Anne

I love how vivid this feels.

Thanks so much Eclipse, she's the reason I've turned my world upside down the last six months...I couldn't ignore her pleas.

This has more life to it since you say you're a empath.
A ghostly friend of yours, maybe?

She's the reason I'm writing the book, known as the family ghost for almost 300 years, she died young and before her time. She story says she fell in love with the devil and on discovering him while playing a game of cards he flew through the roof in a rage, leaving Anne in tears.  She became insane and locked herself in a room, forever waiting for him as she looked out to sea.  It is rumoured she became pregnant with his child and shortly after died.  But he never came for her, she was never rescued.  When she died, she haunted the Hall and an exorcism had to be performed, but it never fully eliminated all the problem.  It only confined her spirit to her beloved room while demonic activity continued. Many paranormal teams have researched the house including American Ghosthunters.  I worked in the paranormal a decade ago and I'm currently a member of the London College of Psychic Studies whose chairman was once Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Anne Tottenham did exist though, in my opinion the ghost story was made up and became richer through the centuries, particularly in the Victorian age.  However, the skeleton of a baby was found in the wall.  I have been researching all of this through documentary means including the family's documents as well as using my own paranormal tools.

Oh wow, i love that story ^^
In love with the devil.
That is a dangerous thing..hehe :-)

So they said, but I feel the devil often gets blamed for a lot of things, when we really do not know if he does exist.  No, mortals are responsible for their own actions.  The devil in the story human flesh and blood, and I believe, also innocently murdered.

Well as for my beliefs. I think there is a good and evil energy. I don't really believe in just a god or just a Devil. Or even a source for that matter. We as humans decide what kind of energy we put into our bodies.

Prisoner of hope, man its hard to decipher the deeper meaning in this one! still powerful and ominous.

Thanks so much for that.  She is a prisoner of hope because in her ghostly form she does not know she is dead.  Therefore she is still very much alive in her mind and waiting for her lover to come and save her.  Anne I believe from what I've been given in dreams and premonitions as well as the evidence, is still reliving what happened to her almost 300 years ago.  Even her death, continuously.  The energy is very powerful but the sadness quite overwhelming.

My writing for the most part and this piece is based on the following story which I've been researching:  
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4UXbPRi4GI  
 
A fuller account can be seen below:  
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8MYPDqu-84

Fascinating. I love the photograph as well - the black and white depict two dimensions of shadow and light. Have you thought about simply helping her home? I know some don't want to go, but they know they're dead and choose to stay - especially if they're not alone. There is such a place here.

In the early 70's a young woman was brutally murdered (I mean brutally -- unthinkably) after being kidnapped. She was driven to an old abandoned school called Lincoln Academy (you can research the rumors of hauntings, and it too was researched by paranormal experts). You can view one of her tributes here:

http://kathleenruthsmiley.blogspot.com/

The senseless abduction and brutal murder of Kathleen Smiley and Lincoln Academy haunted so many lives through memory, and new generations through stories for decades. Everything from the ghost of Kathleen Smiley to a green or purple mist have been reported floating down the road, or haunting the old cemetery a few hundred yards from where the school once stood.

I'm a professional photographer, and four years ago while in the midst of researching an engagement shoot location at the Lincoln Academy area (golf course attached to the land - the groom was a golfer and wanted it done there), my eye was caught by a curtain being drawn back on the door of an abandoned building. Instinctively, I had my camera on sequential mode and kept shooting throughout the experience. I felt an overwhelming sense to leave, which I did at that time.

Upon examination of the photographs, I realized there was someone standing behind the curtain. Upon investigation and comparing a photograph of Kathleen Smiley I was able to obtain, realized it was unmistakably her. A medium was contacted and a team did visit the sight. Kathleen Smiley is at peace – and not haunting anything. In essence, she is one who chooses to stay because she's not alone there. She is with a man and a group of children who died of the flu epidemic in Crowder's Mountain in the early 1900's. It is beautiful and peaceful there. I believe this was the reason she revealed herself to me. She wanted her memory, and this horrible and tragic story, to come to a close.

I placed the photograph in my solo photography show at in Gaston County for the public to view. But, I have not allowed digital distribution in honor of her memory and for fear of theft and sensationalism by the same kind of people who get drunk and drive out to the old Lincoln Academy in hopes of discovering drama. The same kind of people who have desecrated a sacred cemetery and littered the property with broken glass and aluminum cans. Neither is the photograph for sale. That is not what this is about. It's about knowing the truth and moving on.

And the truth is that Lincoln Academy, formerly Prudden Hall, was a vital part of Gaston County's heritage, especially the black heritage. It's a shame it was leveled and not preserved to begin with. But, what makes it worse, is that it's remembered for a heinous crime vs. the invaluable contribution it made to Gaston County.

I have yet to write a tribute piece for her, but maybe I will now.

Thanks so much for sharing that, I would very much to love see the photos.

And you need to write that piece.  That is why I'm doing this book.  I never meant to write it and certainly never meant to go back into this, but too many things have happened and lives have been lost.  Lives which perhaps I could have saved.

My whole purpose in writing the book is to reveal what really happened.  Heroes are more often than not the real villains and I've discovered many lies in the story.  

Veritas vos liberabit

(The truth shall set you free)

What I do has nothing to do with the work of paranormal experts.  I'm an empath as well as a writer with psychic abilities.  And as such, when souls get in touch it is always due to suffering.  My true duty is that of releasing them.  Spirit release.  

After many years of turning my back on all this I realised that I am who I am, and if I have this gift or curse, it is to help others.

So please, write that piece...help her find the light she so desperately seeks...

The photos are my colleague in the book Steve Meyler, he's a professional photographer and was head of forensic photography in Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police (UK)

As you can see, we are conducting a real investigation...though it is the first time that such a work as what we're creating has ever been produced.  ;)

Kathleen is actually at peace, realizes she's dead (and why), but chooses to remain.  Her murder was less about her and more about her abductors/murderers. She needed the public to understand that, and believe she's not suffering or haunting anything.  
 
There's an old African Proverb that says history belongs to the hunter until the lion's have their day. Actually one of my exhibition showpieces was entitled "The Lion's Den" and contains that quote in regards to mill bosses in the south and child labor. It contained photographs of old mills and the children who worked in them from the 20's superimposed over them. The story was publicized by a British new's source.  
 
I feel like your lions are having their day here and fully support the truth.  
 
I don't work with paranormals either. I, like you, an merely an empath who channels messages. And happens to be blessed enough for spirits to reveal themselves to me on film. You are right in that they all have something to say - if another would but listen.  
 
It took me over 50 years to not be afraid of the gift. And since then, like Lincoln Academy, I have returned to places where I feared to go when initially called. I'm still scared a bit - but desire for truth and to help others outweighs that.  
 
It's nice to meet another soul-tribe member here. I cannot wait to read your final work.

I'm glad she is :)

And likewise Ahavati.  My family isn't happy I'm doing what I' doing and its taken me almost 3 decades to actually accept what I am and feel.  Funny, what is that saying...we often meet destiny on the road we take to avoid it.  Totally true...and thank you.  I'll have more time next week and look forward to sitting down and having an in depth look at your pieces :)

simply beautiful - this is one of these poems the takes much power from having few words - it is difficult to write such a short poem that does this but you have managed it so very well :-)

excellent ink :-)

Thank you David, I really appreciate that.  Yes...Anne really moved me since we "met".  Her sadness is overwhelming and ...I wanted to show that in this piece.  She's dead and therefore no longer alive, however she refuses to believe this and is therefore bound to life...as a ghost. And still in death, she cannot be with her lover.  Very tragic.  But unfortunately, quite true.  What I hope with my book, is to be able to release her...to help her move on by acknowledging her and disclosing what really happened.  No one has done this in almost 300 years...

Meaningful in just a few short powerful phrases. Nice job.

Thank you Ariana, I really appreciate it you taking the time to read it. Lovely comment :)