The Accidental Ghost Hunter's Review of Ghost Adventures at the Bird Cage

Prior to this show airing some of the locals in Tombstone had told me they didn't much care for the three young men on Ghost Adventures, and now that I've seen it I can certainly understand why. If fact, I personally am appalled by their behavior.

The Bird Cage Theater is a museum. It houses priceless historical artifacts. I personally know the staff at the Bird Cage, and I simply can not believe that they would have ever given Zach permission to fire a gun inside the building, even if it was loaded with blanks. By firing that gun he could have easily damaged some of the artifacts, and they are irreplaceable!

Even more appalling was when Zack pointed the gun at himself and dared the spirits to fire it at him. BLANKS CAN KILL!

I am a member of the Tombstone Vigilantes, and Old West reenactment group that performs every other Sunday on Allen Street. We are very safety conscience. With every performance we include a demonstration of how blanks can kill by firing one close range at a beer can. The beer can explodes. So not only could Zach have become the next spirit resident at the Bird Cage himself, the people watching the show at home have now been lead to believe that a gun loaded with blanks is merely a toy. That is inexcusable and unforgivable.

Zack is a prime candidate for a Darwin Award.

GM

Ghost Adventurers at the Bird Cage Theater

My friends and I are all looking forward to seeing the Ghost Adventurers at the Bird Cage this coming Friday. When they showed the full preview at the end of last week's show it included a nice head shot of my buddy Dean, who works at the Bird Cage. He's a real sweet guy and he was so disappointed when the Ghost Hunters came and his scene ended up not being used. (It is, however, included in the Ghost Hunters DVD.)

Yesterday when I was in Tombstone I asked Dean if he still wants to be buddies with me, now that he's a big TV star. We both laughed, then he told me he didn't know about it--he hadn't seen the preview yet. He just lit up like a Christmas tree and told me next Friday night he's going to a buddy's house, (not mine) to watch the show on Direct TV.

Ghost Adventurers is very entertaining, and they've captured some interesting things, but I keep hoping that TAPS will come back to Tombstone again. I just think their approach is the most professional. They try to debunk first. And only if they can't debunk it will they say it's paranormal.

GM

Relocating Cemetaries

This morning as I was browsing my local news on-line this morning I came across a rather interesting story from one of the local Phoenix television stations. It seems this Saturday the remains of 61 US Calvary soldiers, stationed in Tucson at Fort Lowell during the mid-1800s, along with some of their family members, are going to be exhumed and reburied in Sierra Vista. All in the name of progress. Seems the military dead, along with other dead, are in the way of a redevelopment project in downtown Tucson. They're going to build a new courthouse on top of the city's first territorial cemetery, and there were over 1800 people buried there. Many of the other graves have already been exhumed and who knows where their remains were dumped. It seems the mentality here is let's just kick out the dead and bulldoze over their graves.

Now mind you the Fort Lowell soldiers will be respectfully escorted to their new resting place and reburied with full military honors, but I still don't think this is right. Cemeteries are a part of our history too. They should be left unmolested and preserved. I'm descended from Druids and those genes must be kicking in, or maybe it's because of all the paranormal things I've experienced myself in Tombstone, but I think it's very, very unwise to ever disturb the dead build anything on top of an old cemetery. And when the weird things start happening in the new court buildings, oh well. I certainly wouldn't want to be working there.

GM

Swamper Ghost - Tombstone, Arizona

When I wrote Gunfight at the O.K. Corral: Luke and Jenny Visit Tombstone I decided to include the Swamper as one of my characters because local legend has it that he is one of the town ghosts.

The Swamper was a handyman who worked for the Grand Hotel back in the 1880s. And while the Grand Hotel is long gone the adobe facade from the original building still stands, and it is now known as Big Nose Kate's Saloon. Big Nose Kate's is one of the more popular eateries in town, (in fact my characters stop there for lunch in chapter one.) And over the years Big Nose Kate's employees have told me the place is haunted, and they believe the spirit haunting the place is the Swamper.

It was discovered that the Swamper had dug a secret tunnel into the silver mines from his basement room in the Grand Hotel, and legend has it he is still guarding his silver, even today.

You know, there may be a grain of truth to that story. I was in town the other day and ventured into the basement at Big Nose Kate's. Today the basement is a clothing store, (with nice items at good prices,) and, off to the side, is the Swamper's room, set of as a historic exhibit, and no doubt bearing a close resemblance to how it may have looked when the Swamper lived there.

The tunnel is also there. A wall, (which looks like is was later added on), with a barred door keep the room from being accessed by the public.

Being curious I wanted to take a photo for my own use. When I snapped it I looked at my LCD screen and wondered how I managed to get one of the bars in the middle of my shot. I could have sworn I was more careful. It wasn't until later, when I looked at the shot on my computer, that I realized it wasn't one of the bars at all. It is black mist, and, if you look closely, you can see right through it. It appears to be coming up from the tunnel, and there are also a number of orbs in the mist.

I mean the Swamper no disrespect, but it looks like the stories are true. The old boy is still guarding his silver treasure.

GM

How Did I Miss This Orb?

I don't know how this one slipped by...

This photo was taken back in 2006. I was doing a performance of my living history character, "The Tombstone Storyteller," for a YMCA convention in Phoenix, Arizona. The Tombstone Storyteller presentation is a 3rd person narrative that covers many of notable events in the town's history, including the sequence of events leading to, and resulting from, that famous shoot out Fremont Street, later known as "The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral." I do this presentation for schools, associations, convention groups, etc. (In fact it was the enthusiastic feedback I kept getting from school kids that inspired me to write Gunfight at the O.K. Corral: Luke and Jenny Visit Tombstone.)

Anyway... as stated before, orbs are a bit of a controversy in the ghost hunting community. Orbs can simply be energy fields. Or they can be evidence of ghosts or paranormal activity. Or they can be dust or insects. However orbs commonly appear in locations known to be haunted. What is interesting to note is I very rarely get orbs in my photos, and this particular photo was taken with my old 35mm point and shoot.

If you look at the upper corner of the room, over my shoulder and to the right, just below the ceiling, there is one mother of an orb! And, just to the right of it is what appears to be a small cloud of mist.

What is also interesting is the fact that I was in a modern hotel in Phoenix which, in all likelihood, not haunted. However I am doing a presentation about Tombstone, and that speaks for itself. Is this orb a ghost? I couldn't say. But it sure is an interesting coincidence.

GM

More Strange Happenings in the Bird Cage Theater, Tombstone, Arizona

After spending so much time in Tombstone signing my books and doing my storytelling presentations I'm seriously beginning to wonder if some of the spirit people down there are getting to know me. Whenever I take friends to visit Tombstone I always take them into the Bird Cage, and when I'm down there performing and signing books I always make a point of stopping by and saying hello to the staff. And while we're busy swamping stories and catching up on the latest happenings it's not uncommon to feel a cold spot forming as I'm chatting. Seems that the Bird Cage ghosts are getting a bit nosy.

It seems too that I am getting photo anomalies more and more often in the Bird Cage Theater. One hot spot within the auditorium seems to be the area on the right side of the stage. That's where I've captured bending light beams on many occasions, and in this photo I've got a strange vertical light beam right behind the piano. It is interesting to note that the boards with the light are most likely painted with flat latex enamel. There is no reason for it to reflect my camera flash like that, and if it was my camera flash I should also see it reflect on the piano.

Such is another day in the life of the Bird Cage Theater.

GM

Psychiatrists -- Modern Day Witch Hunters

The other evening as I was listening to Coast to Coast AM, George Noorey was interviewing psychiatrist Dr. Diane Powell who was discussing her new book, The ESP Enigma. I was absolutely flabbergasted when Dr. Powell stated that being psychic is considered to be a delusional mental illness by the psychiatric community.

This frightens me more than any ghost ever could! It immediately brought to my mind images of the Middle Ages, when anyone who was psychic was considered to be a witch, in league with the devil, and the poor soul was burned alive!

Sadly, it appears this bigotry against psychics carries into the 21st Century, where is has now been stigmatized by the psychiatric community as "mental illness." But instead of witch burning, these modern day witch hunters, i.e. psychiatrists, can simply violate the psychic's civil rights and lock them up in psychiatric hospitals, which are really nothing more than prisons.

This is not to say that there aren't people out there with legitimate mental illnesses who are in genuine need of treatment. But to label people with psychic abilities, who are able to hold a job, be it doing psychic readings or a "regular" job, take care of themselves and their families, and are in no way a danger to themselves or anyone else, as "mentally ill" is nothing more than pure, unadulterated bigotry!

Shame on psychiatrists! They are no better than the religious fanatics in Medieval times who burned anyone alive who did not adhere to their strict, rigid dogma! Those who are psychic, and those who have adopted "New Age" beliefs are their religion of choice, have every right use their God-given psychic gift, and to believe in their religion of choice, without being labeled or stigmatized as "mentally ill."

GM