WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE:

"Ghostly Connections"

A future online video Webseries

Being funded through a new campaign on Kickstarter!

We are trying to raise the necessary funds for the crew and production services to produce six 20-minute episodes of "Ghostly Connections" which will be available for viewing free online or for purchase on DVD.

Please visit our Kickstarter page to view the first video featuring AMAZING stories -- and while you're there, please make your pledge and take advantage of our great rewards such as DVDs, tickets to our Haunted Hannibal tours, and overnight stays at one of the haunted B&B in Hannibal!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/668351312/ghostly-connections?ref=live

Here's the full story as explained on our Kickstarter website:

Have you ever seen a ghost?

These are not your typical ghost stories. There are no reenactments, no special effects. This isn't the Hollywood version of a "paranormal" experience. These are real people telling amazing, compelling stories. Stories you'll have to see to believe. You can see it in their eyes, in the way they tell their story.

Even if you aren't a believer -- these people Believe.

We are Ken and Lisa Marks, authors of the book, "Haunted Hannibal: History and Mystery in America's Hometown" and the owner/operators of Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tours.

Hannibal, Missouri, the small town nestled against the western shore of the Mississippi River, is best known as the boyhood home of Mark Twain and the setting for the classic tales of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. When we moved to Hannibal from St. Louis in 2009, we had no idea we'd moved into such a historically haunted town!

We began to offer ghost tours with the idea that it would be fun to share the history and haunted stories of this remarkable little town...but we were surprised when guests on our tours started to tell us their own personal ghost stories! It has been our privilege to hear literally thousands of ghost stories from guests on our tours, and what is so surprising is how similar the stories seem to be...

The other thing that was striking was how reluctant some guests are to tell their stories. There is a stigma attached to anything viewed to be "paranormal" or "supernatural" -- and many people don't tell anyone of their experiences for fear that they won't be believed. So many times the stories we hear start with the phrase, "I know you're going to think this is crazy...". Believe us, after hearing the stories we've heard, and seeing the look in the storyteller's eyes as they reveal their experiences, we don't think they're crazy!

We would like to begin to capture the amazing stories we hear from guests on our tours and share them in a new video webseries, "Ghostly Connections". The funds raised in the Kickstarter campaign will be used to provide the necessary film crew and production services to capture stories as they are told during our tours...we plan to shoot enough footage to produce six 20-minute episodes that will be broadcast free online and available for purchase on DVD.

With this webseries, we are not trying to convince you that ghosts are real. We are not making any judgments about the stories we share. Nor are we going to sensationalize the stories -- we are going to relay real stories, captured just the way they were told to us, documentary-style.

Why do we think this project is important? Let us tell you a story...

In the summer of 2011, we had a young lady on tour with her family. She was sixteen. When we began to walk around Old Baptist Cemetery, she pulled us aside, away from her family, and began to ask if others shared their personal experiences with us. She told us that for several years she had been having very strange occurrences, and when she tried to tell her family what was happening to her, they didn't believe her. Her mother thought she was just trying to get attention. As we talked, she began to get very emotional. We could feel how difficult this was for her to talk about.

Our response to her was that no one could judge her experiences but her. It wasn't necessary for her to convince us that her stories were real, they were real to her, and that's what mattered. However, we told her, we had heard stories from many, many people that were very similar to her story. It was important to her to feel as though she was not alone, that she was not crazy -- it seemed to really help her to know that others were having these experiences, too.

"Ghostly Connections" is dedicated to this young lady and to others like her, others who believe, who may have had a similar experience and are afraid to share their story, or think that they're "crazy"...we want to share these stories with them so they can see that others have had similar experiences...you're not alone! Don't be afraid to tell your story!

We also believe that these stories are so amazing that even non-believers will find them fascinating.

One last note: we are confident that we are not the only ghost tour guides that are hearing these amazing stories. Our Kickstarter goal was set to cover the budget for shooting footage during Haunted Hannibal tours only. Our long-term goal, however, is to travel across the country, visiting other ghost tours, and capturing stories from other areas, as well.

If we exceed our goal of $3,000, the additional funds will be used to travel to other ghost tours and gather even more remarkable "Ghostly Connections", allowing us to expand the number of episodes we are able to produce.

Thank you for taking the time to explore our project. Please take advantage of our rewards and make your pledge today -- and let us know if you've also experienced a Ghostly Connection!

Warm Greetings in Cold November

The temperatures may be getting colder, but the spirits around Haunted Hannibal are still very active -- as we always say, "Ghosts Have No Seasons"!

We had some remarkable experiences during tours last week. On Thursday night, November 17th, Amanda and Bob from St. Louis were drawn to the west side of Old Baptist Cemetery. Once there, the dowsing rods were crossing over a specific area, but no headstone was found. We began to ask questions and determined it was a female who had died young, but the only headstones we were near were three soldiers, two from the Civil War.




After a bit of detective work, we spotted a small stone about ten feet away from where we were standing...as we approached the headstone, both Amanda's and Bob's dowsing rods crossed again. We were able to confirm we had finally found the energy calling to us...a young girl named Ruby May Pond who died at the age of 16 months:



At the bottom of Ruby May's headstone it reads: "Budded on Earth to Blossom in Heaven". I could tell that Amanda was very moved by the experience -- at one point, Ruby May even gave Amanda a "hug" with the dowsing rods!

Then we had this report from Bart Cumming, a guest who was on our Haunted Hannibal Tour on November 5th:

"Hi Lisa… My wife, Kim, and I were part of your 7 pm tour this past Saturday, and spent the night in the East Room of the Garden House B & B [Albert's Bedroom]. We did encounter some paranormal activity that I would like to share…

"We were in bed and asleep by 10:30 (I know… getting old sucks!), and were awakened around midnight by a tapping sound emanating from the far corner of the room. The sound was faint at first, but became louder and started to work its way across the room. It passed right by the bed, continued out into the hallway, and faded once again. Kim described it as the sound a reel of film makes, when it has exited the projector and ‘flaps’ as the reel spins. Growing up in a house with baseboard heating, it reminded me of the crackle/popping made by the hot water flowing thru cold pipes. The tapping was rhythmic and consistent.

"Sometime later, in the middle of the night, I was awoken by the presence of something walking on the bed. In my sleepy state, my first thought was that our cat had finished her latest mouse patrol, and was returning to the warmth of our bed. Then, I realized that we weren’t in our own bed, and looked up to find nothing.

"Sunday morning, I was chatting with Chris [Bobek, the owner of the Garden House B&B] and joked that we hadn’t had any contact with Albert. He said that there is also the spirit of a boy that is sometimes seen. I told him about my sensation of someone/something walking on the bed, in the middle of the night, but that it seemed more like a cat than a small boy. He proceeded to tell me that a couple of weeks ago, a gentleman staying in the East Room had gotten up to use the restroom overnight. Upon opening the door into the hallway, he was startled to see a large orange cat stretching in the hall. The man observed the cat for a couple of minutes, before entering the hallway and triggering the motion detection lights. When the hall light came on, the cat vanished into mid air.

"Based on my experience, and Chris’ story, this spectral kitty might have stopped by to say ‘hello’ the other night. Kim & I are huge animal lovers, and have always kept pets. Maybe our positive animal karma attracted our guest!"

As you can see, there's still plenty of paranormal activity in Hannibal, even as the days grow short and the nights get colder...hope to see you on one of our Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tours soon -- Because Ghosts Know No Seasons!

Mark Twain's Haunted Cave

Stories abound of mysterious noises, paranormal photographs, and actual ghost sightings inside Mark Twain Cave. Last summer, this very unusual orb was captured on film by a guest...



Here's a close-up of the orb -- doesn't it look like a skull inside the orb???



We recently received an interesting email from a guest who was on our Haunted Hannibal tour in October, here's her report:

"Me and my friend were on your tour on the 15th of October, the 9:00 one...My friend had never been to Hannibal before and wanted to go to the Mark Twain Cave. As we bought out tickets we joked about seeing a ghost. On the tour the guy pointed out which room the girl had been in [McDowell's Chamber, where Dr. McDowell placed the copper cylinder containing his daughter's corpse to see if her body could be preserved]. As the tour moved on something caught my eye and I had to go look. What I saw was a young girl with dark hair...she didn’t look at me she was looking down. Then I saw what looked like someone offering her a hand to take...Just thought I would share that with you. Feel free to share that story if you want. V. Powell"


We're not surprised...! And this story is very consistent with similar stories we've heard about a sighting of a little girl near McDowell's Chamber, stories we've heard from multiple, unrelated sources.

Thanks so much for sharing your photos and stories, they're so amazing and so much fun to share with all our friends!

"...I know Dad was there..."

Here's an email I received this morning from "Bud", the man in the "Swoooosh" photo below:

"This Bud. Thought I would give you some background.

"After stepping off of the trolley the wands keep guiding me to the left and when I got close to the grave headstone the wands crossed. We read the name and did not recognize it as anyone we knew that had any of the names listed. As went we looked further down the stone the date October 30th appeared which was the day of my fathers death. After asking several questions and receiving correct response I had chills. Now in seeing this picture I know dad was there."

Bud, thanks so much for your email. Some guests that have taken our tour tell me that they believe the possibility exists that our loved ones who have passed away may be with us quite often...so, during the Haunted Hannibal tour, when we are thinking of the possibility of communicating with spirits, when our minds are open to the idea, that's their chance to signal to us that they are, in fact, with us. Isn't that a wonderful, hopeful, comforting idea?

So glad you took our tour, you were a good sport and we hope to see you again soon. Next time you have the chance, say hello to your father for us. :)

SWOOOOSH!

Here's a VERY cool photo that was sent to us by our friend Gay:

"We went on your 7pm tour last Friday (10/7)…we were a large group of 11 (to include Mr. "Texas"). We ALL enjoyed your tour, especially the time we spent at the cemetery. I wanted to send you this pic of Mr. "Texas" (aka: Bud), my brother-in-law. Bud's wife snapped this pic with her phone camera. I thought it was very interesting!!!! Thank you again!!"



Anyone have any ideas on what could cause this? Even Ken said, "Yeah, that one is pretty interesting..."

Thanks to Gay and Bud and the gang for taking the tour, and to Gay for sending us the photo. Hope to see you guys again soon!

October Tours are Filling Up Fast!

Friends, if you are planning a Haunted Hannibal tour in October, PLEASE call and make your reservations ASAP! We've added some special late-night tours on Fridays and Saturdays as some of our 7pm tours have already sold out...

IF YOU HAVE A GROUP OF SIX OR MORE we can arrange for a SPECIAL tour time for your group -- CALL FOR MORE DETAILS TODAY!

Hope to see you soon!

Happy Hauntings!

Emotions run high while visiting the Cemetery

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but it has been an absolutely amazing summer for us at Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tours...

Ya know, sometimes it takes me a while to realize what's happening around me (I seem to be a bit dense at times), but lately I've begun to notice that, although our tours are intended to be fun and entertaining, some of our guests experience very strong personal emotions during our tours, particularly while roaming through Old Baptist Cemetery.

As mentioned in previous blog posts, we have had hundreds of experiences of people being pulled by the dowsing rods to headstones that seem to have a personal connection to them. Some stones will have the guest's birthday, or their maiden name, but sometimes the stones bear the name of a loved one who has passed away. Often, when this happens, the guest on our tour will feel as though they are being contacted by the loved one...you see, it isn't the person buried at the cemetery that calls them over, it might be that their loved one is with them and calls them to that particular headstone simply as a "clue" that they are near. When this happens, sometimes emotions run high.

Last night there was a lovely couple on our tour. I kept hearing the wife laugh out loud at the dowsing rods as they spun around in circles. After a while, I went over to see what was happening. She was smiling and giggling with that nervous, "wow, something is happening but I don't know what to make of it" feeling. She asked me, "Do you ever think that the energy making the dowsing rods move is not necessarily from someone buried here?" I answered by telling her my theory above, that maybe it was a loved one that was here and using the dowsing rods to signal that they were present. Suddenly, she stopped and looked at me with a surprised expression, and then her face softened and she began to cry. She told me that she had a son who had died a few years ago, and believed that maybe it was her son who was connecting with her through the dowsing rods.

About two weeks ago there was another couple on tour. It was a late tour and we were out at the cemetery around 10:00pm. The couple were pulled by the dowsing rods to a small headstone at the far side of the cemetery and spent nearly the entire time at that one headstone. They ended up being the last people to come back to the Trolley at the end of the tour. As they walked toward me, I realized that the wife was softly crying. Long story short, the couple had been pulled to a headstone of a 5 year old girl who, they determined after communicating with the dowsing rods, had died of disease. She told the couple that she pulled them over because she was lonely and wanted to play. Well, you see, the woman was a kindergarten teacher, and felt so emotionally connected to this "energy" that she was overcome. Even her husband, who was also a teacher, seemed affected by the experience and believed that they were genuinely conversing with this little girl.

Now, for any skeptics out there, here's the ending to that story: The next morning, two ladies came to the museum. They had been on the same tour the night before. One of the ladies had an i-Phone that she was able to use like an EVP recorder, and had been recording while exploring the cemetery. "Do you remember the couple where the lady was crying?" she asked me. I said yes. "Well, listen to this," she said, and turned on her phone. In the recording, you could hear the voice of the woman who was emotional, asking questions of the little girl with a choked-up voice. Then, a tiny little voice could be heard saying, "Mary!" The guest with the phone told me she had taken this recording while standing close to the couple. "Do we have any idea who Mary is?" I asked. "My name is Mary," the woman with the phone said. And there were no children on that late night tour!

Yet another experience happened earlier this summer. I had two gentlemen on tour, both of retirement age. When we got out to Old Baptist, one of the men began to chat with me. He revealed that it was his brother with him on the tour, and that both of them had lost their wives about a year ago, both having died within a week of one another. The brothers, now alone, decided to pair up and travel and they'd been all over the country in the last year. Well, both brothers believed they were being "visited" by their wives, both in dreams and when awake; and they loved taking Ghost Tours all around the country because it helped them validate that what they were experiencing was real!

As I say over and over, none of us can explain what is really happening. None of us knows the truth of all this paranormal stuff -- that's why it's called "paranormal".

But I will tell you this: I am there to witness these events personally, and I believe fervently that the guests on my tours are genuinely experiencing something profound. They are truly feeling connected and the experience is emotionally charged in a bittersweet way. The pain of their loss mingles with the love and comfort of knowing that, even after death, these important human connections may not be lost.

What a remarkable experience. I am honored to be a witness to these precious moments.

Unique Phenomenon Happening at Old Baptist

Friends, we've been super-busy with tours the past several weeks and I have to tell you, each and every group we take to Old Baptist Cemetery has someone in the group that is drawn to a specific headstone...it's happening over and over! I'm convinced that it is a special phenomenon only occurring at Old Baptist Cemetery!

Here's the scoop: At the end of each of our Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tours, we visit Old Baptist Cemetery. I explain how to use our dowsing rods as tools for paranormal investigating, hand out pairs of rods to members of the group, and turn them loose in the cemetery. Soon, guests begin to notice their dowsing rods pointing them toward a specific direction. My advice is that if your rods begin to point, turn your body the direction they're pointing and then begin to slowly walk in that direction. When you see the dowsing rods cross each other, then you've reached the source of the magnetic energy that is pulling the dowsing rods.

Now, because of the condition of the old decrepit cemetery, some people get pulled to a headstone that is so worn and weather-beaten you can no longer read the information as to who is buried there. Every so often, a guest may be pulled to a bare spot in the cemetery; it is likely that someone is buried there but their headstone is either missing or has fallen over and been washed over with soil erosion to the point that it's now buried a few inches underground.

But then there are the times that someone is pulled specifically to a headstone that has some specific connection to them personally...as was the case with a beautiful young lady on my tour last week named Allison:



She was amazed that the dowsing rods had pulled her to a headstone with her grandfather's first AND last name:



Another family was on our 3pm tour on Friday, July 15 and had a similar experience...Mike, whom I'm talking with in the photo below, was drawn completely across the cemetery to a small stone in the far northwest corner...



When Mike arrived at the stone, there were two small children buried there, and Charley, buried on the right, had died on Mike's birthday, November 11th:



I had a group of school kids from St. Gertrude's school in Washington, Missouri, and two girls were pulled way down the hill in the southwest corner of the cemetery to a headstone that had the name "Gertrude" on it...

There was a lady on tour recently who was pulled to a headstone that had the name "Eliza"...her granddaughter's name is Eliza, and her granddaughter's birthdate was also on the headstone...

There were two sisters on tour who explored the cemetery separately, and BOTH were pulled to a headstone near the middle of the cemetery that had their father's name and their mother's birthdate -- and no matter where else they went in the cemetery, the dowsing rods kept pulling them back toward that specific headstone...

It's hard for me to say why this seems to be happening at Old Baptist, but I've quite literally had hundreds of people who have experienced this phenomenon firsthand. I can tell you that we are not out at the cemetery long enough for them to simply wander through the cemetery until they run across a headstone that may have special meaning to them...the dowsing rods are PULLING them towards these headstones.

For example: the Smith Family was on tour with us last week (they are part of the Smiths here in Hannibal who own the Smith Funeral Home and Chapel), and they too were pulled to a large headstone with the name "Smith"; of course, that is a popular name, but their teenage son's dowsing rods would pull back to that headstone no matter where in the cemetery he'd try to go!

I just think it is marvelous that there are spirits in the cemetery who somehow can relate to guests on our tour -- and the guests themselves have a magical moment when they are reminded of a cherished loved one, or find themselves in the presence of someone who shares something special with them. I know this feeling firsthand (see blog post below!), and whether or not you can call this phenomenon "paranormal", it certainly is fun and leaves you with the feeling that you've had interaction with a spirit who's crossed over and who now knows the secrets of the universe...

Come to Hannibal and explore this sacred ground for yourself, there's no telling who might be present at Old Baptist Cemetery to greet you personally!

Storm Crashes Through the Cemetery

Many people on our tours are dismayed to see so many headstones that have fallen over or are damaged in some way in Old Baptist Cemetery. Some suspect that vandals have wreaked havoc at Old Baptist in the past...and though you may call me the Eternal Optimist, I believe it is more the fault of Mother Nature that the cemetery is in such disrepair.

On Tuesday, July 12th we had an unbelievable storm in Hannibal -- 80 mile per hour winds, huge amount of rain, even some hail -- and the trees out at Old Baptist didn't fare too well. One tree in the SW corner of the cemetery was actually uprooted. These photos show some of the damage from the storm (pictured in two of the photos is Sarah, a guest on our tour). If you think of how many storms have passed over this old cemetery in its 167+ years, it is certainly likely that many stones have been damaged by falling trees such as these. Until the storm debris has been removed, we're not sure if any stones were damaged in Tuesday's storm. We'll update this post once we know more.

I Found "My" Headstone!

Sometimes I get so busy out at Old Baptist Cemetery helping guests on our tour connect with the deceased that I don't have a chance to explore the cemetery myself. Well, apparently, if a spirit wants to reach out to you, they'll get your attention one way or another!

About a month ago I was on tour with a school group from Illinois. One of the boys, about ten years old, called out to me and asked me to come look at a headstone. He was standing near a large Honey Locust tree and there was a small headstone propped up against the tree's base. I'd never noticed it before.

Once I walked over to where the boy was and saw the headstone, I nearly jumped out of my skin!

As you can see, the deceased was Lizzie Young who was born May 10, 1857 and died when she was 45 years old:



Well, before I married Ken my name was Lisa Young. My birthday is May 10th. The day I was with the school group was just a few days before my 46th birthday.

Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

So many people have been drawn to specific headstones at that old cemetery, people who seem to have a personal connection in some way -- they are drawn to headstones with their mother's maiden name, or are part of a fraternal group that is depicted on the headstone, or are from the same hometown as the deceased. Yet, I'd never been specifically drawn to a headstone, and in the hundreds of tours I've given at Old Baptist Cemetery, I'd never before noticed this small headstone! And why did the boy decide to call me over to show it to me...?

I've since found myself visiting Lizzie every time I am at the cemetery on tour. One afternoon last week I was with two ladies walking around Old Baptist. The sky was overcast and the clouds were very low, causing a funny acoustic phenomenon that made everything sound very crisp, like you're standing in an echo chamber. Well, I could swear I heard footsteps around Lizzie's grave. Now folks, I don't say these things idly. I'm sure there have been people on our tours that think we exaggerate things for effect. As those close to me can attest, this is not the case...well, anyway, I told the two ladies I was feeling as though there was energy present nearby. One lady took my photograph near the tree. She captured a large orb right over my head! (I was hoping she'd email a copy of the photo to me but I haven't received it yet).

Then, just a few days ago, I was walking by the Honey Locust tree and in one particular spot I could smell, very strongly, the wonderful scent of honey...but the tree was no longer in bloom! As I stepped away the scent was gone, and I haven't smelled it again since. Just for a tiny moment in time, I was standing near "my" headstone, under that beautiful tree, with the scent of honey washing over me. THAT, my friends, was a magical moment! Thank you, Lizzie!

Here's a REALLY interesting photo that was taken by a guest named Angela on our tour last Saturday night, May 7th (the same tour where we met Edward!). This is not your typical orb photo...



What do you think about this one? Please leave your comments...!

"I decided I would oblige my ghost and return to the spot it had called me to earlier. Once back my dowsing rods again formed an “X” letting me know I had reached my destination. I didn’t try to communicate with the ghost this time, I just stood quietly. The air around me felt heavy. The feelings of fear and anxiety were gone. In the short time period, I felt a strange closeness to the spirit. So many questions were on my mind. Who was this spirit? Why didn’t it have a grave marker? And out of all things, why did this spirit chose to reach out to me?"

This is an excerpt from a GREAT feature about Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tours written by Jordan O'Donnell for "The Local Q", a Quincy, Illinois entertainment website. Be sure to check it out and read the whole account:

http://www.thelocalq.com/blogs/altarts/2011/05/odonnell-dowsing-for-ghosts

Thanks so much Jordan, we appreciate your support!

Edward Says "Hello"

We had a VERY interesting tour last Saturday night, May 7th! We had 25 people on the Hannibal Trolley for the 7pm Haunted tour, and it was a perfect night to be out at Old Baptist Cemetery. We arrived just as dusk began to fall...and there must have been a dozen bats zooming around overhead...the dowsing rods were dancing around and we were all having a spooky good time!

Now, over the past three seasons of Haunted tours we've had several people tell us that they believed they had made contact with a small boy back at the northwest corner of the cemetery. (For those of you who have taken the tour, the area we're talking about is about thirty feet to the north of the large tree that has the concrete cross next to it, back by the west fence line). Many people have been drawn to this area by their dowsing rods detecting energy, and others have taken photos in this area that always seem to capture at least one orb...

Well, on this tour we were fortunate to have a gentleman from Hannibal on board. He's been on our tour before and has told me that he's had some psychic ability since childhood...images and words come to him that are a kind of premonition. We also had a couple on the tour that told me they are "sensitive" and can see and sense different types of energy.

When he first got off the trolley, our friend from Hannibal told me that two words came to mind..."Texas" and "Edward". As I was telling some of our guests about Agness Flauteroy, the slave buried in the southeast area of the cemetery, he came to ask if I knew anything relating to "Texas" or "Edward". Of course there is a large granite headstone that has "TEXAS" across the top of it that many people on the tour are drawn to, so I took him over that way. I told him that no one specific came to mind that's buried there named "Edward".

Pretty soon, the couple came to me and the wife told me she was able to see the ghost of a young boy in the cemetery. She led me over to where she was seeing the energy and, sure enough, it was in the northwest corner north of the big tree! She described the boy as being about eight years old, wearing short knee-britches, barefoot, she said "He looks like what I'd imagine Huck Finn to look like".

While this is happening, another guest came to me to show me a photo she'd just taken in the same area that had one big, bright orb in the photo. Now, when you're standing in this area of the cemetery facing the fence line, there are no lights to be seen (all the neighborhood houses are behind you and the highway is way down the hill to the right). I can't imagine what could have possibly caused an orb to appear in her photo!

Just about that time, the friend from Hannibal found "Edward" and called me over. He, too, was in this area, just in front of where the woman had seen the ghost of a little boy. Edward's head stone was just a little bit right of the "Texas" headstone. When he took a photo of Edward's headstone, there is an orb in the photo right next to the marker:



So, simultaneously, we had three different guests who had all been able to sense an energy in the same area of the cemetery! Could this be the ghost of Edward making an appearance?

I went back this afternoon and took another photo of Edward's headstone:



It's hard to read but we're pretty sure Edward was born in 1880 and died in 1890 when he was ten years old...

I must tell you, it was really astonishing to have this experience -- and as I said earlier , this is not the first time that someone claims that a small boy haunts the NW corner of Old Baptist.

One other thing the couple on this tour told me...they said they believed there were many, many spirits at the cemetery and that they felt as though the energy there was of quiet desperation -- this cemetery had been abandoned for so many years, and the people buried there all but forgotten. Now that we are with them nearly every day, they are so desperate to get our attention! The couple confirmed that there are no dark or oppressive energies at the cemetery, just a lot of sad, lonely folks.

One thing I forgot to mention last week: On a tour the last week of April was a wonderful lady from Iowa who helps professionally restore cemeteries, and she is interested in helping us with Old Baptist. I plan to keep in touch with her to see if we can learn more about how to locate the graves, restore headstones, and possibly get Old Baptist designated by the National Register of Historic Places. More on that as the story develops...!

Footsteps in the Cemetery

We had a really fun tour last Sunday night with the McVays and the Hart Family! It was pretty dark by the time we arrived at Old Baptist Cemetery, and I think the guests on our tour were a little skeptical about the dowsing rods being able to sense "paranormal activity"...that is, until Mr. McVay started to have a strong response on his dowsing rods from a headstone close to the tree on the west side of the cemetery. According to the headstone, the deceased is Hezekiah King who died in 1932. His headstone displays the three chain links of the Oddfellows (a fraternal group that was similar to the Freemasons) and a VERY unusual triangle with the skull and bones logo.

Mr. McVay called us all over, and the Hart family's dowsing rods were also sensing activities. Mr. McVay had a camera with him and I asked him to take a photo because sometimes when the dowsing rods sense energy you can capture it on film. Take a look at the photo below...the lights in the background are from houses in the neighborhood around the cemetery, but there's an unusual "form" in front of Mr. Hart hovering right over the headstone:



When we returned back to our store on Main Street, Mr. McVay gave me his SD card to put into my laptop so that we could examine the photos more carefully -- and that's when we saw these two photos...the first one clearly shows what appear to be two feet standing right in front of the grave, but in the second photo the feet are gone! Folks, I promise you that these photos were taken separately within seconds of each other and that no retouching was done to them...this is exactly the way they were taken:





What I find interesting about this is that we've had three different tours within the last two weeks where we could SWEAR we heard footsteps in the cemetery! We tried to discredit them by thinking they were a possum or something else rustling through the leaves, but frankly, I could hear the steps distinctly and they sounded like they were slow and far-apart, not the scurrying footsteps of an animal.

Did we capture evidence to prove there is something walking through Old Baptist and "greeting" us during our tours????

You be the judge...

Mysterious Happenings at the Old Catholic Church

Last week we had Jennifer and her family from Wisconsin on our Haunted Hannibal tour. She just emailed me this photo and description via Facebook:

"Hi,I was going to call you about this, but we were so busy this week there just wasn't anytime. So last Saturday after we went to dinner we decided to stop by that old church that was on the tour to see if we could hear the choir singing. My daughter and I got out of the car and I went up to the door and put my ear to it. I heard a loud thump and the door kinda shook, but I don't think it was anything paranormal - maybe just the bowlers [there's a bowling alley attached to the south side of the church].

"Then my sister came out to take a picture of us in front of the church. Caitlin and I sat on the steps and she had her dowsing rods in her hands. My sister took 3 pictures. The first two with her camera turned out fine and the rods are pointing forward. When she took the last picture she freaked out because she said something was on the picture. Then from nowhere a cat starts yowling really creepy. I figured she was just trying to scare me, and I wanted a picture of me with my ear to the door. But there were definitely thumps and the door was moving (still- probably the wind).



"When I looked at the picture on my camera there is a huge black shadow over the right side of the picture that you can actually see through and if you look at Caitlin the dowsing rods are pointing directly at the shadow!!!! Totally creepy!! ...Until someone can explain the creepy shadow I not quite as skeptical anymore!!!"

One thing I find interesting about this photo is that the shadow IS see-through...so if it were the camera strap or a finger covering part of the camera lens, you wouldn't be able to see through the shadow...and above the shadow, next to Caitlin, is an orb!

Happy Hauntings, Jennifer, and thanks for bringing your family on the tour and sharing the info with us!

A Chill at Old Baptist Cemetery

As you scroll down through the posts on this website you'll notice that many of them are about Old Baptist Cemetery. This might be because we spend more time there than we do any other part of the tour...but I believe it is also because there is so much energy out at the old graveyard. We have probably had 600 tours at Old Baptist in the past two years, and hundreds of people have detected paranormal activity while roaming around the old graves.

Last night was no exception...we had two tours, one at 5pm and one at 7pm, and it was very cold, around 30 degrees. I was out at Old Baptist with the second tour sometime around 8:15pm, and although it was pitch black and chilly, we could still detect all kinds of energy as we roamed around the graves.

One of the guests on our tour, Frank, was close by me with his dowsing rods and suddenly I realized it had become considerably colder where I was standing. I called Frank over and asked him if he felt it, too...and then we realized we could see each other's breath as we talked. There was no question that we were standing near a cold spot...and as confirmation, Frank's dowsing rods began to pull towards the cold! We asked if the presence were male (crossed rods) or female (open rods) and the rods crossed. Then we asked if he was buried at Old Baptist, and the rods crossed again for a "yes". I then asked the spirit if he could lead Frank to where he was buried...and suddenly the cold spot disappeared! Also, as soon as the cold spot moved away, we could no longer see our breath as we spoke! We later felt the cold spot a few feet away, but it quickly disappeared again when we tried to ask another question. I wonder now if the energy was physically trying to pull us toward where he was buried; when I asked it to show us, I was thinking the spirit would move the dowsing rods but maybe he was actually moving toward his grave and expecting us to follow...?

I still find it a bit hard to believe that we are out at this old cemetery in the dark and surrounded by spirits...but folks, I've been out there too many times, and I've experienced too many cold spots and other paranormal occurrences -- I am convinced that something out there is present.

I'll never forget an experience I had on a tour early last year. There was a young lady named Samantha visiting us from Arizona. She was in her teens, very quiet and shy, very introverted. She never spoke the entire time we were on our tour, never even talked while we were walking around Old Baptist.

After the tour was over, she and her father came back into our shop on Main Street and I noticed her father was nudging her over to me. She quietly walked up to me and whispered, "My father wanted me to tell you that you're right about Old Baptist Cemetery."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Do you have information about Old Baptist?"

She answered, "You are right about there being ghosts at the cemetery."

She went on to explain that she has been able to see ghosts since she was a little girl. Her father nodded his head in agreement. She seemed to be a bit burdened by this ability and was uncomfortable talking about it.

"So you saw ghosts while we were at Old Baptist?" I asked. Samantha said, "Many." I then asked, "Okay, now when you say 'many', are you talking five, or are you talking fifty...?"

Samantha paused for a moment, looking up at the ceiling to think, and then said, "I'd say at any given time there are fifteen to twenty."

I was giving another tour in the afternoon late last summer and felt a cold spot next to me. I started to explain to the group about cold spots, and suddenly a man spoke up and said, "I'm not surprised you feel the cold, there's a ghost standing next to you." He then went on to describe a young lady with a short hairdo...I nearly jumped out of my skin!

I must tell you I am SO JEALOUS of those gifted with the ability to "see" these spirits...Oh, if only I were a clairvoyant and could see these energies for myself! But of course, you'd still be skeptical unless you could see them for yourself...

Until then, I'll enjoy just knowing the cold spots at Old Baptist like to follow me around!

HAPPY HAUNTINGS!

Happy 239th Birthday, Mr. Ingraham!

It was a warm, breezy evening last night at Mt. Olivet cemetery, a great place to celebrate the official First Day of Spring 2011! During our Haunted Hannibal tour, a couple from Rolla was "investigating" using their dowsing rods and were pulled toward a particular headstone...



...They found the headstone lying on its back on the ground, having fallen from its original base. The stone is for Barton Ingraham, and maybe the reason we were pulled toward him was that he wants us to recognize his birthday! The headstone is inscribed, "Barton Ingraham, Born In Boston, Mass., Mar. 21, 1772, Died in Hannibal, MO, Oct. 26, 1846".



So here's Happy Birthday to you, Mr. Ingraham, 239 years young today!

Teeny Tiny Spirits

Hello all, it was a cold day in Hannibal (temps hovering around the freezing mark) but we had a really fun group on tour! Check out our little ghost hunters, sisters from mid-Illinois:



One interesting thing we found was that there seemed to be teeny tiny orbs of energy out at Old Baptist this evening. These three photos were taken with three different cameras in three different parts of the cemetery -- see how they all captured similar tiny orbs of light?





One of our guests was drawn to a particular headstone at Mt. Olivet Cemetery...his dowsing rods pointed him in the right direction...when he went to the headstone, the name of the deceased was "Matthew". You'll never guess what my guest's name just happens to be...!



Here's another interesting set of photos taken tonight at Mt. Olivet featuring Mr. "D", the father of our two young ghost hunters pictured above -- notice the orb to his left in the first photo, and how the energy changes form into a different type of orb in the second photo!




Thanks to all our guests who came out on a chilly, windy night to take the tour this evening, we enjoyed visiting with you. Hope to see you again soon, there will be lots more stories to tell you!