Vacationing with Spirit: Tales from the Crypt Trip

Unlike most jobs where you get to leave your work behind along with your briefcase, I have found that Spirit loves nothing more than a good getaway and always joins (or finds) me on vacation. To be fair, I also usually put at least one haunted site or tour on the itinerary to see what I’ll get, or in the hopes of learning something new. Needless to say, my friends in the Spirit World never disappoint, and our trip to a cemetery in Savannah taught me more than any other to date.

Scott and I had originally planned on taking one of Savannah’s famous ghost tours and then wandering on our own through the historic downtown area, figuring it would be full of interesting energy, old and new. This plan turned out to be a bust because the tour guide told us everything as we went along and all I got was a bunch of random stuff for the other people in my group, whose dead fam were vying for my attention and making it impossible for me to concentrate on the local spirits. Frustrated by the experience, I asked Scott to find another known haunted attraction that we could explore on our own, and to not tell me anything about it ahead of time. He chose the Bonaventure Cemetery, looked it up online, and announced, “The good news is, I found a hundred-acre cemetery, so there should be plenty of dead people hanging about. The bad news is, there are only three or four famous ghosts, so unless you pick up on one of them, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to confirm or validate for you.”

When we arrived, the woman at the welcome center sold us a map and tried to sell us a tour. We declined the tour and I quickly cut her off mid-sentence before she could launch into her own quick “who’s who” of the haunted cemetery. “PLEASE STOP!”, I pleaded, “I don’t want to know anything ahead of time… I’m a medium and I want to see what I get on my own!” We headed out the door before I could gauge whether she was freaked out or annoyed. We decided that I would take the lead and wander, but that Scott would stop me at the famous graves marked on the map if I passed them by, to see if I could pick up on any details he’d read online.

I started picking up on different energies right away, but nothing that he could confirm. I sensed that there was a child in spirit nearby, but hadn’t yet put my finger on who he or she was. We walked past a large monument and he asked if I felt anything there. “Seems weird because it looks Catholic and I know how they felt about suicide way back then, but I’m getting suicide… and something to do with a wedding.” This pretty much matched the local legend he’d read, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a child somewhere waiting for us, so we moved on. The next grave marked on the map had a tour group in front of it and I heard too much before I realized what was going on. I was getting discouraged but Scott said there was one more he would try to find and show me. As he studied the map I said, “There’s the child I was sensing! I see a little girl, about six or seven, in a dress that looks 1800-ish. I think her name is Holly or Amelia, or there’s some connection to those names.” This was interesting because we know a Holly and Amelia who are mother and daughter. She wants us to follow her… are we headed that way?”, I asked, pointing. Scott looked down at the map and, a bit surprised, said, “Yes.”

I stopped to try to engage the little girl a bit more, but she had some serious pep in her step and seemed very excited to keep moving, so I let her lead the way. I looked up and realized that we had come to another fork in the path and Scott was standing there with the map, trying to figure out which way to go. For the record, we are both severely directionally challenged.  He started heading right, but our little friend veered to the left. I said, “I think you’re wrong… she says it’s this way.” He flipped the map around again, re-oriented himself, shook his head in disbelief and said, “She’s right.” As we turned to follow her, I saw her dart behind a huge tree, then peek out. She put her finger up to her lips to shush us and pointed behind her. I filled Scott in on this latest development and said, “Well, wherever we’re going, it’s behind this huge tree, but she wants us to wait.” He moved over far enough to see past the tree and said, “Yep. I can see it now from here… that tour group is in front of where we’re going. We’ll wait until they move on.”

When the coast was clear, my new friend happily skipped ahead and led the way to the statue of a little girl that looked just like her. I just stood there, stupefied. I was so caught up in following her -a major first experience for me- that it had not occurred to me that she was leading me to her own grave!? I saw that her name, Gracie, was on the statue. I wondered aloud why she hadn’t told me this, and what the Holly/Amelia connection might be. It suddenly clicked. “Do you remember what Holly and Amelia’s middle names are?”, I asked Scott. He’s a man, so he had no clue, of course. “Beth and Grace”, I said, “Holly’s middle name is my first name… and Amelia’s middle name is hers. This kid not only led us through a cemetery, she turned our names into a riddle. She’s really proud of herself, too. I can tell that she loves to be the center of attention and entertain people.” Scott was able to confirm this, as well as her age and that she had died of an illness, two other bits of information she had shown me. He added, “Her father managed the largest hotel in town. They say she used to sing and dance to entertain the guests.” I looked around for her parents’ graves. Not seeing them, I asked if he knew where they were. He said that they had left town after she died and people say that’s why she stays here… she’s sad and still looking for them.” I looked at Gracie who promptly and decisively shook her head “no” and pointed up towards the sky. I could see her parents looking down from above, patiently waiting for her to rejoin them after her little “field trip” with me. “Well she’s definitely not sad, and also not stuck… she’s just visiting. She thinks it’s cool that everyone comes just for her and likes to give them a show. She also says her mother’s name is Margaret.” Scott pulled the website back up. “It says her name was Frances.” I looked at Gracie and then back at him and said, “Nope. She says it’s Margaret.” He did some more googling and found a Find-a-Grave link. There it was. Margaret Frances. What’s even weirder? My middle name is Margaret… and my mother’s middle name is Frances. True story.

My amazing visit with Gracie taught me at least two important things: that not all Spirits who are earthbound are “stuck”, some simply choose to visit a favorite place when they know someone like me will be there to interact with them; and that in the future I’ll rely on my new S-GPS (Spirit Global Positioning System) rather than Scott or a map to get me where we need to go. return to website

Before becoming a professional psychic medium, Beth taught high school French, Spanish, Italian and ESOL. In addition to conducting mediumship and general psychic readings across the country and abroad, she is also conducts paranormal investigations and offers psychic development mentoring for adults and children. Her book, Madame Medium: Unleash Your Inner Psychic with a French Teacher Turned Psychic Medium , was written to help others uncover and hone their own intuitive abilities. Beth lives just outside of Baltimore, Maryland with her husband, Scott, their dog, Waffle, and their resident house spirit.

To learn more about Beth, her book, and the other services that she offers, visit bethparkermedium.com