The Paranormal Investigation at Edgewood Plantation in Charles City, Virginia-Pictures Only, Right Now)

On Friday, December 19, 2014, my husband drove me to Charles City, Virginia, to Edgewood Plantation Bed and Breakfast, for a paranormal investigation.

I had been there twice before, once when I was writing Virginia's Haunted Historic Triangle: Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, and Other Haunted Locations, and New Year’s Eve 2011 for a paranormal investigation then. Nothing happened to me during the interview, but during the investigation, plenty, including a photo of a ghost dog (maybe two—you decided, since I can not be honest in saying I see two, just the one on the left).

Now for this past Friday's investigation:

                         (Glow or mist on the right side of the dining room
                    photo, not there in others of the room.)

Though it was to be in the 20s later that night, Bill remained in the car to read his new science fiction novel. Two other and I made one team and began on the third floor since that was where I started on New Year’s Eve 2011. Earlier, before the rest arrived and even after, my EMF meter would flash a second light and even a third light in the hallway and in the kitchen especially. I checked to see if not due to an electrical interference, but except for the fire detector, nothing else set it off. Plus the lights did not go on in the same spot the second or third time I tried.

The third floor got two names we could hear from the ghost box (at this time, need to download and listen to all the recording to see what else was said, but not loud enough and due to static could not be heard). At one point, I asked for a tap on the walls to let us know they were with us. A rap resounded on the wall behind me and one of the other two investigators with me heard it too, same time as me.

Others wanted to try the third floor so we left the area and clattered downstairs to the second floor where four bedrooms awaited.  We got an angry man in Victoria’s room, who wanted the “investigators to get out!” I asked, “You do not want us here? Why?” He answered, “I hate it! Yes.” In Lizzie Rowland’s room, he told us to “Go home.”  At one point, in Victoria’s room, an overwhelming sadness overcame me and I began to cry. This was because I asked if he had died in the house (suspecting he was the man who committed suicide (along with a woman earlier-his wife). I called on the little girl spirit who had talked to us too and even giggled, to make me happy. She said, “Yes,” and I was able t stop the crying.

When we went to Lizzie’s room, one partner joined others in another room across the hall, while the remaining one and I joined this woman who had filmed a video of glowing orbs flying through the room. While spirits talked to me through my ghost box, she caught the curtains at the window behind me flapping, as if someone was playing with them. They thought it was Lizzie, but one male entity said the woman spirit was not on the second floor, but elsewhere in the house. I believed it to be the little girl.

                    (Glowing mist between bed's head and dresser.)

The last session of the ghost box and an EVP session happened in the parlor downstairs. We got the little girl ghost and another. They said ten ghosts were inside the house that night. The little girl said, “Three,” but I asked her did she mean how the ghosts were in the house as a male spirit had said ten, or her age, when she passed away was three? I will have to listen to the recording then to see if she said anything.

                              (Photos of the area with a shadow before and 
                     several afterward without any shadow. The ghosts
                     through the ghost box said six were with us--is this
                     all of my ghost box said six were with us--is this all
                     of them and why there might have been so much
                     shadow?)

                                       (Freaky. I swear I see something of a skull 
                            looking in through the window when I
                            enlarged the photo closer.)

                                          (Photo darker in the hallway, not in others I
                             shot of it from Lizzie's room.)

                                   (I did not see any shadow of half ring there
                                    with my own eyes, as evident in the
                        photo to left)

                                (Even though flash went off, this room remained dark. They

                                 say darkness like this is considered due to spirits.)

                              (Doorway from Parlor to Hallway Went Dark Even With Flash.)

                                       (Orb above piano on the wall.)

My husband and I were on our way home by 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 20^th.

Rest of the photos-outside Between 1-1:30 a.m. All mist you will see, I held my breath so not to jar the photograph taken. Yeah, something odd I do.

                                   

                               (Orb in Pool and Mist above the bathing house.)

                                       (Light mist.)

                                 (What is the ghostly mist trying to do here?)

(Another person and I were taking photos of one field and I turned around 

and took this one. It seemed as if they were close to me.)

                                   (Mist appears to be leaving the top windows to left.)

                                (Mist, plus going close to one window, I suspect a face?)   

                                                     (Mist.)

                                           (Looks like mist becoming a figure?)

                                   (More mist caught.)                

                                     (Orbs in the photo above and the one beneath.)

                                     (No light lit from the ground in real time, yet this thin line

                                      of light from ground to second-floor window is there in the

                                     photo. I never saw any light. By this time all the lights in the

                                     parking lot were off and very dark. Had to get Bill to come

                                     from the car with a flashlight to guide my way to the car.)

   

                    (Mist covering the whole side of the house. None in

                the second photo was taken with a second of this one.)

I took three videos, but I couldn't them upload at this time, as Blogger wouldn't do it from my hard drive. *sigh*

Ghosts Are Amongst Us

They haunt right alongside us, around us, and in places you never think would be haunted. They can be where the least you expect them. And spirits are not “trick ponies,” they will not perform on cue every night or day, so invisible, they might still be there, leaving you a feeling of being watched or even dread. Though the dread may be unintentional, as the phantom may not be evil (though there are times a bad one may be there), but your own psychic attention may give you that.



What are spirits? Where did the words come from?


In traditional belief, a ghost is the soul of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestations, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely: The mode of manifestation in photos or seen by the living’s eyes can range from an invisible presence, shadow people, translucent or wispy shapes, and orbs, to realistic, life-like visions—solids. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as a séance. Paranormal investigators use equipment to find proof of paranormal activity and to make contact with phantoms.


In many tales, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or "fetch" is a related omen of death.

Another widespread belief concerning apparitions are that they are composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material. Early beliefs were that ghosts were the person within the person (the person's spirit), most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist. This belief may have also fostered the metaphorical meaning of "breath" in certain languages, such as the Latin spiritus and the Greek pneuma, which by analogy became extended to mean the soul. In the Bible, God is depicted as animating Adam with a breath.


Ghosts are also termed spook, spirits, phantoms, fetch, haint (a common feature of southern oral and literary tradition), wraith, revenant, apparition, spectre, shade, and entity. Poltergeist, German for a “noisy spirit,” is for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and influencing objects. The Bell Witch was considered a poltergeist.

Most times, a poltergeist is just mischievous, though there instances of it being sinister, not unlike the Bell Witch. Was the Bell Witch a poltergeist or more along demonic lines? Good question. It was an entity that tormented a pioneer family that lived in what was then Red River, Tennessee in 1817-1827 ( Red River is now known as Adams, Tennessee). It was substantiated by eyewitness accounts (other than the family), affidavits, and manuscripts written by those who witness the phenomenon. More about this interesting tale can be found in author Pat Fitzhugh, The Bell Witch: The Full Account.


Besides the poltergeist phenomena, there are three other types of hauntings. First are residual hauntings. These are a recorded playback of what happened in the past. Maybe it could even be a time warp (one idea of mine, though I can’t prove this, but who knows, a feasible one like any other theory). There is no interaction with the living -- the ghost does not see or hear you because the ghost is not actually there. Only his/her energy remains, it is a remnant of his living form that you are seeing, just like when you watch a video. This cycle continues in the same place at usually the same time of day or year indefinitely until the energy is exhausted or diminishes to a low enough level that it is undetectable by human perception. One account of residual hauntings are the Union soldiers marching into Centre Hill Mansion in Petersburg, Virginia every year at certain time on January 24th. An interesting fact about the steps the soldiers march up is that they are not even the original staircase from the Civil War era, but new ones put in by Charles Davis. And yet, like clockwork, the soldiers march up those steps at the same time each January 24^th.  None died, but after the fall of Petersburg, Centre Hill became occupied by Union troops, led by General George L. Hartsuff. President Abraham Lincoln visited Centre Hill on April 3, 1865 to go over the local situation with General Hartsuff. This meeting took place only eleven days before Lincoln’s assassination. 

The museum holds a Ghost Walk that you can reserve by calling the Petersburg Visitors Business Center at either (804) 733-2400 or 1-800-368-3595 after the first of January for prices and times. Do it quick and call early to reserve your spot as they fill up fast.

Traditional, or intelligent, hauntings are the second. Whether actual human spirits that had not crossed over into heaven and had some unfinished business with a living person, or a message they wanted to deliver before they could move on, or even those that just want to stay in a place they lived in life or be on our plane of existence (more and more, I suspect they can travel back and forth between here and the “other side.” These ghosts will unlock doors and open windows, run the faucets and even interact with you directly because they are an "intelligent" presence, the personality of a person who was once alive but has stayed behind rather than passing over.


The third type of haunting, and undoubtedly the most frightening, is a demonic, or inhuman, haunting. To me personally, I think when a human was evil in life, they too would be considered under demonic. There have been stories of where priests have gone in to exorcise a possessed person, and instead of a inhuman demon, this one claims to be the parent or someone alive once, tormenting the person.


The entity is similar to a traditional haunting because the spirit is intelligent and are existing in the present moment with you. These spirits are malevolent and hostile, suffering from psychological instability or distress stemming from an unresolved conflict with the people who are being subjected to the demonic activity. Demonic presences tend to be ‘unleashed' in order for them to manifest. This is one reason why the use of an Ouija Board is customarily discouraged among many ghost hunters. So if you find one in the game section of the store, don’t buy one. Not understanding and without protection, one can open up a portal, letting in things they can not handle and most times, demonic in nature.


With Halloween nearly here, ghosts are more so on people’s minds. When you step out into the night for that Halloween party or that haunted house or trails attraction, do be unnerved if you see shadows move in the darkness. It may be just shadow people. Spirits roam Halloween as it is said the opening from the “Other Side” is more so on certain days of the years then the rest. And they want to party just like the living—right?


Again, it may be your imagination, least, you tell yourself that. Then again. . . wait. . .is those shadows closer than before? Watch out—