Reposted from Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles | Go to Original Post

Midsummer Scream Halloween Festival
July 30 and 31, 2016
Long Beach Convention Center (map)
(for more info about the event and tickets… http://midsummerscream.org/ )

GHOULA’s BOOTH – #137

GHOULA is honored to announce that we will be a part of this year’s Midsummer Scream.
Midsummer Scream promises to be the ultimate gathering for an anticipated audience of over 5000 haunted attraction fans and professionals. Basically, this event caters to the people who travel throughout Southern California (and beyond) looking for fun/interesting things to do in (and around) October.

This year, there will be a section of the show floor, highlighting local “paranormal” destinations (ghost books, ghost tours, haunted placess, etc.) Really, what’s Halloween without ghost stories. The Winchester Mystery House and the Queen Mary will be there, as well as other prominent groups, and authors of ghost guide books.

As if that were not enough….

—GHOULA will reveal upcoming events before they are publicly announced.
—GHOULA will be premiering two new ghost guide books from GHOULA Press.
— GHOULA will have different guests at our booth througout the weekend.
— GHOULA will curate an exhibition of the haunted/cursed objects.
— GHOULA will be presenting two panel discussions about ghost lore… 

PANEL #1: Haunted Amusement Parks (SATURDAY )
PANEL#2: Haunted Bars (SUNDAY )

Additionally, this event also features:
-numerous “fun size” walk thru haunted attractions.
-workshops covering everything from special effects makeup and prop building
-classes covering ghost hunting and the business of haunts and horror
-presentations and discussions from the top names in the haunted attraction industry
-previews of all the October and Halloween events
-makeup demos, and countless creatures lurking in the halls.

As you can see, we’re going to have a lot of fun. Please join us, and celebrate our regional ghost lore, and meet the people that do their best to bring it to you… If you dare!

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GHOULA WANTS YOU!
Calling all ghost-hunters, paranormal-investigators, and enthusiasts of the other-worldly…

GHOULA is curating an ecto-exhibit of one-of-a-kind “haunted” objects (mirrors, dolls, chairs, etc) to be displayed at the MIDSUMMER SCREAM Halloween festival in Long Beach as part of their Museum of Paranormal History. (Yes, the “Haunted VCR” will be there.)

Not only will this be the first time such an exhibit will ever be attempted in Los Angeles, it will be the largest collection of such items ever assembled in one place in California,
and YOU CAN BE A PART OF THIS PARANORMAL HISTORY…

If you have a haunted (or cursed) object, and you would like to have it on display at this unique event, please contact us at ghoulahq@live.com. Give us a description of the item, and the story attached. Thank you.

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Watching ghost videos on youtube is like sifting though a series of April Fools jokes searching for something that isn’t a joke.  Most of them seem to be false or doctored in some way.  I enjoy watching them, but I am always very skeptical because it is so easy to alter photographs and video footage.  I would like to pay homage to one of my favorite youtube ghost compilations today, however,  This one is by Nuke Norway.  Enjoy!

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

A friend told me this story a long time ago.  The details have been obscured by my flawed memory but her emotions remain vivid.    She was terrified by the events she described to me.  I can’t remember the specific roads she named or the city she lived in, but I remember the story and the look of horror that filled her face as she told her tale.

 My friend, Sharon, was a counselor where I worked.  She was older than most people that worked at the clinic with me.  Her hair was short and she wasn’t a woman who was prone to dressing herself up or making herself any grander than she actually was.  Sharon was down to earth and there was an openness about her that was rare in any professional.  She told people the details of her personal life without much hesitation.  On first meeting her, she told me about her failed marriage and her troubled childhood.  She was an open book.

The only thing she was reluctant to talk about was this ghost story.  It terrified her and took her nine months to open up and trust me enough to tell me the details of the ghost that haunted her for two years.  After her marriage dissolved, Sharon found herself struggling financially and she had to move into an old house that had been in her family for generations.  It wasn’t large or fancy.  The plumbing didn’t work right and there was water damage, but she had a roof over her head and that was enough.  She would have been happy if she hadn’t known the house’s history.  She remembered stories of her great aunt who had lived and died in the house.  Her great aunt hadn’t been a pleasant woman.  She had been the kind of country, southern woman who most people steered clear of.  She had some Native American blood and people in the small town she was from thought that she would curse them if they crossed her. 

Sharon was not happy about moving into her house.  Her great aunt had been creepy to say the least.   At first, Sharon ignored the noises that crept through her aunt’s old  house.  She tried to ignore the noises and attributed them to old plumbing and leaky pipes.  When Sharon first heard a child crying at night, she thought it was her daughter.  She checked on her daughter all the time. She thought that she was crying and going back to sleep.  There was no reason to worry.  However, when her daughter began complaining about the crying in the night Sharon began to get worried.  She grew even more worried when her boyfriend complained about the crying when no one was home. 

Things got worse from here.  Shadows crept up on her when she was sleeping.  The crying grew worse and worse.  There was a cold spot in the middle of the house.  Something pulled her hair while she was sleeping.  Terror consumed her every moment.  She began asking more questions about her aunt and what had happened in the house.  Legends swirled around her aunt like smoke. Her aunt was a bad woman.  People said she had a disagreement with a little girl and the little girl had gone missing. 

Sharon began looking for a new place to live.   Just before they moved, Sharon went under the house to check the ever leaking plumbing and what she found sent her from the house without even packing her thing.  Buried in the mud beneath her house, was the skeleton of a little girl.     Sharon left the house and never went back.

Sharon hasn’t told many people this story.  It is hard for even to repeat it.  She still fears her great aunt, even in death, even now that she has moved and the ghosts are gone.  

Reposted from Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles | Go to Original Post

(Alhambran F.E. Ormsby, creator of the 13 month calendar, 1929)

HAPPY BOOOOOOOOO YEAR!

GHOULA has many great things planned for the upcoming year.

But first, let’s take a last look back at 2015.

The question that we were asked most often last year  (as well as in 2014) was “When is SPIRITS with SPIRIT coming back?” So, let’s address this first… We took a break from our monthly meet-ups in historic (haunted) bars to concentrate on other events we wanted to do, namely off-beat ghost events that celebrate the twisted history of our city. The temporary hiatus will continue thru 2016, so that we can focus on other events in mind for 2016. This is not the end however, “SPIRITS with SPIRITS” will return, since there are still so many haunted restaurants/bars we haven’t been to yet.

The big news of last year was PHANTOSMIA, a collaboration with THE SMELLY VIALS PERFUME CLUB (of The Institute for Art and Olfaction). Since some ghost stories have a smell that accompanies the sighting (like Peg Entwistle’s ghost and her gardenia perfume) or not just a smell (like Orson Welles’ phantom cigar smoke), we explored that idea with a celebration of LA’s 13 smelliest ghost with kits that contained perfumes that recreate those spooky odors and a map of each location with the fragrant ghost stories.

GHOULA also conducted “Haunted House tours” of the very historic and very haunted Perry Mansion in Heritage Square, where we lead people through this Victorian era house, stopping in the haunted rooms to discuss the ghost stories of the building.

Last April, GHOULA collaborated with our friends at Captured Aural Phantasy Theater to create a tribute to the spooky puppet films of Kevin Mcturk at the world famous (haunted) Bob Baker Marionette Theater (oldest in the U.S.) called “Beneath the STRINGS that Go Bump in the Night.”

Also in October, GHOULA (with the EPFC Filmmobile) brought back “Haunted Films in Haunted Places” with a special screening of “NIGHT STALKERS,” a documentary about Los Angeles’ local Ghost-hunting culture. The Filmmaker, Wayne Poe, was present to answer questions. The screening was held at the East end of Pasadena’s (haunted) “Suicide Bridge.”

Because of our group’s LA-centric interest in the phantom folklore of this city, GHOULA once again participated in Los Angeles’ Halloween Convention, ScareLA, where other groups and companies that create spooky content and events in October, got together under one roof to share (and promote) what would be happening in October with each other and the public. It was so much fun, GHOULA plans on returning next year.

GHOULA was also invited to tell ghost stories to our local journalists at the October meeting of the L.A. Press Club.

Last, but not least, last year GHOULA not only brought back its “Haunted Red Line Tour” (which uses the Metro to explore haunted areas of our city) in October, but we expanded it, offering tours throughout the summer as well.

2015 was a great year for GHOULA, and judging from the surprises that are in the works, 2016 will be even better.

Reposted from Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles | Go to Original Post

PHANTOSMIA: Ghost Stories
AN HISTORIC GUIDE TO THE AROMATIC APPARITIONS IN LA
(presented by GHOULA and the Institute for Art and Olfaction’s Smelly Vials Perfume Club)

Date: Thursday, December 10th
Time: party starts at 7pm
Location: The Institute for Art and Olfaction
932 Chung King Road, LA CA 90012 (map)
Admsission: The Party is FREE! (to RSVP click here)
Limited Edition “Phantosmia Maps” are $5 (see below)
“Ghost Smell Kits” are $60 (see below)

NOTE: Re-hosting due to popular demand. Drawing from Ghost Hunters of Urban LA’s extensive research into haunted Los Angeles, Phantosmia is a self-guided tour of the city’s famous and not-so-famous haunts – notable for their paranormal disturbances uniquely driven by scent. 6:30 to 8:30pm, at IAO HQ Pre-Order your kit, map, or just RSVP (Quanitities are very limited)

This is one of our most unusual ghostly events. Its a unique self-guided tour of local sites that are haunted by SMELL. So, come to the kick-off party and get a “Phantosmia Map” (and a “Ghost Smell Kit”), so you can go off on your own para-aroma adventure as we recreate the odors of 13 SMELLY GHOSTS !

“Phantosmia” (făn-tŏs′mē-ă) is the perception of an odor when no physical source is present, a phantom smell (also known as “clairscent”). Yes, with some ghost stories, in certain locations, people not only claim to see “something,” but they may also smell “something” associated with that spirit. Furthermore, there are psychics that can smell a victim’s perfume, and get “readings” of the crime, or be able to locate the body. Now, its time to put your abilities to the test…

What will you conjure up when exposed to the specific scents associated with these local spirits? From Peg Entwistle’s sweet gardenia perfume floating inexplicably around the Hollywood sign to the phantom smell of Rudolph Valentino’s horse, these ghost smells are sensorial reminders of the lurid, turbulent and baroque history of this City of Angels; where dreams come to be born and – just as often – die terrible, lonely and often painful deaths.

On October 3rd, 2015, join us for the kick-off party for our self-guided tour. At this “scent event,” you will be able to purchase the limited edition “Phantosmia Map” and the “Ghost Smell Kits,” or you can buy now (in case the limited quantities sell out). Then, at your leisure, you can explore the city’s famous and not-so-famous haunts – notable for their paranormal disturbances uniquely driven by scent.

The Limited Edition “Phantosmia Maps” designed by Micah Hahn (http://www.allies.la/) are $5 (while supplies last), and fold-out to reveal our guide to 13 aromatic apparitions of LA, with the locations and stories related to the hauntings.

The “Ghost Smell Kits” are $60 (while supplies last), containing thirteen ghostly scents created by The Smelly Viles Perfume Club in 3ml spray bottles (one for each stop on the self-guided tour) and the limited edition fold-out map to the locations with stories related to the hauntings, and a few extra goodies. (only a limited number of the kits were made, so if interested, get it now, before they are all gone).

As part of the project, guests are invited to visit each location on their own, experience the space with their haunted smells and collect a rubbing from the Phantosmia marker hidden nearby. Guests who visit all thirteen sites (and have the rubbings to prove it!) will be invited to a special blending session at the IAO, where they will be able to explore their own olfactory version of ghostly LA. experience.

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

There is a house at the end of the street in our neighborhood.  Most people don’t know it exists.  It is hidden behind tall grass and old trees and has been abandoned for years.  It sits quietly in the shadows behind a black fence.  We wouldn’t have known of its existence if it weren’t for a fire four or five years ago.  The house caught on fire and fire trucks and sirens made us look for their origins.    The house had burnt a little.

Tonight, some friends and I went exploring.  We don’t know much about the house.  One of my friends knew the builder of our neighborhood.  She claims that the house was owned by a man from India who abandoned it and moved to Europe.  The inside of the house tells a different tale.  The house is huge.  The front room has a strange mural on the ceiling with King of the Sun written on it in French.   Two identical rooms sit on either side of the front room.  Both rooms have massive fireplaces.  There is a dual staircase and the upstairs is chilling.  It is littered with children’s toys and the center rooms of the second floor look like a daycare.  The doors are cut in half and there is a sink and mini kitchen for preparing food and changing diapers  The daycare rooms are lined with cute sayings for children like “daydream”. Everything is rotten and decayed.  The windows are broken and vines are creeping in through the boarded up windows.  There is a master suite with a large fireplace and several other bedrooms.   One of the other bedrooms is slightly unnverving.  The dropdown attic is open in the closet and children’s toys are spilled out in a mass on the floor.  In the attic, boxes of children’s toys sit surrounded by children’s clothing.

I have no idea about the real story of this house, but I can’t help but feel it has something to do with a family that lost a child and just left.  The man who owned the house has been gone for over a decade but the house is now condemned.   He just left the house filled with children’s toys and clothing and when you walk upstairs into that nursery, you know he left something else behind.  Something not quite alive.

Reposted from Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles | Go to Original Post

When: Sunday, October 25 (This is the last one until next year))

Time: Tour starts at 6 pm
(tour is about 3 hours)

Meeting Place: The palm tree-lined island (with the sun-dial) in front of Union Station
800 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (map)

Price: FREE (donation-based) Tour
NOTE: Each person will need to purchase a Metro “Day Pass” ($7 + $1 “Tap Card”). Please purchase the Metro Pass (not a “Metrolink” ticket) before the meet-up to save time. The machines can be confusing, so look for metro “day fare” and not “add fare.”

Parking: See below.

Los Angeles’ lore is filled with tales of secret tunnels. Whether its supposed opium dens, rum-running passages, discontinued “Red Car” tunnels, munchkin transports, celebrity/mistress escape routes, or simply chambers belonging to a race of subterranean lizard people, many buildings and homes claim to be connected to other buildings and homes below street level (if only we could find their openings).

So, is there a better way to explore the haunted history of Los Angeles than by traveling underground from location to location via our very own (dead) Red Line Metro Subway with the other living dead of this city?

We will meet-up at Union Station (the starting point for the Red Line) and then travel through 13 stops to the North Hollywood Station (at the end of the line), getting off and on along the way. In addition to Union Station and the North Hollywood Station, we will stop at few other stations, step off the train, rise to street-level, and discuss the ghosts and haunted sites visible from that spot before going back aboard to the next stop on our tour.

Come out and hear spooky tales about a spirit solider, a vanishing padre, and a ghostly car. As well as many other phantom figures from our past that haunt our present.

(see a review of this tour here…)

Parking: Since everyone on the tour will need a Metro Day Pass to ride the subway, it is advisable to park at one of the FREE lots provided by the Metro at either the North Hollywood Station, our end point (map), or the Universal City Station (or any of the other free lots on connecting Metro lines), and then just take the Subway to Union Station to meet-up with the group (The lots around Union Station are expensive and may close early).

Reposted from Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles | Go to Original Post

It’s that time again…

…for our annual “Haunted Films at Haunted Places.”

In a partnership with the Echo Park Film Center Filmmobile, we present a free outdoor screening of a horror film at an unusual location that is said to be haunted, and discuss that ghost lore before showing the film. All are welcome to this family-friendly event. Don’t forget to bring chairs and flashlights.

Time: movie starts at 8:00pm
Location: SUICIDE BRIDGE (Colorado St. Bridge)
East end of the bridge at Defenders Park, adjacent to…
1 S. Grand Ave, Pasadena, CA 91105 (Map)
Admission: FREE!
Movie: NIGHT STALKERS (2011)

NIGHT STALKERS is a documentary feature focusing on Southern California’s paranormal investigators, and why they hunt ghosts. In addition to featuring several local ghost-hunting teams and haunted locations around town, the movie was granted unprecedented access to the inner-workings of these normally private groups, creating a unique glimpse in to this large nocturnal subculture of our city.  Thus, NIGHT STALKERS is a an insightful time capsule of the paranormal investigation scene in Los Angeles of 2010.

WAYNE POE, the film’s director, will be present at the screening for a Q and A afterward.

ALSO: There will be a ghost-hunting demonstration and mini-investigation of this haunted bridge for those that want to come an hour early and learn what this stuff is all about.