Aspen Grove - Scores 5 out of 6



This picture is from the 1890s.

I had to add the house I grew up in to the list of 50 places I’m researching because as a personal witness to the phenomenon and the makeup of the land and structure, I can probably give more information to this site than the others.

Aspen Grove was built in Fairfax Virginia in the mid 1700s originally as a fort against Indians, supposedly. Back then, it was called "The Springfield" because it was fed by the Pohick Creek (an offshoot of the Potomac) and had lots of underground springs, one of which fed the well to our home and the outbuildings with the best tasting water I’ve ever had in my entire life. During the Civil War, the Union took it over and used it as a field hospital, then the Confederates got it back and used it for the same. Both sides bled and died there. You can't get more conflict than to have both sides haunting the place. The grounds were rich with relics, the wooden floors still stained dark from their blood, and the ghosts most assuredly restless.

Scoring:
1. It was made of stone.
2. It sat atop an underwater spring with a creek running through the yard.
3. The land was made up of sandstone, siltstone, and shale. In fact, I used to play with the crumbly shale that lined the creek out front. The yard was filled with quartz rock too which supposedly another good conductor for spirit activity.
4. The house was way over 50 years old.
5. Quite obviously, it saw a great deal of death and trauma.

The only thing that is missing is proximity to the train tracks. I hope to find that out by researching haunted sites that are near train tracks but meet little of the other criteria and ones that are very haunted but do not locate themselves near tracks. So far, what I can discern is that like the building being round or near a graveyard, train tracks might be a smaller factor rather than a large factor in the haunt-ability of a place.

It appears that the geology of the land is a very strong factor so far in creating the right conditions for a place to be haunted, but still you would need some other factors, as well, such as a moving bodies of water and of course a history of trauma/death.

As an extremely logic-minded (yeah, Virgo) person, I can't help but wonder if settlers simply put their homes down near supplies of water which are usually found on ground that has sedimentary rock because they were floodplains, and then train tracks were built to move those folks in the community around the countryside. The only way to really find out if they have a factor is to try and find a case of a haunted site that has good evidence it's haunted, but the ground is not right for a haunting,i.e. there's no waterways, the place doesn't have a long history of traumatic events... Have you ever heard of a place being haunted that had nothing traumatic happen there or on the land it's built upon? Hmm...

Well, as I learn more, I'll certainly be sharing it with you. I'd love to have folks chime in and throw in their two cents worth. The more heads the better.

Comments

  1. thank you for the nice comment on my blog! it is a bit like yule here too everyday as i clean out the attic! i don't even remember seeing some of this stuff that i have. like the orange owl on todays post. i don't remember ever seeing it before. a bit embarrassing! this house was haunted when i bought it. it was built in 1874 and we were only the 3rd owners. i would be backing out of the driveway and look up at the windows and see shadowy figures of 3 people. sometimes in the house i would catch a glimpse of the same type of figure. inside they were always in doorways. i did a major renovation and they disappeared. they never frightened me they seemed rather peaceful. i always sensed that it was a husband a wife and a child. joyce

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  2. I figured I probably missed a lot-as I have not been online very much at all the last few days-I will try to get caught up soon! I so wish I had more to add-other than agreement that I do believe geology is a huge factor in the "haunting" process for whatever reason-thanks for putting up this fascinating scoring process! That is what is so needed in the study of things like this-logic-but yet logic with the will to be led where the evidence leads-which many do not have-there minds just shut off. I am going to try to check out your writing bit right now-I think i missed an installment-best to you as always!!

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  3. Joyce;
    That's another factor in my theories on hauntings--renovations. I'm very intrigued by the elements of how a house is built, where it's built, how it's arranged inside. When I go on house calls, I can't help taking note of the feng shui. I can almost tell immediately upon entering where the problem areas will be. I wish I could tie the theory together, but I think it'll come out with enough combing over the evidence. Your attitude about the haunting is a very healthy one. As a kid, I thought of the soldiers as adopting our family and protecting us. I felt good when I heard the footsteps at night, I knew they were doing their rounds. I enjoy counseling folks with issues in their houses. I like to show them the ways in which they can look at the events to take the threat out of them and help them see coexistence is possible. After all, we probably share our homes with millions of termites but turn a blind eye on it.

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  4. Devin;
    Thanks so much. I hope you enjoy the erotic scene. I really am enjoying getting feedback since the readers are the target audience for my erotic horror novels. I appreciate your comments. I think sometimes my logical mind gets in the way, but I don't like to be hornswaggled and look stupid for believing in something before the proof is in. I debunk even my own self. Hee hee

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  5. I agree Autumnforest-I tend to debunk even my own experiences!! I did read your erotic fiction and loved it -left a comment-best to you as always and great great work!!

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  6. Autumnforest, I like it when you talk about where you grew up and what it is like there. Seems to have a lot of rich history and it's good that those things don't get forgotten about.

    I'm glad you think there is a connection between hauntings and geology. Be sure to update on any progress you make in this research.

    What do you think the relation to train tracks is?

    Where can one find this erotic fiction of yours?

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  7. Stephen;
    I have a scene from the erotic fiction novel I'm writing "The Thicket" in an earlier entry, so scroll down my page and you'll see it. There's a horror scene from it a few more entries down the list from the erotic scene, so you can get an idea for the novel. It might make more sense if you read the beast scene (older entry) first before the erotic scene. I'm still uncertain just how to explain geology's role in hauntings, but I have some theories. Once I finish the research on these 50 places and then come up with a rating for their haunted-ness by looking at the amount of proof of hauntings and the quality of that proof, I can figure out just what factors seem to be strongest. The railroad tracks one, though a strange correlation, seems to just show up time and time again at haunted sites. To my cursory glance at the coincidence, I'm not certain if it's a "feng shui" sort of factor with iron tracks creating a pathway (I have noticed hauntings often occur along human pathways like hallways and streets) or if it's just incidental. When I'm done with the research, I hope to look into whether there are sites with hauntings near train tracks that have no other factors like geology/waterways and such to contribute. I'll be keeping ya'all posted. Thanks

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  8. Again annother great post! I get all excited now when I see you've got a new post up... I can't wait to read all about it :)

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  9. I am glad to see that you added Aspen Grove to the list. I was curious to see how it scored and now I know. Curious, what west coast places score a 6 or 5 out of 6?

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