Saturday, September 29, 2012

MOTHERLODE GHOSTBUSTER.


The setting was anything but ghostly and I’m a major skeptic, anyway. Calaveras County’s old courthouse and jail in San Andreas was a temporary home to wild and dangerous characters during the gold fevered 1800′s. Here, members of the historical society gathered sociably for wine and beer before dinner in what was once the jail yard.

The walled yard is made of native stone, mortarless, and is called dry wall; now over-grown with vines, and beautiful. I spent a lot of time here when I wrote historical features in the 1980′s. Black Bart, the  infamous poet bandit was kept in the jail.  And judge Gotttschalk committed suicide inside the courthouse. Tour guides point to blood spattered books in the law library from his suicide. The building has  been declared haunted by people who have worked here over the years.
Records indicate several inmates were buried “behind” the jail. No one knows whether there was a body under a broken headstone left from 1882. The top of the stone was missing and then rebuilt from pictures. The first court house was a tent. The second one, made of wood, burned. The fine old brick building is too small for a modern court and has been turned into a showplace museum by the Calaveras County Historical Society.

The Historical Society removed an unused public oven from the gold rush town of Calaveritas in 1994 and rebuilt it in the courtyard. Community ovens were made from native stone and held together with mud from heavy clay soil. Ovens like this one hold up well if covered over by a roof. The oven has drawn members to meet in warm months outdoors for pizza, home-baked bread with a salad pot luck, or chicken bargeques. It takes about three minutes to cook a pizza in this oven and they are delicious.

I sat with Sylvia and Cliff Edson, a local restaurant owner who just bought an old Victorian and is restoring it while living in it. They are dealing with ghosts, or several spirits in their house. Sylvia gets frightened by them. Cliff has had the house blessed several times, and is a believer. They don’t upset him. They were stunned to find out the subject of the meeting was The Paranormal. They hadn’t read the notice about who the speaker would be.

I have no idea how many pizzas Clyde Weddell made that night. He made three types, sausage, pepperoni and pesto with sun-dried tomato.  Absolutely delcious.

When Clyde makes pizza, he tosses it into the air. I was never quite able to catch the pizza in the air, but it was fascinating to watch him work. As it got dark, he donned a headlight.

After dinner, we listened to Rick Panzarina talk about debunking and validating ghosts, or paranormal presences in old buildings, businesses and private homes. He turns most of the seekers away, after determining they are only interested in sensationalizing their claims. He says, a good ghostbuster doesn’t  ask for money to investigate your ghost because then, they would always find a ghost.  He uses lasers, 11 cameras, video equipment, and high tech sound equipment. He gave results of having investigated the ghosts in the Court House and other places where he has found evidence of paranormal activity. The blood on the books, if it is blood, did not belong to Judge Gottschalk.  All he had to do was look at the date Gottschalk killed himself, and the date the books were published to know the “spatters” couldn’t have been from his death. He could find no para-normal activity in the Courthouse. He explained in detail how wooden floors make popping sounds that closely resemble footsteps. He and his team of seven people do not allow whispering. They address any presence in a loud voice and ask it to declare itself. They got one very clear “Hi!” Once, out of about 50 buildings. They do not play to sensationalism. Some people would rather have their “fun” reputation than have a ghostbuster disprove any paranormal activity. And, for tourism in the Motherlode, that is quite all right with the locals. Almost every old hotel in the area claims to have a ghost. It is soooo fun!  I’d love to have a ghost in my house. Wouldn’t you?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

click to view NwIypOrK [URL=http://www.cheapdesigner--handbags.weebly.com/]cheap designer handbags[/URL] to get new coupon PJfKIMdY [URL=http://www.cheapdesigner--handbags.weebly.com/ ] http://www.cheapdesigner--handbags.weebly.com/ [/URL]

Anonymous said...

you love this? mJWkEFte [URL=http://www.cheapdesigner--handbags.weebly.com/]fake designer handbags[/URL] online shopping faxBoGOI [URL=http://www.cheapdesigner--handbags.weebly.com/ ] http://www.cheapdesigner--handbags.weebly.com/ [/URL]

Anonymous said...

Hello are using Wordpress for your blog platform?
I'm new to the blog world but I'm trying to get started
and set up my own. Do you need any html coding expertise to make your own blog?
Any help would be really appreciated!

Here is my weblog ... garcinia madruno

Anonymous said...

I get pleasure from, lead to I found exactly what I was
taking a look for. You have ended my four day lengthy hunt!
God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye

Here is my homepage :: igf1 danger

Anonymous said...

Tremendous things here. I am very satisfied to see your article.
Thank you a lot and I am looking ahead to touch you.
Will you kindly drop me a mail?

my webpage :: raspberry ketones african mango saffron extract weight loss supplements

Anonymous said...

This design is incredible! You certainly know how to keep a
reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own
blog (well, almost...HaHa!) Great job. I really loved what you had to
say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

Feel free to visit my weblog :: http://www.amazon.com

Anonymous said...

I have to thank you for the efforts you've put in writing this website. I am hoping to check out the same high-grade content by you in the future as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my very own site now ;)

Feel free to visit my web-site forever garcinia plus

Anonymous said...

Hi! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could locate a captcha plugin
for my comment form? I'm using the same blog platform as yours and I'm having difficulty
finding one? Thanks a lot!

Feel free to surf to my site garcinia atroviridis

Anonymous said...

Wow that was strange. I just wrote an really long comment
but after I clicked submit my comment didn't show up. Grrrr... well I'm not writing all that over again.

Anyway, just wanted to say excellent blog!

Feel free to visit my web-site :: raspberry ketone

Anonymous said...

Hi colleagues, how is the whole thing, and what you want to say regarding this paragraph, in my view
its actually remarkable in favor of me.

Also visit my web site - deer antler extract review

Anonymous said...

A number of Web Crawler services gold coast companies are available worldwide that provide
effective Web Crawler service. The best thing is to go for
dinner? Though the number of plug-ins available that help
out with meta data.

my blog post; search engine keyword rank

Anonymous said...

After I originally left a comment I seem to have clicked on
the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on whenever a comment is added I receive
four emails with the same comment. Perhaps there is a way you can remove me from that service?
Thanks!

Stop by my webpage: garcinia cambogia no fillers

Anonymous said...

Over the last few decades, games evolved through shooters and fighters, and now Google TV box.
And the great thing is, with advances in technology and innovation
old video games are not without their dangers, and playing them obsessively
might be the one to have for Christmas.

Anonymous said...

In personal development, just like everything, you mmust expect to succeed.
Successful and rich out of all proportioon to their
talents but people just the same. In 1996, Apple's new CEO, Gil Amelio, decided too purchase Ne - XT (primarily for the software
annd the engineers, many of whom had let Apple with Jobs in the
first place) for $429 Million.

Also visit my web blog :: simpsons tapped out Cheats