Sample of Ghost Magnet

Excerpt from Ghost Magnet – coming October 15th

 

A Ghost in My House

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I didn’t notice the ghost for several days. I was so caught up with my busy work schedule, it took some time for the reality to sink in, but the truth was undeniable. Something had followed me home from the cemetery.

Several days after our cemetery excursion, I came home from visiting stores in Rhode Island, my mind filled with work issues. One store didn’t have enough pet groomers and was using a cashier to bathe all the groomer’s dogs, which was a company violation. Another store wasn’t offering dog training classes, something I was getting beat up by my supervisors about. It was as though I was expected to wave a magic wand around and make all the issues disappear. All I wanted to do at that point was to change into my sweat pants and t-shirt and plop down on the couch for several hours of thought-free TV and allow my mind to unwind.

My dog Ripley met me at the door with other ideas. She was a mix of so many breeds, it was difficult to determine her parentage, but she looked and acted much like a border collie. With her high energy level and adept motivating skills, she had me well trained. Part of our evening ritual involved a long walk after dinner and she wasn’t letting me get out of it.  I held her at bay until I could scarf down a quick bowl of cereal and then grabbed her leash.

Our normal walk took us down a two-lane blacktop road near my house. Traffic was fairly steady, so I kept her on a leash for the duration. She always stuck close to my side, only veering off track when something especially smelly caught her attention and she needed a minute or two to investigate it.

By the time we got home, I had worked up a good sweat and had purged away most of my work stress. I loved the therapeutic benefits of walking. It gave me time to process my thoughts. I didn’t necessarily solve all my problems, but I usually found a way to deal with them by the end of the walk.

As I came through the door, ghosts were the last thing on my mind, but I heard the tone immediately. It was almost as though he was waiting at the threshold for me. I let Ripley off her leash and closed the door behind me, feeling a sense of discomfort wash over me like a cold bucket of water.

For once, I was thankful I didn’t have my 14 year-old son that night. He stayed with me four days out of the week and spent the remainder of the week with his father. Given the circumstances, I was glad he wasn’t there.

How would I explain these things to him?

He wasn’t the kind of kid who was even remotely interested in the paranormal world. If he came into the room while I was watching a creepy show, he would pivot on his heels and walk back out again unless I changed the channel. I wasn’t sure if it scared him or if he just wasn’t interested, but I wasn’t going to let it interfere with our time together.

I took a deep breath to steady myself. I needed to handle this now.

“If someone is here, you are not welcome. You need to leave immediately and go back to where you came from!” I said in a strong voice, knowing it sometimes worked for other people.

The tone didn’t falter. If nothing else, it grew louder. I could almost feel him laughing at me. Unlike the other ghosts that were in my house, this one was strong. If I was able to ignore the others and pretend they weren’t there, he wouldn’t give me that option. I could all but see him.

As I walked down the long hallway to my bedroom, I could hear him right on my heels. I paused when I got to my bedroom, uncertain what to do. Normally, I would shower and then put on comfortable night clothes, but this didn’t seem like a smart decision. Having an invisible intruder beside me in my own home, a place where I should feel safe, made me feel violated.

Could I really just undress and shower knowing that someone was watching me?

“Don’t show any fear,” I reminded myself, not wanting to give this monster any more ammunition to use against me.

I took a deep breath and tried to slough off the anxiety.

I turned on the shower, fully aware that the hitchhiker was still following me. If he had been a living person, I could have called the police to have him arrested, but they couldn’t do anything about a ghost. I’d have to try something different.

I read somewhere that if you ignored them, they sometimes grew bored and went away. Even though he completely creeped me out, I decided to give it a shot. I undressed quickly and took the fastest shower known to man and then put on my night clothes.

I plopped down on the couch and turned on the television. I found that if I cranked the volume up to a high setting, I couldn’t hear his tone. Despite the overwhelming sensation of being watched, I was able to get through the evening. Bedtime was another matter though.

After nearly twenty years of marriage with a partner who preferred to sleep in total darkness, I had grown out of my need for a nightlight. I kept the room as dark as the inside of a tomb, even going as far as hanging light-blocking curtains and blinds over the windows so I didn’t wake with the first blush of dawn. Things were different now though.

As soon as I turned off the light, I could feel him closing in on me. He drifted beside my bed and hovered close to my body. I could see him in my mind’s eye, grinning with rotten teeth, savoring the impact he was having on me.

I could sense his energy beside me as though he was made of skin and bones. He took a deep breath and let it out directly in my face, making my hair move with the current. The smell of rotting flesh filled my nose.

I couldn’t prevent the terror that spiked through me.

“Oh God!’

I reached out and snapped on the nightstand lamp, fully expecting to see him standing there.

Nothing.

The room was empty.

I let my arm fall back to my side. Why was this happening to me? Hadn’t I been through enough over the course of the past few years with the divorce and the move?

There was no way I could just close my eyes and fall asleep. That would be like sleeping beside a knife-wielding serial killer. What was he capable of? Could he kill me in my sleep?

I retreated to the living room where my two cats were stretched out on the sofa. They gave me slow, sleepy blinks as I turned on the lamp.

“Why are you guys hanging out here?” I asked them, as if expecting a response. I actually already knew the answer. If I was aware of the dead guy in my bedroom, they probably were too. They were just smarter than me and didn’t even try going into the room.

I turned on the television and was a bit horrified to find it already tuned into a paranormal show. I gasped and hurriedly switched  it to something a bit less frightening.

As I mindlessly watched an old sitcom, I thought about all the paranormal shows I had watched over the years. Being sensitive to the energy of the dead often left me yearning for more information. Unlike true psychic mediums, I didn’t get the full picture. I only got bits and parts.

I read as many books as I could find and watched the shows as though hoping for a road map. Unfortunately, the information I was getting was only serving to make me more apprehensive. I began to wonder if I was making things worse for myself.

Was it possible that I was igniting some sort of internal beacon when I watched paranormal shows? I had to wonder.  I often sensed them drift into the room while I was watching something spooky. There was so much I needed to know.

Somehow, I managed to fall asleep on the couch and woke up several hours later, feeling as though I had slept on  bare concrete. Every joint in my body was stiff and sore.

“This is ridiculous.”

I pulled myself off my couch and marched back to my bedroom. I wasn’t going to let some invisible dead guy ruin my day tomorrow because I was too groggy and sore to function.

I climbed into bed and yanked the covers up to my neck, trying desperately to ignore the buzzing sound. Instead of turning the room into its normal dark cave, I left the nightstand lamp on and rolled over onto my side.

Sleep must have found me because the next thing I remember was a thump at my bedroom door. I opened my eyes in time to see a dark shadow person dart across my room and disappear into my closet.

With a shriek, I sprang out of bed and ran into the hallway. I slammed the bedroom door behind me, ready to race out of the house in my night clothes. My heart pounded in my chest as my mind filled with pure panic.

I paused in the hallway and looked back at my bedroom door, expecting to watch it open.

“Oh my God,” I whispered to myself.

What would I do?

Who would I call?

I wanted to jump in my car and drive as far as I could, but where would I go? I didn’t have any friends or family nearby and couldn’t afford a hotel.

My mind raced as I stood there, not knowing what to do.

Was it a ghost, a real intruder or just a dream?

If I called the police and they didn’t find anything, I’d be embarrassed. With my heartbeat thumping in my temples, I edged back to the bedroom door.

If someone was in my bedroom, they had nowhere to go. There wasn’t another doorway and the only windows were blocked by furniture.

I pressed my ear to the door to listen.

It was quiet.

As I was pulling away, something scratched on the inside of the door. I nearly came unglued and let out another shriek, only to hear the scratching followed by my dog’s woeful whine.

“Oh, Ripley…” I had forgotten that she was in the bedroom with me. If someone was in there, she would have been barking and growling. That left two other possibilities. It was either a dream or a ghost.

Ripley whined again, pulling me out of my indecisiveness. Either way, I couldn’t leave her in there alone.

I dug deep and gathered every ounce of courage. I had to be brave. I yanked the door open and flipped on the overhead light.

The room was empty.

My body trembling, I looked in the closet and under the bed, finding nothing. I wasn’t sure what to do, but one thing was certain. I wasn’t sleeping in that room.

I spent the rest of the night on the couch, not even daring to close my eyes for a second. I watched one cheesy sitcom after another until it was time to get ready for work.

I left the house by 9am and visited some of my local Massachusetts stores, not having the energy to venture very far away. By the time I made it back home, my head was spinning with work related issues. As I put my key in the keyhole, I was greeted by the buzzing sound.

I should have been terrified, but anger took the lead instead.

This was the last thing I wanted to deal with after having a day from hell. It was intrusive and disruptive, almost like having a homeless person move in and take over my house.

I’d like to say that I am brave, and maybe I am to some extent, but this was a case where I was pushed to become braver than I felt.

Without even changing out of my work clothes, I stomped into my bedroom and dug through my dresser until I found a stick of sage. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be any more effective than the smudging that Sandy and I did at the cemetery, but I wasn’t putting up with this any longer.

I lit the sage and proceeded to walk around all the rooms in my house, filling it with light and love.

“I fill this space with light and love. I ask for my angels and spirit guides to remove any negative energy that lingers here. This is my house and I take it back!” I said in each of the rooms. By the time I finished, the house felt a bit better.

The ringing sound had faded to a point where I wasn’t certain who was still there. The tone was similar to what I had been hearing before the new ghost made his arrival, so I took some measure of comfort in that.

That night, my cats joined me in the bedroom again, which made me feel immensely better. I did make one change to my nighttime routine though. Instead of sleeping in pitch darkness, I dug out an old nightlight from a box in the closet and plugged it into the wall.

If I was going to live with the possibility of having ghosts in my house, I wasn’t going to do it in the dark.

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Hidden Sixth Senses You Should NOT Ignore

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Many people possess metaphysical abilities but aren’t aware of them. They chalk them up to a strong sense of intuition or lucky guesses, when in fact, they  are truly gifted. Some of these abilities come to us for a reason, helping us interpret messages we need to hear.

  • Have you ever heard the phone ring and knew instantly who was calling?
  • Do you ever have dreams that come true?
  • Do some people give you strange vibes?
  • Do you know when someone is ill?
  • Does the hair on your arms ever stand up for no apparent reason?
  • Do you know when someone is lying to you?

Below are a few of the common mediumistic and psychic abilities along with their lesser known indicators.

Clairaudience – Some people hear the sound that ghosts make. It doesn’t necessarily involve hearing disembodied voices. Sometimes it could be as innocuous as having your ears ring. Ghosts are tuned into a different frequency than we are, but some gifted people are able to hear their tones. If you think you might be hearing a ghost, try turning your head to see if the sound is localized to a certain spot in the room. If it is, you might be hearing a ghost.

Another lesser known gift of some clairaudients is the ability to detect high electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) being emitted from electrical devices. For some, the sensation is similar to pushing through a wall of heavy energy. High EMF fields could point to an electrical hazard. When devices push out high levels of EMF, it could be due to faulty wiring, creating what paranormal investigators call a “fear cage.” Symptoms of high EMF fields could be frequent headaches, the feeling of being watched or actual hallucinations. If you feel this, inspect it closer with an EMF detector. You could save a house from burning down.

Clairsentience – That tightening you get in your chest or the goose bumps that raise on your arms could be a sign that a ghost is nearby. People with this ability often feel a physical sensation when something paranormal is in the room with them. When you hold certain items, do you instinctively know who it once belonged to?

Clairsentients can often tap into an ability called Psychometry, which is the ability to pull information from items. This is an important ability if you frequently purchase antiques. Well-loved items, such as tools and toys, could contain a spiritual attachment. Unless you want a ghost in your house, you’ll want to insure the item you’re bringing home doesn’t have anything paranormal attached to it. If you suspect you have this ability, find an experienced psychic medium to work with. Validating your sensations is important for better understanding your abilities.

Empathy – Empaths often find themselves tuning into other people’s feelings. They are also excellent lie detectors. Don’t attempt to lie to an empath and plan to get away with it. Empaths are easily overwhelmed by large groups of people and need to spend ample time alone. They are good listeners, but have a tendency to feel emotion deeper than most people. Empaths also have an uncanny ability to know when other people are sick or emotionally off. Using this gift could easily save a life, if trusted and used.

To survive as an empath, you must learn the basics of grounding and shielding your energy. Empathy is actually a type of clairsentience. If you feel you have empathic abilities, try your hand at Psychometry, as well.

Clairvoyance – If the phone rings and you see a picture the person on the other end of the line in your head before you answer it, you might have the ability of “clear sight.” Other aspects of this gift could include having dreams turn into reality days later, or seeing the image of a ghost in your mind. You could be tapping into the thoughts of other people or even find yourself communicating with the spirit world.

People with this ability often have prophetic dreams. Often the information comes without a timeline or location, but paying attention to these signs could prevent someone from going through a horrific situation. If you get these types of dreams, look for identifying cues, such as calendars, clocks or street signs to help you narrow down when and where it will happen.

Claircognizance – People with this ability simply know information they shouldn’t know. Like a clairvoyant, they might know who’s calling them without looking at the phone, but the information will come to them differently. They’ll just “know.” If you’ve lost your favorite ring, they often point you in the right direction. Do you ever get strong hunches about accepting a new job or knowing which route will be the fastest? You might be tapping into the thoughts of your Spirit Guide or your Higher Self to get this information.

People with this ability often predict danger ahead of time. They might get strong feelings that something is about to go wrong. Find validation when you can, if you have this ability, or at least dig deeper into the premonitions you’re getting. Listening to your gut instincts could save you from a dangerous situation.

Clairalience – With this ability, you will be able to smell things others can’t smell. Whether it’s the scent of your deceased aunt’s perfume or the sharp tang of fear emanating from another human being, some people have unusually well-developed senses of smell. Most people with this ability, don’t realize they’re doing it. They may even be detecting other people’s pheromones.

People with serious illnesses often smell different from well people. While most people can’t detect this, someone with a finely tuned clairalience ability might pick up on it and be able to alert the person to a potentially dangerous health situation.

Many people have gifts they don’t understand. Unless they’ve compared their experiences with other people, they often just assume that everybody feels this way. Understanding your abilities is the first step to developing them. Research as much as you can and search for someone to help you work with what you have. Trusting in your abilities comes with time and validation, but it could make a tremendous impact in your life and is worth pursuing, especially if it saves a life.

Joni Mayhan is a paranormal investigator, author, and the teacher of a popular Paranormal 101 class. For more information about her, check out her website Jonimayhan.com

Click the book covers below to learn more about Joni’s paranormal books, available on Amazon.com.

Dark and Scary Things- A Sensitive's Guide to the Paranormal World cover Devil'sToy Box  bones-in-the-basement-cover-small  The_Soul_Collector_Cover_for_Kindle

Ten Signs a Ghost is Nearby and You Don’t Know it

Ghost Near You

Despite what paranormal television shows portray, most hauntings are subtle. You could have a ghost nearby and not know it. Here are 10 signs of a haunting you might not be aware of.

  1. Bad Luck – Have you recently had a string of bad luck happen to you? It feels as though nothing is going right. Appliances seem to keep breaking and your cell phone keeps losing all its contacts? Tech-savvy ghosts are capable of bringing bad luck to our lives.
  2. Odd Smells – Ever smell something in your house that doesn’t make sense, like the aroma of baking bread, floral perfume or cigar smoke? These are signs ghosts sometimes give us to alert us of their presence. The ability to detect ghosts by scent is called clairalience. It is a mediumistic ability that not everybody possesses.
  3. Missing Items – Do you feel like you’re always looking for misplaced items? Ghosts often play a spectral game of hide-and-seek with their living room-mates. An item will go missing, only to turn up in an unusual place. People often blame this on a lack of sleep or a busy schedule, when in fact, it has a vastly different explanation.
  4. Frequent Nightmares – If you are plagued with frequent nightmares that have a different texture from your normal dreams, you might look deeper for the cause. Blame it on the pepperoni pizza you ate before bedtime, but it could be an entity trying to rouse you from sleep.
  5. Exhaustion – Ghosts need energy and they often pull it from the living. Paranormal investigators frequently discover the batteries on their equipment draining at haunted locations and feel exhausted after an investigation. Ghosts will pull energy where they can find it.A typical sign that a ghost is using your energy is the sensation of vibration. When they pull energy from us, sometimes their vibrational rate is different from ours, giving us the feeling that we are vibrating from the inside out.
  6. Strange Photos – When you upload your pictures from your camera or cell phone, do you ever find strange streaks of lights in the photos? Ghosts typically don’t show up in pictures like we expect them to. Often, they appear as streaks of light or strange unexplained mists.
  7. Odd Pet Behavior – When your cat or dog watches something moving around the room, don’t immediately brush it off as being an insect. Pet’s vision differs from ours, allowing them to see a broader spectrum of light. They might be seeing something paranormal that you can’t see yourself.
  8. Frequent Ear Ringing – Do your ears ring at strange times? While this could be due to a medical condition called tinnitus, it’s also a mediumistic ability called clairaudience. People with this ability will often hear a tone that is similar to ear ringing. The next time it happens, turn your head to see if you can localize the sound. Is it moving around the room, growing fainter as it gets further away? If it is, chances are you’re hearing a ghost.
  9. Unexplained Nausea – Some people get physically ill when a ghost is present. The sensation is typically presented as a sudden upset stomach and the feeling you are close to vomiting. Try leaving the room and see if the feeling abates. If it does, you might be physically reacting to the presence of a ghost.
  10. Feeling Watched – Do you ever get the feeling like someone is watching you? You turn, but find nobody else in the room. This is a frequent sign of a haunting. The sensation is usually unnerving, at best. Try moving from the room to see if the sensation goes away.

 

If you’ve experienced any of these behaviors on a regular basis, it might be time to do a little research into the history of your house. While not all ghosts are malevolent, as they are portrayed in paranormal television shows, they can’t always hide from us. If you think your house is haunted, reach out to a psychic medium or Shaman to help you do a house cleansing to clear your house of spiritual energy.

 Joni Mayhan is a paranormal investigator, author and instructor. To learn more about her, check out her website Jonimayhan.com.

Want to learn more about when a ghost is near? Check out Joni’s new book. Only $5.99 on Amazon.com. Click HERE to purchase. 

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Click on any of the book covers below to learn more about each book.

 

Dark and Scary Things- A Sensitive's Guide to the Paranormal World cover Devil'sToy Box  bones-in-the-basement-cover-small  The_Soul_Collector_Cover_for_Kindle