Psychic Readings History| Hauntings
Continuing this series in Psychic Readings History, an extremely well-documented case of multiple hauntings caught my attention. Have you ever had the experience of lying in bed and becoming aware of a very heavy, immovable weight on your chest? I don't mean a bad case of indigestion or a dream of an elephant crushing you to death. I mean an actual waking experience of someone or something sitting heavily on your chest so that you feel that you will suffocate and die if you can't get it off of you? I have had that experience and that is terrifying! Although records of the phenomenon go back at least 6000 years, stories of the Incubus (male) and Succubus (female) were common in the European Middle Ages as its depiction by artist Henry Fuseli (below, right) attests. Contemporary psychology dismisses such stories as folktales, delusions, or "sleep paralysis". Elaine Mercado would have agreed; that is, until she began to experience the presence of a very angry entity pushing her down into her mattress and nearly suffocating her to death several nights a week. The experience was anything but pleasant and certainly not sexual as Medievalists had imagined the Incubus to be. This attack was menacing, ugly, and traumatic. For years, Elaine's eldest daughter, Karen, was likewise afflicted but there was far more to their experience. Shadow people, "the Mist", balls of light, whispering voices, rasping breathing, extremely odd behaviour in their pets, ear-shattering noises, strange odours, were part of their everyday lives and before long Elaine began to feel like a hostage in her own home.Psychic Readings History| Hauntings
It didn't help that her husband was contemptuous of any and all reports of unusual activity in the house. 
Even when he himself was subjected to some of the phenomena, he refused to acknowledge the significance of it. As her life became a living nightmare, Elaine desperately sought "natural explanations" for the odd goings-on. She did not invite and did not want these intrusions into her family life but as a full-time mother and housewife she had no credibility with her husband.However, Elaine had harboured a life-long dream to become a Registered Nurse and, partly to escape the house for hours at a time and partly to realize her dream, she enrolled in nursing school. Her husband's business prospered over the years but her marriage continued to deteriorate even as Elaine became valedictorian of her graduating class. Her sense of accomplishment went some way to make up for the belittling that her husband handed out and the opportunity to study psychology seemed to promise an answer to the riddle of what was causing all the phenomena in their home.
Even when he himself was subjected to some of the phenomena, he refused to acknowledge the significance of it. As her life became a living nightmare, Elaine desperately sought "natural explanations" for the odd goings-on. She did not invite and did not want these intrusions into her family life but as a full-time mother and housewife she had no credibility with her husband.However, Elaine had harboured a life-long dream to become a Registered Nurse and, partly to escape the house for hours at a time and partly to realize her dream, she enrolled in nursing school. Her husband's business prospered over the years but her marriage continued to deteriorate even as Elaine became valedictorian of her graduating class. Her sense of accomplishment went some way to make up for the belittling that her husband handed out and the opportunity to study psychology seemed to promise an answer to the riddle of what was causing all the phenomena in their home.
No Escape Clause
Year after year, Elaine and Karen suffered what they called "the suffocation dreams" one feature of which was what Elaine thought was sleep paralysis but as she eventually learned there were essential differences between that normal stage of sleep and what was happening to her and Karen. Eventually 
everyone in the family including Elaine's disbelieving husband, friends of her children, neighbours and colleagues experience one or more of the frightening manifestations of haunting. When she finally initiated divorce proceedings, Elaine hoped that things in the house would improve and for a time they seemed to ease but invariably the "suffocation dreams" would return and deprive her of sleep four or more nights a week. Likewise, the balls of light and strange shapes moving along the baseboards, the movement of articles, the odd animal behaviours, would all return. When these activities affected both her daughters and their friends, they would all sleep in one room or would spend the night with Elaine's parents. The situation was intolerable but Elaine could do very little about it. Under the terms of her divorce agreement, she got title to the house but only when the divorce was final at least two years after she initiated it. Meanwhile, the house could not be sold. She was stuck. Only her brother, Joe, was sympathetic and believed what was going on in the house was real. He had felt something "heavy" in the house on the day Elaine moved in but had said nothing to her about it, not wanting to spoil her happiness at finally having a home of her own. Eventually, it would be Joe who would fine a possible solution to the problem of the haunting.
everyone in the family including Elaine's disbelieving husband, friends of her children, neighbours and colleagues experience one or more of the frightening manifestations of haunting. When she finally initiated divorce proceedings, Elaine hoped that things in the house would improve and for a time they seemed to ease but invariably the "suffocation dreams" would return and deprive her of sleep four or more nights a week. Likewise, the balls of light and strange shapes moving along the baseboards, the movement of articles, the odd animal behaviours, would all return. When these activities affected both her daughters and their friends, they would all sleep in one room or would spend the night with Elaine's parents. The situation was intolerable but Elaine could do very little about it. Under the terms of her divorce agreement, she got title to the house but only when the divorce was final at least two years after she initiated it. Meanwhile, the house could not be sold. She was stuck. Only her brother, Joe, was sympathetic and believed what was going on in the house was real. He had felt something "heavy" in the house on the day Elaine moved in but had said nothing to her about it, not wanting to spoil her happiness at finally having a home of her own. Eventually, it would be Joe who would fine a possible solution to the problem of the haunting.
The Medium Bears The Message
Joe, a New York photographer, had answered a middle of the night call from Elaine who had had one of her most terrifying experiences but not and would not appeal to her ex-husband, did not want to alarm her parents, but also could not bear to be in the house anymore. Joe drove from Manhattan to Brooklyn and spent the rest of the night in Elaine's house whilst she tried to sleep in her office cum guest room. Joe, too, experienced weight suffocating him and pushing him deep into the mattress. Having had the experience first hand, Joe did not want his sister living with this horror and he volunteered to find a
"medium" to come to the house to see if an outsider could pick up anything about what or who might be haunting the house. Months later, Joe made good on his promise and Dr. Hans Holzer and a medium with whom he worked agreed to visit Elaine's home to investigate the problem. Hans Holzer was probably the best known researcher into paranormal phenomena in the US at the time (mid-1990's). If anyone could help Elaine to evict her unwanted ghostly tenants it was Holzer. However, he wanted to know very little about the problem so as to approach it with an open mind. He was given only a note of few lines describing the most frightening aspects of the haunting and omitting dozens of others. One test of a true medium is that they don't want to know the details of a case. They want to experience an allegedly "haunted" place for themselves and having prior information just contaminates the process. Holzer and the medium got straight down to work on their arrival at the house. Many hours were to pass before Elaine had her answers.
"medium" to come to the house to see if an outsider could pick up anything about what or who might be haunting the house. Months later, Joe made good on his promise and Dr. Hans Holzer and a medium with whom he worked agreed to visit Elaine's home to investigate the problem. Hans Holzer was probably the best known researcher into paranormal phenomena in the US at the time (mid-1990's). If anyone could help Elaine to evict her unwanted ghostly tenants it was Holzer. However, he wanted to know very little about the problem so as to approach it with an open mind. He was given only a note of few lines describing the most frightening aspects of the haunting and omitting dozens of others. One test of a true medium is that they don't want to know the details of a case. They want to experience an allegedly "haunted" place for themselves and having prior information just contaminates the process. Holzer and the medium got straight down to work on their arrival at the house. Many hours were to pass before Elaine had her answers.
Grave's End: A True Ghost Story HERE. (In Psychic Distrubances) is Elaine's personal account of her haunted years. It is written in a straightforward, guileless manner with no histrionics and, for the most part, with great restraint yet without sacrificing the sense of menace that she lived through. It is a credible account of a multiple haunting of a house in Psychic Readings History that went on for over a hundred years during which few owners stayed longer than six to eight months. That alone speaks volumes about the courage of Elaine Mercado and her daughters, Karen and Christine.
© Delia O' Riordan 2012
http://www.psychic-delia.com
