Looking for Fairies

I was washing dishes a few days ago when I heard this sound, like tiny bells.  I looked around and this Fairy, I have hang in the kitchen was motioning to me!

 She put her finger to her lips and softly said, "Shhh, Listen closely"  I was totally amazed!  I went closer and She said I felt your feelings of thoughts of magic and fairies.  I suggest you visit the Gnome house out back."  And in a blink she was back to .....

That was very strange...so I walked out to find the Gnome house....and found it!

I stood there for a moment just looking at it wondering what I was doing... Really..a fairy said visit the Gnome.........

What is happening?  Everything was spinning and I heard this gruff voice "Find the Big One"   I had no idea what that meant either but walked around the yard until I found.

There he was where he has stood all summer..only different.   I heard him say "Go out to the woods and you will find the entrance to Fairyland"    Ok now I am beginning to think I am going crazy...but what did I have to loose?????

So here I am in the woods and thought I better ask for some directions...

 I asked this pretty creature, "Are you a fairy?"  His reply was "No, I am a "Fiery Skipper! Why did you think I was a fairy?"  I said, "You have wings and you are sitting on a flower"   The Fiery Skipper laughed and said "Oh, you have allot to learn.  Why don't you ask the birds, they fly high and get a great view of the countryside."

This Baltimore Oriole flew into the tree and I asked him if he knew where I can find the fairies?  He looked closely at me and said I should look for the turtles who line up and wait to give the fairies rides...  That was interesting as I thought Fairies could fly wherever they wanted...He asked me if I ever rode on something to get somewhere when I could walk...Yes I said and that did make sense....

Off I went to find the turtles.....

It didn't take long and I found the Turtles....I asked them if they were the Turtles waiting to give Fairies a ride?  They looked as me with such shock and the little one yelled "That is a Big Fairy...too big for me." and dove into the water and was followed by the others.  Oh dear what now!?  I was flattered that they thought I was a fairy...so on I went looking for the Fairies.....

Then I heard this chirping and behind some blades of grass was a Cardinal.  He said, "I suggest you ask a butterfly.  They know all the secret places"

While looking for a butterfly, I saw this Raccoon and asked him if he knew where the Fairies are?  He said "Follow the mushrooms" and disappeared from sight.

Mushrooms, Ok...that shouldn't be too hard....or so I thought!

 I found these and then these...

 And then I stumbled on this ...well...like a village...


Well I must be getting closer but wasn't sure.

I found this group of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and asked them for help...All they could do was argue about following the frog.  Follow the frog...No don't follow the frog...What is one to do?

Then there was the frog..."Follow Me!!"  "Follow Me!!"  He lead me to this!

Oh my this could be the Rabbit's hole (and we know what happened to Alice) or it could be a trap?  I said you go in first and he just croaked and hopped away...Now what...

Mr. Groundhog came by and asked if I had come to visit...I said No, I am looking for the Fairies.  He told me to ask the butterfly and down the hole he went.

Then this Deer whispered from the tall grasses, "I saw the Butterfly a few minutes ago in the field."

Then I saw him, The Red Admiral.  I asked him if he knew where the fairies are?  He said go under the bridge of branch to the tree with the hole and close your eyes and call for the Fairies to show themselves.  I finally found the bridge of branch, it was beautiful....

How did I miss this? I walked under and there in front of me was the Tree with the hole.

 There was this mist around it and the air spelled sweet like honeysuckle.    I closed my eyes and called for the Fairies and waited....when I open my eyes the tree had changed!

Wow...I approached it and got down on the ground to look inside.....

And the next thing I knew I was here....

How did I get here?  What happened? It was getting late, where had the time gone?

This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail said that if you see a fairy, the fairy will not let you remember. 

The Red-bellied Woodpecker laughed at me and said "Did you really think the fairies would show themselves to you."

The Great Blue Heron told me not to worry.  No one has seen the Fairies but we all know they are out there.  

The Common Buckeye said that every time you see a bird, butterfly, bug...that you have seen a Fairy.  So instead of looking for something that will never show itself to you, enjoy the sights that you can see.  There is wonder and magic in every flower that grows and blooms...

and every bird with all the different colors....

Like the Indigo Bunting.

And the insects like this Eastern Amberwing....

The Heron flew by on his way home and I knew it was time for me to go home too....

Wait, what is that movement on the ground! Maybe a Fairy!!!!

No just a Dark-eyed Junco....

The Purple Martin's were bedding down...but this one asked me... Do you see the guy sitting there?  Something is wrong with him...he never moves.....LOL...

The Moon has risen and after this adventure I am ready for a good night sleep......

                                          Or.....have I been sleeping and dreaming all this?????  

                                  Maybe I should have started my tale with "Once upon a time"..............

Ghost Walk of Chillicothe, Oh.

I went on my first Ghost Walk on Sunday, Oct.  21, 2012.  It was a beautiful day and not one that I thought the ghosts would want.  We started our tour at the Elks Club on Second St.  I have been in there many times for the Elk Dances of the 1960's and 3 different class reunions.  Little did I know of all the paranormal events.   We were lead into the ball room....

Was a haunting effect with the beautiful stain glass windows and the remains of a party. Would we find ghosts here?

We passed by the beautiful Elk and descended into the basement.....This next picture has this green object in the picture....could this be a ghostly being?

Next we went to the First National Bank, which  in now First Capital Music Hall.

I remember when it was a bank and was excited about going in....outside there are still reminders

The drop that changed banking to be able to make deposits when the bank was closed.  We were told that we were going to visit the Federal Reserve Vault in the basement.

But the inside was changed there were a few things that reminded me of the old bank.....

The vault and safe deposit boxes.....

Then down the stairs to the basement.......

Notice the green object above his head!  Were we being followed by a spirit or was my camera having issues?

Books, the way things were recorded back then..





The Vault door...

This is a picture of the tunnel that lead from the 

bank to the drive-thru that once was part of the bank.  This is the way money was moved from the bank to the drive-thru....

The paranormal investigators said there was activity in that hall way.

Next we headed to the Court House.  I was really looking forward to visiting it.

Our beautiful Court House, which has been the center of justice since 1798, our guide told us. As we walked around it, I noticed the beauty you usually miss ...

It has so much detail on it.....

There is so much detail that I had never really looked at and was enjoying the beauty...but what is that dark spot near the top of the clock tower?  I thought it is probably a pigeon....and forgot about it .....

This closer look shows the beauty.........but that dark spot kept nagging me...so I took a picture of it...

There it is!...not a pigeon but a Peregrine Falcon.....(and I bet you thought this blog wouldn't have any birds in it....LOL)  

I had not ever paid much attention either to the doors.

They are very impressive......

View from other side.

I also didn't know that this was on the Main St. side of the Court House.  The rest of the stones from the original court house were used to help build other buildings in the downtown area.

We walked around to the back passing the old jail and courtyard

The old Jail which is now the Archives.

The fountain.

 Some interesting window detail on the Old Jail building....

Part of the old Iron fence.

We were lead into the court house and here are a few of my favorite parts...

First the chandelier and

The Great Seal of Ohio

Both very impressive and to the right the stair case to the second floor

We were headed to the Court Room.

The people were paranormal investigators who told us about the activity they had recorded and played some for us....Well by this time I was into the history and had forgot about the Ghosts!!! 

The jury box...I had sat in once as a juror and the room thru the doors is where we went to deliberate.

Governor Tiffin

The scales of justice.

The gorgeous chandelier hanging from an amazing ceiling.

Our next stop was across the street at the Warner Hotel.

It is draped in a netting to prevent the pigeons and other birds from roosting.

This was under the second floor window and over the entrance...I had never noticed it before..

This staircase is the original...not much left of the original hotel.

This picture shows the lobby, the stairs is to the left. Where the columns are, it is now enclosed.

This is the narrow stairs we took down to the basement ....

 This was a long hall way in the basement that we were told had been some paranormal activity here.

I thought this room scarier and notice on the 

picture that there is that green spot again and the white in the middle....a ghost? or something on my lens?  I don't know but how do I explain it...my other pictures don't have this.......you decide....

Next we headed to the Woodrow House on West Fourth St.

Here we found a wonderful character, dressed very handsomely, with cane and top hat.

He told us about the house and during his talk, the porch light flickered several times!

Had the spirits followed us?

This vine covered area shows some brick, so covered we couldn't tell what it was.

In the back yard a lovely Lady (or was she a spirit) told us the story of Tommy Woodrow who loved his cousin and wanted to marry her but she turned him down. He left town because of her refusals and would later return.

These openings were in the summer kitchen to let the heat out.

Somethings left from the past.

                                                Here the initials "T.W." cut into the window sill in the summer kitchen.  This was the Tommy Woodrow the Lady of the garden was telling us about...and this Tommy left town and when he returned to visit...He was using his name....

"Woodrow Wilson"

The last stop was the David Nickens Heritage Center and finding out about the underground railroad and other stories of the early days of the African Americans to the end of the Civil War.

This beautiful church pew is from the church next door, The First Baptist Church.

 This is a lovely little church and was a nice end to the tour.

As we were walking back to our car...we noticed the gentlemen..Was he a spirit bidding us good-by?

I didn't find any ghosts  or spirits....or did I?????   I did find allot of history in this town called Chillicothe.

There are more stories out there!

Almost everywhere you look, there is history and stories.