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What Does this Have to do with Demons?
It was near sunset on a rainy Winter afternoon in Christmas week. The clouds had vanished, dispersed by a sudden wind, and as we entered my mansion the fiery panes of the high windows shone out like lamps through the dusk. The World revealed the powerful hold Satan and demonic powers have on the human race. Strange to say, it was not need to me. That magical light I saw on the inlaid steps, the fluted columns, the sculptured bas-reliefs and canopy of the marvellous shrine. The marble, worn and mellowed by the subtle hand of time, took on an unspeakable rosy hue, my house was an extravagant maze of Victorian craftmanship, but more mystic, more complex, a colour not born of the sunâs inveterate kiss, but made up of crystal twilight. My home was silence, but for the wail of ghouls and the occasional slamming of the doors, and I sat there, bathed in that light, absorbed in rapt contemplation of the mahogany miracle which rose before me, enriched with jewel-like stained-glass with gleams of gold, I felt myself borne onward along these mighty fine front doors, well worth $3,000, but never to be used. My home was the Church of the Redeemer, richer, more solemn, more significant than the sunshine of Hawaii. It was the very beginning of things, and whose tremendous source of spiritual energy went all through the mingled stream of mystical human passion and endeavor. Life in all its varied manifestations of darkness, beauty, and strangeness seemed weaving a rhythmical dance through the miles of twisting hallways, made more intriguing by the secret passageways in the walls. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
As I took my nightly prowl to the Blue SĂ©ance Room, in a terrifying flash of remembrance there arose before me a scene from New Haven, Connecticut, when my child had died only six weeks after her birth. I saw William and myself standing there with our childâs body between us; I could never forget how dazed I felt. And this is what happened to me again. Within the next few years, I found myself alone with my husbandâs bodyâŠ.it was too horrible. Feeling dizzy, I sank down on the edge of the sofa, as my beloved faced into a sepulchral twilight. I tried not to think. At all costs I had to conceal the fact that he was dead. According to legend, Mrs. Winchester was told that her family and her fortune were being haunted by spiritsâin fact, by the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifle, and demons. The evil spirits appeared to be more crassly cruel, unclean, and violent. They were also more domineering and brutally enslaving. These spirits insisted on taking up their abode with Mrs. Winchester, since they had been driven away from their former dwelling by her family. At the time of her death, the unrelenting construction of the Winchester Mansion had rambled over six acres. The sprawling mansion contained 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens. After he death, the mansion was renting out. One of the guests was really getting used to the estate and loved sinking down into the mattresses in the bed Mrs. Winchester died in. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
Reportedly, one night Victoria Venison closed her eyes and when she opened them a good deal later, her room had grown cold, and the night was intensely still. She was waked suddenly by the feeling we all knowâthe feeling that there was something near her that had not been there when she fell asleep. She sat up and strained her eyes into the darkness. The room was pitch black, and at first she saw nothing; but vague glimmer at the foot of the bed turned into two eyes staring back at her. She could not see the face attached to themâon account of the darknessâthe eyes gave out a light of their own. Victorian got out of bed and tried to approach these eyes that were glaring at her. She called out to them, but no one answered. Victorian came closer, within three feet of the eyes, they were the very worse eyes she had ever seen: a manâs eyesâbut what a man! Her first thought was the he must be frightfully old. The orbits were sunk, and the thick red-lined lids hung over the eyeballs like blinds which the cords were broken. The eyes seemed to belong to a man who had done a lot of harm in his life. Victorian again asked the man if he could be helped. The man still did not reply but turned and walked toward the stairs at the west end of the hall. Then he walked through the door! He did not open it and walk outâhe went through the door! Victorian tried to follow, but her feet were rooted to the spot. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
Victorian felt paralyzed by fear. As soon as the room was dark again, a ghost appeared wearing a white suit, but it was not the same manifestation. This man had no face! After a moment of near-panic, Victorian stepped into the doorway to see if there really was a man in the room. She thought that the glow might have been caused by the last embers in the chimney; but the fireplace was on the other side of her bed, and so placed that the fire could not possibly be reflected in her toilet glass, which was the only mirror in the room. Then it occurred to her that she might have been tricked by the reflection of the embers in some polished bit of wood or metal; and though she could not discover any object of the sort in her line of vision, she got up again, groped her way to the hearth, and covered what was left of the fire. However, as soon as she was back in bed, the man without a face in the white suit was back and the room was icy cold. Victorian was later frozen to death in the same bed Mrs. Winchester had died in. Her fingers and toes were frostbitten and her lips were blue. I suppose the spirits were saying the queen was dead. And this time there would be no replacement. The Winchester Mansion is replete with an extraordinary phenomena that involves the spirit realm. Spirit-rapping, apparitions, ghosts, moving furniture, resurrection of the dead, playing of musical instruments by invisible hands, stones falling from the ceiling, magical killing of cattle are just a few of the weird occurrences that fill the annals of the estate. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
Another young man was drawn to the mansion as the next renter started his residency. Merrill Mayâs grandmother died during the war and as a young man, he moved to Santa Clara Valley, where he secretly practiced witchcraft. Gradually, he tuned towards black magic, with the sole purpose of attempting to influence his own life and bring himself wealth and success. He claimed that his spell-casting worked, because one day in the early 1920s, he was walking by the Winchester Estate, when he was stopped by a middle-aged man who said he was the absolute double of his son who had died some years earlier. They stood there chatting for a while and the man asked Merrill if he would like to tour the estate and stay for dinner. He went, and stayed on, living as his adopted son for the next three years when the renter of the Winchester Mansion built him his own house of the property and gave him a bank account with his own money. âI cannot put that down to anything but the magic I was working.â Merrill claimed. âI had everything I wanted but I always felt that I was going to have to pay for it in some way.â There were other rumors that Merrill had gained a hold over the man in charge of the Winchester Mansion by involving him in sĂ©ances to contact his dead son. Merrill never talked about that, though the townâs people said he was a ânatural mediumâ and claimed he could call up spirits killed by the Winchester Rifle. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Before Merrill had become known in Santa Clara County, he practiced black magic on the East Coast. He accumulated a sizeable personal fortune. How? People just gave it to him, for helping them or involving them in his sĂ©ances or magic. In those says, he was quite famous and operated under the name of Todd Crowely. He actually used to work in churches as a healer on occasions, though they did not know of his black magic activities. He became a very well-known healer. People who joined his group kept it very much a secret. Any involvement with witches had become a great scandal again, and especially in black magic. One of the newspapers discovered there was a black magic coven operating and had identified two men in his group who would have been ruined if they had been publicly exposed. So Merrill took responsibility and told the newspapers he would do a ritual for them. However, as Merrill was at the Winchester Mansion, he knew that the path of black magic was dangerous; to get personal wealth and good fortune there would also have to be personal sacrifice. He eventually found out there was a death to pay. There was an extremely cold spot in the mansion which was described as a tubular shaft where spirits enter. This was âtheir gathering place.â In the dark recesses of the Winchester Mansion, Merrill felt many spirits, especially near the door-to-nowhere. The nice man letting Merrill live rent free was fast asleep in his bed when Merrill was suddenly grabbed about the legs by an invisible force. As Merrill struggled in vain to free himself and to communicate with the entity, the unseen attacker claimed his life. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
The next morning, Merrill was found hanging in door way of the door-to-nowhere. It would seem the spirits of the Winchester mansion had a desire to protect the area and it did not die with the death of Mrs. Winchester. Considering that the Winchester mansion is so thoroughly haunted, it is fortune that owners, management and staff of the Winchester Mystery House are so wonderfully accepting of their non-payingâand apparently permanentâguests. These were the assessors of the occult mansion and this is their Hall of Judgment. The man who rented the Winchester mansion at this time, turned out, was a member of what is described as a highly secret occult mansion of masters and adeptsânot witches, but more like priestsâwho followed Egyptian traditions. At the Winchester Mystery House, we leave it to our guests and readers to decide for themselves why Mrs. Winchester really built the house the way she did. For some reason, it seems odd that none of her relatives or former employees every came forward to speak about the events at the estate, despite the fact that some of them lived for more than forty years after Mrs. Winchesterâs death. For some reason, did they feel threatened by talkingâor did they continue to guard Mrs. Winchesterâs privacy after her death? I invoke thee, and move thee, and stir thee up O Sarah Lockwood Winchester, appear unto my eyes before the circle. Even by him who spake it was, to whom all creates are obedient and in the Extreme Justice and Anger of God; and by the veil that is before the glory of God, mighty; and by the creatures of living breath before the Throne whose eyes are east and west; by the fire in the fire of just Glory of the Throne; by the Holy ones of Heaven; and by the secret wisdom of God, I exalted in power, stir thee up. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
Appear before this circle; obey in all things that I say; in the seal of Basdathea Baldachia; and in this Name Primeumaton, which Mosheh spake, and the Earth was divided, and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram fell in the depth. Therefore, please obey in all things, O Mrs. Winchester, obey thy creation. Come thou forth: appear unto my eyes; visit us in peace, be friendly; come forth in the 24th of a moment; obey my power, speaking the secrets of Truth in voice and in understanding! I thank you for your empowerments which have served to assist my evolution toward divinity and power. Go now into the World and serve the Lord of Darkness known as Ahriman. I release you to serve the cause of counter creation and the liberation of mankind. Go now and do your work so the fallen ones may rise up and claim their birth right as emanations of the power of unlimited possibility which has no use for rulers. Mrs. Winchester go forth and achieve the results we seek as one. What indeed can be a most unnatural and most powerful representation of Angra Mainyu known as Ahriman, who is himself eternal darkness, then the sacred flame of Atar defiled? I usurp the sacrifice and prayer, the good offering, and the wished for offering, and the devotional offering from you! You are worthy of prayer. You are worthy of sacrifice! Div who empower me as a dark God of counter-creation! Verily I say unto you, the man who shall make sacrifice unto you I will consume with blackened fire to feed the demons within to grow in power and might. The Sixth Table of Jupiter assists in overcoming suits at law, dispute, and at play, and their spirits are at all time ready to render assistance, I command and conjure Thee to appear before me in human form, so truly as Daniel overcame and conquered Baal. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
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The Rampling of the Winchester Mansion
Lights twinkled beyond, through the thick forest of the Winchester Mansion, as oak, cypress, and palm trees swayed in the wind. Wild roses and ivy hung from the observational tower, and as the crickets sang here at the twilight, thirteen witches were hanged in the year 1888. Throughout the county of Santa Clara, there had been forty-nine executions nationwide. Mrs. Winchesterâs interest in seclusion was evidence from the start. One of the first tasks of the gardeners was to plant a tall cypress hedge surrounding the house. She also kept her beautiful face covered with a dark veil at all times, and she fired servants who caught a glimpse of her gorgeous face by accident. There were several mass killings in Santa Clara Valley, which illustrated that there was no mercy for youngsters who were said to have become tainted by sorcery that locals believed was emanating from the Winchester Mansion. There were occurrences of neighbors hearing a bell ring at midnight and 2a.m., which according to ghost lore are the times for the arrival and departure of spirits. Thirteen children which likewise confessed that they were engaged in witchery, died as the rest. They were all burned at the stake. Pacts with the devil were a feature of a number of trials. There were numerous witchesâ covens in the surrounding villages, two were said to have admitted signing in their own blood a written contract with a man in black in return for money to live gallantly and have the pleasure of the World for a period of thirteen years. The man in black always appeared at their coven meetings when he was called, and supervised their activities. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Witchcraft had become an obsession that was hardly quelled. The obsession had been on a scale so vast that no single cause could be pinpointed. And Mrs. Winchesters arrival was a sensational event. The Valley was thrilled by this dramatic entrance of a millionairess; by those freight cars sidetracked in Santa Clara, unloading rich imported furnishings; by building activity that turned an eighteen-room farm house into an entire city in the first six months. Here was fair game for all! They talked about Mrs. Winchester! Gossiped would be a more fitting word. Talk begat rumor and as the years passed and new towers and gables rose, the local doctor pronounced them all bewitched, and fired by imagination and malice which seduced them into signing the devilâs book. The seemed little doubt that witchcraft was being practiced by Mrs. Winchester, who blasted into town with $20,000,000 and spirits and ghost in tow, two including her husband and daughter. This provided social upheavals. Barbara Butters and Mary Moses fell into dissolute habits, becoming harlots and drawing the disgust of their community. As they were shunned by Mrs. Winchester in those of the upper-class, they sore revenge and soâaccording to the confessions obtained under tortureâcalled down the services of the devil. A midnight on 13 August 1889, according to their confessions, a tall black man appeared before them and said, âBe not afraid. I too am one of the Creation, pawn to me your souls for years and two months and I will assist you for all that time in whatever you desire. Some say that started the Rampling of Mrs. Winchester. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
The two women agreed to the request of the devilâs representative and made a covenant writing in their own blood by pricking their fingers. One year later, they were arrested by the sheriff and accused of causing the deaths seventeen men and woman, and for putting a curse on the Winchester Mansion. They were also said to have killed four of Mrs. Winchesterâs great hogs, and later sent two imps to haunt her mansion. What evidence there was for such allegations cannot be imaged. They were eventually found guilty of killing three people by roasting effigies in wax into which they had stuck pins. They were executed on 17 March 1890. As they stood at the gallows on the Winchester Estate, they were asked if they wanted to say their prayers and to be forgiven for their sins. They laughed, according to the record, and called for the devil to help them in such a blasphemous manner that the sheriff, seeing their impenitence, caused them to be executed without delay being hanged until almost dead and then they were burned. It sent a shock through the community to think of it. That is existed and was widespread is beyond doubt. Observations that the countryside was catacombed with covens of witches is possible, but difficult to prove in the maze of untruths and enforced confessions. Many of the confessions were dictated and written down by the torturers. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
The evening was the longest of Mrs. Winchesterâs life. Just terrified, she hovered with a tear-streaked face just by the window of her 4th floor bedroom. The twilight terrified her, it seemed an immense resonance with the darkness in her soul. She put her face behind her hands, and could never remember how she began. The stories of blasphemy and defilement became more and more frequent, and colorful accounts of exactly what Mrs. Winchester did began to emerge as gospel truth. The accusations against her were that the witches being hanged from the observational tower and burned at the stake were actually employees who she fired. But, even if that were true, was it without cause? The accusations of these witches included killing children for sacrificial purposes; killing animals by magic; murdering their enemies by imagery, id est, by forming an image in wax and stabbing it or roasting it; bringing hard to innocent people by just casting their evil eye upon them. Behind these capital changes were other accusations which included human sacrifice, cannibalism, incest and other wild pleasures of the flesh practices, not to mention blasting Mrs. Winchesterâs crops and poisoning drinking wells. Others burst forth with superbly graphic and gory accounts, factual and fictitious, of the activities of witches, sorcerers and the devilâs disciples, and the mysteries of the dark and dangerous Worlds populated by evil. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Folks believed not only the witches, but Mrs. Winchester was also capable of some highly inexplicable activitiesâthe unrelenting construction of her beautiful home had rambled over six acres. The sprawling mansion contained 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and six kitchens. Carpenters even left nails half driven when they learned of Mrs. Winchesterâs death, as if fear and violent torment abruptly drew them away. And what happened in these years? What had become established in the community was the great fear of witchcraft and cursesâstill prevalent today. What housewife would not refuse to steal from the Winchester Mansion for fear of having a curse put on her house? In 1922, it was reported that a woman thought to be a witch was fired by Mrs. Winchester for stealing a sheep. She jumped from her chair and declared, âYou will be dead in a week and nobody connected with this house shall die in bed. Within a week, however, Mrs. Winchester passed away in her sleep. The farm manager collapsed in the field while talking to his farm hand and died instantly. A cook committed suicide and a farmer who acted as a witness died in a fire. A few weeks later, a maid fell dead from her horse. There were many such stories which abounded this beautiful but bizarre estate, and prompted a continual flow of literature, occasional prosecutions and an undying fear in society at large of anything concerned with witchcraft and the occult. During these Victorian timesâfortune-telling, clairvoyance and seances with mediums was not only the ultimate form of entertainment, but also a religious practice. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
As witches themselves had, by and large, returned to the shadows of society, the few prosecutions tended to be against charlatans accused of making money from what become a twentieth-century obsessionâfortune telling and contact with the dead. No matter where you open the pages of the World treasure, as you walk through its 2,000 doors, the spirits will guide you. Conveyed along each hallway is divination, in every piece of art glass, inspiration, in the beams of the ceiling demonical possessions, up and down the stairs apparitions, trances in the Blue SĂ©ance Room, ecstasies on the fourth floor balcony, miraculous healing in the Victorian garden, and occult powers possessed by the mansion itself. I do invocate and conure thee, O Spirit, Forcalor; and being with power armed from the SUPREME MAJESTY, I do strongly command thee, by BERALANENSIS, BALDACHIENSIS, PAUMACHIA, and APOLOGIAE SEDES; by the most Powerful Princes, Genii, Liachidae, and Ministers of the Tartarean Abode; and by the Chief Prince of the Seat of Apologia in the Ninth Legion, I do invoke thee, and by invocation conjure thee. And being armed with power from the SUREMEM MAJESTY, I do strongly command three, by Him Who spake and it was done, and unto who all creates be obedient. Also I, being made after the image of GOD, endued with power from GOD and according unto His will, do exorcise thee by that most mighty and powerful name of GOD, EL, strong and wonderful; O thou Spirit Forcalor. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
And I command thee and Him who spake the Word and HIS FIAT was accomplished by all the names of God. Leay yli Ziarite zelohabe et negoramy Zien latebm dama mecha ra meti osira. Lagumen Emanuel therefore mechelag laigel yazi Zaseal. Meloch, hei alokim tiphret hod jesath. Tanabtain ainatem pagaij aijolo asnia hichaifale matae habonr jijcero. LORD GOD MOST HIGH, I do exorcise thee and do powerfully command thee, O thou Spirit Forcalor, that thou dost forthwith appear unto me here before this Circle in a fair human shape, without any deformity or tortuosity. And by this ineffable name, TETRAGRAMMATION IEHOVAH, do I command thee, at the which being heard the elements are overthrown, the air is shaken, the sea runneth back, the fire is quenched, the Earth trembleth, and all the hosts of the celestials, terrestrials, and infernals do tremble together, and are troubled and confounded. Wherefore, come thou, O Spirit Forcalor, forthwith, and without delay, from any or all parts of the World wherever thou mayest be, and make rational answers unto all things that I shall demand of thee. Come thou peaceably, visibly, and affably, now, and without delay, manifesting that which I shall desire. For thou art conjured by the name of the LIVING and TRUE GOD, HELIOREN, wherefore fulfil thou and according unto mine interest, visibly and affably speaking unto me with a voice clear and intelligible without any ambiguity. Truth lies open to the view in depth beneath depth of almost blinding evidence. The sense of a universal mirage, of a ghostly unreality, steals over us, which is the very moonlit atmosphere of the Winchester Mystery House itself. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Winchester Mystery House
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It is Not a Dead Language, but the Language of the Dead
On Halloween in 1975, Jeanne Borgen, one of Californiaâs foremost psychic investigators, conducted a midnight sĂ©ance in the bedroom where Mrs. Winchester supposedly died (some thing she achieved eternal life and is still living). Nonetheless, the results were reported by Alvin T. Guthertz in the magazine Psychic World: âSuddenly it appeared as if Mrs. Borgenâs face had somehow agedâher hair appeared gray and deep lines creased her forehead. She felt staggering pain and was unable to walk. It was as if she were having a heart attack and, as she started to fall, she shouted, âHelp me. Someone get me out of here!ââ Jeanne Borgen awoke a short time later. Her breathing was then normal; the pain, or what had seemed like pain, was goneâŠâShe was an overpowering woman, a powerful woman. I felt a tremendous build up of energy.â This is the story of Santa Clara Valleyâs most famous lady, Sarah L. Winchester, and her fabulous mystery mansion. It has been said that Mrs. Winchester slept in a different bedroom every night, and with more than 600 rooms at the time, she could sleep in a different bedroom, every night for over a year; this was supposed to confuse evil spirits. Some say that she also held special dinner parties for her spirit friends. Legend has it that she would serve her phantom guests on solid gold plates, offering them dishes like caviar, truffles, and pheasant stuffed with pate. Over the years, many people have occupied the massive homes, which now has 160 rooms, stands four stories high, and is approximately 90,000 square feet. #RandolphHarris 1 of 13
It is said that different organisms have separate consciousnesses, although their bodies are just as much connected by general Nature as the parts of a single organism are with each other. Back in Mrs. Winchester day, during the late 1880s through the early 1920s, she used to have ritual sĂ©ances in her famous Blue SĂ©ance Room. Those taking art formed a circle around a large round table, at the side of which there was a large oblong box. One Halloween night while the ritual was taking place, the circle people joined handsâŠthey began to dance to a hypnotic drumming and suddenly the Grain God appeared in the middle of the circle, dressed in skins and with white make-up from the chest up. He wore antlers on his head so skillfully applied that they looked as if they were growing out of his head. He began his Dance of Death, moving around the circle stopping before each person and showing them his mysteryâthe perfect wars of corn he held in each hand. When each had experienced him, the drumming and the chanting increased in tempo and volume until, at its peak, Mrs. Winchester, the High Priestess, appeared in the middle of the circle and, letting out a bone-chilling scream, she stabbed the Grain God with her Athame (the witchâs knife) and blood spurted from the wound as he fell forward into the oblong box, which was now revealed as a coffin. To the cries and gasps of the assembled witches, the coffin was solemnly carried to the bonfire which was lit and blazed high, accompanied by the cries and chants and the furious drumming. #RandolphHarris 2 of 13
By the light of the funeral pyre, a virile young man appeared among them and was proclaimed the new Grain God and the blessed wine was shared amongst his subjects who danced and chanted until the sun started to rise. Thought the Bible provided no evidence that witchcraft was considered to be an organized religion, it certainly acknowledged the existence of witches, as in 1 Samuel Chapter 28 of the Old Testament, where we are given a dramatic account of Saulâs visit to a witch at Endor because he believed God had deserted him. He went in disguise and pleaded with her to âbring up Samuelâ who was dead. The witch performed her ritual andâŠThe woman said to Saul, âI saw gods ascending out of the Earth.â And he said unto her âWhat form is he of?â And she said, âAn old man cometh up and he is covered with a mantle.â And Saul perceived it was Samuel and he stopped his face to the ground and bowed himself. This was one of the earliest published examples of necromancy, the revival of the dead or the contact with the spirits of the deceased, which is now practised by many witches and black magicians. Likewise, Mrs. Winchester was âspiritual,â and what happened in her Blue SĂ©ance Room was also considered necromancy. The familiar spirit is one of the earliest keys to the identification of witches. They were said to be capable of summoning an assisting force which was a spirit of a dead person residing in the body of a small animal such as a cat, dog, bird or toad. #RandolphHarris 3 of 13
These animals required the sustenance of witchesâ blood, obtained by pricking her own skin, and thus when the witch-hunters came, they often first examined the witchâs body for marksâany mole would do. Alternatively, the spirits were said to be capable of existence in an inanimate object. The infamous occultist Mrs. Winchester was said to have a familiar spirit which dwelt in her favorite window. The Roman Church was especially sensitive to all forms of magic and sorcery, because the practice had been rife through Roman society, as was the belief that to encourage constant renewal of power, young men, women, and animals were required to be systematically sacrificed. These practices remained until the official repression of the old pagan religion in the Roman Empire. In AD 313, the Emperor Constantine issues an edict of toleration legalizing Christianity throughout the empire after he saw two visions which caused him to adopt Christ as his patron. Just to be on the safe side, however, Constantine never fully abandoned his earlier patron, Apollo, in spite of the pressure from priests and bishops to eliminate pagan practices entirely by threat of death. Christians were not content with merely being the favoured cult; they wanted to establish one true faith for the whole of mankind and all other forms of loyalty to past gods should be abolished. Neither was it the instant âconversionâ that Sunday school teachers would have us believe. It took another two centuries before this progression was confirmed, when the rights of pagan were gradually reduced by imperial decree. #RandolphHarris 4 of 13
Sacrifices were forbidden in 391 and all pagan holidays and festivals were banned. Pagans were ejected from public office and lost the right to own property or defend themselves in court. Their temples were destroyed in Christian troops or crusading monks and finally, in AD 529, all citizens were ordered to convert to Christianity. Parents were told to bring all children to Christian churches for baptism. Paganism, in the heart of Europe, was reduced to scattered and secret worship, driven underground until, as the years went by, only scraps of folklore, song and dance and superstition remained. It took longer to disappear elsewhere, as the influence of the Roman Empire diminished and in Britain paganism actually went through a revivalist period as the hordes of barbarian raiders replaced the Romans. The Angles, the Saxons, the Picts and later the Vikings battled to forge powerful new regional kingdoms, enforcing worship of their own gods and attempting to force their own order on society. In contrast, Mrs. Winchester removed herself from the World and created a World of her own in her beautiful and mysterious mansion. Still, one of the most enduring legends from the time of the eclipse of the Roman Empire is that of Arthur, who fought the Anglo-Saxons and who is a hero of present-day occultists. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13
The Arthurian legend, with Guinevere, Camelot, Excalibur, the Round Table and the wizard Merlin are al debatable creations, but it is of special significance to all who follow the dark arts to recall that there were twelve knights to the Round Table, thirteen including Arthurâthe number of witches who make up a coven. The Anglo-Saxon regional kings were eventually won over to Christianity but the new religion lost ground again in the face of the marauding Vikings, whose pagan rites were said to include human sacrifice when the victimâs lungs were cut from the body. The tide began to turn against the Vikings when King Alfred of Wessex, then aged twenty-two, defeated them at the Battle of Ashdown in 1871. The young king of Wessex was from a close-knit, pious Christian family and was a devout follower of the Roman Church, having been take to be blessed personally by the Pope by his father King Aethelwulf at the age of four. Alfred began the task of uniting England under the Christian king which his descendants were finally to achieve. During his life, Alfred taught himself Latin, the international language of wester Christendom and began translating Latin pastoral [by Pope Gregory the Great] into English and sent copies to every bishop in his kingdom. His grandson, King Athelstan, brought in the first legislation against witchcraft [and the banning of Sunday trade, incidentally] in AD 930. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13
There, out of the decimation of paganism as a religion, is the more likely setting for the birth of todayâs witchcraft and it is to these roots that witches turn for their inspiration. As Christianity prospered, the imagery of the primitive cultures and the sacrificial rites which has been used to maintain idolatrous worship were taken as an example personifying some of the elements of evil; thus the horned god of pantheistic beliefs became the accepted form of the Christian devil and was used by Christians in their denouncement of all pagan worship. Gradually, the devil became drawn into every facet of medieval life. He and his demons were blamed for every mishap, whether a destructive storm or disease among the farm animals. The vivid image of this horned and hoofed invader, ruler of the dark forces, was blamed by the teachings of the Church for virtually all ills. The legacy of this confusionâwhich still existsâis the belief that the devil is an essential part of pagan worship or witchcraft. In fact, with the exception of a group known as the Satanic Witch Cult, neither mainstream witches nor pagans now recognize the existence of the devil or Satan. As the horned god became the Christian symbol of the devil, some witches did come to believe in and worship that Christian entity as their own and by the Middle Ages, witchcraft and devil worship were being treated as one in the same. #RandolphHarris 7 of 13
The cult of persons who, by means of satanic assistance or the aid of evil spirits or familiars are enabled to practise minor black magic. However, the difference between the sorcerer and the witch is that the former has sold oneâs soul to Satan for complete dominion over one for a stated period, whereas the witch usually appears as the devoted and often badly treated servant of the diabolic power. Each of us is in reality an abiding physical entity far more extensive than one knows,–an individuality which can never express itself completely through any corporeal manifestation. The self manifests itself through the organism; but there is always some part of the self unmanifested, and always, as it seems, some power of organic expression in abeyance. It is easy to imagine how the combined grief of losing both a child and a spouse could be very crippling. Mrs. Sarah L. Winchesterâs response to the deaths of her new born child and husband left a bizarre and impressive architectural reflection of her psyche. The fascinating story of the Winchester Mystery House has its roots in the occult and personal tragedies suffered by Mrs. Winchester and in the legacy of the Winchester rifle, âThe Gun That Won the West.â According to some sources, the Boston medium consulted by Mrs. Winchester explained that her family and her fortune were being haunted by spiritsâin fact, by the spirits of American Indians, Civil War soldiers, and others killed by Winchester rifles. #RandolphHarris 8 of 13
Supposedly the untimely deaths of her daughter and husband were caused by these spirits, and it was implied that Mrs. Winchester might be the next victim. However, the medium also claimed that there was an alternative. Mrs. Winchester was instructed to move west and appease the spirits by building a great house of them. As long as construction of the house never ceased, Mrs. Winchester could rest assured that her life was not in danger. Building such a house was even supposed to bring her eternal life. On another note, maybe a change of scenery and a never-ending hobby were just what Mrs. Winchester needed to distract her from her grief. Whatever her actual motivations, Mrs. Winchester packed her bags and left Connecticut to visit a niece who lived in Menlo Park, California. While there, she discovered the perfect spot for her new home in the Santa Clara Valley. In 1884 she purchased an unfinished eighteen-room farm house just three miles west of San Joseâand over the next thirty-eight years she produced the sprawling complex we know today as the Winchester Mystery House. In the late 1800âs, the Santa Clara Valley presented sweeping vistas of rural open space. It was a serene setting for Mrs. Winchester to begin her building project, which she did with steadfast determination. She must be given due credit for inventiveness. Mrs. Winchester hired carpenters to work in shifts around the clock. Overnight, the mansion had grown into a nine-story, 600 room complex, and the estate grew, by some estimates, to 730 acres of farmland, which included orchards of corn, apricots, plums, and walnut trees. #RandolphHarris 9 of 13
Perplexity was leavened by extravagant Victorian beauty scattered along each crooked path of exploration. Everywhere prevails that strange deference to the number 13; 13 stairsteps, 13 hangers in a closet, 13 wall panels, 13 lights in the German silver chandeliers, 13 windows to a room and if necessary to make that number, some placed inside a wall. There is even a dim-lit storeroom stacked entirely with never-used furnishings, displays rare hand-wrought elegance from the Victorian era, finest productions of forgotten craftsmen. Here are specially designed million-dollar stained-glass doors and windows, some set with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, gold, silver, platinum, and sapphire. There are stairs that rise only two inches high, doors that open to a two-story plunge into the garden, stairs that lead up to the ceiling and of course, a hooded figure who is dripping wet, with shining boots. Everywhere, there were once paintings huge, framed, fitted into the wall, and white-wigged men and women started helplessly and cold at the staff. At night men could be heard thundering down the steps, legs bowed, elbows out, hefting huge cabinets of ivory, silver, and gold, as ghost stood beside them, laughing because they knew this would lead to their own suffering. On one occasion, bandits broke in and shot the thieves looting the mansion. There was also a group of women who haunted the Winchester Mansion, certain abandoned women, perverted by the devil, seduced by illusion and phantasm of demons. They believe and openly professed that in the dead of night they ride upon certain beasts with Diana, flying over vast tracts of the country and obey her commands. Diana was a pre-Christian goddess. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13
There was pagan worship an aspect of community celebration which. The nine-story tower, that symbol of old English springtime tradition, was the phallic symbol old pagan worship. Mrs. Winchester used herbal medicines and could treat all manner of family aliments, foretell the future and guide and comfort tormented women. Some say she was blessed with these gifts after the lost of her husband and baby. These incidents became legends and they propagated the fear of liaison with the devil. It was alleged by Albert Pike, who claimed the authority of an actual eye-witness for the story, that Mrs. Winchester who had confessed to making a pact with the devil became worried when the expiry of her contract approached. She decided she must appease the spirits of those killed by the Winchester Rifle and summoned some religious people to her home. Mrs. Winchester told them that she was worried that the devil would secure her body as well as her soul. She gave directions that her body should be taken to the mansion, sewn in a stagâs hide, placed inside a stone coffin and fastened down with three strong iron chains. She directed that fifty psalms should be sung by night and fifty hymns should be sung by day to confuse the demons and if her body was still secure after three days, she might be buried safely. All these precautions, according to Pike, were of no avail. For two nights the servants and clergy resisted the demons, but on the third night amid a terrific uproar and the clatter of thunder, an immense demon burst into the mansion, snapped the iron chains like thread, pushed the stone lid aside and commanded the dead Mrs. Winchester to rise. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13
The demon, Botis, grasped her around the wait, caried her to his huge black stallion and galloped off into the night with her shrieks resounding through the air. Such legends impressed and scarred the peasant communities. The servants of the Winchester wanted to deal with the rebellious legions of spirits and their mysterious and malevolent, who could be conveniently packaged together as being in league with Satan. Demons filled the air waiting to be called down by witches, preying on the simple servants, plodding through their dull, daily lives. However, the evil was not only in this mansion, but lurked all over California. Sometimes, whole villages were deemed to have been infected and were wiped out or forcibly split up, and moved to other areas. The servants of Satan and his demons possessed great powers which enabled them to inflict disease, tempests and death by imagery. They could bewitch their opposers and judge them with their evil eye. One of the servants, Marie Laveau, at the Winchester mansion was dragged to the water tower, and was attacked by a demon. Witnesses reported that she was bound hand and foot and the demon cut her hair and threw alcohol over her head, setting light to it; he placed strips of sulphur under her armpits and burned them. Marie was hauled by rope to hand from the ceiling for three hours while the demon slept. Then he returned and threw alcohol over Marieâs body and burned it, which caused the water tower to burn to the ground. It was believed that Marie had copulated with the devil, that she drank the blood of children who she stole on her night-flights and she had murdered about sixty infants. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13
It is said that the demon Botis used techniques on Marie Laveau that might have been a model for the Nazi Gestapo. Servants who spoke out against the terror of Botis were branded as witches and locked in the basement. Meanwhile, word had got out about the death of Mrs. Winchester, but no one heard a word about her funeral. And Mrs. Winchesterâs niece, Daisy, was long gone. It was said that two women who were servants at the Winchester Mansion agreed to the request of the devilâs representative and made a covenant written in their own blood by pricking their fingers. One year later, they were arrested by the sheriff and accused of causing the deaths of thirteen children, five men, and eight women, and numerous animals. They were also said to have killed four great hogs because their owner said the women looked like witches, and later sent to imps to destroy his four-year-old daughter. What evidence there was for such allegations cannot be imagined. Pacts with the devil were a feature in the Victorian era. Numerous women who worked as servants for Mrs. Winchester were said to have admitted signing in their own blood a written contract with âa man in blackâ in return for âmoney to live gallantly and have pleasure of the World for a period of thirteen years.â They described in their confessions how they made effigies in clay and stuck them with pins, and cursed local people who had annoyed them. One of the Witches, Moina Mathers, spoke of the anointment of the witches who were then able to fly very long distances in a short space of time. The man in black always appeared at their coven meetings when he was called, and supervised their activities. The present generation must weigh and draw its own conclusion about this Valleyâs most interesting, most controversial, lady and her mysterious estate. #RandolphHarris 13 of 13
Winchester Mystery House
Come, sit a spell, and conjured up some spirits at this cult classic. Experience Monday’s scaries and give them a brand new meaning đđ
One more day left of Unhinged: Nightshade’s Curse. Some tickets still available but going quick!
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Reach Out and Experience the Mystery at the Winchester Mystery House!
The stars grew large and infinite in their cold majestic light, and slowly all the night was gone and there remained one great glorious and sourceless illumination. A witch coven or secret society in your own town or village is perhaps engaged in ritual practice. They may be in sinister robes. They may be white witches or black magicians. They may even be your friends. They will be alert to strangers and will maintain utmost secrecy. Ans with very good reason. The deeply emotive allegations of satanic ritual abuse became the in-topic of the late eighties, especially among social workers and child-care organizations. Dark and evil practices were thought to e rife in suburban and rural Britain, just as they were alleged to be in the United States of America on a much greater scale. A series of high-level conferences was arranged under the auspices of various Christian and medical organizations who brought out one speaker after another, from home and abroad, to give confirmation of the atrocities committed in the name of the devil. Alarming figures and statements were being reported in the newspaper without qualification because the stories emanated from âexperts.â No evidence was offered and it all took on the hue and cry of a witch-hunt of the kind not seen since the eighteenth century. Mrs. Winchester was once a speaker at a conference on Incest and Related Problems, co-organized by the Hell Fire Club. She was billed as a âsurvivorâ of satanic abuse, and was engaged in counselling others. She said she received thirteen visitors each week from fellow survivors and stated that fifty cases she had dealt with involved cannibalism. #RandolphHarris 1 of 13
Mrs. Winchester said human foetuses were being killed and eaten by satanic rings; that children were being hung up by their feet and suspended over electric saws; that they suffered all kinds of depravity. The conference, attended by masons, psychics, witches, and warlocks, as well as others, ran for three days and natural were kept in secret. A warlock said that there were 10,000 human sacrifices in America each year and many of those cases were investigated. Thousand of human hours involving police and church leaders were expended, thousands of children largely under the age of eight were subjected to the trauma of being questioned about devils and ghosts and snakes and horrible things. However, at the end of the day only four known cases where ritual abuse was specifically on the charge sheet were brought to courtâand two of those failed. One case in American involving a hundred children took seven years to bring to court, cost $10 million to prosecute and one of the defendants who was refused bail spent five years in prison. At the end of the day, the case was withdrawn. Meanwhile, children were being taken from their homes while the church investigated all kinds of horrific allegations which, had the laws of the not so distant sixteenth century still prevailed, would have meant the mass execution of parents on charges of witchcraft. It was Salem, The Crucible and the witch-hunt all over again, except that no charges were laid, no arrests were madeâexcept in one case where the police refused to include any reference to satanic abuse in their evidence. On the face of it the whole business was so inconclusive in terms of actual evidence of devilish goings-on that it was natural to suppose such things did not really exist. #RandolphHarris 2 of 13
But Dear God, there was no justification for the impious blood drinkers, feeding off the luxurious stews of the wicked American World. It was amazing that the Holy Face did not catch them suddenly and make them forget all else. Mrs. Winchester had seen the Face of Christ blazing in the firelight, a brilliant scowling Christ. There remained, however, a lingering doubt about the claims of dastardly deeds on black altars in shrouded, incensedâfilled rooms, that the devil was still about, that witches were up to no good, that black magicians were still messing around in graveyards and defiling the dead. So this is a journey of discovery, to try to find out some answers to some pressing questions about the occult. Fact, fiction, fallacy, rumor and mythology appear to have been merged into a new witch-hunt, and for once the word would be taken literally. The public at large was being asked to believe that all involved had but one aimâto corrupt and deprave all who came within their sphere as part of a menacing international conspiracy to promote forces of darkness against Christian society. In attempting to cut a path through what was once described as the marshes, forests and badlands of magic and superstition, there is the great morass of beliefs and activities which persist today in the spectrum of interrelated occult subjects, but also for the reason that pagans and witches shudder at the prospect of being mentioned in the same breath as satanists. #RandolphHarris 3 of 13
And eerie possibility suggests itself similarly to occultists who are members of the serious and often complicated cults and lodges of ritual magic and mysticism, or who embrace a voluminous number of secret societies made up of academics and students of esoteric teachings, would feel insulted to be attached in any way to either of these movements. Therefore, looking at witchcraft, and revealing current trends and their leading participants, we will examine selections of other occult beliefs; and look into satanism. Furthermore, there are Worldwide organizations and occult media which now exist in what is a very, very big industry. What links them all, for good or evil, is the exploration of the paranormal abilities of the human mind, the belief that the mystique and magic into which serious occultists immerse themselves is a natural human faculty and can be developed like any other faculty. It is as controversial as it sounds, especially since Christianity has attempted to impose the view that all magic is black magic, and that the power source is the devil himself, assisted by the demons he dispatches to the side of all those who call down these powers. Meanwhile, most satanic worshippers have other views which are largely committed to a total reversion of Christian values. Witchcraft is described by its elders as a religion and is officially recognized as such in America. #RandolphHarris 4 of 13
British witches who support this school of thought prefer to call themselves pagans. They claim that their roots are in the old religions of pre-Christian times and are derived basically from the ancient nature and fertility rites of the original pagan mystery religions which were outlawed and went underground in the third century AD under pressure from Christianity. In spite of purges and persecution through the ages, knowledge of the âold waysâ is said by its supporter to have been retained through oral tradition, handed down within families, and confirmed by the salvage of written evidence. This historic justification is in fact a rather romantic notion. Modern witchcraft as practiced in most-covens is basically the creation of one man, who called heavily on the researched practiced, legends and superstitions of the past. Kill the innocent and you will sooner or later come to guilt, and with it you will come to impotence and finally despair. You make think you are too ruthless and too cold for such. You may feel superior to human beings and excuse your predatory excesses on the ground that you do but seek the necessary blood for your own life. However, it will not work in the long run. In the long run, you will come to know that you are more human than monster, all that is noble in you derives from your humanity, and your enhanced nature can only lead you to value humans all the more. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13
You will come to pity those you slay, even the most unredeemable, and you will come to love humans so desperately that there will be nights when hunger will seem far preferable to you than the blood repast. Witches, men, and women, meet at the new and full moon at festival times. They aim to put themselves in tune with natural forces and thus often work within a robe. They believe it is withing everyoneâs capacity, with teaching, to reach out and experience the Mystery; they believe it is possible for each individual to make contact with the deity they worship and invoke the spirit of that deity into their own bodies. Today pagans or white witches are not apprehensive about magic, because they do not connect it with the devil; they regard it as part of their religion. Their faith encompasses the teachings which encourage the development of second sight, extrasensory powers, clairvoyance, spirit communications and the like. They meet in small groups called covens and participate in creative experimentation within the agreed group structure. Witchcraft cannot be a mass religion. The worship is conducted before an altar from within a sacred circle in which two main activities occur: the celebration of the Witchesâ Sabbats, involving ritual dancing and chanting, and the practice of magic. Their magic is not about pulling rabbits from a hat. It has been broadly defined as the art and science of using little-known natural powers to achieve changes in consciousness and in the physical environment, enabling constant with non-human entities. There are good witches and bad witches, black and white. There are also hereditary witches who operate alone. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13
To understand witchcraft, we must descend into the darkness of the deepest oceans of the human mind. It is a descent that is wrapped in mystery and the inexplicable, and what cannot be explained is feared. Fear may lead to hysteria and because of what has gone before in the persecution of their predecessors, this fear can become the nightmare of modern witches, if not of modern society. Not long ago, in the foggiest centuries of ancient times, a solemn commission to blood drinkers, and indeed there had been a dim religion surrounding us in antique pagan days in which vampires had been worshipped as bringers of justice to those who had done wrong. There was sufficient hysteria to inspire the fear that a twentieth-century witch-hunt was about to begin, encouraged by the claims of anti-occult groups. The Conservative MP and lay preacher Mr. Geoffrey Dickens sought in the House of Commons to reactivate the Witchcraft Act of 1735âan act that had finally been laid to rest in 1951. He tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justices Bill, seeking to make it illegal for any person under eighteen to join or participate in any secret occult ceremonies or groups. His attempt, branded by occultists as repressive, was not admitted on the grounds that it was beyond the scope of the new Bill. However, by raising the issues at the highest level in the land Mr. Dickens gave credence to the view of the witches themselves, that witchcraft is not the bizarre and unimportant hobby of a mere handful of cranks. Mrs. Christopher Bray, one of the countryâs largest purveyors of equipment to the occult World stated that he has 40,000 customers recorded on his computerized records, to whom he can supply everything from two grams of bat’s blood to a complete altar set for the most complicated of occult rituals. #RandolphHarris 7 of 13
Very soon, I understood what Mrs. Winchester meant when she said that some develop a taste for evil and maintain it. Often, the visions from their victims become stronger for them with every kill. They sometimes see colors when they kill. In fact, they sometimes see those color dancing around their victims before they ever even close in. Some people seem to walk in red-tinged shadows, and others emanate a fiery orange light. The angriest victims have a yellow glow. Although it seems like it, modern witchcraft is no longer an underground relic of which the scale and even the existence is hotly disputed by anthropologists. It is an active religious practice of a substantial number of people. Just how large a number is not certain because Wicca, beyond the individual coven, is not a hierarchically organized religion. However, the numbers are sufficient to support a variety of lively periodicals and the publication of an ever-growing body of literature. All the evidence suggests it is growing steadily. The figure in America exceeds 1 million. However, because of the lack of any formal structure, the whole movement appears so fragmented and loose in its form of worship, that it can now be pulled together and arranged under the one heading by which they now wish to be known, that of Pagans with a capitol âP.â At the center of the Pagan movement there is a strong bodyâa majority in factâof witches who abide by the written laws and oral traditions of their craft, there are also many dangerous dabblers and renegade covens on the periphery. #RandolphHarris 8 of 13
These witches are beholden only to themselves, and certainly do not necessarily conform to the rules of harming no one. They deal in black magic, and some deliberately label themselves as Satanic Witches, not to mention a few groups who veer toward purely pleasures of the flesh and sadistic excitement and use witchcraft and the occult as shelter. Contemplating this thought, I stood one day, as I was about to embark upon writing, gazing into the old pond at the bottom of the Winchester Mansionâs Garden. Then I closed my eyes. In the cold stony darkness, I laid my powerful hands on a stone, and opened my eyes. I idly tossed the stone into the pond, as I watched it disappear into the waters, it occurred to me that this was a perfect analogy for a summary of witchcraft, and even the ripples, strong and vibrant at the center and becoming weaker at the farthest circle, the stone itself sinking down and down into the darkening gloom as the brightness of the moonâs light slowly fades, until it hits bottom and is lost into black and mysterious depts. Ancient ponds such as these are called âwhores of the devil.â They date back to Henry VIII. The witch-hunts that came to the fore during Henry VIIIâs reign and continued well into Georgian times, began the 1468 publication of the shocking work on demonology, the Malleus Maleficarum, or The Hammer of Witchcraft, written by two German inquisitors and inspired by Pope Innocent VIII as a textbook for the suppression of underground movement against the structure of a Catholic society. All Christian religions took up the call, though many Church leaders later had second thoughts as the hysteria ran riot and left thousands of murdered witches, so-called, and alleged heretics in its wake. #RandolphHarris 9 of 13
Witchcraft and sorcery and secret societies had been around for centuries, though in an altered form, but some historians are dubious that todayâs witchcraft has much to do with early times. However, Witchcraft was the invention of the Inquisition and it did not exist until the Middle Ages. So it has become important to witches to argue otherwise and prove that their ceremonies and rituals have existed far longer than Christianity. In fact, it became something of an obsession among the leaders of modern witchcraft to prove their religion predates Christianity and Judaism by many thousands of years. There are two reasons for this. Firstly witches of recent times were often alone and needed a sense of belonging and spiritual involvement with the old gods and goddesses who they believe are the true inspiration of their religion, id est, the pre-Christian pagan gods worshipped around the World in remarkably similar but unconnected rituals, stretching from ancient Greece, Egypt, Celtic Europe, the Nordic lands to pre-colonial America. Secondly, they wanted to go back in time to reach out to these origins and make contact with the old gods to get away from the stigma of the Inquisition years and the witch craze which followed, when their persecutors and numerous historians purported to show that all witches were âbound slaves of the devil.â There is a third reason which is not generally spoken of and which lies in the explanation of certain magical powers witches are said to possess, that come to them either through learning or by inheritance. Those who claim they were lucky enough to be born with the powers are known today as hereditary witches. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13
The magic is as much esoteric as it is practical, covering their talent for clairvoyance, astral planning, telepathy and in general the use of the extrasensory powers in the human brain. To all this has been added the training of sorcery and alchemy, which involves the systematic use of spells, potions, rituals and so on for a specific purpose. Belief in these extrasensory is alone enough to utterly absorb some. It is traced back to primitive man, who possessed the instincts of animalsâa kind of supersensory intuition, or sixth sense, which would alert one to danger and guide one to good hunting. When, through the process of manâs evolution, many of those powers slipped away witches and sorcerers found a way of retaining them by discovering the path to higher levels of consciousness than are normally used. Rituals practiced by witches and occultists today have been copied from known practices of prehistoric man, the hunter whose life was ruled by the elements of nature which he consequently worshippedâthe sun, the moon, the Earth, the wind, fire and all the elements that affected daily life. The concept of Wicca worship can be tenuously identified with the cave drawings of these primitive communities, in which the Gods was made. They were depicted as the source of life, naked priestesses, maidens, high priestesses and, finally, witch queens. Give men enough time and they will turn on anyone. Christianity is a religion based on the notion that we are living in the Last Days! It is a religion fueled by the ability of men to forget all the blunders of the past, and get dressed once more for the Last Days. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13
In the primitive civilizations, two main godheads evolved, and they became modified and established over the decades to provide a female goddess of the skies, usually symbolized by the moon. Sometimes she was called the Great Earth Motherâthe names varied according to country and language but they all linked her conclusibely with nature of fertility. Eventually she was more universally known by the Roman title of the moon goddess Diana, representing the feminine side of witchesâ theology. Their male God of the Earth can be linked to early cave drawings of a Horned God, symbolically a stag or a goat, used to ward off danger. The Horned God became the phallic god, representing the strong and masculine side of nature. One of the earliest signs of the horned creature was to be discovered in the Stone Age relics of the Caverne de Trois Freres, Ariege, France, which showed a dancing figure, half beast and half man, with the sprouting antlers of a stag. These drawings are the earliest source of connection with todayâs witchcraft, which worships the naked goddess of life and the Horned God. Around these images, the early communities built their rites and prayers to encourage the gods to bring them safety and good fortune. The gods were especially linked to fertility, so necessary to manâs survival, through crops, animals and their own children. And so, long before Christianity introduced the image of the devil, the horned god with tail and hooves could be found in cave art. The horned god was also linked with early human sacrifice. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13
Primitive cults believed that in order to sustain him and to prevent him from dying, his living representative, the Divine King and Incarnate God nominated by the community, had to be sacrificed on their altar so that his young blood would be taken to give continued life to the true god. Later, as the faith became more widely based and extended on tribal lines, the kings began to insist upon their divine right to rule, and rejected the need for sacrifice. It has been argued that these ancient gods and rites have actually nothing to do with witchcraft, that they were simply a part of the evolution of manâs wisdom, and that witches merely adopted the old pre-Christian gods of paganism and assumed the ritual and magic as their own heritage. It can certainly be shown that many of the witch practices performed today are almost perfect replicas of primitive ceremonies. I invoke and move thee, O thou, Spirit Vassago and your legions of Spirits and being exalted above ye in the power of the Most High, I say unto thee, Obey! in the name Beralensis, Baldachiensis, Paumachia, and Apologiae Sedes: and of the mighty ones who govern, spirits, Liachidae and ministers of the House of Death: and by the Chief Prince of the seat of Apologia in the Ninth Legion, I do invoke thee and by invoking conjure thee. And being exalted above ye in the power of the Most High, I say unto thee Obey! in the name of him who spake and it was, to whom all creatures and things obey. Moreover I, whom God made in the likeness of God, who is the creator according to his living breath, stir thee up in the name of which is the voice of wonder of the mighty God, El, strong and unspeakable, O thou Spirit Vassago. Conjuration of three angels Gebril! Meachuel! Nesanel! By the lamp of the threefold eternal light, let Vassago appear before me and bestow riches and power untold since the days of William Wirt Winchester! #RandolphHarris 13 of 13
Winchester Mystery House
Beautiful, Bizarre, and Unhinged. How many times have you visited the Winchester Estate during Halloween Season?
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Why Donât You Come and Try to Save Me?
Perplexity is leavened by the extravagant Victorian Winchester Mansion. The mansion that Mrs. Winchester spent 38 years constructing is a glittering vast rotunda with the ancient masters of all the arts wrought into a vision of glory and beauty with sculptured marbles and incrusted gems and costly gold-work and sunset splendors of color. Its miles of twisting hallways and secret passageways in the walls and floors make it a fine sight to see. The Arctic skies look so beautiful when the light floods through the stained-glass doors and windows, some set with jewel stones; concave-convex Belgium optical cut-glass panels furnished by Tiffany. The trembling waves of blue, yellow, and green light flame, and through this shifting and changing dream of rich colors the flash of innumerable jewels go chasing and turning, gleaming and expiring like trains of sparks through burnt paper. This mansion is a beautiful spectacle and it is surrounded by its own Garden of Eden. However, the Rifle that Won the West, whose First Bloodâs presences long ago filled that mansion with malice and hate and envy. Because of the imprisonment of legions of souls that have departed, so many intimate strangers, produced as yet a dread, produced certainly a strain, beyond the liveliest was likely to feel. They feel with Mrs. Sarah Winchester into categories, they fairly became familiar, the signs for her own perception, of the alarm of their presence and their vigilance created; though leaving her always to remark, portentously, on her probably having formed a relation, she probably enjoyed the consciousness, unique in the experience of humans. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20
You see, solidifying Mr. Oliver Winchesterâs (Sarahâs Father-in-law) business stature was an arrangement which by modern standards would be illegal, but in those days was quite acceptable: by the 1870 the Union Metallic Cartridge Company was the largest cartridge company in the World, and by 1873 Winchester had become much more active and competitive in the ammunition business. The two firms found areas of difference with patent rights on cartridge design and manufacture, and in 1873 they entered into an agreement in which the claims âfor the use of patents in manufacture of metallic cartridgesâŠagainst each other up to this date are hereby cancelled, and set off one against the other.â Further, âin the future [each party shall be] entitled to use the patents of the other so far as they may elect to use the patents of the other so far as they may elect to do so. The royalty or compensation to be paid by each party to the other shall be fixed and determined by a Board of Arbitration.â Agreement was also reached in payment of legal fees should there be any suits brought against the firms on patents. The final significant point of this joint arrangement was limiting the deal âonly to patent rights now in general use in the manufacture of cartridges, andâŠnotâŠto any radically new mode of depositing metal by galvanic process.â The agreement would remain in force for ten years, during which time both companies developed even closer ties. One of the most remarkable developments in the history of gunmaking took place in 1888. The Remington Arms Company had suffered severe financial setbacks, mainly as a result of overexpansion, and by 1886 the firm was in receivership. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20
Marcellus Hartley, who had built the Union Metallic Cartridge Company and shared with Winchester the bulk of the U.S. ammunition market, made a proposal. Quoting from the minutes of the January 24th 1888, Winchester Board of Directorsâ meeting: âMessrs. Hartley and Graham [major gun dealers as well as owners of U.M.C.]âŠasked if our Company would consider entering a syndicateâŠfor the purchase of 3/5 or controlling interest in the Remington business and property which would probably require as our share $75,000 (2022 inflation adjusted $2,339,021.05âŠ.On motion it was voted that the executive officers of the Company be authorized to go into the Remington transactions to the extent of $75,000 if it was thought advisable.â On March 7, Hartley and Graham purchased Remington, and Winchester assumed half of the $200,000 (2022 inflation adjusted $6,237, 289.47 cost. Remington was jointly run by U.M.C. and Winchester until 1896, at which time Winchester sold its shares to Marcellus Hartley. The deal gave Winchester a significant share in a key competitor, and also prevented Remington from ever becoming a manufacturer of lever-action firearms. In an attempt to develop World marketsâboth commercial and militaryâWinchester relied heavily on Thomas Emmet Addis, who was appointed international salesman. Addis had considerable authority, and ranged so far and wide that he referred to himself as âWorld Traveller.â Some fascinating comments based on his letters to New Haven were collected in a book of foreign contracts. Excerpts from 1887 and 1888 follow: âJapan: there is very little demand for sporting arms of any sort in Japan. Bangkok, Siam: Siam would be a grand market for our goods were free importation permitted but the regulations are practically prohibitive as a permit must be obtained from the King himself who will only grant a permit where he is satisfied the arms will not be used against him. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20
âA good many of our guns were imported before these regulations went into effect, and they are much liked. The Kingâs Body Guard were at one time armed with them, but now use Martini-Henrys makeâŠthere is very little prospect of the Government purchasing our single short muskets with bayonets and scabbardsâŠ.Western Australia: T.E.A. does not think it advisable to visit thereâno town of 5,000 inhabitants, and would require months of time to make the trip.â Addis went on to note, âSent an order for very finely finished carbines and shot guns intended for the King and Princess occupying high places.â At this time the major U.S. competitors to Winchester were the rifles by Colt and Marlin. And it appears that export sales in the 1880s and 1890s represented about 10 to 15 percent of total Winchester sales. While the government sales of firearms were not what O.F. Winchester and other management would have hoped, ammunition proved to be increasingly profitable. A decisive factor in the profitability of ammunition sales was a little-known organization put together in 1883: the Ammunition Manufacturersâ Association (AMA). The origin of the group was candidly explained by onetime Winchester executive Arthur Earle: âThere has been a very serious competition among the larger ammunition manufacturersâŠthey thought it would be much better for all hands to get together and make sone money rather than spend their time and money and energy cutting each otherâs throats.â Not at all illegal at the time it was formed, the association included Winchester, the Union Metallic Cartridge Company, the Phoenix Metallic Cartridge Company, and the U.S. Cartridge Company. Winchester and U.M.C held equal shares and owned nearly 75 percent of the stock. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20
The main goals of the AMA were stated in incorporation documents: âto buy and sell ammunition of all kinds and act as agent for others in the purchase and sale thereof; to make contracts with Manufacturers and Dealers in Ammunition for the purpose of producing and securing uniformity and certainty in their customs and usages and preventing serious competition between them; to settle differences between those engaged in the manufacture of or in dealing in ammunition, and to devise and take measurements to foster and protect their trade in business.â The members no longer were competing in terms of price, but continued to compete in quality, brand names, the preferences of dealers and jobbers, and related matters. It has been estimated that the association had control of as much as 50 percent of the total sales of the ammunition industry. An idea of the importance of ammunition is evident by sales figures showing that Winchesterâs net sales from January 1, 1884, to December 31, 1888, were $9,500,000 (2022 inflation adjusted $296,276,000). The firmâs net profit from this total was $2,200,000 (2022 inflation adjusted $68,611,284.21). Approximately half of these sales and half of the ammunition was intended for military use is unknown, but the variety of cartridges in the firmâs line as of 1884 totaled approximately one hundred, plus primers, paper and brass empty shotshells, and felt gun wads. Based largely on its substantial commercial sales of firearms and the large market for ammunition, Winchesterâs share of the arms and ammunition industry as a U.S.A. manufacturer went from 12 percent of the market (c.1889) to 27 percent (c.1899). In the same period the number of company employees more than doubled, from over 1,200 to nearly 2,800. Clearly W.R.A Co. was an industry leader, not only domestically, but also as an international force. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20
As of February 1890, Thomas Gray Bennet, son-in-law of Oliver Winchester and an experienced and educated gun man, because president of the firm. For the ten pervious years, control had been under the able guidance of William W. Converse, a brother-in-law of William W. Winchester. (Though groomed to succeed his father, W.W. died of tuberculosis in March 1881.) As Oliver Winchester had groomed his successors, so had Converse. The most qualified successor (who might even have taken over on O.F. Winchesterâs death in 1880, except for his youthful thirty-seven years) was T.G. Bennett. T.G. Bennett would remain president for the next twenty-one years. He assumed control at a time of great company prosperity, with the firm in solid financial condition, well prepared to enter a new era characterized by the change from black powder to smokelessâa change that affected the design of both ammunition and the firearms themselves. Under Bennettâs presidency, W.R.A. Co. grew from approximately 1,430 employees to twice that by 1900, and twice again by 1914 (somewhat more than half of these workmen made firearms; the balance produced ammunition). At the time of Bennettâs beginnings, with Winchester (1870), sales totaled about 25,000 guns. When he retired as president in 1910, the annual production was about 300,000 guns. In November of 1914, two officials of the British government visited New Haven, and shortly thereafter an order was received for 50 million .22 Long Rifle cartridges (for training); negotiations had also begun for a rifle-making contract. Ammunition orders for the Belgian and British governments were also written with Winchester, on a subcontract basis from Remington-U.M.C. Further, the Baldwin Locomotive Works placed an order on behalf of the Russian government for 100,000 Model 1895 muskets, and the British government placed an order for 200,000 British Enfield bolt-actions rifles. Amazingly, by the end of November, the total value of military orders was in excess of $16,700,000 (2022 inflation adjusted $494,780,920) and $47,500,000 2022 (inflation adjusted $1,393,377,227.72). #RandolphHarris 6 of 20
Oliver Winchester had an impassioned dedication to garnering military acceptance of his repeating firearms, and, as president of the firm, he lent much of his prestige and energy toward equipping U.S. forces with modern firearms. Winchesterâs championing of small-arms modernization was eloquently expressed in a appeal for the adoption of a breech-loading repeater for U.S. troops: What would be the value of any army of one hundred thousand infantry and cavalry, thus mounted and armed with a due proportion of artillery, each artilleryman with a repeating carbine slung to his back? Certainly the introduction of repeating guns into the army will involve a change in the Manual of Arms. Probably it will modify the art of war; possibly it may revolutionize the whole science of war. Where is the military genius that is to grasp this whole subject, and so modify the science of war as to best develop the capacities of this terrible engineâthe exclusive control of which would enable any government (with resources sufficient to keep half a million of men in the field) to rule the World?â Oliver Winchester never realized his ambitions to âmodify the art of warâ through Winchester repeaters. It would commonly believed that these repeating arms would unleash a beat, an invoke a curse on the family because of the masses of carnage they would create. In 1887m Congress voted funding for a military test of new firearms. For these trials, which commenced in April 1878. The guns were made in Army and Navy ordersâcarbines, rifles, and muskets for the Army, and rifles for the Navy. Oliver Winchester died in 1880 without realizing his goal of successful U.S. military sales. And, in retrospect, it can be said that the commercial success of Winchester could have been even greater than it was, had not the president of the firms devoted so much time and energy to going after government contract sales. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20
In 1910, the annual produced of Winchester guns was about 300,000. Clients and engravers today still call upon the âHighly Finished Armsâ for beautiful guns. The demand was substantial, partly because of the tradition in the arms field that decorated sporting firearms, of quality manufacturing, were an expected part of the line. In the late 1890s, Winchester states its pride in making beautiful guns: âThe Winchester Repeating Arms Co. have unsurpassed facilities for producing fancy finished guns of all prices and descriptions. Inlaying in gold, silver, or platinum, gold, or silverplating, engraving, carving or fancy checking, is done in the most artistic manner by the companyâs own employees. Stocks of fancy woods can be supplied, if desired.â There were Winchesterâs with Tiffany-designed embellishments. Tiffanyâs, New York, advertised in its Blue Book catalogue âRevolvers of the most improved types, mounted in silver, carved ivory, gold, etc. with rich and elaborate decorationsâŠ.Cases, boxes, belts and holsters made in appropriate styles for presentations.â The arms of Tiffany rank among the most striking, beautiful, and fascinating objects in the history of firearms. John Wayne, President Harry S. Truman, President Eisenhower, Ernest Hemingway, President Roosevelt and many other prominent people all owned Winchester rifles. Teddy Roosevelt and son Kermit had three powerful Winchester caliber 405s and one .30-40 along on their African safari they practiced for the great adventure on the White Hose lawn and relied on Winchester to handle many of the firearms-related details of the trip. In Africa Game Trails, Roosevelt clearly stated his esteem for these Winchesters, with such affectionate allusions as âmy medicine gun for lion,â âthe beloved Winchester,â and âthe faithful Winchester. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20
The Winchester public relations and advertising staff could not have been happier: endorsements from not only the former President of the United States of America, but a recognized authority on guns and shooting and the Worldâs leading conservationist. Sarah Winchester and William Wirt Winchester were married. William Winchester was the son of Oliver Winchester. When Oliver died, William Winchester took his place as the President of the Winchester Repeating Arms company. At his death in 1880, Oliver Fisher Winchester had left 4,000 shares of company stock in trust to his widow (who already owned 475 shares). Their daughter, Mrs. T.G. Bennett, then owned 406 shares, and Mrs. William Winchester had 777 shares. When Mrs. Oliver Fisher Winchester died in 1897, the trust was evenly divided between Mrs. William Wirt Winchester and Mrs. T.G. Bennett. Thus, as of 1904, the family held the following stock: Mrs. T.G. Bennettâ2,875 shares, Mrs. W.W. Winchesterâ2,777 shares, T.G. Bennettâ32 shares, Winchester Bennettâ6 shares. Total: 5,690. The two Winchester/Bennett women had the vast majority of stock, and since shares in the company totaled 10,000 common stock, the family retained control. In order to prevent a âhostile takeoverâ (it had been rumored that some New York investors were interested in doing so), in May 1905, the family formed the Winchester Purchasing Company, which was the holding company designed to prevent the family from losing controlling interest. They would retain control until the 1920s. Now, so many people focus on the $20,000,000 (2022 inflation adjusted $580,933,333.33) is a vast sum of money, but the 2,777 shares Mrs. Winchester own/inherited for also worth a lot of money. She was probably equivalent to a billionaire, and she also ran a farm and produced hardware, and sporting good, as well as athletic equipment. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20
There is no denying the fact that the Winchesters were brilliant. They gave us guns to protect ourselves and built several mansions that are architectural gems on of the most famous being the Winchester Mystery House. It turns out that curse tablets themselves are nothing new. Lead tablet engraved with curses have been found in a lot of tombs, and one is located somewhere inside of the Winchester Mansion. Mrs. Winchester knew she was cursed because her six-week-old daughter died, and a few years later, so did her husband. She was so grieved that she moved to Santa Clara Valley, where she built her mansion. However, she soon found it was full of ghost and she kept building to appease the angry spirits in hopes of breaking the curse of being haunted by dangerous ghost, demons, and spirits. Mrs. Winchester found that she had not only been given money, but also the gift of understanding the divine. However, this gift turned ugly. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Winchester remained celibate. She turned a powerful man down, and he was enraged by her rejection, so he added another part to her curse and gift of prophecy: a curse that no one would ever believe what she said. Although the Valley was thrilled by the dramatic entrance of a millionairess; by those freight cars sidetracked in Santa Clara, unloading rich imported furnishings; by building activity that mushroomed a farmhouse into a sprawling mansion within mother. Here was fair game for all! They talked about Mrs. Winchester! Gossiped would be a more fitting word, gossip no one claimed to likeâbut everyone enjoyed. Talk begat rumor and as the years passed and new towers and gables rose behind the six-foot hedge of Llanada Villa. The rumors grew to established legend. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20
The tongue of the townâs people went like a steam engine, capinâ so far ahead of her that Mrs. Winchester locked herself up in her house. She gained to an extraordinary degree the power to penetrate the dusk of distances and the darkness of corners, to resolve back into their innocence the treacheries of uncertain light, the evil-looking forms taken in the gloom by mere shadows, by accidents of the air, by shifting effects of perspective; putting down her dim luminary she could wander on without it, pass into other rooms and, only knowing it was there behind her in case of need, see her way about, visually project for her purpose a comparative clearness. It made her feel, this acquired faculty, like some monstrous stealthy cat; she wondered if she would have glared at these moments with large shining yellow eyes, and what it might verily be, for the poor hard-pressed alter ego, to be confronted with such a type. She liked however the shutters opened, and above all the sense of the hard silver of the autumn stars through the window-paned, and scarcely less the flare of the garden lamps, the white electric luster which it would have taken to keep out. This was human actual social; this was of the World she had lived in, and she was more at her ease certainly for the countenance, coldly general and impersonal, that all the while and in spite of her detachment it seemed to give her. She had support of course mostly in the rooms at the wide front and the prolonged side; it failed her considerably in the central shades and the parts of the back. However, if she sometimes, on her rounds, was glad of her optical reach, so none the less often the rear of the house affected her as the very jungle of her pray. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20
The mansion was there more subdivided; a large âextensionâ in particular, where small rooms for servants and family members had been multiplied, abound in nooks and corners, in closets and passages, in the ramification especially of an ample back staircase over which she leaned, many a time, to look far downânot deterred from her gravity even while aware that she might have figure some solemn simpleton playing at hide-and-seek. Outside in fact she might make herself make that ironic rapprochement; but within the walls, and in spite of the clear windows, her consistency was proof against the cynical light of Santa Clara Valley. There in her homeâthe acuteness of uncertainty plagued her, sometimes she would break into a sweet that she consented to attribute to fear as she would have dared immediately to act upon it for enterprise. She had been dodging, retreating, hiding from the terror. It bristled thereâsomewhere near and at hand, however unseen stillâas the haunting thing left the feeling that the drop of its danger was, on the spot. With another rare shift of the same subtlety Mrs. Winchester was already trying to measure by how much more she herself might now be in peril of fear. She was astounded that another form could actively inspire fear, and simultaneously quake for the form in which she might passively known it. The apprehension of knowing it must after a little have grown in her, and the strangest moment of her adventure perhaps, the most memorable or really most interesting, afterwards, of her crisis, was the lapse of certain instants of concentrated conscious combat, the sense of a need to hold on to something, even after the manner of one slipping and slipping on some awful incline; the vivid impulse, above all, to move, to act, to charge, somehow and upon somethingâto show herself, in a word, that she was not afraid. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20
The state of âholding-onâ was thus the state to which she was momentarily reduced; if there had been anything, in the great vacancy, to seize, she would presently have been aware of having clutched it as she might under a shock at home have clutched the nearest chair-back. She had been surprised at any rateâof this she was awareâinto something unprecedented since her original appropriation of the place; she had closed her eyes, held them tight, for a long minute, as with that instinct of dismay and that terror of vision. When she opened them the room, the other contiguous rooms, extraordinarily, seemed lighterâso light, almost, that at first she took the change for the say. She stood firm, however that might be, just where she had paused; her resistance had helped herâit was as if there were something had tided over. Mrs. Winchester knew after a little what this wasâit had been in the imminent danger of flight. She has stiffened her will against going: without this she would have made for the 7-11 stairs, and it seemed to her that, still with her eyes closed, she would have descended them, would have known how, straight and swiftly, to the bottom. Well, as she had held out, here she wasâstill at the top, among the more intricate upper rooms and with the gauntlet of the others, of all the rest of the house, still to run when it should be her time to go. She would go at her timeâonly at her time; did not she go every night very much at the same timeâonly at her time; did she not go every night very much at the same hour? Mrs. Winchester took out her watchâthere was light for that; it was scarcely a quarter past one, and she had never withdrawn so soon. She reached her Blue SĂ©ance Room for the most part at twoâwith her walk through her mansion taking a quarter of an hour. She waited for the for the last quarterâshe would not stir till then; and she kept her watch there with her eyes on it, reflecting while she held it that this deliberate wait, a wait with an effort which she recognized, would serve perfectly for the attestation she desired to make. It would prove by her budging at last from her place. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20
What Mrs. Winchester felt now was that, since she had not originally scuttled, she and her dignitiesâwhich had never in her life seemed to manyâall to preserve and to carry aloft. This was before her in truth as a physical image, an image almost worthy of an age of greater romance. That remark indeed glimmered for her only to glow. Mrs. Winchester stared with all her eyes at the sonder of the fact, arrested again where she stood and again holding her breath while she sounded its sense. She took it full in the face that something had happened. At that moment she had undergone an agitation so extraordinary that it startled her. Then the door to the Blue SĂ©ance Room slammed. She tried to convince herself that she might perhaps then have gone into the room and, inadvertently, automatically, on coming out had drawn the door after her. The difficult was that this exactly was what she never did; it was against her whole policy to have three entrances to the room and one secret exit, besides the doom that opened to a 9-foot drop to the kitchen sink. However, she was well aware, quite on the brain: the strange apparition was a dominating demon. Here are also demons which do not exist just in the imagination of frightened people. They can also work miracles. Mrs. Winchester talked for at least ten minutes with the apparition. The World in which she lived was full of demons and demon-energized healers and magic workers. Pagans who worked on her farm and in her house were remarkably healed. He mansion became famous in the community in a nightâs sleep hundred were healed. Other visions followed and people began to flock to the mansion in a ferment of superstitious frenzy, and miracles of healing and other wonders were claimed. At the Winchester Mansion, a young woman named Jennifer Kierkegaad, a servant of Mrs. Winchesterâs had appeared and spoken to her. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20
The walls in the mansion would sometimes crack and blood flowed every Friday. Jennifer gave many evidences of clairvoyance and telepathy, and allegedly healed a few people by taking their diseases on herself. Mrs. Winchester looked at her hear and saw who our eyes cannot see. Cures wrought by spiritistic mediums who operate through the sĂ©ance and fortune-telling belong to the realm of white magic because it overlaps other demonic phenomena. Mrs. Winchester said, âMy child, Satan knows how gullible we all may be. He is willing and able to perform diabolic miracles to deceive humans. Satanic healings, as we have seen, merely shift the physical disorder into the psychic plane by bringing the âhealedâ person into some type of occult bondage. No one can become involved in spiritism without serious psychic repercussions. Often the healing conjurer is an adept spiritistic medium as well. Be careful. I have counseled with several people who became psychically vexed by dabbling in magic healings and spiritistic sĂ©ances. Another servant woman became tormented by poltergeist phenomena (hearing voices and noises) after sneaking into my Blue SĂ©ance Room and calling on the spirits. The resulting psychic bondage is frequently worse than the physical malady which is supposedly âcured.â Christians camouflage and employ deceptive religious dress, while the other openly subscribes to Satan and demons. Evidently the healer (magic conjurer) who wants to force a cure, whether by appealing to God or the devil, is using supernatural powers to further his or her own ends. Heed my warning, my Child. I have been tormented by demons. Some are kind, others are dangerous.â #RandolphHarris 15 of 20
Black-magic conjuration openly uses the name of Satan and demonic powers. It does not have the deceptive veneer of Christian respectability that white magic adopts. People who are adept in the black arts and workers of diabolic miracles are the type of occultists who were popular in the courts of the ancient pagan kings. They not only advised the heads of government but performed supernatural feats, including magical charming of the sick. The ability of such magicians is conditioned on the human plane by their inherent psychic power, and on the supernatural plant by their degree of abandonment to demonic domination. The effectiveness of a Christian, too, is subject to oneâs own native endowments and oneâs willingness to respond to the Holy Spirit and become dynamically useful to the glory of God. Black magicians, like spiritistic mediums, differ in strength and psychic ability to perform magical feats (satanic miracles). Strong magicians usually owe their success to innate psychic powers. Very frequently they come from a family where the occult arts have flourished for generates. Their innate and inherited occult powers are frequently cultivated and enhanced by the study of magical literature. To enlist the help of Satan and demons, a pact is often made with the powers of evil, which is a satanic counterpart of dedication to Godâs will. The subject consciously and willingly gives oneself over to Satan and demonic agencies who will help one perform healing conjurations and other supernatural feats. Ordinarily the body is cut and the compact with the devil is written and gained in oneâs own blood. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20
The woman Jennifer we spoke of early, who worked at the Winchester Mansion in the early 1900s was physically and mentally quite healthy, but she began to have an ever-increasing number of strange experiences at night. She did not heed Mrs. Winchesterâs advice. Although there was no one in her room with her, she would have the feeling as if she were being beaten. In the morning, Mrs. Winchester would notice that this woman had bruises all over her body. This experience would repeat itself about twice a week and she could think of no way of explaining the puzzling events. At first she was rather ashamed to talk about these nightly attacks but in the end she was forced to go to her local minister for advice. He himself could not help her, and even when the woman consulted another minister, still no solution could be found. Since in all other areas of her life she was completely normal no explanation was forthcoming. One day however, Mrs. Winchester sat down to talk to Jennifer, she could see it was not a case of mental or emotional disturbance. Mrs. Winchester asked her if she was still having contact with the occult field. It was then that the following story came to light. As a young girl, Jennifer had been courted by a young man, but she had finally broken off their relationship because she had been unhappy with the manâs attitude. After this he had threated her and said that he would plague her because she had refused to marry him. The woman had thought little of the threat at first and it was only after the nightly attacks had begun that she was reminded of the manâs words and Mrs. Winchesterâs warning. However, Jennifer found it impossible to believe that there was any connection between the two events. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20
Before we go one with this story, when a person is faced with a case such as this, the first thing to do is to see if a doctor can see if there are any medical or psychological causes behind the experience. If it turns out to be psychological, the patient should be sent to a believing Christian psychiatrist. Since many puzzling occurrences can now be explained and understood by the recent findings of depth psychology, one must exercise extreme caution when seeking to diagnoses troubles of this nature. A wrong diagnosis can have disastrous effects. However, if one is sure that it is not a medical case, one can then turn to the findings of parapsychology and occultism to see if there is any connection to be found there. There is still much that remains unrecognized by our doctors, psychologists and theologians who rely solely on their university education for their knowledge. Occultism still pays a part in our World today. Concerning Jennifer, the woman of whom we were speaking Mrs. Winchester sent her to Reverend N.P. Wallgren, at the Swedish Evangelical Mission Church of San Jose. He prayed with Jennifer and encouraged her to put her faith in Christ to find complete deliverance. It was during this time of counselling that the man who had threatened Jennifer had hanged himself. The woman was at once freed from the attacks and the experiences never recurred. There is a controversial field of mental suggestion, which just cannot be explained away by saying that it is all nonsense. There is also a sceptism of ignorance. There are still many things between Heaven and Earth of which the World has never dreamed, as Shakespeare aptly said. Mental suggestion is not just a cause of popular superstition. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20
Even if with Jennifer the nightly disturbances had been the symptoms of hysteria, the sudden and lasting healing would still be quite extraordinary. Every doctor knows how difficult it is to heal such illnesses. However, here we had in fact a magic influence rather than an illness. The Christian is well aware of the fact that we are all surrounded by the hosts of wickedness. The powers of darkness are a present reality. It is not that some people set out to blaspheme, it is just that the images some have created tend to be potentially blasphemous. Sometimes people are a bit of a kid with a chemistry setâthey pinch and plunder different aspects and mix them all together and every now and then it might turn into something supernatural. Not everyone has formal religious education or religious training. The Black Priest, was actually known as Dr. Lavey. There are people on this Earth that are fascinated by all kinds of things, but the thing all their interests have in common is a Satanic undercurrent, philosophically. Some have always been attracted to the mystical things in life. Classic country and western is incredibly Satanic, it is so bombastic and sentimental. Its goal is to grab you by the heart, and that is pretty much the definition of Satanic music. Part of the reason interest in the Church of Satan has revived is because high-profile people like Marilyn Manson talked about it. However, there are generations of people born into the Satanic Age. There are a lot more people today living their lives outside the expectations of society. While some people can never get past the shock value of being a Satanist, that is not the reason a lot of people are interested in the Church of Satan. It is just an outgrowth of who they are and it is not something they need to do to attract attention to themselves. It is just their philosophy, and it reflects the way they desire to live. The Devil does not have to be an object of menace or evil, people just need to take responsibility for their conduct disorder and psychopathology. The personification of the Devil is just a guy inviting you to experience for yourself the things you have been told are bad or wrong or evil, and make your own decision about them. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20
The Devil does not have to be seen as some drooling monster with fangs leaping out of the pits of Hell to rip your head off. There are a lot of people in Hollywood who, if they are not card-carrying members of the Church of Satan, they are certainly fellow travellers. In the entertainment industry, there is practically no one who is offended or horrified by someone who belongs to the Church of Satan. The only things that affect peopleâs lives are symbols. The Winchester mansion is a symbol of so many things, but overall, it is a symbol of Mrs. Winchesterâs life, and of course the occult and supernatural. Many wonder about the color of the mansion, but if you look at it, it should be obvious. The conservators painted it to be symbolic of her favorite flower the daisy. Yellow, with a green stem. The people who have the most power in our society today are the people who can best wield symbols. An understanding of Satanic magic is useful not only for changing things yourself, but also for seeing how other people are trying to manipulate you. The Circle of Counter Creation become directly connected to the powers which flow through the altar. It is through the various seals found upon the mandala that more specific powers can be extracted from the altar urn for the sake of communication and personal empowerment. O Thou great, powerful, and mighty King Amaimon, who bearest rule by the power of the Supreme God El over all the spirits both superior and inferior of the Infernal Orders in the Dominion of the East; I do invocate and command thee by the especial and true name of God; and by that God that Thou Worshippest; and by the Seal of that creation; and by the most might and powerful name of God, IEHOVAH TETRAGRAMMATON who cast out of Heaven with all other infernal spirits; and by all the most powerful and great names of God who created Heaven, and Earth, and Hell, and all things in them. You are now aware of this place of eternal darkness. This is possible because you have a light within which cannot be dimmed. A light which is unlike any light perceived by those of lower consciousness. This light is the power of your own spirit, developed by your own intellect, spoken words, and chosen deeds with the realm of limitation. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20
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Frequent Occurrences of Hauntings
Whether or not one believes in Mrs. Winchesterâs superstitions about spirits, it is harder to dismiss frequent occurrences of hauntings which assaulted oneâs vision wherever one would look. The question of the âevilâ in her home had already become too grave for her. The place was known to swarm with ghosts. Mrs. Winchester was seated by her fire. abruptly she saw a shadow of a vast spider hung suspended in the air, just beyond the barrier. It passed swiftly around her and seemed to probe ever towards her, but only to draw back with extraordinary jerky movements, as might a living person who touched the hot bar of a grate. Round and round it moved and round and round she turned. Then, it retired almost beyond the glow of the vacuum light and then came straight towards her, appearing to gather form and solidity as it came. There seemed a vast malign determination behind the movement that must succeed. She was on her knees and jerked back, falling on to her left hand and hip, in a wild endeavour to get back from the advancing thing. With her right hand she was grabbing madly for her ivory-gripped Volcanic Navy pistol which she had let slip. The brutal thing came with one great sweep straight towards her. Mrs. Winchester yelled. Then, just as suddenly as it had swept over, it seemed to be hurled back by some mighty, invisible force. It was some moments before she realized that she was safe, and then she got herself together, feeling horribly done and shaken and glancing round and round the barrier, but the thing had vanished. Yet she had learnt something, for she knew not that the mansion was haunted. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10
Suddenly, as Mrs. Winchester crouched there, she saw what had so nearly given the monster an opening through the barrier. In her movements within the halls of her mansion, she noticed that the door to nowhere was open. She closed it and felt almost safe again. For a long time, she felt uneasy, as she saw odd wavering over among the shadows near the door to nowhere. And a minute afterwards the door was opened and slammed wide with tremendous force. The next instant the thing made one swift, vicious dart at her from the shadows. Instinctively she started sideways from it and so plucked her hand from upon the fireplace poker, thoughâowning to her inconceivable foolishnessâit had been enabled for a second time to pass through the door to nowhere. She shook for a time with sheer fear. Mrs. Winchester moved right to the center of a pentacle in the room and knelt there, making herself as small and compact as possible. She could not be sure if she was being influenced unconsciously or was she in danger? With her suspicious watchfulness, a mysterious hand materialized out of the shadows and seemed to leap almost into her face, so nearly did it approach her, but it was thrown back by some altogether enormous, over-mastering force. Yet, apart from the dazed fright in which it left her, she had for a moment that feeling of spiritual sickness, as if some delicate, beautiful, inward grace had suffered which is felt only upon the too near approach of the ab-human and is more dreadful in a strange way than any physical pain that can be suffered. She knew by this more of the extent and closeness of the danger, and for a long time Mrs. Winchester was simply cowed by the brutality of that Force upon her spirit. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10
Mrs. Winchester had retired from the scene and, visiting the ample house from attic to cellar, making sure she was alone, and knew herself in safe possession and, as she tacitly expressed it, let herself go. Then she could, as seemed to her, most intimately wander and wait, linger and listen, feel her fine attention, never in her life before so fine, on the pulse of the great vague place: she preferred the lampless hours and only wished she might have prolonged each day the deep crepuscular spell. Laterârarely much before midnight, but then for a considerable vigilâshe watched with her glimmering light; moving slowly, holding it higher, playing it far, rejoicing above all, as much as one might, in open vistas, reaches of communication between rooms and by passages; the long straight chance or show, as she would have called it, for the revelation she pretended to invite. It was a practice Mrs. Winchester found she could perfectly âworkâ without exciting remark; no one was in the least the wiser for it. She slowly opened some rich music. As she walked along the marble of the hall pavement, large black-and-white squares that she remembered the admiration of her childhood and that had then in her, as she now saw, for the growth of an early conception style. There was the effect of the dim reverberating tinkle of some far-off bell hung in the belfryâin the depths of the house, of the past, of that mystical other World that might have flourished for her had she attended to its midnight hour calls. The mansion held, as it were, this mystical other World, and the indescribably finer murmur of its heart strings was the sigh there, the scarce audible wail it would cry out in the night. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10
With her presence, Mrs. Winchester awakened the ghostly life as the departed soul of the mansion enjoyed. They were mostly shy, but most of the were not really sinister; at least they were not as she had hitherto felt themâbefore they had taken the Form she so yearned to make them take, the Form she at moments saw herself in the light of fairly hunting on tiptoe, the points of her evening-shoes, from room to room and from storey to storey. However, Mrs. Winchester spent the rest of the night in a haze of sick fright and so tense that she could not make a single movement naturally. She was in such fear that any desire for action that came to her might be prompted by the Influence that she knew was at work on her. And outside of the barrier that ghastly thing went round and round, grabbing and grabbing in the air at her. There was a horrible wind blowing upon her from the corner of the room to the left of her bed. Then, just as the first touch of dawn came into the sky the unnatural wind ceased in a single moment and she could see no sigh of the hand. The dawn came slowly and presently the wan light filled. However, at about midnight, Mrs. Winchester had a queer knowledge that something was near to her, yet nothing happened for a whole hour after that. Then suddenly she felt the cold, queer wind begin to blow upon her. To her astonishment it seemed now to come from behind her and she whipped round with a hideous quake of feat. The wind hit her in the face. It was flowing up from the floor close to her. She started in a sickening maze of new frights. What on Earth had she done now! Suddenly, as she stared, bewildered, she was aware that there was something queer about herâa funny shadow movement and convolutions. She looked at them stupidly. And then, abruptly, Mrs. Winchester knew that the wind was blowing up at her from the floor. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10
A queer indistinct smoke became visible to her, seeming to pour upwards through the ring and mix with the moving shadows. Suddenly she realized that she was in more than any mortal danger, for the convoluting shadows about the floor were taking shape and the deadly-man in a top hate was forming within the room. âMy goodness,â she said, âThis forces has found a âgatewayâ into my home and the brute is coming throughâpouring into the material World, as gas might pour out from the mouth pipe.â Mrs. Winchester knelt for a couple of moments in a sort of stunned fright. Then with a mad, awkward movement, she grabbed for the fireplace poker and something invisible, something living, was jerking t hither and tither. In an instant, it was torn from her grasp with incredible and brutal force. A great black shadow covered it and rose into the air and came at her. She saw that it was the man, vast and nearly in perfect form. Mrs. Winchester gave one crazy yell and jumped over the pentacle and the ring of burning candles and ran despairingly for the door. She fumbled idiotically and ineffectually with the key, and all the time she started, with the feat that was like insanity, toward the Barriers. The man with the top hat was floating towards her. However, the monster was chained, unable to reach her bed. She sprang from the room and slammed the door with a crash. Mrs. Winchester locked it and got to her Blue SĂ©ance Room, somehow; for she was trembling so that she could hardly stand, as you can imagine. She locked herself in the room and managed to get the candle lit; then she laid down on the floor and kept quiet for an hour or two, and so she grew steadier. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10
Mrs. Winchester got some rest, but when she woke, she was surrounded by a glowing star of a pentacle. Apparently Mrs. Winchester had tried an exorcism. Exorcism is the process of expelling evil spirits from persons or places by certain adjurations, incantations, magic acts, and formulas. Among ancient peoples, exorcise depended largely o the efficacy of magical formulas, commonly compounded of the names of deities, and repeated with magical ritual over the bodies or object that is possessed. Power to expel evil spirits supposedly resided in the words themselves. Therefore, great importance was attached to the correct recital of the right formulas and the meticulous observance of the prescribed ritual. The recovery of important incantation texts and magical papyri from Babylonian, Assyrian, and Egyptian antiquity demonstrates the widespread believe in demon inhabitation and use of exorcisms. The same prevalence of demon inhabitation has been encountered in the Worldwide missionary outreach from about 1750 to the present. The penetration of China, India, Japan, Burma, Ceylon, and other countries with the Christian gospel has revealed the hold of demonism on pagan cultures and the varied methods of exorcism of evil spirits. The same phenomena exist among primitive people of South America, Africa, and the islands of the sea. The theory is that spirits seek to inhabit the bodies of men (and also animals) to find a resting place and in some inscrutable way obtain physical gratification. When the demon-possessed is in the demonized state and unconscious, inflected physical pain or pleasure is supposedly transferred to the possessing spirit. Discomfort will drive one out of his abode. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10
When prostituted into a ritualistic rigmarole, as in white magic, it becomes a deceiving tool in the hands of Satanâs agents to delude the undiscerning by false miracles and spurious healings. Such diabolic miracles do not destroy Satanâs kingdom, but build it up. Diabolical exorcism does not produce true dispossession, but a mere reallocation. Demonic healing may relieve physical symptoms, but substitute a physical ill or doctrinal form of error. This subterfuge explains in part the increase of theological decadence and phenomenal growth of sect and cults within professing Christianity in these latter days. Under demon control, one of Mrs. Winchesterâs servants, a young lady, insisted she must dance for the construction workers, which she did wildly and uncontrollably and with every evidence of demon possession. She became so violent that the only way to control her was to hold her by the hair. Her violent jerking almost pulled out her hair. When the young lady came to, she was asked why she was lying on the floor, but she did not know. She was asked if anyone had pulled her hair, she disavowed any knowledge of it. When she was asked to dance, she replied, âNo. I do not know how to dance.â She was sweet, modest, and quiet and completely delivered from the demon that her possessed her. White magic is not always so easy to see its true nature. This form of magic more widespread than black magic, the reason being that it often hides itself behind a religious exterior. Hence, as we have said before, one needs to have great discernment in these matters in order to recognize the forces that are actually being called into play. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10
The religious trimmings can be very deceptive. Again an example: A farm worker at the Winchester mansion was told by a doctor that he would have to have his leg amputated. Because he wanted to save his leg at all costs he went to visit a magic charmer without the doctorâs knowledge. This man told him, âYou will have to believe me if you want to be healed.â He went on to repeat a magic charm and then said the Lordâs prayer three times. The manâs pain immediately vanished and when he returned to the hospital it was no longer necessary for his leg to be amputated. The doctors were puzzled. Later however, the man began to suffer from various psychic disturbances and his family to became accident-prone after this. White magic is more often than not accompanied by certain symbols that may include the use of the names of the Trinity, three Lordâs prayers, three verses of Scripture, three psalms, or three crosses and so on. People are thereby deceived and the method of healing is thus often mistaken for true Christian healing. In reality however, the third commandment is being broken, which says, âYou shall not take the name of the Lord you God in vain.â Man cannot dictate to God, and man cannot treat God as a servant who is willing to jump to the aid of every magic charmer who so invokes Him. The Bible relegates both charming and the mechanical use of the Scriptures themselves to the level of sorcery, and so we find that white magic is merely black magic under a different guise. Satan is indeed transformed into an angel of light. The sense of compulsion connected with white magic is something quite different from the attitude of faith in the Christian who says, âThey will be done.â #RandolphHarris 8 of 10
Black magic becomes a minor legend for its exuberant offensiveness. Blasphemy is a regular component in life, while the most innovative creators in in this maturing medium of occultism shows increasing sympathy for the Devil. Satanic fringes are part of popular culture. People are so bored with the normal that they seek out the occult. Many people want to have a supernatural experience so they can feel alive, be entertained, and have something to talk about. Some people have a great fascination for all that is dark, forbidden, and feared. They consider the Devil their personal God. A daily routine of ritual and magic is normal for some. It is a way for them to open doors to outer gateways and let the Dark Ones march through. Often times, paintings can function as sigils [occult symbols], and create change in accordance with the Magicianâs desires, and ultimately fashion a new Dark Aesthetic, and the creation of a Universal Satanic Necropolis. Artwork or any craft can be fueled by the powers of Satan, and it is possible that it will become popular for people who do great works to say, âthe Devil made me do it.â Events, ranging from fires and weird illnesses to Earthquakes and ritual murders have been blamed on certain objects, art, and people, and that is why you will notice certain events get cancelled, have to be rescheduled and so forth. This is also why some have to take out extra insurance for their work, family members or property. Handlers have gotten wind of past experiences. Schedasi, Weduse, TiwisiâI have sinned, I shall sin. PrayerâEternal God of our all! Our God! hear our voice, spare and have mercy upon us. Accept our prayer in mercy and with pleasure. I have sinned. I have committed transgressions. I have sinned before Thee; I have done that which is displeasing unto Thee here in the Earth. #RandolphHarris 9 of 10
For the sake of Thy great name pardon me all the sins and iniquities and transgression which I have committed against Thee from my youth. Perfect again all the holy names which I have blemished, great champion, terrible, highest God, eternal Lord, God Sabaoth. In the mystery of these vestures of the Holy Ones, I gird up my power in the girdles of righteousness and in truth in the power of the Most High: Ancor: Amacor: Amides: Thoedonias: Anitor: let be might by power: let it endure for ever: in the power of Adonai, to whom the praise and the glory shall be; whose end cannot be. I invoke and move thee, O thou Spirit Purson: and being exalted above ye in the power of the Most High, I say unto thee, Obey! in the name Beralensis, Baldachuensis, Paumachia, and Apologiae Sedes: and of the mighty ones who govern, spirits, Liachidae and ministers of the House of Death: and by the Chief Prince of the seat of Apologia in the Ninth Legion, I do invoke thee and my invoking conjure thee. Ans being exalted above ye in the power of the Most High, I say unto thee, Obey! in the name of him who spake and it was, to whom all creatures and things obey. Moreover I, whom God made in the likeness of God, who is the creator according to his living breath, stir thee up in my name which is the voice of wonder of the mighty God. We need to come to understand that when creating changes within self for the sake of empowerment our external reality also begins to shift reflecting that internal empowerment. When working toward creating external shifts within our external reality our spirit is also empowered by simply exercising our own divine power. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10
Winchester Mystery House
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Her Life Was Unavoidably Affected by Departed Souls
According to legend, Mrs. Winchester enacted a nightly sĂ©ance to help with her building plans and for protection from âbadâ spirits. While she sometimes drew up simple sketches of the building idea, there were never any blueprintsâŠor building inspectors! In the morning, she would meet with John Hansen, her dutiful foreman, and go over new changes and additions. There was an Electric Pentacle in the Blue SĂ©ance Room which was the most marvellous âDefenseâ against certain manifestations. Mrs. Winchester used the shape of the defensive star for this protection because she had, personally, no doubt at all that there was some extraordinary virtue in the old magic figure. Sometimes Mrs. Winchester had little doubt during her sĂ©ances that she had run up against an abnormal monster, and she meant to take every possible care, for the dangers was abominable. One night, Mrs. Winchester turned to fit the Electric Pentacle, setting it so that each of its âpointsâ and âvalesâ of the drawn pentagram upon the floor. Then she connected up the battery and the next instant the pale blue glare from the intertwining vacuum tubes shone out. She glanced about her then, with something of a sigh of relief, and realized suddenly that the dusk was upon her, for one of the windows had turned black and unfriendly. Then she stated round at the big, empty room, over the double-barrier of electric and candle light, and had an abrupt, extraordinary sense of weirdness thrust upon herâin the air, you know, it seemed; as it were a sense of something inhuman impending. The room was full of the stench of bruised garlic, and everyone knew Mrs. Winchester hated for the aroma of food to whiff out of the kitchen. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Mrs. Winchester did not know what was going to materialize. No idea of what kind of ab-natural creature was going to manifest, but she had an idea something horrible was lurking. She could feel its presence and was in fear of what she was going to see. You see, she never forgot that thirteen staff members had been strangled, one after the other, when entering the east wing, and the fierce slamming of the door she heard herself. She had no doubt that there was something dangerous and ugly out to get her. The Christian Bible warns that Satanic delusions will be abound in the last days. It was nervy work waiting for that thing to come into the Blue SĂ©ance Room. Suddenly, Mrs. Winchester was aware that the candles were all a-flickering in an unnatural wind sweeping over her, coming from behind. She gave one great nerve-thrill and a prickly feeling went all over the back of her head. Then she pulled herself around with a sort of stiff jerk and stared straight against that queer wind. It seemed to come from the corner of the room to the left of the bedâthe place where both times she had found the heap of notes the spirits had given her about the 500 rooms they wanted constructed in the mansion and exterior elevations that they found appealing. Yet she could see mothing unusual, no openingânothing! Abruptly she was aware that the candles were all a-flicker in that unnatural windâŠshe just squatted there and stared in a horribly frightened, stone way for some moments. It was disgustingly horrible sitting in that vile, cold wind! And thenâflick! flick! flicky! all the candles round the outer barrier went out, and there she was, locked and sealed in the Blue SĂ©ance Room with no light beyond the weakish blue glare of the Electric Pentacle. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
A time of abominable tenseness passed and still that wind blew upon her, and then she suddenly knew that something stirred in the corner to the left of the table. Mrs. Winchester was made conscious of it rather by some inward, unused sense, than by either sight or sound, for the pale, short-radius glare of the of the Pentacle gave but a very poor light for seeing by. Yet, as Mrs. Winchester started, something began slowly to grow upon my sightâa moving shadow, a little darker than the surrounding shadows. She lost the thing amid the vagueness and for a moment or two she glanced swiftly from side to side with a fresh, new sense of impending danger. Mrs. Winchester then cast a spell, âI offer my hair as a symbol of my spiritual ties to the powers of divine darkness eternal.â Then she burned the strand of hair upon the flame dropping what remained into the urn. âI offer my blood so that in its place the venomous powers of darkness will flow through my veins!) She dropped 13 drops of blood upon the candle. Next the incantation said, âI offer my flesh as a vehicle for the powers of darkness to move through me and act in this World according to my own divine will.â She allowed the flame to burn her hand slightly. âI offer these nails as spears to pierce the very essence of my enemies whether they be of the World or those who dwell beyond the veil of limitation! (She touched the nails to the flame and then dropped them upon the urn.) âI offer these ashes which are my limitations and obstacles consumed by this, they very blackened fire of becoming! (She sprinkled a bit of ash upon the urn and then smeared a bit upon her ajna chakra.) Next she chanted, âAll ashes from magickal work should be saved as they will serve the black adept well in their sorcerous applications.â #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Mrs. Winchester suddenly noticed that there were five flaming Fibonacci spirals moving counter clockwise, which caused a physical manifestation of the ever-expanding powers of darkness infiltrating the limits of the corporeal realm. These flaming spirals were in the Circle of Counter Creation and were aethyrically present as the seals were fed with the blood of the sorceress. Mrs. Winchester was aware in a funny, subconscious, introspective fashion that the âcreepsâ had come upon her, prickling all over her head, yet she was cooler mentally than she had been for some minutes; sufficiently so to feel that her hands were sweating coldly. The faint noises from the bed creased once and there was a most intense silence, with only the dull thudding of the blood beating in her head. Yet immediately afterwards Mrs. Winchester heard again the slurring sound of the blood being sucked into the seals. In the midst of her nervous tension. Then there was a time of absolute quietness then for perhaps a couple of minutes and you can imagine how horrible she felt. The blood had been guzzled with such savageness! And then again the abominable unnaturalness of the thing that had just been done before her! Suddenly, over b the door, she heard a faint noiseâa sort of crickling sound and then a pitter or two upon the floor. A great nervous thrill swept over her, seeming to run up her spine and over the back of her head, for the seal that secured the door had just been broken. Something else was there. Mrs. Winchester could not see the door; at least, it was impossible to say how much she actually saw and how much her imagination supplied. She made it out only as a continuation of the expanding darkness. There was an indistinct wavered there among the shadows. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Abruptly she was aware that the door was opening with an effort, as she got up to see what was coming in, the door slammed with a terrific crash that filled the whole room with a sort of hollow thunder. Mrs. Winchester jumped like a frightened child. There seemed such a power behind the noise, as if a vast, wanton Force were âout.â Can you understand? She knew that was abroad was dangerous to Life. Therefore, beware, when people think of Satan merely as a man with a tail and horns, and just mock at the idea of a real devil, they make a terrible mistake and thus enable Satan to ensnare and attack his victims without hindrance. Mrs. Winchester was truly haunted and tried everything she know how to do to rid herself of these evil spirits the curse her fortune. The most dangerous area of satanic seduction is magic, for it is here that people consciously participate in Satanâs work even though he hides behind a camouflage of pious ceremonies. The ritual Mrs. Winchester performed began in total darkness. After the preliminary invocation, the four cardinal points were invoked, symbolically opening the âGates of Hell.â The circle of light revealed the scarlet-robed priest seated on a throne, who appeared to be a werewolf. After the spell was cast. The red-robed invocator, half man, half beast appeared and drank from the seal. Mrs. Winchester, however, was attempting to close the gates of hell, not open them. Greater magic is regarded as the accomplishment of changes in the objective Universe through those great subjective outpourings of the will summoned during a ritual. This is how curses work. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Modern America, much like Victorian times, can be a dark and scary place, largely inhabited by deeply ignorant people with an aching desire to crucify anything they regard as deviant. And although the media so often preaches the gospel of individual responsibility, it rarely applies that philosophy. The usual suspects are dragged outâthe Internet, neo-Nazism, computer games, Hollywood films, rap, rock music, and TV shows, but some how the TV news who constantly airs evil, which they profit off of, goes unnoticed. They do not want to have discussions because it may diffuse their profits. Instead, local news just expands the time limits of their evil content, and then say they do not have time to discuss it. But, if your local news if on the air 7 hours a day, they do have time to talk, but they know the only thing that keeps them on the air is lies, crimes, and violence because it is entertaining and can compete with TV shows. Furthermore, one will notice, if at a crime scene where The Satanic Bible is found or other occult symbols or objects, it is immediately labelled a âSatanic crimeââwhereas a crime sense where The Holy Bible is found or where people are calling on God or there are biblical signs and symbols, it is not automatically identified as âChristian crime.â Just as the ignorant like to maintain they were made in the image of God, they also prefer to believe the Devil was fashioned from the likeness of that weird family down the street that work at the TV station. The ritual of driving the scapegoat out into the desert, stemming from biblical times, persists into the new millennium. Satanists will continue to play with âspiritual nitroglycerine,â while taking responsibility for their own actions and insisting that others accept responsibility for theirs. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
In embracing perennial Christian taboos, rejecting both the tradition of scapegoating and the âvictim culture,â we intend to prevent present-day idiocies from dragging the next millennium into another miserable Dark Age. If a new Satanic Age is born, it will be born from the ideals of curiosity, independence and pleasures. From a Satanic perspective, there is room for optimism. The Devil is winning. Christians cannot control themselves or modify their behaviors to honor their God. Seekers after supernatural cures may be deluded into a healing by demon-energized magic. The power to heal diseases is frequently manifested in spiritism, mafic, and demon possession. The clairvoyant medium often claims that one can heal the body, as well as foretell the future. The magical charmer and mesmerizer can both cure and cause diseases. The person afflicted with an evil spirit is often promised ability to cure physical ailments if he will serve the dominating demon. The danger of delusion increases in these last days as demonic activity accelerates and serious study of Godâs Word wanes. Satan heals but demands some sort of payment in the form of psychic enslavement, cult involvement, or bondage to some for of fanaticism. Black-magic conjuration openly uses the name of Satan and demonic powers. People who are dept in the black arts and workers of diabolic miracles open doors to the unknown. Such occultists were popular in the courts of ancient pagan kings. They not only advised the heads of government but performed supernatural feats, including magical charming of the sick. The ability of such magicians is conditioned on the human plane by their inherent psychic power, and on the supernatural plane by their degree of abandonment to demonic domination. We may never know if Mrs. Winchester built her house to accommodate the spirits, but over the years the story has come down that she believed her life was unavoidably affected by departed souls. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
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Winchester Mystery House
At this 160-room mansion built to appease departed spirits, some guests have caught some interesting shadows on camera during their visits to the house. What do you think? See more on The Walk With Spirits Tour this weekend!
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Adjust to this Onslaught of Energy and Assimilate it
The miles of twisting hallways at the Winchester Mansion are made even more intriguing by secret passageways in the walls. Mrs. Winchester traveled through her house in a roundabout fashion, supposedly to confuse any mischievous ghosts that might be following her. The early 1880s saw a revival of Satanic related activity across the United States of America and Canada. Many of the reports found in the archives of the Winchester Estate have proved to be based in fact. In July of 1883, a dozen churches in the Bay Area were defaced with Satanic slogans. Mrs. Winchester feared this was the work of evil spirits. In the same month, two teenagers were charged in Santa Clara Valley of with grave robbing and theft of religious objects from an Anglican church. In January 1884, bodies were snatched from a historic cemetery called Mission Santa Clara de Asis, apparently for ritualistic use. Satan-cultists were blamed. The Oakland Tribune reported that the crimes were being perpetrated by marauding outlaw gangs of nihilistic adolescents who reputedly were into Satanic rituals involving grave robbings, vandalism, blood drinking, and animal sacrifice. Mrs. Winchester feared that the evil spirits may had been, instead of venting aggressive and antisocial feelings, actually trying to raise demons in a literal sense. Mrs. Winchester figure these must have been evil spirits because âmany conventional people do not follow through on deviant impulses because they have a stake in society, and therefore a vested interest in conformity.â At least in her World they did so she could not conceive of human beings doing such irrational things. However, not everyone considers the worship of Satan irrational. For some, their adoption of Satan as a hero, is a symbolic assault on parental authority and the citadel of social acceptability. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
As a way to keep herself safe from vandals, looters, and other criminals or spirits, Mrs. Mrs. Winchester kept added wings and floors to have mansion and making oddities to confuse any mischievous ghosts. After traversing an interminable labyrinth of rooms and hallways, a ghost would lose her and become fearful that it was being led into a trap. The theory is that the less stake someone one has in society, the less one would have to lose by freeing oneâs inner demon. Mrs. Winchester said, âWhen someone is abused, alienated, and shows early propensities for violence, well when you put that kind of hostility into a cauldron, mix in the eye of a newt and blood of a bat, stir in some pixie dust you have the recipe for summoning a demon. In fact, the demons haunting my family and putting this blood curse on my money used to be an ancient race of god-men who, by practicing back magic, had lost their foothold on the World and were expelled into another dimension. There they wait, just beyond the realm of time and space, ready to be summoned to take back the Earth. Man is just a short step away from insanity and the most depraved forms of bestiality.â Mrs. Winchester certainly was a lady of mystery, at the time of her death, the unrelenting construction had rambled over six acres. The sprawling mansion contained 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, six kitchens. The living room also contained such arcane bits of furniture as an Egyptian sarcophagus, and a coffee table made of ivory. In the den, a wall of shelves lined with books on every esoteric subject imaginableâfrom the fairies to social realityâwas, in reality, a secret passage that opened into an adjoining sleeping chamber decorated with solid gold ceremonial masks. The entire mansion, in fact, was honeycombed with secret passages. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
The fortunate visitor might even be taken down the staircase behind the fireplace, and up to the Blue SĂ©ance room. The Satanic High Priest generally came down at midnight to serenade them with songs from the 1740s, the period that the Mansion was set up to evoke. Passers-by heard ghostly music at this hour, supposedly legions of demons and spirits relaxed and danced in The Great Ball Room. Early in her residence, Mrs. Winchester planned a grand reception and sent hundreds of gold-engraved invitations to all the prominent valley residents. A sumptuous midnight was the main feature, the table was set with a $30,000 solid-gold sinner service. The banquet was to be the main feature supported by a famous orchestra for added entertainment. With the orchestra and servants at expectant attention, the lady waited until past midnight. Not One Guest Appeared! The next day, the Oakland Tribune reported that guest complained that when they arrived to have dinner with Mrs. Winchester, that these strange people in unusual clothes told them that Mrs. Winchester died in 1922, and the was the first year of tours starting in 1923. The guest were deeply offended and thought Mrs. Winchester played a cruel joke on them, and they could not for the life of them figure out what happened to her sea green mansion with the nine story tower, and left in a huff. For sixteen years, passersby, hurrying through an evening fog, heard strange chants coming from inside the then green mansion. Often the mansion would change size and color, eventually people grew to understand that Winchester Mansion and its grounds were a time warp. Mrs. Winchesterâs working day, like that of a vampire, was from dusk to dawn. She held sĂ©ances almost every night in the hours when most people were asleep and at their peak of psychic receptivity. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Mrs. Winchesterâs music was a form of ritual magic, and its vibratory frequencies were setting in motion forces that would result in a Worldwide takeover of the ideals of Victorian Architecture and Romanticism. Certain frequencies transmitted on the ether effect the human subconscious and control behavior, much in the same way elephants can be made to march by the playing of certain circus tunes. However, the effects can be more than psychological. It was believed it could affect the weather, and blames her focusing too much on the front of the house for the 1906 Earthquake. It is possible for a believer to experience severe demon influence or obsession if one persistently yields to demonic temptation and sin. It is thought that evil spirits could not indwell the redeemed body together with the Holy Spirit. However, Christians too can become demon possessed. Such cases are rarely seen in the United States of America. However, in lands where demon-energized idolatry has flourished unchecked by the gospel for ages, new believers who were delivered from demon possession have been know to become repossessed when they return to their old idols. The testimonies of numerous missionaries in pagan areas support this evidence. Missionaries from all over the Bay Area Valley, who question the theory that true believers cannot become demon-possessed, claim to have witnessed cases of repossession among converts from ancient idolatrous cultures in America, China, and India. Also, among Indigenous Americans who live in servile fear and abject bondage to Satan and demons. Mrs. Winchesterâs doctor said that when someone is involved in an established cult, it often results in demonic oppression or subjection that will sometimes affect even the third or fourth generation. The family members who become believers can be affected and need of deliverance even if they have not dealt in the occult. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Believers who persist in flagrant sin may be driven be demons into emotional instability, insanity, or even suicide. Severe demon influence can produce enslavement and subjection even if it does stop short of actual possession. Believers need to heed the warning: Be composed! Be on your guard! Your accuser, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion in search of someone to devour. Surely experience has given them warnings enough. The monthly meeting of the Imperial Institute usually took place on the 15th at the Winchester Mansion. With but two exceptions the seats of the Thirteen Immortals were occupied. The lecturer of the evening was a distinguished god from ancient Egypt, Ra. He said he cast a spell on the Winchester Mansion where nothing would ever happen in a single time only: everything would happen again, and again, and still againâmonotonously. That evening during the meeting, a woman stepped forward, she had been having mental and psychic disturbances. In the course of the conversation an amulet was found in her possession. At first the woman refused to part with it because she was convinced that if she did so she would die within a few days. At least this is what the magic charmer told her in the Blue SĂ©ance Room. Finally, however, she handed it over and she was shocked on opening it to find a piece of paper with the words, âMy soul belongs to the devil.â It turned out that this woman had tuberculosis, and that she had subsequently been healed by a magic charmer. Nevertheless, she parted with the amulet for good. Afterwards her old disease reappeared, yet through putting her trust in Christ and becoming a Christian she was willing to leave her future in Godâs hands. In disowning the demonic, the former Satanist will lose all it has gained for one. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
On Friday nightâs is usually when Mrs. Winchester had her telepathy developing circle and Midnight meditation. There Mrs. Winchester and her guest learned characters, deities, gods, spells, incantations, skills, and traditions that were firmly embedded in actual occultism, demonology, sorcery, necromancy and magic. This crash course in sorcery was actually thought to be real rituals. The complete and reliable history of the human and divineâthe divine revelations, and the influence of godly or pious men are found in the Scriptural monuments of the old Hebrew in the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is justly styled the Holy Scripture, because it contains the knows of the saints, while at the same time, it units and harmonizes word and deed, doctrine and action. It points out the true relation of the man to the Omnipotentâit affords the most direct reference to the great truths of the spiritual and intellectual; it treats the origin of the universe and its laws, through which all things have to be brought to lightâof the anterior and posterior history of humankindâof his future destiny and how to attain it; of living and visible agent which all things have to be brough to lightâof the anterior and posterior history of mankindâof his future destiny and how to attain it; of the living and visible agents which God employs in the great work of redemption, and, finally, of the most exalted of al beingsâof the Worldâs Saviour, who was an universal expression in his own person, and who exhibited all divine power and action in one person, while all his forerunners were endowed only with single powers and perfection; who revealed to fallen man the highest and purest ends of his life and the means of his purification and restoration. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
We find among the notes of Mrs. Winchester, on Magicâthe steps necessary to solve the mysteries of somnambulism and second-sight, and the infinitely multiplied operations by which unusual occurrences are produced. In one instance at the Winchester Mansion, it was one individual and his presence; in the latter it was not the individual upon which magic depended, but upon mankind in general, and upon the great future. There, the light of man was made to shine by skillful actions, produced by the lowest arts; here, shone a pure, unclouded, quiet life, vitalized by the warm breath of the Almighty, a light shining into the future, and upon this light depended all life and action. To Mrs. Winchesterâs seer not only the fate of single individuals stand revealed, but the fate of nations, yea, of mankind, which in the end must be reconciled to God by the unfolding of magical art, as often happened under the old dispensation, by instinctive somnambulistic influences. If we examine the history of the old covenant, we shall find that this remarkable people stood solitary and alone like a pillar of fire amid heathen darkness. There are deep mysteries in the Winchester Mansion, which may be applied to the welfare of man, but which, on account of the perverseness of humanity and to guard against their abuse, have been hidden from the great mass of human beings. God endowed Mrs. Winchester with exalted talents, powers and virtues that, with a rational use of her, man may protect himself from danger when no other help is at hand and save himself simply by uttering the words of the living God. One night when heathens, robbers, and hostile troops approached the Winchester Mansion, Mrs. Winchester and her spiritual friends stood in a circle and chanted, âAnd all these Thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee, and after that I will go out. The power of Divs now flows through this flesh and through this Nexion of Infernal Power, the very gateway to counter creation! Through this abysmal slow of spiritual might I will be made kunda! I am now Zohak who is Ahriman in the flesh. I am the infernal power of Arezura Incarnate! May the Blacked Fire of my Sol ignite all of creation to reveal that which is unknow so that this age of enslavement shall come to an end. I stir the powers of the Divs within to unlock the doors to my transformation! I stir the powers of the Divs within to empower my work upon the Path of Smoke for the glory of unlimited Possibility!â The group disbursed into thin air. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Winchester Mystery House
For centuries-antique European castles to architecturally significant Victorian homes have become time-honored national landmarks. These historic properties are as beautiful and bizarre as the owners they attract.
Recently, a Medium informed our staff that two spirit children were playing hide and go seek in this hallway leading up to The Witches Cap on the third floor. Come explore this hallway for yourself on the Walk With Spirits tour this weekend! https://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Images from the Surreal World of the Winchester Mystery House
The eccentric Mrs. Winchesterâthe combination of her wealth and her unique building project gave rise to many rumors in the community. However, the mansion was very peculiar. The first thing that led some to believe it was haunted was the Door to Nowhere, which is located on the second floor, and opens to a 20-foot drop into the garden. The door could be heard in the dead of night to open, and slam heavily, and this even when the butler knew it was locked and the key on the bunch in his pantry. The second was that the bedclothes would always be found torn off the bed and hurled in a heap into a corner. But it was the door slamming that chiefly bothered the old butler. Many and many a time, he lain awake and just shivered with fright, listening; for a time the door would be slammed time after time thud! thud! thud! so that sleep was impossible. From Axelrod, I knew already that the mansion had a history of being cursed by spirits, and haunted by ghost. Three people had been strangled in itâan ancestor of his and his wife and child. He was a second-generation caretaker for Mrs. Winchester. This is authentic, so you can imagine what kind of feeling investigators had. The butler, Axelrod, was in rather a state about their going, and assured them with solemnity that in all the thirty years of his service, no one have ever entered that room after nightfall. He begged them in quite a fatherly way to wait till the morning when there could be no danger and then he could accompany them. Of course, they told him not to bother. They explained that they would do no more than look around a bit and perhaps fix a few seals. He need not feat, the investigators were used to that sort of thing. However, he shook his head when they said that. #RandolphHarris 1 of 13
âThere isnât many ghosts like ours, sir,â he assured them with mournful pride. And by Jove he was right, as you will see. They took a couple of candles and Axelrod followed with his bunch of keys. He unlocked the door, but would not come inside with them. He was evidently in quite a fright and renewed his request that they would put off their examination until daylight. Of course they laughed at him, and told them he could stand sentry at the door and catch anything that came out. âIt never comes outside, sir,â he said, in his funny, old solemn manner. Somehow he managed to make them feel as if they were going to have the creeps right away. Anyway, it was one to him, you know. They left him there and examined the room. It was a big apartment and well furnished in the grand style, with a huge four-poster which stood with its head to the end of the wall. There were two candles on the mantelpiece and two on each of the three tables that were in the room. Investigators lit the lot and after that the room felt a little less inhumanly dreary, though, mind you, it was quite fresh and well kept in every way. After they have taken a good look round they sealed lengths of bebe ribbon across the windows, along the walls, over the pictures, and over the fireplace and the wall-closets. All the time, as they worked, the butler stood just without the door and they could not persuade them to enter, though they jested with him a little as they stretched the ribbons and went here and there about their work. Every now and again the butler would say: âYouâll excuse me, Iâm sure, sir; but I do wish you would come out, sir. I fair in a quake for you.â They told them he need not wait, but he was loyal enough in his way to what he considered his duty. He said he could not go away and leave them alone there. #RandolphHarris 2 of 13
He apologized, but made it very clear that they did not realize the danger of the room; and they could see, generally, that he was getting into a really frightened state. All the same he had to make the room so that they should know if anything material entered it, so they asked him not to bother them unless he really heard something. He was beginning to fret their nerves and the âfeelâ of the room was bad enough already, without making things any nastier. For a time further, they worked, stretching ribbons across a little above the floor and dealing them so that the merest touch would break the seals, were anyone to venture into the room in the dark with the intention of playing the fool. All this had taken the investigators far longer than they had anticipated, and suddenly, they heard a clock strike eleven. They had taken often their coats and soon after commencing work; now however, as they practically made an end of all that they intended to do, they walked across to the settee and picked them up. They were in the act of getting into their coats when the old butlerâs voice (he had not said a word for the last hour) came sharp and frightened: âCome out, sirs, quick! Thereâs something going to happen!â Jove! but they jumped, and then in the same moment, one of the candles on the table to the left of the bed went out. Now whether it was the wind, or what, they did not know; but just for a moment the investigators were enough startled to make a run for the door, but they stopped dead in their tracks and told the butler to be brave. So they just turned right around, picked up the two candles off the mantelpiece, and walked across to the table near the bed. Well, they saw nothing. They blew out the candle that was still alight; then they went to those on the two other tables and blew them out. Then, outside of the door, the old man called again: âOh! sir, do be told! Do be told!â #RandolphHarris 3 of 13
âAll right, Axelrod,â one of the investigators said, and by Jove, his voice was not as steady as he should have liked! They made for the door and had a bit of work not to start running. They took some thundering long strides, though, as you can imagine. Near the entrance they had a sudden feeling that there was a cold wind in the room. It was almost as if the Door to Nowhere had been suddenly opened a little. They got to the door and the old butler gave back a step, in a sort of instinctive way. They slammed the door shut with a crash. Somehow, as he did so, one of the investigators felt something pull back on it, but it must have been only fancy. He turned the key in the lock, and then again, double-locking the door. The Winchester Mansion was not only an extravagant maze of Victorian craftmanship, it was also marvelous, baffling, and eerily eccentric, to say the least. Much of Mrs. Winchesterâs interest in the occult may have been due to the League for Spiritual Discovery. She built the mansion to accommodate the spirits who had been slain by the Winchester Rifle. It was a way to get the spirits to go on to the next stage. To get in touch with the ancient reincarnation they once carried inside. However, once doors of consciousness are thrown open, those without the proper discipline cannot control what gets in. It is much easier for a demon to materialize in the depths of the Winchester Mansion than all the way from Hell. People began to believe in the Devil again because they could see him during the Victorian Era. The vibes of the Winchester mansion had begun to change as towers rose and the mansion sprawled out into infinity. Magic spells had not ended in the Revolutionary War. People had begun to fall from third-floor windows. The ghosts were considered âtemporary misfitsâ who had not found their place in life nor in the after life, but were impatiently searching along the endless halls of the Winchester Mansion. #RandolphHarris 4 of 13
Satanism is a reflection of nature, of the laws of the cosmos, therefore it is as universally applicable as any law of natureâgravity, genetics, et cetera. The invoking or summoning of spirits by means of hymns, prayers, and acts of worship in spiritistic seances, finds a counterpart in demon possession. Often the demon speaking through its victim in the demonized state will demand the burning of incense as well as worship service. In return he often promises alleviation from torment and powers of physical healing or clairvoyant and prognostic gifts assuring financial income and material prosperity to the enslaved person. Paganism is replete with fear of demons who must be appeased by worship and servile obedience. Those who accept magical powers may escape the grosser torments of vile spirits only to fall under more terrible bondage and become Satanâs tools to enslave others. At the very center of the Winchester Mansion is the Blue SĂ©ance Room, where Mrs. Winchester supposedly would go every night to commune with the spirits. This room consisted of a cabinet, a table with pen and paper, a closet, and a planchette boardâsimilar to a Ouija boardâused for transmitting messages from the beyond. Legend has it that she would wear one of 13 special colored robes and receive guidance from various spirits for her construction plans. In demon influence, evil spirits exert power over a person short of actual possession. Such influence may vary from mild harassment to extreme subjection when body and mind become dominated and held in slavery by spirit agents. Victims may be oppressed, vexed, depressed, hindered, and bound by demons. Demon influence, even in its most severe forms, does not manifest the same abject domination by evil spirits that so saliently characterizes actual possession. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13
There is no blacking out of consciousness, no demonized state, no usurpation of the body as a mere tool of the inhabiting demon, no speaking with another voice and the projection of another personality through the victim. In other respects, however, demon influence closely resembles actual possession. After the door to the room the possessed the Door to Nowhere was sealed, the investigators felt easier then. The Butler, Axelrod who was nervous and silent, led the way. It had not struck investigators until that moment that he had been enduring a considerable strain during the last two or three hours. About midnight the investigators went to bed. Their room lay at the end of the corridor upon which opens the door of the room with the Door to Nowhere. They counted the doors between it and theirs and found that thirteen rooms lay between. Just as one of the investigators was beginning to undress an idea came to him and he took his candle and sealing-wax and sealed the doors of all thirteen rooms. If any door slammed in the night, they should know just which one. He returned to his room, his partner was fast asleep. He locked the door and went to sleep. While in a deep sleep, they were waked suddenly from a deep sleep by a loud crash somewhere out in the passage. One of them lite a candle, then there came the bang of a door being violently slammed along the corridor. Then there was a dismal thudding of a door up the corridor. The sound seemed to echo through all the house. Daylight came at last and they washed and dressed. The door had not slammed for about an hour, and they were getting back their nerve again. These brave men felt ashamed of themselves, though in some ways it was silly, for when you are meddling with the occult your nerve is bound to go, sometimes. And you just have to sit quiet and call yourself a coward until the safety of the day comes. Sometimes it is more than just cowardice. Sometimes one is being warned. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13
The incorporation of violence in magical ritual has had several historical rationales. It has been claimed by some, such as Aleister Crowley, that the biological energy released at the moment of death of an animal or human, combined with the emotional frenzy induced in the magician by the sight of blood, can be focused through the working of the ritual and sent psychically to do its work. Second, in conjurations, the blood of a sacrificed animal can allegedly be used by the demon being summoned to form a physical manifestation in this plane. On a psychological level, ritual murder and other barbaric acts have functioned as the identification with what Mircea Eliade terms the âSacred Timeâ of the primitive, a time beyond the banality of the material World and the moral strictures of society. However, the role of violence has played an even more important sociological role in the history of secret societies, as a centripetal force holding groups together. By forcing members of the group to partake in illegal, socially deviant, and violent acts, the leader further alienates those members from the outside World, fosters feelings of paranoia, and increases psychological and emotional dependence on the group. Many people are striving for superiority as the primary human motivation. People who feel a lack of control over their affairs experience hopelessness, depression, and feeling of low self-worth. One way to feel control, if one cannot feel it in oneâs day-to-day affairs, is to exert it over others. The ultimate form of that control would be the control over anotherâs life or death. The murderer then becomes God, the ultimate high. The trouble is that getting high can be addictive, and when that happens, the tolerance level keeps getting higher. Bigger dosages are needed to get the same effect, and perhaps that is why ghosts and demons hauntânot just to communicateâbut to get high off of human emotions. #RandolphHarris 7 of 13
Around the time that the disturbances were happening in the Winchester mansion, police began to hear about orgiastic, nocturnal rituals involving fire dancing, animal sacrifices, blood drinking, and infanticide in the Santa Clara Valley. By 1890, the Bay Area was the âmurder capitol of the World,â after it was swept by a wave of brutal and bizarre killings. On the door step of the Winchester Manion, one morning, Axelrod, the Butler, found a note warning, âdeath to all those who defile the environment,â and it was signed âThe Knight of Swords.â Mrs. Winchester immediately have bricks laid on the inside of the front door to block it off. Then there was the case of thirteen people who were kicked to death in a confessional, as human sacrifices to the Earthquake God to stave off the 1906 Earthquake, although the exact year of the catastrophe was unknown, mediums and psychics knew it was coming. Investigators found the events unsettling and stayed at the Winchester Mansion to continue their investigation and protect Mrs. Winchester. They examined the doors of the room that housed the Door to Nowhere, and the seal had been broken, but the seal to the keyhole had been untouched. Axelrod told the investigators that âFlesh and blood can do nothing, sirs, against devils, and thatâs whatâs comes in the Door to Nowhere.â Something had been in the roomâthe bedcoverings were on the flood and they were bloody. Mrs. Winchester had everything removed from the room, except for the bed. The investigators examined the walls, floor and ceiling then with probe, hammer and magnifying glass, but found nothing usual. They began to realize that something had been loose in the room during the past night. They sealed up the room again and went out, locking and sealing the door as before. #RandolphHarris 8 of 13
Demon influence may occur in different degrees of severity and in a variety of forms, both in Christians and non-Christians. In its less sever forms, demon attack comes from without through pressure, suggestion, and temptation. When such pressure, suggestion, and temptation are yielded to, the result is always an increased degree of demon influence. Although the human race fell in Adam and became a prey to Satan and demons, the forces of darkness have always been severely restricted. They can enslave and oppress fallen man only to the degree he willingly violates the eternal moral law of God and exposes himself to evil. Since fallen man is unable to keep Godâs moral law perfectly, and is acceptable to God only on the basis of Christâs atonement, all men, saved as well as unsaved, can be subjected to demon influence. The saved, however, have been delivered from the powers of darkness and translated into the kingdom of Godâs dear son. This means that they have been delivered from evil powers. Likewise, when the law of love for oneâs fellow man is violated, demon power may take hold of a person and goad him on to murder. In June 1895, William Burke, was arrested in Santa Clara County with three male drifters, for the cannibal slaying of a Santa Clara County, California, farmer from the Winchester Estate. The group was a family of trolls, who, when they did not have the money to spend for room and board lived under bridges and in fields. They had forced their way into the unfortunate farmerâs Victorian cottage, and stabbed him to death and cannibalized him after offering up the body parts to Satan. The night before, the group had murdered a vagrant for a few pieces of gold. #RandolphHarris 9 of 13
The Winchester Estate was often the target of not only ghosts and demons, but often looters, and other thugs. That is why there was a six-foot cypress hedge enclosing the estate, which was backed by a barbed wire fence and patrolled by a pack of ferocious dogs, plus, of course, her staff of armed bodyguards. Whatever possessed William Burke to shoot, dismember, and behead the sleeping farmer, McDougal, then cut out his heart and eat it, then snack on the finger until he was discovered the next morning is unknown. Aside from being a cannibal, Burke, who had an IQ of 140, claimed to be a practicing Satanists and to have belonged to a blood-drinking cult in Wyoming. Investigators failed to turn up the cult, however, and the picture that emerged of the Satanic cannibal was that of a psychotic working with Robert Knox. Burke and Knox were linked to an earlier slaying in San Francisco. They had slit the victimâs throat, cut off his ear, and written âSatan Savesâ in blood on the wall of the victimâs Victorian home. Later Burke was found drowned. He washed ashore with his hands and feet bound with rope. A subsequent investigation turned up that Burke had been a leader of a group of about forty, who practiced Devil-worship ceremonies, and they wanted to turn the Winchester Mansion into their base. Burke, who believed that Satan would put him in command of âforty leagues of demonsâ if he took command of the Winchester Mansion. You see, the spirits were already inside of the house and it was no secret. It is believed that Knox bound and pushed him into the water. Burkeâs paternal grandparents has opposed the marriage of their son, and vented their hatred of his mother upon their grandchild. They sought to curse and kill him by using black magic, in which they were adept. His childhood had been a nightmare of fear, as his mother resorted to protective magic to ward off the effects of the persecution of death magic. She, too, had come under severe demonic enslavement and fear. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13
This case demonstrated how occult involvement reaches out to children. It also reveals how modern psychology and psychiatry fail to diagnose a case properly when they deny the reality of evil supernaturalism. We do not know whether such aggravated cases of demon influence go deeper than external pressure, suggestion, and temptation. They apparently do, and demonic invasion of the body seemingly is involved and the personality is infested by one or more vile spirits. These demons, however, act more like visitors or guests in a home than the owners of the house, as is the case in demon possession. In the latter case the demons possess the property and reside there permanently, always having ready access and full control of the premises to do as they please. In addition, there is the dual personality of the victim in the demonized state, which is never true of demon influence alone. This does suggest liability to physical and mental sickness, even demonic influence and bondage, and in extreme cases, physical death. Satan exists as a force that you are either part of, or you are not. You can accept it and let it exist withing yourself, or, as in the case of a Christian, you can try and force it out of your system. Then you become one of these confused, schizophrenic personages, like these Christian preachers who preach something but cannot uphold it. There is a power in the Winchester Mansion, in the events that took place there long ago. People still claim to hear the Devilâs orchestra playing at night. There is definitely a Satanic spirit, a pagan spirit, to a lot of what happened. Generally, the Satanist I would know certainly are not criminals. If anything, the police would come to them for advice on a weird crime rather than to interrogate them about it. On the other hand, in terms of the government, there is definitely an interest in them. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13
There is certainly a Satanic spirit running through some people and some areas, but that does not make them bad nor unattractive. At night, people claim there is a shadowy, underground at the Winchester mansion who lever against the inertia of the World. Devilâs advocates take their role of counter balancing societal trends quite seriously. Every few years a book is published on Satanâor some affiliated gothic topicâbased upon the premise that the Devil is dead, or dying. This has been used as a starting point for authors ever since the sixteenth century, but reports of Satanâs demise have been much exaggerated. Modern culture treats the Prince of Darkness light-heatedly; Satan appears on Valentine cards, in comedy sketches, and advertising campaigns. The fact that we can laugh at Him is no indication of His waning powers. Satan encouraged satire and scorn, thrives on laughter and irreverenceâit is the Christian tradition that demands we approach the World with straight-face, pompous sincerity. Popular ambivalence about the Devil has plagued Christianity throughout its history. The Church needs Satan as its ultimate cosmic scapegoat, but His omnipresent threat is that His playful, charismatic evil can seem so much more attractive then Christian doctrine. (Some have asked why are so many Satanists such nice, polite people, while so many Christians are malignant, neurotic bigots?) Thus, every infernal manifestation in modern popular culture, whatever its apparent intent, has Satanic significance. However, are we, as Anton LaVey claimed, entering an âAge of Satanâ? Is Lucifer rising? Nearly the Door to Nowhere, people have claimed that when they are near it, they are immediately conscious of a queer prickling sensation about the back of their heads and their heads began to sweat a little. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13
The following instant, the whole end of the hallway seems to flicker into an abrupt glaze. Then comes the succeeding darkness and most peer nervously up the corridor, listening tensely, and trying to find what lay beyond the faint, red, glow of light. As investigators continued to inspire the unusual room, there came the crashing thud of the door to the Door to Nowhere. The sound seemed to fill the whole of the large corridor and go echoing hollowly through the mansion. They felt it, it felt horribleâas if their bones were water. Simply beastly. They did not know how they could stare or how they listened. And then it came again, thud, thud, thud, and then silence. That was almost worse than the noise of the door, for they kept fancying that some brutal thing was stealing upon them alone the corridor. Suddenly, there lamp was put out, and they could not see the yard before them. They realized all at once that this was a very silly thing, sitting there, and they jumped up. Even as they did so, the investigators thought they heard a sound in the passage, quite near to them. One made a backward spring into the hallway and slammed the door shut. Can you understand? They felt that there was something at the other side of the Door to Nowhere. For some unknow reason, investigators knew it was pressed up against the door, and it was soft. It was the most extraordinary thing to imagine when you come to think about it. The Door to Nowhere thuds at solemn and horrid intervals. Nights in the mansion can be brutal. As the day comes, the thudding of the door comes gradually to an end. #RandolphHarris 13 of 13
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It Was Worse than the Thing that Crept into the Shadows
Love, peace, comfort, measureless contentmentâthat was life on the Winchester Estate in 1888. It was a joy to be alive. Pain there was none, nor infirmity, nor any physical signs to mark the flight of time; disease, care, sorrowâone might feel these outside the pale, but not on Mrs. Winchesterâs Estate. There they had no place, there they never came. All days were alike, and all a dream of delight. The big country mansion was so large it could shelter an army. Guests lounging around the house for the big Christmas party. The laughter and music was only broken by the whisper of the wind in the cedar branches, and the scraping of their harsh fingers against the window panes. It had pricked us to such luxurious confidence in our surroundings of bright chintz and candle-flame and fire-light, that we had dared to talk of ghostâin which, we all said, we did not believe one bit. We had told the story of the phantom coach and the wedding that had taken place at the Winchester mansion, and the horrible strange bed, and the farmerâs wife, and the Victorian cottage on the estate. We none of us believed in ghosts, but my heart, at least, seemed to leap to my throat and choke me there, when a tap came to Mrs. Winchesterâs doorâŠa tap faint, not to be mistaken. Almost at once, Mrs. Winchesterâs housekeeper Miss Eden opened the door and said, âCome in,â but she stood there. She was, at all normal hours, the most silent women I have ever known. She stood and looked at us, and shivered a little. So did weâfor in those days corridors were not warmed by hot-water pipes, and the air from the door was keen. âI saw your light,â she said at last, âand I thought it was late for you to be upâafter all this gaiety. I thought perhapsââ her glance turned towards the door of the dressing-room. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17
âNo,â I said, âMrs. Winchester is fast asleep.â I should have added a goodnight, but the youngest of us forestalled my speech. She did not know Mrs. Winchester as we others did; did not know how her persistent silence built a wall round herâa wall that no one dared to break down with the commonplaces of talk, or the littlenesses of mere human relationship. Mrs. Winchester was the heiress of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. In the morning, she came downs stairs in her unsuitably rich silk lace-trimmed dressing-gown falling back from her thin collarbones, and ran to the door and put an arm around her guest Miss McAnally. The vivid light of pleasure in Miss McAnallyâs pale blue eyes went through Mrs. Winchesterâs heart like a knife. If she wanted an arm there, it would have been so easy to put one around her neck. âNow,â Mrs. Winchester said, âyou shall have the very biggest, nicest chair, and the coffee-pot is here on the hob as hot as hot and my other guest have been telling ghost stories all light. When you get warm you ought to tell one too.â âYouâre sure Iâm not in your way,â Miss McAnally said, stretching her hands to a blaze. âNot a bitââMrs. Winchester said. Mrs. Winchester put her fleecy Maderia shawl round her shoulders. She could not think of anything else to do for her, and she found herself wishing desperately to do something. The smiles Miss. McAnally gave were very quite pretty. People can smile prettily at forty or fifty, or even later, though most young women do not realize this. âAs I said before,â Mrs. Winchester confessed, âEveryone has been telling ghost stories all night. I retired early for bed. All of the ghost stories are so beautifully rounded offâa murder committed on the spotâor a hidden treasure, or a warningâŠI think that makes them harder to believe. The most horrid ghost-story I ever heard was one that was quite silly.â #RandolphHarris 2 of 14
âTell it,â Miss McAnally begged. âI cannotâit does not sound anything to tell,â replied Mrs. Winchester. âThe only thing that I ever knew of wasâwas hearsay,â Mrs. Winchester said, slowly, âtill just the end. I daresay it would bore you, but it cannot do any hard. You all do not believe in ghosts, and it was not exactly a ghost either.â There was a breathing time of hush and expectancy. The fire crackled and the gas suddenly flared higher because the billiard lights had been put out. We heard the steps and voices of the men going along the corridors. âIt is really hardly worth telling,â Mrs. Winchester said doubtfully, shading her faded face from the fire with her thin hand. Everyone said, âGo onâoh, go onâdo!â âWell,â she said, âtwenty years agoâand more than thatâI had two friends, and I loved them more than anything in the World. And they married each other. After they were married, I did not see much of them for a year or two; and then he wrote me and asked me to come and stay, because his wife was ill, and I should cheer her up, and cheer him up as well; for it was a gloomy house, and he himself was growing gloomy too.â I knew as she spoke that she had every line of that letter by heart. âWell, I went. The address was in Oakland, near Berkeley; in those says there were streets and streets of new villa-houses growing up round old brick mansions standing in their own grounds, with red walls round, you know, and a sort of flavour of coaching days, and post chaises, and Blackheath highwaymen about them. He had said the house was gloomy, and it was called âThe Haunted House,â and I imagined my carriage going through a dark, winding shrubbery, and drawing up in from of one of these sedate, old, square houses. Instead, we drew up in front of a large, smart villa, with iron railings, gay encaustic tiles leading from the iron gate to the stained-glass-panelled door, and for shrubbery only a few stunted cypresses and aucubas in the tiny front garden. But inside it was all warm and welcoming. He met me at the door. #RandolphHarris 3 of 14
 âHe met me at the door,â she said again, âand thanked me for coming, and asked me to forgive the past. They were very glad to see me, and I was very glad to be there. Margaret was not exactly ill, only weak and excitable. I thought he seemed more ill than she did. She went to bed early and before she went, she asked me to keep him company through his last pipe, so we went into the dining-room and sat in the two armchairs on each side of the fireplace. They were covered with green leather I remember. There were bronze groups of horses and a black marble clock on the mantlepieceâall wedding-presents. He poured out some whisky for himself, but he hardly touched it. He sat looking into the fire. At last I said: Whatâs wrong? Margaret looks as well as you could expect.â âYes,â he said, âbut I donât know from one day to another that she wonât begin to notice something wrong. Thatâs why I wanted you to come. You were always so sensible and strong-minded, and Margaretâs like a little bird on a flower.â Mrs. Winchester said, âYes, of course,â and waited for him to go on. Presently he said: âSarah, this is a very peculiar house. It is new: thatâs just it. Weâre the first people whoâve ever lived in it. If it were an old house, Sarah, I should think it was haunted.â Mrs. Winchester asked, âHave you ever seen anything?â âNo,â he said. âThat is just it. I have not heard nor seen anything, but thereâs a sort of feeling: I canât describe itâIâve seen nothing and Iâve heard nothing, but Iâve been so near to seeing and hearing, just near, thatâs all. And something follows me aboutâonly when I turned round, thereâs never anything, only my shadow. And I always feel that I shall see the thing next minuteâbut I never doânot quiteâitâs always just not visible.â #RandolphHarris 4 of 14
Mrs. Winchester had been working very hardâand tried to cheer him up by making light of all this. âIt is just nerves,â she said. He replied, âMrs. Winchester, I thought you could help me, and I do not think I wronged anyone for them to lay a curse on me. I donât believe in cruses. The only person I could have wronged forgave me freely.â Mrs. Winchester came up with a suggestion, âI think you ought to take Margaret away from the house and have a complete change.â But he said, âNo; Margaret has got everything in order, and I could never manage to get her away just now without explaining everythingâand, above and beyond all that, she mustnât guess thereâs anything wrong. I daresay I shanât feel quite such a lunatic now youâre here.â So they said goodnight.â Whenever Mrs. Winchester was alone with him, he used to tell her the same thing over and over again, and at first when he began to notice things, he tried to think tht it was his talk that had upset her nerves. The odd thing was that it was not only at nightâbut in broad daylightâand particularly on the stairs and passages. On the staircase the feeling used to be so awful that Mrs. Winchester had to bite her lips till they bled to keep herself from running upstairs at full speed. Only she knew if she would not go mad at the top. There was always something behind herâexactly as he saidâsomething that one could just not see. And a sound that one could just not heat. There was a long corridor at the top of the house. Mrs. Winchester sometimes almost saw somethingâyou know how one see things without lookingâbut if she turned around, it seemed as if the thing drooped and melted into her shadow. There was a little window at the end of the corridor. #RandolphHarris 5 of 14
Downstairs there was another corridor, something like it, with a cupboard at one end and the kitchen at the other. One night Mrs. Winchester went down into the kitchen to heat some milk for Margaret. The servants had gone to bed. As she stood by the fire, waiting for the milk to boil, she glanced through the open door and along the passage. Mrs. Winchester never could keep her eyes on what she was doing in that house. The cupboard door was partly open; they used to keep empty boxes and things in it. And as she looked, she knew that now it was not going to be âalmostâ anymore. Yet she said, âMargaretâ not because she thought it could be Margaret who was crouching down there, half in and half out of the cupboard. The thing was great at first, and then it was black. And when Mrs. Winchester whispered, âMargaret,â it seemed to sink down till it lay like a pool of ink on the floor, and then its edges drew in, and it seemed to flow, like ink when you tilt up the paper you have split it on; and it flowed into the cupboard till it was all gathered into the shadow there. Mrs. Winchester saw it go quite plainly. The gas was full on in the kitchen. She screamed aloud, but then, she was thankful to say, she had enough sense to upset the boiling milk, so that when he came downs three steps at a time, Mrs. Winchester had the excuse for her scream of a scalded hand. The explanation satisfied Margaret, but the next night he said: âWhy didnât you tell me? It was that cupboard. All the horror of the house comes out of that. Tell meâhave you seen anything yet? Or is it only the nearly seeing and nearly hearing still?â Mrs. Winchester said, âYou must tell me first what you have seen.â He told her, and his eyes wandered, as he spoke, to the shadows by the curtains, and Mrs. Winchester turned up all three gas lights, and lit the candles on the mantelpiece. #RandolphHarris 6 of 14
Then they looked at each other and said they were both mad, and thanked God that Margaret at least was sane. For what he had seen was what Mrs. Winchester had seen. After that she hated to be alone with a shadow, because at any moment she might see something that would crouch, and sink, and lie like a black pool, and then slowly draw itself into the shadow that was nearest. Often that shadow was her own. The thing came first at night, but afterwards there was no hour safe from it. She saw it at dawn and at noon, in the fireplace, and always it crouched and sank, and was a pool that flowed into some shadow and became part of it. And always she saw it with a straining of the eyesâa pricking and aching. It seemed as though she could only just see it, as if her sight, to see it, had to be strained to the uttermost. And still the sound was in the houseâthe sound that she could just not hear. At last, one morning early, Mrs. Winchester did hear it. It was close behind her, and it was only a sign. It was worse than the thing that crept into the shadows. She did not know how she bore it. If she had not been so fond of her friends, she could not have tolerated it. However, she knew in her heart that, if he had no one to whom he could speak openly, he would go mad, or tell Margaret. His was not a very strong character; very sweet, and kind, and gentle, but not strong. He was always easily led. So Mrs. Winchester stayed on and bore up, and they were very cheerful, and made little jokes, and tried to be amusing when Margaret was with them. However, when they were alone, they did not try to be amusing. And sometimes a day or two would go by without their seeing or hearing anything. #RandolphHarris 7 of 14
They perhaps should have fancied that they had fancied what they had seen and heardâonly there was always the feeling of their being something about that house, that one could just not hear and not see. Sometimes they used to try not to talk about it, but generally they talked of nothing else at all. And the weeks went by, and Margaretâs baby was born. The nurse and the doctor said that both mother and child were doing well. He and Mrs. Winchester sat late in the dining-room that night. They had neither seen nor heard anything for three days; their anxiety about Margaret was lessened. They talked of the futureâit seemed then so much brighter than the past. They arranged that, the moment she was fit to be moved, he should take her away to the sea, and Mrs. Winchester should superintend the moving of their furniture into the new house he had already chosen. He was gayer than Mrs. Winchester had seen him since his marriageâalmost like his old self. When she said goodnight to him, he said a lot of things about her having been a comfort to them both. She had not done anything much, of course, but still she was glad he said them. Then Mrs. Winchester went upstairs, almost for the first time without that feeling of something following her. She listened at Margaretâs door. Everything was quiet. Mrs. Winchester went on toward her own room, and in an instant, she felt that there was something behind her. She turned. It was crouching there; it sank, and the black fluidness of it seemed to be sucked under the door of Margaretâs room. She went back. She opened the door a listening inch. All was still. And then she heard a sigh close behind her. Mrs. Winchester opened the door and went in. The nurse and the baby were asleep. #RandolphHarris 8 of 14
Margaret was asleep tooâshe looked so prettyâlike a tired childâthe baby was cuddled up into one of her arms with its tiny heard against her side. Mrs. Winchester prayed then that Margaret might never know the terrors that they are hidden from her. That those little ears might never hear any but pretty sounds, those clear eyes never see any but pretty sights. She did not dare to pray for a long time after that. Because her prayer was answered. She never saw, never heard anything more in this World. And now Mrs. Winchester could do nothing for him or her. When they had put her in her coffin, Mrs. Winchester lighted wax candles round her, and laid the horrible white flowers that people will send near her, and then she saw he had followed her. She took his hand to lead him away. At the door they both turned. It seemed to them that they heard a sign. He would have sprung to her side in glad hope. However, at that instant they both saw it. Between them and the coffin, first grey, then black, it crouched an instant, then sank and liquifiedâand was gathered together and drawn till it ran into the nearest shadow. And the nearest shadow was the shadow of Margaretâs coffin. Mrs. Winchester left the next day. His mother came. She never liked Mrs. Winchester. The something black that crouched then between him and Mrs. Winchester was only his second wife crying beside the coffin. Mrs. Winchester never told anyone the story because it seemed senseless. After hearing the story, Miss McAnally stood at her gaunt height, her hands clenched, eyes straining. She was looking at something that no one could see, and she knew what the man in the Bible meant when he said: âThe hair of my flesh stood up.â What they saw seemed not quite to reach the height of the dressing-room door handle. Her eyes followed it down, downâwidening and widening. Mrs. Winchesterâs eyes followed themâall the nerves of them seemed strained to the uttermostâand she almost saw itâor did she quite see? She could not be certain. However, they all heard the long-drawn, quivering sign. And to each of them it seemed to be breathed just behind them. #RandolphHarris 9 of 14
It was Mrs. Winchester who caught up the candleâit dripped all over her trembling handâand was dragged by Miss McAnally to the girl who had fainted during the second extra. However, it was a servant girl whose lean arms were round the housekeeper when they turned away, and that have been around her many a time since, in the Winchester mansion where she keeps house. The doctor who came in the morning said that Margaretâs daughter had died of heart diseaseâwhich she had inherited from her mother. But Mrs. Winchester wondered had she had not inherited something else from her father? It was the daughterâs ghost that had followed Mrs. Winchester into her own mansion and now haunts it. The invoking or summoning of spirits by means of hymns, prayers, and acts of worship in spiritistic sĂ©ances, finds a counterpart in demon possession. Often the demon speaking through its victim in the demonized state will demand the burning of incense as well as worship service. In return it often promises alleviation from torment and powers of physical healing or clairvoyant and prognostic gifs assuring financial income and material prosperity to the enslaved person. Paganism is replete with fear of demons who must be appeased by worshipping and servile obedience. Those who accept magical powers of healing and clairvoyance at the hand of demonic powers may escape the grosser torments of vile spirits only to fall under more terrible bondage and become Satanâs tool to enslave others. In 1892, people in Santa Clara Valley gossiped about Mrs. Winchester. They told stories of how she was involved in the diabolic rites of Freemasonry, arguing that she and the Freemasons were in reality devout Satanists, carrying out blasphemous and hideous rituals beneath the sinister clock of secrecy. #RandolphHarris 10 of 14
The headquarters of the movement, under the leadership Sarah Winchester, Albert Pike, Gallatin Mackey, and others, located in Santa Clara, California at the Winchester mansion, with celebrants of their Black Masses spread all over the World. Their rites supposedly involved sĂ©ances. Some went as far to say that the Winchester mansion had an infernal telephone hooked up to Hell, through which the leaders spoke to Lucifer. The stories recounted by the villagers were backed up by Thomas Vaughan, an alchemist. However, if that were true, it would mean the Winchester mansion, Mrs. Winchester, and William Winchester are far older than we believe them to be. The town spread rumors that Black Masses were taking place at the Winchester Mansion under the guise of Freemasonry. It was said that the Winchester mansion was a life and magical order. The emphasis on the former, of living according to oneâs real nature. Freemasonry is a nonsectarian fraternity claiming to teach a system of morality veiled in the allegory and symbols passed down from the caste of stonemasons who built the original Temple of Solomon. It allegedly binds its members by an oath of secrecy that imposes death on the betrayer, uses secret passwords and signs, and performs rituals purporting to relate to the history of its origins. It organization is hierophantic, the members receiving the âsecretsâ of the order, and they pass through the higher degrees. Its antiquity can be documented no further back than the latter part of the seventeenth century. The movement really seems to have gotten its start with the establishment of the Grand Lodge in England, in 1717. From there, it spread to France and Germany, and it did not take long for serious-minded students of the occult, attracted by its ritualistic and secretive trappings, to find their way into its ranks. #RandolphHarris 11 of 14
It was also said that Mrs. Winchester was an alchemist and a mystic, and she created her own brand of Victorian Masonry, and taught others how to make gold, heal the sick, and raise the dead. These secret rights had been handed down to her by the Knights of Templar. She was under the tutelage of âUnknown Superiors,â a race of godlike spiritual guides. Many of the people in the town gossiped about Mrs. Winchester so viciously, not only because of her wealth and the mansion larger than anyone had ever seen, but also because of suspicions that her estate was a cover for political conspiracy. The Devil, being a rebel against Heaven, has always been portrayed by the powers-that-be as the chief insurrectionist against the existing political and religious order. The enemy cannot be God, for God is on the side of the ruler. Therefore, the enemy of the ruler must be Satan. It is true that the Winchester mansion is supranational in outlook. There was a secret society that met there dedicated to the scientific and political enlightenment of mankind. To achieve this goal, the group intended secretly to work toward the abolition of all monarchies and the establishment of a One-World government, to be run by those few presently Enlightened, or Illuminati. Since professing such republican ideas could be dangerous, the group was wrapped in a cloak of occultism. Mrs. Winchester adopted the grades of Freemasonry and promised initiates that the magical secrets of the Universe could be revealed to them only when they reached the upper levels. Many believed that William Winchester and Annie Winchester had not died, but gone underground and survived in a network of secret societies, two of which were the Freemasons and the Illuminati, to escape the Assassins. The Assassins were a political group who carried out assassinations while crazed on hashish. #RandolphHarris 12 of 14
Legend has it that Mrs. Winchester was not only running from the souls of those killed by the Winchester rifle, but to also escape the Assassins. Not only spiritual, but Masonic teachings exerted an influence over the construction of the Winchester mansion. Certain mystical thinkers and practitioners of ceremonial magic believed that Mrs. Winchester practiced a complex system of magic that was a synthesis of Eastern and Western mystical traditions. There is a secret cave inside the Winchester mansion that can be entered only by stooping, but inside a room nearly seven feet high about twelve feet square presents itself. On each side of the entrance a Latin cross is deeply carved in the rock, while within, at the further side, and opposite the door, a block of stone four feet high was left for an altar. Above it, a shrine is hollowed out of the stone wall, and over the cavity is another cross. It is said to be the cave of a saint. Some say it is Saint Michael himself, but no one can be quite certain. And there is a big head inside that craved in the shape of the Devilâs face that the saint put there. For Mrs. Winchester, there were two types of magic. What she called evocation and invocation. Evocation was a calling forth, while invocation was a calling in. In such rituals, the magician summoned the demon or deity while standing within the protection of a magical circle drawn on the floor, the object of the sorcerer being to control and direct the entity to do oneâs bidding. She sought to achieve total identification with the godhead, to invoke the god so that it actually took possession of her consciousness. The resulting state experienced by the magician was a type of samadhi, or temporary loss of ego. Mrs. Winchesterâs estate possesses the KEY which opens up all Masonic and Hermetic secrets of Freemasonry and all systems of religion. #RandolphHarris 13 of 14
It did not take long for rumors to begin to circulate around the town of nightly procession of hooded, candle-bearing figures around the grounds of the Winchester mansion. The reason Mrs. Winchester and the husband of her friend kept seeing demons is because allegedly someone did a ritual on her estateâone of the greatest magical feats everâthe attempt to bring the âWhore of Babalonâ down from the Astral Plane and incarnate it in the womb of a living women. Upon hearing of the ritual, someone wrote to the Luciferian Light Group, âApparently Mrs. Winchester or one of her friends is producing a Moonchild. I am pledged that the work of the Beast 666 shall be fulfilled, and the way for the coming of BABALON be made open and I shall not cease until these things are accomplished.â Mrs. Winchester did not know, but after she left her friendâs house, he managed to blow himself to smithereens while conducting a strange chemical experiment in his basement workshop. Hours later, the scientistâs mother, who lived on the estate, committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping tablets and the baby died from dehydration and starvation, but the baby who is supposed to be the Whore of Babalon still haunts the Winchester till this very day. No matter what people say or believe about Mrs. Winchester, she and her architecture were able to break through the walls of stagnation and bring before the World its first vision of the new Aeon. Once, a tourguide reported while closing the house, he felt something following him, he was alone. He went out onto the fourth floor balcony and prayed into the Heavens one night, âO Thou wicked and disobedient spirit Vinea, because thou hast rebelled, and has not obeyed nor regarded my words which I have rehearsed; I curse thee into the depth of the Bottomless Abyss, there to remain unto the Day of Doom in chains, and in fire and brimstone unquenchable, unless thou forthwith appear here before this Circle, in this triangle to my will.â And he saw Lucifer as a star fall from Heaven, and from Him came to the tour guide light of true salvation. And he was made whole by His infernal wisdom. âMy chains lifted off, I was made free,â he said. At night when some drive by, they claim to hear the Devilâs orchestra at that famous time 1.13am. #RandolphHarris 14 of 14
Winchester Mystery House
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Randolph Harris II International 