paranormal investigations

All posts tagged paranormal investigations

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.

Photos from Mississauga Historical Properties – Paranormal Investigations

While filming Discovery Channel’s “A Haunting, Darkness Follows.” At the Bradley Museum in Mississauga it was my brother Paul who noticed two apparitions in period clothing walking through the gardens near the house. This was in broad daylight. We spoke to the Manager of the Museum and what he described sounded to her extraordinary similarities to the home’s owners Lewis and Elizabeth Bradley. Problem was they had been dead for over 140 years.

It was at this point that the manager extended a very graceful offer for our team to investigate many of the Mississauga historical properties that the city owned. This would be the beginning of a ten month journey.

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Crash Course in Awesome banner

Crash Course in Awesome Podcast

 

Crash Course in Awesome accompanied The Searcher Group on a Paranormal Investigation at a House just outside of Toronto.

They have uploaded a two hour long podcast on their experience …. they may have become convinced of the existence of Spirits and Ghosts.  Visit their website at http://ccia.libsyn.com/ccia-s-ghost-investigation to hear the podcast.

One of the eeriest stories to come out of the investigations at the Canadian National Exhibition started off like most, as a mystery. We were working in the second floor archives when our audio surveillance kept recording strange and unusual sounds along with EVPs of a male.

The male would call someone named Dan or Danny always giving him instructions on what to do. This social interaction seemed at first one sided. The instructions were always clear and on the most part friendly but then there were times where the person giving the instructions seemed angry or even frustrated.

He would call for Danny and tell him, “Go see where they are”. Or to be quiet and to get back. Sometimes he would just yell “Danny”. Over and over again.

It was Paul who noticed the odd sounds, which seemed to interplay each time this person called for Danny. Like the ringing of bells, a horn, a whistle or the sounds of a baby rattle. Paul made it his mission to figure out the mystery of Danny.

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Journeys into the Unknown book coverJourneys takes the reader through a collection of amazing ghost stories & paranormal investigations across Ontario that have never before been reported. The circumstances behind fifteen unusual cases of hauntings & ghostly manifestations are explored together with the detailed sagas of full-scale investigations into six further spooky inexplicables occurring in or near Toronto. The book concludes with a look into a complete investigation of a haunting, including a guide that explains the techniques used to conduct a paranormal investigation. The final section of Journeys explains theories behind what a ghost is, how they manifest & where they hide – challenging the classic theories of life-after-death research. So turn on all the lights, keep your back to the wall & be prepared to take a journey into the reality of the unexplained.

To order Journeys Into the Unknown visit amazon.ca by clicking here.

Investigating the CNE Archives

Investigating the Archives

“Information is, for the most part, a piece of a much larger puzzle. Each piece waits for another to reinforce what the first piece has suggested. When this occurs, they call it proof.”

Richard Palmisano

 

It has always amazed me what we determine to be evidence, depending on the topic. If we are talking about criminal activity, then electronic evidence such as security monitoring devices, which indicate an action occurring in a specific place, as well as surveillance systems, that show us what occurred in that location can provide a strong case. Couple this information with witness testimony and the evidence may end in a criminal conviction, even with the absence of DNA samples. However, we may have all of these same elements in a similar instance and yet because the topic is the paranormal, the evidence is automatically dismissed.

 

Some of the places that The Searcher Group have investigated include:  The Canadian National Exhibition, Alma College, Bell Gardiner Estate, Scadding Cabin & Guild Inn. 

Tips on preparing for an investigation:

  • Always get permission from the property owners/management before entering any property.
  • Do a preliminary walk-through before conducting the actual investigation, take preliminary base readings, make a map of the building, check for any safety hazards, check your electrical sources.
  • Make a plan for surveillance equipment setup based on your preliminary walk through information
  • Always make sure to work in team – never work alone
  • Test all equipment ahead of time and bring extra batteries/generator

Richard and John

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After investigating ghosts for most of my life I have always been fascinated with the social characteristics of spirits and how they act and interact with one another.

I first became aware of this interaction in 1996 when I investigated a home which was involved with a multiple haunting and was the basis for my first book “Overshadows” where a teen aged girl committed suicide and then returned home to discover her family had left and a new family had moved in, what she also found was other spirits there. A conflict arose when a malevolent spirit named Edward had control over the home and other spirits, the young girl seemed to want none of this and a battle began between them leaving the family trapped in a nightmare. The action that took place between these two entities demonstrated to me that there was little difference to what people could do to one another no matter what side of life one stood. The activity was extremely negative as Edward chased the girl throughout the house and property. At first I was lead to believe it was purely a control thing, but as the investigation proceeded I discovered it was much more than that, control yes, but also knowledge, and knowledge is of course power. Edward having died in the 1940s demonstrated a difficulty in understanding our technology and in the beginning gave us extraordinary evidence of his existence on video and audio surveillance. This all changed one Saturday night when Edward caught the girl and seemingly convinced her to join with him, after which her actions towards the family turned from benevolent to malevolent. The girl was a modern teenager and was able to educate Edward on how to defeat our surveillance equipment.

I had to wonder if this situation was unique. I investigated many haunted locations, and not until 2003 did I get a second astonishing look at this interaction.           

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Some of the Teams most Memorable Moments

 

Alma College

Alma College

 

The opportunity to walk through Alma College in St. Thomas Ontario. Reputed to have a spirit haunting the staircase. Also the location that appeared in several shots in the movie Silent Hill
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Richard and Michelle at the tombstones

Richard and Michelle checking the tombstones

 

Another fascinating place is the old Military Cemetery across from the CNE grounds. We speculate that this site is so haunted because of a great injustice. A major battlefield in 1813 where many died defending the town of York and yet never recognized as a resting place for many fallen soldiers. In 1864 an official grave yard was established where a marker was installed, there is no mention of those who died previously on these grounds.

 

 

 

Mist passing tombstones at cemetery

Tombstones at Cemetery

fog in trees at the cemetery

Trees at the cemetery

 

A strange fog on a clear night briefly passes the row of tombstones. The fog was not seen at the time of the photo.

 

Another image not noticed at the time the photo was taken is this glowing mist in the trees which some have speculated as a person walking with a horse.

 

 

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CNE Princes gates

CNE Princes Gates

 

We were invited by the Manager of Archives and Records to investigate the many ghosts of the CNE grounds. Our investigations turned into a thirteen month adventure taking us through the many buildings situated on the old Garrison commons grounds. A place where one of the bloodiest battles of the 1812 war was fought (1813 the taking of York).

 

 

the team trying to make contact at CNE

The team trying to make contact

 

This is where Paul through the use of EVP discovered a haunting by an old midway clown who was roaming the General Services building. Its a terrifying thought at what something like that would look like.

 

 

 

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Fusion

The Fusion House

Fusion Coach House

The Coach House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working on the grounds of the Bell Gairdner property known as Fusion was very exhilarating. The City of Mississauga provided The Searcher Group access to the property and building for three years to study the widely witnessed paranormal phenomena brought forth by Corporate Security and Facilities workers. Continue Reading