Corey Schjoth of Phantasmagoria Photography shares his passion for historic and haunted landscapes, as well as his inspiration, infrared photography, and his favorite locations! Be sure to check the show notes at BigSeance.com for photos that are discussed in this episode.
Researcher and photojournalist, Shannon Taggart, shares stories from her 16 years of photographing Spiritualism for a project called SÉANCE: Spiritualist Ritual and the Search for Ectoplasm.
An interview with Karl Pfeiffer, the multitalented photographer, novelist, and ghost hunter. We cover his time on Syfy’s Ghost Hunters Academy, as well as his thoughts on paranormal TV. We bravely tackle the polarizing topic of orbs! Plus his experiences from leading ghost tours at the Stanley Hotel, and the inspiration for his photography!
In an upcoming episode of Syfy’s 10th season ofGhost Hunters, T.A.P.S. visits a city I love and know well — St. Charles, Missouri. I’ve been waiting patiently for this special episode, and I’ll give you a heads up on the locations and stories you’re likely to see. Also, check out “Ghosts of St. Charles“, a great book by Michael Henry!
Are you brave enough to stay the night at the haunted Myrtles Plantation? I did. Join me as I talk about the exciting stops on my summer vacation through the south, here in the US. Other paranormal spots included the King’s Tavern in Natchez, MS, Oak Alley Plantation, and the Lalaurie Mansion in New Orleans.
The haunted Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, LA.
Leaving St. Louis forLamberts Cafein Sikeston, MO 1:54
Stayed the night at theHilton Memphis(Sorry, Elvis) 2:49
Natchez, MS
We arrived in the beautiful and historicNatchez, MS. View the photos I took around the city in my Natchez album onFlickr. 3:14
King’s Tavern — Featured on Ghost Adventures in Season 7, episode 18 from 2013. Kings Tavern is the oldest standing building in the Mississippi Territory and Natchez and its history goes all the way back to 1769. 3:36
Plan B and stumbling into a beautiful surprise! 4:17
Dinner at the historicBowie’s Tavern— We talked to some residents who recommended we have dinner at Bowie’s Tavern, which is on Broadway in Natchez. And they made a great choice for us. Good food and really nice people. The historic building overlooks the Mississippi river and was originally a cotton warehouse. They also proudly display a mahogany bar that was built around 1880. They also have lodging on the upper floor with a view of the river! 5:04
Natchez City Cemetery
Spending the morning in the beautifulNatchez City Cemeteryfor some photography. Check out that photo album onFlickr. 6:03
The mysterious and unique grave of Florence Irene Ford (Sept 3, 1861 – Oct 30, 1871), who died of yellow fever at the age of 10. This grave was constructed with a set of open concrete stairs that descend next to what would be the head of Florence’s body, with the headstone above. Learn more about this grave atGhostInMySuitcase.com. 8:05
Monmouth Mansion
Before leaving Natchez, we toured theMonmouth Mansion(built in 1818) and the beautiful gardens and small cemetery that surrounds it. Check out my Monmouth Mansion photo album onFlickr. 10:03
The Myrtles Plantation
TheMyrtles Plantation(built circa. 1796) in St. Francisville, LA — If you are as big of a paranerd as I am, you’ve probably seen the Ghost Hunters investigation of Myrtles from way back in 2005, episode 1 of their 2nd season. You’ve also probably seen the The Ghost Adventures crew investigate the place just last year in season 9, episode 2. 10:46
The lovely Miss Hester 11:33
Some audio with a little bit of the atmosphere of the haunted Myrtles Plantation. 12:25
The ghost of Chloe — Probably the biggest legend of the Myrtles. Chloe was supposedly the slave closest to the Woodruff family, who purchased the home in 1820 and remodeled it. Was she Mr. Woodruff’s mistress? Did she poison Mrs. Woodruff, along with Cornelia and James, two of the children? Was one of her ears cut off? And was she hung from a nearby tree? 19:03
The nursery, or the “Ruffin Stirling Room”, which is where we stayed for the night. The two children, Cornelia and James Woodruff, were apparently taken to this room, where they later died. 21:26
Kate, Cleo, Voodoo, and other deaths at the Myrtles. 21:47
More about the “terrifying” bed shaking experiences that have been reported in the nursery/Ruffin Stirling Room. 22:34
Before bed we tried to reach out to any of the spirits of the Myrtles by conducting an EVP, Spirit Box, and Ouija session in the nursery. 23:06
Who changed the track on my recorder while we were sleeping? 26:23
More audio of me touring the grounds of the Myrtles, including the pond and cabins around the back of the property. 28:26
Our visit to Grace Cemetery and the Grace Episcopal Church in St. Francisville, LA. You can find the Grace Cemetery photo album onFlickr. 30:18
Oak Alley Plantation
The beautiful and reportedly hauntedOak Alley Plantationin Vacherie, LA. It’s one of the more popular plantations. In fact, you’ve probably seen it in photos or even as the Hollywood backdrop of a movie or two. It was featured in Season 4, episode 19 of Ghost Hunters in 2008. The rows of 300 year old oak trees are breath taking. Check out my Oak Alley Plantation album onFlickr. 32:36
French Quarter in New Orleans
Heading to New Orleans and the overwhelming heaviness or anxiety that I was feeling. 33:45
Dinner and my delicious Po’boy at theVacherie Restaurantat the Hotel St. Marie. 36:32
On the way out the French Quarter, mom dropped me off at the Lalaurie Mansion. Hopefully you remember my interview with Victoria Cosner Love, who authored the book on Madame Delphine Lalaurie, the real life murderess portrayed in American Horror Story: Coven. If not, you can check outepisode 7of the podcast from August 6, 2014. 36:47
What’s the opposite of the French Quarter in New Orleans? Long Beach, MS, which was the last leg of our trip. Long Beach is not far from Gulf Port, MS. We stayed at theHoliday Inn Expressfor a few nights. 38:28
On our first night we had dinner atShaggy’sright on the beach near Gulfport. 39:26
The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe, submit a rating, or share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Patrick@BigSeance.com. Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!
A new episode of the Big Séance Podcast is coming your way tomorrow. In this episode, I share the experiences my mother and I had on our recent summer vacation through parts of the south here in the US. We visited many historic locations, including several with a paranormal history, like the King’s Tavern, Myrtles Plantation, Oak Alley Plantation, and the Lalaurie Mansion. I spent quite a bit of time in 3 beautiful cemeteries while on the road as well!
Just for fun, here’s a video I took before bed outside of the Myrtles Plantation. I apologize for it being in portrait mode. Our room is the room lit up as the video pans to the right. It appears that someone is in the window, but really it’s the leaves from a tree limb in front of me. It would make for a great story though!
Hey that’s me! Does this spot look familiar?
Me in front of the Vacherie restaurant, which is located on the main floor of the Hotel St. Marie, where we stayed in New Orleans.
The same spot. The amazing Jessica Lange and cast in a shot from American Horror Story: Coven
Every now and then I receive photos from readers or listeners. Often they come with a subject line like “What do you make of this?” I’ve never claimed to be an expert when it comes to analyzing possible paranormal evidence in a photograph. I don’t even bring it up much. And honestly, when I was out investigating, the photographs were always kind of an after thought. I used photos more for documentation of the surroundings, and never really thought about them as a way to capture evidence. As you probably know, my focus was always on audio.
Like many others in the paranormal field, the photos we often get sent to us involve “orbs”, which most of the time end up being quite obviously explainable. And just as often, it’s an awkward offended reaction that I get when I respond with my usual answer. People want SO BADLY for things to be a ghost… even after someone gives them 30 possible explanations for what they’re seeing. I’m not sure why some folks ask if they don’t want an honest response. And so some of these photos end up sitting in my inbox, or maybe I reply with something harmless like… “Cool photo!”
But this photo was different. I am NOT making a claim that this is paranormal. But isn’t it interesting? You don’t see one like this often. Here’s the information I have from the photo that was sent in by Sarah. I was given permission to share it with you. Sarah writes:
“I wanted to send you this photo and get your opinion. I just [took] this picture of my daughter’s basketball team in our grade school gym. There were children running around behind the team prior to me taking the picture but I sat and waited for them to leave before I snapped the pic. If you look behind the chair of the last girl you can see that the white figure continues down behind her chair. Please let me know what you think of the photo. Thank you so much!”
What do YOU think?
My mind immediately saw what looks like a solid foot or shoe planted on the ground behind the chair. If this were a child running behind the players in the photo, the foot would have been somewhat stationary, at least for the moment the picture was taken. But even then, seeing a solid foot doesn’t mean it isn’t paranormal. It’s definitely something to think about though.
I also think that if Sarah admits to knowing children had been running around the team prior to the photo, could it be she captured one of them and she just doesn’t remember? That’s probably the most logical explanation. But… even then, I wouldn’t expect such a ghostly, unrecognizable flash of white from a camera in this day and age… even if the kid was super fast! But I could be very wrong. Thankfully, when I mentioned my question about a possible kid running behind the players, Sarah wasn’t offended. She responded very politely with the following:
“I will tell you that when I took the picture I was not looking at the screen, I was actually looking over my camera to make sure all the children had ran past. I steadied the camera on my knees and watched above it. I actually have a sequence of pictures, one with the kids running past then the one with the figure that I sent you and then one with no one but the team. They are time stamped about 8 seconds apart.”
Surely we have some photographers or experienced investigators out there willing to weigh in with their thoughts or explanations. Is this a Warrior ghost?
And thank you for the photo, Sarah!
P.S.
Don’t forget about the Love Never Dies Book Giveaway! Deadline for entries is Monday March 30, 2015! Can’t wait to hear from you!
Yesterday I carved my jack-o-lantern for 2014. As usual, I decided to go with a classic look that is very close to last year’s grin. And yes, that’s the Halloween Altar in the background, with the addition of the Beistle reprints that I ordered this year. As usual, I always have difficulty choosing which photos to share with you, so you’re getting several.
It has been so warm for October lately, and our 80 degree days will kill a jack-o-lantern in no time. I’ve decided that for the next few days we’re bringing them in late at night when we blow them out. That way they’ll be much more comfortable inside and away from the sun and heat during the day.
As you may know, Joe always has to break the mold with his jack-o-lanterns. Here is this year’s polka-dotted disco ball jack-o-lantern! We like the reflections on the post.
Another look at the Halloween Altar.
This evening I took a trip to the cemetery to pay my adopted souls a visit for my 2014 grave adoption project. I discovered so many beautiful trees that weren’t in this condition on my last visit. It cooled down quite a bit by the time I got there, and so it was beautiful weather. It’s still weird to be wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt in a cemetery on the week of Halloween.
One of my grave adoptions for the year. The small pumpkin is still going strong from 3 weeks ago. All of my small pumpkins that I kept in the comfort of my home rotted long ago, so I’m pretty impressed.
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 beautifulChatillon-DeMenil Mansionin 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 famousLemp Mansionand 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 ofMissouri 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 theirsite:
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.
I loved the feel and the color of this beautiful, yet oddly shaped corner. I need to find more information about this room.
In an upcoming episode of Syfy’s 10th season of Ghost Hunters, T.A.P.S. visits a city I love and know well — St. Charles, Missouri. I’ve been waiting patiently for this special episode, and I’ll give you a heads up on the locations and stories you’re likely to see. Also, check out “Ghosts of St. Charles“, a great book by Michael Henry!
Are you brave enough to stay the night at the haunted Myrtles Plantation? I did. Join me as I talk about the exciting stops on my summer vacation through the south, here in the US. Other paranormal spots included the King’s Tavern in Natchez, MS, Oak Alley Plantation, and the Lalaurie Mansion in New Orleans.
Don’t forget about the Love Never Dies Book Giveaway! Deadline for entries is Monday March 30, 2015! Can’t wait to hear from you!
