Lisa Llewellen began to notice strange things within weeks after moving into her Antioch home off G Street. At first they were insignificant noises, such as a shuffling sound on the stairs or a thump that occurred in an upstairs bedroom. They were things that could be explained.

One night, Lisa received a startling surprise while standing in front of her kitchen sink.

“Mom,” a child’s voice said as someone tugged on her shirt.

Lisa turned around, expecting to find one of her children standing behind her. She was alone in the kitchen while they were together upstairs. From that point on, she became a believer in the paranormal.

Her husband wasn’t so quick to believe until he heard someone rattling his bedroom door late at night. When he went to investigate, he found no one outside. A thorough search of the house turned up nothing.

The Llewellens lived in that house for seven years, until they decided that they needed a bigger place. At one point during this time, their son refused to go upstairs during the day unless someone went with him. Lisa’s brother, who was a frequent visitor, saw a little girl running up and down the stairs. He saw her again when she peeked at him from under the living room coffee table.

When the Llewellens rented out the house, they didn’t tell the new tenants about the ghostly girl. They fled four months later and disappeared.

“They told me that they were standing in the living room and the floor began to buckle and wave,” said Realtor Joy DiRicco in an interview. “Not just a little movement; a large, noticeable movement.”

DiRicco went to the house to see if she could find a possible cause for the floor’s bizarre behavior. She found nothing. Acting on a hunch, she called the Llewellens, who told her about their experiences. This left her no other choice but to disclose the information about the ghost when she put the house back on the market.

“There are people out there who want these kinds of houses, and those who don’t,” she said.

I found an interesting site, entitled The Unofficial Ms. Nellie of Ringwood Manor Page, which talks about the ghosts that haunt New Jersey’s historic Ringwood Manor. You’ll also find other ghost stories, as well as pictures of the manor. Unlike many of the ghost story sites I’ve visited, these stories are told without sensationalism and overdramatizing. I hope you enjoy them.

Eccentric tobacco tycoon Rodger Hawthorne III can have anything his heart desires except his dead wife, Sarah. Feeling responsible for the car crash that killed her thirty years ago, he offers one million dollars to anyone who can find her spirit and bring it to him within one week or the money is forfeited. Six spiritually-challenged-but highly intuitive-women find his ad over the Internet and accept his challenge only to embark on a journey they didn’t quite expect that covers astral traveling, past life regressions and spiritual encounters of the unworldly kind. While this book is lightly based on a true story of a real man who is offering one million dollars to anyone who can prove that spirits exist, this story is purely fictional.

This story begins with the appearance of Roger Hawthorne III on a talk show, promising $1M to anyone who can prove to him that ghosts exist. What he doesn’t share with the public is that he is looking for his young wife, Sarah, who died thirty years ago in a car accident. He gets plenty of emails from crazies. However, six women with varying psychic abilities stand out as good candidates.

Shiloh Swallowtail: a psychic who lost her husband and feels lost on her new spiritual path.
Ezra Anne Thornberry: a clairaudient who has visitations from a helpful ghost named Henri.
Brianna Campbell: a curious dabbler, who misses her dead husband Rick.
Fanella: a psychic who feels as if life is moving around her too quickly.
Peggy Maguire: a metaphysical Sunday school teacher.
Brooke Murphy: an herbal practitioner and Wiccan.

Each of these women have their own motivations for finding this ghost and winning the money. As soon as Hawthorne accepts their applications, the story centers on them finding his beloved Sarah while dealing with their own spiritual hurdles. I loved the tight pace in the beginning, when Hawthorne struggled over whether or not he should air his challenge and his opinion of the afterlife and the psychics. Then there was the town’s negative reaction to the women’s presence. Both these elements gave this story a good balance between believers and skeptics.

As for the psychics, I had mixed feelings. A lot of this had to do with the writing, which needed a good editor’s pen. At times, the wording in the dialogue was almost preachy, where spiritual matters were concerned. Then there was a scene in the climax that I felt was too fantastical.

That said, I thought that the ending was great. Despite my issue with the editing, I enjoyed this book because of its original premise. It’s definitely worth the read. To learn more about the book and the authors, visit The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost blog.

The article about a group of journalists spending the night at Monte Cristo wasn’t nearly as chill-inspiring as reading the accounts of hauntings on the website of Junee’s Monte Cristo, believed to be the most haunted house in the world. Located in Junee, Australia, it attracts thousands of visitors each year, including ghost hunters.