Paranormal Convention in Thunder Bay

 

Merry meet all,

I obtained a white garment like a nightgown. I like it because I can alter it to match the chemises that I see on the Holy Clothing website. I am not done yet but it will look great. I love this photo! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight I am going to Trident Cafe to support a likeminded awesome horror author.  I’m celebrating women in horror month. Yay!

Today’s post covers a new exciting event in the world of the paranormal. Enjoy!!! 

Thunder Bay paranormal convention set to showcase the spooky side of life this fall

Workshops, guest speakers will cover all manner of paranormal topics

Kris Ketonen · CBC News · Posted: Mar 04, 2024 6:00 AM AST | Last Updated: March 4

A group of paranormal investigators record a drop in temperature inside a site believed to be subject to paranormal activities. Paranormal investigators will gather in Thunder Bay, Ont., this fall. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters )

With a slate of guest speakers and workshops on the schedule, the first-ever Lake Superior Paranormal Convention will shine a spotlight on the strange and spooky this fall.

The convention – which is being organized by Thunder Bay paranormal investigation group Lucky Paranormal – will take place in October at the Prince Arthur hotel. Tickets go on sale Saturday, March 2, and will be available online.

“At a paranormal convention, they have lots of speakers,” organizer and Lucky Paranormal member Gail Willis said. “All day long, you can listen to paranormal experts on paranormal activity, investigation, UFO’s, Sasquatch, Bigfoot, all of those types of things are spoken about openly at a convention.”

More than 15 guests have been booked so far. They include:

• Beyond the Haunting Investigations of History’s Most Haunted;
• Shane Pittman, from Netflix’s 28 Days Haunted and Discovery Channel’s The Holzer Files;
• Author and researcher Jeff Belanger (Ghost Adventures and Paranormal Challenge);
• Author and researcher Chris Rutkowski;
• Thunder Bay writer Kim Casey;
• Investigator and filmmaker Dee McCullay, and
• The Winnipeg Paranormal Group.

The convention will also include vendors, as well as workshops on how to use some of the equipment paranormal investigators use, organizer and Lucky Paranormal member Mel Willis said.

A REM Pod used by Lucky Paranormal during their investigations. The upcoming Lake Superior Paranormal Convention will feature workshops on how to use ghost-hunting equipment like this. (Kris Ketonen/CBC)

The idea for the local convention grew out of visits to other, similar events by Lucky Paranormal members.

“We’ve gone to a number of conventions in the U.S.,” Mel Willis said. “There’s one in Halifax and that’s the only one across Canada and we’re like, ‘well, we’re smack in the middle of Canada, why not here?'”

Gail Willis said the convention isn’t only geared at investigators, and hopes that everyone with an interest in the supernatural will take away something worthwhile.

“I hope that they leave with more information,” she said. “I hope that they leave with a passion for the paranormal, and also maybe new connections.”

A few other events are scheduled around the main convention, which will take place on Saturday, Oct. 5. Those include:

• A VIP party with celebrity guest speakers on the evening of Oct. 4;
• A celebrity-led paranormal investigation at the Thunder Bay museum, scheduled for the evening of Oct. 5, and
• Sunday Spirits n’ Sweets at Cafe Ora, which will include afternoon tea and coffee with Canadian psychic medium Kerrilynn Shellhorn on the afternoon of Oct. 6.

The Lake Superior Paranormal Convention itself, meanwhile, is scheduled for Oct. 5, 2024, at the Prince Arthur Hotel. For ticket information, visit the event’s website.

Superior Morning8:22Mel and Gail Willis of Lucky Paranormal: Paranormal Convention

Thunder Bay ghost hunters and paranormal enthusiasts, mark your calendars, the first-ever Lake Superior Paranormal Convention is coming to the city this fall. Hear from the organizers.

Credit to: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/lake-superior-paranormal-convention-1.7130960

Blessings, Spiderwitch

The veil between the worlds – thinning or not?

Merry meet all,

The photo above is the nature trail. The nature trail looks spooky and in my opinion, is the best representation of the thinning of the veil between the worlds. It beckons to me, enticing to dare to venture down the concrete path ” to lose my mind and find my soul”. Well I am most certainly not losing my mind. I just like the expression. The expression means to totally lose oneself in nature, to release any inhibitions. The sky and the trees appear to be enveloped in a mist, and yet reveals how beautiful the autumn season is. The leaves contrast the heavy grey sky. Rustic orange, brown and gold colours stand out against the sky. 

The veil between the worlds is thinning. I don’t believe this occurs only at Samhain and Beltane. I think there is a stronger reason why there are so many more reports of people encountering spirits now more than ever before. It can’t be just that we have better ghost hunting devices for detecting them. There has to be actual spirits to detect or the devices would be no use to anyone. I don’t know what started this or how the veil is getting weaker. It could be that we destroyed the ozone layer ( just a theory, don’t laugh), or that someone or a group of people performed certain dark magic that led to the rapidly thinning veil. It could also be that we are all in a global transition. The global transition could have to do with the fact that we are in the Age of Aquarius. The old systems are collapsing. People are turning away from the old long established systems of the patriarchy (which I am in support of), and the other old systems of the Church. They could be seeking something more liberating and less conventional. And what is more conventional than the Church and oppression? 

These are a few theories. They are not fact and should not be treated as such. The other theory is that they are coming because a change is coming. I fear that this change might be darker and weirder than we are ready for. The spirits may already know the dark change coming. Look at the world right now. Tension, hate, animosity, apathy, crime, war, and the pandemic are running high. Ever since the pandemic began, people have become more hostile and less loving. It’s almost like there is something wrong with you are if you are nice. That’s terrible. All the negativity in the world is feeding the spirits. 

I can’t remember when this happened. But not too long ago, I had another of my freaky incidents. Apparently, I had a paper cut. The weird thing is, I never felt any pain. I had a page in my hands and somehow got a paper cut. I never felt the pain but my hands were blood stained from the paper cut. I had a new white computer mouse in my hands and the mouse managed to remain immaculate somehow. I entered the washroom to bandage my hand but no, I can’t explain that. Paper cuts hurt. I am open to theories. This is as weird as the time I saw a ghost in the shape of a rat or rabbit disappear under my bed. I am open to theories and explanations. 

There has to be a reason for all these occurrences. The ones that I experience and in the rest of the world. People have been discussing this since 2016 and maybe before that time. Stories of ghosts are nothing new. The important thing right now is why it is happening. I will be discussing this more in depth in future posts. 

Here is a link that discusses the thinning of the veil in more depth. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Blessings, Spiderwitch

The Veil Is Shredded

Abandoned ghost town spooks skeptic

Merry meet all,

Here’s a spooky ghost story for Samhain!!! Enjoy. 

Graveyard in the woods: Abandoned Nova Scotia logging village so spooky skeptic won’t visit alone

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The scorched, leafless Inspiration tree is one of the milestones hikers can use to measure their progress when hiking to Roxbury, an abandoned logging village in Annapolis County. – Contributed

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS

Leafless trees close in and choke out the midday sun as David Whitman and his daughter, Lori, tread further into the dense forest.

The two are exploring the remains of Roxbury, an abandoned Annapolis County logging and farming village described as “lost in the woods” by locals.

“At first glance, there is not much to see,” says Whitman.

Whitman, a retired schoolteacher, is now referred to as the ‘Mayor of Roxbury’ after writing his first self-published book about the area called ‘Lost in The Woods: The Lure and History of Roxbury,’ which came out in 2005.

David and his wife Paulette Whitman are both writers that aim to preserve local Nova Scotian history. – Contributed

His interest sparked in the once-thriving settlement destroyed by a forest fire and abandoned in 1904, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was here where he spent hours fishing at a nearby river with friends.

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Related:

• Ghost town of Annapolis County: Roxbury part of Land and Sea documentary

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“I was always intrigued by Roxbury as a kid. The village is about four miles off the main road, in the middle of nowhere. And when I began teaching school in Halifax, I started to research the area where very little is known.”

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Over the years, he went digging for facts, church and school records, deeds, newspaper reports, and interviewed descendants of those that had once called the area “home.”

Whitman discovered a mysterious and tragic past.

The dirt trail that leads to the Roxbury settlement deep in the woods. – Contributed

Originally, he says, Roxbury was known as Durland’s Settlement, named after Thomas Durland, the first English Loyalist settler in the early 1800s. His brother Charles followed with his family, and by 1865, there were 15 families in the settlement, with a population around 60.

But the settlement stretches further back. The Mi’kmaq were the first inhabitants, followed by French Acadians fleeing from British soldiers after refusing to pledge British allegiance – known as the Expulsion from 1755 to 1764.

“About 60 French Acadian exiles took to the river and hid on South Mountain,” Whitman says.

“The Mi’kmaq became their allies, but many Acadians did not survive the freezing winter.”

Remains of stone walls from the Loyalist days. – Contributed

Acadian gold?

Rumours persist, says Whitman, that the Acadians, while fleeing, left stashes of gold under Mile Rock on Roxbury Road.

“There have been some treasure hunters over the years, but nothing retrieved or at least made public.”

While piecing his second book together on the area, Whitman says he interviewed many who reported “strange voices” while alone on Roxbury Road.

“Legend has it some of the French Acadians were planning to come back and get this gold, so I think it plays on the imagination which can run wild out there when no one is around,” he dismisses with a nervous laugh.

When the Loyalists arrived (1775 to 1783), they built permanent structures over the Acadian nomadic-style homes using rocks from the mountain.

Shreds of lumber remain from the former logging and farming village. – Contributed

“By 1904, most of the residents had moved out with the lumber industry depleted and the serious forest fire.”

Whitman explains to produce blueberries, they burned the land, but a fire got out of control and spread over hundreds of acres, torching Roxbury.

Today, the scorched, leafless Inspiration tree echoes this history.

“The tree is aptly named Inspiration because if you make it that far, you might as well keep going,” says Whitman.

There is an 18.7-kilometre in-and-back trail described as “difficult” on All Trails, which features a lake and cuts through the settlement.

Roxbury lay dormant for several years, attended only by nature. Then, in the 1920s, families set up homesteads, including Whitman’s father.

“Roxbury had a school, church, post office, sawmill and grist mill. The last family moved out in 1927,” notes Whitman.

Andrew Rosengren and the Thygesen family were the last homesteaders.

“Then in 1948 through to the late 1950s, lumbering activities by J. H. Hicks and Sons and Max Napthal interrupted the settlement’s slumber. And in the 2000s, forestry work from Bowater Mersey and Lafarge Canada Inc.”

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Lost in The Woods: The Lure and History of Roxbury, by David Whitman, published in 2005. – Contributed

Haunted woods

So, what’s left there now? Stone foundations, deep round wells, shreds of lumber.

“But people go there a lot to hike,” says Whitman.

Yet Whitman says he will “never walk there alone.”

The supernatural skeptic that claims, “there is a scientific explanation for everything” admits he has heard “through the trees,” a sound the resembles the “wailing of a man.”

Other interviewees of Whitman reported “strange noises” or “figures.”

It is not a place for the faint of heart, he says.

Roxbury: A return to a ghost town, by David Whitman, published in 2015, with a foreword by John DeMont. – Contributed

“I have not been back there for a while. Not by myself, especially to the graveyards. There was always something about them. There is one graveyard where a man lost his wife in childbirth, and he would visit and cry on their graves.”

In one cemetery, a headstone peeks through the vegetation with just one bold word, “Baby.”

“In my second book, ‘Roxbury: A return to a ghost town,’ I interviewed people that say they could feel or even see someone watching them. It gave them an intense feeling that they should not be there,” he adds.

The book, published in 2015 with a foreword by John DeMont, includes photographs by witnesses, capturing “blurred images of a young girl in a white dress” floating through the cemetery and disappearing into the trees.

“This place can stir the imagination, especially in the graveyards that are in the middle of the woods,” Whitman says.

“People that do not know the history or have not read the books go back there and treat it just as a hike or a tour, but those that know the area are reluctant to go by themselves.”

Dormant wooden cottages in the area – designated by the province as a Provincial Park Reserve – have left a ghostly imprint on many people, including former students of Whitman, who he says will “never talk about what they heard or saw” because it was so frightening.

Whitman is part of Friends of Roxbury that gathered funding for interpretative signage to preserve the lumber settlement’s history. As a result, he no longer needs to give tours in a place he describes as “isolated and creepy.”

Credit given to https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/communities/graveyard-in-the-woods-abandoned-nova-scotia-logging-village-so-spooky-skeptic-wont-visit-alone-100631334/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1Ihr9t5VZUmMwVHfwMDRr0cP4kDo-62eGGc6RiFohuTYRrY_eyUn6UkYI#Echobox=1635594565

Wow. This is a great ghost story. This is partly why I love living in Nova Scotia. For every wave that washes in, there’s a ghost story!!

https://youtube/R8adRVxpKpA

I wish you all a Merry Samhain

Blessings, Spiderwitch