Discreetly Encountering Your Ghosts
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Take our Spiritual & Supernatural Survey!
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Let us know about your experiences and beliefs. Each individual survey is in 3 parts, and takes about 15 minutes to complete.
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New: at Sandie's Psychic Stones and Thin Veil Investigators!
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For those interested, there are many new articles to read, including:
-Ghost Hunting in Cemeteries
-The Great Orb Controversy
Click the pic to visit the TVI Articles page
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General Grant National Memorial
Location New York, New York, USA Established: April 27, 1897
General Grant National Memorial (as designated by the U.S. National Park Service), better known as Grant's Tomb, is a mausoleum containing the
bodies of Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), American Civil War General and 18th President of the United States, and his wife, Julia Dent Grant (1826–
1902). The tomb complex is a presidential memorial in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The structure is
situated in a prominent location in Riverside Park overlooking the Hudson River.
Queen of Heaven Cemetery and Mausoleum
Located in Hillside, Illinois, a suburban community near Chicago, the Queen of Heaven was consecrated in 1947. Currently, the cemetery is 472 acres
(1.91 km2) in size, and there are currently over 122,451 people buried there.
Queen of Heaven Mausoleum, adjacent to the cemetery, has 30,000 crypts and 64 columbarium niches and is about 75% filled. There is also a
garden crypt complex, with 25,729 crypts and 720 columbarium niches.
The Shrine of the Holy Innocents memorial at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.
In addition to regular graves, Queen of Heaven was the first area cemetery to have religious shrine sections. One of these is the "Shrine of the Holy
Innocents," where young victims of the 1958 Our Lady of the Angels School Fire are interred.
Mauna 'Ala
The Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii, known as Mauna 'Ala (Fragrant Hills) in the Hawaiian language, is the final resting place of Hawaii's two prominent
royal families: the Kamehameha Dynasty and the Kalakaua Dynasty. The 2.7 acre mausoleum is located in Honolulu, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. A
small chapel is located near the center, immediately behind the tomb of Kalakaua and his family, and to the right of the Kamehameha tomb, Bishop
Monument, and Wyllie tomb.
The Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located in Agra, India, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Building
began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, and employed thousands of artisans and craftsmen. The building sits on a base of marble 186
feet by 186 feet. The corners of this square are cut off, forming an unequal octagon. Its dome is 213 feet high, and is surrounded by four more smaller
domes. The minarets are 162 and a half feet tall.
The Mausoleum of Genghis Khan
The Mausoleum of Genghis Khan is located along a river in Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. The Mausoleum is not the real burial place of
the Khan, which has never been discovered; it is a cenotaph, where the coffin contains no body, but only headdresses and accessories. It was built
between 1954 to 1956 by the government of the People's Republic of China in the traditional Mongol style.
Pyramids
The most famous pyramids are the Egyptian pyramids — huge structures built of brick or stone, some of which are among the world's largest
constructions. The age of the pyramids reached its zenith at Giza in 2575-2150 B.C. As of 2008, some 138 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest in Egypt and one of the largest in the world.
Sepulcher [pronounced sep-uhl-ker]
Circa.1200 a.d., "tomb, burial place," from Latin sepulcrum "grave,
tomb," from root of sepelire "to bury." A tomb, grave, or burial place.
Tomb
1225–75;from the Latin word tumere, meaning "to swell," or a
rounded lump. Used to indicate the swollen earth or rounded bump
after burying something.
Crypt
From the Greek kryptós, meaning "hidden." The meaning "underground burial
vault or chapel in a church" first attested 1789 according to Online Etymology
Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Grave
A word from well over 1000 years ago, from the Old English græf , it has dual (and
similar) meanings, just as it does today. To dig (a pit, cave, or hole), and "heavy"
feelings or "sorrowful" emotions.
Mausoleums and Cemeteries
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Ghosts, cemeteries, and mausoleums go well together, but how much do you know about burial sites for the
dead? Have you ever wondered where the word "cemetery" comes from? There are many "grave and solemn"
words associated with death and burial places. I have always had a fascination with words, and how they have
changed over the years. So here is some of the results of my interest, giving you a little insight on why the
euphemism "resting place" has been associated with gravesites.
Cemetery
This word is from the late 14th century, from Greek koimeterion "sleeping place, dormitory," from the Greek words koiman "to put to sleep,"
and keimai "I lie down." Early Christian writers were the first to use it for "burial ground."
So, they euphemisms "laid to rest" or "put to sleep" have been around for a while.
Mausoleum
The word derives from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (near modern-day Bodrum in Turkey), the grave of King Mausolus, the Persian
satrap of Caria, whose large tomb was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. (see pictures at right)
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a
deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the
tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum. A Christian mausoleum sometimes includes a chapel.
Historically, mausolea were, and still may be, large and impressive constructions for a deceased leader or other person of importance.
However, smaller mausolea soon became popular with the gentry and nobility in many countries. In the Roman Empire, these were often
ranged in necropoleis or along roadsides: the via Appia Antica retains the ruins of many private mausolea for miles outside Rome.
However, the practice fell out of use when Christianity became dominant. Modern mausolea may also act as columbaria (a type of
mausoleum for cremated remains) with additional cinerary urn niches. Mausolea may be located in a cemetery, a churchyard or on private
land.
In the United States, the term may be used for a burial vault below a larger facility, such as a church. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the
Angels in Los Angeles, California, for example, has 6,000 sepulchral and cinerary urn spaces for interments in the lower level of the
building. It is known as the 'crypt mausoleum'.
Drawing of what the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus supposedly looked like before its slow destruction over the centuries.
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What the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus looks like today
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Here are some examples of mausolea worldwide:
Necropolis #2
Colma, California
Colma is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, at the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula on the
eastern foothills of the northwest trending Santa Cruz Mountain Range. The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.9 square miles, all of it land. The town's 17
cemeteries comprise approximately 73% of the town's land area.
With much of Colma's land dedicated to cemeteries (17 for the interment of humans and one for pets), the dead population
outnumber the living by thousands to one. This has led to it being called, "the city of the silent," and also has given rise to a
humorous motto among some residents: "It's great to be alive in Colma."
Informally, as of December 2006, Colma had "1,500 aboveground residents ... and 1.5 million underground". Formally, as of the
census of 2000, there were 1,191 living people, 329 households, and 245 families residing in the town.






A necropolis [nuh-krop-uh-liss] (plural: necropoleis [nuh-krop-uh-lais]) is a large cemetery or burial ground,
usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek meaning "city of the dead". Apart from
the occasional application of the word to modern cemeteries outside large towns, the term is chiefly used
of burial grounds, near the centers of ancient civilizations, such as an abandoned city or town.
Though there are dozens (if not hundreds) of necropoleis in the world, most relating to ancient civilizations,
did you know that the United States has two necropoleis?
Necropolis #1:
Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia
Arlington National Cemetery, 420 acres, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.; est. 1864.
It became a military cemetery in 1864 by order of the secretary of war, and on May 13, 1864, a Confederate prisoner was the first soldier buried there.
Since then, some soldiers from all subsequent wars in which the United States has participated have been buried in the cemetery, including a few
officers of the Revolutionary War.
More than 60,000 American war dead, as well as notables including Presidents William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, Gen. John J. Pershing,
and Admiral Robert E. Peary are interred here. Burial in Arlington is limited to active, retired, and former members of the armed forces, Medal of Honor
recipients, high-ranking federal government officials, and their dependents.
There are commemorative monuments, including the Tomb of the Unknowns (see Unknown Soldier, Tomb of the). The cemetery is part of "Arlington,"
the former estate of the Custis and Lee families, and includes Arlington House, now part of Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial.

Notable interments
Essentially everyone who died in San Francisco in the twentieth Century was
buried in Colma, if they were buried anywhere.
Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst is buried at Cypress Lawn
Memorial Park, as are business magnate William Henry Crocker; San
Francisco Chronicle founder Charles De Young, horticulturist John McLaren,
and jazz musician and bandleader Turk Murphy.
Wyatt Earp is buried at the Hills of Eternity, in Colma, next to his wife,
Josephine Marcus.
Joe DiMaggio, the baseball player is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery; as are
coffee heiress and Manson murder victim Abigail Folger, San Francisco Mayor
Joseph Alioto, 32nd governor of California Pat Brown, Bank of America founder
A.P. Giannini, Senator James D. Phelan, and jazz musician Vince Guaraldi.
Woodlawn Cemetery in Colma is the final resting place of Emperor Norton and
Henry Miller—a California cattle rancher, not the famous author, whose ashes
were scattered off Big Sur.
Year established
1887 1889-1891
1892 1896 1899 1901 1901 1901 1903 1904 1907 1935 1947 1988 1994
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Cemetery name
Holy Cross Cemetery
Home of Peace Cemetery
Hills of Eternity Memorial Park,
Salem Memorial Park and Garden
Cypress Lawn Cemetery
Olivet Memorial Park
Italian Cemetery
Serbian Cemetery
Eternal Home Cemetery
Japanese Benevolent Society
Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery
Woodlawn Cemetery
Sunset View Cemetery
Greek Orthodox Memorial Park
Pet's Rest Cemetery
Hoy Sun Memorial Cemetery
Golden Hills Cemetery
Religious affiliation
Catholic Jewish
Non Denominational Non Denominational Italian Serbian Jewish Japanese Non Denominational Non Denominational Non Denominational Greek
Chinese Chinese
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Panoramic view of Colma, California -click to enlarge-
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6th Sense (1999)
with Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment
A boy who communicates with spirits seeks the help of a
disheartened child psychologist.
Poltergeist (1982)
with Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Heather
O'Rourke, Zelda Rubinstein
A family's home is haunted by a host of ghosts.
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
with Tim Robbins
A traumatized Vietnam war veteran finds out that his
post-war life isn't what he believes it to be when he's
attacked by horned creatures in the subway and his dead
son comes to visit him.
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
with Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci
Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the
decapitations of 3 people with the culprit being the legendary
apparition, the Headless Horseman.
Blair Witch Project (1999)
with Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard
*this movie is about the ghost of the Bell Witch haunting in
Tennessee*
In October of 1994, three student film makers disappeared in
the woods near Burkittesville, Maryland. One year later, their
footage was found.
Shining (1980)
with Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an
evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence,
while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings
from the past and of the future.
Ghostbusters (1984)
with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver,
Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson
Three unemployed parapsychology professors set up shop
as a unique ghost removal service.
Others (2001)
with Nicole Kidman
A woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two
photosensitive children becomes convinced that her family
home is haunted.
15 of the Best Ghost Movies
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There are literally hundreds of ghost movies available, but a few do stand out from the rest as being unique, scary, intriguing, or creepy.
In no particular order (opinion can be messy), here are some of the best/most popular/scariest/etc.
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Orphanage (2007) A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
Thir13en Ghosts (2001) (Thirteen Ghosts) with Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth When Cyrus Kriticos, a very rich collector of unique things dies, he leaves it all to his nephew and his family. All including his house, his fortune, and his malicious collection of ghosts!
House on Haunted Hill (1999) or (1959 version) with Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Peter Gallagher, Chris Kattan, Ali Larter A millionaire offers a group of diverse people $1,000,000 to spend the night in a haunted house with a horrifying past.
Dark Water (2005) with Jennifer Connelly A mother and daughter, still wounded from a bitter custody dispute, hole up in a run-down apartment building. Adding further drama to their plight, they are targeted by the ghost of former resident.
Ghost Story (1981) with Alice Krige, Fred Astaire, Patricia Neal and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Four successful elderly gentlemen, members of the Chowder Society, share a gruesome, 50-year old secret...
The Ring (2002) with Naomi Watts A young journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone in a week of viewing it.
The Haunting (1999) or (1963 version) with Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Lili Taylor When Eleanor, Theo, and Luke decide to take part in a sleep study at a huge mansion they get more than they bargained for when Dr. Marrow tells them of the house's ghostly past.
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