Jocelyne LeBlanc
People who have died in tragic circumstances sometimes come back as an entity because they’re confused about their sudden death or perhaps they’re just not ready to move on. And some just want revenge as I’m about to discuss a few cases where the ghosts of murdered victims have allegedly come back from the grave to haunt their killers.
It’s been said that the ruthless gangster Al Capone ordered the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre that killed seven men in Chicago back in February of 1929. Capone was sent to Alcatraz in 1931 for tax evasion and while he was jailed, he was supposedly tormented by James Clark’s ghost – one of the men murdered during the massacre. He was even heard in his cell yelling at “Jimmy” to leave him alone but the ghost continued to haunt him until his death in 1947.
Al Capone
Serial killer Terry Childs was imprisoned back in 1987 for the murder of a 17-year-old girl and over the following three decades, he confessed to several other murders. So why the sudden change of heart? Apparently his victims’ ghosts were taunting him in his jail cell. He claimed that the spirits appeared to him and were “eating up his brain” until he confessed and then the demons allegedly left him alone.
In December of 1864 during the American Civil War, a Methodist minister named Bill Sketoe was abducted for allegedly deserting the Confederate Army and helping the Union Army. He was hung from a tree close to Newton, Alabama, but when his killers noticed that it wasn’t high enough for Sketoe to die of strangulation, they dug a hole beneath him so his feet couldn’t touch the ground. He got his revenge on his killers as six of them ended up dying very suddenly. One of them fell off his horse and died after hitting a tree; one was struck by lightning; and another one drowned in a swamp. And that’s not all as the hole that his killers dug underneath his hanging body kept showing back up even when workers would fill it in.
This final story is not about how a victim haunted her killer but how her spirit actually helped identify the murderer. When real estate agent Lisa Posluns was found brutally murdered and sexually assaulted in her office in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, back in 2002, suspicion was immediately focused on the cleaner Rui Marques who had a key to the building but DNA eventually cleared him. Four months after the murder, Marques was cleaning the building and while he was polishing a black table, he noticed the reflection of a female and when he looked up, he saw Posluns’ ghost. She kept pointing to the table as if she was trying to tell Marques something and at that point, he thought of a former employee named Nelson DeJesus who always wore black clothes. He told authorities about the ghost and mentioned DeJesus. Upon further investigation, DeJesus’ DNA was found in Posluns’ underwear and he was arrested for her murder.
Mysterious Universe
Ghosts alone can’t keep Dudley’s haunted station hotel open
Paul Seaburn
Most old mining towns had a railway station which, if there was enough traffic, had a hotel nearby. Dudley (or Duddeley) was a booming mining town in the West Midlands of west-central England that was once the center of the Black Country – so called because of the air darkened by the coal mines, coking, iron foundries, glass factories, brickworks and steel mills. Dudley’s railway station was opened in 1850 and The Station Hotel in 1896. It was demolished and expanded in 1936 and eventually acquired the ghosts that made it a popular site for tourists, wedding parties (really!) and paranormal investigations – the last helped designate it one of the most haunted locations in England. Unfortunately, even ghosts can’t fight the effects of the economy and the pandemic, so the famed, once glamorous Dudley Station Hotel has closed. Before it’s demolished for good, let’s give its ghosts one 15 minutes of fame.
Always check around before checking in at a haunted hotel.
Higgypop.com says the Station Hotel ghost stories include reports of poltergeist activity (including knives being thrown), eerie feelings, disembodied voices, and sightings of a man in black nicknamed George, a lady in white and others. The hotel’s website gives the background of the hotel’s most famous ghost story, and the television psychic who identified the spirit.
“When ‘Most Haunted’s’ resident psychic Derek Accora came to the hotel, he reported the name of a male spirit George Williams/Williamson whom was having an affair with a female by the name of Elizabeth Hitchen. George Williams allegedly murdered Elizabeth by strangling and stabbing her. Accora then revealed that Williams disposed of Elizabeth’s body by means of a chute within the hotel, which would have been used, at the time, for the delivery of bottles and barrels. Williams was then reported to have buried the body near the front of the hotel. According to Derek Accora, Elizabeth Hitchen’s body remains there.”
Poor Elizabeth
Nice guy, that George – no wonder poor Elizabeth still haunts the place. Allegedly, so does the spirit of another George — George Lawley, who knew about the murder and documented it in a ledger that he hid – a ledger that was never found. The murder happened in the original hotel and the manager was hanged for the crime, so it’s doubtful that the body in a barrel is still on the grounds, but plenty of witnesses swear the ghosts still are. Derek Accora also claimed to pick up the presence of ghosts of children – a girl run over by a carriage and a boy who died from a blood disease.
Every haunted hotel has at least one known haunted room and the Station House’s is Room 214, where a spirit is often seen waiting for something and the Most Haunted’s night vision camera caught a chair and the bed seemingly moving.
“It is with a heavy heart Helen, Chris and our amazing team have to announce that The Station Hotel has been sold and now ceased trading. At this sad time we would like to thank all our valued customers over the years, whatever the occasion it has been a great honour to welcome all of you. Thank you once again for your support and stay safe.”
While the ghosts are still there, the guests aren’t, so the owners announced this week on social media that the Station Hotel has been sold. While it’s rumored to be scheduled for demolishing, some commenters are hoping it will be turned into apartments.
