Paranormal Passion: It Runs in the Family

Thanx mom…

I’ve been into the weird and unusual since I can remember. I have a few theories on why this is. One, as a kid my crazy grandma used to babysit me. We would order Domino’s and watch Nightmare on Elm Street. It was a like a ritual to have pizza and horror movie night at granny’s house.

Two, my parents allowed me to explore all my weird curiosities. UFOs? Sure! Bigfoot? Sounds great! Paranormal? Why not! My mother and I watched Unsolved Mysteries religiously (did I just date myself with that show?). She also bought me the Scary Stories to Read in the Dark series, and thanks to my father getting me ready in the morning, you could find me wearing black fingernail polish and a Manson Tee before I even hit middle school. Marilyn, not Charles.

But mostly, I contribute my interest in “all things weird” to events that happened to me as a child. As a kid I had experiences you could call unexplained or terrifying! To this day, I don’t really discuss them. In fact, my own team members over at 3girlsinthedark.com still don’t know what happened.

When I was 16, my mom asked me if I wanted to do a ghost tour of the city of Alton. I wasn’t aware that this was a thing. Now, I had watched all the shows on TV, but this was before the paranormal boom, if you will. After having my experiences and no outlet to explore, I was game.

We showed up to what turned out to be, still to this day, one of the best tours I have ever been on. We got to actually investigate multiple locations with a small group of people. The tour hit some of the best places in Alton and we were chaperoned by a historian on a trolley bus. I met people that had been doing this “ghost hunting” thing for years. They had crazy equipment and even crazier theories on what was going on. I was hooked!

One of the locations we investigated was the pool of Mineral Springs hotel. We went down into the drained pool area and did a seance. My mother gasped and looked over to the pool stairs and pointed out what she thought was a white figure. I froze and hid behind her with my eyes shut!!! It freaked me out.

The whole ride home, my mom was talking about what she saw. She even questioned whether it was paranormal, but I was so disappointed in myself for being scared. From that point on, I felt like I had to redeem myself. I was obsessed with research, equipment, theories, books, events, whatever I could get my hands on. I needed to step my game up, and with this, I became much more than just a paranormal enthusiast.

For years, I investigated with my mom, by myself or with friends who were in it for a thrill. It wasn't until after college did I finally start to find people who were as serious about paranormal as I was. Those people and I started our own team, which is now 3 Girls in the Dark, and my mom is one of our biggest fans!