March 6, 2025

"Ghost From The River" Fundraising Letter 

Dear (donor’s name),

My name is Dr. Rachael Smith. I am a member of the Indiana Association of Spiritualists Board of Trustees and am working with Moriarty Media to produce a film set in Historic Camp Chesterfield, located in Chesterfield, IN. Camp Chesterfield was founded in 1886 as a Spiritualist Camp, where people of various religious traditions converge to learn and join like-minded people in seeking their higher spiritual selves. 138 years after its founding, Camp Chesterfield is still thriving as one of three spiritualist camps like it in the country. 

A few years ago, I met James Moriarty and his wife, Ingrid, at Camp Chesterfield. We began talking about the history of the camp and after a tour of the Hett Art Gallery & Museum, on the grounds of the camp, James and Ingrid began brainstorming the feature film, Ghost from the River. It is a story about a teenage girl from Chicago who loses her parents in a car accident and is forced to live with her eccentric aunt at Camp Chesterfield. While navigating this new space, Dani encounters and strikes up a friendship with a Spirit on the grounds, Donald Keeler. Donnie has not transitioned from the grounds to join his family in the afterlife and Dani works with him to help him to reconnect with his family and to move beyond the grounds. It is a coming-of-age story, with an actual historic connection. 

In 1909, Donald Keeler visited Camp Chesterfield with his family. He was not an experienced swimmer and even though his parents had told him to stay out of the White River, at 13 years old, Donald Keeler decided he was going to swim with his friends. Unfortunately, the boy drowned. This is the only accidental death ever recorded at Historic Camp Chesterfield in its 138-year history. 

Ghost from the River details this tragic event, while also bringing the Spiritualist ideas of Spirit communication to the forefront of a feature film. For the past few years, I have been working with Moriarty Media to take this film from the page to the screen. With the support of the Indiana Association of Spiritualists, an excellent script, and a desire to see this film on the big screen, all that is left is to fund the production and this is where I ask for your help. 

Moriarty Media and Historic Camp Chesterfield can only achieve our goals with the help of generous donations from supporters and community members. With your support, we will be able to create a timeless, innovative, and overall great family friendly film set in one of Indiana’s oldest communities. Your donation to our 501(c)3 will benefit not only the film’s production but will also help Camp Chesterfield and the surrounding community. 

The film's production will create jobs, income, and infrastructure development, which will immediately boost the local economy. The project will create economic opportunities by tapping into local human capital with diverse skills, trades, and cultural resources in an underperforming region in Indiana. This involves various roles such as set builders, caterers, costumers, makeup artists, and special effects technicians. In the long term, a successful film can attract tourist dollars to the region where it was filmed.

Ghost from the River will also support the growing community of independent filmmakers in Indiana. For many years, independent and arthouse filmmakers have struggled to establish a presence in Indiana, with limited success. As a full-length narrative film with a broad target audience, Ghost from the River will be a major force in breaking the logjam and sparking a renaissance of independent filmmaking in the Hoosier State.

The film's story was inspired by and aims to shed light on a neglected part of Madison County's history. The significance of Spiritualism and Historic Camp Chesterfield in the history of Madison County is often overlooked and under-appreciated. Our film project will grow, reconnect, and revitalize interest in Historic Camp Chesterfield by creating a family-friendly film that uses the Camp not just as a location but truly as a character in the story, broadening the public's knowledge about the Spiritualist Community and its practices.

Of course, I would not ask anyone to blindly donate without knowing exactly what is being produced. I would like to invite you to an online table reading of the script on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at 6 PM EDT. This will give you the opportunity to hear the script as it is portrayed by various actors and imagine the scenes as the story unfolds. I would also like to invite you to visit ghostfromtheriver.com and peruse the website. There, you will find information on the business plan, the team, and other work by James Moriarty and Moriarty Media, including a short documentary (funded by Indiana Humanities), Finding Our Sense of Place in Madison County. If you are not familiar with Camp Chesterfield or the I.A.O.S., this ten-minute documentary is a great introduction to the founding of Camp Chesterfield and its connection to Mounds State Park. 

If you wish to contribute, please don’t hesitate to contact us at james@ghostfromtheriver.com or you may give me a call at 765-617-3212. Every donation makes a difference and takes us one step closer to creating a family friendly film, right here in Indiana!

Thank you in advance for your support!

Sincerely,

Dr. Rachael D. Smith

Board of Trustees Member

Indiana Association of Spiritualists

February 24, 2025

Invitation to the "Ghost From The River" Table Read

Are you a fan of ghost stories inspired by actual events? Or do you just love a compelling human drama? We invite you to join us for an actors' table read of "Ghost From The River," the first "certified Spirit-friendly" feature-length screenplay created in collaboration with the Spiritualist community at Historic Camp Chesterfield, Indiana.

“Ghost From The River” is a movie filled with intrigue, excitement, and emotional truth. A young woman and a group of family and friends thrown together in a small Midwestern town conquer the trauma and inertia in their lives. When nothing seems to be going right, an unforeseeable series of personal challenges and mysterious encounters leads to unexpected love and a hidden family legacy.

“Ghost From The River” creator and Hoosier filmmaker James Moriarty will be your host. James will share his personal connection to the Camp, his work in creating “Ghost From The River,” and his journey to bring its story to the screen with artistic and spiritual authenticity.

The screenplay table read will feature a cadre of talented actors with deep connections to Spiritualism, Camp Chesterfield, and Hoosier culture and history.

Zoom meeting date: Saturday, March 22, 6:00 PM EDT. To reserve your FREE seat and help us create the first "certified Spirit-friendly" feature film, please visit ghostfromtheriver.com or call James (317) 581-9126 for more information.

November 27, 2024

Support Camp Chesterfield’s Feature Film: Ghost from the River 

Dear Camp Chesterfield Friends and Family,

We invite you to join us in an extraordinary opportunity to honor and celebrate the rich history and spirit of Camp Chesterfield. We are thrilled to announce plans for the feature film Ghost from the River, a powerful story deeply connected to camp's legacy. The film is set to be filmed at Camp Chesterfield in the spring of 2025, and you can help make it a reality!

Camp historian Dr. Todd Leonard has advised on the script and says about Ghost from the River

“It’s very exciting! But it's not a scary movie. It’s about Spirit and how Spirit is interconnected in our lives.”

This project promises to bring a beloved camp story to life in a meaningful way, sharing its spirit with a wider audience while preserving Camp's unique significance as a home for Spiritualism.

Director James Moriarty, who has been a frequent visitor and friend of Camp for many years, wants you to know that:

”A professional movie producer has actually offered to fund Ghost from the River … but only if I cut out Spiritualism and made it a horror story.

“I told him ‘No way!’

“We won’t compromise our vision – or our support for Camp Chesterfield’s mission – even if that means raising the funds ourselves.”

As James suggests, bringing this vision to reality requires your support. Your contributions will directly help with:

• Production expenses for on-site filming.

• Highlighting the history, beauty, and spiritual legacy of Camp Chesterfield.

• Creating a cinematic work that strengthens our community and its mission.

Your gift, no matter the size, makes a difference. Together, we can make Ghost from the River a reality and ensure that Camp Chesterfield continues to inspire new audiences for generations to come.

Donate Today!

Please use the link or QR code below to make your contribution.

You can learn more about the Ghost from the River film project at ghostfromtheriver.com. There you can also show your support by signing up for email updates about the movie.

Thank you for your generosity and for being an integral part of the Camp Chesterfield family. Let’s come together to make this historic project a success!

With gratitude,

Dr. Rachael Smith

Ghost from the River - A Spiritualist-Inspired Feature-Length Narrative Film is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Ghost from the River - A Spiritualist-Inspired Feature-Length Narrative Film must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.