Carnegie Hall Ghosts?

As I sit here and look out the window at sleet falling and snow and ice on the ground, it is hard to think ahead to warm ghost hunting season. Of course, here at the haunted office, GHOSTS are always in season but to the average investigator, warmer weather is required. The older I get though, the more I can agree to that statement! Warmer weather, please!

There is ONE location here in West Virginia that I am anxuous to sink my teeth into. Pardon the vampire reference- but it gets my blood flowing when I have a new location plump for the attack...err....study.

Carnegie Hall is located in Lewisburg West Virginia and was built in 1902 by steel baron and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie as a classroom building for the Lewisburg Female Institute, later the Greenbrier College for Women.                              

Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg, WV

Carnegie Hall was incorporated in 1983 as a regional not-for-profit arts and education center. According to their website, the cultural center annually serves more than 75,000 patrons with live performances by outstanding companies and artists from around the world. One thing it neclgets to mention at the website is that they have visits from other dimensions. That's right! There are many a person who whisper of the odd events that happen on occasion. Poltergeist activity, shadow people and a few apparitions have been reported in the halls (and some of the rooms) of Carnegie Hall. It's no wonder as the entire town has a haunted history dating back to the Civil War era. remember those tried and true theories of imprinted energy and residual?

Lewsiburg was home to the Battle of Lewisburg which took place here. Going waaay back in history, Lewisburg was formally established in 1782 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly. uring the Civil War a number of engagements were fought in and around Lewisburg. Several of the present buildings in town were used as hospitals and barracks by both sides in the War Between the States. Bullet marks can still be seen in some today!  The Virginia Supreme Court library, which was located in Lewisburg and served as the Greenbrier County Library until 2008, was used as a hospital and has preserved a section of wall with soldiers' graffiti. Can you imagine? 

Up the road from Carnegie Hall is the Confederate Cemetery. A gray garbed soldier has been seen walking from the old Stone Church cemetery in town and up the hill past Carnegie Hall while he makes his way towards the Confederate cemetery.

The old Stone Church Cemetery

The Confederate Cemetery

The entire town has stories to share of darker history and paranormal events- you just have to know who to ask. As usual, there are some folks who don't believe or think its a bunch of "hogwash". But then again, there are those who I have spoken to who believe and in hushed tones, have shared with me their experiences.

All in all, I am very excited at the prospects of having another Ghost Hunting class in Lewisburg thru the New River College. I am hopping it all works out schedule wise and that one evening this Spring, we will be packing our equipment into the hushed hallways of Carnegie Hall and ready for a night of investigating.

Exit stage left.......

Stay tuned! For more info on Paranormal Classes: 

Camp Chase Cemetery and the Gray Lady

Camp Chase Cemetery, Columbus Ohio

Another bleary day in March and I find myself staring out my office window wondering about odd things as I typically do. Go figure.

My thoughts drift to some of my favorite cemeteries that I love to walk through. This leaves me wishing for warmer weather of course! As I look through some Ohio cemetery photographs, I wonder about some of the entities that are said to haunt these locations. There are many stories of ladies in white, women in black and gray ladies as well that dot the very fabric of ghostly strorytelling. Some border on fact, not fiction as everyday people have caught glimpses of these specter like visions as they walk the silent cities of the dead.

The Lady in Gray has been seen on many occasions. She walks the stoic rows of stones at one of Ohio's two Confederate soldier cemeteries, Camp Chase. Camp Chase was a prison during the America Civil War and was home to thousands of Confederate soldiers, and even some civilian prisoners of war. The cemetery is located at 2900 Sullivant Avenue, on Columbus's west side. The Gray Lady we are referring to is  Louisiana Rainsburgh Briggs. At least that is what some people say her name is. She never interacts with other visitors and tends to disappear before your very eyes. She weeps quietly over the grave of one Benjamin F. Allen, a private in the 50th Tennessee Regiment, Company D. 

 His date of birth was Jan. 30, 1842.

                       His date of death was on Sep. 15, 1864.



   Today people see fresh flowers placed on the grave of Benjamin Allen on a regular basis. Also, there are several stories about people hearing sobbing or crying while visiting Camp Chase.  Once during a Civil War memorial, many participants heard the crying, followed by a huge gust of wind that blew over tables and tents. Many believe it was The Lady In Gray.

  

Some claim to see shadowy figures that walk among the graves....

 

In May of 1861 a Union military training ground was established here under the name Camp Jackson. Two months later in July, the first prisoners were admitted. The name had been changed to honor President Lincoln's Secretary of State (and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), Hamilton County native Salmon P. Chase.

The prison population grew rapidly. Small Pox epidemics, dysentery and poor sanitary conditions claimed thousands of men.

 By 1863 there were 8,000 men incarcerated behind the high, staked walls of the Camp.

Why would a cemetery be haunted??

Overcrowding forced two to three men to share single occupancy bunks, and led to severe shortages in food and medicine and general health care. Clothing and blankets were scarce. The men were malnourished and low in morale making them susceptible to disease. In the February of 1863 alone, 499 men died from smallpox. My own 3 great grandfather is said to have been one of these men who perished. No grave exists for him at the cemetery. Many people believe that there are unmarked braves that exist at this cemetery. I believe that as well. And I am speaking from personal experience as I have used dowsing rods to locate unmarked graves on several occasions at this site. I have also come across newspaper articles stating that local medical schools would visit the cemetery and remove bodies so that they could be studied...and they did this at night and before laws were enacted protecting the dead.

When you walk the lines of gray stone markers, take a moment to read the names and dates as you stroll past. Each one has a story, each one had a family, a life, goals and dreams. All were cut down early and probably by disease, starvation or wounds received in battle. If you are quiet...and a bit observant, you may also see a melancholy figure in gray bending over gracefully to place a flower at a grave.

If you visit

Private Allen's grave is number 233 out of 2,260.

All Confederate soldiers or southern in their sympathies.

Camp Chase is open daily from 8AM-5PM

Do not visit after dark!

Cemeteries, Cameras, and Lanterns, Oh My!

Cemeteries, cameras and lanterns, oh my!

Just another day in the life of Sherri! October 4th found me "posing" for a photography class as a light fog and mist enveloped the hills around us. Mark Romano's photography class from the New River college needed a spooky prop in the cemetery and I guess that meant I was "it."

One of my favorite "trick" photos that my Grandpa Brake did

I grew up with my family in NE Ohio in a home where we had a darkroom in the basement. My dad was a avid photographer and did it mostly as a hobby, but he did do a record album cover for a local singer in Canton Ohio back in the 1980s. My Grandpa Brake was as a photographer as well and was with the first unit of army photographers to visit Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped. Grandpa Brake had a photo studio in Webster Springs WV and ran it for about 20

 years. Anyway, I'm a sucker for anything dealing with photography, nighttime and cemeteries so of course I said "yes" to Marks query as to whether I would help him out with his photography class.

Cemeteries occasionally make people a bit leery, even during daylight hours. Not me! I remember our parents hauling us around Webster County WV many summers ago. They would stick us all in the back of a pick up truck and we would go visit family cemeteries. Sometimes we would sit on the tailgate or cemetery ground and have lunch, snacks, or a maybe just a bottle of pop. We would walk the cemetery, hear about our ancestors and clean some graves. Pulling back vines, brushing off dirt and walking the hillsides of many cemeteries perhaps added to my adult interest and love of the "Silent Cities of the Dead".

When Mark approached me about posing for his students and helping them learn how to use their cameras at night and on various settings, I thought of two places locally in Summersville that would be good back drops. The Walker Cemetery and the Southern Methodist Episcopal Cemetery by the Moose Club downtown.

This photo was taken by Pam Mace and was shot in the old Methodist cemetery next to the Moose Lodge in downtown Summersville. This cemetery is the one we venture into on our Haunted History Walks of Summersville. Love the lighting!

Another eerie photo shot by Pam Mace. This was up on the hill as you first arrive into the Walker Cemetery in Summersville WV. The sky was perfect early on and shows up well in some of the early evening shots. All that is missing is a full moon!

Pam captured an image of me being reflected on the back of one of the headstones to the left. Do you see it?  This was taken at the Walker Cemetery in Nicholas County WV. I use the candle lanterns featured in the shots on my walking tours of town and my husband Perry make them for us to sell as well. They have a great ambiance at night, don't they?

This is another shot taken at the Methodist Church cemetery in Summersville. There are many variations of markers in this cemetery. Recumbent, table top tombs, new England style, hollow metal markers and victorian symbolism is present on many.

This is the simple headstone for a child who dies in 1860. Lambs represent innocence, the Lamb of God and purity in children. I took this photo this past summer as I strolled through the cemetery researching the stones for my walking tours.

New England style markers usually represent those who moved into the area from the NE area of the United States. In this cemetery in Summersville you can see a few of these all carved from local sandstone. The stones can be compared to human torsos as they have "heads" and "shoulders".

Malvina Kelly's marker as been snapped in half and lies propped up against a tree trunk towards the backside of the cemetery.

The grave of Margaret Dotson taken during the day....

and then one at night....

This was taken by Pam Mace during the photo shoot. Assistant Rick is standing at the head of the grave while I am sitting on the table tomb.

Thank you to Mark Romano of Images by Romano for letting me share in the class expedition!

More haunted blogs to come this week.....

Whipple Coal Company Store...haunted?

The Whipple Coal Company Store in Fayette County West Virginia

We ghosthunt here this month! Spots are available online here.

Hmmm...what makes a building haunted? What constitutes paranormal activity? Is it actual scientific data gathered in a controlled setting?

Is that possible even with today's technology?

 Is it simply a feeling of being watched when you are all alone? 

Objects moving around all by themselves?

Seeing shadowy forms moving when no "human" is nearby?

The sensation of hairs standing up on the back of your neck and arm...temperatures dropping into a bone chilling coldness that begins and ends suddenly?

Is it the smell of cigar smoke when no one is smoking....at all?

Could it be the capturing of Electronic Voice Phenomena on tape when no one is speaking?

All of this...and more...happened when we investigated the old Whipple Company Store in Fayette County West Virginia in May 2010.

Why would spirits linger here?

Our Ghosthunting 101 class May 2010

As I am often fond of saying, you must learn the history of a location before you can begin to understand how it could be haunted...or paranormally active.

This southern part of West Virginia is fraught with stories of coal mining accidents, age old superstitions and the dark history of Appalachian folklore. Its an area where the frontier was carved out by frontier slayings, Indian massacres and the hardiness of the pioneers. It's also an area filled with mine war history and shoot outs between the union, miners, the mine owners and the Law.

This window above the front door to the Whipple Company Store shows evidence of a shoot out and bears the bullet holes to prove it.

The old store is one of the oldest wooden Coal camp

company stores left in our country today. Its newest owners, Chuck and Joy, have poured thousands of hours of clean up, work and love into this old structure.

The Whipple Company Store in the booming days of coal mining,  provided everything the coal miner and his family would need. Clothing, shoes, dry goods, groceries etc.. Although the Company Store had its benefits to the coal miner, it did not go without reputation. The coal companies owned the store, the goods, the homes, the miner, and their money.

The store on the evening of our Ghosthunting 101 class and Investigation May 2010

Whipple Company Store was designed by a coal baron by the name of Justus Collins. He was said to be a man of strong will and merit. This store at Whipple, is one of 4 he had built. All of the stores had unique architectural details, and today the only one left standing is this one. The building features a museum and has specific hours of operation.  ( The Museum is a 501c3 non-profit organization )

 ( read more about this at their website http://www.whipplecompanystore.com/home.html )

steps leading to the ballroom

The Museum area has a wonderful hand operated freight elevator which is very cool to see and I believe it ios the last one in the state of West Virginia. The original post office is still present along with an old telephone operators station. The secret second floor has a dark history due to the fact a man was found hanging in the elevator shaft years ago.  The third floor ballroom is intriguing and has been the site of a shadowy figure in the one back room.

the room upstairs where a shadowy figure has been taped on video

When we did our Ghosthunting 101 Class and hunt on site here back in May, it was quite an exciting night. Several voices...or EVP as ghosthunters call them, were captured upstairs and down in the old basement as well.

The old basement

The basement itself is like stepping back into a time machine. There were so many items standing about to see. To some it may look messy, but to others....what a great place to explore! If you know ANYTHING about the paranormal, you know what a room filled with items like this can hold for investigations. It's all about energy and energy can be imprinted upon items from jewelry, to clothing to antiques. All of these items laying about have been touched, used, held, etc.. for years and energy can be left behind upon them. Think of the typical psychic show on TV where the psychic "feels" an item and then can tell you all about who held the item or wore it.

The basements darker history

The above photograph is a picture I took back in the spring of 2010 when I first visited Whipple. Its sits on the first floor of the museum area and makes you stop and wonder "why is this here?" What shocks many people, is the fact that over 7000 men were embalmed in the basement. Why???

You will just have to come on a tour...or join us at our next Ghosthunt at Whipple.

Am I teasing you a bit? You bethcha!

Even if you don't join up with us on Friday night September 24th 2010...swing by the Whipple store and do a day time tour. You will love this building!

To find out more about our ghosthunt in this building

Venture here!

Where is Whipple located??

Whipple Company Store & Museum in Fayette County, West Virginia, 10 minutes from the famous New River Gorge Bridge. This unique and only one of its kind company store is easy to access from Interstate 77 at the Mossy (612) exit, or off state road 19 north of Beckley at hwy 612 west.

Until next blog....happy ghosthunting!