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ANTIQUE NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Popular press is not a receptive media for reports of
paranormal phenomena, however, that was not always the case.
During the Spiritualistic movement of the late 1800's and
early 1900's, reports of spirit contact were often reported
in local newspapers.Here a an ever-growing collection of
articles from that period, as reported, with no alterations
or omissions listed by date.
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MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH:
March 27, 1857 Although this is not really an
unexplained paranormal story, early experiments with the
magnetic telegraph must have seemed pretty mystical.
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THE HAND OF FATE:
October 8, 1882 As the train came upon the bridge
there seemed to be a sudden jar and stoppage. The
engine leaped into the air like a frightened horse and
rolled off the bridge, followed by six of the cars.
There was an intense movement of alarm and horror...
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GHOST CLIPART INDEX
WHAT MAKES A GHOST? |
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THE HAUNTED HOUSE:
August 16, 1891 The phenomenon of the house
appearing to be in flames has been seen by hundreds on
several nights about midnight.
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THE DRUMMERS' STORY:
February 7, 1892 This is the first of a few
tales related by Alice Bodington that she collected over
the years. It is the story of a ghostly sister who
visits her brother with a scratch on her face..
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THE NURSE AND THE LOST BABY:
February 7, 1892 Another tale from Alice
Bodington who vouched the stories were all genuine This
is a tale about a lost baby and how his dead mother
returned to tell the new stepmother she would see him
again.
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THE GHOST OF VOLTAIRE:
February 7, 1892
A third Bodington tale. This is the classic story about
visitors to Chateau de Prangias in Switzerland who have
witnessed the ghost of Voltaire.
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OLD MAN OF THE BOOKCASE:
February 7, 1892 The last Alice Bodington tale.
This is an eerie story about the ghost of a librarian
who was seen in a bookcase.
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HEADLESS BRAKEMAN:
July 15, 1894 This is a strange, haunting story
about railroad brakeman Tom Murphy and how he lost his
life one night in Maryland.
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WESTERN WITCH
STORY:
April 2, 1896 Miss Neubauer had a strange disease
that was caused by a bad omen and the feathers in her
pillow.
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AN UNEASY SPIRIT:
August 1, 1897 An apparition on State street has
all the neighbors speculating what the specter could be
when they see his lantern light in the oat field.
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FLEET OF HAUNTED VESSELS:
January 7, 1900 Uncle Sam's navy possesses a
fleet of haunted vessels such as few others can boast.
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GHOST STARTLED A TOWN:
September 23, 1906 This is more of a test of
bravery than a ghost tale, but it does show the attitude
of the people during that time period. It happened on
the edge of town in the grove of old oak trees...
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GHOST OF A LIVE MAN SEEN:
January 18, 1909 As a rule, spook stories rest
upon second hand evidence. In this instance, three
persons have made affidavits of what they saw in London,
England.
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GHOST ROBS KOSCIUSKO'S STATUE
OF SWORD: June 9, 1912 Old John Copcutt's ghost which
has haunted the Copcutt mansion in Nepperhan avenue,
Yonkers, for two decades, has made another appearance.
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GHOSTS HAUNT
SECONDHAND SHOPS: April 13, 1919 They are
there in those dusty, almost always ill-smelling shops.
Battered and musty or perky and defiant, sometimes, one
can almost imagine, sad and tearful. They are
substantial ghosts who tell real stories with no aim to
frighten their beholder.
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MYSTERY OF PSYCHIC
LETTERS: July 18, 1920 Like his
friends, William James and Richard Hodgson, Dr. Hyslop
had promised to whisper across the void between our
world and the world of the dead as soon after his death
as possible. Some say he did communicate several times
immediately following his death...
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GHOST OF AVIATOR HOVERS BY
HANGAR: April 7, 1922 After pilot Lincoln
Beachey died in an air exposition, his ghost was often
seen at his Bay Farm Island hangar. |
I pass,
like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech;
That moment that his face I see,
I know the man that must hear me:
To him my tale I teach.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1797)
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