Dessert Can Be Deadly...

As some of you might know, Ghost Adventures recently traveled to Salem, Massachusetts; this week Travel Channel aired the episode filmed at the famous Witch House (better known as Jonathan Corwin House). It's the only remaining structure in Salem with direct connections to the world-famous Salem Witchcraft Trials. Of course, humor ensues when Zak meets witchcraft. I'm not sure asking random people on the street if they are witches is good form. But this is Ghost Adventures, after all, and we're used to an unlimited amount of intentional (and unintentional) laughs.

A lot of the places I recognized from my past trip to Salem for a book signing and pleasant stay with psychic medium Jeffrey Justice. Even before I heard this episode was coming out, I had been thinking about my trip. I do miss Essex Street and all the history. So, I did a little shopping and finally made a few postponed purchases with connections to my trip: a few herbs from Hex: Old World Witchery and some dinnerware from an artist I discovered at the delightfully morbid Life And Death in Salem. After all this time, her work still called to me.

While browsing the shop, waiting to visit Jeffrey on one of his breaks, a pair of empty eye sockets stared back at me from a dinner plate. It was part of the "Skull and Cross Utensils" design series of refurbished restaurant ware created by ceramicist Meredith Host. While the artist lives in Missouri, she received her Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Ohio State University in 2008. Some of her work is quite unique (if not downright comical), though I'm partial to her depictions of skulls, bones, and organs on stark white plates, bowls, and cups. There's something about serving a slice of Death By Chocolate on a plate decorated with a grinning skull that seems too fitting for me.

So I broke down and began my collection this week with a set of four dessert plates. I'll warn you now; the dinnerware is highly addictive. Perhaps it's my odd sense of humor, but I love the idea of skull plates and zombie brain bowls laid out on a table. I'll slowly add to my collection provided I can resist the temptation of breaking the bank to fill the cupboards. Unique, well-crafted, morbidly-amusing things are so hard to find. Not only that, I'm a picky person. When I find something that screams "I must have that" it's a rare surprise.

I couldn't mention macabre dining without touching on another delight from "Professor Paranormal" himself, Loyd Auerbach. While I am eagerly anticipating his book, Haunted by Chocolate, to be released, you can find some spooky treats on the related site. His decadent "Ghost Drops" are available by mail, or you can schedule a chocolate tasting for an event or party.

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:

Sleeping with a Stiff in St. Louis...

Our next story which fell through the cracks during book research brings us deeper into the center of the United States. This time, the setting is St. Louis, Missouri during the mid-1980s. It centered around a musician named David Udell and an unusual experience which he recalled on his blog.

At this time in his life, David called an apartment on Oregon Avenue his home. It was by no means spacious; with a mock recording studio taking up one entire room, his bedroom consisted of a large converted storage room facing the street, just large enough for sleeping quarters. The streetlights maintained a certain level of illumination on David's bed all through the night. His more-fortunate roommate stayed in a separate bedroom in the rear of the home.

On one particular night in either 1983 or 84, he was settling down after a late night. It was some time after three in the morning when he laid down on his mattress to get a bit of shuteye, his back turned toward the doorway. Moments later, he heard the sound of what he believed to be his then-girlfriend entering his room. He felt some comfort as he felt someone slip in bed beside him, nuzzling up close in a spooning position. Playfully, he reached around and gave her rear a squeeze. For reasons still unknown to him, he felt a compulsion to reach around to the front.

What awaited him wasn't anything he had expected. His hand latched onto something. Something becoming stiff. Whatever was in bed with him wasn't a woman, and it seemed a bit too happy to see him. David yelled and turned around, only to find himself alone. In seconds, he was out from beneath the covers and bounding over studio equipment in a mad dash for his roommate's bedroom. Waking him from his sleep, David told him of his experience and forced him to stay awake with him until daylight came.

When David's roommate asked him if he finally believed in the paranormal, his response was a weak and sheepish "no..."