Eerie outpost unnerves US Marines with strange lights and whispers in the night

The Marines found the bone as they scraped a shallow trench. Long, dry and unmistakably once part of a human leg, it was followed by others. They reburied most of them but also found bodies. Three of the graves were close together; in another was a skeleton still wearing a pair of glasses. The Marines covered the grave and told their successors to stay away from it.

Observation Point Rock sits a few hundred metres south east of Patrol Base Hassan Abad, where a company from 2/8 Marines has been stationed for the past seven months. It is a lonely and exposed outpost 20 metres (65ft) above the surrounding landscape, which has been in Nato hands since it was captured from the Taleban in 2008.

Groups of Marines are posted to guard it, usually for a couple of months at a time, and “the Rock” has acquired a peculiar reputation. American troops widely refer to it as “the haunted Observation Point”.

It is hard to say how much the 100F (38C) heat, round-the-clock guard shifts and months spent living in trenches and peering out of sandbagged firing points have gilded the legend of OP Rock. The only break from the tedium, apart from dog-eared magazines and an improvised gym, has been small-arms or rocket-propelled grenade attacks from the Taleban, usually on a Sunday morning.

But as Sergeant Josh Brown, 22, briefed his successor when a detachment of men from Golf Company was swapped for an incoming contingent from Fox Company, he warned of the strange atmosphere and inexplicable phenomena that plagued OP Rock. “The local people say this is a cursed place,” he said. “You will definitely see weird-ass lights up here at night.”

Others in the outgoing unit had reported odd sounds. “It is weird what you hear and don’t hear around here,” he added.

Each successive detachment that guards the Rock appears to add its own layer to the legend, which has spread through the Marine units pushing into southern Helmand.

There is talk of members of the Taleban entombed in caves below; the bodies buried on the summit are identified confidently as dead Russian soldiers from the ill-fated Soviet invasion.

Corporal Jacob Lima’s story is the latest addition. One night he was woken by the sound of screaming. It was Corporal Zolik, a Marine who has since been moved to a unit farther south. “He was yelling and begging me to go up to the firing point he was guarding,” Corporal Lima, 22, told the men taking over from him. “When I got there he said that he was sitting there when he heard a voice whisper something in his ear. He said it sounded like Russian. He begged me to stay in there with him till he was relieved from guard duty. After that he really didn’t like standing post up there.”

The Marines’ predecessors, a unit of Welsh Guards, also produced tales of the unexpected. “The Brits claimed to see weird things, hear noises,” Corporal Lima said. “Lots of them said it’s creepy at night, especially from midnight till 4am. You see a lot of unexplained lights through night-vision goggles.”

Its elevation has clearly made the Rock a natural defensive position for centuries. It is not a rock, though it resembles one. Medieval arrow slits and the remains of fortified turrets on its eastern flank show that this was once a large mud fort that collapsed in on itself and was probably built upon in turn. The locals say that it dates back to Alexander the Great, and another similar structure is visible in the distance to the south, part of a supposed line of such forts built at some point in Afghanistan’s history of invasion and war.

When US Marines seized the post last summer they dropped a 2,000lb (900kg) bomb on one side, collapsing part of the structure on to what its current occupants claim was a cave where Taleban fighters were sheltering.

“This place really sucks,” said Lance Corporal Austin Hoyt, 20, putting his pack on to return to the main base. “The Afghans say it’s haunted. Stick a shovel in anywhere and you’ll find bones and bits of pottery. This place should be in National Geographic — in the front there are weird-looking windows for shooting arrows. You know, they say the Russians up here were executed by the Mujahidin.”

He looked meaningfully at his successors and prepared to leave.

via Times Online

Researchers: Jim Morrison "Ghost" Picture Not Fake

In 1997, rock historian Brett Meisner visited late Doors frontman Jim Morrison's grave at Paris, France's Pere Lachaise cemetery. His assistant took a photo of him at the grave, and that was that.

But five years later, he looked at the photo and saw something kind of frightening: A very faint image in the background that looked like Morrison.

The image made its way onto the internet and is also discussed in a new book, Ghosts Caught On Film 2: Photographs Of The Unexplained.

The book says researchers can not account for the faint image in the background. They've decided it can't be a trick of the light, and have also ruled out the image being manipulated (Photoshop, etc.) in any way.

Maybe Morrison's "ghost" is to blame for all the vandalism on his grave that caused authorities to put a fence around his tombstone?

Or not.

At any rate, Meisner says the Morrison photo screwed up his life.

"Part of me wishes that I never stepped foot into the graveyard in the first place," he told the Daily Express.

"I'm partly to blame for talking about it in the first place. I should have kept it to myself.

"I've had strangers come to my home at all hours of the night wanting to talk to me saying they had messages from Jim.

"At first it was sort of interesting to see how many people felt a spiritual bond with Jim and the photo, but now the whole vibe seems negative."

In fact, Meisner literally wants to remove the negative from his life. He now says he plans to donate the photo and negative to an organization.

Here's a quick video about the picture:



via ChartAttack

Haunted Hassayampa Inn

I came across this ghost story today and thought you guys might enjoy it:

The four-story Hassayampa Inn in Prescott, AZ was named after a nearby river. It has an exterior of red brick trimmed in white, and its own bell tower. The bell tower seems to be the source of a well known haunting at the Hassayampa.

Shortly after the Hassayampa Inn opened on November 20, 1927, they say a newlywed couple checked into the hotel to spend their honeymoon. The husband stepped out to buy ‘a pack of cigarettes’ and never returned to his bride. ‘Faith’ as they call her, waited restlessly for three days. Depressed and all alone, the deserted woman hung her self in ill-fated bell tower.

Now guests and employees see her wandering in the halls wearing an off-white wedding gown. They report feeling her presence in Room 426—which has been named ‘Faith’s Room’. Lights turn on and off –objects seem to move or fly by—and sometimes her apparition has appeared sobbing near the doorway to the balcony.

I had my own encounter with Faith a few years ago when I was up in Prescott on business. The hotel staff knew I was a paranormal investigator and was eager to see what would happen when I stayed in ‘Faith’s Room’. I noted that every time I put my key in the door (they since have gone keyless) a spark of static electricity would shock me. EMF readings maintained a steady 2.9 in the room throughout the evening. At midnight, I turned off the lights and TV. I crawled into bed and settled in for a good night’s sleep.

Suddenly, about 1:00am I woke from a sound sleep to the TV blaring. All the lights in the room were turned back on. I hopped out of bed, turned everything back off and laid back under the covers. Then I felt someone—presumably Faith—sit down on left side of the bed. I slid my foot under the covers and pushed her off the bed. She sat back down in the same spot. Again, I pushed her off with my foot.

I felt a supernatural battle about to unfold. To my right, I could hear ‘someone’ in the bathroom filling a glass with water. Then, there was a presence hovering over me with the glass. I covered my face expecting to be drenched—yet peeking thru the cracks of my fingers—as I didn’t want to miss what was about to happen. I saw the glass tip, but nothing poured out! As soon as it tipped over, it faded away and disappeared. There was no sign water or the glass. Faith had her revenge and all was quiet in the room once more.

Other staff members speak of a tall man dressed in a long brown coat they call the ‘Night Watchman’. He has been seen sitting in the hotel lounge reading a newspaper. A staff member spoke to him, but he did not respond. When she turned to speak to him again, he was gone. The lonely looking man has also been seen in the lobby, and witnesses say they have watched him walk through the lounge to shake and secure the entrance doors.

So, next time you are headed up to Prescott, reserve a room at the Hassayampa Inn. Check into ‘Faith’s Room’—if you’re lucky, you might have a ghostly encounter of your own. And don’t worry, the night watchman will make sure you are locked in safely for the night.

Examiner

30 Creepiest Trees On Earth [pics]

This is pretty cool if you're like me and ya like creepy stuff.

If you are a horror movie buff, you’ve certainly noticed the liberal use of trees to set the mood. Halloween is hardly complete without the image of a moon-lit and fog-laden tree. However, some trees have been molded by Mother Nature into specters of their own. Scary, frightening, or downright weird, the trees we’ve amassed in this collection will leave you wondering if Mother Nature herself digested some magic mushrooms.

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