Dear Ghostvillagers,
Thank you for all of the support you’ve shown this past month. It’s been a hard road for me personally since Newtown, but going there for the holidays, walking around my hometown again, connecting with old friends, and talking to people helped me on the road to healing. There was a week or so where I found myself asking what was I doing with my life? How could I go back to the paranormal? How could I do anything else but try to help this situation? I’ve said before that I can’t change the world, but I can change myself.
As I’ve been crawling out of this dark place, I realize I’m still a paranormal guy. I still wonder about the big questions. That will never change. But I can always do more to help others. And I can be accountable for the things I do and say. It’s a start. The road is long. But I’m committed to staying on it.
For this month’s theme, I picked Talking Boards, better known by the brand name Ouija Boards, because I wanted to go back to the beginning of my own paranormal journey. Back to when I was ten years old at a sleepover in a haunted home in Newtown, and exploring the ghostly realm with a Planchette and lettered board. Even then I wasn’t completely sure if I was communicating with some deeper part of myself, with some deeper part of the person using the board with me, or something “out there.”
Over the years I’ve watched some people in the paranormal community vilify and attack the Ouija Board. “It’s a doorway, and you don’t know who or what is on the other side,” are the arguments I’ve heard. That may be true. But couldn’t the same be said for using EMF meters to attempt spirit communication? Or conducting an EVP session? Or asking for a knock on the wall of some haunted building? We just don’t know what’s out there.
But not knowing is the reason I explore the unknown. I want to know. I accept the perils and pitfalls because I feel like I’ve grown as a person because of it. And it all started on a dark and stormy night long ago, using a Ouija board with friends at a sleepover. I wouldn’t trade this path for anything in the world. Thanks for being on the journey with me.
13 may be an unlucky number, but regardless, my hopes are high for a year filled with more humanity than we’ve seen in a long time. My schedule is starting to fill for the year, new projects are coming up, and I’m ready to get back to work.
Supernaturally yours,
Jeff Belanger
Mayor of Ghostvillage.com
Twitter: @THEJeffBelanger
Facebook: Jeff Belanger
YouTube: www.youtube.com/legendtripping
Jeff Belanger's Upcoming Events |
This is the place to find out where author and Ghostvillage.com founder Jeff Belanger will be speaking on the subject of the
paranormal. If you're interested in booking Jeff for a conference or other event, please visit:
http://www.jeffbelanger.com/lectures.php for more information.
Events Scheduled:
A Night for Newtown - THE MET - Pawtucket, Rhode Island - January 24, 2013, 6:30PM
Dead of Winter at Lizzie Borden's - Fall River, Massachusetts - February 23, 2013, 6:30PM
Phenomenology 105 - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania - March 21-24, 2013
Haunting the Houghton Mansion - North Adams, Massachusetts - April 5-7, 2013
The Real Dracula Tour and Ghost Hunt with Dave Schrader and Jeff Belanger - Romania - May 19-27, 2013
A Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - New Braintree Public Library - New Braintree, Massachusetts - October 26, 2013, 7:00PM
Congratulations to Nathan Huning, who was the November winner of an autographed copy of
Jeff Belanger's book, Who's Haunting the White House? and a Ghostvillage.com window sticker!
How to win: Entries will be accepted up until 5:00 PM (eastern time) tomorrow (January 19, 2013).
At 5:00 PM, we will draw a winner at random from the correct entries that have been received. You no longer have to be the first,
but you only have until 5:00 PM to get your answer in. If you click on this link:
http://www.ghostvillage.com/index.shtml#winner, you see
today's date, and "We have a winner!" that means the contest has ended. Sorry, please try again next month. To submit your entry, simply
reply to this email with the correct answer.
On to this month's question: This question can be answered by reading a page on Ghostvillage.com. Remember, reply by 5:00 PM tomorrow to
be eligible to win.
What's the name of the newest 30 Odd Minutes crew member?
At 5:00 PM tomorrow, we will announce the winner on our home page.
Good luck! (Only Ghostvillagers who have not won a prize from us in the last year are eligible.)
This month's prize:
We're giving away an autographed copy of Jeff Belanger's book, The Ghost Files and a Ghostvillage.com window sticker!
Didn't win? Want to buy a copy? Click on the graphic.
Join us
April 5-7, 2013 - As seen on Season One of Ghost Adventures! Built by the first mayor of North Adams in 1890, the mansion is now home to a Masonic Temple, though the secretive society isn’t
the only resident. The building allegedly holds the ghosts of a suicide victim, A.C. Houghton himself, and the spirit of his daughter, Mary, who died in a tragic car accident August 1, 1914.
The event includes: a Meet-n-Greet Party, Lectures, Paranormal Experiments, Dinner, and Hours of Investigations.
Click here for more information: http://www.legendtrips.com/houghtonmansion2013.shtml
Our "Features" section is a place for editorials, research articles, open letters to our readers, and other content of interest to
Ghostvillagers. If you have a topic on your mind, agree or disagree with something you read
recently, we want to hear from you! For guidelines, click
here.
New features added since our last newsletter:
LIVE from Oddfest 2012 December 18, 2012 [VIDEO]
American Folklore with S.E. Schlosser January 15, 2013 [VIDEO]
Haunted San Francisco with Jeff Dwyer January 8, 2013 [VIDEO]
We receive personal encounters from all over the world. Many are scary, some are touching, but they are always profound. If you would like
to share your own experience, please click >>here<<. Since our last newsletter, we added the following new encounters:
The Shaking Mailbox -- Northwest Minnesota
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Hot Threads and the Ghostvillage.com Community |
In the past month, tons of new people registered for free to join our supernatural discussion! Have you?
If you have registered for our message boards but haven't validated your account yet, it's simple to do! Look for the email
that was automatically sent to you when you registered and click on the account activation link in the email (note:
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immediately come through). There are always great discussions going on in our huge
message board community. We hope you'll get involved. It's free to register if you're not already a member. Here are some of
the hot topics this month:
Personal Encounters
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33197
Serial killer's victim talks about heaven.
Evidence Alley
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33195
A vortex.
General Board
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33210
Do you really exist?
Spirit Communications
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=32157
Automatic writing.
Religion and Spirituality
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=2195
Underground vampire clans.
Paranormal Media
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33143
How do you feel about ghost hunting shows?
Board of the Month -- Talking Boards
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showforum=27
What are your experiences with the Ouija Board?
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