Category Archives: Spirits

Interview with Tracy Farquhar, Part II

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Tracy Farquhar

Last week, Tracy talked about how she first realized she had extraordinary gifts and gave advice on how to get started if you, too, are in interested in cultivating your psychic abilities. Please enjoy the final segment of our interview.

Pat: How would you say that can we grow, as human beings, by listening to our intuition and trusting in otherworldly phenomena that we can’t see with our eyes or can’t always “prove”? In other words, how do experiences like these enhance our lives if we allow them to?

Tracy: Our brains are amazing processors of information. They can be compared to computers, which make sense of the information we receive through our physical senses so that we can function as humans. And like a computer, our brains require programming to determine the way we process those bits of information. The brain is programmed by our learned beliefs, our culture and our personal experiences, and as such, they are not always the best guidance system. Our higher senses are more connected to our higher wisdom, so we will often feel an “urge” or intuitive sense that we should follow a certain path or investigate a certain opportunity, even if it doesn’t make logical sense to our brain. If we ignore those signals, we may be missing out on some amazing life experiences and we may keep ourselves stuck in situations that aren’t in our highest good. We all tune in to those higher senses at various times without even realizing it, like when we can feel the energy in a room or when we sense the way something or someone feels beyond what our five senses tell us. Our intuition can also help us avoid dangerous and harmful experiences. A couple years ago, I was driving on a highway when I “got” a voice in my head that said, “Stay away from the trucks.” So I passed a line of tractor trailers ahead of me and continued on. A little while later, I heard it again and realized I was behind another huge truck so I eased off the gas to leave a lot of room between us when suddenly the tread completely unraveled from the gigantic back tire of the truck and came flying at my car. Because I had listened to that voice and backed off, the tread hit the road in front of my car instead of my windshield, and I was so grateful that I knew enough to pay attention to what I was receiving. I don’t know where that voice came from; it could have been my Higher Self, my guides, a loved one in spirit or even Source itself, but all I need to know is that it helped me avoid a potentially deadly outcome.

P: Yes. I’ve had similar experiences, for sure, but didn’t always know why I got the idea to take a different turn or something. I’m learning to trust these kinds of moments, though, because we don’t always know what could happen if we ignore the messages. Ok; on to my next question–without mentioning names, can you share one of your favorite psychic connection moments?

T: Once, fairly early in my career as a psychic medium, I was doing a spirit gallery, which is a group mediumship event, and I was connecting with a spirit (I don’t remember who it was) for a woman in the audience. I saw a white car, which felt important, but the woman said she didn’t have a white car. I then saw child safety seats in the car, but the woman said she didn’t have any children. I got a strong sense that the safety seats needed to be adjusted and tightened, but again the woman shrugged and didn’t seem to connect with the information. I urged her to take note of it, though, because it felt important. About a week later, the woman emailed me and said that the day after the reading, she went to her job at a daycare and realized that the van they used to transport the children was white, and that it had child safety seats in it, so she went into the van and tightened all the straps holding the seats down. A few days later, the van full of children was broadsided by a speeding car. She came out of it with cracked ribs, but all the children were safe. 

P: Wow! That was right on! Glad everyone survived. And now, we are going through some difficult times in our world. Do you have any advice for us on how to cope?

T: First of all, know that your reactions and responses to this unique situation are personal to you, and it will be in your best interest to allow any fluctuating emotional responses to flow without trying to suppress them. If the tears come, allow them. If you feel frustrated or angry, sit with those emotions and consider healthy ways to work through them, like doing some physical activity or writing them down. If you’re feeling fear, ask what action that fear is motivating. Healthy actions include limiting public activity, washing your hands, wearing a mask, and doing everything you can to stay safe. Beyond that, fear is not helping you, so it’s time to turn your attention to what feels better. If you have more time on your hands, this is a perfect opportunity to get back in touch with your creative nature in any way you like. Try some creative expression or creative thinking that’s different from what you normally allow yourself to do or think. We are experiencing a tremendous global shift, the likes of which no one alive today has ever experienced, and you can participate by deciding what to do with it in your own life. Be aware of what’s going on, but understand that you don’t need to immerse yourself in it 24/7. Turn off the news. Make choices based on how you want to feel, and how you want to come out of the other side of this experience. How do you want this to affect your life? You get to decide whether this will inspire you toward something better, or crush you under the weight of fear and despair. Know that your choices and actions not only affect your own personal life, they affect the energetic trajectory of our planet, so make compassionate, kind and loving choices wherever possible. And most of all, be compassionate, kind and loving to yourself, since that’s where it all begins.

P: Has Frank any advice on dealing with our current world situation and feelings of anxiety and fear?

T: Frank, the collective I channel, has been encouraging us for several years as we move through this shift. Much of what they channeled in both of my books, Frank Talk and Channeled Messages from Deep Space, is very relevant to the world situation at this time. They continue to urge us to stay focused on the desired result in all aspects of our own life and the world at large. As I mentioned above, they suggest that we engage in creative acts and to embrace the possibilities for change and expansion. Creative thinking is needed now to come up with new systems that will better serve our world, as this has been a period of revealing the truths around the systems that no longer work. They would like us to continue to appreciate and care for our world and understand how precious it is, and how all of our actions are interconnected, which is something we can certainly see during this crisis. 

P: That’s great advice, for sure. In closing, is there a question you wish someone would ask you, but you’ve never been asked?

T: How does being a professional psychic medium affect your everyday life? In all aspects of my life apart from my career, I live a pretty quiet and low-key life, which is by choice. As an extreme introvert, I prefer being at home and I have a small circle of close friends. While my career puts me in the public eye, I’m not sure I’d want the degree of fame that some of the big-name psychic mediums have. The mainstream views on people in my profession can be pretty harsh and I’ve occasionally been the target of ridicule, fear and scathing criticism. Some of the reviews of my books have been hard to read, but I’m less and less affected by criticism as I get older. One of the things I learned from Frank as I was writing my books was that if anyone criticizes or ridicules my work, that just means it’s not for them, so I don’t have to be concerned with what they say. This has helped me a lot through the years, and now I’m not too concerned with the skeptics. I’m proud of the work I do and I know I’ve done some good in the world with my gifts, and I’m pleased that I’ve been able to support myself and my two kids with it. It certainly hasn’t been an easy road and I certainly haven’t become wealthy from it, but it’s been incredibly enlightening and fulfilling, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

P: A huge thank you, Tracy, for doing this interview with me. I’ll bet there are a lot of people who have questions for you now that they’ve been introduced to you. Are you offering any specials or discounts to people who may be reading this post?

T: I’m offering a special discount to anyone reading this interview! You can get 25% off any 30- or 60-minute psychic, mediumship or spirit guide reading by phone or online via Zoom. Just click this link to schedule and enter the coupon code HUMMINGBIRD (all caps) to get the discount: https://tracyfarquharpsychic.as.me/.

P: Is there anything you’d like to add?

T: Please take good care of yourselves through this difficult time. Treat yourself gently and amp up your self-care routine. And don’t be afraid to reach out when you need support. We all need to take care of each other. Wishing you good health and peace.

P: I second that. For more information on Tracy, and for details on the different types of readings she offers plus current classes and workshops, please visit: www.TracyFarquhar.com.

Interview with Psychic Medium, Channel, Teacher, & Hay House Author–the Incredible Tracy Farquhar

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Tracy Farquhar

I’ve known Tracy Farquhar for quite a few years now. Not only do I know from personal experience that she is an extraordinary human being, I also know that she is an extraordinary psychic medium, teacher and author. Tracy is the real deal–truly gifted–like nothing I have ever seen.

Years ago, she helped me find a friend I’d lost contact with for years. Unfortunately this dear friend had passed away several years before I enlisted Tracy’s help, but because of her help, I was able to “connect” with this old friend and find some much-needed peace and closure.

Tracy has authored two books. The first is titled, Frank Talk: A Book of Channeled Wisdom. According to her website, www.tracyfarquhar.com:

“Frank is a spirit collective from another world channeled by Tracy. They have been sharing inspirational and uplifting messages since 2009.”

Also from www.tracyfarquhar.com: 

“Tracy’s second book is titled, From Deep Space with Love: A Conversation about Consciousness, the Universe and Building a Better World, co-authored with NY Times Best-Selling Author, star of The Secret and celebrated speaker Mike Dooley, was released by Hay House on May 9, 2017, and the paperback version, Channeled Messages from Deep Space: Wisdom for a Changing World, was released on September 18, 2018.”

Tracy also teaches psychic development training classes and workshops and provides personal mediumship services, spirit galleries, and coaching for clients. And she does all of this in her kind, caring, and warm manner. I am truly honored to know this remarkable and gifted woman.

Following is my interview with her:

Pat: Thanks so very much for doing this interview with me, Tracy. To begin, will you please tell us about when you first realized that you had spiritual abilities? How old were you?

Tracy: I’ve always been extremely sensitive and was easily overwhelmed by crowds, noise and high-energy situations. I was a loner as a child and never had a lot of friends, so in sixth grade I was sent to the school psychologist for some tests to see what was “wrong” with me. I spent most of my life believing these sensitivities were a fault until my 40s when I started taking a continuing education course in psychic development at a local community college. I had always been interested in metaphysical and paranormal topics but never thought that I had any talents in this area until I started doing some practice readings in those classes which showed me that not only was I pretty good at it, I also had a real passion for this work. My life changed in so many ways when I discovered that my lifelong sensitivities were actually gifts, rather than faults, and I took this course over and over again to continue practicing and experimenting with my abilities.

P: Did your parents or grandparents have these gifts? Your siblings?

T: I have one sister who has psychic abilities, and I have a recently-discovered half-brother who seems to be sensitive and spiritually-inclined.

P: Tell us how you began to develop your gifts in the beginning.

T: I was working as a secretary at an arts college while I was taking the psychic development classes, and the art students loved getting free readings, so that’s how I practiced in the beginning. Fortunately, the faculty were very understanding and supportive, and even incorporated my readings into some of the students’ assignments. After a while, when I felt ready, I started offering group and individual sessions as a side business, and when my psychic development teacher had a heart attack and couldn’t teach anymore, I started a weekly group that met in my home for about two years for further practice and sharing.

P: What were some of the hardest lessons you learned along the way?

T: I learned early on that I had to avoid trying to interpret everything I was receiving and instead, just convey it. The first time I did a reading outside of the classroom for a student in the college, I picked up on a spirit who showed himself to me with dark hair and a slim build, wearing a white apron and holding a knife. I thought the knife seemed creepy so I left that out of the description I gave the girl I was reading, but it turned out that it was her grandfather who was a butcher! The knife wasn’t creepy at all; it was a way for him to identify himself, so I had to learn that it was my job to describe what I was receiving rather than interpret it though my own filters. I also used to feel bad if someone cried in a reading, but I learned that tears can be healing and can express more than just sadness. And as my confidence in my abilities grew, I learned that just because someone isn’t relating to something I’m telling them in the context of a reading, it doesn’t mean that I’m necessarily wrong. I’ve had many clients who didn’t understand something during the reading but who contacted me later to tell me they thought about it later, or asked other family members about it and found it the information was actually accurate. So I don’t doubt myself as much as I used to.

P: That’s a lesson I think most of us need to learn to apply to other aspects of our lives as well–not to doubt ourselves so much and to have more confidence in who we are. I also believe that we all have psychic abilities to some degree, don’t you?

T: I absolutely believe that we all have higher senses in addition to our five physical senses that help us process reality, but our culture doesn’t support those senses so we tend to consciously block them. Many children exhibit tendencies to interact with spirit, or sense energy in a way that seems natural to them, but because it’s not encouraged and, in fact, it’s often ridiculed or feared in our culture, they will learn to block those abilities. But we all receive intuitive and psychic information on a subconscious level; we just think it’s coming from our own thoughts and ideas. Learning to bring that awareness into our conscious daily lives can greatly enhance our life experience by making us more confident in our ability to make decisions, helping us to feel more connected to each other and the natural world, and raising our awareness about the spirit world and the guidance we regularly receive. That’s why I teach intuitive and psychic development, because I know how life-changing it can be to accept these innate and powerful forms of awareness.

P: Some people might say that connecting with spirits and/or using Tarot cards is dark and evil and that if we choose to go there, we might be entering a world from which there is no turning back, so we shouldn’t mess with these things…

T: Your experience is going to be guided by your intention in all areas of your life. So if your intention in doing this work is to connect with the dark or evil side, then your experience will reflect that intention (even if it is not what is actually happening, your brain will interpret it that way). If you believe, either by learning from religious training or just from our fearful culture that these things are dark and evil, then that means that these experiences are not for you and you should probably steer clear of them. But also understand that it’s a learned belief, and not the truth. My intention in all the work I do is to uplift, inspire, guide and motivate my clients to live their best life, and as such, there is never anything remotely dark, evil or threatening about any of the connections I make or the tools that I use. I have helped thousands of people to get a higher perspective on their life’s path, learn to trust themselves more, know that their loved ones in spirit are in a peaceful and happy place, and understand their challenges as opportunities for growth and higher wisdom. What could possibly be evil about that?

P: Indeed. To expound on this a bit more, I’ve heard people say that they’re concerned about evil entities attaching to them or attacking them or those around them–especially when they are just attempting to learn mediumship. Is that something a beginner might need to be careful of?

T: Mediumship is the ability to connect with the non-physical world, and for most people, this evokes a lot of fear. That’s because it seems to be the great unknown, and because we have such a fear of death. The media always depicts spirit entities as evil or negative, and the paranormal programs on TV always seem to focus on demonic energy, so it’s not surprising that there would be so much fear around connecting with spirit. It’s unfortunate, because that fear acts as the lens through which we interpret any kind of spirit communication. If you have an unusual experience, which may be a loved one simply letting you know that they’re still with you, your fear may cause you to interpret it as a negative experience. Consider what it’s like to walk down a dark street in an unfamiliar place; you’re on high alert because you’re nervous and fearful. If a cat suddenly darted in front of you, you’d probably jump and maybe scream, because your mind is interpreting the experience through fear. So the first thing to do is to deal with your fear. If you are nervous about evil entities attaching to you, you should probably not be practicing mediumship. Set clear intentions that you’re only connecting with higher beings and the spirits of loved ones. Your intentions are the guiding force of your experience, so always make sure you have clear intentions for what you want out of your connections. In all the years I’ve been practicing, I’ve never connected with anything remotely negative. Set your intentions, call in protection from your guides, angels and Higher Self, and proceed with confidence. If you’re working with a teacher, make sure their teaching resonates with you and isn’t creating unnecessary fear, and realize that if there were so many evil entities wanting to attach to you, there would be a whole lot of mediums (and other people) being hurt and “possessed” by them.

P: Sounds like good advice to me. Whenever I’ve witnessed you doing readings for myself or others, you always exude gentleness, respect, warmth and kindness and because of this, I think your whole presence is comforting to people. And it also brings goosebumps. And sometimes tears because of the profound connections that you make when you do readings. So when you do connect with those on the “other side,” how do you perceive them? Do you see them? Hear them? Or just simply sense that they’re there?

T: The two ways that I receive the most information from spirit are clairvoyance and clairsentience. Clairvoyance is “clear seeing” so this is where I receive images in my inner vision. Spirit will often show themselves to me in a physical way so that I can describe them, and I’ll sometimes see scenes from their life or images of things that are important to them. Clairsentience is “clear feeling” and that’s when I receive feelings and emotions that I then have to translate into language. This will happen when spirit wants to describe how they felt about certain things and when they want to convey emotion to their loved ones. Clairaudience is “clear hearing,” and this is more of an internal hearing of words rather than hearing something externally with the ears, which also sometimes happens for me, as well as clairallience, which is “clear smelling” and clairgustance, or “clear tasting” since smell and taste are such strong memory triggers. 

**End of Part I**

Intrigued? Check back here next week, for Part II of my interview with Tracy–and a special offer from Tracy just for YOU! In the meantime, for more information on Tracy and for details on the different types of readings she offers plus current classes and workshops, please visit: www.TracyFarquhar.com.

What Would You Ask A Ghost?

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If your neighbors claimed to have a ghost “living” in their house, even wrote a book about it and were featured on a national TV show dealing with such phenomena, if given the opportunity, would you want to learn more about said ghost, perhaps even witness it for yourself? Or maybe you don’t believe in ghosts and you’d simply consider the entire thing a joke without giving it a second thought.

I think most people are somewhere in the middle–curious about the possibility of otherworldly phenomena, yet skeptical. I’d like to offer you a unique opportunity. Although you may not be able to pay a personal visit to the family who claims to live with this ghost, if you had the chance to ask them any question at all about their situation, what would you ask?

Very shortly, I will be interviewing Ken and Monika Harmon, who claim to have the spirit of a young woman living in their house. In fact, they invited me over to meet their ghost last year. Like most people, I was apprehensive–a bit scared and a whole lot curious. What I witnessed that day convinced me beyond a doubt, that their ghost was real. To read about my spine-chilling experience, please click here: http://www.bajarockpat.net/category/blog/spirits-blog/

The things that happened to me that day raised a lot of questions, such as: how many other things are out there in the world that we can’t see with our eyes but have an effect on our lives, whether real or imagined? And wouldn’t it be a boring existence for a ghost simply to hang around observing the living? And–can they see us when we’re in the shower or making love or???

(Actual photo taken inside the Harmon home–ghost is the misty image in bottom center of the photograph.)

I must confess that I am hesitant to visit their home again in order to film the interview,  because my first visit there scared the wits out of me, but for the sake of education, I’m willing to do it anyway.

Here’s where YOU come in. What would you like to know about Ken and Monika, or perhaps … Mary Bell Wilson–their resident ghost?

Please submit your questions for Ken, Monika or Mary Bell (please be kind and respectful) in the comments section following this post prior to February 25, 2013. We will choose the most interesting ones and ask them for you. Then sit back in the safety and comfort of your (hopefully ghost-free) home and watch the video we put together of the intervew. Stay tuned to this website for video release date.

For information on the Harmons and their story, please click here: http://ghostunderfoot.com/

 

Tapping an Unknown Realm – Ghosts (Part 3 of 3)

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(Continued from 3/30/12)

As I sat looking through the viewfinder on the camera, it wasn’t long before I saw more orbs of light. I even saw two at once. They bounced in arcs and faded like the lightning bugs I used to see in my uncle’s backyard when I was a kid. Before I could utter a word to describe what I was seeing, Ken suddenly blurted out, “Something just came straight toward us!”

Well, I didn’t see it, but I sure felt it—that overwhelming energy accompanied by a headache that came and went. What I did see though—those orbs of light—were definitely NOT dust particles. They were not insects and they were not refracted light from the camera or from anywhere in the house. They moved in a way that was unlike anything I’d ever seen before—they danced; they sprang up like you see in fast-motion pictures of grass growing or seedlings sprouting out of the earth, then they vanished as quickly as they had come. They were also too large to be dust particles or insects. Besides, one doesn’t normally see flying insects inside someone’s house in Colorado in February.

Not only that, but Ken could not have tricked us or staged any of it because he would not have been able to make me feel what I felt. That was what convinced me most of all.

Afterward, when I thought about it, combined with the physical sensations I had that night, I knew that those bits of light that looked like tiny shooting stars represented the presence of a spirit. How does one process such information? Because that’s what I do as a writer—I process my observations and feelings about those observations. And my headaches and chills subsided pretty much after Ken turned the light back on for good. I was left with a feeling of sheer astonishment. We had tapped an unknown realm.

But Mary Bell did not make me feel threatened in any way. Just to set the record straight though, as Jill and I walked back to my car that night, I turned around and faced the Harmon’s house, and I told Mary Bell how much I appreciated her showing herself to us but to please not follow me home—to please stay with that nice family she lived with. My life was already complicated enough; I didn’t need a ghost to deal with too!

I also realized that I gained what I’d hoped to from the experience—to prove to myself that the feelings I’d been getting all these years, the ones I wrote about in my book, were, in fact, the energies of a spirit trying to communicate with me. And I realized that initiating contact with ghosts was not something I wanted to do with my life. There are plenty of good mediums out there, but it isn’t my path. On the road to self-realization, not only do I have to discover the things that make up the person I call “me,” I also have to come to terms with what ISN’T me. I know that my path involves light—God, love, happiness, positiveness, joy, and putting myself in touch with the spiritual parts of me that are for my highest good and that of others. My life’s purpose is not to help non-living beings find their way to the light. My role is to help living beings find their way!

I also realized that my dear parents who died six years ago—whom I loved with all my heart—were still with me in spirit because spirit is made of energy. We are made of energy and one of the laws of thermodynamics states that energy never dies. It can be transformed into different things, but it cannot be destroyed. Love too, transforms. Love too, never dies and cannot be destroyed. Love is eternal.

Our thoughts are also made of energy, so wherever we focus our thoughts, there will also be our energy. By concentrating on a specific thing, we thereby attract it to us (as I did with this opportunity) and after I returned home that evening, I felt a sort of residue around me. I knew that if I wanted to further entice Mary Bell’s spirit, I could easily have encouraged it to manifest in my life. But I also knew without a doubt that I did not want to bring that ghost toward me, so as I lay in my bed that night, I prayed for God’s protection and for protection from the angels and energies of only the highest vibration and love and light. Then I thanked Mary Bell’s spirit once more for allowing me the incredible opportunity to interact with her, but I also told her in no uncertain terms that she was not to attach to me in any way. And I slept just fine.

The next morning, the residue was gone and I knew that she had respected my wishes. (I’ve since been told that if she would have been an evil entity, she would not have respected my wishes.)

In any case, I was amazed at how easy it was for something like this to get pulled into my life. And when I thought about it, I realized once again, the great power of my mind and spirit. I DO have control of my destiny, just as I do have control of my thoughts.

Perhaps when we ask for things in our lives and they don’t happen the way we think they should or as quickly as we want them to, we give up, or maybe we tell ourselves that it isn’t true that we can attract things to us just by focusing our thoughts on them. But to use my own situation as an example, for several weeks before this event took place, I’d been asking to be introduced to my next teacher—one in the paranormal or supernatural realm that could help me further develop my psychic abilities. I wanted to explore this aspect of my spirituality, to help me gain a better understanding of the unseen world that affects us all. And ha! Look what happened! I truly did not expect my teacher to be a ghost! But I put the intention out there—and sure enough, it did manifest—just not in the way I expected!

So with the power of my mind and spirit, I attracted this experience. And with the power of my mind and spirit, I also set my boundaries with it and learned a lot because of it. What better example of the Law of Attraction? We must never underestimate the power of the mind and spirit, but at the same time, as the saying goes, we must also “Be careful what we wish for!”

A few weeks later, as I sat in my chiropractor’s office waiting for the doctor, I gazed out the window at the pond behind the building. There was a fallen leafless tree partially submerged in the water. All of a sudden, what I thought was part of a branch, shimmied a bit, then disappeared beneath the muddy surface of the water. I knew it had to have been the fin of a fish, because I’d seen large fish in that pond before. And as I watched the rings in the water disperse and the surface become smooth again, I wondered if I had just imagined the whole thing. The more I thought about it (the doctor kept me waiting quite a while that day), the more I found the whole idea amusing. How interesting that what I took at first to be a dead branch because it was so perfectly still, turned out to be part of a fish. And when that fin moved and disappeared beneath the surface, into a world I couldn’t see, it left me wondering if I’d just imagined the whole thing. And I knew that was so very much like life—there is an unseen world out there—and in here—maybe many worlds—and some of us get glimpses of them once in a while, but when we do, perhaps we question whether they ever happened at all because like the depths of that pond, we just can’t comprehend the fact that there really is more to life than what we see on the surface.

So of course, my interaction with the ghost of Mary Bell Wilson begs lots of questions. Like–why is this ghost hanging around Ken and his family? Do all departed souls have the ability to hang out on this earthly plane in spirit form? If so, why do some choose this while others do not? Wouldn’t it be boring just hanging out and observing the living? There must be a more important reason than that. Are there literally millions of spirits surrounding us every day but we just aren’t aware of them? What role does God play in this?

This concludes the three-part series “Tapping an Unknown Realm – Ghosts”. Thank you for tuning in. Please share some of your questions on this topic.

 

 

 

 

 

Ken Harmon

 

A retired Fort Worth Police officer, Kenneth Harmon lives in Fort Collins, CO with his wife, four daughters, and a ghost named Mary Bell. Kenneth loves to write both fiction and non-fiction. He has been a prior finalist for the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association Zola Award, and has had short fiction published in numerous anthologies and on line. In addition to spending time with family and friends, he enjoys reading, sports, music, and taking long walks along the Poudre River. For more information, please visit www.ghostunderfoot.com.  Thank you for your interest.

 

 

Tapping an Unknown Realm – Ghosts (Part 2 of 3)

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Do you see the cloudy image near the bottom center of this photo? It is believed to be the face of a young woman. She’s looking up and to the left. (The computer monitor in the picture was not on when the photo was taken and yet, it certainly appears to be. Was the ghost absorbing energy from the computer?)

 

(Continued from 3/24/12:)

Ken handed the rods to me and showed me how to hold them with a light grip. They immediately moved into an “X” again. I swallowed hard.

“Ask Mary Bell a question,” he told me. “But don’t ask it out loud. Think it with your mind. Ask her to please uncross the rods if it’s true that her father’s name was Stewart.”

At this point, I would assume the average reader might be thinking, “Here comes the parlor game part, right?” Um…

I did as he instructed. Suddenly, the rods moved very smoothly apart until they were parallel to one another. How could that be? I didn’t move them. Nor did I feel anyone or anything take control of my hands or the rods and cause them to move; they did it all by themselves.

“Was her dad’s name Stewart?” I asked Ken. He nodded. I think my eyes must have been bugging out of my head at this point, because in addition to my own astonishment, I sensed something. I wouldn’t describe it as an unseen presence though; it was more like the feeling of energy in the air before a storm—bristly and exhilarating. I tried not to focus on it–ghosts and dowsing rods? Get real. And yet, I felt a little out-of-sorts.

My friend Jill then tried the rods and I watched as they suddenly moved and gently hit her on her shoulders.

“What did you ask?” I wanted to know.

“I asked her if she would be my friend. I asked her to give me a hug,” she said looking very pleased.

Jill obviously wasn’t the least bit worried. I was thinking, “Although I’m not entirely convinced about all this, just to be on the safe side, I don’t think I’d be encouraging a ghost to be my friend…”

After that, we all assumed our positions in the chairs Ken had set up for us at the end of the hall, and turned on our cameras.

Ken then shut off the light, and he immediately said he saw something through his lens, but all I saw was dark. Before long, both Jill and Ken said they saw streaks of light moving in front of us. I was beginning to think that either they were imagining it or something was wrong with my camera, so I started messing with it to see if I’d adjusted it right. Yep. Nothing wrong there; maybe the night-vision feature wasn’t as effective as it was supposed to be. Or my friends were crazy.

As we sat looking through our viewfinders, every now and then, Ken or Jill would shout out, “There! Did you see that?”

I didn’t see a thing. However, the longer I sat there, the more I began to feel something. And that “something” grew stronger with each passing minute, until it became so intense that it caused those same physical sensations in me that I had experienced before, only this time magnified exponentially—goosebumps, chills and tingles popping from the inside out like sparks from metal grinding on metal. My spine felt like someone had taken a 10,000-watt electrical cord and plugged it into my tailbone. Tears fell from my eyes and I started to gasp so hard I wondered if Jill or Ken might wonder what was going on with me. The muscle in my left leg erupted in spasms. My throat became so dry, it was hard to swallow and it felt like someone had wrapped a scarf around my neck and was gently twisting it; but not to the point where it completely cut off my air, just enough to make it hard for me to breathe. It was right about then, that I noticed I had a huge headache on the right side of my head. Never in my life have I had a headache like that. I wasn’t sure what all the sensations meant—was the ghost trying to take over my body? Why would she want to? Now, maybe if I was J. Lo… Or was it simply the result of her energy interacting with mine?

Just when I didn’t think I could take it another second, it grew even more intense. I very seriously considered getting up out of my chair and leaving the room. These kinds of feelings never happened to me when anyone else was around before, and they were never this strong, so I was kind of embarrassed but at the same time, I was also pretty scared.

It seemed like it would have been so much easier to panic than to maintain self-control, but something within me said, “Get a grip, Pat!”

I remembered doing the same thing as a teenager when I went swimming with some friends at a local lake one summer day. I’m not the best swimmer, but I started to follow my friends out to the floating platform, and I got halfway there when suddenly my body became exhausted and I sank. I could see the green of the lake water all around me in every direction—up, down, left, and right, but I couldn’t touch the bottom. I couldn’t even see the bottom! And the surface was at least 10 feet above my head. Somehow, I managed to paddle hard enough to get myself to the surface, but no sooner did my face pop out of the water when I went under a second time. I wanted to panic, but I knew that if I did, I would surely drown. Instead, I told myself to keep my wits about me; if I lost self-control, it would be all over. I knew I needed to use all my strength to get back to the surface and then to float on my back until I calmed down, so that’s what I did. I know that that moment of mental clarity saved my life. If I would have allowed myself to panic that day, I would not be here now telling the story.

It must have been that same part of me that took over while at Ken’s house. Part of me wanted to panic. A very big part of me. But why? What was there to panic about? Nothing I could see with my eyes. And what good would it do me to panic anyway? There was no logical explanation for the feelings I was experiencing, just an overwhelming sense of being in the presence of something spectacular, powerful, and unfathomable.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, trying to keep my volcanic emotions in check. “Did you just feel that?”

Ken didn’t say a word, as if it was all old hat to him. Jill looked at me. “What?” she asked sounding only minimally concerned.

“You didn’t feel anything?” I sorely needed validation; it was too much for me to grasp.

“Well, I feel energy in the air,” she said sweetly.

“That’s all? Just energy?”

“Yeah, energy. You know, like maybe there’s something else in the room with us.”

“Oh man…”

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I lied, as I fought to catch my breath.

She went back to peering through her camera lens as if it was no big deal. My head and backbone felt like they were about to explode.

Ken and Jill continued to state that they were seeing things every now and then, but apparently not as often as Ken had hoped, so he turned on the light and decided to try another tactic to help make it easier for Mary Bell to show herself.

“Ghosts need to absorb energy before they can fully manifest in visual form,” he explained as he hooked up some kind of large silver machine shaped like a mushroom with a very long stem and placed it on the opposite end of the hall from where we were sitting. And while I kind of wanted to see Mary Bell as she once appeared in human form, I also didn’t know how much more I could take.

I got up out of my chair and leaned against the kitchen wall. It was all so overwhelming. Weren’t ghosts supposed to hang out in dilapidated, abandoned houses with long, grey corridors and spider webs hanging from gaudy chandeliers? The Harmon’s house was new, and warm with the feeling of friendly people living there: modern furniture throughout, Rosie’s dog dish on the floor in the corner, and a coffeemaker sitting on the counter waiting to brew coffee in the morning. How could a nice place like that be haunted?

My left leg was still quivering. The pain in my head persisted. I wondered why I had a headache and I mentioned it to Ken, but he didn’t even seem surprised. He said that when he first started encountering Mary Bell, he used to have headaches like that too. And he said he experienced the same thing when he took the ghost tour at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. The same hotel where Stephen King wrote “The Shining.” The Stanley is famous for its ghosts. Great. So what did that mean? And what was it that I was desperately trying to deny while at the same time, having it affect me in such an unusual way? I knew the answer of course, but I didn’t want to admit it. Not even to myself. Because what would that mean? That there really was a ghost present? A dead person who was “seeing” me? My mind felt like a rubber band being pulled in opposite directions.

The silver machine added yet another surreal element to the scene as it sat at the end of the hall making electrical sounds and cracking and sparking.

We all sat down again and Ken turned out the light. Jill handed me her video camera, claiming that her arm was tired from holding it. At that point, my headache was no longer constant, but it wasn’t completely gone either. It kept coming and going.

I lifted the camera to my face and looked through the viewfinder.

That was when I saw it—a ball of light about the size of a fifty-cent piece moving in an odd manner in an arc near the floor. It was unlike anything I had ever witnessed in my entire life–an animate inanimate object sort of shooting then falling silently. Gracefully.

(To be continued next week. Please check back.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ken Harmon

 

A retired Fort Worth Police officer, Kenneth Harmon lives in Fort Collins, CO with his wife, four daughters, and a ghost named Mary Bell. Kenneth loves to write both fiction and non-fiction. He has been a prior finalist for the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association Zola Award, and has had short fiction published in numerous anthologies and on line. In addition to spending time with family and friends, he enjoys reading, sports, music, and taking long walks along the Poudre River. For more information, please visit www.ghostunderfoot.com.  Thank you for your interest.

(All photos by Ken Harmon. Used by permission.)

Tapping an Unknown Realm – Ghosts (Part 1 of 3)

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Are these orbs of light the ghost of Mary Bell Wilson?

 

Have you ever had times when you’re busy doing something and out of the corner of your eye, you see someone move but when you turn around to get a better look, you realize there’s no one there? Or maybe you’re working away and all of a sudden, you get a really strong whiff of your granddad’s Old Spice cologne, but you know that’s impossible because your granddad died 15 years ago?

I think most of us have experiences like these at least once in our lifetimes. And I don’t know about you, but it sure makes me question my sanity. Or at least my imagination.

But what if it’s not our imagination?

While I have always kept an open mind about the existence of ghosts, I continue to maintain some skepticism because I think a little skepticism is healthier than accepting any premise without first checking it out. But since having an OBE (out-of-body experience) in 2003 and after losing people very close to me, I have had some pretty strange things happen, things that made me wonder whether spirits really can contact us from other dimensions. I’ve had moments where I’d be in the middle of doing something and for no reason, I’d get goosebumps; tears would run from my eyes, and I’d feel emotion so intense, it was as if I was experiencing all human emotions at once. My breathing would come in gasps and my body would tense up like how some people react when they hear the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. After doing a lot of research, I decided that these moments were times when a spirit was trying to contact me. I’d never heard of anyone having a reaction like that before, so there was no way to be sure, but I couldn’t come up with any other explanation.

And now that my book about those experiences has been published, I’ve been wondering where this road will take me next. I thought perhaps I should explore the possibility of nurturing my spiritual side in order to be of greater help to others from that angle. And because I stated my intention to the Universe, it, in turn, obliged, although once again, not in the manner I expected: I was given the opportunity to meet a real ghost.

No matter what one’s beliefs, there is still something tempting about the whole notion of ghosts, is there not? Like a game, not to be taken too seriously.

But what if they are real?

Well, let me tell you, it is not a game. It is real. I witnessed it with my own eyes. And I now see why one must be very respectful of these situations. In other words, it scared the crap out of me. So much so, that I hesitated to tell the story. But after I gained a better perspective of the situation, I realized that what happened to me was not evil in any way—I wouldn’t even have considered pursuing it if I thought there was any indication of that—and I wanted to experience it because I thought perhaps it might help me better understand all those unusual sensations I’d been getting since my OBE 10 years ago.

It certainly did that.

Last month, I was invited to the home of Kenneth and Monika Harmon, to make the acquaintance of their resident ghost—Mary Bell Wilson. According to Ken, Mary Bell died in 1886 at the age of 21 of typhoid fever, leaving behind a husband and a 2-year-old daughter, and for some unknown reason, her ghost has “adopted” his family ever since they moved into their brand-new home in Fort Collins, Colorado. She even followed them when they moved from one house to another. All of his family members, including their dog, Rosie, have had contact with the ghost, so Ken began filming some of the incidents. His research, along with Mary Bell’s activities, resulted in Ghost under Foot: The Spirit of Mary Bell, which has recently been published. Ken also put together a video with real-time footage of apparitions and sparks of light that streak in front of the camera. (You can view this video on Ken’s website. The address follows this post.)

 

 

I must admit that when I first watched the video, I was still skeptical. I mean, with all the progress in digital enhancement technology these days, and software such as Photoshop, it makes it easier than ever for even the average person to manipulate photos and videos. But what were those orbs in Ken’s video? Dust particles? Insects? Light refractions? I’ve read that orbs can easily be explained away as these types of things. And yet, that didn’t explain the spinning apparition shown in one of the frames, or the hazy image of a woman’s dress fading into the Harmon’s bookshelves.

When the day for my visit arrived, Ken welcomed my friend and me and invited us inside his house. It’s an odd feeling walking through someone’s front door, and stepping into a house that looks ordinary in every way, when you’re not necessarily there to visit the people who live there, you’re hoping to witness a supernatural phenomenon. It was surreal, like being an actor in a movie but without a script.

Ken introduced us to his wife and three daughters—a lovely family whom I liked instantly. We all sat at the kitchen table and nibbled on yummy cookies and sipped hot tea while Ken told the story of Mary Bell and how it all came about.

“Mary Bell hasn’t been real active lately,” Ken explained as he finished his story, “but we’ll see if she’ll reveal herself to you tonight.” Ken told me that before we arrived, he communicated with Mary Bell and asked her if it would be okay if my friend Jill and I came over to meet her. She said yes. Then he asked if she would show up for us. She said yes.

At that point, Ken started to set up chairs for us in preparation for our introduction to Mary Bell, and I began to feel a mix of trepidation and excitement rising inside me, but I pushed the feelings away in an attempt to convince myself that this was just an ordinary visit with an ordinary family. “Maybe next time I can invite them all over to my house for a barbeque,” I thought. Yeah, right. Rosie, the family dog, must have sensed my nervousness because she jumped up on me in the sweetest way, as if she wanted to let me know that everything would be okay. Ken told us that Rosie used to growl at thin air and refuse to walk past certain areas of the house, but now she was showing no signs of fear, as if she too, realized that the ghost meant no harm, and her demeanor helped me relax too. Well, momentarily.

My heart started to pound as we readied our video cameras. I brought a tripod along and Ken told me to aim the camera near the floor in the hall. I wondered why the floor? But I didn’t ask because all of this was already too hard to believe. Then he showed us the dowsing rods he used to communicate with Mary Bell—two pieces of wire, like straightened coat hangers, with one end bent into an “L” shape. He held the rods in his hands and I watched as they slowly moved and crossed, creating an “X”.

“What does that mean?” I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“It means a spirit is present,” he said.

My heart skipped a beat.

 

(Part 2 will be posted next week. Please check back.)

 

 

 

 

 

Ken Harmon

 

A retired Fort Worth Police officer, Kenneth Harmon lives in Fort Collins, CO with his wife, four daughters, and a ghost named Mary Bell. Kenneth loves to write both fiction and non-fiction. He has been a prior finalist for the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association Zola Award, and has had short fiction published in numerous anthologies and on line. In addition to spending time with family and friends, he enjoys reading, sports, music, and taking long walks along the Poudre River. For more information, please visit www.ghostunderfoot.com.  Thank you for your interest.

(All photos by Ken Harmon. Used by permission.)