Beware Of America's Creepiest Roads

They've been called urban legends, ghost stories, creepy encounters. But they all have one thing in common—unexplained happenings on dark roads in the dead of night. If you'll pardon the use of the word dead.

Or maybe it's more appropriate than you realize. :)

Since October is the month of things that go bump and Halloween, it's the perfect time of year to explore these creepy lanes and the unexplained happenings that have been reported to occur there. Here's a sampling of some of these haunted roads.

Shades of Death Road in Warren Co., NJ:  Yes, Shades of Death Road is the real name of the street, but no one is sure exactly how the name came about. Over the decades, many murders have happened along this stretch of road, each its own ghastly tale, which certainly explains why so many different ghosts haunt the area.

The San Antonio Ghost Track:  If you put your car in neutral on the railroad tracks, the car will move off the tracks by itself. And if you cover the bumper in baby power, you'll find child-sized palm prints. However, be careful if you decide to try it out. There have been reports of bandits waiting in hiding for people trying to test this phenomenon.

The Georgia Ghost Roads:  Travelers late at night along Railroad Bed Road and Old Ghost Road (Robertson Road) see a faint orange light flashing in the distance. As they drive closer to it, a man will appear who is digging a ditch…or perhaps a grave. He turns and walks toward the car, but disappears before he gets there.

Buckhout Road in Harrison, NY:  The shocking murders committed by Issac Buckhout are believed responsible for the area's many reports of notorious activities such as farms burning, vandalism in a local historic cemetery, and people who claimed to have been attacked by flesh-eating monsters because they parked in front of a specific red house and honked their car horn three times.

Meshack Road in Tompinsville, KY:  This is supposedly the original location of the often repeated story of the young woman in the prom dress who is walking along the road and given a ride by a young man. He gives her his coat to keep warm. The next day he returns to the house where he took her in order to retrieve his coat. The woman living there told him her daughter had died several years ago…on prom night.

Milford Road in Oxford, Ohio:  The story of star-crossed lovers. The boy and girl were in love, but the girl's father hated the boy. The boy would flash his motorcycle headlight three times and if he saw her porch light flash three times in return he knew it was safe to go there. One night he was killed on the road, but the flashing lights continue to haunt the area.

Mona Lisa Drive in New Orleans:  A philanthropist donated a collection of statuary to the city with one stipulation—the statue commissioned to commemorate the death of his only daughter, Mona, be placed in a special location in the park by itself. One night a car chase ended with a car crashing into the statue and shattering it. After that, rumors began to circulate that Mona lurked in the park where the statue had been, haunting innocent and unsuspecting visitors.

Archer Road in Justice, IL:  Resurrection Cemetery is the site of a story similar to the Meshack Road haunting. A young man met a pretty blonde at a dance. At the end of the evening, he drove her home. When they reached the cemetery, she asked him to stop. She got out of the car, walked toward the gate, and disappeared. He went to the house where she said she lived, and the woman told him her daughter had died five years ago.

Spook Hill in Burkittsville, MD:  In addition to its ghostly reputation courtesy of the 1990s horror movie, The Blair Witch Project, an unexplained recurring event here is similar to the Railroad Crossing in San Antonio. When driving up Spook Hill, if you stop and put the car in neutral it won't roll back downhill. It will continue uphill as if being pushed. The local ghostly tale claims it's Civil War soldiers who think they're pushing one of their cannons up the hill.

Clinton Road in New Jersey:  If you find yourself on this haunted road, be sure to toss a coin into the river at the Old Boy Bridge. The ghost of a boy who drowned will throw it back. There have also been reported sightings of UFOs, mutated circus animals, and mysterious glowing eyes.

Highway 666:  This highway was originally named because it was the 6^th spur off of US Highway 66 (now mostly replaced by Interstate 40) through Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. Travelers on this haunted highway, known as the Devil's Highway, have reported speeding ghost cars, packs of devil dogs, and a flaming demonic semi-truck that drives directly at the spooked travelers. Many people attribute these sightings to a biblical association between the numbers 666 and Satan. In 2003, the highway number was changed to Highway 491. There are still a few places where you can see the Highway 666 sign labeled as old next to the Highway 491 sign labeled as new.

Do you have any ghostly tales or spooky happenings where you live? 

The Ouija Board—Strange and Mysterious Brief History

Perhaps you've used a Ouija board, know someone who has, or merely seen them being used in movies and television shows. Originally called spirit boards or talking boards, they're a flat board with letters, numbers, the words yes, no, hello, and goodbye. The Ouija board goal is to summon the spirit someone wishes to communicate with. The spirit then communicates by spelling out words using the planchette (the thing you put your fingers on that the spirit moves around the board pointing to the specific letters and numbers to provide the spirit's answer).

While the Ouija board's origins only date back to mid 19th century America during the age of spiritualism, the concept of holding a device that points out words from an otherworldly source is ancient. Early accounts of this date back to 1100AD in China. It was considered a valid method of contacting the dead.

In the late 19th century, a person's average lifespan was less than fifty years. The desire to communicate with departed loved ones at a séance wasn't that uncommon. However, those events were often frustrating and expensive. Spiritual mediums were unreliable and charged a lot of money to send and receive messages from the beyond. That created a market for a cheaper method of contacting the dead from the comfort of one's own home.

And the Ouija board answered that need.

It was introduced to the public in 1890 by a businessman named Elijah Bond. His original product was called a Talking Board and was supposed to answer facts about the past and predict the future. It was introduced as nothing more than a fun throwaway game, completely unrelated to ghosts or the occult. By World War I, large groups of people were convinced that the movements of the planchette had an otherworldly origin.

The first person to rename the talking board as the Ouija Board was Elijah Bond's employee, a man named William Fuld. Conflicting reports say the meaning of Ouija came from the ancient Egyptian word for good luck or it was a combination of the French Oiu and German Ja, both words meaning yes.

Some Christian denominations believe Ouija boards lead to demonic possession. The scientific community has criticized the paranormal beliefs associated with Ouija boards. But—however you feel about them, they're thought of as being spooky.

If you believe that Ouija boards really do connect with the dead, you're in good company. Many famous and successful people during the last one hundred years have used Ouija boards—English writer G.K. Chesterton, rock musician Alice Cooper, Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Merrill, Italian president Romano Prodi, and Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson.

Have you ever used the Ouija board, either seriously or as an entertainment source? 

Classic Monsters And Their Origins—part 2of2

With Halloween this month, what better topic for my October blogs starts with scary monsters,  a 2-parter featuring classic monsters. On last week's blog, we looked at the first 7 of the list of 15 monsters. This week we'll take a look at the remaining 8.

8. Ghoul

Another undead, flesh-eating monster is the ghoul, but the ghoul is not a picky eater. They will eat the living or the dead. They look similar to their original human form but much more demonic. A ghoul's favorite place to be is a graveyard—it's like their own personal underground buffet. Since they will attempt lure the living in to try and feast on them, watch your step if you're ever in a graveyard! According to ancient Arabic lore, the curse of the ghoul is the result brought about on a human that has eaten flesh— living or dead. Some lore states that ghouls can shapeshift and will appear as the last thing they ate. For protection from a ghoul, the best thing to do is to decapitate them.

9. Goblin

The goblin dates back to the Middle Ages and is a mischievous creature that is usually small and often described as very gross. Thought to be the counterpart to fairies, goblins have similar magical abilities. Some lore even states that they can shapeshift. There are many different types of goblins, mostly popular in Scottish, Irish, and English folklore. Goblin is a term used to describe any sort of evil or mischievous creature. In some legends, goblins are born from spores  germinated underground. Others suggest they reproduce in a manner similar to humans. Goblins live in temperate climates, either in fields or preferably small caverns or caves. They are known to attach themselves to a human's home and cause a similar disturbance to poltergeists.

10. The Headless Horseman

The most popular Headless Horseman legend is from 1776 and 1820 America. In 1776, a trooper in the Battle of the White Plains was decapitated by a cannonball and his fellow soldiers carried his body away while leaving his head on the battlefield. In 1820 author Washington Irving wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow based on that incident. This is the version of the story that is widely popular today. The legends state that the ghost of the Headless Horseman rises from his grave in Sleepy Hollow every night in search of his head. If he is unable to find his own, any head will do. Until he is successful, he uses a menacingly lit jack-o-lantern in place of his missing head—the jack-o-lantern being one of the symbols associated with Halloween.

11. Troll

Trolls originated in Norse mythology. They are built similar to humans but are much stronger and generally much uglier. In Nordic folklore, trolls simply live in isolation in the mountains, caves, or rocky areas. They live together as families and are not helpful to humans. In Scandinavian folklore, trolls are much more troublesome. These trolls can either appear to be the same as humans and simply live in isolation (much like Norse trolls), or be extremely old and strong but equally dumb and dim-witted. These strong and dumb trolls are man-eaters who turn to stone in the sunlight.

12. Swamp Monster

A swamp monster is a creature that lives and haunts a body of water, primarily swamp or marshlands. They resemble humans but have traits of aquatic animals such as webbed hands and feet, gills and large yellow eyes. In Cajun folklore, swamp monsters are called the rougarou. This creature is thought to have the body of a human, but the head of either a wolf or a dog and wanders the swamps of Louisiana looking for misbehaving children to eat. Whoever kills a rougarou could become infected with the curse if they were exposed to the monster's blood. For this reason, fire would actually be the best defense.

13. Ghost

A ghost is the spirit of a once-living being that was left behind trapped in the realm of the living. Ghosts resemble their once physical form but are transparent and do not adhere to the laws of physics in the same way that humans do—adding to their spooky factor. They can float through solid objects and walls at will. Many believe that the reason ghosts choose a path that goes through walls instead of around them is that the walls they go through did not exist while they were alive. Most ghosts haunt places that they were familiar with, even if that structure has been changed. There are ghosts that don't mean any harm and simply make their presence known by continuing their once-daily activities, then there are vengeful ghosts. Many stories say that the reason the spirit does not follow the now-deceased being is that it still has business to finish on this side of life. Some of the first mentions of ghosts date back to the 16^th century. Salt and iron can allegedly offer protection from these ghosts, but the way to rid their spirit from this world is to find their bodily remains, salt them, and burn them.

14. Poltergeist

A poltergeist is literally a noisy ghost. It translates from the German poltern which means to make noise or to rumble and geist which means ghost or spirit. Their appearance is much like a ghost although poltergeists can at times be invisible. Poltergeists are said to haunt a specific person and not a place, which is different from regular ghosts. Stories of poltergeists gained popularity around the 17th century and continue today. They cause disturbances by throwing objects, moving furniture, or making any number of loud noises.

15. Aliens

Aliens, also known as extraterrestrials, refer to any being that did not originate on Earth. The first mention of aliens in modern science fiction was in the 1950s when the flying saucer phenomenon gained popularity because of the incident in Roswell, New Mexico, creating a plethora of outer space invader movies. Aliens can range in appearance from tall, skinny humanoid-like creatures with pointed faces and large eyes to giant squid monsters. The theory that we are not the only lifeform in the universe has been around for a very long time. Mentions of aliens and UFOs can be dated back as early as the 4th century in China. The motivation of aliens is unclear. There are plenty of invasion stories where aliens will try and take over whatever planet they see fit, kill off its inhabitants, and occupy that planet for themselves. It is also theorized that they are peaceful beings and simply wish to coexist with others in the universe. 

In defiance of the concept that modern science fiction came about in the 1950s, we need to mention two writers responsible for popularizing modern science fiction in the late 1800s: H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Both men were referred to as the father of science fiction, with Verne often called the father of modern science fiction due to his scientifically grounded works. H. G. Wells gave us THE TIME MACHINE 1895, THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU 1896, THE INVISIBLE MAN 1897, WAR OF THE WORLDS 1898. Jules Verne gave us JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 1864,  20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA 1870, and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS 1873.

Classic Monsters and Their Origins—part 1 of 2

Halloween is almost here! And nothing says Halloween quite like creepy, scary monsters. Many of the traditions surrounding Halloween that have been passed down through the years involve some of the most gruesome monsters and creatures. Ghosts, goblins, ghouls and witches are just some of those beings that are more active around the time of Halloween.

Stories and legends of different types of monsters date back to some of the earliest known recorded times in history. These stories range from ancient China and Greece to more modern times, some as recent of the 1950s. There is one thing for certain. These legends aren't going to stop being repeated any time soon.

Werewolves, mummies, vampires and witches are some of the first things that come to mind when anyone mentions Halloween. These monsters are widely known as the classics for Halloween, but where did they originate?

I have a list of 15 monsters. We'll look at 7 of them this week and the remaining 8 next week.

1. Vampire

There are stories of vampire-like creatures from as early as ancient Greece. This centuries-old monster is said to be undead, meaning they are animated and act similar to a living human. They survive by draining the living of their bodily fluid, primarily blood, by way of biting their victims with sharp fangs. Sunlight will burn a vampire's skin, so they are active mostly at night. They can occasionally be active during the day if the weather permits. This is why storms, mist and cloudy days contain a sense of foreboding. According to folklore, a vampire's downfalls are crosses, silver, and garlic. They can also be extinguished by stabbing them in the heart with a wooden stake. To be safe, it would work best to decapitate them.

2. Zombie

Stories of zombies date back to 17th-century Haiti. Zombies are said to be the result of voodoo. A voodoo practitioner would utilize a mixture of herbs, bones, shells and other animal parts as part of their practice. This mixture could cause symptoms such as confusion, difficulty walking, trouble with breathing, and sometimes even resulting in a coma for the victim. These instances resulting in a coma seem to be the basis for believing that a zombie is raised from the dead. These undead corpse monsters are known for feeding on human flesh (focusing mostly on brains).

3. Mummy

Mummification began in ancient Egypt. It was a special method for preserving the body used in burial rituals. References to the mummy as an undead monster gained popularity after King Tut's tomb was found in 1922. This resulted in many classic horror films such as the 1932 Boris Karloff movie, The Mummy. Similar to zombies, mummies are reanimated corpses. The main objective of the mummy is to get revenge. Mummies, especially royalty, were buried with riches that lured treasure hunters. As movies have shown us, many of those who looted tombs ended up with much more than they bargained for. A mummy's greatest weakness is fire. If a fire can't be produced easily, decapitation is an option for protection.

4. Werewolf

Werewolves are cursed humans who turn into large, strong wolf-like monsters during each full moon. The curse is the result of being bitten by a werewolf while it's in its monster form. Some legends say the monster looks like a human/wolf hybrid while others say they are all wolf. While they're in this wolf state, their hunger for human flesh is unquenchable. One of the first mentions of the werewolf is in the world's oldest known Western prose, the epic poem Gilgamesh, written approximately 1400 BCE. Another early mention of werewolves is from Greek mythology and the legend of Lycaon. Werewolves are also mentioned in early Nordic legends. Werewolves are exceptionally strong beasts, their weakness is silver. They can still be harmed in many of the same ways that humans can, but silver will do the job much more efficiently.

5. Frankenstein's Monster

English author Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818. The novel is about Victor Frankenstein, an alchemist/scientist…and madman. He seeks to create the perfect being. He is successful in building a sentient humanoid creature by way of connecting many different human parts that he scavenged from graveyards. Rather than pleasing him, what he created frightens him to the point of abandoning that creation. What is left behind is a scared but hideous monster that no one wants anything to do with. Frankenstein's monster is strong but can be annihilated in much the same ways as a normal human.

6. The Grim Reaper

The idea of the Grim Reaper originated in 14^th-century Europe following the black plague. The Grim Reaper is often thought to literally be death itself. However, that's not quite so. After passing over into the realm of the dead, the Grim Reaper is the being that guides those into the afterlife. While its only duty is to gather departed souls to make sure they go to the correct place, the Grim Reaper is an intimidating creature. There are stories of seeing the reaper before death has occurred. Speculation suggests that the Grim Reaper resembles the skeleton of a human covered in a cloak and carrying a scythe.

7. Witch

Witches are traditionally women who harness the power of magic. Largely thought to be sinister, many women were accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692-1693 in Massachusetts and hanged (in France witches were burned at the stake, in England they were hanged. Since those who settled in what is now Massachusetts came to the new world from England, they were hanged rather than burned). While many of the powers that witches possess are capable of harm and cursing another being, there are also many harmless practices. The spooky factor of witches lies in the unknown. Magic can be awe-inspiring but equally frightening, especially if a witch chooses to use dark magic. Originally, witches were depicted as nasty, hook-nosed old women who use gross potions and spells to carry out their evil deeds. In more recent times, witches are simply women who possess the ability to harness magic, can be any age and look as normal and beautiful as any other woman.

Check back next week for a look at the remaining 8 monsters on the list of 15.