Author: notebookofghosts

According to folklore, people are advised to touch wood when threatened by evil. What should one do when the wood itself is the source of evil? Hopefully, we won’t have to find out (Knock on wood! Sorry.). For now, we can explore haunted trees from the safety of our own computers. 

In this post, I explore haunted trees throughout the United States. 

The Devil’s Tree (New Jersey) 

A lone oak tree in Somersot County, New Jersey is believed to be cursed and is linked to the KKK and/or a homicidal farmer. 

Whatever the origin story, the tree should be avoided. If you speak ill of the tree, you may face dangerous consequences (such as car accident). If you get too close to the tree, you may be chased away by a black Ford pickup truck. 

The tree is warm to touch even during the winter and the ground near it cannot hold snow. 

The tree still stands with a chain fence wrapped around its trunk to protect it from ongoing vandalism. You have to be pretty bold to vandalize that tree. 

Sources: Wikipedia, Weird NJ 

The Trunkless Tree (Iowa) 

According to internet lore, a strange supernatural phenomenon occurs at Campbell Cemetery in Bertram, Iowa. If you visit the cemetery at night and turn off your headlights, you might be able to witness what looks like a tree floating in the air without a trunk. 

Source: HauntedPlaces.org 

The Oak Tree (California) 

A giant oak tree provides shade for old stone ruins outside Beaumont, California, serving as a local hangout for teenagers. Rumors have circulated for many years that the place is haunted and was once home to a witch. People have allegedly heard voices and seen apparitions. 

In July of 2011, the body of Christine Kunstmann (age 44) was found in a shallow grave under the tree. In 2015, the case was finally solved and three individuals were arrested for murder. 

Sources: HauntedPlaces.org, LA Times, The Sun, CBS Los Angeles

The Fairchild Oak Tree (Florida) 

In Ormond Beach, Florida’s Bulow Creek State Park sits a 400-year-old oak tree called The Fairchild Oak (of the botanist’s namesake). Two deaths are associated with the tree, allegedly. James Ormond II, who lived close by, was found dead under the tree (case of death unknown). The second death was the suicide of Norman Harwood over mounting debts. People have supposedly seen the apparition of man who causes onlookers to feel overwhelming sadness. 

Sources: DaytonaBeach.com, Only In Your State

Whispering Tree (Philadelphia) 

In 1893, newspapers reported the legend of “The Whispering Tree” in Pittsburgh, a maple tree which sat at the edge of a stream.

Murmuring would come from the tree at night, especially at midnight on Halloween. Local teenagers visited the tree for thrills, believing it was the site of a murder. A local attorney, J.H. Maxwell, was sick of all the tree gossip so he took matters into his own hands and chopped down the tree with an ax. 

The fallen tree’s rings revealed it was over 150 years old. Upon further inspection, Maxwell also found 70 (yes 70) old-fashioned bullets at about the height of five feet. 

He also found two hollowed streaks which served as a type of runway for stream water, which traveled up one streak and down the other. It was concluded that the water was making the whispering noises. 

The cause of the bullets? We will never know. 

Source: Chicago Tribune via The Clarke County Democrat, Grove Hill, Alabama, 02 Nov 1893 (pg. 2)

Spirit of Her Daughter (New York) 

An elm tree in Prospect Park of Brooklyn is marked by a silver plaque reading “Nellie.” Nellie Howard died in the 1800s while on a European tour. 

Her father was a member of the firm Howard, Sanger & Co., and she was a notable figure in social circles. As a child she enjoyed drives through the park and always admired the tall elm tree, constantly commenting on its beauty. During her illness, she reminisced about the elm tree and her last words were about spending time under its branches. 

After her death, her mother was drawn to the elm tree and later became convinced her daughter’s spirit lived in the tree. It should be of note that the mother is “not a Pantheist, neither is she a follower of any of the ‘crank’ creeds which have of late set the social world a-wobbling […]” (haha). 

Source: Lake Superior Citizen, Ironwood, Michigan, 21 Jul 1894, Sat  (pg. 3)

The Haunted Apple Tree (Massachusetts) 

Legend tells of a haunted apple tree in Douglass, Massachusetts. The story goes that a traveling salesman stopped to rest under a tree in an apple orchard. Someone, believed to be the property’s farmer, brutally murdered the salesman. He was found under the tree with a gash in his neck. The farmer later moved away because he was followed by the spirit of his victim. 

Locals report seeing a man standing under the apple tree, one hand on his neck and the other hand reaching out for help. His cries can be heard a mile away. The apple tree he was killed under only produces apples with streaks of red, like blood. 

Source: The Cheyenne Sunbeam, Cheyenne, Oklahoma, 05 Oct 1900 (pg. 2) 

Featured Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

In this series, I will be “sharing my notes” on various paranormal research groups. Each post will usually include key facts, a brief introduction, notable cases, and an introduction to a notable member. Feel free to jot down notes in your commonplace book.

Founding Date: 1882
Location: London, England
Research Focus: all forms of paranormal cognition (examples: clairvoyance, telepathy); paranormal action (examples: poltergeist, teleportation); altered states of consciousness (examples: hypnotic trance, near-death experiences); physic sensitivity or mediumship; life after death 
Research Methods and Tools: scientific research; randomized studies, psychology, empirical studies, conceptional studies, laboratory experiments

Introduction – The Beginning

The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded in 1882 for the “purpose of investigating mesmeric, psychical and ‘spiritualist’ phenomena in a purely scientific spirit” (SPR). This came at a time when science was challenging religious worldviews and the spiritualist movement opened many to paranormal possibilities. Think seances and ectoplasm! 

Before the official SPR, there was the “Sidgwick group,” which was an informal group of upper class individuals interested in researching Spiritualism’s claims. The key figures in the beginning were all Fellows at Trinity College at Cambridge: Henry Sidgwick, Frederic W.H. Myers, and Edmund Gurney. Henry also married Eleanor Balfour of the Balfour family, a prominent Scottish family (fancy, fancy). Eventually this group merged with others pursuing similar work, including other scientific thinkers and spiritualists, to form the SPR. 

With a group full of prominent and educated people, it is no surprise they attracted people like Arthur Conan Doyle, William James, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and more.  By 1900, the group had published over 11,000 pages of research (Guiley) and, in 1885, they helped found the American Society for Psychical Research. 

Ok, let’s get to the drama. 

By 1887, many spiritualists had left the group. You see, when an organization’s research cannot prove life after death and is revealing many mediums are frauds, spiritualist members wonder what the heck they are doing there. 

A very notorious exit was Arthur Conan Doyle. He wrote a letter of resignation after medium William Hope was called a fraud in the organization’s publication by member Theodore Besterman. While he thought Theodore Besterman was reaching, this published report was indicative of his larger issue with SPR research: ‘assertions of the opponents of Spiritualism are at once accepted on their face value without the slightest attempt at discriminate examination’ (Cambridge University Special Collections). Many members followed Doyle. 

The organization, despite internal tension, still remains the leader of psychical research. 

To read an in-depth history, I recommend visiting their About page. 

Publications 

• Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (began in 1882)
• Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (began in 1884),
• Paranormal Review (began in 1996; later replaced by Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research)
• Psi Encyclopedia (This is a fun online resource). 

Notable Members

With such a long and rich history, it is no surprise the SPR has quite the roster. 

• Henry Sidgwick (founding member, past president); utilitarian philosopher and economist
• Frederic W.H. Myers (founding member, past president); poet, classicist, philologist
• Edmund Gurney (founding member); psychologist and parapsychologist
• Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick (past president);  physics researcher and activist for women in higher education (I wrote a blog post about her once.)  
• Arthur Conan Doyle; writer of Sherlock Holmes books and medical doctor 
• William James (past president); philosopher and psychologist
• Sigmund Freud; neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis
• Carl Jung (honorary member); psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, founder of analytical psychology
• Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (past president); physicist, writer, and psychical researcher 
• Andrew Lang (past president); poet, novelist, literary critic, collector of folklore and fairy tales 
• John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (past president); winner of Nobel Prize in Physics 
• Harry Price; physic researcher, author, established the National Laboratory of Psychical Research (Harry Price established this competing laboratory after leaving SPR. He left SPR due to research conflicts.) 

Notable Cases 

The following cases are notable cases involving hauntings and poltergeist phenomena. They have done some interesting experiments in other areas of inquiry. For time purposes, I will not cover them but recommend you investigate if interested.  

Borley Rectory (1900s). This famous haunted house in England was first investigated by Harry Price (he lived there from 1937 to 1939). His findings were discredited by SPR members. From what I gathered, the SPR thought they should have investigated and not Harry Price (he was not a member). After Price’s death in 1948, three members of SPR investigated his findings: Eric Dingwall, Kathleen M. Goldney, and Trevor H. Hall. They accused Price of fraudulent activity in their book The Haunting of Borley Rectory. Some SPR members did not necessarily agree with the “Borley Report” as they called it, but it seems most of SPR supported it. Paul Tabori (psychical researcher) and Peter Underwood (parapsychologist) defended Price as well. 

Enfield Poltergeist (1977-79).This famous poltergeist case inspired the film Conjuring 2. SPR investigators Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair attributed the the activity to childhood pranks but asserted that some of the paranormal phenomena was genuine. 

Sources 

“Borley Rectory,” Wikipedia. 

“Challenging Challenger: The Fallout between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Society for Psychical Research,” Cambridge University Library Special Collections.

“Enfield Poltergeist,” Wikipedia. 

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. New York: Facts on File, 1992. 

“Our History,” Society for Psychical Research Website. 

Psi Encyclopedia. 

“Society for Psychical Research,” Wikipedia.

In this series, I will be “sharing my notes” on various paranormal research groups. Each post will usually include key facts, a brief introduction, notable cases, and an introduction to a notable member. Feel free to jot down notes in your commonplace book. Today we start with The Ghost Research Society.

Founding Date: Late 1970s
Location: Oak Lawn, Illinois
Research Focus: ghosts, hauntings, poltergeists, survival after death
Research Methods and Tools: tape recorders, still cameras, video cameras, psychics

Introduction

The Ghost Research Society was founded in 1970s Chicago by Martin V. Riccardo, a hypnotherapist and founder of the Vampire Studies information clearinghouse. This lay organization’s initial name was Ghost Tracker’s Club, but was changed in 1981. The following year, Dale Kaczmarek (see more below) became president. Kaczmarek also served as the editor of the society’s journal The Ghost Tracker’s Newsletter (back issues are available for purchase on their website).

Though their research focus is Chicago and northern Indiana, their membership is international. If you ever visit Chicago, you might even take one of their ghost tours!

They usually investigate private residences, oftentimes involving individuals with a Roman Catholic background. They have studied how the Catholic faith influences witnesses’ perceptions of paranormal experiences.

The Ghost Research Society has one of the largest collections of spirit photography and is experienced in analyzing them via computer technology.

Notable Cases

The Ghost Research Society investigated Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, located in the suburbs of Chicago. Burials in the cemetery possibly began around the early 1800s. Workers killed working on the Illinois and Michigan Canal are said to be buried there. Further, it is rumored to have been a dumping ground for the Chicago crime families of the 1920/30s. So, already some interesting folklore. Paranormal legends and alleged activity include:

• A White Lady carries around a baby on the full moon. 
• The ghost of a farmer and his plow have been seen. He allegedly died in a farming accident. 
• A phantom farmhouse seems to float, shrinking in size as visitors approach it. 
• A black dog has been reported near the entrance, disappearing when visitors approach him.

You can read about the history of the cemetery and the Ghost Research Society’s investigation here. A notable piece of evidence from their investigation is a photograph of the cemetery’s “weeping woman,” often called “the girl on the gravestone” (You can see the image here. I wasn’t sure about copyright.). The Ghost Research Society describes the photo’s history on their website:

After the film was processed, it was discovered that on one frame there was the unmistakable image of a strange woman sitting on a checkerboard tombstone in an old-fashioned turn-of-the-century, full-length dress.  She had long brown hair and was staring off in the distance in profile.  On closer examination, parts of her body are semi-transparent, especially her head and legs.  Everyone on the team was stunned with this revelation as it seemed to coincide with the electromagnetic deviations team members were experiencing at the time.  It is one of the clearest images this author has ever seen to date! It was taken by Jude Huff-Felz.

For a list of other research sites, along with detailed descriptions of their research experiences, click here.

Notable Member: Dale Kaczmarek

You cannot talk about the Ghost Research Society without talking about longtime president Dale Kaczmarek (born 1952), as he greatly influences their theories and methodologies. Below is a brief bulleted summary of his paranormal theories and practices. 

• He has a twofold definition of ghosts, which falls into two categories: ghosts and apparitions.  Ghosts include disembodied spirits of deceased people and “phantom replays” (Guiley 184). Ghosts have no recognizable forms, but manifest as sounds, smells, and sensations. Phantom replays “are lingering vibrations of events in certain locations that can be sensed by certain persons under as yet unknown conditions” (Guiley 184). On the other hand, apparitions are recognizable and lifelike. They take the form of humans, animals, or objects. 
• Poltergeists are not non-physical entities, but rather “psychic explosions” of human agents. Usually these agents are females (adolescent to late teen). 
• 90 percent of the spirit photographs analyzed by the Ghost Research Society have natural explanations. 

Up Next: Society of Psychical Research

Sources

Ghost Research Society Website 

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. New York: Facts on File, 1992. 

“Bachelor Grove Cemetery,” Wikipedia