. This is the one thing I've missed the most: being the first person to look for ghosts in certain locations for many decades. Back when I started exploring the valley, it was like that. As some spots have become extremely popular, it took the fun and excitement out of investigating. I've never been crazy about going places that hundreds or thousands of would-be ghost busters trample to death. I like being unique, and in finding these new places that haven't been exhausted to death is the best way to do that.

Creepy Outback Cryptid Critters...

Nearly every country has at least one story of a mythical or unexplainable creature. Having been separated from any nearby land some 48,000 years ago, Australia is naturally a place of exotic and bizarre animals many of which are found nowhere else on earth. The kangaroo, koala, and platypus were demystified by European colonization but there are other mysteries based on stories passed down by Aboriginal peoples which today remain unidentified beasts of legendary proportions.

Probably the best known cryptid said to roam across the continent is the Yowie: Australia's very own version of Bigfoot (a.k.a. Sasquatch). Named Narcoonah by natives in what is now South Australia this large hairy ape-like creature has reportedly been sighted by white settlers since the 1840s. As more towns sprung up across the country sightings continued to increase and still happen today. It is believed there are at least two "species" of Yowie ranging from the small 4-5 foot tall hominids to enormous 6-10 foot varieties. Yowie researchers believe it's possible that these creatures are some distant ancestor to Gigantopithecus which was native to China around 1 million years ago, intermingled with ancient man, and may have crossed a land bridge to arrive in Terra Australis.

As with reports of Bigfoot, Yeti, and similar creatures scientists say it's impossible for such a large creature to remain unknown and not result in at least one discovery of a carcass over the past few hundred years. That hasn't stopped countless people and researchers from trying to track the elusive animal. Australian Yowie Research and Australian Yowie Research Centre are a few of the many organizations dedicated to collecting reported sightings and hunting for evidence. Josh Gates of Destination Truth even went to Queensland in 2008 to try to hunt down the creature. But so far the only evidence anyone has produced is footprint casts, odd audio recordings, and unidentified images. You would be hard pressed to even find one of the Cadbury variety these days.

But mysterious creatures are not only confined to land. To the north of Sydney lies the Hawkesbury River, known by Aboriginals as Deerrubbun. It has been a popular spot for thousans of years where the Ku Ring Gui and Dharug tribes believed the Dream Time was found. Prized for its abundant seafood the Hawkesbury might hold another aquatic animal. It's said to be the home of a prehistoric monster.

Similar to Scotland's Loch Ness Monster, the Mirreeulla (or "giant water serpent") was introduced by the Dharuk to early settlers through stories of capsized canoes and vessels blamed on a monster of the deep. It's been described in cave art and recollections as a large bodied animal with two sets of flippers,an eel-like tail, and the head of a snake mounted on a long neck—like a living plesiosaur would be envisioned. Reports of the creature happened throughout the 20th century. More recent sightings have occurred in August 2009 and March 2010.

But there are so many others. The legend of a very peculiar creature called the bunyip. Reports of black panthers. Sightings of extinct animals in Tasmania. Australia is a land of oddities, both known and unknown. Who knows what the next fishing line will pull out of a New South Wales waterway? Or what glint of an animal will be caught in car headlights?

A Celebrated Murder...

Not everyone in Australia believes in ghosts. Yet spirits certainly are a part of the history and culture across the nation. Just listening to the bush ballad Waltzing Matilda shows one clear example. Said to have been based on a true story, the song ends with the swagman's ghost still haunting the billabong (purported to be Combo Waterhole in Queensland). But there is an iconic true ghost story well-known among Aussies. It's celebrated every year in this month with a festival.

Frederick Fisher was a former convict turned farmer in the early 19th century trying to turn around his life in Campbelltown outside of Sydney. In 1826 he had another brush with the law following a knife incident. Anticipating a long return to prison, he gave his neighbor William George Worral power of attorney. Luckily for Fisher the trial went better than expected and he was released with a light sentence. On June 17 Fisher mysteriously vanished. When questioned, Worral told the townspeople that Fisher had left him everything and sailed to England to make a fresh start. Suspicions arose almost immediately.

Worral was arrested on September 17 on suspicion of murder yet no body could be found. One night in October a wealthy farmer named John Farley (or James Hurley in other story versions) was heading home from Patrick's Inn and encountered a terrifying sight on the Queen Street bridge. The ghost of Fred Fisher sat on the rail and pointed in the direction or Worral's land beside a creek separating Worral's and Fisher's properties. Terrified, Farley raced home and soon told authorities about the disturbing encounter. On October 25 two local boys reported seeing blood stains on Worral's fence. Police called in an Aboriginal tracker named Gilbert and soon discovered Fisher's body exactly where the ghost had been pointing.

The trial began on February 2, 1827. During the proceedings Worral was found guilty. At the gallows three days later Worral confessed but claimed it was a case of mistaken identity (he thought Fisher was a horse in his wheat crop) yet no one believed him. But that was not the end of Fisher's ghost. Hauntings blamed on Fisher are abound in Campbelltown. Today, the stream where the body was discovered is renamed Fisher's Ghost Creek. Since 1826 the ghostly image if Fisher has been seen numerous times at the bridge on Queen Street. He has also made appearances at the nearby Town Hall Theatre, said to have been built at the site of Worral's homestead.

Today Campbelltown celebrates its infamous ghostly celebrity every year in November with the Festival of Fisher's Ghost. The event dating back to 1956 includes a parade, street fair, six-day carnival, and immense display of fireworks. This year's celebration started on November 4th and runs through the 14th. See the website for complete details. And if you happen to be around Sydney be sure to take some time to join in on the festivities. While you might see many Halloween-style ghosts parading down the street, one of them might be Fisher himself. It's believed that he visits the festival every year, after all...

(Map courtesy Campbelltown City Council)

St. Patrick's Spooky Emerald Isle...

Today, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day in much of the world. Some rivers flow green like the lager at festive pubs. Covers and leprechauns reign supreme in the streets. We try our best at speaking Gaelic only to butcher the words with alcohol-tainted breath. And for a brief while, many people consider themselves unofficial "citizens" of Ireland (or Éire, if you want to be precise).

Legends loon large in Ireland. Many of us know about tales of the mischievous, not-so-friendly leprechaun and the bean sidhe ("banshee") wailing as a harbinger of death. Iconic images of nature spirits and ghosts permeate our recollections of Irish culture. The soft, warm, sweet scent of burning peat on a cold day drifts our thoughts to haunting legends, forgotten Druid culture, and empty castles.

Ghost stories are abundant in Irish mythology and folktales. Entire websites are devoted to the paranormal lore. On Irelandseye.com, you can find an abundance of information on the country as well as its spooky places. The site offers a webcam for the Leprechaun Watch where you can try your luck at capturing a glimpse of nature spirits; for those solely interested in departed souls, the GhostWatch section tells the tragic haunting of Helena Bunden at a linen mill, complete with sightings of her ghosts and a few incredibly EVPs.

Visitors to Ireland can enjoy many tours and haunted places. One story—the execution and subsequent haunting of Bishop John Atherton—I have included in my upcoming book. But there are too many others out there, waiting to be read about and experienced. Dublin is one such extremely haunted city. And from Dublin, there's the interesting story of a haunted site: the former location of a theater.

Fishamble Street Theatre, near the remnants of Proudfoote's Castle, opened back in 1741. It is still remembered today as the site of the premiere preformance of Handel's Messiah. Many great performers graced its walls and left their impressions on the building. The haunted history of the playhouse began in the early 1800s when strange knockings were frequently heard, centered around the Green Room. Every night at 10:00 precisely, the sounds would be heard emanating from the wall for fifteen minutes. The story survived through oral tradition from a worker in the mid-19th century and was later written about in John Dunne's A Ghost Watcher's Guide to Ireland. Most of Fishamble Street has been leveled, yet the story survives. A wide range of other Dublin haunts, including Fishamble, can be found on the Paranormal Database.

So don't let the Guinness cloud your mind too much on this holiday. There are spirits out there, looming among the gravestones and ruins between the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea. If you can't be there, just snuggle up in bed tonight with a good book of Irish ghost stories.

Lost on the Wild, Wild Sea...

In the month of July in 1909, a mystery began which has never been solved to this day. A ship, the SS Waratah, vanished on a voyage from Australia to England. Was the vessel cursed or were supernatural elements at work? We may never know.

Waratah is a word used by the Eora Aboriginal people from what is now New South Wales. It translates to "beautiful" and a native flowering shrub bares the same name. The bright crimson flower is the emblem flower for New South Wales. According to legend, the first waratah shrub sprouted from the place where a young woman died of grief over the death of her warrior lover. While the tale itself is tragic, the fate of those vessels taking on its name seemed to follow the same course.

In 1848, a ship named Waratah sank off the coast of France. Two subsequent Waratah's were lost at sea near Sydney in 1887. Another went down in the Antartic Ocean in 1894. Still, the Blue Anchor Line built the SS Waratah in Glasgow in 1908 without thought to these other lost vessels. This mistake would prove to be their own demise.

The Waratah departed from London on April 27, 1909, on what would be her second uneventful voyage to the land down under. She left Melbourne on July 1 bound for South Africa on the return voyage. Upon reaching Durban, an engineer named Claude Sawyer left the ship and sent his wife a telegram:

THOUGHT WARATAH TOP HEAVY STOP LANDED DURBAN STOP

He couldn't tell his wife his true reasoning. On board the ship, he had experienced a premonition.

While arranging for another vessel, Sawyer reluctantly told the booking clerk of the strange visitor in his cabin. He described it as the corpse-like figure of death in strange clothing resembing a matador (perhaps a pirate ghost?), clutching a long sword. "He was holding the sword in his right hand and it was covered in blood." Three separate times, the apparition entered his cabin. On each occasion, the specter made but one command: "Leave her!" The visions so terrified Sawyer and though he had sailed many times and was not prone to superstitions, he obeyed and stayed in Durban.

He would live be the sole survivor of the 212 passengers and crew schedued to embark on the final leg of this voyage.

On July 26, one day after leaving South Africa, the ship exchanged cordial greetings with the Clan Macintyre, also bound for London. Weather deteriorated soon afterward and the Waratah may have been spotted twice that evening, though the heavy seas made identification difficult. The Harlow saw what may have been the Waratah following behind her in the crashing waves, billowing with smoke. Two bright flashes came from the direction of the ship and it vanished.

The July 29 arrival date came and went. Authorities assumed engine trouble and waited longer without questioning the delay. In September, the Blue Anchor Line finally chartered a ship to search for the vessel. Though it covered over 14,000 nautical miles, the Waratah was nowhere to be found. An official enquiry was held in London in December. Among the many giving testimony as to the possible fate of the ship was Claude Sawyer. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle even held a seance in hope of determining the fate of the steam ship. Word of the disaster spread around the world. The Blue Anchor line never recovered from the tragedy and was forced to sell off their fleet to the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (or "P&O Line") in 1910.

Over the many years since the disappearance, many people have sought the wreckage of the SS Waratah. A few wrecks were discovered but were later identified as vessels which sank in the world wars. Emlyn Brown of NUMA and Clive Cussler, author of the book Raise the Titanic, were the last to search for the ship. Brown gave up his 22-year search in 2004, declaring "I've exhausted all the options. I now have no idea where to look."

Not one piece of wreckage or cargo was ever found from the Waratah. Its disappearance remains one of the great maritime mysteries. Yet perhaps, like the Flying Dutchman of legend, the spirits of the doomed ship still travel the southern Atlantic on the misty decks of the ethereal Waratah, waiting for their final chance to return to London.

Lavender Bloodbath Television...

If you're looking for some paranormal television this evening, you might want to check out a gay ghost investigation!

Tonight, the series Ghost Hunters International will visit a couple haunted relics in eastern Europe, including Čachtice Castle, alleged haunt of the sadistic, lesbian serial killer Elizabeth Báthory who bathed in the blood of virgin women to "maintain her youth". Vampire legends are often linked to some of her dastardly deeds. She died while imprisoned in a castle tower in the 16th century.

Her ghost is rumoured to haunt the place of her death.

Figures. The bastards didn't invite me.

You can tune in tonight on the SciFi Channel at 9:00 PM.

No More Thrill Rides...

With the soaring popularity of investigating hauntings, it seems everyone is trying to jump on the bandwagon. Unfortunately, some people fail to follow any sort of legal procedures.

Five "ghost hunters" in El Paso, Texas, learned their lesson the hard way last week.

Jorge Montoya (17), Carmen Salazar (17), Gerardo Santoyo (18), John Carrillo (20), Rene Nunez (21), and Felipe Ochoa (23) decided to investigate the abandoned Magic Landing Amusement Park on Wednesday night. They ignored the 'No Trespassing' signs placed around the property and wandered around by flashlight, snapping photographs and looking for paranormal activity. A neighbor phoned police after seeing the lights. The quintet fled to their vehicles when police arrived, but couldn't escape the law.

Each was charged with criminal trespassing Thursday morning.

The property owners take the matter very seriously. In April, an arson fire caused $485,000 in damage to the former amusement park. They have since told Sheriff Deputies they will press charges against anyone found on their property without their consent.

Nicknamed "Tragic Landing", the park was only open for four years. Legend states that a boy lost his hand and died at the park; his ghost is said to wander the grounds. In 1985, an 18-year-old employee named Frank Guzman Jr. was killed after his arm was severed by a roller coaster while retrieving a customer's baseball hat from the track. The roller coaster is gone now... it was sold to Bosque Magico in Mexico.

I doubt this is the sort of fame hoped for by the group. Perhaps they should have made a phone call to the owners and saved themselves the trouble of calling a friend or family member to get them out of jail...

A Penultimate Resting Place...

More than just houses might be disturbed in Southport...

This suburb in Queensland, Australia is facing change. Queen Street, the oldest in the community, will follow a new proposed rapid transit route. There is a decision to be made: do they lose 60 homes, 100 graves in Southport Cemetery, or half the road?

The cemetery was established in 1880... around the time an interesting ghost story first appeared in local lore: the ghost of a giant.

Pioneer Tom Cowderoy first encountered the apparition while returning home along a footpath near the present-day street. He described it as a "large apparition, coloured a greyish white,... higher than the tops of the trees." Cowderoy stopped to watch the spirit for a while before his fear became too great. He walked onward, avoiding any glances at the spirit, until he finally peeked enough to notice the ghost was actually following beside him. He quickened his pace and didn't look back the rest of the journey.

And no, Cowderoy did not drink.

Who knows. Perhaps this little bit of excavation could reawaken the old spook. Let's just hope they don't disturb too many graves and create more Gold Coast hauntings of a shorter stature...