Ghost Hunting at Excalibur in Chicago

Alison Ray

I have gone on several excursions in an attempt to experience and document the paranormal. One of the most interesting excursions was to Excalibur, a night club in Chicago. The location was a makeshift morgue following a disaster in the river in 1915, and many people have reported experiences that they were unable to explain.

When explaining how spirit communications occur, Edgar Cayce offered the following, “When the body (material) attunes self to that plane … those of the astral plane may communicate, in thought, in power, in form.”(Edgar Cayce reading 5756-4). He went on to explain in the same reading that the information provided was, “Always true, so far as the individual has brought self into that attunement as is necessary for the perfect understanding of same.”

We used tools such as an Electro Magnetic Frequency (EMF) meter, which measures electrical output to identify locations where there may be a spirit. Many believe that sudden, unexplained spikes on the EMF are the result of the energy of a spirit manifesting. We also used a digital thermometer, as sudden drops in temperature may be a result of an entity pulling energy toward itself while attempting to manifest.

I like to use dowsing rods as a means of communication, once a possible spirit is identified. I generally begin by asking the spirit to cross the rods to let us know that they desire to interact with us. Later repeating this question and then asking the spirit to uncross the rods helps to validate the interaction. Working with a spirit, one person asks a question and follows slowly with a number of possible answers. We request that the spirit cross the rods at the point in which we have the correct answer. At the visit to Excalibur, I held the rods so that I could be certain there was no manipulation of the answers.

During our experience, we spent some time in dialogue with a woman who had drowned in the early 1940s. She told us that she did not want to leave the location, as she wanted to stay there and wait for her family to join her. It takes a long time to ask questions, and even longer to wait for the answers. But we enjoyed learning about her life and why she remained there.

Edgar Cayce offered the following insight into why these communications occur, “… these as we have given here are set forth that those who would study may have the basis of an understanding that will give each and everyone that knowledge that the physical world, and the cosmic world, or the astral world, are one …” ( 5756-4).

Edgar Cayce on Earth Changes
Our Fascination with Cataclysmic Change

Kevin J. Todeschi

In 1974 I began my involvement with the Edgar Cayce material. In that same year I became convinced that I needed to be living and working in Virginia Beach, Virginia, no later than December 31, 1982. My justification for moving within that time-frame was what I thought at the time were Cayce’s earth change prophecies coupled with an astronomer’s prediction of “the Jupiter Effect” – a planetary alignment that was expected to place excessive strain on continental-plates and fault-lines already stressed to the breaking point.

During the eight years between 1974 and 1982, I became focused on “when and how” I would finally make the move from Colorado to the beach. My friends and family became confused, concerned, even frustrated about my complete determination. But there was no convincing me otherwise; I had to get to Virginia Beach. My conviction about the impending “Big One” was so complete that I remember telling a number of individuals that a car I had purchased in 1980 would be “my last car” since the world as we knew it would soon cease to exist. (I have replaced my automobile many times since then.)

I made several visits to Virginia Beach before the actual move. I even made an aborted “move” to the area for a brief two months in 1980. Finally I achieved my goal within the self-imposed time-constraints and landed at the Norfolk, Virginia airport on December 26, 1982. I started work as a member of the A.R.E. staff the very next day.

Shortly after I joined the staff, I began talking with people on the phone about their own “sense of urgency” in regards to the impending disasters. At the time I was eager to send out as many “Moving to Virginia Beach” packets as were requested. I (like many others) was still convinced that the “Big One” was just around the corner. Even though the long-awaited Jupiter Effect had come and gone – without apparent physical happening – I just knew the time was short. Since then I have come to recognize this feeling of urgency to be more of a call-to-change rather than a call-to-move.

For the next several years I continued to be convinced that the quakes were coming. In time, however, I began to grow frustrated by the number of people who were not only convinced that the era of the big quakes was upon us, but who also seemed to be looking forward to them. In fact, I was surprised at how many of us involved in this type of work were eagerly waiting for God to somehow “wipe the slate clean” so that we could just simply start all over.

Kevin Todeschi is A.R.E.'s Executive Director and CEO. As both student and teacher of the Edgar Cayce material for thirty years, he is the author of over twenty books, including his most recent, God In Real Life: Personal Encounters with the Divine, and the bestselling Edgar Cayce on the Akashic Records. Known for his ability to explain complex subjects in a straightforward and easy to understand manner, Kevin is popular for his insight and his sense of humor.

Copyright 2009, Kevin J. Todeschi