By Kathy Murray
B is for…
BABENHAUSEN BARRACKS
This former housing place for WWII soldiers is now a museum, filled with strange noises and equally strange sights to be seen. Soldiers dressed for the war can often be seen here, even though they’ve been dead for quite some time. They can be heard yelling commands and walking through the museum at all hours. What might be the most disturbing thing about the barracks though is that when any living soldier puts his or her ear to a telephone there, a strange woman can be heard speaking gibberish. Soldiers are not sure if she is just stringing sounds together or if she is actually speaking a language backwards.
BANSHEE
A female spirit (popular in Irish and Scottish folklore), who will stand outside a home and let out a blood-curdling scream to warn the family inside of a coming death. The banshee has red eyes from crying for the doomed person.
BELL WITCH
From 1817 until just after John’s death in 1820, John Bell and his family were tormented by a poltergeist known as the “Bell Witch”. The spirit was thought to be that of a local woman named Kate Batts who had an extreme dislike for Bell. John’s daughter Betsy was the other main target for the ghost’s tricks and taunts. The Bell Witch would slap and pinch its victims, make loud noises and destroy the Bell’s personal property. Eventually, she began to speak, make threats, call the family members names and tell awful lies. John died in 1920 from being poisoned, allegedly by the witch. She stayed for a while to bother Betsy but eventually left, though not before saying that she would return in 7 years. She kept her promise and returned to the family for a few weeks before leaving again.
BERKELEY PLANTATION
Located in Virginia, the Berkeley Plantation is full of rich American history and was the site of two visits from President Abraham Lincoln. The plantation was bought in 1907 by John Jamieson, who was a drummer boy for the Union Army. His son inherited the plantation after his father’s death and ever since, witnesses report seeing a young drummer boy walking with a tall thin man along the fence that leads up to the cemetery.
BIGFOOT
Also known as Sasquatch, Bigfoot appears to be a half-man, half-ape, but no one knows for sure because one has never been caught. People have seen these creatures for at least a few centuries, and in 1967, two men recorded footage of what appears to be a Bigfoot. Some people believe that the recording is truly that of the monster, but others argue that it was set-up. Thought to be about 8 to 10 feet tall, Big Foot is said to walk on two legs and to stay around forested areas.
BLACK TRIANGLES
These are said to be huge UFOs that are in the shape of a triangle, with lights on the bottom corners and another light, sometimes red, in the middle. They make no noise whatsoever. They’ve been spotted by humans for at least half a century. One of the most witnessed occurrences that involved these particular UFOs took place in 1997 in St. Petersburg, Russia. A cluster of black triangles hovered over the city, lighting up the night sky for 20 minutes before disappearing. Many of the people of St. Petersburg recorded the event with video cameras.