gimme_some_truth goes ghost hunting (pictures inside)

(Note, I have attached the links to the pictures rather than embedding them in order to provide unedited photos that were not resized)
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About 2 weeks ago I found this article in my paper about a columnist who was starting these ghost tours in my area and she was choosing 13 people at random ( Plus one guest each) to be the first to go on the tour. I entered my name and was one of the lucky few to be chosen. We were to meet at the Dulaney House in McKinney Texas at 7:00 pm last Friday.

I showed up camera in hand ready to go ghost hunting. Upon arriving I was excited to learn that although many of the houses on the tour were usually closed off to the public we were going to be allowed inside to explore these haunted houses. I also learned that we were being joined by a paranormal investigations team.

The first stop on our tour was the ever so creepy Dulaney Cottage which was built way back in 1877. Walking into this cottage you get this eerie feeling. A feeling that I have only felt in the haunted hotels of Jefferson Texas. It is a hard feeling to describe but it is sort of a feeling of not being alone, of being surrounded by a presence that is there yet some how not there....

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Not much happened there aside from the overwhelmingly creepy feeling. So off we went to the Dulaney house. This was a house built by the same family after coming into some money. They kept their original house( The cottage), only moved it over and built the new house right where the old one was. The Dulaney's had a long list of Doctors in the family only the one who lived in this house was a pharmacist.

Here are a few pictures of the Dulaney House which was built in 1917
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We even got to go up to the very creepy attic where I may have caught my first ghost of the tour!
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After we finished up there, we walked over to a local restaurant called The Pantry. This place was once a Hardware store and before that even had a brothel on the third floor ( Which was closed off to us... The third floor that is)

We talked with the owner who shared stories of ghosts and encounters that he and his staff have had.
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Walking along the second floor of The Pantry I stumbled upon a short hallway. I walked down it and about halfway through I got an overwhelming feeling that there was someone or something there that I just walked through....As odd as that sounds... The feeling lasted about 5 seconds and faded away. I took a picture but there is nothing out of the ordinary there...
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Down stairs I made sure to get pictures of the stairs to see if could catch any ghosts walking down...
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After this we said our goodbyes to the owner and headed over to a very old Jail that has been closed down for quite some time. We were told of people being hung there and even a guy accidentally hanging himself in an effort to escape.
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We were than taken behind the jail to see the area where the man accidentally hung himself.
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It is here that we found some really cool and creepy jail doors. They looked like something out of Shaw shank redemption or what have you.
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I really got a kick out of those doors but we had to move along... When we arrived at the next house we learned of dolls that were made in that house using real human hair. When I saw those dolls, I must admit I was creeped out. Those were some of the creepiest dolls I have ever seen. And they were everywhere!
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This was supposed to be the last house on the tour but the maintenance guy was there and in a good mood and asked if we wanted to go into one more house where he has had a few experiences himself... Naturally we all said yes!

This house belonged to a poorer family. They had converted the attic into a room that they would rent out to passer by's for a night or two.... This place was run down and old but still really neat.
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After the look around downstairs, naturally we wanted to go upstairs and have a look at the accommodations that were offered to paying guests.... the floor was old though so we were only allowed up three at a time. The group that went up just before I did was unlucky enough to have the wits scared out of them. Apparently a table that was up there moved about 6 inches and them collapsed. One of the guys in that group came down pale as could be and looking as if he were going to throw up. Lucky me got to go up next!

When I got up there I found that the maintenance man had put the table back. About five seconds after going up the stairs there is a loud bang in the far corner of the room. I snapped a picture and this is what I got.
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It was amazing, it was as if someone was up there and was wanting privacy and became angry when we invaded his/her space... (can't say I blame them)

I then turned to get a picture of the table that had collapsed a few minutes ago.
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After that I decided to let a few more people come up, so I headed down and that was the end of the tour. I have been on many ghost tours before and this was the only one that ended with a bang ( If you catch my meaning). All in all I had a great time, met some great people and got some great pictures. I was even invited to come back when they start the other tours in the area! I can't wait to bust some more ghosts!

I got plenty of orb pictures but am disappointed that is all I got as in all honesty orbs can and usually are explained away as dust or light reflections.

This thread only shows a few of the pictures taken that night. For the full galleryclick here

( for some reason, the pictures uploaded in reverse order of which they were taken so start from the bottom and go up.... or just skip around)



[edit on 27-10-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

Ghost hunting can be fun.

just remember however that orbs does not prove anything beyond..orbs. Anything that could possibly be something else should be tossed out overall.

I remember my time in Savannah..going through all these places, I had orbs all over the place in my pics, but...meh..just orbs...could be dust, bugs, mist, pollen, etc...

id believe your feelings over the orbs..as it seems you are as well.

that sucks you couldnt get any apparitions..but the experience mustve been great.

i'm going to message you...i'm near those places and would love to go on that tour.

Great thread .

By the way i also have a lot of those orbs on pictures of mine.
But I want to ask you something. Somebody on my you tube section send this video reaction to me . Is this real ,and what can you make of this.?

YouTube Link

reply to post by 0bserver1

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Ah yes, I have seen that video before. As I said, when it comes to orbs I am never quite sure because there are so many things it could be explained away as.

My first instinct when I see the video is that it is just a bug flying through the picture, But keep in mind, I am no expert here... Amateur yes, expert no....

I do not get the feeling that this guy was trying to hoax anything and was being honest in showing his video, but I am inclined to say it is just a bug flying through the picture.....



[edit on 27-10-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

That's crazy. I grew up in McKinney. I know where all those places are. I remember the pantry has actually been owned by several different people and has changed quite a lot. My older brother had a friend that worked their when it was Buffalo Bar or some kind of name like that and she would always stop by our house on her way home after she had the unfortunate duty of closing up shop. I remember most times she would come in pale and tell about the weird feelings she would get and the noises she heard. Mostly banging and footsteps. I remember one night she was actually in tears because she heard voices from upstairs, know the place had weird accurances she had to check to make sure no patrons decided to try and stay or anything. When she went upstairs the voices stopped but she says she saw a ghost that moved toward her and vanished. She couldn't describe it because she said she was so stricken with fear that nothing worked but her eyelids. When she had the strength to open them, it was gone.

Also, the jail was at one time an attempted resturaunt as well if I remember correctly. But just weird stuff would happen and the staff would quit. Patrons too would have weird stuff happen to them and would refuse to come back. Plus, the food was terrible.

Pretty cool to come here and hear about stuff from my home town. Makes me want to go back pretty badly just to take another look at all of it.

Oh, one question before I go, did they talk about the court house at all? It's definatelty a spot they should have at least talked about. I've heard all kinds of stories about it. I even have my own:

My friend and I were walking around down town late one saturday night. We didn't have anything better to do at 16, so we would just walk around and talk and mess around and get in to trouble. Boys being boys. So, we're walking past the the court house and my friend stops dead in his tracks staring at something. I didn't notice until he whispers my name and I stop. The blood had literally ran from his face and his jaw was on the deck. I looked at what he was staring at and sure enough, in a window was a woman in a white dress staring out at us. We had both heard the stories and were pretty much scared stupid. At that point, for some reason, I just started running. And running. And running. Eventually I stopped, and my friend wasn't there. I ran back to the courthouse, much to my dismay, saw he wasn't there. Appearently, he made a mess in his trousers and he returned home. Ever since then every time I go passed the courthouse at night, I always look away.

Yes actually they did, ( I assume you mean the really old one that has not been in use for years) although we did not stop there.

They told us of a woman that killed herself in there, but I had not heard that story before.

They talked about a case that went on there, that sort of reminded me of the Lizzie borden Hatchet murder. Some lady killed her husband or something using an axe and was aquitted.... They said the lawyer that got her off killed himself years later...

You will be interested to know that the ghost you saw is the one described to me that night. A woman in a white dress looking out the window.... Very creepy to hear your story!

Also. the stories you shared about the Pantry sound a lot like the stories the current owner shared and even mentioned how it had a short stent as a bar.... not to long ago.

[edit on 28-10-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

reply to post by gimme_some_truth

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I have to say that these orbs are very interesting. And that its visible since the digital camera age came. It never showed up in standard analog camera's . Well not that i know.

I did the same experiment like the video once. It was i think seven years ago . I also saw some up lighting dots fly around and frankly it scared me so that i erased the tape that morning.

My girlfriend had a orb incident a few months ago . After taking several pictures of the closet were orbs appeared. Then she got angry because they all blocked the closet that we wanted to sell on e bay. Then she got mad and they were gone.

[edit on 11/02/2007 by 0bserver1]

[edit on 11/02/2007 by 0bserver1]

reply to post by gimme_some_truth

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Wow, I should have done my research on that. Not sure why I never did. Oh yeah, I remember, cause it scared me stupid. I kinda had to go passed the place quite a bit.

The Pantry used to be an english pub I believe. At least that's what it was before I joined the Corps about four years back. Before that it was Bufflo something or other. Decent resturaunt, kinda pricey. Before that some other resturaunt I don't remember the name of. Everyone knows the place is home to strange things, yet people still try to run a business there. And from what I hear, it's good business, they just usually close up shop because it's hard to find employees.

Oh, actually, I can recall something. There was an 50's style diner called Herby's down the street towards the library from the Pantry. I used to work there and it had to have been one of the best jobs ever. But the place never felt right at night. It was connected to an antique shop with an open space that went right in. Sometimes when I had to work nights, me and the senior employee who worked the night would hear footsteps and banging or creaking and we just thought it was the people who owned the antique shop. Sometimes they liked to stay late to do some work in the office. One night, we heard a loud arguement from the back of the antique shop and a door slam. We thought it was just the old couple having a tiff, it happens we're only human. I remember we were kinda laughing and joking about the elderly couple having make-up sex. Gross. Anyways, the next afternoon I cam in to work and I went over to the antique shop and sat down to talk with them like I sometimes do. They usually had some pretty neat old stories. Well, I brought up hearing them arguing last night. To my shock, they closed early yesterday for a grandchilds birthday and weren't there. At that point, I refused to go anywhere past the front register and traded shifts with people to get off nights. Sometimes, I couldn't avoid it. But last I remember before quitting, the noises still existed. Not sure if they said anything about the place, but I'm pretty sure it had something going on.

Which that reminds me of another story I have. The city of McKinney office where all the workers are is what used to be the old library before they built the new one. This building actually has a story attached to it that I just remembered, but I'll get back to that. As I was saying, before the office was the old library it was in the Wysong building which has since been torn down. Before it was the Wysong buiding, it was a hospital. Here's where the fun comes. So, I was there visiting my pops while he was at work. I was about 14-15 at the time, so I was quite adventurous. I met up with my friend Alan and we decided to kind of look around the basement of the building. I remember before we went down the stairs, one of my dads co-workers warned us not to go down there. He was an elderly gent, so I thought he was just looking out for our well being. Well, we don't listen, naturally, and we go down and start poking around. Most of the doors are locked and what not. One end of the hall was dark, so we didn't really want to go down that way but we did anyhow, scared. I don't remember if I felt strange or anything, I know it was a little exciting, but I'm not sure if I had any kind of feelings or felt a cold spot. Not recalling anything. The other end of the hall was shorter, but had windows in the few rooms there and the rooms were open. In one room was a bunch of bikes that were found or something so we opened up the door at the end of the short hall and took some of the cool looking bikes for a short ride. When we finished we brought the bikes in, closed the door and returned the them to where they were. As we walk out of the bike room, we hear a scream from the dark end of the hallway. Or what we think came from there. Then a bang. We turned, bolted out the door at the end of the hall since it was closer than the stairs. We closed the door and ran to the curb where we stopped and just stared breathing hard. I think we stared at that door for a good 10 minutes before cautiously walking as far around the building we could to get in the front door. Never said anything to my dad or anyone else about it. But I did talk to my step mom which my dad married after they moved offices and she works there too and she said she'd get weird feelings sometimes when she worked there.

Now, the old library had a few interesting stories to it. I used to go there a lot to just hang around read some good books and relax in a quiet enviroment. All the librarians that worked there came to reognize me and sometimes I would talk to them and what not. One day I came in to find out one of my favorites, Terri, quit. When I asked why, they said it was because of the ghost. Ghost? What ghost? They explained that there was a ghost in the library that would come around sometimes. It would knock books off shelves or it would rearranged books. Appearently, it really liked to bother females. It would come up and brush through their hair, blow in to their ear or just kinda brush by them. Well, I come to find out Terri had the worst experience. As she went back to investigate a sound to discover the ghost knocked a book off, she bent down to pick the book up and felt a firm smack upon her butt. Startled, she said out loud not to do it again then heard a voice whisper in here ear "You're mine". She just quit. She couldn't take that. I got angry at the ghost because she was quite the woman to look upon, but I can't blame the ghost. Never had an experience of my own there, never had the chance after they made it in to the new office building. I had been in there a few times when my dad was still working for the city, but never got a vibe or anything. I asked a few of the friends my dad and step mom worked with about any strange feelings or activity, this was much later when I was 16-17 really getting in to the paranormal stuff, but none had or admitted to having anything happen.

I'd be interested in to know if there were any other buildings they pointed out in the tour but you didn't go to. Maybe one of these buildings?

Those are some really fascinating stories and it is so cool to hear these stories about ghosts so close to where I live. There are plans to have ghost tours in Plano, Allen and Richardson too. I am not sure which places will be on those tours but I will HAVE to go on those tours too!

The only places that were talked about that was not on the tour was the court house and this old magic shop. I can't recall what street it was on but it was some what near the old jail I believe...they said that at one time it was an old cotton gin or something like that? It still had this steel pole in front of it that they used to lift bails of cotton to the second story.

I need to go to that magic shop when it is open. It sounds cool... A haunted magic shop... Anyway, the story with that magic shop was that years ago, during a remodel the entire inside of the building collapsed killing quiet a few people... The outer wall stayed up but the inside just pancaked on itself.... apparently the people who died still haunt that shop.

That is all I know about it though.

Aawww good fun GST! Except for the poor tormented spritis being annnoyed byus
Some good orbs, but you can't always tell with orbs, though a couple look spot on.
Have a look in the reflections in the glass windows, sometimes you can make out a reflection of a eeeeeeeire someone that you may have discounted as the photo of the room has no orbs.

I've heard about the magic shop, but never felt inclined to go there. Something just nags me in the back of my head not to. As if something bad will happen. Usually when I have that sort of feeling about a place, I'm right...

reply to post by Echo3Foxtrot

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I understand that feeling and take that into consideration. I have had that feeling before. Once I stayed in a couple of haunted hotels in Jefferson Texas. One of the hotels had an old bar/restaurant that was closed down for the season but you could get in there from the inside of the hotel.... I did not go in there because of that same feeling.

A feeling that surrounded that room that if I do go in there, something is going to happen and it will be something that I do not like.... something bad.

[edit on 29-10-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

There is a wise piece of advice. I will do that. I have plenty of pictures to look through and have not had the time to look through them very thoroughly but I will, slowly but surely!

I meant to ask who I can contact about these tours. I should be coming home on leave in the next few months and would very much like to go on one or two if possible. At the moment, I'm trying to find tours of supposed haunted areas here in Okinawa because there's a massive amount of hotspots...or coldspots. I'm pretty sure a lot of the places in downtown McKinney have some kind of activity. It's also the old district. I'm curious what's to be found in like Plano and Allen. I mean, this is where I grew up. It's quite exciting to find places like this. Any help you can give me about the tours would be helpful. A website would be best help as there's a huge time difference between my end of the world and yours. Thanks.

reply to post by Echo3Foxtrot

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I sent you a U2U with the info you need. I did not want to post it here because it included an email address.

It appears they have added a few places to the tour, or at least they have pictures of places that were not on the tour that night.

Some winery and even the magic shop....

[edit on 29-10-2009 by gimme_some_truth]