Buried alive- Robert E. Lee's Mother

by Gail Jarvis

by Gail Jarvis

One of Edgar Allan Poe's most hair-raising tales is The Premature Burial, in which Poe relates a story of a young wife of a prominent member of Congress, who is incorrectly pronounced dead. The lady's funeral took place three days later, at which time the young woman's coffin was deposited inside the family vault. A few years later, when the vault was opened to receive another coffin, the woman's husband was horrified when a shrouded skeleton collapsed into his arms. Examination disclosed that his wife had revived after burial, and her intense struggle to escape from her coffin caused it to fall from the shelf were it had been placed and break open. Violently shaking and banging the door of the vault, her shroud became entangled with the top arch of the door. There she hung suspended, until she eventually died.

In the 1800s, when this story takes place, the chance of being buried alive was not so remote. The state of medical knowledge at the time — some doctors didn't have medical degrees — could easily lead to an erroneous verdict of "death" simply because attending physicians were unable to detect breath, pulse or heartbeat. Also, the possibility of being buried alive was heightened because modern embalming techniques were not used. In fact, many people were so afraid of being buried alive, they had special coffins constructed with elaborate apparatuses including bells that protruded above the grave and could be rung by a device inside the coffin. Indeed, the fear of being buried alive was so prevalent that it earned a medical classification: Taphophobia

Edgar Allan Poe set his story in Baltimore, Maryland, in the year 1844. But, because of striking similarities, it is probably based on a widely reported incident that took place in Stratford, Virginia, 40 years earlier. The Stratford premature burial also involved the young wife of a famous member of Congress.

Ann Hill Carter was a refined young woman from one of the wealthiest and oldest families in Virginia. She spent her girlhood at the famous Shirley Plantation on the James River, which the Hills' and Carters' had inhabited since the 1600s, shortly after the establishment of the Jamestown Colony. During Ann's childhood, most, if not all, of the Virginia signatories to the Declaration of Independence had been guests at Shirley Plantation.

But Ann did not enjoy good health, and even harbored fears of becoming an invalid; fears that eventually were realized. She is reported to have suffered from narcolepsy, a sleep disorder that was little understood at the time. Victims of this disease experience frequent daytime sleepiness and sometimes fall into "sleep paralysis." An extreme attack of sleep paralysis, a deep trance-like state, could cause the cessation of normal reflexes and sensations.

Ann Hill Carter was only 20 years old in 1793 when she married the celebrated Henry Lee III, then Governor of Virginia and soon to become a member of Congress. Lee's skilled horsemanship had earned him the nickname "Lighthorse Harry" and he was esteemed for his combat heroics in the Revolutionary War where he served under General George Washington. Seventeen years Ann's senior, Henry was a widower with three children by his first wife who died in 1790. With her marriage, Ann became mistress of Stratford Hall and during the first decade of her marriage to Henry, she bore him four children.

Still, Ann continued to be plagued with poor health, and in 1804 she was taken with a severe fever — possibly dengue fever, and bedridden for months. One day, while in the grip of her illness, the family became alarmed that Ann was not responding to external stimuli. They hastily summoned physicians who conducted lengthy examinations of Ann's inert body. Finally, the grim-faced physicians were forced to advise her husband that they could not detect a heartbeat. The grief-stricken husband reluctantly accepted the verdict of death and Ann's body was placed in a coffin. Three days later, the coffin was put to rest in the family vault.

Some time later a sexton, bringing flowers for the deceased wife, thought he heard a noise emanating from the casket. As he listened intently, he was sure that he heard a faint voice calling for help. The sexton quickly unfastened and removed the lid from the coffin and Ann Carter Lee looked up at him with wide eyes as she tried to raise herself into a sitting position.

Over the next several months Ann Carter Lee slowly regained her health. Eventually she was able to become a fully functioning wife and mother. On January 19, 1807, fifteen months after her narrow escape from premature burial, she gave birth to a son who would be her last child to survive into maturity. The infant was named Robert Edward after Ann's two brothers. 

January 19, 2005

Gail Jarvis [send him mail], a CPA living in Beaufort, SC, is an advocate of the voluntary union of states established by the founders.

Copyright © 2005 LewRockwell.com

Witches Castle, Utica, IN

Site of the brutal torture killing of 12 year old Shanda Sharer

Article from Indiana Ghost hunters site.

The Legend: 

You can hear a little girl laughing in the woods and loud thumps. 

People have seen a white mist moving very fast in what looked like the living room, but only the foundation and a fire place remain of the main house. 

Up the hill just behind the main house is a small shack surrounded by a ditch and a cliff. In this shack there is a fireplace with one window on each side. You can hear many different voices and see people peeking out of the windows. 

There used to a basement to the main house, but it has been filled in now with dirt and rock. You cannot miss where the steps used to be. There's a small door on each side of the room also in the room with the fireplace. 

A small girl about 7-8 years old has been seen by many people. She was wearing a white dress. She had long black hair, but her hair is covering her face. 

Legend also states witches originally occupied the house, until it was destroyed by the townspeople, and they haunt the remains of the house to this day.

History: The Witch's Castle was a ruined stone house, also known as Mistletoe Falls, located on an isolated hill overlooking the Ohio River.

Directions: Located on Upper River Rd, just past the rock quarry (now Quarry Bluff) on the left side of the road. The stone fence and the stairs leading into the castle should be visible from the road.

The Clown (Le Queloune)

Wednesday just LOVES clowns. I found this one in her closet

Little movies

Short Indie films full of heart.....and scares

Coming soon

Just in time for Halloween

I will be posting tutorials on how to use latex for the best gruesome halloween looks EVER!!!

All of the following is just latex, toilet paper and grease paint.

Saint Germain: The Immortal Count

He was an alchemist who, it is believed, discovered the secret of eternal life

By Stephen Wagner

IS IT POSSIBLE that a man can achieve immortality - to live forever? That is the startling claim of a historical figure known as Count de Saint-Germain. Records date his birth to the late 1600s, although some believe that his longevity reaches back to the time of Christ. He has appeared many times throughout history - even as recently as the 1970s - always appearing to be about 45 years old. He was known by many of the most famous figures of European history, including Casanova, Madame de Pampadour, Voltaire, King Louis XV, Catherine the Great, Anton Mesmer and others.

Who was this mysterious man? Are the stories of his immortality mere legend and folklore? Or is it possible that he really did discover the secret of defeating death?

ORIGINS

When the man who first became known as Saint-Germain was born is unknown, although most accounts say he was born in the 1690s. A genealogy compiled by Annie Besant for her co-authored book, The Comte De St. Germain: The Secret of Kings, asserts that he was born the son of Francis Racoczi II, Prince of Transylvania in 1690. Other accounts, taken less seriously by most, say he was alive in the time of Jesus and attended the wedding at Cana, where the young Jesus turned water into wine. He was also said to be present at the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D.

What is almost unanimously agreed on, however, is that Saint-Germain became accomplished in the art of alchemy, the mystical "science" that strives to control the elements. The foremost goal of this practice was the creation of "projection powder" or the elusive "philosopher's stone," which, it was claimed, when added to the molten form of such base metals as lead could turn them into pure silver or gold. Furthermore, this magical power could be used in an elixir that would impart immortality on those who drank it. Count de Saint-Germain, it is believed, discovered this secret of alchemy.

COURTING EUROPEAN SOCIETY

Saint-Germain first came into prominence in the high society of Europe in 1742. He had just spent five years in the shah of Persia's court where he had learned the jeweler's craft. He beguiled the royals and the rich with his vast knowledge of science and history, his musical ability, his easy charm and quick wit. He spoke many languages fluently, including French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and English, and was further familiar with Chinese, Latin, Arabic - even ancient Greek and Sanskrit.

It might have been his extraordinary learnedness that led acquaintances to see that he was a remarkable man, but an anecdote from 1760 most likely gave rise to the notion that Saint-Germain could be immortal. In Paris that year, Countess von Georgy heard that a Count de Saint-Germain had arrived for a soiree at the home of Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France. The elderly countess was curious because she had known a Count de Saint-Germain while in Venice in 1710. Upon meeting the count again, she was astonished to see that he hadn't appeared to age, and asked him if it was his father she knew in Venice.

"No, Madame," he replied, "but I myself was living in Venice at the end of the last and the beginning of this century; I had the honor to pay you court then."

"Forgive me, but that it impossible!" the perplexed countess said. "The Count de Saint-Germain I knew in those days was at least forty-five years old. And you, at the outside, are that age at present."

"Madame, I am very old," he said with a knowing smile.

"But then you must be nearly 100 years old," said the astonished countess.

"That is not impossible," the count told her matter-of-factly, then continued to convince the countess that he was indeed the same man she knew with the details of their previous meetings and of life in Venice 50 years earlier.

EVER PRESENT, NEVER AGING

1. Saint-Germain traveled extensively throughout Europe over the next 40 years - and in all that time never seemed to age. Those who met him were impressed by his many abilities and peculiarities:
2. He could play the violin like a virtuoso.
3. He was an accomplished painter.
4. Wherever he traveled, he set up an elaborate laboratory, presumably for his alchemy work.
5. He seemed to be a man of great wealth, but was not known to have any bank accounts. (If it was due to his ability to transmute base metals into gold, he never performed the feat for observers.)
6. He dined often with friends because he enjoyed their company, but was rarely seen to eat food in public. He subsisted, it was said, on a diet of oatmeal.
7. He prescribed recipes for the removal of facial wrinkles and for dyeing hair.
8. He loved jewels, and much of his clothing - including his shoes - were studded with them.
9. He had perfected a technique for painting jewels.
10. He claimed to be able to fuse several small diamonds into one large one. He also said he could make pearls grow to incredible sizes.
11. He has been linked to several secret societies, including the Rosicrucians, Freemasons, Society of Asiatic Brothers, the Knights of Light, the Illuminati and Order of the Templars.

The renowned 18th philosopher, Voltaire - himself a respected man of science and reason - said of Saint-Germain that he is "a man who never dies, and who knows everything."

Bath Salt Zombies: and so it begins....

Man Rages On K-2, Eats Dog   

By RANDY KREIDER

June 27, 2012

A Texas man faces a felony charge after he allegedly bit, killed and ate a housemate's pet dog while high on the synthetic drug "spice."

The alleged attack is the latest in the series of violent and bizarre incidents linked to spice, which mimics the effects of marijuana, and bath salts, which mimics cocaine.

Michael Daniel, 22, allegedly smoked spice in his Waco, Texas home before he assaulted his housemates and then ran out of the house into his yard, where he began crawling around on his hands and knees. He barked and growled at a neighbor and chased him back into his home.

Daniel then allegedly took his housemate's dog, a medium-sized spaniel mix, out onto the house's porch. He allegedly beat and strangled the dog, according to Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton, and then began chewing "hunks of flesh" from the animal.

Daniel's housemates called police and requested emergency assistance, saying Daniel was "going crazy." Officers arrived at the house to find Daniel sitting on the porch with "blood and fur around his mouth" and with the dead dog lying in his lap, Swanton said.

Daniel, who police say told his housemates he was "on a bad trip" just before the alleged rampage on June 14, was charged on Monday with cruelty to a non-livestock animal.

The incident in Waco follows a series of bizarre attacks by people allegedly high on synthetic drugs, including a Glendale, Calif. man striking a 77-year-old woman with a shovel last week, a homeless man eating the face off another homeless man in Miami in May, and a man in Milton, Fla. biting into the hood of a police cruiser in February.

McLennan County Sheriff's Department

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Spice and related products have often been sold as incense in packaging that says the contents are not to be ingested, but authorities say they are frequently used by consumers to mimic the effects of marijuana and other drugs.

In a "20/20" investigation that aired in 2011, ABC News found that spice and bath salts were being sold to teenagers across the country with little to no oversight, and many of those young users were showing up at drug treatment centers.

"They think they're dying," Louisiana Poison Control Center Director Dr. Mark Ryan told ABC News. "They have extreme paranoia. They're having hallucinations. They see things, they hear things, monsters, demons, aliens."

Since then, the government has fought to block the sale and usage of synthetic drugs.

Last December, the House of Representatives voted to add 41 chemical compounds used to make spice and bath salts to Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, making them illegal to manufacture or dispense.

Last week, a similar bill passed the Senate that would criminalize 26 of those compounds, stripping off 15 of the 17 compounds that are used to make bath salts.

And according to authorities, manufacturers of synthetic drugs are constantly trying to develop new compounds that don't fall under the umbrella banned by state or federal law, making drugs particularly dangerous for users who don't know what they are going to get.

"When people use this, they may use it one time and the next time it's a totally different chemical substance," Swanton said.