NAPS Meeting: Eric Glatzer Gives Awesome Talk!

Photo at Left:  Guest-Speaker Eric Glatzer goes over details of the history of The Cedars and The Ghost of the White Lady with NAPS Case Manager Kim Frith during Friday's meeting, which took place at the very haunted Old Adams County Jail.  Just above their heads is the trap door through which several dozen men dropped while being executed by hanging.

Members and investigators of the Natchez Area Paranormal Society got a double treat during Friday night's meeting: they got to hear Eric Glatzer speak about his many experiences with ghosts in the Natchez Area, but also got to do so in the spooky Old Adams County Jail.  We held our meeting in what is now the Conference Room, right underneath the hangman's trap door where the bodies used to swing after the trap was sprung!  This was definitely one of the best meetings we've enjoyed as a paranormal group, and Eric did a fantastic job with a very interesting talk and presented a fascinating paranormal case.

After gathering in the Civil Defense offices where we normally meet, Mike offered the option of moving up to the Old County Jail just next door.  The Old Jail is considered by some to be the most haunted site in Natchez.  Everyone eagerly agreed, so we moved up there and had our meeting, one of the best attended meetings we've had.  NAPS Member Laura Newkirk was also able to attend, who is in town from Dallas, Texas.  Laura owns Benbrook House in Natchez, which we investigated last fall.

We discussed current cases, both public and private, and went over tasks that need to be completed on each.  Dues are all paid up by every active investigator (thanks gang!), and we are currently doing reasonably well financially, despite money draining trips to out of town cases.  Mike displayed the newest equipment to arrive, the MEL ATDD, and showed off some of its functions.  Then we introduced guest speaker Eric Glatzer.

Eric told us much of his background and how he came to move to Natchez from New York.  He then began to share how he had his own very intense paranormal experience at The Cedars Plantation in Church Hill, Mississippi, which is just north of Natchez on Hwy 553 off of the Natchez Trace.  Eric told us how he had an interactive experience one night with a full apparition of a lady in white, while a guest staying on the second floor of the house.  Eric said that once he swallowed his heart, which had risen in his throat, he spoke to it and that she "turned and glared at me as if to say how dare you speak to me!"  Eric said she then turned and vanished!  That event got him on the road to searching for the paranormal and ghost stories. Now he is one of the most knowledgeable people in our area regarding haunted sites and ghost tales. 

Eric also shared some of his research and history of The Cedars, by bringing a couple of volumes of printed material, including the diary of a former owner of the house, which mentions a ghost.  Eric recounted the stories of others who have seen the White Lady.  Eric himself described her as in her mid-twenties, dressed in formal attire that would be very old, but that when he saw her ghost, "the very lower part of her body wasn't fully formed - like I couldn't see her lower leg area."  All of us enjoyed asking Eric questions and having great fun discussing many aspects of the haunting at The Cedars, as well as general ghost hunting types of issues.  He asked us about how we conduct investigations, and we had fun answering his questions also.  Afterwards, we all grabbed equipment and went about the Old Jail investigating and looking for ghosts.  Yes, believe it or not! several of our investigators had encounters, including touches, seeing a mist and feeling strong sensations, including Eric, who said he sensed a feeling of overwhelming emptiness and hopelessness being transmitted in the cell areas. This sensation is often felt there, and we feel is more than simply feeling psychologically empathetic with those incarcerated in the jail, many perhaps unjustly.

Photo at Left: NAPS Affiliated Member Laura Newkirk and Guest-Speaker Eric Glatzer examine some of the cells at the Old County Jail at our meeting Friday night.

Eric and NAPS also discussed and tentatively planned a joint field investigation with all of our field equipment at The Cedars to search for the ghost of The White Lady (and others).  Eric, a professional videographer for television, will video-record the investigation which hopefully will take place in late summer of this year.  Thanks Eric for a truly fantastic evening!