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The Cold Storage at Letchworth Village
Letchworth is a Chilling Place
In Rockland County there is a small village called Letchworth. It is the home of an abandoned mental institution. Of course many rumors have surfaced about the old mental hospital. I know that my friends have experienced many things there, including hearing noises and seeing ghosts. The old hospital still contains some left over patient files, writing on the wall, and old beds. Walk into the hospital and you can feel nothing but chills going through your body. –Anonymous
Glued to the Letchworth Floor
I have lived in New York my entire life and there is definitely some weird shit going on. There are a lot of haunted places but one that really sticks out is Letchworth. It is an old run down asylum. It was shut down and is now state property.
There are stories of how patients were tortured there and some say they still haunt the numerous buildings. My cousin and his friends once roamed these buildings and some of the stories scared the shit out of me. There were noises of a little girl giggling at the end of the hallway. They said they heard desks dragging across the floors above them. Certain rooms would be freezing cold in the middle of the summer almost as if something was there with you.
As they were on their way down one of the hallways, their friend just collapsed and couldn’t get up as if she was glued to the floor. When she finally got up she said it felt like something ran through her. My cousin had experienced something similar and his friends said it was like he saw a ghost. They tried taking pictures but some didn’t come out, but others had little white orbs floating by.
You have to be careful because there is no trespassing. The cops actually came in and kicked us out one time. They said “You guys are some sick fucks. We didn’t even want to come in here after you.” So that’s gotta say a lot. –Matty J.
Pig-Headed Letchworth Explorations
Check out a weird place called Letchworth Village in Haverstraw, NY. It’s an abandoned psycho center. It has a lot of very large and very well built buildings with miles of interconnecting tunnel systems. There were a lot of experiments in this place and not much is known about it.
One day I was in the hospital section, which is very large, and I heard footsteps. Being pig-headed, I thought I would see where it was coming from! I found nothing and took off like a bat out of hell! –Dave H
Haunted and Horrible
There is a place in Thiells, NY (northern Rockland County) off Exit 14 of the Palisades Parkway, called Letchworth Village. It housed the mentally ill, mentally retarded, and people of lower intelligence. The abuse these people suffered there was horrible until Geraldo Rivera uncovered the scandal of abuses there and at another place called Willowbrook. The grounds are expansive and the boys’ side (where the haunted hospital is) is still intact and abandoned. The girls' side however is partially being used and developed. However, the boys’ side is all abandoned.
I have a relative that used to be there, and having got a grounds tour by him during the day, I have made a map of the layout of the boys’ side. It is perfectly legal to be on the grounds during the day, as I was told by a cop who was parked near the girls’ side during one of my travels there. People go there to jog, walk dogs, etc. However, before you get to the girls' side there is a research building, which I am assuming is the one next to a big smoke stack. I know the hospital is haunted, and I'm sure the research building is also, because the research they did was horrible. –Lostindelirium
I have been to "Rockland Psychiatric Hospital" and "Letchworth Village Institute for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic" a few times. Letchworth is a special place and relatively easy to explore. There is a security truck that drives around but because there are so many people walking their dogs, playing golf, passing through etc..it's easy to go unnoticed. Much of Letchworth is still in operation and other sections are being renovated. The abandoned buildings are either tightly sealed or wide open. The building that is really the jackpot is actually the old brick Powerplant building that is connected to the former Post Office & Print Shop. It's off of a closed road (Powerhouse Road) which is off of Letchworth Village Road.
Many of the doors to the Powerplant building are open and I have to tell you, the first thing I saw when I entered was a room full of cardboard boxes labeled, "DEATHS". If that isn't an invitation to COME ON IN, I don't know what is! These boxes were stacked as high as the ceiling and many were toppling over. I couldn't help but think about how I would feel if one of my relatives files were in one of those boxes...in an unlocked building...collecting dust and getting moldy. It was very creepy, and an adrenaline rush at the same time. A calender on the wall read, March 2001, yet another one said, December 1995. There was also a Christmas tree set up, but had it been there since December 1995???
On an upper floor, there were medical supplies strewn about, including several mannequin heads that I assume were used for medical training. It looked like the prop department from "Westworld".
In a small, windowless room a stuffed fish was hanging on the wall, next to a TV. To the right of the TV, the wall was covered with personal photographs, most likely of the people that used to work there. It looked as if everyone had just left for the day and never came back. There were even hanging plants that were left to die and a suit jacket casually tossed over the back of a chair. What the ef?
I've been in a few of the other buildings on the Letchworth grounds, as well. There is an abandoned Jewish Chapel on the property (not the Church on Letchworth Village Road but the Chapel off of 2nd Road). If you can get past the cobwebs blocking the doorway, you'll find a bunch of moldy pews and a big church organ near the stage. The skylights in the ceiling light up the chapel quite nicely, so there is no need to be afraid of the dark. Or is there? –Anonymous
Sticking Up for the Spirits of Letchworth
We must question if the stories of torture at Letchworth Village in Haverstraw are just the stuff of legend. Did you know this place was actually a progressive development in the care of mentally challenged people? It was founded by a Quaker philanthropist who believed the mentally impaired should be treated with respect and dignity and have a chance to pursue their own dreams. It wasn't necessarily a bad place, and probably a lot of good stuff happened there. They grew their own crops that the residents tended to and had a movie theater and activities. Evil things may have gone on there at some point—I can't know that personally. But prior to Letchworth mentally impaired people were left to linger in asylums with little or no care. Present both sides of the story! If there are evil spirits there I guarantee there are also good spirits too. – Dylan Skriloff
http://www.weirdus.com/states/new_york/abandoned/letchwork_village/index.php
Ybor inn called "Hotel Hell" for its ghostly guests
October 29th, 2011
http://ybor.wtsp.com/news/news/88143-ybor-inn-called-hotel-hell-its-ghostly-guests
For more information about a 90-minute guided ghost tour of Ybor City, either visit http://www.yborghosttour.com/ or call (813) 386-3905
The History of Ouija Boards
http://www.isisinvestigations.com/paraarticles/paranormal_glossary_Ouija_Boards.html
“The Entity” haunting: The true story of Doris Bither
The investigation on August 22, 1974, in Culver City California was to be like any other one Dr. Barry Taff had done. Believing that this would be an open and shut case they showed up at Doris Bither’s house. Not expecting much. Little did they know this would be one of the biggest cases in the annals of paranormal history.
Dr. Barry Taff and his associate Kerry Gaynor were overheard talking about the paranormal by a woman in a local bookstore. The woman approached the two men and told them that her house was haunted. She gave Kerry Gaynor some details of the haunting, in which Gaynor told her that he would discuss this with his associate.
Dr. Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor arrived at the 11547 Braddock Dr. Culver City home on August 22, 1974. Doris Bither, a petite woman, in her 30s greeted them. Doris Bither lived in the small home with her six year-old daughter and her three sons. Her daughter was six years old, and her boys were ten, thirteen and sixteen.
The house at the time was in shambles. Squalid living conditions and a tumultuous relationship between the mother and male children is what investigative team observed upon their first visit. The investigators reported a feeling of overpressure in their ears while being inside the home. According to Taff, the house was twice condemned by the city.
11547 Braddock Dr. Culver City CA.
The infamous “Entity” house
From what is known, Doris Bither suffered abuse from her parents as well as had several abusive relationships with men. There was obvious tension between the three young boys and the mother. The psychodynamics of the home were extremely negative. It seems that the boys, especially the eldest, would harbor some dark and resentful feelings towards their mother. The unconscious mind that is troubled by a physically or verbally abusive environment and negative upbringing is like a lightning rod to paranormal activities. Either attracting poltergeist activity or psychosomatically creating it.
Doris Bither claimed that spirits would physically attack her. The reports ranged from Doris walking around her home and bumping into the ghosts, to actual spectral rape. Of course, Taff and Gaynor were skeptical of all this. Ghost apparitions are a hard thing to prove and collect evidence for (from a scientific perspective). “Ghostly rape” is even harder to believe. It was not until they saw the bruises in her inner thighs and all over her body, as well as people outside the family corroborating by testifying that they had also seen apparitions that both investigators started to take heed as to what Doris was saying. Doris claimed that the ghosts were of Asian men. The children, also saw these beings. The visions were so frequent that they children dubbed one of the more prominent ghost as “Mr. Whose-it.”
The claim of rape by these beings is one of the most interesting aspects of the case. Doris Bither reported that two of the beings were the smallest ones and would hold her down while the biggest or tallest one of them would rape her. Dori’s eldest son would admit to seeing her mother being tossed around the room. In one instance he tried to intervene and was thrown across the room by the unseen force.
To both investigators, this must have been the most bizarre claim to date. How can you prove “spectral rape” or even claim it? it would seem that a person would have to be insane to even admit this. The team decided to setup shop and brought in high-speed cameras and photographers as well as other investigators to help capture something on tape. In a famous report, all investigators and equipment, as well as Doris, were in the small bedroom. Cramped and anxious to see any paranormal activities, they decided to have Doris conjure up the beings by having her call them. Doris began swearing and yelling at the spirits while 30 or so investigators were crammed in her room.
To much surprise, lights started manifesting around the room. As Doris kept provoking the beings, a greenish mist started to form in a corner. As if it was coiling, the green mist started swirling and growing. Within seconds the form of a man’s upper torso started to become visible in the mist. Very large and a lot of muscles is what they reported seeing. The torso of the being did not show facial details, but did show the investigators musculature. From what they gathered, this was a male entity. An investigator soon fainted after seeing this.
No matter how many high-speed cameras were setup to capture this, or that the team even had professional camera men present; none of this ever came out on film. The pictures only shows what appears to be a free floating arc light in the middle of the room as well as some light orbs. The most famous and incredible of these photographs is the one that shows Doris sitting on a bed, investigators surrounding her and the free floating arc of light in the middle of the picture. What’s incredible and equally unbelievable is that the arc of light appears smooth, even though this is a room with corners and one would expect bends in the arc as when someone uses a projector to display an image and the image hits corners in a room. The image will bend. The photographic evidence produce by the team shows the arc of light floating above Doris Bither with no bends, even though behind it, we see the room’s corner.
Conjuring up the ghosts, an arc of light is photographed (Doris Bither sitting on the bed)
Dr. Taff also reported that the eldest son would go on a say that the activities intensified when ever he played certain music. Black Sabbath & Uriah Heep were the albums played. The songs that mention or were about devil worshiping is what seemed to upset the poltergeist. Asking the boy to play the songs in question, Dr. Taff did observe that the lights and orbs did increase.
The investigative team observed lights and poltergeist activity for about two and a half months. As time went by, the activities decreased.
It is important to point out a few factors in this case; Doris’ addiction to alcohol and her being abusive and belligerent almost on a daily basis, as well her unwillingness to seek help for her abuse and deal properly with it. Because of her refusal to properly deal with her own psychotic issues, I believe that her energy and the energy in her home manifested itself as poltergeist phenomenon.
We have to take into consideration that the paranormal activities were extremely powerful only when Doris was present in the home. Doris almost always in a drunken stupor seemed to be the center of it all. While intoxicated, Doris would attract the phenomenon almost on cue. There were times when she was present with the team and was not under the influence of alcohol that the poltergeist did not manifest itself. Which we can only conclude that when Doris’ mind was clouded and her inhibitions minimized, her psychokinetic energy took over.
It is not a far stretch of imagination to say that there were some very concerning underlying themes in this case. Let’s take for example how Doris claimed that there were three entities that attacked her. These entities controlled her life and to some extent oppressed her. It will not be a stretch, from a psychological stand point, that these entities could have been a physical manifestation of the relationship Doris had with her own three sons. From the reports of Dr. Taff, we know that her relationship with her sons was not a Norman Rockwell painting. As I discuss this event with my fiancee, she makes a very good and intelligent point: Doris had suffered abuse almost all her life. The fact that she abused alcohol and self-medicated to avoid the post-traumatic stress from her abuse could have had a metaphysical effect in her life.
My fiancee has the following thoughts. One, Doris Bither could have been extremely psychic or “sensitive”. Doris could have had a great talent, but her own refusal to deal with her past abuse and the fact that she self-medicated and kept her mind clouded did not let her use that talent. Instead, because of her addiction and self hate, she could have manifested this poltergeist as another way (besides the alcohol) of attacking herself.
My fiancee is an intelligent person, and extremely gifted in psychiatry. Especially abnormal psychology. It is from her, that I take the following theories:
Doris Bither and her sons (especially the eldest) could have been psychic. It is well known that parents sometimes pass down their psychic abilities to their kids. In other words, psychic parents produce psychic kids. If the parent was psychic, and the kids were psychic, the tumultuous relationship in the home could have produced a staggering amount of psychokinetic energy. Enough energy to physically manifest poltergeist activity. The feelings that Dori’s kids could have had against her and her addiction can be represented by the Hephaestus Syndrome. Hephaestus being the Greek god of fire and metallurgy, was kicked off Mount Olympus by his abusive mother. Hephaestus held a very turbulent relationship with his mother. Chaos and love combined in a love/hate relationship.
The same way Doris’ sons could have had a relationship with Doris. A strong love/hate relationship fueled by past abuse, alcohol and psychic abilities is a powerful concoction for poltergeist or psychokinetic energy. We can formulate this manifestation of the “spectral rape” by Doris’ description of her attackers: two of the smaller entities held her down, while the biggest one raped her. We can speculate that the Bither household was very unstable. Her coming-of-age son (the biggest one of her three sons) was probably harboring some resentful feelings towards his mother and her lifestlye. She in turn, saw her son as another man in her life trying to control her or attack her; therefore in turn subconsciously materializing the rape or attack on herself and using her current feelings and occupants in the house as the basis for the rape. This would not corroborate with her son testifying that he was too attacked and thrown across a room, but psychokinetic energy can be powerful enough to affect physical objects from what I’ve studied.
Another theory my fiancee mention could be that Doris Bither could have attracted 3 evil spirits into her life. It could be argued that Doris Bither could have been abused by three influential men in her life (father, uncle, grandfather or someone she trusted). The combination of her self-medicating and having psychic abilities as well as self-loathing could have made her into an attractive victim to malevolent forces. Her turbulent lifestyle and energy as well as her kid’s energy could very well have manifested her feelings into something very evil in a metaphysical level. Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome and psychic abilities can have a great effect one a person. A person that does not know about their abilities and/or is under the influence of a drug can have a great effect on their surrounding environment. Take into consideration the infamous “Bell Witch” haunting.
The Bell Witch Haunting is an old legend. In 1817, John Bell reporting poltergeist phenomenon. The case was made famous by the reports of then General Andrew Jackson (who later became president of the U.S). John Bell’s daughter, Betsy Bell, was at the center of this haunting. She was physically attacked by the ghost(s). There is a theory floating out there that the child was extremely psychic and had suffered from sexual abuse (possibly from her father). Accounts of levitation, spectral noises and disembodied voices were reported. The theory states that all this phenomenon could have been produced by Betsy Bell herself. Living in an unpleasant environment and seeking help, she started to manifest these attacks.
After Doris Bither left her Culver City home, the phenomenon was ceased to exist in the house. Future residents of the house have not reported anything out of the ordinary. The house remains to this day ghost free and is in good conditions.
Dr. Barry Taff reported that Doris Bither moved from Culver City to Carson CA. From Carson to San Bernadino CA, and from San Bernadino to Texas and finally back to San Bernardino. While jumping around the two states, Doris reported that the phenomenon “followed” her and her family to every place they moved to. Feeding the notion that the poltergeist phenomenon was a manifestation of her unstable environment and mind. He also reports that her psychological state is made apparent when she reported being impregnated by the ghost. Medical test showed her to not be pregnant but suffering from an ectopic or a hysterical pregnancy.
No one can say for sure what could have been going on with the family in that small Culver City house. Since Doris Bither has not been heard of since the late 80s or 90s (depending on some reports) and her kids have not come forward, we cannot know for certain.
The “Entity” house as it currently stands
http://www.ghosttheory.com/2008/09/21/the-entity-haunting-the-true-story-of-doris-bither
If you have ever wondered about the vast possibilities of paranormal
and have thought about the different, inexplicable things that seem to exist with us in the world, you are not alone.
There are many who believe that paranormal is something which is a part of our regular life, with the only exception being that we cannot see them.
The basic definition of the word paranormal explains and points at something which transcends the boundaries of the normal world.
The whole domain of paranormal is limitless and some of us who have had paranormal experiences only know a bit about these inexplicable things.
The subject of paranormal has gone through a lot of metamorphosis over the recent few decades
and it seems that science still does not have answer to several such questions.
