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小镇灵异博物馆成旅游热点

线话英语|2013-10-31 15:25:33

Stephen Hummel wanted to sell sausage, but the money in this old river town is in ghosts.

Tourists and enthusiasts of the paranormal flock to his hot dog place because of its 'Archive of the Afterlife: A Paranormal Museum,' a room full of haunted pictures, creepy dolls and prison weapons.

'They tip me fives, tens and twenties,' says the 30-year-old entrepreneur. 'Beats the margins on dogs.'

Ghost clubs such as this, fed by popular TV shows, are springing up in small towns across the country. 'We're seeing a rebirth of 19th-century spiritualism,' says parapsychologist author Pamela Heath. 'It happens in times of stress and anxiety.' A parallel trend is the boom in full-time haunted houses. America Haunts, a trade association, estimates that there are now 1,200 haunted houses in the U.S., with annual revenue of $500 million. Both numbers have doubled in the past 10 years.

The phenomenon is prevalent in the Rust Belt. 'People in these depressed areas want to escape reality,' says America Haunts organizer Ben Armstrong, who co-owns a haunted house in an old Pepsi-Cola bottling plant in Atlanta. 'One of the areas with the most haunted houses is around Detroit.'

Perched on the Ohio River, Moundsville, pop. 9,000, once boomed. It had its own trolley network. Fostoria Glass Co., U.S. Stamping Co., which made cookware, Fokker Aircraft Corp. and other plants employed thousands.

The town lost its manufacturing jobs in the 1980s and '90s, and the biggest employers are now Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and gas-driller Williams Companies Inc., says Mayor Eugene Saunders. In addition, some residents work at two nearby coal mines.

Mr. Hummel was raised in Moundsville by his mother and his grandfather, known as 'Pap.' The stocky, muscular kid played linebacker and dreamed of going into the Air Force Combat Control Team. He joined the Air Force in 2002. After a few months, he left because he says he couldn't stay under the required weight limit.

He returned to his hometown, looking for something to do. He sold cars. He married, and divorced after two years. In 2006, Pap helped him open Steve's Gym. Mr. Hummel is an amateur weightlifter.

Two years ago, again with his grandfather's help, he opened German Jack's Weinery. He sells chicken sausage, bratwursts and franks.

The space had been a poker cafe. An adjacent room contained slot machines. 'I don't condone gambling, so those had to go,' says Mr. Hummel.

In the place of one-armed bandits, Mr. Hummel installed spiritualist esoterica. He had become fascinated with the paranormal while working as a tour guide at a local former prison in 2005. 'I've seen a lot of things,' he says. 'Shadow people, hair getting pulled.'

The prison, once the West Virginia State Penitentiary, is a mecca for lovers of the paranormal, and the source of Mr. Hummel's spirit fancy. As a tourist attraction, it brings in about 12,000 visitors a year, generating about $1 million in revenue.

The castle-like turreted penitentiary opened in 1866 and operated until 1995. The sprawling complex once included a 10-acre farm and its own coal mine. It housed violent and insane criminals. About 1,000 inmates died inside; 104 by execution. The electric chair, nicknamed Old Sparky, is now an exhibit. Families wielding iPhones visit it along with cramped cells, underground pool halls and a basketball court enclosed by barbed wire.

Ghosts are said to emerge from the storied and violent past. In 1931, a prisoner named Frank Hyer was accidentally decapitated while being hanged for killing his wife. 'Booze is the cause of this whole thing,' Mr. Hyer had told reporters. The consequence of Mr. Hyer's grisly accident was that the prison stopped holding public executions.

One inmate was Charles Manson's mother, held on a robbery charge. Mr. Manson grew up down the road. In 1986, he asked to be transferred to Moundsville, in a letter that is on display. 'You may know some of my ken folk,' he wrote. 'I'm a beanie brother from down the road.' He was denied. 'We're all better off with his spirit roaming California when he dies,' says prison facilities manager Tom Stiles, one of the two full-time employees.

The prison gave Mr. Hummel a bed, handmade knives and pictures of famous inmates.

Mr. Hummel trolled estate sales for spooky paintings and creepy dolls. 'This is Claire, people can feel her actual presence,' he says, pointing to an engraving of a stern-looking woman.

Mr. Hummel picks up a doll in a glass. 'It was believed dolls carried spirits,' he says. 'This one has a special energy, so I wrapped it in tissue and put it in a martini glass.'

Mr. Hummel added life masks of celebrities he says he bought for around $25 apiece online. Elizabeth Taylor. Bela Lugosi. Abraham Lincoln. 'I wanted to get Marilyn Monroe, but the guy with the mold wanted $10,000,' he says.

People in town donated haunted artifacts. Nick James, a courthouse deputy marshal with a carpentry business on the street, brought a rocking chair. It had come from his son-in-law's grandmother. 'I felt like someone was looking over my shoulder while I was restoring it,' he says. 'Gave me goose bumps.'

Not everybody in Moundsville wants to play ball with Mr. Hummel. The town is named for a 69-foot-high burial mound built by Native Americans around 200 B.C. The biggest conical mound of its kind in North America, it is now a fenced-in museum and archaeological site across from the prison. Mr. Hummel pleaded to be allowed to hunt for ghosts on-site.

The state said no. 'We felt it would be disrespectful to Native Americans,' says Caryn Greshman, deputy commissioner for the West Virginia division of culture and history.

Mayor Saunders has visited. 'I love that little museum in that hot dog parlor,' he says. 'All the tourists stop there.'

On a recent evening, local ghost fans gathered at the hot dog shop for a lecture on paranormal activities. Michael Kuderski arrived with his bag of ghost-hunting equipment: camera, tape recorder, a 'Ghost Meter' that measures radiation and a divining string, used when asking ghosts simple questions. The string swings one direction for 'Yes' and the other for 'No.'

He said he had captured the voice of a ghost in the restaurant and offered to play it.

A voice on the recording said: 'Spirit, will you manifest yourself?'

There then came a raspy response: 'I don't do that.'

Mr. Kuderski, 24, smiled triumphantly. He attributed the ghost's presence in the hot dog shop to Mr. Hummel's collection, which attracts spirits. 'A lot of things that Steve brings in hold energy,' he said. 'It's really great.'

斯蒂芬•赫梅尔(Stephen Hummel)曾想要卖香肠赚钱，但在这个古老的河口镇发财得靠鬼怪来帮忙。

游客和爱好者们成群结队地走入他的热狗店，为的是这里一个叫“幽灵档案馆”(Archive of the Afterlife: A Paranormal Museum)的房间，那里面放满了灵异照片，恐怖玩偶和监狱刑具。

这位三十多岁的创业家说：他们常给我五块、十块甚至二十块的小费，比卖热狗的利润多多了。

John W. Miller/The Wall Street Journal
芒兹维尔“幽灵档案馆”中的灵异照片。这类受热播电视节目?发而建的鬼怪俱乐部，如雨后春笋一般地遍布在美国的小镇上。心理玄学作者帕梅拉•希思(Pamela Heath)说：我们正在见证一股19世纪唯灵论的复兴浪潮，它往往出现在人们因各种压力而感觉焦虑的社会时代。与之伴随的是鬼屋的兴起。据一家叫做America Haunts的贸易协会估计，美国如今已有1,200座鬼屋，年收入总计达5亿美元，两个数字在过去的十年里都翻了一番。

这种现象多见于铁锈地带(Rust Belt)（指美国昔日繁盛，如今衰落的工业地区）。America Haunts创始人本•阿姆斯特朗(Ben Armstrong)说，这些衰落地区的居民往往试图逃避现实，鬼屋最多的地区之一就是底特律的周边地带。阿姆斯特朗在亚特兰大合伙拥有一家由废弃百事可乐工厂改建的鬼屋。

芒兹维尔坐落于俄亥俄河(Ohio River)河畔，人口约9000人，曾一度繁盛。小镇拥有自己的电车网络。Fostoria Glass玻璃制品公司、生产厨具的U.S. Stamping公司，福克飞机制造集团(Fokker Aircraft Corp.)等均在这里设厂，雇佣了成百上千的工人。

小镇镇长尤金•桑德斯(Eugene Saunders)告诉我们，在上世纪80、90年代，这个小镇的制造业开始衰落，如今这里最大的雇主是沃尔玛连锁公司(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)和天然气公司Williams Companies Inc.。此外还有些居民在附近两个煤矿工作。

赫梅尔从小在芒兹维尔由母亲和外公抚养长大。少年时他便十分健壮，是橄榄球队的中后卫，一直梦想著有一天能成为空军作战控制部队(Air Force Combat Control Team)的一员。他在2002年加入空军。然而几个月后，他因为身体超出体重上限而离开。

他回到家乡想找点儿事做。他当过汽车推销员，结了婚，两年后又离了婚。2006年，他的外公帮他开了一家叫做Steve’s的健身房。赫梅尔现在是一名业余的举重运动员。

两年前，在他外公的再一次帮助下，他开了一家叫German Jack’s Weinery的热狗店，卖起了鸡肉肠、腊肠和法兰克福香肠。

这家店原本是一个扑克咖啡馆，旁边的屋子放着吃角子老虎机。赫梅尔说，我不赞成赌博，所以那些东西必须拿走。

赫梅尔在原本放置老虎机的地方堆放起灵异杂志。2005年，他开始在本地一座废弃监狱担当导游，自那时起便迷上了超自然灵异事物。他说，我能看到很多东西，比如说暗影中的人，头发被拉起来上刑。

这座曾经的西弗吉尼亚州立监狱，如今成?了灵异爱好者们的地，也是赫梅尔灵感想像的来源。该景点每年招揽约12,000名游客，能带来约100万美元的收入。

这座塔楼高耸有如城堡的监狱于1866年投入使用，直到1995年才被废弃。监狱结构复杂而不规则，曾经还建有一个10英亩的农场和自己的煤矿。监狱主要关押暴力犯和疯子。有大约1,000名囚犯死在了狱中；104个被执行死刑。被称作“老烟鬼”(Old Sparky)的电椅如今已成?展品供人参观。一个个家庭旅行团穿过狭窄的牢房、地下台球大厅和上了铁丝网的篮球场，一路用iPhone手机拍下照片。

据说鬼魂会在暴力的场面中显灵。1931年，一个名叫弗兰克•海尔(Frank Hyer)的囚犯因杀妻被判处绞刑，而在执行的过程中却意外地身首异处。海尔此前对记者说酒精是这一切的祸根。这一骇人事件导致该监狱此后不再公开执行死刑。

该监狱还接收过连环杀人犯查尔斯•曼森(Charles Manson)的母亲，她因抢劫罪被判刑入狱。而有其母必有其子。1986年，他在一封现被公开展览的信件中要求被转移进入芒兹维尔监狱。他在信中写道：我猜你听说过我家里那些人吧，我是大家族里小小的一份子。他的请求被监狱拒绝。监狱当时的两个全职雇员之一，监狱经理汤姆•斯泰山尔斯(Tom Stiles)说道：让他死后的恶灵在加利福尼亚游荡吧，这对我们谁都好。

监狱将一张床，一些手工刀具和著名囚犯的照片送给了赫梅尔留作收藏。

赫梅尔用卖房子的收入买来一些诡异的画作和恐怖玩偶。他指着一幅画有一个面容冷酷的女人的雕刻画说：画中的人叫克莱尔(Claire)，你可以感受到她逼真的气息。

赫梅尔又从玻璃杯里拿出一个玩偶说：据说玩偶是有灵魂的，这个玩偶就有股灵力，所以我用纸巾把它包起来放在了酒杯里。

他又给我们展示了他在网上买到的一些售价25美元的名人面具，有伊莉莎白•泰勒(Elizabeth Taylor)、贝拉•卢戈希(Bela Lugosi) 和美国总统林肯(Abraham Lincoln)。他说他曾也想买一个玛丽莲•梦露(Marilyn Monroe)的面具，但制作面具的人要他掏一万美元，只好做罢。

小镇上的人们把各种闹鬼的手工物件都捐赠给了博物馆。尼克•詹姆斯(Nick James)是当地法院的警长，同时也包揽镇上的木匠活，他送给赫梅尔一把摇椅。椅子是他女婿从奶奶那里继承得来的。他说，当我把椅子拿出来时，我总感觉有人在背后盯着我，搞得我直起鸡皮疙瘩。

小镇上并非所有居民都支持赫梅尔的事业。小镇的名字，来源于公元前200年美国原住民在这里建造的69英尺高的古坟，它也是北美同类古建筑群理最大的圆锥形坟墓。古坟就在监狱的对面，已作为博物馆和考古遗址被围栏围起。赫梅尔曾申请进入坟墓，想探探里面的鬼怪。

州政府拒绝了他的请求。西弗吉尼亚文化与历史局副局长卡瑞恩•格雷沙曼(Caryn Greshman)称这样做对美国原住民有失尊重。

而市长桑德斯则力挺赫梅尔的博物馆。他说，我很喜欢那个热狗店里的小博物馆，所有游客都会前去参观。

近日的一个晚上，当地的幽灵爱好者聚集在热狗店门前举行了以超自然现象为主题的讲座。参会者迈克尔•库得斯基(Michael Kuderski)拿着一大袋子的“猎鬼”装备前来：相机、录音机、一个能测量辐射的“幽灵仪表”(Ghost Meter)和用来询问鬼怪简单问题的占卜绳。鬼怪回答“是”，占卜绳就会偏向一侧，回答“否”就偏向另一侧。

他称他已在一家餐馆里录到了鬼的声音并将录音放给我们听。

录音中的一个声音说道：幽灵啊，请现汝身！

这时传来一声沙哑的回答：不行。

24岁的迈克尔露出了自豪的笑容。他吸引鬼怪的体质让博物馆中的许多馆藏都显了灵。他说，赫梅尔拿出来的很多东西都带着能量，真是棒极了。

由英语口语教材提供线话英语：www.linewow.com

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