If my life were a movie trailer/ I was bored

Link to the trailer here.

late nights, local hauntings, and my reckless mother.

I just got done with an exhausting telephone conversation with Liz. Apparently she took the liberty of setting aside her latest book to research some of the local hauntings. She went over the more common tales: the headless co-eds, Hotel Morgan. She even rehashed the East Boreman haunting (at one point of the summer she was insistent that I dorm there). But she even surprised me with a few of the lesser known hauntings.

For example, the Seneca Center apparently used to be an old glass factory before it was converted into a shopping center. There were reports of it being haunted - door opening and closing when no one is around, strange noises, that sort of thing.

And of course, I felt obliged to share what I’d learned.

One of the guys in my English class was talking about a supposed haunting at the Beta Theta Phi fraternity a few weeks ago. His older brother is a pledge there and several of his friends have reported hearing clanging of chains in a lower room of the house. Some believe that it is the ghost of a former butler that worked there in the 1940s while others believe that it is the ghost of a homeless person that they charitably let live there who hung himself in the 80s.

Although the conversation may have been lengthy, I was acutely aware of how little we have to talk about. My mother’s world is immersed in the paranormal, the woman is generally reckless and I was left wondering on countless occasion throughout my childhood if I were better off with my grandparents.

But when my answer to that question was a resounding “yes”, I was six months shy of eighteen and moving didn’t really seem like the wisest option.

First Investigation: Hotel Morgan

   The group that I met with at Jay's finally arranged to meet at Hotel Morgan last night. 

   When we got there, we decided to split up (How Scooby-Doo of us). In every group there's always the token member that opposes splitting up and that was me, but because I was the youngest member, I chose to keep my mouth shut. 

   The investigation was dull for the most part. It was routine, scoping out all levels of the hotel and attracting the eye of some rather nosy guests. Of course, our unwarranted attention may have something to do with us carrying around some borrowed camera equipment. Winky face.

    I was even more put off when we found the room where the drowned girl was found. It seemed like any normal hotel room to me. When Cassie and Alcyone went to go find Tim to let him know we found it I flopped down on the bed, fiddling with the camera while Peter stuck his hand into the bathroom to take pictures. Not his body, just his hand.

   I remember thinking how boring this was, and that maybe arranging meet-up to investigate hauntings in Morgantown was a dull idea. 

   Then, Tim came in. He was practically pouring with sweat, his eyes a little beady. 

    I was just sitting, nonchalant on the bed, when I heard multiple things falling in the bathroom. Just as I had whipped my head around to the bathroom door, Tim emerged, stumbling out of the bathroom and into the hall. 

    That's when I realized that maybe investigating ghosts was what I had been missing. It was such a rush. 

weekends, libraries, and websites

It's been a strange and hectic weekend for me, and I'm glad it was.
I've been juggling a 7 to 10 page English paper, studying for a biology exam, and for a history exam. It's been club lib for this girl all weekend and I've never been more tired of silence and books. Not that I was extremely fond of either to begin with...
I've been avoiding all messages from my cell phone and all forms of social media, because it seems like everyone was throwing a party this weekend. And I give into temptation too easy. Sad Face.
Michele swears she understands... but I got this and several others.

(She'll hate me for posting this)

Enough of school, that's not even what the majority of my weekend was filled with.
Although I haven't mentioned this, I've been corresponding with the group that I met at Jay's. It's mostly involved sending links and sharing supposed hauntings with one another, but Friday, Peter mentioned that it would be interesting to investigate the some of these supposed hauntings, and the others (myself included) agreed.
We've tentatively arranged a meet-up to investigate the Clarion Hotel Morgan soon.
Oh, and with the suggestion of Cassie and Tim, Peter agreed to toy with a possible website for our group.
I'm actually quite excited.

Meeting at Jay's

I was obnoxiously early for meeting the people at Jay's.
Which allowed me to purchase some coffee to sip on while I wait.
I made awkward eye contact with each person that came into Jay's. I kept thinking, "Is that one of them?"
It felt like something you would find in a sitcom.
As hopeful as I was, thinking that maybe I finally met someone with the same questions as I had, I couldn't help but feel uneasy about meeting people I had met online (stranger danger, anyone?)
But they were all generally normal. By my standards, not society's. They each had their own stories, and I sympathized with each of them.
Especially of Alcyone's story of her strict parents. While I couldn't begin to fathom how hard her life was, I could almost relate.
Cassie was more antsy that I realized. It was obvious that her run-in with the headless co-eds really got to her, and I could tell that she was relieved to meet people that shared a similar experience.
Tim, while he didn't really divulge any personal experience, seemed to take everyone's stories in with eyes wiser than his years.
And Peter, an older man that Cassie introduced as a freelance reporter, was similar to Tim in his silent introspective demeanor, but wrote everything down on a notepad. I couldn't help but notice that perhaps he seemed a little too eager to hear that others had a paranormal experience...

meeting at Jay's

I heard back from the girl that had a run-in with the Cheat Lake co-eds and am pleasantly surprised that others in the area would like to hear about her experience.
I'm just about to leave to meet the group at Jay's. I'm a little nervous.

just a quick post

It was beautiful out today and it was hard not to take advantage of it. I spent the majority of my day wandering around Morgantown with my camera.

The days in Morgantown seem shorter to me. It’s amusing how quickly the weeks seem to pass here, because in high school they seemed to drag on forever.

When I got back to my room I decided to peruse through some blogs, which usually results in a lot of My First Blog or Pictures of my Children. So I was drawn to a blog by a WVU student that recently encountered the headless coeds of Cheat Lake.

You can see her blog here. Also, it’s on my favorites list. 

zebra, pink and Marilyn Monroe: new roommate

I seem to have an ever-revolving door of roommates as I’ve been placed with five so far. The first, Amanda, switched to Summit mid-summer. The second, Bridgette something, never showed up on move-in. Colleen was the third, and also the alleged bulimic. Asia was the fourth and probably bathed three times in the two weeks before she transferred to a community college “closer to home.”

And the fifth I have yet to meet. I just know she exists because the other side of the room is decorated in zebra and pink with a Marilyn Monroe poster.

I usually reserve judgment, as I try not to be a catty girl, but I can’t help but feel slightly anxious with the combination of zebra and Marilyn. From experience, the combination translates to a fake-baking platinum blond cheerleader.

I was never one of those girls. 

A. Cass Hauntings

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conception, college and my mother is a gypsy

Liz got my name from a headstone. Or, at least that’s what she told me. She was working as a mausoleum clerk and shacking up with a guy that called himself Dodge around the time I was conceived.

While his real name was Roger, I couldn’t help but admire how well Dodge befits him. As the story goes for most teenage pregnancies, Roger dodged when Liz dropped the ‘p’ word.

Liz describes the next nine months as the worst of her life. “No one wants to shack up with the pregnant chick, Aggie.” She reminds me.

Coincidentally, those nine months may be the longest she’s ever gone sans beau, but I digress.

I would consider Liz something of a gypsy. In the eighteen years with Liz, I’d lived in five different states. Liz fancies herself a science fiction author, but she’s had to hold several low paying jobs to make ends meet.

 Currently she’s working in the lingerie department in Target while shacking up with Bail Bondsman Bernie.

Now, I’ve never met Bernie, as he’s a fairly recent development and this is my second semester in college, but Liz assures me that he’s a “superb” sort of guy. Frankly, when I think of Bernie I imagine overweight and balding and those attributes aren’t typically something I associate with superb, but Liz is notorious for thinking the best of people.

She’s also notorious for her erratic behavior, which is why I opted for WVU as my choice college over Ohio U where Liz currently presides.

However, distance isn’t the only reason why I chose WVU. Who really chooses WVU for trivial things like distance or academic rating anyway?

While I can laughingly say I chose it because of its party school rating (#1!), it all boils down to the MAPI organization.