Latest / Echoes of the South / Alex Temblador: The Ghost Stories Found Her
Transcript
- 1:31Welcome to Echoes of the South.
- 1:33I'm Carrie Genzel Some places wear their history openly.
- 1:38Others seem to breathe it.
- 1:41In this episode, I sit down with travel journalist and novelist Alex
- 1:47Temblador, whose work has appeared in major publications like Fodor's Travel,
- 1:54National Geographic, and Travel and Leisure.
- 1:58Alex came to Macon expecting to write about the city's haunted history.
- 2:04What she didn't expect was to leave with experiences of her own.
- 2:10From unexplained moments at the 1842 Inn to a surprising experience during a
- 2:17tour of the historic Douglass Theatre We talk about the strange space where
- 2:24history, emotion, memory, And the unexplained begin to overlap.
- 2:29This isn't a conversation about proving ghosts exist.
- 2:34It's a conversation about what happens when a place makes you question what
- 2:41you thought you already knew.
- 2:44And why some stories stay with us long after we leave.
- 2:48Let's begin.
- 2:50Alex, thank you so much for joining me on Echoes of the South.
- 2:54It's so nice to see you.
- 2:56It's good to see you.
- 2:57Thanks for having me.
- 2:58Oh, absolutely.
- 2:59So we met, you came to Macon during October and you joined us for our Macon
- 3:06Beyond live at Burke Mansion.
- 3:08And that's where we first connected and had a very interesting night as I go
- 3:15hoarse.
- 3:16eh It's the ghost of the Burke Mansion, like getting in your throat a little.
- 3:19It was, it was me remembering the moment.
- 3:22Oh my gosh, you know what?
- 3:25Yes, the cold over your neck.
- 3:27So, okay, I gotta give you all the backstory.
- 3:30That's really bizarre.
- 3:31Maybe it was just me thinking about it.
- 3:34So during the course of the evening, we did what's called a double blind.
- 3:38And I had never done it before.
- 3:41And I was encouraged to do it by the group.
- 3:43So I had a blindfold on, noise canceling headphones, and what's called a
- 3:48spirit box, for those of you that don't know.
- 3:51So that's really cycling through the radio stations super fast. um The one
- 3:56that we were using, did AM and FM and it goes forward and backward.
- 4:01It's like really complicated.
- 4:03So it sounds like static, right?
- 4:05And every once in a while you get a name or a short sentence or something.
- 4:10And while that was going on, Jon our lead investigator had his thermal camera
- 4:15pointed toward me and you, Alex, were sitting right there.
- 4:19You were sitting in front of
- 4:21Yes.
- 4:23the iPad with the picture.
- 4:25And I heard a male voice say choke.
- 4:28And so I said choke out loud.
- 4:31Now I can't see or hear anything that's going on in the room, but you saw
- 4:38what.
- 4:39There was a change in temperature over your throat and there was one that came
- 4:43on the back of your throat too.
- 4:45So you can see the changes in temperature as Carrie was talking and as
- 4:49Morrighan was talking, we could see changes in temperature around the room,
- 4:54but it happened right as you said, Choke, over your throat, which is so wild.
- 4:59Yeah, it's really, really wild.
- 5:01I wish that had been um all recorded and put together in an episode because it
- 5:06was really trippy.
- 5:07Anyway, that's so funny that I had like a little frog in my throat while I was
- 5:13saying that.
- 5:14remembering.
- 5:16my gosh. let's get into your experiences in Macon.
- 5:20And I think for me, what's really interesting is that For you as a travel
- 5:26writer and journalist and author, you became a part of the story.
- 5:32And I don't know that you were expecting to experience anything on your trip
- 5:38to Macon, but you certainly got more than you bargained for.
- 5:44Yes, I was hoping I had talked to the people at the Macon Tourism Board.
- 5:48I knew that it was supposed to be a very haunted but underrated destination in
- 5:53the South.
- 5:53So when I'm going there, I knew that I was going to go to the Burke Mansion
- 5:58for Macon Beyond's paranormal investigation.
- 6:00So I'm expecting something to happen there, but I did have two experiences
- 6:05before that even happened.
- 6:07you stayed at the 1842 Inn, which is a location that we investigated for Macon
- 6:13Beyond.
- 6:13But so you were walking in there completely unaware of anything, just
- 6:19thought,
- 6:20oh, what a quaint bed and breakfast.
- 6:23And what did you encounter while you were there?
- 6:27Yes, so I hadn't seen your episode.
- 6:29So I didn't know all the things that had happened at 1842, but I stayed in the
- 6:35top floor. think it's the Magnolia room based on what I can see on the
- 6:40website.
- 6:40But as soon as you come up the stairs, it's the first room on the left.
- 6:45And it was the first night that we were staying there, me and my friend,
- 6:50there's one bed in there.
- 6:52So we're sleeping in the bed.
- 6:54And I don't know what happened, but I woke up in the middle of the night and I
- 7:00sat up straight.
- 7:01And I kind of looked around the room.
- 7:03I knew something had woken me up, but I didn't know what.
- 7:07And then I just felt one, two, three touches on my shoulder.
- 7:12And I was like, okay.
- 7:13And then I laid back down and went back to sleep after that.
- 7:18And I just went back to sleep after that.
- 7:21Yes, it's because I, when I moved into my house, which is 106 years old, I had
- 7:26a ghost, which I think has moved on, that is very, that was very comfortable
- 7:32touching me in the middle of the night.
- 7:35So I'm
- 7:36Okay.
- 7:37not surprised when something touches me in the middle of
- 7:42I am that way as well.
- 7:43Yeah.
- 7:43I will say,
- 7:44Yeah.
- 7:45hey, listen, I'm trying to get some sleep. ah This is not the time, but it
- 7:49doesn't surprise me.
- 7:51Yes, yes.
- 7:51And it wasn't like a bad touch.
- 7:53It wasn't a push.
- 7:55It was so feather light on my shoulders.
- 7:57On my left shoulder.
- 7:59And then I was like, okay, that happens.
- 8:02I'm gonna go to sleep now.
- 8:04Well, I'm going to pull up a quick picture that you sent me of your room.
- 8:08And this wasn't one of the rooms that we investigated.
- 8:12We were definitely up on that floor. ah But I'm going to share that
- 8:17Yes, this is the room.
- 8:18Okay, so I was sleeping, if we're looking at the bed straight on, I was
- 8:22sleeping on the right side of the bed.
- 8:24My friend was sleeping on the left side.
- 8:27And I just sat up.
- 8:28Yeah, I don't know what, I don't know if something touched me and that's why I
- 8:32woke up.
- 8:33I don't know if I heard something.
- 8:35But I just kind of woke up immediately and sat up.
- 8:38Wow.
- 8:38Well, it's a beautiful space. from spending time at 1842 and in doing an
- 8:44investigation, we definitely knew that there was some activity in the inn.
- 8:50And certainly up on that floor, that's where we got a lot of activity.
- 8:55And there's a lot of claims up there from people who have stayed in those
- 9:01rooms.
- 9:02And I know that We've been told that people sometimes have strange dreams or
- 9:08have encountered a little girl with a red ball or there's a lot of different
- 9:14stories.
- 9:14Again, nothing malicious or mean or anything of that nature.
- 9:19It all seems very fun and fun if that's your thing, right?
- 9:24It all.
- 9:25Yeah, I don't know if this is the little girl touching me in the middle of the
- 9:28night.
- 9:29It felt womanly. you know, just a nice or female, yeah.
- 9:32It felt female.
- 9:32Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 9:33And we definitely encountered, Morrighan really picked up on some female
- 9:37energy up on that floor as well.
- 9:39And then you have the John Gresham room, which is right up there as well.
- 9:43So there's that balance of the male and the female, and then also the
- 9:47child-like behavior that people pick up on.
- 9:50Like I said, it's
- 9:51Yeah.
- 9:51very interesting, 1842, because there's a lot of activity.
- 9:54There's so much history there.
- 9:56There's a lot
- 9:57Yeah.
- 9:57of activity in... in the inn which I think adds to its charm because it's
- 10:02absolutely beautiful.
- 10:04It's gorgeous.
- 10:04You have the downstairs area where we would get a tea or a drink and then
- 10:07bring it up to the room.
- 10:08And yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful spot.
- 10:10Yes.
- 10:11Here's you at the outside.
- 10:12Look at how beautiful that is.
- 10:14Yeah.
- 10:14I love it.
- 10:15It's gorgeous. uh It's one of those places that for a long time, I, you know,
- 10:19I'd lived in Macon for a few years and had never been inside until we shot the
- 10:24episode and I walked in and I'm like, wow, this is incredible.
- 10:27And I know people, you know, we'll book it for different events and different
- 10:32things as well, but it's, it's, it's a really special inn. that we have right
- 10:36downtown, which is great because you can walk to a lot of fun places and not
- 10:41have to go too far. yeah, definitely, definitely
- 10:44Yeah.
- 10:49spiritual activity.
- 10:50Although you had said that they really downplayed it or said flat out that
- 10:54there wasn't any activity in the end, which is interesting.
- 10:58Yeah, I asked maybe like five different people over the course of my stay who
- 11:03worked there and nobody They all just said like nothing happens here.
- 11:08We don't have ghosts I've never heard anything like that and I was like going
- 11:13online seeing on TripAdvisor people had written stuff and then me and my
- 11:19friend actually watched Macon Beyond this the episode about 1842 on the bed in
- 11:241842 and going like Something's going on here.
- 11:281842, come on, the jig is up, you know, yeah.
- 11:30Yeah, it's so old.
- 11:31Like you even mentioned this whole area is like very active.
- 11:36So it just doesn't surprise me.
- 11:39I have to say my experience in living in Macon and investigating is that
- 11:43College Street and Georgia Avenue, well, the whole downtown historic area is
- 11:48very active.
- 11:48There's a lot going on.
- 11:50And then, you you think about College Street, which feeds right into Rose Hill
- 11:54Cemetery. you know, it's, there you go.
- 11:57Yes, Rose Hill is absolutely stunning.
- 11:59Yeah, Rose Hill is very
- 12:01which I did visit too, but I didn't, nothing happened, yeah.
- 12:06For me.
- 12:07stunning.
- 12:07You know, so it doesn't surprise me that it's very active, but again, like,
- 12:12you know, something we were talking about before we uh came on live here is
- 12:18that, you you think about all the layers of history here and that's really
- 12:23what we're going to be uncovering here at Echoes of the South is just you've
- 12:28got so much history here, so many stories to tell.
- 12:32And, you know, the 1842 Inn and Judge Gresham, who was the one who you know,
- 12:37had the house built, was the mayor at one time of Macon and a very prominent
- 12:42member of society.
- 12:44And so you think of all the people that walk through those doors, decisions
- 12:49that were
- 12:50Wow.
- 12:50Yes.
- 12:51made, meetings, oh gatherings, you know, just one of the highest points of
- 12:57society.
- 12:57So, of course, there's going to be, you know, imprints of that energy and
- 13:03those people in such an incredible place.
- 13:07Yes, absolutely.
- 13:08And you feel it.
- 13:09I mean, it's a good energy to me.
- 13:11I didn't feel anything.
- 13:13Yeah, I felt so too.
- 13:14Like when we were in there, when Morrighan was walking around, Judge Gresham
- 13:18himself gave her a tour and was so proud of his home.
- 13:21One thing I felt was really interesting is, and when you're in the inn, you
- 13:26can tell a little of how there was an addition on the main house.
- 13:29And Judge Gresham, as he was walking Morrighan through the house, he wouldn't
- 13:34cross that threshold of the addition.
- 13:36And I thought that was really interesting.
- 13:38And Morrighan didn't quite realize why that was happening in the moment.
- 13:43But when we talked about it later, I thought, you know, it's either he doesn't
- 13:47like the addition because it wasn't part
- 13:50Yeah.
- 14:00of his plan, or perhaps in his timeline or what he's seeing, it's not there
- 14:05because that's not a
- 14:07Yeah.
- 14:07part of his memory of his home.
- 14:09But it was very interesting that he didn't cross that threshold into that back
- 14:15part that had been added on.
- 14:18That's so cool.
- 14:19I love hearing that.
- 14:21Right. just, that's what's fascinating to me too.
- 14:22And when we go into a location to investigate, it's more so Morrighan really
- 14:26has to try to peel back where, like what perspective they're coming in from
- 14:29and what timeline they're coming in from and trying to remember things like
- 14:32that of like, oh, they may not know that that's there or may not see it. um
- 14:35Yeah.
- 14:40Yeah.
- 14:46and try to decipher, of try to get in into their purview of what they're
- 14:51seeing and what they think is going on.
- 14:53And it's very fun to come into these locations because Macon is not a city
- 14:59that's investigated.
- 15:00And a lot of times because I'm coming in with Macon Beyond and now have
- 15:05relationships with people, we're getting access into locations that just don't
- 15:11allow investigators to come in.
- 15:13So...
- 15:13The spirits that are there a lot of the time when we walk in are sort of like,
- 15:19what are you doing?
- 15:20Exactly.
- 15:21Wait, you can see me?
- 15:23Why are you looking at me and trying to talk to me?
- 15:29Yeah.
- 15:30And so a lot of times, and this certainly happened in Burke Mansion, Mr.
- 15:35Burke was very wary of us.
- 15:38I think it was like the whole crowd also, like we're so excited.
- 15:41We were all going around trying to see different things and I'm it was a lot
- 15:45of energy for him.
- 15:47Yeah, even when we investigated prior to that event, we encountered him and he
- 15:52was not super welcoming.
- 15:54He just was a little wary of like why we were running around his home, asking
- 15:59a bunch of personal questions and, you know, nosing around in his bedroom, et
- 16:05cetera, which I understand like that's strange, right?
- 16:09And so a lot of the work that we do when we first come in is really earning
- 16:14their trust of telling them why we're there, teaching them what the equipment
- 16:20is and that we're not there to hurt them or make them go away.
- 16:24We really just want to tell their story.
- 16:27So it's interesting how we have to, we got to earn that activity and that
- 16:32interaction for sure.
- 16:34Yeah, and I think that's kind of the beautiful thing about interacting with
- 16:38the paranormal, at least in my experiences.
- 16:40And I was having conversation with somebody like two days ago who I told them
- 16:44about my house and I had this ghost and all this stuff and they're like,
- 16:48you're not nervous.
- 16:49And I said, no, you just come in and say, okay, now I know you're here.
- 16:53I'm here.
- 16:53Let's, we've got to live in the same space.
- 16:56So we might as well do this communally and with respect and you protect the
- 17:00place and I'll take care of it.
- 17:02Well, I think that's really interesting because a lot of times when I talk to
- 17:06people, you know, or I say, you know, would you like us to come and
- 17:10investigate your house?
- 17:12And they're like, well, no, because I don't want to piss off the ghost or I
- 17:17don't want to disrupt what's going on.
- 17:19And it's like, well, that's not why we're there.
- 17:22We're really there just to connect with whoever may be there and to see who
- 17:27they are and why they may be there and if they need anything.
- 17:30And sometimes it's not about making them leave, I mean, we're never making
- 17:35them leave, you know, having them go, it's more about telling their story.
- 17:40A lot of times we find that the spirits that are hanging around never really
- 17:44got a chance to tell their story or they were people that were never really
- 17:49listened to or had a voice.
- 17:51And so it's
- 17:52Yeah.
- 17:54us that gives them the opportunity to share who they are and why they may be
- 17:59there.
- 18:00And sometimes that's all they're looking for, you know, and so it's a
- 18:05privilege really to go in and be able to share the information they give us
- 18:10and know that that's really all they wanted.
- 18:14it's beautiful.
- 18:14I like that.
- 18:15Okay.
- 18:16Yeah.
- 18:16And a lot of times, you know, it's because they didn't get a chance to do that
- 18:20in life.
- 18:21We had that recently.
- 18:22We got to go in and investigate the Piedmont Grand Opera House, which was a
- 18:26real treat.
- 18:27And there was an older gentleman that was sitting in the audience in a tuxedo
- 18:31and Morrighan connected with him.
- 18:33And he really just wanted to tell us his story.
- 18:36And then after he was done, he like just disappeared.
- 18:39And that was it.
- 18:40Oh Aww.
- 18:46You know, it was something that was really weighing heavy on his heart.
- 18:48And I guess he never had the chance to say it out loud or tell anyone before
- 18:51he passed away.
- 18:52And so he was sitting in the audience and took the opportunity to tell us and
- 18:55tell Morrighan.
- 18:55And it was a really beautiful moment.
- 18:56And so I look at that as such a privilege to be able to do that for a spirit
- 18:59who may feel like there was unfinished business for them.
- 19:02Nice. yeah, that's awesome.
- 19:16Now in your home, you had said that you felt like it's not there anymore.
- 19:20Do you feel like it maybe comes and goes, or do you feel like it moved on?
- 19:25I think it moved on, because about a couple years ago, I just randomly
- 19:29happened to look up the day that he passed away.
- 19:33I, okay, so when I moved in, I didn't think there was a ghost. did all this
- 19:38research into seeing if someone had died.
- 19:41And then I found out a month after I moved in that somebody was murdered here.
- 19:46Yeah, that wasn't told to me.
- 19:48Yeah.
- 19:49Oh, surprise, surprise.
- 19:52Yeah.
- 19:53So I had done all this research about the police reports and all that.
- 19:58So I knew a lot about the guy.
- 20:00And for some reason, like about a couple of years ago, I just, something told
- 20:06me like, look up the day he died.
- 20:09And it was like that week was his death anniversary.
- 20:13And I just... uh lit a candle, of little, did a little tiny altar in the area
- 20:19where I knew he had passed away.
- 20:22And since then, I really haven't had activity the way I had
- 20:27Wow.
- 20:28like four years, the four years or maybe the three years before that since I
- 20:31had
- 20:32right.
- 20:32moved in.
- 20:32So since then, I, something did weird did happen the other day, but it just
- 20:37didn't feel like him.
- 20:39So I hope he has moved on, but I don't know.
- 20:42Yeah, I hope he's found peace and has been able to move on.
- 20:45Is it an unsolved
- 20:46Yeah.
- 20:47crime or did they find out who did it?
- 20:51Okay, so there was a guy who owned the house before I did.
- 20:54I bought it from a flipper.
- 20:56So the flipper,
- 20:57Okay.
- 20:57he didn't tell the flipper what happened.
- 21:00And the guy who owned it before me sold guns and bazookas and weapons out of
- 21:05this house, legally, but still weird.
- 21:08And he was having dinner, according to him, in his garage one night.
- 21:13And for some reason, this 19 year old boy, who doesn't live anywhere in the
- 21:19neighborhood, he lives about like a five minute drive away, was dropped off
- 21:24right in front of the driveway for some reason.
- 21:28This guy doesn't know why.
- 21:30And the kid just was walking straight at him and didn't say anything.
- 21:35And the guy said, no, stop, don't come closer.
- 21:38And even though this guy was a military guy, he didn't go after him and the
- 21:44kids didn't have any weapons, but the military guy runs inside. the house,
- 21:49gets a gun, goes.
- 21:51The way my room is designed, it has five doors, so it's a very weird kind of
- 21:56house.
- 21:57And he comes kind of around and when the kid comes into the house from the
- 22:02garage, he empties an entire clip into it.
- 22:06my gosh.
- 22:07and then gets a knife and runs to the front porch and calls the cops as if
- 22:12emptying a magazine and a kid who's unarmed didn't kill him.
- 22:17Right.
- 22:17Wasn't gonna do it.
- 22:20Yeah.
- 22:20I read the police report.
- 22:22I don't know why the guy didn't just turn right around.
- 22:25If you think somebody's coming into your house, he literally could have just
- 22:31grabbed a gun, turned right around and shot him.
- 22:34Instead, he does... goes all the way kind of around between two different
- 22:39rooms to come up behind the kids to shoot him, which never made sense to me.
- 22:44If you are so scared for your life, you just turn around and immediately.
- 22:50He does this whole extra thing and then somehow the kid's dad comes to this
- 22:55house and is arrested on site.
- 22:57That never made sense to me.
- 22:59I never understood or found out.
- 23:01There's no information. how the dad found out, why the dad would get arrested.
- 23:06And then oh because of Texas's Stand Your Ground laws, nothing happens with
- 23:12the guy who owned this house.
- 23:14I just thought it was very sketchy.
- 23:16I think he knew the kid.
- 23:18I think he invited this kid over for whatever reason.
- 23:21And I think he killed him.
- 23:23But
- 23:24Wow.
- 23:25Wow.
- 23:26because of our Stand Your Ground laws, Texas just said it was defending his
- 23:31house, but it never made any sense to me. uh Witnesses which they didn't see
- 23:36anything but were people who live behind me they heard the gunshots and they
- 23:41kind of like Vouch for the guy who lived in this house and about like five
- 23:46months later.
- 23:47They move into the house And rent the house from him and I was just like that
- 23:52seems sketchy as well Yeah, it
- 23:55You
- 23:57was so ah
- 23:59Ow.
- 23:59That's a lot to unpack, yeah.
- 24:04It's so much. uh But David was here whenever I moved in. uh I did see
- 24:09something, I did see things right when I moved in, but I just tried to explain
- 24:14them away.
- 24:15Because I was like, I
- 24:17Yeah.
- 24:18did the research, no one has died here.
- 24:19Even though it's a 106 year old house, no one had died here. ah
- 24:23Right.
- 24:24And then a neighbor was like, did you know about the shooting?
- 24:30That happens.
- 24:31Yeah.
- 24:32with like really incredible circumstances.
- 24:35Incredible.
- 24:36Things do not make sense.
- 24:38It's sketchy at best.
- 24:40I don't believe.
- 24:42Yeah.
- 24:43Well, I hope that he is at peace and you maybe you just acknowledging him in
- 24:50that space was enough for him to move on and he felt seen and heard.
- 24:57I hope so.
- 24:57He was my age.
- 24:58Like we would have been the
- 25:00Wow.
- 25:00exact same age.
- 25:00Yeah.
- 25:01So when he died, we were both 19 at the time and you know, then I moved in
- 25:05here and I found out all about him and through kind of some internet research,
- 25:10but he would show himself a little ways touching my feet at night.
- 25:14He found a ring of mine and put it on my dresser and he would kind of makes,
- 25:19he made alarms go off on windows that I didn't know the windows weren't
- 25:23locked.
- 25:23And he was trying to warn me this window is not locked. um Yeah, yeah, I said
- 25:28as I found
- 25:29That's kind of cool.
- 25:30He's like, your security.
- 25:31Yeah.
- 25:32He's like, I gotta keep you safe.
- 25:34out, I said as I found out, I was like, hey, this is our place.
- 25:37Nobody comes in, you protect it.
- 25:39And then once I was in the kitchen, I knew my best friend was coming and I had
- 25:43opened the garage door.
- 25:45And I was just kind of like going and checking and then come back and cleaning
- 25:49dishes.
- 25:50And he opened the door for her.
- 25:51And when she got to the door, I said, did you open that because it was about
- 25:56like, two minutes between the door opening and her coming in.
- 25:59She was like, no, I thought you did.
- 26:01And I said, nope, that door was closed.
- 26:03And he opened it.
- 26:04So.
- 26:05So he was pretty active for a time.
- 26:08Yes, yeah, he even like yelled in my ear once in the out in the yard.
- 26:12I mean, it wasn't a bad yell, but it scared me. mean, like just kind of
- 26:18shocked you.
- 26:19I've had that happen and it can be unnerving because all of a sudden you're
- 26:22hearing sometimes very close to you, hear a voice, right?
- 26:26Yeah.
- 26:27And you're like, but you can't see anything.
- 26:29And so that's strange. think, um and I've certainly like seen like full bodied
- 26:34apparitions and things.
- 26:35And sometimes that can be unnerving too.
- 26:38If you think it's a real person standing in your home, I've had that happen
- 26:43where I'm like,
- 26:44Yeah.
- 26:45I thought you were, I thought someone broke in.
- 26:48Oh no, I didn't have that.
- 26:49um And so, yeah, that's happened to me several times. uh And so that's
- 26:53unnerving.
- 26:54I think, you my experience with spirits in my home is typically you set the
- 26:59ground rules.
- 27:00So if there are certain things that you're not comfortable with, um tell them.
- 27:05I'm like, hey, I don't mind that you're here and we can both live here.
- 27:10Yes.
- 27:15and enjoy this home, but I would prefer it if you didn't do this.
- 27:18You know, don't yell in my ear.
- 27:20Yes.
- 27:20I told him that after he yelled at my ear.
- 27:23And then at my parents' house, I think there is an older man ghost because
- 27:30sometimes he would come and lay on top of me.
- 27:33And
- 27:34Oh.
- 27:35I like couldn't.
- 27:36It was just harder to breathe and so I would wake up and go if you're going to
- 27:42lay down Lay beside me you can touch me like Softly on my back or something,
- 27:48but don't lay on me sir
- 27:50Sir.
- 27:51so Like lay down next
- 27:53so we don't know each other that well.
- 27:55to me.
- 27:55Yeah, I don't know you that well, but if you need I guess to cuddle.
- 28:00But just don't lay on me
- 28:02You know, that's a really common thing that happens to people.
- 28:06Like even at Burke Mansion, I know that one of the stories I was told is that
- 28:11sometimes guests have said that they feel sort of like somebody caressing
- 28:15their back, you know, like it's okay.
- 28:18It's okay.
- 28:18It's okay. ah Which could, you know, do the opposite and freak them out. ah
- 28:23But
- 28:24Thank
- 28:25yeah, I definitely, I lived in a place in West Hollywood. um in LA and there
- 28:30was a spirit in there, but I think it was connected more so to me. um As the
- 28:36interaction went on, I don't think it was necessarily connected to that
- 28:41particular space. um And he would sometimes get into bed on but not on me,
- 28:46like next to me.
- 28:48And I could feel the like
- 28:50Yeah.
- 28:50the depression of the mattress.
- 28:51And it was very strange because there was no in there.
- 28:54And then sometimes my dog would growl or, you know, get up or, um and so I
- 28:58know what
- 28:59Yeah.
- 29:02that's like and it can be unnerving.
- 29:04But I think for people that haven't had that experience, they may not be able
- 29:10to understand that sometimes when you feel the intent or you feel, I guess,
- 29:15kind of the essence of that spirit and it doesn't feel threatening, it feels
- 29:21OK in a way like where you're like,
- 29:24Yeah, it's comforting in a way.
- 29:26OK, that's fine.
- 29:27Just just
- 29:28Yeah, yeah, just right
- 29:28Please be over there.
- 29:31there.
- 29:31I, it's funny, the reason I said I don't know if David is back or not is
- 29:36because I was sleeping the other day and I felt like something pressed on the
- 29:42back of my pillow and then something kind of against my head.
- 29:47And I was like, that's, it hasn't happened in a long time.
- 29:51And I
- 29:52Yeah.
- 29:52didn't, mean, like year, like two years maybe.
- 29:54And so I was like, is that him?
- 29:56Is this something else?
- 29:58I don't know.
- 29:58But that happened.
- 30:00Right, right, interesting.
- 30:01It's yeah, that's when you get Morrighan to come in.
- 30:03That's who also can work remotely.
- 30:05I've had
- 30:06Right?
- 30:08More again.
- 30:12her do things remotely before because if I'm concerned about
- 30:14So fascinating.
- 30:15somebody I'll say, you know, there seems to be something there.
- 30:18It seems darker.
- 30:19Can you kind of pop in and see what's roaming around in there and she will.
- 30:23Sometimes it doesn't like that she's poking around and that it can see, you
- 30:27know, she can see it and vice versa.
- 30:30Yeah.
- 30:31ah But yeah, I think too, sometimes things come and go and sometimes there's
- 30:35spirits that we don't really notice as much.
- 30:37And then they do something a little bigger and we're like, wait, who's that?
- 30:42Is that the same spirit?
- 30:43Is this someone else?
- 30:44Right.
- 30:45Yeah, well when we were at the Burke Mansion, Morrighan was saying people from
- 30:50the neighborhood were kind of coming and like paranormal entities from the
- 30:55neighborhood were coming in and watching us, not people.
- 30:58Yes.
- 30:59There were other spirits coming for the party.
- 31:01Yeah, because you know, when Morrighan, I always say like, it kind of reminds
- 31:05me of like kind of the Wi-Fi signal and when she's got her signal on, because
- 31:10she doesn't walk around in life on, right?
- 31:12People
- 31:13Yeah.
- 31:14get so funny about that with her.
- 31:15Like they think that she's just like, I guess like the Long Island medium,
- 31:19like she's walking around and just randomly giving people readings or
- 31:22something.
- 31:22It's like, no.
- 31:23Yeah.
- 31:23Yeah.
- 31:24No, or yeah, like, or she sees it everywhere.
- 31:27She was very clear that she turns it off.
- 31:30she turns it off.
- 31:30You would have to because there
- 31:32Yeah.
- 31:33would just be constant information, right?
- 31:35And people coming to you and like, hey, I need to tell you something. em And
- 31:40so when she's working and we're doing an investigation or in regards to the
- 31:45Burke Mansion event, when she's doing an event, right, her signal is on.
- 31:50So other spirits may be like,
- 31:52Mm-hmm.
- 31:54cruising down the street and like, hey, there's a party over there, right?
- 31:57It's like,
- 31:58Yeah.
- 32:00they come and you know, what happens and this happens when we investigate too,
- 32:03especially in that area.
- 32:05At some point, usually toward the end of the investigation, there are so many
- 32:08spirits that start coming our way that we have to kind of shut it down because
- 32:12it just becomes so muddled of her trying to like navigate through.
- 32:16Yeah.
- 32:20who we may have been connecting with and all these other spirits that have
- 32:24figured out that we can communicate. um Or she'll sometimes be, it's funny,
- 32:28she gets very, um I would say you're like a bouncer at a club.
- 32:32She'd be like, everybody stand in line one at a time, get the velvet rope,
- 32:37stand behind the velvet rope. uh That's right, um
- 32:40No cutting.
- 32:42because that's what happens.
- 32:44There's so many that come forward.
- 32:46Again, know, Macon is not, a city that's investigated a lot.
- 32:51Yeah.
- 32:52And so there aren't these big opportunities, I think, for those spirits
- 32:55that
- 32:56may still be wandering or have something to say to be able to communicate and
- 33:00say what they need to say.
- 33:01And so when we're out there and we're investigating or we're shooting an
- 33:05episode.
- 33:05Sometimes it becomes a little bit of a party at the end where we're like, oh
- 33:10no, this is too much.
- 33:11This is we're not getting, it's too many voices and we're not getting a
- 33:15Have.
- 33:18story.
- 33:18We're just getting like, hi, hello, Bob, John, like
- 33:21Yes.
- 33:23all these different, different people.
- 33:26So that can happen easily when we're out and about. so 1842
- 33:31Let's do that.
- 33:34is a pretty, exciting experience because I think for me like my thought was
- 33:38when you told me about it like you came out here to document you know the
- 33:43history and the stories of Macon and then you became a part of the story.
- 33:48Yeah, but that wasn't even the most interesting one.
- 33:53Yeah.
- 33:54See, I know you have other stories that you haven't even shared.
- 33:58Let's, and
- 33:59Yes.
- 34:00there may be one I don't know about, but I know that you did show that you had
- 34:03an experience at the Douglass Theater, which is a location
- 34:06Yes.
- 34:07we have not investigated, I'm gonna say yet, ah yet.
- 34:12Yes. oh
- 34:13ah But I've heard stories about the Douglass and it has incredible history
- 34:40here in Macon, Georgia.
- 34:49What was your experience there?
- 35:01Yes.
- 35:01Okay, so I'm going to the Douglass Theater.
- 35:04They know I'm coming as a travel journalist.
- 35:07And so they decide to do something different that they've never done before.
- 35:12I don't know if they're doing it now.
- 35:15I doubt it.
- 35:15But they were kind of starting to show me around in the lobby and starting to
- 35:21tell me the history of the Douglass Theater, Charles Douglass and his wife,
- 35:26Fannie Appling Douglass running it and it being the first African American
- 35:31theater. in the South, I believe, or definitely in Georgia, but it was a big
- 35:36one in the South.
- 35:37And so they're telling me this, and then a guy comes down these stairs and out
- 35:43this door, and he's wearing like an Usher suit, like a red jacket, like an
- 35:48Usher in a theater.
- 35:49And I look at my friend and I'm like, you see that guy, right?
- 35:54Like, because he just is like sneaking up behind us.
- 35:57That was like, that's a real person, isn't it?
- 36:00I think.
- 36:01And it is.
- 36:02And he takes over our tour, but he has this like accent that sounds like it's
- 36:07from the past and he's talking very slowly.
- 36:10And we start to realize that he's acting as if he is a usher of the time in
- 36:15which Charles Douglass and his wife were running the theater.
- 36:19So it's this whole
- 36:21Wow.
- 36:21like cool interactive act where he's like. and this is where we had this and
- 36:26this is where we had that.
- 36:28Mr.
- 36:28Douglass did this and I see him every Friday or something like that.
- 36:33So it's really interactive.
- 36:35We're getting into it.
- 36:37It feels like I'm on a cool fun tour and he takes us into the theater and we
- 36:42go through the seats and then we go up to the stage and he is standing about
- 36:48like 10 feet to our left on the stage and we're looking out at the audience.
- 36:53He has me and my friend sitting in two chairs while he's to the left.
- 36:58And he's kind of doing a cool monologue about the Douglass Theater.
- 37:03And he goes, isn't that right, Mr.
- 37:05Douglass?
- 37:06And all of a sudden the lights went, boom, boom, boom.
- 37:10And I was like, I mean, I got chills just now.
- 37:13I was just like, that was so perfect at the right time.
- 37:17And he goes, ha ha, yeah, Mr.
- 37:19Douglass.
- 37:20I see you and they keep going and then they would stop and they kept going
- 37:25every like they would flash a couple times and then pause for like 10 seconds
- 37:31and then kept doing it until we eventually walked out of the room.
- 37:36Now this guy doesn't make any he's not like, my gosh, I can't believe that
- 37:41happened or anything.
- 37:42He just continues on in character.
- 37:45We continue on. through the tour, I look at my friend and was like, that was
- 37:50kind of crazy, right?
- 37:52And she was like, yeah, we get to the end and he comes out of character
- 37:57finally, he's just like this regular guy talking to us about his time working
- 38:03there.
- 38:03And I said, did y'all do that?
- 38:05Like, did you have somebody standing there to do the lights?
- 38:10And he said, absolutely not.
- 38:12I did not expect that.
- 38:13I didn't see that coming.
- 38:15But as soon as he said, isn't that right, Mr.
- 38:18Douglass, those lights just started flashing.
- 38:22Get out, I have a picture of you inside
- 38:24Yeah.
- 38:25the theater.
- 38:25And again, if you've never visited Macon, Georgia, please make sure to visit
- 38:30the Douglass, because it's absolutely stunning. um
- 38:34So it's those lights in the back.
- 38:35Honey, you can see the three above my head.
- 38:37There's
- 38:38Yeah.
- 38:39lights underneath that balcony and all of those lights in the balcony were the
- 38:44ones flashing.
- 38:45Wow.
- 38:45Now I've been in there
- 38:46Good night.
- 38:47several times during the Macon Film Festival and for different events and I've
- 38:51never had an experience but I'm always there like with you know there's a
- 38:55movie or screening or an event so there's a lot of people around so many
- 39:00distractions but I've heard from from a few local people here in Macon who
- 39:04have been there you know who who are there sort of during set up or quieter
- 39:08times at the theater that have said, know, there's something, there's
- 39:12something in there.
- 39:14There's something in there, which is why we want to go investigate.
- 39:18Yes.
- 39:18So we were talking to people who work there and they said at night, there'll
- 39:23be a lot of times at night, like when they're leaving, or sometimes
- 39:28Yeah.
- 39:29when there's like nobody else in there, they're just doing like paperwork in
- 39:34their office or something.
- 39:36They'll see stuff run by the doorway or down the hall or the lights will
- 39:41flicker a lot.
- 39:43Later on, I think it was that night, we went on a tour, a historic haunted
- 39:48tour around the downtown area.
- 39:50And
- 39:51right.
- 39:51we did go to the theater and it was dark.
- 39:53And we did think we saw a shadow kind of, yeah, in the window at
- 39:57Here's the outside.
- 39:59Oh, wow.
- 40:00Oop, let me put that back.
- 40:03the top left.
- 40:04So we thought we
- 40:06really?
- 40:06saw Shadow.
- 40:08Yeah.
- 40:10There it is.
- 40:11Yes, so not the windows right above Douglass, but the ones to the left of
- 40:16that, on
- 40:17Interesting.
- 40:17Yeah.
- 40:18that second floor.
- 40:19We thought we saw shadow in that window, but they say they see shadows a lot
- 40:25moving around there.
- 40:27Yeah, there's a lot of that happening in Macon and those upper windows.
- 40:30People talk about different buildings. yeah, absolutely.
- 40:33Yes, yes.
- 40:33I didn't see anything else on that tour, but we did stop by a morgue.
- 40:38Either it was a morgue or it's still a morgue now.
- 40:41And I wish I remember the name of it or where exactly it was at, but I can
- 40:46picture it in my mind.
- 40:48I didn't see anything, but I did not like how that building felt from the
- 40:53outside.
- 40:54And we didn't even get close to it, and it felt not good.
- 40:58I'm trying to think of what that might be.
- 40:59I'm not familiar.
- 41:00Gosh, you're giving me some hints
- 41:02Yeah.
- 41:04of places I don't even know about.
- 41:06I got to investigate.
- 41:08Yeah, was, the tour guide was telling us that it was a morgue and that there
- 41:13was a woman that has seen a lot in that house, yeah.
- 41:18Right.
- 41:18Yeah.
- 41:18I love, well, I love getting into all the lore and the stories and see if I
- 41:23can start to pull that thread and find some kind of through line of like, can
- 41:29we back this up at all with any kind of documentation or
- 41:33Daddy?
- 41:34any, know, what are the claims?
- 41:35Who are, are, who's seeing her?
- 41:37What's going on?
- 41:38And then I love to get Morrighan
- 41:40Yeah.
- 41:42in there to start to unravel unravel things.
- 41:44So there's always more than what people think.
- 41:46You know, and one thing I find too, and you may find this as well as a writer
- 41:51is that a lot of times stories over time kind of get mashed together.
- 41:54So there might've been like something that happened and then there was a woman
- 41:58that was a part of another story, but somehow they all get cramped together in
- 42:03one story and it
- 42:04Just one, yeah.
- 42:07becomes this mashup of, of different events.
- 42:09And I, I find that that happens as well.
- 42:11And then it's trying to unravel the truth and be like, well, wait a minute,
- 42:15wait that might have been the woman from this story, but then that didn't
- 42:19happen there.
- 42:20Yes.
- 42:20I see that happening a lot with the woman in the water, the lady of the lake,
- 42:27the woman in white,
- 42:29Right.
- 42:30or the woman who was the bride that committed suicide.
- 42:35Those all blend in in a place.
- 42:38Right.
- 42:39If a woman existed, all of sudden, all those tropes happen.
- 42:42It does seem like a lot of places have those typical stories, right?
- 42:49Like we
- 42:50Yeah.
- 42:50said, we just investigated the Piedmont Grand Opera House and there was of
- 42:53course a woman in white story that's associated with that theater.
- 42:57And then we encountered a woman and I asked Morrighan to describe, because we
- 43:00were trying to determine what timeline.
- 43:02I said, what is she wearing?
- 43:04And she was wearing a white dress.
- 43:06Yeah.
- 43:08Yeah,
- 43:11And I
- 43:11yeah.
- 43:11was like, well, there we go.
- 43:12The woman in white, here she is.
- 43:14But then maybe, and we don't, I don't know this, maybe at that time, white was
- 43:20like a very common color.
- 43:22Yeah, it's very interesting.
- 43:23This particular
- 43:24Bye bye.
- 43:24woman, was a performer.
- 43:25She was like a stand-in or somebody like that.
- 43:29And so it could have been that she was wearing just a simple dress, you know,
- 43:35as a
- 43:36Mmm.
- 43:37stand-in or she was wearing part of a costume or something like that.
- 43:38So was hard.
- 43:38In a theater, it's sometimes hard to tell based on the way they're dressed
- 43:39what timeline they're
- 43:40Yeah.
- 43:43Yeah.
- 43:47from, because they could be wearing a costume.
- 43:49And so that may
- 43:50True.
- 43:50not be the timeline they're from, but it just looks that way.
- 43:52Well, I would love for you to look into the Douglass Theatre, not only because
- 43:57they had so many famous performers go through
- 44:00Yeah.
- 44:00there, but it was also like one of the only places African Americans could
- 44:05stay safely.
- 44:06So it's partly a hotel as well.
- 44:09So I'd be curious to know if you have the Douglass Theatre, there's a little
- 44:15building next to it where people would stay.
- 44:19right.
- 44:19when they came to the theater before they went home, because it was only place
- 44:22they could safely stay.
- 44:23So I'd be curious if there was stuff in that part of the theater as well that
- 44:26had activity.
- 44:27Well, I'm hoping, you know, as part of our Macon Beyond video series, um now
- 44:32that we've done the Grand Opera House,
- 44:35Yeah.
- 44:36which was the reason why the Douglass existed, because they used to have to
- 44:40sit in what was called the Peanut Gallery in the top
- 44:43Yeah.
- 44:44balcony.
- 44:44And it was very steep and wooden benches and very uncomfortable and very high.
- 44:47Like we were up there investigating. um And it was because that's where they
- 44:49had to sit that the Douglass was built. so it has such a, the two go hand in
- 44:52hand, you know, so beautifully and the Douglass itself is such a beautiful
- 44:55theater.
- 44:55And I'm so grateful that we still have that theater here.
- 44:57It's so hard to keep those old theaters alive, you know, and keep them
- 45:00preserved and open.
- 45:01Yeah.
- 45:02Yeah.
- 45:04Okay.
- 45:05Yeah, they just reopened ours in my little town.
- 45:21So I'm
- 45:23that's exciting.
- 45:24glad we're having these.
- 45:24Yeah, I've kept around historically and culturally.
- 45:26Yeah.
- 45:27It's incredibly important, yeah.
- 45:29And you think about the history of the theater and what that meant to the
- 45:33community and just bringing how, you know, even performers would travel from
- 45:38city to city to city to city, right, to kind of get a name for themselves and
- 45:43build a following for themselves.
- 45:46They didn't have social media, so they had to hit the road.
- 45:50Yeah!
- 45:50Go in person, make it a live-in.
- 45:52I love it.
- 45:53Yeah.
- 45:54It's wild and right, exactly what you're saying.
- 45:57It's incredible to think of the people that have performed on those stages
- 46:02that we know
- 46:03Mm-hmm.
- 46:03still today, right?
- 46:04And they were just
- 46:05Yeah.
- 46:06hustling from city to city and performing
- 46:09Wow.
- 46:09everywhere they could. um Now, is there another experience that you had here
- 46:15in Macon?
- 46:16The only other experience that I had was at the Burke Mansion. was, well, I
- 46:21had two kind of things beyond just like witnessing all of the discussions that
- 46:28Morrighan was having or the ghost box is going off and seeing different like
- 46:34shadows moving on Jonathan's display cameras.
- 46:37I saw all those things, but When you were at the very beginning and you,
- 46:43Morrighan and Jonathan were talking to the crowd and you were introducing what
- 46:49was gonna happen that night, I closed my eyes and saw like a dark woman figure
- 46:55kind of standing in front of y'all.
- 46:58Yeah, there he is.
- 47:00It's such a pretty house.
- 47:02Right, there you are outside of Burke.
- 47:04It's so beautiful.
- 47:04Yes, and you can also, for those that don't know, you can also stay at Burke
- 47:08Mansion as well.
- 47:09That's another option.
- 47:11Yes.
- 47:11And then another time, there's uh a painting of, think, of Mr.
- 47:18Burke's daughters on the wall.
- 47:21Am I right about that?
- 47:24Yes, yes, there's definitely, there is, there is, yeah, in the house.
- 47:30Yeah, so I was, I kind of got close to it.
- 47:32I was looking up at it and it was kind of where all of your or Jonathan's
- 47:37equipment was that and I felt like tingling on my back and neck just like a
- 47:42lot of tingling back there.
- 47:44Um, and then weirdly in that same spot about maybe an hour or so later, there
- 47:49was a woman standing there and she's talking to this guy and just for
- 47:53reference, she had a cane.
- 47:55So She was kind of leaning on the cane.
- 47:57Yeah, yeah.
- 47:58She's
- 47:59I know who that is, actually.
- 48:01Yeah.
- 48:02the younger woman with the cane and she was talking to this guy and everything
- 48:05was just having a conversation.
- 48:07And then all of sudden it looked like she was about to fall over like
- 48:11right.
- 48:12faint or something.
- 48:13And we all rushed over and she was just like, I don't know what happened, but
- 48:18I just went, she was like, I just was like starting to go over and I don't
- 48:23know if she, oh, did she lose her sight?
- 48:26Was that what it was?
- 48:27I think.
- 48:28Gosh, I have to remember, I'm in contact with her, so I'm gonna ask her.
- 48:29Yeah, yeah.
- 48:30I can't remember if like it went, if I think she momentarily just like not,
- 48:35she couldn't see anything and then it came back, but it was right near that
- 48:41painting of the daughter.
- 48:43And I was thinking, woman is, I was looking when I closed my eyes, I saw that
- 48:48dark figure, I thought it.
- 48:50And then when I had this feeling, I was like, I think the daughter's in here
- 48:56as well.
- 48:57Well, we definitely encountered the daughter or daughters, nothing negative.
- 49:03And they actually seemed quite curious
- 49:07Yeah.
- 49:08about what we were doing and what the equipment was, which was fun. ah But
- 49:13yeah, sometimes too, think that energy can be overwhelming.
- 49:17And I think that
- 49:19you
- 49:20there was a lot of energy in the room because we were looking to communicate,
- 49:23but there were also a lot of people in the room. there was like almost 60
- 49:27people there.
- 49:27So we have our energy and our intention.
- 49:29And then you have all the other people that are there bringing in maybe
- 49:33nervousness or anticipation or skepticism or like all these different things.
- 49:37And then you may have the spirits there that are like, this is our home,
- 49:40right?
- 49:40And they may be curious,
- 49:42Yeah.
- 49:47Yes.
- 49:51but then there may be other people that they're like, I don't.
- 49:52I don't particularly like this guest or I don't like what they said or someone
- 49:55Yeah.
- 49:57may have said something negative about something about the furnishings or who
- 49:58knows, right?
- 49:58Or just something negative.
- 49:59And so they may have not liked it, not to say that this person said anything
- 50:00negative, but I remember that moment.
- 50:01It's very strange.
- 50:01Yeah, she had had, I believe back surgery and that's why she had her cane.
- 50:02Yeah, she'd had surgery
- 50:03Yeah.
- 50:07Yeah.
- 50:12Oh.
- 50:15Yeah.
- 50:20and so.
- 50:20And so that's why she had the cane.
- 50:23I'm going to ask
- 50:25But
- 50:25her about that again.
- 50:26yes.
- 50:26Speaking of the energy, I remember Morrighan saying, some of you might feel
- 50:31bad the next day.
- 50:32Like you have a hangover.
- 50:34Oh my gosh, she was so right.
- 50:35Because I didn't, I mean, there was some wine.
- 50:39I think I had maybe like two glasses while I was there, but nothing to the
- 50:43point that I should have felt as bad as I did the next day.
- 50:47I was so tired.
- 50:48I had a headache.
- 50:50I had to like wake up and take Tylenol in the middle of the night.
- 50:54I had a headache.
- 50:55And I was like, I feel it, I feel it.
- 50:58Yeah.
- 50:58The investigation hangover is real.
- 51:01Like I feel it too.
- 51:03Even when we just investigate the three of us, I will get up the next day and
- 51:09just feel exhausted, like feel really drained.
- 51:13And Morrighan
- 51:15Yeah.
- 51:15always laughs.
- 51:15She's like, yeah, it's for real.
- 51:17Yes.
- 51:18It's for real.
- 51:18So when we, we typically don't have groups of people with us when we
- 51:22investigate, that was a special event.
- 51:25And You know, we may have something like that in October again in a different
- 51:29location.
- 51:30I know we got to get you back.
- 51:31Um,
- 51:32As you should, as you should.
- 51:34it's really fun to do here in Macon and as a special event, but it's, it,
- 51:39especially for Morrighan, it's a lot of energy to wrangle, you know, all of
- 51:45those other spirits in the room and navigate through
- 51:49I can imagine.
- 51:50all of that energy to really tap into the energy that's already there.
- 51:55So.
- 51:56Thank
- 51:57yeah, I, definitely felt it and gosh, that night, think that you were upstairs
- 52:03during when we split up.
- 52:05Yeah.
- 52:06Cause downstairs we had
- 52:08Yes, yeah.
- 52:08You had some good conversations downstairs is what I heard, yeah.
- 52:15Well, we had a lot of different interesting spirits come through.
- 52:18It was intense.
- 52:19And Mr.
- 52:19Burke did show up downstairs, but he wouldn't come in the room.
- 52:22He stayed in the hallway and he kept tripping off the REM pod but he wouldn't
- 52:26come in the room. uh
- 52:28Yeah.
- 52:28Yeah.
- 52:28Yeah, when we were upstairs, Jonathan had his camera out and it's like dark in
- 52:35the room.
- 52:36And we saw like a shadow peek its head, like as if it was like over here and
- 52:42it went like this.
- 52:44Okay, yeah.
- 52:46And you can see the whole body like come in and then come back out.
- 52:49That was wild.
- 52:50Wow, that's really trippy.
- 52:51Yeah, it's wild.
- 52:52It's funny now that we are investigating more often.
- 52:54My experience has been since I was a child, I would see things and I didn't
- 52:58really understand what I was seeing or what I was experiencing.
- 53:01And it wasn't really until like the onslaught of like the ghost paranormal.
- 53:04shows that came on that I really was like, oh, this is this is what I see.
- 53:08This is OK.
- 53:09It's other people to uh that.
- 53:10I realized that that there's a whole group of people out there that go out and
- 53:14look for that evidence and those experiences.
- 53:16And at first, you know, I really focused more on the development and creation
- 53:20of different shows
- 53:21Yeah.
- 53:28Mm-hmm.
- 53:39around different teams, different topics, etc.
- 53:42So I was. behind the scenes.
- 53:44And so it wasn't until Macon Beyond and now, of course, with Echoes of the
- 53:49South that I'm front-facing and really getting into it myself.
- 53:53And so it's really fun to go and explore these locations and tell these
- 53:58stories and learn a lot.
- 53:59I learned so much from Morrighan and Jon So you definitely came to make it and
- 54:05you were not a skeptic.
- 54:06So it's not like we changed your mind about the paranormal, but we may have
- 54:11changed your mind about Macon.
- 54:14Yeah.
- 54:14Yes, like.
- 54:15I mean, you always want to kind of experience things.
- 54:19Okay, to be honest, I would visit New Orleans like once a year for like six
- 54:24years, kind of before the pandemic, hoping I would have a paranormal
- 54:29experience.
- 54:30And I only saw one thing happen any of any of those times.
- 54:34And New Orleans is known to be this like big paranormal hotspot.
- 54:39Yeah.
- 54:40Absolutely.
- 54:40Yeah, I've had crazy.
- 54:41I've had a crazy, well, a few like it was one trip.
- 54:44I had like a whole string of wild things happen on a trip there years ago.
- 54:49Yeah.
- 54:49So definitely.
- 54:50But Macon's like the sleeper hit.
- 54:52Like it's like the one that you're not expecting.
- 54:55Yes.
- 54:55Yeah, and I think I was talking to Morrighan about this because I do think
- 55:01it's underrated.
- 55:02And you were saying this, like the spirits are not as like comfortable with
- 55:08people coming in and investigating them or trying to connect with them.
- 55:14That maybe that's why so much activity is happening because it's not as noisy
- 55:20in a way as New Orleans or other places that are known to be haunted.
- 55:25Does that make sense?
- 55:27Savannah.
- 55:28right or you know Savannah which is our neighbor yes yeah somewhat yeah I mean
- 55:33Yeah.
- 55:34Savannah is very noisy about it and I love that they're noisy about it and I
- 55:37love that they're really noisy about their history and they don't shy away
- 55:41from it you know they're very in your
- 55:43No.
- 55:43face with here's what happened ah and
- 55:46Yeah.
- 55:47I love that they're very honest about it I think that you know in Macon
- 55:50there's a lot of em undiscovered stories and there's a lot for somebody to
- 55:53come and discover themselves and unpack and uncover and and they're a little
- 55:57we're a little more low-key about it here in Macon but if you have an
- 56:00adventurous heart and investigative mind you know there's definitely some fun
- 56:03adventures to get into um in Macon and I love that
- 56:06Yeah.
- 56:07Yes.
- 56:08And you kind of have it all to yourself in a way too.
- 56:21Right, it's not overly crowded of people trying
- 56:22Yeah, no.
- 56:24to have that experience. and if you
- 56:27Yeah.
- 56:27find the right employees, maybe not at 1842, but if you find the right, if
- 56:30you, Burke will tell you the stories.
- 56:32Sure, go to Burke house and they're telling you there's something there.
- 56:37Yeah.
- 56:38you have the right employees, they will tell you those fun stories, which are
- 56:41Yes.
- 56:42always, which are always great.
- 56:44I know that, I was, someone shared a story with me a few months back about a
- 56:49producer that was working out of Capricorn Studios and he had an unexplained
- 56:55experience in the studio.
- 56:57Oh.
- 56:58So, and called Visit Macon and was like, is it haunted?
- 57:01Cause somebody, something just happened.
- 57:04So,
- 57:05Yeah.
- 57:06you know, we've got, there's a lot of, there's a lot of spirits roaming around
- 57:10that are waiting to tell their story.
- 57:12And so I'm hoping you get to come back and tell some more.
- 57:16Me too, I'm so glad I got to meet the spirits that I did and they were lovely
- 57:18and the people
- 57:19I love it.
- 57:22who connected me with the spirits were even better.
- 57:25Amazing.
- 57:25Well, I...
- 57:27Yes, so thank you for that weekend.
- 57:30Oh, yeah.
- 57:30You followed up your visit here with a great article, which was really, really
- 57:38fun.
- 57:39Thank you.
- 57:41And I got to participate in that a little bit with you.
- 57:44But yeah, here it is here.
- 57:46And this was in Fodor's travel.
- 57:48And I'm going to link all of this to um in the show notes.
- 57:51So for those of you that want to follow up and and take a look at Alex's
- 57:56article and where you can find her in writing, et cetera, you've written
- 58:01novels, you've got there's a lot that you can follow up with Alex about um
- 58:05that.
- 58:06That's all going to be in the show notes so you can figure out how to how to
- 58:10find her.
- 58:11What is there any, do you have any big trips or anything that you're working
- 58:16on or any
- 58:17Thank you.
- 58:22great new novels that you are about to publish?
- 58:25Any big news you can share with us?
- 58:28Well, I don't have any book publishing news right now, but I did finish
- 58:33editing a novel yesterday.
- 58:34So I'm almost in the stages of giving it to my agent and then hopefully we can
- 58:40sell it.
- 58:40And it has some horror, murder, true crime elements to it.
- 58:45So that's fun.
- 58:46Oh, well, you'll definitely keep us in the loop about that.
- 58:50That sounds really, really exciting.
- 58:53Yeah, yeah, and I mean, my other novels are magical realism.
- 58:57So what are ghosts, not part of the magical realism genre where we live in our
- 59:02reality and magical things happen around us.
- 59:05So I love this.
- 59:06Yeah.
- 59:07That's right, absolutely.
- 59:08Absolutely.
- 59:08Sometimes they're happening around us and we don't even realize it.
- 59:12That's
- 59:13And I'm okay not knowing.
- 59:15right.
- 59:18There's things I don't have to know all about it, so that's okay.
- 59:21Well, I think for me, it's like I always like to try to figure it out if I
- 59:26can.
- 59:26But there's something magical about the mystery of life that we won't ever
- 59:31know all the answers.
- 59:33Right.
- 59:33Not here
- 59:34No.
- 59:34Yeah.
- 59:35anyway.
- 59:35Not not while we're sitting here. um And so life, think, would be dull without
- 59:41some mystery.
- 59:42So we got to leave some of it to mystery.
- 59:45Yes, some mystery and magic and have a blast with it.
- 59:49You can do it at Macon'.
- 59:51I did.
- 59:52That's amazing.
- 59:52Well, we loved having you and I hope you get a chance to come back and
- 59:57definitely keep me in the loop of all your adventures and also just any
- 1:00:01updates with the activity in your house.
- 1:00:04I'm curious to see if something kicks up again.
- 1:00:07Maybe the talk today is like spurned a little,
- 1:00:10We'll see.
- 1:00:12Yeah.
- 1:00:13hey, I'm still here.
- 1:00:15It'll be all night just touching me and my neck.
- 1:00:17Hahahaha
- 1:00:19He used to touch my feet a lot at night, which I was like, okay, I see you.
- 1:00:25Yeah.
- 1:00:26Interesting, interesting. my gosh.
- 1:00:28Well, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.
- 1:00:32This is it's been great to kind of walk through your adventures here in Macon
- 1:00:37and gosh and learn a little bit more about your home and other experiences and
- 1:00:42to find out what you're up to now.
- 1:00:45Thank you.
- 1:00:45I had such a great time.
- 1:00:48Great, we will talk to you again soon, I'm sure.
- 1:00:51Bye.
- 1:00:52One of the things I appreciated most about this conversation with Alex is that
- 1:00:55she never tried to force certainty into the unexplained.
- 1:00:58And honestly, maybe that's the point.
- 1:01:00Sometimes the most meaningful experiences are the ones we can't fully explain.
- 1:01:04The places that linger with us, the moments our instincts react before our
- 1:01:08mind catches up, the stories that quietly follow us home.
- 1:01:11A huge thank you to Alex Temblador for joining me for this episode and for
- 1:01:14being open to exploring the spaces between skepticism, storytelling, history,
- 1:01:18and experience.
- 1:01:19If you've had an unexplained experience or would like to request an
- 1:01:22investigation, visit EchoesOfTheSouth.com.
- 1:01:25Join us as we continue uncovering the stories, the history, and the mysteries
- 1:01:29that echo throughout the South.
- 1:01:30Until next time, stay close.