Remembering Rosemary

On Monday, July 22, 2019 I woke up, and decided to peruse Facebook.  I was startled to see several posts sharing a terrible bit of news to the paranormal community:  Author and researcher, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, had passed away.

As of this writing, the family has not released a cause of death, but from my understanding, Rosemary had been suffering from illness recently, and passed away on July 18th.  She had just celebrated her 69th birthday on July 8th.

This is a major blow to the paranormal research community, especially to those of us here in West Virginia and throughout the tri-state.  To call Rosemary a PROLIFIC author and researcher would be an understatement. She wrote over 65 books on a huge variety of paranormal topics, was a regular in FATE Magazine, on Coast to Coast AM, and an almost yearly guest at the annual Mothman Festival!

It was at the Mothman Festival where I first got the opportunity to really talk with Rosemary.  Like many in this field, I was already quite familiar with her work, and my personal paranormal library contains quite a few of her titles.  Needless to say, I was a little apprehensive when I approached her table. I bought a ton of back issues of FATE Magazine from her (actually, I did that for a couple of years, lol) and chatted with her a bit.  To be such a big name in the paranormal field, she was so sweet and down to earth.  She was really easy to talk to and was such a knowledgeable individual on such a broad spectrum of topics.  In addition to having a table at the Mothman Festival, she would usually speak at the historic State Theater as well.  As a moving tribute, at this year's Mothman Festival, the 2 pm time slot on Saturday (in which Rosemary usually spoke) will be dedicated to a tribute to her life and work.

Oddly enough, even though the Mothman Festival was my first opportunity to chat with Rosemary, I had met her briefly years before.  Years and years ago, a friend I had met through a paranormal message board had started a group and invited me to join them in an investigation at Ohio's haunted Prospect Place.  Rosemary was also invited, and while I got to MEET her, I didn't get the chance to actually investigate with her.  I really regret that now.  I regret that my shyness has stopped me from making the effort to really get to know so many people at a deeper level and now, in the case of Rosemary, it's too late.

Anyway, her spirit will live on in the many lives she did touch, as well as her huge contributions to the paranormal field.  Among her many written works are the Monsters of West Virginia and The Big Book of West Virginia Ghost Stories, which I was thrilled to see my blog mentioned in!   You can learn more about Rosemary Ellen Guiley  and her huge body of work at her website, Visionary Living.  May you rest in peace, Rosemary.