Did a little outlining for chapt 1 today, to see when I might finally be done with it>_< I spent most of my novel time today researching spirit banishment beliefs in different cultures, then decided since I penciled the haunted house in for Carson City, Nevada it would be fun to have the team call in a Native American shaman to help. Researching tribes in the area I decided to go with the Washoe & did a quick character sketch for Johnny Crowe (I was a little iffy about the name, but it popped into my head & refused to budge). I wasn’t able to find much on spirits and exorcisms for the Washoe tribe or Native Americans in general, but I cobbled together what I did find with some other stuff I read about house cleansings and ghost evictions, threw in a fun dramatic twist to make Carl Kolchak proud, & I like where this is going.
Since that is where my mind has been today, when I sat down to write tonight I decided skip ahead and begin writing about Johnny Crowe and his process. I got in another 500+ official words tonight, so I’m happy about that:) I also finished a home project I was working on, so that frees my up to focus more on my writing. Hurray!
Johnny Crowe arrived about thirty minutes later. After filling him in more completely, he get his bag and began blessing the house. He had jugs of water from Lake Tahoe around Cave Rock, a sacred spot for his people, the Washoe tribe. It is considered the home of water spirits, so before he takes the water he says a prayer to the spirits and makes an offering to them. As he pours water into a small, painted earthen bowl he again prays over it invoking ancestral and animals spirits for guidance and protection. He walks around the house blessing every door way and window with water and a small prayer in his native tongue. When he is done, he goes back through the house cleansing each room with burning sage carefully blowing the smoke into all the corners and portals.
After this he takes a spray bottle of the holy water and a jar of sea salt that has been blessed as well. He goes into the room directly over the spirit’s room in the basement. He draws a circle on the floor with the salt, invoking the four directions and saying a prayer of protection. Then he sprays the air around the space with the water. When this is done, he nods, “Time to head into the lair of the beast.”
“From what I have heard this is a very strong and very angry spirit. He is likely very old with no wish to leave. Possibly he is trapped here, maybe by his own anger or possibly by a curse. It’s possible his body was not properly interred and he can’t move on. Without knowing any of this it will be more difficult to know what we will face downstairs, but we will prepare a safe space as we did up here, but this time we will prepare a space to trap him inside where I can hopefully drive him into the ground to the realm of the dead. During the ceremony I will try to talk to him and find out who he is and why he is haunting this house and the family. If we can determine who he is, what he wants, and where his body is buried we should try to rebury his body, or even better burn it.
If he is, as I suspect buried here on the grounds, he will be drawn to this land and unable to leave until he is laid to rest properly. If he will answer my questions, Gemmie should get the answers and try to find out what she can about who this man was in life and how he died. This is going to be a very difficult and long process, probably all night at least, and once it is started it can not be stopped. I hope you are all ready.”
We all nodded, unsure of quite what we were getting ourselves into, but determined to see this out. With that we grabbed the rest of his accouterments and headed into the basement. It was time for a show down.
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