GHOSTS: Watercress Lady

Created in Bing Create

Pluckley, England is home to many hauntings. One of which is of a woman called the Watercress Lady. In the early 1900's likely the 1920's there was a gypsy woman who was living in Pluckley. Now Gypsies at the time were traveling nomads from either Ireland or Eastern Europeans living in wagons and at their stops would either earn money from trading things or working on local farms. This woman made a living gathering watercress and selling it to the villagers.

The old woman was known as an eccentric but harmless person. She was known for smoking her clay pipe and known to enjoy gin from her battered old flask. After the sun would set she would go to the crossroads bridge. She would sit on the walls enjoying the night air smoking her pipe and drinking her gin.

However one unfortunate night she fell asleep while doing so. She would spill her flask on herself and the pipe would fall and light her up. It was said that no one heard her screams. The next day she would be found as a pile of ashes with her flask and pipe nearby. Letting people know it was the Watercress Lady and she had a tragic end.

Even though the Watercress Lady's screams were not heard the night she died it was afterward. Her ghost would be seen many times after her death reliving her death. She would be covered in flames and her heartbreaking screams could be heard. Slowly however she stopped being a screaming ball of fire to a faint pink glow hovering over the place she burned to death.

SOURCES:
London Walking Tours

Ghost Connections

Ghosts Wiki

GHOSTS: The Gelin

 

The Gelin (meaning Bride in Turkish) is a female demon or ghost in Turkish and Anatolian Greek folklore. More than likely hear stories in Heybeliada from Prince Islands about them. She is often seen as a beautiful young woman wearing a white wedding dress. Many of them become Gelin due to tragedy. Like being betrayed by a husband or fiance or being unmarried and pregnant. They usually die brutally typically by suicide.

These women are typically a harbinger of death similar to a banshee. She can sometimes haunt a family line or sometimes she rides a white horse in a graveyard. In the graveyard, she attracts men and kills them if they make contact.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Sabah

Encyclopedia Mythica

GHOSTS: Charley The Doll

 

Photo by Cauer an Atlas Obscura User

In 1968 a doll would be discovered in the attack of a Victorian home in Upstate New York. It was inside a forgotten trunk. It had laid among tattered newspapers from the early 1930s and a yellow piece of paper containing the Lord's Prayer. The doll however could not be dated. 

The doll would be given the name Charley and added to other antiques in the home. He would blend in well with the rest of the dolls in the collection. There was little attention given to him until he began moving from his place on the bench of dolls. 

The parents would blame their five children because if it wasn't the parents it had to be the children. The children never fessed up to moving the doll, however. The parents never witnessed anything, but the children began to act weird around the doll. 

The youngest daughter (4) had at one point claimed that Charley spoke to her when she got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. The parents believed it to be her wild imagination. Then the other four children refused to use the bathroom at night or go near the bench within 5 feet. One day the youngest was covered in scratches with the blame placed on Charley instead of their cat. 

The parents wanting to end the children's antics removed Charley from his place. They would lock him back up in the attic in the trunk he was originally found in. Everything would go back to normal and Charley wasn't being blamed for anything. He would lay there for years forgotten. 

Years later after the children were grown the house was sold. The trunk was found in the attic and sold in a garage sale. Charley was one of the last things to go and went to a woman wanting him for her own antique doll collection. She was warned of Charley's antics. 

Charley would switch hands several times with stories of moving from time to time. It was made sure his story of the family in 1968 was told to each owner. It's said that he is more active around children.

In Salem, Massachusetts a shop called the "Local Artisan". The shop beholds odd things suck as taxidermied animals, unusual art, and oddities. He can now be seen by the public. 

SOURCES:

Atlas Obscura

From Tiny Pennies

The Ghost in My Machine

CRYPTIDS: Boroboroton

 

Boroboroton as depicted in Toriyama Sekien's Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro

The Boroboroton belongs is a specific kind of Japanese Yokai called Tsukumogami or artifact spirit. These kinds of spirits are from manmade objects either possessed by ghosts or spirits or they form their own spirit from constant use for at least 90 to 100 years. If They form their own spirit they often look brand new or pristine despite their old age.

The Boroboroton is a tattered futon or a Japanese sleeping mat. They come alive at night and will come to life at night especially if it feels ignored or needless. In revenge, they will rise up in the air and kill any sleeping person they make contact with. It will wrap around the head and neck of the sleeper with the intent of strangling them to death. 

Sometimes they will meet with other Tsukumogami and throw noisy parties or leave the gome search for other beings. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Yokai Wiki

GHOSTS: Specter of Newby Hall

 

In 1963 Reverend Kenneth F. Lord would be taking pictures of the Church of Christ the Consoler on the grounds of Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, England. When the pictures were processed a strange figure would show up standing next to the altar.

The being was semi-transparent and was standing on the first step to the altar. It still towered over it however as it stood 9ft high. The figure was wearing a black robe that covered where its feet supposedly were and the hood was over the head. The hands are unseen and the face is covered in a white sheet with two depressions where the eyes are. The figure seems to look right at the camera. It's believed that this figure could have been a 16th-century monk wearing a white shroud over the face to mask leprosy or disfigurement.

Reverend Lord was confused by this figure as the church had no history of the paranormal. It was said the he was not the type of man who would pull a hoax at the time. 

Reverend Lord would then release the photo. It's believed that the photo was a hoax or possible double exposure. It's said that professionals at the time looked over the photograph and came to the conclusion that it wasn't so.

So was this a hoax or is there a harmless Specter at Newby Church?

SOURCES:

Burials and Beyond

Wikipedia

Ghosts Wiki

Urban Legendpedia

CRYPTIDS: Drekavac

 

Created Using Art Breeder

A Drekavac, Yeller, Drek, or Drekalo is a creature in Slavic Mythology (Serbia, and Bosnia). They are a boogeyman creature used to warn children. It is said that the Drekavac comes from Unbaptised children who've died. It usually resides in a graveyard or outside a home crying for salvation. They are usually solitary creatures, but are sometimes found in packs and will live together in a cave or tunnel.

Sometimes A Drekavac will come in different appearances such as an infant with a thin body and large head and animals. If it's in the form of an infant it's said that it's an omen for death and if it's in the form of an animal it's something like cattle disease.

Its scream is horrifying. They are usually asking for a baptism all night bothering the cemetery or the persons in a home. If it's screaming outside of a home at least one person in the home is going to die. The creature may fall on a person or allow its shadow to cross a person cursing them to die soon. Their fur is usually long in animal form and if stepped on it'll yelp in pain.

Sometimes a Drekavac will enter the dreams of those who wronged them and do the same. They will strangle the person as they sleep.

To avoid a Drekavac it would be wise to get a dog. Dogs are something that they fear. They also either cannot be in sunlight or dislike it. This is why it's usually heard at night. It's believed if you baptized the child then it would stop and move on.

They are usually solitary creatures, but are sometimes found in packs and will live together in a cave or tunnel.

SOURCES:

GHOSTS: Crying Girl of 5 College St.

 

Image from Secret York

There is a haunted house at 5 College St. in York, England. According to legend in the Middle Ages, (1346 to 1353) a couple would contract the plague however their daughter did not. They and their daughter were bricked into the home. The girl would cry and beg saying she wasn't sick, and it seemed to be true, but no one wanted to risk it. Her parents would die from the plague, and unfortunately, the girl would starve to death.

It is said that the girl could be seen in the home crying. She is mostly seen in the upper part of the house. One sighting happened in the 1950s and two of the children in the home would see her crying on one of their beds.

SOURCES:
Secret York

Ghost Wiki

GHOSTS: Enenra

 

An Enenra as depicted in Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Hyakki Shūi

The Enenra is a being in Japanese folklore or a yōkai, The Enenra shows up during large fires such as bonfires. It is made up of the wisps of smoke that would rise up to the skies from fire. These beings usually have human-like faces it doesn't do anything, but billow in the wind and appear as fragile fabric. It only appears to those that are calm and pure and are relaxing to watch.

The Enenra seems to be loosely based on a passage in Tsurezure gusa which describes the smoke rising from fires burned in the summer to keep mosquitoes away. Some have pointed out that the name is similar to Enma, the lord of hell and judge of the dead. It's suggested that the beings are actually spirits of the dead.

SOURCES:

Yokai

Wikipedia

GHOSTS: Murkatta

 In Nepal, there is a ghost or ghost called the Murkatta. The ghost would wander around carrying its head under its arm. The ghost would look to take children's heads. In Kathmandu, Nepal, a festival is celebrated on the day of Ghode Jatra to scare away the Murkatta and protect children from its evil eyes.

The Murkatta is a ghost similar to La Lorna to scare kids into listening to their parents. In Saundarya's article, A Tale of Murkatta, the Headless Monster wrote about her experience with her family members using Murkatta.

SOURCES:

Association for Children's Literature in South Asia

Jane Wilson-Howarth

Wikipedia

GHOSTS: The Golden-Haired Girl

Pine Barrens, New Jersey holds many legends. One includes a blonde-haired girl wearing white mourning her lover's death. She is usually seen staring out at the sea by herself, but after a while, the Jersey Devil sometimes joins her. 

Another legend says that the Jersey Devil's son, who was strangely human, fell in love with a girl. She was from a rich family and her family did not agree with their love. They would take her away and this would result in her killing herself. Heartbroken from his loss this caused him to become the next Jersey Devil just like his dad. She would become a ghost that now follows him and this is why the two are seen together. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Academic

NJ Pines Barrens

Frst Hand

GHOSTS: Brides of Trivale Forest in Pitești

Photo by Andres Molina

 

In the Trivale Forest in Pitești, Romania there are two brides that haunt it. Both women have met their own demise in their own sad and terrible ways.

The first bride was the daughter of a rich landowner. She had fallen in love with a poor servant, but her father had other arrangements. He had found an old rich man for her to marry. The maiden decided that she could not marry someone she did not love. On the wedding day, she and the servant would run into the Trivale Forest. Her father not far behind would find the couple and in his anger kill the servant and then behead her. It's said that she would give her father nightmares by visiting his dreams in her wedding dress. It's believed that this is what led to his death. It's said that she haunts an abandoned home, possibly her own that's in the forest.

The second bride story would happen in the 1970s to 2000s. A taxi driver would take a fair and the woman would ask him to drop her off at an abandoned site in the forest. The woman told the driver that she would go inside and get the money and come back out. For reassurance, she would wrap her wedding ring in a handkerchief and give it to him. Tired the taxi driver would fall asleep and when he woke up he was elsewhere. He was in a nearby housing estate and he drove around confused. He would find ask around about the woman and would find out that yes she used to live in the area, but died 10 years before. Her husband had died in a car crash (or trampling) and she killed herself. Taxi driver would find that the ring was attached to a rotting finger.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia
POV21st
Steemit

GHOSTS: El Silbón

 

Effigy of El Silbón at a Venezualan theme park

The legend of El Silbón started in the middle of the 19th century in Columbia and Venezuela. He is most known in the Los Llanos region. He was described as a lost soul cursed to wander. There are a couple of versions of the story but both state that he was the son of a farmer. He would then kill his father and soon after tortured and killed. He was cursed to carry the bag of bones of his father.

It's known when he's around as he whistles. The whistle notes are C,D,E,F,G,A,B in that order. It rises in tone to F and lowers to B. When you hear the whistles close do not worry, but when it's in a distance that is when you're in danger. It's said his whistle foretells your death. The only thing to save the soon-to-be victim is the bark of the dog, a chili, or a whip. He typically preys on womanizers and drunks.

One version of how he became a spirit was that he was a spoiled brat who demanded that his father hunts for a deer. It was his favorite typed of meat and when his father returned empty-handed he became furious. He would then kill his father cut out his heart and liver and have his mother unknowingly cook it for dinner.

His mother found that the meal was strange and tough. She begins to suspect that something was wrong. She would then find out that they were her husband's remains. His other would curse her son and his grandfather would order him to be tortured. In a long painful process first, his back was whipped, and salt was put into the wounds. After he was satisfied with the wounds two large monstrous dogs were on him biting his ankles. He would run into the woods and never be seen again. His grandfather would curse him to carry his father's bones.

In the other version, he was a married young man who worked on his father's farm in Venezuela. One day his father berated his wife and called her a whore. She would tell El Silbón what happened and this infuriated him. He would then confront his father and killed him. His fate is the same where he is tortured for a long time with whips and salt, eventually being chased into the forest by dogs.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia

Scary For Kids

Myths and Folklore

Villians Wiki

GHOSTS: Headless Woman of Iroquois Park

 At Iroquois Park in Louisville, Kentucky it's said that a headless woman wearing 1800's clothes and carrying her head could be seen in the park. It's said that at night she wanders through the woods holding her head. You can see sometimes see her walking through a cloud of fog or smoke.

It's said that she was the wife of an old farmer. One night when she was home alone Native Americans would raid the home. When they found the poor woman inside they beheaded her and burned the house down.

SOURCES:
Louisville Ghost Hunters Society
Nolan Group Media
DJX
Manual Red Eye

GHOSTS: The Gelin

 

In Turkey Gelin (Turkish for Bride) is a type of female ghost associated with the local legend of the tragedy. These young women or girls usually died violently usually by suicide because they were jilted by a lover or an unmarried pregnant woman. After death, they become a harbinger of death much like a banshee. She is typically seen in slum areas. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Definitions

Ghosts: La Vidua

Photo by Benjamin Lehman

La Vidua or The Widow or The Window in Black in Englis is a spirit that roams the lonely mines and path within Chile. In life, La Vidua went mad with grief and anger when her husband died and those feeling followed her in death. After death, she roams waiting for unsuspecting men. 

She is not noticeable to travelers on the road at first. The closer they get the more details they get. Dressed in a black dress that covers her entirely, the person she picks cannot see her face till they are close to her. Once close enough it is revealed that La Viuda is a very beautiful woman. She will then demand sex from the man and if he refuses she will kill him and go on looking for the next one. 

In the modern retelling of the story, she has been seen climbing onto cars of men who are alone and may have alcohol in their blood. 

SOURCES

Villians Wiki

HAUNTED: Pupa The Doll

 

Pupa the Doll was a doll made for a little Italian girl in the 1920s. She would own the doll up until her death in 2005. Since she was a girl the owner stated that the doll was alive and would talk to her throughout the years. The doll was a friend who helped a little girl grow up and kept her secrets.

Pupa and her owner's family would travel a lot throughout Europe and the U.S. At the end of WWII, her owner's grandmother would pass away and as a memento, they sewed a button from her grandmother's clothes onto Pupas. Pupa and her owner would eventually settle in the U.S. and her owner would start a family. 

Her owner would often tell family members how special Pupa was and it wasn't until after death that they realized it was true. After her owner's death, she was still active. She is now kept in a glass case and isn't happy about it. When someone decided to clean the case they fogged up the window and saw the message Pupa Hate on the glass. Sometimes tapping can be heard on the glass and at times a strange faint laugh can be heard.

SOURCES:

ObscUrban Legends

Emadion

The Paranormal Guide

MONSTERS: Hone-Onna

 

From the Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki by Sekien Toriyama

Hone-onna (bone woman) is a yokai in Japanese lore and as the name implies she is in a form of bones. She's a woman who has died but has an undying love that brings her back to life. She is seen as beautiful as she was alive, but some will see her as a rotting corpse. Those people are either not blinded by love or strong religious faith.

This undying love allows her to be with whoever she was in love with alive. She seemingly seems normal to them and herself unknown to both that she's a rotting body. The man would more than likely know that she is in fact dead, but is blinded by love when seeing her. 

She would visit them at night and they would have a sexual relationship. This could last up to weeks and unbeknownst to their lover, she is sucking the life force from him. He will eventually die and the two will be together in death.

If she is seen in her rotting form the person and informs the man what was happening. Her lover may be thrown off though and use magic charms on the home to keep her away. This only works if he truly wants that though. She may continue to visit at night as she is still unknown to her own condition. 

Within the collection of writings called "Otogi Bōko" (1666) by Asai Ryōi (this collection is the moral-free version of "Jiandeng Xinhua" (1378) by Qu You) the story "Botan Dōrō" or the Peony Lantern is about a Hone-onna. A man named Ogiwara Shinnojo would meet Yako, a beautiful woman, and they would have a sexual relationship every night. An elderly neighbor would witness the two, but instead of seeing Yako, they would see Shinnojo embracing a skeleton.

One story of Hone-onna is explained in the text "Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki" by Toriyama Sekien (may be referenced to the previous story) in the story Otogi Bōko. Hone-onna is an aged female skeleton who would carry a chōchin lantern that was decorated with Botan flowers. She would then visit the home of a man she loved when alive and have a sexual relationship with him.

In "Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi" by Norio Yamada there is an odd tale of Hone-onna in the Aomori Prefecture. It's said that an ugly woman in the Ansei period became a good-looking skeleton after death. She is said to walk around town as a skeleton to show off, likes fish bones, and would collapse upon encountering a high priest.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Yokai 

Myths and Folklore Wiki

Yokai Wiki

GHOSTS: The Hat Man

 

The Hat Man is an entity that is reported to be seen as a shadow man dressed in a top hat or fedora. He is dark in his entirety without any details but has substance. When seen he is seen he does absolutely nothing for minutes even when touched. It will sometimes move around a bit just before disappearing. He doesn't vanish in a sense but leaves like any normal person would. People who see him are struck with fear he doesn't want physical harm, but to scare their victims.

It's believed that he may be related to sleep paralysis. People who typically see him are either sleeping and awoken or in a groggy state. 

SOURCES:

Monster Wiki

The Week

Hunt a Killer

MONSTERS: The Blinking Man

 

Photo by Stefano Pollio

There is an entity that goes by many names The Blink Man, Peeping Tom, the Flickergiest, or The Tunnel Man that haunts the Iichester Tunnel in Elliot City, Maryland. You can't simply catch a glimpse of this entity, but have to summon him in an hour-long process. It is only accomplished by staring down the tunnel for an entire hour between midnight and 1 a.m. without blinking. 

If accomplished the Blinking Man will constantly be in your vision and with every blink, he comes closer. It's said that he comes so close that you can feel his eyelashes touching you. He wants you to blink a final time. What comes is either madness or death.

SOURCES:

Chesapeake Horror 

The Patch November 23, 2016

Horror Society June 25, 2019

GHOSTS: Egg Ghost (Dalgyal Gwisin)kOREA

 

In Korea there is a terrifying ghost called the Egg Ghost (Dalgyal Gwisin) which gets its title from the lack of facial features. The ghost lacks eyes, ears, noses, and mouths making it have an egg-like appearance. Sometimes the egg ghosts don't have limbs. It's said that they were childless ghosts who have no relatives to hold ancestor memorial services. 

Though there isn't much to see with the ghost it is said that once seen and instant death will come. It's said that the ghost stalks hikers who wander too deep into forested mountains. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Cheng & Tsui

Soompi