Old Salem Ghost Story

I recently returned from a trip with my family to Old Salem village in Winston-Salem, NC.  It's a completely restored 18th century Moravian village with surprisingly few ghosts lingering around.  One ghost story, however, did catch my eye because it's not scary -- just very evidential.  One night, a sickly gentleman checked into Old Salem's tavern.  He later died that evening, and because he had no identification on him, the tavern owner told his employees to put his saddle bags in storage and bury him in the stranger's section of the cemetery.

But just days later the employees started complaining of hearing strange noises, things moving and seeing a ghost reaching out to them in the hallway.  Each time, the employee would run and tell the tavern owner who did not, of course, believe in such foolishness.  About a week after the stranger died, a female employee of the tavern keeper ran into his office and said, "He's there!  The ghost!  He's in the hallway."  The tavern keeper had had enough of these alleged haunting, so he slammed his ledger book closed, walked out into the hallway and almost into the ghostly figure of the stranger who had died in his tavern.  But the tavern keeper was not a man to turn tail and run.  He stood his ground and said, "What do you want?"

The ghost said, "Please, write this all down."  The tavern keeper went to his office, retrieved a piece of paper and wrote down all the ghost had to say.  He told the tavern keeper his name and gave him his brother's name and address in Texas.  "My family must know what happened to me."  The tavern keeper gave him his word and the ghost disappeared.

Now, the tavern keeper could hardly believe what had just happened to him.  Still, a man's word is his honor, so he wrote a letter to the man the ghost had called his brother and told him about the untimely death of his brother and mailed it off.  A few weeks later, a letter arrived confirming that he was indeed the brother of the ghost and asked that he send his saddle bags and any other belonging to the Texas address.

The tavern keeper never again referred to talk of ghosts as foolishness.

The Haunted Tea Pot

I did a reading this weekend for a lovely new client.  I felt some heaviness around her home and couldn't pin point the source.  It just felt like a blanket of sadness was hanging about her and depleting her energy.  I asked her family members on the other side to help me out and they showed me a teapot.  A teapot? I asked.  They nodded.  Okay.

"Do you have an antique teapot?" I asked cautiously.
"Yes," my client said.  "It's handle is broken, so I have to get it fixed."
"Well, I'm not sure how to say this, but there's a little old lady attached to that teapot.  She's hanging about your home and stealing all the good energy for herself."
"Oh! What should I do?"

I advised her to get rid of the teapot.  In addition to being an avid antique collector, this client was also a very gifted intuitive.  The two do NOT go hand in hand.  If you enjoy collecting antiques, please remember to put white light around yourself before entering the store.  When bringing home any antiques -- or anything previously owned -- sage it outside first before bringing it in your home.

I know it sounds weird that people get so attached to their things that they don't go into the light.  I can hardly believe it myself, but it happens all the time.  So, please, if you're an avid antique hunter or yard sale scavenger, remember to take precautions first.  Yes, one man's trash is another's treasure.  But just remember, you could be bringing home a lot more than "treasure."

Here are some signs that a ghost is inhabiting your surroundings:

1) an increase in illness -- especially upper respiratory infections and ear infections
2) more fighting among family members
3) depleted energy
4) an increase in general sadness and depression
5) things -- like keys, remote controls and phones -- temporarily disappearing only to reappear later
6) always feeling watched
7) either a desire to leave the house a lot or a desire to stay in the home all the time

For more information on how to rid yourself of a pesky house guest, check out this great read:  When Ghosts Speak by Mary Ann Winkowski

Neighborly Ghosts

A couple of weeks ago, I came home and discovered my answering machine blinking with a message.  When I pressed it, all I heard was static for a moment and then a scary voice yelled, "HELP!"  Then nothing.  Click.

Last week as my husband and I were about to fall asleep, we heard a loud noise coming from the living room as though someone were playing a computer game.  We rushed toward the direction of the sound and finally found my children's laptop which had been pushed under a chair in the living room.  The cord was unplugged and wrapped around it.  When my husband unwound the cord and opened the laptop, we turned the loud computer game off and pressed the power off button.  Spooky.

I told my next door neighbor about this, and she said, "That's weird.  The other night my husband and I had just gone to bed and we have a ceiling fan above our bed.  The fan works, but the lights never have.  This night, just as we turned out the lights to go to bed, the ceiling fan lights turn on. It was weird."

I said, "What night was this?"

She said, "Thursday."

"That's when our computer went off.  It happened just after midnight."

She said, "I don't know what time it was.  I'll ask my husband."

The next day, we were all outside watching our kids play, and she asked her husband what time the weird thing with the lights happened and he said, "Midnight.  I remember looking at the clock just as the lights went on."

Double spooky.

When my clients email me with similar tales and ask me who it was, I always have the same reply.  "Close your eyes.  Who's the first person who comes to mind?" Usually, people will think of their deceased grandmother, an uncle who just passed, a friend they haven't thought in awhile who's on the other side.  And I'll tell them, "It's just their way of saying hello."  But this time, when I closed my eyes and tried to focus on who this was, I saw nothing.

Who knows?  Maybe the veil that gets thinner right around Halloween is already thinning out.  All I know, is I'm putting up extra protection of white light around my family, me and my home.  Oh, and my neighbors too!