Files From the Edge (21 page)

Over the past ten years, I have received several emails, letters, and calls from people who saw a similar creature in Hawk Rock’s vicinity. There were also reports of globes of light circling the petroglyphic bird and sightings of alien-like beings with red eyes that glowed in the dark. On two of my many solitary trips to that area, I have also heard strange sounds and Celtic flute music that seemed to come from everywhere in the woods. I often asked myself, were the sounds flowing in from another reality, or was it just a Trickster having fun?

Night Out at Hawk Rock

A number of people I have worked with on past paranormal investigations had been planning to camp out at Hawk Rock for several years just to see what would happen. We finally agreed the all-night vigil would take place in August 2008. The group, which was originally to consist of nine, were people from many backgrounds and expertise. They included Francine Vale, a healer and spiritual teacher; Paul Greco, an artist and founder of the UFO Roundtable in Yonkers, New York; Golden Hawk, whom I mentioned earlier; her friend Alana; Rosemary Ellen Guiley, a well-known paranormal author and researcher; Scott, a musician; Nadine, a very talented artist and her husband, Ted; Donna Savino, a member of the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA); and myself, the leader of this group and resident scientist.

I decided to divide the exploration of Hawk Rock into three parts: the first would be a meeting at my home where we would discuss both the history and paranormal events of that area, the second would be a day trip to Hawk Rock, and the third would be our spending the night under the stars near the great bird. The first meeting took place in July at my home in Connecticut. All of us in the group discussed what they expected to accomplish at Hawk Rock; the general agreement was to document some type of contact experience. We planned a day trip the first weekend in August, weather permitting. The Saturday of the day trip came and we couldn’t have asked for better weather to begin our hike to Hawk Rock. While walking through the woods and passing by two stone chambers, Golden Hawk (whose story is presented earlier) began to reminisce about her experience with the hooded beings at the Mother Earth (“the Womb”) chamber. The journey to Hawk Rock took about an hour or so, and I could tell that several members of the group were quite tired because the day was warm and the insects were biting.

As we reached the end of the trail and entered the sacred circle, I pointed out the many boulders pushed down from the north by giant glaciers during the last Ice Age. For some group members, this was their first trip to Hawk Rock, and as we passed through the line of carved stones that indicated the entrance into sacred ground, everyone experienced a definite shift not only in temperature, but also in temperament. The cooler temperature made us all feel very good, and the fatigue was gone as if some unknown force was flowing through giving us a second wind. Everyone also noticed the flies and other insects were no longer bothering us! As we continued walking, several group members commented that the trees and plants here were different than those in the rest of the woods. There were tall pines with many brown needles on the ground that gave the area a surreal appearance.

Just below and to the east of the perching stone hawk was a large outcrop of rock about 5 feet above the ground. This rock was flattened on top and was large enough to fit all nine of us comfortably. We relaxed for a while, ate our lunch, and talked about how peaceful it felt. After lunch, Francine led us through a meditation in which some members of the group said they saw images and had vision-like dreams. Paul then photographed the area and was able to image bright globes of light invisible to the naked eye. The globes Paul photographed were very bright and more than the usual orb images that appear in many digital photographs. These bright globes appeared only around Hawk Rock and in the location where others have reported seeing the spirit of a Native American shaman.

Our group stayed for about two hours. Then we slowly made our way back through the woods to the cars. On the return hike, all the members of the group, myself included, continued to comment how good—almost euphoric—we felt. In a way, we had our own private experiences that day, but they were not going to prepare us for our next objective: the overnight stay.

We agreed that the 23rd of August would be a good night to sleep out at Hawk Rock; my only concern was with the weather. The northeastern part of the United States is notorious for spontaneous midsummer thunderstorms, and I didn’t want us getting trapped in the woods since that particular area is noted for multiple lightning strikes. As we got closer to the date in question, Francine and Paul were not able to make it, but the rest of us were ready and eager to go. We arrived in the parking area about six in the evening and began our long trip into the woods. As we got closer to Hawk Rock, Donna and Nadine strongly felt that something was following us but keeping its distance. We arrived at Hawk Rock just before sunset and began preparing for a long night.

The seven of us set up our sleeping bags on the flat meditation rock and although we had flashlights, a candle was lit and the group began to relax and talk. As darkness fell, we were all quite surprised how noisy it was with insects and other sounds that came from the surrounding woods. By eleven o’clock, it was so dark that we could not see beyond our candlelight illuminating the side of the great hawk like a living apparition from another world. A short time later, I got the group together and decided to do a meditation that Charlie (the Native American shaman) had taught me to connect with our spirit animals. Although I don’t believe in rituals of any nature, it seemed a good way to get everyone in the mood and open our minds to act as a possible conduit to connect with the intelligence Nadine and Donna felt was watching us.

We finished the meditation, and as if in response, a startling sound came from the woods. I will never forget it: at first it sounded like a human trying to imitate an animal, perhaps a coyote. Donna asked what it was, thinking at first it was an animal, but another member of our group said it was human. We thought there was someone out in the woods watching us, having a laugh at our expense. However, the sound continued and shifted into more of an animal noise. It’s very hard to describe, but we realized that this was not a human and not any animal that we were familiar with. It was almost like a cry, but it seemed to be directed toward us. Rosemary and I thought it could be a shape-shifter because its vocalizations went from human to something not human. The sound came from the north side of the ridge, but the foliage was so thick that even with our flashlights we could not see what was causing it.

Some of the members of our group became fearful and the sound stopped, as if in response. Needless to say, no one was able to sleep . . . but more was yet to come.

Things remained quiet until about two in the morning. Shortly after, while all of us were lying down on the rock, a barely visible object or force passed over us. Most of us saw it; as this thing passed overhead, the sky became distorted; like when one looks through heat waves coming off a car or roof on a hot summer day. In the woods, several of us saw what appeared to be tiny red lights that disappeared and reappeared. To me they looked like eyes, but to Rosemary they looked like small individual lights. At about three in the morning, I sat up and Donna said something to me. It seemed my eyes closed for a second and the next thing I knew it was five in the morning and members of the group were calling my name! I really can’t say what happened, but I seemed to have lost consciousness for about two hours and experienced no passage of time. You might say that perhaps I fell asleep, but the answer to that would be absolutely not: due to severe knee injuries acquired during my time in the military, I was in a great deal of pain sitting on the hard, damp rock. We packed our gear at the break of dawn to the tune of two owls in the still-dark woods. We had a long trek through the woods back to our cars.

We discussed what had taken place on the way to the parking area and decided to stop at a diner in Carmel. I was happy to hear that Rosemary and Scott were able to tape the sound we heard; at least there was some evidence that could be analyzed. While eating, three crows landed on the railing outside our window and just perched there, staring at us. As I watched them, I thought of Charlie’s many stories of the Trickster that could take different shapes to play with one’s mind. One of the crows had an injured leg, but they all stood almost motionless and stared into the window. They stayed and observed us until we left; it was a very strange sight.

Follow-Up

To summarize, we could not identify the sound that we recorded that night, despite input from various wildlife experts. The people on a website about owling thought it may have been an unusual call of a barred owl, but I consulted an owl expert who once worked for the Audubon society: he told me it was not an owl—it sounded more human.
[3]
He made the suggestion that perhaps someone was playing a trick on us. All of us present that night will never forget the sound—it was no trick—at least not a human one! As for the red lights in the woods and the invisible thing that passed over us, we also have no explanation. The Native American Medicine Council of Litchfield, Connecticut, told me we heard a shape-shifter, and the red lights were evil spirits that only came out in the dark and could not approach the sacred rock. The Council believed the invisible force was a good spirit that protected the sacred grounds and knew we had good intentions and allowed us to stay under its protection. All the members of our group are eager to once again return to Hawk Rock and spend the night, but this time we plan to bring various types of equipment and instruments so that any manifestations can be fully documented.

Psychic Powers:
Reality, Hoax, or Delusion?

The number of practicing psychics in the United States is staggering. I can drive up and down the major streets in any town of New York and Connecticut and see a sign saying “Psychic Readings,” “Palm Readings,” or “Tarot Card Readings.” Like any profession in the service industry, there are good practitioners and bad ones. Over a ten-year period, I conducted a part-time investigation and visited thirty-six psychics across the northeastern United States. My goal during this investigation was to observe the range of abilities in professional practicing psychics. In one month, I actually had three readings from three well-known psychics, and although they were correct in some aspects of my personal life and history, most of the information differed between them and was only partially correct.

Each “professional” psychic claims to have a specialty: some channel spirit guides (or, in rare cases, aliens from another star system), while others are hired to find lost items. Most of the practicing psychics I have talked to are mediums—individuals who claim the ability to contact spirits and those who have passed over. This is a popular specialty and some well-known mediums who have shown a track record of accuracy made it big with book sales and their own radio and television shows.

During my thirty-plus years in researching the paranormal, I have encountered a number of psychics who have extraordinary abilities, but there is an equal number who have not impressed me at all. My investigation of the psychic world has been published in a number of Connecticut newspapers over the years. In one of these publications, I was compared to Harry Houdini, who, in an attempt to prove whether or not life exists after death, paid many visits to psychics (“mediums” as they were called) in the early twentieth century.

Houdini never found any proof that the self-professed mediums of his day were in contact with the next world. He exposed some famous mediums as frauds and received many death threats from unstable individuals and cult groups as a result. I fashioned part of my investigation on Houdini’s work but did so with less passion than the great magician and escape artist. The great Houdini investigated the psychics and mediums of the early twentieth century with too much emotion and no objectivity, so I decided to be objective and let the data from the research determine my conclusions—not my personal feelings. To get a better understanding of my investigation in this area, I would like to share with my readers the great Houdini’s exposé of the psychics of his day.

Houdini and the Psychics

Harry Houdini was a world-famous magician and for his time, he did a number of amazing feats, some of which have never been duplicated to this day.
[1]
When his mother died, he nearly lost the will to live and wanted to know if she was still alive in another form or truly gone forever. He desperately hoped that his mother could send him a message assuring Houdini she was alright. In an attempt to communicate with his mother, Houdini started visiting psychics and mediums around the world, but he was not successful in his efforts. According to his diary, the great magician and escape artist did not find a single genuine psychic. From there on, he made it his personal mission to expose fakes so they could not prey upon those who were similarly emotionally distraught after losing a loved one.

Houdini was a master of illusion and using this knowledge was able to expose fakery during a séance. To his dismay, Houdini found the psychics of his time so unscrupulous that he was shocked that they would manipulate grieving people out of their hard-earned money. He also discovered that most of these so-called mediums were using cheap parlor tricks and illusions to deceive their victims into believing that contact with the other side had been achieved. Houdini went to psychic after psychic and found them all to be frauds. Their deception made him so angry that he began a crusade to expose charlatans who would prey upon the naïve and grieving to make easy money. At first, he focused his attention on well-known mediums and joined in their séances. In the middle of the session or manifestation, Houdini would jump to his feet and reveal the tricky. Of course, this resulted in the medium losing every client and Houdini making many enemies. Houdini’s crusade was so successful, psychics all over the world were worried he would expose them next. Because of this, Houdini had to resort to disguises—most mediums would not allow him to join their sessions. When I discovered this about Houdini, it seemed very familiar—it is exactly what happened to me. To this day, I am no longer invited to any channeling sessions or group psychic readings by most, if not all, well-known psychics in New England.

I should reiterate: my goal is to find the truth, not to discredit anyone. It is interesting to note that although Houdini’s standards for proof were much higher than mine, we did get similar results. While Houdini was very successful in his crusade to expose fake psychics, deep in his heart he always wished for one authentic medium to come forward and prove his or her ability to communicate with the dead to him beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Picking Up Where Houdini Left Off

I began a study in 1997 lasting to 2007 to determine if the many people out there who claim to be psychics actually have this ability and if they do, to what extent. When choosing a psychic, one must be careful—some are in fierce competition with each other and will claim extraordinary abilities to get your business. To start out, it is best to talk to people who’ve had experiences with the psychic to see what he or she has to say and if the professional possesses the specialty you seek. Before your visit, ask for references; a few are willing to give you names and phone numbers of past clients. I found the average cost to see a psychic was anywhere between fifty and two hundred dollars an hour; some well-known individuals charge more than a thousand dollars! Some psychics charge more than a professional therapist. Perhaps I should have become a psychic rather than an educator, but alas, I was always better at teaching science than trying to predict the future or contact the dead.

Of the thirty-six psychics tested, only three convinced me of any psychic abilities beyond a shadow of a doubt; the remaining thirty-three I have to label as inconclusive. My testing success rate represents only 8 percent of the total number of those in my study, but it may not necessarily represent the true percentage on a global scale. On occasion, I would go to a session with fabricated information strongly placed in my mind. In more than one case, the psychic was able to read the information from my thoughts. This convinced me that some may be telepathic and are not getting their information from the other side, but from their clients’ minds. In most cases, the psychic may not know he or she is telepathic and would instead assume information is coming from a “spirit guide.” After one session with a well-known Connecticut psychic, I told her the information she related to me was totally accurate but made up in my mind. I told her the accuracy of the fabricated information she related was amazing. This psychic now informs people she is telepathic and to ensure the accuracy of the information coming from the other side, she has her clients meditate before the reading to try and clear their thoughts.

A Real Psychic

I met a psychic named Loretta Chaney during my investigation; Loretta was able to give me information about my father who passed away in 1995. The things she told me were so accurate, I was very surprised. Amazingly, some of the information was very personal and unknown to me at the time; I was able to confirm the information later. Loretta has dozens of testimonies and letters from a variety of people she’s helped. One of the things that impressed me most about Loretta is that she keeps a low profile. Loretta is not looking for publicity; and she is not trying to sell books and doesn’t have her own television or radio show. Loretta is very selective about her clients and will only use her abilities if she believes she can help the person. Loretta and her husband, Scott, work as a team doing not only psychic readings but also healing. The following letter is one of many testimonies that give credit to Loretta’s amazing abilities. It involves a young girl named Chrissy who was murdered by a person she met in an Internet chat room. In a touching session with Chrissy’s mother, Shelley, Loretta was able to contact her from the other side.

A letter from Shelley to Loretta

“Five months after my niece Christina died, I attended a Body, Mind and Spirit Expo where Loretta Chaney was lecturing on the subject of life after death. During her lecture, Loretta did brief readings for some of the people in the audience, including myself. But as Loretta began to ‘tune in’ on my niece for me, she suddenly stopped and said that she wanted to talk to me about my niece after the lecture. At the time, Loretta didn’t know who I was or that my niece was named Christina (‘Chrissy’ as she’s called in this letter). I later learned that when Loretta had first heard of Christina’s death on television and learned that she lived nearby, she prayed and asked God to bring her parents to her in the hope that she could be of some help to them. Chrissy’s primary parent most of her life was me. For that reason, I believe God brought me to Loretta.

“When I caught up with Loretta after the lecture, she immediately felt compelled to do a reading for me. Her very first words were, ‘Chrissy is telling me that you always wanted her to call you Mom, but she never did.’ That blew me away immediately: only Chrissy and I knew that very personal fact. Loretta asked me not to respond, just to listen, because she said Chrissy was talking very fast and she wanted to concentrate on what Chrissy was saying. Loretta gave me details on how Chrissy died that matched the official police and FBI report. The media was reporting the wrong information so the public, including Loretta, did not know the real truth.

“Through Loretta, Chrissy described my deepest emotions and thoughts. For example, I had been going to the crime scene and going over the crime itself obsessively. Chrissy asked me to stop that behavior because it was affecting both of us in a negative way. Chrissy had a wonderful sense of humor and could make anyone laugh. Loretta was able to let that identifying sense of humor come through and at several points she used mannerisms only Chrissy would. Loretta described in detail artwork of Chrissy’s I had framed after she died . . . no one knew about that. Loretta described activities I did while Chrissy was missing. She also described meaningful activities Chrissy and I did before she died. There was so much detail in this reading, I was convinced I was talking to Chrissy. By the time Loretta was done, I was in awe. I was now a definite believer that there is life after death, which took a huge weight off of my physical and emotional being. I was able to continue with my grieving process in a much healthier way.

“However, six months after the reading, I was at an emotional low point again. I was blaming myself for not getting involved in Chrissy’s life the first three years after her birth, which are so critical and key in a child’s basic, overall development. I felt that maybe if I had gotten involved with her life, she would not have made the fatal decision to meet her Internet contact at the mall. I was beating myself up mercilessly and while I was at this low point, Loretta called me on the phone to see how I was doing! Several minutes into our conversation, Loretta said that she felt Chrissy’s presence around me. She told me Chrissy wanted to speak with me again. Through Loretta, Chrissy told me to stop worrying about her. (I was worrying if she was OK and in a safe place.) She said that she was fine and very happy. Chrissy also told me to stop worrying about not being with her in the first three years of her life. She explained I wasn’t supposed to be there then. My not coming into her life when she was three years old was as it was supposed to be.

“Then Loretta told me details of the surrounding area where I was standing in my house. Remember, we were talking on the phone and Loretta had never been to my home. This part of the impromptu telephone reading was validation from Chrissy that she was and is always with me when I need her. Chrissy, through Loretta, told me that my prayers and others’ prayers are strengthening her, and my actions on this earth are helping her where she is now. This information was an invaluable gift to me because it means I can still take care of Chrissy even now with my actions here on Earth. A primary need of a mother is to be able to take care of her child. Chrissy, through Loretta, gave me back my will to live and to be productive in society again because I now realize that through prayer and helping others, I am helping Chrissy too.”

I could present letter after letter just like the one above that give testimony to Loretta’s incredible ability, but I think the point has been made. The number of practicing fake psychics is like an overcast sky blocking out the sun on a warm day, but Loretta is a break in those clouds and has allowed the light to shine on this skeptic’s face making me believe that although very few psychics are on the level, some are legit. If only the great Houdini was around today, I feel his view on the subject would have been considerably less negative after meeting
Loretta. Loretta and her husband became very good friends of mine and often assist me in my paranormal investigations.