Serendipity

Last night, I finished reading, "Secrets in the Cellar", by John Glatt, and it has had my brain churning ever since. When this story broke, it shocked the world and it still shocks me because of the horror that one man can inflict on others. I have always believed that we all have a darker side to us, but most of us can keep that in check throughout our lives. But one has to wonder if such evil is not the result of childhood circumstances but rather something built into some individuals.  Because of my own therapy over the years, I have learned that our childhoods can and do have a bearing as to how we turn out later in life. However, I am not so sure with men like Josef Fritzl, Charles Manson, and many of the other serial rapists and murderers. There HAS to be a glitch in their mental wiring some place. We live in a world today where diagnoses run rampant, there is a name for about every affliction on earth. The way I see it, is there is one diagnoses that doesn...

The area around the neighborhood looked similar to this At some point in our lives, I am sure that most of us have gone into homes or other buildings and not been comfortable in them...but we were unsure as to why that was...it was just a sense of unease that we felt. But what if it's not just a house, but a whole neighborhood that gave you a sense of unease...even dread? In 1985, not long after the birth of my youngest son, my then-husband and our 6 (his/mine and our) children moved into a huge 7 bedroom house on the outskirts of a neighboring town about 30 minutes from where I live now. My husband's brother also lived on the same street, kiddy-corner from us, which is how we ended-up finding the place. The street and an off-shoot, both dead-ended not far from where the house was...and we were surrounded by swamp land on most of all 3 sides. I can't say that I ever liked living there, despite the size of the house and the cheap rent...it was a dark place and I am...

We were in full swing of Winter 1982-83...several inches of snow blanketed the ground, bitter winds and temperatures that chilled to the bone. The house that we lived in at the time had echoes of troubled lives that had lived there before us...to which I knew a little about...and the house, after we had moved-on...would be one of death...a woman was murdered there a few years later. One night, after the wood stoves were loaded and the dampers set so that the wood would burn slowly through the night, we settled into bed...the 4 (3 of which were my step-children) oldest children upstairs and my several-months old daughter lay nestled between my husband and I in our bed. Outside the wind howled...it was going to be another cold, cold night. I know that I fell asleep for a while but something woke me and I had a deep sense of fear building inside me. There wasn't a sound...not outside--the wind was eerily non-existent...not inside--the wood stove should have been making faint ...

My  introduction into the spirit world came early in my childhood...I had always been somewhat intuitive...but it was when I was 13 that it really kicked-in (another story for another time)...and from that point on, I developed an interest in the supernatural. However , it's remained an interest in learning about, but not dabbling in. Not until I was introduced to the Ouija board in the mid-80s.  I don't recall how we came to having the Ouija board other than someone had given it to one of the kids, but I had already had a vague feeling that it was not "just a game" and decided not to let the kids touch it. During a conversation with a neighbor lady, I had mentioned it and she wanted me to bring it out, she said that she had used one before and that it was fun...and harmless. I have always been a skeptic...and this time was no different . As we placed our finger-tips on the planchette, she began asking it random, generic questions...similar to 'am I ev...