THE CURSE OF THE POLTERGEIST FILMS-SHOULD WE PAY MORE ATTENTION!!!

 

The year is 1982.  Finally,  it is the opening night of Poltergeist!!!!  One of the scarcest, paranormal films ever produced!  My girlfriends and I.....ok....pretty sure it was just ME (they were to scared to go) got dressed and couldn't get out the door fast enough to watch a movie about "MY SECRET WORLD of studying the paranormal".  Even through I was scared to death.......I couldn't be more EXCITED!!!!!  FINALLY..... a movie that I felt was pretty close to what I thought COULD BE possible with the paranormal.  Stuff I had been secretly studying in every waking minute trying to understand the possibility that we don't really have to say "good-bye" to our loved ones at the time of death and that the afterlife really isn't so different from the living.

Sitting in that theater....hanging on every word.....so scared I could hardly move....seeing the sweetest little girl being tortured by spirits and a small little round lady that believed Carol Anne (little girl) was telling the truth about what she was seeing and what was happening to her had me at ......... "THEY'RE HERE"! lol

Now, in the movie,  it has...... believe it or not, a happy ending.  But in REAL life the actors and the crew of the Poltergeist movies were living a very DIFFERENT reality. Murder, sickness and sudden death plagued the cast and crew almost instantly after filming.  The legend says that there were real skulls and skeletons used in the films as a props.  And because of this they were all cursed.

Actress Jo Beth Williams has added to this story by pointing out in various interviews that she was told the bones used in a swimming pool scene were real.  Can you imagine!!!!!!!!! Being in a pool of REAL HUMAN BONES floating up all around you!!!!!!!!!!  That scares me just the thought of it!

The "curse" story evolved from the fact that four of the films' stars and one producer have suffered premature or mysterious deaths.  The actors and actresses who are said to have died at the hands of the curse include:  Dominique Dunne, from the first Poltergeist film, who was strangled by a jealous lover in 1988 and after going into septic shock; Julian Beck, who played the evil 'Kane' in Poltergeist 2, who died of stomach cancer (Although he had already been diagnosed with this before being approached to play a role in the film); and Will Sampson, who played The Medicine Man in Poltergeist 2, who died from kidney failure.  Brian Gibson, who directed Poltergeist 2, also died prematurely from Ewing's Sarcoma in 2004.

Another interest incident linked with the Poltergeist trilogy occurred during a photo shoot featuring Zelda Rubenstein who played the psychic (my little round lady).  In one picture her face is entirely obscured by a shining white light; strangely, the picture was being taken at the same moment as her mother's death thousands of miles away.  Zelda died at the age of 76 after suffering a heart attach and never fully recovered in 2010.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hMAaNxKfAs

See link above for interview with Jo Beth Williams.  (I tried to download it here for you...but for some strange reason it would not load nor find it on YouTube)  the Curse??????hhuumm

Here's the deal....whether the film is cursed or not...bad things sometimes happen.  That's a fact.  But in a world of technology and where the study of paranormal has taken off.....and the REAL research I feel has been lost in a world of YouTube Videos and instant fame....everyone wanting to become a paranormal investigator with a camera and digital recorder....we lose sight of what we are really trying to accomplish....PROOF.  Undeniable PROOF that the doorway to the other side is never really shut and in the process remember that sometimes all we really need is our eyes, ears and the ability to know what is fact from fiction.  And in the process of it all.......do it with RESPECT!!! 





WHERE DOES IT HURT? DO SPIRITS FEEL PAIN WHEN THEIR RESTING PLACE IS DISRUPTED?

Before I get into this weeks post, I want to take a minute a say that my prayers are with the people of France.  The devastating terrorists attacks on Paris rocked the world to its core!  But it also shows the humanity we all feel for one another.  We shed tears for perfect strangers, we send money in hopes of rebuilding places we have never visited but MOST of all.....we send LOVE for one another REGARDLESS of religion, beliefs, color or backgrounds.  PARIS GOD BE WITH YOU.  AND GIVE THOSE STRENGTH TO THOSE WHO WERE INJURIED AND GIVE THE FAMILIES WHO LOST LOVED ONES ENCOURAGEMENT TO FIND SOME KIND OF PEACE IN THEIR TIME OF SORROW.

Now, I live in Texas and we had a very rough night.  What I mean by that is...we were awaken about 3:00am to the Tornado sirens going off.  Two tornado's were reported as hitting our area.  Not large tornados but they still did a lot of damage.

I was on my lunch break today and decided to take a ride to a local cemetery where I had heard had a lot of damage.  Well, a lot of damage doesn't cover it!!!  It was almost completely wiped out!!!  I could not believe how bad it looked.....and how sad it felt.  I could not help it....I felt COMPELLED to help.  I went back to my off which is very close to the cemetery and ask my General Manager if we could go to the cemetery and start clean up right away!  He got a crew together (I work for a Water Dept. in the daytime. LOL) and drove down to the cemetery.  So, with my brand new high heels, black slacks and a beautiful white silk shirt on....I got out and started pulling limbs off tombstones as well as did the crew from LCMUA.  I just felt not only is this is my community and I want to help, but as much as CEMETERIES have done for me this is the least I could do in return.  It only seemed right.

Now, I'm sure your asking yourself what does that have to do with the paranormal?  As I was pulling limbs across the cemetery, my heels sinking in the mud with every step, my black slacks now brown...covered in mud and leafs, I was looking around at all the damage and I began to wonder.....are the spirits upset with what has happened to their final resting places?  Yes, I know that their souls are not really there and that the resting place is more for the living than the dead.  I can't help but feel that they are sad for their loved ones NOT for the actual resting place with their name on it but for the loved ones who feel sadness because it was destroyed.

This is not the same as a spirit who gets upset when someone moves into their home and starts changing things or remodeling.  The reason is...because the person was LIVING at the time....in the house and when they die they are placed in a place they had never spent time.  Does that make sense???

Anyway, spirits are always around us and today I hope they saw me giving back for everything they have gave me. :)

Below are some of the pictures I took today at Swisher Cemetery in Lake Dallas, Texas.  The pictures really don't show how bad it really was.

Photo by Johnny Harris

Photo by Johnny Harris

 

WHY DOESN'T ANYONE WANT TO TALK ABOUT GHOSTS????

So, I am finally back from vacation!!!!  It was GREAT fun but now it's back to reality... LOL  But....the good part about that is that I MISSED YOU GUYS and am so happy to be back.

I wanted to have a really GREAT SCARY story to write about over the Halloween holiday and thought what a better place to find that than in JAMAICA...mon.......sorry....picked up a little Jamaican lingo there...LOL

First, I want to speak to the general belief of ghosts and hauntings in Jamaica. It seems, that everyone on the island has had an encounter, or a good ghost story to tell but in the same breath....if you ask about GHOSTS or hauntings you will find out real quick...they DO NOT want to talk about it...well, in public at least.  It seemed like every time we brought up ghosts to ANYONE they had that "dear in the headlight look".....you know.....the one like....."did you REALLY just ask me that????".

Jamaican's believe in what is known as a Duppy. Duppy is a Jamaican Patois word of West African origin meaning ghost or spirit. Duppies are generally regarded as malevolent spirits and pure EVIL.They are said to come out and haunt people at night mostly, and people from the islands claim to have seen them. The 'Rolling Calf','Three footed horse' or 'Old Higue' are examples of the more malicious spirits.  Duppy folklore originates from West Africa. A duppy can be either the manifestation (in human or animal form) of the soul of a dead person, or a malevolent supernatural being. In Obeah, a person is believed to possess two souls - a good soul and an earthly soul. In death, the good soul goes to heaven to be judged by God, while the earthly spirit remains for three days in the coffin with the body, where it may escape if proper precautions are not taken, and appear as a duppy.

Anyway, we took a tour to the St. Peter's Anglican Church in Falmouth, Jamaica.  The original Church was destroyed by the great earthquake of 1692 in Port Royal. A second Church which was constructed shortly after, was destroyed by fire in 1703. A plaque outside the vestry of St. Peter's Church, records that it was rebuilt between 1725-1726.



St. Peters Anglican Church
Falmouth, Jamaica

Since 1726, the building has undergone much restoration. Its walls are now faced with cement marked to simulate stone blocks, thus hiding the original brick walls of the Church. The original black and white tiles can still be seen in the aisles of the Church.  If you would like to read more on the church click on the link below.

http://falmouth.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/show/falmouth/duke-street/st--peter-s-anglican-church


The church is very beautiful but believe it or not the church was built OVER and around a cemetery!  That's right...there are tombstones everywhere!  In front, in back, on the sides, some even appear to be protruding out from underneath the church!

Many of the gravestones in the church cemetery are over 200 years old.  Some graves were decorated with seashells. Apparently this is a custom practiced in places in the world where African slaves were sent. They said the sea had brought them to their new country and the sea would return them to Africa when they died. “The sea brought us- the sea shall take us back.”  But we found current graves with dates as recent as 2011.

Now, is it haunted??? I personally did could not find any information on any hauntings around this church.  But with the history of the land, and many stories of abused slaves and many are buried around the church, I find it hard to believe that there aren't some restless spirits wondering around.
I took tons of pics and didn't even catch an orb!  But then again, it was late in the afternoon, still plenty of daylight and many visitors to the church.  So......I don't know.  This would be a great place to investigate at night when things were quiet.....IF you could get someone to allow you in.

Oh well, it was still an awesome place to visit and would suggest that if you are ever in Falmouth, Jamaica check it out. :)