Link: click HERE
How are you being haunted?… Let us count the ways
Included in this post is information on the following:
Residual hauntings
Interactive/intelligent hauntings
Crisis apparitions
Spontaneous apparitions
Thoughtforms
Poltergeists
Taken from my Paranormal Journal… (March, 2004)
I was awoken abruptly out of a sound sleep—someone was crying, calling out to me. I thought it was one of my children and even called out, “I’m coming!”
I got up and checked the house—everyone was sound asleep.
The next morning I told my husband about it. He said, “Last night I thought I saw someone walk into the bedroom, and I thought it was you—until I realized my hand was on your hip!”
Also, yesterday, the lights in the living room turned themselves on three different times.
Note: The day before these odd occurrences, I had been released from the hospital from an overnight stay for a minor procedure. This is the same hospital that my husband’s girl friend had passed away in three years ago from colon cancer… Her name was Cheryl.
- The nurse I had the two days I was in the hospital was named… Cheryl.
- The nurse who prepped me for the procedure was named… Cheryl.
- The lady who came in to clean my room was… Cheryl’s aunt, her mother’s sister.
Bump in the Night Series… In today’s episode I reveal a secret about my Grandmother’s very haunted house that I don’t think even a lot of family members are aware of. Enjoy the visit to five beautiful and gloriously haunted houses found here in the US.
These experiences are taken directly from my journal, and they occurred while living in our old house in Fremont, NE. My Favorite is Number 13 (of course it is) Time Stamp: 10:21. If you don’t believe in synchronicity or creepy coincidence, you will after you hear this story. It still freaks me out.
Do you suspect the presence of spirits in your home, ghostly visitors from across the veil? If you’re experiencing the phenomena in this podcast, your suspicions may very well prove to be true.
Myrtles Plantation; Chamber’s Mansion; Franklin Castle, LaLaurie Mansion; Sprague Mansion.
click HERE
I started a new video blog series at my Youtube Channel: Paranormal Quest. We started off the first episode last night with an evening session on a Ouija Board. The following video is the result.
This is my question-of-the-week, and I thought it would be refreshing to get away from the topic of relationships for a while. Spirits are always interesting, though they are not always fun, but mostly (from my own experience) they actually are. This is just me, or maybe it’s that I’ve only had pleasant or neutral experiences with them so far. For whatever reason, I just don’t feel “frightened” by them. I have a friend that I have done House Cleansings with around the Omaha area, and the one thing that I’ve noticed is that a lot of the time you won’t have to ask yourself if you have a spirit in your house, you will most definitely know; but this is often the more extreme cases, real “hauntings” with something that is unpleasant, or obnoxious, or invasive in a very negative way. Through this experience, visiting other people’s homes and talking to them about their situations, I realize that some people are just naturally frightened by the idea of the ethereal…ghosts, spirits, anything down this road.
The house that we live in now has always had spirit activity, and I’ve only recently learned from some of my daughters, since they’ve grown, is that when they were small there was an unpleasant “something” on the landing (we have a split level home). One of my daughters told me that she felt it so strongly, and it was such a scary menacing presence to her, that she was often afraid to go up and down the stairs. Years afterwards, when I began to regularly (key word here is “regularly”) cleanse the house, this entity disappeared.
I remember the exact day I decided I had enough– I was sweeping down the stairs, on a day that I was all alone, which rarely happened with our large home-schooling family, when I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up and a rush of goose bumps come up my legs. This was accompanied by the very unnerving sensation of someone (a presence) behind me. Did this scare me? No, I actually found it interesting– but it did make me angry. I considered this an obnoxious invasion of my personal space. I threw the broom down and, muttering under my breath, I stalked off around the house to gather up white candles, and incense, salt and water, cussing the whole time. I guess I felt it was an inconvenience that was unnecessary, and I would have to take the time to straighten this spirit out and set some boundaries, rather than being able to get all the “Stuff” done that I wanted to get done while I was on my own!
My kids claimed later, and continue to do so to this day, that I tend to do too good a job of cleansing, and some of the entities we have shared this space with were actually interesting, just an integral part of the house and it’s atmosphere. So I’ve let up over the years, acknowledging that there’s enough room in this old house for everyone, as long as we all play nice in the sandbox. There have only been a handful of times in the last 20 years when I’ve had to draw some boundaries and shoo a spirit away.
Anyway, I digress, on to the subject at hand. The individual who asked me this question is obviously not sure what constitutes a spirit’s presence, and what may just be some sort of natural occurrence, or an overactive imagination. Let’s look at all those tell tale signs of spirit activity–
1) Scents: It’s happened to me before, I’ll smell my grandmother’s perfume, or her favorite flower (roses). You might smell cigars or cigarette smoke in a house where no one smokes. You might smell a loved one’s favorite food. Anytime you pick up a scent that is not explainable on a physical level, you might want to consider that it’s coming from another source. I’ve heard about (but never experienced personally) the unpleasant and obnoxious odors of malevolent spirits. This is just something to keep in mind. Most of the time it’s all good, but once in a while you might run into something unusual. The sense of smell is just another one of our six senses, just another way we learn and experience and process information about the world around us.
2) Noises: Here we go again, another one of our six senses. Several times over the past few decades, since my grandmother’s death, I have heard her call my name. Often this has happened in the dead of night and woken me out of a deep sleep, but there have been occasions where this has happened during the day, when I’m wide awake to begin with, and usually when I am alone. It’s cool, nothing scary. She’s just touching base, letting me know that she’s still near, that there is still some sort of connection. (Death isn’t the end, it’s just a different plane of existence.) Besides hearing voices, there are other odd sounds– knocking, scraping, footsteps, growling (not usually a good thing), hammering, human sounds (like hand clapping , finger snapping, muttering)…and always, you will have no logical explanation for these sounds.
3) Temperature Changes: We’re talking big in-your-face changes that are unexplainable through normal physics. This means the furnace man won’t be able to explain to you a 40 degree drop in 5 seconds. If you ask him to explain this he’s just going to stand there scratching his head; and if he’s a really savvy furnace man (who knows about ghosts and all that paranormal stuff), he’s liable to be throwing tools in his bag and scurrying from your house so fast all you see is the back of his head. I guess there are more subtle temperature changes you can experience, but people are more liable to explain them away– a sudden cold breeze that wafts through a room, gently lifting the pages of a newspaper; a momentary “chill” that gives you a shudder. Besides unusual temperature changes, you might experience drafts– the kind of draft that flickers and toys with candle flames, the kind of draft that can’t possibly come from anything of this world because there is no place for the draft to originate from.
4) Electronic/Electrical Malfunctions: We’ve often heard that the spirit world has the ability to collect energy from our electrical gadgets and use this energy to manifest all kinds of paranormal phenomena. I don’t know if any of this can ever really be scientifically proven, but it seems that a lot of these occurrences (odd things happening with your electrical gadgets, lamps, lights, computers, etc.) almost always seem to precipitate a mad rush of paranormal activity. Do you have appliances, lights, a television, computer, or other gadget that turns itself off and on? …that turns itself off and on regularly?
7) Moving Objects: This is pretty extreme and the fodder for many movies and television shows. But it does happen, and the most basic kind of activity that I’ve personally witnessed (with moving objects) involved a series of cupboard doors that would be closed one minute and all open the next; drawers or doors, same thing. I’ve yet to see anything as dramatic or theatrical as portrayed in the movies. Remember, for a spirit to move a physical object, an object of atoms and matter, it would take an incredible amount of energy.
6) The Goosebump Factor: Some people are more sensitive to the paranormal and its energy than others. There are a lot of people (a lot!) who can actually “feel” the presence of spirits, even if they are not sensitive enough to communicate with them (as a medium or psychic), they still know dang well that there is something there, and they can often pick up on positive or negative energy. Never underestimate The Goosebump Factor.
The small cozy little house sitting on the edge of the woods looked peaceful and content, not revealing at all its history of tragic deaths, nor it’s ghostly visitors. At one hundred years old, this house has a long rich history of families and familial events and milestones. It has witnessed weddings, births, graduations, personal victories/achievements…and death. The present owner has experienced the loss of two family members within the walls of this house. Her mother passed away from cancer in the downstairs bedroom in 2005; and its in this room where a frosty presence makes itself felt by sitting on the bed, complete with the physical sensation of movement and visible indentation in the blankets. The owner’s husband passed away in the den, in 2008, after a long and lingering illness. Although his presence can be felt— quite strongly at times— there are no visual manifestations. And it’s from this room, through glass patio doors, that deer can be seen gathering at dusk near the rear of the property. It’s in the den where a photograph of the owner’s step-son sits, a young man killed in a tragic motorcycle accident, the parents having received that devastating middle-of-the-night call all parents dread.
Upon entering the house, we realized immediately that there was very strong EMF readings, beginning at the doorway between the living room and kitchen, which was also very close to the bedroom door. Shadow figures are often seen by family members, crossing the living room and disappearing into the walls. We spent a great deal of time with the owners and the EMF detector exploring the bedroom and the doorway between the livingroom and the kitchen, where the EMF detector was extremely active. We wanted to make sure that there were no electrical devices or outlets that would’ve been creating these readings. This involved moving furniture, locating all the electrical outlets, and letting the family take their time to tell their stories, voice their concerns, and formulate their questions.
When we were finally ready to ascend the stairs, the owner told us that her grandchildren refused to go upstairs; and the way the EMF detector was working as we stood at the threshold, it was no wonder. There was an almost constant scream of protest from it. The EMF detector came on while we were at the bottom of the steps and continued until we reached the doorway of the first upstairs bedroom. As investigators and home owners stood in a clump in one room, I moved around the upstairs with the EMF detector. I wished that we could just sit and spend some quiet time with cameras and instruments turned on. I think this would’ve been beneficial in catching spontaneous paranormal activity. However, the owners were enthusiastic and wanted to watch us work, continuing their chatter and speculation. For the rest of the time that we wandered the second floor of this house, the EMF activity was sporadic at best. As we worked our way from room to room, and as we descended the stairs, it fell silent. The atmosphere at the bottom of the stairs was noticably lighter. Whatever had been hovering there before seemed to be gone.
The bathroom proved to be another area that drew high EMF readings, particularly in the shower; and we discovered that this presence was there one minute and gone the next, popping in and out in a dizzying fashion. We were also informed that objects in the bathroom moved around from place to place, inexplicably, creating an unnerving atmosphere. Instead of spending one long block of time in this area, we would pop in and out throughout our investigation. I have to say that the mirrored walls added an element of creepiness to this room, as you would catch fleeting movments in the mirror that you’d see out of the corner of your eye. Of course, by the time you turned your head to see what it was, it was gone.
Around the small entryway, suspended over an old-fashioned cellar door in the floor leading to the basement, was a string of clothing. The owner informed us that these clothes belonged to her deceased husband, and that she simply couldn’t bring herself to get rid of them. There was not only EMF activity here, but the strange sensation that someone was watching us as we touched the shirts, or moved a hangar. After a few minutes in this area, several people felt the hair on their arms or the back of their neck stand up, or experienced an uncomfortable sensation which manifested as a desire to exit this spot.
Epilogue…As we worked our way through this house, not only did the EMF readings and paranormal sensations unfold before us, but the story of a family and its tragedies unfolded as well. This gave us an intimate look at characters and personalities who lived in this house at one time and who still walk its rooms and hallways, as well as the dynamics of the people still living here, and the long history of former occupants. The owners seemed relieved to share their stories, to watch instruments pick up visual proof of what they’ve known all along, and most importantly…to feel a connection with those they loved.
Yesterday evening I had to pick my 16-year-old daughter up from work. It was after 10pm as I sat in the car, in the dark, by myself.
Suddenly a song sprang into my head, a children’s song. I started to sing it out loud, though I was sure I didn’t know it, and even now, I don’t remember what it was.
With a start, it dawned on me that this is one of those ‘unusual’ moments ghost hunters are always waiting for. I realized that the song didn’t come from me, from my brain, but from something around me, outside of me.
I have been reading several books on mediumship—how to tap into your psychic center and communicate with the dead. Thus far, I had only been reading; I hadn’t put into practice what the experts were telling me to do. I figured that now was the perfect time, the perfect situation, to use the information I had been picking up from books—and a multitude of experienced mediums.
By asking an entity questions and using a series of mental images, you can receive the answers, other communication—often in depth, and even—if you are empathic—the emotional feelings of a spirit.
I began by speaking out loud:
“I know that I’m not alone. I can feel you here. Feel free to communicate with me, if this is what you desire. Are you an adult?”
A black rose instantly flashed in my mind, but also before my eyes at the same time, it’s a strange sensation to try and describe.
The answer was ‘no’.
“Are you a child?”
Instantly, a white rose appeared, in the same manner as the previous rose.
The answer was ‘yes’.
“Are you over ten years of age?”
The black rose again, another ‘no’.
“Are you under ten years of age?”
The white rose, a ‘yes’.
“Are you a boy?”
This time a blue sphere flashed before my mind. The answer was ‘yes’.
“Where are you from?”
In a split second a visual image of a US map appeared in my mind, and the state of Georgia seemed to leap from it. Again, there was the odd sensation of both seeing it in my mind and seeing it before my eyes at the same time.
“What letter of the alphabet does your first name begin with?”
White letters against a black background popped into my mind, and almost simultaneously the ‘R’ zoomed in before me.
I have experienced unusual psychic phenomenon of this type before—always white letters on a black background forming words.
“Is your name Robert?”
I’m not sure how to describe it, other than to say an instantaneous negative feeling came over me. I assumed the answer was ‘no’.
“Is your name Roger?”
Again, the only way to describe the sensation that followed is to say that it was like asking a living person if this was their name and receiving a positive response…‘yes’.
By this time I had been sitting in the car a good twenty minutes or so. My daughter would be coming any moment. They had turned out the lights in the building. I was tired and actually felt drained. I closed the ‘session” with Roger gently and positively:
“I’m going to stop for now,” I told him, “But I’ll talk with you again sometime.”
Later that night…
The girls and I had dozed off in my bedroom while we were watching TV. My husband had been watching a movie in the living room. He finally came to bed around 2am, and we shuffled everyone around, herding sleepy-eyed children to their own beds.
Of course, by the time we did this and then hubby had to tell me about the movie he had been watching, I was wide awake. And wouldn’t you know he fell asleep while I lay skimming through the channels.
I was just beginning to get drowsy when I heard it…
a crying, whimpering, sniffling child.
I had kids in various stages of flu and colds, so I immediately thought it was my youngest. I jumped up and threw my robe on so fast that I woke my husband.
“What’s the matter?” he mumbled from beneath the covers.
“Emma’s crying,” I said.
I went racing down the hallway to the couch, where she’d been sleeping the last couple nights while she was sick. Emma was sound asleep. I walked back to the hallway and paused ahead of two more doorways…Silence.
Then I heard it again, but this time it sounded as though it was coming from downstairs. I raced down two flights of stairs and stood in the family room listening for the two older children whose bedrooms are down there.
Nothing but silence.
I was so awake that I decided to sit down to the computer for a while. I spent between two and three hours blogging. And every so often I was interrupted by the sounds of a crying sniffling child.
I made several trips upstairs, even opening one of the bedroom doors to wake a daughter, just to be sure it wasn’t her. I even checked the cats—all curled onto the couches and easy chairs, warm sleepy fur balls.
I stood at the top of the stairs for several seconds to listen for the voice. Very faintly, as though from a great distance, I could hear it. Goosebumps rushed up my legs, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
About 5am, exhausted, I tried lying down to go to sleep. Intermittently, I would hear the crying child, until finally it stopped, or I fell asleep.
The next morning, after my girls were all awake and up, I asked them all how they had slept. No problems, they all declared. Everyone had a good nights sleep.
Dan snapped this picture then, catching an orb hovering over Mare. Was this the spirit of the mischevious little boy?…the tragic young man, perhaps searching for his jacket?…the woman in blue, a previous lady of this house, going about her daily activities? Or was this the craftsman, the carpenter, checking on the attic windows, making sure his work was in order?
Below are three siblings who grew up in this lovely quaint house, coming home to recapture childhood memories, to embrace a moment of nostalgia for loved ones who have passed on, and to reconnect once more with the spirit entities that were very much a part of their life in this house.
*Note: I’d like to thank Mare’s brother, Dan, for manning the camera during
our investigation and taking photos.
© Amythyst Raine/The Witch’s Corner 2009
All of the photos on this page are original/personal photos
and are protected under copyright law.
I don’t know how I jammed so much into one newsletter, but the June newsletter is absolutely loaded this month.
The highlight is a new section I’ve added that may appear every once in a while called "Hauntings". This month I loaded up my video/digital camera and my witchlings and we headed to the infamous ‘Barnard Park’. What’s so unusual about a park, you might rightfully inquire. This park just happened to be the city cemetery at one time, and when the big move was made to a new cemetery site– not all of the occupants could be located to be moved to their new resting place. They still reside among the playground equipment, picnic tables, and park benches…and rumor has it that they make their presence known.
You’ll find a June tarot special that will be running for the entire month, as well as a featured item from Creations by Isabella, and a sale special offered from Wytchy Wares.
The June newsletter is packed with information on herbs– marigolds; stones– tiger’s eye; the June moon– the Mead Moon; tarot tips– the nine of swords. There’s been two new pages added to The Witch’s Corner since last month, and you’ll find links to them in this month’s newsletter. I re-posted the photos of Isabella’s latest tattoo creations, as well as a link to a video of her at work on this project from my Myspace profile– gotta’ brag on my girl! I’m so proud of her artistic accomplishments.
Spells of the month for June include a Summer Solstice spell, as well as tips for attracting fairies– taken from my own Book of Shadows.
Enjoy!
http://ladyamythyst.webs.com/monthlynewsletters.htm
Magickal Connections 