Category: travel

Elvis Ghost Sightings

According to The Ghosts of Famous Musicians by Ashley Watson of Notebook of Ghosts, the ghost of Elvis is said to haunt various locations, including:

Old RCA Recording Studios (Tennessee). People have reported weird noises coming out of sound equipment, lights blowing out, objects being moved, and the apparition of The King himself.

Room 1016 of the Knickerbocker Hotel (Hollywood). Elvis stayed here when he filmed movies. Visitors and staff attribute the eerily cold temperature of the room to his spirit.

Graceland (Memphis). There’s a couple photos circulating online that supposedly capture Elvis looking out the window.

Las Vegas Hilton. People have seen his spirit in the penthouse, the basement where he hung out with his band, and the elevator he used to avoid screaming fans.

The Ryman Auditorium (Nashville). Lisa Marie Presley claims she heard her father, Elvis, while there. After a performance at the theatre she went to her dressing room, but the door was stuck and she could not get it open. Suddenly, she heard the distinct laugh of her father and the door opened.

Ireland’s Haunted Leap Castle

Image from Ireland Before You Die: The World’s Most Haunted Castle Is in Ireland

Built somewhere between the 13th and late 15th century, this Irish castle has seen more gruesome deaths than a Game of Thrones wedding. As legend has it, during a struggle for power within the O’Carroll clan (which had a fondness for poisoning dinner guests), one brother plunged a sword into another, a priest, as he was holding mass in the castle’s chapel. The room is now called “The Bloody Chapel,” and the priest is said to haunt the church at night. And the horror doesn’t end there. During castle renovations in the early 1900s, workmen found a secret dungeon in the Bloody Chapel with so many human skeletons, they filled three cartloads when hauled away. The dungeon was designed so that prisoners would fall through a trap door, have their lungs punctured by wooded spikes on the ground, and die a slow, horrific death within earshot of the sinister clan members above.

From Condé Naste: 15 Haunted Castles Around the World

Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion

Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion was originally designed to be The Museum of the Weird, a museum of strange and haunted items from throughout the world. The concept then morphed into a haunted walk through a wax museum. Announcements were made as early as 1961, six years after Disneyland had opened, but then the Haunted Mansion was put on hold for Disney to devote all attention to the 1964 World’s Fair. Look for the monsters in the wood work, the iron work and the wallpaper, all kept from early concepts for the Museum of the Weird.

You get to ride in a Doom Buggy—-the carts that take guests to the otherly world. They were first dubbed Omnimovers and created at the 1964 World’s Fair. The new technology allowed storytellers to control what guests see and allows for a controlled line of sight similar to a movie experience. The Omnimover technology was originally used for Adventures Through Inner Space, but continues to be used for attractions like The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure in Disney California Adventure and Spaceship Earth at EPCOT.

The bride found in the attic is named Constance Hatchaway. The attic scene has changed over the years, but has always featured a bride. Hatchaway appears twice on the ride: once in the stretching room when she is sitting on the tombstone that reads “Rest in Peace – Dear Beloved George” and once in the attic when she raises her ax on many of her past relationship. And the connections continue. The owner of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, aka, the Tower of Terror, is George Hightower, aka, poor Beloved George …

Read many more interesting facts at Get Away Today’s 20 Scary Facts About the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland by Chris Dallin.

And if you have the opportunity, visit the Haunted Mansion yourself!

Famous Witch: Marie Laveau

Image from Britannica.com

Marie Laveau (1794–1881) was a Louisiana Creole: descended from the colonial white settlers, black slaves and free people of color of southern Louisiana. For several decades this ‘Voodoo Queen’ held New Orleans spellbound. She staged ceremonies in which participants became possessed by loas (Voodoo spirits); she dispensed charms and potions, even saving several condemned men from the gallows; told fortunes and healed the sick.

She became a hairdresser to create economic stability for herself and her family. Through interaction with her Black clients who were house servants, she was exposed to personal information about her wealthy White clients, who often sought her counsel. Laveau used this information to give informed counsel to the people who sought advice from her concerning their personal affairs. Many wealthy and politically affluent individuals, both White and Black, paid Laveau for personal advice, intervention in some situations, and protection against any evil energy that might have been placed against them.

She allegedly lived at 1020 St. Ann Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The original home was demolished in 1903, but the new home was built on the original foundation. The location is registered as a historical landmark.

Images of Marie Laveau’s home from History’s Homes

Learn more about the life and times of Marie Laveau at History of American Women and Britannica.com.

Interested in other locations you can visit where famous witches lived or were accused? Check out Owlocation’s 6 Real Witches’ Houses and Cottages You Can Visit.