Eugen Sandow

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"If spirits wander anywhere, why not among the towering pecan trees, sentinel cypress and cool clear waters of Aquarena Center? After all, archaeologists have determined that the site is among the longest continually inhabited places on the North American continent; and more than one Native American tribe includes the area in their creation myth. So it was a logical choice for Austin ghost hunter Amanda Foster, who founded Austin Paranormal last year.

“The place has so much history,” Foster says of the complex at the river’s head, an amusement park turned educational center under the stewardship of Texas State University.

Foster and others from her group spent the better part of two nights on the property earlier this year and — while some of what they were seeking escaped them — they didn’t come away empty-handed either. And the electronic voice phenomena (EVP) they were able to record actually seemed to represent the Native American presence. Inside a changing room for divers, Foster’s group recorded “what sounded like distant tribal drumming” that was so unexpected they thought at first it was a bass line from a car’s radio passing by outside the park.

“We had an investigator go outside the door,” she recalled, but “there were no cars with loud stereos going by. One of our investigators asked ‘Are you the ones performing the rituals’ and got a ‘yes ma’am’ response. That was something interesting.”

Foster said the group heard other voices and distant conversations as well as experiencing the feeling of being watched. “We felt a strange presence near us, that type of thing,” she said.

In the old pecan grove where a number of archaeological excavations have been conducted, Foster said the group felt a “cold spot” often indicative of a spirit presence. Adjacent to the grove is an area where there used to be a mock Western village during the heyday of Aquarena Springs.

“That particular part of the park has been fairly active for years,” Foster said. “People have reported strange occurrences there for years,” she added, which included former employees who “have seen apparitions, heard voices and seen shadow movements.”

Though the group didn’t see anything there, they did record a voice. Another voice, Foster said, was recorded on the wetlands boardwalk which stretches out over part of Spring Lake. As the group walked, quietly, a voice said “get up,” as if someone had been lying down just ahead of them.

Also near the boardwalk, a member of the group photographed some glowing orbs. “We don’t feel an orb is a spirit, we feel they’re just energy in the air,” Foster said.

The group didn’t register anything at the building that used to house the hotel, nor near the site of General Burleson’s cabin; however, members did hear a “rustling in the bushes” that couldn’t be confirmed as an animal near an old greenhouse ..."

Full story via sanmarcosrecord.com

I'll never understand why theme parks are built in such places (or anywhere else, to be honest). They all strike me as crimes against both Nature and Art, and if spirits of a site's original inhabitants come back to raise objections, who can blame them?

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"It's arguably one of the largest pieces of Elvis Presley memorabilia ever: a 154.5-acre ranch in Horn Lake, Mississippi, once owned by the king of rock 'n' roll. And it's on the market, with an asking price of $6.5 million.

"It had a large cross there that Elvis really liked, and a concrete bridge over a 14-acre lake," real estate agent Rodger Motz told CNN.

The property, called the "Elvis Ranch" by locals, is just east of Highway 301 in Horn Lake, about 17 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Presley purchased it in February 1967, three months before he married Priscilla Beaulieu, according to a Graceland spokeswoman. The deed on record was signed by Presley's longtime manager, Col. Tom Parker, said Parker Pickle, Desoto County tax assessor. There is a small house known as the "Honeymoon Cottage" on the property. Graceland confirmed the newly married Presleys did spend time there following their honeymoon in Palm Springs, California.

The property has been on the market since last month. Its current owners are Dennis McLemore and his brothers. McLemore said his parents bought the property in 1979 and turned it into a cattle ranch after previous owner-developers had failed to turn it into a resort.

McLemore said he met Priscilla Presley on a winter day in 1985. "I got a call one day that Priscilla was coming up for a visit," he said. "I'd been working on a cow's ear and was covered in blood when she came up. She told me Elvis would have been proud this was a working cattle ranch."

Tours occasionally have driven down from Memphis with passengers who took pictures of the pastures, he said. At one time, there was a 12-foot wooden fence around the compound with a half-dozen trailers on the grounds, where members of Presley's entourage, the "Memphis Mafia" were housed. "There's still a trailer pad behind the Honeymoon Cottage," McLemore said.

"I remember as a child when Elvis owned it," said Anita Rainey, planning director for the city of Horn Lake. "I had a friend he gave a horse to. She lived across the street to the ranch and woke up one day and they had a pony."

She said she remembers seeing Presley riding a horse along the highway. He was a quiet owner, she said, and the ranch is prime real estate.

"I've been getting a lot of calls from media," Motz said, "and the Europeans are really interested." However, he said, he doesn't have a serious buyer on the hook and has yet to receive an offer."

via cnn.com

Elvis at the ranch:

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"You’re relaxing in your hotel room, the windows are shut, and you feel a sudden, inexplicable breeze. Or your TV set turns on and off suddenly, seemingly of its own accord. Or you’re lying in bed when, out of nowhere, in the dark of night, your covers are ripped right off of you by the most unexpected of roommates: a ghost. Welcome to Hotel del Coronado’s Room 3327, where the spirit of the long-deceased Kate Morgan is believed to be resident. In 1892, the young woman — likely 24 years old at the time of her death — spent five days at the San Diego hotel, waiting, it is thought, for her lover, who never arrived.

Her death at the landmark hotel was declared a suicide. But “rumors persist about it being a murder,” said Hotel del Coronado historian Christine Donovan, who wrote the book “Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado.” Another theory currently being investigated by Donovan and others is that Morgan’s death actually might have been accidental.

Whatever the cause of her passing, the spirit of Morgan seems pretty married to the Hotel Del. Staff maintain that her ghost has been spotted not just in her former room, but also in the hallways, the hotel’s gardens, the beach and the gift shop ..."

Full story via latimes.com

I'm more inclined to accept this version of the story:

'Dead Move: Kate Morgan and the Haunting Mystery of Coronado, Second Edition' by John T. Cullen

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"The Past -- the dark unfathomed retrospect!
The teeming gulf -- the sleepers and the shadows!
The past! the infinite greatness of the past!
For what is the present after all but a growth out of the past?"
__Walt Whitman

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Based on what I've seen of his casinos, I'm not favorably impressed by
Steve Wynn's aesthetic sense, but his common sense assessment of the economy is whole 'nother matter.

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"I said to Life, I would hear Death speak.
And Life raised her voice a little higher and said, you hear him now."
__Kahlil Gibran

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"It was once the biggest city in the Wild West. But after a deadly fire in 1923 and more than 85 years of neglect, all that is left of Goldfield, Nevada, are a few falling-down buildings, some rusty mining equipment and 200 or so die-hard residents — who complain when the daily 7.45am rush-hour involves more than seven cars.

All this could soon change, thanks to a proposal by the Democratic senator Harry Reid to turn the sweltering ghost town into a tourist destination by giving it National Park status, perhaps using funds from President Obama’s stimulus plan.

Mr Reid, the US Senate Majority Leader, sees historic saloon bars being restored to their former glory, broken-down cars being towed away, and tour buses arriving daily, creating new jobs in the leisure sector. Far from being delighted, however, the conservative-minded residents of Goldfield are appalled. They do not want the federal Government’s money. They would rather go it alone like their pioneer forefathers.

“If Reid gets what he wants, there go our property rights,” said R. J. Gillum, the Esmeralda County commissioner, in a front-page report on the town in the Las Vegas Review- Journal. “They’re going to tell us the style they want for our homes, whether they should be painted brown or some other colour.”

Another Goldfield resident, Ruth Anderson, said: “People around here don’t like Reid. We like the way it is. No rules. No hassle. It’s a kickback lifestyle. People don’t care what you wear, what you do, or where you live. But don’t mess with their stuff.” To illustrate their displeasure, the owners of the Santa Fe Saloon, still in business more than 104 years after it was founded, have hung a sign over the bar that reads: “Will Rogers Never Met Harry Reid”. It is a reference to the late cowboy entertainer’s quote that he never met a man he did not like.

Locals also point out that Goldfield already has a tourist business. Well, sort of. For example, a 76-year-old woman provides guided tours of the supposedly haunted Goldfield Hotel, where the gold baron George Wingfield once allegedly threw his illegitimate baby down a mineshaft ..."

Full story via timesonline.co.uk

Goldfield residents, my heart is with you. Better to sink beneath the desert sand than surrender to heavy hand of Government.

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"US writer Edgar Allan Poe has been honoured with a second funeral service, 160 years after his death. Many fans of the author gathered in Baltimore for the commemoration, which also saw a replica casket pass through the city to his original burial ground. Hundreds acted as mourners dressed in period costume at the service in Westminster Hall.

Poe died penniless at the age of 40 in 1849, and only a handful of people attended his original funeral. The original service is said to have lasted only three minutes, while the news of his death was not announced to the world.

Poe's replica casket, which contained a mannequin of the writer's body, had been visited by many fans leading up to the funeral. His packed-out service - which took place twice to deal with demand - contained various musical performances and eulogies which did not take place the first time around. The send-off was one of various events to mark the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allen Poe's birth.

Poe - credited as the inventor of the detective story and creator of horror writing - is one of the most influential American writers ever.His tombstone was destroyed and a scathing obituary, written by literary adversary Rufus Wilmot Griswold, damaged his reputation for decades. For many years, the anniversary of his birth has been marked by the so-called Poe Toaster, a mysterious visitor who leaves three roses and some cognac on his tombstone."

via bbc.co.uk

I certainly understand the impulse if not the gesture itself.

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"A witch who plans to open an occult centre in Cambridge says he has conjured up a demon - in the city's Catholic Church. Magus Lynius Shadee says the demon could possess parishioners and drive them to suicide. He claims to have instructed the evil spirit to "dwell" in the famous church to "cleanse it".

The occultist, who calls himself the King of All Witches, says he let loose the entity to prey on worshippers at the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Hills Road. Fr Dick Healey has branded the occultist "twisted" and plans to report him to the police for practising witchcraft in a church ..."

Full story via cambridge-news.co.uk

I think the 'King Of All Witches' is in for some dreadful surprises.

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