THE BEN LOMOND BANSHEES-OGDEN, UTAH-TAKING A BATH AT THIS HOTEL COULD BE DEADLY!!!

Some hotels can claim to have one or two resident ghosts.  The Ben Lomond Suites Hotel has at least six!  The hotel has been around in one form or another for more than 200 years!  Don't you just love hotels that have been around for hundred's of years?  I always think about the walls.  I know, I know....but I do.  I think about what the walls must have seen over the years and if they could talk what would they tell us.  Would they say..."hey, I remember the day that a man shot his wife and blood splattered all over me!" LOL  Ok....that's a little weird...but anyway..... :)


Mr. Ben Lomond

Trains, trains and more trains that's all Jay ever thought about. (kinda' like us ghost hunters, all we ever think about are ghosts and more ghosts. LOL)  Anyway to say that Jay LOVED trains was an understatement.  His life long dream was to travel to west Utah to stand on Promontory Summit, where back in 1869 a ceremonial golden spike was driven in to link the United Pacific and Central Pacific rail lines, creating the first transcontinental railroad.

After thirty-five years with the same company, Jay retired and the next spring started on his DREAM vacation to travel across the nation by rail.  His last stop would be on May 10, the anniversary of the date on which the fabled spike had been driven, when there would be a reenactment of the ceremony, including two steam engines meeting nose to nose on the same track.

He had been on the train headed to the Summit for quite a long time, when Jay welcomed a much needed break to spend a couple nights in a REAL BED in a luxury hotel in Ogden, the Ben Lomond Suites.

In 1891, E.A. Reed built a four-story hotel, which he named after himself, at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Twenty-fifth Street.  A. Perry, the president and cofounder of the Ogden Bank, felt that with a rapidly growing city like Ogden it needed a first-class hotel, so in 1926 he formed a corporation with three hundred stockholders to purchase the Reed Hotel and completely remodeled it.  Included in the remodel would be an eight-story L-shaped tower with 350 guest rooms attached to the rear of the original hotel. 

The newly remodeled hotel rechristened Bigelow Hotel opened instantly to being ranked as one of the top hotels in the state in 1927.  In 1933, Marriner S. Eccles, another Utah banker, purchased the Bigelow and added a two-story penthouse, and changed the name to the Ben Lomond Hotel.  For more than 40 years it remained a city favorite.  After 40 years, and changing hands many times, the
 Radisson chain in the 1980's purchased the property and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Jay was so glad to be in a hotel, he decided to pamper himself and stay in one of the condo's at the hotel located on the upper floors.  Room 1102.  Once inside he showered and feel asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow.

Jay awoke the next morning a new man.  Ready to take on the sites of Ogden and particular the things having to do with the railroad...off he went.  After a long day of site seeing, Jay decided he needed a nice, long, hot bath.  Yes, that's what he needed!  As he opened his condo door, he immediately knew something was wrong.  Water was already running in the bathroom!!!!!! He rushed in and sure enough, the water was running in the bathtub.  Thank goodness the drain was open!  With a little confusion....had he leave the water on or had house keeping been in and left the water running.... oh well....no real harm done.  So he pulled the drain pug up so that the water would fill up in the tub.  In just a few minutes, Jay got in and leaned back to immerse himself into relation!  Drifting back on his perfect day.....all the sudden he feels something pushing on his back.  Was he imaging things????  Then not 10 seconds later...he felt invisible hands grab his arms and hands as to pull him out of the tub.  SOMETHING or SOMEONE wanted him OUT of the tub!!!!  He took the hint....he jumped out and dried off and laid on his bed trying to figure out....what just happened??????

Stories like Jay's are frequent at the Ben Lomond Hotel.  Rumor has it that a women on her honeymoon drowned in the tub in room 1102.  No known dates or names have been given to this story, but ever since, people have experienced coming into their rooms and the water is running, feeling hands on them in the tub and sometimes trying to PUSH THEM UNDER!!!!

Another spirit is said the be the drowning victim's son who after coming to the hotel to pick up his Mother's things decided to stay in the room right next to the room where his Mother drown.......room 1101.  Overcome with despair.......he committed suicide. 

Mary Eccles

Reports from the hotel staff include, phantom voices coming from both rooms when know one is staying in them.  The housekeepers report that sometimes after making the beds, they turn around and there are indentions as if someone is laying on the bed.  And there's another room that seems to be giving the hotel staff trouble.......room 1106.  Legend has it that a Mother checked into room 1106 to wait for her son to return from World War II.  Upon learning of his death, she stopped eating and starved to death in that very room.  The desk clerks say that they will get phone calls from that room and when they answer the line goes dead.........not to mention.....know one is checked into that room.

Mary, Eccles's first wife whom he was married to when he bought the hotel, is said to roam the corridors, the fifth floor, the top floor and in the elevators.  They say you will know it's Mary because you will smell her lilac perfume.  Another spirit is said to be that of a sixty-five year male clerk that was stabbed to death late at night while being robbed in 1976 by a fifteen year old boy.  Although he has not been "seen" he is felt by turning on the music in the foyer and fiddling with the phone cords. 

Other sightings and experiences include, a female apparition on the third-floor gymnasium, guests in room 212 have felt hands pushing them, cold spots, footsteps, doors opening and closing by themselves, elevators acting up and stopping randomly at the fifth and tenth floors when know call button has been pushed.

So, if you DARE to stay at the Ben Lomond Hotel, don't take a bath....I suggest a shower!!! LOL

SHANGHAI TUNNELS-PORTLAND OREAGON-ONE OF THE MOST HAUNTED LOCATIONS IN AMERICA!!!

Underground tunnels buried beneath the streets of Portland, Oregon, are believed to be one of the most haunted locations in America.  Since it's well known that hauntings and history go hand and hand, it's no surprise that these secret passageways and old holding cells would be overflowing with paranormal phenomena.  According to A & E, a world terror lay beneath the streets of Portland from the 1870's to the 1940's.  The term "shanghaied" originated at this time when drunk or unsuspecting men and women fell through trap doors on the street.  A crimmper(someone who abducts for profit) would then seize the victim and haul him or her away.  More often than not, the prisoner was beaten, raped, and sold to the highest bidder.  A special process to break the spirit of strong-willed women was created.  The women were locked in a darkened four-by-four cell.  Their shoes were removed and the floor  of the cell was littered with crushed glass, a deterrent to escape.  Can you imagine what this poor women must have been going through???  Once the women were made ready, they were sold as prostitutes to other countries.  But that's not all!!!  The numerous passageways and rooms in the tunnels were also opium dens, places where clients could escape the scrutinizing eye of the law.
There was NO WAY out for these poor women once they were captured.

It was not only designed to torture women, but big, strong men as well.  The rooms in which the men were held were no different from the women.  The bars on the cells door gave ventilation to the prisoners, but the bars were purposely made very close together and very sharp so that the strong men could not get their hands through the bars and try to escape.  People would become so confused as to  what was happening to their friends or loved ones.  One minute they were standing or walking with them..... then within minutes.....they DISAPPEARED!!!  For the unlucky souls that was entrapped, there was LITTLE if ANY hope they could escape.......a very dark and horrific life (if they lived) lay ahead for them.

But are these tunnels haunted?  Many say yes!!!  Today, these underground dirt channels have become a paranormal enthusiast's place of choice.  Many who have taken the tour have reported feeling of adrenalin coursing through their system, as they have an inexplicable desire to escape something unseen!!!  There have also been reports that a few of the tourist guides have experienced so frightful an ordeal with the otherworldly that they've quit on the spot, refusing to return!  However, if you find yourself intrigues, and plan a visit to this haunted location, do not venue off on your own.  The ghost of the ever vigilant crimmper may claim you as his next victim!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlujRURd0-E

 

 

Here is the Ghost Adventures as they investigate the very haunted Shanghai Tunnels.  Please if you have visited the Shanghai Tunnels I would love to hear about it!!!

SCARY MOVIES AND THE "REAL STORY" BEHIND THEM.

Sorry for the late post this week, but I am on vacation with my boyfriend Deak on a Caribbean Cruise.  We just completed an investigation of a haunted church in Jamaica!  It was really, really cool.  Stay turned for my post on the investigation!  I am actually posting to you guys from the cruise ship so I hope you enjoy this week's post because it cost a LOT!!!!!

Who doesn't love a good "SCARY MOVIE"???  Well.....NOT ME!!!!! LOL  I will go to a scary old graveyard or haunted house anytime...... but PLEASE don't make me watch a SCARY MOVIE.........there SCARY!!!! 

I know that sounds crazy but it's true.  But I know LOTS of people that just LOVE scary movies, so what better time to talk about scary movies than right here at Halloween.  There are lots of really scary movies out there but did you know some of the ALL TIME favorites are based on actual events?  So here are some of the "oldies" but "goodies".  Hope you enjoy them.    And by the way....I hope you guys have the BEST HALLOWEEN EVER!!!!!!!!!! 

The Movie Story: Norman Bates is a psychologically disturbed hotel owner who has delusions this his dead mother, whose body he keeps in the cellar, wants to kill hotel guests. He develops a dual personality and dresses like her when he commits his murders.
The Real Story: The character Norman Bates was inspired by Ed Gein, a Wisconsin man who was arrested in 1957 for committing two murders and digging up the corpses of countless other women who reminded him of his dead mother. He skinned the bodies to make lamp shades, socks and a "woman suit" in hopes of becoming a woman. He was found to be insane and spent the rest of his life in a mental institution.

© Warner Bros.

The Exorcist (1973)

The Movie Story: A pair of priests attempt to exorcise a demon that has possessed a 12-year-old girl living in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. The Real Story: William Peter Blatty, screenwriter and author of the novel The Exorcist, was inspired by an article he read in college at Georgetown University about an exorcism performed on a 13-year-old boy in Mount Rainier, Maryland in 1949. The story's details have been muddled through the years -- perhaps intentionally so, in order to protect the family -- but the boy's actual home lay in Cottage City, Maryland, and the exorcism was performed in St. Louis. Evidence points to the boy's behavior not being nearly as outrageous or supernatural as was portrayed in the film.         

© MGM

Audrey Rose (1977)

The Movie Story: A couple's young daughter exhibits increasingly outrageous behavior, forcing them to consider the possibility that the soul of another young girl, Audrey Rose, has taken residence in her body. The Real Story: Frank De Felitta was inspired to write the novel -- and later the movie script -- after he heard his six-year-old son, Raymond, who'd never taken piano lessons, playing music perfectly on the family piano. De Felitta consulted a Los Angeles occultist, who called Raymond's talent as an "incarnation leak," explaining that the boy had lived many lifetimes. The incident led to the author's personal belief in reincarnation.

© Vanguard

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

The Movie Story: A family driving through the southwestern desert in an RV takes a short cut that leads them to run headlong into a family of violent cannibals who live in caves in the hills. The Real Story: The movie was inspired by the legend of Alexander "Sawney" Bean, a Scottsman of the 15th or 16th century who reportedly headed a 40-person clan that killed and ate over 1,000 people, living in caves for 25 years before being caught and put to death. His life has inspired numerous stories and films worldwide, including The Hills Have Eyes and the British film Raw Meat, but most serious historians today don't believe that Bean ever existed.                         

© MGM

The Amityville Horror (1979)

The Movie Story: The Lutz family moves into a riverside house, the site of a mass murder the year before. They encounter a series of malevolent paranormal events that drive them out of the house after only 28 days. The Real Story: Perhaps the most notorious horror movie "based on a true story," the film is based on a self-proclaimed nonfiction book describing what George and Kathy Lutz experienced during their four weeks in the house, including disembodied voices, cold spots, demonic imagery, inverted crucifixes and walls "bleeding" green slime. Most, if not all, of the events portrayed in both the book and the movie have been called into question by investigators, and it is widely believed that the entire incident was a hoax.                         

© 20th Century Fox

The Entity (1981)

The Movie Story: Carla Moran, a single mother of three, is plagued by a supernatural entity that abuses and rapes her repeatedly. She receives help from paranormal researchers, who document the haunting and attempt to trap the spirit. The Real Story: In 1974, paranormal researchers Kerry Gaynor and Barry Taff investigated the case of a woman believed to be named Doris Bither. Bither lived in Culver City, California and claimed to have been physically and sexually assaulted by an entity. Gaynor and Taff witnessed objects move in her house, captured photos of floating lights and saw a humanoid apparition, but they never saw it assault the woman and never tried to capture it. Gaynor stated that the attacks diminished when Moran moved.                         

                                                      

© Lionsgate

Gothic (1986)

The Movie Story: In 1816, poet Lord Byron gathers fellow poet Percy Shelley and his soon-to-be-wife Mary, along with Mary's half sister Claire and Byron's doctor, John Polidori, at his Swiss mansion. They tell ghost stories and experience surreal supernatural encounters that are physical manifestations of their fears. The Real Story: In the rainy summer of 1816, Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin (soon to be Shelley) visited Lord Byron at his Swiss villa. Due to the rain, they stayed indoors discussing the animation of dead matter and reading German ghost stories. Byron suggested they each write their own supernatural tale, and Godwin came up with Frankenstein, while Byron wrote what would later be adapted by Polidori into The Vampyre.

                   

© Screen Gems

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

The Movie Story: A priest is on trial for the death of a young woman named Emily Rose, upon whom he had performed an exorcism. Through flashbacks, we see the tribulations that she suffered while possessed. The Real Story: The film was inspired by Anneliese Michel, a 16-year-old German girl who, in 1968, began displaying symptoms of demonic possession. For years, she suffered paralysis, self-abuse, starvation and demonic visions until 1975, when two priests performed exorcisms of what was believed to be several demons over 10 months. During that time, Anneliese barely ate, and she died of starvation in July 1976. Her parents and the priests were tried and found guilty of manslaughter. They were sentenced to six months in jail.                   

                         

© Freestyle Releasing

An American Haunting (2006)

The Movie Story: Nineteenth-century landowner John Bell and his family are tormented by an invisible entity, which targets his daughter Betsy in particular. The Real Story: The movie is based on the legend of the Bell Witch, a tale that originated in Tennessee in the 1800s. It is believed by many to be a work of fiction, although the characters in the story were real. According to the tale, John Bell was poisoned by the ghost, and although the film's marketing declared that it is "validated by the State of Tennessee as the only case in US history where a spirit has caused the death of a human being," there is no such validation on record. Some claim that The Blair Witch Project was also influenced by the story.                        

                                                 

© Lionsgate

The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

The Movie Story: The Campbell family moves to Connecticut to be near the doctor caring for their ill son, Matt. They soon realize that their new home is a former mortuary haunted by a malevolent force. The Real Story: The film's inspiration was the Parker family, who moved to Connecticut in 1986 to be close to the specialists treating their 14-year-old son, Paul, for cancer. In the basement, where Paul slept, they discovered embalming equipment that implied that the house had been a funeral home. They reported encountering unexplained phenomena, like bloody floors, disembodied voices and shadowy figures. Paul became possessed by a force that caused him to attack his family. Eventually, an exorcism was performed to cleanse the house.                       

 

BECKS PICKS FOR THE MOST HAUNTED PLACES IN THE WORLD!

 



Only two more days!!!!! YEAH!!!!  Hope you are having a great Halloween week.  I know I am!

Ok...calm down Beck....back to business.  LOL  Today I thought I would pick the top 10 Most Haunted Places in the world.  These are MY choices.  I only choose places that I have read exclusively about and feel that I have somewhat a little bit of knowledge of the paranormal history at these places.  These are places that I know someone that has actually been there or that I have just studied for years on.

I am not going into great detail on my choices, but I have posted a link so that you could find out some additional information if you like.  Most of these places are, of course, on my BUCKET LIST to do.....and stay with me.....I WILL visit all the places listed below!  If you guys have visited ANY of these places PLEASE PLEASE write and let me know.

1. Alcatraz-San Francisco, CA
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz
    One of the toughest Federal Penitentiaries in the Nation

2.  The Winchester House-San Jose, CA
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester
     The house of Sara Winchester the air to the Winchester(gun) fortune.  Sarah believed the spirits      of   all the people that had died by the Winchester gun, would come back to haunt her.  So as long as she lived she built walls, stairs, etc...that lead to no where in hopes it would confuse the spirits and they couldn't find her.

3. Gettysburg Battlefield-Gettysburg, PA
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Battlefield
    The battlefield for the Civil War on July 1-3, 1863.

4.  The Stanley Hotel-Estes Park, Colorado
     http://www.hauntedplacesinamerica.com/the-stanley-hotel
      The famous hotel that reportedly Stephen King wrote the "Shining" and reportedly had to leave the hotel because of paranormal activity.

5.  Borley Rectory- Essex, England (see previous post on Borley http://www.becksghosthunters.com/2012/05/borley-rectory-omg.html ) 
      http://www.prairieghosts.com/brectory.html
     The most famous "haunted house" in England that was first reported and written about by the famous Paranormal Researcher Harry Price.

6.  Waverly Hills-Southwestern Louisville, Kentucky
     http://therealwaverlyhills.com/newsite/
     A old Tuberculosis center known for abuse to its patients.

    

7.  Eastern State Penitentiary-Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
     http://www.prairieghosts.com/eastern.html
     Housed notorious crime mobster Al Capone.

8.  The Amityville House-Long Island, New York
      http://www.amityvillemurders.com/
      A man claims to be possessed by a demon a kills his family of 6.  True Story.

9.  The Sallie House-Atchison, Kansas
     http://www.thesalliehouse.com/index.html
      Reportedly one of the most haunted houses by evil spirits in the nation. 

 Ok this may NOT be on anyone elses top ten but it is mine.  I have been here and trust me when I say....there is LOTS of strange things going on in this house!

10.  McPike's Mansion, Alton, Ill  (see previous post on McPike's Manson http://www.becksghosthunters.com/2011/08/mcpike-mansion-alton-il.html )

       http://www.mcpikemansion.com/
       Many deaths have occurred in this home.