THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Entertainment
Wednesday
July 21,1999
Section:
B
World beat
Page 1
Columnist Chris Eckert previews internationally-inspired musicians coming to Lawrence.
SEE PAGE 4B
X-Files mania
Jennifer Roush's Web Wanderings gives X-Files fans information about the show, each other.
SEE PAGE 5B
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Dying for the days of the Old West
Cemetery shows dying never easy
Bv Lisa John
No doubt about it — with the border wars and a growing community, Lawrence was a lively place to live in the mid-1800s.
The Usher burial vault is one of several at Oak Hill Cemetery, which opened in 1865. Nearby is a memorial to the victims of Quantrill's raid, some of whom were originally buried in a mass grave in west Lawrence after the Aug. 21, 1863 raid. They were reburied at Oak Hill Cemetery in 1872. Photo by Lisa John/KANSAN
Kansan managing editor
Lawrence cemetery records also show that it was an interesting place to die.
People died then from conditions that we have not heard of today and from diseases that we now think of as vaccinations. Some of the more frequent diseases listed as the cause of death include: dropy of the brain, apoplectic fits, bilious fever, brain fever, consumption, inflammation of the lungs and of the brain, typhoid, whooping cough and scarlet fever.
Prairie life often left residents exposed to the elements, and accidents claimed lives in unusual wavs.
Then there was crime.
Here are a few examples of causes of death listed in the Oak Hill Cemetery register at the Watkins Community Museum of History:
■ Charles Day, member of a horse-stealing fraternity, shot by a posse in Linn County, July 21. 1860.
A priest, John Duerinck, 45, drowned in the Missouri River when his skiff overturned. Dec. 9.1857.
Dr. J.G. Evington, struck by lightning, May 26, 1859.
*Susan Goss, 4, and Mary Harlow, 29, died from cholera while traveling on the steamer "Star of the West" October. 1855.*
David Hoyt, 35, killed by pro-
slavery men. Aug. 12, 1856.
C. C. Rice, stabbed near the heart by Joseph Meyers in a claim dispute in the Kaw River bottom. Nov. 11, 1859.
Andrew Rodriguez, stabbed in an affray in Lecompton, April, 1858.
A. D. Roy died as a result of confinement in the Lecompton prison by pro-slavery men.
Edited by Derek Prater
Haunted house?
Members of the Sigma Nu fraternity tell stories of a ghost named Virginia who haunts their fraternity house. An alumnus of the fraternity said the stories are inflicted myths. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN.
Blair Witch scary good; genre creeps into theaters
Kansan managing editor
This summer's sizzling horror films just might send chills up your spine.
Considering the wide selection of horror films bludgeoning the market, one can only wonder: Are we, as moviegoers, gluttons for punishment?
Recently released or soon-to-be released films of this genre include: Blair Witch Project, The Haunting, A Stir of Echoes, The Sixth Sense, Lake Placid and Deep Blue Sea. Believe it or not, there will even be a re-release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the fall.
Ron Wilson, former professor of American pop culture of the 1960s and 1970s, said that horror films have always been popular.
Blair Witch Project is a good example.
"They purge your emotions and give you the visual pleasure of seeing events you would not normally see," Wilson said.
Moreover, recent film innovations are enhancing the pleasure. Wilson said.
"Here, we're combining cross
Movie Preview
genrification of the horror film and the documentary," Wilson said. "I loved Blair Witch Project because it was so different and because it was all left to the imagination."
The imagination is where it's at, Wilson said. "That has the potential of inducing more fear than any amount of special effects can."
The Hunting, opening Friday, is a thriller publicized for its digitized special effects, Wilson said. However, he said he doubted that the remake of the 1963 Robert Wise film would be more frightening than its predecessor, in part because the first version left a lot up to the imagination.
"The difference is, when you have all the special effects coming at you, you know it's a movie. Where with Blair Witch Project, there are no special effects. It seems to be real," Wilson said. "You know at the beginning that the three students are missing; you know what's eventually going to happen, but you're drawn into their story through their camera."
Here's a rundown of a couple of movies coming our way.
Blair Witch Project
"On October 21, 1994, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams hiked into Maryland's Black Hills Forest to shoot a documentary film about a local legend, The Blair Witch. They were never heard from again."
A year later, their footage was found.
With that thought in mind,
Blair Witch Project begins.
The film is marked by shaking camera views, lopsided photography and dialogue that is often heard without the actor being seen. Much of the filming is done while the cast is walking or running through the woods.
It's so real, or seems so real,
that by the time the movie ends
it's hard to believe it wasn't true.
Directed and written by Ed Sanchez and Dan Myrick, Blair Witch Project was shot in eight days, nearly 24 hours a day — without a script.
See SCARY on page 6B
Star light, star bright, can the sky tell me if my life is right?
By Katie Burford
Kansan staff campus
Webster's Dictionary Web site defines astrology as "the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects." Its etymology dates to 14th century Greece.
What do you see? Your sign? The constellations that make up the night sky? LaToya Jackson and "The Psychic Hotline"?
OK, let's do a little free association. I write a word, and you say the first thing that comes to mind. Ready?
Astrology.
Some swear by it, some scoff at it, but few are without curiosity about this popular pseudoscience.
Astrologer Kacey Carlson of rural Leavenworth County is among the converted. She said that astrology functioned as a tool to assist people in better understanding themselves and
others.
A person's sign determines personality, she said. But other factors, such as the constellation that is on the horizon at the time of birth, are also important. There are 12 areas of experience represented by the horoscope wheel: identity, persona, financial resources, communication, family, love, sexuality work, career, philosophy, beliefs and relationships.
The first thing that Carlson does for people who come to her is diagram a natal chart based on the position of the planets at a person's time of birth.
To make a natal chart, it is necessary to know not only the date of birth, but also the time of birth, Carlson said, although there is a way to deduce the information for people who do not know their birth time.
Creating a natal chart requires some sophisticated calculations. Some people use a computer, but Carlson said she preferred to work the math by hand.
ASTROLOGY INFORMATION
Regardless of how the chart is created,
Kasey Carlson, Seven Sisters Shamanic Artists' Collective. Carlson holds studio hours from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday at 919 Connecticut St. For appointments, call (913) 441-4209. A natal chart session is $75. Send a card to Soundboard.
■ Anna Lunaria, Lunaria Holistic Health Center, 1103 Massachusetts St. Lunaria provides the gamut of intuitive arts services, including tarot, rots, astrology, etc. A 60 minute session costs $65. For appointments, call 841-1587
chusetts St. A natal chart session is $65.
A tarot card reading is $30. Three days are needed prior to an appointment for chart preparation. For appointments, call 331-2606.
Applications
Akiya Mundi, Karmic Link 2028 Massa
Quan Tracy Cherry, The Body and Soul Center, 1719 1/2 West 39th St., Kansas City, Mo. Widely known as the author of Pitch Weekly's sagacious horoscope column, Cherry also does one-on-one astrological work. A natal chart session is $75. For appointments, call (816) 753-8566.
interpreting it is the important part.
Carlson said that a computer couldn't replace what she does.
"It's like therapy," she said. "I give people tools to address issues in their lives. It's counseling. A good astrologer should be able to do that."
Carlson said that astrology was a useful instrument for examining long-term
decisions, while tarot card readings were better for short-term questions.
Students make up the major portion of her business. Carlson said.
Many, however, while curious, do not consult the zodiac when making major decisions.
See ASTROLOGY on page 6B
Commentary
Is Lawrence haunted, or are they just ghost stories?
By Matthew Friedrichs Kansan editor
According to Cynthia Dahlberg, technical director at the theater, the ghost is not possessive or destructive. Instead, he waits in the wings behind the scenes, until late at night when only two or three people are in the building.
Ghostly footsteps, slamming doors, waylaid tools and swinging cables — it's not a production of The Phantom of the Opera. But some workers at the Lawrence Community Theatre, 1501 New Hampshire St., believe they share the building with a friendly ghost named Fred.
"There's always a theater ghost." Dahlberg said, "People say that they're
Danberg said. People dead actors that never got enough stage time."
Fred manifests himself in a number of ways. People have heard footsteps cross the floor above them while working in the basement. When they went up to check who made the noise, no one was there.
Matthew
Friedrichs
editor@kansan.com
Dahlberg once heard a thump and a sch. sch. A cable providing electricity to the portable lights used to illuminate sets had been wrapped securely around pipes above the stage but mysteriously disentangled itself and was swinging gently back and forth, lightly brushing the stage.
And fear is what keeps everyone interested in ghosts.
Dahlberg swears she heard the basement door slam one time — a noise that so nerved her, she and two other people searched the building with a hammer and a cordless screwdriver for protection.
Are the ghosts real?
are the ghosts. Keith Sevedge, a Kansas City, Kan., lawyer and Sigma Nu alumnus, researched the stories about Virginia in the late '70s and concluded they were not provable. He said sightings were probably a combination of repeated stories and noises made by an old house.
While Dahlberg readily agreed to share her stories, documented cases of ghosts and haunted houses in Lawrence are hard to find.
Closer to home, upperclassmen recount legends of a ghost scratching on the doors at Corbin Hall and Virginia, who walks the halls at Sigma Nu fraternity, 1501 Sigma Nu Place, to chill the bones of freshmen.
The Douglas County Historical Society had a few items about ghoulish and ghostly sightings in Lawrence, but Steven Jansen, Watkins Community Museum of History director, said most people don't like to share their stories because they don't want paranormal fans traiping across their lawns and bothering them in their homes.
A November 26, 1897, Lawrence World article titled "The ghost stalks abroad," tells of people avoiding a bridge northwest of town after dark because of a ghost reputed to be Lizzie Madden.
The next day, the paper suggested it might be the ghost of Pete Vinegar, a man lynched on the bridge in 1882.
Dahlberg admits that some of the "supernatural" happenings at the theater have simple explanations.
The many volunteers who circulate through the building could be the source of some misplaced tools. And a women's restroom door with a delayed close is also responsible for startling people.
But an explanation remains to be heard for the ghost haunting the old bridge.
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1
Friedrichs is a Bremen graduate student in journalism.