The Soul Collector / Harvester

This was an email exchange between a client in our group and myself. I'm including it because I think it might be helpful for someone.

Client Email Starts:
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So, let me run this by you and get your opinion on this......

Yesterday was a fairly active day, and had been an active 24 hours. I had seen a full-body apparition walk out of the kitchen the night before last, and the house was restless all day long yesterday. Kim had caught my mother-in-law's dog following something around the master bedroom & bathroom, and we were getting cold spots all day long. Last night, when we were all sitting at the couch talking about the day, I couldn't quit squirming because my senses were firing off that they were sitting with me while we spoke. Kim even felt one side of her get cold, like one had taken a seat right next to her. We weren't worried about it, since we had gotten used to them coming up to us since we've been acknowledging them.

Last night, when we went to bed, Kim & I decided to make one more attempt at an EVP session, since the house had been so active, and we were still wondering the reason behind the "help" we heard on the previous session. We asked them to identify themselves, and asked what it was they needed help on (note: I just finished listening to
the recording, and there's two spots where a male voice is definitely talking, and pretty extensively - it's just too low to filter out and make out what's being said...). Now the fun part. Before I go into what happened, keep in mind two things about me: I never remember my dreams, and I never dream the same thing twice, especially in one night.

As we went to sleep, mine was restless. By the time around 1:00 am had hit, I had already woken up twice, from the same dream having to do with the house, and the same two words ringing in my head --
LOUDLY...........

Soul Collector..........

I thought it was weird, and something in me was telling me to look this up as soon as I got up. I brushed it off and went back to sleep, and was startled awake promptly at 1:30 by two things: One of my dogs was going batshit crazy in the living room barking a protective bark like someone was in the house that didn't belong, and the following words ringing in my head -- again, LOUDLY......

Soul Collector's here.........

The dog barking woke Kim & I both up, and I walked the house to make sure everything was alright. As I walked into the living room, the dog was in the middle of the floor barking. As soon as she saw me, she stopped & went back to the couch and laid down next to the other dog, that wasn't doing anything. The house was clear.

As soon as I got up this morning, I went over to the computer and googled the words. I had never used that terminology to my knowledge, and aside from maybe seeing a movie title by that name a long time ago, It's never been used in any conversation that I've had. Needless to say, it was very interesting what I found out.....

The house has been completely quiet today. When I brought this up to Kim, we called her Mom into the bedroom & I told them what had happened. After we had been talking a few minutes about it, I noticed something: there was no presence with us as we spoke, which has been the case every time since we acknowledge that they were here. We also found out another interesting tidbit: Kim's Mom & Dad never heard the dog. At all. It may be a bad pun, but that dog was barking loud enough to wake the dead, and they never heard a peep.......

Sorry if I ran on too long. I can get carried away sometimes.....lol. I thought this was very interesting though, and wanted to get your take on it. I almost posted it on the group page, but decided to get your take on it first. Let me know!


My Response:
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I was honestly wondering when/if this scenario was going to play out with you guys.

I've never heard it called a "soul collector", but at some point in active hauntings if they get active enough something will show up to "clean up the mess" so to speak. It's very similar to the process of calling down the "light of god" which is essentially creating a portal to the other side or some other spiritual place that's much further out of synch with our reality. I've always considered that other place the "real" reality. That's where spirits SHOULD go to continue the process of their evolution.

It seems that a spirit can stay here for a myriad of reasons but basically they're putting their spiritual evolution on hold while they stay here with us. If they have a good reason to stay here their force of will can allow them to stay or if they're just confused/scared they may elect to stay. The point here is that sooner or later, for their own good, they really need to move on to that other place.

It's possible that these spirits just wanted to make themselves known. They may have called this soul collector to take them, someone in the house could have subconsciously called him or the activity in the house just may have gotten so intense that it just popped up on his radar. I've always looked at this entity very similar to the concept of "death" as portrayed in the movie "Meet Joe Black".... sort of a bus driver from here to there.

Don't be surprised if the same spirits show up back at your place again later. They can and often will come back for short visits, but almost never show up for very long, almost like they've taken up residence on the other side but will pop over here when needed. The way I've seen this play out in the past has always lead me to believe that when these entities are taken to the other side someone sits them down and reminds them that the spirit world is their real home and they get the "big picture" back where they realize that we're only alive for short spurts in our spiritual evolution, basically when we need to "go to class" to learn a few more lessons.

Your experience and what you describe is quite normal for those sensitive to the spirit. The fact that you heard this speaks very clearly to your own medium ability. It leaves me wondering if recent events haven't played out with the intent of putting you on our group's radar to use that talent for the greater good.

This explains something to me too that you may find valuable. I'm much much more sensitive than I let on. I keep this ability very low profile because I tend to use it to check other mediums. It also allows me to sort of scan new clients and see if they're yanking our chain or not. The truth is we are ALL mediums to the extent that we allow ourselves to be. We all have the ability to sense spiritual energy. It’s a matter of getting comfortable with the idea and exposure.

At one point in the conversation you came out and admitted that you have that ability to a lesser degree but every time you tried to minimize the description of your own ability what I can only describe as your "aura" (if there is such a thing) would spike in such a way that you were not being truthful, but at the same time you would still maintain an overall feeling of complete honesty. I see this type of thing a lot with people who know they need to make a change but they're just not ready to make that change on an emotional level so they're rationalizing their situation.


Client's Response:
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It's interesting that you said harvest. I heard another voice during that process last night call him a "harvester", and almost put that in when I googled the phrase this morning......

It's funny, I've always known that I have some kind of ability, but the combination of keeping it at bay out of denial and that good ol' fashioned Bible-Belt Southern Baptist upbringing I was put though always made me put it to the side. Any time I've talked to anyone about it, up until I met Kim, always would look at me like I was crazy or full of shit, so I would always shut it down.

I've always thought of my abilities as being very slight, mainly instinctual more than anything, and never really "stretched my legs" so to speak, to see what I can really do. I would still imagine that, despite having a very open mind, my age and experiences would still be a little bit of a hurdle (at least I say that - I still learn things at a near geometric rate). Like I said before though, I'm always open to learn new things, and I think you may be right that this has played out like this for a reason. Maybe I just need my "doors blown off", perception-wise, to kick this thing in gear, since I know belief & perception can help or hinder.

Funny, Kim & I were just talking early this morning before I sent you the note, & she said that she thought that I may have more of a "gift" than either one of us has thought, and asked me what I thought about exploring that. She looked right at me and did a big "see....I told you so!" after reading your response. She's behind me 100% to try and see....

A Family for Eric

So an investigation this weekend really hit home for me.

For those of you that don't know, a group of friends and I run a group you might call a paranormal investigation group (http://houstonghost.com).

A man emailed us last week, who obviously seemed very stressed by what his family had been experiencing. He was approaching our group for help, which is ultimately why our group exists. Working with clients is always a learning experience for us, that's what we get out of the situation, but more importantly our group facilitates a much needed support / consultation function for families having this particular issue.

After gathering some initial information it was apparent the family really had an issue (you might be surprised how many hoaxes/idiots we get emails from). The information he provided in our initial online "interview" form contained some subtle hints that this was a family in genuine need, not someone looking for entertainment.

Initially we offered them an investigation spot/schedule a few weeks out, but they asked if we could meet sometime sooner since they were experiencing some fairly traumatic events. Among them were disembodied voices calling the names of family members, kids (pre teens and teens) afraid to sleep in their rooms or go into certain parts of the house and both the mother and father experiencing a sensation of being held in place while their whole bed shakes violently. The father had begun to verbally challenge the entity to call it out and demand that it leave his family, especially their children alone. In response, the entity had started to toy with him by opening every cabinet in the kitchen on a regular basis so that only he saw what was going on.

When we arrived early Saturday afternoon we had a little trouble finding the house because of lack of house numbers, but we had a strong suspicion what house was involved, because you could literally feel something was going on in the house from the street. Our medium, a very very talented woman, was already a bit on edge that morning because she had some very disturbing dreams about the client's house the night before centering on some fairly disturbing issues/imagery involving the elderly.

We eventually found the client, introduced ourselves for the first time and our group split up, as has become our normal procedure. One group member sits the clients down and interviews them, going over their initial report, our procedures, how our group works, what the client can and cannot expect from us, etc. while the mediums and note takers that accompany them tour the house on their own, getting their impressions and readings.

During this investigation I served as the interviewer / case working talking to the clients and essentially keeping them busy while the rest of the group does the job we came there for, figuring out what's going on. The clients mainly re-iterated their initial complaints about the bed shaking, cabinets opening on their own, little things in the house being molested/moved, a general feeling of being watched and a few other of the usual complaints for cases like this. Chief among them was the obvious concern for their children and the wife was newly pregnant so they felt they needed to get a handle on the situation now, before things got out of hand. In talking with them my heart really went out to both of the clients. I know what it's like to feel like something may be threatening your children and you feel almost completely powerless to protect them. Truly, that's one of the worst feelings a parent can ever experience.

Once the rest of the team was finished touring the house we all sat down in the living room and the mediums shared what they were getting. Keep in mind that our group has a VERY strict policy of not allowing the mediums to have any background knowledge on a client or activity happening in the house at all until after the medium has finished sharing their readings with the client.

As the medium started talking about one event after another that the family had been experiencing in great detail (without any previous knowledge i might add) and what/who was behind it you could literally watch the borderline fear, worry and anxiety on the faces of the clients melt into understanding and compassion. The medium started talking about the long black haired girl named Samantha that was hanging out with and talking to the teenage girls in the family. She would follow them back and forth between their house and client's X wife's house. The clients had just described her in our interview not an hour earlier and their own children had described just such a girl named Samantha. There the medium was telling them about a girl with the exact same description named Samantha that was just hanging out to be out with girls her own age. Samantha knew the girls in the family could see (the children were also mediums, which is very common) her and she apparently enjoyed that interaction.

Then came the story of Eric. Eric was a 9/10 year old little boy who was just essentially pissed at the world because nobody was paying any attention to him. He could see everyone, but apparently nobody could see him. He was so upset he was almost to the point of wanting to hit and scratch people to get attention. We strongly suspect that Eric is responsible for the bed shaking incidents the family had described and was doing nothing more than trying to get someone to acknowledge him, to the point that he was literally screaming at the mediums. When they initially asked him what his name was his response was, "what does it matter? nobody pays any attention to me anyway?!"

He could see the father in the family and had started what Eric described in his own words as a "tit for tat" confrontational game with the father. Eric would do something and the father not wanting to acknowledge that what was happening may have been the spirit would blame whatever was happening on the cats. This, in turn, would only make Eric more angry so that he would act out, eventually doing things like opening all the cabinet doors in the kitchen, but only when Chris would see it. It was sort of their own little Father/Son war, only the father wasn't really aware he was playing the game with the equivalent of a ghostly son.

We explained that there was nothing inhuman in the house and that though there were multiple spirits involved there wasn't much to worry about. Their best practice was to address the spirits when they were being bothersome just as they would address one of their own kids. The only difference being it was a little more difficult to ground the kids without a physical body. The point though was to talk to them and acknowledge them and also to take up a few spiritual practices like smudging the house to keep any negative spirits from just wandering in and trying to make a nest.

Once all this was explained and we identified and fixed a few other issues in the house that was contributing to the anarchy in the house the family seemed much more at ease, if not a bit overloaded. It was a lot of information to take in, even for a family that had been dealing with these events on a daily basis for months. The group shook hands and exchanged hugs with the family and we went our separate way to have dinner and a few rounds of margaritas. I was happy that we had brought the family some measure of relief to what was initially a very tense situation.

I gave the clients about 24 hours to process the information they were given and I gave them a follow-up call on Sunday just to see where they were at and if anything had developed. The father said our visit had indeed helped them understand that there wasn't anything to be afraid of in their situation and in fact their hearts went out to the little boy in their house. The father confessed that he had cornered himself in a bathroom and had a conversation with the boy, somewhat of a father/son talk.

He asked that if Eric could hear him and wanted to pray with him then to move the left curtain in the bathroom for no and the right curtain for yes. Low and behold a few seconds later the right curtain moved ever-so-slightly. The father took that as a sign for yes and began to pray. At some point the father felt an icey chill on his left hand and he took that to mean the boy had taken his hand. The father said that from that moment on the whole atmosphere in the house had changed. He even told Eric that if he wanted to he could come to work with him whenever he wanted. How's that for some interaction for Eric? :)

As I'm about to go to bed tonight I sit back and think how blessed I am to be in a position in such a team of friends in our group that we are able to help a family achieve understanding in their difficult situation. Not only have they made a major step toward resolving their problem but in a very real way their family just got a couple of souls bigger. I'm happy and very thankful I could be a part of that.

Note: incidentally, the medium's dreams about the elderly being abused and housed in deplorable conditions was confirmed. The family had bought the house they were living in VERY cheap because it used to be an assisted living facility. The family had remodeled it extensively, but in the father's own words, "There was blood and feces all over the walls when we moved in." You should have seen the medium's face when he said that. It was like everything she had seen the night before made sense. I wonder now if Eric didn't somehow find himself abandoned in that house somehow when it was a nursing home, or perhaps he was one of the previous residents that had simply regressed to the state of a 10 year old. Maybe he was just wondering by and found himself there one day. Who knows.

James S. -

And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference