By
Pete Haviland Founder of Texas' Lone Star
Spirits
I drove my parents crazy when
I was a child. I was always able to see and
sense things of a paranormal nature. I drove
them crazy with questions of which they had
no answers.
My first significant experience
occurred when I was 11 or 12 years old. I
was watching a monster movie with my dog,
I think the show was Frankenstein. My dog
alerted and began to growl. I felt the chill
in the air as a cold breeze drifted into the
room. By this time my dog's hair was standing
on end and she was growling at something on
the stairs. I looked up the stairs to see
my grandfather. He had a smile on his face
like he was coming down for breakfast, but
why was my dog acting like this? She knew
him. My grandfather continued down the stairs
and walked towards the hall closet –
then vanished.
The significance was, that my
grandfather had been deceased for about a
year when he visited me that day. I was never
scared of him in life and contrary to the
cold air, seeing him again was a warm, welcome
feeling for me, and I don't think my dog was
too thrilled with it…..
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My unanswered questions began to gel that
night and that's when I began to seek out
and learn everything I could about haunted
areas and ghost stories. There was never a
place I did not go, that I wasn't reading
about the paranormal, ghost trains, murderous
locations and all the while absorbing the
ghosts viewpoint first and then the persons
perspective on the event. I entered High School
with a knowledge base that most might not
have had (or didn't speak about.) A knowledge
base of demonology, possessions, candle magic,
psychic dreaming, mediumship, haunting's and
about the people that studied them. Peter
Green, D. Scot Rogo, Hans Holzer, Peter Underwood,
The Warrens, Houdini and Harry Price to name
a few. These were my teachers on what would
develop my passion, my calling and my life.
I began to get together with friends with
similar interests and we would try to help
people that were having these issues. And
at that point in my life, the only thing I
could offer was to be a witness. Then an opportunity
presented itself. I had heard about a house
in our neighborhood where an elderly lady
had been experiencing items being moved and
sounds of items being dropped in her library.
When she went to see what caused the commotion,
she would find a book on the floor. I had
heard through the grapevine of the activity
and researched where the house was located.
I figured, why not! I should put into practice
what I had been studying and off I went. I
introduced myself to the lady, that I will
call Mrs. Smith, and we talked for a while.
She originally thought I was asking to cut
the lawn, but what saucers she had for eyes
when I asked her about the rumors of her house.
She was very receptive and we became really
good friends. I would stop by after school
and visit and we would talk about the bumping's.
She would make me a glass of tea and a tuna
sandwich and we would have a great time. This
went on for a few weeks until I was looking
for a job to make some extra money. So I could
not spend as much time with Mrs. Smith, but
we did see each other occasionally. The bumping's,
she told me, were more frequent when I left!
Well Mrs. Smith was on in years and I knew
she was moving to her son's place up north,
so we made it a point to visit when we could
before she moved. We were both kind of upset
with this turn of events, as we both knew
the friendship was going to change. Neither
of us wanted it to, but it had to.
The afternoon before the moving
van was to arrive, Mrs. Smith invited me over.
She knew I collected ghost books and such
and wanted to see if there was something in
the library I would like to have. We both
knew that this was our final get together
as I looked through her collection. I found
a book that I liked - a second printing of
Alice in Wonderland, man that was cool! I
went back into the kitchen to wish her a safe
trip, when I heard noises up stairs. All my
aged friend would say was, "The bumping's
are back." I went up stairs heard the
noise again. I opened the door to her guestroom
and got smacked in the head with a book! There
were no books in there, the room had been
emptied and the furniture sold off. I picked
up the book and started to laugh. I brought
it down with me and Mrs. Smith asked me if
I was okay, I told her what happened and showed
her the book. We both laughed some more. The
title of the book? GONE WITH THE WIND.
I learned a lot that day. I
learned that strong emotions can trigger paranormal
responses - Psycho Kinetic energy bursts,
that I would later learn are the cause of
most poltergeist activity.
All along my path, I learned lessons such
as these. When I entered college, I was blessed
with a psych professor that would allow me
to write on parapsychology or haunting as
long as it was in the scope of the lectures.
It was here that my passion began to branch
out into other forms of paranormal energy
studies and how it has been documented. I
started learning about EVP studies at this
time and the work that Raymond Bayless, Friedrich
Jurgenson, Sarah Estep, Spiricom and Meeks
were doing. I found it fascinating that communication
with the dead had happened and people had
been documenting this for a long time. I realized
that it was not at all as had been advertised
and discovered many other aspects of the phenomena.
Sarah Estep's name was familiar somehow, so
I searched the internet for the name. I learned
that she was a school teacher and had been
was recording voices in her home in Maryland,
on her reel to reel. Suddenly I had Déjà
vu', I knew this name! I searched some more
and heard her spectacular EVP's at Point Lookout.
I read excerpts from a book she wrote, VOICES
of ETERNITY. I was onto something and all
the while I felt that I knew her. I found
more information - she was an English Teacher
in Severna Park, Maryland, where I grew up.
Now I really wanted to speak with her. I read
that she had founded the American Association
of Electronic Voice Phenomena and it was here
that I emailed Directors of the AA-EVP, Tom
and Lisa Butler, which they forwarded to Mrs.
Estep. One day I got home to find an email
waiting in my inbox from Sarah Estep! Confirming
in fact that indeed I had known her, she was
my first grade teacher! We have enjoyed correspondence
ever since and the bond we have now will never
leave. My only wish is that I would have known
about her interests when I was growing up.
How enriching it would have been to be influenced
by her experience.
Another path that was introduced to me was
meeting author and paranormal researcher,
Loyd Auerbach. The experiences and knowledge
I have gained from him over the years has
been phenomenal. It was September of 2000
and Carolyn and I were on our honeymoon. I
had always been a fan of ghost shows and I
saw a story about The Moss Beach Distillery
in California. Carolyn and I decided to pay
it a visit. While we were sitting at the bar,
waiting for our table, I gave my business
card to the person taking reservations and
had asked if they had any ghost stories and
such. When our table was ready, they sat us
at a table for two by a window with an incredible
view of the sunset. What a perfect evening
is was becoming. I had just placed my order
when a man approached our table and introduced
himself. "Hello, I am Loyd Auerbach with
the Office of Paranormal Investigations."
Well at this point, I didn't know whether
to be star-struck, shake my head because I
was hallucinating, or just be me. I chose
the latter and he explained that he got my
business card from the restaurant and wanted
to introduce himself to a fellow investigator.
We chatted for a few minutes and he told us
a little about the Moss Beach haunting and
told me to call if I ever had any questions.
And I have many times to this day.
A Couple of years later, Loyd was putting
together a conference to discuss the state
of paranormal investigation, parapsychology
and regulatory ideas and I was asked to fly
out to Oakland to be apart of it. I was so
honored to be able to add my opinion to this
meeting.To I met people I had only read about,
Like Kerry Ganor, Al Rauber,and seeing Loyd
Again wasa dream come true. We discussed everything
from Ghost Enthusiasm to watching Case presentations….I
could die now!
Throughout the years I have witnessed people
play off the paranormal for lots of things:
monetary gain, attention, enthusiasm and knowledge.
Which brings me to how I became involved with
Lone Star Spirits. It was in October of 1997
when I heard that Katie Phillips in Houston
was looking to form an investigative team.
She had experiences in her life that she wanted
to confirm and further her knowledge base
as well. I contacted her and we met on Halloween
in Old Town Spring, Texas at Wuenche Brothers
Saloon. There were 7 people at that meeting,
each with a talent and that evening I hold
close to my heart. The team has changed from
those days, but they helped bring Lone Star
Spirits to the heights that it has accomplished
11 years later. Members have come and gone,
but we have now become technologically advanced,
mediumistically accurate and we are forever
searching for the truth, no matter what. So,
as I age and my path grows, I will follow
my passion, my calling, my life.
PETE HAVILAND has been invited
to speak at local colleges, libraries, business
events and conferences on the paranormal,
and also teaches classes on the subject. With
his conversational style, high energy and
humor, he has always been a hit. If you would
like to book Pete for your next engagement,
please call: 281-446-2276 for availability.
