Southwest where I currently reside. I have gotten the most activity in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Salem, Massachusetts.In all the photographs of these haunted places there are similar lines, colors, and flashes of light. These have been known to be called tracers, vortexes, or bands of light. They may look like a thick rope or a small tornado. In my pictures they look like broken lines. They show up in various colors. I think they are a cluster of orbs moving together. An orb is a collection of energy which usually is affiliated with paranormal activity. This, however, is harder to prove as paranormal since in most cases an orb can be nothing more than a speck of dust. Another view is that these lines may be an opening into another dimension or world. The vortex is the actual portal where good and evil spirits may be able to cross over into our dimension.
Ghost hunters consider orbs, ectoplasm, paranormal mist, and vortexes evidence of spirit activity. I have been able to photograph all of these types of anomalies.
The collection of pictures I have are somewhat harder to debunk, even for the most critical skeptics. They have alot more detail and color then most paranormal photos. It is harder to dismiss these because they are in focus and very clear. It looks as if something is moving in front of the camera. All of these were taken on clear nights. There wasn’t any rain, fog, or mist to taint these photographs.
I also usually bring someone along with me as an eyewitness to the current weather conditions, and to verify that I am only shooting into darkness. The camera can capture movement on film that the naked eye cannot, so I don’t see any of these images when I am taking these pictures. These images only appear when the film has been developed.
Ghosts can manifest in many ways. Usually, on film, this can be captured in the form of mists, orbs or anomalies. These lines that I have photographed I believe are forms of energy from a spirit trying to manifest itself. Ghosts need to draw energy off of things such as cameras, tape recorders, lights and batteries. For example, the battery on my camera as well as my friend’s were immediately drained the night we where taking pictures in the Howard Street Cemetery and the Old Burying Point in Salem, Massachusetts.
Sometimes the energy can be trapped inside something physical, like a rock, gun, or sword. This scenario is possible with some of the artifacts that were recovered on the fields of Gettysburg. These objects have remained there since the war. This is perhaps how some of the ghosts in Gettysburg are able to appear even in broad daylight as well as in the pitch dark.
Some people experience the paranormal and others do not. We are all born with natural differences in perception, psychic abilities, or even just sensitivity to psychic occurrences. Some people are born with a more astute sensitivity to the paranormal. For instance, one person may smell pipe tobacco burning followed by seeing an apparition of a ghost while the other person standing next to them does not. This means one person is more sensitive to the paranormal then the other. Experts believe such an individual can develop their own psychic abilities. I believe I am sensitive to the paranormal. On July 5, 2006 I revisited Gettysburg for the third time. Although I didn’t get much activity in the photos compared to the previous year, I did encounter something strange. As I was walking down the street I smelled gunpowder, but a friend standing beside me, did not. So there is some validation to that theory in I actually experienced it.
Many spiritualists believe there is a very thin veil between the spirit world and our world. As it gets closer to Halloween this veil gets thinner and thinner. So by October 31st they say the dead can cross over into our dimension. This is why I believe I was able to photograph so much activity when I was in Salem on October 30 and October 31st, Halloween. Especially when we were walking around the Howard Street Cemetery.
According to the International Ghost Hunters Society they believe this cemetery is a doorway into another dimension where good and evil can pass through. There is an entrance and exit, so it is open to any type of spirits during this time.
Irish immigrants brought the custom of Halloween to America in the 1840’s. Originally, the Celts believed that the souls of the spirits would come back during Halloween to possess the bodies of the living for the next year. So on October 31st, the Celts would dress up in costumes to ward off these evil spirits. Halloween did not originate from evil practices. It started in the Catholic Church. This was a day to honor the saints. It was called “All Hallows Day’, or “All Saints Day”. November 1st was called “All Hallows Eve”. In Celtic Ireland, October 31st was the day their summer ended. This was considered the Celtic New Year. Overtime this holiday adopted the name “Halloween,” and it became more ceremonial. The belief of possession dissipated and the act of dressing up became more traditional. Whether you’ve had a ghostly encounter or not I hope this book provides you with an insight into the realm of the unknown. Perhaps you may think twice the next time you are alone and you feel like someone is watching you or standing behind you. Could it be a presence of a ghost? Or just the product of your imagination? You decide. Perhaps it’s just a lonely spirit trying to make contact with those who are sensitive to their energy.
GHOSTLY DREAM VISITATIONS
MY MOTHER
1/13/79
My mother passed away of cancer when I was 9 years old. She suffered for 3 months and then died suddenly one winter day in her sleep. I loved her so much and we were very close. I was devastated and thought I couldn’t live without her. This probably was the beginning of my fascination with death and the paranormal. I wanted to know if there was life after death. I wanted to know if somehow she could contact me and let me know that she was alright. I also wanted to believe in the afterlife and know there is something to look forward to after we die. I couldn’t wait to reunite with my mother.
I started reading and researching everything I could on the paranormal. I still read today almost daily for at least an hour a day on this subject.
On January 13, 1979, my father went to go visit my mother at Sloan Kettering Hospital in NYC. When he was about to leave to let her rest he glanced over at her and she smiled back at him then she waved her hand and said goodbye. My father smiled and waved back. He said to me that he thought it was a little strange because she would always say to him, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she never would say goodbye. He remembered that fateful night like it was yesterday. He said she seemed very peaceful and looked radiant. I think that she was preparing him for the inevitable. She knew she was nearing her end and soon she would die. She wanted him to be happy when he left that night and to remember her as she was before she got sick, a young, beautiful woman full of life.
My father’s commute from the hospital in Manhattan to Spring Valley New York, including traffic, would be an average of 2 hours. By the time he got home that night, the phone was ringing non-stop. The doctor was calling to let my father know that my mother had died a few minutes after he had left her room that night.
A few days later after my mother passed away she came to visit me in my dreams. I had two dreams with her trying to send me a message. In the first dream I was looking up in the sky and I saw my mother driving a convertible. She pulled in front of me and was smiling and looked very happy. She looked normal, like the way she did before she got sick. She asked me if I wanted to go for a ride. I was so happy to see her I couldn’t believe my eyes. I said “mommy how can this be? I thought you died? Are you a ghost? “She said “I’m not dead I will always be with you in spirit”. Then we drove around the sky for awhile looking at all the beautiful white puffy clouds. She looked at me and said she was running out of time, and had to go. When she dropped me off she said “don’t cry, I will see you again.” After that, I felt a little better.
The second dream I had with her was about a year later. I dreamt that I was inside a grocery store in the frozen food section looking for ice cream. All of a sudden, I saw my mother walking towards me. She was wearing a gray sweat suit. She unzipped her jacket and showed me her enormous
