undistilled spirits: part 3 – nightcap

(If you’re a late arrival, you’ll want to get caught up on all the ghostly happenings in part 1 and part 2 of this trilogy.)

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i am not alone!

at least i felt as if i were not alone.

isn’t this the way a secondary character in a david heavener movie gets his/her head handed to him/her by the ghost-in-residence of the haunted house into which he/she is boldly (spelled: s-t-u-p-i-d-l-y) wandering?

what the hell am i doing here?

after two post-sunset trips that brought me face-to-whatever with several spirits trapped here in what used to be the stewart indian school, this is the first time that i’ve actually felt threatened. i had earlier felt like i didn’t need to toddle up the steps of the “small” girls dorm with loretta as she walked to the front door of the colonial-styled stone structure. but, i didn’t feel threatened; just not strongly compelled to go there.

is that a “message” given to me by my new spirit friends telling me it was not safe for me to be next to the “small” girls dorm?

is that owl that has been crying in the night sky every time i spook myself (like right now!) by thinking that somebody is behind me giving me a message?

but, standing next to and in the shadow of a real haunted house with my emotions seemingly punctuated by an owl soaring nearby and a definite feeling that i was in the midst of several spirits (or, maybe one really powerful one) that didn’t really care for me being there, i was beginning to realize that maybe i shouldn’t be up there by myself.

one more screech from the owl to compliment the above thought and that was the confirmation needed to get my feet moving back to the front of the house and down the stairs. i still, however, need to walk across the front porch, which now seemed ominous when it only was dark when i walked up here.

except for jumping off of the terrace and risking a broken appendage, walking across the porch was my only real option.

unless i just hung out for a while and hoped the eerie feeling that i was being crowded by people that i could not see subsided.

girding my grits for a big one, i walked with great intent through the crowd, around the corner of the house, across the porch and down the stairs where i no longer felt as if i were being crowded by a group of... something/s.

i casually (s.o.p. for me under any circumcision) sauntered over to the table and sat down with the others. mere seconds later, melba announced: “there’s a shadow person right over there behind that bush; next to the door!”

“right now?” loretta asked.

“yes. he’s over there right now!”

was this the somebody or something that i was just experiencing on the terrace?

that door is below the slope of the contour and leads to the old carriage house directly under the terrace.

might that be the exterior entrance to the basement where those shamans bound the evil spirit of the supervisor from earlier years?

was that him or one of his minions that melba just saw?

even though he is bound to the basement, can he project his image beyond the quasi-subterranean vault?

what the hell was i thinking going up there by myself?

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we packed up gear and tossed out trash and this time we all drove over to an area between the infirmary and the athletic field (burial ground); melba, who isn’t all that comfortable with being out here after sunset, bade us goodnight and drove home as we began the last part of our investigation.

the first part of the last part of our investigation was at the infirmary, where an owl flew from the ground back in the shadows, surprising everyone, as we approached.

i hope we didn’t ruin his breakfast.

we did not stay long at the back of the building with the boys who sandie and loretta assure me think that i’m pretty groovy. but, i did tell them that i’d be back to see them soon and that i really looked forward to doing so.

it is just a suspicion that it was on this brief visit that the boys told loretta that i remind them of santa claus, although she has not told me this.

it was definitely on this visit as we came to the northeast corner of the building that loretta said, “there was a fire here... or they burned children here... or both; i smell smoke!”

i smelled... well, except for the poltergeist potpourri that sandie spayed on us for protection against hitchhiking ghosties, just dirt; maybe some weeds.

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i asked sandie what the poltergeist potpourri was, but she said it was not something that she made; a friend of hers made it and she didn’t know what was in it. when asked what was in hers she told me it was a proprietary poltergeist potpourri but did say that her's is an elixir of certain herbs and gems. i now have two apache tear given to me by sandie for protection, so i’m guessing gemstones may also be a part of the solution. not that i’m trying to deconstruct her recipe and cut in on the action; i want to know about everything that even slightly interests me... and so far, this ghost hunting-thing is, you might say, quite interesting, indeed!

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i have to admit that i was not completely paying attention to everything that everyone was doing and saying as i was in my own spirit-world, contemplating a new hobby, or more precisely: a new calling and my new buddies who seem to hang around the back of the building, but have not yet let me see them.

but, it just now occurs to me as i write that i have not yet asked the boys if they can show themselves to me, which could be a tall order as, according to what little i know about this stuff, it takes a huge amount of energy for a ghost to show itself to someone like myself who, unlike sandie, cannot see them in their unnatural state.

when we reached the front of the building, sandie began to walk up to the doorway of the infirmary and suddenly turned and said with a shudder, “ooh, she doesn’t want me up there!” – “she” being nurse ratched of the carson indian school of years gone by – and joined the rest of us at the foot of the walkway.

why am i being drawn to the front door of a place that sandie seems to treat as a spot of supreme evil? i don’t have the sense of being tricked (although in retrospectacles i suppose if i were being duped by a spirit, i probably would not perceive it negatively. what would don juan advise carlos castaneda to do?), i feel a sense of comfort in the draw to the front door.

sandie set up the tripod and focused her video camera on the door and walked away from the general area. not knowing the protocol on investigations of paranormal activities, i wasn’t sure if it would be ok for me to walk up to the door and answer that page.

but, i sure wanted to: it was pulling on me like a rare earth magnet tugging on a chunk of iron!

still, i resisted as to not get in the shot and ruin sandie’s documentation of... whatever she was trying to document.

eventually, loretta began to walk to the door where she put her hands upon the door. that was all the permission i needed to get my butt up there, too.

again, loretta confirmed that a lot of pain and suffering had taken place here.

i didn’t feel that.

i felt like i liked standing up there.

l-r: monty and loretta "feeling-out" the doorway of the infirmary

as we stood there sandie noticed us and walked again toward the door. but, as soon as she reached the threshold, an unseen (to my eyes) force pushed her away.

throughout the evening, as we walked amongst the buildings and open areas of the schoolgrounds we encountered many pocket of cold air; the night was really quite pleasant, but there were times and places where temperature dropped dramatically; 8- to 10-degrees, maybe??

except now!

the doorway was hot; maybe as much as 5- or 9-degrees warmer than the ambient air temp.

cold spots and sudden drops in temperature have long been associated with paranormal experiences. but, i had never heard of warm spots.

the rest of the team came up to the doorway, sandie as far as nurse ratched would allow, and everyone agreed the doorway was definitely warmer than the air or building. both sandie and janet acknowledged that, occasionally, hot spots are also experienced in hauntings.

when everyone else left, i stayed in the doorway, trying to determine a source of the heat to dana scully a reason for the anomaly. but, the walls were the same temperature as the ambient temp as was the door and the pillars, which seemed to be the spot where the temperature fluctuated.

are we feeling the fire of which loretta spoke?

i walked in and out of the hotspot and the sensation continued. i even crossed over the bars on the right and left that are blocking off what used to be a porch and the temp dropped back down to the ambient temperature; at one point, i stood in-between the zones (worlds?) so the right half of my body was in the cooler air and the left was in the warmth; like standing in one of those arctic doorways they use in refrigerated and freezer plants.

but, the btu’s seemed to subside after a minute or so and when i mentioned that the hotspot seemed to be neutralizing, loretta rejoined me where we both laid our hands and cheeks against the door and rock wall.

loretta said she could her laughter inside. she was smiling and her voice indicted that as she said, “they’re having fun right now; they’re playing games and having fun; they are not sad right now!”

i attempted to get responses using the rods before, during and after the warm phenomenon, but got nothing.

but, i was getting a definite emotional response: i had a sense of wellbeing; of pleasure.

am i vibing on the kids inside who, according to what loretta’s been saying, seem to be enjoying time without sadistic-supervision?

l-r: sandie, monty, janet and loretta standing in the doorway of the infirmary

all too soon for my wishes, everyone was headed to the next part of the last part of our investigation: the junkyard man’s domain.

but, not because i dreaded going to see the crotchety old fart; he doesn’t give me any vibes whatsoever; i was comfortable just being there, sucking off of the kids’ energy.

when we reached the fenced-in shop yard, sandie started laughing at him. i really don’t know what any of the others’ sense was of him since i was trying to get with him through my rods. i guess he was too busy shouting at sandie to scream at me.

the last part of the last part of our investigation was in the burial ground, where i would use my newly acquired skills with the rods to talk with the little girl. but, when we got there, not only did sandie say all of the kids there were telling her that we needed to leave and they were told they could not talk to us, but she also said that she could not see or even feel the little girl.

it seemed to me that the rest of the group was simply happy to be out of there; myself, not getting a feeling of dread from this place, i was just bummed-out that the little girl wasn’t there and probably, according to sandie, would not be coming back.

when we got back to where the cars were parked, sandie announced that any spirits were not allowed to come home with us and must stay there on the former school grounds and, i assume, cast spells of protection by gesturing to each of us and herself, each time saying, “white bubble.”

“having one of those little boy ghosts come home with me couldn’t be too bad. could it?

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on the way back to drop me off, sandie kept telling me how compatible i am with the rods and repeated what she previously stated and what loretta also insisted throughout the evening about my mellowness affecting the spirits in a positive way.

over the next day or two sandie began sending me pics and evps (electronic voice phenomena) from our 4th of july ghost hunt.

this clip is of an evp. in the first half of the clip, the evp volume is not enhanced; in the second half, i have boosted the volume.

is the spirit replying to sandie saying that there are not hordes of them? is he saying that if we came back at another time there may be more?

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due to me posting pictures and brief accountings of my ghost hunting adventure in email and facebook, i began to get requests from friends who wanted me to take them along; one of them from eileen, who, i never realized until then, had psychic tendencies and has done a bit of ghosting in the past.

three nights later, eileen and i would visit my new friends.

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after hamachi, spicy shrimp and spicy tuna long rolls at kim lee's sushi, eileen and i made our way across town to the stewart indian school.

we first drove to the athletic field and walked toward the middle of the makeshift burial ground as i announced: “hi guys. i’m back. i brought my friend, eileen; we are not here to harm you; i want you to know that we respect you and are only here to honor you and your memory.”

as per usual, i got no reply from the kids. but, i’m still staying open to, hopefully, one day being able to hear them, or at least feel them trying to communicate with me.

that willingness for openness on my part was reinforced when eileen said, “i don’t think they like women; women did most of the punishing and torture!”

“well,” i reasoned, “weren’t most school teachers back then female? stands to reason that women were the ones responsible for them being here.”

as we walked deeper into the sparse patches of sagebrush, i called out, “hey, little girl? are you here? i’m not here to hurt you, i want you to know that i respect you and i’m only here to talk with you; you do not need to be afraid of me.” then, turning around in a 270° rotation, i announced: “none of you have anything to fear from us! i know when i was here the other night you told sandie that you were to fear us and not talk to us. but, we are not here to harm you; we are only here to be your friends!”

walking to the spot where sandie and i had previously encountered the little girl, i held up my rods in front of me and asked: “are you here, little girl?”

my rods instantly indicated that she was.

the patch where the little girl has been hiding is really quite perfect for a small child in which to hide: there is a small hole in the center that is just big enough for a kid.

i talked calmly and consolingly to the little girl as i surreptitiously encircled the patch in an effort to confirm that the hole is where she is hiding and not on the other side without giving her concern that i may be trying to threaten her.

as i walked passed the little girl on the right, eileen pointed to the area behind the old backstop and told me that there were several teenage boys back in there; the same place where sandie said she saw a few boys around the age of 10; the same place that had previously drawn my attention.

again, i tried to comfort those kids and tell them that we were not there to be a concern; yada x 3.

i got positive responses from them with my rods.

i turned around and said, “we’re going to leave for a while. but, we will come back later.”

as i walked passed the little girl, this time from the other side, i told her how special little girls are to me and by using my rods continued to determine that the hole in the sagebrush patch is definitely where she likes to hide.

“a woman did all this.” eileen proclaimed, “killed them and buried them here!”

brings a whole new meaning to “femme fatale”!

we walked away from the killing field and i led eileen to the infirmary.

as we approached the back of the infirmary, i announced, “hey, guys, i’m here! i told you i’d come back.” i held up my rods and asked, “are you here?”

they were.

i asked several questions of them confirming what sandie said that, at that time, the boy on my right was 7 and the one on my left was 6 and they like me because i’m nice.

“i think they’re brothers.” eileen offered.

“are you guys brothers?”

they are.

"are you guys brothers?" yes!

when we pushed on, i invited them to come with us if they’d like, but told them they’d have to come back to the infirmary when we leave to go home.

as we walked away from the back of the building, eileen issued another validating statement, this time for something that loretta said on my last visit, “i smell smoke. there was a fire and some of the kids were killed!”

i took eileen to the front of the building where, this time there was no sensation of heat from the front and i got no response at all from my rods while we were there.

could that heat that we felt in the doorway have something to do with the fire of which loretta and now eileen have spoken?

leaving the infirmary, we walked passed what used to be classrooms (which now appear to be offices) i took eileen passed the administration building – where the thin veilers are trying to capture video of a shadow person – and up to the front of the supervisor’s home.

as we approached i didn’t necessarily feel any sense of foreboding, but i was in no hurry to hang out on the terrace.

before continuing my guided tour of the school, i remembered that i had a pen in my pocket and eileen and i walked over to the state historical marker at the front of the entrance to put my name on the log in the geocache that i previously found on the night of the 4th.

we again walked passed the front of the supervisor’s home to the “small” girls dorm, where this time i had no problem walking up to the front door where loretta said she felt a lot of pain, torture and rape.

heading back toward the car, we walked passed the tree that had drawn my attention so strongly the other night; where sandie said somebody was hanging out.

according to the rods, he was there again (still?); according to eileen, he was a teenage boy; probably waiting for a girl (girlfriend?).

walking out to the south, we passed the steps where the other night sat the cigarette smoking man, where the rods responded when i asked if he were still there.

before going to the car, we began to walk toward the athletic field to fulfill my promise to do the mcarthur-thing. but, before we got very far, eileen made a sharp turn to the left and said, “she doesn’t want me here! you go on and say goodbye; i’ll wait for you at the car.”

i continued in and announced my return as i approached the little girl’s hiding place.

i briefly spoke with her and told her that she had no reason to be afraid of anybody or anything. before i left, i asked the boys behind the backstop to keep an eye on her, “she’s just a little girl and needs you guys to look after her!”

i bade my young spirit friends goodnight, got in the car with eileen and we left the school.

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on the following day, sandie told me that she felt that i brought one of the spirits home with me and told me what i needed to do to make it leave, which amounted to little more than, “split!”

one interesting thing that occurred after our last outing was, only one of the several digital pictures that eileen took “came out”. according to sandie and what i have heard on ghost hunting tv show, this is not all too uncommon.

another interesting development, in addition to all of the messages that i’ve been receiving that i should pursue being a ghost hunter, my creativity has been incredibly strong.

in regards to the above statement: please, refer to disclaimer 3 in part 1 of this trilogy.

i may have taken creative license in my telling of this story. but, let me assure you: aside from poetic-/wordplay-/humoristic-creativity, have not found it necessary to embellish this story whatsoever!

afmazing

the morning after we got back from vegas, i ran ron over to the monterey airport so he could go to the american film market for a day-and-a-half, leaving me at the castle to operate the business and organize our event with bob lutz, the head of general motors, which takes place next week.

ron returned on saturday, november 3^rd for the make a wish foundation fundraiser, which was put on by clint and dina eastwood at tahoma country club, which happens to be owned by mr. eastwood.

i drove ron and susie up and back in the 700 series bmw, which was an adventure in itself. just to get to the clubhouse you have to pass through two guarded gates and dodge dozens of deer roaming freely on the roadway.

the best part of the night, as ron tells it: he and susie got seated with some high-dollar prostitute from las vegas whose breasts wouldn’t stay in her dress.

the following morning we were heading down highway 101 for the second-half of the american film market.

being a person who never wants to do things the easy way, ron wanted us to stay all the way down in fountain valley with an old friend of his. jim and patty and jim’s mother are wonderful people and i’m really happy i got to meet them and truly enjoyed their hospitality and hot tub!

afm was a zoo!

i don’t know where to start or how much i really want to say about it.

it was held at two hotels on the beach in santa monica. we were in loew’s hotel just down the coast a few hundred yards from the world famous santa monica pier in a suite with david heavener, stan derain and greg berkin. all three have film projects they were shopping around and greg also was there to promote his new mobile movie platform for smart phones and palm devices, which he developed and ron and i are trying to help promote.

besides spending $18 for 2 bottles of water and 2 cokes (all of them 8 ounce bottles), i was able to sneak off for a few minutes with ron to find my first socal, and ron’s first ever, geocache. i did, however, only find the velcro that, at one time, held the cache in its former place.

i also hung out with one of the actresses in one of david’s new projects: a tv show called “chronicles of an exorcist. you may remember lee benton from “mickey spillane's mike hammer” who played jenny the bartender.

on tuesday we headed out to the valley to have lunch with ron’s former-girlfriend, alison freebairn-smith, and ron’s former-houseboy, billy marich, who is a producer at hgtv.

i’ve been hearing about both alison and billy for years. so, it was nice to finally have an opportunity to meet them.

from there were all too quickly back on the road and heading back to the castle.

all in all, i’d have to say the trip to vegas was more fun but the trip to socal was a real eye-opener and certainly introduced me to some very interesting people!

sema gooda thinga to do ata the time

FLASH!!

ron just left to go pick up the shitzus. he thought he was just going to the groomer’s but as it turns out susie left them at the day spa.

well, you can imagine the cruelty involved in taking them to a regular groomer.

on his way to get the dogs, ron is stopping by to rent a new bentley as the day spa doesn’t allow anything less than a car of that price to carry away any of the animals they groom.

i hope the poor things weren’t rushed to quickly from their soak in the hot tub.

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i have spent much of the past couple of weeks out of town.

it started with a trip to las vegas for the sema show and ended with a trip to santa monica and the afm show.

since i intend to add a few videos, i’ll probably do this in a couple of installments.

my trip to vegas began early sunday evening, october 28 when helen (who doesn’t want me to write about her, so just pretend you didn’t read her name) picked me up here in pebble beach. after a cruise around the coastline we headed over to cannery row for an unremarkable dinner at one of the area mexican chain-restaurants before driving north to san jose.

early the next morning we left youknowwho’s place for breakfast and then a quick jaunt over to the heavily congested san jose airport; what a mess that place is!

despite the craziness my flight got off on time and, for most of the trip, followed hwy. 101 as far as ventura before heading out to sea.

we began our approach to orange county’s john wayne airport with a sweeping turn over catalina island giving those of us on the starboard side of the aircraft a great view of the isle.

as we made our very graceful landing, we passed a b-25 and b-17 bomber, two c-47s and one reconnaissance (black, of course) aircraft that i could not identify that were parked on the tarmac. hopefully, they are all flight-worthy; it would be such a waste to see them rest as static museum pieces.

within moments i had my baggage in my hand at the carousel and walked to the “white loading and unloading zone” to meet my longtime and dear friend alan. he greeted me with a really pretty charcoal grey mustang he was attempting to diagnose a problem with a computer, which alan says is the first such problem he has seen in the model. he also told me that, in his opinion, which i would have to value being he is fairway ford’s technical service manager, the mustang is the best car ford is making at this time. this only served to make me want one even more.

we circled the airport and headed over to a little, very noisy place for some really remarkable fish tacos and a chance to get to talk, albeit loudly, face-to-face for the first time in about 5-years.

in far too short of a period, alan took me back to just across the street from the airport to meet ron where he was having a luncheon meeting with some of the roex folks.

before long we were headed northeast, across the mojave desert, to sin city and our suite at the luxor.

we checked-in, unpacked and trammed/walked over to the mgm grand for the first of the several parties we were invited to attend, one devoted to electronic devices intended for use in cars.

there was a seemingly unending supply of interesting and delicious foods to enjoy and rivers of upper-top shelf liquor (“knob creek, please!”) pouring from the three open bars as beautiful spokeswomen charmed and flirted with those of us in attendance.

our reason for being at sema was to recruit sponsors for the western automotive journalists media days 2008 in april. so, this party was a veritable gold mine of potential sponsors.

besides making some great contacts both ron and i walked out with brand new gps-receivers courtesy of magellan. neither of them appropriate for geocaching (like most magellans). but, both are wonderful for navigational purposes sporting features like address-to-address navigation and traffic detour routes. mine will find its way into the deathmobile and later into the mustang if things come together with the big project ron and i are working on.

after a cab-ride, which we seemed to wait for forever, the entire following day was spent on the floors and parking lots of the convention center schmoozing more potential sponsors and mugging with attractive spokescreatures of every flavor imaginable.

that night we attended a party put on by honda where the food and liquor continued until, assumingly by the way the crowd seemed to not waiver, far after we left.

before leaving, however, i noticed somebody sitting near our table who looked very familiar. i was certain he was a former bonneville official named bob, but for the life of me i could not remember his last name. finally, i approached the gentlemen and asked: “have you ever been to the bonneville nationals?” “only every year since 1961!” he replied. by then i was close enough to see that his i-d badge read “bob mcmillian.” bob mac, as i always (except for the previous 20-miuntes) remembered him.

bob was always one of my most favorite bonneville-people and it was great to see him that night! his friend, john, grabbed a picture of the two of us and i gave bob one of my business cards, so i hope to have a picture it in my online album before too long.

in further proof that this really is a small world: bob was not only at laguna seca for the american le mans, described in a previous edition of my blog, but was also in the audi vip suite! what a trip!

from the honda party we walked about 50 feet to the next pavilion to the nissan party, which was much more exclusive in as far as invitations went, but not nearly as fun as the others. but, the free makers mark poured freely in the form of a triple; my last drink of the night, of which i only got about halfway through before deciding i had had enough.

we took the monorail across town to the mgm grand and walked/trammed back to the luxor.

the next morning we were on our way back to pebble beach bright and early with a brief stop at david heavener’s movie-ranch in tehachapi.

more on david in the story of the afm in santa monica in the next blogisode.

we made it back to pebble in time to greet the first of the only 4 or 5 groups of trick or treaters to dare approach the castle gate.

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FLASH

i just got an email from bob mac, which included this picture:

monty and mac

bob has been busy since i saw him in vegas: the nhra finals; el mirage exhibit at the wally parks museum and off to el mirage tomorrow for the lakes meet.