The Haunted Artist's Adjustable Bed

I'm sure you've seen the advertisements for an adjustable bed. You can raise the head up to a sitting position and the foot part goes up as well. Ever since I’d seen the first advertisement, I wanted one of these beds. They have the most luxurious memory foam mattresses that one sinks down into like sleeping on a cloud.

After opening up our change bank and counting out all the coins putting them in the bank’s coin sleeves, which incidentally took hours, Roger and I cashed in for real money, the folding kind, and took off for the bed store. A few days later are adjustable beds arrived? We decided to get two separate beds which could be adjusted to each of our requirements, but would still be able to share bed linens, space, and the electrical outlet.

The first night, it was just like the ads had promised.  We popped some popcorn, open our cans of diet coke, and adjusted the beds to watch the latest pay-per-view movie. It was fun. I forgot to mention, that the beds also have a vibrating feature to massage one's back and legs. It costs quite a bit extra for this feature.

It was sometime around 3 AM, when my bed started vibrating waking us both up. I searched my light stand for the remote control, and it was lit up like I had just turned on the vibration feature.  Irritated at being awakened, I quickly shut off the vibration, the end table light, and went back to sleep. In the morning, I checked the alarm feature and timer, and both were in the off position.

The following night, we turned in late, so I put the bed down in a comfortable sleeping position and drifted right off to sleep.  Around 3 AM, the head started to rise up and the foot followed suit. I jumped out of bed before it made me into a human pretzel, and grabbed the remote control. The remote control was once again lit up like the night before when the bed started vibrating by itself.

This strange scenario happened again and again. All the time, Rogers’s bed was just fine, and didn't act up. After one week of tolerating my misbehaving bed, I called the store.  The manager apologized for the inconvenience and sent a technician out to check on the bed that evening. I must say the bed store had excellent customer service. The technician came out that night around 5 PM and took the entire bed apart. He checked the remote controls, the motor, and all the parts seemed to be working perfectly. He gave me a new remote control and told me to call him if there were any more problems.

I continue to have problems with the bed, so the store delivered a brand-new bed to me once again apologizing for the inconvenience and explaining to me that they have never had a problem like this before with one of their new beds. That night, I went to sleep with new confidence that my bed would behave.

I was wrong.

Around 3 AM, the bed started rising. It hummed away as the head rose up to put me into a sitting position, then my knees started rising up to meet my chin. Of course, I jumped out of bed before that could happen. The next morning I called the store very frustrated. Once again they sent out a technician to check out the bed. There was nothing wrong with any part of the bed.

We went through this same scenario three or four times (I can't remember exactly if it was three or four times).  The store delivered three beds to me during this time even trying a new manufacturer and model. The same thing happened with each bed. 

I'd like to say the problem was resolved, but it was not. I still have the last bed they delivered, and decided to just unplug it from the wall. Knowing that would finally solve my problem because there was no electric connected to it; I lay down to take a nap. About an hour into my nap, the bed started vibrating. I jumped out of the bed and grab the end of the electrical cord. It was still unplugged. I reached over and touched the bed. Everything was quiet no vibration, so I cautiously lay back down on the bed.  After a few minutes, I felt the vibration again. This time, I didn't panic and get up. I just laid there thinking about what was happening. The vibration was different. It was more like the vibration I've felt at my drafting table while I'm trying to paint. It was the kind of vibration my daughter described when she was sitting at her desk trying to do her homework. It was more like an electrical current going through the bed than a mechanical vibration.

I never called the bed store back. They stopped taking my calls. I wonder why. Roger has never had a problem with his bed, to date.  I never told the bed store about the way the covers on my bed rose in the air a foot off the surface and undulated in waves.  That would have just complicated matters.

This morning while I was enjoying my coffee sitting in my Lay-Z-Boy chair… incidentally, that’s now where I sleep most of the time…the bed started to rise up. It scared the crap out of the cat! I grabbed the remote control, adjusted it back down to flat, and apologized to kitty.

And this is why I recommend to anyone who lives in a haunted house don't waste your money on an adjustable bed.

Caterina

A Stormy Week

It's another hump day, and we've had thunderstorms all week. I've been trying to observe the house more carefully since we've started this project.  There have been more and louder clicks and knocks during storms. The dogs have been whining and restless for hours at a time. The cat's have been on edge and easily spooked (no pun intended).  The animals seem to stare at nothing there. The cats stare, look frightened, and run and hide. It seems like odd behavior to me, but I've never really noticed before.  Maybe it's the storms themselves that put everyone on edge… then again, maybe not.  I can only guess.

We've decided to put a camera in the main part of the house. Remembering what hassles we went through with the other camera and set up, I dread the process. Though, I think it's necessary to have a camera in the main part of the house. I'm sure it will be interesting to our watchers. It may lead to more knowledge and discovery about the house. I think that in itself is worth the trouble. We will have the camera available from 11 PM to 5:30 AM. We will not have the sound on in the main part of the house unless the sounds from the televisions in the bedrooms do not interrupt broadcasts.  I want to enjoy late-night television. It's the only time of day not interrupted by human activity, telephone calls, visitors, and the usual chaos.

Late night, is my favorite time of day.  It is my time to sit in my lounge chair, have a snack, and tune in to a movie or watch what I've recorded on our DVR.  Late-night, in this house, is the only time when nothing or no one interrupts my movie time except knocking and tapping, doors opening and closing by themselves, footsteps, and flying balls of light. I've learned to ignore all that.  Ghosts are far less annoying than a cell phone!  Sometimes I use the late-night hours to create art, make a piece of jewelry, read my Nook, or write my memoir.

See you on the cam. Come and chat with me. Leave me a comment in my blog or on Ustream. You can also follow the adventures of the Haunted Artist on twitter at @Caterina_L

Ciao,

Caterina

Dreaming

This morning, I had a wonderfully vivid dream.  I was in a home in New England. The house was sitting on a foundation or huge rock which formed a natural porch front and back.  It looked much like a house one would see in Camden, Maine.  I decided to take a tour of the house and began walking through the rooms.  It was a little cluttered the home of a writer.  Most writers and artists I know tend to clutter up their space a bit and have less than organized minds.

The furniture was rustic, and a door with french windows and a Light Colonial Maple stain led to the back rock porch.  When I stepped through the back door, I was greeted with a breath-taking scene looking out over the ocean.  A small island jutted out of the water near the center of the bay, and a spit of rocky but tree-covered land curved around to the left.  The sand was strewn with seaweed, grasses and dark pebbles. It was enchanting. The kitchen off to the right proved to me this author was a bachelor and not very tidy with his kitchen duties.  I grabbed a sponge and gave him a little help cleaning up.  I saw he also needed better curtains to frame the lovely scene at the back of the house. Explaining that my mother was a dressmaker, and I had learned sewing skills as a child, I offered to make a set of cafe curtains for the window over the sink.  Just as we were about to enjoy a slice of strawberry cake, the dang alarm went off and took me away from this charming house.

I have two recurring dreams.  One that I move from my house to some place I think is better, then discover I don't want to live in the new place.  I try to get back to my little, haunted house, but it is too late.  I can't afford to purchase the house back, and my life in Florida is gone forever.  I always wake up from that dream with a great feeling of sadness and vow to myself that I will never leave this house.

The second recurring dream, I've had since I was a child is about a plane crash.  A plane flies overhead and crashes behind a row of buildings.  I'm standing at the back of the buildings and watch it as it almost touches the roof.  Then, there's a loud crash and bright flash.  As the years have progressed, so has the action in the dream.  The last time I had it, I was not standing looking out over the tragedy but peering at the sky from inside a body bag.  A fireman in a bright yellow coat is zipping the bag closed as I watch.  As you might expect, I avoid flying.

Dreams have always been a big part of my life and my creativity.  I've read that people do not dream in color.  My dreams are so colorful, I can set a pallet to what I see in the dream and often do.  At my art shows, visitors ask me where I get my ideas and designs.  I dream many of them.  Sometimes, the force behind the dream is so strong that I get out of bed, go to my studio, set the pallet and design to what I saw in the dream and create the painting that day.  This usually happens in the wee hours of the morning, so I've learned to live on five hours of sleep and be happy.  I consider the dreams a gift.

Caterina

It was a long weekend.  Someone has to clean this haunted house although it might add to the atmosphere if I let the cobwebs grow, and a layer of dust with ghostly messages on the end tables might be interesting.  I think if thirteen ghosts want to live here on a free ride and not pay any room or board, they should at least do the dishes and clean the windows in the art room!

We had phantom cigarette smoke in here last night.  I haven't smelled that in a long long time.  It appears concentrated in a room for a few seconds then completely disappears.  No one in the house has ever smoked, and our neighbors don't smoke.  When we first smelled this phenomena a few years ago, we went to the garage, walked around the house outside, and even walked to the other houses surrounding us.  The odor was only in our house and in one room.  Sometimes, it shows up in the computer room and sometimes in the master bedroom.  But, like I said, it has been a couple years since we smelled it happening.

Tonight, we are supposed to get thunderstorms.  Usually, the activity picks up and things get stronger when there is a storm.

Well, I must stop blogging and work on my memoir.  I've been thinking about it all day, but haven't written a word.  Getting this draft finished has been a long, arduous process, but it's still fun at times.  I hate deadlines!  It took me months to decide to share the ghosts with the world, and now they are internet stars.  I hope they don't mind.  Maybe someday, they will find their story on the shelves at Barnes & Noble!

I must also stop avoiding my art room because there is a camera in there.  I find it difficult to concentrate with the internet watching me.  I have an art show in November in Ft. Lauderdale, and I must get some painting done!

Good night all,
Caterina

It's hump day once again, and only three days till Cinco de Mayo.  Since all the Mexican restaurants will be packed, I decided to make my own Mexican dinner. This year, I'm going to try making tamales from scratch. Coming from an Italian family, I don't have much background in the art of Mexican cooking.  It's time to go to the food network channel and look up tamale recipes. Maybe I'll find a website by a genuine Mexican chef.

Now, for an update on my haunted art studio Project.  We finally have a new IR camera mounted on the ceiling that takes in almost the entire art studio, and also, a new microphone. For some reason the new microphone is not picking up the whispering as much as the old microphone. However, the old microphone is attached to the Webcam. I'm not sure what to do about this, but I think I will try using the old Webcam as only a microphone. We've had so many problems setting up the system, I'm really afraid to mess with it.  Eventually, when the site becomes popular and I have a lot of visitors per night, I would like to invite guest investigators to do an investigation and broadcast it in real time. I think it would be interesting.

I've also had another idea.  I'm considering putting our leftover IR camera in the main part of the house focused on the front door.  This is the flight path of our afternoon spirit who slams the front door walks to the middle of the Florida room and then disappears.  I was advised by C.A.P.E. Paranormal to yell "hey you" when I see the apparition walk through the room. If it's an intelligent spirit and not a residual haunt, he should respond. I did what they told me to do. Not only did I yell to him, but I ran after him into the living room. He did not respond, stop, or turn.  I guess he's a residual haunt.  One investigator suggested that this apparition might be one of the cracker cowboys who took care of the homestead coming into the barn to feed the animals. This seems logical since he comes through the house at approximately the same time during the day, and this would be the time of day that one would feed the animals.  I grew up in a county of farmland, and this would be the time of day when my uncles called the cows in from the fields fed them and milked them.

Departing from the subject a bit, I've always liked cows. They have such beautiful eyes and long luxurious eyelashes.  Most have a wonderful temperament.  They seem quite intelligent, and as with other animals, they know their feeding time.  On my uncle's farm, the cows would start their march toward the barn without having to call them.  They would go to their individual stalls and stick their heads through the pipe harnesses waiting for their dinner.  Dinner smelled lovely because it was a mix of grain, flax pellets, and molasses.  I watched my uncle make the mix and then feed the cows.  While the cows were busy eating, he would attach the automatic milking machines.  They were so busy eating; they didn't mind the milking machines.  On a hot summer day while I helped with the chores, we would stop in the milk room where there was a huge vat of constantly churned and refrigerated milk waiting for the milk tanker to arrive.  We would take a long ladle, dip it in the cold milk, and pour it into cups for a refreshing milk break.  It was so rich and creamy.

Well enough woolgathering.  It's time to start my day.  I'm trying to figure out how to allow everyone to comment on my blog.  Be patient with me. I am exceptionally technologically challenged.

Caterina

A Veil Between Me and rhe Dead? Ewwww

Wow, it's Tuesday already, and I feel like I've had a lost weekend.  We've been waiting for two weeks to get all the adapters, cameras, and cables to set up an IR camera, daytime camera, and microphones in the art room.  Last night, we finally had everything assembled, put it all together, and it didn't work.  In my mind's eye, I could see me grabbing a hatchet and going Lizzie Borden on the whole computer setup including the IR camera, web cam, cables, adapters, and the boxes they arrived in!  The computer, which I might add, disconnects from Ustream at the slightest provocation and will be my first target.

It seems that the adapters we purchased, which incidentally took over a week to get here, do not allow the microphone that is on the IR camera to work when plugged into the computer system for which the adapters were purchased.  Add to all this, the IR camera is on permanent close-up, and would only be good if one wanted to focus on spiders running around the edges of the haunted closet.  After two hours of frustration, I decided to shut everything down and go have a dish of ice cream.  Today, after a good night's sleep, I'm back to my somewhat sane self, and will order more equipment from Amazon.

I've received some interesting comments from people watching and listening to my haunted art room cam.  It seems that anyone who listens to the microphone with good headphones or good ear buds can hear whispering.  Some words and sentences do come through quite clearly, but much of the time, it sounds like just a group of people whispering to each other.  I've heard it several times now, and it is creepy!

Today, I received an explanation by one person who does the audio work for a television show about paranormal experiences. This is part of her explanation:

I also took the liberty of listening to your audio off the webcam. In all my experience of doing audio I have never heard what I heard from your audio, except once when I did the Mud House audio.  Very few people are aware of the phenomenon that I have named/labeled as "Sounds beyond Silence" Only a few choice audio analysts know of it. I witnessed/heard it at the Mud house and now again in your audio.  In this phenomenon, the veil between life and death is so thin that one can actually hear the sounds beyond silence in the death realm. Whole conversations on the other side will be heard but not audible. I wouldn't doubt that you have experienced many active spirits throughout your home.

This is an excerpt from an analysis of my house and situation by a paranormal team leader who has investigated this house several times:

Caterina’s house was filled with energy, readily apparent on our first visit. I mean good energy, her personality spilled over into everything.  Neighbors in her area experience similar haunting. We call that a cluster.  But, spirits are like roaches, where there is one, there is usually more. They are also attracted to high energy people. Caterina's house is a magnet for these earthbound spirits.  I have never experienced a home like hers, where we can consistently anytime, catch Class A EVP.  And intelligent answers at that!

As I get the website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter pages organized and updated, I will put more comments and findings from the different investigations on the web sites.  The above analysis was done by Vishi Garig of C.A.P.E. Paranormal.

Barring any more unforeseen technical problems, we should have the IR camera and new microphones working in about one week.  Until then, you can watch the website and listen to the EVP's through the equipment on hand.

Caterina

Hump Day Thoughts

I guess it is over a week now that the cam has been on. Thankfully, the ghosts must not mind the new stuff in the art studio. They haven't appeared visually in my bedroom, hallway, or dining room. The lights haven't been going on and off by themselves, and they havent thrown any of my stuff around. All is peaceful. I like peaceful.

I still hear chatter in the background. I wonder what causes the footsteps. If a ghost can pass through a wall or door, then what is keeping it from falling through the earth and ending up in China coming out of the ground there feet first? Also, how can they make loud footsteps? They don't weigh anything if they are a mass of ectoplasm. By the way, I looked up ectoplasm.

Ectoplasm (from the Greek ektos, meaning "outside", and plasma, meaning "something formed or molded") is a term coined by Charles Richet to denote a substance or spiritual energy "exteriorized" by physical mediums. Ectoplasm is said to be associated with the formation of spirits, however since World War II reports of ectoplasmic phenomena have declined and many psychical researchers doubt whether genuine cases ever existed. (Jan Dirk Blom A Dictionary of Hallucinations 2009, p. 168)

Here's something else from Wikipedia: Ectoplasm on many occasions has been proven to be based on fraud. Many mediums had used methods of swallowing and regurgitating textile products smoothed with potato starch and in other cases the ectoplasm was made of paper, cloth and egg white or butter muslin.

I hope you aren't eating breakfast while reading this!

Back to the football-player-sized ghosts with the tap-dancing cleats on their cowboy boots. I can hear them stirring through my pencils and brushes which are sitting in different parts of the room in plastic coffee cans. I like Folger's Simply Smooth. I also hear my chair creak like someone just sat down in it. Sometimes it sounds like it is rolling around. They also talk to each other and whisper a lot. I'd think it would be difficult to find something to talk about with the same group of people after 150 years.

On a deeper note, if I died, I'd want to move on to the "next act" in our existence. I wouldn't want to hang out in some artist's studio, by the way, which I share with my cats. Especially, when my two cats were having urine-squirting wars with each other and the new cat across the street. The exclamation we recorded on one EVP during this time was "It sure stinks in here, lady!" I agreed with her and hosed the place down with No More Spray cleaner and lots of hot water mopping before they settled their territorial dispute.

I hope the ghosts at least sit down and watch TV with us at night. The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, and Blue Bloods could help them along with some of the boredom one might suffer with an eternity trapped in a 2400 s.f. ranch home. They told one team of investigators they like hanging out here because we are fun people. See, they do get bored.

Caterina

Last night was entertaining. A Hollywood comedian, Michelle Jordan, joined us on the ghost cam chat. That certainly livened things up and gave us all some good laughs. A paranormal experience seen through the eyes of a comedian certainly adds color to the evening.

It seems if you wear a good set of headphones, you can hear what the ghosts are saying. If the volume is turned up be careful of the loud advertisements. I want to strangle the Pine-Sol lady. She is the one responsible for any nerve damage to my ears. :o)

Here is a list of things people have seen and heard so far:

• Very small balls of light moving from the door to the hallway into the art room closet. This phenomena has been reported by people living in our house, guests, paranormal investigators, and now people watching the studio cam.
• A male voice saying, "We need to get control back." This one made me laugh, because it sounds like my husband when he stands in the middle of the chaos which is our house and exclaims, "This place is out of control."
• The name Carrie.
• The name Angela.
• The sound of my pencils or brushes rattling in cans around my room.
• The sound of footsteps walking around in the room.
• The shadow of a figure sitting in my desk chair.

This is a lot of activity for one small house. However, it seems to be in keeping with what paranormal investigation teams have found.

Caterina

What's a Troll?

It's been three or four nights in a row watching and listening to the new cam. I'm beginning to lose track of time, and I really need some sleep. I've been hearing some amazing things on the mic. The conversations between ghosts are disturbing. I'm still not sure what I'm listening to, and this could be addictive.

Tonight has been difficult. I had my first experience with someone getting nasty in the chat channel. Thankfully, there were people on there from the Knickerbocker Hotel website, and they kicked the person off the chat, and taught me a few things about monitoring. It was quite an uncomfortable feeling personally. I guess to some they spend so much time online that they fail to see the people they are talking to as humans. Anonymity breeds some very odd behavior. I'm sure the person who was being "aggressive" would not act that way in public. Or, I hope they would not act that way in public. If they did, someone might throw a net over them.

It is my first time being verbally accosted by someone claiming my house is full of demons. I guess these things will happen. The person online told me to pray... so I did. I prayed that person wouldn't come back to my cam and chat room!

The whole incident, brought the same questions to the surface that I have always had. I come from a very religious background, and the experiences I'm having in this house do not fit in with my religious teachings. It's a "slippery ice" feeling when you've had a certain belief for 50 years, and now you are confronted with something that seems to contradict everything you've been taught.

It is almost 5 AM, and I have been up for most of the night. I'm going to have to keep all the philosophical thinking for another day. So for now, since I believe in God, I'm going to let the art room and my haunted house up to Him. I'm going to get some sleep.

Ciao,
Caterina

First Night With the Cam

My first evening listening to the art room ghost cam was a success. The night before, I didn't get much time to listen to it. I also didn't have a chat on my website, and we were having all sorts of technical problems with the microphone, WebCam, and page design. I hate techno stuff. I'm a right brained artist, and technical things just make me crazy.

I am only going to turn the microphone on at night. There's so much happening in this house during the day, the human kind of happening, that you would not be able to hear my ghosts. I also need time during the day to work in my studio, and I always play music while I'm working. I can't paint and make jewelry without listening to music. One time I asked the ghosts during an EVP session if they liked my music. One of the ghosts said, "Catchy!" I've always wondered if they enjoy the music that I play in the art room. I guess I figure, if I had the problem of being dead and stuck in someone's art room, I'd like to hear some good music during the day. I guess I play the music for myself and for my unseen art room partners.

As soon as I turned up the volume on my headphones, I heard some of the same voices that I hear in the EVP's from the different investigations. There was lots of whispering. At one point, I heard the woman spirit's voice humming near the microphone. I know it was her, because by now, I recognize her voice. I've also heard her do this humming during paranormal investigations. During the evening, I had some visits from other paranormal enthusiasts. They were treated to lots of tapping, a few growls, the lady humming, and the man talking. At one point, they asked me to go check on the room to see if I was hearing these noises in the room, and to find out where some of the taps were coming from. I walked out of my room and into the hallway on the other side of the house where my art studio is. I could hear absolutely nothing there. The whole house was silent.

I returned to the other side of the house from my art room and continued to listen. I heard loud footsteps, more tapping, and whispering. Sometimes the whispering is audible, and I can hear it without the aid of a digital recorder. I think the difference, from the night before, was I opened the closet door and left it open. I will close the closet door during the day.

My black cat Lucy joins me while I'm working in the daytime, and she likes to get into my closet and root around. I also don't want her to scratch the paintings that I store in there. Many times, you will see Lucy watching me from her perch on top of the white canvas chair. The white canvas chair, called a Sedan chair, was purchased at a garage sale in St. Augustine Florida sold by someone connected to Zorayda Castle in St. Augustine. I thought it was one of the coolest chairs I've ever seen. Now, it serves as my thinking chair. Before it found a home in my art room, it could have been used to ride on one's camel, or have one's servants carry one through the streets of ancient Arabia. It has that Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves flavor. Lucy just thinks it's her observation deck.

During the evening, one of the listeners, said they heard a man's voice say, "We need to get control again." That sounds like the one grouchy ghost who lives here. The listeners asked me to go to the art room. I went in there for a little while and started making a bracelet. I was having a problem seeing, and I couldn't find the cord to light my drafting table light. I said, "Oh, great." The listeners said after I began searching for the light cord, they heard a man's voice say, "What's the problem?" I've heard questions like this before while I'm painting. It seems that one ghost in particular likes to monitor my drawing, painting, and jewelry making, adding comments as I work.

When the first team, CAPE Paranormal did an investigation, they were in my art room asking questions. They asked the ghosts if they like my paintings, like to watch me work, and like when I sell a painting. The answers to these questions were they like my paintings, like to watch me work, and do not want me to sell my paintings. When asked if I have a reason to be uncomfortable in my art room the ghosts answered, "Yes." I can feel them in there behind me watching me. Now that I know they are there, I'm not as uncomfortable.

During the TV show, the ghosts were asked to knock on their favorite painting. They knocked several times on a painting that I now have hanging in my art room. You can watch the TV show called Local Haunts on the www.hauntedartist.com webpage. During the show, you will hear the female ghost say "they make me laugh." I agree with her. The crew and stars of the show were fun to work with and made the whole experience a good time. Local Haunts should be a nationally broadcast show. They bring humor to the ghost hunting genre, and they did an excellent job communicating with the ghosts and getting interesting EVP's. The cowboy ghosts here in this house thought Amy was quite attractive. She is. Amy is the producer's sister and a lovely person.

I will let you know what happens during my next chat and cam monitoring.

Caterina

Thoughts on the first 24 hours with the WebCam

Putting a web cam in my art room was not an easy decision. I've been asked by several paranormal investigators to put a web cam in the house. If you are an artist, you can understand the need for a distraction-free environment when you are creating. Having a camera invade my workspace is difficult for me.

I'm also not sure how my unseen guests, the ones living in my art room, will react to this intrusion. I do try to keep everyone in the house and the house itself peaceful. Technologically speaking, I don't know what I'm doing as far as web cameras, IR cameras, and microphones. If you are a techno-geek, I am open to any advice you have to give me.

Since this is not a moneymaking project, I cannot afford expensive cameras and other ghost hunting equipment. I'm not sure that what I can afford is adequate enough to produce good results for paranormal investigators. I will upgrade the equipment as time goes on. If you are a fellow artist reading this blog, you understand that an artist's finances are usually sparse. If I wanted to be rich, I would not have picked art as a career.

Other people have asked me and I have asked myself why am I pursuing this? I have always believed that there is life after death, but I didn't believe in things like hauntings. When I moved into this house, I attributed my daughter's stories to her wonderful imagination. As time went on, I started seeing and hearing things myself. I became concerned about my own sanity.

It wasn't until I saw a Ghost Hunters marathon and heard EVP's and saw the video of something peeking out over the railing of the St. Augustine lighthouse, that I had to admit there might be such things as ghosts. The only thing I know for sure is that they are some form of energy. I think attributing it to the spirits or souls of dead people is more a belief than actual scientific proof.

While the paranormal team packed up their gear after the first investigation, I still had a hard time with the idea that my house might be haunted. As they loaded up their vans, I apologized to them for bringing them all the way from Orlando to investigate something that was probably just my imagination. At the same time, I asked different members of the team if they found anything. They told me they would review the evidence and get back to me.

Not really believing that my house is haunted and it was just some kind of weird thing happening in my life, I decided to put a tape player in the art room while two of my friends were in there painting with me. They asked me why I was running a tape player, and I laughingly said, "We're going to talk to the ghost today." that night after my friends left I downloaded the recording into my computer, put on a set of headphones, and listened to the recording.

I couldn't believe what I heard. In between our conversation, during the silences, I heard one woman's voice and several men's voices butting into our conversation. I took the headphones off and just quietly sat there staring at the computer screen. I had opened the recording in audacity, so I could see the little blips in the line where the ghosts were actually speaking. At that point, I was not amazed just scared. There was undeniable proof something unseen was living in my house, watching what I do, and listening to everything I say. Along with this fear was anger at my privacy being so completely violated. How dare something live with me uninvited. I didn't go into my art room for weeks. All painting and jewelry making stopped, and that gave me an overwhelming sadness.

I had trouble sleeping, concentrating, and staying in the house. I spent a lot of time in my Van sitting in parking lots. I didn't want to go back in the house. I thought about selling the house, but we couldn't afford to move. This was my house, the only one I would ever own. I didn't want to move. I would just have to learn how to live with something like this.

By the time, the investigator showed up to give me the research, video and audio evidence, I was starting to adjust to the idea. They assured me these things in my house were human spirits. However, because they are human spirits they have free will. They told me they could bless the house and quiet things down, but they couldn't force them to leave. Other people, told me they could be forced to leave.

These last couple of years, I've just been waiting to see what happens next. During that time, other things have happened. I had a group of investigators train their newbies here. I figured I owed the paranormal organization that much since they did all the investigating for free. I also allowed a TV show to be filmed here. Both the investigations and TV show gave me more information about the ghosts. The one company did extensive historical research on the property. My house is sitting on land first homesteaded by a man from Machias, Maine. His name was Alonso Small. I have never really found out why they are here. One person told me, they want to communicate with me. I'm not a psychic, and communicating with me is probably not going to happen. I'm a little afraid and very wary.

As far as the book I mentioned in my first blog, that started out a couple years ago when I joined a NaNoWriMo contest. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a fiction writers' month of writing. I wrote a 60,000 word draft of a fiction based on real events. Later, I decided to take a fiction writing course for something to do over the winter. It was during that writing course, that my teacher talked me into writing the whole story as the memoir.

I've never really been interested in reading memoirs, so I didn't know much about them. After I learned about memoirs and how to write one, I began to enjoy the whole process. Memoirs, as you know, are all about the internal journey and what the writer has learned through it all. Approaching my story from that viewpoint, has helped me to sort out my feelings, fears, and beliefs. I'm also not as afraid as I used to be of life or death.

Keep watching the ghost cam, and let me know if you see anything. If you do see anything, make sure you get a screen capture of it.

Caterina

Introduction To My Haunted House

This blog is about my haunted house. In the mid-1990s my husband retired from the military, and we bought our first home. It's just a small house in an old neighborhood at the beach. The day I bought the house, I was driving around looking for for-sale signs. This house had only been on the market one day, and the elderly couple who were selling it said they were anxious to sell because they were moving back to their hometown in North Carolina. I took a brief tour through the house, and fell in love with it instantly. We closed the deal that evening, and the owner even offered to pay the points, so our mortgage was very reasonable.

The first night we moved in the house, my daughter came screaming out of her bedroom because she saw a man float through her bedroom wall and it looked like he was going to float through her. She was a young teenager prone to trips in Fantasyland, so we assured her that there are no such things as ghosts. Then, I went back to her room with her and stayed there until she fell asleep. I explained to her that she was just stressed because she was sleeping in a new bedroom in a new house and everything felt strange around us.

Her father and I didn't believe in haunted houses. I've always held a firm belief that when someone dies they go on to eternity. They don't stay around to hide out in my art room. My daughter continued to have problems with her bedroom. She saw small balls of light streaking through the room going from the hallway into her closet. She complained that her desk vibrated when she tried sitting at it to do her homework. She also saw a dark solid figure walk through her room and would sometimes awaken to the dark figure standing beside her bed watching her.

I had to admit that the house was a bit weird. Many times in the late afternoon I heard the front door slam and footsteps to the middle of our Florida room. Thinking that someone was home early because they were ill or my husband was having a problem with his job, I would call out, "You're home early. Is there a problem?" When I walked out to the Florida room no one was there and the front door was locked. At other times, it sounded like someone was in the kitchen rattling dishes as if they were preparing a snack or getting something to drink. The only problem is, I was in the house alone.

These things kept on for years. When you have a haunted house the entities kind of sneak up on you. The paranormal incidences increase gradually. They become a part of your daily life, and although it can be creepy, it's not the kind of scary you see in movies.

In the early 2000's the television show Ghost Hunters aired. Their Halloween special was the first time I had seen video proof that something does exist and heard my first EVP's.

Months later, I heard on the evening news that Dustin Pari was in St. Augustine doing a ghost hunt. My husband and I got in our truck and drove down to the St. Augustine lighthouse. We talked with Dustin, and he assured us that we were not crazy and referred us to a paranormal team in Florida. The paranormal team found evidence that our house is indeed haunted.

Since that time, we've had two teams of investigators research our house. We have also had a television show produced about the house. Another unusual thing about this haunting is this is not the only house in the neighborhood with paranormal activity. There are at least three other houses in the neighborhood we know to have paranormal activity. It is known as a cluster haunting in paranormal circles.

I am not a psychic, paranormal researcher, or paranormal enthusiast. I just happen to have purchased a haunted house. I don't really know what these things are in my house, but I know they exist. The only thing I know for sure is they are a form of energy. They are also intelligent and can answer questions and carry on conversations among themselves and with investigators.

This blog will give me the opportunity to share with others what happens in a real haunted house. This is such an incredible experience, I decided to write a memoir. Have you ever wondered what happens after the ghost Hunter team leaves the house? What is it like to live with paranormal activity on a daily basis? I found writing the memoir helpful to define my own feelings about this. I'm still working on the book, and I discovered a lot about myself and my beliefs through writing the book. It's not just about things going bump in the night. It's about what happens to someone when their entire belief system is challenged.

I hope to hear from others who have a similar situation and deal with paranormal activity every day. My house is what is also known as very active. Things happen here on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. It can be frightening. It can be creepy, and it can be funny.

I've gotten many requests by paranormal groups to investigate this house. Since this is not a commercial property and it's my home, investigations are too invasive. I realized that the research is important to paranormal groups. Therefore, I've set up the ghost cam in my art room where most of the activity happens. This is not a moneymaking site. We do not offer ghost hunts, T-shirts, or other souvenirs.

I am a working artist, so I will be using the art room at different times during the day and evening. You will just have to put up with my intrusion. That might not be a bad thing since the ghosts say they like to watch me paint and make jewelry. I've noticed activity when I'm in there working. I hear things slide around on the shelves behind me, knocks and banging in the closet, and occasionally my drafting table starts vibrating. As time goes on, we will refine our cameras and audio equipment. I appreciate any technical advice you can give me. I want the site to work well for true paranormal investigators. The paranormal teams have helped me to learn how to live with this type of activity, and I want to help them in their quest.

I will try to post new happenings and updates on the house. You can watch the art room at http://www.hauntedartist.com

Ciao,
Caterina