ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 19, 1996 TAG: 9608190108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: & now this . . .
Bedford's haunted mansion, Avenel and its famous spectral resident - the White Lady of Avenel - will be featured on an upcoming segment of the syndicated television show "Sightings" on the Sci-Fi Channel.
A film crew visited the historic plantation house last weekend in search of ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night - particularly the ghost of the home's former mistress.
By all reports, the crew didn't see much, but they interviewed several local people who claim to have witnessed strange doings at the house. According to legend, people have seen everything from chairs rocking by themselves to the impression of a man appearing on a bed to the free-floating, full-figure apparition of the White Lady herself.
Roanoke Valley psychic Debra Frashure Carvelli teaches parapsychology at Virginia Western Community College and takes her classes on field trips to Avenel. She claims to have seen the White Lady and was asked by the television show's director to make contact on-camera with the home's permanent resident.
"I told him with all of this - the cameras, lights and people - I don't know if I can do it on demand," she said.
Besides, it really isn't so much a matter of contacting ghosts as it is tapping into psychic energy left in the house, Carvelli said. "The residual emotion there is so strong, it's like playing a tape player on reverse all the time."
Carvelli did make contact at one point, however, she said, when she entered a room that had recently been painted red as part of the nonprofit Avenel Foundation's ongoing renovations. "I walked in, and I could feel how angry she was. ... She didn't like red; she didn't wear red, because that's the color of a fallen woman."
Even though the TV crew didn't capture the White Lady on film, it may be a good thing they came when they did, because Carvelli says the ghost may soon be leaving for happier haunting grounds - the renovations are getting to be too much for her.
- RICHARD FOSTER
Spellcheck knows best?
The computer spell checker is a wonderful invention. Sometimes, though, it produces odd suggestions for the "correct" spelling of word - especially when it red-flags people's names that aren't in its dictionary.
In the spirit of journalistic inquiry, we at The Roanoke Times decided to run the names of several well-known politicians through our spell-checking system. Any conclusions you draw about the appropriateness of these alternative spellings may say more about your own prejudices than it does about the public servants we've list below.
U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke: Gloated, Goatlike, Gelated, Godlike.
Congressional candidate and state Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount: Good, Goad, God, Gouge, Dodge.
U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon: Butchery, Botcher, Belcher, Bleacher.
Boucher opponent Pat Muldoon, a Republican from Blacksburg: Maudlin, Melding, Muddling, Meltdown.
Virginia House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton: Cornball, Cringer, Crooner.
Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful: Buyer, Beery, Beware.
Some politicians' names came up as correctly spelled, so we improvised (i.e. cheated) by running their first and last names together.
Trying JesseHelms produced a single suggestion: Joylessness.
TedKennedy elicited another one-word suggestion: Deadened.
PrezClinton bought us this: Precipitant.
Trying President Clinton's GOP opponent as BobDole came up with a longer list: Bobbled, Babbled, Babied, Bobcat.
We tried Virginia's Democratic U.S. senator as ChuckRobb and came up with this: Checkroom, Chuckwalla, Checkered.
We tried Oliver North - the retired Marine colonel who was Robb's 1994 opponent - as ColNorth and it spewed out several possibilities: Cleaners, Clangorous, Congress (Hmmmm. A comeback in the making?), Clownery.
We came up with Parrot and Pert when we typed the last name of third-party presidential candidate Ross Perot. Trying him as RossPerot produced these:
Raspberries, Horsepower, Horseplayer.
- MIKE HUDSON
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB