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A Coming Evil by: Vivian Vande Velde

A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde, is a novel about a young girl named Lisette Beaucaire who was sent by her parents from Paris to stay with her Aunt Josephine out in the country. Her mother told her it would be safer if she stayed with her aunt while this is going on. When she gets to her aunts house she finds out she'll have to be putting up with her annoying cousin, Cecile. Her Aunt Josephine has taken in five orphan children who happen to be Jews and Gypsies. If she hadn't done this they would be sent to German camps. There is a secret room in Aunt Josephine's house where they hide if they get the message that a German soldier is on their way. Lisette is so anxious to get out of the house that she took a walk and finds a hill close to the house. Cicile always tell her that the hill is haunted but she doesn't believe her. When Lisette gets lost in the wooded hill, a young ghost named Gerard, from a far distant time, help find her way back. Lisette becomes really close to young Gerard and tries to unravel the mystery of his ever more solid presence. Meanwhile, in town, two German officers are starting to get suspicious of Aunt Josephine's large amount of food she has been buying, and a neighbor, Maurice, may have found out about the orphaned children.
This book was interesting to me because it was a good, fiction book about ghosts. When I first picked up this book I wasn't expecting it to actually be a good book, but it was. A Coming Evil had a couple flaws, not much though. I felt as if the book would never end. That something was always about to happen next. It was drug out a little but still kept me interested in what was happening throughout the novel. If I were to suggest this book to anyone I definitely would, especially to people who enjoy good thriller novels with a good storyline.
A Coming Evil was not based on a true story, but the author made it seem like it had actually happened, or at least could. Poeple of all ages would enjoy this book. Because of the time period, older people would enjoy it, and because of the actually story involving young children, young teens or even adults would enjoy it, too. I think this novel fit great with my topic and was a fantastic book overall.

Vande Velde, Vivian. A Coming Evil, 9, September 2007.

Ghosts by Michael Jackson

The song "Ghosts", sang by the world famous Michael Jackson, was released on May 9, 1977. This is a song about the confusion of ghosts in a house that leaves Michael worried. Michael mentions that there are ghosts on the walls and ghouls on the stairs. He sings, "There's a tappin' on the floor/ there's a creak behind the door/ there's a rockin' in the chair/ But there's no one sittin' there". Michael also mentions that the ghosts are ghosts of jealousy because they are messing with his family, kids and his family tree. Jackson doesn't understand what the ghosts want from him and is trying to figure it out.
I chose this video because everyone knows who Michael Jackson is and since my topic is on ghosts, I thought it related perfectly. I liked this video a lot because as an artist, he mentioned everything that I needed. He mentioned how the ghosts were messing with his family and making weird sounds in the house. I'm sure this is just another hit on Michael's list of songs, but who knows, it may mean more than what you think.

Michael Jackson. "Ghosts." 1982.

Ghosts and Psychiatry

Warminster based psychiatrist, Dr. Medway telephoned spiritualist medium Craig Hamilton-Parker when her patient had complained of a poltergeist throwing things around her room. "The lady involved is convinced that she is under a ghostly attack," says the patient. When the two visited the lady's house, hoping to convince her that it was just her imagination and no ghosts were haunting her, they came to find out that they were far from right. When they stepped into the living room they all saw a strange white mist that clung to the floor. After the psychiatrist's face turned as white as a sheet, it was clear that they were dealing with something real after all. The lady showed them around the house while the meditated at the places where she said the manifestations were the strongest. The ghostly figure described by Parker has the same description of the one described by the lady living in the home. The spirit told Parker that he was a gypsy that had been buried nearby long ago. After a long, difficult talk with the spirit, he agreed to go and leave the woman be. When the records were checked it was found that gypsies had camped widely along that area many years ago. They had no formal cemetary but it was believed that they buried their ded in the vicinity of the house in the woods that had once covered the land.
when i first read this article I didn't believe that a ghost could actually sit down and have a conversation with the ghost hunter. This thought stayed with me throughout the story. I believe in ghosts and that they can be good or bad, but a talking ghost is taking it a little too far. It makes me wonder what is true and what the internet has made up. But who knows, it could be real.

"Psychics & Mediums Network". Maxmind. 15, April 2010 .

Mother's Worried Call

Elva Zona Heaster Shue, known as Zona, was only 23 years old when she died unexpectedly. As the mother of Zona, Mary Jane Heaster, watched her daughter be lowered into the cold, dark ground, she began wondering what really happened to her daughter on a dreary day in January 1897. The coroner listed Zona’s death as problems with childbirth, but she had not been giving birth when she died and as far as anyone knew, she wasn’t pregnant. Mary Jane was certain that her daughter’s death was quite unnatural. The mother hoped that Zona would come back from the dead to reveal this unsolved mystery on how she really died. Just two years before Zona’s death, she had given birth to a child out of wedlock- a shameful event in the late 1800s. The father of the baby did not marry Zona, so the young woman was in need of a husband. In 1896, Zona met a handsome young man named Edward Shue who was newly arrived to the town in which they lived. He was planning on becoming a blacksmith. Edward and Zona took an instant liking on one another and a relationship began. Mary Jane wasn’t pleased with Zona’s decision. There was something about him she didn’t like, perhaps even something evil that, blinded by love, could not see. Regardless of her mother’s protest, they were married anyway, on October 26, 1896. Three months passed on their marriage. On January 27, 1897, an 11-year old African American boy named Andy Jones entered the newly wed’s home and found Zona lying on the floor. He had been sent there by Edward to ask Zona if she had needed anything from the market. Little Andy Jones stood there for a moment, not knowing what to make of the scene. Her body was stretched straight out with her legs together with one arm at her side and the other across her body. Her head was tilted to one side. Andy had wondered if Mrs. Shue had just been resting. Something did not feel right and Andy’s heart began racing as he rushed home to tell his mother what he’d found. The local physician and coroner, Dr. George W. Knapp didn’t arrive at the Shue house for another hour. By this time Edward had already taken Zona’s inert body to an upstairs bedroom. When Knapp entered the room he was flabbergasted to see that Edward had redressed her in her best Sunday clothing- a beautiful dress with a high neck and stiff collar. He also covered the woman’s face with a veil. Dr. Knapp tried to examine the body to determine the cause of death with Edward crying hysterically, cradling his dead wife’s head in his arms. Dr. Knapp could find nothing out of the ordinary that would have killed Zona. But then he noticed a slight discoloration on the right side of her cheek and neck. Dr. Knapp wanted to do some further investigation to examine the marks, but Edward protested so intensely that Knapp ended the examination; Zona had died of “an everlasting faint.” For the record he wrote that she had died of “childbirth.” Mary Jane Heaster was beside herself with grief. She knew Zona’s marriage with Edward would come to a bad end, but not this. Her suspicions deepened at Zona’s wake. Edward was acting strange; not exactly like a husband would in mourning. The neighbors seemed to notice it, as well. One moment he seemed grief-struck and the next, highly nervous and agitated. He had placed a pillow on one side of Zona’s head and a rolled up cloth on the other, as if trying to keep it propped in place. He refused to let anyone near her. Her neck was covered with a large scarf that Edward claimed was her favorite. At the end of the wake, as the coffin was being carried to the cemetery, several people noticed an odd looseness of Zona’s head. Zona was buried. Despite all the strangeness surrounding Zona’s death, she had no proof that Edward was to blame, or that any of this seemed unnatural. Mary Jane had taken the rolled up white sheet from Zona’s coffin before it was sealed. Days after the funeral she tried returning it to Edward; he refused to take it. Mary Jane brought it back home with her, deciding to keep it in memory of her daughter. She noticed it had a strange impalpable odor. She filled a basin with water in which to wash the sheet. When she submerged the sheet, the water turned red. Mary Jane jumped back in astonishment. She took a pitcher and scooped some water out. When she did, it was clear. The once-white sheet was now pink and nothing that Mary Jane did could remove the stain. She washed it, boiled it, and hung it in the sun but it stayed stained. Mary Jane thought it was a sign from Zona telling her that her death was far from natural. Mary Jane prayed that Zona could come back from the dead and tell her everything that happened. She prayed the same prayer for weeks, and one day it was answered. From out of the dim atmosphere of night, the spirit of beloved Zona appeared to her on four nights. During these visits, Zona told her mother how she had died. “Edward was cruel and abusive,” Zona said. The night of her death, Edward became irrationally angry because Zona had no meat for his dinner. He savagely attacked his wife, leaving her with a broken neck. To prove this, the ghost of Zona slowly turned her head completely around at the neck. Zona’s ghost confirmed her mother’s worst suspicions. It all made sense now, why Edward was acting so odd. He had murdered her. Mary Jane took her story to the local prosecutor, Alfred Preston. Preston listened patiently as Mary Jane told her story about the encounters she had with her deceased daughter. Mary Jane ordered her daughter to be sent to have an autopsy. And just as she expected, it revealed exactly what the ghost of Zona had told her. Edward Shue was arrested on charge for murder. As he awaited trial in jail, Edward’s background came to light. He had served time in jail in the past for stealing a horse. He had been married twice before, each marriage suffered under his violent temper. His first wife divorced him after he angrily threw all of her belongings out the window. His second wife wasn’t so lucky; she died under mysterious circumstances of being blown to the head. His jail keepers and cellmates reported that Edward bragged that it was his intention to eventually have 7 wives. Normally, such a conviction would have brought a sentence of death, but because of the circumstantial nature of the evidence, Edward was sentenced to life in prison. He died on March 13, 1900 in the Moundsville, W.V. penitentiary.
This story is an odd one. I never thought a ghost could come back and solve her own murder. Whether this is true or not, the story tells me that ghosts are real and things like this can really happen. I don’t like the fact that they drug this story out so long, but then again it gave me more of a description on what actually happened in this story. I’ve enjoyed reading about all the ghost stories that people have been through. Hopefully I will get to encounter some myself.


"about.com". Paranormal Phenomena. 4/26/10 .

Interaction

A few weeks ago, a few friends and I went to Bass Cemetery to try to experience some live ghost encounters. Bass is known around the world for its spooky haunting. During the time of slaves, slaves and other types of people who didn’t meet the standards of a perfect human, were buried in this cemetery. A lot of the graves don’t have gravestones so it’s really hard to tell if you’re stepping on just grass and dirt or if you’re loitering over someone’s dead body. The whole day, Shawna Boswell, Karli Estock, Tatum Buzbee, Jake Fagan, John Huffman and I all planned on getting out and taking pictures by the graveyards to see if we would maybe stir up the ghosts. When we pulled up, of course we were all really scared to get out of the car. The guys were the first to get out and we slowly followed behind them. Once we were all out our mind started playing tricks on us so we kept thinking we would see something, when in reality it was just our imagination. When we were walking around the graveyard after we kind of cooled off a little bit, we all got really quiet after we heard a noise; nothing big, but something was making racket and we didn’t know what it was. We tried not to think about it too much as we were taking pictures of the graves. Karli was scared that if she got in the pictures that the ghosts would come out and kill her or something, so she just took the pictures of Shawna, Tatum and me. When we were scanning through the pictures afterwards, there were some orbs in a lot of the photos. It could have been dust, or it could have been a ghost, who knows. After we finished with the pictures, we got back in the car to go ghost hunt some more. Unfortunately the noise and orbs were the closest thing we had to a real ghost encounter.
My first experience to Bass Cemetery was a lot different than I ever expected. At first I was so scared to even get out of the car. Once the night went on and nothing had happened except for a few little things that probably weren’t even real, I realized that it wasn’t as scary as I thought. Throughout this project I learned that there is such thing as ghosts, well in my perspective anyway. Even though I never experienced any live interaction with ghosts themselves, I do still believe they can be real and they can be good or evil, depending on what happened to them in their past life. My outlook on ghosts hasn’t really changed much since the project, but it has made me more aware of them and makes me one day want to experience them for real. Ghosts were a very fun topic to research and I’m glad I picked it as my topic.

"My Imaginary Friend Almost Killed Me"

The article, "My Imaginary Friend Almost Killed Me", written by a lady who's name was Becca had experienced paranormal activity with her imaginary friend when she was only 8 years old. Becca decribed vividly the appearance of her friend, Lucy. She said that Lucy would always tell her that Becca's house was her house and would get extremely upset if Becca ever left her to go do other things. Becca's mother and grandmother didn't very much believe her and just brushed it off. When Lucy grabbed Becca's arm so hard it left a bruise, Becca's mom began to worry. Approaching Becca's ninth birthday, Becca was taking a bath. Lucy was mad that day and came into the bathroom and dunked Becca's head under the water. Becca started kicking and screaming for her life when her grandmother came in to see what was the matter. She saw Becca struggling for her life as Lucy was holding her head under. After Lucy became so mad, she let out a horrible screech and then left. The next morning Becca's mother called for an exorcist. Becca doesn't remember much from that day except when the priest was about to wash down the house with holy water, Lucy wispered in her ear, "Goodbye, Becca. It was really fun playing with you. I'll miss you." As Becca grew older, her mother had given her a peice of paper. It had her old street address on it, and under it was: "TENANTS-MARY TAYLOR CHRIS, LUCY ASHLEY CHRIS". It had their birthdays under their names. Lucy had died at a very young age from a disease she had caught. Her mother, Mary, was so distraught that she had killed herself. A few months later, on Memorial Day, Becca visited their gravesite. As Becca bent down to place a white rose on Lucy's grave, someone wispered, "Thanks," to her. Becca left in a hurry. To this day Becca still remembers the vivid actions that were caused. She believes ghosts can be good or bad but definitely believes they are real.

When i first started reading this article I didn't believe that an imaginary friend could really exist, especially a possessed one. As I continued to read, the story became so real to me. I don't know why anyone would make something like that up, which makes me believe that it can really happen. Even though I've never had an encounter with ghosts, I believe that it is true and it can happen.

True Ghost Tails. My Imaginary Friend Almost Killed Me. (2009). http://www.trueghosttales.com/paranormal/my-imaginary-friend-almost-killed-me/

Ghost Activity Happens in House

"Ghost activity in a house"



In this video, "Real Ghost Activity in a Haunted House", real live footage of specters were seen in a house and caught on tape. In this video it shows strange orbs that appear just as the video taper asks them to show themselves.For an example, asking the orb to reveal himself again he says, "Can you do it again please?" As he says this the orb slowly appears on the video screen for the second time. This video shows that orbs can be spiritual and intelligent, not just blurs of light or dust.
This video had a way of making me believe that orbs could really be a sign of spirits. I think it is a good video to prove to people that ghosts can be real and not all ghosts are bad. I also believe that if the orbs weren't some type of after life then they wouldn't have been able to show up just as the man told them to. Ghosts are fun to learn about and this video showed that ghosts aren't only in bodily form but also in things such as orbs.

REAL GHOST ACTIVITY IN HAUNTED HOUSE! By Constantine99999. 14 May, 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjWE8pfO54

"Emily's Bridge"

"Emily's Bridge" is an article by Davy Russell describing the paranormal activity that goes on at this spooky place in Vermont. It is said that a girl named Emily is known to haunt this historic landmark. This girl is not only just a spooky spirit that watches you as you pass then fades back into nonexistence. This ghost is feared for she is known for banging people's cars and slashing their faces with invisible claws. This has been going on for about 150 years. People have witnessed voices, ghostly figures, and strange lights coming from the bridge. Pictures have been said to develop improperly without any explanation. For example, weird lighting in the pictures, blurriness, or wispy streaks going through the picture. There are a variety of stories explaining where Emily came from and why she does what she does. It is said that Emily hung herself from the bridge 150 years ago. The story also says Emily made the whole thing up to scare her own children. Kevin Kierstead, founder of Paranormal Research America, has recently been checking out the haunted bridge. Emily was not seen at the bridge by these ghosthunters, but some interesting things did happen. Things showed up on the pictures that were taken after they were developed, and the photography equipment used for this interaction repeatedly malfunction throughout the time of taking pictures at the bridge. One camera even turned itself off after every picture taken. Away from the bridge the camera worked as it was supposed to. The bridge is said to be beautiful by day and spooky by night, as said in this quote from the article: "While Emily's Bridge has a serene beauty by day, at night the covered bridge takes on a more dramatically spooky look. It takes a certain bravery to enter alone after dark; and with a loud rushing of water clouding your sense hearing, and the pitch blackness of nightime in the country, the mind easily recalls every chilling story associated with the bridge."
This story about the paranormal activity that goes on at this bridge had a way with making me believe it was true; how they explained this event and all of the witnesses who supposedly saw these mystical things occur. Even though Emily is said to bang on car doors and slash people with her invisible claws, there is no known information of Emily actually hurting the victims. Emily's Bridge would be an interesting place to go visit for ghosthunting. But we all know one thing, don't get out of the cars!

Russell, Davy. "X-Project: Emily's Bridge". (June 1, 2001). Paranormal Magazine. March 30, 2010. http://www.xprojectmagazine.com/archives/paranormal/emilysbridge.html.

Video of Emily's Bridge:
Haunted Locations - Ghost Bridge - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Haunting In Atlanta's Cemeteries

On its way to becoming a thriving place, the city of Atlanta, Georgia has undergone many changes. During the 1700s the city of Atlanta, known as Terminus at the time, was occupied by the Cherokees. In the mid 1800s a railroad had been built, bringing with it a new population to take over the city. Tensions were formed between the Cherokees and new white men. The white men were determined to drive them from their homeland. Terminus became Atlanta in 1845 and after Georgia seceded from the Union to join forces with the Confederacy, the city became a major Confederate military post because of its large quantity of railroads linking the southern states. The Union realized they had to destroy Atlanta to win the war. During the summer of 1864 the city continued to be attacked by the Union. On September 2, 1864 a white flag was raised, officially surrendering Atlanta to the Union. Federal troops quickly took control of the city, forcing people from their homes. Before departing in November, Federals torched the entire city. Nothing remained standing. Today, the city's many ghosts are reminders of Atlanta's terrible past. Civil War spirits are said to roam the streets, homes, public buildings, and cemeteries. Oakland Cemetery is one of the most popular seen. Some trees used to hang Ferderal raiders can be seen from the lawn. From the limb of these trees, a man's body, dressed in blue, has been seen dangling from these trees. " The witnesses who have seen Atlanta's Civil War ghosts come in all ages. People who have lived a century apart relate similar haunting tales. Perhaps one hundred years from now, others will be telling the same supernatural stoies of Atlanta's turbulent past."
As I was reading this story, at first I found it hard to believe that ghosts could truely "haunt" the city of Atlanta. But the author listed many reasons that made it hard to say no. He had me convinced that ghosts really are real and not all are bad. The ghosts of Atlanta are said to just be roaming the streets of the city or sometimes even the houses, but have never been said to do any harm to any of the witnesses. I enjoy reading about ghosts and whether or not they are real or not and hopefully one day I will be able to experience the freaky but true supernatural life of the ghosts of Atlanta's past.


Behrend, Jackie. "Hauntings in Atlanta's Cemeteries." Ghosts of America's East Coast. 2001.
Jackie Behrend. Canada: Crane Hill Publishers, 2001. 120-123. Personal Interview.