Graveyard Tour of Concord MA

Cemeteries can be spooky, creepy places but they can also be peaceful landscapes that reflect a town's history. Below is a video tour of three graveyards in Concord MA, a town steeped in history and the site of the first shots of the Revolutionary War. It was also the home of many famous authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott and Henry Thoreau.

"I feel a presence...."

How many shows with investigators or psychics have any of us watched where at some point comes the inevitable "I feel a presence"? This statement always elicits a mental response from me of "Oh, please..." It's easy to feel like something is hovering in a dark corner or just out of sight in any place that is creepy to begin with. I have certainly experienced this unnerving sensation in such situations, but does that mean that there really is a paranormal presence there? I don't think so (and many people will certainly disagree with me). It's so subjective, and so hard to prove or verify.

Having said this, I will admit that there was one time that I experienced this feeling in a way that does make me give it more credence than I used to. I do real estate photography and have done hundreds of houses. In one house the realtor was downstairs with the seller while I was shooting the master suite. The suite had a long hallway into the actual bedroom area with double closets on one side and the master bath on the other. I was shooting an office area off the back of the bedroom with my back to the hallway into the room. I thought the agent had come up and was walking in, and I turned to see nothing. Mentally shrugging I aimed my camera again, and I definitely sensed her walk in and up behind my left shoulder. I actually said, "one more second - almost done" and after taking the photo, turned with my mouth open to say "okay, all set" to see no one. I went out to the landing and heard the agent and seller talking downstairs. Could have been a spirit, could have been my imagination. There's no way to ever really know. And that's my point (problem) with this type of "evidence". It's not true evidence at all.

Market Ghost Tour in Seattle

While I was in Seattle recently I went on the Market Ghost Tour which is run by Michelle and Mercedes, two very personable women. The guide for my group was Michelle, who was a very good storyteller. The tour lasted a little over an hour, and covered the Pike Place Market area. We visited about four places that we stopped and heard about at length, but there were also other places that were referred to as we went along. The first mortuary in Seattle was definitely the most intriguing site, but all of the tour was interesting. Michelle gave us a lot of the history of Seattle and the Market as well as talking about the paranormal goings on, and made it entertaining as well as informative. My only disappointment was that we were not able to go into any of the sites - the Market Theater was having rehearsals going on, and the mortuary building has been in the process of major renovations for a year or two and is not accessible. If you are visiting Seattle, I would recommend this tour as one of your activities!