Month: February 2026

A Forgotten Haunted Church Story Hidden in an 1865 Newspaper

Published on by Planet Graple

I admit that to me, one of life’s most simple pleasures, is having access to old newspapers thanks to newspapers.com.  I am not affiliated or sponsored by that website. I pay for my own yearly subscription out of my own pocket, just to be transparent.

Anyway, as I was saying, as someone with a fondness for old newspapers and the paranormal and supernatural, I sometimes stumble upon reports of haunted locations that pique my curiosity. A particularly intriguing account from 1865 caught my attention, detailing a supposedly haunted church in Jersey City, New Jersey.

According to the news report, this church was plagued by inexplicable occurrences, starting in roughly September of 1865 and lasting for a few weeks.   Police as well as various interested parties investigated and found no clue as to what was causing the ghostly commotion. After a period of time, the police finally found the answer; a small dog  with its chain still attached to its collar had found its way into the church as was making horrific noises in its distress.  Of course, to me, this doesn’t explain why the noises seemed to only occur at night, but, I digress.

A second explanation was that it was a stray cat had been imprisoned accidentally in the church by workers and was making the ghostly noises in protest of its treatment.

And thirdly, a more interesting and reasonable explanation suggested that a group of local boys had gotten into the building, hiding beneath the floorboards to create the eerie wailing sounds that unnerved the townspeople. Despite their suspected mischief, however, these pranksters remained at large.

Of the proposed explanations, as mentioned, the story of the mischievous boys seems the most plausible—yet it remains unverified, as no one was ever held accountable for the disturbances.  Is it likely that, in the absence of concrete evidence, the authorities and townsfolk simply needed a rational explanation for the unsettling events and settled on the most acceptable narrative of the time.  No more newspaper accounts of further haunting activity so one of those must have been the answer, right?   Or, could it be that the haunting still continued, but newspapers were prevented from printing any more stories?

Anyone have any additional information about this?  I do realize the newspaper articles are from over 100 years ago, but a story like that might be something that locals in the area like to keep alive as part of their local folklore or history.

Oh, and the one article that mentions Bob Acres-well, I admit I had to do some research on that and discovered he is a fictional character from Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s classic 1775 comedy of manners, The Rivals.  The character was popular in 19th-century theatre, and was often described as being comic, naive and cowardly.

He was  played by American actor Joseph Jefferson (left), and there was a Louisiana train station after him — which eventually morphed into the  unincorporated community Bob Acres, Louisiana.

The Hidden Hand (1942): A Delightfully Campy Old Dark House Mystery

Published on by Planet Graple

The Hidden Hand is a 1942 American comedy-horror mystery about greed, inheritance plots, and a very unusual scheme involving an escaped mental patient.

The film was based on the 1934 stage play Invitation to a Murder, which starred Gale Sondergaard as Lorina Channing and Humphrey Bogart as Horatio Channing. In 1936, Warner Bros. announced plans to produce a screen adaptation and even intended to have Sondergaard reprise her stage role. However, that project ultimately fell through and was never brought to the screen.

Plot Overview:
Eccentric wealthy matriarch Lorinda Channing is surrounded by greedy relatives eager to get their hands on her fortune. To manipulate events and keep her money away from them, she secretly helps her unstable brother John Channing escape from an insane asylum. Lorinda disguises John as the household butler, and under her direction he begins to terrorize and dispose of relatives in mysterious and often grisly ways.

Meanwhile, young attorney Peter Thorne and Lorinda’s secretary Mary Winfield who are romantically involved, grow suspicious as the body count rises. They work to uncover the truth, stop John’s rampage, and prevent further deaths — all while trying to unravel Lorinda’s strange scheme.

The story mixes elements of old-dark-house mystery with dark humor, secret passages, and suspense as the characters navigate hidden motives, shifting alliances, and the chaos surrounding the inheritance plot.

CAST

  • Craig Stevens as Peter Thorne — the young attorney and romantic lead (Stevens was known for roles in noir and adventure films, later starring in the TV series Peter Gunn).
  • Elisabeth Fraser as Mary Winfield— the spirited female lead, often involved in investigating the goings-on.
  • Julie Bishop in a supporting role (she appeared in many Warner Bros. pictures of the period).  Julie is the mother of character actress Pamela (Sue) Shoop who some might recall as portraying Karen in Halloween II.
  • Cecil Cunningham as Lorinda Channing — the scheming matriarch.
  • Milton Parsons as John Channing — the creepy, asylum-escaped brother; Parsons was a character actor frequently cast in eerie, sinister roles.
  • Willie Best in a supporting part (Best was a prominent African American comedian/actor in 1930s–1940s films, though his role here reflects the era’s stereotypical portrayals, which modern viewers often criticize as racially insensitive or “institutionalized racism”).
  • Other notables include Frank Wilcox, Ruth Ford, and Roland Drew in smaller roles.

You might be able to find this on YouTube as it supposedly is a public domain film.

Vintage Recipes: Healthful Summer Drinks Recipes from 1887

Published on by Planet Graple

I found this in an 1887 issue of the Hollis Times, a newspaper out of New  Hampshire and thought I would share it.

Maple Beer: To four gallons boiling water put one quart maple syrup and one tablespoonful essence of spruce; when about milk warm add one pint of yeast, and when fermented bottle it. In three days it will be fit for use

Currant Shrub: Boil currant juice and sugar, in proportion of one pound sugar to one pint juice, five minutes. Stir it constantly while cooling; when cold, bottle it. Use like raspberry shrub, one spoonful or two to a tumbler full of water.

Raspberry Liquor: A pint of raspberries in a quart of spirits must be corked tightly for a month; then clarify a pound of sugar in a pint and a half of water; filter off the spirit and add it to the syrup; mix well and put it in small bottles.

Raspberry Vinegar: Mash two quarts of raspberries in an earthen vessel, put them in a large stone bottle or jar, pour into them two quarts of good wine vinegar, cork the jar slightly and let the juice distill in the sun or warmth for two or three weeks; then filter clear and bottle it, corking it well.

English Ginger Beer: Pour four quarts of boiling water on one ounce and a half of ginger, one ounce cream tartar, one pound brown sugar and two lemons sliced thin. Put in two gills (a gill is about 4 ounces) of yeast, let it ferment twenty-four hours and bottle it. It improves by keeping a few weeks, unless it is very hot weather, and it is a very nice beverage.

Lemonade Syrup: With one pound of sugar,  rasp the yellow rind of six lemons. Moisten the sugar with as much water as it will absorb, and boil it to a clear syrup. Add the juice of twelve lemons, stirring it in well beside the fire, but do not let it boil any more. Bottle the syrup at once, and cork it when cold. Mix a little of this syrup with cold water when lemonade is wanted.