The Bradford Exchange: America's Most Haunted

Courtesy of Haunt Jaunts (I sure do get a lot of ideas for blog posts because of them), here's something you guys might be interested in...collectible haunted houses! The Bradford Exchange (who sells an awesome Muppet Show clock that I love but can't afford:  http://www.bradfordexchange.com/products/119436001_the-muppet-show-cuckoo-clock.html) is planning to release a series of America's most haunted houses...there will be five houses, including the Amityville House, and they'll cost around $60. For more information, check out this post on the Haunt Jaunts website:

http://www.hauntjaunts.net/the-bradford-exchange-making-a-most-haunted-collection/

MysteryQuest: Return of the Amityville Horror

I recently discovered a show called MysteryQuest on the H2 channel, and I decided to watch an episode called "Return of the Amityville Horror" since I had just read a book about Amity.  On the night of January 1, 1976, Kathy Lutz was sitting in front of the fireplace when "a hooded figure materialize[d] from the flames."  The Lutz family only spent one month in the house, and for good reason; while they lived there, they experienced objects moving on their own, disembodied voices, and demonic spirits.  Not long after the family left, a news crew took a picture of the house, and in it was a picture of a young boy with glowing eyes (they showed the picture, and it's super creepy).  Though Amity is one of the most well-known haunted houses in history, the family who currently lives there has not experienced any paranormal activity.

Three thousand miles away in Clovis, California, a house known as Wolfe Manor is experiencing similar problems.  Wolfe Manor used to be a sanitarium (Is it just me, or does it seem like every former sanitarium is haunted?), and owner Todd Wolfe believes that some of the former patients are still there.  Mystery Quest sends demonologist David Considine and paranormal investigator Chris Daddio to investigate Wolfe Manor, and Todd says that most of the activity takes place in the basement (where dead bodies were kept in the sanitarium), kitchen, and the rooms of Mary and George (two spirits believed to haunt the home).  They set up an infrared camera, FLIR thermal camera, and Platoon Early Warning (PEW) System to try to catch any paranormal activity.  David and Chris are joined by research scientist Andy Coppock and medium Melissa Sehgal, who start out in Mary's room, while David, Chris, and paranormal investigator John Arel check out the basement.  The FLIR thermal camera shows a heat anomaly on a column in the basement, and the PEW System alerts them to an intruder on the property, but there is no one outside the house.  In Mary's room, the electromagnetic amplifier indicates a great deal of activity, so Melissa tries to communicate with Mary.  The team takes their equipment to PFM Engineering (Andy's headquarters) in Carson, California, which also happens to be (possibly) haunted...a security camera caught a chair moving by itself and a cubicle wall dislodged itself and fell over.  The team then decides to investigate PFM for paranormal activity, and by that point, I totally lost interest in the episode.

When the team reviews the recordings and video footage they took at Wolfe Manor, most of it is inconclusive, but some video from the second floor convinces the team that they may have found a vortex "between this world and the other side."  I enjoyed MysteryQuest, but the title of the episode was misleading since this show was actually about Wolfe Manor, and the Amityville house was only mentioned a few times.  I feel like a lot of people were probably tricked into watching this episode because they thought it would be about the Amityville Horror.

My rating: 6/10

Book Review: The Demonologist by Gerald Brittle

The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed & Lorraine Warren by Gerald Brittle was a Christmas gift from my brother, and it scared the shit out of me (I guess that's my fault for putting it on my Amazon wish list)!  Vera Farmiga read this book in preparation for her role as Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring and said it scared her so much that she refused to read it in her house.  Ed Warren (who died in 2006) was a demonologist, and Lorraine is a medium and clairvoyant; they founded the New England Society for Psychic Research and are best known for their roles in investigating the cases that inspired The Conjuring and The Amityville Horror.  The Demonologist talks about some of the cases Ed and Lorraine have investigated (including Amityville), and if you don't believe in demons, this book will change your mind.  The Warrens have said that before getting involved in investigating a case, they would often experience odd things happening in their home (phone calls where they only heard growling on the other line, footsteps on the porch or stairway, knocks on the front door, noises in Ed's office, vanishing black cats, etc.)...it's almost as if something were trying to scare them off.

All of the cases in this book creeped me out, but the story of the Beckford family is one of the most terrifying things I've ever read...I won't say too much because I don't want to spoil it for people who might want to read the book, so I'll just say that it's proof that you should never ever use a Ouija board (and if you have one and read this story, you will most likely get rid of it immediately).  Even though this book scared me more than any other book I've read, I really enjoyed it and think the Warrens' work is fascinating (however, I don't want to visit their Occult Museum, which is talked about in the book, because I think I would have a hard time sleeping after seeing the things that are in it).  If you're interested in the paranormal at all, you should definitely read The Demonologist...but don't read it too close to bedtime. ; )

My rating: 10/10