If you’re a skeptic of spiritualism and the paranormal, this month will serve up two opportunities to explore them for yourself in Franklin County.
Soul Sisters LLC has planned a seance event at the Revival Wheeler Mansion in Orange on Wednesday, Oct. 7, and a dinner event paired with paranormal exploration at The Whately Inn on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Keene, New Hampshire-based team is comprised of psychic medium and certified hypnotherapist Brandie Wells, and filmmaker and visual storyteller Jennifer Paone.
Wells, who bills herself as “The Breakthrough Medium,” said the events are a chance for doubters and non-believers to determine whether there is anything to the paranormal.
“I know what I do is very unique, very different, but I’m passionate about it,” she said. “It’s not my job to convince anyone of anything. That’s on a personal level, but I always say to come in with an open heart and an open mind.”
Paone and Wells have been friends for years, and formed Soul Sisters LLC two years ago to combine their skill sets and produce event videos that get posted to their YouTube channel, “Soul Sisters: Beyond the Veil.”
“I would tell [skeptics], ‘Come and experience it. Come curious,'” Paone said. “This is a learning experience for everyone, and opening the doors of possibility.”
On Oct. 7, Wells and Paone will bring “The Thinning of the Veil & Spiritualism Seance” to the Revival Wheeler Mansion at 75 East Main St. in Orange to explore the traditions of spiritualism, the history of the Wheeler family and the mystery surrounding the spiritualist community of nearby Lake Pleasant.
John W. Wheeler, who owned a cottage at Lake Pleasant and whose family was connected to the spiritualist movement, built the mansion in 1902 and 1903 for his wife, Almira. He had made his fortune manufacturing and selling sewing machines, and served as president of the New Home Sewing Machine Co.
Wheeler died in the building in 1910 and deeded it to the Order of the Eastern Star, a Masonic sisterhood. Karen and Robert Anderson then bought it from the Star Realty Trust for $240,000 in 1996. The new owners had intended to open a bed and breakfast, but those plans never materialized.
Cynthia Butler bought the North Quabbin region’s only Gilded Age mansion at auction for $150,000 in June 2020 and has tried to restore it to its former glory. She lives in the building and rents out rooms, and the nearly 14,000-square-foot mansion hosts special events and retreats. However, she put it on the market over the summer, asking $1.2 million.
Guests on Oct. 7 will begin the evening with a live spirit gallery at 6:30 p.m. “to connect to people’s past loved ones, angels and guides,” Wells said. This will be followed by tea and spooky treats at 7:30 p.m. From 8 to 9 p.m., guests will be invited to participate in interactive experiences featuring traditional and historical methods of spirit communication, including talking boards, dowsing and other practices associated with spiritualism.
Tickets are available at tinyurl.com/OrangeSeance.
“I love what I do,” Wells said. “It is really an extension of me, and just an honor, really, to open up to spirits and teach people how everyone has access.”
A “Beyond the Veil” episode will also be filmed at The Whately Inn at 193 Chestnut Plain Road on Oct. 13.
The evening begins at 6 p.m. with a buffet dinner, followed by a special spirit gallery with Wells from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and then a paranormal investigation. Guests will get an inside look at paranormal investigation equipment from 8:30 to 8:45 p.m. and learn how investigators attempt to document unexplained activity.
But for a select few, the night continues. At 9 p.m., 24 guests will be invited upstairs for an exclusive after-show paranormal investigation of the historic inn.
Advance tickets are strongly encouraged. Tickets are available at tinyurl.com/WhatelyInnEvent.
The Whately Inn originated as a 17th-century stagecoach stop and evolved from a burlesque nightclub into a refined, family-owned, five-course dining landmark. Owner Stephen S. “Chip” Kloc III once said that a person died after falling down the stairs just inside the front foyer when he was a child and his grandfather owned the business.
