Melba Goodwyn - Chasing Graveyard Ghosts: Investigations of Haunted & Hallowed Ground

Melba Goodwyn is an experienced parapsychologist and shares her psychic impressions with local police departments as well as individuals interested in ghost hunting. Blending clairvoyant wisdom with traditional psychology, she has provided spiritual counseling for over twenty-five years. She uses her knowledge of astrology, numerology, and divination to assist others and enhance their spirituality.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Chasing Graveyard Ghosts: Investigations of Haunted and Hallowed Ground 2011 by Melba Goodwyn.

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First e-book edition 2011

E-book ISBN: 9780738728551

Based on book design by Steffani Sawyer

Cover art iStockphoto.com/Jonas Engstrm

Cover design by Lisa Novak

Editing by Connie Hill

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my very dear friend, Sharon Rose McDonald Howe, whose enthusiastic love of ghosts, cemeteries, and paranormal mysteries has enriched my life and broadened my horizon.

Haunted or Hallowed Ground

Ghost Hunting in Cemeteries

Cemetery Ghosts

Extraordinary Cemeteries

Cemetery Guardians

Alien Burial

Energized Cemeteries

Cemetery Statuary

Cemetery Tombstones

Cemetery Monuments

Cemetery Mausoleums

Pet Cemeteries

Roadside Memorials

Cemetery Epitaphs

Researching Cemetery Mysteries

Cemetery MysteryResearch Forms

Our Practice is not to clear up the Mystery

It is to make the Mystery clear.

Robert Aitken Roshi

My sincerest appreciation goes out to so many people who helped with the creation of this book. I deeply appreciate the assistance of all the genealogists, cemetery personnel, historians, and everyone who has shared information.

I especially want to thank the following individuals for their constant encouragement and for listening to all my ideas and stories (often repeatedly) while I compiled information and researched folklore, urban legends, and secrets of long ago.

First, foremost and always my deepest gratitude goes to my husband, Franklin, and my children: Douglas, Tammy, Dennis, and my twin daughters Peggy Lyn (see, I put your name first) and Patty Jo.

My sincere appreciation goes to Kay Ainsworth, my discerning friend and proofreader who always adds an intuitive ear to whatever I say or write. I wonder if she reads my mind. And to her husband, Chuck, my appreciation for sharing his humor and encouraging words. They always make me happy.

My warmest gratitude goes to Larry and Sharon Howe whose constant supportive friendship has kept me focused on my writing. My special thanks to Sharon, for her constant enthusiasm as we stumbled through the darkness of one haunted cemetery after another looking for ghosts and intriguing mysteries to explore.

Special thanks to my friends and fellow ghost hunters for their encouragement, laughter, and insights into the hidden realm of ghosts and spirits.

My introduction to ghost hunting came through a meeting with Sharon Howe, the founder of TPI (Texarkana Paranormal Investigators). She had placed an ad in our local newspaper for a new ghost hunting group that was forming, offering an open invitation to anyone who was interested in ghosts and paranormal events.

Although I have always been clairvoyant and needed no validation in this area, I was curious about being able to prove the existence of the things that I had been seeing and hearing my entire life.

I was also intrigued by the equipment she brought to the meeting and my enthusiasm for ghost hunting grew rapidly. Of course I attended the first official ghost hunt and was hooked forever. To be able to record, photograph, and document paranormal anomalies was absolutely fascinating to me.

Cemetery investigations were a natural outcome of ghost hunting and before long I was visiting one cemetery after another in search of spirited activity. As I explored the paranormal realm of ghosts, I began to document anomalies and experiences, some of which have helped to shape this book.

Although there have been many books written about cemeteries, ghosts, unique tombstones, unusual epitaphs, and mysterious burials; I have taken a different approach in my investigations of cemetery mysteries. Being clairvoyant gives me the unique advantage of receiving intuitive, clairaudient information as I explore the occult realm of cemeteries and conduct investigations.

I also apply my knowledge of astrology and numerology to the deceased persons birth and death data, names, and even the events surrounding their oftentimes mysterious deaths. This allows me to glean additional information and sometimes incredible insights into their lives. Lastly, I have used my skills as a genealogist to research old records and historical documents to add further clarity and validity to each mystery.

The more I investigated, the more I began to feel like a detective, as each investigation very subtly became a journey into the unknown. I was caught up in the allure of ghosts, urban legends, folklore, and mysterious secrets from long ago.

As a tribute to our loved ones, we traditionally erect monuments and tombstones because we want them to be remembered. In our quest for immortality we leave our personal legacies in marble and granite, inscribed with unusual epitaphs and cryptic messages. Even in death we can still make an impact on those we leave behind, as well as future generations who will read them. In a sense we speak to them from beyond the grave.