HOMEFREE by Nina Wright: Ghosts of the Old Fort

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Ghosts of the Old Fort

That may sound like the title of a very retro Nancy Drew mystery, but we're onto something genuinely creepy here. I swear, at night in St. Augustine, FL, few places are as spooky as the Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest fort still standing in the U.S. Oh sure, there are a couple ancient graveyards in the historic part of town that can raise the hair on the back of your neck. But try standing next to the Execution Wall in the old fort on a pitch black night as the wind whistles across broad Matanzas Bay, and ghost hunter Harry Stafford recounts tales of firing squads in centuries gone by. Using his paranormal investigative tools, you can detect temperature drops (cold spots) and spikes in electromagnetic frequency (EMF), both of which suggest past-life residue. That's not surprising given what researchers have learned about the enduring echoes of traumatic death. I put that notion to work, incidentally, in my forthcoming novel, SENSITIVE, the HOMEFREE sequel.

If you take Harry Stafford's tour, and I highly recommend that you do, your camera may pick up a light streak, fog, or orb (check out previous blog post "Ghost Hunting 101"). With your naked eye, you can easily see holes from fatal musket balls fired more than 200 years ago. But be careful: snakes occasionally curl up in some of those warm little nooks. This is Florida, after all, home to 44 kinds of snakes, only six of which are venomous. Or so I learned while doing research for another novel. One that doesn't have spirits in it.

// posted by Nina Wright @ 5:59 PM