October may have ended, but the spookiness never goes away.
So, my friend and colleague S. Alessandro Martinez invited me to his house for his birthday party. And because his birthday is November 1st, it also became a late Halloween party, with the theme of “1920s Spiritualism.” I RSVP’ed and dressed up again as Sweeney Todd (or his ghost), and grabbed my Tarot cards and dowsing rods. Hey, the theme was Spiritualism.
And it was a fun night. I did some Tarot readings, there was a potluck with good food and drink, and we all had some good conversation. Plus, Alessandro and his wife Erin invited a magician friend of theirs, who also billed himself as an occult aficionado, to put on a show for us. And it was really cool! Rather than your usual card tricks, he did some “mind reading” stuff, did this trick with his own Tarot deck where he guessed what card I was holding, and even put a nail up his nose. Yes, that happened. It was wild.
But that’s not the reason we have this blog post. The reason why is, afterwards, it came up that the house, which looks like something like a castle, might have a ghost or two. In particular, a woman named Roberta Shand who, in life, was a librarian with a very narrow definition of what “good literature” was. The other was Joseph Murphy, who had the house constructed. And since I had my dowsing rods, I decided to see if I could speak with any of the spirits.
And, because I need to get proof whenever I try a dowsing rod session, I had Erin film it with my phone. That video is below.
So, if you didn’t watch the video, here is a short summary: I was able to contact a spirit, but it wasn’t Roberta Shand or Joseph Murphy. Rather, it was someone who worked for the Murphy family, who died on the property, who lived in the carriage house behind the main house, and was an African American male.
Also, he likes Alessandro and Erin, despite their eccentricities. After all, one’s a horror author, and both are quite possibly vampires.
Honestly, I was pretty excited to do a dowsing rods session. It’d been forever and a half since I had done anything with the dowsing rods, so I was excited to get back into it. And, despite how long it had been, the rods went to work just like they had the last time I did a session. There was no rust or lag. That made me very happy.
So, what’s next? Well, Becky and Kim, whom you heard in the video and seemed familiar with the spirit who was contacting us, are going to look into who he might be. They work with the local historical society, so they’ll take a look when they have a chance. They’ll also see if what the spirit told us matches with what’s in the historical record, like he lived in the carriage house and died on the premises. If what the spirit matches what’s in the historical record, it’s just further proof that we contacted a real, bona fide spirit. And that it’s the spirit we thought it was.
Whatever happens, I will be sure to let you all know. It’s really fun to think that I possibly discovered a previously-unknown spirit haunting my friend’s house, and that I helped identify him.
Thank you Alessandro and Erin for letting me join you for Alessandro’s party and for giving me the opportunity to do some Tarot readings and contact the spirits. I hope you’ll let me do it again someday.
And that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m off to have dinner, get ready for work tomorrow, and either fit in a movie or do some writing (I haven’t decided yet). Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Also, 363 days till next Halloween. Just saying.
