Last Friday we stopped for a couple of hours at Mt. Olivet one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in Nashville, TN for a brief paranormal investigation. We had planned to be there longer but because of different events during the day we arrived very late. We thought about skipping it and just going back another day but then decided we could use this time to get some basic photos and familiarize ourselves a little and then plan a return.
The cemetery was founded by two Tennessee businessmen, Adrian Van Sinderen Lindsley and John Buddeke, in 1856. A little less than thirty years later Lindsley passed away and was buried at Mt. Olivet. The architecture of the cemetery is Gothic Revival and at one point there was a chapel in that style built by Hugh Cathcart Thompson, the architect of the famous Rhyman Auditorium.
For this investigation we each carried a recorder, Meghan had her Canon rebel DSL camera, I had an infrared camera, the S-Box, and a body camera.
We started the investigation by just pulling over and then splitting up and walking around looking at the different graves. Because it was late I did not try and find some of the more notable burials in the cemetery like Thomas Rhyman, Edward Barnard, and Anne Dallas Dudley. While reading the names on the graves we recognized many of the family names from counties and streets of Tennessee. As we got out of the car we split up with Meghan going to graves to the right of the car and me walking forward further into the cemetery. As I have done in past investigations I pulled out a few of the best captures and also uploaded to youtube a full video of all the EVPs and the S-Box session.
The first EVP that I separated out in to its own clip was what we believe to be a residual haunting of someone saying a prayer.
I also pulled out a clip to compare an EVP that was recorded on both Meg and my recorder.
And the final clip I separated was our favorite and one that made us certain we needed to return. I had parked across from a tall monument for the Weaver- Cole- Cheatham family. Meg had gone there to investigate while I wandered away to some of the larger tombs.
Meg began reading the writing on the graves out load one by one beginning with Dempsey Weaver, 1815-1880. Dempsey was one of the founders of Third National Bank in Nashville and at one time was Treasurer of Vanderbilt University.
After Dempsey Meg moved on to his son, Thomas Weaver's family. Thomas was born in 1850 and passed away suddenly in 1911 in Florida. He had followed his father's footsteps working in banking and serving as trustee for Vanderbilt University. He married Mattie Cheatham in 1872. Her maiden name was one of the names we recognized as the county next to us is Cheatham county. From there Meg moved on to the grave of their son Richard Cheatham Weaver, 1895-1913. He was only 18 when he died of an accidental gun shot wound to the abdomen.
Next she moved to the grave of his oldest brother Thomas Shadrack Weaver Jr, 1873-1918. Thomas
It was at these last two graves where Meg recorded an EVP that convinced us we have to go back. As Meg moved to Richard's grave a voice says "Hey read me". When we first listened we questioned whether in 1913 "Hey" would have been used in that way because we think of it as a more modern usage. Meg check out the etymological use of the word and indeed it dates back to the 15th century. And to further confirm the voice was Richard when she moved on to Thomas Jr we hear the same voice say "now come back."
As we were listening to the recordings we read about the family history. The Weaver family owned a home called Seven Oaks which burned down but would have been near the Nashville Airport, and there are Seven Oaks apartments and Seven Oaks Park still in the area. Not only was Weaver a well known name but they had connections to the Cheatham family as mentioned above and also the Cole family who owned Colemere which is now a restaurant and event space called Monelle's at the Manor. We definitely had fun learning about some of the history of these families in Nashville and look forward to returning not just to revisit Richard but to see what else we can learn about Nashville and the people who once lived here.
Here is the full video including several other EVPs and our S-Box session.
Thank you for watching we have some big plans ahead in the next few months and look forward to sharing the results.
Well it has been over three months since I moved to TN and I have been so busy settling in I haven't had time to sit down and write. I have several posts started and just haven't finished them for various reasons. But I am skipping those to get this one out because it is very important.
My sister and I have signed up for an "Out of the Darkness Walk". It is sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The walk takes place in Nashville on September 12th and any money raised will go to helping prevent suicide. There is a lot about suicide that I can't imagine and can't understand. I'm sure a lot of people feel that way. The person who takes their life must feel so lonely and hopeless. . . and then there are the friends and family members who are left behind with so many questions or feelings of guilt.
I ask that anyone reading this please consider donating to my page: Jo's donor page
If you are in Nashville that day please consider joining our team and walking with us. Travellers
If you aren't in Nashville you can look up other community walks. AFSP
If you can't donate or join our team and walk I ask that you share these links. The more people who see it the more money will be raised.
If just one suicide is prevented because of a donation made then it is worth it because the lives effected are many. And that is what I will be thinking with every step I take. And I hope that is something you can think of if you make a donation or share this post.
Thank you
"Out of the darkness suddenly my body can take a breath I'm coming out of the darkness finally my soul can take a rest."
Well I can't say this is the last time I will be making the drive from NY to TN but it is the last time I will have a vehicle so loaded up that you would change lanes to get away from me on the highway.
In case you are wondering everything made it just fine :-) I had worked and then finished loading the car before my Mom and I hit the road. Since both of us had worked we planned to drive until about midnight before pulling off at a hotel and spending the night. We were both slightly concerned about someone trying to steal from our car but it would have taken a lot of effort to untangle the mess of bungee cords. Also the hotel kindly allowed us to park in their covered entrance since that is where the security cameras were located. We slept and were back on the road by 7am.
I want to say it was around 3pm when we passed Nashville and it's unique skyline complete with the building we affectionately refer to as Batman.
Which means that around 3:30 pm we passed this sign and we were at my new home.
There is a lot to do when you move, especially when you move to another state. I had to get my license and re-register my car. I had hoped to get both of these things done in the first couple of days that I was in TN but it wasn't meant to be. I had been able to open a new bank account but my transfer had gone through so quickly that my utility bills hadn't started coming to my new address yet. So I didn't have enough to prove address change in order to get my license. Also I couldn't register Tramp, my car - named after a Bruce Springsteen song, because I couldn't find my NY title which is probably in a very safe location in a box labelled papers . . . . or kitchen supplies . . . . we may have labelled it kitchen supplies in case the ABF truck got broken into because who cares about kitchen supplies but a box labelled paperwork has identity theft written all over it . . . literally. Anyway I needed the copy of my NY title to arrive so that I could reregister the car. It came eventually as did some utility bulls and I now have my TN license and my truck is now officially a TN resident.
Complete with Smokey Mountain license plate
I want to say that for the first two weeks it did not feel real. I still felt like I was visiting and would be driving back to NY soon. Now that feeling has passed and I am looking forward to future backyard projects and a lifetime of memories in TN.
Well 2014 is over and good riddance! I can't say I'm going to be sad to see the end of this year. It has been frustrating and heart breaking.
At the start of the year I thought for certain I would be in TN by the spring/summer. Then the pipes in my house froze and broke in multiple places. That happened very early in the year and served as a good indicator on how the year went.
Of course there are good times too. The trip we took to Italy was filled with wonderful memories and once in a lifetime type moments. I am still putting together pictures and videos from that trip to post here.
Actually over the last few months I have started several posts and just never finished them. I think part of the problem is that I really thought by now this blog would have become more about decorating my house and fun projects I had planned. Now I have just been collecting things I want to do in my house and waiting and waiting and waiting to get there.
I'll get there soon enough I know. The house in NY is empty and ready to hit the market. We have consulted with a couple of realtors and are doing research as to price and how the market is trending.
So hopefully next year as I look back at 2015 it will be from TN and I will be looking back at my first projects and memories in my house.
We reached the point where the things that were left in NY where to large, heavy, or cumbersome for us to move alone. I started looking into moving companies but couldn't find one I liked for various reasons. Mostly I didn't like the idea of my stuff being loaded onto a truck then unloaded into another storage location or larger truck and then reloaded onto a box truck at the new location. There was way to many times when my items were being touched and could be broken or stolen. So we returned to ABF. This time, however, we took advantage of their partnership with Moving Solutions. Three helpers from a local moving company came to my house in NY to help us pack and load the furniture into the truck. Then three helpers from a local moving company came to TN. Both times they were punctual and professional.
Since unloading the truck was going to be a lot of work and we only had a short time we decided to fly this time instead of wasting 32 hours driving to TN and back. I hate flying! But there was no way around it driving would be too much. So my Mom booked flights out of LaGuardia Airport. Usually we use JFK airport but there were no direct flights. JFK is convenient because of the air train which connects the Long Island Rail Road to the airport. For LaGuardia we had a slightly different route The Long Island Rail Road to Woodside station and from there the Q70 Limited to the airport. I got to Woodside before my Mom which gave me enough time to find where the bus stop was located. It was easy, not as secure as the air train but it was good.
The flight was less than two hours so by the time they were bringing the snack cart by we were almost in TN. I had just enough time to finish my coffee and biscoff cookie (which was delicious) before it was time to prepare for landing.
When I packed the truck I had written numbers on the paper and bubble wrap on the furniture for each bed room. So when I got to TN I put matching numbers on the bedroom doors.
This way it was easier to tell the movers which room to bring the furniture.
While I was there I was able to get a full look at the damage my dear sweet dog Schultzy had done to the laundry room door. Originally there was a cat door that she would poke her nose through when she was 'in her room'. It was cute. But at some point she realized she could make the opening bigger. And she did.
Saturday was our day for fun. My Mom took the packing materials to the local dump while I started building four more book cases that I had sent in the truck. When Meg got back we picked a playlist from records she had recently purchased. The music choice was certainly eclectic.
And judging from the stack of boxes that we emptied we were very successful. My library is really coming along nicely (though the books aren't organized but that will be fixed when I move).
Then we moved on to Meg's new hobby of throwing knives and axes. She had recently gone to a SCA event and won a banner for her skill as a novice. So she wanted to build a target to practice with and learn. The target sadly didn't last long but I think the design was good just the wrong materials.
We used PVC to make the frame because we wanted to do this easily and cheap. We also wanted it to be light enough that Meg could move it.Two blocks that I think are actually for a retaining wall but the had a cross in the top that fit perfectly over the 1.5 inch pipe and provided the weight we needed to hold it down. I think the wood we got was to hard. Eventually we got some knives to sink in and stay but a softer wood or tree trunk slice would have been better. The chain needed to be tighter and stronger. The target was to loose which allowed it to swing back with the knife (that also effected the knives force). One of the knives broke the chain when it was thrown and we decided that the axes would probably break the target entirely. We used my Uncle's fence for the ax throwing which had the strength to hold up to the axe weight.
On Sunday we went back to the airport and flew, sadly, back to NY. It was a quick trip but we got a lot done and getting the furniture out of our house in NY was a big step forward to get the house sold.
Well we took another quick trip down to my house in TN. And by quick trip I mean quick. We left NY on a Thursday afternoon and were back on Monday by midnight.
Saturday was the busiest day as I got up and started working early. I changed the last of the locks and deadbolts so that now all my locks are the same key and all are the finish and quality I want. In total I changed nine locks and I now also know how to re-key locks (an added bonus).
A couple of weeks before the drive I had gone to Ikea to look for bookshelves. I settled on the Billy style and bought two large bookcases and two small book cases. So Saturday morning I started putting them together. Assembly went well and was pretty quick. All four together cost about $200.
As I am looking to furnish my house I have gone to a few stores looking for different ideas. I really like things I have seen at Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. Sadly I'm not so much a fan of their prices. I went to Ikea figuring I would look there for book shelves and dressers so I could save on those. I never thought about Ikea for couches and chairs. I don't really know why I just always figured they wouldn't be as comfortable and wouldn't hold up well. While I was strolling around the Ikea showroom my opinion began to change. I saw one love seat/chaise lounge which had storage under the chaise lounge section and the loves seat could be pulled out to make a sofa bed. Not only did I really like the extra storage but the pull out feature would be great for when I have company. Now back to the bookshelves.
Assembly went well and I really feel like the quality of Ikea furniture has improved since the last time I bought furniture. To me quality shows not only in material but in little details and one detail really struck me in it's simplicity.
These are the shelf pins that stick into the side of the bookshelf and the shelf sits on top of it. Notice how they are rounded. Each shelf has a matching area chiseled out so that the pins fit into the shelf. It made the shelves much more secure and added stability to the overall book shelf. I didn't have time to unpack books onto them but my wonderful sister did so here are a few pictures showcasing her decorating skills.
When I finally get down to TN I will probably take a trip to the Ikea in Georgia and get 2 more of each book case and maybe even a couch. I will then have wall to wall bookshelves for around $400. Near where Meg works there is a furniture store and they had arm chairs with script writing on them. I figure add two of those and a side table and the room will be finished.
The next order of business was to put together a green house I had bought at the beginning of the year. I have great plans for gardening when I get down there. I figured starting the greenhouse will give Meg the ability to start on some herbs and with the greenhouse she will be able to grow them year round. The green house is 7x8x10. And after seeing it Meg is now thinking she might want to add a lime and a lemon tree to it. In the warm months they will enjoy being outside and then for the colder months they will still get lots of light in the safety of the green house.
Now while I was building the green house my Mom was outside trimming the numerous rose bushes I have around the house. The previous owner must have really liked rose bushes because there are at least three in the back and I think another three in the front. Anyway I kept hearing a dripping sound as I was building the green house and my Mom heard it too. Eventually Meg came out and pointed out the source of the noise. It was a bunch of Cow Birds. I took video and it might be hard to hear but if you watch you will see the bird puff up a bit and then hear the water noise.
The trip was a good one and it was nice to be at my house. It's crazy to think that I have now owned my house for a year and a half. Meg and I have made many plans for what we want to do with the landscaping and I look forward to being down there to do it.
Anyone have any good suggestions for the green house, other than herbs, a lemon tree and a lime tree?
Well the drive on Friday was one of the smoothest we have had in a long time. In anticipation of possible bad weather we packed the truck to avoid all extra wind resistance. I know I have done this drive a lot of times especially when I recognize truck stops, Denny's, Pilots, and other gas stations along the way. I found myself several times pulling in and saying "Oh I've been here". Also without the wind resistance of the last few trips we didn't use nearly as much gas. We got to TN Friday around 5pm which was just in time to unpack the car and have a nice dinner. Then we got to open Christmas presents with Meghan whom we hadn't seen in almost two months.
On Saturday morning we got up and headed to the store to do some shopping. We planned on having dinner that night with my Uncle and his family and another local family. In total there were eleven of us which definitely makes this the first large party at my house :-) In my honest opinion everything came out awesome. We had some pasta in a marinara sauce, spinach in oil and garlic, potato pizza (mashed potato with mozzarella cheese baked as a pie), artichokes and eggs, chicken cutlets, macaroni and cheese, and a nice salad. For dessert we had pfeffernüsse "pepper nuts" which are german spice cookies baked by Meghan and Panatone which is an an Italian cake with pieces of dried fruit in it.
On Sunday we headed to Atlanta to meet up with family from my Dad's side in what we have named "Not- Christmas" so far it looks like we are going to have a nice tradition of Not- Christmases which will always fall on the weekend after Christmas. We brought a baked rigatoni and cheesecake with us to the party which we had made the day before. The drive was about four and a half hours and is pretty easy consisting of mainly two highways. We only hit traffic when we got right up to Atlanta and two highways (75 and 85 I believe) began merging. When we got to the house there was family galore, some we hadn't seen in years. We hung out talked and caught up with each other for hours before heading back to TN.
On Tuesday we started cooking for New Year's Eve. Now Italian's (and probably a lot of other cultures) believe meat should not be eaten on New Year's Eve. The reason, as my Mom explained, is that you eat fish because fish come from the ocean (water) and is cleansing so that you wash away the bad from the year before and start out fresh. We had linguine in a red pepper, clam and lobster tail sauce, potato pizza, fried artichoke hearts, fried cauliflower, rice balls with cheese, crab cakes, black-eyed-pea patties, fried shrimp, fried scallops, tilapia, cold broccoli salad with lemon and garlic, gardineir and a regular green salad. The very full table looked something like this:
After eating and resting we moved the party from my house to Mom's condo which is outside down town Nashville. There we counted down the last hour of 2013 and waited for the fireworks from the Bash downtown. When we arrived we discovered my Uncle's family had slipped in at some point and set up balloons, and noise makers, poppers and party hats! Then the final seconds ticked away and the fireworks began!
After the fireworks we had a toast to the New Year with Osti Spumanti or sparkling grape juice. And then after some cards we had Italian lemon cake and coffee before heading back out onto the streets and to my house.
The next morning we popped another bottle of Osti for breakfast mimosas and panatone.
The night before I had written 2014 Nashville, TN on the cork in my Mom's condo and left it there for my Mom. On New Year's Day I did the same on the breakfast bottle and will keep it as a momento of my first New Year's in my house.
Basically my Mom put it best on Saturday when she said "It's nice to know we are moving here and we have friends and family already."
Well this move is getting serious. Last week I drove with Meghan down to Tennessee so she can start her new life down there. Her job transfer took less time then we expected so she got to move early. She took our three cats- Tipperary, Roma, and Napoli. I have to say I wasn't looking forward to a 16 hour drive with three cats but it actually went pretty well. The week before we were leaving I stopped by the vet's office and asked if they had any recommendations for me on the road. They gave us some treats for the cats that would calm them and told us to cover the carriers with a blanket and they would go to sleep. I don't know if the cats really slept much but they did seem somewhat relaxed.
We drove down in a brand new Ford C-max hybrid and, I gotta say, it was great. We drove over 900 miles and spent only $70 on gas. Throughout the trip we averaged anywhere from 38-50 miles per gallon. So go Ford!
It's going to be strange. We have never been separated very long or by very far. We were six minutes apart entering this world and from that moment on we have pretty much always been together. Six minutes doesn't sound like very much but sometimes it can feel like a lot. I mean big sister/little sister may seem trivial with such a small time frame but there have been a few times when I have been keenly aware of the 'gap'.
1. On September 11th when we were five hours away from our home in college in New Hampshire and I first heard the news I immediately went looking for Meghan.
2. When Meghan was a pedestrian in a car accident and spent almost a month in the hospital.
3. Last week as I drove away from my house in TN leaving her over 900 miles away.
The last time and longest time we have ever been separate was when Meg was in the hospital after the car accident. Other than that we have always been together. We finish each other's sentences. We have stories we tell at this point we don't actually remember which of us they happened to. We even have freaky stories about shared dreams and other twin connection type stories. It's going to be weird and I will have to learn to start talking in the singular.
