The Wiccan and the Ghosts of Haunted Fort Lauderdale

 

“I am a Wiccan and I believe in the after life,” says Scarlet Aslan, one of the new guides at Ghosts, Mysteries and Legends of Old Fort Lauderdale. “And no, Aslan, is not a name I adopted from the Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis. It is the name I was born with.” And it works for her – part mystery and part magic . This odd character trait gives her an advantage other ghost tour guides do not have.

“I believe in the afterlife,” she says, “and that is a part of my daily life. The spirits are always with me. As they are with all of us.”

She adds, “Ghosts have felt the need to reveal themselves to me since I was four years old. My first visitation was a great aunt. I didn’t realize she was a ghost until I told my mom about the lady in my room. My mom gathered up the old photo albums and asked me to show her who was in my room. The lady I selected was my great aunt who had passed three days before I was born.”

The Wiccan and the Ghost Tour. How can you go wrong? A guide from which one can get a proper introduction to the world of spirit, an integral part of her way of life. Not your usual ghost tour guide.

Just after the sun sets, she awaits members of the tour on the NE corner of Las Olas and Andrews in downtown Fort Lauderdale. She is easily spotted. She says, “I wear the usual attire for a female ghost tour guide: black dress, cape, top hat and I carry a lantern.” But there is more. Every night she carries several aides to connect her tour with the nether world. These include semi-precious stones, crystals and incense.

Her personal tour signature is burning incense. This, she says, arouses the curiosity of the citizens of the the “other side.” She states that the spirits recognize her incense and when they smell it, guests always get more orbs in their photos.

To help search down the ghosts, Aslan uses the ancient technique of hunting vibrations of the spirit world using copper divining rods. She also uses the more modern laser thermometer to pick up temperature changes. “There are a couple of places where there are almost always dramatic temperature reductions of 30 and 40 degrees.” At one of the places, she said, a young boy saw a ghost pass from one house to another. But he was not fast enough with his camera to get a photo.

The tour takes about an hour and a half. She gives a little bit of history on the site guests are viewing and then tell the stories of the mysteries and legends that are attached to that site. “I can usually feel the energy presence of ‘the others,’ so a lot of times when we are all walking I will say take pictures! I also try to bring my camera as well. So if I am taking pictures …. you should be taking pictures!”

Aslan finalizes with, “Come with an open mind and enjoy the history and the ghosts of Fort Lauderdale that make it interesting!”

Get more information at http://www.fortlauderdaleghosttours.com/ and at MySpace, myspace.com/fortlauderdaleghosthunt where you can see a video of excerpts of the tour.

Olga Marie Pathinas-Brovanovitch, born in Moscow, U.S.S.R. in 1954 to two members of the Communist Party, was trained in espionage in a training town in the Urals, where she learned Arabic, French, Polish and English with natural accents. She has written articles, using nom de plumes, on Chinese international relations, the central banks and how capitalism does not take care of itself.

Hauntings: a Paranormal Perspective

If we searched for the meaning of paranormal we would find reference to psychic sense, telekinesis, Near death experiences, and many others. Paranormal basically means that which stretches beyond our normal realm of understanding. It is a phenomena that can not be classified with any scientific methods nor has clear cut answers that can be logically concluded.

In the class of paranormal or super natural comes the term of haunting. The term instantly draws up images of “ghosts” . Long stereo typed as a passed soul so unsettled they wander the earth in sheets or chains bellowing boo at every living person they came into contact with. The ideas of ghost or haunting has matured over time and moved past a lot of these stereo typical images , although still very much misunderstood, an openness has invented a need to further explore this realm of the Haunted.

There are several classifications of hauntings that most commonly known ghostly like disturbances fall under. They are in no means the infinite answers, as paranormal itself is still something that holds not any proven answer as it is defined. So we need to keep ourselves open to not having all the answers. I am going to give a brief overview of the currently common known types of hauntings, and how they manifest.

1. Residual energy or memory hauntings.

These types of hauntings appear to be repeats of events, memories that seem to be carried out in an almost scripted type reaction. Like playing a movie over and over again. This type of haunting usually involves a repeat of the same type of activity on a regular basis. The most common type of haunting, does not usually involve an actual spirit or ghost. It is believed to be energy from some type of event, usually significant in ones life that becomes imbedded in its surroundings of that time. Perhaps tragedy or even that of great joy can become so strong in its energy that it builds a “life” of its own. Like a tape player the event plays out over and over again.

2. Human or intelligent haunting

I use human loosely as this can also involve any once living creature. These types of hauntings are able to show some sort of communication in real time. It is believed to be a spirit or intelligence that is still aware of what is going on in the current surroundings and time. They often make responses to communication, or disruptions in their environment. Some classify this type of haunt as uncrossed spirit, or trapped. I would not make an assumption that this is always the case. Some records of ghostly intelligent hauntings have shown to be a communication of some type of warning or a message of hope to those left behind. Like the use of a medium in relaying that message, not all intelligent classified hauntings are seeking our help, they may be their to try to help. In terms for our topic though, these actual intelligent hauntings you would find to be able to communicate in some form and not sticking to one particular routine as in a residual haunting.

3. Poltergeist or noisy ghost

These types of haunting seem to lead more to the belief that they are either an attachment to a living being or an actual manifestation by a living being. In most cases of poltergeist activity objects move, and things are disturbed in a focus around a particular individual. The common ingredient is usually an adolescent, female is the most the most common. Some link this type of paranormal phenomena to the mind of a disturbed living being, either suffering from depression, rage or even possibly abuse. Another angle on this leads to the next type of haunting as a entity or ghost may attach to somebody fitting this criteria as a means of feeding off their energy or using it to aid in their own manifestations.

4. Inhuman or “demonic” haunting

I will touch this type of haunting from an outward pre defined perspective , I do not fully agree or disagree with the way this is described or referred. In general terms of haunting , as something that disturbs or disrupts the “norm” this type of haunting is classified as primarily malevolent. Like an intelligent haunting, this haunting involves the presence of something with intelligence but the difference is in the belief that this type of intelligence has never been in human form. Often associated with things that are summoned, as with a Ouija board or other dimensional tool, this type of haunting usually begins as harmless play and grows increasingly more frightful. It is believed this inhuman entity is usually angry, or holds hatred for human life, and seeks to cause harm , physically and emotionally through fear. These types of hauntings can appear as some class as a demonic form, resembling a “devil”. They can link to such things as the ideas of possession.

5. Nature Spirits

This may or not be felt it belongs in hauntings at all but I think it is a part that is rarely addressed and needs to be looked at. Nature spirits like the last type, are not what is classed as ever being human. A highly intelligent haunting that is rarely seen and little known about. Nature spirits fit’s a wide range of beings looked at as something from a fairytale or a child’s imagination. In the case of haunting again as a frightful type happening, these nature spirits are usually associated with a particular area as a form of guardian or caretaker. They seem to dwell in certain places frightening those who try to enter their “sacred” spaces. This is a general classification, as sometimes these nature spirits depending on their type may fit as well in the inhuman type haunting and attach for no known reason or origin to certain place, person at any given time. However in most cases the presence of a natural spirit is linked to a place having some type of historical or sacred significance in common folklore. Common types of nature spirits include, fairies, sylphs, elves, gnomes and even trolls to name just a few.

There are probably more classifications out there that can be parts of these types of hauntings or separate all on their own. This is in general how hauntings are classed. In perspective, as a sensitive, this may not be how I see everything or have experienced. I do hope it opens a door for communication and perhaps a deeper research independantly or jointly with groups.

I am the founder of The spirit moon. My goal is to bring people of every walk of life, no matter your religion or culture,to a place of open understanding , exploration and learning in the fields of the paranormal.I have founded a new age social networking community designed to bring like minded people together and provide the opportunity for development for every person in what interests them about the psychic and spiritual world.

The Ship of Fire

On a certain evening every year, at the mouth of the wide Neuse River, a large bright object speeds into view. It looks like a sailing ship being destroyed by fire, its deck and masts in blazing outline. The apparition disappears, then reappears, then again disappears for another year. It burns furiously but is not consumed.

It is the ship of the Palatines. The Palatines were a group of German Protestants who left England in 1710 to settle New Bern. As the vessel crossed the Atlantic, the prosperous Palatines, pretending to be poor, hid their gold coins and silver dishes from the eyes of the ship’s sinister captain and crew. When the Palatines caught sight of the shore which they believed to be their future home, so excited were they that up from the hold and out from hiding places came all their belongings in preparation for landing. Unwisely displayed on the deck was their precious wealth, all of it in full view of the corrupt captain and his first mate.

Quickly the captain formed a plan. He announced to the passengers than no landing could be made until the morrow. The disappointed Palatines once more hid their valuables and lay down to a sound sleep in anticipation of soon landing at their destination. When all was quiet, the captain gathered his crew together and revealed to them his plan. They would murder every Palatine aboard–the young and the old, the women and children as well as the men–then gather together the gold and silver, set afire the ship filled with its dead, and escape in the lifeboats.

The strike was sudden. Many Palatines were knifed before they awoke and in a very few moments every one of them was dead. As planned, the ship was set afire, and the murderers pushed off in the small boats. From a distance they looked back at the ship. It burned brighter and brighter, the brilliant blaze of the fire shooting into the air, but the vessel did not sink into the water. And then the thing began to move.

“It continued to burn all night,” according to an old account, “–speeding on with the wind,–now passing out from sight, and anon, visible, flaming forever, back again, on the very spot where the crime had been committed. With the dawn of day, it had ceased to burn,–but there it stood, erect as ever, with the spars, sails, masts, unconsumed,–everything in place, but everything blackened, charred.” At sundown the flames leaped up again–“a ship on fire that would not burn!”

The frightened murderers could bear no more. They abandoned their boats on the bank of the river and fled into the forest. There they and their descendants lived on their “ill-gotten spoils.” To this day the crime has not been avenged, and so every year on a certain evening the burning ship appears off New Bern, and so it will continue to appear till the blood of the Palatines has been paid for in kind.

src = http://www.secstate.state.nc.us/kidspg/legends.htm