Research into family history turns up paranormal phenomena
Using old letters, genealogy books and tales she’d heard around the dinner table as a child, Wilder has compiled several generations’ worth of family ghost stories in her book “Spirits Out of Time.” (Photo submitted)
Annie Wilder set to speak Nov. 8 in Rosemount as part of ‘Meet the Author’ series
In researching her family history a few years back, Annie Wilder uncovered accounts of psychic phenomena, spirit beings and run-ins with the paranormal.
There was her German great-great-grandmother, who saw a falling star each time one of her children died.
There was another relative who had a dream involving an acquaintance dying in a plane crash, learning a short time later that this person had in fact died in such an accident.
And there was the “faceless ghost girl” who Wilder’s mother claimed had been following her around for decades.
The girl “was even seen by my brother, who didn’t believe in ghosts at the time,” said Wilder. “My mom finally met the little ghost girl a few years back. … The girl climbed into her lap and disappeared.”
Using old letters, genealogy books and tales she’d heard around the dinner table as a child, Wilder has compiled several generations’ worth of family ghost stories in her book “Spirits Out of Time.”
She’ll be discussing the book on Nov. 8 at Rosemount’s Robert Trail Library as part of the “Meet the Author” series sponsored by the Rosemount Area Arts Council.
“Spirits Out of Time” is the follow-up to Wilder’s 2005 debut, “House of Spirits and Whispers,” an account of her family’s experiences with paranormal phenomena in their 1800s-era Victorian-style home in Hastings.
Wilder and others in the house have reported hearing whispers, smelling phantom odors such as tobacco and perfume, and having encounters with an array of shadowy spirit entities.
Wilder is so at ease with the eldritch elements at her residence that she regularly hosts “haunted tea parties” there, and has discussed her experiences in several TV and newspaper stories.
As to why spirit phenomena seem to accrue around Wilder and her family, she tends to think these phenomena may be something that affect everyone; it’s just that some are more receptive to these types of otherworldly experiences than others.
“I think my family is predisposed to recognizing it, and writing about it,” she said.
The “Meet the Author” event is at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, at the Robert Trail Library located at 14395 South Robert Trail in Rosemount. Admission is free.
More about Wilder’s research and writing is at www.anniewilder.com.
