The Master of Whitehall by Rick H. Veal

I recently found out about a book series called The Master of Whitehall, and since it's paranormal, I thought I'd share the info here in case any of you are interested in reading it. The author is Rick H. Veal, and there are five books in the series so far. Here's the description of the first book from the author's website:

"After the brutal murder of her parents, Katelyn Corbin, a twenty-one year old college senior, must face the prospect of resuming her life. Soon after arriving in historic Charleston, SC, Katelyn meets James Dubois a handsome young widower and wealthy patron of her school. The chemistry is instantaneous between the two of them. James, living alone in the beautifully restored colonial plantation of Whitehall Manor, is a mysterious man, with an old world aristocratic bearing. But James is not the man Katelyn thinks, and as their love grows, she begins to have questions. Why does a perfect gentleman seem so different? Dark secrets begin to surface and Katelyn finds that old folklore and fairy-tales are real in a world where vampires live and exist side by side with humans. Will love overcome all? Can she give up all she knows and all she is to be with him? Can she make the right decision when it comes to James, the Master of Whitehall?"


For more info and descriptions of all five books, check out the author's website. : )

http://www.themasterofwhitehall.com/

You can get the first book for Kindle here:

AtomaCon Panel: Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp and Other SC Cryptids

Last weekend I attended the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp and Other SC Cryptids panel, which was led by Tally Johnson and Tina R. McSwain, at AtomaCon; Tally is the author of Ghosts of the South Carolina Upcountry, Ghosts of the South Carolina Midlands, Ghosts of the Pee Dee, and Civil War Ghosts of South Carolina, and Tina is the founder and director of the Charlotte Area Paranormal Society. For anyone who doesn't know, a cryptid is an animal whose existence has not been proven or accepted by science...some well-known examples are Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Jersey Devil. There aren't many SC cryptids besides the Lizard Man, but we did learn in the panel that there have been reports of a river monster in the Broad River, and people have seen two women, one blonde and one dark-haired, both dressed in white gowns, in the Scape Ore Swamp.

If you grew up in South Carolina, you've probably heard of the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp (aka the Lee County Lizard Man), who was first reported in July 1988 when 17-year-old Christopher Davis claimed that he hit a "Bigfoot-like" creature with his mother's car. It was pointed out in the panel that this far-fetched claim was the product of a teenager who didn't want to get in trouble for wrecking his mom's car, but that didn't stop hundreds of people (including the national media) from descending on Bishopville to try to catch a glimpse of the Lizard Man.  Two years later, a mother who was driving with her five kids reported seeing the Lizard Man in the woods as she was driving over a bridge. For a decade or so, there weren't any reported sightings, but in August 2015, a woman claimed that she saw the Lizard Man as she was leaving church, and she took a picture with her cell phone...most people assumed it was a hoax because whatever is in the picture looks like someone wearing a rubber lizard suit. I'm pretty open-minded, but I hope that the Lizard Man is a hoax...I'm not crazy about regular lizards, so I don't want to live in a world where human-sized lizards exist. ; )

You can find more information about the Lizard Man here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard_Man_of_Scape_Ore_Swamp

Tina R. McSwain:
http://www.charlotteareaparanormal.org/

Tally Johnson:
https://sites.google.com/site/scghostlore/Home

One week until AtomaCon!

AtomaCon (All Types of Media Arts Convention) takes place November 13th-15th at the Charleston Plaza Hotel  (4770 Goer Drive) in North Charleston, SC. This will be the convention's third year and my third time attending...I had a lot of fun at AtomaCon in  2013 and 2014, so I've been looking forward to it all year. 

AtomaCon focuses on sci-fi, fantasy, science, technology, and gaming, and this year I'm planning on attending panels on Ghostbusters, crowdfunding, haunted theaters,  music, video editing, and demonology. There's something for everyone, so if you live in or near Charleston, you should check it out. : )

Visit the AtomaCon website for more information:

http://www.atomacon.org/

UFO-shaped Buildings

Roswell has a McDonald's that looks like a UFO, so I was interested to see some other buildings that are shaped like UFOs.  The World UFO Day website has some cool examples:

http://www.worldufoday.com/ufo-shaped-buildings/

There used to be a UFO-shaped restaurant right outside LAX...every time we went to L.A., it was on our list, but we're always so busy in L.A. that we never got around to going.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/arts-and-entertainment/20140107/encounter-restaurant-atop-lax-theme-building-closes-for-good

There's also the UFO Welcome Center in Bowman, SC:

http://ufowelcomecenter.blogspot.com/

If you know of any other buildings that look that UFOs, let me know in the comments. : )

AtomaCon 2015

AtomaCon passes for 2015 are on sale, and you can attend all three days for $20 (or $10 for teenagers) if you get your passes by December 31st.  This is a great deal, and there's so much to do at AtomaCon that you'll probably want to go all three days anyway, so you might as well get your 2015 membership while it's on sale!  AtomaCon is a convention that celebrates sci-fi, fantasy, science, and the paranormal, and it will take place November 13th-15th at the Charleston Plaza Hotel in North Charleston, SC.

http://atomacon.org/member.html

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/

Pictures from AtomaCon 2014

AtomaCon was held at the Charleston Plaza Hotel in North Charleston, SC on November 14th-16th, and I had even more fun than I did last year since I went all three days instead of just one.  Here are some pictures from the convention:

Me with Ecto-1

Me with Ecto-1 again

My husband with KITT

Me with a replica of the Vigo painting from Ghostbusters 2

Kyle and me with our Ghostbusters gear

Posing with Jimmy Woody of the Carolina Ghostbusters

Me with some Carolina Ghostbusters and South Carolina Ghostbusters
(Randi Jackson, Jeffrey Lewis, John Arledge, Cheralyn Lambeth, and Scott Freeman)

Kyle with something from Star Wars
(Can you tell I don't know much about Star Wars?)

http://www.atomacon.org/

http://carolinaghostbusters.com/

http://www.scghostbusters.com/

Mark your calendars for AtomaCon!

AtomaCon (All Types of Media Arts Convention) is a fairly new convention, and it takes place November 14th-16th at the Charleston Plaza Hotel  (4770 Goer Drive) in North Charleston, SC.  Last year I didn't find out about Atomacon until two days before it began, so I only went the last day and attended the Ghost Hunting Tech panel (http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2013/11/so-you-want-to-be-ghost-hunter.html).  This year I'm prepared...I bought my three-day pass back in December and am planning on attending a bunch of panels and writing about them for the blog.  I'm especially excited about the Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary Meetup...I'm dressing up as a Ghostbuster for Halloween, so this will give me another excuse to wear my costume! If you're a fan of Star Wars, Dr. Who, Sherlock, The Walking Dead, Godzilla, Lost, or Star Trek, or if you'd like to learn more about ghost hunting, Charleston's haunted history, cosplay, building props, designing video games, or searching for Bigfoot, there's something at AtomaCon for you!  Check out the AtomaCon website for more information:

http://www.atomacon.org/

Boone Hall Fright Nights

If you live in the Charleston, SC area, you might be interested in Boone Hall Fright Nights, which takes place at Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant and runs from September 26th through November 1st.  Boone Hall Fright Nights offers four scary attractions this year: Frightmare Factory, Twisted Terror in 3D, Wicked Woods Hayride, and Zombie Town Bloodfest. (You can find a description of each attraction on their website.)  Tickets are $12 for the Wicked Woods Hayride, $10 for Frightmare Factory, $10 for Zombie Town Bloodfest, and $8 for Twisted Terror in 3D, or you can buy a pass that gets you into every attraction for $27.

http://www.boonehallfrightnights.com/

Encounters: U.F.O. Experience

A few days ago I found out about something called Encounters: U.F.O. Experience in Myrtle Beach, and since it's only a two-hour drive from Charleston, my husband and I decided to take a road trip the next day to see it.

The building is easy to spot since there's a UFO coming out of it.  I so want to do that to my house. ; )

Encounters: U.F.O. Experience is full of information about UFO sightings and abductions throughout history, as well as replicas of a few extraterrestrials and an alien mothership.

Encounters: U.F.O. Experience is very interesting and informative, and I'm glad I found out about it before it closed.  I liked the gift shop too...everything in it was pretty inexpensive, and I bought one of almost everything in it.

The museum is located at Broadway at the Beach, and tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for children and seniors, and free for children under four years old if you reserve or buy your tickets online before you go (tickets cost $14 for adults and seniors and $10 for children if you get them at the box office).  It's only open until September 21st, so if you're interested in all things extraterrestrial, get there soon!

http://ufoexhibition.com/

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/

Haunted Highway: Lake Murray Beast/The Donner Party

Haunted Highway is a paranormal investigation show that airs on Syfy and stars Jack Osborne, Dana Workman, Jael de Pardo, and Devin Marble.  When I found out that they filmed an episode in South Carolina, my home state, of course I had to watch the December 2013 episode “Lake Murray Beast; The Donner Party.”

The episode begins with Jael and Devin traveling to South Carolina to try to catch a glimpse of the Lake Murray Monster.  Jael says that there have been reports of Lake Murray Monster sightings every year since the 1930s and that “every report has some kind of act of aggression.”  They go to Dooley’s Sport Shop and talk to owner Charles Dooley, who says that many customers have come in and said they’ve seen something strange and snake-like in the water.  He suggests that they talk to Sharon Kincaid, who has written a book about the Lake Murray Monster; she says that in the most recent sighting, the monster was reported as having “scales the size of an individual’s hand.”  Sharon points out a few areas where the creature has been spotted, so Jael and Devin get in a boat and head to Dreher Island.  They see a huge shadow in the water, but it disappears before they can find out what it is.  Night falls, and Jael and Devin build a campfire; they hear a splash in the lake, so Devin takes the boat out in search of what made the noise.  It is too dark to see anything, and while Devin is using the thermal imager something slams into the boat.  They decide to go diving to see if they can spot anything underwater; after Devin’s regulator malfunctions, he returns to the boat and sends Jael an RC submarine, which shows a snake-like creature before it stops working.  Jael sees something in the water and goes after it, but she soon runs out of oxygen and has to return to the surface.  The next day, they contact Captain Rich Harris, who is an expert on the types of things that live in the lake, and he tells them that the creature on the RC submarine is a sturgeon, which can get up to 300 pounds.  My in-laws have a house on Lake Murray, and I definitely won’t be going in the water there (but to be fair, I don’t go in the water anywhere…except the shower).

Jack and Dana go to Truckee, California to investigate claims of spirits of members of the Donner Party.  The Donner Party was made up of eighty-seven people who were traveling to California in 1846 when they got stuck in the Sierra Nevada mountains during a snowstorm and had to resort to cannibalism to survive; it is believed that the spirits of those who died there still linger, and there have been reports of shadow figures and strange lights.  Jack and Dana go to the Old Truckee Jail Museum to meet with Chelsea Walterscheid, who tells them them that The Donner Party ran into trouble because they took a shortcut.  She also says that a medium revealed that there are twelve spirits at the Murphy cabin site, and Tamsen Donner, who thought the shortcut was a bad idea, is one of them…and she’s angry.  Jack and Dana meet with Chelsea’s friend Jen (and her adorable dog Harlan), who says that one night she saw a “shadow figure kind of peek around the corner of one of the snow banks” and that sometimes on the trail Harlan lurches at things she cannot see.  Jack asks Jen if they can borrow Harlan, and she agrees (I would never let any of my pets investigate angry spirits…just sayin’.), so Jack and Dana take Harlan to Murphy’s Rock.  Jack attaches a camera and light to Harlan’s back, and Harlan starts barking at something and leads Jack into the woods.  Jack sees a shadow figure on the thermal camera, and it quickly disappears.  Dana joins Jack, and they set up an EVP, using beef jerky to draw the spirits out since most of them died of starvation.  Dana asks if there are any spirits there and if they’re angry, then feels something on her neck; Jack checks it out and finds a huge scratch.  She asks the spirits if it’s easier for them to communicate through her, then starts having terrible stomach pains and nausea.  A few of the cameras go out, and Jack has lost sight of Dana, so he sends a heat-seeking RC copter to find her; the copter catches sight of her and also shows a figure a few feet away from her.  Harlan starts barking and growling, and Jack and Dana notice two lights glowing near Murphy’s Rock.  These guys are brave…after I got a ghostly scratch on my neck, I would’ve gotten the hell out of there!

I've only watched two episodes of Haunted Highway, but I really like it; this episode was a little scarier than the first episode I watched, and the fact that part of it took place somewhere I've been before made me more interested in the episode.

My rating: 8.5/10

http://www.syfy.com/hauntedhighway

Paranormal Societies in South Carolina

I've lived in a haunted city since I was four years old, but I was still surprised to find out how many paranormal societies are in South Carolina.  I've heard the ghost stories of Charleston my whole life, but I guess the rest of South Carolina is haunted too!  Here are some of the sixty SC paranormal societies that are listed on http://paranormalsocieties.com/:

Afterlife Paranormal Investigations of the Carolinas  http://nospiritleftbehind.webs.com/
Carolina Ghost Chasers  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carolina-Ghost-Chasers/223967021015210#!/carolinaghostchasers.cgc
Carolina Paranormal Investigation  http://www.carolina-paranormal-investigations.net/index.html
Carolina Paranormal Research  http://carparres.weebly.com/
Carolina Society for Paranormal Research and Investigation Inc.  http://www.carolinaspri.net/
Georgetown Paranormal Society  http://www.georgetownparanormal.com/
GhostPRO  http://www.ghostpro.org/
Haunted Charleston Paranormal Investigations   http://hauntedcharlestonparanormal.weebly.com/index.html
P.A.S.T. Researchers  http://www.pastresearchers.com/
Paranormal Carolinas  http://www.paranormalcarolinas.com/
Paranormal Perception Crew  http://paranormalperceptioncrew.yolasite.com/
Paranormal Pros and Family Spirit  http://paranormal-research-org-se.webs.com/
Phasma Paranormal  http://www.phasmaparanormal.com/
Satsanga Paranormal Research Society  https://www.facebook.com/satsangaparanormal
Society for Paranormal Awareness  http://www.societyforparanormalawareness.com/
South Carolina Ghost  http://southcarolinaghost.com/
South Carolina Organization of Paranormal Experiences  http://scopeinvestigations.weebly.com/
South Carolina Paranormal Investigations  http://paranormalupstate.webs.com/
South Carolina Paranormal Research and Investigations   http://www.scprai.org/
Southern Atlantic Paranormal   http://southernatlanticparanormal.org/
Spirit Talkers Paranormal Society   http://www.spirit-talkers.org/
Spiritual Investigation Team  http://spiritualinvestigationteam.webs.com/
Sumter Ghost Finders   http://www.sumterghostfinders.com/default.asp

If you'd like me to do a blog post about paranormal societies in your state, leave me a comment and let me know. : )