Haunting Darkness

A Photographic Journey Through Savannah, Georgia

2021-04-13T17:10:00.001-07:00

Savannah Is one of the most haunted places in the world. You can feel it in your bones when you arrive. It is also one of the most hauntingly beautiful. Only photographs can really do it justice.

Thanatopsis

2021-04-13T16:46:00.003-07:00

The Kenyan Ghost Lion

2018-11-20T10:55:00.000-08:00

This ghost story was sent to me by a wonderful gentleman named Derrek. It is a personal story and I think these ghost stories are often the most resonant and the most terrifying:

What I am telling you may or may not be a story, perhaps it is just the drunken ramblings of a local from a village near Masai Mara in Kenya or my own drunken memories. Nonetheless when I travel for business, in the product development industry, I often make it a point to stop at local places I have been told are good to visit for a conversation or two. I was directed to a Mara Bush Camp, the kind where tourists go to take pictures of the wildlife.

As soon as I arrived at the bar I knew exactly who I wanted to sit by. Most people that I know look for a party while they are on a business trip trying to find a lively group for a night on the town. Throw some money around and you look like a big spender in a place that doesn't have a lot, maybe you get mugged too in the process. Not me, that is just not me. I took a glimpse of the setting, too many tourists but one local sitting on a stool by himself staring deeply into his drink. A drink that looked like it had barely been touched.

He looked like he was dressed as a tour guide or at least someone that could spend a few moments speaking English with me. (I am the horrible business type that doesn't even try the local language, although it is part out of respect as I do not want to butcher their language.)

So I chose a stool right beside him and asked him how his day was. Something light to try and start a conversation. His reply was, "ask me tomorrow after the night."

We sat there in silence for a while, what was I supposed to follow that up with. So, business man...I bluntly ask him what he meant and this is what he told me.

A few months past there was a rehabilitated lion released back into the reserve. He then continued to explain that often what happens with events like this is that boundaries for prides shift to account for a new male lion in the area, it gets pushed around a bit itself until it settles and finds its pride. What the male lion does when it finds its new pride and essentially defeats the dominant male lion of the pride is kills all of the cubs from the previous leader. I nodded a little but wildlife being what it is I was not so surprised.

He paused, scrunching his face up in perplexity, and then said that was not what had happened. Apparently the particular lion they released was unusually aggressive about territory. It took a straight path to the first pride and fought and drove off the pride's leader and then killed the cubs hastily. The former leader was then essentially outcast and injured, forced to find his own food and way without the help of the lionesses of his tribe having just seen his offspring slaughtered.

For the next few weeks the former leader continually encroached closer and closer to inhabited areas. Never so close as to be perceived as a threat. Until one day when another rehabilitated lioness was about to be released he charged at the personnel without abandon. The stranger himself had to act quickly and regretfully shot and killed the former leader.

The next night a goat was killed and left mangled by a nearby village with no trace of any predator around.

And again another night a dog, that was a pet of one of the reserve workers was killed and practically mutilated without tracks or any sign of predator.

Such senseless killing doesn't happen by what I was told by the stranger. Killing by a predator sure but it will eat the animal or drag it off to hide somewhere. Were it a jaguar it would even potentially carry the dead animal up a tree for safe keeping while it ate.

He continued to tell me how him and a fellow coworker just the night before were told to keep watch. The coworker in particular was a long time friend of his. They had seen wondrous things in the reserve from the growing populations of once dwindling species to the smiles on some of the faces of the children of the tourists as they watch a giraffe eat in the wild or awkwardly gait away to the next stand of trees. I could see in his eyes how much of his life was shared with his friend. It was almost the look one has when they speak about a family member proudly.

He took a deep breath and stated very bluntly the former leader of the pride killed his friend his brother.

We both sat in silence, his drink still barely touched, me on my second. I shook my head and began bellowing with laughter and slapping the counter with an open hand. This reserve worker had just told me one of the longer stories I had heard on a trip to try and scare me.

That is what I thought until he grabbed me by my tie with our faces mere inches away from each other's. Mine with tears from laughing and his filled with tears of sorrow.

He quickly placed something on the counter while holding me in place by my tie, myself slightly wishing I had tied it a little looser that day.

I heard muffled sounds coming from the counter as the man jerked my tie toward a small digital camera screen sitting on the counter. I could see what was likely the stranger's friend walking ahead of the camera with the stranger's voice in the camera. They looked happy. If I could understand what they were saying I am sure they would have been joking around.

Then his friend fell to the ground thrashing or being thrashed around but by what nothing, I couldn't see anything. His head jerked violently to the side and he stopped screaming. I looked closer at the screen and could see as he was drug slightly and slowly beginning to be ripped open by what I would think only claws could do as the camera slowly crept backwards. I couldn't take anymore and had to turn my head around.

I quickly stumbled off my stool toward my rental and then to my hotel room. I didn't sleep that night. I slept restlessly for the next few until I left Kenya, lost out on one or two business pursuits. Who knows maybe more. I just wanted out of there. Before seeing that video my world was smaller. Only humans had souls and only humans could have ghosts. That stranger though with that video, I doubt a reserve could pull off such effects and to what end?

Halloween Horror Nights 2018

2018-10-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is our third year going to the Halloween Horror extravaganza that is Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights. Every year, for a little over a month, Universal Studios shuts down one of its parks after five and transforms the park into a theme park of horror. They have at least four scare zones. These are areas that are decorated to look like certain horrific themes and filled with actors that could jump out at you at any moment. I am hard to scare and the actors in these zones are always the most likely to get me because I am not ready for them. I will be standing there having a drink and boom, a killer clown with a chainsaw jumps out from behind me.

They also have 10 unique haunted houses. This years haunted house line up included, Halloween 4, Trick R Treat, Stranger Things, Poltergeist, a French Zombie Attack, Seed of Darkness (a vile plant related apocalypse house that was far better than I expected), Blumhouse, Slaughter Sinema (a wonderful homage to b horror movies), Scary Tales, Carnival Graveyard, and The Harvest. They were all wonderful. The scare zones this year were Child's Play, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, 80's vampires, and Dark Harvest. This was the best and most intense year we have experienced. I can't take pictures in the houses and the dark, slightly intoxicated photography that comes out of these experiences are never perfect, but I have posted what I was able to photograph from this year's horror nights!

Book Release: The Darkest Art: Book 2 in The Accidental Witch Series

2018-10-12T11:06:00.003-07:00

The Accidental Witch was a bestseller on Amazon for three weeks in a row. Now the sequel, The Darkest Art, comes out today! This book is second in this trilogy of black magic and dark spirits. Come join Phaedra Black as she dispels the demons lurking in the swamps of

Alabama.

Buy Your Copy Today

Phaedra Black is having a rough year. Her marriage fell apart, she lost her license to practice clinical psychology, and she was fired from her job at the hospital in her home town of Dismal, Alabama. But those are the easy problems. Phae is also a witch, one with a prophesy hanging over head. A prophesy that claims her as the Phoenix, the most powerful magical force in the world. And the most destructive.

Phae only trusts two people—her best friend Diane and her boyfriend Frederick Navarre. Diane is an oracle, when she’s not working twelve-hour shifts at the hospital. Fred is a warlock and Phae’s touchstone and teacher. Without him, Phae feels completely lost. The trouble comes when Fred leaves to go on some unknown quest. He doesn’t tell her anything except to avoid magic at all costs. Easier said than done. Phae’s new job as a counselor at a methadone clinic is exhausting, pointless, and pays peanuts. Her boss and co-workers are miserable, rude, self-centered people who should be in rehab themselves instead of helping addicts, and her beautifully restored plantation house, the Black Magnolia, put her in the red. With her bills piling up, Phae is at her wits end. Not even Diane, who’s moved in with her, can help. She has no choice but to use her magic, sparking a chain of events that takes her down a road of no return. Her power begins seeping out into the world and no matter what she does, she can’t control it. When she gives her boorish boss a tail and turns the condescending clinic doctor into a tin of coffee, Phae realizes the immense force she has inside her will continue to grow and leave a trail of doom behind her. Worst of all she finds out that The Guild of Witches wants her dead and it has nothing to do with not paying her annual dues. In desperation, Phae turns to an ancient demon who promises to help her. She accepts, but his assistance comes with a steep price and consequences bigger and more catastrophic than Phae could ever imagine. With no choice left to her, Phae has to undo what she’s unwittingly set in motion, or she could lose everything and everyone she loves.

The Real Monsters: The Rape Victim's Coffee Story

2018-10-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

My life is mired in darkness of one kind or another. I write horror novels and ghost stories. I decorate for Halloween. I collect skulls. But at the end of the day this all seems light and airy compared to my day job. I am a counselor during the day and I specialize in rape and sexual abuse. For me, horror stories and ghosts are a jaunt into the lighter more magical side of life. I recently advocated for a young woman who went to court after a rape. The guy got off. Not only did the guy get off but the defense attorney had the jury so mad at the victim that one of them, a Mr. Wilson started emailing her and telling her what a bad person she was. She fell apart, of course, and she gave me permission to talk to him on her behalf. She couldn't handle his telling her she was a liar and a monster. She was already falling apart. This just made it worse. So I conversed with him via email. We fought over the facts for a long time and he still saw her as a monster. The juror was convinced he rapist was a nice guy. He was so convincing on the stand. She had fallen apart after the rape and the defense had made her look like a freak because her PTSD symptoms were terrible. She was obviously a monster conspiring to destroy him because he wouldn't love her.

I couldn't get him to relent until I told the story below. Suddenly, everything made sense to him. He saw that she was the victim. He stopped yelling about her being a monster. It is funny that the only way people understand that rape is wrong is if they image sex is coffee. Here is the story that made him understand the victim:

I want you to imagine for a moment that you are young and single. You have had a hard time dating and meeting the girl of your dreams. You haven’t been with a woman in a while and you are lonely and you crave a woman’s touch. Imagine that a beautiful woman who embodies everything you want comes up to you and asks you over to her house for coffee. You emphatically agree and hope that her invitation might include more than coffee. You hope it might include sex and romance. The day comes for the coffee and you enter home filled with hope, perhaps this hope is unrealistic. This woman is a ten and out of your league, but the hope remains. She starts making the coffee and you again agree that you definitely want coffee. You love coffee. You tell her you want nothing more than to try her coffee. She smiles and brings the entire pot of coffee over and hands it to you. For a minute you hesitate, but you drink because you want her. It is boiling hot, so hot that it burns your throat. You put the pot down. You tell her it is hot. She laughs and tells you to man up grabs the pot and begins pouring the boiling hot liquid down your throat. You fight and yell but she is much stronger than she appears and much stronger than you. You throat is burning. You have never been in so much pain. You didn’t even know pain like this existed. You beg her to stop but she keeps pouring until the entire pot of scalding hot liquid has been emptied into your throat. When she is done, she kicks you out.

You are stunned, embarrassed, humiliated. You don’t know what happened. You are bleeding. There is blood everywhere. You text a friend to help you. You look in the mirror. Your face is covered in blisters. Your neck is burnt. Your friend comes and convinces you to go to the hospital. You go. The doctor is shocked by the damage this woman has done to you. You need surgery. You need skin grafts. The police come. They talk to you. Apparently this is this woman’s thing. She invites men over and burns them. She loves it. They have seen at least a dozen men come into the hospital like this and they push you to press assault charges. You agree. Everyone seems to be on your side. Other victims come and talk to you and thank you for being braver than they were. They couldn’t face the beautiful woman again, even in court. They were embarrassed that they were so easily overpowered by a woman and that they were stupid enough to agree to go to her house for coffee. They didn’t want anyone to know. Their shame was overwhelming. The police tell you that you are brave and that you are going to be the one who stops this woman from doing this to other men. You believe them. You believe that there will be

justice for the agony you have suffered.

Finally, you have your day in court. Over the past year while you waited for court, you fell apart. You can’t taste anymore because your taste buds were so badly damaged. You can’t swallow. You have scars that are visible and others mock you in public. Your behavior has changed. You have PTSD. You can’t sleep. You became addicted to pain pills because you took them for your burns. You get to court. You are put on stand. The questions come. You admit on stand that you told this beautiful woman you wanted coffee. You admit that she was beautiful and you dreamed of having sex with her and falling in love with her and spending a life with her. You admit that you were a fool and that when she asked if you wanted coffee, you said please give me coffee. I want coffee. You are torn apart by the attorneys. The attorneys say, “ You wanted that coffee. How can you complain now? Why would the police push you to press charges? Clearly this is a vast conspiracy? What kind of jerk would go over to a nice girl’s home for coffee and ask for coffee and then try to ruin her life after he got coffee? What kind of police would try to ruin this beautiful woman’s life. She is so sweet. So beautiful. Look at you. You are a drug addict who conspired with your friend and the police to ruin this beautiful woman because she wouldn’t give you what you wanted.”

You are now made the monster. No other victims are brave enough to stand beside you. You are alone on the stand with your scars. You’ll never swallow right again but that doesn’t matter. Your face will never be the same. Your scars are long and ugly but you asked for that coffee so you are the monster.

I watch the news. People yell and wonder why women don't go to the police after a rape. Why don't they press charges? This is why. Even when they do, they are humiliated and degraded on the stand and attacked after the court case and the only way the jury will understand rape is if you explain it like coffee.

Follow Up: The juror who was harassing the rape victim resumed harassing her and wrote me to tell me I was "fucking crazy" so the coffee didn't work either.

New Book Release: Jane of Air

2018-10-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

My new YA has just come out! This YA horror novel is a blend of the dark, horror of HP Lovecraft and the classic gothic, romance Jane Eyre. To Celebrate, I will be giving away a $25 amazon gift card to the person who can comment below with their favorite Lovecraft story or favorite character in Jane Eyre. I will give the card away to the best response! Good Luck!

BUY YOUR COPY OF JANE OF AIR TODAY!

Jane Marsh has spent her entire life hiding. Hiding under bulky clothing. Hiding behind glasses. Hiding behind books. Abandoned at a hospital emergency room at the age of four with her name written on her forehead in black Sharpie and a mysterious tattoo of a door on her back, Jane grew up in foster care in the small town of Gateshead, Massachusetts. She learned early on that keeping her head down and pretending to be normal was the only way to survive.

Now, at the age of sixteen, Jane is looking forward to a fresh start. Hard work and many late study nights earned her early graduation from high school and a full scholarship to a small, but prestigious college in Huntington, Virginia. Even better, her best friend Helen—her only friend actually—is going too. Older by two years, the beautiful and off-beat Helen is the only person from high school who broke through Jane’s shyness and made her feel accepted. As the two girls embark on their new adventure, Jane is feeling hopeful about her future. But with limited resources and no family to help her, Jane takes a job as a live-in companion to a wealthy old woman who lives near the college. She grows to care for the elderly Miss Adele and the kindly housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax. Jane also falls in love with her new home, the magnificent Thornfield Hall, even though everyone, including Helen, says it’s haunted. Helen begs Jane to leave and move in with her and her boyfriend in town, but Jane refuses. Jane feels at home at Thornfield and its massive library. For a book nerd like Jane, Thornfield is like her very own Gryffindor House.

When Adele’s grandson, Edward Rochester comes home for a visit from Yale, Jane can’t help but be drawn to the brooding, good-looking young man. As tentative friendship blooms between them, Jane believes that maybe, just maybe, she can have a normal life. Maybe even a boyfriend. But then one night Jane begins to hear ghostly whispers that lure her into the dark corners of Thornfield. Wicked whispers about Edward and his past. As the ghosts continue to haunt Jane, her tattoo begins to transform and spread across her back. Soon, Jane fears that Helen was right, something evil does lurk at Thornfield. But is the evil in Edward or in Thornfield itself?

Buying Souls for the Great Lord Cthulhu: Instagram Scammer Sells His Soul

2018-10-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

The worst truth in this life is that the true monsters don't live in horror movies or paranormal novels. They live in reality. Most of the time they look nice and they often come in the guise of temptation. Some of the biggest monsters today are internet scammers and this year alone Romance internet scammers have been able to take over 15,000 people for a net total of $230 million dollars. They come to us like lovers when we are lonely and they take you for everything you've got. So I decided to have a little fun with the most recent scammer to try to play with me and see if I could get him to give me his eternal soul.

Like many women these days, I have noticed a significant increase in men sending me love letters and pictures of their genitals. The love letters usually start on social media and the men tell me I am the one for them. They have been following me on facebook, twitter, Instagram, whatever and they love everything about me. I am beautiful. I am unlike anything they have seen before. For a long time I just deleted these obvious scams, but lately I have been playing a little game. I call it Buying Souls for Cthulhu. For those of you who aren't familiar with the work of the brilliant horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft, he was one of the most influential horror writers in history. His work has inspired Clive Barker, Stephen King, Guillermo Del Toro and countless others. His most famous creation was the elder god, Cthulhu. Merely looking upon this sleeping god could drive you insane. He has a cult, of course, and he loves devouring souls. I thought I would help him a little by collecting a few souls for him and making myself laugh.

So I got this lovely scammer, evansphilip060, on Instagram. He is a personal trainer who is covered with tattoos and has a beautiful body but seems to periodically forget he has tattoos. He forgets what he looks like and where he is from, but he sure adores me. His English is terrible but he is from Georgia and he just needs $20,000- $100,000 to build his dream gym station in Atlanta and then we can finally be together and consummate our love. After playing a long for a week, I finally agreed to fund Mr. Philips gym on the condition that he join my church. The Church of the Golden Dawn (A reference to the Order of the Golden Dawn). He very quickly agreed to give his soul to my god if I could help him with his finances. He also asked if I could give him some money on an iTunes card because his phone wasn't working. He sent me the picture to the left to prove to me that he went in the woods at night and said words giving his eternal soul to the great lord Cthulhu. After he sent me the picture, I confronted him and asked him why he does this. He was steadfast in his insistence that he was not a scammer but his broken English only made it more clear that he was a scammer. The conversation that follows is below.

I must admit. I had far too much fun with this and am overjoyed that Mr. Phillips loved me enough to pledge his eternal soul to the cult of Cthulhu for me. La! La! Chtulhu Fhtagn! Long live Cthulhu and shame on all these scammers that work so hard to con lonely women out of money. The worst part isn't even the money. They break the women's hearts so I am happy to give all their hearts to Cthulhu. He will know what to do with them.

The truth, however, is that after I did significant online research, I found that these men have been able to con women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some women have lost everything. These cons are very common and they are quite cruel, so if someone tells you they are falling for you online, be careful. Never send anyone you have never met money. Do a reverse image search on the images used in their account and make sure the images match the names that come up. The internet is full of scammers. Be careful with your heart and your money.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/romance-scams-online-fbi-facebook_n_59414c67e4b0d318548666f9

https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-01-12/victims-online-romance-scams-theres-place-you-can-go-help

The Haunted Lowry House

2018-08-22T14:14:00.003-07:00

Information provided by Wayne Miller

The Lowry House is a historic home in Huntsville, Alabama. It was built circa 1850 by John Tate Lowry, a merchant with the firm of Lowry, Hamilton and Company. Elements of an earlier Lowry family log house, built in 1809, that stood on the site were incorporated into the new construction. The Historic Lowry House, a 3000 square foot Italianate-Federal style home, was purchased by Louie and Jane Tippett in 1998. After an extensive 4 year restoration process, The Lowry House was restored to its original beauty, and placed on The National Register of Historical Places. Many ghost stories surround the home about a young bride, Anne, who people have claimed to see in the upstairs window.

People claiming to be able to detect the presence of spirits have told the current owners that one of the ghosts at the Lowry House is that of a child. They have researched the history of the House for mention of a child having died there but found nothing. There are gaps in the history. They do know that a doctor lived there, Dr. Lowry, and that he may well have treated patients out of the House. It's certainly possible that a child died there at some point. Run away slaves were hidden at Lowry House at some point and it is possible that one of them was a child.

To read about the many ghost hunts and paranormal experiences at the Lowry House go to: http://evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-face-in-window-and-shadow-behind.html

Visiting Pazuzu: A look a the demon from the Exorcist

2018-07-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

One of the most impressive attractions at The University of Chicago is the Oriental Institute. This museum features a sizeable exhibition on Assyrian and Babylonian art and history. As I walked through this lovely museum, I was surprised to see the small statue seen in the photo above. As a fan of the movie The Exorcist, I recognized this figure immediately. It was Pazuzu and the plaque beneath read "Pazuzu; 1st Century BC Protective Deity". This seemed very contrary to what I had seen of Pazuzu in the Exorcist so I decided to spend some time exploring who Pazuzu was in mythology and history.

In the movie, The Exorcist, based on the book of same name by William Blatty, Pazuzu is the primary antagonist. At the beginning of the movie, the primary priest and exorcist is seen standing face to face with a giant statue of Pazuzu. This foreshadows the battle that is to come. Pazuzu is the demon that the two exorcists fight. He is the demon that possesses a little girl and the final battle is a show down for the girl's soul.

Of course, the use of Pazuzu specifically is a bit anachronistic. The English word demon is a translation from the Greek daemon and in Greek this meant spirit. It didn't have the negative or Satanic connotation most modern Western, Christian based cultures give the word. Pazuzu was a demon in the ancient sense of the word rather than the modern sense. He was a spirit and a god from the 1st century BC and was popular in Assyrian and Babylonian culture. He appeared in The Epic of Gilgamesh. He is the god of the underworld and brother to Humbaba. He controlled the west wind, storms, and locusts. He was a destructive force but ancient Assyrians would often offer prayers to him as he could also offer protection. He was terrifying but most gods were in this time. He was often a protector as well and he was commonly invoked to protect against Lamashtu, a goddess who stole children. Although he could be helpful, Pazuzu was feared so the statue I saw at the museum was more typical of how he would be represented. He was so feared that a statue the size of the one seen The Exorcist would have been improbably as the people believed that a statue that large might invoke him and bring his wrath as well.

Although, Pazuzu is terrifying and his image is disturbing. His use in the exorcist was not true to his mythological representation in Assyrian culture. Perhaps they should have used a Christian demon instead. They are more true to the Catholic based spirit of the movie. After all, the imaged in the movie were more based on our Western fears.

The Unlucky History of Friday the 13th

2018-07-13T05:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday the 13th. I am reposting my origins of Friday the 13th post to help celebrate this wonderful day. I hope your 13th is as luck as mine has been! Friday the 13th is considered the most unlucky day of the year. Most people aren't entirely sure where this bad luck comes from, but fear of Friday the 13th can affect as many as 1 in 4 people. The fear of Friday the 13th is known as triskaidekaphobia.

"It's been estimated that [U.S] $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they would normally do," said Donald Dossey, founder of the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina.

So where does this fear that can cripple a nation come from? There really seems to be no consensus on the origin of Friday the 13th. Everyone has a story, but most of them are different. The fear comes from an unknown source. Here's a look at a few of the Friday the 13th origin stories I've found.

One folklorist traces the origins back to Norse mythology. There were 12 gods who had a dinner party in Valhalla. A 13th guest, Loki, was uninvited. Always the trickster, Loki tricked the god of darkness, Hoder, into shooting Balder, the god of joy. Balder died and darkness descended on the earth. Joy was lost to man and from then on 13 was considered unlucky.

In 1307, on October 13, 1307, King Phillip IV of France ordered every member of the order of the Knights Templar executed on charges of high treason and heresy. King Phillip owed the Templar's a good deal of money and they had amassed an enormous amount of wealth on their crusades. It is thought that the order was actually to strip the Templar's of their wealth. The Templar's were tortured horribly and forced to confess to crimes they didn't commit. They all died, but as the grandmaster died he cursed King Phillip and the day making Friday the 13th unlucky for future generations to come.

Many believe the fear comes from the number 13 itself. According to numerologist, the number 12 is associated with completeness. There are 12 months in a year, 12 zodiac signs, 12 apostles, 12 Olympian gods, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 hours in the clock, 12 labors of Hercules. The list goes on and on. The addition of the 13 ruins perfection is utterly bad and unlucky. In many stories, the 13th guest is always a bad sign. Think Judas at the last supper and Loki in the above story. It is the number 13 that lends the curse to Friday the 13th. Combine that with the unlucky Friday, when Jesus was crucifies and Adam tempted Eve and you have a recipe for an unlucky day.

It is clear there are many reasons to fear the dreaded Friday the 13th, but for me Friday the 13ths have always been lucky. So have a happy Friday the 13th, watch one of the 12 million Friday the 13th movies (I like the one in space), and wish me luck on my lucky day.

A Photographic Journey Through Chicago's Graceland Cemetery

2018-07-10T06:42:00.001-07:00

Chicago's history is littered with ghosts and haunted places. It is home to the nation's first serial killer, H.H. Holmes, and to some of the nation's most famous gangsters (Al Capone). Every street offers a new view of some fascinating and dark piece of old and forgotten history. Ghost tours abound and some are much better than others. However, my favorite place in Chicago is Graceland Cemetery. It is the home of several famous ghost stories and it is also the resting place of many of Chicago's most prominent figures. What I love most about this necropolis is the beauty of the tombstones. They are some of the most striking in the world. The most famous is that of hotelier Dexter Graves. Beside his grave is a statue called 'Eternal Silence.' It was created by Taft in 1909 and is stunningly beautiful. This sculpture was at one point entirely black but time has faded its edges and that has only made it more lovely and more haunting. Legend has it that if you look into the statues face, you'll see your own death. I stared for a very long time yesterday, but didn't see my death. Maybe I will have to try again tomorrow.

The Children of Walker Street

2018-06-01T02:00:00.000-07:00

The Spanish Flu killed between 50 million and 100 million people between 1917 and 1920. It swept the globe, killing people in every corner of the world. It was a particularly cruel plague. Most illnesses prey on the weak. They take the elderly and children, but the Spanish flu was indiscriminate. It killed many healthy young adults as well as the weak. It is considered to be the second largest disaster in human history and it infected 28% of the human population and killed 3% of the global population. It killed more people than the black plague. Enormous Flu wards were created to care for the amazing number of sick that over ran hospitals and health facilities where the sick were lined up like cattle to wait for death.

It is no surprise that the Spanish Flu left many ghosts. I've found many ghost stories related to this terrifying epidemic. The story of Walker Street in Historic Huntsville, Alabama is one of the sadder of these tales. According to local legend, the Spanish Flu hit Walker street with a particular cruelty. It took mostly children, leaving entire homes empty. So many people died that the bodies of the dead would be left on the front porch because there weren't enough healthy people left to bury the dead.

The ghosts of the many children that died on Walker Street during the Spanish Flu are still said to wander the streets at night. They've been seen singing and playing in the shadowy dark. They sing nursery rhymes as they play and haunt the living that have been left behind. There is a rhyme that the children are said to have made up. "I had a bird whose name was Enza, I opened the window and in flew Enza." The children are said to still sing this little rhyme as they wander Walker Street.

Horror Art Made Flesh

2018-05-17T12:29:00.003-07:00

A passion for the paranormal and for all things that go bump in the night can be expressed in many venues. I love to write, some love to paint, others engrave their passion on their flesh. One of my favorite horror novels was Kathe Koja's Skin. Written in the 1990s and set in Detroit, this novel pulled the reader into the obsessive world of tattoos and piercing. Similarly, tattoo artists can pull us into our own obsessions with all things haunting and dark by imbedding images in our flesh.

Featured Artist:

Matt Looney

Black Pearl Studios in Florence Alabame

Matt Looney is the owner of Black Pearl Studios in Florence Alabama and specializes in horror themed tattoos. Follow him on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/BlackPearlStudioTattooParlor/

A Phantom in the Woods

2018-05-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

The woods near Oscoda, Michigan are filled with legends.   Oscoda is a small town near Saginaw bay by Lake Huron.   Many of these stories surround Lake Solitude. Lake Solitude used to to be attached to Lake Huron, but the years have cut it off, isolating it and now only a trickle of water connect the lake to the larger body of water. Near the lake are the ruins of Au Sable, the region's oldest settlement.   Over the years this area has become associated with witchcraft and ghosts and there are tales of many local ghosts.

The story of one of these resident ghosts was told best by a group of hunters that once got lost wandering the shores of this lake. The hunters had gotten seperated from their group and lost their bearings. They spent hours wandering through the woods in a desperate attempt to find anything that looked familiar. But all their attempts were in vain and they were unable to find any help. When they had finally given up and sat down, a young woman seemed to appear out of nowhere. She was lovely and amiable and the group immediated trusted her. She explained to them that she was a local farmer's daughter and that she knew the woods very well.   She guided them back to the safety of town. The hunters were so greatful that they turned to thank her and then they watched her vanish into thin air.

When they got back to town, they went to the local bar to have a beer and relax. As they drank, they told their story to the bartender.   He knew the story well.   The ghost was well known in those parts. The young woman's name had been Leona and her family had once had a farm in those woods. Back in 1929, Leona had been shot and killed by a hunter who mistook her for a deer. Since then, her spirit had been seen many times, usually leading lost people out of the forest.

The Real Story behind The Exorcist

2018-04-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

As a young girl, I found a copy of William Blatty's The Exorcist and read it in less than two days. It was the most engrossing and horrific book I had ever read. I still have never found its equal.   The book itself was beautifuly written and terrifying, but what made it even more scary was what was written on the inside flap of the book.   There it said that the book was based on a true story.

Of course, "based on a true story" is never the same thing as a true story. The true story behind The Exorcist is also terrifying, but very different from the book and the movie. The Exorcist was based on the story of a 13 year-old boy named Robbie.   In January of 1949, Robbie lived in Maryland with his family and was very fond of his aunt. His aunt and he began to play the ouija board together.   They enjoyed the game and were able to contact a friendly spirit.   Robbie's aunt wasn't always available to play with him, so he began playing by himself when she wasn't available.  Suddenly, the family began to notice various odd noises around the house. They heard dripping and scratching and things that sounded like mice in the attic. These noises began to escalate with time and ended when Robbie's aunt died.

After Robbie's aunt died, things got worse. Robbie's bed began to shake violently at night while he was on it.   Objects flew around his room for no reason. Things broke.   A vase was hurled at Robbie's mother.   Robbie began ot use the ouija board more regularly in a desperated attempt to contact his aunt for help.

Robbie's parents took him to see doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, psychics, and ministers.   The first three were unable to help. In 1949, anti psychotics and regular medical treatments for severe mental illness had not yet been discovered. So it would have been fairly normal for mental illness to be untreatable during this time period so this in and of itself isn't evidence of a possession. However, the minister and the psychic both recommended an exorcism by a catholic priest.   Robbie got worse and entered a trance state. Scratches appeared all over his body.    Finally, after months of coping with the ordeal, Father Hugh's was contacted and the exorcism began.   Of course, it wasn't as easy as it was in the movies.   The boy was at a hospital, tied to the bed.   The process took weeks.   At some point, Robbie got a spring loose from the bed and cut the priest. The process was a nightmare that offered no help to young Robbie.     The boy spoke Latin and told the priest he was the devil, but for some reason the mother thought that he was possessed by his aunt.

Robbie was released from the hospital and the entire incident was covered up, but Robbie was no better. The scratches appearing on Robbie's chest said Louis and Robbie's mother thought they were a message from her sister. The family moved to St. Louis.    The family began experimenting with the Ouija board again to contact the aunt and get spiritual advice from beyond. Robbie deteriorated. Finally, Father Bowdern was called and after another ordeal, the boy was healed on Easter Day by taking communion

You can learn more about Robbie's long and horrible ordeal in the book "Possessed, The True Story Of An Exorcism." It was written by Thomas B. Allen.   The story is obviously more complex than this little synopsis and the book is worth reading to get the entire story.

Fiction Corner: The Banshee of Killarney House by Wayne Miller

2018-04-11T10:48:00.001-07:00

It had become a game to the local teens.
“Let’s go annoy the crazy lady!”
Everyone said Killarney House was haunted. Since their coming to America, since they’d constructed the house, every member of the O’Hurlahee family had died there, their deaths foretold by the wailing Banshee that had followed them from their native Ireland. The all heard the Banshee before they died, so the story went.
In the ten years since she’d bought the house, Frances hadn’t seen—or heard—any ghost.
She had seen plenty of annoying teenagers, though.
She’d chase them away; they’d come back. She’d turn the garden hose on them; they filmed her with their cellphones.
“You’re making it worse,” friends told her. “Putting on a show for them.”
“Horseshit!” Frances always replied.
Tonight a carload of the brats sat parked across the street, honking their horn to torment her, calling her name. Frances tried to ignore it but at last her nerves gave out. She seized a frying pan from its peg on the wall and charged out the front door. She’d show them.
“Here she comes!”
“Get out of here!” Frances charged into the street.
Then she heard it. Her bone marrow turned to ice. The screech of the Banshee.
It sounded just like the squealing of tires.
“Look out!” the brats shouted, too late.
Frances didn’t feel the impact.
The Banshee had announced another death at Killarney House.

The Kildare Mansion

2018-04-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

I did this post on The Kildare Mansion a couple of years ago. I have updated to include some of the more recent controversies surrounding this magnificent, haunted mansion. The Kildare Mansion was first famous for it's ghosts. It was built in 1886 by a wealthy Irishman named O'Shaughnessy.   He built the castle as a reminder of his homeland, Ireland.   He put a fortune into making it the most extravagant house in the area and he did a good job of it. This giant of a house overshadows everything around it. It has over 40 rooms and is over 17,000 square feet including the massive basement. In 1900, MR. O'Shaughnessy went blind and his wife Anna sold Kildare to the trust fund established for Mary McCormick who inherited a multi million dollar fortune from her father

Unfortunately, Mary McCormick was mentally ill and suffered greatly during certain periods.  At the time, treatment options were limited so they kept her locked in the house and had several nurses and staff to take care of her. During her lucid periods,  Mary a wonderful woman who was known for her kindness and generosity.   For her entire life, she needed nurses to help her care for her mental illness. Finally she had to retire to a sanitarium, leaving her beautiful house behind.

From 1932- 1975, the Kildare Mansion fell into disrepair.   It decayed slowly as slums and lesser buildings slowly surrounded it hiding it's beauty in their sullen shadows. In 1975, the house was purchased by the Reeves, who lovingly restored the house to its original splendor It was during this time that the house was shown in the tour of historic homes and became a popular visit for haunt jaunters.   The house's basement was notoriously haunted by the ghost of Mary McCormick.   Still tormented by her madness, she apparently made quite a ruckus at night.

In 2005 the house was bought by a family whose name I won't mention. Since that time, the ghosts have become the least interesting part of this house.   The house has always been a favorite site for anyone visiting Huntsville because of its historic significance, its beauty, and its haunted history. Many people drive by the house and photograph it.   Since 2005, however, the new owners have spent a considerable amount of time watching out for anyone lingering near the house. If you drive by slowly or stop in front of the house, a woman will emerge screaming at you. Sometimes she'll curse and sometimes she'll use the garden hose to spray your car. Other times she would shine a spotlight on you and others she'll take pictures of you with her cell phone. No matter what the new owner does, it was always hostile and she seems to always be watching. She sat day and night waiting for those that linger too long, which might make one wonder if  Mary McCormick's mental illness might not be spreading?   Perhaps the house and its dark secrets have driven the new owner mad? Perhaps madness is part of the curse of the house? I drove by the house several times during this owner's occupancy. I brought my children and parked across the street and would never think of harrassing anyone. The woman came screaming from her home all three times. One time she threw rocks at my car. One time she just cursed at my children and I and called the police. Another time she threw grass and called the police. We were not on her property, we just wanted to see the legendary house that I had read so much about. I visit all the local historic houses and have always been able to sit quietly in my car and take photos. Some owners even offer tours and are on local tours. Kildare Castle is different. It sits in a shadow that spreads out beyond its ghosts. It almost feels cursed.

Sadly, the reason most drive by these days is to see the owner run out and start screaming. Her wild antics have become a fun attraction for locals who stop by just to see her jump around and scream Few remember the ghost stories or the house's beautiful history.

The house has become even more infamous in recent years as the owner has tried to put up a massive fence (13 feet tall) and the city stopped construction. The owner then decided to demolish the house. The city and local history buffs are fighting this action but the outcome is as of yet, unpredictable. Since the owners behavior remains outlandish, the behavior of locals has gotten even worse. Kids love to see the owner flip out and will sit in front of the house and honk their horn for hours to get a response. It is a tragedy. Please read the comments below this post as they tell so many stories from people who have actually lived in this home and in the neighborhood.

Some of the footage and information on the ongoing struggles and controversies surrounding this historic beauty can be seen at: http://www.kildaremansion.com/

A Lonely Ghost

2018-04-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

The best ghost stories are often the ones that very few people know. They are the private ones that people tell you at parties and in confidence. They are not the stories told by those who are seeking publicity or notoriety. They are told by those who are genuinely scared by an even they don't want everyone to know.

I spoke with a woman today whose name I won't mention. She told me about a home she had in Pell City, Alabama. She knew there was something slightly off the house to begin with. The realtor told her that someone had died in the house. She didn't have any details, but she knew the house had a history. Almost as soon as she moved in the house, she noticed small electronic glitches throughout the home. Her garage door opened and closed on its own in the middle of the night. Lights flickered. The light in her china cabinet went on and off constantly.

Despite this, she didn't feel anything malevolent in the events so she just ignored the oddities until her daughter described seeing the ghost running through the house. The daughter described the spirit as a woman. At this point, the woman told the ghost to go away and she was given a reprieve from disturbances for a while. But when the ghost came back, it came back in full force. The next time the ghost came, she saw it. She saw the reflection of a pale and sad woman in her mirror. She told the ghost to go away again and it left.

She moved. The ghost didn't drive her out. Life just moved her to a new location. But despite the relocation, the lights in the china cabinet have never been right and she still feels the ghost presence. It doesn't scare her. She just describes the ghost as feeling lost and lonely. Periodically, electrical problems will get worse and one time the china cabinet cracked spontaneously. She believes this happened when the ghost was mad. She asked me if I thought the ghost could have followed her, I said yes. She agreed. She thought the ghost felt less lonely with her. Hauntings come and go but some ghosts follow people more than places. Some ghosts are just lonely.

Book Corner: The Bothell Hell House: Poltergeist of Washington State.

2018-04-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

True Haunted House story - 2012. Keith Linder after successfully obtaining a management position at a prestigious healthcare company decides the time is right for him and his girlfriend to move in together. Weird things begin to happen within days of moving into the Seattle suburban home. This griping story, told from the house occupant point of view not only lists tales, but also includes pictures, video reenactments, commentary, and audio of the events being reported. "It was the beginning of the end when living in that house...". Thats what the previous tenant told Keith, after he caught up with her. It was a living hell for them and a living hell for Keith and Tina. Keith Linder does not ask that you believe him. He only asks that you listen.

The Devil's Bible

2018-03-27T13:17:00.003-07:00

The Codex Gigas is the world's largest illuminated manuscript. The book contains a Latin translation of the bible, medical texts, a history of Bohemia, and several other works. It appears to be an attempt to place all the knowledge in the world at the time in a single book. It is a historical and literary feat that was unprecedented at its time. The book is three feet tall and weighs a hundred and sixty five pounds. Most historians estimate that if a solitary monk worked for five years and never stopped to eat or drink, he could write only the written words in the Codex Gigas. That doesn't include the illustrations or the amazing illustrations.

The book's story is more than just history, however, According to legend, the book was written by a monk who broke his vows. As a sentence for this unspeakable transgression, he was walled up allive within his monastery in the modern day Czech Republic. The monk was desperate and pleaded for help. He offered to write a book containing all the world's knowledge if he could be freed from his prison. In his desperation, the monk plead with the devil to help him. The devil answered and gave the monk The Devil's Bible, otherwise know as the Codex Gigas. The large painting of the devil on 269 is said to be an homage to the devil.

How to Get Rid of a Haunting

2018-03-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

My parents don't talk much about ghosts. They will talk about their paranormal experiences if you ask them, but they like to keep their experiences hidden in the shadows. My father didn't believe in ghosts when he met my mother. He thought of himself as a man of logic. He still does. He is an engineer and he believes in what he can touch and see, but even he can't explain many of the things that have happened at their current home. In fact, it got so bad that at some point they brought the priest in for a cleansing ritual. The priest blessed all the rooms in the house and put stickers on the door frames to act as barriers to prevent bad spirits from entering the rooms. My old room was one of the most haunted rooms and the sticker from the priest's blessing still remains in the door frame today. Having a priest come and bless your home or a pastor is one of the oldest Christian cleansing rituals and is common in Western culture. The image of a priest exorcising the demons a house has also come to be one of the most iconic images in paranormal popular culture. Most parish priests will bless the homes of their parishioners and my parents only had to submit a small request for this to be done. My parents report that it helped reduced the activity in their home, although it did not stop it altogether.

Another fairly popular mechanism for cleansing bad spirits and negative energy from your home

comes from Native American tradition and consists of a ritual smudging. The use of dried white sage is a 2000 year old tradition. Shamans used dried sage in their fires to call on ancestral spirits to take negative energy from a home or a person. Smudging kits today are fairly popular and can be bought at any new age store or on amazon.com. I can't testify to how helpful these rituals are in the face of an actual haunting, but I have heard others say that they can be helpful.

Salt is also a common ingredient in cleansing rituals. The use of salt to ward off evil spirits has been popular in many cultures and dates back to the old testament. Salt is said to protect any home or person from any bad spirit or entity. It should be sprinkled liberally on door frames and windows and throughout the house to drive away negative spirits.

My sister uses techniques she learned in Reiki and doing energy work to cleanse cursed objects and objects with negative spiritual energy attached to them. As a licensed therapist, I have had several clients come to me who believe they are being tormented by ghosts and poltergeists. After screening for more serious mental illness and ruling it out, I have helped them drive their negative spirits away using a principle that unites almost all of these techniques. All spirits require energy to grow strong and if you take that energy from them, they will fade and dissipate. Replace the negativity in you and your life with positive energy and let go of your fear. Spirits feed on fear. The most effective cleansing exercise I have ever done is to simply stand with someone in strength without fear and have them tell the spirit to go away. All cleansing exercises share one thing, they take the fear away, thus diminishing the manifestation. When faced with any spirit, the first step is to find your strength and diminish your fear. A guide who is experienced in this can help. If you can not find one, you can always email me for help.

Can Divining Rods be Used to Communicate with the Spirit World?

2018-01-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

In November, I went on the Mobile Ghost Tour. This tour of downtown Mobile took us through many of Mobile's most haunted locations. It also gave us a brief introduction to ghost hunting with divining rods

Historically, divining rods were a forked or y shaped branch that would be used by "water" or "willow" witches to do something called dousing. Dousing is a type of divination that was used to find water or wells. Dousing was also used to find all sorts of buried gems, minerals and treasures. Divining rods have been used in this context for thousands of years and they are nothing new. Many mystics and spiritualists have taken this method of divination quite seriously and multiple books and theories have been published on this topic. A french priest and douser, Alex Bouly, renamed dousing radieshtesia in 1927 and thus added an air of respectability to the practice.

However, using copper divining rods to communicate with the dead is a relatively new practice. The practice is easy. During our ghost hunt, we stood very still in a vacant lot where a homeless man had been murdered. It was also the site of a famous lynching and an old cemetery. We also went to the famously haunted Richard's house and the old Masonic Temple. There were many ghosts for us to talk too. We held the rods up and asked questions to the spirits. We held one rod in each hand directly in front of us. Theoretically, the rods were supposed to respond to our questions. Their movement should be driven by spiritual activity. We held a rod in each hand and if they crossed that was a no and if they seperated that was a yes. They could also point in response to our questions.

I did a lot of experimentation with these rods and what I found was that unless you can keep your hands as still as granite, much of the movement and fluctionat in the rods was due more to very minor shifts and movements in my arms and hands. After a few hours, I determined that the divining rods responded too easily to very minor movement to be reliable. I did manage to convince the tour guide I was a lightning rod for the spirit world by moving my pinky slightly to the right which created a swirling motion in the rod that was quiet impressive. Even when I was attempting to be perfectly still, any minor tremor resulted in massive movements in the rods.

Behavioral observation lead me to believe that the rods were responding similarly to my fellow ghost hunters. I observed minor fluctuations in their hands and slight movements that I don't even think they were aware of.

In conclusion, using the diving rods for ghost hunting was fun. Everyone on the tour enjoyed it, but I don't think they were any real link to the unknown. I think they were more a link to how still we could keep our hands and arms. These rods are very easy to come by and can be purchased on amazon.com if you would like to experiment with them yourself. Below are some of the pictures of the locations we ghost hunted at.

Cleansing a Cursed Mask

2018-01-04T08:49:00.000-08:00

Cursed objections seem abundant today. All you have to do is search for cursed objects on Ebay to see a million everyday objects that contain ghosts or demons or killed someone. I believe most of these objects are just things people found around the house and decided to try to sell and make money off of. I collect historic objects and have bid on Viking antiquities at various auctions. None of them have contained any curses or malignant spirits. I even bought a haunted doll on Ebay once out of curiosity. It is cute, but harmless. I believe truly haunted or cursed items are rare.

My sister has recently gotten into energy work. She believes in realigning chakras and helping cleanse people of negative energy. My sister is also a medium. One of her clients gave her a mask because the mask "wanted" her and the mask had negative energy. The client believed the mask was drawn to Rose and had been scared by haunted activity that had occured around the mask. I am very honest with my sister. She knows I am skeptical of her work. I have a degree in clinical psychology and have practiced for ten years. I tend to believe in cognitive behavioral theory rather than in misaligned chakras or bad energy. However, this mask my sister got definitely possessed something. From the moment it entered her life, it spoke to her. She had to get rid of it. Others around her saw spirits associated with the mask. The previous owner was terrified of it. After working with the mask, she was able to cleanse it and the ghost she believes she has been able to free the spirit that was in the mask and return it to its original owner. Although I remain skeptical of my sister's work, I find it beautiful that she was able to cleanse a cursed object and return it's owner.

The Ghosts of the Fort Conde Inn

2017-12-27T21:16:00.000-08:00

The Fort Conde Inn in Mobile Alabama is one of the most beautiful bed and breakfasts I have stayed in. It is fair to say I haven't stayed in many b&b's but that doesn't mean that this rare Inn isn't lovely. This old, plantation style house whispers of old Southern ghost stories before you even know there are ghost stories there. The house is in a lonely corner of the busy downtown of Mobile and theentire street it is on feels strangely out of time. Just to the right of tall, modern sky scrapers and a garishly modern convention center there is a small park dedicated to the history of Mardi Gras. American Mardi Gras as we know it was founded in Mobile and transported to New Orleans. The little park serves as a reminder of that. Past the park, there are interstates and busy roads but in between the park and the roads there is a quiet place with an old church and old buildings that seem to be almost forgotten. The old court house and Fort Le Conde stand watch to the one road that leads to this quiet place where history seems to own the roads.

This quiet place is owned almost entirely by the same developer. He bought this area for The Fort Conde Inn and although the main building is the one most associated with the hotel, the entire neighborhood is part of the Inn and is owned by the same developer. This area was once the red light district in Mobile. If you came off a boat and you wanted a bit of fun, the building to the left of the main Inn was once a brothel and the other buildings were bars and houses of ill repute. Built in 1836, the main hotel was once owned by a wealthy plantation owner, but once this little corner of Mobile went down hill, it was abandoned to decay.

Eventually, even the prostitutes and drug dealers abandoned the corner of Mobile and just let it fall to ruin. But thankfully, it was purchased and re purposed and is now an Inn with cabins and a venue for weddings. The cobblestone streets and gas streetlights give the entire area a feeling of other worldliness. Ghost stories abound on these cobblestone streets and everyone tells them a bit differently. The internet speaks of clawing and disembodied voices, but those that work there say that they can't imagine any bad spirits in the Fort Conde Inn. One employee spoke of an old civil war soldier who liked to sit on the front porch of one of the old houses and watch the Inn. She spoke of the ghost of a prostitute who could be seen through one of the windows. The ghost tour guide didn't say much about specific ghosts but said that bad things must have happened in the old red light district. She said ghost stories where prolific, but was oddly reluctant to tell them, perhaps because I was staying there.

I didn't see any ghosts while I was there. I enjoyed a brilliant breakfast and pet the cats that wandered in and out of the courtyard. I sat on the porch at night and listened to the eerie silence in such a busy downtown area, but I didn't see anything creepy. I hope the ghost stories are true, however, because The Fort Conde Inn feels so haunting it should be haunted.