Aunt Belle and I
always have a wonderful time together, but we haven't been able to plan a girls-only
overnight for a while now. This year, we swept everything else aside and called
my son to stay with my husband, then off we went. Mineola, Texas, is fast
becoming our favorite local haunt.
It's only a forty-five minute drive, and we're getting known out there.
I surprised Aunt
Belle with a reservation for the only B&B that is open at this time in
Mineola, Munzesheimer Manor.
Of course, when
I called, my first question was: "Which is your most haunted room?"
There was
silence for a few seconds, then the lady said: "We're not haunted."
I hesitated, but
only for a second. That's what you think,
I thought. You've never had Aunt Belle
and me as guests.
We stayed in the
Perry Suite, and this was the sign at our door:
I can't tell you
how many times Aunt Belle and I looked at each other that night and whispered,
"This place isn't haunted. Ha!"
That night, we placed our trigger object, Anna
Lee, and one of our ghost communication flashlights in the cradle at the foot
of Aunt Belle's bed.
We finally had
to turn then both off in order to get any sleep. They kept lighting up as the
ghosts made their presences known. Besides that, we had a few other encounters
the next morning. As I mentioned on my Facebook page, we got enough activity on
this visit to fill a complete diary story, so I'll be writing it up for a story
in Volume VI. In fact, I already have
three full pages of notes.
The pre-1800's
building that Connie Meissner is restoring to its former grandeur, the Beckham
Hotel, is also located in Mineola. We've become friends with Connie, and it's
always a delight to see her, even though she was only able to tear herself away
from the hotel for a short lunch with us. We had a slight disappointment when
she told us there was no way the Beckham would be open this Fall, as she had
hoped. However, her new hopeful date is the Christmas Season. We plan to be in Mineola
the first weekend in December for the home tours and other activities. If the
Beckham isn't open, Connie said we could bring our cots and stay anyway!
We're making new
friends every time we visit. Of course, most of our "meets" are a result
of our paranormal investigating activities. We had lunch with Connie at Taste Buds,
owned by Darlena Watson. This is where Aunt Belle and I investigated the
morning after our overnight at the Beckham. Talk about awesome food! No wonder
this place is so busy all the time. Plus — we identified another ghost there,
in addition to speaking once again to
Pauline and Eleanor.
Darlena also
told us about another friend of hers, who wanted us to "come over and see
whether she has some ghosts in her shop." Sharry owns the Bead Monkey,
across the street from Taste Buds. Yeah, we walked over after we ate, and yep,
she's got ghosts. Sharry told us the building had once been used as a hospital,
and she related several happenings there. Aunt Belle and I identified at least
three ghosts, one by name and two others whom we didn't have time to
communicate with in depth. This interesting story will be part of the Volume VI, also. Hang in there! It's in
the works.
I'm working on
the book of my blogs, too. I've come up with a title: Living With Dead Folks. I like the name, since the blog is I See Dead Folks. There are far too many
blog posts for only one book, so this will be the first volume of them. What
do y'all think of the title?
I'm also digging
through a lot of still-unpublished diaries to see what would fit for the
article I've been invited to write for FATE Magazine. I found my entire Eureka
Springs/Crescent Hotel file, none of which has been published yet. As of today,
I've pretty much decided on that. It could change, should FATE not like that
idea. However, I have plenty of backup available.
Stay safe, and
remember. Don't invite Aunt Belle and me to visit you unless you want proof
there are some ghosts roaming around.
Boo!
T. M.
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