Section Ten

Mirrors into Darkness

Entry #0080: The Case of the Haunted Mirrors

 It was time for our next paranormal event; March 4^th. Friday, at 9:00 pm, and the high desert was warming up nicely now. In my Chevy Blazer I brought Leo and Jezz along as we met the others at the house in question, somewhere on Rabbit Springs Rd here in Mulvern. It was one of the older houses, three bedroom and garage attached, green paint peeling badly. The elderly couple that lived there, in their 70s, Albert and Martha Cummings, had a mirror fetish; they were everywhere. Mostly antiques with fancy wooden frames and such. Everything from ornately jeweled hand mirrors to large rectangular or oval full length ones. They claimed that in the last few months they began seeing weird images or creatures in them, even dark people in the background as they looked into them. Ah. Shadow people possibly?

 Travis brought his usual gear, his EMF meter, a thermal imaging scanner, plus a thermal-sensitive camcorder, which Chad decided to operate, to record anything out of the ordinary – if anything extraordinary occurred.

 Chad asked the older couple, “At any time have you heard any strange noises?"

 Albert replied, "Sometimes, but only once in a while we do when we see things in the mirrors. Usually it’s just silence all around."

 “Has anything ever seemed to come out of the mirrors?"

 Her voice trembling, Martha replied, "I had a dream a while back where this demon creature jumped out of the mirror when I was in bed -- but I woke up before it reached me. It scared the living daylights out of me!"

 Chad remarked, "Dreams are often directly connected to the paranormal, so I will not discount that."

 Sheila came over and remarked, "In some cases mirrors can be doorways to the Other Side, or a bridge between the two planes. But in particular, they can be doorways to what we call the Dark Side. But nothing usually happens unless these doorways are somehow activated."

 I whispered to her, "Are you talking about the dark rift here?"

 She replied quietly, "Not necessarily. But considering the rift is currently a factor, there might be some kind of connection involving the mirrors. Although I’m not sure yet, the rift may have activated these mirrors."

 Albert frowned as he asked, "What do you mean by a rift?"

 Chad quickly replied, "Nothing to worry about, sir. Let's just focus on your particular case." I knew it wasn’t wise bring anything about the dark rift into the discussion. We didn't need to frighten these people any further. But I personally felt that since the rift was expanding and gaining strength, and the elder couple noticed something weird going on with the mirrors in the last few months, there was definitely a connection.

 Chad asked the couple, "Have you consider getting rid of your mirrors?"

 Martha shook her head and replied belligerently, "No, no, no! We can't do that! It took many years to collect all these. We love our mirrors."

 Chad said, "But if they continue to cause problems for you, it would be wise to dispose of them. Otherwise, the problem continues."

 Martha sighed in despair, whimpering, "I don’t know what I would do without our precious mirrors."

 Chad sighed, then replied, "For now, we won’t make any such decisions. Let’s investigate this first."

 I said quietly to Sheila, "I heard once that if you break a mirror, it might free the spirit within it. Is that true?"

 Sheila replied, "As superstitious as that might sound, I believe there is some truth to it. Traditionally you have to totally conceal the mirror, usually wrap it in black cloth, and bury it deep in the ground, preferably way out in the middle of the desert where no one can find it. That's like imprisoning the spirit."

 I nodded, "Hmm. I see."

 Leo had overheard this and commented, "It all sounds like superstitious mumbo-jumbo. And the kind of crap you see in horror movies. However, I'm theorizing that this couple is either imagining things, or perpetrating a hoax."

 Sheila smiled strangely, "We'll see what develops."

 Jezz mentioned, "I'm already feeling something creepy in here."

 Sheila nodded, "Yes, so do I."

 I felt creepy all over with everybody talking about creepy shit. Perhaps the real creepiness of this place would come over me soon enough.

 Entry #0081: The Case of the Haunted Mirrors, Part II

 Jezz and Sheila were talking, and Jezz remarked to Sheila, "I'm wondering if Albert and Martha had accidently triggered something that might've activated the apparitions in the mirrors."

 Head nodding, Sheila replied, "It's possible. The fact that they love mirrors may have left them vulnerable, and since the rift has been growing, the entities in the Dark Side may have found a loophole, another way to start coming through, such as these mirrors. It's as if they have been searching for ways to enter our earth plane. I believe we stopped them when we sealed that maelstrom at that Victorville outlet store, but they're still seeking out portals, it seems."

 Jezz nodded, "That makes sense." Then as an afterthought, "I almost wish I had seen that for myself."

 "I don’t know. It would have scared the shit out of you."

 Chad told the couple to go in their bedroom, cover all the mirrors in there with sheets, and go to bed if they could. In the meantime, we all sat in chairs and couches in the living room, surrounded by crazy mirrors of various sorts, discussing our plan of action. Chad suggested we all split up in twos and walk through the house, making sure all the lights were on, and examine all the mirrors. Travis brought walkie-talkies and each team got one. In half an hour we would meet back in the living room.

 The teams of two were Leo and I, Shelia and Jezz, Chad and Rick, and Travis was on his own with his equipment.

 Leo and I checked out a guest bedroom that their son Brian had once lived in when he was younger, with several pictures of him when he was a teenager and also a younger child. He had joined the Army a few years ago, Albert told us.

 There was a large mirror set against the wall on the dresser about two and a half feet tall and three feet wide, more or less, set in a plane brass frame. Directly across the room from it was a full-length rectangular mirror attached to the closet door. Oddly, it was facing the mirror on the dresser, that is, the two mirrors were in perfect alignment. Something about that seemed eerie; two mirrors directly facing each other. I intended to ask Sheila about that, and Jezz too.

 But as I looked in one mirror and then looked in the other, nothing eerie happened.

 Noticing me looking back and forth between the two mirrors, Leo asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

 I replied, "Oh, nothing I reckon. Seeing if I can spot a ghost."

 He chuckled, "Yeah, right."

 "You'll never know when something weird is gonna happen."

 "Lately, just hanging out with you has become pretty weird."

 We turned to leave the room, and as I turned the light switch off, I saw a dim flash of light behind me, just for a second. I turned around and saw nothing.

 "What’s spooking you now?" Leo asked.

 "You didn’t see that?" I asked.

 "I think you're imagining things."

"I don't think so. For now just be quiet and watch."

 I turned the light in the room back on, looked at the two mirrors, and looked around the room. Dark blue curtains covered the windows, so no additional light had entered from these to reflect against the mirrors. The light from the hall hadn’t caused that weird light flash either. This time I turn the light off and faced into the room, then waited. After a few minutes, I decided to turn away, then I saw a dim wispy image flash across the mirror on the dresser, and it reflected against the closet mirror. I sucked in my breath and held it. Nothing more happened after that.

 I turned to face Leroy and said, "Tell me you didn't see it this time."

 "I saw something, I'm not sure what."

 "It's something to report anyway."

 After half an hour, everyone met in the living room and sat in the chairs and couches. Chad asked if anyone saw anything. Travis said he detected mostly low EMF emissions, but sometimes they would spike for a few seconds, then drop back down. Sheila and Jezz said when they were in the bathroom, they saw a ghostly image in the medicine cabinet mirror, but only for a few seconds. It was definitely a humanoid figure, cast in a bluish white light. I reported the double mirror incident in the son’s old bedroom. Then looking mostly at Jezz, I asked, "Have you ever heard whether or not anything paranormal can take place when two mirrors face each other?"

 Jezz replied, "I can't say I have. My know-how in mirrors involves scrying, from my Wiccan days. That has more to do with seeing into the future though."

 Sheila responded, "Yes, I’ve practiced this too, years ago. But I once read that when you face two mirrors together, it creates a portal for an entity to appear on this side, at least briefly, or for them to make some kind of appearance. In other words, it creates a stronger connection between our earth plane and the darker plane than if you just use a single mirror." 

 Chad said, "That's interesting, because Martha told me when her son Brian was young, he always talked about an imaginary friend that only appeared in his bedroom."

 I said, "It makes sense that this imaginary friend was actually some kind of entity that manifested through those two mirrors."

 Sheila said, "That’s possible."

 Then I added, "If two mirrors facing each other in one room can cause something weird to manifest, imagine all the mirrors in the house together, and many of them more or less may be facing each other, or facing inward in each room. We’re talking about some kind of freaky mirror matrix that could activate something pretty scary."

 Sheila gasped slightly and said, "That reminds me. When I was a teenager I entered one of those House of Mirrors at some carnival, and I saw freaky ghostly images in most of the mirrors. It scared the living shit out of me!"

 Chad instructed, "Okay, I think we’re on to something, so let's go again and really concentrate. This time we'll investigate for an hour before we meet back here."

 Entry #0082: The Case of the Haunted Mirrors, Part III

 As Leo and I investigated other regions of this strange house of mirrors, I couldn't help but think about the room with the two mirrors facing each other. I strangely felt drawn back to it. As I walked down the hall back to the son's room, Leo cleared his throat.

 Leo asked, "Why are you going back here?"

 I replied, "There's definite paranormal activity here, in this room."

 "I thought we were supposed to find the same thing in other parts of the house?"

 "We've got enough people. There's something about this room."

 Leaving the light switch off, we both enter the room, and closed the door, leaving it pitch black. Oddly, my heart started pounding rapidly. I gripped my chest. Then I saw something glimmer in the dresser mirror, and it reflected off the closet door mirror. As I heard a strange snarling sound, something glimmered between the two mirrors, a ghostly bluish image, some ugly human figure with four arms and four horns on top of its head, with two red glowing eyes, and its wide-open mouth was full of fire! My heart beat more rapidly now! Something was starting to materialize between the two mirrors, acting as some kind of interdimensional portal. For a few moments I felt paralyzed, until Leo grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

 "Shit! Let’s get out of this room!" he cried.

 I snapped out of it knew exactly what we had to do know.

 "Leo! Quick, we've gotta grab sheets off the bed and cover the mirrors!"

 As I turned the light on, the ghastly image faded and then disappeared. We acted fast, so I ripped the top blanket off and threw it over the dresser mirror, tucking it behind the top, while Leo grabbed the next sheet and covered the closet mirror the best he could. It had been haphazardly nailed to the closet door, so with the blade of a pocketknife he had, Leo pushed the edges of the sheet into the top of the mirror.

 Clearly we had prevented some hideous entity from materializing between the two mirrors.

 Leo exclaimed, "What the hell was that thing?"

 "I have no idea. Some demonic entity. But one thing's for sure. We'll have to bury all these mirrors deep in the ground, like Sheila suggested. I’ve got a hunch they’ve been acting as portals for many years now, but thankfully nothing evil has fully manifested in that time. But because of the opening rift, the veil has become much thinner now, so these dark entities or demons are beginning to more easily manifest, I suspect. We'll have to tell the others."

 Entry #0083: The Case of the Haunted Mirrors, Part IV

 At the designated break time, we all discussed our observations and experiences. Others did see ghostly images in certain mirrors. In fact, when Chad and Rick investigated the living room with lights off, they observed how several inward facing mirrors on the walls created a strange bluish light at the center of the room, and as they watched, the bluish light seemed to grow and form a weird humanoid figure. Then they quickly tilted the mirrors at odd angles until the blue light figure disappeared completely. We all looked around now, noticing all the tilted of mirrors. So I was right about mirrors facing inward in a given room, which was very similar to the two mirrors facing each other in Brian’s room.

 Then I described what Leo and I saw and what we did to break the connection. Then I said that the image we saw looked bluish at first also. It sounded like the same entity was trying to materialize. Everyone looked very grave.

 Sheila commented, "Whatever dark entity this is seems to be making quite an effort to come through. But possibly the veil needs to be much thinner for this to happen."

 I replied, "I sure hope that never happens."

 Sheila asked me, "So exactly what did this entity look like?"

 I explained, "At first I couldn't make it out, but for a few seconds I saw a clear image. It was basically humanoid, but it had four arms and four horns on its head. Its eyes seemed to be glowing red, and as its mouth widened as it growled, I saw fire inside."

 Sheila replied, "That sounds familiar. I've seen that somewhere. A picture in a book, probably one on demons. I'll have to search through my library."

 Rick said, "It's possible that this is some kind of Luciferian image, or some entity posing as Lucifer. Although I don't believe in his existence, I'm sure demons project this particular image to people all the time, which is why so many people believe in the devil."

 Sheila responded, "I agree this happens sometimes, but I don't think that's what this particular entity was. But something malevolent was definitely trying to come through that portal, and obviously it's connected with the opening rift."

 Travis commented, "I don’t know, but I tend to believe Satan lives and breathes, at least in my nightmares he does – or some damn demon anyway."

 I remembered something I read in The Shadow World. I spoke up, "I read something in a book not long ago, suggesting that demons might attempt to create a rift to come through, to tear down the veil in order to separate the two planes, to wreak havoc here. Essentially, that kind of extreme event would unite the two worlds."

 Jezz said finally, "I don't think that’s possible, although such entities might try. But when witches try to communicate from one side to the other, or speak to loved ones on the Other Side, it’s not an easy thing to do. We're talking about the difference between two varying vibratory frequencies. If certain force tried to unite planes of existence that vibrate at different frequencies, that doesn't sound very likely."

 Leo added, "Yes, it sounds impossible to me. It’s scientifically unsound."

 Chad said, "I wouldn't call it impossible. Improbable, yes."

 Sheila chimed in, "But theoretically, perhaps two different dimensions might be able to change their frequencies and merge at the same frequency due to the opening rift. For example, you could say a flask of water with blue dye represents a higher frequency and a flask with yellow dye represents a lower frequency, but when you poor one into the other, they mix and become green, especially when you stir it."

 Travis snickered wryly, "That sounds scary."

 Chad concurred, "Yes, but it sounds plausible."

 I said, "Well, anyway, speaking of stirring things up, the book suggested that demons would try to come through to wreak havoc here on our plane, or initiate some kind of Armageddon war."

 Jezz chuckled weakly, "That sounds bad enough in itself."

 Sheila said, "Perhaps that entity you described, Starky, is behind some dark agenda, whether it’s some kind of Armageddon or what, I don’t know." 

Travis beamed, "I sure wish I could have captured that freaky image on my camcorder. That would be cool!"

 Sheila shook her head. "Sorry, we can't risk that. We have to tell Albert and Martha all these mirrors have to be buried in the desert. Entities on the Dark Side of the rift seem to be searching for a way to manifest, and if these mirrors continue to be exposed, we’ve got to act now."

 I asked, "What are we going to tell them? How are we gonna convince them? Should we tell them the truth?  That'll scare the holy shit out of them."

 Chad took a deep breath and said.  "That may be the only way to convince them."

 So we all agreed.  And we weren’t sure how the elderly couple would react.

 Entry #0084: Closing the Case

 Chad knocked on the door of the couple's bedroom, and found they were too tense to go to sleep. He asked them down to the living room so that we could all talk. He told them point-blank that there was a major problem on a psychic level that had been developing across the whole desert, and we didn't know if it had spread further out. He told them he didn't know what the source of it was, but that there was a rift that was opening into our earth plane, that entities from the darker planes were trying to break through. He said that during one of our events at a merchandise outlet in Victorville, dark entities had tried to come through a malevolent vortex, but that we painstakingly closed it, and that was after we had lost a person in that vortex. I was surprised Chad was telling them matters that would normally be confidential to only our little group, but I knew he was leading up to something, which amounted to a scare tactic. So far the looks on their pallid faces was sheer fright, with eyes wide and mouths gaping.

 Next Chad told them that mirrors often act as portals from the darker planes, and considering that the rift was opening wider and gaining strength, the dark entities on these dark levels were seeking other avenues to express themselves in our world, and that they had found such an avenue through their mirrors, because we had seen definite demonic entities or ghosts in these mirrors in our investigation this night, and that they were attempting to manifest. In a way he was stretching it out and hemming and hawing.

 So Sheila came forward and blurted out, "What he’s trying to tell you is you’ve got to get rid of your mirrors!"

 Martha began crying, and Albert just shook his head.

 Chad let out a heavy sigh, then said, "Your lives depend on it, and many others too. If these mirrors continue to be exposed out in the open as they have been, the consequences could be horrific."

 Martha cried in Albert’s arms, "How can I give up my precious mirrors? What will I do without them?"

 I suggested, "Maybe find a new hobby."

 Jezz hit me in the arm, and scolded, "That's cold." Then she whispered closer to my ear, "But it's not a bad idea."

 It occurred to me that collecting these mirrors was like an addiction, even a drug addiction, something that's hard to let go of. But something had to be done about it immediately. For them it would have to be quitting cold turkey. But I gathered Martha was the weakest link, that she had the stronger addiction to the mirrors. Or perhaps it was just that she was very emotional, and Albert was the strong silent type.

 Chad said firmly to them, "I know this is going to be very hard for you, but it must be done--"

 "You can't be sure it'll be that horrible if we keep our mirrors, can you?" Martha blurted defiantly. "You really don't know, do you?"

 I came forward and said curtly, "Ma’am, listen to me. In your son's bedroom there were two mirrors facing each other, and Leo and I saw the most hideous demon that tried to get out! Literally! You want that unleashed in your house?"

 Martha started bawling again in her husband's arms. Then between sobs she said, "I don't believe that. It was only my son’s imaginary friend, that's all."

 Leo said close to my ear, "One hell of an imaginary friend."

 Chad told her, "Obviously you're in denial, we're talking about something dangerous that will affect countless people."

 Albert finally told her, "He's right, dear. I knew something was wrong about these mirrors for some time now. Especially the one in Brian's old room."

 "There’s got to be another way," she wept.

 "I think you should spend more time developing those flowerbeds out back, or whatever happened to your old quilt-making hobby? All you do all day long is look at those damned mirrors."

 She cried even worse now. But I was glad that Albert finally spoke up, the strong silent type.

 When she calmed down, Chad said, "We're going to ask you to get in your car and take a long drive, maybe stop somewhere and do some star gazing. It's a nice clear night out. Then we have to take care of business here. And it's best that you’re not here at all."

 Martha gasped, "What are you going to do to my lovely mirrors? Are you going to break them?"

 Chad replied, "No. Fortunately, we can't. We have to bury them in the ground, fully intact."

 Sheila said, "Oddly enough, breaking ordinary mirrors doesn't seem to be a problem, but your mirrors are not ordinary. Technically, they’re possessed. They all have some kind of psychic connection that I suspect has developed over the years. I have a feeling it has to do with that imaginary friend in Brian’s old bedroom, which is actually some kind of dark entity that was tricking him. I'm not sure how much power it has, but given time, it would have caused serious problems, I'm sure."

 Albert commented, "It's odd, because while Brian was here, there was always strange things going on, subtle things, flashing lights from the mirrors, strange faces appearing in them and so on. And Brian would always be talking to his imaginary friend in his room. But then all that stopped when he joined the Army at 18. The last few years have been quiet -- until recently."

 I spoke up, "That's because the rift has been expanding and the mirrors are being activated."

 Chad said, "That's true, so we have to act now before it's too late."

 Family we got Albert and Martha to get in their car and leave. But the hard part was not over yet.

 Entry #0085: Burying the Haunted Mirrors

 To make a long entry short, Chad and Travis got in the van and drove off, because they had to fetch a large truck to place all the mirrors in, and Chad said his dad owned such a truck. An hour later they returned with a large flatbed truck, long and wide, a 640 x 480 Chad pointed out. It even had makeshift wooden sides, and a wooden gate to the rear that someone had built around the flatbed. Plus there were stacks of old cloth and several shovels lay on the floor of the trailer. It was still nighttime, so some of us held flashlights, while others of us carefully collected all the mirrors, wrapped them in cloths, climbed up a wooden ramp and carried them into the flatbed. It took us a few dozen trips to fill up the flatbed, until the whole house was empty of the fancy mirrors; although we had to leave only a few, for the bathroom and such, just ordinary mirrors, which Chad left behind reluctantly, because Martha put up a fuss.

 Then With Travis next to him, Chad carefully and slowly drove the big truck down the dirt road, which fortunately was fairly smooth. Rick and Sheila followed in the van, while Leo and Jezz came with me in the Blazer as we followed the other vehicles down the road. We followed the van and flatbed truck as we all drove slowly along, and we finally reached Barstow Rd. and headed north, which was a pretty smooth ride for several miles, then we turned off onto some nameless desert road, drove a few miles, then stopped. Nothing was out here, no houses or anything. We all piled out, grabbed shovels, and started digging numerous holes. We left the headlights on in the three vehicles, facing the area where we worked.

 As I said, to make a very long entry much shorter, after a few hours, practically all of the wrapped mirrors were carefully placed in the holes and buried, with only a few left to go. Then Jezz and I grabbed one of the larger wrapped mirrors that felt broken. We set it down and carefully unwrapped it, seeing a crack running down the middle. We quickly wrapped it back up and faced it down on top of a stack of others as Rick and Travis quickly hefted dirt on top of them -- but at the corner of my eye I could swear I saw something, something shadowy dart out of the hole. Whether it was a shadow person or a dark entity, or just my imagination, or what, I didn't know. I found it hard to believe that a simple cracked mirror would release an entity.

 Jezz and Sheila were nearby as I called, "Did anyone see that?"

 Sheila replied, "Yes, I saw something flash by -- and I felt like ice ran up my spine."

 Jezz and said, "I felt something weird, and suddenly got goose bumps on my arms is all."

 I sighed heavily, then said a little facetiously, "That long ride broke at least one mirror, so is that bad enough to open the rift wide and unleash hell across the face of the earth?"

 Chad shook his head as he tossed dirt in the hole, "God, I hope not. It's probably no worse than exterminating a house full of cockroaches, and just one gets away."

Sheila remarked, "Just one might be bad enough. Especially if it was Brian's imaginary friend."

 Obviously she was talking about that hideous demon I saw in the two mirrors that faced each other. If that was the case, it's quite possible we had just unleashed the Big One!

 Entry #0086: The Mysterious Abaddon

 All the mirrors were buried. We drove off into the night, talked little, and everyone went home eventually. In the Blazer Leo and Jezz and I returned to the yellow cabin. Jezz’s Ford Taurus was parked there, so she took off, returning to her home in Apple Valley. Leo and I went inside and crashed. It was around 3 o’clock am, and we were both beat.

 I had a hard time getting to sleep, thinking about the cracked mirror and that shadow person or whatever it was that I saw darting out of the hole. What the hell had I seen anyway? Was it just some escaping entity, or was it that hideous demonic thing with four arms and four horns on its head, perhaps the smartest of the entities. And the smartest ones are usually the ones that find a way to slip through. I recalled that Sheila had said that what I had described sounded like some picture in a book about demons. I decided I would call her in the morning and see if she could find that picture, so we could connect some dots.

 It was close to noon when I woke up that Saturday; Leo was still zonked out. While I drank a mug of hot coffee in my station of operations, I called her. She had just gotten up herself. I asked about the demon picture in the book. She told me that, coincidentally, when she had gotten home last night, she couldn’t get it out of her head either, so she searched through her bookshelves and found a book on demonology, found the picture that seemed to fit what I had described: it did essentially have four arms and four horns on its head, and it breathed fire, and the caption described this as a formidable demon named Abaddon. Although other sources and books described him differently, this was the particular picture that stuck out in her head.

 She proceeded to read a little bit about this particular demon, and the book explained that he was often known as the angel of death and destruction, or chief demon of the underworld, and also equated with Satan. He was also considered to be the destroying Angel of the Apocalypse.

 I asked Sheila, a little sarcastically, "Does that mean if somebody wants to hurry along the Apocalypse, they would call on Abaddon?"

 She replied, "That would make sense."

 "Because of the cracked mirror, I hope that's not the demon that got away."

 There was silence on her end for several moments.

 "Hello?" I called.

 "Sorry. But I got this horrible feeling you might be right."

 "Damn. And if we had left the mirrors alone at Albert and Martha’s house, maybe nothing would've happened. Perhaps we should have just covered them all and nothing more."

 "Well, it’s too late now. But any of those demons might have found a way to eventually slip through regardless, considering the rift is opening further now. The veil between the Dark Side and our earth plane is getting weaker. "

 "That doesn't make me feel any better."

 "Me neither."

 "Frankly, I have trouble believing in any of this demon crap, especially Satan."

 "It's one of those theological controversies."

 "I believe a person's ego can get out of hand and cause trouble, and saying the devil made you do it is a load of shit."

 "I feel the same way. Whether a demon is just an evil disembodied being, or a separate creature that exists strictly in the darker planes, or even a fallen angel, these are all debatable concepts. But something demonic is happening, and the dark rift is opening wider. That’s undeniable."

 "And something evil slipped through that cracked mirror."

 "I’m afraid so."

 We hung up, and I sat there and sipped my coffee, having no clue as to what we should do next.