Some people believe in ghosts, while others couldn’t give them a second thought. Yet the frequent strange, sinister and sometimes inexplicable events that have occured in these places below make it difficult to say, “Oh, it’s just the wind.”
If you know of a haunted forest, woods or park near you, please let us know in the comments.
Freetown State Forest, Massachusetts
A quick preview of the eeriness of this forest: Do you see anything in this image, between the two trees behind the “F” in “Freetown”…?
Freetown State Forest is an area of land that acts like a magnet for creepy, bizarre, inexplicable and unbelievable events. Many who visit the forest, especially after dark, experience an overwhelming sensation of being watched—an understandable response since the forest is home to Bigfoot, UFO and ghost sightings, murders and animal mutilations, satanic cult activity and spirit mischief just to name a few. Is this alluring forest with its beautiful scenic views, miles of hiking trails and abundance of game and fish for sportsmen sitting atop cursed and insidious land?
The Freetown State Forest has “hot spots” of paranormal phenomenon and depraved acts; the Assonet Ledge, or “The Ledge,” is one such place. The Ledge is an 80-foot-deep rock quarry previously owned by the Fall River Granite Company. The quarry is allegedly an oasis for satanic cults and numerous reports have been made of people seeing a ghost lingering on a ledge, or jumping only to disappear before hitting the water. The Ledge is the location of the infamous UFO sighting made by then-governor Ronald Reagan in 1974. His supernatural experience was reported to Norman C. Miller of the Wall Street Journal.
It almost goes without saying, although I am saying it now, that the “place where the spirits dwell” is another geographical area of Freetown State Forest that’s an epicenter of the park’s dark power. The Hockomock Swamp is the state’s largest freshwater swamp, and easily the most active—paranormally speaking. Some of the creatures that have been spotted here are red-eyed dogs, pterodactyl-like creatures and a shaggy, ape-like monster. Two reports made by different outdoorsmen place this possible Bigfoot in the swamp, crashing through trees and omitting a horrific, odious smell.
The park is not only home to this strangeness above, but has a body count higher than the NYC morgue. Many corpses have been found within the perimeter of the forest, and it’s been the dwelling of at least one known serial killer. No wonder so many visitors get a foreboding feeling. From these accounts, it’s a place you don’t want to find yourself in.
Kate’s Mountain, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
The beginnings of this haunted mountain start in the 1700s. Back then West Virginia was still Virginia, and more and more settlers were moving westward into Native American Territory. Attacks were common and animosity between the two groups was high.
Kate Carpenter and her husband lived on a mountain with their son, in what is today Greenbrier County. Their day started off as any other, until sounds and screams indicated an oncoming attack by the Native Americans. Kate’s husband urged her to take their son and flee into the woods; he would hold off their attackers for as long as he could.
Kate, not wanting to leave her husband but needing to save her son, ran out of their cabin and up to the peak of the mountain on which they lived. The husband did as promised and fought until his brutal end, an end which Kate and her son would soon face.
Armed with only an axe and outnumbered by assailants, Kate and her son were killed. Yet Kate, along with her husband and son, were not only killed but scalped, beheaded and mutilated.
It’s rumored that the vicious attacks upon Kate and her family left her ghost angry, to forever haunt the mountain upon which she was murdered. Shortly after her death, locals reported seeing a headless woman running through the woods, and that screams of a child that are cut short can be heard.
Today, people have still made the same reports of a shortened scream, and mysterious lights and odd humming sounds have also been reported.
Robinson Woods, Illinois
Robinson Woods are named after the Chief of the Pottawatomies, Chippewa and Ottawa tribes, Chee-chee-pin-quay, but he’s better known by his English name of Alexander Robinson. Robinson, whose father was a Scotch trader and his mother a member of the Ottawan tribe, found himself serving as the middleman between the settlers and the Native Americans. During the brutal and quick Battle of Fort Dearborn (also known as the Fort Dearborn Massacre), Robinson served as an intermediary.
Robinson was given the land as an act of appreciation. The Robinsons and their descendants lived on that land until May 1955 after a fire burned down their farm home to the ground.
Just five months later, in October of 1955, three boys were found dead in Robinson Woods. The scene was gruesome and the case went unsolved for many years, and as time went on more frightening and strange events occurred.
Paranormal investigators researched an area in 1974 and 1975 by placing cameras and recording devices in a stretch of land near the Robinson graves. One device picked up a dull repetitive noise, and after much research it was determined to be the beating of an Indian tom-tom.
Today lights belonging to no one can be seen crossing the river and chopping sounds from nowhere are commonplace in Robinson Woods. The most frequent peculiarity of the land is a strange floral aroma that has been smelled by many visitors. Even during the dead of winter or when the trees are not in bloom, a scent of lilac or violet can be sniffed.
As far as haunted lands go, however, I think I would take Robinson Woods over many.
Happy Halloween!
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