General

The Real Story Of Patrick Cross’s Devil Guitar

Published

2 years ago

March 28, 2021

In 1995 Patrick Cross, who is also an accomplished musician, bought a white electric guitar in the shape of a “V,” a copy of the more famous guitar made by Gibson, called a Gibson “Flying V.” The guitar purchased by Cross was made of heavy maple wood and looked like it had been passed down by various musicians.

He said, it was made in 1989, and it was in very good shape considering it was used. Other than a slight crack on the top of the neck of the guitar, as if it had been dropped, it played well. The mysterious part is, the guitar has survived from a fire in a Michigan bar, where a band was playing and all of sudden a fire broke out.

Everything in the bar was burned to a crisp—all except the guitar, which survived without any burn marks and fully intact. Apparently, someone in the band had died in the fire, and the guitar was sold, ending up in Oakville, Ontario.

Cross recalled that he was strangely drawn to the guitar. It was as if it called him saying, ‘play me.’ As soon as he picked it up to play, he felt a tingling electric sensation, like it knew he wanted it and it was right for him. He didn’t even check out the other guitars, since he couldn’t put this one down. It was an odd feeling, but most musicians will understand, he said.

The guitar played fine in the store, jamming to some bluesy rock riffs and some classic chords, but when he got it home, it seemed to go out of tune when he picked it up to play it. He thought this was odd, since it played fine before—and now it started de-tuning itself.

When he started playing something like ‘Smoke On the Water,’ by Deep Purple, and ‘Purple Haze,’ by Jimi Hendrix, the guitar played back in tune. It felt like it really liked a dark, heavy sound, and it played better than ever.

After two days, Cross began to hear weird sounds in the apartment. The noises seemed to be coming from the closet in the second bedroom where the guitar was stored. He opened the closet door, heard nothing, looked at the guitar, looked around, didn’t see anything—but he heard what sounded like men’s voices arguing with each other.

It was as if an argument was going on in the closet between two men. One sounded Spanish, the other Mexican, and they were talking about money. He heard this from the front room, then went into the bedroom to the closet to look. Again, suddenly everything stopped.

As the days passed, weird things started happening around the inside of Cross’s apartment: His car keys would disappear, then re-appear sometime later. He saw shadows move on the wall, heard footsteps and bangs or knocks. Cupboard doors opened and closed on their own.

Lights turned back on after he shut them off. The television set was on when he would come home, even though he remembered turning it off before went out. His cat would look in the air, as if she saw something move in the air, and then look in the other bedroom as if she could see someone walking around. If the guitar was left out, he could feel a chill around it—like cold air or cold wind.

As Cross began to use the guitar in his rock band, “SCI-FI Prodigy,” strange things would also happen at music rehearsals and band performances. They experienced power failures on their equipment and heard weird voices coming through the music amplifiers.

Lights would go off and on and blow out and on several occasions, actual fires started from the floodlights in the room for no reason. The drummer experienced his cymbals falling off and his drums go out of tune every time he started to play. The band members also heard other people talking in the room around the guitar when they were out of the room.

The guitar could not be played and would de-tune itself when anyone would try to play it except for songs of bad or loud negative music such as “heavy metal” or aggressive rock songs with death and destruction meanings.

The guitar particularly liked one song he wrote and played, entitled “Something Is Out There,” which is about ghosts and evil entities and fear of the unknown with a heavy ‘X-Files’ type edge. This was one of the very few songs the guitar would stay in tune with.

“The guitar had a presence of evil—a bad aura around it. It seemed to be three feet of cold presence. Other people, including Rob McConnell from the X-Zone Radio Show and Janet Russell from Beyond the Unexplained, also felt this,” said Cross.

More things of a paranormal nature occurred to Cross as time went on. He said he had a series of bad luck, which he believe was related to the guitar being in his apartment. He lost his job; his health started to suffer; rashes and sores appeared on his legs for no apparent reason.

His car would shoot out flames from the top of the engine every time he started it, even though there was no mechanical reason to account for this. One day, there was a horrible stench that seemed to come from the guitar—like a burnt dead smell. Then the terrible odor would go away as quickly as it appeared.

Cross began to take pictures of the guitar and investigate why all these bizarre happenings and bad luck occurrences should be taking place. He captured some “ghost orbs” around the guitar many times, and on occasion he could see a misty presence.

It always felt cold when he would pick up the guitar, and he would get small electrical shocks even when it wasn’t plugged in. He said, everywhere he went with the guitar, it seemed to cause things to happen. On one occasion in Ontario, where his band was performing, a fire broke out in the bar area. Glasses filled with water would shatter as they passed near the table where the guitar lay.

On May 16, 1999, Cross was a guest speaker at a UFO-ghost conference, the X Zone Symposium, in St. Catharines, Ontario. He brought his ‘devil guitar’ (also known as haunted guitar) along to see if he could find some individuals who could psychically channel anything that might explain the phenomena surrounding it.

“Psychics said that they felt weird around the guitar and expressed their opinion that it contained an evil presence,” Cross recalled. “Two people who said they could help were psychic-sensitives Janet Russell and Eugenia Macer-Story.

Eugenia proceeded to channel the guitar and found out it had a living entity attached to it. The entity was inside the wood of the guitar. She found it had a controlling effect on Cross and anyone who touched or felt it.

It seemed to have intelligence and was clearly talking to Eugenia, saying it did not wish to be put on display, but wanted to cause evil and destruction. It wanted to fly like a condor with large wings, and it called itself, ‘Eye of the Condor.’ They later found out this was a popular song in Mexico and South America, where condors do live. The guitar wanted to start fires. It wanted Cross to kill with it. Actually use it to kill, swinging it like an axe.

Cross felt sickened when he heard these words being channeled by Eugenia, for many times, he had had frightening images enter his mind of wanting to kill when he was around the guitar. He had also experienced very vivid dreams of going out to commit murder, using the instrument as if it were an axe.

The entity that possessed the guitar went on, saying that it had started many fires and survived while all else burned. It said it had been spawned by the Devil, and it was here to rise up to do its father’s bidding in the world. It wanted to fly free, like a condor, spreading evil throughout the world.

Eugenia found the guitar had the most powerful of Voodoo hexes, EXU (pronounced ‘Echu’), placed on it by previous musicians who had owned it. The hex was supposed to bring wealth to anyone who owned it and did its bidding. The EXU hex back-fired on the owners who were involved with drug money and they were killed.

The spirit inside the guitar wanted to be released into human form in order to kill and destroy. It liked Cross to play only dark, evil music and said it de-tuned itself if the music was good, happy, or up-tempo. The entity said that it never wished to become good. It only wanted to commit evil acts.

“It used profanity, swearing, and vulgar language as it spoke to Eugenia, trying to latch onto her,” Cross said. “The spirit said that it wanted to come into her body and kick out her soul. Eugenia felt the presence coming into her, and she let go and moved away from the guitar as it tried to possess her.”

After 2 hour psychic talk with the spirit, Eugenia suggested the guitar be destroyed or re-blessed to change the evil inside it. When she asked the guitar if it wanted to be blessed, the entity responded by saying no, and speaking in Spanish, began blaspheming Christ and God.

On the advice of Eugenia, Cross did destroy the guitar by taking it to a remote park, putting it in a steel garbage can and dousing it with gasoline and lighter fluid. Before lighting the guitar aflame, Cross put a circle of salt around the container to stop the evil entity from escaping or attaching itself somewhere else. He recited the Lord’s Prayer three times and told the evil entity to go back to its source.

After that, he saw a misty cloud of air rise up inside the garbage can. There was wind all around him. Minutes before, it had been calm. He attempted to light the guitar, but the fire kept going out. He poured more gasoline all over it. He also found some wood to put around it. It took a while to light the fire and a while to get the guitar to burn. Obviously, the entity did not want to be destroyed.

As the flames went higher, Cross heard a high-pitched shriek coming from the burning guitar. It sounded like a sick, wounded animal. He was standing there, watching it burn, adding more gasoline to the fire, when some of the flames jumped on his arm.

Now he was on fire, and as he tried to put it out, he dropped the full can of gasoline. He was horrified—because now the whole can of gas could explode and engulf him in flames.

Cross said, at that time he was panicked, but somehow he managed to put out the flames that had begun to burn his clothes. He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the guitar burn away, into a charred chunk of wood. After an hour, he made sure the flames had burned out.

He poured more salt over the burned up guitar, just to make sure it would contain whatever spirit energy was still left. He left the guitar in the garbage can and took the case, closed it up with salt inside it, and wrapped the blue cloth back around the case. He was shaking, but he felt good that he had destroyed the evil entity. Hoping that it wouldn’t haunt or possess anything else again, he left the park around 10:30 P.M.

Immediately after returning home, Cross felt a sense of relief. He didn’t hear any voices or see or feel any more ghostly activity around him. The next day, Monday, everything immediately changed for the better.

He had a phone call for a new job, his health was coming back, his sores and rashes had all disappeared, and his plants came back to life, he said. Also he won $150 on a Bingo scratch ticket, there were no more power failures on his TV, and his car started normally. Miraculously, everything that had been going bad changed over night since getting rid of the haunted guitar.

Since 1999 Cross has investigated all sorts of hauntings and ghost activity, but he has never had anything happen as bad or bizarre as when he owned the haunted guitar.

Sources: Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places by Brad Steiger; The Midnight Hour: Canadian Accounts of Eerie Experiences edited by John Robert Colombo

General

The Dark and Mysterious History of Yosemite’s Tenaya Canyon

Published

2 days ago

June 1, 2023

Tenaya Canyon is a trail-less and treacherous part of Yosemite
National Park that runs from Tenaya Lake down to Yosemite Valley. It is
known as the “Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite” because of the many
accidents, injuries and deaths that have occurred there over the years.

Some
people even believe that the canyon is cursed by the spirits of the
original inhabitants of Yosemite, who were violently displaced by the
Mariposa Indian War in the 1850s.

The canyon is a challenging and
risky route for adventurous hikers and climbers, who have to navigate
smooth granite slabs, steep rappels, mandatory swims and precarious
ledges. The canyon also offers stunning views of waterfalls, swimming
holes and rock formations.

However, the park officials warn that
“a trip into the unforgiving terrain of Tenaya Canyon…should not be
taken lightly.” There is a sign at the entrance of the canyon that
reads: “TRAVEL BEYOND THIS POINT IS DANGEROUS.”

One
of the most famous incidents in Tenaya Canyon happened in 1918, when
John Muir, the “Father of the National Parks,” fell and was knocked
unconscious while exploring the canyon.

He later wrote: “I was
suddenly brought to a standstill by a blow on the head that confused my
senses for a moment or two without wholly stunning me.” He managed to
recover and continue his journey, but he never returned to the canyon.

Yosemite National Park, Mariposa County, CA

“Tenaya Canyon is one of those places where you can feel history all
around you,” said Scott Gediman, a park ranger at Yosemite National
Park. “It’s a very powerful place.”

Another notable explorer of
Tenaya Canyon was Ron Kauk, a legendary climber who lived in Yosemite
for decades and scaled some of its most challenging walls.

He camped on the side of a rock face in Tenaya Canyon and felt a mysterious force pulling on his sleeping bag.

He told SFGATE:
“It was like something that came around in a teasing kind of way or
something. It wasn’t anything too dramatic, no lights flashing around or
flying by you. Just to acknowledge that there was something else
there.”

He speculated that the canyon might be “the holding place for the original spirit of the place and the people (of Yosemite).”

Tenaya
Canyon is named after Chief Tenaya, the leader of the Ahwahneechee
tribe that lived in Yosemite Valley before they were driven out by the
Mariposa Battalion, a group of armed volunteers sent by California’s
governor to subdue the Native Americans in the area.

The
battalion captured Chief Tenaya and his people and forced them to
relocate to a reservation near Fresno. However, some of them escaped and
returned to Yosemite Valley, where they were attacked again by the
battalion.

Chief Tenaya’s son was killed in the battle, and he
reportedly cursed his enemies and his homeland before fleeing into
Tenaya Canyon. He was later killed by a rival tribe near Mono Lake.

Some
historians and locals believe that Chief Tenaya’s curse still lingers
in Tenaya Canyon, causing misfortune and tragedy for those who enter it.
Others think that the canyon is simply a dangerous place that requires
caution and respect.

Tenaya Canyon has had more than 110 people
killed there and many more injured. It is known to the Park Service as
the Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite.

Hundreds
of people go missing at national parks across the United States every
year. Some of these disappearances are never solved. Yosemite National
Park holds the notorious position as the national park with the third
most missing persons per year (233).

Either way, Tenaya Canyon
remains one of Yosemite’s most fascinating and mysterious places, where
nature’s beauty and history’s brutality collide.

General

Vatican investigates potential miracle at Connecticut church

Published

1 week ago

May 25, 2023

The Catholic Church is reportedly investigating a potential miracle that occurred at a church in Connecticut, reports independent.co.uk.

The supposed miracle took place at St Thomas Church in Thomaston, Connecticut, according to the Hartford Courant.

The
Revered Joseph Crowley, who heads St Maximilian Kolbe Parish, which
includes St Thomas Church, reported that the wafers distributed during
the observation of communion multiplied while sitting inside the
ciborium.

“God duplicated himself in the ciborium,” Rev Crowley
said after communion, referencing the metal storage containers used to
house the communion wafers. “God provides and it’s strange how God does
that. And that happened.”

In
response, the Archdiocese of Hartford began an investigation to
determine whether or not a miracle had occurred at the church.

Since
then, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, a group dating
back to the 1500’s tasked with promoting and defending the Catholic
faith throughout the world, has been notified and has begun its own
investigation.

A spokesman for the archdiocese, David Elliott,
issued a statement to the Hartford Courant saying that “reports such as
the alleged miracle in Thomaston require referral to the Dicastery for
the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. The Archdiocese has proceeded
accordingly, and will await a response in due time.”

Miracles are
an important part of the process of becoming a saint within the Catholic
Church. Sainthood considerations typically begin five years after the
death of an exceptional Catholic.

A
number of criteria must be met, including “verified miracles” — Vatican
officials must determine that the miracles are a direct result of an
individual praying to the candidate saint. They must come to the
decision that the miracle was a result of the dead potential saint
interceding between the petitioner and God, causing the miracle.

The
Catholic Church defines a miracle as a “sign of wonder such as a
healing, or control of nature, which can only be attributed to divine
power.”

While duplicating thin bread wafers may seem like a minor
use of divine power to those unfamiliar with Catholic theology, the
Eucharist — often called communion or the lord’s supper — is arguably
the holiest and most important sacrament — or ritual — in the faith.

Catholics
typically believe in the idea of transubstantiation, or the idea that
the bread and wine given during the ritual literally become the body and
blood of Jesus Christ upon consecration, as opposed to simply symbols
of his presence.

Michael
O’Neil, who goes by the moniker Miracle Hunter, authored a book called
Science and the Miraculous: How the Church Investigates the
Supernatural, spoke to the Hartford Courant and gave examples of
previous eucharistic miracles.

“There are various types of
eucharistic miracles, but the ones that are most remarkable, in my
opinion, were on some rare occasions, the host is said to bleed human
blood,” he said.

Reverend Michael McGivney, the founder of the
Knights of Columbus, ended his clerical career at St Thomas, where the
alleged communion miracle took place. He has been in consideration for
sainthood and requires one more verified miracle before he moves on to
final consideration for sainthood within the Catholic Church.

Archbishop
Leonard Blair explained to the Hartford Courant that “what has been
reported to have occurred at our parish church in Thomaston, of which
Blessed Michael McGivney was once pastor, if verified, would constitute a
sign or wonder that can only be attributed to divine power to
strengthen our faith in the daily miracle of the Most Holy Eucharist.

It
would also be a source of blessing from Heaven for the effort that the
US Bishops are making to renew and deepen the faith and practice of our
Catholic people with regard to this great Sacrament.”

“Blessed” is a title given to saint candidates who have had “verified” miracles attributed to them by the Vatican.