Bedroom in the Rose Hall Great House

(If you have any scary places to tell us about, e-mail the details to HauntedHouses@ScaryPlace.com)

I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, which is built on land once part of the thousands of acres of sugar plantation known as Rose Hall, the home of Annie Palmer. Annie Palmer is renowned as an 18th century serial killer, Voodoo witch, and now a persistent ghost. (See The Basic Story and The Hauntings.) Pay particular attention to the photo below.

We entered through what was once the dungeon. It has since been turned into a bar, and souvenir shop. The bar serves its own concoction called "The Witches Brew". It is supposed to make you more attractive to Annie. I can see why. After a couple of those, you would kiss a lamppost.

In the shop are a large number of photos and letters from past visitors who have all found strange things on their film once they got home and developed it. This is the first indication that perhaps this isn't just the tourist trap it appears to be. Although a number of the images can be easily explained away by someone with a halfway decent knowledge of photography and the principals of light, there are a few inexplicable ones.

We were then given a tour of the various rooms of the house and a description of the furnishings and customs of the times. Once prompted, the guide also told us about the murders. And the ghosts. The mirror described in the Hauntings section of this description, was particularly eerie. The bedrooms where the murders took place are all deceptively serene, and I have to admit that as sensitive as I am at times, I did not feel much in the way of a ghostly presence.

After completing the tour, I went back on my own and explored the rooms that interested me most. It was then that I took the picture below. (Compare it to an image of the same room from a different angle above.) A semitransparent figure, dark and wispy, seems to be in the process of materializing in front of me. Note that the room is in perfect focus, even elements as near as the bed. Yet the figure or form appears to be without a solid shape. Indeed, you can actually see part of the bedspread clearly through it's middle.

Although I did not see anything at the time, I was most definitely alone in that part of the house. Alone in the sense of fellow corporeal humans, that is.

This image was taken with a digital camera I keep with me. (It is a simple one that does not have the ability to do a "double exposure".) Although not as high in quality as a film camera, it does a decent job and holds about 98 shots before I have to dump it to my PC. I did not see this image until I downloaded the day's images later while on the flight home. I have not altered the image above in any way except to improve the hue and saturation in an attempt to clarify the image better.

If this is a spirit or ghost, it is worth noting that unlike most descriptions of "light, glowing" forms, this one appears to be composed of darkness. If it is indeed some manifestation of Annie Palmer, it may be a reflection of her evil nature and connections to black magic and human sacrifice. I do not know why this was visible to my digital camera and not to my eye, but it may have something to do with the affinity many spirits seem to have to electricity. It lends credence to the theories that posit that spirits are in essence faint electrical beings... I leave further musings and theories to you. Feel free to write and comment.

I was invited to stay overnight at the Great House, in order to pursue my research a bit more in depth. I may have taken them up on it had I seen the image above, but at the time, I had not seen enough to interest me in staying and I was without my fellow ghosthunter, Nurse Spasm. I would much rather go back another time with Nurse Spasm and a proper load of test equipment at our disposal. It seems I have an open invitation to return...

Chills...

(For more links leading to info about The White Witch of Rose Hall, click here.)