Edinburgh's Blair Street Vaults

 
There are few places in the world quite as haunted as the Edinburgh's Blair Street Vaults. Also known as South Bridge vaults or just Edinburgh Vaults, the place consists of a series of nineteen chambers arches. The vaults were home to local taverns and shops but later became a safe haven for thieves, murderers and all sorts of nasty figures, making it one of the most dangerous places in the city.

Eventually, living conditions proved to be unsuitable even for these criminals, who could no longer tolerate the poorly circulated air and lack of sunlight, running water, and sanitation. Things became so bad that by the 1860s, most of the vaults had been emptied and filled with rubble, so as to prevent flooding and discourage ongoing crime.

Legend:

According to many paranormal investigations, the Edinburgh Vaults are reportedly one of the most haunted locations in the world. Mustering up all of our courage, our group went on a ghost tour of the vaults, learning of the spirits that still roamed its corridors from the 17th and 18th centuries. 

One of the famed ghosts is known as “Mr. Boots,” an evil entity who is believed to have murdered a woman and kept the body in his “house” inside. He hates the people who tour the vaults, and allegedly gets angry or even attacks anyone who dares to sit in the spot where the body was hidden. The most common reports of his presence, however, are the sounds of thick, heavy boots, stepping ever so slowly around visitors.

A woman described her encounter with Mr. Boots as:

“She told us of the presence of a malevolent male ghost who was very strong… he told her to get out of the vaults… She had tried to reason with him but he made a lunge at her and she saw him very clearly… He said ‘get out’ repeatedly. He was very territorial.”

There are also some other spirits which are not so terrifying. One is called "The Aristocrat", who is a well-to-do gentleman with a tall black hat and beard and is often seen leaning against the wall between the double height room and the tavern. With folded arms, he watches and grins at people as they pass. The other is called "The Cobbler" who is believed to be a shoemaker from the late 18th century, he is described as a short, stocky man wearing a long leather apron and a white shirt. He is known to smile at people as they pass, and is generally felt as a positive presence.

There is also a young spirit called "The Child". He is a small boy who wanders through the vaults, aged at about six or seven. He is described as having “blonde, curly hair and is dressed in a smart, blue suit with knicker-bocker trousers.”

Other unusual occurrences have also been reported around the vaults, with a member of staff at an adjoining bar once reporting leaving an orange on the counter for a few seconds while he put something in the bin, only to find it perfectly peeled when he looked back.

Investigation:

In 2001, Professor Richard Wiseman conducted a study of people spending time the vaults and concluded that, since those people who believed in ghosts reported more supernatural occurrences that those who did not believe, and since there were more “sightings” and odd events in rooms the participants had been told were haunted, that much of the experience was created in the minds of the people who went in there.

In contrast to this however – and perhaps lacking the academic credentials of Professor Wiseman – was Joe Swash, who spent a night in the vaults by himself in 2009 for a BBC programme, during which his microphone supposedly recorded the voice of a Catholic priest reciting the last rights for 20 minutes, something Swash himself never heard.

Others take down Electronic Voice Recorders, light meters and other ghost-hunting gadgets, and invariably all report strange, unexplainable readings.

For those that work there, however, there’s no need for any specialist equipment - just nerves of steel to go down into the dark vaults after everyone else has left the building.

Historical paranormal locations, like the Edinburgh Vaults, that embrace their haunted legacies are some of the coolest places to visit, because not only are you getting the opportunity to step back in time, you might even get to interact with the spirits who were there when it all happened.

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Black Mountain

The Black Mountain, known to the Aboriginals as Kalkajaka meaning ‘the place of the spear’, is located in Queensland, Australia. The area is a national park and has a unique range of wildlife, including species that are endemic only to this area, many of which are rare.

Appearance:

The mountain is made up of large piles of black granite rocks and huge granite boulders, some of which are said to be the size of small houses. According to geologists, these rocks and boulders were formed 250 million years ago by solidified magma formation and the absence of soil to fill in the gaps and cracks between the rocks means there are many tunnels and caves within the mountain. The black granite also serves to give it a very dark and eery appearance. 

Legends:

As you would expect from such a spooky place it is rich in legend and folklore. The Aboriginal call it the mountain of death. The legends of the mountain are taken very seriously by the local aboriginal people and they are said to avoid the place like the plague. There are so many caves, tunnels and mazes within this mountain making it very easy to get lost. The mountain is known for some very strange sightings and disappearances and the natives have a lot of very disturbing stories surrounding the Black Mountain. 

One of the most famous of these stories involves a wicked medicine man known as the eater of flesh. The local tribe was so scared of this man that they would actually let him eat their old and sick hoping to appease his cravings for human flesh.  But it seems that one day his hankering to chow down on humans got the better of him and he killed and ate a tribal chief who he had caught napping.

Black Mountain boulders

For the rest of the tribe, as you can imagine this was the last straw. So they banded together and off they went to have a word with the Eater of Flesh. Of course, being well versed in the ways of magic it wasn't much of a problem for him to transform himself into a giant snake and he made his escape into the heart of the Black Mountain. It was there that he spent his days, only venturing out to satisfy his hunger for the meat of fellow humans. Ever since that time both people and animals who ventured too close to the mountain have disappeared, never to be seen again.

The first documented disappearance, involving European Settlers, occurred in 1877,

a courier named Grayner was out on horseback in search of a missing calf in the vicinity of the mountain. When Grayner failed to return a search was undertaken but no trace of Grayner, his horse or the calf was ever found.

A few years later an outlaw named Sugarfoot Jack and some members of his gang were on the run from the authorities. They had decided to hide out in the black mountain, but after an intense search by police nothing more was seen or heard from them.

Then in around 1890, another strange disappearance took place. This time a police constable Ryan and some trackers from near by Cooktown had tracked a fugitive to the mountain of death only for the trail to go cold at the entrance to one of the many caves. Ryan decided he would enter the cave and try and corner his man, but Ryan and the fugitive never came back out of the mountain.

An inside look

There is another story of a station owner who went by the name of Harry Owens. One day he had made his way to the mountain in search of some lost cattle and did not return. His absence was soon noticed by his partner George Hawkings who went to the police to report him missing, before setting out to search for him. It seems misfortune also befell Hawkings, as it has been recorded that he also did not return from the mysterious mount. So the local police force was brought in and conducted a search of black mountain for the two missing men. Bravely two officers of the law entered one of the caves but only one returned. Apparently, the one that came out was so shaken by what he had witnessed in there that he could not give a coherent account of what had occurred.

Now the Black Mountain started to get a reputation from the white settlers. The natives have always known to stay clear of this area and in the 1920’s two reporters were determined to get to the bottom of this mystery and they went to the black mountain and they too were never seen again. Even the trackers that went to go look for them also disappeared. 

Conclusion:

Whether one believes any of the folklore or spooky stories surrounding Black Mountain, it is certainly a harsh, unfriendly place that instills a certain sense of unease and dread in those who see it. It remains a place of many unanswered questions and a mystery waiting for explorers to uncover its secrets.

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Capcom is offering $70K for proof of monsters

The video game developer and publisher is looking for evidence that monsters exist in the real world.

As part of its promotional campaign for the release of new game 'Monster Hunter: World', Capcom has teamed up with cryptozoologist Jon Downes to come up with a list of real-life monster legends.

A prize of $70,000 is on offer to anyone who can prove that any one of these is actually real. If you want to become a real-time monster hunter, this is the chance!

"Speaking to the world's leading real-life monster hunter, Jon Downes, we were inspired to re-open investigations into a select list of top 10 beasts, setting a huge bounty to really encourage people to get back out hunting for evidence," said Capcom's Senior PR Manager Laura Skelly.

The list of eligible creatures includes Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Mongolian Death Worm, the Chupacabra, the flying snake of Namibia, the Yeti, the Yowie and the Cornish Owlman.

"Much like in the new Monster Hunter: World game, we thought it was only right that the scale of the reward fit the task at hand," Skelly wrote in the press release.

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The Ghost Of Dorothy Durant

In 1665, a bright 16-year-old schoolboy named Bligh suddenly became depressed and withdrawn. His friends, observing the change without being able to find the cause, attributed it to laziness, an aversion to school, or to some other motive which he was ashamed to avow. He was led, however, to tell his brother, after some time, that a ghost was troubling him. Twice a day, while walking to and from school through a field in Launceston, England, the ghost of a late neighbor named Dorothy Durant (who had been dead about eight years) would silently follow him. 

Ridicule, threats, persuasions, were alike used in vain by the family to induce him to dismiss these absurd ideas.Only his headmaster, Mr. Ruddle, was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The next morning, walking together with his pupil in the field, Mr. Ruddle was shocked to see Durant pass them by. He would see her spirit several more times after this.

On a morning in late July, Mr. Ruddle encountered the ghost again and tried to talk to her. At first, the apparition was reluctant to speak. Her voice was hard to hear, and her words were unintelligible, but Mr. Ruddle had a conversation with her that lasted 15 minutes. In the evening, Durant’s ghost met the headmaster on his way home. This was the last time she ever appeared but after exchanging a few words it vanished into thin air.

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Masterton Monster

Masterton Monster (By Simon Winheld)

Masterton Monster is large, unidentified, vicious marine mammal was said to have had a brutal encounter with a pack of fierce hunting dogs, resulting in the unfortunate death of one of the canines.

The initial account comes to us from the "New Zealand Times" on May 9, 1883. Although there is almost no background information regarding this creature, the account still serves as one of the many examples of a legitimate news source chronicling a spectacular cryptozoological event.

According to the article, a large, unknown — though presumably marine — animal, with a broad muzzle, short legs and curly hair was reported near the town of Masterton. The report further stated that fearful townsfolk loosed their dogs upon the beast, at which time one of the canines was “flayed.”

The ferocity of the animal’s attack was enough to discourage the remainder of the dogs, who swiftly ran in the opposite direction. The account ends there, but from the few available details one can put together an intriguing, albeit hazy, image of the creature.

The description of its “short legs” would seem to indicate that the animal had feet instead of flippers, and the mention of “curly hair” has made many researchers lean toward a mammalian rather than reptilian or amphibious creature. Perhaps, when all is said and done, the Masterton Monster might have been nothing more than a large and mutated otter.

Although the creature has often been associated with the 1890 case of EUROA BEAST, it is interesting to note the  similarities between the creature described and the Australian BUNYIP, as well as the notorious “Irish Crocodile”, known in Gaelic as the DOBHAR-CHU.

This mysterious monster gained global fame when it was chronicled by the illustrious Charles Fort in his 1931 paranormal opus “Lo!”:

“New Zealand Times, May 9, 1883 — excitement near Masterton — unknown creature at large — curly hair, short legs, and broad muzzle. Dogs sent after it — one of the dogs flayed by it — rest of the dogs running away — probably ‘with their tails between their legs,’ but the reporter overlooking this convention.”

An Aerial View of Masterton Town

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Felixstowe Fire Demon

On an autumn evening in 1965, a group of British youths were cruising the town when one of them had a terrifying encounter with a fiery demon that would leave him scarred for life.

Felixstowe is an Edwardian seaside town nestled on the North Sea coast of Suffolk, England. The bustling hub offers a plethora of fascinating sights, but none so strange as the one seen by a group of friends who were joyriding through the town on their way toward Essex at approximately 10:30 pm. on the eve of September 20, 1965.

The group consisted of the driver, 25 year-old Geoffrey Maskey, and his passengers, Mavis Fordyce and Michael Johnson. For reasons not know, Maskey pulled over to the curb next to a hedgerow on the tree lined Walton Avenue.
The youngsters were engaged in lively conversation when Johnson abruptly opened the car door and wandered out into the murky night. Fordyce and Maskey exchanged perplexed glances as their cohort vanished into the Stygian blackness, but simply assumed he had gone to use the bathroom in the woods.

Just moments after Johnson disappeared behind the shrubbery skirting the woods, Maskey and Fordyce heard what they described as a “high-pitched humming” sound. Fordyce grew anxious as the loud humming noise began overwhelming them and Maskey leaned out the window to try and determine the origin of the annoying noise

It was then that he observed an oval-shaped, orange object suspended in the sky over 90-feet above his car. He estimated that the UFO was about 6-foot wide and both he and Fordyce claimed that it was glowing so brightly that it bathed the surrounding countryside in its eerie orange glow.

After the event seemed to have ended, the two friends realized that Johnson was still in the woods. Anxious, they started to call him, without success. Maskey threw his car in reverse gear before calling him again.At the end of a few moments of distress, Michael finally reappeared, but he looked shocked, staggering and holding his head. His friends first believed he was joking, but when the young man suddenly collapsed, they rushed to help him.

Fordyce tried her best to make Johnson comfortable as Maskey hopped behind the wheel and sped away from the forbidden forest and the strange orange light toward the nearby Felixstowe hospital.
Once at the hospital Johnson regained consciousness, but he was suffering from amnesia and could not recognize the friends who had rescued him, much to their dismay. The doctors on duty at the relatively small hospital diagnosed a serious case of shock.

They also noted that he had unusual burn marks on the back of his neck and a contusion above his right ear. The doctors then decided that it would be best to transfer Johnson to the hospital of Ipswich, which was far better equipped to deal with Johnson’s injuries and psychological condition.

The following day Johnson recovered his lost senses and when his friends came to visit him he told them of his mysterious encounter with a strange alien entity in the woods next to Walton Avenue. Johnson claimed that when he abruptly got out of the car the night before he was compelled to do so by an unknown pressing “force,” which insisted that he go into the woods.

Johnson told his friends and doctors that he was forced to walk into the dark forest — although he was unable to recall the distance— where he encountered what he described as a humanoid being with large luminous eyes that were glowing in the darkness.

Johnson swore that he had no memories of what happened next, until he woke up the following morning in a hospital bed. It is obvious that the doctors who heard this young man’s bizarre tale were skeptical to say the least and the newspaper reporters from the Ipswich Evening Star who published the strange account on September 21, 1965, were equally incredulous.

Nevertheless, Johnson’s friends  who had bore witness to the fiery, egg-shaped UFO with their own eyes — believed their pal and knew all too well that something strange and terrifying had transpired in the woods near Walton Avenue that dark night.

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Helltown

History:

Hell Town is a nickname given to the northern part of Summit County. The areas most often associated with the Hell Town legends are Boston Township and Boston Vilage, as well as parts of Sagamore Hills and Northfield Centre Townships.These areas are often collectively referred as Boston Mills.

Boston Village was founded in 1806 and stands as the oldest village in Summit County. The first mill was built in the village in the early 1820’s. Later, the construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal brought more people to Boston, and over the next few decades mills began to flourish in the area – most prominently a paper mill. When a railroad station was constructed in the town in the early 1880s, the station was named "Boston Mills," in reference to the paper mill.

In the late 1960s, a nationwide movement began that expressed concern over the destruction of our forests. In response, President Ford signed legislation in 1974 that enabled the National Park Services to purchase land and use it to create national parks. On December 27th, 1974, hundreds of acres of land, including some within the Township of Boston, were officially designated a National Recreation Area.

The homes were boarded up and listed as property of the government, some standing for years before being demolished.Residents began leaving in droves, and entire townships were swallowed up by the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. These events were so tragic that they were featured in the 1983 PBS documentary "For the Good of All." Perhaps the general feelings of the displaced homeowners were best summed up in a statement found scrawled across the wall of a vacated home: "Now we know how the Indians felt."

Stanford Road

Legends:

The number of stories circulating regarding Hell Town are so numerous that it is nearly impossible to track them all. 

There is the Presbyterian church which is said to have been built by Satanists complete with upside down crosses. The abandoned bus is said to be host to lingering ghosts and, maybe most outlandish of all, there is talk of mutants who were created by a chemical spill, including a monstrous snake known as the “Peninsula Python.” 

The steep Stanford Road drop off, immediately followed by a dead end, is aptly named The End of the World. If you get stuck at this dead end for too long, according to legends, you may meet your end at the hands of many members of the endless parade of freaks patrolling the woods.You may also check the Boston Cemetery, home to a ghostly man, grave robbers and, the quirkiest of all, a moving tree.There are also rumors of different cry baby bridges around the area.

Boston Cemetry

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Paja Tomic (Vampire)

Although most Europeans stopped taking vampires seriously by the 20th century, belief in the creatures persisted in some rural areas. In the Bosnian village of Tupanari, for example, in 1923, a case of vampiric manifestation happened in Bosnia. The story started on the death of a village peasant named Paja Tomic on April 9. 1923 (Some says that it was May 1923, but the date May 1923 is the day that the case was published in the local newspaper but based on the book of Alan Dundes  The Vampires: A casebook the incident happened on April 9, 1923).  Soon after his death, his wife named Cvija was alarmed about the sightings of her husband during the night.  She claimed that her husband appeared on random guests and scares the occupants.  She also said that her husband has turned into a vampire.  Some villagers immediately believed her claims but some of them disregarded it.  But when her sons Krsto and Stevo told them that they also have an eerie experience with the vampire, the villagers started to grown weary.

The two siblings called the attention of the town and asked them on what measures they should take in order to repel this evil creature. Finally, they made the conclusion that this vampire should be destroyed.  The two siblings together with some of the town members storm to the cemetery to hunt the vampire.  They exhumed the body of Paja Tomic and struck the corpse with a stake made up of Hawthorn, which they believe has a magical element that strongly opposed the undead element.  They also burned the body of Tomic and dispersed the ashes.  The remaining bones were returned into the grave.

The incident was picked up by a local newspaper. According to the report published on May 23 of 1923:

“…an old peasant Paja Tomic…died…the 9th of April this year.  Shortly after his death, his wife Cvija began to complain that her dead husband had begun to return nights as a ghost and that he ran throughout the house scaring the inhabitants.  There are some who believe Cvija and some who did not, though she has unceasingly asserted that her husband is a vampire and that he returns every night.  Thus things went on for a whole month and then, it is said, her sons also became aware that there was a vampire in the house.            Stevo and Krsto Tomic, the sons of the deceased man, called the whole village to a discussion of what could be done about their father who had become a vampire.  All of the peasants were in agreement that the vampire must be destroyed.  They decided that they must dig up the corpse, burn it and disperse the ashes.  The decision was put into action.  The peasants, armed with pickaxes and shovels, went to the cemetery.  Some carried wood for the fire and one prepared a pointed hawthorn pole.  The peasant crowd, led by the sons of the deceased Paja, arrived at the cemetery.  The corpse was dug up, it was pierced by the hawthorn pole and thrown onto the stakes.  After the body was burned, they dispersed its ashes, and those few charred bones which remained were thrown back into the grave…”

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Highgate Vampire

Highgate Cemetery was constructed in 1839, but by the 1960's it had fallen into neglect and decay.Overgrown and sprawling, the gothic Victorian graveyard seemed the perfect setting for the strange and sinister events that would follow.

In the early 1970s, a wave of panic spread around the north London suburb of Highgate. There was a vampire on the loose.Tales of the sinister ghostly figure and bizarre occult rituals at the famous local cemetery had led many residents to fear for their safety.

Although Highgate cemetery had long been a hotspot for ghost sightings, the local and national media would soon come to seize on this particular apparition.

Chronology:

In the 1960's and early 1970's, many people reported to the local newspaper, the Hampstead and Highgate Express that in the early evening they had seen a figure that they took to be the Highgate Vampire inside Highgate's Western Cemetery near the main gate. The phantasm was described as a tall, red-eyed man wearing a black cloak and tall black hat. When the newspaper published the reports, thousands of people flocked to the cemetery in the hope of catching a glimpse of the spectre.

At that time, the Western Cemetery was in an appalling condition. The graves and tombs were overgrown and the graveyard was vandalized. Bones could often be seen falling out of rotting coffins and also from those coffins that had deliberately been set ablaze by vandals. The cemetery even had its own 'satanic cult' that frequented the place after dark. They used the easily obtained bones along with small animals which they caught and killed, in their 'rituals'.

In 1963 two 16-year-old convent girls were walking home at night after having visited friends in Highgate Village. Their return journey took them down Swain's Lane which passed along cemetry's north gate.What they encountered was so terrible they were frozen to the spot, transfixed with fear.

They had come face to face with what would later become known as the Highgate vampire. A tall, dark figure, floating behind the railings. Its face was the worst thing, a ghoulish nightmare contorted in horror. 

More sightings would follow. A man walking his dog saw the same tall dark figure sliding over the wall along Swain’s Lane like ‘black treacle’. In 1971 several years after the many publicised vampire sightings, a young girl claims she was actually attacked by the vampire in the lane outside the cemetery. She was returning home in the early hours of the morning when she was suddenly thrown to the ground with tremendous force by a "tall black figure with a deathly white face. At that moment a car stopped to help her and the vampire "vanished" in the glare of the headlamps.

She was taken to the police station in a state of shock, luckily only suffering abrasions to her arms and legs. The police immediately made a thorough search of the area, but could offer no explanation to the incident. More mysterious still was the fact that where the vampire vanished, the road was lined by 12ft walls.

Another interesting case is that of the man who was hypnotised by something in the cemetery. He had gone into the cemetery one evening to look around, and as the light began to rapidly fade he decided to leave, but became hopelessly lost. Not being a superstitious person he walked calmly around looking for the gate when suddenly he became aware of something behind him. Swinging around he became "hypnotised with fear" at the tall dark figure of the vampire confronted him. So great was the intensity of his fear that he stood motionless for several minutes after the vampire vanished. He later recalled that it was almost as if he had been paralysed with fear by some force.

A group calling itself the 'British Psychic and Occult Society' decided to investigate the Highgate Vampire. Members visited the cemetery one night, cast a 'protective circle' and attempted to invoke the demon. The police had been warned and when they turned up, the society members scattered. Their president, David Farrant, was caught and arrested. A wooden stake was found in his possession. It was pretty obvious the use to which they planned to put it. At the subsequent court case, Farrant was acquitted because Highgate Cemetery was legally open to the public at any time of the day or night.

The society allegedly gave up its investigations of the vampire in 1973. However, David Farrant was again in court in 1974 in connection with Highgate Cemetery. He was charged with maliciously damaging a memorial, interfering with a dead body, attempting to influence witnesses and, most seriously, possession of a firearm. For this latter offense, Farrant spent some time in prison.

However, David Farrant wasn't the only one looking for the Highgate Vampire. Sean Manchester of the 'British Occult Society' said that he was investigating phenomena at the cemetery in 1967. He claimed to have discovered several girls who had the traditional puncture marks on their necks after they had visited the cemetery. A couple of them even involuntarily sleep-walked. In this state, one girl is supposed to have made her way back to the cemetery at night and Manchester saved her by throwing a crucifix in her path. 

Manchester told the media the date when he intended to lay the Highgate Vampire and hundreds of people turned up to watch. Despite police being there, Manchester and his friends managed to make a hole in the roof of a tomb. Inside they found three empty coffins. These, they sprinkled with garlic and holy water and put a circle of salt around each.

In an interview with the Hampstead and Highgate Express in February 1970, Manchester claimed the figure was a ‘King Vampire’, an undead 15th-century Romanian nobleman who had practiced black magic in Wallachia, the home of Dracula himself.Traveling to England, he had somehow ended up buried in what would become Highgate. Manchester told the paper that the vampire had been revived by the activity of the Satanists that were said to operate at the cemetery.

The people interred in Highgate Cemetery can now rest in peace. The vampire has gone and those intent on desecration can no longer get in at night.

In 1975, the Friends of Highgate Cemetery was set up. They cleaned up the graveyard, provided proper gates and had the remains they found out of place respectfully re-intered. The FOHC now provide a guided tour of Highgate Cemetery which is absolutely fascinating.

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Duwende

Duwende have been defined as different but similar things: goblins, hobgoblins, elves, dwarves, gnomes, little spirits, and more. The name comes from duende, the Spanish word for goblin/elf, and dueño, the Spanish word for the "real owner of the house." They live in houses, trees, underground, and other rural areas. They also live in mounds, which makes them mistaken for "nuno sa punso," which means "old man of the mound."In some stories Duwende are a separate race and in others Nuno and Laman Lupa are simply another Duwende.

Appearance:

Duwende is Spanish word for “dwarf” and these creatures resemble small dwarves or gnomes who dwell underground, in trees, or sometimes take residence with humans who leave them offerings. They stand about 3-6 inches tall and usually have white, grey, or black skin. In some descriptions they only have one eye and one nostril.

Legend:

The Duwende could easily be substituted with the elves from the fairy tale about the elves and the cobbler. When treated well and left offerings (particularly sweets, fruits and chocolate), they will help the land and those kind to them become prosperous with their enchantments. Usually somewhat benevolent, they have been known to be quite helpful “house spirits.”

However, if you cross a Duwende or are rude, they can be quite spiteful. They are also said to love minerals and gold much like classic fantasy dwarves or leprechauns.

It’s very important to note that politeness, offerings, and following the form of the old ways is very important to Duwende and their ilk. So if one minds their manners when encountering a Duwende, they will likely receive aid and information. If one is rude, bad luck and curses of all sorts will befall them. In some stories, this is associated with their color (white for good luck, black for bad). Those cursed by Duwende have been known to hallucinate and fall into near comatose states. 

Duwende usually come out at noon for an hour and at night. Phillipinos who believe in the existence of Duwende leave food on the floor so that the Duwende can be peaceful and protective of their homes. However, they can still be little tricksters who love to steal things and laugh while you search for it, only returning it when they feel like it or if you tell them to (please) return it. (Check out this tale of someone's encounter with a Duwende!) If really provoked, Duwende can cause sickness or even death upon its victim.

Some Phillipinos use the story of the Duwende as a cautionary tale to children (and adults too) to not snack after bedtime. One story goes that if you creep into the kitchen at night to get a snack, the Duwende can take your soul and trap you inside any kitchen equipment nearby (you wouldn't want to be trapped inside your rice cooker, would you?). To get children to finish their food, parents threaten the Duwende would come after them.

Phillipinosbelieve that saying, "Tabi-tabi po" or "Bari-bari apo ma ka ilabas kami apo" can help keep the Duwende from playing tricks on you. The phrases excuse the person for bothering the Duwende.

When the Duwende aren't hiding people's belongings or trapping people in rice cookers, they sing, make noise, throw sand and pebbles, knock over kitchen utensils, and sometimes even play with children.

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Haunted door brazil

A truly disturbing new video from Brazil is currently going viral with the people of Reddit. (They love being scared.) It was posted Tuesday morning with the title "Creepy cam footage of forcefully slamming door at Brazilian morgue."

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Kumakatok

The Kumakatok ("door knockers") are a group of three robed figures which are said to knock on doors in the middle of the night and bring bad omens. They allegedly look like humans, but wear hoods that obscure their faces to some extent. One resembles a pretty, young woman, while the other two look like elderly men.These figures are usually omens of death, the eldest member of the family dying after they show their presence.

A visit from the Kumakatok is usually an omen of death, as either the eldest member of the house, or one who is ill, will be visited and subsequently die. The visits are supposedly more frequent after a disease outbreak. Residents of  Luzon and Visayas at one time painted white crosses on their doors to ward off the Kumakatok. This trend was said to cause the trio to switch from residences to government buildings, hospitals, and even churches.

There are no stories of how the group was formed or where they originated but tales about them have popped up all over the Philippines.Reported sightings of the Kumakatok have declined significantly since World War II. One explanation is that many buildings were destroyed at that time, leaving the Kumakatok few doors upon which to knock.There were no accounts of anyone answering the three.

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The Enfield Horror

The vast reaches of forest and open fields of southern Illinois, combined with the sparse population in some areas, seem to invite weirdness that might not occur in cities and more crowded locales. In the most southern portions of the region, the Shawnee National Forest covers miles and miles of territory. The acres of forest seem almost untouched by man and some believe that strange things occasionally pass through here, unseen by human eyes.

This southern portion of the state is sometimes referred to as the “Devil’s Kitchen”, a designation left behind by the Native Americans and the early settlers to explain strange sights and sounds like unexplained balls of light, apparitions, screams in the night and various other unsettling types of phenomena. The Native Americans often considered such sites as “sacred” but the settlers usually believed them to be “cursed”, or at least well avoided. The idea that such locations were linked to the "Devil" was the first thought that crossed the minds of the bible-reading, god-fearing folks and they promptly set about to do two things. They learned to avoid these strange and haunted places and secondly, they gave names to the spots to alert other visitors and settlers of the dangers of the area. In the case of the Devil’s Kitchen, just about anything is possible, from ghosts reports to mystery animals and weird monster sightings.

Appearance:

The Enfield Horror was described as a 5 ft tall, gray-skinned creature having three legs with three clawed feet, two stumpy arms coming out of the chest region and having big pink eyes the size of flashlights.

Chronology:

During the early 1970s, something horrible stalked the small town of Enfield, Illinois. Although Illinois is already home to phenomena such as strange lights, phantom black panthers, and Thunderbirds, something even stranger briefly haunted the people of this town. On April 25th, 1973, Henry McDaniel was among the first to encounter this terrible aberration, the Enfield Horror.


At 9:30 on the night of April 25, 1973, McDaniel and his wife had returned home, and were greeted by their two children, Lil and Henry. The kids proceeded to tell him a tale about how some “thing” had tried to get into the house by scratching on the door. Shortly thereafter, Henry was alerted to a peculiar scratching sound at his front door. He expected to see a dog or a cat, but what he met instead was far stranger.

Assuming that it was some sort of stray animal, a skeptical Henry McDaniel cavalierly approached the door and yanked it open. What he saw before him would have shook even the most courageous man to the core.

What Henry found, to his terror, was a creature that “had three legs on it, a short body, two little short arms, and two pink eyes as big as flashlights. It stood four-and-a-half-feet tall and was grayish-colored. It was trying to get into the house!” .Needless to say, McDaniel was not letting it in, he slammed the door, and rushed to grab his .22 pistol and a flashlight. Henry proceeded to fire on the creature four times, and according to him, “When I fired that first shot, I know I hit.” The beast hissed at him (most sources say that it sounded like a wildcat) and proceeded to bound away in long leaps across the yard, eventually becoming lost to McDaniel’s sight as it made its way towards the railroad embankment and the cover of the trees. He asserted that he had seen the thing cover fifty feet in three leaps.

McDaniel quickly called the police and Illinois state troopers who responded to the call found tracks "like those of a dog, except they had six toe pads." The tracks were measured and two of them were four inches across and the third track was slightly smaller.Investigators soon learned that a young boy, Greg Garrett, who lived just behind McDaniel, had been playing in his yard about a half-hour before. Suddenly, the creature had appeared and attacked him. Apparently, though, it just stepped on his feet, but this was enough to tear the boy's tennis shoes to shreds. Greg had run into the house, crying hysterically.However, the police couldn’t find any trace of the entity, so things cooled down for the moment.

On May 6, Henry McDaniel was awakened in the middle of the night by howling neighborhood dogs. He looked out his front door and saw the monster again. It was standing out near the railroad tracks. "I didn't shoot at it or anything," McDaniel reported. "It started on down the railroad track. It wasn't in a hurry or anything."
McDaniel's bizarre reports soon brought publicity to Enfield and prompted the threats from the county sheriff, but it was too late. Soon, hordes of curiosity-seekers, reporters, and researchers descended on the town. Among the "monster hunters" were five young men who were arrested by Deputy Sheriff Jim Clark as "threats to public safety" and for hunting violations. This was after they had opened fire on a gray, hairy thing that they had seen in some underbrush on May 8. Two of the men thought they had hit it, but it sped off, moving faster than a man could.

Other witnesses came forward. Among them were Rick Rainbow, the local news director of WWKI radio. Rainbow claims that he and three others sighted the creature running near an abandoned home not far from the McDaniel's property. Rainbow allegedly was able to record a vocalization of the creature and shared it with noted cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman. Upon investigating Loren told the press, "I traveled to Enfield, interviewed the witnesses, looked at the siding of the house the Enfield Monster had damaged, heard some strange screeching banshee-like sounds, and walked away bewildered."

Between the years of 1941 and 1942, there was a string of similar sightings in the small village of Mt. Vernon (which is, ironically, less than forty miles away from Enfield). These encounters involved a mysterious leaping beast that terrorized the local people, and is supposedly responsible for numerous animal deaths and mutilations in the region.

The locals called the creature "the Mt. Vernon Monster," and described it as being vaguely baboonlike in appearance and able to leap anywhere from twenty to forty feet in a single bound. However, this creature is likened more to the Devil Monkey than the Enfield Monster. But it is a possibility that this was, in fact, the same creature.

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The Beast of Croglin Grange

Among the great plagues of vampirism which spread across Eastern Europe during the seventeenth century, perhaps the most famous account is that of Arnold Paole, a Serbian soldier who became known as the Vampire of Meduegna.

The phantom of Croglin Grange is one of the best known vampire stories in Britain. It is as famous in the annals of vampire lore as Whitby and its Dracula associations. The actual story bears the marks of fiction and first appeared in a book called 'In My Solitary life' by Augustus Hare related to him by a certain Captain Fisher. What follows is an adapted and shortened version of his story.

Legend:

The area around Croglin in Cumbria has long been linked with strange beasts. Back in 1733, in the nearby village of Renwick, as workmen were pulling down the old church, they said they disturbed a sleeping Cockatrice (a medieval monster), which flew up and attacked them. Others laughed and said it was just a bat, and bats were harmless, weren't they! However, it was only a century later when another beast brought terror to Croglin Grange.


Croglin Grange is a low granite-brick farmhouse, standing on a hill overlooking a valley. Nearby is an ancient churchyard. In the 1800's the Fisher family, who owned the farmhouse, moved to a larger place and rented out Croglin Grange.

The house stood empty all winter who knows what ancient stirrings were aroused in its period of dereliction.As the winter passed into spring new tenants moved in. They were two brothers and a sister namely Edward, Michael and Amelia Cranswell; three young Australians who were visiting England and had fallen in love with the Cumbrian countryside and the isolated but beautiful house. The siblings were very friendly and soon became popular with the locals.On their part, the tenants were greatly delighted with their new residence. The arrangement of the house, which would have been a trial to many, was not so to them. In every respect Croglin Grange was exactly suited to them.

About a year later, one summer's night in 1875, feeling 'a little under the weather', after eating an early dinner and enjoying some fresh air on the veranda, the three siblings retired to their own rooms. Moonlight bathed Croglin Grange. It had been very hot. It was such a beautiful night that Amelia left open the shutters of her ground floor bedroom.

The old farm yard was filled with shadows. Among the shadows there seemed to be two flashing lights away near the churchyard. As they moved closer, Amelia could see they were eyes, but of what animal she could not make out. Making sure that the window was shut fast and the door locked, she went to bed to try and sleep.

An Artist's Depiction

Some moments later, she heard a rustling sound and looked up to see the eyes staring at her through the glass of the window. Around the eyes, the poor girl glimpsed a shrivelled brown face. Then she heard the horrid sound of nails scratching at the window pane. Amelia leapt from her bed and ran to the door, her heart thumping as she tugged at the handle. It would not open! Remembering she had locked the door, she groped for the key.

Her hands were shaking so badly that she fumbled and could not work the key. Another sound made her made her blood run cold. The creature was pulling away the lead strips which held the window panes in place. A pane rattled, then fell out. A bony arm came through the broken pane and began to open the window. Amelia desperately rattled the key.

Seconds later, she was aware of something in the room. She tried to scream but no sound would come. The hideous thing moved toward her. It twisted its long bony fingers in her hair. Finally, as it drags her across the bed and sinks its teeth into her neck, the paralysis is broken and she utters a piercing scream which both alerts her brothers to the danger and also seemingly drives the vampire away. Blood curdling screams brought the brothers running to her door. They forced it open with a poker and rushed in to see Amelia collapsed on the floor with blood oozing from bites in her neck.

Michael looked after his sister while Edward rushed to the window and could just make out a strange figure vanishing through the arch in the farmyard wall.Then he rejoined his brother by the sister's bedside. The doctor was called and he gave Amelia a sleeping draft. He would not believe that she could bear so terrible a shock so easily, and insisted that she should take a long holiday to get over the shock. As for the intruder, well, he could only think it was a madman or a monkey escaped from a travelling show.When she came to herself she said, 'What has happened is most extraordinary and I am very much hurt. It seems inexplicable, but of course, there is an explanation, and we must wait for it. It will turn out that a lunatic has escaped from some asylum and found his way here.' 

As soon as Amelia was a little better, they left for a holiday in the Swiss Mountains. But, such was Amelia's fondness for the old house, that at her insistence they returned to the grange the following year where all appears to be normal. The Swiss air had dimmed the horror to a misty memory.The sister occupied the same room, but it is unnecessary to say she always closed the shutters, which, however, as in many old houses, always left one top pane of the window uncovered. The brothers moved, and occupied a room together, exactly opposite that of their sister, and they always kept loaded pistols in their room.

While she was away there had been other reports in the area of girls being attacked by a strange bony creature. And a wave of sheep killings had also begun. Edward heard of these things and his worry grew.All was well through the autumn and winter. Then, one night in March 1876, Amelia again heard the same horrid sound of fingernails on the glass. The creature broke open the shutter and was trying to enter, when her cries brought the brothers to her room.The well-armed brothers charged out the front door, shooting at the creature as it ran away.Edward ran to the yard and in the wintry moonlight caught sight of a tall, cloaked, shadowy shape.He fired his pistol and the monster staggered and gave a howl before stumbling over the frosted fields towards the churchyard.

He returned to his brother and sister. The next day, at dawn, the brothers gathered together the Gamekeeper and some men from the village and went to the misty graveyard. At first nothing looked wrong,then they saw that the mossy top of the Fisher Family vault had been moved and lay partly out of place.

Inside, the tomb was in a terrible mess, except for one stone coffin. The villagers drew back, as the brothers tore off the lid of the coffin. Inside, lay a hideous brown and mummified figure.Features could still be seen on the wrinkled skin, now walnut coloured through age. In the thin, yellowed skin of one leg was a fresh shotgun wound!

One of the villagers stepped forward. He told the brothers he had seen this same creature of the night attacking and killing livestock. He said the only way to destroy it was with fire. The shocked villagers all agreed that the hideous corpse should be burnt immediately.

Sped on by terror, the men hurried away to find wood and, in the far corner of the graveyard, they built a huge bonfire. With trembling hands, they lifted the mummified creature from the coffin. Desperate to get rid of this horrible burden, they stumbled across the ground and cast it into the fire. As the sun rose the beast howled and crumbled to ashes in the flames. Since that day, the terror of Croglin Hall has never been seen again.

Croglin Low Hall

Nobody seemed to know where this strange creature came from, or why it had remained dormant in the centuries of peace when the Fishers lived in the property. One can only surmise that during the period of dereliction, an age-old horror was reawakened and would not return to rest after the house was reoccupied.

Hare’s account of the Croglin Grange story has been a victim by many critics who said that it was pure fantasy. Recent research by Lionel Fanthorpe suggests that the story is much older than reported. A chapel and vault closer to the house were demolished in Cromwell's day, and a second storey was added to the house after this date. So the description from the story matches much better in the 17th century.The spot where the story is said to take place is probably the very real Croglin Low Hall.

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