Lee recently published a very informative book called UFOs in Missouri, published by Schiffer Publishing in May 2011. He also wrote one of my favorite paranormal resource books, Missouri Hauntings. Some great spooky tales in there from my neck of the woods. He has written several other books on the paranormal. Lee also writes a metaphysical column for www.ghostvillage.com.

1. I recently learned that in addition to being a writer, you are also an artist and composer! Can you tell us a little about your art and music?

Art, music, writing, and the paranormal are in the family genes, so to speak! My mentor was my late uncle, Willard David Firestone. He was a professional jazz stride pianist as a young man in Greenwich Village of the 1930s and did some 78rpm recordings as a studio pianist. Uncle Willard was an occultist, and very adept in various magickal traditions. He told me once, "Magic is what a stage magician does when pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But magick with a k is real, and magick is something you employ to change things and make a difference with." He was right. He was a paranormal sensitive, and so am I. Growing up in a small, southern Missouri town, such things as the paranormal and being a paranormal sensitive (a person who can connect with the realm of ghosts, spirits, and related), was not acceptable. So, it was always a special secret treasure we kept and shared between us. I wrote about him and my early childhood in one of my earlier nonfiction books, Missouri Hauntings. My wife Debra is also a paranormal sensitive! Writing a column, Bide One's Time for www.ghostvillage.com also allows me to share my supernatural musings with a wide range of world readers, such as in my most recently published feature writings titled "The Haunted Book" and "Wiliford." I recall I wrote once in my journal that I created my first poem, drew my first drawing, started learning to play the piano, and saw my first ghost by the time I was five to six years old, and that was sixty-six years ago. For those curious about my art work, there is a website on the Internet that shows some samples! I consider myself now a surreal artist, although my early art grounding was in drawing people, landscapes, nudes, and still objects. I was encouraged by my family to dream and follow those dreams which interested me and that were of a positive nature, whenever feasible. Following a Vedanta approach to living, I try to live and let live and see life as it is. Recently, my elderly mother Marjorie became ill and died on my birthday, December 31; before she died, she said she would be there for my birthday to celebrate it, and she was there and held my hand, and then she passed away. I will always feel honored she selected my birthday to pass away on. Following her death and at her request, her body was cremated and her ashes were spread at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River by the Vedanta Society of St. Louis, Missouri. As to what I do today, I primarily write nonfiction for publication, and enjoy being a grandfather; due to arthritis, my piano days are long over, and my art career is inactive. I read often, and still find great enjoyment in rereading one of my favorite authors, Mark Twain.

2. You write a lot about one of my very favorite subjects, the paranormal. Do you enjoy writing about any other topics?

Yes. I enjoy classical music and jazz music. I write book reviews and CD reviews forwww.jazzreview.com, and have for several years. UFOs is another lifelong interest which I enjoy writing about, and I also write about biographical subjects for various publications and books. In fact, I have written a book about Mark Twain.

3. When and why did you first become interested in the paranormal?

At any early age when I realized I was a paranormal sensitive. My Uncle Willard was my guide.

4. Like me, you enjoy exploring cemeteries, ghost towns, and secluded areas. What are some of your favorite spots?

You just named them all, plus old abandoned houses forgotten in the woods, and caves!

5. Can you tell us about some of the most interesting experiences you have had while exploring?

I wrote about some of them in Missouri Hauntings. I consider it always an interesting experience when I am contacted by a ghost in an intelligent haunting setting. Currently living in Missouri, there are many American Civil War occurrences of a paranormal setting which I find exhilarating to encounter! Ghosts are around us all of the time. It is up to us to connect with them, if we wish.

6. What is the most frightening paranormal experience you have had?

None come to mind. I block out anything unpleasant, do a banishing ritual, and move on and away.

7. Why do you think we have ghosts roaming the world?

There are numerous explanations to this. One of them is that ghosts are of either a residual haunting (a replay of an event like a repeating loop on a recording, in which the ghost is unaware of the repeat) or an intelligent haunting (where the ghost is trying to make contact with a living person). Additionally, there is only a very thin veil between the paranormal and living world of living people, and the veil seems to be becoming thinner with the passage of time now, where more ghostly occurrences are becoming more open and documented by people encountering them.

8. What general advice do you have for readers interested in exploring the paranormal?

Don't be afraid of your own shadow! Go in a team of two, so one can verify what the other sees or encounters, but if alone, write down and document in some manner what you have encountered. Whether you use the white light of protection, or one of your own devising, a personal ritual to guard against evil or unwelcome occurrences is important. Some entities live off human fear, and if you ever want to eradicate that, start laughing loudly and mean it, and they will vanish. Many ghost hunters have stated ghosts do not like loud laughter, and they have a valid point.

9. What are your thoughts about the times we are living in now?

Although I have a positive approach, I do intuit bad things coming. I don't read the future or predict the future, but I can sense trends and situations, and I rely on my intuition. Some people have the gift to "see" things in their dreams or during personal meditation, things that may come true, such as a potential time of death for a person, or a situation befalling some person, and each individual who can do this has his or her own way of seeing and expressing such an occurrence -- such "seeings" do not always happen in a certain way and may instead be a simple, direct warning for some particular person in some manner! As to the contemporary times we live in, we live in corrupt times in which even our own Federal government has sold its citizens out --- look at what is happening to the declining value of the American Dollar since January 2011 and it becomes clear how this will end for the United States. The governments of the world will only help those in immediate power & control when things slide into its coming oblivion. Those who can will go to the rural areas to survive what is coming; those who cannot will eventually perish in the city areas. We live in a time of diminishing returns, but a strong heart with compassion and alertness will help many of us get through. Humans were created to live a positive existence, not an existence of negativity. We create out of the existential world we live in the type of world we can tolerate, and enjoy. Otherwise, without joy and hope, we are nothing and can be controlled by those in power.

10. Lee, is there anything else you would like to add?

I thank you Deena Budd, for your interview, and I am honored to have participated! I wish all who read it a positive life, filled with joy and hope. Thank you and good luck with your published writings, and all those future experiences of a paranormal nature you personally encounter as well as those forthcoming UFO experiences! Write your personal encounters down, document the encounters, and share them with your readers!

Thank you, Lee, for a great interview!

(Update: I am sad to report that Mr. Prosser passed away a short time after this interview on July 10, 2011. He will be greatly missed by many.)