I’ve always loved a good poltergeist story.
Category: ghost
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Horror Short: Tea Time
My favourite kind of horror story is short and packed with discomfort, gore and narrative. This horror short video is a perfect example.
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Haunted Canada: Hamilton Ghost Story
In honor of my going to the Rue Morgue Dark Carnival Expo in Hamilton, Ontario, in July (I’m very excited!), here is an excerpt from a ghost story from that town from the Cold Spot Paranormal Research blog:
“So fast forward a little bit, Christmas season fast approaching. We’ve settled in now. We’ve heard noises that we can’t explain, we hear footsteps in the middle of the night. We assume it’s just our imaginations. We have a Christmas party. A good friend of ours comes up to my wife and says, ‘This house is haunted.’ ‘Why do you say that?’ my wife asks. ‘Well I just watched as that door slammed shut!’ He was speaking of the same door that caused me so much paranoia when we first moved in. Prior to this we’ve told no one of our dealings with this situation. He would not be the last to tell us how creepy our home was.
A few days later after the party it’s around nine o’clock at night. Our kids are in bed. My wife and I are sitting in the living room watching TV when all of a sudden the room goes dark. The tv turned off, the Christmas tree lights go off and the window Christmas lights go off. We automatically think power outage but soon realize it’s just the living room. So I try to turn the TV back on, it doesn’t work. It is then that I discover it is unplugged, as is every other item in the living room. All the Christmas lights are individually unplugged. I felt this really horrible chill run down my neck as I realized there is absolutely no logical explanation of what had just occurred and as I’m considering this the back bedroom door closed. We heard it click. It was once again locked.”
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Love and Murder
Valentine’s Day is coming up and what better way to celebrate than to Google “love triangle ghost stories”?
I found these 5 Gruesome Real-Life Murders That Inspired Spooky Ghost Stories that include some real heartbreaks! To hell with love! haha

Jakub Schikaneder (1855-1924), Study of a recumbent woman for the painting Murder in the House, (1890), National Gallery in Prague -
Bakeneko: Cat Spirits of Japanese Lore
Searching for scary Japanese ghosts, I came across the legend of bakeneko, cats that shape-shift into humans, or near humans. They are tormentors and tricksters.
They appear as a popular monster in kabuki productions, like the one pictured here.

Visit Bakeneko — The Changing Cat on the Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai blog to learn all about this spirit’s origins and some of its stories. -
Haunted Canada: Banff Springs Hotel
Built in 1888, the Banff Springs Hotel—also known as the “Castle of the Rockies”—is a grand building in the middle of the forest in Banff, Alberta. Some famous guests have included Marilyn Monroe, Queen Elizabeth II and Helen Keller.
The hotel is one of Canada’s famous haunted locations. It is most well-known for a ghost story about a phantom bride. The Hammerson Peters blog, which shares tales from Western Canada, describes the phantom bride’s story:“According to the legend, a young couple was married in Banff sometime in the early 1930’s. It was arranged for their wedding banquet to be held in the Banff Springs Hotel, where the couple was renting the bridal suite. Before the beginning of the banquet, the newlywed bride ascended a marble staircase up to the Cascade Ballroom to join her husband, who was waiting at the top. As she did so, her wedding gown brushed against one of the candles that lined the curved staircase and caught fire. In the panic that ensued, the bride tripped over her wedding dress, fell down the flight of marble stairs, broke her neck and died.
“It is said that her ghost has haunted the hotel ever since. Over the years, various hotel patrons and staff have reported seeing a phantasmal bride dancing alone in the Cascade Ballroom, or ascending the marble staircase on which the tragic incident is rumored to have taken place. Others have heard strange noises emanating from the bridal suite when the room was not in use.”
