Why did the furniture in the bedroom of an English student suddenly begin to move by itself? What scared a seasoned and brave sailor to death in an empty house? Whether you believe in stories of the supernatural or not, agree that they are breathtaking and fearsome.
Ghosts, houses and castles where they live, night knocking and falling of things, poltergeist - these are the basis of our most terrible dreams. Eerie, ghostly pale reminders of our frailty and uncertainty, of the end awaiting all of us. Whether these nightmares really exist, or is it just a product of an inflamed brain, judge for yourself. And we will try to consider the most famous supernatural incidents and incidents in history - from the White House to the Bank of England and from the small town of Amityville, Long Island, to Hollywood.
Ghost of the white house
He was seen by Winston Churchill and the Dutch princess Juliana, as well as the daughter of former President Maureen Reagan. Who is he?
So, according to Churchill, Juliana and Maureen Reagan, this is none other than Abraham Lincoln, America's greatest president. “I'm not kidding,” says Maureen Reagan. "We actually saw him." When Maureen came to Washington to visit her parents, Maureen and her husband Dennis Revell often spent the night in Lincoln's bedroom, and she claims that she saw this ghost, that it was sometimes red and sometimes orange. Maureen and her husband swear it was Lincoln's ghost.
Neither President Reagan nor Nancy had ever seen a ghost in their eight years in the White House. The same can be said for President Bush and his wife Barbara. Mrs. Reagan chuckles at the notion that Lincoln's spirit still haunts the historic building, but she remembers that their dog, Reka, often barked as they approached this bedroom and never entered it. Ghosts of flight 401
However, ghosts do not limit their appearance only to houses and castles. One of the most common supernatural stories is that of the ghosts of Flight 401. In December 1972, an Eastern Airlines Tristan plane crashed into the Florida swamps and crashed. 101 people died, including the pilot and flight engineer. But since then, Captain Bob Loft and Flight Engineer Dan Ripo have been seen by crew members on at least twenty other Eastern Tristan airliners.
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Most of these visions, reported by high-profile aviators who could hardly be suspected of panic-like tendencies, were on planes that used parts and equipment removed from the aircraft on Flight 401. Many of those who claimed to have seen the ghosts of Loft and Ripo knew both of them personally.
Hollywood: encounters with the supernatural
More than 25 million Americans claim to have seen ghosts, so it's no surprise that many of Hollywood's stars have encountered the supernatural as well. Actress Elkie Sommer bought a house in Beverly Hills, which turned out to be inhabited by ghosts, although she did not know about it until she moved in there.
It all started when she and Joe Hyams had just moved into the house. Lying in the bedroom, they heard an incomprehensible noise coming from below, from the living room. This was repeated every night. But a few weeks later they were awakened by a loud knock on the bedroom door. Hyams jumped out of bed and opened the door - no one and nothing except for thick black smoke pouring down from below.
Terrified, he ran down the stairs - the living room was engulfed in flames. Nobody knows for sure what happened. The mediums explained to the spouses that the ghost probably decided to joke with fire, but then changed his mind and ran upstairs to warn them.
Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn, who played in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, also met a ghost, and this ghost turned out to be a friendly acquaintance of hers. This happened shortly after the death of Lee Strasberg, the famous mentor of the actors.
In 1981, Ellen stayed with the deceased's widow. She was already falling asleep when his ghost appeared and spoke. “I suddenly felt that someone touched me on the shoulder, and Lee appeared. He told me: “Be courageous. Yes, sorrow, but death is the continuation of life, not the end of it."
Even more unpleasant moments experienced James Brolin, filming "Amityville Horror". He claims that even the filming itself took place in some kind of sinister atmosphere. James recalls: “On the very first day of filming, I got into the elevator in the house where I lived and pressed the button for the first floor. Halfway down, the elevator suddenly stopped between floors with a terrible creak. The light blinked and went out, and I found myself in an eerie darkness. I shouted, called for help, but no one heard me. It was a terrible moment. In deathly silence and darkness, terrible thoughts creep into my head. Minutes seemed like an eternity to me."
After half an hour, the elevator continued its way down. It was only on the set that James Brolin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Haunted horror
Of course, the film in which Brolin starred was much scarier than any stories that ever happened to the actor. The script for "Amityville Horror" is still considered one of the most terrifying in the world of cinema.
This macabre story, which served as the basis for the bestselling novel and film, began on a November 1974 night, when Ronald de Feo, 23, brutally massacred his entire family, killing six members one after another in six bedrooms in a House located in the suburb of Long -Ilanda. Thirteen months later, topographer Lutz and his family moved into this very house. But after twenty-eight days, the new tenants rushed to part with their purchase. They could not stand it any longer.
Green mud constantly oozed through the walls of the house. A cloud of flies swarmed in it. The doors themselves fell off their hinges. The sounds of jazz were heard in the living room every now and then. Grunting pigs' snouts appeared in the windows. In the end, the family, in which there were small children, could not withstand this terrible onslaught of evil spirits and, abandoning everything, went on the run.
The terrifying effect of otherworldly forces was experienced by the Englishman Matthew Manning. In 1967, in the house where he lived with his parents, suddenly something went wrong. His father Derek noticed that every time he put a silver mug on the shelf, it ended up on the floor. Over the next few weeks, some things were found in the wrong places where they were left. Gradually, the anxiety experienced by the owners about this grew into superstitious fear. Heavy objects such as tables and chairs began to move and roll over.
Matthew in his book "Communication" described some terrible impressions: "I went to bed … Suddenly a terrible creak was heard from the side of the closet, which lasted for half a minute. Listening, I turned on the lamp and was horrified to see that the cabinet was moving from the wall in my direction. Moving about eighteen inches, the closet stopped.
As soon as I turned off the light, my bed shook wildly. Then the shaking suddenly stopped, and I felt the bed lift nearly a foot off the floor.
The next morning, a terrible chaos reigned in the house, as after a carnage: overturned furniture was lying around, pictures fell from the walls, the table turned out to be upside down, the floor was strewn with household utensils and dishes.
Subsequent events took on an increasingly sinister turn. Puddles of water began to appear on the floor, and inscriptions on the walls, which is completely incomprehensible.
One of the signs warned: "Matthew, beware!"
Unbelievable, but true: when Matthew left for boarding school, the poltergeist moved there after him, and the strange things that happened to him in his parents' house now began to happen in the boarding school. And only in 1971, when Matthew, with the help of doctors, took up his psyche, exercising and tempering it, the phenomena of poltergeist gradually stopped.
However, not all manifestations of a poltergeist are so terrible. This is evidenced by the story of Francis Martin and his family. In October 1963, Mr. Martin discovered the appearance of a wet spot on the living room wall of his home in Matthewen, Massachusetts.
Suddenly there was a clap, and a jet of water hit the wall. The water flowed for twenty seconds. After several such sudden fountain eruptions, the alarmed family moved in with relatives in a house next door.
But in the next house, everything was repeated - soon there was water gushing here too! A fire inspector was called in, who carefully checked all the pipes in the house for leaks, but the pipes were intact. Not wanting to flood the house of relatives, the Martin family returned to their house. But first, they cut off the general water supply and drained water from all pipes.
However, it didn't help. The inexplicable gushing of water from the walls continued. The strange phenomenon repeated itself periodically for several weeks, until it suddenly stopped of itself, as if someone - or something - had suddenly turned off the tap.
London ghosts
Although America is rich in ghosts, the most famous ghosts in the world seem to reside in London. Hundreds of spirits have literally flooded the city, from the back streets to world-famous sites such as the Tower of England, the Bank of England and Kensington Palace.
The Bank of England, for example, is inhabited by the "Black Nun" - a ghost that roams the bank garden. It is believed to be the ghost of Sarah Whitehead, the sister of former bank clerk Philip Whitehead, who was arrested in 1811 for check forgery. Whitehead was sentenced to death, and his sister was so shocked by this tragedy that for the next twenty-five years she went to the bank every day to look for her brother.
When Sarah Whitehead died, she was buried in an old church on the bank's grounds, where a garden was later laid out. Since then, for more than one hundred and fifty years, she has often been seen here wandering in the eternal search for her long-dead brother.
Probably the most famous and scary ghost in London, lives in a house in Berkeley Square. It was reported to scare at least three people to death. In one case, we are talking about a small child tortured or died of fear in the nursery at home in Berkeley Square. It is said that his crying ghost sometimes appears here.
Another story tells of the ghost of a young woman who once lived in this house with her lustful uncle. Fleeing from his dirty harassment, she threw herself out of the top floor window. Eyewitnesses claim to have seen her ghost screaming from the window cornice.
The third story tells of the ghost of a terrible, pale-faced man. At one time the house was empty, and two sailors decided to while away the night here. They were suddenly awakened by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Someone entered the room. Seeing him, one of the sailors, poor fellow, was so frightened that he fell out of the window and crashed to death. Another sailor who survived this horror was later found on the street. He fainted from fear.
The Berkeley Square home gained such widespread fame in Victorian times that it became a place of pilgrimage for tourists. One very inquisitive citizen, Lord Littleton, even spent the night in a haunted room, armed with two shotguns loaded with buckshot and bullets made from sixpence silver coins. The lord believed that this guaranteed him protection from evil spirits. He later said that he had to shoot at a ghost that rushed at him from the darkness. Littleton also claimed to have seen a woman who went mad after a night in the house.
During the long and sinister history of this house, it is said that two more people died here of fear. Once, in one of the rooms, visited by ghosts, a maid was found hysterically sobbing on the floor. She was taken to St. George's Hospital, where she died the very next day.
But when the maid was still alive, the doctors tried to inquire from her about the reasons for such a strong fear. She refused to talk about her experience, insisting only that it was "so terrible" that it defies description.
Soon after, a volunteer was found who agreed to spend the night in this room to find out what could have happened there. In the morning he was found dead with eyes wide with horror.
All this, however, happened a long time ago. Whatever evil spirits may be found in the house in Berkeley Square, it has not bothered anyone here for many years.
Another well-known haunted place in London is the Theater Royal on Drury Lane. This ancient building, built three hundred years ago, is home to more than one ghost. The most famous of them is, of course, "The Man in Gray", which over the past two hundred years has been seen by dozens of frightened actors and theatergoers.
He appears in breeches, a frock coat and a cocked hat, walks across the hall along the aisle between the chairs, then disappears through the wall. Sometimes "The Man in Gray" was seen sitting in one of the spectator's chairs. They even say that his appearance before the performance is a harbinger of a successful performance. Most of the actors involved in the play "The Dancing Years" claim to have seen "The Man in Gray" when they gathered on stage to take pictures.
According to theater historians, about a hundred years ago, a small room was discovered in this theater, in which a human skeleton was found with a knife sticking out between his ribs. He is believed to have been the victim of a theater manager.
Here, apparently, the ghost of the comedy dancer Dan Lino lives. A face sometimes appears in the mirror of the dressing room, which he used during performances. Those who have seen him claim that it is Lino's face.
Sometimes strange incidents happen in the theater, confirming the assumption that ghosts are not fictional at all. Some of the actors said that on stage they felt the shocks of "invisible hands", and Michael Crawford said that in one difficult stage scene, someone helped him.
Theater archivist George Gore claimed that when he left his office, invisible hands pulled his coat.
The Drury Lane Theater is arguably the most famous, but not the only haunted theater.
It turns out that ghosts live in five more theaters. Among them is the spirit of John Buxtone, whose appearance also guarantees the success of the performance.
Buxtone, actor and director of the Haymarket Theater, was Queen Victoria's favorite. His ghost, very friendly, according to eyewitnesses, appears in one of the theater boxes, and the door of his old dressing room opens and closes by itself.
The Haymarket also has the ghost of Henry Field, who was an 18th century actor and theater director.
The Coliseum Theater is home to the ghost of a young World War I soldier. On each anniversary of his death, he takes a seat on the mezzanine. They say that he spent his last evening in London in this theater, the next day he went to war and was killed.
Royal ghosts
London has ghosts for every taste, from clowns to kings. Many people over the years have claimed to have seen the face of King George II in the window above the front door of Kensington Palace.
They say that before his death, the king looked out the window at the weather vane in the hope that the wind was about to change its direction and would become favorable for ships carrying important dispatches from Germany, beloved by him.
These dispatches George II eagerly desired to read before the arrival of his hour of death. But on October 25, 1760, he died without waiting for a change in the wind.
And to this day, as eyewitnesses say, the sad pale face of George II no, no, yes, and will appear in the window to look at the weather vane.
Of course, the story of the famous London ghosts cannot be considered exhaustive without mentioning the Tower, where a fair number of strange events have taken place over the centuries.
One of the most astonishing reports of unexplained phenomena came from Edward Swift, who held the royal treasures for nearly forty years, until he retired in 1852.
Swift recalled that one day, in October 1817, the whole family was having dinner in the living room of the treasure chamber, when a very strange vision suddenly appeared before their eyes: a "cylindrical body like a glass test tube" hung over their table for about two minutes in the air. Suddenly this test tube, which, according to Swift's description, was filled with a thick blue-white liquid, slowly floated around the table. Mrs Swift cried out, “Oh my God! It grabbed me! " Then Swift jumped up and swung his chair at a strange object. In the blink of an eye, the mysterious test tube disappeared.
Incredibly, neither Swift's son nor daughter-in-law saw this "test tube"!
According to eyewitnesses, the most striking and terrible vision observed in the Tower is the scene of the execution of the Countess of Salisbury, beheaded by decree of King Henry VIII.
This vision only appears on the anniversary of the execution.
Eyewitnesses testify that the countess is seen very clearly, her mad cries are heard when the executioner's ghost comes to her. After the execution, the terrible vision disappears.
Unsurprisingly, most of the ghosts of the Tower of London reside in the Bloody Tower. Two little princes appear here, King Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York. They were killed by order of Richard, Duke of Gloucestershire, who later became King Richard III. Their ghosts have been seen many times wandering hand in hand in an eternal search for peace.
The decapitated body of Anne Bolin, one of several executed wives of King Henry VIII, has been seen in various locations in the Tower of London.
Field Marshal Earl Grenfell served as a young lieutenant in the Tower. Once he reported that he saw the ghost of Anna at the walls of the royal chambers, where she languished on the night before her execution. Grenfell said that her decapitated body appeared in front of him and he passed out. But the authorities did not believe the young lieutenant and assumed that he was drunk.
Subsequently, at the tribunal, when other guards confirmed his story that did not resemble the truth, Grenfell was acquitted.