SPIRITS on the GO!
International Travel
International Travel:
Pompeii, Italy. Jan. 2006
By: Brandy Stark
I had the joy of travelling to Rome, Capri, Sorrento, Pompeii and Herculaneum. I had waited my entire life for this trip. However, since I was going into the villas of the dead, I also opted to bring with me a primitive ghost investigation kit. I feared bringing anything too complicated with me onto the plane in the post 9 - 11 days of travel, and I didn't want to pack anything. (It is actually a good thing that I didn't as my luggage was lost for nearly the entire trip). So, I brought a small compass and my digital camera. I had about 10 years of investigation experience at that time so I hoped that it would be enough.
I felt very little in Pompeii or Capri, but I had an odd experience in Herculaneum. It was the first stop in the ancient world for me and I was practically glowing with excitement. I LOVE the Romans and this was a dream come true for me. As I walked through one of the ruins, quite alone and seperated from my friend, I felt a sudden sense of intense sadness that interrupted my happy vibe. It was so starteling and so suddent that I went from engaged curiosity to nearly bursting into tears that it took me off gaurd. I had the compass in my hand and it started to turn slightly off of North (in my notes, I have "turned about 5 degrees"), though I had stopped walking. I quickly raised my camera and snapped a shot before everything ended and I got a single orb image. As quickly as the sensation started, the entire experience was over within about 25 seconds. It did not happen again.
I know, I know. Another orb. However, I took many many many shots that day and during that entire trip. Only two showed up with orbs, and both were in Herculaneum. On the way out of the old ruins, I felt like someone was behind me. I turned around and snapped another shot. In that picture, too, was an orb. I almost wondered if someone was trying to say goodbye. The orbs have depth and texture, and both look similar to me. Is this the same entity?
I have no idea why I reacted as I did. I do know that I often claim to be a person out of time. I do feel as if I am born in the wrong time period, and I do have a strong connection to the Roman times. I am a Cesar Groupie, and I think Augustus Cesar is adorable! I have been told by one friend that she felt that I lived in the Roman times, though I was in Egypt (Roman occupied Egypt) as a Roman official. I don't know. I just know that Herculaneum, more than Pompeii or Caprii (Villa Jovis) felt like home to me.
Here are my images:
The compass experience:
Goodbye...?
Edinburgh, Scotland
August, 2005
Brandy Stark
I had an art show in Soctland and decided to go with the art. While there, a friend and I managed to get in some local ghostly lore. We visited the statue and grave of Greyfriars Bobby, the dog. Story has it that after his master died Bobby came to the spot where they met daily for the rest of his life. A second story says that his master died when he was but a pup. He was so dedicated that he came to sleep on his master's grave daily, until he, too, died. The dog died at the age of 16...still waiting for his master to meet up with him again. A sweet twist to the story says that after Bobby died, his ghost appeared to walk along side his master's for one last step into eternity.
For more information: http://www.greyfriarsbobby.co.uk/
We went into the Greyfriars Church cemetery, which is the home of a famous poltergeist. I did get a book that detailed the experience of those who had seen the hauntings, though I had no haunted activity there myself.
For more information: http://www.wyrdology.com/edinburgh/greyfriars-cemetery.html
Marker for Greyfriars Bobby:
After walking through it, we went for a ghost tour of the vaults under Scotland. I had hoped to go into Mary's Close but they said the tours were closed for today (which did, admittedly, irk me).
What I missed: http://www.offbeattravel.com/edinburgh.html
The vault tours proved interesting. This is the place where people go in and come out with bites, scratches, and blisters. Admittedly, I do have a sore spot in the top of my head that wasn't there when I went in. However, it's hard to tell if that is simply from travelling for the day. I did return home with two odd spots on my neck that almost looked like Dracula's bites. However, they turned out to be a small skin infection (which I had to have treated). Darn!
The tour was not bad. It seems that the underground was once used to house victims of the Black Death. Many people were walled up under there in an attempt to keep the disease under control. However, it's next great claim to fame was when people fled to the underground to escape great city fires. One fire was far worse than all of the others and burned longer and hotter than normal. Those who went underground to escape turned out to be trapped as the stone walls heated up and the air grew thick and still. Many were cooked to death or died in fright. Others were trampled in the panic.
The tour also revealed an odd circle that is, apparently, a portal to the other side. The ghosts are negative -- nasty. They guides reported disbelievers getting into the stone circle only to return the next day with scratches all over their bodies. As a believer, I was not going to go there. It was funny, though, as at one point another tourist got so caught up in the story that when a child's backpack, carried by another, brushed inadvertantly against him, he shrieked! That certainly woke the rest of us up!
The other interesting aspect is that there is an pretty popular Wiccan altar located in the tunnels. I suspect it is because of the underground nature of the vault and the connection with death (as Wicca does celebrate the ancestors and has a connection with reincarnation).
The tour did produce a few images of orbs, but being underground and with a crowd of people that is to be expected. IR video revealed nothing unusual and, other than my odd skin infection, no other unusual images were found.
I met a Scottish paranormal investigator and gave her the SPIRITS site; she's going to send her site to me. So, a few international connections can't hurt!
Glasgow, Scotland
August 2005
Brandy Stark
I did get an orb in the Glasgow Cathedral (the sister city and the actual site of my art show). I could not get any verification of any haunting at the Cathedral, though they do have those lovely old relics there so I supposes one never knows!
I also went through the Glasgow Necropolis. This is an area that is hunted by vampire enthusiasts. I figured it might be fun to try to find another form of spectral interaction late at night!
The tour, the vaults, and the Wiccan alter.
Glasgow Cathedral (right) and the Necropolis (below).
