Tim Scullion's Blog, page 2

Part 2 of this book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world. Here is the link:

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Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.

Join me on these social media sites:

Please help support these free blogs: https://www.patreon.com/timscullion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timscullionauthor/

Schiffer: http://www.schifferbooks.com/haunted-historic-colonial-williamsburg-virginia-with-breakthrough-ghost-photography-6030.html

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Published on April 11, 2019 18:24

Edgar Allan Poe Museum–A Shadow of his Former Self

The death of Edgar Allan Poe is perhaps the greatest mystery of his life, and he never wrote it—he fell victim to it. What is known about Poe’s death is that he left for Philadelphia on September 27, 1849 with seemingly everything to live for: a new job and he was within days of a new marriage. Joseph W. Walker, who worked for the Baltimore Sun, found Poe on October 4th, 1849 in Baltimore; going to Baltimore wasn’t even on his agenda! Walker arrived at the 4th Ward polls—Gunner’s Hall, on a rainy October day and found a delirious man in shabby clothes lying in the gutter. The man was semi-conscious and unable to move, so upon closer examination, Walker recognized Poe, and asked how he could help. The distressed writer, barely able to talk coherently, gave him the name of Joseph Snodgrass, a magazine editor like himself who had medical training. Snodgrass contacted Poe’s relatives in Baltimore, who refused to care for him, so Snodgrass sent him to the Washington College Hospital, where he died just four days later. His final days in the hospital were spent delirious, and he never recovered his cognitive abilities enough to explain how he ended up in the Baltimore gutter, the only word he said during his hospital stay—he kept calling out the name “Reynolds”—a person who to this day is an unknown part of Poe’s final, most perplexing mystery.(1)

Cooping was 19th century voter fraud—a practice that included kidnapping, beating, drugging or sometimes forced drinking, was common in America, especially around big cities like Baltimore. Gangs of paid thugs would round up groups of men this way, force them to vote multiple times on Election Day by disguising them through changes of clothing, and then leave the men for dead somewhere when they were finished. (2) This could explain why Poe was not wearing his own clothes when found languishing in the gutter, but it would not suffice however as an explanation for the delirium and the hallucinations Poe experienced at the hospital; Poe may have contracted something even before he left Richmond, because he was not feeling well and was advised by his personal physician to postpone his trip to Philadelphia. One physician (Dr. R. Michael Benitez) was given (in 1996) the symptoms that Poe exhibited during the last few days of his life in the hospital—without revealing who the man was or that the incident had taken place all the way back in 1849, and without hesitating the doctor thought that the person in question had contracted rabies. There are other theories about the missing week, as well as who or what may have killed Poe, a mystery that only the master of suspense could have left to this world as his last legacy. So take a talented, innovative writer who is considered the father of both the modern detective/mystery genre as well as the science fiction and horror genres, and then end his life at the young age of forty with all of the intrigue and mystery that he put into his prose and poetry, and you have a recipe for a haunting—a sudden, unexpected death when he was about to be married and start a new job. If that were not enough, Poe’s rival (Poe wrote a disparaging review of this man’s book when he worked as the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger), Rufus Griswold, wrote Poe’s obituary; a lengthy, libelous portrayal of Poe as an alcoholic, womanizing madman who was addicted to opium. He also wrote that the morbid, macabre, and murderous tales that Poe wrote about were firsthand experiences. Griswold would later parlay that into the first biography of Edgar Allan Poe, thinking that it would put an end to the man’s writing legacy and satisfy his desire to get even. Instead it aroused people’s curiosity about the now infamous author, creating a demand for his short stories and poetry that cemented his place in the halls of great 19th century writers.(3) Which writer have you ever heard of—Rufus Griswold . . . or Edgar Allan Poe?

The Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond (Baltimore has one too, as well as a professional football team named after Poe’s most famous poem, The Raven) is unfortunately not the home of John Allan and the place where Poe grew up, nor is it one of the places he stayed or worked as an adult. It is a group of several buildings that houses the largest collection of memorabilia in the world from the prolific poet, writer, and editor, including personal things that he may be drawn to post-mortem. The old stone house, circa 1754, was here during Poe’s years in Richmond both as a child growing up (just a few blocks away) and during his years as a successful writer/editor. They did use artifacts from the building that housed the Southern Literary Messenger (Poe wrote many stories, reviewed books by other authors, and worked as the editor of this magazine—making it the most popular magazine in the South during his tenure) to restore this building, including lumber, locks, doorknobs, and hinges; bricks from the same building were used to build the Poe Shrine in the back yard. The museum’s curators were able to acquire a staircase from Poe’s boyhood home and install it in one of the buildings dedicated to Poe.(4) I can only wonder if Poe divides his time between locations in Richmond, where he grew up, found love and success, and the places in Baltimore, where he first published his stories while living in poverty, and where he met an unexpected, perhaps violent end, depending on whose theory you believe. If you would like to read other theories on how Poe met his end, check out the Smithsonian article that I referenced several times in this blog. (5)

Is Poe One of the Shadow People Haunting the Museum?

Since a collection of Poe artifacts and memorabilia arrived in the early 20th century, a dark shadowy figure has been seen hanging around the premises. Two artifacts it seems to prefer are Poe’s walking stick and his wife Virginia’s hand mirror, although it has been seen in the garden, or nearby a tour group as if eavesdropping on what the guide is saying. Is it Poe? Many seem to think so! The ghosts of two blond children, perhaps the offspring of the home’s original owners, have been seen in the garden, particularly showing a fondness for the fountain near the Poe Shrine. The never-aging children have showed up in photos taken by museum guests for the last twenty years; less frequently the shadowy figure of what may or may not be Poe makes an appearance in photographs taken near tour groups and in the garden.

When I first entered the Poe Museum, I was greeted by one of the two museum mascots—a black cat with a tiny tuft of white hair on his chest (Pluto), curious to check me out and then ready to go into the back garden area with me once I paid the admission and got a map and the lowdown on where everything is. With my reluctant psychic by my side, we entered the old stone house, empty at the time of any tourists or museum personnel. As I started to look around and set up my camera, we heard a collage of different noises emanating from the empty upstairs as if the invisible occupants wanted us to know someone was home. I captured nothing on camera in the downstairs area, and the stairway to the upstairs was cordoned off for museum personnel only. The other buildings proved to be uneventful for us, but as we went outside into the garden area, Pluto was near the fountain, and his eyes were darting back and forth as if following something that I could not see. My psychic could see what I could not—a small boy with long blond hair, about five years old, was playing in the fountain (it was during the winter months, and there was no water in it). Although she could see him, Pluto could see him, I could not and my camera could not pick up any anomalies. Several minutes later, she pointed out that someone was looking out of the upstairs window of the old stone house (where we heard the noises), and I was able to capture a few faces in the window on the right. I was intrigued that one of the faces was a blond male, and I wondered if this might be the father of the boy playing in the fountain, intently watching his son . . . and us.

I’ve got to go back at night; perhaps I can capture the little blond boy playing in the fountain—or the shadowy figure of the master of the macabre himself . . .

Here’s is the “old stone house” , circa 1754, one of several buildings that make up the Edgar Allan Poe Museum. The upper right (gable) window is where I captured the faces you will see below; there was considerable noise in the upstairs area when we entered the house–as if the ghosts were letting us know they were there. We could not go up because it was cordoned off for “employees only”.

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Check out other ghost photo blogs include the following: the ghosts in Julep’s Restaurant in Richmond, Va; ghosts in a Las Vegas casino; dark hooded apparitions in Colonial Williamsburg, the ghosts of Merchant Square, Williamsburg, the ghosts of Jerome, AZ (2 parts), the ghosts of Relics Restaurant, Sedona, AZ, the ghosts of the Red Garter, Williams, AZ, ghosts in the Barnes & Noble Bookstore that featured my book, Williamsburg’s most haunted: the Peyton Randolph House, the ghosts of Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ, one of America’s most haunted roads: Crawford Road, near Yorktown, VA, Civil War ghosts in my house, and photographic proof that ghosts are attracted to children, and other paranormal posts.

1 Natasha Geiling, The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, The Smithsonian Magazine. October 7,2014 (accessed February 7, 2018) https://smithsonianmag.com/history/still-mysterious-death-edgar-allan-poe-180952936

2 Alicia Cheng, This is What Democracy Looked Like, The New Yorker. November 5, 2018. (accessed February 7, 2018) https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/this-is-what-democracy-looked-like

3 Christopher P. Semtner, 13 Haunting Facts About Edgar Allan Poe’s Death, Biography. October 5, 2014. (accessed February 7, 2019) https://www.biography.com/news/edgar-allan-poe-death-facts

4 History of the Poe Museum (Accessed February 7, 2018) https://www.poemuseum.org/history-of-the-museum

5 Natasha Geiling, The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, The Smithsonian Magazine. October 7,2014. (accessed February 7, 2018) https://smithsonianmag.com/history/still-mysterious-death-edgar-allan-poe-180952936

__________________________________

After 2 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 10,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography (Part 1) available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon, nominated for consideration in the nonfiction category for the 19th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:

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Part 2 of this book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world. Here is the link:

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Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.

Join me on these social media sites:

Please help support these free blogs: https://www.patreon.com/timscullion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timscullionauthor/

Schiffer: http://www.schifferbooks.com/haunted-historic-colonial-williamsburg-virginia-with-breakthrough-ghost-photography-6030.html

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Published on March 08, 2019 16:03

Murder and Suicide—At the Wrong Address!

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When I asked about Richmond’s most haunted places, Julep’s Restaurant was on everyone’s list, and it had an intriguing backstory that aroused my curiosity. The building that housed the restaurant is the city’s oldest commercial building still in use and was the former place of business of the celebrated Gun Smith of this city, James McNaught, a label given him by a Richmond newspaper for the quality of his craftsmanship. McNaught took in fourteen-year-old Daniel Denoon, a boy who lost his father in the War of 1812, as an apprentice. Denoon worked hard for eight years, and McNaught would even leave the shop in the hands of Daniel while he went to England, one time for as long as nine months. Denoon had stayed on for more than a year after his time served as an apprentice ended, and after the disappointment of not getting a promised bonus from McNaught for running the gunsmith shop for nine months, informed his teacher that he would be moving on to his own shop. Evidently part of his decision to move on was also based on McNaught’s heavy drinking and poor business decisions. Several weeks later Denoon had dinner with McNaught’s family, and afterwards McNaught called his apprentice upstairs. (Another version of the story says McNaught was downstairs and Denoon was upstairs, but the results are still the same.) When Denoon reached the top step McNaught shot him in the abdomen, and the young man tumbled down the stairs. McNaught then tried to commit suicide, and although he succeeded in killing his apprentice he survived the attempt on his own life. Denoon survived just long enough to give damning testimony about his killer, and the jailed McNaught would later successfully end his life in his prison cell. Evidently Denoon’s ghost sabotaged the renovation of the spiral staircase quite a few times so that it would not pass inspection. Denoon died at the bottom of the stairs in what is now the women’s bathroom; guess who shows up in the mirror when they wash their hands or touch up their makeup? Might I add that he only shows up in the mirror glass, because when they look beside themselves to see if Denoon is standing there, he is not. Once again the glass is some sort of spirit conduit . . .

So with this compelling story of murder/suicide I looked up the location of Julep’s Restaurant and went there. It looked like a modern building with lots of glass out front, so I knew that either this wasn’t the 18th century building that I read about, or that it had been torn down and replaced with this newer building. I have read and been told many things that were wrong about Colonial Williamsburg, so I thought that was the case here with Julep’s. Undeterred, I took photos of the outside of the restaurant as people dined, with large plate glass windows revealing all of the activity inside. Some of the diners were either curious or perturbed that I would photograph them while they ate. Little did they know that I cared not for their photos and that I would black out their faces if I captured an anomaly by them. In between two men sitting at the bar I captured a streaking classic white ghost, with no identifiable features except the outline of a human form in white light. I would later find that the faces in the window that were recognizable (there were many that were not) had a decidedly 19th century appearance, with beards that would suggest a Civil War era apparition. With a few exceptions, such as the Confederate White House, the Masonic Lodge, the old stone house that is part of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, the Governor’s Mansion, and St. John’s Church, most of Richmond was burned by the retreating Confederate forces on April 3rd, 1865. So here I am looking for a young 18th century apprentice and/or the suicidal master gunsmith, and besides the streaking classic white at the bar all I was able to capture were what appears to be Civil War veterans. I was looking for at least two clean-shaven men from the 18th century and all could find were bearded men from the mid 19th century–and then I stumbled across this crucial bit of information that nobody or no website had mentioned: Julep’s had moved to a new location, and I was at the wrong address! To my knowledge there have been no reports of paranormal activity at the new address—so the ghosts that I have captured must be passively quiet. So I have to go back to Richmond to Shockoe Whiskey and Wine if I want to find the active ghost of Daniel Denoon—the new restaurant at the old 18th century building—although I doubt they will let me in to the women’s bathroom to find him . . .

Here’s a classic white apparition streaking between 2 patrons at the Julep’s bar:

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The large plate glass windows flanking the door reveal all of the human and para-human occupants of Julep’s Restaurant, including the following 3 apparitions that one might guess belong to the Civil War era:

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__________________________________

After 2 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 10,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography (Part 1) available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon, nominated for consideration in the nonfiction category for the 19th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:

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Part 2 of this book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world. Here is the link:

[image error]

Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.

Join me on these social media sites:

Please help support these free blogs: https://www.patreon.com/timscullion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timscullionauthor/

Schiffer: http://www.schifferbooks.com/haunted-historic-colonial-williamsburg-virginia-with-breakthrough-ghost-photography-6030.html

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Published on February 24, 2019 14:55

Sin, Slots, Stakes, Sex, & . . . Suicide

Las Vegas: Sin, slots, stakes, sex and . . . suicide. A long time ago I learned that windows in Las Vegas high-rise hotels could only be opened a few inches because of the number of suicides—Las Vegas is the suicide capital of the United States. People gamble their life savings away and believe they have nothing left to live for; others come to commit suicide because they don’t want to do the deed at home in front of their families. According to the Clark County coroner’s statistics, out of over 40 million tourists who annually come to Vegas, about 1,100 die there, with about 15% (165) committing suicide, and about 11% (121) are murdered. Living in a tourist mecca myself, I know that suicides are bad publicity and are kept from the public’s eye. Evidently it’s a common occurrence in Las Vegas and the mammoth hotel/casinos have a game plan that works like a well-oiled machine. In Nevada suicides are treated like a crime scene (in case it was a murder made to look like a suicide), and elevators and hallways are secured so that guests do not witness the cleanup and removal of the body. However, it’s more difficult and messy to keep a suicide under wraps if it takes place in a public place like from a hotel balcony or parking garage. Speaking of messy, public suicides, the Luxor takes the prize for that, because in this black pyramid the balconies are on the inside and so jumpers land in a place where all can see. Something that shocked me, considering how much money these hotel/casino conglomerates rake in, is that they send a bill to the family for any damage to the hotel room as a result of the suicide—talk about rubbing salt into a wound! There is talk, perhaps in Vegas’ storied past, that hotel personnel would even move bodies (in secrecy) out of the hotel and into a public place so that they did not have to deal with the law.

With so many suicides and murders, I was immediately intrigued for such a haunting potential. (Not to mention the biggest mass shooting in U.S. history when Stephen Paddock killed 59 concertgoers and wounded 422 by gunfire—851 total injuries—all from his Mandalay Bay hotel room.) I started my quest at the MGM casino, taking a few photos of people in the gaming area, and was quickly asked by security to stop. I should have known that would happen—some people are there that are not supposed to be—and do not want a photographic record that they were. Then of course they may have thought that I was trying to photograph the cards in the hands of people playing poker—perhaps as a way to cheat by informing one player what cards were in the hands of the other players. I took photos of other areas of the casino where there were displays, walkways, and eating areas—but upon examination of the photos I found no ghosts in these areas. As I expected, the ghosts showed up around the gaming tables—perhaps where their monetary losses were so overwhelming that they decided to end their life. The first photo that I took (out of 3 before I was stopped) is the most profound; this ghost was a longhaired man dressed in blue jeans and a long-sleeved white dress shirt. His lower legs did not quite meet his upper legs right, but the most intriguing part is that he is missing a portion of his head. As usual, I have blacked out the faces of people you could identify because I do not have written permission to publish their likenesses in my blog. In another part of the gaming area one or possibly two ghosts appear looking over a gaming table (I don’t know what’s up with his ear), and if you look closely you can see other faded faces next to his chest area. A streaking ghost face appears over the face of a man playing cards, and finally a face appears in front of a man looking down at his cards—although I think this poker player is concentrating on his cards. So just in one photograph (from which I have cropped all of these images) I’ve got ample proof that ghosts have returned to the casino postmortem. If you happen to go to Vegas and sit at one of its thousands of gaming tables, I have no doubt you will have some uninvited guests at your table; perhaps ones with a suicidal or murderous past.

Scott Roeben, https://vitalvegas.com/insider-secrets-really-really-don’t-want-know-las-vegas/ (Accessed January 26, 2019)

This ghost was able to make the clearest appearance of any, but notice that part of his head is missing!

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Another standing ghost(s?) looks over a gaming table, and if you look by the chest, you will see several other dark faces.

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Several streaking wraiths cover the face of a poker player and part of the face of a player at another table behind him.

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As a man sits at the casinos poker table staring down at his hand, he is unaware that his every move is watched.

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__________________________________

After 2 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 10,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography (Part 1) available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon, nominated for consideration in the nonfiction category for the 19th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:

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Part 2 of this book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world.

[image error]

Here is the link:

Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.

Join me on these social media sites:

Please help support these free blogs: https://www.patreon.com/timscullion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timscullionauthor/

Schiffer: http://www.schifferbooks.com/haunted-historic-colonial-williamsburg-virginia-with-breakthrough-ghost-photography-6030.html

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Published on January 26, 2019 17:29

The Dark Side: Not Just a Metaphor for Evil

From religious and Biblical warnings all the way to science fiction epics that determine whether someone is inherently good or bad by the “side” that a character chooses, I’ve heard terms like the dark side, dark forces, dark entities and simply passed them all off as metaphorical ways to express the presence of evil. Several weeks ago Dana Mitchell, a cast member from the Ghosts of Shepherdstown paranormal television series, sent me some photos she had taken in Colonial Williamsburg during her visit, and she captured several dark, hooded figures walking down the street (only one was clear enough to show). I was intrigued because I likewise had captured a dark hooded figure in front of the Bruton Parish Church after a Christmas concert. I thought that I had just captured a person dressed warmly in a long black hooded coat, but upon a closer look it was missing the face—like the depictions of the Grim Reaper without the scythe.

My first photographic encounter with the “dark side” was several years ago when I was taking photos of St. Peter’s Anglican Church, an original 18th century church in New Kent County where Martha Dandridge, later to become the wife of our first president, attended services as a young woman living at home. Dusk was rapidly approaching, and I captured a dark mist floating up by the top of the church’s steeple. I took three photos, one right after the other, and the mist only showed up in the second photo, with no trace of it showing up in the first or third photo. I had both seen and photographed white mists before, even capturing partial faces in them, but never a black mist—and no, I could not see any kind of face in it, even when I zoomed in.

Ever since my interview with George Noory on Coast to Coast, people have sent me photos that they have taken from all over the country, and in some of those photos, I have seen small dark hooded creatures that resemble the Jawas from the mind of George Lucas (I know, another science fiction reference). But in these recent finds, from the cameras of both Dana Mitchell and myself, human-sized creatures in long black coats or robes with hoods have appeared, and I can’t help but wonder what the difference is between the black mists, the Jawa-like apparitions, and these taller phantoms. However, both psychics and paranormal researchers that I have met along the way of my odyssey-like journey have assured me that these dark entities are not only evil but also dangerous. A psychic friend of mine who can actually see with her eyes what I can only photograph told me that these apparitions are inherently evil and quite dangerous to any humans.

Now I’ve had my doubts about things like comparing positive and negative energy to light and darkness, but I recently saw the results of experiments with water. I originally saw this on the show Ancient Aliens, “Dark Forces”, but I researched this a little further to see who studied this and how the experiments were carried out. Dr Masaru Emoto took vials of water, and gave some vials both positive messages (spoken) and labels, while labeling other containers with negative spoken and written labels, and then froze the water. The results of the experiment were truly astounding: The water frozen with the positive words, both vocal and written, created beautiful ice crystals that were actually light in color. As for the vials given the negative labels—the frozen crystals were misshapen and dark in color. This experiment not only attests to the power of the spoken and written word, but also to the fact that the color of the ice crystals was not just metaphorical, but a reality (See just some of the photos from Dr Masaru Emoto’s Water Experiment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au4qx_l8KEU Be sure to watch until the end to see how dark and misshapen the water crystal for “anger” is). Who would have ever thought that the spoken word had so much power? Some paranormal researchers even suggest that dark entities actually feed off of the negative energy put out in the form of the spoken word. If words can do this to water, what can they do to other living things? Who would have thought that metaphors were real? I will never look at dark and light the same way again . . .

Here’s my photo of a dark hooded figure (with no face) standing in front of the Bruton Parish Church as people leave from a Christmas concert.

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Here’s Dana Mitchell’s photo from Colonial Williamsburg, just a few hundred feet up the street from the same church:

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Here’s a close-up of Dana’s photo showing a rather intimidating face:

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__________________________________

After 2 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 10,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography (Part 1) available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon, nominated for consideration in the nonfiction category for the 19th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:

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Part 2 of this book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world. Here is the link:

[image error]

Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.

Join me on these social media sites:

Please help support these free blogs: https://www.patreon.com/timscullion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timscullionauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tim_scullion

Schiffer: http://www.schifferbooks.com/haunted-historic-colonial-williamsburg-virginia-with-breakthrough-ghost-photography-6030.html

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Published on January 12, 2019 09:43

Caroline, the Playful Poltergeist

Back in October I had a book signing at a shop in Merchant Square, Colonial Williamsburg called Everything Williamsburg. During my time there, I asked if anyone had any paranormal experiences while working there. Heather, the manager, immediately told me the story of Caroline, a little girl who haunts the place. Part of the inventory at this store includes dolls and toys, and this playful poltergeist gets out the dolls on display upstairs and puts them in a circle on the floor. She will in the process redress certain dolls with each other’s clothing, as well as change or rearrange displays to her liking. I asked where the name Caroline came from, and no one on staff was quite sure, but they said the story came from the previous occupants of the shop—The Toymaker, which closed in 2013 after 48 years in business there. (The Toymaker had unusual and often collectible toys that you would not find in any department store, and was a Williamsburg staple for almost a half a century.) The house that once stood on this property burned down, and this would have been sometime before Merchant Square was built in the 1930s (completed in 1932). What I don’t know is if Caroline was a victim of this fire; although I hope not, I’m assuming that she was because evidently she is still playing as if she is a child. Therein lies my question—does the ghost of a child ever mature, or does that stop upon death? Caroline may be over 100 years old, so why is she still playing with dolls? Could it be a lack of maturity, or is it perhaps boredom? I can only guess what’s going on with the other side, but after seeing how ghosts are able to quickly master our technology, I have to wonder why they may not reach maturity of thought.

The lights are very bright in this shop, so I had to ask Heather if she would dim the lights for just one night so that I could photograph the store. (Lights that are too bright will wash out any appearance of ghosts in the glass.) She did for one evening and I captured quite a few apparitions in the windows—I can only guess if one of them is Caroline (one of the three faces that I captured in an upstairs window). One wispy white wraith also showed up in the downstairs front show window—could that be the curious child ghost checking out my activities outside the store late at night?

By the way, I’ve been away from this blog for several months while revising my first book with new and exciting photos, new stories, and a couple of corrections to old stories. (Some of the stories that I have been told have been greatly exaggerated, and I discovered what really happened by talking to the people that actually experienced it.) I have replaced about twenty to twenty five percent of the book’s photos and even certain chapters with new places that have even more intriguing and compelling stories. I’m excited for this new version of my first book to come out, particularly because of new photos at the Peyton Randolph House that will amaze you, as well as photos of people on ghost tours—oblivious to the ghosts that I’ve photographed around them! Although the book photos, photo captions, and text have all been turned in to the publisher, I have a few more documents to fill out for publicity—which is often more time-consuming than writing books!

This is my favorite photo from the downstairs window in the back of Everything Williamsburg:

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This next photo is from the back window in the upstairs of Everything Williamsburg-the place where Caroline plays with the store’s dolls. Could one of these 3 faces be Caroline? Does she have playmates too?

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These last 2 faces appeared in the front display window of Everything Williamsburg:

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If you look closely in the left front window of the top photo, you will see this wispy white wraith in the bottom panes. Could this be Caroline?

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__________________________________

After 2 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 10,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography (Part 1) available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon, nominated for consideration in the nonfiction category for the 19th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:

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Part 2 of this book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world. Here is the link:

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Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.

Join me on these social media sites:

Please help support these free blogs: https://www.patreon.com/timscullion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timscullionauthor/

Schiffer: http://www.schifferbooks.com/haunted-historic-colonial-williamsburg-virginia-with-breakthrough-ghost-photography-6030.html

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Published on January 03, 2019 12:05

Barnes & Noble Bookstore Ghosts

After discovering that my book was exclusively featured in a local Barnes & Noble window display, I had to take a photo. The problem—I only had my ghost camera with me, so I had to use it. As happenstance would have it, a window featuring a book on Breakthrough Ghost Photography would also feature—what else—ghosts! So I have no paranormal tales that could possibly identify these wraiths, but you can bet when I have my book-signing there on November 10th, I will be asking the employees a lot of questions. In the meantime I will show the phantom faces that I photographed in the store featuring my two books on what else but phantom photography.

Since I can’t give you any past information on the history of this property before it became a bookstore, I would like to just let you know what the serendipity of discovery was in this case. To do so I have to go back about ten years, when I had just watched a movie with my family, and at the movie’s final scene the protagonist is standing right outside a bookstore with his newly found love interest. As the camera pans out you can see that the bookstore window features the just published book written by the main character, and I said to my family: “How cool would that be—to go to your local bookstore window and see your book solely featured on display!” So back to the present day, I just finished my ghost tour and returned to my car to get my camera equipment because it was the October full moon. I walked past the Barnes & Noble store window on my way back into Colonial Williamsburg, and out of the corner of my eye as I passed I could see something familiar: The front cover of my book, normally 7 inches by 10 inches, is now a cardboard cutout at least three feet tall, and two of these cutouts are prominently displayed in this very large display window on the right front of the store. Six copies of my book are also displayed amongst the store’s Halloween props at the feet of the oversized cover replicas. If that weren’t enough, the window display for my book was more than twice the size of the window in the movie, so I can’t express in words how I felt seeing that display. The closest thing I could say was that it was the realization of a dream, and perhaps all my hard work will finally pay off. So I just had to take a photo of the window, and wouldn’t you know it—there are ghosts in it (off to the top right of the photo). Even when I’m not looking for them, they seem to show up . . . as some of my friends, family, and colleagues have suggested—perhaps they know what I’m doing . . .

Here are the faces from the window at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore that features my book, Haunted Historic Colonial Williamsburg with Breakthrough Ghost Photography. Hopefully one of the employees will recognize at least one of these faces when I have my book-signing next month.

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__________________________________

After 7 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 22,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography (Part 1) available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon, nominated for consideration in the nonfiction category for the 19th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:

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Part 2 of this book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world. Here is the link:

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Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.

Join me on these social media sites:

Please help support these free blogs: https://www.patreon.com/timscullion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timscullionauthor/

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Published on October 27, 2018 13:28

Other People’s Photos of the Paranormal

Ever since my interview with George Noory on Coast to Coast coupled with my ghost tour of Colonial Williamsburg, people have been sending me their photos of ghosts. I will post the very best ones that are sent, with credit going to the person who took the photo(s). Last week I posted a photo by Donna H. (I usually put the first name and just the initial of the last name for privacy’s sake.) and was immediately attacked by a self-appointed photographic expert who “knows” that the photo was a fake. I know the photo was not fake—I saw it in the camera—but what I have discovered is that to argue with some of these people is pointless; I might as well try and reason with a wall. In response I’ve decided to start collecting a body of photographic evidence from around the world, and continue to post it—not for the self-appointed experts who cry fraud, but for the people sitting on the fence between belief and disbelief. For some people, no proof is ever good enough, but for those with an open mind, this may persuade them to believe that modern technology is just beginning to open our eyes into the anomalous world of the paranormal. I’m devoting this blog to those that have sent me their paranormal photos with this very hope. If you read this, please send your untouched paranormal photos along with your name and copyright year to this site. (If you can put your name and copyright year on the photo yourself—out of the way at the top or bottom—that would save me time. If you would like your full name used, please let me know!) Although I have a very expensive camera that has been modified, and I’ve been successful at taking paranormal photos in quite a few places, that still does not take away from the fact that anyone, if they are in the right place at the right time and under the right conditions, can take a photo of a ghost. From time to time, I will post the very best photos, along with credit going to the photographer, and I would like to start with Donna H.’s photo at the Whetherburn Tavern taken just a few weeks ago:

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Here’s an amazingly clear photo by Jeannie Elliot of a Swannanoa ghost taken in broad daylight; notice she is missing her hand:

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A photo of a ghost emerging from a hexagon-shaped orb, taken at the Peyton Randolph House by Jacqueline T.:

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A daylight photo from New Orleans by Thomas Robbins shows a “mist” by some pedestrians; if you look closely you can see faces within the mist:

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Here’s a photo by Michele L. of a face in the back of the Peyton Randolph House that was taken in the daylight:

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14-year-old Eli F. captured this face in a downstairs window of the Raleigh Tavern:

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An animal ghost, perhaps a ghost dog, by Laura E. at Shield’s Tavern:

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An electromagnetic storm from a paranormal presence photographed by Jo Ann K.:

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Schiffer: http://www.schifferbooks.com/haunted-historic-colonial-williamsburg-virginia-with-breakthrough-ghost-photography-6030.html

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Published on September 03, 2018 20:09

Going Inside Williamsburg’s Most Haunted

The Peyton Randolph House is one of the most haunted in all of Virginia, perhaps on the East Coast—a subjective opinion of those that have seen, heard, or even felt one of the many malevolent forces that dwells inside. (I’m told that Colonial Williamsburg has denied several attempts by the Ghost Adventures crew to have a “lock in” at this haunted, dark domicile.) I have had a tour group in front of this house when a rolling “mist” came across the field in Market Square (right behind the group), stop, and then completely disappear in a spit second as everyone watched. I have had groups observe as the single candle in each window during the Christmas season is snuffed out at about 10:00 p.m. (when the battery is supposed to last till 2:00 a.m.) as if somebody is walking through the building and draining each light’s battery. Whole groups have heard what sounds like someone smashing mirrors and furniture inside the house, but have witnessed Colonial Williamsburg Security go inside to find nothing broken or out of place. Why all of the paranormal activity? Some say it’s due to several suicides during the house’s long history (the original part of the home was built in 1715), some say the activity inside is demonic, and the newest theory is that the house was built right over a Native American burial ground.

I have many photos of the entities that live there, including one that looks like a young girl of about nine or ten. I had several people tell me of a painting of a young girl inside the house that looks like my ghost photo, and so I went to the house during the daytime to tour the inside—hoping to find and photograph the young girl’s painting so that I could compare the likeness of my photo with that of the painting. During my tour through the Randolph House I was disappointed to learn that the painting of a young girl was not in the house. At the end of the tour I asked about the young girl’s painting, but our knowledgeable guide informed me that Peyton and Betty Randolph had no children. “I know that,” I said, “but wasn’t there a painting of a niece or some other family member here?” He replied with a bit of condescension in his voice, “No.” but it was a former interpreter who worked at the Randolph House that told me about the painting.

Here is the face of the young girl I captured in one of the windowpanes at the Peyton Randolph House.

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So I left disappointed, but I went home and downloaded the photos I had taken on the tour, hoping that something paranormal might show up in one of the photos to make the trip worth it. On my first run through of all the photos I found nothing, but upon a slower, closer look I found that a very small portion of the vanity mirror in Betty Randolph’s room was visible, and in it I saw the angry face of a young African-American woman. I immediately thought this might be “Eve”, the personal attendant of Betty Randolph, who ran away during the Revolutionary War. The royal governor of Virginia had issued an edict stating that any slave who helped the cause of the British army would get their freedom papers. She never made it—she was captured and whipped severely, and forced to come back and work for her haughty mistress. Betty Randolph even wrote into her will that Eve was supposed to be separated from all the other Randolph slaves (basically her friends and family) and auctioned off separately because of her attempt to run away. Some interpreters think that one of the angry ghosts who inhabit the Randolph House is Eve, and that she tries to shove the people that work at the house down the stairs. So take a look at the photo of Betty Randolph’s bedroom, and look for the corner of the mirror. As always, I have zoomed in, cropped, and enlarged the visible part of the mirror so that you can see the young African-American woman’s face as well as other smaller, less conspicuous faces, seemingly trapped in the glass of the mirror. So my afternoon trip was worth it—I may not have found the painting of the little girl, but I did find a young woman who is still angry over the abuse, separation from friends and family, and the forced labor she endured during an ugly chapter in our country’s quest for independence and freedom.

This is Betty Randolph’s bedroom; notice a rectangle is drawn around the visible corner of the mirror at her vanity:

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Here is the corner of the mirror taken from the same photo, enlarged so that you can see the young, angry African-American’s face—visible from across the room. Can you make out other faces in the mirror?

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__________________________________

After 2 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 10,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon, nominated for consideration in the nonfiction category for the 19th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:

https://www.amazon.com/0764355724

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Part 2 of this book will be released in September, 2018, although it’s available for preorder right now. This book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world. Here is the link:

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Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.

Join me on these social media sites:

Please help support these free blogs: https://www.patreon.com/timscullion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timscullionauthor/

Schiffer: http://www.schifferbooks.com/haunted-historic-colonial-williamsburg-virginia-with-breakthrough-ghost-photography-6030.html

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Published on August 17, 2018 17:14

Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona . . . Haunted?

Antelope Canyon, the most photographed slot canyon in the world, is haunted? Yes! Carved by the rushing, swirling waters of rainstorms from eons past, this beautiful canyon of gold, purple, brown, and black sandstone is an enigmatic attraction for people from every part of the globe. I was there purely on a mission to capture the ethereal beauty of the naturally engraved rock, without a thought about the paranormal (who would live in a place where rushing water would periodically inundate and ravage solid rock?). I was in Upper Antelope Canyon, a very narrow (slot) canyon that is about 660 feet (200 meters) long with a depth of about 120 feet (37 meters) that is part of the Navajo Tribal Park in Page, Arizona. The entrance fee was $60, but I paid almost three times that fee for a special photographer’s tour where our Navajo guide would take us to special parts of the canyon at special times to capture sunlight streaming down into the canyon to illuminate the spectacularly colored sandstone. Sometimes the beam of sunlight was no larger than a pin-spotlight and as bright as a laser, as if it, and not millions of years of water erosion, was responsible for making the swirling cuts into the side of the canyon. Our guide (for a group of three other photographers and myself) was great, but there were so many people in other groups being pushed through the narrow sandy walkway that you could not help but feel rushed as other guides from these groups pressed to get into each area. Our guide informed us that they would not have any more photographer tours in 2019, so despite the pressure to hurry up, get the photo, and move, I was glad to be able to photograph the canyon on this special tour.

Closeups of the faces in the “mist”:

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Several times while I was photographing this stunning stone canyon, I felt a rush of unusually cold air, but being that there was such an urgency to position your camera, make the appropriate settings (ISO, f-stop, time exposure, focus), and take your best shot that I did not have time to dwell on the cold anomalies when the temperature outside was in the upper 90s. It was not until I got home and downloaded my photos to my computer that I realized what had happened: A group of ghosts had moved passed me at several stopping points in the canyon and positioned themselves right in my field of view so that I was able to capture them on camera. I had been to Antelope Canyon several years before and took many photographs inside, and had never experienced any cold spots—nor did I capture anything paranormal. Why was this year any different? During one of my past speaking engagements in Maryland, I met psychic Rob Gutro, who informed me that he knew immediately who I was and about my paranormal photography without ever seeing or meeting me before. He also stated that the ghosts knew who I was and what I was doing, and that all came back to me as I looked at the photos from Antelope Canyon. Were these lost souls (from who knows how long ago) there to be recognized because they also knew who I was and what I do? Since I’m not psychic myself, I can’t say for sure, but Rob’s words came to mind when I saw the ghosts in my photos.

One thing that I have noted from taking so many thousands of paranormal photos: Ghosts like to travel together in what appears to be a white mist, and I cannot help but think that they pool their energy together for movement. The problem with the mists is that although it may be effective for travel, it’s not good for photography—the mist is just a blur of faces and parts of faces, with no distinguishing, identifiable features to recognize. As you will see there are quite a few faces in this moving mist of anomalies, but nothing clear enough to identify even the sex or race of these individuals, let alone the time period they were from. I can’t help but think that they, like the group of ghosts I captured on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg (Chapter 28, Breakthrough Ghost Photography of Haunted Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia, Part II, available here: https://www.amazon.com/0764355724 ), may span hundreds of years in time from one ghost to another, and they can’t help but share their present dimension and yes even their own spirit’s energy, even though they may have never crossed paths when alive. So although you cannot recognize the visages of those in Antelope Canyon, you will recognize that quite a few ghosts gather in this place of unparalleled beauty—perhaps that’s why they chose it . . .

Notice that the streaking light in this photo is bending at an angle–sunlight doesn’t do that:

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Here’s more photos of the ghosts of Antelope Canyon:

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__________________________________

After 2 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 10,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon, nominated for consideration in the nonfiction category for the 19th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:

https://www.amazon.com/0764355724

[image error]Part 2 of this book will be released on August 28th, 2018, although it’s available for preorder right now. This book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world. Here is the link:

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Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.

Join me on these social media sites:

Please help support these free blogs: https://www.patreon.com/timscullion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timscullionauthor/