Dark and Scary Things: A Guideline to the Paranormal World

Introduction

Ghosts have always been a part of my life. When I was a child, I would lay in my bed at night watching the shadows dart across my ceiling.

Indiana summers were always hot and stifling, with the briefest of breezes drifting through the open window, causing the curtains to dance gently, swaying like ghosts in the moonlight.

Even though I was only a child of six, I knew enough about the physical world to understand that shadows weren’t supposed to move unless something was causing them to do so.

The only light source in the room was a hooded nightlight plugged in beneath my window. It sent an amber glow of light splaying out in a half circle on my floor. I could see my stuffed animals, piled in the corner, their beady eyes reflecting in the light. It wasn’t difficult to imagine them standing up on their wobbly legs and marching across the floor towards my bed.

I rolled over onto my back and again stared at the ceiling. It was mostly lost in darkness, but I could still see the dark silhouette of a shadow lurking in the corner. It wasn’t shaped like a normal nighttime shadow. It was long and spindly, darker than the rest of the shadows. I stared at it for an eternity, my heart beginning to race as I realized it wasn’t normal.

As if taunting me, it separated from the corner and drifted across the ceiling, not stopping until it was directly over my bed. I imagined it dropping from the ceiling and leaping onto the foot of my bed where it would skitter up to where I lay trembling. I pulled the blankets over my head and pressed my eyes tightly together, trying to remember the prayers they taught us in Sunday school. The only one I could remember ended with, if I should die before I wake, I pray to God my soul to take, which didn’t help me at all.

When I asked my parents about it, they did what most parents of the era did. They told me there was no such thing as ghosts and ushered me back to bed.

Unfortunately, simply dismissing the notion wasn’t enough to make the ghosts go away. They followed me through every chapter of my life, in some fashion or another.

As I got older, I began to realize that other people didn’t see these things. The shadows on their ceilings didn’t move on their own, and they didn’t get the maddening feeling that someone was watching them. The darkness became my worst enemy, and I feared going to bed each night. I also learned to stop talking about it, because people often gave me odd scrutinizing looks when I did.

People who saw shadows move were sometimes lumped together with people who heard voices in their heads. I knew I wasn’t crazy, but I also knew this wasn’t normal.

Eventually, I learned how to look away when I saw them, focusing on things that gave me comfort instead. It wasn’t until I was an adult with two kids of my own that I finally came to grips with my unwanted gift. I was a sensitive. I could feel and hear when ghosts were nearby. Unfortunately, once I tapped into that ability, they began flocking to me in droves.

They’ve followed me ever since, hovering in the corner, waiting for the chance to pounce on me. Even as an adult, I still sleep with a nightlight, not because I’m afraid of the dark, but because I’m fearful of the dark and scary things that hide within it.

It’s taken me years to understand why this is happening to me. For whatever reason, I was singled out and was given a gift that would perpetually shape my very existence. I could be a mother, a writer, a friend, but beneath it all, I’ll always be a sensitive. Ghosts will always be a part of my life.

I am a beacon. My inner light shines so brightly, it attracts the world of the dead, drawing them in like moths to a candle flame. Ghosts see me and can’t resist the pull. It’s like gravity to them and they are helpless to avoid it.

As an adult, I am better equipped to handle the sensation than I was as a child. I have an arsenal of logic and explanations to use in my defense. I retreat into my bedroom each night, often falling asleep with the light on so I can see every inch of my room if I awaken suddenly from a nightmare.

I quickly discovered that I couldn’t ignore it for long, because they would simply up the ante. If I looked away when I saw the dark shadows, strange thumps would sometimes pound on the wall beside my bed. During the daylight hours, when things seemed more manageable, items began disappearing and then reappearing in odd places. My pets became fearful of being in the house.

Sometimes the terror was so mind-numbing, I fled my bedroom, hoping to find sanctity in my living room. If I was lucky, I had a few minutes alone, but it didn’t last for long. Soon, I would hear the strange ear ringing sound that signified their presence. Then, I would feel the icy cold blast of negative energy, filled with horrid thoughts and screaming protests. It was clear to me that if I didn’t find a way out of the situation, they would eventually be my undoing.

I began searching earnestly for help. I soon began researching the phenomena with fervor, learning as much as possible because knowledge is power.

I found several psychic mediums who were willing to help me, but none of them could pinpoint why these dark entities were following me home.

You have a type, one medium told me, referring to the fact that all the entities looming in my house were disturbed men with a dark agenda. They might have been pedophiles, serial rapists, or men who put knives into other people while grinning maniacally. This didn’t help me when day faded to night.

I joined groups on social media. I reached out to mediums and paranormal experts, only to be given the vaguest of answers.

My father always told me, What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger, and I found this to be true. Despite the trail of ghosts that were numbering in the double digits, I fought back

Things got worse before they got better, but I learned a thing or two in the process. I want to share this information with others, in hopes it helps people like me who are trapped in the shadows between the living and the dead.

In October of 2014, I began teaching a Paranormal 101 class in the town of Gardner. Due to the success of my true paranormal books, The Soul Collector, Devil’s Toy Box, Ghostly Defenses, and Bones in the Basement, people were curious about the world of the dead. Initially, it was a way to make a little extra grocery money, but it became something altogether different.

I met some truly wonderful people who have become more like family. Through the classes, I’ve learned as much as I’ve taught. The students quickly surpassed their teacher and we founded a union that will stand the test of time.

While I did borrow some information from my book Ghostly Defenses, most of these chapters come directly from my classes.

(Above: several members of the Paranormal 101 class) Pam Howell, Phyllis Fisher, Barbara Niles, Ray Richard, Elizabeth Leonard, and Ken Murray.

Chapter One

Understanding Ghosts and Spirits

What Happens When We Die?

Once we take our last breath, the future is a mystery to us, which is one of the reasons why the paranormal world is so intriguing. Do we simply fade to black, like a movie screen, or do we float to a place where the angels sing?

While no one knows for certain, the theory that most psychic mediums agree on points to a ceaseless afterlife. In this belief, the soul is eternal, moving through lifetime after lifetime in an attempt to achieve a higher resonance.

When you die, you find yourself in front of a blinding bright light. It might look like a light at the end of a long tunnel. Friends and family who have passed on will be waiting on the other side of the light, beaconing you to join them.

Once you cross through, you go to the next dimension, a place some people call Heaven. Other’s call it the Kingdom or the Astral Plane. It’s a place where you review your life, taking credit for the things you did right and learning from the things you could have done better.

You might stay in this place for a while, but then again, time has no meaning on the other side. The dead don’t live by a clock. They can move back and forth to different time periods of their lives to examine their life experiences. This explains why we sometimes see the same apparition at different ages.

While on the Astral Plane, you will continue to learn and grow until you are ready to move onto the next phase, which could include being sent back to Earth to live another life, one you’ve chosen ahead of time.

Imagine approaching the white light and pausing, unanswered questions filling your mind.

What is a Ghost?

Simply put, a ghost is a soul who didn’t pass into the light and chose to remain earth-bound. They come in all shapes and sizes, just like people. It’s hardly coincidental though.

Most ghosts were once people too. Imagine a kindhearted grandmother who passed on, but didn’t want to leave her rambling Victorian, or the father who felt a need to stay behind to watch over his family. These ghosts are seldom troublesome and typically won’t alert the living to their existence. They are happy to merely linger at the edges of our lives, watching and observing. The ones you should be concerned about are the ones who were negative in life, or the ones who were never human to begin with, like the ones that haunted me as a child.

There is a ghost at Terrapin Traders, the little metaphysical shop where I teach my Paranormal 101 classes. Elizabeth, the owner, always called him Sam, after the character on the old TV show Cheers. Through our classes, we’ve learned more about Sam.

For starters, his name is Eddie. This is something we learned from a psychic medium who visited our class one night. We later verified it during an EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) session. When we asked him what his name was, he said Eddie on the digital recording, something we heard clearly when we played it back.

He was a former bartender at a bar that was once located in the same building as the store. Various mediums and students have described him as being somewhat suave, with wavy dark hair and baby blue eyes. He enjoys the female shoppers and students, often touching their shoulders or playing with their hair, something that has unnerved more than one person.

Eddie is quite curious about our classes and has proven to be helpful, as well. When we are working on developing our mediumistic abilities, we can use him as an example of what it feels to have a ghost in the room. For Cara Keane, connecting with Eddie was one of the highlights of attending my Paranormal 101 classes. Having worked in the store part-time for three years, she always suspected there was a ghost in the store, but wasn’t certain if it was true or just imagined.

Eddie continues to visit our classes, teaching all of us that ghosts aren’t necessarily something to fear, that not all of them are dark and scary.

What are Ghosts Made Of?

Honestly, if we knew this, we’d know how to better communicate with them. While there are many theories, there isn’t a definitive answer, which makes them nearly impossible to analyze. Here are some of the more popular theories:

Plasma

Plasma is the fourth state of matter, following solid, liquid, and gas. While this would fit most of the protocol required, it still leaves a few gaps. Plasma emits electromagnetic field (EMF) waves, which can clarify why we often capture EMF fluctuations with our meters.

Magnetic plasma with a low frequency can be visible to the human eye, explaining how we can sometimes see ghosts. Plasma can also glow, which is evident from the neon gas used for neon lighting. The problem with plasma though, is the temperature. Plasma is extremely hot and would always be detectible. Since ghosts typically provide the opposite, often making cold spots, this probably isn’t the answer. The EMF fields in plasma would also be consistently detectible, using EMF meters. As investigators know, this isn’t always the case with ghosts. Sometimes our EMF meters will detect them, but sometimes they don’t.

Neutrinos

Also called Ghost Particles, Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are invisible to the eye and nearly impossible to measure. They can pass through anything and do not have any electronic charge, which means we wouldn’t be measuring EMF fluctuations if ghosts were composed of neutrinos.

Dust

If an entity were able to draw in enough static energy (explaining why we often experience battery drain during ghost hunts) they might be able to pull in enough dust from the environment to create an apparition. While this explains translucent ghost sightings, it doesn’t explain full color apparitions, nor does it explain the ghostly voices we often capture.

Energy

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity states that energy is constant and cannot be destroyed or created. Some people theorize that when we die, our energy leaves our bodies, creating ghosts. While this explains why we are often able to measure energy fluctuations with our EMF meters, it is a faulty theory. We know what happens to our energy when we die. It’s almost like a light bulb. Once the source of energy stops, the electrical current stops. What little electromagnetic energy our body retains after death transforms from one form of energy to another and dissipates into the environment.

Duncan McDuggall, a scientist from Haverhill, Massachusetts, conducted an experiment in 1901 to determine if there was a measurable difference in a person’s weight when they died. While his experiment was successful, finding a difference of 21 grams, it is dismissed scientifically since he only tested it on six subjects. Later tests weren’t able to duplicate his findings.

Higgs Field

Without getting too in-depth, scientists believe that the Higgs Field floods the entire universe and is what gives matter all of its mass. If ghosts were made of protons and they were able to dip into the Higgs Field, they could gather enough energy to oscillate at visible light wavelengths, which would allow us to see them and record the EMF fluctuation. The only thing it doesn’t explain is how they manipulate the environment by moving objects and touching people since photons do not have any mass. Mass would be required to do this.

We Don’t Know

This is the standard answer, which is why science has yet been able to truly document the existence of ghosts. Perhaps something will be invented in our lifetime that documents what we, as sensitives to spirit energy, already know. Ghosts are there, we just don’t have a reliable way of proving it to the scientific world.

What Comes to Mind When You Think of Ghosts?

I think the worst part about ghosts is the slanted perception that Hollywood gives them. They are almost always terrifying, looming behind doorways and under beds, ready to jump out and scare people. Seldom are movies made about ghosts like Eddie from Terrapin Traders.

The dark perception makes people fearful, something the negative entities truly devour. They feed on this energy, like gluttons at a buffet, and it makes them stronger.

It took me decades to put aside my fear and allow my curiosity to take over. What I’ve learned is that most ghosts aren’t dark and scary things. Most of them were once people, just like you and me.

Why do Ghosts Stick Around?

Souls have a variety of reasons for not passing through the white light. While some might pause due to family loyalty, others resist the light because they’re afraid of what they’ll face on the other side.

Here are some of the reasons:

Sudden death

To watch over loved ones

Because they are afraid (suicides, bad deeds, etc.)

To watch over homes or beloved items

They don’t know they’re dead

They’re being held there by another entity

What if you did some very bad things during your lifetime? You might have murdered someone, stolen money from a person who needed it, or even took your own life. Once you died, there was no second chance to make up for it. If this were your reality, would you be willing to throw caution to the wind and walk blindly into the light, not knowing what repercussions you might face when you got there?

There’s a ghost at the Haunted Victorian Mansion in Gardner, Massachusetts, the subject of my 2014 book Bones in the Basement, that I’ve been communicating with for years. She won’t give me her name, but her sadness is epic. You feel it the minute you walk into the Red Room, the spot where she lingers.

Countless psychic mediums have identified her, most describing her as a lovely lady with dark hair, possibly a prostitute who suffered a violent death at the mansion. Some feel she’s sad, while others find her to be hostile. Regardless of her mood, I feel sorry for her. She’s trapped on the wrong side of the veil. She was probably afraid to cross over because she sold her body for money, something that was considered sinful in the Victorian era.

Living on our side as a ghost can’t be enjoyable. You can see and hear the living, but you can’t always communicate with them. Some have been in our realm so long; they’ve forgotten why they’re even here. Those are the ones who are difficult to persuade to cross over.

There is also a little boy at the Haunted Victorian Mansion. We’ve captured his playful voice, telling us to come and find me, and we’ve heard his footsteps on the grand staircase.

(Above) Photo by Jason Baker depicting the little boy ,modeled by Sam Motza

Mediums feel he’s being taken care of by another ghost in the house, possibly a servant who acts as a mother figure to him. Telling him to walk into the white light would be similar to telling him to leave his mother. He won’t do it. This afterlife, the one that finds him trapped in the land of the living without a physical body, is the only one he knows. He’s long forgotten what it was like to be a living boy. None of that matters to him.

During my time at the Haunted Victorian Mansion, I talked to both of them, counseling them on what it’s like on the other side. I encouraged them to leave all the pain and suffering behind and to move to a place where there is nothing but love and light. I told them that their families are waiting for them and have missed them sorely. I informed them it won’t be painful, that all is forgiven. They didn’t take my advice, but I couldn’t stop. I thought that if they heard my encouragement enough times, they would eventually come to trust me and move onto a better place. They never did.

The hardest ones to convince are suicide victims. I say victim because that’s how I see them. Life has a way of getting to some people. Everything seems dark and hopeless. Death seems like the only solution. It’s a human condition, one they can’t always control, one that happens before they have a chance to think it through. The results are disastrous.

Instead of finding the peace and tranquility they hoped for, they find themselves in exactly the same place, but without a body. They are still filled with the same sadness and the same anger, but they have no physical means of expressing it. They see the white light and some of them panic. What have I done? they might ask themselves, remembering the teachings they learned in church.

I’m not putting down religion, because it does have a place in our society, I just wish it would go a little easier on the fire and brimstone aspect. Hell is a concept that many spiritualists don’t believe