Ghost stories haunt the headlines during the Halloween season. However, eerie stories of paranormal activity are covered throughout the year, especially if they are particularly strange.
The ghost stories covered in news stories this last year were better than ever. Particularly the video report from a news crew that got much more than they bargained for. Not only did they get some bizarre footage, an ornery spirit apparently attacked their cameraman.
The first video in our tour of apparitions caught on camera is one caught on a police surveillance camera at the police station in Espanola, New Mexico. Officer Karl Romero spotted something odd on an outside camera covering the sally port. Romero spotted what he believed to be a ghostly apparition walking through the gate into the secured area, walk across the secured area, and then walk through the gate on the other side, leaving the area.
Detectives told KOAT 7 News that there was no way someone could get into the gated area. One detective admitted, "It is hard to say, but I do believe it was a ghost."
The police say this isn't the first instance of ghostly activity. There have been reports of strange noises in the middle of the night, and even people feeling something breathing down their neck.
When the video was posted in September, it went viral. A skeptic says that he believes the apparition in the video is actually a bug on the camera. He says the movement is bug-like, not human. However, the Espanola police say they considered the possibility of the apparition being a bug and ruled it out.
Watch the video and decide for yourself.
WESH 2 News in Orland reported on a video with a similar apparition in a news story last October. This video was captured at the Plaza Resort and Spa in Daytona Beach. The hotel is over a century old, and the staff believes it to be haunted.
Security chief Chris Lenkiewicz says, "I have doors held, like you're pulling on a door and the door is not locked, and walk in and there's nobody in there."
While watching the security cameras one day, they saw something strange in the downstairs bar. They sent a guard to check it out, and when he got close to the bar, the apparition seemed to move away as if to hide.
The apparition in this video is a transparent blob, similar to the Espanola video. Could both of these simply be bugs crawling on the camera lens? Take a look and see what you think.
Typically, security cameras are setup to catch people up to no good in your place of business. In the next two videos, the shop owners believe they caught ghosts vandalizing their establishments.
The first story is from the Ellacoya Country Store in Gillford, New Hampshire. On March 10, while no one was in the room, a glass top to a cake display, sitting on the counter minding its own business, is suddenly hurtled to the floor.
Shop employee Heidi Boyd told WMUR TV she heard a "big bang," and then "I walked around and looked and I was on the floor. It took several minutes to set in [and it's] still freaking me out."
The shop's manager, Lisa Giles, says the shop has a history of ghost activity. Giles told the Huffington Post, "Anyone who's been here a substantial amount of time has seen something. When we first opened the place, we saw the ghost of a man standing in the doorway."
Metro, a UK newspaper, covered a story last October of another alleged ghost caught on camera breaking glass for no good reason.
This glass smashing took place in the Barnsley Antique Centre in South Yorks. Daniel Parker, who owns the shop, says he often finds smashed glasses and other valuables knocked over.
Parker told Metro, "I never really believed in ghostly things, but I can't find any other explanation for what's been happening."
The video shows what appears to be a glass door suddenly shattering into many pieces.
Now for the pièce de résistance of the ghost news report videos, well, at least it is my favorite. That is because the news crew that went to cover the story experienced paranormal activity themselves.
A reporter and a cameraman from FOX43 in central Pennsylvania went to cover an alleged haunted house that was to be featured on the Travel Channel's Dead Files TV show. Homeowner DeAnna Simpson says the ghostly activity includes disembodied voices, things moving on their own, and sometimes people getting scratched.
Simpson told FOX43 that she believes she has over five different ghosts residing in her house. She says, "I have some here that are protecting me, some women here that are protecting me, but the majority are bad, dark forces, inhuman."
While investigating, the news crew caught a strange shadowy hand moving across the screen, and one of those bad ghosts scratched the cameraman. Check out this great report.
I hope these videos give you something to talk about at your Halloween parties this year. I actually would be tickled if they also freaked you out so much you lost some sleep. Wait a minute. What is that behind you? Look out! Just kidding. Happy Halloween!
Let me know what you think of the videos in the comments below.