Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Adventures in the Graveyard at St. Augustine

It has been a while since I've posted to my blog. I have been a very busy vampire. I really had to decide which direction I wanted this blog to take. So, I have decided to take you along for the ride. Being a vampire is not easy, you spend most of your time blending in to society, working your job or jobs and doing the same thing everyone else does on this planet, survive.

I am odd. I like being different. I spent much of my young life trying to fit in to society, then I realized that fitting in was not my calling. As a matter of fact, I have met so many souls who follow what they think they have to do, instead of following their own path. They are miserable. So, I'm odd and I like it, because my path is my own and it is also where I found my voice.

I recently went to St. Augustine, Fl. I went for some research I needed for my next book, but mostly for the relaxation. My friend Barbara went with me and we stayed in one of those great Bed and Breakfast. If you have never been to St. Augustine you will soon learn that the tourist trade is made up of history and legends. The paranormal, or ghost tours are abundant. There is a listing of the top 3 haunted places in America and they are: New Orleans, LA; Savannah, GA and St. Augustine FL.

I am not new to the paranormal. I lived in a haunted house growing up, and then experienced a few others. But I did come to St. Augustine for the research on the local lore so I decided to blend in with the other tourist and join a haunted pub crawl. Barbara had not experienced the paranormal, although I would bet a few of her dates were, and she demanded alcohol if she went, so the pub crawl was perfect. So, off we went with 10 other people. We walked the streets of the old town from one haunted pub to the other, while the story teller told her tales of ghostly encounters. I was amused, people really wished for the experience of a haunting. I did encounter a few spirits, but I usually do and so it's not new to me. They hang out and do their thing and I hang out and do mine. (this blog is not why they are here, nor is this blog about the reasoning behind earth bound spirits, that is for another time.) After the 2 hour tour I was more then ready to go. However, there was one more bit of information I needed and that was where the cemeteries were located. I ask our guide and without hesitation she said, "The Tolomato cemetery is 4 blocks that way and 3 blocks up, but I am not taking you there!" I assured her I did not want her to take me there, I really was interested in visiting it during the day and spending time inside. She told me that no one was allowed inside any of the cemeteries anymore because tourist vandalized them. (How sad, no respect.) She then proceeded to tell me that she would not even go near the Tolomato. She said she had worked for another company before that had ask her to take customers down by the cemetery. She would get a really bad feeling, and always went across the street from the cemetery, she feared she would be attacked so she told them she wouldn't go anymore. They fired her and she went to work for the pub crawl. She said, a lot of women feel that way, so she stays clear of it even in the daytime.

Ok, let me say, I spend a whole lot of time in cemeteries. They are a beautiful, serene place to put your life in perspective. I wholly appreciate them and what they tell us, if we just look for their message. Some are written on tombstones with words of the life lived and some are written in dates of lives cut short. I am not afraid of cemeteries, I do not find them creepy and I am not afraid of earth bound spirits. I do however, have a healthy respect for evil, having met both the living and dead kind. Well, Barbara decided after several drinks that she was going to be brave and ask all the people in our group if they wanted to continue the tour on our own and go to the cemetery, after all it was after midnight a good time to experience the paranormal. All but 2 of our group went and we picked up 5 more on the way.

The cemetery was smaller then I thought it would be and I later learned it actually was larger but the city thought it disrespectful to move graves so they just built over them. So, at any given time while walking the old city you were more then likely standing on someones bones. I did not get any strange feelings there and I did not encounter any spirits that night at the graveyard itself. However, across the street was an old house. No one lives there right now and I kept turning around looking at it. I knew I was being drawn to it for some reason. If you know me at all, you'll know that I look at life differently. Some people might get a creepy feeling and use that fear to keep them from harm. I use that same feeling to find out what life is all about. I walked away from the group, across the street. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I realized I was not alone. I couldn't see what was giving me the feeling, and I wanted to know who or what was there. So, I took out my camera, shot a few pictures of the house and took a few pictures through the window. I knew something didn't want me there but it did not show itself to me so I joined my group across the street. Barbara ask if I got a creepy feeling at the cemetery and I told her no, the creepy feeling I got was from across the street. She has known me for 10 years now, so she knows how serious I take life and that truth is important to me. She immediately said she was ready to go.

I later reviewed my pictures. I found the one taken through the window of the abandoned house had two spirits in it. One was floating and seemed to be a man, however their was a really nasty one screaming at me. I guessed she didn't like the flash of my camera. I have shown it to a few of my friends in the paranormal field and they have all said it is compelling and like nothing they have ever seen. I have shown it to a few friends who have face booked me at 2am telling me they could not sleep after seeing it. Barbara thinks it is too scary to look at, but to unbelievable to look away.

I think it is funny how the ghost guide would walk across the street just so she didn't have to go on the same side of the road as the cemetery, yet it was across the street that houses the hostile spirits. Being a vampire has helped me learn how to handle my emotions, fear, and life in general. My life is an adventure in itself, graveyards are beautiful and spirits rather in a living body or hanging out in a house have a story. Enjoy your moments and embrace the unknown as a way of seeing the universe as a bigger picture. I just know I want my life is be about how I lived it and not about being a picture on someones camera.

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