Living Among the Dead-A Clairvoyant's Chronicles

When I was approximately 9 years old, my Girl Scout troop visited this museum. It was a house that kept all the same furniture, structure and appliances as it did in the 1800's. It didn't seem creepy to visit this place until I had been inside for 10 minutes or so. At that time, I was only just starting to realize I had abilities (or something simply "odd" about me) that others didn't seem to possess. I knew I had felt and seen ghosts and spirits before, but being so young, I didn't think too much of it. It was the visit to this museum that changed things for me. I was lagging behind the group because being such a curious creature, I fixated on certain things I saw. I remember staring at the old stove, furniture and old décor. Each room we toured through was interesting but I couldn't help but feel someone behind me or beside me when there was no one in plain sight. The room that stood out the most for me was the parlor room. As the group was exiting to visit another area of the house, of course, I lagged behind. At that point, I was becoming a bit dizzy and I recall the hair on the back of my neck and my arms standing up. I smelled a strong cigar odor but knew no one was smoking; especially because we were all females and most of us were 9 years old. I asked my best friend (who is still my best friend today) if she smelled it. She said no. Now I knew I wanted to leave. As I turned back to look at the room once more, I saw a man standing against the back wall in front of a family portrait. That was my cue. I was outa' there! I asked my troop leader if it was ok that I go outside and sit on the front steps until the tour was over. She agreed as long as I promised to stay on the steps.
A few years later when my mom realized I had some sort of ESP ability, she took me to the library to check out some books about the topic so I (we) could better understand it. When we came out of the library, Mom asked me if we could go across the street to that museum. I flat out refused and told her I'd never go back there.
To my knowledge, the museum has never reported any type of haunting or paranormal activity. I suppose all I may have seen or sensed was residual energy but I guess I'll never really know. All I do know for sure is that I know what I saw and felt and that it was the beginning of a life journey that would only become stronger as I grew older. It is best I didn't know that at the time!

** The Banta House was the home of Minnie Müller Banta and her husband Nathaniel Moore Banta. The museum is a part of the Arlington Heights Historical Society in Illinios. Its mission statement is "The past is never lost - as long as it is remembered."

A s a kid, I could sometimes describe a ghost or spirit in detail. I would tell my mom what I saw quite often. Here's one her and I both remember vividly. I was 16 years old and sitting on my bed watching TV. Suddenly, I looked over and saw a light gray hue moving slowly down the hall toward my room. As it got closer, it became more detailed and clear. My eyes locked onto the figure like a deer in headlights. It was a man around the age of 50. He had a fisherman's hat on like the ones they would wear in the 50's with the leuers (sp?) all hooked around the hat. I stared right at him and he turned and went into my brother's room. (My brother wasn't living at home at that time so it was empty.) So, I jumped up and looked around his room. Nadda. The fisherman was gone. Damn.
I told Mom what I had seen. We spent years wondering who that could have been because we built that house. The only thing I could think of was maybe that man lived or fished on that land a long time ago. Well, about 8 years ago, Mom called me and said, "Oh my God, guess what? I think I know who the fisherman was!" Turns out Mom was looking through some old photos. She came across her Uncle Irving's picture. She was very close with him. He fished almost every weekend. He died before I was born but I was named after him (my Hebrew name) and she said it fits the description perfectly. She mailed me the photo and yep. Mystery solved. I finally "met" my Uncle Irving. (Picture above is of Mom and Uncle Irving on her 16th birthday.)

A round 1987 in Chicago where I lived, I was in a drug store looking at vitamins. It was early morning and the spirit that was hanging around me at the time was with me about a week already. I sensed it was a young male whose name had 4 letters and started with a "D". He made himself so noticeable to me for attention, so I called him Doug. (In my experiences, I've noticed some will move on if you just acknowledge their presence somehow)
Well, as nice as Doug seemed, I was really getting sick of him! He did not do much to communicate what he wanted from me or why he was with me. It was turning into one of those little dogs that constantly get tangled in your feet when you're walking until you accidentally step on them and they yipe! Then you get mad and feel guilty 'cause you didn't mean to step on them!! Anyway, as I am looking at the vitamins, I started tasting salt water in my mouth. I didn't think too much of it until I got really short of breath. My heart was pounding and I got real dizzy. Suddenly, the sensations were gone like a flick of a light switch. I had finally had it and living up to my true Aries Sun Sign's reputation, I turned to "Doug" and loudly expressed myself. "Look, YOU'RE DEAD. D-E-A-D. Get it? I'm sorry, but you're driving me batty! Go Home. Go to 'the light' or whatever. I can't help you."
Now the few people in the pharmacy line were staring at me and probably wondering why I was yelling at the innocent vitamin bottles (or how I escaped from the loony bin.)
I promptly left the store and went home.

I realized a few hours later that I was alone. "Doug-free." Here's where the guilty puppy syndrome came over me.
A few days later, I had an OBE (out-of-body experience...not unusual for me but I could not induce one on my own back then. They just happened when they happened.) My spirit guide, Jillian, took me to see someone that turned out to be Doug's spirit guide!! He was a male guide. He told me that "Doug" had crossed over and is in peace back Home. The guide said "Doug" wanted me to know this and didn't want me to feel guilty for being so curt. It seemed he did not know he had drowned and died and now just wanted to thank me. I felt so much better knowing this confused, young soul was in the place he needed to be. Finally.
I utilized this as a learning experience. Yet, my only regret was not asking if "Doug" was asking if Doug was actually his real name. I guess it doesn't matter now. At least his soul is Home.

Looking at both sides of the coin, being a clairsentient can be a good thing for me personally because ghosts and spirits often seek me out or I just know they're present. They are often attracted to the living that they know are sensitive and that is a positive aspect for me when I'm investigating the paranormal. The other side of it (no pun intended) is exactly the same except that many times I am annoyed by them. Spirits are electrical energy just like the living, so they often disrupt our electrical equipment. Sometimes on purpose, but often not. If a ghost or spirit is trying to gain the attention from the living, the easiest way for them to do so is by manipulating electronics for the energy. When I have "travelers" hanging out in my home that are seeking attention, they turn the volume all the way up on the television, turn lights on and off, and mess with the stereo. It just happens sometimes even if they don't mean to and are just near or moving through the appliance. If I am getting annoyed, I yell at them to stop and most of the time they will. My husband has gotten somewhat used to it, but still gets a little freaked out by certain things. Just the other day, we were watching television and the camcorder was laying on the coffee table untouched for well over a day. Suddenly, it turned itself on. He didn't like that!
One time, I did get a little freaked out by an occurrence. Me and my friend, Carmen (my "sister-witch" and one of my paranormal investigator partners) were in the living room discussing the course of action we were going to use to rid my house of the current unwanted, annoying ghost that seemed to take up residence in my house. (Sometimes I can't get them to leave on their own so we have to do a ritual to force them out.) As we were talking, we were startled by a noise in the dining room that sounded like someone dropped a glass to the floor. We hurried into the room to find a light bulb exploded with no evidence of reason.

The light bulb was on about an hour before and there was no moisture or water near it. We went back into the living room and sat down when we assumed it wanted to watch television because it clicked itself on and turned the volume all the way up. It was a stubborn, irritating and angry spirit in my opinion. Bar, that gave us all the more motivation to get rid of it!

People often ask me if children can see spirits. Some can. Kids are open minded, therefore, they might not know if what they are seeing is a spirit. They are not preconditioned to ignore or be fearful of the unexplained. They really don't understand the statement "there are no such thing as ghosts." I say don't belittle them or tell them what they saw wasn't real because if that child is a clairvoyant, clairsentient or just sensitive, this is the time they may start showing signs. Not all kids are, but many children under around age 6 or 7 are more likely to see what is unseen by many adults. Also remember that fact and fiction are blurred in a child's mind, so use your best judgment when trying to decide if your child has had a legitimate paranormal experience. Also keep in mind that it could be their spirit guide they are communicating with. Our spirit guides will usually appear to us in the form of someone our age. If they do appear to us, they will speak to us in a manner we can understand at that age.
It even took my own open-minded mom a little while to realize I was experiencing more than an average child would. She told me what really got her thinking was that I never had any "imaginary friends." I always just told her who I was talking to or playing with. At first she thought I had imaginary friends but she told me that I had different ones all the time. Usually, a child will keep the same one. Mind you, I didn't talk to these spirits often (from what I can remember) and it wasn't as if I saw them all the time. I heard them, sensed them, and sometimes smelled them more than anything else. That's still how it is for me today. I do prefer it that way. The times when I actually saw a ghost or spirit unexpectedly, such as not invoking one, it scares the crap out of me. I have thought someone broke into my home once because there was a male figure standing in my living room! Yikes.
It is also believed that pets can see paranormal activity, too. I do not doubt that for a second. Think about when your cat stares at something for minutes straight or following something around that you cannot see. How about when a dog, cat or bird suddenly becomes spooked and runs out of the room? I believe they can see into other dimensions quite easily and often. This is also a theory regarding the black cat as a witch's familiar. But trust me, the cat need not be black!

I was brought up Jewish, but we were reformed Jews, meaning we were not Orthodox. (It's like being the modern day Jew. hehe) My grandparents were a bit different, though. They were a bit more strict with it so whenever we were around them, especially my grandpa ("Papa") we couldn't do stuff like drink milk when eating meat cause that ain't Kosher, Dude! (Sorry, I had to say that.) Anyway, we had a Passover Seder every year (the ceremonial meal.)
There's a time during the Seder where the youngest child has to ask "the 4 questions." I was the youngest and I remember every year, I'd start them in English. Papa wouldn't say anything (I could do no wrong in his eyes) but my mom would kick me under the table and give me that "mom look" meaning, "Read them in Hebrew!" So, while rubbing my shin, I read the questions in Hebrew.
E ven though I was bored to tears during the Seder, there were two thing I liked about Passover. The first was my brother and I sneaking lots of "sips" of the Mogan David wine. Our family didn't know why we'd be giggling non-stop an hour or so into the evening. The second thing I liked was leaving the glass of wine ("Elijah's Cup") out on the dining room table for Elijah. The tradition was, after we left the door open, he'd breeze through the house and drink the wine; therefore we'd know he was there. Sort of a blessing type of thing, I guess. I won't go into the details of all that, but I found it to be so cool knowing a head of time that a "ghost" was gonna come through the house. I remember trying to stay awake to try to catch a glimpse of him and Mom would let me cause, well, I think she was curious if I actually would see him! She said it would be refreshing for her to hear me tell her about this ghost rather than all the others I pointed out to her often. Also, she didn't have to worry about me describing a ghost out loud to her in public.
Unfortunately, I never did see the spirit of Elijah. I suppose maybe if I didn't sneak all that wine, I may have been able to stay awake longer. DOH!

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T wo spirit callings my sister witch and I performed were to call upon the same person (the same client hired us two times in a row.) We always video record with a camcorder and audio record from a micro-cassette recorder. After the first session, it was brought to our attention (from the deceased) that he didn't like being "taped" and didn't like being made to feel like a performing puppy doing tricks. About 2 days before the second session to again contact this man, yet in my home instead of my clients' home, my micro cassette recorder was nowhere to be found.
E ventually, I gave up the search and did not use the audio recorder. We did set up my camcorder as usual, though. After the first tape (only 30 minutes long) we were able to only contact him for a few minutes. The tape shut off and I walked over to the camcorder to place a new blank tape into it. This was perfect timing, too, because about a minute after I replaced the tape, the deceased came through with flying colors.
A fter viewing the video a couple days later, it recorded me walking away from the camcorder after replacing the tape. It was recording fine for about 2 minutes until the deceased came through in abundance. The screen records the battery energy and it seemed as it still had a full charge. Suddenly, the tape shut itself off, unknowingly to us. I also noticed later, that I had a few pictures from my digital camera that I took when the deceased was quite "active" and present among us, that came out like snow on a t.v. screen.
I truly believe that the deceased wished so much not to be taped, that he hid my micro cassette recorder and cut off the camcorder as soon as he was coming through with significance. My cassette recorder "miraculously reappeared" the following day; exactly in the spot I always kept it and it was in that regular spot that I searched for it days before.

T hankfully, I can say that I haven't had any recent ghosts using my house as a hotel. It can be a pain in the butt when these travelers arrive (that's what I call them, cause it always seems as if they are just traveling through, take up residence with me for a few days, then move on.) They may not mean to, but since they are electric energy, they screw up my electronics. I once went through 3 CD players in a year and a half. It's hard to watch t.v. because they change the channel and volume. Try explaining that to guests when visiting (the living ones) that aren't aware of my situation.
  
When my husband and I were first living together, he of course knew about it all. However, he never experienced more than the t.v. or stereo "controlling themselves" until one night he was going to sleep. I was in the office and he called out to me to come into the bedroom. He asked if we currently had any "travelers" that I knew about. I replied, "Yes. For the past day or so. I think there's one or two." He said, "Well, I guess that would explain the little light show I just saw." He said the ceiling lights started flickering on and off pretty wildly for at least 10 seconds. I told him to tell "them" to knock it off. He said, "well, actually, it was kinda cool!" So I told him he should tell them to do it again. He didn't want to (guess he wasn't feeling comfortable speaking aloud to beings he couldn't see!!) So, I told them to do it again. They did. Sometimes, all the ghosts or spirits want is to be acknowledged. Luckily, that was enough acknowledgment for them that time, because they seemed gone the next day.

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