tales-from-the-darkside:

Riddle House

The History:
The Riddle House in Palm Beach County, Florida, was originally a funeral parlor. The Victorian house was dismantled and rebuilt in Yesteryear Village at the South Florida fair grounds. In the 1920’s the house became privately owned by Karl Riddle.

The Terror:
Joseph, one of Riddle’s former employees, committed suicide by hanging himself in the attic of the house. Joseph, for whatever reason, hated men, and displays this hatred by attacking men who enter the attic. One man had a lid flung at his head, and men are now no longer allowed in the attic. Other places in the house are haunted as well, with furniture being frequently moved.

iseeaparanormalblog:

Photo was taken in 1971 at the Reynolds Mansion in Ashville, North Carolina.
Believed to be the ghost of Anna Lee Reynold. Anna Lee was born in 1857.

Anna as a teenager:


She died in the room directly next to the steps where this photo was taken.
Anna Lee died in her late 50’s in 1915 of unknown causes, yet throughout the years, her apparition has been seen as young teenager.

Strange Disappearances at the Cursed Devil’s Gate Reservoir

This dry, brush-filled flood channel in Pasadena is appropriately named. It’s the scene of some truly diabolical events.

The grim story begins on August 5, 1956, just a few miles east of Devil’s Gate. That day, Donald Lee Baker, a 13-year old Azusan, went for a bike ride with Brenda Howell, 11, from Fort Bragg, who was visiting relatives next door. They headed for the San Gabriel Reservoir that Sunday morning, and were last seen alive that evening.

When they failed to return on Sunday night, their frightened parents notified police, who called out an all-points search for the missing children. Azusa police, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies, and hundreds of volunteers combed the suburbs and foothills of the San Gabriel Valley, while Navy frogmen plumbed the 60-foot depths of the reservoir. The only traces of the children found were their bicycles, and Brenda’s jacket.

Donald and Brenda’s disappearance was unsolved until thirteen years later, when a man named Mack Ray Edwards confessed to kidnapping and killing the pair, along with three other children. Edwards, who had helped build Southern California’s freeways, had hidden his victims’ bodies by planting them in highway land that he would pave with asphalt the next day. Convicted and sentenced to death at his own request, Edwards cheated San Quentin’s “Green Room” by hanging himself in his cell in 1970.

But two other young victims are still unaccounted for today, having disappeared in this area under even stranger circumstances. On March 23, 1957, eight-year old Tommy Bowman was hiking on a trail above Devil’s Gate with his family, when he ran a few yards ahead of the others, rounded a corner…and disappeared.

When Tommy’s family searched the brush and repeatedly called his name to no avail, a 400-member search party was sent out, complete with helicopters, mounted patrols, bloodhounds, and professional wilderness trackers. After scouring the entire area for a week, hacking through chaparral and delving crevices and holes just off the trail, the search was called off. Rumors of kidnappers and child molesters were thoroughly investigated, and discounted. Tommy’s disappearance has never been explained or solved.

Yet another child followed Tommy into oblivion just three years later. Six-year old Bruce Kremen was on a hike with his YMCA group not far from where Tommy Bowman vanished, when he began to tire and fall behind the others. Thinking the boy was winded by the exercise and the high altitude, the group leader told Bruce to return to the camp––in plain sight just 300 yards away––and rest. The adult leader then watched Bruce walk the length of the wide, marked trail. When the boy was just yards away from camp, the man rejoined the other children.

But something got Bruce Kremen in those last few steps between the trailhead and the camp. He never made it back, and was never seen again.

Again, a massive search party tore the region apart. Again, there was no evidence of kidnapping or molestation. And again, the San Gabriels claimed a young victim, leaving no clues, no suspects, no remains––and no solution to the cases to this day.

The brutal murders of Donald Lee Baker and Brenda Howell, and the eerie disappearances of Tommy Bowman and Bruce Kremen, led some people to speculate that a curse or jinx hung over Devil’s Gate Reservoir. Much of this speculation centered on the activities of one John Whiteside (Jack) Parsons, co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and resident of nearby Pasadena.

Parsons, a brilliant, self-taught rocket scientist whom Werner von Braun called the true founder of the American space program, was also a first-rank occultist. A devotee of Aleister Crowley’s teachings, Parsons joined the infamous English occultist’s Ordo Templi Orientis society in 1941, quickly taking over the group’s Agape Lodge in Los Angeles.

Parsons’ mansion on South Orange Grove Avenue in Pasadena became the center of Southern California occult bohemia in the 1940s. Notorious for its semi-public “sex magick” ceremonies, chez Parsons was for awhile the home of ex-Navy officer and science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Parsons saw Hubbard, the future founder of Scientology, as a natural magician, and worked with him in a series of strange rituals designed to create a “moonchild”––a sort of anti-Messiah that would overthrow Judeo-Christian civilization, and lead Earth into a new Aeon.

The rituals, which took place in the Southern California outback in late 1946, were said to have opened a portal to another dimension that’s since been a point of entry for all sorts of strange entities. Some occult authors have hinted that the portal is in the Devil’s Gate region, and that the negative energies and beings that pass through it are responsible for the murders and disappearances.

fearof-theunknown:

Redbank Range Railway Tunnel

Redbank Range Railway Tunnel was opened in February 1867 and is the first railway tunnel to be used by the NSW Railways. It was eventually closed to rail in 1919 when the new deviation line opened. During World War II it was one of a number of disused railway tunnels used to store ammunition and other military supplies. The 592ft long tunnel was also used for commercial mushroom growing after 1950 when the RAAF moved out.

Most commonly known as the Picton or Mushroom Tunnel, it is the subject of many ghostly and supernatural tales. Strange glowing lights have been seen floating through and around the tunnel. Rapid drops in temperature and sudden breezes like those caused by an approaching train have been felt. The ghost of woman named Emily Bollard who was struck and killed by a train in 1916 is said to haunt the tunnel.

fearof-theunknown:

Brazil - Mythology And Folklore

Myths, legends and folkloric tales are stories, beliefs and customs that have been passed down from one generation to the next and are usually conveyed by word of mouth. These tales usually combine a loosely accurate (if at all) account of historical events together with a mythological character (often a hero or villain) and a moral to the story. The actions of the characters are frequently used to convey a lesson or a warning to the listeners.

There are dozens of well-known figures within the Brazilian folklore. Just some of these are:

Alemoa – this ghost is placed on the Fernando de Noronha Island and is believed to be the ghost of a blonde (therefore German-like) woman. She seduces wreckless men and then carries them to their death.
• Besta-fera – this beast is believed to be Satan the Devil.
• Boitatá – this serpent has the horns of a bull and huge eyes of fire and slithers through open fields after nightfall. The locals believe that looking at its eyes will blind you.
• Boto – this fairytale dolphin is believed to morph into a handsome man and seduce hapless girls.
• Bumba-meu-Boi – this ox continues to feature in Brazilian mythology. The tale is often celebrated with song and dance.
• Caipora – this refers to spirits within the jungle that come out of their lodgings in the trees at night to haunt lost travellers and wanderers.
• Corpo-Seco – translated to “dry corpse”, this man’s soul is believed to have been rejected by Satan at his death for being so evil. Even earth could not cause his body to rot. So, he walks around in a state of useless nothingness until the judgement day referred to in the Bible.
• Cuca – Cuca is used to scare small children who do not want to go to bed on time. She is a mean old lady that will do evil things to them, or so the tale goes.
• Iemanjá – the goddess of the sea, according to Afro-Brazilian tradition.
• Lobisomem – this is the Brazilian version of the commonly known werewolf.
• Mother of the Gold – this woman is believed to be so powerful and lethal that no-one that has seen her in person has ever lived. Thus, there is no description available. She is seen from a distance and is described as a ball of fire that flies from one mountain to another.
• Saci Pererê – this one-legged youngster is certainly one of the most popular characters of Brazilian folklore. He is mischievous and is blamed for anything that goes wrong on the farm. The Saci is known as a con artist that can disappear and reappear at will. Whoever can grab his red cap is granted a wish by the Saci, but legend has it that the cap’s smell is so bad, you may never rid yourself of it.

68apani:

Diplomat Hotel, in Dominican Road- haunted place in Baguio City, Philippines

fearof-theunknown:

The legend of Black Aggie is a bizarre tale with many strange twists and turns. To some who grew up in the Baltimore area hearing the stories, Black Aggie conjured up an otherworldly vision of terror shrouded in dark mystery…

The tale begins in 1925 when Union General Felix Angus, the publisher of the Baltimore American died and was laid to rest at Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville, just a few miles outside the Baltimore City limits. Mounting guard over his grave was an unusual statue of a large, black mourning angel like figure. Sculptor Edward L.A. Pausch, creator of the mourning figure christened it Grief. It was an unauthorized copy of the “Grief” memorial statue at the grave of Marion Adams designed by artist Augustus St. Gaudens in 1907.

In the daylight, the angel figure was looked on as a beautiful addition to the graveyard art of the cemetery. The sculptor was a premier artisan in Maryland and the statue was highly regarded for its artistic beauty and detail. It was after nightfall in the thick darkness, when those few who braved a trip into the graveyard and encountered the statue dubbed her “Black Aggie.” In the darkness, “she” was a symbol of terror and otherworldly events near the grave of General Angus began. Stories cropped up that at the stroke of midnight Black Aggie’s eyes glowed a hellish red. Her legend grew and stories about her began to appear in Baltimore papers. Black Aggie became the subject for those with an interest in the dark side. What other statues eyes glowed red at the stroke of midnight?

It was said that the spirits of the dead rose from their graves and gathered around her on certain nights and that living persons who returned her gaze were struck blind. It was intimated that pregnant women who passed through her shadow would suffer miscarriages. No grass grew in the shadow of Black Aggie. Other stories say that any virgin placed in the outstretched arms of Black Aggie will lose her virginity in 24 hours; if you say Black Aggie’s name in a mirror three times at midnight in the dark, she will either appear behind you, stab you, make you lose your mind, or transport you to hell…or all three, depending on who is telling the story.

Black Aggie was included in the initiation rites of a local college fraternity. Candidates for membership were ordered to spend the night sitting beneath the form of Black Aggie with their backs to the grave of General Felix Angus. Other candidates for membership had to sit on Aggie’s lap for the night and one tale says she once came to life and crushed a hapless freshman in her powerful grasp.

One night at the stroke of midnight, the cemetery watchman heard a scream in the darkness. Reaching the Angus grave he discovered a young man lying dead at the foot of the statue. He apparently died of fright. Just another legend…..hmmm?

One morning in 1962, a watchman discovered that one of Aggie’s arms had been cut off during the night. Strangely, the missing arm was later discovered in the trunk of a sheet metal worker’s car, along with a saw. Brought before a judge, the man claimed that Black Aggie had cut off her own arm in a fit of grief and had given it to him. The judge didn’t buy his story and he went to jail.

Some did believe the man’s bizarre tale and almost every night groups of people gathered in Druid Ridge Cemetery. This happened nearly every night and in 1967, it got so bad that the descendants of Felix Angus had the statue removed and placed in the care of the Smithsonian Institute.

Today, Black Aggie resides on the grounds of The Dolly Madison House in Washington D.C. (see photo above).

Black Aggie may be gone from Druid Ridge Cemetery, but she’s certainly not forgotten. “We still have people coming to Druid Ridge, asking for Black Aggie all the time,” said one of the cemetery spokesmen in an interview. “I don’t think there’s a week that goes by that we don’t get a call about it.”