Bats in the Belfry, Cats in the Attic

Picture taken by Moments by Monica for Ghosts of Marietta Two of my fellow ghost hunters with Historic Ghost Watch and Investigation host Wicked Paranormal Radio every Tuesday evening on Paramania Radio. Tomorrow, I will be their guest on the show from 8:00 pm-10:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. Join me for fun conversations about ghosts, my personal experiences with the paranormal, as well as my time as a ghost tour guide. This is a fun, conversational show, so prepare yourself for plenty of jokes and other random side conversations. You can listen in by going to paramaniaradio.com   tomorrow (Tuesday, June 8) at 8:00 pm EST. Just  click the "play" button at the top of the screen to start listening. If you miss the live stream, the show will be recorded and archived on Wicked Paranormal Radio's main page . Make sure to  RSVP on the Facebook event page . 

Well, I didn't plan to stop blogging. It just happened that I haven't posted in six months. A lot has happened in that time, and I owe it to my biggest fan, my mom, to post an update. Here it is, Mom! I ended up going to a few more Goth club nights before I left Atlanta. I went with one to my best friend, who is pictured below: Then I moved to rural Northern West Virginia where I can walk to water falls and hike up mountains. I live only 3 hours from Washington, D.C., so I've been there a few times as well.  Douglas Falls From my hike up Bald Knob When Halloween came around, Ryan flew up to visit. We dressed as Titania and Bottom from  A Midsummer Night's Dream and drove to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum for a Halloween Ball. The old asylum is huge and has beautiful Gothic architecture. We brought our own beer and walked around, ogling at the elaborately dressed costumers. I even saw Robert Smith! He seemed very pleased that I recognized...

I finished college a few couple of months ago, and I'm glad to say that I got a job (sorta)! I formally accepted a year of service (renewable for a second year) with AmeriCorps, a group similar to Peace Corps. I will be living and working in Thomas, West Virginia. It's a small town with about 600 residents, surrounded by national forest.  If you're curious, I'll answer some questions I've gotten "So what will you be doing?" I'll be working with a few different organizations in the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area, including Tucker County Development Authority, Tucker County Commission, and New Historic Thomas. These organizations work on sustainable economic and community development throughout the county. New Historic Thomas works specifically in the city of Thomas, doing revitalization and preservation of the community's history, cultural heritage, and resources. I will be helping these organizations, but the specific possibilities f...

Hello, everyone! I can hardly believe how long it's been since I've posted last. In that time, I have been finishing up my last semester at university. I am pleased to say that I am now a college graduate (Summa Cum Laude with honors distinction!) with a B.A. in English and a minor in Spanish. Receiving my Honors distinction certificate A very tired Katie and her Ryan If everything works out, I plan to do an AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps is a community service-based organization (similar to Peace Corps) that partners with local organizations to tackle a variety of issues. Those I have applied to deal with sustainable development, conservation, and hunger. I'm unsure of where I will be, but my top two programs are in the Appalachian mountains (WV and OH). The programs start late Summer/early Fall. In the meantime, I plan on taking some time to rest and hopefully do some writing and volunteer work. This is already a tough transition because I forgot how not to ...

I have been living in Cusco, Peru for over a month now. When I packed my bag, since I only had so much space and wanted room for souvenirs, I made sure that all the clothing I packed was practical and matched with everything else I had. For this reason, I brought hiking boots, running shoes, and flats, a few t-shirts and plain sweaters, jeans, and a couple of skirts. Oh, and I brought one necklace and only a few earrings. It's been a month of me wearing plain clothing, recycling the same outfits over and over. Because the air is so cold and dry here, it's harder to wear a lot of make-up. I also haven't used a hair dryer or styling products in a long time. This is how I look most days. Not bad! I just miss alternative clothing. On the Machu Picchu excursion- taken from Wayna Picchu. I love Cusco! It's a city with so much personality, history, and culture, and there's quite a lot to do here. However, after doing a month of the minimalist look (2 and a half ...

Most of you don't know that I have started doing private English as a second Language tutoring in addition to my other work. I just had my last session with a female student around my age who is from Saudi Arabia. Over the course of time that she's been here,  I had the fortune of spending Ramadan with this student, her sister, and her aunt. We got to break her fast together after sunset during our lessons (they make such wonderful food). I have gotten to know this student and her family, and they are some of the kindest, most welcoming people I have ever met. This is why when we went to a restaurant before one of our last lessons, I was especially upset at and personally offended by the manager who was so obviously discriminatory.  My student was just ending her Ramadan fast, and since I once had mentioned my appreciation of Mexican food during a conversation, she told me that she wanted to go out to eat with me at a Mexican restaurant. I looked up a restaurant close to he...

It has dawned on me that I have been a vegetarian for almost five whole months! I made the decision originally because I was experiencing some major GI issues, for which I had to go on horrible medication, and I thought that cutting meat out of my diet would be the best decision for my health. What really put my heart into it, however, was an experience I had on the long drive home from school. That evening, a chicken truck slowly pulled into the lane beside me during bumper-to-bumper traffic. I saw a myriad of large, half-deplumed chickens stuffed into stacks of unreasonably small metal cages. None of them were moving at first, so part of me wondered if they were stunned or already dead. That was until I saw a few of them blinking and barely moving their heads. Seeing that brought tears to my eyes. I felt a choke in my throat as I wondered why the meat industry had to be so cruel and unnatural. Witnessing this was the impetus to becoming vegetarian, which has had many positive impacts...

I just wanted to do a quick update this month! First off, I will be moving out in May! I'll be moving to Atlanta where I'll be cat sitting and taking Summer courses. I'm even considering doing an internship with Atlanta's very own Literary Magazine, Loose Change. I'll be cat sitting Geraldine. In addition, the week after Easter, I am supposed to be doing an overnight paranormal investigation at The Old Hawkinsville Hospital . I will definitely have posts about all of the above. On another ghostly note, how many of you have had paranormal experiences?

There are some exciting things developing in my life recently, and I'd like to share a little because, naturally, I'm excited. I'm on Spring Break right now, and it's not really a break, because I will be doing a considerable amount of schoolwork. I'm gearing up for a writing tutor conference being held at my school. I will be one of the speakers, and I will be presenting on the inherently contradictory oppressive yet liberating situation of writing studios. I'm very much looking forward to it, but as of now, I'm completely unprepared. I don't even have a paper written up, but when I do, I hope to be able to get it published in a journal. Wish me luck! I'm also taking a couple of courses this Summer. They're Brit Lit and Applied Linguistics! I'm taking the linguistics courses to earn me my TEFL certificate, so I could do literacy outreach with refugees in the states, or I could teach abroad if that's where life takes me. I'm also ...

After the dawn of the year 2013, I made a resolution to create a spiritual journal. A suggestion from a friend a few months previous had put the idea in my head, but I kept thinking how it was a good idea. Although I had never before been able to keep up with journaling, I made the commitment this time. This past New Year's day was the one year mark for my journal, and I don't plan on stopping.  I recently finished a writing pedagogy class, where I discovered why journaling works. You see, writing isn't just a means for documenting thought; it's also a way of learning (epistemic writing). When we write, our thoughts spin out in a web, which allows us to make certain discoveries. Through journaling, which is personal and less-hindered, we are able to make self-discoveries. I had a professor who once said, "reality is a function of language," which to me means that through a shift of view or expression, the world can appear in many different ways. When journa...

My poem, "That Old Moaning Tree," was recently published in my university's undergraduate literary magazine, Underground . I enjoy writing poetry. I write it for fun whenever I feel a whim, but I do not consider myself a "serious poet," if there were ever such a thing. I thought I'd post the poem here if any of you were curious. It's a bit of a dark poem, but my intention was to make it slightly humorous and slightly ironic. I felt inspired after reading  "Cherry White" by Dorothy Parker. That Old Moaning Tree More than once I wondered how it would be To tie myself in an old moaning tree Where the dry leaves would shush And the birds wouldn’t sing Because they’d be too busy Picking the eyes out of me. More than once I wondered how it would be To fly off a bridge through terrain serene Where the wind would gush And my eyes would water Right before I hit the ground, Where I’d become Earth’s slaughter. Someti...

It's the heart of late November, and the air is beginning to chill. The leaves have aged through their spectrum of reds and golds, and they're now flying in great numbers through the wind to collect in piles that cover the ground. It's a signal that here in The States, it's that time of year again--a time to give thanks (even though the commercial industry has skipped the Thanksgiving and gone on straight to Christmas). I'd like to take a moment to post about a fraction for which I am thankful. I'm thankful for having such a wonderful support system in my life. My boyfriend has really been there for me through such a whirlwind of a year, and I can't thank him enough. My best friend is always there when I need her, and I've grown closer to many of my family members as well. I give thanks for all the opportunities in my life--they do not go unnoticed. It's jarring sometimes when I look back and realize how lucky I really am. I'm enrolled in a u...

I just had my 20th birthday on November 9. I joked that I'd have to start acting serious like a "real adult" now. Really, though, I don't believe one ever truly feels like an adult. I have this theory that everyone's just pretending (and some are better at it than others). I don't feel any older, which is no surprise, but things have changed so much since my last birthday. This year, I hope to make some changes of my own. I go through the same routine, and I don't want to sink into the "everydayness" of life. To combat this, I'd love to start volunteering. There's a few options. I have been wanting to start teaching adult literacy, reading for children, and visiting nursing homes. I really want to do something meaningful. In other news, I have a poem that's going to be published soon in my school's undergraduate literary journal. I'll be sure to post more about that when the issue comes out. I've also written another sto...

Hello, Everyone! It's been almost a month since I've posted anything, and I haven't posted much this Summer, so I thought I owed it to catch everyone up. It's been one whirlwind of a Summer. I gained a wonderful boyfriend in May, who is more than I could have imagined. Shortly after that, I found out over the break that two of my close relatives are very ill. My grandmother is terminally ill with inoperable cancer, which came as such a shock to my family. She is one of my favorite people on this Earth, and I've had a special bond with her my entire life. She's not expected to have very long. It pains me to know that I won't have her in my life, but she'll always be in my heart. After that, we found that my aunt also has cancer. She just had an operation, so my family's praying for her recovery. On top of all this, we're dealing with other family issues, but I'm happy to say that my brother came home from Thailand early. Now that school ha...

On the first of January, 2013, I started writing a spiritual Journal. It's been a little over six months since I've started it. My original motivation for beginning one happened after a little encouragement from a friend who considers herself sensitive to the paranormal. I had some experiences in the past that I could not explain, and she gave me good advice to write it all down in an attempt to figure things out. Since then, I've not only written about possible paranormal experiences, but I've also journaled through opinions, dreams, oddly coincidental experiences, troubles, and blessings. source I've never been one that has been good at keeping journals. This time, I'm glad I've stuck with it. Although only I write an entry about once a week, I can definitely tell the progress I've made in a mere six months. Since starting my journal, I've become more positive in the face of adversity. My demeanor has also become more calm, and I seem to be m...

Thank you, Alice, at [ Alice Lost & The Monster Brigade ] for tagging me! I'm glad to have another excuse to post! Rules Thank the person who tagged you for this challenge and post a link to their blog.  Tag 5 blogs with less than 200 followers.  Wish them to tag more bloggers to help keep this thing going!  5 Things You Need Everyday Although I don't get one everyday, I usually need a nap everyday. I need some creative or reflective alone time in which I can read, write, and think.  I need some time to listen to music. Usually this is in the car. Breakfast! I don't do well skipping that (unless I wake up at lunch time). A little time on the internet. 5 Books You Would Recommend  A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It's a novel that deals with themes of fate, growth, and personal struggles. The characters are so real, and you won't want to stop reading once you start. The Monk by Matthew Lewis. This is an early Gothic novel...

Dear readers, It's almost Summertime--a time for catching fireflies, telling ghost stories, night swimming and watching the stars while lying along the warm ground. tumblr I have one final exam left to go; This one's at 8:00 in the morning. I'm not worried about the exam itself, but rather waking up on time! My consolation it that afterwards, I will be going out for a french breakfast with my astronomer (who is now my boyfriend as of May 1!). I will not be going to Thailand after all. This is somewhat unfortunate, but I'm instead planning an Eastern Europe trip for next year. This Summer will be filled with much reading and a few short adventures. I've neglected this blog recently, but I have a couple of post ideas lined up.  I know many of you started following because of my Goth-related posts, but that's not really the direction I want to take this blog. Although I'm not exactly sure where this blog will go either, I've got some ideas. I ho...

Finals at Georgia State are approaching very soon. In fact, I will be finished with my freshman year of college on May 7!  That said, I'm thinking of plans for this Summer. Right now, it's looking like I'll be visiting my brother in Thailand. I'm looking forward to exploring caves and waterfalls and maybe even learning to ride a motorbike. This also means I'm getting a tan so I'll be less likely to get sun poisoning while abroad. That'll be different-- I haven't been tan for close to a decade. Hopefully, the trip works out. I should know in a week.  It's a monkey in Thailand my brother saw. Other than that, I look forward to spending some time with meaningful people in my life. I might even go on a few impromptu adventures. Also, my Summer reading list awaits! I plan on reading On The Road  by Jack Kerouac in addition to reading more Faulkner and delving into a Thomas Merton book or two. I also recently purchased my ticket to see Depeche...

our Facebook page  (That's me on the far left!) As many of you know, I lead ghost tours around my town in metro-Atlanta. Before Christmas, we did a little photo shoot and sent in bios for the website. (before I got my hair cut.) I really enjoy my job, because The Paranormal (of course), History, and Storytelling are all passions of mine. I also have the opportunity dress up and meet all sorts of people while on tour. Our other guides are very good at what they do, and they're all interesting people. One of the guides is a sensitive and paranormal investigator. She was actually in "A Haunting" from [this post] . In addition, Another guide is a SFX make-up artist. We also have a guide working on an indie film, and another who is an artist who also welds. If you're interested, you can meet the tour guides from Ghosts of Marietta at [this link] . Since this is a short post, I thought I'd add a little related anecdote. My best friend and I enjoy going to...

I've been feeling inspired recently. Maybe I'm watching too many of my stories...and by 'my stories', I mean paranormal junk television. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. My recent inspiration has driven me to start posting more about the paranormal. No longer will this intense interest of mine be neglected on this blog. I've posted about paranormal subjects in the past, but not as much as I'd like. I plan to post about various phenomena, anecdotes, possible scientific explanations, investigating, opinions of mine, etc. For my new readers: Welcome and thanks for following! I am a paranormal investigator. I am considerably lucky to have gotten entangled with a very capable group of investigators. I've learned much from them since getting involved in 2011, and I don't plan on stopping. Despite growing up with one superstitious side of the family (maternal), I was never a wholehearted believer until I had a meaningful encounter at the age of 16. (You c...