Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State

You've seen the photos---famous ghost and paranormal photos that have been passed around the web for years.  These photos are often cited as being the cream of the crop: the BEST evidence of spirit photography available.  However...do you know the REAL stories behind them?

Welcome to Theresa's Historic Paranormal Photographs page!  Every few weeks I'll be featuring a different famous photo, complete with some historical facts that you may not have run across.  When applicable, I'll also offer a little bit of photo analysis to help YOU decide:  Fact or Folklore?

 The town of Wem, located in Shropshire, England, is a small market town with roots going back to the 1200s.

On November 19, 1995, the town hall caught fire.  This wasn't the first major fire in the town's history, however.  In 1677, a fire started on nearly the exact same location as where the town hall now stands, destroying much of the town's old timber houses.  Over 60 firefighters battled the blaze, and were able to save much of the historic exterior including a plaque commemorating the 1677 fire, but unfortunately, the inside of the building was completely gutted.  Townspeople gathered around to watch the blaze, but soon the intense heat and out of control flames caused the crowds to be pushed back.

The photo in question was taken by Tony O'Rahilly from across the street.  The photo was taken with a telescopic lens, using 200mm black and white film.  When the film was developed, the image of a young girl wearing what appears to be a bonnet showed up in the doorway to the building.  Knowing that no one could survive the intensity of the flames, and that everyone was reported to be out of the building at the time, O'Rahilly submitted the photo to the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, who in turn, sent it to be analyzed by photo expert and former president of the Royal Photographic Society, Dr. Vernon Harrison.

After examining the negative and the photo itself, Dr. Harrison concluded that there was no tampering involved.  However, he felt that the image of the little girl is simply the result of simulcra; O'Rahilly had managed to snap a photo at just the right time to cause an optical illusion from the smoke and flames.

Still, many people believe that the photo is genuine, and that the building has a history of being haunted.  The 1677 fire was believed to have been started by a 14 year old girl named Jane Churm, who accidentally either dropped a lit candle, or caught a thatched ceiling aflame with a candle.  The 1677 fire burned so intensely, that the church bells partially melted, resulting in them having to be re-cast.

In the 1995 fire, fire investigators ruled out arson, but could not come up with an explanation for the blaze.  Some believe that the fire was started by none other than Jane Churm.  Others feel that Jane Churm showed up to protect the building, or express remorse for her part in the original fire.

The town hall WAS rebuilt, at a cost of nearly $3.6 million U.S.  However, budget cuts ten years later caused an uproar over the fate of the historic building.  The town hall was closed in favor of public opinion that the town pool should receive the funding instead.

Fate of the Town Hall

 In early 1919, the RAF squadron based outside of Cranwell was slated to be disbanded.  To mark the ocassion, the group of over 200 men and women who had survived the war and served aboard the HMS Daedalus, posed in uniform outside on a runway at the base.  It was a somber ocassion, as two days earlier, one of their own had passed away.  Freddy Jackson, a flight mechanic, had accidentally walked into the propellar of a plane about to take off and was killed instantly.  His funeral was held the day the photo was taken.

The photo in question was an official RAF photo.  When developed, a copy was posted to the squadron's bulletin board with a sign-up sheet for squadron members to order their own copy.  Apparently, members did see the face, and immediately recognized it as their fallen comrade.

However, it wasn't until 1975 that the photo gained any popularity.  Sir Robert Victor Goddard, a retired Air Marshall with an interest in the paranormal who was present when the photo was taken, published the photo, which clearly shows a man standing behind another.  This person is out of place, not wearing a hat like anyone else in the photo, and identified by many members of the squadron as being Freddy Jackson.  Those who knew Jackson believe that he may or may not have been aware that he was dead, but either way, felt the need to be included in the photograph!

On March 22, 1959, Jim Chinnery accompanied his wife Mabel to a local Ipswich area cemetery.  Jim waited dutifully in the couple's car as Mabel paid a brief visit to her mother's grave.  Her mother, who had died the previous year, had once told Jim that she would "forever be at his side."

Not something most son-in-laws want to hear, this eternal promise was probably NOT on Jim's mind on the sunny, early Spring day, but perhaps it was.  Mabel had brought along her camera in order to take a few photographs of her mother's tombstone, and with one picture left on the roll, playfully snapped a photo of her smiling husband as he waited patiently for her return to the car.

Shortly after, the couple had the roll of film developed at their local drugstore.  When the prints were returned, they were shocked to see that Jim was not alone in the car; the very solid image of Mabel's mother was seated firmly behind him on the passenger's side!  Mabel's mother had often accompanied the family on drives, and now could clearly be seen sitting in her usual position, with the sun reflecting off her glasses.

A local newspaper, the Sunday Pictorial (which became the Sunday Mirror in 1963) obtained the photo and the negative and ran the story.  As part of the feature, the paper had a photography expert examine the photo.  The expert ruled out tampering, and also ruled out double exposure.  However, many websites that feature this photo as a Top 10 Ghost Photo fail to mention the second part of the analysis...the expert stated that he believed the anomaly was created by a trick of light.  In his own words:  "The woman's scarf seems to follow the line of the back of the car.  As light shines in through different windows of the car it can create odd patterns."

In 2006, the late producer Ivan Howlett filmed a French television documentary featuring the photo.  Unfortunately, research into the photo turned up little supporting evidence as Mabel's maiden name is unknown, thus making tracking down her mother's name and mother's site of burial nearly impossible.

In 1970, toy store magnate, Toys 'R' Us added a new store to its chain, located about a half hour south of San Francisco.  Soon after the store opened, employees began noticing something just wasn't right.

Management would return to unlock the store each morning and find merchandise scattered over the aisles, and flung around haphazardly on shelves.  Books, roller skates, and skateboards littered the aisles, despite the assurance that all was well the evening before.  Employees began complaining to their manager that they felt as they were being tapped, and young women with long hair often reported the caressing stroke of an unseen hand on their locks.

In one incident, a metal loading door was lowered, and immediately, staff heard beating on the door, and someone screaming "Let me out!"  The door was opened, and no one was found.  On another night, two male staff members were sent to the rear of the store, and came back shaken because they had heard someone clomping around in heavy boots...despite the fact that no one in the store at the time was wearing such shoes.  One of the creepiest incidents involved a talking doll that wouldn't stop screaming "Momma!" when locked away in a lock box.

Although the majority of incidents happened to staff, visitors to the store would occasionally experience paranormal events as well, especially in the women's restroom.  One female customer complained to management after the faucet kept turning itself back on as she walked away.

By 1978, a reporter from San Francisco had caught wind of the hauntings, and personally set up an investigation with psychic Sylvia Browne.  Browne was joined by photographer Bill Tidwell and several assistants and together, the group attempted to contact the spirit(s) causing all the trouble.  Research on the property had led them to believe that the ghost was most likely John Murphy.  Murphy was a wealthy rancher in southern California, and his ranch had stood on the spot where the building now stood.

Browne did manage to make contact with the spirit, but to everyone's amazement...it wasn't John Murphy.  Browne saw a young man in his 20s/30s.  He was tall and thin, and wore a short brown jacket.  He had his hands stubbornly crammed into the pockets, and looked forlornly down at the floor.  The entity spoke to Browne in a Swedish accent, telling her that his name was Johnny Johnson, and that she had better move if she didn't want to get her feet wet.

Although the only "evidence" that was gleamed from this investigation was a photo with a bright spot of light, subsequent research was able to back up what Browne had claimed of the entity.

Johnny Johnson had come to California during the Gold Rush from Pennsylvania, but for unforeseen reasons, had been working as a circuit preacher in the area.  Around this time, he had fallen deeply in love with Elizabeth Yuba Murphy (later Tafee), the daughter of John Murphy.  Johnny was devastated when his beloved Beth left the ranch to be married to a prominent, and rich, lawyer.

Johnny never got over losing his love, and shortly after, contracted encephalitis, significantly impairing his mental abilities, and earning him the nickname "Crazy Johnny".  As a result, Murphy kept him on at the ranch as a ranch hand.  Johnny lived to the age of 80, dying in 1884 after he cut his leg chopping wood and bled to death.  The team also found out that a well had once stood approximately where Browne had been standing at the time.

Two years later, the TV show "That's Incredible" decided to run a feature on the Sunnyvale Ghost, hoping that he'd make an on-air appearance.  Sylvia Browne and Bill Tidwell were once again invited to lead to the investigation, which this time, led to some VERY interesting results.

This time, Tidwell brought with him infrared film...and the result is the photo above.  A form of a young man standing, leaning against the shelves was not present to the naked eye.   A photo taken by an assistant at the same time with normal film yielded no results.

In late April of 1997, urban expansion nearly resulted in a 19th century, 24 room Gothic mansion to be torn down.  Luckily, the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana stepped in.  On April 29, the beautiful old house was moved from its Indianapolis location at the corner of Mills and Mann Roads, to its new home down hill at the corner of Southport and Mann Roads, merely a few blocks down.

A photographer for the Indianapolis Star , Mike Fender, was on location to document the process of loading the mansion onto a trailer, and its slow descent downhill to its new home.  During a series of shots showing the  the mansion being hoisted up, Fender, for a brief second,thought he saw the image of something strange in one of the upper windows.  He had caught a glimpse of a little blond girl in a blue dress, standing there looking out.  Knowing that the house was empty, he quickly dismissed the thought, and put it out of his head.

That is...until the next day, when the film was developed and the photo printed in the newspaper.  Immediately, the newspaper office was flooded with calls from viewers, asking about the little girl in the window.  

Rumors quickly abounded, as everyone rushed in to give their explanation for the little girl.  The house quickly caught the reputation of being haunted, and it was claimed that the little girl was the ghost of former tenant who had either fallen out of the home's second-story window, was killed by hunters as she played in the nearby woods, or was simply a child buried in a nearby family cemetery who wandered into the home.

Unfortunately, none of these stories have any historical documentation to back them up, and the new owner, Amy Cook, never reported any paranormal activity of any kind in the home.  So what caused this anomaly?

Since 2001, Mike Fender has been Director of Photography at the Indianapolis Star, and has extensive experience and background in photography.  Over ten years later, he is still "haunted' by this photo, as questions are still asked about what it could be.  Fender says with 90% certainty, he feels it is a natural anomaly caused by a trick of light on the window's screen.  The blue color of her dress is explained by the fact that the room she is standing in is painted blue.

However, when blown up and examined, the outline of the girl does not distort...at any resolution there is still the perfect shape of a little girl standing in the window.

In December of 1924, a United States tanker ship owned by The Cities Service Company was transporting a shipment of crude oil between California and New Orleans via the Panama Canal.  The ship was called the S.S. Watertown and due to a freak accident at sea, would be doomed to a life of infamy.

On December 4th, two men were sentenced to "black work," a punishment for crimes that have been lost to time.  These two men were James Courtney and Michael Meehan.  This was the first voyage for both men on the S.S. Watertown, but both had an extensive history on the sea.  Courtney, who was described as a "hulking Irishman," had seven years experience on cargo ships in the Indian Ocean.  Meehan, rumored to be a gypsy, had 12 years experience with various Pacific Ocean trade routes.

This "black work" the men were sentenced to involved them scrubbing and empty cargo tank in the ship's aft hull.  What seemed like a routine task turned deadly, when the men were overcome by fumes, and unable to escape the cargo tank.  The men were found unconscious and unresponsive in the tank.  Meehan was on the floor, and Courtney lay across his body.  It appears as if Meehan passed out first, followed by Courtney, who was attempting to drag Meehan out towards the ladder.  The ship's doctor was unable to revive them, and both men were pronounced dead at 13:07.

Per custom, the men were given a burial at sea off the Mexican Coast.  The very next day, a very agitated crew began being haunted by the disembodied heads of the two men.  Around dusk, it was reported to the First Mate that the disembodied heads of Meehan and Courtney had been spotted among the waves on the side of the ship where the bodies were dumped.  All who witnessed the phenomenon agreed that the heads were definitely belonging to the two men who had just died.

The heads continued to show up over the next several days.  They always appeared about 40 feet away from the ship, and about ten feet apart from each other.  The heads would appear for a period of about ten seconds, then slowly fade away.  The heads were never seen in the Atlantic Ocean leg of the voyages, and they always appeared much larger than a real head would.

When the ship docked in New Orleans, the ship's captain, Keith Tracy, went to the field offices of the Cities Service Company to report the deaths, but also to report the strange occurrences that were connected to the deaths.  Unconvinced, the company suggested that Tracy purchase a camera in order to get proof.  Tracy, who had been with the S.S. Watertown since 1921, was a no-nonsense sort of person, and agreed to try to get proof of the sightings.

Tracy sent his first mate out to purchase a camera while docked in New Orleans.  The camera purchased was the new Kodak Model F Brownie Box.  The original purchase price of this camera, which debuted in 1924, was $2.75.  It featured an aluminum body, meniscus lens, three aperture settings, one fixed speed shutter setting and tripod mounting.  The camera required 120 roll film, which contained 8 frames per roll, and produced 9x6 frames.

On the return trip, the heads continued to plague the crew, and when alerted that there was a sighting, Captain Tracy grabbed his camera and took six shots of the heads, which he also witnessed with his own eyes.  The film was left in the camera, and the camera was locked in the ship's safe until they returned to port.

After docking, Tracy sent the camera and film to his employers at their New York office.  The film was developed by James Patton.  Out of the six photos taken, only one showed the two disembodied heads of what appears to be Meehan on the left, and Courtney on the right.  The Burns Detective Agency was called in to examine the evidence.  After scrutinizing the negative, the film, and the camera, they came to the conclusion that nothing had been tampered with, and that the popular  Burn and Dodge process of film development had not been used in creating the images.

Meanwhile, back on the S.S. Watertown, the heads were appearing with less and less frequency, and by the fourth voyage, a complete crew change had resulted in a total disappearance of the heads.  The matter seemed dropped, except for the occasional rumor, until 1934: ten years AFTER the photo was developed.

The photo was found and published in the shipping journal, The East Coast Journal.  By this time, Captain Tracy and the first mate had died, the original crew was untrackable, and the original photo and negative had been lost.  Still, the Director of the American Psychical Institute, Hereward Carrington, was called in to examine the evidence.  Carrington's conclusion was that the photo was a rare example of a form of psychic photography involving thought forms.  The crew's impression of the two dead men was so strong, that they were able to psychically create the images, both in the waves, and onto the film.  

In recent years, it has been claimed that there is a third, and perhaps even a fourth face in the photo, lending to a modern conclusion that the heads are actually a product of pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon where the brain perceives patterns as easily recognizable objects and stimuli, such as human faces. Unfortunately, with the original photo and negative lost to time, we may never know for sure just what the true cause is behind the S.S. Watertown incident.

I think this one is destined to become a "new classic!"  My own thoughts on this strange video footage, as well as more information about the theories behind it coming soon!

Update:  So...pretty creepy, huh?  Due to the massive response to this video, Larry King did a follow up episode claiming, without a doubt, that the image was caused by a crew member's shadow.  However, what I found odd about the segment was that no scientific rationale was used to explain how the shadow was formed, nor were any other shots or video footage presented to back up the idea that there was a living person in the area at the time.

So...I'll leave this one up to you.  Personally, I'd kind of LIKE for this to be the spirit of MJ.  I'm by far not an expert on analyzing video, but I find it odd that the shadow actually has a shadow that is cast on the floor, lol.  I also find it more than mere coincidence that the figure DOES seem to look like Jackson.  It moves in a similar fashion, has the same body type and posture, and even though the video is somewhat grainy when blown up, it appears the figure has MJ's signature low ponytail.    Again...I'll leave this one up to the viewer to decide: Does Michael Jackson still walk Neverland Ranch?