Kimberly Crest, Benifold & other paranormal facts

[Chris_Lover]

As a paranormal lover, I wanted to open this post since I registered on this forum. I don't know if it's the right forum, but I didn't know where to post it.
In Lindsey's photos thread we were talking about "Big love" video and doing some researches I found that it was filmed in part at Kimberly Crest, "a beautiful Victorian mansion in Redlands, California which is often used for weddings and social events", as we can read on Wikipedia. We'll talk about it later.

Benifold mansion in Hampshire (England) was Fleetwood Mac home from 1970 to 1974; the first pic was taken in 1963, when the mansion became an Ecumenical House for Prayer; the second pic, that I found on Ebay, was taken in the old chapel that in the 70's became one of FM member's room.


This large house is situated on the south side of Headley Hill Road and was built in 1899 for Edward Frinneby HUBBUCK and originally called "Pinehurst". At some undetermined time, the house name changed from Pinehurst to Benifold. Described in a brochure as "a 20-roomed house with eight acres of grounds," Benifold was from 1963 to 1970 an Ecumenical House of prayer where "people of all sorts and ages" were welcome. (thanks to user "Blue Horizon" for these informations: http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=11190).
Clifford Davis and Fleetwood Mac jointly bought Benifold mansion for 23,000 pounds; Mick and his wife, Jenny Boyd, lived in the 'spacious servant's quarters'. John and Christine McVie lived in a separate wing with their own little kitchen and living-room; it was at Chris's kitchen table that all important Fleetwood Mac business was discussed. Danny Kirwan and his girlfriend Clare lived in the attic; they soon married. Jeremy Spencer did live at Benifold for a short time before leaving the band and taking his wife and children with him to join the Children of God. Bob Welch moved in when he joined the band. Upon Kirwan's departure in 1972, various rodies moved into the attic. While they were living in Benifold, Fleetwood Mac recorded Future Games, Bare Trees, Penguin, and Mystery to Me using the Rolling Stones mobile studio.
It is said that on the second floor there were until recently some paintings on the wall reminiscent of Christine McVie's artwork for the cover of the "Kiln House" album. They eventually left for California in late 1974 to achieve world-wide success. In the village, they are remembered by those who were regulars down at the Wheatsheaf.
Bob Welch (RIP) once described Benifold as "rather spooky and strange even in summertime".
In 1989, the mansion again changed hands for over a million pounds and still has the reputations as one of the finest houses in Hampshire. But also haunted?
What we know about Benifold is the fact that maybe something strange happened, maybe in the large grass tennis court which was part of the property. Something that urged Bob Welch to write a song about it, "Hypnotized", after having a very intense dream. He wrote the lyrics in Christine McVie's upstairs living room; as Welch always said, he was very interested "in the paranormal - UFO's, the Carlos Castaneda books about the Yaqui Indian 'sorcerer' Don Juan - so I incorporated a lot of these themes and references into the song. The 'place down in Mexico' refers to Castaneda's Yaqui sorcerer, Don Juan, who is presumably doing 'astral' travel. The 'strange, strange pond' with 'sides like glass' refers to a strange anomalous depression in the North Carolina woods near Winston-Salem, North Carolina which a friend told me about, which, at the time, freaked him (and his dirt-biking buddies) out.".
But then, why Benifold in involved in a paranormal song after that dream? Perhaps because of some anomalous energy released from that place? Or maybe he and the other band members have had paranormal experiences or encounters with UFO during their stay? The part of lyrics that says "Two friends having coffee together when something flies by their window. It might be out on that lawn which is wide, at least half of a playing field" could explain it.
(Photo of Fleetwood Mac at Benifold: http://www.bobweston.com/images/pola1.jpg


Kimberly Crest

Seen in 1987 "Big love" video. Today I found that not only the Victorian Kimberly Crest were it was filmed, but all Redlands city is one of the most haunted place in California. It's a city full of beautiful houses and a rich history, but also one of the oldest of CA. This could explain why there's an intense ghost's activity in it. Even thought that almost all Victorian mansions or castles have a ghosts history behind them, it's curious that FM chose another haunted house as a location for another album!
A lot of internet sites talk about hauntings in Redlands, but here I'd like to talk only about our mansion.
Kimberly Crest is a 7,000 square foot, three-story picturesque French chateau style home with terraced Italian gardens, orange groves and ponds surround this historic landmark home. It was built in 1897 and sits on a six and one quarter acre estate, two miles south of downtown Redlands, at 1325 Prospect Drive.
Originally built by Mrs. Cornelia A. Hill, a widow from New York State, the home was purchased by J. Alfred Kimberly (a co-founder of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation) and Helen Cheney Kimberly in 1905. Their widowed daughter, Mary Kimberly Shirk, lived in the home from 1920 until her death.
Ghost stories began just after her death, in 1979; one of them is that of "The woman in the window": it's said that if you go to Kimberly Crest after hours, it's possible to see the ghost of Mary Shirk in the top floor, sitting in her rocking chair. Also a lot of EVP's (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) have been recorded on the grounds, and seems to be authentics.
The botanical garden that surrounds the mansion is also known with the name of Prospect Park and it's also haunted with the ghost of a girl that was raped and murdered behind the stage on her way home from high school in the early 70s (her body was dumped in one of the orange groves). Her ghost can be seen during the winter nights. There are also stories of devil worshipers chanting and sacrificing animals in the park, as well as stories that it's a place where bodies are dumped under its thick foliage.
Other activities around the theatre include people hearing steps run across the wooden stage and seats in the theater folding up.
In the actual orange groves there are accounts of people walking through them after dark, seeing an old man who acts as a guard of the grove and chases out anyone he sees.

On this site it's possible to read other Redlands haunting stories: http://eredlands.com/forum/topics/to...-ghost-stories and here you can hear Kimberly Crest EVP's(if you are not faint of heart): http://www.meetup.com/ghosts-596/files/#D_title

Although there are no pictures of these ghosts, you might want to see a couple of videos made in this property:




Christine McVie and paranormal

According to her biography, her mother Beatrice was a faith healing psychic. Chris never quite understood her mother's pre-occupation with other-worldly pursuits and was a bit bewildered by it all. However, Chris said that throughout her life she never seen a real ghost, though she often sensed "presences" around her. She now lives in a 1600's mansion, which she considers NOT haunted.
This a very interesting part of her biography:
Chris remembers her mum curing a family friend of leukemia after being sent "a white kid glove, which she wore several times in bed;" they got a phone call soon after from the lady's companion, who told them, "The doctors couldn't understand it, but she was completely healed, not a thing wrong with her." Tee also made a '"rather nasty wart" underneath her daughter's nose disappear just by putting her finger on it one night before Chris went to bed. However, in the fine tradition of teenage girls everywhere, Christine later found her mother's interests a source of embarrassment: "At the time, it concerned me, because she belonged to the Psychic Research Society and used to go off ghost-hunting. I said, 'You're too weird, Mum! Why can't you just be an ordinary mum?'" (Chris later told us in a 1995 Q&A: "Every once in a while, I sense something, but for the most part, not really. My brother definitely has some of it. I don't think I am a psychic person, though I wish I had inherited some of her powers.")


Why do ghosts appears? It is said that the spirit of a person remain in the place where he lived even beyond death. There are particular events where a person death by a violent or sudden death (a murder, a suicide or an accident) may not be aware of being passed away and continue to roam the earth, unaware of his new immaterial form. With the advent of technology, all devices that emit electromagnetic waves are influencing and reducing the energy of these disembodied entities, preventing them from occasionally manifest. This is the reason why in old castles and ancient homes such phenomena were/are more visible (specially if they're no longer inhabited).
There is also a study about Earth's magnetic fields and water related to the appearances of ghosts: it seem that any meeting point of these fields radiate enough energy for these appartions to happens. Even water and damp places (and this would also explain why Britain is one of the most haunted place in the world) would have this ability: in ancient times there was a real cult of water, considered as the home of gods, both good and evil. This belief was lost over time (although in primitive populations it still exists). It's something that also the famous english scholar Thomas Charles Lethbridge studied in more recent times: approaching a lake, he began feeling his skin tingle like electricity was running through it. One day he saw the ghost of a woman, dressed in seventeenth-century dresses and decided to portray her (he was also a good painter).
Can we say then that ghosts are just energy which can appears to our mortal eyes only in the right weather conditions resulting from water sources?

I'd like to know your opinion on this topic and if anyone knows something more about paranormal mysteries related to FM!

[michelej1]

[This is about a book on Maurice Noble, a designer at Warner Bros. this is an excerpt]

Crooked Timber, May 18, 2014 by John Holbo

http://crookedtimber.org/2014/05/18/...hilda-edition/

Fun fact: “The design motifs for What’s Opera, Doc? were inspired in part by the Kimberly Crest mansion in Redlands, California. Maurice spent part of his childhood in Redlands and had admired the gardens as a boy. The Kimberly Crest motif found its way into a number of Maurice’s designs, including the “Dance of the Hours” sequence of Fantasia.”

Look at this photo. Total Chuck Jones, What’s Opera, Doc? scene, isn’t it? And this one? Total Witch Hazel house.

But what I’m really laughing about is that this Fleetwood Mac video for “Big Love” – which is, in my expert opinion, great! – is also partially filmed at the Kimberly Crest mansion. And the Fleetwood Mac song is basically about the same themes. Some sort of mash-up should be possible. “Big big love” while Bugs rides languidly on that horse. “House on a hill”, “only to fall”. It’s got it all. Now if we can only get Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to sing in chorus: “Love like ours must be/Made for you and for me”.