No Wisconsin Goodbyes

I left my bathroom and entered my bedroom and I felt soft ghost fuzzies around my body. I knew someone was there, but I didn't feel like they were trying to actively get my attention. Regardless, I sat down in my chair and started up a conversation.

I am speaking with a woman? - Yes

And we've spoken before? - No

Are you just passing through my house and my area? - Yes

Did you specifically come here to talk to me? - No

Is there something I can help you with? - No

Was that noise I heard you? - No

Was that noise you? - Yes

Did you just want to say hi? - No

Did you not realize I would pick up on your presence here? - Yes

I started to pick up on some information while I was asking those questions. It crossed my mind, almost a vague picture - too faint to really see her, but enough to give me an age idea.

I get the feeling you're in your.. young... in your forties? 30s... 40s... late 30s... at the age of 38, yes? - Yes

It was short notice. It wasn't like a long thing. It was a short illness or a short... it wasn't a heart attack. Was it a late cancer diagnosis? Like you didn't, like you kinda... - Yes 

I had been trying to think of how to say she didn't go in soon enough for it to be found out, but the rods crossed before I could finish translating my thoughts to my lips. 

And you left a family. - Yes

You had... the number 3. Did you have 3 children? - Yes

A bright flash happened to my right. I wasn't sure if it was my recorded or my lights around my little table. 

Oooo.... did you just make that flash on the right. - Yes

Oooo... and I've got goosebumps. I feel you. Hello! What was that noise? Was that someone hunting outside? Yeah. - Yes

I wish I had thought of a list of things to talk to spirits about. Are you FROM Winneconne? Did you live IN Winneconne? - No

Did you find your way here through that corner over there. Back behind me. Is that how you found your way here? - Yes

There is a corner in my room where I seem to have a great deal of paranormal activity. One of my guide spirits, Becky, informed me that it's some like a "portal." I don't want to use that word, because I think it's a bit tainted by media, but it is a gateway of sorts where spirits hop around to different places. I live on the water and I heard portals or gateways are sometimes connected to the flow of the water. Sadly, duck hunters are also attached to water and were about the interrupt my session.

Is that another hunter? Are those gunshots? - Yes

WHAT THE HECK! IT'S AFTER 9PM!

I ranted a little before I redirected myself to know more about where she is from.

Are you from oshkosh? Is that where your home was... or is? - Yes

Were you on the south side of town? - No

Were you part of the northern area? Where the Wendy's is? Where the Tech School is? - sort of yes

I had another moment of reflection, where I felt her sharing herself with me. It was a feeling of sadness and loss.

I'm really sorry you went through that.

Do you want to tell me your name hun? - Waited for her to share her name.

I got Megan. Is your name Megan? - Yes

Thank you. Thank you for that. Is there anything you want me to know? - No

Anything you want to share with me? That you just want someone else to know? - No

Do you visit your family? - Yes

Good. One of them knows that you watch over them. One of your daughters. - Yes

Is it the youngest one? Does she know that you watch over them? - Yes

Let them know. Do more to let them know. Because they need you and they love you. - Yes

I feel... a little something on my right calf. Is that you? Is that you I feel? - Yes

You're just nearby. I just got the image of a little girl grabbing onto the lower part of your leg. Is that your memory? One that is really precious for you? - Yes

I remember when my daughter used to do that. It was so sweet. 

I have Turkey Trot in my head. Is that. Do you.. did you used to participate in the Turkey Trot in Downtown Oshkosh. - Yes

Did you walk? Did you walk it? - Yes

That's sweet. I do that, too. 

Were you just passing through cause you were - I like to call it sightseeing. Its when you get to walk around and see different places that maybe you normally wouldn't have. Are you just kinda sightseeing a little bit? - Yes

Best way to see the world! - Yes!

Did you enjoy traveling when... you... were on this... side of things? - Yes

What was your favorite place to go? I heard Green Bay. Is that what you... - Yes

(laughing) I don't disagree with you. I had so much fun there. Was is because I GOTTA GO TO LAMBEAU! - Yes

Oh you're a Packer's fan? - Yes

Gotta love the Packers! - Yes

I paused for a moment of reflection. Feeling connected to her again, sharing things with them and the I started to speak out again.

Awe Megan. I do have to thank you for talking to me. I do appreciate it. You didn't have to stay and talk, but I appreciate you staying and talking to me. It is really quite nice. You are helping me grow and helping me be a better person. And I thank you for that. - rods cross

What kind of cancer was it, if you don't mind my asking? Was it? (I started picturing my mom who had ovarian cancer.) Was it really ovarian cancer? - No 

I'm close. It's not quite the ovaries? Was it uterine. Something with the lady bits? - No 

Ooo, I got farther away. Was it a female oriented cancer, like breast cancer? - No

Say it really loud for me hun. Was it? Was it pancreas? Pancreatic cancer? - yes. That came up for me a little bit ago too. I just wasn't sure. OOOOOO (massive goosebumps all over the body). 

I really want to thank you for sharing that with me. Awe, I want to give you a hug so bad. Is that what you're doing right now? (It's just rolling goosebumps and I'm picturing a hug.) Are you like leaning forward and giving me a hug. - Yes

Honey I appreciate it so much. I am going to give it right now. (I lean forward to do an air hug.)

I appreciate you. And I thank you for sharing all of this with me, your family. What's happened to you. The things that make you so happy. Thank you for that. I don't want to keep you much longer. But I do just want to thank you. Is there anything else I can do for you? - No

Thank you for having this conversation with me. I am glad you didn't just run away and that you stayed. I do appreciate it. Do you get to talk to people often? - No 

If you ever do need to talk, Megan, you can always come back to me and I'll be here. Ok? - Yes 

I don't want to make this a Wisconsin goodbye, you know what those are like... they take FOREVER! So I'll say goodbye and thank you and if you ever need anything, I'm here. Thank you. 

This exchange was so meaningful for me. Megan was just a spirit traveling around and I happened to engage with her. Thankfully, she was willing to answer my questions and interact with me in a myriad of ways. She made lights brighten and I experienced strong ghost fuzzies. She even helped me feel the region where her cancer was on her body. When I told her that she truly helped me grow, I wasn't kidding. This particular exchange will last long in my memory and I thank her for sharing so much of herself with me through questions, thoughts, and feelings. 

I have tried to look for more information on Megan, but I wasn't able to locate anything online yet.

Bad Energy and a Warning (March 2025)

 My family is gearing up for an investigation coming up in the next week. We've been talking about it a good deal and we even brought up Becky. We still have Becky's doll and I promised her that we would take it to her at Glenbeulah if she decided to return and not come back. According to my guides, Becky's position as my teacher has come to an end, as she had done what she needed to do for me to learn. Now I will be anticipating another teacher or teachers. We'll see.

Becky has been on my mind a bit and yesterday I started, in the early evening, to get ghost fuzzies on my right side leg and up to my arm and they were intense ghost fuzzies. And while my mind wanted to entertain thoughts of it being Becky, I knew it wasn't. Something was trying to get my attention. I couldn't engage at the moment, as I was busy doing other things, but I knew I needed to address the situation before I went to bed.

Before bed I said my piece and opened myself to my guides and other positive influences in my world, put out some equipment, in case it was Becky, and then used my rods to start questioning. I explained all the equipment, in case it was a new spirit, and offered an opportunity to interact that way. I received no reactions. I then offered communication through the rods, but was strongly met by very intense ghost fuzzies. I think the best description for how intense these were is that they actually took the form of raised goosebumps and made my nipples so hard, it hurt (it is incredibly awkward to write this, but how else do I explain the true experience of what was occuring).  I pushed through the intensity and started asking questions.

This was not Becky, but was a man and after a few introduction questions, I was given an info dump of who it was I was interacting with. It was the tweed man from the cemetery. The friend of the spirit we banished last January. I was getting intense ghost fuzzies and I felt very uncomfortable in my space. I immediately told him that he is not allowed to communicate with me. He is not welcome in my home. He is not to touch me or my family. I then started to focus on my communication with my spirit guide and she told me that it was him and that I just need to stand firm on forcing him to leave.

I called my husband up from downstairs and he then proceeded to firmly tell the spirit that he is not welcome here, he has no power here, he is not allowed to interact with my family or be in this house, and I envisioned myself pushing him out the front door. I kept sending the same images and picturing the same things. My husband came up and also shared in telling him to get out. 

I didn't immediately realize it, but I had grabbed my tiny ghost shaped rose quartz off of my table and had been holding it tightly in my hand. I was seeking peace in my home and I ended up holding onto this little guy until I fell asleep. Also, after realizing who was trying to communicate with me, I put away all the equipment, sending another message that communication is cut off. I fell asleep later than I wanted, but I finally felt like our house was free of a spirit and I was able to sleep and I slept well all night. Before I fell asleep, but after my husband left the room to go downstairs to write, I heard a loud knock on the wall behind me. I could have also sworn I heard a voice say something, deep and mumbled, at the foot of my bed. I could not verify this information, as I didn't have an additional witness and I wasn't sure who would have engaged like that.

The following morning, I took some time to commune with my spirit guides to try to understand what is going on. First they wanted to address an issue going on with our family (a teacher at our daughter's school has been harassing and abusing her, but the administration refuses to see it). After we discussed this issue and my guides called me out for "overthinking," I turned to communing with the rods to try to access the information differently. And someone who had been on my mind made herself known. Becky was here to share a warning about the Old Glenbeulah School that our family planned on visiting during Spring Break. 

Becky, having called the Old Glenbeulah School her primary location, came back to my house (she left back in January, having been a teacher on my Guide Squad) and wanted to let me know that I needed to be very wary of the man from the hallway and to keep Isabelle safe from him. Our daughter had an interaction with this spirit when we investigated Glenbeulah with Adam Berry in December 2022. Becky, in this conversation, sent me some images of what she was talking about. I saw the hallway and the shadow of the man, the water fountain where he reached out and touched me, and a place I haven't been before, but later realized was the boiler room. 

I started to feel a bit fretful over my daughter going there with us, but then I realized that we are together and we'll keep each other safe. So after a little more discussion about safety with Becky, I asked her if she wants me to bring her doll to the school for her. Back when she first started visiting us, I bought her a doll for Christmas and I said if she ever feels that she's going to spend most of her time at the school verses here, I would see if the school would let us donate her doll for the doll room. Becky, though, wanted me to keep it here for when she visits and didn't want to share it with the other spirits at the school. She said it was special to her. 

After some general talk about how Becky was doing and then speaking with my guides about more personal matters, I wrapped up the conversation with the rods. 

Later that day, I was talking to my husband about the strange knock that has started on the wall by our bed. Our neighbors aren't home, so it's not someone in the house bumping into the wall. Then my husband had a moment where he wanted to share something, then held back, and then shared it with me with a caveat about how he chooses to share things that might be odd that happen to him. He said if he debunks it, he usually doesn't mention it or he ignores it and might remember it later. This one, though, he thought was a little different and he opted to share it with me. 

We have a very elderly dog who has bouts of whining during the early hours of the morning. Maybe confusion over wanting food or drink. She's a beagle, so she's crate trained. She also has bathroom problems, so the crate is helpful for her. But on this morning, her whining was particularly intense and had lasted a while. Even I heard it when I got up for the bathroom around 5:30AM. My husband said she had been at it since at least 4AM and would only quite down if he woke up and told her to stop.

This whining, though, made me think of how she whines when we get home from being out for more than an hour. She's eager to be let out of her kennel so that she can say hello and sniff anything and everything. But I didn't make a possible connection until my husband revealed what had happened. After his last time of waking up to tell Lessa to stop, he heard three very loud stomps in front of his office (about 7-8ft away from where my husband was lying down). No one was there. No one responded back. And after that our dog stopped whining.

I agreed that it was an odd event. I knew Becky was still in the house, so I immediately got out my rods and I asked her about the stomping. She said it was her and she was letting my husband know that she was there in the house. Since he was sleeping, she didn't know how to let him know. Making our dog whine wasn't helping anyone make the connection to her. (She had appeared in the hallway to our dog, trying to get her attention, which is why our dog reacted that way.) So to shift stances on getting our attention, opted to stop loud enough for him to hear her next time he woke up. 

Before I stopped our communication for this second time, I asked Becky if she would be at Glenbeulah when we were there and she confirmed that she would be. So I'll see what kind of fun she shares with us when we meet her again on her home turf.

Curious Passerby - Part 2 (3/10/2025)

 Following up on the Curious Passerby, I wasn't expecting to see Marie or at least have her interact with me in the future. Many spirits just pass through and I never see them again. I had gotten the impression Marie was just passing through like so many of the others before her and didn't really want to interact. So you can imagine my surprise when she made herself known to me this morning. 

I was sitting at my desk working. My cat, Katsu, was sitting in front of me watching the ocean life video playing on my computer as I worked on some things and listened to my audiobook. All of a sudden, Katsu's head whipped around looking behind us (towards the front of the house and hallway area). I stopped what I was doing and turned off my book and looked around. I stretched my ears to hear anything I had been ignoring. I didn't sense anything, so I went back to what I was going. Katsu, though, stayed only for a few minutes before getting down and wandering off.

A few minutes after he left, I was hit with ghost fuzzies from my feet to my waist. It was so strong, I actually thought I had stepped on a plug or something around my feet. Or maybe my grounding mat had rebelled. I let the fuzzies wash over me and I sat for a minute, wondering how I wanted to handle the situation. I was working on something and it had taken me forever to get to this point in my day (appointments and things in the morning). Yet, as I sat for a moment, I decided I could pick up where I left off and entertain this interaction for a moment. So I stopped everything and turned off my book. Then I got out my divining rods and settled in to work.

I explained how the rods work and my intention for the interaction and then asked if a spirit was here that would like to communication - yes.

• Are you a spirit I know? - no.
• Are you the spirit that passed through last Wednesday? - yes.
• Is your name Marie? - yes.
• Is your name Marie E*********? - yes.
• Hi honey. It's so nice to meet you again. I didn't think you'd come back this way. Are you doing well? - yes.
• Did you use to live in W*********? - yes.
• Was your husband a man who studied religion in different parts of the country? - yes.
• I saw you were at the California Lutheran University in the 90's. I almost applied to work there about 10 years ago. Did you help set up the school? - yes. [tentative]
• Were you a volunteer nurse there? - yes. [confident again]
• I feel you have a very caring heart. Is there anything I can do to help you? - yes.
• Did you want someone to talk to? - yes.
• Did you want someone to acknowledge you, in a way? - yes.
• I can try to do that for you when I am free. So I saw that you loved having concerts in your home. Do you want to talk a little about music? - yes.
• I got the impression the concerts were beautiful performances of Christian music, like hymns. - yes.
• Did you ever listen to The Singing Nun? - yes.

(I put on the original Singing Nun - Dominique and let it play a little.)

• Do you know this song? - yes.
• Is she singing Italian? - no.
• Is she singing French? - yes.
• Do you like spiritual music like this? (put on chakra meditation music) - no.

I shared with her that I used to study nuns in film and I brought up The Singing Nun (1966) with Debbie Reynolds and I played the English version of the song. She liked that version, too. 

I then explained I had to go, because I had work to do and I had to get my household going. I asked if next time I felt her around, she'd want me to play her some Lutheran hymns and she eagerly answered yes. I ended by expressing how much I appreciate her stopping by and letting me know she was here. And I told her I look forward to next time when I can play some music for her. 

As I brought the rods down into my hands, I was consumed by ghost fuzzies and I said "awe honey. You are welcome and I'm getting the impression this is a church hug." All of a sudden the fuzzies intensified and I leaned in, putting my arms in a closed-hug position and told her she is appreciated.

And then she was gone.

Curious Passerby (3/5-3/7/2025)

I promised myself that I would record my experiences, even if they're small. It not only helps to look back on the experience, but it provides information about what is happening at my home. It also empowers me when trying to best understand how my gifts work.

Wednesday morning I was sitting at the kitchen table and I looked to my right into the living room. I'm not sure why. Maybe I was looking for the cat. But as I moved to turn back to my work, I saw a brief white reflection on the television. I thought it was strange, but I tried to recreate it and couldn't. I figured if it was something trying to get my attention, there would be other experiences to validate this one. I let it go.

About twenty minutes later, my dog, Logan, starts barking down the hallway. He's standing on our runner rug staring down the hallway barking, like someone is coming in through the doors. But I don't see or feel anyone at the time. I encourage him to quiet down and I try to get back to work.

Within 5 minutes I am hit with a large blast of ghost fuzzies from my feet up my legs to my back. And I had this weird sensation of being told off. Like, that dog shouldn't be barking at me. And I feel compelled to reach out. I mean, three things just happened, so I'm going to reach out to learn what is occurring. 

I grounded myself and then used my divining rods to try to communicate with whatever spirit has entered the house. I started by explaining what this equipment does, how to use it, and what my goal is for reaching out to them: Learn who you are, your intentions, and if there is anything I can help you with. 

The spirit crossed the rods to notify me that they were present. I asked if they were a man or a woman - woman. I asked if they were from Winneconne - they were. I asked if I could help her with anything - she said no. I asked if she was just walking around and passing through - she said yes. I asked if she was surprised someone noticed her - she said yes. And this whole conversation was information that was passing through my mind and I was just asking the questions, developing a picture of this woman. It was agreed that she meant no ill-will and was just passing through, didn't need any help. I felt the hesitation in her use of the rods growing more as the conversation went on. So I pulled back and wrapped things up. 

But that didn't help me figure out who she was, so that I could personally honor her in my own way, since I met her. So I checked out the recent passings in our local community and I wasn't finding anyone that felt right. I checked recent burials and the same thing there... nothing was feeling right. I was about to abandon the thought, when I felt compelled to turn to my spirit guides.

I started out by asking my guides if they knew her name and could help me. They confirmed that they could, so I shared, one at a time, the three new names I had pulled from my research. My guides said those were not the person. I asked one of the names one more time, because it was a name that was making itself known to me in different ways, but they said it's not the name of the visitor I had. Then I start having thoughts that I need to ask.

I asked if they were from the area - they are. I asked if they were cremated - they were. Did they pass on this year? - no. 2024? - no. Before 2020? - no. 2023? - no. 2022? - no. 2021? - yes. Is she under 70-years-old? - no. Is she in her 90s? - yes. 

I turned back to my computer to use the information to help narrow down who it might be and I immediately found someone on my local funeral home website who even felt very familiar, like I had met her, but I had never met her. I asked my guides if Marie E. is the woman who visited me and they confirmed it was her. I asked a few other ladies, but those were no. Does she often just wander around through homes? - yes. Is she happy doing this? - yes. Does she have access to her family and friends on the other side? - yes. Was she surprised that someone noticed her in their house? - yes. 

As I read through the entire obituary for Marie E. I saw things like "interment" and that she lived in Winchester, which is in our area, and was active at the one of the local Lutheran churches.  

Her obituary references her desire to travel and see the world and maybe that's what her time now is spent doing. I just know I surprised her when I reached out to her, as she was not anticipating someone here being able to interact with her, so maybe I've been the first and by having this exchange, she'll be able to go forward and maybe reach out to others she wants to communicate with. 

The Grand Opera House Oshkosh (June 2016 & October 2022)

In June 2016, I was taking a class with the Fox Valley Writing Project and we went to The Grand Oshkosh for inspiration writing. I took just a few pictures and as I was listening to the lady explaining to us the history of The Grand, I had my camera out and I was following a light that drifted down the aisle past me and hovered around one of my instructors near the floor. It was a bluish-white color. I couldn’t see the light, except through the camera. The light left my instructor and then glided up to the stage and went back and forth along the back of the stage. If the light went behind the instructor you couldn’t see it anymore. I followed it for most of the speaking time and then it just disappeared. 

I tried to film it and I even have a 2 second video where I say, “Oh! Now it’s gone.” Sadly, I tried twice and both times it didn’t pick up on film. I have two photos. One didn’t pick up on it and the other barely showed it, but I got it before it disappeared behind a chair. It’s not the BIG light, it’s below it by the chair legs, very tiny. That's the spot that moved in all directions and up and down the aisle. The instructor that it passed is the one in the yellow shirt.

I didn't go here hoping to catch something. It was a day out with my class for a writing activity. I haven't returned since, but I've heard that they frequently have activity. I know what I saw and I am confident they have paranormal activity at their location.

I hadn't returned to The Grand until October 2022 when they offered a Ghost Tour and mini-interactive spirit session. My daughter and I went together to learn more about this locally haunted attraction. I, of course, wanted to know if what I had seen had been seen by other people. 

The first part of the tour was the brief history of the Grand and it was followed by ghost stories of various locations in The Grand. They named their prominent ghosts and who they thought they were. The one who frequently appears on the stage was one of the prolific owners of the The Grand. When I thought back to my own experience, watching the light "meander" down the main aisle and then walking around on the stage, I wondered if that's who I saw in an energy form. We also learned about Native American spirits who are prominent in the downstairs dressing rooms.

I don't particularly want to go into all their stories, because I want to support The Grand and I want to recommend that you, wherever you live, learn more about their stories and history. But one story we were told about was about the little boy spirit who lives in the basement. It is speculated that he maybe passed on down there. See, the basement was where they moved carts of coal, if I'm not mistaken. If memory serves me correctly, they speculated that he may have died in a cart accident. Like many ghost hunters nowadays, they felt it was taboo to ask the spirit about their death, so they didn't have details about it. 

The little boy, though, is their most interactive spirit. So on this tour one of the ladies who was guiding us had a set of divining rods (or spirits rods or dowsing rods if you prefer). She used them to communicate with the little boy. I know some people will say it's a parlor trick or just a way to get people excited, but as someone who frequently uses divining rods, I know that they can be effective when used properly. 

The woman leading the interaction would ask questions like "can you point to where you are in the room?" or "can you point at [this person] in the room?" I had never thought to use the rods to ask questions like that before. Then, as the interactions continued, I learned the most interactive experience you could do with the rods and I, again, had never heard of or thought of it. She explained that sometimes the little boy likes to hug. That he'll cross and lock the rods against your chest. A ghost can hug you? I didn't even think a ghost would need a hug! Then it made me think of my mom and I knew that I would be going home and trying it with my mom. 

During the rod session my daughter took part in the activity and the rods locked up on her. The lady said that he was doing that, because he was being silly about interacting. Isabelle said she knew she didn't move them like that and if she was moving them, wouldn't have kept them stuck in the inner hug position. Other people who tried had similar situations to what my daughter experienced, but a few had other experiences where the little boy actually answered their questions. I had an experience while my daughter was holding them and I felt the little boy near us. I slowly had an image of him start to form in my mind, but then it disappeared and I lost connection to what was near me. 

The tour continued, ending with the beautiful view of the stage and a summary of the wonderful stories that make The Grand an absolutely grand place. 

I've had my experiences there and I know there are more to be had. I would go back to learn the stories of the spirits that reside there, but I'd like to learn them from the spirits. 

The Sheboygan Asylum w/ Adam Berry (July 2022)

I have a friend who lives in the city of Sheboygan, a little south of me. Last summer she alerted me to Adam Berry and Amy Bruni (from Ghost Hunters and their own show, Kindred Spirits) coming to the Sheboygan area and we gossiped between ourselves about how cool it was. My friend had told me a long while ago that Adam Berry was her cousin and I found out recently he's more specifically her cousin-in-law, married into her family. So as nerdy as it is, I was stoked to have a friend who is related to one of my favorite ghost hunters.

This past spring, my friend again tipped me off to Adam Berry making an appearance at the Sheboygan Asylum near her. Now, I don't normally attend things like this. I've spent many years on the film press circuit and I know what meeting famous people can do to your views of them, so I usually opt out of meeting celebrities of any measure. My friend, though, had expressed a desire to go, especially since her cousin was going to be in attendance. I caved and decided to join in, against every fiber of my being, and decided to try to have a good time with my friend and a billion fangirls with probably very little actual ghost hunting. (I can be a super negative nelly sometimes due to my condition.) I mean, I've had bad experiences with crowded ghost hunts with the public, mostly revolving around the types of people you hunt with. It's just something you have to adjust to if you want to do a public ghost hunt, the price one pays to make up for the typically cheaper dollar-price of a private ghost hunt. 

The day arrived, though, and I found myself as happy as a pig in mud. Was I the one fangirling now? I counted my equipment and made sure everything was working. I packed up my bags and made my trek out to Sheboygan. My friend met me at my hotel and then it was off to the Asylum.

The Sheboygan County Asylum was originally an assisted living place for the clinically insane. It closed in 2002 and was later bought to be renovated. If you'd like to know more about the Asylum's history and how it was stuck with the term asylum, I highly recommend Amy Bruni's podcast about it. I listened to it on my drive out to Sheboygan and really enjoyed all of the history related to the location (you can listen to it wherever podcasts are streamed): Haunted Road S2 – 2: No Longer is Insanity Considered an Affliction

We arrived at the Asylum and met up with the various members of our group - a mixture of family and friends. We then made our way inside to stand in the very long line to get our shirts and meet Adam Berry. I'll spare you the grueling details and just say we eventually made it to the main room that hosted my friend's cousin and his husband, Adam Berry.

First, I want to give a shout out to the t-shirt team who made the shirt for the event. I had been scared about the quality of the shirt, because I'm sort of a t-shirt snob with a collection of over 350 t-shirts. I knew what to usually expect of ordering an event shirt, BUT that was not the case here. I immediately fell in love with the shirt and I couldn't believe how wonderful the fabric felt. Best event shirt I have ever purchased. 

Sadly, though, my nervousness and pure anxiety over meeting a celebrity kicked in. I had warned my friend about this and she was like, "I've got you." As we approached Adam Berry my hands started to shake. I stood back, letting everyone else get their hugs in and their shirts signed and then my friend introduced me and he signed my magazine and asked my name, which he then sang out loud and proud and I derp-ed-ly said "It's the best name."  My friend, though, took my phone camera, which Adam then took, and we finagled ourselves into a photo, which ended up with me right next to Adam. 

It was a bit of a whirlwind, like so many of these experiences are, but he was, hands down, one of the nicest people I've ever met. Genuine kindness just came off of him in waves and it was infectious. I'll come back to this at the end of the entry, as I have more evidence to support this.

After the Meet & Greet, we all prepared for the "lecture." We found some reasonable seats and my friend had her dinner at the food truck that was there for the event. The lecture itself was a delight. Adam Berry is such a card. His stories were funny and his interaction with people was earnest. I loved it. If you can ever go to an Adam Berry event where he's the speaker, I highly recommend it. 

After the lecture they then divided us into the Early and Later investigation groups. Then they divided our early group into smaller groups. Our group was 21 people plus two guides. I won't shy away and pretend like this number didn't upset me. That is too large a number for proper ghost hunting. Perhaps if we were given the run of the place, but not all bunched together following the guides. I've been on enough ghost tours to know the downside of large group sizes. But this was out of my hands and I knew I had to find a way to deal with it or I would ruin my own good time. I'm not going to lie, I have severe social anxiety and even medicated I struggled with the group distribution. But I gritted my teeth and tried to remember that I was with my friends and that was all that was important for the night.

The Nurses' Quarters

Our first stop of the night was the Nurses' Quarters. When we first entered the Nurses' Quarters, I could feel everyone's confusion over what the expectations were for entering the area. But as I walked down the hall, I started to feel the familiar sensation of friendly energy-goosebumps on my arms and my neck and around my head. I stopped where I was and looked into a room across from me. I wanted to take a step towards the room, but was hampered by two ladies who had set up chairs and blocked the doorway. I was frustrated, but I tried to let go of all the stress I was feeling so that I could connect with the spirits in the area. 

The tour guides unloaded and introduced all their equipment and set it up all over the hallway. A lot of it was stuff I had in my own bag: REM-Pod, Ghost Balls (teehee), Spirit Box with Speaker.  I have other fun things in my bag like a K2-Meter, EMF Detectors, Laser Grid Pointer, Laser Temperature Gauge, and my divining rods, That said, they definitely had their bases covered because they also had instruments way out of my price range currently. The tour leaders had an Ovilus, a Paranormal Music Box, a Para-Lamp (detects EMFs using varied colors to demonstrate intensity), EMF Tripwires (a string of individual lights that each detect EMFs using various colors to demonstrate intensity), and Laser Grid Projector. They might have had other equipment, but this is all that I am personally aware of.  After they put out a selection of equipment, they tried to get spirits to respond. Much to our chagrin, nothing really happened, but the night was young and there were so many places to go.

Once we were released to explore for a few minutes, those ladies blocking my path skedaddled. I entered that room across the hall from me and was overwhelmed with goosebumps on my arms, shoulders, neck, and head. I showed them to my friend and she said she felt a little something, too. I didn't know it at the time, but apparently I could have gotten out my equipment and investigated these feelings I was having. I know what I experienced and that's all that matters. Afterwards the tour guides led us out and to another location.

***I rewatched the episode of Kindred Spirits where they go to the Asylum and I realized that the room I had my experience in was the room that Craig Nehring told Amy and Adam a nurse had hanged herself in. I couldn't believe it. This realization gave me a crazy surge of confidence in my own abilities after the fact, but even during the event... as the evening went on... my self-doubt started to erode with what I experienced.***

The Living Quarters

The Living Quarters are across the hall from the Nurses' Quarters. They are made up of numerous tiny rooms and then a larger open space for entertaining as well as a kitchen. We wandered around, looking at all the antiques that were in the room, but we didn't get any notable feelings. At first. Then, out of nowhere, I had the overwhelming urge to leave and find a place to sit down. My stomach was starting to feel uneasy. I thought it was just the high levels of heat, but I wanted to be safe. So I excused myself before all the equipment could be set up.

What I didn't realize was the spirits didn't want me to leave. I was sitting in a chair just outside the door of where my group was.  After some time passed my friend came out and she told me that when the tour guide announced aloud that someone was leaving, over the Spirit Box a voice clearly said "no." Apparently I wasn't supposed to leave! But why? Then my friend told me the Ovilus spit out the words "telepathy", "portal", and "view." The group in the room decided to attach the words to one of the ladies in the group who admitted she had brought a quartz pendulum onto the property. (It expeclicity states not to bring crystals onto the property on the group's website, as they might not have the intended affect or could end up negatively affecting a tour.) I'm personally a bit skeptical of that interpretation-- doesn't really jibe with my instincts. That said I'm not going to project self-importance on the situation and claim the spirit's telling me not to leave had to do with any of the words that came after. I have theories, but I wasn't in the room to see how the session fully played out so it will remain a mystery to me. 

While all this activity was going on inside the Living Quarters, I had my own experience sitting in the hallway outside the door. I was facing the stairs and I had turned to my left to look at the Nurses' Quarters door. As I was turning back to face the stairs, I saw the shadow of a head and shoulders and maybe an arm peeking down at me from the stairs leading to the third floor. It was gone lickedy split. I tried moving my head around and adjusting my glasses to see if I had caught the light the wrong way or something like that. The incident seemed legit, though.

The experience was solidified even more when I was one of the last people walking up the stairs and as I passed the spot where I saw the shadow,  I was stricken with a powerful flash of goosebumps that receded as quickly as it came on. I smiled to myself, knowing that I had definitely had a curious spirit spying on me.

The Third Floor

The Third Floor was the hottest location we visited in terms of summer heat, as the sun was coming down at the perfect angle to hit us the hardest. This area is known for disembodied voices and shadows, as well as footsteps and general noises. We all looked around a bit, but I wasn't picking up on anything. Then the tour guides had us all come to a certain area and sit along the wall, because they had put out all their equipment once again and were going to try to see if anything wanted to communicate. 

No activity was really coming through, but my friend, two of her other friends, and I were really attracted to the far end of the hallway. There were noises of some sort issuing forth from there. I wished very dearly that the talking from behind us would stop so I could try to focus. We were trying to listen and figure out what we were hearing. We did our best to debunk the pops and cracks of the building settling and the birds or bats flying around the windows. I didn't realize at the time, but we could have gone down there ourselves and looked around. That's hindsight and it's 20/20. In the end, once you strip that all away, there did seem to be some peculiar activity occurring in that location.

We were hearing knocks and even heard something loudly fall at the end of the hallway in one of the rooms. My friend was getting scalp tingles and she thought she heard something trying to mimic our tour guide. I swear I heard footsteps shuffling towards us from down the hallway. It felt like something was waking up and just starting to ramp up to full-blown action.

As we got up to head to another part of the third floor wings, I started feeling really sick to my stomach and a bit dizzy. This time a guide took me out, just for safety reasons due to the oppressive heat. I went and got a drink from the food truck that was there for the event. The only thing that was left to drink was the Jamaican drink, Ting! I had flashbacks to my time taking a Marine Ecology course in Jamaica back in the early aughts. I downed the Ting! and took a respite. I was starting to feel better and we eventually rejoined our group in The Tunnel!

The Tunnel

Let's talk a bit about goosebumps. I struggle a bit sometimes processing how I should think about them. Some people don't really put much stock into there being any meaning to the sensation. Sure, you can get them just by being creeped out by something. Nevertheless, after a over a decade of ghost hunting, I put much more faith into the idea that there's energy out there that can trigger that physiological reaction-- especially if you are sensitive to it.

There's different types of gooseflesh that can afflict one in the course of investigating a haunted location. I don't know if these variations carry any special meaning or are happenstance, but they definitely tend to be accompanied by disparate emotional reactions to the sensation. You have goosebumps that bloom out from an origin point, often the extremities. You have spine tingles that trigger goosebumps. There's scalp tingles that reverberate down your spine and shoulders. And then there's the mosquito cloud goosebumps. That's when you're walking along and suddenly feel like you've walked into a thick cloud of mosquitoes flitting against your flesh. 

As we walked into the tunnels, I walked right smack into a "mosquito cloud" of goosebumps that nobody else seemed to. It was like lightly pushing through a field of energy. I rubbed my right arm, confirming their existence, and our guide said to me, "Did you see that episode of Destination Fear?" I said I had and he noted that this was where the picture was taken of the giant shadow person, but from the other direction. Our guide told us that the entity still lurked down here and shows up as a shadow, though not usually as big as the picture in question showed. I believed him, because the mosquitoes told me it was true.

I started to lag behind a bit as we walked towards the Boiler Room where the other members of our group were. I didn't know what was holding me back, but it felt like something wanted me to stay in a certain area. I pushed through the feeling and caught up with my friend and our guide and then took some time appreciating the visual aesthetic of the Boiler Room. 

After a bit the group gathered in the Tunnel. Equipment was laid out and activity started immediately. The lights on the EMF Tripwire started going off and the Para-Lamp was flashing in response to questions. I annexed a nook for myself barely around the corner in the main area of the Tunnel, closer to the Boiler Room. In the flurry of excitement from the group over the things that were happening, it was hard to get positioned comfortably. But that wouldn't matter for me shortly.

The tour guides were talking to a spirit named Paul. We were getting question responses on all the equipment, except the Ghost Balls. He responded on the SpiritBox. He responded on the Ovilus and they were coherent responses to questions that were being asked or things that were being said. He responded using the Tripwire and Para-Lamp. But it wasn't just Paul. There were more spirits there who were struggling to make themselves known. I could feel them around me and soon my stomach started to feel it, too. A friend who was with us said she saw a shadow moving down the hallway and I turned to look, watching the shadow play and sure enough I saw a shadow, closer to the ground, moving back and forth in the shadows by the Boiler Room, which was still well lit from the dwindling sun. But I turned back quickly, because it wasn't just my stomach that was giving me problems. My chest and shoulders began to ache. It was a creeping ache and I couldn't tell if it was physical fatigue or something external and unseen affecting me.

I wanted to ignore the feeling and keep engaging in the activity. I tried to push through the pain, but it slowly swelled and whatever was afflicting me finally crept to my head and I turned to lean my head on the wall. I felt so sick and so dizzy. I knew this was not caused by heat as we were in the extreme cool of the basement and I began to grow certain this was also no mere fatigue setting in. That's when my friend insisted I leave. I didn't even wait for the guide, I just started walking out of the Tunnel with my friend behind me and our guide not far behind her. 

As we got closer to the end of the Tunnel, the guide told me that we were coming up to the place where, if I was having issues due to spirits, I would immediately start feeling better. As we got to that spot, I didn't immediately start feeling better, but every step I took that got me farther away from the tunnel made me feel just a little bit better. I had tarried too long in the Tunnel and should have left sooner it seems. Once we got to the front door, I immediately sat down and started to do some breathing exercises and my friend and the guide went outside. I just sat there letting everything just fall away and finally coming back into my own. It was refreshing and relaxing.

When it was time to rejoin the group again the guide and my friend came back inside to get me. My friend had explained to our guide that I was a sensitive. The guide started explaining to me that the spirits were siphoning off my energy, because I shine like a beacon in the dark to them. He stated that when I feel it starting to happen, I need to send out a big "NO!" to try to stop them from taking me to the brink like they did in the Tunnel. He also recommended that I talk to another lady in their ghost hunting group about the topic, but I sadly wasn't able to connect with her before leaving the event. I cannot say for certain that the guide was right about what happened to me, but my physical crashing coincided with an absolutely bonkers flurry of activity in the tunnels. As my husband would say: "That tracks." 

My thoughts, though, turned to our next location. My most anticipated-- Adam Berry was going to lead the hunt in The Chapel.

The Chapel

We walked back into the basement and through the rec room area. It was here that our guide told me that if I start to feel drained in the Chapel, I should go into the rec room and I'd start to feel better. I was disappointed I didn't snap a photo of the trademark rainbow on the wall, but I was already realizing I had missed a good chunk of Adam Berry's introduction and talk and that was disheartening. 

The three of us entered the room, took stock of the situation, and found spots along the wall to sit and acclimate ourselves. The Tripwire and Para-lamp were out and were responding to questions that were being asked. They were looking for a girl named Hope. And shortly after that, Adam suggested we try the Estes Method (someone is blindfolded and listens to a Spirit Box while wearing noise-canceling headphones as others ask questions). Adam blindfolded himself and then it was go-time.

The voice that originally was coming through at the start of the session identified itself as Hope. That voice, though, quickly was replaced with one they call The Priest (who isn't a real priest). Then it became a back-and-forth of responses between the guide who had taken me out and the voice that Adam was putting out. Our guide said The Priest hates him, so he kept giving comebacks for the comments coming through Adam's headphones. 

One of the exchanges, though, was rather timely. I had started noticing lights moving through the windows behind where Adam was sitting and I knew it was the later group of ghost hunters parking for the night. A voice came through the box that said something like  "they're here." We asked for clarification, but it felt pretty obvious it was referring to all the new people who were arriving outside that we could see the headlights for.

During the exchange the Tripwire and Para-lamp kept going off in front of us. I didn't have any illness feelings in the room whatsoever. Neither did my friend. Perhaps because Adam was the bright beacon in the room for those spirits that were around. 

And then... it was over. 

We all milled around while Adam collected his chair and started to leave with the group. Some people approached him to talk, while others just kept on their way towards the door. I was going to just keep going on my way. As I said, I've had some less-than-stellar run-ins with famous people, even with the best intentions involved. But as we got to the top of the stairs, I saw him step aside from the crowd and I found myself taking at least two steps in his direction and mumbled awkwardly that it was nice of him to come out and do this for everyone. Please understand if you could package awkward, it would be a giant box of me.

The next thing I know I'm in a hug. A hug with Adam Berry. And it was the best hug I've had in years! It felt like it went on forever, but when it was done I couldn't have felt happier. I was a grinning fool. I remember he passed on a compliment to my friend (his cousin) and I gave her a shoulder squeeze confirming that she was as awesome as he said. Then we said our goodbyes and walked out into the cool, fresh night air. 

Overall it was a good event. The ghost hunting was just alright, because we were in a group so much-- a quite large group at that. Nevertheless, the place is brimming with activity. I'm already set to return in August for my daughter's birthday. Meeting Adam Berry was one of my favorite Meet & Greets I've done in all my years. Adam just emanates this positive energy that just makes you want to smile and glow! 

But now it's back to the hauntings in my own life and what can I take away from this event to help me figure out who our mystery guest is. A time well spent. People well met. And ... on to the next.

Coming Up on Ghost Stories: An unexpected guest is lurking in my bedroom.

Flash, Bang, Boom! (Spring 2022)

I woke up in the middle of the night. It was sudden and I propped myself up and looked around for the sound. My dog was looking right towards the foot of my bed, which is where I had heard my name. It was a male voice that said my name and my dog had also heard it. I said "hello" into the room, but nothing sounded again so I went back to sleep.

The next day I talked to my mom about it on the phone and she brought up guardians calling my name. That it was the time of night when guardians try to reach you or send you a message, because the veil is thinner. I felt more like it was literally just someone trying to get my attention. I always find it strange that things like this happen at night, but all I could work with was that a male voice said my name in the middle of the night.

I decided to stay on high alert.

Not long after, I awoke at 5:37AM to what felt like a bright flash that pierced through my eyelids. I opened my eyes to darkness, but then, a moment later, I witnessed something I had never seen before despite my myriad various experiences. As I pushed myself up on my right side I scanned the other side of the room where it felt like the flash had originated. And then, there it was; a giant ball of light flashed and disappear. My dog barked at the light when it flashed. 

I sat shocked for a few minutes and then got up, thinking maybe a bulb in the track lighting on that side of the room had somehow exploded and I checked them out. I turned them on and off. Then I went downstairs, flabbergasted by the experience. I sat down and told my husband what had happened and then went back upstairs and went back to sleep.

Later that day, I started talking to my husband about the light. I was standing in the doorway of his office and was trying to guess who the light burst was. 

"I started to feel like it was maybe Grandpa Fritz. But it doesn't feel right. I keep feeling my dad. Like it's my dad and I can't let go of the thought that it was him who flashed the light at me."

Chills started to run through my body and I was feeling cold and then I felt a firm touch on my shoulders. Kind of like when you play sports and get that supportive shoulder squeeze on both shoulders from behind. It was very much a my-dad move. Then I started to cry and I embraced, internally and verbally, that it was my dad. I then expressed what was going through my mind.

"I feel like he wants me to tell my mom that he can't do the things she's asking him to do, but to let her knew that he is there for her even though he can't do them."

As I said those words, I felt more and more at peace with the situation and my own thoughts and feelings. The cold and goosebumps went away and I was finally calm.

Over the next two hours, I had this nagging feeling that I needed to call my mom and tell her what I learned. I finally gave in and called her, sharing everything, including the message he wanted me to pass on to her. After the phone call, I felt even more at peace - as if I had completed my mission and was now relieved of duty. No more anxiety or stress. Instead it was relaxation.

I thought that was the end of things, but when I went to bed that night, I just had to get out my divining rods. I was in my bedroom and I had the rods ready and I started asking questions.

"Dad is that you?" Crossed/Yes

"Is Grandpa Fritz with you?" Did Not Cross/No

"Are you the light that I saw flash in my room this morning?" Crossed/Yes

"Were you touching my shoulders this afternoon?" Crossed/Yes

"Did I get the message to mom alright? Was it right?" Crossed/Yes

"You know I love you so much right?" Crossed/Yes

"Okay. I love you dad. Please don't do things to scare me anymore. When you do things before bed or in the middle of the night it really scares me a lot."

The whole time I was getting goosebumps all over my arms and I was starting to cry as I felt him around me. I stopped asking questions when I told him to please not scare me anymore. It wasn't a question. It was a direct statement, because it was true and I didn't need an answer. After all of that, I went to bed.

A few weeks later, on Mother's Day weekend, I was visiting at my mom's house. I didn't bring any of my ghost hunting materials and we didn't have her old set of divining rods because I had taken them home with me. I haven't had much happen at my mom's house in the years following the elevated activity from Grandpa Fritz in 2005, so I wasn't ever freaked out to sleep in my old bedroom. 

I went to sleep, but at around 2:55AM I woke up and heard a knock-knock-knock at my door. It was loud enough to hear over two fans blowing full blast. I was barely awake, so I didn't answer and I went back to sleep. I knew the knocking wasn't my daughter or my husband, but I asked my mom if she had knocked and she said no. I didn't know what to think of it, so I filed it away with the other strange things that had been happening lately.

A couple weeks after that we were back at my mom's to visit. This time I brought all my gear and we intended to make contact with spirits in my mom's house. (See this entry for what happened.) I made contact with my Grandpa Fritz, but I didn't make contact with my dad. I wrapped up the day and got settled into bed.

I was watching television in bed, unwinding before falling asleep, when suddenly a large bang sounded from the other side of the room. It was like someone took a fist and drove it into my dresser. I bolted up, straining to see if my REM-Pod had fallen onto the floor off the dresser, but everything seemed to be fine. The bang really shook me and it took me a while to feel comfortable enough to fall asleep. What I did remember thinking was that it was my dad and he was mad at me for some reason. 

The next day I told everyone what happened, but no one else had heard the bang or was around my room doing anything that would make that kind of noise. I couldn't seem to shake the feeling that it was my dad and that I had done something to make him mad. Additionally, hadn't I asked him to stop doing things that would scare me before bed?

I ended up coming to a conclusion about both of these strange encounters at my mom's house. First, the three knocks was what my dad used to do on my door when I was a child and I feel that it was his way of letting me know that he was now at my mom's house with her. This felt like the right assumption, especially since it was our first visit to my mom's since I had the encounter with him at my own house.  The second encounter, the bang on the dresser, was also my dad and I think he was upset at me for not taking the time to communicate with him using my divining rods. When we visited I briefly put the REM-Pod in my mom's room and when I didn't get a response, I took it away and didn't return with any other communication device. So I never talked to my dad that visit. I think he was expressing how upset he was that I didn't give him a chance to speak that night. 

Granted, these last two experiences are me using my own intuition to try to understand strange happenings. I'm not just grasping at any oddities that happen and labeling them my dad or my Grandpa Fritz. I've dismissed plenty of other weird noises or sights. But I take seriously the feelings that seem to "come to me" with encounters like the above. Lately, a number of weird things have happened that are not immediately explainable, but my intuition is pushing those experiences into another category that has nothing to do with any of my departed family and that hopefully someday I can explain. For now, my dad is here and he is trying to make contact and be heard.

Next Up on My Ghost Stories: The vaults below the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland are still busy.

Gone Too Soon (June 2009)

I don't know where my dad stood on the paranormal. I guess it just wasn't a conversation that ever came up with him. I have a feeling he believed in the things that were happening around their house back in 2005. I knew some of his religious beliefs and practices that he cherished. But I guess it doesn't much matter what he believed before he passed away suddenly in June of 2009, because I've experienced a good bit of interactions with him since his passing.

My dad had been having health problems for a while. In the summer of 2008 he was in a coma post-bypass surgery and had a stroke (potentially more than one). When he came around, he clearly was struggling regaining his typical composure. I'm not going to go into all the details of what happened, but he struggled with staying coherent with reality. I was living in Edinburgh at the time. 

At 2AM on June 19, 2009, I received a call from my mom in the United States. My father had passed away. 

I arrived home in Wisconsin from Edinburgh, Scotland within 24 hours of the phone call. During my flight home across the ocean, in an odds-defying and cruel twist of fate, my grandfather (Grandpa Frank) also passed away from a seizure related to Alzheimer's. Before I had even left Scotland I had a feeling something was wrong with Grandpa Frank and that bothered me the entire flight home. So when I arrived home, I was thunderstruck anew upon learning of his passing.

It was a very rough time for our family. A time that included learning that my grandma's cancer had come back, but this time in her brain and she was going to opt out of surgery. She died exactly two months (August 20) after my Grandpa Frank (June 20). It rocked the family something fierce.

With all of this loss, grief, and pain, came paranormal activity to some degree. I've never had any paranormal interaction with my grandma. I adopted the mentality that she had finished all her business and found her place beyond the veil. I did have a brief interaction with my beloved Grandpa Frank, which I think was him giving me a final goodbye and that he was moving on. 

I had come around the end of the bed to my side of my bed in my room. I looked up and I saw my grandpa standing at the foot of the bed at the other side. He looked at me, acknowledged me, smiled and was gone. It was so quick, but it hit my heart hard. It ached so badly. The apparition looked exactly like him. I could see his facial features and large glasses. He had on his white golf hat. He had a green aura to him, but it might have been because he was wearing his green sweater jacket. I could make out his shirt and pants - all in that quick moment of interaction. And I just knew he was gone. I've never had interactions with him again or felt him around me.

This event happened a few years after his death, when I was living in my current home. My current home used to be a visitation/vacation condo and is positioned right across the street from where my grandparents used to live. It was purchased so that my parents could come up to where my grandparents lived and help take care of them. This condo was for sale across the street, so everyday I am reminded of my grandparents as I watch people live in their old condo. But even though my moment with my Grandpa Frank was well after the day he departed, I had a very powerful interaction with my dad almost a day after I arrived home from Edinburgh.

I was at home at my parents' house. It was pretty early in the morning and there was no one around downstairs. I had gone into the small bathroom off of the kitchen. Before leaving the small bathroom, I opened the door and turned to wash my hands. The one wall opposite the sink is a giant mirror and as I looked up into that mirror I saw my dad, as real as anything, standing in the kitchen behind me at the kitchen sink, bent over, peeling an apple. He was wearing his long-sleeve dark red suede shirt with the cuffs rolled up and a pair of blue jeans. I turned around to see him with my own eyes, but he wasn't there and when I turned back to the mirror he was gone.

It was a heartbreaking encounter, but it felt so real. I didn't have anything else happen at that time that I could remember. My husband did, though. We are convinced it was my dad letting us know that he was on the other side and alright. 

If you read back about the entries with my Grandpa Fritz, you'll know about the faucets. My husband had to fly back to Edinburgh for work after the funeral. Shortly after arriving home, he was in our bedroom on the phone with me when he heard a strange noise out in the flat somewhere. He traced the noise to our bathroom only to discover the sink faucet running inexplicably. In the two and a half years we lived there and the several months before we moved out, we had no other faucet incidents. This is the one and only. We believed that it was dad using a very paranormal message he knew we'd experienced before to reach a skeptic. Why he chose my husband I imagine had to do with that skepticism and practicality, and likely the emotional difference the message would have carried if it had been directed at me or my mom who were in pretty delicate states at that time. 

Over the last 13 years, I've kept his spirit alive in my heart. I hadn't heard anything from him or had any kind of contact since. I also wasn't searching it out. But this past Spring.... that changed.

Up Next in My Ghost Stories: Flash, Bang, Boom! Is that really you?

He's Still With Us (Spring 2022)

In 2015, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3-4 ovarian cancer (her different doctors gave different stages). She went into remission after the initial diagnosis and was about to meet her five year clear when the cancer made a return visit on her heart. This time it was no longer a case of fighting to be rid of the cancer because of the type that it is, and instead it was about keeping it at bay and staving off the unfortunate inevitable. As of the writing of this entry, she is still with us, struggling to maintain her preferred quality of life, but fighting like a champ. 

During a visit a few months ago, my mom gave me a new set of divining rods, because one rod from my original pair had been missing for some time. Upon delivering this new gift to me, she presented a personal request. She asked me to perform a question session with any spirits that may be in the house. Not only ask the questions, but she told me to stand in the spot where my father passed away. She said that spot felt like it had energy in it and I would be more likely to get answers. 

So I stood in the spot and started asking questions and I immediately got responses. It was my Grandpa Fritz again. I knew it immediately, just as surely as I knew I was wearing glasses. 

I told my mom that Grandpa Fritz was here answering her questions. She asked if he would be there for her when the time comes and he said he would be. She asked about my dad-- if he was there. Grandpa Fritz said he was near, but that he wasn't directly with us. I asked a few more smaller questions that I can't seem to remember, but I was becoming so overwhelmed with the energy exchange with this encounter and the fluctuating goosebumps that I had to say I needed to stop and step away. During the conversation I was using my mental connection to allow Grandpa Fritz to share with me more thorough answers so that I could explain his simple answers better to my mom. Doing that, though, was draining me, especially since my personal energy stores were low.

What I didn't share at the time, but did later on, was that I saw my dad in my mind. A large white tunnel, like at the beginning of a Bond movie, had my dad's outline standing at the end of it and he was trying to walk down it. He was trying to come to be here for my mom. That is what all the feels gave me while I was trying to commune with the other side.

This realization, that my dad was accessible, would lead to something I haven't had happen in over a decade, but that is another entry for later on, as it really shook me something fierce.

Another visit, but more recently (June 2-3, 2022), I intentionally went down to my mom's place to talk to the spirits in her house. I had just gotten a REM-Pod for Mother's Day and I was really excited to use it in a location where I knew there were spirits. My daughter also was interested in spirits and ghost hunting, so I thought this would be a good opportunity for her to see what we do and I knew the spirits in the house were friendly.

That evening, while the dying light of the day still filtered into the basement from outside, we took my daughter down to talk to her Grandpa Fritz. I went down before everyone so that I could get a feel for the place. I got a brief chill up my spine and knew he was there. Then I went about setting up the REM-Pod in the sitting area by the fireplace (the space where he has passed away). 

I started out with casual conversation with my daughter. My husband and I taught her how to introduce herself to any spirits that might be present. We talked about some of the items in the basement that were collectibles from my Grandpa Fritz, like the bottle of salt from the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I felt him with us, but the REM-Pod wasn't going off. My daughter said she saw something block out the light on the VCR (yes... it's an actual VCR still in our basement). 

We sat there for a while, but nothing happened. I didn't want to break out other equipment at the time. So we took the REM-Pod to the bathroom, which had been remodeled recently, and I thought for sure that we would get some action. We stood in the large bathroom, with the door closed, and started asking questions. Instead of the REM-Pod sounding at all, I felt someone behind me, almost touching my spine and my daughter swears she was getting the creeps from behind her. Something was with us in the dark, but it wasn't interacting with the REM-Pod.

Our little crew left the bathroom and we went into the bar area where there are also glass patio doors leading to the outside. The outside light was still there and it would make it easier for my daughter to see the divining rods once I broke them out. But we started with the REM-Pod on the bar. And I'm sure you guessed it, we got nothing from the REM-Pod. 

On the REM-Pod is a temperature gauge and I decided to turn it on. Slowly the temperature started to crawl up, meaning it was getting warmer. I got out my rods and was getting ready to ask questions as the temperature continued to climb. I had a moment where I thought "he's making the temperature climb, because he doesn't like cold spaces." When I asked the question aloud, I got a positive response. He also confirmed that he didn't want to use the REM-Pod and it was him in the bathroom behind us. 

The group of us exchanged some pleasant queries with Grandpa Fritz and then it was time to move on to our other locations. I wasn't sure how the other two locations would pan out, so I didn't want to exhaust Grandpa Fritz in case he wanted to talk to my mom. I felt, though, that his energy was a bit lower than during our previous encounter. This was just a feeling or a guess... or a thought that was marching through my mind. But it also felt right.

After the basement, we then moved to the living room and put up the REM-Pod to see if someone else would participate and this way my mom could participate as well. She was sitting in the living room with her heating pads and reclining chair. I let her lead the investigation with the REM-Pod, but we received no responses.

I went upstairs alone and put the REM-Pod in my mom's bedroom on the spot where my father passed away and started asking questions. Again there was nothing happening and I left the room, probably more quickly than I should have, but I was somewhat frustrated with the events of the evening. I had really wanted my REM-Pod to work and, upon further reflection, I wasn't being sensitive to the needs of the spirits in the house. This thought was punctuated by a large bang in my bedroom as I was watching some TV and settling in for bed. I'll return to this situation in a future entry, as I believe I've come to understand the root of that matter.

The next morning, my daughter and I went back into the basement and I gave her the divining rods to try to use. I called out to my Grandpa Fritz, "Hi. We're back down here, because my daughter wants to learn to use these rods and I thought you'd be able to help her learn how they work." He crossed the rods. Then I asked, "Have you met her?" (She spent her first two years living in the house and visiting often since then). The rods crossed again. Right after they crossed my daughter started to try to debunk her own experience, even though we both watched it happen and her hands did not make it move. She struggles with experiences, because she is too quick to say it was something else. She self-doubts a lot. My husband and I believe her debunking might also be related to how we helped her deal with strange things she saw when she was little --to look for a logical reason why something might have happened. She's 11 --almost-12-years-old, so I can understand the self-doubt she feels about things. I'm trying to build her confidence, because I've noticed she may possess a special gift, too.

So my daughter gave me the divining rods and I decided to ask just some general questions that my mom had asked the night before and didn't get a response for.

"My mom wanted to know some things from you last night. Did you see the spirit of Jonesy (our cat) when he passed?" - No cross.

"Have you seen Grandma Clara since she passed over? Anywhere on the other side?" - The rods started to cross and stopped right after the very tips crossed. I had a feeling of "I don't know" pass through my mind and I said it aloud so that he could hear.

"Do you mostly stay down here?" - Cross/Yes.

"Are you here to help take care of mom?" - Cross/Yes.

"Is dad here?" -Cross/Yes.

"Does he mostly stay upstairs?" - Cross/Yes.

"Thank you, Grandpa Fritz. We'll be back to visit and I'm glad to know you got to meet your great granddaughter. Thank you for being here for mom."

My daughter and I gathered up our things and went back upstairs. I shared with my mom what happened.

Grandpa Fritz is still with us. His energy isn't as strong as it used to be, but I can still feel him around and I hope he's doing what feels right for him on the other side. 

Next Up on My Ghost Stories: A Spooky Trip to Savannah, Georgia.

My Childhood Home & Grandpa Fritz (July 2005)

In 1992, when I was 11 years old, my Grandpa Fritz moved in with us. He had been diagnosed with cancer of the mouth and throat. The operation that he had to remove the cancer left him struggling to talk and a tube had been placed in his throat. My parents turned our converted basement into a bedroom for him, giving him access to a personal bathroom for himself and just general privacy. In order to communicate with Grandpa Fritz, he had to write on a notepad. I was only a child at the time and while I understood what was going on, it was still confusing and sometimes scary. 

In the spring of 1993, Grandpa Fritz's cancer came back in his throat and closed off his windpipe. He passed away in his sleep in that basement.

In 2004, my brother moved back in with our parents following his departure from the military. I had already moved away to live in North Carolina with my husband in his home state. It was my brother who was the first to notice strange activity in the house. It all started with a faucet.

A sink faucet turned on by itself.

I should probably preface the remainder of this entry by saying that I am very comfortable with debunking and looking for more rational explanations before jumping on the paranormal bandwagon. I was familiar with Ghost Hunters at the time. They had just started airing the year prior on television. Being plumbers, they always made a huge deal about faucets and all things plumbing. I think it actually created a sense of dismissal in the paranormal community of faucets turning on by themselves. That's not to say that Ghost Hunters dismissed it, but it just sort of felt like a common story that became oft dismissed because the guys from TAPS were able to provide some mechanical explanations to why this circumstance might occur. In this situation, know that frequent attempts by the inhabitants of our home were made to rectify the faucet issue. It persisted nonetheless.

My brother's first problem faucet was in the bathroom upstairs that is attached to his room. The bathroom has two sinks and two faucets, but only his turned on. After this instance, other faucets occasionally started turning on throughout the house, from the kitchen to other bathrooms.

What also started happening around this time is what some would refer to as poltergeist activity. As my brother tells it, things in his room would fly around and it would be really cold. His cell phone would turn on in front of him, even though it was turned off entirely. I was not there to verify these claims, so I have no problem recommending a grain of salt be taken with these stories.

However, there may be veracity to the claims. As my mom recounts things, she and my father would be sitting in the living room and would hear loud and inexplicable thumps, like stomping, coming from upstairs in my brother's room. The sounds would be heard through the ceiling in the living room. Then they would realize that my brother wasn't home and wondered who or what was making all that noise.

Additionally, since the first occurence of the faucet turning on, my mom would keep me updated on the strange goings-on in the house when we would talk on the phone. I didn't keep track of all of these times, but it was quite a few. She told me that my dad, who was a handyman among other talents, had checked out the sinks to make sure the faucet knobs were tight and he even replaced one he found suspect. This did not stop the activity. They blamed one of our cats at one point for the kitchen faucet, but after finding snapped rubber-bands that had been securing the position of faucet knobs over and over again, deduced it was something more powerful than a nudge from the cat.

Fast forward to July 2005. My brother was no longer living with my parents. He found himself in legal trouble and was residing in designated lodgings. I had returned home for my grandma's 80th birthday and to spend some time in Wisconsin with my family. I was wiling away the late afternoon with my mom while she finished off some work she had. We were in her bedroom in a private corner of the large room that my mom used for her office. Talk had come up about all of the faucet shenanigans and other activity. I asked her if the faucets had been acting up while we were in New Orleans and she said that no activity had been reported by my dad. 

My mom pontificated what could be going on and I said, quite matter-of-factly as I recall, "It's Grandpa Fritz." I was very adamant about it and right after I made the statement the faucet of the bathroom tub turned on full blast, as if punctuating and confirming my statement. I could see straight into the bathroom from where I was sitting and watched the water turn on full blast. I was stunned.

I called to my husband who joined us within seconds and saw the water blasting. My mom was speechless and actually stopped what she was doing. Then she said, "How do you know that?"

I said, "Because you once told me you knew Grandpa Fritz was awake at night because you could hear the water running in the basement."

"I didn't tell you that," she responded.  Now, to be fair, my mother and I frequently lock horns on the subject of things-said-and-unsaid. However, despite my current belief in some level of psychic sensitivity I may possess, the fact was I had no other source where I can say I got that tidbit of information from at that time. 

It was, in fact, a true statement that my mother thought she hadn't shared with me. And Grandpa Fritz was on our minds, because of the experiences we had in New Orleans. So if he hadn't been active in my mom's house while she was gone, but was active now that she was back, maybe it meant that he was trying to get her attention for some reason.

Having this new knowledge opened up a discussion about the activity. Why would it happen to my brother and then transfer over to mom. I brought up what the guy at the ghost hunt said about activity ramping up due to something big coming. I thought that maybe Grandpa Fritz was trying to warn her about the trouble my brother was about to get into. 

Later that night, I was lying in bed and I felt like something was in the room with me. Against my better judgement, I asked if there was something in the room and, if so, if it could touch my arm. All of a sudden I felt a cold grasp on my arm and I knew, through and through, that it was Grandpa Fritz. It felt heavy, almost like something was holding my arm down and it tingled with goosebumps. 

After locking up with emotion and attempting to process what just happened, I got out of bed and went down to my parents room and immediately told my mom that Grandpa Fritz grabbed my arm. I think she was still a bit skeptical of the realizations of the day and didn't really engage with me over the situation. I, though, had to make my way back to my bedroom and go to bed with the knowledge that something unseen could be watching me while I sleep.

A few days later, after processing everything that had happened, I was home alone and decided to talk to him. I had long harbored childhood guilt about the New Years Eve before his passing when I yelled at him in anger. It was typical dumb tween stuff. I was blasting my music and dancing around and turned around to see he had dared to enter my room and ask me to turn down my music. The truth is he had startled me and my outburst was borne of fear and embarrassment. I carried that guilt with me for so long, though, because the incident occurred not long before he left us and I felt I had been so mean to him over nothing.  The memory had gnawed at me for years. 

So, that day in 2005, alone in my parent's house, I loudly called out to him and apologized for what I had done. As I did this, I felt a soothing relief wash other me and I knew that I had been forgiven for my actions. 

Faucet activity and other things stopped almost immediately after that day. But this isn't the last time I'll interact with Grandpa Fritz and it won't be the last time I experience activity at my childhood home.

Next Up on My Ghost Stories: Grandpa Fritz now.