Live in a Ghost Town...on the Government's Dime
The federal government wants to give you free food, free housing and a job. No, it's not a scary story that libertarians tell each other around the campfire. But there is a spooky catch to the arrangement.
Garnet, Montana, is the state's most intact ghost town, and some people maintain that it's actually haunted.
The remote mountain town grew rapidly in the late 19th century following the discovery of gold and silver in the area. But by the 1940s, the mines had run out and the boom went bust.
Garnet emptied out, and now the only people who spend any time there are tourists and volunteers selected by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The volunteers give tours, sell souvenirs and help out with site maintenance. The job comes with certain perks -- a furnished cabin, a food stipend and freedom from modern amenities like running water and social media.
"It’s primitive, to say the least,” ranger Nacoma Gainan told The Montana Standard this week in an article about Garnet's volunteering opportunities. “It’s for people who love the outdoors and want to give back. There’s no electricity, no Wi-Fi and no running water. But there are trails to explore, artifacts to inspect. Volunteers are really left to their own devices after the visitors are gone.”
But at least one state historian claims that once the sun sets in Garnet, the spirits of the town's historic residents come alive.
According to a 2010 article about Garnet in the Helena Independent Record:
Ellen Baumler, the Montana Historical Society’s resident ghost whisperer and author, wrote that at midnight, people have heard ghostly fingers striking piano keys, with the music floating across the empty buildings. She said that especially during the winter months, Garnet visitors see visions and hear unearthly noises.
“Late at night, the spirits of Garnet come out to play in the moonlight,” Baumler wrote in Montana Chillers. “Sometimes, in the deep winter quiet, a piano tinkles in Kelley’s Saloon and the spirits dance to ghostly music. Men’s voices echo in the empty rooms. But the moment a living, human hand touches the building, the noises stop.”
[...] Winter visitors tell of transparent figures, clad in old-fashioned clothing, wandering the streets and footprints in fresh snow leading into buildings but never come out from them.
“They cause no trouble and anyone who visits the deserted town in the dead of winter should be prepared to meet them,” Baumler wrote. “They hide in the shadows, laugh in the wind, and come out when you least expect them.”
Baumler told The Huffington Post that Garnet's ghostly lore is common knowledge among historians who have researched the town.
"I have heard several people tell about experiences in the hotel. [Bureau of Land Management historian] Allan Mathews and others have seen a woman [in] one of the upstairs rooms in the hotel, gazing out the window," Baumler said in an email. "Folks have to judge for themselves."
The town's website doesn't mention any paranormal residents, instead focusing on Garnet's remarkably well-preserved tableau of American history. Still, the town's historical authenticity and its closeness to nature are enough to entice some volunteers to come back year after year. According to Examiner.com, three volunteers have spent every summer there for more than a decade.
If you're looking to fill a volunteer spot, you're out of luck for now. In an email to The Huffington Post, Gainan said that all volunteer positions have been filled for the season.
The town does rent cabins to people daring enough to visit during the winter. But beware: Baumler writes that winter is when Garnet's ghosts are most active. - The Federal Government Will Put You Up In This Haunted Ghost Town, If You Dare
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Iowa Chiropractor Offering Full-Service Sex and Exorcisms Loses License
LAMONI, Iowa —According to documents released by the Iowa Board of Chiropractic on Wednesday, the license of a chiropractor has been suspended for "engaging in sexual contact with several patients."
The board said Charles Manuel, of Lamoni, engaged in unethical contact.
According to documents, Manuel "bartered sex for services with some of these patients" and "performed exorcisms as part of his chiropractic treatment of patients."
Manuel voluntarily surrendered his chiropractic license. He is not allowed to seek reinstatement for at least 10 years.
People in Lamoni, population 2,300, said they were shocked to hear the news.
"That's ridiculous, I mean an exorcism?" said Robert Jackson.
Jackson's apartment is just across the street from Manuel's former office.
"It's extremely scary. I'm appalled that it was going on exactly right across the street from where I'm staying. I don't know, I'm baffled," said Jackson.
Dr. Bryan Nowlin once shared the office with Dr. Manuel, but now he practices by himself.
Nowlin told KCCI, "We didn't notice any of that stuff while he was here."
Lindsey Williams also lives across the street. She said she's relieved she's only visited Nowlin.
"I never heard that he had been doing anything like that, but I'm glad I went to the other chiropractor," said Williams.
KCCI caught Lyndsay Bellinger as she left the office. She said she went to Manuel as a child, but has been seeing Nowlin for years.
"I couldn't believe it. I was really surprised," said Lyndsay Bellinger.
"That's ridiculous. You got to maintain your professionalism," said Terry Bellinger.
"So crazy, I just dismiss it as that can't be right," said Bob Ramsey and Jerie Gail Ramsey. - Town shocked by exorcism, bartered sex for services case
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Burglary Foiled by Dead Husband's Spirit?
Ayutthaya, Thailand – A house owner told police her house was haunted by her dead husband and that a burglar fled after encountering the ghost.
Police could only establish that the burglar left her house in a hurry, leaving many valuables behind.
Lieutenant Suchart Yoddamnoen of Ayutthaya police station yesterday went to investigate the break-in case at her house in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district.
At the scene, Suchart uncovered evidence that the burglar had used gardening tools to pry open the front door breaking into the house.
He also found the burglar had searched all four rooms in the two-storey house leaving everything in disarray.
A bag filled with 30 baht gold were opened and left behind. Several valuables were brought together as if the burglar prepared to take them although they were left untouched.
After inspecting her properties, house owner Chaleao Anuto, 70, said only two items, gold bracelet and a pair of gold earrings, were stolen.
The stolen items were estimated at 50,000 baht.
Chaleao said she went to Bangkok in the morning to see her niece. When she returned, she found out about the burglary and reported to police.
In her statement, she said she suspected the burglar might have left in a hurry because of a possible encounter with the ghost.
She said her late husband who died 10 years ago was thrifty and very protective of his belongings.
The husband bought gold and other valuables for her and family members, she said, speculating that his spirit might not have left the house in order to guard his belongings.
When he was alive, he rarely left the house for fear of leaving his belongings unguarded, she said. In dead, he might become the guardian spirit.
Police are trying to identify and track down the burglar. - Burglary foiled by a ghost?
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TO ALL OUR ARCANE RADIO LISTENERS:
Over the next month or so, there will be no podcasts produced. We will be in the process of re-programming the show format...then restart as a LIVE show. We will keep you up-to-date on the progress of the change and other information as it becomes available. Thanks for your support...stay tuned! Lon & Sean
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The actress, who just plunked down $5.1 million for an apartment at The Osborne across from Carnegie Hall, may find herself riding the elevator with a white-suited gentleman who died in 1947.
The ghost of Alfredo Taylor — an architect who designed the 1906 addition to the famed apartment house — is said to roam the building’s halls and ride the lift. It’s said he likes to dangle a watch fob from his hand.
But rumor has it Taylor is not the only ghost to call The Osborne Apartments home.
“I have a poltergeist!” said Naomi Graffman, who has lived at The Osborne with her husband, Gary, since 1962.
Graffman said sliding doors would open and close by themselves and a pot of water on the stove would boil without anyone turning on the burner. “We’d be standing in the hallway talking and the toilet would start to flush,” she said.
Graffman believes her spirited house guest is Johanna Gadski, a German-born mezzo-soprano who sang at the Metropolitan Opera before World War I. She lived at the time in The Osborne — in Graffman’s apartment.
Gadski, a red-haired practical joker, had to step down from the Met because she was German. She died in a car accident in Berlin in 1932.
Davida Deutsch’s first night in her Osborne apartment in 1971 was harrowing. Deutsch and her husband had heard rumors of a ghost and were so nervous, they left a broom near their bed in case they needed to ¬defend themselves against the apparition. Sure enough, they were startled awake by a loud bang in the night.
“We were scared to death,” said Deutsch, who put aside her fears and has become the building’s unofficial historian.
The Romanesque Revival apartment house — which went up between 1883 and 1885, several years before the famed music hall opened — became home to a long list of luminaries, including actresses Lynn Redgrave and Sylvia Miles, writer Fran Lebowitz, and Ira Levin, the author of “Rosemary’s Baby.” Phil Jackson, the president of the Knicks, is a current resident.
Chastain is buying a four-bedroom unit that once belonged to composer Leonard Bernstein, who sold it to cabaret singer Bobby Short.
John Coyne, the resident manager of the building, has heard the ghost stories, including the tales about Taylor.
“I haven’t come across anything strange,” Coyne said. “I don’t know if that means if he’s moved on or he’s moved out.” - Jessica Chastain’s glitzy new digs said to be haunted
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