We knew we had to help, but I was troubled by the facts, or I should say the lack thereof. Things just didn’t add up in my mind. Carmen’s magic didn’t help, yet she wanted us to conduct a séance, something she would have certainly been prepared to do herself considering her occult prowess. And Norma’s father, with whom she had a good relationship until Paul’s arrival, was turning into a malevolent haunting that from all indications was seeking to harm the young wife. And yet, both women wanted us to conduct a séance to contact Norma’s father and help indict the husband. Something was fishy in spook world.
When I mentioned my concerns to Silvana she said that I was the “occult expert” and she was only the medium. “I can feel things Robert, but you must do the brain work,” she said. “Well, what did you feel about the two women? Anything out of the ordinary?” I asked. Silvana shot back almost flippantly, “Oh yes, the dead, they already speak to Carmen about this problem.” “What?!” I was stunned that Silvana hadn’t mentioned this before, but then this was our first real analysis of the case and I had to admit that I was preoccupied by Norma’s grief over the damage to her family life. But Silvana’s comment raised suspicions again about the women’s request. It also sparked an idea in my mind. We would interview Carmen again, this time with Silvana in a trance under the guise of us wanting to contact the deceased father. Silvana could use her clairvoyant powers to “feel” Carmen’s association with the afterlife and perhaps give us a clue as to the real motives behind the séance request.
THE SÉANCE
The statues of at least a dozen Catholic saints were eerily illuminated by the red and yellow, tall glass supermarket size candles that sat on the kitchen table of Norma’s apartment the following Friday evening when Silvana and I arrived. The firelights flickered, giving the statues’ faces’ the illusion of expression. A fitting atmosphere I thought, for the “other world” events that were about to unfold. Norma offered us refreshments but we were eager to get right to work. Our group assumed the standard séance pOccult Investigatortions, holding hands in a circle around the kitchen table. The room was dark except for the candlelight and it had a faint odor of breakfast cooking mixed with the smoky scent of the candles. Supermarket candles typically don’t have cotton wicks and they tend to give off a distinct odor. I often “pick up” on odors in our cases as a regular investigative technique. In the past I was able to “smell evil,” so to speak, so I’m acutely attuned to any odor out of the ordinary.
Silvana prepared for her trance by bowing her head and placing her chin down against her chest while laying her hands flat on the table in front of her. I could see Norma and Carmen glance at each with a look of apprehension that I wasn’t at first sure was just nervousness about Silvana’s serious demeanor or if they were afraid of what we all would learn from the séance. Although the two women thought we were about to contact Norma’s father, our real motive was to discover if Carmen was indeed already in touch with the spirit world and more importantly, why?
Silvana drifted slowly into her trance. We were instructed by her before the séance to quietly chant the words “Miguel,” and then “Junior,” Norma’s father’s name and nickname, in rhythm, almost humming. We began the chant and within seconds Norma’s eyes began to water. I could see that she was becoming extremely agitated and frightened, yet her aunt Carmen was curiously distracted, peering over to Norma repeatedly and then looking at me. Despite the expected “TV haunted house” séance atmosphere expected at these types of rituals, this setting was very different and much more disturbing. The air was clogged with fear and anticipation. The odor changed from the Bronx apartment familiar to something rotting – like spoiled milk. We were about to touch another realm of reality. It wasn’t in our minds. We could see it, touch it and smell it. It was real – and we all knew it.
Silvana’s body became rigid in the metal kitchen chair and her dark eyes rolled back into her head expOccult Investigatorng only white orbs that shone like large shiny marbles. Her skin turned waxen with a pale almost translucent appearance, while guttural grunts and moans erupted from deep within her chest. The sounds bothered me. I saw Silvana in séances before, but these sounds sounded like noises made when someone is hurt or in distress. My instinct was to shake her out of the trance, but I was committed to finishing our job no matter how disturbing.
After a few moments Silvana raised her head and began to speak. We expected to hear a male voice, that of Norma’s father Miguel who would cross over and speak to us. But we were shocked when Silvana spoke to us in her own voice. She said, “I cannot contact the spirit you seek. The witch Carmen has conducted necromantic blasphemies; the guardians will not allow the tortured one to communicate his true words.” Before we could respond Carmen stood up breaking our circle, and ran out of the front door of the apartment. Norma also stood and yelled for her aunt. “Aunt Carmen, what is wrong? What is the matter?” She turned to me and asked, “I don’t understand what is happening. Why did my aunt leave? What does this all mean? Is my aunt evil? Is she an evil witch?” Norma asked one question after another sobbing pitifully.
Silvana released herself from her trance and rested her head in her hands. Her blouse was wet with sweat but I noticed that the color was returning to her face. I asked if she was all right and she shook her head up and down as she grasped my wrist. “Robert. I have found our problem. Carmen has done black magic with the dead. She wants to make Miguel her slave on earth. I feel she has chained his spirit to do her bidding.” I was shocked at what Silvana was saying, but it explained Carmen bolting from the room. I wasn’t aware of any Santeria spells that would bind ghosts, but Santeria is a close relative of Voodoun or Voodoo, and the possibility that Carmen was an evil sorceress in disguise – a boko - was surely a possibility. I remembered her mentioning Voodoun in passing during our earlier discussions. I then suspected that Carmen could have conducted a soul spell, or kou nanm to capture Miguel’s spirit, or worse, she could have conducted a voye lamo spell that send dead spirits to inhabit a victim. I asked Silvana to stay at the table because I wanted her to enter her trance state again, this time without Carmen in the room. I asked Norma to indulge us again despite her anxiety explaining that I may have some important answers to her problems. The young girl now exhausted from the ritual could only moan, “Yes, yes. Do what you will.”
We once again began the ritual, me holding hands with Norma as Silvana crossed over. This time Silvana was more relaxed and in control, but when she began to speak my suspicions were realized. This time her voice was that of Miguel’s, Norma’s departed father. Norma’s entire body shook and once again she began to cry as she heard the voice of her father speaking to us. “That is him! That is my father,” Norma shrieked. To those who have never experienced a legitimate séance, the presence in the room is indescribable. It’s not simply a familiar voice or a shadowy movement. A pressure in the air begins to surround the table and the darkness expands