The Haunted Artist

My name is Caterina, and in 1996, my husband and I bought a little house at a beach in Florida. From the first night we moved in, we had problems. My daughter came screaming from her room saying a man was standing by her bed, and he floated into her bedroom through the living room wall. Neither my husband nor I had ever believed ghost stories, so we chalked it off to our daughter's creative imagination. We assured her that there is no such thing as ghosts, and I went back to her room with her until she fell asleep. We figured all this emotion was about spending her first night in a new house.

As the months went by, more things happened. Things moved by themselves. Televisions, lights, and fans went on and off by themselves. My husband and I heard someone calling our names. I heard doors slam, and footsteps through the house and up in the attic. When I invited guests over, they saw a man walking through the house. Thinking it was my husband coming home from work, they talked to the man. After he disappeared in front of them, several friends and family never visited again. I went to my neighbours and questioned them about my house, and they told me that three houses on the street have the same problems including theirs. Later, I found out from investigators, this is known as a cluster haunting.

This was before the days of ghost hunter shows. Personally, I was beginning to worry about my mental health. Then, one evening I watched a show called Ghost Hunters. I was amazed the first time I heard EVP's. I was floored when I saw something peek over the side of the railing at the St. Augustine Lighthouse. Months later, our local news station broadcast a story about Ghost Hunters International personality Dustin Pari at the St. Augustine lighthouse conducting an investigation. My husband and I got into our car and drove to the lighthouse which is about a half hour from here. Luckily, the investigation had drawn to a close, and Dustin was resting on the lighthouse keeper's porch. We talked for a few minutes, and he recommended a team investigate our house.

A very professional paranormal investigating team named CAPE Paranormal, Inc., from Orlando, Florida, investigated the house. They had quite a few personal experiences during the investigation, dozens of EVP's, many of them very clear, and recordings of clicks, papers rattling, things moving, and loud knock's. Their conclusion is the house is definitely haunted.

I was frightened out of my mind. To be confronted with something I didn't believe was real and possibly contradicted what I had been taught by my religion, was more than uncomfortable. My immediate reaction was to call in an ordained minister and have the house blessed... Smoked out... Whatever one does to get rid of these things. All the investigators I spoke with said the members of the household should be in agreement. We were not. My family felt that if we had them banished, it was like condemning someone of a crime before they committed it. They wanted to leave our unseen guests alone. Since that time, I have decided not to do anything unless forced to by the spirits' behaviour.

About a year after this, a paranormal television show filmed a program at the house. After each investigation, the house and spirits got stirred up. Lights and televisions went on by themselves. Things fell over in my art room. A glass framed picture flew off a shelf and crashed to the floor on the opposite side of the room. Loud knocking on doors, doorknobs rattling, and voices were heard. After a few weeks, things calmed down, and I decided not to allow any more investigations. After the show aired, paranormal teams and individuals wanted to visit my house, but I declined their requests. However, after thinking on these requests for over a year, one request in particular to put a ghost cam in the most active room, my art room, I decided on the web cam. This way, paranormal teams and armchair ghost hunters could watch the web cam and listen for EVP's without disturbing our family or the ghosts. I must still work in my studio during the day, but at times, paranormal activity happens while I paint.

I didn't really expect much from a web cam, but once again I was surprised. The first night the camera was on, we heard the female spirit singing, lots of whispering, talking, footsteps, my brushes and pencils rattling in their holders, saw balls of light, and a shadow sitting in my desk chair. My home seems to be a paranormal investigator's dream, but a homeowner's nightmare.

One investigator who is the audio tech for a paranormal television show said, "I took the liberty of listening to your audio off the webcam. In all my experience of doing audio I have never heard what I heard from your studio, except once when I did the Mud House audio. Very few people are aware of the phenomenon that I have named/labelled as "Sounds beyond Silence" Only a few choice audio analysts know of it. I witnessed/heard it at the Mud house and now again in your audio. In this phenomenon, the veil between life and death is so thin that one can actually hear the sounds beyond silence in the death realm. Whole conversations on the other side will be heard but not audible. I wouldn't doubt that you have experienced many active spirits throughout your home"

Some people warn me that my house is dangerous. Others tell me the spirits here are human, although occasionally mischievous, are harmless. This is the only house I have ever or will ever own. I really don't know who to believe, so I will just sit here and wait for "the other shoe to drop!"

Caterina Lionti

Local Haunts JAX BEACH RESIDENCE Part 1 of 4

Local Haunts JAX BEACH RESIDENCE Part 2 of 4

Local Haunts JAX BEACH RESIDENCE Part 3 of 4

Local Haunts JAX BEACH RESIDENCE Part 4 of 4

Also, if people want to see and hear for themselves, they can go to my web site and watch the ghost cam. It is rather fascinating and I must admit creepy. You will find the cam at:

www.hauntedartist.com