Supernatural Friday: Myths About the Blue Moon and Other Full Moons

                                          

                                          

                                          
                                                        "Blue Moon

                   You saw me standing alone
                        Without a dream in my heart
                    Without a love of my own"

 Tonight will be the 'blue moon.'  So, the moon will be colored blue, you ask? No, it means a second full moon in a calendar month. For a blue moon to occur, the first of the full moons must appear at or near the beginning of the month so that the second will fall within the same month.

 The older definition, which is recorded in early issues of the Maine Farmer's Almanac, states that the blue moon is the third full moon in a season that has four full moons. The full Moon in May 2016, will be this type of blue moon. Why would one want to identify the third full moon in a season of four full moons? The answer is complex, and has to do with the Christian ecclesiastical calendar.

Some years have an extra full moon—13 instead of 12. Since the identity of the moons was important in the ecclesiastical calendar (the Paschal Moon, for example, used to be crucial for determining the date of Easter), a year with a 13th moon skewed the calendar, since there were names for only 12 moons. By identifying the extra, 13th moon as a blue moon, the ecclesiastical calendar was able to stay on track.

To say that the moon was blue was equivalent to saying the moon was made of green (or cream) cheese; it indicated an obvious absurdity. In the 19th century, the phrase until a blue moon came about, meaning "never." The phrase, once in a blue moon today has come to mean "every now and then" or "rarely"—whether it gained that meaning through association with the lunar event remains uncertain.

About 15 blue moons will happen with the next twenty years, with an almost equal number of both types of blue moons occurring. No blue moon of any kind occurred or will occur in the years 2011, 2014, and 2017   The rare phenomenon of two blue moons that occurred in the same year happens approximately once every 19 years.  The last time it was in 1999 that a blue moon appeared twice, in January and March.

 
For thousands of years, people have looked up at the moon and wondered about its divine significance. No surprise many cultures had lunar deities - that is, gods or goddesses associated with the power and energy of the moon. If you're doing a moon-related ritual, in some traditions of Wicca and Paganism you may choose to call upon one of these deities for assistance.

Alignak is the god of both the moon and weather. He controls the tides, besides also earthquakes and eclipses. In some stories, it is told that he is also responsible for returning the souls of the dead to earth so that they may be reborn. Alignak may appear in harbors to protect fishermen from Sedna, the wrathful sea goddess.

Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt. As her twin brother, Apollo, was associated with the Sun, Artemis became connected to the moon in the post-Classical world. During the ancient Greek period, although Artemis was represented as a lunar goddess, she never gotten portrayed as the moon itself. In post-Classical artwork, she is depicted beside a crescent moon and is often associated with the Roman Diana as well. Like Artemis, Diana began as a goddess of the hunt who later evolved into a lunar goddess.

Cerridwen is the keeper of the cauldron of knowledge in Celtic mythology. Besides the giver of wisdom and inspiration, she is often associated with the moon and the intuitive process. As a goddess of the Underworld, Cerridwen is often symbolized by a white sow, which represents both her fecundity and fertility and her strength as a mother. She is both Mother and Crone; many modern Pagans honor Cerridwen for her close association to the full moon.

The moon seems to have an effect on animals as well as people. A Florida expert on animal behavior reports that hamsters spin in their wheels far more aggressively during the moon's full phase. Deer and other herbivores in the wild tend to ovulate at the full moon, and in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the full moon is mating time for coral. Werecoral?

The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, was inspired by the strange -- and yet very true -- case of Charles Hyde, a London man who committed a series of crimes at the time of the full moon.

There are those who say weather & atmospheric conditions influence paranormal investigating by the amount of lighting, giving the investigator an advantage during full moons. Magnetic fields are said to be strangest around full and new moons. It is popular belief that a good time to ghost hunt is 2-3 days prior; the day of; or 2-3 days after a full moon & new moon. The best times for ghost hunting would also be during peak geomagnetic fields & solar storms. There is also a common theory that "psychic tendencies" increase during new & full moons. 

 
In folklore, there are many myths concerning full moons and Friday the 13 that have led to superstitions surrounding the full moon. An ancient Babylonian manuscript prescribes that women are more fertile during a full moon. Many women today believe that their menstrual cycles correspond to the moon. There are stories that more women go into labor during the full moon. This belief has not been confirmed by scientific studies. In ancient Greece, Diana the Goddess of the Hunt was associated with both the moon and child-birth, demonstrating that this is an ancient association held by humans for centuries.

The most common myth surrounding the full moon is that it evokes madness. The word “lunacy” stems from the root “lunar.” From werewolves to myths about a higher rate of insanity homicide, and suicide, lunacy affected by the full moon appears frequently in old folklore.  There is no significant relationship between the full moon and insane or anti-social behavior though. Because the moon is such a powerful astronomical force that affects the earth’s tides and allows humans to track their lives according to a lunar monthly cycle, these kind of superstitions about the full moon are still popular.

Like there is the one that some people believe that there is a link between the full moon and seizures. Another tells about the full moon and the appearance of black cats. Some people believe that there must be a strong link between the moon and human behavior because of how much the moon affects the earth from a physical standpoint.

It is believed that the fifth day after a full moon is the perfect time to try to conceive a child.

Offerings are made to the ancestors on the night of a full moon in some Chinese tales.

Those careless enough to sleep under a full moon risked insanity, blindness, or even being turned into a werewolf (but only if it happened to be a Friday night).

Pointing at the moon has been considered unlucky. Some say that the “man in the moon” residing there, considers it rude. A superstition from the British Isles says that anyone who points at the moon nine times cannot enter heaven, no matter how pious he or she has been.

It was believed in ancient times, that moon’s silvery glow was made of silver. That is the reason the metal became one of its symbols.

The night of the full moon is believed to be a good time for divination and scrying, so if you want to find some things out, a good time to do so.

Tonight when you go out to enjoy the blue moon, remember not to be in shock that it is not the color blue, but that it is the second full moon in a month.

Author Guest at Phantomcon in Colonial Heights, VA. August 8th and 9th, 2015

I will be a guest at Phantomcon August 8 and 9, 2015. I will teach a free workshop )will need paper and pens or a computer to write on) on How To Write & Investigate A Good Ghost Story!," plus selling and signing books and Paranormal World Seekers DVDs (includes premiere of The Bistro Investigation in Petersburg DVDs) I will have with me at my table. The convention will be held at the Holiday Inn Fort Lee North, 401 E. Roslyn Road, Colonial Heights, VA. And if not preregistered, they will be selling at the door.  http://www.phantomcon.com/

 
They have a Facebook page now, so like them at https://www.facebook.com/PhanConVA?fref=ts 

My Schedule for Scares That Cares This Weekend (July 24-26th) in Williamsbug, Virginia

My Schedule at Scares That Cares Weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia this weekend.  The horror convention for charity will be at the Doubletree Hotel at Williamsburg, 50 Kingsmill Road, Williamsburg, Virginia, 23185

I will be at the Horror Writers Association Virginia table in the vendor’s room from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. Friday, July 24. I will have copies of my fiction and two of my nonfiction ghost books, Virginia's Haunted Historic Triangle: Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, and Other Haunted Locations (this one has Williamsburg and Colonial Williamsburg’s haunted spots, so you can investigate the areas yourself while at the convention) and Haunted Virginia: Legends, Myths and True Tales. I will have Paranormal World Seekers DVDs—Fort Magruder Hotel in Williamsburg ones and Crawford Road—all of the area. Not sure yet, but the table will be in either the main vendor room or in STC’s second floor vendor area. I will post on Facebook and twitter when I learn Friday. 


Friday, July 25— Rooms A/B—10:45am to 11:30am — I will join author Penny Cockrell in doing a reading. Thinking reading from my WSFA Small Press Awrd runner up short story, "Bottled Spirits." Maybe from Spectre Nightmares and Visitations if there is time.

Sunday, July 26— Rooms A/B—11:00am to 12:00pm – PANEL: “WRITER’S GROUPS IN A DIGITAL AGE” – There are many groups for horror writers (HWA, ITW, SFWA, etc.) but do they offer anything that can’t be obtained on social media for free? Join TIM WAGGONER, RONALD MALFI, JACOB HADDON, PAMELA K. KINNEY, D. ALEXANDER WARD, and moderator DELONA SOUTHERLAND as they discuss and debate.

For the rest of the author programming: http://scaresthatcareweekend.com/events/author-programming-schedule/

For all the events at Scares That Cares: http://scaresthatcareweekend.com/events/

Supernatural Friday: Of Course I Live in a Haunted House: Guest Blogger Loren Rhoads

Today, I have a guest blogger, Loren Rhoads. She will tells us all about a true paranormal incident she had. After you read the story, check out her book, The Dangerous Type.

I live in a big old house four doors down from an enormous mortuary that’s been in operation since 1888.  When my husband and I first moved in, weird things happened:  the power surged at odd moments, dimming the lights to a murky brown or making them blaze white-hot; books cascaded off the shelves when no one was in the room; the TV switched itself on and off, talking to itself behind my back.

Since its construction in 1940, our house had only been owned by a single Italian family.  The elderly widow lived alone in it for 20 years after her husband died.  When she finally passed, the house went to her grandson, a flight attendant who didn’t want to live so far from the active center of town.  We thought we got a reasonably good deal on it because we bought it in December.

After we moved in, my husband traveled quite a bit with his band.  Generally I don’t mind being home alone, but the way things kept happening in the corner of my eye or in the next room before I entered made me jumpy.  I would lie awake in the middle of the night, listening to the floorboards creak as if someone paced from the living room to the bathroom and back.

One evening I was settling down in the spare bedroom to watch a movie when the basement door opened on its own.

I’d had enough.  “Hi,” I said aloud.  My voice shook just a little.  My heart beat hard and fast.  “I’m about to sit down to watch The Wizard of Oz.  Would you care to join me?”

I waited for a response, but didn’t hear one.  I shifted over on the sofa to leave room for the ghost.  I didn’t want to touch her.  I’d assumed all along that I was dealing with the ghost of the previous owner, not someone (or several someones) who had wandered over from the mortuary down the street.  If it was only one ghost, I could deal with it.  If we were going to face a continual string of hauntings as people couldn’t move on, I would have a much more difficult time adjusting.

“I don’t mind if you stay in the house with us,” I told the empty room.  “You lived here a long time and must have happy memories here.  In fact, I would like it if you could stay and watch over the baby we hope to have someday soon.  But I ask that you stop trying to scare me.  Don’t sneak up behind me or drop things or open doors, unless you absolutely must.  Don’t make the lights flicker. We all live here now. It would be best for us all to get along.  If you can’t abide by that, I have a friend who can cast you out.”

I pressed the button on the remote and settled in to watch The Wizard of Oz.  I felt much more relaxed than I had in days.

The power still goes out every couple of months, but now the whole block goes with us and we blame PG&E.  The doors stopped opening on their own once we brought the baby home from the hospital.  I’m up quite a lot in the night, but I haven’t run into the ghost.  I like to think that she’s still here, serving as a guardian angel for my daughter.  I wonder if all she wanted was a baby to love.

Loren Rhoads

                                                              ***

The Dangerous Type  Book blurb:

The Dangerous Type has been called La Femme Nikita meets Serenity. Former Imperial assassin Raena Zacari has been released from prison and she’s ready to track down the man who trained her to kill. Humans are a minority in a dangerous galaxy peopled by tomb robbers, gun runners, and media pirates. Publishers Weekly accused author Loren Rhoads of bringing grimdark to space opera. Kill By Numbers and No More Heroes, the other two books in the trilogy, will be out from Night Shade before the end of 2015.

About Loren Rhoads:

Loren Rhoads is the author of The Dangerous Type, Kill By Numbers, and No More Heroes. The In the Wake of the Templars trilogy will be published by Night Shade Books in 2015. She is also editor of The Haunted Mansion Project: Year Two and author of a collection of essays called Wish You Were Here: Adventures in Cemetery Travel. Learn more at www.lorenrhoads.com.

Links:

The book’s home page:  http://lorenrhoads.com/writing/the-dangerous-type/

Loren on Facebook: www.facebook.com/loren.rhoads.5

Loren on Twitter: http://twitter.com/morbidloren

Loren’s blog: http://lorenrhoads.com/blog

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1LT1V31

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dangerous-type-loren%20rhoads/1121330783?ean=9781597808149

The trilogy's homepage: http://lorenrhoads.com/writing/the-dangerous-type/

Supernatural Friday: Seventeen Haunted Restaurants in America

 Being this is summer and many people take vacations, I will blog about 17 haunted restaurants and bars that maybe on one of your trips you can stop by for a bite to eat and maybe even a bit of paranormal activity. I am sure there is pleny more out there, but this is some to begin with. 

 

      1. The Bistro at Market and Grove, Petersburg, Virginia. A restaurant  in Old Town Petersburg where good food can be found, it is also haunted. A female spirit has been seen and even photographed dancing in the dining room. A male spirit has been heard cussing and anther female spirit of a friend of the owner still hangs around—seen, heard, and even odor from marijuana smelled she used to like to smoke in life.  Paranormal investigators have investigated it, even filmed and investigated for episode on DVD for Paranormal World Seekers. It will be a chapter in an upcoming ghost book too.    https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Bistro-at-Market-and-Grove/99642348471

          2, Poogan’s Porch, Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston police have received so many calls about a distressed woman dressed in black trapped inside this upscale Southern restaurant that authorities disregard new reports. Zoe St. Amand, a spinster schoolteacher, is who supposedly haunts the building. She owned the house in the early 1900s and went mad after the death of her sister, her only friend. Legend has it that Zoe fell down the stairs to her death while fruitlessly searching for her sister one night. She likes to move place settings around the tables and mess with food orders. She also hurls bar stools at the staff and throws open doors when she's upset. The restaurant's namesake was a Wheaton Terrier named Poogan who died in 1979. It is also said that the dog still runs through the dining room, claims made by children. who say they feel Poogan running under the table. poogansporch.com

          3. Old Town Pizza, Portland Oregon. Old Town Pizza was founded in 1974 when the Accuardi family opened the doors of a legendary Portland landmark, the Merchant Hotel, the spot Old Town Pizza now stands atop the city's infamous Shanghai Tunnels. The lobby of the Merchant Hotel was transformed into the hippest pizza joint in town. Generations of Old Town Pizza loyalists remember the restaurant as a bustling hang-out for leaders in Portland’s counterculture scene of the 70s. Actor Willem Dafoe was a regular at the time and could usually be found lounging on a couch on the mezzanine. Today the Milne family keeps the Old Town Pizza legacy alive, nurturing a little piece of Portland’s past for the next generation. On the haunting front, legend tells of one of the young “working women” sold into a thriving white slavery market and in an effort to clean up the neighborhood, traveling missionaries convinced her to share information in exchange for freeing her from a fate she did not choose. Nina cooperated but soon afterward was found dead in the Merchant Hotel. That woman was Naina and she has hung around the place for a century. She supposedly scratched her name into a brick on that elevator shaft, which is now part of a booth. Nina is often seen in a black dress observing diners and wandering the basement below. Any faint perfume smelled or a presence felt behind, but when you turned to see and no one is there, you've just met Nina. http://www.oldtownpizza.com/

 

           

      4. Muriel’s, New Orleans, Louisiana. In a city like NOLA, haunted    
buildings are a dime-a-dozen. And while Muriel's doesn't boast the most      horrific backstory, it's seen some dark deeds. In the late 1700s, Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan bought the burned-out mansion and restored it to its old charms. Then, in a classic future-ghost move, he bet the entire house in a poker game, which he lost. Because he couldn't bear to leave the place, he killed himself on the second floor, right around where the Seance Lounges stand today. Jourdan spends most of his time there -- he pops up as a shimmery light rather than a complete ghostly form, but he still knocks on the brick wall with the gusto of a full-fledged apparition. And he's got company. Paranormal investigators picked up the voice of a woman in the Seance Lounges, and there's definitely another poltergeist in the Courtyard Bar who's big on smashing glasses. There is one unavailable table at this Jackson Square restaurant. It's freshly set every night with bread and wine for a previous owner of the property, Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan, whose ghost has a standing reservation. Gambling ruined Jourdan in 1814, when he lost his house in a poker game. Inconsolable at having to vacate, he committed suicide on the second floor. The appropriately named Séance Lounges upstairs are where Mr. Jourdan is said to spend most of his time knocking on walls, but the staff claim that glasses have flown from behind the bar and shattered against the far brick wall three times since 2001. muriels.com

         5. Brennan’s Restaurant, New Orleans, Louisiana. Chef Paul Blangé created many of this restaurant's iconic dishes, like bananas Foster flambéed tableside, and staff says he never leaves the kitchen—even though Blangé died in 1977. The chef was so dedicated that he was buried with the restaurant's menu and a knife and fork across his chest, and he is said to mark the end of a night's shift by banging pots and pans as the restaurant's doors are locked. In the wine cellar, the ghost of sommelier Herman Funk—who helped build the restaurant's legendary collection of wine and spirits—now signals his selections to servers by clinking bottles. brennansneworleans.com

      6. Wabi Sabi, Petersburg, Virginia.  Located in Old Town Petersburg on the first floor of the former National Friend house. They serve food, particularly sushi, there is two bars, have live music and art gallery.  The place also has ghosts. From a black Confederate soldier to maybe a former lady of the evening that might still be plying her ample charms (the building also was rumored to be a brothel at one point), and even the ghost of a little boy, the living are not the only beings in the place.  http://www.eatwabisabi.com/

      7. Crab Louie’s, Midlothian, Virginia. Once called Midlothian and owned by a family named Wooldridge, the place changed hands and names over the years. It was once a stop for the Lynchburg-Richmond stage, and it's also been a boarding school, a nursery and finally a restaurant. Notice of the ghostly phenomena started in the 1980s and continues to this very day. The main ghosts are a man dressed in clothing from the 19th century and a little girl, though one past owner thought it might be several that haunted the place. But it is "Rachel," the little girl ghost, that most of the phenomena is attributed to. This includes glasses coming off bar racks (many times flying), plates disappearing and apparitions of the little girl near table 10. Children have also been heard singing around table 10, and a calculator once turned itself on. Next time you go to Crab Louie's, ask for table 10 - if you dare. http://crablouies.com/

         8. White Horse Tavern, Newport, Rhode Island. Considered America’s oldest tavern, it opened in 1673. The White Horse was a regular haunt for Colonists, British soldiers, Hessian mercenaries, pirates, sailors, founding fathers and all manner of early American folk. By 1954, the structure showed years of use and neglect. Through the generosity of the Van Beuren family the property was acquired by The Preservation Society of Newport County and meticulously restored. It re-opened as The White Horse Tavern in 1957. O.L. Pitts of Fort Worth, Texas, along with three partners, purchased the White Horse Tavern in 1981. Infamous participants in the revelry of the America’s Cup races, they continued the tradition of good fellowship, good food and good cheer. On his ninetieth birthday, O.L. Pitts turned stewardship of the Tavern over to Paul Hogan, a Newport native and only the sixth owner in three hundred and fifty years. The story behind the hauntings was that two men showed up at the tavern in the 1720s looking for a room for the night. The next day, the owners found one dead by the fireplace and the other completely vanished. A specter now chills by the fireplace, daring people to solve his freak death. There have also been encounters with a colonial-looking dude in the upstairs bathroom, and mysterious footsteps all over the place. Coincidentally, there's another White Horse Tavern in New York City with high ghost-hunter interest. It's where poet Dylan Thomas drank himself to death, and he still hasn't learned his lesson, as he occasionally pops up at his regular table.  http://www.whitehorsenewport.com/

      9. Casey Moore’s Oyster House, Tempre, Arizona. Casey Moore's has several different stories on the poltergeists that spook the grounds. One account goes that a coed named Sarah, who was strangled by her crazy boyfriend on-site, sulks around the dining room tables. Another says the spirit of a little boy, whose photograph was unearthed years ago amid renovations -- prowls the halls. Either way -- you might actually have to believe your buddy when he insists half your shrimp cocktail "just disappeared" when you went to the bathroom. http://www.caseymoores.com/Home.html

     10. Stone’s Public House, Ashland, Massachusetts. John Stone, the original owner of this inn-turned-gastropub, had a secret. A psychic who visited in 1984 claims resident spirits told him that in 1845, Mr. Stone killed a New York boarder named Michael during a fight, after Stone accused the man of cheating in a card game in which Michael won $3,000. Witnesses to the crime aided Stone in burying the body. Now the staff dreads Stone and other spirits placing ghostly hands on customers' necks and throwing glasses from the shelves. www.stonespublichouse.com

          11 Catfish Plantation, Waxahachie, Texas. Known as "the most haunted    
          restaurant in Texas," this Cajun restaurant occupies a Victorian house and
         boasts the presence of multiple specters. Caroline, a former resident who 
        died in 1970, seems to be under the impression that she still runs the kitchen. 
       The restaurant's owners in the 1980s, Tom and Melissa Baker, reported 
       finding a pot of coffee brewing one morning and teacups stacked in the 
       middle of the floor another morning—though no one else had keys to the 
       restaurant. Since then, others have witnessed the apparition of a bride 
        standing by the window. catfishplantation.com

12. Beardslee Castle, Little Falls, New York . This restaurant is in a faux Irish castle in the Mohawk Valley. It was in an episode of Ghost Hunters. There are tales of ghosts shattering glasses, moving objects and closing doors. In 1983, Norm Gauthier, a ghost hunter from the New Hampshire Institute for Paranormal Research, surveyed the property and concluded that there were definitely two spirits present in the castle. While one legend says that Native Americans were killed on the property in the 1700s, the ghosts in residence are believed to be younger: Anton "Pop"; Christensen, the former owner who hung himself in the ladies' room in the 1950s to put an end to his failing health; and a bride-to-be named Abigail who died the night before her wedding. (Weddings are still held on the property.) In 1989, a fire broke out in the castle and destroyed the kitchens without harming the original structure. Some believe that this was the ghosts' way of rebelling against all the attention. Not all of the ghosts' activity is destructive; some say they also reset tables. beardsleecastle.com

  13. Patrick’s Roadhouse, Santa Monica, California. Known for celebrity sightings, overstuffed omelets and a funky, shamrock-adorned exterior, this narrow roadhouse has ghosts from the building's former incarnations as a motel, hot dog stand, brothel and trolley station. But the most vibrant ghoul is the Roadhouse's last owner, Bill Fischler, who was known to publicly ridicule customers who complained about food. He occasionally pops in to check on his restaurant and its employees. One chef even quit after seeing Fischler's ghost appear at the back of the restaurant, glaring at him with dissatisfaction. patricksroadhouse.info

14. Blue Willow Tea Room, Petersburg, Virginia. Located in Historic Old Towne Petersburg and situated adjacent to Penniston's Alley Antiques and Collectibles, you can enjoy “a spot of tea", as you sit "amongst the antiques" in this c.1815 Federal townhouse. They offer a traditional English tea service consisting of a cream tea, luncheon tea, Victorian tea or full afternoon tea.  They also have homemade desserts, soups and salads. Though it is mainly the second and third floors above the tea room and Penniston’s next door that has the bulk of the hauntings, whose to say that the spirits might not come downstairs to check out the people. While it is thought that the first mayor of Petersburg stalks the second floor, the third floor is haunted by slaves fleeing slavery by the Underground Railroad, though obviously, they never left the place. At one point, the ghostly slaves frightened off some ghost hunters one night.  http://www.bluewillowtearoom.com/

 15. Manhattan Bistro, New York City, New York. On December 22, 1799, when Soho was still a sloping meadow, Julia Elmore Sands was murdered by her fiancé and thrown into the Manhattan Well at 129 Spring Street. Marks on her neck suggested she had been strangled. Handbills distributed to the public implied that Weeks had impregnated Sands before killing her, and the woman's family later displayed her corpse outside their boarding house to encourage speculation. Weeks was arrested and tried for murder on March 31, 1800. It was the first murder trial in American history to be fully documented by a court stenographer. He was found innocent, thanks to his lawyers (who happened to include future dueling opponents Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton). Weeks fled the city due to pinlic outrage. Many years later, the well still exists in the basement of the now-shuttered Manhattan Bistro. History buffs are always eager to view the basement. Former owner Martia DaGrossa who had run the restaurant in the Spring Street building her family has owned since 1954 recalls two incidents when bottles of red wine flew off the wall and crashed onto the floor. The Travel Channel has named it one of the 10 most haunted places in America.

16. Succotash, Kansas City, Missouri. Before being rechristened as local brunch favorite, this 100-year-old saloon was the Dutch Hill Bar & Grill. One of its old regulars still haunts the bar. Succotash owner Beth Barden first encountered the visitor while renovating the abandoned restaurant. "We would smell cigars," Barden recalls. "I spoke to one of the old neighbors and some of the old staff, who said there was a gentleman named Radar who was there all the time. He used to sit at the end of the bar and smoke these cigarillos." To this day, after closing up the restaurant, the staff will smell the distinct musk of a cigar. "I guess this was his home away from home," Barden says, "He was a barfly who spent many, many days here, and when he died, he just stayed." succotashkc.com

17.  Ruth's Chris Steak House, Richmond, Virginia. Another restaurant with spirits beyond the alcoholic kind is Ruth's Chris Steak House at Bellgrade Plantation. The story behind the haunting has all the makings of an Edgar Allen Poe tale. In 1840, the Friend family sold the plantation to an older Frenchman named RBeardslee Castle, Little Falls, New York. This restaurant is in a faux Irish castle in the Mohawk Valley. It was in an episode of Ghost Hunters. There are tales of ghosts shattering glasses, moving objects and closing doors. In 1983, Norm Gauthier, a ghost hunter from the New Hampshire Institute for Paranormal Research, surveyed the property and concluded that there were definitely two spirits present in the castle. While one legend says that Native Americans were killed on the property in the 1700s, the ghosts in residence are believed to be younger: Anton "Pop"; Christensen, the former owner who hung himself in the ladies' room in the 1950s to put an end to his failing health; and a bride-to-be named Abigail who died the night before her wedding. (Weddings are still held on the property.) In 1989, a fire broke out in the castle and destroyed the kitchens without harming the original structure. Some believe that this was the ghosts' way of rebelling against all the attention. Not all of the ghosts' activity is destructive; some say they also reset tables. beardsleecastle.com

18.  Patrick’s Roadhouse, Santa Monica, California.  Known for celebrity sightings, overstuffed omelets and a funky, shamrock-adorned exterior, this narrow roadhouse has ghosts from the building's former incarnations as a motel, hot dog stand, brothel and trolley station. But the most vibrant ghoul is the Roadhouse's last owner, Bill Fischler, who was known to publicly ridicule customers who complained about food. He occasionally pops in to check on his restaurant and its employees. One chef even quit after seeing Fischler's ghost appear in the back of the restaurant, glaring at him with dissatisfaction. patricksroadhouse.info

Blue Willow Tea Room, Petersburg, Virginia. Located in Historic Old Towne Petersburg and situated adjacent to Penniston's Alley Antiques and Collectibles, you can enjoy “a spot of tea", as you sit "amongst the antiques" in this c.1815 Federal townhouse. They offer a traditional English tea service consisting of a cream tea, luncheon tea, Victorian tea or full afternoon tea.  They also have homemade desserts, soups and salads. Though it is mainly the second and third floors above the tea room and Penniston’s next door that has the bulk of the hauntings, whose to say that the spirits might not come downstairs to check out the people. While it is thought that the first mayor of Petersburg stalks the second floor, the third floor is haunted by slaves fleeing slavery by the Underground Railroad, though obviously, they never left the place. At one point, the ghostly slaves frightened off some ghost hunters one night.  http://www.bluewillowtearoom.com/

 Manhattan Bistro, New York City, New York. On December 22, 1799, when Soho was still a sloping meadow, Julia Elmore Sands was murdered by her fiancé and thrown into the Manhattan Well at 129 Spring Street. Marks on her neck suggested she had been strangled. Handbills distributed to the public implied that Weeks had impregnated Sands before killing her, and the woman's family later displayed her corpse outside their boarding house to encourage speculation. Weeks was arrested and tried for murder on March 31, 1800. It was the first murder trial in American history to be fully documented by a court stenographer. He was found innocent, thanks to his lawyers (who happened to include future dueling opponents Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton). Weeks fled the city due to pinlic outrage. Many years later, the well still exists in the basement of the now-shuttered Manhattan Bistro. History buffs are always eager to view the basement. Former owner Martia DaGrossa who had run the restaurant in the Spring Street building her family has owned since 1954 recalls two incidents when bottles of red wine flew off the wall and crashed onto the floor. The Travel Channel has named it one of the 10 most haunted places in America.
19. Succotash, Kansas City, Missouri. Before being rechristened as local brunch favorite, this 100-year-old saloon was the Dutch Hill Bar & Grill. One of its old regulars still haunts the bar. Succotash owner Beth Barden first encountered the visitor while renovating the abandoned restaurant. "We would smell cigars," Barden recalls. "I spoke to one of the old neighbors and some of the old staff, who said there was a gentleman named Radar who was there all the time. He used to sit at the end of the bar and smoke these cigarillos." To this day, after closing up the restaurant, the staff will smell the distinct musk of a cigar. "I guess this was his home away from home," Barden says, "He was a barfly who spent many, many days here, and when he died, he just stayed." succotashkc.com

20. Ruth's Chris Steak House, Richmond, Virginia. Another restaurant with spirits beyond the alcoholic kind is Ruth's Chris Steak House at Bellgrade Plantation. The story behind the haunting has all the makings of an Edgar Allen Poe tale. In 1840, the Friend family sold the plantation to an older Frenchman named Robiou. He met and became enamored with the 14-year-old daughter of a neighbor, Wormley, and was granted her hand in marriage. One day, he returned home and found her with a former boyfriend, Reid. He demanded a divorce, which didn't sit well with the father. The father convinced his daughter's lover to help him retaliate against Robiou. What happened next was horrible. Wormley shot Robiou, and both he and Reid were arrested. Reid got off - as it was said he had been coerced into the plot - but not Wormley. Eventually, he was hung at the county courthouse. Within two weeks of her father's hanging, Robiou's widow fell down the front stairs of the plantation house and died. Since that time, both she and her murdered husband's spirits have been seen, mainly in the boxwood gardens behind the place. And sometimes, inside the building, too.
During the Civil War, Bellgrade was used by General A.P. Hill as his headquarters while engaged in a campaign located between Richmond and Petersburg. It was also utilized as a hospital for southern soldiers. General Hill was killed during this campaign. There was an attempt to take his body to Hollywood Cemetery, but there was no way to get it across the James River because of bridge damage and Union troops. Hill’s body was then taken to Bellgrade and buried in the Friend family cemetery. In his last will and testament, he had requested to be buried standing up at Bellgrade. After the war had ended, his body was moved to Hollywood Cemetery and buried standing up. When the statue in his honor was created, his body was supposedly moved for the last time. But later, an administrator at Hollywood revealed the statue, his body, and coffin were removed to another location, at the intersection of Hermitage and Laburnum,  and again he was buried standing up. http://www.sizzlingsteak.com/ruths-chris-richmond


obiou. He met and became enamored with the 14-year-old daughter of a neighbor, Wormley, and was granted her hand in marriage. One day, he returned home and found her with a former boyfriend, Reid. He demanded a divorce, which didn't sit well with the father. The father convinced his daughter's lover to help him retaliate against Robiou. What happened next was horrible. Wormley shot Robiou, and both he and Reid were arrested. Reid got off - as it was said he had been coerced into the plot - but not Wormley. Eventually, he was hung at the county courthouse. Within two weeks of her father's hanging, Robiou's widow fell down the front stairs of the plantation house and died. Since that time, both she and her murdered husband's spirits have been seen, mainly in the boxwood gardens behind the place. And sometimes, inside the building, too.
During the Civil War, Bellgrade was used by General A.P. Hill as his headquarters while engaged in a campaign located between Richmond and Petersburg. It was also utilized as a hospital for southern soldiers. General Hill was killed during this campaign. There was an attempt to take his body to Hollywood Cemetery, but there was no way to get it across the James River because of bridge damage and Union troops. Hill’s body was then taken to Bellgrade and buried in the Friend family cemetery. In his last will and testament, he had requested to be buried standing up at Bellgrade. After the war had ended, his body was moved to Hollywood Cemetery and buried standing up. When the statue in his honor was created, his body was supposedly moved for the last time. But later, an administrator at Hollywood revealed the statue, his body, and coffin were removed to another location, at the intersection of Hermitage and Laburnum,  and again he was buried standing up. http://www.sizzlingsteak.com/ruths-chris-richmond

Next time you decide to eat at a haunted eatery and feel someone watching you eat, it’s not the waiter or waitress. It just might be the ghost that must now live vicariously through the living as they can no longer eat or drink. Happy haunting...I meant, happy eating......

Supernatural Friday: Fourth of July Myths

 

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July for the United States. It is a celebration of the winning of our independence back in the 18^th century.

There are myths connected with the Fourth. It's something different to learn about this holiday, showing that we Americans have much to learn about our history.

 

The 4th of July is a celebration of the U.S. Constitution.  

The U.S. Constitution’s purpose was to remake the American governments of the Revolution by making the system less democratic. The delegates from 12 states who met in Philadelphia in summer 1787 had been sent by the states to recommend amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Instead, they instantly decided to meet in secret, and then the nationalists among them tried to win adoption of a national – rather than a federal – constitution.

The 4th of July was the day that the 13 states established their independence.
No, it was not. Virginia established its independence on May 15, 1776, when its revolutionary Convention adopted resolutions for a declaration of rights, a permanent republican constitution, and federal and treaty relationships with other states and foreign countries. It was because the Old Dominion had already established its independence – had, in fact, already sworn in the first governor under its permanent republican constitution of 1776, Patrick Henry, on June 29 – that Virginia’s congressmen, uniquely, had been given categorical instructions from their state legislature to declare independence. Virginia was not the only state whose independence was not established by the Declaration on the 4th, as New York’s congressional delegation did not then join in the Declaration. In short, the states became independent in their own good time – some on July 4, some before it, some after the date.

The chief legacy of the 4th of July is the political philosophy set out in the Declaration of Independence.
Since the 18th century, political radicals have argued for understanding the Declaration as a general warrant for government to do anything it likes to forward the idea that "all men are created equal." Yet, that was not what the Declaration of Independence meant. The Declaration of Independence was the work of a congress of representatives of state governments. Congressmen were not elected by voters at large, but by state legislatures, and their role (as John Adams, one of them, put it) was more akin to that of ambassadors than to legislators. They had not been empowered to dedicate society to any particular political philosophy, but to declare – as the Virginia legislature had told its congressmen to declare – that the colonies were, "and of right ought to be, free and independent states." In other words, the Declaration was about states’ rights, not individual rights, and the Congress that adopted it had no power to make it anything else. All the rest of the Declaration was mere rhetorical predicate.

The 4th of July is a non-partisan holiday dedicated to recalling the legacy of the American Revolution.
In the Founders’ day, the 4th of July was a partisan holiday. Celebrated in the 1790s and 1800s by Jeffersonian Republicans to show their devotion to Jeffersonian, rather than Hamiltonian, political philosophy. If a Federalist in the 1790s, you would celebrate Washington’s Birthday instead of the 4th of July. If you believed in the inherent power of the Executive in formulating foreign policy, in the power of Congress to charter a bank despite the absence of express constitutional authorization to do so, and in the power of the federal government to punish people who criticized the president or Congress, you would not celebrate the 4th. The 4th was the holiday of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, those great states’-rights blasts at federal lawlessness. It was the anti-Hamilton, anti-Washington, anti-nationalist holiday.

The fulfillment of the 4th of July lay in the establishment of a powerful national government.
Celebrants of the 4th of July in the Founders’ time rejected the idea that the Constitution had created a national government. They insisted that it was federal instead and that Congress had only the powers it had been expressly delegated. This was chiefly through Article I, Section 8, that the federal courts had no more jurisdiction than they had been assigned through Article III, and that the vast majority of government functions had been kept by the states. When federal courts grabbed for more power in 1793, these people added the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution. In response to the nationalists’ war on France and Alien and Sedition Acts, they first adopted the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, then elected Republicans – Jeffersonian states’-rights/laissez-faire advocates – to run their government.

The Declaration of Independence stood for the rights of white, male property owners alone.
The philosophical material in the first section of the Declaration, although commonplace at the time, had no legal or moral weight. Congress didn't have power to commit the states to it. Now, revolutionaries who accepted the Lockean version of social compact theory did not necessarily believe that only white, male property holders had rights. Thomas Jefferson, for example, who was the author of the draft Lockean section of the Declaration, followed his belief in the idea that all men equally had a right to self-government, coupled with his belief that white and black people could never live together peacefully as equal citizens in America, to the conclusion that blacks must be colonized abroad to someplace where they might exercise their right to self-government.

The fulfillment of the 4th of July will come when the United States has sponsored democratic revolutions throughout the world.
No. George Washington--in an address he co-wrote with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay-- along with Thomas Jefferson counseled that the U.S. avoid foreign entanglements, and of course, foreign wars.