Henrico resident says she cleanses dwellings in which the presence of the past has yet to go away
Some people would say B.J. Wall is a psychic, but she calls herself a communicator.
Wall says she sees and talks with spirits.
She is called by Realtors to cleanse spirits from houses that won't sell; by homeowners who see, hear or sense strange things; or by people whose dogs bark incessantly for no apparent reason.
The problem is usually stuck spirits, said Wall, an Henrico County resident.
"I get them to move on. I look at them, and I talk to them. It's like having a sixth sense. I have always been able to see them."
Animals can see spirits as well, she said. That's why they behave strangely at times.
Wall said stuck spirits might have guilt or anger, she said. It could be unfinished business. Sometimes they are just lost, she said.
"I gently move them out. I do it with love, always with love."
And where do they go?
Some people call it heaven, Wall said. "It is a place to rest, have fun and understand what it is all about. No matter if the spirit is 5, 50 or 500, they want to understand what that [life] was all about."
A farmer in Louisa called her because he couldn't get any crops to grow in a field. She said she saw a Civil War battle being replayed over and over. "Always in a war, the first thing they want to know is, 'Who won?'"
Wall said she can hardly breathe when she goes to the 17th Street Farmers' Market in Shockoe Bottom, where slaves were once sold. "The energy there is oppressive."
Wall charges $150 to clear a house. She moves from room to room with a white candle, making the sign of the cross and three clockwise circles, and a brush of smoking sage. Spirits don't like the smell of sage, she said.
"It's like when you clean your house of dust bunnies -- only I clean the energy. I try to make it normal and not spooky."
Peggy Binford, a Richmond agent for 28 years, says she uses Wall's clearing services if she feels something is not right in a house.
"Sometimes clients know, sometimes they don't, depending on how they would take it," she said.
In one situation, Binford sold a property to a couple who spent two hours in an uncleared house during a home inspection. The woman got so agitated sitting in the house that she couldn't go through with the deal, Binford said.
Binford called Wall for a clearing, then sold the house to someone else.
A Richmond art and music promoter who didn't want to be named said he called Wall to do a clearing after he and his wife moved into a house.
He said he sensed a presence. His wife did not. Their cat clawed and meowed at a closet door.
Wall did the clearing.
"It felt like a weight had been lifted," he said. And the cat stopped fixating on the door.
Houses that were crime scenes can be heavy as well. Wall has not been to the South Richmond homes where the Harvey family was killed on Jan. 1 and where the Tucker/Baskerville family was slain on Jan. 6. But she takes readings of the homes to sense their spirits and to determine what it would take to get them to move on.
She said the Tucker/Baskerville home "is inhabited by disturbed spirits." Of the Harvey home, she said the love and laughter can be recaptured.
"There was so much love and laughter in that house," Wall said. "The Harveys loved that house."
Repairs are being made with the understanding that it will be put on the market, said Steve Tarrant, a neighbor.
Wes Atiyeh, president of the Richmond Association of Realtors, said he does not believe houses are marred by unfortunate incidents.
"They can be overcome," he said.
Neither sellers nor agents in Virginia are required to disclose facts or occurrences, including crimes or suicides, that have no effect on the physical property.
The law says nothing about the spiritual side. Many would argue if there were such a thing.
"People react one of two ways when they find out what I do," Wall said. "They say, 'OK,' and change the subject -- or they want to know more."
Americans generally are hesitant to talk about spirits for fear of being labeled a quack. People from other cultures seem more open to the possibility.
Buying a house that had been the scene of a crime would be "a big no-no" in the Indian culture, said Dr. Neha Vyas, who is in family practice in Ashland.
"I hate to stereotype my own culture, but a house has prosperity attached to it," Vyas said. "You want good vibes coming from your house."
Paul Vu, whose background is Vietnamese, said people from his culture would put death -- whether natural or not -- at the top of the list as a reason not to buy a house.
"We do not take death lightly," said Vu, a Richmond real estate agent. "People are scared by the spirit. You can't touch it, see it or smell it, but something is there."
If the death occurred in the family and the house is passed on through generations, that is different, Vu said.
"If it's a family member, you have sympathy. You're not afraid of your own family."
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