Here at Alcatraz Island, I was asked to re-visit one of the most haunted houses in the world and one of the very first places where I experienced a ghost for the first time in my life when I was just 16 years old and It was here that I found my life's path.
(Photos - clockwise from top left) I'm ready for my close up, Mr. Demille.
Taking direction from our director Gary Weimburg and our cameraman in the tunnel; remnants of the warden's residence as it appears today like a skeleton against the million- dollar view of San Francisco; a close-up of my face as I stood in an old doorway of the wardens residence sharing ghost stories of long ago and feeling the sadness of the place. Only one lonely fireplace surrounded with batchelder tiles still stands among the ruins, now home to seagulls, both dead and alive; two images of the secret tunnel; here is my hand as I felt the strange sensations and eerie vibrations of so long ago. I was later told that everything I picked up down there was 100% accurate according to historical information revealed by ranger John that day.
Our crew arrived at "the rock" at 4:30 a.m. The wind was so cold, we could feel the chill in our bones. Everyone seemed excited but a little edgy around me, wondering what to expect while walking the lonely decrepit halls of this den of steel and stone with someone like me: a real live Psychic/Medium. They wondered if I would be reading their minds, seeing ghosts, or both. The cameras and sound equipment went haywire several times until I asked the director if I could gather the actors and crew into a circle. We each held hands and I led them into a safe place of protection.
I asked the spirits to let us get the shots and told them that I was here to help them if they were ready to cross over into eternity. Once my on-screen moments were filmed, I entered a trance and went to work conversing with those spirits who felt trapped and destined to remain there for all eternity and those who craved the help to leave once and for all. I interviewed island employees, rangers and the like and will present these interesting and unique findings in a new book I'll call: "True Ghost Stories of Alcatraz Island."
Not only was I to walk through the dark and dank halls of one-time horror, reliving my first experience in releasing a lost soul, but help the director and crew re-create the stories I'd written for my first book "Haunted Alcatraz," so that they could be acted out by professional actors who had only read the script. Once we arrived on the dock, we were met by a park ranger "John" who would act as our personal guide during the filming of the segment for the television show: America's Most Haunted Places - Haunted Alcatraz Island segment. I spoke with the actors and they realized I was just like them "a down to earth guy," our director, Gary Weimburg, said. I was allowed to enter places tourists never get to see. I walked along the fractured ruins of the guards tower shacks, kicking off the bones of dead seagulls along the dangerous broken balustraded catwalks.
The tourists stood below wondering who I was, why I was miked and where I was going....I kept to myself off camera to absorb the active vibrations all around me. We found our way to a place underneath the old hospital wing that we would call home for the next several hours, where we would enjoy meals together and could relax until we were "on" camera again. I later found out that this was used as a morgue. Yikes is right! The ranger revealed that just one day prior to our arrival, a secret tunnel had been discovered and opened. He also told me I'd be the very first psychic person to enter the tunnel and feel its vibrations. I would be the first person to related any energy fields on camera for the entire world to see.
Today several years later, I still receive thousands of emails from people all over the world who share their personal encounterswith ghostly feelings on the island. You can catch this show as it continually repeats on the Travel Channel around the world. There you'll learn more about my experiences. Watch for my new book about my experiences of this day in True Ghost Stories of Alcatraz Island is destined to be released sometime in 2005 along with Haunted Houses of the Bay Area.
(Left)
Victorian Architectural ornamentation on
a real haunted house exterior. (Right)
Here's one of the most haunted houses in the City by the Bay.
(Below)
Alcatraz Island as it appears today in a dreamy setting.
