Monague O'Hara Paranormal Detective

With his little group of followers, gathered all around, Monty began to outline a basic plan as to how they may be able to find the incantation required. The actual words in the language she had spoken these words in, he felt, did not matter. Speaking these words in a language familiar to the one speaking the incantation, with the correct meaning, Monty feels, is the important bit.

“The place where, I think a start could be made, would be to translate as much of the Sanskrit on the chest as we can”. Monty informed, those gathered around. “My Sanskrit skills are fairly minimal, so unless one of you is secretly an expert in Sanskrit, this may prove to be a rather slow and arduous undertaking”.

It was at this point, that, among this small group of paranormal enthusiasts, that Monty realized, that one among them was, a super nerd.

In a quiet voice, and with a slight stutter, James Hennessy spoke up. “I - m - may b - be able to help with that.”

Then going on to explain how. It seems our super nerd has many talents. He is also a bit of a wizard at writing computer programs. Recently combining a few of his many interests and talents, he has been developing an application to translate many of the old dead ancient languages. James informs us it is still a bit rough, but translating Sanskrit, is one of these languages, he has been working on with his app. He informed the rest of this group, why. It was because Mira was interested in learning Sanskrit, he had done this to help her. It had been her interest in Sanskrit, that had enabled the nerd team to work out the origin of the chest. The bit he did not tell them though, Mira was his secret crush. He would always do anything that made her happy.

Now tasks were allocated to each team member. James and Mira were off to see what sort of translation, they could get out of James’s app. Janice and Jefferson would see what they could find out about Roma Gypsy spells, chants, and magic.

Monty himself would also see what he could come up with regarding Roma Gypsy culture and traditions. They would all report back tomorrow, early afternoon, with the results of all this effort.

Now back in his hotel room, Monty started to make a list, itemizing all that he actually knew of the Roma Gypsies, their language, and their culture. Romani is an Indio-Aryan language. This language has been spoken within the Roma culture in Europe, since the Middle Ages. This language is a distant relation of Sanskrit.

After being pushed out of their original home, in Gurjara, northern India, by a Muslim kingdom that arose in what is now Afghanistan, the ancestors of the Roma then left India and entered northwestern China. From there they followed the ancient trading routes which led them to Persia, then through southern Georgia, Armenia, and finally to the Byzantine Empire. From the Byzantine capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul), they reached Romania by at least the fourteenth century. Some groups remained in Romania, but many moved on, traveling both west and east. By the end of the fifteenth century, Roma could be found as far west as the British Isles and Spain and as far east as Poland and Lithuania.

That night, as he slept, Monty had another vivid dream. There were no monsters or mythical beasts to deal with this time. The Roma Gypsy, Lavinia, and the Leprechaun O’Hara,. Also present at the table where him, and next to him, holding hands with him, was Gloria Sullivan. They were seated around a circular table.

Monty and Gloria, along just sat there listening. All the talking, was between Lavinia and the Leprechaun, all of it in the Irish Gaelic language. Monty, as one would expect, could understand every word that passed between them, the surprising part, Gloria seemed also, able to understand every word as well.

In this conversation, the main topic was how to restore all the released worries and fears back into the chest.

Lavinia was saying “Liam, as you well know, a large part of the gypsy tradition, is the show. You always need something quite theatrical, so that the punters feel like they are getting something for their money.”

So Liam O’Hara, is the leprechaun’s full name thought Monty. From the rest of the conversation he was able to derive the basic rules that apply to this ritual. The first item required, was the persons requesting the ritual, had to supply something of value. This could be money, in the form of coins, either silver, or the preferred, gold. It seems that in the original Sullivan ritual, gold was provided, in the form of the old grandmother’s wedding band. Once the lid of the chest is closed, this will disappear, latter becoming a possession of the person who performs the ceremony.

The next important item was belief. All those that participated needed to believe completely in this ritual, and its intended outcome.

Waking from this last vivid dream, Monty now has a lot to consider. The part about there needing to be a payment, to the one performing the ritual, was all in line with his normal operating mode. The need for a good dose of theatrics, for the punters, putting up the money or other valuables, always part of one of his scams.

The big one, was going to be the last one, belief. He, in the past, has never believed any of this mythology crap. In that past, this had not mattered, paring the punter from a bit of cash has always been his only objective. The first two parts of this ritual was easy, all much inline with his normal practice. The total belief part was going to be the hard part. It was not only him, that needed to believe, but also Gloria and Frank.

That night, Gloria had a dream also. This was the exact same dream that Monty had experienced. There were two strange things that she could take from this dream. The first one, she knew that they were all speaking only in the Gaelic language, but she understood every word spoken. The second one made a bigger impression on her. Sitting next to Monty, close, holding his hand. This had filled her with a warmth and contentment she has never felt before. Safe and protected from all harm.

Frank Sullivan, also had another dream that night. It was not exactly the same as the dream that both Gloria and Monty had, but it was similar. The table, Gloria, Monty, the Gypsy woman, Lavinia, and the Leprechaun O’Hara, seated around the table, all much the same. The different part was him, off to one side, listening, but taking no active part. The most significant part though, that stuck in his mind was Gloria, his daughter. The total besotted look in her eye, holding Monty’s hand. This was the same look he had last seen in the eyes of his beloved Kathleen, in the way to short time, he had spent with her.

It was now time to do something about this. He had come up with a plan. It was now time to set it all in motion.

The next day Monty, as planned, met up with his team, back in the library. Thanks to last night’s dream, he now had a way to end this project. The only real challenge being ensuring that the three who would be involved could have the total belief required.

Mira and James, using Jame’s app, had made quite a good attempt at translating the symbols and words from the old chest. If he ever managed to gain an academic position, a couple of grad students like these to, would be great to have around. He had picked up that these two definitely were crushing on each other, but both way to shy to do anything about it.

The other two Francine and Jefferson had quickly produced some excellent stuff on the Roma Gypsy culture, nothing he had not already known, but all excellent work.

Monty was finding that he was beginning to enjoy having this small bunch of misfits around. He was going to miss them when he went back to the old country.

But now he had a job to do, and bring this case to its conclusion. He rang Frank Sullivan and arranged a meeting with him and Gloria.