Boo! Givens Castle

 Today we are focusing on a spook in Chicago ion an area where my Aunt Tina lives.  Buckle in for some bumps and scares.  Enjoy – don’t be scared now – BOO!

Givens Castle / Beverly Unitarian Church

The Givens Castle was originally built in 1886 as a residence by Robert Givens. Givens was real estate developer and wanted the house to be a replica of a castle in his native Ireland.  Some say that Givens built the home for his fiancee who died before the house could be finished.  Maybe that accounts for why Givens only lived in the castle for 8 years.

Around 1894, the castle turned into the Chicago Female College. It is reputed to have had a student die in the 1930’s from flu.

During the 1960’s, the castle was turned into the Beverly Unitarian Church.  A janitor once reported that he had a conversation with a woman who disappeared from sight. Their conversation was about the house and how much it had changed over the years.  The janitor saw no footprints outside in the snow and all of the doors were locked.  Where did she go?  Was it the student that passed away from the flu?

The pastor of the church at the time was a woman who claimed she saw a pair of hands touch her husband’s waist.  Even more, the pastor thought the hands were those of a woman.  The husband never felt a thing.  During this time as well, there were reports of a candle being seen through windows when nobody was present in the building.

Unexplained noises have also been attributed to the ghost and a former pastor said that he often tried to track down the source of the noises but was never able to.

The story is courtesy of Chicago Ghost blogger.

 

31 Days of Spook – Givens Castle

 Today we are focusing on a spook in Chicago ion an area where my Aunt Tina lives.  Buckle in for some bumps and scares.  Enjoy – don’t be scared now – BOO!

Givens Castle / Beverly Unitarian Church

The Givens Castle was originally built in 1886 as a residence by Robert Givens. Givens was real estate developer and wanted the house to be a replica of a castle in his native Ireland.  Some say that Givens built the home for his fiancee who died before the house could be finished.  Maybe that accounts for why Givens only lived in the castle for 8 years.

Around 1894, the castle turned into the Chicago Female College. It is reputed to have had a student die in the 1930’s from flu.

During the 1960’s, the castle was turned into the Beverly Unitarian Church.  A janitor once reported that he had a conversation with a woman who disappeared from sight. Their conversation was about the house and how much it had changed over the years.  The janitor saw no footprints outside in the snow and all of the doors were locked.  Where did she go?  Was it the student that passed away from the flu?

The pastor of the church at the time was a woman who claimed she saw a pair of hands touch her husband’s waist.  Even more, the pastor thought the hands were those of a woman.  The husband never felt a thing.  During this time as well, there were reports of a candle being seen through windows when nobody was present in the building.

Unexplained noises have also been attributed to the ghost and a former pastor said that he often tried to track down the source of the noises but was never able to.

The story is courtesy of Chicago Ghost blogger.

 

31 Days of Spook – Givens Castle

 Today we are focusing on a spook in Chicago ion an area where my Aunt Tina lives.  Buckle in for some bumps and scares.  Enjoy – don’t be scared now – BOO!

Givens Castle / Beverly Unitarian Church

The Givens Castle was originally built in 1886 as a residence by Robert Givens. Givens was real estate developer and wanted the house to be a replica of a castle in his native Ireland.  Some say that Givens built the home for his fiancee who died before the house could be finished.  Maybe that accounts for why Givens only lived in the castle for 8 years.

Around 1894, the castle turned into the Chicago Female College. It is reputed to have had a student die in the 1930’s from flu.

During the 1960’s, the castle was turned into the Beverly Unitarian Church.  A janitor once reported that he had a conversation with a woman who disappeared from sight. Their conversation was about the house and how much it had changed over the years.  The janitor saw no footprints outside in the snow and all of the doors were locked.  Where did she go?  Was it the student that passed away from the flu?

The pastor of the church at the time was a woman who claimed she saw a pair of hands touch her husband’s waist.  Even more, the pastor thought the hands were those of a woman.  The husband never felt a thing.  During this time as well, there were reports of a candle being seen through windows when nobody was present in the building.

Unexplained noises have also been attributed to the ghost and a former pastor said that he often tried to track down the source of the noises but was never able to.

The story is courtesy of Chicago Ghost blogger.

 

31 Days of Spook – Story Submission

Hey my sweet friends.  Today, we have another guest story submission.  This one is from my friend Molly.  Do you know her?  If you don’t, you are so missing out on a very sweet and entertaining pup.  Please make it a point to visit my friend Molly – tell her that Bacon sent you.  Here’s her story submission – I hope you enjoy.  Try not to get too scared my friends 🙂

HALLOWEEN TALES FROM SPOOKY LONDON POND SQUARE

As it is ‘Shocktober, we thought today we’d bring you a story from bizarre spooky London. So heading off to Pond Square, Highgate we will recount the story of the ghostly chicken.

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a politician, a writer and a philosopher who also dabbled in some well, unusual scientific experiments when he wasn’t hamming it up. He was a pioneer in the theory that refrigeration might be used as a means of preserving meat. On a bitterly cold January morning in 1626, Bacon decided to put his theory to the test by purchasing a chicken, having it slaughtered and plucked. He then proceeded to stuff its carcass with snow. Opps looks like this chicken just got a licking. Such a fowl way to die!  Ironically Sir Francis Bacon caught a severe chill as a result of his experiment and was taken to nearby Arundel House (a poultry excuse for a hospital) where he was placed in a damp bed and he died shortly afterwards from suffocation.

Ever since then, there have been frequent reports of a phantom bird, resembling a plucked chicken, that appears from nowhere and races round the square in frantic circles, flapping its wings and noiselessly clucking away. What is a haunted chicken called? A poultry-geist! Terence Long was crossing Pond Square late at night in 1943 when he heard the sound of horses hooves and the low rumble of carriage wheels. Suddenly, a loud raucous shriek, split the silence, and the ghostly chicken appeared before him. It then proceeded to run frantically around and then vanished into thin air. In the 1960’s a motorist whose car had broken down encountered the same apparition. Fearful that the bird may be harmed and in need of help he approached it, only to have it disappear when he turned away. A courting couple in the 1970’s, had their ‘peck’ on the cheek interrupted by the chicken who suddenly dropped from above landing next to them. In recent years, however, sighting of the featherless phantom have been few and far between and it might just be possible that its restless spirit has finally ’gone to the light, and accepted it’s part in the scientific breakthrough for which it gave its life. Cluck , cluck where did I pluck this from, is it a load of cock & bull I hear you say? Finger lickin good!

 

31 Days of Spook – Givens Castle

 Welcome my friends to 31 Days of Spook.  Today we are focusing on a spook in Chicago ion an area where my Aunt Tina lives.  Buckle in for some bumps and scares.  Enjoy – don’t be scared now – BOO!

Givens Castle / Beverly Unitarian Church

The Givens Castle was originally built in 1886 as a residence by Robert Givens. Givens was real estate developer and wanted the house to be a replica of a castle in his native Ireland.  Some say that Givens built the home for his fiancee who died before the house could be finished.  Maybe that accounts for why Givens only lived in the castle for 8 years.

Around 1894, the castle turned into the Chicago Female College. It is reputed to have had a student die in the 1930’s from flu.

During the 1960’s, the castle was turned into the Beverly Unitarian Church.  A janitor once reported that he had a conversation with a woman who disappeared from sight. Their conversation was about the house and how much it had changed over the years.  The janitor saw no footprints outside in the snow and all of the doors were locked.  Where did she go?  Was it the student that passed away from the flu?

The pastor of the church at the time was a woman who claimed she saw a pair of hands touch her husband’s waist.  Even more, the pastor thought the hands were those of a woman.  The husband never felt a thing.  During this time as well, there were reports of a candle being seen through windows when nobody was present in the building.

Unexplained noises have also been attributed to the ghost and a former pastor said that he often tried to track down the source of the noises but was never able to.

The story is courtesy of Chicago Ghost blogger.

 

Bacon’s Tales of Terror

Oh my friends – we have an excellent Tale of Terror today on this 13th. It’s so scary, that I scared myself while typing it out for you to read. Are you ready? Do you think you can handle this today? It’s definitely a nail biter. You might want to turn on the lights. Don’t say I didn’t warn you my friends – enjoy.

Becky finally met her one and only – the man of her dreams. Not only was he good on the eyes but he was charming, had a great job and a great home. His house, that he referred to as his ‘bachelor pad’, was just a miniature mansion that had been in the family for years. They had only been dating for nine months but the day Josh proposed to Becky was one of the happiest days of her life…almost. They were in the drawing room and upon her saying yes to his question, a dove flew into the window breaking his neck. Should that have been a sign? A warning of such?

Becky moved into Josh’s home and started making it hers. Little by little, she put a feminine touch on it – adding pictures, flowers and dreaming of the day she would be married to Josh. Once she moved in though, that’s when the little things started. A slam of a door. A framed picture of her and Josh falling off the wall and across the floor shattering. Cabinet doors opening. Noises. All of this happening when she was alone. It was strange. Even one day when Josh was leaving, he had forgotten his phone. She ran out the front door to give it to him. She could have sworn she saw a woman in the back seat of his car. Was it just her imagination?

Then one night, they were in bed together and something woke her. When she opened her eyes, she could have sworn she saw a woman in a wedding dress walking out of their bedroom. She must have been dreaming… well that’s what she thought anyway.

The next day when Josh came home, he dropped his bag in the living room where she was sitting and a picture almost fell out. She reached down to pick up the picture and it was a woman. Why would her fiancee have a picture of another woman in his bag? She questioned him. That’s when he told her it was his wife. Wife?! His deceased wife. His deceased wife who fell down the stairs and broke her neck in that very house.

Of course that bit of news put a little ice on the situation. The next day after Josh went to work, a neighbor came over to talk to Becky. She told Becky that things weren’t as they appeared. The deceased wife was a good friend of hers and that was actually her house. Becky didn’t want to believe such things and asked her to leave. Upon her leaving, she gave her a cut out news article telling about the woman’s death and how the husband was actually a suspect. What?! What had she gotten herself into? He couldn’t have been. Instead of leaving, she stayed to discuss this with him. There’s always two sides to every story and she was in love with him.

When he came home, the questions began. He said it was his deceased wife’s house but he inherited it and thus it was a family home. And he was upstairs taking a shower when his wife fell down the stairs. He had nothing to do with it. Would you have believed him?

They went to bed that night and Becky couldn’t sleep. She just stared at him thinking and replaying everything in her mind about the information she had learned. Finally she got up to go downstairs to watch television to get her mind off of the situation. Upon her going down the staircase, she saw what appeared to be a woman laying at the foot of the stairs. The ghost like woman got up and floated up the stairs towards her. She was frozen in fright. The woman stopped in front of her and she could have sworn she heard, “Look in his nightstand”. Then the woman disappeared.

Now, she was not only seeing things she was hearing things? She went back into the bedroom and went to Josh’s nightstand. Taped underneath the top of the shelf of the night stand was an envelope. She quietly removed it and went downstairs to open it in the kitchen. When she did, she took off her engagement ring and left it on the kitchen counter with the paperwork. She left that night with the clothes on her back and never looked back.

What exactly was in the paperwork? It was a life insurance policy on her, Becky, for $250,000.00 – something she didn’t even know Josh had taken out on her.

Story premise care of My Haunted House

 

Bacons Tales of Terror

Hello my spooky friends. Since the 13th this month falls on the weekend, a Sunday at that, I thought I would twist things up a bit.  I want you to look closely at this picture below.  A wonderful, dark, mysterious abandoned house.  It actually looks like it might be falling apart.  Is it haunted?  I’m not sure if there’s things that go bump in the night.

Here’s the question, would you spend a night in this home?  By yourself?  Would you?