Hunting Ghosts in 2013

  Yes, I know I didn't publish a blog last week. Yes, it was because of Christmas and my preference to spend time with living friends and loved ones. So I hope y'all had as wonderful a time as I did.
  There were a few ghostly incidents during the past couple weeks, as there always are around here. The lady in the kitchen made herself known quite often. Aunt Belle saw her during her visit. I bought this cute full-length Christmas apron one day at a sale and hung it on the kitchen doorway. The first morning of her visit, Aunt Belle saw our kitchen lady standing there admiring the apron. My cousin Tara came by one day to help me clean, and as soon as she entered the house, she and I were both aware that someone had accompanied her. Tara felt the energy and accompanying goose bumps covered her arms. She'd lost a couple people close to her in recent days, and I felt one of those was with her. There were a few other incidents when I could sense and feel someone I didn't see hanging around. I'd say the visitors came around to enjoy the Christmas decorations, but ghosts are the norm in my house.
  Those who have been following Roy's escapades will be glad (I hope) to know he did indeed cross into The Light. I even confirmed that with Aunt Belle while she was here. She told me she didn't see him anywhere around, and she also didn't see anyone except our regulars. So I'm happy those paranormal boarders around here took advantage of the door into The Light and rejoined their own families for Christmas, including Roy. Now when something weird happens, I know someone living here mislaid or misplaced things … at least, for now. Until the next lonely soul happens by and wants a place to linger or someone to help him or her cross over.
  The other most "visible" presence who showed up during this season was the orb in the photo I took of the four of us wearing our Santa t-shirts:

 
I'm pretty sure I know who the orb is, but it's something too personal to talk about … at least, right now. He has shown up in many of the pictures we take here in my home, especially at family gatherings.
Of course, since paranormal happenings are a big part of my life, I do schedule time now and then to pay attention to what goes on around me in the other realm. I plan times when I can actually focus on that area of my life, rather than just give a nod at whoever happens to pass through the same place I'm occupying. We'll start our Psychic Development classes again in 2013, so that means I'll try to take my class somewhere at least once a month to see how they're progressing. I get frequent emails from friends and also readers asking paranormal questions. I always try to answer as soon as I can and as honestly as I can. I'm well aware that others aren't as comfortable as I am about dealing with the other world around us.
One thing we did this year was decide to get our own group name. I'll still be part of Billy York's NTPRS, but we were doing a lot of paranormal work and development separately, due to Billy's tight schedule. Therefore, I thought we should also have a separate name. So from now on, my group will be known as Supernatural Researchers of Texas (SRT). I grabbed our name out there on the internet, and maybe sometime in 2013, we'll get a web site. In the meantime, we'll at least start a blog site, where I can upload a few pictures and videos, as well as chat with y'all. I'm going to parcel out some of the responsibilities in our group, so maybe it won't be so overwhelming on top of my writing. 
I don't have any plans at the present to expand our group, although we will take someone along with us once in a while. We're not well-funded like the TV show groups, and we have our own way of doing things. We are very serious about our investigations, but we also have a lot of fun. We don't "bait" ghosts; we treat them and all parts of the paranormal world with respect. We don't mess with evil entities other than to get the hell away or send them somewhere else, if necessary. I'm not much on titles, but Timmy loves to designate us. So for now, SRT members will be me (natch), and Timmy keeps calling me Lead Investigator. Of course, Aunt Belle Brown is right up there with me, so our group has two Leads. We work well together, when she is able to come along. Timmy Smith, of course, is our Equipment Tech. Angela Rogers, given her huge store of abilities, has to be Second Lead Investigator. Floyd and Sarah Brigdon and Amanda Guzman are investigators in training from my class, and developing very quickly. I think they should probably be called Investigators by now. We have a few others who will join us now and then, people who live a ways off and don't get to attend the classes or go on ghost hunts often. However, they are folks who are serious and work well within the framework of our group.
I have to admit I'm very, very picky about who accompanies me. Aunt Belle and I made up a list of rules, and if someone ignores them or disrupts the group, they aren't invited back. I have to meet the person first, also. I still recall one man whom Billy allowed to accompany us on a long-ago night. We hadn't vetted him prior to the investigation, but we all gave him weird looks now and then, in response to his … well, weird actions. However, it wasn't until on the way home that he said: "I'm so glad to join up with some like-minded people. I know you believe the same as I do, that pink men live inside the moon. And," to Billy, "I'll bet you also hide in the closet and dress up in women's underwear, don't you?"
  Yes, he was serious. And no, he didn't ever come back. I've met a few other very strange people over my years of chatting across The Veil, but the huge majority of them are wonderful, people who want to understand what's happening to them.
Timmy and I talk often, and we had an interesting discussion just the other day. We would love to do more investigations, but we want them to be serious, not something for someone who wants the notoriety of having a paranormal group come around and prove a haunting. One planned investigation fell through recently due to exactly that. When I explained that my group only did serious investigations these days, although we would agree to give the business some publicity with my blog and elsewhere, the owner decided not to have us in. At least, not on my terms. We could "drop by anytime," but we couldn't set up cameras or be there during what he claimed was the most active time of night for paranormal incidents. Therefore, I called off the trip, to the disappointment of my group.
I'm not sure what the problems is, and neither is Timmy. My own inkling is that people want the notoriety of "having a ghost in the house," but not the responsibility of realizing these are actual people they are dealing with. Therefore, unless we can do things on our terms, we'll content ourselves with visiting some of the places where we already know we'll pick up lots of paranormal activity. Places where we are actually on a name basis with the ghosts and spirits, and where we can keep our abilities strong and honed.
It's been a great year working within the other dimension. I've cemented stronger friendships with friends and helped numerous lost souls cross into The Light. Three of my regulars are still here: Howard, Martha in my office, and the lady in the kitchen. Aunt Belle has been able to come up at least once a month to visit, and we've done a bit of investigating together. A lot of it was here at my house, as normally happens prior to and during her visits. We "met" Juan and Roy and crossed them over. We closed the portal at Angela's house and got rid of a nasty entity that was scaring her daughter. We cleansed Sarah and Floyd's house and crossed over at least a half-dozen ghosts hanging out there. We visited Dry Creek and Goshen several times and chatted with the ghosts there using our flashlights and mine and Angela's psychic abilities. My class is growing their own abilities extremely well, and it's fun doing investigations with them and watching them develop.
We do have a few things in the works for 2013. We'll have to see how things go, since we can never predict the paranormal world! I've tentatively planned to go to Myrtle Beach, SC, in October to a writer's conference. And oh, yeah, I'll hunt some ghosts around there!
As to my writing, I'll be doing another set of diaries soon. I also have plans to put my blog posts into their own separate book, since I have so many of them now. That way, people won't have to slog through the entire blog one by one; the posts will be in order and can be read at folks' leisure. I want to finish Silent Prey, the next dark paranormal. This is Keoman's story, the Midè from Winter Prey. But there's another Dead Man book clamoring to be written. Seems Twila is having trouble in Ohio, and she needs Alice there desperately so they can combine their abilities and straighten out a few ghosts. Oh, and of course expose a couple murderers. So many words to write, so little time. So many ghosts to hunt and chat with, too.
I hope all of you who got e-readers for Christmas, or any other time of the year, will check out my books. As always, Ghost Hunting Diary Volume I is free for your reading pleasure! Angela has plans to set up a better iseeghosts web site for me soon, and we'll update the tranamaesimmons.com site for the romances. Now, I'll let you get back to your reading, and I'll see what I can do on my end with the writing, including some new ghost stories.
Wishing you everything good life has to offer in 2013. Happy New Year and ….
Boo!
T. M.