<3 Anna
Written by Mary Beth Breckenridge in Jan. 2015
AKRON, Ohio — The people who run Perkins Stone Mansion are used to things that go bump in the night.
But things that dart into people’s paths and brush against their legs are another matter.
For about a year and a half, staff members and volunteers at the Summit County Historical Society have reported encountering what they believe is the ghost of a dark-colored cat in the reputedly haunted mansion just west of downtown.
Sometimes they see a cat’s form. Sometimes they hear a meow or a distinctive sneeze. One felt something brush against his leg during, of all things, a paranormal tour.
They think they know who the mysterious resident is: the spirit of Simon Purrkins, a black cat who once prowled the mansion’s grounds as the historical society’s unofficial chief executive.
The sightings started around June 2013, some eight months after Simon died. “I just thought that was coincidental,” said Leianne Neff Heppner, the society’s executive director and one of the many humans Simon once held in thrall.
That Simon would return makes perfect sense to her. He lived a big part of his life in the historical society’s offices and on its grounds, from the time employees rescued him as a skittish kitten in 1998 until he moved East with his human family in 2009.
“He was such a fixture on the property,” she said.
Besides, the mansion is reputed to harbor visitors from the spiritual realm. Simon was a social cat who might have wanted company in the afterlife.
Heppner has not crossed paths with Simon’s spirit, but she’s heard about enough experiences to give her pause.
Volunteer coordinator Melinda Sedelmeyer’s first encounter came this fall, as she was turning off the lights after a tour of the mansion — a home built for Col. Simon Perkins and a place his feline namesake once roamed. Sedelmeyer looked down and saw a cat, but in that first instant it didn’t hit her as anything unusual because she’s a cat owner. “And then I realized I’m at work,” she said.
She turned to look again, and the cat was gone.
A couple of weeks later she was going through the same lights-out routine when she heard meowing. She figured it was a volunteer teasing her, so she yelled to him to be quiet.
He swore he hadn’t made a sound.
Sedelmeyer said she later almost fell trying to avoid the apparition when it shot past her in a doorway. And she said a motion-sensing alarm sometimes detects unexplained movement in a back bedroom that can’t be entered without going through another room. Well, at least that’s the way mortals have to get in.
<3 Anna
Today is the last day to download Spell of Summoning (Dark Caster #1) for free! If you haven’t read the 1st book in the Dark Caster series yet, why not try it for free?
Holden Clark walks into Rebecca Powell’s life, a tall, blue-eyed stranger who stirs long forgotten desires. But nothing, including this man, is what it seems. A dark necromancer is targeting Becca for a full-blown demonic possession. She is thrust into a world she never knew existed—a world where dark casters create chaos and necromancers talk to the dead.
Holden has no faith in his power. A necromancer, he communicates with the dead, but he has never embraced his gifts. Now, he has no choice. He must stop the dark caster attacking Rebecca, but accepting this mission means he’ll be delving into dangerous magics he’s never used before.
Under the protection of the damaged and mysterious Holden, Rebecca will question everything …
<3 Anna
I woke up yesterday to a wonderful surprise. The promotion for Spell of Summoning pushed it to #1 in free ghost stories and #2 in free paranormal witch romances!
I’m so excited and feeling so blessed. Thank you to everyone who downloaded Spell of Summoning!
<3 Anna
I need a little Captain Swan today, so here’s Hook and Emma set to “Love Me Like You Do.” Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIhW2P-S-Xg
Video created by Jennifer Burgess
<3 Anna
If you haven’t read the first book in my paranormal romance series, here’s your chance to download it for free.
From May 14 – May 18, download the ebook HERE for free.
Cover Blurb
Holden Clark walks into Rebecca Powell’s life, a tall, blue-eyed stranger who stirs long forgotten desires. But nothing, including this man, is what it seems. A dark necromancer is targeting Becca for a full-blown demonic possession. She is thrust into a world she never knew existed—a world where dark casters create chaos and necromancers talk to the dead.
Holden has no faith in his power. A necromancer, he communicates with the dead, but he has never embraced his gifts. Now, he has no choice. He must stop the dark caster attacking Rebecca, but accepting this mission means he’ll be delving into dangerous magics he’s never used before.
Under the protection of the damaged and mysterious Holden, Rebecca will question everything …
<3 Anna
In case you were waiting for Spell of Summoning (Dark Caster #1) to be free today, it will in fact be free starting tomorrow May 14 and continue until the 18th.
Thanks for understanding!
<3 Anna
<3 Anna
Making a video is harder than it looks! You can watch my very own blooper reel on my YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzP-p0rvcqA
<3 Anna
Visit the original article here. Or continue reading below for the full story.
Written by Joseph Flaig in Dec. 2014
Ghostly appearances, spooky sounds and bizarre phenomena that seem to defy the laws of science are all a part of a paranormal legacy in the wild corners of Epping Forest.
The forest’s size, density and proximity to London have made it a popular criminal hideout for centuries, and its dark woods have likely been the site of many hidden burials.
Stories and reports of ghostly sightings in the forest are a source of ongoing fascination, with many groups and organisations showing an active interest in the spooky stories.
In December 2003, an episode of the paranormal investigation show Most Haunted was broadcast live from the forest as the crew apparently pursued the spirit of the infamous highwayman Dick Turpin.
Although he was born in Hempstead around 1705, Turpin is known to have opened a butcher’s shop in Buckhurst Hill and in his later life he was notorious for using the forest as a base for his criminal activities.
He murdered at least one man in the forest, for which he was tried and hanged in York in 1739.
In the live broadcast of Most Haunted, Turpin’s spirit apparently presented itself to Yvette Fielding and led the crew off the path and into the depths of the forest, forcing them to call a forest keeper to rescue them.
They had originally been filming at Loughton Camp, an area of the forest that Turpin used as a hideout and is notorious for paranormal activity.
The site, which is just outside of Loughton, is thought to have been used as an army base by the tribal queen Boudica, and this has led a number of people to think that the spirits and memories of dead soldiers have been left in the area.
Alan Smith, member of the paranormal investigation group Parahauntings UK, said there is a possibility that certain emotions can linger.
He said: “The ‘Stone Tape’ theory suggests that emotions and energy imprints itself on the surroundings in a magnetic way, much like cassette tapes.
“The camp would be an area of very high emotion. Being a war time camp, there would be the emotions of going to war and being worried about not coming back.” He added: “You never know what you could find when you go down there.”
A number of accounts have reported muffled sounds of drums and marching emanating from the forest, and some people believe that this is caused by the spirits of dead soldiers.
Several reports have been made over the years of spirits apparently taking material form.
In the 1960s, there were sightings of ghostly figures emerging from a pond near Lindsey Street in Epping. The figures were said to emerge from the pond on horseback before riding towards town and disappearing.
Another pond at an unknown location deep in the woods is said to draw people to commit suicide in its murky waters, after two young lovers died in a tragic murder-suicide at the pond 300 years ago.
Restless spirits have also been blamed for Epping Forest’s most well known and bizarre supernatural phenomenon that persists to this day: cars appearing to roll uphill at Hangman’s Hill.
If left in neutral, cars left at the bottom of Hangman’s Hill in High Beach appear to defy gravity and roll uphill, and local legend has it that this is the spirit of a hangman dragging an unfortunate criminal to his execution.
A more scientific explanation suggests the phenomenon occurs because of an optical illusion, with the road only appearing to slope upwards.
Despite the mystery of Hangman’s Hill being solved, many people have been left unable to explain their own experiences in the forest and the supernatural legacy of criminal activity and hidden violence persists to this day.
<3 Anna