Lowell, MI – My mixed feelings about Halloween are expressed in the photography below and above. On one hand , I love it because I love candy and masks as well as “doing myself up” one year as Gene Simmons from Kiss.
On the other hand I don’t know what to think about it. You know, kids dressed up as everything from Disney princesses, fairies, superheroes to brides and grooms as skeletons. Each to his own. Who said that all Spirits of Halloween have to be scary?
But flipping back to the first hand, I totally enjoyed the ghost hunt at Fallasburg conducted by the Michigan Paranormal Alliance for the second time last Saturday. Even though it was creepy to listen to the hardsole footsteps of the ghost of teacher Mrs. Richmond. I was also bummed that I couldn’t go to the Masquerade: With a side of Murder at the Candlestone resort in Belding.
Not to mention that the scary event inspires me.
I missed out on a Halloween themed wedding last Friday. But, we watched a spooky movie “Amityville” last night.
According to newgrange.com, Halloween has Celtic roots in the Samhain Festival. Smahain was the division of the year between the lighter half and the darker half allowing spirits to pass through at its thinnest.
One of the scariest places I’ve ever been to is the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba in Spain. The Moor mosque is located inside a cathedral as pictured in the feature photo.
Enjoy the sampling. Get spooked.
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Experience an old-fashioned white Christmas at Fallasburg tonight
By Emma Palova
EW Emma’s Writings
Fallasburg, MI- Come and chat with an old friend tonight during the annual vintage Christmas party. The topic will be “Christmases of the Past” at the historical village of Fallasburg.
Create some memories forever. Thank a volunteer from the Fallasburg Historical Society. They make things happen your round at the sleepy hamlet northeast of Lowell.
The FHS mission is to preserve Fallasburg history for future generations.
Visit Fallasburg tonight at 6 p.m. for a memorable white Christmas . Experience a white Christmas of the past inside the old 1867 Fallasburg one-r…
Note: The reason I put this post on my mostly Greenwich Meridian (c) memoir related content blog is because it relates to my past. My husband Ludek Pala and I met at the ZDS school in Stipa, former Czechoslovakia.
Last Saturday, after 41 years, we again sat behind the desks inside the same school together. This time it was at the one room Fallasburg schoolhouse for a ghost hunting (EVP) Electronic Voice Phenomenon session for the Fallasburg Historical Society.
“You get me to all these weird things that I would have never gone to, if it wasn’t for you,” Ludek said later.
“You should be grateful then,” I said. “Who else would get you into something like this?”
Speaking about a time machine…hmmmmmmmmm
“Does it exist?”
“This could become our Halloween tradition.”
Pss…photos from the EVP sessions currently not available due to ghosts. Stay tuned for the pics later.
By Emma Palova
EWEmma’s Writings
Fallasburg, MI-
“Put your cell phones in the airplane mode,” advised Edwin Lelieveld, Michigan Paranormal Alliance (MPA) team member.
It was a spooky Saturday night before Halloween at the Fallasburg historical village.
FHS President Ken Tamke during shooting footage by WZZM.
The Michigan Paranormal Alliance (MPA), the Fallasburg Historical Society (FHS) and their followers conducted a paranormal investigation inside the Fallasburg museum buildings.
“This has been two years in the making,” said Tina Siciliano Cadwallader, FHS event organizer.
Cadwallader put the first time event together as a fundraiser for the historical society.
The MPA started with an introduction inside the Fallasburg one-room schoolhouse museum. We filed in the old creaking and squeaky desks much like the students did some 150 years ago. The classroom filled up and there was standing room only.
The ghost detecting equipment such as gauss meters, temperature gauges and nitrogen goggles laid on a separate table by the old piano.
Fallasburg School museum
After 41 years, my husband Ludek Pala and I were inside the same school again. This time in the Fallasburg one room schoolhouse for some ghost hunting. Our teachers were the FHS president Ken Tamke and the MPA members. Our classmates were members of the Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) and other organizations.
And overlooking it all was the principal, that is the ghost of Ferris Miller.
The MPA team set up laser purple dot grids and EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) equipment at each location of the paranormal investigation. That is the Fallasburg one-room schoolhouse, John Wesley Fallass House and David Misner House, all of which sit on the Covered Bridge Road. An MPA team member was at each location to interpret the recordings of the EVP sessions.
We divided into three groups, each led by an FHS docent.
The Fallasburg Covered Bridge.
Ludek and I were in the BCBS group with Tamke as docent. We walked down the Covered Bridge Road lighting our way with flashlights. We briefly paused at the Tower Farm, better known as the Tower House. We could not go inside because of its dilapidated interior.
“Two sisters lived here,” said Tamke. “At the time it was normal.”
According to Tamke there have been reports of haunting at the Tower House.
Local resident Addie Tower Abel, who went to the one-room schoolhouse, said there has been a lot of activity.
“I know about the Tower House, I lived there. So, did my son, they saw a lot of activities,” Abel wrote on Facebook.
Lie Kotecki of MPA conducted the EVP session inside the 1842 John W. Fallass house. The temperature gauge in the middle of the completely restored living room showed 66.6 F. According to the MPA, the temperature drops when ghosts are present causing cold spots. The ghosts also give out electromagnetic fields.
“Drop the temperature if you are inside the house with us,” challenged Lie.
The temperature dropped slightly to 66.2 F.
“Did you live in this house?” she asked. “We have no bad energy.”
Tamke explained the historical facts at each paranormal investigative location aka museum building.
“The furniture was built from the lumber out of a sawmill at Fallasburg,” he said. “Orwin Douglas built the Tower House and John Waters built the David Misner House.”
Back at the schoolhouse, Rosemary Leleiveld reported various ghost encounters.
“I felt a female spirit here,” she said. “Missy or Melissa…..”
But, Tamke said it could have been the ghost of Fallasburg resident Ferris Miller, who had died within the last five years.
The next EVP session followed at the Misner House. The MPA members usually turn off the lights for the sessions.
“The atmosphere veil becomes thinner,” said Peggy Kotecki, MPA team member. “We use radio frequencies and cameras,” she said.
Jason Kotecki, IT engineer at VanAndel Institute, analyzed the EVP recording at the Misner House and reported about other findings. The MPA team conducted an investigation in Allegan.
“Have you been to the old Allegan county jail?” Jason asked.
“Not yet,” said Ludek smiling.
“Well, we heard a giggle there,” he said.
Peggy, a nurse at Spectrum, said that sometimes she questions her sanity.
“It’s mostly a boring thing to do,” she said. “We do a lot of recordings and a lot of listening. But, you go for the whole package and you relive it.”
During the EVP session, Peggy asked questions:
“What is your name? Did you live here? Did you have children? Did they go to the schoolhouse down the road?”
The MPA does not solicit business and the paranormal alliance does not charge for their investigations.
“The purpose of the investigation is two-fold,” Rosemary Leleiveld said. “We do ghost hunting and we have ghost hunting equipment at each location. You do a ghost walk and learn more of a history of a location. The architecture draws me in.”
Fallasburg, MI- I love everything about the Fallasburg Park and the village: the Covered Bridge, the Flat River, the house museums. It truly takes you back in time, away from the fear of technology, from the fear of the unknown and much more.
I live approximately three miles away from the park and I do social media marketing for the Fallasburg Historical Society. The park and the village serve as a major venue for many regional events such as the Fallasburg Festival for the Arts in the fall, the Fallasburg Bazaar and the upcoming Christmas in Fallasburg traditional party on Dec. 12 at 6 p.m. Please join us to celebrate the season.
This is my latest status update. I am working with clients on social media marketing for the Fallasburg Historical Society (FHS), CJ Aunt Jarmilka’s Desserts and potential clients the Lowell Women’s Club and Americas Voices.
My first order of business was to set up a blog for them on the WordPress platform using different themes.
One room school house, a museum for the Fallasburg Historical Society
For FHS I designed “Fallasburg Today.” Then came social media, that is establishing accounts on Facebook and twitter. And posting on regular basis.
I think the posting on regular basis is the biggest challenge, but also the key to success.
I do have to say that the folks at FHS embraced the social media project 100 percent. They gave me materials, photos and maps.
Map of Fallasburg bazaar vendors.
I don’t think one can do it alone with the quantity of data. I appreciate all their help and their efforts to raise awareness of the 1830s Fallasburg village with modern means.
The village will hold its first annual bazaar on Sept. 19 & 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Come and explore. A big deal for the village is the annual Christmas party. Stay tuned for details.
I am looking forward to creating the October newsletters and bringing on board the Lowell Women’s Club and Americas Voices.