What's New

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.

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.

While I will probably not attend the event, I encourage everyone to look into it for yourselves. Catherine Duncan and the Trails End Paranormal Society have joined with the Cascade Geographic Society and are putting on the Mt Hood Ghost Conference. Speakers include: Michael P. Jones, Cascade Geographic Society; Catherine Duncan, Trail's End Paranormal Society; Haunted Hunters; Regan Vacknitz APART of Washington Paranormal; Ross Allison from AGHOST; and Darren Thompson of WSPIR.

After all of the snow we had in December, my wife and I managed to take a day, and spend it in sunny Lincoln City, this last January. We had a great time, and great view of the beach from the Coho Inn. In the past we usually stayed at the Captain Cook Inn, but switched at the suggestion of our friend Tim. He and his wife had managed the Captain Cook, and now Tim was working at the Coho Inn.

We had a good time, although my wife did not stick around in the sauna after the temperature got up over 120 degrees. I stuck around until it got up to 160. I did not stick around long, I admit. While the Coho Inn itself is not haunted, it is located near the center of Lincoln City, not too far away from haunts both north and south. The nearby beach itself has had at least one reported ghost. Below is a copy of an email I received a few months ago:

In March of 2001, I visited Oregon for the first time. Lincoln City was my first stop after landing in Portland. I was visiting a friend and we didn't know where we wanted to stay in Lincoln City. We just drove around until we found a place. We finally decided on the Seagull Inn.

It was probably about 11pm when, after getting settled, my friend and I decided to venture out onto the beach. We chose to sit up against a stone wall almost that separates the beach from the concrete before you actually get to the beach. If that makes any sense.

Anyway, we were sitting there alone and I looked to my right and saw a lady in a long white dress with a hat carrying a basket walking right where the waves wash up on the beach. I turned to my friend and said "Oh man, someone else is out here" and in the two seconds it took me to say that, I looked back towards the lady and she was probably half a football field length farther down the beach. I could not believe what I had seen. I decided to test it. I looked to my right, closed my eyes for a second, looked back and she was in the original spot. I realized I was looking at a ghost. I told my friend and we literally watched her stand there for a good 5 minutes. I looked closer at her, and realized that she sort of floated around. Her dress was very long so I couldn't see if there were feet, but she sort of floated. After about 5 minutes of just staring in awe, she floated out onto the water. Not real far out at all, we could still see her ok, but she was sort of hovering over the water.

After about 10 minutes total, I looked at my friend and told him we should get back into our room, but doing that meant that we would have to walk past her. I wasn't afraid the whole time watching her, but walking past her scared me. While my friend and I were discussing this, she ended up back in the original spot where I had seen her.

My friend and I decided to finally suck it up; we decided we would walk past her. We got up to walk. She was straight out from the boardwalk to go back to the hotel. She was probably a quarter of a football field away when we walked past her.

I stood at the beginning of the boardwalk to have one last look at her. At this point, her dress and hat changed from white to black.

She never looked at us, never changed her appearance until the very end. At times she would look down; other times just gaze out at the ocean, but always carrying her basket.

I visited the same hotel on my honeymoon in September of 06. My husband and I went out onto the beach at the same time of night to see if the lady would make an appearance, but no luck. I also emailed the hotel immediately after returning home from my first trip, letting them know what I had saw but I got no response.

I hope that by emailing you, maybe you know of some reason this lady would make herself known.
Thanks for your time
Allison S.

After Allison's email, I emailed Tim and asked if he had heard anything odd about the Seagull Inn. He did not have any definite stories about ghosts. However, "There was a suicide there I know of ..."

If you find yourself in Lincoln City and want to walk the beach, the stretch in front of the Coho Inn might be the right place. They also offer an unofficial ghost hunter's discount. To contact them visit: http://www.thecohoinn.com

As some web visitors know, I usually spend the last two weeks of October traveling cross-county, making personal appearances at various colleges for a talent agency, named Power Performers. It is fun, interesting, and a bit tiring. Last year I made 11 appearances in a little over two weeks. One of the things that I always try to do is to give my clients what they want, which includes treating them with respect. I guess that not every speaker at some of these colleges do that. After this last tour, Power Performers asked me if I would be interested in expanding my list of talk topics, in the hopes of other events throughout the year. After some discussion, proposals and counter proposals, we agreed on a topic that I call Timeless Crimes.

In the past there have been various crimes, murders, and social crisis that have become household words that most people recognize, though they do not always know all the facts. So in early March I began the first of a series of road trips, researching these Timeless Crimes. My first stop was London, to investigate Jack the Ripper, and Sweeney Todd. I plan on having these talks prepared, with photos and video by the first of April. April Fool's Day will be my day if I don't get them done!!!

If you wanted details on Jack or Sweeney, you will have to read on a bit more. I would like to discuss the details of the trip itself, and perhaps add a few travel tips. Click here to go to the end of the travelogue. When planning this trip, I took a great deal of time to limit costs. I found that even though the American economy is bad, it is worse in Europe. In the last six months, the dollar has risen against the Euro and English Pound. Last year it was about $2.05 to the Pound, and nearly the same against the Euro. In March it was about $1.44 to the Pound, and $1.29 to the Euro. That is a 30% difference in my favor. The same was true of my plane ticket. In April of last year, with gas fees and other additions, a return trip to London was about $750. I used the online travel service Vayama this time. In March 2009, with a little web surfing, I found a return ticket for a little over $500. I do not know how long these deals will last, but I encourage anyone with the will, and spare money to take along vacation to look into current fares.

Most of the research I was doing took place in London, so I had to stay there. For any Americans who stay in London, this can be something of a crapshoot. If you expect a hotel on par with a Holiday Inn, or Sheraton Inn, you might pay as much as $500 a night. Something comparable with a Super 8 or Motel Six could easily cost over $200. Most London hotels are really Bed and Breakfasts. Many families buy 19th Century mansions or town houses in London's surburbs, and convert every room they can into guest rooms. This means you might stay in what had been a fourth floor linen closet, or a real bedroom on the first floor; for the same cost. And you have to be careful of what services such as wifi, or luggage rooms are free, or provided for an extra cost. Here is what I recommend, if you do not have a favorite hotel to visit.

Look for a hotel online, using a reservation website that specializes in European countries, not necessarily a US website like Travelocity. Sorry Travelocity, but the regional websites often have search features like choosing a hotel based on which London Borough someone wants to stay in. The hotel descriptions are also usually more detailed, and in Pounds as well as Dollars. I think I used www.easytobook.com this time. Most hotels and B&Bs will list out their amenities, such as breakfast, bath ensuite (bathroom in your room or down the hall) and so on. Read the descriptions carefully and visit the actual hotel websites if they have one. Find out which amenities cost extra. At one B&B, they had a luggage storage room which was free. In the past, one hotel watched our luggage, but charged one Pound for each bag. This was upsetting because we arrived around 11AM and they would not let us check in until 2PM. So we paid about $8 for them to watch our bags for three hours. Is the breakfast corn flakes or full English Breakfast? A full English Breakfast is eggs, bacon, toast, stewed tomatoes, baked beans, and sausage. (Don't eat the sausage.)

If you have trouble identifying a neighborhood or borough to stay in, where do you want to visit in London? Look at a London map, and see which London Underground Tube stations (subways) are closest to your "must-see's." When you look for hotels, trace the tube line backward to the outskirts of the city, to find your hotel. If you find a place near two or more different tube lines, you are lucky. But don't stop there. Once you find a hotel that seems to fit your needs with regards to price, location, and amenities, I recommend one more check. When you identify your hotel, visit the trip advisor website for the UK. Look up your hotel, and check the ratings. I found 1,178 hotels listed in London, and 244 American style B&Bs. If your hotel is rated as number 998 of London's 1,178 hotels, you might think twice about staying there. You should settle for places that are in the middle of the rating curve. The highest rated hotels are likely the luxury places most of us cannot afford. Once the hotel passes the online test, you might think about reserving a room for just one or two nights, and extending your stay if you like it. Oh, when you arrive, ask to see the room before you sign any documents. They will generally give you a better room.

So where did I stay? Well, when I travel alone on business I generally stay in more austere hotels than if I were traveling with my wife. I found a nice B&B style hotel in the Shepard's Bush area (Yea The WHO!) called the Hotel Euro-Hammersmith. There were both goods and bad things about the locale and place, and in my opinion the good outweighed the bad. The hotel was located near the Central and Hammershith-&-City tube lines. It was about 35 Pounds a night. The breakfast was eggs, toast, and corn flakes. I had a fridge, television, teapot, bathroom w/shower and free wifi in my room. The room was small, a bit like a college dorm room, but the carpet and linen were in good condition and matched. There was someone at the front desk 24 hours a day, and they watched my luggage for free. The linen was changed regularly, though not every day, and it was clean and safe. And they took care of me. When I saw my room, I immediately extended my stay by several nights, or I tried to at any rate. They were booked up for one of the nights I wanted to stay, so the staff got me a room at a nearby B&B, for the same rate. Now the down side.

Some Americans would not like this place. When we travel, we tend to prefer places that are as nice or nicer than our own homes. This includes wanting to just sit in our hotel room, hanging out; even if we have traveled eight time zones to a foreign land. The Euro-Hammersmith is not that kind of place. The rooms are not that large, and there is no lounge to socialize in. When most Europeans go on vacation they use their room to sleep in, and spend the day on the go. Just as I did. I must have walked five or six miles a day. But I digress... The neighborhood might put some people off as well. Shepard's Bush is a working class suburb of London, and does not resemble the downtown neighborhoods most Americans expect. All the same, I felt pretty safe walking around in the mornings and early evenings, and the prices were cheaper than downtown London as well.

Alright, that's the end of the trip planning details. My primary reason for going to London was to gather information, photos and video footage on Jack the Ripper and Sweeney Todd. Almost everyone who speaks English has heard the name Jack the Ripper, and many Brits, and Johnny Depp fans have heard of Sweeney Todd. However not everyone knows the facts behind the names.

From 31 August to 4 November 1888, an unknown killer, nicknamed Jack the Ripper stalked the streets of Eastern London's Whitechapel district. He is perhaps the most famous serial killer in history; but why? Most people believe that he killed five women, others put the death rate at nearly a dozen. They are known collectively as the Whitechapel Murders, and they took place from 1888 to 1891.

Annie Chapman, after her body was washed and cleaned. She did not look quite so nice before.

He then disappeared from history. Did he stop on his own? Was he caught for another crime? Did he die, or move away? Was it Jack's violence, the occupation of his victims (Prostitutes) or the fact that he was never caught that fascinates historians? Every year at least one book is published on Jack the Ripper, and every decade or so, someone unveils a new, breakout book, with yet another suspect. By my count there are over a score of possible suspects tagged by historians.

I am fortunate to have some very interesting and well educated friends. One friend is Philip Hutchinson, scholar, actor, and Ripperologist. He leads regular Jack the Ripper Walks of London. He also leads ghost tours of his home town of Guildford. Philip and his co-author Robert Clack wrote one of the best, recent books on Jack the Ripper: The London of Jack the Ripper: Then and Now. It was available from Amazon.com but not for much longer . It is so popular that after a bit less than one year, it is out of print. Hopefully multiple protests will persuade the publishers to issue a second printing.

They took me around London, where we visited many of the murder sites, and other locations that Jack and his victims visited, ate at or lived. Above is Mitre Square, where the police discovered one victim, on the "double event." It was an amazing experience. I hope to bring that to others when my Timeless Crimes lecture series begins.

I should not complain about America's fascination with serial killers. I hope to make part of my living by talking about them. Books about serial killers are fine, so are movies. However a Broadway play, and later musical movie about a serial killer has me scratching my head. But that is Sweeney Todd. In the late 1700s, Sweeney Todd was a petty criminal, who was caught and sentenced to some time in prison. When he was released, Sweeney Todd decided (on the surface) to reform.

He opened a barber shop on Fleet Street, not too far from the Courts of Justice where he had been sentenced a few years earlier.

Snip snip here, snip snip there... Things did not go well for Sweeney, and he started killing his customers. He had a trapdoor near his barber chair, and tipped his victims down it, to the basement. His girlfriend owned a pastry shop, in the nearby building, which shared the same basement. There was even a tunnel leading into the church next door.

She cut up the bodies, and made them into meat pies. Which leads to the question many ask, does everything taste like chicken?

There is a lot of evidence that Sweeney Todd never existed, but he is based on historic events. Sweeney eventually became something of an 18th Century urban legend. In those years, many people left the countryside, in search of a better life. Many found it, others were victimized by the city folk, and lifestyle they found. The change could be something of a nightmare for the country folk. Someone you could normally trust, like a barber, could be a killer. And the pie shop next door could be selling human flesh instead of pork or beef. And eventually the story was turned into a hit Broadway play, and later movie. I... missed both.

While I was there, I renewed some ties with other ghost hunter friends. I was lucky last year to be a guest speaker for the Ghost Club, the world's oldest paranormal research society. One of the officers of the club is Sarah, who helps publish their journal. She and met to go over some articles for upcoming editions. She and her husband took me around to several locations near Midhurst. Including the Spread Eagle Hotel.

What's so funny about the name? The ghosts might not think it is funny if you stay there.

And the obligatory skeleton, from an ancient burial in what had been a Roman era palace.

Alright, I usually refer to the postings in the What’s New section as articles, and was shocked to have somebody refer to them as a blog. I usually think of a blog as opinion, and what I write as fact. I guess I have been deceiving myself, eh? Well, at least when I write up an article, I try and leave out a lot of mundane controversy. Most of the time. However, my latest research trip has me thinking about the dilemma I faced in Salem, Massachusetts when researching the Salem Witch Trials, for my new series of talks, Timeless Crimes.

Timeless Crimes is a series of talks on classic crimes and incidents that are so famous that everyone has heard of, and talks about, but no one has done the research to learn the details. For these talks, I like to go to the actual location. A few months ago, I went to London to research Jack the Ripper and Sweeney Todd. This April I went to Massachusetts to research the Salem Witch Trials, and Lizzie Borden. So in mid-April I found myself in Salem, with too much information.

A tourist brochure and map put distributed at the local Park’s Service Information Center has quite a list of attractions. It includes at least five different ghost walks, the same number (if not more) museums with the word “witch” in their titles, numerous other self-styled pirate, maritime, haunted, Wicca, spooky, magic, demonic, etc. other shops and attractions. All the museum type attractions charge a modest fee running from $5 to $12 to visit each place. If you are not careful, it would be very easy to run out of money in a single day, if you visited all. Which leads me to my dilemma, of which ones to visit. I guess that my discriminating factor is not just cost, but what I can take away with me.

Most of the museums are not like the typical large or small town museums where you pay to get in, and there are exhibits, and you take your time walking around. In the case of most, but not all of Salem’s museums, you pay money and wait for a tour. Typically the tour lasts from 15 – 30 minutes. Most of them have static displays, mostly diorama or wax figures, with either a live tour guide talking, or a full scale pre-recorded audio track, with each display lighting up in time. And then it’s over with, and you leave, to make room for the next scheduled tour. In most cases you leave with the fond memory, but little else.

Most, but not all of these museums will not allow you to take pictures or video. They reason that with the vast number of people with websites, that if someone records the tour, and posts it on the Internet, then no one will pay to take the tour live. I know several ghost walks that have the same policy. I disagree. If I see excerpts of a great ghost walk, or photos from a great museum display, or media presentation, I want to go and see it live. And I also leave feeling a little gypped it I cannot take photographs. Pictures help to recreate these memories for us later. So I saved my money and went to places that let me take pictures. And I want to highlight them, because one place in particular is not as famous as most, but I had a great time.

I really liked the Salem Witch Village/Wax Museum folks. They even had a military discount. I had an interesting discussion with the assistant manager regarding the common belief in the universal and Neolithic origins of the Earth Mother Goddess cult. Which I do not believe. It was first proposed by 19^th Century antiquarians, based on a handful of fertility statues found in a few locations in Eastern Europe. Not that I do not believe in A, or even The Goddess, but archaeologically speaking, the evidence is a little weak. (Now I am going to wait for the emails?) As I wrote earlier, we had an interesting discussion which was civil and friendly, and agreed on some issues and disagreed on others.

The actual tour was interesting, and I learned a few things too. It was leisurely, and we did not feel hurried to get out of there. Our guide, the assistant manager even waited a few minutes for me to take one last picture. So if you are going to Salem, and you do not have a bottomless purse, I hope that I have persuaded some of you on at least one method of choosing where to pay.

and there are many other attractions and interpretive signs scattered around Salem.

The other Timeless Crime in the New England states is the case of the murder of Andrew Borden and his wife Abby in their home in 1892. The chief suspect was his youngest daughter, Lizzie. She was found innocent after a 13 day trial. She soon moved to a much nicer mansion on the hill, overlooking the poorer neighborhoods. The house still exists, and is now a bed and breakfast.

The current owners have gone to a lot of pains to get the right furniture. While most of the Borden furniture was sold or wore out over the years, there are many historic photographs of what it looked like, and the owners found some closely matching items. You have to look carefully to tell that the beds, couches, and other furniture are not original to the house. They do have some items owned by the Bordens, including a sewing machine, dresses, and small items. And pictures of the Bordens decorate the walls.

So what better way to research a presentation on her than to stay in the house? It was a near run thing, getting the room I wanted. Mr. Borden was killed in the sitting room, on the first floor. It is still used as such. Mrs. Borden was killed in their spare bedroom, which the owners call the John V. Morris room, and that is always in demand. It always seems booked up on Fridays and Saturdays. Fortunately, I stayed there on a Sunday, and not as many people stay over Sundays.

There is a gift shop in the barn behind the house. It is not the original barn, but is a recreation. They sell everything from Lizzie Borden shot glasses to shirts, to videos. It was interesting seeing how many videos have been produced on the house and Borden family. They also give tours of the house. What saves this from being cheesy (like some other historic haunts) is that everyone I met who was associated with the Borden B&B are entirely serious about what they do. They all know enough to write books on the subject, and some have. They all have their own theories about what happened, and are happy to share them with visitors. Oh, and the house is haunted. Go figure.

It seems at least once a month the entire house is booked for a ghost hunter group. Most guests stay for that reason. And I may have had something paranormal happen to me. Or, maybe not. Readers of this article will make their own judgments.

One of the features of the John Morse room is a dress worn by Elisabeth Montgomery in a Lizzie Borden movie in the 1970s. I had taken some pictures in that room, and then moved to Lizzie’s room. I noticed that the autofocus control on my camera was turned off. I cursed a bit, and started to take my pictures over again. I went back to the Morse room, and started taking pictures again, starting with the dress.

When I pressed the shutter button, it cycled open and close several times, maybe 5 or 6 times in a fraction of a second. I have a function on my camera where if I hold down hard on the shutter button for longer than one second, it will take multiple pictures. I did not press down long enough to engage that function. I tried again, being careful to hold down on the button only long enough to take one picture. The same thing happened again; I held down for a fraction of a second, and the shutter opened and closed several times. It happened a third time.

I tried the usual things to reset the camera. I shut the camera down, then turned it back on. Same malfunction. I tried turning the multiple picture function off, no change. I even took out the batteries for a moment. Being a man, I also shook them, listened, and sniffed them before putting them back in the camera. It still malfunctioned. The shutter opened and closed multiple times with each picture. And I noticed something else odd. When I tried reviewing the pictures that had just been taken, there were none stored on the memory card.

My wife was with me on this trip. She said something that might have appeased any angry spirits. “Abby,” she said, “please let us take pictures in here.” And after that, the camera worked like it always had.

Now the only thing I can think of that might have interfered with the camera’s function was the heat. I had locked the camera in the car for an hour or two, and the outside temperature was over 80 degrees. It was hotter in the car. This might have interfered with the camera. By the same token though, if the heat had affected the camera, how come it had not malfunctioned before. I had been taking pictures for 15 or 20 minutes without any problems.

And one final incident that only added to the lore of the Lizzie Borden house. A little later in the day, I had to use the restroom on the second floor. This room had been a linen closet, and had a shuttered window that looked out over the main street. When I went into the restroom, the window was open, as were the wooden shutters. I saw two men standing in the front yard, taking pictures of the house. One said, “take some pictures of the second floor too.”

Not wanting to be featured in their family album while relieving myself, I closed the shutters. I heard a loud whisper, if that is possible. “Dad! I saw the shutters close, just as I took a picture of the second floor window. Maybe Lizzie doesn’t like having her pictures taken.” I heard the sound of camera shutters clicking several more times.

I think everyone is curious about reincarnation, even atheists. I do not know many true atheists, most people who proclaim themselves to be such are usually disillusioned in their past faith. I respect a true atheist, it is a philosophy that takes a lot of faith to believe. One experiment involving reincarnation is past life regression under hypnosis. Some people end up "discovering" that in a past life they were someone famous, like Cleopatra, or other royalty. Statistically, most people who lived in the past were ordinary folk, peasants, slaves, and so on. So where did all the former kings come from? The power of suggestion?

On the other hand, other people believe that in some kind of Karmic plan, we pass through different lives together. There have been several famous cases where one person goes through some kind of past life regression, and recognizes friends and families in their present lives, as friends and family in the past. When one of these other people is regressed, they confirm the same past lives as the first person. Skeptics claim that this is a kind of mass hysteria, or the bias of the hypnotherapist.

While researching Weird Oregon, I interviewed one woman who was a hypnotherapist who used to do this for her clients. She told me she discontinued this practice, mostly for lack of interest. I recently met another woman, Genvièv Martin-Bernard, who has done so in the past, and is considering doing it again.

Genvièv is a woman of many achievements and more than a bit of a free spirit. Genvièv was born in Monaco, and educated in Europe. She has a Baccalauréat in Philosophy, Literature and Languages, obtained with honors from the Academy of Literature of Nice (Académie des Lettres de Nice). Doctorate Degree in International Affairs and Foreign Communications (DESS en Langues Etrangères des Affaires et Commerce International), obtained summa cum laude from the University of La Sorbonne, Paris. Genvièv is something of a mystic, and has studied many different mental and spiritual disciplines. [But she does not do firewalks like yours truly.]

One of these disciplines is hypnosis. She has ten years of experience in practicing hypnotherapy and past life regression. Genvièv is a graduate of the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH), she is a certified Hypnotherapist, a Master Hypnotist and an Instructor in Emergency Hypnosis and Hypnosis Pain Control. She wrote me about her approach to Past Life Regression:

"In order to be more approachable and less intimidating to the skeptic mind present in all of us, whenever I practice past-life regression hypnotherapy, I always initiate the session by explaining to my clients that a belief in past lives is not necessary to obtain the benefits of the experience. One can simply chose to consider the experience as a dream, a fictional story or a connection to the collective human experience and memory and simply allow the experience to unfold without judging it. Each regression enables the person to spontaneously heal from a number of silent barriers, fears, traumas and obstacles which until then were creating debilitating effects in their present.

A bientôt,
Genvièv"

So if you are interested, skeptical, or curious, here is her web address: http://www.genvievmartin.com/ If you do not want to discuss hypnosis, she is an author and photographer as well. Genvièv has been published in several international magazines, as well as one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul volumes.
Jeff

As many visitors to this website know, I give talks on the paranormal at various places, including colleges, libraries, and for professional groups. For many of these events, I usually ask for gas money, or no reimbursement. I subsidize this with my college tours, which I book through a talent agency named Power Performers.

I usually start getting college bookings beginning in September. Based on the economy, I was afraid that there would not be an interest or funding for this year. Perhaps I was wrong. I have already four bookings for October and November. If you are a member of a paranormal group, or local organization that is interested in having me appear this year, I am keeping the first 15 days in October free for regional bookings. If you are a college, all bookings have to be done through Power Performers. For smaller groups, please contact me directly.

15 September 2009, from 5 - 7:30pm, Al Eufrasio and possibly myself will be at the Olympia Golf and Country Club, as part of the Books by the Bay Literary Celebration. Come see us.

13 October 2009, I will be at the Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center, in Hillsboro, OR.

15 October 2009, I will be at Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, talking about ghosts.

16 October 2009, I will be at Cansius College in Buffalo, NY talking about ghosts.

21 October 2009, I will be at Kentucky Wesleyan College, in Owensboro, KY, talking about Timeless Crimes.

22 October 2009, I will be at the Culinary Institute of America, (at the Danny Kaye Theater,) in Hyde Park, NY, talking about ghosts

23 October 2009, I will be at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA, talking about ghosts

27 October 2009, I will be at Regis College in Weston, MA, talking about Timeless Crimes.

28 October 2009, I will be at Endicott College in Beverly, MA, talking about Timeless Crimes.

29 October 2009, I will be at Husson University, in Bangor, Maine talking about Timeless Crimes.

30 October 2009, after a long airplane trip, I will be at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, talking about Ghosts.

7 November 2009, I will be at New Mexico Military Institute, in ROSWELL, New Mexico to talk about ghosts on their very haunted cantonment.

I am very privileged to have co-authored Weird Washington with Al Eufrasio. It has been a chance to work with a talented and self-styled whimsicist, Al, and to write something a little more main stream. Weird Washington was recommended by the Washington State Librarian for young learners interested in the history our state's history. This has led to a lot of interest from libraries, and other organizations. (hint hint.)

In late May, I returned to Whidbey Island, in the Puget Sound for a visit. This time I appeared at the Snow Isle library branch in Oak Harbor. Sorry if I do not have any pictures to post. I was too busy doing things to take many pictures of myself. Whidbey Island is a semi mystical place. To visitors and local residents. I spent several days there while researching Ghosts, Critters and Sacred Places. I came across a particularly odd happening at the Sea Plane Base Exchange. I continue to get emails from others who have had odd things happen to them as well. You will have to search through other people's ghosts pages to find more information.

I had originally hoped that Al would have been able to attend that event with me. Unfortunately, he had a work conflict, so I had to do it alone. The same thing happened, in reverse for the next event. Over the weekend of 5 - 7 June, Al and I rented a vendor table at Seattle's annual Crypticon Event. I had a military event that I had to attend, so Al, my wife Janine, and his wife Tammy staffed our booth.

For those of you who are into ghosts, but not into horror movies, too bad. There were many stars, producers, and directors of such horror classics as Phantasm, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Carniva'le in attendance. Unfortunately for us, some of the folks came from cross-country and could not just give away signatures. There was a modest fee involved. Sigh, I really wanted Adrienne Barbeau's signature. She made my puberty worthwhile after I saw her on the television show Maude. Of course, anyone buying a book from us got the autographs for free. I signed several cases of books before I left town.

Unfortunately for our commercial hopes, Weird Washington is too popular for its own good. The book was released in May of 2008, and the first print run was 20,000 copies. It is already on its second printing, with about 30,000 copies sold so far.

Al had several copies out, and everyone seemed to walk up with the same statement, "that's a great book, I already have a copy."

Al writes:
Crypticon '09 was a blast and I regret that Jeff couldn't experience it for himself. The Norsemen Ventures/Weird Washington table was positioned in a key spot one row in from the entrance. Our immediate neighbors included Scarecrow Video, the west coast's largest independent video store (based in Seattle) and Eraserhead Press, publishers of "bizarro fiction" titles like the hilarious ShatnerQuake. The table next to us was manned by Hollywood effects and props guru Dragon Dronet -- a really nice guy, but not one that an average schmoe like myself would ever want to physically challenge!

Besides handling affairs at the table, Janine, Tammy, and I took turns enjoying the rest of Crypticon. I had the pleasure of meeting such luminaries as William F. Nolan (coauthor of Logan's Run), Nancy Loomis (Halloween I and II), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) and Eileen Dietz (best known as the demon face in The Exorcist -- a role far removed from her truly gracious personality). Most personally significant, I also met and attended talks by Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma Entertainment and co-creator of the Toxic Avenger. His passion for independent art is (appropriately) infectious. He is as inspiring as anyone I've listened to in encouraging people to follow through on their creative instincts while maintaining realistic expectations.

As for our own efforts at Crypticon: Our most popular item by far was the free candy we gave away. (Special thanks to the a-hole who grabbed a whole handful while making tacky comments. Stay classy, dude.) Jeff's self-published books sold moderately well, but it seems that the mass distribution of our joint work hindered its sales. It's as Jeff wrote: Weird Washington is too successful for its (or rather my) own good! "I already have this book, it's great!" our adoring public would say. "Thank you," I would reply playfully, "Buy another!" In this economy, they mostly didn't.

As a result, if you would like to purchase a fresh, low sodium, low fat copy of Weird Washington, I have plenty on hand! All copies are signed by both myself and Jeff and can be personalized. I also have copies of Weird U.S. Volumes I and II (equally fresh, low sodium, and low fat). I can sign an illustration I did in Volume I, if you wish. As a bonus, all books come with at least one piece of Weird U.S. swag! C'mon, you know you want some! For further details, go to my Contact page at www.eufrasio.com and write me!

One of our other popular exhibits was a visit by Mr. Christopher Lee, or at least a life cast made for "the worst movie I ever made," or so said Mr. Lee.

I'm sorry, but due to circumstances beyond my control, the Getaway is cancelled. Unfortunately, I cannot reschedule it for earlier in the month, and I will be busy the entire month of October. If you have tried making reservations, I apologize.

Well, despite the bad economy, people are still taking trips, and I have had a few people ask me about the next Ghosthunter's Getaway. After consulting with some friends and business connections. We have decided on the Historic Anchor Inn in Lincoln City. The Getaway will kick of on the evening of 25 September, and end 27 September. If we have four or more rooms reserved, the estimated cost should be between $35 - $45 per night. Please contact the folks at the Anchor Inn for more details, regarding double occupancy, etc. They have some more expensive specialty rooms, like the Scary Room, where I will be staying, and two Milky Way Rooms. In addition to the link above, their other information is below:

Historic Anchor Inn
Phone: 1-800-582-8611
4417 SW Hwy 101
Lincoln City, OR 97367

Like other getaways, we will begin with a meet and greet. I hope that the restaurant and bar at the Anchor Inn will be open, or that we can have a spaghetti feed. This will give us a chance to meet and talk, and plan some events. On Saturday, after breakfast, people will divide into groups, to visit some of the many recreational and haunted places in the Lincoln City area. There are haunted restaurants, lighthouses, cemeteries, and so on. I hope we can meet up for a dinner together, and then open the floor to presentations on ghost hunting, or related phenomena. I will bring my projector and sound system, and am looking for a place that will host us. This part of the getaway will be open to everyone, paying guest or not. Later on that evening, I am sure that some people will try some experiments in their rooms. At least one of which may be haunted. Hint Hint.

Sunday, after breakfast, I plan on giving my new presentation, Timeless Crimes, which will highlight Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, and the Salem Witch Trial. If anyone performs any investigations, I think that they will be willing to share details.

Speaking of which, I will post periodic updates of the Getaway, as we get closer to the event. I do ask that anyone who attends or plans to attend email me in advance. And when you make your reservation, please let the folks at the Historic Anchor Inn know that you are attending; to get the discount. I have some details about Lincoln City and the Anchor Inn to share below:

I have had a couple of people ask me about the in Lincoln City. My wife and I managed to make it back town recently, and the inkeepers allowed us to stay, even though they were really not open for business. Unfortunately, the dining room was not open, so Janine missed one of their great meals. The current owners are fixing up the Anchor Inn, perhaps to operate themselves, or to sell once the renovation is finished. They are doing wonders, some restoration of original features like cedar shingle siding, to themes.

There was a rustic feel to our room, but there was an interesting historic feel to it. Not in our room, but my friend Tim showed me the ceiling in one of the main rooms. The owner had someone come in and paint a starscape on the ceiling. You can't see it during the day, or when the lights are on. You have to wait until it gets dark, then the stars come out.

There is a restaurant and lounge. In the hallways there are a lot of historic photos, including several autographed ones from the old Batman series. They would not sell me the one signed by Julie Newmarr. The lounge kind of reminds me of something from the old Gilligan's Island show, where they periodically set up a Tiki-style bar. There are more bamboo hoola girls there too.

Because the Inn had its own restaurant and lounge, its builders also have a lot of space on the second floor for a common area, that the owners have made very comfortable. In addition to a big screen tv with great sound system.

And this guy, I don't know where he came from, perhaps New York State, but he guards one of the upstairs rooms

It was a great visit, and we talked with the owners for a while. They are still remodeling and trying to set up the Historic Anchor Inn for full occupancy, and they are not open every day and night. Especially in the winter time. If you are interested in staying there, I would recommend that you visit their website, Historic Anchor Inn to check their posted days for rental and the restaurant. Although I am not their representative, I think a lot of people would enjoy their stay.

In late July of 2001 I took a break from writing and traveled to Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast to take part in a video on ghosts in the area. The film was commissioned by the local tourist bureau, as part of their winter at the coast promotion. It took a little negotiating to get everyone together for this. The Tourist Bureau people wanted to have both scientific ghost hunters as well as as a traditional psychic approach. I arranged to have my 'psychic friend's network,' come down and the people at the coast had Portland's Phantom Seekers (Jennifer and Jake) to bring their technical expertise.

I arrived in Lincoln City on the evening of the 27th of July. My psychic friend Martina was waiting for me, with Jim, the director, cameraman and writer for this project. I have to say that Sandy, who was our main contact with the Tourist Bureau and the people Lincoln City and Depoe Bay were very nice to us. The most wonderful thing was the fact that they arranged housing for us. We usually have to pay for our gas, food, lodging and incidental expenses like film developing. This time they sponsored us and arranged housing at the Captain Cook Inn. This is a remodeled 1950s era motel.

In the past, this kind of thing has been very low key and people in the smaller communities have a tendency to shun us. Not this time. The management of the motel were very friendly to us and shared some stories. They go on ghost hunting trips on their own quite a bit. They rewarded us with some very nice fresh doughnuts our first morning there. The local newspaper printed a story about the project, highlighting the Phantom Seekers, asking local people to come forward with their stories. Martina had arrived in the early afternoon and heard people talking about us coming in an excited manner.

Shortly after I arrived, Jim, Martina, Sandy and I went to visit a private residence in Lincoln City. One of the indicators of whether a haunt is genuine or not is how much publicity the owners want. Sometimes people like the fame of owning a haunted house. In this case, the owners allowed us to interview them, but want the exact location kept quiet because they do not want people nosing around. This particular house has a great view of the ocean and a rather long history of tragedy.

It was built in the 1920s by a prominent businessman. He was married and divorced three times. This was of course quite rare in the United States at the time. There had to be some very wrong things happening to each marriage for a couple to break up. Some of the facts are fuzzy about whether it was the original builder or his son, but one of them committed suicide after finding out he had inoperable brain cancer. The original owner also had a daughter who suffered from a disfiguring disease similar to elephantitius.

It is the spirit of the girl who may haunt the house. In it's final stages, the unfortunate girl's hair fell out and her skin became rough and scaly and eventually began to shed. Her stepmother had tried to have the girl sent to a private sanitarium in Portland for treatment and to eventually die, out of sight. Instead, her father brought her home, where the girl lived for a few more years until she died in her early 20s. This of course led to a lot of strain between the owner and his third wife, the girl's step mother. A few local people remembered the girl from high school. She had always had a positive attitude, and wanted to become a lawyer.

When we arrived, Martina, who is psychic tried not to listen to much of the background information I heard from the owners and Sandy, of the Tourist Bureau. She wandered around the house, looking for places where the spirits were strongest. While she did that, I got out a standardized ghost hunting questionnaire and tried to develop a profile of the haunting. The current owners have witnessed a variety of phenomenon. Most of it happened when they were remodeling parts of the house. It included, moving objects, lights going on and off, people being touched, ghost smells, a visual apparition and an apport.

The most common happening has been experienced by the wife of the couple who live there now. When she cleans, she has noticed that several pictures of her granddaughter (there are a lot) are turned around, and face away from view. She has been cleaning, on two occasions she was gently grabbed by invisible hands from under her bed. She will also put something down and have it disappear a few minutes later. She will usually find in hidden away somewhere else a few hours later. Lights would also be turned on minutes after the woman turned them off. Martina felt that the ghost of the girl had control problems with her step mother, and identified the current female owner with her step mother. It was her way of showing the owner who was boss. The paintings may have been turned away by the ghost of a disfigured girl, jealous of the pictures of pretty ones on display.

The male owner jokingly accused his wife of being crazy. He is an engineer by training, and could explain away most the phenomenon his wife reported. The same was not true with some of the things the two of them witnessed or he saw himself. When the two of them go to bed at night, the two of them will frequently smell someone cooking breakfast in the nearby kitchen. He described it as a heavy, greasy traditional breakfast. The two of them could smell bacon, sausages and other foods cooking in grease. The smell will fill the house. On two occasions he has seen a ghost, or part of one at least.

He was sitting at the kitchen table a few years ago and something made him turn around. He was the lower half of a young woman or teenage girl. He saw black shoes, white socks and a long, light colored dress. The figure stopped at or near waist level. It stood there, facing him for a few seconds. He turned away, and faced it again. It had vanished. He saw it again a few weeks later, under identical circumstances. Was this an example of a ghost which did not have enough energy to manifest itself completely, or was she shy, unwilling to have her disfigured features seen by her "father?"

Martina explained that the kitchen was a focus of paranormal activity because they girl had spent many happy hours there, with her father. She used to cook him breakfast, sometimes late at night when he came home from a late night at his business. She was just returning, hoping to please her father. The male owner may have been singled out because he was a skeptic or perhaps because the ghost identified him with her father. I asked him if he ever got out of bed to investigate the smell of cooking. He looked at me as if I was crazy before replying a negative. He never investigated. I wonder what he might have seen.

The other interesting facet of this haunting was the apport. An apport is an object the materializes in a prominent place. This is different than a moved object, because an apport is an object that does not belong to the house owners. It is totally new and foreign to them, or has been lost or thrown away for many years. In this case, the wife found a small, gray metal key on the bookshelf one day. She brought it out and I commented, "my father used to have an old gun case, and this looks like the key he used." It could have been that or a key for an old fashioned desk. Neither of which the current owners have.

The male home owner told us that the original owner had a large gun collection. It was with one of these guns that he killed himself many years before. I still wonder.

We left the house and went to dinner, waiting for Janet, my other psychic friend to arrive. We had dinner at the Blacked Fish, across the street from our motel. It had been an old auto body garage for many years and has recently been converted into a great seafood restaurant. The owner asked Martina to look around the back of the restaurant. He had a poltergeist which periodically moved stuff in the back. It only took her a few minutes to confirm that there was a poltergeist in the back.

Janet arrived later in the evening and we told her about our afternoon. The next day, which was the 28th, we went to the Lincoln City Fire Station to do on-camera interviews before visiting other haunts. As a joke, Jim asked Martina and Janet to look at the two 1940s era fire engines parked in the garage. Both of them detected a spirit attached to the fire engines and house. They feel that one of the firefighters has returned after death and still goes on calls with his friends as a guardian spirit.

The Phantom Seekers, Jennifer and Jake arrived later that afternoon. With them we visited the Wildflower Grill in Lincoln City, and the Spouting Horn restaurant in Depoe Bay. Jennifer and Jake were heavily involved in the investigations there and I will refer you to their website for their write up. It is worth it, because their tape recorder capture what may be a ghost voice mocking them and Jake was touched by the ghost in the upstairs of the Spouting Horn.

Historic article on past events in Lincoln City. If this gives you any ideas, please let me know Jeff:

This is the first go at planning the November beach get away trip to Lincoln City, Oregon. This is intended as a get together among people who share a similar interest. To satisfy the legal minds, I have a disclaimer. While I arranged for rooms and having the appropriate people conduct tours, etc, I am not a tour guide. I am not charging any money for my advice, and I am not insured, so if anyone gets hurt or upset, please don’t sue me, because I don’t have any insurance, come along at your own risk. If it seems unsafe, don’t do it.

The best weekend to do this is the 19^th though 21^st of November, prior to that is Veteran’s day (sort of) weekend, and the weekend after is Thanksgiving. Right now we don’t have a definite number of people, but based on past experience, I don’t think we can do things with more than a dozen people participating. I am not taking reservations, but I would appreciate anyone wanting to attend contacting me first.

Place to stay: The Captain Cook Inn. The Captain Cook is not haunted, but is located in northern Lincoln City. The managers, Tim and Veronica are avid ghost hunters themselves, and hosted Martina and I in the past when we filmed a ghost video. They have 15 rooms and are offering the following rates:

All prices are based on double person occupancy, $7 each additional person. Tim will give a 10% discount for anyone who identifies themselves as being with the group for a 1 – 2 night stay.

Alternatively: If you come a night early (3 night stay) or stay a night later (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Friday, Saturday, Sunday) he will give you a $20 dinner credit at the Blackfish Café for free!

To rent a room, contact the Captain Cook Inn via their reservation line: 1-800 994-2522

Another benefit to this get together is a free ghost book to everyone staying at the Captain Cook. We may also have other give aways, or prizes. We’ll see

We’ll probably show the haunted history on the Northwest, with finger food and ghost discussion as people show up. There are a lot of things to see and do at the beach, and some of them depend on the weather, we’ll decide then. I have a short slide show on some of the places, and I’ll go over it with people, so we can decide.

The following places are suggestions only, I would like your opinions before formalizing things.

9:30 AM – 11:00 Video screening of Oregon Ghost Explorer. This was a video funded by the Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce in 2001. Martina, Jen and I participated in filming this, and I may be able to have the producer, Jim Kusz talk about making it. And if anyone is interested, there may be copies for sale.

11:30 – 12:30 I am going to see if we can’t get a walking tour of the Bijou Theater in Lincoln City. The place is haunted, and the owners are pretty honest about it.

1:30 – 2:00 PM Travel to Newport, with a stop or two on the way. One feature just north of Newport is the Devil’s Punchbowl, which has one ghost story associated with it. There is also a winery tasting building onsite, if enough people are interested, we can pause here for a short time.

2:00 – 5:30 lighthouse tours. There are two lighthouses in the vicinity of Newport.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse is located about three miles north of town, and is about 90 feet high, and stories abound about dead lighthouse keepers and workers killed during construction. There is a visitors center on the way to the lighthouse, where you can easily spend an hour before climbing the tower. The tower itself is about a mile away from the visitor’s center. It costs about $5 a car to park there, so we might want to switch cars in town, and carpool down to the tower. It might be possible to book a dedicated tour just for us, as soon as I have numbers, and people let me know. They do give an interpretive talk at the base of the tower, as well as at the top. The climb is worth the tour.

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse is located in town itself, and is a three story wooden tower, and much homier than the other lighthouse. I think that admission is about $3 per person (suggested donation), and the place is set up as an interpretive display with period clothing, furniture, etc. This is the more famous haunted lighthouse of the two. I don’t think that you can arrange a tour, but I can check.

5:30 – 6:00 travel to Depoe Bay. Depoe Bay is located about 8 miles south of Lincoln City, and I propose to stop there to visit the natural formation, the Spouting Horn, if the tide is in, and then later, to visit the Spouting Horn restaurant for dinner. If everyone is willing, I will try to arrange to have us eat in the upper floor, and perhaps have the bartender tell us everything he’s observed. This is where Jenn, Martina and I participated in part of the Oregon Ghost Explorer video, and we can share experiences there.

9:30 AM Visit Siletz Bay Park, in southern Lincoln City, this is where independent observers, as well as Martina felt the presence of a ghostly sailing ship.

10:30 AM Lincoln County Historical Museum: Requested donation (I think) $3, the museum was haunted by the remnants of firefighters, from previous use of the building, as well as various displays. The place still seems to be haunted, as I found out earlier this month.

Noon: Lunch at the Blackfish Cafe. This restaurant is located across the street from the Captain Cook, on the way out of town, toward home. It was an old gas station and garage, and I think Martina and another psychic, Janet detected something here.

The Lincoln City cemetery is very haunted and beautiful, but is also located on a headland, so it will be wet and cold if the weather is bad.

Devil’s Lake State Park is located just east of Lincoln City, and has a legend of a monster that haunts it’s depths. I heard recently that the monster was a killer whale that was trapped in the lake when the water level was down, in the 1800s.

Neakhanie Mountain is located about 30 miles north of Lincoln City, and there are stories of Spanish treasure, Native American Spirits, and a 1 ½ mile trek to the top of the tallest peak in the coast range.

There are a few other haunts that I can tell you about when we get together. Any other haunts I’ve missed that everyone might be interested in? Suggestions? Too many places, or too few? Please let me know

Historic Anchor Inn
Phone: 1-800-582-8611
4417 SW Hwy 101
Lincoln City, OR 97367

Apparently Weird Washington is becoming famous outside of the Evergreen State. My co-author Al spends too much time on the Internet looking for information on us. He send me the following email and link to another visitor to our state.

There is also a lively discussion on this page, of whether or not this kind of phenomena works. And a few people who do not seem to have a sense of humor. -Jeff

A few months ago I added a link to my website, about a paranormal group, the Paranormal League of America: Based in the Portland, Oregon area, but able to contact spirits with a single bound, faster than a speeding banshee, the Paranormal League of America. OK, jokes aside there is another good group of paranormal researchers looking for spirits and to help people.

By Dave Galvan

A detailed look at 20 top haunted location across America. History is given on each location as well as details of the haunting. Also, for the first time in any book, the hard evidence has been studied, and odds calculated on whether or not the place can be considered 'haunted', or whether stories have been made up to sell tickets to tourist traps.

Over the weekend of 18 - 20 September of this year, the Oregon Caves Chateau, in Southern Oregon will be hosting a ghosthunter's conference. I am not involved in this venture, but I know the folks at Oregon Caves, and I am sure that everyone will have an interesting experience. I hosted a getaway there in October of last year, and found the staff open to the ghosthunter experience. The food was good, and the Chateau itself.

Saturday Night Wonder: Room to include 1 Queen Bed to 2 Doubles for Saturday Night Only, Paranormal Investigation through the Chateau

Weekend Special: Room to include 1 Queen Bed to 2 Doubles for two nights, Meet and Greet, Ghost Stories, Paranormal Investigation through the Chateau, and a tour through the Oregon Caves. BBQ lunch Saturday, all other food will not be provided by event, purchasers to dine in the café

Weekend Deal Buster: Room to include 1 Queen Bed to 2 Doubles for two nights, Buffet Dinner Friday Night, Meet and Greet, Ghost Stories, BBQ Lunch Saturday, Dinner Saturday Night, Paranormal Investigation through the Chateau, and a tour through the Oregon Caves

I was invited to participated in, and give a presentation for a special event at the site of the Wellington Train Wreck, in the Central Washington Cascades. Wellington is the site of an abandoned town site and tunnels, where a railroad disaster killed dozens of people in 1910. Some believe that you can still hear the ghost echo of the crash even today. The Iron Goat Trail now runs through the site. The event will be hosted by the Northwest Paranormal Investigation Agency (NWPIA). It will take place Saturday, September 5, 2009 starting around 7:30pm and continuing until??? I had thought I would be able to attend, but that will not happen. I have provided some information on the event, below. Contact NWPIA at their website, or in the contact information at the bottom of the article.

Here are the activities that we have planned just for you and a few of your friends that you may want to join you:

Meet our other clients from across the state that are involved with their community historical society and/or own or manage a historical site.

We're having a BBQ for everyone present with all of the trimmings. Soft drinks and water will also be available. BYOB

We will be telling everyone about the Wellington Train Disaster of 1910 (the worst train disaster in U.S. history) and will also be featuring a picture slide show on our large projection screen.

Renowned author, T. Gary Sherman authored the book "CONQUEST & CATASTROPHE" about the Wellington Train Disaster. Gary will be joining us to talk about Wellington and his latest findings concerning the train disaster.

NWPIA will have a paranormal investigation of the total Wellington area for all that want to participate. Our paranormal investigators will be guiding small groups on the investigations and letting each of you use any of our equipment to try and obtain your own paranormal evidence. Once you have completed your paranormal investigation we will burn a CD for you of the evidence that you obtained by digital recorder, video and photos to take home with you to review. Feel free to bring your own camcorder, digital recorder and camera with you as well.

There is a good possibility that we may have the local Seattle media covering this special event as well, so smile for the cameraman!

IMPORTANT! Dress warm and bring gloves and a flashlight. After the sun goes down it does get cold in the mountains.

This will be a fun and exciting time for all that attend "guaranteed". So join us at Wellington if possible and let’s find some of those ghost!

I Need Information on Haunted Holiday Places from Fans or Ghost Hunters Posted 18 November 2009

I am in the middle of several projects this winter. Despite the economy, many of you have continued buying books, including many of mine. I am nearly sold out of my Haunted Tour Guide to the Pacific Northwest, and am revising it now. I need to find new haunts in the Northwest, and I hope many of you can help me. I am looking for public places, like restaurants, hotels, theaters, parks and other locales that have a reputation for being haunted. Most importantly, if you know of any of these places first or second hand, the management has to be ghost hunter friendly!!! If you know of any properties that SAY they are haunted to attract clientele, please let me know so I don't put the wrong places in the guide. Like the original tour guide, I am looking for locations in lower British Columbia as well as Washington and Oregon. Thanks!

I Need Information on Haunted Roads from Fans or Ghost Hunters Posted 18 November 2009

This winter I am trying to get more paranormal related television production companies to come to the Pacific Northwest; the most haunted region in the United States. (Or so I tell people.) I have spoken with a producer who is working on a television show that visits haunted roads or streets. They are looking for places with ominous names, like, Route 666, or something else eerie. If you know of a place that has a spooky name, like Dead Man's Curve... which happens to be haunted, please let me know. I'll put together a list of locales, with known information, and we'll see if we can't come out to film you your street.

I admit that while I do some things very well, I do other things badly. Like updating this website. I receive a dozen or so link requests a year. Sometimes I get so busy that I to not immediately put them on the links page. By way of apology to some of the latest links I've added, I'll include them here in the What's New section:

Tacoma Spirit Investigations. Formerly the PPR organization based out of Edgewood, WA. They've moved but still do good work.

Portland Paranormal Society, Oregon's Investigation and Research Society. Growing the Community in Portland, with evidence of Ghost Sounds, EVPs, Spooky Videos, Haunted Images, Ghosts Stories and News. You can also sign-up to go to investigations and events at Portland Paranormal

New Cooperative Efforts in Regional Paranormal Investigations Posted 2 December 2009

One of the unfortunate things that I and others have noted about the world of paranormal investigations is that there is a lot of miscommunications between many groups. This leads to misunderstandings which have in the past led to some very hard feelings between groups. I have always tried to take the middle ground and even managed to settle a few disputes over the years. I have also failed, and gotten some people upset at me. I recently received an email from Darci at the Emerald Valley Paranormal Society. She has a plan. Let's see if this works.

Hello all,

I am sending you this email in the hopes that you will all join me and then spread the word.

I have created a web ring for the teams in Oregon who are "para-drama" free (or wish to be) and who will strive to work with each other, help each other, and support each other.

This web ring is also for our prospective clients. How many times have you been talking with a client who happens to be half a State away? I am presently. In order to properly care for this client a team closer to them needs to be in charge of their case. We need to build a network for our clients to be able to find help closer to home. Within our web ring we know that all the teams involved are going to give that client the best possible care they can and they have the support of the rest of us when needed.

I am hoping that you will join me in my efforts to help our field in Oregon. Better organization to help those who need it. Better organization for teams to find each other when they need help or want to plan for something big. Better for all of us just to know we are all there for one another.

I hope you will join me in my efforts.

Thank you,

Darci Chappell
Emerald Valley Paranormal
Web Ring Master for Oregon Paranormal Groups

Finally. Despite the economy, despite my own lack of a clear work ethic, despite the objections of our editing team to my demands for more time, because I do not have a clear work ethic; Weird Oregon made its way through the final editing sessions. It is approved and at the printers now. I hope for a release in late April or early May. I am very happy with the way the whole book turned out. I hope you are too. If you liked Weird Washington, or are interested in the subject of this book, please check back over 2010 and I'll have updates and a Weird Oregon website up and online.

A funny story about the book cover. Many of you may recognize the cover picture of Paul Bunyan. He is standing watch along Interstate Avenue, just south of the Interstate Bridge. A few people did not like the way Paul was looking down at me when I took the photo. They suggested getting another photo from a higher elevation. I was more than willing to take one, except for certain difficulties.

Paul is about 25 foot tall, and I would have to stand on a ladder in the middle of Interstate Avenue, or on the roof of the building opposite him, which is over 100 feet away. I would need my telephoto lens for that; and a handful of one dollar bills. Y'see, the building across the street is a business named the Dancing Bare. I was sure that I would have to compensate the staff there for allowing me onto the roof. At my request for the extra photo budget, they decided that Paul looked mighty friendly peering down at the camera. Drat.

At long last. I have finished updating on the Halloween tour I took in 2009. I am sorry to those of you who do visit my site regularly, that it has taken so long. However I have had a few personal and professional hurdles since I returned home. I have a list of my appearances below, and some of them have bookmarks that will take you to longer articles on some of the colleges. Not all, I'm afraid. In some cases I visited and spoke about my Timeless Crimes series, and there were no photo/sound bytes to tempt ghost hunters.

In other cases, we got so busy that I did not have pictures to go along with the sounds. So many things happened at some of the schools, I can only share the highlights. We conducted several small audio recordings, in what I call a 'Directed EVP.' I had everyone with me sit or stand very quiet and everyone asked a simple question that would only need one or two words to respond. Once each person asked their question, everyone paused for about four seconds, to allow any paranormal entities to respond. Then the next person asked their question. This process took between 40 seconds and two minutes. Two minutes is about the maximum length of time that the average human being can remain still and silent.

Once the recording was finished, we immediately plugged the digital audio recorder into a small but powerful portable speaker and listened to it. As a skeptic might expect, there were frequently several anomalous sounds, squeaks, cracks, etc. Fortunately, since we listened to the recording immediately after making it, most of the sounds could be explained as human caused. This ranged from someone's stomach gurgling, the shifting of feet or clothing, etc. Sometimes the sounds could not be explained away. In those cases, we compared opinions over the anomalies, whether they were voice responses, or taps and raps in answer to our questions. Based on those opinions, we directed later questions to follow up on the responses.

The recordings I have posted below all came from a Sony digital voice recorder. It originally saved them in the Sony proprietary format, which I converted to uncompressed wav files to listen to. Unfortunately, to save bandwidth, I had to convert these audio files into MP3 files, so some of the sound quality was lost. However, I did not make any other changes to the files, not digital clean up or other signal boosting. Please make up your own mind. If someone has a specific question, I can share the larger sized files, if we have the bandwidth to email wav files.

15 October 2009, I was at Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, talking about ghosts.

16 October 2009, I was at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY talking about ghosts.

21 October 2009, I was at Kentucky Wesleyan College, in Owensboro, KY, talking about Timeless Crimes.

22 October 2009, I was at the Culinary Institute of America, (at the Danny Kaye Theater,) in Hyde Park, NY, talking about ghosts

23 October 2009, I was at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA, talking about ghosts

27 October 2009, I was be at Regis College in Weston, MA, talking about Timeless Crimes.

28 October 2009, I was at Endicott College in Beverly, MA, talking about Timeless Crimes.

29 October 2009, I was at Husson University, in Bangor, Maine talking about Timeless Crimes.

30 October 2009, I was at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, talking about Ghosts.

7 November 2009, I was at New Mexico Military Institute, in ROSWELL, New Mexico to talk about ghosts on their very haunted cantonment.

Clarkson University is in upper state New York. It's about a far upper state as you can get without being in Canada. Clarkson University was begun quite a while ago by the descendents of several early colonists and Revolutionary War patriots. We begun out ghost hunt in one of the oldest buildings on a large campus, Holcroft House

Several people believe that the ghost of a young lady in white walks the upper hallways, as well as the stairs. So we tried contacting her.

I did not know what to expect when I arrived at the Culinary Institute of America. I was amazed at their campus. The main buildings were formerly part of a 19th Century Jesuit facility. While not a Catholic, I admire many aspects of Jesuit educational and ethical pursuits. As I hope was reflected in my question up in the attic of one of their buildings:

Several people reported that the attic of one of the older buildings was haunted by either one of the Jesuits, or one of the employees dating to their tenure in the building. It is unclear weather this person hung themselves, or was killed. But there may have been a response.

Some people think that the noise after the question, "did you kill yourself," sounded like the sound of a squealing, possibly a cry, or the sound of something swinging from the rafters. And there are always rumors that the Jesuits resented the presence of a lowly 'cooking' school in their former retreat. And they do not like female sutdents.

There is also a beautify and slightly creepy cemetery on their campus. I do not have a photograph, but near from the gated cemetery there is also a crypt belonging to the Kennedy family. No relation... probably. It is haunted by the spirit of a little boy who may have drowned. Even though the crypt is locked, you can see his memorial stone from the entrance.

Unfortunately, or fortunately we did not get any voices as we walked around the cemetery, but there was something a bit odd, as you might tell from this excerpted byte:

Boston College was founded, how many decades ago? And over time it has grown and spread out into surrounding communities that have also been swallowed up by the City of Boston itself. After several GPS problems, I arrived an hour late for a ghost hunt at the O'Connell House. Everyone there was very polite to me, despite my being late. I want to thank them for this, because it turned out we had a great time and got some interesting results.

We started out in the upper floors of O'Connell House, which were not used by students anymore. Though the heating system was still working. There were a couple of times that we mistook the clicking of the heat registers for EVP anomolies. In the first set of EVP attempts, you can hear one of the students talking about meter readings on the EMR/Gauss meter.

There is a little shifting around, but everyone was very quiet after this first attempt (below.)

The question was, "are you a female?" And right before the silence ends, we believed that we hard a response of, "no."

We moved to another room, where there was a lot of graffiti on the walls, which I mention in the audio recording. There was a lot of activity on the EMR meter. And we got what may have been one of the most responsive EVP attempts:

Here is one sound byte cut from the original recording. The question was, "do you like this room better?"

As if anticipating the end of the question, we heard what sounded like a "no," as the ghost hunter finished his question. The other byte is a bit louder and clearer. The question was, "are you shy?"

And a few seconds later, there are two very clear words spoken, "no ...No." Was this the ghost? When we first heard it, we were all aware that there was a basketball game going on outside the building. It seemed that this sound byte did not have the same quality and tone as sounds coming from outside. What do you think?

The New Mexico Military Institute is located in Roswell ,New Mexico. When the institute was founded in the late 1800s, it was probably outside of Roswell, but now is located in the middle of the city, a mile or two from downtown. I must say that as jaded as I am, I was fooled by the way television can give us all preconceived notions. Like many people who had never been there before, I had visions of a lonely outpost of old, faded cinderblock buildings, with UFOs and their hunters in the back alleys. I must apologize to the Roswellians. It is a city of over 30,000 people, and it clean and modern, with lots of commercial businesses represented. Heck, they even have two McDonald's!!! I think that the people who were born there, or moved for whatever job have to live down the fame the city has from the UFO legends. I drove around Rosewell, and there were two intense blocks of museums and shops devoted to the pursuit of the ultimate out-of- towners.

Perhaps the best of these was the UFO Museum. I think it was very nicely done. There were plenty of newspaper displays showing the long history that people have had with possibilities of aliens landing on the planet. There were also maps, plans, and some interesting scientific displays. They also had a discount for serving members and veterans of the armed forces. Which I appreciated. They allowed photography inside the museum; which was also nice. I think I mentioned in an article earlier this year, some museums now do not. And the gift shop was not all all that out of character. Well maybe not too out of character. Though Coca Cola could have found a taller spokesperson

Everyone there was nice and polite, as you might expect from a military academy. One of the oldest buildings on the campus/cantonment dates to the late 1800s. There were several stories of hauntings in many buildings. One of the buildings had been a gym, with swimming pool. Many years ago, cadets were preparing for a party in this building and dumped several blocks of dried ice in the pool, to create fog. One fell in, and two other cadets jumped in to rescue him. Unfortunately they took too many breaths of the fog, which was composed of carbon dioxide, and quickly suffocated. Fortunately, we did not have anything too odd happen there. However we did get results in other locations.

We visited the office of Colonel Covington. His office was supposed to be haunted by one of the previous administrators. We tried several EVP attempts throughout the evening. And were not disappointed there. Below is a link to the entire recording of one attempt. Can you tell what we thought was a response?

Here is a copy, where I cut out the sequence of what we thought was an anomaly. That is, a sound that did not belong.

It was a simple tap, which could have been the result of one of us just shifting or the normal sound of the building settling. However none of us remembered making or hearing that noise when we made the recording. And it is very coincidental, coming when it did.

The next set of questions related to the 'spirit?" where we asked for more responses.

Many many theaters have a reputation for being haunted. The post theater, where I gave my presentation deserves that reputation. We made several EVP attempts there on the stage, and in the music rooms beneath the stage area.

The cadet Regimental Commander was with us on the first ghost hunt in the theater. He and others had always felt as if there was some kind of ghostly audience of past cadets in the theater. He did an experiment where he called the ghosts in the empty theater to attention, and then ordered them to take their seats. The recording of that is below.

After each command, both 'attention!" and "take seats!" There was some kind of a hushed sound. Was this the result of some freak acoustics within the theater? Was there a malfunction of the microphone of the digital recorder? Or was there some ghostly response to his commands?

We then went below the stage to the music practice rooms. According to other legends, at various times faculty and staff lived in those spaces. One of them was Captain Jack Fletcher, who among other duties was bandmaster or conductor of the Institute's band. He was supposed to haunt the entire theater. Another ghost was that of his wife, Mrs. Fletcher. Her husband was conducting the band on the stage while she died of an illness in what became the practice rooms. Below is one of the directed EVPs addressed to her.

There is no sound byte cut from the recording. I asked the first question in this EVP attempt. I asked Mrs Fletcher to make a noise or tap. If you listen, you can hear a series of taps throughout the entire recording. Again, neither I nor the cadets with me heard any tapping or rapping when we made the recording. We asked several more questions of her, but she seemed to fade away. Or did she?

Below is the sound byte where we may have gotten a response to the question about whether Captain Jack was still around.

I have participated in some interesting, and less interesting projects over the past few years. I have some links on this website to some very low resolution videos here on this website. I have had some feedback from folks wanting larger images, especially of the firewalk. So please visit my selection on Youtube