I'm new here and just was curious of something. Last night I watched this new show on Biography and in one segment they were at the Whaley House. They were out side of the room thought to be Violet's, and the host was shining a flashlight around the hall. There was a figure in the corner kinda leaning against the wall. I thought it was possibly a crew member that was just kicking back. The host stated the figure was not there when she was flashing the light, and that it seemed to have "appeared" on the film.
My question is this, could this actually be an apparition of either Mr. Whaley or possibly Yankee Jim? Or was it just that it was a camera man there that she did not notice. Or a great hoax. Anyone else ever see anything like it at the House?
Last Edited by merecesgirl on Jul 06, 2005 6:26 PM
I did not see the show. I wish I had known it was on. People have reported seeing apparitions in the Whaley House. Whether this is the case here I could not say. Normally the docents dress in period clothing perhaps they got in the shot by accident. They usually replay the episodes. I will be on the lookout for it.
Thanks for the post! Bonnie Vent San Diego Paranormal Research Project www.sdparanormal.com
Last Edited by sdparanormal on Jul 06, 2005 8:52 PM
I saw that show too!! At first, when I saw the figure you were talking about, I also thought that it was a man from the crew! But then they said they just saw a head, but i thought I saw a full body in the shadow! Some parts freaked me out! Like when the guy was on the bed, he picked up a camera, then suddenly dropped it and jumped really high(exageration)! He said he felt like something swiped his arm away like a little "kid" who wanted to play! What parts freaked you out?
Thank goodness!! Someone else saw the dark figure in the background, and I'll tell you something else, it really disturbed me. Was it someone from the crew??? At one point, she shines the flashlight on part of its "face" and it just didn't look right to me. I'm saying it WASN'T a period dressed docent. And the whole body, not just the face was visable. IS IT A CREW MEMBER??? I went to the Whaley House this weekend and couldn't help but feel a little jolt of fear thinking about what I saw on the episode.
Cant say for certain, but having worked in television production for many years eons ago, I do know that when you shoot camera for example in a dark area, it's not uncommon to wear dark or black clothing to avoid reflections. That way you can get camera shots that would have been difficult if not impossible. I would bet that a crew member is what you saw. Most shows have a small army of people on the crew. And of course, as I rather emphatically said before, the show is there to entertain. It has a script, loosely based on the 'facts', but at the end of the day recording what we see on most vigiles would be deadly boring and such a show wouldn't last for very long. Hope that helps.
This message is for merecesgirl who wrote about the whaley house episode where the shadow appears.You know what, honestly i saw that episode and got so freaked out when i saw the figure because when you see a part of the figure lit due to the flashlight you can tell it's a male and he is pale white. IT WAS a ghost.
Last Edited by sixxgg04 on Sep 12, 2005 3:51 PM
I saw that show when it aired again last night 9/13/05. The figure that was standing there was probably not a ghost. Stop & think about it, when the hostess flashed her light on him, the skin reflected. You have to have a solid thing to do that. There were other cases of people staying in the Whaley house @ night & turning flashlights on apparitions (I think this was Regis Philbin or a radio host that did this) & the apparition fading away. Don't get me wrong I'm a total believer in ghosts. I know for fact the house is haunted.I have snapped numerous pictures (including a partial figure of a woman in an old fashioned gingham or checked dress, in the general store section just in front of the court room). My husband was a total skeptic until his 1st visit, that was until cigar or pipe smoke followed him (& only him) around the entire house. To this day, everytime he goes in Mr. Whaley keeps really close to him. I was also surprised as to how freaky everyone on that tv crew was acting. Night or day that house (even when my grandpa took me there the 1st time, when I was 6 yrs old)has never ever been frightening. If any of you go to look for ghosts, talk to them when you're snapping pictures. I have had my best pictures come out of those visits. I spoke directly to Thomas & Anna. Good Luck hunting & take your time walking around & ask the docents many, many questions.
Funny how the comment about Regis Philbin brought back a flood of memories. I recall he was doing a local talk show in San Diego, before Joey Bishop, long before 'Millionaire' and the 'Regis and xxxx' shows. He was always bragging about how he wouldn't be afraid to stay at Whaley House. Finally June Reading made the offer although as she told me later rather reluctantly. This was at a time when she desparately needed people in the door, but was trying as much as possible to avoid directly discussing the hauntings of the place. I believe this was the turning point where the history started to be pushed to the rear and the haunting activity took forestage.
Anyway, Philbin, his then wife CJ, and a small army of people arrive the evening of October 31 I'm pretty sure it was. They enter the house at dusk, get set up in the front parlor shooting through the music room to the back parlor.
All the activity that night centered on the on part of the house. It is true, at least according to Regis, that at first they were swinging flashlights about and were really not buying into the haunting stories. June told me later she was quietly relieved and thought they might even leave the place with no great stories so she would get some press but still be able to focus on the house and the history.
No such luck. About 1 AM, suddenly without warning they begin to hear loud footsteps upstairs - this is the 'Yankee Jim' phenomenon that has been reported for over 100 years. No one was upstairs, everyone focusing on Regis downstairs.
Not long thereafter they say what Regis later described as 'balls of light floating in the back parlor'. That was it. They were out of there. June didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But she was glad it was over. Not much came out on film they shot (this was before the days of EJ and portable field video cameras) so they had very little to show. Interestingly, something did show up in the background of one scene, although I've always been suspect of the veracity of that shot.
So there it is.. a hopefully faithful retelling of what would be for many years one of the most 'famous' visits to Whaley House. Thankfully for all concerned Philbin chose to not put it on his resume, June was able to get back to her work although the genie was literally at this point out of the bottle. Ironically, for many years thereafter, they had a reasonably steady stream of visitors to Whaley House and it even attained some national prominence partly as a result of that night.
Last Edited by PhenomInvestigator on Oct 08, 2005 10:19 PM
Just found this forum after surfing the net for Dead Famous Links.
Saw this post and thought I'd put you out of your misery. It was actually later confirmed that the "ghostly" figure seen in this episode was in fact one of the Tour Guides! I'm an active member of Chris Fleming's forum and the official Dead Famous forum on Living TV's site and the info was posted by an official source a little while after the episode first aired.
