The Elwood Opera House

Just a preview of of the full report that's coming your way tomorrow.

Favorite quote from the evening, "Whoa... did you feel that?"

Tonight's the Night

This evening, I'll be joining the Wabash Paranormal Investigation and Research Group in Elwood, Indiana for an exploration of the famed Elwood Opera House. Built in 1887, it served as a Masonic Hall from 1908 until 1999 when it was purchased for use as a reception hall for weddings and private parties.

For decades, tales of its being home to preternatural entities have circulated. It is a hot spot of paranormal activity, with several ghostly manifestions being reported. From top hatted gentlemen to distraught actresses to nefarious shadow creatures, the Elwood Opera House should offer us an excellent opportunity to collect data on all these and more.

I am thrilled to be joining Jason and his crew tonight for an evening filled with thrills and chills and things that go bump in the night.

I'll offer up a full report on Monday.

Wish us luck... we just might need it.

Rummaging Around

Ah the joys of spring... leaves on the trees, the smell of cut grass, the sounds of children playing outside... and rummage sales.

My wife and I hit our first rummage sale of the season yesterday while I was home between classes (I teach Photoshop to UAW workers on my days off from my "day job"). Man, what a haul. I dropped $5.60 and came away with toys for my son (a dump truck, bulldozer, hard hat, and full-scale talking Buzz Lightyear), a half dozen shirts and a couple of pairs of shorts (again, for the little guy), and for myself? Seven hard cover books. That's right...seven hard cover books. Every one of them in excellent condition.

Cream of the crop was a first edition Inhuman Condition by Clive Barker, but I also added Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Third Deadly Sin and The Tenth Commandment by Lawrence Sanders, A Great Deliverence by Elizabeth George, and The Beast by the late (sometimes great) Peter Benchley to my collection.

Again... all for only $5.60.

Is there any wonder as to why I love rummage and garage sales?

A bit of verse

Requiem

by Bob Freeman

The tapestries have faded.

Their vague depictions of past glories

Unraveled and worn.

Icy fingers of forgotten passions

That trace arcane shapes

Along the flesh of my arm...

Exposed, much like my soul.

The fire gives no warmth,

No solace from spirits drunk.

Anguish over words unspoke

In crypts forevermore closed.

Grief unhand me!

Must I be a slave to the pain

Of Death's shadowed cruelty?

The tomes are unopened...

Their spells left to rot.

The window, gaping wide,

Like the maw of a demon scorned.

The snow collects unrepentent

Till it melts away in mockery

Of my shrinking spirit.

Relinquish your stranglehold

Vile villian of night's discourse!

Unfetter me from your baggage

Of eldritch witchery.

Your words webbed with lies are

Esoteric and unwelcome.

I would be shriven,

Or dead,

Or both perhaps.

Let this cruel caress end

With a severed vein

And a toast to life's repose.

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Cairnwood Manor:
Shadows Over Somerset
by Bob Freeman

Product Details:
ISBN: 0976791447
Format: Paperback, 250pp
Pub. Date: April,2006
Publisher: Black Death Books
Price: $15.00

ABOUT THE BOOK

"In the first few pages alone we are given proof positive of what terror lurks around every corner...and it's this tension that shines through on every page." --Insidious Reflections

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What secrets lurk in the heart of Cairnwood Manor?

Michael Somers is brought to Cairnwood, an isolated manor in rural Indiana, to sit at the deathbed of a grandfather he never knew existed. But very soon he finds himself drawn into the strange and esoteric world of werewolves, vampires, witches… and a family curse that dates back to 14th Century Scotland.

In the sleepy little town of Somerset, an ancient evil awakens, hungering for blood and vengeance…and if Michael is to survive he must face his inner demons and embrace his family’s dark past.

"Gory, baroque, hairy fun with vamps and beasties."--William Meikle, author of the Watchers trilogy

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A Damn Shame...

BLOOD OF THE DEMON #17
Written by John Byrne & Will Pfeifer
Art by Byrne & Dan Green
Cover by Byrne
What will be the fate of Etrigan?
The long skein is unwound in this final issue extravaganza!
On sale July 6 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • Final Issue

Unbelievable. As many of you are aware, I'm a huge fan of the comic book medium and of John Byrne's stellar work in particular. Having him breathe new life into one of my favorite characters, Jack Kirby's The Demon, was like a dream come true...

And now the dream is over...

DC Comics has shut the door on of the most unique comic series ever created. Byrne and Pfeifer were really hitting on all cylinders with this one. It was near perfection, with what I feel has been comic legend John Byrne's best artwork...ever. This book and its creators deserved better. So long Demon... we hardly knew ya.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the Demon...

Etrigan is the demonic spawn of Belial (an Arch Duke of the Netherworld) and half-brother to Merlin the Magician. He spent many years imprisoned in The Void at the hands of his half-brother who rightfully feared his power. With Etrigan imprisoned, Camelot was safe from the demon and his machinations.

During the final days of Camelot, Merlin freed Etrigan from his bonds and then placed him into a host body ... a disgraced knight known as Jason Blood. The mage's plan was simple ... Blood would harness the power of the demon and do battle against the forces of Morgaine Le Fey.

To the chagrin of Merlin, the demon proved to be not so easily tamed. The forces of Le Fey continued to exact victory while Blood and Etrigan vied for control of their shared body ... the incantation of "Gone ... gone ... oh form of man ... and arise the demon ... Etrigan" being instrumental in their changing control.

After the fall of Camelot, Blood survived for centuries due to the demon being bound to him.

While Jason Blood roamed the Earth as an immortal, he would, in times of great need, call upon the demon for assistance. Etrigan never served willingly, twisting every request he could, but Blood's precise demands rarely afforded the demon much opportunity to do real harm.

The Demon is Dead, Long Live the Demon.

Stalking the Night with the WPIRG

The following are excerpts from an email I received from Jason of the Wabash Paranormal Investigation and Research Group: ...I got ahold of the Elwood Opera House caretaker the other day. We caught up on recent happenings at the Opera House and he had some interesting stories about some true mediums that were there recently. We talked about what openings he had in the near future so we could get an investigation set up. As of right now,things are set... We should have a good 1 to 2 hours of taking readings/evidence and being able to get a feel for the activity (The caretaker doesn't like to be there too late). Once we get a feel from everyone for locations for the cameras, we're going to get the units set up and leave the area for 1 to 2 hours so they can record the Opera House in its natural state. This way we'll be able to get a better idea of how much the activity may possibly pick up when its unoccupied. We also thought of incorporating some music from the early era of the opera house the first 3 to 4 minutes we leave the area. Just to test the theory of entities response to music. Any ideas you may have just let us know. There are offices downstairs so if the caretaker feels we can go down there and talk without interrupting the equipment, we can go downstairs and he can tell some of his experiences...They are pretty amazing to hear...

I'd been itchin' for some ghost bustin'... I'll post all the gory details, if I survive :)

Giving the Devil His Due

HenryAngsmar Kelly has an ambitious project, rehabilitating "the most maligned figure in history": the devil.

According to Professor Kelly, the devil — aka Satan, the Accuser, the Prince of this World, the Father of Lies — has endured 17 centuries of unjustified character assassination.

Better the devil you know, the saying goes, but, according to Professor Kelly, who lectured on the subject in Sydney on Monday, we only think we know him. In fact, we don't — our image was shaped from the second century church fathers to the Middle Ages. The biblical picture is quite different.

"For 1700 years, Satan has been the enemy of God, whereas in the Bible he works for God, he's his prime minister or attorney-general, in charge of policing the world. He is one of God's angels and his job is to test people," Professor Kelly says.

The professor, 71, has been the devil's advocate for more than four decades, publishing books and scholarly articles. The former Jesuit turned University of California professor calls himself a "diabologian". He says the devil doesn't have a kingdom, doesn't rule over hell, and doesn't try to damn people. These ideas developed only after the second century.

Professor Kelly says it is important to recapture the biblical understanding of Satan to combat Augustine's doctrine of original sin, "the most immoral doctrine in Christianity" by which the human race is delivered to Satan.

He would like his theories to attract more hostility, he says, so they would be better known.

Templar Remains Discovered Beneath Ruins

LONDON: The first bodies of the Knights Templar, the mysterious religious order at the heart of The Da Vinci Code, have been found by archaeologists near the River Jordan in northern Israel.

British historian Tom Asbridge yesterday hailed the find as the first provable example of actual Knights Templar.

The remains were found beneath the ruined walls of Jacob's Ford, an overthrown
castle dating back to the Crusades, which had been lost for centuries.

They can be dated to the exact day -- August 29, 1179 -- that they were killed by Saladin, the feared Muslim leader who captured the fortress.

"Never before has it been possible to trace their remains to such an exact time in history,' Mr Asbridge said. "This discovery is the equivalent of the Holy Grail to archaeologists and historians. It is unparalleled."

The Crystal Cave

With a swagger that would make Mick Jagger blush, I strode the campus of Ball State University in a haze of drug-induced over indulgence. I was a student inspired by the likes of Hunter S. Thompson, Robert Anton Wilson, and Terrance McKenna. The mind was a thing mired in the surrounding mediocrity of hapless sheep and I was bound and determined to expand my consciousness beyond the pale. I sought nothing less than pure enlightenment. I was a strutting Byronic figure, devouring poetry and music, and delving into the preternatural to unlock the mysteries behind the veil.

Cock-sure and over confident, I was taking Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion independent study under the tutelage of Professor Flores-Meiser and basking in the glow of her ardent praise.

The course was "taught" over four semesters. The first semester we covered shamanism, the second semester we focused on religious ritual, after summer break we dove into medieval ceremonial magic, and for the final semester she left it up to me to pick our direction.

I had always had a fascination for the magical fraternities of the late nineteenth century, especially the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. I was already exploring modern paganism with an Alexanderian Coven and sensed a relationship between this form of ritual and worship with that explored by the Victorian upper class. We started with Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine, danced through Regardie's compilation of Golden Dawn methodology, feasted on Crowley's Equinox and Magick in Theory and Practice, and wrapped things up with an overview of the era's more esoteric writings, things penned by the likes of Waite, Mathers, Yeats.

All in all, I found this exploration of all things eldritch fulfilling and inspiring. Though I eventually parted ways with the Alexanderians and passed beyond Hermetic ritual, what I learned from these forms of spiritual expression can not be measured in words. As my path has led me to an embracing of the Folkway of my Northern European ancestors, in true wizard fashion I have taken bits and pieces of knowledge from my earlier studies and incorporated them into my own personalized system of preternatural exploration.

In the shadows lie lost secrets, words and gestures used by those who walked with gods and creatures whose songs are sung in ancient myth. They are there to be embraced if you are brave enough to challenge the dark.

Double Dipping

In case you thought I had not been blogging frequently enough, while there is some repetition, I thought I should point out that I have been blogging more frequently over at myspace... My account can be found under www.myspace.com/cairnwood

I am not abandoning this site, however, and you will see regular posts returning to this blog come Monday. Thank you for your continued interest.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programing.

Poor Old Judas...

by Thomas H. Maugh II
Los Angeles Times

Judas Iscariot, long reviled as history's quintessential betrayer, was actually the best friend of Jesus and turned him over to authorities only because Jesus asked him to, according to the Gospel of Judas, a long-lost document presented Thursday by the National Geographic Society.
The document, considered by some to be the most important archaeological find of the past 60 years, purports to record conversations between Jesus and Judas in the last week of their lives -- conversations in which Jesus shared religious secrets not known by the other disciples.
It was ruled heretical by early church leaders because of its disagreement with the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Most copies were destroyed. The sole known copy lay hidden in the Egyptian desert for nearly 1,700 years before it was discovered by looters in the 1970s.
The translation of the document will produce ``a short-term sensation,'' said the Rev. Donald Senior, president of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, but its ``impact on the lives of ordinary believers is going to be somewhat minimal.''
Biblical scholars, however, hailed the new text because of the insight it will provide into the exceptionally turbulent period when competing ideologies sought to stake their own claims to the Jesus story, battling in oral stories and written texts until a single faction eventually won out.
Its publication ``makes available a significant text in our cultural heritage,'' said biblical scholar Marvin Meyer, director of the Albert Einstein Institute at Chapman University in Orange.
The gospel -- literally ``good news'' -- was written in Greek about 140 years after Jesus and Judas died. The current manuscript is a copy of the original text translated into the Coptic language by a professional scribe in a group known as the Gnostics.
Extensive analysis of the paper, ink, writing style and text all indicate that the copy was made about AD 300, according to Terry Garcia of the National Geographic Society. ``We are confident that this is a genuine piece of ancient Christian apocryphal literature,'' he said.
The Gnostics were a sect ``that emphasized knowledge, but not the kind we think of today,'' said biblical scholar Gregor Wurst of the University of Augsburg in Germany.
They were interested in the spiritual knowledge of God and ``the essential oneness of the inner self with God,'' he said.
They considered the world a creation of lesser, inferior gods who imprisoned the inner self in a material body, a prison from which they hoped to escape, Wurst said. The Gospel of Judas reflects this belief, which is in stark contrast to the version of Judas presented in the Bible.
``He's the good guy in this portrayal,'' said Bart Ehrman, a religion professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ``He's the only apostle who understands Jesus.''
In a key passage, Jesus compares Judas to the other disciples, saying: ``You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.''
By helping Jesus get rid of his flesh, Judas will help liberate the divine being within.
Several times, Jesus indicates the special status of Judas: ``Step away from the others and I shall tell you the mysteries of the kingdom. It is possible for you to reach it, but you will grieve a great deal.''
Jesus also indicates that Judas will be despised by the other disciples. ``You will be cursed by the other generations -- and you will come to rule over them.''
No mention is made of the crucifixion or resurrection.
The new text comes at a time when scholars have been re-evaluating the role of the supposed betrayer.
Some scholars argue that the Greek word paradidomi in the original texts of the gospels, normally translated as ``betray,'' means ``to hand over,'' indicating that Judas was simply doing God's will.
The vilification of Judas may, in fact, have been part of a well-known campaign by St. Augustine and other early Christians to vilify the Jews because Judas often is seen as their representative. ``The traditional depiction has fed the flames of anti-Semitism,'' Meyer said.

A Historic Battlefield Imperiled by Power Company's Advance

Fraser McRae, 61, of Montrose, Angus, wrote to the BBC News website about concerns that plans for new electricity pylons would desecrate an ancient battle ground.

Many members of the Clan MacRae were slaughtered in the battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715, at the end of the Jacobite uprising.

Mr McRae fears many of the dead which still lie on the battlefield could be disturbed if plans to build a major power line cut through the site.

The battle of Sheriffmuir, fought on 13 November 1715, is seen as the most significant and last battle of the rebellion.

On one side were the Jacobite forces, 10,000 troops led by the Earl of Mar, and on the other, the government forces under the Duke of Argyll, with about half that number. The battle was sparked when the Duke mobilised his forces from Stirling to block the road south to England, where Mar had decided to move his forces. Despite their greater numbers, the rebels were eventually forced to retreat to Perth and the MacRaes, sited on the left flank of the Jacobite army, were left exposed and, with no cavalry support, were effectively slaughtered.

Many of the men who died here still lie here after almost 300 years .

Now the Clan MacRae Society claims the site of the battle, which has been marked with a memorial, is under threat from plans by Scottish and Southern Energy to build a 137-mile power transmission line of pylons from Beauly, near Inverness, to Denny, near Falkirk.
The company has promised to make a fully informed decision on the route of the line and Mr McRae has echoed calls for a public inquiry into the proposals.

"We're not concerned with the pylon line itself, but its going to run directly through Sheriffmuir," he said. "The pylons will require foundations and that will mean digging huge holes right across the battlefield. Many of the men who died here still lie here after almost 300 years and we don't think it's acceptable that they should be disturbed at this time for this reason."

Mr McRae said battlefields in Scotland were not given the same level of protection as in England, a policy he hopes will also change.

About 100 MacRaes died in the battle, a considerable number for the small clan, which had its homeland in Kintail, Perthshire.

The losses caused a shortage of men within the clan which lasted for several generations.
Mr McRae said: "It has been suggested that a metal detector survey could be carried out to identify artefacts and human remains and any that are found be dug up under the supervision of an archaeologist. "We don't think it should be dug up at all."

The clan society, and others concerned by what may happen to the battlefield, have staged a number of protest marches in the area to raise awareness of the issue.

"We would like to see the pylons routed right round the battlefield with no disturbance to the ground and no disturbance to the remains of the men who have lain here for all that time," he said. "A lot of people don't know there was a battle here and a lot don't know what is planned here. A public inquiry will bring this to people's attention."

Marching to a Different Drummer

My cousin, Richard Trosper, passed away last night. He was 41. Cancer...

Rich was a free-spirited genius and a remarkable percussionist. I saw it in him when we were teen-agers. He lived in a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee then. He was already playing the drums, and to my thirteen year old mind he was already brilliant. He was turning me on to some cool music, stuff I just didn't have access to back in rural Indiana. Buddy Rich, Howling Wolf, Miles Davis, Bird, Duck Dunne... Years later, he took that passion for music that I saw in him as a boy, and as a man he made it come to life with his own, unique vision.

As the drummer for the Flipoff Pirates, Rich soared to new heights. A jam band reknowned through the music industry and the underground circuits, FOP counted people like Victor Jones, Dan Akroyd, and Billy Bob Thorton as fans. They were and are a tremendous band, a fusion of Frank Zappa and the Grateful Dead, with a bit of Bela Fleck and Bad Brains tossed in for good measure. Rich joined them in 2003 and really added to their already eclectic sound by incorporating his blend of Fusion, Rock, Jazz, and Indian Music to the mix.

So long Rich. I wish I'd have known you better. You will be missed.

They don't make men like this anymore...

BOISE, Idaho - David Bleak, a Korean War medic who received the Medal of Honor for rescuing a comrade amid hand-to-hand combat in 1952, has died. He was 74.

Bleak died Thursday at Lost Rivers District Hospital in Arco of complications from emphysema, Parkinson's disease and diabetes, family members said.

Bleak was a 20-year-old sergeant in the medical company of the 223d Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division, when he volunteered to go with a reconnaissance patrol, U.S. Army records say.

The Army's description of his actions on June 14, 1952, said Bleak killed two of the enemy with his bare hands and a third with his trench knife, and then shielded a comrade from the impact of a grenade that had fallen near the man's helmet.

Though he was wounded in the leg, Bleak began to carry the injured soldier, the medal citation said. Attacked by two enemy soldiers with bayonets, "he grabbed them and smacked their heads together, then carried his helpless comrade down the hill to safety."

Bleak returned to the U.S. soon after. In 1953, President Eisenhower awarded him the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor, at a White House ceremony.

Born in Idaho Falls in 1932, Bleak enlisted in the Army at age 18. He was singled out for medic training because he was tall and strong, said his son Bruce Bleak of Moore.

After his military service, Bleak worked as various jobs, including running a dairy farm and serving as a technician at the Idaho National Laboratory, a nuclear research compound, his son said.

Bruce Bleak called his father a humble man who felt others had acted just as courageously but without recognition.

"He always said he carried the medal for them as well," the younger Bleak said.

Bleak is survived by his wife of 45 years, Lois; three sons; a daughter; two brothers; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren, Bruce Bleak said.

Another Fantastic Archaeological Discovery

Italians find ancient Ur tablets

Writings could lead to buried library
- Rome, March 28 -

Italian archeologists working in Iraq have found a trove of ancient stone tablets from the fabled civilisation of Ur .The tablets bear around 500 engravings of a literary and historical nature, according to team leader Silvia Chiodi .

"This is an an exceptional find," she said, noting that the area in question had previously only yielded prehistoric artefacts .

She said the tablets, made of clay and bitumen, were discovered by chance at an archaeological site not far from the location of the ancient city .

"I was looking for a wall structure spotted by an airborne photo when I spotted a small inscription on bitumen and then realised it wasn't the only one" .

An expert on Sumerian civilisation, Giovanni Pettinato, said the finds probably dated back to one of Ur's most prosperous periods .

"The most surprising thing is the time span the tablets cover, ranging from 2,700 BCE, the First Dynasty of Ur, to 2,100 BCE, the Third Dynasty," Pettinato said . "The place where the tablets were found, not far from the surface, leads one to suppose they contain information from a library," he said . "There could be thousands of them down there" .

Chiodi said the tablets would probably occupy a prominent place in a new Virtual Museum of Iraq which Italy is building to show people what Baghdad's celebrated museum of antiquities looked like before it was looted in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq . About a half of 40 star attractions of the museum have yet to be retrieved . Of the 15,000 items taken from storeooms, 8,000 have not been returned despite an amnesty .

Ur, near the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, is cited in the Bible as the birthplace of the prophet Abraham . It was the religious hub of Sumerian civilisation at the start of a series of dynasties that ruled Mesopotamia from around 4000 BCE .

Long before the Egyptians, the Sumerians invented the wheel and developed the first mathematical system . The most famous classic of ancient literature, Gilgamesh, was written at Ur .The most prominent monument at the site is the best preserved ziggurat, or stepped pyramid, in the Arab world . It was built by the Sumerians around 4000 BCE and restored by Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century BCE .