By LAURA QUEZADA News Review Staff Writer –
Marie Mason is a loan officer by day but all of her other hours are spent passionately researching the historical truths of ghosts she has met. She stumbled upon her ability to communicate with ghosts in 2018 when she encountered and photographed the Prom Queen Ghost in Sand Canyon in Santa Clarita. This led to a fascination, further exploration and many amazing discoveries.
“I thought I was crazy,” says Mason. “I kept trying to debunk myself in historical locations, and I kept capturing picture after picture.”
She began purchasing equipment. “There’s lots of ghost equipment,” Mason tells us. “ A ghost box is a radio that is programmed that spins through the channels really fast. So you hear static, but the ghosts are on a different dimension, a fast inner dimension. They’re not on our wavelength. They pop in and out. We can’t hear it as humans, but the ghosts can grab words.” Through this equipment they have communicated full thoughts with Mason, not just “yes” or “no.”
In 2019, she reached out to the Randsburg town council saying, “Listen, I’m catching ghosts on a regular basis. Why don’t we do a ghost event?” They had been considering that type of event, so they moved ahead with plans and sold out the tickets. She wasn’t sure if the ghosts would appear with an audience. “They put me in the White House Saloon, the dance hall. One of the things about ghost hunting is it’s very important to know the history. If you don’t know the history, it’s mute. Because I believe ghosts are the memory of our past and when we think about them, we ignite them. What I knew about the White House is it was established and built-in 1897. I knew that they had at one point converted into a skating rink for the kids.” So she brought a ball. “In front of a live audience, we said, ‘Can you roll the ball for us?’ It started rolling the ball in front of everyone. And then it stopped and then it rolled back again. And then it stopped and then it spun.”
On this visit she was staying in the Red Light District and had an encounter and shot a photo that “haunted me and haunted me. It bugged me. ‘Who was it? Who was it? Who was it?’ I started to dig and dig. I know the history books said Madame Marguerite Roberts was the madam. It took me three years of investigation. And what I found was incredible.”
In her book, Ghosts of Randsburg: The Madame’s Secrets, she details her discoveries, providing photocopies of the historical documents, proving the facts that she found and how she pieced together the truth about the madame. As a true historian, she sets the facts she finds within the context of the times, elaborating on some of the social systems in place at the time of our heroine’s life that made it acceptable for these astonishing experiences. Carefully researched, authenticated, and passionately explored, Mason brings to life the experiences of this ghost and others, who still live in Randsburg.
Mason has an upbeat personality and a sense of humor about life. She doesn’t know why she discovered this ability and why she is honored to witness those who have come before. She believes you get back what you reflect and all of her encounters have been positive. She thinks they are funny. “There’s a stereotype about paranormal people. I want to change that. It’s not dark. Don’t think that ghosts are going to run across the tombstones with a dress flowing. That’s not what it is. It’s a reflection of what you’re putting out. I think they’re funny. I’m funny. I have a ghost picture that I’m filming and he sticks his tongue out at me. And I think it’s funny. I don’t think it’s a demon. I walk with God. This is a way to keep history alive.”
Ghosts of Randsburg: The Madame’s Secrets can be purchased in Randsburg at the Randsburg General Store, the Rand Museum, and the Cottage Inn. In Ridgecrest it can be purchased at Red Rock Books (first edition titled The Madame) and it is available online at Amazon.com and on her website https://ghostshunter.com/
