Shadow Ghost

 Welcome!

In this blog post, I have an interesting photo of regular ectoplasm, and dark ectoplasm that is referred to as a shadow ghost.

Photo of a Shadow Ghost

I took the above photograph while I was sitting on the bottom step of our deck while grounding, with my feet in the grass.* I always try to have my camera handy while I'm outside since you never know what interesting subject you might encounter. I was really pleased that I got this picture of our neighbor's guinea since guineas are usually hard to photograph, as are most animals and birds!

As I looked at the photo a little closer, I noticed the dark ectoplasm at the trunk of the tree. I immediately noted that it was a shadow ghost. A shadow ghost is a type of ectoplasm that is darker than regular ectoplasm. There is somewhat of a debate among paranormal experts about shadow ghosts. There are some that say that shadow ghosts are evil, but others believe that the dark ones are no different than the lighter types. Greg noticed the lighter ectoplasm in the upper part of the photo that seems to reach down to the shadow ghost although it's actually in the foreground.

I was somewhat taken aback when I saw the shadow ghost in my photo since none have shown up in my photographs in a long time. I'm not certain why that is, but I believe that grounding, which I started doing only a few weeks ago, has helped me to once again become more psychic.

Speaking of being psychic, I recently called one of my favorite psychics a few days ago about some concern I had, and then I happened to remember my shadow ghost photograph, so I asked her what she thought about it.** She immediately said that this shadow ghost was the energy of dead soldiers stuck in the Civil War. Apparently, our land was part of a battlefield during that horrific war, and some of the soldiers that fought in this area were traumatized when their buddies were killed, and they didn't want to leave their friends' bodies. 

I told the psychic that she was correct, that we had heard that our 1901 house was built in an area where Civil War soldiers passed through. I asked her if I should smudge the area, and she said I could if I wanted to, but that the spirits were benign. She said that she didn't believe that shadow ghosts were evil.

This afternoon, I decided I'd just go ahead and cleanse that area, and to do as the psychic suggested, to tell the stuck spirits that it was for the best that they move into the light, to go home. Greg worked with me as we cleansed the area, and I encouraged the spirits to move on. We don't need that type of energy here, and I felt so much better to think that we had freed the troubled spirits to move on to a better life.

There is a chapter in my book, "Photographic Encounters of the Spirit Kind," about shadow ghosts, with several photographs of the shadow ghosts that I have taken. Please see the widget above for more information about my book on Amazon.

*I wrote a blog post about grounding earlier this month on Sunday, September 5, 2021. The post ("Grounding- Positively Life-changing!") is on my "The Art of Positive Living" blog. For more details, see https://theartofpositiveliving.blogspot.com . 

**I have a gift for taking photographs of spirits, but I don't know how to interpret the photos, and that's where talented psychics that I contact come in. They give their psychic impressions of my paranormal photos.

Thanks for visiting! Until Saturday, October 16, 2021, Becky

Intriguing Paranormal Stories

 Welcome!

I have one photograph for you on this blog post today, but the photo is not paranormal because I edited out the paranormal part. The reason for this was to protect the name of the business that was at the top of the building which was where the ectoplasm was! I took three pictures of Greg in front of the building, but this was the only one that had ectoplasm.

The photo above shows Greg having lunch in front of the building that had ectoplasm near the top which is, of course, out of the range of this photo.

Many times the owner of a business doesn't want it to be known that his establishment is haunted for fear that it would scare away any customers, which is understandable. Normally, if the business owner is there, I get permission to use any paranormal photos that I have taken before I publish them. In the case of the picture above, however, the owner was not available since this is a regional chain.

For the rest of this post, I'll tell you paranormal stories that others have told me. They don't have paranormal photos with them either, but they are intriguing, nevertheless.

I recently got an email from our sister-in-law Cris from North Carolina who said she'd been meaning to send me "this little article from our neighborhood website," and that she looks "at that bridge every time we go to town." She said to let her know what I thought about it.

Here's what Cris sent me:

"ghost sightings. My brother in law has been seeing a Confederate Soldier ghost on the bridge over the Reuse River...on Covered Bridge Road. This has happened several times about 12:00 in the afternoon. Anyone else seeing this?" (This incident certainly dispels the idea that ghosts only appear after dark.)

"Echo Forest and Beyond

Yes, we had a ton of paranormal stuff happening on our property. Talked about it to our neighbors and they were having the same thing happening." 

"Buffalo Creek

It doesn't surprise me. If you look at the top of the hill...you will see a rock barrier that the soldiers used for cover during battle."

I told Cris that Greg and I would love to come and check out the ghostly goings-on there sometime, that we'd come armed with our cameras.

When we lived in Middle Tennessee, we happened to live next door to a psychic who told us that she once saw a Civil War officer on horseback, riding down our street! In fact, the whole neighborhood where we lived was an old Confederate campground with Civil War artifacts that people often found buried in the ground. No wonder it was haunted!

Earlier in my life, before I met Greg, I dated a guy who told me that when he was going to college in Eastern Virginia, he was driving by a field once when he came upon what looked like a Civil War battle being played out, but it wasn't a re-enactment! It looked real! He said that it had (understandably!) unnerved him, and that he'd never before told anyone else about the incident. 

(This was before I was into the paranormal, although ghost stories had always fascinated me. I certainly had no idea then that I had a paranormal photography gift. Had I known more about the paranormal then, I feel that I could have helped him more about what he had witnessed. However, what he said really impressed me. It was something that I filed away in my mind and never forgot.)

The Civil War soldier on the bridge in North Carolina and the Civil War battle in Virginia are both like a movie playing over and over again. It is like they are on film; they are unlike spirits who can at times even interact with the living.

My brother, Nick, emailed me yesterday, telling me that he and his wife, Lisa, had just gotten back from a trip where they visited a huge mansion, parts of which had "very creepy vibes." He said that otherwise they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. No wonder it was creepy since two murders had taken place in that house. He said that the staff had been instructed not to talk about the murders, and I later found out that the staff was also not to mention that anything paranormal was going on, although there have been several reports of supernatural occurrences there by several witnesses!

However, in Abingdon, Virginia, the staffs of the Martha Washington Inn and The Tavern are not reticent about discussing all of their paranormal phenomena! Just check them out on the Internet!

I really appreciate those that shared their paranormal stories with me so that I could share them with you. You just never know about the paranormal; sometimes you happen to be in the right place at the right time, and you are able see or hear or feel something supernatural, and you may even be lucky enough to catch something strange on camera. You just never know.

There are plenty of paranormal photographs that Greg, Nick, and I have taken, (Greg and Nick also have the gift of paranormal photography.) and stories we have to tell in my book, "Photographic Encounters of the Spirit Kind" which is on Amazon. Please check out my book by clicking the widget above on this blog for more information.

Thanks for visiting! Until Saturday, July 17, 2021, Becky

 

Spirit of a Confederate Soldier?

Welcome!

I have a rather intriguing photo on this post today. I was taking a picture of our blooming pink dogwood tree when this colorful orb, along with a smaller white moving orb showed up in this photograph. I have reason to believe that this photo shows the spirit of a Confederate soldier on the road in front of our house which is pretty unique and somewhat scary, although I should be used to taking this type of photo by now!

Orb Showing the Spirit of a Confederate Soldier?

There are two reasons that I believe this is most likely the ghost of a soldier who fought on the side of the South during the Civil War. First of all, this whole area where Greg and I live was a Confederate  Civil War encampment. I know that this is no doubt true because bullets and other Civil War artifacts have been found in this same area. Also, our neighbor who is very psychic told us one day that she saw a Confederate soldier riding a horse down this street! This orb could very well be the same soldier, or it could even be another one since several soldiers apparently camped here.

You just never know what strange images will show up when you're just trying to take ordinary photos which makes photography so fascinating to me!

Notice carefully the photos you take. Is anything unusual showing up in any of them? If so, I'd be glad to feature them on my blog, with your permission.

Happy photographing!

Thanks for visiting! Until Saturday, June 15, 2019, Becky

Octagon Hall, Franklin, Kentucky

Welcome!

This is a very special blog post about a very special place in Franklin, Kentucky, Octagon Hall. It is steeped in Civil War history, and it is also very haunted!

Octagon Hall

According to the Octagon Hall brochure, "It has been featured on A&E, Travel Channel, Syfy Channel, History Channel, and others." Also, it "has been visited by over 250 Paranormal Teams." The popular "Ghost Hunters" television show featured Octagon Hall during season 9.

The reason that Octagon Hall is so haunted is because of tragedies that happened to the Caldwell family that once lived there. It's also haunted because of the slaves that lived on the property. In addition, Octagon Hall has ties to the Civil War. Some soldiers even died there.

I must say that it is one of the most haunted places that Greg and I have ever visited, and we have plenty of paranormal photos to prove it! Over half of the photos that we took there have a least some ectoplasm in them.

Here's one of the first photos I took on our tour featuring our guide, Debra-

We knew we'd be successful getting more paranormal photos that day at Octagon Hall after I captured this large orb on camera.

Debra told us some very interesting stories about the house including the fact that the piano in that very room (above) was haunted.

We also found out that there are different entities that come and go as well as the regulars like Mary Elizabeth, a young girl who tragically died when her clothes caught on fire at the fireplace in the basement kitchen.

Notice the ectoplasm in the upper part of the photo. There is also some ectoplasm on the wall beside the fireplace. I couldn't believe it when I saw a YouTube video of this same room that had some ectoplasm similar to mine.

We were told that a small boy, who fell down the stairs and died, haunts this place. We aren't sure if these are the steps, but nevertheless, there's a large orb on this stairway.

Greg and I had about the same number of paranormal photographs of this place, and here are a couple of Greg's-

Notice the white glowing ectoplasm in the picture hanging on the wall on the right.

These costumed figures add to the creepiness of this place, and I believe they help attract the spirits that are there.

I cropped off Greg's photo to better show the ectoplasm that is on this figure. Notice the white ectoplasm on his body, and also right above the boot. As I was researching more today to write this blog post, I found out from a video that one Confederate soldier who had been with General Morgan's group had been wounded in the foot. He died from his wound in that house after he took off his boot. Could the ectoplasm in this photo be related to that? When I first saw the photo, I thought it was strange that ectoplasm showed up near the boot like that. Might the Confederate soldier ghost be attached to this figure?

This is Billy Byrd, the Director of Octagon Hall. He has been there for 18 years.

Barry (Bear) Gaunt is a volunteer who is there quite a bit. He has a paranormal research group, "Night Stalkers" that investigates "Hauntings, UFO's, Abductions, and Strange Creatures" according to his business card. See nightstalkersparanormal.org for more info.

Barry said that whole area for miles around had a lot of paranormal activity because it's on the 37th parallel.

The three people I featured today on this blog were very hospitable and knowledgeable, and they have seen and heard a lot, especially at Octagon Hall. They do have stories to tell about all types of paranormal phenomena there. Besides ectoplasm showing up in photos and videos, they have also seen shadowy figures and have heard voices and strange noises both inside and outside of the house.

It even looks scary on the grounds of Octagon Hall! Notice the orb in the lower right side of this photo.

If you enjoy history or the paranormal, you'd love this place.

You could take a tour like Greg and I did, or you could even go on an Octagon Hall ghost hunt with Syfy's "Ghost Hunters," Steve Gonsalves, Dave Tango, and Bruce Tango on May 26, 2018, if there's still room. Should be very entertaining for those who are brave enough!

FYI:
www.octagonhall.com

For more of Greg's and my paranormal photos, you might enjoy my book, "Photographic Encounters of the Spirit Kind" which is now available either in paperback or as a kindle download on Amazon.

http://amzn.to/2usXWIO

Thanks for visiting! Until Saturday, May 19, 2018, Becky

Haunted Homestead Manor

Welcome!

Recently, Greg and I visited an old plantation-style mansion in Thompson's Station, Tennessee, Homestead Manor. It was used as a field hospital during the famous Battle of Thompson's Station during the Civil War, so no wonder it's haunted!

It's now a gourmet restaurant, among other things. While we were dining there, I asked if there had been any strange activity going on in the mansion, and the informative hostess said that waitresses have had such things happen as having their aprons tugged on.

Also, there is one employee who will absolutely not go on the third floor because of the paranormal activity there since that was where many of the surgeries went on during the war.

Blood permeated the floor boards. Many of the stains are still there. Five hundred types of DNA were found in the stains.

So, if you'd like to have a little adventure while dining, be sure and check out Homestead Manor in Thompson's Station, Tennessee. Enjoy the delicious food, if you can! Also, ask for a tour of the house which includes the third floor, if you dare!

Thanks for visiting!
Until the first weekend in August, Becky