Cryptozoology and Paranormal Museum

I just found out about a cool museum in North Carolina...it's in Littleton, which is a 5 1/2 hour drive from where I live, so I probably won't get to go, but I thought some of you guys might be interested. It's called the Cryptozoology and Paranormal Museum, and according to the museum's website, it's "dedicated to the study and display of creatures and phenomena not recognized by traditional science," such as Bigfoot, ghosts, cryptids, river monsters, and UFOs. Sounds like my kind of museum! : )

If you'd like to visit the Cryptozoology and Paranormal Museum, you can find all the info you need on their website:

https://crypto-para.org/

Asheville Ghost Tours

My husband and I went to Asheville, North Carolina, on our anniversary trip a few months ago, and we didn't have time to go on a ghost tour since we only spent one night there, but I picked up some brochures for some ghost tours that sounded interesting. The one that really caught my interest is called the LaZoom Haunted Comedy Tour. Comedy and the paranormal are two of my favorite things, so I'm sure I would enjoy the Haunted Comedy Tour, and I hope I'll be able to check it out the next time I go to Asheville. Tickets are $21, and the tour is only for those who are 17 or older.

http://www.lazoomtours.com/tours/haunted-tours/

Ghost Hunters of Asheville offers a few ghost tours: Downtown Spirits, Haunted Montford, Graveyard Ghosts, and Ghosts & Grapes. Ghosts & Grapes is for adults only and costs $65; the other tours are $20 for adults, $13 for kids and teenagers 6 to 15, and free for kids under 6. Guests get to use ghost-hunting equipment on all of the tours.

http://www.ghosthuntersofasheville.com/

If you take any of these tours and would like to write a guest post about it, please let me know (at crystalsmithconnelly@yahoo.com)...I'm always looking for guest bloggers. : )

Evil Dead the Musical

My husband and I like to take a road trip for our anniversary every year; last year we went to Wilmington to see Carrie the Musical, and this year we're going to Charlotte to see Evil Dead the Musical (in case you haven't noticed, I really love musicals). Evil Dead the Musical is based on the Evil Dead movies, of course, and it sounds like it'll be a lot of fun. You can find more information about the Charlotte performance (which is on October 25th) here:

http://www.blumenthalarts.org/events/detail/evil-dead-the-musical-1

Or you can find out where else you can see the musical here:

http://www.evildeadthemusical.com/EvilDead-worldwide/productions/index.html

I'll post a review after I see it. : )

AtomaCon Panel: Haunted Carolinas

Last year I didn't find out about AtomaCon (All Types of Media Arts Convention) until two days before it began, so I just went the last day and attended one panel (Ghost Hunting Tech); this time I bought a three-day pass as soon as they went on sale last November, so I was prepared to spend all weekend there and learn more about some of the things I'm interested in. On Saturday, November 15th, I attended the Haunted Carolinas panel, so I could hear Tally Johnson, Cheralyn Lambeth, Rebel Sinclair, Pamela Nance, and Ashley Field talk about haunted places in North and South Carolina.

Lavinia Fisher might be Charleston's most notorious ghost, and Rebel Sinclair said that she may have been buried in a potter's field (under what is now The Citadel's football field) since that's where executed prisoners were buried back when Lavinia Fisher was executed.  The panelists talked more about the Old City Jail later; Rebel said that the ghosts of jailers have been seen there, and Pamela Nance and Ashley Field (who make up the paranormal investigation group Spirit Hunters of the South) talked about an investigation they did in 2010.  They said that in a replica of a jail cell, Pamela took pictures while Ashley acted like a jailer, and when they looked at the pictures they took, a ghostly face could be seen between the bars of the cell.  In the morgue area, they heard footsteps running toward Ashley, which then knocked her into Pamela, and when they listened to the recording, they heard a male voice say "That shook 'em" and a female voice say "F**k them."  They believe that the female voice belonged to Lavinia Fisher since it was the voice of a white woman, and she was the only white woman ever held in the jail.  At one point, a cameraman forgot Ashley's name, and a spirit supplied it for him (creepy!).  This story sounded familiar to me, and I was pretty sure I must've seen Pamela and Ashley on a show I wrote about for my blog, and I was right:
http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-ghost-story-caught-on-camera.html

It's not uncommon to hear about spirits of soldiers killed in battle, especially in the Carolinas.  Cheralyn Lambeth said that at Kings Mountain Battlefield, two soldiers were killed by American troops and have haunted the road they died on ever since.  She also showed us a picture of a flag in the Fort Sumter museum that has a ghostly face in it. The flag was shot down and retrieved by a Confederate soldier, and the Union army was so impressed by his bravery that they saluted him; during the 100-gun salute, a Union soldier was killed, and many believe that his face is the one in the flag.

Other hauntings the panelists discussed include:

-14 Legare Street: The house is said to be cursed, and Rebel believes that she and her now-husband were passed by Ruth Lowndes' coach while walking on Legare Street; they smelled horse-hide, but there were no horses around.  They realized that they had just passed #14, the house where Ruth's husband lived alone during their marriage.

-1914 Chester County Jail: Tally Johnson said that six ghosts haunt the jail, and one of them (the spirit of a man imprisoned for slitting his wife's throat, putting her in a trashcan, and setting it on fire) possessed the leader of the paranormal group Tally was investigating with. Tally and his fellow paranormal investigators did a ghost box session at the jail, and the spirit they communicated with knew the names of all three of the investigators; when they ended the session, the cell door slammed shut.  There is also a Victrola at the jail that plays by itself.

-Southend Brewery: Rebel told us that the building is haunted by a man who hanged himself, and sometimes people walking by can see his ghost.

-Cheralyn said her scariest moment was when she arrived at the hotel she was staying at during a paranormal investigation at Waverly Hills Sanitarium (All former sanitariums are haunted, aren't they?) and discovered that the hotel was hosting a Toddlers and Tiaras convention. (That does sound terrifying...I'd rather run into a ghost than a pageant mom.)

-Rebel said that sometimes the FBI holds EVP sessions after a murder because the sound waves from the event might still be there.

-Pamela and Ashley played an EVP recording where a spirit answered questions and told them his name.  They decided to do an EVP session after Ashley's leg started burning all of a sudden, and they found out that the spirit of a man who had been shot in the leg was present.

-Tally said that the ghost of his great-grandfather appeared in his house the night before his wedding and tipped his hat to him...then Tally realized that he was no longer worried about getting married.

The Haunted Carolinas panel was really interesting, and I'm glad I got to go to it.  The panelists were very knowledgeable about hauntings and paranormal investigations and told some fascinating stories.


AtomaCon:
http://www.atomacon.org/

Tally Johnson:
http://tallyjohnson.wix.com/sc-ghost-talker





Cheralyn Lambeth:
http://www.galleryquest.webs.com/


Rebel Sinclair:
http://www.blackcattours.com/RebelSinclair.html



Pamela Nance and Ashley Field
http://spirithunter.us/

Carrie the Musical

My husband and I are taking a trip to Wilmington, NC for our anniversary in a few weeks, and we're going to see Carrie the musical while we're there!  Carrie the musical is based on the Stephen King novel about a telekinetic teenager, and it's being performed by City Stage Co. October 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 24th, 25th, 26th, and 31st and November 1st and 2nd.  If you live in or near Wilmington, and this sounds like something you'd like to see, email your name, phone number, date you'd like to attend, number of tickets, and which seats you'd like (you can find the seating chart here: http://www.citystageco.com/come-see-show/) to CityStageCoReservations@gmail.com or call 910-342-0272 to make your reservation.  Tickets cost $20-$25 or $18 for students, teachers, and military, and the theatre is located at 21 N. Front St. #501. I love musicals, and I also love Stephen King, so I'm really excited to see Carrie the musical. : )

http://www.citystageco.com/city-stage-co-shows/carrie-2014/

Haunted Theaters of the Carolinas by Cheralyn Lambeth

I met Cheralyn Lambeth when I attended a Ghost Huntiing Tech panel at Atomacon (in North Charleston, SC) last November and was happy to learn that she was the author of a book that had been in my Amazon wish list for a few weeks.  The book is called Haunted Theaters of the Carolinas, and since I'm a playwright/paranormal blogger who majored in theatre in college, it should come as no surprise that I enjoyed this book.  Haunted Theaters of the Carolinas was published  in 2009 and focuses on 21 theaters (16 in North Carolina and 5 in South Carolina).  The book is very informative, as Lambeth includes some history about each of the theaters, and I really liked when she talked about her own paranormal experiences at some of the theaters, such as Roanoke Island's Waterside Theatre, where she heard footsteps pass her, then saw a door open and close when there was no one there.  I enjoyed reading about all of the theaters, but especially Charleston's Dock Street Theatre since I have been there many times and Charlotte's Loonis McGlohon Theatre/Spirit Square because it is part of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, and I saw Shatner's World and The Book of Mormon in their Belk Theater.  I have never seen a ghost at the Dock Street Theatre, but I had heard that it is haunted by a prostitute named Nettie Dickerson, who died when lightning struck the railing on the balcony she was standing on.  Though I already knew that story, I appreciated that Lambeth gave more details about Dickerson's background that what I had heard before.  I also found out that the Dock Street is said to be haunted by Junius Brutus Booth (John Wilkes Booth's father), who stayed there in 1838 when it was the Planter's Hotel.

If you're interested in books about haunted places, check out this book...and if you happen to be an actor, playwright, director, stage manager, etc. or just enjoy going to plays, I bet you'll find it really interesting. Now I know what to look out for if I see a play at any of the places discussed in the book. ; )

My rating: 8.5/10

http://cheralynlambethmedia.webs.com/

Cool Website of the Week: Your State's Weirdest Unexplained Phenomenon

My friend Brandi Clevinger shared this website with me, and I just had to make it my Cool Website of the Week.  It's called Your State's Weirdest Unexplained Phenomenon, and it's pretty fascinating...it lists the states in alphabetical order, so it's really easy to find your state and see what strange thing might be going on near you.  I will definitely do my best to avoid the North Carolina Poop Monster when I go there at the end of the year...I hope that thing stays in the sewer where it belongs! ; )  

http://funkypickens.com/your-states-weirdest-unexplained-phenomenon/