Haunted Lives

[Katiebug]

Does anybody remember the show "Haunted Lives"? I think it was on the air about 10 or 12 years ago on NBC.

[Flying Dutchman]

wasnt the show about an old wood chopper from the 1800s who was haunting a toys r us store? I think his name was yahni yahnson or something like that, he was in love with his employers daughter but she was to be married and told him the 2 of us will never happen so I think he killed himself over it. it turns out the toy store was built over his grave site, he was not a poltergeist though, he was a peacful ghost he just would move things in a strange way, when the staff would come back in the morning the toys would be aranged in a strange way. I dont remember the other segments sorry.

[mortytbusybody]

This is a long post, so skip if you don't care!
Believe it or not but I actually have this show recorded! It aired in May of 1991. There were 3 segments:
1) (You are right, Flying Dutchman!) The case of Yahni Yohnson (sp?) who in 1881 was accidentally killed with an axe on the Murphy Ranch in what is now Sunnyvale, California. He loved Elizabeth, the Murphy daughter, but she refused his advances and broke his heart (some believe the accident may have been suicide) By 1982, a Toys R Us was built on the site and after numerous employees quit due to strange happenings, Sylvia Browne was called in to hold a seance. To make a long story short (too late) an eerie B&W photo was taken of Yahni's image. (It freaked me out at the time, I live 10 miles north of Sunnyvale and frequently shop at that Toys R Us. Brrrrrr. Goosebumps.)
2) The case of Kate Morgan, a con-woman who supposedly committed suicide at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego on Nov. 29, 1892. A reporter was drawn to her case after reading an article and stayed in her room. There, he claims that the ghost of Kate came to him and showed him that she was really killed by her con-man ex-lover who had dumped her when she became pregnant with his baby. Anyway, the reporter investigated and sure enough she had been killed with a .38 bullet instead of a bullet from the gun found in her hand. Amazingly, the reporter later found out that Kate Morgan's orphaned son (from an earlier relationship) had been put up with a priest in San Francisco. This priest was the reporter's great grandfather!
3) The story of a school yard haunting. Apparently it was so boring I recorded over it. Oops!

The show is nowhere near as good as UM, the acting is REALLY cheesy and some questions go unanswered but it still managed to freak me out at the time (watching it again tonight I laughed at alot of the Toys R Us reenactments, but the picture of Yahni is still scary) If anyone wants a copy, let me know and we'll work something out!

Cori mortytbusybody@aol.com

[Flying Dutchman]

Thank you motybusybody, I wasnt all sure about the story but mostly sure it has been awhile since i seen it, I think i have it on video somewhere if i can hunt it down, ------------------ i hunted it down and found it, the other storys were the ghost of a woman who was murdered appears to a man to tell her who killed her, and an empty lot were a former school used to stand is haunted by the ghosts of the kids who went to the school. this tape also has the haunted on it remember that movie made for tv it aired on fox, it was with sally kirkland about a family tomented by evil spirits in their home. it was based on a true story

[Thor2000]

I've got the two episodes on tape. They were syndicated under the name, "Ghost Stories."

[wiseguy182]

BUMP!

So I recently acquired this and a totality of 3 episodes were aired. It was narrated by Leonard Nimoy, who of course also hosted "In Search Of...". Apparently, child actor Jared Rushton also appears in at least one episode, although I haven't seen him yet (just watched the first episode so far.) Jared Rushton may not be a household name, but he was quite the actor back in the day, with significant roles in "Big", "Overboard!" and "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids."

Anyways, the first segment was the infamous haunted Toys R Us, a segment that is frequently mixed-up with UM. Yes, the show is cheesy, but in a delightful way. My favorite parts were a scene where a boy goes to buy a baseball bat and it rings up as $900 and he looks at the $20 bill in his hand and his facial reaction to it is priceless. There were also some neat bits with the toys playing by themselves.

The second segment on the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego was rather boring, but things picked up again with the 3rd segment about a haunted old school in Texas. It was targeted for demolition, but when the construction crew arrived to tear it down, they ran into trouble. Several crew members would hear the sound of children laughing, singing or chanting. Some of the freakiest moments were:

-one man going into one of the classrooms and finding "WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE, MAN?" written on the chalkboard.

-two workers going down a ladder had the ladder shake violently when they were on it.

-one worker went to the foreman and told him apprehension about continuing on this project out of fear due to the strange things going on. The foreman told him to return to work or be fired. The worker returned to work and immediately died in a freak explosion. Just then, the sound of children laughing and the image of them appeared in a window.

-children chanting non-sensical things like "2 x 4 = 22" and laughing.

Wonderfully bizarre is how I would describe it (minus the guy dying of course). The theme is also freaky in both the sound and imagery. I'm quite digging this show and wished it would have been more well known and lasted longer.