Part of my seminar at this years Erie Horror Film Festival is a multimedia presentation that includes animated local legends, the Ghost Nun being one of them. The main body of the story is on my Youtube page. Let me know what you think.
More new stories to come by the second week of October, and I can take a breath!!
I have the humble privilege to participate in a seminar series for the Erie Horror Film Festival next month. They are wishing to expand the fulcrum of their view beyond the cinematic, and into the true tales of the unexplained. Therefore I am going to give a multimedia presentation of Erie Counties most astounding true tales of terror, The UFO landing on Presque Isle, The Love lost Nun of Mercyhurst College, The Ghost boy of Penn State Erie's Wintergreen Gorge, The Restless Dead of the War of 1812 to name a few.
You can find more information about the fest and the celebrity guest stars from horror filmdom here: http://www.eeriehorrorfilmfestival.com/ Come and say hello!
This is one reason why stories have not been flowing like usual here, I am doing a 3d animation on most of these stories. It seems my old habits of precrastination from Grad school has never left me and I always approach the task from the side instead of head on and waste a lot of time, which is why more stories are missing here. I do have a group of stories in the pike that shuls flow after this task is done. Sorry. But if you are in the Erie area and do enjoy the stories, I do believe you would enjoy the finished product I have labored over for the last month or two.
And hey, the fest is hosting Corey Feldman. He has seen Gremlins first hand!
Frank, head of Erie County Paranormal asked me to appear on their blogtalk show this Saturday night. After having Riley Martin on the show last week there was a verbal slugfest between two callers that descended into Theological issues such as evolution, life on other planets and proving there is a God. They asked the callers back this week and asked me to sit in and strike up a debate. It was a blast and the two hours flew by, it was a thought provoking session where I show I cannot tell jokes very well and can come up with a crude analogy with the best of them. Tempers flared a bit and mayhem ensued. If you want to take a listen you can go to the show at the link below. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ghsthunter346/2009/09/13/The-battle-of-is-there-life-on-other-planets-returns-to-Erie-County-Paranormal
One of the key 'heretical' points I bring up is my belief that animals do not have souls. I try to explain it theologically and with an inappropriate metaphor, but I don't think many understood my intent.
My new book, "An Exorcist's Field Guide to Blessings, Consecrations and Eradication of Malevolent Entities" is now available on Amazon HERE.
It is a guide for the Lay person to perform a simple customizable ceremony for a house or building consecration or a blessing. I also include how to proceed if there is a possible malevolent entity involved. It is designed to be used in the field as you perform the ceremony, with readings and prayers in English, Latin, Gaelic and even the African Jula language. You can customize the ceremony to your needs.
When talking about this project, many have voiced their concerns as to a lay person performing this ritual. I do understand their concerns. Trying to perform such a rite without understanding or guidance can make matters worse. However this is first and foremost a ritual of faith. It requires faith, no matter the training or experience of the officiant. You can have the most experienced professional accomplish nothing if that person does not have faith in the power of God over evil. Likewise a novice can quickly become a seasoned spiritual warrior when a ceremony is mixed with a bit of faith.
"if you have faith as small as a mustardseed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:19-21
I also have heard the argument that only Clergy should attempt this ritual. I understand this, especially if you are from a Roman Catholic tradition. But one of the primary principles that Martin Luther proposed with the Protestant Reformation was the priesthood of the believer. Our mediator to God is Christ Himself, we need no man to intercede for us. Likewise so with rituals. As a believer in Christ by faith you can preform all the sacramental duties of the church, while academic training and a proven character through denominational affiliation is for building up stable church leadership. But according to Protestant tradition, you do not need a Seminary degree to pray a prayer of faith, to anoint someone for healing, to celebrate communion, to baptize, perform a wedding (of course you have to have legal authority for a binding wedding) or any other ritual within the Christian Tradition. All you need is belief and faith in Christ.
Until Next Time (hopefully a full story by the end of the week!) Pastor Swope
For weeks in early April 1971, residents of the Mobile Alabama suburbs of Port City and Plateau had encounters with a strange and bizarre creature.
The Wolf Woman of Davis Avenue.
Since the dawn of civilization legends of half human half animal creatures have tantalized the curious and helped build mythologies. The Werewolf is one of the more popular of these anthropomorphic creatures and familiar to use because they have roots in both European and American Indian folklore.
The European tradition is the more familiar strain of the legend concerning the transforming wolf/human. The transformed being was usually an evil man in league with the Devil who would terrorize and feast on the flesh of the innocent population.
In the Native American culture the werewolf is associated with the skin walker. The skin walker can transform him or herself into an animal for a period of time. Like in the European lore, this person uses evil or culturally offensive means to gain the ability to transform, and they cause chaos and violence in the community while transformed.
The Wolf Woman of Davis Avenue was a classical wereperson; it's upper body was that of a human and the lower limbs were that of a wolf.
She made her appearance in the very beginning of April when it began to roam the streets at night. One witness described it as "a woman and wolf, pretty and hairy." After the initial report in the Mobile Register, the newspaper received over 50 calls of encounters and sightings over the following week.
Citizens were chased by the creature, stalked, and saw it roaming in their backyards.
No one was hurt or assaulted, and the police took the investigation seriously for the sheer number of reported sightings.
But after little more than 10 days the creature disappeared, never to be seen again.
So what was it?
Witnesses described it as having the upper body of a beautiful woman and the back quarters of a wolf. It ran on all fours, as a wolf would. Most of the sightings took place at night by terrified witnesses.
Perhaps a feral woman? It certainly would not be the first child to supposedly be raised by wolves and then mimic the traits of their adoptive species.
"In May of 1835, the Wolf Girl of Devil's River was born to Mollie Dent, who had gone with her husband to the Beaver Lake area to trap. Mollie was having problems with the birth, so her husband, John Dent, rode to get help from a Mexican-run goat ranch on the Pecos Canyon, but he was struck and killed by lightning before he could return accompanied by the Mexican couple. By the time the Mexicans reached Mollie, she had died, apparently in childbirth. Wolf tracks in the vicinity suggested that the newborn infant had been devoured by the lobo wolves of the area.
However, in 1845 a boy saw a girl, in the company of a pack of lobo wolves, attacking a herd of goats. Less than a year later, a Mexican woman at San Felipe saw two large wolves and a girl devour a freshly-killed goat. She observed the girl run off — first on all fours, and then on two legs.
A hunt was mounted, and after three days the Lobo Girl of Devil's River was caught after fighting wildly to keep her freedom. She was taken to a ranch (really just a two-room hovel) and locked in. Her howling attracted answering cries from wolves far and wide, and a large pack of wolves rushed the corrals, attacking the goats, cows and horses. Shooting started, and in the confusion the girl managed to remove the board nailed over the window and make her escape.
In 1852, a group of frontiersmen surveying a better route to El Paso saw a girl suckling two wolf cubs on a sand bar in the river, who then ran off, carrying the cubs. She would have been 17 in that year; but she was never seen again."
Was the creature sighted by the Mobile Alabama community merely a grown feral child who was mistakes as an animal because of it's method of walking on all fours and disheveled appearance?
Or was it a skin walker who manifest itself on those late spring nights so long ago?
The community was in an uproar, and the community dared not to venture out at night. Doors that were usually open to invite neighbors for a welcome time of Southern fellowship were closed and locked. For a time in April 1971 the Mobile community was gripped in fear.
Which would be the desired outcome if the creature truly was a practitioner of the Witchery Way, however using the pelt of a wolf or coyote is a strict taboo for a skin walker.
Perhaps the original writers of the story got it right. In the article pictured above the author calls the creature an 'apparition' and 'phantom'.
Something truly terrifying manifested itself in Mobile 38 years ago, and then vanished into the ethereal mist of time.
Where does the Wolf Woman lurk now?
Until Next Time, Pastor Swope
Update 08/20/2009 New Trailer for the 'Wolf Man', thought I'd add it. Looks interesting!
Sorry about the lack of posts, in this bad economy I have taken a second job to meet the needs of my family. So time is a rare jewel that I wish I had more of. However, I sense there comes a lull in the storm soon. In fact my secondary job is in direct relation to Hospice care, which I have been researching for my new book, Echo's Beyond the Veil: Unexplained Events at the End of Life.
We shall see what God has in store to share.
Meanwhile, Pastor Barry Porter of Australia has asked me a few questions about myself, ministry and my background. You can find the interview at:
Can objects hold supernatural power or be the focus of paranormal activity?
I know of many Missionaries who are sure that they do, from fetishes to totems of aboriginal people. There are objects of power that seem to bleed paranormal phenomena.
You don't have to tell that to Pastor Barry Porter of Australia, he knows first hand.
They thought it was a simple artifact of the local aboriginal people, but the stone his father in law found in the ground on an old trail was much more than a simple stone. Here is the story in Barry's own words:
I have known my wife since we were six years old – she lived across the road from me at Bowen Mt, 50 miles from the heart of Sydney NSW Australia, the foothills of the famous Blue Mountains a hotspot for the occult and all things paranormal.
While the area is now famous for the ghosts of convicts who were driven to early graves under whips, chains and hard labour in the early 1800’s and black panther sightings, it also has a strong Daruk Aboriginal history.
In the early 1980’s there were additional trails and tree clearing cut through the dense bush for new housing and to allow fire trucks and crews to prevent bush fires. My future Father-in-law loved to bushwalk (hike) through the massive expanse of forest and national park. One morning as he walked through a newly cleared area he noticed a strange object poking out from the ground. It was made of hard stone yet looked like it had been cut by modern technology.
Mike dug it out with his bare hands. By the time he pulled it out he realised he was holding something of human origin but like nothing he had ever seen. It was just over a foot long, shaped like a teardrop, with perfectly bevelled edges. There was a sense of guilt…he knew this was likely to be an Aboriginal artefact and either belonged in the location it’s owners placed it in or a museum. But he decided to take it to his home on Maple St, making a wooden cradle for it, placing it above the mantelpiece of the fireplace.
It wasn’t long before strange things started to happen.
The youngest daughter started seeing Ancient aboriginal people walking through the house at night time. She would get up to go to the bathroom and have to wait for them to pass. Then there were illnesses – heart attacks and strokes – that struck previously healthy Mike in his early 30’s.
A Yowie (Bigfoot) was sighted by the homes occupants and a young neighbour watching the house from across the road. At night, huge thumps and knocks on the outside of the house would send Mike running outside with his rifle……to fine no visible culprit.
One night when the kids were watching TV, and they were at home alone waiting for their mother to return from the late shift at the local Chinese Restaurant the worst occurrences happened.
The television set started changing channels by itself. As the kids watched in horror the phone rang. They answered. There was no-one there. As soon as it was put on the receiver it rang again. Still no caller was at the other end. Over and over again it happened.
Then to the daughters relief, a large light engulfed the side of the house….her mother must be home. She ran outside, up the dark stone steps at the back of the house in the pitch black, following the light to the hill above the house. To her horror when she got there it remained pitch black. The light which had floated around the house suddenly had vanished leaving her standing in the freezing cold, alone with a feeling of impending dread.
People who would sleep in the room with the stone would have nightmares about Yowies and Aboriginal Kaditcha Men (Witchdoctors).
It wasn’t until 2008, that the origin of the stone was revealed. A Researcher Identified it as a Churinga stone. In our terminology, a spiritual ‘memory stick’ for the Aboriginals that must never be removed from the ground in which it is placed.
An exorcism was done on the stone by a Pastor and it’s whereabouts are presently unknown – the eldest son in the family took it upon himself to put the stone in a safe place.
So be careful about what artifacts you bring home – there may be unseen others who will manifest their presence until it is returned.
No matter where you are in the world, the native people of old have fashioned such artifacts of power. It does not take an archaeologist to find them, but it may take the intercession of a trained spiritual warrior to rid your life of the presence you invite when you take these things home.
So best to heed the words of Indian Jones, "It belongs in a Museum!"
is an Author and has been a Christian Minister for more than 27 years in both Mainline and Evangelical Denominations. He holds a B.A. in Biblical Literature from Nyack College and an M.Div. In Pastoral Ministry with an emphasis on Pastoral Counseling from Alliance Theological Seminary. He has served as a short term Missionary to Burkina Faso, and has Ministered to the homeless in New York City's Hell's Kitchen. He is currently the Pastor of Bountiful Community Church in Bountiful, Utah
He is also a freelance journalist for Examiner.com, has a column in the Tri-State Senior News and has also written for Fate Magazine.
As a Seminary trained exorcist he has done consulting work with various paranormal investigators and television productions in the United States as well as investigators and writers across the globe
