Most Famous Paranormal Stories

If you've ever watched Ghost Hunters or Paranormal State, you see that paranormal stories are happening everywhere. Many people have experienced the sort of poltergeist activity described by George Lutz who lived in the Amityville House. Others may report a haunting like that of John Bell who encountered the Bell Witch. What makes certain stories so downright creepy is the unusually violent nature of the manifestations, the level of direct contact between the spirits and the homeowners, and the repetition of occurrences.

Most of the famous paranormal stories we hear about today are the most extreme examples of paranormal activities. While it's more common to hear footsteps, feel a cold spot in a room, or have a cupboard open and slam shut, these generally aren't the enduring ghost stories of our times. Instead, we fixate on the "intelligent haunting," which is when ghosts have direct contact with humans, or on demons and paranormal manifestations that throw dishes, create foul odors, or scare the living daylights out of people. The following stories may not have a strong impact on a true skeptic, yet seeing is believing.

There are many enduring paranormal stories that have been passed down to us throughout the years. Undoubtedly, these legends have been exaggerated, misconstrued and embellished as time marches on. Each tour guide perhaps gives the ghost stories their own unique spin. As more people visit, their imaginations become excited and they may add their own tales of paranormal spirits as well. Authors, filmmakers and reporters add other layers of details that may not have been there before. Despite unavoidable inaccuracies, the public is still widely fascinated by a good story of mystery paranormal proportions.

While many paranormal stories are embellished and exaggerated over the years -- by products of rumors and hearsay, no doubt -- there are still a number of tales that can be substantiated by newspaper stories, historical artifacts, and eyewitness accounts. To become a particularly famous ghost story, the tale must include a history of known violence, repeated paranormal activity, direct contact with visitors and extreme actions. A number of books have been written about these famous haunts, but nothing beats a hair-raising tour of a place like The Winchester Mystery House, Gettysburg or Alcatraz, where one may encounter his or her own personal paranormal sightings.

The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is an infamous paranormal story because this particular apparition has been so reliably photographed. While she hasn't made an appearance since 1936, many witnesses reported seeing a woman apparition in a long brown cape or dress. In the early 1800s, King George IV said he saw a woman with disheveled hair in a brown dress standing over his bed. Later, an 1835 house guest, Colonel Loftus, reported that he saw a woman wearing a brown satin dress with empty eye sockets. Captain Frederick Marryat slept in the "haunted room" hoping to catch a glimpse, but surprisingly encountered her carrying a lantern down an upstairs hallway. Two little boys reported seeing her in 1926 and the famous photograph caught her on camera in 1936, when Captain Provand and Indre Shira were taking a photo of the staircase for Country Life Magazine. Legend has it, the paranormal happenings come from a woman named Lady Townshend, who was suspected of infidelity and reportedly locked up in the house by her cruel husband until her death.

Alcatraz is another one of the most famous paranormal stories in America. The Alcatraz structure was originally used as a military fort in 1850 and Native Americans say the ground it was built on harbors evil spirits. In 1861, the fortified Alcatraz became a stone-walled prison, which held many notoriously violent criminals like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. It's said that Alcatraz is the first prison to make use of solitary confinement in its infamous D-Block, which is unsurprisingly the site of many a haunting. Guards and prisoners reported seeing a man walking down the hallway in 1800s clothes. Inmates said they were attacked by demons and paranormal entities so often that guards began ignoring their screams. In one case, a screaming man in cell 14D was found strangled to death with distinctive hand-prints around his throat, even though he was in solitary. Another site of paranormal happenings is the "strip cell," where inmates were stripped naked and left in a tiny pitch black room, with a hole in the floor for a toilet and one small ration of bread and water each day. To this day, people report sounds of wailing, crying, chains clanking, cold drafts, convict apparitions and eerie banjo strumming.

Another one of the most famous paranormal stories is the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. As legend has it, Sarah Winchester was distraught following the successive deaths of her baby, her father-in-law and her husband, who died of sudden tuberculosis. After consulting with a psychic, she believed that her family was cursed by paranormal spirits who had met their bitter fate at the end of a Winchester gun. To avoid being cursed and killed herself, she felt she had to continuously keep building a mansion to house the spirits and keep them satisfied. The end result was a $5.5 million dollar haunted mansion, with a number of bizarre design features intended to confuse the malevolent ghosts -- doors to nowhere, vaults within vaults, windows that opened up to blank walls, trap doors, secret hallways, and staircases that lead to ceilings. Today, visitors often report the sounds of footsteps, organ playing, and paranormal photographs of faces in windows.

In another one of the most famous paranormal stories, the Queen Mary WWII transport ship was the site of nearly 50 deaths, including a young girl who died while sliding down the banister near the pool and a seaman who was crushed to death while trying to escape a fire. The luxury liner that once carried World War II soldiers and then passengers like Greta Garbo and Sir Winston Churchill stands as a permanently docked hotel. Reports have surfaced of women in 1930s bathing suits roaming the pool area, a young bearded man in blue coveralls wandering down Shaft Alley to door 13. People hear young girls laughing near the pool and see a woman in white dancing by herself in the Queen's Salon. In the staterooms, guests tell tales of many paranormal happenings, including apparitions frantically running down the halls and making phone calls, people knocking, smells of the past, and babies crying.

Paranormal stories often have long histories of violence, which is certainly the case for the 900-year-old Tower of London. The most common apparition spotted is that of Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded by her husband, Henry VIII, who suspected her of infidelity after her stillborn birth of a baby boy. Her headless apparition is sometimes seen walking down the stairs, meandering down the corridors and leading ghostly processions down the Chapel Royal. Sir Walter Raleigh, who was executed by James I, is often seen in the tower. The fearful residual haunting of the Countess of Salisbury running and being hacked to death by an executioner greet some visitors. Phantom funeral carriages, apparitions of a gigantic bear and two young murdered princes walking down stairs are among the other paranormal spirits haunting this infamous tower.

The Amherst Poltergeist is one of Canada's most terrifying paranormal stories. After 19-year-old Esther Cox of Amherst, Nova Scotia was raped by a shoemaker, Esther and her sisters began experiencing violent paranormal activities, with thunderous noises coming from under the bed, objects moving across the floor and unseen forces moving beneath the bed sheets. Esther's body turned red and swelled mysteriously and reports from Dr. Carritte say he was baffled by what he saw. According to the doctor, there was no clear medical reason for the swelling and he watched an unseen hand scrawl the words "Esther Cox you are mine to kill" across the plaster wall. Potatoes and knives flew across the room. Esther's face was poked by sewing needles and her back was stabbed with a pocketknife wrenched from her friend's hand. Lit matches caused beds in the house to erupt into flames on more than one occasion. No matter where Esther moved, the presence seemed to follow her. After she spent a month in jail for supposedly starting a house on fire, the paranormal happenings subsided, but the ghostly stories remain some of the most frightening.

Paranormal stories have spurred a number of tourist attractions geared toward amateur ghost hunters who wish to catch a sight of something paranormal supernatural. There is an undeniable cultural curiosity with the unseen, unknown mysteries of the world. Some theorists posit that we internalize haunted stories and may even hallucinate if we begin to develop anxiety in a haunted place. Others say that strong magnetic fields can cause hallucinogenic effects in the mind. Those who have witnessed paranormal powers firsthand state that the existence of spirits, whether intelligent or residual are very real.