THREE POEMS

Rachael Haigh

I Feel a Strong Energy Pull Me Upstairs

we are here in West Hollywood, CA. we are here
because there is urgency. the first structure built
upon this site went up in 1804. being in this old
car is surreal: are we going to a location or are we
going back in time? we’ve been here before—we

did an investigation. it’s another spooky Hollywood
place. i’m worried because everybody working there
has gone a little crazy. pamela has begun finding
bones. this highly unusual rain returns as we enter
the Woman’s Club of Hollywood. when did you start

noticing the spiritual energy? lisa suffered a grand mal
seizure which she claims was a demonic attack. warning:
the images are disturbing. six stitches in the back of my
head. and you think this was triggered by a darker force?
i think so. you can see me coming out. i’m all bloody. i

didn’t know all the history. back in the time when all the
cults were coming into LA, a man performed sermons
in the auditorium. his cult drew a darkness onto this place:
absolutely. when i started digging, that’s when the bones
started coming up. [she takes us to the area where she had

her horrifying seizure.] i meet with the club president/
historian. the club officers have had a falling out with lisa
since she found the bones. she was skipping right across
the floor there and she skipped into the wall. we think she’s
a little girl named sarah. were those the bones of a little girl

in that grave? we can definitely tell who’s the tougher guy
out of the crew. in the midst of this investigation, we heard
about you. only members of the club have ever been allowed
to investigate inside its walls. i ask linda about the dark spirit
here. i feel there is one who controls a lot of the other entities

in here—i’m not going to say evil, but a very dark spirit. nor
do i. that’s why i keep coming back. these kids need help and
i don’t know how to do it. do you think those bones were hu-
man bones? i don’t know. does this little girl have something
to do with those remains? i feel a strong energy pull me upstairs.

The Team Swaps to Disperse Energy

i’ve not slept in this room for about a year. this is where i used to sleep. i can’t
sleep here anymore. i haven’t been in this bed for over a year. this is my side of
the bed. every time i’d fall asleep, i could feel something coming for me from
the corner. i just want it to stop. there is anger in this room. i have to get out
of here. i can’t be here anymore. let’s go. my grandfather was a moonshiner.
he was always good to me. my grandfather pulled a knife out and cut his
cousin’s intestines out. he was 23. he bled to death. all our lives we’ve been told
we were cursed by him. i would like you to banish it from our home. whatever
it is, we want it to go away. whoever’s here wants to speak to us. i feel like it
knows why we’re here. jones, alabama. like a thousand pounds of pressure on top
of me. a dark entity. the area where he made moonshine and later killed his cousin.
i feel like i’ve been being watched the entire night. if anything gets in, we can see.
if you are a male spirit, can you touch this device that’s on the floor? please,
for us? dude: it’s going off behind you. who’s here with us? i swear i just saw
reflective eyes. somebody is in the brush. somebody or something is watching us.
when you stepped away, it started picking up for me. it told me it has something
to do with the murder. we have to go back in the house. do you want to switch
rooms? do you want us to leave? do you want us to go into the other bedroom? are
you the grandfather? are there two entities here? we keep getting confirmation
of it. the team swaps to disperse energy. if i lay in the bed, maybe this thing’ll
try and choke me. are you here to hurt someone? if so, please light up the device.
we got the answer, back away—back away from the device please! you pissed it off.

Did You Kiss the Angel’s Feet?

There’s a tall man watching us.
Is it drawing us over there on

purpose? Strong spirits will
interfere with paranormal teams

who are trying to get rid of them.
The name of this entity is The

Tall Man. This thing’s really
pissed we’re coming. The Tall

Man Entity is powerful. Please
tell us what’s been going on

up til this moment. It will float
over to my baby’s crib and I

can’t move to stop it. Some-
times as tall as the mirror—

sometimes it’s all the way up
to the ceiling. The site was not

only the place of train robberies,
but also occult activities and

suicides. This is your home. It
needs to be that way. You guys

know about my vision that came
to me in my hotel room. Sleep

paralysis occurs when a person
wakes and cannot move. Ever

since we arrived in Lubbock.
The team begin their preliminary

investigation. Two teams in two
hotspots of activity. It’s hiding.

It looks like somebody punched
the wall from the inside. A 2.9

EMF reading is a significant
difference of energy [than the

norm]. Are you the one who came
to me in my hotel room? INJURE.

Were you trying to injure me
in my hotel bed? What just hap-

pened to us? But the spirit hunters
are not the only targets for this dark

entity. What do you want with the
baby? You’re not going to get

to these kids’ souls, do you under-
stand that? That’s why you came

to me first. You know what I’m
about. Is that you trying to

manifest? Were you robbed
and killed? (Keep getting the

words ‘robbed’ and ‘pushed;’
not sure what it means.) The

lights are flickering. Are you
trying to take energy from

those lights to show your-
self? Streetlight just went

out—the team has realized
the entity has successfully

pushed them out the house.
I stood over the baby-crib

and I asked, What do you want
with these kids? and it said,

SOUL. (Spirits seek out
kids because they are

weaker and therefore
easier to manipulate.)

The next day we go to the cemetery.
The first burial here in 1892.

Supposed to be the third
largest in Texas. Over 60,000.

First thing’s first: somebody’s
buried here that’s pretty

important. Buddy Holly.
There is a giant angel

sculpture: the legend goes,
to get out of the cemetery

after dark, you must kiss
the feet of the angel. And if you

do not, men dressed in black
cloaks will rush you at the gate.

Is this where the entity may
have attached itself to you?

Could be—I was too afraid
to kiss the angel’s feet.

-- Z.H. Gill lives in East Hollywood, CA. He edits Burial Magazine.