When Ghosts Speak - Mary Ann Winkowski [25]
“I don’t see anything,” I said.
Rick’s face fell. “There’s nothing there?” He moved to another part of the room. “How about here?”
I told him there was a ghost standing on the first landing of the stairs, and he moved toward that area, but the machine stayed silent.
“Stupid thing,” Rick said, roughly switching the machine off. “I think I’ve been ripped off for 450 bucks.”
I didn’t totally disbelieve that the machine was reading something. “Maybe it does pick up other kinds of entities,” I suggested. I reminded him that I couldn’t see anything other than earthbound spirits, but that didn’t mean that other kinds of beings weren’t in the room.
But Rick remained disappointed.
Having had time to think about it, I now wonder if Rick’s machine wasn’t similar to those I’ve seen ghost hunters use on television shows. Perhaps these devices are accurate at reading certain kinds of energies. What I do know is that the one time I saw one live in action, it certainly didn’t pick up on any of the same ghosts I was seeing.
Summoning Earthbound Spirits
Inviting a ghost into your home is never a good idea. Nevertheless, I can’t tell you how many people have called me after experimenting with Ouija boards, automatic writing, black magic, or other dark practices. There are even people who go to funerals or cemeteries and issue open invitations to ghosts to come home with them; they think it would be “cool” to have a haunted house. I can’t stress enough what a plain old bad idea this is. The presence of an earthbound spirit can cause a host of problems, from physical ailments such as an increase in colds or upper respiratory problems, to mechanical problems like malfunctioning furnaces or electrical issues, to minor inconveniences such as constantly misplaced keys or lost checkbooks.
Using a Ouija board and attending a séance are two of the most popular methods curious people use to try to communicate with their loved ones. Often the spirits people are seeking to communicate with have already crossed over; instead of talking to dear old Grandma, those present can be tricked by earthbound spirits who tell them things designed to provoke strong reactions and create the kind of emotional energy that ghosts need to survive.
Where Ghost Congregate
Contrary to popular belief, cemeteries are not the most haunted spots on earth. Other than ghosts who attend their graveside services, it is uncommon to find an earthbound spirit hanging around a graveyard. A ghost—most often an older person—may stop by the cemetery on occasion to see if his or her grave site is being properly tended to by the family. But earthbound spirits need energy, and there’s not a lot of it available from the occasional groundskeeper, custodian, or family visiting a loved one’s grave.
I was once asked to be the featured speaker for a local cemetery association meeting. I’m asked to do this sort of thing fairly often, and since this was a local organization, I figured the members had probably heard me on the radio or read articles about my work in the local press. I expected that I’d be able to talk to several interesting spirits at whatever restaurant or banquet hall they had chosen for their meeting. Restaurants are great places to find ghosts, either attached to the property or coming and going with diners.
Imagine my surprise when it was announced that the venue for my speech would be a newly built mausoleum. I admit I was a bit worried that I would have to stand up in front of a gathering of funeral directors and cemetery caretakers and tell them that there were no spirits present, because they rarely spent time in cemeteries.
Luckily for me, three ghosts had decided to attend the meeting as well. They had come in with some of the guests—which is a bit unusual, since, despite their line of work, funeral directors do not usually tend to attract earthbound spirits. One of the ghosts was actually attached to the caretaker at a nearby cemetery. The funeral directors who worked most closely with that facility were also the most