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The Paranormal Library

A collection of original articles by Haunted OC staff and contributors about all things haunted.

Is Your House Haunted?

The first step is to determine, as best you can, whether or not you truly have a legitimate case of a haunting. Not all hauntings are alike, and they may exhibit a variety of phenomena. Some hauntings feature a single phenomenon – such as a particular door slamming shut that occurs repeatedly – while others…

Types of Hauntings

Residual Haunting Activity: ​Residual haunting activity can occur when something traumatic/stressful occurs, such as a murder or a rape. Negative energy is literally blasted into the atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to imprint or record the events. Like a recording tape, it will play the events over and over again. The entities involved in this residual…

Victorian Funerals & Mourning

Death In Victorian Times ​Today outside of certain professions, it is rare for people to actually encounter death. It normally happens quietly in a hospital with family and loved ones being told after the event. However, only a century or so ago, things were very different. Despite all of the medical and technological advances of the…

Ghosts and the Bible

Because the Bible says very little about these phenomena, the subject of ghosts, apparitions, and hauntings is controversial among followers of Christ. Still, many reliable people have had experiences relating to these phenomena, and their accounts are so strikingly similar that a simple denial of their existence seems unwise. During the Middle Ages, people often…

Haunted Antiques

Do you spend time with your antiques before you purchase them? In other words, do you really get to know your finds and let your “sixth sense” explore any negative energies present before lugging those potentially haunted antiques home? No? Well, honestly, most people don’t. But according to some psychics, that’s exactly what everyone should do. Assessing…

Paranormal Dangers

Despite what certain paranormal reality shows may suggest, the spirit world is in fact extremely dangerous. In the Bell Witch case the entity involved administered poison to a resident of the home ultimately killing them. In the famous exorcism of Analese Michele (inspiration for “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”) the girl eventually died from malnutrition…

Capistrano History

Death and disease and the start of San Juan Capistrano’s semi-secret resting place by Charles Spratley, Haunted OC For those guests that have taken our Ghost Walk of San Juan Capistrano, I spoke briefly of the history of the cemetery near the Serra Chapel on the Mission grounds. I even spoke of the main cemetery…

Origins of the Leprechaun

Origins of the Leprechaun by Charles Spratley, Haunted OC The Leprechaun, when we think of this playful spirit, we think of Darby O’ Gill and the Little People. Or perhaps we think of a box of Lucky Charms cereal. Or we may even be thinking of a horrible movie franchise that is so bad it’s…

The Malleus Maleficarum

The Malleus Maleficarum, The Essential Handbook for Witch Hunters by Charles Spratley The Malleus Maleficarum, the name itself sounds ominous, and just hearing the words spoken make some shudder. Latin for the “Hammer of Witches”, this tome has been viewed by many as the book to go to if you were interested in how the…

Mercy Brown and the New England Vampire Panic

The New England Vampire Panic by Charles Spratley   When I think of New England, I usually think of Lovecraft or some horrific ghost story in a sleepy Colonial era town. But there is that twinge I get in the back of my skull that whispers only one word: vampires. Being a historian by trade,…

Spirit Photography

On Spirit Photography by Charles Spratley The history of Spirit Photography is almost as old as photography itself. It will be William Mumler who will change the way the world felt about the paranormal. He will do what mediums of his day couldn’t do, he provided physical proof of an afterlife through the use of…

The Plague Doctor

The Doctor is In by Charles Spratley A black robed figure comes through the night. His hat silhouetted by the many bonfires in the city streets. His mask a parody of a bird’s beak. The long wooden stick in his hand clacks as it strikes the cobblestones at his feet. The doctor has arrived. In…