Yesterday was quite an adventure. I wanted to do something with my boy that was different so I thought it might be fun to go to the Queen Mary and take a couple of their tours. When we arrived, it was already mid-afternoon and, surprisingly, most of their events end at 6 PM (which is quite early, as far as I’m concerned, for a Saturday). After looking at the limited possibilities remaining and considering the amount of time we had available, I decided to take him on the “Ghosts and Legends” tour which is, essentially a glorified “haunted house” type of experience: black lights, dark corridors, etc. After purchasing our tickets, we made our way to the line and waited for the next tour.
As it was a nice afternoon, we looked at the ship, the Russian submarine that’s moored next to the Queen Mary (we didn’t have time for that tour), and chatted. So far, nothing uneventful. It wasn’t until we were led into the first part of the tour that the fun began: it was a dark room that vaguely reminded us of the “Haunted Mansion” at Disneyland. The tour begins with a video that examines the allegedly haunted portions of the ship. As we were watching the video, my boy leaned against me and suddenly informed me that he was feeling ill. Fortunately, I had my arm around him because he suddenly collapsed (e.g., fainted) like a bowl of jello. Had I not been holding him, he might have hit something. Needless to say, we immediately exited the tour and went back outside: he was very clammy, said he was nauseous and said his vision was blurred (he said things seemed to turn purple and green). He was also sweating. Naturally, I was extremely concerned as my boy never gets ill (other than the times when he seems to enjoy barfing all over my car when he gets carsick). After he seemed a bit better, I took him back to the concierge, where we bought our (expensive) tickets and asked for information to take him to the nearest hospital. I also asked for my money back because we obviously did not get to take the tour. Disgustingly, they refused stating that “tickets are non-refundable” and they also wouldn’t give us a rain-check to come back later. (Talk about CHEAP!) After security wheeled him down to the lower level in a wheelchair and I got the car (with directions in hand to the nearest hospital: ironically, the same hospital where I was born nearly @#$@ years ago 🙂 ), I paid another TWELVE BUCKS for the honor of parking (what a rip off) and rushed him to be checked.
When we arrived at the Emergency Room, he was rushed in and immediately checked. They took his blood pressure several times, oxygen saturation levels, an EKG, and other tests. The most disturbing thing is that I tried to call my ex but cell phones wouldn’t work inside the hospital. The only other way to conract her was to call collect on the hospital’s phone but she refused to accept a call from me. I was (and still am) so disgusted with her that I sent her a text message, after my boy was released, and informed her that our boy was in the hospital. She NEVER called back and, even now, a full day and a half later, she still hasn’t called. Thank God, they found nothing wrong with my boy and he was released. Needless to say, his mother doesn’t know this and, obviously, she could care less. Wonder if she’ll ever call?
Why my boy fainted is still a mystery. The doctor and hospital staff said that this is a fairly common occurrence, often without any identifiable cause. As my boy seemed fine and no longer complained of feeling ill, the crisis was over. Not wanting to end our day with a hospital visit, we went to one of our regular hang-out places, the Irvine Spectrum, got a bite to eat, and the saw a movie (Nim’s Island). Overall, it was a great movie.
After we finally arrived home, I decided to look up reviews of the Queen Mary tour (as I was not happy with how much I paid – for nothing) and came across some rather fun (but poorly written) web sites on “haunted places” in Southern California. Interestingly, they claim that things they refer to as “orbs” (spots that appear on pictures) are “evidence” of ghosts. I couldn’t help but laugh as I’ve taken pictures that also contained “orbs” although I’ve read were these are really caused by problems with digital cameras. So, in honor of our failed ghost hunting day, I thought I’d post some pictures from a couple of “haunted places” we’ve visited in which “orbs” were present. Gosh, isn’t this scary? 🙂
The “orbs” I photographed appeared in pictures I took when my boy and I visited Arizona last year (we went to Tucson and took tours of several caves, a mine, and also drove through Tombstone (hmmm…). Based upon what I’ve read about “ghost hunters,” I must be an extremely gifted orb finder! The photograph I’ve taken with the most orbs so far, was taken inside of the Queen Mine, Bisbee, Arizona on January 3, 2007: here it is:
Notice all of the spots (orbs)?! Each one is allegedly a ghost! Scary! 🙂 Apparently, we managed to find a spot where the ghouls were having a party! I also captured photos of other orbs in the Queen Mine, including one of their wall flowers. That photo was taken in the tunnel (visitors are travel about 1/4 of a mile into the mine on altered mine cars). Notice the orb to the right of the boy (the kid with the Satanic red eyes [hmmm, wonder what caused that?]):
If you look closely past the orb, you will see two glowing eyes further down the mine shaft! Apparently, this ghost is lost. I found more orbs coming up a mine elevator; here they are:
After leaving the mine (we had a great time) we had to drive through Tombstone, AZ to get back to the hotel. As it was the only place to get a bite to eat, we stopped and took a few more pictures. We also just happened to arrive at dusk – as the ghosts were just coming out for the night. It’s not surprising that I captured more orbs with my paranormal camera! Here are a few orbs we found while looking down a deserted street.
Considering the bloody history of this wild west town, it’s not surprising that I found an entire flock of orbs outside of the brothel! Do you think they’re waiting to get in? Here they are:
As is clearly evident from the above photos, my camera does a great job of catching orbs in action! After realizing what a great ghost hunter I am, I bought a few books today on haunted places in Southern California. I’m going to have to take my gear and see what else I can capture with my camera (BTW, my camera is currently giving up the ghost [pun intended], I may have to get a new one before I take more photos).
I was in the mood yesterday to go outside and walk so I thought I’d go down to Mission San Juan Capistrano. As a result, I took a stroll around the local neighborhood: the area contains several interesting shops, antique stores, and restaurants, in addition to the old “Los Rios Historic District.” As it was a beautiful day, I popped in and out of several stores and also took in some of the old adobes – something that, believe it or not, I’ve never done before. I’m glad I did. In addition to the nice ocean breeze, it was a great day to just walk around. On my way back to my car, I decided to look in one of the antique shops, located just a few stores away from the mission. For the most part, the store was filled with all of the regular wares – old dishes, costume jewelry, etc, etc. Hidden near the back of the rather large store, I found a couple of very interesting booths – one contained very large Asian items (including a beautiful set of Chinese temple bells [offered at $4,000] – which, obviously, I can’t afford) and another booth that contained a display case with some unusual items. One of those items happened to be a very large phurba (which they had marked as a “Tibetan Scepter” [actually, that’s not a bad description]). As the proud owner of a couple of other phurbas (they’re really used as a shamanistic tool of protection and to perform many other religious functions by Tibetan monks), I was very impressed by the size of the one displayed. In fact, I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen a larger one! So, I decided to purchase it.