Spezify Seance

Last week in my Digital publishing class at school I was introduced to the website Spezify.com. You type in a keyword or phrase and the top searches will show up in little boxes all over the page so that you can have a preview of each link. I decided to Spezify the word seane and was shown an abundance of different things I never would have found regularly. When I used Google.com and Bing.com in the past I usually find an excessive amount of crappy ” How to sites”. On Spezify I found a lot of new material , especially material about seances in the media. I found books called The Seance  and I  found a History Channel DVD. The main point is that with Spezify I found out that seanes are everywhere and many more people then I thought are efected by seances and have at least seen or heard of them. There are constantly books and movies being based on the topic , whether it’s too turn people against seances or to make them a believer.

Ouija Board when bored?

Ouija Board is a flat board marked with letters , numbers and a few other symbols which is used to contact the dead. Because of the Ouji Board’s purpose it is also known as a talking board. A heart shaped piece of wood, called a planchette is used to spell out the message of the dead. Everyone participating in thissort of seance puts two fingers on the planchette and allows the spirit to direct them to letters and numbers to spell out a message.

The Oujia Board has been marketed by the Parker Brothers as a game , and now the name is used for any type of talking board.  Because of this mass production of the board, it is widely known to the public and dramatized in movies. One movie that I think most peoplw ould know is, The Exorcist. In The Exorcist a young girl plays with a Ouija Board alone and then becomes possessed bhy the devil. This is not what happens , but The Exorcist also highly deeals with the Catholic faith and is used as propaganda to why the Spirtualism faith is wrong.

Visiting the dead of Baltimore

This Saturday, November 14, 2009 I decided to pay my respects to the dead. My first stop was the grave of Edgar Allen Poe. I was surprised to see that Poe was buried in such a small graveyard and one that was attached to a church. His tomb though was very large and had not only his name but that of his wife and children on it. The graveyard did not give an eerie feel at all though, and felt somewhat regal- It was unlike any graveyard that I had ever visited. 

My next stop, was in honor of another artist – but one very different from the dreary Poe. I was heading toward Greenmount Avenue, where Tupac lived before coming king of the West Coast. For someone who is considered such a badass Tupac went to Baltimore School for the Arts and took part in theater , such as the NutCracker and Hamlet.

Tupac wasn’t the only bad-ass from Baltimore though, so is the Great Bambino, also known as Babe Ruth. Ruth grew up in a poverty stricken neighborhood  , and lived on Emory street. He got out of the “ghetto” though and moved to New York to become a legend. 

Poe is the only one out of the three buried in Baltimore, but all three started there and I’m sure no matter how far they traveled they remember their roots.

Seances with Celebrities

Recently a lot of celebrities have passed away but no one was as big of a superstar like Michael 
Jackson.  When Jackson died fans all over the world mourned and were devastated. But some fans , such as media outlets only saw dollar signs when Jackson died. One attempt at making a few dollars was the airing of Micheal Jackson: The Live Seance, on Sky One a British TV station. Derek Acoch of Most Haunted and Ghost Towns hosted the show.

These two have no connection to MJ and therefore should not be involved. The two rounded up a group of MJ fans and took them to a house in Ireland that MJ  had stayed in a few years ago. I think if the host really cared about getting in touch with MJ then they would have choose a more significant location. 

After everyone was gathered together the most important aspect was Derek Acoch trying to convince everyone that his body was being taken over by MJ. If the host had done there research they would have known that that only happens in entertainment seances and that in a real seance everyone closes there eyes and sees something different and has a different connection with the spirit. 

Acoch clearly did not know this though and pretended he had been taken over by MJ and started talking about Quincy Jones , journalist and love. 

I think the real MJ would have more important things to communicate such as a message to his kids ,family and fans.

Edgar on the Eves Before Halloween

To get myself into the Halloween spirit I decided to start the festivities off with Edgar Allan Poe night which was held at Baltimore University in the Students of Performing Arts Center.  Poe impersonator, Tony Tsendas, graced the stage with no make up and no costume but got ready in front of the crowd to show how he cab easily go from the persona of a happy regular guy , to being the dark and dreary Mr. Poe. 

Tsendas fashioned himself with dark makeup under the eye along with a long black coat and untied bow tie. The lights dimmed and it was as if the crowd was being presented with an entirely person. When Tsendas spoke it was especially chilling and seemed that Poe himself was in front of us.

Tsendas did a great job with telling the tale, The Black Cat. Afterwards Kate Porter came onto the stage and played chilling sounds on the cello , while guest from the audience were asked to come up and tell their own ghost stories. 

After a quick snack break where free cookies, cheeses and crackers were offered guests still had more stories to share. Finally the crowd was put to rest and Tsendas greeted the stage again , this time acting out The Telltale Heart (my personal favorite story) and then The Raven, which Poe is most famous for. 

 

The stories left everyone in the audience with a chill that would accompany them back to thier cars in Baltimore and for the rest of the night in bed. It’s hard to sleep well after hearing of Poe staringinto the bedroom during the Telltale Heart.

Harry Houdini and Halloween

With Halloween on the Brink, there is no better time to be performing seances. One of the most well- known Halloween Seance celebration would be that of Harry Houdini. The Houdini museum is located in Scranton, PA and every year at this time it puts on two events , the seance of Houdini and a psychic paranormal presentation, ” Haunted! Mind Mysteries and the Beyond.”

Houdini died on October 31, 1926 and every Halloween since , 1927 people have tried to contact Houdini and every year their is no luck. This is why the tradition continues  and will continue until one year Houdini speaks back to his fans.

The reason it is believed that Houdini will contact the living world is because he had made a promise to his wife, Bess,

Seance taking place at the Center of Jewish History to contact Houdini in 2006

 that he would contact her after his death.

Talking to the Dead and our Dollars

Recently money has been tight in a time where our country is in a recession. People are cutting coupons more and bargain hunting, yet there are some things that will always stay full price and the price will always be expensive. One of these things is Psychics’ . 

I was at work on Sunday flipping through the City Paper  when  came cross the classified ads , and there was a few for phone Psychics’  that cost $1.99 per minute. I’m sure just explaining who you are and your problem will rack you up at least $20, but what about the psychic I’m sure there going to tell you as much as they can to keep you on the line. 

A famous medium, Sylvia Browne charges $700 dollars for a 30- minute phone session according to Una McManus , who writes for Colombia, Maryland. Do you think McManus charges family and friends who need help connecting with the dead? and if those people get freebies who are there customers now? In a time where pennies need to be saved are people still going to spend mass amounts of dollars on connecting with the dead?

Seances Now and Seances Then

I remember the first time I was introduced to the idea of seances, it had to be about 10 years ago when I first saw the movie Now and Then. Now and Then is a movie about four best friends and the greatest summer of their childhood. The biggest event of their summer being the seance they hold for Dear Johnny. Even with this witchcraft event occurring the movie is seen as a feel good movie and a childhood classic.

The most recent movie I have seen lately with the theme of seances is , The Haunting in Connecticut. This movie is a thriller and a horror and the uncovering of this seance is far from fun.

These two movies were released about 15 years apart , and have conveyed completely different ideas from having a good time with friends to fearing one’s life. What has happened to the idea of seances to make the media portray it so differently?

The Afterlife and Abercrombie

You may be asking yourself what do my low riding ripped jeans have anything to do with death? Well The man who created the company Abercrombie & Fitch was born right here in Baltimore.

When The company had originally started people such as Amelia Earhart, John Kennedy, and Ernest Hemmingway had sported the clothes.

I think now That David T. Abercrombie would roll over in his grave if he saw what has become of his company. What was once worn by the most prominent people of the time is now being purchased by any preppy teen with a credit card. What do you think Abercrombie would say if he could the models and advertisements today?

Hopefully we may find out. I am in the process of looking up his grave now in hopes of hearing angry burst from the afterlife.

Starting the season off Right

This weekend at the Baltimore Book Festival there was books galore, but more so was the start of the Holiday season of Halloween.

On Saturday, September 26th , right smack in the middle of the day there stood Edgar Allan Poe. It was an actor of course, but you could hardly tell by his attire and the way that he spoke in an old english that is no longer used. He walked over to a booth set up in all black that looked like a dungeon. He stood there and  he read the chilling narrative poem, The Raven. 

 

After this exhibit, the Book Festival went back into its normal swing of things – up until it got dark out. From 7 – 8 p.m. on Saturday night there was a Baltimore ghost tour in Mount Vernon. The tour brings followers along to where ghosts remain, and where a terrible seance has gone wrong.  If you don’t believe the town is haunted take a tour for yourself. The tours are every Saturday from here on until November 24th , every 7-8 p.m.