Barn Kittens and Backyard Spirits

My second wife Anne and I had many cats as pets through the years. My first was King Tut, Anne’s cat, which became part of my family when she and I married. Glancing through some old pictures, I found images of the second and third cat members of my family.

Anne and I were in the oil business. A drilling contractor named John was dating Sheryl, a young woman that worked for Anne and me. He had a little ranch on the west side of Oklahoma City, several horses, and a barn. Blessed by many barn cats, he gave two kitties named Buster and Squeaky, to Sheryl. Sheryl kept Buster and gave Squeaky to Anne and me.

Squeaky became our first female cat, and neither of us realized how fast these beautiful animals mature. Because of our oversight, Squeaky became pregnant and had a litter of beautiful kittens. We found good homes for all the kittens except for one, a calico we kept and named Chani after a character in the Dune series that Anne loved. Squeaky and Chani soon became inseparable. When Squeaky had her second litter, Chani wasn’t far away, and often as not in the litter basket with the kittens.

When the oil business busted, Anne and I lost our home and moved to a rented house, Chani, Squeaky and Tut moving with us. During the difficult years that ensued, we moved five times. Some of the cats didn’t live that long, but Chani made all five moves.

Calicos are three-colored cats, and they are always females. Chani was a gorgeous, three-colored cat with a distinctive voice. She always let you know when she was around. She loved affection and would live on your lap if you’d let her. She also liked to drink water from the tap.

Chani died at the age of nineteen, still the queen bee of our cat family until the time of her death. I buried her in the flower bed where she liked to lie in the spring and summer. Now Anne is dead, a victim of cancer, and spirits abound around the Wilder household. I’m fairly sure Chani still holds sway over her departed brothers and sisters. I’m also certain that Squeaky is around and she and Chani, as they were in life, are again inseparable.

Born near Black Bayou in the little Louisiana town of Vivian, Eric Wilder grew up listening to his grandmother’s tales of politics, corruption, and ghosts that haunt the night. He now lives in Oklahoma where he continues to pen mysteries and short stories with a southern accent. He is the author of the French Quarter Mystery Series set in New Orleans and the Paranormal Cowboy Series. Please check it out on his Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and iBook author pages. You might also like to check out his website.

Interview with a Sensitive

It’s widely known that I consider Louisiana the nation’s most ghostly state and New Orleans perhaps the most haunted city on earth. Today my special guest is Louisiana psychic/paranormal investigator Paula Bergeron. Paula is more than an investigator; much more. Check out these twenty questions and you will see, as I have, that she is a very special individual. Enjoy!

Q: Tell us where you were raised and a little about yourself.

A: I was raised in the little country town of Branch, Louisiana where everyone knew everyone else.

Q: Were you fascinated by ghosts, spirits and paranormal tales as a youngster? What piqued your interest at an early age?

A: I was always interested in the paranormal, even before I knew what it meant. I have been able to sense and see spirits since I was around 7 years old.

Q: What was your first paranormal experience?

A: My first paranormal experience was in an old house that we lived in when I was a child. I heard a noise coming from my closet and there was a man standing there, but he wasn't scary to me. He told me not to be afraid and that I was going to be safe. He would visit me often and I would read books to him and color pages with him watching over me.

Q: For our readers, a highly sensitive person, HSP, is someone that has an increased awareness of feelings, noise, emotions, mental, and paranormal intrusion. Are you a sensitive?

A: I am a sensitive, some people call me a medium, I prefer sensitive because I don't always see the spirits as much as I can feel them. I can also hear and smell some of them. By smelling them I mean that sometimes I associate a certain smell to them. Like sometimes when my Grandmother is around me, I can smell Ivory soap because that was all she could use because of her allergies. Sometimes it's the scent of a cologne or cigar or cigarette smoke, if they were a smoker.

Q: Do you work alone, or with a group?

A: I usually work alone, but people have learned of my cleansing abilities and call me when someone has a real "ghost" problem.

Q: How do you prepare for a paranormal investigation?

A: I usually meditate before an investigation and ground myself. If the area is known for paranormal activity then I also say a prayer of protection.

Q: Do you truly believe ghosts and spirits are real, or is part of your purpose as a paranormal investigator to try and prove that they are not real?

A: I know that spirits are real because I have seen them many times. My job as a sensitive/medium is to pass on their message and send them to heaven where they were meant to go in the first place.

Q: Does religion play a part in your investigations?

A: I am religious. I believe God gave me these abilities for a purpose and he allows me to do these things. I don't really believe that you have to be religious to have an experience with the paranormal. I think that a skeptic can usually see more because spirits sometimes like to show off to people who don't believe in them.

Q: Most of us think of ghosts and spirits when speaking of paranormal activity. Louisiana is rich in tales of other paranormal beings and beliefs: rougarous, sasquatches, black panthers, crop circles, American Indian mysticism, voodoo, aliens, etc. Do you believe in any of these other supernatural beings and events, and have you had any personal experiences you’d like to relate?

A: The cleansing that I do was taught to me by a Native American Shaman, so I would say yes I do believe in some other parts of the supernatural circle.

Q: Tell us about the most haunted place in Louisiana you have ever visited.

A: It was a cemetery here in Branch that has been reported by the natives to be haunted. I went there with my then boyfriend and another friend. When we reached the cemetery there was a man sitting in a chair at the entrance. Only my boyfriend and I could see him. My friend couldn't see him.

Q: Which cemetery in Louisiana do you consider the rifest in paranormal activity?

A: I have only been to a few cemeteries, but the one that always comes to my mind is "Hookman's" near Robert's Cove. It has been known to be haunted and some devil worship has taken place there.

Q: Many fortune tellers, tarot card readers, mediums, etc. claim the ability to see into the past, and the future. Are these people charlatans, or do some truly have psychic abilities?

A: Being able to see the past or the future would depend on the person. Sometimes the spirits that I connect with will show me a mental picture of how things used to be and sometimes they will give me a picture of how things will be. I would say that some people are truly blessed with the gift and some are not.

Q: What frightens you most about paranormal investigating?

A: I have seen a lot so not much scares me. I think my biggest "fear" is to have a spirit follow me home, but then again I know how to remove them.

Q: In your opinion, what is the most haunted town or city in Louisiana and why?

A: I think the most haunted city would be New Orleans, only because of the devastation and deaths that NOLA has seen and been affected by. There are many other cities with their fair share of paranormal activity though not as much documentation has been done on them.

Q: What is the question people ask you most when they learn you are a paranormal investigator?

A: When people find out that I am a sensitive they usually say "cool" or "really". Most of them don't understand what that means so I usually have to explain that I can sense "ghosts" or as I like to refer to them "spirits”. Most people nowadays know all about the paranormal from TV or movies, so when I talk to someone like that, they usually think it's cool.

Q: Is there a paranormal investigation you wouldn’t consider doing?

A: I would try anything at least once. I don't scare easily so there is no place I would not investigate.

Q: What would you consider the most definitive proof that ghosts and spirits are real?

A: I think the fact that you have seen a ghost or spirit gives you enough proof, but you can't make people believe in what they don't want to believe.

Q: Speaking only of Louisiana, what would be your dream investigation?

A: That's easy, the LaLaurie Mansion or the old State Capitol building. I have been to New Orleans, but it was a very long time ago. I would love to go back.

Q: Do you have any other thoughts about ghosts, spirits, and paranormal investigation you’d like to share?

A: I would just like to say that if you are interested in paranormal investigation, try to remember that if it is a home you are investigating, put yourself in that person's place and see how it would feel if these things were happening at your house and you tried to tell someone about it and that you needed help. Treat each person and "spirit" with respect and help those in need.

Thanks, Paula. Our conversation has enlightened me, and I’ll know who to call when I have questions or problems concerning the paranormal and supernatural.

Eric Wilder is the author of the Paranormal Cowboy and French Quarter Mystery Series. If you liked the interview with Louisiana Sensitive Paula Bergeron, please check out Eric's books on his Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBook author pages

Mystical Night for Spirits

It finally rained today, bringing an end to triple digit temperatures that have plagued central Oklahoma for the better part of a month. Dark clouds graced the sky as I set out on my evening walk. Even though the temperature was only eighty, humidity made it feel hotter. A slight breeze began blowing, making me hope the dog days of summer are finally over.

A year has passed since I saw the neighborhood ghosts that live in the creek bed near my house. I’ve looked for them many times this past year but I haven’t seen, or experienced anything out of the ordinary. Tonight, I saw something unusual.

Hazy darkness had almost encompassed me as I walked down the hill toward the ghost creek. With the weather cooler for a change, fireflies were flickering in the darkness where the creek crosses the road. I thought I saw something flicker that wasn’t a firefly.

The bright spot that seemed to be moving ever so slightly was gone when I reached the base of the hill. A white mailbox marked the spot where I saw a transparent being walking toward me. It was dark and hazy and I don’t have the best eyesight even in the best of conditions. Still, it could have been one of the two ghosts I saw last year.

A big brindle cat was walking down the middle of the road when I rounded the corner. I stopped to pet him and he let me, even though it was dark and I a stranger. Maybe he had also just seen the ghost and relished a comforting human touch at that moment. I don’t know, but a hazy moon appeared through the clouds as I started up the hill to my house, suddenly sensing it was a mystical night for spirits, and that maybe my eyes hadn’t deceived me.

Eric'sWeb

Hand in the Dark

Wyatt Thomas is a disbarred attorney turned private investigator in my French Quarter Mystery Series set in New Orleans. Wyatt learns from an old voodoo woman that he is a traveler, a person that has lived many lives and that has the ability to travel through time. He has problems with memories from many pasts that don't always make sense to him. In Courtyard of Forbidden Secrets, the French Quarter Mystery that I'm presently writing, he is suffering from a recurrent dream with which he can't quite come to grips. The idea occurred to me because of a dream I once had. Sounds creepy, I know, but would a fiction writer lie to you?

Hand in the Dark

We don’t always remember our dreams, but sometimes, awakened during the middle of one, we do. I recently dreamed I was lying on my stomach in what was likely my parent’s house. The bed was small, a single. It could have been the old house, but the bed was positioned in a way, and in a room that I didn’t remember. As I lay there, I heard someone come in the door. Someone with a dog.

The dog was a border collie, strangely similar to the one in my new book. It bounded into the darkened room, scurried to the front of my bed and licked my face. The warm tongue awakened me, at least in my dream, and I became aware of footsteps approaching the back of my bed. Footsteps halted beside the bed and a hand groped between my legs.

Really awakened this time, I swung my arm, hitting the lamp hanging from a ceiling cord beside my bed. I opened my eyes to see the flash of a human-like form pass through the window and disappear into the darkness. Wide awake, I glanced around the room as the lamp swung like a pendulum.

I’ve always contended that ghosts and spirits abound, not just in my house but everywhere. The touch seemed like a trick my brother might have played on me when we were younger. Brother Jack is not a spirit, and I doubt I will ever know for sure who, or what, it was that awakened me from my dream. I only know I was awake, wide awake when I saw the shadow figure fly out the window.

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Born near Black Bayou in the little Louisiana town of Vivian, Eric Wilder grew up listening to his grandmother’s tales of politics, corruption, and ghosts that haunt the night. He now lives in Oklahoma where he continues to pen mysteries and short stories with a southern accent. He is the author of the French Quarter Mystery Series set in New Orleans and the Paranormal Cowboy Series. Please check it out on his Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBook author pages. You might also like to check out his website.

Edmond Ghost Creek - Picture

Here is a picture I recently took of the creek that runs through my neighborhood. I call it the Edmond ghost creek because skunks, foxes, possums, and possibly ghosts and spirits use it as a conduit for moving around, undetected, through the housing developments.

Eric'sWeb

Company D, 1st Texas Infantry, CSA

Autumn is here, a magical season fraught with changing colors and spirits of long ago. I remember a few particular spirits and have my own mystical tale – one I have never told before.

I grew up in north Louisiana. My Grandmother lived nearby on a farm located near the tiny community of O’Farrell, in Cass County, Texas. When I was young, we visited my Grandmother at least once a week.

Grandma Rood married a man named Oscar, a company pumper for Humble Oil. I remember a picture that hung proudly in their house - her parents, my great-grandparents, Annie and J.P. O’Rear. John Pinkney was sitting in a chair, his wooden leg detached and propped against the wall, Annie standing behind him with her right hand on his shoulder.

Pink, as he was called, served in Company D, 1st Texas Infantry during the Civil War. How he lost his leg I haven’t a clue but he was captured and spent much of the War in a Union prison camp. When the war ended, he was released and hiked the entire distance from somewhere in Georgia back to his homestead in east Texas.

I had seen Pink and Annie’s picture many times and heard their story, although I was just a kid and promptly forgot most of it. Pink was just a picture on the wall to me – until something unexplainable happened years later.

I was drafted into the Army in 1970 and bound for service in Vietnam as an infantry foot soldier. If I told you I wasn’t frightened, I would be a bald-faced liar. Vietnam was different than Iraq. Every night on the news we witnessed row after bloody row of body bags being unloaded from transport planes. Worse than coming home in a body bag was to return limbless, or eyeless - or hopeless!

I was young and strong but I was frightened to the very core of my being that I would be killed or maimed – or worse yet, I would kill or maim some other poor human that didn’t deserve to die. I was having a hard time coping and none of my family or friends had the right words to say. And yes, I had trouble sleeping. It was during a particularly restless night when I saw a specter, or perhaps had a vivid dream. I don’t know, but this is what happened:

Something disturbed my dream and caused me to open my eyes. Gail was asleep beside me but she never woke up. There was an ephemeral glow at the foot of my bed, not a strong radiance but a peaceful aura that surrounded an apparition I vaguely recognized. As I lay there, eyes wide and unbelieving, the old man spoke to me with a raspy voice in a dialect so southern that at first I hardly understood him. He stood erect on a very noticeable wooden leg.

“I’m Pink, your great-granddad. You’re going to war, Son. I spent most of my powers getting your Daddy back from the last big war. I ain’t got much left but now you’re in need and you ain’t got nobody to help ‘cept me. There ain’t no good wars but the one you’re headed for is real bad. You keep an eye on what’s going on in front of you and I’ll keep an eye on your back. Have faith, Son, pray, and I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

I awoke the next morning with no memory of the dream and many years passed before it crept back into my psyche. I was visiting my parents in Vivian and it came pouring forth, back into my mind, as I stared at the picture of my Great-grandparents in my parent’s front room.

I miraculously made it home from Vietnam unscathed, although I barely missed death, often by friendly fire, at least a dozen times. I once had a mortar round land between my legs without detonating. Old Pink was with me every step of the way, his powers diminishing every time he turned a bullet away for me.

Autumn is here, a magical season fraught with changing colors and spirits of long ago. It caused me to remember a dream I had many years ago. Or was it a dream?

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All of Eric's books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and on his iBook author pages, and his Website.