Ghosts - research, evidence, and discussion.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Newsletter Subscription:
Subscribe to our free monthly email newsletter:


Features Archive:

2006 Archive:
The Winchester Mystery House - Ghost Chronicles
December 28, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Investigating Jane Doherty - Ghost Chronicles
December 20, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Shadow People - by Lee Prosser
December 16, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Westford Knight - Ghost Chronicles
December 15, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Haunted Real Estate by Richard Senate
December 13, 2006


Traditions Behind Christmas By Vince Wilson
December 8, 2006


The Haunted Dibbuk Box - Ghost Chronicles
December 6, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Have Ghosts? Will Travel: A Ghostgeek's Guide to the RMS Queen Mary By Jen Brown
December 4, 2006


Thanksgiving: A Day of Forgiveness - by Lee Prosser
December 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

America's Stonehenge - Ghost Chronicles
November 29, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) - by Jeff Belanger
November 16, 2006


Ghost Hunt Seminar - Ghost Chronicles
November 15, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Ghost Photography: Orbs by Robbin Van Pelt
November 9, 2006


Pet Ghosts - Ghost Chronicles
November 6, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Ghosts Haunt the Inn by Richard Senate
November 3, 2006


Japanese Woman Artist - by Lee Prosser
November 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Ghosts of the Windham Restaurant - Ghost Chronicles
October 30, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

The Salem Witches - Ghost Chronicles
October 23, 2006

Ghostvillage Radio - podcast

Homan House, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: A Preliminary Report by John Sabol
October 20, 2006


What Does Halloween/Samhain Mean to You? - Compiled by Jeff Belanger
October 16, 2006


That is the Way of It - by Lee Prosser
October 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Fooling the Ghost Hunter by Richard Senate
October 11, 2006


Jack Kerouac - by Lee Prosser
October 2, 2006

Column - regular feature

Civil War Re-enactors and the Ghost Experience - by Jeff Belanger
September 15, 2006


Who Goes There in the Shadows? - by Lee Prosser
September 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Engagement and Data Analysis in Symmetrical Field Investigations by John Sabol
September 11, 2006


Occult Warfare by Richard Senate
September 6, 2006


Cats and Other Critters From Beyond the Grave - by Lee Prosser
September 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

Chicago's Strange Angles and Haunted Architecture by Ursula Bielski
August 25, 2006


I Have a Hunch: A Look at Psychics, Mediums, and Clairvoyants - by Jeff Belanger
August 16, 2006


Geof Gray-Cobb - by Lee Prosser
August 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Orbs: Have They Become that Boring? by Tuesday Miles
August 14, 2006


A Night on Char-Man Bridge by Richard Senate
August 7, 2006


Five Union Soldier Ghosts - by Lee Prosser
August 2, 2006

Column - regular feature

A Visit With Author and Witch Kala Trobe - Interview by Lee Prosser
July 26, 2006


Perceptual Stratigraphy: Making Sense of Ghostly Manifestations by John Sabol
July 24, 2006


The Trouble With Witches - by Lee Prosser
July 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

A Look at Our Haunted Lives - by Jeff Belanger
July 13, 2006


An Active Ghost Hunt at a Haunted Bed and Breakfast by Richard Senate
July 7, 2006


Lee Prosser, 1969 - by Lee Prosser
July 4, 2006

Column - regular feature

My Theory on Spirits by Edward L. Shanahan
June 28, 2006


Ethnoarchaeoghostology: A Humanistic-Scientific Approach to the Study of Haunt Phenomena by John Sabol
June 19, 2006


Christopher Isherwood & Lee Prosser in 1969 - by Lee Prosser
June 16, 2006

Column - regular feature

ESP, M&Ms, and Reality - by Jeff Belanger
June 15, 2006


A Duel on the Airwaves by Richard Senate
June 5, 2006


Marjorie Firestone and Her Dream Predictions - by Lee Prosser
June 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

Until Death Do Us Part? by Rick Hayes
May 31, 2006


Part Four: the Conclusion: Primrose Road - Adams St. Cemetery - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
May 22, 2006

Column - regular feature

Folklore, Folklore, Folklore with Dr. Michael Bell - interview by Jeff Belanger
May 16, 2006


Swami Chetanananda and Lee Prosser - by Lee Prosser
May 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Theatre, Sance, and the Ghost Script: Performances at Haunted Locations by John Sabol
May 5, 2006


Willard David Firestone and the River Ghost - by Lee Prosser
May 1, 2006

Column - regular feature

When the Spirits Held Sway at the White House by Richard Senate
April 25, 2006


Part Three: Investigation: Primrose Road - Adams St. Cemetery - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
April 20, 2006

Column - regular feature

Talking Reincarnation with Dr. John Gilbert - interview by Lee Prosser
April 17, 2006


Billy Bob Firestone and the Ghosts of Pythian Castle - by Lee Prosser
April 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Cryptobotany: the Search for Lost Plants by Richard Senate
April 7, 2006


The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 4 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
April 6, 2006


Vedanta and Durga - by Lee Prosser
April 2, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 3 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
March 30, 2006


Ritual, Resonance, and Ghost Research: The Play in the Fields by John Sabol
March 27, 2006


The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 2 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
March 23, 2006


Celtic This, Druid That, Saint Patrick Hit Me With a Wiffle-Ball Bat - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
March 21, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Mysteries of Druidry Book Excerpt Part 1 of 4 by Dr. Brendan Cathbad Myers
March 16, 2006


Christopher Isherwood, Time Loops, and Ghosts - by Lee Prosser
March 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Druids - by Lee Prosser
March 3, 2006

Column - regular feature

Natural Selection and the Involution of the Gettysburg Ghosts by John Sabol
February 28, 2006


Part Two: Investigation: Primrose Road - Adams St. Cemetery - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
February 20, 2006

Column - regular feature

Lights, Camera... Action! by Brian Leffler
February 16, 2006


Divination and Geomancy - by Lee Prosser
February 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Spirit Messages from a Murderer by Richard Senate
February 8, 2006


The Ghosts of Springfield, Missouri - by Lee Prosser
February 3, 2006

Column - regular feature

The Ghost Storyteller: A Dinosaur Among Lemmings? by Charles J. Adams III
January 23, 2006


The Fools Journey: A Magickal Roadmap to Life - by Marcus Foxglove Griffin
January 20, 2006

Column - regular feature

Tarot and Spiritual Alchemy - by Lee Prosser
January 15, 2006

Column - regular feature

Demons from the Dark by Chip Coffey
January 9, 2006


Spooky - by Lee Prosser
January 3, 2006

Column - regular feature



October 16, 2006

What Does Halloween/Samhain Mean to You?

Compiled by Jeff Belanger

Halloween is the busiest time of year for those of us in the field of ghost research. For a month or so we get the spotlight, the media calls us for quotes, many of us are booked solid with speaking engagements, and we're even stopped by neighbors and friends who may ask us to pass on some haunting tale we've heard recently. And then there's the religious holiday of Samhain -- the Pagan holiday that Halloween draws so much of its traditions from. For Pagans and Witches, Samhain also has special meaning (and quite often, the Pagans and Witches are no less busy than the ghost investigators around this time of year).

For Ghostvillage.com's Halloween/Samhain special, I wanted to get a quick remark from some of the many experts, authors, and teachers who have graced our pages as to what this day means to them. It's an honor to have so many of these people as colleagues and friends. Happy Halloween, Happy Samhain, and without further ado (and in the order in which they were received), here is what this special day means to some of the biggest names in the field:

Halloween has always been special to me. As a farmer's son, Halloween was synonymous with harvest time. I loved carving pumpkins and making jack-o-lanterns. Since I grew up in a home with periodic haunting phenomena, Halloween was not any spookier than any other time of the year, but I loved the fact that other people celebrated and recognized the ghosts and goblins with whom I had learned to practice coexistence. Since we lived in the country, I never went trick-or-treating, but we joined with our friends and neighbors to have a big pot-luck party with delicious food and games, such as dunking for apples and pin the tail on the donkey. When I was older, I converted our barn into a spook house that everyone was expected to enter and to endure the monsters lurking within. Today, Halloween remains my favorite holiday and autumn my favorite season.
-Brad Steiger, author of Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places, www.bradandsherry.com

Halloween is when the media discovers that there are ghosts about. Halloween is when the "less than mentally balanced" suddenly discover their house is "haunted." Most importantly, Halloween is when I get to play mean practical jokes on people and get away with it!
-Vince Wilson, author of Ghost Tech and Ghost Science, www.ghosttech.net

Halloween is my favorite holiday. It is a time to mock death and enjoy without all the obligations of Christmas or Thanksgiving. It is a time to remember that there is much in the universe that is strange and unknown.
-Richard Senate, author and lecturer, www.ghost-stalker.com

Halloween to me means the smell of dead leaves, winter winds coming in off Lake Michigan, Poe readings on Chicago's Prairie Avenue, a house dripping with generations of decorations, and always, no matter how old I get, jumping a cemetery fence somewhere.
-Ursula Bielski, author of the Chicago Haunts series, www.chicagohauntings.com

Samhain, the Day of the Dead in Celtic tradition, is one of the holiest days of the Druid calendar. On this day we remember our ancestors, our predecessors in the Druid tradition, and all those dear to us who have already passed into the hidden realms of existence. We remember that death is as natural and inevitable as life, and learn to dance joyously through all the phases of the Great Wheel.
-John Michael Greer, Grand Archdruid, Ancient Order of Druids in America, www.aoda.org

Halloween is, unfortunately, "amateur night" to me. It is a time when too many people with too many fantasies and too many expectations come out to play in a place that is totally unfamiliar to them. It is, however, a good time of year to try to spread the word about the realities of the unreal.
-Charles J. Adams III, author, Exeter House Books, www.exeterhousebooks.com

For me, Halloween is a chance to relive a little bit of one of my favorite parts of my childhood. When I was still at the "trick or treating" age, I anxiously looked forward to the season for the chance to gather up candy and dress up in a costume of my own design. No store-bought costumes around our house! But as I got older, growing up on a farm, the whole month of October became my favorite time of year. There was just something about the harvest, the chill in the air, the frost on the grass and especially, the turning of the leaves that made me just feel alive. By high school, when my interests had solidly turned to ghosts, I used October as the time of year to scare my friends with late night visits to graveyards and carefully planned "ghost tours" of local haunts. So, I guess that's what Halloween means to me -- it's a reminder of the fact that I have never grown up and that I still enjoy the same things that I did when I was a kid. 
-Troy Taylor, author and Illinois Hauntings Tours Founder, www.prairieghosts.com

Do you remember the scene in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis where the kids are throwing furniture on the bonfire in the street on Halloween, and Tootie (Margaret OBrien) approaches the door of the evil neighbor and throws flour on him?

For reasons having much to do, I suspect, with the Puritan foundation of the U.S., an enormous amount of mischief is associated with the hallowed evening we call Samhain. In Detroit, for example, its Devils Night. People commit acts of vandalism and set fires. Trying to fight the devil, city officials have recently organized an Angels Night wherein volunteers monitor the streets to stop the vandalism.

Ive noticed a new mischief. I collect witches. From August through October, I shop for new ones. But you know what? Im finding fewer and fewer witches. I find vampires and movie monsters, but theres almost no witches. Children are being kept safe from Halloween. Retailers are being pressured not to sell witches. Preachers are still preaching that their devil is behind our holy day.
-Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D., from her book, Pagan Every Day, www.barbaraardinger.com

Halloween, for me, is a season of self-reflection (the "why" of haunting behavior), renewal of commitment (to ghost research), and the time for the ghosts within me to replay memories of past events and activities in an always refreshing "nostalgic" symmetry of re-engaged remembrances full of innocence, and devoid of critical analysis and decision-making, and without disruptive emotional barriers. The season is a means of "clearing" and "cleansing" for the excavations of ghostly drama that follow... and, besides, having the experience of multiple "transformations" without a costume change!
-John Sabol, Ethnoarchaeoghostologist, C.A.S.P.E.R. Research Center, mysite.verizon.net/vzeoqapc/ghostexcavator 

Halloween means more to me than any other holiday. It is Samhain and my wife and I were married in a haunted restaurant on Halloween. We served mead as drink and everybody, including us, wore costumes. It was the grandest Halloween/Samhain gala ever given. There were about 175 people there. My wife Arlene and I are paranormal investigators and ghost writers but it is more than that. It is the only holiday where no one expects anything from you but a good scare and a fun story. Its history is as lavish and as mysterious as the season itself when the leaves beckon the cold air and the whistling winds send them swirling to the earth. The fields turn gray and brown beginning their slumber until next spring as those who have long slumbered arise to haunt the living, some for one night, at least.
-Thomas D'Agostino, author of Haunted Rhode Island, www.riparanormal.org

Halloween is a sacred time, a time to reflect on what has gone and what your personal role was in that year now gone. As a reflection point, it is also a time to practice tolerance and understanding. Halloween is a time of celebration and remembrance. Halloween is a moment for respite. You are what you do and you do what you are, and finally, you become what you do, and Halloween is a good time to think about that. This is what I believe. I also believe Halloween is a time for being happy in a spiritual way of expression. Halloween endures because it is open to everybody.
-Lee Prosser, book review editor, Ghostvillage.com

Halloween is not one of my favorite "celebrations" or time of year. It is so misconstrued as to why people dress in disguises. It is to simply disguise themselves so as not to be recognized by evil spirits. I don't believe in the existence of evil or demonic spirits.

There are only evil or aggressive personalities in ghost activity. Nor do I believe in the supernatural. Supernatural stems from dogma. Dogma and the paranormal do not mix well. In my opinion, there are no unnatural or supernatural phenomena. It is our lack of understanding of what is natural. Ghost activity is quite natural. Just like death is a natural part of life.

I'm also aware of the fact that many people (respectfully) tend to magnify and sensationalize anomalous activity. Most ghosts are friendly. 
-Peter James, psychic

My introduction to Samhain came years ago through my research on the dead and on pagan practices now incorporated into Wicca and new Pagan traditions. Samhain is my favorite time of year, for the afterlife and other spiritual realms feel genuinely more accessible, in accordance with ancient beliefs. The spirit worlds are much more sharply defined and active than during the lush days of summer. The time around Samhain is good for pursuing paranormal research, and also for paying special tribute to the dead. 
-Rosemary Ellen Guiley, author, The Encyclopedia of Ghosts & Spirits, www.visionaryliving.com

Halloween is a fun time of year where you can be someone else for the evening and let yourself come out and play. It takes me back to my childhood where I loved Halloween parties, trick or treating, everyone has pumpkins on their front porches, crisp weather fills the air, and colorful trees and leaves line the street. 

It is an escape to dress up as your favorite character or ghoul. You can transform yourself from the serious person you portray in your day-to-day life to a fantasy in a matter of minutes. I love the laughter that fills the air during this time of year. Halloween rocks!
-Kelly L. Weaver, psychic-medium, author of Whispers in the Attic-Living with the Dead, www.kellysmagicalgarden.com and www.spiritsocietyofpa.com

Halloween is a moment in time, late at night, when quiet descends and nature recognizes new life in burgeoning death. The moment, both a flash and eternity, is hearkened by a skitter of dry leaves down the midnight sidewalk and the smell of burnt pumpkins as candles gutter out. The autumnal aromas are borne by a new, yet familiar, cool breeze, an omen of winter to come. Dust-devils become cavorting elementals, the sweet scent of night-blooming jasmine hints at white ladies gliding through the garden, and the always-green leaves of the citrus trees jitter, forming a myriad of phantom faces, grinning in the darkness, knowing they are forever.
-Tamara Thorne, author of Haunted, Bad Things, Moonfall, and others, www.tamarathorne.com

What does Halloween/Samhain mean to you? Join the discussion in our message board of the month.


Jeff Belanger founded Ghostvillage.com on October 31, 1999. Since then, Jeff has gone on to become an author and lecturer on all things supernatural.


2014 Haunted New England Wall Calendar by Jeff Belanger photography by Frank Grace
Check out the 2014 Haunted New England wall calendar by Jeff Belanger and photography by Frank Grace!


Paranormal Conferences and Lectures
Don't miss the following events and lectures:

Jeff Belanger and “The Bridgewater Triangle” at Dedham Community Theatre - April 6, 2014 9:00PM

The Spirits of the Mark Twain House - Hartford, Connecticut - April 12, 2014

Paracon Australia - East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia - May 10-12, 2014