Haunted Houses

[say what]

From: http://www.welleshouse.com/haunted-history/

Do you believe that any house could be dangerous in itself? If so, it could be the house on 46 South Welles Street, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The local people refer to the house as Pennsylvania’s very own Amityville Horror. But why?

The house on 46 South Welles Street in Wilkes-Barre, PA was built around 1860 by Augustus C. Laning. Augustus Laninglanning shocking death welles (1808-1875) was one of the first industrialists to come to Wilkes-Barre. He lived there until he sold his company in 1869. Soon after the home was built, there were a number of odd deaths that occurred on Welles Street and tragedy hit Mr. Laning’s fortunes. Laning’s factories burned to the ground in 1850, and death on welles streethe lost his nephew in a terrible lightning accident. His nephew was working with the horses in the barn when a bolt of lightning hit the barn and the barn caught fire. He was trapped under the carcass of a horse who had been killed in the fire and was unable to get out of the barn and he also perished.

There are reports of man who suddenly dropped dead in front of the house for no apparent reason during the mid 1800′s.

The house from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century was primarily a rental property, however this did not mean that its owners did not encounter any hardships. The house during these times went through 3 sheriff sales, and had 2 confirmed suicides and 4 deaths on its premises. Even though the house was mainly used as a rental since it was built, most of tenants resided in the house for long periods of time.Over its 160 year history it is believed that house has been rented more than 50 times. Is it that the house develop a demonic personality or has it always been there? It seems quite apparent that it’s past inhabitants have noticed its destructive effects, which include many forms of psychiatric illnesses, physical illnesses, alcoholism and chain smoking on the property.

There were two families that reportedly experienced demonic paranormal activity at the Welles House during the 1970′s. The two families that documented their experiences through the press were the Johnsons and the Bennetts. The paranormal claims that were documented in the news papers included:

Unexplained bangs, and scurrying noises from one end of the house to the other.
Unexplained illnesses and depression.
Nightly visits from a well-dressed phantom man and the appearance of a ghost of a young girl who walks through doors.
Shrieks, moans, and crying that seemed to be coming from the attic and within the house’s walls.
Bloody spots appearing on walls and floors in the living room.
A daughter being pushed down the stairs only to mysteriously float to the bottom of the landing on her feet unhurt.
Unexplained scratches, in groups of threes, would appear on the resident’s bodies.
Sounds of boots tramping up and down the floors and in the walls of the house when there was no one on the stairs.
The discovery of little tin box behind one of the chimney bricks in the basement, which contained human molars wrapped with chicken bones placed in the shape of a cross.


One of the first articles to cover the house was, Wilkes Barre’s Times Leader which covered the Welles House in October 31, 1979 and featured the story on the “Johnson’s”. The article refers to the house as, “Wilkes Barre’s Amityville Horror isn’t just a Halloween Joke.”

*******************

Do any of you have any personal experiences?

 

[cvp12gh5]

[MENTION=10252]say what[/MENTION]

Lol, oh god yes! I grew up in an extremely haunted house! Plus, last September, I bought a house built in 1843 that is on the historic registry in my town. I don't know why we did it, because I originally wanted a new house built to my specifications, but when I saw this house, something about it spoke to me. Strange thing is that is was on the market for 3 years and had many potential buyers but something always happened that would prevent the deal from going through. When I first walked into the home and met the owner, she told me that the house wanted me. She knew it would work out and it did. The deal went through flawlessly.

I love the house but wanted a few things changed, so in the beginning of February, we had a contractor in here tearing down walls to make a half bathroom into a full and changing a couple other rooms...and now we are getting activity. The area that is being torn down is where the first switchboard/telephone company operated out of our town. So everyone in town was in and out of here. It was also the home of the president of the company, a senator, and a very prominent farmer that owned most of the town.

I will get into it all later tonight or tomorrow when I have time, but I have a lot of interesting stories. Especially about the house I grew up in.

Great thread!

 

[say what]

[MENTION=10252]say what[/MENTION]

Lol, oh god yes! I grew up in an extremely haunted house! Plus, last September, I bought a house built in 1843 that is on the historic registry in my town. I don't know why we did it, because I originally wanted a new house built to my specifications, but when I saw this house, something spoke to me. Strange thing is that is was on the market for 3 years and had many potential buyers but something always happened that would prevent the deal from going through. When I first walked into the home and met the owner, she told me that the house wanted me. She knew it would work out and it did. The deal went through flawlessly.

I love the house but wanted a few things changed, so in the beginning of February, we had a contractor in here tearing down walls to make a half bathroom into a full...and now we are getting activity. The area that is being torn down is where the first switchboard/telephone company operated out of our town. So everyone in town was in and out of here. It was also the home of the president of the company, a senator, and a very prominent farmer that owned most of the town.

I will get into it all later tonight or tomorrow when I have time, but I have a lot of interesting stories. Especially about the house I grew up in.

Great thread!

OO! Sounds interesting!

So you have no qualms about being in the house?

 

[cvp12gh5]

OO! Sounds interesting!

So you have no qualms about being in the house?

Not really with the house I'm in now. The one I grew up in? I would never step foot in there again.

 

[Skarekrow]

Formerly known as the Most Haunted House in America, the home of carpetbagger Charles Wright Congelier, his Mexican wife Lyda, and a young servant girl, Essie, was located at 1129 Ridge Avenue, in the Manchester, North Side, neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The story of its life as a haunted house* begins in the winter of 1871, with Lyda's discovery of Charles having an affair with the maid. Lyda was so enraged, that she fatally stabbed Charles and chopped off Essie's head.For the next 20 years the house remained vacant. It was remodeled to accommodate railroad workers in 1892, but they soon moved out, claiming to hear the sobbing and screaming of a woman. The Most Haunted House in America once again stood vacant.
Around 1900, Dr. Adolph C. Brunrichter bought the home. "Keeping to himself, the doctor was rarely seen by his neighbors. Then on August 12, 1901, the family next door heard a terrifying scream from the Brunrichter residence," wrote Richard Winer and Nancy Osborn in their book, Haunted Houses. "When they ran outside to investigate, the neighbors saw a red explosion-like flash shooting through the house. The earth under them trembled, and the sidewalls cracked. Every window in the doctor's home was shattered."
When officials entered the house to investigate, they found a decomposed female body strapped to the bed and five headless young women in basement graves. "Dr. Brunrichter had been experimenting with severed heads," wrote Winer and Osborn. "Apparently he had been able to keep some alive for short periods after decapitation." Dr. Brunrichter, meanwhile, had disappeared, and the house once again stood vacant.
As a result of its reputation for being haunted, the house stood empty for several years before undergoing its second remodeling to ready it for housing emigrant Equitable Gas Company workers. These workers experienced many strange occurrences but wrote them off as pranks by the American workers they had replaced (for lower wages). One night things took a tragic turn, however, and two of the workers were found dead in the basement. One had a board driven like a stake through his chest, and the other was hanging from a rafter. These men had both been seen alive just minutes earlier.
In 1920, the famous scientist and inventor, Thomas Edison, came to study the house. Edison spoke of a machine that he was building to allow communication with the dead. Edison died before the mechanism was perfected. Winer and Osborn wrote that Thomas Edison's visit to the house at 1129 Ridge Avenue apparently influenced his strong belief in the afterlife.
In September of 1927, a drunk was arrested who claimed to be Dr. Adolph Brunrichter. He told police gruesome stories of sex orgies, demonic possession, torture and murder that had occurred in the house. The authorities could not determine if the man they had in custody was indeed Dr. Brunrichter. The man was released after a month and was never seen again.
Days were numbered for the haunted house which everyone was convinced was evil. Nearby, on the site that is now the Carnegie Science Center, stood the largest natural gas storage facility in the world. On the morning of November 15, 1927, the giant gas storage tank owned by the Equitable Gas Company exploded with an awesome force which was felt across the county. The Story of Old Allegheny City, compiled by workers of the Writers' Program of the Works Projects Administration, describes the destruction. "As houses collapsed and chimneys toppled, brick, broken glass, twisted pieces of steel and other debris rained on the heads of the dazed and shaken residents who had rushed into the streets from their wrecked homes, believing that an earthquake had visited the city." The force was so strong it reportedly blew out windows throughout downtown, Mt. Washington, and as far away as East Liberty. Dozens of manufacturing plants and hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed within a 20-mile radius.
The Most Haunted House in America, which once stood at the present day site of the Route 65/I279 interchange, was obliterated in the explosion. According to Winer and Osborn, it was the only structure destroyed in the blast for which no trace was ever found.





​

 

[LucyJr]

Awesome thread...

 

[say what]

Formerly known as the Most Haunted House in America, the home of carpetbagger Charles Wright Congelier, his Mexican wife Lyda, and a young servant girl, Essie, was located at 1129 Ridge Avenue, in the Manchester, North Side, neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The story of its life as a haunted house* begins in the winter of 1871, with Lyda's discovery of Charles having an affair with the maid. Lyda was so enraged, that she fatally stabbed Charles and chopped off Essie's head.For the next 20 years the house remained vacant. It was remodeled to accommodate railroad workers in 1892, but they soon moved out, claiming to hear the sobbing and screaming of a woman. The Most Haunted House in America once again stood vacant.
Around 1900, Dr. Adolph C. Brunrichter bought the home. "Keeping to himself, the doctor was rarely seen by his neighbors. Then on August 12, 1901, the family next door heard a terrifying scream from the Brunrichter residence," wrote Richard Winer and Nancy Osborn in their book, Haunted Houses. "When they ran outside to investigate, the neighbors saw a red explosion-like flash shooting through the house. The earth under them trembled, and the sidewalls cracked. Every window in the doctor's home was shattered."
When officials entered the house to investigate, they found a decomposed female body strapped to the bed and five headless young women in basement graves. "Dr. Brunrichter had been experimenting with severed heads," wrote Winer and Osborn. "Apparently he had been able to keep some alive for short periods after decapitation." Dr. Brunrichter, meanwhile, had disappeared, and the house once again stood vacant.
As a result of its reputation for being haunted, the house stood empty for several years before undergoing its second remodeling to ready it for housing emigrant Equitable Gas Company workers. These workers experienced many strange occurrences but wrote them off as pranks by the American workers they had replaced (for lower wages). One night things took a tragic turn, however, and two of the workers were found dead in the basement. One had a board driven like a stake through his chest, and the other was hanging from a rafter. These men had both been seen alive just minutes earlier.
In 1920, the famous scientist and inventor, Thomas Edison, came to study the house. Edison spoke of a machine that he was building to allow communication with the dead. Edison died before the mechanism was perfected. Winer and Osborn wrote that Thomas Edison's visit to the house at 1129 Ridge Avenue apparently influenced his strong belief in the afterlife.
In September of 1927, a drunk was arrested who claimed to be Dr. Adolph Brunrichter. He told police gruesome stories of sex orgies, demonic possession, torture and murder that had occurred in the house. The authorities could not determine if the man they had in custody was indeed Dr. Brunrichter. The man was released after a month and was never seen again.
Days were numbered for the haunted house which everyone was convinced was evil. Nearby, on the site that is now the Carnegie Science Center, stood the largest natural gas storage facility in the world. On the morning of November 15, 1927, the giant gas storage tank owned by the Equitable Gas Company exploded with an awesome force which was felt across the county. The Story of Old Allegheny City, compiled by workers of the Writers' Program of the Works Projects Administration, describes the destruction. "As houses collapsed and chimneys toppled, brick, broken glass, twisted pieces of steel and other debris rained on the heads of the dazed and shaken residents who had rushed into the streets from their wrecked homes, believing that an earthquake had visited the city." The force was so strong it reportedly blew out windows throughout downtown, Mt. Washington, and as far away as East Liberty. Dozens of manufacturing plants and hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed within a 20-mile radius.
The Most Haunted House in America, which once stood at the present day site of the Route 65/I279 interchange, was obliterated in the explosion. According to Winer and Osborn, it was the only structure destroyed in the blast for which no trace was ever found.





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*shivers* creepy.

I wonder if a house like that causes those actions in people...or if people who are predisposed to actions like that, are just drawn to a house like this.

 

[acd]

My grandmother's house had activity. My mother and her sister said that "shadow people" would come and sit on their beds at night. My aunt said once the entity sat on her chest and it was difficult to breathe. There was a full bar in the basement and my mom said the glasses would fall off the shelves and shatter on the floor themselves. My brother and I once both watched a faint greenish mist hover in the corner of the ceiling. We were little and talked to it, thinking it was our dead grandpa but who knows what we really saw. It didn't do anything but move around along the ceiling and wall. When my uncle and his family lived there, the three year old would play downstairs with what she called, "creamies." She talked about "creamies" all the time. When we asked her to describe them, she said they were creamy white see through floating things that stayed by her downstairs.

 

[Skarekrow]

*shivers* creepy.

I wonder if a house like that causes those actions in people...or if people who are predisposed to actions like that, are just drawn to a house like this.

Who knows....?
Maybe it was a case of possession...?
I don’t think buildings are born bad...except maybe those on indian burial ground...lol.

 

[Skarekrow]

When I was just a toddler and my brother around 4...my parents put us to bed and started to watch TV....the door to our room was always open btw.
So they were watching TV when they both heard a deep, loud, long, evil sounding moan come from our bedroom.
They both immediately got up...my Dad went and grabbed his billy-club and went in the room to find....nothing....no one.
He checked outside...nothing....besides, they said it was definitely from the bedroom....neither my brother or me was old enough to make that deep of a noise.
That was the first thing that happened there but not the last.

 

[say what]

I am not going to be able to sleep tonight!

 

[say what]

My grandmother's house had activity. My mother and her sister said that "shadow people" would come and sit on their beds at night. My aunt said once the entity sat on her chest and it was difficult to breathe. There was a full bar in the basement and my mom said the glasses would fall off the shelves and shatter on the floor themselves. My brother and I once both watched a faint greenish mist hover in the corner of the ceiling. We were little and talked to it, thinking it was our dead grandpa but who knows what we really saw. It didn't do anything but move around along the ceiling and wall. When my uncle and his family lived there, the three year old would play downstairs with what she called, "creamies." She talked about "creamies" all the time. When we asked her to describe them, she said they were creamy white see through floating things that stayed by her downstairs.

oh my gosh! Shadow people are so scary to me! There's a lot of stories out there that people see them when they're about to sleep and they get this pressure on their chest, or feel this horrible sense of fear/dread!!

And creamies?? *shiver* that sounds soo scary!

When you say the green mist- were you scared at all? Or did you feel comforted?

 

[Skarekrow]

Per request...lol.

So when I was maybe 5 or 6 my brother got a remote control R2D2 for Christmas...
Maybe two days later I was asleep on the bottom bunk (damn older brothers always take the top)...the R2D2 was put back (off) back in the styrofoam shape, and in the box, under my head on the mattress.
I remember waking vaguely aware...it hadn’t really registered yet what I was hearing....but the noise was insistent on relentlessly grinding the styrofoam with it’s little tank wheels and I woke up fully....I realized what it was under my head...and if you can believe it, it seemed to get faster in it’s grinding and moving in it’s box.
I ran screaming through the dark to my parents room down the hall...I’m sure it gave them a heart-attack...lol.
When we got back to the room and flipped on the light...it was still making noise.
My Dad shut it off...even though he was playing with my brother and the toy earlier and had put it away with him....he was sure it was off.
My Dad half-heartedly dismissed it as “stray radio waves”....Ha!
Then people’s toys and shit would be malfunctioning all the time...much less at 2am in the dark, in a box, under MY bed!
lololol.
I can look back at not feel afraid now, but I definitely didn’t sleep in my bed that night.

Funny enough...it happened again about a week later...
Only this time it was on the dresser...and once again, my brother swore it was off.
I wake up...only this time I catch on to what it is much faster...I can still picture that goddamn little red light spinning left then right, and the sound of it’s little motor grinding...and of course the 1982 R2D2 sound effect beeping through toy speakers....(I’m surprised I’m not terrified and have a phobia of R2D2s everywhere honestly).
Anyhow...this time I am momentarily scared frozen...then after what seemed like an hour (was probably closer to a minute...lol) I was finally able to let out a bloodcurdling scream...and I kept screaming....and screaming, until my parents came in the room and flipped on the light.
Once again...dismissed as “radio waves”...I call “bullshit”....lol.
Someone once proposed that it could have been me somehow throwing some kind of psychokenetic something or other causing it to move...but *shrug*.
I have more...

 

[acd]

oh my gosh! Shadow people are so scary to me! There's a lot of stories out there that people see them when they're about to sleep and they get this pressure on their chest, or feel this horrible sense of fear/dread!!

And creamies?? *shiver* that sounds soo scary!

When you say the green mist- were you scared at all? Or did you feel comforted?

I know other people who say they have seen shadow people and the stories always seem to happen at night and in bed and yes, a pressure on their chest! It has never happened to me. I would have a heart attack and die if it did, I'm sure! I have had one experience in an old house I was renting where I was being caressed by a silvery green figure while I laid in bed. I felt the touch lightly go down my shoulder then arm and over my side and hip while I laid on my side. Like it was barely touching me, but my hairs were standing up. When I glanced over my shoulder I saw it and was instantly afraid but the thought, "Not here to harm" popped into my head and just like that, it was gone. It went backwards until it disappeared. It happened very fast.

My brother and I were scared at first of the green mist because we didn't know what it was. We decided it had to be ok since it wasn't doing anything threatening. I don't really think it was our grandpa I think we agreed to say it was just to try to make sense of it and probably because we missed our grandpa.

The creamies thing is super creepy because of the innocent language she used to describe it. She definitely had contact with something and she wasn't afraid at all. She thought it was totally normal and something everyone saw.

 

[Eventhorizon]

If anyone is willing I am more than willing to spend a night in any "haunted" house of your choice. Just not willing to deal with any rift raft or crazy people that might show up attempting to "scare" someone.

Its been proven that the earths magnetic field and earthquakes can cause actual hallucinations in people. But ghosts that can effect the "real" world to any extent? No. Thats nothing but imagination.

 

[Skarekrow]

If anyone is willing I am more than willing to spend a night in any "haunted" house of your choice. Just not willing to deal with any rift raft or crazy people that might show up attempting to "scare" someone.

Its been proven that the earths magnetic field and earthquakes can cause actual hallucinations in people. But ghosts that can effect the "real" world to any extent? No. Thats nothing but imagination.

Then you have never had an experience.
How do you explain it when there are witnesses to the same phenomena for which there is no other possibility? They are somehow ALL having the same hallucination?
You may think it’s bullshit and that’s fine...don’t read about it...but I think what you just said is bullshit too...doesn’t really matter...I know what happened...I know I wasn’t hallucinating and I know I’m not a fucking idiot either who just accepts something like that at face value.

 

[acd]

Per request...lol.

So when I was maybe 5 or 6 my brother got a remote control R2D2 for Christmas...
Maybe two days later I was asleep on the bottom bunk (damn older brothers always take the top)...the R2D2 was put back (off) back in the styrofoam shape, and in the box, under my head on the mattress.
I remember waking vaguely aware...it hadn’t really registered yet what I was hearing....but the noise was insistent on relentlessly grinding the styrofoam with it’s little tank wheels and I woke up fully....I realized what it was under my head...and if you can believe it, it seemed to get faster in it’s grinding and moving in it’s box.
I ran screaming through the dark to my parents room down the hall...I’m sure it gave them a heart-attack...lol.
When we got back to the room and flipped on the light...it was still making noise.
My Dad shut it off...even though he was playing with my brother and the toy earlier and had put it away with him....he was sure it was off.
My Dad half-heartedly dismissed it as “stray radio waves”....Ha!
Then people’s toys and shit would be malfunctioning all the time...much less at 2am in the dark, in a box, under MY bed!
lololol.
I can look back at not feel afraid now, but I definitely didn’t sleep in my bed that night.

Funny enough...it happened again about a week later...
Only this time it was on the dresser...and once again, my brother swore it was off.
I wake up...only this time I catch on to what it is much faster...I can still picture that goddamn little red light spinning left then right, and the sound of it’s little motor grinding...and of course the 1982 R2D2 sound effect beeping through toy speakers....(I’m surprised I’m not terrified and have a phobia of R2D2s everywhere honestly).
Anyhow...this time I am momentarily scared frozen...then after what seemed like an hour (was probably closer to a minute...lol) I was finally able to let out a bloodcurdling scream...and I kept screaming....and screaming, until my parents came in the room and flipped on the light.
Once again...dismissed as “radio waves”...I call “bullshit”....lol.
Someone once proposed that it could have been me somehow throwing some kind of psychokenetic something or other causing it to move...but *shrug*.
I have more...

Share all your stories!

 

[Eventhorizon]

Then you have never had an experience.
How do you explain it when there are witnesses to the same phenomena for which there is no other possibility? They are somehow ALL having the same hallucination?
You may think it’s bullshit and that’s fine...don’t read about it...but I think what you just said is bullshit too...doesn’t really matter...I know what happened...I know I wasn’t hallucinating and I know I’m not a fucking idiot either who just accepts something like that at face value.

Really? I am totally serious. Multiple witness... I either dont care or am unconcerned. Most likely I say, mass hallucination or mob mentality. Either way my offer stands. Any house unfrequented by drug dealers etc...

 

[acd]

If anyone is willing I am more than willing to spend a night in any "haunted" house of your choice. Just not willing to deal with any rift raft or crazy people that might show up attempting to "scare" someone.

Its been proven that the earths magnetic field and earthquakes can cause actual hallucinations in people. But ghosts that can effect the "real" world to any extent? No. Thats nothing but imagination.

I can understand your skepticism. I would be more skeptical if I didn't see and experience certain things that I don't believe were hallucinations as I was otherwise lucid and of sound mind at the time of the occrrance. Maybe there are other dimensions that overlap with ours and the "ghosts" we see and experience are the result?

 

[Skarekrow]

Really? I am totally serious. Multiple witness... I either dont care or am unconcerned. Most likely I say, mass hallucination or mob mentality. Either way my offer stands. Any house unfrequented by drug dealers etc...

If you don’t care and don’t believe it then why are you even on this thread?
To come here and state that it’s all in someone’s mind is ignorant and insulting to those who have had experiences.
If you are unconcerned then read no more, but don’t belittle the rest of us.