Tag Archives: mourning

July 12, 2020

Grief 2 Growth with Brian Smith – Big Seance #169

Brian Smith of Grief 2 Growth - Big Seance Podcast: My Paranormal World #169

A conversation with Brian Smith, who is a life coach, grief guide, podcast host, and author of Grief 2 Growth: Planted, Not Buried. How to Survive and Thrive After Life’s Greatest Challenges. Brian had long been on a spiritual quest, but after suffering from the loss of his daughter Shayna, who transitioned into spirit five years ago at the age of fifteen, that quest intensified. His mission in life is to help others along their journey by sharing the knowledge and wisdom he has acquired over the years.

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Leave a comment | tags: 169, afterlife, big seance, big seance #169, big seance podcast, big seance podcast #169, brian smith, christianity, consciousness, death, death of a child, evidence for an afterlife, faith, faith jesus and christianity, fear of death, gary schwartz, grief, grief 2 growth, grief 2 growth with brian smith, grief counseling, grief from loss, grief guide, grief to growth, grief to growth with brian smith, grieving, guilt of moving past grief, heaven, helping parents heal, how to survive and thrive after life's greatest challenges, is grief counseling for everyone, jesus, julie beischel, life coach, losing a loved one, mediumship, mourning, moving beyond grief, nde, near death experiences, other side, paranormal, pet loss, planted not buried, podcast, preparing for death, seance, shayna, soul phone project, soulphone project, spirit world, spiritual, spiritual quest, stages of grief, talking about and preparing for death, talking about death, the loss of a child, what is the afterlife like | posted in Book Discussions, Consciousness, Interviews, Loved Ones from The Other Side, Mediums/Psychics/Sensitives/Intuition, Spiritual, The Big Séance Podcast

October 13, 2014

Death and Mourning in the 19th Century and the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion

By Patrick Keller

This past weekend, friend and past guest of the Big Séance Podcast, Victoria Cosner Love, invited me (ahem… strongly encouraged me to leave my crypt) to a fascinating event, which appropriately fit the season, in my opinion anyway. It was my first visit to the absolutely beautiful Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion in St. Louis. “A Death in the Family: Death and Mourning in the 19th Century” is an annual mourning event there.

An interesting fact is that the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion is right next door to the famous Lemp Mansion and the Lemp Brewery Complex, and so the neighborhood is always an interesting place to find yourself this time of year. (Incidentally, the boys from Ghost Adventures just featured the Lemp Mansion and Brewery in their most recent episode, and the Ghost Hunters spent some time there a few years ago as well.)

The Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion is reported to be haunted as well, and I did talk to a few people in the know, but this event didn’t focus on the paranormal aspects of the place.

As you may know, I’m obsessed with staircases, especially grand ones in a historical location like this mansion. So I had to lead with the photo above, with one of the volunteers appropriately mourning in character at the front entrance.

I was very surprised to also run into several friends, some of whom I’ve never met in person, like my new friend Ginger of Missouri History and Hauntings. I got to meet a few other fascinating and knowledgable people, as well. I’m so very glad I went!

So back to the event itself. Here’s a description of the event, taken directly from their site:

This is an open house style event, during which guests are free to visit exhibits throughout the Mansion and learn not only about mourning customs of the 19th century but illness, medical treatments, wakes, funerary practices and more from costumed volunteers and museum staff.

As well as visiting with our informative volunteers, guests get a chance to see a amazing collection of original objects related to death, mourning and medical practices, from private collections, that are on display just this one day every year.

I loved the event, but I look forward to going back again soon, perhaps to get a general tour of the place, plus they have plenty of activities. I encourage anyone in the area to visit if you haven’t been.

I would have loved to have been able to get more shots of the home, but this event was well-attended, which is a good thing, but it made it difficult to get really good photos. But I hope you enjoy the shots that I did capture.