I’m a huge Disney fan. Specifically: Disneyland. In college, this was a place I visited more often than I will admit. I was at Disneyland several times per month thanks to the annual pass and the ability to make monthly payments on the pass. I’ve only been to Disneyland Paris and Disney World once (so far). So my little write-up is focusing on Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

When it comes to Disneyland (DL) and Walt Disney World (WDW), one of the biggest differences I notice is the exterior of both rides. Since DL’s Haunted Mansion is set in New Orleans Square, the exterior represents a Southern mansion, taking inspiration from the Evergreen House in Baltimore, Maryland. WDW/Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion is part of Liberty Square and has a Gothic-revival style exterior.

Spooky Inspiration

Paranormal pop culture is a favorite subject of mine. While I’m looking for ghosts and *trying* to engage in spirit communication, others take a different route. There are those who have taken inspiration from this world and have created something incredible. From horror movies, ghosts in plays, to haunted houses, the paranormal is truly inspiring some amazing stories. One of my favorite rides at Disneyland is The Haunted Mansion, or as I like to call it, “Spiritualism: The Ride.”

I didn’t ride The Haunted Mansion often as a kid. My household is very Christian, and my mom thought the ride was something of the Devil. To give you an idea of the severity, I didn’t read the “Goosebumps” books at home. There’s a reason I read my paranormal-related books in the public library.

A Real Life Haunted Mansion

The idea for The Haunted Mansion dates back to 1951 when Walt Disney came up with the idea. At first, it was originally thought of as a walk-through haunted house. It was also going to live at the end of Main Street, as Disney wanted the attraction to be that stereotypical haunted house at the end of the road.

The idea was left untouched until 1957, which is when Disney wanted to expand New Orleans Square. Disney found some real-life inspiration to help his process. I LOVE the developmental story of The Haunted Mansion because Disney visited the Winchester Mystery House. This is the house with all of the stairs that lead to nowhere, the multiple rooms, random doors, etc.

Having been a rider on The Haunted Mansion for years, I see where the Winchester House served as inspiration. After literal tumbles, twists, and turns with development, the ride finally opens in 1969.

Is Madame Leota Reciting a Real Seance Invocation?

I want to discuss what I love the most about the ride; Madame Leota and the séance. Seriously, can we talk about how “dead” on this is?

Serpents and spiders, tail of a rat, call in the spirits, wherever they’re at!

Rap on a table — it’s time to respond. Send us a message from somewhere beyond…

Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween, awaken the spirits with your tambourine!

Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond, let there be music from regions beyond!

Wizards and witches, wherever you dwell, give us a hint, by ringing a bell!

From the tarot cards floating in the air to Madame Leota’s head in a crystal ball, I find it really interesting that the ride essentially starts off with a séance to summon the 999 happy haunts. Every time I read this to a group of paranormal researchers, spiritualists, and even skeptics, I ask them where the passage is from. I get answers ranging from a historical séance, something from one of Lincoln’s séance, etc. When I tell them it’s the script from The Haunted Mansion, the reaction is always amusing.

Here is a sample séance invocation from 1901:

‘There is a land where we all go,
Where never the frost or cold winds blow.
And friends remembered reunite,
where those who hate, forget their spite.
In glow, surround these gentle beings,
we call you now to bless our meetings,
Heaven’s promise, our spirits thrive,
So now for the living, let the dead come alive.
Greetings spirits, Speak now to us?’

From “The Spirit Speaks! Weekly Newspaper” 1901
~ Revised by Barbara Morris

Past Technology Becoming the Future

As we pass by the ballroom in our Doom Buggies, we see a variety of vignettes. There are ghosts dancing in a ballroom, a ghost blowing out some candles, and other ghostly images. It’s fairly well-known now that this effect was created using a technique called, “Pepper’s Ghost.” Ironically, this technique came about around the same time that Spiritualism’s popularity is on the rise in 1862, thanks to the Civil War. This is because families left behind were trying to make contact with their lost loved ones. It was created by a scientist by the name of John Henry Pepper. It involves a room hidden from the viewer that is illuminated and glass. What we see on DL’s Haunted Mansion are two rooms; one above the Doom Buggy and one underneath.

See this photo for more.

via Haunted Dimensions

This also speaks to me in such a way where I know the Imagineers did their research when it came to developing this ride. They brought about special effects technology that existed in the same timeframe as the rise of Spiritualism itself.

Here Comes the Bride

Even the origin story of the bride carries on a very “black widow” or a “Lizzie Borden like” story. Given that hauntings that originated from ax murders are some of the most popular investigation sites today (Villisca, Lizzie Borden, etc.), the storyline fits perfectly in the spooky narrative. At the end of the ride, it is apparent that the bride’s ghost is very much active, and beckons us all to come back as we exit the ride.

At the end of the day, we are finding more evidence of paranormal inspiration in our daily lives without even realizing it. In this case, even something located in the Happiest Place on Earth draws that connection, making the spooky a little more magical.

The post The Terrifying True Story Behind Disney’s The Haunted Mansion appeared first on Association of Paranormal Study.

There was probably no one else who loved Christmas ghost stories more than Charles Dickens.  In fact, majority of the Victorian Era brought forth a new fascination of ghosts, spirits, apparitions, and all things weird.  The rise of Spiritualism was also during this same time.  So it is to no surprise that the holiday season would have experienced a spooky twist.  Whilst in the reign of Spiritualism, by 1855 Dickens himself was a practicing mesmeric doctor, as well as a member of The Ghost Club (founded in 1862)

Dickens is most famous for his beloved novella, A Christmas Carol, first published on December 17th, 1843.  In fact, we are just a week shy of the book’s 170th birthday.  Considering the popularity of the tale of old Ebenezer Scrooge, there are seldom few who know of the moving story of a stingy old man’s change of heart after visitations from spirits, and they lessons they taught him.

Illustration by John Leech from the first edition of “A Christmas Carol”

It may be hard to fathom, but the Christmas that we know today, was not the Christmas that happened in the 19th century, especially in London.  While there were “12 days of Christmas”, seldom did people take the day off and many worked during the Christmas holiday.  Christians strictly followed the Bible, which believe it or not, didn’t condone the celebration of Christmas.  It didn’t have the Christian ties that it has today, and was often just a time for parties and sexual liberties.  The Puritans even attempted to ban Christmas during the 17th century.  But to bring the point home, the Christmas that Charles Dickens experienced was not like Christmas today.

In a sense, we can give regards to Dickens for inventing the Christmas that we know and love.  This is likely why A Christmas Carol became so popular.  While this classic tale certainly remains as Dickens’ most famous holiday work, it certainly was not the only piece of literature he wrote with spirits and the weird intertwined in the Christmas holiday. Many regard Dickens as the father of the Christmas tradition we know now.

In 1836, seven years before A Christmas Carol was written, Dickens wrote a short story for The Pickwick Papers called, The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton, and it tells the story of a man named Gabriel Grub who drinks and works on Christmas day as a caretaker and gravedigger.  He is then kidnapped by goblins and taken to an underground cave where they show him his fellow humans, including a small boy belonging to a poor family that dies.  One could say that Gabriel Grub is Scrooge and the small boy was Tiny Tim.  The goblins also beat Gabriel mercilessly, and the next morning, he is a changed man.

Cover of “The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain”

In 1848, Dickens wrote his final Christmas novella called, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain.  Unlike its predecessor, Haunted Man was a much more grisly tale.  It tells the story of a chemist named, Redlaw.  For him, and many others, Christmas is a grim reminder of lost loves, hurts, and regrets.  He is then visited by a Phantom who offers to cancel out his hurts.  Redlaw is amazed and intrigued as to how this visitor can erase such a thing.  But Redlaw soon learns that in order to forget the past hurts, he has to let go of the treasured people who caused the hurts and regrets in the first place.  And the lesson becomes that you can not forget one without affecting the other.  It’s truly a moving tale, and if you would like to read it for free, just click on the following link: The Haunted Man.  Charles Dickens wrote several more Christmas ghost stories for The Pickwick Papers as well as other publications.

After Dickens published A Christmas Carol, he began a tradition of publishing works each Christmas after.  In 1859, Dickens wrote The Haunted House, in collaboration with several authors, for the weekly periodical All Year Round.  Once again, this was a Christmas ghost story that featured the spiritual and the weird.  There are numerous other Christmas ghost stories written by Charles Dickens that are available on the web for free and very enjoyable.

If you would like to buy a book called, Christmas Ghost Stories with A Christmas Carol, The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, and The Haunted House, you can purchase it on Amazon here for less than $15, and it qualifies for Prime shipping.

Sources/Links of Interest

• Christmas According to Dickens
• Why Did Charles Dickens Write Ghost Stories for Christmas?
• Ghoultide Greetings: The Ghost Stories of Charles Dickens
• The Victorian Web: Featuring The Haunted House

The post Charles Dickens: Making Ghosts Festive For the Holidays appeared first on Association of Paranormal Study.

Most in the paranormal field credit William Mumler with the first paranormal photograph.  Unfortunately, Mr. Campbell, of New Jersey, is forgotten in Mumler’s famed glory.  A year before Mumler’s first spirit photograph of himself and his deceased cousin, W. Campbell took a test photograph of an empty chair, only to discover upon development, a young boy in the photograph.It is easy to see how this original photograph was looked over, with the remarkable photographs of Mumler overshadowing.  Of course, as we know today, Mumler was the inventor of the original “Photoshop”.  Through manipulation of long exposures and burning and dodging during development, he was able to add images of “spirits” into his photography.  Most famously of which is a portrait of the disturbed and misunderstood Mary Todd Lincoln and the spirit of her dead husband, Abraham.

The direct contrast between these two photographers is exactly what has made one obscured, and one infamous.  Mumler went on, after that first fateful photograph, to have a very successful career in spirit photography.  And although, several respected photographers sat for portraits and watched the entire development process with no explanation to the figures behind them, he is easily debunked and mocked today.  But Mr. W. Campbell, what became of him?  He fell into obscurity.  He was so shocked by his discovery that he attempted to recreate it over and over again, with no luck.  He eventually faded and was erased from the Paranormal History Books.

Mumler paved the way for countless photographers to take advantage of unsuspecting patrons.  For decades, people across the country would line up for their chance to have a picture made with a photography medium.  Most of these images are so obviously faked it is hard not to laugh.  But of course, at the time, the living being in those photos was incredibly grateful for the closure they brought.

After the rise of the Photography Mediums, we start seeing what many argue as genuine spirit photographs.  The Brown Lady, Lord Combermere, Mrs. Chinnery’s Mother, Freddy Jackson…  Photos that still spark legend and interest today.  But as both a photographer and a Paranormal Investigator, I always go back to Mumler and Campbell.

I often wonder what became of Mr. Campbell when he and his photograph fell into obscurity.  Did he continue to pursue the paranormal?  Did he continue to attempt to recreate his photograph?  Whatever became of him, I respect him so much more than Mr. Mumler.  He stood by his photograph.  He felt he found true evidence of the other side.  He did not go on to use that photograph to make his fortune.  He did not exploit his evidence to take photographs of widowed First Ladies.  He simply held it close as a proud moment in his life.

How much is there to be learned from these two?  To truly respect this field, you do it for the knowledge, for the amount you can help others and for the respect of both your evidence and the spirits themselves.    To be truly successful in your work, often means remaining obscure to the masses.

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The story of Achsa White Sprague is an intriguing and fascinating journey from a sickly woman trapped in the confines of a darkened room to a strong woman who became a popular figure in the Spiritualist movement.  Sprague became a popular figure as a Spiritualist trance medium and lecturer after she recovered from a serious illness, which in today’s medical terms would have most likely been rheumatic fever and arthritis.  She also wrote several pieces for Spiritualist newspapers, as well as poetry of her own.  How did Sprague’s journey eventually lead her to Spiritualism?  Like a phoenix, Sprague rose from the ashes of an illness that left her as an “invalid” human being for several years, and credited spirits for her drastic improvement of her health.  The progression of her health from independent to complete dependency from her mother is crucial to analyze in order to understand what motivated Sprague to rise in popularity and why she became so famous and active in reform in the first place.

Achsa White Sprague was born on November 17, 1827 to Charles and Betsey Sprague in Plymouth Notch, Vermont and she was one of seven children.  She was a well-rounded child growing up and had a good education.  At the age of twelve, she began teaching school children as a teacher herself.  Unfortunately, at age of twenty, Sprague fell ill to a disease that left her bedridden as it weakened her joints.  She had been an established schoolteacher, now unable to walk or even be able to write without great difficulty.  Sprague began to keep a journal in 1849 and documented her feelings and her experiences undergoing several different types of medical treatment, in order to find a cure for her illness.  In Anne Braude’s book, Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America, Braude quotes Sprague’s opening diary entry as she describes her illness, “Once more, I am unable to walk or do anything else; have not been a step without crutches since Sunday and see no prospect of being any better; see nothing before me but a life of miserable helplessness” (Braude 100).  Sprague suffered not only physically, but also mentally, and it was clear from her journal that she was dissatisfied with her current state.

Before Sprague fell ill, she was an independent woman who could support her family and rule the classroom with the upmost authority in her classroom.  She was known throughout the town for her strength and independent lifestyle.  It was indeed a long fall back to the bottom, as she became a dependant woman living in the backroom of her mother’s home in darkness.  She depended on her family to take care of her and to help her in the basic daily rituals of life.  In a quest to return to that once independent woman, Sprague was motivated to research as many possibilities for cures that she was able to obtain.  She grew to not trust doctors and she longed to return to a life free of pain and to have a life of independence again.  She began to research and investigate several different methods of treatment that varied from traditional and non-traditional cures.  She was desperate to become well again.  This desperation and urgency to get well laid the foundation for her reputation of becoming a prominent lecturer and Spiritualist figure after her miraculous recovery from the illness.  But it would take years before she reached that state.

In a time where religious dependency on healing was prominent, Sprague drifted toward a different direction for healing options, as the treatments she was receiving before were not effective.  Braude states that, “Before becoming a Spiritualist, Sprague became an expert on non-religious approaches to healing in antebellum America.  She sought cures from a variety of practitioners, often traveling great distances to see a doctor reputed to have success with difficult cases.  In addition to taking the medicine various doctors prescribed for her, she wore ‘galvanic bands’ for six weeks and was ‘magnetized’ repeatedly by a ‘psychologist’ (Braude 100).  As she attempted as many treatments as she could, she became disappointed and bitter with the medical system and rebelled against her illness.  If she couldn’t walk, she would ride horseback.  She refused to accept defeat and succumb to the illness.

From her diary writings, Sprague was showing signs of depression from her lamenting diary entries.  She didn’t complain of pain, but she longed to return to her more able physical state.  But in 1828, the news of the “Rochester Rappings” quickly became popular around the country.  As people began to talk about spirits more often in their homes, Sprague was no exception.  She was very open and receptive to the idea of Spiritualism.  Braude again quotes from Sprague’s diaries, “Tis a beautiful idea, that our departed friends are around us and with us, that they can come back to guard us from temptation, to soothe us in affliction and win us from sin” (Braude 102).  Sprague was no stranger to death and loss of loved ones and the people around her.  When she was in the earlier stages of her illness, Sprague lost her brother Ephraim, and the town of Plymouth Notch experienced a loss of several townspeople to death for various reasons.  During the last few years of her confinement and illness, Sprague stopped writing in her journal.  The reason varied from her condition preventing her to write or she lost hope and interest for a brief period of time.  She was only able to describe the books she was reading with very short statements that only consisted of a few words.

It wasn’t until 1854 when Sprague’s life changed forever.  Not only did her life change for her personally, but society as well.  This would be the year that Sprague was able to get out of bed and walk.  She made nearly a full recovery and she credited spirits and “angelic powers” for her miraculous healing as if the voice of God told her to rise, and she did.  From then on, she adopted a strong belief of mental healing because there was nothing that was physically tangible that could be credited to her miraculous healing from her illness.  After her recovery, she started to work on her ability as a trance medium and from her inspiring story of healing; Sprague began to tour around the United States and Canada as a lecturer.  Like many Spiritualists, Sprague was an abolitionist and fought for women’s rights.  In the Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society, Francis P. Twinem (under the pen name Leonard Twynham) accounts when she first discovered her gift for public speaking when she was “Provoked to public debate by a minister’s condemnation of Spiritualism” (Twynham 273).  Sprague was developing a reputation for being a strong, independent woman who often took on the role of a male when it came to public speaking in roles such as, for example, officiating public funeral services. Her skills in public speaking earned her the title of “The Preaching Woman.”

After Sprague became well, she remained cautious of what was modern medicine in her day, and eventually rejected the idea all together. Twynham goes on to state, “She abandoned the materia medica of the day and experimented with magnetizing processes, with galvanic bands, with sensational séances, and seems to have come finally to a sane faith in mental healing, the basic doctrine of Mrs. Eddy, Dr. Worcester, and Professor Murray” (HS 273). She also experimented with different methods of hypnotism and different techniques of trance mediumship. Sprague believed herself to be under the complete control of spirits. She wrote 4,600 lines of her work, The Poet and Other Poems, in 72 hours and on her back. This is a remarkable feet for a human being to accomplish. The poems were not organized or carefully crafted, but instead they displayed the emotional turmoil and anguish of spirits that Sprague was connecting to at the time of the writing.

During her lectures, she would go into trances and speak in different voices. She became a very high demand lecturer and people flocked to hear her speak. There were many Spiritualist towns that strongly believed that in order for their community to prosper and succeed, they needed Sprague to come and speak to their people. This truly shows the amount of impact that Sprague had on the Spiritualism world and how strong of a figure she was to the people. Sprague also wrote for Spiritualist newspapers such as The Banner of Light, The Green Mountain Sibyl, The Peoples World, and The World’s Paper. She wrote several pieces including books, poetry, articles, and even a play. There were several pieces that remained unpublished. She was a well-known figure whose presence was demanded all over the United States and Canada. The people could not get enough of this amazing woman as she rose to fame and made an impact in the world around her.

Sprague played a large role in women’s reform and broke the status quo of the role of women in her time. She also visited prisons and became an advocate for more humane treatment of the country’s prisoners. This was very unheard of for a woman to do that in her time. She took on authority and also exhibited a unique personality that attracted many people to her and also intrigued people to read her writings. Braude describes her popularity, “Within a few months of her first lecture, she was filling halls in Boston, where local Spiritualists implored her to extend her visit […] From complete dependence, she attained a remarkable degree of independence for a woman of her day, supporting herself with lecture fees and traveling alone from state to state […] Sprague embodied in her life the optimistic doctrines of her adopted faith” (Braude 105). In 1861, Sprague’s previous illness returned and began to affect her in a much more dramatic way. The time of traveling and bracing harsh winters had taken a toll on her body and weakened it for the second round of her illness. Achsa W. Sprague died a year later at the young age of thirty-four on July 6, 1862. Her death greatly affected the Spiritualist community and they suffered a tremendous loss. Sprague’s popularity grew even larger after her death and her legacy continued to live on.

Bibliography

“Achsa W Sprague Medium.” Psychics and Mediumship in Truth and Its Phenomena. Web. 25 Feb. 2012.
<http://psychictruth.info/Medium_Achsa_W_Sprague.htm>.

Braude, Ann. Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. Boston, MA: Beacon, 1989. Print.

Britten, Emma Hardinge, John H. Dadmun, and George W. Walrond. Nineteenth Century Miracles: Spirits and Their Work in Every Country of the Earth. New York: Published by William Britten, 1884. Print.

“Litscape.com.” Achsa White Sprague Titles. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://www.litscape.com/author/Achsa_White_Sprague/>.

Sprague, Achsa W. The Poet, and Other Poems. Boston: W. White and, 1865. Print.
Twynham, Leonard. “Achsa W. Sprague.” Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society (1941): 271-79. Print.

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I will be wrapping up interviews this week.  I have NINE more interviews coming up and I’m exciting to finally get the new team together and start having our meetings so that we can start to get to know one another and get out there and investigate.  I’m scouting different places right now around San Diego.  I’m impressed by the experiences of the team so far and I look forward to hearing more from the interviews later this weekend.

I received a great question on the Facebook page from Sara D., who asked,

From my own personal research, I have found many share the view that by actively participating in the paranormal (ie: investigating, ganzfeld experiment) or the occult (ie seances, ouija boards) you open yourself up more spiritually and make it easier for spirits to “notice” you. Others say that it doesn’t happen and you shouldn’t worry about it. So, what is it? Be concerned or not?

What is my answer to this?  Yes.  there should be a concern and a respect for these methods and devices because they have the potential to be powerful tools.  First I will address investigating.  Investigating the paranormal is entering into a new lifestyle in general.  Your awareness of the unknown is heightened.  Now are spirits really following you, or are you senses heightened to the point where anything that moves is a shadow/ghost/spirit?  You know it’s there, and I know for me, I seem to keep an extra eye open and I notice my surroundings in greater detail than I did before I began investigating.  I believe that when you start investigating, especially going against more malevolent beings, it is possible that they will notice you and know who you are.  When you approach an investigation and you ask for communication with spirits, they know who you are.  I know investigators (including myself) who do protection rituals and make it very clear that they cannot harm me or follow me.

Now the Ganzfeld Experiment…such a fascinating element of parapsychology.  Does the Ganzfeld Experiment open yourself up to experience things you couldn’t in your everyday life?  I believe so.  Does it permanently leave you vulnerable to psychic and spiritual phenomenon?  It has the potential.  Does participating in this leave a permanent bullseye for any spirit to notice you and possibly go after you?  I doubt it, but I would certainly love to talk to someone about it who knows more than I do

Now when it comes to things like seances and ouija boards, that is another ballgame.  Or is it?  When investigating, you are asking for communication.  And with seances and ouija boards you are requesting communication.  It’s a fine line, but I believe there is a difference.  Seances come in many forms.  Seance comes from the French term, “sitting” or “seat” and rose in popularity when Spiritualism broke out.  There is something to be said sitting in a circle with other people trying to communicate with spirits, especially through a medium.  And with ouija boards, I have a great respect for them but I would probably never use one.  I’ve heard and experienced too many negative things tied with a ouija board, especially when it comes to the disposal of one (always bury, never burn).  Ouija boards are typically associated with bringing in an inhuman spirit.  What else is funny is that ouija boards are sold in toy stores and made by Milton Bradley.  There are also ouija board necklaces being sold.  I was actually offended when I saw this.  Paranormal investigating or “ghost hunting” is already seen as a novelty as it is.  Technically you don’t even need to buy a ouija board, you can draw a board on a piece of paper or napkin and go from there.  It’s that simple.  Ouija boards are made by toy companies, what happened to the respect of the possibility that these things can do potential harm? Wearing a necklace with a ouija board shouldn’t be a fashion accessory or seen as cute.  That could open you up for potentially negative activity as well.

Is there a safe way to use a ouija board?  I’m sure.  But you need protection which leads me into my next point.  Protecting yourself is very important.  There is a fine line between not protecting yourself and building a wall so thick that you cut yourself off from any activity.  Where do we draw the line?  It’s hard to distinguish.

In closing, when you decide to investigate the paranormal, you need to make sure you do what you can to stay safe while still allowing yourself to experience activity (at least for me, for purposes of collecting evidence and documentation).  And protecting yourself not only during an investigation but during your normal everyday life.

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