Haunted Titanic Exhibit

One of the most tragic maritime disasters happened on April 15, 1912. The passenger ship Titanic was on its maiden voyage crossing the North Atlantic Ocean when it struck an iceberg and sank.

More than 1,500 hundred passengers and crew members perished with the ship. * In the years since this tragedy many strange stories have been told. The most recent involves the belief that the Titanic Exhibit is haunted.

This exhibit is housed in the Georgia Museum. It contains over 5,000 artifacts taken from the ocean floor. In recent years, 125 artifacts from this exhibit have been on tour across America.

As this exhibit has toured, more and more witnesses have come forward to report the unusual activity they experienced while they viewed this exhibit. Many have reported hearing disembodies voices, others state they felt an eerie presence around them as they moved from one artifact to the next.

It is not uncommon for spirits to attach themselves to objects. Considering the trauma these passengers and crew faced, it is not surprising that some of these items might be haunted.

One female visitor who brought her daughter and grandson to the Titanic exhibit agrees. While they viewed the display of the 1^st class quarters, her grandson pulled on their hands and questioned, “Who is that lady?” He then asked. “What is she doing?” 

The two women at first thought he was just referring to a dress that was displayed across a loveseat. Later hearing other people’s stories, they realized that he most likely saw a ghost.

Many others have reported feeling as if someone watched them as they moved around the various exhibits. They reported that they felt this presence strongest when they stood next to specific items. 

Later in comparing these reports, it was discovered that the same artifacts had been the cause for these feelings. An old leather bag was just one of these.

The TAPS team on Syfy’s Ghost Hunters visited this exhibit on the 97^th anniversary of the disaster. Their evidence included an interesting EVP. 

The two investigators, Jay and Grant asked the spirit, “Do you want to leave?” The reply they heard later was, “Now--please, …wait.”

I toured this exhibit this past summer. I did not pick up on anything unusual other than--like most--a general feeling of sadness within the rooms I entered.

* There were 2,229 souls onboard the Titanic. 719 people survived. 1,516 perished, and only 333 bodies were recovered.

The Toys ‘R’ Us Ghost

This haunted toy store is located in Sunnyvale, California. I investigated it briefly in the early1980s when I visited my aunt, who lived in, Sunnyvale. 

The activity in this store, for the most part, is humorous. But some of the former employees who had never experienced a haunting before, found it to be terrifying. Most of the activity seen in this store, involves toys being manipulated.

Several people who have investigated the history of the land, that this store sits upon, believe the ghost that causes all the uproar is a farmhand, who worked on the Martin Murphy farm in the early 1880s. 

This farmhand, Jon or Johan Johnson, had the misfortune to fall in love with Murphy’s daughter, Elizabeth. But Beth loved another man, an eastern lawyer, who she ran off with. 

It seems Johnson, who was distraught at losing his love, became distracted as he chopped down a tree, on the farm. According to newspaper accounts written about this accident, his ax slipped and either cut into his leg or neck—at which point he bled to death.

The activity in this store occurs --on the main floor, in the stockroom, and in the upstairs offices. 

The activity occurs regularly, and this location has a history of losing many managers—they either quit or request transfers. Other employees stay for short periods and then leave. 

But this ghost has never hurt anyone and is actually considered fun-loving by several of the witnesses. It appears he enjoys playing tricks.

Several employees mentioned that he likes to call out people’s names as they work in the stockroom—when they look around, they discover they are alone. 

Other workers state that their hair was touched, or that they felt an icy breeze go by. 

One long-time employee described the day she saw this ghost.

“He was in his 20s or 30s, he wore boots, a long-sleeved white shirt, and on his head was an old-fashioned grey snap-brim cap. He walked right past me.”

She went on to state that later that same day, she heard what sounded like horses galloping past her. It is known that one of Johnson’s jobs, on the farm, was to exercise the horses.

This is reported as being
an IR photo of Johnson
taken in the store.

Witnesses state he likes to play with them. Late one evening after the store had closed two men were waxing the floors. 

To their consternation, a large teddy bear would appear on the floor each time they started on a new aisle. They stated that this was the same teddy bear that they had moved out of the way several times. 

One aisle on the main floor is known to have the scent of fresh-picked flowers. No one has ever discovered the reason for this. 

Contracted employees have also reported that they saw random toys leap off the shelves, without cause. After this, they refused to work at this location again.

Lights flicker on and off, and female customers and employees, state they refuse to use the women’s restroom. They report hearing someone enter and turn on all the faucets, but when they left the stalls, no one was in the restroom with them. 

Cash registers in the store have also acted strange. Sometimes when only one item is rung up, the total amount on the screen is several hundred dollars.

After I visited this store, it was publicized that several people were bought in to help get rid of the ghost because the store was having trouble retaining employees. But in the late 1990s, activity was still being reported.

The following video highlights this story. When part one ends just click on title of part two and it will start. At the end of this story, the real witnesses are interviewed.

Note: This store closed several years ago.

The Ghost of Margaret Varrick

This is the story of a misplaced body. The haunting takes place at Liberty Hall in Frankfurt, Kentucky. The ghost who resides at Liberty Hall is known as the “Lady in Gray”. 

Senator John Brown, the first senator from Kentucky, in 1796 built a beautiful Federal brick mansion, just above the Kentucky River. The Browns entertained many important luminaries including General Lafayette and Aaron Burr. Several generations of the Brown family inherited Liberty Hall until 1934 when the last descendant sold the mansion to a group of concerned citizens, in 1937 it became a historical museum. Liberty Hall today is a National Historic Landmark.

The Lady in Gray tale begins when Margaret Varrick, Mrs. Browns’ aunt, traveled 800 miles from New York to Liberty Hall in 1817 to assist and comfort the Browns when one of their children died. Margaret was 65 years old at the time and unfortunately three days after she arrived she died of a heart attack in one of the mansion’s bedrooms. She was buried in the small family plot in Liberty Hall’s gardens.

Later when the family plot was moved, Margaret’s remains were lost. It was after this that her ghost, small and prim, dressed all in gray, began to appear in various rooms throughout the mansion. Margaret's ghost is considered an intelligent haunting. She has often interacted with people. While the Brown family still owned the mansion the ghost of Margaret woke several of their guests; they were startled to see she was tucking them in. Staff members at the hall found blankets folded and mending tasks completed in the morning.

Margaret's ghost has been attributed to opening and closing doors, and turning light switches on and off. Strange lights have been seen moving around the mansion at night. Other activity has been noted through the years-- visitors and staff have reported feeling cold spots and Margaret has been seen peering out of the mansions’ upstairs windows.

A new bride, married to Senator Brown’s grandson, Benjamin was the first to encounter the Lady in Gray. She was staying in the bedroom where Margaret died when she saw her walk across the room. Since this sighting many more have occurred in this same room. One visitor, Rebecca Averill, saw Margaret standing by the fireplace, frightened she ducked under the covers when she looked again the ghost had vanished. Benjamin’s niece, Mary Mason Scott, saw Margaret on several occasions. In the early 1930s as Mary slept in the haunted room she awoke to see Margaret’s ghost standing by her bed.

Since the Lady in Gray’s ghost had been seen numerous times standing at an upstairs window in the hall, a college professor wanted to determine if moonlit nights could cause ghostly optical illusions in the window pane. He stayed at the mansion through one moon cycle and found it couldn’t. During one of the last nights he slept in the mansion he felt a gentle touch, he woke up and saw Margaret’s ghost smiling at him.

One of the
bracelets 

In recent times during a restoration of Liberty Hall a curator of the museum was taking pictures to document the progress. In one picture there was a faint image of a woman coming down the staircase. No one was on the stairs when this picture was taken. This same curator found three antique gold bracelets, from the 1800s, on the nightstand in the haunted bedroom. No one had ever noticed them before and they were not listed on the museums’ inventory.

Some say Margaret’s presence has been seen and felt all these years because her peace was disturbed. Her spirit seems to be benevolent--so maybe she just enjoys hanging around.

Ghost Cats

Ghost Cats are a form of the paranormal that occurs quite often. 

More often than not, people who experience this phenomenon are people who have had a cat pass on recently. Other stories I have heard involve the cat returning at specific times of the year, like the holidays.

People even have photographs where these deceased cats show up in transparent form. Eyewitness accounts are too numerous to list here, but the most common are cats jumping up on the bed with their former owners, laying down next to them or walking across their legs. 

Another common report is people reporting that these Ghost Cats brush against their legs or they hear them meowing. And yet other reports describe cats scratching at the bedclothes on their owners’ beds.

My group members have also experienced this phenomenon at investigations we have done. One store we investigate on a regular basis has a resident ghost cat. 

Several of my members have had their legs brushed and seen this cat out of the corner of their eyes. We put a food dish down for this cat as a “trigger object.”

Below is a video at a private residence we investigated. This camera was on a tripod in the backyard. 

During the time we filmed this cat, the camera went haywire (all the static) once the cat disappeared the camera went back to normal focus. 

This is a “possible” ghost cat. Look closely at the first few seconds and again at the end when the cat is out in the open it appears to be transparent.

The only cat in this area has no tail, this one does.