Logan’s Weeping Mother

The legend states—

If you say, "weepy woman, weep" the statue will cry . . .

Logan, Utah

Olif and Julia Cronquist lived in Logan, Utah at the turn of the 19th century.

Mr. Cronquist was a respected county commissioner and dairy farmer. His wife, Julia, was a devoted mother.

Tragically, only three of this couples' eight children survived until adulthood.

Within twelve years—between 1889-1901 the couple lost:

Two sets of twins, the first boys and the second girls all died at a young age in separate scarlet fever outbreaks, and the fifth child was stillborn.

Julia also contracted scarlet fever, but despite ongoing health issues connected to this illness, she survived.

Despite her husband's support, Julia was inconsolable. Friends and neighbors often saw her in the city cemetery near her children's graves sobbing.

As a result of her own bout with scarlet fever, Julia grew weaker and weaker. She also tragically died in 1914, of valvular heart disease.

Her obituary stated in part—

"a splendid woman, tender, loving, patient, and true. Bearing a great burden without complaint and always seeking the happiness and comfort of others."

Weeping Mother

In tribute, Olif had an impressive monument placed upon his wife's grave, in 1917.

This statue of a beautiful, sad woman, located at the Logan City Cemetery, is said to be haunted.

Witnesses, over the years since state that this statue is seen weeping—during full moons and on the anniversaries of Julia's children deaths—four of them in March.

Others state this statue is seen moving—looking in the direction of the various children's graves.

Another report involves the statue actually wandering around this cemetery.

One recent report mentions that a mother/daughter witnessed Julia's ghost sitting near this monument crying. She then just disappeared.

Utah State University

This cemetery is near Utah State University. Because of this legend, a sign is posted warning visitors no one is allowed in the cemetery after dark.

Kings Island’s Playful Ghost

Visitors go to Ohio’s Kings Island amusement park to eat funnel cake and enjoy the exciting rides.

Kings Island is located in Mason just outside Cincinnati. It opened in 1972 and has been this state’s favorite amusement park since.

The Beast

The most popular ride is called “The Beast.” When this wooden rollercoaster first opened in 1979, it was the tallest, fastest and longest coaster in the world.

Even today, forty years later, The Beast is still Kings Island's most popular ride.

But some visitors, while at the park, have gotten “ a thrill” of a very different kind.

Kings Island was built on land that was used for an ammunition factory (King’s Powder) from the late 1880s until the 1940s. During this time, there was a massive explosion that killed over one hundred people.

Dog Street Cemetery with
The Beast in background.

All that remains of this company is a small cemetery (Dog Street Cemetery)—that sits near the park’s exit, next to the parking lot.

This cemetery is one reason some feel the park is haunted.

One active spirit at Kings Island is a little girl. She is seen wearing a blue dress. Her ghost is spotted mostly in the park’s parking lot, skipping or playing “hide-and-seek” among the cars.

Park employees call her “Tram Girl” because of a game she likes to play with them.

As these drivers deliver their passengers at various points throughout the parking lot, this ghost likes to jump out in front of their vehicles—daring them to run over her.

One driver, in 2017, had just finished dropping off the last few passengers for the night and was headed for the main parking lot.

He was tired after a long day. So when his tram headlights illuminated a young girl, wearing a blue dress, run right in front of his vehicle, he was slow to react.

This driver did slam on his brakes, but he was sure he had hit her. But oddly he didn’t feel an impact or hear any screams.

He climbed out, but the parking lot was empty, and nothing was under the tram. After inspecting the front for damage, he was surprised there was none.

The little girl had disappeared as quickly, as she had appeared.

White Water Canyon at Kings Island.

This mischievous spirit is also seen at White Water Canyon in the park.

She is believed to be Jane Galeener, who lived with her mother, father, and younger brother on a section of the property that is now Kings Island.

Jane Galeener's gravestone in
Dog Street Cemetery.

She drowned in 1846, at the age of 5 in a lake, where White Water Canyon is located in the park today.

She is buried in Dog Street Cemetery.

Here is a video that shows how much fun The Beast is to ride.

A Haunted Governor’s Mansion

Woodburn Mansion

For over 200 years, people have seen and heard ghosts at the historic Woodburn mansion in Dover, Delaware.

This beautiful, 1790s Georgian house has seven bedrooms and beautiful gardens.

Woodburn in the 1950s.

Several of Delaware’s leading citizens have lived in this house. In 1965, the state of Delaware bought the property, renovated it, and made it the governor’s mansion.

The first Woodburn ghost sighting happened in 1820. Dr. M.W. Bates the owner, at this time, invited a Methodist preacher, Lorenzo Dow to stay the night.

After socializing, Dow retired for the evening to an upstairs bedroom. The next morning, he passed another man on the stairs. The preacher noted this man was dressed in “colonial garb”—and was shuffling up the steps oddly.

When he reached the breakfast table, he asked the Bates’ who the other guest was. Baffled, they told him no other guests were in the home.

After he described this man, the couple felt certain it was Dr. Bates’ father, who had been dead for years.

Woodburn gardens.

Another ghost seen and heard at Woodburn is a “slave raider.”

Dan Cowgill, a Quaker, owned the mansion before the Civil War. The house was a stop along the Underground Railroad.

One night a group of angry raiders came to the mansion looking for escaped slaves. Cowgill was able to chase them off.

One raider attempted to escape by climbing a poplar tree in the front yard. He slipped and got caught in a knot of the tree. He hung there, trapped and unnoticed until he died.

This tree still stands.

To this day, witnesses report hearing his screams as he tries to escape.

Woodburn dining room.

Several governors’ wives have seen ghosts in the mansion’s dining room.

These women state they heard footsteps at all hours of the night in this room, as well as seeing men, dressed in revolutionary-era clothes floating across the room.

These ghosts seem to be more fun-loving than scary. The spirits in the house are called “wine ghosts.”

The reason for this is they imbibe whatever wine is left out. If glasses are left half-full, etc., witnesses return to find them empty.

When Governor Charles Terry Jr. lived in the mansion, one ghost, in particular, was observed helping himself to the mansion’s vintage wines in the dining room.

A previous owner, before it was the governor’s residence, stated every night he would fill a decanter with wine, he then would find it empty the next morning.

It seems these ghosts like to party.

The mansion also has a young female ghost. This girl is seen in the garden wearing a red-checkered gingham dress. She likes to splash water in the homes’ fountains and pools.

Fountain at Woodburn.

This young spirit  “crashed” Governor Michael Castle’s inauguration in 1985.

Several guests felt something tugging at them throughout the ceremony. And many witnesses saw her floating shyly in the corner of the reception hall.

The public can visit this mansion—but by appointment only.

Haunted Lizzie Borden House

Lizzie Borden House

The murders of Andrew and Abby Borden in 1892 are two of the most gruesome in American history.

The Borden’s lived in Fall River, Massachusetts with Andrew’s two daughters, Emma, and Lizzie from a previous marriage.

Lizzie Borden

The two were discovered “hacked to death” with an ax. Lizzie became the authorities primary murder suspect and was tried and acquitted in a two-week sensationalized trial.

No one else was ever accused, and these murders remain unsolved. But to this day many believe that Lizzie actually did murder her father and stepmother.

Much of the evidence that pointed to Lizzie being the murderess, for some reason, was ignored or even found to be inadmissible during her trial.

Lizzie did not appreciate her frugal father, and she and her sister had an open disdain for Abby—calling her “Mrs. Borden.”

Lizzie Borden House today.

The sisters just before the murders had fought with their father over money matters—they were due to inherit over seven and a half million dollars—in today’s value-- at their father’s death.

Lizzie was seen burning one of her dresses, by a friend, that she claimed to be paint-stained, just days after the murders. The suspected murder weapon, a broken hatchet, was found hidden in the home’s basement.

The police, when they questioned Lizzie after the murders, found her statements to be “inconsistent,” and she provided several changing alibis.

Andrew and Abby Borden

The day of the murders, Emma was away from the Borden house, and the family maid, Maggie was outside cleaning windows. Lizzie was home—she claimed to be in a barn in back of the house looking for fishing tackle and eating pears.

The police found this barn so hot—they felt no one could have stayed in it for twenty minutes, let alone for an hour and a half.

The Borden house is not that large, but Lizzie claimed not to hear or see anything.

There were ninety minutes between the two murders, and the police found that it was odd that a murderer would stay around for this long-- and then not to have been seen by Lizzie or the maid?

But most of this was not taken into account at the trial. When the Borden’s crushed skulls were exhibited, Lizzie fainted. The all-male jury was sympathetic—after all, how could a petite, Sunday school teacher do this?

Today the Lizzie Borden house is a museum, and a bed & breakfast. Visitors can take day tours or stay overnight. Tour guides, visitors, and paranormal teams all feel it is haunted.

Bodies of Andrew and Abby Borden found murdered.

Andrew Borden was murdered as he napped on the settee in the family parlor. Abby was killed in the family guest room upstairs—she had nineteen blows to the head.

Strange mist captured on camera
in Borden guest room.

These two rooms have a lot of activity. Most who enter this house, that has been restored to its 19th-century appearance, report feelings of overwhelming sadness.

Tour guides mention being touched by unseen hands. Many report something tugged at their clothes.

There have been reports of people seeing the apparitions of Andrew, Abby, and Lizzie in the home. Strange mists have also been observed. 

There are also reports of something unseen whispering in people's ears.

One of the strangest phenomena to happen occurs by the bed in the guest room where Abby Borden was killed.

A strange image caught in a mirror
at Lizzie Borden house.

Countless people have closed their eyes and stood on the spot where she died. They all report feeling as if someone shoved or pushed them on the back. Others feel a force coming through the floor that tries to tip them.

Witnesses also mention hearing children’s laughter in the homes attic rooms.

One folktale belief is that the spirits in the house can be “bribed” to leave the living alone.

Visitors often place a few coins on Mr. Borden’s bureau. While the young spirits respond best to small toy offerings.

The following video is a good summary of the tensions in the Borden family, as well as an explanation for why there are young spirits in the house.

Phantom Transplants

When my brother passed away, he was an organ donor. A woman in Greece wrote to thank the family for his corneas. I wonder does she see the beautiful colors he mixed for his paintings?

Sonny Graham was on the verge of death in 1955 due to “congestive heart failure,” he had been given just six months to live.

It was a happy day when he received word that a heart had become available.

It belonged to a 33-year-old man, Terry Cottle who had committed suicide by one shot to the brain, leaving his young bride behind.

After Graham was informed who his donor was, he began to write Cottle’s widow in appreciation. The two met, fell in love and married.

Sunny Graham and his wife.

But love for this young woman wasn’t the only thing these two men shared. Graham discovered that he now craved beer and hot dogs—which were Cottle’s favorites.

Twelve years after his successful transplant, Graham took his own life by shooting himself in the head. Leaving this wife to mourn twice.

The cravings and personality changes that occurred in Sonny Graham’s life are actually often everyday experiences among transplant recipients—but I should note most do not commit suicide.

Organ transplants, including heart, liver, kidney, and lung, etc. have saved many lives. There were more than half a million performed in the U.S. alone, between 1988 and 2016.

There are countless stories about the unusual side effects that occur after these transplants.

Claire Slyvia's book.

Claire Sylvia had a heart transplant at the age of 44. She believes that along with this vital organ that saved her life, she also received her donors’ tastes and memories.

After her operation, she was asked what she would like to do first. Without hesitation, she answered, “I am dying for a beer right now.”

This was strange for Sylvia had always hated the taste of beer.

Over the next few months, she began to have a variety of strange food cravings. Most notably McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets, something she had never desired.

Sylvia now had allergies that she did not have in the past as well as a heightened empathic ability. She also became extremely moody, which was not like her.

She had a series of odd dreams where a thin, tall young man talked to her. He told her his name was “Tim.”

Her curiosity peaked, Sylvia did some research and discovered that a young man named Timothy Lamirande was involved in a motorcycle accident on the same day she received her heart transplant.

He was her donor.

Tim Laminrande

She met his family, and they confirmed all the cravings she was having were Tim’s favorite foods—especially beer.

Oddly, they told her he had just gone to McDonald’s the day of the accident, and a sack of Chicken McNuggets had been found next to his body.

Scientists put forth the idea of “cell memory.” Where cells within organs retain the original owner’s memories and pass them along. 

Here is a paper about changes in heart transplant recipients that parallel the personalities of their donors.

The Restless Spirits at Waverly Plantation

Wavery Plantation Oaks

A loving husband had this unique Southern plantation home designed and built for his wife in the mid-1800s. But she tragically died, before Waverly Mansion, located in Clay County Mississippi was finished.

George Hampton Young was a colonel who moved from Georgia to Mississippi to establish a cotton plantation along the Tombigbee River.

Waverly Mansion--today.

Young and his ten children moved into their new home in the 1850s. He ran an impressive farm.

Waverly, besides providing large quantities of cotton had a tannery, lumber mill, gristmill, brick kiln, icehouse, gardens, orchards, and livestock. The plantation also manufactured its own gas, which was piped into the house to illuminate it.

Waverly has a unique architectural feature, not often seen in the South, a massive copula sits atop this home that affords the visitor a 360-degree view of the surrounding countryside.

This mansion also is known as one of the most haunted homes in the South.

The Young family maintained Waverly until the last of the ten children died in 1913. It then was left to slowly deteriorate.

Robert and Donna Snow fell in love with the old house and spent several years in the 1960s, restoring it to its original splendor. It was made a National Historic Landmark in 1973.

During this time, the Snow’s became acquainted with an assortment of ghosts that haunt Waverly.

The home today is run as a house museum.

During the Civil War several Confederate officers, friends of the Young family, recuperated from battle wounds at Waverly.

In one mirror from this period, a strange sight is seen. Visitors report a Confederate soldier standing behind them, only to turn around and find no one is there.

Colonel Young’s wife, who never lived in the house, is observed wandering through the second-floor rooms. She turns and stares at visitors and then slowly disappears.

Waverly family cemetery.

The Colonel himself is seen riding a phantom horse near the family cemetery. He is also seen walking through this graveyard and in the yard near the mansion.

The most active ghost at the plantation has been seen and heard by many tour guides and visitors.

This four-year-old girl is believed to be the daughter of a Young family friend. Her apparition appears so real that visitor’s on tours have tried to find what adults she belongs to.

Staircase landing.

She is usually spotted on the landing of the spiral staircase between the second and third floors.

It is believed that she died of diphtheria in the home during the Civil War.

This young ghost is also heard crying for her mother.

Another sound often noted involves many voices attending a dinner party—they are heard laughing and enjoying music in the mansion’s ballroom.

Here is a brief video about the young ghost, known as “Little Girl Lost.” The Snow’s daughter and another witness are interviewed.