Warning: Don't Mess With Ouija Boards!

You see them in horror movies. You see them in stores on the same shelf as Monopoly and other board games. You may even see one in your own home. In fact, the first time I saw a Ouija board was in my home. I didn't think anything about Ouija boards being demonic or dangerous when I was a kid. My cousin and I were experimenting with it one day, and when she asked if the guys from her favorite rock group were devil worshipers, the planchette slowly made its way to "yes". And that was it - nothing really creepy. I guess I was just lucky because many other people have suffered horrible consequences of playing with Ouija boards. I will tell their horror stories in this post, starting with a few vids.



This next vid is kind of corny with the guy playing computer music, but it tells a tragic story.



Jim Eaton, the paranormal expert at Ghoststudy.com, sums up Ouija boards in a nutshell in this article.  He covers all the bases in an in-depth Q&A format and describes how Ouija board users can end up being demon possessed.  He also describes the different stages of possession in all their gory details.  I must warn you: the final stage of possession is extremely creepy and tragic (more on this in a future post).

Eaton also has several photographs of actual entities summoned up through Ouija boards (orb pictures not included).

Met Them Through Ouija Board!
Activity Around the Ouija Board!
Terror In the Window!
Entity Caught By Surprise!
Gettysburg Ghost - you have to scroll down to see it

Website of Honor: Lost Destinations

Lost Destinations has been one of my absolute favorite websites ever since I first discovered it six years ago. It has actually been on the Internet for eleven years, and is one of the longest-lasting urban exploration sites. Its webmistress, Shady, has explored scores of creepy places, taken hundreds of pictures, and written tons of brilliant, spine-tingling descriptions of these places. On the site you will find pictures of every kind of abandoned place you can possibly imagine - houses, businesses, old graveyards, and deserted New Jersey roads. Shady also has a paranormal subsection jam-packed with ghost pictures, videos, and stories.

I am really glad that Lost Destinations is still with us after 11 years. There have been so many wonderful sites that have been lost over the past few years. One of those casualties was www.midnightsociety.com. Back in 2003 and 2004, it was an enormous site with as much content as Lost Destinations, if not more. Sadly, all that remains when you type in the address in your browser is a virtual obituary saying that "this domain is for sale". It has been this way for about four or five years now.

It is my hope that Shady will keep Lost Destinations for another 11 years. Keep up the good work, Shady!

Creepy Faces in Creepy Abandoned Houses

We see them in every town, and you may have one in your own neighborhood. Yes, I'm talking about creepy, run-down, abandoned old houses. Not surprisingly, some of them are haunted. The very advanced age and ramshackle condition are enough to make a house creepy, whether someone lives in it or not. When such a dwelling is abandoned, the creepiness factor automatically rises. Add to that a creepy ghost face staring at you from a broken window and then your hair will stand up on end.

First, I'd like to present some hair-raising videos of some hair-raising abandonments. Special thanks to YouTube and the people who made these videos and posted them.







There are many more videos like this, but I'll save them for another post. Let's move on to some photographs! Special thanks to Jim Eaton and the people who submitted these to his site Ghoststudy.com.

Abandoned House Has Occupant
Ghost in Abandoned House
Not So Vacant Trailer
Would You Rent This House?
Big Ghost in the Window - Not run-down or abandoned, but haunted
Spirit Taking Residence - Not run-down or abandoned either, but haunted anyway
Haunted House Being Moved

Our last stop is my virtual archives library. Here we have some spine-tingling real-life stories from the past involving abandoned haunted houses. Special thanks to the archives people at Unsolved Mysteries and all the writers of the following stories.

The Fiery Image in the Old Abandoned House
Was There Really a Party in the Abandoned House?
Vacant House....I Think Not!
My Stories from a Haunted House I Frequent
The Old Haunted House....Lovable Lion
The Potter House, Bowling Green OH
The House of Murder
The House, the Spirit, the Dream, the Attack, and the Truth
Don't Let Go of My Hand!

WHEW! That's gonna be all for now. Enjoy!

Crows, Ravens, and Other Death Omens

Your parents and grandparents may have told you that if a crow or raven should peck on your window, or if you should see an owl in broad daylight, then there would be a death in your house. These and other old wives' tales about death omens have been propagated down through the generations for centuries. I would conclude that the probability of a death occurring after such a sighting is no more than mere chance; however, it does happen often enough for coincidence to be ruled out. I had a crow peck on my window, but nobody close to me died. About eleven years ago, my dad's cousin, who was about to go into the hospital for major surgery, also had a crow fly into her house. She was scared out of her gourd that she was going to die. When she had her surgery, she sailed through it with flying colors, and guess what? Nobody died.

On the other hand, there are others who have been visited by crows and other "death omen" animals, and they did die. If you happen to be a fan of the reality show Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel, you probably are aware that Phil Harris, one of the star captains on the show, had a stroke and succumbed to an embolism during the last snow crab season. In the episode where he had the stroke and was taken away in an ambulance, they showed a close-up of a raven perched on his boat, cawing. I did not notice it when I first saw the episode, but when I went to the Deadliest Catch message board the next day, I found this discussion about the raven and its alleged connection to Capt. Phil's stroke and impending death:

http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/811101106/m/24319265501

Of course, ravens and crows are not the only death omens. In Irish/Celtic folklore, a ghostly wailing woman called a Banshee is said to portend death. Other people around the world have reported seeing their own ghosts, called doppelgangers, before they died. In November, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln looked into his mirror and saw two faces on his reflection, one of which was deathly pale. Five months later, he was assassinated. Countless other death omens have come true, but time and space does not allow me to post everything. However, I will leave you with some more interesting links about death omens.

Banshees and Other Harbingers of Death
Death Omens: Birds
Abe Lincoln's Doppelganger (Wikipedia)
Superstitions: Death Omens

Creepy Old Possessed Dolls

I'm sure you've seen plenty of them. Decades-old dolls with cracked or partially missing faces, gouged out eyes, missing limbs, and other manifestations of extreme wear and tear. Newer dolls made to look like vampires, zombies, harlequin babies, and corpses that are either decaying or stitched up after an autopsy. Some dolls are actually possessed by ghosts, while others are just plain scary-looking.

There are several videos on YouTube that showcase these little monsters. Unfortunately, I can't embed the best one because the user who uploaded it has requested that embedding be disabled, so I have to post a link instead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLzg_KLaYnA

Anyway, here's another good video I can post here:



Next are some links to sites with more in-depth info about creepy and/or haunted dolls:

The famous "Robert" doll - According to the author of the Scary for Kids site, Robert is "the most haunted doll in the world".
Annabelle - This Raggedy Ann doll was so evil, it had to be investigated by famous psychics Ed and Lorraine Warren. Courtesy of Dark-Stories.com.
Autopsy Babies - WARNING: These dolls are very ugly, creepy, hideous, and gross, and may be offensive to some viewers. Other viewers find these dolls to be great Halloween props. You don't have to go to this site if you don't want to.
Shelter for Misfit Dolls -These dolls are also offensive, so you might not want your little kids to see them.

Last, but not least, is a haunted doll from Ebay. The description and pictures are below:

For Lovers Of All Things Paranormal!

~ ONE CREEPY ANTIQUE BABY DOLL ~

Are you absolutely fascinated by weird things that go bump in the night? Are you a collector of all sorts of strange paranormal phenomena? I know I am. If I had it my way, I'd be living in a haunted castle somewhere in the murky heart of England.

But alas, castles in England are a wee bit out of my price range at the moment, so I have to content myself with collecting whatever strange and hopefully haunted items I can come across in my many travels. This is one such item!

Since getting this doll, strange things have happened. Things so strange I can't even repeat them. Seems maybe I should let this go to someone who can provide a better home than I...

If you're the sort of person who collects such things, then here's one for you. She needs to move on to a new home. She's a strange and paranormal doll. Don't take a chance on losing her... BID NOW!

I hope you enjoy these during your waking hours because they may cause nightmares! Muuaaaahhhhaaaahhhaaaaahhhhhaaaaa!

Creepy Ghostly Music from the Archives

One of my favorite pastimes is digging and rummaging through the farthest, deepest, darkest, creepiest recesses of the World Wide Web for first-hand experiences with the supernatural. Some of these murky places have old archives that go back a decade or more.

From waaaaayyyy back in the www.unsolvedmysteries.com archives:

Haunted Lullaby
A Party from the 1920s
A Song for the Family to Die to
Music from Beyond?
Reszo Seress - The Song That Could Kill
Invisible Music Box
Invisible Singers
Music in the Heat Vent

Inauguration Day

Today is the official Inauguration Day for my new Creepy Finds blog! I have always been fascinated by ghost stories, unexplained mysteries, conspiracy theories, urban legends, abandoned buildings, and just about anything and everything supernatural. This is only my first post here, but I have a lot of creepy, weird stuff to come, so stay tuned.