VIDEO OF ROB'S TALK: Ghost at The Book Escape: Part 2 (Baltimore 2012)

Author and developing medium Rob Gutro explains about the investigation of Baltimore's Book Escape and tells about the behavior of the ghost who haunts the store. Margaret Erhlich, manager of Inspired Ghost Trackers joins Rob to explain how the team investigated with equipment. This is a 6:50 minute video, Rob talks about the happenings of the Book Escape.  The IDENTITY of the ghost was discovered through checking historic records of the property's owners - and you'll find it and a photograph of who the ghost is (when he was alive) in the book  "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead." 
**NOTE: There were some children in the audience- so the talk was toned down as not to scare them.

VIDEO PRODUCTION: Steve Cole


  Rob Gutro wrote "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead" (MORE about the book, and to order the paperback: https://www.createspace.com/3824548)  and "Ghosts and Spirits: Insights from a Medium."  BOTH are available in paperback and E-book through Amazon.com (Ebook for Lessons at $2.99, Ebook for Ghosts at $3.99).
  Rob has been featured in the Washington Post, MSNBC, and heard on the world-wide radio program "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory," "Paravizion Radio," Ghost Chronicles Radio, Gazette Newspapers, Unknown Paranormal Radio, the Francis and Jon Show and many more.
  Author's Website/Blog/Appearances: http://ghostsandspiritsinsights.blogspot.com/

VIDEO OF ROB'S TALK: Ghost at The Book Escape: Part 1 (Baltimore, 2012)

Author and developing medium Rob Gutro talks about his abilities to communicate with those who passed. Part one is a general overview of what ghosts and spirits are, and the difference between them.  -Toward the end of this 4:44 minute video, Rob talks about the happenings of the Book Escape.
**NOTE: There were some children in the audience- so the talk was toned down as not to scare them. (One thing I mentioned was that ghosts can't harm you. However, the negative energy they give off can adversely affect the emotions and tension in a household.

***COMING NEXT: PART 2 DISCUSSES THE INVESTIGATION***

VIDEO PRODUCTION: Steve Cole

  Rob Gutro wrote "Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead" (MORE about the book, and to order the paperback: https://www.createspace.com/3824548)  and "Ghosts and Spirits: Insights from a Medium."  BOTH are available in paperback and E-book through Amazon.com (Ebook for Lessons at $2.99, Ebook for Ghosts at $3.99)
  Rob has been featured in the Washington Post, MSNBC, and heard on the world-wide radio program "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory," "Paravizion Radio," Ghost Chronicles Radio, Gazette Newspapers, Unknown Paranormal Radio, the Francis and Jon Show and many more.
  Author's Website/Blog/Appearances: http://ghostsandspiritsinsights.blogspot.com/

MovieTrailer: The Dark Knight Rises

I can't wait to see this Batman film (being a HUGE Batman fan that I am)! Rob



The Dark Knight Rises- ""You're dealing with a story that very specifically picks up eight years after the events of the last film," the director said. "Time has moved on, but our protagonists haven't. Bruce Wayne has shut himself away in self-imposed exile. He's hung up the cape and cowl, but he hasn't moved on.
Eight years after Batman took the fall for Two Face's crimes, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham's finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.

ENGLAND TRIP: Day 5: Part 5: The White Cliffs of Dover - and an OUTTAKE Video!

The White Cliffs of Dover

The White Cliffs of Dover are cliffs which form part of the British coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France.  The cliff face, which reaches up to 350 feet (110 m), owes its striking façade to its composition of chalk accentuated by streaks of black flint. The cliffs spread east and west from the town of Dover in the county of Kent, an ancient and still important English port.

The cliffs have great symbolic value for Britain because they face towards Continental Europe across the narrowest part of the English Channel, where invasions have historically threatened and against which the cliffs form a symbolic guard.

OUR EXPERIENCE:  The tour bus stopped here after Leeds Castle. The town of Dover seemed run-down, so we just stayed to the shoreline where some little shops were. We split a sandwich and had tea (of course). It was pretty cool to stand on the shores of England and see the shores of France on the horizon! 

VIDEOS FROM DOVER!  We made two videos. I'll show you the second one, and the best one first, and then enjoy laughing at the OUT-TAKE afterward, when I forgot which coast of England we had traveled to! :) DUH.

ENGLAND TRIP: Day 5: Part 4: Leeds Castle /What's a Barbican?

a Barbican outside Leeds Castle's entrance

WHAT'S A BARBICAN AND WHY WAS THERE ONE OUTSIDE OF LEEDS CASTLE? 
 Some distance from the entrance of Leeds Castle were what appeared to be ruins of walls with windows. They were a barbican. Basically, a barbican is an outer fortification of a city or castle. It's an outpost or gateway, that acted as an outer defense to a castle.

Barbican ruins at Leeds Castle

VIDEO: We made a short video to give you a look around the barbican. 

NEXT: On to the "White Cliffs of Dover!" 

Window in the Barbican

Chance Loves the Human Touch

Our foster dog Chance loves the human touch. He loves to  cuddle and he always wants to be with us. He loves laying down at our feet while we're sitting on a chair watching television. Here's a pic of Chance at Tom's feet earlier this week.

ENGLAND TRIP: Day 5: Part 3: Leeds Castle / Ladies in Waiting Building

Still at the Leeds Castle in Kent, England, here's a look at the building that sits outside the front entrance of Leeds Castle, to the right of the entrance (upon approaching the castle).

Ladies in Waiting Dormitory

LADIES IN WAITING BUILDING - Outside of Leeds Castle was a "Ladies in Waiting Dormitory." This is the building that house the female attendants to the Queen Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's First Wife.

Here's some more history about Leeds Castle. According to the BBC, "Henry was responsible for transforming the fortified medieval castle into a royal palace. He spent huge amounts of money on the castle, and the building was a statement of wealth, especially his use of glass, which was very much a status symbol in Tudor times.
  Henry changed the downstairs rooms to become grand reception rooms introducing fire places into the main rooms, which originally had high vaulted ceilings. He added the second floor into the same space and created a whole suite of rooms upstairs for his then first wife, Catherine of Aragon. A new chapel and stables were also built on the central island.
  All this work was done for a visit in May in 1520 when he was on his on his way to France, with an entourage of over 5000 people. He spent only one night at Leeds Castle and in 1553, Henry's son gave the castle away."


In this video, Tom describes the building and history.

Is the Book Escape Haunted? Come this afternoon and Learn More!

Rob is giving a talk and doing a book signing in 

BALTIMORE today from 1-3pm!! 

Come to The Book Escape (805 Light Street, Baltimore, Md.) today,Saturday, July 14, 1-3 pm and meet paranormal author Rob Gutro who featured this local gem of a book store in his new book. Rob, a meteorologist will be answering questions and signing his latest book, Lessons Learned from Talking to the Dead!

"When I investigated The Book Escape with members of Inspired Ghost Tracking in October 2010, I didn't know what I'd find," says Rob. "Not only did we get an audible message and photographic evidence, but I was able to learn the identity of the helpful ghost who still lives there." The book store investigation is described in detail in his new book, along with many other interesting experiences of the medium.  

Come prepared to do some browsing! The Book Escape is having its biggest sale of the year that same day! This Saturday only: 50% off all used books with a book pass and 25% off without a book pass.

Be sure to stop by The Book Escape this Saturday for some interesting conversation and great deals! Info:    410-504-1902 , www.thebookescape.com

Margeaux Appel, intern

ENGLAND TRIP: Day 5: Part 2: Leeds Castle Renovations / Lady Baillie

Here's more about our visit to historic Leeds Castle!

Leeds Castle and Moat

HENRY'S CASTLE RENOVATIONS 
Henry VIII lowered the original defensive walls of the castle (it was built in the 1000s) to make the castle more of a retreat than a true castle. The lowered walls are seen out front against the water of the moat.
  In the lower part of the castle (back) he added the second floor and the windows to the keep that faced the moat. Those large windows were part of Henry VIII's dining hall.
  MORE ABOUT HENRY VIII's RENOVATIONS in the next blog. 

LATER CASTLE RENOVATIONS
The part of the castle closest to you was added after Henry VIII's time. A later owner, Lady Baillie, wound up gutting and renovating the entire inside. She also had the drawbridge removed that was used during Henry VIII's time.

WHO WAS LADY BAILLIE? 

VIDEO:   Here's a video we took inside one of the rooms in Leeds Castle where Lady Baillie's portrait hung. The tour guide provides an explanation of who Lady Baillie was, and the history of the room.

In 1925, Leeds Castle became the home of Olive, Lady Baillie (1899 – 1974). She was an  heiress, landowner and hostess. She married and divorced several times. In 1925, she married Arthur Wilson Filmers. When the Wilson Filmers bought Leeds Castle it was in a poor condition,  having not been lived in since 1924, and parts of the grounds were overgrown. 

According to Wikipedia, for the remainder of her life, the future Lady Baillie spent a large portion of her inherited fortune on the restoration of the castle and its associated buildings, and on the park and estate. She initially employed Owen Little, a Surrey architect, to carry out work on the entrance lodges and the stable yard. Much of the internal restoration of the castle at that time was designed by the French designer Armand-Albert Rateau. The work was carried out by craftsmen from France and Italy, as well as from Britain. Later, between 1936 and 1967, Lady Baillie worked with the French designer Stéphane Boudin in planning further restorations and improvements to the castle.  On her death the castle was bequeathed to a charitable trust to enable it to be open to the public.

ENGLAND TRIP: Day 5: Part 1: Leeds Castle

On the 5th day we took a great bus tour to a number of places outside of London. The first stop was LEEDS CASTLE.  

Leeds Castle, set on two islands on the River Len in the heart of Kent in England, has been fortified for more than 900 years. It was built in 1082 and added onto in the 1500s. 

Henry VIII, Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I,

Built in 1119 by Robert de Crevecoeur as a Norman stronghold, Leeds Castle descended through the de Crevecoeur family until the 1260s. What form this first castle took is uncertain because it was rebuilt and transformed in the following centuries.  In 1278, the castle became the property of King Edward I. 

VIDEOS IN THE CASTLE: 

We made several short videos while at Leeds Castle. The first video is an introduction to the castle from the outside. 

King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon lived here. It was gutted and renovated by a woman named Lady Bailley. She was an heir to the Standard Oil Company fortune (she inherited it through her uncle).

Many of the rooms were in a 1930s style, and nothing was left in the Tudor style. It was cool, however, to see where Henry VIII lived before Hampton Court, but disappointing that there was nothing left from his time.  The castle was voted "Britian's most beautiful castle" (on the outside).

The second video is in the Queen's bedchamber.

Fireplace has the "Tudor roses" on it- identifying it as built for Henry VIII's family

ANY GHOSTS IN THE CASTLE?  I didn't sense anything but according to the website "Haunted castles of Britain" there's a ghost of a big black dog that haunts the castle.  The website says "the ghost that is said to haunt the castle is a black dog, described by a witness as a 'curly-haired retriever' which would 'appear and disappear within moments, sometimes fading into a wall or passing through a closed door.' The dog has come to be associated with a death or other misfortune befalling a member of the castle owner's family.
This is strange given the fact that many years ago a woman was sitting by a window when she saw the dog disappearing into a wall. The woman went to investigate the creature and the window by which she had been sitting collapsed, the masonry landing on the spot where she had been sitting just moments before."

The third video is about the Banqueting Hall in Leeds Castle. 

A Museum for Idiots

I recently read about the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky. that has displays where life-size dinosaurs still tread the Earth, shoulder-to-shoulder with humans. UGH.
   As a scientist and an educated person, I'm outraged. These STUPID, yes, STUPID so -called ultra-conservative "religious" people (who give other religious people a bad name) created a museum that says the world began 6,000 years ago and everyone and everything just magically appeared all together. What a crock of crap.
 - What's worse is that people believe this stupidity.
Homo sapiens and velociraptors missed each other by a good 65 million years!!!!

  1) The Supreme Court has ruled that it's illegal for creationism to be taught in public schools, as a violation of the separation of church and state, so public school field trips are out. 
  2) Anyone that says a 2,000 year old book (the Bible) states scientific fact, when people at the time it was written didn't know anything about Science, the world, physics, weather, biology, etc. -- -is a FOOL. We have scientific PROOF of so many things.  The Earth is billions of years old. Anyone that doesn't believe that is an uneducated MORON. Period.

Want to read more about this stupid place? 
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/creation-museum-evolves-hoping-add-life-size-ark-170347907.html

Great Progress for Chance the Foster Dog

A proud moment- Chance conquers Hill number 1!

Our foster dog, Chance the Weimaraner is making remarkable progress since his hip surgery, where the doctor cut off the ball at the end of the leg, so that the leg would slide back in place. Since then, Chance has shown remarkable progress and we've been helping him use his leg.  

One of 2 large hills Chance conquered!

-  During a lunchtime walk, Chance (and the other dogs) went on a good 25 minute walk with me, and we went up TWO hills. The doctor told us to get Chance to walk up hills. Chance did a great job and used his weak leg (its weak because half the muscle withered when it was bent behind his butt) the entire way!  Here are a couple of pictures and a short video to show the progress.
   - Chance also can come down the stairs (13 steps) as long as I hold his backside straight (his back tends to lean to one side, away from his strong leg). This past weekend, with some butt support, he was actually able to CLIMB the 13 stairs (treats helped)!  Amazing!