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All posts for the year 2015

Ghost Activity Caught on Surveillance

The above video shows ghost activity caught on surveillance by Paul Palmisano while investigating a haunted location in Toronto.  This reoccurring light phenomena moves down the wall opening and closing “windows” to the other side.

Ghosts of Fort George – Definitive Proof (Part 2)

Buoyed by the success documenting proof of spectral presences inside the tunnel and Octagonal Blockhouse at Fort George the summer before (please see http://www.thesearchergroup.ca/ghosts-of-fort-george/ ), I was more eager than ever to return the following summer (2012) to try again.

Over the year leading up to my return, I figured, “If I can get that much proof within a thirteen-minute period, think of the possibilities within a threehour period..!” So I did just that, the night of August 17th. I entered the tunnel and left the same digital recorder on the overturned barrel for just over 2 ½ hours. Unfortunately the session was cut short and interrupted by some thrill-seeking teenage fort volunteers showing up en mass to inhabit the tunnel themselves, looking for a good scare, so I was unable to continue recording without the data being compromised.

Being fully aware I would not enjoy similar uninterrupted access the following night (Saturday), I decided to try something new – a recording of the tunnel environment early the following morning, instead.

Analyzing all the files later, I was bewildered that nothing but cricket song was recorded during the first night – no wooden thumps, no footfalls, no knocking. It was a valuable lesson on just how unpredictable the paranormal can truly be.

So you might imagine it was with very low expectations that I proceeded to listen to the recording made the next morning when some of the most frightening, intriguing sounds startled me to tears (literally) almost 45 minutes into it.

You see, my eyes tend to water in reaction to something truly frightening, so suddenly hearing a sound that reminded me of a spooky childhood noise jarred me, instantly.

(The sound I allude to from my childhood was the slow, death rattle-like deep “breathing” of an industrial-sized coffee percolator that operated whenever my parents hosted meetings of our local amateur theatre group. You may laugh, but to me, listening to that from my darkened bedroom at night, it easily conjured images of some unspeakable menacing creature lurking just outside my door.)

This recording, also made public for the first time, is also up for peer review and any suggestions regarding the source of these sounds are very welcome.

Whatever made them (and by what method) certainly raises more questions than the dime-a-dozen disembodied footfall-kind of recordings that are out there (including mine), but then, these too may never be truly answered adequately.

Ghosts of Fort George – Definitive Proof (Part 1)

For decades, staff and visitors to Fort George (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada) have encountered ghostly phenomena of varying degrees. Paranormally-speaking, this is quite understandable (given the purpose and bloody history of the once-active military fortification), but one particular location on the grounds piques the interest of The Searcher Group.

A 70-foot long tunnel of stone and wood stretches from inside the walls of the fort to a dual-level Octagonal Blockhouse erected outside the tall, spiked palisades, overlooking the Niagara River. While a similar lookout tower once stood where the present-day structure is, the tunnel itself did not exist until the 1960s, when someone decided the fort would benefit by having one connected to the base of the tower (“Historical accuracy be damned!”).

Due to numerous reports of unexplainable phenomena originating from inside this tunnel, the age-old theory that the movement of ghosts is limited to revisiting places they were familiar with during their physical lifetimes has been quietly shattered.

This revelation inspired Richard to formulate and publish his groundbreaking Memory Matrix/Bubble hypothesis in Journeys into the Unknown [Dundurn Press, 2006.

People from all walks of life have experienced visual, physical, auditory and olfactory paranormal phenomenon inside this claustrophobic passageway, both day (during open hours) and night (while partaking of the renowned Ghost Tours of Niagara), but no-one has successfully captured indisputable visual or audible proof that some sort of presence continues to frequent the tunnel and utilize the Octagonal Blockhouse at the end of it.

Until now.

After many years of sitting on this audio evidence (digitally recorded the night of Aug. 13, 2011), I decided to share it in a format designed to appeal to fellow paranormal evidence-seeking investigators and the curious public, alike.

Rather than extract highlights, the entire uncut, unenhanced 13-minute audio file is presented here, accompanied by photographs of the location and investigator commentary appearing as subtitles, for public consumption and peer review.

The inclusion of nighttime ambient sound is to aid the listener in differentiating between “natural” and “supernatural” sounds – noise I am confident constitutes evidence of paranormal activity.

Investigation on Vacation – Inside a Former Train Station

Chester Train Station, Nova Scotia, May 2015

 
Nova Scotia is a storied province – please do not say that I did not warn you.

“Ted” R. Hennigar, Scotian Spooks, Mystery and Violence (1978)

 

Aerial View of Chester Train Station in Nova Scotia

Chester Train Station, Nova Scotia
Photo credit to Peter Morrison

An opportunity to revisit the south shore of Nova Scotia presented itself this past May, so I packed up our daughter and the two of us went to visit Mom for an extended long weekend getaway.

In addition to quality family time, I had another agenda in mind.

A few years previous, I had been invited to conduct an investigation of the former Chester Train Station, now serving as a tourist facility and home to a Visitor Information Centre as well as the renowned Explore Oak Island display – likely the closest thing most people will get to experience a taste of the legendary local isle, free of charge.

The Searcher Group accomplishes some truly amazing feats, but the ability to stuff the team into a carry-on bag to help conduct the investigation was/is not one of them, so I contacted a local team four months in advance, requesting some field assistance.

The members of the Chester Area Paranormal Society (CAPS) were very friendly and accommodating and before long, plans to meet and spend the night exploring the former train station were arranged.

Best Laid Plans

Ongoing experience as a Case Manager (part of my duties as AD for our team) includes handling disappointment when even the most solid-seeming plans fall apart. Such was the case a few days before the investigation when CAPS wrote me saying no-one on their team was available, owing to unforeseen circumstances. C’est la vie.

Not to be discouraged, I deputized my closest allies – namely my daughter, Libby and mother, Linda – and decided to proceed with the investigation.

Have Equipment, Will Travel

Having winged our way from Toronto to Halifax, I was wary of the kind of equipment I could bring on board a domestic flight without any of it A) being damaged and B) being confiscated by airport security. Since I had counted on CAPS to provide camera systems, I opted to pack lightly and included a pair of digital recorders, a pendulum, a compass, a Spirit Box, a pair of mini LED flashlights, an external speaker and a laptop.
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Aliens vs Spirits

Our last line of defence?
Cemetery entrance gate
When looking at the phenomena of alien abduction I have to ask what is the complexity that requires extraterrestrials the need to study and abduct humans for countless eons?

To study human physiology surely shouldn’t take an advanced civilization thousands of years to discover what a human medical student can do in six years. If it were to change the human population into human/alien hybrids and understanding what we already know of genetics surely they know more than us and should take no longer than 100 years or so to meet that objective if that were the goal.

So what is it then?

I believe there is a greater mystery, something so complex that it not only perplexes them but also frightens them, the mystery of the human soul.

Over centuries of them exploring our world, materializing in and out of our homes they must have encountered the spirits of our dead. Could it be that ET has no soul and the entire concept causes them great tribulation? It could be possible that they are terrorized by the souls of the dead. Unwanted encounters that frighten them because they cannot be controlled or even collected and can move with ease around their advanced technology.

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Is it a Ghost? Or just Mold?

Photo of a black cat on a table in front of a large arched window in an old decaying house -

 

The further frustrations of a paranormal investigator…

Well here we go again. I read with bemusement an article published on April 02, by Levi Winchester regarding researchers found haunted houses were linked to hallucinogenic mold. The story would have been more befitting to have been published April 1.

Mold causes Ghosts? The researchers equated old buildings, ghostly apparitions and hauntings to toxic mold hidden in floor and walls.

This article takes me back to Michael Persinger’s “God Helmet” stating in his research that ghostly apparitions were explained by weak electromagnetic fields

Or Vic Tandy who found that ghosts were nothing more than extremely low frequencies or infrasound causing us to perceive ghosts in our mind.

Apparently there is no end to the money and resources available for those who wish to investigate that ghosts or spirits do not exist.

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Quantum Entanglement

Dark Forest with smokey lights glowing from lit up house

      Photo Courtesy of Jan-Mallander | Pixabay

In several paranormal investigations of haunted locations both members of my team and myself have experienced ghostly activity after we departed the haunted site and went home for the evening. This activity continued at our places of residence. The activity occurred randomly, taking turns at one of our houses then another, over a period of several weeks it would visit different team members.

This I found very interesting, the big question is how did the spirit locate each of us at our private homes?

At first I thought that possibly they hitched a ride in the car, although that would explain them coming to one of our houses it didn’t explain them being at everyone’s house. Five cars all leave at the same time, all go in widely different directions, all ending at different destinations and yet all five were found by the spirit.

Then I thought well could there have been a spirit, which accompanied each of us separately, possibly. But then it didn’t make sense that some would come home with us and do nothing until a few days later or even a week later, we all reported the activity on different days and times, spanning a couple of weeks. Matter of fact no one reported activity occurring at his or her home on the same date as another member.

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A Note About EVPs

Empty living room with shadows of people in itWhile conducting investigations involving EVPs and the review of those recorded voices. I find it somewhat funny how the human ego works.

I watch as most investigators quickly assume that whatever is recorded has everything to do with them. It is true that sometimes the spirit has a message to impart to the investigator, however more often that not the message or part of the conversation, I find, is between the spirits and not intended for you at all. The investigator has forgotten or may have never considered that they have deliberately brought in a piece of equipment to be used to eavesdrop on the other side.

Many times it is clear that the message in the EVPs is not for the investigator, I find sometimes this leads the investigator to automatically jump to the conclusion that the haunting is residual and not that of an intelligent spirit. Remember that spirits within a haunted building are not standing around waiting for you to show up, they are actually interacting with each other and doing things regardless if you are there or not, they don’t simply exist for your convenience.

So the next time you label a spirit residual instead of intelligent consider the fact that it is not all about you.

A Brief History on EVP’s

Blue Frequency lines

 

Electronic Voice Phenomena or EVP is the supposed recordings of the dead, voices that are not heard by the naked ear at the time of recording.

Thomas Edison 1920

Black and White photo of Thomas EdisonScientist and inventor, Thomas Edison, worked on a project to build a device to communicate with the dead. In an interview with Scientific American, October 1920, Edison stated, “If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect, other faculties, and knowledge that we acquire on this Earth. Therefore … if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected by our personality as it survives in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, ought to record something”.

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