From Planetaria Obscura Nov 2016 Issue (true story)
The Spirit of 16
I have a ghost in my planetarium! But its not what you think - yet I am convinced of it.. it’s a cat. I’ll explain. Things began disappearing in the visitor area last summer. Things I KNEW I had put down in a specific location. But they weren’t gone - they were found in other places. And always when I went to look for them, the moment my mind was somewhere else, I found myself staring at them. I thought this was odd, so after one particularly stunning example - I placed a small light in the Cosmorama out there and an hour later found it over on the pool table .. I got an Ouija board. But before I could try to use it, the planchett pointer disappeared. This time for good, it was never seen again. Someone didn’t want me using that board I thought. Then I forgot about this for awhile.
Until the day a few weeks later …..
I Felt a Brush in the Dark!
This literally freaked me out. I was in the planetarium, over by the star chamber where I do the Joe Starr show. As I was sitting down on the floor, something brushed up against me - against my leg. I felt it like electricity. It shocked me - I literally fell onto the floor thinking what was THAT. But it was low to the ground .. Then I started putting two and two together. Were these events related? it’s the mark of an animal maybe to grab things and carry them somewhere else. My cat does that all over the house. And something brushed my leg. But then my rational mind took over, explaining it away - it was a muscle spasm! I’m just absent minded. Until the day
I Literally SAW It!!
In full daylight mind you. I was walking from my sheds on the left side of the backyard towards the planetarium when my mind suddenly blanked out - I looked down and saw a cat - a grey striped cat ..just for a second, then it disappeared. I knew then. I went over and cleared the brush away from our pet cemetery. There are 4 cats and 1 dog buried there. Was this one of them? I had been in that barn for over 30 years and never seen or felt anything like this. So I bided my time .. What else can you do? I hoped I wouldn’t see something that truly alarmed me.
I decided to wait for one more confirmation. I didn’t have long to wait. One night just last week …..
Comes A Second Appearance!
This time there was no doubt. Sitting in the planetarium under fairly low light conditions, I suddenly looked up and a black segmented blob ambled behind the screen - I didn’t see the stripes this time, but I saw a head and tail. There’s a ghost cat running around out there. I think its Nicholas, our very first cat here on the farm - a large striped tiger cat. He always wanted to go out so bad, sometimes I think he died of a broken heart, since we wouldn’t let him out to prowl. Now he prowls forever? WHY he chose this time, and in this manner, to appear remains unknown. There is certainly nothing sinister - actually he’s almost playful. Still - its hard not to think about, sitting out there about 4 AM.
In the dark. Alone. Or am I?
The Spirit of 16
I have a ghost in my planetarium! But its not what you think - yet I am convinced of it.. it’s a cat. I’ll explain. Things began disappearing in the visitor area last summer. Things I KNEW I had put down in a specific location. But they weren’t gone - they were found in other places. And always when I went to look for them, the moment my mind was somewhere else, I found myself staring at them. I thought this was odd, so after one particularly stunning example - I placed a small light in the Cosmorama out there and an hour later found it over on the pool table .. I got an Ouija board. But before I could try to use it, the planchett pointer disappeared. This time for good, it was never seen again. Someone didn’t want me using that board I thought. Then I forgot about this for awhile.
Until the day a few weeks later …..
I Felt a Brush in the Dark!
This literally freaked me out. I was in the planetarium, over by the star chamber where I do the Joe Starr show. As I was sitting down on the floor, something brushed up against me - against my leg. I felt it like electricity. It shocked me - I literally fell onto the floor thinking what was THAT. But it was low to the ground .. Then I started putting two and two together. Were these events related? it’s the mark of an animal maybe to grab things and carry them somewhere else. My cat does that all over the house. And something brushed my leg. But then my rational mind took over, explaining it away - it was a muscle spasm! I’m just absent minded. Until the day
I Literally SAW It!!
In full daylight mind you. I was walking from my sheds on the left side of the backyard towards the planetarium when my mind suddenly blanked out - I looked down and saw a cat - a grey striped cat ..just for a second, then it disappeared. I knew then. I went over and cleared the brush away from our pet cemetery. There are 4 cats and 1 dog buried there. Was this one of them? I had been in that barn for over 30 years and never seen or felt anything like this. So I bided my time .. What else can you do? I hoped I wouldn’t see something that truly alarmed me.
I decided to wait for one more confirmation. I didn’t have long to wait. One night just last week …..
Comes A Second Appearance!
This time there was no doubt. Sitting in the planetarium under fairly low light conditions, I suddenly looked up and a black segmented blob ambled behind the screen - I didn’t see the stripes this time, but I saw a head and tail. There’s a ghost cat running around out there. I think its Nicholas, our very first cat here on the farm - a large striped tiger cat. He always wanted to go out so bad, sometimes I think he died of a broken heart, since we wouldn’t let him out to prowl. Now he prowls forever? WHY he chose this time, and in this manner, to appear remains unknown. There is certainly nothing sinister - actually he’s almost playful. Still - its hard not to think about, sitting out there about 4 AM.
In the dark. Alone. Or am I?
