David Beard Posts

Journalism to break my heart

John Ramos changes my heart and my mind in nearly every post on the Duluth Monitor.

Michael Fedo signs at Zenith Bookstore

I was lucky enough to run into Michael Fedo at Zenith Bookstore at the rescheduled Small Business Saturday on Dec. 7. How did you spend the rescheduled Small Business Saturday last weekend?

Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #30: Winter Sports Edition

Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers.

Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #29

Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers.

Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #28: KBJR Edition

Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers.

Duluth All Souls Poetry Celebration

I went to the Day of the Dead / All Souls event at the Depot Underground on Friday. The theme of the reading was remembering ancestors who have played important roles in our lives and community. Featured readers, of whom I took pictures, were Zomi Bloom, Brady Kamphenkel, Sheila Packa, Ellie Schoenfeld and Gary Boelhower. An open mic followed; I got a pic of Eric Chandler reading. Richie Townsend played electric guitar.

LibraryCon at LSC

I was all-out nerd at Lake Superior College today, where the Erickson Library hosted LibraryCon.

Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #27: Gas and Water Edition

Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers.

Countdown to Halloween: Duluth Paranormal Society

The Duluth Paranormal Society has been featured in the Duluth News Tribune. Most interesting is its research into Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake.

The DNT article includes links to other resources:

Minnesota Paranormal Study Group

Iron Range Paranormal Research

Happy Halloween. 🙂

Countdown to Halloween: Nopeming

Nopeming has a special place in the paranormal of Duluth. The Travel Channel sent a team in 2015, as featured in the link above. The Duluth News Tribune covered its history in a 2017 article.

The Nopeming facility was in use until Nov. 25, 2002. Friends of mine have laughed that rooms and spaces shown on ghost hunting shows holding tormented souls were, in fact, the places they worked as food service workers in high school.

Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #26

Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers.

Countdown to Halloween: Twin Ports Paranormal Society

The Twin Ports Paranormal Society will “investigate the paranormal for people in need of help at no charge. Confidentiality will be respected.”

Countdown to Halloween: Lady Ocalat’s Paranormal Investigations

I’ve been to Lady Ocalat’s Emporium once, to buy some fake dove blood for purposes of writing with my new fountain pen. I don’t know entirely the relationship between the tarot reading services and the paranormal investigations, but Lady Ocalat’s website maintains a record of past paranormal activity, bigfoot sightings and UFO sightings.

Countdown to Halloween: International Paranormal Society

Gloria Doescher (left) shows Chris Julien (center) and Adrian Lee a photo of what her thermal imaging camera picked up during one of the vigils at Fairlawn Mansion and Museum in Superior. The three investigated the mansion along with other members of the International Paranormal Society, the first time in more than a dozen years that ghost hunters were allowed into the mansion. (Maria Lockwood / Superior Telegram)

The International Paranormal Society has visited Duluth multiple times. One of its visits included time on the SS William A. Irvin, another the mansion at Fairlawn. Adrian Lee, its founder, has a pretty unique gimmick — he talks about working at the intersection of history and paranormal science, spending time in archives to track historical records that help him make sense of the data his heat sensors and ghost boxes find. Triangulation yields truth, apparently.

Duluth-area “Storage Wars”

I had no idea one could try one’s luck, “Storage Wars” style, in Duluth.

Visit twinportsbid.com if you want to wonder about what sad turn someone’s life took that led them to abandon their locker.

It reminds me of the times I visited Nordic Auction and wondered at the people whose lives were being emptied into boxes for auction. What happened to them? And what will happen to my 9,000 books when I am gone?