intelligent haunting
The Halloween Ghost In The Art Gallery
A couple of decades ago, I was opening a new location in downtown Santa Fe for the owner of a chain of art galleries. As a gallery director by profession at the time, I was excited for this opportunity. Furthermore, it was an interesting location from a metaphysical perspective, due to its previous occupants. Once upon a time, it had been a part of the local bus station, and it was directly across a former burro alley from one of Santa Fe’s oldest hotels.
I noticed a subtle, yet potent energy in the gallery space from the beginning of the endeavor. Clearly, some spiritual entity was attempting to direct the gallery through me, and had other ideas about what kind of art should be displayed here! Of course, it did not match the kind of work the absentee owner had in mind. But I was being pushed psychically to consider more traditional pieces, as opposed to the contemporary focus that the living owner required.
An interesting event happened when I hired a contractor to build some art storage, which was also to serve as a divider between the showroom space of the gallery and the office area. Every time the contractor would work on the new art storage bins, there would be a kind of rustling noise after he left. It was unmistakable, yet every time I would try to locate the source of the noise it would stop, as if by magic.
The War Veteran’s Belongings
It is sad when someone dies and there is no one around to pick up the pieces; no one there to take care of one’s belongings.
There was an old man who lived in the same building as one of my clients. After the he had passed away, all of his belongings ended up scattered all over the communal storage area in the basement. The boxes had been ripped open and kicked around, and people just picked though his things and looted whatever they wanted, leaving the rest in a chaotic mess.
My client felt bad about this, because when she came upon this pilfered disarray, she noticed some items among his belongings indicating that he was a Vietnam war veteran, including a baseball cap with many pins on it, which he obviously had worked hard for. There were also many cards that people had sent him, thanking him for the gifts he brought back from Hawaii.
He had clearly been a good person, but those that lived in this building with him regarded him as a busy body who was always meddling in other people’s business. Only after he was no longer there did people begin to realize how many things he got accomplished and how many things he had actually taken care of on everyone’s behalf.
Spirit Just Passing Through
Almost 19 years ago, spirit picked us up and deposited us into our new home – an old Victorian house built in 1909. It is usually not easy to restart your life in an old house. The plumbing, electricity, furnace, and fittings had to be worked on, repaired, or replaced entirely. Although it seemed to be a daunting task we were willing to it on, because we were led here by benign beings and absolutely loved the place the moment we first saw it.
When we decided to purchase the home, we also accepted the possibility of there certainly being some sort of haunting or ghostly presence in a house of this caliber. But sadly, when we moved in, there were no signs of paranormal activity to be found.
However, before moving in, I did have a dream that we would find something of significance in the house. Later, when we were removing the old kitchen cupboards, papers that were stuck behind them fell out. We soon discovered these papers belonged to a William Bradley who had moved to this area of Canada from California. His ancestors had come to the United States from Australia.
Mr. Williams was a chauffeur in his day and we found his papers to prove it. Eventually, we were able to track down his great nephew, who coincidentally has the same name as his great uncle. He was extremely pleased to be gifted this particular family document and we felt very gratified that we had done the right thing.
Ghosts Are Real
Are ghosts real? I certainly know that they are, because I have come face-to-face with them during paranormal investigations. Many paranormal experts claim there is scientific evidence that they are real. Believers say that skeptics are not listening to what is in front of them, but skeptics say that any paranormal evidence likely has a rational explanation and that those who are chasing ghosts are fooling themselves. All I know I is this: I have seen ghosts right in front of me… standing there, looking right at me.
I have been to many haunted sites and sometimes ghosts can be downright nasty, not to be confused with spirits. Ghosts do not know that they are dead, and they can become very annoyed when you are in a house that they dwell in. In these cases you are the intruder. I have had objects thrown at me, heard voices telling me to get out. I always smudge myself with sage. I use it before and after an investigation so that nothing attaches to me.