- Posted by tianhkamun; Reddit

Some attribute Aokigahara’s unusual popularity to a popular novel from the 1960s, others say ghostly victims of ubasute have haunted the woods since the 19th century and its infamy as a place to end one’s life goes back as far.

Haunted or not, those are some eerie-lookin' trees.

Ubasute is an oft-disputed custom allegedly performed by the Japanese in the distant past: an infirm or elderly relative is taken to a mountain or other remote location and left to die. The term literally translates to “abandoning an old woman.”

According to Wikipedia there are no reliable historical statistics on suicide in the forest, but in 2002, 78 bodies were found within the forest, replacing the previous record of 73 in 1998. In 2003, the rate climbed to 100, and in recent years, the local government has stopped publicizing the numbers in an attempt to downplay Aokigahara’s association with suicide. In 2004, 108 people killed themselves in the forest. In 2010, 247 people attempted suicide in the forest, 54 of whom completed the act.

Signs placed around the forest implore suicidal visitors, in Japanese and in English, to reconsider their intent and to seek help instead. As well, since 1970 a group of police, volunteers and journalists have undertaken an annual body search through the forest. (Click here for photos, not for the faint of heart.)

…Ok, so a lot of people have died there. But does that make it haunted? Forest rangers say they hear unusual howling and moaning in the woods. Tourists and other visitors have reported seeing shadows of people hanging from the trees. Psychics and spiritualists have claimed the trees themselves hold all of the negative energy.

This brings us to Lisa Lee Harp Waugh’s experience there. (A note: her biography describes her as “a real conduit to the world of the dead. She dressers [sic] in ceremonial robes, draws magical circles on the floor and commands spirits from Heaven, Hell and all places in between to appear before her and communicate with the living.” I’m not making a judgement, but take that how you will.)

She claims to have been possessed while visiting the forest by a man who killed himself there. In her own words (lightly edited):

Lisa Lee Harp Waugh: Possessed?

The [attached] photo of me is a ghost image of when I was actually taken, when my body became possessed by one of the many ghost that haunts this tangled forest of death. Those with me, a group of 10 people, said I spoke beautiful Japanese and my face changed to take on that of the dead man’s ghost who took over my body.

He went on to tell them how he had hung himself from this very tree that I am standing by in the photo. The man inside me told them of how he had died and that his hanging was actually botched and he died from starvation and lack of water over a 5 day period, until someone came along deep in the woods and found his lifeless corpse.

[He gave] his reasons for suicide, as he spoke to [the others] in a perfect dialect from the area of Fujikawaguchiko they say was flawless. He told of how his wife had left him to move to another nearby town with another man, and how she disgraced him and his family.

I was very weak as the ghost left my body and I fell to the ground shaken by this to my very soul. I was not aware that I was fully taken over. I must tell you all here and now this is the first time something like this ever occurred to me in my life.

She also believes she captured an apparition in this photo (below), which subsequently drained her camera battery.

I'm not really sure what the sign says but HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT SHADOW THING.

On Sunday, as we were getting ready to go visit her first thing in the morning as we always do, we got a call from the family of her old best friend. The friend had moved to Florida about ten years ago, and they had gradually lost touch save for a Christmas card every now and then. Well, the friend had just died very early that morning, and they were calling to inform us of her death.

When we got to the nursing home we signed in and noticed we were the first visitors of the day. We went to my grandmother’s room and said hi. We also have a little visitor’s book for people to sign in her room so we know who has visited her. Nobody had signed it since Saturday morning. As we walked into her room, she exclaimed, “Oh my, so many visitors this morning!” We asked what she meant. She replied that she had gotten a visit from an old dear friend that morning; it was the friend from Florida who had just passed away. She had told my grandmother that she was going away for a while, not to worry, that she would be watching out for her, and that they would see each other again. My grandmother also remarked at how healthy she looked.

I’ve never had chills run down my spine like that before. Later I asked if anyone had been to my g’mother’s room that morning, and the staff said no. We asked if any phone calls had come through for her that morning, and they again said no (they also log pone calls for residents and when they checked the logs there was nothing that they had forgotten). I also this morning called the family of the friend in Florida to offer my condolences and ask if they had called anyone else around here (I asked under the guise that I would help notify people around here so I didn’t want to double call people). They said we were the only ones they had called from around here and the only reason they called us is because they thought my grandmother still lived with us. They had no idea until I told them this morning that she is in a nursing home.

I know it’s in the realm of reality that she could have simply dreamed it, but the chances of her having a dream like that with that sort of message on the very morning that her friend died are so remote that it still gives me chills.

- Posted by danger_mcboom ; Reddit

This statue of Mary is in the basillica at Lourdes.

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

In 1858 the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, near Lourdes in France, in the cavern called “de Massabielle.” Through this poor, fourteen-year-old girl, Mary calls on us to turn to God and change our lives. She has inspired in the Church a great love of prayer and good words, especially in the service of the poor and the sick.

Lourdes is a place of pilgrimage, healing, and faith. There have been 60 “recognized” miraculous cures as a result of a visit to the waters at Lourdes, although there are likely many, many more.  The Church sees this as a continuation of Jesus’ healing miracles—now performed at the intercession of his mother. Some who visit Lourdes return home and experience in their bodies, many return with renewed faith.

While many believe the stories of the apparitions and miracles at Lourdes, there are many who do not. In the words that introduce the film Song of Bernadette: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”

Apparition rope

Apparition is an interactive dance and media performance conceived and directed by Klaus Obermaier, in collaboration with the Ars Electronica Futurelab, featuring Desirée Kongerød and Rob Tannion.

The music is taken from Skin and Home by Klaus Obermaier.

What a pity Klaus Obermaier does not put his albums on bandcamp, where we can listen to quality audio (not low quality short track samples) and download should we wish.

Apparition will be performed at the Brighton Festival in Brighton 17 & 18 May 2012.

I decided I need to know more about our house and the property on which it stands.  I went down to the Fargo title company and took posession of our abstract.  I thumbed through it, eager to put names on the families who’ve come and gone before us.

Before there was a house on this plot of land in North Fargo, it was owned by a familiar cast of characters.  Charlemagne Tower, Northern Pacific, the Hector family.  If you live in Fargo and you’ve examined your home’s documents, you’ve probably seen one or more of those names.  But our home’s occupied history begins around 1947.

The property was owned by Even and Clara Raaum from 1947 to 1950.  It’s unclear whether there was a structure on this property during that three year span.  Then in 1950, the Raaums sold the home to John S. and Betty W. Roel of Fargo.  The Roel family are the first to occupy the home we now live in.  Their mortgage was $9,400.

Three and a half years later, in June of 1953, the Roels sold the property to Harlan B. White and his wife Gloria.  This is how the home’s ownership breaks down:

• Even and Clara Raaum — 1947 to 1950
• John and Betty Roel — 1950 to 1953
• Harlan and Gloria White — 1953 to 1957
• Elwin J. and Bernice M. Froiland — 1957 to 1969
• Erwin and Rosa Fendt — 1969 to 1972
• Leon C. and Kathy D. Plantz — 1972 to 1976
• Peter M. and Julie Ann Oberholtzer — 1976 to 1990
• Willie J. and Gayle M. Hyde — 1990 to 1995
• Warren Huesmann — 1995 to 1997
• Troy and Janie Rostad — 1997 to 2007 (pseudonym for privacy)

I learned a few small things about several of these families.  Erwin Fendt was a well-known Fargo Baker and owner of Quality Bakery.  To my knowledge, his son still runs the place.  We found a small point-of-purchase display rack in our attic that may be from the Fendt family.  Also, I suspect Warren Huesman was a single man, skilled with a hammer, and used his two years in this house to add the addition that contains our dining room and kitchen.  Other than that, I have not found the time to investigate any of these names more in-depth.  I hope to get to that soon.

But the thing that struck me when I looked at this list was the rather short duration that most families lived here.  Of the ten owners shown above, only three stayed for ten years or longer.  Most of our home’s former residents lived here from 2 to 5 years.  Perhaps they all moved on rather quickly because the home was small and they quickly outgrew it.  Perhaps there was another reason.

I found a few interesting things regarding the history of our neighborhood too, things that would become much more interesting when a paranormal investigation of our home turned up EVP recordings that sounded like carousel music.  That post, the story of the investigation, is still to come.

<——- Go Back to Part One and read from the beginning.

The first happened a couple years ago. I can’t remember the occasion, but my mother and I had gone to A&W for lunch, and we were both sitting there eating our meals. We happened to be seated pretty close to the washroom doors, so I noticed everyone going in an out. First person to come out is this old man who’s kind of hobbling along. He walked past and I looked at him and went on with my meal. Not 30 seconds later, another man comes out of the bathroom, and at this point I get a little freaked out because I realize it’s the exact same person. Same limp, clothing, face, everything.

A couple minutes later, the same thing happens except it’s an old woman this time. She comes out, then 30 seconds later comes right out of the bathroom again. My mom took a look at me and said “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” I just kind of stammered a bit then wrote it off as me being crazy.

The next story is more weird, in my opinion, and is the single strangest occurrence of my life. This happened when I was about 9 years old, but I can still remember it… vividly.

We were visiting family in Nevada with my dad, and they lived out in a very dry area in a fairly good sized trailer. A couple days in, I was playing outside with my cousin, pretty much just messing around in the dirt. At some point, I look up. Right next to the house is a… field I guess? Surrounded by wire fence, probably originally for livestock. But anyway, there’s this guy standing there. This is a good 300 or more feet away, so I cannot see him clearly at all.

Queue the weird.

As soon as I look at this guy, I have what I can only describe as an out of body experience. My body pretty much just went into lockdown, and I was no longer seeing through my eyes. And I wasn’t just floating there or anything… I was in that man’s body. Through his eyes I could see two little shapes playing across the field, but I could just FEEL that he saw the shapes as animals.

And then I realized he was holding a fucking shotgun.

After that I regained my body and blurted out “we have to go indoors,” offering no explanation to my cousin, who thought I was nuts.

I didn’t tell anyone because I just didn’t know how to express it to other people back then. I’ve only since told my brothers but I don’t think they believed me. Still freaks me out when I think about it today because it’s the only time I’ve ever lost control of my body. It was almost like a dream but the whole thing felt like it was happening in slow motion.

- Posted by Valokai; Reddit

When she was 2, her dad’s time in the air force was up, so they wanted to move back to the states. Her dad had an old friend that was selling an old farm house that he had recently inherited from his great aunt, right outside our hometown. She was never told any of this.

They come back stateside, and go to look at the house. As it’s empty, they let Liz(my friend)run around and explore. They decide to buy, go to leave, and call Liz downstairs. She comes bounding down talking about, “Aunt Birdie is real nice! She’s happy to have kids again. Her doggie is nice too.” She said she saw the lady in the window seat of what was to become her room.

Her parents are WTFing, and the buddy has gone white. “Aunt Birdie” was his great aunt, and she sure did have a little dog that she loved like a child. She was always fond of kids too.

She saw her off and on for a long time, and we’ve all seen some strange shit go on. I know there must be an explanation, but has always been seen as a nice, protective presence, so meh.

- Posted by flibbertygiblet; Reddit

My BFF and CP has a new book ouy Check it out!!

The dark brings romance…and death

Loneliness has clouded Amber Addaire’s life, but now she’s ready for a change. After a complete makeover still leaves her unhappy, it’s only when she starts dreaming of an oddly familiar – and extremely handsome – man that she begins to feel happiness.

Trace Elkson is a spirit stuck on earth long enough to let his childhood friend, Amber Addaire, know how much she meant to him before he died. He can’t tell her what he is, or that he’s watching over her. He can only communicate with her through her dreams and hopes she will eventually realize who he is.

In the dream realm, Amber falls in love with Trace but can she figure out who he is and join him before his spirit is forced to move on?

WARNING: A deep friendship, impending death, and a life saved.

Copyright 2011, Wendy Ely
All rights reserved, Lyrical Press, Inc.

The sun had begun to sink behind the rippling water of the lake. My favorite time of the night had arrived, along with my favorite season–fall. The cool breeze made me snuggle deeper in my coat. I sat on the large rock, watching the moon glitter over the inky water. This place had been my favorite spot. Always the place I had gone when a problem chewed at my brain, since about age seven.

I felt him approach the rock, but didn’t turn toward him. My gaze stayed fixed on the grooves over the water’s surface. Even his sliding over the rock to sit next to me didn’t steal my attention. At that moment, he didn’t matter to me.

“Amber?”

“Mm hm?” My gaze remained on the lake before me. I had the sense that I had been in this exact situation before. But I didn’t know this man. I was certain of it, even though he felt familiar in a way I couldn’t put my finger on.

“What is bothering you?” He slid his arm around my shoulders and hugged me close, and I rested my head against his shoulder without hesitation.

“How do you know something is bothering me?” Tears of frustration threatened to spill.

“I know you, Amber.” He slid his fingers through my hair. “I can tell when you’re upset about something. What is it?”

I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Was he someone I could trust? He must be. Being in his arms felt so right, even without knowing his name. “I’m trying to be someone I’m not.”

“I see.” He really didn’t. He couldn’t possibly understand what a fake life I lived outside of this dream. But he washed away the tension that had been bundling my nerves into tight bands.

“I don’t know what to do about it. That’s why I came here.”

“Because this is your favorite spot to think. Right?”

I pulled from the comfort of his arms. “How do you know that?”

“Because I know you, Amber Michelle Addaire.” He turned to me and clasped my hands in his. “I wish you would realize that.”

“But do I know you? What’s your name?”

His eyes. In each dream, those rich chocolate brown eyes drew me in as though I had once looked into them. Not in the dreams, either. In real life. Had I? Would he tell me this time?

“You’ll know soon enough. Sometimes rushing things ruins the situation. Time, my dear, is everything in this case. Give it all the time warranted.” He stood. “And Amber?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t worry about trying to be someone you’re not. Everyone does that once in awhile. It helps us discover who we really are.” A piece of hair fell down against his tanned forehead as it had the first time he’d joined me at the lake.

The man of my dreams disappeared then, leaving me sitting alone on the rock.

I woke up with a start. Why had he just left willingly this time? It wasn’t as if I had somewhere to go. Saturday morning had arrived, meaning I could sleep in all day. And be with him in my dreams. But nope. He had to disappear, leaving me to wake up in the dreary bedroom, dreading the day ahead.

There really wasn’t any reason to dread the day, either. Things weren’t so bad in my life. Many people in the world had it a lot worse than me, so why couldn’t I see it like that? I tried, damn it, but couldn’t.

Written by: Wendy Ely

Buy it here!!

Marley, 2012

Our graphic designers dog, Marley, seems more like a snowy apparition than a poodle.

Ink and Watercolor on Paper 2010 All Sailor Jerry Designs repainted on this sheet for a promo I ran.

- Posted by Kraillin; Reddit

- Posted by abeuntstudiainmores ; Reddit

The other picture my father who is an avid photographer enthusiast and is never far from his camera, took that pic of the co-op in swift current as it was burning down the street from their business. And it burnt down to the same day a year before. That’s all I knew, many people have wanted this photo, but my father owns the negatives. To me it looks like a native ghost in the dark part, as I see feathers coming out of a headband, and looks like hounds on the side.

Tell me what you think. Absolutely none of my photos have been tampered with, and I have the originals.

March 10/2012 I took these pictures of a Full Moon the other night, and found in the pics these shining orbs spread throughout the sky around the moon, and thought they may be spirits, as they are in almost the same spot in different pics shown here.