Sanctuary of the Strange: Tom

Oh where do I start with Tom? During our initial walk through of the Sanctuary of the Strange, one of the owners took us into a room and said "Notice the smell? This is the only room that smells like this, and it doesn't seem to change regardless of what we do. There's also a really weird vibe in here." 

    I immediately picked up on the reason. I told the owner that it was due to the person hanging around in the corner. He is comfortable in this room and doesn't really leave. Later on in our investigation, I learned of this ghost's name and birth date: Tom, born in 1938. I got the sense that Tom was in his late 60's, early 70's when he passed. Austin brought in a REM POD to see if we could get Tom to interact. That was a no-go. Not only was Tom *not* interested in exploring the REM POD's potential, he backed away from it, and complained loudly to me about not only the device, but about all of the other 'stuff' that was in the room. Tom is what's best described as a 'crotchety old man.' Definitely the "get off my lawn" type. He was full of anxiety, which explains the 'weird vibe' that the owner described and I picked up on. Austin offered Tom some candy, and he reluctantly agreed that he liked the orange flavor.

ChatGPT recreation of the scene
in Tom's room. It's not exactly what
Tom looks like, but it's close enough.

Later in the evening, the two other paranormal investigators camped out in Tom's room. They *also* set up a REM POD, hoping to get the ghost that was present to interact. I had popped in to ask them how it was going, and they said they had very little response from the entity there. I told them it wasn't surprising, and informed them about what we experienced and I learned about Tom. I hadn't stayed long, as I was off to go explore more of the facility. 

    The absolute funniest interaction I had with Tom was when I returned again. The two investigators were still hanging out in Tom's room, chit chatting with one another. I walked into the room and heard "There are TOO MANY people in MY ROOM. Get the F*CK OUT." I literally busted out laughing and immediately left the room. This particular room has an opening and a counter top, so I moved to that part of the space and told everyone what I had just heard. The next time I visit the Sanctuary of the Strange, I am going to have to revisit Tom's room and see if I can get more of his story. What a trip he is! 

    

Sanctuary of the Strange: Bobby

I learned the habit of asking my spirit guides if it is okay to go to an investigation from my friend Tom. The morning I visited Sanctuary of the Strange, I asked my spirit guides and was told "Yes. You have work to do there." Having already witnessed and assisted with Earth-bound spirits crossing into the spiritual realm, I knew that meant there were lost souls who needed to find their way home. As I toured through the exhibits in the sanctuary, I walked along the last row and toward the front doors. I felt the presence of a spirit hanging out in the corner. 

    Instinctively I sat down on the floor. Something told me this would be a less-threatening posture to whomever was there. I was joined by my daughter and Austin who immediately did the same. There I met a 6 year old boy named Bobby. I said hello to him and told him my name. I didn't learn a lot about him. He was incredibly scared and just kept telling me he wanted his mommy. I asked him if he wanted help. He said he did and he just wanted to go home. I asked AA Michael to help with him crossing. AA Michael appeared and knelt down next to Bobby. I couldn't hear what he was saying to the boy, but in an instant a portal opened up. 

    In through the portal walked a blonde woman - Bobby's mother. Though I didn't know much about him, I got the immediate impression he was alive in the 1950's based on his mother's attire. She was immaculately dressed in a matching skirt and shirt, heels, perfect makeup and blonde, curly hair. Bobby's face immediately lit up when he saw his mother. She walked up to him, knelt beside him, and talked to him. I saw his demeanor immediately change from scared to calm. As his mom stood up, she embraced him, and said what I could only surmise as 'it's time to go'. She placed her hands gently on his shoulder and led him toward the portal. 

    As Bobby's mother was speaking to him, I suddenly felt something behind me. I turned to see a spirit rushing up toward me, but they weren't aiming for me. They recognized the portal for what it was and were extremely eager to get to it. I watched this spirit 'run' past me - again with whether or not spirits actually 'run' but that's the best analogy I can find - and straight into the portal. I had a sneaky suspicion it was another of the ghosts hanging about named Matt. I'll tell his story in another post. That suspicion was later confirmed when I spoke with Elise. 

    I narrated what I was seeing with Bobby for my daughter and Austin's sake. They both noted my reaction when Matt came rushing past me, and I told them about that as well. 

Witnessing Earth bound ghosts cross into the spirit realm will never get old. I find it one of the most satisfying parts of using my gifts. 

Sanctuary of the Strange: Elise

It's been a minute since I've done a paranormal investigation. Last night I was privileged enough to be able to investigate the Sanctuary of the Strange in Pikesville, MD. You can read about the history of the place on the facility's website. It was an incredibly positive and heartwarming experience. I attended with my daughter and 3 paranormal investigators. The owners of the facility gave us an overview of the place, discussed some of the results of the investigation they did, and left us to it. While we were chit-chatting with the owners, the EMF bell they have in the facility was going off on a regular cadence. I had seen the device used in ghost hunting shows, and always thought it was a farce. That was until I met Elise. 

    There were at least 4 ghosts hanging out in the facility that I detected, and several others out in the graveyard. I'll write about my interactions with some of the others in a later post. Elise hung out in the sanctuary part of the church. Early on in the investigation, I sat in a chair in the sanctuary so that I could get to know the ghosts hanging around. The only info I got about Elise was her name. I learned that she really didn't like to reveal a lot about herself or her story, and was hesitant to get too close to people. Here's a video I took next to the EMF bell, which prior to me walking up beside it, was dinging away. 

As you can see, my presence next to the bell was met with silence. I decided to back away from the bell and stay at a 'safer' distance, and try to communicate with Elise again:

She immediately expressed her pleasure with my distance from her! Several of us continued to communicate with Elise using the bell using yes or no questions. She would ring it if the answer to a question was yes. The bell would stay silent if the answer to a question was no. Among the things we asked her: "Are there other spirits here besides you?" Yes. "Did Matt cross over with Bobby (two other ghosts I met while there)?" Yes. "Do you like it here?" Yes. "Do you want to leave?" No. 

    I later asked my spirit guides to give me more information about Elise since she didn't want to tell us about herself. Austin (one of the paranormal investigators) had a deck of Tarot cards that I used in my communication. There was a lot we learned about Elise. She had quite the sad life. When I asked if it was okay to share her story beyond those of us who learned about it, the bell was deafeningly quiet. I got the sense of sadness and shame from Elise. In addition to learning about her life, my spirit guides gave me a little more about her appearance that I told my daughter and Austin about. Brown, curly hair that was between her chin and her shoulders "DING!." A strong, narrow straight nose bridge "DING!". She was in her late 20's, early 30's when she passed "DING!"

    Needless to say, based on the intelligent responses we got from our interactions with Elise and the fact that I was able to discern her name and some information about her (with the assistance of my spirit guides), I am now a true believer in the use of the EMF bell for communication with ghosts. Elise also was really excited to use the REM POD, though she was too busy setting it off for us to effectively use it for communication with her. 

Solo crossing assist

Earth-bound spirits stick around for a variety of reasons. Some died a traumatic, violent death. Others have a message they feel needs to be heard. Some are attached to a place and don't want to cross over into the spiritual realm. In some cases, spirits make a pact and stick around for some predetermined amount of time before they cross. For those that need to process their death or have a message that needs to be said, the bonds that hold them here are often quickly broken once that is accomplished.

Savage Mill Factory floor

 Such was the case with John S. I referenced meeting him in this earlier blog post. After he tried to follow me home, I promised I would return with help for him. My plan then was to meet Tom for lunch one day and have him assist John with crossing to the spiritual realm. However before that could happen, I made plans with another friend to meet for coffee. I knew that John would find me in the building again after I made my promise, so I decided to head over early and see if there was something I could do for him on my own. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to help John, especially if he was looking to cross into the spiritual realm. I figured I'd call on my spirit guides to assist if needed.

    It didn't take long for me to find John. He was hanging out down a different hallway than where I had met him prior, but I knew if I just followed my intuition, I'd find him. I learned a bit more about John on this visit. He died in an accident on the factory floor in 1898. He had a wife and three kids - two boys and a girl. His last name started with an S. Evidently the most important piece of information he needed to convey was that the Company that ran the Mill never paid his widow any funds that were due to her as a result of his death. As soon as John conveyed that information to me, a portal opened up about 5 feet from where I was sitting (side note - the energy from a spontaneous portal opening at that distance is intense!). 

Victorian-era boys clothing

I guess it's common for family members or other loved ones to come through the open portal from the other side to assist ghosts with their crossing. Tom says no spirit ever walks through the portal alone. John's children appeared through the portal as they would have to him at the time of his death. The two boys seemed close in age and resembled one another. They wore suspenders and knee length shorts. The little girl looked to be about 4. He met them briefly and they all walked back through the portal together. Compared to the previous two crossings I witnessed, this one happened quickly. A spontaneous appearance of a portal, brief meeting of passed family, a walk through the portal, and the portal shrinking away all happened within a matter of two minutes or less. 

    I'm glad I was able to assist John in his desire to cross into the spirit realm. I have since tried to look up any information about his accident at the mill. As you can imagine, information about the day to day goings on of the mill is scant. At least online. Maybe one of these days I'll see if I can chase down any info through county records or a historical society. 

Return to Forest Haven: Pine Cottage

After encountering the dark entities in the Poplar and Holly buildings, the positive vibes we felt in the Pine Cottage were a welcome relief. The Pine building is where the female spirits we encountered on our first trip reside. I was determined to get the name of the spirit I spoke to previously. Turns out her name is Jessica. One of the paranormal investigators that was with us brought some holiday cheer to Jessica and Layla in the Pine building. The picture is of the things that were brought for Jessica. She absolutely loved her gifts, and was particularly drawn to the candle after it was lit. 

    I spent most of my time in this building talking to and interacting with Jessica, while Tom and the other paranormal investigator were interacting with Layla. Something incredibly interesting happened to that penguin while we were there! I'm including a video of the moment we discovered exactly what happened.... 

At some point while our back was turned, Jessica moved the penguin from its original position, and had it face the lit candle! It was so wild to come to that realization. It's one thing to sense the presence of ghosts, but it's a completely different thing to get evidence of their presence! Now I know how some of these investigators feel when their instruments get set off. 

Return to Forest Haven: The Crossing

When we visit Forest Haven, Tom and I get dropped off at the site by our paranormal investigator guide and wait for him to park his car and trek back across the street to meet us. The first time we visited, we said our prayers of protection while we waited on property. This prior visit, we prayed for protection in the car since we knew in advance that there were active dark entities on the property. Just like last time, Tom and I sensed many ghosts hanging about while we waited for our guide to get to us. It wasn't long before one of the ghosts named Muriel came up to Tom and held his arm. She wanted his help. Tom called upon the spirit guides to help this person cross over into the spirit world. 

    As he and Muriel were talking, I sensed a portal open up about 30 yards from us next to a tree. I told Tom this, and he said at the same time he could see Muriel's face light up with a bright white light, and there were twinkling stars in her eyes as they reflected the light coming from the portal. Muriel seemed hesitant at first to walk toward the portal, but she was guided by spirits to walk toward the portal and cross over. While the portal was open, at least a dozen other ghosts made the crossing. I could sense them coming from all over - some at a leisurely walk, some at a sprint (can ghosts sprint? lol). As the portal was getting ready to close, a few last stragglers made the crossing. That was only the second time I have 'witnessed' a portal opening and ghosts leaving the Earth to cross into the spirit realm. It's an incredibly powerful and moving thing to observe.

    Tom is blessed to be able to actually see into the spirit realm. I hope one day I will be able to see such things with my own eyes. But for now, I'm happy to be able to sense these things and 'see' them with my third eye. 

Forest Haven: Pine Cottage, "Ms. M," Layla, and the Protected

I mentioned in one of my earlier blog posts that there is rampant dark energy at Forest Haven. I sensed portals, walked into a wall of dark energy, and know that there are also dark, ancient elementals hanging around. My gifted friend sensed that there was a spirit, once a woman who worked at Forest Haven, who dabbled in the use of this dark energy presence to maintain control of some of the ghosts that remain. Others have told stories of unearthly beings - part human, part panther - that roam the streets. Still others have experienced negative side effects from offering help to ghosts to leave the Earth and cross into the spirit realm. 

    I ran into some of those Earth-bound, 'protected' spirits in Pine Cottage. My gift of sensing spirits enables me to sense exactly where Earth-bound spirits are physically in a building. An example of this is my being 'called' to a certain room in my first blog post about Forest Haven. As soon as I walked into Pine Cottage, I sensed an extremely nervous ghost hovering in the corner of the entry room. I could 'see' her there: frail, long, dark, stringy hair; extremely gaunt, and incredibly nervous, wearing a hospital gown. I spoke to her. Immediately she showed me her wrists: dark purple bruises wrapped all the way around them. She told me that when the girls in this building 'acted out', they would be strapped/tied/chained to the beds by their wrists. Sometimes for days on end. You can see me receiving messages from her in this video around the 4:20 mark. I thought that treatment was why she was so nervous, but it turns out there was a much bigger, heavier reason. This ghostly presence didn't talk much, so I said my thanks and moved along. 

    As we walked into the room on the left side of the building, my friend picked up another entity - strong enough to suggest a spirit presence - 'presiding' over the room. I say presiding because it's the best description of what he explained. A stout nurse was pacing the room between rows of beds with a stern look on her face. This woman clearly meant business. One got a sense that you didn't cross her or there would be serious consequences. He describes what he's picking up on in the same video around 5:45. Other than this nurse, I didn't sense anyone else in the room. 

    We moved back through the central corridor and into the mirror room on the right hand side of the building. It was at this point that our paranormal investigator guide was absolutely giddy. He was keeping something from us and wanted to see if we picked up on what he knew. Right away, my friend's attention was directed the back right corner of the room, where he saw a ghost pop up from behind a hiding spot and go right back down again. He said hello, and I guess she knew the gig was up, because she showed herself. Our guide was beside himself! What he had been keeping from us was that he has spent many hours in this particular room, and knew there was a ghost present - she had made herself known to him in a variety of measurable ways on previous visits. 

    A long conversation passed between my friend and this ghost and revealed that she was being 'kept' on site. She and other ghosts, either in their living state or after their passing had been told by this 'entity' that they could remain on site for as long as the buildings stood, and would remain protected by "Ms. M." My friend knew right away that the spirit he detected on the other side of the building was this "Ms. M" person. The agreement is that once the buildings are gone, all the entities being 'kept' and 'protected' by Ms. M would cross over together. This was a very interesting development and explains why some who tried to force a ghost to break this agreement experienced negative side effects. I suspect that we will continue to investigate this relationship on our next visit to FH. 

    In the mean time, we learned that this ghost is nearly mute for whatever reason. She showed my friend pictures of things that represented messages she wanted to convey. He asked for her name, but she was hesitant. Once he identified her name, the ghost revealed that she didn't want to use her given name. She showed my friend a picture of a woman on the cover of a magazine, dressed up in fancy 1920's attire. This ghost liked this actress and wanted to use that name. I searched google frantically for pictures like what my friend described and came up with a couple of candidates. Ultimately, I found a picture of an actress named Leila Hyams. I pulled it up on my phone to show to this ghost. Evidently she walked forward and stood right in front of me - fascinated by my cell phone. I can't imagine what this looks like to someone who lived in the 1920's and 1930's! She poked at it and tried to put her finger through my phone, evidently! Either way, this entity was happy with the picture I found, and was satisfied with us calling her Leila (or Layla). So now that's how we know her. 

    As my companions continued their conversation with Leila, I was being called back into the hallway/entry room by the girl I had encountered earlier. She had an urgent message she wanted to give me (sound familiar??). I walked back in, and as I quieted my mind to listen to her message, she rushed up on me. I got freezing cold, and my spine started tingling. She was trying to enter me! Nothing aggravates me more than someone who violates my space. I very sternly told her she did *not* have permission to enter my body, and to back away from me immediately. She backed off and realized she had to deliver her message the old fashioned way of telepathy. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt her - I was just hungry!" ran through my head over and over again, combined with an image of this girl lunging at the throat of another patient in the ward. This girl wanted people to know that even though she attacked another patient, she was driven mad by the feeling of hunger/starvation. Based on what I picked up earlier, I got the sense she suffered terribly as a result of her actions. She was insistent that I tell my companions her story. I asked her if she wanted to leave this place, and she told me the same thing we heard from Leila. She can't leave because of the 'protector.' 

    Message received, I left this ghost (I plan on asking her her name next time I visit) to go back to my companions. They were having a great time speaking with Leila. I suspect, after all this time she felt relieved that someone could 'hear' her. Like I said, she's interacted with our guide many times before, so she must have felt comfortable opening up as much as she did. I delivered my message to the group as asked. I'm not sure why I was asked to do so, but when I receive requests, it's not really my place to question the 'why.' Spirits and ghosts have their own reasons for that. 

    One of the things I picked up quite strong in the building was a sense that many of the women housed in Pine Cottage suffered from severe mental conditions. Several things came through: 'mania'  and 'depression' were the strongest. Certainly if these women and girls were manic-depressive, it would explain them being chained to the beds for days on end. Examining it through the lens of today, the treatment these women endured is quite barbaric. But at the time, very little was known about these mental conditions, and even less was known about how to handle people in that state. No wonder a chronically under-funded, under-staffed institution like Forest Haven resulted in such extreme measures to control their patient population. 

    This state of affairs of the patients also explains a hell of a lot when it comes to the agreement they have with this "Ms. M" entity. In their living time, this strict nurse must have felt like these women needed protection, and did what she needed to do to ensure that happened. Most of the patient population at Forest Haven were vulnerable, but I imagine that young women with severe manic depression or other debilitating mental conditions were especially vulnerable to predatory behavior. 

    As we prepared to leave Pine Cottage, my friend mentioned that Leila would like some of the furniture moved to the corner of the building so she had a proper place to hide. Later that night, our guide went back to do just that. 

*Just a parting note. I searched for an image to use in this blog post of the institution as it once was. There were very few. The images that do exist are heartbreaking and disturbing, so I opted not to use any of them. 

My first trip to Forest Haven (part 1 of ?)

 

The Administration Building at Forest Haven. Image Courtesy Abandoned America.

There is so much to tell from my experience at Forest Haven that I feel like it's too much to put in one post. 

Part of my approach to developing my medium abilities is to reach out to like minded communities on social media. It's through one of these communities that I connected with a paranormal investigator, who offered to show me around Forest Haven. Forest Haven is an abandoned asylum not too far from me. It operated from 1921 to 1991, and had some of the most horrific cases of abuse and mistreatment of the patients in the entire state of Maryland, if not the country. 

    I invited a friend who is a much more experienced spiritual communicator than me, which they gladly accepted. Both of us sensed the presence of a dark entity in the place in some pre-visit meditations. In addition to learning about some of the spirits who remain on site, I got a sense there was a dark energy portal somewhere in the woods on the property. This made me nervous, because I already knew that I was sensitive to the presence of ghosts. I couldn't discern whether my anxiety was a result of a benign ghost presence vs the presence of dark forces/energies. As soon as we stepped onto the property, my friend and I could sense that we were surrounded by entities. I could feel the presence of at least one ghost as it approached me - my spine immediately began tingling. We conducted a protection prayer, and as soon as it was finished we could feel the pressure back off.  

    Our paranormal investigator guide first had us walk to the furthest building we were going to tour. As we walked past one of the buildings, I got a whiff of perfume. I could sense spirits inside the buildings watching us as we walked by. We turned a corner, and I immediately sensed a spirit watching us. As soon as he left, I said out loud "he went left." My counterpart said at the same time, "he went that way," directed his arm in the same direction, and informed us that the spirit was going to inform the others of our arrival. It felt good to be validated by another who is sensitive to the spirit world. 

    At one point, I walked into a HUGE wall of dark energy. This energy pushed me back a few steps and gave me an overwhelming sense of sadness. It was so strong that I started crying. My counterpart asked spirits for assistance in pushing back the energy so we could proceed. We continued a bit further. This trip was the first time I entered a building with ghosts present since my awakening. I was curious and a bit apprehensive about what I would encounter. The first building we entered was Hemlock. It was a 'prison' building where the most difficult patients were kept. (Spoiler alert, if you want to know what happened that I'm going to describe below, you can watch the video!).

    Our guide led us down a central corridor to begin our exploration of the building. The floor was littered with artifacts of times gone by in the facility. A paper with cleaning staff names written on it in beautiful penmanship caught my eye. It was from 1989. As we reached the end of the hallway, we turned left. Flashlights in hand, we looked in rooms and I could sense the remnant energies of the people who once lived and worked in the facility. My two companions were conversing about something that completely missed me, because I got the feeling that I was compelled to move in a certain direction. I walked away from them and toward a small room at the end of a side hallway (you can see me take off at the beginning in the video linked above).

    I approached the room to which I felt called, and I could sense a presence there. As I tried to step into the room, I was met with resistance. The ghost there didn't want me to come into the room. I knew he was there and I had felt called there but once there it was clear that I wasn't welcome. Turns out there was a reason for it. My friend informed me that I reminded Eddie (the ghost's name) of a nurse that once worked at the facility. No wonder he didn't want me intruding on his space! What happened next was one of the most incredible things I have ever witnessed. I don't think that my words can do it justice, so I suggest you watch the video to find out what happened! I will try to describe it if you aren't inclined to watch, but know that it will pale to witnessing the actual events as they unfolded.

    My counterpart is extremely gifted in spirit communication. They are able to not only see into the spirit world, but also can assist Earth-bound spirits in crossing over into the spirit realm. These are skills I endeavor to learn as I expand my abilities. Eddie the spirit didn't have a lot to say. Evidently he was heavily drugged (as were most of the patients at FH) and slowly losing his mind. Eddie didn't know why he was still Earth-bound. When he was asked if he wanted help transitioning, he said yes. It felt safe to assist him - he wasn't one of the spirits being kept at the facility by a ghost dabbling in dark energy (more on that in another post).

    My friend called upon his father - in his life he was another gifted communicator who also helped Earth-bound spirits cross - to help Eddie. I really wish I could have 'seen' and heard what occurred next, but I could sense it. My friend's father spoke with Eddie for a bit, reassuring him that he would be safe and loved on the other side. Then he opened a portal. I was immediately hit with a wave of energy. Eddie's family came through and spoke with him. When all were ready, they walked through the portal together. It was at that moment that I was again hit with another wave of energy. As soon as they walked through, the energy in the room changed dramatically.

    I'm so incredibly glad that I was able to witness this crossing over. Receiving messages from spirits and sensing ghosts is one thing, but to 'see' the moment when one crosses over to the other for the first time is something I will never forget! I look forward to many more occasions where I cannot only witness but also have the skills to let these lost souls find their way home.

    There is so much more to share about my experience in Forest Haven, so stay tuned!