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Outrageous Wellness
Explore out-of-the-box concepts with a mission to inspire authentic living and outrageous wellness. Join us as we share our unique perspectives and knowledge on how to inspire ourselves to discover the best version of ourselves. Find out how to use spiritual tools like tarot, Jungian archetypes and other techniques to reframe stress; incorporate mindfulness and astrology to calm your anxious inner child; create a crystal grid to set an intention and manifest success in your career. We are delighted to be on this journey of exploration, and to discover creative ways to heal and reach your highest potential.
Outrageous Wellness
Doorways to the Spirit World: Interview with Medium Rachael Bright
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Step into the supernatural world of Occoquan, Virginia with Rachael Bright. By day, she's the owner of Local Colour, a vibrant gallery featuring local artists. By night, she transforms into the self-proclaimed "crazy ghost lady of Occoquan," leading haunted tours and communicating directly with the town's supernatural residents.
Rachael's journey into spirit communication began in childhood when she first saw her mother's deceased first husband on the stairs—a man she would later identify from old wedding photos. Throughout her life, spirits have sought her out, recognizing an ability she didn't initially understand. Now, using copper dowsing rods that act like rabbit ears on an old black and white TV, she facilitates conversations between the living and the dead.
The spiritual landscape of Occoquan isn't just about random hauntings. Occoquan is a complex, interconnected community. From Tad, the seven-year-old Dutch boy who haunts Rachael's gallery, to Harry, an indigenous American from 1832 who lives in a local restaurant and is fascinated by modern technology, these spirits maintain relationships, learn new things, and possess unique talents. Some excel at moving objects, others at manipulating light, while some appear in reflective surfaces.
What makes this small Virginia town such a paranormal hotspot? Rachel describes Occoquan as a spiritual vortex centered around a conscious entity known as Oweya—a "genius loci" or local deity formed through thousands of years of indigenous spiritual practices. This presence influences both the living and the dead, drawing spiritually attuned people to the town and supporting a thriving metaphysical community.
Whether you're a skeptic or believer, Rachael's experiences challenge conventional understanding of the afterlife and suggest that the barrier between worlds is thinner than we might think. The most compelling moments come when spirits provide information that later proves accurate—like when a murdered great-grandfather named Sam warned his descendant about workplace danger through a reading.
If you are ready to experience Occoquan's supernatural side for yourself, visit OccoquanSpirits.com to book a ghost tour, or stop by Local Colour at 408 Mill Street where art, history, and the spiritual world converge in unexpected ways. You can also find Rachael on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/localcolouroldtown/
You can find Kristine Erickson on Instagram at outrageous_wellness
Stay tuned for information on Sherry White as she rebrands!
Meeting Rachel Bright in Occoquan
Speaker 1Hello and welcome to Outrageous Wellness. My name is Christine Erickson. I am a psychologist, a tarot reader, a human design consultant and other things. Glad you're here with us today and I am here with Rachel Bright. We're in Occoquan Virginia, at her shop.
Speaker 2It's a gallery, it's a local artist gallery, it's called Local Color and we're at 408 Mill Street in Occoquan and we are haunted. Yes, that was so cool.
Speaker 1So I met you for the first time when I was here. Um, I don't know what is this. This is uh. Um, I don't know what is this. This is, uh, we're in June and it was probably late last year I came in with a friend of mine.
Speaker 2Do you remember that? Yeah, that's really funny. I remember like commenting on your beautiful jewelry, cause I'm like a jewelry freak too.
Speaker 1I was like oh, this lady has good taste.
Speaker 2And you have beautiful jewelry here.
Speaker 1So I was here with Linnaeus that time and I think we were buying maybe buying Christmas presents or something like that. And then I was back here a few weeks ago with my friend Jackie and talk to you again about because she does, you do ghost tours as well Of Akaquan, which I also want to talk about. I want to talk about a lot of things with you. Um, so, also for people to know who are listening, we're also recording this on video and hopefully at some point I will manage to get that uploaded somehow.
Speaker 1Um, you know, my tech skills are are a little shaky, um, you know, but we'll figure it out. So, but we're going to talk through. If she does anything like you know, I will, we'll, we'll tell you what she's doing so that the people just listening will be able to follow along. So just kind of and this is the first time I've ever done one of these in person where everybody we were both in the same room, we're not like on opposite sides of the country or in another country from each other- we're kind of close to each other Exactly.
Speaker 1So this is really so, this is really cool. So all right, so we're just gonna let this happen organically. So talk about your shop first, because this is how I met you, um, coming in buying some, and I know I've been here more than just the two times, but those are the two times that I talked, that I spoke to you so.
From Gallery Owner to Ghost Lady
Speaker 2so I have I joke with everyone that comes in that I lead the most unusual, charmed life. So by day, you know I'm a, I'm a boss lady. You know I own my own gallery and I'm an artist. So not only do I work with local talent, but I have a studio where I get to create my own art as well. And by night, I am a ghost lady. I refer to myself as the crazy ghost lady of Occoquan and I am a spirit talker, so I talk to spirit guides, guardian angels, um, the deceased, those who are on the other side of the veil. Um, those are. Those are kind of my little things that I do, and um. So first I opened my gallery. I want to say it was um July of 2015, 2014, it was 2014.
Speaker 2Sorry, I think this is ancient history now Um, and that was in old town, alexandria and we were there for five years and then we had a wonderful opportunity to relocate here to Occoquan and um, so we did that and the minute I set foot in this gallery I felt the presence of a spirit. And I remember asking my landlord I was like, roger, is there, is there a ghost here? And was like, oh no, it couldn't, there couldn't possibly be a ghost here. So the building is not that old, it just looks old. Okay, it was made out of like old farmhouse parts and so it was built in 1983, oh okay so relatively new.
Speaker 2That's not colonial so no, definitely, definitely not colonial, but I just I couldn't shake the feeling that we had a spirit right. So Roger remembered that it was really in the paranormal and he didn't really know at the time like how in depth my you know curiosity for the paranormal went because of my life experiences, which we can talk about a little bit later. Um, but you know, every once in a while I would tell Roger, you know, like something moved in the gallery, you know, or something is in a funny place, or you know, I felt something, and he'd just be like oh, okay, rachel, okay, you know, but he's very kind, so he never like made a fun of me about it, but, um, I want to say this would have been the fall of 2019. Roger comes in one day and he was like Rachel, there's a ghost tour for sale in Occoquan and he said I think you are the right person for this business.
Speaker 2And at the time I was just like, oh man, roger, I don't know. I'm like I'm, you know, I already, you know, in the weeds with the gallery, like how could I possibly take on a second business? And he goes, rachel, he's like I just have a feeling, meet the lady that's selling the business. Her name's Cindy. I'm like, all right, cool, you know I love ghosts. I would love to meet her anyway, you know make a new friend Right.
Speaker 2So I met Cindy and, um, you know, I thought Cindy was this awesome person you know, and for her, you know, she's also a psychic medium and she wanted to make sure that the person that was going to take over the tour was going to take it seriously and care for the stories. She didn't want to just give it to anyone and make a fast buck you know so anyway, she met me and she's like.
Speaker 2You know what I feel like you're the person and I'm like man. I guess I'm doing this Right. So I bought the ghost tour and a little bit about me is so. My whole life excuse me one second my whole life I have had these paranormal experiences. You know, I will see someone on the other side. It might be a loved one, might be somebody I know or recognize, or someone I have never met and, um, I would also have these encounters with spirits where they were like picking at me like poking at me like hey, hey, hey, I'm here, pay attention to me, and I was like why me?
The Story of Tad, the Gallery Ghost
Speaker 2Why are they coming after me? You know, out of all these people, it's me that's getting singled out, and it's because I didn't realize I was sitting on a very special ability. So fast forward again to this would have been um January of everyone's least favorite year in history, january of 2020, a fantastic time to launch a new business right Wrong.
Speaker 2So, anyway, I had just bought this ghost tour from Cindy and I'm like, well, I guess I won't be doing anything with my new business, but what is up with these dowsing rods, right? So I had never used these before in my life and I decided, one night it was, it was quiet, it was dark, it was cold. I was like, let me just just see what's up with these things.
Speaker 2So, I pulled them out of the bag and, um, lo and behold, there was a little somebody who had been waiting to talk to me all that time Nice, and that's my little gallery ghost named Tad, Okay, and he's the one that would move things and, you know, just kind of make would feel his presence. It's adorable, he's seven, I call him my little boo and um, so I was like blown away at like how amazing like the spirit communication was, like I knew I could see them and in some cases I knew I could hear them, but I didn't know I could have like full conversations with them until I started using these. So it was kind of like when you first go to the gym, right, you set the intention you want to get stronger right.
Speaker 2So you start working the weights and at first you're not that good at it, right? So you got to keep at it. You know, and the more you work the weights, the stronger you get. And it was that way with using the dowsing rods, right?
Speaker 1Yeah, so for those who only have audio of this conversation. Describe the dowsing rods for people who aren't familiar with them. I have a set myself. They're very, very fun.
Speaker 2So, yeah, these are amazing. So they're kind of like best way I can describe these is they're it's like a copper wire, that's like bent, and in some cases the end of the copper wire that fits in your hand is encased in like this little copper bead, right. So here's my theory about these. Um, they're copper, right, and I've always believed that our spirit friends are kind of made up of this, like free floating electromagnetic stuff, right? So if you think about, like the electrical impulses in our heart, in our brain, in our body, and when we pass on that electricity goes out right.
Speaker 2So what's to say? It doesn't disperse all the way, right? So copper is an amazing conductor of electricity. You know. They use it all the time, you know in electrical work. So I feel like all these are doing. They're like the rabbit ears on an old black and white TV. They're just pulling in, you know, those electrical impulses and they're able to give us a visual yes or no answers to questions. That we ask so traditionally with these guys is if you wanted to ask a question that was yes, you ask your spirits to cross the rods.
Speaker 2So you might see something where the rods come together and form a V. Now, if the answer is no, traditionally you will ask your, your spirit, to not cross the rods. Leave the rods parallel to each other.
Speaker 1Okay, or I've also seen where they go out. Yeah, they actually repel.
Speaker 2Yes, and that can that can be. So every spirit talker has a different way of doing things, Um, and it kind of is like your spirits, the one that you work with, they'll kind of get used to how you do things, it's like with the pendulum, where you, you kind of you, and the pendulum decide what, what is yes, what is no, you know. Yes.
Speaker 1And so on.
Speaker 2Yeah, so the neat, the neater thing about this too, is because these are an amplifier. I feel like they also helped me and my abilities to amplify, so, um, I don't need to rely so heavenly, heavily, heavily on the rods anymore. So now I can hear them and it's it's kind of like not through my ears, it's more like through my mind's eye.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2And sometimes people will ask me what does that sound like? And the best description I can give you is it's. It's the same voice. When you read a book and you know, as your your eyes are skimming over the sentences on the page, that there's a voice that kind of reads out in your mind yes, it's the same thing. So sometimes it'll take on more of a baritone if it's a male spirit, or sometimes a lighter, you know, but generally it's that same voice. So it's like I'm literally reading through my third eye what the spirits are trying to tell me.
Speaker 1That's really interesting because I know different people have different ways of communicating and that's yours and that's really cool.
Speaker 2Now, some people can absolutely hear the voices. On occasion I can too, but generally it's it's through that sort of like third eye reading. Now, a lot of times when I'm doing this, what I will do to make sure I've heard the spirits right, as I will ask them to confirm yes or no on the rods. Did I just hear you correctly? Did you just say?
Speaker 2and then they'll give me that and and, uh, if it's a ghost I know really well or a spirit guide that I know really well, um, the communication is very quick, Um, so there's no like wait time. It's almost as fast as I'm talking to you. It's kind of neat. Yeah, that is, that is. And sometimes they really throw me for a loop, like they'll ask me things or they'll tell me things that like blow me out of the water and it's like I never could have made that up in my head. You know like I'm. I mean, I'm creative, but I'm not that creative. So, um, I don't know if we can talk about more risque things. Sure, why not? So I have this spirit. He is a delight. His name is Harry. He's become a good friend of mine. He lives at DeRocco's. He's an indigenous American. Derocco's is a restaurant.
Speaker 2Yes, right down here in the heart of Occoquan it's a wonderful Italian restaurant and, um, he's this 18 year old guy, you know. So he gets kind of like spicy on occasion, but when you pass over to the other side, your curiosity and your ability to learn does not go away. That continues so with Harry, his, his tribe, the Tauksinit people, is no longer in this region, which is a great tragedy. You know, what has happened to the Tauksinit people is the same thing that has happened to many, many indigenous cultures from South America all the way up into Canada.
Speaker 2So when working with Harry, I wanted to make sure that he knew that all indigenous people did not pass away, uh, that they're still here, they're still thriving, um, so what I do with Harry is I invite him to come to the gallery on Wednesdays. So Wednesday is a quiet day here in Occoquan and I'll usually play a movie or a TV show that features a modern indigenous voice. And, um, so we started. One of the first shows that we started watching was an oldie but goodie, um, northern exposure. Okay, so those of us from a certain age group, you might remember the show.
Speaker 2It's a wonderful show, um, wonderful quirky cast, and it takes place in, like, uh, alaska where there's like um half indigenous people and half, you know, non-indigenous people living and working together and uh, so Harry really liked this show, but I I forget because Harry's from 1832 that there are certain things they talk about in that show that he would have no reference for. Like, for instance, there was this one show where they were talking about an F-16 fighter jet, okay, and so Harry's like what is an F-16? Well, of course he wouldn't know what that is, so I would stop the show and I would pull up Google and I would show him what, what an F-16 fighter jet is.
Speaker 1I'm just like trying to picture this. You know, this conversation with the spirit. Yes, you can't see him.
Early Experiences with the Spirit World
Speaker 2And he does ask questions. So so this is the. This is the spicy part. So in one of the episodes I had forgotten about this do, where I may not have shown him this episode, but they talk about circumcision. Oh so Harry, being you know, you know, sharp and wanting to know everything is like what is circumcision? So I found myself having to explain to him, to an 18 year old indigenous man from 1832, what circumcision is Nice, and I was having a very hard time. Was it uncomfortable? Very, oh okay.
Speaker 2And so, Tad, my gallery ghost, actually I'm going to get it. I know we're recording soon. All right, the folks at home that get to see this video. You've got to see this thing.
Speaker 1It's hilarious. It is Scrabbing oh.
Speaker 2So Tad has all these toys. So after trying and failing to describe to Harry what circumcision is, I pull out Tad's little dachshund action figure. Leader dog yeah he's wearing a hot dog costume and I explain to Harry that it's like taking the bun off the hot dog costume. And I explained to Harry that it's like taking the bun off the hot dog. And I tell you what I have never experienced a feeling of horror from a goat.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2So it's like, clearly the taxonate people did not did not do this, and Harry's like why would anyone do that? And I'm like honey, I don't know it's. Let's move on. How about another episode?
Speaker 1That's so funny, but yeah.
Speaker 2So so this was the kind of thing that I this is my life you know, so super fun.
Speaker 1This is my life, you know, so super fun, um, so tell me more about what a ghost tour looks like with you, because I have a feeling that it's a little bit different from the ghost tours that we see and that we do in, like old town, alexandria. You know where it's stories you're taking. You know people are taken outdoors from one building to another and told stories about the different um, you know the different places. And it sounds like you have a much more active uh tour in terms of the spirits.
Speaker 2Yes, so. So I do offer two different types of tours for the adults. I have the haunted pub crawls on Friday and Saturday night and there, um, I will take people to three haunted locations in town and what we do is we sit and we enjoy what the the business has to offer. Uh, of course, nobody is. Nobody has to purchase drinks, um, and it is. There are lots of teetotaler options as well, but the goal is I want people to get to know the ghosts from their own perspective. Okay, so you know, like the old um, what's the old game of telephone?
Speaker 2right when you whisper to your friend and it goes around the classroom and by the time it gets back to you it's a whole different story. That's the same thing with ghost stories.
Speaker 2You know there was an event that happened 200 years ago and this thing and by the time it's passed down through generations of families and all like that, it's completely different. So I thought, well, here is the opportunity for the ghost to tell their story from their own mouth, you know, from their own life and I really wanted people to get to know the history of the town through the eyes of someone that lived that history. So that's why I do the spirit communication.
Speaker 1That's fun.
Speaker 2And it's really neat. And on Sundays I do a similar tour. It's called the haunted history walking tour and it's for all ages, young and old, and we don't do any inside restaurants, but we do circumnavigate the town and usually we'll stop into Rockledge mansion, which is this amazing, haunted Scooby Doo mansion. Okay, it literally looks like something that, like the mystery machine, is going to drive up the driveway. Any second, scooby's going to get out. You know it's, it's cool.
Speaker 1It's very, very haunted and wonderful, and so, yes, that's really cool, so I love that, um, and I also want to know about your little ghost here, my little Taddy, and where he came from.
Speaker 2Yes, so Taddy has a very important story.
Speaker 2So with Tad and this is another thing that I do for all spirits, it doesn't matter if it's a ghost or an ancestor If there is a message that I can get across, I'm going to tell people just as I hear it.
Speaker 2So with Ted um, he's a little Dutch boy, okay. So he is from, I believe, 1951 is when he crossed over to the other side and he used to come to town with his father, who was at the time, I believe, employed through the Dutch Navy, okay, and we used to be a deep water port. We used to have a much deeper river than we have now, I do. We have the waterworks over here and we have the mine, and so our river has silted up quite a bit, but from Tad's era, we did have big ships coming in. So so, taddy, would you know, come to town with dad, play with the neighborhood kids while dad's working, and then, when dad was done working, he would go home with him. So with Tad, the information that I get is that Tad has a small arm, so he's not as strong a swimmer as the other neighborhood kids were.
Speaker 2And we do think that maybe something happened with the river. So the reason he's here where my building is remember how I told you the building was built in 83? Yes, Prior to that it was just kind of a grassy knoll. We think the land may have at one point been attached to Rockledge Mansion and there was an old stables here, Okay, and this is where all the neighborhood kids would play.
Speaker 2It was kind of like their own little haunted house that they played in you know, so when Tad passed over, he decided to wait where he felt the most comfortable, and that was right here. Okay, so one day in 1983, there's a building built on top of them, and then one day in 2018, here comes a crazy gallery lady and all her artists and the rest is history. But, um, I am looking to reconnect Tad with his family. So Tad tells me that he had a younger brother and a younger sister, and 1951 is, you know, relatively recent, you know. So it's possible they're still on our side of the veil. So the family surname is Luff, but it's spelled L-O-E -F. We were able to track down a coat of arms that says Luff, so I know that's a real last name that Tad is telling me.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2But I haven't been able to actually find any living Luffs in the United States and every ghost tour I have, and there've been hundreds of them. At this point, I always ask you know if you, if you find anybody with that surname, or if you've heard of that surname, send them down to the gallery, because I would love to do that for him If I could. That would be fascinating. That'd be great. I'm sure the family would like to know if he's doing okay. Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 1Yes, that's very cool. Yeah, thank you, and you mentioned ancestors as well, so talk about your other, the other types of readings that you do.
Speaker 2Yeah, so, so I do tarot, much like yourself, but but I I use the dowsing rods in conjunction with that. Okay, so what I like to do is I'll get the spread out first, and then what I'll do is I'll try to connect in with one of the person's my sitters, spirit team, and usually what will happen is I will get a name and I'll ask the sitter if they know the name. Half the time they do, half the time they don't, because with ancestors or you know your uh spirit guide, ancestral lineage can go back hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. I had one sitter who has, like an ancient Babylonian, like king, as an ancestor, and he's watching over the entire ancestral line which is amazing.
Speaker 2Um. So you know, once I established contact with whomever that name belongs to, I will ask for clarification. So I'll ask you know, are these the cards that you want on the table? And then, once I have that, I will feel through the cards. So I'll try to get like feelings, emotions, messages, words, images, even sometimes smells, sounds will come through. And then I'll ask my sitter if what I'm feeling resonates with them. And then I will ask them if what I'm picking up on as the message, does that resonate with them? And then I'll ask the spirit guide is this the right message for the sitter? And they'll they usually say yes, like. I've only had one instance where it was like, not quite. You got to dig a little deeper, which I'm always happy to do it. You know, I want the information to come that's coming through to be as on point as possible, because the point is to put the sitter on their path towards their highest good. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1So I want to know how, like? Where did you like? Where are you from? How did you uh get into all? When did you realize that you know what I mean, that that that what you were communicating with were spirits that you weren't you know?
Speaker 2goodness. Um. So as a very young kid, um everybody kind of knew Rachel's different, rachel's weird right.
Speaker 2And so I don't know what it is about me Like. People will either meet me and instantly love me or be terrified of me. I don't know what. What it is, it's the, I guess. Maybe they know something. I don't know, but I think my earliest recollection of seeing a spirit I was about six years old. We had moved. I was born in the suburbs of San Francisco, I'm from San Mateo, okay, and we moved in 1979 all the way cross country to Alexandria, virginia, and I've been here ever since. So I may have been seeing spirits prior to that, but the one that I remember. I was getting ready for bed and I remember being very, very small and I had a very long nightgown on. You know cause. You know, the nightgown was bigger than me. I was supposed to grow into it.
Speaker 1Right, I love when parents do that.
The Spiritual Vortex of Occoquan
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm like hobbling up the stairs in this long nightgown and all of a sudden I hear a creak on the stairs behind me and I turn around thinking it was my mom, you know, just making sure I got upstairs, okay, and it's a tall, thin man wearing a blue suit and we locked eyes for like four seconds and then he was gone. So I came back downstairs and I said, mom, there's a man there. There was a man on the stairs as a man in a blue suit. She got a funny look on her face and I said and she said, well, what did he look like? So I described what he looked like and she was, and she went like white as a sheet.
Speaker 2She didn't say anything, but I think she was just like oh, go on to bed, honey, you know, like one of those things. So about I'm about 10 years old at this point I'm staying the night at my grandma's house and we used to love to play in grandma's closet because we could play dress up, you know, and I found a box and in this box is an old photo album and it's a wedding right. So I opened it up thinking it was my mom and my dad.
Speaker 2It was not, it was my mom. And the tall, thin man from the staircase, oh, and I was pretty blown away by that. And I remember I went to my grandma and I'm like grandma, who's this man? And she said well, honey, let's, let's sit down and talk about it. And she said you know, that was your mom's first love. He, she married a lovely man named John R Tyne, captain John R Tyne, and he was killed in Vietnam. And of course, of course, he's my spirit guide, of course, because he loved my mother so much he couldn't be with her in life. So he did the next best thing he took up the mantle to watch out for me.
Speaker 1Nice.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1And I talked to him every day, every day. Yeah, do you see him still, or did you just see him the one time? I only?
Speaker 2laid eyes on him the one time, Okay, but it's like I'll hear him and I'll feel him.
Speaker 1You know I'll hear him and I'll feel him, you know.
Speaker 2So it's pretty cool. I have his, his photo on my desk, and I have his photo on my desk at home too.
Speaker 1I have to look at that before I, before I go.
Speaker 2So so that was like the first time I saw a spirit, first of many. And, um, I used to have this invisible friend, you know, and everybody was like, oh, rachel's. Just, you know, she's really imaginative, she's playing, but I don't know, he was a boy about my age and he had glasses and I used to talk to him like on all day, like talk to him, and he would kind of like he was kind of mischievous, right, so he would kind of like say things to get a rise out of me, and I'd be like I called him Jim. I don't know why I'm like Jim, stop it.
Speaker 2And you know, as I got older, you know, that connection kind of faded and so, you know, I've forgotten about him for a really long time and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, after I started using the dowsing rods, I started thinking about him again and I'm like what if he wasn't an imaginary friend, right, right. So I don't know, you know, so, like that kind of thing. And then, like I would see, you know, full body apparitions, shadow spirits. I've seen the ghosts of both of my grandparents and it's funny, in every instance it's for us like just a couple of seconds, and it's usually when I'm not trying to. Yes, I'm like busy, like.
Speaker 2I'm cleaning the kitchen, or I'm vacuuming or sweeping and I'll look up, and then they are looking at me yeah, you know so, and I think they're just like checking like how you doing. And I also have something called night visitations.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2And that's where, you know, a deceased loved one or deceased friend will come through in my dreams and just say, hey, how you doing? Yeah, how you doing. Do they have messages for you? How you doing? Yeah, how you doing. Do they have messages for you Sometimes, um, I had a strange encounter with a classmate that had passed away. Um, actually two encounters with classmates that have passed away. In both instances I didn't know them very well at all. It was like you just see them around Occasionally, you would say in the hallway, that kind of thing, see them around Occasionally. He would say in the hallway, that kind of thing. But this one um, this one classmate, um, had died like a really kind of tragic and preventable death. You know, I'm not going to put a name out there, but it was like um and like a substance abuse, like alcohol related death, and he, um, he, he, he felt that he had wasted his life and he was upset and he, he kind of like wanted me to like tell people not to do that.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2Right, and so you know me being new at this. You know I put a post out there and like upset a bunch of people and felt really bad about it. I'm like this was not my intention at all. I did not mean to hurt anyone's feelings or make anyone feel bad, but this is how he's feeling, you know, and I think he said something to the effect of um, a life wasted or something like that. And, uh, you know, I tried to help him move on, like so whenever these things happen, I do my best to try to help people move on, if I can. Some ghosts don't want to.
Speaker 1They want to stick around. They absolutely want to stick around.
Speaker 2They're not done yet. They have stuff to do or in some cases, they've made a life for themselves that way.
Speaker 1And they're happy there.
Speaker 2So I have to respect that. I'm not going to force anybody to move on. If they're not wanting to or not ready to, they have to choose that.
Speaker 1So yeah, Um are you? Do you see that there, that there are different sort of classes of spirits or ghosts, for lack of a better term, and I don't know if that would have to do with um, related to maybe how soon or long ago they had passed? I, I have a theory on this. I'm curious. I want to know the theory, your theory? I'm not sure if it's classes or talents.
Speaker 2Okay, right, so us, on this side of the veil, everybody has talent Like. Somebody might be like like being a good artist or a good communicator, or a good builder, good mathematician, good electric, somebody good with their hands. You know, everybody has that sort of like special gift. I think spirits do too, because some spirits are really really good at moving things, Some are really good at being heard, some are good at flashing the light, some are good at touching you. So I feel like and it's funny, there's a show on. It's called Ghosts. It was on the BBC first and then it was on like I can't remember what channel Like it's streaming on.
Speaker 2I want to say maybe Hulu, but I'm sorry Hulu if I'm wrong, but it's genius, right, it's hilarious, number one. Brilliant cast, brilliantly acted. But so many things are right about that show. I wondered if they actually hired really real psychics to help them write this. Probably there's only a couple of things that aren't right, um, but wow, you know. So, like in the show they actually kind of delve into that how each ghost has like this special thing that can do, like one ghost does the lights, one ghost makes a smell special thing that it can do Like when ghost does the lights. One ghost makes a smell, one ghost makes everybody high you know, like.
Speaker 1So yeah, I feel like that's definitely a thing, Okay, so I was curious about that. You know, and I guess some are are maybe are better at showing themselves than others too.
Speaker 2Yes, and also that's choice as well, okay, um, like, for instance, I referenced Harry earlier. Like Harry is really really good at showing up in reflections, so we've actually gotten photos of him showing up in like the reflection of a window, a mirror, and then some of them will do like shadow figures or they'll show up like standing in front of you, like a silhouette of a person, and some of them it's just like they're there, like just like me looking at you. Yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, um yeah, that's really interesting. I it's one of those. Sometimes I wonder if I have seen spirits and not even aware of it, like not even know that that's what they were.
Speaker 2Maybe like one of the first things. So when I was like in my teenage years, I was trying to suppress these things, of course.
Speaker 1Yeah, you don't want to be the you don't want to be the weird kid?
Speaker 2Yes, yes, like I, I, you know, I desperately wanted to fit in with my peers and you know as much as we all love Wednesday Adams. Like I didn't want to like be Wednesday.
Speaker 1Adams, you just wanted her to be your friend.
Speaker 2I wanted her to be my friend. I still do. I love you Wednesday, Adams, but um, but you know what I mean. It's like I would see things and just be like yeah, we gonna address that at all. Um, one of the most amazing things I saw. It's like about 16 and I was doing work in the theater arts and this was in the big theater we had. I went to west potomac high school and we had a smaller theater.
Speaker 1No kidding, yeah, what year no my husband went there 1994.
Speaker 2Okay, ancient, ancient history.
Speaker 1His goes farther than that.
Speaker 2And my son also went there.
Speaker 1Yeah, so my husband went there when it was Grove Town, okay, and then my son graduated in 2013.
Communication Methods with Spirits
Speaker 2So you know the layout of the place pretty well, I do. You know the big theater and the little theater, yes, so this is a big theater, okay, and I don't know why. I was in there by myself. I know that we were doing scene studies, I think, and I was going to meet my scene study partner there, but of course I walk in. All the lights are off and I don't know if you've ever been there when the lights are off, but that place is dork, okay. Well, there's no windows. It is like midnight dark. So there was like the doors had a window that was about, you know, two or three feet by, like a foot, like this narrow window, and the lights from the outer hallway are coming in so I can see just enough window and the lights from the outer hallway are coming in so I can see just enough, and I'm looking down towards the stage and coming up the aisle is a darker than dark shadow figure moving, just like a teenage boy would move, and you know I'm looking around, would move.
Speaker 2Yeah, and you know I'm looking around. I'm like is there some sort of light that?
Speaker 1I'm not seeing that could be creating that shadow.
Speaker 2And you know they always say every theater is haunted and the legend for that theater is that back in the day I guess, there was a tech who was up in the catwalks that fell and passed away sadly, right there. I don't know if any of this is true, I just know what I saw. So my scene study partner comes in and I'm like, yeah, I just saw Smokey. We called him Smokey after that because he looked like a little smoke figure. So that happened and I think I only told like one or two friends about it because I just did not want to be the weird girl even more ostracized than I already was at that point but um, I'm sure you were not as ostracized, yeah let's be honest the school was horrible for everyone at some point, exactly you know it was.
Speaker 2I always described it as, like, you know, a nine to five job that you had to go to and you didn't get paid for, you know. So, yeah, for me, like theater, arts and art and literature got me through it, you know, and my friends, of course too. So, yeah, that was. That was interesting. Um, I've seen many ghosts, many, many ghosts, um, over the years.
Speaker 1So is do you see more ghosts um around? You know sort of like the. You know solstices, equinoxes and cross quarters as well, you know, of course, you know Halloween or Samhain is kind of the big, the biggie one that everybody talks about, but also, yeah.
Speaker 2Oddly enough, the answer to that question is yes and no. Okay, so Akakuan is like a spiritual little vortex, right? So the ghosts that live here are self-aware. A lot of them are very, very good at doing their own special talents. They're not stuck in the buildings they live in, they can move freely throughout Akaquan and they have very in-depth interpersonal relationships. So, um, I will say, around Halloween, samhain, the energy ramps up a little bit, okay, but honestly, it's 365 days of haunt down here.
Speaker 2Like anytime you come down here there's something going on, like anytime you come down here there's something going on.
Speaker 1Yes, there's a good time.
Speaker 2It's just as haunted January 15th as it is on October 31st.
Speaker 1Nice, you know, it's just funny how that works.
Speaker 2It is Now, this past year, both my associate, cindy, the one that sold me the business yeah, we're still, we've become like BFFF, ghost BFFs Okay yeah, and Cindy helps me out on tours, and also here at the gallery, and uh, we, we had this conversation how we felt like this past year it was the strongest out of all the years we were doing this, and it seemed like it wasn't just on the 31st of October, it was like two weeks ahead and two weeks after. It was just really, really palpable energy.
Speaker 1It was neat yeah. Yeah, I want to get back to that. But uh, when you say vortex, are you talking about vortex in the same um sort of meaning as we talk about? You know, the vortexes in like Sedona and then there's, and then there's, you know there's supposedly there's a vortex that you know Washington, washington DC, which is what kind of keeps everything running so it doesn't all collapse into a big we have a very special reason for that.
Speaker 2So there've been many theories over the years, like ley lines um courts. We have a huge. There's an abundance of courts in the earth around here. We're running water in the river, all of those things, but I think it's because we have a great spirit here. This is going to be woo, woo to the max. Okay, everybody hold your hold on to your horses. That's what we're here for. We're here for woo, woo, it's about taking up and out.
Speaker 2So some of the very um book smart people out there might know what this means. We have a genius loci.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2Which kind of roughly translates to local deity or local God. So we had the Tau Xenit people here for many, many years, um, it's estimated and it could be longer than this, but estimated 4,000 years before John Smith ever sailed up the river and messed it up for everybody, right? Um, when you take a group of people in a concentrated region and they're practicing their spiritual beliefs over time, a lot of times that spiritual energy will kind of um come together and are like focused enough to create whomever they are worshiping to Right. So Akaquan has a great spirit named Aweya.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2How do you spell that? So the Tauksinit is not a written language? Okay, like the Navajoajo, it is spoken only. But my associates and myself kind of spell like oh w a, oh away, oh we H. Okay, it's kind of like how we're cursing and soweya is very much alive and what that means is the land itself that we're sitting on right now is sentient land.
Speaker 2It is awake, it is aware. So Oweya's physical form would be the rocks, the dirt, the water that flows through the river, the birds, the fish, the trees, the grass, the flowers, everything that's Owea's body. And I myself do not have the ability to talk to Owea. He is way outside of my wheelhouse of communication. However, harry can talk to Owea. Okay, so there's a message that needs to be passed back and forth. That's what how we do it.
Speaker 2Okay, so Auea is, um, very aware of what happened to his people. Um, you know, it's kind of the situation where I won't say that we're accepted, right, but he knows that we're here and the thing is we don't get a pass. Oh, no, no, no, we have an important job to do. We have to take up the reins of caring for Akaquan as if we were the Tau'xinit people, right, and so far we've been doing a pretty terrible job, you know, you know the land's been chopped up, bisected, you know polluted.
Speaker 2The worst thing in the world is plastic trash. Yes, so if a plastic bag blows into the river and, let's say, a duck eats it, and that duck gets sick and dies, and that makes a way I feel sick, makes him weak, right? So the only real message I have from a way is you know, just please, like, pick up after yourself, you know, if you see plastic trash that someone has left, and pick it up and throw it away, with intention, right, and the intention is aware, I do this in honor of you, right, like you care, right, that's, that's the most important thing.
Speaker 1So, and being mindful in how you live, mm.
Speaker 2So his influence affects the spirits. It affects people too. We have had a lot of people who are very spiritually open, spiritually gifted, that feel drawn to the town Like they'll be driving across the bridge and they like feel pulled in.
Speaker 1Right, well there, so I didn't know. I didn't even know this until I was here with my friend a few weeks ago, when I met you for the second time, but there are a number of metaphysical shots in. Oh yes, I mean, I know about, you know, the 13 magical moons, which is that's the one that shows up when you do like a search on Google. Yes, there's stuff that doesn't show up when you do a search. You got to walk around and find them.
Speaker 2You know what? And there's more and more because people are, are spiritual, people are drawn here. So we have earth addictions, which is a wonderful you know rock and gem metaphysical shop as well. We have organic allure which same. You know it's run by a wonderful lady. They do um um aura photography there on occasion, okay, as well as like other neat things like Reiki, yelling and all, of course, 13 magical moons. We have um black magic, which is um a really great place, and they do um like herbal, like shakes delicious herbal shakes.
Speaker 1I have not had one of those, but do you have all of the all of the ingredients you could possibly want? There's like jars on, you know, across all of the walls in there with whatever you might need.
Speaker 2We also have a lovely lady who and I I'm so sorry I don't have her information Um, she's just right next to where belly whack shack used to be and she does angel communication. So her her abilities are similar to what someone like I can do.
Spirit Abilities and Ghost Tour Offerings
Speaker 2And so all these great people are here and uh, with the goal of kind of getting people, you know, on their path towards their highest good. Yes, exactly, I know that there are certain factions that are afraid of what we do, right, but you know, here's my theory on this. Yes, what we do is very unusual. No, not everybody can do to the extent of what we do. However, I feel like every single human being has psychic capabilities. Everybody has a gift, whether that's the gift of communication, um, you know, like Claire, claire, audience, claire, gustin's Claire, um, you know, there's like all the different Claire's all the Claire's, all the Claire's you know, just know things, or you know whatever it is where you're here, or you yeah.
Speaker 2Mm-hmm, If you accept that gift right, the stronger it gets and the more it opens up your other clairs. So here's my, here's what I really think this is for. If you look at animals, you have fish, right. How do the fish know to swim upstream? They just know, just know, just know. How do the birds know to migrate?
Speaker 1They just know.
Speaker 2So psychic ability might be a human being's way of getting that knowledge across Right. That's how we just know. That's what we're here for. We're here to help those who can't do it as well as we can.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2So get them on the path, get them on the right path, yeah, and. And what that path is, that's for everybody to decide, but it's what I do. What I want to do with this gift is to help every person connect in with their spirit team, their ancestors, their guardian angels, to get them on their path to their best life and whatever is going to benefit humankind. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1Yes, no, I agree, I'm all about that too, you know, and uh, it's very rewarding.
Speaker 2I think so too, I rewarding. So and I gotta be honest, I I do get plagued by um doubt. Often, like you know I'll I'll be like what if I'm just making this up Like you know, like how do I know? Right, but but the it's like the universe will remind me from time to time that, yes, it is right.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2So I had this happen last week and I will change the names, you know, just because these are real people. But I, about six months ago, I had a sitter. It was a man and a woman, and it was the man who was the sitter. Usually it's the woman, but this, this case, it was the man who was the sitter. Usually it's the woman, but this is this case, it was the man and what came through was a, a gentleman. I'll call him, uh, call him Sam.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 2So Sam comes through and I can see him clear as day in my mind's eye and he's like a tall, thin, good old boy. He's wearing like a flannel shirt, you know, it's kind of quiet. He's got his hands in his pockets and I said, um, do you know someone named Sam? And he said no, I don't know who that is. And I said, okay, well, we'll just continue on. And I said, you know, make, make a note of it in case it's relevant later. So so Sam was very, very worried about his, his charge, his, his person, and he was afraid that there was like a situation with a coworker where the coworker was going to harm him and and Sam kept using the word uh, in the bay, in the bay he's, he's going to do something, he's going to sabotage you in the bay, and I'm like the bay, uh. And then I thought, wait, do you? Do you work with automotives, right?
Speaker 2So like that's what they call in the in the auto industry, and they have bays where they work on the vehicles. And he was like that's what they call in the in the auto industry, and they have bays where they work on the vehicles. And he was like yes, I am. And and I said well, sam is telling me that he's afraid your coworker is going to try to hurt you. And um, and then, at which point, the lady who's who's sitting next to this gentleman starts crying and she's like yes, we've been having problems with a coat, like a really violent coworker. And I said well, here's what to look out for, right? And then, you know, the the session ended and, um, you know, they went home and I haven't seen them in a while.
Speaker 2And then last week the lady comes back. We'll call her Pam. And Pam said Rachel, I just want to let you know, there was a Sam and it was, you know, jim's great grandfather, and he was murdered. And she said he was a good old boy and you know, he did like to wear apparently he worked on a farm and like to wear flannel shirts. And I said oh, my gosh, that makes total sense. He was so worried about his great grandson because of what happened to him. Yeah, right, so he was being hypervigilant, right.
Speaker 1So he was being hypervigilant.
Speaker 2Thankfully, the situation uh resolved itself and, jim, you know I say that in air quotes, cause that's not his real name. Jim is no longer hopefully no longer in any danger. Yeah, okay, but that just cemented everything for me. You know, she said that.
Speaker 1You know my description was spot on, they found an old photo of him. The name was right, all of that and I'm like, okay, rachel is not crazy.
Speaker 2Well, at least, I might be a little bit crazy, but you know every artist is. But yeah, but no, I'm definitely hearing this stuff. This is the real deal, yeah. So I was like thank you, universe, for the confirmation that's great. Yes, always like a relief, yeah so she's gonna write me a google review, I know. So I was like yeah, please, like I would like other people to know that's so great.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, that is great and hopefully you know people will also listen to this and I have a feeling that we're going to have some people who I know come in yes, yeah, to see the shop and to see that, yeah, we want to do a ghost tour. We'll figure out the details.
Speaker 2Bring your dowsing rods, Okay. So one thing I like to put out there this is my PSA Dowsing rods do not work for everyone do not watch this video and instantly order dowsing rods. So you remember how we talked about everybody's abilities? Yes, so I have an ability there. I think it's a frequency of my voice that allows me to be heard on the other side of the veil.
Speaker 2We found out doing the ghost tours, that ghosts can't hear everyone, and this is the thing that's so cool. That's why I always encourage my tour attendees to ask questions to the spirits, because sometimes people think of something and it like blows the whole field open.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2So it was this little boy on the haunted history walking tour. He was like eight years old and he was like rachel, can you ask the ghost if he can hear my voice? So I asked and the ghost said no. And I was like well, that's hot. So then I asked the ghost if he could hear anyone else on the tour that day and he said no. So then I went to all the other ghosts and I did the same thing and they were all like no, okay. So every once in a while we'll get someone that has the same ability as me, and I think it's just. Maybe it's a hereditary talent, or call it what you will call it God, givensource-given, whatever you want to call it. It is a gift, but what it does is I can talk to them. They can hear me and respond. Most other people if they're talking. The ghost would only see their mouth moving.
Speaker 1Most other people if they're talking, the ghost would only see their mouth moving.
Speaker 2The only way to communicate for folks like that is to record your voice into your phone and play it back, because it changes the frequency. Oh, wow, they can also hear your voice over TV or the radio Completely different frequency. Okay, so now, on most ghost tours, not everyone is comfortable doing the medium test. I call it the medium test, okay, but all we're doing is we're testing for the voice, okay, so we'll go around the room and tour participants can find out if they have the ability that I have. It's a bit rare, I would say.
Speaker 2Usually on my tours maybe one in 20 people might have it, and I always say have you ever had a lot of paranormal experiences that you can't explain? And they always say yes, and that is because the ghost can hear you talking and they go here's somebody that might be able to help me get a message out. Got it? So remember how I told you how ghosts will be like poke poke, poke, poke, poke. Yep, it's because they knew I had the ability before I knew I had the ability. Isn't that a thing?
Speaker 1Yeah, that's pretty cool.
Closing Thoughts and Contact Information
Speaker 2So if you come on my tour um, that's Akaquan spirits Uh, we can do the medium test for, and then you can decide if you want to buy your dowsing rods.
Speaker 1There you go. That's awesome and yeah, I guess we should. How long have we been talking? I don't even know.
Speaker 2Feels like two minutes. I know it's been having so much fun.
Speaker 1It's been an hour. Wow, that's crazy. I could talk about ghosts, so I know. No, this is awesome. Um, so, yeah, we should probably, I guess, I guess, uh, bring this to a close. Um, we are so your shop once again.
Speaker 2Some people know how to find you, so we are local color and on the socials and on, uh, we are, uh, on the socials, we are local, color, old town, and color is spelled the British way C O L O U R. You are I noticed that and the website is local color Akakuancom. And then, if you would like to book a ghost tour, uh, you just go to Akakuan spiritscom and you can uh take a look at the tours that I offer. And as far as tarot and um spirit talking, I don't advertise that. I do it and it's because people find me when they need me. Yeah, Right, so, um, I am more than happy to do sessions for anyone. Um, you just, you know, give me a call or send me a message or come on by the gallery and I'm happy to set that up for you.
Speaker 1Perfect, yeah, yeah, and I would also love to do, cause this has been so great and so easy to do once, once I got the technical stuff going yes. Um, we could. It'd be really fun to get back together and talk about tarot sometimes specifically yeah. Just talk about that. Absolutely, that would be really fun. So, yeah, so, uh, this is I'm Christine Erickson. Again, outrageous wellness. Um, if you liked what you heard today, please share it with somebody else, and I'll be back soon with another with another fascinating episode. Thank, you.
Speaker 1Christine, thank you for being here. It's been really fun all right until next time.
