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Haunted Zoos!

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by Zambar, 27 Oct 2008.

  1. Zambar

    Zambar Well-Known Member 15+ year member 10+ year member 5+ year member

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    For those belivers in the supernatural, do you know of any zoos or safari parks near you who have ghostly or paranormal going-ons, even if it is a rare place to get them. Coincidentally, both of my regular parks are haunted; Marwell Zoo & Longleat Safari Park.

    Marwell Hall, the medieval house at the centre of the park is supposedly haunted by Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry IIIV, who was rumoured to secretly marry him at the hall before the official wedding. And if that wasn't enough, the path behind the hall, Yew Tree walk which currently passes animals like hornbills and hammerkop, is patrolled by none other then second wife Ann Boelyn! The top floor of the hall also supports the ghostly roll and drop of barrels at night, a room which once served as a cellar for illegal alcohol.
    But Marwell's most famous ghost has to the Mistletoe Bough story; after a wedding on a cold winter's night, the party decided to play hide and seek. The bride found a chest to hide in, but upon closing the lid realised it was self-locking! She was never found. Until centuries later, when the chest was uncovered, where a skeleton in a wedding dress clutching a shriveled bow of mistletoe was discovered. Since the incident, the sounds and shadows of searching wedding guests can be heard each boxing day night, where it supposedly took place.

    Longleat House, in the estate with the famous safari park, is haunted by another ghost. Lady Louisa Carteriet was secretly in love with one of the servants, and her husband noticed this. Angered by the affair, he ordered the servant to be killed, and was pushed down the cellar stairs, where he broke his neck, and then buried beneath the pavings. Louisa was informed the servent had left never to return, and she was left heartbroke. She didn't believe her husband, and would constantly search the house for him. Eventually, it became to depressing for her, so she commited suicide by jumping off the top of the house. She still haunts the house at night, searching for her lost love, which builders found instead when they installed central heating to the house in the seventies, uncovering his skeleton from under the cellar.
     
  2. cottoni

    cottoni Active Member

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    Wow, very interesting stories :) I love that kind...
     
  3. okapikpr

    okapikpr Well-Known Member

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    The keepers at the Columbus Zoo say a shadow can be seen from time to time in the stalls of the okapi barn. They say it is the ghost of a female okapi who died there last year.
     
  4. Zambar

    Zambar Well-Known Member 15+ year member 10+ year member 5+ year member

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    Well, if it's a okapi ghost I'd spect it'd be the most placid of them all.
     
  5. torie

    torie Well-Known Member

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    Taronga has a couple. theres not really any interesting back stories like yours Marwell Dalek but there is supposed to be a man in a hodded jumper in the courtyard thingy near the giraffes and a ghost in the enricment house where people used to live.
    there is also rumors of a ghost cat in the old jungle cats holding yards.... i try not to belive the stories thought because i spend a lot of time there at niht with our night tour programs and if i did believe them i would we way to freaked out to keep going!
     
  6. Ara

    Ara Well-Known Member

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    I wandered into the old tiger holding dens at Taronga when they were being rebuilt years ago. The tigers had been moved well away. It was late afternoon; quite overcast. (As a member of the public, I probably shouldn't have been there.)

    I don't normally believe in the supernatural, but I would be prepared to swear on a bible that a tiger growled at me - softly, but very close. The hair rose on the back of my neck. I got out quickly!
     
  7. dragon(ele)nerd

    dragon(ele)nerd Well-Known Member

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    This already seems more popular than the supernatural thread I tried to start! ;)
    The time I went to singapore, it was filled with many people, and it is quite a big zoo, while my family had lunch I went for a walk around the nearby area, my memory is hazing in what exhibit I was near, but I swear I saw this guy that looked hollow, quite a few people were around but none in the direction of in what I was looking at,
    but there was a couple, probably tourists, tapped me and said" you ok kid?" and they came in the same direction where I was looking,

    The guy was gone and I asked them if they had seen that man, but they said no,..
    not a backed up experince but freaky...

    You would think if that particular was haunted then it would have animal spirits!;)
     
  8. zebedee101

    zebedee101 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Whipsnade has a few as well.

    Unexplained noises coming from the upstairs flat in the discovery centre and guests being uncomfortable staying there. Children using the Education room in the centre have tried to interact with a child that adults cannot see. This has happened on a few occasions with children that were known not to have had imaginary friends.

    The ghost of a black lab dog has been seen a few times on the lawns as well. The first few times it was thought a dog was loose in the park and they tried to find it for the sake of the free roaming animals but now if sighted it just gets ignored.

    An elephant keeper looked up to see a man watching her wearing britches and boots then disappeared as she looked at him. After telling her colleagues and describing the uniform they went to the archives and looked out a picture of the old uniforms to see if they were the same. Not only was the uniform in the picture the same, it was the same person, who had been the elephants head keeper at one stage.

    The old office block burned down killing the night watchman and his dog. Near the anniversary of the deaths it is said that the smell of wet dog in the replacement building becomes over powering.
     
  9. James27

    James27 Well-Known Member

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    Scary... I did work placement in Whipsnade!
    Never saw anything though, although the discovery centre's basement is pretty creepy.
     
    Last edited: 29 Oct 2008
  10. dragon(ele)nerd

    dragon(ele)nerd Well-Known Member

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    Wow, seems that there is quite a bit of freaky stuff at Whipsnade,!
     
  11. Jurek7

    Jurek7 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I heard that London zoo is haunted by ghostly thylacine, who howls "why you killed us out, why?" ;)
     
  12. dragon(ele)nerd

    dragon(ele)nerd Well-Known Member

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    I'd be pretty angry too finding out that some sort of other spcies, killed my species, I'd haunt them every night! ;)
     
  13. okapikpr

    okapikpr Well-Known Member

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  14. dragon(ele)nerd

    dragon(ele)nerd Well-Known Member

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    scary stuff, dangerous in an aquarium because of the water having a ghost around causes electromagnectic fields in increase, apparently,
     
  15. JamesB

    JamesB Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    my old school used to be haunted by a horseman.. and it used to feel like a zoo somedays, thanks for that marwell dalek
     
  16. gentle lemur

    gentle lemur Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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  17. James27

    James27 Well-Known Member

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    Lol, I thought that.
     
  18. dragon(ele)nerd

    dragon(ele)nerd Well-Known Member

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    That isn't very nice, then again , I'm not here to argue your beliefs, I think there are ghosts present everywhere,
     
  19. James27

    James27 Well-Known Member

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    Not to offend you, it's just people who claim to be "experts" in this field are normally faking, however I believe that a lot of people genuinly can see ghosts etc.
     
  20. Zambar

    Zambar Well-Known Member 15+ year member 10+ year member 5+ year member

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    Yep; in a zookeeper's case, "I see dead penguins." :p

    I've always felt a cold chill around Marwell's takin house too; I dunno if it's just me, but I find it spooky. It's never very well lit, and there was this one time where the bull, Mooshu, leaned up against the barrier seperating him from his mate and kid. He was standing on his hind legs, and the combined gloom made him appear like a satyr or some other goatman creature.