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Scared man who sued over 'haunted house' loses in court People who go to "haunted house" attractions to be scared shouldn't be surprised when they're scared, a state court of appeals has ruled. A state appeals court has given precedent-setting status to a ruling that gave the scary mansions the same legal status as ski lodges, bumper cars and other commercial recreational facilities: They're not responsible for injuries caused by an "inherent risk" of the activity. In this case, the court said, that risk was the terror Scott Griffin experienced after leaving what he thought was the exit gate of...

Freudian slips may haunt Obama By: Keith Koffler November 15, 2010 04:36 AM EST President Barack Obama, fresh from his drubbing in the 2010 midterms, is trying to revive his fortunes by pursuing a path toward the middle. But Obama’s effort to overhaul his image is encumbered by conflicting impressions of who he is that have been engraved in voters’ minds by his own words. During unguarded and even some staged — but inadvertently revealing — moments, Obama has allowed unintended glimpses into his thinking. At various times, his offhand comments have led critics, and many voters, to view him...

Soulsearchers 'see ghosts' during Carlisle restaurant investigation Last updated at 13:18, Thursday, 14 October 2010 It’s a cold, October night in Carlisle. Fog rolls in over the cathedral, lit up against the black sky and stoops to kiss the cobblestones outside the restaurant. Inside, the customers are gone. The tables, still laid as if for a ghostly banquet, are occupied by seven men and women, awkwardly observing a reverent hush. Two burly Scotsmen are flitting about with bits of machinery, recording the readings on digital screens. Only two people seem relaxed. They sit at separate tables, scribbling their thoughts into...

Ghost hunters say Deering Estate is ground zero for lost spirits A Coconut Grove paranormal team says it has found evidence of ghosts at the Deering Estate. Neither the hot film Paranormal Activity nor TV's popular Ghost Hunters can compete with Miami-Dade's historic Deering Estate at Cutler. Ghost trackers investigating paranormal activity on the site say they recently found more than 60 disembodied voices coming from the county-owned estate -- once the home of wealthy industrialist Charles Deering, of International Harvester fame. One voice captured on a digital recorder seems to say, ``We're trapped here.'' Don't believe it? The Deering...

The Ghost Child of Wintergreen Gorge October 15, 8:47 PM Pittsburgh Paranormal Examiner Pastor Swope Four Mile Creek meanders through the woodlands of Northern Erie County Pennsylvania and empties into Lake Erie. Over the eon's it's slow moving waters has cut a large swath of land, and one of the more spectacular creations of the small creek is a mile long ravine called Wintergreen Gorge. From Prehistoric until Colonial times the Gorge and creeks path provided a clear route to the Lake for both the local Native Americans and European Settlers. Ancient Indian war trails line both sides of the...

President Barack Obama warned American teenagers on Tuesday of the dangers of putting too much personal information on Internet social networking sites, saying it could come back to haunt them in later life. The presidential words of advice follow recent studies that suggest U.S. employers are increasingly turning to sites such Facebook and News Corp's MySpace to conduct background checks on job applicants. Taking part in a question-and-answer session with a group of 14- and 15-year-old school students, Obama was asked by one pupil for some advice on becoming U.S. president. "Well, let me give you some very practical tips....

Specters spook campus Tara Croft Issue date: 5/31/07 Thousands of students have walked the grounds of campus since N.C. State was founded in 1889. According to a handful of the people who frequent campus today, some of those thought to be dead and gone might not be so gone after all. At several locations across campus, strange events have led people to conclude that ghosts roam the buildings. Erica Lezan, the assistant director of New Student Orientation, said a "ghost walk" is one of the events available for students during orientation. However, the tour emphasizes the University's history more than...

Brazenhead pub owner Tony Lehmann and his son Brando believe they have a resident ghost. PICTURE: DUNCAN BROWN Pub's ghost in high spirits? 02.06.2007 REBECCA STEVENSON Creaking floors and doors, an apparition flashing past staff and peering over shoulders, a mop bucket rolling up and down the floor but there's no one around - it is a classic ghost tale set in a Napier pub. Brazenhead Irish Ale & Coffee House owner Tony Lehmann says he's an open-minded non-believer - somewhat of a sceptic - but ever since he took over at the Irish pub about two months ago strange...

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Paranormal investigators probe bar Posted by the Ocean County Observer on 11/20/06BY CHRIS LUNDY STAFF WRITERPOINT PLEASANT — "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," Sherlock Holmes said. Holmes is fiction, and so are ghost stories. Aren't they? If so, how do some places become the setting for so many? For instance, Magee's West Side Tavern on Route 88 is the stuff of local legend. General Manager Jeremy Margolias has heard or seen it all. Items disappear off orders. The blinds in an attic window are open every morning, no...

Scott & Harrill Residence Halls-haunted?? Russell ConoverIssue Date: 11/10/06 Scott and Harrill Residence Halls may seem like just two more dorms on the campus of Western Carolina University. However, each building has a reputation for being haunted because of some mysterious events that occurred in the past. Current and prospective students of WCU should keep these stories in mind when they select a dorm in which to live. The early 1990s was the time that Scott Hall began its conversion to "the dark side." During this time, it is said that a female student hung herself in the East Wing...

Paranormal Investigators Videotape Apparent Ghost In Graveyard Oct 31, 2006 04:37 PM EST AfterDark Paranormal Investigations contacted WAVE 3 and provided the following account of their investigation, including the video and audio material. (BARDSTOWN, Ky.) -- According to its website, AfterDark Paranormal Investigations is a Louisville-based family operated ghost hunting group that investigates and documents paranormal activity. Their services are free of charge, and it investigates in Louisville, surrounding areas, and Southern Indiana. Recently it claims to have videotaped a ghost in Bardstown. Back on May 20th, 2006, the group did a follow-up investigation at a private home in Bardstown....

Ghost Stories at the Houston Library On a dripping, windless night, darkness swamped a jewel-box ceiling high above the Ideson Library’s top floor. Forty windows, each with eight panes glowing like opal in moonlight, crowned the walls. Downstairs, a dead girl gazed morosely from a framed photograph on the wall. In a portrait in the hall, a librarian gone from this life for 60 years sternly surveyed her domain. One notices such things as a long night’s ghost hunt creeps toward dawn. Halloween brings out the spookiness in everyone. Even the most pinched skeptic secretly yearns for a tap on...

Spooks and thrills: Woman says house is haunted JANETTA ROACH, For The Saratogian 10/30/2006 WATERFORD -- After grieving the passing of her mother, Pauline Bartel, local writer and president of Bartel Communications, based in Waterford, thought she was finally getting on with her life when she purchased a 1930s bungalow in Waterford. 'I named it 'The Maryline' in honor of my mother, Mary, and the last part of my name,' said Bartel. Bartel bought the home in the summer of 2003 and spent the next two years renovating it and restoring the house to its original splendor. 'About a month...

Scranton’s past full of spooky tales 10/29/2006 Spooky legends and ghost stories abound this time of year. Some may be far-fetched, even outlandish, but local history does record some unexplained oddities and some of the darker events of human existence. Before Scranton was founded in the 1700s, the Slocum family settled along the banks of Roaring Brook. According to research conducted by Christine Schaefer, a member of the Lackawanna Historical Society who develops living history programs, a young girl hanged herself at her family’s home near the present-day courthouse. The family no longer wished to stay in their home and...

The Haunted Haunts Of Galveston Ghost Tour Has Proven A Popular Tourist Trade October 28, 2006 - Posted at 3:57 a.m. BY MICHAEL GRACZYK - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GALVESTON - Steve Havlock thought he was alone. He'd shut Luigi's Ristorante Italiano for the night, the other employees had left and he was doing some final cleanup. Then he heard a woman's voice, calling "Steve! Steve!" "It was very clear," Havlock, 50, said. "The voice was in the distance, but very clear. And it was certainly my name." No one was visible. He'd heard the stories about a ghost that inhabits...

Haunted spots -- fact or fiction? By Ann Tatko-Peterson CONTRA COSTA TIMES IN BYRON, the gutted, burned-out shell of a hotel stands blanketed in moonlight. In Antioch, leaves rustle in the trees of a dilapidated cemetery that stands in the shadow of a deserted old mine. With Halloween just around the corner, we asked Times readers to tell us about their favorite East Bay haunted spot or ghostly encounters. Here, we dig into 10 of those rumored hauntings, trying to separate fact from fiction. No. 1: Rose Hill Cemetery and Black Diamond Mines, Antioch The claim: Kathy Ives, 54, of...

On ship, a ghost of a chance Researchers spend night aboard after visitors see mysterious man By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff | June 26, 2006 MYSTIC, Conn. -- Rain drummed on the deck of the 19th-century whaling ship Charles W. Morgan late Saturday night, as below deck, in the cramped and stuffy captain's quarters, a group of men and women armed with flashlights and digital cameras took their positions. They were ghost hunters, members of the Rhode Island Paranormal Research Group, who had come to Mystic Seaport, the museum that houses the Morgan, to investigate reports of strange happenings on...

If there's anybody who looks like he can introduce you to a ghost, it's Michael Henry. He wears a black button-down shirt, black pants and a silver, skull-shaped ring on his finger. He trims his gray beard to a devilish point, and his bushy eyebrows swoop up and out and give him that "you are getting very sleepy" look.

Giving up the ghost Eerie goings-on at Queen's Park Two haunting tales of the supernatural are setting spines a-tingling in the history-steeped offices of the province's lieutenant governor. Two independent ghost sightings by staff members in the office of Lt.-Gov. James Bartleman have them wondering who they're gonna call. At around 1 p.m. on Jan. 9, Anthony Hylton, a planning co-ordinator in Bartleman's Queen's Park office, saw a man in a dark suit leave the vice-regal washroom, walk past a reception desk and into the historic Music Room. Hylton at first thought he had seen a colleague who is with...