THE ANSWER IS........ GHOSTS

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

As an Assistant Principal, I took our students on many fun and educational field trips, but
by far the best was the 4th grade and the 8th grade trips to Saint Augustine! Teaching is
my love but teaching Florida History is my passion! When my kids went to the Ancient
City, they knew all about Ponce de Leon, Menendez, the different Native Floridian tribes,
the battles, the Spanish, French, American (Union and Confederate) rule of Florida,
and even pirate history! They knew the Florida timeline right up to the present day and
remembered and shared so much on our trip that their parents were amazed.
How, you ask, was I able to accomplish such a feat of excellence in teaching? The answer
is……. Ghosts! That’s right, ghosts!

As we studied the history of each historic spot in Florida, I related the ghost stories that
went with each area. We read from Weird Florida (an awesome book by the way) and
many of the published accounts of paranormal activity in St.Augustine. So haunted
is this city, that on any given night, there are 7 or 8 different “ghost tours” going on at
once. The city is so famous for its ghosts that the cast of TV’s Ghost Hunters came to
investigate. They had one of the scariest nights of their careers right in the St. Augustine
lighthouse! Certified: Definitely haunted!

The lighthouse is said to be haunted by the spirits of 3 little girls. Two were the
lighthouse keeper’s daughters and the third was a friend. They liked to ride the cart on
tracks that led down to the water where ships would unload goods and wheel them up the
tracks. On one of these “rides”, the cart overturned into the water with the girls inside and
the friend was drowned. People often report hearing girls laughing down by the water and
see their little faces in the windows of the main house.

Another favorite haunting of my students is the secret room at the Castillo de San Marcos
(the fort). Years ago, while a crew was cleaning the canons on the upper level, the
ground beneath it caved in and the canon fell to the first level. Several workers went
down to see it, but no one could find it. Finally, someone was lowered down into the
hole with a light. He was almost overcome with the strong scent of spicy perfume. He
found the canon in a small room, completely sealed off, and to his horror he also found
2 skeletons chained to the cold coquina wall. After much research, it was discovered that
during the Spanish occupation of St. Augustine there was a Commander of the fort whose
wife was much younger than he, and known for her great beauty and the exotic, spicy
scent of her perfume. She was also rumored to be having an affair with the handsome,
young Captain of the Guard. According to entries in the Commander’s reports, his
beloved wife ran away with her lover, never to be seen or heard from again. Could
these two be the ones sealed up in the secret room? The skeletons have long since been
removed, but why do visitors still catch the scent of her perfume when they enter?

At the Mission of Nombre de Dios, there is a quaint little building which is the La Leche
Chapel. It is part of the original mission Menendez and his party set up and where the
first Catholic Mass was held in the United States. The first teachers were the priests
and sisters who came to teach the Timucuan natives of the area. These faithful nuns are
buried right next to the chapel. The story persists, even though the present director of the
Mission denies its truth, that one of the nuns was buried alive accidentally. This wasn’t
uncommon at the time since the only way to tell if one was dead was if you couldn’t feel
a heartbeat or see them breathing. Many people were buried with a bell on the grace, a
string leading down to the hand to ring if they regained consciousness. Someone was
hired to sit by the grave through the night (thus the “expression graveyard shift”) to start
digging if the bell rang. Unfortunately, this young nun had no such bell. There were
reports of moaning and the ground vibrating near the grave and people were terrified. It
was decided to dig her up to prove this was all nonsense. When they opened the coffin,
there were deep scratch marks on the inside lid and her nails were broken and blood
stained. Her mouth was open as if screaming. She was quickly reinterred, but to this day,
people standing by the grave sometimes hear moaning and feel the ground beneath them
tremble.

I told my 8th grade this very story and when we visited, they were most anxious to stand
by the graves. We were in the chapel praying, but it was a hot and humid morning. Two
of my girls felt a little faint and asked to stand outside for some air. They walked over
to the grave. I stood in the doorway where I could supervise both the students praying
and the girls outside. Suddenly there was a bone chilling scream and my two girls came
running to me. They clung to me for dear life and cried, “It’s true, it’s true! We heard the
moaning and the ground began to shake! It’s her!!! It’s the nun!” I held them both and
stood with my mouth open in surprise. Sure enough, the ground WAS trembling and I
could hear a low moan that seemed to be coming closer and closer……………..
Suddenly a man on one of those giant lawn mowers came riding around the corner of the
chapel. It moaned and shook the ground as it whacked away the grass and weeds. Tears
of horror turned into tears of laughter as the girls realized that their ghost was a big green
John Deere!

So if you love Florida history, ghost stories or both, Saint Augustine is the place to go!
Sure there are colorful shops, picturesque Bed and Breakfasts, sightseeing tours and
sun- kissed golden beaches, but most importantly, there are GHOSTS!

PARANORMAL PUB : The Silk Dress

Excerpted from Spooky New York

Retold by Marion Pellicano Ambrose

Liza worked in a box factory, and her salary was not large. She made just enough to cover the cost of food, shelter, and the clothes on her back. So when she received an invitation to a fancy-dress party from an old friend, she did not know what she should do. Here was her chance at last to shine a little, to experience how the other half lived, but she had no money to buy a dress, or even the material to make one.

She mentioned her dilemma to a woman at the box factory. “Why not rent a costume?” the woman suggested. “It shouldn’t cost much for just one evening. Try your local pawnshop.”

And so she made her way to a pawnshop near her home after work. At the rear of the store, she found a beautiful satin gown, complete with matching accessories. The owner of the shop was willing to rent the gown to her for a reasonable fee. After paying the fee she took the beautiful gown home with her on the night of the party.

She dressed carefully for the occasion and peered at her reflection in the tiny mirror in her bathroom. She looked radiant, her blue eyes glowing with the excitement of an evening out. As she turned away from the mirror, she thought she heard a whisper: “Give me back my dress.” She froze in the doorway, looking around uncertainly for the speaker, but saw no one. She shrugged, went downstairs, and splurged on the cab fare into Manhattan.

When she arrived, she was quickly inundated with dance partners. She felt like Cinderella at the ball, and the first hour of the party quickly slipped away.

She slowly became aware of growing nausea when she paused between dances. She felt light-headed, and the room was spinning for a moment. Once again Liza heard a ghostly whisper in her ear: “Give me back my dress.”

PARANORMAL PUB: THE TERMINAL BREWERY

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

On a dark Chattanooga night, the glow of the lights and the sound of music beckons you. As you approach the old brick building, the aroma of sizzling steaks, crusty calzones and the enticing bouquet of micro brewed beer fills the air.  You’ve come to The Terminal Brewhouse for a fantastic meal and a fun evening, but you may find much more. You might find spirits of a different kind!

The building was built in 1909 as a hotel to serve the Terminal Station across the street, during the golden age of rail travel. Many important people rode the “Chattanooga Choo Choo” and stayed at the hotel. After travel by automobile became popular, the train station closed and the hotel failed.  It was used at one time or another as a speak easy, illegal gambling establishment, and even a bordello. Some say even more “unspeakable” activities went on behind closed doors. . Sometime in the 1940’s an enterprising luggage handler at the station named Chester Davis, had saved his tips and eventually purchased the building.

Eventually, the building fell into disrepair. Its metal stairways and cold brick walls were covered in dust and shadows. No one wanted to enter the building because of the eerie sounds and shadows within. Finally in 2006, a local raconteur began restoring the property. Two friends became interested in the Historic building and the three of them entered the building together. The walls and the rafters seemed to cry out to the men. They felt the presence of those spirits who had lived and died there, and wanted the building to come to life once more. As a result, the men decided to create a Brewhouse and restaurant. The eerie sounds continue, especially at night when the brewer is alone and brewing the many fine ales and beers served at The Terminal.  I spoke to one waitress who believes that the building is definitely haunted and reports that the wait staff have seen or heard mysterious things, but they all feel that the spirits are content and friendly. Visitors to the Brewery sometime sense the “residents”, but it doesn’t take away from the pleasure of a fabulous meal, great music and some of the best beer you’ll ever taste.

If you’re ever in Chattanooga, stop by The Terminal Brewery at No.6 East 14^th Street, right across from the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Who knows who you might meet!

CALLING ALL WRITERS

POSTS WANTED:

Sports Pub - New Department -  Anything with a basis in sports desired!!!

He Said, She Said - Topic to be "Talked Back" to by other DRL writers

Paranormal Pub - Paranormal activities or "ghost" and/or "spirit" stories

The Real Housewives of DRL - We will let you ladies just go with this one!

Man Cave - To quote Jillian, "Talk to me, gentlemen!"

Any free-style writings that fit the Lounge

For more details visit the new page:  Contributors Wanted

Paranormal Pub Survey: Do You Believe in Ghosts?

We’re happy to publish the results of our Paranormal Pub Survey. Apparently, most of us have strong beliefs about the supernatural and have first hand experience to back it up! Feel free to write us at DelayedReactionLounge@gmail.com to tell us some of your personal encounters with the paranormal!

1. Do you believe in ghosts?                               Yes 76.5%        no 17.6%      not sure 5.9%

  2. Have you ever had a paranormal                     Yes 70.6%       no  23.5%     not sure 5.9%
     experience?

  3. Have you ever seen a Psychic/                        Yes 64.7%        no 35.3%
      Medium?

  4.Have you ever seen or communicated               Yes 47.1%        no 52.9%
     with a departed loved one?

  5.Do you believe in Tarot cards or                       Yes 29.4%       no 41.2%      not sure 29.4%
     other devices that supposedly
     fortel the future?

  6. Do you believe in the afterlife?                        Yes 94.1%       no 0%    no answer  5.9%

  7. Do you believe that dreams can fortel the future? Yes 58%         no 17.6%    not sure 23.5%

  8. Do you have any memory of a past life?          Yes 11.8%     no 88.2%    

  9. Do you believe in past lives?                          Yes 41.2%     no 23.5%     not sure 35.3%

 10.Do you regularly watch TV shows about        Yes 41.2%      no 17.6%     not sure 41.2%
  the paranormal?

Thank you to all who participated in our survey. We hope you will continue to enjoy our features in The Paranormal Pub. Please feel free to comment and tell us what you would like to see more of, any ideas you want explored or any comments/suggestions for our writers.

PARANORMAL PUB "DUFFY CUT PROJECT"

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

Over a century ago, Irish immigrants came to this country looking for a better way of life. Many came because they knew they could find work on the railroads. Such was the case for 57 Irishmen who came from Donegal, Ireland in 1832. When their ship, the John Stamp arrived in Philadelphia, they were met by a man by the name of Philip Duffy.

A big, strapping Irishman himself, Duffy recruited all 57 men to work on a stretch of rail line in Malvern, 30 miles west of Philadelphia for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad.

PARANOMARL PUB - FARMER'S REVENGE - A GEORGIA TALE OF TERROR

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

A good friend of mine moved to Georgia when her husband was offered a huge promotion. She and her girls didn’t want to go, especially when they were going to have to live in a fairly isolated area in Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County. The day they moved in to their rambling ranch style home, an old man came up as they were unloading the car. They were pretty well off the road and wondered how the man had come since they saw no car or truck. “Just passin’ through.” He told them looping his thumbs through his overalls. “Thought you should know about this place.”  Their curiosity piqued, they invited him to sit on the garden bench and tell them his story.

My daughter and her husband were driving the road right out in front of your place. It was a cold, rainy night and the road was slick. They went into a spin wound up stuck in the muddy ditch. They both heard the stories about the madman that lived in this very house - killed his wife and her lover with an ax when he found them trying to run away together. Of course, that was years ago. My son in law told my daughter to stay in the car and lock the doors until he came back with the police. There was a wicked fog and they couldn’t see but a few inches in front of them. He got out and disappeared into the mist. A few minutes later, she heard a scream, a loud crack and then a gentle bump, bump as if something was blowing in the wind. She crouched down further in the seat, covered her head and prayed that her husband would return with the police.

It felt like hours, but after only a few more minutes the car lit up with a bright light and an official sounding voice called out “Step out of the car”. “Thank goodness”, she thought and stepped out into the bright light. It was then that she saw what was bumping against the car. There, hanging from a tree with his throat slit from side to side was her dead husband. She looked towards the light to see the policeman but realized, it wasn’t a policeman at all. A  man in overalls with a bloody hatchet in his hand was moving closer. “Thought you would leave me, did you? Well think again.” The last thing she saw was the glint of his headlights against the cold, bloody blade.

My friends packed up that day. They moved to a well populated community several miles away where they lived for three years.  As soon as the opportunity presented itself, they moved back to Palm Bay, Florida where I’m pleased to say they live happily to this day.

PARANORMAL PUB "CHOSEN ONE"

Dawn Boyle

It started when I was little. I would wake up in the middle of the night and hear the silverware drawer slam shut, repeatedly. I always swore someone was in my room or my closet, although I couldn't see them. I knew they were there.

I grew up having vivid nightmares and would never sleep in my room, I would end up either on the floor of my parents room or on the couch. Then things changed, it wasn't just in my sleep that things were happening.

My episodes were now being experienced by other people. The first was when I was about 14 years old. My parents were out with my brothers and I was staying with a friend on the block. It was Christmas time and my family always had the biggest tree. A bunch of friends and I were out Christmas Caroling in the neighborhood and some girls in the group asked to see the tree. We went into my house, I walked to the back room and turned on the tree lights. All the girls stood in the doorway, we all heard something, it sounded like footsteps upstairs on the wood floor in the hallway. We all scurried to the foyer. At that time we had a dog named Sam, she was an outside dog. Sam would run inside the house given the chance. Not that night, Sam stayed whimpering at the door to the kitchen, frozen.

PARANORMAL PUB - "Tar & Feather"

Robert T. Rothschild. Jr.

Tar and Feathering of Charles Kelsey:

The Kelsey Outrage in Huntington, is a scar on the towns name. Was it justified, you be the judge!
the time in history was back in 1873 where men on the north shore of LI was all about whaling. So the townsfolk found the likes of Charles Kelsey as a quirky, odd fellow. Charles was an avid gardener, poet, and Sunday School teacher. One Sunday school meeting with 20 year old Julia Smith, is all it took for Charles to be smitten with the perky Julia.

On September 5th in 1873 the newspaper read that a funeral was held for the lower torso of Charles G. Kelsey. The 2nd Presbyterian church on Main Street was packed with patrons regarding the funeral for half of a man. The horrific events leading up to that point is one of the most sensational trials ever held on this ground. It had elements with sex, mutilation, spurned love, Tar and feathering, and half of a missing body...

PARANORMAL PUB "FORT GOLGOTHA"

Robert T. Rothschild, Jr.

My Experiences at Fort Golgotha

Having investigated this location on many occasions both day and night, I can safely say that the energy of the past is still present. I have heard footsteps crunching about on leaves in the fall and snow in the winter. We have seen an apparition of what we believe appeared to be a revolutionary soldier walking through the cemetery. I have captured "sprites" within the gates of the cemetery; a sprite is a light that streaks out across your field of view. They have an energetic glow and are able to be captured on video, yet not always seen with the naked eye.

PARANORMAL PUB - FORT GOLGOTHA

ROBERT T. ROTHSCHILD JR.

FORT GOLGOTHA: 226 Main Street in Huntington NY, stands the Soldier & Sailor Memorial. Right behind the building stands the oldest public cemetery in Huntington, known by several names including Ancient Burying Ground, Old Burial Hill and Old Burial Ground. The oldest headstone currently there dates to 1712; however, the cemetery was there as early as the founding of Huntington in 1653. From September 1776 until March 1783, Huntington endured 6 1/2 years of occupation by British troops. The Old Burying Ground was used to house Fort Golgotha, built by timbers used by the dismantling of Huntington's First Presbyterian Church. British Colonel Benjamin Thompson, a.k.a Count Rumford, ordered the Church to be torn down on 11/26/1782. The timbers were reused to build his fort...Fort Golgotha. The labor was completed by American patriots forced into servitude by Count Rumford.

PARANORMAL PUB GHOST OF SPRING STREET

Robert Thomas Rothschild Jr.


One night whiile watching TV, I caught an episode of Ghost Stories on the Travel Channel. It featured a story about the the ghost of Spring Street. The story took place on December 22, 1799. The main players involved 22-year Gulielma ("Elma") Sands and her 24-year old soon-to-be husband, Levi Weeks. On the night of her death, the two lovers were to meet at a Manhattan well. The night ended with Levi Weeks, a carpenter, throwing his fiancee down into the Manhattan well. It was rumored that Elma revealed to Levi that she was pregnant with his child. Upon hearing this news, just days before their Christmas day wedding, Levi got angry and concerned that his reputation was going to be soiled by the fact that his out-of-wedlock child would make his name mud.

PARANORMAL PUB INTRODUCES ROBERT THOMAS ROTHSCHILD

GHOST HUNTER


Robert Thomas Rothschild

I am Robert Thomas Rothschild. A former machine gunner in the United States Marine Corps. I am currently a Paranormal Investigator and historian for Eastern Suffolk Paranormal, who seeks out places of urban legends, tales of terror and known locations of previous paranormal activity.


I seek to help souls who have yet to cross over with my empathic feelings.  A near death experience in 1994 led me to this field of study. I have been able to experience the pain of these lost troubled souls for many years I work to journal and capture evidence of reported Paranormal activities. No apparently disturbed dwelling it to big or too small, basements, crawlspaces and attics are my wheelhouse of expertise.

PARANORMAL PUB

THE GHOSTS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
Marion Pellicano Ambrose

As an Assistant Principal, I took our students on many fun and educational field trips, but by far the best was the 4^th grade and the 8^th grade trips to Saint Augustine! Teaching is my love but teaching Florida History is my passion! When my kids went to the Ancient City, they knew all about Ponce de Leon, Menendez, the different Native Floridian tribes, the battles, the Spanish, French, American (Union and Confederate) rule of Florida, and even pirate history! They knew the Florida timeline right up to the present day and remembered and shared so much on our trip that their parents were amazed.

How, you ask, was I able to accomplish such a feat of excellence in teaching? The answer is……. Ghosts! That’s right, ghosts!