Author: Nicolle Bryson

By Nicolle Bryson.

“Aokigahara, also known as the Sea of Trees is a forest on the northwestern flank of Japan’s Mount Fuji thriving on 30 square kilometres of hardened lava laid down by the last major eruption of Mount Fuji in 846 CE. Source : Wikipedia.”

This forest is known as one of the most famous hotspots internationally for suicide with hundreds of people taking their lives every year. Upon entry of the forest there are many signs urging suicidal visitors to re- think there actions and they also list a number of suicide hotlines. Many well known YouTubers and people from around the globe have travelled far to see and explore the famous forest. The suicides are not the only scary thing about this large forest as it has a historical reputation as being very much haunted with ‘Ghosts of the Dead’. Its been reported many visitors have gone far into the forest and have heard voices not of the living and seen spirits telling them to get out, with many people getting lost and never coming back out and locals desperately urging visitors not to enter as it’s very bad luck and incredibly easy to get lost and not come back out. Police have stopped reporting incidents of suicide the last few years as not to popularise the area and change it’s reputation.
Some believe the ghosts of those abandoned and the mournful spirits of the suicidal linger in the woods. Folklore claims they are vengeful, dedicated to tormenting visitors and luring those that are sad and lost off the path. It’s also reported there are a very high number of ghosts left who have died of unnatural and violent deaths and even word of demons being present. Visitors and locals report the sea of trees being cursed and sounds of loud screams in the distance when exploring and fast whispers as if various people are having a conversation at once when no one is anyone nearby. There is no definite proof of the area being haunted but one thing we know is that you wouldn’t want to be alone there at night, the look and feel of the place alone is enough to make even the most brave people scared. Would you explore here? I know I would, but absolutely not alone and never at night! If you have any theories, feel free to let us know in the comments, I love hearing them.

Here is a link below from VICE to see the suicide forest for yourself but BEWARE of watching as more than likely you will see something unnatural and scary although very interesting!

https://video.vice.com/en_uk/video/suicide-forest-in-japan/55e4b8b52f12412c4b4b4ab6

By Nicolle Bryson. 

Robert is a 20 century handmade doll that stands over three feet tall and is stuffed with wood shavings, he is dressed in a very old fashioned sailor suit which people suggest was an outfit the owner had worn as a young boy he also has black buttons for eyes and allegedly has human hair (believed to be his owners also). The doll is 111 years old. 

This doll was the property of a young boy called Robert Eugene Otto, it was brought as a birthday gift from Otto’s grandfather in 1906 although there is also rumours he was given as a gift from a woman who looked after Otto shortly after being fired. From the Key West area of Florida the Robert doll became a best friend to Otto who would take the doll everywhere, have private conversations and even had himself a seat at the dinner table. Although Otto lived in a mansion with his parents he was a very lonely boy, his child home was always filled with maids and servants who reportedly were not treated well at all. A woman was hired to take care of Otto and help with general duties around the mansion, one day Mrs Otto witnessed the woman practicing black magic and voodoo in the back yard. It’s been alleged she was so angry and upset at being fired and treated unfairly that she put a curse on the doll to punish those who lived in the house. 

The doll was like a member of the family going on shopping trips with Otto and being tucked into bed each night with the boy, it was an innocent relationship until creepy things started happening around the home. Otto’s bedroom would be found with items and toys mutilated and thrown everywhere, servants and family members would here Otto talking to Robert and Robert would reply in a childlike voice and a lot of the time getting very angry. People would burst into the room to find the doll Sat in a chair and the young boy cowering and shaking in the corner as if being told off by Robert and sitting in a naughty corner. Neighbours claimed they saw the doll moving across the bedroom throughout the day when no one was home. The doll would allegedly lock people in the attic of the home and physically attack servants, maids and guests.  It’s also reported Robert was found at the end of Mrs Otto’s bed with a knife in his hand.  The parents had no choice but to put the doll in a box and leave him locked away in the attic where he would stay for years to come, although that didn’t stop the creepy things from happening because people still reported voices and manic laughter coming from where Robert was. 

In years to come when Otto died a new owner took over the house and kept Robert for a few years where she claims there was still a lot of activity happening around the doll , in 1994 she donated Robert to Fort East Martello Museum in Key West where he is kept protected in a large glass case as a main attraction at the museum.

There is a lot of energy that resides around the doll today and people from all over the world go to the museum just to see Robert, they always ask permission before taking photographs as it’s claimed if you take one without permission the doll will put a curse on you. Many people are also too scared to look the doll in the eyes through fear of what will happen to them. Robert receives thousands of letters every year from visitors apologising for not asking for permission before snapping pictures with the doll and claiming they’ve had creepy and unusual things happen around them because of the doll. Do you dare visit? Is Robert scarier than Annabelle?, thats for you to decide.

By Nicolle Bryson.

This Halloween we were invited to tour Zak Bagans Haunted Museum In Las Vegas ,along with the rest of the Ghost Adventures team and the infamous Annabelle Doll.

Who is Annabelle ? If you don’t already know Annabelle is rumoured to be the most haunted doll of all time ,with 2 movies under her belt. Taken in by Ed and Lorraine Warren the doll was reported to be causing strange happenings in an apartment where she was owned by 2 student nurses in 1970. The mother of one of the student nurses Donna bought the doll as a birthday gift for her daughter. It wasn’t long until strange things started happening around the home, with the doll moving on her own to different rooms and positions from where she was left and allegedly attacking people in the apartment and even levitating !

The doll has caused such mayhem its now been locked in a glass case in Ed and Lorraine Warrens Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut. With reports of harming and even killing a visitor of the museum, the doll has scared many people and is protected in the case with daily prayers and holy water never to be touched by bare hands , where shes only been touched with gloves and holy water for no longer than a minute due to the supposed demonic evil residing inside the doll.

For Halloween this year we got a real treat when viewers where told that the Ghost Adventures team would be handling Annabelle the doll out of the glass case in Zaks own haunted museum. The now official owner of the doll Tony Spera brought the doll along to the museum in a small case where he cleansed his hands in holy water then saying a prayer before putting on gloves to take the doll out of the case placing her on a wooden chair where she is sat upright. Zak places the doll in a room with other alleged haunted dolls where she is sat in a dark room in the chair in the middle of the other dolls . We see what the team refer to as auras and Zak sits next to the doll with another team member where they both report feeling electricity and strong energy beneath the doll,  they place the EVP underneath her where we hear words such as “Listen ” and ” Annabelle “. After a short while Tony places Annabelle in another room where she is sat in the middle of the room again , Zak keeps saying over and over again how he feels connected to the doll and how he really wants to touch the doll, he crawls towards the doll trying to entice the evil energy inside . More words are heard through the EVP where it says “Grab” and “Foot” , Zak then touches Annabelle’s foot were he says it was completely unintentional and he felt Annabelle Commanded him to do so.

Many viewers have been left feeling disappointed and people who were once strong believers are now saying they believe it to be a hoax. There are many references to the way the doll was handled such as how was the doll allowed in an open space with the team when she has been left in a glass case for years due to being seen as an evil demonic entity. Viewers are also saying how the Ghost Adventures team made it look like a theatrical performance with Zak as the main lead. Others are even reporting that it wasn’t the real doll at all but another raggedy Anne doll because if the doll is as evil as has been reported then why would they allow it to be used in such a way ,especially after stories of the doll causing death to those who have taunted it. Zak has also been called disrespectful by those who have watched the episode after repeatedly being warned to not touch the doll by any means. Shortly after touching the doll the owner came downstairs where he then says to Zak ‘If you have touched that doll you’re in serious danger’. Tony carries on to say that ‘When i said that doll put slashes on somebody, it did ‘, ‘When i said that doll was responsible for killing a kid on a motorcycle it was , Even a priest wasn’t safe’ he is very angry and removes Annabelle from the room and back into her case.

Was there sufficient evidence to make you believe the stories , or could all the strange happenings have been the other spirits that reside in the extremely haunted museum ? Do you believe it was the real doll or was it a replica? Either way it has certainly made an impact on believers and non believers alike. After many famous hauntings being proved to be hoaxes and clever marketing ploys its anyone’s guess.

By Nicolle Bryson.

So last week I did the first Spooky Sunday and it was quite popular so I’ve decided if I get enough stories, to make this a regular thing. If you would like to be featured anonymous or otherwise email me on nicollebryson92@gmail.com. Thank you everyone for your stories today. So let’s get on with it, here below are more stories by you! Let us know what you think, enjoy. 

 It moved on its own.

When I was about 13 years old we lived in a nice little cottage in Devon, it was a beautiful place we always wanted a cottage. One night I was alone at home it was at this point my mum had decided I was old enough to be alone without a babysitter for a few hours. I got bored so decided to watch a DVD in my bedroom, I was starting to get hungry so I decided to make a microwave pizza. I took it out and headed back upstairs to carry on watching my film. I heard loud banging downstairs and assumed my mum was back so I walked down and the door was locked and no one was there I checked everywhere. I went Into the kitchen thinking I may as well get a drink whilst I’m here and I saw the microwave was on and cooking something. I thought I maybe forgot and did it myself so I pushed the button to open it and I just went pale and felt shivers through me when I saw my old teddy was inside just sitting upright. A teddy I hadn’t seen since I was about 5 and thought we threw out! No windows open and the door was locked, I phoned my mum she just seemed confused but not really paying attention thinking I’m playing a prank. Still till this day I can’t understand how it happened and I made sure to throw it out after that!
He flew to grandads house. 

When I was younger, my older brother (he was about 5 at the time) woke up one morning and told my mum that he “flew to nanny and Grandad’s house” (we lived in Devon, they lived in Liverpool) he went on to tell her that he flew over the motorway, and it was raining. 

Later that day my nan rang my mum, and told her in the middle of the night, my grandad woke up and saw someone stood at the end of the bed, and that it was raining, could it have been my brother? 

 Who was there? 

I was lying in bed asleep with my husband when I woke up and he was sitting on the side of the bed. I asked him if he was ok and he didn’t answer me. I asked him “what’s wrong are you ok? ” and I turnt my bedside light on, whatever/whoever it was it looked like I had frightened it. Something jumped off my bed and knocked my grandads picture off the side with it. I screamed for my husband and he was in the other room. 

 The ghost who haunts the pub. 

I was locking up the side doors at my pub and putting the shutters down, it’s right next to the men’s toilets. I heard a flush and opposite the door is a window and as I looked in the window I saw a man walk from the toilets to the other side (where the sinks are) and I assumed it was a man.  I went back behind the bar and put the keys away and there was a man at the bar who was there the whole time and a woman that was very drunk and dancing. I checked everywhere that no one else was in the bar so I said to the other bar man ‘is that her boyfriend that’s in the toilet?’  and he said she came on her own that night so I said ‘then who’s the man in the toilets? ‘. He said ‘no ones in there’ and I said yes there is go see for yourself and as he went in, there was no one in there and no one could have left without us knowing. 

He died. 

When I was younger I was out with my childhood best friend.  I felt 3 taps on my shoulder I turned and said to my friend “I think my grandad just died”.  She laughed and said ‘what?’, I said I’m being serious my grandad has just died. A short few minutes later I had a call from my mum and she was crying and said to me your grandad has just died. 
She locked him in the bedroom. 

One night I had stayed out at a friends house so my mom was at home with just my 2 brothers. 

She was laid in bed with both of them reading a magazine when she heard some rustling and footsteps upstairs in the attic (me and my brothers bedrooms where up there), I’d had my bedroom window open that afternoon so she thought someone may have climbed through the window. She locked my brother in her bedroom and grabbed something to protect herself. 

When she got upstairs the windows where all closed and no one were there, as she started to walk back down some one came behind her, it was like a white figure. She ran back down to her bedroom and locked herself in for the rest of the night.

The alarm clock. 

My great grandad owned a big wooden clock, the day he died the clock stopped working on the time of his death. My grandad kept it and has tried everything but it won’t work and is still set the time of his death. Also my dad’s best friend was the one who discovered my dad when he had passed. For 2 weeks after he would wake up bang on 6:07am every morning. It turned out my dad’s alarm was set for 6:07am.
 

The village. 

I used to visit my aunts house a lot when I was younger I had cousins who were a similar age and the house was so big and there was always things to do. I remember being scared a lot at night for no reason when I stayed over.  I just always felt like someone was there watching me, the whole village gave me an eerie feeling, walking around there was always pictures of the old orphanage and gravesites nearby etc. One night I was sitting in the living room when I looked at the wall and saw a black figure of a man standing up, I just stared gawping, to scared to move I just froze. I blinked and it was gone. I told my aunty who said maybe it was someone waiting outside as the windows were open. I slept over again as my mum was working nightshifts, I woke up and went to the toilet and I stopped. I saw a man standing at the bathroom door, a half man. A dark figure of a man, but I could only see half of his body it was like the right side was just gone. He stood there with a cane, a black trench coat and a large black hat. I ran into the bedroom crying and woke up my older cousin who checked and saw no one there. I don’t know how I slept that night but it took me a year before I felt OK to visit the house again. I told my aunt about this not long ago as we got talking about old times and she told me she experienced a lot of things in that home, we both researched online as we got curious and it turns out the house was previously a place where the kept the bodies until they could be buried. My heart sank. 

By Nicolle Bryson. 

So I’ve been asking you the readers for some of your ghost stories to share and here below are some interesting paranormal experiences by you.  Let me know what you think and to share your own stories Email me on nicollebryson92@gmail.com if you’d like it to stay anonymous it can. Enjoy. 

Marian Main. 

Hi there lads and lasses. Let me begin this extremely long post by saying that I have never really believed in the paranormal, but that I have always respected people who do. I did get into some weird stuff in my mid-twenties though, but that’s another story. 

I have had a few weird experiences in my life, but I always put this down to logical explanations and trying to understand the laws of science and pure reasoning. So those things that have happened have never entered my thoughts or troubled me in any way. 
However, something occurred on Monday just gone that has made me question EVERYTHING about the subject of the paranormal. 
I have absolutely no explanation for this and I am still kind of freaked out by it. It has actually made me a bit upset. Not scared, but kind of uneasy. I wasn’t going to post this but made the decision to do so because this has made me uneasy, not scared, just kind of questioning myself and I am still trying to process this. 
So without further ado…
So, I found out something very strange related to something that happened when I was in my early twenties. 
So it is 1986. 
It was a beautiful summer day in August and my boyfriend at the time said he was taking me to Arundel Castle because the Arundel Festival was on. 
Lots of people seeing events, dressing up in period costumes, having fun etc. 
We went to the castle and started by being introduced to and then following a tour guide type of person, I don’t know if he was an official tour guide and/or whether he did this only during the festival, but anyway I got the impression he knew what he was talking about. 
We went through some rooms etc and to be honest I couldn’t really hear the tour guide because he was right at the front and we were three quarters behind all the other people (there was about twenty of us).

I felt very strange in some of the rooms and put it down to the summer heat. I was lightheaded and a bit nauseous. We were going for dinner after the tour so maybe I was hungry? But I honestly never had experienced that sort of thing whenever I was hungry. 

We got to the Keep of Arundel Castle and the slight breeze coming through the holes  was lovely. I was looking through one of these holes out onto the grounds and was saying to my boyfriend, “Oh look at how beautiful this is, it must take so much hard work to keep this looking so nice”. 

I could CLEARLY hear people chatting behind me, but as with a lot of people chatting in a crowd I couldn’t make out a single conversation.
I then felt a hand being placed on my right shoulder. I thought it was my boyfriend wanting to tell me we had to move on. 
If you can process that for a moment this is how quickly this happened. I literally looked around as I felt the hand on my shoulder in a matter of a second… 
There was no one there… 
No one… Not a single solitary person…
But literally a second before I HEARD people chatting and moving behind me. 
I was completely alone and the tour was way ahead of me. By the time I caught up with them there had been 40, maybe 45 feet between us. I know this because I was very good at judging distance in those days. Having been a groom most of my teenage years, if you ride horses, you will understand. 
I caught up to the group and my boyfriend said he thought that I had been behind him the whole time. 
I said nothing about what had happened in the keep. Again I put it down to the heat or hunger or both. I didn’t feel ill. Just strange. 
We were then lead into some very beautiful rooms which were as you would expect in a beautifully maintained castle. Very ornate and sumptuously beautiful. 
I was fascinated by the detail of the furnishings, the portraits and the floors and thinking how many thousands of people had trodden those floors, opened and closed the doors and windows. Sitting in those rooms when the castle was being used as a residence etc. 
We were walking through one of the rooms when a painting caught my eye of a very beautiful lady and without any explanation as I was looking at her, my mind was saying “I know you, I know you, I know you”. This to me was an involuntary thought and very strange. 
I felt as if I knew what I was going to see before we walked into the next rooms, and sure enough, the rooms were exactly as I expected them to be. Except the furniture had been now moved around slightly. 
This feeling was particularly strong in the room with the lady’s portrait. 
I looked away from the portrait and I immediately saw a man walking towards me from the next room we were going to enter. He was about 20 feet away from me. 
He was looking straight at me. I immediately noticed that he was dressed up. He had a darkish blue coat on with a fur edge. He had almost knee high boots on. He wore a neck ruff and he had a beard and moustache, very much like a cavalier but not dressed as such. His face was thinnish and long. He was also carrying what looked like a little book in his right hand. He was wearing what looked like a sword that made his coat stick out slightly on his left side. 
As he was walking towards me he was looking straight into my eyes, then he casually turned to his right, broke eye contact, and then proceeded to disappear from my view behind the door and wall in the next room. 
I thought that he was going to go through to another room which was situated directly in front of him when he turned to his right. 
I thought he was very impressive and I told the guide as much, who had been talking to some ladies. 
The tour was almost finished and the group had more or less dispersed. 
I told the guide that the people who dress up especially for the Arundel Festival and for the castle are very convincing, but how they must be so hot on this warm, sunny day in their costumes. 
The guide told me that there were no people wearing costumes in the castle but he did ask me what the man looked like, which I didn’t think anything of. So I told him what I saw. 
The guide’s face turned from an interested, engaged expression, to that of concern, I am sure it was a look of alarm. 
I didn’t know what to say when he looked like this. So all I could muster was “Thank you so much for the tour, it was very interesting and I would like to come back to see more one day.”
The guide turned away and went towards the room that I saw the dressed up man in. 
I followed after the guide because my boyfriend was now standing in that next room. To my surprise, when I walked into that room, the area where I saw the dressed up man walk towards was cordoned off with rope, no doubt so the public can’t interfere with the furniture etc. I wondered if he had stepped over the ropes?
But, there was no door there that he could have gone through. 
I looked around and did not see the dressed up man. Because I did see him with my own two eyes and wondered where he had gone. He was as clear as day. So I never thought anything of it. I thought that maybe the guide was mistaken, or maybe someone from the Arundel Festival had made his way into the castle for some unknown reason. I never gave it another thought, until now…
This is where this thing gets strange. 
I am sitting here with Pebbles my daughter on Monday just gone and we were talking about this time when I went to Arundel Castle. We were kind of discussing going there a while back, so I was telling her about this time when I went to the castle with my then boyfriend. 
I forgot to mention that I saw an owl from the castle keep. Which I thought was strange because I was under the impression they were nocturnal birds. 
So Pebbles and I are chatting away, and she asked me to describe the dressed up man that I saw, so I gave her all the details that I have shared with you. 
Pebbles went to her phone,  She asked me one more time to describe the dressed up man, which I thought was weird but I did anyway…

Pebbles just said “Oh… Wow ” while looking at her phone. She looked at me with real concern but in a kind of confused way. 

Pebbles then showed me what she was looking at on her phone. This is what she showed me… 
 THIS IS THE MAN I SAW IN ARUNDEL CASTLE 31 YEARS AGO!!!

I was actually very shocked to see this. And I am not easily fazed by anything. 

The man in the picture is Thomas Howard. He was the Earl of Arundel, West Sussex . But we are not sure whether he was the 21st Earl etc. 

Remember the portrait of the lady I was looking at??? When my mind was involuntary saying “I know you, I know you, I know you”.

THAT LADY WAS THOMAS HOWARDS WIFE!!! AND, her portrait is sitting right next to this picture of a portrait of her husband as shown above BUT, I have absolutely no memory of seeing this portrait of Thomas Howard that is right on the wall next to his wife!!! My daughter showed me a picture of their portraits sitting side by side on the wall on Google images! 

Pebbles told me after this shock and doing some research that Arundel Castle is reportedly haunted. This I never knew. 
She also found out through Google that some people have reported sightings of owls. Which apparently is a bad omen. Also, that Arundel Castle does not employ people to dress up on the grounds. She got this from their website, which ties in with what the tour guide said. 
So, I have no idea how to explain any of this, the hand on my shoulder, the fact that no one was behind me, the owl, the weird deja vu feelings in the rooms, the lady in the portrait, and LEAST OF ALL, the man I saw CLEAR AS DAY that was absolutely without a question of doubt Thomas Howard. 
When Pebbles showed me that image on her phone I was literally dumbfounded and shocked. This has completely confounded me. 

Whatever happened in August 1986 is now on my mind. I hadn’t thought about this in 31 years. Anyway,  I thought I would share this with you and see what you make of it.
Deanna Hackett. 

When i was a little girl and living in Chichester, my mum, siblings and dad were all decorating the sitting room and it got to roughly 3am and everyone was tired so went to bed without tidying up.  I woke up in the morning and all the mess had been swept into a corner, my mum had sworn it was a little old lady that she saw a few times in the house, also in the same house I remember I used to see a little boy called Thomas he was very old fashioned maybe victorian because of his clothing. He would come and see me at midnight most evenings and I would have have full  conversations with him in my bedroom, and then one night whilst the adults where down stairs they heard squeaking from upstairs coming from the spare bedroom. The only thing in there was our old rocking horse so they went up to check and we were all fast asleep but the rocking horse was still moving in the spare room. No windows were open, no drafts and they looked around and simply just couldn’t explain it at all. 

In 2013,  21 year old Elisa Lam was found dead in a water tank in downtown Los Angeles Cecil Hotel on the rooftop. There is a lot of mystery surrounding the bizarre death of the Canadian student. Police could never pinpoint an exact cause of death, this is a story of what happened.

Elisa checked in to the hotel on January 26th 2013. When Elisa checked in to the hotel she stayed in a hostel type room with others, she was moved not long later after complaints from her roommates as they complained of her showing very “odd behaviour”. On February 19th Elisas body was found floating in a large 4×8 ft water tank. This was 18 days after she was last seen. The last time she was seen was on surveillance footage in the hotel in the elevator, in the footage Elisa is seen acting very strange. She darts in and out of the elevator constantly looking around outside the door as if she is looking for someone or perhaps hiding. She hides in the corner of the elevator and is seen as if she is having a conversation with someone but no one is seen on the footage. Many people report this was paranormal with people suggesting they see a black shadow in the elevator on the footage. From viewing anyone would think Elisa was seeing things or perhaps on drugs,  a toxicology report was done and no drugs or alcohol  were found in her system.

Elisa was a slim, short woman and it’s difficult to understand how she found her way onto the hotels rooftop into the water tank. Elisa would have had to climb onto a fire escape then somehow get through an alarmed and locked foot rooftop door. The tank was very high up (roughly 10ft) and Elisa would have had to open and then close a 20 pound hatch behind her then locking it. The hotel itself has a spooky history with people jumping off the building in the past and a place serial killer once stayed. It’s reported as one of the last places the Black Dahlia was seen, Richard Ramirez the convicted murdered had also stayed at this hotel from 1984-1985. Hotel Cecil is now known as Stay on Main and you can still rent a room today! Watch the Elisa Lam footage below and let us know what you think, was it paranormal? If not, what do you think happened? There is certainly a lot of plausible theories about the case out there. 

The hotel today. 

>>>>>Elisa Lam Elevator Footage<<<<<<