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Dr. Ellen Baumler - Historical Consultant I'd like to introduce myself, and hope that those of you who might read this website will understand that I am passionate about getting the stories and the facts right. My name is Ellen Baumler; I grew up in the greater Kansas City area, and come from a family of attorneys. I earned my PhD from the University of Kansas in history, English, and classics. I taught Latin as a graduate student and spent 10 years in Tucson teaching GED classes before relocating to Helena, Montana in 1988. I have worked as a professional historian in Helena since 1992. I have written dozens of articles and several books on a wide variety of topics, I have given lectures across the state, and have taught Montana history at the college level since 1995.
I met Kris and Erik Bratlein when Kris was in high school. He attended a lecture I gave at the Festival of the Book in Missoula. We struck up a casual association and I followed his beginning interests in ghost hunting. When Kris formed TSI, he asked me to serve on the board and I agreed.
I agreed to be a TSI board member for several reasons. I have always been interested in things that go bump in the night. I have had my own personal brushes with incidents that defy reason. However, I have also made it a practice to look to the past for explanations. When people share their experiences with me, I search for answers in the history of the places where the events occurred. I have become an avid collector of incidents grounded in solid history, and two books of such tales-one of them a 2006 recipient of an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History-have generated a wide audience. Spirit Tailings and Beyond Spirit Tailings prove the supernatural provides a perfect venue to teach, preserve, and celebrate heritage places.
Tourism indiscriminately uses ghosts and supernatural events to attract visitors. We all know that there are hundreds of popular books listing haunted castles and hotels. Very rarely do they include well-documented histories and historical contexts. Why should anyone believe these unsubstantiated stories?
So let's say there is a ghost in a house. Kris and his team go in and photograph it, record its EVPs, and thereby document its presence. What meaning is there without understanding why this ghost haunts a certain place? History, more than pictures and sounds, gives a haunting credibility, a reason to be. This is what I hope to provide for TSI, and it is a credit to the group that its members recognize the importance of history to their work. I am always pleased when asked to provide research. |