These manuscripts were believed to be written in the early 1900s as their first library appearance was around the 1920s.
Name
Untitled Grimoires or Persephone’s Grimoires
Physical Description
Two hand-written spiral-bound books that look like the ones we have today, they are worn down and have a few tears and rips to some pages but ultimately maintained a good condition to this day.
Origin
The books originated when a Wiccan High Priestess called Persephone Adrastea Eirene recorded her family’s spiritual history of being an American witch of Swedish and English ancestry.
These manuscripts record Persephone’s “witchy” history that she reworked all through her adult life incorporating her mother’s grimoire into them as well. The first book contains around 250 pages of spells, incantations, curses, and enchantments, as well as corresponding information on gems, planets, rites, potions, and even exorcisms. The second book includes around 150 to 200 pages of alchemy and chemistry recipes, cures, perfume and balms, nerve tonics, and even hairspray recipes. The first book is believed to carry the “curse” heavier than its counterpart, as Persephone’s spells are believed in Wiccan culture to contain more power than most other records due to the embodiment of herself within them.
Originally the books belonged to Alice Monseratt, the wife of Israel Regardie, who moved to the UK in the 1920s to work with famous occult writer Aleister Crowley. Later on, they both went on to work with the Golden Dawn Order and printing their works and publications as occultism raised into the modern world. Though Monseratt did little reporting on the cursed lore over these books, she did make notes as to why she and others within the Order believed the curse carried some serious weight. She made a note to an inscription warning all those who reading it, “To those not of the craft- the reading of this book is forbidden! Proceed no further or justice will exact a swift and terrible retribution – and you will surely suffer at the hand of the craft”. This was written in not only English but other languages as well to ensure the reader be heavily warned to keep away.
Another reason these books have picked up the cursed lore is their association with famous occult writers and the Order’s they studied under. During the time the books originally sold to Alice Monseratt most occult or “witchcraft” beliefs were highly looked down upon by society. As main occultism practicer’s record being threatened and harassed out of their towns and communities. These spell books made front-page news yet again when they sold for 13,865$ from AbeBooks.com to an unknown buyer. To this day copies of the Untitled Grimoires can be bought from M Benjamin Katz Fine Books and Rare Manuscripts in Toronto. They still come with a high warning for all none believers within Wiccan or Pagan believes to shy away from them because of the cursed lore within and surrounding their pages.
Is there anything we missed about The Untitled Grimoires? Let us know in the comments section below!
Vampires date back to prehistory and were significantly lacking in physical documentation until the “Scriptures of Delphi,” were discovered during the second half of the 19th century. Having been written somewhere around 450BC, it predated any other known documentation of vampires. These creatures didn’t actually appear by name until 1047 in a more modern Russia.
Name
The Vampire as we know the legend today has had many names over the years, such as the original name it was known by, Upir, which was discovered in the document from 1047 which referred to a Russian prince as an Upir Lichy, which translates into, “wicked vampire.”
Alternative names for the vampire (French) are derivations from the original form, Upir, as vampyre (Archaic), vampir (German), vàmpīr (Serbo-Croatian), *ǫpyrь (Proto-Slavic), upýrʹ (Russian), and upiór (Polish).
Descendants of the original vampire lore are known as bhêmpayar (Bengali), vaimpír (Irish), vanpaia/banpaia (Japanese), vhĕmpāyar (Marathi), wɛm-paai (Thai), bhampair (Scottish-Gaelic), vampiri (Swahili), and fampir (Welsh) just to name a few–all of the terms that are used to describe the vampire are related etymologically.
There are many creatures that resemble the vampire in nature but are not directly related to the original demon.
Physical Description
Due to the wide variety of characterizations of vampires, but they are often portrayed as sharp-fanged humanoid creatures–they are typically said to have pale skin and range in physical appearance from grotesque to preternaturally beautiful depending on the source of the folklore.
Origin
Having originated during prehistoric times, it’s difficult to know just how they came into being. Although not always documented as the first official legend of vampires the “Scriptures of Delphi,” were found in the archaeological sites of Delphi, said to be written by the infamous Oracle of Delphi. The scriptures have within, there is a section known as the “Vampire Bible,” which is, of course, used as a colloquial term. The “Vampire Bible,” speaks about the first vampire, Ambrogio.
The first, more modern document that is known to enter vampires into legend in the new age as Upir, appeared a significant amount of time after the Scriptures of Delphi were written and subsequently lost to time.
The first known document that has entered them into legend is clear that the vampire existed well before the word for it did. In 1190, “De Nagis Crialium,” was written by Walter Map and accounts for vampire-like beings in England. Just six years later and William of Newburgh’s, “Chronicles,” accounted for several more stories of vampire-like revenants which also occurred in England. As far as is known, this was the last time they were written about until the 1400s, after Vlad Tepes, son of Vlad Dracul was born. Vlad Dracul or, “Vlad the Dragon,” was the father of the man that the world came to know as Vlad the Impaler–the original Dracula.
Mythology and Lore
Blood and flesh consuming revenants or demons can be found in nearly every culture worldwide; these creatures were incredibly well documented in each of these cultures. Before they were known as vampires, they were considered demons or spirits, and are often still comparable to demons in modern pop-culture. In the millennia that the legends of vampires have existed, there are only a handful that have truly captured attention worldwide. Most of these originate from the 1700s and particularly Transylvania –where there were reports of vampires that came from evil beings, suicide victims, witches, a malevolent spirit inhabiting a corpse, or being bitten by another vampire. This actually caused mass hysteria in many regions and was followed by believed vampires being publically executed.
Tales like Ambrogio, Dracula, Nosferatu, and more have led to the evolution of the vampire legend and turned these creatures into one of the most popular and well-known figures in horror culture.
Modern Pop-Culture References
Due to the immensely popular nature of the vampire, these modern media references are but a raindrop in the ocean of what can be found in literature, movies, and television series.
Georgia-based author and artist, Mary has been a horror aficionado since the mid-2000s. Originally a hobby artist and writer, she found her niche in the horror industry in late 2019 and hasn’t looked back since. Mary’s evolution into a horror expert allowed her to express herself truly for the first time in her life. Now, she prides herself on indulging in the stuff of nightmares.
Mary also moonlights as a content creator across multiple social media platforms—breaking down horror tropes on YouTube, as well as playing horror games and broadcasting live digital art sessions on Twitch.
This hotel was built in 1916; the alleged haunting, however, took place after the death of Fannie Guthry-Baehm between 1947 and 1950.
Name & Location
Location
The Van Gilder Hotel in downtown Seward, Alaska
Apparitions
Fannie Guthry-Baehm is said to be one of the resident ghosts that call the Van Gilder Hotel; she is one of many except she’s the only one that people have identified.
Physical Description
Location
A three-story reinforced concrete building with a full basement, on the exterior it is a white and maroon, unassumingly elegant building that is ripe with old Alaskan history.
“The first two floors contain twelve office suites with hot and cold running water and lavatories in every suite. The hall partitions and doors are of non-transparent glass. The third floor is being fitted up for lodge purposes and will be second to none in Alaska.
All exterior doors and windows are to contain wired plate glass. The windows are the celebrated Whitney windows and the building will be heated by an “Ideal” down draft boiler 3750 feet capacity, with a Honeywell automatic temperature regulator. The radiators are of the “Peerless” screw nipper type.
On the whole the building is one of the finest in Alaska. It is one of three fine concrete buildings which have just been completed but it is the largest of the three. Mr. Van Gilder deserves a tremendous lot of credit for giving a building like this to Seward. He came in a stranger and seeing that Seward must grow he set to work unostentatiously to erect The Office Block. It is an enforced concrete building eighty-four by thirty-four feet in dimension. On the first and second floors it has twenty-seven rooms. The basement is large enough to house the whole plant of the Gateway and on the third story, in addition to all the rest, are splendid lodge rooms.
At present there are 31 rooms available for rental. Six more rooms make up the manager’s apartment and lobby. The basement contains seven rooms and two bathrooms.”
News Account: Description of the building when it was opened in 1916
Apparitions
Van Gilder Hotel
There is a lone unidentifiable man is said to appear only as wisps and orbs, but there have also been sightings of two men wearing bowler hats standing behind the front desk, as well as three children running from room to room giggling when there were no guests in the hotel.
A well-known historic building in Seward, Alaska–the Van Gilder Hotel was initially built as an office building, then underwent the conversion to apartments, and finally a hotel. Between being built 1916 and 1921, the building originally played host to the Masonic and Odd Fellows Lodge on the third floor, but after the two lodges constructed their own buildings, the third floor got turned into a ballroom. Once the building made the transition to a hotel, the third floor became the space for hotel guests.
In the last hundred years, the building hasn’t changed much from the time it was built to now, save for some upgrades to keep the building up to code through the years. Changes to the interior were cosmetic, but they only aid in keeping one of the oldest hotels in Alaska feeling authentic to its origins.
Apparitions
There are apparently several reported apparitions that call the Van Gilder Hotel home, but only one is known by name. The rest have been seen, but are unidentifiable.
Fannie Guthry-Baehm
According to local lore, in 1947 a woman named Fannie Guthry-Baehm was said to be shot in the head by her husband; the stories told around town were that her husband was a violent drunk and shot her in a whiskey-fueled rage. Although even some of the locals are not exactly sure about when she was killed–but they know it was between 1947 and 1950, but according to sources, it is more often believed to have been 1947. The details of the room in which she died are also unclear, some sources say room 201, while others say it was room 202 or 209, however, former staff of the hotel insist it was actually room 202.
An eyewitness account suggested in 2001 that at exactly 1:21 am they were awakened to the whole building shaking and windows squeaking right before they heard someone running up the stairs, followed directly by someone running down the stairs. When the customer asked the staff if there had been an earthquake, but was told that there hadn’t been–that what the customer had actually experienced was the ghost of Fannie Guthry-Baehm reliving her murder.
Mythology and Lore
Apparitions
The spirits of the Van Gilder Hotel don’t appear as often in sources that allude to their existence as Fannie, but accounts from the housekeeping staff make it clear that there are a plethora of ghosts who spend their afterlife within the walls of this historic hotel.
Fannie Guthry-Baehm
The book was written by Jonathan Faulkner The Ghost of Fannie Guthry-Baehm (2010) and set the murder as a mystery piece and at face value poses as a tale woven with historical facts. There is one passage in the book that gives what is alleged to be an eyewitness account.
At about 12:30, just after midnight early on the morning of the 13th of July, the room was beginning to get dark, as it was summer in Alaska. As I rolled over, out of the corner of my eye, I saw what I perceived as a woman in a dressing gown with long light-colored hair. I could not tell if it was blond or gray, but my sense was the woman was not old and gray. She appeared tired as she moved from the corner of the bed ‘through’ the dresser and to the door. She paused and went ‘through’ the door and out of the room.
The Ghost of Fannie Guthry-Baehm (2010)
According to housekeeping staff, Fannie has a tendency to sit on freshly made beds and leave a butt print, she’s also known to move cleaning supplies, tools, as well as opening and closing doors and windows. Many people have reported seeing her while they were sitting in chairs in the hallways, as well as people who have woken up to find Fannie sitting at the foot of their bed.
Modern Pop-Culture References
There is some controversy about the validity of the only known publication made about Fannie Guthry-Baehm’s murder–although we’re waiting to hear back from the family, we’re under the impression that the book falsely represented many of the details about the life and death of Fannie.
Georgia-based author and artist, Mary has been a horror aficionado since the mid-2000s. Originally a hobby artist and writer, she found her niche in the horror industry in late 2019 and hasn’t looked back since. Mary’s evolution into a horror expert allowed her to express herself truly for the first time in her life. Now, she prides herself on indulging in the stuff of nightmares.
Mary also moonlights as a content creator across multiple social media platforms—breaking down horror tropes on YouTube, as well as playing horror games and broadcasting live digital art sessions on Twitch.
Vèvè came into being around the same time as voodoo was established in Haiti sometime during the 18th century, however, the predecessors to these symbols existed long before voodoo evolved in the Americas.
Name
Vèvè is also known as veve, and vevè.
Physical Description
Vèvès are traditionally complex line-art style symbols (when pictured), but when used in a ritual they are drawn in sands or other powders.
Origin
The tradition of creating vèvè has quite a long tradition that originates from the ancient kingdom of Dahomey–a region that is now southern Benin. Using palm oil, the practitioner would draw specific geometric figures, including frequent use of rectangles and squares, upon the ground. The ritual drawing of vèvè can also be attested as a typical practice in Central Africa and within the Taino and Arawak peoples of Haiti, all of which converged within the African slave population that was forcibly brought to Haiti.
Mythology and Lore
In Haitian Vodou, the vèvè are symbols that represent the loa, or lwa. They are ritually drawn upon the floor with some type of powder, typically cornmeal, wheat flour, bark, red brick powder, or gunpowder. In Haitian Vodou specifically, cornmeal and wood-ash mixtures are generally preferred. The substance used to draw the vèvè depends upon the loa being called or honored, as well as the ritual which is being performed. Alternatively, vèvès can also be drawn, printed, or painted and used in artwork, jewelry, banners, or other wall-hangings.
Whether simple or elaborate, these ritualistic symbols are still drawn upon the floor of the temple or ritual grounds. Instead of palm oil, they are drawn with cornmeal or ashes with a great deal of precision by an Oungan or Manbo.
These symbols are an integral part of Voodoo rituals, within the concept of their use they are used to bring the loa to the earthly plane to assist the practitioner in their ritual goal. Each of these loa has its own symbol to represent them in order to establish a personal connection to the spirit in question.
Follow Alaskan born Anna as she wades through the mysteries and perils of the paranormal and supernatural forces that are at work in the world.
In this installment, Anna has caught wind of a sinister voodoo cult that has been potentially bringing the dead back to life. What will she find when she visits the Big Easy to get to the truth of what’s behind this unbelievable rumor.
Read Articles Relating to Vèvè
Learn about vèvès and how they relate to the religion from which they came, you’ll be surprised at what you find out!
Georgia-based author and artist, Mary has been a horror aficionado since the mid-2000s. Originally a hobby artist and writer, she found her niche in the horror industry in late 2019 and hasn’t looked back since. Mary’s evolution into a horror expert allowed her to express herself truly for the first time in her life. Now, she prides herself on indulging in the stuff of nightmares.
Mary also moonlights as a content creator across multiple social media platforms—breaking down horror tropes on YouTube, as well as playing horror games and broadcasting live digital art sessions on Twitch.
The Waverly Hills Sanatorium was established in the early 20th century, it was remodeled twice first in 1912 then later in 1926. In 1961 it was closed and in 1962 the sanatorium was reopened as the Woodhaven Geriatric Sanatorium as a private nursing home and firm.
Name & Location
Waverly Hills Sanatorium or Woodhaven Geriatric Sanatorium is still located to this day in Louisville, KY
Physical Description
The original facility was wooden with two stories that had two open-air pavilions built on top of a hill on the property. Surrounded by beautiful trees and gardens the sanitarium could house 40 to 50 patients at that time. The first remodeled in 1912 expanded the facility, they added more rooms onto the small building while also adding another building to the grounds for children. In 1926 the facility underwent a second remodeling, the massive building can be seen still standing today, this abled them to house 450 to 500 patients.
Origin
Waverly Hills started as a sanatorium for those stricken with tuberculosis, they believed in fighting the illness with fresh air, quarantine from the community, and positive attitudes. At the height of the outbreak across the state, they housed around 450 to 500 patients at any given time, people of all ages and children. When the death toll hit its highest the victims were carried though an under-ground tunnel to hide the morbid evidence from the other tenants. The tunnel became known as the “body chute” rather than the supply tunnel it had been made to be. Once the outbreak became under control statewide they closed the sanatorium as it was not needed further.
In 1962 it was repurchased by the state and changed names to Woodhaven Geriatric Sanatorium, then later replacing sanatorium with center. Many of the Woodhaven patients where reporting mistreatment and experimental tests being performed on them, which lead to the final closing of the facility completely.
Mythology and Lore
Most of the records have been lost from Waverly Hills but in height of the epidemic outbreak, they estimated one death per hour, which means thousands met their end within these walls before a cure was formed. This number alone leads many to believe there was a ghostly presence left behind, and well as the “body chute” being a creepy dark tunnel thousands of bodies were carried out of the facility in. Due to the lack of records, most of the original accounts of ghost stories have been lost from this time. The barbaric treatments were unlimited as they tried to battle the outbreak, many patients sat in front of open windows for hours in the middle of winter. Others had their lungs exposed to ultraviolet light and even expanded by balloons which was often fatal.
Upon the reopening in 1962 as Woodhaven Geriatrics Sanitarium many tales of patients started to unfold of mistreatment, abuse, and unusual experiments happening within its walls. Electroshock therapy was used frequently as during this time it was the most effective treatment, even though tragic losses and side-effects happened. During the late 1970s, Woodhaven found itself in the middle of state violation and patient abuse cases which lead to it being shut down for good.
The haunting stories began to flood the area as the build sat unused for years, like the little girl who ran up and down the 3rd floor, the little boy who played with a leather ball, a woman who was bleeding from the wrists crying out for help, a hearse that appears dropping off coffins around the back of the building, the white-coated man walking through the kitchen, and many other nameless ghosts have appeared. Visitors reported doors slamming on their own, lights in windows, the smell of food cooking in the kitchen, all manner of strange sounds, and eerie footsteps walking the halls and rooms. Perhaps one of the greatest known legends was on the 5th floor in room 502 where shapes are seen in the windows, disembodied voices are heard, and even ghosts jumping to their deaths below. The reports show that in 1928 a nurse was found hanging from a light fixture after committing suicide in room 502. In 1932 another nurse jumped from the roof after working room 502 for months.
Since its final closing, many volunteer workers helping with the restoration of the building have reported wide ranges of ghostly encounters and experiences. Many people have visited the site to take its ghost tours leading to a large number of stories and reports of the activity they experienced. To this day the guided tours continue to run as the team at Waverly Hills Sanatorium work to restore and maintain the building and grounds it sits on.
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