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The Salem Witch Trials, begun in 1692 (also known as the Salem witch hunt and the Salem Witchcraft Episode), resulted in a number of convictions and executions for witchcraft in both Salem Village and Salem Town, Massachusetts. Some have argued it was the result of a period of factional infighting and Puritan witch hysteria. The trials resulted in the executions of 20 people (14 women, 6 men) and the imprisonment of between 175 and 200 people. In addition to those executed, at least five people died in prison. One man who refused to plead to the charges was pressed to death with rocks (the medieval torture of peine forte et dure, which, if fatal, did not result in forfeiture of property).Background In 1692, Salem Village was torn by internal disputes between neighbors who disagreed about the choice of Samuel Parris…

Voodoo (Vodou, Vodoun, Vudu, or Vudun in Benin, Togo, southeastern Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Senegal; also Vodou in Haiti) is a name attributed to a traditionally uten West African spiritual system of faith and ritual practices. Like most faith systems, the core functions of Voodoo are to explain the forces of the universe, influence those forces, and influence human behavior. Voodoo’s oral tradition of faith stories carries genealogy, history and fables to succeeding generations. Adherents honor deities and venerate ancient and recent ancestors. This faith system is widespread across groups in West Africa. Diaspora spread Voodoo to North and South America and the Caribbean.African origins The cultural area of the Fon, Gun, Mina and Ewe peoples share common metaphysical conceptions around a dual cosmological divine principle Nana Buluku, the God-Creator, and the Vodun(s) or God-Actor(s), daughters and sons of the…

We have had many people emailing in asking questions about different things, other than ghosts. A recent question was about Laurie Cabot so I am featuring this from Ms. Cabot’s website. I met with her in 2007 and she is truely a fantastic and knowledgable woman. Why Laurie is known as the “Official Witch of Salem.” In the mid nineteen seventies, Governor Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts, bestowed upon Laurie Cabot the state’s Patriot Award. This historical award is issued by the Governor to honor citizens of the state for public service which leads to the betterment, enrichment and welfare of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Patriot’s Award is given to Civic leaders, Distinguished Civil Servants, Community Leaders and others who are dedicated in a significant way to improving the lives of their fellow citizens and their community. This award…

Taking a tour in a hearse is always an adventure. You have the excitement of riding (usually for the first time) in a vintage hearse, the opportunity to explore narrow streets that are not part of the main stream tourist areas of downtown and the possibility of encountering an entity! With all those things combined with the anticipation of the evening, throw in a real EMF-meter and an experienced licensed guide and it adds up to a night of fun! I have had some evenings where honestly we had no activity and other nights when every step was met with cold spots, orbs in every picture and even full apportions of a cat and “something  peering” at us from the top of the Lighthouse! I have encountered what I can only assume is George Potter at the back of A-1-A…

One of my favorite places to take a walk in the evenings is the Mission Grounds. It is a most beautiful place to enjoy peace and quiet away from reality. As I was walking through the cemetery for some reason the door on the Chapel caught my eye. It looked like they had either installed a new door or had stained the old one. For some reason I was drawn to it. I touched the door to see if the stain was still wet and it felt like it had been there for years, but something looked different. I had never noticed a slight gap between the two doors and decided to peek in. I could see a candle on the mantel lit, which I thought was rather strange since it was after hours and everything was locked up tight….

Taken from Prairie Ghosts to share the story of where spiritualism began. Thank you so much to Prairie Ghosts for an outstanding article. Shortly after the “coming of the spirits” to the Fox household, the story of the family took a more dramatic turn. The two daughters, Maggie and Kate, were both purported to have mediumistic powers and the news of the unearthly communications with the spirit quickly spread. By November 1849, they were both giving public performances of their skills and the Spiritualist movement was born. The mania to communicate with the dead swept the country and the Fox sisters became famous. After their initial rise to stardom in public and Spiritualist circles, the sisters continued to appear in a variety of venues. They were now joined by their older sister Leah, who had been abandoned by her husband and was…

A Haunting Experience at Meehan’s on the Haunted Pub Tour I wanted to do something fun for my friend and her boyfriend for his birthday so I invited them on the Haunted Pub Tour with me.  I was going out to review our awesome tour guides and figured they would enjoy it too! We got to the last stop of our evening, which was at Meehan’s Irish Pub. It is an awesome place with great drinks, and a wonderful atmosphere. Plus, at least three ghosts that we know of. While everyone was at the downstairs bar to get their drinks before heading upstairs a gentleman asked me if I was the tour guide. I explained to him how I was the manager but I could answer any questions he may have. He asked if the place was haunted and I…

 I have had many things happen on my Haunted St Augustine tour. One night there were 8 of us on my tour including myself and as we were standing around discussing what had happened at the location we were at, all of the sudden everyone of our KII meters started flashing one after another as if someone were running around us in a circle. I had never experienced this before and so I asked everyone to check their cell phones just to be sure this wasn’t an electronic interruption. No one had missed a call. On another occassion, everyone on my tour including the tour manager who happened to be going along with me this night, watched as the blinds of one very empty and very haunted house opened and closed themselves for about 20 minutes! There have been many…

Curse of the Pharaohs The Curse of the Pharaohs refers to the belief that any person who disturbs the mummy of an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh is placed under a curse whereby they will shortly die. Many tombs of pharaohs have curses written on or around them, warning against entering. The belief was brought to many people’s attention due to the deaths of some members of the team of Howard Carter, who opened the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) in 1922, launching the modern era of Egyptology. The first of these “mysterious” deaths was that of Lord Carnarvon. He had been bitten by a mosquito, and later slashed the bite accidentally while shaving. It became infected and blood poisoning resulted. Skeptics pointed out that many, many others who visited the tomb or helped to discover it lived long and healthy lives. A…

My first encounter with a haunted building was when I was 15. I was partying in an extravagant four story mansion in a mountainous resort in Asia. The mansion had been converted to a nightclub called “Spirits”. The first floor was a gigantic dance floor. The second and third floors were restaurants and bars with a panoramic view of the dance floor below. The fourth floor was reserved for children, who were playing video games and being taken care of by their nannies while their parents danced and drank on the lower floors. It was very fun, ethereal, and eerie moment…listening and dancing to trance music in what was once a haunted mansion. Now, I find myself going to haunted locations almost every day as a tour guide for Ghost Augustine. Sometimes, I’m surrounded by people, who want to have…

Banshee Traditionally, when a citizen of an Irish village died, a woman would sing a lament (in Irish: caoineadh, [‘ki¢°n??] or [‘ki¢°n?u¢°]) at their funeral. These women singers are sometimes referred to as “keeners”. Legend has it that, for five great Gaelic families: the O’Gradys, the O’Neills, the O’Briens, the O’Connors, and the Kavanaghs, the lament would be sung by a fairy woman; having foresight, she would appear before the death and keen. When several banshees appeared at once, it indicated the death of someone great or holy. The tales sometimes recounted that the woman, though called a fairy, was a ghost, often of a specific murdered woman, or a woman who died in childbirth. Banshees are frequently described as dressed in white or grey, and often having long, fair hair which they brush with a silver comb, a detail…

Being a tour guide for GhostAugustine has been quite the adventure! I started doing tours in April 2010. At first I didn’t get a lot of activity. That quickly changed as I got to know the “entities” that hung out on our tour. Especially the ones that were in the hearses! I would like to tell you a few experiences I have had with Frankie our 1990 hearse! One my first Haunted Hearse Pub tour we stopped at The British Pub on Anastasia Island. I shut off the lights and locked up the hearse while my guests took a bunch of pictures with Frankie. We were in the Pub for about 20 minutes, when we came out Frankie’s lights were on but she was still locked up! My guests excitedly talked about how they were taking pictures before we went…