Haunted Lighthouses - New London Ledge Lighthouse

Located at the mouth of the Thames River, entrance to New London Harbor, Connecticut at the eastern end of Long Island Sound sits the New London Ledge Lighthouse. Built in 1909 on the Southwest Ledge, the lighthouse was originally called the Southwest Ledge Light, but to avoid confusion with another lighthouse in New Haven, the Southwest Ledge Light, the lighthouse was renamed to New London Ledge Light in 1910.

This lighthouse itself is a unique, one-of-a-kind structure with square red brick quarters topped with a mansard roof (a French type of roof designed to make maximum use of the interior space of the attic) and a circular lantern room. To appease the residents who didnt want to gaze upon an eyesore sitting in the sea, the lighthouse was built in Colonial and French architectural style in order to blend in with the large and historic homes on the shores.

The lighthouse was finally built after a half-century of petitions requesting an offshore lighthouse - the first one in 1845 - from mariners and residents stating the dangers to maritime traffic in the area due to the inadequcy of the four buoys in the harbor and the The New London Harbor Lighthouse on the shore. The Lighthouse Board detailed the inherent dangers to maritime traffic at New London to Congress in 1902 and 1903 and requested funds for constructing a lighthouse. The construction was completed in 1909. The United States Coast Guard officially took over the care of the lighthouse in 1939 and still keeps an eye on the place. Most of the stories of the ghostly lightkeeper have come from the Coast Guard crews manning the lighthouse.

New London Ledge is locally famous for the ghost nicknamed Ernie who allegedly haunts the lighthouse. The famous ghost legend Ernie was a lightkeeper supposedly jumped to his death from the roof of the lighthouse after learning that his wife ran off with the captain of the Block Island Ferry in 1936.

Ernie is said to make his presence known by opening and closing doors, washing the decks, operating the light and fog signal, and untying secured boats to let them drift away. Before the station was automated, Coast Guard crews on duty reported frequently hearing mysterious knocks on their bedroom doors in the middle of the night, doors opening and closing, the television being turned on and off repeatedly, and covers pulled off the end of their bed.

The New London Ledge Lighthouse was the last remaining manned lighthouse on Long Island Sound when it was finally automated in 1987. Since then, reports of Ernie's visits have dramatically decreased, most likely because there is hardly ever anyone there. This seems to be a relief to those who were stuck manning the light house. The final day of manned operation shows a log entry reading, "A Rock of slow torture. Ernie's domain. Hell on earth. May New London Ledge's light shine on forever because I'm through. I will watch it from afar while drinking a brew."

There have been investigations at the lighthouse. In the late '90s, a TV reporter from Japan spent a night inside the lighthouse to investigate the story of Ernie, and loud whispering noises were heard through the night, audible on camera. The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS), who have become known by their series "Ghost Hunters" on the Sci-Fi Channel, investigated the place in 2005 but made no significant observations.

Today, the lighthouse is leased by the Coast Guard to the New London Ledge Lighthouse Foundation, partly funded by the City of New London. The lighthouse is used as a maritime classroom, while the Coast Guard continues to maintain the automated light. The group plans to eventually open the lighthouse as a museum and may offer overnight accommodations.

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Demons - A Brief Synopsis

A demon is considered to be a powerful, supernatural being that is generally malevolent (wishing or appearing to wish evil to others) in character. The word demon comes from the Greek word daimon, which means a divine or semi-divine power that determined a person's fate. Some believe demons are angels who have fallen from grace or have chosen to take the cross over to the dark side, so to speak.

Demons are evil, supernatural beings of intelligence, wit, and immense power. They have the power to invade our homes, attach themselves to objects, and inflict torture both mentally and emotionally by attacking or even possessing the human body.

Demons are usually portrayed as large, muscular, human-like creatures. They are usually thought to be red, winged, and even surrounded by fire. They can take on any form they want, but mostly commonly it is a half man, half animal form.

In many cases, demons are summoned by someone using a Ouija board, or tinkering with some form to magic, witchcraft,or demon worship that perhaps they shouldn't be tinkering with. They most likely don't know what they could be getting themselves into.

Demonic hauntings are commonly represented by a stench similar to rotting flesh or sulfuric acid. The air in the area will feel thick and the temperature will drastically change, typically becoming warmer, although intense coldness is sometimes present. Growling sounds seem to come from everywhere all at once. The sounds of manacing laughter or disembodies voices speaking in foreign tongues, usually Latin, can often be heard. The demon may make verbal threats or throw objects. They like to push, shove, hit, and scratch. They may cause nightmares, consistent bad luck, and overwhelming senses of hate, anger, and evil. A demon's main goal seems to be to break down a person's free will so they can possess them.

Demons have the ability to morph into any shape they want. They can change from a human form to an inhuman form before your very eyes. They are neither male nor female, but will change to whatever meets their need at the time. Demons are commonly seen as black masses standing in doorways or in the corner of the room.

Demon hauntings usually start in a subtle way. Faucets dripping, scratches in the walls, thumping sounds. These behaviors are typically the same behaviors displayed by a poltergiest, but more extreme. It's common for several entities to exist in one location with a strong evil presence seemingly controlling the others and not allowing them to cross over.

It is believed that demons hate humans and think them very lowly and stupid. Demons should never be challenged, unless you want a crash course on how weak you really are. Most demonic entities like a challenge and are incredibly conniving; they may have you believing they are good spirits or may appear to have gone away, only to confront you again at the least expected and most vulnerable moment.

Short of an exorcism, which is usually successful, some believe it may be possible to actually command a demon to leave. Be persistent, show no fear and tell it to get out. They will leave, although not necessarily right away, but keep trying. Also, it's been said that demons don't like to be ignored. If it can't get you to fear it, then the game is over. Like say they, ignore it and it will go away. It's worth a shot at least.

Something else that might help is smudging. To smudge your house, open the windows and light a bundle of dried sage. Sage is believed to clear away negative energy and spirits. Catch the ashes with a plate held underneath the bundle and walk around your home to cleanse it with the sage smoke. It is also said that sprinkling holy water throughout the house might work too.

Demons have lived for thousands of years and will be here long after we're gone. Although it's possible to get a demon to leave a place with the above mentioned methods, but they may not necessarily be destroyed. They may just find a new place to terrorize.


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Characteristics of Intelligent Hauntings

Intelligent Hauntings are the type of haunting that people usually think of when they think of a haunting. In an intelligent haunting, the entity is aware of its surroundings and interacts with the present.

These hauntings are considered to be intelligent because communication with the living usually occurs. This ghost is best described as the spirit of a person who once lived and has stayed behind in our world instead of "crossing over" or "going into the light" to get to the other side. This sometimes happens in the case of murder, a traumatic event or if there is some unfinished business in the person's life. If these things happen, the spirit may be unable to or may even refuse to cross over. In some cases, the spirit may not even realize it's dead. This can happen if the person died very suddenly or unexpectedly.

The spirit will usually manifest itself in physical ways like slamming, opening and unlocking doors and/or windows; weird sounds, disembodied voices, disturbance of electrical devices, cold chills and a strong presence like the feeling like you're being watched or the hair on the back of your neck standing up, goosebumps, etc.

Sometimes these spirits will hide things, move stuff around, turn things on and off or do other annoying things like a child lookinf for attention. These are examples of ghosts trying to get noticed so it can communicate from the other side.

The spirit might need help to cross over or maybe it needs to take care of some unfinished business. Maybe it needs to deliver a message from the other side or just wants to watch over loved ones. In some cases, the spirit may be afraid of death and moving on to a new world.

It has also been documented that the spirit may just be lonely and want some company. In some cases, as has been my personal experience, a loved one will visit in dreams and visions, especially right before or after sleep when we are most open to contact. I remember asking my father a question a few days after he passed away and he answered it in a dream that same night.

Believe it or not, it's fairly common to actually see a ghostly loved one. It's most common for ghosts to materialize between the hours of 11pm and 4am. This time period seems to be the easiest time for entities to manifest themselves because it's darker between those hours. Most spirits aren't stong enough to show themselves during the daylight because it takes too much energy. It's similar to turning on a light in the daylight; you can hardly see it and it's pretty much not worth the effort. This is how spirits work as well. If they use too much energy during the day they will be too weak to show themselves at night.

These spirits can be benevolent or mischievous, depending on the reason they're haunting a location. Perhaps they used to live there and they want you to leave. If they discover that someone can see them, they might decide they want to stick around. In some cases, there might be some kind of object or keepsake they are are emotionally attached to and want to be close to. They could also may be looking for something or someone. Sometimes the spirit may not be willing to accept that they're dead.

When people die, their spirits keep the same personality they had while they were living. Negative spirits are usually people who were angry and bitter in life. If the spirit was a kind and caring person, the entity will most likely hang onto those qualities in the afterlife. Negative spirits can be frightening, and in very rare cases they have been able to harm the living, but that is generally not the case. It is much more common to hear of an encounter with a positive spirit than with a negative one.

There are many spirits remaining in our world who have left behind relatives and loved ones and don't want to leave. It's possible they feel they can't leave until they finish a certain task or deliver a certain message. They may not rest because they suffered some injustice and want to help solve the mystery before they go. Sometimes they just want to see their children grow up.

Overall, knowing that some spirits hanig around is actually kind of sad. Although we might think it's cool and exciting to encounter a ghost, we have to remember that many spirits are confused about what has happened to them and may not even know they're dead. Alot of them died suddenly or traumatically. Others cling to the life they know and are afraid to let go and move on to something new.

These ghosts frequently need help to be convinced that they don't belong here anymore. They aren't demons and don't need to be exorcised. Most likely they just seek direction to find where they should go. They need to be made to understand that there's more for them on the other side than there is here. It's possible to help them by simply talking to them or maybe calling in a priest of minister to pray for them.

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What Exactly is a Poltergeist Anyway?

Poltergeist is the German word meaning "noisy ghost". The word comes from the German term poltern which means "to knock" and geist which means "spirit". The best defining mark of a poltergeist is any manipulation of the physical environment such as the movement of objects, physical attacks, spontaneous combustions, etc.

Poltergeist phenomena is usually credited to mischievous spirits or ghosts and is associated with psychokinesis which is the ability to move things by power of the mind alone. This kinetic type of energy remains unexplained, but even somemainstream scientists are starting to explore the idea that it does exist.

Poltergeists are not usually considered to be spirits, but instead some theories state that poltergeists are mass forms of energy that a living person is unknowingly controlling. Poltergeist hauntings may be the most misunderstood, most terrifying, and rarest type of haunting, and some believe that poltergeist hauntings are not even a haunting at all. In some cases, extreme poltergeists activity has even been linked to demons. A key question that comes into play with poltergeist cases is whether the psychokinesis is causing the activity, or if it is actually occurring from an unseen troubled spirit or ghost.

In a typical poltergeist case there is most likely a variety of phenomena taking place. There may be knocking and tapping noises, sounds with no visible cause, disturbance of stationary objects like household items and furniture, doors slamming, lights turning on and off, fires breaking out and much, much more. Chairs have been known to move around by themselves; walls shake from loud, unexplained banging. Water drips from a ceiling. Things like hairbrushes and jewelry disappear, only to reappear at a later time in right where they should have been in the first place.

Usually, after a subtle and somewhat calm start, the activity will become more intense, manifesting itself through voices and even the appearance of full apparitions. Furniture may slide across the room and beds may shake. Sometimes the effects of a poltergeist are more playful than harmful, but sometimes the activity has been known to be downright nasty. Reports of scratches, bites, harmful objects being put in one's way such as glass shards on a pillow or tacks under a bed sheet have been noted, as well as possession.

Poltergeists build over time to a climax, then start over. They can travel anywhere. Most poltergeists nearing the climax of their energy can become dangerous to the living. Inflicting both mental and physical terror in extreme cases. Poltergeist hauntings seem to mysteriously go away as quickly as they began. The most famous and terrible accounts of a poltergeist attacking a family is the Bell Witch.

A common factor of classic poltergeist activity is the presence of a female adolescent in the household or for all of the activity to be centered around one specific person. It is common that none of the activity will take place unless that person is present at the time. In most cases, when that specific person is removed from the location, the events cease. The person causing all of the phenomenon is doing so subconsciously and usually isn't even aware that they're the cause. Ths activity could also be centered around someone who is under an unusual amount of stress. When the stress is relived, sometimes by leaving the location itself, the problems stop. If the stress continues, the "haunting" seems to follow them.

In true poltergeist hauntings, none of the activity will continue after the person is removed from the environment, as they are not there to create it or influence an unseen entity. It has been reported, however, that activity can return later if the "right" person visits or lives in a notably poltergeist-haunted place. This would lead one to believe that it requires a combined psychic energy to manifest such terrible hauntings. In most cases, relieving the inner problems of the indivudual is the key to stopping the poltergeist activity.

On the other hand, not all cases of supposed poltergeist activity involve disturbed individuals. Not all hauntings can be easily categorized and it's important not to jump quickly to conclusions. In some cases, what appears to be the work of a disturbed person may actually be that of the spirits, and vice versa. In addition, some genuinely haunted spots seem to be so filled with energy that witnesses at the location can even manifest their own phenomena.

Poltergeist activity provides an excellent opportunity for researchers to document strange activity, but these case most likely won't have anything to do with ghosts and there is really no way to help the victims. It's usually best to refer the family to a good counselor or mental health care provider, rather than try to act as a paranormal investigator. A counselor is usually the best person to provide assistance under these circumstances because psychokenesis normally manifests because of emotional disturbance.

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The Basics of Residual Hauntings

The most common type of haunting is a residual haunting. A residual haunting can be described as an image that has been recorded in time and played back in a continuous loop over and over again through the years. Additionally, there is no intelligent ghost, spirit, or other entity directly involved. You may see the same scenes all the time, hear the same noises repeatedly, or even smell the same smells, usually at the same time of day. The image you are seeing will not even realize that you are there.

Although you might think you're seeing a spirit, it isn't really an actual spirit. It's not even there; it's just the leftover energy of an event in the past; like a recording. This repeated scene that plays over and over is usually a very significant event, life-altering event, or even a common event of a person or place. Usually the sounds and images recorded are related to traumatic events that took place at that location and caused some sort of disturbance or "psychic impression" to happen there. Traumatic events like beheadings, great battles, murders, or even a celebration can be the focus of a residual haunting.

In most cases people may hear the sounds of screaming,crying, breathing,phantom footsteps walking on the stairs or through hallways, or even odd, repetitive sounds like tapping or slamming. Although these images may manifest themselves Visually, they won't interact with the living and will just continue to repeat the same actions over and over again. It's just like rewinding a movie and watching the same scene over and over. The activity, whether sounds or sightings, will be random.

Although research is ongoing, some theories on residual hauntings have been suggested. A common explanation for this type of haunting is the energy has, in a way, become part of the dwelling it once occupied. This can be explained by the fact that some building materials, such as the slate that was used to build old castles and stone structures along with iron nails used in many of the same buildings, have properties similar to audio or video tape which have a tendency to make "recordings" of things that happen near them. The energy of these occurances imprints itself into the atmosphere of the place and cannot be erased. The materials store the energy created by these traumatic events and play them back at a later, random time. In some cases, the images have been created by events or actions that were repeated over and over again, which causes an impression. In older places like Europe, it has been suggested that the porous stones of castle walls soak up the energy and that's why there are so many haunted old buildings there. Some of the most famous hauntings appear to be residual ones. The Tower of London's ghost of Anne Boleyn and the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall are two famous examples of residual hauntings.

There is usually very little that can be done to stop this kind of haunting. This type of haunting is not dangerous at all so if you or someone you know ever has to deal with the situation, understand what is going on and realize that there is really no danger. Someone who is in this situation will have to learn to live with it or relocate.

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The Basics of Paranormal Investigation

The word paranormal comes from the words "para" meaning beyond, and normal. So the term paranormal really means something that is beyond the normal scope of science or being beyond a scientific explanation. According to the Journal of Parapsychology, the term paranormal describes "any phenomenon that in one or more respects exceeds the limits of what is deemed physically possible according to current scientific assumptions."

Ghosts generate strong electro-magnetic fields. These fields cause disruptions in the magnetic field of a location which makes it detectable by both specialized equipment and psychics. Ghost hunters use many different types of equipment to detect an paranormal phenomena. A 35mm or digital camera is probably the easiest and least expensive way to begin. Pictures, whether digital or recorded on film have the ability to capture paranormal activity that is usually invisible to the naked eye. In addition to a camera, it's important to have a flashlight since most paranormal investigations will be in dark places like cemeteries, basements, attics, or old buildings. Also, most investigations occur between 9pm and 6am when it's dark. This is believed to be the best time to record paranormal activity. Along with the flashlight you'll need extra batteries, since batteries will sometimes mysteriously lost all their charge during paranormal investigations, literally leaving you in the dark.

Once you have these basic items, you're ready to start exploring the world of paranormal investigation. Some important things to remember are: never go on an investigation alone, and be respectful of the of the people, places and situations you encounter.

The first step in an investigation is selecting the place you're going to investigate. Once you choose a location, be sure to get permission to access the property to ensure you won't get into any trouble for trespassing. It's also very important to do some research on the location before you go out and physically investigate it. You can go to the library and look up old newspapers, visit the local historical society to find out about the history of the place and if anything strange has happened there, and of course talk with the owner of the property.

Once you get all your data collected you have to analyze it. Every picture, video, audio recording is reviewed to look for any sign of a haunting. When doing your analysis, be sure to be skeptical. Make sure you rule out any explainable causes for anything odd that may show up. Check for mirrors, shadows, light sources or anything else that may cause something weird to be seen or heard in your collected data. Most of the time, the things you initially detected during your investigation will have real world explanations as opposed to supernatural ones. It's important to make sure your evidence will stand up to any scrutiny by eliminating any other explanations. This will give your data more credibility.

Once you complete your analysis, you need to present your findings property owner. At this point you would recommend whether the owner needs to seek additional help, such a having the property blessed or if there is really nothing that needs to be or even can be done. Sometimes just having someone investigate the place and find nothing can help ease the mind of the person experiencing the haunting.

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