Lori E. Cox Founder/Director Lead Investigator
My name is Lori and I am married with 6 children left at home... ALL BOYS!!! I have been a paranormal investigator for 13 years and am currently under contract to write my first book on the ghosts of Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.
Many people have asked me why I have such an interest in ghosts. The fact is, it is hard for me to remember a time that I didnt believe in them. A time that I wasnt interested about the who, what, when, where and why of all things ghostly. It's just always been a part of who I am. I guess truth be told, I've always been a bit on the strange side. Oh well... complete and total sanity is far over-rated!
Perhaps it was the death of my father when I was quite young that began my journey into the paranormal realm. It led me to an enormous fear of death. Not a fear of ghosts, or cemeteries - or even demons - but of death itself. I needed to know that death was not "the end". That I would see him again. One day. Some place. Other people claimed thier loved ones and ancestors "came back". Roamed the halls and gardens of the old homestead. Could be seen and felt and sometimes even a whisper of them was caught upon the wind. Such was not the case with my father, although I searched for signs diligently.
In my twenty-fifth year I was living in Gainesville Florida and developed a great love of old tombstones. Really old and ornate ones; not the five by eight plaques that are so popular in gracing our dead today. I had decided to go to an older cemetery and look around for some suitable stones to do a few rubbings. As I roamed aimlessly thru the cemetery of choice, I came upon the graves of some children. Dozens and dozens of children, all in one large plotted area. There were no nice ornate stones in rememberance of them or even a five by eight brass plate. Just simple short concrete poles that bore thier names and dates, all very crudely done. All around the same times. I developed an obsessive need to know WHY so many young lives had been lost in such a rapid succession of dates, and with some research learned that these were the Sunnyland Mental Hospital children. The throw-aways of society then. The forgotten ones. As I was researching this, I had reason to make a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina. I went cemetery hopping while there as well, and a trip to the Mt. Zion Chapel of Ease cemetery resulted in a picture with "something" VERY paranormal looking over at me. Now I was truly hooked on ghosts! A true believer in every sense of the word. I had captured my own very first proof that death was NOT "the end". At least not for some.
I guess I would have to say that I have a Catholic based Christian understanding of religion. And though I'm not a practicing Catholic - as I do not agree with many of their beliefs - it is the mold into which I was poured as a child. Years later, as an adult, I actually picked up the Bible and began to read it... ok, well MOST of it anyway. At any rate, it is my understanding that the Bible refers to death as a time when the soul sleeps. Until Judgement Day and the return of Christ.This leaves me wondering why, if that is the case, we hear of so many ghosts and/or hauntings. Why are these "ghosts" not asleep, but instead insomniatically roaming about?
The answer to the above question MIGHT come from at least ONE of my own beliefs, as I believe there to be four categories into which ghosts and hauntings can fall into. The first category, and possibly the most important, (as they are the most widely seen or felt) is an actual ghost. Apparitions if you will. I believe these are people whose deaths were either so violent or sudden that confusion keeps them trapped here. Or possibly such a death renders the soul with such a sense of seperation anxiety that it leaves them searching for some integral person or thing that may or may not still be here. Or maybe home isnt just where the heart is, but the soul as well... for some. The second category is a Residual haunting. This is where an event - whether good or bad - can be so strong that it literally etches itself into a particular place, replaying the event over and over. Much like a VCR tape. Play. Rewind. Play. Rewind. No actual "ghosts", just intense energy of a particular event. The third category would be that of Angels. Messengers of God. Guardians. The bringers of comfort and hope. Souls that were never human at any time, acting to protect us from the evils of the world. And finally we have the fourth category. Demons. I believe these creatures can use the human form as a lure in a trap or as some other tool in their evil plans, making you think you have what was once a very "human" ghost, but soon opening doors to some of our worst nightmares.
Whatever the case may be, and whether this is still a hobby of mine or just plain out obsession at this point, I am on a quest. A quest to bring proof that there is indeed life after death. A quest to prove that ghosts and hauntings can and DO exist. Won't you join me?
©2008