Posted under Client Relations & Death & Friendship & Web Design
Like many people I adore watching television shows about ghosts and paranormal such as Ghost Hunters on The Sci-Fi Channel. There is just something about the unknown that really manages to draw in people from all walks of life.
Believing in ghosts, life after death or paranormal activity is a personal choice and not one that I’m going to try to persuade otherwise. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs.
Because I do believe that some spirits stay behind after death, whether willingly or not, I was extremely excited to be hired by one particular lady.
Ms. Rowena Gilbert, founder of the Australian Ghost Hunters Society and owner of the world famous ghost story website Castle of Spirits, hired me to redesign the COS website.
Ms. Gilbert has tried numerous times to have this famous website designed with the look and feel suiting the content. In fact, she has attempted to hire at least 20 designers to no avail.
One particular design firm, Rogues Hollow, she contacted seemed interested at first and stated numerous times to Ms. Gilbert that they were her best option. They are famous for designing websites for haunted houses and other Halloween type businesses. Unfortunately they never contacted her again about beginning her redesign.
Jeff Baham of Zyzzix Media was next to be contacted regarding COS. Unfortunately Baham was a worse encounter than Rogues Hollow!
Ms. Gilbert hired Baham and paid him a considerable deposit. After submitting payment, she waited…
And waited…
Six months pass with Ms. Gilbert repeatedly emailing and calling Baham to no avail.
Finally, during the 7th month, Baham produced what he had created for Ms. Gilbert. She was excited thinking she’d have a great design!
Upon opening the attachment Ms. Gilbert was all but in tears. The work Baham spent 7 months creating was equivalent to what a high school art student could create.
Ms. Gilbert sent me a copy of what Baham created:
As anyone can see, it is a bit bright and cheerful for a website about ghosts. Even more, the top is dark like it is night and the bottom is light like it is day time. Apparently either Baham didn’t pick up on this or he just didn’t care!
Now, enters me.
I was hired by Ms. Gilbert on February 5th, 2008. She paid a deposit 3 days later and a couple of weeks later she had received a Flash intro and 3 Shockwave games created in Director.
Ms. Gilbert was more than pleased with what I had completed and stated numerous times how grateful she was to have found a designer who was reliable and who had her same vision.
I created a new logo, a haunted cemetery scene with eerie music, a hangman style game, a labyrinth, and a wordsearch game. If I could do all of this within 1 month, how could Baham not do more than a botched Photoshop image in 7 months!?
Here is the logo I created:
Here is a screen shot of the Flash splash page I created:
To see a live view of the splash page and to hear the beautifully macabre music you can go here: Castle of Spirits.
Ms. Gilbert loved everything about what I created. I’m not sure which one of us loved it more though. I had the time of my life creating this for her and finally being allowed to go nuts in terms of my creativity.
Sadly, after a long period of not hearing from Ms. Gilbert I received an email from her brother, Rob.
Ms. Gilbert had told me in previous correspondence that she has been ill for a very long time and undergoing a new treatment but when Rob told me of her passing it was a bit of a shock.
It actually took a few days to fully sink in.
I didn’t know Ms. Gilbert much longer than 2 months but we had developed a budding friendship. We had a lot in common and we enjoyed talking about both of our fields.
Ms. Gilbert was a beautiful young woman who I know will be missed by many for years to come. It is no doubt that she has touched my life in a good way. I think of her often still and I know I will never forget this remarkably intriguing woman who was not only an ideal client, but a great friend.
I suspect Ms. Gilbert, if possible, elected to stay behind as a ghost herself to give her beloved AGHS members the haunt of their lives. That, for some reason makes me feel better.
Rest in Peace Rowena Gilbert
This news deeply saddens me. I have been an avid reader of the website for quite a few years. It’s occupied me many a lonely night. In mid-March when the page had still not been updated since February I had a feeling that something was terribly wrong. I’d heard that Rowena had been ill for years and I knew in my gut that something was wrong. Neither castleofspirits.com nor the AGHS have been at all updated but I hope the site continues on in Rowena’s honor because I know she’d want it to thrive.
It still hasn’t quite sunk in for me. Her website has been a part of my life for years. An almost daily ritual to check for updates. And now it may all possibly be over. If she is not a haunt I hope she is having fun, at least!
Matt,
Thank you for your comment. I only wish I had known Rowena years ago. She seemed like such a fascinating young woman.
Rob Gilbert, her brother, Don Wilmshurst, one of her AGHS members and myself are in the midst of discussing ways to keep the website active. Unfortunately no one can really afford to pay me for the redesign right now so updates may or may not happen. Rowena was able to pay the deposit but she sadly passed before we could complete the redesign.
I may suggest a PayPal donation link for the website to help keep it going… this of course depends on how the website fans feel about donating to it.
I’d love to be able to add a tribute page to the website for her. Please keep checking back with COS and here for any new developments.
Shalom,
Casey
oh god this is so sad. and you know i knew somegthing was wrong when the stories on castle of spirits stopped comming? i’ve been going to COS for as long as i have been a net surfer and i can tell you. none of them hold a candle to COS. not one.
Rowena you will be missed. i hope COS will remain as good as it always been.
my condolences to Rowenas family.
I had wondered why this glorious site that I had visited for years since my junior high school days (I’m now 22) had suddenly stopped being updated.. I definitely had thought that very odd.
And now I know why. It’s definitely a sad day in the paranormal society.
This is very very sad for me since I am a huge fan of castle of spirts since 4 years. This is the site which opened a whole new subject of interest and a whole new area of paranomial for me. It inserted a love for the subject and experiences of the unseen in myself.
I hope that the remaining team continues to work for the website they way Rowena wanted it to be.
Rowena Gilbert, rest in peace.
CLJ Design | My Blog on 15 Jul 2008 at 3:44 am # reply
[...] the last few weeks I’ve received a surge of visitors leaving comments on my Death of a Client [...]
I been visiting this website for years. My heart goes out to her and her family. She was a beautiful lady.
I don’t know if I should say “Rowena, rest in peace” because knowing her and how the paranormal intrigued her so much, I think she would rather stay behind and support her team in silence. However I admire her work and her devotion for the paranormal. She will always be remembered by all of us with much love. I wish her team all the best and may God grant you the necessary strenght to overcome this difficult moment. Love, always.
I just now learned about this. What a tragedy… just one of those things you never really expect to hear. I’ve been a fan of Castle of Spirits for nearly a decade and have been blessed enough to have been selected as a Story of the Month winner. I still have the shirt Rowena sent me from that with the classic “CoS” logo on it. Such a simple thing demonstrated her love for the site and its members; she needn’t have given out anything at all, but she put forth that extra effort. It’s what made CoS such a great site.
I had the pleasure of speaking with her privately a few times. I had been working on a short film and promised to feature the t-shirt in it. The film never happened, but I think I’m going to work it in to my current project as a tribute to her.
I hope the suffering brought about by her illness is a distant memory and that Rowena can now watch over her site in peace, knowing now the answers to all of the mysteries which she sought to explore through her site and investigative group.