You may have a vague inkling that spirits of the dead live among us, but master magician Jim Callahan of Beaufort and Charleston physician Dr. Joseph M. Jenrette III are unequivocally convinced that such entities exist.
A native of Pittsburgh, Callahan is into seemingly paradoxical disciplines: quantum physics and the paranormal.
A longtime Charleston resident, Jenrette had been friends with a man whose spirit he believes eventually returned to haunt the house Jenrette rented for several years.
Recently, Callahan discovered a major breakthrough in his 25-year search for evidence that the spirits of the dead are among us. He says that some are desperately attempting to communicate with the living and some may frighten people as if to say: "Notice me, I am still here, and very much aware of the lives of the living."
Paranormal piece
In his hourlong theatrical piece, "Across the Bridge," Callahan explains and enacts his experience with the paranormal several times a day Tuesday through Saturday at Buxton's East Bay Theatre, 184 East Bay St. The show runs through Sept. 2.
The 82-seat theater was opened in 2005 by Charleston native Julian T. Buxton III, who founded the business Tour Charleston, LLC, in 1997. It was formerly Ghost Tours of Charleston.
Buxton, who has a degree in history from Princeton and also avidly believes in the paranormal, says, "An intellectual position that dogmatically denies the existence of ghosts is as unscientific as it is narrow-minded. Many of the departed continually try to work out their unfulfilled dreams in the sphere of the living as their unresolved longings pierce through the thin barriers between their world and ours."
For two decades, Callahan has worked the corporate circuit, executing his complex magic tricks primarily performed at business conventions in Hilton Head Island and Atlanta.
For the past 21 years, the magician has lived in Beaufort with his wife, Christine, a high school teacher on Hilton Head Island and their daughter, Katie.
Lasting legacy
When Callahan read Edward B. Macy and Buxton's book "The Ghosts of Charleston," chronicling ghosts who haunt homes and other sites in the city, he became especially intrigued with the story "The Legacy of Raymond Putnam Hill," telling of the electrical engineer who restored and then lived in the house at 12 Wentworth St. from 1969 until he died in 1980 at age 92.
Callahan also read Hill's book "My Family of Souls," published in 1974, in which Hill describes his past lives, including some 45 different entities in a series of incarnations originating in 5888 B.C.
In his book, Hill predicts, "In 2054, when I am 11 and my brother is nine, we will take up residence in Charleston and live in the house at 12 Wentworth St. that I restored in 1969."
Callahan asks the questions: Is it possible to share memories from another person who lived before you were born? Can objects be haunted by some otherworldly energy coming from a ghost or spirit?
Believing he has communicated with Hill's spirit through the motions of a pendulum and by using a divination practice known as "information drowsing," Callahan has made a video of his rare communication process that took place over a four-day period outside 12 Wentworth St., and at the Buxton Theatre.
"When I read about Mr. Hill, I thought this might be a chance to really communicate with a spirit, which is what I've always wanted to do," says Callahan. "Mr. Hill's life experiences were very similar to mine because he also heard disembodied voices from time to time. I truly believe that Mr. Hill will return in 2054."
The magician, 43, plans to show his appreciation to Hill for helping him better interpret the paranormal by depositing $25 in a savings account in Hill's name for each week that he performs "Across the Bridge" with input from Hill's spirit.
"I will be 91 in 2054, and if I happen not to still be alive then, I will state in my will that my daughter, Katie, should go visit the young Hill and take him to get the money from the savings account."
Fascination with magic
Callahan became fascinated with magic in the fourth grade after seeing a movie with the great Houdini. He also read a great deal about magic and taught himself a panoply of tricks.
Then, in high school, he qualified as a master magician and decided to take his obsession one step further by conducting research on the paranormal.
When he was a senior in high school, he was asked by a group of scientists and professors from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh to work with their team to investigate ostensibly haunted houses, or sites where paranormal events were believed to have occurred.
But the paranormal didn't consume all of Callahan's time. For 10 years, he toured with a rock-a-billy band as guitarist and vocalist, and reportedly he can still sing a mean blues tune.
Science and spirits
Jenrette, whom most know as "Buddy," is quoted at great length in "The Ghosts of Charleston," since he and then-wife Betsy had rented the basement apartment from Hill and his wife in the early 1970s, when Jenrette was in medical school.
"We got to know Mr. Hill really well and really liked him," says Jenrette in a recent conversation. "He carried his pendulum with him everywhere, even to the grocery store, where he would hold it over a tomato to see if it was ripe. Once, when a neighbor had a new baby, Mr. Hill looked the infant in the face, and exclaimed, 'I knew I had met you before!' "
The physician adds, "Mr. Hill also carefully documented his past lives, and he told me that after his death, he would return to live at 12 Wentworth. And I really believe he will."
The Jenrettes also believe they had contact with Hill's spirit before they moved upstairs into the main three floors of Hill's former house, where they lived until 1983.
"One night, we were sitting in the library and asked each other if he thought it would be all right for us to live in the house," recalls Jenrette. "Suddenly, the lights over a bookcase flicked on by themselves, and a window slowly raised itself. And we took that as a sign he approved."
But Hill could be formidable at times.
In 1981, the Jenrettes had a friend, Brad, who was staying for several nights in a room on the third floor. When they told Brad of Mr. Hill's hauntings, he laughed and made fun of them.
But one evening after a dinner out with the Jenrettes, Brad reportedly went upstairs to his room and found his suitcase violently flapping open and closed by itself.
Hearing Brad scream, Buddy Jenrette rushed up the stairs, and the two men watched in fear as a dark mass formed against the ceiling and then turned into an undulating shadow. All at once, wind beat against the window pane, near Brad's head, the window flew wide open, and the mass vanished, Jenrette said.
Helpful spirit
"Most of Mr. Hill's visits were not hostile," says Jenrette. "But he did act rude to Brad because he (Brad) made fun of him. Mr. Hill is very serious about reincarnation."
Once, Hill's spirit alerted the Jenrettes by furiously ringing their doorbell, Jenrette said. They saw no one at the door, but upon opening it, found their neighbor, a diabetic, lying unconscious on the sidewalk. They rushed outside and saved the neighbor's life.
But Hill's spirit hasn't traveled among all the residents of 12 Wentworth.
Ann Ailstock, who has lived there with her husband, Charles Ailstock, for nearly seven years, says, "We haven't experienced anything strange at all - good or bad. We've just had a wonderful life there."
"I definitely think it's possible Raymond Hill will come back to 12 Wentworth," concludes Callahan. "But in my show, I don't want to just scare people with ghost stories. I want to make them think seriously about the paranormal, especially as more mainstream scientists investigate the presence of spirits.
"You also have to remember that there could possibly be another reality someplace else, a parallel universe," he says. "The paranormal truly affects our lives much more than we realize."
If you go
WHAT: 'Across the Bridge,' performance work by Jim Callahan examines the paranormal.
WHEN: At 7, 8:30 and 9:30 p. m. Tuesday through Thursday; 1, 3, 7, 8:30 and 9:30 p. m., Friday and Saturday.
WHERE: Buxton?s East Bay Theatre, 184 East Bay St.
TICKETS: $15 for adults and $10 for children ages 4 to 12. Tickets may be reserved by calling 723-1670 or purchased at the door.
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