31 Days of Spook – Special Guest

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 Squeals with piggy delight.  My friends I have scored the ultimate story for your today.   Mommy has helped me to get in touch with Mr. Dave Schrader.  If you know anything about the paranormal field, you will recognize the name.  Dave Schrader does a talk show where he is the host and producer of Darkness Radio.  If you haven’t heard of his show, you *must* check it out for chills and thrills.  Dave Schrader has also been seen on television with Zak Bagans on Ghost Adventures, co-hosted the show Paranormal Challenge with Zak Bagans and has made contributions to Ghost Hunters TAPS ParaMagazine.  Dave Schrader currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

We are VERY excited to present a story from Dave Schrader today.  Now, settle back and enjoy my friends!

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It was August of 2005 and our radio show was entering its 8th month on the air when I received an invitation to be a part of a psychic and shamanic exploration at Thayer’s Bed and Breakfast in Annandale, MN.  Since I have no psychic bones in my body, I thought I would check it out and see if I could learn something new and tap into some psy experience for myself. I would be surrounded in a peaceful environment with mediums, psychics and shamans at a well known haunted location.  This might be my best chance yet to witness some interesting phenomena.

I say quietly watching people mill about, discussing what they were picking up on, what spirits they sensed and generally soaking in the atmosphere. During my observation, the resident cat – a large fluffy white beastie – decided I was its new friend and would not leave my side, lap or feet. It stuck to me like I was made of tuna. I stroked the cat like an evil Bond villain as I sat and watched a fascinating scene unfold before me of shared experiences, giddy claims of ghostly presence and some chilling moments as part of the group relayed a story about the creepy man on the top floor that leapt to the wall and skittered up and across the ceiling like a Victorian Spider-Man.

Next came an extraordinary experiment. We were all going to tap into ourselves, meet our spirit guides and do a Shamanic journey. We laid upon the ground, spread eagle and not touching ourselves or others nearby while Hanakia Zedek gently beat a drum to some soothing music and in his deep voice guided us to a meditative trance. By this time, the room lights had been dimmed and the room had been cleared of all cats, kids and other distractions.  We were to just BE in the moment and experience the darkness, the music and open ourselves to contact with our totem, spirit guides or loved ones.

As I lay trying to quiet my mind and the senseless chatter that usually clutters it, I found myself getting more restless, unable to attain the nirvana our leader wanted us to achieve.  That was when my furry friend found his way back to my side.  He would nuzzle my hip and flop on my hand seeking affection and attention. I would pet him for a few seconds than push him away so I could try to slip into a deep meditation, but my kitty companion wasn’t having it. He kept purring, nuzzling and pushing against me.

After 20 minutes or so all with my eyes closed, I finally relented and began giving him the love he craved. My hands scratching the deep fur bringing about even more purrs and nuzzles. I began to wonder how much longer this foray into futility would continue with our Shamanic leader. Obviously I was not going to become more enlightened or have a profound moment.  I opened my eyes and glanced down to see which cat was so desperately in need of my attention. My eyes widened, my hand stopped mid scratch and I froze. I could feel the cat purring, pushing against my leg and hand simultaneously but to my utter amazement, there was no cat there.

 I paused assuming my eyes were playing tricks on me and that they had just not adjusted properly to the low light setting.  I closed them tightly, drew in a deep breath and began digging deep into the fur of phantom friend once more. I opened my eyes a second time and there was my hand, hovering mid-air, stroking….emptiness. There was no cat to bee seen, but I could feel and hear it. Within moments, the drumming stopped and the lights began to lift as they adjusted the dimmer switch, our journey to the ether-world was at an end yet here I was stroking an imaginary cat.

The crowd milled about in a semi comatose state. My brain raced trying to make sense of what had just happened to me. I was afraid to speak up for fear of looking like a fool despite the wild claims I had heard from other experiencers all night long. Then I heard the group begin to discuss their personal reflections of the drumming and meditation when one of the people spoke up and said, “How about the ghost cat?” Many in the group admitted to seeing a ghostly cat all night long checking us out and stalking the room. Still I stood silent.

“He was sure curious about what we were doing. I heard the owner say her favorite cat passed away a few weeks back, its nice to know he still calls this home.:”  I was astounded, did I just spend 30 minutes petting a specter? I don’t even like cats I thought to myself, why did he mess with me?

The crowd dispersed and a few days later I got an email from a girl that also attended the event. She had laid to my immediate right and she informed me she knew I had an experience and she had been petting that same cat all night. We had been ping ponging the cat between us for the evening when we would try to focus on the guided meditation and brush it off, it would move to the other one of us.
That was one of the first truly amazing experiences I ever had that was more than a fleeting moment that could easily be explained away and I will cherish that forever.

– Dave Schrader

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Friends – we hope you enjoyed our special guest today.  We would also like to throw a great huge THANK YOU to Dave Schrader for taking time to share his story.  You rock!!

 

Boo! Hexing

Take heed my friends – don’t hex and drive!

 

Boo! Scariest Movie

Oh my friends.  Let’s do a twist today.  Let’s see if you can scare me for a change.  Mom/dad were sitting the living room last night with us anipals.  The room was dark except for the flames of the fireplace.  They were talking about movies they have seen over the years that scared them silly.  Conversation went back and forth until they settled on two.

Dad’s Movie Pick – 1408.  This movie came out in 2007 and started John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.  You see John Cusack’s character was a so called ‘ghost hunter’.  He went to famous places and would spend the night in haunted rooms.  Most of the time, nothing happened and the places were debunked.  But then while writing his latest book, he travels to New York to stay at the Dolphin Hotel in room 1408, a haunted room.  In fact, it was so haunted that the hotel would not rent the room to anyone.  Through lawyers, he finds out that if the room is vacant, the hotel has to rent it so he makes a reservation to stay.  He checks in and meets with the hotel manager, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson tries everything he can to persuade Cusack’s character not to stay in the room – a room upgrade, expensive booze and even will allow Cusack to look at a book he has made showing over 50 deaths in room 1408.  But in the end, Cusack stays in 1408.  Let’s just say that 1408 is everything you can imagine it to be.

Mom’s Movie Pick – House on Haunted Hill.  This movie came out in 1999.  Mom/dad will usually go to the movies to see comedy’s but for some reason, they saw this movie in the theater.  Don’t ask me why because it’s not like them.  Mom actually watched part of the movies with her hands covering her eyes.  At one time, she even told daddy that she might have to leave – that’s how scared she was.  The entire movie is about a millionaire who offers a diverse group of people $1,000,000 to spend the night in a haunted house with a horrifying past.  “nuff said before I make water from being scared.

So my question to you my friends, what is the one movie that you saw that scared your pants off?

 

Boo! Dismemberment

Oh my friends – didn’t you get a chill just reading that title – dismemberment?  It does bring me shutters thinking about it.  You see this is a story that read about and heard on television.  I couldn’t believe my piggy eyes and ears!  I was shocked and ran to tell mom/dad.  They were in awe as well.

There was a man that lived in Tennessee.  Back in November of last year, he and his wife had a huge fight.  Things didn’t end well.  The fight escalated and the guy ended up killing his wife, dismembering her and putting her in their freezer in the garage of their house.  There she was for two days.

During those two days, the man kept thinking his wife was coming to him in his dreams about what happened.  He finally went and checked the freezer and she was alive!  They had a long conversation and she was telling him how much she loved him.  He was crying when he called 911 to come out and help her.

The police arrived to the house.  When they went into the garage, there was no way the woman could have been talking to the guy – she was dead and had been for several days.  Did she come back to seek her revenge?

 

Boo! Flirting with Death

 

Boo! Deep South

Some friends of ours in the deep south here took a picture of their home a couple of weeks ago.  When they were looking at the pictures, they saw something that kind of stood out for them.  They didn’t see it while they were taking pictures of their house.  Do you see it?  Would you go back into your home if this was your crib?

 

 

 

 

 

Boo! H.H. Holmes

I know you are asking yourself who in the world is H.H. Holmes and why is he being featured on my 31 Days of Spook?  The name sounds so plain and innocent.  But I assure, it is not.  You see H.H. Holmes is the common name of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes (who was actually born Herman Webster Mudgett – try to figure that out huh?)  H.H. Holmes is considered America’s First Serial Killer.  Does the name sound innocent now?

Most people that want to become a doctor go into the field hoping to prevent death. H.H. Holmes went to school to become a doctor to help him out more in causing death and destruction.  Let’s start from here and let me explain to you what H.H. Holmes actually did.

It starts out in 1886 in Chicago.  H.H. Holmes built a hotel right in town near all of the fair activities.  In the time that he was building it, he often brought in different construction crews to add things and then fired that crew afterwards.  Again the next day hiring a different construction crew to work on something else at the hotel.  That way, not one construction crew or person knew of the intricacies of the hotel.  What intricacies?  Well like 100’s of windowless rooms, doorways that opened into brick walls, stairways leading to nowhere, doors that opened from the outside and don’t forget the fun rooms.  The rooms that had soundproof walls and gas lines in them to asphyxiate the guests.  Or rooms that had walls covered with iron plates and blowtorches to incinerate guests.  Or the secret hanging chamber… or the basement where he would dissect, strip the flesh off guests and then sale their bodies to medical schools.  What a host huh?

The hotel was nicknamed the Castle by the people of the area and it was three stories and a block long.  The name of the actual hotel was called the World’s Fair Hotel.  Yep, you guessed it.  The hotel was right there in the same area of the World Fair in 1893.  Just think of all of the innocent people coming to  Chicago for the World’s Fair.  They see this nice, new hotel and check in thinking they are safe… and then they are never heard from again.  Thus in the end, the hotel was then called the Murder Castle.

In the end, justice was given to H.H. Holmes.  He was eventually caught and although he claimed to have killed 27 people, it is actually thought the count could be well over 200 people!  What’s even more interesting is that H.H. Holmes is even linked to the likes of Jack the Ripper.  Some people even think that they may be one and the same.  H.H. Holmes was actually in London during the killings of Jack the Ripper.  And of course, Jack the Ripper was actually a very clean cut killer – some believe that he had a medical background.  With all of the killing that H.H. Holmes did, I would think he would fit that bill.  Do you?

Picture Mugshot from Wikipedia

 

Boo! Exton Witch House

This abandoned house is called the Exton Witch House and is located in Pennsylvania.  It is said that this house holds some dark mysterious secrets.  According to legend, there was a family of four witches that are buried on the property.  Their graves are positioned next to each other and it is believed that their corpses are buried in the upright position.  Why do you ask?  Supposedly witches were buried in this custom as to prevent them from causing trouble after their death.  There once was actual tombstones to mark their graves but vandals have since ran off with them.  Those that visit, so that the location is eerie and quiet.  Some even experience strange occurrences.  Would you be willing to go and explore the house with me?

Story/Picture courtesy of First to Know

 

Boo! Subway

Let’s talk about Subway today.  Not just any Subway but the Subway located in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.  This building that is now the Subway used to be a Harley Davidson shop owned by Mr and Mrs Forbes.  Back on the night of April 13, 1984, the couple went out driving when a car load of young men driving too fast, over 100 mph, crashed into the Forbes car killing everyone involved.

Today, Mrs. Forbes haunts the Subway building.  She is know to throw items off shelves, she sets off beepers on the doors, cuts sandwiches and calls out employee names.  She is even know to appear at the cash register with a stern look on her face.  And when she appears, she has a foul odor.

Would you like to meet for lunch here?

Courtesy of Huff Post

 

You Made It!!

Thank you so much my sweet friends for surviving my 31 Days of Spook. It was a fantastic month full of wonderful stories. We at the Hotel Thompson hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did and bringing it to you.

We would also like to do a shout out to say thank you for those that submitted stories and helped with pictures.   A special thank you to my brother Easy for making our yearly I Survived Bacon’s 31 Days of Spook 2016 badge.

We hope that you proudly display this badge on your blogs. Thanks again sweet friends.