You Conjure it, You Bought it...

“You conjure it, you bought it!” is a tagline that I often like to use when lecturing on the paranormal in my role as a paranormal investigator. I know that it sounds mean to some as most do not deliberately try to let lose an unfriendly entity in their home, or even worse, a demonic entity, however, it is an easy thing to do. This concept applies not just to Spirit boards ad Ouija boards, but also to known “haunted” items or objects removed from known haunted locations.

One day I ran across something interesting on Craigslist, an old Victorian style cast iron radiator that reportedly had been removed from the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and against my better judgement mentioned it to my husband who became fixated. We argued back and forth about it as I felt it to be something from a negative location. The Crescent is notorious amongst paranormal circles to be one of the most haunted locations in the United States. “In 1937, a charlatan who allowed himself to be called ‘doctor’ purchased the Crescent Hotel and converted it to “Baker’s Cancer Curing Hospital.” Baker nationally advertised a strict regimen of fresh air, healthy food, and exercise as the basis for his cancer treatments. They assumed the character of the mystical, though, when he accompanied the treatment with the use of an elixir that mainly consisted of alcohol and watermelon. Many perished while receiving Baker’s hopeless therapy, and legends persist that their spirits still haunt the building. But justice finally caught up to Baker, who was soon arrested for fraud and imprisoned in Leavenworth Federal Prison in 1940” (https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/1886-crescent-hotel-and-spa/history.php). Early on in Ghost Hunters the location was brought to the forefront of the general public ghost enthusiast with incredible paranormal evidence being obtained, especially in the basement. Incredible evidence in the basement where this radiator was said to have been stored. Insert huge eye roll! Really?! I have lectured to people in person, on the radio, on the phone, and in classes about not messing with what could be a negative haunt and here I was on the fence about this object.

Skip ahead a little more than a month and here I was trying to load this ridiculously heavy thing into my Toyota with the help of an older woman and hauling it home to my new, not even moved into yet house as an anniversary gift for my husband. This object had a likelihood of dragging along with it something called an “attachment” in the paranormal world. An attachment is an entity that, for lack of a better term, is anchored to an object. This object could be a desk (advised to sell it), a couch (the family decided to burn it on their own), or even an old radiator from the Crescent Hotel. In most cases the challenge has been in identifying that the haunt is an attachment. In an effort to narrow down the possibilities of the cause of a haunt, questions within casework in preparation for a paranormal investigation generally ask the client if any new (or old) items have recently been brought into the home. This information can assist greatly in the process of elimination, especially in a home that had not had reported paranormal activity prior.

In some circumstances, an attachment can actually be to a person in the home. This occurs when that individual visited a haunted location and an entity literally decided to go on home with the person. This type of attachment, however, is a story for another day.

Should you randomly begin to experience paranormal activity in your home, walk through the questions with yourself and your household members about where they have been and if any new (or old) items have recently been brought into the home? Often the haunt can be ended with removal of the object, a blessing, or even by ordering the entity to leave the home. As for the radiator from the old hotel in Arkansas, we lucked out, and nothing that ever occurred seemed to originate from that particular object. Would you buy something from a haunted location again you ask? The answer is no, I got lucky the first time and would not tempt fate a second.

Citations: Historic Hotels of America: National Trust for Historic Preservation. 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa. https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/1886-crescent-hotel-and-spa/history.php. Accessed on 05/26/21.