It was December 7, 1941. For many Americans the world was about to change and the date would remain fixed in the national consciousness.
At 7:48 a.m the Japanese airforce launched its surprise attack on the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Within a few hours 2,402 US personnel were killed and 1,282 were wounded.
Ford Island NAS
The place that suffered the highest casualties was Ford Island Naval Air Station because of the battleship moorings surrounding the island.
This attack prompted the US to enter the Second World War.
Ford Island is now home to a number of residents and tourists are able to visit the island to tour the USS Missouri and the Pacific Aviation Museum.
From just after the war until now, these residents and tourists have reported strange things from the island.
Many have made reports of disembodied voices in their homes. Some report unexplained footsteps coming from empty rooms. Others have reported objects moving around and being stacked in corners.
Other phenomena include lights and appliances which turn on and off by themselves, ghostly apparitions and strange feelings of sadness and dread.
Hickam Air Force Base (Ford Island)
On the site of the Hickam Air Force Base sits a building – the Pacaf HQ. This building still has bullet holes in the walls from the attack.
Inside the buildings a number of soldiers were killed and injured.
It is said that people who go there in quiet times can hear the moaning of the dying soldiers and sometimes even the sounds of war.
These have been some reports of people seeing the ghosts of dead soldiers wandering the corridors – still dressed in their fatigues.
Doors have been known to open and close without explanation and lights and appliances turn on and off without anyone being near. Continue reading »
During Civil War times, with her husband fighting in the war, Sara Jane and her newborn lived alone in a house out in the woods on a wagon trail along the Neches River, Texas.
One day she received word that the Union soldiers were on their way, so she placed her baby in a wicker basket and set the basket under the wooden bridge that was near her house and returned home.
Once the Union soldiers had left, Sara Jane made her way back to the bridge to retrieve her baby, but when she got there, the baby was nowhere to be found. The Neches River had risen and carried the baby away.
Sara Jane searched the banks of the river for hours, screaming and crying, but to no avail. Grief striken and unable to find her child, Sara Jane hung herself from a tree which hung low over the small wagon trail near the wooden bridge.
On certain nights if you stand on the bridge at midnight, you may see the light of a lantern flickering in the woods and hear Sara Jane as she moans and calls for the baby she left under the bridge. The unlucky few can sometimes also hear the cries of the baby in the distance. Continue reading »
If you are planning a trip to Hong Kong, you really should take a drive along Tuen Mun Road, one of Hong Kong’s oldest major motorways which runs from Tuen Mun to Tsuen Wan.
Not only will you enjoy the scenery, but you may also get a chance to encounter something different.
Hazards such as narrow carriageways and blind spots are more frequent than on modern motorways and this combined with the heavy traffic often results in accidents. Such is the case of Tuen Mun Road which is one of the biggest killer roads in Hong Kong. But not all the deaths and accidents are explained away so easily. According to locals, many of these are caused by ghosts.
What would you do if you were driving along, minding your own business, when suddenly something pops up into the middle of the road? Apparently this is precisely what these ghosts do – appear out of nowhere right in front of you. The result of swerving out of the way has the unfortunate result of real collisions happening.
This strange phenomenon has not only been reported by locals, but also by tourists who have not heard of the ‘ghost theory’ before.
Exactly who the ghosts were is not known, but local rumour has it that the number of these ghosts are increasing due to the increasing number of deaths taking place. Could it be that the original ghost was lonely?
It may be worth checking the terms of your car insurance before making the trip…
La Llorona is the legend of a woman who drowned her children, and who can be heard, and sometimes seen, weeping in the night for her dead offspring.
La Llorona (meaning “She who weeps” in Spanish) is in most stories said to be Mexican. However stories of her are told also in USA, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama and Chile. It is often stated to be the number one Latin American urban legend. Sometimes La Llorona is also known as the ‘Woman in White’ or the’Weeping Woman’.
As with most urban legends, there are many variations of La Llorona, but the central plot remains intact: The woman has lost her children, usually because she herself has killed them because she wants to marry a man who doesn’t want any children.
She is so guilt-ridden and distressed by these unfortunate circumstances that she kills herself as well, and is therefore doomed to roam her native land forever, weeping and wringing her hands. Often she is seen along rivers and streams.
Although the legends vary, the apparition is said to act without hesitation or mercy. The tales of her cruelty depends on the version of the legend you hear. Some say that she kills indiscriminately, taking men, women, and children. Others say that she is kills only children, dragging them screaming down to a watery grave.
No one really knows when the legend of La Llorona began or from where it originated. There are accounts which suggest that the legend was already in common circulation at the time of the conquistadores.
Here is a typical version of the La Llorona legend:
Maria (La Llorona) thought she was very beautiful, and she wanted the handsomest man to marry. So she got what she wanted. Once they were married, they had three children, first a son, then a daughter, lastly another son. Continue reading »
The West Bentinck Cemetery has always been the meeting place to share ghostly stories and haunting legends over a case of beer. For the past 40 years, a visit to Isabella ‘Mary’ Rutherford’s grave has become more of a “right of passage” for local teenagers. Venturing out into the dark, gloomy night to see and touch the infamous grave, and to perhaps catch a glimpse of her spectral being gliding through the trees surrounding the yard.
According to the legend, ‘Mary’ Rutherford was considered to be an old maid in her 30′s when she finally became engaged. Through all her years, she had kept the one thing that remained the most sacred of all – her virginity, yet on the night before her wedding, she hesitantly gave herself to her husband-to-be. Her wedding day arrived yet her husband didn’t. He stood her up at the altar and skipped town. Distraught and overcome with heartbroken emotions, she committed suicide that same day by hanging herself in her wedding dress. It is said that she was buried face down (still wearing the wedding dress) in the cemetery in an unmarked plot.
Another rumour furthers the above mentioned legend by stating that ‘Mary’ Rutherford was a witch, and for the townspeople to stop her mystical and evil ways, they chopped her head off and buried it separately from her body. According to the curse of Mary Rutherford, it is said that anyone who touches her tombstone will break the bone they used to touch it with. The bone may not break until some time later, but it is supposed to happen in some mysterious and freak accident. Continue reading »
In St. Francisville, Louisiana, there is an inn which is reputed to be the most haunted place in the USA. Exactly how many ghosts are said to haunt The Myrtles plantation is unknown, but it seems that the number is around 12 to 15 of them.
According to legend, the plantation house was built in 1794 by General David Bradford on top of an old Indian burial ground. General Bradford is also reportedly the first person to have seen a ghost in the house. It is said that he saw the ghost of a naked Indian girl, which is still seen on occasion today. When the General died, the management of the estate passed on to his daughter, Sarah and her husband, Judge Clark Woodruffe. Together, he and Sarah had three children, Cornelia Gale, James, and Mary Octavia. Judge Woodruffe eventually bought out the plantation from his mother-in-law before she died in 1830.
Judge Woodruffe was apparently not very faithful to his wife, taking on a mistress. Her name was Chloe and she was one of the plantation slaves. After some time the Judge tired of his mistress and she began to worry about her eventual fate. She started listening at keyholes to try and hear what would happen. One night the General caught her eavesdropping and as punishment cut off her ear. Due to the disfigurement, Sara took to wearing a turban to hide her mutilated ear.
Chloe decided to try and ensure her continued place in the home by pretending to save the family from harm. She decided to poison a cake with Oleander leaves and then nurse the family back to health – thus becoming the hero. Unfortunately her plans went awry and Sara and her two daughters died from the poison. The Judge did not eat the cake so was spared an agonising death.
Chloe was terrified that she would get found out and rather than face the wrath of the community, she fled to the safety of other slaves. When the other slaves heard what had happened, they turned on Chloe, dragging her out of hiding and hanging her from a tree. They then weighed down her body and disposed of it in the Mississippi river. Since then the ghost of Chloe has often been seen wandering around the Myrtle plantation.
According to the present owners, Teeta and John Moss, Chloe helps to keep their children safe, but also often peers in at guests while they are sleeping. No one knows who she is looking for but they all agree that Chloe is not a bad spirit, she seems to be wanting redemption by watching over the kids.
The murder of Sara and her daughters are not the only murders to have occured at the plantation. Since the building of the house, there have been at least 10 other homicides or suicides on the property.
In 1834, the plantation was purchased by Ruffin Grey Stirling. From that time the family was often the victim of great tragedies. Four years after buying the property, Stirling died of consumption. Of nine children, only four of them lived to be old enough to marry. His oldest son, Lewis, died the same year as his father. His daughter’s husband was murdered in the same year on the front porch. Their ghosts are said to still haunt the homestead. Continue reading »
