"The Walking Dead: Season Premiere" Recap

Months have passed since the Governor’s reign of terror at the prison but as always, Rick and company overcome another obstacle and set up a small community with Rick, his family and the Woodsbury survivors.  Rick walks out in the walker-free prison yard full of plants and gardens, getting his green thumb on while walkers look on, pressing against the fence. Carl comes down to check on Violet the pig, whose being raised for food. Rick warns Carl not to name the animals.

Picture Credit: collider.com

Back in the prison courtyards, booths are set up as a survivor sanctuary and many are calling out for Daryl. Carol jokes to him that she’s known him first. A boy named Patrick comes up and asks to shake Daryl’s hand because he was so ecstatic that Daryl brought the crew a deer the night before. While survivors gather in the courtyard, more survivors are in the prison yards stabbing gathering walkers against the fence. One of the survivors is Karen. Ty comes up to her and tells her he is going on a run. They embrace, a sign that their relationship is more than just a friendship.

Picture Credit: collider.com

Glen and Maggie wake up, with Glen telling her that “she shouldn’t go out today”. Maggie isn’t too thrilled at hearing this but obliges to stay in the prison as Glen goes out.

Daryl and a boy named Zack are packing up a truck full of supplies when Beth shows up and gives Zack a kiss but Beth won’t say good-bye to Zack. Daryl comments how it’s all “like a damn romance novel.”

A man named Bob pops out and asks Sasha if he can join in on the group run. Sasha mentions he’s only been there for a week but the man is grateful for being at the prison and wants to pull his weight in. Daryl mentions to Sasha that he was a medic in the Army and can be beneficial to the run. Sasha and Daryl agree that Bob can join the run.  

Picture Credit: collider.com

Hershel joins Rick in the gardens when Michonne returns on horseback. Carl and Rick open up the gates…with newly set traps at the gates inspired by Rick’s old friend. They securely seal the gate and Michonne happily gives comic books to Carl, much to Carl’s delight. She also gives a gift to Rick. At the same time, Daryl and crew are ready to go out on their run. Michonne offers to join. Carl mentions that Michonne just got back but Michonne reassures Carl that she will be back.

Back at the gardens and stables, Rick commands Carl to stay put and do his chores. While the crew do their own run, Hershel tells Rick that the counsel (Michonne, Daryl, Sasha, and Carol) wants Rick to take his gun along with his knife when he goes out on his own runs. Rick goes out to explore the woods when he sees a dead animal carcass. Before he can get to it, he sees a walker stumble out to it. Rick retreats and tries to sneak away when the walker stands up…except it’s a woman. “Please…please help me!” she pleads in a soft voice. The woman, named Clara, pleads with Rick to help her bring the animal back to her and her boyfriend because they haven’t eaten in days. Rick obliges and hands her a parcel. Clara asks if she can go back with Rick but Rick says he will consider it but only if Clara takes Rick back to her boyfriend and they answer some questions. Rick asks Carla to pat her down for weapons and sees Clara is armed with a knife. Rick warns Clara to not pull anything on him or that she will lose. “I don’t have anything else to lose,” Clara hauntingly replies.

Out in the prison yard, a group of kids are out and playfully calling out to the walkers, since one of them has a nametag named “Nick” on it. Carl comes down and warns the kids not to call them names. He lectures the kids that walkers are no longer people. One of the kids reacts to Carl that she has seen walkers turn and that people kill people but the people still have names. Carl still warns them not to name them. It is now story time for the kids and Patrick jokes that it’s kiddy but he still likes to go.

Picture Credit: collider.com

The gang arrive outside Big Lots where a tent is set up in front of it. Daryl mentions that the Army helped set it up and to clear the area before going into the store to see if they can pick up supplies. All that’s left in the tent are corpses. Daryl and Patrick lean against the window, waiting for walkers to appear. Zack is still determined to figure out what Daryl did before the apocalypse. He concludes Daryl was a homicide cop. Daryl plays along and tells him that he was undercover and that “he doesn’t like to talk about it because of heavy shit”. Before they can proceed, walkers bang against the window and the group is ready to take them off.  Before entering the store, Bob notices torn off legs near the entrance…but what they can’t see is the group of walkers and a crashed helicopter on top of the store.

Back in the woods, Clara explains to Rick that she was at the airport on her way to vacation but the flights were cancelled and she spent four days sleeping in the airport. On the fourth night, chaos ensued and someone saved her. Clara explained that he showed her things she had to do in order to survive, like eat animal carcasses and rotten fruit and to also leave people behind who needed “her help”. Rick tells her he didn’t save people for charity but because people help people and they are the best defense against walkers. Clara hopes that her and Eddie can answer Rick’s question to his satisfaction.

Back in the store, the crew does a bit of grocery shopping in the dark. Bob walks by the wine/beer shelf and picks up a bottle of wine…he is tempted to sneak it in his jacket but decides not to and puts it back on the shelf but not without the whole shelf collapsing on Bob. Bob is okay but his leg is stuck. The crash alerts the walkers. But the weight of the ceiling weakens as the walkers walk over it. Walkers continue dropping through the ceiling. Two attack Glenn but Glenn reaches his gun on time. Ty shoots a couple while Sasha unleashes rounds. Michonne goes on a slashing spree. Daryl is once again, using his trusty crossbow. Bob tries calling out for help, still stuck under the shelves as a walker crawls closer to him. To make matters so much better, the helicopter begins to cave in. Fortunately, Bob grabs his hand through the walkers head so Daryl can drag back the walker and stomp it’s head. Sadly, Zack gets bit in the leg and becomes food for the walker. Before Zack can suffer anymore, the helicopter crashes inside the store and the crew barely escapes.

Out in the woods, Carla leads Rick to her camping spot. “Eddie, he is here to help us! We have to help Eddie!” Carla exclaims. Rick is suspicious when he notices Carla’s tent is completely empty. Carla brandishes her knife on Rick but Rick pushes her down and brandishes his gun at her. The woman grows frantic as Rick realized that “Eddie” is a walker head in a bag. Carla becomes frantic; “I kept him, it was wrong, I can’t do things like this, you have to do things like this, let me be like him, don’t stop it or end it after. Let me be with him!” Carla then stabs herself in the stomach. A frustrated Rick kneels down at Carla’s body as she begins to bleed out. Rick still asks her the questions of how many walkers she’s killed and how many people she’s killed. ““I didn’t kill at all….until….” she continues moaning out and then admits she hasn’t killed anyone but herself because “I don’t get to go back….” Clara dies and Rick leaves Clara and Eddie in peace.

Back at the prison, Carol is in the library reading a story to the kids. But after an adult leaves the library (with Carl sneaking around), Carol closes the book and gets out a box of knives. She tells the kids she will teach them how to safely handle and use a knife. Patrick asks to be excused because he’s not feeling well. Carol excuses him. But Carl stands up and Carol is caught. Carol begs Carl not to tell Rick.

The walkers gather outside the prison as Rick gets back to business in the prison garden…and notices the same walker with the bleeding eyes….he then notices that Violet the pig is still not responding.

It’s nightfall and everyone is safely back in their bunks in the prison cell. Karen is in her bunk sewing when Ty comes back. Ty admits not liking going out there and Karen comforts him.

Maggie tells Glen that she’s not pregnant. “I didn’t want to, but we could’ve. We can have lives here” Maggie exclaims. Glen reminds her of what happened to Lori and the gruesome world they live in now. Maggie doesn’t want to live in fear but Glen reminds her that that’s what’s kept her alive for so long.

Daryl goes in Beth’s bunk to tell her that Zack didn’t make it. Beth takes the news rather well. Daryl watches her. “I don’t cry anymore Daryl, I’m just glad I got to know him,” Beth replies. Daryl agrees that he’s tired of losing people as well. Beth hugs Daryl and confesses to him that she’s glad she didn’t tell Zack good bye.

 Michonne is studying a map and comes across an area called “Macon”. Her next run location?

Picture Credit: teaser-trailer.com 

Hershel consoles Rick about the fate of Carla and her state of mind. Rick realizes that he almost came close to the state Clara was in but Hershel assures Rick that he has so much to come back to.

Bob is about to go to sleep in his bunk when he’s awakened by the sound of coughing. Patrick gets up and stumbles into the shower, coughing and sick. He goes in the shower and turns it on, trying to cool his body down. He passes out and stumbles, his head hitting the tile. The shower runs very briefly before running out. But then Patrick wakes up as a walker….


Janes Notes: FINALLY we are here for the season premiere! I have to say that there was a somewhat uplifting tone and atmosphere to the prison compared to how it was at the end of the last season. It seemed Rick is back to his old self again, playing the leader and welcoming those who need it (even creepy Clara and her "boyfriend"). I think the ONE thing that really stood out to me was the "bleeding eye" walker I called it that Rick noticed at least twice...is it merely coincidence or is it a clue of what's to come? 

But after what has happened to Patrick...this is just a warm-up of what's to come and I think Patrick (along with some "insider" help) is once again going to raise hell in the prison...and I believe we'll see some of the most gruesome sh*t we have yet to see of the whole series. 

Follow me on Twitter @janespringfield 

The Walking Dead S3 Recap

Well walker fans, tomorrow is THE night!!! What we have long anticipated...the season 4 premiere of "The Walking Dead"!!! Is anyone else stoked?? I'm so thrilled because I have a new job with flexible hours and am so happy that I can now actually watch the show and recap immediately. I wrote this post after Season 3 but I'm reposting to serve as a memory refresher. 

After the end of Season 2, Rick and the gang were overcoming a huge obstacle as walkers overran Hershel's farm. Hershel's family had endured the loss of his wife and son. Andrea was separated from the group and when she seemed to reach her end point, Michonne mysteriously appears and takes her in. The gang go from house to house, wondering about the grim future in their nihilistic reality. 

A new sanctuary

The season started out with promise. The group FINALLY found a safe haven, Lori was about to pop out a baby, Michonne and Andrea were taken or kidnapped to what seemed to be like a safe haven and there was no Shane to be a pouting ninny to ruin the fun for everyone. All was well (well, as well as it could be in a post-zombie apocalypse).

But alas, all must things in such a world must turn into a major clusterflip of epic porportions and there's always gotta be that someone to cause it. First season was Merle. Second was Shane. This time, it was the Governor. But before I get to him, lets get to the major deaths of the story: T-Dog and Lori, especially when Carl took Lori's own life and it seemed as if Rick was about to lose his marbles for good....fortunately, his crew gave him space, he earned a trusty companion in Michonne who was sympathetic to Rick's plight and eventually, helped pulled him out of his slump to where he could function as a leader again.

An emotional mid-season blow

There were new friends made, new rivals and new reunions. There was first the prisoners; while Tomas and Andrew turned no pun intended against Rick, Axel and Oscar decided to help within the ranks of the group as much as possible; unfortunately, the new allies's deaths came much too soon. Daryl blindly went off with Merle but not for long before Daryl...with Merle following...returned to his new family to rescue Rick and the others. Andrea and Michonne's friendship of survival and trust turned sour when Michonne left Woodbury but Andrea "chose a warm bed" over friendship. The decision meant that in the end, Michonne was alive and "on the good side" while a blindsided Andrea was stepping closer to her death by, interestingly enough, someone she considered a friend. Lesson learned, ladies...chicks over dicks! But the deaths kept continuing as the troublemaker that survived a walkerfest in Atlanta (I'm talking Merle) did one decent thing in his life and the end result was getting shot and turning, much to his brother's grim discovery.

A tragic end... 

But the Governor's reign of terror made the deaths of Lori and T-Dog seem like a side story after awhile, from his random mafia-style hits, to the walker fights, invading the prison and then going off the deep end and slaughtering his own townspeople. Rick was still lost, searching for Lori and was disappointed to know that when he reunited with his personal savior Morgan, that Morgan seemed to have lost his own set of marbles for good and refused to join the crew back at the prison. At that same time, Rick neglected a hitchiker that screamed for help, only to be fallen prey to walkers. This inhumanity was beginning to rub off on a growing Carl at an alarming rate. Rick was ready to turn in Michonne to the Governor. A MUCH different tune than the way Rick led the group in the beginning. It made me very anxious as a fan to see how the show would end. But once again, the show never fails to disappoint when it comes to season finales. The show leaves behind a glimmer of hope in a world that seemed to get more gruesome, darker and bloodier; Rick's humanity is slowly being restored (maybe perhaps partially influenced by guilt for his recent actions and behavior and how it's rubbing off on Carl) when he and the crew bring in the survivors of Woodbury. While Woodbury and the prison have their comparisons as far as security goes, the people of Woodbury are much better off under Rick than the Governor's facade. But what will the next chapter bring to the table? 

Join me on Twitter tomorrow night at 9pm PT for some live tweeting @janespringfield 

Staten Island Law: Recap of Episodes 5 & 6

Elura and Michele hit the Staten Island Museum archives to settle a dispute between two men—each of whom claim their bar to be the oldest on the island.

Staten Island Law is a new reality show that first aired in January, 2013 on OWN. The show’s stars are attorneys and best friends, Elura Nanos and Michele Sileo. The ladies came up with the concept to film their mediation sessions with clients and showcase their problem solving skills. I decided to give the show a try based on the promo because these two ladies are funny, intelligent, informative and play off of each other so well it’s like they are a legal comedy team. I loved the concept of the show, but the first four shows were, in my opinion, overloaded with things having nothing to do with mediation. I wrote recap blogs on the first four shows and offered up some constructive criticism: more mediation and problem solving and less of the “extras” like shopping, visiting the hair salon, and contemplating cosmetic surgery. OWN decided to re-air the first four episodes of Staten Island Law last night, from 6 to 8 PM and then aired two brand new episodes from 10 to 11 PM. I am happy to report that there were big changes in the format of the show! Basically, the things I thought needed to be changed were changed and all for the better. The thirty minutes were mostly spent mediating and problem solving with maybe one “extra” thrown in. The legal expertise and sense of humor of both ladies came shining through, while informing viewers about the various legalities of the situation. I have to say it is very refreshing to watch a reality show that is entertaining and educational with little to no “drama.” Now let me get to my recaps!

Episode 5: “Battle of the Bars”

Two bar owners in Staten Island each claim that their bar/tavern is the oldest. Michele and Elura are called in to resolve this issue. Side issue in this episode is buying a birthday present for uncle Jerry and Michele decides on cigars. The ladies visit a smoke shop and crack a few jokes about how men have found yet another place where they can sit around and do nothing while women are taking care of the house. Eventually, they drop off the cigars to Uncle Jerry, at his liquor store.

So two bar owners want this dispute settled once and for all. The clients are Killmeyer’s Old Bavarian Inn owned by Ken and Liedy’s owned by Larry. Elura feel this is really a factual dispute so they bring both parties together to clear up “why” they need to know which bar is the oldest. They feel the oldest bar will get more tourists to visit it which leads to more profit. Liedy’s boasts of four generations of owners, while Killmeyer’s was established in 1859. The ladies are learning a lot of Staten Island history in the process of researching this case. Staten Island had the first linoleum factory in the United States near Ken’s Bar. And, Michele is thrilled to find out that Madonna made a video in 1988 in the old phone booth that occupies a space in Liedy’s bar. She is so taken with that fact that she has to sit where Madonna sat and says, this is where Madonna made that phone call to her father about having an illegitimate baby. They visit the office of the Staten Island Advance, a local newspaper, that covers all Staten Island happenings. An article in the Advance claims Liedy’s is the oldest bar in Staten Island. Michele and Elura decide they need to visit a historian at the Staten Island Museum, which has archives of resources that date back to the 1600’s, to help them make a definitive decision. The joking doesn’t stop as Elura and Michele don white gloves to touch the documents handed to them and Michele adds they will protect the manicure she just got. The historian shows them a map dated 1859 where is clearly shows the existence of Killmeyer’s. Elura is distracted by Michele’s “Mickey Mouse hands.” It turns out that Liedy’s has only been established since 1905. Michele and Elura have made their decision, and they meet again with Larry and Ken. They lay out the facts: Liedy’s has been established and in Larry’s family since 1905, while Killmeyer’s was established in 1859. Michele wants to know why Larry thinks his bar is older? He says it has the longest running liquor license. Elura tells them what the historian has to say. Kenny owns a piece of history, but Larry is the history. However, Michele announces Killmeyer’s is the oldest bar in Staten Island.  A somewhat shocked and disappointed Larry still isn’t buying it even if 1859 does come before 1905. The legal team suggests creating a historic society of Staten Island taverns to help all their businesses. The two guys are happy.

Episode 6: “Disturbing The Peace”

A loud singer, Angelica, disturbs the peace of her neighbor, Rudy, an engineer who likes to work in his yard which is in close proximity to her bedroom window. Angelica practices three to five hours every day. Side issue has Michele buying a birthday gift for Elura and settles on a bracelet with a toggle clasp, because Elura loves toggle clasps. A little family celebration takes place at a local restaurant.

Rudy is pretty serious about this dispute and is threatening to sue Angelica if they cannot resolve the noise issue. Each of the ladies meets with the clients separately. Michele meets with Rudy and Elura with Angelica. Rudy says the singing is a constant annoyance when he tries to work in his yard and he can’t concentrate. Angelica needs to practice at home, in her bedroom, she can’t afford a studio. Rudy wants to be able to enjoy all of his property and not be forced to work indoors. He is ready to sue, he can‘t go on like this. Elura tells Angelica that even though the  law ordinance doesn’t prohibit noise between 8 and 11, Elura explains that there is a civil matter involved and she could be sued because she is interfering with Rudy’s right to enjoy his property. They make Angelica sing to assess the situation. Michele is outside with Rudy and can definitely hear the problem loud and clear. Michele decides to measure the decibels of Angelica’s voice, which registers at 98, in the same range as a jackhammer or a train, which is surprisingly loud. Time to sit down with both Rudy and Angelica and hammer out a solution. Michele and Elura have a bite to eat while they think. They need pizza to nourish their brain cells. It works! Michele gets a brilliant idea. She thinks they should used Rudy’s profession as an engineer to help solve the problem. Maybe he can sound proof Angelica’s bedroom and they can split the cost, which is not very expensive. They present their solution to Angelica and Rudy. Both of them are pretty agreeable and are happy with the outcome, neither of them wants a lawsuit. Michele and Elura have done it again!

I have to say I am much happy with the changes made and the focus being mainly on Elura and Michele. These two are so refreshing. Just to show you how irresistible they are, my daughter, who would never have put this show on to watch, actually put down her laptop and watched it with me! She never does that, ever. I can’t tell you how many laughs I have per episode and all the while I am learning about every day law. Why wouldn’t anyone watch this show? I can’t even do it justice in a recap because both ladies have such big personalities, you just have to see them in action.

Tune in to OWN next Friday night at10 PM and watch two more new episodes of Staten Island Law! You can probably catch earlier episodes on OWN and their website! Follow Elura and Michele on Twitter because you never know when you might need a little creative mediation in your life (@EluraNanos & @MicheleSileo)

Mob Wives: Season 4 Cast Changes?

Rumor has it that there will be big cast changes on season four of Mob Wives. I have tried to get to the bottom of it, but I can only tell you what I have learned in my spare time from reading Twitter, which is not official. I have been busy the past six months, too busy to keep up with the drama. However, I have a couple of followers who alert me when they see anything of significant interest. About two months or so ago, Carla was having, what I like to call, a “tweeting tantrum” and was directing her rants at Executive Producer, Jennifer Graziano. She went on and on about how Jenn let some of the original mob wives go and replaced them with mob wives from Philadelphia, where some of the filming has been taking place. What did Carla have to say? Here, read the tweets for yourself:

I thought her tweets might make for a good blog one day, so I saved them. I tried to get Mob Mistress to write it up. I knew she would do a better job of it than I could, but she too was very busy with “real life” and never had the time. Last night my brain acted up and wanted me to get what I know out there. Let me sum up the Carla rants for you. Carla said that three mob wives were let go because of money. I guess they wanted more money and VH1 or Just Jenn Productions wasn’t willing to pay them more, but allegedly did pay the others more. She accused Jenn of many things including being a Puppet Master, a backstabber, “the snake who screwed her own friends,” cheap, etc. She said the show should now be called “Philly Wives” and that Love was “played by the puppet master.” All of this makes for a lot of questions, questions I patiently tried to get answers to before writing this blog.  However, contractual issues may be involved as to why no one else is really “spilling the beans.”

In case you haven’t already heard, the other two Mob Wives allegedly being let go are Karen Gravano and Ramona Rizzo. If this is news to you, please take a minute to get over the shock. It’s hard to believe that two “real” major Mob Wives are being let go from a show that is about Mob Wives. Karen’s departure was especially surprising to me because her father, Sammy Gravano, was the Underboss of the Gambino crime family and the one who brought down the “Teflon Don,” John Gotti. As far as I am concerned, he is the most notorious living mobster of our time. Having Karen on the show really kicked off season one of Mob Wives. No one could dispute her “bloodline” and her father’s reputation. The Gravano name was the one name everyone knew. Then we have Ramona, whose grandfather, “Lefty Guns” Ruggiero was so important in the mob that they made a movie in 1997, called “Donnie Brasco,“ with Al Pacino playing the role of Ramona‘s grandfather. I don’t know how either of these two Mob Wives can be “replaced,” but I guess we will find out. From reading Twitter, I have gathered that neither one is happy with this turn of events, but they haven’t said much about it. I have been waiting for the truth to come out, and I still think it will, it’s just a matter of time. I also know that Karen and Ramona have other projects they are working on and I hope they will keep us up to date. As for Carla, well everyone knows how I feel about her, and I think she basically hung herself with her own soap on a rope last season.

Who will be the new cast members? I can give you one name that has been popping up on Twitter in recent weeks, Alicia DiMichele, from Philly.  I have written a couple of blogs on her in the past. You can Google her name and read about her background online. I am not sure who else from Philly might be joining the cast, but Alicia and Renee have become friendly and I think it’s a safe bet she has joined the cast.

How they will tie the leftover New York mob wives with the Philly mob wives is anyone’s guess. I have no idea. I don’t know if there is any history between these women. I don’t know if they had a problem getting a full Philly cast for another spin off and decided to merge the two cities. Who knows? We can’t even get answers to simple questions. Questions like: Why were Karen and Ramona let go? Who is officially joining the cast? Why is this all being kept a secret from fans who supported the show from day one with their loyalty? Why aren’t the ladies being allowed to tell us what happened? Was Love really set up, as Carla, of all people, claims? Was this all about money or is there more to these changes?

And, one last and maybe most important question, how has all this affected the lifelong relationships of the women? It seems to me that these business decisions have affected their friendships. Jenn, Karen and Ramona have been friends since they were kids, but from what I read on Twitter, strictly between the lines, things are not what they used to be. I think that it would be a shame if business has come between them and caused a rift at this time of their lives. But, then again, how could it not?

I’d love to know your thoughts. Will you still be as interested in Mob Wives without Karen and Ramona? Will you watch the show? I will have to watch it. The changes are huge and I’m sure I am going to have a lot to say, one way or the other. After all, two of my favorite Mob Wives were let go and I am starting off season four as an unhappy viewer. Season four of Mob Wives is set to premiere in December so stay tuned.

Special shout out to @drizz24!

One parting gift for Carla from Mob Mistress, as requested:

Picture Credit: Carla's Twitter Account

"Paranormal Witness: Deliver Us From Evil" Episode Recap

The following events occurred in Kokomo, Indiana between 1980 and 1997.

The God-fearing Brock family recently moved into a new home in Kokomo, Indiana. The family consisted of husband and dad Roger, Brock, mother and wife Ann, twin sisters Lisa and Lana and brother James. The girls especially idolized their father for his happiness and compassion. “We understood God through watching our father,” the girls said. Roger felt a calling to relocate the family to Kokomo to commit to ministry at the local church. As they moved in, Roger’s project was to build a big bookshelf that ended up being too tall for the books he had from his seminary days. The books were very valuable to Roger but he was having trouble with the shelf. Roger began hammering the ceilings and walls, making sure that the bookshelf fit just right. It took all night, but he succeeded. The next day, Lana went to the kitchen to wash dishes when she heard a “very strange noise coming from the living room”. She went in the living room and saw that one of the books was hanging halfway off the bookshelf. Lana pushed it back in. This time, the book flew off the shelf, to Lana’s shock. Lana slowly bent down to pick up the book and place it back in the shelf. “There was no reason for that book to be off the shelf,” she said.

During summertime in Indiana, the summers were hot with temperatures in the hundred degree range. One night, when the girls were sleeping in their bunk beds, Lisa woke up on the top bunk and noticed that it began to get strangely cold in her room. She woke up her sister after she saw something on her wall. They both looked and saw swirls of frost and snowflakes on the wall. The girls were beyond startled as it was June. The girls brought in their mother for her to see…but by then, the snow and ice was gone.

The girls were studying one day when James came waltzing in with one of the girls’ pink and white rollerskates off. One of the girls demanded that he take the skates off and when she went to get the skates off a mischevious James, they all the sudden heard a “deathly moan”. It came from under the floor. The girls knew that it couldn’t be James. The moan grew and “vibrated the floor”. It felt like an earthquake. It stopped for a moment but started back up again…the shaking and the deathly moan and growl. The twins and James ran out of the house and refused to go back in until their parents came home. Ann knew something frightened them badly. Roger approached the house bravely as Ann, the girls and James stayed behind. Roger tried to logically explain that it may have been an animal or something else. The girls adamant in talking to her father about the suspicious…and evil activity…but he would dismiss her.

That same night, Lana tried to sleep but was awakened by a “scratching noise” coming from the glass of the window. Lana thought it was a bush rustling or cable wire hanging in the side of the house….

“I saw this hideous face like it was going to come through the glass,” Lana described. “I couldn’t say anything or breathe….”

When the parents heard Lisa’s screams, they rushed to their room and looked out the window. There was no one there. Terrified it was a predator, the predators called the cops. The cops came out, thinking it could’ve been a stalker or a peeping tom. They couldn’t find traces of footprints or fingerprints at the scene. Meanwhile, Lana felt she was still being haunted but couldn’t prove it…

On a brighter note, Lana and Lisa were baptized in the Baptist Church, symbolizing their lifetime of fellowship and faith. Both of the girls were dunked into the water as part of the baptism ritual.

Excited and happy at this milestone in the girls’ lives, the family returned home in a very good mood…until they couldn’t literally get in the house. Roger tried pushing the door in but had no success. The door was sealed shut. “Something large was blocking that door….” Roger asked James to go around the back of the house and to see if he could climb through the back window and then open the front door. James tried crawling through a pane of glass to get in. James climbed in the house successfully but was stopped by something….

James found the bookcase laying in front of the door and after his initial shock wore off, he moved the shelf aside and opened the door. The shelves and the books were scattered all over the floor, the pages ripped out. What was odd about the whole scenario was that only the bookcase was affected and thrown around. The whole family was in shock. These books were the foundation of the family’s faith and just like the books, their faith began shattering at this unknown, evil activity.

“Dad tried to act like nothing happened,” Lisa remembers. “Dad…whipped around and told us that it was a demon.” Lana remembers as well: “My protector finally acknowleged it was a demon…my dad couldn’t deny that something was going on anymore.” Ann actually felt a sense of some relief knowing that it validate what the girls were experiencing. Roger decided to have the house blessed by a preacher from their church. The preacher was going to go from room to room and recite blessings. As a family, they bowed their heads and prayed. The family was very hopeful that this will end.

The first couple of days after the blessing, everything seemed to have returned to normal. James was home one day, sick on the couch as the girls were at school. He then heard “footsteps walking in the attic”. James knew that no one was there. They were heavy footsteps. James got up from the couch and walked around, trying to figure out what it was. James got a flashlight and boldly climbed up the latter to the attic. As James looked around the attic, he couldn’t see anybody. But then…..

Ann was at work when she got a frantic call from James. Ann rushed home immediately to see what was wrong. “James was crying, he was scared,” Ann remembers when she first saw him. Ann and James were waiting for Roger to get home so he could investigate. Roger went up to the attic himself. He couldn’t find anything there.

 The family was growing more miserable at this unseen problem. Lana felt that the situation just escalated after the preacher came in. She would come home from school and would feel a sense of “heaviness” overcome her. James came out of his bedroom one morning and he heard a sound and looked up at the ceiling. They saw a pair of scissors stuck on the ceiling just above the area Roger would sit and read his Bible every day. The kids became terrified that they would be attacked. Roger continued reading his bible as Lisa looked on. She then heard a thumping noise. The ceiling above Roger crashed right on him. Lisa frantically rushed and cried out to her dad, thinking he was killed. Roger wasn’t moving. Lana rushed over to see what had happened. Roger began slowly moving but was bleeding profusely. “My dad was under an attack.” Not only was he under attack physically but also against his faith. Roger and his family sought the answers in their faith but couldn’t find the right answer. The family continued to pray to find answers.

One night, Roger prayed with the girls before they went to bed. That night, the girls went to sleep when they woke up at 3am and heard a knocking sound. Lana said it sounded like her father’s knock. So Lana opened the door, expecting to see her father but no one was there. The knocking happened again and once again, Lana opened the door but saw nothing. Lana walked around the house to see what was there. Everyone was asleep. But Lana became scared and believed that something was stringing her along. Since she found nothing, she went back to bed. But she was awakened again to the sound of footsteps against the carpet. Lisa heard it too and “felt Lana’s fear”. The girls began frantically praying as the footsteps grew closer…

“It’s teeth were like animal’s teeth…it suffocated me. I couldn’t scream.” Lana said.

“I wanted to jump down so bad to help her but I couldn’t jump out of her bed, I was frozen,” Lisa said.

Finally, Lana was out of it’s grasp and began screaming. The family dog came to rescue Lana. Both parents frantically walked in. Ann rushed to Lana’s comfort while Roger looked on. The family noticed that Sam was gone and out there. “Whatever was in the room had to have taken my dog and thrown him out the window,” Lana explained. Roger rushed out to find Sam in horrible pain and suffering. “He was shaking, trembling…something had terrified him badly,” Ann said. “This was the last straw, we wanted it out of the house,” Lana said. Lisa wanted out of the house. The only way they could get out of the house if they were to get married. Lana married her high-school sweetheart, with Roger’s blessing, and escaped the house. Lisa married within the same year for her “freedom” to get out of the house. Whatever was going on in the house had drastically changed Roger. “He wasn’t the same man…he used to be strong, a very charismatic man…he lost a big part of himself,” Lisa said about Roger. A frustrated Ann had enough. They all wanted to start over and make a new life.

Four years later, the house was burned to the ground. In 2005, Roger passed away. The family blames the evilness in the house for Roger’s deteriorating health.

Picture Credit: Syfy

Jane's Notes: Wow...um....this was definitely an episode that packed a lot of punch. But...this one seemed so mind-boggling. I don't really know what to conclude in this one but there's an interesting article about the home and how it could've been possible that a murder took place there. If a murder did happen, that could certainly explain a lot of the activity. Evil spirits? Maybe. Demonic? Dunno. But the ice, the roof, the book tossing....I still really can't wrap my head around it, to be honest. I wish they went more into the possibility of a murder though. It's a case that just seemed so out there, you know? What do you guys think? 

Tony Soprano's Final Curtain

Ruthless Crime Boss or Loving Human Being?

I would be very remiss in not writing a blog dedicated to the beloved actor James Gandolfini, who played fictional mob boss, Tony Soprano, in the HBO hit series, The Sopranos. I am still in shock over his untimely passing. He was so young, so talented, so respected and touched so many lives. He was very much loved and will greatly be missed.

I first became aware of James Gandolfini when I decided to rent season one of The Sopranos. I don’t have HBO, but heard so many good things about the series that I wanted to try it out and see if I liked it. I didn’t like it… I loved it. I decided to return my rented DVD’s and buy season one. I had to own it. Every year thereafter, when a season ended, I patiently waited for it to come out on DVD, usually at Christmas, and would buy it. Then I would watch two or three episodes every night until I had seen it all. I don’t know how many times I have watched the entire series. I never tired of it. It had some of the best writing and acting I have ever seen. The show’s success was in large part due to James Gandolfini, who played his role as Tony Soprano so realistically and flawlessly.

From the first scene in season one, where Tony is out by the pool with his ducks and has a panic attack, you cannot help but be drawn to his character. He was a ruthless mob boss, but he also had his strengths and weaknesses as a human being. The character had so many dimensions that you couldn’t help but love him and root for him. It takes some special kind of acting to make you feel compassion for a mob boss who not only orders the deaths of his enemies, but those who are closest to him, if necessary. Tony carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. The show never glorified the mob lifestyle. The mobsters had plenty of money and lived a lavish life, with big homes and material possessions, but at what price? They had to live in fear of their enemies, the other mob families, who would try to cut on in their money making operations or put contracts out on their lives. They had to worry about the Feds closing in on them, as they were always the target of law enforcement. They had to worry about snitches, especially those closest to them who would wear a wire and supply the incriminating information that could send them to prison. The wives had to accept the fact that their husbands had mistresses, it went hand in hand with the lifestyle. When Carmela often complained to Tony about his mistress, he would tell her, “You knew who I was when you married me.” The mistresses often were given expensive gifts and money, kept in luxury apartments and taken out to social events. The wives were relegated to taking care of the children and house. The mobsters had two separate lives. Every detail of the lifestyle was portrayed on the show. Somehow, instead of judging and criticizing, we get drawn into the human side of all the characters, especially that of Tony Soprano.

I can’t tell you how upset I was when the series came to an end. It’s silly, I know. All shows eventually run their course, and The Sopranos had a very good run. But, I almost felt like I was saying goodbye to “family.” Family that I would no longer be able to see. And now, it’s time to say good bye again. This time it’s for real. Tony Soprano had many near death experiences on the show, but we knew he would survive. He was the star and could not be replaced. James Gandolfini was not as fortunate as his character. Life dealt him a fatal blow from which he could not recover. It’s so sad, no words can describe such a loss. James Gandolfini is still a star that cannot be replaced. He is a star that has taken on a different form and shines even more brightly than before. He is being remembered as a generous, compassionate, loving human being by all those who knew him personally. And I think that is what made his character, Tony Soprano so endearing. That even with his remarkable portrayal of ruthless mob boss, his true inner qualities still managed to shine through on the screen, and make him lovable and unforgettable.

We have never forgotten Tony Soprano, and now we will always remember James Gandolfini. May God watch over his wife and children, as I am sure he is now doing. May you rest in peace, James Gandolfini.

P.S. It’s no coincidence that I chose the pseudonym “Soprano” to write this blog. I thoroughly loved the show and I suppose I wanted to keep a piece of it alive in a way. It’s the reason I was drawn to Mob Wives in the first place. The Sopranos gave me an more in depth understanding of the lifestyle. It’s not all glamour and glitz, there is a lot of worrying and heartache. So when I watch Mob Wives, I do think of Carmela Soprano, and what she had to endure as a wife and mother. And even now, as I reminisce about the show, I wonder how much more there is to each of the Mob Wives’ history, especially Karen, Renee, Ramona and Big Ang. There must be so much that we can’t see and they can’t tell us. Yes, we see what their lives are today, but I am sure there was so much more that happened that must go unsaid.

"Paranormal Witness: Curse of the Lonergan Farm" EP Recap

The following events occurred between 1989 and 1991 at Lonergan farm in Nebraska.

Winter of 1989, Dan Dale comes home from work one day to find out his brother Tim, his wife Sydney and his children would be moving into the farm. Tim Dale wasn’t fond of moving back into the farm but after losing his job, he didn’t want his family out in the streets. “I was very young when my parents moved in and it was a bit tight, lots of people living there!” Laura (Tim’s daughter) Dale remembers. Tim’s mother was suffering from lung cancer. Steve Dale was in high school at the time and had a more upbeat attitude. Regardless of the family situation, they stuck together. Vaunette, Dan’s girlfriend at the time, spent a lot of time at the house as well. The family would reminisce about old times and their family tree. “I was becoming more of a family member, so they were telling me more of these stories!” she recalls. They mentioned their Uncle Will and needless to say, Vaunette realized that he wasn’t very liked among the family.

Lonergan farm 

One night, Dan tucked in his mother good night and made sure everything was taken care of. But when he left the room, he felt that something didn’t feel right…but Dale shook the feeling off. The next day, the three brothers took a walk out in the woods, jumping over logs and going through the trees. Once they got in the back of the woods, they came across an old house…Uncle Will’s old house. “The place scared me since I was a kid,” Tim remembers. “There was something there.” Steve recalls all too well the ghost stories connected with the house. For old times’ sake, the brothers walked to the house and went inside. Tim then heard twigs breaking and felt something was there. The house was dark and dusty. One thing that was commonly heard were bells clinging but there were never any bells around. They were almost like spurs on someone’s boots. The brothers then come across the water well that was used for the water. It was about 70-80ft. deep. It took Dan back to the day he went down the well…

Years ago, Dan’s mom told him and his brothers to check the well because an animal was down there. Steve and Tim hooked up a rope to a tier and helped hook Dan up. Dan took a fishnet with him to pick up the animal and a flashlight to help him see. The boys carefully lowered Dan. Dan was especially scared because of how deep and dark the well was. He eventually reached the bottom and saw there was a dead raccoon. He scooped it up and then began to hear voices in his ear…a man’s voice. Dan thought the brothers were joking with him. “As I’m reaching down the net, I heard someone talk in my ear again and it sounded like it was right behind me,” Dan recalls; “I felt I wasn’t alone. I always felt someone was right behind me.” Dan yelled at the boys to pull him up repeatedly. The boys, realizing something felt off, pulled him up immediately.

 

Their mothers’ cancer worsened and Dan was in the room. The mother was in and out of consciousness the entire time. Something woke the mother up and she was pointing at the doorway, as if she had seen something. “She’s looking fully at someone and there was no one there. I was the only one at the room at the time. It was a very eerie moment,” Dan said. The mother had passed away. Vaunette recalls the tremendous grief the family felt. “My mom was an awesome person….I sure miss her sometimes,” Tim said. The brothers continued living on the farm.

Sticking into unseen territory 

One night in October, Dan took Vaunette out into the woods for a walk. He wanted to “initiate” her into the family by taking her on a spooky trip to Uncle Will’s farm. Vaunette laughed at her boyfriend’s attempt to scare her. “The more you walked in, the more light seemed to be sucked out of it. You didn’t hear anything,” Vaunette explained about walking in the woods. “There was all kinds of debris and you really had to be careful.” The couple finally arrived at the house. Vaunette admitted at being a bit scared by the house’s presence. But she decided to go down the basement with Dan, much to Dan’s teasing. Dan led her down the basement. Vaunette saw holes in the basement wall and asked Dan about it. Dan said that that’s where Uncle Will kept his treasures and anyone who put their hands in the holes will lose their hands. Vaunette picked up a stick and poked them into different holes. There was a hole that was a little bit higher. “For some reason, I can’t explain it….I knew I had to put my hand in that one,” she recalls. So she did. But then she felt a “seering hot pain” in her hand and it was spread up to her elbow. She yanked out her arm and discovered human bites on her arm. The couple ran out of the house.

A farm full of menace and evil 

One day, the boys and Vaunette were out hunting and walked through the woods. Tim remembers hearing footsteps and heard the “bells clinging” again. “It was like something was stalking us….” Dan then saw a figure behind a tree. Dan ran to that tree and nothing was there. The figure kept popping up behind the trees and no matter how fast Dan ran, he couldn’t catch up to it. “You had the feeling like someone was watching you but there wasn’t anybody there!” The boys and Vaunette continued back towards the house and were passing the haunted house. Vaunette, growing tired of the walk, stopped to take a drink as the boys walked ahead. She looked up as she took her drink and saw a man hanging by a noose. Vaunette did a double check. She just saw an apparition of a man being hung. “I told myself that I was just hallucinating,” she said.

Then the nightmares began….

A deadly apparition

“It was always in the barn and there was people,” Tim remembers.  They were just laughing at me. Like ‘you’re in trouble boy’. The old guy was deranged looking and I couldn’t get away from him. All the sudden, my mom showed up. She’s pulling at me and yelling at me to get the hell out of there. I woke up outside Uncle Will’s house in underwear, t-shirt, right outside of Uncle Will’s house in 6-8 inches of snow.”

“It felt clearly evil. There was something that wanted to get me. I’m completely terrified. But my mom is there, yelling ‘get out of here, now!’” Dan recalls.

The nightmares weren’t stopping. Tim continued to sleepwalk to the barn. He didn’t sleepwalk since he was a kid. Tim tells Dan about it and they both realize they are having the same dream. They realize that their deceased mother is trying to protect them. It recalled another memory of Dan’s...

Back in their high school days, Dan and Tim took their friends to Uncle Will’s to give them a good scare so they could understand where they lived at. “We saw the ‘no trespassing’ sign,” the brothers’ friend, Aaron recalled. “We can’t trespass if we’re with family, right? It reminded me almost like something you’d see in the Western film. I really wasn’t interested in finding out about spirits and ghosts.”  But the friends proceeded to go to the house. But then, terror began to set in. “We see something on one side of the porch start moving and you can start hearing the boards creaking, and we froze like deer,” Aaron recalls. The deranged old man appears. “A tall man, coming up the path, moving fast!” Tim recalls. “I was moving faster than I ever ran in my life…looked like a human locomotive!” Aaron remembers. “We’ve been chased away by a man that’s been dead for 35-40 years,” Dan said. The brothers are wondering why to this day, they are still being haunted.

Dan and Tim decided to visit their Aunt Mary, who was like a second mother to them. The boys open up about “the man in the moustache” that everyone keeps seeing. Aunt Mary pulled out a photo album to show them pictures of the family. There was a picture of the boys’ great-grandfather and his relatives. They recognize the picture of Uncle Will immediately. Aunt Mary told the men then about the terrible incident that happened on the farm;

A dark family history

Uncle Will was terribly racist and during the early 1900s, a black man working for Uncle Will was caught having a relationship with a white woman and it angered Uncle Will so badly, that him and his men got their hands on the worker and lynched him. No one was arrested or charged for the incident. Dan and the brothers were absolutely disgusted that such a rotten human being was a part of their family name. 

“Growing up at the farm was scary in the dark but for the most part, it was a good place,” Laura recalls. When she was seven-years-old, she shared a room with her sister. But Laura also began having bad dreams. Laura confided in Vaunette about her secrets and her fears and how Laura couldn’t tell if her dreams were really dreams. Vaunette advised Laura to pinch herself and if it was a dream, the pinching would wake her up.

One night, when little Laura was sleeping in her bed, the door creaked open very slowly and she saw someone coming into the room. She couldn’t tell who it was but she knew it wasn’t her parents. Is this a dream? But Laura felt too frozen in fear to pinch herself to see if it was a dream or not. “I had a feeling they were going to take her…I forced myself to pinch myself and I screamed,” she recalls of that horrible night.

“I didn’t know where my baby daughter was, I didn’t even know if she was kidnapped,” Tim recalled.

The police were called and arrived on the scene. The police immediately went to work and called for a search party on the baby. “There were people everyone calling, hollering out for the baby (Melissa) and it started to echo in the trees,” Vaunette recalls. Herman, Tim’s brother-in-law, joins in on the search party once he hears about his niece going missing. The search party closes in on Uncle Will’s area. But they find nothing so they continue on. But Vaunette was haunted by the sounds of bells she heard nearby. “I knew Melissa was out there with the ghost of Uncle Will.” Even more unusual, Herman felt a need to go on a certain trail and reach an area. At that point, Herman sees something….it was the baby. Herman yelled that he found her. The baby is alive. The police were thrilled and while the family were as well, they were still scared because they knew deep down, Uncle Will and his unseen forces were behind this.

In 1999, in an interesting turn of events, arsonists burned down Uncle Will’s house. Not surprisingly, the family wasn’t exactly grieving over the loss of the house, since it was filled with evil, menacing energy. All that was left was the basement. A couple years later, the family put the farm up for sale and to this day, they don’t know why they were being targeted by Uncle Will…

This was NOT how I predicted the show to turn. I assumed it was the ghost of an old man still sitting on his rocking chair outside the barn, equipped with a Remington and going "Get off my lawn, you pesky kids!" but obviously, it was more than that. What REALLY boggled my mind was the incident with the baby. I've heard many ghosts and poltergeist stories but a ghost possible kidnapping a child and leaving it out to the snow is just....why? Granted, with the first episode of Season 3, a demon was targeting two young girls. It is also a theory that "ghost children" are actually demons in disguise. So demon activity involving children isn't a foreign concept. But still. I'm trying to wrap my mind around it.

Because they didn't say the exact location, I had a pretty hard time doing some digging. However, this particular incident just nags at me and here is my own personal conclusion; 

Tim Dale mentioned that he began sleepwalking again. Both Vaunette and Herman mention in their own experiences about being "guided" by some unseen force. The family (from what I assume) didn't tell the police about the paranormal circumstances, obviously for fear or ridicule and being labeled as crazy. But could it be that Tim, possibly possessed by paranormal forces, sleepwalked his way to Laura's room, took the baby and placed her out there in the woods? And could he possibly have left her there and sleepwalk back to bed? But of course, you're not going to tell the cops you took your baby out in the snowy woods while sleepwalking because it won't get looked on to fondly. But was Tim in bed when Laura was screaming when the incident happened? She did mention briefly that when the mystery person came to her room, it wasn't her parents but if this theory were to be true, Tim wouldn't be himself in his awakened state. People do some crazy sh*t during a sleepwalking state. 

What do you guys think? 

Picture Credit: Syfy 

Follow me @janespringfield 

"Paranormal Witness: The Long-Island Terror" Season 3 Premiere Recap

Jeanette with a picture of her husband, Lt. Meyran

Jeanette Meyran is the proud wife of Lt. Curtis W. Meyran and together, they had two beautiful daughters, Angela and Danine. But on January 23, 2005, everything turned upside down when Lt. Meyran and two other firefighters were responding to a call. The firefighters were trying to rescue occupants in a four-story apartment building but the fire was two intense that the firefighters on scene had to jump from the four-story building. Lt. Meyran jumped to his death. The death rocked the Meyran family to the core. “How do I tell these children that they will never see their father again?” Jeanette recalls. The daughters remember the tremendous grief they experienced from that day.The media had a field day with the incident and “the paparazzi from hell” would hound the family for interviews and pictures. The family just wanted to be left alone to grieve in peace. Jeanette decided to move the girls out of the city to give them a new beginning. Jeanette was attracted to a big, old house with lots of land. Jeanette wanted to rebuild it and had the help of Curtis’ fellow firefighters. Tom, Curtis’ friend, was an anchor for the family. There was a sense of hope for the family. But while the house was being rebuilt, Jeanette was concerned about vandalism so she installed seven security cameras throughout the property.

On the first night of viewing the cameras from her laptop, Jeanette noticed that there was a mystery man standing in the middle of the lot. But then the man disappeared. Jeanette had no clue what she was looking at. Meanwhile, Angela was feeling restless one night in her new room. She began to hear knocking on the walls. “I remember hearing these sounds….they were coming from inside the walls, like thumps of knocking,” Angela recalls. Danine also heard it too and woke up. “Second time I heard it (the knock) was ‘notice me, notice me!’”. The girls continued to hear the knocking inside the walls. Little Danine hid under her covers. “I’d make a little fortress. It didn’t feel safe but it felt good enough to sleep, wake up and it wouldn’t be there,” she said. Angela asked her mom if she was walking around the house and made noise. Jeanette didn’t hear anything but convinced the girls it was just the new house. Jeanette walked around the house to check the heating, the plumbing and to learn “the sounds of the house”. She concluded she just needed to reassure them and not be afraid.

Just a glitch? 

Tony remembered working down on the basement and mentioned that it was a “unique basement with a lot of debris”. During this time, Angela and Danine were outside playing in their new big backyard. “To me, it was like a playground, my heaven!” Danine remembers. “I thought it was really cool we had a backyard back there with all these trees and symbols…we found bones in the backyard!” Angela remembers. The kids spent time playing in the backyard and making maps for their toys, using the marks on the trees as a guide. Meanwhile, in the basement, something caught Tony’s attention and he called Jeanette down. It was an upside-down star in a circle, a symbol for devil worship. Jeanette didn’t want the girls to see it and told Tony and the men to cover it up. The girls didn’t tell their mother about the symbolism in the woods because they didn’t think she would care.

Foul play? 

Angela was left alone in the house and her mom gave her a list of chores. Angela then felt that she wasn’t really alone. When she went to clean the fridge, Angela would look back behind her a few times. All the sudden, all the drawers and shelves burst open and silverware was strewed everywhere on the counter. Angela screamed and ran to her room. When Jeanette came home and saw the mess in the kitchen, she assumed Angela threw a huge tantrum. But when Jeanette saw how terrified she looked, Jeanette then knew that they weren’t alone in the house. Tony and the crew were still working on the basement but were uneasy. One of the men discovered a hole in the wall and found pieces of paper bound together and showed Jeanette. There was writing and drawings. “I saw 1927. The pages seemed to be written by a young girl who was the daughter of someone in this house. Her name was Christina,” she explained. “It was an incredibly dark story….how her father did sacrifices and how she would ‘bleed like they would bleed’”. Jeanette concluded that these were some sick individuals but they were now gone and it was her house. The firefighters finished up their work and left.

Ransacked kitchen 

One day, Jeanette was vacuuming when she heard what she thought was the oil burner backfiring. Jeanette heard the pressure and the thumps coming from the basement. She went in the basement to investigate but as she went down the basement with a flashlight, she felt an incredible sense of evil. She became so frightened that she ran out of the basement. She knew that it was then paranormal.

During a more frightening occurrence when Danine was taking a shower, Angela was in her room when she began to hear voices, like chanting. “I was trying really, really hard to listen…two people talking, almost secretive.” Angela walked down the hallway but didn’t see anything. Meanwhile, Danine heard the bathroom door open and thought it was her mom. But even Danine feels like she is being watched. Angela goes back in her room but still hears the voices and even heard Danine’s name. She listened more closely. With tears in her eyes, Angela remembers hearing what the voices wanted: “They started using my sister’s name. I heard them telling me that…..” but Angela is too shaken up to continue talking about it. Danine then sees a demonic shadow through the door. Danine screams and Angela rushes to the door, terrified that she wouldn’t be able to protect her sister. “He wanted to hurt me,” Danine remembers. As Danine curled up in a corner and screamed for her mom, Jeanette and Angela frantically tried opening the door but it was locked. Jeanette finally opened the door and the women rushed to Danine’s aid. Danine was very shaken up by the “man” that wanted to go after her. Once the three women left the bathroom, all the doors in the room slammed shut. “You can hear this chanting,” Jeanette said. “Sounded like a group of people performing a ritual.” The girls frantically rushed to Jeanette’s room and locked the door, the chanting still going on. Jeanette told the girls to just call their daddy. The girls called for their dad. “I needed him to be there and if he was just there, everything would be fine,” Danine said. “How do you protect your children and fight what you can’t see?” Jeanette said.

Not your average joe....

Jeanette called on Tony to confide in him and to show him the star, the journal and all that went on. Tony went down to the basement but Jeanette refused to go down. “I go down to see what’s down there, she was frightened by the basement. There were few things I fear, besides my father and the dentist!” Tony recalls. “But I remember this pressure, like I had to get out of there. As Tony investigated the basement, he noticed a door and that it was continuing to rattle. But when Tony opened the door, he saw nothing. However…the door slammed shut behind him. That was enough to scare a hardened Tony. The girls then begin to stand guard at the bathroom when one of them took a shower. Jeanette was so conflicted on what to do. She poured so much time, money and energy to build a new safe haven for her and the girls. So Jeanette called a priest. The priest came in, said a prayer and gave holy water to Jeanette.

A resentful cult ready to attack Angela 

Nightfall came and Jeanette filled up a bottle with the gallons of holy water she was given. But Angela wanted out of the house so she went outside the backyard and went on the swing. “It took me away from the house.” Jeanette noticed Angela became more reclusive. Jeanette watched her from the backyard cameras. All the sudden, as Jeanette was watching Angela swinging at a steady pace, a group of cloaked figures appeared behind Angela….Angela felt a really heavy push and flew out of the swing, landing hard with a crunch on the ground. Angela screamed for her mom. Jeanette rushed out and Angela kept crying “we have to leave, they keep hurting us!” A furious Angela sprayed holy water all over, cursing the figures that attacked her daughter. “The war was about to begin!” The attack left Angela with a severely broken ankle.

Jeanette ran errands during the day and left Angela by herself, assuming she would be safe during the day. Angela was okay during the day but she felt more uneasy at night. Angela was reading a book in her room and something knocked on her closet door. The door began to shake softly at first but then it almost was like “someone was in my closet, trying to get out. It was a trainwreck…I couldn’t look away…I saw a black figure that stepped out of my closet…I couldn’t run…..make it to the door….” Angela immediately hid under her bed and saw the figure slowly move. Angela said it smelled like “death”. Angela got the house phone and desperately cried to her mom to come home. Jeanette took off in a flash and rushed home to get home to her daughter, even though she was fourty minutes away. Jeanette told Angela to pray. “I felt like he was going to hurt me,” Angela remembers..

There was a monster-like growl before the phone went dead.

Jeanette rushed home and saw nothing. She kept calling for Angela. Jeanette was desperate to hear her. “I just pictured her ripped apart by this creature,” she remembers. But then Jeanette heard a weeping from under the bed. Jeanette pulled out Angela from the bed because Angela was so weak and begged her mom to make it go away. The priest and holy water were not cutting it. The family had enough tragedy in their lives. So Jeanette took the girls to their grandma’s and Jeanette went through the phonebook and called up Liz Milano, a paranormal investigator. It was around 3-4am in the morning. Liz spoke to Jeanette for about an hour and was more than willing to help the shaken family. Liz called up a psychic medium, Dawn Joly, to help assist her and the ladies were going to do a cleansing and blessing on the home. To two women drove up to the house and Dawn immediately sensed an ill-presence. “It was like a dark cloud over the house,” she remembers entering the house. Dawn sensed the satanic cult coming  from the basement and explained how the demolition in the basement disturbed the energy in that room and that the cult released a demon in retaliation.

A cleanse and blessing to rid the demon 

Liz and Dawn then gathered big boxes of salt and poured it all around the house outside to serve as a “psychic force field”. Dawn then began burning the sage. The three of them went down in the basement, Dawn leading them with the sage and a crucifix. The basement was the epicenter of the activity. The three women recall that it was very intense and frightening with each step they took. Dawn heard chanting and screaming and it was a constant battle. The door then began rattling violently. Dawn opened the door and a fiery demon appeared and burst into flames. But then it stopped and that was the part of the house where the demon was housed.

The blessing worked and the house was rid of the demon.

Jeanette and the girls still live in the house and they enjoy living there now. “it was a battle won,” Jeanette concluded. “WE’ve learned and we’ve grown. It changes you forever.”

No one has seen the demon ever since... 

Picture Credit: NY Times, SyFy

Janes Notes: First off, we all send our condolences to Jeanette, Angela and Danine for their tragic loss. I went to a cop's funeral not too long ago and let me tell you, there is nothing more chilling and heart-wrenching than the community saying "farewell" to one of their heroes. I recently came upon this recent picture of the family at an exhibit full of Lt. Meyran's belongings and honoring his life and legacy. I wish nothing but the best for this beautiful, strong family.

Danine, Angela and Jeanette honoring Lt. Meyran. Photo by Marc Fader

Now onto the haunting....well....Hearing the ghost of Joe Schmoe who used to live in the home knock on the door is eerie and creepy but not terrifying...but an actual demon summoned unleashed in a home? That's a WHOLE new level of paranormal! I actually did some reading on demonology, witchcraft and the occult. While there is some skepticism and logical/scientific explanations on witchcraft from the past, I do believe that there are those who practice satanic rituals for some reason or another and do conjure up evil, negative spirits. The "other side" is just like here on Earth. You got "good" ghosts (angels) and then you have "bad" ghosts (demons). I do sincerely believe that this story is legit. This is a crazy, scary story and was a great choice for the new season. If this episode is a representation of what season 3 has to offer, I might start considering watching these episodes with a light on. I'm SO glad that the show is back on so stay tuned for some more summer scares! 

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Personal Blog: Haunted Happenings