Every Fall, in September, Kearney holds the Jesse James Festival. It's over the course of 3 weekends and celebrates the western heritage of the town, not necessarily the outlaw it's named after. I truly feel that celebrating the past, especially ones where violence and lawlessness ran rampant, will create an opening for spirits and other things to walk through. The more tumultuous the past, the more hostel those who return.
Sometimes good intentions during one of these types of celebrations can have unexpected consequences. That's what happened during the Jesse James Festival in the Fall of 2013. I have a good friend who owned a western leather shoppe and I told him I would help him set up his vendor booth at Jesse James Park the night of the rodeo. I was excited to help and looked forward to doing so. The day was just like any other day, nothing too special but I was in a great mood; happy and energetic. I was finally spending some time at home after a long stretch of travel. The weather was nice and the temperature was a little below normal. I knew that it would be a beautiful night and I was looking forward to helping my friend and watching the rodeo.
I was wrapping things up towards the end of the day so I could start getting ready to go. All of the sudden, without any warning whatsoever, I immediately felt ill. I started sweating, had chills, I developed a fever, and felt nauseated. I had not eaten anything that day which would have caused me to get sick and I hadn't felt even the slightest bit sick either. As I made my way upstairs, I started to vomit and ran to the bathroom. I had the drive heaves and my eyes started to water and my vision became blurry. I felt as if I was going to pass out. I somehow made it out of the bathroom but only as far as Chloe's room. I collapsed on her bed, shaking and feeling like I'd been hit by a bus. Jennifer called my friend and told him I wasn't going to be able to make it.
Just as fast as it started, it was over. I immediately felt better as soon as Jennifer told me not to worry about going to Jesse James Park. I feel as if something wanted to keep me home and away from the fairgrounds for some reason. I now feel that "something" was the crazy lady trying to control me and keep me from other people. Thankfully, I never had another episode like it again. However if you're an avid reader of the blog, you that crazy bitch wasn't done with me.
Another incident that happened one year in early October involved my desk. During the time we were dealing with the revolving door of spirits, I had my office in the basement. It was a quiet place for me to work. I would come upstairs to eat, use the bathroom, or grab something to eat throughout the day. One afternoon, I came upstairs to grab something out of our bedroom. Jennifer, Londyn, and Londyn's now husband, Jordan were in the kitchen. I was in the bedroom for no more than a couple of minutes and went back down stairs. As I got to my office area I stopped dead in my tracks. There was my desk, turned upside down with everything that was on it positioned the same place as if it were upright. I was pissed off and stormed back upstairs because I was certain was Jennifer, Londyn, and Jordan playing a prank.
"Are ya'll fucking with me!" I yelled at them.
They had no clue what I was talking about. I explained to them about my desk and we all went down stairs to look at it.
"I swear if ya'll fucking with me, I'm going to be so pissed because I don't got time for stupid shit like this!", I said.
They all said they had nothing to do with it and after I calmed down, I realized they would have never had the time to pull it off with such detail. I finally realized that it was something being mischievous or sending a message that they were in the control.
Maybe the messages being sent from these two experiences was that just like the change of the seasons, they could change my environment too; reminding me that the chill in the air was not always due to the Fall.
.
