Tag Archives: ghost

The Haunted Radisson Hotel – Tucson

Text

R – “Okay, so it was May, and I was in Arizona. We (himself and his co-workers) were staying in a hotel because we lived in Glendale Arizona but were in Tuscon for work. I just got off of work and went to go take a shower. I shower, hop out grab a towel, look in the mirror and all I see is a little girl staring back at me. She had blonde hair and was wearing a blue shirt. I could see it vividly. Then I wiped my face and eyes and she was gone. I went downstairs to the desk and asked if this hotel was haunted. The worker said he didn’t think so, so I followed up asking if someone had died in the hotel. The worker then said plenty of people had died in this hotel, so I asked if a little girl died in the hotel. The worker said no just older people. So, I asked if there were any murders and the worker quickly said that he could not answer the question. I looked it up and found out that a lot of workers have reported hearing child-like giggling when alone.”

Interviewer – “What did you do after that incident?”

R – “Of course, I slept in my coworker’s room because I am not dealing with that.”

Context –

This story occurs in The Radisson in Tucson Arizona a few years back. R, 29, is originally from Washington State but has since moved to numerous states and countries due to being in the Air Force. This story takes place during one of his work trips for the Air Force.

Analysis –

After hearing about this encounter, I researched The Radisson Hotel in Tucson and found plenty of recounts of paranormal occurrences and murders. Others have encountered similar experiences including TVs and lights chaotically flickering like someone is playing with them, or crying sounds heard in the ballroom. However, I was not able to find a claim that fully supports R’s event of a little girl. Despite not finding exact matching claims I think that R was speaking his truth about the situation due to him normally being a paranormal skeptic and similar stories.

Familial Haunting

Text –

T – “When I was growing up, my grandfather was a pain. We lived in a house with a basement, living area, then an attic. Every time we would leave the house we would turn our lights off. Well, every time we came home the lights would be on. It was eery. Then in the middle of the night, he would pace the attic floor and turn on the TVs when we were sleeping. He didn’t do much else but he always did that. That was my experience with my grandfather… or maybe another spirit, in my childhood home.”

Context –

This story was told by T, age 32, born and raised in western Washington. She tells me about who she believes to be her grandfather who haunted her childhood home. However, she has some doubts about if it was truly her grandfather. Since growing up, T has not been to her childhood home again and is unsure if there have been any recent updates on the spirit she believes roams the attic.

Analysis –

The part of Washington we are from has notoriously old homes with a lot of history from being on native lands and tales from the old lumber age when the town was in its glory. I personally think there was some form of spirit messing with T’s family. My most likely guess is it is her Grandfather as he would have a familial connection as well as that the haunts did not start until his death.

A Call from Screaming Jenny

  • Informant: HB
  • Nationality: American
  • Primary Language: English
  • Other language(s): n/a
  • Age: 51
  • Occupation: Author
  • Residence: Wilmington, Delaware, United States
  • Performance Date: November 22, 2023

Text

“In 1995, I was living in Charlestown West Virginia, going to Shepherd University and taking a photography class with an actual camera- so you would develop pictures in the blackroom.

I vaguely knew a ghost story about Jenny on the train tracks, but I ignored it because I didn’t believe in these things. 

I went to take photographs around West Virginia and at one point I went to one of the train stations along the train tracks in between Charlestown and Shepherdstown, and I parked my car at what used to be the train station, but this train station had been closed for years. I walked across the street and there was this really cool old fashioned telephone booth- the kind that had like an ear handle and then you spoke into the actual box- but I was nowhere near the phone, at least twenty feet away, and I hadn’t gone near it. I was taking pictures of it just because it was a great photography project picture: this phone booth in the middle of nowhere.

And then the phone started ringing, which I thought was very strange because I was in the middle of nowhere, with no one around me, and it was late at night too.

I actually thought I was on.. what was that show called? Oh! candid camera, where they prank people and put it on TV. I thought this had to be a joke. 

So, I walked up to the phone booth to pick it up and when I picked it up, I realized that the handle was no longer attached to anything and, actually, the phone itself was attached to nothing – there were no wires going in or out of this phone booth, it was just ringing, and it actually terrified me and I ran to my car and drove away as fast as I could.

So, the story I researched later- because that had freaked me out so badly – was that, this girl Jenny – and this is true actually – she caught on fire and died on the train tracks, and then people who ride the train say they hear her screaming at night – which I did not hear her screaming, but I had the weird phone booth thing right on the train tracks by the train station”

Context

The original legend referenced in this collection, The Tale of Screaming Jenny, is a common folklore story throughout West Virginia that took place in the town of Harpers Ferry. In order to contextualize the encounter of the informant, I familiarized myself with a few versions of the legend that have been shared online. According to the legend, there was a woman named Jenny who lived in one of the storage sheds that were abandoned after the construction of the B&O railroad. Jenny had no friends or family to look after her, forcing her to inhabit one of the small sheds. Although no specific date is provided, all recountings of the story indicate that it was on a cold autumn night when Jenny went outside to warm herself by a fire that a spark landed on her skirt and quickly engulfed her in flames. Jenny began screaming for help, running towards the train station, and blindly stumbled onto the train tracks. A train approached the woman, now appearing more as a “ball of flames”, but Jenny was unable to detect the train in the midst of her panic, and there was not enough time for the engineer to stop before running her over. Although recountings vary, many indicate that Jenny’s screams are heard by train passengers when passing through the area of Harpers Ferry and that train engineers have repeatedly encountered the same “ball of flames” at the very spot where Jenny died.

Everyone at Shepherd University had heard the story of Screaming Jenny, and HB had heard about it from a classmate. The informant shared that, before this encounter, she had never given the legend of Screaming Jenny much thought because she did not believe in ghosts or anything of that nature. However, following the strange occurrence she experienced by the train tracks, her opinion shifted. As the informant mentioned, the encounter terrified her and provoked her to further research what happened to Jenny and encounters which people had associated with her spirit. The encounter was able to shift HB’s thoughts on the story, as her initial disbelief gave way to some semblance of plausibility. 

Analysis

This encounter paired with HB’s explanation for the occurrence can be viewed as a memorate, or an oral narrative told from memory recounting a personal experience that is interpreted in the context of an existing legend or folklore belief. In my opinion, what caused the experience to be so memorable to HB was not the paranormal aspect of the experience, but more so the availability of known legend to which she could attribute this occurrence. If the informant had not been familiar with the tale of Screaming Jenny, she likely would have ignored the ringing phone on the train tracks, or at least would have forgotten about it after some time. However, because the tale of Screaming Jenny instantly came to mind when she encountered the phone ringing without any wires, she remembers it as a supernatural encounter with a legendary ghost. 

A ghostly interruption

  • Informant: AW
  • Nationality: American
  • Primary Language: English
  • Other language(s): n/a
  • Age: 19
  • Occupation: student
  • Residence: Bay Area
  • Performance Date: November 29, 2023

Text

“One time when my dad was a teenager both of his parents were working at like midnight because his mom was taking the nursing shift and his dad was working too. It was the middle of the night, he was home alone, and his door was closed and he was playing video games and then he stopped, and he heard footsteps coming down to his room and then he heard breathing on the other side of his door, and he was really scared he was like ‘Oh my god what the f-’ and then he was just like scared and didn’t know what was happening so he was just like frozen. Then later when his dad came home they looked around and obviously there was nothing there, there was no one there, but my dad thinks it was a ghost”

Context

This story was shared with me by a peer at USC who had mentioned that her dad had some ghost stories from his childhood. The informant’s father told her this story a while ago, and she believes him because it seems to her like this would be a weird thing to lie about. The informant shared that this story took place in a small community in Western New York.

Analysis

This story is a great example of people using ghosts to explain things they can not otherwise explain. While it is possible that the informant’s dad heard both footsteps approaching and breathing outside the door, it is also quite possible that he heard a creak on the stairs and filled in the rest with his imagination. As humans we are all naturally curious about the phenomena of the world and instinctively pair them with whatever explanation brings us the most comfort so as to avoid living in fear or uncertainty. Ghosts and ghost stories often function as a means to that end, as the ghost in this story likely did for the informant’s father. 

The Ghosts of Eddison and Ford Estates

Text: “One popular myth from my town is that about the Edison and Ford Winter Estates being haunted by the ghosts of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. The estates used to be the winter homes of these two famous inventors, and after their deaths, there have been reports of strange occurrences and paranormal activity. According to the legend, the ghost of Thomas Edison is said to wander his estate, tinkering with machines and conducting experiments. Visitors have reported hearing strange noises and seeing unexplained lights, and some claim to have seen Edison’s ghostly apparition.

Similarly, the ghost of Henry Ford is said to haunt his estate’s gardens and greenhouse. Some visitors have reported hearing the sound of footsteps and seeing the ghostly figure of a man walking among the plants. I was always too afraid to visit and the houses were pretty far from my home, but it was still a super scary story I heard about in like middle school.”

Context: This story was told in a lighthearted manner because me and JD are very close, but I could honestly tell that telling the story kind of made him uncomfortable or on edge. While not necessarily a super famous legend among the whole state of Florida, it was apparently very common in the immediate city where JD resides. He was first told the story by his cousin when he was in the 6th grade, which likely explains why he became frightened when talking about it. JD is personally a believer in ghosts and super natural beings but he is unsure about whether or not this particular ghostly legend is true or false, but he also has no intention of finding out or “getting anywhere near those places”. JD and I had a good conversation about how the story circulated among his friend group but because of his superstition he was frightened of the story.

Analysis: I personally found this legend fascinating. I think The ghost stories associated with the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, Florida add a layer of intrigue and mystery to the already fascinating history of these historic sites. According to legend, both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford are said to haunt the estates, with many visitors and staff members reporting paranormal activity and unexplained phenomena. While there is no concrete evidence to support these claims, the ghost stories associated with the Edison and Ford Winter Estates add to the sense of mystery and intrigue surrounding these historic sites. Many visitors are drawn to the estates specifically because of these stories, hoping to catch a glimpse of the supernatural. It’s worth noting that many of the ghost stories associated with the estates may be attributed to the power of suggestion. The estates are known to be haunted, and visitors may be more likely to see or hear something unusual if they are already primed to believe in the paranormal. Because many people believe these ghosts to be real, but they are not yet proven to be so, this falls perfectly into the category of a legend. I for one had no idea these famous figures resided in Florida, but I was interesting in seeing them after hearing this legend.