“Damn you woman! What the hell did you turn that thermostat up to?!?” Hollered the husband, waking up from a dead sleep, pouring sweat.
“I didn’t touch it! Dominic must have done it!” Said the wife.
The husband got out of bed to check the thermostat, “Damn you woman! It’s set at 90*! What is wrong with you? It’s summer, we don’t need the damn heat!” He lies back down in bed, but only for a moment… “The damn heater is still running!”
“I didn’t touch the thermostats!” The wife said, frustrated.
The husband walked down the hall to the other thermostat and came back, “The damn thing was set at 90* too!” He crawls back into bed… but only for a second again. “The damn heater is still running!!” He goes downstairs to check the other 2 thermostats. Both set at 90* as well… “Woman I don’t know why you would turn all the thermostats up!”
He crawls back in bed again… but again… only for a second till he hears the heater running… “What the hell?!?” He goes up to the third floor, no one ever went to the third floor, that thermostat also was set at 90*. “The heater is still running!!” He storms off down to the basement. After a few minutes he returns and climbs into bed, grumbling.
“I told you… it’s Dominic.” Says the wife. She simply rolled over and went to sleep.

It may seem like a typical conversation at first, blaming a child for playing with the thermostats. In fact, this was a conversation that my grandparents had one night when our ghost decided to turn up the heat.
Most people when they tell ghost stories they talk about things that go bump in the night and spooky tales… my family… it’s stories of my invisible Uncle Dominic. Just the other night I got a chance to sit down with my grandmother and hear all the stories I heard as a child once again. I love these stories and they are part of what has convinced me to search to find the unseen.
Here is another favorite:
My grandmother and grandfather came home from shopping one day, they heard a sound upstairs. They went upstairs and found my little cousin who happened to be about 8 at the time playing with one of his friends.
“Matthew?! What are you doing here alone? You are supposed to be down at Uncle Bobby’s!” My grandmother said slightly panicked over the thought of the 8 year old in the house by himself.
“We’re not alone. Dominic is watching us.” Matt replied without hesitation.
“Dominic?? Who’s Dominic??” Asked his friend who was pretty confused.
“Our ghost.” Said Matt.
With that, the boy ran down the hall, down the stairs, out the door and across the field as fast as his legs could carry him.
We never really gave it a thought growing up with a ghost. He was just like an invisible Uncle… sometimes with a bad temper. Like the time he threw the Bible off the shelf at my grandmother. Without really thinking about it, she simply picked it up and put it back on the shelf. This happened several times, several nights in a row. She told my grandfather, who thought she was insane… if you couldn’t tell by the first story, he told her it had to have been one of the cats bumping it off the shelf. One night finally my grandfather and grandmother were sitting together reading and the Bible flew off the shelf. He realized it couldn’t have been one of the cats sending the Bible flying like that. They ended up moving the books around on the shelf, putting my grandfather’s books lower (books on Nazi history and the KKK, he loved dark history) and putting the Bible up on the higher shelves and it never flew off the shelf again.
My grandparents were only ever scared by Dominic once. One night as they lay in bed, all the kids were out of the house, they heard someone walking down the hall towards their room. The house was old, my grandfather and my uncles built it for the family, the floors really squeaked! My grandfather grabbed his pistol and told my grandmother to flip the light on as soon as he opened the door. He flung open the door, she flipped the switch and… no one was in the hall. It was the first time they had ever heard footsteps in the hallway.
My memories of Dominic… they aren’t quite the same. I remember a dark shadow lingering in my room almost all the time. I remember hiding under the blankets hoping he would just go away. I remember how it felt as he sat down on my bed, his weight pushing down on the covers and mattress. I remember the bruises and scratches that I would wake up with. I also remember playing and if we ignored him he would throw our toys or books.
My quest for answers continues… someday I hope to learn who or what Dominic was. For now, I cling to the ghost stories that I listened to growing up, the happy memories of laughing with my family over the tricks that Dominic pulled.

Bekah Liz

WHAT A WEEKEND! I felt like a kid coming home from summer camp! Got right on Facebook and started adding new friends! Then I would see John add someone, ”Oh! I need them too! Oh! That person was really cool too!” I met so many amazing groups, talented sensatives and some just flat out awesome people!

The first day (June 11th):
We were a little nervous, being our first event like this we were a little under prepared but we made the best of it. We made some great contacts and got to talk to so many different groups. Saw pictures other people had gotten on investigations. My personal favorite was of a young lady sitting at a piano playing during an investigation and “someone” walked by and swept her hair off to the side.
I got to do a walk though of the mansion with one of the gentlemen who was doing some of the repairs on the building. As we stood in the parlor I felt like there was a bug or something brushing the hair on the lower left part of my head. I kept trying to brush it away but it wouldn’t stop. As this was happening the guide said that when he was in the mansion working he would sometimes feel the little girl play with his hair on the back of his head.
Hmmmm… So I said, “If that is you, play with the hair on the other side of my head.” Amazingly enough, the sensation stopped on the left side and then started on the right side.
HMMMM…. “Ok… If that is really you, touch my hand.” The sensation left my head and I felt it on my hand. Also, as soon as that happened, my camera turned off.
I didn’t say anything, just took it all in. While we were upstairs, our guide was talking and I had to stop him.
“What is on the other side of that window right there?” I asked
“Nothing. Just the roof of the porch, why?” He asked confused.
“Would there be anyone out there?” I asked
“There damn well better not be! I was the last one out there and I bolted those windows closed!”
“Ok, the only reason I ask is that I just saw a shadow pass in the light there. I didn’t think it could be inside because there is so much stuff there, no one would be able to walk through there like that.” I said.
HMMMMMM…..

Day 2 (June 12th):
Back to the expo we went! This time with more toys in toe! We brought most of our equipment out for some show and tell, a photo album of some of our investigations, John’s lap top to have live chat with our fans on the web and keep everyone posted on the events of the day and a game camera… which caught nothing paranormal but got some great shots!
I was able to practice my Reiki at the expo! I always love doing Reiki but this time was even more amazing. I only had 3 clients, but it was so much fun! The first one was a young lady with complaints of headaches, as I worked on her head my shoulder started having muscle spasms. Trying to learn to trust me intuition, I asked her if she had problems with her right shoulder and she said yes. I began to work on her shoulder and my spasms stopped! I also worked on the girls mother, who enjoyed the session so much she stayed for a second round. My final client was a young man who had no clue what Reiki was, but he wanted to give it a shot! I love open minded people!! The young man said he was just stressed out and having troubles sleeping at night. He just wanted to relax. In less than 5 minutes the young man was out cold and snoring. When he woke up after the session, he said he felt so good, relaxed and refreshed. I love Reiki…
I got the chance to listen to Amy and Dustin, from TAPS, speak. I honestly had no clue who they were, in case you didn’t know… I don’t watch TV. I also got the chance to hear John Zaffis speak, I didn’t know who he was either, but when I heard demonologist I went running to hear! They were all very nice and had some great information. I got to hear some of their stories of their own personal experiences. It was a great experience for me to be able to listen to them, I think it has helped me be able to open up a little more and talk about the paranormal… before unless I was with the Midnight Watchmen, I would never really discuss the paranormal.
I was able to go on another walk through of the mansion on the second day, this time with Jonathan Brandis in the group. Upstairs I felt what seemed to be a small finger brush across my hand. I stopped, looked down and all around me to see what I could have possibly brushed up against.
Brandis looked over at me, ”What’s wrong?”
“I think I might have just been touched.” I said, still looking for anything close enough that could explain what I just felt.
There was nothing around me though. I was standing at least 1’ away from the wall and there was nothing on the wall that could have been blown in my direction. Also there was no one standing on that side of me so it wasn’t human either… HMMMM…
All in all, an amazing weekend and one I won’t soon forget! I hope everyone who is interested in the paranormal will take the time to find an event like this. I can’t wait to go to another!

Bekah Liz