It's Over!

Finally! It's over!

 October and November have come to a close and with it...some exhaustion has appeared in my weary bones. Thousands of people, rainy cemetery tours at night, flashlights that did not work, lost dowsing rods and pendulums, miles of walking tours with achy feet, thousands of miles driving on highways, too many hotel rooms, prisons without heat in the dead of a cold night, faulty EMF meters, multiple book signings without a bathroom break, a haunted bus trip with a "possessed" microphone and bad windshield defrosts, and many more messy details that made up October and November's typical busy season.

Book signing in Mansfield Ohio at Barnes and Nobles

I think I signed several thousand books in October alone!

Borders book signing in North Canton Ohio

Book signing in Massillon Ohio--and the store ran out of my books. I felt bad....and wish I could've made more appear!

All in all it has been a great haunted year as I do this kind of stuff year round. This year's haunted schedule was not as packed as my usual calendar and I suppose getting married, moving 300 miles away, writing 2 books and opening up a new office all had to do with the energy drain. It just seemed as though weird "stuff" happened.

One of my walking tours in NE Ohio

Take for instance the darkly dressed and well tattooed man who came on the walking tour in Canal Fulton Ohio and asked me if I knew of any male witches that were single.

Hmmmm....I had to think about that one.

 Then there was the little girl whose parents asked me if I could "train" her to be more psychic so she could be on TV.

Hmmm....sorry. Can't help you there!

Then there was the gentleman who called me from Toronto and talked for about 45 minutes about how he had a theory about  serial cat...yes....serial cat killers and did I know he could also bend EMF waves with his mind??

Then there were the typical calls from people who had either dreamt of being abducted, had been abducted or had seen a UFO and they were not sure who to call.

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A UFO too! I can certainly do without the probing though, thank you very much!

 A woman who claimed to be a psychic from southern Ohio...called me and asked ME if I could tell her of a historical society in her area of Ohio. I Googled it while we talked and gave her the info she needed along with the phone number and website. I was a little taken aback as psychics usually don't call ME for information. :-)

I get many calls, email and texts from people I do not know. My poor husband wasn't sure what he had gotten himself into when we went thru the "busy season" with late night phone calls asking if I knew of good ghost tours in Florida, where is the haunted hotel in Colorado, how to deal with Poltergeists, is it true ghosts can scratch you, is there a face in this orb, can you help me with my kids school project on ghosts, how do dowsing rods work, and did I know of a good demonologist??  (and I do!)

Then there was the phone call one afternoon from a production assistant in Michigan who called me in October. Did I know of any haunted houses in Ohio and could I rent it out for them to shoot a movie there. Then she asked me if I knew of any good make up artists for horror movies and if I could give her some advice on videographers.

 I did the best I could.

  A few minutes my phone rang again and the caller wanted to know if I knew when Halloween "Trick or Treat" would be....in a city 250 miles from where I was at.

At this point my husband told me I should start charging a paranormal consulting fee per phone call.

THEN there was the night at the WV Pen at about 2 am.... when we were interviewed by a producer for a popular paranormal tv show. She did not know what EMF meant. It went downhill from there for me. Any investigator should know that EMF stands for Electro mangnetic field.

All in all it's been a great year. Just a bit odd. Of course, I guess I am odd by many standards when it comes down to it.

After all, how many people are over joyed when their husband

 makes them a mini coffin ?

                                My husband Perry hard at work in the shop

The finished product with Mr Bones residing

Some of the highlights of the haunted year included filming for a show on the Discovery Channel. Okay, so the show is now cancelled for the third season...but at LEAST I got to be on one show. :-)

This past summer found me at the West Virginia Penitentiary filming with the Discover Channels GHOST LAB show which I have to admit was fun. Filmed about two hours with the crew and I think I had 25 seconds of air time on the show. Go figure! It was fun and I really did enjoy meeting the Klinge brothers of Everyday Paramormal. The epsiode airs again on Dec 7th at 10am EST on Discovery.

Working on my Two-Lane Livin' column is always fun. I love being a columnist and being amongst the other writers of this great publication! It's been interesting to read email from readers of my column as they sometimes have great details to add from their own experiences. Their input and comments have been appreciated and wonderful!   http://www.twolanelivin.com/  You can read past and present columns there, buy merchandise and subscribe online.

                                    My column is called "Fireside Folklore".

I also joined this organization and became a member of the WV Writers Inc.

Very cool!

Haunted Heartland Tours LLC was also voted into the Top 10 Best Ghost Tours in America for the 5th time in the last 5 years. We are still at #7 which means alot since they gather the votes online. We had over 5000 votes this year and could not have done it without all the great folks who came out and hung with me.

Our first ghosthunting 101 class at the Whipple Company Store in Fayette Co WV

I was also asked to review a great book by my friend Louis Charles and ended up having my review on the back of the cover. HELPING GHOSTS
 It IS a great book!! You can get a copy here.

The first Haunted History Walk of Summersville WV was a hit this year.

 So much fun for me, too!

Most of all, I have truly enjoyed meeting the great people who come and do the tours, classes, ghosthunts etc.. with me. We had a great turnout at the festivals and presentations we attended and met so many people.  It's like one big haunted family and I love it.

Canal Days 2011 in Canal Fulton Ohio

Me working at the office on book #4 due out soon!

Jared and Sherri at Cuyahoga Falls Ohio presentation

                                                   Jan and her crew

Radio shows are always a blast!  This one was at Akron Ohio with Ray Horner on WAKR am. I've been in the studio on his show a few times and love hearing from callers.

Skeleton Crew member Jodi Ivy and me at the Ohio State Reformatory Nov 19th 2010

The October photo shoot with Mark Romanos photography class was fun as well

Photo by Pam Mace

                      Sage Recco, Shannon Pachuta, me and the gang at a festival

WV Pen guide Lori O'Neill and me at the Pen this past March

                     One of our many haunted bus trips to the WV Pen in 2010

Another haunted highlight of 2010 was the writing and publication of my 2nd book, The Haunted History of the Ohio State Reformatory which sold over 2500 copies in two months after printing. The input from OSR volunteers, ghosthunters, psychics and Mr. Art Glattke Jr, all made it much more interesting and I thank them all!

Honestly, I was happy that it sold 12 copies and people outside of my family actually bought it.                                                           :-)

Finally...it's over! The spooky season has come and gone.

 I want to thank everyone who volunteers at the Ohio State Reformatory, the various tour guides, Rogues Hollow Historical Society, Massillon Cemetery Association, the Canalway Center in Canal Fulton Ohio, the Whipple Coal Company store owners, West Virginia Archives and Library staff, Summersville Library staff, Tuscarawas County Public Library in Ohio, Martine Bus Tours Inc, Cuyahoga Falls Library, Canal Fulton Ohio Public Library, and the staff at the WV Pen all have made it a great year, once again!

                                            I hope 2011 is just as spooky!

                                               http://www.hauntedhistory.net/

                                                   Thanks Josyln!