The Russian Sleep Deprivation Experiment

This is a whacked out story about a crazy-assed experiment our friends the Russian’s were performing in the 1940’s. Folks just lost their damned minds during the 40’s! Everybody was in the middle of doing these brutal and grotesque experiments in the name of science and defense back in the day, and that included the Russians.  Why should they miss out on being sadistic bastards when everyone else was having their fun right?!

1So, toward the end of the 1940s, these Soviet researchers seal five prison inmates in an airtight chamber and dosed them with one of their experimental stimulant gases so they could test to see the effects of prolonged sleep deprivation. So the room has this two way mirror in it. On the other side, were these “observers” a microphone and a camera, so yeah, it’s safe to say the test subjects were monitored closely. Every moment of their movement, behavior and conversations was under constant surveillance.  That’s enough to make you go ape shit right there! So, what landed these prisoner in to this posh position? They were promised their freedom if they could stay awake for 30 days, no sleep, at all!

Well, the first few days of the experiment go by with no major issues or events. But, by the fifth day, the inmates start showing signs of stress. Their unknowingly broadcasted conversations were centering around them becoming a little hostile about their situation. After a day or so, they stopped speaking freely among themselves, instead they had started whispering back and forth between each other. Yeah, that was the first stages of paranoia setting in. I’m thinking stage two was when they started whispering to the microphones instead of interacting with their fellow cellmates. They were all whispering the same kind of things: they where spilling compromising information about their fellow inmates. It was almost as if they were trying to win the favor of the researchers.

2On the ninth day the screaming began. First one subject, then another, was observed running around the chamber screaming at the top of his lungs for hours on end. Those that weren’t belligerently screaming their lungs out had started ripping apart the books that they had been provided with. Then it got interesting. They start smearing their shit over the mirrored window then smacking the pages from the books on top of it, basically blocking out the observers from watching them. Then, just as suddenly, the screaming stopped. The subjects ceased communicating altogether. Three long days passed without a sound from inside the chamber. Fearing the worst, the researchers start trying to rouse them through the intercom. When there was no response, they made an announcement: “We are opening the chamber to test the microphones,” they said. “Step away from the door and lie flat on the floor or you will be shot. Compliance will earn one of you your immediate freedom.”

A voice from inside the cell answered, “We no longer want to be freed.” Fearing what may happen if they opened the cell door, the scientists decided to leave them be for just a while longer.

3Two more days passed without contact of any kind, now the scientists are debating on what to do next. Finally, they decided to terminate the experiment. At midnight on the fifteenth day the stimulant gas was flushed from the chamber and replaced with fresh air in preparation for the subjects’ release. Far from being pleased at the prospect of leaving the chamber, the subjects began screaming as if in fear for their lives. They begged to have the gas turned back on. Instead, the researchers unsealed the door to the chamber and sent armed soldiers inside to retrieve them. Nothing could have prepared them for the gruesome nightmare they witnessed upon entering.

One subject was found dead, lying face-down in six inches of bloody water. Chunks of his flesh had been torn off and stuffed into the floor drain. All of the test subjects were found to have been severely mutilated, in fact. What’s worse, the wounds appeared to be self-inflicted. They had ripped open their own abdomens and disemboweled themselves with their bare hands.

Some had even eaten their own flesh.

The four who were still alive seemed terrified of falling asleep and refused to leave the chamber, they were still begging the researchers to turn the gas back on. When the soldiers attempted to remove the inmates by force, they fought back so ferociously that even the soldiers hadn’t been prepared to protect themselves properly. These test subjects were violently crazed, even in their mutilated conditions. They fought back fiercely. One suffered a ruptured spleen and lost so much blood there was literally nothing left for his heart to pump, yet he continued flailing for a full three minutes until his lifeless body collapsed.

4The remaining subjects were restrained and transported to a medical facility for treatment. The first to be operated on fought so furiously against being anesthetized that he tore muscles and broke bones during the struggle. As soon as the anesthetic took effect, his heart stopped and he died. The rest underwent surgery without sedation. Far from feeling any pain, however, they laughed hysterically while on the operating table — so hysterically that the doctors, perhaps fearing for their own sanity, administered a paralytic agent to immobilize them.

After surgery, the survivors were asked why they had mutilated themselves, and why they so desperately wanted to go back on the stimulant gas. Every one of them gave the same answer: “I must remain awake.”

The researchers considered euthanizing them to obliterate every trace of the failed experiment, but were overruled by their commanding officer, who ordered that it be resumed immediately; with three of the researchers joining the inmates in the sealed chamber. Horrified at the prospect, the chief researcher pulled out a pistol and shot the commanding officer point blank. He then turned and shot one of the two surviving subjects. Pointing his gun at the last one left alive, he asked, “What are you? I must know!”

The test subject then responded: “Have you forgotten so easily?” he said, smiling. “We are you. We are the madness that lurks within you all, begging to be free at every moment in your deepest animal mind. We are what you hide from in your beds every night. We are what you sedate into silence and paralysis when you go to the nocturnal haven where we cannot tread.”

The researcher fired a bullet into his heart. The EEG monitor flat-lined as the subject murmured these last words: “So…nearly…free.”


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H. H. Holmes – America’s first serial killer

Today we’re headed to Chicago, cause there’s a man, and his castle that I want to tell you folks about.  This dude was born with the name, Herman Mudgett, which kind of sounds like a Looney Tunes character, I guess he knew that, so he changed his name and became notorious while he was known as, Dr. Henry Howard Holmes.  And Dr. Holmes is said to be the United States very first serial killer.

howardAccording to a recent profile on Holmes, he was the son of a violent alcoholic Father, but apparently the abuse didn’t stop when he was at school.  Because his home life had made him anti social, his classmates tormented the hell out of him.  One time he was forced to stand face to face with a human skeleton when he had admitted that he was terrified of Doctors.  Yeah, the mold of a sociopath is born right!  So the despite all of this, he manages to graduate from the University of Michigan in 1884 get this, he graduates as a Doctor.

Even though he’d earned this prestigious title, Holmes was known to most as a swindler.  So it was no surprise that he decided to build an elaborate hotel at the site of the Colombian Exposition for the upcoming Worlds Fair.  From the outside, it was gorgeous, in fact on the inside it was even more elaborate but there was a lot going on here that the average guy doesn’t notice when they walk in.  Beneath the guise of this fantastic castle was nothing more than an elaborate prison designed to capture, torture and murder his unsuspecting guests.

holmes-hotel-plan-2So, the whole time this place is being built, Holmes would hire, and fire, crews before they finished their tasks.  This way he could both stiff them on their pay as well as ensure that he was the only person than knew the complex layout of his hotel.   There were stairs that led to nowhere, doors that opened to brick walls, doors that could only open from the outside and over 100 windowless rooms with some elaborate yet “unusual” features.

Now, it’s true that Holmes built the joint to cash in on the massive visiting crowds, but as we all know there was definitely a hidden agenda going on here!  and the modern decor of his hotel lured the vacationers into this deadly hotel in freaking droves.  These poor oblivious bastards had no clue of the carefully constructed traps that masqueraded as quiet, comfortable rooms.

hhcorpseHolmes christened the joint with personally invited guests and well, hookers.  They were like his guinea pigs in testing his devices and means.  Other than fulfilling his sadistic urges, there were always financial gains to be had.  So once he finishes tormenting, murdering and dismembering or burning his victims bodies, he robs them.  But sometimes he’d cut out a few internal organs and sell them to nearby medical schools or research laboratories.
I know it all sounds chaotic and macabre, well the macabre part is straight up, that’s for sure but as far as chaos, no way.  This sadistic bastard was as crazy as shit but he was meticulous and each murder was carefully orchestrated from start to finish.

castleSome of his victims were trapped inside a soundproof vault, or a luxury suite, whichever way you want to look at it.  Holmes had some rooms that had metal walls that were painted and trimmed then decorated with wall art and gas lights, once inside, the door could only be opened from outside.  They were screwed.  As they’re suffering through the pains of suffocation, Holmes looked on from specially designed peep holes.  As the oxygen was inhaled, carbon dioxide was exhaled.  They suffered with dizziness, panic and fear all while they lay convulsing.  Their last living moments were consumed with the question of why they were dying this way.

Others victims met their fate locked inside the very rooms they paid to stay in overnight, thinking they’d be safe there resting after spending the day at the fair, not so much….  When they’d return to the hotel to crash for the night, Holmes released gas from hidden lines inside the room, so the guests went to sleep then never woke up.

There were other rooms that were constructed with iron covered walls that actually had hidden blowtorches.   Yeah he’d torch the guests while he stood on the other side of the wall, peeking through those peep holes watching his victims slowly burn to death.  From there they’d be tossed down a hidden trapdoor that opened to a makeshift shaft which led to, the basement of course! In the basement are these two massive incinerators which erased all signs of his dirty deeds, or at least so he thought.

HOLMES_06In 1894, the police investigated a tip from a custodian of the hotel that led to Holme’s arrest. The janitor told the authorities that he was never allowed to clean the upper floors.  A month-long investigation revealed secret passageways and torture chambers.  These atrocities paled in comparison to the mound of human remains like, bones and hair that were found in the basement.  The walls, floors and ceilings were covered in dried blood. Based on the human remains, missing persons reports and testimony of hotel workers who saw Holmes escort women into the hotel but then were never seen leaving, it’s estimated that he killed around 200 people, mostly women and often blonde.  Wait! say what!

Holmes was found guilty of masterminding the horrific events and evil attacks that occurred inside the hotel’s walls, which had then earned the tag of “Murder Castle.”  He was sentenced to death, ya think!  He did his damnedest trying to lie his way out of it, but at the end, he did admit to 30 murders, even though we know there were way more, I guess standing in his shoes, what difference does it make, he’s gonna be a dead man too.

In response to his atrocities, he was quoted as saying, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing…I was born with the evil one standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since.”

hangH.H. Holmes was hanged on May 7, 1896.

Murder Castle suffered destruction from several unexplained explosions prior to Holmes’ death in an apparent attempt at an insurance scam. His partner, Mrs. Quinian, confessed to an un-awarded policy and the rest of the castle was demolished.

A Post Office was built on the site in 1938 and guess what! Folks start reporting paranormal activity!  Ghostly apparitions, strange noises and even reports that dogs will run across the street to avoid walking near the building.  Postal workers have reported hearing screams and cries for help, they believe are the tortured spirits of  Holmes’s victims.


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Urban Legends – Resurrection Mary




















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Dead Serial Killers that linger on…..

So we all like serial killer stories here, we’ve talked about a ton of these sick bastards and their gruesome deeds but I don’t think we’ve ever discussed that fact that some of them refuse to leave, despite the fact that they’re deader than Hell.  Oh yeah, I’m talking about the demented ghosts of serial killers, let’s line them up!

bundyTed Bundy was one of the most prolific serial killers in American history!  This twisted individual admitted to murdering 30 women across 6 states, but he hinted that there were more.  We may never know how many victims Bundy kidnapped, assaulted and raped both before and after he hacked their heads off, we can only hope that he can’t figure out how to kill anybody else while he’s dead.  Yeah they fried this twisted bastard in the electric chair in  January of 1989, but he came back.  In fact, almost immediately after his body was removed and his toasted remains scrubbed away, he was seen sitting casually in the electric chair with a knowing smile pasted across his lips.  Bundy was seen so frequently in the chair that the warden was hard pressed to find anyone that would go into the chamber alone.

But the chair isn’t the only place that prison guards see him, he still pops up in his holding cell and apparently he’s a bit on the chatty side.  More that a couple of guards have heard him sarcastically state, “I beat all of you, didn’t I” while he’s still wearing that all knowing grin.  It’s assumed he’s telling them he beat death, and well, it seems that he may have done just that.  Bundy’s quite the traveler too, folks have claimed to encounter his spirit in some of his other old stomping grounds as well.  He’s been spotted at Chi Omega Sorority house, where he earned two of his life sentences.  He brutally beat and raped his victims, two of which actually survived.

He also turns up on the front porch of a small wood framed home in Tennessee that he rented under an alias but mysteriously, never copped to any murders while in this area.  The bulk of Bundy’s slaughtering spree took place in Washington state.  Bundy’s remains were cremated and scattered over Washington state’s Cascade Mountains, perhaps so he can also lurch about on their high peaks, as he surveys the shallow graves of some of his still missing victims.

dahmerAh and then there’s Jeffrey Dahmer, we’ve definitely talked about this demented freak on some past shows.  Remember? this is the sicko that that raped, tortured, murdered, dismembered and then ate at least 17 male victims between 1978 and 1991.  Dahmer was sentenced to a total of 957 years in prison. The first year he spent in solitary for his own safety, after that he was moved to a less secure unit with a population of inmates that weren’t quite as nasty, but they were nasty enough.  These dudes were constantly beating the hell out of Dahmer, sometimes stabbing him.  It wasn’t that they were against murder, cause well, they all got there mostly due to violent offenses themselves.  The prisoners all had a problem with the fact that Dahmer had eaten pieces parts from off of his victim’s corpses.  Eventually they got the best of him and he wound up beat to death on November 28, 1994.

Now, unlike Bundy, Dahmer didn’t stick around the prison, his spirit returned to his childhood home, also the site of his first murder.  Dahmer lured a hitchhiker home with promise of drugs and booze, then after smashing him in the head with a dumbbell he drags the body into the crawlspace beneath the house and dismembered it so that he could bury him in the woods.  Well, there have been some ghost hunts at Dahmer’s old boyhood home but it’s impossible to get the equipment to work long enough to document things.  Cameras and EVP recorders just stop working or their batteries are completely drained within moments of entering the home.  We know why don’t we folks.

gacyAnd here’s another one, John Wayne Gacy, definitely talked about this twisted bastard too.  This is the dude that found his cure for ED in murdering young boys.  Gacy doubled as Pogo the clown, luring little boys to a tragic and despicable fates.  33 kids died at his hands some were raped before he murdered them, others after, some got it twice.  Gacy buried their mutilated corpses in the crawl space of his home or out in the yard.  So many bodies were exhumed there that the house had to be demolished and for years after, nothing would grow on the vacant lot, not even a weed.  Another home has been built on the lot since then, i can’t help but think that there’s some crazy wicked shit going on in there, but for now let’s talk about this freaks lingering spirit.

Gacy was put down by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.  The death chamber where he drew his last breath is where he likes to spend most of his time.  There is a video on youtube from where some investigators went in with EVP equipment.  Gacy was otherwise occupied and irritated by their presence, In the video you can hear and understand him quite clearly, he’s even tells the investigators to get out because he’s trying to masturbate, I shit you not, the dude is still fighting that ED thing I guess, but at least he won’t be murdering anymore children to get his jollies.

jackAnd this one is from way back, Jack the Ripper is still making appearances as well, kind of.  It’s actually the ghost of one of his victims that he is seen with.  Kind of makes you wonder if the victim is summoning him each time that she relives her brutal death.  Maybe she’s still trying to finger the asshole that murdered her.  Annie Chapman was one of 5 hookers that died at his hands in 1888, she appears at 29 Hanbury street, the same place where she was murdered.  Her headless apparition is sometimes seen sitting in the back yard but sometimes she’s seen walking down Hanbury street in the company of the shadowy figure of a man.  Too bad no one can get a good look at his face before the two of them vanish.

We know there are a ton of other notorious serial killers, some of these monsters are still alive too like David Berkowitz and Ronald Defeo, yeah, they’re classifying Defeo as a serial killer, I guess technically that would be right, he did kill his entire family, 6 people I’d say is enough to tag someone a serial killer.  But we know what really happened there.  Even though Defeo was under the influence of demonic possession, he still had some sense of responsibility.  Demonic infestation and possession don’t get crazy insane like this over night, precautions could have been taken, but weren’t.  With the tainted soul this dude is lugging around, just imagine the spirit that he could leave behind, and then, there are those that he has left behind.


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Haunted History – The Andrew Jackson Hotel

ajI have another bit of haunted history for you, this one hales from the Crescent city, of course, New Orleans.  At 919 Royal street stands the Andrew Jackson Hotel, which is crazy haunted, but it’s not as much as the 127 year old hotel, as it is the lot that it stands on.  Let me give you a bit of the backstory here, it’s pretty interesting!

18th century New Orleans was a cesspool of filth, disease and death with epidemics ravaging the city nearly every summer.  Childhood mortality rates were insane but surprisingly, men between the age of 15-40 seemed most susceptible to disease, and death.  Their death meant leaving a wife and several children without a head of household, rendering them destitute.  With so many orphans roaming the streets, In 1792 the Spanish colonial government built a boarding school, basically an orphanage, on the very spot where the Andrew Jackson hotel now sits.

So for two years there was some semblance of normalcy in these kids lives, but those of you that know New Orleans history also know that two years after the boarding school opened, in 1794, massive fires consumed most of the buildings in this area of the city, the orphanage included.  Several boys were said to have perished in the flames.

After the fire another building was erected on the lot, the Federal Courthouse, the same courthouse where General Jackson was indicted for contempt of court and was charged with obstruction of justice because he refused to answer interrogation questions.  Well, we all know how that turned out, he went on to be president!  So  the courthouse remained on this lot until the early 1900’s so basically a century of sentences were handed down, decades of drama and heartache surely seeped into the very soil where the building sat.  And then the building was demolished and the Andrew Jackson hotel went up.  But the new building had some old luggage.

Remember those kids that burned to death in the orphanage? Yeah well the ghosts of these young boys like to play in the courtyard in the middle of the night.  And this one guest reported being woken up from his sleep because of the static noise coming from the TV.  He leans over to grab the remote control, wondering how the TV had been turned on since he had shut it off before closing his eyes for the night.  He distinctly remembered having set the remote on the bedside table.  So he sits up in bed, to aim the remote at the TV, and he freezes.  There in front of the TV, sitting on the floor, was the ghostly apparition of a young boy.  The guest starts screaming like a girl, and the apparition vanished.

Many guests have reported both seeing the kids, and hearing their footsteps and laughter.  It’s good to know that they’re reliving their happier times there in the boarding house rather than being stuck in an endless cycle of their tragic deaths.  Another guest had an interesting encounter as well.  She comes out of the shower one morning and hears this kid giggling and then hears the sound of her cereal being poured out onto the floor.

The most haunted room at the Andrew Jackson is said to be room 208.  Guests who have stayed in this room have seen all kinds of crazy shit, most of them claiming to have seen the ghost of a child.  This ghost name is Armand.  Legend says that young Armand chose to end his own life by having jumped from the second floor balcony.  Though he endured a horrific death, his spirit never left the Hotel and Room 208 seems to be his preferred haunting spot.

Armond’s spirit has a thing for waking guests up with his childish (and ghostly) giggling.  At other times, people staying in this room have actually been shoved out of the bed by an unseen force.  Others have reported that while sleeping, they felt the covers being tugged down and cold hands touching their exposed flesh.  Armond’s ghost hasn’t ever been aggressive, and it is clear that he likes to play games with the living.  But it’s said that Armond is not the only spirit haunting Room 208.

Some guest have tried to stay in Room 208, many of them have actually turned back up at the front desk, requesting to switch rooms.  When the front desk attendant asks why,  the most common reason is that the guest had been experiencing a looming or eerie feeling that something was in the room with them,  watching them. The lights switch off and on by themselves, and the faucets are known to turn on by themselves.  Personal items vanish but sometimes appear in another area of the room, other times they never reappear.

Is the ghost of Armond responsible for all of the pranks and paranormal activity in Room 208? could be, but it seems unlikely that the spirit of a young child would have the ability to make the living feel such a sense of dread or despair.  And it’s typically something far different that the ghost of a child that tends to thrive off the fear of the living.

Ok, so room 208 may contain a dark spirit, but the Hotel is also said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman, who many suspect was a housekeeper there at some point in history.  She’s known to straighten towels, fluff pillows and reset furniture the way she sees fit.  It’s not uncommon here to leave your room and return to find the chairs moved closer to the window, or swapped around entirely.

Current members of the cleaning staff have all expressed the feeling of being watched while they go about their daily routine, though most of the staff assumes that the ghost of the housekeeper.  Disembodied footsteps are heard climbing up and down the stairs at all times of the day and night.  This poor chick is still working her ass off, even in the afterlife!  Anyway, her ghost has been spotted most frequently in the lobby, but it’s not uncommon to run into her in some of the other rooms on the second floor.

jgAnd then of course, there is the namesake of the Hotel,  President Andrew Jackson.  So, according to various accounts, the good General’s actual apparition has been seen parading about the hotel, especially on the second floor.

There have been so many that lived and died in the hotel, as well as the other known structures that had been on this lot.  Ghostly encounters have been reported here on the grounds for a very long time, so of course it’s been investigated, wanna talk about one of these ghost hunts? of course you do! You can find out more by replaying my show at


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Haunted History – The Cecil Hotel

So let’s talk about the Cecil Hotel in L.A., trust me, not a place you’d want to book for vacation, unless you’re as demented as I am!

cecilThe Cecil is a low budget hotel and when I say low, I mean gutter low.  This 600 room train wreck plays host to transients and crackheads alike, offering a roof over their guests heads for about $470 per month, getting the picture, yeah, it’s like that!  Since its construction in 1927 it has been the site for multiple suicides, murders, and disappearances as well as providing a sanctuary for serial killers.

cycsternIn 2013 the Cecil was the site of a mysterious death, this highly publicized tragedy hit headlines across the nation, you may have heard something about it.  It started out with complaints from the guests, stating that the water smelled bad and had a foul taste.  Well, when maintenance staff started investigating the cause it took a while but eventually a corpse was discovered in the water cistern on the roof.  At the bottom of the tank were the remains of a Canadian tourist named Elisa Lam, ring a bell yet?

Just imagine, these folks had been bathing in, brushing their teeth and cooking with the same water that Lams body had been decomposing in, fantastic right!  Lam had checked into the hotel on January 26 and was reported missing on February 1st. No on knows what happened to her to this day but closed circuit tv recordings showed  Lam acting bizarrely, hiding in the lift, then pressing all the buttons before peering out strangely. She eventually exits the lift and gestures to someone – or something – outside the doors.

After this, she vanished. Her body was discovered in the tank on the secured and alarmed rooftop over two weeks later.  In watching the footage it appears that Lam had consumed some serious drugs when she is filmed in the lift, yet no substances were found in her system during an autopsy.

The coroner ruled her death “accidental due to drowning”, yet many questions remain unanswered. What actually happened to Lam may never be known.

rrAs far as those serial killers, yeah, here we go:  The Cecil was home to ‘Night Stalker’ Richard Ramirez, an American serial killer, rapist and burglar during 1984-85. The satanist’s terrorized L.A. before he was finally captured and convicted of 13 murders.

He lived on the top floor in a $14-a-night room while he slaughtered his 13 female victims.  It was convenient for him, he’d just dump his bloody clothes in the dumpster at the end of the evening and go into the hotel via the rear entrance.  Ramirez was sentenced to death in a gas chamber in 1989, and on receiving his sentence showed no remorse, his last statement: “Big deal. Death always went with the territory. See you in Disneyland.” Yeah, keep that shit in mind when you book your summer vacation with the kids right!

jackAustrian serial killer Jack Unterweger also stayed at the hotel in 1991 for five weeks. During this time he murdered three prostitutes, who would enter his room via the fire escape for a measly $30.  This all occurred after he had been jailed and released in Austria for similar murders.  He was released as an example for rehabilitation and was hired by an Austrian magazine to be a crime writer in Los Angeles.  The disturbed crime journalist is believed to have been paying homage to his subject, Richard Ramirez, when he beat, sexually assaulted and then strangled the women with their own bra straps.

g1And what about the suicides and murders?  The horrors started at the beginning of the great depression.   In 1929 a 33 year old woman was taken to the hospital after wandering around the hotel for 3 days while acting in a bizarre manner.  According to reports, she was distraught over the sudden death of her husband and had tried to poison herself with prescribed barbiturates. She failed in her attempt.  After this, the hotel became known as a suicide hot spot.  The first suicide was documented only a few weeks later when a 46 year old man intentionally od’s on poison.   The following year, a 25-year-old man shot himself in his hotel room.  A year later, a young truck driver was fatally pinned against the hotel by a large truck.

g2In 1934, another lonely man took his life.  and then a marine fireman named Roy Thompson, who had been at the Cecil for several weeks, was found dead in the skylight of the building next door after apparently jumping from his hotel room.   Oh, I’m not finished because Pauline Otton, 27, threw herself to her death from a ninth-floor window after arguing with her husband. She landed on pedestrian George Gianinni, 65, on the street below, killing him instantly. Oh and helen Gurnee too, she plunged to her death from a seventh-floor window, her body landing atop the hotel marquee above the heads of pedestrians,  and check this out,  In 1947, Elizabeth Short, nicknamed the Black Dahlia, was allegedly seen at the Cecil bar shortly before she was murdered.

In an unsolved murder in 1964, Pigeon woman, Goldie Osgood, who enjoyed feeding the birds in a nearby square, was found dead in her room. She had been stabbed, strangled and raped – and then had her room ransacked.

These deaths are only a potion of the tragedies that have befallen the Cecil there are many more bizarre stories to be told such as the man accused of killing his girlfriend in Huntington Beach was arrested at the Cecil in 1988.   In 1995, a murder suspect named Eric Reed was found at the hotel, after breaking out of a jail in Castaic.

So, yeah, as I was saying, unless you are demented, not a place you’d care to book.  But I think we may spend some time on this join in a later episode.  I’ve only researched the grizzly deaths associated with the Cecil, There have got to be some serious ghosts wandering around this hotel today, wouldn’t you think?  Yeah, I’m thinking I’ll have to dig into this a little further but at least now we know the background, so later when we talk about the hauntings, we’ll at least have a better understanding of why right!


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Haunted History, The Ghosts of 911


Everybody and their Grandmama can remember exactly where they were when this fucked up event took place.  I was wearing a suit and heels and carrying a briefcase, standing in my office with my eyes glued to the TV.  Yeah, me in a suit with a briefcase, that’s scary enough in it’s own right!  My initial reaction when I walked into the conference room and saw the scene playing out was that everybody was watching a movie, it didn’t take long before I figured out otherwise, and the cameras rolled on as people were jumping or falling from the flaming building.  People noticed right away that there was something evil in the air, besides the physical fall out from the attack. Almost immediately pictures were being posted of demonic faces that had emerged in the billowing smoke that followed the explosions.  I’ve looked at several still frames and videos.  There are 13 distinct wicked faces that were documented that day, and from then forward there have been tales of paranormal activity on that very site.

There are hundreds of reports from workers and volunteers that participated in searching through the rubble for bodies.  Along with these eyewitness statements comes tons of photographs of white misty figures floating about over the rubble.  The spirits of those that perished that day searched desperately for answers.  Some of these victims never knew what hit them, their scenarios are much like the mother we discussed earlier.  But then there were those that looked out of a window just before the plane plowed through the building.  They saw what was coming.  Imagine the terror and desperation, the flux of adrenaline and the sensation of damnation that these folks felt as they braced for impact.  That is the very state that hundreds of these victims died in and that is the very sense that has saturated the soil where the freedom tower stands today.

The clean up after the attack took nine months to clear out, a total of 1.8 millions of rubble and debris were moved to a landfill where volunteers sifted through each handful for remains or any forms of identification that could be found.  Many of the spirits also came to the site where the rubble had been delivered.  Frank Marra was a NYPD officer that had been assigned to help and oversee this “Sifter” project.  Frank had so many encounters with the spirits of the victims from 911 that he wrote his own book entitled Hallowed Ground, it may be one that you would want to pick up.

1Among some of Frank’s experiences were these, two of which we’ve talked about in the past.  Frank, on several occasions, witnessed an colored woman dressed in a red cross uniform, she was carrying around a tray of sandwiches.  The apparition was strikingly vivid until she got near him, then she would fade away into nothing.  Frank was not the only worker on the site to see the red cross woman, several other volunteers reported witnessing the same image.  And there’s another example.  Frank, along with many others that worked the site of the attack as well as the Sifter project, reported seeing Soul reapers, large black masses that slowly hovered over the rubble.  Soul reapers are said to be heavenly entities that are here to help spirits find their way.  It’s a good thing, I’m certain the help was needed but I am also certain that not every wayward spirit was retrieved from either site.

WTC Ghost_WatermarkedJoe Lani, another NYPD officer, worked at ground zero 12 hours a day for 5 months.  His first paranormal encounter was on day 1.  His work hours were from 4 am to 4PM, he rolls onto the site at 4 in the morning and sees a man walking around in the middle of all of the rubble and debris.  He then gets out of his vehicle to begin his work day and decides to go over and get a status report from the man he sees walking around.  But the second he gets close enough to call out to him, he disappears into thin air.  These experiences became the norm for Joe and everyone else on site.  5 months into this heart wrenching detail and his heart literally gives out on him.  After his heart attack, Joe was forced to retire, but several of the spirits that he had encountered on site, came home with him.

Spirits walk through the rooms of his home, absorbing all of the light and electricity within them as they pass.  He is frequently touched or tapped by unseen hands, and there are the constantly muffled voices of those that are still crying out for justice or at the very least, an explanation of what has happened to them.  and lastly, every clock in Joe’s house is constantly stopping at 8:46 am which is the exact time the first tower was hit.

Joe has a music room in his home, which he calls the “drum room.”  He said the room became rife with paranormal activity. He’d walk in and there would be cold spots, the smell of cigarette smoke and perfume, and his cellphone battery would immediately drain.  Lights would flicker.  So he began taking photos and, to his shock, the photos revealed apparitions in the form of foggy streaks of light also known as ectoplasm.  The ectoplasm even spelled out his name.  Another time, a spectral crucifix appeared on his kitchen cabinets.  The next time, the Twin Towers appeared in the same spot.  He caught both on film.

First responders, on site witnesses and volunteers weren’t the only ones that were directly affected by the horrendous remains scattering the area.  Several days passed before folks that lived near ground zero were allowed to return to their homes.  Most of these folks were accompanied by police or fireman just to make sure these folks would be returning to structurally sound residences.  Imagine having been at work only a few blocks from where the attacks went down, close enough to see the rising flames and billowing smoke.

You wonder who of your friends and family could have been lost and then at the end of the day, you’re informed that you can’t go home.  Here’s what makes it worse.  Several days have passed, you and everyone you know or encounter are physically and mentally exhausted, you’re only form of relief is knowing that you will finally be allowed to return to your apartment.  So, your escorted all the way to your door, everything is basically ok, covered in ashes and soot, but ok.  You open your door and see that there is a huge gaping hole in the wall where there was once a window and just inside what was once your dining nook sits 2 airliner seats with the scorched remains of human bodies still strapped in them.

There were tons of grisly tales running rampant for days and weeks after the attack.   A policeman dead of a self-inflicted bullet wound, his legs crushed in the rubble. (He’d chosen to die quickly rather than slowly.) A baby’s broken body trampled on the street outside the World Trade Center.  A pair of clasped hands, severed at the wrists, one black and one white. Five emaciated bodies dug out of the debris sometime in November. (These folks had died of starvation.) and these are just the tales that we know about, there are bound to be multitudes of others.

On November 3rd 2014 the Freedom Tower was opened on the site of where the twin towers once stood.  Inside of the world trade center complex there were also a set of twin fountains and a September the 11th museum constructed to memorialize both the victims and the site itself.  Since construction began on this complex there have been reports of a mysterious hum or moan reported, some believe that it is the sound of the victims desperate voices as they call out from beyond.  Now folks, I have actually listened to a couple of different recordings of this humming noise.  The first time I heard it, even within the first few seconds, my initial reaction was heartbreak and my eyes filled with tears, that should tell you something right there.  Whether there’s a physical reason for the heart-wrenching sound or if spirits are reaching out, no one knows. No scientific explanation exists.

Before the Freedom Tower was built, the Millennium Hilton Hotel overlooked the ground zero site. Many hotel visitors reported seeing all kinds of ghostly activity.  One visitor swore that he felt like a crowd of people were in his room, and he couldn’t sleep there.  Other guests complained to the staff that they had nightmares of 9/11 victims faces pressing against their windows.  Due to all of the complaints, the staff avoided renting rooms that had a view of Ground Zero.

3In the September 11 Museum, a 30 foot girder from the original tower is on display.  The centerpiece has been bent and deformed from the Flight 11 aircraft.  On the metal surface, a face appeared to construction workers. Thereafter, many of the workers were too frightened to go near the display.  They dubbed this piece the “Angel of 911” as it seems to look down in anguish and horror for what has come to pass.

While we’re on the subject of strange and inexplicable happenings, some believe that it would have been impossible for the airplane passengers to have called from their cellphones, and yet many did.  The planes were flying at 29,000 and 31,000 feet.  According to Bill Rojas of IDCAR, cellphone reception is lost at about 10,000 feet.

4And then there was flight 93, no way I wouldn’t acknowledge these guys.  Their brave acts saved the lives of hundreds, possibly 1000’s.  Certainly the emotions spent upon their last stand have permeated the soil there at the fated site.  Today there stands a memorial for each hero that gave their life that day, but on September 11th there was a flaming pile of wreckage beneath a billowing cloud of smoke that reeked of aviation fuel and pine trees.

Three hours after impact, an FBI agent by the name of Lillie Leonardi was sent to the site in the capacity of liaison between first repsonders and victims families.  Lillie was used to gruesome scenes due to her scope of work but when she arrived to the flight 93 site she said it was oddly different than the others she had worked on.  The site was still, quiet even and most bizarre, there were no bodies scattered around, it was like the ground opened up and swallowed the plane.  and then, Lillie has a paranormal encounter that few have ever experienced.  She said she looked on as the smoke started to settle to the ground and then from the ground rose angels, hundreds of them were gathering just to the left of the site.  Then a sudden brisk wind came from nowhere distracting her and two men that were walking to either side.  There attention was grabbed as the wind seemingly intentionally flipped through the pages of a barely singed book then abruptly stopped.

Lillie picked up the book to see that it was a bible, and the page where it stopped, Psalm 23.  For you that don’t know, Psalms 23 is more commonly known as the Lords Prayer, The Lord in my Shepard, I shall not want, ring a bell, yeah, incredible right!

Today the site is fenced off and patrolled by security guards, and trust me these guys have some stories to tell too, tons.  On a normal night there are easily half a dozen shadow people encountered but there are several that appear vividly in full form as well.  Voices are heard several times per shift and inside the trailer on site that serves as an office, it’s typical that the front door is knocked on by unseen hands, furniture is moved and voices are heard.

and then what about flight 77?  Well, folks, I did a little digging and guess what I found?  Nothing, zip, nada.  I was perplexed for a minute, how could this be?  ok, there weren’t thousands of deaths at that site, but still more than just a handful of people died there that day.  Then I realized, it’s the pentagon, we’ll never, ever know anything about any spirits that return to, or never left that site.


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