Encyclopedia of Horror Lore

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Meeker Mansion

Date of Establishment

The Meeker family, Ezra, and Eliza were pioneers in the establishment of the City of Puyallup. Their mansion construction began in 1886 and finished in 1890, and today is a nationally recognized Puyallup landmark that is being restored. From 1914 to 1969 the mansion served as a GAR retirement/nursing home before being closed for good. In 1973 the Puyallup Historical Society stepped in and stopped the planned burning of the building, and started restoration efforts.

After the Meeker’s passed they left the mansion for their daughter to “dispose” of as they saw fit. In 1912 the building was leased to serve as a hospital, but that didn’t last very long. The building was turned into a home for orphans and widows by 1915 and served as such for some time. By 1948 the building needed serious over-hauling and major remodelings were underway, leaving the building to be sold to a nursing home.

The buildings final owner is the Puyallup Historical Society, which currently still operates it as a museum. Over time restorations have brought this historic building back to its original state. These steps continue to this day to help preserve its historical value.

Name & Location

Though Meeker Mansion does not share in having tons of nicknames the mansion is for a significant historical site. Still standing in the heart of downtown Puyallup’s, is a must-see for any visitors to the town. Puyallup Historical Society was formerly known as the Ezra Meeker Historical Society before the 19th century.

Physical Description

The exterior of this Victorian-style building features white siding and ornate wooden trims. The front porch is spacious and has a 2nd-floor balcony above it, with another matching it on the east side of the house. Porches and balconies have decorative wooden railings and pillars, as well as the original front porch posts.

Inside this 2-story mansion were 15 rooms, 6 fireplaces, custom gold leaf molding, and 12-foot ceilings. There are speaking tubes and gaslights fitted throughout the entire house, as well as matching metal decorative fittings. Bathrooms are fitted with interior plumbing, marble fixtures, tin bathtubs, and beautiful wooden trims. Almost every type of wood can be found in this house. Ash and walnut frames, teakwood flooring, cedar paneling, redwood library, walnut panels, cherry wood posts, and the list goes on as you look at this house. No detail of elegance was spared during its construction.

Origin

Ezra Manning Meeker was an Oregon Trail pioneer, known as the “Hop King of the World. He became the girts mayor of Puyallup, Washington, and worked to memorialize the Oregon Trail that he traveled through-out his youth. The Meeker family first settled in Puyallup in 1862 and lived out their lives growing hops for brewing beer, as well as numerous other ventures. Meeker fell in on one of his many re-tracings of the Oregon Trial trips, shortly after dying on December 3, 1928, at the age of 97. The Meeker Mansion Museum details Ezra’s life story as well as his detailed experiences of the Oregon Trail.

Mythology and Lore

The Meeker Mansion is rumored to hold a multitude of restless spirits that haunt its walls. Sightings of the founder’s spirits are heavily reported, sometimes in realistic form and others as full-on phantom figures. There are also heavy reports of an overwhelming perfume smell that strongly takes over suddenly. This is said to be the presence of Eliza Meeker’s ghost passing by you.

One personal account of the haunting of Meeker Mansion reported being approached by the Meeker couple within 10 minutes of being in the master bedroom. She goes on to say Eliza Jane showed her an “evenings of quiet companionship in their lamp-lit bedroom”. Eliza even shared details of how the restorations were wrong, and which maids she didn’t care for. Lynne goes into great detail on her experiences with the spirits of the former owner in her Paranormal Blog.

Modern Pop-Culture References
Books & Literature
  • Meeker Mansion Mysteries: A Fiction Anthology by Northwest Writers (1994)
Television Series
  • Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Castle” (2014- )
Index
  • Seattle Terrors
  • Meeker Mansion Museum
  • Puyallup Washington
  • Lynne Sutherland Olson’s Paranormal Blog
  • Definition.org

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Morgan House – Kalimpong, India

Date of Discovery

The mansion was built in the 1930s by an English jute baron – George Morgan.

Name

Morgan House Kalimpong or Morgan House

Physical Description

The mansion is built in a colonial British style. It sits on a 16-acre estate on the Durpindara mountain with views of the Kangchenjunga mountain range, and the valleys of Relli, Labha, Deolo, and Kapher.

Origin

The mansion was built as a summer getaway for the wealthy jute baron and his wife where they held extravagant parties when visiting. It is currently operating as a boutique hotel and is open to tourists.

Mythology and Lore

It is rumored that many tourists in the house have felt a presence while staying there. Further reports include hearing voices when no one was around and the sounds of high heels walking on the wooden floors. These are presumed to be made by the ghost of Lady Morgan haunting the mansion. It is believed that lady Morgan may have died in the house and is unable to let her treasured home go.

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CCO photos by Subhrajyoti07

Modern Pop-Culture References

Movies

None known

Television Series

None known

Books

None known

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Myrtles Plantation – St. Francisville, Louisiana

Date of Discovery:

1796

Physical Description:

Creole Cottage with nine bays, a double door entrance, and 125ft long veranda. 

Origin

Built by General David Bradford in 1796 in St. Francisville, Louisiana.

Mythology and Lore

 The Myrtles Plantation

Known as one of the world’s most haunted homes, Myrtles Plantation is filled with ghost. The plantation was called Laurel Grove until 1834 when new owners Ruffin Gray Stirling and his wife Mary bought the land. After an extensive remodel the house doubled in size and was named Myrtles Plantation for the trees that grew close to the property. Stirling died in 1854 and his wife took over the plantation. 

She hired William Winter to help her manage the property. He married her daughter Sarah and they had six children. William Winter was shot and killed on his front porch in 1871. Sarah stayed on the property with her children and her mother until her death. Upon Mary’s death, the property went to her son. But the plantation carried a heavy debt and ended up changing hands several times. In 1891 it was bought by Harrison Williams and when he died the property was divided amongst his heirs. In the 1950s Marjorie Munson bought the house. In the 70s James and Frances Kermeen Myers bought it and ran it as a bed and breakfast. The plantation is now owned by John and Teeta Moss. The owners hold tours of the property and even allow overnight guest.

Many ghost stories and strange occurrences have surrounded the property over the years. In the 1950s Marjorie Munson was the first owner to give any validity to these stories when she moved in and started noticing strange things. 

The most well-known ghost is Chloe, a slave that loved to eavesdrop on the owners, Clarke and Sara Woodruff. When she was caught, her ear was cut off. Chloe took to wearing a turban to hide her missing ear.  According to the legend, Chloe really wanted to get back in the family’s good graces, so she devised a plan to make them sick and then cure them. She poisoned a birthday cake and fed it to the family. Sara and her two children ate the cake and got sick. But instead of Chloe being able to nurse them back to health, they died, and Chloe was hanged.  Chloe haunts the property and was even captured in a photo taken in 1992. 

Sara and her children’s spirits also haunt the house and are allegedly trapped in a mirror that wasn’t covered when they died.  Visitors and staff have seen the apparitions of the family in the mirror. Small handprints have even been seen on the glass even though there was no one around that could have made them. Another owner is also believed to haunt the house, William Drew Winter. He was shot while standing on his front porch. Allegedly Winter staggered back into the house and crawled up the stairs before collapsing and dying on the 17th step. His last steps can still be heard in the house today. There’s the sound of someone walking into the house, followed by sounds of something slowly moving up the stairs and then it stops…on the 17th step.

Modern Pop Culture Reference:

TV Series:

Unsolved Mysteries (2002)
Ghost Hunters (2005)
Ghost Adventures (2014)

Youtube

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Nightmare

Date of Discovery

Linguistically speaking the etymology of the word Nightmare dates back to the 1300s, but the phenomenon has been under investigation as far back as the second century.

c. 1300, “an evil female spirit afflicting men (or horses) in their sleep with a feeling of suffocation,” compounded from night + mare (n.3) “goblin that causes nightmares, incubus.” The meaning shifted mid-16c. from the incubus to the suffocating sensation it causes. Sense of “any bad dream” is recorded by 1829; that of “very distressing experience” is from 1831. Cognate with Middle Dutch nachtmare, German Nachtmahr. An Old English word for it was niht-genga.

Etymonline.com – “Nightmare”

Name

The Nightmare is a type of demon that is also known as a Night Terror, Night Hag, and Old Hag. Unlike the named demons that make up the commanding force of demonic entities, these lesser demons are known only by their function.

Physical Description

Although there isn’t a consistent description of the Nightmare, the various descriptions throughout the history of the demonic entity suggest that it can take a variety of forms. In most cases, the demon presents as an invisible entity, although there are reports of it being a dark shadowy figure or an inhuman and demonic shape. Most reports indicate that its breath can be heard as a low rasp, it possesses glowing red eyes, as well as a strong revolting odor that fills the room in its presence.

Origin

The best guess on where the Nightmare originated is second-century Greece when Galen of Pergamon first investigated the phenomenon.

Mythology and Lore

As can be assumed by the name, the Nightmare attacks mostly at night but is known to do so at any given time during the day or night. Within the paranormal community, the Nightmare is often confused with poltergeist activity, and in rare cases has been associated with vampire attacks. The Nightmare is also related to the Mara (also known as a succubus), another type of demon that attacks humans at night, with the ultimate goal of sexually assaulting them.

As a typically nocturnal influence, the nightmare strikes people when they sleep, often causing the individual to experience strange smells, sounds, and images, then causes suffocation and a phenomenon known by the scientific community as sleep paralysis. Other characteristics are varied from case to case but remain a consistent variable when taking into consideration all of the reported attacks. These cases involve the individual waking from a deep sleep unexpectedly to the sensation of an unseen entity sitting upon their chest—the individual’s attempts to move, struggle, speak or scream are futile, which is understandably the most frightening aspect of the attack. It seems the Nightmare’s purpose is not to kill, as the attack ends just before the individual passes out. The victim typically recalls all details of the alleged attack the next day and demonstrates a prolonged sense of mental, emotional, and physical fatigue.

In some reported cases of a Nightmare attack, victims are awakened to audible footsteps approaching them as they lay in bed, while there is no figure to attach the footsteps to, they immediately feel the effect of being paralyzed, likely due to extreme fear.

Nearly 15% of the adult population worldwide has reported having at least one attack from a Nightmare within their life, according to modern research. Documented in second-century Greece, physician Galen of Pergamon analyzed several patients who reported having nightmares but attributed the phenomenon with indigestion. While it’s still often proposed as an explanation for individuals reporting such cases to their doctors there are a couple of other theories that have been developed since—commonly, sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, as well as the rare case of repressed sexual tensions. Suffice it to say, these explanations may be accurate for some of the cases, but it does not satisfy them all.

During the Middle Ages, when circumstances such as this were being investigated, it was normal for the explanation to be something supernatural, such as witchcraft to be the cause. In fact, the names, “Night Hag,” as well as, “Old Hag,” refer to an older term for witches, “hag.” Witches were believed to come into a victim’s house at night and then, “ride,” a person’s chest at night, causing the victim to feel as if they were being suffocated, then exhausted the next day. This is actually where the term, “hagridden,” was born, to indicate a feeling of being run down, or exhausted. It was also common for individuals to accuse witches of attacking them magically, by cursing them and sending a demon to attack them. It was a common belief that a religious object held close to the body, or an amulet worn around the neck would ward off any potential Old Hag encounters.

Modern Pop-Culture References

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Ogopogo

Historical Image of the Basilosaurus
Historical Image of the Basilosaurus

Date of Discovery

In 1872, the first detailed account of Ogopogo from a white settler came from Susan Allison. As the first non-native person to live in the region closest to Lake Okanagan, she confirmed her sighting with the native people of the area, who told her about N’ha-a-itk–the original name of Ogopogo. It’s clear from her experience that the indigenous people of the area were clearly aware of this lake monster well before it became a part of the written lore of the region.

Name

The Ogopogo, or Oggy is often referenced to by its original name which is N’ha-a-itk, and Naitaka which it received from the indigenous population. N’ha-a-itk in Séliš (the anglicized version, Salish) which translates to the “spirit of the lake; snake of the water; or water demon.”

Physical Description

Lake Okanagan in 1897
Lake Okanagan in 1897

Ogopogo is most commonly described as being a serpent that is between forty and fifty feet long, and Karl Shuker, a British cryptozoologist that has categorized it as a many-humped variety of lake monster. It has often been suggested that the Ogopogo is actually the same kind of primitive serpentine whale as a Basilosaurus. Physical evidence for this lake monster has been limited to unclear photographs, which cause these sightings to be doubted, giving way to explanations that they’re really misidentified otters swimming in formation, or floating logs.

Origin

Originating from the indigenous people in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada–the Ogopogo lives in Okanagan Lake. It is sighted most frequently around Rattlesnake Island, where it is said he lives in a naturally occurring cave underneath the island. Lake Okanagan is the largest of five inter-connected freshwater fjord lakes in the Okanagan Valley, and it is named after the indigenous tribe that first inhabited the area. The lake was created by melting glaciers when they flooded the valley over ten thousand years ago, and it stretches approximately seventy-nine miles. With a maximum depth of 762 feet and an average depth of 249 feet, the Okanagan Lake has frozen over during only eight winters in the last 110 years.

Indigenous Petroglyph of the Ogopogo
Naitaka Petroglyph

Mythology and Lore

Ogopogo is more closely intertwined with the area’s native folklore than any other lake monster known to exist. The Secwepemc and Syilx tribes called the lake monster Naitaka and N’ha-a-itk, and they regarded the creature as an evil supernatural entity with enormous power and malicious intentions. Within the folklore of these tribes, it was said that Naitaka demanded a live sacrifice in order to allow safe passage across the lake, so for hundreds of years, the people of these tribes would sacrifice small animals before entering the water.

In some of the oral traditions that are passed down, there is a visiting chief by the name of Timbasket, who rejected the idea of sacrificing an animal for safe passage–he rejected the very idea that Naitaka even existed. In response to this insult, Naitaka, “whipped up the surface of the lake with his long tail,” which caused the canoe to capsize and its occupants to be sucked down to the bottom of the lake. There are many stories in which Naitaka has been described to have used its tail to create a fierce storm in the water and drown its victims.

Within local folklore, Sir John Lambton was claimed to have killed a “wyrm,” from the lake, which resulted in all of his descendants to be cursed by a witch that would not allow any Lambton to die in bed. In 1855, John MacDougal, a settler claimed that his horses were pulled down into the water and his canoe would have followed if he hadn’t cut the line just in time.

Modern Day Sightings

In 1968, Art Folden noticed something moving in the lake while driving on Highway 97–he pulled off of the road and filmed footage that he claimed was the lake monster in a large wake that was moving across the water. He estimated that Ogopogo was around 300 yards off the shore of the lake and computer analysis of the footage concluded that it was a solid, three-dimensional object. Folden said he noticed something large and lifelike in the distance of the calm water which caused him to pull his home movie camera to capture the object.

Just off the beach at Kelowna, in 1980 a tourist by the name of Larry Thal from Vancouver shot some 8mm film that lasted for approximately ten seconds, while he and around 50 other tourists watched what they claimed was a forty-five minute long Ogopogo sighting. Many skeptics believe that it was a misidentified sighting of swimming otters. In 1989 John Kirk believed he saw an animal that measured between 35 and 40 feet in length, black in color, had a lashing tail, and five sleek humps. In Kirk’s opinion, the creature looked to be moving at approximately twenty-five miles per hour.

July 24, 1992 a video appeared of something that was swimming just beneath the surface of the water–the person who filmed it, DeMara, also made two subsequent videotapes that skeptics have debunked to having just been formations of otters. Much of what followed for documented sightings in 2005 were supposedly debunked was also explained away as fallen trees or yet even more often otters. John Kirk, along with Benjamin Radford, and Joe Nickell conducted an investigation in 2005 for National Geographic Channel’s Is It Real? In this investigation, they used boats to calculate the actual distances that this creature was being sighted from, but found that it was much closer than originally believed. This result gave them the conclusion that

Since technology has improved, more videos have surfaced from cell phone video captures, but this also leaves room for more mistaken sightings being more widespread, due to the availability of the technology.

Speculations About the Sightings

Author and renowned skeptic, Benjamin Radford, believes that most sightings can be explained away as misidentifications of waterfowl, otters, or beavers. He stated that the indigenous people of the land were never talking about a real monster when referencing Ogopogo, but more of a water spirit that were only myths and legends to teach people to be wary of the open water.

Modern Pop-Culture References

In Arlene Gaal’s book, Ogopogo: The True Story of the Okanagan Lake Million Dollar Monster, she tells of a Vancouver reporter by the name of Ronald Kenvyn who composed a song that included the following stanza.

His mother was an earwig,
His father was a whale;
A little bit of head
And hardly any tail—
And Ogopogo was his name.

Ronald Kenvyn
https://youtu.be/5qnzkcC_6o4

Books & Literature



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