Looking for Casper

Looking for Casper

Dear Cathy:

I’m planning on having a haunted house this Halloween, and I would like to use real poltergeists. Is there any way that I can temporarily bring poltergeists into my house for the holidays?

Signed,
Looking for Casper


Dear Looking:

I am glad you have asked me this question. This important holiday information was not even mentioned in Martha Stewart’s special Halloween addition of her magazine!

Most people get confused about the different hauntings available. If you are looking for something along the lines of a shrieking form holding it’s head and walking down the hall you are actually looking for a repetitive image haunting. This is the kind of ghostly occurrence that repeats the same sequence over and over again. These instant replay ghosts are like looking at a tape recording of high intensity emotion. This is why these images are often associated with grief and trauma. In Bellingham there is a hotel where you can hear a man pacing and a woman screaming in pain where a woman died in childbirth. In my house a woman repeatedly comes down a stairwell and puts away laundry in a cupboard. Neither the stairs nor the cupboard currently exists in the house. I don’t know what her great trauma was but she is an intent housekeeper. I have however been unable to get her to also fold my clothes while in this state of angst.

If you are looking for the interactive variety of haunting this becomes a bit more complicated. An aspect or fragment of the person does not go into the light and they avoid the other-side-welcoming committee that comes to pick them up. This can happen because they have unfinished business, died in a confused state or because they have a feeling that they are going to hell for stealing that eraser in 4th grade. Often they will stay connected to their house and think they are still the owners. Some are gracious hosts and some want you out.

The E.R. Rodgers restaurant in Steilacoom is a great example of both types of ghosts. My father grew up next door to the house that has served as a private residence, boarding house and now a restaurant. He had many stories about the “ghost with red eyes” that looked out the front windows of the house overlooking the water. Recently I was walking into the downstairs women’s bathroom and actually excused myself and moved to the side as an upset women in a long taffeta dress cut directly in front of me hurrying to some unknown destination, disappearing into the bathroom wall. The interactive ghost, a scruffy old man, resides upstairs and stands on the stairs and harasses the restaurant guests and staff, turning lights on and off and moving things around in the kitchen. You can often smell his pipe smoke upstairs in the late evening. I understand nobody wants the job of being the last one out.

If you would like a list of some of the other haunted places in the area you can go to and for online sounds of ghost wailing and photos go to . A good list, but they neglected the very haunted Capitol building and the old woman that haunts the women’s bathroom at the Olympic Hotel across from Sylvester Park.

If you are looking for a true poltergeist experience, (poltergeist means, “to knock” and “spirit” in German), I have two words – adolescent girls. Loud knocking, objects moving about on their own, voices, particular odors and apparitions are the hallmark of poltergeist experiences. These experiences tend to focus around a preteen female who's hormones and the stress of that age combine and finally release subconsciously in flinging dishes and loud rapping’s. Activity has also been associated with very stressed teens and young adults of either sex but there is nothing like a group of 14 year old girls to stir up a bit of Halloween haunting. The energies surrounding adolescence is a very powerful force.

In other times and cultures young adults were initiated into adulthood and taught skills to begin to run energy through their bodies and direct these emerging energies into effective creative forces. Today’s adolescents move into this energetically powerful time unassisted by the older wise ones in the village and end up flinging things through the air willy-nilly. This might be a little disconcerting for the family down the block, but can assist you wonderfully in creating the atmosphere you desire for that special Halloween effect. Be sure to get a note from the girl’s parents before proceeding.

Place 4 agitated teens in the corners of the room, for best results keep large amounts of Halloween snack sized snicker bars close at hand. Encourage them to look in the mirror by candlelight repeating the name “Bloody Mary” until totally worked up. Place an assortment of small easy to fling objects in the center of the room and enjoy!

About Ghosts

Halloween – my favorite holiday. I love costume parties, trick or treat and late night contact with the dead. Halloween falls exactly between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice. It is the time when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest and the best time to peek over and see what the dead people are up to.

I grew up seeing dead people. I had no idea that seeing spirits was unusual until I was older. In my experience there seem to be a couple different types of haunting.

Sometimes an aspect of the person does not go into the light and they avoid the other-side-welcoming committee that comes to pick them up. This can happen because they have unfinished business, died in a confused state or because they have a feeling that they are going to hell for stealing that eraser in 4th grade. Often they will stay connected to their house and think they are still the owners. Some are gracious hosts and some want you out.

The most common ghostly appearance is a repetitive image haunting. This is the kind of ghostly occurrence that repeats the same sequence over and over again. Watching one of these instant replay ghosts is like looking at a tape recording of a highly intense emotional experience. If the ghost story begins with something like “every night at midnight you can see the headless huntsmen…” you are dealing with an emotional repeat. This kind of ghost is intent on its course and will walk right through you if you are in the way. Ghosts like this do not interact and though scary, are predictable.

For many years we owned an old farm and like many old houses ours came with a previous tenant. The previous owner who came with our house was named Alta.

My neighbor had grown up on the same street and knew the story of the unusual woman who used to live in our house. She was the scandal of the neighborhood. She walked around in the house naked, planted many of the trees in the backyard and read Tarot cards. Apparently Alta liked the place very much and decided to stay.

In 80 plus years the farmhouse has been remodeled more than a few times. When the house was very quiet I could hear someone bustling around upstairs. I could hear the stairs creaking as Alta walked down the old non-existent stairway into the dining room and the non-existent cupboard door creak open as she places items inside. She did exactly the same thing pretty much every day. My children grew up in the house knowing that Alta was just doing her housework. I don’t know what Alta’s great emotion was that kept her there year after year, I think it was her intense joy.

In the backyard, which Alta probably planted herself, was a perfect circle of trees. We used this circle for many things - a children’s play area, drumming circles and candle lit spirals for the Winter Solstice. We would hang out in hammocks between the trees on warm summer nights and enjoy the stars. Falling asleep in the circle was a bit hard though. There was this constant little tickle, like someone was touching me, and just as I would start to fall asleep I could hear children laughing. Pictures taken in the circle often contained energy balls or if you were lucky, you could spot Alta walking across the yard.

Olympia is a great town for ghost hunting. If you want to experience some ghostly images try the little old lady ghost in The Olympia Hotel women’s bathroom, or the ghosts in the Capitol Theater complete with a strict usher, or the whole gang of ghosts all dressed up for a ball in the Capitol Rotunda.

Have a Happy Halloween. I think I will run around naked and read the Tarot and see if I can leave some imprints for a future generation of ghost hunters!

Things that go bump in the night

Here in the Pacific Northwest Fall seems to have come early this year. There is a rumor that it will get warm again but I think that hope always springs eternal and that simply the idea of warm days keep us happy.

These cold days have me turning towards October and my favorite time of the year, Halloween. I have more Halloween decoration by a long shot than any other holiday and already a pumpkin man on spindly legs has taken his place along side the goddess on my altar.

We have been doing some remodeling at the house and have stirred up a ghost from the attic. My husband Chuck and grandson Oliver where looking in the attic when a ball of light can down in front of them and out into the living room. My daughter and son-in-law - who are both clair-everything - and I stood there and watched a shy spirit search for a comfortable space to land.

This spirit seems very interested in our new bathroom, which was the former bedroom, so I have a visitor with me while I am in there. While I bush my teeth I talk to it and let him know that he is okay and welcome. I have assured him that things will calm down construction-wise and he will find a space to settle. I am considering creating a small spirit house for him up in my closet.

I will write more about ghosts as the days shorten, be well!

In grace and ease,
Cathy