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Encounters Archive:

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2008 Encounters:
Ghost in the Cheney Mansion Mirror - Jerseyville, Illinois
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Accidental Automatic Writing - Pickerington, Ohio

Ghosts in Our House - Clintonville, Wisconsin
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The Old Woman Who Passed Through a Car - Lakewood Ranch, Florida

Old Hag Syndrome - Little Rock, Arkansas

Phantom Footsteps at HMCS Acadia - Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, Canada

The Woman in a White Robe - Sheffield, Alabama

Strange Lights on Cuba Road - Barrington, Illinois

Wilderness Battlefield Apparition - Locust Grove, Virginia
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Lighting Candles - Rochester, Minnesota

Pulling My Son's Leg - Chester, Arkansas

Mom's Visit - Rockland, Massachusetts

Shadow People Following Me - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Girl Playing the Flute - Honolulu, Hawaii

A Haunted Desk? - Stoughton, Massachusetts

Being Watched - Moore, Oklahoma

A Haunting Melody - Nebraska

Two Black Wolves - Goldsboro, North Carolina

The White Glowing Entity - Danvers, Massachusetts

Haunted Person or Haunted Place? - British Columbia, Canada

Tormented - Warren, Pennsylvania

Ghostly Mist at a Pub - Carrollton, Texas
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It Crawled Into Bed With Me - Bono, Arkansas

Grandpa Joe's Coma Visit - Cincinnati, Ohio

Ghost Cat Presence - Novat, California

Psychic Impressions at a Victorian Home - Peoria, Illinois

A Disappearing Car - Duluth, Minnesota

Black Mass Filmed During Investigation - Northern California
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Mildred's Ghost - Licking, Missouri

Glowing Figure on the Porch - Niles, Ohio

Tag Aboard the Star of India - San Diego, California

Ghostly Image Caught at Gym - Overland Park, Kansas
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My Floating Sister - Leavenworth, Kansas

My Aunt's Spirit at Meling School - Bmlo, Hordaland, Norway

A Scary Sleepover - Billings, Montana

Socks Back From the Grave - Kellogg, Idaho

Meeting Great Great Gramma - Freeport, Florida

The Man in Mum's House - Castleford, West Yorkshire, England

Haunting at the Silver Queen Hotel - Virginia City, Nevada

My Haunted Childhood - Norfolk, England, UK

An Angry Little Girl - Valentine, Nebraska

The Girl With the Ring - York, England

Oatman Hotel Ghost - Laughlin, Nevada
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The Falling Lamp - Southampton, England

Laughter on the Spiral Staircase - Springville, New York

I Miss My Dad EVP - Northwest Ohio

The Toowong Experience - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

A Glowing Cigarette - Phoenix, Arizona

Black-Hooded Entities - Kentucky

A Civil War Soldier - Gladstone, Virginia

Ghost Boy and Girls - Chicago, Illinois

The Man in Blue - Rock Rapids, Iowa

My Son's Spirit - [location withheld]

A Misty Oval - Los Chavez, New Mexico

An Unruly Customer - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pirate Ghosts - Milton, Florida
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Shadow Person Passing By - Medford, Massachusetts

Haunted Chair? - Gainesville, Florida

The Shadow - Pluckley, Kent, England

Various Encounters - Anoka, Minnesota

The Scarecrow and Mr. Lincoln - New Bern, North Carolina

The Boy in the Mirror - Los Angeles, California

Red Flashes on Video - Milton, Florida
Ghost video


Dad's Home Early - Pontiac, Michigan

Old Man in a Flannel Shirt - Millbrook, Alabama

The Old Lady With a Lantern - Tampa, Florida

The Thing From the Ouija Board - Upstate, New York

Civil War Soldier's Ghost - Gonzales, Louisiana

Scared and Annoyed - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Waverly Hills Sanatorium Sighting - Louisville, Kentucky
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Angel of Death in the Courthouse - Washington, DC

The Shadow Man and Nun Statue - Cortez, Colorado

The Figure in the Window - Amherst, Virginia

The Hovering Sadness - Alabama

The Girl That Wasn't There - Dunedin, New Zealand

Unseen Helping Hands - Albany, Oregon

The Crash in the Hallway - Lake Charles, Louisiana

Apparition in Williamsburg - Williamsburg, Virginia
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The Shadow Behind the Door - Martinez, California

A Hotel Guest's Final Goodbye - Derbyshire, UK

The Little Man in Our Room - Brazil, Indiana

Dark Figure in Chicago Museum - Chicago, Illinois

Thanksgiving Ghosts - Colorado

Three Knocks That Saved Me - Round Rock, Texas

The Man in My Closet - Arlington, Texas

The South Bridge Poltergeist - Edinburgh, Scotland

Shadows in the Closet - St. Theresa Point, Manitoba, Canada

Looking For the Bars - Williamsburg Hill, Illinois

The Man at the Top of the Stairs - Carthage, Missouri

My Fear of the Supernatural - Lebanon, Kentucky

My Friend in Time of Crisis - Waterbury, Connecticut

Old Jim on the Warehouse Floor - Rochester, New York
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My Spirit Contacts - Kentwood/Middleville, Michigan

Watch For the Lady in the Bird Cage - Tombstone, Arizona

Faces in the Camouflage - Taqqaddum, Iraq
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A Skeptic Near Pinewoods Cemetery - Troy, New York

Shoe Shopping From Beyond - Huntington Beach, California

The Man in My House - Welland, Ontario, Canada

A Haunting Near Channel Road - Sanger, California

Faces in the Mirror - Billings, Montana

Sharing My Bed With a Ghost - Mexico

The Slender Spirit - Pembroke Pines, Florida

Shadows in My House - Ocala, Florida

My Haunted Office - Las Vegas, Nevada

Shadow in the First Baptist Church - Boise, Idaho

The Little Girl's Shadow - Chattanooga, Tennessee

Knocks at 2 AM - Naples, New York

A Possessed Patient - Ashland, Kentucky

A Haunting in The Booter - St. Andrews, Scotland

Ghosts at Union Station Hotel - Nashville, Tennessee

My Family's Haunting - Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

Happy 2008 to the Spirits on the Land - Milton, Florida
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The Tall Man Gatekeeper - San Rafael, California

The Evil Force - Marin Headlands, California

Cold Wet Grandfather's Visit - Oostende, Belgium

Haunted Barracks - Dermott, Arkansas

Cell Phone Calls From Beyond - Simsbury, Connecticut

A Little Girl at Stone's Public House - Ashland, Massachusetts

Bones in the Basement - Kansas City, Missouri

A Woman's Voice - Richmond, Virginia

A Dark Mist - Barbers Point, Hawaii

The Hanging Soldier - Nyack, New York

Shadows in My Home - Tijuana, Mexico



June 30, 2008

The Scarecrow and Mr. Lincoln

Rate this encounter:
Votes:42 Rating: Rating = 6.14 Ratings Breakdown
Doug Kruger, New Bern, North Carolina, June 2006

My oldest son is an airline pilot and my wife and myself went to North Carolina to visit him and his wife. They owned a pottery business and leased a store in downtown Old New Bern, which used to be an old city hall prior to and during the Civil War. I have always been interested in history and looked forward to seeing their new business, which was going very well for them. My son wanted to show me the upstairs to this very old building. One night while the girls were painting pottery, we decided to take a look around. Now I must say that I have always been interested in ghosts, the paranormal or whatever you would call it, but never had an opportunity to investigate, so I took this as a chance I might not have again. We looked all throughout the building and made plans to get cameras etc. and come and do some investigating. After looking through the whole building, I was intrigued with a small room that after looking at it for some time, left me with the feeling it was maybe a courtroom with a raised pedestal for a judge's bench on one end.

Now, as I said before, the girls were downstairs and knowing there were mice upstairs, they would never ever come up for any reason. My son suggested taking one of his cats with us, as he said he read they were supposed to be sensitive, so he put a leash on one, and we went up. He went up to the fourth floor and I gravitated to this "courtroom" on the third floor. The first strange thing that happened to us was that on the way to the small courtroom up a winding staircase, I saw an inscription in black paint on whitewash, it was very old, and it read "Three and Thrice, Three Cheers for Abraham Lincoln." Now I know this sounds really weird, but it absolutely looked authentic and when I look at it to this day, it still gives me chills. Yes, you see, after our "experiences" I took the liberty of removing the board and sending it home to Minnesota. My wife wouldn't let me bring it on the plane with us considering the "other" that ended up in the box with it. But back to the room... My son first took the cat with him and I set a single candle on a fireplace mantle about two-thirds down the hall from the bench area. I had my back to the wall and sat on a camping chair we brought up for the occasion. Keeping in mind the inscription on the way up on the wall, I started talking as if there might be someone from the past still around. This went for about half an hour at which time I heard my son coming down from the fourth floor. He asked me if I had anything happen and I told him no. He said the cat was bugging him and asked if I would take it for a while. I did so and said to him I'd like to spend a little more time in here. He said okay, and proceeded to go back up to the fourth floor. Now I put the cat on my lap and it was intently watching the candle on the mantle to my right. I started talking again and after about 10 minutes got absolutely no response. I then stupidly and amateurishly deduced that I wasn't getting through to anyone who might have been there. I started to make statements that this "entity" was a coward and didn't deserve to wear the military uniform. I must say in retrospect, that this was a rather risky course of action. I was also demanding by this time to give me a sign if he was really here. At one point after calling this "being" a coward, there was, what I can only describe, as if you had a black cat firecracker go off to my left and only about three feet away. Now normally, being pretty much a skeptic to these things, I would write it off to my imagination. But when there's no flash of any kind and the cat, while sitting nicely on my lap mesmerized by the candle to my right, jumped up and freaked out to my left, and had every hair on his body standing up, I must tell you, it got my attention and as I recall, I said, "Good one!"

I heard nothing from my son as I would normally hear him moving around toward me, so it couldn't have been anything caused by him. I then started back in on this stupid line of statements to get another response. I said, "That was a good one, but give me some real evidence." To my dismay, there were no further episodes, or so I thought. After some period of time of silence, I heard my son making his way back down and when he reached me, I asked him if he had heard the bang, which he replied he hadn't. I explained what had happened and we decided to call it a night and started to go back downstairs. When we reached the last doorway before the stairs to the store we had to side step a Halloween Scarecrow about three-feet tall standing in the doorway. I said to my son, "Good one, trying to scare me, huh?" He said, "What are you talking about? I was above you on the fourth floor, and would have had to come by you to place it there."

When we both realized neither one of us did it, he freaked out and kicked it into the other room. Then we went downstairs and told the girls what happened. After about a half hour, I realized that this was the proof I was demanding and told my son we needed to go back up there and get the scarecrow. I also told him that I wanted to get the inscription. We went back up and retrieved them both and I have them to this day. My wife won't let me keep them at our house, so they've had to live out at my airplane hanger.

I know this sounds incredible, but I am a different person because of it, and this is the first time I've told any group of my experience.




2014 Haunted New England Wall Calendar by Jeff Belanger photography by Frank Grace
Check out the 2014 Haunted New England wall calendar by Jeff Belanger and photography by Frank Grace!


Paranormal Conferences and Lectures
Don't miss the following events and lectures:

Jeff Belanger and “The Bridgewater Triangle” at Dedham Community Theatre - April 6, 2014 9:00PM

The Spirits of the Mark Twain House - Hartford, Connecticut - April 12, 2014

Paracon Australia - East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia - May 10-12, 2014