My Last Victorian Experience

Posted on December 24, 2013 by jonimayhan

The vibe inside the house was different from what I’ve always felt.

Usually they are happy to see us. They know us. They speak our names on our digital recorders and share some of their secrets. They’re usually very cordial. This time was different.

From the minute we walked through the doorway, we could almost feel them sigh at the sight of more people. It was as if they just wanted to be left alone.

Tina Aube and I had spent the day in Gardner, split between the public library and the local museum, collecting research about the mansion. Much of the history of the house has been misconstrued over the years and we both have a burning need to unravel the stories. Since I’m writing a book for the owners on their experiences, I wanted to make sure I had all the facts correct.

We found out a lot, but there are still so many stories left untold.

We’d hoped to uncover a few. We’d recently learned more about Mattie Cornwell, the nanny who resided in the house, caring for the Pierce children. Evidence that she’s still in residence continues to this day. When Tina spent the night there with me over the summer, she captured an evp of someone telling Mattie to stop it. At the same time, Tina felt a finger press down on her face. This time, Mattie was nowhere to be found, but the others were present and accounted for.

I felt them swoop as we stood in the kitchen. Some of them were happy to see us after being alone for several weeks, but some of them felt otherwise. We immediately went up to the second floor landing, where we’re usually well received by the resident ghosts.

I was excited to talk to Eino Saari, the man who died of smoke inhalation in the 1960’s. His story is one that has been told incorrectly over the years. Having a record of his death certificate and a copy of his obituary, we now know that he died of smoke inhalation after a mattress fire and not of spontaneous combustion, which has been the lore for decades. We also knew the names of his parents and siblings and wanted to tell him that information.

When I asked him if his father’s name was Matti, he responded on the Spirit Box with “Matti”. Click on the link below to hear the actual evp.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/einos-fathers-name-matti

I have been having a hard time getting more information about Ellen Pierce, so I went to the source and asked the resident ghosts.

“What kind of person was Ellen,” I asked.

The response blew me away. “Nellie,” a woman said. Most people don’t know that Ellen’s nickname was Nellie.

Click below to hear the actual response:

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/second-floor-landing-gb-what

I asked who was there with us and got a strange response. I’m including it here, because it is so strange. There are actually two layers to this response. There’s a woman’s voice that goes through multiple stations, saying something like, “The Bellaney’s boys are here now,” and beneath it, you can hear a child’s sing-song voice.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/whos-here-the-belaneys-boys

The next evp is the most compelling. I told them that the reason I was there was because I was writing a book about the Victorian and I wanted to get their stories right. The response was very clear. A male voice said, “Edwin.” People are always dismissing the Spirit Box, saying it’s just picking up stray radio voices. I think this response really puts that theory to rest. What are the chances of them saying an uncommon name like Edwin?

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/get-your-story-right-edwin

We continued up to the third floor and the energy up there was very different. We both felt as though they didn’t want us up there. They’ve seen a lot of investigators over the course of the past few years, not to mention the tours we’ve led through for fund-raising efforts.

We went into the cistern room first and almost immediately got this response.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/cistern-room-gb-getting-you

We didn’t hear the response at the time. It was spoken aloud on the Spirit Box, but we didn’t catch it until later when we listened to the audio recording. If we had, we might have left right away. Instead, we decided to move to the Billiards Room for one more quick session.

While we were sitting there, the feelings became so strong.

“We need to leave. I just feel it,” Tina told me.

I was getting a similar feeling, so we were packing up to leave when all hell broke loose. Water started dripping from the ceiling, faster and faster, until it was pouring buckets. We honestly thought we were going to witness a ceiling collapse. We raced for the stairs and then called Marion, who called the owners to alert them. We did walk back in a few minutes later and were reassured that the ceiling was still intact. Here’s the response, capturing our horrifying moment. If you listen closely, you’ll hear a ghost voice telling us to “get out” at .10 in the recording. Were they warning us to get out before we couldn’t?

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/billiards-room-when-the-water

After that, we packed up and left. It was a sad moment for both of us.

The house needs a new roof, badly. I don’t know how much longer it will have before it’s too late to fix it. It might already be too late.

One thing is for certain. I’m not going to be standing underneath it when the ceiling finally decides to go.

It makes me sad because I love that house.

We all do.

We need a miracle.

Joni Mayhan

Joni Mayhan is a paranormal investigator, as well as a free-lance writer. Please check out her paranormal thrillers on Amazon.com and BarnesandNobles.com. For more information about the author, please see her website: Jonimayhan.com

The Soul Collector – The true story of one paranormal investigator’s worst nightmare

http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Collector-ebook/dp/B00EIHG90Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381464557&sr=1-1&keywords=joni+mayhan

Angels of Ember trilogy – After a devastating virus nearly wipes the world clean of people, 16 year-old Ember Pain grows tired of running and hiding from the bad men who hunt her and her younger sister, Elizabeth. Fighting back becomes a necessity, even if it threatens her very life.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=angels+of+ember+trilogy&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Aangels+of+ember+trilogy

Lightning Strikes

Ember Rain

Angel Storm

Is Your House Haunted?

Posted on December 20, 2013 by jonimayhan

Have you ever come down with an illness that starts slowly? The first symptoms are very subtle. You might feel tired and run-down. Days later, it might evolve to a sniffly nose or a cough. If you’re like many of us, you’ll be in denial for the first stage of the cold. You’ll attribute the tired feeling to not getting enough sleep; the sniffles could just be allergies. Like illness, a true haunting seldom comes without signs and symptoms

The first thing you might notice is a feeling of being watched. It’s that sensation you get when someone comes into a room quietly and just stands there. Sometimes it might take you a moment to realize they’re there and you’ll turn around with a gasp as you see them. A ghost might give you the same sensation.

You might also notice that items left in one place inexplicably show up somewhere else. Or a light you turned off suddenly turns back on again. You might also hear sounds that aren’t normal to the house. Sometimes the haunting will never progress beyond this, but other times it will escalate. Being aware and then taking action is important during the beginning stages.

The first thing you will want to do is rule out normal explanations. If you’re hearing footsteps in the attic, go up and look for signs of an animal. Has a squirrel broken through a vent? Do you see mouse droppings or chewed insulation? If you feel like you’re being watched, rule out high electromagnetic energy, which can often make a person feel paranoid, even leading to hallucinations. Bedside alarm clocks are often big culprits, as are ceiling fans, microwave ovens, or faultily wired electrical outlets or circuit breakers. If you don’t own an EMF meter, which most normal people wouldn’t, you can begin by narrowing down the area that affects you. Do you feel the sensation of being watched only while you’re in your bedroom? Try moving or unplugging items to see if it alleviates the sensation. If all else fails, an inexpensive EMF meter can be found on the Internet for under $50, or you could simply call your electrician.

If you’ve ruled out all normal explanations for the signs of a haunting, the next step is to figure out why your house is haunted.

Did you just move in? Chances are the house has been inhabited by an earth-bound ghost for a long time and is just letting you know they’re there. I don’t feel it’s ever okay to live in a house with a ghost. Even if it’s dear old grandma, she’s not in a place of rest and she needs to find her way to the next dimension (aka Heaven or The Other Side).
Did you just start a renovation project? This often will trigger a ghost to come out of hiding. Imagine being so attached to your house that you didn’t want to leave it after dying, and then watching some numb-skull rip out the beautiful kitchen cabinets you spent eight months building from scratch. You might jump in to complain too.
Have you been dabbling in the paranormal? Did you go on a ghost hunt and attempt to communicate with the dead? Something might have taken you up on this and followed you home. If you investigate, you should always, always, always protect yourself during investigations. I cover this in the last chapter of my book The Soul Collector.
Are you a sensitive? People who are able to sense and even possibly communicate with ghosts are more at risk for having ghosts follow them home. In the ghost world, sensitives stand out. A ghost might recognize you as someone they can communicate with and will follow you home. If you’re curious if you’re a sensitive, I wrote a blog called “Do you have a Sixth Sense?” that might help you.

The truth is: ghosts are all around us most of the time. Being a sensitive, I can tell you that I’ve sensed them at restaurants, movie theaters, and at other people’s homes. While I was interviewing someone for my latest book project, I captured three very clear ghost voices on my digital recorder. One helpfully asked us if we’d remembered to turn off the light.

Opinions will vary on how to eliminate the haunting. Here are the top suggestions:

Claim ownership of your space. Let them know that you live there now and that they need to move on. Tell them to look for the white light, which is a doorway to the other side, or to call for a family member who has passed on to help them. Being dead on our side of the veil isn’t a pleasant experience. They’ll be able to see and hear the things we do, but will have very limited abilities. If this doesn’t work, move onto the second tip.
Do a house cleansing. You can do this in a number of ways:
- Ask your minister or priest to do a house cleansing.
- Contact a trusted psychic medium to do this. How do you find this person:
  - Many metaphysical shops will have a list of psychics in the area.
  - The Internet – research this person thoroughly before inviting them in.
- Do it yourself. Purchase white sage mixed with sweet grass from your local metaphysical shop or purchase it online.
- - Be calm, but firm as you do this.
  - If you have connected with your spirit guides or guardians, ask them to help you. Everyone has spirit guides, but might not have connected with them. Ask anyway. You never know who is listening.
  - Open a few windows in the house as you do it.
  - Light the sage and fill every room in your house with the smoke, starting with the outermost corner and working your way to the front of the house. Let the sage smoke cover every inch of space in every room, from floor to ceiling. Some say the smoke is calming to them, helping them transition to the next plane.
  - As you burn the sage, tell them you are filling the house with light and love and that no negative energy may remain. Tell them this is your house and you’re taking it back. Encourage them to find the peace and love they desire through the white light. Tell them it’s time for them to go.
  - When you’re finished, stub out the sage stick on the front walk.
  - Some people will follow this up with a ring of sea salt around the border of the house, or on the windowsills and doorsteps.
  - Others will also take a warm bath filed with sea salt and lavender, ridding their body of the energy.
  - Cut your ties. You can do this physically, as well as mentally. Cut the cords that connect you to this energy and then move on. Don’t think about it. Shove it out of your mind. Thinking about it could actually draw them back in, so avoid this as best as possible.

What do you do if your house is still paranormally active after all these measures have been taken? Some ghosts are going to be resistant about moving on. Typical measures aren’t going to work with them. You’ll have to move into a second phase.

Contact an established and highly recommended paranormal group to help you. Be forewarned that this will often increase the activity, but if the group is able to help you, it will be worth it in the end. When you reach out to them, ask for references from other clients they have assisted. A good group will not charge you for their services. If they do, you should probably run the other way. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t offer them a donation for the time and money they’ve spent helping you. Many won’t accept it, but others will. Offer anyway.
Contact a trusted psychic medium. Talk to your local metaphysical store for references. Ask for references of clients the medium has helped. A good medium will be able to remove the middle man and talk directly to the ghost, helping them to move to the other side much more effectively. Many mediums will charge for their services, but some will not.
Move. I don’t like this last option, because you are only leaving the problem for someone else to deal with. Or worse, you go through the effort of moving, only to discover the ghost has followed you.
Research the history on the house.
- Go to your local town hall and research the census records and death records to find out if it’s a former home owner. Sometimes a tragic event could have caused them to stay behind. Or maybe they’re just attached to the house. Sometimes just knowing who you’re dealing with helps in moving them on. Talk to them by name. Tell them you understand why they’re there, but it’s your house now and you promise to take good care of it. Then, do the cleansing.
- Go to your local library and read back issues of the newspapers. Find out if something tragic happened. Sometimes all they want is for someone to acknowledge what they lived through. Follow it up with a cleansing.
- Do nothing. Allow the energy to calm down on its own. Don’t acknowledge them, don’t be fearful. Just go about your life as usual. Sometimes this simple thing makes a difference, but sometimes it just makes it worse.

All of these suggestions are just suggestions. Ghosts were people too, and not everything is going to work with everyone. The more resistant a ghost is, the harder they will be to move along. But always start at the beginning of the list and rule out normal explanations first. You will save yourself a lot of time and stress. When I went through this myself back in the 1990’s, I wasn’t sure what to do and resources weren’t as prevalent as they are today. I ended up moving out, leaving the energy for someone else to contend with. I later heard that the house was sold five times in five years and it made me feel very guilty for not pursuing it further.

Whatever you do, do it with a purpose and remain calm. Fear is never a good tool for working with ghosts and neither is anger. Most hauntings are human in nature and a sense of compassion will be your best ally.

What if the haunting isn’t human? Signs of a non-human haunting will range from foul smells in the house, to finding unexplained scratches on your body. If you suspect this isn’t human, find a professional to help you, whether it’s a member of clergy, a trusted paranormal team, or a good psychic medium.

And always believe it will work.

Faith and a firm sense of belief will carry you much further than doubt and fear.

Joni Mayhan

The Soul Collector – The true story of one paranormal investigator’s worst nightmare

http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Collector-ebook/dp/B00EIHG90Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381464557&sr=1-1&keywords=joni+mayhan

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=angels+of+ember+trilogy&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Aangels+of+ember+trilogy

Lightning Strikes

Ember Rain

Angel Storm

Ghosts and Electricity

Posted on December 17, 2013 by jonimayhan

I’ve often wondered about the correlation between hauntings and electricity.

As paranormal investigators, we know that ghosts can manipulate our electronics. We’ve seen it happen over and over again. Cell phone settings get inexplicably changed during an investigation and radios or television sets get turned on and off, just to list a few. But, what if ghosts can actually pull energy from these devices?

One of the most standard pieces of paranormal investigation equipment is the EMF meter. Simply stated, an EMF meter measures the changes of the electromagnetic field in a given area. There are various units, some more precise than others, but I prefer the Mel Meter, manufactured by D.A.S. Distribution Inc., because it is easy to use and also measures the ambient room temperature. If you hold one near a source of electricity, the reading on the meter will often increase. Electrical appliances such as alarm clocks, ceiling fans, and microwave ovens will cause an EMF meter’s readings to spike upwards. So, what does this have to do with ghosts?

Everything around us is made of energy, even our own bodies. When we die, where does that energy go? Does it get released into the atmosphere around us? Or does it stay encapsulated?

Theories abound. Since energy is neither created nor destroyed, it remains. Many paranormal investigators and psychics alike believe that the energy remains with the spirit. This is one of the reasons why investigators use EMF meters, hoping to detect the presence of a ghost. It’s not why I use one, though. I use it primarily to debunk a haunting.

We were called to investigate a house where the owners felt there was a ghost in the basement. They brought us to one particular doorway, telling us they always felt as though they were being watched when they stood there. It took me about five seconds to figure it out. Beside the doorway was a very large electrical box. I put my EMF meter near it and immediately got a very high reading.

High EMF readings can affect the human body in various ways. One thing it can do is give the person the feeling of being watched or the sensation of being fearful. People who have experienced high EMF over a period of time sometimes report hallucinations as well. Health-wise, it isn’t good either as it has been linked to cancer and sleep disorders, since it could reduce the melatonin levels in the brain, which is the hormone that stimulates sleep. It can also point to a very dangerous electrical situation. The owners were advised to contact their electrician immediately to prevent a catastrophic house fire. After they fixed the electrical issue, all the sensations of a haunting stopped entirely.

Whenever I stay at a haunted inn, I will walk around with my EMF meter and check the levels. In one inn, we discovered that a faultily wired ceiling fan was causing a high EMF reading, giving the people in the bed below it the sensation of being watched. Bedside alarm clocks are also prone to emitting high levels. Correcting these man-made issues will often eliminate the feelings of a haunting, so it’s always worth looking into.

But, what if there is already a haunting and the ghosts are just using the electricity like a feeding station? Most of us have encountered something similar in the field.

We call it “battery drain.” Prior to an investigation, we always check our batteries to make sure they’re fully charged. Sometimes though, we’ll discover that our new batteries become instantly drained the minute we walk into a haunted establishment.

Many enthusiasts feel this is a ghost’s way of powering up. They will drain the batteries, and sometimes even the energy of the investigators themselves, in order to communicate or manifest. After living in a haunted house for 13 years, I can tell you that there is some validity to this theory.

Our house sat under high tension power lines. When we sold it in 2000, I knew nothing about electromagnetic energy. I just knew our house was haunted. Items moved of their own accord, footsteps could be heard in empty rooms, and writing once appeared on a wall. I’ve lived in several other locations with ghostly presences, but have never had the same level of activity. Do the ghosts feed on the extra electromagnetic energy, giving them more energy to manipulate their environment? While it doesn’t explain every haunting, I think it’s worth considering.

Rolling Hills Asylum in East Bethany, New York, is one of the most paranormally active locations I’ve ever been to. I’ve personally seen shadow figures wandering the hallways, heard footsteps and unexplained noises, and had the pleasure of having a ghost pass right through me. Every time I’ve investigated there, I’ve come away with countless class-A EVPs. I’ve also witnessed my EMF meter’s numbers rise on request. Why would one location be so much more active than many others?

Locations are usually haunted for a variety of reasons. If numerous deaths occurred there over a period of time, it would stand to reason that there would be more opportunity for a haunting. But what if there is another explanation?

I recently had a conversation with Sharon Coyle-Farley, owner of Rolling Hills Asylum to inquire about this theory.

Directly across the street from the facility is a power grid. Is it possible that the ghosts from Rolling Hills are using that energy to help them manifest and manipulate their environment?

Here’s what Sharon said:

“I hadn’t taken a reading from the power grid in ages so I went over to it. Its directly opposite the east wing (you can google earth it – 11001 Bethany Center Road, 14054) a 2 lane road – approximately 24 feet from the start of my land – and approximately 20 additional feet to the building itself (so approximately 44 – 48 feet away). The strongest hit is at the gate of the grid – varies with what I imagine to be power surges between 11.0 & 17.1 on the Mel. As soon as I take two steps in either direction – right, left or behind me it immediately subsides down to 3.0 to 4.0 on the Mel and by the time I am at the tall Cypress at the edge of my property (close to the road) it flat lines at 0.0 on the Mel. Which means – which is what I always knew (just couldn’t recall the stats) – that the power grid does NOT leak EMF into my building – which is why we get flat line readings of 0.0 on the Mel everywhere in the building -unless at a live power source – such as when the microwave in the green room is operating. So – the hits we are getting within RHA are true EMF spikes caused by spirit activity. Do I think the grid is an energy source for them – I sure do. I think they draw from it – feed from it – like going through a McDonalds for lunch – they come and go to it and it also draws other entities to it which in turn brings more entities/activity into RHA.”

This doesn’t explain every haunting, but it is something worth thinking about.

It could explain the “paranormal hangover” I always experience the day after an investigation. I’ve spoken to others who have felt the exact same way. I am just exhausted. Even if I’ve had enough sleep the night afterwards, I will always wake up the next morning so tired I can barely function. Depending on the location, it might take me days to build my energy back up. Since I’ve learned the valuable lessons on how to properly ground and shield myself, some of this has lessened, but not completely. Are the ghosts using my energy to do the things I’m asking them to do? Does every EVP come at a cost?

Part of my fascination with the paranormal field revolves around the “why” factor. I’m interested in learning more, which will hopefully help me and others better explain the experiences we continue to have as we investigate haunted locations.

If you have a theory you’d like to share, please let me know.

Working together will help us answer some of the questions we all encounter.

Joni Mayhan

The Soul Collector – The true story of one paranormal investigator’s worst nightmare

http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Collector-ebook/dp/B00EIHG90Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381464557&sr=1-1&keywords=joni+mayhan

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=angels+of+ember+trilogy&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Aangels+of+ember+trilogy

Lightning Strikes

Ember Rain

Angel Storm

Secrets from the Grave – The Haunted Victorian Mansion

Posted on December 16, 2013 by jonimayhan

The Haunted Victorian Mansion has many secrets.

As I began writing a book for the owners, unanswered questions began piling up, one by one, making me realize there is a lot we still don’t know. Finding the answers has proven to be very daunting because all of the residents are long deceased, and the historical trail they left behind is filled with gaps.

Here’s what we do know:

After becoming one of the wealthiest men in the county, furniture magnate, S.K. Pierce decided to build a house that matched his stature. He hired two hundred men to work around the clock for a year and a half . When the house was completed in 1875, it was a marvel to behold.

Standing three stories tall, the Second Empire Victorian boasted twenty-six rooms, including four bathrooms, two cisterns for running water, and a tower that provided grand views of South Gardner.

It wasn’t a happily-ever-after kind of story, though. Soon after the house was build, S.K.’s wife Susan died of a very painful bacterial infection that literally ate her flesh. He remarried two years later to Ellen, a woman who was barely older than his son Frank. S.K. and Ellen had two more sons between them, Stuart and Edward.

By all accounts, the rivalry between the oldest son, Frank, and his step-mother was legendary. After his father’s death in 1888, the house passed down to Ellen, not to the eldest son, which was more customary of the time period. His brothers Stuart and Edward left the furniture business to invest in car dealerships.

When Ellen died, the house was passed down to her three sons, who squabbled and fought each other in court for many years. The youngest son, Edward, ended up with the house and lived there with his wife, Bessie, and their daughter, Rachel. He turned it into a boarding house.

Tragedy descended upon the Pierce family once more, when 2 year-old Rachel died from Influenza. When Bessie died in 1951, the house fell into quick decline. The boarding house began developing a seedy reputation. There were reports of gambling and prostitution. When Edward allegedly lost the house in a poker game, a man named Jay Stemmerman became the new owner.

Jay was a wealthy man by his own right and would bring another layer of intrigue to the Victorian. After he abandoned the house in the 1980’s, the house sat empty for nearly twenty years. When the next owners purchased it in 2000, some of his odd paintings still graced the walls. Portraits of half-woman/half-beast, as well as full blown orgy scenes were depicted on the canvases. Due to the graphic nature of the paintings, many people wondered what else transpired during that time period.

The current hauntings only make the story more complex. Having so much of the history at our disposal, we thought we’d be able to identify the ghosts who still linger there. Unfortunately, there are many we can’t identify.

Like, who is the little boy who has been seen in the windows and on the grand staircase? There aren’t any reports of a young boy dying in the house? We’ve asked many times, getting different responses. Here’s one response we received while doing an EVP session in 2012.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/sb-little-boys-name-franklin

And who was the full body apparition who appeared at Edwin’s side as he worked in his home office? Was it the ghost of Eino Sauri, the Finnish WWII veteran who died in the house in 1963, some say by self-combustion? Or was it the man who died of a heart attack at the pizza place across the street just before the ghost appeared?

And who is the evil entity in the basement?

Some psychics feel it’s Frank, the eldest son, who battled with his step-mother. Others say it is Edward, the youngest son, who lived in the basement after losing the house. Still others feel it’s a demon, brought in by an investigator with an Ouija Board. What does the house say?

Listen to the EVP by clicking on the link to find out.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/billiards-room-ghost-box-1

We have asked this question numerous times, getting different responses many of the times. While in the basement, here’s another response we received.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/name-of-sks-son-im-different

Probably the biggest mystery of all revolves around the tunnel in the basement. Why would S.K. Pierce build a tunnel to his factory across the street? I’ve spoken to two separate people who have confirmed that the foundation of the building across the street has an identical blocked off opening. Although the original factory burnt to the ground in 1938, it was very likely that the new building would have been built on the existing foundation. If there was a tunnel, it has long been collapsed. Only the entrances remain.

What was the tunnel used for?

As I reached out to various people who have investigated there while researching my book, I heard various opinions. While tunnels of this sort were typically used for home heating, capturing the steam from the factory, opinions differ. Almost every psychic feels like it has something to do with children. Several have voiced an opinion that children were often used to work in the furniture factory across the street, which would make sense considering child labor was legal in the late 1800’s. Another psychic suggested something even worse happened to children in the basement, alluding to physical and sexual abuse. Still another psychic thought that dark magic was practiced in one of the rooms at the factory across the street and that the tunnel was used to spirit them across unseen. Much of this will probably go undiscovered. Even if we were able to track down descents, no one will willingly provide this kind of information if it did indeed happen. The only hope we have is for the ghosts themselves to finally tell us.

One thing is for certain: some of the Victorian ghosts want help.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/help-me-help-me

And we won’t stop digging until we find the answers.

Joni Mayhan

To read more about the Haunted Victorian Mansion, check out Joni’s book Bones in the Basement. Click on the photo below to learn more about Edwin and Lillian’s harrowing experience in the S.K. Pierce Haunted Victorian Mansion.

Paranormal Addiction

Posted on December 11, 2013 by jonimayhan

Have you ever felt so drawn to a place, you just can’t stay away?

For me, this place is the S.K. Pierce Mansion in Gardner, Massachusetts, also known at the Haunted Victorian Mansion. The three-story Second Empire Victorian Mansion sits on the corner of West Broadway and Union Streets, looking every bit the haunted house. The first time I saw it, I felt my breath catch in my throat.

The windows almost look like eyes, dark against the pale golden exterior. Every time I’d drive past, I’d look up, wondering if someone was looking back at me. The house seemed so out of place, so foreboding and omniscient. It looked like a house you’d see on a movie set, not something you’d happen upon in a blue-collar town like Gardner.

When I saw it on Ghost Hunters years later, I was entranced. Not only did it look haunted, it was haunted. It would be several more years before I’d find a way inside, but once I did, there was no going back. I was addicted.

I started off investigating there as part of a paranormal team. This lead to three more investigations before I volunteered to help with a Halloween event they sponsored in 2011. After that, I found myself a frequent fixture at the kitchen table, listening to the wonderful, terrifying stories Edwin and Lillian had to tell. I’d tell them I needed to leave by ten pm, only to find myself still sitting there at 2am, wondering where the time went. Others found themselves in the same predicament. We laughed, calling it The Table That Time Forgot. In all honesty, it probably had just as much to do with the company as it did with the house. We were all brought together for a purpose. We all felt it. The house chose us.

Fast forward to two years later and I find myself writing a book about the mansion. I’ve been spending most evenings on the phone interviewing people who have gone there, both as investigators and as guests. The stories have been surreal.

Three separate investigators have reported being pushed on the grand staircase. Two others have been scratched there. Several people have encountered Maddie, the nanny. Every psychic has described her exactly the same, with dark brown hair and a friendly, but no-nonsense demeanor. I also found out from multiple sources that most people have felt the negative entity in the basement. While he doesn’t usually scratch, he does sometimes growl. When he’s had enough of you, he surrounds you with a black cloud, using intimidation like a weapon. For reasons that escape me, I’m usually the first to volunteer to go down there. I feel as though the negative spirit and I have an agreement. When he’s grown weary of me, he lets me know and I leave. It’s just as simple as that.

Over the course of the past three years, I’ve investigated there literally dozens of times. Whether it was with a paranormal team, as part of a meet-up event I helped coordinate, or just as a guest with a digital recorder at the table, I’ve spoken to the dead there more than I’ve spoken to many of my acquaintances. I feel comfortable with the resident ghosts. I know their names and they know mine. The saddest part for me is the amount of children still trapped there.

I think it would be horrible to be trapped as an earthbound ghost, being without your human body and everything that goes along with it. You’d try to talk to people, but would have no voice. You’d try to touch them without any physical hands. I’m sure as time goes by you would learn to harness the energy and manage something physical, but it wouldn’t be as easy as being alive. So what keeps them there? Why do they choose to stay?

I feel like the more I hang around, the closer I will come to finding the answers. I always ask them what Heaven looks like and try to guide them towards the white light, but I seldom get a response to either request.

I’ve seen dark shadows in the basement, and have been touched many times as I’ve sat quietly conducting a respectful EVP session. Several times they have even followed me home.

Sometimes I wonder why I was lured into this house. Was it by my own curiosity, or was it due to something else? Did the spirits call to me? As I interview people for the book, I’m finding more and more people who say the same thing. They felt compelled to go there and wanted to return the first chance they got.

Is it a paranormal addiction? Or is the paranormal addicted to us?

I hope to one day learn the answer, one way or another.

Joni Mayhan

The Soul Collector – The true story of one paranormal investigator’s worst nightmare

http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Collector-ebook/dp/B00EIHG90Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381464557&sr=1-1&keywords=joni+mayhan

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=angels+of+ember+trilogy&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Aangels+of+ember+trilogy

Lightning Strikes

Ember Rain

Angel Storm

Discovering Your Sixth Sense

Posted on December 6, 2013 by jonimayhan

Having a six sense doesn’t necessarily mean you can predict tomorrow’s lottery numbers; nor does it mean you will necessarily foresee a future catastrophe. Sometimes it’s as simple as trusting your intuition.

Do you often know who is on the other end of the line when the phone rings? Do you meet someone and know instantly whether you like them or not? Do you sometimes have the feeling that you’re not alone, but nobody is there?

Learning to develop this additional sense isn’t for the impatient. It involves slowing down and paying attention to every detail of your life, listening to the strong impulses, and understanding that most of the things that happen to us aren’t usually coincidence.

Tips for unlocking your six sense:

Understanding your sixth sense – Abilities come in all shapes in sizes. Some people have the ability to sense or communicate with ghosts. Others get visions of future events before they transpire. Some people have an uncanny ability to read other people, knowing what they’re thinking or feeling without having been told first. Some are more subtle. One of my friends is a very dedicated pet sitter. She will often know that something is wrong with a dog before the owner does. This could be a very useful tool in her field, providing the pet parents buy into what she is telling her.
Believing your abilities – My mother didn’t think she had a sixth sense until I pointed it out to her. More times than I could count, I would pick up the phone to call her, only to find her on the other end as she attempted to call me at the same exact time. She also has an uncanny ability to always find a front row parking spot. Sometimes having a six sense isn’t as prevalent as being able to predict the sex of someone’s unborn baby. It might be as simple as trusting your intuition and not trying to push it away. It’s a special gift that was given to you at birth. Embrace it and use it.
Meditation – spend a few minutes a day going deep into your mind, allowing the rest of the world to fade away. You can do this all by yourself with little instruction, or you can utilize one of the many self-guided meditation videos on the Internet. It allows you to hone your thoughts down to the bare essentials, discovering a place in your mind where the clatter and bustle of everyday life can’t touch.
Pay attention to your surroundings – watch other people’s reactions to the things you do and say. Understand how body language and eye contact plays a key role in how we interpret how other people are feeling. Really try to tune into what they’re telling you. Crossed arms might mean they are closing themselves off from the conversation, an inability to maintain eye contact might mean they aren’t comfortable with what is being said. Watch for the non-verbal cues and see if they match what your mind is interpreting. People with empathic abilities often feel what other people are feeling, sometimes even physically, and have an uncanny ability to understand other’s moods and thought processes. Learning how to live with the ability could be a blessing, if you are able to handle both the good and the bad. If someone is angry with you, it gives you a chance to unravel the anger before it becomes an issue.
Believing in yourself – do you sometimes get a strong feeling about something for no apparent reason? Have you ever woken up with a strange premonition? Pay attention to the outcome. If you find some truth behind the impression, you will learn to trust it more. Many people believe that we are all born with the sense of insight but leave it undeveloped, having been told as children that we “have an active imagination.” It doesn’t mean that the abilities disappeared. It just means we’ll need to dig a little deeper to find them and nurture them back to a useable level. Others feel that abilities are usually passed down through families. Sometimes the gift is hard to distinguish, like the case with my mother. More than likely, she was born with similar abilities as mine, but didn’t pursue them and allow them to develop.
Find validation – if you have a strong sense that something has happened to someone, ask them. Follow the clues to see where they lead. This involves being curious enough to find the answer. I would often get impressions about people, but never had the courage to follow it through by asking. One day, I simply took a deep breath and asked, only to find out that my intuition was right. It gave me the faith to keep trying.
Develop a relationship with your spirit guides or guardians– everybody has them, but not everyone is aware of them. They could be there, whispering in your mind, guiding you through the day. I didn’t believe in them until I experienced it firsthand. I was driving along a highway, when the image of my late grandmother popped into my head, telling me to slow down. Seconds later, my front tire blew out. Had I not slowed down, I probably would have been badly injured, if not killed. Find yours through meditation or just ask for a sign that they are there, then follow your instincts.
Document everything – keep a journal and write down the things that come to you. Did you have a strange dream that a friend was going to have a difficult pregnancy? Or did you get an odd feeling when you met a co-worker for the first time? Being able to go back and track this is very helpful. Make sure to record the date it happened, the time of day, and even things that seem trivial at the time, like the mood you were in, the cycle of the moon, or the type of weather outside.
Research – my sixth sense involves communicating with ghosts and spirits. It took me a very long time to trust that what I was feeling was more than my imagination. I read every book I could get my hands on and took several psychic awareness classes. Every piece of information brought me closer to understanding my abilities.
Share your experiences – most people are afraid to talk about these things. They’re scared that other people are going to make fun of them or think they are crazy, when in truth, many other people have these feelings as well. Find someone you can trust to talk about it. If possible, find someone who is going through a similar situation, or someone who has mastered the skill you are seeking. Finding a good tutor might make the difference between wondering and knowing.
Understand that everyone is different – several of my friends are also sensitives. They know when a ghost or spirit enters a room. My cue is audient. I hear a tone as they swoop in, which is also accompanied by a sense I can’t explain. I just know someone is there. One of my friends feels a tingling on the side of her head. Another friend’s finger’s tingle. Just because you don’t feel the same cues, doesn’t mean you aren’t experiencing something. This also means that no one can tell you exactly what you need to do to develop it. This is a case where practice makes perfect. Talk with other people about what they’re feeling, but don’t expect someone to hand you a magic wand and enable you to become a psychic medium overnight. You will have to figure some things out on your own.

Unlocking this six sense could change your life in many ways. It’s a matter of taking a natural gift and exercising it until you’ve built it into a powerful asset, but you’ll never know until you’ve tried.

Joni Mayhan

The Soul Collector – The true story of one paranormal investigator’s worst nightmare

http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Collector-ebook/dp/B00EIHG90Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381464557&sr=1-1&keywords=joni+mayhan

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=angels+of+ember+trilogy&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Aangels+of+ember+trilogy

Lightning Strikes

Ember Rain

Angel Storm

Ghostly Pajama Party – my night at the Curtis House Inn

Posted on November 17, 2013 by jonimayhan

I knew the moment I walked into the room that someone was waiting for me.

It had been a long day and a long night already. It was just after midnight and we’d just come from a four hour presentation. Lorraine Warren, the celebrated medium, had hosted an event in nearby Monroe, Connecticut. My friend, Sandy, and I had made the two-and-a-half hour drive down from Massachusetts to be a part of it. Since driving back two-and-a-half hours wasn’t an option, she had reserved a room for us at the Curtis House Inn, in Woodbury.

Built in 1735 by Anthony Stoddard for his son Elikim, the house would open its doors as an inn in 1754. Originally, the house contained two stories, with the second floor sporting a massive ballroom. The ballroom was eventually converted into individual rooms, with a third floor being added in the early 1900’s. It has the honor of being the oldest continually opened inn in Connecticut.

Our room was in the carriage house, which is connected to the main house by a charming footbridge. Four rooms had been carved from the structure, with the main floor being used for storage. While the main house is known to be haunted, no one had reported any activity in the carriage house.

I was tired when we got to the room. Thoughts of investigating were far from my mind. I actually hadn’t given the accommodations much thought. I’d reserved our tickets for the Lorraine Warren event, while Sandy had handled the overnight reservations. A friend had recommended the inn because of its relative proximity to the Warren event.

It didn’t dawn on me that we were going to a haunted inn until I walked in the door. It was as if the room was filled with invisible guests already.

As an experienced and enthusiastic paranormal investigator, finding a haunted venue is usually very exciting to me, but at that moment it was the last thing I needed. I just wanted to change into my pajamas, read a little from the new book I’d just purchased at the event, and then close my eyes for seven or eight hours until I was properly rested and ready for the next day. Dealing with ghosts wasn’t on my agenda.

It was then that I realized Sandy had mentioned we would be staying at a haunted inn. I guess in the back of my mind I’d thought we could wander the grounds and inn to do a few EVP sessions, before retiring to our room. What I hadn’t considered was the fact that we’d be hosting a pajama party for the paranormal realm.

The room had two twin beds, so I quickly claimed the one nearest the door, and then retreated into the bathroom to brush my teeth, and to change into my sleeping attire. I’d barely closed the door when I realized I wasn’t alone.

Being clairaudient, with a dash or two of clairvoyance thrown into the mix, I can hear and sense ghosts and spirits. I hear an audible tone that drifts around the room, allowing me to identify the location of the entity, as well as the gender. My clairvoyant abilities, which are still developing, provide me with more information. This entity was a ghost, not a spirit who’d crossed over into the next realm. While spirit tones usually don’t bother me, the sound of a true ghost always gets my attention. You never really know what a ghost is capable of.

This ghost was a young female, possibly a maid from the early 1800’s, who’d worked and lived at the inn. I saw her in my mind as thin, with long dark hair that she wore in a bun under a white cap. She wore a pale blue dress with a large white apron over the top of it. She didn’t mean me any harm, but was curious about me.

It’s my understanding that anyone with mediumistic abilities, the ability to communicate or sense ghosts and spirits, is instantly identifiable to the afterlife. I don’t know if we emit a certain glow, or they are just able to sense our abilities, but they definitely know we’re there and that we can feel them as well. Maybe she was looking for help, or to pass a message on. She might have just been seeking a human connection with someone who could feel her, after being ignored for the better part of two-hundred years. I’ll never know because my abilities don’t extend that far.

“I know you’re here, but I can’t communicate with you,” I told her. “I’m not a true medium. I can feel you and get an idea of what you look like, but I can’t communicate like a real medium can,” I told her. Most mediums won’t bother to say this out loud. They will talk telepathically with the ghosts or spirits. It often makes me feel inapt, not being able to do this. If I want to talk with them, I have to use my ghost hunting equipment.

After getting somewhat settled, I returned to the room to find Sandy already in her pajamas with her digital voice recorder in her hand. Also being a budding clairvoyant, she must have gotten a similar message while I was in the bathroom.

“This room is wall-to-wall ghosts,” she told me.

Normally an investigation has more of a formal feel to it. We gather our equipment, including our meters to measure electromagnetic energy, and our beloved Spirit Boxes, and conduct a session. It usually starts with one of us sweeping the room with a Mel Meter, to see if there are any electromagnetic spikes that would cause our equipment to alert us. A false spike could often be caused by faulty electric wiring, or devices like clock radios, that usually emit high levels of energy. We didn’t even bother this time. The room was full of ghosts and we knew it. All we needed was a way to record them.

We turned on our recorders and began asking respectful, gentle questions of our invisible guests. As we began, we started sensing the others as well. One entity was male, and was joined by several other females. I didn’t like him as much. He felt controlling and a bit hostile. We asked them general questions about where they lived, how old they were, and why they were still lingering at the inn. We even pulled out a Spirit Box to see if we could get a response, but the ghosts just weren’t talking. We didn’t record a single EVP.

By this time, I was getting really tired. I’d been up since seven that morning and had worked a full day before making the two and a half hour trek south to Connecticut. All I wanted was some nice REM time to recover my energy. As I’d soon find out, it wasn’t going to happen.

The minute I turned out the light and rolled onto my side, I felt them swoop in. The feeling is very similar to the sensation of a person walking very quietly into a room. Sometimes I just know they’re there. I can feel the displacement of air, the sense of their energy behind me. Added to this was the very loud buzzing in my ears. By the sound of it, there were at least a handful of ghosts trying to get my attention.

I’ve been taught to surround myself with white light and then inform the entities that they are not allowed to come near me for the duration of the night, so I did this. I envisioned the light as being very bright, radiating from my body like a solar flare. As it would turn out, it would be like a bug light to a flock of moths.

One touched my hair, pulling it back from my face. Even though I’ve had this happen numerous times, it still unnerves me. I don’t like to be touched, especially by people I can’t see.

“Stop touching me!” I said, probably jarring Sandy out of early sleep stages in the bed across the room. I closed my eyes again and tried my fail-safe method of counting backwards from 21. Usually, all I have to do is think the number “21” and I’m well on my way, but this time it wouldn’t work because someone touched my leg. It felt like a cold hand being placed on my ankle. I pulled my knees up into a fetal position, wondering if I would ever get to sleep.

“Are they bothering you?” Sandy asked.

“Yeah, they keep touching me,” I told her. She sighed, feeling bad for me. She could feel them as well, but they usually gave her a wide berth when she told them to stay away. For some reason this never works for me. The more I resist, the closer they come.

I tried reciting the Lord’s Prayer in my mind, something that usually calms me, but before I could get to the “amen,” I was jolted off my pillow in pain. It felt as though someone reached into my eye socket and grabbed a handful of eyeball.

I started to sit up, when the pain moved to my chest. The hand lunged into my chest and grabbed onto my heart. It almost felt as though I were having a heart attack before the feeling eased and then moved to my leg. I was under attack.

I jumped up from bed. The room was dark, with just a gentle glow from the street lights filtering through the window. While I once loved sleeping in total darkness, I just can’t do it anymore. After experiencing what I did with a negative demonic entity that I wrote about in my book, The Soul Collector, nothing would ever be the same for me. I’m not afraid of the dark. I’m afraid of what’s hiding in the dark that I can’t see.

“Do you mind if I turn on the lamp?” I asked.

“No, go ahead,” Sandy said.

I have to give Sandy credit. Being my friend comes with a very large burden. While she also is coming into her own abilities, mine seem to be far more disruptive.

I turned on the light and then turned around to consider my bed.

“Maybe I can sleep in the car,” I mused.

Sandy laughed. “I think they’d find you there just as easily.” It was a truth I didn’t even need to respond to. If I was in the vicinity, a ghost would be sure to find me. I have a very hard time sleeping in hotels for this reason. If there is even one lingering around the building, it will hone in on me within minutes of my arrival, promising me a night of restless sleep. It’s another reason why I’m still single. Some baggage is okay, but mine would be difficult to handle for most people.

I went back to bed with a determination of finding some sleep. We had a big day planned for the next day. Our friends had invited us to investigate at the abandoned Sterling Opera House in nearby Derby. I’d seen photos of the building and was eager to experience it for myself.

I curled back on my side and with a dire determination, finally fell asleep. I’d be woken up minutes later by someone again grabbing my ankle. This would go on the entire night. The minute I’d fall asleep, I’d either be poked or touched until I woke back up again. Several times the touch would come with a strong smell. Once I smelled cigarette smoke and another time the very foul smell of a dirty animal nearly made me choke. What little sleep I would manage was interlaced with dreams of people I didn’t know, trying to urgently tell me things they wanted me to hear. When I woke up the next morning, I felt as tired as I had when I walked into the room at midnight.

I don’t have any wild stories to tell about furniture being thrown across the room or the contents of my travel bag being dumped on the floor. All I have is the personal experiences that prodded and pulled at me for a solid nine hours.

If you invite me to go somewhere that involves overnight travel and I hesitate, please don’t be offended when I decline the invitation.

Being a sensitive in a world filled with ghosts isn’t always easy, but it’s all I know. Maybe one day I’ll learn to handle it, but for now I’m just doing the best I can.

Joni Mayhan

Check out Joni’s latest TRUE paranormal thriller – Hanover Haunting – The DeAnna Simpson Story. Available on Amazon.com – Click HERE

The Haunting of Standish, Maine

Posted on November 15, 2013 by jonimayhan

The town of Standish, Maine, is ripe for a ghost story. Surveyed in 1750 by two captains, hoping to create a place for their men to settle, it would go through an evolution of changes before it became the quaint New England town it now is.

A fort was constructed in the place where the center of town now stands. A large red church was build, as was a house for the town’s first minister, Reverend Thompson. The original church was torn apart by the towns people, but a second church was built later for a Reverend Merritt. Our investigations would bring us to both the Old Red Church and the Thompson House, now known as the Maine Street Grill restaurant.

We met up with Barbara Williams, who runs a paranormal group in Maine, and who is also one of the most talented psychic mediums I’ve ever met. While we were intrigued by the locations, my friend Sandy and I primarily went to this investigation for the opportunity to spend some time with Barbara.

The first thing Barbara would probably want me to tell you about her is that she is NOT the psychic medium from Maine in my book The Soul Collector. I met Barbara shortly afterwards, as she helped me rid myself of another ghostly attachment.

I actually met Barbara while I was finishing the edits on my first book Lightning Strikes. She was doing a cleansing on me, pulling off all cords and attachments, leaving me feeling much lighter and freer than before. As she was working on me, she asked me if I had just written a book. I was a bit floored. She really had no way of knowing this about me. It wasn’t something I brought up and we weren’t yet friends on Facebook. I must have nearly jumped out of my seat before answering her question.

In the calm way she does everything, she quietly told me that I should get it published soon. That it would be a good time for it. She also alluded to the fact that my books would be very well received, and that she would one day be able to say she knew me before I was famous. I’m still holding onto this hope.

Since that time, she’s become my most trusted mentor. As I struggle to understand the clairaudient and clairvoyant abilities that I was born with, she’s been there to provide answers and confirm my suspicions. She’s taught me so much, but I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what I can learn from her.

We started with dinner at the restaurant. As we ate, Sandy and I could feel several of the resident ghosts drift into the room. We often will get mind pictures of what they look like and use each other to confirm our suspicions. We are usually eerily similar. This time, we both picked up on a male and a female who were once brother and sister, possibly the children of an early home owner. While this was interesting, it wasn’t evidence.

We wouldn’t be able to investigate at the restaurant until after they closed. As soon as we finished eating, we headed across town to the Old Red Church to kill some time.

The Old Red Church first opened in 1804 after being granted to the proprietors of The First Parish Meeting House for service to King George during the war of 1754. A second floor was added in 1848 to be used for the Standish Academy. It would later be used for the Standish High School before becoming a Historical Landmark. Originally painted brown, sun and weather oxidized it to a reddish hue, giving it the name.

The church portion of the building was set up in a very Puritan manner, with wooden sectioned-off areas for families. The families would purchase these areas for Sunday worship. After spending a few minutes on the hard wooden benches, you begin to understand more about life in the early 1800’s. You weren’t supposed to be comfortable. It was part of the process of worshipping. We conducted an EVP session in the downstairs level, but the acoustics of the church made it difficult to capture any responses.

We meandered up to the second floor and took a tour of the school area. The room was set up like an old-fashioned classroom, complete with period desks and books. A mannequin, representing the teacher, stood at the front of the room. We spent a few minutes just taking it all in before the cold started getting to us. As I walked back down the stairs, I tried to imagine what it must have been like back in the days before central heating. I thanked my blessings as I got into the warm car to head back to the Maine Street Grill.

By 11pm, the restaurant had closed and the last of the bar patrons were leaving. It was finally time to investigate!

Our team headed down to the basement for our first session. The basement has been known to be a very active location. Other investigators have experienced growls and loud noises, and often feel uncomfortable in the space. We set up in a storage room at the very end of the building.

Joining us were six other people. Keith Glen is an old friend of mine. We used to investigate together on a regular basis, but hadn’t seen each other in almost a year. He came to the event with his girlfriend, Deanna, a paranormal enthusiast herself. Also joining us were Brad and Breanna. It was their first investigation and they were enthralled to be there. Two other men, known to us as “the dentist and his brother” were also part of our group for the basement, but left shortly afterwards. They didn’t stay long enough for me to catch their names.

We’d barely gotten started when I had an experience that would send me flying off the step-ladder I’d been sitting on. I felt the very distinct feeling of someone running a finger down my back.

I turned, fully expecting to find someone standing behind me laughing, but the back of the room was empty. Everyone else was in front of me. It really set the mood for the rest of the session. I would continue to look over my shoulder for the duration.

While we were down there, we captured several relevant responses.

The first came when Keith Glenn asked if the spirits were allowed to go to other parts of the house. There is a very soft whispered response of “yes”.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/basement-sb-do-you-go-to-other

The second response came through the P-SB7 Spirit Box, which scans through the stations on a radio at a rapid rate, only landing on each station for a fraction of a second. The theory is that ghosts and spirits are able to use this to formulate words. We always enjoy using the Spirit Box because we get an instant response to our questions. While a true EVP is much more formable, we have to wait until we listen to our audio to receive the response.

I asked if there was anything in the basement we needed to be afraid of. The response was quick. “Oh boy,” it said.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/basement-sb-anything-we-should

After about thirty minutes, we moved onto our next location, which wouldn’t provide me with any EVPs or Spirit Box responses. I wouldn’t get anything else until we stopped at the bar area on the third floor. Here, I received so many responses; I had to narrow them down and choose my favorites.

(there seems to be a mist forming at the left side of the photo)

The first is an EVP, which is a ghost voice that wasn’t heard at the time, but was captured on my digital recorder. I was trying to get my Spirit Box set up and was having difficulties.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/bar-room-trying-to-get-the

The next one is another EVP, captured after Brad asked if they could tell us their names. The response is a very soft whispered “Yes.”

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/tell-us-your-names-yes

I had to laugh when I listened to this response. We didn’t understand what it said at the time, but thankfully I recorded the session and heard it later. “They sell beer!” someone says enthusiastically. The New England accent is undeniable. Beer sounds more like “beah”.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/sb-theyre-selling-beer

I’m hoping they weren’t talking about me on this next one. “That woman is evil!” This was from the Spirit Box.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/sb-that-woman-is-evil

The last one is interesting because of the content. This is also from the Spirit Box as one of the ghosts informs us that “Jesus is coming.” Interesting.

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/sb-jesus-is-coming

We ended the night by spending ample time with Barbara, talking about our abilities. Being a sensitive is often very frustrating. We know a ghost is there, but aren’t able to gather much more information. If we’re lucky, we’ll get a mind picture to go with it, but most of the time it’s just the cue and nothing else. For me, I hear a tone, similar to an ear ringing. Sandy feels a tingling on her head. Both of us also feel a sense of someone coming up behind us. Barbara helps us narrow it down.

All in all, it was a great night. It came with very little sleep, like most of them do, but it was enjoyable and rewarding all the same. We got to spend time with some old friends and met some new ones as well.

Happy hauntings.

Joni Mayhan

The Soul Collector – The true story of one paranormal investigator’s worst nightmare

http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Collector-ebook/dp/B00EIHG90Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381464557&sr=1-1&keywords=joni+mayhan

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=angels+of+ember+trilogy&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Aangels+of+ember+trilogy

Lightning Strikes

Ember Rain

Angel Storm

Altered Destiny

Posted on November 12, 2013 by jonimayhan

Do you ever wonder about your choices?

Sometimes I think life is nothing more than a path filled with forked roads. You find yourself at a cross-road and have to make a decision. Do I go left or right? Just that one simple decision could alter your entire life.

I narrowly missed being involved in a horrific traffic accident once. It really made me stop and wonder about it. I’d misplaced my keys that morning and spent a few extra seconds looking for them. Had I walked out the door at my intended time, I probably would have been killed. Those three or four seconds were life altering.

It made me really consider the concept of destiny. Every second of the day leads to the next second. What we do in those seconds dictates what comes next. Sometimes I don’t feel it’s entirely accidental. It feels like there must be a mastermind behind some of the planning, or at least I hope there is.

For me, my life turned on a dime when I was seventeen years old.

I had no direction in my life. I had no idea what I wanted to do after I graduated from high school. I didn’t have any passions or dreams. I just meandered from one thing to the next.

Then, one night everything changed.

I had a horrific fight with my mother, which led me to move out of her house and into my father’s house. This meant that I had to also change schools in my junior year of high school. The entire move to a new school was devastating and I didn’t know where to fit in. At my old school, I’d fallen in with a crowd who enjoyed partying, and I became a very devout rebel. When I walked into my new school, I saw in an instant that this just wouldn’t work any longer.

North Posey was literally in the middle of a corn field. The kids who went there were the kind of kids you see on sitcoms, American apple pie and sunshine. Future Farmers of America was a big club in the school, and nearly everybody in town went to the football games each Friday. A party girl from Mt. Vernon, who smoked and drank wasn’t going to last long there.

I tried to fit in. I really did. I hid my smoking and gave up the rebel attitude and tried to find my mid-western roots somewhere deep inside me, but I still just didn’t fit in. I’d changed schools in the middle of a school year, in the middle of my second-to-last year of high school, where friendships had long been established. I wouldn’t find my place friend-wise for nearly a year, but I found my lifelong dream in a classroom.

I didn’t know I was a writer until a teacher showed me that I was.

Mrs. Hunt was always smiling, but she could be tough when she needed to be. She assigned us small writing projects and then helped us improve our technique. I felt as though I’d finally found my calling. It felt like walking into a dream for me. I was mesmerized by the process of putting words on paper and creating something whole. As our projects got larger, I began to really stretch and grow. Mrs. Hunt didn’t let this escape unnoticed. She took my stories and read them to our class, as well as her other classes too. I couldn’t have been happier.

I took what she taught me and expanded on it. I majored in English in college for two years, and after dropping out to join the workforce, took creative writing classes on the side. I joined a writer’s group, wrote short stories, and just kept at it until I’d finally written something worth publishing. I wrote six books before one would be published. Lightning Strikes was actually my sixth book. The others were just practice books.

When I published Lightning Strikes, I wondered what had happened to Mrs. Hunt. I wondered if she knew of the impact she’d had on my life. I decided to find her. I reached out to a friend who still lived in the area and mailed him a copy of my book to give to her. A month later, I received a letter that made me cry.

She had fallen on hard times. Her husband was very ill, and she’d become bedridden. She said she once loved reading, but had given it up years ago. When she got the copy of my book and saw the dedication I wrote to her on the very first page, she cried. It meant the world to her to know that what she had done – the countless lessons she’d taught, had changed someone’s life. That letter was worth more to me than any amount of money in the bank.

If I hadn’t had that fight with my mother, prompting my move to a new school, would I have ended up as a writer? And what consequences did I set into motion when I found my old teacher and thanked her for inspiring me?

In the end, it all counts. Every bad decision, every stroke of luck, every lost key changes your destiny, at least a little. It’s one of the reasons why I always try to do the right thing. I’ve seen people with less integrity find greater success, and I’ve seen Karma look the other way, when she should have shot daggers instead. I’ve never had it easy. Nothing has ever fallen into my lap. I’ve had to fight hard for everything I have, but in the end I’m thankful it was difficult.

It all came together to make me the person I am today.

I’m not perfect, but I’m okay with that.

I’m me. I’m here, and I’m happy.

And I’m a writer.

Life is good.

Joni Mayhan

The Soul Collector – The true story of one paranormal investigator’s worst nightmare

http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Collector-ebook/dp/B00EIHG90Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381464557&sr=1-1&keywords=joni+mayhan

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=angels+of+ember+trilogy&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Aangels+of+ember+trilogy

Lightning Strikes

Ember Rain

Angel Storm

The Haunting of the Purple Head Bridge

Posted on November 8, 2013 by jonimayhan

The Purple Head Bridge is a narrow one lane bridge that connects Indiana to Illinois, spanning the Wabash River with barely a hope and a prayer. Driving across it is fairly precarious. While it’s structurally sound, it’s also only one lane wide. Drivers alert one another by flashing their headlights from the other side.

It’s also incredibly haunted.

Ghost stories abound, but pinning the legend down to just one story is difficult. It depends on who you ask. Some say that a man tried to commit suicide there, but something went horribly wrong. When he jumped from the bridge with a noose around his neck, he inadvertently decapitated himself. The sight of his floating “purple head” can be seen bobbing around the bridge. Others say Ku Klux Klan activity from the 1960’s causes the disturbances. Some blame it on fierce Native American battles as they defended their land. I’m not certain what the cause is, but the area is definitely creepy. I had one of my most frightening and perplexing paranormal experiences there several years ago.

It all started with a trip to Indiana. My entire family, outside of my children, resides in this mid-western state, scattered mostly in the southern tip. When I return for a visit, there is almost always a ghost hunt set up and waiting for me.

Initially my family and friends were taken back by my ghost hunting, but after hearing about my adventures and sampling some of my tantalizing EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena, aka spirit voices) they wanted to experience it for themselves. Through this, I’ve gotten to investigate at several locations I would have never dreamed of pursuing on my own. The Purple Head Bridge is a good example.

Our group was fairly small, consisting of my younger sister, Leah, my old high-school friend, John, and his wife, Melinda. Leah had been ghost hunting with me before, but it would be John and Melinda’s first time. While Melinda was a firm believer in the paranormal, John was decidedly on the fence. He’d have to see it to believe it, which I can appreciate.

It was a muggy summer evening and the cool breeze from the Wabash River was a welcome relief. It had taken us several wrong turns to find the bridge, but once we did, we just stopped at the end and took it all in.

By all accounts, it looked like an old train bridge, but my sister assured me that it sees plenty of traffic since it is the only bridge in the area linking the two states. She told us that we were supposed to drive out to the middle of the bridge and turn off the headlights. If we were lucky, we’d see the purple head floating somewhere near the bridge.

As this turns out, it was nearly impossible and actually quite dangerous. As soon as we drove out onto the bridge, a car appeared at the other end, waiting its turn. Sitting in the middle with no headlights would be a very good way to get rear-ended by an unsuspecting vehicle. So, we moved onto Plan B.

We’d park on the other side and hike down to the river’s edge. Surely if the head floated near the bridge, we could see it from our vantage point below. The only problem with this was the bonfire and party going on nearby. Apparently the bridge is a local hang-out for teenagers in the area. So, we moved onto Plan C.

Being an avid Geocacher (go to Geocaching.com for more info, if you don’t know what this is), my sister knew of a location just ahead where a Geocache was hidden near a single-grave cemetery. She didn’t know if it was haunted or not, but it was worth a shot. We continued down the narrow road. The trees grew in a canopy across the road, providing a dark tunnel for us to navigate through. As we drove, the moon winked through the trees, setting the mood.

We found the area and pulled off the side of the road to park. We stood for a moment and read the marker. The memorial park was set up for a man named James Johnston, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Pennsylvania Militia, serving in the Revolutionary War. He apparently survived the battle and lived out his final years in the Indiana/Illinois area. A sign directed us towards a long dark pathway, which would lead us to the memorial park.

The dirt path trailed deep into the forest, providing a perfectly chilling backdrop to what we would soon experience. We walked single-file down the trail, the light from our flashlights bobbed out ahead of us, illuminating swatches of the deep underbrush and the slip of trail that parted between it. A cadence of crickets and cicadas chirped from the depths of the darkness. An occasional car whished past on the main road, just to our right, making us giggle with thoughts of people reporting strange lights in the forest near the haunted bridge. Our smiles soon faded as we reached the end of the path.

The area was no larger than a standard-sized living room. It consisted of a park bench and a single grave, surrounded on all sides by the deep, dark woods. The first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. The trees barely stirred in the breeze and even the crickets quieted down as we arrived. It was as though the very woods itself was holding its breath, waiting to witness what would happen next.

I sat down on the bench, while the others stood nearby.

“I’m going to do an EVP session, so I need everyone to stand very still,” I said. “I’ll ask a few questions and then wait for a response. Then I’ll turn it over to the next person,” I told them. We’ve found that the best way to do an efficient EVP session is to set guidelines in advance. The first person asks as many questions as they want, before passing it to the person on their left. By taking turns, we never talk over one another, and it gives everyone a chance to participate. I turned on my recorder.

Before I could begin to speak, I began hearing the sound of voices nearby. I paused, and asked the others if they also heard it. I wouldn’t know until later, but I recorded a very poignant EVP.

“I hear voices. Does anyone else hear that?” I asked.

During the break between my sentences, a ghostly voice says, “I hear annoyed.”

(click the link to hear the actual EVP)

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/vincennes-revolutionary-1

We all sat quietly for a minute, but couldn’t hear anything. After a while, I pulled out my flashlight. While I’m not a huge fan of using a flashlight as an investigating tool, I will admit that it has its advantages. Sometimes it comes on instantly when a question is asked. It also gives everyone something to focus on during the EVP session, keeping them both entertained and quiet as they watch the light.

“If there is anyone here with us, can you turn on the light?” I asked.

Almost immediately, I felt something whoosh in from the forest behind me. It felt like a small comet of cold air, blowing into me with a force that sent my hair flying in front of my face. I jumped up from the bench, startled. As everyone goggled at me, I laughed, embarrassed to be so easily alarmed. Some fearless ghost hunter I was.

“Was that a bug?” my friend Melinda asked.

“No, I just heard something behind me,” I said, embarrassed at my jumpiness. What I didn’t realize, was that I had a very good reason to jump from my seat. The whoosh I felt wasn’t a cold breeze, it was a ghost. And he had a message for us.

“Go away!” he hissed, right before I jumped up from the bench.

(click on the link to hear the actual EVP)

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/vincennes-revolutionary

After composing myself again, I sat back down and asked a few more questions, which went unanswered. I turned it over to the next person in the group, and sat quietly until everyone had a chance to ask questions. No more EVPs were recorded until we got up to move to the grave.

According to the psychic mediums I’ve spoken with, people are supposed to move into a white light when they die. The ones who chose not to cross over are often confused. Some don’t even know they are dead. I knew there was a ghost nearby, because my ears were ringing, like they do when I feel a ghostly presence.

I began talking about the white light. As my words came out, they almost sounded like a prayer. I told them that the white light was a place of peace and love, and that their families were waiting for them with open arms. I encouraged them to look upwards to see if they could see the light, and to then pass through it to find the solace and redemption they deserved.

As I finished, I promptly stepped backwards and nearly fell in a hole.

When I’m nervous, I can’t always count on my emotions to follow the rules. Sometimes I laugh when I’m afraid, and this was one of these times. As I giggled, you can hear a very distinct response. The most interesting thing about it is the accent. It sounds like it comes from someone with a very strong Southern dialect.

“I’m gonna get the light,” he says.

(press the link to hear the actual EVP)

https://soundcloud.com/jonimayhan/vincennes-revolutionary-2

We spent a few more minutes there, paying our respects to the fallen soldier before heading back up the path to our cars. The full surprise of what we witnessed wouldn’t present itself until later, when I listened to the EVPs. Then, the full story was told.

I think there were two distinct entities in the woods that night. One wasn’t happy we were there. He swooped in from the very woods to deliver two messages he hoped would chase us away. The other was from a very kindly voiced man, who we hope took our advice and moved into the light.

Was the angry ghost the one who is known to haunt the Purple Head Bridge? It’s not something we’ll ever know for certain. As I left Indiana and headed back to my home in Massachusetts, I spent a lot of time thinking about it.

I hope they both found peace. I really do.

Joni Mayhan

The Soul Collector – The true story of one paranormal investigator’s worst nightmare

http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Collector-ebook/dp/B00EIHG90Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381464557&sr=1-1&keywords=joni+mayhan

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=angels+of+ember+trilogy&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Aangels+of+ember+trilogy

Lightning Strikes

Ember Rain

Angel Storm

Haunted New Harmony

Where History and Hauntings Collide

Category Archives: Night Thoughts

My Last Victorian Experience

Is Your House Haunted?

Ghosts and Electricity

Secrets from the Grave – The Haunted Victorian Mansion

Paranormal Addiction

Discovering Your Sixth Sense

Ghostly Pajama Party – my night at the Curtis House Inn

The Haunting of Standish, Maine

Altered Destiny

The Haunting of the Purple Head Bridge