Phone calls that ring, but when answered there’s just static.
Lights mysteriously switch on.
Peculiar shadows in photos.
Some people believe that after death, a loved one has communicated with them from the other
side.
These paranormal encounters- while spooky- were generally comforting, most felt their
loved one was saying a final goodbye.
But in some cases a spirit has reached out from the great beyond with a shocking revelation
that’s had ramifications in the world of the living.
The Secret in the Red Barn
Ann Marten woke up gasping.
For the last several weeks odd dreams about her stepdaughter Maria had repeatedly interrupted
her slumber.
She didn’t always remember what happened in these dreams, but she couldn’t shake
a sense of dread.
Unfortunately for Ann, her dreams were about to get worse.
By all accounts 24 year old Maria Marten was quite lovely.
She was also an unwed mother which was scandalous according to her neighbors in the country
village of Polstead, in a quiet corner of England’s Suffolk County.
Though they had a tempestuous relationship, her latest lover William Colder asked her
to elope.
He made plans to rendezvous with Maria late one night at a local landmark, the Red Barn,
which had a unique red roof.
William even suggested that Maria disguise herself as a young man, suggesting the authorities
had issued a warrant for her arrest on the charges of bearing illegitimate children.
Allegedly the couple eloped to the town of Ipswich on May 18, 1827.
William returned to Polstead a few weeks later.
When friends and family asked where Maria was, he claimed that she had stayed in Ipswich.
Eventually William left the area and traveled to London.
Then he settled on the Isle of Wight.
The Marten family received a letter from William, who said that he was writing on Maria’s
behalf since she had hurt her hand.
Maria claimed to be happy and settling into her new life.
Though Ann wrote her stepdaughter several times, she only received a few letters bearing
excuses in return from WIlliam.
Time went by.
Ann began having peculiar dreams of Maria.
Then the dreams took a horrible turn.
Ann dreamed that Maria was dead and buried under the Red Barn.
After the second dream about Maria’s death, Ann confessed to her husband Thomas.
She hadn’t wanted him to think her superstitious, but she could no longer deny her vision.
She suggested that he investigate the Red Barn for her peace of mind.
On April 19th, 1828 Thomas went to check out the barn.
While removing straw from the barn's dirt floor, he noticed a depression.
He dug and found a shallow grave with a decomposing skeleton wrapped in a sack.
It had long hair and a green handkerchief around its neck.
The corpse was soon identified as Maria Marten.
It appeared that she had been both shot and stabbed.
11 months after Maria was last seen alive, the police caught up with Will Corder in London.
He had married a different woman and was running a school for genteel young ladies.
He denied ever knowing Maria.
William was arrested and charged with Maria’s death.
There was a media frenzy stoked by the lurid details of Maria’s life.
The courthouse was jammed packed for William’s trial.
He was quickly convicted and sentenced to death.
On August 11, 1828, a crowd of over 7000 people gathered at the gallows at Bury St Edmunds,
Suffolk and watched as William was hung.
A few days before his execution he had confessed to a priest that he argued with Maria, got
in a scuffle and accidently shot her.
Gruesomely, after his death William’s body was dissected, and his skin was used to bind
a book that described his crime.
After the discovery of Maria’s body Ann’s dreams returned to normal.
But Ann isn’t the only one to have a ghost appear in a shocking dream.
She Looked Back
On January 23, 1897 Erasmus Shue, a blacksmith, sent his neighbor’s 11 year old son to see
if his wife needed anything from the market.
Unfortunately, Elva Zona Heaster didn’t answer the door of the couple’s rural Greenbrier
County, West Virginia home.
The boy went inside and found Elva’s lifeless body at the foot of the stairs.
He panicked and ran home to tell his mother.
HIs mother summoned the local doctor and coroner, George W. Knapp.
But by the time Dr. Knapp arrived, Eramus had carried his wife upstairs, washed her
and dressed her, laying her out on a bed.
The clothes Eramus had chosen were suitable for burial-a high necked dress with a stiff
collar.
Also he placed a veil over Elva’s face.
However, traditionally the women of the community would have attended to Elva’s burial preparation.
Dr. Knapp briefly examined Elva’s corpse.
However, a grieving Eramus cradled Elva’s head during the entire exam.
Dr. Kanpp noticed a small bruise on Elva’s neck, but couldn’t get a closer look because
Eramus freaked out.
Dr.Knapp backed off.
He saw nothing amiss during the quick exam.
Also he had been been treating Elva for a few weeks prior to her death.
He listed the cause of death as “everlasting faint” and then later changed it to “complications
from pregnancy” although it was not known if Elva was pregnant.
During Elva’s funeral Eramas acted erratically.
He paced by the casket, frequently adjusting Elva’s body, especially her head and neck.
In addition to the veil, he covered her head and neck with a scarf.
It didn’t match her burial outfit, but Eramus insisted, saying the scarf was Elva’s favorite
and that she would have wanted to be buried in it.
He also was antsy about other people getting too close to the casket.
Most guests chalked up Eramus’ odd behavior to the fact that he had lost his beloved wife
after only 3 months of marriage.
From the start Mary Jane Heaster had never liked her daughter’s husband.
After Elva’s death, she was convinced that Eramus had murdered her.
She decided to pray for Elva to return and reveal the truth about her death.
She prayed every evening for 4 weeks, until finally her prayer was answered.
For four nights in a row Mary Jane was visited by the ghost of Elva.
The ghost first appeared as a bright light then gradually took a human form as the room
grew cold.
Elva’s ghost cried to her mother that Eramus had abused her.
One night in a fit of rage, he attacked her when he thought that she hadn’t made any
meat for his dinner.
He had broken her neck.
The ghost of Elva rotated her head until it faced backwards to show how it was broken.
Then the ghost walked away, fading into the night while staring back at her mother.
Mary Jane convinced John Preston, the local prosecutor to reopen the case of her daughter's
death.
It’s hard to say whether he believed Mary Jane or if he agreed to further investigation
just to get her off his back.
John spoke to Dr. Knapp who brought up Eramus’s odd behavior while he was trying to examine
Elva’s body.
John found the lack of complete exam a reason to have an autopsy performed.
An exhumation was ordered and an inquest jury formed.
Despite his objections, per law, Erasmus was required to witness Elva’s autopsy.
Her body was examined over 3 days beginning on February 22, 1897.
The medical examiners found that Elva’s neck had been broken, and her windpipe was
smashed.
Furthermore, bruises in the shape of fingers indicated that she had been choked.
Erasmus was arrested and charged with murder.
Mary Jane was the star witness for the prosecution during Eramus’s trial, though she didn’t
speak of the ghost.
Hoping to make her look crazy, Eramus's lawyer extensively questioned Mary Jane about the
ghost’s visits on cross-examination.
However, the tactic backfired, as she was calm and resolute that the ghost of her daughter
had visited her.
On the other hand, Erasmus took to the stand in his own defence and made a poor impression
on the jury by ranting and rambling.
The jury quickly returned a guilty verdict and Eramus was sentenced to life in prison.
Spirits don’t only communicate in dreams though.
Sometimes they take a more direct approach.
The Possession February 21st, 1977 - Just before 9 pm the
Chicago Fire Department responded to a 911 call for a raging fire on the 15th floor of
an apartment building in the neighborhood of Lincoln Park.
After firefighters put out the fire, they found a badly charred body under a smoldering
mattress.
The body was that of Teresita Basa, a 47 year old respiratory therapist.
She had multiple stab wounds and a butcher’s knife was still sticking out of her chest.
Her apartment had been ransacked.
Chicago Police Detectives Joseph Stachula and Lee Epplen investigated Teresita’s murder
for over 6 months with little progress.
Teresita had lived a quiet life and was well thought of by her friends and coworkers.
Then in August of 1977, Dr. Jose Chua contacted the detectives with a strange story.
He claimed that shortly after Teresita’s murder, his wife Remi began having dreams
in which Teresita appeared to her, begging her to go to the police about her murder.
Teresita was a former coworker of Remi and she had taken her death quite hard.
Jose worked in a different part of the hospital and didn’t know Teresita, but he, Remi and
Teresita were all natives of the Philippines.
Apparently, on one particular afternoon Remi awoke from a nap and spoke in Tagalog with
a strange Spanish-sounding accent.
She claimed to be Teresita and told Jose not to be afraid.
She begged him to go to the police regarding her death.
Her murderer’s name was Allan Showery, a respiratory technician that had worked at
Edgewater Hospital with her.
Allan repaired items as a side job.
When Teresita had him come to her apartment to repair her TV, Allan attacked her.
He had stabbed her, then set the fire to destroy any clues he might have left behind.
The spirit of Teresita begged Jose to go to the police.
Later when Remi awoke, she had little memory of her earlier actions.
Jose found the situation odd, but decided not to contact the police.
Several days later Remi was again possessed by the spirit of Teresita.
Again she spoke in slow, Spanish accented Tagalog.
This time she asked Jose why hadn’t he told the authorities?
Jose said that he couldn’t accuse Allan, there was no proof.
The spirit of Teresita said that Allan had stolen her jewelry after the murder and given
it to his girlfriend.
After Remi was possessed a third time, Jose finally went to the police.
Detective Stachula wasn’t sure what to do with the information, but decided a background
check on Allan wouldn’t hurt.
His investigation found that Allan had lived near Teresita.
Also co-workers confirmed that Allan had gone to Teresita’s the night of the crime to
fix her TV.
The detectives visited Allan’s apartment.
He voluntarily agreed to go to the police station for questioning.
During the interview, he denied murdering Teresita.
Meanwhile, the police talked to Allan’s live-in girlfriend.
She had a pearl ring and jade pendant that she said Allan had given her as Christmas
presents, however they matched the description of jewelry stolen from Terestita.
The jewelry was identified by Teresita’s relatives.
When confronted with these facts Allan Showery confessed.
During his prosecution in what became known as “The Voice from the grave trial”, the
defense claimed the police’s arrest of Allan was illegal because police lacked probable
cause of his guilt.
Much was made of the fact the police only became interested in Allan because of info
that allegedly came from a ghost.
Also Remi and Allan apparently had a difficult working relationship.
Furthermore, soon after Teresita’s death, Remi had been fired from her job.
The defence suggested that with nothing to lose, Remi faked the trances to harass her
enemy.
Allan only confessed because the police threatened him.
The trial ended in a mistrial with a deadlocked jury.
Just before his second trial was due to start Allan made a formal confession and pled guilty.
He was sentenced to 14 years for arson, robbery and murder.
A ghost possessing someone is difficult enough.
But what if a person had the will to come back just for a moment to provide vital information?
A Whisper from Beyond June 24, 2004 - It was a typical afternoon;
Danny Arizala dropped by his niece Catherine Ballesteros’s home in the city of Makati
in the Philippines Islands.
He knocked on her door several times, but Catherine never answered.
Which was odd, she was supposed to be home.
Danny was able to force the house door open, but once inside, found Catherine’s bedroom
locked tight.
He grabbed a stool and was able to peek through a gap between the bedroom wall and the ceiling.
A horrific sight met his eyes.
Catherine lay on the floor, bloody and lifeless.
Danny notified the Makati police and they quickly responded to the crime scene.
Later an autopsy would reveal that Catherine had been stabbed 33 times.
Several items were missing from her home making robbery a motive for the crime.
The police dusted her place for fingerprints.
In addition to the blood on the floor, the police found blood on a doorknob.
They sent both the fingerprints and blood swabs off to the crime lab, but weren’t
able to find a match in their database.
Meanwhile Catherine’s grief stricken parents rushed to the crime scene, but were not allowed
to view their daughter until she had been moved to a local funeral home.
When they were finally able to see the body, Catherine’s mother Emer, unable to contain
her grief, gatherred Catherine to her for a final embrace.
That’s when something supernatural happened.
Emer swore up and down that the corpse of Catherie whispered ‘Baba’ while Emer held
her.
Ryan Jay Viscarra a.k.a. "Baba” was one of Catherine’s neighbors.
He was known in the area as a petty thief.
Even more suspicious, when the police went to talk to him, Baba had vanished.
A few days later a relative of Baba’s notified the Makati police that Baba had been arrested
for vagrancy in the nearby city of Manila.
He was quickly sent back to their precinct.
During questioning the police noted that Baba had a stab wound on his thigh.
He confessed to receiving it while struggling with Catherine.
Soon after they were able to match a blood sample taken at the crime scene to Baba’s
as well as his fingerprints.
A few months after the murder of Catherine, Ryan Jay Vis was sentenced to life imprisonment
for the crime.
While Emer continued to mourn for her daughter, she felt her daughter spirit could rest in
peace since justice had been done.
Sometimes spirits need help getting their message heard.
Our final tale involves a ghost who sought help from a logical choice.
The Medium On June 16, 2004, 20-year-old Ashley Howley
called the police to report a break-in at her apartment in Columbus, Ohio.
Soon afterward she disappeared.
The police worked her case; they suspected her former boyfriend Robert P. MacMichael
II, but sadly there was no trace of Ashley.
The case went cold.
Some time later, medium Kristy Robinett was shaken awake one night.
The ghost of a young woman appeared to her; she wanted Kristy to help solve her murder.
Over many visits the spirit of Ashley provided Kristy with several details.
Her boyfriend had killed her and she wanted him to serve time.
Regarding where her body was, the ghost sent images of "light-colored" pines into Kristy’s
mind.
Kristy did some internet research and discovered the cold case of Ashley.
She reached out to the police and provided some information.
She also contacted the Howley family.
Kristy and a relative of Ashley’s even took a trip to the area where she thought Ashley’s
body was located.
They found the spot, but because it was private property the authorities wouldn’t dig.
About two years later, Ashley’s ex boyfriend Robert was arrested for the murder of his
mother and her boyfriend.
He was offered a plea deal and confessed to killing Ashley.
Robert revealed that Ashley’s remains were encased in concrete and buried in the woods
near his home; at the location Kristy had once pointed out.
You don’t believe in ghosts or scare easily?
How would you like to make $20,000?
All you have to do is survive this haunted house:
What do you do when your child claims to see dead people?