We all know about the infamous Salem witch trials between 1692 and 1693. Over 200 people were accused and 19 people were found guilty by hanging. Giles Corey was crushed to death. Society learned a hard lesson after the witch trials. You would think that this lesson would have resonated around the world two centuries later.

The Cost of Blind Belief

Superstitions and belief in the unknown can sometimes act as a crutch for those who don’t know how to explain the circumstances in their life. If someone experiences the loss of their entire family, perhaps it’s due to a curse. If someone loses their money and ends up desolate, perhaps it’s because of karma or some sort of retribution from a just God. If someone’s personality dramatically changes, then maybe it’s because they’re possessed, or they’ve been replaced. While we like to think that this is an outdated scenario, it continues to happen each day. The hardest thing to accept is that things happen without any specific reason or explanation…they just happen. While faith and blind belief can be relatively harmless, it can have deadly consequences should the wrong person dive into a superstition head first.

Roots of a Fairy Tale

Our story takes place in 1895, but the roots of the story go back for centuries. In Ireland, the belief in fairies was prominent. Even the most well-versed, book-read person believed in the superstition of fairies. What is truly fascinating is that Christianity coexisted with these beliefs. Fairies were as real as God. Fairies were perceived to be mischievous and were known to take human babies and replace them with a changeling. The changeling was often an older fairy, and would cause a lot of issues with its new family. If you had a baby that was actually a changeling, there were peculiar traits to look out for; amusement from silly things, constantly crying, or even jumping, dancing, etc. when it thought it was alone. Fairies would also take adults as well and replace them with changelings. Often, if a person was happy and personable one day, and then depressed and/or melancholy the next day, then it was believed that the person was replaced by a changeling.

A Modern Woman in the Wrong Time

In the story of Bridget Cleary, she was a modern woman who fell victim to superstitious belief by a society that didn’t know how to accept her. Bridget was truly ahead of her time. She was self-sustaining, independent, and was ambitious. She was born in 1869 and married Michael Cleary in 1887. Michael was nine years her senior and worked as a cooper. That means that he made wooden containers like barrels, caskets, buckets, vats, etc. She lived in Ballyvadlea, Ireland with her parents after she got married. Michael stayed in Clonmel. While the couple were apart, this is when Bridget became a modern woman. At first, she was selling eggs and chickens to her neighbors. Then, she obtained a Singer sewing machine and became a dressmaker and milliner. For her time, she was a professional woman who didn’t need a man to take care of her. After Bridget’s mother died, Michael and she became responsible for her father, Patrick Boland. Because her father was a laborer in his youth, he was entitled to one of the best houses for laborers. In turn, Bridget and Michael also lived in this house. What is interesting to note is that the house was believed to have been built upon a fairy ringfort.

According to an article on Mental Floss, Bridget herself had a personal interest in fairies, and was known to take detours on her delivery routes to areas that were known to be riddled with fairies. After making a delivery to her father’s cousin, Jack Dunne, on March 4th, 1895, Bridget fell ill. Keep in mind that it was also rather cold, there was snow on the ground, and Bridget had walked around two or three miles. According to the story, she couldn’t get warm and eventually fell ill. She said she had a “pain in her head” and was shivering. Her father ended up calling on Dr. Crean to check on her, but he couldn’t visit until the following Wednesday. Michael had also called on the doctor twice. When the doctor did tend to Bridget, he diagnosed her with “nervous excitement and slight bronchitis.” He hadn’t seen anything that concerned him or make him think her illness was fatal. He never saw her alive again. Some accounts will disagree with this assessment. It is believed today that Bridget may have been suffering from pneumonia or tuberculosis.

Ignoring Facts

You would have thought that Dr. Crean’s diagnosis would be enough to calm any concerns or fears that Michael had. Not quite. Michael was convinced that his wife had been replaced by a changeling or was possessed by a fairy. Father Ryan was called to the house to perform last rites in the event her illness took a turn for the worse. Unfortunately, Jack Dunne, Bridget’s uncle, perpetuated and encouraged Michael’s belief that she had been overtaken by fairies and she was “no longer Bridget.” With Father Ryan performing last rites, it made Michael hysterical and Jack encouraged him to act before he lost Bridget forever.

This is where Bridget’s nightmare began.

Validating a Harmful Belief

Bridget’s family visited a “fairy doctor” by the name of Denis Ganey, who gave them medicinal herbs to help exorcise the fairy out of Bridget, or at least get the changeling to reveal itself so that the real Bridget could be returned. The mixture had to be boiled with “new milk”, which is the milk a cow produces after the birth of a calf. Michael forced the mixture down Bridget’s throat while she was pinned down by Jack and three of her cousins. They also threw urine on her while shouting things like, “Are you Bridget Boland, wife of Michael Cleary, in the name of God?” and “Take it you witch or I’ll kill you!” She was also held over the grate of a fire, which was a known belief to drive out fairies. Neighbors and onlookers outside heard Bridget’s agonizing screams, but were too scared to intervene.

The following night, midnight on Thursday, the ritual was done and Michael was happy. Unfortunately, Bridget was said to be wild and deranged. Wouldn’t you feel similar after going through that? A priest was brought in to banish any “evil spirits” that were left after Bridget’s ordeal. On Friday, March 15th, Bridget seemed to be feeling better. She got dressed as usual and even had tea with her loved ones at their house. But when she requested milk, Michael became suspicious again, Milk was a favorite beverage for fairies. He then forced her to eat three pieces of bread with jam while saying her name. She ate two pieces, and hesitated when eating the third.

Michael lost it.

He threw Bridget to the ground, kneed her in the chest, stuffed the third piece of bread and jam down her throat, and tore off her clothes down to her undergarments. He then threw lamp oil on her and said, “She’s not my wife. You’ll soon see her go up the chimney.” He hit her head against the floor and set her on fire. He even poured more lamp oil on her to make the flames more intense. There is some conflicting info over what came first, the oil, or the fire. But what matters is that Bridget was burned alive for no reason. She was only 26-years old at the time of her death. She and Michael had no children.

Bridget’s family was horrified and begged Michael to put out the flames. They were soon locked in a bedroom with Bridget’s smoldering corpse and Michael left the house for an hour. When he returned, he threatened Bridget’s cousin with a knife and made him help him bury Bridget’s body. Her body was built in a shallow grave and the family was sworn to secrecy.

But that didn’t last long.

Secrets Don’t Stay Buried

The next morning, Michael and Jack Dunne went to Drangan Church. Believe it or not, after encouraging Michael to take action against his “possessed wife”, Jack ratted him out to the priest and told him that Michael burned his wife. Michael had requested to go to confession while crying and tearing his hair out. Some accounts include Michael talking to the priest about what happened. Either way, the priest reported Michael and Jack to the local authorities. The police searched and found Bridget’s body in the shallow grave. Her head was in a sack, and she was wearing nothing but black stockings and a gold earring.

What is truly tragic in all of this was that Michael believed that his wife would eventually return. He waited on the ringfort for days, believing that Bridget would come in riding on a white horse. He believed he would free her from her rope bounds and she “would be his forever.”

Michael and nine members of Bridget’s family were arrested, along with the “fairy doctor”, Denis Ganey. The judge had ruled out murder because the charged were acting out of genuine belief. After a two-day trial, Michael was found guilty of manslaughter and imprisonment. Jack Dunne, Patrick Boland, and four of Bridget’s cousins were also found guilty. Michael threw Jack under the bus saying that he would never have attacked Bridget had he not told him that she was a fairy. Jack served three years in prison. Michael was released in 1910 and fled to Montreal.

Final Thoughts

What is interesting is that this case was used as an example against Irish Home Rule. The idea was how could people who still believed in fairies and spirits be trusted enough to govern themselves? There were also rumors that Bridget may have been having an affair. Given that she had lived apart from her husband for a while, it is only natural that these rumors would start. I personally think this was a case of domestic violence and Michael used the common folklore of the area as a way to validate taking Bridget’s life.

How could Michael believe something so strongly that he ended up murdering his own wife? In a case study from 2006 by the Irish Journal of Medical Science, it was concluded that Michael may have been suffering from Capgras syndrome, which is when a person believes that someone close to them is an imposter. Given that there was mythological belief in this concept, and Michael also dealing with the loss of his father, he may have suffered a psychotic break which led him to his actions.

This is a case where someone who was mentally ill received validations and encouragement for his disillusions, and Bridget lost her life because of it.

Sources

New York Times – The Fairy Defense

The Burning of Bridget Cleary: Psychiatric aspects of a tragic tale

Mental Floss – The Bizarre Death of Bridget Cleary – The Irish “Fairy Wife”

Irish Central – Bridget Cleary: The Last Witch Burned in Ireland

Library Ireland – Bridget Cleary Burned to Death

Fire, Fairies, & Folklore

The post Burned Alive: The Fairy Witch of Ireland appeared first on Association of Paranormal Study.

How Far Do We Go Back?

But is it possible we’re engaging with someone (or something) from even earlier in time? For example, we know the history of the Trivette Clinic from 1932 on. But what about pre-1932? What was happening on the land 100 years before? Or even 1000 years before? Why do we limit ourselves to what we can only find on websites and in the history books? Granted, this is a realm of paranormal investigating I have not engaged in yet. In fact, it’s an older thought I’ve had which was reintroduced to me at the recent Trivette Clinic investigation by one of our attendees.

I must confess that this pondering is not my own. I was first introduced to researching the layers of a haunting by none other than John Sabol. If you’re not familiar with his work, I highly recommend visiting his website and checking out his books. Their fantastic, and it has truly opened my eyes to a method that makes sense in my eyes.

Even the land you’re standing or sitting on right now as you read this blog has a history. To us, it might be just a slab of concrete or a patch of asphalt, or even just a patch of grass. But we truly don’t know what was happening on that spot over 1000 years ago.

For areas that have more paranormal activity, why limit ourselves to just the last few hundred years? What is something happened on these haunted locations centuries ago that started to attract paranormal activity in that area, and we just think the events of the standing building are responsible for the haunting?

Hitting the Books

In order to embark on this thought properly, we need to get acquainted with our knowledge of history and anthropology. I would love to see if there are correlations with trends in ancient history and a haunted location. Ideally, what if there was something, let’s say a ritual, a spell, an alien visitation 5,000 years ago, something…happened on the spot where a haunting stands today? Or, what happens when a more recent haunting or energy imprint lingers in an area where a great battle happened 155 years ago?

This goes into an area of paranormal research where the single trunk splits off into hundreds of tiny branches. But I truly believe that if we keep testing and experimenting new investigation methods, we’re going to find something that eventually sticks. That might involve digging deeper into the layers of history and see how far into the past we can go.

The post Layers of a Haunting: Why Limit Ourselves? appeared first on Association of Paranormal Study.

It’s paranormal history. It’s the fabricated stories that locations will release. It’s the fake stories from ghost hunters who are trying to generate views on their YouTube channel, likes on their Facebook page, etc. We’re currently in an age where haunted locations will post their haunted history on their website to draw in paranormal researchers and ghost hunters. This comes from the fact that we want to see the value of a product before investing money to rent out the location. While this is a reasonable action in terms of marketing and running a business, it is doing something much more damaging than we can ever imagine.

It’s changing history.

The historian expressed a lot of concern in the fact that 100 years from now, what will remain of our text? What books will remain in print? What websites will still be in operation? If the historical facts of most paranormal places remain in existence from the embellished, exaggerated, if not fabricated, stories that were created to draw in a crowd…then we’re changing history for future generations. They will see the incorrect historical information and take it as fact, with the true stories falling away to the wayside.

Of course, there are untold stories that never made it into the history books. That’s a different dilemma. But when you release certain information, and historical research proves that the event didn’t happen, the name was wrong, circumstances were different, etc., then there’s a problem.

At the same time, I understand that there have been individuals who have tried to alter history, especially less-than-positive incidents that may have happened under their watch. As participants of the paranormal field, we have the extraordinary opportunity (and responsibility) to keep things as factual as possible. We will run into stories that can’t be found in the books. We ran into this with the Tenth Avenue Theater. However, the stories we were hearing were coming from church members who witnessed these events, knew the individuals we interacted with, etc. These stories came from the age before the internet, social media, etc. where these unmentionable secrets were hushed and they hoped they would be forgotten. We told the stories that were never meant to become public. But, I feel that enough time passed where any collateral damage was minimal, if not eliminated thanks to the passing of those who enforced such silence.

The moral of the story is that you shouldn’t make stuff up for the sake of being more spooky. If the spooky thing happened, great. If it didn’t, leave it alone. Let the stories come organically from your investigations. Let the stories come from the preserved diary entries of those who lived. If you capture compelling data that goes against documented history, make a note in your write up so that people know where the story came from. Be as transparent as you can while sharing your findings. If you realize something lines up with an actual event, that’s even better!

Happy hunting, and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty in historical research. Let the future generations have as much truth as possible so they know where they came from.

The post Is the Paranormal Field Changing History? appeared first on Association of Paranormal Study.

Hamilton’s Grave at Trinity Church, NYC.

If you know me as well as another APS member, Beth, then you’re probably thinking, “It was only a matter of time before APS talked about Hamilton’s ghost.” Truthfully, I wanted to cover Hamilton for a while, especially after Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical took off. I have alway had a fascination for hauntings that surrounded the Revolutionary War as well as the Civil War. I found the concept of historical figures haunting famous locations. If we truly believe in ghosts and hauntings, then how cool would it be to talk to THE George Washington or Alexander Hamilton himself?

I try to make an excursion to New York City once a year to see some of the latest Broadway shows and just enjoy being in the city. I had always wanted to live in NYC for a time, but so far, it’s still a dream from my home in Raleigh, NC. Whenever I get into a new show, I always have to know the back story of the historical events, the writing process, and more. I approach paranormal investigations in a similar manner. Hamilton resonated with me not just because it’s a groundbreaking show, but it shed light on one of the least popular founding fathers, both historically and socially. After becoming OBSESSED with the musical, I got Ron Chernow’s book that inspired Miranda, and I dove into this chapter in Revolutionary War history that I was unfamiliar with.

Can you guess what was the first thing I looked up? Yep. Ghosts. Was Alexander still haunting a part of New York City? Who knows…but I wanted to see what the scoop was if there was anything there. I found a few stories of Hamilton supposedly haunting the area around his tomb.

In July 2016, I had a chance to go to NYC since I was lucky enough to snag tickets to Hamilton. I decided to make it a whole trip dedicated to Hamilton. There was a wonderful exhibit at the New York Public Library with actual copies of The Reynolds Pamphlet, Farmer Refuted, and even drafts of Washington’s farewell speech. We also went to Weehawken to the dueling grounds where Burr and Hamilton went head to head. We even went to Trinity Church to pay our respects to the Hamiltons along with other historical figures buried there. The only area I didn’t go to was where Hamilton died. Mostly it was due to time. But, I learned that I need to be putting this amount of energy into all my historical research endeavors, ESPECIALLY the paranormal.

My boyfriend showing off Hamilton’s bust near the site of his duel with Aaron Burr in Weehawken.

The stone where Hamilton supposedly rested after the duel

Hamilton died in his friend’s, William Bayard’s house in Greenwich Village. The address of the location was at 80-82 Jane Street, however, historical maps have since proved that to be inaccurate, which I’ll get into in a moment. He was treated at 27 Jane Street where the doctor, John Francis lived. Jean Karsavina, who resided in the house starting from 1939, experienced footsteps, creaks, the chain on the toilet swinging, and saw blurs and shadows. This story was covered by Hans Holzer, and it indicates the house where John Francis lived, the doctor that attended Hamilton on his death-bed, is haunted. You can read the full story here,

NOTE: There is a plaque at 82 Jane Street says that Hamilton died in that home. Bayard’s house was actually a block further north of the plaque. More details at the end.

Around the time that Hamilton became a smash hit, it was reported that paranormal activity really got stirred up at 71 Jane Street (which is across the street and a few houses east from plaque). The New Yorker Radio Hour sent Becky Cooper to a séance that attempted to raise Hamilton’s spirit. Since Joe Hamilton (no relation) bought the house in 1994, she and her family have experienced weird noises and crashes that were so loud to the point where they had to wear ear plugs. When Joe was remodeling the house, she was told to leave the plans out so that Hamilton could see them. Usually, you hear a lot of activity happening during the remodeling of a home. But in Joe’s case, she left the plans out and things were fine. Irene Connors, who owned the house before, believes that Alexander Hamilton’s ghost resided in her home. She actually saw a man with knee-length trousers, he was slim and wore a white powdered wig. She reportedly saw his face a few times.

If Hamilton’s ghost is indeed reappearing since the musical came out, it kind of makes sense. Lin-Manuel Miranda ensured that Hamilton got the recognition and legacy he worked so hard for. After years of being nearly forgotten, except for who we saw on the $10 bill, to everyone knowing his name and becoming obsessed with his story, perhaps we’ve given Alex some energy to make himself known again?

Eliza Hamilton’s Grave

They brought in a medium, and she didn’t pick up on Hamilton but sensed a child. Using an Ouija board, she asked what the child what their mother’s name was, and it apparently said, “Eliza.” I don’t want to spoil it, so you can listen to the 15-minute segment below. There were thoughts that it was Hamilton’s older son, Philip, who also died in a duel in 1801 before Hamilton. Then there is a theory that because baby Philip (who was named after his older brother) was brought into the room where Hamilton died so that he could give his father a kiss goodbye while on his deathbed.

Is it because of Miranda’s musical that the spirit of Alexander Hamilton has found new life, so to speak? Given that so many people lived in these houses around the area for over 200 years, it could be anyone haunting 27 Jane Street or 71 Jane Street.

Question About the Houses

I did some digging on Google Maps to see what I could find of these 3 addresses, plus the possible location of the Bayard Estate.

According to Google Maps, 27 Jane Street is now an empty lot

Here is 71 Jane Street

Here is 82 Jane Street (You can see the plaque on the building)

Here is where the 3 addresses stand in relation to each other

Here’s a map of NYC sketched in 1767. You can see where the Bayard Estate is under the title, “Mr. Bayard.”

Looking at the maps, here’s the approximate location of Bayard’s Estate as it stands today even though the original buildings are likely gone. 27 Jane Street is the bullet point on the right under the Art Bar.

NOTE: The midway point between the plaque at 82 Jane Street and Bayard’s House supposed location is…you guessed it: 71 Jane Street. Coincidence? You tell us!

Sources:

https://the-line-up.com/ghostly-return-alexander-hamilton

http://www.wnyc.org/story/alexander-hamilton-haunting-jane-street/

http://www.aaronburrassociation.org/bayard_house.htm

http://www.travelchannel.com/interests/haunted/articles/historic-us-ghosts

The post Alexander Hamilton: Haunting More than the Theatre appeared first on Association of Paranormal Study.