My biggest fear--as far as irrational fears go--is spirits or ghosts. It's embarrassing; but, for some reason, any paranormal activity that occurs around me sends thrills of fear through my body. I think a lot of people share this fear with me, mainly because it couples with the great and terrible fear of the unknown. See, I'm not scared of people, which is what a spirit is--just a person who has passed on. The thing that scares me about spirits is the fact that I have no real way of knowing whether the person who is in the room with me has good or bad intentions (at least with the living, I can read body signals).
This fear has made working Fear Factory particularly difficult, or at least challenging, for me due to the high amount of activity going on nightly. My area, in particular, is known to have at least a couple of spirits who like to play with people. Through one of these spirits, though, I've begun to get over my fear. It's strange, I know; but any contact I've had with George has been fairly positive.
The first time I found proof of George's presence was about halfway through the season, and he was apparently feeling restless. He decided to mess with one of my fellow actresses between customers: pulling at her cloak, touching her, hitting her. I actually saw her clothing move during George's little teasing session. At the time, I was still white knuckled about ghosts, so I was plastered to the spot upon seeing this proof. You know that fight or flight sensation you get when you're truly frightened? Yeah, that sucker was wailing through me the entire rest of the night.
About a week or so later, though, I had the opportunity to be the queen of the Strigoi; so I worked in the throne room with the king, who is someone that I'm pretty sure fears nothing. After I mentioned that George kept showing himself to me, the king said that George showed himself frequently in that room and that I shouldn't be afraid of seeing him. Obviously, I needed more convincing. I had no idea what George had planned for me and my king, so I voiced that little bit of anxiety. The king assured me that George is friendly and means no harm to anyone: he's a gentle giant (have you seen him?! he's huge!).
After that reassurance, a flip switched in my head. I've been trying to interact with George more, now--encouraging him to play with the lights more or telling him whenever I'm able to see him. I've even gotten brave enough to hold my hands out in invitation for George to touch me. He hasn't, yet, but I hope he does by the end of the season.
I feel crazy saying this, but I'm going to miss George a bit once the season's over. I feel like I've gotten to know him and grown accustomed to him so much that it'll be weird not having him around every once in a while. Of course, facing my fear with George was kind of like breaking the most gentle horse ever born. He was never anything to fear, just someone who happened to die horribly on the property, which is unfortunate for someone so nice. I guess my next challenge is to go down there alone, or maybe I should meet the other ghosts of Fear Factory and see what their personalities are like. Now that I've opened this door for myself, I'm completely enthralled by what I can learn.
So, this has been the most gentle ghost story you've ever read. I hope you've enjoyed it and maybe even inspired you to get to know your neighborhood ghosts a little more. Stay spooky!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Victorian Era Funerals
Lately, I've been on a weird kick about old customs: how people used to act and live their lives in the past. These things pique my curiosity mainly because I like the idea that there is still a piece of the old 'ladies and gentlemen' mentality lingering in the backs of our easily-distracted, heavily-technologized brains (yes, I just made a word up). What was it like to live in a world where manners and etiquette ruled everything? What would it be like if it was suddenly impolite once more for women to wear anything but a full dress and for men to wear something as informal as jeans? Sure, I wouldn't want to go back to that time: women didn't have any rights and were completely viewed as property to either their fathers or husbands; and if they didn't find a husband after a certain time in their life, they were viewed as useless. No, I like being able to run the show and wear my impossibly tight jeans. It would be cool if we had those manners back, though.
Anyway, why I'm writing this on The Widower's Way is because I've been specifically intrigued by the way they sent their dead off into the next life. What were their funeral services like? So, I've started a search: What were funerals like in the 1800s? Let me share with you what I've found.
My first bit of information comes from this link. Funerals used to be very public, as opposed to the invitation-only mentality of today. The family put the body on display in their parlors so that everyone who wanted to could come around and say any last words. While the deceased was in the house, the family put up material called crepe that covered all windows, mirrors, picture frames, and mantels. They did this so that the spirit couldn't get trapped in any reflections or call upon somebody else to die with them. Clocks were stopped at the time of death in order to avoid bad luck of those still in the living realm.
According to this blog, wakes were invented in order to ensure that the person was absolutely dead. For 4 days, at least one pair of eyes was always watching the body in order to make sure that they didn't wake up. This is also why they attached bells to strings that lead down into the coffins. As a result of all of these precautions, people were very afraid of being buried alive.
During that time (the Victorian Era), they took mourning pretty seriously. This was because Queen Victoria got hit pretty hard when her husband died and over-exaggerated all of the already typical mourning traditions. Women were expected to don mourning garb for at least two years after the death of their loved one; and if they didn't have any black dresses at the time of the death, they were to hurry and dye some of their clothes black in order to be ready for mourning.
I found some good information on funeral etiquette here. Upon the death, the immediate family is to be interviewed briefly in order to provide the information that everyone will be asking. The interview will be done by the first appropriate person outside of the immediate family: an aunt, uncle, cousin, or clergy member. The family is given time before the wake begins in order to say their goodbyes to the deceased in order to avoid confusion or congestion around the coffin during the wake. The women of the family are not expected to acknowledge anyone's presence during the wake. The men have the option of doing so, depending on their degree of mourning.
While taking the coffin out of the home, the deceased is taken feet first so that they can't look back into the house and invite a family member to pass with them. There were six pall-bearers who carried the coffin out. Their heads had to be uncovered and they had to be around the same age, worth, and intelligence of the deceased, if possible. The funeral procession was quite similar to how we still have it today: the hearse headed the procession, and then the immediate family followed before all extended family and friends came. If the doctor who had tended to the deceased is in attendance, that person would follow after the immediate family.
The funeral itself was small: one last prayer was said over the grave before they put the coffin in and covered it up. Once that prayer was said, guests were free to go.
A couple of those links had much more information than I could fit in one blog (namely, the last one), so if this piques your interest as much as it does mine, go ahead and click forward. I find this fascinating--the solemnity around death and the massive amount of respect that was required for those the deceased had left behind. I kind of wish we could bring carriages back just for funerals. They're slower and don't have radios that can be used as a distraction.
Anyway, I hope you all liked this one. I may have to keep digging into history for stuff like this. I have a few more ideas that I've heard about and that I'd like to share, so stay tuned. Stay spooky :)
Anyway, why I'm writing this on The Widower's Way is because I've been specifically intrigued by the way they sent their dead off into the next life. What were their funeral services like? So, I've started a search: What were funerals like in the 1800s? Let me share with you what I've found.
My first bit of information comes from this link. Funerals used to be very public, as opposed to the invitation-only mentality of today. The family put the body on display in their parlors so that everyone who wanted to could come around and say any last words. While the deceased was in the house, the family put up material called crepe that covered all windows, mirrors, picture frames, and mantels. They did this so that the spirit couldn't get trapped in any reflections or call upon somebody else to die with them. Clocks were stopped at the time of death in order to avoid bad luck of those still in the living realm.
According to this blog, wakes were invented in order to ensure that the person was absolutely dead. For 4 days, at least one pair of eyes was always watching the body in order to make sure that they didn't wake up. This is also why they attached bells to strings that lead down into the coffins. As a result of all of these precautions, people were very afraid of being buried alive.
During that time (the Victorian Era), they took mourning pretty seriously. This was because Queen Victoria got hit pretty hard when her husband died and over-exaggerated all of the already typical mourning traditions. Women were expected to don mourning garb for at least two years after the death of their loved one; and if they didn't have any black dresses at the time of the death, they were to hurry and dye some of their clothes black in order to be ready for mourning.
I found some good information on funeral etiquette here. Upon the death, the immediate family is to be interviewed briefly in order to provide the information that everyone will be asking. The interview will be done by the first appropriate person outside of the immediate family: an aunt, uncle, cousin, or clergy member. The family is given time before the wake begins in order to say their goodbyes to the deceased in order to avoid confusion or congestion around the coffin during the wake. The women of the family are not expected to acknowledge anyone's presence during the wake. The men have the option of doing so, depending on their degree of mourning.
While taking the coffin out of the home, the deceased is taken feet first so that they can't look back into the house and invite a family member to pass with them. There were six pall-bearers who carried the coffin out. Their heads had to be uncovered and they had to be around the same age, worth, and intelligence of the deceased, if possible. The funeral procession was quite similar to how we still have it today: the hearse headed the procession, and then the immediate family followed before all extended family and friends came. If the doctor who had tended to the deceased is in attendance, that person would follow after the immediate family.
The funeral itself was small: one last prayer was said over the grave before they put the coffin in and covered it up. Once that prayer was said, guests were free to go.
A couple of those links had much more information than I could fit in one blog (namely, the last one), so if this piques your interest as much as it does mine, go ahead and click forward. I find this fascinating--the solemnity around death and the massive amount of respect that was required for those the deceased had left behind. I kind of wish we could bring carriages back just for funerals. They're slower and don't have radios that can be used as a distraction.
Anyway, I hope you all liked this one. I may have to keep digging into history for stuff like this. I have a few more ideas that I've heard about and that I'd like to share, so stay tuned. Stay spooky :)
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