Hello and Welcome


Hello. Welcome to my new blog...'Between the Jackets'. What's it about? Life. Everything that happens between the jackets of birth and death. The real story. It's about people of all shapes and sizes, different personalities, unusual struggles, and funny situations. This also includes children, animals, crawling, creeping, and swimming creatures.

Let's face it, some days life serves you a big plate of worms. Not very tasty in my opinion. Other days it's a 'picture perfect' stuffed turkey next to a crystal dish filled with cranberry sauce. Yum! And please don't forget there are going to be those 'cheeseburger and fries' days, which essentially boils down to the funny, awkward, and in between moments of day to day living. Because life is pretty much unpredictable, I'm going to do my best at getting it right. Some days I know I won't. The best books and stories ever written come from personal experience and the struggles we face every day. These struggles we eventually overcome and, oftentimes, laugh about. They are the hidden treasures that make up the space 'Between the Jackets' and are well worth remembering.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Ghost Hunter


Ghosts? Do scary things go bump in the night? Do cameras and recording devices really capture images and voices? Seriously, I think we all wonder a little. I mean…I watch Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters and get my thrills, but one can’t help wonder if it’s all a set up to give viewers like me, who want to believe, a thrill.

Last May a group of friends and I took a trip to England hosted by another dear friend, Cheryl. Knowing how adventurous we all are, Cheryl planned a tour of haunted streets and aged buildings one afternoon, which delighted us to the tips of our shoes. It was easy to imagine an ancient warrior walking the streets, perhaps a Scotsman dressed in kilt and girdle, brandishing his mighty sword.
Bill, Cheryl’s husband even drove us to a couple of old graveyards, where we flashed our cameras above gravestones and scared ourselves so bad we laughed our guts out afterwards.

One night after eating dinner at a pub that was several hundred years old and was supposed to be haunted, we were walking up the street past a castle of considerable size (can’t remember the name), and we were laughing again, probably because we were a bit nervous about being in the dark. When we’d walked down the street to eat, the sun was just setting. A few streetlights littered our walkway, but not enough to dispel the night shrouded shadows and black areas.

On the stone foundation of the castle I noticed an old wooden plank door, rounded at the top like many of the ancient doors. This happened to be one of the areas surrounded in complete darkness, but I couldn’t stop myself from walking over there. Once I got closer, as I strained to see, the rusted hinges and lock and deteriorated condition of the door became more evident. The door was about my height, (5’7’)--maybe a bit higher but not by much. Near the top a ragged hole came into view, a hole just big enough for my camera lens.

Ah ha! I thought. A perfect moment for an amateur ghost hunter, and I grabbed my camera and turned it on. I was right. The camera lens fit right into that hole. I took two pictures, one right after the other. The camera was set for night pictures and automatic flash. Keep in mind that behind that ancient door…there were no lights. It was pitch black. Below you will see the two pictures I took. Notice how the pictures change.  Study the shapes of the multiple orbs. So what did I get? Multiple ghosts?  An apparition of a woman or man? Something was hiding behind that door in the musty smelling darkness, but what? Your guess is as good as mine.


2 comments:

  1. I am a firm believer in ghosts and spirits. While at an antique store with my visiting mother we were attracted instantly to two, very large, and very old, antique frames. They were beautifully carved and in one of the frames was a picture of a handsome young man in some sort of a suit, and in the other a woman in a white dress. They had very serious looks upon their faces(kinda spooky), but regardless, I fell in love with the frames and talked my Mom into helping me get them. I had plans for the two old picture frames. I hung them in my house, as is, until I had the money to blow up a few photos of my own family and change them. We had neighbors comment on how beautiful the frames were and asked if the persons in the photos were distant relatives or ancestors. Ha! We got a good laugh out of that. Finally, I was able to get family photos blown up, and so I removed the old pictures of the man and woman from the frames. I got kind of a spooky feeling as I messed with the frames, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, as if maybe I shouldn't have messed with the frames at all. Silly I know, but there it is. I ignored that feeling and threw away the old pictures. After putting my families pictures in the old frames I then hung them back up on the wall. From that moment on the strangest things seemed to happen in that house until we moved. I would go in to our laundry room and the basket of socks that I kept on top of the dryer was on the floor turned upside down with all the socks still neatly inside. Doors would slam shut, and there was one time where my husband and I saw a shape/shadow? walking out of the kitchen. This doesn't sound that scary I know...but I use to be very skeptical about ghosts or spirits tied to objects. We have moved since then, and those two old, antique picture frames remain in our garage... I am working up the courage to hang them again. :-)

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  2. What interesting pictures, Julie! I love the ones that were taken through the hole in the old door. As I looked at those pictures, no lie, goosebumps sprang out across both of my arms. Sometimes, you just know when you are looking at something that can't be explained...Spooooooky. Thanks for sharing those pictures. Glad to find your site!

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