NATIVE AMERICANS-DO THEY HAVE A CONNECTION WITH THE AFTERLIFE THAT WE DON'T???

Native Americans: Ghosts & Spirits

Native American spiritual beliefs hold rich accounts of ghosts and spirits - that the dead live on and even visit us. Death is typically viewed as a door into the next life, or world, and not something to be feared but embraced.
"We believe that the spirit pervades all creation and that every creature possesses a soul in some degree, though not necessarily a soul conscious to itself. The tree, the waterfall, the grizzly bear, each is an embodied force, and as such an object of reverence." - Ohiyesa, Sioux 1902 (aka Charles Eastman)
The Native American belief in spirit (and ghost) visitation can be found in an amazing speech made in 1854, by Chief Seattle:
"And when the last red man shall have perished from the earth and his memory among white men shall have become a myth, these shores shall swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children's children shall think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway or in the silence of the woods, they will not be alone." - Chief Seattle, 1854

This incredible Native American idea of spirit interaction with the living, what we call spirits or ghosts, could be understood as meaning that Chief Seattle's people (Suquamish) will be with us, for we are all connected as one, great humanity - brothers. However, his address from 1854 is also haunting as we continue to read his words for he seemed to give a warning that, in the afterlife, ghosts and spirits affect the living:
"The white man will never be alone. Let him be just and lindly deal with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead - I say? There is no death. Only a change of worlds."
We might say that Native American beliefs in the afterlife reveal a hidden, spirit world that interacts with this earthly plane - a greater, underlying connection that exists before our eyes - many remaining unaware of its existence. Black Elk, a Lakota Sioux medicine man, had much to say about the unseen world of Spirit co-existing with the physical world we know:
“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when theyrealize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.”
"The Great Spirit is everywhere; he hears whatever is in our minds and our hearts, and it is not necessary to speak to him in a loud voice."
This idea of a Great Spirit being everywhere and within everything is the meaning behind Black Elk's words. Here are two more quotes from this great Native American:
“Peace will come to the hearts of men when they realize their oneness with the universe. It is everywhere.”
“The Holy Land is everywhere.”

Another example of this idea is reflected in the story of how the great warrior, Crazy Horse, was said to have found his courage and strength. According to the book, Black Elk Speaks, Crazy Horse shared with Black Elk his vision that occurred in the spirit world:
“Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that one.”
Crazy Horse also described his horse floating and moving differently above the field (thus, "Crazy Horse") in his powerful vision. It's been said that he was able to move in and out between the spirit realm and the physical world, able to see both, and so his courage and power was greater than most men.
Let's consider the concept that people can make a choice to move beyond this plane after death of the body but still interact with the living (at times, as loving, guiding spirits often seen in dreams and visions), or consistently remain behind, earthbound and troubled (what we would call ghosts). We can find this choice upon death of the body reflected in Native American beliefs by reading A Speech to the Dead by Native American (Luiseno) Chief Fox:
"Now this day you have ceased to see daylight.
Think only of what is good.
Do not think of anything uselessly.
You must think all the time of what is good.
You will go and live with our nephew.
And do not think evil towards these your relatives.
When you start to leave them this day you must not think backwards of them with regret.
And do not think of looking back at them.
And do not feel badly because you have lost sight of this daylight.
This does not happen today to you alone, so that you thus be alone when you die.
Bless the people so that they may not be sick.
This is what you will do.
You must merely bless them so that they may live as mortals here.
You must always think kindly.
Today is the last time I shall speak to you.
Now I shall cease speaking to you, my relative."

Another example of this idea is reflected in the story of how the great warrior, Crazy Horse, was said to have found his courage and strength. According to the book, Black Elk Speaks, Crazy Horse shared with Black Elk his vision that occurred in the spirit world:
“Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that one.”
Crazy Horse also described his horse floating and moving differently above the field (thus, "Crazy Horse") in his powerful vision. It's been said that he was able to move in and out between the spirit realm and the physical world, able to see both, and so his courage and power was greater than most men.
Let's consider the concept that people can make a choice to move beyond this plane after death of the body but still interact with the living (at times, as loving, guiding spirits often seen in dreams and visions), or consistently remain behind, earthbound and troubled (what we would call ghosts). We can find this choice upon death of the body reflected in Native American beliefs by reading A Speech to the Dead by Native American (Luiseno) Chief Fox:
"Now this day you have ceased to see daylight.
Think only of what is good.
Do not think of anything uselessly.
You must think all the time of what is good.
You will go and live with our nephew.
And do not think evil towards these your relatives.
When you start to leave them this day you must not think backwards of them with regret.
And do not think of looking back at them.
And do not feel badly because you have lost sight of this daylight.
This does not happen today to you alone, so that you thus be alone when you die.
Bless the people so that they may not be sick.
This is what you will do.
You must merely bless them so that they may live as mortals here.
You must always think kindly.
Today is the last time I shall speak to you.
Now I shall cease speaking to you, my relative."

The above was an article taken off the Angels and Ghosts website.  But I thought it was really good.  I love reading about Spirits and the Native American Indian.  There is SUCH an emotional connection between the Native American Indian and Spirits that just seems to be at a level higher than non-American people.

Below is a cemetery that I visited years ago up in Seattle.  I'm sorry I don't remember the name of it but I can tell you that it is a cemetery JUST FOR Native American Indians.  As we walked around the cemetery I remember constantly thinking I could hear drums beating!!!  My senses seemed to be on overload.....I felt completely different and not scared..... just different.....more spiritual.  I can't explain it  but I LOVED THIS PLACE!!!!!

GHOST HUNTING-IT ISN'T ALL GREEN SLIME AND FLUFFY MARSHMALLOW GUYS!

This week the remake of Ghostbusters the movie is released.  Will I be going and seeing the movie?  REALLY??? Did you even have to ask????  I just thought with the release of the movie and with there being ALREADY so many shows on about the paranormal that maybe I should just throw out there some REAL facts about REAL ghost hunters.

The movie of course, is fiction with green, slimy ghost with big teeth and marshmallow guys with little blue hats.  I only wish that real ghost hunting was that simple.

I want to warn anyone that thinks after seeing the movie or watching the shows on TV that it is EASY to be a ghost hunter and ANYONE can do it.  NOT TRUE.  Sure....ANYONE can go out and take pictures and get a recorder to see if they caught an unknown voices or anything unusual in their pictures..... but take it from someone that has been ghost hunting for almost 35 years....it isn't a game and you are exposing yourself and those around you to REAL DANGER.  Now, I don't know about you but when I have surgery...I want someone that has years of experience and a PHD hanging on the wall....not someone that just started and wanted to do surgery because they thought it was fun to cut-open a frog and see what's inside.  Get the point???

Can ghosts hurt you? YES  Can ghosts follow you home? YES  Can ghosts KILL you?  YES
Now in knowing this, proceed with caution if this is the route you select.  I have been grabbed, touched, followed home and even threatened over the past years in ghost hunting.  I know some of you will say that "you don't believe me" and to you I say...."DON'T".  I am not here to make you believe or not to believe in ghosts.  The choice and your believes are yours...not mine.....and until you experience something from the paranormal world.....no matter what I say or show you can change your mind....and that's ok.  I just want you to know....that there is a real risk in trying to contact "the other side".

Here are just a few things you should know first.  You MUST know how to protect yourself and others.  You MUST know what you are up against.  You MUST have a strong faith.  You MUST also have a mindset of what it real and what is not.  Be willing to say that "shadow" was a cat and that "strange sound" was the wind.  IF you are not HONEST about your findings....what's the point??????  Take a break from it.  Sometimes ghost hunters can become obsessed with it!!!  They feel they are sooo close to capturing that one piece of evidence that will UNDENIABLY give them the proof that they soooo search for....the afterlife does exists!  This can also cause depression to set in from looking at sometimes gruesome pictures, reading about death and constantly reading about heartbreak and loss.  You MUST have reliable equipment.  And lastly...you MUST be able to say ENOUGH when ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!

Now, is ghost hunting exciting? YES.....Can it be a great reward?  YES  Can it be thrilling?  NO DOUBT!!!  I love being a ghost hunter and I guess when I'm 80-90 (if I live that long)....I will still want someone to take me to an abandon house, a creepy cemetery, any place with paranormal activity.... just push me in my wheelchair out and leave me with a flashlight and a K-2 Meter and I'll be good!!!  I LOVE it that much!!!  Will I ever get the proof I need to prove to others that we can still communicate with our loved ones after they die.....truth be known....I already have that.....but finding better ways to communicate and help people in need will be forever a mission in my life.

Now, go see the movie....have fun.....and be careful on the choices you make.  And don't forget to come meet me at the Carmike Theater in Hickory Creek, Tx  July 15th, 2016 from 6-8.  Let's talk GHOSTS!!!

  

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW HAVE I NOT KNOWN ABOUT THIS VERY HAUNTED LOCATION!!!-THE CLIFF HOUSE

On vacation a couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend Deak surprised me while we were up in the San Franciso with a stop and lunch at the MOST incredible place!  The Cliff House Restaurant! If you have NOT been here it is AMAZING and you must see it!!!

The restaurant is so beautiful over looking the ocean and beach but that's not the BEST PART!!!!  Right next to it are what remains of the Sutro Baths.  And they are EXTREMELY HAUNTED!!!!  I had not heard of this place but could hardly wait to get down in them!!!

The Sutro Baths were a large, privately owned public saltwater swimming pool complex in the Lands End area of the Outer Richmond District in western San Francisco, California.

Built in 1896, it was located near the Cliff House, Seal Rock, and Sutro Heights Park. The facility burned down in June 1966 and is now in ruins.

On March 14, 1896, the Sutro Baths were opened to the public as the world's largest indoor swimming pool establishment. The baths were built on the western side of San Francisco by wealthy entrepreneur and former mayor of San Francisco (1894–1896) Adolph Sutro.

Before it burned to the ground, the structure filled a small beach inlet below the Cliff House, also owned by Adolph Sutro at the time. The baths struggled for years, mostly due to the very high operating and maintenance costs. Shortly after closing, a mysterious and catastrophic fire in 1966 destroyed the building while it was in the process of being demolished. All that remains of the site are concrete walls, blocked off stairs and passageways, and a tunnel with a deep crevice in the middle. 

Photo credit: nps.gov

Hauntings at the Sutro Baths

Photo credit: flickr/20939975@N04

Whether it’s the same force that plagued the Baths when they were open, or something new since they were ruined, there is no question that something draws denizens of the spirit world to the Sutro Baths.

Urban explorers braving the tides, cold weather, and unsteady footing of the ruins report a multitude of ghosts.  Psychic mediums who have visited the area report feeling an “unnerving force”.  Old patrons of the baths are the most common supernatural sighting.  They’re most often seen at night and could be mistaken for mortal visitors, if not for their wildly incongruous turn-of-the-century swimming garb.  Given the typical nighttime climate of San Francisco, they make quite an unusual sight in their sun dresses and swimming pants, wielding umbrellas and towels.  These ghosts are harmless if shocking. They seem to reenact the heyday of the Sutro Baths, roaming the stone ruins, laughing and playing.  Faint sounds of singing and the hubbub of a crowd can be heard on a quiet night. Bringing an EVP recorder to the Sutro Baths can definitely bear fruit.

Photo credit: flickr/thomashawk

The resort was also home to a large museum, full of relics and artifacts found by Adolph Sutro during his travels around the world.  Many of these items were of religious or magical significance to their original owners, and many of them were none too happy with Sutro after he left. Although the museum is gone now, ghosts and spirits from a hundred different cultures can be spotted around the Baths at various times.

Everything from an Irish banshee to a South African Tokolosh seems to haunt the baths now. It’s quite the multiculturalsmorgasbord of horror.

You’re lucky if they’re the only paranormal find you make on a trip to the San Francisco shore, though.

The Mystery of the Tunnels

Photo credit: flickr/wallyg

The ocean tunnels were a main feature of the Sutro Baths when they were open.

An engineering marvel for the time, water would be pumped in from the Pacific Ocean, using the tides themselves to provide pressure.  After the baths shut down, though, the tunnels remained, and some very strange things moved in.  Strange noises, footsteps, and unidentifiable claw marks have been seen throughout the tunnel system.  Locals think that something living just offshore in the frigid Bay waters likes to travel up the tunnels and make a lair in the old Baths.  Nobody knows quite what this creature might be, though. There shouldn’t be anything that walks on clawed feet moving around out there.

And no ocean creature should be collecting piles of bones and fur. Explorers have come across small alcoves in the tunnels where half-eaten carcasses of everything from fish to raccoons lay rotting.

Photo credit: flickr/jef

There is no known ocean-dwelling animal that maintains a lair in this fashion, and certainly not one that will pile up remains.

Some even swear the bones are arranged in a distinctive pattern, almost as though a ritual of some sort was being carried out. The few investigators who have made a serious effort to locate the resident of the Sutro tunnels have come back empty-handed.  That’s better than not coming back at all. That’s bound to happen sooner or later, though.

An Underground Cult

Along with all the paranormal and cryptid activity, there are signs of some ill-advised human endeavors.  San Francisco was the birthplace of modern Satanism. Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan in the so-called Black House, not far away from the Sutro Baths.

The Church became almost mainstream as time went on. More of a social movement than a concerted attempt to engage in the Black Arts, many Satanists weren’t bad sorts.  Every religion has its extremists, though, and the Church of Satan was no exception.  Dark rituals intended to bring forth harmful spirits. Animal sacrifice. Even human sacrifice. The Church disavowed these activities, but they are known to occur to this day.

Photo credit: tumblr/celteros

It is said that the tunnels under the Sutro Baths are where this dangerous cult practices their séances and rituals. Steering clear of the monster but perhaps embracing the ghosts, these people are not to be trifled with.

If you come across a pentagram drawn on the walls in the tunnels, turn and run. Please just run.  It may already be too late.

The cult seems to have met some success in their doings. A local story goes that if you carry a lit candle to the very end of the tunnels, where they open up onto the ice-cold ocean, an invisible force will seize the candle up and fling it into the waters below.

The exact cause of this is unknown. However, quick and violent paranormal phenomena almost always point to an angry spirit. It’s possible that the spirits simply want all living beings out of their underground territory.

It’s equally possible that this being was conjured up by dark forces, and seeks to harm anyone who comes near.

One particularly chilling tale goes that the spirit is that of a human sacrifice.

The being seeks only to prevent more deaths like its own. Candles are a common element of Satanic rituals, and so the ghost extinguishes any that come near.

Ghosts are often unable to distinguish between different mortals, though, and the spirit takes a terrible vengeance on everyone who comes close.

Whatever the case, it would be best not to anger it further. Left in pure blackness, the bearer of the candle must make his way back to the entrance. Often, they fail and are simply never seen again.

I did take lots of pictures and took my recorder.  Yes, I did get a couple of EVP's but it is hard to be sure what is an EVP and what is someone else talking.  People are walking around everywhere.  This had the strangest feeling about it.  Not super scary.....but the only word I can think to describe the experience is.....different.  You definitely feel "not alone" but you also feel....like "what happened here"????

Anyway, here are some of my pictures and I hope to post the EVP's in a couple of days.

Scratches on the wall