Will Storr Vs. the Supernatural One Man's Search for the Truth About Ghosts

Will Storr has done some seriously bizarre and otherworldly things over the course of his career as a journalist. But even spending an entire day with Ozzy Osbourne wasn't as frightening as when he agreed to follow Philadelphia "demonologist" Lou Gentile on his appointed rounds. Will Storr never believed in ghostsbut his healthy skepticism couldn't explain the strange lights and sounds he witnessed, and the weird behavior of the occupants of several allegedly haunted houses. What resulted is a confirmed cynic's (and proud of it!) dedicated search for answers in a shadowy world of seances, mediums, devil worshipperseven the Vatican's chief exorcist. So get ready to confront the genuinely creepy along with the hilariously ridiculous in "Will Storr vs. the Supernatural"! Haunted America--Top 10 Most Haunted Places in America Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, Chicago The now-derelict Bachelor's Grove Cemetery is notorious amongst paranormalists everywhere as being one of the most haunted corpse-parks in the world. Under the weeds and rubble of the ruined tombs lie the remains of Windy City residents dating back to the 1844. Nobody has been buried here since 1965, when it was closed after falling into disrepair. The combined work of vandals, nature and local occultists have turned this small, one acre location into the very definition 'spooky', with it's cracked graves, gnarled bushes and bits of old candle, smashed crucifix and eviscerated virgin (probably) that local dabblers in the demonic have left behind. It's little wonder, then, that so much activity has been reported here. Most notably, a full female apparition who carries a baby in her arms (sometimes called'the 'Madonna of Bachelor's Grove'), a replay of a farmer being dragged by his horse and plow into the now-stagnant pond (which was, apparently, a favoured cadaver-dump for mobsters in the 50's) and, weirdly, the ghost of a house which many people claimed to have seen whilst walking up the path that leads to the moody place. Startling displays of ghost lights are also said to be common here, including red lights that dart away so fast they leave a trail and blue orbs that bounce from tombstone to tombstone. Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay Pity those poor Miwok Indians who were lead, shackled and twitching with spasms of dread, onto Alcatraz Island as the first residents of the prison in 1859. Not only had they been sentenced to serve time on what was to become one of the United States' most dismal penitentiaries, but their particular tribe had feared the place for generations, convinced, as they were, that it was inhabited by evil spirits. And if the ghost chroniclers of San Francisco are to be believed, those wise old Native American elders might have been onto something. Alcatraz was turned from an army fort and prison into the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world in 1934. And, whether or not it was haunted in the days of the Miwok, many people claim that it is today, with the echoes of the inmates who were held here until it's closure in 1963. And they were a tormented people indeed. Alcatraz was the destination for America's most dangerous criminals, and they were sent to the lonely rock for the State to have it's revenge. There was never even the pretence of rehabilitation. Prisoners were forbidden to talk, except for three minutes twice a day and twohours during the weekend as a special treat. Many, including Al Capone (who enjoyed playing his banjo, somewhat unaccountably, in the shower area), went mad, others were murdered or died from disease. Less ambitious types satisfied themselves with chopping off their own fingers with an axe. The guards were much more likely to beat you until you were a Picasso of body-parts, bubbles of blood blowing out of each one of your five nostrils, than they were to deliver you a decent breakfast. The most feared part of the complex was the four solitary confinement "holesStorr, Will is the author of 'Will Storr Vs. the Supernatural One Man's Search for the Truth About Ghosts', published 2006 under ISBN 9780061132193 and ISBN 0061132195.