Posts Tagged ‘ghosts’

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Would you live in a haunted house, whether it was actually documented as haunted or just known for having played one on TV?  Many actors in horror films later state in interviews that they felt a haunting presence around them when they were doing a paranormal movie and that strange things would occur while filming. If this is the case, what might occur to a home where a paranormal horror series was filmed?

American Horror Story might be the darkest and scariest show ever to play on television. Based on a haunted house that has seen horror after horror over multiple decades, each person who meets their demise in the home becomes trapped there as a ghost in a paranormal energetic grid which traps them indefinitely.  Lurking behind it all is a “big bad” invisible entity in the home with a hidden agenda that seems to prod and encourage the ghosts to do more dirty work while it seeks to manifest in full form.

It’s hard to imagine what’s to come in Season Two to bring the heat to compete with the non stop creepy action of Season One. Props to the actors including  Jessica Lange (Constance), who just received the SAG award for female actor in a drama series for the show, which airs on FX.

The six bedroom house perhaps is the unrecognized actor in the show, listed as a historic landmark with vintage decor and Tiffany glass windows completing the perfect setting for a haunted home. This home is not just a set, but an actual mansion known as the Alfred Rosenheim home and according to CBS, the Daily Mail , Huff Po and other sources, it’s going up for sale.

From what I’ve heard, the pilot of the series was filmed in the house and once it was picked up, later episodes were shot in a replica set at another location. Still, most anyone who has seen the show, would get a case of the tingles if they were able to tour the home, especially the basement…

My budgetary restrictions aside, it’s priced at a cool 4.5 million, after seeing the show, I’m not keen on living in this particular home, but if the Adams Family Mansion is on the market, I’d like to take a look.

Regardless, it is a gorgeous home and the slide show available on Huff Po displays over 25 photos of the beautiful dark wood paneling and other distinctive features of the home. See the photos here.  How about you, would you live in this house?

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Located in the peaceful landscape of the Piedmont area of North Carolina lies the town of Kernersville in the area known as the Triad.  The Triad area consists of three major cities, which include Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point.  Kernersville is a beautiful small town that is actively restoring and renovating its historic downtown area.  It is also the location of one of the strangest homes in the world, built in 1880.  It’s called Korner’s Folly and if I had to compare it to other strange homes, I would say that it is a miniature version of the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. It also shares another similarity with the Winchester House, as they’re both reported to be haunted.

The original owner of Korner’s Folly was Jule Gilmer Korner. He named the home “Korner’s Folly” after a cousin, or possibly a neighbor, declared the home to be Korner’s folly. Korner was so amused by the comment that he made it the official name of the home, even going so far as to hang a plaque with that name outside the house.   Korner was a painter and interior designer and is best known for painting signs for the Bull Durham Bulls across the South. A talented artist, Korner wanted the house to be a showplace for his work, both artistically in size and scale in order to give prospective clients an idea of the various types of interior design that he could create in their homes and buildings. The house has twenty-two rooms and there’s no easy way to describe them. Each room is unique; some fit for royalty, palatial in scale. There are trap doors, over fifteen different styles of fireplaces, cubbyholes to tuck away in, murals, and a library.

I love Korner’s Folly. It reminds me of playing dress up when I was young, how one day I wanted to be a princess, another day the queen, and I’d rotate from the Victorian age, the Roaring Twenties, to holding court in the Middle Ages. Living in Korner’s Folly would have been like a living in a dollhouse to play every dress- up game I could imagine. How much fun the children must have had growing up here!  While I was immediately entranced with the whimsical parts of the home, I must also say that it has elegant touches; murals, a striking reception room, and a wonderful little theatre named Cupid’s Park.  Korner’s Folly grabbed me at the front door; it’s simply enchanting.

None of the twenty-two rooms look the same in any way.  There are three floors and seven levels to the home, some with ceilings as low as six feet while other ceilings reach heights of over twenty-five feet.  Hallways have different sizes; some are quite narrow and the effect can be striking as you follow a passageway into a new room, some with doorways over ten feet tall. Extensively detailed woodwork is displayed in every room.  A winding staircase takes you from floor to floor and on the fourth floor is the first private children’s little theater in the United States. The effect of it all is stunning. Jule Korner was definitely talented and had a wonderful artistic eye.  The architecture and antique furniture that he designed is visible throughout the home.   Korner’s paintings are on display in the home.

The home has been wonderfully preserved. Several locals in the area told me that the house once served as an antique store and also a funeral home in the past. The spirits are very active at the house and paranormal investigators continue to find evidence of ghostly activity. While I visited Korner’s Folly, it was decorated for the Christmas holidays. I felt ghostly activity and energy around the Christmas decorations and detected them moving slightly back and forth on several occasions. Perhaps the ghost children were at play, looking to see if Christmas presents would soon be on display for them. During your visit to Korner’s Folly, expect to be charmed and enchanted by the beauty, the whimsy and the playful spirits. For more about my visit to Korner’s Folly, check out my new book, Ghosthunting North Carolina.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Commissioned in 1941, the USS North Carolina was considered to be one of the world’s most formidable ships.  During WWII, the North Carolina participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific, earning fifteen battle stars, and was known as the protector of aircraft carriers, including saving the USS Enterprise in 1942.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor using 353 Japanese fighters and torpedo planes.  Four battleships were sunk and four others damaged. Two destroyers and three cruisers were sunk and almost three hundred and fifty aircrafts were destroyed or severely damaged.  Over 2,400 men were killed and more than 1,200 injured. The overwhelming devastation was a huge shock to the nation.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, almost all of the Pacific fleet was destroyed. The first wave Japanese attack inflicted most of the damage and the second wave returned to demolish anything left standing. Japan and the U.S. were in peace talks at the time, so the attack came as a surprise, as no declaration of war had been delivered before the attack. With this act, the U.S. then declared war and entered World War II.

The surviving sailors in Hawaii were in a state of despair; they had lost many of their friends along with their ships and they were isolated on an island far away from the mainland. The attack had been swift. Reinforcements and supplies were going to take months to arrive in Hawaii. Feeling alone and grieving, the men waited for seven long months for reinforcements to arrive.

Then one day, the first naval ship arrived in Hawaii. It was the USS North Carolina and she was greeted in a mass celebration by an overwhelming crowd of soldiers, sailors, marines and air force pilots, hailing her presence from the beaches with cheers and delight.  Upon her arrival in Hawaii, many sailors were quoted as saying that she was “the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.”  

In my experience as a psychic and paranormal investigator, I have found that powerful emotional experiences of the most positive and the most negative nature leave an energy imprint on the object of the attention. Energy imprints are also left on objects surrounding the area as well.  I believe that the USS North Carolina battleship soaked up all of that energy that day upon her arrival in Pearl Harbor. In the water and in the air, she felt the pain and loss of the destruction which had occurred, while at the same time, she was greeted and filled with joy by sailors, pilots and marines who saw her as a saving grace and point of hope.  This, I believe, buoyed the battleship, giving her great luck and fierce determination in battle.

During the War, the Japanese reported on their radio six different times that they had sunk the North Carolina battleship, all of which proved to be false.  The Japanese did manage to hit the ship once with a torpedo, which cost five crewmen their lives. Five other men died aboard the ship from other circumstances and by some accounts some of them still remain on board and in active duty on the ship to this day.

The USS North Carolina battleship is now anchored in Wilmington, North Carolina where thousands visit her each year.  Many of those who visit and work on the ship have shared a number of ghost stories and other paranormal activity they experienced while onboard.

From the night watchman who sleeps aboard the ship each night, to daily tourists and visitors, the reports of the ship being haunted continue to grow.  Some of the ghosts are harmless, though they do catch people off guard, giving them a fright. Mostly, they are seen involved in their daily activities aboard the ship, looking for lunch from the kitchen, preparing for bed in their bunks and performing maintenance around the ship. The sounds of their banging as they work on parts of the ship can often be heard throughout the night.  These ghosts are hard workers; they bang with their tools, knock on walls, open and close hatches, yell at each other, have heated and animated discussions, and enjoy turning televisions and lights on and off.

In my new book, Ghosthunting North Carolina, I share what happened when I visited the haunted battleship to see what ghosts were ready to speak with me. Check it out and explore the haunted battleship with me.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Witches Corner at Korner's Folly in Kernersville, NC

Unlike the Winchester Mystery Mansion in San Jose, California, the Korner’s Folly home in Kernersville, North Carolina was deliberately designed with style in mind. At the Winchester House, Sarah Winchester, upon the advice of a psychic, had carpenters build new rooms in her house twenty-four hours a day until her death. This ongoing construction was supposed to confuse and trick the angry spirits who had been killed by Winchester rifles from locating Sarah Winchester in her home and haunting her.  Inside the Winchester home, doors open to several- story drops below and staircases lead to the ceiling, going nowhere. The entire house winds around like a maze and by the time you’ve walked through it, you’ve walked over a mile. The effect is eerie, confusing and at times maddening.  While Korner’s Folly also has a variety of unique rooms and twists and turns, the effect feels very different; it’s charming and each rooms pulls you into an experience for the senses.

Jule created Korner’s Folly for an entirely different reason and ghosts were the furthest things from his mind.  A talented artist, Korner wanted the house to be a showplace for his work, both artistically in size and scale and to give prospective clients an idea of the various types of interior design that he could create in their homes and buildings.    The house has twenty-two rooms and there’s no easy way to describe them. Each room is unique; some fit for royalty, palatial in scale. There are trap doors, over fifteen different styles of fireplaces, cubbyholes to tuck away in, murals, and a library.

The home has been wonderfully preserved, despite having served as an antique store and also a funeral home. Ring, ring says my psychic warning bell!  What a perfect combination to create a haunted building!  Antiques carry the emotional energies of their owners, and the grief is thick in a funeral home where the dead come to attend their own funeral; Together, it’s a psychic’s perfect storm.

Want to know more about what I found while investigating the haunted history of Korner’s Folly? Read about this story and others in my new book,  Ghosthunting North Carolina.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

“The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.” – Italo Calvino

Some visitors at a bed and breakfast are just dying to stay. And they do – forever. Flashing lights, mysterious footsteps, slamming doors and other spine-tingling occurrences are likely signs an inn has a long-term guest. But don’t be afraid; their “boo” is worse than their bite.

Raised hair, goose bumps and bloodcurdling screams are all on the menu at BnBFinder’s most spooktacular inns. Be prepared for a terrifyingly good time:

Burn Brae Mansion

At Burn Brae Mansion in Glen Spey, NY, innkeepers not only talk the scary talk but have it recorded, too. The home, built in 1908 by a former president of the Singer Sewing Machine company as a gift to his daughter, was visited by 14 ghost hunters in 2007 and they archived “off the charts” evidence of ghostly activity in the home including mysterious voices. Need proof? Some of their spooky findings can be seen and heard on the inn’s website. Ghost tours of the house and moonlit trails are available.

1859 Historic National

Travelers have been checking into the 1859 Historic National Hotel in Jamestown, CA, for more than 130 years but one of them has yet to check out. Flora, or “Flo” as she’s known around the hotel, arrived with her beloved, Henry, in the late 1800’s and the two planned to wed. As he walked down the stairs Henry fell victim to a drunkard’s bullet. Flo sobbed uncontrollably for days and was found dead sitting in a chair by the window dressed in her wedding whites. Guests have reported entering unexpectedly warm or cold rooms, feeling icy blasts brushing past and hearing nightly sobbing. Flo is a friendly ghost, say the innkeepers, so make sure to say hello.

1843 Battery Carriage House

Glowing lights, rattling shutters and a resident headless torso certainly qualifies The Battery Carriage House Inn , located in Charleston, SC, as the city’s most haunted inn. Formerly an artillery installation during the Civil War, the harbor front mansion also houses a “gentleman ghost” believed to be a young man whose family previously owned the house. These ghostly apparitions and shadowy figures, which may seem a bit intimidating to the uninitiated, only mean to haunt, not harm, say the innkeepers.

Prospect Hill Bed and Breakfast Inn

The ghosts housed at the Prospect Hill Bed & Breakfast Inn in Mountain City, TN, have an appetite for scaring guests. A visitor to the former family residence reported being woken up early in the morning to the distinct smell of peanut butter cookies and muffins being baked. Spilled bourbon and rose perfume also have wafted mysteriously into rooms. Eerie footsteps walking up and down the main staircase, doors opening on their own and ghosts appearing in windows and rooms have been reported by unsuspecting guests.

For a full listing of haunted inns visit BnBFinder.com/HauntedInns

About Kala Ambrose… Kala Ambrose is the author of Ghosthunting North Carolina, which shares historical information in a fun and friendly way so that families can enjoy learning about the history of North Carolina while traveling and exploring the sites around the state in a unique way. Visit her website at www.ghosthuntingnorthcarolina.com to see the video book trailer.

Ghosthunting North Carolina by Kala Ambrose is available at fine book stores everywhere and on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com  The book is also available on Amazon KINDLE and Barnes and Noble NOOK versions.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Ghosthunting North Carolina with Kala

Ghosthunting North Carolina is now available in Stores, Online and through Kindle and Nook Ghosthunting North Carolina By Kala Ambrose I’ll be traveling all around the state of North Carolina for book signings, so if you’re here in NC, come see me and pick up a copy of the book at your favorite local bookstore. My travel schedule is posted on ExploreYourSpirit.com  Ghosthunting North Carolina is part of a Haunted Travel Series called America’s Haunted Road Trip Ghosthunting North Carolina provides maps and travel information so you can research the haunted sites for yourself. Jump in the car with some friends and hit the road and explore with Kala as your guide.  It’s a lonely process writing a book, months, really years go by and for many writers like myself, we struggle and strain to express what we want to say in so many words. Many times we return to look over the completed project and fight an overwhelming desire to toss the entire manuscript away. Fortunately for most of us, we have a wonderful family member or friend who talks us back down and gently eases the manuscript from our clenched hands and soothingly reminds us that they think the book is wonderful.Once this process is complete and the book has been shipped off to the publisher, the editing process begins, the cover art is selected and the countdown begins for the launch of the book. The first day of a book release is quite different than movie or music releases. Books go deep, the person has to open the cover and enter privately into a journey page by page. Typically there are no stars turning out for the event dressed in their red carpet best and only rarely do screaming hordes of fans line up for days in advance to buy the book like they once did for CD’s.I wanted to write Ghosthunting North Carolina for several reasons. The first being that I love history and have always thought that more people would be interested in history if they were able to hear the stories in a more interesting way. History is provocative, rife with struggles, pain and the overwhelming desire of people to survive and make their way in life against all types of obstacles. When the stories are told with the people in mind, the reader can not help but to be interested and the stories themselves are timeless, as each generation faces similar struggles. Only the names, uniforms and dates change, as the human condition marches on. As someone who has seen and communicated with the spirit world since childhood, I also relished the idea of investigating these haunted sites for myself in order to see if I would experience the paranormal anomalies and ghostly apparitions that others have reported at each location. I wanted to tell these dead men and women’s tales and allow their voices to be heard.  North Carolina is a fascinating and very haunted state. The Coast of East Carolina has more shipwrecks than anywhere else in the U.S. due to the shifting sandbars and rocky coastline which has claimed hundreds of ships through the years. From the pirate ghosts of Blackbeard and his crew wandering the beaches, to the missing colony of Roanoke and other colonists who dreamed of a better life here in the New World, the coast is haunted with their presence and their stories. You don’t have to be from North Carolina to appreciate these stories, as the ghosts share their history of our America, from the battleships, battlefields and forts to the shifting sands of time and place where they lay their heads each night. I also loved the concept of this series of books, which is called America’s Haunted Road Trip. The publisher is in the process of creating a Ghosthunting book for each of the 50 states and when I took on this project, I saw it as the opportunity to be a Haunted History Ambassador for the state of North Carolina.  I was able to share my personal experiences about the history of this state, including spending the night in the most haunted State Capitol in the U.S. and spending many nights in one of the most haunted hotels in the state.  In many of the locations I write about, I encountered and at times communicated with the spirits who still haunt this location. Their stories are waiting to be told and I invite you to take this journey with me and with them through Ghosthunting North Carolina. I also share the experience of having a ghost who decided to take this journey with me and stayed with me while I wrote this book. He would pop into my office from time to time as if he became the unofficial editor of the book, checking in on me and my progress. While I expected to encounter a variety of ghosts while researching this book, this was one surprise that even caught me off guard. Fall is here, the evenings are growing cooler, the sunlight is mellowing a little more each day into a golden glow and soon October and Halloween will be upon us.  Curl up next to some candlelight and take this journey with me as we ghosthunt our way through North Carolina. We’ll start on the rocky coast of the Atlantic Ocean, venture into the haunted plantations of the Piedmont and complete our journey in the misty Blue Ridge mountains. You’ll never look at North Carolina in the same way again and it may leave you with the desire to jump in the car and come investigate these areas for yourself.

Go Ghosthunting with Kala So come explore with me, here’s how….. 1. Ghosthunting North Carolina is available at bookstores including Indie stores in North Carolina and in Barnes and Noble and Costco.2. The book is available online through Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com3. Ghosthunting North Carolina is also available through Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook. 4. Get a signed first edition copy of the book and chat with me about the haunted history of North Carolina as I travel across the state through September and October at bookstores, museums, Costco’s and other locations. 5. Watch the video book trailer of GhostHunting North Carolina and share it with friends. 6. Go to www.GhostHuntingNorthCarolina.com and share your most haunting experience with me on my post there asking about your favorite ghost stories. I’ll also be updating information and events regarding the book here along the way. 7. Join me on Facebook and Twitter and chat with me about the book and if you have the time and inclination, I would greatly appreciate a review of the book on Amazon.com 8. For more behind the scenes tips on paranormal investigations, take my video course on the Learning Annex called Sensing the Spirit World: Adventures in Ghosthunting with Kala Ambrose. Until the next time we meet, Happy Haunting! *~Kala~*

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

As we begin the countdown to Halloween, seven weeks and counting, the haunting activities are beginning to appear across North Carolina.  Here are some of the ones I spotted today:

The Carolina Inn, located in Chapel Hill, NC is offering a special “Room with a BOO!”.  They’re inviting you to come visit with their longtime resident ghost, Dr. William Jacocks. A friendly spirit, he enjoys playing practical jokes on those who stay in what was once Dr. Jacock’s permanent home. One of America’s Top 10 Haunted Hotels is waiting for you. The special package includes:

• Booked in Dr. Jacocks’ Room
• Dinner for Two, Set for Three
• Biography of Dr. Jacocks
• Rates Starting at $409

In my new book, Ghosthunting North Carolina, I share what happened when I visited the haunted Carolina Inn and literally ran right into a ghost on the property.  The Ghosthunting North Carolina book is available for purchase in stores and online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com Take it along with you as a travel guide when you visit the haunted Carolina Inn.

Over on the very haunted coastline of North Carolina in Wilmington, we have our very own Ghost Ship, NC’s only haunted battleship, the USS North Carolina. The hatches will crack open with all new unique designs and scares. It doesn’t matter where you are on the ship, the ghosts will find you! October 14th and 21st from 7pm-10pm. Tickets are $10 and go on sale at 6:30 pm. You must be in the ticket line by 9:30 pm to ensure your ticket. While researching the haunted battleship I ran into several ghosts on the ship, some going about their business and others looking for trouble.  In my book, Ghosthunting North Carolina I cover East Carolina and the haunted ships, forts, lighthouses and other places where ghosts and ghost pirates like Blackbeard and his men still roam.  The book includes travel information to all of these locations so you can plan things out and make a weekend out of visiting haunted place after haunted place along Coastal Carolina, or in the Piedmont or Mountains of NC.  Enjoy!

More about Ghosthunting North Carolina… Explore haunted lighthouses, forts, and shipwrecked areas of East Carolina where Blackbeard and his pirates still roam as you join author and paranormal researcher Kala Ambrose in Ghost Hunting North Carolina. Journey across the state and visit the most actively haunted capitol in the US, and continue west into the Blue Ridge Mountains where the pink lady and her friends await your presence. Maps and travel information are provided to every haunted location for those brave enough to make the journey in person and for paranormal researchers who are interested in exploring haunted North Carolina.

Ghosthunting North Carolina takes you behind the scenes with detailed information about each destination. Available now on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Ghosthunting North Carolina, my new book is now available in store and online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com 

Here’s some info about the book: Explore haunted lighthouses, forts, and shipwrecked areas of East Carolina where Blackbeard and his pirates still roam as you join author and paranormal researcher Kala Ambrose in Ghost Hunting North Carolina. Journey across the state and visit the most actively haunted capitol in the US, and continue west into the Blue Ridge Mountains where the pink lady and her friends await your presence. Maps and travel information are provided to every haunted location for those brave enough to make the journey in person and for paranormal researchers who are interested in exploring haunted North Carolina.

Have you seen the book trailer about Ghosthunting North Carolina? You can check it out here on YOUTUBE

Southern Writers Magazine recently interviewed me about my book Ghosthunting North Carolina and my work as an author in their Sept issue – love the title they chose, which is:  “Books that Go Bump in the Night!”  Check it out http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/

Advanced Praise for the book has been great including:

“The charming and delightful Kala Ambrose has invited me on her radio program Explore Your Spirit with Kala many times, and I have always thoroughly enjoyed myself.  In the pages of her fascinating new book Ghosthunting North Carolina, she has invited all of us to join her on a haunted road trip through North Carolina, and once again, I found myself completely enjoying the journey.  Kala received the “gift” of paranormal talents, including the ability to see and sense spirits, when she was only a child.  She generously shares this gift with her readers as she explores a remarkable number of haunted houses and places in North Carolina.  I very much appreciated Kala’s sharing the history of some of these very famous locations, as well as her psychic impressions of certain ethereal residents who have never left their beloved homes. Kala allows us to perceive her insights into a wide range of ghostly entities from the frightening to the benign, from the violent to the gentle.  I highly recommend this book.” — Brad Steiger, author of over 170 books, including Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places.

“Not everyone can write a ghost story. Luckily for us, Kala Ambrose can. In Ghosthunting North Carolina, Kala takes us on a fabulous armchair road-trip featuring pirates, flaming ghost ships, haunted hotels, and spirits of every persuasion, including the friendly, the eerie, and the downright scary. Kala also provides clear, concise, user-friendly instructions on how to transform a virtual trip into an actual one. I, for one, was ready to start driving to and through North Carolina as soon as I finished Ghosthunting North Carolina. I suspect you will be, too.” –Judika Illes, author of The Encyclopedia of Spirits, The Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells, and The Weiser Field Guide to Witches.

“A road trip with a difference! Kala Ambrose explores the spectacular beauty of the Tar Heel State while using her psychic skills to seek beneath the surface for the phantom soldiers, pink ladies and lost spirits who still inhabit the houses or wander the roads of this beautiful landscape. A skilful mix of lore and legend, which will linger on in the reader’s mind long after the book has been closed. “ — Dr. Bob Curran, author of Dark Fairies, Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night, Lost Lands, Forgotten Realms and over 24 additional books on paranormal lore.

“If you’re into all-things-spooky, spectral and spine-tingling, then Kala Ambrose’s Ghosthunting North Carolina is the book for you! Best devoured on the proverbial dark and stormy night!” –Nick Redfern, author of The Real Men in Black.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Outdoor stage at the Lost Colony area

In 1584, explorers were sent to Roanoke Island (a narrow island situated between the Outer Banks and the mainland of North Carolina) by Sir Walter Raleigh to determine if the area would be well suited to establishing a colony. Upon their return, they delivered a positive report of the location, which included a list of the abundant natural resources surrounding the area and findings that Roanoke was better protected from the elements than the Outer Banks. The island appeared all around to be a good choice for a settlement with live oaks and plenty of other trees to build cabins and a variety of wildlife to hunt for food. Sir Walter Raleigh delivered the information to Queen Elizabeth and she granted Raleigh a charter to all the lands that he could claim in the area.

The next year Sir Raleigh sent out a group of one hundred men, mostly soldiers and craftsmen to establish the colony under the guidance of Ralph Lane, a military captain. The group met with poor results from the beginning and departed the area.

Sir Raleigh responded to the news of Lane’s departure by gathering a party of one hundred and seventeen men, women and children who were willing to sail from England in order to establish a permanent settlement in the New World.   As the group sailed to the New World, their leader John White included in his party his pregnant daughter Eleanor Dare.  Upon their arrival, the situation was hostile on all fronts and the colonists asked John White to return to England to gather support and supplies.

Three years after Eleanor gave birth to her daughter Virginia Dare, her father John White returned to Roanoke Island to find everyone and everything missing. All traces of the settlement had disappeared. There was no sign of struggle nor were there any signs of where the group had gone.  His heart raced with terror, were his daughter and his granddaughter alive? Had someone taken them?  There had been no way to get a direct message to them for the past three years. The colonists had no news source and relied on ships that very infrequently stopped in the area. It’s highly likely that the colonists might not have known about the war that had kept White from traveling back to them. They may have presumed White to be dead or lost at sea.

Imagine how Eleanor must have felt, a new baby and practically defenseless, waiting each day in such dangerous territory, cradling her small daughter Virginia while everyone rationed the dwindling supplies.  John White understood this and more, realizing that his dream of starting the first settlement in the new world and bringing his daughter with him, had led to her destruction.

White searched through the entire settlement and the only clues he found was the word CROATAN carved into one of the trees and the letters CRO carved in a second tree nearby. He had asked the group to leave a sign should they be forced to move further inland and suggested that they use the sign of a Maltese cross carved in a tree should they be under attack and forced to flee for their lives.

The lost colony of Roanoke remains a mystery to this day.  Many theories have risen throughout the years over what happened to the colonists. They include: a hurricane swept over them and destroyed the settlement and washed all the colonists out to sea; a hostile native tribe killed them all, buried their bodies and destroyed the settlement; and the settlers, angry at what they perceived as White’s desertion or death, and now hungry, alone, and cold, set out to live elsewhere and died along their journey, or they left and went to live with the Croatan tribe.

Supernatural explanations have also been raised, including werewolves attacking the group and turning the colonists into werewolves; or as they abandoned the settlement, the native tribes destroyed the camp and cursed it in order to keep others from returning.  One theory posits that aliens arrived on the shore and took all of the colonists with them onto their space ship. The area is considered to be haunted by the tragedies and deaths which occurred during this time.

Researchers continue to discuss and debate the lost colony of Roanoke. Many believe that the settlers argued during the months after White left, some believing that he would never return and others holding out hope. One opinion is that the group broke up into two parties and went their separate ways, some heading towards Chesapeake Bay where they had originally intended to settle and the others partnered up and assimilated into the Croatan tribe.

Each summer in North Carolina, visitors from around the world visit Manteo to see the outdoor theater performance of The Lost Colony. The theater uses the backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean in the area where the Lost Colony once existed.

Ghosthunting North Carolina by Kala Ambrose

Want to know more about what I saw and experienced while investigating this haunted area along with my interview with some of the leading researchers and archeologists who are working to uncover the mysteries of Roanoke?  It’s all in my new book, Ghosthunting North Carolina, which hits stores on September 13, 2011.  Ghosthunting North Carolina can be pre-ordered on Amazon, which will be shipped to your home in September.

More about Kala Ambrose: Kala Ambrose is an award winning author, intuitive and host of the Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show. Her thought-provoking interviews entice listeners to tune in around the globe. Described by her guests and listeners as discerning, empowering and inspiring, she speaks with world renowned authors, artists, teachers and researchers delving into metaphysical and paranormal topics.  Her new book – Ghost Hunting North Carolina hits the stores in September 2011. Kala lectures and teaches on Metaphysical and Paranormal Phenomena including the Ancient Wisdom Teachings and Healing Temples of Egypt, Working with Auras and Energy Fields, Haunted History, and Wise Woman Wisdom.

Be Sociable, Share!

•