Ghost Stories and Hauntings

Ghost stories have always been around, even as kids we loved them. We loved to scare each other, and ourselves. Ghost stories would be passed down within families for generations. Every family has at least one story to brag about. Below I have made a brief outline of 2 of the most popular, and scariest of hauntings throughout the world.

The Haunted Painting

In February, 2000, the haunted painting was put up for sale on eBay and an auction begun. Today, many wonder if it was a true story, or a marketing ploy. "The Hands Resist Him" was the name on eBay, but it quickly became known on the Internet as "The Haunted eBay Painting."

The description in this auction was strange to say the least:

WHEN WE RECEIVED THIS PAINTING, WE THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY GOOD ART. A "PICKER" HAD FOUND IT ABANDONNED BEHIND AN OLD BREWERY. AT THE TIME WE WONDERED A LITLLE WHY A SEEMINGLY PERFECTLY FINE PAINTING WOULD BE DISCARDED LIKE THAT. ( TODAY WE DON'T !!! ) ONE MORNING OUR 4 AND 1/2 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER CLAIMED, THAT THE CHILDREN IN THE PICTURE WERE FIGHTING, AND COMING INTO THE ROOM DURING THE NIGHT. NOW, I DON'T BELIEVE IN UFOS OR ELVIS BEING ALIVE, BUT MY HUSBAND WAS ALARMED. TO MY AMUSEMENT HE SET UP A MOTION TRIGGERED CAMREA FOR THE NIGHTS. AFTER THREE NIGHTS THERE WERE PICTURES.THE LAST TWO PICTURES SHOWN ARE FROM THAT "STAKEOUT". AFTER SEEING THE BOY SEEMINGLY EXITING THE PAINTING UNDER THREAT, WE DECIDED, THE PAINTING HAS TO GO.PLEASE JUDGE FOR YOURSELF. BEFORE YOU DO, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. WARNING: DO NOT BID ON THIS PAINTING IF YOU ARE SUCCEPTIBLE TO STRESS RELATED DISEASE, FAINT OF HEART OR ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH SUPERNATURAL EVENTS. BY BIDDING ON THIS PAINTING, YOU AGREE TO RELEASE THE OWNERS OF ALL LIABILITY IN RELATION TO THE SALE OR ANY EVENTS HAPPENING AFTER THE SALE, THAT MIGHT BE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS PAINTING. THIS PAINTING MAY OR MAY NOT POSESS SUPERNATURAL POWERS, THAT COULD IMPACT OR CHANGE YOUR LIFE. HOWEVER, BY BIDDING YOU AGREE TO EXCLUSIVELY BID ON THE VALUE OF THE ARTWORK, WITH DISREGARD TO THE LAST TWO PHOTOS FEATURED IN THIS AUCTION, AND HOLD THE OWNERS HARMLESS IN REGARD TO THEM AND THEIR IMPACT, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. NOW THAT WE GOT THIS OUT OF THE WAY, ONE QUESTION TO YOU EBAYERS. WE WANT OUR HOUSE TO BE BLESSED AFTER THE PAINTING IS GONE, DOES ANYBODY KNOW, WHO IS QUALIFIED TO DO THAT?

Shortly after the auction had started, several bidders inquired about the painting. The seller added this to the description:

THE SIZE OF THE PAINTING IS 24 BY 36 INCHES, SO IT IS RATHER LARGE. AS I HAVE HAD SEVERAL QUESTIONS, HERE THE FOLLOWING ANSWERS. THERE WAS NO ODOR LEFT BEHIND IN THE ROOM. THERE WERE NO VOICES, OR THE SMELL OF GUNPOWDER, NO FOODPRINTS OR STRANGE FLUIDS ON THE WALL. TO DETER QUESTIONS IN THIS DIRECTION, THERE ARE NO GHOSTS IN THIS WORLD , NO SUPERNATURAL POWERS, THIS IS JUST A PAINTING, AND MOST THESE THINGS HAVE AN EXPLANATION, IN THIS CASE PROBABLY A FLUKE LIGHT EFFECT. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO BID ON THE ARTWORK, AND CONSIDER THE LAST TWO PHOTOGRAPHS AS PURE ENTERTAINMENT, AND PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THEM INTO CONSIDERATION, WHEN BIDDING. AS WE THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO BLESS ANY HOUSE, WE STILL WELCOME INPUT INTO THAT PROCEDURE.

After this description, there were eight shots of the item. Two were overview shots. Slightly left of center on the canvas, we see a boy of perhaps five or six, with sloping shoulders and a heavy brow, scowling at us. He is dressed as we would expect any early or mid twentieth century middle or lower class young boy to be dressed: a blue t-shirt, greenish shorts, short socks and shoes. His dirty blonde hair is cropped into a very short crew-cut on his blocky head. His expression, small, deep-set eyes, and his slight frown, are the look of an alien.

To his right, propped against a window moulding (or perhaps free-standing, it's difficult to tell), is a life-sized wooden doll girl. She is wearing a faded blue dress. She only has empty holes for eyes, but her mouth is articulatable (and closed). In her hands she is clutching what at first looks like some sort of tall bottle or canister tied with a string, but on closer inspection appears to be a tall battery (complete with little lightning bolt) with mad, dangling clips.

The two are standing on a street curb, in front of a full-length window. The building behind them is completely dark inside, but reaching forth from the darkness we can distinguish at least a dozen tiny hands. Some of the hands are lower, some higher, but none are higher than the two central figures; if these are, indeed, children's hands, some of the children are on the floor. It is not clear whether the hands are reaching for the window pane, the light, or the boy and the doll.

The last two shots were the ones that were supposedly made by the motion-activated still camera. They are clearly different from the daytime shots. Because the flash was centered on the boy, and because it is a rather large painting, the doll is obscured by shadow, but the photographs clearly show that now, her mouth is open.

After the auction began, viewers started to report strange happenings whenever they tried to view the page. All of them, spectral voices, hot flashes, black-outs and "mind-control experiences" are typical of mass hysteria. One man, a Native American spiritualist in Mississippi, claimed that the painting had evil in it, and after having viewed it on his web browser he had to cleanse his house by burning white sage.

More than thirteen thousand people viewed the painting. The buyer, who remains anonymous (his E-Bay login was ionia7) but bought the work for $1025 US, claims that although the story of the arguing spirits is compelling as a curiosity, he was more interested in the composition of the work and was "buying to sell." He says that it seems to have been produced some time between 1965 and 1975, and is entitled "The Hands Resist Him." It is signed, but the current owner has not released the artist's name. He has never experienced any unusual effects, and calls the work "a good example of surrealism from that period."

He says he received thousands of e-mails from people claiming they were "repulsed", made "physically ill" and "suffered from blackout/mind control experiences" just by viewing the pictures of the painting online.

One e-mail received by a Native American describes an experience that the owner would never forget;

As me and my friend viewed this painting we began to hear an exorcist type of voice, along with a blast of hot air, like standing in front of an oven door. The fear brought us to tears, and after crying and praying until a minute had passed and everything went back to normal, I tried to print out the pictures of this painting with my new Epson printer but every page was ate and mutilated page after page.

The Native American also became so ill he had to cleanse his house by burning white sage. He warned the buyer not to put this item around small children, and that there is great evil contained here.

It is told, both the owner of the gallery where "The Hands Resist Him" was displayed and the art critic who reviewed it were dead within a year of the show.

Seller: MrNoReserve. Winner: Ionia7. Price: $1,025.00

Mock-up of the original "Ebay Listing"

The Scariest Ghost Story

We have saved the scariest ghost story for last. If the hauntings you have read about by now have not scared you, the next story will. It has been proven by many paranormal researchers as well as priests, and interviews with the families that have lived in the House before.

The Amityville Ghosts and Haunted House

This ghost story originates in Amityville New York. Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot and killed six of his family members in November, 1974. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and Kathy's three children moved into 112 Ocean Avenue, a large Dutch Colonial house in Amityville, a suburban neighborhood located on the south shore of Long Island, New York. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, and everything in it, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. They never returned. These scary experiences inspired a novel "The Amityville Horrors". Later, ten films were also made.

Some of the experiences of the Lutz family at the house have been described as follows:

George would wake up around 3:15 every morning and would go out to check the boathouse. Later he would learn that this was the estimated time of the DeFeo killings.

The house was plagued by swarms of flies despite the winter weather.

Kathy had vivid nightmares about the murders and discovered the order in which they occurred, and the rooms where they took place. The Lutz children also began sleeping on their stomachs, in the same way that the dead bodies in the DeFeo murders had been found.

Kathy would feel a sensation as if "being embraced" in a loving manner, by an unseen force.

George discovered a small hidden room (around four feet by five feet) behind shelving in the basement. The walls were painted red and the room did not appear in the blueprints of the house. The room came to be known as "The Red Room." This room had a profound effect on their dog Harry, who refused to go near it and cowered as if sensing something negative. Later it was discovered that sacrificial killings were performed on animals in this room.

There were cold spots and odors of perfume and excrement in areas of the house where no wind drafts or piping would explain the source.

While tending to the fire, George and Kathy saw the image of a demon with half his head blown out. It was burned into the soot in the back of the fireplace.

The Lutzes' five-year-old daughter, Missy, developed an imaginary friend named "Jodie," a demonic pig-like creature with glowing red eyes.

George would be woken up by the sound of the front door slamming. He would race downstairs to find the dog sleeping soundly at the front door. Nobody else heard the sound although it was loud enough to wake the house. George would hear what was described as a "German marching band tuning up" or what sounded like a clock radio playing not quite on frequency. When he went downstairs the noise would cease.

George realized that he bore a strong resemblance to Ronald DeFeo, Jr., and began drinking at The Witches' Brew, the bar where DeFeo was once a regular customer.

When closing Missy's window, which Missy said Jodie climbed out of, Kathy saw red eyes glowing at her.

While in bed, Kathy received red welts on her chest caused by an unseen force and was levitated two feet off the bed. Locks, doors and windows in the house were damaged by an unseen force.

Cloven hoofprints attributed to an enormous pig appeared in the snow outside the house on January 1, 1976. Green gelatin-like slime oozed from walls in the hall, and also from the keyhole of the playroom door in the attic. A 12-inch (30 cm) crucifix, hung in the living room by Kathy, revolved until it was upside down and gave off a sour smell.

George tripped over a 4-foot-high (1.2 m) China lion which was an ornament in the living room, and was left with bite marks on one of his ankles.

George saw Kathy transform into an old woman of ninety, "the hair wild, a shocking white, the face a mass of wrinkles and ugly lines, and saliva dripping from the toothless mouth.

Missy would sing constantly in her room. Whenever she would go out of the room she stopped singing. But going back to the room, she would go back to sing where she left off.

After deciding that something was wrong with their house that they could not explain rationally, George and Kathy Lutz carried out a blessing of their own on January 8, 1976. George held a silver crucifix while they both recited the Lord's Prayer, and while in the living room George allegedly heard a chorus of voices telling them "Will you stop?!"

On the night of March 6, 1976 the house was investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren, a husband and wife team self-described as demonologists, together with a crew from the television station Channel 5 New York and reporter Michael Linder of WNEW-FM Radio. During the course of the investigation Gene Campbell took a series of infrared time-lapse photographs. One of the images allegedly showed a "demonic boy" with glowing eyes who was standing at the foot of a staircase. The photograph didn't appear public until 1979, when George, Kathy Lutz and Rod Steiger guest starred on The Merv Griffin Show to promote the release of the first film. 112 Ocean Avenue was also investigated by the parapsychologist Hans Holzer. The Warrens and Holzer have suggested that the house is occupied by malevolent spirits due to its history.

So what did you think? Pretty scary ghost stories.

Well I must say, I believe in ghosts, hauntings, haunted houses and spirits. Why? You might ask. Well I also have a ghost story of my own, Like above it was told that every family might have a ghost story of their own. It happened one night when my wife was bathing our 3 year old daughter. She had just been dryed off, and ran to her bedroom to get dressed. No sooner did she run in, she ran right back out screaming as if she had been hurt. I jumped to my feet and ran after her to see what was wrong. When I got to her she was shaking profusely, and crying horribly. Me and my wife asked her what was wrong, and she told us there was a lady sitting on her bed when she went in her room. I quickly grabbed my metal softball bat and went into the room, to beat some butt. There was no one in the room, the windows were closed, so I assumed she was hiding in the closet. I entered the closet with rage, to find it was empty. I continued to search the other rooms in the house and found nothing.

I then calmed my daughter down, and begin questioning her of what the woman had looked like. My daughter told me she was a thin woman in a dress, sitting at the head of her bed with her arms proped up on the head board, she told us the woman was blueish in color, and she could see through her. This sent chills up my spine, and goose bumps all over my body. My daughter did not enter the room again for several months after that, and it was shortly after this that we moved out.