When I first met the ghosts...
On Dec. 5, 2001, when the idea to go ghost hunting in the Gulf Coast cityof Venice, Florida, was presented to me, I had never heard a ghost storyin relation to that city.
Turns out, there were several and, one byone they began to drop in on me. Within five months, there were enough storiesfor a slim volume of stories, I had met several mediums and the hunt continuedfor more stories, moving next to Sarasota and then, this past year to the Clearwater& St. Petersburg area. Through it all I had ongoing help from the personwho started me down this interesting path and for that I shall be eternallygrateful.
Not only were ghost stories dropping in my lap, a circushistory book also begged to be written and was published in April 2004. Althoughthere is nary a ghost story in that book, that book came about because ofthe Venice ghost book. Because of the importance of the circus to Venice,which was the winter home of The Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circusfrom 1960-1992 and of its circus college for an additional four years, Ifelt strongly that I needed to have a circus-related ghost story in my Venicebook. Perhaps the circus ghosts were playing tricks on me or, perhaps theyreally wanted that circus book to be written for, I had to interview more than 70 circus performers, fans and show personnel before I finally foundmy circus ghost story.
In two years I had gone from someone who was open to the idea of ghosts and their stories to someone who seemed to be guided by those spirited characters. Never one to look a gift horse (especially a whole circus act of Liberty horses) I penned the circus book before getting back to my ghost hunting.
The spirits must have been happy because the Clearwater & St. Petersburg book fell quickly into place and GhostStories of Tampa Bay began to arrive in all manner of ways — some by e-mail,some from my new Clearwater friends and others from casual acquaintanceswho appeared in my life.
About the same time, I also decided to write a book of day trip ideas for residents and visitors in SW Florida. Workingon both books are once, I was making great progress. That changed when Ibegan to concentrate ttotally on the day trip book. It seems the spirits had no problem with my working on two books but they did not like being put on the shelf.
All of a sudden, road blocks appeared to disrupt my day trip book’s progress. The spirits seemed to be speaking.
And,to make sure that I was listening, they even sent me a new medium, a lady named Rosemary Altea, who is internatioanlly known for her work and her gifts. She has been on the Larry King, Diane Sawyer and Oprah shows, has had several New York Times bestselling books and has healing centers in Great Britainand in Vermont. My first knowledge of her appearance on the scene came fromSusan Lockwood, a Clearwater medium who had helped me find stories for theClearwater book. Out of the blue, Susan emailed me about Rosemary's comingappearance in Tampa. A few days later, Rosemary's secretary contacted meat the newspaper where I work, to tell me that Rosemary would be conductinga program in Sarasota and, she had recently moved to Venice and, would Ilike to interview her.
Does Hershey make chocolate?
The interview was arranged for the following Wednesday afternoon, and, accompanied by severalfamily members who are in spirit, I headed over to her Venice home. Actually,at the time, I did not know I was accompanied by anyone at all but, an hourinto the interview, Rosemary began carrying on a conversation with my latehusband. She had described him and his arrival in detail and also had describedmy father, mother and my mother's twin sister. It seemed that all of them were with me on that day.
As the interview ended, Rosemary asked me about the possibility of going ghost hunting in the area. Since Susan Lockwoodand her husband had already contacted me about heading up to Tampa on the following Saturday, it seemed I was getting another message about the Tampa book.
The following Saturday, Rosemary accompanied me to Tampa where we toured the American Victory, a U.S. Merchant Marine cargo ship that served at the end of World War II, in Korea and Vietnam. While our guide stressed the use of the ship for cargo, Rosemary sensed that troops had been aboardtoo and when she asked about that, learned she was right.
Still not sure if there is a true ghost story there but it is a start.
Rosemary and I are going back again in a couple of days — this time to the Falk Theatre and some other places recommended by Chris Lockwood.
And with some more help from my spirited helpers, you BLOG readers may be moved to add some stories to this site.
May the spirits be with you
Turns out, there were several and, one byone they began to drop in on me. Within five months, there were enough storiesfor a slim volume of stories, I had met several mediums and the hunt continuedfor more stories, moving next to Sarasota and then, this past year to the Clearwater& St. Petersburg area. Through it all I had ongoing help from the personwho started me down this interesting path and for that I shall be eternallygrateful.
Not only were ghost stories dropping in my lap, a circushistory book also begged to be written and was published in April 2004. Althoughthere is nary a ghost story in that book, that book came about because ofthe Venice ghost book. Because of the importance of the circus to Venice,which was the winter home of The Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circusfrom 1960-1992 and of its circus college for an additional four years, Ifelt strongly that I needed to have a circus-related ghost story in my Venicebook. Perhaps the circus ghosts were playing tricks on me or, perhaps theyreally wanted that circus book to be written for, I had to interview more than 70 circus performers, fans and show personnel before I finally foundmy circus ghost story.
In two years I had gone from someone who was open to the idea of ghosts and their stories to someone who seemed to be guided by those spirited characters. Never one to look a gift horse (especially a whole circus act of Liberty horses) I penned the circus book before getting back to my ghost hunting.
The spirits must have been happy because the Clearwater & St. Petersburg book fell quickly into place and GhostStories of Tampa Bay began to arrive in all manner of ways — some by e-mail,some from my new Clearwater friends and others from casual acquaintanceswho appeared in my life.
About the same time, I also decided to write a book of day trip ideas for residents and visitors in SW Florida. Workingon both books are once, I was making great progress. That changed when Ibegan to concentrate ttotally on the day trip book. It seems the spirits had no problem with my working on two books but they did not like being put on the shelf.
All of a sudden, road blocks appeared to disrupt my day trip book’s progress. The spirits seemed to be speaking.
And,to make sure that I was listening, they even sent me a new medium, a lady named Rosemary Altea, who is internatioanlly known for her work and her gifts. She has been on the Larry King, Diane Sawyer and Oprah shows, has had several New York Times bestselling books and has healing centers in Great Britainand in Vermont. My first knowledge of her appearance on the scene came fromSusan Lockwood, a Clearwater medium who had helped me find stories for theClearwater book. Out of the blue, Susan emailed me about Rosemary's comingappearance in Tampa. A few days later, Rosemary's secretary contacted meat the newspaper where I work, to tell me that Rosemary would be conductinga program in Sarasota and, she had recently moved to Venice and, would Ilike to interview her.
Does Hershey make chocolate?
The interview was arranged for the following Wednesday afternoon, and, accompanied by severalfamily members who are in spirit, I headed over to her Venice home. Actually,at the time, I did not know I was accompanied by anyone at all but, an hourinto the interview, Rosemary began carrying on a conversation with my latehusband. She had described him and his arrival in detail and also had describedmy father, mother and my mother's twin sister. It seemed that all of them were with me on that day.
As the interview ended, Rosemary asked me about the possibility of going ghost hunting in the area. Since Susan Lockwoodand her husband had already contacted me about heading up to Tampa on the following Saturday, it seemed I was getting another message about the Tampa book.
The following Saturday, Rosemary accompanied me to Tampa where we toured the American Victory, a U.S. Merchant Marine cargo ship that served at the end of World War II, in Korea and Vietnam. While our guide stressed the use of the ship for cargo, Rosemary sensed that troops had been aboardtoo and when she asked about that, learned she was right.
Still not sure if there is a true ghost story there but it is a start.
Rosemary and I are going back again in a couple of days — this time to the Falk Theatre and some other places recommended by Chris Lockwood.
And with some more help from my spirited helpers, you BLOG readers may be moved to add some stories to this site.
May the spirits be with you
posted by Kim Cool at 7:28 PM
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