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"As a young man I was scornful about the supernatural but as I have got older, the sharp line that divided the credible from the incredible has tended to blur; I am aware that the whole world is slightly incredible." - Colin Wilson
Here's what's coming up around Jefferson...
06/01-06/03/2023 - Big Cypress Corvette Weekend
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Things have been a little crazy for the last couple of months, so I've been terribly neglect in getting the GroveZine out - I apologize! Thanks for all the emails and enquiries - everything is fine at The Grove, though. Now that Spring is here we've been working a little more on the garden, trying to overcome all the damage from the tornado that hit us a number of months ago. It's been fun, though, and I can almost feel the spirit of Daphne Young looking over our shoulder as we work (she and her husband Charlie bought the house in 1885, and she loved her garden).
Big news - we have a very special event coming up in Jefferson, so save the date. October 19, 20, and 21 there will a program on Victorian mourning presented at the Jefferson Historical Museum: Sitting Up With the Dead - Revisited - Victorian Mourning and Funeral Customs. A similar show was presented last year, so this is kind of a sequel. This year it's going to be completely different, however - with mourning customs that make you laugh, make you cringe, and maybe even hide your eyes for a moment! Tickets go on sale in July, so mark your calendars now.
Since we last spoke, my wife and I have started a new, fun little project - we decided to go back and watch that old soap opera Dark Shadows from the very beginning. It started back in 1966, and we both have memories of seeing an episode here and there as kids, and being scared silly by it - so it seemed like a good idea. With our Amazon FireStick, we found that a free television service called "FreeVee" offers it at no charge. We therefore launched into it, trying to catch a few episodes every week. At some point I did a quick web search to see just how many episodes there are... and I was shocked by the answer. There were 1,225 episodes of Dark Shadows filmed. So even if we were watching four a week, that's around 200 episodes a year, and it would take six years to see them all! Oh well, at the moment we're enjoying them, so our little project is still going strong. I'll keep you posted.
We were SO honored recently - Lucile Grove, a previous owner of the house, stopped by with a gift for us. She brought us a sack of doilies that had belonged to the Young family! They were in the house when she and her husband purchased it, and she's had them over the last thirty years. We're so excited that she brought them back to The Grove, and they will definitely be passed to the next owners, although, I hope that isn't for many years to come. Thank you, Lucile!
When someone sent me a link to a news story (complete with security camera video) about a potential haunting at a marijuana shop in Oregon, my reaction was "Yeah, right - maybe the employees have been doing a little product sampling!" After reading the story and watching the video, however, I have to say that something strange is definitely going on. I like the fact that the camera not only catches the "supernatural" activity, but it shows the employee's reaction as well. Check it out for yourself by clicking on 
My wife woke up in the middle of the night a week ago, and heard music and talking coming from the Den. Her first thought was, "What is Mitchel doing up this late!?!" Of course I lying in bed next to her, probably snoring, so she quickly decided that it wasn't me. Her next thought was that I'd left the television on. She sat up in bed, and looking into the den (a clear shot from our bedroom) she saw that there were no lights on at all. By then the music and voices had stopped, so she came to the only logical conclusion that you can reach at our place - we live at The Grove, and things like that happen, so we always just turn over and go back to sleep... and hope that whoever is visiting the house is having a great time.
That wasn't the only nocturnal event that my wife has experienced lately. A couple of weeks before that incident, she was asleep and heard someone call her name. She assumed it was me, and called back "What?" When I didn't answer, she heard her name called again, and said "What?" a little louder, which woke me up. When she realized that I'd been asleep, she said, "I just heard my name called twice!" I can understand that - it usually happens to me when I'm shaving - I'll hear her call my name, and then I'll go find her, dripping shaving cream everywhere, only to discover that she hadn't said a word.
People always ask me, "What's the latest thing to happen at The Grove?" They want to hear about the sighting of our Lady in White, or the mischievous fellow in the Den that loves to tease the ladies, or any of our other more famous spirits. When I tell them that feelings are some of the most powerful things that I experience, it's hard for them to get their head around. Case in point: During Pilgrimage, on the Saturday when there are two back-to-back Diamond Bessie Murder Trial plays, I don't get home until 11PM. I portray Sheriff John Vines in the play - for 15 years now, if you can believe that... it doesn't seem possible to me! Anyway, my wife waited up for me, but once I was safely home she went to bed. Our basset hound Bella was already in a deep slumber. I was still a little revved up from the play (we have a great time with it) so I decided to just check email, make some notes on a couple of projects I'm working on, and just generally wind down.
Interestingly enough, as I'm writing the closing to this GroveZine it's about 11pm, and everyone's in bed but me. I just heard footsteps and the floor creaking, so I decided to check it out. Marley the cat is sound asleep in the chair beside me, and when I tiptoed into the bedroom, I saw that my wife and Bella the basset hound were both in bed. I turned on a light or two and quickly gave the house a once-over, but the doors were all locked, and I was the only one awake. If that's happened to me once, it's happened a hundred times over the last 21 years that we've owned The Grove, so I guess that I shouldn't be surprised. Whoever was walking around has now finished, and so it's probably a good time for me to end this GroveZine and say two quick things - thanks for reading the GroveZine (especially your patience when I miss a couple), and thanks for being a friend of this wonderful, old place known as The Grove!
