Spirits and Vegas go hand in hand...

Back in September I had the amazing opportunity to stay in the Venetian in Las Vegas, which stands where the old Sands casino stood. I remember watching an episode of Ghost Adventures s year or so ago and they investigated Madame Tussauds' wax museum, which is reported haunted by those who died in the fire when the Sands burned down. In all honesty it was a very dull episode with only one or two EVP's. When I went, however, my opinion was changed. In one of my pictures (of the Brittany Spears wax model, thanks for asking) there is the brightest orb I've ever seen up to this point! I kow that orbs are greatly debated among paranormal experts; some believe that they are only dust or moisture reflecting light from the camera's flash, some think that and round anomaly in a photo is a spirit orb. I tend to fall between these two extremes. I believe the majority of "orb" photos can be explained away, but there are instances where they are paranormal. I read that if the orb looks "3D" or has it's own space in the photo and it imitits it's own light its paranormal. This makes sense to me. Anyway, back to my photo, one day I will figure out how to post pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. But the crazy thing is that this picture is not the only one that has orbs. There were several in the actual hotel room. And ad bright as the orb by Brittany was, one in the room was ten times brighter! And it looks like I caught it in motion. I must admit I wasn't entirely surprised to see orbs in the room, I often felt like someone was watching me, and once or twice thought I saw the outline of someone standing in the entry way. Looking back and seeing as how it was a fmpamilh vacation, I had a thought that I know is crazy. I couldn't help but wonder if these orbs could be my late father. The vacation was one that he so would have enjoyed and I've felt him with me before. Also I never felt uneasy, even when I thought I felt someone watching me. It's a strange and horrible thought, but I'd be lying if I pretended the thought hadn't crossed my mind.

Meet Sam

My apologies for my month long absence, my Internet has been down for, well, a month. So here's a post intended for the week before Halloween. Once again fate has reared its ugly head and intercepted my plans. The rescheduled ghost tour in Salt Lake won't be ha Owning this weekend after all. Oh well. At one point I was even considering going alone, even though I've been on this tour already this Halloween season.  Why am I so compelled by the supernatural that I would go on a smelly, crowded bus tour, to fend off the drunks that act like the trouble makers sitting in the back row of English class, by myself? Why sit through an hour and a half of poorly recited stories for a chance to take twenty pictures at a cemetery at night?  I started this blog to share my many experiences with the unknown but for some reason I have spent the majority of my posts questioning my fascination with the topic at hand. Perhaps I'm afraid to subject my tales to the scrutiny of the skeptic or maybe, just maybe, I'm afraid to put it all on the line and be ignored by the masses. I can defend my encounters but I can't defend being overlooked. The fear stops tonight. I work in a haunted store. We like to call her Sam (my manager's mother claims to be psychic and told us that's her name and who are we to argue?). For about a year now I've known that we are not alone in our store. I first met Sam one day when I was alone on the sales floor and I heard my name, I turned around expecting to see my manager coming out from the back but found no one. When she came back out I asked if she had called me and she hadn't. She swore she had been on the phone the whole time. A few other things stared happening around the store; the door would open on it's own, a purse fell off the shelf when no one had been in that part of the store in an hour. I was in the back emptying the trash one night and I felt something touch the back of my head. I couldn't figure it out, it wasn't my shirt collar or the tape measure around my neck slipping.  After being touched I told my mom who told me I was imagining things and to ease up on watching "Ghost Adventures". I tried to convince myself I was letting my imagination get the betterr of me until one day a coworker came up to me saying she was afraid of the ghost in the store. Later that night when I was alone in the back I told the ghost off. I told it, her, to stop scaring my coworker, that it was cowardly to pick on someone who scared easily and if she wanted to be heard to do so in front of someone who isn't afraid (aka me). After I said my piece, there was a loud clang a matter of feet from me. After that night I didn't have a doubt in my mind that something or someone else was in the store. After that night I talked to others at work and discovered that everyone has had their own run-ins with Sam. I was ever so relieved to find out I was not alone! And I noticed more little things that I hadn't noticed before. Clothes on certain racks would turn perpendicular to the other shirts on the rack. And believe you me, I tried everything I could think of to recreate this phenomomen and it just doesn't happen naturally by removing clothes from the rack. I've heard women's footsteps in the store when I'm the only one out there. The most amazing thing happened a few weeks ago. I was hanging pants at the front of the store and I was must staring off into space when I saw, with my own eys, some tank tops move back and forth on the sales rack. I immediately went over to the sale rack to check for drafts. There was nothing, no moving air, nothing. The only thing I noticed was that the rack was cold to the touch.

Update on my Update

Unfortunately I was unable to go on my much anticipated ghost tour. After mishap after mishap and three failed attempts to catch three separate ghost tours we called it a night and made plans to go next week. Granted it won't be the Park City ghost tour, but the Salt Lake ghost tour again. But at least I've had great success collecting evidence on this tour so I'm excited to give it another go. Fingers crossed! In my lack of paranormal tourism, I went looking at fan photos on the Ghost Adventures Facebook page to try and get my fix. This is something I like to do in my spare time. One day I hope to get the guts to post my pictures on there...but that's for another post. I've learned quite a bit over the course of looking at other's pictures and I have to say-no one knows what paranormal looks like! (This post took a random turn.) 90% of the photos on that site are of "orbs". From my understanding and research a paranormal orb had it's own light and isn't transparent. Dust is often mistaken for orbs and I'm sick of seeing pictures of dust particles trying to be passed off as spirits. What's even worse is the attitude people have when an opposing point of view is stated. I've captured things that I really thought were paranormal but people have pointed out that they weren't. I didn't cuss up a storm or get defensive. It's not personal when your photos are debunked! It's part of the investigator's gig, without debunking the field would go nowhere and photographers would think every picture with lens flare is a ghost. I understand how desperately some people want to capture something and it makes it that much harder to catch legitimate evidence but it makes it so much more exciting and rewarding when something is actually captured!

Quick Update

I'm gearing up for my second ghost tour of the year. Two weeks ago I went on the Salt Lake ghost tour and if tonight's tour in Park City is half as successful as the Salt Lake tour was I'm ecstatic! Park City has a lot to live up to; orbs, mists, evp's, and full bodied apparitions...it gives me the chills just thinking about it! I hope to catch something tonight! Wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes!

From Fear to Fascination

I find it odd that I am so fascinated with ghosts. As a little girl I was terrified of them; even the word ghost would send me over the edge. I couldn't even watch the old Disney "A Christmas Carol"! Jacob Marley (aka Goofy) creeped me the crap out! I had nightmares over that stupid movie. The worst memory I have is when I was watching a David Copperfield magic show with my dad and Copperfield had a tower from an old Victorian mansion called the Berkley House on stage which was supposedly haunted. Well behind the curtain covering the cross-section of this tower there were bells ringing and papers were flying around. I was probably eight or nine at the time and my dad could see that I was getting scared so he calmed me down explaining it was just a trick and that there were stagehands behind the curtains ringing the bells and so on. What he didn't account for was that, without warning, Copperfield, tore the curtain away exposing an empty room complete with ringing bells, flying papers, and objects floating through the air of their own accord. Needless to say I slept in my parent's room that night. And the next night. And possibly the night after that. After that experience, and several years of growth and maturing, I started being brave and watching the occasional Ghost Hunters episode and regretting it when night would roll around and I'd have to try and sleep. Then I got into this scary movie phase and that led to more haunted documentaries, but I was still very skittish after any of these shows. I'm not 100 percent sure what the turning point was that changed my attitude about ghosts. The best I can figure is that it was the summer of 2008 when my mom and I went to Boise, ID for a concert and decided to go to the Old Idaho State Penitentiary, a location that will be the topic of many posts in the future. I just remember having strange feelings all throughout the tour and doing some research on it later only to discover that the Peniteniary is one of the most haunted buildings in America. I think actually being in s haunted location and, as cheesy as it sounds, living to tell the tale lit my fire. I wanted to know more about these men. How they lived, how they died, and why they would want to stay there after their passing. Looking back I believe that this was the beginning of the end for me, and the gateway to many an adventure.

Paranormal Introduction

     Thank you for joining me in my journey into the unknown.  For centuries, ghosts have captivated the imaginations of millions world wide.  With ghost stories dating back to Ancient Greece, it's hard not to put some stock in the tales, and yet for every believer there is in the world, there is a skeptic.  Why is that?  How can so many ignore what is so clearly in front of them?
     Perhaps people let their fear cloud their minds because life is simpler when the world consists only of things that can be seen.  I don't feel that way.  I think it's exciting to know that there's more to this world beside what the naked eye can see.
     With this blog, I hope to share my experiences and theories on the paranormal, in hopes of enlightening others and showing that spirits are not necessarily things to be feared, but are simply people who have passed.