Sunday, April 24, 2011

Today I'm putting the final touches on my lecture on ghosts for Monday night and reviewing the data on the haunted business we investigated yesterday in Jackson, Michigan. A quote from the owner's wife: "As I've been around a long time and I've seen a lot of things. I never ever believed in such nonsense as ghosts. Since we bought this building I sure in the hell believe in them now and no one can tell me any different."� How is that for a testimonial?

The plan Saturday was to head down to Jackson later in the afternoon so I had time to hit a coffee shop to work on my caseload. I was happy to see my friend Indigo�, a Macaw bird indigo in color with a yellow ring around the eyes come in with his owner Tom for some coffee and conversation. Indigo enjoys TV. His favorite are cartoons so Indigo and I watch a couple of Warner Brothers cartoons on my laptop. Boy he really got into it. He would bob his head all over the place when a lot of action was taking place. Gee, I might have bobbed my head as well; it was catching like a yawn.

Photo of Jackson Antique Mall

We got to the Jackson Antique Mall around 4 pm, a haunted store built around 1826 according to its owner. I went directly upstairs where Marilyn showed me where she had her encounter with the ghost a week back. Marilyn and ghost were playing let's talk yes and no by flashing the hanging light until the light blew out. She later apologized to the owners for that. Marilyn found out the ghost liked to ring bells.

There are some buttons upstairs you can push if you require service that the ghost likes to push. There are also little bells sitting on the top of some of the dressers. When Marilyn was there last week she would walk by one and then as soon as she past the little bell would ring. She did this numerous times walk around the room and have the bell ring. She wanted to buy it as a souvenir.

There was a short flight of stairs up to another level. I told Marilyn that is the oldest part of the building and that we must be standing in an addition. That was confirmed by the owner. Wow, that doorway had a strong vibe to it (it's unconfirmed but supposedly a murder took place in the doorway).

I moved about until I came to a set of windows on Pearl street side of the building. I called Marilyn and Jenn over to see if they noticed an extremely cold spot with an electric charge to it (they confirmed). We checked the windows and they were sealed with plexi-glass. I watched the cobwebs and they never moved. Plus the coldness was isolated and far from the window. There was no other source of a breeze.

Photo of room where ghost was encountered under ceiling light fixture

As I moved about and to other floors the coldness followed us. Later on when we were talking to the owner he told us about the ghost lady being seen from the street. A woman that worked down the street would see the woman on occasion standing in the window on Pearl street side. She did a sketch of the lady. That was the area I first found evidence of a ghostly presence before I knew the story.

I did a lot of EVP recordings and even went into the basement to investigate. Later the owner told us that one day a couple of women were in the basement looking about. They heard a woman down there scream which scared the hell out of them forcing them to flee the premise quickly. We had no such luck. However, I did do some recordings so you never know.

After I checked the place over a couple of times we went to pay for an article that Jenn wanted to purchase. That's when a couple came downstairs and said to the owner, "Is this place haunted?"� The old man acknowledged with a nod. The couple had detected a ghost upstairs by the windows where I first encountered it. Wow, this keeps getting better and better.

The owner's wife piped in telling the tale of the sherbet goblets. She had a window display where 4 or 5 were displayed. When she returned the next morning all the goblets were upside down. Well, I guess you would want to keep the dust out wouldn't you? It made perfect sense to me and Marilyn.

Photo of windows where ghost has been seen from inside and from the street. Note camera indicated picture was in focus.

Then she continued: A lady was buying a bracelet. I'm not as nibble as I use to be and tried fasten the clasp. The lady had her arm extended with the bracelet was hanging. In front of their eyes and her husband, the bracelet pulled up tight and clasped all on its own. The two women stared at each other and the customer said, "You have spirits here, don't you?"

She continued with stories of other displays she has put together and returned the next day and it is all rearranged. Her husband told us the story of the candle sticks moving about on a table top that freaked him out.

The pump was primed; the owner started telling how the ghost would set off the burglar alarms. The cops would come and I guess had some bad experiences with the local ghost. The wife said the police are afraid to enter the building after dark. One time on a dark and stormy night one of the officers was so scared he damn near shot a mannequin that was poised in the corner.

Well, now it is time to do the data review and see what else has shown up.

That's it for now; I've got to get to work on ghostly things.

Joe Stewart, The Paranormal Nomad.