Return of the Dead Guy...

Hollywood is filled with stories of death. There is a long-standing history of tragedy on stage and screen. And with it comes ghostly tales from the earliest days to modern times. Yet not every strange story is of the dead and famous. Sometimes it's the celebrities themselves who encounter things that go bump in the night. Even gay ones.

This was certainly true for actor Carrie Fisher, known best as 'Princess Leia' from the original Star Wars Trilogy. A close gay friend, republican operative Robert Gregory Stevens, visited her in February 2005. He enjoyed a good party and was quite fond of recreational drug use, something Fisher had battled in her past. He slept in her bed, allowing his female assistant to have the guest room of Fisher's beautiful old home in Beverly Hills. On the night of February 25, he returned very late and the two fell asleep after midnight. Bruce Cohen arrived early the following day to take Carrie to tango lessons. To her horror, Stevens had passed away in the night. She woke up beside the corpse of her friend.

Being carted away by the coroner was not the final exit of Stevens from Fisher's home. His death sparked a string of strange phenomena in her home leading her to believe his ghost remained behind. There were footsteps and light switches with minds of their own. The activity gave her another breakdown. Drugs seemed to be her only escape. After some time, the paranormal activity ceased, though Fisher can't be sure he has left for good.

Carrie went on Celebrity Ghost Stories during its first season to tell her story. Her experience is followed by a few other noteworthy people: gay cult filmmaker John Waters and Golden Girls star Rue McClanahan. Here's the full episode. Carrie Fisher's story is first. Immediately after it is Waters and his childhood experience.

I'll Be Looking at the Moon, But I'll Be Seeing You...

There's a bit of sadness as this week draws to a close in Las Vegas. A landmark in the city for decades faces the final hours of its existence. After 31 years, the Liberace Museum will be closing its doors indefinitely on Sunday due to low turnout.

The memorabilia, including his glitzy disco ball of a Rolls Royce and famous piano housed within it, will be placed into storage for now. Although the museum, which was opened by the famous pianist himself on the day I was born, will no longer serve the public the organization will continue channeling its money into the Liberace Foundation.

Over 2,700 students have been given scholarships since 1976 when Liberace began his foundation "to help talented students pursue careers in the performing and creative arts through scholarship assistance and artistic exposure." It was a scholarship which first allowed Liberace to attend the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and helped launch him into the musical career for which he became famous around the world. The foundation relies largely on donations to sustain its collection and grant programs. For anyone interested in donating please visit their website.

The adjacent Carluccio's Tivoli Restaurant formerly owned by Liberace will stay open, thankfully. After Liberace's death in 1984 the building stood vacant for a year until the Carluccio family purchased it and re-opened the musician's restaurant. It remains largely as Liberace left it which could be why his ghost has been witnessed on many occasions. The museum might be saying goodbye but Liberace--his legacy and, perhaps, his apparition--still lives on in Vegas. If you have a chance to stop by the museum before the doors close for good drop in for a bite to eat at the restaurant. You may have a chance to pay your respects personally to the glittery former owner and world-renowned entertainer himself.

You Can Hang Out with All the Boys...

College towns are a hotbed of spooky stories. Cambridge, Massachusetts is no different. But one of these stories is a bit different from what we're used to hearing. Furthermore it could quite possibly be one of the earliest televised mentions of a not-so-straight ghost. Perhaps the greatest irony is the location of the haunting. It's found off of Central Square in a building that houses the local Young Men's Christian Association, better known by its abbreviation: YMCA.

The Cambridge Family YMCA was organized on September 6, 1883 (according to the 1890 book History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts Volume I by Duane Hamilton Hurd (page 77), though their website claims 1867) and the following year they purchased the "beautiful and well-located building on Central Square". Durrell Hall, the Victorian theater housed in the building, opened in 1897 within the building and still is opened today. Property records indicate the building was built in 1905 which would be impossible if the theater existed 8 years before it was built. Although there is some confusion about the structural history, the haunted history is a bit more certain yet still as mysterious.

The basement houses the former locker room where people have reported lights being turned on and off and other pranks said to be caused by a male ghost who enjoys frightening people. His spirit, which sometimes takes the form of a glowing green apparition, has been sighted by employees and visitors at all hours of the day or night. The most popular story revolving around the ghost of the YMCA is that he was either a patron or employee who suffered a heart attack in the 1930s (others believe the 1970s). Some people believe he was gay and hangs around to spy on the young men as they change. Thanks for perpetuating the stereotype, mister ghost.

In Haunting Across America, an hour-long special released in 1996, they discussed the bizarre ghost story and invited Reverend Dr. Erle Myers, a minister with the Spiritualist Church, to uncover more information about the shamrock-colored specter. According to author Arthur Myers (October 24, 1917 - April 8, 2010) who was interviewed in the show regarding a ghostly encounter relayed to him in 1991, the ghost is of a male teacher who abused his male students. A séance was conducted to make contact with the spirit. Dr. Myers picked up on "a tall, thin man... probably in his 50s" dealing with repressed homosexuality. He encouraged the ghost to leave and "go into the light" and stated afterward that he believed the spirit had moved on and left the building for good.

But has he? According to YMCA president Jeff Seifert in the 2005 interview for Cambridge Day it sounds as though the phantom still lurks in the old basement. Many times when psychics, investigators, and paranormal groups go into a haunted place and claim to remove a spirit or "make him/her go to the other side" absolutely nothing changes. An that's understandable; would you leave some place you enjoyed simply because some stranger walks in and tells you to go? Not likely. So it's very likely that the gay green ghost of Cambridge still hides in the shadows of a place the Village People said was "fun to stay at" admiring the scenery and scaring the pants off other men.

A Spectral Sapphic Sheila...

I am very happy to say that as of today I officially have my flight booked for December's two-week odyssey in Australia. Those of you who know me will surely remember my unsuccessful past attempts to realize the trip. That's not to say that even this time I haven't hit more than one snag as time passes. But it's happening at long last. As Mikey said in the movie Goonies, "It all starts here."

Originally, my plan was to feature some Aussie ghost stories next month. But why wait? Well, to be honest I stumbled across a wonderfully fitting tale that I couldn't wait to tell. It is the Halloween season, after all. Often the homosexual hauntings I find involve gay men and I do want to better balance the two sexes. So when I stumbled across an interesting story of a ghost hunter and his run-in with an angry female ghost, I couldn't pass it up. After all, it's set in the land which became the penal colony of New South Wales in 1788 (which was Britain's second attempt at creating a place to send its undesirables and criminals... take a wild guess where the first one was).

This story begins in 1992 with paranormal investigator Drew Sinton, proprietor of The Haunted Bookshop, when he received a call from Melbourne asking for assistance with poltergeist activity. The female same-sex couple resided in the suburb of Burwood and had been plagued by falling kitchenware, rattling doors, security alarms malfunctioning, and other unsettling phenomena. According to one of the women, similar occurrences happened at her previous residence which led her to believe it could be the spirit of her uncle following her to her new address. Sinton brought with him psychic medium Kelly Roberts to help find the cause of the supernatural experiences.

Kelly wandered the house picking up objects to sense their energy—a divination technique known as psychometry. After a short time she realized the spirit the women were dealing with was female, not male. As she picked up a small porcelain figurine, she was overcome with a strong sense of resentment. She immediately asked the women who had owned the object, but the couple grew quiet and declined any response. After some time they confessed that it had belonged to the ex of one of the pair, a woman by the name of Beverly. According to Sinton, they told him and Kelly that Beverly "died from a blood clot caused during a jealous rage when she ran into a coffee table and injured her leg."

Upon revealing the identity of the woman who the medium believed was behind the paranormal activity, the atmosphere in the room changed. The temperature quickly dropped nearly 45 degrees. A black shadow appeared, witnessed not only by the four people present but also the owner's cats, and moved from one side of the room to the other before disappearing without a trace. "Many times I have tried to rationally explain what I saw," Sinton recalled in an interview 8 years after the event, "but I have come to the belief that it was definitely a ghost."

Perhaps Beverly never let go of her rage from the day of her death. Or perhaps the new relationship angered the jealous spirit causing her to act out her disapproval. We may never know for sure. Hopefully the couple has found some peace with the former lover. Though it is possible that somewhere in Boroondara there's a lesbian ghost still wandering rooms, seeking some attention from the woman she knew or anyone who will notice her.

When a Boyfriend Brings Dead Baggage...

Nearly everyone I've spoken with over the years has wanted, once they discovered I research the paranormal, to tell me their own personal account of an unexplained encounter from their past. In fact most people have a ghost story to tell but keep it quiet not wanting to be ridiculed by others. Whenever I've given a talk at a library or anywhere else I tend to stay at least an hour after just to field the additional questions and outpouring of tales held within for a very long time. A sympathetic ear can make a huge difference.

One other blogger mentioned many months ago about his own personal experience with ghosts and that he would have to tell me the story some time. Life can get busy for all of us so it kept getting postponed. But Ken (the other blogger) did finally have a chance to share his tale on his own blog, Adventures in Gay Dating. Though it happened 15 years ago, the experience still lives with him.

At the time Ken was living in North Carolina with a new boyfriend named Scott who hailed from California. He was a staunch skeptic of anything supernatural and hardly someone willing to look at ghost stories, UFO sightings, or other strange happenings with anything other than complete disbelief. His boyfriend was a recovering meth addict who had lived a turbulent existence and wasn't very forthcoming about his past. Slowly as the trust developed, he would divulge small windows into his horror story of a life. He has once been involved with (and nearly married) a female, a witch by her own admission, and practiced the occult arts himself though he refused to discuss the matter any further. Ken would soon discover why.

On what seemed to be a normal night, Ken awoke suddenly at 2:20 AM. Before rolling back over to sleep, he caught a glimpse of something dark at the foot of the bed. It was the shadowy form of a man, so black it seemed to radiate the color. He found himself frozen not only by fear but a paralysis rendering him immobile and unable to wake his sleeping boyfriend. There was a choking sensation around his throat. He could feel the anger from the presence who undoubtedly was there because of Scott. He saw a vision in his mind of a hilltop cemetery surrounded by wrought iron fence. The male spirit led him to a gravestone beneath a tree and pointed at it.

Ken struggled to break from the immobilization, murmuring a religious instruction summoned from his Baptist upbringing. “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth, go!” His eyes followed his outstretched finger toward the window. “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ Of Nazereth, leave through this window now!” He began to recover his movement and looked forward to find the room once again empty. Waking Scott he attempted to explain what had happened in excited gibberish but Scott was too tired and wrapped an arm around him before fading back to sleep.

The following morning, Ken told his boyfriend about his frightening encounter.

"Oh," Scott said nonchalantly, "that's just Steve." Ken was shocked.

“Do you believe a person can be haunted, Ken?”

He was fraught with surprise and bewilderment. “I… I don’t know. Why?”

“I’m haunted, Ken," Scott said in a serious tone. "Just like a house can be haunted a person can be haunted. Trust me on this one, I know.”

Steve's parents were friends of Scott's parents so the two had been occasional friends in Placerville, California before graduation. While Scott was living with the witchy woman in Los Angeles his father called to tell him that Steve had been killed in a car accident the night before. His father sent him the money for a bus ticket to come to the funeral. He was gathered with some old friends on the steps of the funeral home, playing with a deck of tarot cards to show off his psychic abilities when he happened to glance up. There was Steve, plain as day. Horrified, he quickly put away the cards. Steve's specter reappeared that night in his bedroom at his parent's place to terrify him once again. The following morning at the cemetery as they lowered Steve's body six feet under, Scott saw several other ghosts watching him from around the bone yard.

Scott asked Ken to describe in detail exactly what Steve had shown him. He mentioned the cemetery, the fence, the colored marble headstone beneath a tree. Scott clapped his hands with glee and explained that every single detail of where Steve was buried was dead-on.

"Why did he appear to you as himself but I got the whole spooky-figure-cloaked-in-black treatment?"

"He was trying to scare you off," Scott replied.

"So, he 'liked' you?"

"I think he did."

The whole experienced seemed to awaken something inside Ken. Six months after the terrifying night, he saw a little boy in the shop where he worked when he was completely alone. He vanished right before Ken's eyes. It turns out that during construction of the building a large cement drainage pipe crushed a young boy to death at that very site. He was approached by a young, attractive man on a separate occasion several months later asking him for the time at the store. He glanced at his watch and looked back up to find he too had disappeared. But there was something else peculiar about the incident. The man carried a shopping bag for Ivey's--a department store which went out of business in 1985 and formerly occupied the same building he was working in.

Steve made a few more random appearances and seemed to be trying to scare Scott. Ken had enough of the disturbances and researched the paranormal heavily in search of ways to rid their lives of the repeat occurrences. After smudging the house with white sage (while projecting a white light in his mind and singing "Amazing Grace") all activity seemed to stop. Neither of them saw another ghost or had another freaky experience.

What happened to Ken that night is often attributed to sleep paralysis. But how do you explain the vision of a cemetery on the other side of the country? Did he really experience a ghost or was it picking up on Scott's own memories? And best of all, was Steve paying a visit to a past friend or trying to voice his disapproval that  Scott was in bed with another man... and that man wasn't him? We may never know yet the thoughts are certainly intriguing.

Kicking Some Ectoplasmic Butt...

Everywhere you look, you'll find serious paranormal teams using serious techniques to find serious evidence of ghosts... and being way too serious. Even when it's all supposed to be in good fun with a dash of humor, too many people build whole careers--even lives--on the illusion of a flawless reputation. For what? A "real orb" photo and a strange sound on audio tape that only is completely convincing to anyone who was present at the time it was recorded? If anyone had that hard-core evidence proving beyond any doubt the existence of ghosts and spooks paranormal activity would be widely accepted as factual and science-based, not the grey area it really is. Even J. B. Rhine, one of the most respected parapsychologists of all time, believed that if anything was happening in a haunting it was merely the ability of the observer's brain to tune into past events and witness things being projected from their own mind.

But then we have the physical phenomena to take into account. Apparitions. Levitations. Light phenomena. Audible sounds able to be recorded by devices. Certainly there's some amount of deception and illusion involved in some instances. Yet a great many people have witnessed something for which there is no scientific explanation. Perhaps that's why paranormal television is so popular... as is the drive with so many ghost hunters to capture that fifteen minutes of fame and the attention they so desperately desire. But this is serious. We can't all just be namby-pamby and let the unseen world walk all over us. We need to fight back! Grab the ghoul by the gonads!

Have no fear! The Ghost Provokers are here!

You may ask yourself why (aside from the humor) I bring up a comedic spoof of Ghost Adventures here. Aside from doing a brilliant job on their first episode their storyline was certainly a little queer. But I'll let you see for yourself. Join Scott Butterfield, Dr. David Jordan, and Jim Dooley as the team tracks down (and tries their best to royally piss off) the ghost of a woman and her lesbian lover in the creepy old Wildewood Manor... well... almost.

GHOST PROVOKERS - Episode 1 "Wildewood Manor"

Thanks, Cullan, for bringing this to my attention!

A New Look, New Outlook, and Library Talk...

Yes, you did come to the right blog. I know it might be a surprise for some of you. I did feel the need to do some overhauling on the overall look of Spooked! so I put my insomnia to use last night. So, what do you think? Better? Worse? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know. I know there's an unwritten rule that paranormal-themed blogs should be black, spiritual/psychic blogs all light and airy, etc. but I don't feel like being too traditional is very fitting for my writing. Time to shake things up a bit... and reflect my traveling lifestyle coupled with the "armchair tourist" experience I like to give people every so often.

I'm looking forward to getting out for a little local ghost hunting this week, since it's been so long. And at this rate, it might be one of my last few chances to see the Cuyahoga Valley... where it all began for me. I began my blogging and writing as the first and only investigator searching for legends and ghosts in this region. Now... well, anyone with a camera can dub himself or herself a "paranormal investigator" (becoming an overnight expert from watching a few episodes of Ghost Hunters, no doubt) and heads out into the valley like he/she owns it triumphantly showing it off as though it were a new Porsche.

That might sound like I've grown bitter. But in reality, I haven't. It's like watching a playground as the children claim a jungle gym all their own and fight over who is allowed on it. If anything, it's a relief to be out of the war. All the pettiness, backstabbing, badmouthing, and other high school behavior that plays out all the time. The valley used to be my playground and my place of tranquility. Now, new generations of tenderfoot ghost hunters (though they will tell you they've been doing it "for years") run amok in the places no one would know about were it not for my work and research. So, I'm leaving it all to the paranormal Lord of the Flies people. Save for the occasional reminisce and jaunt with old investigating buddies reliving the good times, I'm turning it over to other people to explore ad nauseam.

But beyond that, I don't see myself staying in this region for a long period. Truthfully, part of me does miss San Diego. For all the unplanned disappointments, it was breathtakingly beautiful in spots, had picture-perfect weather, and was so very different from what I've grown accustomed to in the Rust Belt of America. I thrive on new experiences and wither from the mundane. Yes... there was drama out west. But being new, I could safely escape some of it simply by dropping off the radar. There are possibilities with me ending up out west (in some instances, WAY out west... so west that it's east) but I'm seeing how life plays out.

In just a few weeks, I'll be doing a talk at Cuyahoga Falls Library on my book, gay & lesbian psychics, and some interesting hauntings I've unearthed worldwide. My talk will be on Wednesday October 6th at 7:00 PM EST. I'm trying not to bore people too much with parapsychology and history and will try to focus on hauntings (since that's why people do attend these things, after all). Copies of my book will be available for $10.00 (even cheaper than Amazon). Even if you have read the book, there will be new things to hear about that night. Not only will I talk about some interesting names in paranormal history but I'll talk a lot about haunted gay-owned inns and other hauntings, many of which were NOT discussed in the book. Otherwise, it will be a quiet month for me which is a vast difference from recent years. And all this leading up to my grand travels. Time goes by so quickly.

Ever-Changing Phantoms and Life Marching Forward...

This November, there's a very good chance I'll be visiting another location mentioned in my book, Queer Hauntings. I am quite excited to have chances to visit the places I've researched, especially when they aren't so close to the Midwest. I've also added another travel destination to my explorations in the coming months. It feels good to be getting out into the world in broader and broader circles. And as a reader of my blog, I'm sure there's a lot more interest when I'm writing from somewhere other than Ohio.

I've learned that writing about haunted businesses can have its drawbacks. Given our economy and the natural uncertainty of businesses, ownership can change without much notice. Some inns and such can close their doors before anything is published or written, which I encountered during my trip last October to Salem. I heard about a haunted gay-owned bed & breakfast but at the time of my arrival, it was closed until further notice. At the Inn on Washington Square, there had been a death in the family and the innkeepers were out of town and uncertain about the inn's future. I had intended to list it in the back of my book, but was unsure about whether it would still be in existence by the time my book went to press.

Since finishing writing Queer Hauntings and its publication, there have been changes to some places I've spoken about in some of the chapters. A couple of inns no longer are gay-owned and some businesses have fallen on bad times and vanished. Other landmarks have undergone changes which nearly ruled them out as suitable for the intent of my book. Yet there are always a few surprises. I was getting ready to scratch one place from my list when suddenly I was informed of another ghost story attached to it. I'll be exploring this international locale in November and (while struggling with the language barrier) trying my best to uncover the truth behind it. Other information regarding the well-known haunting has come into light as well... revealing a far more sinister plot behind the many deaths at the site. But you'll have to wait to find out more...

With all these new developments and the slow process of gathering new places for a sequel, I've been giving some thought to a revised and expanded edition of the book instead of a second volume. I have also met one of my goals: to find ONE haunted place in Australia to add to the mix. And lucky for me, I'll be able to interview the owners and spend the night there in December. I'm hoping to find more places as I explore new areas of the world, but we will see what all develops. These are exciting times. And being the only person (seriously) seeking out GLBT spooks I'm still hacking away with my machete at the undergrowth. Who knows there the blazed trail will lead next...

At New Journey's End... Or Is It Just Beginning...

It's been one whole month. How is that possible? It seems like just a week ago I was preparing for another life adventure. Slowly, people approached me, wanting to know the details of my "to-be-announced" changes and destination. Next thing I knew, I was there and trying to adjust to a new life in a new environment. And now, I have a day off and enough energy to fill you readers in on my life as it all changed.

Most people have known for years I haven't been very happy in Ohio. I never hid that fact. And after my adventurous 2009 it was a challenge to return to the mundane world in which I lived. I needed something new in a place where I could broaden my horizons. And an offer was tossed in my direction... so (not wanting to be a hypocrite and tell people to live life to its fullest yet myself stay in a safe nowhere land) I decided to jump... and worry about the water in the pool afterward.

After an insane few weeks of packing, cleaning, deciding what to do and what to bring, etc. I boarded Amtrak in Cleveland in the wee hours of April 16th. At 7:15 AM on April 18th (after an interesting journey with amusing fellow passengers) I found myself alone at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, California waiting for a ride from the man would soon become one of my roommates. It was surreal stepping out into the summer-like weather, seeing Bird of Paradise blooming beneath palms and the buildings stretching out before me. From there it was a long car ride to my first shower in days at my new residence in San Diego, California. While it's temporary, the city may or may not be... depending on so many factors.

For the past two weeks I've been learning my new whereabouts. The adjustment to southern California was far easier than I had expected. Aside from a few moments of missing so many people I left back home, it's been a pleasant experience. Of course, there are the occasional glitches and annoyances as is customary in any place in the world. But it's a learning experience. No huge leap is a cake walk. And no adventure comes without some rough moments.

I've talked to wonderful people, made a couple friends through work and exploration, and seen beautiful places worthy of a few photographs. And best of all, I stood outside Villa Montezuma (one of the places I wrote about in Queer Hauntings) and for the first time had a chance to see with my own eyes the very place I had researched so many months ago. There are more haunted spots to see, explore, and learn about yet my time isn't all free. But eventually, I will be posting more here as I find the spooks and gay haunts of my temporary (?) Pacific Coast home.

That being said, I am alive and (reasonably) well. Lonely at times, impoverished always, but well. And all the while doing my best to keep in high spirits... perhaps even literally.

The Tour Continues With Spectral Sexuality...

Welcome back to another day for the Be My Valentine Blog Tour! Tomorrow's that wonderful (or dreaded) day all about love and stuff. But here, I've decided to once more focus on the act, rather than the emotional attachment involved. Specifically, sex and the afterlife.

A lot of people wonder if there is lust still after death and I've read just about every opinion on the matter that you can imagine. Some from psychics and "experts" saying adamantly that no, there is nothing of the sort in the spirit world. We "transcend" these "bodily desires" in some form of enlightened nirvana, according to the vocal majority. But I find that very difficult to believe. There are ghosts of murderers and victims of crimes still holding on to their grief and emotions in almost every ghost story you find. Ghosts don't seem to be leaving ANYTHING behind, especially feelings and emotions. Is it really so realistic to think that sex drive is fully attached to the physical body?

And then, we have the obvious examples that sex and death can overlap: incubi and succubi. Both of these spirits are said too attack women and men, respectively, and though the incubus is often male and succubus is often female, there are some possibilities of overlap with same-sex relations. As I mentioned in Queer Hauntings, a possible incubus in Zanzibar--known as Popobawa--is male and seems to have an affinity toward male victims (as depicted in the picture below). Then there are other cases of people reporting rapes involving ghosts and spirits, and even some apparitions with very sexual behaviors. From pinching lesbian ghosts to spectral male trouser enthusiasts to a Midwest haunt where the ghost seems to sport an erection, it doesn't seem very likely that the afterlife lacks the pursuit of physical pleasure.

And on that lurid not, let's bring on a bit more interesting eye candy: