This weekend, I finally had a chance to check out Karpeles Manuscript Museum. The current exhibit is of Arthur Conan Doyle and Houdini and their views on contacting spirits through séances. Most of the scripts in the museum are notes that Doyle took while attending many different séances.

The place itself, to me anyways, held an eerie presence. I walked through the column pillars into the front door that was ajar. Right away a woman in a loud booming voice said, "HELLO...hello...hello...hello" (the latter were the echoes that reverberated from the open space that was before me). I barely whispered a hello and the woman made her way to me.

"Have you ever been here before?" she asked.

"No, someone just told me about it and said I had to come".

"That's how it usually happens" she begrudgingly followed. She gave me a quick rundown of what the exhibit was about; all of which I had read on the website beforehand. I made my way into the lit room where an even bigger space presented itself. She told me it used to be a church. The many rows of pews leading down towards the alter gave it away.

Slowly, I made my way around to each of the lit boxes, each containing a document and summary of what it said. Some of the writing is nearly illegible. The room itself was literally freezing. Having been warm outside all day, I was shocked at such a cold space. I kept sniffling as my nose began to run. Pretty soon I had irritated my nostrils to their fullest extent. With a big inhale, I let out a substantial sneeze. The echo that this sneeze allowed was almost deafening. I looked up as the woman behind the desk literally jumped in her seat and began eyeing me through the glass. That is when I started laughing and couldn't stop. I quickly made my way through the remainder of the exhibit, signed up for the mailing list out of pure embarrassment and got the hell outta there.