Here There Be Spooks

It's the time of year when folks start thinking about ghosts and witches and such. Now, I've never seen a ghost, but I've gotten pictures of orbs before, and others have taken pictures of orbs on parts of some property I own—like this one from Polecat Creek Farm:

Photo by Robin Bevins

When I went on the historical society's ghost tour back in 2007, I found some orbs on the photos I uploaded to my computer. You can see them in "Another Interesting Day" blog-post. I've gotten orbs in my neighborhood, too, like the ones in "Seizing the Moment" blog-post and "Evening Walk Alone."

Supposedly witches lived in Franklin County back in the day. The settlers' map of the county even notes where a reputed which was located:

Whether the reputed witch was Juggs Burton or someone else isn't clear. However, there's a well known story about two witches who once lived in the county: Duck and Montague Moore.

Raymond Sloan, a local historian of days gone by interviewed someone in the 1930s about these two Franklin County witches. His tale is included in Virginia Folk Legends, edited  by Thomas E. Barden, Published by University of Virginia Press, 1991. Here are the pages as they appear in Google Books:

An easier-to read-version appears on Dave Tabler's Appalachian History blog. I'm not sure when these two witches were around, but it must have been over a century ago. They're long gone now.

It wouldn't be Halloween if I didn't repost "Samhain, Shut-Ins, and the Resurrection" from 2006. It's not often that you see a critter spring back to life.

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What Walks the Night?

Last evening—Old Christmas eve, when spirits allegedy walk the earth —I snapped a several pictures with my Olympus 425 digital camera at dusk when ominous clouds darkened the sky. Later, when I downloaded them into the computer, I first had nothing but black. When I lightened them, though, a few pictures had something more than just dark.

The ones I took in a north and northwestern direction and directly overhead showed nothing. But the ones I took facing east and slightly southeast showed something around the pin oak. Here are the first, second, and fourth pictures I took:

The first two pictures were taken within a minute of each other.

Taken from my deck. The thing in the lower left is part of the pampas grass.

This picture was taken a couple of minutes after the others.

After 11 PM, when the night was black-dark but before the rain started, I took a two pictures with my Olympus Fe-425. One was dark, but on the other, you can barely make out the trunk of the pin oak with an orb to its left.


According to psychic Sylvia Browne, orbs are angels. (I'd like to think that angels watch over me.) Others say orbs are ghosts trapped on earth or bits of energy. Others say orbs are just dust.

So, did spirits walk the night? Or not?

Update on Cupcake, my old mare who had suffered a stroke or injury: Tonight, she nickered loudly when she saw me coming—the first time I've heard her nicker this loudly for a couple of months. Also tonight she willingly let me touch the left side of her face—the damaged side. She has regained most of her weight and she eats much faster. Thanks to all who sent prayers and healing energy her way.

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Evening Walk Alone

against their beliefs a blue spot came slowly
out of the green

nobody expected such a thing to occur

"The Watchers," by Rg Gregory

The other evening, I took a walk in the woods. John parked his truck just off the road at the beginning of the trail, but I walked alone through the deep green woods of mid-May.


To the right of the tree (above) is where our three black plastic life-sized geese used to be. A couple of weeks ago, someone stole them. Why would anyone steal our old lawn ornaments?

I continued alone down the trail to the clearing. You can see the green of the clearing just beyond the trees.


One spring, in the early 90s, we found a dozen or so holes—six inches across and a foot deep— in this clearing. A local officer told us it looked like that someone was about to plant a marijuana crop. Who, besides us, knew a clearing was here?


After I went through the clearing, I turned left and walked south. The trail widens, then vanishes into the green.


As I walked, I saw evidence that others had been along this trail. I never leave trash in the woods. Who else walks this trail—and why?


Is this tree wonderfully spooky, or what?


After I turned back, I could see a shaft of the setting sun through the trees. for a few moments, the woods seemed to glow.


There were things I didn't see when I walked that I now see in at least five of these pictures. Do you see the orbs, too?


I wonder—do we ever really walk alone?

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