Hauntings | Books Take You Places

Happy Friday, all! What an excellent week we have had for Fortnight of Fright! I’ve had so much time reading everyone’s posts and to end the week we have Vyki from On the Shelf to tell us all about a haunted jail. As you guys know I LOVE “real” horror stories, and this one is no exception! Take it away, Vyki!

The Haunted Jail

There are lots of creepy haunted places that come to mind when we think of Halloween, cemeteries, run down factories, old mental hospitals, scary looking old houses, but one of the creepiest I know of in my county is the old jail. Opened in 1958 right before the original jail was torn down, the metal bars of this jail has seen a lot over the years. Though it has been updated some though the decades, the cosmetic touch ups can’t hide the creepiness underneath. It is what you think of with a traditional older jail. Metal bars, clanging doors, dreary cement walls, and graffiti scribbled or etched into every space available. Those walls have witnessed who knows how many beatings, stabbings, deaths and suicides and it seems like some of those who died still stay within those cells. Walking down the barred corridors makes you feel like there are several eyes staring at you from the empty cells and you can almost hear the echos of the clang clang clang of inmates running things along the bars.

The most chilling areas of the jail, however, are the solitary cells. These were the cells where the extremely violent and mental people would go; those who couldn’t play nice with others and lost touch with reality. These were isolated and dark, with tiny fractured windows, and if you listened hard enough, you could hear the screams of the insane still ringing about. For a very short time, we had to open the old jail to house some inmates while some renovations were being made to the new jail, and during the stay, both inmates and officers talked of the strange incidences that occurred. Noises, clanging, footsteps, water running, even a figure passing across the camera monitor that was never there. Night of course was always the worst times and officers dreaded having to work their third shift in the creeptastic building. I’ve been to the old jail twice and both times were during the day and even in the light, it gave me the willies. I think if they were allowed to turn it into a haunted tour for Halloween, it would be the most popular and scariest around! And I’m certainly glad I never had to be someone working or housed in this heeby jeebies building!

Wow!! I love the whole atmosphere surround this jail, it sounds so intense! Thank you so much for joining us today, Vyki! Readers, don’t forget to head over to Brittany’s blog to see what she has featured today! Happy haunting!

Welcome friends! Thanks for joining me for A Fortnight of Fright over here on Books Take You Places! Fortnight of Fright is an event hosted over two weeks, by myself and Brittany from The Book Addicts Guide, we will be featuring some fabulous posts on all things Halloween!

Today I am going to share some creepy places around New England and we have a guest post from a fellow blogger!

After taking a peek around here, make sure you head over to Brittany’s blog to enjoy some more Halloween fun!!

I am going to stick to New England haunts since that is where I live so first let’s take a look at some of the most haunted places in Connecticut:

Dudleytown: I don’t know anyone who hasn’t heard of Dudleytown, Ed and Lorraine Warren have dubbed this one of the most haunted places in Connecticut and growing up around here it seems that everyone has a story of what goes on in this forest. The story starts off as many do, settlers came to the area and slowly, things started to happen. Things such as suicides and murders!

Norwich State Hospital in Preston, CT: I am slightly obsessed with abandoned asylums and hospitals. They are beyond creepy and it isn’t hard to imagine all of the ways they are haunted. Lucky for me, Connecticut has quite a few of them Unfortunately, patients at Norwich State Hospital were severely mistreated and at times, even tortured. Therefore, it is no question that this is a hotbed for paranormal activity. I have a few friends who snuck in here while we were in college and WOW did they have some stories to tell. These places are of course patrolled by A LOT of police but every time we head toward the casino I make sure to drive by slower than usual speed. You can really feel a difference in atmosphere even from the road.

Salem, MA: How can I not mention Salem? The terrible witch trials took place hundreds of years ago and it’s no wonder why people believe spirits haunt this town. I was lucky enough to take a trip to Salem with Heidi from Bunbury in the Stacks yesterday and I’ll be recapping it for you all tomorrow!

This really is a small percentage of the amazing “haunted” places all over New England. Any place with history is bound to contain some memories, and sometimes these moments lead to paranormal experiences.

If you’re interested in this kind of thing, you should check out The Top Haunted Places in Connecticut.

Let’s hear what Vyki from On the Shelf has to say!

Spooky Local Lore

Every county has some kind of spooky local lore. One of the places in my county is an old cemetery behind one of our local colleges called “Hell’s Gates,” and it has been called this for so long that I can’t even remember what its actual name is. This is one of the creepiest cemeteries I have ever been in!

One a trip to Hell’s Gates one night on a rather cold November night, me and a friend of mine decided to take the camera out and see what we could catch on film (that’s right, film). As soon as we entered into the cemetery, the car heated up and we had to roll the windows down to let the cold air in to cool us off, and it definitely wasn’t the car’s heating system since it didn’t work. When we got the film developed, every picture was full of orbs. For those of you who don’t follow ghostie things, orbs are a way that ghosts show up in pictures. Are they really ghosts? Maybe, maybe not, all I know is that the pictures were FULL of them!

The most known story about Hell’s Gates is the myth about going in and out the same way when you visit the cemetery. It is said that you need to make sure you come in and leave from the exact same entrance; otherwise, one of the cemetery’s ghosts will follow you home. About a year after my sister and her husband moved in to their new house, she decided she was going to go with some friend to Hell’s Gates. When leaving, she went through a different gateway than she came in, not paying any mind to Hell’s Gates’ lore. The whole way home she felt as if someone was following her. Went she walked into the house, she still felt as if there was a presence, and she tried to ignore it. What she couldn’t ignore was the footstep sounds coming from the back room and hallway. She checked around the house and never found anything. Her husband also double checked, but still found nothing at all. From the night she visited the cemetery until they moved out a few years later, there were constant thumps and bumps, footsteps and sometimes even door opening and closing sounds that came from that back bedroom and hallway. Apparently, the ghost became a new house resident and claimed that bedroom!

I want to go back out some night to take some pictures with my digital camera and see what I can catch, but I will definitely be making sure I come out the same way I went in.

Sounds pretty creepy to me! What do you guys think? Do you have any local lore or ghostly stories to share?