Theater Superstitions & the Supernatural

How many of you have heard of a few famous haunted theaters or maybe legends surrounding haunted theaters in your area? There is a good reason for how frequent this phenomena occurs. Theaters are places that generate great passion from the actors which spills out into the audience. The sheer amount of energy created in a building no doubt leaves behind a few impressions or leads the spirits to linger. The paranormal has become so synonymous with the theater many superstitions and traditions revolving the supernatural remain in use today. 

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Don't Turn Out That Light!

Theaters often leave a ghost light left on overnight on the stage. Although it does have practical safety uses the tradition's origin is more rooted in the paranormal. Some believe it is left on to give the spirits their time to perform, but the general consensus is the illumination is to appease the ghost. If the Ghost Light wasn't lit the spirits would cause mischief or worse curse the theater. 

Somebody's Watching Me?

There is a rule in the theater to never ever use peacock feathers on stage. The tip of the  feather's design is said to be the representation of 'The Evil Eye' also known as 'The Devil's Eye'. If worn on stage the feathers will bring bad luck to production causing missed lines, scenery collapses, and lighting issues. 

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The Birth of Tragedy

According to Aristotle, Thespis of Icaria. (which is where we get the word “thespian”, meaning “actor”) was the first actor to ever appear on stage. Men had spoken on stage as themselves but Thespis was the first to appear as a character in a form of the play and this was the birth of tragedy. He is also credited with the creation of theatrical touring. Generally any mischief or mishaps in the theater first get blamed on the ghost of Thespis who is said to travel the worlds theaters causing mayhem. It is said that November 23^rd marks the day of his first performance and being the day he wreaks the most havoc. In order to keep Thespis happy a theater must close it's doors one night a week which is generally on a Monday. This gives actors the night off after a weekend of performances.

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The Play That Shall Not Be Named

“The Scottish Play” or “The Bard's Play” is what theater folk generally call Shakespeare's Macbeth. It is believed that the play is plagued by a curse and uttering the work's title in a theater can bring misfortune. It is said that Shakespeare used real spells he received from a local coven of witches but that the incantations are incomplete bringing on the curse. The character Hecate's, the Goddess of Witchcraft, lines are believed to strengthen the curse when they are spoken. Other theories include that the play itself was an insult to a group of witches and they cursed the play for eternity and that the cauldron initially used was stolen from a witch. The origin of the tale of the curse dates back to opening night when a real dagger was used in place of a prop and an actor died. Other mishaps and tragedy have occurred over the years including injuries, deaths, fires, and a riot. 

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Written By
Associate Director & Photographer
Thames Society of Paranormal Investigations 

Stephanie Sutera

The Do's and Don'ts if you think your home is haunted.

Don'ts-
1- Don't assume everything you see or hear is a ghost. If you assume everything is a ghost. You will walk around your home in fear.
2- Don't yell, provoke or scream at the spirit that could be in your home. It may make things worse.
3- Don't attempt to do your own investigation. Leave that to experienced investigators or ghost hunters. Spirits can become attached to you and then things will most certainly go downhill.
4-Don't ignore that you have a spirit.  Ignoring it, won't make the problem go away.
5- If someone in your home says they saw a ghost, and you don't believe in ghosts. Don't minimize their experience, what they experienced feels real to them.

Do's-
1- Do be a good witness. If unusual things keep happening in your home. Keep a journal of these events. Be sure to include dates and times, other witnesses and what happened. This can be helpful if you have to call in professional paranormal investigators.
2- Do be brave. You do not want to be a victim of circumstance, after all, it's your home.
3- If you do think you have a ghost. It's important to be respectful. Not all spirits are evil. In fact, most spirits are not.
4- Do be reasonable and rationale, attempt to explain unusual events if you can, by natural means.
5- Lastly, do seek help from someone experienced and trained to deal with the paranormal.

Author: Shamus Denniston
Director & Founder of TSPI

The Sound of Spirits:
What is Infrasound and Why Should We Care About It?

“There is certainly a world beyond our normal consciousness from which neither space nor time divides us, but only the barrier of our sense-perceptions.... this threshold is not immovable.” ~William F. Barrett, 1918

That overwhelming feeling that you are being watched; the sensation that you are not alone although no one is in sight; that “6^th sense” that many of us have experienced at one point or another…It can cause the little hairs on our arms to stand up and our heart to beat just a little bit faster. The majority of people believe that there is a world unseen, a spiritual plane perhaps coexisting with our physical world. These feelings however, do not constitute evidence. That being said, they are also not to be ignored. These perceptions originate from something…some stimulus we cannot easily interpret. In a sense, if we cannot easily determine the origin, it may be considered “para normal’, that is, outside the normal experience. As a paranormal researcher, our jobs are to provide the physical evidence to validate these 6^th sense experiences. It is our responsibility to be well-informed of all the potential natural causes of haunted feelings.

Infrasound is sound frequency that is too low for the human ear to detect, falling below 20 hertz. Some natural causes of infrasound include earthquakes, avalanches, and waterfalls. Animals such as whales communicate via infrasound. Man-made producers of infrasound include explosions, diesel machinery, and wind turbines. Researchers who have studied infrasound posit that, although it is below our conscious perception, infrasound affects our bodies nonetheless. It can cause feelings of anxiety, dread, depression, and fear. At the right frequency it can impact our eyes, causing vibrations leading to distortions in vision and hallucinations or illusions.

So if we know that infrasound exists and that it is one potential cause of a haunting, why are we not measuring it? Measuring this low frequency requires highly specialized equipment, as readily-available sound sensors only measure in decibels and cannot account for the ultra-low frequency which constitutes infrasound. Instruments for measuring infrasound are few and far between and are typically quite expensive. However, TSPI is committed to providing the highest-quality investigations to our clients, and our ongoing desire to evaluate potential hauntings in a scientific manner will ensure that we search for a way to measure infrasound in the upcoming years.

Written by Laura Palmese

Investigator & Researcher

Thames Society of Paranormal Investigations (TSPI)

Beware the Lemures

 In ancient Rome, the people of the time believed in spirits called Lemures. They were thought to be benevolent spirits of deceased loved ones who couldn't afford a proper burial and were now restless. If one was not interred, in a tomb or cremated and placed in an urn, the soul could not cross the River Styx which is how the living passed into the world of the dead. These ghosts would come at night to terrorize the living. Although it is a term mostly used in antiquity Lemures are commonly used in tabletop RPGs as well as fantasy based characters of literature and video games.

"Mense Maio malae nubent...They wed ill who wed in May!   

This was such a concern for the Romans that they celebrated  Lemuria, a festival to appease these spirits. It was held on May 9, 11, and 13 and certain rituals would be performed in order to exorcize them. On the first day, the head of the household would rise at midnight barefoot, wash his hands three times, walk around throwing beans over his shoulder while reciting this line 9 times “I send these; with these beans, I redeem me and mine.” The beans were said to be offerings to the Lemures. The Vestal Virgins would prepare salted flour and sprinkle it on animals which would then be sacrificed on an altar and burned on a sacred fire on the second day. Then on the 13 of May, they would throw 30 images of old men from a bridge into the Tiber River. The whole month became known as unlucky due to the festivities and those who wed during the month could bring death upon themselves.

    The Lemur's name was derived from the Lemures. They were given the title due to their nocturnal behavior and slow movements. Although their glowing eyes in the night and their ghostly cries surely are fitting as well. No wonder why they were used in the tragedy of Faust as half undead creatures who bury Faust's body.

Written By Stephanie Sutera

Associate Director & Lead Investigator 

Thames Society of Paranormal Investigations

My House is Haunted, What Do I Do Now?

In the course of running a paranormal team, you get a lot of questions from clients that have never had a paranormal encounter before. Most of the time, it leaves people really confused, scared and just generally freaked out. All these are normal reactions to the average person.  Especially, that most people can live their whole life without so such as a trace of a ghost. Which, leads most of my clients questioning their own sanity. Luckily for them, there are other people out there who also have witnessed this type spiritual phenomenon. And for those people living in Connecticut, they can call TSPI. From personal experience, I can tell you, that every member of the team has gotten into the paranormal business because of their own personal experiences with the unexplained. In an earlier blog, I talked about some of my own personal experiences growing up in a house that had a ghost named "George". So, I can personally relate to every one of my clients.

So, most people after contacting me want to know what to do next. In this article, I intend on giving some healthy advice on what to do if you think you are living with a ghost.

First, it is super important that you don't completely freak out. I know what you may be thinking. I just saw a ghost, "What do you mean don't run away screaming?".  The reason I say this is, one, I don't want you to get injured falling down a flight of stairs or tripping on something in your house and breaking your neck. Next thing you know it, you become a ghost too. But, in all seriousness, you could get injured... It is completely normal to be scared, but I want you to try and be a good witness. It's important to get a good description of the event. You want to note, what the ghost looked like, what were you doing when it happened, who was there, and most importantly. What emotion did it evoke when you witnessed the event.  Outside the emotion of sheer terror. Did it evoke a sense of darkness, dread, light feelings, curiousness? These are some of the different types of sensations that clients have said they have felt during a paranormal encounter. If you can, try and tap into this. This becomes important to relay to a trusted paranormal investigator. Many times, it is that first encounter that gives us a clue to why this activity is occurring. 

Next thing to do is keep a healthy dose of skepticism. A common thing occurs when dealing with a possible haunting. You start to assume everything is a spirit. You start listening more keenly to everything in your home. You start to hear those everyday noises because you haven't been paying a whole lot of attention. You may start to think,  it's got to be the ghost right? Well, maybe it could be. But, my advice is to start keeping a journal of the activity. Make sure you note the dates, times, what happened and any witnesses. At this stage, you are acting like your own investigator.

You may even start to see a pattern. For example, you notice an unexplained bang, right around midnight. That may just be your neighbor coming home from the late shift, closing their car door. That strange noise from the basement that you hear hourly, could just be your furnace turning on. Again, keeping a journal is not designed for you to disprove everything you witness. It is to document what going on. So, when the paranormal team arrives, they have a record of recent events that can have an important bearing on the investigation.  

An another important piece of advice is to try and not discuss what is going on inside your home. For example, my family made the mistake of talking frequently about the ghost. My mother even named him George. The reason is a simple one. You are validating its presence and it could lead to more activity. Most spirits are benign and most of the time it won't matter. The problem comes when its possible negative entity. It will feed on your fear and other emotions and possibly makes things worse. Even human spirits that do not want to crossover, can make things difficult for you. So, by abstaining from talking about the spirit, this can curtail things until a paranormal investigator can show up. As paranormal investigators, we come at the investigation with a practical approach, trying to explain things through natural means. If we do determine there is something present, our next step is to figure out what kind of spirit is there. This will then lead to a possible resolution. 

In closing,  I have given you some advice on what to do when you think you have a ghost. Taking these steps and doing some homework is as important as calling in a paranormal team. We at TSPI want to empower all our clients to take back their lives and be educated on what to do. This article is not meant to an end all, but some healthy advice. So, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to call or email us. I wish you all the best and Happy Hauntings!!



Written by 
Shamus Denniston
Founder & Director of TSPI

Tel: 920.940.TSPI

Email: tspiparanormal@gmail.com

TSPI Debuts a NEW Web Series 

After years of discussion and planning, my team the Thames Society of Paranormal Investigations has created our own web series that revolves around some of our cases. It's really satisfying to see a project you put your heart and countless hours of work into blossom, into reality. It's titled "TSPI Presents: Into the Black" and our first episode is located in Windham, Connecticut in the United States. The place is over 200-years old mansion and our client was gracious enough to let us film our experience so we can present it to you.

Gray/Perkins House Windham, Connecticut

As always our first priority is to assist our clients. Our clientele come to us asking for our help and are looking for some sort of understanding about what is going on. So we make that our main focus. We are also in the business of research and data collection, which over time helps us perform better in the field. Lastly, our job is to educate. In order to do that efficiently and reach a plethora of people, we have had to take many different roads to get there. This includes radio shows, publications, blogging, paranormal events...and online videos of course. After all, a video is the best medium for distance learning and this led us to  the birth of "Into the Black".

This is not just another paranormal show!

After a slew of bad programs plagued with unbelievable or questionable evidence it was a tough decision to even go through with making the show (not all of them of course). We were also discouraged due to our encounters with the many major production companies we have crossed paths with in the past. Still, we felt that somehow this was the avenue to travel. Then came the realization that if we produce "Into the Black" ourselves we have total control of all of the content and that is when knew that we had a good idea.

TSPI Presents: Into the Black is such a fantastic tool to educate the masses. The program gives us the chance to share our methods of investigating and teach a history lesson at the same time, which is all tied up into a nice TSPI bow. The second episode is due to come out within the next few months and the show can be found on our website at tspiparanormal.com and on YouTube.    

Written by Stephanie Sutera

Associate Director & Lead Investigator 

Thames Society of Paranormal Investigations

A Family Ghost Story
It is always nice to visit family that you haven't seen in a while. On a recent trip to my father's side of the family in Massachusetts, we were reminiscing about the old times. Before long, someone mentioned ghosts and how I am the family "Ghost Hunter." In the past, I have written about it, but I always say that I have one foot in the old country and one in the new.  And an Irish family is not without it's an own ghost story or two. I thought I might share one or two of them...





My cousin Elaine asked if I heard about the woman who has been seen walking down the hallway of the house. I asked, "What house?, she said "This house!"(meaning my Aunt Sheila's longtime home). All these years and I didn't realize my Aunt's house was haunted... Elaine spoke about the time they saw a woman walking down the hallway in the middle of the night, which would frighten anyone. They referred to her as Mrs. Marsden, who my aunt's home was built on their farmland. The old Marsden Farmhouse still stands today a few houses down. At first, they were terrified, as they witnessed the spirit of  Mrs. Marsden walk into my cousin's Shirley's room. My cousin used to suffer from seizures from time to time. This particular occasion, the appearance of Marsden was a precursor to the seizure.

It seemed that the spirit knew that it was about to occur.  As time went on, they became of used to Mrs. Marsden appearing and came to know her as someone that was watching over my cousin and not there to harm. My Aunt said that many a guest has stayed in the home to be woken up by strange noises and the sight of a person glowing in the brilliant golden light. On several occasions, Aunt Sheila witnessed this woman, but no one was ever scared again by Mrs. Marsden's presence. Showing that people can live symbiotically with a spirit.

Picture of an alleged spirit at crash site

Then there was the time my Uncle Joe and Aunt Eileen had a rural vacation home in northern Massachusetts, somewhere near New Hampshire state line. One night, the family were all staying the night at the home when they were abruptly woken up by the sound of a terrible car crash in front of the house. It woke everyone up in the house. They looked outside, but they didn't see the car crash on the road. A short time later there was a knock on the door, and Aunt Eileen answered the door and found this poor man bleeding from the head. The man gave his name, which no one remembers but for the sake of the story, his name was John. John explained he got into an accident down the road. Aunt Eileen helped John as best as she could. The whole family then came to the kitchen to find Aunt Eileen assisting this man in with the head injury, wrapping him in gauze. The man then used the telephone to phone someone to pick him up. After he was done,  the man departed, stating that he was going to go to the hospital. Then everyone when back to bed. In the morning, Aunt Eileen being concerned, called the local hospital to ask about the condition of John. The man never made it to the hospital, in fact, the accident never happened. The hospital person stated that John had died in the car crash years ago on the road by Uncle Joe's house. They went outside to see if they could find the scene of the crash. And they found nothing. To this day, they remember the time John

came to spend some time with them. This is a classic example of how people suffer from a traumatic event and suddenly pass away.  Getting stuck between worlds, and not even knowing they are in fact dead.




On paranormal investigations, it is essential to show the utmost respect and reverence for the dead. If the dead are confused and do not know they are gone, maybe telling them they are, perhaps counter-productive and make the situation worse. I shared these two particular stories to show, that you may never know where a ghost may pop up. Secondly, I think some of us can recall a strange time in our lives, where we met someone and wondered. Who was that person?

Written by Shamus Denniston

Director & Lead Investigator of  TSPI

Thames Society of Paranormal Investigations