BONEYARDS is back from the dead to rock your underworld. Four new post-Fringe shows in October just in time for Halloween. 10/17/13, 10/20, 11/2 and 11/3. Only 20 seats per show, get ‘em before they’re gone.
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The spirits (or subconscious ideomotor impulses depending on your beliefs) were active last night, friends. Another sold out show, turning people away at the door, we crammed in as many as would safely fit. Apologies if you were one of those who didn’t make it inside. Please buy your ticket now to the final show this Sunday at 2pm because it is probably going to sell out.
Terrific Ouija action last night and simultaneous interaction with the spirit box. A standout evening, 2nd only to the fireworks during the 2nd show. 2 audience volunteers, Susan and Brian, started us out out on the board with audience volunteer Andrea helping me out as questioner. We got off to a slow start but soon the planchette was warmed up and zipping all over the place. What did he/she think of the show? FANTASTIC. Love it. You never know with this question. During the run of the show it’s ranged from IT WAS OK to WEW to GO TO HELL to I ALMOST CRIED.) Do you know anyone in the audience? YES. Who? LISA. There was indeed a Lisa in the audience who looked a little rattled at being fingered by a ghost. How do you know her? FRIEND. Lisa was in the dark. How exactly do you know her? SCHOOL. Lisa was still at a loss so we moved along. Would you like to speak with us electrically? YES.
I hustled to the other end of the cellar and fired up the P-SB7 spirit box. Video results below followed by a transcript with my afterthoughts. The raw footage is 5 minutes. I’ve cut it down here to less than 2 minutes of highlights. As usual I have slowed down all EVPs and bumped up the volume to improve clarity –
Jeff, is it full? (They’re asking if it’s a full house just like the previous show when they shouted “22 customers.” Yep, it’s full.)
Good evening. (Greeting the audience. My relationship with the 12 Synagogue Saints who inhabit this building has evolved from suspicion and hostility during my first session to now shouting hellos at my audience and welcoming us into their space.)
Please wait. (They’ve also made clear in the previously recorded sessions that it’s difficult for them to speak this way and for us to be patient. “Wait here / extremely hard for me / really hard / hard” have been common messages to us about speaking over the spirit box.)
Om. (Ha ha, if you’ve seen the show this needs no explanation. Many references to India and Hindu mysticism throughout the evening.)
He’s going. (They often comment this way whenever I walk away from the spirit box to return to the Ouija board. I urge you to listen to the previous sessions to get the full picture of these 12 souls whom I call the Synagogue Saints. A whole little narrative is unfolding there. They come from Fishtown, Germantown and South Philly. Some are original congregants and others joined the group later.)
Eyes closed. (Good way to operate a Ouija board. I believe this is an instruction to the ouija board volunteers Susan and Brian.)
Cold blood. (This specific phrase is not in the show but there are indeed references to blood and to people who were murdered. Blood-soaked sheets at the funeral home and in my promo video; a dead bloody chicken; a couple of brutal murders; the haunted Dennison crypt in Kolkata on which small red droplets of a liquid resembling blood sometimes appear, to name a few.)
Hi, Lisa. (The audience member named by the Ouija board.)
We’ve got channels. (A reference to the spirit box. They’ve locked in on a good frequency over which to chat with us, as is being borne out.)
There’s a fine school. (Not sure about this one. The spirit told Lisa that it was a “friend” from “school.” Perhaps this is a further emphasis on that fact.)
Here we go. (They’ve got the channels, they’re having a blast calling out to us this evening.)
Include me. (You’re included. Talk away, baby.)
Talk, sit and walk…And singing. (Perfect description of the show.)
There’s a canary in the mine. (The “mine” is the cellar and the “canary” is a naysayer in the audience. This idiom refers to the old practice of keeping a canary in a coal mine to warn when toxic gas levels got too high. When the bird died it was time to get the hell out. When someone is warning you that something bad is happening, that person is a “canary in the coal mine.” Why are they telling us this here? I don’t believe they’d talk this way about themselves and I don’t believe it refers to anything dire or evil. I believe they’re telling us someone in the room is against this seance, perhaps even one of the volunteers, and wants it to stop. I’m also reminded of how many audience members have told me that coming into the cellar is like being in a mine, or of the older ones who often jokingly ask, where’s the coal chute? remembering their own childhood cellars in this city.)
Puff, puff. (Man, he even sounds stoned, doesn’t he? Another direct reference to the show. There are references to being stoned, including a reference to Hindu sadhus growing killer weed and hash accompanied by a photo of a sadhu smoking up.)
Who are they? (Meaning the people in the room.)
Lisa.
Greg is here. (Was there a Greg in the house? Seems so.)
Have fun. (Aw. The spirits are wishing us well with our seance.)
ME: Thank you very much. We gotta go now. Can you say goodbye?
Greg’s home. (Greg, you out there? Feel free to comment below.)
Bye, Jeffrey.
Final show this Sunday at 2pm. We’ll see you there.
“Nobody knows whether our personalities pass on to another existence or sphere but it is possible to construct an apparatus which will be so delicate that if there are personalities in another existence or sphere who wish to get in touch with us in this existence or sphere, this apparatus will at least give them a better opportunity to express themselves than the tilting tables and raps and ouija boards and mediums and the other crude methods now purported to be the only means of communication.”
– Thomas Edison