Asking My Ghosts for Help

Well, the way I work it, I probably should have titled this "demanding my ghosts help me," since I do enforce a measure of discipline for my paranormal boarders. I'll admit right up front, some of the missing items around my house are my own fault. But not all of them.

I couldn't even begin to count how many times I've gone to where I put something and found it missing. These are places I use because I am a bit anal about being able to find things when I need them. I worked as a legal assistant and paralegal for many years, and misplacing something could cost not only money, but client distress. Heaven forbid the high-dollar lawyer be responsible for keeping track of files, information, and court dates.

Things do tend to get moved when I end up having a new prankster in residence. The prankster delights in laughing while I search, as well as watching me discover things in unexpected places. But he usually gets the item back to me quickly when I threaten banishment or another form of discipline. What happened this week, however, was partially my own fault for ignoring a message. However, it turned into a cool incident.

I'd been doing some consecrations, using the training my friend Katrina gave me. I also sat down one day and made up a dozen and a half new protection packets, since Katrina informed me they can lose their effectiveness after a year. Prior to that, I re-consecrated the few remaining ones I had, also.

I had some loose crystals and a divining crystal out, too, for the consecration ceremony. Afterwards, I reorganized my two satchels to contain the new items and some recent purchases, things I'd learned from my friend and research would work well for what I do. For some reason, I had those crystals on my mind, and I could not find them in either my trusty satchel I'd had for years or the new one I bought that is made from sea grass. I took everything out of both satchels … three times! The crystals in their velvet bag were gone.

Friday, I taught my Psychic Development Class; the lesson: how to do consecrations. I'd asked the class members to bring some things they wanted blessed, and they consecrated their own items. Then James and Armando, our Lonestar Paranormal friends, stayed over for a while and we talked. Ghosts, natch. And the paranormal. At one point, we were discussing crystals.

"That reminds me," I said, looking around the room to speak to the ghosts who had been hanging around while we chatted, one of whom was Howard, my Head Ghost. "I still can't find my crystals and I want to know what one of you did with them. Give them back to me or tell me where to find them. Now!"

I heard a telepathic laugh, but James started talking about something just then. But Armando, gasped and said, "Excuse me," to interrupt his friend.

"What?" I asked, noticing he was looking past my shoulder.

"I saw a bright ball of light or energy in there," he said, pointing into my guest room, which was in his line of vision. He circled his fingers to indicate it was perhaps the size of a soccer ball. "It floated up from right above those gift bags you have sitting on that trunk at the foot of the bed. Then it went over towards your window and disappeared right before it got to the curtains."

By the time we got done looking into that cool phenomena, I'd forgotten my demand of the resident ghosts. But those missing crystals still bothered me. So after the guys left, I took out both my satchels and went through them … again! As I was putting things back … again ….

They're in your ghost hunting vest, I heard Howard say.

I've had this happen too many times to ignore it, especially when it's Howard. I immediately got up and went into the guest bedroom (where Armando had seen this ball of energy). I have been gathering things together for our overnight investigation next week, and they cover most of that bed right now. There was my vest, right beside those two gift bags I have ready for a birthday party Sunday, and right under where Armando said he saw the energy ball. And yes, there in the pocket was my velvet bag of crystals!

"Awesome," I said. "Thank you. And I’m sorry I accused any of y'all. I remember putting the bag in that pocket myself. But I've been hunting for these for several days. Why didn't you tell me where they were before now?"

You didn't ask, Howard, my ghost of few words, said.

"You're right," I said. "So thanks again."

I had to admit to myself, though, he had tried. Right after I made my demand, Armando saw that ball of energy above where the crystals were. But Howard had to beat me over the head with the information by telling me "aloud." Way cool.

~~~~

I'm putting the Kindle version of Dead Man Talking free next Friday through Sunday. I'll remind everyone when it happens. So keep an eye out and tell your friends they can get one free. But the others still cost $$!

Boo!

T. M.

Raggedy Ann & Dry Creek

There's an old, lonely little headstone in historical Dry Creek Cemetery, a graveyard I visit often. It marks the resting place of a small child named Edna. She's not there any longer, of course, but she did linger a while after she died. One night she was among the several ghosts who asked me to help them cross over, along with another little girl named Rebecca. We nicknamed Rebecca the Little Girl in Blue, since she always appeared in a blue dress. Now, both little girls come back as spirits now and then and chat with us. And boy, are they so much happier. They haven't once appeared crying, as they did before.

Last Monday night, Sarah and Floyd, two of my SRT members, accompanied me to Dry Creek. We went for two reasons: one, for them to meet a couple of young men I'd been visiting with from another local paranormal group: Armando and James from Lonestar Paranormal. Two, to see if Raggedy Ann, my new trigger object doll, would work any better than she had when we first took her out to this cemetery. That first time, Annie indicated clearly she preferred to show off her stuff to younger folks. I thought maybe it was because she was just a total flirt, since she only flashed her lights at some nice, polite teenage boys on that trip.

Monday, she showed us she liked the company of little girls, also. She flashed the lights in her head and hands prettily for Edna and Rebecca. The other spirits out there, our normal bunch of adult friends, only communicated through our flashlights, as before. Mr. Jim once told me, "We don't play with toys, and we aren't trained clowns."

We always enjoy Dry Creek. Well, once in a while something ticks me off. After all, I'm still human. This time, a female member of the other group kept snapping her camera off right in our eyes, with no warning. She was told once verbally not to do that, and twice we indicated our displeasure in other ways when she did it again and again.

"Oops," was her insincere answer the third time she blinded us.

I won't be interacting with this woman again. And I won't be rude enough in here to tell you what I would have liked to have done with that camera the third time she rendered my friend Floyd unable to see any of the ghosts and spirits we'd been enjoying that evening.

We're deep into plans for our overnight investigation at the old hotel in a small East Texas town. The town is quite historical itself, and I sense there are lots of other ghosts in some of these mid-to-late1800's buildings. Perhaps we'll prowl around some others after we spend our night at the hotel.

In between all this, I've got Ghost Hunting Diary Volume V nearly ready to go. We'll also have a blog for SRT up and running by the time the book comes out (after I include the old hotel investigation). We'll post some pictures there to accompany the stories, and perhaps some here on my personal blog. People have been known to put pictures in their e-books, but right now, that's beyond my ability. I don't really have time to stop and learn, either. So we'll interact photo-wise in the blogs.

Hope our beautiful weather works its way north to all of my readers and friends there. I also wish my readers and friends from other countries warm weather and cozy breezes carrying flower scents.

Oh, and also ….

BOO!

T. M.

Ghost Week in Review

  Before I mention the exciting news I got this week, I thought I'd recap a typical week here at the Simmons house as far as paranormal incidents go.
  Let's start with last Sunday. Remember Roy the ghost? The one who loved to move things and play tricks? The ghost I finally took time to cross over after he messed with hub's medicine? Well, either his son or brother or someone similar seems to have dropped in. The Sunday find was my kitchen timer. I bring it into my office sometimes when I'm cooking, since I tend to get engrossed in something (like writing this blog) and forget time passing. Yes, I've burned up a pan or two and more than once, some baking if I forget to set the timer. I keep it on top of the microwave when not in use. Sunday, it was in the seat of one of the dining room chairs, hidden by the tablecloth hanging down over it. The microwave is at least twenty-five feet from the chair.
  Monday, my friend Katrina came out to re-consecrate my protections, the things I use when I run into something nasty. For two days prior, I had been looking for one of the DVD's of our October 30, 2013 investigation at Dry Creek to show Katrina while she visited. It was nowhere to be found. I even looked through a stack of DVD's on the table beside my computer desk. Twice. So I tried to make a new copy, since I still had the original tape. It refused to copy onto the DVD from the tape, although I did it exactly right. Twice. While Katrina was here, my house was awesomely full of power. After she left, I tried to make the copy again. No problem. It worked on the first try.
  Tuesday I walked in from getting the morning mail and saw a man standing over by the fireplace in the living room. In the glance I had, it looked like Juan, wearing his white shirt. I waved and carried the mail on to the dining room table to go through. Later that evening, I got a call from a local group, asking me to join them on a private home investigation. So I went along on that and chatted with some ghosts. I also crossed over six lost souls.
  Wednesday, I walked into the bedroom for some reason. A man stood back in the corner of the room, beside the master bath door. I waved and said "Hi, Howard," since that's who it looked like. Then went about my business.
  Thursday, I was getting ready to teach my class on Psychic Development the next day. For some reason, I went through that stack of DVD's in my office again. There was the October 30 DVD! I now have two copies.
  Friday, I found a comb in my bathroom, one that had been missing for several days. I'd taken everything out of that drawer and couldn't find the pink comb I like. So I had to use a different one most of that week. When I opened the drawer Friday morning, there was my pink comb, lying right on top of all the other mess in that drawer.
  This morning, Saturday, I saw another man standing in my bedroom when I first woke up. I only glimpsed him briefly, so I'm not sure who he was. He was a full-bodied, dark gray shape and stayed visual in that manner for approximately three seconds.
  My exciting news? For several years, Aunt Belle and I have been fascinated by an old hotel in a town further over in East Texas from where I live. The hotel was built in 1892, burned in 1925, and rebuilt in 1928. It's a block off the town's main street, and a railroad track runs along that street in the town. At one time, they were restoring the hotel, and Aunt Belle and I had plans to be one of their first customers when they opened. However, the finances didn't materialize for the then-owner to continue the remodeling. A few months ago, the people who had once remodeled another famous East Texas haunted hotel bought this other one. They want me and my Supernatural Researchers of Texas (SRT) group of paranormal investigators to do an overnight stay and see what we can verify as to supernatural events there.
  It's way cool for another reason. Although I've done slews of investigations over the twenty-plus years I've been chasing ghosts, this will be the first major investigation for SRT. They've been studying and developing for well over a year now, and we've done lots of other ghost hunts, as well as several house cleansings. We turned down one investigation that didn't suit us, so we're pretty excited about this one. We also managed to choose a night when the entire core group will be able to make it: moi, Aunt Belle, Angela, Timmy, Floyd, Sarah and Amanda. Should it work out, we might have a couple other members go along.
  Since the hotel is currently under construction, with a hoped-for September 2013 opening date, we're fairly certain we'll encounter some ghosts. Remodeling always stirs up any supernatural entities living there, and there are stories about ghosts in this building. We should be able to give the new owners evidence to use in their advertising, since numerous folks love to stay in haunted hotels. We'll be posting the information about this haunted hotel soon, and give you contact information to keep apprised of the developments and when reservations open up. And, of course, we're totally excited about being the first group to explore the supernatural in this historic old hotel.
  I'll have Volume V ready to go, but I want this investigation in it. So don't look for that new set of diaries until sometime later in April. In the meantime, we're going to be having fun chasing some new ghosts we haven't met yet!
  Boo!
  T. M.

Bad Boy Howard the Ghost

Sorry I'm late this week. No, not that sort of late! I'm late with the blog, because we went gambling over in Shreveport. Nope, didn't win, either. But had a nice time visiting with son and dil and eating mudbugz. We only live 15 or 20 miles apart, but still don't get to spend near enough time together.

Otherwise this week, my resident ghost Howard was a bad boy. Howard's the ghost who has been with me the longest, at least fifteen years. Maybe he was here at the house before then, but that's when I first remember chatting with him. In one of our talks, I asked Howard why he hadn't crossed over.

Nobody over there I want to see, Howard said. He's a ghost of few words. When we do chat, it's like pulling hen's teeth to get more than a sentence out of him. However, over the years, I've learned quite a bit about Dr. Howard.

But boy, does he make his presence known! I'll see someone walk past my office window now and then. The window looks out to the east and our front porch. I'll get up to go see who's coming to the door. No one knocks. No one is out there. Then I recall what the person looked like: a pale, cream-colored shirt, gray hair, dark trousers. Oh! It was Howard.

I've seen him wandering elsewhere on our large corner lot, also: the side yard, the side street, even the back yard. He likes to prowl around and take stock, make sure everything is all right, both during daylight and nighttime.

This past week, Angela and I met a couple guys from another paranormal group here in town, Armando and James from Lonestar Paranormal. We actually went on a short investigation with them, also here in town. Turned out the ghost we found stayed around, since the people living in the apartment had made peace with him and told him he could stay as long as he behaved. However, there was another ghost at the top of the apartment building stairwell, outside the front door of the place we visited. Reports were the people in the apartment had also seen this ghost.

His name was Edward and at first, I thought there was also a Harry there. However, Edward was looking for Harry. I found that out when Edward indicated he wanted to cross over and I opened the door in the east. Yes, I can even do that at night. Anyway, Harry was up there in the doorway, waiting for Edward. Edward didn't even pause. He scurried right up that pathway. He did call a "Thank you," though.

Sometimes the door remains open, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe that's when whoever helps us access it realizes there might be more than one soul wishing to cross through. Anyway, this time, it closed fairly quickly, right after Edward and Harry, still visible to us in the opening, hugged each other.

It was a neat pathway this time, too, unlike some others.

"Did you see the path?" I asked Angela, who stood beside me.

"Uh huh. And it was different than in Tyler. The Tyler one was a long path, all the way to the ground. This was fairly short and bright, but lasted long enough for the ghost to climb up and reach his friend."

"Exactly," I said. That confirmed what I had seen precisely, so we both observed the same path descend from the doorway. Way cool! No matter how long we delve into the supernatural, it's an awesome feeling when another person sees what you do at the same moment.

Anyway, after we got home, our new friends came on in the house to visit. They left eventually, but a few seconds later, someone pounded on the door.

Angela and I stared at each other for a moment. Then we hurried over to look out and saw Armando.

"Can you come out here? Please?" he asked in a somewhat frightened voice.

"Sure," I said. "What's wrong?"

Instead of answering, he led Angela and me to the front sidewalk and pointed to where his car was sitting ahead of mine in the driveway. James stood on the other side, by the driver's door. He was glancing between us and the side of the church next door, across the street and on the other corner lot.

"A man in a light-colored shirt walked past our car," Armando said. "He went on down the street there, then the security light on the side of the church came on as someone passed under it. But there was no one under it! No one there!"

"Oh," I said, and Angela and I sort of laughed. He frowned at us. I guess my voice wasn't excited or frightened enough for him, and he didn't appear to think our laughter was appropriate. I went on, "That was just Howard."

"Who's Howard?" he asked.

"One of my ghosts," I replied. "Remember? I told you my house was haunted. Howard wanders around out here all the time."

"Well, he scared the crap out of us!" he said, and James nodded an agreement.

"I don't want him going with us," James said. "He needs to stay here."

"We'll do White Light," I said. And Angela and I joined hands with the guys and performed the ceremony to encompass them and their car. We ended with me saying, "And you stay here where you belong, Howard. Don't go with the guys when they leave."

"Are you sure this works?" James asked.

"Positive," I reassured them, and they got in their car and drove off.

Angela and I allowed ourselves another laugh then, not at the guys' fear but at the situation.

"You better behave, Howard," I said through my laughter.

Wasn't my fault, I was just taking a walk, he told me.

It was a rather nice ending to a good evening, a confirmation of someone else seeing one of my residents. Usually Aunt Belle, Angela or I spot them. This time it was two new friends. They are still talking to us, so Howard didn't ruin the budding friendship. J

~~~~

I'm still working on Volume V. Angela's planning the new cover, too. It will come together soon.

Take care, and….

Boo!

T. M.

Shadow People and Free Books

How many of y'all have encountered shadow people? As I've said many times, I don't believe in coincidence. Lately, I've been dealing with shadow people, and not just in one incidence, although that situation is ongoing. While still involved in the one instance, someone else contacted me with a report of another shadow person.

To that point, I'd only encountered one other shadow person that I'm aware of. Oh, I'd seen numerous "shadows" in the corner of my eye, shadows that disappeared as soon as I turned my head. But those were different than what paranormal folks call shadow people.

The first one I actually saw in a visible form was at Goshen Cemetery. It was the same night my friend Billy got choked. We watched this shadow man cross back and forth in the cemetery. He was definitely male, a black shadow, but three-dimensional, and he wore a long cape and western-style hat. We would move toward him; he would cross to another section of the cemetery. Not long after we spotted the shadow person, Billy collapsed with what we believe was this thing's hands around his throat, cutting off his breathing. I reported this in Volume II, in the diary "Shades of the Wild, Wild West."

A few weeks ago, I was asked for help with a shadow person at a private residence. Long-distance advice didn't eradicate it, and neither have two trips so far to the residence. A house blessing is in the works, so we will see if that banishes this entity. Then another group asked for help with a shadow person here locally. I freely admitted to them that I had no idea how to eradicate it, but promised to at least check it out for them.

I undertake extensive research when I encounter a paranormal situation that exceeds anything I initially do in order to try to help. I have spent countless hours on research into shadow people, in on-line sites and networking with other paranormal professionals. No one seems to know anything for certain. There are numerous theories: they are possible UFO beings; they are evil; they are only mischievous spirits; they can't bother you; they can hurt you badly. One thing is certain: they are real entities. They've been seen and also captured in photos. The descriptions of them appear alike in both versions — they are either clouds of smoke or black human-shaped, three-dimensional shadows.

So that's where it lies at this point in time. I'm still researching, and information is filtering in now and then. I appreciate all the help from the paranormal community. I will definitely report back if I find some way to eliminate a shadow person. In the meantime, I have a few more things to try on my end. It appears this will be similar to the time I spent finding a way to close the portal at my friend Angela's house. We were successful there, so I'm sending out hopes for victory in this new quest.

If anyone has any information, or even any stories, feel free to share them in the comments section here or on my Facebook page. I'm sorry I've had to set the comments section for approval, but I promise I check email frequently and will approve your comments as soon as possible.

~~~

    In book news, Smashwords has just announced their annual Read an Ebook Week promotion. And yep, I'm putting some of my books into it. I already have two books free at Smashwords: Tennessee Waltz http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/140884 and Ghost Hunting Diary Volume I http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/63065. There will, I'm sure, be hundreds of other free and discounted books at the Smashwords site http://www.smashwords.com, but I hope you choose mine first, of course. I picked out five more to make free for this week, a selection of my work. The promotion starts Sunday night, March 3, at midnight and ends at midnight March 9. You'll need the code RW100 to enter when you check out to get my books free. Following is a list and links. Buy during the promotion week, since these will go back to full price after that.

http://tiny.cc/1hdkc

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/105321

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/114463

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/226253

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/206353

Stay safe and happy reading.

Boo!

T.M.