Spellbinding Tales..... A Haunted Bookstore Gives Us A Learning Experience!!

Alameda, California.  Well known for the haunted U.S.S. Hornet and a few other smaller locations that have never been fully, truly investigated has suddenly revealed to me that activity DOES occur just about anywhere.  This little bookstore is settled among a few other shops in a quiet residential area of Alameda.  Passing this little store during the day reveals a nice architectural style as many of Alameda's shops have, but at night, there is a difference in this shop that anyone walking in from outside readily notices.  The atmosphere is not eerie, but is unsettling just the same as is the feeling of being watched.  Yet, once inside, you meet the employees and find that they are as gracious and thoughtful as any Barnes & Noble or Starbucks ever was.  What Barnes & Noble and Starbucks have in customer service, Spellbinding Tales has in amenities and ghosts!!

We were contacted by the proprietor, Karen, to perform an investigation as she had discovered that activity was beginning to occur as she began to remodel the store into what it is today.  She noticed that a rocking chair would move from the spot it was placed in to a spot closer to the window.  She noticed a marble rolling along the floor which was only unusual because there were no marbles in the store.  She noticed footsteps, bangings, voices and the feeling that she was never alone in the store.  She asked us to do an investigation of her store and always willing and ready, obliged.

Spellbinding Tales has been a very interesting place to investigate.  Karen is accepting of allowing us to come in with our equipment, helps us out with our investigations and is also learning various ways to gain evidence.  Her store has been a gold mine of information in the number of times we have investigated.  Sightings range from a black figure on the stairs to the loft, a rocking chair that wishes to be by the window and not the aisle and occasionally rocks by itself, flashes of light in the upper corners of the room, the feeling of being watched down a well lit hallway and EVP most times we try.

The bookstore holds a great deal of books which vary with many types of genre while still being a great place to sit and relax and enjoy company or purchasing books.

You come away from the bookstore with unusual happenings such as this picture.  Walt Baker, a paranormal investigator from West Virginia was visiting and had originally taken a similar picture at the beginning of the year.  The picture he sent was unfortunately, not a good one and we returned to take this.  The store has been opened only a short while and this mirror, put up to discourage theft, had not been touched after being put up and cleaned off.  It is a regular theft-preventing concave mirror that is at least 10 feet off the ground.  Karen knows of no one with a ladder coming in during business hours just to touch the mirror!!

While investigating in this lovely bookshop one evening, we had the good fortune to have Mark and Debby Constantino in from Reno, Nevada to join us for an EVP session. Here are some of the results of that session:

Whether it's investigating or holding an EVP session, you never walk away from Spellbinding Tales bookstore without the feeling that something has occurred.  It's an amazing step back into time when browsing the old books and a sense of reality when you browse the new ones.  Either way, your visit here will definitely send you off with an interesting new perspective on the world around you!!

Thank you to Mark and Debby Constantino for permission for the use of their EVP and THANK YOU to Karen, the owner of Spellbinding Tales bookstore for the continued use of her bookstore.  It never disappoints!!

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