Friday, September 11, 2009
VAMP team plans field trip for interested parties
The VAMP Avenel Investigation 2009 commemorative t-shirt — Courtesy of Jammie Spradlin
Emily Paine Carter is columnist So Salem. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Emily Paine Carter
Recent columns from Salem, Glenvar and western Roanoke County
Several readers had been asking about participating in a ghost hunt. Then, just as I started to email local "ghost-buster" Jammie Spradlin to see if he'd ever considered such a thing, he happened to send information on his first-time public session.
(Yes, the coincidence spooked me.)
Background: Past columns have featured Jammie's unpaid team, Virginia Appalachian Mountain Paranormal Investigations -- cleverly abbreviated to "VAMP." (You might recall VAMP's and Tom Carter's (no relation) Roanoke College student investigations of a reportedly haunted Salem mansion.)
Local folks call on VAMP to check out puzzling goings-on, such as "what's-that-sound? That thing-that-went-'bump'-in-the-night?" as the Robert Burns poem goes.
What: "Ghost-Hunting 101" event.
Who: The general public (yes, you), instructed by a VAMP team.
When / Cost: October 30, $25 for either four-hour session, 7 to 11 p.m. or 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Or all eight hours, $45.
Oct. 31 (yes, Halloween!), one six-hour session, 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., $35.
Price includes a commemorative T-shirt, as well as instructed use of VAMP equipment.
But wait, there's more: Later Allen Butterworth and Jammie will edit videos of the three investigations into one 90-minute DVD, available for $5.
Where: Avenel Plantation, Bedford.
Why You Might Be Interested: Hey, it's Halloween! Folks might seek a "good scare in a haunted house," Jammie emailed.
Plus, you history buffs might simply appreciate visiting the mansion.
Ghost-y claims, wrote Jammie, are of a "Lady in White" and a black gentleman seen peering from windows, music, footsteps, a door opening and shutting on its own in the presence of two investigators, and a rocking chair said to rock on its own in the Robert E. Lee room.
Jammie noted that such prior information gives attendees "ideas" -- unlike VAMP's untainted "haint"-investigations. But, he said, "if they see anything, real or not, we will not give an opinion either way. This is their investigation, so what they believe or say is what goes."
For these two Avenel nights, your local ghost-busters will describe witness-reports, lend and demonstrate equipment, then shoot videos of you-on-the-spooky-search.
P.S. Got news? Send me your share-worthy stories and photos for possible columns: say, about scrapbooks/memorabilia/collections; notable reunions/slumber parties of "old" friends; nearby or far-flung successful Spartans/Highlanders/Wolverines; remarkable feats; poignant scenes; and perennially popular, peculiar plants, produce and what-have-you.
