|
|
Welcome to the legendary witching hour
For a 'ghost of a chance' of encountering a spirit, here's when and where to look
|
| | 
|  |
| |  | | 
| | | (click for larger version) | |
October 29, 2009 | 11:19 AM
Over the years, Lisa and Bruce Cocchi, of Hauppauge, have had curious experiences owing to their penchant for staying at historic inns and bed and breakfasts.
One particularly disquieting experience took place in the winter of 2004 when the couple stayed at the circa 1873 Aaron Burr House, located in New Hope, Pa. Although the stone foundation is all that remains of the original pre-Revolutionary War inn, it is here that Burr hid and nursed his wounds after his infamous duel with Alexander Hamilton in 1804.
At about 2 am, the couple was awakened by what sounded like an army of people traipsing up and down the inn's ancient wooden stairs.
"We were the only people staying there that night," Lisa said, indicating that the sound, which lasted for a few minutes at a time, went on for an hour or two.
During another visit, a journalist sojourning at the inn conferred with them after hearing the ruckus. "Every time we stay there, we encounter something," Lisa said.
The couple has had similar experiences at the White House Inn in Wilmington, Vt., Scarborough Fair in the historic Federal Circle section of Baltimore, Md., the Hydrangea House in Newport, R.I., and closer to home on Long Island, at the Inn at Quogue. Doors have slammed and faucets gushed on their own accord, and one night Bruce claims that he was propelled across the room by an unseen force.
Do such occurrences relate to the legendary witching hour?
The notion of a period of time during which the supernatural reigns, and ghosts, witches and demons are at the peak of their power, has long been a part of folklore and superstition. Shakespeare referred to "the witching time of night" — customarily taken to mean the hours between midnight and 3 am — in "Hamlet." This inauspicious time of night was also mentioned in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and by Washington Irving, best known for spooky tales such as the "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle."
What evidence is there today to support the existence of a witching hour?
Two paranormal researchers, Joseph Flammer and Diane Hill, recently co-authored "Long Island's Most Haunted: A Ghost Hunter's Guide," which details our region's most supposedly haunted locations.
"Though historically the witching hour is considered midnight on a full moon night, or sometimes the period from midnight to 3 am, our experiences have led us to believe that spirits fester, materialize and haunt particularly actively between 2 and 3 in the morning. We believe it's the time that the veil between the two worlds is the thinnest," Flammer said.
The "veil" was apparently quite thin one September night as the paranormal adventurers explored Potter's Field Cemetery in Yapank at 2:30 am.
"We knew if there is any place in Suffolk County where the spirits might be unsettled, it would be this place because years ago about a thousand people were buried here by number, not by name," Flammer explained. "They had been inmates of the cursed Suffolk County Poor House, once located on Yapank Road. The inmates were shunned by society. It seemed no one cared about them."
The spirits, they believe, appeared in the form of thick, white mists and spoke to Hill, engulfing the pair in "unnaturally freezing air," and eventually trailing them as they sought refuge from the cold in their car.
"I photographed the mist following us to the guardrail [separating the road from the cemetery], coming over the bushes and hovering beside the car," Flammer said, adding that the pair has had similarly intense, close encounters with ghosts between 2 and 3 am.
"These haunting experiences include rapping in our hotel room in Salem, Massachusetts, a door swinging open by itself in room 301 at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, having my hand slapped by an entity while investigating Sweet Hollow Road in Melville, and receiving a blow to my back from an unseen spirit while in the Bell Witch Cave in Adam's Tennessee, home of the only ghost known to have ever killed a human," Flammer said. "Is there such a thing as the witching hour? If not, somebody should tell the spirits."
Dawn Joly, a Smithtown-based psychic who also conducts investigations and "clearings" of residences believed to be haunted, added that spirits are more likely to manifest themselves as silhouettes or in other forms, as night approaches.
A lifelong interest in such phenomena has led Fiona Broome, author of "Ghost Hunting in Haunted Cemeteries: A How-To Guide," and founder of the www.Hollowhill.com, a ghost information website, on jaunts across the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
According to Broome, who currently resides in New Hampshire, the notion of a witching hour has its roots in fairy folklore. While she and her team believe that they have encountered ghosts during the day, she believes that the cover of darkness makes it easier to observe supernatural phenomena.
"There's less solar interference after sunset. Just as distant radio stations are easier to pick up at night, ghosts can create more dramatic effects with less energy after the sun goes down," Broome said.
She also subscribes to the popular belief that "between times" are ideal for ghost research.
"Perhaps a door opens between the worlds when conditions are slightly unstable," Broome speculated, indicating that such "between times" include dusk and dawn, and the Equinoxes and Solstices, which herald the change in seasons.
While Broome has found Halloween, which traditionally marks the end of the agricultural year, to be a good time to look for ghosts, she said that she has also been successful in April, when the agricultural year begins anew.
In addition to cemeteries, Broome, said that ghost hunters are apt to get lucky investigating localities tied to the past, such as battlefields and historic houses.
According to Kerriann Flanagan Brosky, author of two volumes on Ghosts of Long Island, the Glen Cove Mansion, Stony Brook's Country House, Jamesport Manor Inn and Deepwells Manor in St. James are not only considered to be actively haunted, but are open to the public, making them good locales for aspiring ghost hunters to begin.
For a schedule of speaking engagements by Flammer and Hill, visit http://paranormaladventurers.com. Flanagan Brosky will lecture at the Smithtown Library, 1 North Country Rd, Smithtown, on Oct. 29.
| |
|
|
|
| |
Copyright 2010
(631) 751-7744 | news@tbrnewspapers.com | www.northshoreoflongisland.com | About |
|
| |
|
