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2007 ARCHIVE
In recent weeks it has come
to my attention that certain parties are using my ghost stories and those of my
contributors as references for their own commercial enterprises. If you or
someone you know is writing a book on ghosts in the Pacific Northwest, PLEASE
DO NOT!!! copy or use the following stories or any other materials within
this website as references.
Jefferson Davis (25 April
2003)
Here are some buttons which will take you
to an archive copy of the last years of the "What's New"
section I began in 2001.
I am writing Weird
Washington and I need help:
Posted 13 April 2007.
My online
store is up, sort of...
Firewalking
for my work
Ghosts
at Washington's Crossroads
Portland
Ghost Walk
A
House by the Railroad Tracks
Weird
Washington Video Short: Posted
26 August 2007
Can
you help with Weird Oregon: Posted
26 August 2007
Weird
Washington is at the publishers: Posted
28 September 2007
Revisiting
the Grant House: Posted 28
September 2007
Ghosts
and Critters wins an award: Posted 28 September 2007
The
First Halloween Appearance of the Season: Posted 28 September 2007
Everything
Unusual off the Air?
Posted 11 November 2007
The Old
Red House in Gill Massachusetts
Posted 12 November 2007
The Halloween
Season ends, or does it?
Posted 12 November 2007
White
Eagle Night Coming Soon Posted
14 December 2007
I am writing Weird
Washington and I need your help
Last year, I signed a contract with Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, publishers of Weird
New Jersey. That book turned into a
second book of stories, and now they have over 20 books in their
catalog.
I contributed three stories
to their latest book, Weird US presents Weird Hauntings. I did
several book books signings in the Pacific Northwest, later
on in the fall. I also sell copies of the book from this website.
See the Book Orders section of this website. If the link is not up in my
store, I will email you with the information.
I guess they liked my writing, or they were just desperate to
find an author in the Pacific Northwest to write one of their future books, Weird
Washington. Either way, I was lucky enough to get the job. For
those readers who have never seen any of the Weird Series, they are not just
about ghosts. The Weird Books include sections on roadside attractions,
The biggest, the oddest, the oldest, graveyards, abandoned relics, and many
other fascinating human and natural features that make each state in the Union
so interesting. To do the best job possible on this book, I need help
from readers and their friends.
To really capture the entire flavor of Washington State, my
co-author Al and I hope to have you readers suggest locations that
figure prominently in local legends of the weird and strange. Know of
any cemeteries with unique or weird tombstones? How about curses or
interesting dedications? Are their ghost towns, lost mines, abandoned
shipyards or factories with strange and macabre tales? Is there a
haunted house that everyone seems to know about? Do you have first hand
experiences at any of these places? Please let us know and we will be in
touch. I cannot promise to include all places you might suggest, but I
appreciate any proposals. I will include a separate page listing places
we want to highlight as the book progresses.
My
online store is up... Sort of...
It has taken a while, and it is not finished yet, but my
online store is up and running. You can now order books and DVDs
from me online using either credit card or Paypal. Please visit the
bookstore at:
Firewalking
for my work
My upcoming book, Weird Washington will be my longest
work yet. Even with my co-author Al taking on four chapters, my
contributions will be be over 80,000 words. One of the chapters is on
Unexplained Phenomena, which include firewalking. The world's hottest
firewalk took place in Washington State several years ago. It was about
1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, almost hot enough to melt copper.
It has always intrigued me, along with other people. I
was supposed to go on a firewalk in the past, but missed it. My wife
went instead. Weird Washington has a lot of pictures in it, and I needed
some of a firewalk. There are several companies in the northwest that
will put on firewalks for various groups. I tried contacting some of
them, to see if I could attend ant take some pictures. It was no good,
either they were out of business, or they were not holding a walk when I
needed the pictures. My wife tells me occasionally that I am not all
that bright and I did not want to disappoint my publisher. So I held my
own.
I
started with a few pieces of kindling and some cardboard
It did not take long
for the fire to start
It took a lot more
wood and several hours to die down
Raking the fire was
hot work, and it singed the hair on my arms
I had to spread the
coals out, and they cooled a bit
But not that
much
Do you blame me for
hesitating?
For a few minutes
The first step was
alright
On the second step
My foot sunk in to
the ankle
Yes, it was hot!
But I made it out
With only one hot
spot on my right foot.
Ghosts at Washington's
Crossroads
Historically, and I suppose geographically Ellensburg is the
crossroads of Washington State. The old trails met in the green valley
where Ellensburg started out as the "Robber's Roost," and the city
almost became Washington's Capitol. Today though, with the way roads,
highways, and railroads have been laid out, I would say that little Ritzville
is the crossroads of Washington. Anyone traveling from the Seattle or
Tri-Cities to Spokane has to pass through Ritzville. This includes
people making their way from other places in western Washington passing
through Seattle or Tri-Cities. Anyone heading from Spokane westward, or
southwest probably passes through Ritzville, as do the major rail routes.
I have made quite a few trips through Ritzville in the past,
but never stopped there, despite it being a crossroads. Most of the
people who used to stop there were usually truckers, or people involved in
long distance travel. Recently a crop of new motels and restaurants have
been built in the newer town exit. Instead of staying there, I drove
through Ritzville, and stopped in the older part of town. I decided to
stay at the Colwell Motor Inn.
I liked the look of the Colwell, it was older, however I
like older places because they have character, and are sometimes
haunted. The price was very reasonable, my room, Number 4 was
comfortable, and the staff were very friendly. Despite the snow in the
shaded corners, they had a barbeque, and invited me to stick around for a beer
and hamburger.
While we were eating and huddling around the fire, I asked
about any possible hauntings at the Colwell. Not surprising, they said
yes, and the manager traced it back to a recent, horrific tragedy. A few
year earlier, one of the managers was depressed, and decided to commit
suicide. She went into the maintenance room, which was Number 3, and
drank a bottle of muriatic acid.
She did not want anyone to find her until she was dead, so she
climbed up into the attic, through the opening in Room 3. She went to
the far end of the complex, and waited to die. She had a change of
heart, and wanted to get help. She crawled the length of the attic, to
the trapdoor, and made her way back to the ground floor. Someone heard
her, and got help, but it was too late. I spoke with one of the first
responders, who did not know about my ghost writing. He added other
details of this tragedy, from his own point of view. She died
shortly after he arrived. When someone drinks acid there is usually very
little anyone can do.
Since then, her presence seems to haunt both rooms 3 and
4. In Room 3, the manager and other staff felt a sad presence. In
Room 4, for some reason the television turns on and off at odd
times. I may be mistaken, but I think they mentioned guests
reporting the sound of bumping and thumping on the ceiling above, as if
someone was walking or crawling around in the attic, even when it was empty.
Portland's
New Ghost Walk
The cat is finally out of the bag. For the last month or
so my clairvoyant friend Karan and I have been working with the folks at Portland
Walking Tours to create a ghost walk in downtown Portland,
called: Beyond Bizarre.
This is not a new concept. Portland has its famous Shanghai tours, where
they talk about some ghost stories, as well as the seamier side of
Portland. There is another company doing a ghost ride in and around
Portland, but it is different if you walk around, as opposed to riding in a
vehicle, regardless of how comfortable.
In addition to gathering a haunted history of Portland, I
conducted classes (and will continue) for Portland Walking Tours guides.
The guides will know about ghost hunting techniques and history, and may even
be able to show their tours a thing or two about the paranormal. With
all of this research, finding new places, and re-visiting some old haunts,
look forward to Haunted Portland by the end of the year.
Below is the initial press release, to register for a ghost
walk in the coming weeks, follow this link: Beyond
Bizarre or call (503) 774-4522.
Beyond
Bizarre
Portland’s
spooky, weird and wacky past awaits you - Daily
If
you want bone-chilling good time, then you've come to the right place!
Unexplained mysteries, ghostly adventures and spooky stories fill our
“Beyond Bizarre” evening tour 7 nights a week. The tour begins July 1 and
offers both family-friendly and over-21 versions. If you like the paranormal,
weird, or wacky, let us guide you until your blood runs cold.
Armed
with real ghost hunting equipment, we'll venture down shadowy streets to
reveal Portland’s paranormal, catch glimpses of ghosts, expose psychic hoaxes
and duck through haunted passageways. The spine-tingling Beyond Bizarre tour
invites you to:
-
Wield
a working electromagnetic frequency meter to search for supernatural
activity at the entrance to the legendary underground Shanghai Tunnels,
one of “America’s top ten most haunted places” according to the
Travel Channel;
-
Visit
the site of Portland’s deadly cholera outbreak while trying not to
disturb the sleeping spirits lurking in the nearby burial grounds;
-
Tiptoe
through the top floor of Portland’s most haunted hotel to catch a
glimpse of skin-crawling sights; and
-
Hear
tales of dark secrets, strange rituals and things that go bump in the
night.
All of our other tours have no myths, rumors, legends or ghost
stories, but in the winter of 2006-2007,
we hired two consultants - a leading expert on the paranormal and a proven
clairvoyant - to help us bring this amazing event to you. Now, all of us are
certified members of the International Ghost Hunters Society and participants
in the local Ghostlusters Paranormal Society. Additionally, our internal
requirement to lead the 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday "night crawling"
tour is to pass some testing showing one or more "sensitive" psychic
abilities. We'll be sure to demonstrate it for you at some point.
There
are 7 books about the paranormal in the Pacific Northwest. Our consultant
wrote 6 of them. Jefferson Davis, author of A Haunted Tour Guide to the
Pacific Northwest and Ghosts, Strange Critters and Sacred Places of
Washington and Oregon (and 4 other books) said “In all my years of
researching the paranormal in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve never seen an
urban area with a higher concentration of supernatural activity than here in
Portland. This tour visits the top three haunted places in the city and gives
walkers the unmatched opportunity to witness other-worldly things most never
experience.”
Join
our family-friendly tour at 7 p.m. daily. Or, if you dare, buy tickets now for
our exclusive 10 p.m. over-21 event on Fridays and Saturdays. No matter which
one you join, you'll have a exciting and entertaining time on our eerie crawl
through the creepiest parts of Portland!
Advance
ticket purchases are required to reserve ghost hunting equipment. This tour
regularly sells out (almost always on weekends), so buy your tickets now.
Days
& Times:
Daily at 7 p.m. (family-friendly)
Fri. and Sat. at 10 p.m. (over-21 only)
(or when your private group wants)
Tour duration:
2 hours for 7 p.m. tour
2 ½ hours for Fri/Sat 10 p.m. tour
1 ½ miles
å Departs from:
Old Town Pizza at 226 NW Davis (between NW 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
PRICE
- Daily 7 p.m. Tour:
Advance ticket purchase required to reserve ghost hunting equipment.
$19 Adults (Web price $17)
$15 Senior (65 & up) & Youth (11-17)
$5 Child (5-10)
$0 Tots
PRICE
- Fri/Sat 10 p.m. Tour:
$29 - Over 21 only - photo ID required.
Includes longer tour, non-family-friendly material (just plain screwed up
stuff) and a pre-tour drink. The well drink/beer/wine voucher is only
available and emailed to you when purchased online. Advance ticket purchase
required to reserve ghost hunting equipment.
A House by the
Railroad Tracks
Sometimes I receive emails that may sound silly, or boring,
but when I visit, the results can be very interesting. This was especially
true in the case of this house located near Vancouver's railroad depot.
In mid June, I received the following email:
I
live in Vancouver and my mother has been having problems with , what I would
ignorantly call a ghost. Her home is downtown and over 100 years old and over
the last year she has had problems with someone waking her up with horrific
dreams and noises etc. Can you tell me if you might know someone in the area
that investigates these types of things?
Richard G.
I replied: I do make house calls in the
Vancouver area, and I have a clairvoyant friend, who is pretty reliable in
sensing things most other people cannot. Would you be interested in
having us out toward the end of next week?
It took a little while, but Karan and I finally made it to
Richard's mother's home, where although she was not there, Richard was.
It was an interesting visit. The house was not too far from where I grew
up as a child, near Vancouver's old industrial district. Some people may
be familiar with the old houses along Kaufman and Markle Avenues. Most
were built for railroad workers. Although many of the houses are in good
repair, and others are being upgraded, it was, and is still one of Vancouver's
poorest neighborhoods.
Some of the houses were built as boarding houses, or as very
modest homes for men with families. Karan and I have visited a few of
these homes, which witnessed many tragedies, such as poor children dying of
illnesses like the flu, because their parents could not afford medicine.
Then there were the many men who were seriously injured working on the freight
trains, leaving their families destitute.
While we visited, Karan detected the presence of many past
tragedies, which left remnants, or psychic layers on the house. There
was no intelligence left behind by most of these events, at least on the
ground floor. It was upstairs that Karan felt something, with
intelligence. Two things, actually.
Richard could not tell why his mother was upset in the house,
at first. He took the back bedroom, and found it to be quite
restful. Karan detected the presence of a jolly Irishman there.
She felt that he had been injured in a railroad accident, and spent his last
days in his room, probably drinking whiskey, while he waited to recover.
Unfortunately, the man died, but still watched over the train tracks from the
bedroom window. Richard himself sometimes felt a warm presence in the
room, like a friend was watching over him. That was why he did not
understand why his mother was upset. That is until Richard slept in the
front bedroom his mother normally used.
After wandering around the house, Karan asked Richard if the
house had ever been left vacant; in the recent past. He had been the
third owner of the house, the previous owner had lived there for decades
before selling to him. Richard was surprised, I think. He told
Karan that he had left Vancouver on business a few years after buying it, and
the place was vacant for some time before his mother moved in. Karan
nodded and told Richard that during those months, some kind of sexual predator
had secretly moved into the house, and camped out in the front room, where he
could spy on the women walking along the street outside. He had left
something behind when he was either killed, or been badly beaten.
Although Richard had not told Karan anything about his
mother's complaint, he had told me while she wandered around the house.
Richard said that his mother frequently woke up in the middle of the night,
feeling a malevolent presence around her, and as she lived there, the presence
got stronger, and it actually touched her. She also had many sexually
violent dreams. When he slept there, Richard too would wake up, feeling
some kind of unfriendly, potentially violent entity.
Karan told Richard that he needed to break up a pattern that
allowed the spirit to enter the bedroom to make this spirit go away. And
that the Irishman in the backroom would appreciate a bottle of whiskey.
She talked to Richard about methods of cleansing houses, and keeping
unfriendly spirits at bay. This usually works, but not in this
case. Sometimes the presence of a clairvoyant can actually increase the
activity of a haunting.
1 July email from
Richard:
Jeff
thanks for coming this week. I do notice that now the noise in the house is
now getting louder and louder. Any suggestions?
Weird
Washington Video Short
Although Weird Washington is all but finished, it will be a
few months before it reaches the Barnes and Nobles across America. Until
then, my co-author Al and I will try to post some excerpts or stories involved
with writing the book, as well as some videos. The first video has been
released, in conjunction with a certain rental car company: The
Old Curiosity Shop.
I need help
with Weird Oregon Last
year I took on the job of co-authoring Weird Washington with my friend
Al, for the folks at Sterling Publishing and WeridUS.com
Well Weird Washington is on it's way to the printers, and we're already
working on ideas for Weird Oregon, and need more locations. Each
book has a dozen chapters, including: Ghosts
and Haunted Places
Abandoned Places
Ancient Mysteries
Unexplained Phenomena
Bizarre Beasts
Fabled People and Places
Roads Less Traveled
Local Legends
Local Heroes and Villains
Cemetery Safari
Personalized Properties
Roadside Oddities So, if you think
you know of any places or people that are odd, unique, or just plain weird in
Oregon, please write to me: jddavis@rocketmail.com
Weird
Washington is at the publishers:
Well, I have good news and I have some bad news. My co-author Al and I
turned in the final chapters of Weird Washington to Mark Moran, of the WeridUS.com
series. The editing staff there have already formatted half of the
chapters, and sent them back for review. The bad part is, Mark and the
other authors have been very busy this year, and are working on a few other book
projects. This means that Weird Washington will not be out in time
for Christmas. It will probably be released in the spring of 2008.
In the meantime, please check back with this website for
updates and perhaps more videos from Weird Washington. We will also have
a separate Weird Washington website up and running sometime after
Halloween. Thanks to everyone who contributed stories to Weird
Washington, as well as Weird Oregon, which we will hopefully start
work on soon..
Jeff Davis
Revisiting the Grant
House, at the Vancouver Barracks
The Vancouver Barracks
The Vancouver Barracks were
founded in 1849 adjacent to the Hudson's Bay Company's regional headquarters
of Fort Vancouver. Over the years
there have been many changes in the size of the US Army post.
Some of the original buildings have been destroyed and others have been
reconstructed on their old sites. Major
periods of construction date from the original construction of the early
1850s, then the 1880s, World War I and World War II and finally the
mid-1970s. The last decade has
seen the destruction or removal of several buildings.
In addition to these changes,
the US Army presence has shrunk. Officer's
Row, a series of residences built as housing for married officers and enlisted
soldiers are no longer owned by the Army.
The buildings are maintained as close to their original construction as
possible and rented out as townhouses and small business offices.
The Howard House, which was the old commander's residence, portions of
the old parade ground, and the site of the Hudson's Bay Company National
Monument are under the management of the National Park's Service. Even
so, some Army Reserve units drill at the Barracks. As long as they are
there, the Vancouver Barracks is the second oldest Army post on the West Coast
of the United States.
The Grant house was constructed in 1849; it is the oldest
building on Officer’s Row. Although
it is called the Grant House; Ulysses S. Grant lived in the Quartermaster’s
Ranch (now gone), near the present Ft Vancouver National Historic Site.
It was a combination of headquarters building, officer’s club, and
residence for the first commander. Over
the decades the original log structure was enlarged but remained the official
residence of the post commander for many years. Since then, the building
has served as a residence, offices, a museum, and more recently it has been
turned into a combination restaurant and private club.
Naming it the Grant House is a mistake, since Ulysses S. Grant did not
live there, and was never happy visiting there.
Grant was a Lieutenant (and later Captain,) when he
served as a quartermaster officer at the Vancouver Barracks in 1852.
The post commander was Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Bonneville, who
commanded Grant during the Mexican American War.
Bonneville had not been pleased with Grant’s performance there, or at
the Barracks. Grant only visited
the house that now bears his name for reprimands.
They should have named the building after Alfred Sully, since he may
remain to haunt his former residence.
Alfred Sully was born in 1821, the son of the famous
painter, Thomas Sully. The elder
Sully did not think his son had a great gift for art, and although Alfred
Sully continued painting his entire life, his father’s criticism always
followed him. Alfred Sully went
to WestPoint, graduating in 1841. The
days at West Point while advancing a career in the military would have
scarcely been warm and inspiring to a young artist.
He fought in the Seminole War, and over the next decades, Sully was
involved campaigns against various Native American tribes.
In 1850, Sully married Manuela Jimeno, a member of an
aristocratic Mexican family, in California.
They had a son in 1851; however, Sully’s happiness did not last.
Shortly after the birth of their son, someone sent them a gift basket
of fruit. His wife ate a piece
and died. The official cause of
her death was cholera, however some people believe that a jealous lover had
poisoned the fruit. Despite this
he tried to carry on, but his son died shortly after that.
Again, it may have been cholera, however according to some, his
mother-in-law took care of the motherless baby.
The grandmother took the baby to sleep with her and accidentally
smothered it.
During the Civil War, Sully became the commander of the 1st
Minnesota Volunteers, and later held the rank of Brigadier General.
Like many soldiers of his day, Sully was accused of harsh treatment of
captured Native Americans. However,
there is evidence of other treatment. Early
in the war, he married, or had a long liaison with the daughter of
Yankton-Sioux Medicine man, and the two of them had a daughter, named Mary. In 1866, after the war, Sully was reduced in rank to
Lieutenant Colonel, but stayed in the Army, and served in many locations.
That same year, Sully married Sophia H. Webster.
Like many Civil War veterans, Sully hoped that he could have a new
chance at happiness after the war, but his joy was brief.
Sully spent many years of his marriage separated from his second wife
and their son.
Alfred Sully became the post commander at the Vancouver
Barracks in 1874, and remained there until he died in 1879.
When he was in residence at the Vancouver Barracks, Sully lived at the
Grant house. According to some,
Sully had developed rheumatism, which caused muscle stiffness, and severe
stomach cramps. In constant pain,
he developed a reputation for being short tempered.
Sully’s health failed during the Nez Perce War, and he could not ride
a horse. Instead, Sully joined
the pursuit of Chief Joseph, riding in an ambulance.
This was hardly a convenience. The
ambulance would have been towed across terrain without roads and lots of
jostling. This made him even more
cantankerous than usual. Based on
descriptions of his illness, it seems more likely that Sully suffered a long
and painful death from stomach cancer. Sully
finally succumbed to his chronic illness and died on 27 April 1879, on the eve
of a visit by his friend, Ulysses S. Grant.
It would be understandable if Sully's spirit still walks the hallways
of the Grant House.
In 1997, I spoke with a past
restaurant manager, who told me about working late on many evenings.
At times, various employees talked about something odd about the second
floor of the Grant House. Some
people who were on the first floor mentioned hearing someone pacing up and
down the second floor hallway. When
they investigated, there was no one there.
There may have even been a cold spot in the second floor landing.
Alfred Sully’s private quarters were on the eastern end of the second
floor of the building, but he seldom slept the entire night through.
Because of the pain, he spent hours pacing the floor, rather than lying
in bed. The manager was skeptical
about the thought of ghosts. Like
most people, she was skeptical until it happened to her.
She often worked late at
night, and tried to ignore odd sounds. She
was familiar with the sounds of the creaking of old beams and the hum and whir
of the automatic ice machine. After
a while, she began to hear the sound of footsteps outside of her office door.
They would head down the second story hallway, and down the stairs.
Several times she quietly left her office to try and find an intruder.
She never saw anyone. Not
even when the footsteps crossed right in front of where she was standing.
Today, the Grant House is
owned by the City of Vancouver, who leased the building to private parties,
which operate it as the Restaurant at the Historic Reserves.
The current owners report many strange events at the Grant House.
In 2007, I spoke with Amanda Walker, who told of the many strange
things she and others have experienced, and the soldierly shade at the Grant
House; who they simply call Sully.
Some years ago, the restaurant
owner needed to have a new phone system installed. The technician was let in by a tall man with a beard, wearing
a long, old-fashioned coat. The
owner arrived later, and was surprised to find the technician, because he was
the only one with the building keys.
In the summer of 2006, the
restaurant’s executive chef invited his family to the restaurant for a
private dinner on the veranda. His
sister went inside, and saw a tall, bearded man wearing a long coat, staring
out the window. She thought it
was odd, but went to use the restroom. When
she came back the man was still standing at the window.
“Is there anything I can do to help you,” she asked the man.
He replied, “no, I lived
here before, and I am just looking around.”
She said to herself,
“alright… ” and went back outside, and told everyone about the odd
exchange. The building was
supposed to be empty, so the chef and the rest of the family went inside to
look for the tall man. As in the
earlier sighting, they found the place empty.
Other Ghosts at the Grant House
A few people have walked by in the evenings, and
claimed they saw a cocktail party going on, even when one was not scheduled.
Some of these ghostly parties coincided with what the staff found the
next morning; crumpled napkins and place settings mixed up, as well as all of
the flowers taken from the vases.
People have heard the clicking sound of a medium sized
dog's nails in the central hallway on the first floor, even when there were no
dogs in the building. In the kitchen, on two occasions, a package of
English Muffins flew across the hallway, in front of three witnesses.
Even though the muffins were put back, the fell off the shelf several
times. After that, they put the muffins on a self on the other
side of the room.
On September 16th, I visited the Grant
House for a short paranormal vigil, and was assisted by Amanda Walker, my
prior interviewee about odd events there.
I brought a series of log forms to aid in keeping records of all
photographs, audio and video recordings, temperature changes, and
electromagnetic radiations readings
My equipment included a Tri-Field ® meter, capable of measuring Electromagnetic
Radiation (EMRP) from 0-3, or 1 – 100 milligauss.
The Tri-Field ® meter was used to detect subtle electromagnetic energy,
and measure any anomalous changes to the environment, while performing
experiments. I also used a Pentax
1stD digital camera, which was set with a sensitivity rating of 3200 iso film.
I did not use a flash with this camera.
I had a Sony IC digital audio recorder, a Pure Digital ® digital video
recorder, and a simple iodine (analog) indoor thermometer.
My experiments included taking pictures and video
footage, in the hopes of detecting paranormal or anomalous incidents using
cameras. The digital audio
recorder was used in another series of experiments, in the hopes of obtaining
Electronic Voice Phenomena, or EVP.
I also brought a small quantity of Scrabble tiles.
At the beginning of the vigil, I spread the tiles, on a table and took
a picture. At the end of the
vigil, I took another picture of the tiles, and compared the two, in the hopes
of detecting any changes to their arrangements, not made by human hands.I
arrived at 9am on the 16th, which was Sunday morning.
I was greeted by Amanda, and a few other staff members.
The restaurant did not open until 10am, so I had at least an hour to
perform experiments with minimal interruption.
I went to the 2nd floor, and began setting up in the two
east facing rooms, where were rumored to have been Alfred Sully’s rooms.
On a prior visit, my clairvoyant friend, Karan felt and saw men in
uniform bending over maps, and conversing with each other many times.
I set up the Tri-Field meter and began putting out the tiles.
I was just finishing, when Amanda came upstairs, bringing a cup of
coffee. I had set up the tiles on top of a glass topped, metal coffee
table. I noted that as I set up
the tiles, that the meter spiked at around 1.5 milligauss when placed near the
tiles.
When I moved it away, the meter went down to near zero.
This could have been the result of a magnetic field around the metal
table base, or something else. We joked that it might have been Alfred Sully. As
we did this, I noted that the needle on the radiation detector started spiking
and falling. She left for a few
minutes, and I sealed off the hallway door to the southeast room, and walked
through a connecting door, into the northeast room.
Amanda joined
me there a few minutes later, and told me that she was talking the kitchen
staff about what I was doing, and some of the strange happenings at the Grant
House. As she spoke, there was a
crash several feet away from where they were standing.
Something heavy had fallen into the sink. When they went to the sink, they found that in addition to
the crash, the hot water tap had turned on.
They could not explain either the sound, or the tap turning on without
anyone nearby.
When Amanda
returned to the second floor, I explained what we were going to do.
I made an audio recording of what we were going to do.
We tried two times to get some kind of EVP on the digital audio
recorder. I also tried video taping part of the first attempt.
When I turned on my video recorder, the battery warning light came on.
Oddly enough, I had put in freshly charged batteries the day before.
I changed batteries, and recorded the attempt on video and audio
footage. Unfortunately we did not
get any anomalous audio recordings in the second attempt.
While we were trying though, we both heard several bumps and thumps in
the second floor hallway. While I
moved the equipment to the southeast room (Sully’s Room,) Amanda checked
with the hostess on the ground floor, and asked if anyone had come in the
restaurant, or onto the second floor. The
hostess replied, “no,” no one had come onto the second floor.”
While I waited
for Amanda, I took pictures of both the southeast and northeast rooms. On reviewing the pictures, I did not see anything anomalous
on the pictures. While we were in
the southeast room, we tried getting EVPs three more times, making a total of
five attempts. While we were
asking questions of any entities, we noticed that the EMR meter had a tendency
to fluctuate, spiking high, and then dropping down below the normal base line
radiation; while we asked questions.
On EVP attempt
number 4, Amanda ask a question, “are you bored?”
Of course we did not hear any response at the time.
When we listened to the recording both of us heard an anomalous sound.
We both listened to the recording again with headphones on, and wrote
down what we thought we heard. Amanda
wrote down that she heard a faint voice saying, “yes.”
When I
listened to the recording, I thought that I heard a screeching noise that
sounded like someone dragging across violin strings, and then a voice, faintly
saying, “yes.” Other people
have listened to the same recording and reported similar interpretation. On
our fifth attempt, there was an anomaly.
Natalie asked, “do you want us to leave you alone?”
There may have been another response of “yes.” However, I was busy writing down notes, which are clearly
heard on the recording.
EVP
attempt number 5
It is possible
that the faint “yes” could have been related to the entirely normal sound
of my hand and pencil moving across the paper.
At that time, around 10:30am, customers began arriving at the Grant
House, and Natalie had to go downstairs to serve them.
I quickly broke down the experiments, took one last picture of the
Scrabble tiles, and ended my vigil.
Some readers may note some similar experiences we had,
with the experiences of other people in the Grant House?
So, did we contact the spirit of Alfred Sully?
Or were we just overexcited at the thought of talking with the dead?
Only time will tell. I
plan on visiting the Grant House again, seeking more proof.
You
can visit the Grant House online or in person to see Sully.
www.restauranthr.com
Ghosts
and Critters wins an Award
I
usually do not post any awards on my website, however the folks at the Fraser
Valley Paranormal Society were so nice, and I like their website. So
there.
Seattle Museum
of Mysteries Talk
On the 13th of October I will be at the Seattle
Museum of Mysteries
Philip and Charlette asked me to do a presentation on hauntings in the NW
focusing on The Seattle are on Sat October 13th at 7:00 PM.
For more
information visit their website or contact Philip and Charlette:
Seattle Museum of
The Mysteries
623 Broadway E
Seattle,WA 98102
206-328-6499
Everything Unusual off
the Air?
Over the last few years I have been a guest on Laura Nybeck's
OPB show, Everything Unusual. Her show was unusual in that it was not
just about ghosts, and scary stories, she asked serious questions about
various and varied philosophies. It was great to talk about the 5th
century aesthetic movement in North Africa. Unfortunately, I received
word from her that her show has been cancelled. I hope to have
permission to host some of the back broadcasts on this site very soon.
The
Old Red House in Gill Massachusetts
Being billed as a paranormalist or ghost hunter can be a
very bad or very good thing. The
bad things can range from people claiming you are secretly working for Satan;
because there are no such things as ghosts, just demons; to the disdain from a
skeptic. The very good things can
include being part of a universal fellowship wherever you go, since over 50%
of Americans believe in ghosts, to being invited to stay in haunted houses,
and that is what this story is all about.
A few days before I started my Halloween 2007 tour, I received an
email, and I have included some excerpts below:
Dear Mr. Davis,
I am writing to you from Gill Mass., just down the road from Greenfield where
you will be speaking on 10-29-07. I am Rev. Dr. Kimberly Moreno the head
of Point of Light Ministries and the owner of The Old Red Carriage House Baby
& Doll Buggy Museum located in Gill. I purchased the property for our
museum in 2005, it is called The Old Red House in Gill circa 1736… I
purchased The Old Red House to open it as a living colonial museum in
conjunction with our baby carriage museum. Greenfield was at one time,
the largest producer of baby carriages in the United States until 1936.
The reason I am writing to you is because The Old Red
House is haunted from top to bottom and may be the perfect source of
information for your writings and teachings... The property will be open to
the public as a colonial museum in the spring 2008 and we will also conduct
paranormal tours.
The house was built by John Howland, a cabin boy on
the Mayflower and is therefore a documented, historic home, listed in several
books… There are legends of a young boy being murdered on the property when
he was nine. His weeping mother still haunts the home. There was
also a Minister killed in the home and buried in the basement. There
were also revolutionary soldiers hidden at one time in the basement. One
of the rooms was the town hospital where babies were born and people died…
We also have a 1700's rope bed from a ship; it is very haunted by an old man
and his cat. The Spirits in the home are very picky as to who they allow
to stay there, which makes renting impossible or long term guests… We
also have photos taken for a slide show that have captured the Spirit orbs and
glowing balls of light.
So I told the Spirits and Ghosts in the
house about you. They have asked you to come and visit them.
Therefore, we would like to invite you to Gill Mass. during your Greenfield
visit, to come and see us all at The Old Red House and to also visit our
museum.
Rev. Dr. Kimberly Moreno
www.pointoflight.org
www.theoldredcarriagehouse.com
Because I usually do not get such
unexpected, generous offers, I hesitated a little bit before contacting Dr.
Reverend Moreno. However, she and
the spirits were very determined to have me visit.
She called my agent. Normally
he does not pass on these kinds of messages, but she was so charming, that she
convinced him to call me, and reinforce her invitation.
And I am glad that I did.
The Old Red House is the oldest home in Gill,
Massachusetts. It was built by
either George Howland, or his family in the 1700’s.
No one knows for sure, but two dates stick out, 1736, and 1750.
It was a true Cape-Style house, which meant that the center of the
house was a massive chimney, with several rooms built around it.
Each room had either a fireplace or oven, depending on whether they
were kitchen, or living rooms. After
it was built, it became known as the Howland Tavern, because the family opened
up part of the building as a “Public House.”
At that time, there was a lot of commercial traffic down
the nearby Connecticut River, and the house was near the docks.
When the Howlands found out that barges or flatboats had docked
overnight, they lit a fire in the common room, and served drinks and food to
the hungry and tired boatmen. The
attic space was one large, unfinished room, and the Howlands lined up beds
around the large central chimney for them to sleep.
The Howland’s sold the home to the Barton family in
1826, and they owned it until the 1970s. At
first they also operated it as a tavern, as well as residence, and main
building for their extensive agricultural interests, which included growing
mulberry bushes for the local silk industry.
Over time, the need for a tavern grew less, as railroads and wagons
moved most of the commerce. For
many years a number of people lived in the Old Red House as a rental home, and
over time, several additions were made, and a building built in 1807, as a
schoolhouse was tacked on. In the
1930s, the Bartons opened up part of the building as an antique store and
tea room. Despite these changes,
the Old Red House remained remarkably intact under the wallpaper and the
boards which blocked up the fireplaces.
Between
the 1970s and 1980s, a series of owners purchased the property, with its
additions, and tried to restore it to its former glory.
In 1983, Terry Sicard and Buddy Howe bought the place, and removed
several layers of wallpaper, a dropped ceiling, and unblocked some of the
fireplaces. They did their best to
retain and reopen other features, like the birthing small room, and an
H-hinged corner cabinet. They or
other owners also found some odd things, like what may be human bones, and a
wooden branch, and leather strap. These
may have been involved in the creation of at least one ghost in the old house.
According to local legend, one of the Howland or Barton
family members, a half-grown boy was found hung in an apple tree in the family
orchard. No one knew whether it
was a suicide, or murder, and it broke his mother’s heart.
Many people have either seen her shade walking around house, dressed in
black, or heard her walking up the stairs.
Many more people believe that the presence they feel in the old family
dining room is hers.
The local tavern was a place of community, and saw birth,
life, and death. Sensitive people
might hear the sound the remnants of past experience in the old common room,
both good and bad. This includes
the sound of old boatmen raising their voices in drinking songs, or the quiet
sobbing families holding vigils around the bodies of their dead family
members. The attic has been
divided into several rooms, and has its own spirit.
There is an old rope-bed, called that because instead of springs or
slats to hold the mattress, the builder wove a net out of ropes to help the
owners “sleep tight…” and not let the bedbugs bite.
Well, the bedbugs might not bite, nor does the spirit of an old man,
but his ghostly cat might.
Reverend, or “Rev” Kimberly Moreno purchased the
property a few years ago, through a long series of events that might have been
coincidence, or some kind of supernatural event.
She believes the latter, since she felt the spirits of the house
telling her to buy it and restore it. She
opened the Old Red Carriage House Baby & Doll Buggy Museum in one of the
older, side buildings. I arrived
in Gill on the afternoon of 28 October and we met at her museum.
It is has displays of both historic dolls and baby carriages.
But since I think that many 19th century dolls are too
realistic, some of it was pretty creepy. But
that’s just me.
Next she showed me the back annex attached to the main
house; she plans on reopening as the tea room, as well as a candy shop.
We also toured the house, where among other things she showed me the
kitchen with its beehive oven, which now contains (human?) bones, stick and
leather strap, which were hidden under part of the floor, and discovered
during earlier renovations.
She also showed me the old dining or sitting room, which
would be my bedroom for the night. That
was the room where the widow in black was supposed to mourn her dead son.
She had tried renting the place several times over the last few years,
only to have the tenants move out after a short time.
If I recall correctly, some of them were even family members, which is
one way to get rid of your relatives. After
dinner I settled in for the night.
I set out several scrabble tiles on a table, arranged in
a random pattern. I asked any
spirits in the house to move the tiles in any way, to spell out any message if
they could. I also tried made
several recordings, hoping to get any EVPs.
Unfortunately, it was a quiet night.
The next morning, the tiles were exactly as I arranged them.
The only sounds on the recording were my voice.
There were no creaks or groans in the night, and if any apparitions
walked by me, I slept right through their passage.
When I spoke with Rev Kim the next afternoon, she told me that she had
originally thought that the spirits would have made themselves known to me,
but when she went into the house, they told her that they felt sorry for me
because I was tired, and let me sleep through the night unmolested.
I would like to go back, time and money permitting, and I
will. She told me that among her
plans for a tea room, and candy shop, that she might open it up for ghost
hunter events. It’s better to
have a building used, rather than standing empty.
And the ghosts might enjoy some company.
An additional note from Reverend Kim:
I also wanted to tell you about a shrine
located here in Turners Falls. It is a painting of Magdalena &
Sarah, the Bride of Christ and his daughter. It was hidden in a church
here long ago by Polish Monks. It was given to the Monks for
safe-keeping after the demise of The Knights of The Templar. Only those
true seekers of The Holy Grail, really know about this painting and the
location. If you have studied The Grail and The Knights Templar, then
you may already know of this shrine. It is the reason God sent me to
this tiny little town. This painting is mentioned in The Da Vinci Code
as well as several other publications about The Grail and Knights Templar......maybe
you have heard of this too?
Blessings & Light,
Rev. Dr. Kimberly Moreno
The Halloween Season
ends, or does it?
On 23 October 2007, Framingham State College in
Framingham, MA
On 24 October 2007, Hudson County Community College,
in Jersey City, NJ
On 25 October 2007, I had no
engagement
On 26 October 2007, Binghamton University, in
Binghamton, NY
On 27 October 2007, Suny Potsdam, in Potsdam, NY
On 28 October 2007, I had no
engagement
On 29 October 2007, Greenfield Community College,
in Greenfield, MA
On 30 October 2007, the University of
Wisconsin-River Falls, in River Falls, WI
On 31 October 2007, I will be at Simpson College, in Indianola,
IA
Well, it's been a little over a week since I got home, and it's
time to update everyone concerned about my cross country tour. It was
GREAT, and more than a bit TIRING. I visited seven colleges over a nine
day period. I drove to some of my stops, and had the thrill of driving
through the Adirondack State Park in New York State in time to see the trees
going golden, red and brown. I have done this for three years, and
although I had a great time in the previous two years, I think that this year
was my best ever. Everyone I worked and spoke with were friendly,
interested and helpful, which made it the great time it was. I do hope
that I have a chance to come back and finish some investigations at a few of
these places.
I arrived a day early to be fresh for my first stop, and the
events coordinator made sure I had a ride, and motel to stay at. Here were my stops:
On 23 October 2007, Framingham State College in
Framingham, MA
Framingham College is located just outside of Boston, and they
were my first stop. It was unusually warm for a late October. It was
nearly 80 degrees when I arrived, dressed in sweater and fleece lined
jacket. Since I arrived a day early I had a chance to relax, and change
clothes for my events. I then gathered a crew of hearty volunteers.
Before we started our ghost hunt, we did some tests to see if
anyone was the least bit psychic.
We went through a couple of rooms, looking for anything anomalous,
like cold spots, energy, or EVPs. In the laundry room, which dated to the
1940s, at least we had some Electromagnetic energy spikes, and a definite cold.
The bad thing though, was that we attempted EVPs, and did not get
anything. So we moved on.
We
went into one of the residence halls, which had an annex that had a reputation
for being haunted. I can't tell you which. According to one of the
students, a female living there in the past (no date) had been attacked in her
room. Over the last two or three years, female students in this room had
awakened at the sound of a woman screaming, and a few woke up with handprints
on their legs or other parts of their bodies. I wish I had a picture of
the hallway to show you, but strangely enough, I snapped this picture as we
walked up the stairs. While we were upstairs I snapped two others,
however, when it came time to download the pictures from my (expensive)
digital camera, they did not exist. I have heard of film cameras where
the negatives had blurred, or were over or under exposed, but not this before
with a digital. We did not know this at the time, an continued, trying
to get EVPs. There was some background noise, like the sound of a train
and whistle sounding outside.
If you listen carefully to the long
recording, you might hear something that one person described as a screaming
sound, accompanying the train
whistle. What do you think?
24 October 2007, Hudson County Community College,
in Jersey City, NJ
Hudson Community College is located in downtown Jersey
City. I arrived at the Newark Itl Airport and got a rental car,
preparing to drive there. I called the coordinator at the college to let
her know I was starting out. I had two hours to spare, and it was only
about 20 miles as the crow flies. She offered to have someone come out
to bring me in. I was confident that my GPS unit would be all I
needed. If I were psychic, I would have known what a pipe dream that
was. Being from the woodlands of Washington State, I did not reckon just
how much concrete that mankind could lay down on one area. About an hour
and a half later, I was in Jersey City, within 2 blocks of the college
Student. Union. Even so, there was a lot of "Urban Renewal"
going on, and fortunately they were able to guide me in. Bless you
Claire and friends!!!
The campus is growing, but being inside a city, it is
scattered among at least a half dozen buildings. I gave my presentation
in the Student Union, and afterward settled down to about an hour and a half
of Ghosthunting 101 with a large group of students.
On 25 October 2007, I had no
engagement
In
spite of not having any college talks, I did have an interesting day. It
took a while, but I found the office of Weird NJ, my other boss, Mark
Moran. My co-author Al and I had worked for him on Weird Washington for
nearly a year, and though Al knew him, I had not met him except for the
televisions show. I confess that his office is better hidden than my
hippy shack in the Cascade Mountains. Even with directions and my GPS
unit, it took a while to find them. Even though the visit was short, it
was good to meet him and the rest of the staff face to face, shake a few hands
and continue to the next stop.
On 26 October 2007, Binghamton University, in
Binghamton, NY
The city of Binghamton itself is very hold, dating to the late
1700s. It has certain claims to fame in that it was the childhood home of Rod Serling.
To
any fans of the Twilight Zone, a visit to Binghamton will explain a lot.
After visiting there, I believe that in many of the Twilight Zone episodes that
are set in Small Town America, he used Binghamton as a model. The
episode Walking Distance was certainly based on it. Following that, other television shows and movies
mention Binghamton.
There is a plaque on a gazebo in the city park dedicated to
Rod Serling.
In addition to Rod Serling, the city is famous for the four
carousels in town, and there is a haunted sanitarium, which may become part of
the university in the near future. We did try very hard to find any
ghosts. This included going down into the basement of one of the
buildings, taking EMR readings and attempting EVPs. One of the things I
found was that if you want to learn about odd goings-on at a college,
hospital, or office building, ask the cleaning and maintenance staff.
They aren't afraid of being fired, and generally like the break in the
monotony. In the first attempt to talk to a janitor, we were sneered at
and told to go away. The second janitor told us that one of the staff had died
in or near an elevator. We tried to contact them several times to no
effect. To find the other possibilities in Binghamton go to:
http://nysasylum.com/biahist6.htm
http://www.paranormalghostsociety.org/Binghamton%20Asylum.htm
On 27 October 2007, SUNY Potsdam, in Potsdam, NY
I gathered another troop of brave and serious ghost hunters, and we embarked on
another look round the campus, trying to find some ghosts.
According
to at least one campus legend, at least one person committed suicide by leaping
off the clock tower on one main building. This may not have been one of
the students, but an employee, or university administrators. One of my
guides told me that he had investigated before I arrived, and made his way to
the top of the clock tower. We had permission to investigate, within
limits, and found our way partly to the top of the tower before we were told
that the permission did not extend quite that far. Even so, we had time to
try to get a few EVPs. We may have some luck in our first
attempt.
It was pretty windy, but was there someone breathing into the microphone, rather than just the wind?
Was there an answer to my question about suicide?
On 28 October 2007, I had no
engagement, but stayed at the Old Red House
On 29 October 2007, Greenfield Community College,
in Greenfield, MA
The college had a beautiful campus, but the were in the midst
of a complete renovation and building project. I did not have time to
conduct any type of ghost hunt with the students, though I tried answering
questions and giving a mini-ghost hunting class. When this was done, I
had just enough time to drive from Greenfield back to Newark, New Jersey and
get a decent nights sleep, in preparation for my next engagement.
On 30 October 2007, the University of
Wisconsin-River Falls, in River Falls, WI
It was another pretty campus, and I was able to gather some
ghost hunting help from the staff, though I don't think they knew what they
were getting in for. This picture for one. Sorry gal's but you
both look so cute in this pic.
There were many rumors on campus of yet more
suicides or accidental deaths. We managed to find our way into one of
the campus buildings which had a reputation for an apparition of a man or
woman who had died there. There was a bit of a problem, because there
were classes going on. As a matter of fact as an experiment:
We
made a recording in one of the allegedly haunted classrooms on a third floor
building. One of the ghost hunters asked if the ghost was a male, and a
voice in the background said, "yup." I asked the students
during my presentation if they heard that answer. Curiously, only a few
raised their hands, and then I told that that it was a real sound, because a
man outside the room walked by the window at that precise second, speaking on
a cel phone. In that same time, he answered the person at the
other end of the phone with a "yup." It is interesting what
some people will not, rather than cannot hear. But we continued with our
checks, and made another EVP attempt. In this
attempt we tried asking deliberately mean questions, to try and anger any
spirit, to get a more vigorous response. Sometimes this can backfire on
you, and you get not only voices, but physical effects like things moving,
doors opening or closing, etc. However we got what might have been an
answer to a question about suicide being selfish.
Do you hear a defiant voice answer, "yes, I am?" Or was it
just us?
Following my presentation, I gathered about 70 students who
were interested in learning something more about ghost hunting. We went
to Dunn Theater, and started by practicing psychic tests, and started trying
EVPs. We later wandered through several buildings on campus, searching
for more spirits. We finally ended at one of the third floor ladies
bathrooms, which seemed to be haunted by the spirits of several
children. I may be mistaken, but I think someone told me that some of
the bricks used to make that building came from an old elementary school,
which seemed to make sense. We got a few possible responses, but I will
save them for later.
I met a few folks in River Falls, Wisconsin, and they do
interesting things... After
Dark.
On 31 October 2007, I went to Simpson College, in Indianola,
IA
Simpson College was another great place. Everyone was so
enthusiastic and interested in the supernatural. I was not the first
person do investigations there,
because there was a longstanding tradition of more than one of their buildings
being haunted as a result of a horrible tragedy. Of course, most of the
time these stories are usually nothing more than stories, but at Simpson,
there was at least one tragic death, that of a young woman named Mildred.
According
to Emili Johnson, staff writer for the Simpsonian, In 1935 Mildred
Hedges was 22 years old, and a student at Simpson College. At that time,
the College Hall building was known as the Old Chapel Building. It was
named that for good reason, because it has a high bell and clock tower.
There is an open square shaped stairway which leads to the top of the tall
tower. Unfortunately for Mildred, the railing around the stairs was not
high enough.
No one knows whether she was in a hurry going from one class
to another, or if she committed suicide, but Mildred plunged over the banister
from the third floor landing. She is supposed to have hit the railing at
least once on the way down, before landing on the ground floor, after falling
over 40 feet. They rushed her to the local hospital where she was
pronounced dead. According to campus tradition there is a red blood spot
on the railing where Mildred hit her head.
Since then people have reported seeing her on the third floor
landing, as well as one of converted classrooms, which has been converted into
a historic display, with beds, dresses, and other clothing items. But
more of that later.
I
know I will get some details wrong, but I spoke with one of the ladies in the
admissions offices, and she told me of her experiences. One morning she
came into work, finding only one other employee, and a student intern in the
building. It turned out that the rest of the staff were away from campus
on a retreat.
She was allowed to have a radio playing in her
office. She turned it on with the volume low. A few minutes later,
the volume on the radio turned up to its highest setting. This was
impossible, since there was no one around. She got up, and turned the
volume down again.
They had a few visitors come in, and she, the other employee,
and the intern all took care of the visitors. She stepped away from her
office for a few minutes, and when she returned, the radio volume was on high
again. She turned it down again, and waited for the other employees to
finish with their guests before asking who turned up her radio. Before
she could ask them, one of the employees spoke first, "Did you see the
older gentleman I was with? That was Mildred's brother! He wanted
to see the place where she died."
Of course my informant listened to the rest of this news
before asking if anyone had been playing a trick on her. They denied
touching the radio volume. So did Mildred know her brother was coming,
and wanted to leave him some kind of message?
This
is the portion of the third floor set up as a historic room/display. You
cannot see it from this picture, but there is a dress on a hangar to the right
of the bed. According to one student, the staff used to pull pranks to
keep the Mildred legend active.
Every year they used to have a female student go up to
the this room in the late evening. She would hide there for an hour or
two, to make sure that everyone supposed that the building was empty.
Then, around midnight, the girl would stand silhouetted against the window
when students were walking by. I believe it was two years ago when they
tried it last. That time, the girl went up to the room as usual.
She came down less than an hour later, saying that she could not stay up there
another minute. Apparently the old dress, still on its hangar flew off
the rack, and moved toward her. There was another occasion when someone
saw a woman walking into this room, open a door, walk through, and close the
door behind them. When the person investigated, they found the door
opened a closet, and empty closet. We tried some EVPs, and at least one
of the students seemed to get a response
When one of the students asked if Mildred was a stupid name, did she giggle a
bit, or was there an answer. And was Midred a klutz,
yes or no?
Next
we went out onto the third floor landing, where we tried contacting Mildred
herself. We looked close at the banister on the way up, and I am not so
sure that the supposed blood stain is not furniture polish. But I will
leave that to the chemistry department out find out. We may have gotten
a response.
Do you hear anyone hear an answering knock
when I asked Mildred to recreate any sounds of her fall? I admit that it
is a small sound, and there were several people there, but we were all pretty
sure that we were quiet throughout the entire recording process. You
will have to judge.
In addition to these odd happenings, I and others witnessed
another odd set of occurrences. One of my friendly native guides worked
for campus security. There were stories every now and then among the
officers that they had heard ghostly meetings going on in some of the
College Hall conference rooms. When they investigated the voices, they
found rooms empty. There were also stories of apparitions, and other
things... My guide experienced this first hand, so it is not a repeated
urban legend. Earlier this year he was walking by College Hall, and the
clock chimed. He reported it to his supervisor, because the bells had
been disconnected years earlier. Sure enough, they looked at the
mechanism, and the bells were still disconnected.
I did not know this during part of my investigation. I
remember distinctly leaving the building with my student ghost hunters.
As we walked away from College Hall, we all heard the bells chime. They
paused, and I did too. They commented on the sounds. I looked at
my watch, and noted that it was 45 minutes past the hour. I said
something about many clocks chimed every 15 minutes, so it sounded alright to
me. That's when they told me the bells were disconnected. A few
minutes later we walked back into College Hall, and the bells chimed
again. This time, it was not on the quarter hour, or the top of the
hour. It was about six minutes till midnight. So what was it?
On 1 November I flew home, but not before one final stop. After
my presentation, and during the ghost hunt on Halloween night, I was approached
by members of one of Simpson Colleges Sororities. I will not say which,
and I can tell you that they live differently than I was led to expect.
For instance, I saw one of them eat a Twinkie, and another shared her deep fried
chicken tenders with me!!! A couple of them even dressed in casual
clothes!!! OK, all joking aside, this particular sorority had suffered
from some odd happening such as, more than one of them had felt a strange
presence outside the house, in the open space in their backyard. One
believed that an entity had followed her into the house from there.
We went outside, and I took some readings for electromagnetic
energy, and in an area with no overhead power lines, or (hopefully) buried
power lines, I did get a few spikes on my meter. We sat down and tried
to get any EVPs in the area. Unfortunately, there was a lot of outside
sound, children, traffic, wind, etc. While there were a few oddities, I
am not going to post them here. Next we went into the house, and several
of us sat on the floor of one of the haunted dorm rooms.
It was interesting to watch the male friends who attended. He
spent several minutes standing over us, arms crossed over his chest, watching
us. That is until we got what might have been a rapping response to one question. At that point, I think he became curious and joined the
group. Again, the EMR meter spiked a few times, and gradually rose
up in background energy as we conducted our experiments, but nothing
spectacular happened. I downloaded copies of the audio files to the
gals, and I hope they get back to me with more experiments.
And that's how I spent my Halloween Vacation. A lot more
happened in this trip than I could write here. There were a few times
when we were all spooked by noises that turned out to be people or plumbing or
pipes, and was all shared a lot of laughs. Every year I have found these
trips have been more and more enjoyable, and I look forward to next year.
White Eagle Night
Coming Soon Posted 14 December 2007
During Halloween season, I had several people asking me why I was not doing any
events in the Portland/Vancouver area. It has taken some planning, however
I will be staying overnight at the White Eagle Saloon, in Portland on the night
of 16 February 2008. I booked my room (haunted #2) on 14 December,
and there were only 9 rooms left, so you will have to book soon. You can
book online,
or by calling the Kennedy School at: 888 249-3983. This is not an
official McMenamins event, so there are no special rates or package deals,
and the rooms are open to first come, first serve.
I will have more details later, and I hope those people who
are staying that night will contact me, and I can send out emails directly to
them. At this point, what I hope to happen is a simple get together of
people who are interested in ghosts and ghost hunting. When we did this
before, we booked our rooms as early as the White Eagle would let us. I
gave every participant one of my books, and we watched some videos on ghosts
in the northwest, and had a general discussion of what has happened to us in
the past. Throughout the night, many people performed experiments in
their rooms, and generally had a good time.
The White Eagle does not normally provide a breakfast. I
will see if we can persuade them to set up some kind of continental breakfast,
but if so, there will be a fee involved. If we cannot do this, I will
try to find a place for us to have breakfast Sunday, to compare notes and
share stories. I am open to any ideas people might have, and will have
more details later.
Jeff
email
Jeff
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