PAIR PENS GHOSTLY GUIDES.Byline: Victoria Giruad Boo! It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a for ghosts and goblins. Author and archeologist Rob Wlodarski isn't scared. He and his wife, Anne, have written three books on the ghosts of famous places: ``A Guide to the Haunted Queen Mary Queen Mary, Queen Marie, or Queen Maria may refer to: Queens Britain England
Eighteenth-century mission in San Antonio, Texas, site of a historic siege of a small group of Texans by a Mexican army (1836) during the Texas war for independence from Mexico. .'' ``I was aware of the spirit realm as a young child,'' Rob explained. ``When I was 8 or 9, I had a weird experience at our house - a presence that emanated from the closet. It walked toward me and vanished. I knew it wasn't my imagination.'' His parents still live in the house, and Rob says the ghost, which was a benign presence, is still there. Anne added that she grew up hearing ghost stories, and her grandparents grandparents npl → abuelos mpl grandparents grand npl → grands-parents mpl grandparents grand npl always claimed they had a ghost closet. Rob and Anne shared a ghostly experience on an archeological dig in Oxnard a few years ago. When a construction worker hit a skull with his backhoe, Rob was called in as an archeological expert to examine the remains. It turned out to be a 500-year-old Indian grave site with 21 bodies. Chumash Indian officials were contacted and they decided to perform a ritual cleansing ceremony when the bodies were once again buried. Anne remembers the spooky aftermath and the chills she felt as she and Rob observed the ceremony. ``Roosters were crowing, dogs from neighboring homes were howling and a devil-duster wind kicked up out of nowhere.'' The idea for their first book on the Queen Mary stemmed from taking a ghost tour A ghost tour (also called a haunted tour, ghost walk, or haunted walk) is an activity themed around the paranormal providing an entertaining and often educational way to present ghostlore. of the ship. Afterward, Anne went into the gift shop looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a book of the ship's reported ghosts. The owner told her there was no book, but one was needed. Shortly after the Wlodarskis set to work, calling the Queen Mary's archivist ARCHIVIST. One to whose care the archives have been confided. to establish a correlation between actual deaths that had occurred on the ship and the ghosts haunting it. They found plenty of ghost stories. Several concerned the deaths of John Pedder Sir John Lewes Pedder (1784-1859) was the first Chief Justice of Tasmania. Pedder was the eldest son of John Pedder, a barrister. He was admitted to the middle temple in 1818 and called to the bar in 1820. He graduated LL.B. and William Stark. Pedder, an 18-year-old crewman, was accidentally crushed to death by watertight door No. 13. Stark, a ship's officer, died in his quarters when he accidentally drank poison thinking it was gin. Since their deaths, there have been repeated sightings of ghosts believed to be Pedder and Stark. The next locale they tackled was on Catalina Island. Rob had been involved as an archeologist on many digs on the island and had been collecting stories since the 1970s. Residents of the island offered up tales of hauntings at old Indian burial grounds at the famed Casino, at author Zane Grey's home, which is now a hotel (Grey himself is reputed to be haunting it), and at various homes, businesses and hotels all over the island. Built in 1890, something inside the distinctive Holly Hill House in Catalina spooked a construction crew working on the old home. They would hear footsteps and doors opening and closing, and after double-locking a door at night would find it open in the morning. Determined to discover the culprit, the workmen devised a plan to put fresh varnish on the floor where they'd heard the most activity. The next morning, they found tiny barefoot prints in the varnish, but the prints started in the middle of the floor and disappeared before reaching the end of the varnished area. Their next project, a book on the fabled Alamo, had an added interest since Anne was born in San Antonio. It was posed a special challenge since the couple had only heard one ghost story concerning the massacre at the old mission. But a trip to San Antonio proved fruitful, with many stories coming from various hotels that surround the old fort. Rob said there were many inexplicable tales of ``people appearing and disappearing in period clothing. People have also said they've seen re-enactments of the battle of the Alamo The Battle of the Alamo was a 19th-century battle between the Republic of Mexico and the rebel Texian forces, including both Anglos (ethnic Europeans) and Tejanos (ethnic Mexicans in Texas), during the Texians' fight for independence — the Texas Revolution. while sitting in a hotel opposite the site.'' A retired Alamo park ranger admitted that he'd seen an Alamo defender being repeatedly stabbed and shot by Mexican soldiers in the area of Long Barracks bar·rack 1 tr.v. bar·racked, bar·rack·ing, bar·racks To house (soldiers, for example) in quarters. n. 1. A building or group of buildings used to house military personnel. . ``Thley (the rangers) don't believe in ghosts, but say `I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what else it could have been,' '' Rob said. Anne ventures a theory that ghosts exist because of ``unfinished business that needs resolution. A spirit doesn't die, but leaves behind a psychic imprint from traumatic events that happened there. Perhaps they didn't make peace and are trapped in a limbo state.'' The imprint of events on an area is not always tragic, Anne added. They've found happy stories of ghosts that linger around ballrooms and even bars. The couple both have positive feelings about ghosts. ``They're more guardian angels than demons Demons See also devil; evil; ghosts; hell; spirits and spiritualism. ademonist one who denies the existence of the devil or demons. bogyism, bogeyism recognition of the existence of demons and goblins. ,'' Rob declared. The Queen Mary gift shop carries the couple's ghost book, and the Catalina book is available in several locations around the island. Already in progress, the couple's next book will be on Alcatraz, the island prison in San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay, 50 mi (80 km) long and from 3 to 13 mi (4.8–21 km) wide, W Calif.; entered through the Golden Gate, a strait between two peninsulas. . MEMO: Victoria Giraud welcomes comments and suggestions for columns. Call her at (818) 386-9399. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Anne and Rob Wlodarski, authors of three books on ha unted places, stand by Calabasas' Leonis Adobe, which they say is haunted. Tom Mendoza/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion