Last night I had an incredible experience. I went to go
interview the team at NW Paranormal and Occult Research team as they
investigated a haunting at my friends Heather and Brad’s house. I really wanted
to see the technology behind the research. What I didn’t expect to happen was to
become part of the story. Here is a link to the You Tube video when you're ready:
http://youtu.be/OA6Qp2iILU4
The team was very professional. I met Gavin, Todd, Kathy and
Jocelyn. You can check out their bios at
http://www.nwparanormaloccultresearch.com/.
When we watch ghost shows on TV you never really know if anything is faked so I
really wanted to see up close and personal what they were doing. I was able to
video record and inspect the equipment before we got started. There was lots of
high tech gear.
Some of the more interesting pieces were an ovilus and a
flashlight. The ovilus can be purchased online for a few hundred dollars, and
they allow the spirits to communicate in English and other languages with the
researcher. The science behind it is difficult to say here, but many people can
download a less sophisticated version on their smartphone for free so I was
familiar with the technology.
The flashlight was interesting because it was just a regular
Magnum flashlight that can be purchased from any hardware store. Todd set one
up in the room with me where he unscrewed the light just enough so it could be
turned on or off by a spirit that may be interested in doing so. He
demonstrated it for me by just touching it so it would go on or off, and then
stepped back to talk to the spirit. He jumped around a little to show it can’t
go on by any vibrations. It had to be turned on by some sort of touch. The
spirit did not disappoint. I have it on video. It freaked me out.
The special cameras were also very cool and they captured great
video, even in pitch dark. They also captured any type of motion. One of the
things that really gave credence to the team’s principled nature was when
something appeared to be paranormal they would try to debunk it. If they couldn’t,
then they started to believe it may be the spirit of the house talking to them.
I go into greater detail on this later.
After meeting the team, and checking the equipment, Heather
and Brad took the dogs with them to their trailer for the night. The team said
they needed to be there without the homeowners to make sure nothing was being
faked and to not interfere with any potential spiritual activity. All equipment
was loaded with fresh batteries I saw Gavin take out of the original package. They
turned out the lights around the house around 10:30 as the paranormal team
started their investigation.
Heather and Brad have a two story house and paranormal activity
has been reported on both levels. We started by going upstairs to a living room
area they jokingly referred to as the “party room”. Gavin stayed downstairs to
monitor the activity from the cameras setup around the house. The kitchen table
was now ghost central. Also, Gavin says the ghosts just don’t like him and tend
to clam up whenever he came around in previous investigations.
The rest of us all sat in the party room with several pieces
of equipment in the center of the room. There was the previously mentioned ovilus,
and also a small device with a green light on it. If the ghost passes by it is
supposed to light up a bright green light. They also had a special meter that
measured electric field activity. Jocelyn had previously walked around the house
to do a pre measurement to avoid any false positives. The weirdest thing I saw
with this device was that the fish tank lit up. Other things like the microwave
and some outlets understandably lit up. While it lay on the floor with the
other devices we waited to see what the spirits had in mind.
I have to say I was more than a skeptic starting out in this
adventure. When nothing much happened with any of the devices after several
minutes I suggested I leave the room in case my skepticism was the cause of a
very quiet paranormal experience. A quick check showed the batteries in all
devices went dead after less than a half hour. They should have lasted all
night and then some. Batteries were then replaced and we waited again. Nothing happened
even when I left the room. We all decided to move to the study. (This sounds
kind of like a ghost buster game of Clue doesn't it?)
The study had a roll top desk, a hopefully fake stuffed dog
(which comes into play later), and lots of fishing gear and other sportsman
types of items. Brad and Heather are big hunters and outdoors people. There are
floating deer heads and skins around the house attached to the walls. Earlier I
suggested that the spirits of the animals may be haunting them. Brad said they
were yummy.
While the team and I sat around the study we tried again to communicate
and nothing was happening. I was starting to think I may have been right about
my doubts. Then the batteries in our flashlights went dead. We went downstairs
and replaced them once again.
We moved to their son Carl’s room. Carl had jokingly left
his bed stuffed with clothes to make it look like a body was there. We all had
a good laugh but when the lights went out and Jocelyn sat on the bed she had
quite a jolt when she found that Carl had also left a fake arm hanging on the
back side of the bed.
Todd and I decided to be in the room alone while Jocelyn and
Kathy went to another bedroom where the foreign exchange student Inga has been
staying. Todd set up the flashlight and the ovilus. He set the light to just
the right sensitivity where you could touch and it and it would go on and off,
but you could not make it go on with any type of vibration. Todd started to ask
the spirit questions as though he were just as sentient as he and I were and standing
in the room next to us. He thought this was perfectly normal. I did not. Todd
and the other team members are genuine in their belief about the paranormal.
They have had too many experiences to be doubters like me.
Heather and Brad told me before they left they suspected
that the ghost was a teenage boy who died on their property years before they
bought it. The parents were apparently into drugs and some bad men came to
either collect a debt or settle a score. They lit the trailer on fire and the
teenage boy died. They believe he moved into their house to be with a family. Brad
and Heather gave specific instructions to not try to remove any spirits that
might be found. They just wanted to know more about them. That was not a
problem as it turned out.
While in Carl’s room, Todd asked questions like “Who are
you?” and “Did you die here?” The ovilus
started chattering nonstop with words like fire, flames, fight and recounted
the horrible demise and torture of the person that is now this spirit in single
frustrating words spoken through the ovilus. Todd then asked the ghost to turn
on the flashlight to show he was here. The light went on…. (Hair on back of
neck standing up.) He then asked if he could turn the light off. The light went
off. There was no other camera in the room except mine and I did catch this all
on video.
That could have been a fluke right? When Todd asked the ghost
to do it again and again, the ghost did just that. Three times the light went
on and off on command. Todd was on the bed. I was standing just a few feet away
and the flashlight on the dresser went on and off multiple times without any
corporeal being in the room performing that action.
Kathy and Jocelyn had no idea of what was happening and they
walked into the room just after this event.
The spirit stopped communicating on any of our devices immediately.
After comparing notes, the ladies said nothing was happening for them, but for
Todd and I it was a ghostly experience. We again decided to split up. Todd and
I went into the daughter’s room. After a short try we saw nothing was happening
so we parked in the kid’s bathroom. Nothing much was happening there either but
we decided to snap a few photos. Todd’s photos didn't have a lot to look at but
mine did. I was using my night vision setting on my Nikon D5100 camera that
takes both video and still pictures.
My three photos showed a lit up orb by my elbow and the
subsequent photos showed the orb moving to several locations. My camera had no
flash. When we saw the photos later I decided to go back in the bathroom and
duplicate the pictures and there was no orb. It was just dark.
We then took a break for some Red Bull, Diet Coke, and protein
bars. It was just after midnight and we were ravenous. Todd mentioned that
during these investigations the team tends to get very thirsty and dehydrated
despite just sitting around talking to the spirits for hours. This seemed
rather odd but he said it was a recurring theme.
After we were tanked up again we decided to have the ladies
continue upstairs while Todd and I went downstairs. The master bedroom was on
the first floor just off the kitchen. When Todd and I went into the master it
was all lit up with green laser dots. Todd explained this technology was used
to capture spirits passing as shadows. It makes it much easier to see that they
are here with us and they have had good experience with this in previous
research. They didn't that night however. We sat and waited in a green hazy
silence for several minutes. The ovilus was mostly quiet. It doesn't always say
things that are coherent. Lead investigator Kathy said that sometimes the
spirit doesn't have enough energy to constantly come into the physical realm
and it may sound sort of like a stuttering person that can’t quite get all the
words out until their energy builds back up.
No success in the master. It was time for another break. Shortly
afterwards I had a chance to sit with Kathy and Jocelyn for a little while
after Todd and Gavin went upstairs to try to duplicate our earlier success. I
started asking questions about how they feel when they think a ghost is nearby.
Kathy was more technical. She seemed to know when a spirit was close when the
gadgets start to perk up and talk about things that create a coherent structure.
It’s also exciting when it jives with the homeowners or other witnesses. She
sometimes felt a presence but she didn’t really rely on that.
Jocelyn was much more empathetic. She feels emotions so much
that she can sense people’s moods, and that will many times alter her moods to
match the others in the room. She also said she could sense mood even in text
messaging but that was a little too voodoo for this guy. She felt she could
sense the spirits when they were around and that she felt there was more than
one spirit in the house. Evidence showed a little later on that she was
correct. One of the cats was hiding under the fake stuffed dog in the study.
Brad said that the animals sometimes hide when they sense paranormal activity.
We were watching the cat under the fake dog on camera while sitting in the kitchen.
All of a sudden the entire camera system shut off on its own and the cat ran
out of the study, went downstairs, and into Jocelyn’s lap. The camera system
was not known for doing this and the cat looked a little shaken.
Within ten minutes Todd and Gavin came back down and Gavin
was once again upset to find that spirits just don’t like him, at least in this
house. We teased him for a few minutes about this. I was pleasantly surprised
by the camaraderie and the easy flow between serious paranormal investigation
and casual conversations of people working together. Gavin and Kathy just had a
child 9 months ago and you could see their struggle between Red Bulls to keep
upbeat while they were obviously beyond exhausted. I remember those days myself
with always trying to catch up on sleep between feedings and diaper changes. I
certainly did not think I would be capable of that kind of schedule during baby
days but Gavin said they only do about 15-20 of these per year. The real work
comes through poring over the hours of video after that night. Gavin then said
the hardest thing is trying not to blink because that’s when you miss the good
stuff.
We split up again. Gavin at Ghost Central, the ladies
upstairs, and Todd and I went to the living room. The ghost came to life, but
not the same ghost. Almost immediately after turning on the ovilus the chatter
began. Todd asked some of the same questions as he did upstairs but this time
we got completely different answers. We got “fierce, fight, hunter, scout,
private, deserved it, hatchet, Larry, Tyler” (there is a Tyler Washington
nearby, but it could also be his name), over and over again for more than 30
minutes. We were sitting in total darkness with the exception of a faint
burning from the fireplace and the ambient light from the porch coming through
the window. I could barely make out Todd’s outline as we sat across from each
other on the leather sofas.
At one point we started to see a round light that looked
like an orb just below the ceiling. It flashed by from left to right over and
over. To Todd’s credit he did try to find a physical reason for it. Todd asked
about the light to me and the ovilus said “light”. Todd then said are you the
light on the wall and the ovilus said “fake”. It was as though the spirit was
trying to tell us that it wasn't him. We both got up and walked (stumbled)
around the room and found that it was the hanging wind chimes blowing in a circle
and reflecting back from the porch. We
then turned off the porch light.
It was around 2AM and I was getting sleepy despite all the
paranormal activity. I started the close my eyes. It was even darker than
before with the porch light off and my last caffeinated beverage was wearing
off. Todd was unaware of my nodding off until the ghost had a message for me.
The ovilus jolted me when it said “wake up”. I was then quite awake.
The ladies also took the chance when they heard the ovilus
to join us, but this ghost had no
problem with women being present. He kept talking and it gave me the impression
that we were speaking with a man out of breath trying to recount how they were
slaughtered in an ambush. The words and the questions also appeared that not
only was this a different ghost from the one upstairs, but this ghost was
likely from a different time.
We estimated that it was around 1850 during the local Indian
(Native American) wars. At one point Kathy asked if he had a fight with a Native
American, and it went silent. We then realized that this spirit may not be
aware of that term so we asked if they had a fight with an Indian and the
Ovilus said “correct”. I was furiously trying to look up Indian wars on Google
on my Lumia phone. I found lots of references to small wars at that time, but
when I said out loud to the group that I didn't think a small skirmish like
that would make any kind of newspapers or history books the ovilus once again said
“correct”. Todd then asked if he and his partner got in a fight with an Indian
and that he and the Indian died. Once again the spirit answered with “correct”.
Outside there was a howling. At first it sounded like a coyote but then it was
followed by the sound of what was clearly a human in a blood curdling scream.
The dogs in the trailer with Heather and Brad went crazy. After that it went
quiet and we needed another break.
We all went back to the living room for one more session
before calling it a night. Then Todd and this whole experience really blew my
mind. Todd said “Can you say the name of someone sitting here tonight?” I said
to myself “Don’t say Bob. Don’t say Bob. Don’t say Bob.” The ghost spoke
through the ovilus and said “Bob”.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Why did he say Bob? Now I was not only an observer, I was the
observed. I was part of this story and this investigation. I just wanted to see
the cool gadgets and report back to my listeners on the radio show. I didn’t
want a ghost freaking me out. My wife and kids were at the beach for the
weekend. I had to go home to an empty house. I knew I was going to be freaked
out going home. Why didn't this ghost just go to the damn light when he had the
chance?
I recalled the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz on the way
to see the wizard. He kept saying over and over “I do believe in spooks. I do
believe in spooks.” I now related to that lion. It was time to go home.
Everyone packed up. I stayed to the last possible minute helping them load the
car and followed them out of the driveway. We left around 3AM. I thought of just knocking on the trailer
and asking if Heather and Brad would let me stay there, but I knew I had to man
up and go home. I had hoped the drive would be longer. Maybe I could slow down
until it was light out? No such luck. I got home around 4AM but first I stopped at Burger King. I was ravenously
hungry. I went home, crawled into bed with the TV on, the fan on, the air
filter on high until I finally passed out. Stupid ghosts.
Despite me being scared and freaked out like the cowardly
lion I do have to mention that the NW Paranormal and Occult Research Team
operates solely on donations. Check out their website and help them out. They
want to buy even better gadgets and they might even help you one day. Who you
gonna call?
