Viewing 1 - 9 out of 9 Blogs.

I've been looking for smaller photo programs that I can load at work without using up a terrible amount of computer space to play around with on "downtime"... and of course that would be the ONLY time I would do such a thing as "non-work" things... .  So I downloaded the trial version of Photoshop Elements 5.0 and fell in love with it.  So I actually ended up buying it, because it seems to be the perfect remedy for me here at work, rather than loading a huge-ass version of the newest CS (which I'm salivating over, need to get it for home, and it plays so nicely with my film editing now!! But $$$ )

In any case, you can see the results of me playing around with this new addition to my collection in my gallery.  I found a bunch of old pics that I loved, and decided to play around with them.  No ghosts! LOL - but I'm sure I could make some in my new program... I would never do that though - as you can tell, never got a ghost pic yet - you guys will be among the first to know if I ever do though! LOL! 

So thanks to those of you who have already stopped by to comment on my pics, I appreciate it!  It's a learning curve since I've never really played around much in photo editing.  Pretty much what I get comes straight out of the camera, but now I can really have fun making some eerie effects, I'm sure it'll get better as I practice and discover what is what in the program too.  And if you haven't stopped by yet, please feel free - and don't be shy to lend criticisms as well... I'm still learning it and can use any help or opinions on composition as well. 

I'll be vacationing this weekend at the Hannah House, so I will post many pics upon my return.  Hopefully something wonderful!  And hopefully this time I'll catch a ghost for you guys FINALLY! LOL.

Have a great week everybody!

Erica

I know this is a tad late, but I'm still catching up on everything.   Actually our 4th of July we celebrated on the 3rd with our buddies Mike & Mandy (also team members - so that was cool).  We went out to their town about 15 minutes away to enjoy their fireworks on the lake.  We grabbed a quickie bite to eat at Applebees and made our way over.  The place was a madhouse!!  We were still pulling into the parking area as the fireworks were starting (though we had sat in the traffic to even GET in, for about a half hour nearly!)  As we were pulling in some drops of rain started to fall on the windows... YAY!!  I'm sorry but you just can't get better than fireworks and a storm!  As we pulled into a parking spot and began to watch the display, we also got a mother nature display as well, with thunder rolling in and some flashes of lighting.  As the show progressed, so did the storm! We got some amazing streaks right through (it appeared) the fireworks in the sky!  It was absolutely perfect! You couldn't have gotten a happier camper then us at that moment!  The fireworks never impress me that much, but this time was different with the beautiful natural display we got in addition... it was too cool!

We decided to go back to Mike and Mandy's house to sit out in their screened porch to watch the rest of the display. We adorned ourselves in glow stick creations and watched the beautiful storm progress.  It was truly amazing.  I just love the midwest summer storms.  Now, just need to go tornado chasing!

This past weekend I got to be an extra on the set of the Dark Knight (the next movie in the Batman series by Christopher Nolan).  I like to do this kind of work to participate with the industry in Chicago when it is around.  And especially on something of this magnitude.

It was pretty awesome, my scene however will probably take up 5 seconds in the movie! LOL I got to be a press person reporting a crime in the Gotham National Bank.  It was pretty sweet to be filming in the (abandoned) Chicago Post Office (which runs over some of the old freight tunnels) - got to explore a bit of that scene as well.  That by far was the coolest thing I got to do that day, but hey - I guess the rest was pretty neat too.

A scene was shot before ours with many of the police force and forensic unit people observing the crime scene.  Our's took place just after that as Comissioner Gordon (GARY OLDMAN) pulls up in his squad car to enter the bank himself.  The press with reporters and such are all waiting for him outside for a statement.  That's it, plain and simple.  But let me tell you...

Gary Oldman is probably one of the greatest actors on the planet... and I got to witness it.  I also was lucky enough to meet him and he is probably the kindest person around - especially for the field he's in - full of divas and assholes.  And watching Gary go from "Gary" into "Comissioner" was pretty wild.  He literally got into the squad car as Gary and all he did was close his eyes and open them... and he was "Comissioner" - it blew my mind.  I personally don't know any actors that can metamorphasis like that.  I was blown away. And watching Christopher direct was pretty amazing as well.  I've heard some great things about him and he seems to live up to them all - a real visionary.

I had a great time and look forward to shooting some more scenes coming up shortly.  Movie doesn't come out until summer '08 I believe.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised after leaving this movie.  Perhaps because I have such little expectation for Stephen King movies... for the most part they start out wonderfully suspenseful or scary, then putter out at the end to some kind of terrible resolution that nowhere meets the idea the majority of the film was taking on.  There are some exceptions to that of course out there, but to me they are few and far between.  This falls somwhere between the crap and the great ones for me.

I think without John Cusack (chicago buddy!), and all of his great wit and sarcasm - this movie would have been another flop for me.  It was his performance that pulled it out of the gutters for me when I felt the movie starting to take the typical Stephen King dive towards the end that I was so looking for.  All the while John really kept his head on and really made me sort of proud for investigators out there.  Though he didn't claim to be an investigator, the character focused on discerning the reality of the situation in most cases before giving in to the paranormal. 

All in all, some great and haunting ideas were presented - some I truly hope I can come across in my life to witness activity.  The cheese factor did make it's way into the movie, though most of it was very forgiveable.  But the ending did surprise me that it didn't absoultely suck as I completely expected it to.  So kudos there screenwriters!  The writing was pretty witty in parts, but there are some lines (having trained in the same school for theater as John you can usually spot his "own" humor) delivered were of John's own mind I'm positive! 

All in all - good show.  I don't want to go in to the details of the movie for those who haven't seen it - so this hopefully explains my generally vague nature of the post.  Out of 5 starts - a solid 3-1/2.  I do recommend it to most of you out there who just want a good couple hours of entertainment and love the paranormal twist.  Don't be expecting a ton of ghostly suspense, though it does lie within.  More suspense of a twisting mind takes over this film and finishes on a solid paranormal note. 

 

  Nothing too terribly exciting to note, just the fact that I have received my brand new GPS and my group and I had an outing planned for this weekend.  Now I shall be unstoppable - mwa ha haaaaa.  No getting lost in the middle of cornfields as would be how I normally tend to do things... but then again that's when you tend to happen across something of interest - hmmm... so maybe I'll let us get just a "little" lost...

Just gonna hit up some Northern IL spots that we don't know much about just to see what they're all about. Should be fun! Hope you guys all have a great weekend too!! 

Well, it's been long overdue that I do a short (well I'm sure it will be quite lengthy) review of my first "official" ghost experience ever.  Back in the end of March, our small paranormal group ventured out to one of our favorite "haunts" - Mansfield Reformatory. 

Based on a few prior "experiences" in one specific cell block, we had decided that this was our night to set up a little experiment to see if we could catch anything on film or whatnot. Since there would four of us, we would each man one corner of the uppermost tier of this specific cell block.  We discussed our plans outside on a break, it was drizzly and chilly outside so we made sure all our equipment was closed up tight and safe out of harm's way.  After our break was through we headed up to the top tier.  At this time, it was absolutely perfect conditions in the place... just about everyone had gone home to our knowledge, so it was like the place was dead silent (don't mind the pun). 

So we decided who would take each corner, and then started to head out to our posts.  The plan was to just sit for a good period of time and shoot pics/video/evp, etc. - see what we can stir up.  One of the leaders was heading to the corner opposite of me, while the other two were heading to the other side of the tier.  The team leader hadn't even gotten halfway down the block when I heard one of the other two members on the other side give me a quick call.  "Erica, can youcome look at this, I think we might have something"... Honestly I thought for sure I'd be going to dismiss whatever it was they found by coming up with some sort of explaination... that seems to be something I am getting better and better at, though disappointing when you don't seem to come up with real paranormal occurances after all the debunking...   So I gave the other team leader a little shout out that I was gonna go check out what they had seen.  He just kept walking very determined, so I figured maybe he had something he was getting a shot of, so don't worry yet.  This is probably nothing and I'll be back at my post in a second...

Well.... I got over there to find both of the members looking down to the far corner of the cell block, where the fourth member was supposed to have been sitting.  He never made it that far.  He and the other member were about 1/4 of the way down the tier, that was it, when they had noticed something at that end.  Our other girl member, was holding up a flashlight to the end of the block to illuminate what was there.  She asked me what I saw... She didn't tell me what she saw - so I appreciated her leaving me to my own devices as to what I would be seeing.  I couldn't see enough by her light, so I put my light up... and then... excuse my language... Holy Shit.

Now, you see things on tv... you hear about other accounts, but nothing ever prepared me for actually seeing something with my own eyes.  It was pitch black in the place, so I knew that what I saw initially could have been my eyes playing tricks.  It appeared to be 6' or maybe taller, very slender, slightly wavering yet still figure of a man.  He was dark, yet gave a somewhat "glow" aura-ish thing from around the dark figure - it is so hard to explain, but this shadow of a person you could actually see within a slight light of somesort that was not from the flashlights.  Umm... ok, that is odd.  I think at that point I said something along the lines of - yes, there is a figure down there.  The two became much more excited now because they saw the same thing.  OK, so now I want our other member over here to see what the heck this is...

I called out his name very loudly.  At that exact moment you could see the figure jump out of the center of the block to a sideways view along the side of the last corner cell!!! EEEK!  WE all stayed calm (but it is rather funny as on audio you hear us all go "shit it moved"! LOL)... OK, so it obviously is aware of us.  Is it a real person (fleshie) or is this an honest to god experience we are having??  Then you see it kind of peek it's head back out as if checking if the coast is clear... holy crap... then it came back to the center completely and freaking MOVED FORWARD a few steps....  At this point we are all documenting verbally the accounts step by step - that now it is moving.  Also at this point things are starting to go through my mind... like... is this the point in which the thing posesses us, or knocks us on our asses, or possibly over the edge??  I know all crazy thoughts, but I've never been in a situation where four people are documenting something like this together, obviously seeing the same thing - no question about it that its there anymore! 

OK, so now I'm freaking a little - but man am I taking pictures! click click click.  Damned if I won't capture THIS on film!!!  I called out for our other member, still on the other side - why the hell wasn't he coming??? The instant we called out, the thing did the EXACT same jump sideways it had done before.  Again we all noticed this at the same time and were getting much more excited noting it still step by step. 

Finally we see around the back wall of the cell block this swooshing of whitish light - my mind was actually analyzing this because I did recognize it as a flashlight, so I knew someone would be coming around that corner, hopefully our other member.  Sure enough, a beam of flashlight finally came straight on to that end of the block - and for that split second you could see the figure totally illuminated in that light - still a shadowy figure but you could make out details like it was wearing a prison jumpsuit - I could see how it tapered slightly at his waist... it was freaking incredible....

And in that same split second - it really was just a moment - while engulfed in the flashlight beam -it became particles within the beam and dispersed... you could see it like a cloud almost!!  The other member wasn't even bloody looking so he saw NONE of what us three saw!  It was incredible and terrible at the same time.  We had cornered whatever it was and the other member was totally unaware.

When we finally ran up to talk with him, he said he had never even heard us, though we had been screaming at the top of our lungs.  And the WORST part... all the pictures I had taken were for not.  I wanted to DIE.  The lens cap was on the entire time... as we had just been out in the rain and had not even gotten to our experiement locations - I had not even thought about my camera once!  I wanted to DIE.  I hear all of your moans and groans... believe me... I just wanted to roll over and die at that point.  My new rule is for investigations to have all my shit uncovered before I enter the friggin place...  BUT, one cool sidenote is that we did capture ALL of this on audio, not nearly as cool I know, but you can hear us run down each tiny movement the thing makes during the whole chain of events - together.  So it is pretty fantastic we have proof we all noted the same thing at the same time.  I was proud of that.

But like any good ghosthunter, we wanted more now!   So we decided to take our experiment down a tier or two.  So we left the two guys on tier two, while the other girl and I headed to the ground level.  Upon arriving on the floor level, I went into scan mode... trying to explain whatever that was if possible... if it WAS someone there playing tricks somehow, though we heard nothing this entire time such as running or anything.  So I was scanning for movement or anything to catch my eye.  Did notice a large puddle in the center of the floor.  As it is leaky, this is very common there - I've noticed it each time I've visited that there are water marks.  I took some shots with my Nikon just to show what I was seeing (lens cap off now thank you)... looking for signs of anyone being there, no footsteps around the puddle or anything.  OK cool.  I did notice there was a slight mist rising from the puddle - completely normal I would think as it was rather chilly and damp outside and the conditions inside the prison were a bit warmer.  So, taking more shots and more shots...

I start noticing (even though I'm not zooming) that the mist is now completely thick and my flash is catching it and filling my shot with almost completely white!  I decided to turn off the flash at this point - and asked the other girl if to her the fog seemed to be getting closer and thicker... she noted that it was - in fact it was well over my height by then and within only feet of us now, and we had not moved an inch since coming from the top tier!  It seemed kind of odd to me for the fog to grow like that.  As I put my camera down to shut the flash off - I happened to see out of the corner of my eye on the ground... WET FOOTPRINTS coming from the puddle to directly in front of where we stood...

Now she and I hadn't moved once.  I do have before and after shots of what the floor looked like, not to mention that was one of the specifics I had looked for upon arriving down to that level.  I almost peed, I can't even tell you.  I could describe the exact pattern of the shoe, definitely male - it was kind of a diamond pattern.  I have to see if I can find it somehow online - do some research.  By now the fog was already shifting and was moving in like a solid block back to the far end of the cell block... it wasn't even over the puddle anymore but down far out of the way.  We had the guys come down... checked out their feet, of course no matches to the prints....

About 10 minutes later after our lengthy discussion on all that is happening, the gentleman that runs the ghost tours came to check on us.  He let us know that he had not been anywhere near the cellblock and had been in the office cleaning up after the nightlong public ghost hunt.  He also noted that the last people had left over a half hour earlier...

Just an interesting story I wanted to share.  It is the first time I truley think I have experienced something as so many people got to witness it with me.  No mass hallucination either, it was felt step by step, and what amazing steps they were for me.  Now I just want it on film!!

In my secondary group that I belong to part-time, they have recently accquired a "medium".  In my work I tend to be much more analytical and skeptical, trying to seek out the "why" behind a haunting to explain it in more natural terms - which tends to be fairly easy to do.  Actually, it is rather disappointing when you disprove more than you are actually left with to wonder "is that a haunting".

So in any case, this left me a little curious - right?  It is something new and out of my realm, so I am open and will give it a shot to see what's what.

Leave it to family members of mine though... Two of the members of the group are family members... and the medium (though I believe there may be actual people out there with these such powers) told them some very vague ideas one night at a meeting that they immediately took to be relatives of ours.  Now... seriously... the messages that came though could have in reality been for anyone.  And what was worse, they almost seemed to stretch the information given to them to "fit" our family as though it HAD to be a message for them directly.  Now, not to say what he got was not valid or whatever, BUT it might have been for someone else in the room too.  I just was very distraught that they bended the message to fit when it really was not a piece of our family puzzle. 

 Sooo... when I heard that he was going to have a gallery reading that was open to the public - I thought, well here's my chance to see him in action.  Until this point I had only gotten the information second hand, so perhaps I was blowing things out of proportion.  Now everything I've ever learned about mediums I have learned from TV... probably not the best place to learn from, but - I'm just being honest.  From what I have learned they always tell you to come up with some major points you would like "those on the other side" to come through with.  So I came up with two Nick Names that are very tricky, and honestly I would even have settled for symbology in a rather vague fashion on one of the names because they were so hard and not "real" names to actually get. 

So the session began and he very quickly came to me, I was probably like the 2nd reading or 3rd.  It was good my relative came with me and was sitting in front of me in the gallery as the medium actually first thought the reading was for her, but she actually declined saying that none of it was making sense (I was pleased by that, thinking that she might bend it to fit as I had previously thought).  However, the problem with him already sort of knowing me and what I do, there were a lot of facts he was vaguely hitting on about my career and such that he may have known I was already reaching for.  So to me, not a validation of life on the other side.  Then the people he was getting to come through were not giving names or initials, nor any of the dates or other validations I had specifically asked them to come through with.  In fact no details were really even given... it was all a little vague to me.  Now I'm not expecting a real miracle or anything either, but it really didn't give me much of anything to go from.  Now he continued my reading actually in a sort of "part 2" as he came back to me at one point after continuing his gallery readings with others.  This time some small details came through.

Now these details weren't hitting home with me at all, but seemed to me almost like they were a match for my good friend who happened to be sitting beside me.  When he had moved on after my non-recognition to another reading, I asked her covertly if that made sense to her and she resoundingly said yes.  That he was describing her mother's terrible disease and death, and a very special message from her mother that she had always used as her means of communication showed up - yellow flowers.  In fact he went so far as to say he saw me (which is why he confused the reading as mine most likely) walking down the aisle with yellow flowers.  My friend is recently engaged and yes, without a doubt, I believe she will have yellow flowers at her wedding.  So - even though the message was not mine... it did make me ponder a bit.  I can't say what it meant because it was not mine, or how accurate it was to her in reality.  I know that yellow flowers is the special message she always asks to be communicated in these sessions - as mine would have been the nicknames.  I can't say for sure it was a valid message, but for her sake - I hope it was.

I'm still waiting for mine.  And I'm interested enough, and hopefully this makes me a good investigator - I am going back for another gallery reading in a month.  I'd like to see it in action again.  I have also decided to take one of his mediumship classes.  He teaches people how to open up their senses to receive messages from the other side.  Not sure if I can or not, but hey, it's worth a shot.  I'm open to anything, but definitely skeptical.  If it brings me one step closer to understanding this stuff - then great.  But perhaps I'll get to see a real gift at work during these next few opportunities, or perhaps I'll be able to unravel a hoax.  Who knows.

In any case, I'd love insight - from any who would like to share - what you would suggest for people getting readings from mediums.  I thought I was doing the right thing by asking for certain validations.  Was I too specific?  Even if I hadn't wanted those specifities, I am positive my reading was very vague... and I know this can happen.  Nowhere in it did I recieve my own personal "yellow flowers"... you know?  I guess I wait it out and see... Any thoughts are welcome!

Contemplating our next trip - this will be to the Hannah House in Indiana.  I'm pretty excited, haven't been there yet, so if anything it will be new and fun.  Our side trips will be to the Crown Hill Cemetery of course... just cuz I'm a slut for cemeteries really... then the mental health hospital grounds and museum.  What more could I ask for??

 If anyone has some points of interest in the area you think I should hit up, or anything you think I shouldn't miss while I'm in the area - please feel free to post or message me.  I am excited!! YAY 

 

For those of you who recommended Mounds State Park and the spiritualist camp... do you have any "ghost" stories around either location - or have you captured any great evidence.  I'd love to hear more if you want to post a message here or PM me is fine.  I will most likely make this excursion part of the trip, thanks for your suggestions!  Keep 'em coming!! 

Well! I got the "ok" from a very well known penitentiary (also very haunted) to begin filming a documentary for their location that will be sold in their gift shop.  There will be two seperate features sold on DVD, as well as a compliation set.  Disc one will be about the history of the location with stories from past inmates and guards, as well as photos and taking a look at all the great items they've accumulated in the time that the prison has been standing.  The second disc will be dedicated to all of the ghost lore of the location - with witness accounts, photos, other evidence and even more great haunted stuff from the location.  Then obviously - for those who want a little bit of both - it will also be sold as a two - disc set.  More to come when the DVD's are for sale.  So excited!!