I grew up about an hour away from the trail entrance, so by no means am I true resident of the weird and ancient zone of the Appalachian mountains. Still many lessons in my elementary life revolved around the mountain range. A lot of folklore focused lessons. Early literacy analyzation in the way of crafting brochures and presentations on the stories still shared by residents of the foothills.
When I grew up I always felt a pull towards the unseen. In children, I think its hard to tell between the wonder of pure imagination and self soothing. If you have caught a live with
and I then you may have heard about my first remembered night terror: The Chocolate Chair:A dark antique rocker sat in my bedroom. It curled around the floor like an ancient octopus. A narrow backing that rounded into a large oval head rest. The fabric was well worn from use. Out of the multiple swirling colors the most memorable one was a forest green. I remember the chair making me feel uneasy and refused to be left alone with its company. Bed time would come though, and it would be me and the chair caught in a staring contest. I refused to take my eyes off of the dark shape in the corner of my room. Light bouncing off of walls and stretching the shadows set on tricking my eyes.
I dreamt multiple times of unfurling wooden legs dragging me from bed. They would pull me into the base of the chair, which still had no expression, no teeth, just a void and spiraling dark tendrils. Suffocating. Tearing screams. Trapped.
This was my first repeating dream. It began when I was three or four.
Night terrors have a way of making you believe you are haunted, but since they mostly appear in children there are some easy explanations thrown around. Some relating to horrifying repressed memories. Some to overactive imaginations. But when you are a kid, you think everyone is experiencing the same things as you. Until you go to school and learn that some kids slept through the night.
The magic of dreaming is a gift I love despite graduating from terrors to sleep paralysis. It feels like a super power to be able to dream in vivid complex ways. I remember every dream I have. The smells, the tastes, the colors, and the figures in the shadows. A visceral thing that I share in my story telling.
Back to the Hellier of it all
RECAP: For those that don’t know of the docuseries-its a paranormal investigation that all began with a strange email leading different detectives to the foothills of the Appalachia in Kentucky. Mothman, goblins, aliens and more are brought up, and each synchronicity brings the team to something more and more ancient.
Me: a mixture of skepticism and optimism
did(does) not believe this group has pure intentions. People film themselves for a reason. Emails are easily forged. Identities are easily erased or ignored. Spirit box encounters easily fabricated, and shared delusion, etc.
But like I told you before, I am someone that has had a life of hauntings, and communication with the void, the universe, nature, etc. I have been speaking to it my entire life. A self soothing technique to help me forget about the terrors waiting for me in sleep. Whispering to the dark about the day to come, the conversations to be had, the clothes to be worn.
I would tell people I was talking to my teddy bears. It made them feel better. But even as an eight year old I knew I was just talking to myself—to the dark. And some of those things I dreamt of, came true.
So when this team of paranormal investigators started getting chills over small details lining up and leading them towards something enormous, I related to it—but at arms length.
I do not think it is rare to notice the coincidences in life. Synchronicities found in all things organic. Life a written code on everything Earthbound and maybe beyond. These people seemed to gasp at it all as if it was strange to locate a pattern stemming from a place as old and story riddled as the Appalachia.
They say this series is a summoning-an initiation
I say I have already been summoned, and accepted that invitation when I first trusted my intuition.
But now to get to the part where I got chills. Where I paused folding my laundry and turned to my husband and said, “I was meant to watch this show. I was meant to find this path. Maybe I need to go to Hellier myself.”
To which he said, “Well, it is odd.”
Writing: a skill, a calling, a blessing, a divine intervention
I am writing a book series based upon Sumerian legends. Tracking them through their evolution up until the Greek mythologies. The gods and goddesses of old have repeated throughout human history. One you have probably heard of/from the most recently is Hecate.
Hecate has an older name: Ereshkigal, goddess of the underworld, and just so happens to be a main figure in my book series A Forged Genesis.
Ereshkigal had a sister, Akkadian, or Innana, or more familiar Ishtar. Another character in my series.
The paranormal team of Hellier is lead down a twisting path that leads them to Venus, the morning star. Ishtar’s planet.
Like I said I paused everything I was doing and listened, because the strings were connected to everything I am writing. The very theme of my book series in thin threads. The threads I am actively sewing with careful stitches.
I wrote Winter Wonders this week featuring a reoccurring image in my mind. A portal in the woods in the form of a black mirrored pool. I tirelessly google image trying to find what is in my brain to no avail. I did the same for Ellen Poe, for A Forged Genesis, and countless other writings. No photograph ever surfaces.
Until a few days ago.
I was scrolling and discovered drone footage taken of Wayne National Forest. The video takes you on a tour of what lies deep within the woods. And there it appeared: the image from my brain.
Did you know Wayne National Forest is located on the south eastern border of Ohio?
Did you know that it is only a couple of hours north from Hellier?
Did you know that the winding tunnels and cave systems of the Appalachia have long been theorized to be connected?
Something is out there. A new haunt waiting for me. I wonder, are there others out there feeling it?
Have the paranormal investigators spoken with the children of Hellier? A lot happens when we dream whether our eyes are open or closed.
Affirmation:
I know this feeling is something I can not translate over to you. The vibrations in my bones. The very nature of this world coaxing me on to finish the story it is asking me to tell. It is so easy to say its all in my head. To say I am over thinking.
To which I say, everything is always in our heads before it becomes a tangible thing, and maybe you are just feeling uncomfortable.
You are not required to accept the invitation.
"I say I have already been summoned, and accepted that invitation when I first trusted my intuition."
So listen, IDKWTFIEHRN but I love it. And I'm so glad I know you. 🖤