Phenomenology 105: Gettysburg, PA - March 21-24, 2013

Phenomenology is back...

Phenomenology 105 presents it's 5th year going strong!

March 21st - 24th, 2013

The Eisenhower Hotel & Conference Center
2634 Emmitsburg Rd.
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

In addition to the best guest line-up any event has ever offered, 2013 will also bring you the following:

Ghost Hunts

Jr Ghost Hunt Experience

Skaraoke

and introducing Zombie Prom!

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Stop by and talk to
Eric Altman, Lon Strickler & Sean Forker
who will be attending as representatives of
Beyond The Edge Radio
Phantoms & Monsters
Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society
Spirit Rescue International
Keystone Bigfoot Project
North American Fortean Society - Maryland Chapter

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THE GUEST LIST

Chris, Aimee, and John Zaffis from Haunted Collector

Rev. Tim Shaw

Travis Walton

Adventure Myths Frank and Jonathan

Eric Altman

Bill Bean

Patrick Burns & Marley Gibson

Brian J. Cano

Chip Coffey

Barry Conrad

Crossover Paranormal

Brian and Nick

Chris Dedman

Tim Dennis

Christopher DiCesare

Christopher Fleming

Ghost Detectives

Jason Gowin

Nini Grace

Michelle Griffin

Jim Jones

Stacey Jones

Dave Juliano

Michael Koske

Deb & Nick Lantz

Robert Murch

Paravizionz

Johlene Spooky Riley

Karen Rontowski

Rie Sadler

Aaron Sagers

SCARED! Crew

Dave Schrader

Scream Paranormal Research

Kathryn Wilson

More guests TBA!

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Go To

www.PhenomEvents.com

Mt. Airy Plantation - Upper Marlboro, MD

Mount Airy was the latter home to Maryland's 1st family, the Calverts, until 1903. It is located in Upper Marlboro, in southern Prince Georges County and was built in 1725. The plantation and land were a gift to Benedict Calvert from his father, Charles, the fifth Lord Baltimore, in 1751. The house was converted to a restaurant in 1903. In 1931, the house was sold to Eleanor Patterson, then editor and publisher of the Washington Times-Herald.

In 1973, Mount Airy plantation was acquired by the state of Maryland and the land holdings were converted into the Rosaryville State Park. The mansion stood vacant for nearly ten years before it was purchased by the Kulla family and once again was opened as a restaurant.

Rumors of the house being haunted circulated for years. In the 1930's, it was even visited by the London Society for Psychical Research, who detected the presence of Elizabeth Bresco Calvert. She is said to walk the halls of the mansion at night, searching for some of the family's missing jewels. There is also said to be the ghost of a girl in white, an old woman who roams from room to room at night waking the sleeping occupants and a horseman who has been seen on the grounds in old-fashioned riding attire.

The stories of the house tell of a haunted room, where candles will not stay lit and of a former occupant named Miss Eleanor Calvert who lived in the house until 1902. It seems that Miss Eleanor lived at Mount Airy until age 81 and was regarded as a bit of an eccentric. According to the legend, she did not like the front parlor to be used and always kept it locked. She passed away after a fall down the stairs and for her funeral, she was laid out in the front parlor on the night before the service. The next day, the key to the room, whose door had been locked could not be found. The parlor had to be broken into and the key was discovered inside...on a table next to Miss Eleanor's coffin! Workers involved in the restoration had some strange stories to tell....stories of apparitions and of doors opening by themselves. At one point, the contractors simply refused to work on the house after dark. Ghosthunting Maryland has an excellent account of the location.

NOTE: I spent an evening at the Mt. Airy Plantation several years ago as part of a group from Baltimore. We did witness several objects move, in particular a large painting in the dining area. There were many orbs...which is very common. Lon

Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland

The Antietam Battlefield lies outside of the small, historic town of Sharpsburg in Washington County, Maryland. The Battle of Antietam took place in September 1862 and marked the first of two attempts by Confederate General Robert E. Lee to take the Civil War into Union territory. The battle became known as the bloodiest single day of the entire war with combined casualties of 23,100 wounded, missing and dead.

The battle opened at dawn on September 17th when Union General Joseph Hooker's artillery began firing on troops led by Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in the cornfield north of Sharpsburg. They advanced, driving the Confederates before them and it was reported that the corn in the field was cut so closely to the ground with weapons fire that it looked as though it had been cut by a knife. The battle moved back and forth for hours, each side taking and then losing ground.

Meanwhile, Union troops encountered Confederates under General D.H. Hill posted along an old sunken road and for nearly 4 hours, fighting raged long this road and it later became known as "Bloody Lane". Finally, confusion and exhaustion ended the fighting here.

On the southeast side of town, troops under General Ambrose E. Burnside spent hours trying to cross a stone bridge over Antietam Creek. Southern troops made up of only 400 Georgians held them back for nearly 4 hours until they were forced to retreat into Sharpsburg.

The battle ended late in the day and while historians consider it a draw, Lee began withdrawing his forces across the Potomac River.

More men were killed at Antietam than on any other single day of the Civil War. The loss of life was tremendous...and some believe the soldiers, and the deeds committed here, may linger to this day.

There have been many reports of paranormal activity in and around the battlefield. Perhaps the most interesting story involves a group of boys from the McDonough School in Owings Mills, Maryland (which is near me). They toured the battlefield and ended the day at Bloody Lane. The boys were allowed to wander about and asked to record their impressions for a history assignment. Though some wrote brief remarks and poems, other comments received more attention from the teacher. Some of the boys described hearing shouts that came from Bloody Lane. Other boys stated that it sounded like a chant...others described the sounds as someone singing a Christmas song, in particular "Deck the Halls". They described the words as sounded like the part of the song that goes "Fa-la-la-la-la". The singing would be strong then fade out. In my opinion, they may have heard the sounds of the Irish Brigade signing 'Faugh-a-Balaugh'

I've had a few personal experiences on the battlefield, especially in a few spots along the Antietam Creek on both sides of Burnside's Bridge.

If you're ever in the area, you may want to visit the battlefield...as well as other historic locations in the area, in particular Harper's Ferry, WV.

To Antietam Creek: The Maryland Campaign of September 1862

THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN OF SEPTEMBER 1862: Volume II, Antietam

Battle of Antietam: The Bloodiest Day (MD) (Civil War Sesquicentennial Series)

Don't Turn on the Light

She commandeered the room in the basement of her dorm as soon as she realized she would have to pull an all-nighter in order to prepare for tomorrow’s final exam. Her roommate, Jenna, liked to get to bed early, so she packed up everything she thought she would need and went downstairs to study...and study...and study some more.

It was two o’clock, when she realized that she’d left one of the textbooks upstairs on her bed. With a dramatic sigh, she rose, and climbed the stairs slowly to her third-floor dorm room.

The lights were dim in the long hallway, and the old boards creaked under her weary tread. She reached her room and turned the handle as softly as she could, pushing the door open just enough to slip inside, so that the hall lights wouldn’t wake her roommate.

The room was filled with a strange, metallic smell. She frowned a bit, her arms breaking out into chills. There was a strange feeling of malice in the room, as if a malevolent gaze were fixed upon her. It was a mind trick; the all-nighter was catching up with her.

She could hear Jenna breathing on the far side of the room—a heavy sound, almost as if she had been running. Jenna must have picked up a cold during the last tense week before finals.

She crept along the wall until she reached her bed, groping among the covers for the stray history textbook. In the silence, she could hear a steady drip-drip-drip sound. She sighed silently. Facilities would have to come to fix the sink in the bathroom…again.

Her fingers closed on the textbook. She picked it up softly and withdrew from the room as silently as she could.

Relieved to be out of the room, she hurried back downstairs, collapsed into an overstuffed chair and studied until six o’clock. She finally decided that enough was enough. If she slipped upstairs now, she could get a couple hours’ sleep before her nine o’clock exam.

The first of the sun’s rays were beaming through the windows as she slowly slid the door open, hoping not to awaken Jenna. Her nose was met by an earthy, metallic smell a second before her eyes registered the scene in her dorm room. Jenna was spread-eagled on top of her bed against the far wall, her throat cut from ear to ear and her nightdress stained with blood. Two drops of blood fell from the saturated blanket with a drip-drip noise that sounded like a leaky faucet.

Scream after scream poured from her mouth, but she couldn’t stop herself any more than she could cease wringing her hands. All along the hallway, doors slammed and footsteps came running down the passage.

Within moments other students had gathered in her doorway, and one of her friends gripped her arm with a shaking hand and pointed a trembling finger toward the wall. Her eyes widened in shock at what she saw. Then she fainted into her friend’s arms.

On the wall above her bed, written in her roommate’s blood, were the words: “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?”