Echoes From the Dead World

  Image taken by myself. St. Helena's Anglican Church in Beaufort, SC. Built 1712. You got to tell me, brave captain, why are the wicked so strong, how do the angels get to sleep, when the devil leaves the porchlight on? Gabriel Blackwoode whispered the Tom Waits lyrics in his mind as the Spanish moss like a decaying drapery hung wearily from the live oaks. Looming clouds of grey drifted over the forest through which Gabriel now rode, occluding the still wood with a haze that beckoned darker memories. Live oak, loblolly pine, blue palmetto, and slash pine as thick as a church choir stood, they standing so thick their shadows hid the secrets of the underbrush. Only the occasional ray of light broke the somber clouds to touch the hushed shadows below. “I told ya’ it’s a little far out didn’t I?” Mark Rutledge the real estate agent said in a soft southern accent with a chuckle as his Toyota Prius hit a bump on the sandy dirt road. It hurt Gabriel’s head as he leaned it against the ...

Since I am currently telling a story about Mainz (see my post from Saturday!), I thought it might be enlightening to impart some of the history of this incredible city. There are so many amazing stories to tell of Mainz, but in this case, I will focus on the Roman portions of it due to its pertinence to the story. Today, Mainz is a vibrant German city known for its wine, cathedrals, and as the home of the Gutenberg printing press. But long before any of that, this strategic spot on the Rhine River was a cornerstone of the Roman Empire, a military powerhouse so important it was known as " Aurea Moguntia "—Golden Mainz. The city's story begins around 13/12 BC, when the Roman Empire sought to expand its territory across the Rhine into Germania. To secure this dangerous frontier, the Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus established a large military camp, or castrum , on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Rhine and Main rivers. The Romans adapted the name from the local Ce...

Top: The grave of Ignatius. Bottom: Another Roman grave near his. History has a weight to it. In some places, that weight is so palpable you can feel it pressing against your skin, a silent witness to the centuries. I felt it more keenly than ever in Mainz, Germany, a city ancient enough to have been founded by the Romans during the life of Christ. As a deep enthusiast of history, particularly of the Roman and Germanic peoples, I had dedicated the day to exploring its rich past. My path led me to a park just west of the Roman ship museum. It was an unassuming place, green and quiet. Inside, with little fanfare, were several Roman graves and sarcophagi from the first century A.D. For someone who had scarcely seen anything from the Roman era in my life, it was a profound moment. I took some extra time to simply admire the weathered stones, thinking of nothing other than how incredible it was that they had survived two millennia. But then, as I stood there in quiet admiration, the atmosph...

Sketch of Marietta, Georgia, circa 1864. Sketchy by  THEODORE R. DAVIS I never really believed in any of it, not at first, anyway.  When I was little I saw shadowy figures in my room, things standing near me. Tricks of the brain, was how my mother explained them to me. So tricks they stayed. Apparations of the imagination, shifting shadows.  I had been skeptically religious. At times I felt that, while perhaps spirits existed, their presence here as 'ghosts' was something that was simply nonsense, or was so rare sure I  would never experience something like that. They existed in a sort of skeptical gray area of my belief system. While truly, what I did not consider is that such things are very much in the realm of any kind of spirituality. That these spirits are in fact very real, around us all the time. If you believe in heavens and hells, angels and demons, of any kind, is it not so strange to believe in the immutability of the soul? My first grand witness finally ...