1408 – a prelude

This is not a movie review post but rather I’d be talking about something similar about the movie.

A few days ago I was walking by the local market where fresh produce  and the local hawkers would display their goods for sale. I was just supposed to buy some ingredients for the next day’s meal when I spotted boxes full of original dvds being sold for only Php25 each. I eagerly scanned through the boxes of dvds all lined up in cardboard boxes on the pavement and the lady selling them was helpful enough to toss me some of the other dvds at the back. One item caught my eye and so I reached out to grab the dvd and eyed it carefully. It was a psychological horror by Stephen King titled “1408” directed by  Mikael Håfström and stars John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson and other renowned actors and actresses. I thought it was interesting since I like “watching” Stephen King novels  as opposed to reading them since sometimes my thoughts get jumbled by his play and choice of words (I just don’t get along with them I guess. XD) so I went ahead and bought the copy. The synopsis on the cover of the dvd box intrigued me since the protagonist was an author who was into investigating haunted places and compiling his experiences into books but the ironic part was he never got to experience any hauntings and sightings of the other side in his career as a  “supposedly” paranormal investigator.

So I watched. I really liked how the story played out unexpectedly. But what really struck me was the message I got at the end of the video: the captured EVP recording of the protagonist’s daughter.

What about it?

A week ago I had my first group seance complete with a recorder to capture some EVPs. It was a very personal experience since a very good friend of ours died just a few months ago and my friend and I had been getting “hints” that she was trying to make contact with us. In my friend’s case, he kept seeing the famous Abbey Road poster by the Beatles and eventually ended up buying a copy of Across the Universe (a very great movie by the way :3) and then little did he knew that our late friend was a huge Beatles fan until he confirmed it with another dear friend. For me it was different since I kept hearing the Carpenter’s song “Calling occupants of interplanetary craft”‘s chorus over and over in my head (and I never heard the song played on the radio in ages too. If you’re not familiar with the song, here’s a link to a video on YouTube: Carpenter’s – Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft .) and all I knew about the song was the chorus which tells about “aliens” trying to make contact with earth. After sometime my friend decided that we should hold a seance since our dear late friend was insistently trying to get our attention. So we have the date, time and place scheduled and invited other close friends of hers to join us.

Our dear friend always loved all things paranormal and bizarre and I guess, since her passing, now she has first hand experience of how things are at the other side which intrigued her greatly when she was still present on this plane. The thought of bringing a recorder to the seance crossed my mind since I knew that if she were alive, she would love to hear what the other side has to say and what’s a good proof than to actually catch disembodied voices on a recorder. :))

Unfortunately, only 4 of us showed up since the others where too scared about the idea. We held the seance at peace in a small private area provided by one of her dearest friends somewhere in Manila. I’d get into more details but that would be for another post :)) but right after the seance, I realized that me bringing the recorder had another purpose. One, perhaps she’d like to share her message to the others who were not present at that time and two, to encourage us to follow and pursue our paths and be an inspiration to those that she could reach out to even though she may no longer be in this plane. A “living” proof that life doesn’t end after this plane that we are in at the this given moment and yet we should always remember to live our lives to the fullest.

And now, I am left to the task of actually enhancing the audio file of the seance and transcribing it so that I could share it with friends and a few other readers. The movie was actually a nudge for me to finish this project since I had neglected doing it for a week now. (Haha so sorry >_<) Currently, I’m done with almost half of enhancing the audio file and I have little knowledge about how the program works and how to tweak sounds so I hope it pans out well enough for people to understand :)) I’d be posting the transcript and the audio file on a separate blog post and it will be set into a PRIVATE post since it’s really not intended for the general public to view since it’s very personal and I don’t want some skeptic going over to debunking my material when that isn’t really the purpose of the recording. But, in case you’re interested, I could provide you with the password as long as you keep this to yourself or to a few people who would appreciate loving messages from beyond the grave. :)) Just hit me up on Facebook or send me an email at aimee.ting@gmail.com

 

Now… back to work. >_>