I promised a
long blog this week, to make up for skipping last week. So this one will be a
combination of some of the happenings here at the house, and one of the
concerns I've encountered in dealing with paranormal investigating.
As to the
Simmons' house incidents, there have been several lately. Unfortunately, the
bulk of them are pretty much the standard fare for around here. The little lady
in the kitchen has been pretty strong. Also, it's never unusual for me to see
Howard, either passing by one of the windows outside or getting a glimpse of
his white shirt somewhere here in the house. Howard isn't a ghost who is tied
to one spot. In fact, people who have read Howard's story in one of my sets of
diaries know he was a practicing doctor in a community nearly an hour's drive
from where he "haunts" now: my house. I must have glimpsed him at
least a dozen times the past couple weeks, one time I'm going to talk about
more below.
I've started
writing my annual Halloween story, and Martha here in my office appears to be
enjoying it. She's come up behind me several times to read over my shoulder,
and stayed there a while. Had she not been enjoying what I was writing, she
wouldn't have hung around to read.
Barney informs
me that whoever is teasing him in the bedroom is still around. There are nights
when he sleeps restlessly, and he insists that sometimes it's not his normal
aches and pains keeping him awake. It seems someone still shakes him from time
to time. He says this has happened at least a half-dozen times. The house is
way overdue for a cleansing, so I'm putting that on my agenda for the coming
week.
One memorable
occurrence did transpire on Thursday, and that's the one involving Howard … or
I think it was him. Did you ever have a few days in a row where you just didn't
feel up to par? A good word for the way I felt was "icky." You don't
feel bad enough to stay in bed, but not good enough to accomplish much when you
are up. Of course, this seems to happen when you have a full plate, so on top
of knowing you are falling further and further behind with what you would like
to have done, irritation strolls in. Things seem to compound until your temper
is on a short fuse, and it takes little to flare it. Yes, I have one of those
tempers, too.
I was in the
kitchen, and I don't even recall now what triggered my exasperation, because
what happened blew that part of the incident clear out of my mind. But I was ticked
off at something, and lucky for my son and hub, I was alone during my minor fit.
I think I tossed something down on the counter, then muttered some nasty words
under my breath … and probably a few out loud. I gritted my teeth and whirled
around to return to my office, where I could pout it out and not bother anyone
else.
But I'd already disturbed
someone, someone who evidently knew I wasn't fit company right then and didn't
want anything to do with me. I took a quick step toward the dining room and
froze. Someone was in the dining room, a full figure of someone. I say
"someone" because I only had a glimpse of a white shirt racing out of
there, in the opposite direction from my office.
I saw enough to believe
this was Howard and realize he was well aware of my anger. He didn't want
anything to do with me, so off he flew in a blur of white and dark gray
movement. That's what made me believe, on reflection, it was Howard, since I've
never seen him dressed otherwise.
I wasn't very
nice about that, either. I muttered something like, "You better stay out
of my way. I'm not in the mood for company right now."
By the time I
got into my office, I realized how childish I was acting. I played a couple
mindless games of Spider Solitaire, an activity during which I can let my
thoughts wander and settle. After a few minutes of pondering, a concern surfaced
involving one of the things I'd learned along the way during my studies. My
crew and I had discussed it more than once.
This had to do
with some advice from one of Dave Juliano's classes I took. He said we should
not go on an investigation if we weren't feeling emotionally sound. Dave
stressed that we risked danger if we did that and encountered a nasty entity,
be it a malicious ghost or something darker. I totally agreed with this idea,
and my crew and I talked about not just emotional shakiness, but also physical
maladies that might leave us open to danger or attack.
I had also just found
out there was another reason to heed this advice: ghosts like my Howard didn't enjoy
being around irritated or angry people. I expanded this as I pondered what had
happened to take in the fact that we would have little interaction on an
investigation, should we go into it carrying emotional baggage from some phase
in our life along with us. Just as we aren't fond of dealing with people who
are throwing off bad vibes, neither are the paranormal entities we are hoping
to encounter during an investigation.
After all,
ghosts were once living people, so we shouldn't expect them to be any more
tolerant of someone throwing a childish fit than we are ourselves. Howard sure
taught me that this past week! So go into an investigation when you're feeling
"icky" at your own risk. At the least, you probably won't be able to
interact with the paranormal. With your resistance and emotional stability
weak, at the most, you might find yourself facing something you are totally
unprepared for. You also risk putting your team members in peril.
I won't drone on
and one about this, since I know y'all already have the gist of my message.
It's part of that caution we always say to each other: Stay safe. Do everything
you can to stay safe, my friends, because it's for your own good as well as
that of others you are on the investigation with. That other dimension out
there is a real place, and we're dealing with real entities. Most of those
entities are only lonely, confused souls. Some of them are just waiting for a
chance to be malicious.
~~~~
On the writing
end of my life, I have no irritation at all. My annual Halloween story is
coming along really well, although I'm still mulling over titles for it. Since
our critique meeting is tomorrow. I can brainstorm that with some writer
friends. The story isn't finished by a long shot, but I’m hoping I have enough
done for Angela's great creativity to start clicking on a cover idea.
It's also not
too much longer until our Spirit Fest at the historical Beckham Hotel in
Mineola, Texas. October 18 will be here soon. The Spirit Fest is going to be so
awesome! I'll make time next week to drive out and check with Connie to get an
update on her end. I know she's working extremely hard.
Halloween is
barreling down on us, also. I had thought to be in Florida then, but those
plans fell through. Therefore, I'm on the lookout for a place to investigate
that night. Of course, Angela has her annual Halloween party on October 31,
also, which is always fun. Plus she has a ghost in her house, so I can always
watch Alan's antics.
Dead
Man Ohio
is doing great here in the U.S., although I need to do some promo to get it
moving elsewhere. Plans for that are also on next week's schedule. It did
finally make it up for sale on the Kobo site, so I'll repeat the places it's
available below and add Kobo in.
Kindle US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N519VJC
Kindle Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00N519VJC
As always, stay
safe. The Veil will start to thin very soon, and the closer we get to
Halloween, the easier it will be to communicate between the dimensions. That
means the easier it will be for them to "visit" us. Most of our
visitors will be quite benign, but no one can promise they will all be, so keep
that in mind.
Boo!
T. M.
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