Part II: The Ghosts of Christmas Past: In Search of Goodwin’s Ghost
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The second night out on the hunt for Goodwin’s ghost I discovered that there was a choral concert being held at the Bruton Parish Church. I saw a family go into the churchyard, and they stood right outside the entrance for a few minutes before entering the old house of worship, apparently not sure if they were going to attend. While they waited I took a few photos of the area; I was worried that they might think that I was some sort of stalker—but little did they know that I had no interest in photographing them, only what was around them. What I have known for some time is that ghosts are attracted to young people. I have heard different theories on why this is so; perhaps the one that makes the most sense is that children have not learned to block out the sensory anomalies created by the ghosts. From my understanding the brain gets thousands of sensory signals per second from all over the body, and must prioritize or triage these to make the conscious mind aware of only the most important. An adult’s brain may discard sensory anomalies that it doesn’t understand, whereas a child’s brain may push through these signals to the conscious mind, making him or her aware that something supernatural is nearby.
Acutely aware of this paranormal propensity, I would later examine these photos on my computer with a great deal of interest—my visceral understanding of the supernatural would not disappoint. In one photograph that I took, standing between what I assumed to be the father, his wife, and two children, was a PHANTOM CHOIR! While in search of the former rector I’ve found a children’s choir; perhaps one of Goodwin’s very own during one of his two tenures as the rector of the 18th century church. This group of ghostly vocalists appears to be children, perhaps four or five of them, dressed in long white robes, some with their arms outstretched as they walked—or were they singing? The irony here is that although they appear to be a choir, their mouths are missing! This mute manifestation of sacred music caught me completely by surprise; were they going into the church to watch or to participate with the living choir? My next thought was if this choir all met their demise at the same time—or did they just get together posthumously to reform a bond they had as children. I suggest this because I’ve heard of a man who died of old age in another state who returned to his old Civil War regiment to participate in Confederate spying activities on the grounds of Edgewood Plantation. So where and how a person dies is not necessarily indicative of where their ghost returns to or even what they look like.
The Bruton Parish Church’s Phantom Choir:
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Unlike the red dragons that appeared on the bench in the previous blog, I had to do some work on this photo. After cropping out the family that the phantom choir stood between, I had to raise the contrast on the photo, take out the grain, and then darken in the eye detail that was lost when raising the contrast. The idea is to raise the visibility of the choir without compromising the integrity of the choir’s appearance. What’s evident to me from this and other photos is that humans, when they die, do not lose their desire to gather in groups with others of like mind, whether it be singing in a church choir, or marching or even fighting together in a military “band of brothers”. Another apparent irony about the photo of this phantom choir is that these “children” who appear to be in a choir may be hundreds of years old—and yet they are forever young. Does the mind of a ghost mature on the “other side” like it matures in our dimension? In other words, though they appear as children, are they adults in spirit?
Not Just Bruton Parish, but All Churches and Places of Worship
Someone asked me if I was trying to frighten the congregants of Bruton Parish Church by showing the plethora of paranormal activity around it. Let me answer with an emphatic NO. In fact, if you go to a house of worship anywhere, of any kind, you will find ghosts there. Granted, some older churches, like Bruton, have more ghosts not only because of the age of the sanctuary, but also because the grounds—including the inside of the church—are a cemetery. In my book Haunted Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography, I checked out two other churches in the area to see if the paranormal activity was comparable. The tiny Hickory Neck Episcopal Church, a few miles outside of Williamsburg, likewise has a large cast of phantom characters for such a small building, even though church services have been moved to a newer, larger building on the grounds. I captured huge orbs over the steeple of a Baptist Church in Mathews County; some appear to be over one hundred feet in diameter! Let me also say that I have photographed churches that are newer that have a comparable number of apparitions on the outside to the Bruton Parish Church; whether these were parishioners who have perished, or people that died on the grounds before the church was even built I cannot say. (Outside of Christian churches, I’ve gone to and photographed apparitions over a Jewish synagogue, a Unitarian Church—who accepts members of all beliefs, and an outdoor Native American ceremony.)
I have found multiple ghosts from the parking lot of a Williamsburg shopping center all the way to the waters of Currituck Sound; my point being that with over one billion dead in this world, ghosts are everywhere! If you go to places like the British Isles you will find churches and buildings that are much older than Bruton Parish Church, and as a result have a longer history of hauntings. More people have died there, and consequently more of the living have had paranormal experiences and believe in ghosts. I find that like myself, most people that have not had paranormal experiences do not believe in ghosts—until they do. What will it take to make you a believer?
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After 2 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 10,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon:
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Amazon: http://amzn.com/0764350609
Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.
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