Day 11 ~ Spirit Meet Ups ~ Part 2

So, WOW! Wasn't the experience Sammi shared with us pretty awesome? I don't know about you, but I am really looking forward to finding out how her encounter concluded. So without further delay, here is Part 2 of Spirit Meet Ups, from our own Siren, Samantha Curtin from Bones, Buried treasures and Beliefs.

Spirit Meet Ups ~ Part 2

The Penn State campus of Mont Alto that I spent two years at was situated between Gettysburg and Chambersburg Pennsylvania. This meant that our campus had rich history complete with many spirits that hung around the various buildings. The two buildings that had the most activity were Weistling hall in the center of campus and the Chapel right at the campus line. Weistling Hall used to be the house of General Weistling who used it as an infirmary for both union and confederate soldiers. In addition it was also part of the Underground Railroad and in the basement was evidence of where they would hide the slaves. It is now the student center on campus and consequently where I worked for the Events Coordinator.

I had countless experiences there, including participating in a full scale ghost hunt with Paranormal Investigator John Zaffis (who now has his own show Haunted Collector on the Syfy channel). The spirit that I ran into most was of General Weistling’s sister Sarah. She was a nurse and helped the General both with the soldiers as well as the slaves that they hid in the Underground Railroad. Tragedy struck her when a confederate soldier fell in love with her. She didn't return his love so he shot her eight times on the front steps of the house. She then ran up the steps bleeding and died in one of the rooms that is now the music room.

Sarah took a liking to me. My first encounter with her (after I had learned about her story at orientation to become a tour guide on campus) were of her playing with the lights and doors upstairs. See I worked nights at the Hall which housed the coffee shop, game room, pool room and other areas for students to hang out. It was my job to lock up the upstairs and turn off all of the lights. After that the campus cops would come and lock up the building for me. They always refused to go upstairs and I found out why on one of the first nights I worked there.

First I must explain that there are two different way to get to the upstairs. The main way is up the front stairs of the building and the other is up the back narrow staircase that I usually took. Upon getting upstairs one night while my friend who I worked with was downstairs I found all the lights were on. I then walked around the upstairs switching off all the lights and headed back to the back staircase. As I reached the steps all the lights flew back on and I heard the door to the music room open which was to my right.

My first thought was that my friend was playing a trick on me since she knew that I was into all the “spirit stuff” as she said. I called for her and heard her call from down the steps up back at me. I replied with a never mind and walked over to the music room to shut the door. I pulled the door shut and put the key into lock it when suddenly it felt like someone was pulling on the other side. I pulled back as hard as I could but suddenly it was yanked out of my hands. Honestly I expected to see someone on the other side of the door as it banged against the wall but there was nothing. The door then flew back shut. I then went to lock it to find out that it was already locked.

At this point I realized that it was probably Sarah so I just let it go and went to turn the lights back off down the hall. The same thing happened though when I reached the stairs. At this point all I wanted to do was lock up and go back to my dorm room so I addressed Sarah, asking her to please stop since I was tired and wanted to go home. The lights went out and I said thank you as I walked downstairs.

The lights and doors became a regular thing and soon the new cop we had on campus learned fast that this spirit didn't like men. He would try to lock the door upstairs but they would always unlock themselves. I would lock them and they would stay locked. It became obvious that Sarah felt comfortable around me and even perhaps liked my company. Every time I would go upstairs by myself I would talk to her and one night I got an answer back in the form of her showing herself to me on the balcony of the building. I could only see her torso and head since it was dark outside but I could see she had long brownish red hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail tied with a ribbon and she wore a long dark colored dress (was too dark to tell what color). I smiled at her and she smiled back at me then disappeared.

When John Zaffis came to campus to give a lecture and do what he called a “ghost walk” of campus I was the first to tell him about Sarah and also the Chapel, which until that night hadn't been in. He agreed that after the lecture he would take the interested to the buildings and bring his equipment. To say I was excited was an understatement. First we went to the Chapel where John Brown used to teach Sunday school and also gave his famous speech before his raid on Harper’s Ferry. John set his K2 meter by the baptismal font and he instructed the spirits in the Chapel to light up one light for no and all the way across for yes. He instructed us that we could try asking the spirit questions.

Everyone seemed either apprehensive or skeptical but my boss decided to ask the first questions. She asked simply if there were any spirits in here. We got a yes answer and I smiled. Soon other students started to ask questions but the K2 meter never lit up. John asked if there was more than one spirit and got the answer no. More people asked questions but no answers. Finally I decided to ask some questions. I asked if the spirit was a female and got the answer yes. Other people asked questions but now answer. I asked if the spirit hung out in both the Chapel and Weistling and got the answer yes. I asked if the spirit liked to watch the weddings in here and got the answer yes.

At this point John asked me what my name was and asked me to come to the front where he was since it was obvious the spirit liked me. I continued to ask questions until I asked the question if this spirit was Sarah, since I was sure it was. I got the answer no. This confused me but at that point John wanted to move on to the other building. As we were walking up the hill to Weistling he pulled me aside and told me that spirits seemed to be drawn to me. He asked if I knew I was sensitive and I told him I had been experiencing it all my life but never labeled myself as sensitive. He told me I had a great gift and that I should treasure it. This made me glow.

The rest of that night we had small experiences in Weistling Hall. We heard water running through pipes, doors opening and closing, lights flickering and at one point I felt a rush of coldness run up my body. All in all it was a great night in which some students vowed never to return to that building. When we were in the basement I even had a 6 foot tall freshman boy grab my hand at one point in fear. I will never forget that night.

Once I got up to the main campus I had many different experiences all around campus but especially in my dorm room. Junior year was the year I had some not so nice male friends who treated me like shit. The spirit in my room hated them and made it known. I had things thrown around my room, banging coming from inside our closet in the kitchen and constant slamming of my room door. It continued until senior year when I stopped hanging out with them, they stopped. I think my favorite act of the spirit was the destroying of my movie ticket from when my one roommate dragged me to one of the Twilight movies. I couldn't stop laughing after that happened. It looked like it was gone through a shredder.

After I graduated and moved back home I didn't have many encounters except for the normal hearing my name and the steps. I was unemployed so spent most of my time either working on my book or looking for a job. Then I started volunteering at the Laurel History Museum which was housed in the old Mill House. The first time I walked into the museum I could feel many presences in there and I loved it. Most of the time they stayed in the attic but I saw a couple shadowy figures by the exhibits or in the collections office. The attic was full of activity though and I would make excuses to go up and catalog artifacts up there.

One day I was searching forever for an artifact when suddenly felt something hit me in the back and I turned to see a box jutting out from the shelf. It was the box I needed. Many times I heard people walking around up there with me and I would try to follow them but never saw them. A couple times I saw shadows but that was it. None of the other employees had experiences except a few when they were around me. Soon I had a full time job and spent less and less time at the museum before eventually quitting all together.

About 3 and half months after I started working in August of 2011 I met Grant through a mutual friend who worked with him at the gym at Maryland. He still worked there even though he graduated and still lived at a house off of campus. I would then hang out with him at his house though I never experienced anything there until Hurricane Irene hit. We were stuck at his house with no power and the wind and rain pounding around us. The house had a completely different feel to it. It had a very heavy feeling and I constantly felt like something was watching me.

Around 11pm that night we were sitting on the bed with the door open and all of the sudden the air grew incredibly heavy and cold. I looked to the open doorway and saw a black mass standing there. It wasn't in the shape of anything in particular just a thick black mass. It froze in fear as it radiated pure evil and stared right at me. I turned to Grant and barely got out the words, “Please shut the door.”

He got up not knowing what was going on and went to the doorway. He paused, staring right at the thing as my heart was in danger of beating out of the chest. He then slammed the door shut and walked over to the bed and put his arm around me asking, “There was something there wasn't it?” I just nodded and a few minutes later left that house. I only came back once the day he moved out but the vibe was completely different. To this day I am convinced that I had an encounter with a demon and I refuse to ever go back to that house.

Thankfully that’s the only evil spirit that I've come across. Most have been friendly, playful, and protective. We have a spirit in our apartment now that likes to make sure I’m not feeling lonely when Grant’s gone on his business trips. We have a spirit in our office that likes to randomly move stuff around in the back offices and make banging noises. All our harmless and once again make me feel comforted. This is just part of my life and people have come to realize that if they are going to be part of my life then they will be around these spirits.

Today's Giveaway

Today we have our final autographed print from Sabrina over at The Ink Witch. This one is Aradia. And if you know Sabrina even the tiniest bit, you know as with all our Crafty Siren's, she puts her heart and soul into every piece she creates.

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The Recipe for Today

Spooky Punch from Sandra Lee at Food Network

Ingredients

For the ice cubes:

2 packages gummy bear worms

1 (32-ounce) container cranberry juice

For the shrunken head straws:

6 plastic drinking straws

6 pitted prunes

18 whole cloves

1 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup sweetened flake coconut

For the punch:

3 (12-ounce) bottles strawberry smoothies

2 quarts orange juice

3 cans lemon/lime soda

Directions

For the ice cubes:

Stick 1 gummy worm in each cube, with half of the worm hanging out. Pour cranberry juice into the ice cube trays. Place in freezer 2 hours before mixing the punch.

For the shrunken head straws:

Push a straw up through the center of 1 prune where the pit used to be, so it sits one-third of the way down the straw. Repeat with remaining prunes.

In a small bowl melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave for 45 second at 15-second intervals stirring between intervals. Take 12 cloves and dip the round ends into the melted chocolate. Place on a plate lined with waxed paper and allow chocolate to set about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile using a small brush or toothpick coat the top part of each prune with melted white chocolate. Carefully sprinkle the coconut on top of the white chocolate to resemble hair. Repeat with the remaining prunes.

Stick 2 white chocolate-coated cloves into each prune to create 2 eyes. Place 1 undipped clove into each prune under the eyes to resemble a nose.

For the punch:

Pour the strawberry smoothies, the orange juice and the lemon/lime soda into a large punch bowl and stir.

Take the gummy worm ice cubes out of the freezer, and add half of them to the punch. Place remaining cubes into glasses and fill each glass with punch using a ladle.

Today's Craft Idea

Halloween Pumpkin Pot Craft

From All Kids Network

This cute Halloween pumpkin pot craft is a great family craft and a fun Halloween decoration! The materials are simple and it can easily be adapted to be personalized for each member in your family. This cute Halloween craft lets your kids create the best part of the jack-o-lantern (the face!) without creating all the pumpkin mess! Enjoy!

What you'll need:

3-4 inch clay pot

Orange craft paint

3-D paint: black, green, blue

paint brush

How to make your Halloween Pumpkin Pot:

Paint the entire pot orange and set aside to dry.

Turn the pot upside down. Use the blue 3-D paint to write "Happy Halloween" along the rim of the pot.

Use the black 3-D paint to paint a jack-o-lantern face on the pot.

Use the green 3-D paint to paint spirals along the top of the pot as leaves.

The October 9th winner of the Samhain print from Sabrina The InkWitch is Robyn Chausse, rcponders

Please don't forget to send us an email with your name, shipping details, etc... so our lovely vendor sirens can send you your goodies :)

The Video of the Day as chosen by Kestril Trueseeker

In late medieval times, starting around the 14th century, it was popular to depict the dead (or Death itself) calling people to the grave in a sort of invitation to dance. These Danse Macabre depictions were meant to be sort of a Memento mori to the viewer.