Ghost Train Adventure

Historic Castle Warden in St. Augustine pictured on cover of The Florida Road Guide to Haunted Locations

ST. AUGUSTINE (May 3, 2010) – Robert Ripley always said “the truth is stranger than fiction” and it appears he’s correct once again.  The original Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum is pictured on the cover of a new book to be released this week, entitled The Florida Road Guide to Haunted Locations, establishing the old castle once again as one of the Sunshine State’s most haunted buildings.

The book chronicles dozens of locations in Florida which have a history of hauntings, including many in St. Augustine, such as the Castillo De San Marcos, the Spanish Military Hospital, and the bay front Casa Blanca Bed & Breakfast.  Book co-authors Chad Lewis and Terry Fisk have compiled over 290 pages of stories, facts, history, and details of investigations done in Ripley’s and many other Florida landmarks.

Reports of ghosts at Ripley’s began almost immediately after its opening as a museum in December of 1950.  The historic Castle Warden actually dates back to the 1880’s and was never owned by Ripley himself, although he was a guest at the building in the 1940’s when it was a hotel operated by the celebrated author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and her husband Norton Baskin.  After Ripley’s passing in 1949, the castle was purchased by his heirs and converted into the first permanent location for Ripley’s collection of curiosities and oddities that had made him world famous. 

Not long after the museum opened, visitors and employees alike began to notice strange activity, including the appearances of the ghosts of two women who died in an April 1944 fire at the castle. Others have often experienced paranormal activity in the museum’s gift shop, lobby, and various rooms.  The famous TAPS team from TV’s GhostHunters led an investigation of the building in October of 2009.

Lewis and Fisk hope to visit the castle for a book signing later this year.  “We’re hoping to come to St. Augustine when our busy schedule permits, perhaps in November,” says Fisk, who along with Lewis has co-authored dozens of books, including road guides to haunted locations in Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota.

The book is published by Unexplained Research Publishing Company and details are available at www.unexplainedresearch.com.

New York author Linda Zimmerman holds a B.S. in Chemistry and a Master’s degree in English Literature, but what really gets her excited is ghosts.  Searching for them and writing about the experiences.

Zimmerman was on hand at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Museum Saturday March 13, signing copies of her latest book, a special 10^th anniversary edition of the Ghost Investigator series.  

 Zimmerman’s latest release details 25 of her favorite cases from the previous nine Ghost Investigator volumes, and includes a new section on St. Augustine haunts, with Ripley’s historic Castle Warden as the backdrop for at least one tale.  The castle, which now houses the original Ripley’s museum, was built in the 1800’s as a family home, was later turned into a hotel by Pulitzer Prize winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and has been investigated for its reported paranormal activity by several groups, including T.A.P.S., the stars of the Ghost Hunters TV show on the SyFy Network.  Zimmerman has hopes for her own TV show based on her series of books and may shoot part of the pilot episode in St. Augustine.

Zimmerman initially received honors for her books on American history, but while delivering a series of history lectures for the bicentennial of Rockland County in southern New York’s Hudson Valley, she was asked about local ghosts and legends.  Linda says she told the one ghost story she knew, and then received a call several days later with “the excited voice on the other end of the line saying, ‘I hear you give ghost talks!’, so I researched a few more ghost stories, told those, word spread, and by the end of the series, more people were showing up to hear about the ghosts than the history.  From that point, my research into ghosts took on a life of its own, but the scientist in me wanted to personally conduct investigations.”

The entire Ghost Investigator series and the new 10^th Anniversary edition are available at www.amazon.com and at www.ghostinvestigator.com. Contact Linda directly at lindazim@optonline.net.  If you mention Ripley’s, Linda will sign your copy and ship it free.

For more information, contact Ralf Ingwersen at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! at (904) 824-1606 or ingwersen@ripleys.com.

They may be 7-feet tall and earn millions of dollars, but a few NBA basketball players are very scared of ghosts.  Several New York Knicks say they don’t want to go back to a haunted hotel in Oklahoma City…click here for full story http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2010/01/12/2010-01-12_hotel_ghosts_have_knicks_hearing_boos.html

St. Augustine’s best ghost tour JUST GOT BETTER!

Even though we’ve been voted best tour by the locals three years running, we’re not afraid of the dark – and not afraid to give you a new and improved Ghost Train Adventure!

Our 90 minute interactive paranormal investigation now takes you inside THREE haunted buildings and visits TWO cemeteries.

Spanish Military Hospital

STOP # 1 – THE SPANISH MILITARY HOSPITAL

Bizarre things have happened for centuries in this building, which just happens to rest on top of one of St. Augustine’s earliest cemeteries.  Will you see the dark figure in the corner of the Apothecary Room, or feel the bed shake in the Ward Room?

Find out why TAPS, Paranormal Seekers and others have also investigated this site, which sits on Aviles Street, the oldest street in the Nation’s Oldest City. Read more…

The Palm Coast Ghostbusters will bring a zany, crazy, slimy, and charitable good time to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! during the Special Halloween Weekend of events Friday October 30th and Saturday October 31st.  No charge, too!   For more details on this outfit from Palm Coast, Florida go to www.palmcoastbusters.com

Click here to watch a recent TV segment about the Ripley’s Ghost Train Adventure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXbgkK6jnKE&feature=related

Our friends at Peace River Ghost Tracker snapped this photo (left) inside the Ripley’s Castle Warden in April 2009 during the 24 Hour Shadows in the Dark online radio marathon.   

Don’t see what all the fuss is about?  Look on the top floor and tell yourself you DON’T see a little girl kneeling (right).  As night manager Colleen Resos uttered upon seeing this image, “Oh my Lord — I walk past that area four times a night and nothing is supposed to be there!”  FYI – The castle was built by the Warden family in 1887.  They had 14 children, 10 of which were girls.

Just checking out the web for some cool ghost pics,  and I found a shot worth of sharing.  This reminds me of the image caught in the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  Check it out.

Marcus Writes:

“This apparition photo was taken at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami Florida. To give you a brief summary of the place, Vizcaya was built around 1916 and now operates as a tour attraction.  This spiral staircase is in the area where the butlers would stay.  I thought the staircase would make a great photo if I took it looking up as the sun came through. Read more…