Do Ghosts Set Off Smoke Alarms?

For the past week,   our smoke alarms have been going off every night at 9:00pm.   Nothing has been on fire.  There has been no smoke.  The alarms just go off.  We live in a new house we purchased from the builder 5 months ago.  The smoke alarms are brand new, but every night the alarms go off.  This is a huge pain in the ass.   It is loud and wakes up the baby and it creeps out the kids.   Everyone panics and runs around like idiots.  You never realize how hard it is to stop those things from going off until you try to get them to shut up.  I knocked the things off of the ceiling and they still went off in my hand.  I mashed the button.  I took the batteries out.  If one goes off,  they all go off.  It is maddening.

This maddening smoke alarm behavior got me thinking about whether or not a ghost could produce this type of behavior in a smoke alarm.  My preliminary research showed that many people have this problem.   I found countless message boards where people have asked if a haunting could produce an alarm going off every night at the same time.   One person hypothesized the following on a yahoo message board, "If the theory about ghosts being a collection of energy is true, then yes, they could manipulate electrical equipment to do such things, powering if from their own energy."  This made sense to me.  This theory is supported by the large number of people that describe this type of  smoke alarm activity in haunted locations.    Stories like this one from Castle of Spirits http://www.castleofspirits.com/stories03/smokedet.html are prolific.    Another interesting smoke alarm ghost story can be found a http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=3449.  My husband used to work at the morgue and every night the smoke alarm went off  in front of the cooler where the bodies were kept at 3am on the nose.  It was like clockwork.  It went off for five or ten minutes and then went quiet.  It was more than creepy, especially when you are spending the night alone at the morgue. 

So, theoretically a passing spirit or ghost could produce the type of behavior we've observed in our smoke alarms here.  This smoke alarm behavior is made even more frustrating by the fact that it only seems to happen when my husband is gone so the only person that knows what they are doing with the smoke alarms isn't present.   I also wanted to investigate non supernatural possibilities for my faulty smoke alarms.   I did my reading and found that there are many things that can contribute to smoke alarms going off at the wrong time.  Many modern smoke alarms are also triggered by intense heat.  So, if it is very hot and your attic is excessively hot sometimes that will heat the ceiling and trigger the smoke alarm.  Also, if  hot steam from a shower rises up this could trigger the smoke alarm.  It is also always possible that the things are broken and need repair.  I could easily rule out the smoke alarm being broken by talking to my builder.  I could also rule out the attic heat hypothesis by going up into my attic and finding that it was not really hot up there.   That left the steam possibility.  My son does shower every night around nine and after examining his behavior, I think he was setting off the alarm by opening the bathroom door and releasing all the hot steam onto the smoke detector.  

Our house is not haunted, but that doesn't make the number of cases of smoke alarms going off without any reason less interesting.   I have never found an explanation for the alarm that went off at the morgue.   The alarm was a hospital alarm that was checked regularly due to tight hospital regulations.  It was in front of the cooler and the air around it was cooler than the rest of the hospital and since the morgue was in the basement there was no attic above it.   My husband and I still tend to believe that the phantoms of the dead locked up in that rancid smelling cooler drifted out late at night, setting off the alarm.

How Moving and Remodeling Affects Hauntings

It is commonly believed that haunting activity can be stirred up by remodeling.  I have heard countless ghost stories with this theme.  Some of my favorite stories about remodeling are from private interviews with people.  For example, one Alabama woman told me the haunting in her house was so negligible that she thought it was all folklore and her imagination until she remodeled the house and then the ghosts started appearing in broad daylight on her front porch.  Neighbors called to see who was milling about their house.  Another story that comes to mind as an example of this had to do with an old hotel that sat vacant for many years.  Finally, it was remodeled and renovated and the quiet hotel exploded with paranormal activity.  Similar stories are all too common. 

Ray Farrel from P9 Paranormal gave an explanation for this phenomena that made a lot of intuitive sense to me.  He said, "Similar to a ghost or spirit held in a location because of an unfulfilled need, are those that are very aware of where they are but have 'gone into hiding' or are terrified of 'moving on'. Many hauntings stem from souls that have a stained life history and refuse to budge from our dimension through fear of what their fate is in the next. It is sometimes the case that their need to continue their misdeeds will overcome their need to stay hidden and if other opportunities present themselves, such as a potential 'victim' coming along, then they will betray their presence. Others though will not dare give themselves away - until something happens to make them feel unsafe."

It seems that any change in the landscape of a location bound haunting can lead to an increase in activity.  We are moving in the next 2 weeks and for many years, my sons and I have come to believe that my mother-in-law wanders about our house from time to time.  She's a pleasant spirit that just makes some noise and turns faucets on and off.  However, as we pack to leave, the activity has become just down right creepy.  At this point, we hope it is her because if it isn't I'm glad we're getting out of house.  There has been some interesting activity surrounding our animatronic Halloween witch.  She's been broken for many years and my husband propped her up at the front door.  She used to have a motion sensor that would cause her to cackle and threaten to eat people.  That motion sensor is so broken you have to punch her in the nose to get her to work.  While my parents were visiting, she went off almost constantly for over an hour, even after she was unplugged.   That could be explained away by itself, but now the baby toys that you touch and sing cute little songs have begun singing on their own and shadowy figures have been seen by both my sons.  Is this another case of alteration in the environment of a haunting causing increase paranormal activity?  Or is it a case of us going crazy with moving stress?  At this point,  anything is possible.  It is probably more likey that we all going crazy.

Happy Hungry Ghost Festival!

Belief in ghosts is one of those universal archetypes that Carl Jung found across all cultures.   From India, to the Philippines, to Africa and back ghosts haunt dark roads and old stories.   Many cultures have entire holidays dedicated to ghosts.  In China, the Hungry Ghost Festival or the Ullambana Festival of Buddhism is more typically called the "Ghost Festival".  Ghost Festival is celebrated throughout Asia and called by many different names.  It is celebrated during the fifteenth day of every 7th Lunar Month.  This would typically be July but Lunar months aren't calender months so this year Ghost Festival falls on August 31st.   In Hong Kong and Taiwan, Ghost Festival is celebrated for the entire month.

In Chinese folklore, the people believe that the 7th month is a time for ghosts.   It is believed that the gates of the underworld are thrown open and hungry ghosts roam the earth looking for food.  Ghost festival is deeply tied to traditions of ancestor worship and people leave items out for the ghosts of their ancestors.   Some people light lanterns by the roadsides to help the ghosts and other provide shoes for the ghosts.  One of the most beautiful costumes associated with this festival is the lighting of lanterns and setting them adrift in the water.  These lanterns serve as guiding lights for the lost and wandering ghosts.   Other traditions call for the burning of offerings such as paper and incense and the leaving of food for the hungry ghosts.  In Hong Kong and Taiwan, Ghost festival is celebrated by a month of operas and performances to honor the dead.

The origins of the ghost festival can be found in Buddhist scriptures.  "In Buddhist culture, "Ullam" means "hanging upside down" in Sanskrit; "bana" means "a vessel for holding offerings of food". Buddhists hold that the vessel is capable of removing the extreme suffering of one's deceased parents in purgatory. This originates from the story of "Monk Mulian Saving His Mother" in Buddhist sutras. Buddhist disciples set Ullambana all over the place, symbolizing food provision for the people, adding fortune and longevity to their living parents and releasing deceased parents from sufferings.".. Cultural China.com.

Ghost Festival reminds  me of the Catholic tradition of lighting candles for the dead.   It is a way to remember and honor those who have gone before us.  I thought we'd put together a little ghost festival in our house this year.  We've lost quite a few people and helping the spirits of those we've lost seems appropriate.  Mooncakes are typically offered to spirits in china.  We don't have mooncakes so we will cupcakes.   My son has made origami animals to burn with the incense and we will light lanterns on the back patio to guide our family's ghosts home.  

Can Ghosts be Captured?

Nganga was originally a word referring to a spiritual healer in the Bantu culture.  It continues to have that meaning in that culture.  However, as Nganga has taken on a different meaning in  Haitian, Cuban, and Brazilian Voodoo cultures.  It refers to an iron pot containing a large number of items such as bones, often a skull, chains, nails, bullets, and feathers bound together with chains and padlocks used to contain  spirits.   The spirits can be good or bad and the reason for their containment can vary.   The older the spirit the stronger the power of the nganga.

I learned about the Nganga on a show called Oddities on the Discovery Channel.   Such an object made me wonder if a spirit or ghost could be captured and contained in an object.   There are many circumstances in which objects are said to be haunted.  Robert the Doll and the Crying Boy Painting are classic examples of objects that are said to carry malevolent spirits with them.   However, it is an entirely different thing for something to be haunted and something to be created to contain a spirit.  Movies seem to love this idea.   Thirteen Ghosts shows a man capturing ghosts for his own malevolent purposes.  Ebay certainly loves this idea. Pendants and objects containing ghosts and spirits are prolific there and many of them sell for $666.00.  According to The Black Arts, by Richard Cavendish this is a believed possible by those who practice ritual magic.  Apparently many people believe this possible or at least want other people to believe it possible because these items seem to be quite prolific on the Internet.

However, despite my research I haven't found any stories by those who have bought or found Nganga or other man made spirit containing objects with interesting ghost stories.  You would think that if ghosts or spirits could be forcibly contained such stories would be more prolific than the number of people selling objects like this.  I really have no experience in these things so I can't conclusively comment one way or another, but I have to wonder if the Nganga on the discovery channel really did contain a ghost or spirit.   The stars of the show were certainly creeped out enough by the Nganga that they wouldn't keep it in their shop.   I'm not sure what I think, but I know the idea is very creepy and I certainly wouldn't want such an object anywhere near me.

Our Dearly Departed

I'm not sensitive to ghosts and I'm not easily spooked, but last night I just about jumped off my sofa.  I was sitting on my couch, watching television like a giant slug.  I heard the dogs barking and looked up at the cat walk.   Both my dogs were chasing what looked like a person walking across the catwalk.  I went crazy.   I was alone in the house very late night with my children and seeing a strange person wandering down the hall being pursued by my frantically barking corgis was enough to set me off.   I went to grab a weapon and pursued the intruder up the stairs.  I was armed and dangerous.   Both my children were upstairs and I didn't want anything touching them.  Suddenly the dogs stopped barking and wandered down stairs.  I did a thorough search and found nothing up stairs.  Both my children were sound asleep and cocooned under a nest of covers.  The house was still and all was quiet.  The dogs slept.

This left me with a bit of a mystery.  There was clearly someone upstairs.  My dogs saw it.  I saw it.  It was an adult person.   I sat down to ponder whether or not both the dogs and I had accidentally ingested LSD when my husband came home.  He reminded me that his mother had died two years ago last night.  He was sad.   I had completely forgotten about the day because I forget all birthdays and anniversaries by default, but now I had to wonder if my unexplained event and the date were related.  I've heard stories of ghosts that only return on the anniversary f their death.  Perhaps this is what I saw.   I saw my mother-in-law going upstairs to check on the grandchildren she loved so much.   I hope so.  There is actually comfort in that thought.  There is comfort that somehow those who have left us can still come back and check on us and make sure we are alright, that they can love us from afar even if we can't always see them.  It is certainly more comforting than my accidental ingestion of LSD theory.  Either way, I'll light a candle for my mother-in-law today.  She and I had our differences, but I miss her now that she is gone. 

The Limits of Paranormal Belief

"Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside the range of normal or scientific explanation or that indicates phenomena that are understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure."

I write about ghosts and hauntings and I obviously have a strong interests in ghosts and hauntings.  When I began writing true ghost stories in my blog a little over a year ago,  I was mostly interested in the folklore and the ghost stories themselves.  Oddly,  I had given little thought to the theory or reality behind the stories.  I just loved the stories.  I had a few paranormal experiences myself involving hauntings, but I had no opinion whatsoever on the world of the paranormal outside of the ghostly.  Over the last year,  I have met so many other people that are interested in the paranormal and otherworldly that I've had to question my belief in all paranormal things.  Of course, the world of the paranormal is incredibly broad and includes ghosts, UFOs, cryptology, esp, witchcraft, faith and spiritual healing and many other topics.

This brings me to my main question.   As people who are interested in the paranormal, where do we draw the line?  As paranormal enthusiasts do we believe in everything paranormal or just one or two things?  I think that line is different for all paranormal enthusiasts.  I also find the line is completely variable.   I've known people who believe in aliens but think ghosts are ridiculous or who believe in ghosts but think Bigfoot is nonsense.    I know people that love ghost stories but think magic and witchcraft is foolishness.    I found this chart on wikipedia.  This survey questioned people as to whether or not they believe in certain areas of the paranormal:
Farha-Steward  Poll  Results for Belief/ Disbelief in Paranormal Topics (Don't Believe is Not on  Chart)

                                                              Believe         Not Sure
astrology                                                  17%        26 %                
channeling                                                  10%           29%
clairvoyance and prophecy                         24 %          33%
communication with the dead                     16 %           29%
demonic possession                                  40%             28%
ESP                                                         28%             39%
extraterrestrials visited Earth in the past     17%             34%
ghosts/spirits of the dead                          39%             27%
haunted houses                                        40%             25%
psychic/spiritual healing                            56%             26%
reincarnation                                            15%             28%
telepathy                                                  24%             34%
witches                                                     26%             19%


Other surveys by different organizations at different times have found very similar results. A 2001 Gallup Poll found that the general public embraced the following: 54% of people believed in psychic/spiritual healing, 42% believed in haunted houses, 41% believed in satanic possession, 36% in telepathy, 25% in reincarnation, and 15% in channeling.   So, it seems that almost half of the population believes in ghosts, hauntings, and faith healings. Almost 65% of those surveyed, either believed in or were open to the possibility of hauntings being real.  However, very few people embrace the notion of aliens having visiting the earth and clairvoyance. 

Lately, I've been drawn to magic and witchcraft as a paranormal endeavor.  As a good Catholic girl,  I was brought up to believe this is evil, so I can't practice it.  But I've enjoyed reading about it and learning about its history.  This is something most people do not believe in within the paranormal realm.   This week I did an experiment, just to see what happens.  I cast a spell.  Of course,  I chose one that called to St. Rafael, St. Michael, and St Gabriel.  This seemed natural to me as Catholics pray to the saints and ask for their intervention often enough.  The spell called for me to light some candles and make three wishes.  One impossible wish, on wish for love, and one wish for business and ask the above angels to help obtain said wishes.  I did so.  Interestingly, the candle for the impossible wish (I wished that Japan would have a speedy and painless recovery) went out almost immediately.  The others burned through the night.  The other two wishes were for my husband (love) and for my next novel to be published by one of the two editors that are currently reviewing it (business).    If it works, I may put a check by believing in magic, if not,  I'll still stay in the not sure column. 

So I ask my readers, where do your paranormal leanings go?  Do you draw the line somewhere or does every aspect of the paranormal interest you?  Are there things you believe in and other things your find ridiculous?    I noticed the survey did not include Cryptids.  I would like to know where interest in cryptids would stand on this survey.  I've been reading  the blog Gummerfan's  Monster HQ lately
http://gummerfansmonsterhunterhq.blogspot.com/ and his articles on cryptids are interesting.  I wonder if that is a lesser believed in area of the paranormal?  So let me know where you stand and where your limits of the paranormal begin and end.

Should We Fear Ghosts?

The long history of ghosts and ghost stories is deeply rooted in horror and fear.   From such classic horror stories as The Haunting to the ghost lore that saturates folklore ghost stories are given a malevolent quality.  They are told around the campfire to scare children and they are brought out at Halloween to add to the spooky quality of the holiday.   Ghosts are supposed to be scary.  Almost every ghostly movie made capitalizes on this fear of ghosts.  From The Grudge to The House on Haunted Hill to  Thirteen Ghosts, ghosts are almost always scary and bad.

As I begin researching my second book, I have to wonder why ghosts have become associated with fear and terror.  Almost all of the people I interview who have had encounters with ghosts describe them as harmless and sometimes even beneficial.   The ghosts are scary in the same way bugs are scary.  They don't harm anyone, but they are scary because we have learned to fear them.  They are scary because they are unknown or just creepy, but I haven't encountered many true ghost stories in which the ghost itself is malevolent.   In fact, most of the really true scary supernatural stories I've gathered seem to be more drive by malevolent, nonghost spirits or demons.  They don't seem to be connected to a deceased person, but rather to some other kind of hostile entity.

 Many of the true ghost stories I've read step beyond being just neutral and are actually benevolent.  I heard one story in which the ghost protected a home owner from a burglar and another in which a ghost protected their child from a fall.  It seems to me that ghosts are like living people,  they can be good, neutral, and occasionally bad.  So why do we naturally fear them so much?  Should we fear ghosts at all?  I've spoke with people who say they've lived in haunted houses for years and never had any problems, just odd occurrences.  My family has a house that has been filled with odd, ghostly occurrences for the better part of a century and it has never bothered anyone.  It does keep you up at night, but it is never scary.  So why are we so naturally afraid of ghosts?  Is it a fear of the unknown or a fear of death or some cross between the two and will there be a point when that fear fades?  I've never really been afraid of ghosts, so I can't entirely answer these questions on my own, but I believe that ghosts shouldn't be feared unless they've been shown to be malevolent.

The Ghosts of the Vicious Circle

The Vicious Circle is a group of writers that shaped the literature of their time.  This group was also known as the Algonquin Round Table and consisted of such notable wits as Franklin Pierce Adams,  Robert Benchley,  Heywood Broun, Marc Connelly, George S. Kaufman, Dorothy Parker, Harold Ross,
Robert E. Sherwood, John Peter Toohey, and Alexander Woollcott.  The impact of all of these writers as a collective is amazing.  One was the founder of the New Yorker, others were famous playwrights and journalists.  Dorothy Parker is my favorite of this group because she seems like the kind of woman I could really relate too. She is famous for such brilliant quotes as, "Brevity is the heart of lingerie."  All of the vicious circle were all influential and they all met together at the Algonquin Hotel to talk.   The Algonquin Hotel still houses the famous restaurant where these literary giants met  and as soon as you walk into the Algonquin you can feel the presence of these great minds.  The restaurant even features pictures of the famous circle of writers on the back of the menu.  

When you walk into the Algonquin you know why the Vicious Circle chose it.  It is cozy and and comfortable with an atmosphere that invites you in.   You can also see why the ghosts of these famous literary minds might linger.  It is a dark place, filled with shadows and hidden places.   Shadowed corners provide privacy and seclusion for phantoms.  I ate dinner at the Algonquin and I wasn't lucky enough to see any ghosts, but guests at the Algonquin have reported seeing moving objects and the faces and figures of the old writing circle. Numerous reports of  ghosts and spectral visitations have filled this old hotel over the years.  Although I had a wonderful meal and wandered through the lobby, I didn't see any evidence of these stories.   Perhaps next time I'll have to stay the night.

The Ghosts of the USS Alabama

I thought I would return to where I started tonight.   My first few blogs were about Alabama and the places I had been in Alabama.  The USS Alabama is one of my favorite Southern haunts.

The USS Alabama is a large and impressive ship that is a major tourist attraction for Mobile, Alabama. It has been retired and docked in the Mobile Bay and sees thousands of visitors every day. At night, the ship hosts many cub scout camp outs so the battleship is rarely empty or quiet. Despite the fact that officials claim the ship is not, nor has ever been haunted, many claim to have seen ghosts on this ship. There have been reports of phantom foot steps and odd noises. It is said that late at night bulkheads open and close by themselves and odd tapping noises can be heard throughout the ship.

The Battleship Alabama’s first two deaths were of men who were in the Norfolk shipyard as she was under construction. She was finished in 1942 and served 37 months without any deaths due to enemy fire. As for death under friendly fire, however, there were 8 deaths on gun mount #5 when gun mount #9 fired upon them. It seems that the safety feature that was supposed to prevent the turrets from firing upon each other had failed. The men were completely destroyed; the only thing left of the gun commander was his boots.

The USS Alabama staff does not allow anyone interested in the paranormal to spend the night on the ship, so few people can tell stories of what happens when night comes aboard this old bit of history.  My boys, however,  were fortunate enough to spend the night on this wonderful ship last summer. As cub scouts, they were able to camp out on the ship.  Women are not allowed on the ship after dark, so I had to abandon my men to the shadows and wait for their stories.  Both of my boys claim that they saw and heard ghosts the night they stayed on the ship. My oldest son says he saw a barefoot ghost by turret five.This is particularly interesting, because he didn't know about any ghost stories associated with ship or about the man who lost his boots at this turret.   I have attached a picture of their overnight t that shows an orb by one of the turrets. The orb is directly above my son's head.  I know orbs are nothing like hard proof of the paranormal,  but it is still an interesting picture especially since it was taken my gun mount # 5.

Phantom Cats: Omens of Death?

I was reading a book called Ghosts and Goosebumps this morning.   It is a collection of Alabama ghost stories and folklore.  One of the stories that stood out to me was told by an Alabama woman named Peggy Ham.  In her story a big white cat just appeared in her sister's room while her sister was sick.   No one saw it when it came in and everyone tried to drive the cat from the room.  There was nothing they could do to scare the cat away.  The next day the sick child died and the cat was gone.   After the funeral the family moved t another place.  In about a month another child got sick just like the first child.   One night,  the same cat appeared again.  No one saw where the cat came in.  The cat appeared three nights in a row and then it vanished.  On the third nigh the second child died.  The cat was never seen again.

In a previous blog,  I discussed a mutilated cat ghost that has been seen at Oxenby Manor.  This phantom cat was the ghost of a cat that had been tortured and killed in order to be cruel to a little boy.  The cat ghost was frequently seen at Oxenby Manor and always came just prior to some one's death.

I have also discussed Oscar the Therapy Cat in a previous blog.  I read the book Oscar the Therapy Cat  and it followed the interesting story of a cat that lives in a nursing home and always lays on the bed of patients just prior to their death.  Many doctors and scientists have tried to prove that Oscar is responding to changes in body temperature or some physical, tangible manifestation of death, but they have been unable to.  Oscar predicts death.

These three case studies lead me to my question.  Are phantom cats omens of death?  I know Oscar isn't a phantom, but he still seems to be able to predict death.  Can cats sense death and once they have died to they continue to predict death?   It seems to me that through the many cases of phantom cats I've read about this is the case.  I am by no means an authority on cat ghosts, but it seems that if you see one,   you should definitely make your peace. 

My Ghosts

The ghosts of my past having been pulling at my heart strings lately.  The pull is so strong is tangible.   The pull started long before my visit to my grandmother yesterday,  but she only made it worse.  For most of my life my grandmother was the dowager empress of the family.  She sat in our old, family house  like a queen.  Our family house is in Cheboygan, Michigan and it is 150 yrs old.  It has been in our family for all those long years when my great, great, great uncle  built it as a wedding present for my great, great, great Aunt Newton.  The house was haunted.  It wasn't something people spoke of often, but it was certainly a given.  Entire batches of photographs were thrown out because white mists permeated all of them obscuring the faces of the living.  Strange noises came and went at night.   There was a cold spot in the middle of the old kitchen at midnight. 

There are so many stories it is impossible to list them all.   I visited once after a wedding.  I never took out my wedding clothes at the house.  I left them at the bottom of the suitcase.  After my departure,  they were found laid out on the floor of the attic.  There were no children or pranksters present during that trip.  Strange things like that were just normal there and that house was and is my favorite place in the world.  When I was a girl I used to hide under the piano in red parlor so I wouldn't have to go home.  The house was my home.  It was huge and beautiful and it was part of our family legacy.   With eight bedrooms and  2 kitchens and 2 parlors, a library, a den, and a dining room it was large enough for my entire family to meet in every summer.  All my aunts and uncles and cousins would fill the halls with laughter and drinking.   The adults would play cards well into night and the children would creep around the darkened rooms when we were supposed to be asleep. 

Many years have past since those days.  The family has broken apart.  Everyone got divorced and the cousins were left drifting in the wind.  Even my grandmother,  the dowager empress herself, has dementia and must now sit alone in a nursing home while her castle sits empty.   Yesterday, she and I looked at photos of the old days and I wanted to weep.  Ghosts drifted in and out of the pictures like family and she smiled and spoke of the house like a person.  To her,  the house is alive.  It is her great love and best friend.  The house is for sale now and  I have no ability to stop it.  It sits empty while the price drops as no one wants an old mansion in Northern Michigan.  My grandmother says some day she'll go back there and maybe she will, but not in life.  Maybe some day her ghost will join the others and she'll be empress once again.  I wish I could be there when she returns.  I wish we could keep our haunted castle.

Gifts from the Dead

My mother-in-law, Nicole, died nine months ago. Her death was wrapped in chaos. Nicole was French and she lived in between France and the states. She died in France and my husband immediately left to clear up her affairs there. I stayed behind and cleaned out her apartment, most of which still sits in boxes in a storage unit. Bags were sent back from France and we went through them, giving gifts she had purchased in France to her friends in the states. The funeral came and went and her ashes still live with us. Off and on, we've felt her presence here. She has many reasons to be here. Her grandchildren are here, her things are here, and her ashes are here. We miss her. She and I fought like cats and dogs, but I miss her. The children have already begun to forget her. Their memories are short and fade quickly.

Yesterday, as I sat typing, a sonic boom erupted from my closet. I jumped and then went to see what had happened. A box had fallen off the top shelf of my closet and its contents had spilled all over the floor. Shoved hastily in the box, was a bag with Tin Tin on it and French writing. Inside the bag, were Nicole's last gifts for the boys and my husband. I had packed them up in my haste without even opening them. I gave the gifts to the boys. French comic books and picture books were objects of delight. For a moment the boys forgot she was dead. They asked where she was and then they remembered. They remembered the grandmother that always showered them with gifts and love. My husband found the French T-shirts she had bought for him and sat down to read to the boys in French. It was good to hear French again. Since she's been gone, the language has become a ghost. In the box, there were also little things for me, some kitchen towels and a calender. The gifts were wonderful and it was like she was with us again.

It is possible that the cat knocked down the box or something explainable happened to disrupt my poorly stacked closet, but I like to believe that Nicole knocked the box down and guided me to the gifts. I like to think she is still giving and reminding us of France, even now that she is gone. Her ghost is here and it whispers to us so we don't forget where we came from.

Silly Summer: Creepy Cartoons and Ghostly Giveaways!

I have noticed a lot of blogs doing give aways this summer.  I thought I would follow the crowd and join in the fun.  Everyone needs a good book to get them through the summer or a good movie.  Summer days are long and hot and without the proper entertainment, they can become oppressive.   I would like to help entertain everyone.   I will be giving away one hardback copy of The Thirteenth Tale.  The Thirteenth Tale is a Gothic story about a mysterious writer and her haunted past.  It is a wonderful ghost story for those long summer days.   I will also include a collection of H.P Lovecraft's short story in the giveaway.  All you have to do to win these two books to make summer more bearable and haunting is to comment below saying you would like to be entered in my silly summer give away.  Winner will be announced here on  July 4th.   

The Secret Ghost

I was told this story in the strictest confidence.  Of course,  I am retelling it, but I am omitting all names and locations and since I know people all over the nation (even a few in other nations),  I believe there is no way it could ever be traced back to the teller.  A friend of mine who has known for a while that I love ghosts, was telling me about her real estate woes.   She has been trying to sell her house for a long time and has had no success.   In the course of discussion,  she became very nostalgic about the house.  She described how beautiful it was and how, when she bought it,  she had dreamt of raising her children and growing old in the house.   She described it as spacious and beautiful.  It had a pool and lots of land for her children to run and play on.  It was everything she had ever wanted and more and she couldn't understand why it hadn't sold.

So I had to ask, "Why are you selling?"  She hesitated and then told me that it was haunted.  I tried, using all powers of persuasion to get the dirty details on the haunting from her, but she didn't want to talk about it much.  She certainly didn't want it ending up in my book or column.  She believes that if word spreads that the house is haunted she'll never be able to sell it.  She did tell me that the ghost wasn't that belligerent.   It was just always there.  She worried about her children and the impact that have a presence would have on them psychologically and I got the distinct impression that although the ghost wasn't harmful, it certainly wasn't nice.  She didn't want her children to grow up afraid and she felt the ghost filled the house with fear.   She said nothing else.  

The family has already moved and purchased a new house, but the economic ramifications of owning a house that sits empty are large.  She worries about her secret ghost and her empty house and worries that the secret might get out.  Which brings me to the larger question,  should the ghost be secret?  I feel her pain, but what if another family buys the house and then has to go through the same pain?  Is it fair to keep something like this secret?

Home Dark Home

My parents make jokes about their house.   They smile and laugh and tell stories like they only half mean them because they don't want to believe.  My father is an engineer and even when confronted by the unexplainable he tries to break it down to concrete laws of physics and motion.  Yet,  something entirely unexplainable lives in their house.  I thought it was poltergeist activity, but there is more to it than that.

I went home tonight.  My son is afraid to go to the bathroom there.  I have to walk with him and hold his hand.  My husband felt physically ill as soon as he entered the house and when he left he described a weight being lifted from his chest.  My children were playing with my ghost hunting kit a few months ago there and my parent's house lit the EMF up.  It has never reacted to much of anything before, including power lines.  My father's favorite story, which he struggles to explain, is the night in which some boxes stacked on one end of the room all fell over on a ping pong table across the room and crushed it.  The problem is that the table was strong and the boxes were light and there is no way the boxes could have created enough force to crush the table.  He hates that he can't explain it.  He and my mother also can't explain the noises that keep them up at night or the night terrors that often haunt those that sleep in the house.

I lived in the house for a while and was oftened tormented by bad dreams and boughts of depression.  I'm a happy person and have never had feelings like this since.  Other family members describe similar things.  My mother also describes feeling as if something malevolent has been sitting on her chest at night, crushing her.  I've felt this before as well.

I love going home and seeing my family.  I love the warmth of home and whatever is in the house isn't strong enough to harm anyone, but every once in a while its presence is more clear,  more defined and then I shutter.  I shutter knowing that there is something just wrong about the home my parents live in,  that I always think of as home.

The Link Between ADHD and the Ability to See Ghosts

I am reading an interesting book by Caren B. Goode right now called Kids Who See Ghosts.  I'm not very far into the book, but it is well written and well researched.  It brings up some interesting neurological research that I was unaware of in the first chapter.  According to Goode,
          "Brain mapping using EEG topography has found that creativity and intuition are associated with theta waves usually linked with daydreaming or fantasizing.  Theta waves are calm states in which intellectual activity at the conscious level isn't occurring. Children and adults with ADHD produce excessive theta waves.  Most people, children and adults alike, who see ghosts experience theta waves or brain-wave states of relaxation and meditation.  People who practice psychic skills have learned to concentrate in these states and master their psychic ability."

One of my constant concerns when I was working as a child therapist was the over medication of young children.  As a therapist,  I wasn't given an opportunity to question the psychiatrists who are given most of the control in the field, but the standard of care for children who have any problems was to diagnosis them almost exclusively with ADHD and medicate them.  Every child I saw in therapy was also being medicated for ADHD, despite the fact that research shows that this medication suppresses growth and causes other side effects.  In my opinion,  many of the children being medicated for ADHD didn't actually even have it.  They had PTSD or adjustment disorders etc., but of course that is another matter.  The ones who did have ADHD were often high functioning and performing well in school, but their behavior was a problem so they were medicated because it is a quick and easy fix to children who don't conform.

This research brings to light other questions.  In a world where ADHD is diagnosed in every other child,  could we be suppressing children's potential.   There have been links seen between ADHD and creativity and if is Good is right then perhaps there also might be links between ADHD and psychic abilities.  Are we suppressing our children's potential when we medicate them into silent, compliant behavior?   Are we shutting out the portion of their mind that might let them see beyond the concrete into a more abstract and deep world of ghosts and beauty?

The Ghosts That Walked in Beauty Like The Night

Lord Byron is one the most famous poets in the world. His dark poetry has seduced many, including me. George Gordon, the 6th Lord Byron after Napoleon, is possibly the most revered and reviled icon of the Romantic Age. The poet's personal beauty, brilliant mind, and reckless spirit fascinated his contemporaries. His dark poetry had many sources. It came from his own personal tragedies, his bipolar disorder, and his haunted history.  His poetry was greatly influenced by the infamous ghosts of  the haunted abbey that had belonged to his family for centuries and their dark beauty.

The Byron family home, Newstead Abbey, is one of the most famous haunted locations in the world. The Abbey is located in Nottinghamshire, England and is haunted by several ghosts. The priory was built around 1170 for the Order of St. Augustine and was bought in 1540 by Sir John Byron who turned the abbey into a mansion. Ever since the purchase of the Abbey, the Byron family was tormented by bad luck and poor fortune. By the time Lord Byron inherited the estate, it had fallen into terrible disrepair. His father had been known as the wicked lord and had let the house go to such a state that the only inhabitable portion of the house was the scullery. The wicked lord lived and died drunk in the scullery. In 1817, Lord Byron sold the house, but the ill fortune stayed with all the following owners of the notorious abbey.

The most famous ghost of Newstead Abbey is the black friar. Lord Byron claimed that the black friar came to him on his wedding night. The black friar was an omen of bad fortune and Byron’s marriage ended in less than a year. A white lady is also said to haunt the grounds. She is the ghost of Sophia Hyett, a young lady who fell in love Lord Byron. The love was unrequited and the young woman was said to have taken her own life for the sake of her beloved poet.

The Sad Story of a French Mother's Ghost

It is mother's day today and for me it is touched with sorrow.  For thirteen years our mother's days were split between my mother,grandmothers, and my husband's mother.  My husband's mother,  Nicole always spent the entire day with us.  I bought her many gifts because she was alone and her family was in France and she stayed just for us.    She was a sad woman.  She had a difficult life.  She had been raised by an old, French military family.  In those days,  France had been a colonial empire.  Nicole grew up in Vietnam.  It was a French colony that was called Indochine at the time.  When she was born,  her mother wept because she was so disappointed that she had a girl and Nicole was raised by her Vietnamese nannies and her father.  When she was old enough,  she cared for her younger brothers.  

Later, her father was transferred to another French colony.   The family move to Algeria, where Nicole cared for her three younger siblings and worked to make others happy.  When she was finally free to pursue her own fate,  she clung to the bonds of her youth and moved back to France to work to put her brothers through school.  Nicole was a nanny for their children and a source of financing for their needs.  At one point,  she broke free from her family and pursued her own dreams.  She got a job and moved to Morroco, where something terrible happened to her.  None of us know what.  She wouldn't talk about it, but we knew that it had been horrible.  After that, she moved back to France and continued taking care of her family.

When she was 40 years old,  she met a man who was studying Philology (the study of languages) at Yale.  He was a brilliant, older Frenchman who spoke 7 language and  was working on his doctorate abroad.  They wrote love letters to each other across the ocean and a year later they married,  only having met each other a few times.  She had beed seduced by her husband's poetry and gift of languages.  He had won her heart, but she wasn't prepared for what was ahead of her.  She wasn't prepared for Alabama.

She was already pregnant when she moved to America.  She didn't know English and she immediately hated Alabama.  She had never learned to drive.  In France, it hadn't seemed necessary.  In Vietnam, Algeria, and Morroco,  it hadn't been necessary.  In Alabama, she was trapped and alone and the only joy she found was in her son, who she took back to France for months at a time at least once a year so that the little boy was raised as part of two countries,  one that his mother loathed and one that she pined for. 

When my mother-in-law died,  her best friend told me that my mother-in-law's ghost had tormented her for days.  She had moved objects and left things in disarray.  When her friend went up to visit the grave,  the haunting stopped.  Similarly,  after Nicole's death,   I felt her presence with us for a long time.   There was nothing tangible.  My sons said they saw her in her old chair.   I thought I heard her voice in quiet moments and Xander, my youngest, would come down looking for her when he heard her calling.   After we paid for her tombstone and buried her ashes in the mountains with her husband, I thought her spirit left us.   I thought she had found peace, but over the last few weeks she seems to have come back.  I often see the dogs barking at the china cabinet.  They can bark forever.  When I am alone,  the garage door opens and closes on its own.  Strange noises echo throught the silent house.  We kept a portion of her ashes in a small urn that is in the china cabinet to carry to France next year and cast into the sea.   Perhaps she is waiting for that or maybe she just misses us. 

The Ghosts of the Union Station Hotel

It has been a long week and one of the many things I have fallen behind on this week is my blog.   Working in healthcare often comes in waves.  Sickness spreads and the hospitals fill.  Sadness also seems to come in waves and attempted suicides fill the beds on the little psychiatric floor I work on with sorrow and despair.  It makes for long days.

I do many groups during the day.  I talk alot about coping skills and how to dig your way out of depression and despair.  My favorite group is on the power of joy.  The power of clinging to the things you enjoy and making sure that even if life is hard, there is something you look forward to at the end of the day, the week, the month.  There always has to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  There always has to be a light in the dark or you just give up.  For me,  my lights are my journeys and my writing.   Every trip brings a new adventure,  even if it is only a trip to rural Alabama to find an obscure ghost story.   My next light comes in the form of another haunted hotel.   They are my favorite.  My sons enjoy them too and when there are ghosts in the closet the journey becomes something even more wonderful.

So this month I am going to Nashville, Tennesse to the beautiful Union Station.   The Station has been converted to a luxurious hotel.   The structure is limestone and is built in classic Romanesque style by H.H Richardson.  It was commissioned by the Louisville &Nashville Railroad and opened in 1900.  It features some rare and extradordinary features such as 128 panels of stained glass, bas-relief sculpture,s and two alligator ponds.  In addition to this,  it is haunted by a menagerie of ghosts.

A psychic I spoke with about train stations once told me that places that were connected with waiting and strong emotion in life, often maintain this importance in death.  Old train stations can become gathering places for the spirits.  This train station appears to be no different.  Of course, this station is made even more haunted by the tragic train wreck that occured here in 1918.  Spectral visitations have been plentiful since this wreck.  Many visitors to Union Station describe odd laughter, banging noises, moving objects, and strange smells.  Several floors of the hotel appear to be haunted and those that spend several nights in the hotel often report hearing and seeing ghosts.  Hopefully, my visit will be filled with many such experiences.

Resurrection Mary

Resurrection Mary is the most often seen ghost in Chicago.  She is also the most famous ghost in Chicago.  She is a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes.  She is seen in a long white gown and dancing shoes.   Those who have seen her,  describe her standing by the side of the road.  Sometimes she is hitchhiking.  Other times she just wanders the cold, dark streets.

According to legend,  Mary was hit by a car in 1930.   She was killed in front of the gates of Resurrection Cemetery, where she would later be buried.   She is always seen wandering by this cemetery.  Countless travelers have seen her over the years.   One cab driver graphically describes his encounter with Resurrection Mary in the book Chicagoland Ghosts.  He describes picking her up and her vanishing from the back seat like she had never been there.  

One of the most famous incidents involving Mary was in 1976.  In 1976,  Mary was seen by a passer by standing just inside the gates of the cemetery.  The passer by did not stop to help Mary,   but called the police.   The police did not find a ghostly girl locked in the gates of the cemetery,  but they did find a section of gate that had been bent and had small finger prints burnt into the metal.  Although the gates have been fixed,  her fingerprints remain on the bars forever reminding the world of Mary's tragic death.  As time has passed,  Resurrection Mary has been seen further and further from the cemetery.   People have seen her blocks anbd even miles from the cemetery wandering in the dark.   People often say they stop to pick up the lovely blonde and she vanishes like a mist, back to the world of the dead.