Here is one more installment from my good friend Becky, looking at how history plays a part in paranormal research, check this out!
"Ghost Hunting and History"
Wow! What a great response on my last segment. Thank You all for your support
and interest in my stories! I can only hope I can keep up with your expectations as I
sit here trying to figure out what to share next.... How about funeral homes and
religions?
Many people think of the “glamor” aspects of investigating the paranormal; having
the experiences, hearing the evidence and getting to visit some really cool places.
However, there is a lot done behind the scenes as well. History plays a HUGE part
in an investigation for many reasons. For one, it lets us know the previous
occupants and experiences of a building. It can answer if any deaths occurred on
property and possibly how. It gives us a tiny window to see what life was like for
generations. If you don't learn the history behind a case then you could be making
things worse instead of better.
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| grumpy ghost! |
Let me take you on a case. A homeowner calls with concerns about her house, she has been hearing voices of several people in conversation, a grumpy man and also children. There have also been unexplained knocks, lights being turned on and off, and items being moved around the house. It is an older house built in . Basically – this is the type of information a home owner gives you to upon request of an investigation. Not a whole lot to go on. We do ask questions such as an address, how long they have lived there, any known deaths, and if they know anything about the history of the property. (For confidentiality purposes I won't be giving you the name or location) . The answers to these questions give us a starting point.
So this residence was built in a field just about ¼ mile from a Meeting House, either
Quaker or Puritan. History could play a huge roll here and you'll see why shortly.
When we first started to look into the house we were under the impression it was
Puritan land. Puritan's were very steadfast and strict in their beliefs. They came to
the new world for that freedom to follow the Bible. They were not open to other
beliefs and in fact, did NOT like people who did Not believe in God.
Our homeowner was mostly concerned with the Grumpy man that she would hear.
This past spring she planted an herb garden unearthing some old metal nails and
fixtures. She was awoken the next night by a very mean voice accusing her of
something. She was very shaken up. It was never described as evil, which is
important, just grumpy and not nice. When we investigated we got several EVP's
(electronic voice phenomenon) with a grumpy male voice saying “Get Out!”
A possible important fact, our homeowner is a practicing Wiccan, also thought of
as a witch. If the information is correct and this is Puritan land, with its meeting
house just ¼ mile away... How do you think any one still lingering is going to take
the news that a “witch” is practicing on their land?
We go home and diligently go over evidence where to our surprise we get a name.
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| Quaker Meeting House |
We continue to dig deeper, this time looking for names of possible Puritan clergy
and continue our research into the property. It is very important to us to be able to
give the homeowners the most truthful explanation we can, not to mention we would
love to validate the name we got. Much to our surprise, we discover it wasn't Puritan
land but Quaker land. This puts a new spin to our theories. Quakers are quite the
opposite of Puritans, they are peaceful people who are tolerant and open to other's
beliefs. They believe in salvation for all. Hmmmmm doesn't really sound like our Grumpy man. So the theory of it being a difference between religions may not be the answer.
Believe it or not, it was the homeowner who seems to have solved the mystery of
Mr. Grumpy. She was talking to her neighbors and learned there was a man named
__________ who lived and died in the house. In life he was a grumpy, stuck in his
ways man and it appears he doesn't want to share his house even in death. The
homeowner sat down one night and had a little chat with him setting up the ground
rules and how they need to share the house now. It has been pretty quiet ever since,
though now she keeps hearing children so we may just be heading back soon!
Will we ever know all the answers? Probably not but at least history points us in
more accurate directions.
Another home we investigated had undergone many changes throughout its time.
Starting out as a farmhouse built by a young couple, to a funeral home, back to a
private residence. (just to name a few) The currant homeowners contacted us as
activity started to pick up during their remodeling of the home. Disembodied
voices, objects moving, objects being thrown, and their grandson playing hide and
seek for hours with an invisible little boy were a few of the reports. The day we were
to investigate, their grandson had no idea we were coming, he gave the toy found in
the wall to his grandfather telling him to give it to us so we can return it to his
“invisible” friend. (I refer to him as invisible but to the grandson he was as solid as
you or I)
We arrived and took a tour of the house finding the hot spots and hearing the accounts of activity. As we were setting up in the room where the toy was found in the wall, the whole group heard plain as day, “Mama?” a little girl was calling for her
mama. Throughout the evening it was hit or miss, as it often is during investigations.
I can't stress enough how spirits don't perform on command, they were/are people
and if they don't want to come out and talk, they won't. At the very end of our night we were in what is now the master bedroom but at one time was the viewing room for the funeral home. The air was heavy feeling and we
were doing an EVP session. One of the other investigators, Chris, and I like placing
our flashlights down to see if spirits can turn them on and off on command to
answer questions. It isn't fool proof by any means, vibrations can set them off as
can rolling.
It is a fun tool to use, however, and tonight it was a show stopper. I was
sitting in a chair by the windows (where the bodies would be displayed) with Chris'
flashlight next to me. She was sitting on the bed with my flashlight on the floor at her
feet. We also had a 3rd flashlight that night in the hand of another investigator in a
direct line from mine and Chris'. We started asking questions and discovered it
was Sylvia, the original homeowner's wife with us. What blew us away, was that
whenever I asked a question she would light up my flashlight on the floor, when Chris asked a question she would light up her flashlight next to me. In fact while she was lighting the flashlight next to me, my leg would be pushed out of the way by
what felt kind of like a hoop skirt. It wouldn't matter who asked the question she
would answer using the correct flashlight. Sylvia was able to light up all 3 lights in a
row and then all at once. It was an amazing display of communication between our
world and theirs.
To come around full circle, if we hadn't done our research on this house, we would
never have asked if it was Sylvia, we wouldn't have been able to put her at ease
and the amazing communication through the flashlights wouldn't have happened.
The fact that we put her at ease enough to light up the flashlight in our other
investigators hand is pretty incredible. I know it is an experience he won't forget
anytime soon.
Stay tuned for my last segment on Halloween Night! I have enjoyed sharing my
stories with you all. Please continue to follow on my team's newest site beginning
Halloween, Fallen Angels. A link will be available next week!
Thank you Becky! We will have one more post from Becky before her and her groups blog goes on line. I will keep you all up to date and let you know when it goes live, and provide the link for it!
Thanks again Becky
Until next time
Bottoms up my friends
The Beer Czar
Again, I wish all of you a safe and happy Christmas, and wonderful New Year, and I will see you right back here, starting off in 2014.
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