Halloween—Visits from Beyond

      I love this time of year—pumpkins and cider, ghost stories and creepy movies, costumes and treats. But October 31 also has a mystical and occult significance, which is, in fact, the root from which the secular holiday evolved. That deeper meaning is something I always remember.
      For practitioners of Western Celtic Wicca, there are eight “power points” on the Wheel of the Year, Eight Ritual Occasions that mark important shifts in invisible forces on our planet. October 31, Samhain, is one of those power points. In keeping with ancient Celtic tradition, this is an occasion for giving thanks for all that was reaped during the harvest. It is also the time when the “veil between the worlds” is thin—a potent time for magic and mystical insight, and for connecting with those who have passed to the other side. This is the occasion, Wiccans believe, for celebrating eternality and triumph over death. I know there really is something to that.
      There’s an air of power and imminent mystery at this time of year, a sense that something unseen is very close—I’ve felt it. And I’ve had some uncanny and memorable experiences on Halloween.
      After handing out treats to the little visitors who come to my door—a custom I really enjoy—I sometimes do a small ceremony or prayer late on Halloween night, to honor the deeper meaning of the holiday. One year, when Samhain/Halloween coincided with the full moon, I lit a candle and did a special meditation to bless my loved ones who had passed over.
      I had an older cousin who had died a few months before. Shortly after I began my meditation, an impression of his tall, lanky figure flashed unexpectedly into my mind. I heard, more as an idea than a set of words, that he had come to say goodbye, and to let me know he was proud of me. Whoa! I didn’t expect that. I hadn’t even been thinking about him when I started the meditation.
      And then a procession of people—some of whom I hadn’t thought about in years—began to stream through my mind. Their images, their energies, were so vivid and clear. They had come to wish me well, and to connect with me again for just a little while. When I had lived on the East Coast about twenty years before, I had worked in a nursing home, and had become really close with the residents. So many of them came back to visit me that Halloween night. I was awed and amazed.
      My father, who had already been entering my meditations for years since his death, came that night, too. He offered words of encouragement and approval. And: there was a neighbor from my childhood who had committed a huge wrong against me and my parents. He also appeared. And he apologized for what he had done.
      October 31 really is much more than just the Halloween festivities I love. So: along with the fun this Halloween, I might light a candle or send a blessing to someone who’s passed on. I could raise a cup to immortality. Maybe I'll have some visitors from beyond. It would be the perfect time for it.

Author Ann Young

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction … and Fact

Haunted Battlefields—Gettysburg, PA, Part Two

     From July 1 to 3, 1863, a fierce Civil War battle was fought in the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. The town today is the site of the National Military Park, operated by the US National Park Service. The park, once the scene of death and terrible bloodshed, is filled with grass, fields, trees, and restored historical buildings; memorials stand in various locations, in honor of the men who fought there. But Gettysburg has a paranormal legacy as well—in the form of innumerable reports of strange phenomena from all around the town.

     The odd occurrences at Gettysburg began shortly after the battle ended, and have taken a variety of forms. Multiple incidents of phantom sights, smells, and sounds have been reported. Visitors to Baltimore Street sometimes notice ghostly traces of the scents of vanilla and peppermint. In the days following the battle, the streets of Gettysburg were littered with the decaying bodies of the dead—and the ladies of the town used handkerchiefs saturated with vanilla and peppermint, “pressed to their faces to combat the horrible smell of death.” (www.prairieghosts.com)

     The Devil’s Den—a forbidding outcropping of rock where an especially bloody skirmish took place—is reputed to be one of the most haunted areas of Gettysburg. People have reported hearing the sounds of gunfire & men shouting. The reports of apparitions—some of whom have actually interacted with the living—date back to the days following the battle, when two hunters in the area saw a dim, gesturing male figure who then vanished. (For more details on the earliest reports, go to http://annyoungfiction.blogspot.com/2016/07/haunted-battlefieldsgettysburg-pa.html.) People have also seen a phantom rider who vanishes. And a barefoot, ghostly figure in ragged clothes appeared next to a visiting woman, actually speaking to her before he disappeared.

     One of the most haunted buildings in town is Pennsylvania Hall at Gettysburg College. At the time of the battle, the college was in the thick of the fighting—and the building was used as a Confederate lookout post and field hospital. Ghostly soldiers have been seen pacing in the cupola, shadowy figures standing in the tower; another figure was seen gesturing wildly at a student below, and then vanished. There is also the story of two college administrators who worked in the building. The elevator in which they were riding inexplicably took them to the basement, where—the elevator doors opened onto a bloody, phantom scene of a field hospital filled with horribly wounded soldiers and medical personnel in bloodied garments.

     This is just a small sampling of Gettysburg’s paranormal history, which has been explored in a number of books. Predictably, the town has also become a favorite destination for ghost hunters and others fascinated with hauntings and ghost lore.

http://www.prairieghosts.com/Gettysburg.html

http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/Gettysburg_Facts/Gettysburg_Facts.php

            http://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm

Author Ann Young

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction ... and Fact

 

Haunted Battlefields—Gettysburg, PA

     The town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was the site of the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War. The town’s long, chilling history of paranormal occurrences began a short time after the battle ended.

     The Battle of Gettysburg, fought in the hills, forests, and streets of the town, raged on for three days, from July 1-3, 1863. During this monumental battle, 70,000 Confederate men faced off against 94,000 Federals. When the fighting ended, the Confederates, led by General Robert E. Lee, had lost the battle. The casualties from both sides, including the dead, wounded, captured, and missing, are estimated between 45- and 51,000.

     In the aftermath of the battle, the once-quiet town of Gettysburg was a scene of human devastation. The bodies of the dead, scattered in and around the town, lay bloating and decaying in the summer heat. Houses and businesses, and even the Hall at Pennsylvania College, had been turned into makeshift field hospitals to accommodate the wounded and dying. Reports from the period tell of blood-soaked carpets and bloodstained walls in peoples’ homes, with the wounded being laid out side-by-side. The scene at the field hospital in Pennsylvania Hall was especially intense: blood-sprayed walls and floors, amputations without anesthesia, and the mortally wounded being taken just outside the operating rooms to die.

      The process of cleaning up the carnage at Gettysburg would not be swift—but the reports of strange occurrences would be much more immediate. Rose Farm was the site of one early report. The farm had been used as a field hospital and burial ground for slain soldiers, and hundreds had been buried in rows around the house and property. A few weeks after the battle, a man who worked at the farm reported a “strange glowing shape” appearing near the graves just after dark.
     Other early incidents occurred at the Devil’s Den, a “tangled outcropping of rocks” that was reputed to be haunted even before the battle—and was the scene of an intense, bloody skirmish on the second day. After the day’s fighting ended, the men who stood guard that night spoke of a “macabre and unnerving” atmosphere among the “looming rocks” and corpses. In another, later report, a pair of hunters became lost in the woods near the rocky ridge. They saw the “dim figure of a man standing atop the boulders,” gesturing. They realized he was showing them the direction they needed to go. And then he vanished. (www.prairieghosts.com)
     These strange events at Gettysburg were just the beginning. In the 151 years since the battle, innumerable incidents have been reported all around the town. And the reports continue, even to the present day.
     Next entry: Gettysburg today, and its most ghostly locations.
     To learn more about the Battle of Gettysburg and its legacy of paranormal occurrences, visit:
          http://www.prairieghosts.com/gettysburg.html    
           http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/Gettysburg_Facts/Gettysburg_Facts.php

The Ghost in the Closet

        Enjoy the Paranormal Day Party!

May 3, 2016 

http://www.hauntjaunts.net/paranormal-day-party-invite/

 

As children, most of us were probably frightened, at one time or another, of the monster under the bed or in the closet. I never dreamed that, as a college student, I would be a witness to a string of eerie paranormal disturbances—some of which really did emanate from a bedroom closet.

        These strange events took place in the home of one of my friends. The room where the disturbances occurred did have a history; an older family member, years before, had been convinced there was a presence in the room. She had never felt comfortable there. Years later, when my friend “inherited” the room, and the presence began to make itself strongly known, I was one of the people who experienced it.

I heard the eerie rapping on the (second-story) walls; it would happen in different places in the room, sometimes close to where one of us was sitting, and sometimes in response to what that person had said. I felt the pervasive, unnatural cold that would settle on our clothes and skin. I saw objects move when no one was near them; once, a pack of cigarettes slid across a table. And I heard the distinct sounds of thumping and banging that sometimes came from the closet.

Needless to say, everyone wanted to stay away from that closet, and my friend decided she felt safer with a tall, heavy bureau wedged against the closet door. But: when items began disappearing from all over the house, she had a terrible feeling about where they might be. I was with her on two of the occasions when she finally looked inside the closet.

        I’ll never forget the chilling sense of shock I felt when I saw what was inside. The missing items from the house were there—plus some additional things that no one had realized were missing. We found a magazine, a ticket stub, drawings, photos, plaques, and other objects, tangled up with the old clothing and books stored in the closet. We also found a recent magazine illustration that didn’t belong to anyone in the house; we never did figure out where it came from. And a couple of the paper items were actually crumpled.

After the first two times we looked inside the closet, we took out the things that had been missing, and put everything else neatly on the shelf. The third time my friend opened the closet, she found that the items on the shelf had been tossed onto the floor.

        Was all of this a hoax, or some crazy practical joke? I don’t think so. I knew everyone who lived in that house; my friend and her brother were genuinely terrified about what was happening there. I can’t imagine either of them carrying on a hoax that lasted for over a year and a half. Their mother, a no-nonsense sort of woman, certainly wouldn’t have done it. And the other person in the house was too ill to be physically capable of it.

        I can’t find a rational explanation for all the strange occurrences that took place, either. Even if some of it was hysteria or exaggeration or a mistake, that wouldn’t explain everything. Having been there to witness these things first-hand, I knew I was in the midst of something totally beyond normal comprehension. My view of reality was never the same after that.

            I believe that the spirits of deceased people don’t always entirely leave our world, hovering between the seen and unseen, with their presence echoing back to us in what we call hauntings. I also believe that there are other kinds of non-corporeal beings who were never human, and whose presence occasionally seeps into our familiar reality. Maybe, sometimes, something in our own consciousness attracts or feeds or stirs up these “visitors”; I wondered about that in the case of my friend, who was an experimenter in some of the darker aspects of the occult. The presence in her home became much more disruptive after her experimenting started.

        So: do I think her visitor was a human spirit, or something entirely different? I had a feeling it was human, a male. But I’ll never really know for sure. I think that’s one of the things that intrigues me most.

 

Author Ann Young

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction … and Fact

www.annyoungparanormal.com

Paranormal Favorites: "Ghost Whisperer"

            As someone who’s witnessed a real‑life haunting, I’m always interested in stories about ghosts. In all honesty, most of the supposedly “true” TV stories about ghosts leave me feeling unsatisfied, even indignant; they’re just not very credible. One of my favorite paranormal TV shows is a fictional one that’s been revived on Ion TV: the “Ghost Whisperer” series. Even though this show is fictional, I find it really enjoyable for many reasons—one of them being that the show reflects some of the things I believe to be true about ghosts.

            For anyone still unfamiliar with the show, “Ghost Whisperer” is the story of Melinda Gordon, played by actress Jennifer Love Hewitt. Since her childhood, Melinda has been able to see and talk to ghosts. As a newly-married young woman living in the town of Grandview, New York, she owns an antique store right on the town square.

But Melinda has another, very serious mission: to figure out why the earthbound spirits who come to her have become trapped among the living. Assisted in her adventures by an intriguing cast of characters, Melinda unravels the mysteries underlying the hauntings. Often she also acts as a mediator between the living and dead, helping them resolve any issues between them. Then she assists the trapped souls in moving “into the light”. The Ghost Whisperer plot, which unfolded over five seasons, also has some juicy twists and turns. I won’t say any more, since I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone who might want to discover the details on their own.

            There’s so much about this show that I really enjoy. First of all, “Ghost Whisperer” has a wonderfully spooky atmosphere, a must for a series about ghosts. The Grandview town square, which is featured often, seems almost super-real and in crisp focus—which contrasts nicely with the creepy, surreal appearance of the dead walking among the living or appearing to Melinda. The show also appeals to me because it has heart and a positive focus; call me sentimental, but I like the fact that Melinda Gordon is a gentle, caring soul who has an affectionate (and deliciously sensual) relationship with her husband. A nice contrast to the uglier side of humanity that’s so often portrayed on TV.

I also think that the moments of release, when the trapped souls go into the light, are beautifully poignant, one of the best parts of the show. It’s also refreshing to see a show, even a fictional one, where the focus is on helping tormented spirits, rather than hunting and/or antagonizing them.

Ghost Whisperer also portrays ghosts and hauntings in a way that reflects some of what I believe about ghosts. I think that many hauntings really are the result of deceased people becoming trapped here because of trauma, a sense of unfinished business, or a reluctance to let go. I also agree, based on personal experience, that spirits really can find ways—sometimes disruptive ones—to make themselves known. I also agree with the idea that there is a place of light, beyond the world of the living, where spirits can find healing and peace; but I think it isn’t the only place. I believe there are many realities for our spirits to explore after we’ve moved on from this one.

Even though Ghost Whisperer is not a new show, I think it’s still one of the best choices on paranormal TV. I’m really glad Ion decided to bring it back.

 Curious about some of my own experiences with ghosts and hauntings? Go to:

            http://annyoungfiction.blogspot.com/2013/10/ghostly-encounter-ghastly-coldness.html

            http://annyoungfiction.blogspot.com/2012/03/taunting-unknown.html

 

Author Ann Young

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction ... and Fact

www.annyoungparanormal.com

 

Messages from Beyond

Over the years I’ve been surprised, more than once, by messages that came to me from loved ones who had passed away. I didn’t do anything in particular to seek out these experiences. But, even when I’m not actively exploring the paranormal, my openness and curiosity about such things doesn't leave me. I believe that if a person is open enough, uncanny things will probably happen.

There was an older cousin of mine who died suddenly. A few months after he passed away, he surprised me by showing up in one of my meditations. A brief impression of his tall, lanky figure flashed into my mind, and I felt a definite sense of his energy. Then I heard, conveyed as an idea rather than a set of words, that he had come to say goodbye and to let me know he was proud of me.

I had a similar experience after my dad passed away. At that time, as part of my meditations, I would imagine myself walking along the water’s edge on my favorite stretch of East Coast beach. One day, I felt startled to see my dad standing on the beach—surf-fishing, wearing his goofy fishing hat and baggy shorts, just like he did when he was alive. I stopped to talk to him, and he let me know he was watching over me and supporting me. He continued to come to me that way for years.

My mother also found a way to connect with me after her death. One night, a couple of months after she passed away, I was sitting alone on the sofa in my living room. I happened to glance over at the big armchair, and—I felt startled to see a brief but distinct impression of my mom sitting there. The image was shadowy but very solid, and I knew immediately that it was her. She had come to make contact with me and to say goodbye, which we had not been able to do before she died.

I’m convinced that the bonds we form with people in life don’t end when those people die. I’m glad that I'm open enough to recognize their presence, and to receive the messages they have for me.

 

Author Ann Young

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction … and Fact

www.annyoungparanormal.com

What About Ouija?

     I remember, from when I was a child, the spooky reputation surrounding Ouija boards. Our family had a board, like almost everyone else; ours was stashed away in the cellar, a creepy location in any case. As a child, I never did more than stare at the eerie-looking, yellowed old Ouija. Even during my twenties, when my experiences in the paranormal began, I didn’t consider using a Ouija board—especially not then, when I was starting to realize that strange things really do happen, that non-corporeal beings do exist, and that they can find ways to make themselves known. I did a lot to court and invite strange happenings, I admit. But I just wasn’t certain what I would stir up with a Ouija board. Now, decades later, I still don’t use one.
     Let me be clear: I’m not one who’s convinced that Ouija is the gateway to the devil. And I’m not a believer in demonic possession. I do realize that non-corporeal beings, like living humans, can be angry and unpleasant. I just don’t think these beings can easily displace a living person’s will and personality. Most cases of “demonic possession”, I believe, are a product of autosuggestion or mental illness.
     Still, eerie things sometimes happen when Ouija is involved; at times, the mysterious Ouija really does seem to be an effective tool for communicating with the unseen. Problem is, who or what are you connecting with—and is the information you receive something you would really want to know? I don’t think most users have any control over that.
     My husband related a story from his childhood. One of his best friends had a brother who was away from home, serving in the military. The family was playing with Ouija one night, and the sister asked when her brother was coming home. The board said “Never”—and it turned out to be correct. The brother died in a non-combat mishap that claimed his life and many others. After that, his mother would not allow Ouija in the house again.
     This brings me to my main reason for not using a Ouija board: the paranormal, in my opinion, isn’t a game. I’ve had many strange experiences over the years, and I’ve come to develop a healthy respect for the unexplained. Ouija boards, from their beginnings in the late 1800’s, were made by toy and novelty companies, and promoted as such. But, like the pendulum, tarot, or other means of opening up to the unseen, Ouija isn’t a toy.
     It’s been my experience that, if there’s someone in the unseen who has a message for me, they’ll find a way to communicate with me. Two deceased members of my family—my dad and an older cousin—each surprised me by appearing in my meditations to speak to me. My mother, a few months after she died, also startled me by appearing in my living room to say goodbye. I truly believe that, if I remain positive and open, any message I need to receive will come to me, without the use of Ouija or any other divination tool.
     I think peoples’ curiosity about the notorious Ouija will probably continue. Being tempted to grab a glimpse of the future, or a taste of the unseen, seems to be part of just being human. Still, I’ll continue not to be a Ouija user. And I’ll keep myself open to those messages that have their own way of finding me.
    
     Want to learn about the history, and some of the strange lore about Ouija? Visit http://www.annyoungparanormal.com/archived-weekly-facts/216-fact-of-the-week-ouija-board  and http://www.annyoungparanormal.com/#Fact

Author Ann Young

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction ... and Fact

www.annyoungparanormal.com