Saturday, March 5, 2016

Lots of Tyler, Texas, Ghosts! Part One




I've had some serious ghost-hunting fun several times with George Jones of Jericho's Tours of Tyler, TX. A few weeks before Valentine's Day this year, George posted on Facebook about an overnight investigation on Saturday, February 13. Since it ran over into February 14, it was a legitimate Valentine's Day celebration.
Are any of y'all going to this? my friend, Karla Lang, posted to us. It didn't take long for three of us to respond a resounding YES. Since my friends and fellow crew members Sarah and Floyd Brigdon live here in Terrell, I was able to hitch a ride with them. And what a ride it was! The investigation, not the car ride.
Unfortunately, Karla wasn't able to go at the last minute. Also, somewhat unfortunately for the person who called me, we had a call from a homeowner a few days before the overnight. It was from a wonderful lady we had tried to help several times before and involved the only failure our team has experienced thus far. So we ended up going to Tyler a few hours before we were to meet George to spend some time with the lady. It's not something I can report on in the blog, due to confidentiality. I only mention it here because these homeowner cases don't always turn out to be easily solved. This one is still on-going.
George had kept the ghost hunt destination secret until we arrived in Tyler. We met some of his crew at a designated spot in downtown Tyler at 9 p.m. If you ever get to Texas, and for my friends who do live here, you need to visit downtown Tyler. There's some fascinating history and buildings there.
As to the tour with George, the first place we headed out to was the McClendon House, a historical old place built in 1878.


McClendon House
There's plenty of history on line about this wonderful old Victorian home (http://mcclendonhouse.net/history/), but three facts stood out for me.
One: Annie McClendon, the second owner, was very active in the women's suffragette movement, in addition to raising NINE children!
Two: The youngest of those children, Sarah, became a Washington, D.C. news journalist. Her career spanned Franklin Roosevelt to George W. Bush. I still remember seeing her in the audience of journalists at news conferences.
Sarah McClendon
Three: There is a room in the house that has no entrance! You can see it through a stairwell window, but no one can find anywhere at all to go into it. The owners don't want to tear down walls to examine this room, so for now, it stands as a house mystery touted on tours.
Yes, they do give tours. And yes, this house is haunted. I actually saw doors open on their own during our tour and felt more than one presence. The strongest was in the downstairs bathroom, located where we entered the house. I forgot my camera in the car, so I didn't take any photos myself. However, I was so fascinated with the history and the ghosts I sensed that I didn't miss it.
The next place George took us is an extremely haunted set of warehouses in Tyler. I had been there before, and proven to George that yes, I did communicate across the Veil. However, it may take me two more blogs to report on what happened this time! If you truly want a fascinating experience in the paranormal, contact George Jones at Jericho Tours of Tyler (http://toursoftyler.com/home).
~~~~
Behind the scenes in the writing world: I've been typing away, and Angela's been working away, also. I've actually finished a new short story, and when Angela gets things done on her end, I'll be giving this one away to everyone who signs up for my mailing list! I've been procrastinating building that list for far too long. Once it's done, you won't have to miss another new release from me, unless you forgot to open the newsletter I have Angela send out for me.
I'm not sure yet how we'll do it, but everyone already on the list will get a copy of this story, also. We may have to have y'all contact me so I can send it to you in whatever format you want. Angela's figuring that out.
The new short story is Thrall Bound, and it's one of my eclectic genre mixes. PK is the daughter of a Mage in a futuristic world, who encounters a vampire shapeshifter called Sammael.
Here's the gorgeous Angela Rogers cover and the gorgeous Sammael:

Now I'll get to work on the final tweaks (well, Angela will), and we'll see if we can have this ready for y'all and do another blog next week. See you then (hopefully).
Boo!
T. M.

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