Woman says house haunted, offers it on eBay
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Some strange events have been happening at Colleen Meyers' home ever since she decided to sell the two-story Victorian style house online.

It's as if the ghosts know that I am going to leave them," she writes on her eBay sale site. "My tenant has reported more sightings, items that have been moved around, and says he keeps hearing someone walking around during the night." Over the years, Meyers has seen a fan fly across the room and one time saw what she thought was her son in a flannel shirt playing peek-a-boo. But when she went around the corner, her son was sleeping on the couch, she said. If someone in the house talks about the ghosts, they show up more often, she said. Tenants upstairs have also seen people standing around their bed at night, and, in one case, pinning them down to the mattress, she said. The 1892 house is located near a historic Yankton neighborhood in an area was once an old fort, said Meyers, who hopes to get $225,000 for the home. In the month she has posted the sale, she has received three inquiries. But she said she has temporarily taken it off eBay until after Halloween so potential buyers don't think it's a joke. She thinks the three-bedroom, three-bath home that offers 2,200 square feet of space could be turned into a bed and breakfast where "guests meet ghosts," her advertisement states. If she had the money, that's what she would do, Meyers said. Psychic Donna O'Dea knows about the home and has told Meyers it's haunted. "They have all sorts of manifestations, all sorts of noises and rapping and tapping," she said. According to O'Dea, one ghost is a man who once lived in the house but didn't get along with his wife. He has told O'Dea he won't leave because he knows his wife won't come there. "Some places really do seem to be haunts for ghosts. They gather together just the way the living gather together, like at a coffee shop," she said. "There are houses where old ghosts meet. They can see each other. They can talk to each other." Despite the strange goings on, Meyers says she is fairly comfortable in her house. "A lot of things happen and I just say, 'That just happens,' and my friends say, 'Yeah, if you live in a haunted house,' " Meyers said.

Bran castle has been famous for count Dracula, the tyrannical vampire who lived in a place called Romania. The character has gained an amazing amount of fame after a book under the same name was written by Bram Stoker in the year 1876.’

It has now been exalted to the status of a landmark in this Eastern European country. This castle has been given its name because it was, home to Prince Vlad Tepes who then became Count Dracula. Every year tourists come to this place to get a look at the furniture and art works collected by Queen Marie. The tourists can see the castle individually or do so with the help of a guide. As far as the history of this castle is concerned, legend has it that this site was built in 1212 by Knights of the Teutonic Order. At that time it was known as Dietrichstein. Why most of the people believe that this castle could be home to count Dracula is because of the fact that it has a lot of secret passages which can easily hide a vampire in them.

Prince Vlad Tepes(1431-1476) did not reside in this castle actually but gained refuge in its dungeons of two days when the Ottomans had seized Transylvania. He was the prince of the place named Wallachia and imposed very strict rules there when it came to punishing anybody who could pose a threat to his reign. There were many such people according to him including beggars, clever priests, cruel and exacting Saxons and scheming noblemen. The castle was used for providing defense against the Ottoman empire for the first time in the year 1378.

It was then used for the purpose of serving as a customs post on the pass between Transylvania and Wallachia.

Clad started imposing death punishments on anybody whom deemed was sent by his step brother Vlad the Monk or cousin Dan the Young to harm him. He was called Dracula because his signatures were made in his father’s name with Dracul or devil. Coming to the more recent years, after the royal family was thrown out of this place in the year 1948, the communist regime gained hold of this castle. But in 2006 the ownership of this castle was finally awarded to Prince of Tuscany whose name was Dominic von Habsburg, an architect in New York.

He had inherited the castle from his mother Princess Illeana, daughter of Queen Marie.

He finally decided to put up the castle for auction in year 2007 but the government of Romania did not allow him to do so. In fact the castle has now been converted into a museum for tourists. This castle attracts tourists from all over the world now. It shows to the tourists the artifact collected by Queen Marie including the conventional tapestries and furniture collected by her as a mark of Romanian culture. One can also get to see the museum located at the bottom of a hill displaying conventional peasant structures.

We visited the place during the month of June, which falls under the tour season, and museum timings are from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, so we started at about 10:30 am in the morning. Darwin arranges for the visit, and you are given the entry to the place, on first-come-first-serve basis.

Apparently, the place was not just haunted in past, but it’s still haunted till date, and when we visited the place, we had a sceptical feeling of being watched by someone secretly, and that the killer will probably come back to lay off more skulls.

There are two places worth your visit which include the famous Villisca Axe Murder house as well as the House Olson-Linn Museum, which is located at the Villisca Town Square.

During our visit to the Villisca Axe Murder house, Darwin walked us through the place, and though you may not find it scary right away, Darwin’s expressions and way of explaining things make it a scary deal for sure. When he mentioned about the door and the closet where the Moore family members were murdered, we got an off feeling of door opening slowly, and we noticed some white light coming from the closet through the crack between the door frames. Suddenly, we felt that the door closed back again, and as though the killer had got a glimpse of all of us.

If you’re weak hearted, then surely this is not a good place for you. By the way, you can grab a bite at the café in town as well. Anyways, it costs just $10 per person to pay a visit to the Villisca Axe Murder House as well as the museum (no fee for children below 12 years, but carrying them is not advisable).

Well, continuing with our visit of Villisca Axe Murder House, we enjoyed the overall experience, and we tried to visualize the past, and it surely was a hell of an experience. My wife wasn’t really moved too much by the story, (she’s hard to convince for anything though), but my little daughter got pretty scared, and except for the odd moments when we felt like being watched, it was not that exceptional though.

You can find good literature about the past of the Villisca Axe Murder case in the museum, and we weren’t really moved by anything else in the museum. Overall, a good place to visit, if you’re bugged with usual trips and definitely recommendable for those who love hearing about murder mysteries and scary things.

Haunted Bhangarh, India (Rajasthan) : For Ghost Travelers

Though it is not sure if ghosts exist or not, the ASI of Bhangarh has warned people travelling to this place in Rajasthan that they should not go to the place after sunset.

You can see signs everywhere not to venture to the haunted city before sunrise and leave it before sunset. The place has many ruins of the middle era.

Ghosts at Bhangarh: The Extent of Fear
The Government of India was to set a military centre to patrol the place all over the night to solve the puzzle of ghosts but could not dare. None of the military personnel were willing to participate in the operation. Even the ASI office is a kilometer away from the place and has a board that says: “Staying in the Area after Sunset is Strictly Prohibited.” This indicates that something is very wrong, to the extent that even the paramilitary forces are not venturing into the area after dark.

The local people say that the entire place was vacated overnight due to a curse. They also say that as per the curse the city will disappear and if at all it is discovered, there will be no reminiscences of the place except for the temples.

The second part of the story lends some support to the myth. The entire place has nothing but ruins, or rather attractive ruins. However, the place is full of temples. Most of the temples belong to Lord Hanuman. Lord Hanuman is said to save people from Ghosts and evil Spirits.
As per the legend, the princess of Bhangarh was a match to none in beauty to any other woman in the place. There were several marriage offers coming in for her, when one tantrik (evil magician) spotted her. He was so enchanted by her beauty that he wanted to possess her at any cost.

Following the princess, one day he went to the local market where the servant of the princess was buying perfumes. Taking advantage of the princess’ absence around the servant, he poured some magical lotion into the perfume bottles. The effect of the lotion was supposed to draw the princess to the tantrik as soon as she applies it.

However, someone saw this and informed the princess who broke the bottle. This acted as a reverse effect and hurt the tantrik who as a revenge, cursed the entire place saying the place will no more be existent and all the residents will die. This happened and the princess too died. Till date there are several related myths related to the story.

The place lies between Jaipur and Alwal. You can drop down at either places through train or flights and take a bus to the place. There are also private taxis that take you to the place. However, you will have to walk for a km as the buses stop at some distance from the place.

Places to Stay
There is nothing that will let you stay inside the place as it is uninhabited. It is suggested that you use the local Rest Houses spread outside the place. The Rest Houses are managed by the ASI and are located within the circle of a km from the place.

The Light house was built originally to serve as a lighthouse on the Great Lakes but soon lost its purpose as stories about the lighthouse being haunted started circulating all over the world. The structure of the lighthouse is a marvel and is a beauty. It is a great tourist spot with the beautiful decorations surrounded by seas. However, it is recommended that only people having a solid heart should enter the place as there are many things that contribute to the haunted stories associated with it. These include shadows and footsteps of people walking around you even if you are alone at the place.

People who go to the place claim that they have seen shadows following them. The shadows they see are not a complete figure. It is believed that it is the ghost of John who is still searching for his body parts. Other than this, travelers can hear footsteps as if someone is following them even they are alone in a gallery. Among other signs, there are weird sounds as somebody is dragging something on the stairs, thumping noises, and beer cans rolling though nothing is in sight. On the entrance of the lighthouse, there is a board that says that the lighthouse may be haunted.

There are many monuments and other places all over the world which are famous for ghost stories and incidents surrounding them, and are known to be haunted. The Screaming Tunnel of the Niagara Falls also happens to be one of them. The name itself is such that one can realise the kind of “screams” attached with this location!

The Old Slave House (Hickory Hill), Junction, IL

The Hickory Hill mansion was built in 1842 by a wealthy man, John Hart Crenshaw, who owned several salt tracts. Although it was illegal to own slaves in Illinois at this time, it was legal to lease slaves from other states to work in the salt mines.

Crenshaw imprisoned slaves, some of whom were kidnapped, in the attic of the mansion in narrow cells and manacles. He reportedly tortured and beat the slaves for many years, and also "bred" his own slaves, until eventually his cruel practices were discovered and he retired to become a farmer.

In the 1920s, the house was opened as a tourist attraction where slavery existed in Illinois, however tourists began reporting sounds of people crying and moaning coming from the attic, cold chills, and whispers. Things intensified when a ghost hunter named Hickman Whittington went to the attic shortly after it opened and spent a few hours there. Though he was in perfect health at the time, he died a few hours after leaving the mansion.

Reportedly, hundreds of people tried to spend the night in the attic after Whittington's death, but would leave, terrorized, before morning (one man did finally spend the night there in 1978, and reported strange sounds).

Currently, the Hickory Hills mansion is owned by the state of Illinois, and is scheduled to open as a historic site (but has not yet re-opened to visitors). In the mean time this house is a haunted place.

The climate in Shakespeare is cool in the winter and hot during summer and while you can visit anytime, check before visiting, the town is not always opened. Shakespeare has had many names over the years from Mexican Springs to Grant to Ralston and finally to Shakespeare.

The little town began in the late 1850s as a storied carrier with the Butterfield Overland Stage Company built an alternate route that passed through Mexican Springs. Because good water was hard to find and was abundant in Mexican Springs, The National Mail and Transport Company built a mail stop and renamed the city Grant.

Not long after William C. Ralston became interested in the little town and tried to start a mining company but the silver claims had been staked and improperly recorded. Then in the late 1870s, the Shakespeare Mining Company staked claims in silver and renamed the town. Mining continued strongly until the depression when mining ceased. The land is now a privately owned ranch so call and check on the times and be courteous.

Like an ancient gargoyle, Annabelle Stark watches over St. Elmo. Dead for nearly 50 years, she stares out of windows and wanders the empty streets. More than 2,000 residents abandoned this silver- and gold-mining town in the 1920s, but not Annabelle.

Her father was a cattleman, a mining boss and a member of the town's elite. Attractive but lonely, Annabelle hung out at her pa's hotel, the Stark Home Comfort Inn, even when tumbleweeds and jackrabbits outnumbered visitors. After a stint in a mental institution, Annabelle returned and died in 1960, but skiers and snowmobile riders who venture into the old settlement each winter insist they still see her patrolling and haunting her beloved town in a flowing white dress, scaring off vandals and trespassers.

From Colorado Springs, take U.S. 24 west to U.S. 285 south. Take U.S. 285 for 21 miles then turn right on County Road 280, right on CR 270, then left on CR 162 for 12 miles.

Bodie is a cursed ghost town. Pilfer anything from one of the old sun-bleached buildings north of Mono Lake -- a nail, part of a clock or even an old bottle - and bad luck latches onto you forever. Don't believe it?

Then tell it to the visitors of this ghost town who have been returning stolen stuff with tales of heartbreak, death and serious injury that beset them once they left this Eastern Sierra settlement. One fearful visitor even returned the nail that pierced her tire as she drove through town.

From U.S. 395, take California 270 east. Drive 10 miles to the end of the pavement and continue three miles on a dirt road.

George Reese, Samuel Bailie and Hans Roth are a few of the names in Frisco's weed-choked cemetery, the final resting place for many victims of the legendary violence that nearly killed this silver-mining town toward the end of the 19th century.

The bloodshed provided job security for the undertaker, who drove the main street in an open wagon evenings, carting away the bodies. Times changed when the marshal, William Pearson, from neighboring Pioche, Nev., showed up one day to set things right. First came a warning: Lawbreakers wouldn't be arrested; they would be shot.

Then came justice. On Pearson's first night on the job, six outlaws bit the dust. Only a few lopsided, splintery buildings, along with five charcoal kilns used in the silver- and lead-melting process, remain in Frisco today, and of course, there are all the tombstones in the cemetery that rise from the desert shrub near the Nevada-Utah border like bad teeth sprouting from the ground. Want to visit this haunting mystery..

A low-hanging ironwood tree drapes over the crumbling remains of an abandoned stone house, one-time home of Henry Wickenburg, patriarch of this forgotten town. Run your hands along the rough gray bark and turn your eyes to the skeletal frame of branches that arch overhead. Justice was often swift and harsh in these places.

Eighteen miners were strung up from this tree more than 100 years ago, close enough for Wickenburg to see their feet dangling in front of the window. Their crime? Stealing ore from established claims. Although the mines of the area yielded countless riches, Wickenburg ended up a pauper who later put a bullet in his head.

Today the town's last full-time resident, Marge Osborne, recalls seeing mysterious haunting figures and hearing unexplained knocking whenever she walked the streets at night beside the jail, the assay office, the schoolhouse, the smithy. Although most of the structures have withered under sun and rain, the old ironwood thrives, nearly engulfing what's left of Wickenburg's ruined home.

Take U.S. 60 west 2 1/2 miles out of Wickenburg to Vulture Mine Road. Turn south and travel 12 miles.

Pity the hard-luck residents of Skidoo, perhaps the sorriest little mining settlement in the West. In its short-lived, miserable history, the town had the misfortune of attracting such desperate characters as Joe "Hooch" Simpson. In 1908, this down-on-his-luck barkeep made the mistake of gunning down the town banker for $20, and when a lynch mob finally got its hands on him, they couldn't even wait to build a proper gallows.

They hanged him from the telegraph pole that brought news of the outside world to this benighted patch of earth. When a reporter from the Los Angeles Times showed up for a photo, the good citizens of Skidoo accommodated him by digging up Hooch, brushing him off and hanging him again. But then the town doctor, in a macabre moment, lopped off Hooch's head to test for syphilis, the possible cause of his sudden madness.

No wonder today the twice-hanged, headless Hooch still haunts these empty hills in Death Valley where all that remains are a historical marker, broken bottles and hundreds of abandoned mine shafts.

From Stovepipe Wells, drive southwest along California 190 for nine miles, turn left on Wildrose Canyon Road and, after nine more miles, turn left on the first major gravel road and continue for almost eight miles.

For more information, call the Death Valley National Park at (760) 786-3200.

Dusty whiskey bottles line warped shelves. Dog-eared hymnals rest in church pews. Framed black-and-white photos, veiled in spider webs, hang on crooked nails. The haunted ghost towns of the American West recall a desperate era. Located on high plains and open deserts, where sand storms and cold winter nights have embalmed any semblance of life, these towns still whisper their legends to anyone willing to drive through and listen.

Pull over and step outside, and you'll hear the stories of the men, the women and the children who abandoned their homes and gave up their claims so fast that they seem to have vanished mid-stride and mid-sentence. As Halloween nears, they seem more than eager to speak.

The Bachelor's Grove Cemetery was empty when this photo was taken (the woman appeared only after the photo was developed).

This 1800s-era cemetery has been largely abandoned since 1965, and since then has fallen victim to vandals. Among the toppled tombstones it is said that satanic and occultist groups perform ceremonies, and over 100 reports of strange phenomena have been collected.

Among them, ghost lights, inexplicable lights and voices, apparitions, strange photos, anomalous recordings and sightings of unbelievable creatures. There is also a nearby haunted lagoon, a phantom farmhouse and a stretch of haunted turnpike near Bachelor's Grove.

The Hickory Hill mansion was built in 1842 by a wealthy man, John Hart Crenshaw, who owned several salt tracts. Although it was illegal to own slaves in Illinois at this time, it was legal to lease slaves from other states to work in the salt mines.

Crenshaw imprisoned slaves, some of whom were kidnapped, in the attic of the mansion in narrow cells and manacles. He reportedly tortured and beat the slaves for many years, and also "bred" his own slaves, until eventually his cruel practices were discovered and he retired to become a farmer.

In the 1920s, the house was opened as a tourist attraction where slavery existed in Illinois, however tourists began reporting sounds of people crying and moaning coming from the attic, cold chills, and whispers. Things intensified when a ghost hunter named Hickman Whittington went to the attic shortly after it opened and spent a few hours there. Though he was in perfect health at the time, he died a few hours after leaving the mansion.

Reportedly, hundreds of people tried to spend the night in the attic after Whittington's death, but would leave, terrorized, before morning (one man did finally spend the night there in 1978, and reported strange sounds).

Currently, the Hickory Hills mansion is owned by the state of Illinois, and is scheduled to open as a historic site (but has not yet re-opened to visitors).

Stairs to the ceiling in the Winchester Mansion, San Jose, California.

Sarah Winchester, a wealthy widow, built the 160-room Victorian Winchester mansion in 1884. It was such an unprecedented project that construction workers worked on the home 24 hours a day for 38 years. The home has many bizarre features, built to keep out evil spirits, including false doors, a room built for seances (where Sarah developed building plans that ghosts sent to her) and a stairway that leads to the ceiling, and many supernatural occurrences have happened there.

Sarah Winchester reportedly spoke to spirits nightly at midnight and since then people have reported organ music in the Blue Room where Sarah died, apparitions, cold spots, a smell of chicken soup in the kitchen, red balls of light and more. Today visitors can take tours of the mansion (including special nighttime flashlight tours).

Strange images in the mirror at the Myrtles Plantation (photo taken by a guest).

Now a bed-and-breakfast, the Myrtles Plantation is said to house many ghosts and spirits due to 10 murders and 1 suicide that have occurred there since it was built in 1796. Among them are the ghosts of Cleo, a former slave who was hung for poisoning two little girls, the ghosts of the little girls, and William Winter, a former owner who was shot on the front porch.

Other apparitions seen by visitors include ghosts from the slave graveyard on the property, and a ghost that meets guests at the inn's gate and says the plantation is closed. A psychic who visited the building said visiting the parlor was like walking into a "crowded cocktail party of spirits," while the owner of the bed-and-breakfast said the ghosts have proven to her that there's life after death.