Spring of 1997
About 7 years ago, I was walking thru a cemetery which I had discovered back in 1999 while I was guarding a construction site one night. The cemetery isn't that widely used anymore. As a matter of fact, the last burial was in 1997 and the gravestones date back as far as 1875. I decided to make a sojourn to the old cemetery one day, just to see how big the place actually was. Some of the graves were so old that there were depressions in the ground here and there where I assumed the casket had simply rotted away and fallen apart, allowing the dirt to fall in. As I was reading the name and dates on this one headstone, I caught a glimpse of something moving at a nearby tree. I looked over there and much to my astonishment, I saw a little girl wearing a white bonnet and a blue dress, timidly watching me from behind the tree. As soon as I made direct eye contact with her, she vanished. I got goose bumps all over! I made my way over to the area, did some searching and found the grave of a little girl. I can't remember her name, but she was 12 years old when she died. I went by there and left some flowers for her, to let her know that she hasn't been forgotten.

Mid June, 1999
On June 11, actor, DeForest Kelley, known the world over as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy on Star Trek, passed away from cancer. I had the pleasure of meeting him once at a book signing in Dallas back when "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" had been released. One night I had a dream that I was in my old neighborhood in Dallas, walking down Douglas Avenue towards the street I lived on when I loooked up and saw DeForest Kelley in his medical uniform standing about 50 yards away from me.
He was smiling and waving as if to say goodbye. I woke myself up saying, "Goodbye, Bones."
It gave me a good feeling that he came by to tell me goodbye on his way to the Other Side.

Friday, October 31, 2003
While I was in Los Angeles in October of 2003, beginning my celebrity grave hunting adventures at the famous Hollywood Forever Cemetery, I had a rather strange experience. As I was walking toward the Abbey Of The Psalms Mausoleum, a feeling of dread came over me. I could think of no idea why I should feel so affraid, but as I got closer to it, the feeling grew. It got to the point where I was forcing myself to go forward. I don't know how far away from it I was when I finally stopped, but one thing was for sure, I could not continue and would not approach any further. I also actually felt a sudden need to go to the bathroom (which I found in the Office, thanks to Annette Lloyd). In all the other parts of the cemetery, I felt nothing but peace among the stillness of the graves and tombs, but for some strange reason, the AotP was different. At first, I couldn't figure out why, but then I felt that there was definitely something wrong about the place. I felt the need to try and get closer and as I did, I felt the presence of something there, the presence of something that shouldn't have been there at all. A mausoleum is supposed to be part of sacred ground, but I felt nothing sacred about this place. My theory is that somehow, a Gate or Door exists there, a Gate or Door to a place dark, cold and foreboding. A place of evil. And I think that it is through this Gateway or Door that something enters our world, something that has no business being here.

Wednesday, November 5, 2003.
At one time while in the Freedom Mausoleum, I noted that the sun was going down and the cemetery would close soon, so I made my way back up the stairs to the main floor and walked down the corridor to the exit. Just as I was about to cross the threshold, I became aware of a feeling that I had forgotten something. I turned around and went back inside and down the stairs again. I had no idea where I was going. I just followed the feeling down the corridor, which now had taken on a sureal quality. I followed the corridor down to the end and looked left and then right. I turned right and found myself in a columbarium area (where urns are interred). I found myself looking at a wall of names of people that I didn't know. Then, I got what I can only call the mental equivalent of a tap on the shoulder. I turned around and found myself face to face with the grave of an old online friend named Denis. He was what you would call a Celebrity Grave Hunter. The last time he was there, he was chased out of the Freedom Mausoleum by a Security Guard. The irony? Denis chose to leave us on August 14, 2000. Now he is there forever. When I heard of his passing, I was very hurt and angry. Now, he was reaching out to me. I reached out and touched to cool stone covering of the niche and wished him Peace as well as thanking him for guiding me. When I left, this time, I felt a feeling of peace come over me and since I suffer from Depression, like Denis did, I felt that in a way, I had found peace with a part of myself.

August of 2004.
Back in August of 2004, after I had gotten my car, I decided to drive out to Roswell, New Mexico for a weekend stay. I saw the UFO Museum and went to a couple of stores and had a great time. When it was time to go back home, I got up in the middle of the night, packed and then checked out. I was worried about the journey back, though because of my lack of sleep that night. I was still worrying about the long drive. I asked God to help me out. A few minutes later, much to my astonishment, the car filled up with the scent of Roses. I pulled over off of the highway briefly to see if I could find where the scent was coming from. I could not find any point of origin for it nor any explanation. I drove back home the rest of the way knowing that I as beiing watched over and protected. I made it back home without incident.

Friday, January 28, 2005.
While vacationing in Los Angeles, I went out to Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Culver City to take some pics of some celebrity graves. I got pictures of the graves of Sharon Tate, Bing Crosby, Bela Lugosi, Rita Hayworth, Rosalind Russell and wanted to get pictures of several others.

As I was searching (in vain) for the grave of Mr. Jimmy Durante, I happened to look to my left and I saw, standing about 30 yards away, a young man who looked to be in his late 20's gazing at me. It was around Noon. He was a white male, about 5' 10' with thick, black well kept hair. He was wearing a long sleeve, white dress shirt and black suit pants. He looked at me in such a way that I thought he was annoyed with me or just curious. I took my eyes off of him for approximately 3 seconds while I got my bearings once again and then glanced back his way to give him a smile and a wave. Much to my puzzlement, though, he was gone. I scanned the area where he had been standing and he was nowhere to be found. In the particular area in which he'd been standing there are no trees and there is absolutely no way possible that he could have gotten out of sight so quickly unless he'd had a jet engine strapped to his back. One moment he was out in the open, the next, he was gone! My puzzlement became astonishment as I realized it was a ghost I saw. This ghost, however, looked slightly familiar, but I just couldn't place him. About a week later, after I had returned home, I started scoping out the Find A Grave website for celebs graves I'd missed. I clicked on one name and as I looked at the face of the actor there, I gasped! Before me was the very face of the ghost I had seen in the cemetery. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I saw the ghost of Vince Edwards. Who was Vince Edwards? In the 1960's he was best remembered as Dr. "Ben Casey".

Time and Date Unknown
It was inevitable that someone would bring up The Boogeyman here.
Yes, I had to deal with one, too. It terrorised me until I was about 13 years old. I would be in a dream state and aware of all things around me. It would come out from under my bed (I think), leap up and scare me. It was covered with this matted like fur and looked similar to a werewolf, but it would make this sound which would scare me rather badly. My most vivid recollection of this creature was in a dream I had in which I was walking down the stairs in the old house in Dallas. Suddenly, I felt its presence behind me! Desperate to escape its clutches, I leaped down the stairs, fairly flying as Superman would. I looked behind me, expecting to see a look of failure on its fearsome visage. To my amazement, it wasn't there. My blood turned to ice and I looked towards the bottom of the stairs where I would soon land....and there, to my horror, it waited. I woke up in a cold sweat. Not long afterwards, about a month or so later, I think, I had another dream about it. I walked into my bedroom (which was on the top floor of the house) and I suddenly realised that it was going to attack me. My eyes zoomed in on the place next to my bed where I instinctively knew it would jump up. I then suddenly found myself flying through the air, right towards it. But I'd had enough! I was P.O'd! I stuck both my fists out in front of me. When it leaped up, my fists connected with its face and I knocked it out the window. When I looked out, there was no sign of it at all.
I had defeated the Boogeyman.

Cut to: My apartment 22 years later. Interior. My girlfriend and I had sat down to watch an episode of one of my favorite shows. We were having a relaxing evening together and enjoying the show. Then, at a point in the show, one of the supporting charachters suddenly died. As one of the main charachters watched, the room went dark and a spotlight came on. From beside the bed came this truly hideous laugh of triumph....and a shape slowly rose into view saying, "COOP! WHAT HAPPENED TO JOSIE?" Once again, my blood turned to ice. Laurie said my mouth dropped open and I became a bit pale. I think I said something to the effect of, "I'm screwed!" I explained it to her later and we had a laugh over it. A couple of night later, once again dreaming, I found myself walking on a familiar street corner, going to someplace which is now long gone. I happened to look across the street and there I saw my old nemesis. He had changed, though. Instead of looking like the hairy beast of my nightmares, he looked more like this. He eyed me wearily, as if looking for a weakness, yet not daring to approach because he knew I was on to him. I glared at him and looking away, he walked away. I have not seen him/it since.

December of 2005
I decided to get away for a week or so during the first week of December, so I headed down to Galveston. I checked in at my usual hotel, got my laptop set up and then went out to have a bite of dinner. After returning to the hotel, I got all settled in and since darkness had fallen, I decided on a nice, quiet evening in my suite. After some internet surfing and some reading from my new literary aquisition, “Belushi: A Biography”, I felt a bit tired from my drive and decided to go to bed early. Clothes and shoes were doffed, covers were pulled back and my head was on the pillow. After about 30 minutes, I’d finally gotten comfortable. Then, I felt a drop in the air temperature. I smiled and closed my eyes. Then, I heard it! From the opposite side of the room, there came a low moan. My eyes snapped open and I sat bolt upright in my bed! The lights were on in an instant! The air still had a slight chill to it. I got dressed and went down to the Lobby and asked the Lady at the Front Desk if I could move to another room. She asked me if there was anything wrong with the room. I told her. She gave me the most flabergasted look you ever saw. As I was finished telling her of my situation, another young woman came out of the back office and heard the tail end of my story. She asked, "What's the matter?" The Desk Clerk said, 'The Crying Ghost' is in his room." The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up and it was my turn to be flabbergasted. No one had told me that the hotel was haunted. And it isn't just the room I was in, it's the entire 5th Floor.

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
During the first week of March I drove up to Tulsa, Oklahoma to do a little celebrity grave hunting. I went to visit the graves of standup comic and comedic actor Sam Kinison, and the King of Western Swing Music, Bob Wills. While on a nocturnal visit to the grave of the aforementioned Mr. Kinison, I had a paranormal experience. I had been thinking about Sam and remembering something I read about his last moments on this Earth. According to reports from witnesses, as he was dying on that desert highway with EMS Techs desperately trying to save him, he looked puzzled and said, "But why?" He then was silent for a moment and then said, "Okay. Okay!" And then he smiled and said as though to someone he loved very much, "Okay." Then he was gone. As I was walking back to the front gate, I thought to myself that he probably saw either his father or his brother, both who preceded him in death, or maybe both of them before he left us. About a minute later, I smelled something as though it was right next to me. It was the distinctive smell of BEER! I stood there slightly astonished and then looked in a radias of several yards looking for the source of this smell. I could find none! The smell went away. Then I continued a ways, then stopped walking, smiled and with tongue firmly in cheek, I asked out loud, "Sam, are you offering me a beer?" The smell came back!! I accepted the offer with a smile but only on the condition that it would not impact me in a negative way. As I was leaving the cemetery, I told any and every spirit watching me that they could not go beyond the boundry of the gates or walls to follow me and that I was leaving what was left of the "beer" with Sam.

Wednesday, July 10th, 2007
I think that my brother Stewart's house may be haunted. It's a manufactured place and an elderly woman lived there before Stewart moved in. He told me of seeing an old woman there but because of his mental illness, I didn't buy it. The last time I spent the night there, I as at my laptop posting and surfing when I heard the rustle of cloth. I looked up from the computer and over towards the sound and saw the lower half of a white dress. It was transparent and it glided across the floor for a few steps and then vanished. Since no one is living in the house now, I am wondering if she goes back every now and again to stay there in the comfort of a place which was once hers.