Spooky Behavior

It started with a sound in the early morning hours of October 4, 2009. The mother detected a presence in the bedroom where she and her 11-year-old daughter, Jaimie, lay sleeping.

“Jaimie, is that you?” Kim Cates called into night, reaching for the bedside lamp.

“Yeah, Mom.”

The light never came on. Two men, one on either side of the bed unleashed storm of blows from a knife and a machete onto the still half-asleep pair. On the mother’s side, an adrenaline-fueled intruder hacked away, swinging his machete like a baseball bat, furious and brutal, while, on the other side, the first assailant’s partner stabbed the young girl.

 The screams of alarm and pain turned to pleas: “You don’t have to do this. Please stop.”

Toward the end, as their assailants neared the end of their hacking, dark slaughter, after the pleas had met no compassion, the mother began to console her daughter, even as she struggled falteringly to defend them from the rain of blows. “Everything is going to be okay,” she muttered amidst the attack.

It wasn’t, though. A few final, wild swings of the blade and then the mother’s head was pulled sharply back and her throat slit. Her daughter was lifted and thrown across the room, shattering a glass door before lying still, apparently dead. One more blow of the machete on the daughter’s inert body, the blade mixing her blood with her mother’s, and the assault was over.

According to the medical examiner assigned to the case, in the final minutes of her life Kimberly Cates sustained at least 32 injuries. Her skull was split open, her left eye socket destroyed, several organs were pierced, and her some of her bones hacked into pieces. She lived through them all, finally dying from massive blood loss.

Jaimie, Kimberly’s 11-year-old daughter, sustained massive injuries as well; she was struck at least 18 times, leaving no part of her body untouched. The blows severed part of her left foot. Her skull was split open, and the force of one of the blows shattered her jaw. But by playing dead she survived. After her assailants left the house, she struggled to the kitchen, blood-soaked and terrified, and managed to summons the police to the scene of the most brutal, seemingly random and senseless crime in the history of Mont Vernon, N.H.

The men who allegedly broke into the Cates home are pictured above. Only two reportedly were involved in the murder of Kimberly Cates and the attempted murder of her daughter. The other two did nothing to stop it. The act was supposedly part of a final initiation into a gang they created called the “Disciples of Destruction”.   

(Source: trutv.com)

avecmonpenchant-photography:

Weeping Willow

ellamorte:

Union Cemetery is a cemetery that is located near Stepney Road in Easton, Connecticut. The site dates back to the 17th century and is reputed to be one of the most haunted cemeteries not only in Connecticut, but also in the entire United States. Connecticut demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren have even written a book about the cemetery entitled Graveyard.

The most famous character said to haunt the cemetery is the mysterious “White Lady”, who has been reported by several witnesses, including police and firemen. Many people have taken photographs of her; Ed Warren has even captured her essence on film. She is described as having long, dark hair and wears what looks like a white nightgown and a white bonnet. The White Lady usually appears in the roadway along Route 59 or sometimes 111, often being “hit” by vehicles when she appears out of nowhere. But she is never found after the fact, nor is there ever any damage to the vehicles that pass through the mournful woman.

People who have “hit” the White Lady with their car have never had any damage turn up on their vehicles, except in the case of an off-duty fireman in 1993. He was driving his pickup somewhere between Union Cemetery and Stepney Cemetery, which is ten miles away, when the road in front of him took on a reddish glow. In those few surreal seconds, he saw a farmer with a straw hat sitting beside him and a lady in white approaching in the roadway with her hands reaching out toward him. He slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. He heard a thud and even ended up with a dent from the impact, yet no trace of the woman, or the farmer who had been sitting beside him, was ever found.The fact that he heard and was left with physical evidence of the impact is most unusual in cases of cars driving through or into apparitions.

The White Lady is also said to haunt the nearby Stepney Cemetery in Monroe, Connecticut. It is believed that she walks back and forth between the two.

(Source: dreamstime.com)

The Athens Lunatic Asylum, or The Ridges, has been considered one of the more haunted places on Earth ever since an incident on December 1, 1978. A female patient named Margaret Schilling disappeared from one of the active wards. On January 12, 1979, they found her body in the abandoned top floor of ward N. 20.

This ward had been used for sick, infectious patients, and had been closed down for years. They had searched the hospital for the woman when they realized she was missing but apparently hadn’t looked in ward N. 20. When a maintenance man discovered her body lying on the floor in front of a window, she had been dead for several weeks. 

The official cause of death was heart failure—probably due to her exposure to the December cold in an unheated section of the hospital. She apparently locked herself in the ward as a game, hiding from hospital employees. Before she died she took off her clothes and folded them neatly nearby.

Her corpse left a stain, and legend has it this darkened silhouette has remained ever since, despite numerous attempts to scrub it away. 

(Source: norfolkinruins.co.uk)

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

This is not an urban legend. It is a true story about a young woman in Bavaria, Germany who was thought to be possessed by evil spirits and went through a grueling exorcism. Sadly, Anneliese Michel (Emily Rose) did not survive and the controversy regarding her exorcism remains to this day.

Anneliese Michel was brought up in a hard-working, faithful catholic family. She was a typical girl who moved to a big city after receiving a scholarship. Not long after starting classes, this 19-year-old college freshman began exhibiting bizarre behavior, typical to those who were thought to be possessed.

Distraught, Anneliese then seeks medical advice and the doctor tells her that she experienced a grand-mall seizure and that she has epilepsy. Anneliese then turns to her priest who believes that she is possessed by an evil force. 

As time passes, it is clear to the priest and her parents that an exorcism must be performed to save her. It was approved by the diocese and began, strangely enough, on Halloween. Lasting for several months, the procedure took it’s toll on Anneliese, the priests, and her family.

Anneliese was often violent and her behavior was what “normal” people would find repulsive. She engaged in self-mutilation, attacked family members, ate insects, was verbally abusive, and destroyed religious symbols. This all takes it’s toll and Anneliese dies a tragic death in 1976, embarrassing the church and outraging others. Forensic evidence concludes that Anneliese starved to death and subsequent investigations into her untimely death leads to arguments as to whether she was really possessed by evil spirits or had epilepsy. Two priests and her parents (who believed she was possessed) were accused of negligent homicide and later foiund guilty of manslaughter.

(Source: rgoldberg.info)

Robert C. Hansen killed approximately 15 women in Alaska during the late 1970’s and 1980’s.  His young victims were prostitutes and/or exotic dancers.

When he was caught in 1983, police only knew about 3 murders and 1 attempted murder.  After initially denying any knowledge of the killings, Hansen made a deal with investigators. As part of his deal, Hansen revealed the grave sites of 12 unknown women.  With this information, police were able to recover 7 additional bodies. 

Hansen’s one surviving victim told investigators investigators, she had been approached on the street and offered $200 for oral sex.  She agreed, but midway through the act the man locked a handcuff around her wrist and pulled out a gun.  He told her if she cooperated he would not kill her.  He then drove to his house in Muldoon, an upper class area not far from town. Once inside, the man brutally raped her, bit her nipples, and at one point shoved a hammer into her vagina.  After a brief rest, the man said that he was going to fly her to his cabin in the mountains and told her he would let her go if she cooperated.  Upon their arrival at the airport, her kidnapper shoved her inside a small plane and began loading supplies.  The young prostitute knew she was in serious trouble and that the man would probably kill her once they got to his cabin.  Waiting until his back was turned, she shoved open the door and ran for her life.  

During his confession, Hansen told police that after he got a victim under his control, he would normally take her to his plane and fly them out to his remote cabin.   He would brutally rape and torture the women.  Afterwards, he would strip them naked, sometimes going so far as blindfolding them, and set them free in the woods.  Hansen would give his victim a brief head start and then hunt them down with a hunting knife or a high-powered rifle.  In describing his hunts to investigators, Hansen said that it was like “going after a trophy Dall sheep or a grizzly bear.”

In 1988, Hansen was returned to Alaska and became one of the first inmates in the new Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, where he remains today.    

(Source: trutv.com)

The Many Legends of Sara Jane Road

• One legend has it that while Sara Jane’s husband was off fighting in the Civil War, the lonely woman and her child were keeping the home fires burning in their house along the Neches River. 
  
  When rumors spread that Union soldiers would soon ravage the area, Sara Jane is believed to have hidden her baby — tucked away in a wicker basket — under a wooden bridge near her home. She then returned to the house where legend says she hanged herself from a Cypress tree in the front yard.
  
  Local residents say they have seen the ghost of Sara Jane haunting the Southeast Texas roadway. Others believe that you can still see a light flickering at night as Sara Jane continues to search for her baby with the help of an oil lantern.
• Another story has a young mother pushing a stroller carrying her baby, Sara Jane, across a bridge when the carriage tips over and the baby is spilled into the rushing waters below. As the mother frantically searches for her baby, she cries out for her child.
  
  Her moans and cries for Sara Jane are allegedly still heard on eerie Southeast Texas nights.
• Very similar to the above story, one tale focuses on a young mother driving a horse-drawn carriage down the roadway at midnight, many years ago.
  
  She had her baby daughter, named Sarah Jane, in a basket beside her. Heavy fog had descended and when she crossed the middle of the bridge the horse spooked and the carriage overturned — throwing the baby into the water. Sara Jane was never found.
  
  The tale goes on to say on Halloween night when it’s dark and foggy you can hear the mother calling, “Sara Jane, Sara Jane”, looking for her baby.
• On a more sinister level, one local legend pegs Sara Jane as a baby murderer. The tale includes the mother throwing her child into the river and being hung at the very site of her crime as a punishment.

(Source: panews.com)

 “Brian Howe had no mother, so he wont be missed.” - Mary Bell

At age 10, Mary Bell killed Brian Howe, a 3-year-old boy.  Brian was found covered with grass and purple weeds. He had been strangled. Nearby, a pair of broken scissors lay in the grass. There were puncture marks on his thighs, and his genitals had been partially skinned. Clumps of his hair were cut away. The wounds were bizarre: “There was a terrible playfulness about it, a terrible gentleness if you like, and somehow the playfulness of it made it more, rather than less, terrifying,” said Inspector James Dobson. Brians belly had been signed “M” with a razor blade. 

Brian Howe was buried on August 7th. Detective Dobson was there: “Mary Bell was standing in front of the Howes house when the coffin was brought out. I was, of course, watching her. And it was when I saw her there that I knew I did not dare risk another day. She stood there, laughing. Laughing and rubbing her hands. I thought, My God, Ive got to bring her in, shell do another one.”

However, Brian Howe was not Mary’s first victim.  Earlier that year, on May 25th, Martin Brown was last seen at approximately 3:15 pm, and was discovered at 3:30, lying on the floor of a boarded-up house with blood and saliva trickling down the side of his cheek and chin.  Strangely, the police could not find any signs of violence. A bottle of aspirin was nearby — perhaps he ate them all. There were no visible strangulation marks or any other marks on the child, and therefore the authorities initially believed his death was accidental. 

Meanwhile, the true menace of Scotswood, Mary and her friend Norma, were giving Martins aunt the creeps with their prying questions. “They kept asking me, Do you miss Martin? and Do you cry for him? and Does June [Martin’s mother] miss him? and they were always grinning. In the end I could stand it no more and told them to get out and not to come back.”

Eventually, Mary Bell was convicted for her crimes, but only served 12 years in prison.  She was released at age 23 with a new identity.  She is now in her 50’s and has a daughter and a grandchild.  She resides in England.

(Source: trutv.com)