"Halloween ~ Spirits Among the Living"

Well that scary time of year is once again upon us and we all know what I am referring to right? I am indeed speaking about "Halloween" ~ that one night of the year when everybody likes to dress up in costumes as ghosts, goblins, vampires or some other creature/character and go door to door yelling "trick or treat!" , though mainly children are the ones doing this in the hopes that they reap a large reward of candy and treats at the end of the night. (Alas, to be a kid again.....)

As adults, the majority of us may fins ourselves out with our children keeping them company, staying home to hand out treats (and the odd poisoned apple and syringe - just kidding!) to the kids so elegantly dressed in their costumes or perhaps attending some sort of Halloween event whether it be a costume party, private seance or perhaps even a paranormal investigation. (I personally prefer the latter, though I have been known to dress up in costume once in a while!)

How many people out there actually know the true origins of Halloween? Well, allow me to enlighten you a little bit. The origins of Halloween in fact go back 2000 years to an ancient Celtic festival known as "Samhain" (pronounced "sow-in", or in the Gaelic "sav-in) which for the Celts marked the end of summer and the harvest, and the beginning of winter; summer brought nicer weather and the harvest while winter brought with it cold, darkness and even death. Given the fact that the ancient Celts marked their New Year on the 1st of November, it was their belief that on the eve prior (31st of October) the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was at its thinnest and that the spirits of the dead returned to earth to roam amongst them.

The ancient Celts felt that the presence of these spirits would make it easier for the Celtic priests (or 'Druids') to make their predictions of the future and the coming year ahead as well as cause damage to the crops/harvest among other troublesome things and occurrences. The ancient Celts would dress up in costumes (usually animal heads and skins) whilst gathering around large, sacred bonfires. This Celtic festival of the dead was eventually influenced by Christianity and the arrival of the conquering Romans around 40 A.D. who celebrated their festival known as 'Feralia', commemorating the passing of the dead.

The Catholic Church (under the leadership of Pope Bonafice IV) eventually incorporated "All Saints' Day" festivities (which was known in Middle English as "Alholowmesse", which became "All-Hallowmass" which became "All Hallows" and eventually Halloween, the term we use today).

There are many great resources available to those who wish to learn more on the origins of Halloween as I have not gone into great length here ~ though interesting to know that it has been celebrated for thousands of years throughout history.

Once thing is for certain ~ on this day the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is definitely at its thinnest. Keeping this in mind, regardless of what you end up doing tonight just know that the wind you hear blowing through the trees or the strange howling sound you hear from off in the distance may very well be an indication of the presence of the spirits of the dead whom on this night, walk amongst us.

Have a safe and terrifying night ~ Happy Halloween.

"Paranormal Activity" ~ A Demonic Theatre Experience

There has been a lot of hype and publicity as of lately in regards to a new movie that has just been released in theatres entitled "Paranormal Activity". The film, shot entirely on a very low budget of roughly $15,000 US is currently the talk of the town

so to speak, and has had movie-goers utterly terrified and spooked to the core since its release into theatres.

Due to my curiosity with this low-budget film, I decided to go and check it out for myself (along with a good friend of mine and an Amsterdam Blonde) to see what all the hype is about surrounding this film. I had no idea what was in store for me as a member of the audience, but was quickly going to find out. And find out I certainly did.

The movie (filmed entirely as a "home video") started off rather slow at the beginning and details the seemingly ordinary lives of a young couple living in San Diego, California. The couple has been experiencing some "strange phenomena" in their house for some time so the boyfriend in the film purchases himself a fancy, high-tech video camera (not unlike the cameras used in television studios or on location shoots in broadcasting) and decides to begin documenting some of the strange household occurrences on film. His girlfriend doesn't seem all that thrilled with the idea and as the story progresses day by day she willingly admits that she has been plagued by paranormal occurrences ever since she was a young girl. (You think she would have mentioned that to her boyfriend when they began dating.....silly sow!)

The majority of the "paranormal activity" (an aptly named movie, wonder who the genius was that thought of this title?) seems to occur during the night while the couple is sleeping in their bed ~ with camera rolling the audience begins to see some of these strange occurrences; starting off with footsteps up the stairs and in the hallway outside the bedroom, to scratching on the wall, to very loud bangs that wake the couple with a fright! Scary enough, right? Well it gets better.

The woman in the film begins to get very uncomfortable with what is going on and quite frankly, she is terrified. The activity begins to escalate, and the boyfriend decides to sprinkle baby-power on the floor one night and leave the camera running ~ only to find beastly footprints the next morning. The woman believes that a diabolical entity (demon) is to blame for what is happening, and that it is after her soul. The activity continues to escalate, getting worse and worse to the point where she begins to be attacked while she is sleeping. I don't want to go into too much detail for those who have not yet seen the movie, but let me tell you it did leave me with a rather unsettling feeling at the end. Very disturbing, but also very well done for a couple of amateurs.

Spirits and ghosts of departed people are one thing, but when it comes to demonic entities it changes the playing field completely and is truly terrifying. These things do exist, and these occurrences do happen more than we may realize.

So for those of you who like to dabble with Ouija Boards once in a while my best advice to you is DON'T. Stop now, before it's too late and be careful what you wish for!! Demonic possession is not something you want in your life, believe me. And for those of you who are expecting a big-budget Hollywood scare from this film, then you will be disappointed. Go and see it for yourself, but keep an open mind and don't expect too much.

Then go home after seeing this film and have a good night sleep. If you can.

The Custom's House ~ Haunted Hamilton Ghostly Tour & Spirit Invocation

This past Saturday, October 10th, 2009 I decided to take yet another trip out to Hamilton, ON to attend another "Ghost Walk & Tour" courtesy of Dan & Stephanie Cumerlato of Haunted Hamilton. This particular tour was held at The Custom's House in Hamilton's north end and the difference between this tour and the vast majority of the others was the fact that it it started at 12 midnight (also known as "the witching hour").

The Custom's House is a very beautiful, old building (built circa 1858) and is notorious for it's haunting(s) and resident spirit(s) ~ the building itself is said to be haunted by 'The Dark Lady', a young woman who was murdered well over 100 years ago by a sadistic, mean, evil ship captain who took the young woman's life in a rage, and then buried her remains in the brick wall of the vault, located in the basement of this old building.

First off, I was quite amazed by the rather large number of paranormal enthusiasts that came out for this ghostly event, it certainly made for a "busy" evening. Everyone was gathered into the main hall of the Custom's House where we all took a seat around the perimeter of the room, as well everyone one was given a white candle to hold. In the centre of the room was a small table with lit candles and other decorative items like skulls etc. to help add to the "atmosphere" of the room, and that it did indeed.

After a brief introduction by Stephanie & Daniel Cumerlato, we were introduced to Ghost Guide George who began the evening's festivities with a history of the building along with the help of Lady Elizabeth ~ they then passed around their lit candles to everyone in the room so that we could all light our individual candles, which in turn began the "Spirit Invocation". The purpose of the candles is to surround everyone in 'white light' for protection, and ask the spirits' permission for all present to be there. This was quite an intense moment, as an eerie silence fell over the room ~ all 130+ people quiet, ad focused on what George & Elizabeth were saying.

We were then divided up into two large groups to commence out tour of the Custom's House. The tour itself lasted for roughly 90 minutes or so, with chilling tales and stories of the ghostly goings-on relayed by our Ghost Guide George, complete with his black cape and Victorian Top Hat, and a fantastic actor as well. (Lady Elizabeth is also a fantastic actress, as she conducted a previous tour at The Hermitage Ruins in Ancaster).

I would definitely recommend a tour of this grand building with the people of Haunted Hamilton, it is well worth it, especially if you have an interest in the paranormal such as myself. I am currently still analyzing my photos from that night, perhaps I will come across some strange anomalies, who knows. Once again, if you do decide to take the ghostly tour of Hamilton's Custom's House, bring a camera and an open mind.

You never know what may be lurking around the corner or beside you for that matter. Sleep well tonight.

That Spooky Time of Year.......

Ah yes it's indeed that time of year again when the warm, humid weather and sunshine seem to just disappear and go into hiding, being quickly (very quickly!) replaced with cool, cloudy, rainy and blustery weather that we all know as Autumn or Fall.

The Fall is in fact my favourite time of year for several reasons; firstly I was born at the beginning of October which holds special meaning to me, I absolutely love the changing of the leaves to vibrant oranges, reds and yellows along with the smell in the air of wood fires burning somewhere ~ perfect for those long country drives (which I tend to do quite often, or as often as possible and perhaps even stop at a local paranormal hot spot or two!!). Finally, the coming of Fall also means that Halloween is fast approaching and is one of my favourite days of the year!!

Yes we all love a good ghost story once in a while, do we not? Speaking of ghost stories, I just recently finished reading the latest compilation by author John Robert Colombo, entitled 'The Big Book of Canadian Ghost Stories' which in and of itself was a fantastic collection of told as true ghost stories from the past as well as the present. If you are interested in stories of the creepy kind, I would strongly suggest picking up this book and giving it a read ~ I personally had a hard time putting it down.

There are all types of books out there about the Paranormal, which reminds me I just picked up a few more books today, one of them written by author & psychic Michelle Belanger (who you may remember from her several appearances on A&E's TV Show "Paranormal State", featuring the Penn State University's Paranormal Research Society. I will definitely let you know what I thought about the book once I have finished reading it ~ also, there are a wealth of on-line websites dedicated to ghost stories and paranormal events all over the world ~ I would urge you to check some of them out, they make for good bed-time reading (that is if you can handle it, and not become to frightened!!).

Until my next blog post I bid you good evening and remember, when you think you are alone, you just might have company. Hehehe.

Sleep tight.