Haunting Word and History: Taphephobia, and Witches

he central figure in this 1876 illustration of the courtroom is usually identified as Mary Walcott.

With Halloween 2 days away, I came across a word that describes a serious fear about a gruesome death, that many people suffered throughout history, especially those accused wrongly of being "witches." 

HAUNTING WORD OF THE DAY:   taphephobia

[taf-uh-foh-bee-uh] 

noun, Psychiatry.

1.  an abnormal fear of being buried alive.

Sadly, throughout history and in Europe and America, people were burned at the stake for witchcraft. The witches were accused by religious people who claimed the witches made deals with the devil.

 

Suspected Witches Burned Alive in Kenya (UK Daily Mail)

Apparently it still happens in countries like Kenya. According to an article in the U.K. Daily Mail on Nov. 4, 2012, in 2009 there was an uproar after a video emerged on the internet showing five people burned in the village of Nyamataro, Kisii, in the east of Kenya, over witchcraft allegations. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2227693/Elderly-Kenyans-burned-alive-witches-refusing-desirable-coastline-land.html#ixzz3pgL9qFr5

 

A Look at History of Burning Witches at a Stake:  In the U.S. the town of Salem, Massachusetts became infamous for its witch trials, but the accusations went back hundreds of years before that in Europe.

 

SALEM WITCH TRIALS:  The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of 20 people, most of them women, and with some of their families murdered after their persecution. 

  Historians agree that the episode is one of the nation's most notorious cases of mass hysteria, and has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a vivid cautionary tale about the dangers of isolationism, religious extremism, false accusations and lapses in due process.  LEARN MORE at the Salem Witch Museum: https://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/ 

  (I've been there- and it's a fascinating and twisted history)

 

A LOOK AT EUROPEAN HISTORY: 

Malleus Maleficarum, Swiss Inquisition, Pope`s Guard, Templars & Burning "Witches"

WHAT WAS THE Malleus Maleficarum?

The Malleus Maleficarum (1486) is the best known of the witch-hunt manuals. It was first submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487.  While general consensus is that The Catholic Church banned the book in 1490 by placing it on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (“List of Prohibited Books”), the first Index was, in fact, produced in 1559 under the direction of Pope Paul IV. MORE: http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/ 

 

Questions about the Paranormal? For answers about many questions you may have about ghosts, spirits or the afterlife, check out my book "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead" by Rob Gutro. I wrote the book to answer all questions on the paranormal, and used personal experiences or shared stories to convey answers to questions and provide proof. 

  Available on Amazon.com in paperback and E-book. 

Photos from Hyattsville, MD Library Talk - Intro to Paranormal Investigations

Lots of questions from the audience

Last week The Inspired Ghost Tracking team that I belong to was invited to give a

Margaret and Rob at the podium

View from the center aisle- Dana and Ronda did the AV support

talk at the Hyattsville, Maryland Library so we gave our Intro to Paranormal Investigations.  There were some good questions about ghosts, spirits, how they work, and how to detect them. The audience was very young though- mostly teenagers. At least it's good to know that teens want to learn about what happens after people pass and learn the proper ways to investigate. 

GOOD ADVICE - We cautioned them never to provoke a ghost- After all, you wouldn't be insulting a living person standing right in front of you, so why would you be mean to someone you CAN'T See?!?



FOR MORE ABOUT INSPIRED GHOST TRACKING:

Ghost Tracking is a Maryland based paranormal group that is called on to do public and private paranoramal investigations. 
 inspiredghosttracking.webs.com/Inspired 

Rob talking about the difference between ghosts and spirits

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PARANORMAL?  Check out Rob Gutro's book "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead" available in paperback and E-book on Amazon.com.  It's written to answer almost any question you may have about the paranormal!

 

Photos from Barb Mallon's Halloween Event

Rob, Barb and Jonathan

   On Saturday, October 24, I had a  fun time at Medium Barb Mallon's Halloween event!  
  I got to MC and introduce Palmist Peggy Arvidson, Tarot reader Tim Boyd, and of course Medium Barb Mallon. 
   Our friend Jonathan Oliver was there, too, and he's doing animal communications -so if you want contact info for any of these amazing folks, let me know. 

full house!

Peggy Arvidson, Palmist

   I went dressed in my Inspired Ghost Tracking Paranormal investigator Tee-shirt and talked about IGT investigations. It was lots of fun - and people came in some cool costumes! 

Tim Boyd, Tarot master

For medium Barb Mallon's website, visit: 

Barb Mallon, Medium

www.barbmallon.com   She is a evidential medium who brings through identifying pieces of information from a spirit person first, and then any messages they may have.

Rob Gutro, Paranormal Investigator

For Tarot Master, Tim Boyd, visit: www.timstarot.com/  

Witch and Scarecrow

Tim is a Certified Tarot Consultant, certified by the Tarot Certification Board of America. He provides intuitive Tarot Readings utilizing his given psychic abilities and the Tarot.

Rob and Jonathan Oliver, Animal Communicator

Scarecrow, Barb Mallon, Witch

 For Pragmatic Palmist Peggy Arvidson, visit: 

peggiearvidson.com/   Peggy says" I take an esoteric practice like palmistry and  move far from fortune-telling into life altering,practical planning so you can make the money you want to support the life and people you love. Helping you love life every day is the key!  

I take an esoteric practice like palmistry and  move far from fortune-telling into life altering,practical planning so you can make the money you want to support the life and people you love. Helping you love life every day is the key! - See more at: http://peggiearvidson.com/#sthash.iEG41pld.dpuf

I take an esoteric practice like palmistry and  move far from fortune-telling into life altering,practical planning so you can make the money you want to support the life and people you love. Helping you love life every day is the key! - See more at: http://peggiearvidson.com/#sthash.iEG41pld.dpuf

Back row- and Rob in his Superman jacket

Tonight at 7pm EDT- Linthicum, MD Talk! : Woman's Club to host 'Inspired' ghost trackers

Tonight- another talk about Ghosts during Halloween month!  This one is in Linthicum, Maryland, near the Baltimore-Washington International Airport.  The Woman's Club to host 'Inspired' ghost trackers Tonight at 7pm - and we'll be there for this one (as co-presenters!).!  This article appeared in a local newspaper and spotlights the founder of Inspired Ghost Tracking, Margaret Ehrlich.

Linthicum: Woman's Club to host 'Inspired' ghost trackers

PHOTO:  Margaret Ehrlich, a longtime ghost tracker, will speak to the woman's club of Linthicum on Monday evening. (By Phil Turner / Correspondent)

Phil TurnerCorrespondent

Ghost trackers to speak at Linthicum Women's Club

For most, Halloween is a fun, annual tradition, but for long-time ghost and spirit tracker Margaret Ehrlich, the themes of this holiday are a consistent, year-round state of mind.
"Halloween brings out the ghostly in everybody, but for us, it's all the time," said Ehrlich, the founder of Inspired Ghost Tracking, a paranormal research and investigative team that serves clients in Maryland and surrounding areas.
"Many women will get ghost stickers and wear them on their finger nails, but only around Halloween time," said Ehrlich. "But I wear them all the time and no one thinks anything of it because they know that this is what I do."
Ehrlich and members of the Inspired Ghost Tracking team will lead a lecture open to the public at the GFWC Woman's Club of Linthicum Heights clubhouse, 110 N. Hammond's Ferry Road on Monday at 7 p.m.

Ehrlich's talk Monday evening will cover topics such as the difference between a spirit and a ghost and introduce her team's investigative methods and the solutions it provides when people call upon their services, which are free of charge.

  

Anita Dragan, chairman of the evening group, said she is excited to learn more about the paranormal.
"Everyone seems to know someone who has a ghost in their house," said Dragan. "I am excited – I have no idea what to expect."
Midge Knell, membership chairman for the club, said a ghost tracking team spoke to the group back in 2005 and that she thought it was a good time – 10 years later – to revisit the topic.
"It just fascinates me," said Knell of why she set this up as the group's monthly evening meet. "I just want to hear some of their stories and see what they've been involved in."

        Ehrlich is the founder of the group and said she has "always been interested in the paranormal."

"I lived in what I thought, and my family thought, was a haunted house," said Ehrlich of her family home in Riverdale in Prince George's County. "It always intrigued me, and it always scared me."
"We had all kinds of things happen," said Ehrlich of why the family felt its house was haunted. "Our chairs would move around at night, we had an attic that would open up at night and close up in the morning. There were cold spots and you often smelled a fire burning when there was no fire burning."

Inspired Ghost Tracking - 2013 photo

Ehrlich, who described herself as a "spiritualist," said some people are afraid to ask for help with the paranormal because they either feel it is a taboo religious subject or just plain hogwash.
"A lot of people don't believe in this stuff because they were taught not to believe in it, but you get a whole lot of people who are intrigued by it and are just afraid to tell people," Ehrlich said.
"We attempt to remove what is going on in their home," said Ehrlich of what she and her team do for people who feel they have either a ghost or spirit in their house.
Regardless of one's beliefs or thoughts on the afterlife or the paranormal, Ehrlich said her lecture is simply meant to inform people of the services her group offers.
"We are not going to mock you if you don't believe in it," said Ehrlich. "You are either open to the paranormal or you are not. This is what we do – this is what we believe in. Hopefully with what we show you or what we tell you might look at it a little bit differently."

Lessons Learned, Ghosts and Spirits

For Rob Gutro's books: "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead," "Pets and the Afterlife" and the new book "Pets and the Afterlife 2" -  visit Amazon.com   (or click this link) 

Pets and the Afterlife 2, Pets and the Afterlife

Interesting Book! Encounters with the Paranormal by Mike Ricksecker

Recently I finished reading a short and interesting collection of true stories of paranormal encounters called
"Encounters with the Paranormal" by Mike Ricksecker
  - Mike is a friend of ours who has written several books. He's also a "Ghostorian" and paranormal investigator. When he was putting this book together he contacted people he knows to see if they would like to submit a story for the collection. The book contains stories from quite a number of people, and ALL of them have had encounters with Earth-bound ghosts. Each story is short and all are fascinating.
  BTW- I also contributed a story that you won't find in my books. The story I contributed is called "The Dismembered Ghost Made Whole" and is about the ghost of a murder victim I "met" in Baltimore during an investigation with the Inspired Ghost Tracking Group of Maryland.

   I highly recommend this collection of stories! It's 87 pages of interesting personal encounters with ghosts.  On Kindle you can find this collection for just $2.99.
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Mikes other books include: Ghosts and Legends of Oklahoma, Ghosts of Maryland, Campfire Tales: Midwest, The Inscription of Evil Times (Ghostorian Case Files Book 1), and Mysteries of the Church of Darkness (Ghostorian Case Files Book 2)and two detective novels: Deadly Heirs (Chase Michael DeBarlo Mystery) (Volume 1), System of the Dead,
***********************************************************
For more information about Mike Ricksecker go to www.hauntedroadmedia.com, 
or Mike Ricksecker's Amazon page: http://smile.amazon.com/Mike-Ricksecke

Part 1: Bear's 5 Minute Haunted Tour Through Chesapeake Community Center!

My good friend Bear Elliot is back ghost hunting and in this 5 minute episode of his Video Blog "Bear With Me" He'll take you on a visual tour of the very haunted Chesapeake Community Center in Ohio. It's a quick overview video, but the camera takes you to rooms and Bear included the text of the stories of the ghosts that haunt those particular rooms. You'll WANT to see this to get a nice creepy feeling for Halloween week!- Rob Gutro, Author/Medium/Paranormal Investigator


Tis the season to be scared. This is Part One of the recent paranormal investigation by GOST. Let's take a trip through time as we learn the dark history of the Chesapeake Community Center located in the Village of Chesapeake, Ohio. Stay tuned for more findings from our evening spent searching for the Dead in Southern Ohio.
(PARTS 2 and 3 Coming Soon) 
 VIDEO: https://youtu.be/HaT68MXLdxo

For the BEAR WITH ME blog: http://thebearwithmeshow.blogspot.com
 

Just a few spots left in Medium Barb Mallon's Halloween Event - Oct. 24th

I have the honor of doing an opening for Medium Barb Mallon's annual Halloween event this year on Saturday, October 24th. **There are just a couple of spots left- so register now**- Rob Experience for yourself or through others THREE different types of psychic readings during this fun Halloween event!  ~Psychic palmistry with Peggie Arvidson,  ~Spiritual Tarot readings with Tim Boyd, and  ~Psychic mediumship readings by Barb Mallon HALLOWEEN 2015! Saturday, October 24 6:00 - 9:30pm Chantilly, VA $75/pp $60 for two or more! *Only 10 seats left!* Join us for this very special Halloween event during the time of the year when the veil between the spirit world and our world is at its thinnest!   Experience for yourself or through others THREE different types of psychic readings during this fun Halloween event!  ~Psychic palmistry with Peggie Arvidson,  ~Spiritual Tarot readings with Tim Boyd, and  ~Psychic mediumship readings by Barb Mallon We will be holding a silent auction during the break where all proceeds will go to a local NO KILL animal shelter.   DRESS UP!   We'll have a costume contest where contestants will be judged by "secret judges" during the event (please be appropriate when choosing costumes.) There are only 10 seats left, so hurry and get your tickets! *Bring a friend and save money!  Won't you join us?*   Part 1 - 6:00 - 6:30 Welcome, Introduction and Ghost Stories with Rob Gutro Part 2 - 6:35 - 7:05 Psychic Palmistry Readings with Peggie Arvidson  Part 3 - 7:10pm - 7:40pm Spiritual Tarot Readings with Tim Boyd  BREAK (7:40pm - 8:10pm)   Before the event and during the break, we will be holding a SILENT AUCTION featuring a bunch of fantastic Halloween goodies! All proceeds will go to Friends of Homeless Animals (FOHA). Items up for the silent auction SO FAR are: a 30 minute telephone reading gift certificate with Barb Mallon a 30 minute hand analysis gift certificate with Peggie Arvidson a 30 minute tarot session with Tim Boyd a 30 minute life guidance/Tarot session with Lisa Boslett a 30 minute mediumship session with Lisa Boslett an autographed copy of "Ghosts and Spirits: Insights From A Medium" by Rob Gutro sterling silver jewelry items by Barb Mallon ... and MORE!   If you're interested in any of these items, please bring cash with you.  Items may be bid on in the beginning until after the break.  Checks are also accepted and should be made out to FOHA.  Sorry, we are unable to take credit cards for silent auction items. Part 4 - 8:15 - 9:00pm Mediumship Demonstration with Medium Barb Mallon  Question & Answer Period/Meet & Greet/Prizes and FOOD! Join Barb, Rob, Tim and Peggie after the event for questions and answers, the announcement of the winners of our Silent Auction and costume contest and Halloween treats and refreshments!  During this time, we will have miscellaneous items for sale in the lobby! *Attending this event does not guarantee you a reading. Please be open to the process and experience when attending. The audience members who are meant to receive messages from their loved ones in spirit or guides, will. **ALL TICKET SALES ARE FINAL.  THERE ARE NO REFUNDS AS SPACE IS EXTREMELY LIMITED.  There will be NO physical tickets issued.  Please bring with you your receipt and valid ID for check in. Please also plan accordingly for travel time - we cannot give refunds or add you for another date if you arrive too late for the event. We need ample time to contact our cancellation list. Thank you for your understanding!

Copyright © 2015 Barb Mallon, Psychic Medium, All rights reserved.
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Oct. 21 Talk@Hyattsville Library: Ghosts and a Murder Investigation

On Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 7pm come to the Hyattsville, MD Library to hear about

a murderous ghost investigation with  Inspired Ghost-Tracking​. While there, we'll also investigate the mysterious happenings at the library the could be the work of a ghost or ghosts! 

INFORMATION: Wed., October 21, 2015 - Hyattsville Library intro to ghost investigations/double murder/short investigation. 6530 Adelphi Rd · (301) 985-4690
 

The story is featured in Rob Gutro's book "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead" (available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com)

4 Fundraisers for DC Area Weimaraner Rescue: Candles, Sheets, and a Wine Event!

   I work with Weimaraner and Dachshund Rescues (as a dog dad of both breeds) and DC Area Weimaraner Rescue has a LOT of dogs in foster care and more come into the rescue almost weekly. That means a lot of vet bills, a lot of food and other costs. To help out AND benefit from it, you can order great bed sheets for yourself, Candles (in time for Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc);   OR Go to a really fun Wine Tasting event in Northern Virginia.   
 **You can even donate gently used shoes!**
Details to all of them are below. PLEASE help out!! 
1)  Yankee Candle Fundraiser runs through November 1! http://www.yankeecandlefundraising.com/ Use our customer code YCC 990073907
 

2) Sheet set fundraiser! PayPal or Check. Email Karin at dcweimrescue@gmail.com to order.
3) Our semi-annual wine fundraiser at Barrel Oak November 1!  3623 Grove Lane, Delaplane, Virginia.  12-4pm EDT  / Tickets $35 in advance, $40 at the door. Bring your dogs (all dogs are welcome - No retractable leashes, please)  www.dcweimclub.org/rescue We will be collecting shoes at the event so come see us and bring shoes!
TO FIND ADOPTABLE WEIMARANERS: http://www.dcweimclub.org/rescue/index.php 







 


 

 
ONE OF THE WEIMARANERS UP FOR ADOPTION:
 
Suki is a 3 year old spayed female. She has just finished her heartworm treatment and is ready for a home! Suki is from Japan but she only speaks English. She is house and crate trained and good with other dogs and cats. Suki knows some commands and walks well on a leash. Suki would do best in an adult only home where the adults are ALPHA. She needs strong leadership and will take advantage of the weaker family members. No kids please!