As most of you know, we moved to a new town during the beginning of the year. Now that we’re finally settling in to our new home here in Eustis, Florida, we thought it was time to become acquainted with the town. There are many ways that we could achieve this, but for us, the best always seems to be through history, so we headed over to the Florida Memory Project and took a peek at some of the older photographs they have online. We found some we loved and set out to recreate them. Here’s what we ended up with.

Now that we’ve had a chance to see some of the amazing architecture that Eustis has to offer, we’re eager to explore the stories behind the buildings. Stay tuned for a continuation of this post as we learn about some of the more colorful residents to have lived in this beautiful town. And if you know of a wonderful location here that we should explore, by all means let us know!

The whole family visited our county fair last night. We had a blast!

When I was a kids, it was an annual tradition to go at least once. I was never much interested in the rides, but my favorite part has always been the food. Things haven’t changed much as an adult.

But what good paranormal investigator can past up an obvious chance to do a little investigating while spending time with the family?

I am excited to report frequent activity of screaming banshees, animated skeletons and moaning zombies.

I recently read an article on a major news outlet that discussed the upcoming series on The Discovery Channel. The Exorcist Files will use re-enactments to discuss cases of possession. We have all seen plenty of shows like this, but this one was actually granted access to the Vatican’s case file. They will also be interviewing  the church’s top exorcist.

The producers ultimate goal is to accompany religious officials on an actual exorcism. This is a huge change for the Catholic Church-not too long ago they denied the existence of the Exorcism Ritual and that there were priest trained to perform it.

I am very curious to see if they deal with all “hauntings” as demonic or do they make a distinction.

Over the weekend, we had the pleasure of visiting St. Bernard de Clairvaux Spanish Mission. It is an amazing place that offers a really unique look at history. The Monastery was built in Sacramenia, Segovia, Spain between 1133 and 1144. It was dedicated to the honor of the Blessed Mother and named “Monastery of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels,” then later renamed in honor of Bernard of Clairvaux, a famous Cistercian Monk. The Cistercian Monks occupied the monastery for nearly 700 years before the Cloister was seized, sold and converted into a stable and granary in the mid 1830s. That is where the story gets really interesting.

William Randolph Hearst, a famous American businessman, purchased the Cloisters and outer buildings in 1925. He had workers dismantle the structures, packing each stone in hay inside one of 11,00 wooden crates, intending to ship the entire Monastery home to the United States. The process would have been a smooth one, had the stones themselves been numbered in some way, but instead, the workers labeled the boxes. Enter the US Department of Agriculture, who realized that there was an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in Segovia and, afraid that the crates would spread the illness in the US, they quarantined the shipment. During the quarantine, they broke open the crates and burned the hay, which was a possible carrier of the disease. Then they put the stones back- without ensuring they went into the correct crates.

Hearst suffered financial losses right at the time that the crates were released, forcing the entire Monastery to go up for auction in its disassembled form. The stones remained in a warehouse for 26 years before W. Edgemon and R. Moss purchased them. It was 1953, and they decided the Monatery would make a great tourist attraction. It took 19 months and 1.5 million dollars to put the pieces back together; the process was time consuming and there are still stones left over.

I highly recommend a side trip to the Monastery if you’re ever in the area. The story is fascinating and the scenery beautiful, so don’t miss it if you ever get the opportunity!