Hollyweird Paranormal

If you're in search of a paranormal podcast to listen to, check out HollyweirdParanormal, which
combines true crime and the paranormal. I love both of those things, so I listened to the latest episode...it was informative and entertaining, and I really enjoyed it. The podcast is hosted by Tammie Merheb-Chavez and Brice Mitchell Williams, and they've done four episodes so far: "The True Crime and Paranormal Aftermath of The Sharon Tate & Manson Family Murders," "The True Crime and Paranormal Aftermath of The Cecil Hotel," "The True Crime and Paranormal Aftermath of Superman, George Reeves," and "Famous Haunted Hollywood Apartments." I'm glad I found out about this podcast, and I'm definitely going to listen to more episodes. : )

Hollyweird Paranormal

Book Review: The Haunting of the Tenth Avenue Theater by Alex Matsuo

When I went to AtomaCon in 2015, I attended Alex Matsuo's haunted theaters and demonology panels, and they were so interesting that I decided to read a few of her books. I wrote about More Than Ghosts: A Guide to Working Residential Cases in the Paranormal Field on the blog last year, and now it's The Haunting of the Tenth Avenue Theater's turn. The Tenth Avenue Theater is located in San Diego and used to be a church; Matsuo, who is a playwright and actress as well as the founder and director of the Association of Paranormal Study (APS), has been involved with a few productions there. Jeff Cotta bought the building from the First Baptist Church of San Diego in 1997 and agreed to let APS investigate the allegedly haunted space a few years ago. The theater is rumored to be haunted by a young girl named Missy who died when she fell down the stairs at the church, a pastor who felt guilty about Missy's death and committed suicide in the chapel's cloakroom, and a British lieutenant who temporarily possessed the doctor who tried to save him and apparently decided to make the building his new home when the doctor came to the sanctuary to pray.

I don't want to say too much about what happened during APS's investigations of the theater because I don't want to spoil anything for those of you who might read the book, but I will say that Matsuo described the investigations so effectively that I felt like I was there. The Haunting of the Tenth Avenue Theater is a fascinating read, and Matsuo definitely knows her stuff when it comes to the paranormal. I've enjoyed both of the books I've read by her, and I hope she'll write many more in the future. : )

My rating: 10/10

Nerdist Presents: The Mystic Museum

In the mood for a fun Halloween short? Check out Nerdist Presents: The Mystic Museum! The short is around 11 minutes long and stars Kelsey Gunn, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Kristian Bruun, Ptolemy Slocum, and Jake Getman. Kelsey runs the Mystic Museum but has never personally experienced anything paranormal, so she's happy to get involved when Olivia, a paralegal with a haunted apartment, comes in for help. Will Kelsey be able to help Olivia find out why she's experiencing supernatural shenanigans, or will they hit a dead end? You'll have to watch it to find out! : )


http://nerdist.com/the-mystic-museum-olivia-taylor-dudley-kristian-bruun-nerdoween/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=NerdistNewsletter_20171019

Haunted By Murder

As often as we hear about ghosts and hauntings, it's rare that we hear about hauntings by the people who are most justified to exact revenge from beyond the grave. I'm talking about murder victims, of course, and you'll be happy to know that several killers have been harassed by the spirits of the unfortunate souls whose lives they took. Check out Freaked's "10 Murderers Haunted By Their Victim's Ghosts" to find out whose victims didn't take death lying down.

https://freaked.com/murderers-haunted/

Who's Haunting Ted Bundy's Childhood Home?

Since September 2016, strange things have been going on in the house where serial killer Ted Bundy grew up...doors and cabinets opening on their own, furniture falling over, things like "help me" and "leave" showing up on windows and floors, etc. There were no reports of paranormal activity before last year, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to conclude that it started because the new owner was renovating the house and a ghostly resident didn't like it. I couldn't find any information on whether anyone has died in the home, so who's haunting the house? Could it be Ted Bundy? People have claimed to see his ghost at Florida State Prison (where he was executed) and Florida State University's Chi Omega house (where he killed two women in 1978), so why not his childhood home?

www.macon.com/news/nation-world/national/article149260219.html

Ghostly Pets

I've heard many stories about pets coming back to visit their owners after death, and I wish my Layla (my dog who passed away in 2013) would come visit me, but she never has. Here are some stories from people who have been visited by their dearly departed pets, and if you've ever experienced it for yourself, feel free to leave your story in the comments. : )

http://www.destinationamerica.com/thehauntist/7-stories-of-ghost-pets-that-came-back-to-see-their-owners/

http://www.true-ghost-stories.com/GhostPets.html

Signs Your House Might Be Haunted

Have you had some strange experiences in your home and are worried your house might be haunted? Well, Destination America wants to help you figure it out, so here are seven signs that your house might be haunted:


http://www.destinationamerica.com/thehauntist/7-signs-your-house-might-be-haunted/

Movie Spotlight: Ouija: Origin of Evil

Ouija: Origin of Evil is a 2016 movie starring Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Parker Mack, and Henry Thomas. It's a prequel to 2014's Ouija (my review: http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2015/03/movie-spotlight-ouija.html). In Los Angeles in the late 1960s, widow/pretend medium Alice (Elizabeth Reaser) stages seances with the help of  her two daughters (Annalise Basso and Lulu Wilson), and when she decides to incorporate a Ouija board, of course things go horribly wrong. Using a Ouija board is never a good idea, which Alice finds out when her youngest daughter ends up getting possessed.

Ouija: Origin of Evil is creepy, full of great performances, and better than its predecessor. Lulu Wilson is the standout as possessed daughter Doris; I was already a fan from her days on The Millers (where she proved to be a great comedic actress), and in this movie, she shows that she can master the horror genre as well. If you're in the mood for an entertaining, well-made horror movie, check out Ouija: Origin of Evil (even if you didn't like the first one). : )

My rating: 8/10

Hollywood Ghost Stories and Urban Legends

I recently came across an article called "17 Creepy Hollywood Ghost Stories and Urban Legends" on Ranker, so I thought I'd share it here. The list includes the Black Dahlia, James Dean's cursed car, the ghosts that haunt the Queen Mary and the Hollywood sign, and many other interesting stories, so check it out if you're into that sort of thing (and if you're reading this blog, I'm guessing you are). : )

http://www.ranker.com/list/hollywood-ghost-stories-and-urban-legends/jacobybancroft?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=creepy_hollywood_stories

Movie Spotlight: The Disappointments Room

The Disappointments Room is a 2016 movie starring Kate Beckinsale, Mel Raido, Gerald McRaney, Lucas Till, Duncan Joiner, Michael Landes, and Ella Jones. After the death of their daughter, Dana (Kate Beckinsale) and David (Mel Raido) move into a new house with their young son (Duncan Joiner). When Dana finds a hidden room in the attic, she unknowingly unleashes evil spirits, and all hell breaks loose. (This is why I stay out of the attic.)

The Disappointments Room is a decent movie, but I had a hard time staying interested in it. All of the actors were great though, and that's often not the case when it comes to horror movies. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really like it either.

My rating: 5/10

21 Supernatural Encounters

The Lineup recently posted a list of 21 real-life supernatural encounters, and some of them are pretty creepy, so I wanted to share them here. You might want to avoid reading these right before bed or when you're alone. ; )

http://www.the-line-up.com/supernatural-encounters/?sf43908420=1

Book Review: Shadow People and Cursed Objects

Shadow People and Cursed Objects: 13 Tales of Terror Based on True Stories...or are they? is a 2016 book edited by C. Le Mroch (the creator of Haunt Jaunts, a website I've linked to many times on this blog). Ten authors contributed stories to this anthology, and after you read each story, you can flip to the back to find out whether it was based on a true story. Here's a little about the stories:

"The Busby Chair" by Alice J. Black: A cursed chair causes the death of anyone who sits on it.
"The Storm on Promise Land Road" by Ken Teutsch: A father and daughter are caught in a ghostly storm.
"Bye, Bye, Blackbird" by Emerian Rich: A cursed necklace brings trouble into a woman's life.
"The Gypsy's Curse" by C. Le Mroch: A woman receives mysterious phone calls related to a haunted pond she visited as a child.
"The Black Flowers" by Barry Charman: Two funeral directors find an empty black coffin (which is made from a dead hanging tree) outside the gates of their funeral home with instructions to bury it.
"The South Will Rise Again" by Keith Karabin: Two armies (one human and one ghostly) battle in Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp.
"Lady Winters' Mirror" by S. Mickey Lin: A woman buys a haunted Victorian mirror at an auction.
"Doomsday, Every Night at Five" by Evan Dicken: A child's deceased grandfather appears in a broken TV set and makes some disturbing premonitions.
"Fatty and the Nothing Man" by Sean Ealy: Bullies lock a classmate in a haunted house and soon come to regret it.
"Murder for Dummies" by Carl Barker: A young girl goes backstage after a ventriloquist's show and discovers that the dummy is really the one in charge.
"Pedro" by C. Le Mroch: Ten-year-old Kyle blames his imaginary friend whenever he gets in trouble, but Pedro might not be as imaginary as Kyle's father believes.
"The Mannequin in the Middle of the Road" by C. Le Mroch: After a man hits a mannequin that was lying in the road, he puts it in the trunk of his car...and the mannequin isn't happy about it.
"Comeuppance" by C. Le Mroch: A woman stays in a haunted hotel on a business trip.

I enjoyed all the stories in Shadow People and Cursed Objects, but my favorites were "The Gypsy's Curse," Lady Winters' Mirror," and "Comeuppance." If you enjoy reading about ghosts, haunted objects, and things like that, you should definitely check this book out. : )

My rating: 8/10

Spirits of Serial Killers

I've always felt that people are generally scarier than ghosts because humans are capable of some really awful things...but what about evil people who stick around after they die? The Occult Museum published a list of a few serial killers who are allegedly trying to continue their reign of terror from beyond the grave, so check out the article if you want to find out what Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, and Jack the Ripper have been up to in death.

http://www.theoccultmuseum.com/5-sadistic-serial-killers-whose-spirits-still-remain/

Police and the Paranormal

I recently came across an article called "10 Cops Share Their Scariest Paranormal Encounters," and it's pretty creepy, so of course I wanted to share it here.

http://www.theoccultmuseum.com/10-cops-share-their-scariest-paranormal-encounters/

There's also one about firefighters:

http://www.theoccultmuseum.com/14-firefighters-share-their-scariest-paranormal-encounters/

If you're a police officer or firefighter who has had a paranormal experience on the job, feel free to tell me about it in the comments...I'd love to hear about it. : )

Book Spotlight: More Than Ghosts by Alex Matsuo

When I went to AtomaCon last November, I attended two panels by Alex Matsuo, founder and director of the Association of Paranormal Study. Her panels on haunted theaters and demonology were so interesting that it really made me want to read her books, so I started with More Than Ghosts: A Guide to Working Residential Cases in the Paranormal Field, which was published in 2015. In the book, Matsuo teaches the correct way for paranormal investigators to effectively handle residential cases, touching on things such as the differences between investigating residential locations and public locations, researching a property's history before an investigation, equipment you'll need, and how to protect yourself during an investigation.

Though I don't actually want to take part in a paranormal investigation, I find the subject fascinating, and Matsuo clearly knows her stuff. More Than Ghosts is very in-depth and informative, and Matsuo gives the information in a way that is interesting and easy to understand. If you've ever thought about getting involved in paranormal investigation, you should really read this book. : )

My rating: 10/10 

http://alexmatsuo.com/
http://associationofparanormalstudy.com/

Haunted Hotels

If you enjoy the paranormal and traveling, why not stay at a haunted hotel on your next trip? If you're not scared to sleep in a room with spirits, go to paranormal travel website Haunt Jaunts and check out their list of haunted hotels. You can find the list here (if you're going to California, you're in luck...they have a bunch of haunted hotels):

http://www.hauntjaunts.net/find-haunted-places/haunted-hotels-us/

If you do stay at a haunted hotel (or ever have before) and would like to write a guest post about it, please email me at crystalsmithconnelly@yahoo.com. : )

Celebrity Ghosts

A website called Vintage Everyday recently published a list of the fifteen most famous American ghosts, and it's pretty interesting. I already knew about the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, George Reeves, Abraham Lincoln, and Rudolph Valentino, but I hadn't heard about the other celebrity ghosts. : )

http://www.vintag.es/2015/12/most-famous-american-ghosts-15.html

Movie Spotlight: Jessabelle

Jessabelle is a 2014 movie starring Sarah Snook, Mark Webber, Joelle Carter, David Andrews, Amber Stevens, and Ana de la Reguera.  Ben Garant wrote the movie, which surprised me since he's known for writing comedy (such as Reno 911, Hell Baby, and Let's Go to Prison).  Pregnant Jessie Laurent (Sarah Snook) and her fiancé are on their way to move Jessie's things into his house when they are hit by a car; Jessie loses the baby, and her fiancé is killed.  Two months later, it's time for Jessie to be released from the hospital, so she calls her dad, who she hasn't seen in a very long time (after her mother died of cancer, Jessie's dad sent her to live with her aunt, who is now deceased); he drives her to her childhood home and sets her up in her mother's room, where she finds a box of videotapes labeled "Jessabelle."  She watches one in which her mother says that there is a female presence in the house who does not want Jessie there. When Jessie's father discovers her watching the video, he flips out and throws her wheelchair in the bayou after telling her not to snoop around anymore.  Jessie sees a female figure in her room that night, but it disappears.  The next day, her father brings her another wheelchair and apologizes for acting like a psycho; Jessie watches the next video, in which her mother says that the presence is demonic and that Jessie shouldn't blame herself for an accident that occurred.

I wouldn't call Jessabelle a great movie, but the acting was better than most horror movies, and I liked the ending.  Most of the scares came from the volume getting really loud all of a sudden though, and it annoys me when movies do that.

My rating: 6.5/10

My Haunted House: The Sorority Sister and the Secret Room

I was scrolling through the Directv guide not too long ago and saw a listing for a show on the Lifetime Movie Network (though the series originally aired on Bio) called My Haunted House.  I'd never watched it, but it sounded like something I would like, so I recorded the episode "The Sorority Sister and the Secret Room."  In college, Jill joined a sorority that was desperate for pledges and offering free room and board; during spring break in March 2010, the other sorority girls left town, but they told Jill that she had to stay and watch the house.  Her first night alone in the house, Jill heard creaking and heavy footsteps, but didn't see anyone when she left her room to check, so she went back to sleep.  The next night, Jill found muddy hand prints all over the walls of the sorority house when she returned from the library and thought she heard someone crying.  She kept hearing noises that night and thought it was a nearby frat party, but soon realized that the sound was actually coming from inside the house; she went to investigate and heard crying coming from upstairs.  Before she could locate who (or what) was making the sound, the phone rang; when she was talking, she looked up and saw a creepy female figure in the mirror, standing behind her.  When she turned around, nothing was there; Jill ran out of the house, and a campus security officer happened to be driving by, so he checked the house and told Jill that he didn't find anyone there and that sometimes big, old houses can be scary.  Jill went back inside (WHY?!) and went to sleep.  Two days later, Jill was watching a movie and left to go to the kitchen for a few minutes; when she returned, she found an old photograph lying on the floor that hadn't been there a few minutes earlier.  She looked at the photo and realized that one of the girls in the picture was the girl she had seen in the mirror, so she decided to get the hell out of there...but that was easier said than done.  Jill packed a bag and tried to leave through the front door, but the lock turned by itself and wouldn't budge when she tried to unlock the door.  The phone rang, and when she answered, Jill heard a voice say "Help me."  Jill decided to check out the attic and see if that's where the crying she'd heard earlier had been coming from, and a box flew off the shelf and almost hit her; when she bent down to open it, she heard a voice whisper "Please don't be afraid."  She looked up to see the girl from the mirror and thought that there was something in the box that the spirit wanted her to see, so she began looking through the photographs she found in it; the pictures were of the girl being hazed by sorority sisters.  Jill searched online for information about a 1987 hazing death and found out about Donna James, a 19-year-old student who was found dead in a field; her death was blamed on alcohol poisoning.  Jill is convinced that Donna's death was caused by hazing and that the sorority covered it up.  Jill decided not to join the sorority, which was a good idea since living with those bitchy sorority sisters sounds even worse than living with a ghost.  

In June 2002, Hayley and Elliott got engaged, and he surprised her with a furnished house he had bought at an auction.  A few weeks after they moved in, Elliott's 9-year-old daughter came to spend a month with them; Jenny wasn't crazy about the fact that her dad was getting remarried, so Hayley was a little nervous to spend two days alone with the girl when Elliott had to leave town for a work emergency.  Hayley was upstairs one day and saw Jenny standing downstairs, weirdly staring at her; the door to the guest bedroom opened by itself, and when Hayley looked downstairs again, Jenny was gone.  Hayley checked the bedroom to make sure a window hadn't been left open; when she turned to leave, the mirror reflected a pair of child's feet behind the curtain, but when she looked at the curtains, the feet weren't there.  She found a a tiny pink bow on the floor, and then Jenny asked Hayley to play hide-and-seek with her.  Hayley noticed that the basement door was open, so she looked for Jenny there, but instead she found a young blonde girl who quickly disappeared, and she later found Jenny hiding upstairs.  The next night, Hayley awoke to sounds coming from underneath her bed; she looked down to see a creepy doll lying on the floor before it was yanked underneath the bed.  She was sure that Jenny must be hiding under the bed, but didn't want to stick her head down there, so she tried looking under the bed with a mirror; as she was doing this, she heard the door creak open and then saw it slam shut.  Hayley checked Jenny's room, but she wasn't there, so she went to the basement and saw Jenny "just standing there, mumbling to the wall."  Hayley kept calling her name, but Jenny didn't respond, so she approached Jenny, who seemed confused after she snapped out of her trance.  Jenny said she didn't remember anything, except that "the wall was talking to her."   One night later, Hayley and Jenny were playing Go Fish when the lights when out; Hayley left Jenny alone to go check the circuit breaker in the basement.  After she got the lights back on, she saw the pink ribbon she'd found earlier lying on the stairs; a hand shot out and grabbed the ribbon, and Hayley screamed.  She told Jenny she had seen a rat, so she wouldn't scare her; she said good night to Jenny and was disturbed when Jenny replied "Goodbye" instead of "Good night."  Hayley later heard Jenny's door open  and tracked her to the basement; Jenny was talking to someone, and when Hayley approached her, she pointed at the wall.  They heard crying coming from the other side of the wall, so Hayley used a sledgehammer to make a hole in the wall and told Jenny to go upstairs.  Hayley saw the blonde girl, but she disappeared; Hayley made a bigger hole in the wall and discovered that there was a hidden room with a bed, a desk, a mirror, and the doll that Hayley had seen in her room.  Hayley called the police, and they took the doll and the sheets from the bed, but said that the evidence was too old for them to be able to find out who had lived in that room.  Hayley thinks that the blonde girl was held there and "wanted someone to know what happened to her."  Jenny later told Hayley that she had also seen the girl and that she has no recollection of playing hide-and-seek or sleepwalking down to the basement.

This show was pretty good and almost as creepy as When Ghosts Attack.  I'll definitely be watching more episodes.

My rating: 8/10

http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/my-haunted-house

Guest blogger: Michelle Wright. Psychic Medium, Author, and Optimist

Today is a special day because we have our first guest blogger!  Her name is Michelle Wright, she's a psychic medium, and this is her story:

I never woke up one morning horrified to find I was surrounded by spirits. It was as if I was expected to see them and if it wasn’t deceased family members giving me messages and signs it would be spirits connected to my school friends. The latter became nothing short of a nightmare as I would march into school happy to think I was helping by blurting out warnings and other strange stuff. What I got for my trouble was fights or detention for disrupting the class until I wised up and stayed quiet. Being this way had been a way of life for so long I never knew any different, naively believing everyone could see what I saw. 

They didn’t which resulted in a stressful childhood. My mother was a psychic medium as was my grandmother and her mother before her. I had without consent inherited the gene or gift as my mother put it even though I saw it as something far more sinister—a curse. Even today I can identify with world famous mediums who in their autobiographies talk about their early years being a major struggle as they battled against being seen as a ‘freak’ or ‘emotionally disturbed.’ Apart from my immediate family I had to grapple the same problem. Biting my tongue whenever I wanted to blurt out a spirit message to a complete stranger became the norm as did keeping my gift a secret for many years.

Someone asked me once what it felt like to live with one foot in the other world while going about my daily life. My answer was simple...I have always believed in an afterlife where loved ones wait in joy for our return home. This world is just a school of learning, a place to advance our souls and burn karma. The world beyond is the one I accept more readily. What’s it like ‘over there’ is a common question from clients who come to me for readings. Here is where I’d like to dispel the myth that we all float on clouds playing harps or sleep forever. We are still very much alive, more than ever as we enter a wider world which s an ethereal copy of our reality. Spirits create homes and environments as much the same as what they had when alive until they are ready to move on to a higher realm. Loved ones prepare for our passing and pets we had wait patiently for our return. So where do I fit in? 

I bring forth the messages only the person in front of me will make sense of. This is a reassurance they are hearing from someone other than me and a chance to let go of the grief which may have been holding them back. I don’t use tarot cards or ask for something personal to work with. I am a channeller...a direct link. Most of my psychic experiences are visual. I see the spirit usually standing by my ride side bringing not only messages but showing me how they passed. Sometimes I pull back if they passed over suddenly, or in a lot of pain because I can take on what they were feeling...not pleasant for me at all and very draining. Often, at the end of a reading I’m left with a headache or fatigue which passes within the hour. On the bright side spirits can be funny. I remember one reading I did where a loving mother was determined her daughter didn’t leave her floor so wet after she washed it. “Do you want someone to go head over heels?” she said. For the daughter it was proof her mother had come back and was still making her bossy presence felt! Then there are excitable spirits who have waited so long for a medium to relay messages they are impossible to understand. Imagine you’ve not been able to speak to someone close to you for years because you lost touch. One day out of the blue you find each other again. I doubt the first words spoken would be formal, if anything you’ll both be too excited and probably babble for the first few seconds. A spirit waiting for the all important connection is exactly the same. We don’t change very much.

I sometimes wonder why I was landed with a responsibility which often feels like a burden. Life as a medium is not an easy one, but I wouldn’t change a thing and, I will always hear my wise mother’s words. “Like it or not, it’s what it is, a way to help people who really need it.’’

From the age of nine I was passionate about becoming a writer, now, having fulfilled my dream through journalism I graduated to writing paranormal and historical fiction novels. Earlier this year I signed with a great new publishing company Curiosity Quills who released two of my previously self-published novels and three new ones. But no matter how busy my schedule is I still make time for giving psychic readings whether they be face to face or by email. After all said and done I can’t ignore the obvious. I will always be a medium.

Check out Michelle's website!

http://curiosityquills.com/

If you'd like to know more about Michelle's books, here's her Amazon author page: 

http://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Wright/e/B007IRLPFW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_1

Thanks for being my first guest blogger, Michelle...that was fascinating!