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ABSOLUTELY CRAZY LAWS
Apparently, some people have too much time on their hands!
Omaha, Nebraska - Men cannot run around the
streets with a shaved chest.
New Jersey - Frowning at a policeman is illegal.
North Carolina - It is illegal to sing off-key.
North Dakota - Wearing shoes to bed is illegal.
Oklahoma - Making a face at a dog, especially an ugly face, brings jail
time.
Morrisville, Pennsylvania - A permit is required to wear cosmetics.
Fountain Inn, South Carolina - Horses must wear pants.
Burre, Vermont - People are REQUIRED to bathe on Saturdays.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - It is illegal to worry a squirrel.
Iowa - If you are a one-armed piano player, you cannot collect money for
your services.
Topeka, Kansas - No self-installation of bathtubs is allowed.
Lexington, Kentucky - The law considers you drunk if you "cannot hold
onto the ground."
Louisiana - Gargling in public is illegal.
Maryland - It's against the law to take a lion to the movies.
These are just a few of the laws that are still on
the State law books. It makes you wonder how many are actually still
enforceable. |
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A GIFT FROM
SPIRIT
By Christina M.
Schumacher and Ron Bowers
Featuring Photos
by Spirit Photographer Ron Bowers
To find out more about this
book, read the excerpt below, then go
HERE to read back cover info and find
out where to purchase this book. |
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BOOK EXCERPT FROM "A
GIFT FROM SPIRIT" |
CHAPTER
SEVEN - SLADBURYS LANE
Holland-on-Sea, formerly known as Little Holland, is a
small village on the North East Coast of Essex, not too far from Clacton-on-Sea.
Approximately 6,500 people reside in this village. It offers a few shops, a
village hall, several pubs, a primary school and a hotel. Its main
attraction, however, is the sea.
This is where you will find Sladburys Lane which is
purported locally to be haunted.
Sladburys Lane is approximately two miles long.
If you travel it coming from the direction of Holland-on-Sea, you'll come
upon a built up area with around 80 homes, all within a half mile stretch.
Running amongst these homes is a stream known by locals as Pickers Ditch.
This stream connects up to Holland Brook which then makes its way to the sea
only about a half mile away.
In times long past, smugglers were a common threat. The
land has changed over the years and once Pickers Ditch and Holland Brook
were little rivers used regularly by smugglers. The distance from the sea
would have been less during this time as the sea was more inland.
Once you pass the homes, Sladburys Lane offers the
beauty of the country side on both sides of the road. One of the farm
houses in this area sits on the land where a farm house, recorded in the
record's office in Colchester, dates back to 1086. The history around this
house abounds.
Halfway along Sladburys Lane is Burrs Road. It is this
road that holds a private residence considered to be one of the most haunted
homes in England. This location you'll learn about in Chapter 21 of this
book.
During the day, Sladburys Lane feels just like any
other area, but when evening falls and the mists from the fields and the
streams flows in, Sladburys Lane becomes an area that could unnerve even the
bravest of the living.
HAUNTINGS
Sladburys Lane is haunted. Of course, one might expect
that the hauntings have a specific location along the lane, but they don't.
A haunting can be witnessed at one end, in the middle, on the other end and
anywhere in between. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason or logical
pattern to the hauntings that occur, though maybe it is logical to the
spirits that visit there.
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Continued in next column... |
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CHAPTER SEVEN FROM "A GIFT FROM SPIRIT" continued...
In the mid-80's, on a cold,
bitter, snowy day in February, a young man was driving from the village of
Thorpe-le-Soken toward Clacton. He traveled down Tan Lane, then turned into
Holland Road, almost running over someone walking in the road. The figure
was an elderly,thickset man wearing a Victorian style coat, a tall chimney
style hat and carrying a walking stick that he tapped out in front of
himself as though he were blind. The driver also had the impression that the
man sported a beard. Having had a close call, the young man looked back to
see if the elderly gentleman was all right, but there was no one there to
see. The man had vanished.
Other reports of this elderly man walking alone on the
road have been made, but there have also been reports that he is not always
alone. Some have seen him walking with a lady who appears to be wearing some
kind of hood, but still to this day, no one seems to know who they are.
In 1991, a young lady was driving from
Great Holland toward Clacton. As she approached an arched railroad bridge
which would lead her to Sladburys Lane, the young lady and the passenger
with her noticed that it was suddenly very misty. It was necessary to drive
slowly and, to concentrate more on her driving, the young lady reached to
turn off her car radio. This is when the passenger with her screamed. In the
brief moment, when she'd taken her eyes off the road to turn off the radio,
a pedestrian stepped out in front of her car. Instant reaction was to slam
on her brakes, but as she reported later, the man was already halfway
through the hood of her car when she reacted. Both the driver and the
passenger recalled feeling icy cold when they realized the man was actually
walking straight through their car. The description given by both the driver
and the passenger was of a man wearing a long black cloak and a large hat.
PHOTOS
On the
evening of September 18, 2005, Ron drove to Sladburys Lane in Holland-on-Sea
to have a look at an old barn which dated back a few hundred years. It had
caught his eye when passing through.
While standing, facing the barn, Ron intuitively felt a
spirit presence close to him. At one point, he also heard what sounded like
the scuffling of feet on the loose gravel. Ron had two thoughts about the
sound. The first was a possible spirit and the second was that it might be
an animal. Ron took three consecutive pictures. If it was a spirit, he hoped
to capture it on film, but if it was an animal, he hoped the flash of the
camera would frighten it off.
Almost immediately after the photos were taken, Ron
felt the area get a great deal colder so he returned to his vehicle and
headed for home.
Upon examination of the photos, Ron discovered the
photo you see here which he has deemed "The Smuggler" and for good reason.
The apparition shows clearly the tricorn hat, a staff,
the high length civilian style coat and the traditional knee breeches. It
also appears that there is a type of dagger sticking out on the left side of
the figure. If the feet of this smuggler could be seen, it is likely he
would be wearing buckled shoes as was the tradition of the era.
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Copyright(c)Ron Bowers
"The Smuggler" taken on Sladburys
Lane in Holland-on-Sea, Essex County, England.
Note: In the book, all photos are
black and white, though we've given you the color photo for this chapter
excerpt. All of Ron's photos from the book can be seen larger and in color
from a link given within the book.
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