It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that one of the things on my bucket list (i.e. list of things to do before I die) involves visiting a haunted place. But the haunted place itself might be met with many a raised eyebrow, maybe even a few head scratches. Where do I want to go?
Toys ‘R’ Us.
Yes, yes, I’m fully aware that Toys ‘R’ Us is a toy store, and the spooky attractions there during Halloween are all battery-operated. Well, almost all of them are. See, there’s this one particular store in Sunnyvale, California that boasts a haunted attraction that is all real, all year round. His name is Johnson.
Apparently Johnson died in the 1880s of an ax wound. Why he hangs around the old toy store, no one knows. He’s actually a rather famous ghost, and has appeared for TV cameras and psychics like Sylvia Browne.
You want proof, you say? How about this?
See that dude, just jauntily hanging out in the left corner of the picture? Yeah, apparently he wasn’t there during the filming. He was caught by the infrared lights that were on during the session these people were having in the store. All of them later said there was no one visible to the naked eye in the actual moment (and as you can see, he doesn’t seem to be involved in the group’s tete-a-tete).
Johnson has also pushed books and toys off shelves during sessions with TV cameras in the store. It seems he likes to perform when there aren’t any kiddies around to be scared. Employees say he’s harmless. Maybe he just wants to be acknowledged?
For more on the Toys ‘R’ Us ghost, see this Snopes article. Pretty neat, eh? Any haunted places on your bucket list?
Spellbound Scribes 