My First Ghost Story

 

My First Ghost Story

It began with mom and dad cleaning out the closed off room in our 100 year old farm house.  I was five, but it seemed like yesterday.  I peeked inside this once sealed room to see thick dust over old dressers and cob webs everywhere.  It was like the movie "Child of Glass" when they entered the old abandoned farm house.  What made it so odd, was this room had not just been closed, but painted and nailed closed.  I asked once, but there was no answer as to why.

When I first entered the room under restoration, it felt like an ice box and scared me terribly.  It wasn't too long before my sister and I had to sleep in there on our bunk beds.  That was the last time I rested at night.  I felt like I was being watched from the foot of my bed near the window.  I even put my pillow down there so I wouldn't feel my imagination staring at me.  That made it worse, and I slept with the covers over my head.  Not long after that I felt an especially strong urge to look at the corner of my bed, only to see an elderly woman with big curly gray hair in a black high collar dress.  She was not family.  I can only guess she lived in the home with the original owners.  She wasn't mean, but very stern.  I now she looked after me, but I still couldn't rest knowing I was being watched.

When I was in my early teens, I was given the option of moving into the front tiny bedroom or staying in that large one by myself.  To my parents surprise, I jumped at the chance to leave the room.

I don't know how long after it was that the dreams of a fire began.  Our whole family got out every time, but the fire was always in the same place. When I asked about the fire in the kitchen downstairs, my mom turned white.  She had never spoken of it.  I begged her to tell me what she knew.  She made me tell her why I was asking and every detail of my daily dream.  She still had no colour.

She finally confirmed that there was a fire exactly were I told her and to stop asking questions about it.  It was made clear that my "vision" was unacceptable.

I struggled through many years of growing and seeing things that I knew to be glimpses of the past or future.  It wouldn't be until I was over 30 until I found a way to share what I saw routinely.

This is why I have such passion for helping children and families with unexplainable events.  Nobody needs to live in fear by themselves.  They could have taught me how to figure out that some of what I heard, was just an old creaky house.  Now we have an amazing relationship and I would not have changed a thing in how they raised me.  It made me who I am and able to help others.

Ann Bender (Overhiser), API Co-Founder

Fraud and Death in the Paranormal Field

Fraud and Death in the Paranormal Field

While I prefer to simply help people, I understand that public education is an inherent tool to helping people understanding how we help.  It is also important for the public to understand how not not be fooled by those just our to make a quick buck, fraudulently.  I like to teach by example.  While I don't judge a medium or psychic that takes money for service rendered (it's not my place).  I do wish there were some sort of guidelines in place that addressed fraudulent activity that has come to run rampant across the country in this hard economy.  Also, while psychics are an easy target, I do not believe they are by far the worst offenders.

Just like in the early EMS (Emergency Medical System) days of the 1970's, there are NO regulations for the paranormal community as a whole that has now become an industry of it's own.  Example: and yes, this is true, ambulances originally carried bodies to the morgue or patients to the hospital.  The "ambulances" were paid more money to bring a body to the morgue than a live person to the hospital.  Some companies brought more to the morgue than the hospital that could have survived.  It took over 25 years for regulations to establish this fact and correct this atrocity.  Not all was because of deviancy, but simple lack of training.  I was a paramedic for 10 years and those in the field, this is fact not fiction.  It was a living horror movie not yet made to date.  There was a comedy made in the 1980's called "Mother, Jugs, and Speed".  Believe it or not - this was how it really was in some ambulance companys!  If you know this movie, it is NO different for the paranormal world today.

There is fraud ongoing on an international level, but is not life and death.  I fear because of that, it will be far longer than 25 years before there are some guidelines for the everyday paranormal investigator.  The deaths will stack up from people trespassing and perishing on unsanctioned investigations.  Since tragedy drives legislation, more will need to perish this way before central guidelines are established and recognized.

Sadly, it is the deviant individual that prey's on a scared family in crisis or need.  Or the prepetrator will seek out an elderly person grieving the lose of a loved one.  These people may eve form "teams" that can consist of one, two, or more people that may or may not be real.  Meantime, hardworking teams/individuals that are there to never take money are grouped into the same category. Some of these people may charge for their professional service as this is how they make their living AND have years of experience to offer for that service. Hence why I do NOT judge a single person.  Each person taking money knows why you accept that money and under what pretense it is handed over.  The paranormal field is deeply entrenched in psychology.  This is a great thing and at other times a deadly thing for the victims.

Case and point:  If you are looking for paranormal help, I BEG of you to research the people you are asking to help you.  These are strangers in your home and life.  Just like you trust a doctor with private information, you need to feel comfortable with them.  If you do not - no matter the team - find one that is a right "fit" for you.  Ask questions to the people you meet.  Find out about their day jobs.  Observe their eye contact and body language.  Get copies of anything you sign, or did they even ask you to sign anything?  Think in legal terms when confidentiality like when you visit a hospital or any professional (whom would you give personal information to).

Perhaps the team is new and teams are limited in your area?  Maybe you know some legalities they may need and don't do - then offer to help.  Watch for the response.  That response will tell you volumes.  Also, just because they are new, doesn't mean they can't help, either.  They may not have the years of experience to draw from, but enthusiasm and a listening ear will go miles if they are ethical!

Best of luck to you all!

Dowsing with Dänna Wilberg on Paranormal Connections

Dowsing with Dänna Wilberg on Paranormal Connections

I was humbly asked to be on Paranormal Connections with Dänna Wilberg, recently airing Oct. 4th and 5th locally in Sacramento. She was a joy to talk to and made me feel very comfortable on a topic very personal.


I will be stepping outside of my shell on Oct. 28th and teaching a small dowsing class to others at the Sacramento Learning Exchange.  You may make your reservation at http://www.ap-investigations.com.

This is all to benefit American Paranormal Investigations and to help them assist others in need of understanding the unexplained in their homes or place of work.