A Word From Beyond

October 2023 - Vol. 3 Issue 7

Another amazing summer has passed, and we're headed into "spooky season". October is going to be a very busy month for us! We have three group paranormal events in the span of eight days prior to Halloween. We're looking forward to reconnecting with our spirit friends and meeting new living friends at our events coming up. Will we once again hear residual piano notes echo within Ventfort Hall?

NEARLY SOLD OUT!

We will be busy in October with three events just before Halloween. There is only one ticket remaining for our October events. Who wants to grab that last ticket? We already have three dates confirmed for 2024 investigations, we will announce those at a later date as we are still working with our other partners and connecting with new ones to offer more diverse experiences and locations.

A Spirited Evening at Fort Adams

Friday, October 20, 2023 - 8:00 pm - midnight
Newport, Rhode Island

1 TICKET REMAINING

Join us behind the massive walls of Fort Adams on Friday, October 20, 2023, for our final group paranormal investigations this year at Fort Adams! It's the perfect excuse to take a day off from work and visit beautiful Newport. Shop, dine, and explore downtown Newport or visit the beach before meeting the many spirits of Fort Adams with us.

Before the investigation, David Raby will give a brief history of a small portion of the lives that were tragically lost at the fort – and possibly still reside within. This event is perfect for everyone; from someone who has never been on a paranormal investigation to the seasoned investigator.

Non-refundable tickets for this exciting event are $40 per person, plus online ticketing fees (an additional $3.14 per ticket). All of the proceeds from ticket sales will go towards the preservation and restoration of Fort Adams. To purchase tickets, please click here.

Please note that if you are planning to investigate Fort Adams with us, we will be walking on uneven surfaces and exposed to the weather as we walk from location to location. Please dress comfortably with appropriate footwear (open-toe shoes or heels not recommended!) Please be sure to bring a water bottle and keep an eye on the forecast as we will not postpone due to rain, heat, etc. Unfortunately, this event is not handicapped accessible and involves many stairs and ramps requiring a full range of motion from participants.

Please note that while the online ticketing states the end time at 11:30pm, we will be investigating until midnight.

AUGUST EVENT RECAP

Fort Adams

Newport, Rhode Island

Thursday, August 10, 2023

The forecast for August 10 was not ideal as heavy rainfall was predicted. We lucked out as we only had a smattering of light drizzle from time to time. Distant lightning was seen piercing the dark skies and our hope was that the lightning would fuel the spirits at the fort. Overall, the areas near the tunnel and the powder magazine were uncharacteristically quiet, however, the former infirmary was extremely active and provided our guests with many amazing experiences that they will never forget.

It so happened that this investigation took place on the anniversary of one of the many unique tragedies that took place at the fort. While researching for an upcoming book on the fort, we discovered the tragic story of Bridget Wright, a young mother and wife of a soldier at the fort. As it was the anniversary of her death, we briefly discussed her story to our guests at the beginning of the evening. We also called out to her in the infirmary area in order to see if we could communicate with her during the evening. The result? Bridget was letting our guests know that she was there that evening by making our various devices light up and alert us whenever we asked her directly to impact the devices. Of course, we'll have to dig through the data to see if she left any EVPs or responses on the Phasmabox.

In previous investigations the stairway in the infirmary leading to the second floor has always been very active. Guests could often sense a spirit or group of spirits on the second floor peering down at us. In July, someone had seen a figure leaning out the window to look below at us. Various meters and gadgets let us track movement on those stairs as well as Phasmabox responses telling us that they are "going up the stairs". For August, I lined up the staircase with more pieces of equipment than usual, including a motion sensor music box. Honestly, I almost did not bring that piece of equipment because in the number of years I have been using it, it only detected movement twice on its own. Well, it was a last-second decision to include it in the kit, and I'm happy with that last-second decision as the device sensed movement dozens of times. I was suspicious and thought it was malfunctioning, but it was not triggered at all in other locations.

The Phasmabox was a bit too chatty in the infirmary area to pick out any phrases at the time. At times, many voices were overlapping and will require plenty of work to decipher if anything valid was provided. As we were in the infirmary, I had felt the presence of a stronger energy immediately behind me, just lurking. It was not evil, in my opinion, it was just a very strong energy. At one point, the energy moved into the space, and I had begun to immediately feel ill. As other team members were in the room, I decided to step outside momentarily to overcome that feeling. The guest that was standing immediately next to me, followed me out as well, as she was also feeling ill. As a reminder, getting sick during an investigation is not the sign of an evil presence, but is quite often the spirit pulling too much energy from the living - spirits are a form of energy and need energy to manifest (interact with the environment).

The former officer quarters proved active again with relevant responses through Estes and the Phasmabox and some movement that was spotted by at least a couple of guests. A selfie outside near a tree, included a face lurking in the background where there was no living person. We are still working to analyze this photograph in order to rule out any reasonable explanation first. I will be attempting to recreate this photo in October in order to do that.

Thankfully, the distant lightning subsided so we could end our night giving our guests one of the coolest views of Newport at night. While we are sad to see our summer series at Fort Adams end this year, we look forward to two more trips this year and uncovering more mysteries at the Fort.

As always, these recaps only covered a fraction of what occurred during the investigation. We have all experiences from this investigation documented on our equipment and will be sharing all data when review is complete.

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW HALLOWEEN?

The origins of Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The new year was celebrated on November 1, and it was believed that on the night before the new year (Oct. 31), the boundary between the living and the spirit worlds thinned allowing the spirits to return to earth. During the evening, Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and gathered around a large bonfire.

Bobbing for apples can be traced back to the Roman Empire, when people honor Pamona - the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. Her symbol was the apple, and her festival was held the day after Feralia, a day when Romans would honor the recently departed souls.

When bonfires were lit as part of Samhain, insects were attracted to the light - which in turn, attracted bats to feast on the insects. Bats would soon become associated with Samhain, and soon a superstition was started that bats were harbingers of death.

We all know the unfortunate history of witch hunts in early America, however, the word "witch" comes from the Old English word wicce - which means "wise woman".

Halloween was frowned upon in colonial New England because of the strict Protestant beliefs. Halloween was more widely celebrated in the southern colonies.

In Germany, some people will hide knives to prevent the accidental harm to ghosts.

In the Middle Ages, black cats were considered a symbol of Satan. Some women accused of witchcraft owned black cats, further harming the reputation of black cats.

An Irish folktale tells of Stingy Jack who tricked the devil and as punishment was forced to walk the Earth with a hollowed turnip with a lump of burning coal to light his way. He was nicknamed "Jack of the Lantern" - and later "Jack o'Lantern".

Trick-or-treating is said to be based on the medieval English tradition where children went door-to-door on All Souls Day offering prayers for loved ones in exchange for food. There was also in the Middle Ages a tradition called "mumming" when people would dress up as ghost and demons and went door-to-door singing and performing scenes in exchange for food or drink.

In the United States, candy wasn't a staple Trick or Treat item until the 1950's. Before then, kids would receive pieces of cake, fruit, nuts, coins and toys. Candy makers in the 1950's began to promote their confections for Halloween and that tradition was born.

Samhainophobia is the fear of Halloween.

For years, there was a rumor that Michael Myers' mask in Halloween was actually a prop made from a mold of William Shatner's face used in Star Trek and spraypainted white. A production assistant who secured the mask confirmed the rumor is actually true!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

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