Elevator Ghost

Not everyone knows this, but the elevator lobby in my building has sort of a haunted history.  As a person walks up to the elevators, they see someone get on the elevator and the doors close.  The person pushes the button to call another elevator and the doors open on the elevator that just closed and nobody is in there.

This hasn't happened to me in a long time, but it happened to me at lunch today.  When the doors opened and nobody was in the elevator that I just saw someone walk into, I hesitated and then walked in.  As the doors closed I pushed the button for my floor and heard a loud woman's voice in the elevator behind me! 

I freaked out and turned around to see a woman talking on her cell phone as she walked into the elevator from the freight door side.  (One of our elevators has doors in the front and the back.)  I looked at her and shouted, "You scared me!"  She looked at me like I was nuts and said, "Sorry." and continued her telephone conversation. 

Sorry?  You scared the piss out of me and all you can say is "sorry?"  How about putting that cell phone down and helping me clean up all this elevator pee?

Of course, there's some weird...

My cousin Lisa passed away yesterday and, of course, we had some strange experiences.

Lisa's mom, my Aunt Delores, "saw" her mother (our Grandma Elise who passed away when my mom was 16 years old) and she told Aunt Delores that she would be there to meet Lisa.  Grandma Elise had also told Aunt Delores shortly before my dad passed that she would be there to meet him.  She also told Aunt Delores that even though she had never met dad in life (my mom met dad after her mom had passed away), she knew him. 

My smoke alarm downstairs kept beeping Monday night, but I assumed it just needed the battery changed, which I did. Now, I have to wonder if it was spirit related since my smoke alarms always go off within a week or a few days before someone in the family passes.  I don't like it when my smoke alarms beep and I'm not burning toast.

Mom's internet wasn't working Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday), so she was sitting at her desk messing with other stuff. When she picked up her old "planner" to try to decide whether or not to throw it away, a piece of paper fell out with the words "Artie Zinck" on it. Artie is Lisa's dad who passed away several years ago.  Mom can't remember why or when she put the paper in her planner.

Last night, I was checking my DVR queue and found that my machine had recorded a movie yesterday morning called, "In God's Hands."  I have no recollection of setting my DVR to record that movie and have no idea why I would have wanted it.  Do DVRs sometimes randomly record things?  It's never happened to me before.

Dad update and I told you I was a nice person

Dad Update

Dad's still doing well. They're keeping him in the hospital a few more days. Turns out it isn't the stent that's cracked, which is very good news. It appears now that the tube leading from the stent used for flushing the stent out for the first six weeks after insertion had a blockage. The radiology test they did to find the possible stent problem seems to have cleared whatever blockage there was in the tube and, hopefully, fixed that part of the situation. They're still watching dad for infection, but things are looking really good.

I was watching a movie with dad today on Turner Classic Movies and he called Yves Montand a bastard, so I knew he was getting back to normal.

I Told You I Was a Nice Person

When I was leaving the hospital, I noticed an elderly man walking past the parking garage in the 100 degree heat and he was obviously lost. I asked him if I could help him find something and he had a little piece of paper in his hand with his doctor's name on it. No phone number, no address, just the name.

I asked him if he would recognize the building if he saw it and he said he thought he would. So I called my office, told them I'd be late getting back to work and drove him around until we found the building. He had accidentally parked in the wrong parking garage. I drove him back to his truck and told him to follow me back to the other parking garage.

During our ride searching for the doctor's office, I questioned him about his family and friends. If he seemed to have dementia or anything, I was going to go with him all the way to his doctor's office. He knew what day it was. He knew what time his appointment was and he knew what street the wrong parking garage was on. He also said that someone usually goes with him to the doctor, but nobody was available today and the closest his children are to the area is Baton Rouge (about 3 hours away).

So, I left him in that parking garage and worried about him the rest of the day and I'll worry about him the rest of my life. I thought of him and all of my family and friends who might get lost one day with nobody to help them.

My distraction showed on my face when I got back to work and when my friend asked me if I was okay, I started crying. Then, I couldn't stop crying and everybody thought something had happened with my dad, so I had to keep explaining why my eyes were red. Because of my dad being sick, I couldn't blame the red eyes on allergies and get away with that. They would think I wasn't telling them the whole truth about my dad. Repeating the story kept making me feel worse instead of better.

One reason I couldn't stop crying was because I felt like God put me in that spot at that moment to help the man and it was an emotionally overwhelming feeling. My mom was about 10 minutes late getting back to the hospital so I could go back to work. If she had been on time, I wouldn't have run into the lost man.

The strangest part of the whole episode was my walk from the hospital to the parking garage where I first saw the man wandering around. I've walked up and down that two block long walkway many times over the past week. Most of the people don't make eye contact, because they're either going to work or leaving work or are preoccupied with whatever reason they're visiting the hospital.

My walk toward the garage before I met the lost man was different though. Every single person, and I mean EVERY single person, looked at me and smiled. It was so obviously different that I wondered if my shirt was unbuttoned or my hair was weird or something. I know this is going to sound weird or corny or something, but I feel like there were angels around me leading me to the lost man and the strangers walking toward me as I left the hospital could feel their energy.

I'm not saying you should go around picking up strangers or forcing old people to get into your car, but do try to listen to your angels.

Beaumont, Texas Paranormal Conventions Revisited

Lots of commenting going on in a post I did in March regarding the paranormal conventions that will be happening in Beaumont.

Click here to catch up on the comments and discussion and click here for links to the groups' websites and for convention dates.

Southeast Texas Paranormal Convention Update

Note: Comments have been disabled on posts about the paranormal conventions. Someone (NOT ME) has created a site to continue those discussions if you're interested. CLICK HERE.

In March 2010, there will be a paranormal convention in Beaumont. Click here to read my previous post.

The promoter recently left two comments on the earlier post:

Comment 1:
"Wow, I have to remember that this is 2009 and the internet is a wonderful thing! I am the promoter of the convention and if you guys have any questions feel free to contact me at our website : http://www.txparanormal.com/. "

Comment 2:
"Oh, once we have the convention website up you can go to http://www.texasghostshow.com/! Some of the guests we are planning on having are Kristyn Garland and Tango (from TAPS), John Zaffis and Mrs. Hester Eby from the Myrtles Plantation."

For those of you who aren't paranormally crazy like me, Kristyn Garland, Tango, John Zaffis and Ms. Hester are impressive guests indeed.


EDITED TO ADD:

A short time after posting the above entry, I received a couple more comments on the original post:

Comment 1:
"Oh well, you should see the Soulsfest that is coming to Beaumont this year! It is a paranormal convention with guests like Barry Fitzgerald from Ghost Hunters International, Shannon Sylvia from GHI, too. They are supposed to be getting Brian Harnois from Taps and GHI too and many more! It will be 10-10-09 at the Julie Rogers Theatre and they will be having a ghost hunt too!!!"

Comment 2:
"Oh yeah, they have a link it is http://www.soulsparanormal.com/ and http://soulsfest.eventbrite.com/."


Competing paranormal groups, perhaps? It's great that Beaumont has enough interest in the paranormal that there are two active groups and both are promoting the field by holding conventions and fests and ghost hunts.

Any other paranormal groups out there planning to do something to entertain me? Seriously, I'm easily entertained.


Note: Comments have been disabled on posts about the paranormal conventions. Someone (NOT ME) has created a site to continue those discussions if you're interested. CLICK HERE.

Weirdness

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know strange things happen to me and strange things happen in my house. I'm a fan of ghost hunting, but I won't "investigate" my own house. I've lived in a haunted apartment before and I prefer to just not know if I'm sharing my house with others.

Last night, I got a call from my aunt asking if I had called her around 2:30 p.m. from my house. I told her that I hadn't and that, to my knowledge, nobody had been at my house yesterday afternoon. I don't have her number programmed into any of my phones, so it's also not possible that some weird electrical/phone/Roadrunner fluke automatically dialed her. She also said that she had her cell phone with her all day and really didn't understand how she could have had the "missed call" in the first place.

Weird.

Paranormal Convention in Beaumont

Note: Comments have been disabled on posts about the paranormal conventions. Someone (NOT ME) has created a site to continue those discussions if you're interested. CLICK HERE.

I've got a busy weekend, so I'll talk to you Monday. For now, chew on this (which I found out about on The Bayou.)

"First Southeast Texas Paranormal Convention - March 12-13, 2010, Beaumont, Texas. The convention will be held at the Beaumont Civic Center. General Admission is $20, Please contact us for more information or to participate. After the convention join us for a 3 hour concert with local bands." Texas Society of Paranormal Investigators


Note: Comments have been disabled on posts about the paranormal conventions. Someone (NOT ME) has created a site to continue those discussions if you're interested. CLICK HERE.

I See the Light...Again

This week, my dear cousin Ray died after a year long battle with cancer. You might remember that at the paranormal retreat I attended in November, the psychic mentioned him by name and said my grandmother would be there to meet him when he passed. (Click here and see #12.)

As you also might remember, last year when my uncle died, I had some strange experiences with a Las Vegas pin flickering in my den right before he passed away. (Click here and click on the links within that post.)

A couple of days before Ray passed away, I was walking through my den and noticed a light blinking on my cordless phone which I had never seen blink before. It was the "speaker" button. I've had that particular phone for several years and that button has never blinked on its own without being pushed. When I picked up the phone and tried to use it, the battery died. (By the way, the speaker light blinking is not a low battery signal. These phones don't have a low battery indicator.)

A theory in the paranormal community is that spirits can manipulate electrical and battery powered items when they try to communicate and their efforts can drain the power from batteries.

Hi, grandma! I guess you were telling me Ray was on his way. Message received.

Note to everybody:
I have two more cousins (brothers) recently diagnosed with cancer. Please send prayers and love and light out into the universe for them.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program

We didn't see any ghosts on our paranormal retreat, but I did have a few strange occurrences. I had a lot of trouble with the altitude, so I attribute my general feeling of uneasiness to that. However, there were people in our group who said I might have been sensitive to my surroundings and that instead of leaving the areas where I felt uncomfortable, I should have stayed there and tried to decipher the feelings. Maybe next trip. The altitude was making it difficult for me to breathe, think or function without my heart pounding. So, any time I felt bad, I tried to find a way to feel better. I'll be sure my next ghost hunt is at sea level and we'll see if I get those strange feelings again.

The most peculiar things I experienced seemed to point to my being surrounded by some sort of protective energy or field or something.

• I spilled coffee on my shirt, but it made no mark.
• I set the alarm on my phone, but it didn't go off. However, I woke up at the exact time I had set the alarm to sound. When I checked the alarm setting it was set to "off" even though I had checked and rechecked it several times before I went to bed.
• My friend told me there was a line at the restrooms (the "haunted" restrooms, by the way). As I was standing in line, I told the people ahead of me that nobody was in the first stall. They said that the door was locked. I pushed on the door and it opened. I looked at them. They looked at me and said, "You can go ahead." It was an odd moment. You probably had to be there.
• There was a room in the Concert Hall that people were supposedly having experiences in. My friend and I went in there. When we got inside, I looked around and didn't see her. I thought she had decided not to follow me in there. It was dark, but I could see the other people who were four or five feet away from me. I looked around. I looked around again and decided to leave the room. When I saw my friend again later, I asked her, "Did you decide to not go into the room?" She said, "I was in there. I was standing right by you." I said, "I didn't see you." She said, "You looked right at me before you left. I wondered why you didn't say anything." I said, "I never saw you."
• My sister told me she spoke to me several times in the Concert Hall and I didn't respond. I did see her, so it would have been natural for me to expect her to speak to me, but I never heard her.
• The night before we left, my friend had to wake me up because she said I was moaning and "screaming" and thrashing about. The weirdest part about that is that when she woke me up, I wasn't having a nightmare. I know I was looking for something in my dream, but that's all I remember. The dream itself wasn't anything terrifying at all. I'm sure of that.

Also, in the concert hall, mom was hit in the head by a bathroom stall door. When we came out, she told Grant (of TAPS Ghost Hunters) what happened. I said, "Yeah, but she might have been pushing on the wall when it happened." He looked at me and said, "NO! That's the phenomenon that's reported in there. I've sat in there for hours waiting for that to happen."

The Paranormal Retreat Marriage Proposal

I've had more requests for details on the marriage proposal than requests for ghost stories. So, off we go. Early in the retreat, our host Dave Schrader announced that prior to the last event of the retreat a door prize would be given. It would be the first ever door prize at one of these events.

As we all sat waiting for the panel discussion to begin, Dave announced that it was time for the door prize giveaway. He made a grand show of shaking up names in a box and calling out a name. When nobody responded, some people in the audience started shouting, "Have to be present to win! Have to be present to win."

While people were harassing Dave about drawing another name, I was watching the guest speakers. I noticed they were smiling and whispering and laughing. Something was up. Dave looked at the guys and said, "I'm going to tell them." Grant said, "NO!" That's when I started thinking wedding proposal. Finally, the "winning" couple came running across the hotel lobby and into the room.

The guys "proposing" in the below video are Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Chris Fleming and Patrick Burns.

Michael and Marti Parry Gallery Reading

Michael and Marti Parry are psychic mediums. One of the events at the paranormal/ghost hunting retreat I just attended at The Stanley Hotel given by Darkness Radio was a "gallery reading." At a gallery reading, the psychic receives and gives messages from the deceased family and friends of the people in the gallery.

There were about a hundred people in the room and my deceased grandmother stole the show. I had mentioned many times to people before the trip that I wasn't sure if I would sign up for the gallery reading, but that I knew my grandmother would be mad at me if she came through and I wasn't there. It's a good thing I went.

By the way, if you're a skeptic, you might want to quit reading. (Except for you J***, you better keep reading.) I don't have an objective bone in my body when it comes to the paranormal or the spiritual...including saints, angels, etc. I believe. Period. So, I'm not interested in a skeptic's explanation of the events we experienced.

I've watched John Edward's show many times and often wondered if he was reading the minds of the people in the gallery (an interesting ability in itself) rather than actually communicating with their deceased relatives. However, when your deceased grandmother starts talking to you, believe me your mind is a total blank.

Michael Parry was on the other side of the room when he said, "Ruby." (My mom's name.) He asked, "Who would be loud that would be trying to talk to you?"

She said, "My mother-in-law." The audience roared.

Some people believe these guys do something called "cold readings" which means the audience member is inadvertently providing information to the medium. There might have been a couple of instances of this in our reading, but 99% came directly from the other side. I'm sure of that. I bought the video of the event, so we'll be able to analyze our responses further.

Some skeptics also say the psychic listens to people in line or while they're waiting for the show to start. My mom, sister and I didn't speak of grandma while we were waiting. Nor, did I speak of the two people whose names he mentioned to me later. One of those names not being a common name. He mentioned my grandmother's neighbor Mary and my cousin Charlie by name. I agree that those are common names, but their names were totally in context with grandma's messages about them.

Things Michael Parry hit on the nose:

1. My grandmother had brown curly hair which she was very proud of and I had spoken of it at her funeral. It was one of the things that made me saddest when I saw an old picture of her there with her hair fixed like she used to wear it before she got sick. She told Michael Parry she had beautiful brown curly hair and that he better not tease her about it.
2. My grandmother's inheritance allowed my sister and I to have down payments on our homes and my cousin moved into grandma's house after she passed away. He said she mentioned that "she" bought three houses.
3. She and my grandfather argued all the time, but loved each other very much. (Grandpa died a week short of their 70th anniversary.) Grandma told him Grandpa had his own place "there" (on the other side) but she "let him visit."
4. He described her personality perfectly and everything he said was in a way she would have said it. (Even if there was some way that he could have overheard conversations over the weekend from us about our grandmother, he would not have known her personality. I honestly don't remember talking about grandma at any time during the retreat prior to the gallery reading.)
5. He mentioned my mother's gardening. He said grandma said, "She regular gardens, not 'pushing up daisies' like me." Grandma would have totally said that.
6. Grandma said my grandpa was a "stick in the mud." Yes, he was.
7. He asked "Does she gamble?" That's when I totally lost it. She LOVED Vegas. Went several times a year.
8. He saw her playing cards. When she wasn't in Vegas, she was sitting at the kitchen table playing solitaire.
9. He said my grandmother's friend/neighbor Mary was there with her and they were having a great time.
10. He knew Bonnie (my sister) was divorced before grandma died and that Bonnie "isn't looking" for a man but that grandma said she was going to send somebody to her.
11. He spoke of Bonnie's two dogs, one of which is with grandma.
12. He mentioned my cousin "Charlie" and asked what the number or word "one" had to do with him. I said, "He has cancer and a couple of months ago, he was given one week to live." He said grandma will be there to meet him and wanted us to know.
13. Mentioned my friend "J" by name. He looked at me and said, "I need to talk to YOU now." I said, "Okay." He said, "J***." I said, "Crap." He said, "She says he needs a kick in the pants." Note to "J": I don't think you need a kick in the pants, but that's totally something my grandmother would say to you.
14. Mentioned my office manager "M" by name. He said, "Who's M***?" I said, "My office manager." He said, "You work in a small office? About ten people?" I said,"No." He said, "Initials G or J?" I said, "No." He said, "Well maybe this is for the future."
15. On my way home, like a brick wall it hit me. My office has ten attorneys and the senior partner's initials are G. J.

One last word to the skeptics who might think the Parrys got their information from this blog or by Google-ing us or something. We were asked at the sign-in/registration table for the retreat if we wanted to attend the gallery reading. If we did, we paid $20 and were given a sticker for our badges. The line was moving fast and there was no way that the person taking the money for the gallery reading had time to note in the computer who was attending the gallery and who was not.

Slideshow of my pics and videos

Click here for pictures and videos of my trip. The marriage proposal is in there. There will be a separate post about that later. I promise.

I'm baaaaaaaack!

Me with Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of SciFi Channel's Ghost Hunters

The Stanley Hotel
Estes Park, Colorado

The ghost hunting vacation was fabulous. I just might be posting about it for the next couple of weeks. I didn't see any ghosts, but my grandmother came through in the gallery reading with very specific names and messages for me, mom and Bonnie. More on that later.

There was a costume party and a marriage proposal. I got video of the surprise proposal which occurred at the last event of the retreat. That will be posted later.

If you are considering a fabulous and eventful vacation and you're interested in the paranormal, I highly recommend one of the Darkness Radio vacations. It's like four vacations in one: resorts in beautiful areas of the country (Queen Mary, The Stanley, etc.), four hours of ghost hunting with the celebrity speakers, two days of fascinating presentations by interesting speakers and you get to meet and hang out with (seriously, you just hang out with these guys) some of your favorite paranormal celebrities and knowledgeable people in the field (Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Chris Fleming, Patrick Burns, Father Andrew Calder, Chip Coffey, etc.).

Thanks to Dave Schrader for putting on these amazing events.

Darkness Radio Trips

Darkness Radio site

"Here's Laurie!"

No Internet...posts after vacation

I can't seem to get the internet in my room and I'm too busy to come down here to the cafe to do posts. Talk to you next Thursday!

I'm on vacation!

I'm leaving tomorrow to go on vacation. This will be my first vacation with my laptop and I'm going to try to post daily about our ghost hunting adventures. It'll be like little daily postcards from me. How special.

Where I'll be staying:


What I'll be doing:

Click here.

Granny Ghost

In a couple of weeks, my mom, sister, cousin, two friends and the daughter of one of the friends will be going to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park Colorado for a Ghost Hunting trip with Darkness Radio, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of TAPS and other well known personalities in the paranormal field.

My mom recently had back surgery and has occasional bouts of insomnia. She called me yesterday concerned that her insomnia might be a problem when we’re on our trip.

“I’m worried my walking around in the middle of the night might bother people,” mom said. “Maybe I should get a separate room.”

I said, “We’re only going to be there a few days. It’s no big deal. You won’t bother us.”

“You don’t understand,” she said. “I’m afraid that if I walk out into the hall so I won’t bother you guys, someone’s going to think I’m a ghost and start screaming and wake up the whole hotel or hit me over the head.”

“Mom,” I said, “It’s going to be a hotel full of ghost hunters. Ghost hunters don’t scream and hit ghosts over the head. If anyone thinks you’re paranormal or something, they’re going to try to communicate with you. Just tap once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’ and you should be okay.”

“What if somebody takes a picture of me thinking they're getting a picture of a ghost?” mom asked.

“Crap, I hadn’t thought about that,” I said. “I can see us all sitting in the evidence review session and up pops a picture of you on the slideshow screen in your granny gown. We’ll have to pretend like we don’t know you.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“No problem.”

Hellboy meets Grant and Jay

If you're a Ghost Hunters fan, you saw this commercial last night. If you aren't a Ghost Hunters fan, you might not think this commercial is particularly funny. If you're Laurie, you post it anyway...

Scottish Teen Captures Ghost in Picture

Notice the hand on the banister and the mist surrounding it? Click here for the whole story.

On another paranormal note, new episode of Ghost Hunters on the Sci-fi Channel tonight.

Wednesday Night on Sci-Fi

Tune into the Sci-Fi Channel on Wednesday nights (check your local listings), after American Idol, of course.

I'm such a nerd.

Jason, Josh and Grant

(Pic from Grant's Myspace Page)

More Weirdness: Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign

This morning I was reading a chapter in my Anthony Bourdain book entitled "Food and Loathing in Las Vegas." After I finished the chapter, I walked into my office/den/computer room and something was flashing on my desk.

"Odd," I thought.

I walked over to the desk and the Fabulous Las Vegas pin that Steve and Peg bought for me when they were in Las Vegas last year was blinking like crazy. In the six months that I've had the pin, it has never turned itself on.

I turned it off, went about my business, walked back in that room and the pin was on again. This time, I unscrewed the back and went to work.

My grandmother loved Las Vegas and I was fortunate enough to be with her on her last trip there. My uncle, her son, has been in ICU for the past week and is very ill. Is grandma trying to communicate with me or is it just a coincidence? Perhaps, it's just time for me to take a little trip out west.

Maybe, both.

(By the way, Mr. Bourdain highly recommends you try Bouchon at The Venetian and a few other fabulous restaurants at Bellagio and Wynn.)