Secrets of Haunted Houses

We reveal the tragic histories and chilling tales that have made these dwellings a nightmare for their unfortunate occupants. Traverse the murky depths of the supernatural as we examine the oppressive atmosphere, inexplicable occurrences, and ghostly apparitions reported by those brave enough to step foot within their haunted walls. Whether you're a born skeptic or a passionate believer in the paranormal, this episode promises a tantalizing exploration of the world's most haunted houses and the mysteries they hold.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Behind those weathered doors and creaking
floorboards lie secrets thathave lingered for centuries.
These houses stand as silentwitnesses to the unexplained,
beckoning us to explore theuncharted territories of the
paranormal.
Welcome to the Phantom Files.

(00:31):
I'm your host Frost, and todaywe embark on the spine-tingling
odyssey where the veil betweenour world and the realm of the
supernatural grows thin.
We're exploring the tale ofhaunted houses, where the echoes
of the past re-evaporatethrough time and the spirits of

(00:54):
the departed make their presenceknown.
Haunted houses have been asource of fascination and fear
for centuries.
They are stable of horrormovies, campfire stories and

(01:19):
Halloween decorations, but forsome they represent much more
than just a spooky tale.
Today we'll explore the historyof haunted houses, discuss some
famous examples and delve intoboth the scientific and
supernatural theories that tryto explain this eerie phenomena.

(01:41):
The concept of a haunted houseis as old as human civilization
itself.
Ancient cultures, from theRomans to the Chinese, have
stories of homes or buildingsinhabited by the spirits.
The Romans believed in theLemuris, the restless spirits of

(02:01):
the dead who could harm theliving.
They performed rituals topacify these spirits.
Fast forward to the Middle Agesin Europe, tales of ghostly
apparitions and haunted localeswere often tied to religious
beliefs and superstitions.
It was believed that spiritscould linger on earth due to

(02:24):
unfinished business or as adivine punishment.
However, the haunted housenarrative as we know it today
began to take shape during theVictorian era, especially in the
literature of the time.
Authors like Charles Dickens,Edgar Allan Poe and Henry James
used the concept of hauntedhouses to build suspense and to

(02:46):
comment on social issues.
Arguably one of the mostwell-known haunted houses in
recent history is the EmmettDeville House.
In the small town of Emptyville, a house stood with a dark and

(03:10):
chilling history.
It stood ominously at 112 OceanAvenue, a place that had been
once a site of a gruesome crime.
The echoes of the past lingeredwithin its walls, waiting to
unleash a malevolent force uponany who dared to enter.
The house was first built in1927, and it was an ordinary

(03:36):
home until November 13, 1974,when Ronald DeFeo Jr murdered
six members of his family.
He shot his parents and foursiblings while they slept.
Defeo later claimed that voicesin the house compelled him to
commit the killings, but he wasfound guilty of second degree

(03:59):
murder in November 1975.
In December 1975, about a yearafter the murders, the Lutz
family moved into the infamoushouse, unaware of the horror
that awaited them.
George and Kathy Lutz, alongwith their three children,
believed that they could createa new home.

(04:20):
But little did they know thatevil had made its home there
long before their arrival.
Almost immediately, theatmosphere shifted.
The air grew with anunexplainable dread.
The walls seemed to whispersecrets of unspeakable acts.

(04:40):
Doors slammed shut with adeafening force shaking the very
foundations of the house.
His voices echoed through thehalls, filling the family's
hearts with terror.
As the days turned into nights,the haunting escalated.
The family awoke to the stenchof rotting flesh.
Swarms of flies materializedout of thin air, descending upon

(05:06):
them like a plague of darkness.
Shadows danced in corners,twisting and contorting into
grotesque shapes.
But the true horror came at3.15 am, around the time that
the Fayumurders were believed tohave taken place.
George Lutz awoke each nightHis body paralyzed with fear, as

(05:30):
if an unseen force held himcaptive.
He could almost feel the icybreath of an entity lurking just
beyond his sight.
The very essence of evil seemedto pulsate through the house at
this unholy hour.
Verified, the Lutz familysought help.
Paranormal investigators,including the renowned Ed and

(05:53):
Lorraine Warren, delved into thedarkness that consumed the
house.
The Warrens, along with a crewfrom a local TV station,
conducted a seance and claimedto have made contact with the
spirits in the house.
Through their investigations,they uncovered a malevolent

(06:13):
presence, an ancient evil thathad claimed the house as its own
.
The Warrens' findings left nodoubt.
The Emmettivell House wasinfested with supernatural
forces.
It was a battleground of goodand evil, where the Lutz family
stood as helpless pawns.
Demonic entities clawed attheir sanity, tormenting them

(06:38):
with visions of untold horror.
Yet, amidst the chaos, thefamily fought to reclaim their
lives.
They struggled against theunseen forces, but the question
remained could they ever trulyescape the clutches of the
Emmettivell House?

(06:59):
The story of the EmmettivellHaunted House is one of darkness
, fear and the relentless gripof ancient evil.
It has left a mark on theannals of the supernatural, a
chilling tale that continues tohunt the imaginations of those
brave enough to delve into itsterrifying depths.
The authenticity of theEmmettivell hauntings have been

(07:25):
widely disputed.
Skeptics, including someinvestigators and experts in the
field, have pointed out toinconsistencies and
impossibilities in the Lutzfamily's account.
Furthermore, william Weber, thelawyer of Ronald DeFeo Jr,
claimed that he, along with theLutz's, created the horror story

(07:47):
over many bottles of wine.
In recent years, subsequentowners of the house have
reported no supernaturalactivity and it has been
renovated and resold severaltimes.
Despite the controversy andskepticism around the
Emmettivell Horror House, itremains a popular subject of

(08:08):
paranormal interests and astaple of horror pop culture
Across the pond.
In England we have the BolliRectory, regarded as one of the

(08:32):
most famous haunted houses inEngland.
Located in the village of Bolliin Essex, it gained notoriety
in the early 20th century due toa series of reported paranormal
activities and ghostlysightings.
The story of Bolli Rectorybegan when Reverend Henry Dawson

(08:52):
Boll inherited the house in1863, and soon after strange
occurrences and unexplainedphenomena began to take place.
The first reported incidentsinvolved sightings of a ghostly
nun, which became the mostfamous apparition associated

(09:13):
with Bolli Rectory.
It was believed to be thespirit of a nun from the nearby
monastery who had fallen in lovewith a monk and was
subsequently bricked up alive aspunishment for breaking her
vows.
Witnesses claim to see herghost wandering the grounds of
the Rectory and even inside thebuilding itself.

(09:35):
Over the years the hauntingescalated, with additional
accounts of ghostly activity,disembodied voices, mysterious
footsteps and objects beingmoved or thrown by unseen forces
.
The Boll family and subsequentoccupants of the Rectory
reported these area phenomena,leading to increased public

(09:57):
interest and media attention.
The paranormal activityattracted renowned investigators
, including Harry Price, afamous psychical researcher of
the time.
In 1929, harry Price conductedan intensive investigation at
Bolli Rectory, bringing with hima team of researchers and

(10:19):
scientific equipment.
During his stay, price claimedto have captured photographic
evidence and recorded variousunexplained phenomena.
The investigation andsubsequent book the Most Haunted
House in England furtherfuelled the legend of Bolli
Rectory.
The hauntings continued untilthe Rectory's tragic demise.

(10:42):
In 1939, the building wascaught by a fire of unknown
origin, leaving only ruinsbehind.
The fire was deemed suspiciousand some speculated that
supernatural forces wereresponsible.
However, others believed it tobe an act of arson or an

(11:04):
accident.
Regardless of the cause, thefire marked the end of an era
for Bolli Rectory.
Since the demolition of theruins in 1944, the Bolli Rectory
site has remained a place ofintrigue for paranormal
enthusiasts and ghost hunters.
The legend of the hauntedRectory has inspired numerous

(11:27):
documentaries, books and even afew fictional adaptations.
However, skepticism and debatesurround the authenticity of the
reported hauntings, with someattributing the phenomena to
hoaxes or misinterpretations.
Despite the controversies, thestory of Bolli Rectory continues

(11:49):
to captivate people'simagination and remains an
integral part of Ghost Lore inEngland.

(12:10):
Looking at the science ofhaunted houses, skeptics and
scientists often point toseveral psychological and
physical explanations for whatpeople perceive as hauntings.
One such theory is infrasoundsounds with frequencies below
the range of human hearing.
Certain frequencies ofinfrasound can cause feelings of

(12:33):
uneasiness and evenhallucinations, which can be
mistaken for paranormal activity.
Another scientific explanationinvolves the power of suggestion
.
If you are told a place ishaunted, your brain might create
a haunting experience ofphenomena known as expectancy

(12:56):
bias.
This is why stories and mythsabout a location can profoundly
influence people's perceptionsof it.
Environmental factors can alsocontribute to eerie feelings.
Dark or old houses may feelhaunted simply because they
stimulate our primal fears.
Symptoms with tragic or violenthistory can elicit feelings of

(13:22):
dread and unease because weassociate the location with past
horrors.
Carbon monoxide poisoning isanother possible explanation.
Symptoms of low-level carbonmonoxide exposure can include
dizziness, hallucinations andfeelings of dread.
There have been cases wheresupposed hauntings have been

(13:44):
traced back to a faulty furnaceor gas lake.
But what about the supernaturaltheories?
Many who believe in hauntingssubscribe to the theory of
residual hauntings, also knownas psychic imprints.
This theory suggests thatintense emotions or traumatic

(14:05):
events can leave an imprint onthe environment that replays
itself.
Hence the hauntings isn't anintelligent entity, but rather a
replay of past events.
Then there is the intelligenthaunting theory that posit
spirits or entities can interactwith the living, often trying

(14:28):
to communicate or convey amessage.
This theory is often used toexplain experiences where the
entity responds to the people inthe house or reacts to their
actions.
Poltergeist activity is anothertype of haunting that involves
physical disturbances, objectsmoving or noises being made with

(14:51):
no visible source.
Some paranormal researcherssuggest that poltergeist aren't
spirits at all, but ratherunconscious psychonetic activity
caused by a living person.

(15:13):
Whether you believe in thescientific explanations or the
supernatural theories, orperhaps a bit of both, there is
no denying that haunted houseshave a powerful hold on our
collective consciousness.
They represent our fascinationwith the afterlife, our fears of
the unknown and our innatecuriosity about what lies beyond

(15:38):
the veil.
While our fascination withhaunted houses can be thrilling,
it's crucial to approach anypotential haunted location with
respect.
These houses, whether trulyhaunted or not, are often tied
to tragic events and realpeople's lives.

(16:00):
They are not just spooky tales,but pieces of history that
deserve our respect.
I hope you enjoyed the journeyto the world of haunted houses.
Remember, the world is full ofsecrets waiting to be discovered

(16:22):
and sometimes the mostintriguing mysteries are right
in our own backyard.
If you enjoyed this episode,make sure to subscribe to the
show and leave a review on yourfavorite podcast platform and
maybe share with a friend.
That will help a lot and willencourage like-minded audience

(16:44):
to find the show.
Until next time, I'm your host,frost, signing off.