Last year, Susan Sheppard author and founder of Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours was featured on the ABC Family Channel’s popular show “Scariest Places on Earth” as a psychic medium at the Shawnee Amusement Park in Bluefield, West Virginia. She has previously taught “Be Your Own Psychic” classes at the Self-Health & Awareness Center and continues appear before audiences and live television as a psychic medium.

She is the author ofThe Phoenix Cards: Reading and Interpreting Past-Life Influences with the Phoenix Deck, Cry Of The Banshee by Richard Southall and Susan Sheppard, The Gallows Tree: A Mothman's Tale, The Astrological Guide to the Seduction and Romance, A Witch's Runes: How to Make and Use Your Own Magick Stone, The Astrological Guide To Seduction And Romance: How to Love Libra, Turn on a Taurus, and Seduce a Sagittarius.

Susan Sheppard grew up just a few hills away from the first sighting of the famous West Virginia Mothman. It was during this time that Sheppard’s family home underwent a great deal of paranormal activity sparking her interest in the unknown while tapping into her natural psychic talents. However, Sheppard has had direct communications with spirits of her Native American ancestors since around age four when she met the ghosts of two Indian braves on the hillside above her grandparent's house in broad daylight. Though very small, she understood the braves to be both her ancestors and her guides. Ms. Sheppard’s adolescence was spent partly doing psychic readings along with school work and sometimes working with local law enforcement on missing person cases. She later grew up with the aspirations of becoming a published author and an artist, both of which she achieved. Sheppard has authored a number of popular books which are sold worldwide and has continued with her art in many venues. Her poetry alone has won many prestigious awards.

Her West Virginia childhood might have some bearing on her interest in the paranormal. Sheppard is "Black Dutch," meaning she is descended from the less than 850 Shawnee Indians who remained east of the Mississippi River after the other Shawnee (during the "Trial of Tears" removal) were forced onto reservations out west in the 1830s. Susan, along with others in the Friend family, is a direct descendent of Shawnee Chief Big Thunder through his daughter, Bright Lightning, whose name was anglicized to "Anna Friend."

Susan has never strayed from her interests in the spirit world and has continued to work in the field as a medium, as well as a practicing astrologer. In the last few years she has worked primarily as a psychic medium and a paranormal investigator on various ghost hunts and investigations. She also leads séances, does clearings and performs platform style readings before the public for which she is the most famous in her area.

Not only is Susan an exceptional psychic, she is knowledgeable in the field of the unknown. She remains up-to-date on the latest developments in research concerning the paranormal.

The Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours, located in Parkersburg, WV, USA, hosts regular ghost tours in season, from Mid-September throughout October 31st, private ghost tours go on throughout the year. Tour meets in the haunted and historic Blennerhassett Hotel at 7:30 p.m. in the lobby. The ghost tour features many unusual paranormal and ghost tales such as the Banshee of Marrtown, Civil War Ghosts, the local appearance of the alien Indrid Cold, the West Virginia Mothman, haunted railroads, haunted graveyards, the East End Ghoul, Ghostly hands,Women-in-White spirit appearances and haunted islands.

The ghost tour is led by paranormal experts, published authors and noted psychic mediums. Reservation are NOT required.

Here we present Susan Sheppard's personal list of the 13 places most likely to be haunted by real ghosts.

Thirteen Places Most Likely To Be Haunted

Cemeteries

Although it might seem pretty obvious as to why graveyards are notoriously haunted, bodies are buried there, right? This is really not enough of a reason, if we view this explanation logically. After we are dead, it is reported by those who have had a near death experience that the first thing we do is look back with complete disinterest on our own physical bodies. This makes sense, since the life force has left the body and there is no longer any use for it. It does seem clear that some spirits do have some sentimental feelings, or a compulsion to return to where their human remains were put to rest. Some theorize that spirits hang out at cemeteries drawing upon the energies of their decaying bodies, claiming energies in the cells still fire, but I doubt this, since many ghost anomalies appear in very old historical graveyards that have not had a burial over many years. Instead, it appears that cemeteries may simply be an opening or a portal for the spirits to pour through, almost like an airport or bus station for ghosts.

Perhaps the reason is cemeteries are places where events of high emotion take place, such as funerals. Graveyards are also a place where we reflect upon the lives of people we have lost, or at least, we are aware of another’s loss. Perhaps this provides just enough inspiration or contemplation to pull the spirits down. Not matter what reason behind cemetery haunting really is, there is a plethora of evidence that points out that this phenomenon exists. Therefore, if you are looking to gather evidence of haunting, a public cemetery is a good place to start out. Try not to trespass after dark, if there are signs that say they prohibit visitors after dusk. Dusk is a very good time to take ghost pictures. Sometimes you can notify the groundkeeper and get permission to go in after dark.

Haunted Cemeteries - Come explore some of the world's most haunted cemeteries. The World's Most Haunted Cemetery may make you a real believer in ghosts. Here is a collection of true ghost stories from the world's most haunted Cemeteries. This list will have some familiar names, and some places you never expected to be haunted. Paranormal activity is an really a very international affair, and ghosts and apparitions intermingle with the living everywhere day and night. When it comes to the number and regularity of ghost sightings and unexplained events, these real haunted Graveyards, Cemeteries and burial spots can't be beat.

Hotels

It seems as if every old hotel has its own resident ghost. Hotels are places where a large amount of human energy has been stored. Hotel haunts tend to be varied. Sometimes the haunting has to do with a suicide or death having taken place in the hotel. At other times, it may be that people who have worked and invested energy in the hotel that returns to “check in” on an event, a business that may have helped start. Hotel ghost hunts can be rather easy. Often, the staff at the hotel will be more than happy to open up their “haunted rooms” and show you around. In fact, many hotels enjoy the publicity and sense of mystery a resident ghost inspires. Be discreet your ghost hunt inside a hotel. Some people are still frightened over things like hauntings. Business in hotels dies down (forgive the pun) around 9:00 p.m. Late in the evening is your best time to hunt ghosts.

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Taverns

Let’s face it. Any place that serves alcohol to the point that patrons are getting smashed is highly attractive to some ghosts. (A Lakota medicine man in South Dakota once said to me, “Why do you think we call alcohol “spirits?”) As far as spirits haunting, there is often a lot of old history that surrounds a tavern. Many fights happened there and a few people may have died as a result. When ghost hunting in a tavern, you might want to check out its history. The haunting there may not be all that positive. When ghost hunting in an old tavern you may ask to see whatever basement exists as this is sometimes one of the oldest parts of the building. Basements often yield lots of anomalies in pictures, such as vortices, EVP and orbs.

Museums

It is interesting about the ghosts that haunt museums they may not have any attachment to the building they are haunting, but instead to the objects that are displayed inside. In this way, museums tend to have a number of “object apparitions.” This creates an interesting variety of spirits haunting the museum space. On a museum ghost hunt, we gathered a number of orbs and anomalies surrounding 20,000 year-old Native American artifacts on the basement floor while gathering spirit evidence on the 3rd Floor of the museum that had items from the Civil War era. Picture taking in certain areas of a museum may be prohibited but this does not really matter. Orbs can occur just about anywhere, so taking pictures of the ceiling sometimes works out just as well as taking pictures of an historical exhibit.

Haunted Museums - Visit Haunted America Tours own Online Haunted Chambers of the Bizarre. Can inanimate objects such as paintings, a doll or a pile of bones be really haunted? Strange images appear in haunted paintings, Skulls are said to scream and strange looking items disturb us. Some spend the day browsing through but would you spend the Night at the Museum? "Real ghost photos - real ghost stories." you decide! Come with us now and take a haunted tour of this virtual online haunted collection of the worlds most haunted collection of the strange and unexplained. Free Admission too! Please any visitors to this web site Haunted Musem Gallery, This is not reccommeded for the highly sensitive!

Battlefields

Battlefields are places where you are going to run into a number of spirit recordings, but that’s okay, spirit recordings can be the source of excellent evidence about ghosts. Gettysburg, PA is the most famous haunted battlefield of all and is so haunted, that it has spawned an industry of ghost hunts, ghost tours and paranormal conferences. The battlefields tend to be the most haunted sites although areas of lookouts, old buildings in close proximity to battlefields also yield a number of hauntings. When we speak of place hauntings, we mean evidence collected of ghosts that have gone on for a number of years. Sometimes one haunting will replace another. In fact, once a legend grows up around one particular ghost, the primary ghost will change. That is why it is hard to go looking for one particular ghost.

Haunted Battlefields - American Battlefield Ghost Hunters always suggest that planning ahead can often make the difference between a good ghost hunting trip and a great trip to National Battlefield Park. Explore these pages to discover the essential things you need to know before you leave home—how to get around the park, where pets are allowed, how to stay safe, and more important a ghost photo or ghost story to read and plan to investigate.

Abandoned Prisons

Once again, areas of intense emotion or even violence are likely places to become haunted. There are a number of famous ghost hunts and investigations taking place in a number of old, abandoned prisons throughout the United States. These include Alcatraz Prison in California, Moundsville Prison in West Virginia and Mansfield Prison in Ohio. Although prisons may not be your forte as far as ghost hunting is concerned, a wealth of evidence is now being collected verifying the existence of something quite supernatural going on in these infamous, jail house haunts. To find out the whens, whys and wheres of prison ghost hunts by looking them up on the Internet.

Nursing Homes and Hospitals

These can be the most unnerving places in the world! Nursing homes and hospitals are probably the most haunted buildings and residences that there are. So many deaths occur, and so many families go through the extremes of emotions in these areas, that the energy and memory of these events remain. There have been cases reported of residents in nursing homes being visited during “off hours” by an elderly friend. Once the staff at the nursing home check in the room to ask the visitor if she would like a cup of coffee, no one is there. While visiting the room the staff discovers the resident has worsened or slipped into a coma. Shortly afterward, the resident dies. Just an oddball coincidence? The above scenario happens routinely in nursing homes and hospitals. Of course, ghost hunts in either a hospital or nursing home would be extremely crass and not permitted. But if you know of someone who works in such a place, you may be interested in interviewing him or her about personal haunted experiences. In nursing homes and hospitals, accounts of ghosts are abundant. Members of the staff are usually eager to share their stories with you.

Waverly Hills Sanatorium, located in Louisville, Kentucky, opened in 1910 as a two-story hospital to accommodate 40 to 50 tuberculosis patients. It has since come to be considered one of the most haunted buildings in the Eastern United States.

Buildings

Once a Hubbub Buildings hold onto energies from all that has gone inside, so if a place was at one time extremely busy, with several people passing through it, going through the ups and downs of human emotions, in all likelihood, that building will become haunted from one type of spirit manifestation or another, and more typically, many spirits. These might include bus stations, train stations, abandoned orphanages, and even old department stores. Many of the buildings are turned into other types of businesses, and the spirit or ghost that haunts typically belongs to the building’s previous incarnation. Therefore, a department store that may have been turned into a reception hall, will have apparition sightings of elevator attendants, clerks dressed in old-style clothing and nothing whatsoever to do with a modern reception hall. If you decide to so an investigation, pay attention to the old design of the building. For instance, check areas of old elevator shafts, where offices used to be, and with most haunted sites, ask to see the basement or attic areas. These areas have less traffic, so are more linked to what happened in the past, and this increases the likelihood of haunting.

Haunted Schools and Libraries - Haunted Buildings, Their Ghost Stories and Ghost Photos Haunted Theaters - Probably the most popular place for a ghost to appear (if you don't count cemeteries) is a theater. Certain aspects of theater folklore involve hauntings, such as the "ghost light" and the attribution of mishaps to the work of a ghost, so it's unlikely that all these theaters were really the sites of murders, or are really haunted.

Theaters

Just about anyone who has had the experience of a little greasepaint on their faces can attest to the fact that most theaters have spirits – they often have many ghosts. Even if a theater closes, ghosts seem to sick around. As an example, not only do I have haunted theaters on my ghost tour I also have a haunted city block where an old theater once stood. Why? Once again, we associate theaters with feelings of excitement, the kind associated with live presentations, so once again it is the intensity of feeling that feeds the ghosts. Some old theaters offer tours, and so this is one good way of getting some ghost hunting in. Pay close attention to older parts of the theaters, areas where dressing rooms used to be, and also in the balcony and basement of the theater. While spirits can be encountered just about anywhere, many tend to stay put in basements and attics. The more historical areas of the theater is the places to take special note of when attempting to photograph or capture any EVP with a tape recorder (This is the "Smoot Theater" in Parkersburg with the 1930 showing of "Frankenstein." Nurses and ambulance are ready in case anyone is overcome with shock or fright!)

Haunted Historic Locations - Many historic buildings, because of their age, have had more time to have spirits attach to it. These buildings are often open the public and can give you a easy place to start. Many even have known histories of hauntings and you may be able to gain access to the building after hours after speaking with the caretakers. MOST HAUNTED PLACES IN THE WORLD or the number one most haunted place on earth.

Crossroads

Universally, the crossroads is a place of great spiritual power, and according to some, also spiritual danger. A belief in the crossroads as it relates to spirits traces back to the ancient world and is linked to practically every culture in the world. Since roads are so prevalent in the modern world, every corner is a crossroads. However, isolated crossroads, where there is an old graveyard, an empty house or abandoned boarding house are areas where spiritual activity is pronounced. When investigating a cemetery, consider taking photographs, or getting EVP at the nearest place where two roads intersect. It is possible that the when two path cross, it disturbs or changes the energy of a place. In many respects, crossroads are as much of a portal for spirit activities as cemeteries. Old crossroads, such as those in the country, should be fully explored for ghost activity.

“I went to the crossroad Fell down on my knees, I went to the crossroad Fell down on my knees; Asked the Lord above, Have mercy now, Save poor Bob, if you please.” -- Robert Johnson’s “Crossroad Blues”

ROBERT JOHNSON’S DEAL WITH THE DEVIL AND THE CROSSROADS CURSE ...The story of Robert Johnson and his infamous crossroads deal with the devil – in which he traded his immortal soul for musical genius – is deeply ingrained in the mythology and legend of the rural South and is one of the best-known tales of American folklore.

Tunnels

Just about all tunnels have ghosts. Why is this? It is possible that tunnels are able to trap ghostly and spiritual energies. They are also spooky with creepy echoes and no doubt inspire more ghostly tales than they truly deserve. Tunnels do have odd energies. This particular tunnel had an accident where part of the tunnel collapsed and three men were buried alive. Their bodies were never recovered.

Historical Homes Homes

With a long history, of course, tend to be plagued by ghosts. Maybe they are overrated a bit. Haunted trailers are every bit as prevalent as archaic old mansions. But since old homes have a long history of human activity, usually situated around a number of different families that have lived in the house, they do become haunted, and not in any unpleasant way. Usually in older homes, spirits of children are the most common. I’ve had more reports or stories of little girls haunting old homes than I can shake a stick at, and this includes my own. I can only speculate that the children who haunt such homes may not have died as children at all and are probably are residual energies of past children at play. After all, every emotion is able to lay down a track or an imprint on the atmosphere of an area, and this includes feelings of happiness and childish play. Older homes do often have resident ghosts as well. If you sense a resident ghost that is somewhat resistant to your investigation, do not be alarmed. Unless there is evidence against it, most resident ghosts are completely benefic and end up an interesting topic of conversation at parties for those who live in the houses.

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Scenes of Accidents or Crimes

Again, when investigating the scene of an accident, or a murder, no matter when it happened, discreetness is a must. Such places often become famously haunted, and if you proceed with your ghost investigations, the likelihood that you will receive a call concerning a place where a terrible shock or attack has occurred is likely. Spirits that haunt such places are not usually happy ones, thus, the feelings you absorb and the impressions you receive might not be pleasant. It’s important, though, to not look upon such places as “cursed” where terrible evil has been unleashed. Truthfully, when investigating crime scenes, the spirits you likely encounter will be residual hauntings and nothing worse than that. But if you do wander into an earthbound spirit, gently inform the spirit to move on and find happiness in another place, a place where his or her family members await them.

One should always be careful when investigating such haunts.

The most persistent hauntings often involve an element of unhappiness, if not restlessness in a ghost. Honestly, you should approach them as you would anyone with emotional problems, with careful thought and a gentle encouragement for them to move out of their state of restlessness, toward loved family members who have moved on into a state of peace.

These are many "Haunted" places you can start your ghost hunting

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20 QUESTIONS WITH Susan Sheppard
Not only is Susan Sheppard the creator of the Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours, she is also well respected for her abilities as a psychic medium. She has worked as psychic and a spiritualist medium since age fourteen and as a paranormal investigator for the last decade. This came about when her friends overheard a well-known psychic tell Susan that she, too, had "the gift" and should use her special abilities to help others. This was no surprise to Susan's family who had witnessed her uncanny abilities since early childhood.

Or Visit Susan Sheppard's Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tour web site Here!