Oh, and there was that one time Martha saw a dryad. Also that one time a little devil broke young Vini’s window shade. Listen to hear their full stories:

Episode Summary

Vini and Martha have both seen some strange things that nobody else has seen. Devotees of Hecate and long-time practicing witches, the pair wrote a book together despite living far apart and having little else in common. And yet, their chemistry is on fire…much like a spell quickened with hot sauce.

Learn how they—and you—can create valuable magick from impecunious means, today, on Homespun Haints.

AI-generated transcript of this episode available upon request.

About the Guests: Vini and Martha, Co-Authors of Thrifty Witchery

Martha Kirby Capo

Author Martha Kirby Capo reminds us of our CUUPs days. Her calm confidence is all the evidence we need that she has rightfully earned her “crone” status. A Solitary Witch currently working with Brigid, Hekate, Pan, and Cernunnos, Martha is the page manager of Patheos Pagan’s shared blog The Agora, where she writes as The Corner Crone. She also leads Moments For Meditation on KPPR Pure Pagan Radio.

Martha has been extensively anthologized through Skinner House books, Flying Cow Productions, and various Llewellyn Publications. An award-winning poet and lyricist, she has written for several online and print magazines, including The Wild Hunt and Witchology. Martha has been a presenter at Florida Pagan Gathering, Turning the Tide, and Mystic South. She is a member of Circle Sanctuary and Everglades Moon, a Local Council representing the Covenant of the Goddess in Florida.

Her second book, Quantum Magick, is forthcoming. Follow for updates and also check out her witch mentoring services on Facebook or Instagram @the_corner_crone.

Vincent Higginbotham

Vincent Higginbotham has seen shadow people since early childhood, which was also when he knew he’d be a writer someday. His first book was about how witchcraft saved his life, as his practice helped him first to survive a decade living on the streets and then later to thrive as an author.

Mostly self-taught, Vini is not initiated in any traditional form or witchcraft practice. He follows his gut in all things magic but spends plenty of time researching to be sure his intuition is informed by wisdom before setting his intentions. It is Vini’s goal to empower others the way he wishes he had been empowered in his early years. He has a dedicated practice with the goddess Hekate and lives in the Southeastern US. He knows Martha because he also writes for Patheos.com; check out all his writing at viniwrites.com.

You can find the book Vini and Martha co-authored, Thrifty Witchery: Magick for the Penny-Pinching Practitioner, at Llewellyn Books, Amazon, or your local Barnes and Noble. If you’re local to Atlanta, you can see them presenting in-person at Mystic South, July 13-16, 2023.

Episode Show Notes About Practicing Magick on a Budget

Witchcraft: a private practice

In today’s age of public oversharing, Vini and Martha both stress that it’s important to keep some parts of your magickal practice private. You never know whose influence is going to change the outcome of your work. Becky immediately embraced the advice, and now won’t be sharing any more of her spells with us. But with your own copy of Thrifty Witchery, you might soon be able to get a peek through the witch window and reverse engineer your own spells.

Who is the Goddess Hecate?

Maiden, mother, or crone? Earth, Hell, or Heavens? Olympian, demi-god, or titan? Homemaker, caregiver, or hero? There’s a lot of personalities stored inside Hecate, patron of witches. Stay tuned for this week’s bonus episode about Hekate, where we burp the lid to get a whiff of the trichotomous nature of this powerful ancient deity of ghosts and liminal spaces. See you at the crossroads!

How to Practice Magick on a Tight Budget

How do you stretch your magick budget? If you read Thrifty Witchery also, let us know your favorite tip to implement on our Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/homespunhaints. Seen a ghost, devil, or dryad? Please submit your true ghost story and you could be on our next episode of Homespun Haints! Quick, do it now, and have a spooky day!

Photo by JJ Jordan on Unsplash

The post Well-Heeled Magick on a Shoestring Budget appeared first on Homespun Haints.

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Episode Summary

Trauma attracts negative energy. And sometimes that energy can manifest into something physical, something terrifying. However, the converse is true as well. If we can learn how to laugh in the face of darkness, we might just be able to find the light.

Today’s guest has maintained a sense of humor throughout all of his terrifying experiences, even though they are the stuff horror movies are made from. Let’s talk to Christian, today, on Homespun Haints.

AI-generated transcript of this episode available upon request.

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About the Guest, Christian Bradley West, The Country Clairvoyant

Christian is an artist and intuitive astrologer, known to many by his Instagram account @thecountryclairvoyant. In addition to posting hilarious memes that poke fun at the commoditization of spirituality practices and astrology, Christian can be contacted for readings at thecountryclairvoyant.com or you can reach him on Twitter at @ChristianBWest.

Show notes

Creepy kids who sleepwalk

The horror film industry proves that kids are creepy. Sometimes we adults just can’t fathom the source of bizarre child behavior. The child’s utter confidence that what they are experiencing is the truth, coupled with their lateral reasoning and inability to articulate the details in a helpful manner, can cause adults to interpret their words in the creepiest way possible…and that’s before the sleepwalking.

Almost all somnambulists are children under 12. While about 10% to 30% of children will ever sleepwalk in their lives, only about 1% to 7% of people have a sleepwalking experience as an adult. Although there are several medications and conditions that seem to trigger sleepwalking, the main trigger common to children would be stress. But triggers don’t constitute reasons.

Similar to somnambulism, little Diana experienced night terrors. Night terrors are the other form of non-REM sleep arousal disorder common to children. During these delightful episodes, baby Diana would wake in the middle of the night, get out of bed, hide under a chair, and scream bloody murder. Similar to sleepwalking, the child usually has no memory of what happened the next morning.

Perhaps the creepiest part of kids sleepwalking is that the somnambulist seems completely undisturbed by the whole scenario. A childhood friend of Diana’s who frequently sleepwalked made light of putting up a baby gate in her doorway every night so she wouldn’t go tumbling down the stairs. She would regale Diana with stories of the weird things she’d get up to while she was asleep. Second-hand stories, of course, as she remembered none of these antics. Perhaps Diana’s inability to sleep at sleepovers was born out of a macabre desire to witness the strangeness that is childhood sleepwalking. Which, sadly, she never did, although nowadays she gets to witness sleep talking quite frequently.

Kuan Yin and the Mother Archetype

Christian brought up the serendipitous experience of finding a carving of the goddess Kuan Yin in his search for smithsonite stone. This makes some sense, since the spiritual usage of smithsonite is to muffle the chaos of the world and the pain of the past in order to allow your inner compassion to blossom.

According to The Met, Kuan Yin or Guanyin (觀音) is the Chinese iteration of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. A bodhisattva represents an enlightened being who choses to stay on earth as a role model. Interestingly, Avalokiteśvara was traditionally depicted as either male or gender-neutral. Imperial China morphed Guanyin into a female figure. Some now compare her symbolically to the Virgin Mary; a motherly archetype of divine compassion.

Empty chair superstitions

Christian mentioned the tradition of leaving a chair open for a spirit. There are a few traditions and superstitions based around empty chairs and ghosts. There are the nice ones: remembering a recently lost loved one by leaving a chair empty at the next holiday dinner. Some cultures leave a chair open for the deceased around All Souls Day, on November second. Some of our family members have chairs they display but never sit in that belonged to a deceased loved one.

Then there are the not-so-nice ones. Some families put great importance on making sure there’s no empty chair overnight in one’s bedroom. Perhaps as long as there’s an object on the chair the ghosts won’t sit there to watch you sleep? In Celtic tradition, rocking an empty rocking chair is an invitation to ghosts and evil spirits to have a seat and stay a spell. Albeit unintentional, you’ll know the invitation was received when the chair starts rocking on its own. I suppose having a spirit in your extra chair could be either good or bad, depending on if you know the spirit and want them around.

Center for Spiritual Awareness

Christian talked about this spiritual nonprofit a little drive outside of Atlanta. This center offers retreats and classes focusing on meditation instruction and practice and other holistic lifestyle teachings. According to their website, the CSA “affirm(s) that it is possible for everyone, by right personal endeavor and God’s grace, to have a conscious relationship with the Infinite and to fulfill all of life’s purposes in harmony with natural laws.”

Have you had a ghost in your bed?

What is it about going to bed that leaves us open to supernatural attacks? Is it that we are temporarily in an altered state while we sleep? Basically helpless? Completely relaxed and thus receptive? Why do some people sleepwalk, and what does it mean? Why are kids who sleepwalk so creepy, and are they all reliving terrifying visions from past lives? Join the discussion on our Facebook group, or at Patreon, and let us know your thoughts on these spooky bedtime stories. If you’ve got a story of your own, why not tell it on our next episode? Surefire way to have a spooky day.

The post Something was Crawling on Me appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Episode Summary

You walk into an empty room, but you feel like you’re being watched. Pulling out your recorder, you start to ask questions, just in case. Maybe you don’t expect to hear anything. But a few hours later, when you listen back to the recording, you hear a voice that isn’t yours. Shivers run up your spine as you realize you were right. Someone, or something, else was in that room with you.

Our guest today is an expert on electronic voice phenomena, or EVPs. But her true ghost stories aren’t just about phantom voices. She’s been encountering strange things her whole life.

AI-generated transcript of this episode available upon request.

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About the Guest, Cyn Shrader Hill

We met Cyn, founder of Elk Valley Paranormal, through our mutual friend Miranda Young of Ghost Biker Explorations. Cyn of Lincoln County, TN, has caught some creepy EVPs on her many paranormal investigations with her own group and with Ghost Hunters of Southern Tennessee. You can hear some examples of her EVPs right now on her website. She is the author of several books, including Whispers in the Dark, Web Of Terror, They’re Speaking, Are You Listening? and It’s Not Goodbye: Signs from Beyond.

She often partners with her friend, Mark Elliott Fults, author of the book she mentioned on the program, The Darkest Corner: Necrophilia, necromancy, and the functioning of a working psychic. Cyn does public storytelling at Young Vintage Antiques in Fayetteville, TN, where you can apparently purchase some really good sage.

Keep updated on Facebook @ElkValleyParanormal.

Show notes

What is an EVP?

In this case, the acronym EVP stands for electronic voice phenomena (or Elk Valley Paranormal, in other cases). Sometimes, recording equipment will pick up something that sounds like a spoken word or phrase, when no audible words are being spoken in the room where the recording is taking place. Often these messages are too quiet to hear until you turn up the volume.

Are EVP real? Are these actual messages from another realm? Could they be the quiet voices of spirits, amplified by technology? Or are we just hearing what we want to hear within the white noise? After listening to Cyn’s EVP collection, we’re pretty convinced these are actual voices. But whose voices are they?

How to get a good electronic voice phenomenon recording

• Wondering what EVP questions to ask? Try asking direct, open ended questions, but not leading questions.
• If you know a name associated with the location, use it! Try asking if that person is present. Direct your question to that person, addressing them by name.
• Leave plenty of time after asking your question. Remember, you can’t hear an EVP in real time, so you just have to trust something might be happening and keep recording the silence.
• Eliminate sources of background noise, and make sure nobody is speaking in another room while you’re recording.
• Use reliable EVP technology; something that picks up very quiet sounds.
• If you’re using something that records onto physical medium, like a cassette tape, never reuse a tape. Old recordings may not be 100% gone after being dubbed over.

How to protect your empathic self

Cyn gave us some tips for empaths doing paranormal investigations.

• Countdown meditation.
• Opening and closing prayer.
• Always close any kind of questioning by saying goodbye, otherwise the door stays open.
• Essential oils: lavender for anxiety, peach for interrupting an anxious event.
• Crystals, which can be cleansed with moonlight or sage smoke.
• Smoke from burning sage creates a barrier for spirits and ill intent, which you can draw then step over.

Have you caught an electronic voice phenomenon on tape?

While there are many methods of audio communication with paranormal entities and spirits, EVPs are one of the classics. If you’ve got a good EVP from a haunted location, we want to hear it! Show and tell is every day on our Facebook group, because every day is a spooky day.

The post EVPs, Turkey Ghosts, and the Shape of a Haunted House appeared first on Homespun Haints.

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Episode Summary:

Anthony isn’t sure why his haunted Miami area condo seems to be a hotbed of activity, but he has a few theories. Hear about the weird things happening in his Florida home and how he deals with them, today, on Homespun Haints.

Episode Promo

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About the Guest: Anthony Pena

Anthony is no stranger to hauntings. He has been experiencing paranormal phenomena throughout his haunted Miami childhood. However, his latest hauntings are bothering his child and wife, so he’s sworn off seeking out the spooky and instead focuses on saging his house regularly.

Anthony has a gaming channel on Twitch, @QuePenaGaming. You can also check out the travel vlog he runs with his wife at YouTube.com/c/QuePenaTravels and see his photography on Instagram at @punk_dad_photography.

Episode Show Notes

A Haunted Miami Area Monolith: Hollywood Beach Resort

There are multiple people with evidence of a haunting at this creepy old hotel where Anthony inspected fire alarms. Is it really full of the ghosts of Al Capone’s shenanigans?

In fact, this spooky place is SO haunted we did a special episode on it, to be released Thanksgiving Day! Subscribe now so you don’t miss it!

How to properly dispel ghosts

There’s a lot of ways to cleanse your space to make sure your home is safe and full of good vibes. We made some TikTok videos to explain it best, but the gist of it is here:

If you have a ghost “problem” in your house, you can first try to negotiate with it by setting boundaries or leaving activities for it so it will have something to do other than bothering you. If the problem goes beyond a simple nuisance, you can dispel the ghosts by walking along every wall and into every corner of your home (don’t forget closets and the attic) with a cleansing substance in hand, as listed below.

Here are three tools you can use to excise your excitable ectoplasmic entity

1. Burning stuff. If you’re prone to pyrotechnics then you’ll feel right at home with this common method of cleansing. Sage tends to be the common go-to, even though using it is controversial. However, burning other herbs such as rosemary, mint, or basil also work (herbs you grow yourself are the best). You can also use incense or a stick of cinnamon. Just be careful not to catch anything on fire cause then you got an even bigger problem.
2. Holy water. I say “holy water” with a grain of salt (pun intended). Dude, there are so many ways you can get water that’s blessed or charged or “holy” and it doesn’t matter what religion (or lack of religion) you are.. You can find rituals online to do it yourself by placing a jar of water under a full moon or throwing salt, herbs, spices, whatnot in it. Or if you’re Catholic, you can go to your local parish and get some. There’s even a YouTube video out there where a priest says the blessing for making holy water and you just need to leave some water by your computer with the volume up. I’m not making this up. 
3. Making noise. Yes, noise, cleanses out those cobwebby companions. Some people prefer to walk around their house with a bell, some people like to use singing bowls, and some people resort to banging a spatula against a frying pan. I don’t judge. Whatever is your jam (see another pun) will do the trick.

If you live in the extremely haunted Miami area, we suggest doing the above at least every two weeks.

Raising kids to respect ghosts

After being disbelieved by his parents about his childhood paranormal experiences, Anthony seems set on helping his son constructively interact with ghosts. How would you react if your kids told you they saw a ghost? Hopefully with the right guidance and support, future generations can learn to love having a spooky day!

The post Everyone in Florida Is Possessed appeared first on Homespun Haints.

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Episode Summary

For some of us, the word charming evokes images of lush gardens, cottage rooms and hearty food. For co-host Becky, charming also means taking her family to a haunted bed and breakfast thousands of miles from home, where centuries-old ghosts wander the grounds and warn of impending doom. Becky stayed at a delightful mansion in the northern Irish countryside, where she encountered beautiful scenery, warm hospitality, and sooo many Northern Ireland ghosts.

Episode promos

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About Ballylough House and the Northern Ireland ghosts

Ballylough House is a delightful structure about 5 miles from the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. The house itself is about 300 years old; however, it rests on top of the ruins of a castle decimated centuries ago.

The MacQuillans and the MacDonnells

Legend states that the MacQuillans and MacDonnells arranged a marriage between a young woman of the MacQuillan clan and a young man of the MacDonnells. The two families had been warring for generations, and the marriage would finally bring peace between the clans. The wedding took place at Ballylough, then occupied by the MacQuillans.

However, during the wedding feast, the MacDonnells swooped in and slaughtered everyone at the banquet, including the young bride and her mother. The MacDonnells then burned the castle to the ground; only the crumbling tower remains. The MacDonnells held the land until 1625, when they gave the land to their land agent, Archibald Stewart.

Other haunted castles we’ve covered

If you’re looking to visit a haunted castle, be sure to consider the following.

• Thornewood Castle.
• Leap Castle.
• Akershus Fortress.

Would you spend the night in a haunted B&B built on a castle?

We loved our time at the Ballylough B&B! We here at Homespun Haints would absolutely spend more time communing with the spirits there. It is certainly a reliable place to have a spooky day!

The post The Ghosts of Ballylough House appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Listen to part one of the interview here:

Then, catch part two, An Evil Ghost Named John, here:

Personal Ghost Stories from Iowa

Today’s guest grew up in the cornfields of Hornick, Iowa. Yes, the literal, proverbial cornfields. The Job and Sarah’s house scenes of the film Children of the Corn was shot in her hometown back in the ’80s. And the echoes of Hollywood horror tropes didn’t stop there. Just a few years later, young Lindsay encountered just about all the ghosts you’d expect in any scary movie. From a crying ghost bride, to spectral children who just wanted to play with her toys, to a menacing…wait, that’s not a scarecrow!

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Episode Show Notes about these Personal Ghost Stories

About the Guest, Lindsay Valenty

Lindsay is one of the co-hosts of two paranormal-related podcasts. Pineapple Pizza Podcast was all about urban legends, mythology, and cryptozoology. Ye Olde Crime Podcast is all about pre-1900’s true crime, a surprisingly underserved niche in an extremely popular genre. Both employ a storytelling-plus-comedy format, which means you’ll probably enjoy them if you like our show. But unlike our show, where we try to scare you silly, Lindsay’s show features upbeat music to make the tales of grisly murder go down smooth.

Personal ghost stories from a train station for spirits

The house Lindsay lived in at age 11 seemed to be constantly full of ghosts. But not the same ghosts. Is it possible for a house to function as a thoroughfare for spirits just passing through? Becky made a YouTube video exploring this idea, which also has a cute cat.

Haunted dolls

Lindsay tells us her many personal childhood haunting stories, including about how a ghost in her attic wanted to play with her Barbie dolls. How come some people love dolls, and others find them horrifying? Sure, maybe dolls can house demons. But also, maybe those demons are just misunderstood. What happens when you befriend a demon-possessed doll? Well, we made another video for just this situation.

Also, for some reason, Becky has started amassing an unintentional collection of haunted dolls. She’s sold some of them on Etsy. Please consider buying Becky’s haunted dolls, she has way too many and she’s too possessed of late to admit she has a problem. If you do, for sure you’ll have a spooky day.

The post Buckwheat Man’s Gonna Getcha: A True Ghost Story from the Cornfields of Iowa appeared first on Homespun Haints.

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Episode Summary

How can you tell if a ghost is nice? Or enjoys long walks in the woods? Or is fashionable?

Our guests today, a mother-daughter duo, have several ghost stories to share. Some of the ghosts are nice, and some aren’t. But one interesting ghost has a very particular way he likes to dress.

Episode Show Notes

About the Guests, Atlanta-Based Podcasters Melanie and Mollie

Today’s guests are the mother-daughter duo of Melanie and Mollie. If you’re wondering what are the other best Atlanta based true story podcasts out there, wait ’til you hear this. Together, Melanie and Mollie host a podcast called Storytime with Mom & Me. And they are as funny and mystical as we aspire to be. But their show features down-to-earth stories on all kinds of subjects. Independently, Melanie (mom) is into fair trade crystals. Mollie (daughter) is an astrologer and the oracle reader of Jalisa’s Palace.

Mystical ways to keep in touch with friends

Mollie and Melanie have some interesting ways that they use to keep in touch with friends. Personally, we like texts, Facebook, and Instagram (because we’re Gen Xers and can’t seem to find anyone on MySpace anymore for some reason). Our guests take communication in an entirely different direction. She has been known to use:

• The Ouija board, with friend Istepi. But, to be fair, she’s really only communicated with Istepi through the Ouija board. Istepi might not be alive.
• Telekinesis or poltergeist activity with “friend” Vackie. Unfortunately, Mollie was on the receiving end only, since Vackie is incorporeal. This “imaginary friend” used to lock Mollie in her childhood bedroom. Vackie also pushed Mollie down the stairs once.
• Telepathy with friend C.G. who, unlike the above, is corporeal.

Thank you for listening to our little indie Atlanta-based paranormal podcast!

We’re so glad the word is getting out locally. If you’re also in Atlanta, let us know how you found our podcast in the comments, or by connecting with us on social @homespunhaints.

Just for you, Hainted Loves, here’s a short bonus episode about a potentially paranormal occurrence between Becky’s son and her cat, What is the sound of one cat knocking?

Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post Mom and Me and Hipster Lumberjack Ghost Makes Three appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Listen to the episode here:

Then, treat yourself to a weird bonus episode: What’s in the Dybbuk Box?

Episode Summary

In 1968, a 13-year-old boy moved into a rental house with his family…and perhaps another, more transparent family. Although both he and his sister had extensive paranormal experiences, his parents remained too skeptical to believe their children’s stories. Even when the landlord corroborated them.

Later, grown-up Al returned to his childhood home in an attempt to investigate and document what had happened there…only to find that the house had burned down. More mysteriously, none of the locals he spoke to could really say just when it burned down, and the land records are notably sparse.

About the Guest: Al Cooley

Al is the author of a book about his experiences growing up in a haunted house. He also formed the Ghosts in the Valley Podcast in 2019, but don’t let the newness of his podcast fool you. Al has been collecting people’s true paranormal and ghost stories since he had to put an ad in the newspaper to find them and film them on VHS. His 1998 documentary, Ghosts in the Valley, referenced his home turf of the Ohio Valley, PA. Since then, Al’s wider net cast by using the internet and podcasting has proven to him that the “valley” referenced in the name of his show could be my valley, or your valley…that witnessing the paranormal is just part of the normal human experience for many of us.

Listen to Al’s podcast Ghosts in the Valley at https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/ghosts-in-the-valley-al-cooley-Ch4MfeFHv5i/ or follow Ghosts in the Valley on Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/GhostsValley

Do ghosts choose whom they want to connect with?

In his childhood haunted house, Al would see a ghost girl around the age of 7-10, whom he nicknamed Alice. Alice was also seen by Al’s young friends in the “ghost club” he formed for the understanding and comeraderie he craved but was denied by his parents. But his sister saw a teen ghost girl. Others reported seeing violent ghostly men in the same house, although these men never bothered Al. When people’s encounters with the ghosts in a specific haunting vary enough, it can cause outsiders to doubt that their stories are true. But could the discrepancy be explained by assuming it’s true that ghosts, like living people, are picky about whom to hang out with based on their own personal tastes? After all, we living folks haven’t met every single living person in our neighborhood.

Would you get buried under a clear lid?

After we finished recording, Al tipped us off to a new trend: transparent coffin lids set into the ground under a clear barrier instead of under the dirt and grass. Why? No, really…WHY?? A clear casket at a viewing or funeral makes sense. Unless you’re Sleeping Beauty or Snow White-post-apple, a clear casket seems like it would end up looking pretty gross over the long haul. Would you ever follow this trend, either in your own last wishes or for a deceased loved one? PLEASE tell us why in the comments on Patreon (where you can listen to this episode ad-free,) or our Facebook group.

Hillview Manor Asylum

In his investigations, Al has visited Hillview Manor of New Castle, PA, was once known as the Lawrence County Poor Farm. Far from the reputable nursing home it would become in the 1960’s, its history is much darker. Upon opening in 1926, the Poor Farm was a place for society’s undesirables to stay (sometimes under court order) while working off debts, or simply because they couldn’t take care of themselves and nobody else wanted to deal with them. During its years in operation, the home saw many suicides and even some murders. Al tells us that someone even built a golf course over a cemetery here.

The nursing home closed in 2004. The current owners are very pro paranormal-investigation, and the site even hosts a paranormal convention in August. (Our buddy April the Psychic Housewife of New Jersey will be there in 2022!) Keep an eye out for a Most Haunted entry about Hillview Manor, coming soon.

A shared love of people’s true ghost stories

We’ve certainly met a kindred spirit in Al. Where we focus on the art of story telling by people with true ghost stories, Al delves into the evidence surrounding those stories until they’re difficult to deny. Either way, if you have a true ghost story, hit us up for an eager ear. Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post Alice Looking Through The Glass appeared first on Homespun Haints.

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Episode Summary

Why do those shadow ghosts Joelle sees in her peripheral vision always disappear when she looks straight at them? Is it that they shy away from eye contact, or does looking directly at them somehow limit her ability to perceive them? And what do they have to do with the invisible visitor that shared her childhood bedroom?

Episode Show Notes

About Joelle Velez

Joelle reads tarot, performs reiki, designs shirts, and crafts candles and oils for use in magickal practice. You can purchase her mystical goods and distance reiki on her Etsy store, or get yourself an early Halloween present from her online clothing shop. Connect with her on Instagram to keep up with her latest news.

Ectogasm discount

You can still use code HAINTS to save 10% off every order of $20 or more at ectogasm.net, and you really deserve more creepy couture. Thanks for helping to support our podcast!

Episode References about Shadow People

What’s the difference between shadow people in peripheral vision and spirits?

“Shadow people” is a phrase used to describe supernatural entities which appear as an absence of light. Physical objects cast shadows, but if you see a shadow that is not cast by a physical object, which appears to have agency—almost to cast itself—you might be looking at a shadow figure. The Hat Man is one famous shadow person with a sinister reputation. While previous guests have described shadow people as more sinister than spirits of the deceased, Joelle’s experience has been different.

Could anything else cause someone to see shadow people in their peripheral vision?

We’ve all seen things that we thought were eyelashes, stray hairs, or just plain shadows. But what if you eliminate all those “other” things and you still are seeing shadows in your peripheral vision. Could it be you’re seeing something that is supernatural?

Why do shadow people lurk in doorways?

Becky posits during this episode that doorways are liminal spaces, which always seem to be haunted. That comment led Diana deep down the rabbit hole of speculation, especially since she frequently saw shadows in her peripheral vision which darted through doorways while working at the haunted ski lodge. Catch up with Diana’s rambling thoughts here.

Can dogs sense spirits?

Joelle’s father recommended she bring the dog in her room to see if she would exhibit any strange behavior that could corroborate Joelle’s experiences. But throughout her stories, Joelle specifies multiple times that whatever dog was in the room had no reaction to what she was seeing.

It is indeed possible that, when a dog senses something that you sense, it’s not perceiving the ghost so much as perceiving your perception of the ghost. Smelling your fear, so to speak. It’s also very feasible that dogs just sense a lot of normal, rather than paranormal things that we cannot, and so they seem paranormal to us.

While the common trope of dogs’ superior sense of smell isn’t 100% scientifically accurate per-se, their hearing is demonstrably more sensitive, as is their night vision. With these heightened senses, there’s a good chance dogs can sense ghosts. And yet, as cat people, we just had to pose the argument that there’s at least one kind of companion animal that does it better.

What are spirit guides?

Joelle believes that everyone has a spirit guide. We’ve heard before that mediums have more of them, but that doesn’t mean that more are necessarily better. But what actually are spirit guides? Are spirit guides spirits of the deceased? If so, are they ancestors from this life, or friends from a past life? If not, are they guardian angels? Are they the same thing as spirit animals?

Based on an amalgam of the opinions of our diverse guests, my interpretation is as follows. Spirit guides are whatever you need them to be. They are equivalent to energy, a guiding force in our lives. Just because some people see a spectral wolf following beside them, while others see an angel of light descending from the heavens does not make either person wrong.

Even being able to see or sense this energy is a gift, or perhaps a talent that can be developed. but just because you may not see yours doesn’t mean it isn’t there. If you can’t sense yours, that may just mean its energy is taking a form that’s more amenable to you. You may sense it as a gut feeling. You may notice the recurrence of a particular number or image in the tangible world. They may just be those shadows in your peripheral vision.

How do you use a pendulum to communicate with ghosts and spirit guides?

A pendulum is a divining device used to answer yes/no questions. This can be complicated and meaningful, like an obsidian pyramid on a chain made of stones representing the colors of the chakras, and a board of potential answers, like yes, no, maybe, and undecided. You can watch how Becky used a fancy pendulum set to talk with some entities on a Civil War battlefield on our 2022 haunted Nashville trip. But a pendulum can also be Macgyvered out of your necklace by dropping a ring around it. Hell, a strand of hair with an earring or shoelace with a bead would even do the trick.

When using a pendulum for divining, the method is fairly simple. For your pleasure, here’s a quick primer on how to talk to ghosts with a pendulum.

How to use a pendulum to talk to ghosts and other entities:

1. Hold the dangling pendulum still.
2. Say (aloud, preferably) something like “give me your highest and truest ‘yes'”.
3. Wait patiently for the pendulum to sway back and forth. This direction now stands for “yes,” meaning the perpendicular direction would stand for “no”.
4. Completely still the pendulum with your other hand, and ask your yes/no question.
5. Wait patiently for the pendulum to swing back and forth, using the direction to glean your answer.
6. If the direction of sway is neither a clear yes or no, it’s either a “maybe” or your hand is jittery. You can always still the pendulum and try again.

Is pendulum divination real?

Is this practice vulnerable to faking or false-reads? Oh yes, absolutely. It’s ideal for the pendulum holder to attempt to relax, clear their mind, and focus on actually keeping their hand as still as possible. It’s tempting to try to hurry the pendulum up by giving it a little jostle, but if you consciously move your hand at all, you’ll never get an answer from anything outside your own conscious mind.

But with the fallibility of the human body, it’s easy to argue that your small subconscious movements influence the “answer” the “ghosts” are giving the pendulum. I’d like to reframe this objection with the response, “so what?” Our subconscious minds are amazing. Worlds worth of knowledge and information exist within our subconscious minds, that our conscious minds usually have very little access to. Some of this secret knowledge might come from the other side, or a higher power, who is really to say? I believe it’s fair to argue that, while the conscious mind is busy attempting to still the hand, the subconscious mind could be generating micro-movements that do actually answer our question. The pendulum is merely the amplifier which magnifies these tiny hints.

How do you use tarot cards to answer yes or no questions?

What if you don’t even have a hack pendulum, but you’ve got some cards? There are several ways card readers use the cards to quickly answer simple yes or no questions. One way is to pull any card as you usually do. If the card is upright it’s a yes, if it’s reversed, it’s a no.

Like a little more mysticism and well familiar with your deck? You could allow your own feelings about the card’s meaning to lean towards positive (“yes”) or negative (“no”). This technique allows for a third answer: “maybe,” for those cards that are neutral or unclear. It also allows the reader to use common playing cards, which may look identical when upright or reversed.

What can a parent do to help a haunted kid?

In this episode, Joelle laments that there was no right answer that her father could’ve known when she asked him about the entity in her bedroom. Really, “no right answer” is canon for being a parent in a lot of situations.

When your kids come to you saying they saw something that you can’t explain, our guests overwhelmingly advise reassuring your children that you believe they are telling the truth. Actually listen when they tell you about the entities they’re witnessing. And then go ahead and follow through on believing, because the kids are probably seeing more than you are. Those shadows you see in your peripheral vision might be images as clear as you and me to their young, impressionable eyes. Help them have the good kind of spooky day!

The post They Are Assigned To Us Before We Are Brought Earthside appeared first on Homespun Haints.

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Episode Summary: Diana’s Basement Ghost

The house Diana grew up in was built in the 1920’s, during Tulsa’s heyday. Her family lived in the house when she was born, and still does. At the beginning of 2020, Diana moved back into the same house, to help make repairs and spruce it up for her mom while her mom enjoys the retiree RV life for a bit.

If you recall, this was right about the time Becky and Diana started producing the very podcast you’re currently reading about. And as Becky always says, the more we talk about ghosts, the more ghosts seem to manifest for us. What was a vague childhood memory of weird feelings and dreams about the basement of this house became a whole new ballgame once we started obsessing over ghost stories here.

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Episode Show Notes

About the Guest

It’s Diana! You know, our co-host. Yes, that Diana. Longtime listeners know it’s a Homespun Haints tradition to tell a story about one of our very own personal paranormal experiences every 10 episodes or so. Happy Decaversary!

FAQ

How old is the house?

The house was built in 1929-1930. Diana’s family has owned it since the mid 1970’s.

Has anyone died in the house?

No, there’s no record of anyone dying in the house. Nor are there any family or public records we’ve been able to locate referencing anyone meeting the description of the people Diana dreamt about.

Was the house built on an ancient burial ground?

Quite possibly. The surrounding land has some traumatic history, even recently. Much of Tulsa, and therefore probably this house, is actually located on Muscogee (Creek) reservation lands, which were settled by the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee people who were forced to relocate to the area in the 1830’s. The government broke their agreement with this sovereign nation to make Oklahoma into a state in 1907. About a decade before the house was built, nearly an entire neighborhood of African American families were massacred just a few miles north of the house. We are still to this day discovering and excavating the victims’ unmarked graves.

But “ancient”? Maybe that holds water, too. For thousands of years before Europeans invaded the area in the 1500’s, native peoples did inhabit this area. The Wichita and the Caddo presence in the area can be traced back into prehistory, and the Osage and Apachean-speaking people likely stayed or passed thorough the land that is now called Tulsa. The nomadic Clovis and Folsom cultures were hunting in the area 10,000-12,000 years ago. Archaeological evidence implies that people have lived on or passed over these lands for 20,000 to 30,000 years. And on and on through the ages, people lived, and therefore likely died, all around this area. That’s quite a lot of time for bodies to accumulate.

Have you opened the secret passageway yet?

We’re just waiting for Becky to visit Tulsa. Since she’s so excited to see what’s in the secret passageway, Diana can’t in good conscience open it without her present.

When will Becky be visiting this house?

Soon, hainted loves! We will open the secret passageway for the first time in decades on Sept 24, 2023. Wanna watch? Click here for your ticket to the live stream event! We’re gonna do some ghost hunting up in this basement.

When do we get to see this basement?

Here you go:

Who else has corroborated any of this basement ghost story?

• Emily Davis, psychic medium, mentioned seeing a motherly presence in Diana’s home right after we finished recording her interview. Where did she see the vision? Her view was of the wall that’s on the other side of the basement stairs in the photo above.
• April the Psychic Housewife felt something present during her interview.
• Annie Larson, psychic medium, detected something during her interview.
• Our guest Amanda had a dream about Diana’s basement that was eerily similar to Diana’s own most recent basement ghost dream.
• Diana’s mom’s friend’s toddler communicated with something through the floor grate that he identified as a famous anthropomorphic mouse.

What is hantavirus?

Hantavirus is a very rare virus that causes severe, life-threatening lung and kidney disease. This virus is transmitted by 4 types of rodents that live in the US: the cotton rat, rice rat, deer mouse, and white-footed mouse. We probably don’t need to worry about it much, as only about 800 cases were reported nationwide in the 26 years between 1993 and 2019. Only 8 of these reported cases were in Oklahoma. Also, any rodents sealed inside the secret passage would’ve likely died half a century ago and long since become inert tiny skeletons. How cute.

Thank you for listening to our show!

We love sharing our weird, spooky lives with you, hainted loves. Past decaversaries have included stories about a haunted art gallery, Becky’s haunted childhood, Becky’s haunted children, a haunted ski lodge, a haunted archaeology dig, Becky’s childhood “imaginary” frenemy, and Diana falling off the potty into a portal in her allegedly haunted bathroom. What do you think, how many paranormal experiences can Becky and Diana have before Episode 80? You’ll find out soon enough! Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post Finally, Diana’s Haunted Basement Ghost Story! appeared first on Homespun Haints.