At the Chicago Ghost Conference in October 2017, I spent some time with Greg and Dana Newkirk of the Traveling Museum of the Paranormal and Occult, chatting with them about their collection of haunted artifacts. The first time I met them, they graciously allowed me to experience one of their haunted objects for myself — the Dark Mirror. Now, this wasn’t me getting some star treatment; far from it. Greg and Dana firmly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to interact with these fabulously haunted pieces. There are a few exceptions — things that are actually dangerous, and will have supernatural repercussions for anyone who fiddles with them — but in general, Dana and Greg encourage visitors to the museum to pick up these haunted items, look at them, hold them, and use them.
One of these objects is the Dark Mirror. I described my experience with this in Lights Out #30, Haunted Objects Part 2. For people who haven’t yet listened to that episode, I gazed into the mirror for quite some time — about twenty minutes. And I saw absolutely nothing but my own reflection staring back at me.
When I encountered the Dark Mirror a couple of years later, my experience was … somewhat different.
This time, the Dark Mirror seemed to want to draw me in. I tried really hard not to hog it, but I kept sneaking back to the museum booth, in the hopes that I could look into the mirror just one … more … time.
And other people were using the mirror. And they were seeing things. Disturbing things. I won’t name names, due to privacy issues, and because I heard this anecdote secondhand. But a friend of mine said that a mutual friend of ours had looked into the mirror, and had seen something absolutely appalling. This friend of ours had been a victim of a school shooting, and they relived that attack during their session with the mirror. “I’ve known him since third grade,” my friend said, “and I have never seen a look on his face like that.”
Another friend of mine sat down next to me just as I was about to look into the mirror for the third or fourth time. I gave up my seat to her — I was trying not to hog it — and she gazed into the mirror. After just a few minutes, she reared back, pushing away from the table with a wide-eyed look of fear and disgust on her face.
“I saw my own face, but it was hideous, all gross and old, practically rotting,” she panted.
That’s when I told her that about half an hour before, the mirror had shown me much the same thing. At one point, I had seen my own face — but my face as it would look if I were in my late nineties.
But I kept going back to the mirror. I was uncomfortably reminded of what Dumbledore said in the first Harry Potter book: “Don’t trust anything if you can’t see where it keeps its brain!” But soon … the mirror and I seemed to reach an agreement of sorts.
Now, this is just a theory, but here goes. I think that the Dark Mirror is haunted because it somehow possesses some sort of crude intelligence. Yes, I saw something unsettling in the mirror. But I kept going back to it. And when the mirror realized I wasn’t going to be scared off that easily … well, that’s when things really started to get interesting.
The next time I looked into the Dark Mirror, I did not see my face age fifty years in a second. Instead, I watched myself blink when I knew my eyes were open. I watched my gaze cut over to the right, when I knew I was looking straight ahead. And still I kept my gaze directly on the Dark Mirror. I wasn’t about to give up …
Then the mirror went completely black — my face faded away, almost entirely. I held my breath. What was the mirror planning to show me?
Unfortunately, my surroundings weren’t the most optimal conditions for mirror-gazing, or scrying, as it’s known. I saw nothing but blackness before someone walked past the table where I was sitting, or a burst of noise interrupted my concentration. I took the mirror back to Dana. She said that at some events, they have enough room to set up an enclosed booth with black curtains, to minimize distractions. This is called a psychomanteum. A quiet, dark place like that is just perfect for really going deeply into the relaxed state of mind needed for an effective scrying session.
Someday, I hope to run into the Dark Mirror again … and next time, maybe I’ll see what’s beyond the darkness.
An audio version of this post can be found at Lights Out, Episode #54: The Dark Mirror.
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I had a very interesting stay at the Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids, MI recently. First of all, this hotel is very beautiful and welcoming. The staff at the front desk, as well in the sports bar, are courteous, warm and seem genuinely happy to see you.