"Ghost dog"?

 "Ghost Dog"... 
Explaining the “unexplainable”? 

They act as “Go Betweens” - meaning between humans and the supernatural.

Several members of the Dakota County Paranormal Society (DCPS) explained their position at a presentation recently at the Cannon Falls Library. 

Their website explains, they gather the data that leads to a better understanding of ghosts, hauntings and the paranormal in general.

It explains they are not professionals.  They are a “group of men and women committed to the study, research, and investigation of the Paranormal.”

Juli Glazebrock, team leader, commented: they also want to help anyone having problems with or understanding these situations.

Or they will put them in contact with trained professionals who can assist them.  This could be others in their field or medical help professionals.  

They avoid situations where people have used Ouija boards because, Juli explained, that is like opening a door and other types of entities can come in.   

They do not charge for their services.

They operate in Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northern Iowa.

Is something wrong with me?

Sometimes the person requesting help explains the weird situation they’ve experienced and asks: “I just want to know I’m not crazy.”  

The members of DCPS are very serious about investigations.  They use a variety of electromagnetic field equipment including voice recorders, a variety of cameras including a Polaroid, etc.

The hours of recordings are later reviewed as they compile their insights as to sounds and images.  Some of these they may not have noticed during their investigation.

Favorite haunting places…

One of their favorite places to investigate seems to be the previously known Mississippi Belle restaurant in Hastings.  A recent investigation was held at the Le Duc Mansion.

“Ghost dog?”

After returning home from the meeting of the “ghost hunters”, I settled down at my kitchen table to read awhile before calling it a day.  

It was quiet as I chose the book: Killing the SS.  It’s about the hunt for Nazi death camp officers over the many years since WWII.  

It’s a vivid tale of intrigue and suspense.

It’s also probably not the best choice of reading material after the meeting about spooky experiences. 

The light over my table highlighted the brutal events.  All of a sudden in the silence I heard the growl of a dog.

This was curious because I don’t have a dog.

It wasn’t a scary growl… kind of like a vibrating motor running.  Or like a “purr” from a cat.

So what?

I didn’t pay much attention - except noting it at the time and I kept reading the book.

About two minutes later I heard the “growl-purr” again and I actually looked under the table to see if some kind of wild critter had gotten into the house out here in the country.

Nothing there.

I thought it was curious but that was all.

A couple minutes later it happened again. 

Then a fourth time.

OK folks!  Now I'm paying attention!

German Shepherds

I thought of all the German Shepherd dogs we had over the years.

Was this a suggestion to get one?   

        Or is there a dog already here? 

*** Let’s get back to the book…

I went back to reading about the concentration camps but I freaked out with the next page explaining how women guards used vicious German Shepherd dogs to control their prisoners.

I decided to do some other chores that night.  

Explaining the Unexplainable…

I thought about the paranormal investigators and their deductions as to what the sounds and/or pictures they were studying really were. 

The audio they interpreted to be voices from the supernatural was not understandable to me.  But could it be that the difficulty in discerning this is that we are trying to explain the “unexplainable”? 

Many ancient belief systems seem to have tried to do this.

Are we all trying to interpret this “voyage” we are on in ways that make sense to ourselves?   Even though it doesn’t make sense to someone else?

But maybe that’s the challenge we are to take.

Is this where all the "lost" socks in 
wash machines have gone to?

Graphics from the CDPS website.

They did WHAT?

Surprises at candidate’s meeting!

A couple days before the panel discussion introducing the two candidates for sheriff was held, I was informed that we had no moderator.

Not good.

Actually, I had tried to get about seven different people to be the moderator and all had excuses. (Some of them were really lousy excuses in my mind.}

So… since I have interviewed many people over the years - I could do this.

And then I decided it’s not going to be a debate.  Reason?  I hate debates. I have a short attention span and lose concentration easily!  So their responses were limited to two minutes. And not every candidate is good at debating.

  Plus, it was “my party”!  That’s what I call it when I have to do all the planning.

Candidates accepted.

Anyway, I had already invited the two candidates for sheriff to participate at a meeting of the Cannon Falls Area TRIAD.  It would be on Cable TV and Youtube.

The night before the presentation I was told that there was a problem for one of the candidates. He had just been put on administrative leave from his police department and had his gun taken away.  (That last part seems a little dramatic but that’s the way they play it.)

The problem was that neither the candidate nor the public could know what he was being accused of.

Didn’t we just go through something like this out in Washington, D.C.?

What do we do with this?

So I thought it would be best if I mentioned the situation to the audience before the program began.  Both candidates agreed to let me do it.  One wanted to express his understanding of the problem and the other one wanted to say that he had nothing to do with the accusation.

My problem was that I couldn’t think of any words that weren’t sensitive to the issue!   I asked a couple other folks and we were all stumped.

So it was suggested I just let someone in the audience ask it.

And I did.

Googled the questions!

Now I had already “googled” other questions and run them by members of the TRIAD board.  

We came up with some real “stoppers”!

Example.: Why do you want to be sheriff?

OK.  The other questions were a little better.

Then came input from the audience…

First was the question about the administrative leave.  That was handled as mentioned.

Then another member of the audience had brought a sign to emphasize his point.  He wanted to know when the deputies were getting body cameras.  

This got to be a little tense as he had his own concerns and was vigorously defending them to local police.

I was getting a little uncomfortable with the situation and got up from my chair as moderator to be prepared for… I didn’t know what!  

And I didn’t know what I would do since I liked both of them and also realized that they’re both bigger than me!

But everyone settled down and the “party” went on.

Vote for…?

So… now do you know who to vote for?

More than one person said… either way we’ve got a good candidate for sheriff!

The most beautiful 
Christmas tree... 

I wish I had never seen!

Many 30-40 foot pine trees 
went down at our farm. 

This is the top of one of them. 

It was shorting out the fence line 
and endangering the critters.

It’s fresh pine boughs 

and perfectly shaped cones 

make it a beautiful Christmas tree… 

but one I wish I had never seen. 

I would like it to still be alive.

It’s all lit up now. 

Like a sentinel… 
to the many trees and dreams

that were lost in the storm...

that dark and windy night.

(See it lit from 7-9 p.m. for a while.)

.