This tunnel is actually a very small one, created completely out of limestone. The location of the tunnel is such that it stands where the Grand Trunk Railway Lines were once located. Initially, many thought that this was too a railway tunnel, especially considering its proximity to the railways lines, which were located on the northwest corner of the Niagara Falls. However, the main purpose behind this tunnel was to make it serve as a drainage tunnel, which would be useful in removing water from the farmlands, underneath the railway tracks to a valley that was located below.

The tunnel is said to be constructed somewhere in the 1900s and is 125m long with a height of 16 feet. According to legend, the tunnel is haunted by the ghost of a girl. This girl was supposedly running away from a burning farm nearby, and her clothes were on fire too. She is believed to have died within the walls of the tunnel. Of course, like all legendary tales, this one too has a lot of variations. Some say that the girl was actually set on fire by her father who had lost the custody of his children post a divorce. And there is another variation that the girl was actually raped inside the tunnel by someone who had burnt her body in order to kill evidence of the act.

Link

GRAVITY HILL, Pennsylvania Phenomenon

Well, it may seem like a stupid question, but the fact is that now you can actually experience such a thing in the remote corners of Bedford County, located in South Central Pennsylvania. Here you can do all types of incredible things such as wearing a space suit and going in a space shuttle for just $10. You will find water travelling in the opposite direction, and cars rolling uphill.

8 miles west to Bedford is Schellsburg, where you can reach by route 30. From there, you can take out route 96. Following some more directions, you will reach to Gravity Hill. Once you reach there, beware! – For you will be seeing the laws of physics taking a u-turn, and wild imagination coming into play. The moment you reach the bottom of Gravity Hill in your car, take your foot off the brake, and you will be automatically rolling uphill. It seems like something impossible, but Gravity Hill makes it possible for you. If you still don’t believe the power of Gravity Hill, try throwing some water or any other inflammable liquid outside the car window, and you will see it travelling upwards too.

Gravity Hill is an amazing experience in itself. A 90 minutes trip there is for free, and you and your family and friends can get the experience of a lifetime.

Now for those who are still wondering how all of this happens, the concept is a little technical and may spoil the entire fun and charm of it, but is still quite interesting to understand. A gravity hill is often at times also referred to as the mystery hill, gravity road or magnetic hill. The layout of the surrounding land is such that there is an optical illusion that gets created. This means that a downhill slope will actually appear to be an uphill slope. A car then left out of the gear will appear to be rolling uphill than going downhill.

There are various gravity hill locations across the world, however the one is Pennsylvania is luckily well publicised and campaigned. It has been maintained and developed quite well to make it a popular tourist destination, because of which it is quite popular and attracts many tourists. At times, some people and tourist guides claim that there are certain supernatural forces at work in a gravity hill. However, there have been scientific studies that have proven that these are actually the results of optical illusions that are caused by the hill and the surrounding land. From the paranormal perspective, some even refer to these hills as haunted hills!

Link

The Old Slave House, Illinois

The Old Slave House in Illinois is just one of the most visited places. These weird and haunted places are often toured by adventurous visitors or by students who want to conduct several kinds of research studies. This house is better known as Hickory Hill and is located in Southern Illinois. This house is just a few miles away from the Harrisburg in Illinois and is very close to Equality and Junction. This place is indeed an interesting one for most of the visitors who love to adventure. It is not only so that if your visit this place you will be able to see strange activities but you can also gain the historical knowledge that the house still whispers into the ears of most of the people. This house was closed for a long period of time but it has been opened for public view and visits since 2006. It is now owned by the government of the state and is maintained by the same as well.

This house was built by John Hart Crenshaw who was a cruel man of that time. He was so much hungry about money that the desire to become rich and richer turned him into a criminal. During those days it was illegal to keep slaves. But this man used to hire blacks and make them work into the brutal salt mines that used to earn him loads of profit. This person, in the urge of earning more, began to purchase more slaves from other states and made them work inhumanly. The female slaves were used to produce children as much as they can so that those children could also be sold as slaves to other parts of the country. This way he began to earn in huge amounts and become a rich person overnight. This house has blood of several innocents and the pains of so many mothers. After the death of this man the house turned into a haunted place.

After his death the Old Slave House was opened for tourist visits as people used to say that many strange things happened in the house. People use to report strange noise, voices and whispers could be heard form this house. After a deadly event in the year 1920, the house was closed down and researchers and scholars where no more permitted to get in. There were various legends saying that the house has a tunnel that was connected to the basement into the Saline River. It was in this river that the slaves were exchanged in the night. The house as said to have another passageway that used to contain a wagon. This was meant to passage the vehicles to enter into the house. The house was no wonder a grand creation but the purpose it served was all wrong and evil. So much of unethical and inhuman activities are there, that have been conducted in this house and now it stands open for tourist visit where the primary aim is to research.

Link

Bhangarh, India: For Ghost Travelers

Though it is not sure if ghosts exist or not, the ASI of Bhangarh has warned people travelling to this place in Rajasthan that they should not go to the place after sunset.

You can see signs everywhere not to venture to the haunted city before sunrise and leave it before sunset. The place has many ruins of the middle era.

Ghosts at Bhangarh: The Extent of Fear
The Government of India was to set a military centre to patrol the place all over the night to solve the puzzle of ghosts but could not dare. None of the military personnel were willing to participate in the operation. Even the ASI office is a kilometer away from the place and has a board that says: “Staying in the Area after Sunset is Strictly Prohibited.” This indicates that something is very wrong, to the extent that even the paramilitary forces are not venturing into the area after dark.

Bhangarh Myth: The Curse
The local people say that the entire place was vacated overnight due to a curse. They also say that as per the curse the city will disappear and if at all it is discovered, there will be no reminiscences of the place except for the temples.
The second part of the story lends some support to the myth. The entire place has nothing but ruins, or rather attractive ruins. However, the place is full of temples. Most of the temples belong to Lord Hanuman. Lord Hanuman is said to save people from Ghosts and evil Spirits.
As per the legend, the princess of Bhangarh was a match to none in beauty to any other woman in the place. There were several marriage offers coming in for her, when one tantrik (evil magician) spotted her. He was so enchanted by her beauty that he wanted to possess her at any cost.
Following the princess, one day he went to the local market where the servant of the princess was buying perfumes. Taking advantage of the princess’ absence around the servant, he poured some magical lotion into the perfume bottles. The effect of the lotion was supposed to draw the princess to the tantrik as soon as she applies it.
However, someone saw this and informed the princess who broke the bottle. This acted as a reverse effect and hurt the tantrik who as a revenge, cursed the entire place saying the place will no more be existent and all the residents will die. This happened and the princess too died. Till date there are several related myths related to the story.

Bhangarh: How to Reach Bhangarh
The place lies between Jaipur and Alwal. You can drop down at either places through train or flights and take a bus to the place. There are also private taxis that take you to the place. However, you will have to walk for a km as the buses stop at some distance from the place.

Places to Stay
There is nothing that will let you stay inside the place as it is uninhabited. It is suggested that you use the local Rest Houses spread outside the place. The Rest Houses are managed by the ASI and are located within the circle of a km from the place.

Link

Gibraltar Point Haunted Lighthouse, Canada

The Light house was built originally to serve as a lighthouse on the Great Lakes but soon lost its purpose as stories about the lighthouse being haunted started circulating all over the world. The structure of the lighthouse is a marvel and is a beauty. It is a great tourist spot with the beautiful decorations surrounded by seas. However, it is recommended that only people having a solid heart should enter the place as there are many things that contribute to the haunted stories associated with it. These include shadows and footsteps of people walking around you even if you are alone at the place.

How the Stories got Fire
There were two distinct incidents that occurred inside the lighthouse that led people to believe that the place is haunted. Both incidents include mysterious deaths of the lighthouse keepers. According to the first story, the first lighthouse keeper was a known bootlegger. He used to make his own beer and one day, he was dead. People dismissed his death attributing it to excess of local beer.
As he was replaced by another lighthouse keeper, John Paul, another incident occurred that strengthened the stories of the lighthouse being haunted. This story too is associated to beer. John Paul was found murdered soon after he was appointed. Though there were some proofs that some drunken soldiers killed him as John refused to serve beer to the soldiers. The soldiers not only killed John but also cut his body into several pieces and buried parts of his body all over the place.

Since then, normal people do not dare to enter the lighthouse. Some people who went there in groups were often bought back in ambulances. They maintained that they saw some shadows following them. These stories were published all over the planet and the Lighthouse got fame as a haunted place. Now it serves as an exciting place for people who like to venture out in search of ghosts and travelers who like to travel to haunted places to find out the reality.

Gibraltar Point Lighthouse: The Haunted Effects
People who go to the place claim that they have seen shadows following them. The shadows they see are not a complete figure. It is believed that it is the ghost of John who is still searching for his body parts. Other than this, travelers can hear footsteps as if someone is following them even they are alone in a gallery. Among other signs, there are weird sounds as somebody is dragging something on the stairs, thumping noises, and beer cans rolling though nothing is in sight. On the entrance of the lighthouse, there is a board that says that the lighthouse may be haunted.

Gibraltar Point Haunted Lighthouse: How to reach there
Gibraltar is situated at one of the best lake beaches of the Canadian state. You can find many modes of transport to Gibraltar, including the speed- boats.

Places to Stay
Gibraltar is full of hotels and motels that suit the budget of any person. You can opt for a luxury hotel or opt for a motel as per your budget. You may also take up paying guest offers if you want to stay for long and enjoy the other places of interest at the beautiful place.

Link

Villisca Axe Murder House

Villisca happened to be a peaceful community until June 10, 1912, when eight bloody corpses were found in a mysterious house. The victims of the tragedy included the members of the J.B. Moore family, and two guests.

It still continues to be a mystery, and it has been almost 90 years now.

All that was not about the murder-mystery was a brutal confrontation, in which the killer had crushed the heads of the members of Moore family with an axe, but he was never caught, nor could anyone find evidence against the killer.

We visited the place during the month of June, which falls under the tour season, and museum timings are from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, so we started at about 10:30 am in the morning. Darwin arranges for the visit, and you are given the entry to the place, on first-come-first-serve basis.

Apparently, the place was not just haunted in past, but it’s still haunted till date, and when we visited the place, we had a sceptical feeling of being watched by someone secretly, and that the killer will probably come back to lay off more skulls.

There are two places worth your visit which include the famous Villisca Axe Murder house as well as the House Olson-Linn Museum, which is located at the Villisca Town Square.

During our visit to the Villisca Axe Murder house, Darwin walked us through the place, and though you may not find it scary right away, Darwin’s expressions and way of explaining things make it a scary deal for sure. When he mentioned about the door and the closet where the Moore family members were murdered, we got an off feeling of door opening slowly, and we noticed some white light coming from the closet through the crack between the door frames. Suddenly, we felt that the door closed back again, and as though the killer had got a glimpse of all of us.

If you’re weak hearted, then surely this is not a good place for you. By the way, you can grab a bite at the café in town as well. Anyways, it costs just $10 per person to pay a visit to the Villisca Axe Murder House as well as the museum (no fee for children below 12 years, but carrying them is not advisable).

Well, continuing with our visit of Villisca Axe Murder House, we enjoyed the overall experience, and we tried to visualize the past, and it surely was a hell of an experience. My wife wasn’t really moved too much by the story, (she’s hard to convince for anything though), but my little daughter got pretty scared, and except for the odd moments when we felt like being watched, it was not that exceptional though.

You can find good literature about the past of the Villisca Axe Murder case in the museum, and we weren’t really moved by anything else in the museum. Overall, a good place to visit, if you’re bugged with usual trips and definitely recommendable for those who love hearing about murder mysteries and scary things.

Link

Happy Cemetery, Romania

If we go 25 kilometers from the Vadu Izei along the Sight-Sadu Mare county road, we come to a place near the Ukranian border on the northwestern side of Romania called Sapanta.

This place is already mentioned in a document dated back in the 14th century. This site is mainly famous for its monumental structure The Happy Cemetery, which is also known as the Folk Art Museum. The history goes as once upon a time, there was an old church which was burnt down in a fire and many people got buried down into the ruins, though in its place, a new one was reconstructed which served the social purpose.

But apart from that, the local culture proved its difference from the other typical European cultures that believed in the solemnity and sorrow of someone’s death, and rather followed the Dacian philosophy that souls are immortal and death is only the gateway to a new world. The great monument shows the Romanian sense of humor and optimistic spirit that celebrates the death of the many people for their release from this world and their onset of a new voyage.
The museum is filled with around 800 colorful tombstones, with local rural paintings and verses and writings over them, signifying the live-stories of the people. It had wooden headboards, made from oak, and the old painted images depicted the best moments from the life of the dead individuals. The paintings were rather plain and descriptive, while the verses and the epitaphs carved on the tombstones were either plain, or very poetic, or very ironic in nature. They not only said about the best moments of someone’s life but also about some practical and most common incidents that can happen in one’s life. Sometimes they were pretty direct and were always written as if the person writes himself like – “an evil man shot me in the back”, or in some other case, it said about someone’s love of the Romanian plum brandy in some poetic verses like –
“Now I will tell you a good one/ I kind of liked the plum tuica/ With my friends at the pub/ I used to forget what I came for.”

This whole monument was designed and partially carved by a local artisan named Stan Lon Patras, who hailed from a family of wood artists. He believed in the significance of some of the colors like a signature shade of blue, called Sapanta blue, standing for freedom and hope, red for love and passion, green standing for life and yellow standing for fertility. He used these colors to draw the lives of the rural people in the many vivid pictures. He died some 30 year ago. He carved his own cross, which now stands as a mark on his grave. The whole work was carried on and completed by his disciples. His house is now a small museum.
He wanted to create something for his fellow dead people and instead, he started a whole new cultural style in that region. Hence it is a must visit for all tourists to Romania.

Link

Auschwitz Camp

Auschwitz Camp is one of the Nazi’s notorious mass extermination and concentration camps. It was located in a town called Oswiecim, from which it derives its name, 50 kilometers on the western side of Krakow while 286 kilometers on the southern side of Warsaw, Poland.

After the Nazis invaded Poland in the month of September, of the year 1939, the town along with some of the surrounding areas was merged together and was renamed as the Auschwitz. Since Auschwitz was the middle intersection point for many Polish cities, the idea of turning it into a concentration camp was first initiated by the Gestapo Inspector “SS-Oberfuhrer Wiegand”. It was thought of as the ultimate position for bringing in the prisoners from the regions around to work in the camp.
Rudolf Hoss, who was designated as the commandant in the camp, decided the main goal of the camp to be extermination as well as elimination of the prisoners who were admitted into the camp.
The Auschwitz concentration camp spanned over 40 square kilometers as its total area and another 5 kilometers as radius kept for isolation. It was comprised of 28 buildings, mainly 2 storied and the whole camp was segregated into three parts: Auschwitz I, which served as the central office and the base, Auschwitz II, which is more popularly known as Birkenau, and finally the Auschwitz III, known as Monoscwitz with Buna and the sub camps.

Auschwitz I
Auschwitz I have the words, “Arbeit Macht Frei” carved onto the entrance. That meant “Work will give you freedom”. But it was fake and only death will give freedom from the work. The Auschwitz I was the smallest part and the main base of the camp. It was mainly comprised of the commandant’s office, living accommodation quarters, the death block, criminals living place, the infirmary and kitchen for the prisoners, the administration building, the guard station, the Gestapo Camp, the group gallows and the first gas chamber and the crematorium. There were the barracks, with the courtrooms for the trial of the prisoners, while the firing wall was the punishment place of the guilty. It was surrounded with nine watchtowers and wire fences, doubly barbed.
Auschwitz II
This was built on 1942 and was more popularly known as the Birkenau. It was the largest part of the Auschwitch camp, in the style of horse stables, and was even worse than the previous one. It housed around 200000 inmates. It was comprised of the gas chambers, the cremation chambers (II-V), the commandant’s office of this camp, the incarceration area, kitchen barracks, followed by the experimental and the execution blocks. It was fenced with barbed wire and had 28 watchtowers that stationed armed guards.
Auschwitz III
This was also known as the Monoschwitz and included the small area with the “buna” and the sub camp. The function of this camp was to produce synthetic rubber and fuel. But due to the extension of the part of the Auschwitz camp in the year 1942, it was also used for prisoner’s confinement and mass graveyards and pyres – Visit Auschwitz camp

Link

The Amityville House – Enter at your own risk

Horror comes in its full form at the house located on the 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville in New York where a 23 year old guy killed his parents and four siblings younger to him. He did this ghastly set of murders on November 14, 1974. But the real horror stories did not originate after these murders happened.

This house is probably one of the most notorious properties situated on the Long Island. May be what tempted the Lutzes to enter the house was the lavishness of this house because it is a 400 square foot house with accessories like a boathouse, garage, a warm swimming pool and a full basement.
In fact they started out much later when a couple moved in with their four children to this place and were forced to vacate the house because of paranormal activities. The name of this couple was George and Kathy Lutz . At a convention about paranormal events held much later after the incident, George said reminiscing about the incident that Kathy was smiling when she was entering the house. She had expected that this house was like a dream house for her. However things went haywire as soon as they stepped inside the house.

The behavior of the entire family underwent a dramatic change. George himself started to miss bathing for days and also lost weight. Children started indulging in fights with each other and as far as Kathy was concerned she started having nightmares continuously. They also noticed certain strange things in the house like certain footsteps which did belong to any family member. There was a sickening odor continuously pervading around the house and a jelly like green colored substance oozed from the walls. The most scariest of all these things were set of eyes continuously staring at the family from outside the windows. There was a horde of houseflies that started moving in the house. There were knocking noises inside the house along with toilet water receding back inside the house.

If all these incidents were not too hard to scare the spirits out of all the Lutzes, the worst part was the night in which they decided to vacate the house for a brief period. Something that happened on that night was so horrifying that it made them leave the house permanently. George was not very willing to tell everybody about what happened that night. George had said that anyone who faces an experience of staying in a haunted place cannot tell that to any one because no one else believes it or understands it and they start treating the other person as an alien. They are not able to express to others their horror experiences.

Although the entire experience of this family who stayed at that place was been dismissed by a paranormal investigator called Dr. Stephen Kaplan as completely untrue. His basis for such a dismissal was that the narrations of everyone in the family were too different form each other and hence were fabricated by themselves due to a prior fascination with the paranormal.

Link

Bran castle – A castle with a horrifying legacy

Bran castle has been famous for count Dracula, the tyrannical vampire who lived in a place called Romania. The character has gained an amazing amount of fame after a book under the same name was written by Bram Stoker in the year 1876.'

It has now been exalted to the status of a landmark in this Eastern European country. This castle has been given its name because it was, home to Prince Vlad Tepes who then became Count Dracula. Every year tourists come to this place to get a look at the furniture and art works collected by Queen Marie. The tourists can see the castle individually or do so with the help of a guide. As far as the history of this castle is concerned, legend has it that this site was built in 1212 by Knights of the Teutonic Order. At that time it was known as Dietrichstein. Why most of the people believe that this castle could be home to count Dracula is because of the fact that it has a lot of secret passages which can easily hide a vampire in them.

Prince Vlad Tepes(1431-1476) did not reside in this castle actually but gained refuge in its dungeons of two days when the Ottomans had seized Transylvania. He was the prince of the place named Wallachia and imposed very strict rules there when it came to punishing anybody who could pose a threat to his reign. There were many such people according to him including beggars, clever priests, cruel and exacting Saxons and scheming noblemen. The castle was used for providing defense against the Ottoman empire for the first time in the year 1378.
It was then used for the purpose of serving as a customs post on the pass between Transylvania and Wallachia.
Clad started imposing death punishments on anybody whom deemed was sent by his step brother Vlad the Monk or cousin Dan the Young to harm him. He was called Dracula because his signatures were made in his father’s name with Dracul or devil. Coming to the more recent years, after the royal family was thrown out of this place in the year 1948, the communist regime gained hold of this castle. But in 2006 the ownership of this castle was finally awarded to Prince of Tuscany whose name was Dominic von Habsburg, an architect in New York.
He had inherited the castle from his mother Princess Illeana, daughter of Queen Marie.
He finally decided to put up the castle for auction in year 2007 but the government of Romania did not allow him to do so. In fact the castle has now been converted into a museum for tourists. This castle attracts tourists from all over the world now. It shows to the tourists the artifact collected by Queen Marie including the conventional tapestries and furniture collected by her as a mark of Romanian culture. One can also get to see the museum located at the bottom of a hill displaying conventional peasant structures.

Link

Lake Loch Ness and its scary monster Nessie

All of us have heard about the Loch Ness Lake monster who is of a gigantic size. It lives in what has become the most popular lake in the world due to the inhabitance of this monster. The Loch Ness Lake is situated on the Fort Augustus in Scotland and extends till Bona Ferry narrows.

It covers a distance of approximately 23 miles and is 754 feet deep. The volume of water contained in this lake is the most staggering fact about it and is higher than any other lake in Great Britain also. It is three times more than the water contained in the Lake Loch Lomond.
Over the years many people have reportedly seen this monster who is known by the name of Nessie. Their description is about a huge creature with a small head accompanied by a long neck, a big body with bumps. Nessie also has a long tail along with flippers that are four in number.
It is quite strange but in all these sightings nobody has ever been scared by the appearance of  this monster. It’s existence came to be known to the world in the year 1933. On 2 May 1933, Alex Campbell who was a part-time journalist saw this creature for the first time. He was the one who gave the term monster to the creature. Alex was also a water officer for the same lake. His report was published in the Courier edition of the Inverness. His claims were later substantiated by  George Spicer who also saw the creature while roaming in the area along with his wife. He had seen the animal rushing in the lake carrying an animal in its jaws.

Interestingly enough, now many people reported in the Courier that they had been told about viewing the monster. The first official photograph of this amazing creature was taken on 6 December, 1933 and it got an official recognition when the Secretary of State for Scotland asked police to curb any kinds of possible attacks by people on it. In 1934, a photograph featuring the head of the monster was also taken that incited a new interest of it. In this year only a book by writer R. T. Gould  was also published which told about his personal research about the monster of how he has been there in the lake before the summer of 1933. Now many books have also been published that claim that the monster has been in existence for a period earlier than the 6th century.

The latest information about this monster says that it has died and also the sightings are just hoaxes or related to other animals. For example, the sighting of Surgeon’s photograph has been found to be that of an elephant swimming in the lake which was not taken in this lake.

If you ever go to Scotland then this Lake is a must visit for you. You can go to the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre located at the Drumnadrochit, showing all the evidence related to the monster. If you are more of the daring variety then a visit to the lake can also be undertaken on a boat.

Link