Inside America’s Most Fascinating Vampire Museum | Killer Konversations with Steven Fisher Ep. 1

Welcome to the very first episode of Killer Konversations.

Steven Fisher sits down with Edmondo Crimi, founder of the Vampa Museum in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for a fascinating discussion about vampire folklore, haunted artifacts, exorcisms, guardian angels, history, and the enduring battle between good and evil.

Far beyond horror stories, this conversation explores why humans create folklore, how belief shapes culture, and what these artifacts reveal about our shared history.

In this episode:

• The origins of vampire folklore
 • Authentic vampire killing kits
 • Haunted objects and paranormal experiences
 • Exorcisms and spiritual belief
 • The symbolism of Archangel Michael
 • Why museums preserve history through storytelling
 • Fear, folklore, and human nature
 • How these themes influence Steven Fisher’s psychological thrillers

If you’re interested in psychological thrillers, true crime, history, folklore, paranormal investigations, or thought-provoking conversations about human behavior, this episode is for you.

New episodes of Killer Konversations feature authors, historians, investigators, psychologists, and experts exploring the fascinating intersection of crime, history, psychology, and the supernatural.

Learn more about Steven Fisher and his novels at:
 https://stevenfisherwriter.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome everybody. This is the first episode of Killer Conversations. And my name is Stephen Fisher, and I'm here with Edmondo Krimi, otherwise known as Ed, who is the curator and founder of the Vampa Museum, which is a fascinating place where we are sitting right now. Before we begin, I want to tell you why we're here and how we came to be here. As most of you know, I am the author of a number of murder mysteries, serial killer books, unashamedly killer personality, killer urge, and soon-to-be released Killer Looks, which will drop in July. And some months ago, I was near the uh in my neighborhood of uh Dewhope and Doylestown, and I saw that there was a vampire vampire museum, and I stopped in uh thinking that I was going to see something sensational. And what I saw was something completely different, you know, a museum that really is about where the eternal struggle of lightness and dark, of good and evil, and uh life and death with beautiful works of art that Ed has collected over a lifetime that are really all about um really about life and not so much about death. And I'm fascinated because, as you know, I write about uh killers, but I also write about the people who stopped them and why people do the things they do, both good and bad. And I think that's a lot of commonality with the museum. So, Ed, thank you for uh hosting me. And uh uh Ed has spent a lifetime collecting uh antiques, and uh he says uh you uh what's the saying about living poorly?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Oh, when you're antique dealer, you live poor and direct. You're always buying antiques.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Always buying. So over a lifetime he's collected what I think are these incredible works of art. We're actually sitting in front of a vampire kit, which uh is uh a kit of devices that would uh kill vampires, you know, such as stakes, and each of them is intricately carved. They're beautiful works of art. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

And they were on boats a lot, too. So they'd be on ships when people are traveling from Europe to America or vice versa. Usually from America to Europe, they would have some smaller kits, or going from France to England by boat, they would have the kits with them. I mean, they took it serious.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Well, they took it serious, but it's a talisman, right? It's a in a way, it's a good luck charm of safety.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

It's amazing. I mean, and you have to go back to that time frame. It's a different world. I mean, people sometimes forget that, just like unfortunately, we forget in America that a lot of people don't have water. That we're out there drinking water, bottled water, perille of water, and then 22,000 children die every day because they don't have water. So different worlds, different perspectives.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

What's also interesting is that wouldn't you say we don't have water? We have the same water, amount of water that we had during biblical times, but it's not in the right places, just like the food is not in the right place. But I'm fascinated about the idea of a kit and that that people would have this, you know, even if you weren't, you know, just defensively even to have it around, similar to when you talk about people buying a handgun. But I love the idea of the sense of safety.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

They're really great. Great works of art. And like I said, you know, it took me so many years not just to collect, but I bought out the three biggest collectors in the world. So that's how I was acquired.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Were they all over the world or were they all over the world, mostly Europe.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

And there's one other collector that has a lot of items. Actually, there's two others, one in America and one in Italy.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

And um Where in Italy are they?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

He's out by Parma, Italy.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

By Parma? Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

And we've been buying from him too, so eventually I think we'll own his entire collection.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

I'll have to visit him next time I'm I'm there. And when did you begin collecting the art? Or did that, you know, not just the the devices, but the artwork that depicted, you know, was that a was that just along the way?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

From the very beginning, finding art pieces that fit in that genre. And sculpture, as we go through the rooms, you'll see a lot of marble sculpture.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Well, here here is a here's an interesting question. When I look around here and I look at all these devices, almost every device is made of wood.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Yes, and metal. You have iron.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah, but I don't see as much iron. I mean, one would have thought there would be more iron, but I guess iron wasn't as available uh in the form that you want. It would have to be cast in the water. It would have to be forged. Wood was probably more available. Ed, how did you, in your antique hunting, how did you come, what what drew you to begin to collect these kinds of things?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Well, I think first is the history growing up in Brooklyn, New York, and having two of my uncles who were exorcists from Catania, Italy, and Sicily, and hearing all the paranormal stories and their life got me fascinated with the paranormal and with the battle between good and evil. And I was lucky at the age of 17 to be invited to go to France, and I found my first vampire killing set, and um I actually purchased it with every dime I had to my name, and from that point just collected and bought and dealt with these things and enjoyed building a collection.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

I know it was successful because I have not heard of a single vampire in Brooklyn. So it must have been very successful. Um you mentioned, uh, I think when we were going through the tour, you mentioned that you have seen several exorcisms uh in your in your life, and you were there, I was very interested that there were two exorcism chairs that that you had on the exhibit that uh our listeners and our viewers can see. Um did do people now know you as the vampire guy? Do people come to you and say, I have this, I have that?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Yeah, but not necessarily for vampires, though, because it's very rare. Believe it or not, I don't find much. A lot of times for paranormal items, um exorcism items, haunted items, because the museum just doesn't have the vampire. We have all the paranormal things. Right, right. So I even last night I had some people text me regarding some items that they had, and one person wanted to give it away because they felt its energy was nefarious and evil, and they sometimes they donate. We have an area down in the basement where we keep things that people have donated that they want to get rid of, and we we try to cleanse them.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Do you do you feel that there is bad energy? Because I I've I feel there are such things, and I write about that.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah, there's no doubt in my mind. I mean, being involved in exorcism, having the honor to attend the exorcist conference um in Rome, there's no doubt in my mind. Just humans in general. I mean, it's real simple.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

But you we're we're standing right here and there's two exorcism chairs. So I just looking at them from the outside, obviously they're designed to hold the person down, you know, and and what what uh what can you tell us about this this kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Well, usually they're not diselaborate. This is pretty elaborate. I mean, that looks horrible. Yeah, it looks generally torturous in general. Um, and this is pretty elaborate. It I guess at these times it was probably just to keep people in check. Remember, in an exorcism, you're dealing not to harm the person. It's like an operation, it's a beautiful situation. You're trying to help a person, you're trying to get the demonic entity away from the person. So it's completely different from the concept of vampire hunting.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Right, right. No, I get that.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Um, and there's different levels. There's demonic possession, there's demonic infestation, which is usually an item or an animal. You have demonic oppression, where a person would have, let's say, bad luck. Um, it's so there's different levels of it.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

You have but more than the Molochio, more than the evil eye.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Yeah, yeah, no, it's it's a whole nother level. And demonic possession is where is is probably the rarest. Like we've all seen the movie The Exorcist, and we see the scene when the head's spitting around and you know she's levitating. That's not happening in real time. That's the imagination of the person because the demonic entity, which is a celestial being, can control your mind. So they you can have four priests or four people in the room seeing four different things. It doesn't happen.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Going back to my ex-girlfriend. No, just kidding. Um, can you I want to ask you a question because I know that there is a demonic entity that has the head of is it a cat or well that that would be a goat.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

A goat. That would be a goat. And it was done in different forms. Um, this piece is stone, metal, carved wood. It's very interesting. One of my more interesting pieces, that I may have so many interesting things, but that one I really think is fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

It is fascinating. What what does it mean?

SPEAKER_01 9:52

You know, it's hard to say if it was something used for um some satanic type of worshiping or something just used for memento more, which I think that's more it. See, we don't really do any, I don't like satanic items. Um, that's something we stay away from certain subject matters. We stay away from torture devices, we stay away from really anything that's satanic. Um, we also stay away from mass murdering stuff. So we we stay away from anything like that. No, no, but I That's not what the music is.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

I write about it, but I'm I'm not into sensationalizing. I'm just fascinated by by it. I think that what's very interesting when you talk about this in a serious way, that the purpose of the exorcism is to help the person and not to injure them. So and you don't want them to injure them themselves either.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

That's why they use this. It's not to do something bad, but so the person doesn't scratch their own face.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

The first thing you do is, you know, keep them from swallowing their tongue or things like that. So very, very, very interesting. Um what what is that like, by the way, to to go to an exorcism? Can you talk about that a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Sure. I mean, first of all, a couple of years ago I was invited to Rome to the Exorcist Conference. And that was a great honor. And I was with about 300 exorcists, and they're so calm too. It's like it's it's like well, us getting a sandwich, they talk about the whole thing. And that was fascinating. I learned a lot. And prior to that, I did prayers of liberations um seven times during Exorcisms. And, you know, with going to Rome, with being involved in seven and having my uncles who were exorcists do this full time, I'll be driving around the road and I'll go, nah, it can't be. It's a hard thing to fathom. But it's a liberation of the soul, it's a positive thing, it's a beautiful thing. Some people don't believe, and you know, I'm not here to change people's beliefs. I'm just going for the experiences that I've had.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Well, I think we're, you know, it's it's, you know, part of these conversations are to explore things that the listeners don't necessarily believe or don't believe, but it's experiences. Uh, not very many, you're the first person I've ever met who has had experiences like this. Tell tell us a little, we'll come back to that, but tell us a little more about um the beauty of these, you know, many of these devices, because they're, you know, uh they're they're basically works of art that people have spent hours carving. They seem to be across many cultures from around the world, including, you know, Egyptian culture, there's books in Hebrew that I've seen. There's uh it's mentioned in the Quran, you know, not so much vampires, but the djinns. Yep. I think J-I-N-N, if I'm not mistaken. What is the commonality? Is it is it just the fear of death or the fear of things that of the unknown? What do you think that is?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

It's a combination. I always try to go back in perspective. We're going back to a time there's no electric, that 70% of the population was illiterate. Oral tradition was the way that people communicated stories. So it was a different world. You didn't have a YouTube video in two seconds that you could see what's happening in another country. And people had fears, they would hear stories. A lot of times they would hear stories about blood, they would hear stories about biting, and they would believe in the concept of vampires. We don't do Dracula here. I love Dracula movies, I think they're good they're great, but that is a story, fiction. This goes before Brahmstroker wrote Dracula. This is villages in the 1600s to 1700s. And, you know, they love to make these pieces to protect themselves, really, as a form of protection.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

I think that Bram Stoker, Ann Rice, these are all people who were inspired by that folklore. Yes. You know, um, I think now that I think about it, I'm I'm not sure about this, but I seem to recall that Anne Rice had a daughter who had a blood disorder, and that was one of the things that inspired her to write her books, interview with a vampire. We're having an interview with a vampire curator. You know, I tell people I'm a serial killer writer. Right. Always one of things. No, I know I know you're not.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

And here we have various items. We have a Sicilian car, which represents good luck. Yes. You know, they would have this for a marriage, so we also have positive items that we display.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

Look how beautiful the fans are. Oh my gosh. They're gorgeous. Is that why you have peacocks on the grounds?

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Well, we've always had peacocks. We've always had peace.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

What are the fans about? Because they're beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

So basically, if you read it up there, it's really the symbols, they're they're showing how they would have like ways of communication. Like women would have a fan, and if they felt that there was something in the room, they would do different positions to um show the other women to be careful.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

How beautiful. And they would use it as a veil separating the you know themselves and the water.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

And the Japanese would use it as a weapon, and I mean they're amazing what they can do with a fan. Really? Yeah. Now, some of these fans also have some paranormal energy, and people have heard voices coming out of them and movement.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Wow. I want to come back to that when we sit down and talk about that. I love the art. What what became the the, you know, as an antiques dealer and a lover of obviously things that were beauty? Um, you know, you you know, I you mentioned that you you had two uncles who who did exorcisms. And uh, but the the physical devices, there seems to be such affection uh in your collection for the beautiful things that that these things are. I mean, not only the devices, but the artwork.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Yes, that's why we call it the art of the kill. We call this collection the art of the kill. They took the time to really make these things, to build up the edification of their strength, to have something beautiful. And might as well make it beautiful as well. If they make it something.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

I mean, some of them are religious in nature. I mean, there are there are uh you know these stakes that are in the shape of the cross, that have the cross, that have there's uh containers in the in the vampire kit for holy water. Um uh what are the other things that you'd have holy water, salt, or garlic.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

The salt, they believe that vampires had a form of OCD that where they have to count every morsel of salt before they crossed over, but they count really fast, so you gotta be careful. And that's where Sesame Place got the concept of count Dracula.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Wow, that's really interesting. It is in our folklore, and we we've transformed it even into Sesame Street. The um, you know, some of your favorite pieces that you pointed out to me on the tour really are beautiful works of art. I know there's a whole room with the Archangel Michael that you have a lot of affection for, and these are beautiful things.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

And in this room, which is one of my favorite rooms, it's depicting the Archangel Michael, who I love very much.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Why do you why do you love the archangel so much?

SPEAKER_01 17:30

I like the concept of someone protecting his power and his protection. He's very popular in Christianity.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

I used him in a in a uh a writing from a week ago where I looked up who is the protector, and I use the archangel Michael.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

I really, really just enjoy the concept. And everyone has a different belief. We're not here to change anyone's belief on any and anything. We're just here to show love, compassion, and charity and just bring good things into the world. But this collection here is pretty it's it's pretty unusual.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

And so where where do most of the things come from, would you say?

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Italy, France, Germany, you know, this is mostly Europe, European, a lot of Italian. We have a bronze here that was done by the French artist Um Fremier, who did the large um Joan of Arc in front of the Louvre. And this is an amazing thing.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

There is a Joan of Arc in downtown Philadelphia by the museum. Is it a copy of the city? I believe that could be from Fremier, yes. Yeah, yeah. It could it could be. Um I do want to ask you about this depiction here. I see what looks like in in this um picture. Is it is it meant to be Joan of Orc?

SPEAKER_01 19:01

No, that's Archangel Michael. Or is it Archangel Michael? Once you see the wings, you know it's Archangel Michael.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

But who is he? Is it Satan who has the wings, but he has the tail? I assume the tail is the giveaway.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

There's a lot of different, you know, images of Satan. But basically that was what Archangel Michael did. He fought Satan.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

And what would you say? Is this 19th, 18th century?

SPEAKER_01 19:26

So this no, this is a copy of the original one, um, and this one is more 20th century. But an incredible, you know, artist. I mean, the original ones were $100 million.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Well, I'm I'm just so curious because you see, you see, is this again? That's wood. This wood. Yeah, all the woods. You have the you but you have instead of the sword, you it looks like a fiery.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

They would have that depiction of a fiery sword as well. And what what's interesting about what you see here is that Michael is depicted in a feminine fashion and a masculine fashion. Because angels don't have gender. A lot of people don't realize that. I didn't realize that. Angels don't have gender. It's what is done in artwork and the imagination of humans.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

So sometimes you see a very feminine Michael, and then sometimes you see a masculine Michael.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

So it seems like very often he has a sword in one hand, and then something uh depends in the other hand.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

A shield a lot.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

A shield, I see a shield, but I also see some it almost looks like a scale, like a scale.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

It shows the balance of the balance, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

I'll have to read more about my about the about the archangel because this is my favorite clock and one of my favorite pieces.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

It's bronze, it's 19th century with a lapis base. It has um a bronze argente, silver bronze base there, depicted with various patinas. Just a terrific.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

The circle is a is a serpent.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

A serpent.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

Which I find interesting. You see the archangel sort of, you know, taking care of Satan. Um, again, another snake, which takes me back to the Garden of Eden. Um this really is a beautiful piece. Um I'm fascinated by the by the snake, which is gorgeous with a narrowing tail, and yet there's also a snake up here. And I wonder if the archangel had something in that left hand.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Oh, he's just pointing maybe back to heaven.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Could be. But

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Piece.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

It is a great piece. The hands are gone from the cock though. Yeah. Very interesting. So where may I ask, where did you find a piece of the first thing?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

I bought it in Europe in France.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

And you when you saw it, what did you loved it?

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Twenty-five years ago I bought it.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

I think that I know in my own writing, um I write in the first person because it's the I don't do it to as a writing device, I do it as my discipline so I can put myself into the mind of another person and write for them. And uh I think that as humans we think everyone thinks like us, and we they don't. And so my my characters who are out there who are represent a different way of thinking behave differently. And I think that uh there is an otherworldly thing where people do act differently. One of the things that I was struck by is you have a room uh where there is a uh uh a spirit who shows up, who's a little girl by the name of Annabelle. Abigail. Abigail. Abigail. Abigail, excuse me, excuse me, spirit. And uh she apparently is attached to this house in some way. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Um this was a dairy farm. Abigail loves milk. For years, my children, because this was a private residence before we turned into the museum. Um they would argue to all my daughters of who would drink the milk in their room. We would find my employees would find milk spilled on the floor like happy faces, and they would always get into like arguments like who was doing it. We never had a name for her. We actually found her doll and some other toys down the basement here. Remember, this house is you know over 200 years old. And but we didn't give her a name. We would see an A in some writings, but it was very hard to distinguish it. And then we had three paranormal investigators in a week that did not know each other, all name her Abigail.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

So that's the name that we've chosen. I've done some research. It's hard because it's hundreds of years ago. There's no doubt in mind she exists. The the 35 years I've owned the property, I've seen her one time about a year ago. Like I'm looking at you. It was the day I was doing a tour, and she walked by one of the rooms, she waved. She's about this big, blonde hair. She's very sweet, but she's an eight-year-old girl approximately. She's very playful. So she likes to move things, she likes to play games. She likes when people are here to touch their hair. She loves milk. I mean, she still loves milk. And as we're doing the research, uh, a lot of times, this one thing I don't like about a lot of the paranormal world. They always want to make it horrible. Like, oh, she died this horrible death, this happened, that happened. But I believe that she came back here because she liked it here. So a lot of times that's the opposite of the approach for commercialism to say, oh, this place is haunted. Come see the haunted place. Right, right. I don't look at it that way. Um when I die, I'm going to Disney. That's where I'm going. I'm going to hang out there.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Do we know? Do we know any more than that? I mean, there I guess there are no records of it as well.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

There's no records. I've I was actually in London two years ago doing some research on the family. It's very difficult. This was owned by the large family. So I'm the third owner since this house was built. So it hasn't changed hand a lot. But it's a long time ago. You know, people don't, they I really don't have much. A couple of people knew or heard of something. The old owner of this property, though, um, he passed away. He would mention this little girl. So when I bought the property, he talked about it the most. So I thought that was interesting, but I never gave it much credence at that time. Right. But my children, I mean, they would all the time, they would say, Dad, I just poured milk and it's gone. I it's I I don't know what happened. And my employees would do the same thing. So she likes this room. She plays in this room and she hides in these cabinets. That's why we we had things in here and they're always thrown out. So we we leave them alone now. Makes her happy.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Many of some of these items have have some kind of power. I think there was something else in that room that was considered to be uh have energy, and you've been given things, you said, by people who wanted to be rid of them.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Oh yeah, we've been giving a lot of things, especially one grandfather's clock, which won't go into now, but has a lot of stories about. But for for her, she's she's she's actually helped people. And a lot of times we had a situation where someone came in here and the woman lost a child who used to love being in the dinosaur park. And she came here and she felt the spirit of Abigail. She felt comfort, she heard a voice that your son is okay. She felt a child hold her hand. And of course, like when she's telling the fact that she, you know, lost a child, I got tears in my eyes and everything, it's very sad being a father. And I look at that and let's say Abigail exists. Well, then she comforted this woman during a very tough time. And let's say Abigail didn't exist. Well, just through the fact that she believes it has a placebo effect, she comfort this woman in a time where it was tough in her life. So that's how I look at the paranormal as well. We're always gonna question, we're always gonna try to figure out what's reality. But even in the sense that the placebo works, because we're all God's broken creatures anyway, if that helps a person, I'm good with it. I'm fine with that.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

Well, I think that your passion for collecting, it's it's completely the purpose of a museum. I mean, in the sense that if people bring their worries, their concerns, their own feelings to the museum and are inspired or feel better in some way, that that's a wonderful purpose to the museum. So I I and by the way, when Ed talks about the dinosaur park, he has this whole campus here that is not only the Vampa Museum and it also is the antique uh gallery, but he also has a playground, you know, for for the kids with all these interesting uh dinosaurs that are outside. Who doesn't love dinosaurs? And peacocks. And peacocks, too. Um by by the way, I I have to tell a quick peacock story. On one of my trips where I was uh on a riding trip, uh uh motorcycle trip in Death Valley. I I quickly I lost the key to my motorcycle somehow, and it was found by this very interesting woman in the desert. And when I went to meet her, she was a character, and she said to me, I'd like to stay and talk to you, but I have to go help one-eyed Tom with his 60 baby peacocks. There's a lot to unpack there, and that's a whole other story. But um, and when I pulled in this morning to come see Ed, there was a peacock, and I must say I was startled because uh it's not something that I see every day.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Um so this room, we have a collection of some items here where we have the um tarot cards, we also have bottles here where have various love potions. And what's fascinating is three different people met here and got engaged or married. Really? Yeah. So we always say that there's like energy coming out of these love potion jars.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

I love that. Don't get too close to me.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

And here we have the um the talking boards. Not Ouija necessarily, because I call we call them Ouija, but Ouija is a trademark of Hasbro. So this is prior to that. They're called spirit boards or talking boards.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

This was a style or a a uh uh fad, I would say, during during uh really also the 20th century. Wasn't it a game that people would play?

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Uh it's a game. It was really popular after the war because people would lose their loved ones, so they wanted to communicate. So Hasbro, profiting on this concept, mass-produced Ouija boards. Prior to that, you have what's called talking boards, spirit boards, where it was more private, they were handmade, hand-carved, not mass-produced, so each one would be individual.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

And people would have I remember reading sort of an interesting book about uh Spoon River Anthology, which is a book of poetry, and someone discovers in this book that was written around the around the early part of the early 1900s by Edgar Lee Maskers, a famous Chicago writer. And someone discovers they have this gift, you know, a gift of of of seeing things, and uh sort of like the mythological person, I don't think anyone listened to her. So very interesting. Okay. So inside of us, we have these things that we don't know about or we may not know about.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

And a lot of times Ouija boards are considered a portal to a demonic entity. I don't believe that. I believe the portal is our mind. Right. So if you give it attention, then it's one thing. So I don't really believe it's actually the wooden board itself is the portal. Yeah, but our brain is the point.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

But the but but I think that that um Carl Jung, the psychiatrist, would say to you, that portal is into also your shadow self, which might have dark desires that you that we tend in society to to push down, but they exist inside of all of us.

unknown 31:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

But I back to the purpose of a museum. I think a purpose of a museum is to instruct and uplift and to also teach. And so that's a really good example of how you're taught. There's a a room, so in seeing these things that are sort of works of art, even and they're made, they're made to dispel the things that we're afraid of. You know, in in some places, in some cases, they're absolutely beautiful. Um, there is a room, uh, also I might have been the Archangel room where there were also the um the was it the Archangel room or uh the room with the hearse, that there are these um um the hourglasses. Hourglasses so hourglasses, uh I was saying uh hourglasses. I think I saw my first hourglass in the Wizard of Oz movie where there was just so much time left, Dorothy. And um so these hourglasses are beautiful and they're symbols, correct?

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Yes, the symbol is a stoic symbol as well to show that life, we're all gonna die. And I also have my own concept. I love the concept of that. I think this was actually my con. I don't think this is a stoicism concept, but how we can turn our life around. No matter how difficult our life is, we can turn it around and change time. I like that concept. It's like a Rocky movie concept.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

But we can't really change the time to make more time. No. But what can we, what what is it?

SPEAKER_01 33:23

We can do something with our time.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

We can do something with our time, which makes the time more valuable. By the way, I have uh I must say I'm I'm the oldest person in this interview. I'm 77, and I have a sense of urgency that I want to use whatever time I have left to go motorcycle riding while I can, to visit places around the world, to come to museums, to meet people who have passions, to have conversations with those people, and to share those conversations with each of you. Because I think that that for me, passion is is everything. And um I was saying to Ed that he's a very good teacher because in taking me around here, there were things that that he taught me about the things that he's collected, such as the hourglasses, or that you can have an archangel, you know, a protector. And God knows we need we we need protectors and we need patron saints of travel and of our everyday lives. Um and and so I find the museum actually pretty uplifting in a way because the the the the concentration is not on the folklorean myths of of the killing and beheading, but of the beauty of these of these devices and the things that made people feel safe.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

I'm talking about we have two areas in this room that are interesting. The one to the right here, this is various African art, mostly from the 19th century. Now, this also is very similar to gargoyles on churches. It's used to have to give fear to the demons. So these are not necessarily evil. There is some magic to them, but it's really to push away evil. And a friend of mine who lives in Africa, he works actually saving elephants, protecting elephants. So he gets this from a lot of tribal leaders and donates it to the museum.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

By the way, when I was in uh Cambodia at Anchor Wat, um the the entrance to the sort of to the to the spiritual area was guarded by on one side the the good angels, uh good, and then on the other side by the bad angels who worked together and held a rope together that was not a rope, it was actually a a uh a snake that was a symbol of the underworld, and they they they together they used it to create the world. So I found it interesting. So you you again you have these parallels in all religions. You create something that's equally sort of fearsome, but it's good, it's for the purpose of protecting you.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

Exactly, exactly. We have some items representing Dante's Inferno here. I like this piece right in the end there, the carved wooden piece. I find that very, very beautiful. I mean, it's depicting hell and all the heads and the demon in there, it's all called walnut. And of course, in this room, also what we have is our collection of dolls. And here we probably have some of the strongest paranormal energy. So what we have here is the one from the Burmese one, the one from Burma. There's no doubt that that thing has moved, voices have come out of it. Actually, one of my daughters is really frightened of it. Some of my employees have heard things, and we have probably 25-30 testimonies online of people that've seen it move or speak. Though I'm not saying that it's demonic, I'm just saying it has a lot of energy.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Um, I I I I think I wanted to ask you, um, again, Ed has such a fascinating collection here of things that are not so much sensational but meaningful. And one of the things is a correspondence between the famous uh psychiatrist Carl Jung, uh, and who was interested in the paranormal. Yes, very much. And Carl Jung was an inspiration for me in my writing because he writes about the shadow self. And the shadow self is the part of each of us which is uncivilized, which is not polite, and is completely selfish, and smiles when we'd like to kill the other person, you know, and I say kill. You know, I write about killing, but there are people among us who do those things. And in some cases, we're fascinated with them. We're fascinated with Hannibal Lecter, we're fascinated with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, not because we want to take them home to meet mom, not because we want to do it, but but they're doing the things that we'd like to do, that the shadow part of ourself would like to do. And I'm fascinated by it as well. What are those people about? Why do they do what they do? So here is Carl Jung, who is writing about the things, the part of ourselves that we're all afraid of, that our parents try to civilize away, say please and thank you, use your words, children. You know, I mean, children are uncivilized until they become civilized, and we all are. And so that part for me is what I'm fascinated about. Why do those people act that way? But back to that correspondence, do you can you say a few words about that?

SPEAKER_01 38:58

Well, besides that, you know, I think Carl Jung's it started with his concept of the shadow from his childhood. And I don't know if you might know this. A lot of people don't. I did some research on this. His mother g his mother gaslighted him when he was very young. He caught his mother with another man. And she told him that it was a ghost. I believe that this is the beginning of his concept of the paranormal. And that's not mentioned in a lot of literature. You have to really do a deep dive to find that. So I think that that was like the starting point of his interest in the shadow person and his concept of the paranormal.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

I think that that when I'm listening to that, apparently from what you've said, this was a real person, a real lover. Yes. And she used the excuse of the paranormal. I think that though I myself, I don't really think about the paranormal because I think that so many things in our life are almost like being paranormal, that there's a fluidity. Um, and those of us who read science fiction, who read other things, they seem normal to us. And people talk about Star Wars, which is more spaceships, but but I think that there is another world that is the shadow within the shadow self that's completely normal. And whether that's called paranormal or not, there are the things that we don't wish to admit to, and they exist in that world, and they enter into our world, whether you whether those are tangible or not tangible. I think that that we have we we create or these things exist outside of ourselves that we're afraid of, and whether it's the truth, whether it's death, I think you you talk about light, death is big, it's in everybody's life, and and we're all gonna die. And I personally love the concept that you can't create more grains of sand or more time in your life, but you can create more meaning in your life with your passions and also kind of with kindness, which and love.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

And love. Compassion and charity. That's what my ministry is completely about is about love, compassion, and charity.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

Connect that, if if I can put you on the spot, connect that to your museum, because the things that that are on the other side of this are the the fears of death and the the blood uh sucking uh monsters that we're afraid of that I don't personally really believe in, but I do believe in the monsters that that we're afraid of, whatever they they are. You know, the I mean I I was terrified as a kid. I I had to go in my closets, you know, I made my parents check the closets out before I went to sleep, you know, and I mean there are those monsters. But come to come back to this, you know, since this is since I see the passion and I see the art, connect that to the words in your museum. How do you see what are the things that you see that are kindness, love, and charity?

SPEAKER_01 42:11

Well, one of the things is that people, okay, so people come here and they're very fascinated. That's they're fascinated. They look at the artwork, they're fascinated by the beauty. People love art. I mean, that's why museums are very popular. And this museum makes them think. And we try to get a positive feeling out of the people. There's a lot of paranormal museums that go with the negative. They want to scare people, and people are fascinated. People like to be scared. Horror movies are really great.

SPEAKER_02 42:41

Roller coasters. Roller coasters. I don't go on roller coasters.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

You know, horror movies, I mean, they they they affect people's brains. The um the amyglia lights up and all of a sudden they get fear and they get excited. So we're trying to bring the concept, the reality of the world, of what the world's about, and to think about it in a more positive way. And think about life, death, mortality. And hopefully the people leave thinking about the good. Like I say, a lot of times, you know, you hear a lot of people with the paranormal, there's a noise, bam, instantly it has to be something scary. Powered if it's your guardian angel trying to change your day so you don't get into a car accident. I've experienced a lot of paranormal feelings in this museum, actually, a lot of energies. And I used to always be like, oh, is that something negative? But I'm trying to think maybe it's something positive. Maybe there are your guardian angels protect us. If you believe in the devil, you gotta believe in God. I mean, you can't just believe in one or the other. So when people believe in the negative, maybe they have to look at the positive that's within it. So that's what we try to do. And then ultimately, you know, someday I'll be dead. I would hope that the museum could be a charity for children and do something of that nature. That would be my legacy of my children. I hope take over that. And that's the kind Connection. So that's what that's what like the end game is for the property and the museum.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

Talk a little bit about, you know, I've heard a lot of positive things from people who have visited here with their children. And, you know, what do the children think of all these things?

SPEAKER_01 44:16

It's fascinating. So a lot of times, and that was a big concern of mine. So a lot of people were saying to me, like, are you afraid that the negative entities can even go on to children? You know, so I do a lot of blessings, but it doesn't. You know, the kids have a fun time. And that's why we have the peacocks. That's why we have the dinosaurs. If I saw a child here a little afraid, but then usually not. They're more fascinated. We talk, we bring them into the Archangel Michael room. I talk about the peacocks. So I'm very aware of that. I'm hyper-vigilant to make sure that that doesn't happen. And it's up to parents to know when it's appropriate for the children to come in.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

I I think that, you know, we we in our culture we we we do like to be afraid, but I think that those kinds of fears are we live out those fears in healthy ways when we come to museums like this, when we dress up for Halloween, you know, the uh Mexican Day of the Dead.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:15

You know, these are all things that people celebrate, whether it's candy that in made in the four. I mean, I've eaten skull candy in in Mexico, you know, on the day of the dead. Make it fun. Make life fun. Make life fun and make death normal in a way. Um, so uh, you know, it is it is interesting and it is kind of a conversation, and we spend our lives uh being afraid of death when it is inevitable. And I think that instead of focusing on death, I love the idea, your idea that you've expressed of turning around the hourglass and uh maybe not making more time but making more quality of time. And I love the idea of the um the uh uh of Count Dracula counting counting the grains of uh of salt. Um by the way, this is again from my point of view, uh as I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I was on a uh a motorcycle ride through Death Valley, and uh the entrance to Death Valley on the California side is this beautiful area called Furnace Creek. And Furnace Creek has an area called Bad Water, and you go to Bad Water, and there is a plain of white sand, except it's not sand, it's salt from an ancient from an ancient uh um uh uh sea, and it you it's sort of as far as you can see, and when you reach down and pick it up, it's it's salty to the taste, and they call it bad water because the first uh travelers who came there tried to get their mules to drink the water, they wouldn't drink the water because it was it was briny. And the thing that was interesting is is this is Death Valley because things don't exist there, the salt keeps things from growing. But the salt, in addition to forming this this foundation of sort of looks like white sand, it also forms these patterns, there are these salt crystals, and they're really beautiful, they're like little works of art that uh exist side by side, you know, and so there's a kind of stark beauty to it. And I think that that uh for me the lesson is you know, there's there's beautiful things everywhere, and in this museum you can you can see it. And uh just anecdotally, you know, I've been going to Las Vegas for 50 years on business to go to this convention every year, and this is one of the first years I decided not to go point to point, and I turned the hourglass around and I took a ride to Death Valley where there was all this beauty.

unknown 47:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

So this here we call it the hearse for the hunt. Oh wow, something moved. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. That moved. Which piece? The statue on the right, it's just supposed to be straight.

SPEAKER_02 48:08

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 48:09

Yeah, that that that moved. That's always straight. That's really wild.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

And is there a reason? I wonder what direction what it's facing toward.

SPEAKER_01 48:18

It's really interesting. Well, it's facing the Archangel micro room. Okay. I know every piece. Like I do. Every inch of every piece that I have.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

No, it's wonderful. That's why I'm so thrilled that you're doing this tour.

SPEAKER_01 48:30

So back to the hearse here. So this is the hearse of the hunt. This has traveled throughout the world. It was from a family, very wealthy family, that they had their ancestors. They would um hire themselves out in order to hunt for vampires. Now remember, this is a time when there's no police, a big police force. People will be scared of what happened in another village.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

Now, you're talking Santorini. Are we talking the island of Santorini Greece?

SPEAKER_01 48:54

It's traveled on more boats. It's an amazing piece. I'm very lucky to have it. I'm a steward of this piece, and I can't even believe that I actually own such a wonderful item.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

How long have you had it?

SPEAKER_01 49:05

Well, it's a it's a long story. Okay. You know, it was from one of the wealthier families on on earth, and they had it, and they left it in a warehouse in Florida. There was a whole thing about storage fees, and we ended up with it.

SPEAKER_02 49:18

It is look at look at the the ornateness of the carving. Are these meant to be firearms?

SPEAKER_01 49:27

Yeah, firearms, 19th-century firearms.

SPEAKER_02 49:30

And I mean, you walk around here, it is absolutely ornately carved. I mean, this is very much what you would find in a church, you know, or on the facade of a of a building with all the tools. Now, did it come with all the these tools inside here?

SPEAKER_01 49:50

It came with most of them. It came with most of them. There were some of them that were in another box that we got from the family that might not have been in it. Because remember, there would be two horsemen with it as well, so they probably carried some of the pieces. But it's an amazing, amazing um funeral cart.

SPEAKER_02 50:11

I'm trying to picture this going up and down those hills in Santorini.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

And it it's amazing how the mechanical aspect of this is so wonderful. We pushed it right through the door there. I mean, we thought we would have to disemb disassemble it or leave it outside. It was meant to be in this room.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

The tread is not is is is uh these are metal. I think uh you know it moves amazingly.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

You'll you'll be surprised.

SPEAKER_02 50:40

So it's 19th century, right? Would you say?

SPEAKER_01 50:43

It well, yeah, it it's hard to say. I it's more from the 18th century.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

18th century. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

It's either late 18th or early 19th, but I I I think it's more 18th century. Just by the polychrome work. And it's all original. I mean, this is the condition we got it in.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

Uh I think there's a lot of beauty in this museum. I hope that our listeners will enjoy the our first conversation with uh Ed Krimy here. Is there anything else you want to say about your museum or about your lifelong passion here?

SPEAKER_01 51:16

Well, I mean, just you know, if people are interested, they should come to Doylestown and see the museum.

SPEAKER_02 51:21

Come to Doylestown, come see the museum. It is beautiful. Come look at the antiques. Come bring your children. They can play on the the uh the dinosaurs outside, they can they can play with the peacocks. No, they can't play with the peacocks, play with peacocks. Can't play on the peacocks, and to prepare for this trip. Don't forget to read my books. You know, did I mention that? Uh Killer Personality, Killer Urge, and Soon to Be Killer Looks. And uh I can't wait to read it. I'm looking forward to it. There we go. There we go. So, first conversation, thank you for listening, thank you for watching. Ed, really with a pleasure. I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot. I learned a lot, and I I uh thank you for the glimpse into your world, your lifetime passion. Thank you for sharing that. And I love the fact that it's that there's positive sides to it that are love, charity, and kindness. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.