Return to Gettysburg, March 2011, part 7, Gen Lee HQ

After the Civil War museum and getting to talk with Patrick, I went off to dinner and then headed over to General Lee's Headquarters.
I don't have pictures of the outside of this building but I do have a few of the inside as to when things were happening!
Next time I am in Gettysburg, I'll get some pics of the outside of this building. It has been turned into a hotel/motel type of place, sadly enough. Yet, there were reportedly some strange happenings in some of the buildings and rooms that have been renovated for hotel rooms and suites but were once purportedly used as General Lee's headquarters and others used for various types of buildings by the soldiers during the civil war.

I met the group of people (way too many again) who were to investigate this site along with a few paranormal teams that were leading some of the people, Debra and Tony Pickman of The Sallie House fame, were also there with their son. I got to go with Tony and his son and a couple members of a paranormal team and a few others. Debra and the others went off to one building on the other side of the complex. We went off to the two story building that was said to be General Lee's headquarter building itself. We went to the top suite first and got settled in and those who were leading the investigation talked to us about how they would like to conduct it and what equipment we all had.  
Here is where I always ask if they mind if I use some of my equipment, namely the PX as it can disrupt evp sessions and some people are bothered by it. They were agreeable with me using it and so I turned it on until it got to the point where it was just rambling on like crazy which is a tell-tale sign that it was low on batteries which can happen very quickly with the PX as it drains batteries fast!

Those I was with had some nice cameras and some great equipment! I will share with you all some of the pics that they took and talk about them. We had been upstairs first and I believe these first two pics are from there. Take a peek and see what you think!

We had heard some noises, something odd sounding back here by the bathroom and so they took these two pics in succession. You can see the importance of doing so as you never know what you might catch. Was it just a blur pic? Or was something there? Interesting!

Next, we moved downstairs and that's when things really started to happen!  Hits off the KII and I had my own personal experience!! First tho', is just a pic of some orbs. I am not a huge fan of them, hard to know just what they were, entity, ball of energy, bug, dust? Hard to say.

But we felt there was something in this lower level with us. It was just a certain feeling. Again the next two are two pics in succession. Take a look at his hand there on the bed where the KII and Mel-Meter was and we were getting hits. From one pic to the next! He was definitely feeling something while he was laying there too! Very wild!

Notice again the blur? It's just odd cause Tony who is very experienced was taking these pics and the man on the bed was picking up some odd sensations. I am there on the floor to the left up against the wall. I have to say behind me there in that doorway was a bathroom and it felt...eerie and like someone was there watching.

Just a note that this camera was on a tripod too. Kinda odd eh?
Ok now this pic below is me sitting in the chair. You can see my head just over the back of the chair in the middle of the picture. Take a look at my hair. I am wearing a leather jacket and the chair is leather. I have my ghost meter there and on one knee was my recorder I believe but I was most relaxed and laying back in the comfy chair. As the others were talking quietly here or there, I all of a sudden felt an odd sensation! There was a tingling of some kind right there at my right temple! It felt like my hair was being caressed! Not only that but it felt like someone or something had ran their fingers thru the hair at my temple and stretched it out off to my right side! I remained still and just allowed the sensation to continue as it felt nice and not harmful. It was like a caress ever so slightly along my temple and then up into my ear. I just stayed there and smiled and tried to withstand the touch as much as I could for as long as I could. I did eventually say something to those in the room in a very calm and gentle manner and relayed what I was experiencing. Tony took these pics:

As you can see, they had a laser grid set up but it was my hair that when you looked into the camera to review the pics, it looked like my hair which is very fine and light and has absolutely no product in it as I prefer my hair pretty natural, was sticking straight out in the air and it looked like a hand was holding it out. That's exactly how it felt!
But if you look at these pics close up, you don't see that. It's so bizarre and wild!
Once the sensation moved into my ear and was caressing and tickling the inside of my ear, I couldn't take it anymore and laughed and shrugged and asked to please stay out of my ear as I am quite ticklish there!!
It was a very nice tender touch however and it was the first time I had ever experienced something like that! It was like whatever it was, wanted to play with my hair or caress the side of my face.

There is no solid documentation of this and my face did not turn red nor did I lose any hair or anything, so it remains a personal experience for me, despite the pics that Tony Pickman took. It was wild tho'! I was on air after this experience and thought it was just wild and wonderful!! I was definitely not disappointed at General Lee's Headquarters!

We did eventually swap locations with Debra and her group but we did not really experience anything at all in that area. After a while, we were able to return to the original building we had conducted our investigation at and were allowed to remain til very late if we wished. I ended up leaving however after the mass exodus as I was quite tired and I knew I had a big day ahead of me in the morning.

Return to Gettysburg, March 2011, part 6, Civil War Museum

Patrick was a very nice and knowledgeable man. Quiet and unassuming, I enjoyed talking with him immensely. If you have not ever been to this museum, you really should check it out! The gift shop alone is awesome!

As you can see, there are tents to the left of the front entrance. Here is where you can see reenactment soldiers, both Yankee and Rebels in full dress uniform, sleeping in the tents and gathering by an open fire. They were most kind and helpful and lent a very realistic air to the whole Civil War atmosphere that is Gettysburg.



Inside, there is a wax museum section off to the left that you pay to go into. This is where Patrick and the other team members led those who signed up for the ghost hunt into some of the areas within that there has been some strange happenings. Patrick pointed out a certain area for me to focus on as I was having not much luck in one of the larger rooms as the EMFs were just so high from all the electrical power wires for the interactive displays.
So I set up my equipment and took some random pics but only got a few reflections off the guard rails and such although I did pick up a few words coming out over the PX. I did use my laser grid at one point but as like with most public ghost hunts or events, there were too many people to really rely on the evp sessions as I could hear the girls' voices who were in the group and too many were running around, sadly.

I took both of these using different types of flash and no flash. Again, the shine you see at the  end of the hall is just from the lights I had and it is not anything paranormal from what I can see. I felt there was something however by the door to my left in the pic, but I again, did not pick up anything on the camera but a shine of the flash reflection.

Words on the PX were typical to what you might hear..."Soldiers...battle...highway..." things like that.

I didn't really get any other feelings for anything although the group had congregated over by a certain area and seemed to be getting responses from an entity or spirit with the use of dousing rods.
I preferred to be away and alone to try to see if I could communicate per chance with whatever might be lingering there in the Civil War Museum. But there was nothing that I could detect using my equipment that night at that moment there.
I say that too because that is not to discount that there is something there. I think many who investigate think there must not be anything there when they don't experience anything nor register anything with their equipment but that could just mean that the spirits did not interact with you personally or perhaps not that particular night or time. It is why you spend many hours and sometimes a few visits to the same location. Many believe after watching shows that it's a quick reaction or replies but those shows you see are hours of investigating condensed down to the best and choicest of moments in just 20 minutes of air time.

I do want to take a moment out and talk of the friendly and kind staff that work here at the museum too! I had a great chat with the one lady behind the counter and I loved all the civil war memorbilia and music cds they have here. A lot of great civil war gifts here in the gift shop! Be sure and check it out while visiting Gettysburg!

Return to Gettysburg, March 2011, part 5, Chris Fleming

After Robert Murch's class, we had a lunch break and were to be back by 2pm for a talk and gallery reading by Chris Fleming!
There had been a change in the schedule as can happen at these events. Sadly, Father Andrew Calder, a Demonologist scheduled to give a talk on Demonology had become ill and was not able to attend the event. It was ashame as I had had the priviledge to attend his class on Demonology at my first event at the Stanley Hotel. I continue to send my prayers and heartfelt good healing thoughts his way as he has been battling alot of illnesses this past year.
I believe Steven A LaChance also was not able to make it for his class so Chris stepped in.

If you do get to an event and are lucky to have Chris Fleming there and giving a class, DO NOT MISS IT! I could never stress that enough. Chris Fleming is an amazing man! Soft-spoken and kind and funny, he has a deep spirituality that just touches the soul. I enjoy every class he has given as I feel there is alot that I could learn from him so I try to never ever miss any of his classes if I can help it.

I know many women go gaa-gaa over him as he is very nice looking man, but for me, yes he is, but even more so, it is his soul that is beautiful and he has a special light eminating from him. I have been priviledged to have seen his aura, not once, but twice.

His evidence he has captured that he has shared with those of us in the audience has been amazing too. I always seem to learn something in his classes, even if it is the same, there is always something new added in.
His gallery reading was the first time I had attended a gallery session by him. It was not something that he normally does and I had already had a one on one session with Chris back in Minnesota during the Psychic Awakenings. I have to remind myself however no matter whose gallery that I attend, his, the Parry's or Chip Coffey's, that I have to bring a box of tissues with me as I always end up crying for the other people who are picked for how much they are touched by the experiences that are shared and spoken of. So many times as their hearts are touched and they break up with tears, I want to so reach out to them and hug them and squeeze their hand and I end up crying with them even from my seat.

Thinking of gallery readings, leads me to think of Crossing Over with John Edwards. Some have said he is fake and a friend told me that it was proved. I am sorry, I just can't believe that. I think facts and names could very well be yes, but there are things that just can't be and that includes knowing things those who have passed, would say or to be able to pick up on their personalities 100% right on! That, can't be faked. It just can't. I loved watching that show and I have to say, being a part of the gallery readings is always a treat for me. I am not sure how many more I can attend however at this point as I do end up so emotional during them as my empathy just spills out all over for everyone there. So I may limit my time there. But if you haven't gone, be sure and do so and you will be amazed and your heart touched!

I did visit with Chris briefly at his table in the vendor room and I kept seeing over the past few events and this one was no different, that book, The Key, by Whitley Strieber.

I just finally finished reading it the other night. It took me a while. It was not a long book by any means but some of the messages and words within are quite profound and really made me think. That and of course my life is so hectic and busy, I don't get alot of time to read anymore although I am trying to remedy that lately.

Chris highly recommended it to me as did many people who strolled by his table while I was there. So many gushed over this book. There were a few ideas that I felt were really out there in the 'Zone, but others were very interesting and again, challenged my own ideas and thoughts about the world and also touched a wee bit on the paranormal as well. I think you have to be in a certain frame of mind to be able to take this book in. It certainly did give me pause for thought.

We then had dinner break and afterwards, Debra and Tony Pickman were to talk about The Sallie House and then afterwards was John Zaffis and Rosemary Ellen Gallery, along with a break. Unfortunately, I missed most of these last two and I wished I had not missed them.
I did have to be at General Lee's Headquarters by 10 pm but before that, Spooky had invited me to be a part of the group investigation over at the Civil War Wax Museum! It was then that I met a couple of her team mates, one of which I spoke with at length, Patrick.

Return to Gettysburg, March 2011, part 4, The Ouija Board!

Luckily, there were no classes or lectures too early in the morning so I could sleep in some after being out late from the ghost hunt at the Widow's Cottage with Spooky and Cori.
The first class was with Robert Murch on The History of the Ouija Board, How it affects the investigator and client.

Now, I have to say this about the Ouija board...
I used to always think these were very bad things, a portal that if opened, could let in all sorts of things that we really have no business messing with, much less are we even able to control.
We all know the stories, many of us have played with them at one time or another growing up, watched movies about them, notably for me, it was The Witchboard with Stephen Nichols (Patch from Days of Our Lives).  So going into this class, I was pretty leary about it all, little did I know...oh so little did I know about the Ouija board!


Robert Murch is the expert on Ouija boards! Check out his site when you get a chance and read all about the Ouija board, the history and stories and theories as well as the real truths behind the mystic oracle board! I have to say, that I got quite the education in his class!

Robert has over 500 boards and one that even glows in the dark! These boards have been around over a 100 years! Can you believe it?! But as a paranormal investigator, think about it...from what Robert said: "...these were really the first wireless communication device and probably people's first experience with the paranormal..." The 'Talking Board'....Ouija.

I sat in this class and scribbled down lots of notes and things that I thought were most interesting but I won't give it all away here in my blog, it's best to hear it from the expert himself, Robert Murch! Attend his class on it and I bet that your own opinion about the Ouija board may very well change!!
He had a table there in the vendor room that was displaying just a few of his Ouija boards he owns, including a pink one!

The biggest revelation or perhaps realization if you will, that I got out of his class, along with all the great, wonderful and most interesting history, not to mention the hysterically funny movie clip he shares that had a Ouija board in it, was that if you think about it, what difference is there between the Ouija board and your own recorder? Your ITC/PX/Ovilus? If you truly look at it from a more objective standpoint and put aside your own experience or preconceived notions about the Ouija board, in all honesty, to me, there is no difference. With our equipment that we use to communicate with spirits or energies, we don't truly know what or who we are dealing with. Any device we use allows us to part the veil, even if temporarily, to the other side and we are communicating with spirits or entities or energies that we really have no way of confirming for sure, not 100% of who or what.

Am I still a bit leary of the Ouija board? Yes, I am still leary as I can't discount the bad that seems to happen and how we all go AAAHHHHH....in an understanding thought process when we hear of a client who has messed with a Ouija board in their home and now seem to have a poltergeist or even dare I say it, a 'demon' or other troublesome spirit or energy in their home?
But talk to many paranormal investigators and you will hear of many of them having spirits or entities or energies following them home. Many of them, have not ever touched or used a Ouija board and yet...they still have spirits ...ghosts? bothering them. Disrupting their lives...coincidence? From that, I pretty much see it as any device you use to try to communicate with those who have passed or the energies that are all around us....even elementals if you will...you open yourself up and if unprotected, then you just don't know what you are messing with or dealing with and what the repercussions could very well be.

Dangerous? Could be. Safe? Maybe.

Maybe not.

It is my own personal belief that if you are wanting to attempt to investigate the paranormal that you do so with a great respect and a deep and abiding faith so that you do protect yourself and you keep to some basic ground rules to protect yourself and your family. Now I have heard of some investigators who do not like to protect themselves because they want to experience what the client is and that's all well and good, just be careful in that you can handle it and know of others who can help you in case you get in over your head. This is still a relatively new realm that we have become aware of and learning how to communicate with and just starting to try to understand. The amateur and those just starting out have to be very careful that you realize it is not like what you see on tv.

My own safeguards start with learning how to ground yourself, shield, and develop a relationship with deity. Whatever you subscribe to or believe in.

I also do not ever investigate my home. My home is my sanctuary. It is a brand new home so if there are any entities here, they are from any family heirlooms or objects or those of my cat who died last year or those spirits from our family. None of which are anything to be afraid of. I have protected my home and blessed it and it has a positive force within and without.
The only time I have my equipment on at my home is when I am testing it or making sure the batteries are good. I also turn on my PX in the garage during Halloween as I give the spirits a chance to speak while watching the Trick or Treaters pass through my haunted cave. :)

A last note about the Ouija board and Robert Murch...Robert himself is a very approachable and very kind, soft-spoken man. Very knowledgeable about the Ouija board and I would dare say the world's expert on it! Do be sure if you attend an event and he is there, to say hello and attend his class! You won't be sorry if you do! It was informative, creative, and really funny! It sure did open my eyes about the Ouija and challenged my own beliefs on it!

Thank you Robert!! Awesome class!

A Goodbye to Grant Wilson of TAPS

I wanted to take a moment out of blogging about the event at Gettysburg last year, as news hit last night during the SyFy show, Ghost Hunters, that Grant Wilson, the co-founder of TAPS is leaving. It is very sad to see one of the first investigators who helped to bring the paranormal to our living rooms, step away.
This is the excerpt from the show that is on youtube already:

Excerpt from Last Night's Show

Just watching this little bit, had me in tears. I met Grant about 3 1/2 years ago at the Stanley for my first Ghost Hunting event. It was because of him and Jason putting TAPS on tv that was able to reach out to so many others and opened up this whole field. Grant is a very nice man and was most kind to me when I met him at the Stanley Hotel. His soft-spoken manner and gentleness with the clients, fans, and his co-workers has touched many people throughout the world.

It will be hard to watch Ghost Hunters without seeing him there in the van with Jason and investigating together. I am glad to have read that he is not ill and that he is instead leaving to pursue other interests.

If you 'like' his facebook page, you can see that he is a talented artist!
He also has co-written a book with Jason Hawes: Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from The Atlantic Paranormal Society. You can get it at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Grant, from me and my family, we wish you all the very best and thank you for being such a nice guy. You have truly touched many lives around the world. We've enjoyed watching you! Take care!