Real Haunted Houses

Welcome to Real Haunted Houses! Are you looking for a haunted house? We are working hard to create the most complete library of haunted houses, spooky stories, ghostly tales and all things paranormal. We have mountains of stories about ghosts, ghouls, and specters. Do you believe in the supernatural? Read the stories, and you will start to see why you should!

Lillian Collins Hospital – Turlock, California

By Robin Wright

Originally the Sierra Building

In the 1920’s, this was a small town hospital that cared for the citizens of Turlock, California. According to a recent ghost hunting expedition done by American Paranormal Investigations, it seems that the building still cares for their spirits, though both their bodies and the hospital are long gone.

Built in 1918, The Lillian Collins Hospital was located in what is now the Sierra Building and currently contains Coldwell Banker Endsley & Associates. The hospital was best known for the doctor who created the MedicAlert bracelet when his daughter (who also happened to be the granddaughter of the hospital’s founder) had an allergic reaction to a drug while there in 1953. The hospital, which only had 40 rooms in the two-story building, eventually became too small for the city and was abandoned. In 1994, it was purchased by Bob Endsley and the downstairs was completely remodeled. The upstairs was left the way it was, and local charities used the space to host a haunted house fundraiser. It was during these fundraisers that the odd goings on in the building were first noticed.

While preparing for a haunted house event items would go missing when left alone for only a few moments. Cold breezes, footsteps, unexplained noises, and even unpleasant physical feelings have been reported. The owner of the building has had the motion detectors go off when no one was there. The events coinciding with the annual haunted house fundraisers ceased earlier this decade, but the strange happenings did not. That was when Endsley contacted API.

The investigation, which included video, photography, psychics, Electronic Voice Phenomena recordings, as well as a group whose purpose was to find logical causes for some of the stranger things discovered, came away with plenty of evidence that the hospital was still up and running on the second floor.

On video, they asked a spirit to come closer to their electro-magnetic field device. The EMF device recorded a dramatic spike in its levels. Geiger counter readings flared and diminished within moments and without the investigator moving.

Each and every photo captured orbs, or balls of light, somewhere on the photograph. But the truly amazing piece of evidence is the 11 second recording of a beautiful voice singing a French lullaby. The investigator was alone at the time. This recording is one of the longest pieces of EVP ever to be captured.

Other EVPs recorded were of female and male voices talking to each other, as well as male voices communicating with the investigators. One of the investigators said that the sounds on the tape remind him of what he’d expect from a 1920’s hospital.

Dark, human shaped masses were seen floating throughout the building and some investigators felt nauseated while on the second floor, feeling better when they returned downstairs.

The investigators sent to unmask the ghosts were only able to explain away the cold breezes as drafts from windows. The rest seem to be of truly supernatural origins.

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Belcourt Castle – New Port, Rhode Island

Belcourt Castle is a large Louis XIII style estate that hosts regular ghost tours and candlelight mystery tours–and with good reason. Belcourt Castle, the sixty-room summer cottage of Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, has a reputation for being one haunted destination that does not disappoint. Construction started on the estate in 1891 and continually employed three hundred skilled craftsmen for three full years.

Oliver intended to use Belcourt to display his collections of armor, medieval manuscripts, stained glass and numerous things related to his love of horses.

In 1895 the house was officially opened with a grand ball, its hostess was Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt, the wife of Oliver’s best friend and business partner. Perhaps her husband, William Kissam Vanderbilt, should have suspected something was amiss. Whether he suspected his best friend and his wife of any indiscretion or shared emotion is a bit of a mystery. Regardless, after having three children, Alva divorced William and married Oliver.

The two traveled extensively, collecting as they went, until Oliver died in 1908. The next year Alva redesigned the first floor of Belcourt. Some have speculated that Oliver would have disapproved because he loved the place exactly as it was. Alva’s attention then shifted and she became active in the women’s movement and a great supporter of the arts. Traveling frequently, Alva let Belcourt fall into a state of mild disrepair. She died in 1933.

Belcourt does not necessarily seem to be haunted by its owners or any members of the large staff that worked there for decades. Rather, it seems Belcourt has become a haunted house because of some of the antiques in its collection. Furnished with art and trappings from more than 30 different countries, Belcourt has a lovely Gothic ballroom featuring haunted chairs. Some visitors have reported feeling chills race up and down their spine while standing near the chairs, others have reported strange sensations of energy moving across their hands. Supposedly if you try to sit in one of the haunted chairs you’ll feel resistance, while trying to take a seat in the other may just get you tossed out of it.

There is also a screaming suit of armor in the Gothic ballroom. The original owner of the armor was killed by a spear entering the visor’s eye slit. People claim the owner’s screams can still sometimes be heard around the time he died in March.

A carving of a monk is also supposedly haunted by its ghostly counterpart—so keep your eyes open. Cameras are not generally allowed in the castle, but a few people who sneaked photos (at risk of having their camera taken and being kicked out of the tour, so don’t do it) claim they have proof of orbs in several rooms.

Belcourt Castle is certainly worth a visit, many have said their guides were well-educated and that there is simply too much to see and learn about in a single visit. Whether you’re interested in the ghosts, the antiques, the history or the architecture, Belcourt seems to have something for everyone.

The Pirates’ House – Savannah, Georgia

By Saoirse Redgrave

Ghostly laughter, footsteps and objects that move—It all seems pretty standard at first glance at The Pirates’ House in Old Fort, Savannah. But the name of the location reflects a lot of the spirit—or spirits—of the place. Yes, The Pirates’ House is haunted by sailors, seadogs, privateers and perhaps even real (and, of cousre, very dead) pirates.

Not far from the Savannah River in Old Fort, Savannah, Georgia is The Pirates’ House. Built in 1753 and joined with the oldest house in the entire state, the brick and wood structure even looks like it should be haunted by the seadogs of yesteryear. The American Museum Society even credits it as a “house museum” because of ongoing and continual efforts to restore it faithfully.

Over time the original house became a tavern and additional buildings merged into it, giving its first floor more than a dozen separate dining areas today. Traditionally, the eating and drinking was done on the first floor and men slept in the rooms comprising the second floor. For a while (much more recently) a jazz bar took up several rooms upstairs, but now the 2nd story is mainly used for storage. In the basement, a long brick-lined tunnel ran from The Pirates’ House all the way to the water’s edge and was supposedly used for aiding impressment, a common practice in The Pirates’ House’s early years.

Sailing was dangerous work, and there were many times when crews had spots to be filled—and not many willing volunteers. So in spots like The Pirate’s House’s Captain’s Room, captains and crewmen got creative and would either get able-bodied men drunk, drugged, or (occasionally) whacked over the head, and then drag him down the long brick tunnel to a waiting ship. By the time a man had regained his senses he was out at sea, and firmly stuck aboard ship at the mercy of the captain and supporting crew. A popular local story is told of a Savannah police officer who happened by for a drink on his way home and wound up taking a two-year forced tour of the Far East before he could get back home.

Although pirates had been a real menace up and down the eastern coast, by the time The Pirates’ House was originally constructed most of the pirates had been run out of town. But the privateers—men who had a “letter of marque” granting them the legal right to raid ships belonging to other nations—rivaled the danger of pirates any day. The famous French privateer, Jean Lafitte, stayed at The Pirates’ House many times between dates aboard ship.

Supposedly it was, in part, The Pirates’ House that helped inspire Robert Louis Stevenson and the characters of his popular “Treasure Island.”

Laughter is often heard coming from the unoccupied upstairs, and many people have reported seeing a scarred and ragged looking privateer (nicknamed “Captain Flint” now) in the upstairs and basement area. The first floor also hosts a spectre—seemingly a gruff sailor—hangs around the stairs, and another equally charming spirit has supposedly appeared long enough to cast a baleful glare at the cook before disappearing again. Chairs get rearranged nearly nightly in one particular dining area on the first floor and some people have reported feeling physically sick when they report to work at The Pirates’ House.

The site has been investigated twice by the Paranormal Ghost Hunters of North Georgia. The first investigation yielded nothing of great value, but the second investigation did yield photos of orbs as well as some recordings of ghostly voices via EVP.

The Pirates’ House is open to visitors interested in having a meal or a drink and an unobtrusive glance around. If you are more serious about doing an investigation or asking questions about something other than their menu, look them up and call for permission to view this haunted house.

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