Negative Energy

I remember watching an episode of Late Night with David Letterman when Regis Philbin tried to explain how he got on a show called Celebrity Ghost Story in which - you guessed it - a celebrity tells a story about their experiences with an unexplained entity.  Regis tried to explain his adventure in the Whatley House in San Diego where he had taken a film crew to film a séance in 1964.  The back story was that Thomas Whaley built the house in 1856 along with a general store next to the home and the original building was constructed on top of a gallows.  A series of unfortunate events occurred in that house including one of his children dying of scarlet fever soon after they moved in and a daughter who committed suicide at that location.   Over time, the rest of the family died in the mansion including the last daughter Corrine Whatley, who died there in 1953.  

Regis relayed to Dave that during the séance, he had seen an apparition appear on a painting of Anna Whatley who was the long dead mistress of the home.  Regis was certain that he had seen a ghost, but Dave kept repeating "No you didn't.  You didn't!"  I thought it was good thing that these guys are friends

because it was apparent that Dave could never conceive of something like that happening and dismissing it would just make any doubts go away.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of séances or Ouija boards because you can't control what comes through and you have folks around who can be easily manipulated by a rogue spirit.  Also, it's not like I've never had people tell me I was full of crap for seeing the undead, so I really felt for Regis - being disbelieved by those close to you for something you are so certain of can really knock the wind out of your sails. 

When I see an entertainer flat out reject the possibility of something supernatural like a ghost or a poltergeist, I find it interesting.   Folks who do live theater or entertain for a living have got to be very sensitive to the energy of their audiences when they go on-stage and shift their performances accordingly.  Some audiences are primed to love you, some are indifferent, and some are down right hostile.  I've even seen Mr. Letterman compare one audience to another in his opening monologues and not always in a positive light so my guess is that he can pick up on shifts in energy pretty easily - you would have to in order to reach his level of success.  

I used to date a stand-up in college and would watch him do the same routine every night that got different responses depending on the energy and make-up of the audience.  You could literally feel the energy turn on a dime during the course of the routine if he hit a nerve with a few of the audience members.  They didn't have to say anything - you could just feel the change and it fascinated me.  I've also found that comedy clubs seemed to be basions for paranormal activity.  Contrary to the movie Poltergeist, this entity can be created by the negative emotions of the people in a location.   Stand-ups are notorious for being neurotic, self-centered and angry.  They use that pent up frustration to create their routines to try to get people to like them.   Laughter is their drug - if the audience loves them great.  If the audience turns on them - that anger and frustration can create a destructive energy force - hence a poltergeist.  

I remember watching the video of Michael Richards and his famous meltdown at The Laugh Factory in 2006.   I felt then as I do now when I look at that video that something got a hold of him.  This does not to excuse what he said - obviously he had that horrible anger deep inside but something caused it to be pushed to the surface where he could no longer control it.  That level of rage was way beyond getting back at a few hecklers who were giving him a hard time that night.   He has since apologized profusely for that tirade and he had admitted to learning that he needed to be more responsive to his audience - like maybe being able to read their energy. 

Many comics from Lenny Bruce to Andrew Dice Clay have used anger in their comedy to the point of abusing their audiences, but that sort of vitriolic comedy comes at a price.  Negative energy can create all sorts of unsavory entities that can lurk in the dark recesses of places that are supposed to be full of laughter and can strike when you least expect it.   It can make someone who wants to so desperately to be loved to become an easy mark for a poltergeist which is what I think happened to Mr. Richards.  What's sad is a lot of young comics think that sort of comedy is the way to go but when they don't hit it big, their disappointment eats away at them causing them to become bitter and that bitterness can hang in the air as an energy field.

The ghost hunters on our show have even caught sounds of something that happened in the past - not ghosts or poltergeists per say, but sounds of an event that has manifested in an energy field and plays out in a loop over and over again - many times it's negative or unresolved.  You might come into a room where it's manifested and feel suddenly angry for no good reason and lash out. 

So for those who want to easily dismiss the possibility of the supernatural - think about the times that you walked into a room and just felt like something was off.  Everyone was smiling and making the best of things but you could feel that something was hanging in the room like a fight that had broken out but everyone tried to put on a happy face after the fact.  We've all had those moments when we could feel that the energy was undeniably negative or that something like a ghost or a poltergeist was watching us even though no one seemed to be there.  We need to acknowledge those moments - it's a normal human instinct to want to get away from it.  It's your sixth sense that helps you avoid danger and something that needs to be developed and not mocked - knowing and acknowledging it might have saved Michael Richards a lot of grief.

Sophia Gardeen is a physical medium who is currently working on the show Ghost Wanderers on The Supernatural Channel.  She also makes a wonderful peach cobbler.  For more on Ghost Wanderers go to www.ghostwanderers.com.