Showing posts with label Legend Trippers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Legend Trippers. Show all posts

Friday, April 24, 2015

Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, Part ll

Marlboro Hospital
In the first part of this post the sad history of abuse suffered by the patients at this hospital located in Marlboro Township, New Jersey is shared. This abuse is why many people felt this hospital was haunted after it closed down in the late 1990s.

Marlboro was torn down in 2013 and a park stands in its place today.

One popular legend told by Legend Trippers about this old psychiatric hospital involves the ghost of a demented farmer.

The story goes . . .

A farmer named Allen owned the land that the hospital was built upon. His 500-acre farm had been in his family for generations. But the state wanted the rural property for their new hospital.

Mr. Allen refused to sale but this didn’t matter to the government--they seized his property and kicked him off his land.

This took Mr. Allen’s livelihood away, and having lost everything he owned it is said he went mad.

Once the hospital was complete staff began to see Mr. Allen wandering the property late at night, muttering to himself. As time passed he became more irrational. When hospital staff tried to remove him he attacked.

Ironically, after this he was committed to Marlboro as a patient. He stayed to himself and the hospital let him tend to the grass and plants on the grounds.

One day he disappeared. A huge manhunt was organized but Mr. Allen was never found. A rumor later stated a vagrant passing through the state had killed him.
 
Old Slaughterhouse
Months after this, late at night strange animalistic squeals were heard near the old abandoned slaughterhouse on the hospital property.

These squeals became louder and louder until they began to disturb the patients. Several becoming hysterical had to be sedated.

Marlboro then hired extra security guards to patrol the grounds. One night a guard found strange messages written in blood on the side of the slaughterhouse. They read:

“I see you.” and “Tonight you will die.”

He told his supervisor what he had found and then returned to his patrol. The next morning it was discovered this guard was missing.

Several searchers entered the slaughterhouse. They opened the doors to a large metal freezer. Inside they saw the missing guard’s body hanging from a hook.

He was covered in blood and his head was missing. In its place was a severed pigs’ head.

The murderer was never found but later after several witnesses saw the ghost of Farmer Allen poking his head out of a hole in the slaughterhouse roof it was believed his ghost must have killed the guard.

This slaughterhouse was torn down shortly after the rest of the hospital buildings were demolished.

In Part l Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, the story of the abuse that occurred at this hospital is told.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Amish Ghost Stories

In the video below, Eric Evangelista took Jeff Belanger's retelling of two traditional Amish ghost stories and shared them in the television series, Amish Hauntings.

This production is an impressive reenactment of these traditional Amish ghost stories. The first story is about a group of teenage “Legend Trippers” who visit a bridge with a traditional “Crybaby Bridge” legend connected to it.

A Deacon’s son and his friend taunt the Devil, which leads to a truly terrifying encounter with this fabled ghost.
Another Cry Baby story, Crybaby Bridge: Monmouth, Illinois can be read here.

The second Amish ghost story shared on this video is entitled, The Witch’s Tree. It is about an Amish woodworker who lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This man defies a Bishop’s orders to burn a fallen tree--instead he uses the wood in his trade. 

He lives to regret this, for his action unleashes a menacing evil curse that had been placed on the community 100 years before.

The episode with both stories first aired in October of 2014. It can be found on Amazon Video under "Amish Haunting" Season 1,  Episode Two--Cry Baby Bridge and Witches Tree.

Amish Ghost Stories

Eric Evangelista took Jeff Belanger's retelling of two traditional Amish ghost stories and shared them in the television series, Amish Hauntings.

This production is a dramatic reenactment of these traditional Amish ghost stories. The first story is about a group of teenage “Legend Trippers” who visit a bridge with a traditional “Crybaby Bridge” legend connected to it. A preview of this story is in the video below.

A Deacon’s son and his friend taunt the Devil, which leads to a genuinely terrifying encounter with this fabled ghost.

Another Cry Baby story, Crybaby Bridge: Monmouth, Illinois can be read here.

The second Amish ghost story shared on this video is entitled, The Witch’s Tree. It is about an Amish woodworker who lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This man defies a Bishop’s orders to burn a fallen tree--instead, he uses the wood in his trade. 

He lives to regret this, for his action unleashes a menacing evil curse that had been placed on the community 100 years before.

The episode with both stories first aired in October of 2014. It can be found on Amazon Video under "Amish Ghost Stories."

Here is a preview of this show.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Indiana: A Faithful Companion

Highland Lawn Cemetery located in Terra Haute Indiana is the location for one of this states most unique and enduring ghost stories. Local residents have passed down this popular tale for several generations.

John Heini
Stiffy Green was known by all to be a faithful companion. He was a bulldog that was devoted to his master, John Heini. When Heini died in the 1920s Stiffy was devastated.

It was said after Heini’s death Stiffy would constantly return to the Highland Lawn Cemetery where he would keep vigil outside the Heini Family Mausoleum. Stiffy “forever grieving for his lost master” started to refuse food and water.

He was found dead one day on the steps of the Heini crypt. John Heini’s relatives had this bulldog’s body stuffed by a taxidermist and then placed his body with his master in the family mausoleum.

Guarding His Master

Soon after John Heini and this noble dog were reunited witnesses started to report some unusual sights and sounds. Many visitors to the cemetery reported hearing a dog’s bark in the vicinity of the Heini crypt.

Heini Crypt
Other witnesses stated that they heard Stiffy howl which effectively scared off thieves and the curious.

Some reported seeing a misty figure of an elderly man that appeared to be Mr. Heini walking with a stiff-legged dog in the neighborhood that surrounds the cemetery.

Witnesses also reported that the stuffed body of Stiffy seemed to shift positions within the crypt.

Many felt this devoted bulldog was still guarding its master. For people noted Stiffly’s green eyes glared out at anyone that might be an intruder.

With all these eerie tales and the belief that Stiffy still guarded Mr. Heini a Legend Tripping tradition began. Teens on dates would go to Highland Lawn Cemetery after dark with their flashlights. They then would flash their lights into the crypt to catch a glimpse of Stiffy’s menacing green glass eyes.

This tradition only stopped in the mid 1980s when the Vigo County Historical Society removed Stiffy’s stuffed body and relocated him to a replica Heini crypt--built by the Terra Haute Lion’s Club-- located within their museum.

Stiffy and replica crypt at museum.
Newspaper report about
vandalism.
They moved Stiffy in order to preserve him--for vandals shot bullets into the Heini Family Mausoleum and damaged part of his body and one glass eye.