Fourteen years ago this month, I was sitting in my home office tinkering with the first few pages of a Web site that would go on to become Ghostvillage.com. Where did the name come from? Back in the mid-1990s, I was working on a documentary film about a place called Dudleytown. This tiny hamlet in the woods of Cornwall, Connecticut, was never a town, more of a village. So when it was abandoned, it wasn’t a ghost town… more of a ghost… well, you get it.

So Ghostvillage.com was born. But soon after, I realized that village also implies community. Any place without people isn’t really a place at all. It’s just map coordinates. People breathe life into buildings, onto land, and even into Web sites. For the last 14 years I’ve been blessed to watch six little Web pages evolve from some coordinates on a Web server into a community. This Web site has turned my hobby and passion into a full-time career. And for that I will always be grateful.

Fourteen years later, those six pages have grown into over 50,000 pages of content. That’s thanks to all of you who have shared your stories, articles, and opinions over the years. In that time, the paranormal has come out of the closet, so-to-speak. There are now a ton of ghost-hunting reality shows on television, many books, Web sites, podcasts, and more. I’m grateful for the role Ghostvillage.com played in that discussion. As time moves on, we will continue to be a place for all aspects of this discussion from the skeptical to the religious, from the believer to the disbeliever. All are welcome, just as they have been for the last 14 years.

The other day I was invited to a Halloween party. I of course had to decline, because I’m booked solid with events and lectures right into November. It occurred to me that I may never attend a Halloween party again for as long as I live. Though that saddens me, I think I have a work around. I plan to throw a Halloween bash in December when all of my paranormal friends can also attend. For much of the world, this month means ghost tours, haunted fun houses, and parties, but for us, it’s an opportunity to talk about our favorite subject while the world is paying attention.

To that end, I’m happy to give you a sneak peek at my latest project: New England Legends, a new series that will debut on select PBS stations Halloween night! I’m hosting, writing, and producing this new series, and we hope to take you inside these mysteries like nothing before. There’s no night vision or ghost hunt, just the history, the witnesses, and the stories. You can check out the trailer and Web site here: http://www.ournewenglandlegends.com

I have a bunch of events and lectures in the next 30 days. Please do come out and say hello if you’re in the area!

Supernaturally yours,

Jeff Belanger
Mayor of Ghostvillage.com
Twitter: @THEJeffBelanger
Facebook: Jeff Belanger
YouTube: www.youtube.com/legendtripping

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 Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - Medford Public Library - Medford, Massachusetts - October 17, 2013, 7:00PM
A Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - Indianapolis Public Library - Indianapolis, Indiana - October 19, 2013, 7:00PM
A Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - Wingate Healthcare, Inc. - Haverhill, Massachusetts - October 23, 2013, 7:00PM
A Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - Uxbridge Public Library - Uxbridge, Massachusetts - October 24, 2013, 7:00PM
Jeff Belanger at the Capron Park Zoo Boo Event - Attleboro, Massachusetts - October 25, 2013, 6:00PM
Haunted Happenings in Cohasset - Cohasset Historical Society - Cohasset, Massachusetts - October 26, 2013
A Supernatural Evening with Jeff Belanger - New Braintree Public Library - New Braintree, Massachusetts - October 26, 2013, 7:00PM
A Supernatural Afternoon with Jeff Belanger - Deep River Public Library - Deep River, Connecticut - October 27, 2013, 2:00PM
A Weird Massachusetts Afternoon with Jeff Belanger - Hanover Senior Center - Hanover, Massachusetts - October 28, 2013, 1:00PM
Animals and the Afterlife Conference - Boxborough, Massachusetts - November 3, 2013
The Spirits of the S.K. Pierce Mansion - Gardner, Massachusetts - November 9, 2013
The Spirits of The St. Nicholas Hotel – Cripple Creek, Colorado - November 14-17, 2013
A Weird Massachusetts Evening with Jeff Belanger - Norton Public Library - Norton, Massachusetts - August 12, 2014 6:30PM

The Spirits of The St. Nicholas Hotel

Schrader, Jeff Belanger and Bill Chappell invite you to join us as we investigate the Haunted St. Nicholas Hotel in Cripple Creek, Colorado this November 14th-17th, 2013.

The St. Nicholas Hotel is a beautiful little hotel hidden in the mountains of Colorado, a step back in time to the era of miners and cowboys.

Digital Dowsing and Darkness Radio conducted a 3 day investigation earlier this year with startling results. An investigation that provided EVPs and some amazing video encounters. Check out a segment of the video here:

Click here for more information: http://www.jeffbelanger.com/blog/event/the-spirits-of-the-st-nicholas-cripple-creek-colorado/

Monthly Contest

How to win: Entries will be accepted up until 5:00 PM (eastern time) tomorrow (October 16, 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.

Congratulations to DeWayne A. Jinkins of Oakwood, Illinois, who was last month's winner!

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.

Where did Amy live when the "Lamp Lady" came at night?

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 2014 Haunted New England Wall Calendar and a Ghostvillage.com window sticker!


Didn't win? Want to buy a copy? Click on the graphic.

Features

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:

Haunted Highways and Bridges with Dale Kaczmarek October 8, 2013 [VIDEO]
The Lamp Lady Comes at Night - Excerpt from True Ghost Stories: Jim Harold's Campfire 2 October 2, 2013
American Crop Circles with Jennifer Stein October 1, 2013 [VIDEO]
The Mysteries of the Bridgewater Triangle with Aaron Cadieux and Manny Famolare September 24, 2013 [VIDEO]
Hunting Sasquatch with Eric Altman September 17, 2013 [VIDEO]

Ghostvillage.com Advertising Opportunities

Each month Ghostvillage.com reaches tens of thousands of people interested in the paranormal. We offer the most effective and best-valued advertising and sponsorship packages of any paranormal media outlet. Please visit: http://www.ghostvillage.com/advertising.htm for details.

If you're ready to put Ghostvillage.com to work for your company or organization, send us an email to get started.

Recent Encounters

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:

Our New Home on Chancellorsville Battlefield -- Fredericksburg, Virginia
Invisible Forces Trying to Break In -- Woodland Hills, California
Something Crawled on Me in Bed -- Wilburton, Oklahoma
Releasing an Elah Valley Spirit -- Srigim, Israel

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: some bulkmail filters may block this email, so you'll need to check your bulkmail folder if the validation email didn't 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=6431
My first ghost sighting.

Urban Legends, Myths, and Folklore
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33304
WHat's your scariest urban legend?

Religion and Spirituality
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=30366
How to get rid of an Incubus.

Haunted Places
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=32965
What's the most haunted place in your city?

General Board
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33360
Mummies in the attic.

Skeptics
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33401
Genius comes up with a way to stop global warming.

Real Life Occurrences
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33405
How long have you been on Ghostvillage?

Paranormal Media
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33406
The book of Tarot.

Ghost Investigation Equipment
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showtopic=33337
Ultra-sound detector.


Board of the Month -- Halloween 2013
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcommunity/index.php?showforum=27
What are your Halloween traditions and beliefs?

Ghostvillage.com Quick Stats:

325,888 Posts in the Town Square Message Boards
30,276 Members in the Town Square
1,128 "Personal Encounters" published on Ghostvillage.com
1,823 Paranormal Web sites in the Ghost Links directory
31,067 Subscribers to this newsletter

Support Ghostvillage.com

Ghostvillage.com is the Web's largest supernatural community, the central place where people come to share their experiences, thoughts, and research. Please help us continue to grow by buying a copy of The World's Most Haunted Places, Communicating With the Dead, The Encyclopedia of Haunted Places, The Nightmare Encyclopedia, Our Haunted Lives, Ghosts of War, The Ghost Files, Weird Massachusetts, Who's Haunting the White House?, The Mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle, Picture Yourself Legend Tripping, or Chasing Spirits. Every little bit helps run our servers and helps the site get bigger and better! Please also click on our banner ads and support our advertisers -- when you do business with someone who advertises with Ghostvillage.com, let them know you saw their ad with us and thank them for the support.

Please email us anytime at info@ghostvillage.com. Your comments, questions, and feedback are always welcomed.

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