Hearthside - The House That Love Built

“SPIRITED” EVENINGS AT HEARTHSIDE

Spirit Communications

Everyone who visits an old house invariably asks the question “Is the house haunted?” Some have hinted that they have experienced strange feelings in one room or another, or heard noises while in the house alone. Since there has been such interest in exploring this question and learning more about the “other side,” we decided to invite a well known medium to visit Hearthside. On a cold, rainy February night in 2003, Carole Lynne, one of the most popular psychic mediums in New England, conducted a demonstration before a sold-out audience. Before the crowd arrived, Lynne had toured the house and wrote down her impressions as she wandered from room to room. She shared her notes with the audience, which had some startling accuracy to facts. Although she had never even heard of Hearthside before that evening, she spoke about a beloved servant who grew ill and roles were reversed as the woman of the house had to take care of the servant. She spoke of a man named Frederick who owned the mansion. Frederick Sayles, Mayor of Pawtucket, owned Hearthside around the turn of the century. Fire was another strong message she was receiving, and although there had not been a fire at Hearthside, the builder of the mansion, Stephen Smith, was extremely paranoid about fire and took great pains to make the building as fireproof as possible.

In the candlelit setting of this historic home, Lynne gave a brief history of mediumship and séances. Accompanying the presentation was an appearance by Mary Todd Lincoln, played by Sally Mummey. President and Mrs. Lincoln frequently attended séances in the 1860’s.

As a means of getting into an altered state of consciousness, Lynne sang a song, which changed the energy in the room. As soon as she finished, she started to describe messages she was receiving. Many members of the audience delighted in recognizing relatives and their messages, and those that didn’t receive messages were still intrigued by the evening’s presentation. And for the most part, the skeptics weren’t quite so quick to discount psychics after what Lynne had been able to demonstrate at Hearthside.

Spirit Investigation

Shelley King is a Spirit Investigator, also known as a ghost hunter. This is a big difference from a psychic. A spirit investigator confirms spirit activity through some proof (photos or voices, or seeing an apparition), whereas a psychic medium carries forth a message from one side to the other.

Shelley King is a Spirit Investigator The picture at left shows spirit investigator, Shelley King, giving a lively presentation on her own paranormal experiences in the historic setting of Hearthside.

Shelley had been attracted to Hearthside for many years, having grown up nearby. Shelley had discovered her gift of spirit awareness when she was 11 years old. Now in her 30’s, Shelley has traveled to hundreds of haunted places and has been able to capture voices of spirits and images on film.

Since there had been such demand for finding out more information about spirit activity at Hearthside, Shelley was invited to make a presentation in November 2003. On yet another rainy night, a sold-out audience crowded into the front room at Hearthside to hear first-hand Shelley’s ghost tales. The words bubbled out of her as fast as she could get them out, and her exuberance about the topic got everyone excited as well. You could see everyone sitting on the edge of their seats wanting to learn more about the unknown. But it was when she played tapes of the voices she has captured at Gettysburg and in other haunted buildings, that the audience gasped in amazement and sent chills through the hot, crowded room. As for Hearthside, no spirit voices have been recorded, but she did produce several photographs showing orbs (little circles of spirit energy), vortexes, and even an image of a portal shown in a mirror. However, it was a photograph of a clouded veil over an antique doll that was left in the house that really captured the interest of everyone in the room.

Both spirit events were highly popular and very successful: two very different events, yet both seeking a connection to the “spirits” of Hearthside.

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