Return to Forest Haven, Part II: The Mimic

In Return to Forest Haven, Part  1, I described that I was told to visit certain buildings at Forest Haven by my spirit guides. This is the story of what I learned from visiting the Poplar building. 

    I knew that the Poplar building was dark. Every time I walked by that building I got that familiar anxious feeling, and the air surrounding the building felt heavy. One of the paranormal investigators that was with us on this trip had described his experiences in the building. As you can imagine, they weren't good. Based on the close proximity to the Holly building and the presence of the portal there, we all had the feeling that the portal extended into the Poplar building. We never made it far enough into the building to confirm or deny that feeling.

    Probably not the smartest plan, but we went to the Poplar building immediately following our attempt to go into the Holly building. I should point out that I had completely closed down my senses following my experience at Holly. This is an important factor in what came next. As we entered the building, Tom sensed a presence of a man who seemed not quite all there. We chatted for a few minutes about the man who while living seemed to have had some extreme mental difficulties before one of the paranormal investigators called us into a large room he wanted us to see. 

    Tom immediately got the sense of an intense ritual that took place in the room. On the floor were the remains of a burned mattress. The walls and ceiling were blackened with soot. Tom described the scene: At least 15 people on their knees, citing incantations and calling forth dark entities while the mattress burned in the middle of the room. I on the other hand felt completely numb as I took in the sight of this room.

    After a few minutes, I started to sense a presence in the vicinity. I walked to the other side of the room and discovered another small, enclosed room. As I approached, I shined my flashlight into the room, but did not enter. I always seem to do this; I'm not sure what good it does shining a flashlight into a room where you can't see the spirits in the first place! I engaged with this entity. Usually when interacting with spirits I get an immediate sense of the gender and relative age of a person. The identity of this thing was masked. That should have been my first clue that something was off. 

I asked the entity what they needed. Their response was 'help.' I stood there for a moment trying to discern the identity of this 'person,' when all of a sudden it dawned on me! This thing was not human. As soon as I realized what I was dealing with, I immediately called upon my spirit guides and AA Uriel (more on that in another post) to protect me, and reinforced my white energetic protection bubble. It was only a moment between me realizing that I was dealing with a mimic, me calling on my spirit guides, and reinforcing my protections that I found myself shouting "FUCK! TOM, I NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!" The paranormal investigator that was standing next to me this whole time seemed surprised at my reaction. 

    Demons can be tricky sonofabitches. Had I not been so closed off, I likely would have immediately detected this entity for what it truly was. But I was so protective of my sensing at that moment coming straight from what we saw at the Holly building that I was lured into engaging with it before I knew what was going on. That is some dangerous, dangerous stuff. 

    Tom immediately came over and engaged his spirit guides in helping to ward off the demon. Thankfully it backed away and I didn't wind up with an attachment or a possession! Later on that evening, Tom described seeing two angels standing next to me in a defensive posture as he walked over to me to assist. 

    I wanted to go to Forest Haven to learn about my abilities and limitations, and to help wherever I could. My spirit guides told me to go to this building for a reason, but I had no idea what was in store! There's nothing like learning a lesson firsthand like that. I came extremely close to endangering myself and my loved ones. One of the things Tom told me was that before he engages with any entity, he asks his spirit guides to confirm that he's meant to interact with them before he even says hello. That is one takeaway that is burned solidly into my brain! I am so grateful to have such a gifted spiritual communicator in my life as Tom. 

    Every new engagement with the afterlife is teaching me more and more about this strange new world I've been privileged to be able to experience. I look forward to continuing to learn about my boundaries, strengths, weaknesses, and stretching my abilities. 

There's more to discuss about my latest visit to Forest Haven.. but for now I need an energetic reset. 

Return to Forest Haven, Part 1: Darkness abounds

I returned to Forest Haven last night, accompanied by my gifted friend (whom I shall call Tom from now on) and two paranormal investigators. There's a lot to share about this trip, so I'm not going to post about it chronologically this time. As I was exiting the B/W parkway, I could sense that something was different there. I could feel dark energy from a half mile away! I called Tom, who was also en route, and he said he felt the same. That was our first clue that something was quite different at FH than the last time we visited. A new medium acquaintance of mine asked the question of me, "Who the hell is new to this work and walks into paranormal investigations like it’s a walk in the park?" Well, let me tell you that compared to last night, my first visit to FH absolutely was a walk in the park! 

    That morning, I had asked my spirit guides for guidance on what I should do/where I should go once I got to the property. The answer I received kind of stunned me. I was told I should go to three specific buildings. I already knew based on my last visit plus some remote viewing that the buildings in question had portals in them. I was kind of shocked to hear the answer I was being given, but there was no doubt that Tom and I were meant to go to those specific buildings on that specific night. So we set out to investigate those buildings during our visit.

    I wrote about the Holly building in one of my earlier blog entries. Holly, the Chapel, and Poplar were the three buildings identified by my spirit guides that we were to visit. As we made our way toward Holly, Tom and I felt the distinct absence of Earth-bound spirits hanging around. Unlike last time where we could sense spirits freely roaming the streets keeping a watch on us, everything felt eerily quiet. 

    Previously, I didn't feel threatened by being in the building or even in the same room as the portal in the Holly building. Last night was a completely different experience! As we approached the Holly building, the hair on the back of my neck started to stand up. I got that heavy, anxious feeling I get when I sense the presence of something dark. The air felt as thick as soup. I stopped about 30 yards from the building and just stared. 

    I immediately got the 'sight' of at least half a dozen dark entities hanging out throughout the building. They were powerful beings. Tom had stopped even before I did. I called to one of our paranormal investigator friends for him to stop where he was. He was about 10 yards from the front door before I stopped him. I shudder to think what could have happened to him if he actually entered that building. I looked at Tom and we both knew there was no way we were going in that building!

    We talked about it for a few minutes. Tom can see into the spirit realm, and he described the entities that were in the building as very large. Later Tom would tell me that he has never encountered a situation where he just would not walk into a building. One of the paranormal investigators asked me if I could call on my spirit guides to clear the building so we could enter. Absolutely not. I explained that If I felt compelled to go into the building to help an Earth-bound spirit, then and only then would I call upon my guides for help. In this case, whatever was lurking in Holly was having a field day and there was no purpose for me being in that building. 

    I don't know what those things were, or why they were there this time vs the last time we paid a visit to the property. It was a completely surreal experience. I am getting chills just recalling the sensations I had standing outside that building. After some reflection, the reason my spirit guides sent me to that building became clear. They wanted me to sense that kind of energy, to understand that there are some things that aren't to be messed with. I'd learn the reason for being asked to visit the Poplar building in a similar way...

Forest Haven Part II: The Dichotomy that is the Holly Cottage

 The Holly Cottage at Forest Haven is fascinating. I want to paint a portrait of the feeling I got when I walked into the building. I'm told that very little is known about the history of Holly Cottage and the purpose it served. It was built in 1931, so there was plenty of residual energy to tap into. Immediately upon walking into the building I was hit with an overwhelming sense of joy and happiness. It was a strange sensation and seemed out of place given the dark history of the institution itself. 

    I immediately got a sense of children dancing, singing and playing. I believe I described it in the video as jubilant. My counterpart picked up that it seemed like it was also a place of learning - where students came to study. As we walked through and examined the room more carefully, we came across several old leather school portfolios, which validated that sense. They were worn and empty, but the buckles on the outside gave their purpose away. I got a sense that the children looked forward to visiting this place - it was part of their regular routine. Whether it was daily or weekly I couldn't discern. On some level it felt like both. I didn't sense any active entities in this building, but the rich residual energy was strong enough to paint this picture of this place of happiness and learning. Children coming and going. Laughing, playing, dancing, singing. Writing letters to their families from inside the walls. 

    Interestingly enough, on our way to the Holly building, my friend and I both sensed an entire group of ghost children running through the woods adjacent to the building, chasing one another and playing tag. It seemed out of place, because those woods were also adjacent to the wall of dark energy I described running into in my first post. But feeling what we felt in Holly, it now made more sense that the children spirits would stick to a place that brought them what was likely a rare occurrence of joy and happiness.

    The Holly building is shaped like an "L", and so when we turned the corner into the next room, the vibe was completely different. The ceiling had fallen. Debris from the building itself littered the floor. Moss grew on the floor of the building. We didn't spend a lot of time there, as we were headed toward the basement. 

    Now to the dichotomy. What was joyful and jubilant in the entrance room turned decidedly darker as I approached the stairway to the basement. Just like when I ran into the wall of dark energy before, I was stopped in my tracks. "Something doesn't want us down there." Came out of my mouth. Turns out I was right. At the time I didn't think whatever wished us to stay away was dark, but it didn't feel friendly either. We first walked through a section of the basement that felt benign. Our guide wondered at the purpose of the rooms in this part of the basement. He suggested they might be old jail cells, but the feeling down there was not one of imprisonment. My friend and I both agreed it was more like administrative or logistical in nature. 

    As we turned the corner into another section of the basement, our guide told us a story about how one of their friends walked over to a particular section of the room and stood motionless, as if he was in a trance. It took our guide and another buddy a few minutes to get this person to snap out of it. 

    It was dark. Really dark. As I approached the room I sensed a demon crouching in the corner of the room. I could see its outline. Black as black could be. I saw its sinewy muscles stretched taught over its frame. It had horns and long claws on its hands and feet. Thankfully the protections we had over us pushed this thing away. I really wouldn't want to get any closer to it than we already were. I absolutely refused to walk into that room until I had reinforced my protections. I knew whatever was in there (besides the demon) wasn't something to be messed with. As we walked into the room and through a wire fence, my counterpart whispered "It's a portal." I had mentioned that my friend can see into the spirit world, so they were able to clearly see this enormous dark portal in the wall in the corner. 

    After identifying the source of this dark energy, we discussed it with our guide. His buddy getting 'stuck' staring at the wall made a lot more sense now. I told our guide that that's what portals do - they suck you in and can put you in a trance. It also made sense that I didn't feel the demonic presence I had felt before I walked into the room. Our protection of light likely pushed this thing back into the portal and away from us. Thank goodness. My friend walked over and described the portal's opening. It was large. Very large. As high as the walls of the basement, wide, and incredibly deep. Cavernous. It pushed out beyond the walls as well and outside of the building. My spiritual friend hypothesizes that there is a labyrinth of connected portals all over the Forest Haven Campus. It would make a lot of sense. I know there's a portal somewhere in the woods, and another one in the Chapel. 

    What a very strange building indeed. Upstairs: joy, happiness. Downstairs: dark and foreboding. Our guide said "I'm surprised you couldn't sense it from upstairs." My friend and I both agreed. After all, the portal in the basement was directly under the room we first entered. Whether it was the protections we had covered ourselves in that served as a filter, or the residual happy, light energy from the room upstairs masked the darkness underneath, I couldn't say.