Winchester Mystery House Centennial Speaker Series: Elizabeth Kile

Elizabeth Kile brought the spooky for October’s Centennial Speaker Series, sharing the spirit of the story and the ghosts of San Jose.

Centennial Speaker Series Topic: Haunted San Jose – The Spirit of the Story with Elizabeth Kile

To my delight, I once again roped in my sister to join me as a speaker series sidekick. Incidentally, I’m so glad she did. Of all the ones we attended together, I think this was her favorite. Regretfully, my other companions had schedule conflicts and were quite bummed after hearing me gush about it.

Elizabeth brought the fun and the frights during this engaging centennial speaker series. She give us a delightful preview into her book, Haunted San Jose. Additionally, she surprised all in attendance with an engaging class. Yes, I said class. A high school teacher by day and ghost hunter…also by day, Elizabeth aced her delivery of her topic. She dove deep into her passion for the ghost story, her research into finding them locally, and her expansive knowledge as a ghost story hunter.

Ghost Hunting in San Jose

You have to love a speaker who starts off their slide show with an agenda. Firstly, Elizabeth dove into the art of ghost stories. Next, she address why we share these stories and what ten tropes are typically present in them. Lastly, she share amazing examples of these tropes found around San Jose, including, of course, the Winchester Mystery House.

My Takeaway from the Centennial Speaker Series with Elizabeth Kile

Hands down, this had to be one of my top favorite of the guest speaker centennial series I attended. Elizabeth had this energy that just pulled you in to the point that I was glad to be recording it instead of focusing on jotting down notes. It was exciting to learn about all the other reported haunted places around San Jose and her ghost hunting knowledge was fascinating. In particular, I loved her deep-dive into ghost story tropes. I felt this discussion would really connect with some of my spooky writer friends.

If Elizabeth were to present this topic again, I would most certainly return for it. Should she pop up anywhere as a guest speaker, I strongly encourage you to check her out.

Craving More from Elizabeth Kile?

High School teacher by day, Elizabeth wrote a book about “Haunted San Jose” which I strongly encourage you to check out. In the mean time, you can follow her on Instagram or subscribe to my email list to hear the full presentation.

What else can be discovered beyond the Centennial Speaker Series at Winchester Mystery House?

Would you be interested in hearing Elizabeth’s words for yourself? This happened to be the only speaker series I recorded the audio to. Coincidentally, I forgot my notepad when I attended, so I recorded it on my phone to take notes of later. As a special treat, I am sharing that audio file with my email subscribers in my next gossamer gossip on October 29th. Subscribe now to get access!

It is an honor to be amongst my fellow crypt keepers once more and I am so excited to see how everyone is sharing the Halloween magic throughout the month.