HAUNTED DOLLS ON AUCTION-HOLIDAY SPIRITS

In keeping with the time of the Christmas Season, I am revisiting a theme one of my all time favorite blogs: Haunted Dolls which has well over 400 page views since posted.
What prompted my wanting to expand this blog was not only its popular subject and how many people responded to it on such a personal level; but by a recent viewing on the Dolls pages on eBay when I was buying an antique doll head to complete a doll project I've had in the works for quite some time. 

As I mentioned in my blog about haunted dolls I poised the question, "Do previous owners of objects such as: dolls, toys, or other sentimental items attach themselves to it after they pass away? Or do "lost" spirits find the host item through their journey in our world?"
Many shared with me their personal stories of how treasured toys and objects either handed down in their family or acquired through buying in an antique store or flea market were sometimes causing paranormal problems in their home. It would seem like the outwardly appearing normal and innocent toys were actually showing signs of the aggression or movement that was explained as having a former owner's spirit still attached to it. And these were brought into their homes unknowingly without prior experiencing the paranormal. They were not looking for any trouble with spirits.

So, up on auction sites I found the deliberate selling of spirits- wholesale!  'TIS THE SEASON TO BE HAUNTED!

                   Bisque Doll in Coffin in Festive Holiday Red Dress

Would you believe there are at this time there are over 785 "haunted dolls " listed up on eBay right now? I am not making this up. It turns out that eBay is full of "haunted" (or cursed, or possessed) items people are trying to get rid of. These fall into two categories: items being sold by the extremely superstitious, and worthless junk being sold by hucksters hoping someone is gullible enough to buy them if they claim it's magic. 

In the case of "haunted dolls" the sellers claim their clowns, bisque girl dolls, and other toys are actually "haunted" and therefore they are asking for nice sums of money for these otherwise common inexpensive items. And what surprises me is that people are bidding and buying them! Really. What makes someone actually want to buy a reported "spirit possessed" doll, clown or another type of toy on purpose!! 
Is their desire for an unusual experience of the unknown so important to them that they could possibly risk their mental or physical health or even their lives?! 

A lot of people are tossing around the word "haunted" on eBay. So many that if you actually want YOUR haunted item to get noticed, you have to convince people that it's really, really haunted. Like, more haunted than any of the other search results.

Here are few of the most intriguing and questionable 'haunted' toys on eBay along with sellers descriptions that are short stories in themselves. I've included my take on the particular item. 

#1 Vintage SIMON & HALBIG DOLL HEAD* w Haunting glass eyes!  RARE FIND FROM ISLA DE LAS MUNECAS

Price $79.00             0 BIDS             BUY IT NOW

Known as “La Isla de la Munecas”, by the Spanish, The Island of the Haunted Dolls is perhaps the creepiest tourist attraction in Mexico. Located within an extensive network of canals, south of Mexico City, the island is a place of mystery and superstition. Almost every tree growing on the island is decorated with old, mutilated dolls that give anyone the feeling that they’re constantly being watched. The story behind the Island of the Dolls began when a hermit by the name of Don Julian Santana moved here. Although he was married he chose to live the last 50 years of his life alone. Don Julian used to say he was haunted by the ghost of the little girl who had drowned in one of the canals around the island. Some say he used to fish the dolls from the water because he though they were real children, but the truth is he was collecting and placing them around his home as a shrine for the spirit that tormented him. At one point he even traded home grown fruit and vegetables for old dolls. Ironically, in 2001 Don Julian Santana was found dead by his nephew, in the same canal that he said the little girl drowned in. Now his Island of the Dolls is one of the world’s weirdest tourist attractions. Some tourists who visited this place claim the dolls whisper and you must offer them a gift upon setting foot on the island, to appease their spirits. ** OWN THIS POWERFUL OCCULT ITEM**  
THESE UNIQUE PARANORMAL ITEMS ARE ONE OF A KIND! AND MOST OF MY BUYERS LOVE WITH THEIR ITEMS!    (The ones who survived?)
I AM ONE OF THE ORIGINAL PARANORMAL EBAY SELLERS SELLING SINCE 1998! 
Recently we have sold to TV shows like AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN and SLEEPY HOLLOW 
(These sub-headlines should get your attention)

FYI- This is not the doll head I purchased.This doll head is not old bisque doll head but a repro Simon & Halbig (from a mold their Asian doll head series) made in 1983. Did the seller dare risk the wrath of the dolls on the island by taking this head off the "doll tree" or just happened to have some doll parts lying around he just wanted to get rid of and sell for a good price. Antique Simon & Halbig heads in perfect condition go for $100-200.00.
A few other questions came to mind. Did the little girl who drowned own this doll? Is that how it became haunted? When your friends ask you why you bought something that looks like a rejected prop from a movie and you tell them it's because it's possessed by ghosts, do you expect them to ever talk to you again?

#2 Dybbuk Box & Haunted Doll in Found In Wall   

PRICE STARTING AT  $15.99      1-Bid            Free Shipping

"If you have ever purchased a doll from my me you know that many of the dolls and items I sell come from families that are afraid of the spirits in their collections which they receive when they inherit a doll or item from someone who has passed away. I also sell somethings from my private collection.  My collecting of supernatural items is endless.  Recently this dybbuk box along with this doll was found walled up in the basement of my great aunts home.  While remodeling a room down there this was found in the wall where the contractor went to knock down the wall to open up another nearby room. The workers were so scared they did not come back and work until a week later.  They were wrapped in an old dish cloth when found What we do not know did this.  The contractor brought it up to us and he thought it was very weird.  We all knew right away it was a dybbuk box with spirit possessed doll.  The bottom of the box is sealed with wax. We thinks it is to keep the spirit from escaping.My aunt, my mom and I just looked at each other.  We did not open up the box even though our curiosity was getting the best of us.  My mom and I took the box and doll with us as we did not want to leave them with a frail old lady it could scare her to death.  So we brought them to my house." 

* If there is a spirit in the box I do not want to let it out so it is up to the new owner to take that risk.  Since I deal with paranormal items all the time I know better! 
Warning! You must be eighteen to purchase this item.  Seller assumes all responsibility for this item once purchased.  Buyers this is not for children.  This is not a toy.  Buyers should not be afraid of the paranormal! Buy at your own risk. 
Whether or not you will experience paranormal activity depends on your aura and if the objects are attracted to you.

OK, so you are telling us that you didn't want to scare to death the frail old lady who owned this thing -so you bravely took it from her and brought the "dybbux" box (because they knew it was one - yeah, sure) and doll to your house. Great idea! And now you are selling it for the low, low price of $15.99, evil spirit included. But remember you may not have the right aura or you may not be a spirit magnet-so its your own fault you don't get haunted.  In any event, you better be careful bidding on this one, as the seller did warn you, as it'd be downright irresponsible to sell a demon-possessed toy without a warning. And did I mention it comes with free shipping!

#3 Is This Clown Doll Haunted?? 
BUY IT NOW/ Best Offer       0 Bids       Price-$400.00

"Ebay I am not stating that this particular doll is haunted, just saying it is similar to one that was.. 
The heading on this auction is a question not an answer".           
Note: I sold a similar clown doll in November of 2002 Which was haunted, the clown doll would move. After placing him in one place in our home he would end up in another. The clown doll I sold in 2002 is also in two books one called: Ghosts Among Us written by Leslie Rule.  I have been a paranormal investigator for about 20 years now. In the last 5 years or so I mainly research non-animated objects mostly dolls. I bought this doll because I felt it might have some paranormal activities to it, but just haven’t had the time to study him. I will leave the research to the new owner.  Not all dolls I purchased have paranormal actives attach to them. Sometimes, I just get a funny feeling about them. A weird vibe or like if my heart skips a beat whenever I encounter a doll that might have paranormal activities
 I am not psychic by any means. I just get a weird feeling. I don’t believe that there is any danger, but I guess it won’t hurt to take precautions. .Description: 31 inches tall The body is firmly stuffed muslin. with wire armature. Made in the 1940’s or 50’s.
This clown doll looks to be ALL original. The clothes are a little tattered, the right hand needs mending and there are a wire protruding from each foot ( not sharp).
Are all these clown dolls haunted or just the one I sold in 2002? Was the place where these dolls where made, built on sacred ground or a cemetery? These dolls are a mystery in themselves.     

Shipping for this doll -$ 25.00 Plastic wrapped for your safety.
Don't be fooled about with this benign looking, OK-creepy thing, I'll call him BOZO the Clown, (quoted the auctioneer,"He felt might be haunted") because he had another clown doll that was sold and that was reportedly turned out to be a now famous possessed clown. To emphasis that this clown may be haunted, check out his backdrop of the tombstone and cemetery location. It sure doesn't sound like something you'd want to willingly shell out the 400 bucks he's asking for it. The only hazard I can see owning this doll is getting tetanus from the exposed dirty wire protruding from his foot.
But BOZO doll comes with a fail safe: That plastic bag it's wrapped in. Yes, the plastic bag could be only thing stopping BOZO from wreaking all kinds of Child's Play-style havoc because evil clown dolls are notoriously thwarted only by a quarter of a millimeter of plastic.

During this holiday season the only spirits you want to have present in our home are love, peace and joy. So stay away from these cheesy auctions, keep your money and just add some spirits to your eggnog! CHEERS!

THE CURSE OF KING TUT-IS IT REAL?

In honor of the 92nd anniversary of the discovery of King Tut's Tomb coming up this week (November 22, 1922)- I would like to write about one of my all time favorite subjects- King Tut.

I have been fascinated by ancient Egyptian history since I was 8 years old.  I first read about King Tutankhamen and the the discovery of his fabulous treasure when I was in the 6th grade and I was hooked!!! I even made a miniature temple of Karnak for our elementary history class and spent a whole weekend making columns out of beige card-stock and drawing and painting tomb scenes on each of its twelve columns -yes I admit I am a GEEK and proud of it!

I've been fortunate in the last 30 years to see the traveling exhibits of King Tut's tomb treasures both times when they were here in the United States. First at the National Museum in Washington D.C. in 1976 (waited 5 hours in line as it was free admission!)  and then at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia 2006 (timed tickets-no wait!).
It so happens that I've discovered that I am only 3 degrees of separation from the study of ancient Egypt and King Tut. 

Let me explain.
During the last 30 years I became friends with Paul* who is the deceased friend and subject of my book, Estate of Horror. Paul was an anthropologist and often went to workshops at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There he met and became friendly with Zahi Hawass, (who was a graduate of U of P) and who until recently was the head of the Supreme High Council of Antiquities in Egypt and excavated many of the most important finds of mummies and their tombs in the last 25 years. 
* name has been changed

The whole story of how archaeologist Howard Carter labored in the Valley of the Kings for almost 11 years and then discovering the tomb at the very last season of his digging, as his funding by Lord Carnarvon of England were running out, is an intriguing one. It was a fantastic discovery, like right out of a movie , that for a time I seriously considered being an archaeologist before becoming a professional artist. I am what they call an "armchair" archaeologist. If there was a book or TV show on ancient Egypt or King Tut- I've probably read or watched it.
My son calls me a walking encyclopedia on King Tut -just ask him and our friends who went with me to the 2006 exhibit and they will recall with amusement how we actually had people following us listening to my explanations about the items we saw-they thought I was one of the exhibit guides!

And as a side note: Not a scarab, scorpion or mummy came after us while at the show.

I also have a second degree of separation due to my History Professor I had when I was an art student at Moore College of Art and Design. My professor happened to have an uncle who was one of Howard Carter's young research assistants and when we were studying ancient Egypt, our professor of History, Mr. Wicks, told us this story: One night his uncle was in the tomb alone cataloging some of the many thousands of artifacts found in Tut's intact tomb and did his research by gas lamps and torches. It was late in the Valley of the Kings, very still and as"silent as a tomb" (forgive the pun). All of a sudden something caught his eye and as he turned around he swore one of the 6 ft. "Guardian Sentinels" in the tomb had moved! Combined with other strange occurrences he experienced in the tomb that night he swore he would never work in the tomb alone again!

Curse of the Mummy:  How did the curse legend get started?

The curse of the pharaohs dates back centuries and refers to an alleged curse believed by some to be cast upon any person who disturbs the mummy of an Ancient Egyptian person, especially a pharaoh. This curse, which does not differentiate between thieves and archaeologists, allegedly can cause bad luck, illness or death. There had been stories of curses going back to the 19th century, but they multiplied after Howard Carter's discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen. Despite popular misconceptions no curse was actually found inscribed in the Pharaoh's tomb.

The belief in a curse was brought to many people's attention due to strange occurrences and the sometimes mysterious deaths of a few members of Howard Carter's team and other prominent visitors to the tomb shortly thereafter.

One incident and this is backed up by fact, was that Howard Carter sent a messenger on an errand to his house. On approaching his home he thought he heard a "faint, almost human cry". On reaching the entrance he saw the bird cage occupied by a cobra, the symbol of Egyptian monarchy. Carter's canary had died in its mouth and this fueled local rumors of a curse. This was interpreted as Carter's house being broken into by the Royal Cobra, the same worn on the King's head to strike enemies, on the very day the King's tomb was (being broken) opened. An account of the incident was reported by the New York Times on 22 December 1922.

     The Royal Cobra (Uraeus), representing the protector goddess Wadjet, atop the mask of  Tutankhamun.

The death of Lord Carnarvon, Carter's benefactor who financed his dig, only six weeks after the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb resulted in many curse stories in the press. It seems Lord Carnarvon had been bitten by a mosquito as he exited the tomb one day, and later slashed the bite accidentally while shaving. It became infected and blood poisoning resulted. Two weeks before Carnarvon died rumors circulated to assert that "dire punishment" would follow any intrusion into a sealed tomb. A media frenzy followed, with reports that a curse had been found in the King's tomb, though this was untrue.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, suggested that Lord Carnarvon's death had been caused by "elementals" created by Tutankhamun's priests to guard the royal tomb, and this further fueled the media interest. Arthur Weigall reported that six weeks before Carnarvon's death, he had watched the Earl laughing and joking as he entered the King's tomb and said to a nearby reporter (H. V. Morton), "I give him six weeks to live." The first autopsy carried out on the body of Tutankhamun found a healed lesion on the left cheek, and some thought it the same place where Carnarvon had been bitten but since the Earl was buried six months previously it was not possible to determine if the location of the wound on the King corresponded with the fatal mosquito bite on Carnarvon.

There have been modern discoveries to explain the real facts behind this "curse". Air samples taken from inside an unopened sarcophagus through a drilled hole showed high levels of ammonia, formaldehyde and hydrogen sulfide; these gases are all toxic. Hydrogen sulfide is detectable at low concentrations (Up to 100PPM) beyond which it acts as a nerve agent on the olfactory senses. At 1000ppm it will kill with a single inhalation. Recent discoveries show that stones used to build Egyptian tombs often contain uranium, a radioactive metal which decays, producing radon, a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer and other respiratory conditions matching some of the symptoms described for those who died soon after opening the tomb. Recent studies of newly opened ancient Egyptian tombs that had not been exposed to modern contaminants found pathogenic bacteria of the Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas genera, and the molds Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus. However, at the concentrations typically found, these pathogens are generally only dangerous to persons with weakened immune systems. While there is no evidence that such pathogens killed Lord Carnarvon, there is no doubt that dangerous materials can accumulate in old tombs.

Mysterious Coincidences?
Interestingly, at the moment of Lord Carnarvon death in Egypt, there was a sudden blackout of all the lights in the entire city of Cairo which no one has been ever able to explain. Also back at his ancestral castle/home in England, Lord Carvaron's favorite hunting dog, gave a howl and dropped dead at the exact time of his master's death. More victims of the mummy's curse?

"Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the King". 

 (a phrase which does not actually appear among the hieroglyphs in Tut's tomb even though it was said to appear in several different places).

Howard Carter was entirely skeptical of such curses. He did report in his diary a "strange" account when he saw jackals of the same type as Anubis, the guardian of the dead, for the first time in over thirty-five years of working in the desert.

Whether you believe in ancient curses or not there is one last coincidence that amazed me that I think you all will find interesting. It seems not all the treasures from King Tut's made made it to the Cairo Museum. It seems Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon took a few "trinkets" for themselves as souvenirs. Well, we know how Lord Carnarvon ended up and Howard Carter for all his success and acclaimed apparently ended up penniless and died of lymphoma a decade later on 2 March 1939; however, some have still attributed his death to the "curse".

It was said that Carter was so destitute in his later years that he was forced to sell some of his precious Tut "trinkets"and reportedly sold something to the U.S.Ambassador to England, who at the time was Joseph Kennedy, Sr., father of President John F. Kennedy. As we all know John Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, the same day the tomb of King Tutankhamen was opened 41 years before. Did the ancient curse of King Tut again claim its revenge?
What do you think?

Next week more on King Tut and how he was doomed at birth!

EVP'S - VOICES OF THE DEAD?

Can the dead really speak to us? Can these disembodied voices imprint themselves and be captured on electronic devices?

Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are sounds found on electronic recordings which resemble speech, but are reportedly not the result of intentional recording or rendering. EVP'S are commonly found in recordings with static, stray radio transmissions, and background
noise. Recordings of EVP are often produced by increasing the gain (i.e. sensitivity) of the recording equipment.

Paranormal explanations for the origin of EVP include living humans imprinting thoughts directly on an electronic medium through psychokinesis and communication by entities such as spirits, nature energies, beings from other dimensions, or extraterrestrials. Portable digital voice recorders are currently the technology of choice for EVP investigators.Since these devices are very susceptible to Radio Frequency (RF) contamination, EVP enthusiasts sometimes try to record EVP in RF- and sound-screened rooms... BUT you can't do this when you are on a haunted location!

Interest in EVP surrounds claims that they are of paranormal origin, although a number of natural explanations have been offered including apophenia (finding significance in insignificant phenomena), auditory pareidolia (interpreting random sounds as voices in one's own language), equipment artifacts, and hoaxes.

Parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive, (1909–1974) was a Latvian writer and intellectual, who studied parapsychology all his life, and was especially interested in the possibility of the afterlife. He popularized the idea, described EVP as typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase. In 1965 he claimed to have picked up the first recorded EVP on a tape recorder: a woman's voice speaking in German saying, "Go to sleep, Margaret".
Raudive later wrote:
"These words made a deep impression on me, as Margarete Petrautzki had died recently, and her illness and death had greatly affected me."

                                     Vintage Tape Recorder

He would spend the last ten years of his life researching EVP'S and would amass 100.000 audio tapes conducted in strict laboratory conditions.  His work, Breakthrough was published in English in 1971. 

Investigators today, equipped with electronic gear—like EMF meters, video cameras, and audio recorders—scour reportedly haunted venues, trying to uncover visual and audio evidence of ghosts. Many use portable recording devices in an attempt to capture EVP. (Some EVP enthusiasts describe hearing the words in EVP as an ability, much like learning a new language. Skeptics suggest that the claimed instances may be misinterpretations of natural phenomena, inadvertent influence of the electronic equipment by researchers, or deliberate influencing of the researchers and the equipment by third parties).

The concept of EVP has had an impact on popular culture. It is popular as an entertaining pursuit, as in ghost hunting, and as a means of dealing with grief. It has influenced literature,radio, film, and television.
Investigation of EVP's is the subject of hundreds of regional and national groups and Internet message boards. Paranormal investigator John Zaffis claims, "There's been a boom in ghost hunting ever since the Internet took off. 

Many "Paranormal" radio shows and Podcasts on the internet deal directly with the subject of EVP'S on a weekly basis by hosting people who are ghost investigators, authors and psychics who explore this topic and inform their audience with their sometimes shocking and terrifying recorded evidence.

Films involving EVP'S include Poltergeist, The Sixth Sense, White Noise, and Paranormal Activity. It has also been featured on television series like Ghost Whisperer, A Haunting, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, and Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files.

It seems the practice of capturing EVP's will continue and the exploration of its validity by many dedicated investigators as a true paranormal phenomenon is here to stay!

Here is my true to life encounter with one very disturbing EVP I captured in the basement of my house in February 2010. This is only a small sample of the continued evidence my family and I have collected while being on a long 5 year journey of living a paranormal life.

Home Aud 08.aup is the file name. It was only 9:13 minutes long.

Here is the sequence:

00-6:30- from the beginning I asked a series of questions to my deceased friend and members of his family about the things missing in our house and what we took out of his home, etc.

at 6:30-  heard static and there are bumps or taps

7:02-  suddenly the audio gets louder although I did not put up the volume-I had put the recorder down on a box the whole time and never touched it-something tuned up the volume dial.

8:34- I mention that the heater turned on

8:37- I say, "That's going to make noise"

8:40- (This is it) large area on the audio a Horrible raspy voice saying (we think)

"SHUT OFF THE RECORDER" It scared the Hell out of me.

8:42-9:13- I don't react at all as I didn't hear the voice and just goes to the end as I go back upstairs.

I can't include include the whole audio clip because of privacy issues.  If you would like me to e-mail the 10 second Sound Wave clip to you (you can play it on your Windows Media player) of that horrific EVP voice please contact me: 
http://www.anitajointenzo.com/Contact_Anita.html   or
pastimages@aol.com
When you hear this- it will give you nightmares!

HAUNTED BLOG UPDATES-CAN YOU BELIEVE?

In the last 5 months since starting my blog there have been several interesting developments that have changed and should be added as updates to the particular subjects I explored in several of my blogs. Here are 2 popular Blog Updates. 

BLOG: MY FRIEND PAUL *- A REAL GHOST WRITER

*name has been changed

My friend of 30 years was an anthropologist and he wrote numerous stories (on an old portable typewriter) and some topics were about the origins and history of our modern holidays. Halloween was one of his favorite times of the year and as it so happened I came across an article he wrote about this holiday. His research showed that it was a holiday adapted from early pagan traditions to a Christian Holiday honoring the dead and how it evolved to become one of our major holidays due to our cultural fascination today with icons associated with it: witches, goblins, demons, monsters, and GHOSTS. He particularly singled out ghosts in this article that were called “Poltergeists”. I think it had to do with the word being of German origin (meaning- noisy ghost) and my friend was very proud of his German heritage. Little did I know, at the beginning of my 10 months spent at Paul’s house, to clean it out for sale, that ironically I would be confronting some of the very subjects my friend had written about in his article!

I would like to share this excerpt from my soon to be published book as why I believe my friend’s spirit was haunting his house. You will have to wait for the book to be published to read the full and chilling story of my paranormal experiences so you can draw your own conclusions.

     Abbreviated Excerpt from Chapter 15- Caught on Tape!

     I walked into Paul’s almost empty bedroom and retrieved the tape recorder that I had placed on his bed earlier that day.  I brought the recorder to the dining room table and rewound it and found about two hours of tape had recorded.
     When I played it back, I could distinctly hear voices on the tape. Had I captured audible paranormal sounds? Then I realized they were our voices coming from the basement right below Paul’s bedroom.  Over our excited voices, and at the exact moment the poltergeist activity was happening in the basement, you could simultaneously hear either a knocking or a banging sound. I played the tape back for my son Chris and his friend Eddie when they came upstairs.
     “It’s definitely timed to exactly when things happened in the basement,” Chris said. “But how come we didn’t hear those bangs above us?”
     It was a question beyond any rational explanation.
    “I don’t know. What gets me is that the knocks are coming right from Paul’s room,” I said.
     I paused and looked around the room, and noticed the portable typewriter covered with an old orange towel that had been pushed aside on one of the window ledges. I realized we had never even looked closely at it. To me, it was just another obstacle we moved out of our way to clear Paul’s room. This time, something was drawing me to the typewriter to take off the towel.
    “Guys, you are not going to believe this. Look!”
     Chris and Eddie walked up to view what was a sheet of typing paper still in the typewriter’s roller. Several of the typewriter’s keys were stuck up in the air and jammed together. The paper was blank except for two typed words “the hell….”
    “Dude, really?” exclaimed Chris.
     We just stared at the typewriter. My friend had to be the one who had typed the words but I had no idea when or why. Was he trying to send us a message? I wondered, was his room the source of the paranormal activity?

                                          End of excerpt.

The typewriter as found in Paul’s bedroom and used in my book trailer.  http://youtu.be/kA2_q6GWJjQ
            

                                          

                                                 UPDATE 

             

Upon inspecting the covered typewriter, that has been kept in our basement the past few years, we found to our surprise its orange towel was hanging to one side of the typewriter and the keys had been played with and new keys were pressed down. Other than using it for our Book Trailer in July 2012, no one had touched or moved it. The keys pressed down were strange as to leave a message for us. One the left side the keys pressed down: Numbers 4,5 letters ER, D. On the right side the letters, K, M.

We don't know the significance of the keys changed or the exact time it happened. Here is our theory:  My friend  D-died (we think from the doctor's report) at 4:05 AM on the morning of January 19th 2009) in the E R ????

We have heard strange noises and bangs coming from our basement and no one goes down there unnecessarily. We know all is not well down there and something quite ancient in the spirit realm is possessive of the area.We are having another blessing scheduled for the house and basement and it may turn into a full exorcism of the ancient ground our house is built over. 

Which works into our next Blog Update: WHAT ARE SHADOW PEOPLE?

A shadow person, also known as a shadow figure, shadow being or black mass, is an alleged paranormal entity.
Shadow people are described with striking similarities all over the world such as the Hat-Man which is described the same from small children to adults. The common traits: they described them as dark silhouettes with human shapes (usually a masculine shape) and profiles that flicker in and out of peripheral vision. Some people tell of seeing shadow people wearing coats, hoods and hats and a few people have claimed to see shadow people with bright red glowing eyes. Others talk about the "Hat Man," a solid creature as having "a Zorro-type hat" or "a Fedora type hat". My family have seen The Hat Man in our home and these sightings have been connected with poltergeist activity at the same time.

In 2011 I saw a tall shadow figure in our hallway as I was sitting in the living room watching TV. He was very fast but I could make out the shape.

July 6, 2012: This figure showed up again last year when we filmed my book trailer. On our teaser, before you see the shadow man at the beginning of the video (the first 10 seconds) reflected on our white door and just before you see him there is a brief second EVP of a dog barking. http://youtu.be/kA2_q6GWJjQ

                           Artistic illustration of sighting on trailer

Our brimmed hat shadow man came to my son later (who is very psychic) in a dream and told him was a former resident who murdered his wife in the early 1900's. My son described him as wearing farmer's overalls and a brimmed hat along with his companion-a large black dog with red eyes. We researched in county records (the property dates to the early 1800's) and indeed a former owner went to prison for murdering his wife in 1900's.

Is this the same entity attached to that part of the original haunted ground our house is built on?
Or was he and his murdering deed partially influenced by some dark ancient evil in the ground he lived on?

Several nights ago, Halloween night, son and his wife woke up about 2 AM to a loud bang coming from the basement. My son was very frightened and came into my room saying he thought someone had broken into the house. He grabbed his ninja sword from his collection and we all went down stairs to the basement door. Opening the door we were surprised to see a light reflected on the bottom basement wall which meant it was coming from back of the basement near the sink area where you have to use a pull chain to switch the light on. No one had put on the light the day. All of a sudden we saw a shadow figure go cross that lighted area below us and into the wall. 

                                 Artist illustration of sighting.

We were very scared. My son was sure someone was down there. We bravely called out,"We've coming down!" and rushed down the stairs. No one was there! We looked around for several more minutes convinced all was secure but knew what we had seen. I'll tell you we did not sleep very well the rest of the night and all of us were bleary-eyed the next morning.

PART 2-MY SON -THE RELUCTANT PSYCHIC

As promised and just in time for Halloween, (although a few weeks delayed which couldn't be helped) is the second part of my blog about communicating with the dead. I would like to share a few of my son's unusual and astonishing communications with spirits and dreams he's had the last several years. His remarkable connection with deceased people and the eerie accuracy of the information the spirits have related to him I hope will fascinate you as it does me.

He will tell you he is a very reluctant psychic. He wishes he didn't have dead people coming to him in the middle of the night giving him messages for hours that leave him tired and drained of energy in the morning. But its been happening since 2009 when we first started working on cleaning out my deceased friend's estate.

As I mentioned before it started out with a dream my son Chris had of my deceased friend only a few weeks after his sudden death.From sources on reading ways people communicate with the dead,it seems when we are dreaming we are very open to communication from deceased loved ones and from the other side in general. This is because we're already in the astral planes, which is a non-physical place that we visit when we're asleep. It easier for the deceased "to meet us half-way" energetically speaking, by visiting us there. Makes sense.

This is what seems to have happened with my son.

There is no doubt in my mind that my son's long time connection to my friend Paul* (who once told me he would have been proud to have a son like Chris) and him helping me clean out Paul's house somehow triggered and brought a dormant psychic ability that was always present in my son to the surface.

Looking back I remember Chris telling me of an "imaginary friend" that played with him in his bedroom and a period of time when he was about 6 and would awake in the middle of the night, come into my bedroom frightened and tell me, "the lady was looking at me". I thought at the time it was an Renaissance woman's portrait I had painted in art school hanging near his bedroom, so I removed it thinking that was the cause of his terror. 

          This is the portrait of Raphael's lady I copied in art school.

I know now it was something else.
We've become aware of children ghosts that are in our house, who (we've been told) died suddenly and tragically and of a woman guardian who looks after the children and us. We think she is the one who leaves me the "ghost threads" presents. Her name could possible be Marjorie.  An older woman's apparition has been seen in between our front and screen doors (and with a space width of less than 8 inches it wasn't a live human), She has visited my son in a dream holding a little girl about 4 years old who is dead. She tells my son to look out from our upstairs bathroom window to see the site of the little girl's grave. We have been told by a team of "grave dowsers" who investigated for us that there possible could be not one but several graves on our property.  Near the upstairs bathroom window we've smelled an strong old fashioned fragrance of lilacs and roses and have found several "ghosts threads".  

                    

My son tells of a dream he's had of a young boy about 8 years old, and his name is Benjamin Foster, who has been on our property for a long time (1800's). We have seen his ghostly hand prints above our garage door and his message for help. When we researched this there is indeed a record of land near ours that was originally the Foster Family farm and is now a children's playground called "Foster Tract". Benjamin likes to be in my son's room (he tells my son he is afraid of the bad man in the basement) and plays with my son's movie monster and action figure collectibles and they are often moved around in the room. But when he feels my son is ignoring him the ghost seems to have a "temper tandem" and some figures have been found tossed around the room and broken. 

Our little 4 year old ghosts that Chris has met are a boy and girl and they died from a sudden illness. They like to run through the house and our breezeway and take down my clothes on the clothes tree outside and take down my sun catchers on the window-but never break them or move any other items on the window sill-they are placed with care.

Our resident ghosts are not the only ones appearing to my son in his dreams. There has been puzzling historical figures and references that we are still tying to understand.
Like the time my son woke up and asked me if I ever heard of Enid Cemetery? No I hadn't. He then tells me a WW 2 pilot, whose name was Lt. Robert Strickler, who lost his life in the Pacific came to him. Why?

We look up Enid and here is what we found:

 Enid Cemetery-Oklahoma
Several grave markers also contribute to the historic significance of the cemetery: William F. Svarik (1909) in the Catholic cemetery, W.C. Conley (1889-1921) in Potter's Field, William Mason (1909-1936) and M.J. Adler (1867-1919) in the Jewish section, Lt. Commander Robert L. Strickler.

Another weird coincidence happened about the time we started to watch the TV show "Hell on Wheels". What caught my interest was the actress on the show who plays a former brothel worker and an outcast member of society due to her tattooed chin a reminder of her early days as a captive of the Comanche Indians. I told Chris that that was a true fact and that did happen (although this was changed for the TV show) as I remember a story in one of my western history books and seeing a woman just like that with a tattooed chin.  I didn't recall her name. Chris woke up one morning with a very disturbed demeanor. He told me the shadow man, the one we had seen in our house, wanted him to know that "The Oatman are mine!" Chris also recalled something about the desert and the west but had no idea what that meant so he immediately looked up the name Oatman on his cell phone and up came this:


Olive Oatman (1837–March 20, 1903) was a woman from Illinois whose Morman pioneer family was killed in 1851 when she was fourteen in today's Arizona by a Native American tribe, possibly the Western Yavapai who captured and enslaved her and her sister and later sold them to the Mohave people.
After several years with the Mohave, during which her sister died of hunger, she returned to the white world, five years after being carried off. In subsequent years, the tale of Oatman came to be retold with dramatic license in the press, in her own "memoir" and speeches, novels, plays, movies and poetry. 
And what really made Chris jump off his bed was Olive Oatman's Photo: Both Oatman girls were tattooed on their chins and arms in keeping with the tribal custom for those who were tribal members. Olive later claimed (in her memoir book and in her lectures) that she was tattooed to mark her as a slave of the Mohaves.

Her markings were just like the one the actress wore on the TV show. What did this mean? 

For most dreamers a psychic visitation appears for one or two reasons:

Someone the dreamer knows (family, friend, loved one, or distant familiar person) who recently died and the soul who just past needs the dreamer’s guidance or some type of reassurance of their death.
Or the dreamer is in need of guidance, protection, comfort – a spirit (whether familiar or unfamiliar) will appear with a message, or love and warmth, for the dreamer (whether the dreamer realized he/she requested assistance or not).

We are not sure why these long dead spirits are contacting Chris.
This is only a small sample of the unusual psychic connections Chris is dealing with all the time. There are other dreams which I can only reveal in my next book because of the potential serious nature of the allegations it presents connected to a particular ghost we have been dealing here since my friend's death.
Having a psychic son is both a blessing and a curse. I worry about the dark along with the light that is attracted to him. He takes it good naturally and with a sense of humor. I support him as does his wife as someone who is truly gifted and sensitive with special abilities. We will always believe in him and it certainly makes our lives very spirited and interesting! 

ANGEL OF DEATH OR SAINTLY INTERVENTION

The following blog is written as my own point of view and not to proselytize, interfere or disagree with anyone's else religious or non religious beliefs. It is purely from my own personal (Christian) perspective and experience that I write this to inform and share with others. Many other religions have the same common themes based in their holy books too so there might be some similarities. Love and Light to you all!

Throughout recorded history, people from various religious perspectives have spoken of an “Angel of Death”. Many people from all walks of life who have had near death experiences have reported that they've encountered angels who helped them, and people who have witnessed loved ones die have also reported encountering angels who gave their dying loved ones peace. Sometimes dying people’s last words describe the visions they’re experiencing. For example, just before famous inventor Thomas Edison died in 1931, he remarked: "It is very beautiful over there." And the late Apple inventor, Steve Jobs, was reported saying to his family just before he died, "OH, WOW!"

The Angel of Death’s personification as an evil creature wearing a black hood and carrying a scythe (the Grim Reaper of popular culture) originated from the Jewish Talmud’s descriptions of an evil Angel of Death who represents the demons associated with the fall of mankind (one consequence of which was death).  Throughout centuries artists have represented this figure in thousands of incarnations and indeed is a dark subject that creative people love to reinvent and portray.

So, should we fear the Angel of Death?

The Midrash (a form of rabbinic literature) explains that God does not allow the Angel of Death to bring evil to righteous people. Also, all people are bound to encounter the Angel of Death when it’s their appointed time to die, says Psalm 89:48: "There is no man who lives and, seeing the angel of death, can deliver his soul from his hand."

What if there is one or even a group of angels who comfort people when they’re dying and escort their souls into an afterlife?

The Christian Bible doesn't name one specific angel as the Angel of Death. But it does say that angels are "all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14) and makes it clear that death is a holy event for Christians ("Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints," Psalm 116:15), so in the Christian view it’s reasonable to expect that one or more angels will be present with people when they die. 

Since I had a Catholic upbringing we were taught by The Catholic Church that the archangel Michael escorts the souls of those who have died to the afterlife, where God judges their earthly lives. Catholic tradition also says that Michael may communicate with dying people near the end of their lives on Earth, helping them find redemption before they pass away.

A very unique Catholic tradition is the one of Saints (ordinary people who lived on this Earth who are officially recognized by the Christian church as being very holy because of the way he or she lived)  and their special order in Heaven. Catholics pray to the a particular saint (they do not worship them) for intersession on their behalf as saints can relay messages directly to God because of their holy status in Heaven. Catholics are named usually after different patron saints and my Italian family carried on that tradition. My name is Anita which is Spanish for "Little Anne" Saint Anne, my brother's is Anthony after Saint Anthony, my dad was Vincent after Saint Vincent de Paul and my mother's middle name was Rita after Saint Rita of Cascia.

Saint Rita of Cascia

Saint Rita was born as Margherita in 1381 near Umbria, Italy and was married at age 12 to a nobleman named Paolo Mancini. Her husband was known to be a rich, quick-tempered, immoral man, who had many enemies in the region of Cascia. Rita had her first child at the age of 13. Rita endured his insults, physical abuse and infidelities for many years. According to popular tales, through humility, kindness and patience, Rita was able to convert her husband into a better person. She bore the terrible pain of losing her husband and 2 sons later to a murderous vendetta by a rival family feud. She entered the Convent in Cascia at the age of 36 and later bore the stigmata of a thorn of Christ in her forehead. She is shown with roses as a tale is told of how when she was sick and dying at the convent, a miracle of red roses appeared in the winter snow as a sign of her piety. She is the patron saint of lost and impossible causes, sickness, wounds, marital problems, abuse, and mothers.

                           Saint Rita's tomb with her in-corrupt body at the Basilica of Cascia.

My mother was baptized, attended school and church and married in St. Rita of Cascia Church in South Philadelphia. My mother often called on her to help her out in difficult times. She held a special place in my mother's heart as my mom told us of the time that she contracted staphylococcal meningitis in 1942 at the age of 19. She was engaged to my dad at the time and he was not allowed home on furlough (he was in basic training in the Army Air Corp during WW 2) as my mother was quarantined in a Philadelphia hospital and not expected to live. The only medicine at the time was Sulfa and they were given to my mother although she found out years later by a family doctor that the drug was useless against such a serious disease.The only thing anyone could do was pray for her and the whole church community did just that with great devotion. My mother told us how sick she was with terrible head, neck pain and fever and that she saw the "Angel of Death"- a dark figure-come closer and closer to her. She said she fought to keep her eyes open and not fall asleep as she knew if she did that she would die. She prayed to Saint Rita to heal her and the next day she over came the crucial crisis point and started to get better. Her recovery would be a long and difficult one with  months in bed with terrible headaches but she survived and married my dad after the war.

She and her family were convinced that the dark figure was a vision of Saint Rita in her nun's habit at the foot of my mother's bed. Miracle? Saintly intervention? Our family believe that it was.

My mother survived a terrible disease and affliction which many never recover. I can't help think about how incredibly different things would have been had my mother not survived and never had another 72 years to live. My father would have married someone else, my brother and I would never have been born and you would never be reading this blog. It's hard not to think of the implications. I guess some things are meant to be. Thank you Providence and Saint Rita for saving her and giving me the best mother and friend a girl could ever have. You have my everlasting gratitude!

My MOM'S FINAL EMBRACE

My beloved mother passed away a few weeks ago and its been very hard on me. I have been close to my mom all my life and for the last 6 years I've been her primary caregiver every day for her numerous illnesses, hospital and ER stays, overseer of her medications, doctor visits and "captain" to direct the other team of caregivers we had 24/7 (especially the last 2 years). I was with her almost to the very end as she spent her final days at home on Hospice. She was so happy to be home and hugged and kissed me me everyday to show how grateful she was to me and my family for making it happen. 

I had been in this situation before as I also helped to care for my dying father at home (also on Hospice 2 years ago) and saw him 45 minutes before he died. Hospice is not for the faint of heart as it can be difficult and gut wrenching to see your loved one in terrible pain, smelling the odor of incontinence, changing and washing sheets and bed clothing, maintaining equipment for feeding tubes etc., the constant diligence of dispensing the medications on a strict schedule, and hearing the constant swooshing sound of the oxygen machine pumping life- giving breath to lungs that are tired and want to give up. Yes, it was hard to see my once beautiful, vibrant, energetic, steel willed "force of nature" mother finally surrender to a septic infection that finally stilled her loving, beating heart. But I would do it all again for my last living memory of her, several days before she died, was her arms reaching out to me hugging me in a final embrace of thanks.

Her name was Aurora and we laid to rest our "Sleeping Beauty" on a warm and cloudless blue sky day. At her funeral as the mourners surrounded my mother's lavender steel casket, under the sheltered pavilion by the mausoleum gardens at St. Peter and Paul Cemetery, several of my friends remarked how all of a sudden the wind kicked up around us like a small whirlwind when it had been calm only moments before. I only smiled knowing that that whirlwind was my mom. This was only the first of many signs I would notice in the coming days of my mom's spirit being close by.(In my previous blog on "Spirit Messengers" I mentioned that I discovered a large moth in her laundry room the day after she died).

This past Friday, my mom's dear friend, Sister Clare called to check up on me and find out how I was doing. She had to tell me of her experience she had during the mass for Christian burial we had for my mom. Sister was sitting with several other nuns away from the family designated pews and wasn't sitting near anyone close, but told me she smelled very strongly "White Diamonds" the perfume my mother always wore and that she felt my mother's presence next to her.

I then told her of my own strange experience in the family limo during the funeral procession. I was wearing a high necked blouse with a jacket (Asian design with a butterfly painted on it) and one necklace of a jeweled butterfly and another plain long gold chain that was my mother's. I happened to look down at my blouse and saw that my mom's gold chain was gone. I started to panic and looked around the limo. I touched my neck and found to my relief that the chain somehow was inside my blouse! It was bizarre. There was no way this could happen unless you physically (and with some difficulty) stuff the chain inside the blouse. Sister Clare's response was said with a laugh,"I think your mom did that". She was right. That would be something funny my mother would do to break up the sadness of that day.

This past week there have been flickering light bulbs following me where ever I am in a room or closet. At first my son thought it could be a wiring malfunction in our house or the light bulbs had to be changed or tightened. No, we checked and it wasn't any of those. Only the faintest of flickers but persistent nevertheless. Is that you mom?

In researching for this blog there is truth to these visits from the deceased. Many times, the Dead visit the living right after their passing as the spirit still has many ties to the world of the living. Often, recently deceased people travel to those they have attachments to, appearing as uncommonly solid and real apparitions to living dreamers. These visits are often a way for the Dead to say farewell to those still on the material plane so they can let go and gain entry into the spirit world. These visits tend to be intensely felt, and are often very comforting to the living. How timely this information was for me.

Yesterday, Saturday only 2 weeks since we buried my mom I went into a bag with the last article of clothing she wore-her favorite lavender warm up jacket(she was always cold even in the summer). It still had the small stain of vanilla ice cream on it- the last thing she ever ate. It also smelled of her neck and her White Diamonds perfume. I just burst into tears. I couldn't bear to wash this yet. I placed that jacket next to me last night on a pillow before I fell to sleep. Then it happened. Sometime during the night my mother visited me. There seemed to be a gathering or party with people and my mother was off in the distance. Then she was just within arms length and with a big smile and looking like she did 25 years ago she said, "There you are Honey, I'm so glad to see you, I've missed you". We ran into each others arms and I could fell the physical pressure of her embrace. It lingered for a long time and I felt so happy. She showed me a garden room that was so beautiful and said she and my dad were there and then the dream ended.

As I said in my final words for my mom's Eulogy, "Ciao, Mom, I'll see you in my dreams." I woke up this morning with tears in my eyes but forever grateful for her loving visit. Ciao, Mom!