SPOOKS, FRAUDS, AND HOAXES
Want to learn more about hauntings, psychics, poltergeists, and plain old frauds?
Spooks
The Cock Lane Ghost Another example of a knocking ghost! Was the ghost of Fanny Kent trying to communicate to the Parsons family the fact that she had been poisoned by her husband? Or were the Parsons taking their revenge for a lawsuit William Kent had laid against them? This famous eighteenth century story was well-known enough for Charles Dickens to reference in his novels.
Borley Rectory Known as "the most haunted house in England," Borley Rectory confounded residents through four decades with its strange, poltergeist phenomena. Then Harry Price, the famous ghost hunter, began to investigate.
The Bell Witch According to American southern folklore, this is the only ghost known to have murdered a living man! Perhaps John Bell shouldn't have tried to cheat his neighbor Kate Batts, since the old woman's spirit seemed to haunt him for years afterward. This haunting was supposedly witnessed by Andrew Jackson, future president of the US.
The Brown Lady Her jealous husband imprisoned her at Raynham Hall, forbidding her to ever leave the grounds. And according to one famous ghostly photograph, she never did leave!
Mediums
Florence
Cook This pretty young English medium was famous for her full body
manifestations of the ghost of Katie King, supposedly the daughter of the
English pirate Henry Morgan. The apparition was scientifically tested and
photographed by the eminent scientist and chemist William Crooke. Why,
then, do Crooke's photos seem so suspiciously fake?
The Davenport Brothers These young boys made regular appearances on stage, confined in their mysterious spirit cabinet. While the brothers were securely tied to their chairs, strange music and floating objects would confound the audience. Were they spirit mediums or escape artists?
Daniel Douglas Home He was considered the greatest spirit medium of his time. Not only could Home produced rapping, spirit hands, and mysterious floating lights, he could fly right into the air in front of witnesses.
Margery This famous Boston medium of the twentieth century confounded several psychic investigators. Finally, Harry Houdini himself tried to prove her a fraud. At the end of his tests, both Houdini and Margery claimed victory, but perhaps Margery had the last laugh when Houdini died soon afterwards.
Frauds
Princess Caraboo In the early nineteenth century, a young woman dressed in exotic clothes wandered on foot into a small English town. She spoke a strange, unknown language and indicated by signs that she was a princess from an East Indian island who had escaped from a ship of slavers. It was an exciting, dramatic story ... and totally untrue.
Kaspar Hauser The case of Kaspar Hauser is one of the strangest unsolved mysteries of all time. Had this strange boy really been confined all his life in a cage? Who was his jailor, and why was he suddenly released? Could he possibly be a prince of royal blood, hidden away by rival family members? It seemed unlikely, until young Hauser was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant.
Anna
Anderson/Grand Duchess Anastasia In 1918, the Russian Czar Nicholas II
and his entire family were executed in a cellar in Ekaterinburg, Russia by
revolutionaries. However, rumors persisted for years that one of the
princesses, the Grand Duchess Anastasia, had been smuggled, alive but gravely
wounded, from the site of the massacre. In 1920, a destitute young woman
tried to commit suicide by jumping into a canal in Berlin. When she was
rescued, she was discovered to have scars from half a dozen bullet wounds on her
body. Was she the long lost princess, an imposter, or just a very confused
woman?
Paranormal Investigation
There are a number of online newsletters and magazines devoted to the study of the paranormal -- including hauntings, psychics, UFO's, and lost civilizations. Check out the e-publications below for the latest reports of unexplained phenomena and speculative articles on the supernatural!
Obiwan's UFO-Free Paranormal Page
Spirit Photographs
Is it a double exposure, a trick of the light, or something unexplainable? You decide!
The Haunted Museum Includes the world's most famous spirit photographs!
A Ghostly Gallery A collection of spirit photographs from the American Museum of Photography.
Survival After Death A series of photographs meant to "prove" that medium Florence Cook could really produce a full-body manifestation of the spirit Katie King.
Ghost Research Society A collection of modern eerie photographs submitted by the public for your perusal and wonder.