The 2010 Northern New York Paranormal Expo

Last Saturday was the 2nd Annual Northern New York Paranormal Expo hosted by the Northern NY Paranormal Research Society and the City of Plattsburgh. Roughly 900 people visited the Old Air Force Base Gym in Plattsburgh, NY to visit with vendors from across the region and to hear talks from psychics, paranormal researchers, and authors.

Like last year there were so many different talks being given throughout the day it was impossible for me to hear them all, so I ended up missing the talks that various vendors at the expo gave to attendees. The vendors discussed a wide range of topics, covering UFOs, 2012, and the human energy field. Judging by how busy the vendor tables were throughout the day I can safely assume people enjoyed what they heard.

At 10:30 AM I plopped my butt down in the main speaker room and essentially spent the rest of the day there. From my orange plastic chair I got to become familiar with author Joe Citro from Vermont. He’s written a ton of books, “Green Mountain Ghosts, Ghouls, and Unsolved Mysteries”, “The Vermont Ghost Guide”, “Curious New England”, and many more. After hearing him speak about his research into the lives and times of William and Horatio Eddy, the alleged psychic mediums from 1800’s Vermont, I can see how he’s managed to have such a long career. He’s a fascinating and enthusiastic speaker and amazingly accessible. I picked up a copy of his book “Not Yet Dead” and definitely plan on keeping up with him and his work at his website.

NNYPRS President Merrill (center) introducing me to author Joe Citro.

Next I got to see Dan Lowenski’s presentation “The Ark of the Covenant: Movies, Mysteries, and Myths”. His presentation featured art, graphics, and a replica of the Ark. That’s right, last weekend I saw the Ark of the Covenant, what did you see?

Yep, that's the Ark of the Covenant. Nice, right?

Lowenski’s presentation was followed by the Northern NY Paranormal Research Society discussing the technology they use in their investigations. The speakers were Brian, the head of the NNYPRS tech council and Buffet contributor, Carmen, one of the primary researchers for the NNYPRS, and Merrill, the President and Founder of the NNYPRS. However, despite the knowledge the three of them possessed, the real star of the presentation was Tod. Tod is actually a high end toy; a spy robot that can be controlled by a laptop. It has a camera that can take pictures, record video, and can even be set to take pictures when it detects movement and send an alarm as well. It’s also adorable. I’m hoping to convince Brian to write a profile on their newest robotic team member in the near future for the site!

The cutest NNYPRS, T.O.D.

And bringing the day to a close was a man who is no stranger to Buffet readers, David Pitkin. You may know him from this or this. As I’ve come to expect, his talk was wonderful. If you still haven’t seen him in person, you can keep tabs on him at his website to find out where he’ll be appearing next.

David Pitkin (right) with NNYPRS President Merrill (left)

The Northern New York Paranormal Research Society and the City of Plattsburgh put together another great expo. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next year!

I do have one other non-expo related, but Plattsburgh, NY relevant note to add here. While in Plattsburgh I visited Fantastic Planet, a comic book/game store at 164 Boynton Avenue Plattsburgh, NY. The owners, Pete and Donna I believe, have a fabulous, wonderful store! Clean, well organized, brightly lit, with tons and tons of glorious graphic novels as far as the eye could see (I picked up The Invisibles 1 and 2), a big ol’ wall of manga (I picked up Death Note 11 and 12), a gigantic stuffed Bone doll that was fortunately up too high for me to grab and hug until it got ruined by my make-up and would be forced to purchase it, and a respectable selection of table top roleplaying games and board games. Also, we stumbled across Corner Stone Bookshop, a truly magical wonderland of used books. I managed to show some restraint and only purchased a 1969 edition of “The Graham Kerr Cookbook” and “Jesus in India”, an English version of “Masih Hindustamein”, an Urdu treatise written by the Holy Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

Also, my October tour of events isn’t done yet. This Saturday I’ll be going to Celebrate Samhain in Peterborough, NH where I’ll be getting to see Raven Grimassi, Christopher Penczak, The Gypsy Nomads, and more! It sounds like it will be a great time! If you’re in the area, you should stop by too!

The 2nd Annual Northern NY Paranormal Expo is Coming!

Guess what? October is almost here! I know! Where the heck did the summer go? Living in the northeast, October is often ominous. Although the changing leaves are beautiful, gazing upon them instantly makes me wonder, exactly how much snow we will get this year? As someone who commutes to their job, snow is a vexing occurrence. However, there is one thing about this October that I’m very excited about…

The 2nd Annual Northern NY Paranormal Expo, put together by the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society and The City of Plattsburgh Recreation Department! I went to the one last year and had a great time, and this year is looking like it’s going to be even bigger!

The featured speakers are David Pitkin (author of “Haunted Saratoga County”, “New England Ghosts”, and more), Joe Citro (author of “Weird New England”, “Curious New England”, and more), the NNYPRS Tech Team (who you may know from this introduction or this essay on the Frank’s Box), and Dan Lowenski (Who will be speaking about the Ark of the Covenant. I’ve heard Dan give a presentation on UFOs and he was fantastic, I suspect his “The Ark of the Covenant: Movies, Mysteries, and Myth” is going to be excellent!)

There will also be a wide variety of vendors and a preview of the documentary “NNYPRS: Touching Eternity” from Rousell Films and Garage Daze Entertainment! Here are the details:

The 2nd Annual Northern NY Expo

Date: Saturday October 16, 2010
Time: 10 AM – 6 PM
Where: Plattsburgh Recreational Center, 52 US Oval Drive, Plattsburgh, NY
Cost $6 (Bring in a nonperishable food item and receive a $1 off discount!)

But wait! There’s more to share!

After years of discussing their investigation techniques, protocols, and equipment at events throughout New York, the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society has decided to start offering formalized seminars for people interested in learning more in a focused environment. This one day seminar will discuss investigation ethics, setting up equipment, EVP sessions, data review, proper equipment use, and much more. The seminar is being held at the Peru DAV Building on Route 22 Peru, NY on Saturday November 13, 2010. The cost for the seminar is $49.95 and includes a t-shirt. For more details and inquiries, contact Brian at Brian@nnyprs.com or by phone at 518-420-3327.

NNYPRS Tech Council: The Frank’s Box

By Brian Leighton and Job Mesick

The topic of the day is the Frank’s Box. This is a device that goes by many names: phone to the dead, shack hack, etc. I’d like to clarify that what I write is my opinion. If you don’t agree with me that is your right. Also, if you have your own theories we would love to hear them.

Let me begin by going over the need for such a device. As a paranormal investigator, we collect hours upon hours of possible evidence on every investigation. Approximately 90% of what we catch is audio responses, such as noises or an answer to a question that was not heard during the time of the recording.

Why this happens remains unexplained. One theory is that spirits communicate in a frequency that is either higher or lower than the frequency that we can hear with our ears. We use software to try and “see” what frequency our recordings are in. We use several tools to catch possible EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon). Our most basic tool is a simple digital recorder. We have ways to modify these recorders to help catch recordings, which we will explain in more depth in future articles.

The Frank’s Box is a device created by Frank Sumption and it is basically a broken radio. When you hit the scan button on a radio, it stops at the next strongest station. By modifying the radio to not stop scanning, you have yourself a Frank’s box. Here is the problem that I have with the Frank’s box; it was not designed to catch EVPs from spirits. It was designed to communicate with aliens. You read that correctly…aliens. According to email correspondence that has been published on the web, to this day Frank continues to communicate with aliens and other beings. Now his words have been twisted and that is where his tool has been misused.

Some investigation groups base their whole investigation on this device. We have experimented with this tool on quite a few investigations and we feel that there were some possibilities to his theory. However, these possibilities are open to a lot of interpretation. If you listen to a scanning radio long enough you are going to hear “Yes” and “No” many times, so asking those types of questions are useless. If you listen to it long enough you are also going to hear a lot of other possible replies. Does that mean that spirits are manipulating these recordings? Or are aliens? Chances are not very likely. More often than not it is the simple act of randomness. If you listen to enough records backwards you are going to eventually hear the devil talking to you. After our experiments with the device we found evidence of something possibly repeating names and even colors. After carefully reviewing the audio, you had to really use your imagination to hear the correct response. Due to matrixing, your brain hears the response that you are looking for. If you wanted to hear the word “yellow”, anything close would satisfy your ears.

Our team is based on science and we experiment with our own theories as well as those from other groups. After experimenting with the Frank’s Box, we feel that it does not stand up to scientific scrutiny.

About the Authors:
Brian Leighton and Job Mesick are members of the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society’s Tech Council. If you have questions or comments you can visit him and the rest of the NNYPRS group at www.nnyprs.com.

NNYPRS Tech Council: Hi! My Name is Brian

It’s no secret that I have the internet organizational equivalent of a bromance with the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society. I wrote quite the love letter to them last year in anticipation of their first expo, so I’m not going to rehash it all now because you can just read it here. (Besides that, it’s mushy and I have a reputation to uphold.)

One of the big hits of the expo was the NNYPRS displaying and discussing the assorted tools and technology they use to investigate paranormal claims. I was lucky enough to have a corner behind their booth to rest at and while there I would watch all the people gathering around to learn about all the widgets they had out on display. I was impressed at how good they were at explaining what each thing did, how it did it, and why it mattered. I know that a lot of folks that read The Magical Buffet belong to their own paranormal investigation groups and/or have serious interests in investigating the paranormal, which is what has brought about the article you’re about to read.

Brian Leighton, the head of the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society’s Tech Council, has agreed to share information about some of the tools (many of which are custom made) that he and his teammates use to investigate the paranormal. And he’s letting Buffet readers help him and the rest of the Tech Council decide what to discuss! Here Brian introduces himself and shares some quick thoughts with you. If there is anything you’d like to learn about, or have a tech question you want answered, just post it in the comments.

Some NNYPRS tech from last year's expo! What is it all? These are the kinds of questions that will be answered!

Well, I guess this is where I introduce myself. My name is Brian and I am the team leader of NNYPRS. I am also the head of our illustrious Tech Council. You may ask, “What is the Tech Council?” The short answer is it’s a bunch of big kids that love to let our inner geeks out to play. The long answer is basically it consists of several of our investigators who discuss theories related to the paranormal, and ways we can build or modify gear to test these theories.

Now the Mistress of the Magic Buffet was crazy kind enough to allow us to contribute to her awesome site. So what are some of our theories? Well, one that we are actively working on is a better way to catch EVP’s. For people that don’t know, an EVP is an Electronic Voice Phenomenon; something that is caught on tape that isn’t heard when the recording was done. This is by far the most common form of evidence we collect while on investigations. Anyone can go out and purchase an inexpensive digital or analog recorder and with very little effort catch what may sound like an EVP. However, the big question is whether it really is an EVP.

There are several ways that we can verify an EVP. They begin with the start of the actual session that we are recording. We take careful steps to eliminate any false positives by not allowing whispering. They end with careful review using software to view what frequency the recording took place in. Was it infrasonic (below the human levels of hearing) or ultrasonic?

Here is a theory for you to ponder. Animals supposedly have the ability to sense the paranormal; their hearing also allows them to hear infrasonic sounds (lower than 20 Hz). Is there a connection? Animals can also hear ultrasonic as well. This is one connection we are trying to validate with our group.

If you would like to learn more about the paranormal, please feel free to check out our website. Also, mark your calendars for October 16, 2010 to visit our annual Paranormal Expo in Plattsburgh, NY where our Tech Council will have our tools on display for all to see. Until next time, SEEK TRUTH!!!

(Hey, Rebecca here. First, the NNYPRS motto is “Seek Truth”. That ending is way better now, right? Also, The Magical Buffet will be at the expo, and by Magical Buffet I mean me and my husband. Regardless, if you’re in the area you should stop in and say “Hi”. Lastly, I can’t help but point out that David Pitkin, first ever guest author on The Magical Buffet and A Magical Buffet of Authors participant, is going to be at the expo. As you’ll see if you attend the September event, Pitkin is great in person. If you can’t make the Magical Buffet of Authors event, you should definitely try to make it to the expo to see him. Heck, even if you see him in September you should see him again in October, he’s just that good. For reals yo. I’m outtie.)

Spicy Italian Ghosts

As Told By Gordie Little

Just a week or so prior to Halloween of 2003, a friend of mine from Clinton County, New York related a story about an Italian kitchen that gave me plenty of food for thought.

The woman’s husband was stationed for two years in the mid-80s at a naval base located on La Maddalena, located between the smaller Italian Island of Sardinia and the French island of Corsica. Photos of the seven-island archipelago reveal an almost idyllic place that is rich in Roman history and spectacular natural beauty. Beside the naval presence, the entire area is a magnet for tourism.

She and her military spouse found a bargain-priced rental house with plenty of room and a wonderful view of the countryside. It had two, spacious bedrooms and a parlor with large, double doors that could be used as a master bedroom and nursery for their little girl. Every window in the well-appointed kitchen was made of stained glass. During the intense tropical storms, my friend learned quickly not to touch the lead with her wedding ring. After being zapped just once, she kept a safe distance.

With their husbands often out to sea, it wasn’t at all uncommon for the wives to spend a few days together. The storms in that region of the world are frightening and they reasoned that there would be comfort in company.

One night, they needed comfort and it had nothing to do with the weather. In all, there were three women in her house. She and her daughter slept in the parlor/bedroom on the right as you enter the building. The other two bedrooms farther down the hall were each occupied by another woman. The bathroom was on the left, located diagonal to the kitchen at the far end of the hallway.

They retired early. My friend was startled awake several hours later by the sound of the big, double doors to her room opening and closing, almost rhythmically. She sat up in bed, watching the long, curved metal door handles move downward as if manipulated by an unseen hand. The doors open and closed in unison.

She was too stunned to scream or move. As she sat there, the doors closed one, last time, followed by audible footsteps away from her room, down the hall, toward the kitchen.

She thought her companions were playing tricks on her. Listening intently, she heard the footsteps stop. Next, she heard the old, refrigerator door open and close several times. Then—nothing.

She crawled under the covers and eventually went to sleep, albeit fitfully until daylight.

The woman in the next bedroom arose shortly after and complained to her hostess about the cats keeping her awake all night. She heard them howling and rummaging around in her room. Entering the bedroom together, the two women found newspapers crumpled into balls all around the bed. The hostess was quick to point out that she had no cats.

The second woman, too, heard footsteps in the hallway, heading toward the kitchen followed by the fridge door opening and closing.

As the women were comparing notes about their fitful night, the third woman came out of the last bedroom, rubbing her eyes and complaining that the others had been playing practical jokes on her for hours.

She accused them of opening and shutting her bedroom door and talking in the kitchen. Her bedroom wall was common with a kitchen wall and she claimed to have heard hushed voices for some time. She couldn’t make out words or sentences, but was a bit frightened and rather frustrated by the sounds, nonetheless.

They were all frightened when learning that none of them had tried to trick the others. They were likewise unable to learn the history of the old house, as their facility with the Italian language left a lot to be desired.

I should point out that in spite of their friendship, none of the women ever came to visit again. Who can blame them?

The ghostly shenanigans continued in that house for some time. My friend recalled that she was awakened by her crying baby late one night and arose to warm a bottle for the little one. As she walked down the hallway, she could see at least two, black silhouettes in the kitchen ahead. The forms were definitely of human shape and size. There was another electrical storm that night and on subsequent nights when she and her husband both saw the kitchen silhouettes.

In the bathroom was a brand new clothes washer. With no warning, it would go haywire, spilling out piles of suds and sending a flood out the bathroom door, diagonally to the end of the hall and into the kitchen. More than once, her husband called in the quintessential “Maytag Repairman,” only to learn that there was nothing wrong with the machine that could be repaired by human hands.

The technician wouldn’t believe their story of the water and suds flowing from the bathroom to the kitchen. “Physically impossible,” he exclaimed in broken English. “The floor doesn’t even slope in that direction.” To prove his point, he placed small rubber balls next to the washing machine and smiled as they all rolled in the opposite direction. They paid him and he left, shaking his head; no doubt wondering what kind of “American nuts” he was dealing with.

This couple’s battle with unwanted spirits ends with a coup de gras. My friend and her husband were embracing in the bathtub together, as couples in love are sometimes wont to do. The translucent, glass doors in front of the tub were closed for privacy, even though there was no one else in the house at the time. Or was there?

Their lovemaking was rudely interrupted by the sound of whistling. They turned their heads and saw a blurry shape glide pass the door.

At that moment a window above the tub exploded from the wall– frame, casing and all–and dropped onto them, scattering shards of glass over their heads and naked bodies.

Fortunately, they were not seriously injured. The man went into the hallway and found nothing untoward. Both front and back house doors remained closed and securely locked.

That moment brought the couple to an epiphany. In the morning, they left the old house, lock, stock and barrel and moved into base housing.

We can only wonder if the present occupants of that Italian house are still plagued by spirited voyeurs and spectral cats.

About the Author:
Gordie Little has spent 36 years in radio; 8 years as a Crime Victims Advocate; and has written 653 weekly newspaper columns for the Press-Republican newspaper in Plattsburgh, NY. He has done more than 700, 90-minute television documentaries in the North Country region of New York State and loves to study all things paranormal and has written “true” ghost stories for many years. His new book, entitled “Ghosts of Clinton County,” was published by North Country Books in Utica, NY and is currently available at many Borders Books, Corner-Stone Bookshop in Plattsburgh, NY, The Crystal Caboose in West Chazy, NY at www.bloatedtoe.com, amazon.com and directly from the publisher.

First Annual Northern New York Paranormal Expo: The Event

In mid-September I wrote about the then upcoming Northern New York Paranormal Expo. Well, this past Saturday Jim and I hauled it up north to Plattsburgh, NY to see how the first ever paranormal expo presented by the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society and the City of Plattsburgh was going to go down.

There were nearly 30 vendors ranging from psychics, to food, to jewelry, and more! There was a haunted house being run and the screams would echo throughout the gym. They also had speakers giving presentations in two different rooms throughout the day. I attended the welcome given by Merrill McKee, the President of the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society and one of the primary forces behind the expo. He talked about putting together the expo, thanked all the people that helped make the event possible (including an unexpected shout out to yours truly), and took some questions from the audience about the paranormal.

Also, I had the good fortune to hear Gordie Little speak. From what I had been told, he’s a bit of legend in northern New York as a media personality, collecting and sharing ghost lore at sold out ghost tours and writing columns for the Plattsburgh Press Republican newspaper. His first book of collected ghost stories, “Ghosts of Clinton County”, had just released so he spoke at first about how the book came about and then shared all kinds of fun, scary, and sentimental tales of the supernatural with us. He is a charming speaker and his time at the microphone was definitely the best part of the day for me.

I feel it is safe to call the event a success. There was an estimated 900 people who attended the expo. The vendor’s booths always had people crowded around and everyone I spoke to was having a wonderful time, as did I. I’m very proud of my friends at the Northern New York Paranormal Society for their first, of hopefully many, successful events.

Ghost Hunters of the Finger Lakes: Investigation Summary

Submitted by the members of the Ghost Hunters of the Finger Lakes

Our group is made up of family members and a few good friends. We are interested in the paranormal for several reasons, one being our grandmother who was sensitive to “spirits” from the other side. She would tell us ghost stories and how she could communicate with what she referred to as her spirit guides which always left us all amazed and intrigued. We also all have had some experiences when we were younger that led us to become very curious about the paranormal. That is why we decided to form a paranormal group. It was not long before our website was created and we started purchasing equipment which enhanced our ability to investigate some pretty cool places. We started investigating houses, inns, pubs, etc. that had reports of paranormal activity. Now we have stories of our own that we can share with our grandkids. Here is just one of the many places that we have investigated.

This is a summary of an investigation we did in a house built in the 1800’s located in upstate New York. It was converted from a church many years ago and had a lengthy history of paranormal activity. There were three investigators present the night of the investigation using digital cameras and digital voice recorders. We also used several night vision cameras as well as EMF meters and thermometers.

We first heard of this house from a story that was submitted to an online newspaper. There were reports of doors slamming, balls rolling around by themselves and disembodied voices coming from the rooms. It is believed that a man accidently drowned in a well on the property. Other claims were of a man that was pulled off a ladder by some unseen force while working next to the house as well as lights that would come back on by themselves during the night for no apparent reason.

We took many readings with our EMF detectors and thermometers and nothing out of the normal was found. There was also nothing found on our IR video cams taken that night. We did however capture some interesting EVP’s that night.

The first EVP that we captured was while walking upstairs with another investigator, I asked the question “is anyone here with us?” My digital recorder instantly received a reply from an older female sounding voice mimicking my question “is anyone here with us “and then she cursed at me using obscenities. This was the first time I have ever been cursed at by a ghost. The next EVP came from a bedroom upstairs. As soon as we walked in the bedroom I instantly had a headache. It was a sharp pain. I could feel the tense pressure; I felt something was going on. I then put my recorder down in the room and left it there. When I played it back the next day I could not believe what we had recorded. There was a man and a woman arguing in the room. The man sounded angry and there were noises like he was hitting her. She sounded like she was crying and was yelling obscenities back at this man.

The next EVP captured came from the downstairs. We had just come from the attic and discovered a small dead dog there. We were trying to figure out how a dog would have gotten in to the house never mind the attic area. When doing some more EVP work we heard a dog’s faint bark from a distance outside the house and I commented on it. One of our investigators had a digital voice recorder placed on his knee at this time. After reviewing the recording we heard the very loud sound of a dog barking that was coming from right next to the recorder. It was very loud and echoed in the room. The barking sound on the recorder started right after we made the comment about the dog barking off in the distance. It actually seemed to be responding to the barking of the other dog. There were no dogs present inside the house at any time we were there. It seemed odd to think that while we were listening for voices that a “ghost” dog may have been sitting right there with us. Our thoughts lingered back to the deceased dog that we had found in the attic.

While in the kitchen, we noticed a cabinet door was open even though upon our first inspection they had all been closed. We tried the cabinet doors and they closed very tightly. We could not prove this to be paranormal but we knew none of us opened the cabinet door. We wished that we had left an IR camera there to catch any proof of this movement.

What seemed like a fairly quiet night of investigating quickly changed while listening to our digital voice recorders the next day. The quiet house we investigated came alive with voices and even barks from a dog when we played them back.

To learn more about the Ghost Hunters of the Finger Lakes, visit their website.

First Annual Northern New York Paranormal Expo: The Introduction

The day we launched the first issue of The Magical Buffet, Jim and I packed up our bags and headed up north for a fundraising event for the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society. (You can read about our adventures here.)

What I didn’t convey in that original article was how scared I was. I had just launched a website. Would people like it? Would people like me? Would they think I was crazy, amateurish, a jerk? Would I find friends? With all of that on my mind, I headed up north to present myself as a writer and a voice of a new online community. No pressure.

After an evening and a day with the NNYPRS, I was energized. NNYPRS President, Merrill McKee has an enthusiasm for the paranormal that is infectious. His team, friendly and supportive of a new girl on the internet block. At the end of the visit I was hugging each of them as I left. I had found friends and supporters. People that thought that I had something to offer with The Magical Buffet. I’ve always been a friend and supporter of the Northern New York Paranormal Research Society, but I’ve never really given them the real credit that they’re due. Merrill and his group made me believe I could do this. Who knows how the future of this website would have unfolded if I had not met the NNYPRS then, when I needed them the most.

That was my first October with the NNYPRS. Last year I went out to do my very first paranormal investigation with them. (You can read about that here.) However this year, I’m particularly excited about my October with the NNYPRS.

The Northern New York Paranormal Research Society and the City of Plattsburgh Recreational Department present, the First Annual Northern New York Paranormal Expo!

Join me on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at the Old Air Force Base Gym in Plattsburgh, NY (yes, the place we investigated last year) for a day of paranormal fun! I will be there all day checking out the vendors and attending the lectures that will be going on from 10 AM to 6 PM that night. This looks like it’s going to be a great event, if you’re in the area, you should definitely come on out for it! If you can’t make it, I will be doing a write up about the event, hopefully full of entertaining stories and photos of people other than me!

For the full details, including vendor and speaker lists, directions, and more, visit their website.

Midwest Preternatural Research: JFK Prep School Investigative Report

Report written by: Matt

Investigators present on Night 1 (August 5): Matt from Midwest Preternatural Research, Katie, Keith and Jody from Fox Valley Spirit Hunters, Kurt, Mark, Rhonda and Barry from HPI, Michael from Kettle Moraine Paranormal, and Jaeson Jrakman (www.jaesonjrakman.com). There was also a whole second group that we collaborated with the first night. But they disappeared the second night and didn’t get back to us or the owner with their findings. We don’t know what happened and we’re sorry it didn’t work out.

Investigators present on Night 2 (August 6): Matt from Midwest Preternatural Research, Katie, Keith and Jody from Fox Valley Spirit Hunters, Barry from HPI, Michael from Kettle Moraine Paranormal, and Jaeson Jrakman.

Also present: Client (J), worker (W)

Equipment used: Trifield Standard EMF meter, Trifield Natural EMF Meter, Cellsensor EMF meter, Digital Cameras, Digital Voice Recorders, Dual Infrared Non-contact Thermometer/Air Probe Thermometer, Sony Camcorders w/Nightshot

Background: The site is an abandoned Catholic school/church with five run down buildings (the school, the old dorms, the church, the library, and the printing building) and two fixed up buildings (the new dorms and the renaissance building, where we set up our headquarters for the investigation). These were the only two buildings that had electricity. There’s also a cemetery with all priests and the crypt of the founder of St. Nazianz, Father Oschwald, and an underground tunnel system.

DO NOT go there without permission! You’ll be arrested and fined $5,000 for breaking and entering, NOT for trespassing which is a lesser offense.

History: In the months leading up to our investigation, we researched the history and compiled this packet of information:

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–The death and body of the founder Father Oschwald:

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“Anton Stoll records: ‘A number of times, I have observed that [Father Oschwald], with closed eyes, when there was no one else in the room but I alone, would extend his hands in blessing, and then with his hand, signal someone away, and yet I saw no one in the room.'”

Father Oschwald was dying and could have just been delirious, not seeing ghosts.

It is strange that Father Oschwald’s body didn’t decompose for all those years. This is supposed to be a saint thing. Lenin’s body doesn’t decompose either, but his body is preserved by biochemists using chemicals. And it is taken in to a laboratory every 18 months. According to the Russian doctor who not too long ago did a makeover on Lenin’s corpse, “He looked terrible when he died, but what you see now is Lenin’s face, not someone else’s.” In Moscow, “mausoleumists” earn most of their money by preserving the bodies of dead mafia bosses. In 1970, the staff secretly embalmed the body of Ho Chi Minh that was on display in Hanoi. I’m not saying there were hoaxers at work on Father Oschwald’s body, as the then-untested chemical process used on Lenin was developed in 1924 and Oschwald died in 1873. And even if somehow somebody could get into the vault and sneak out Oschwald’s body once every year and a half without anybody noticing, the process used on Lenin takes 30 days. But it makes you think if there could be a scientific explanation.

–The “curse” of Father Oschwald:

Popular legend has it that Father Oschwald was evil and he cursed the town of St. Nazianz because the State took the land away in 1896, and that’s how the haunting started. But Father Oschwald died in 1873. The land was taken away twenty years after Oschwald’s death. He couldn’t have cursed it.

It is true that as Father Oschwald lay dying there were poundings heard on the doors and walls all around town — everywhere except in the room where Father Oschwald lay dying…

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But this, again, was not because he was EVIL. This can be explained by a phenomenon called Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK). RSPK is an unconscious form of Psychokinesis. Sometimes when a person is in physical or emotional pain, or just under a lot of stress, they can unconsciously make their own bed shake or make knocking sounds on the walls, because they’re rebelling on a subconscious level. If you have a lot of stress or trauma in your life, it can continue and it can follow you from house to house until you solve the emotional problem that’s causing it. Another term for this is a “poltergeist” — poltergeists really don’t have anything to do with ghosts, despite what you’ve seen in movies. The only thing the “Poltergeist” movies got right is it’s typically a young girl going through puberty who’s causing it, but not always. Father Oschwald was not lashing out on the town, he was just dying and in a lot of pain, and he was psychokinetically pounding on the doors and walls all over town because he wanted the pain to stop. He didn’t even know he was doing it.
All that being said, the rest of the town does have a history of devastating fires, and there are stories of some ghost sightings, if there’s any truth to the stories:

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The whole town is not haunted. There is nothing to support that but 100-year-old personal experiences, and in most of the cases there was only one witness so it could have been a hallucination or an outright lie. How do you interview someone who’s been dead for 100 years? Even if the witness was credible and *believed* what they were seeing, there still could be a psychological explanation. Of course, you could argue it the other way too and say you can’t disprove it either, because it happened 100 years ago. But I think if you make a trip to St. Nazianz, all you’ll find is a regular town and regular people, not the frightened townsfolk of Blair, Maryland. EVERYTHING about this place was exaggerated. Also, some of those stories, like the boy riding a deer with a superlarge horn and throwing fireballs everywhere he went, allegedly happened when Oschwald was still alive and still had the land, before the land was supposed to have been cursed.

So then how did JFK Prep become haunted? There are stories of physical and sexual abuse at the school as to the origin of the haunting, however we couldn’t back that up either. In fact, there’s one urban legend about a student who hung herself from the basketball hoop in the gym after being beaten and molested by a nun. There really was a girl who hung herself on campus, but it didn’t happen in the gym and it had nothing to do with a nun or a beating. I know this for a fact because I was emailed by the girl’s old roommate. I was given her name, a little bit about her, and why she did it. I’ve since received emails from other people who went to school at Prep, including another one of her friends who was able to confirm it, the room she did it in, and even shared her suicide note with me. She had been over to the girl’s house and was able to tell me about what her family was like and who they were. Out of respect for the student and her family I won’t post what building she did it in or what her reason was.

We got a few EVPs that sound like it’s saying “burning”. Maybe the haunting is because of the great fire in 1871 where all those people died.

The fact is neither we, nor anybody else, knows for a FACT how the haunting originated. I think in a place like this with so much history, there’s just bound to be something. There could be residual energy from all the students that passed through here. But on our investigation we also had a few occurrences that would imply an intelligent style haunting. Maybe there’s a little of both.

–The graves in the cemetery alternately rising and sinking:

Another urban legend is that the graves in the cemetery up on Loretto Hill, where Father Oschwald’s crypt is and where all the priests are buried, alternately rise and sink. They do not. And the cemetery is actually still used, as some of the graves were new.

–The sounds of students laughing in the halls:

You’re supposed to be able to hear students laughing in the halls of the school. Actually, we found the school to be the least active of the buildings. The one time we did hear footsteps above us on one of our subsequent visits, it turned out to be *living people* who were caught trespassing.

Our Investigation: Katie, Keith, Michael, Barry and I arrived at 3PM and spent the afternoon just walking through the buildings and thinking about how we were going to set up. On the initial walkthrough back in May, the owner only had time to show us through two of the seven buildings and the cemetery. The plan was to spend the afternoon taking some base readings with our EMF meters, mapping out the buildings, and doing some control audio recordings with nobody in the buildings. But the place is so big that we didn’t get done and had to get going on our investigation. However, we were able to do more on our follow up.

The rest of the group arrived later, and we started the investigation at 8:00PM.

NIGHT 1, ROTATION 1 (8PM-12AM):

We split up into three groups. Jaeson was the zone leader for Group 1. There were six people in that group including Jaeson and myself, and there was an EMT in case anybody got hurt. Barry was the zone leader for Group 2 and there were five people in that group including her. She had one EMT in her group, just in case. Michael was zone leader for Group 3 and there were six people in his group including himself. Michael has medical training and he’s a psychic.

Then we also had someone stay in headquarters all night and monitor Michael’s live video feed on a laptop. The three groups communicated by walkie-talkie and were assigned to separate buildings.

Group 1:

Jaeson’s group investigated the school building first. We did a sweep of the building, then set up a video camera and Trifield Natural EMF Meter in the only hallway where the owner left a power strip for us. (The buildings have no electricity.) We put motion detectors around the camera so that nobody could tamper with it, then we left the building and sat outside. (You can’t walk around with the Trifield Natural Meter because it’s so sensitive it can detect the nerve impulses in your body when you move. But it’s also one of the best EMF meters you can get for that same reason.) Since there was one group in each building that first night (but not in the printing building which the owner didn’t let us in to until the second night, and not in the two fixed-up buildings, which we didn’t investigate), we had to just sit and wait for the end of the rotation because we had no place else to go. Jaeson admitted to me that there were just too many people (the owner also kept going back and forth between the groups to see how we were doing) and this wasn’t his normal ghost hunting method. The second night and follow-up investigation were more high quality experiences where we had smaller and fewer groups, and we had impressed the owner enough with our professionalism the first night that he let us have the place all to ourselves to do with what we wanted in our subsequent visits.

Group 1 didn’t come up with anything in the school. But the other two groups, meanwhile, were having better luck…

Group 2:

Barry’s group, meanwhile, was investigating the cemetery, church, library, and basements underneath (that was all one zone…it was a lot smaller than it sounds). Barry said in between rotations that it was pretty dead and uneventful.

Then later upon reviewing their audio, they came up with this possible EVP. What you are about to listen to was recorded by Mark. First, you’ll hear the owner ask, “What should we do with the place?” Then, you’ll hear Barry repeat “What should he do with the place?” The others present were Kurt and Rhonda, and two other investigators from the other group. None of them recall hearing what comes next:

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Mark had his digital voice recorder in hand and we have a log of where everybody else was at the time. If someone had said this just as a prank, we think someone would have heard it and said “that was so-and-so?” or someone would have made a mental note of it. If it was just someone clearing their throat, it’s pretty creepy-sounding and we think someone would have asked “what was that?!” Also, someone would have stated, “That was so-and-so clearing his throat?”
But yes it *could* have just been somebody clearing their throat and nobody remembered to comment. That’s the thing is there’s no way to be 100% sure because nobody was videotaping the EVP circle.

Another possibility is thought projection. Someone could have been thinking that answer subconsciously and projected it onto the voice recorder. What do you think it was?

Group 3:
Michael’s group, meanwhile, was investigating the old dorms. Michael said he felt drawn to a room on the fourth floor that became known to us as “the suitcase room”. There are a pair of old suitcases lying on the floor in this room that someone must have discarded. One of the suitcases was all the way open. Due to weathering of the item, it couldn’t be completely shut tight. Michael kicked it closed with his left foot. When he came back, it was re-opened, all the way, and back to its original position. Michael said he assumed someone else opened it, so he kicked it closed again, and turned around. He was standing outside, in front of the stairs, and when he turned around it was open again. He said that’s when he seriously started to question it. The first time, someone could have been playing with him. But the second time no one went past him. Michael forcibly closed the suitcase, so you may think it was just returning to its natural state of being partially open but opened all the way. Possibly — but it was only open a couple of inches in the first place and it was also pretty decrepit. In our return visit, we were unsuccessful when we tried to get it to open like that again. After it opened the second time, Michael took his pocket knife and cut away the liner a bit and he checked it well over for any electrical device, and found nothing.
But we didn’t get it on video, and upon further inspection Michael says they didn’t note any temperature oddities or get any EMF readings. So we can’t present it as evidence to anyone. We can only give it as a personal experience.
———-

After the first rotation ended, we met back in headquarters for an hour break, and I took a head count to make sure we still had everybody.

While we were eating, Michael excitedly talked about how it went in the old dorms.

Barry’s group was assigned to the old dorms next, and she was intrigued by Michael’s story and asked me if it would be okay to have her group and Jaeson’s group investigate the dorms together so we could have cameras on all floors. I was intrigued also, so I said let’s try it.

NIGHT 1, ROTATION 2 (1AM-4AM):

So Jaeson’s group and Barry’s group went up to the old dorms together, and Michael’s group went to the school building.

But it was dead now, and there were way too many people now in the old dorms, so Jaeson just left his camera and some of his equipment so they could have it, and we left to go investigate the church.

Meanwhile, the church/library/basement were also dead. We did a sweep, and just took some pictures and recorded for EVPs. Then we went up to the cemetery, but it was really peaceful there.

On our way back from the cemetery, that’s when we saw Michael’s group up on the roof of the school with their flashlights. They radioed us to come and help, and we did. They had been taking pictures from the roof, and these huge red mists were showing up in some of their pictures. On our follow up investigation we debunked these as the result of heated air rising up from a very large bonfire 100 feet away.

We went back to the church, but by this time my camera’s memory card was full and so was my voice recorder, so I just walked along. I couldn’t do anything. We all ended up back in the renaissance building because we were going to call it a night early. But first the owner showed Jaeson, Barry, and me the boiler room behind the renaissance building. Then he took Jaeson, Barry, Michael, and me into an underground tunnel that led into the basement under the library, and Michael recorded this possible EVP. Michael says, “Helloooo?” Then at 5 seconds you hear two words that we can’t identify as any of us, and we wouldn’t be likely to say. Everything after those two words is us talking. I don’t want to tell you what I hear before you listen to it because then that’s what you’re going to hear. Take a listen to it and then email us at midwestpreternaturalresearch@gmail.com what you think it’s saying:

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I would like to go back and investigate that tunnel – we really only poked our heads in.

We called it a night early at about 4AM and drove home or back to our hotel rooms. For me, my first night at JFK Prep was pretty uneventful and disappointing. (It wasn’t until we reviewed our evidence that I heard Mark’s possible EVP that I posted earlier.) I went home thinking “it’s not haunted, that was very peaceful” and “if this place isn’t haunted, what is? Am I wasting my time and money being a ghost hunter?” I wasn’t ecstatic about spending a whole second night in a row.

But I’m glad I did.

NIGHT 2:

We met back at 7PM. The owner opened up the printing building and underground tunnel for us (which just leads from the garage into the printing building), and we did a walkthrough. He also opened up this little yellow barn for us next to the renaissance building, if we wanted to go in there.

We started our investigation again at 8PM, with a much smaller group. Kurt wasn’t able to come back the second night, but let me know a month in advance that he could only stay one night. And Mark and Rhonda had kids at home so they couldn’t stay two nights either, so they drove down to tell me this in person and then Barry just walked them through the buildings they hadn’t got to see yet, then they went home.

So the second night we only had seven people – the three zone leaders, and Katie, Keith, Jody, and me.
With the fewer people, there was no rotation schedule. You just worked with who you wanted and investigated what you wanted, and I kept track of where everybody was on walkie-talkies.
Barry, Katie, Keith, and Jody started in the church, and Michael, Jaeson, and I headed straight for the old dorms. Michael showed Jaeson and me around the old dorms and he showed us the “suitcase room”. Also on the fourth floor across the hall from the “suitcase room” is the alleged Satan Room where, according to urban legend, the founder of St. Nazianz, Father Oschwald, or just a regular priest had an encounter with Satan and then the room was boarded up to protect the students and faculty. The Satan Room is a dud, no surprise. It’s not boarded up, and we never experienced a thing in there. It’s just a room. Father Oschwald could not have had an encounter with Satan or anything in that room because the school was built 100 years after Father Oschwald’s time. IF there’s even any truth to the story, it had to have been just a regular priest, and he could have just seen a regular ghost or residual energy and then it got blown out of proportion.
We set up a video camera and voice recorder in the “suitcase room”, and we put motion detectors at the stairs on the third and fourth floors. I left my voice recorder in a closet on the fourth floor.
Then we went down to the third floor and just sat quietly in the hallway and waited for something to happen. Around the same time that Michael had the experience with the suitcase the first night, the motion detectors started going off all over the place. We got up and walked toward the stairs to see if we could see what was setting them off. Bats? There were bats in that building. The other thing to keep in mind is motion detectors are REAL sensitive. Jaeson was walking with his Trifield Standard EMF Meter (the one you CAN walk around with) when his needle went crazy. Then I saw a door open right after that. A door opening can be recreated very easily, if it’s not shut tight, and it wasn’t. The wood expanding can cause it to swing open. It may still be worth noting that it happened right after the EMF spike, but it doesn’t prove anything. But because the motion detectors were going off, we radioed the others to come.
A little while after that, things got dead again. Jaeson and Barry left for the printing building. Katie, Keith, and Jody left for the cemetery. Michael and me stayed in the dorms for a little while longer and then left to go back to base for a short break. Then we went to investigate the little yellow barn that the owner had opened up for us. The owner said he had heard stories of cult activity in that barn from long before, and was curious if we would find anything in there.
Michael and me set up motion detectors at the entrances, then explored it by ourselves while taking some pictures and asking questions for EVP. There was nothing in there, and in the subsequent times I’ve been back I never came up with anything in that barn or even got a creepy feeling. Michael and me then left to meet Jaeson and Barry in the printing building.
We stayed together and stopped to do EVP circles in all the big rooms and took lots of pictures.
Next we moved back into the school and walked around the tunnels where I believe Michael thought he’d seen a shadow the night before (stopping in all the big rooms to do EVP circles and taking pictures and readings with the EMF meter), then through the locker rooms, then through the cafeteria directly under the gym, and then up into the gym.
After we left the gym we decided to walk the perimeter of the grounds because there were also stories of ghost sightings in the surrounding woods. We didn’t experience anything, and in fact we only got as far as the cemetery.
It was now about 2:30 in the morning, my voice recorder was full again, and we’d spent about 15 hours total investigating so far. We’d also been up till 4 in the morning the night before. We were all getting tired, and were ready to go home early. Everybody was back in the renaissance building again and starting to pack up.
Michael and I wanted to go up to the old dorms one last time before going home. We went alone, and when we entered we went straight up the stairs to the fourth floor.
Here Michael recorded another possible EVP. You’ll hear him say, “School is officially dismissed for you, thank you.” Then in the background you hear a strange noise that we don’t remember hearing at the time, and over that you hear me say, “It’s really pissed at you.” I said that because the air felt heavy, though we could have just been scaring ourselves. The two knocks you hear at the end are just Michael. Again, I know what I think I hear, but I don’t want to tell you before you listen to it because then that’s what you’re going to hear. Take a listen and then email me what you think it’s saying, if you hear anything at all:

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We went back out to the parking lot where everybody was getting ready to go home and go to sleep, and I think it was Barry who got us all to stick it through to the end of the night.

We all went back up to the fourth floor together as one big group. The owner came with us too. We set up shop in the “suitcase room”. Keith set up his video camera, and we sat in an EVP circle and turned off all our lights. (This is so you’re not distracted.) We asked, if there’s a presence in this room, could it please show us a sign of its presence and then we’ll leave and we won’t bother it again. Michael soon after started to feel cold and said that an entity had just entered the room, like it had gone away for a little while but was back now because it had heard people up here. So Barry snapped a picture:

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(That’s Michael in the picture.)

Then she took another picture just to verify, looked at the view screen, and said “holy cow!” Before you look at the next couple pictures, you need to know that we’ve been in this room many times, we know it extremely well, and there are NO reflective surfaces in this room. On our follow up investigation we returned to this room and tried taking pictures from every angle to recreate it and had no success:

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Then another picture:

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And one more:

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(In that last one, the obtrusion that looks like a hat is actually part of the wall.)

We showed these pictures to two professional photographers. One of them said it could also be Barry’s finger in front of the camera, but Barry tried to recreate it with her finger and, well, compare for yourself:

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Barry kept trying to re-create a white image and form like the one seen in the shots with Michael, but after many shots of her fingers and of the side of the chair, she still can’t find anything she can use to dismiss those shots – the closest she can get is holding her finger a good three or four inches out in front of the camera lens, which is very tricky and awkward to do and not a natural position to snap pictures in, but even then the base and sometimes the tip of her finger glows a pink/red and not a solid white.

However, it *does* look very similar. I think it’s too hard to be 100% sure.

Barry showed us these pictures in the view finder right away after they were taken. Then she wanted to get back to headquarters right away and put these on her computer before she pushed a wrong button and erased them or something. So we left the suitcase room and made our way out.
When we got to the second story landing, Michael said he heard a dog growl but nobody else did. We went to investigate, and we entered into a little chapel with a balcony over it where you can look down from the third floor where we had come. Michael said there was something watching us from the balcony. We snapped some pictures and asked some questions, but got nothing.
After returning to the renaissance building and putting the pictures on Barry’s labtop and showing them to the owner, we of course went back to the “suitcase room” again. The activity was getting hotter and hotter every time went back, and this time we were expecting a full body apparition. We stayed until dawn, but nothing more happened. Michael said he sensed it was annoyed and we were taking over its space, so it had gone downstairs.
We left the building, shook hands with everyone, and there ended our first investigation of JFK Prep.

FOLLOW-UP INVESTIGATION (OCTOBER 8):

Investigators present: Matt from Midwest Preternatural Research, Katie, Keith and Jody from Fox Valley Spirit Hunters, and Kurt and Mark from HPI.

We did a follow-up a couple months later on October 8th. Without nearly as many people this time, we broke up into small groups and split up over the campus to try to recreate some of what we had experienced on the first visit. We also just wanted to get in and do some more investigating, and try new things.
Katie, Keith, and Jody were in a group together, and they headed over to the church. Katie had brought a CD player along to introduce music in the church and see if that would get a reaction, but it refused to work (she admits she was already having problems with it before she left home). So instead, she thought she would just sing in the church to see what would happen.
The first thing she sang was “Ave Maria” by Schubert. After she finished singing it, she got this on her recorder:

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A few moments later, she decided to try a Christmas carol (having run out of memorized hymns), even though this was still early October. Then, about an hour or so after Katie’s group had left to go investigate somewhere else, Kurt and Mark were camped out nearby on the first floor of the old dorms (which leads into the church) recording for EVPs. They were sitting quietly when this happened:

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In the clip, Mark and Kurt are sitting quietly when you hear something start to play an electronic version of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”. Mark asks Kurt if that’s his cell phone, and he tells him that it isn’t. After taking *everything* out of his pockets (recorder, digital camera, walkie talkie, etc…), Kurt finally takes out his cell phone, and realizes that the sound actually *IS* coming from his phone.
What makes this so unusual is, Kurt says that song isn’t anywhere on his cell phone. He says he knows what ringtones he has, and he knows what sounds are on his phone, and he can say with 100% certainty that “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” is *not* anywhere on there. And add to this the fact that it happened in the building that we seemed to catch most of our paranormal activity in. Other electronic equipment has been known to act a little strange in this building, too.
Kurt also says that the sound plays at a much lower volume than his ringtones and other sounds do, and the sound seemed to be coming not from the speaker, but more from actually somewhere inside the phone.
When he hit a button on the phone, the song stopped.
He says he has no explanation for this. His phone isn’t very advanced, so there is no way that someone could send him the sound without him knowing.
It could have been a glitch in the system, or some kind of hidden “Easter Egg” on the phone, but why would it play THAT song in October?
He says that honestly he didn’t put much thought into it at the time, passing it off more or less as a glitch. When they got back to the main building, however, and Katie told him how they had been singing Christmas carols in the church not too long before this happened, it really made him wonder.
Was it a glitch, a strange coincidence, or something else?

MISC. POSSIBLE EVPS:
Recorded May 1, 2005 by Katie during our initial walkthrough of the old school building. Katie and Barry have stopped to chat somewhere on the first floor and this came through:

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Again, recorded May 1, 2005 by Katie. Recorded after we entered Father Oschwald’s crypt in the Salvatorian Cemetery just above the property:

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Recorded May 1, 2005 by Katie. Katie’s camera has failed and as she is fussing with it, this came through. The person she’s talking to is the owner. It could be a human whisper, but why would someone say THIS in the vicinity of a client?

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Recorded on the first night of our investigation by Kurt. Kurt is counting down to taking a picture. In the background you can hear some smacking sounds that could be someone shifting? Then you hear what could be a cry or could just be other investigators closeby? The laugh at the beginning was Barry. Kurt says he doesn’t remember hearing anything when this was recorded:

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Recorded November 13 when Kurt was there by himself helping the owner clean. He was in the old dorms sweeping the floor and the owner was outside. There was only one other person on the grounds at the time, and there were no females anywhere:

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FINAL ANALYSIS: There aren’t ghosts in white sheets rattling chains at JFK Prep, but based on our findings I think *something* is going on there. But it’s also exaggerated (about 90% of the time we were there nothing was happening), and a lot of the stories are nonsense, like the town being cursed and Father Oschwald being evil. I don’t believe the place is evil or demonic or that there’s anything dangerous there. Most of the time it just felt peaceful. I think there’s a lot of imagination and psychology involved. I think if you go in to a big spooky place like this shivering with fear and anticipating being possessed by evil spirits, in your *head* you’re going to get an attachment and be followed home. The couple of people that I’ve met who claim that they were followed around by something while they were here were all people who were quivering with fear before they even set foot on the grounds. I think it’s in your head. Go in with a level head, and nothing can hurt you. Also, a lot of the stories about JFK Prep that you can find on the internet were written by teenagers and young kids who were trespassing, and I wouldn’t give them much credibility because they were after all just after a cheap thrill.

Midwest Preternatural Research are independent paranormal investigators located in Sheboygan, WI. To learn more about them and what they do, visit www.midwestpreternaturalresearch.com

The Arizona Paranormal Research Society: The RMS Queen Mary Investigative Reports

Note: This is the text from the reports submitted for this investigation. To see photos and listen to EVP recordings, visit this investigation’s page on their website.

Name: RMS Queen Mary
Location: Long Beach, California
Case# B-216
Date: 01/24-25/09
Weather conditions: Calm and overcast
Outside Temperature:64
Humidity: 32%
Wind: 0-3 mph
Moon: Waning Crescent
EMF Spikes: to 4.5
Geo. storm activity: normal
EMF baseline: 1.2
Time of arrival: 3:30am
Time of departure: 5:45am

Investigators: Frank Madrid, Lori Marshall, Gino Madrid, Randy Arbogast, Todd Bates, Michael Chappell, Brian Simpson and Matt Schulz.

Reason for investigation: Validation of reported Paranormal Activity

General Impressions:
When I walked into the 1rst class swimming pool area with just our team and without the addition of other people, it gave me kind of an eerie feeling as I looked around the room. Maybe it was the low level of light, maybe it was the quietness of the room when no one spoke or maybe it was the way our voices echoed when we did. Either way, the feeling accompanied me where ever I went. The swimming pool must have been a sight in it’s day. The ceramic tile and color scheme was beautiful as was the incredible mosaic tile on the ceiling. The changing room was dark and the stalls were small and intimate. The sound carried different in there and when you stand in a stall being very still and quiet, you begin to get an anxious “you’re not alone” feeling that makes you want to go back to the pool room.

I loved this place and wanted to get to work as we didn’t have much time. All equipment was set up very quickly and we proceeded to investigate. We had our custom made experimental energy emitting equipment and the HVI team had some as well, so it was a brief field testing investigation that we undertook.

What an opportunity we all had and we appreciated every second there.

Frank Madrid

Investigation Report

The Arizona Paranormal Research Society team, along with Todd, Michael, and Brian from Haunted Voices Investigations, and Matt from San Diego Ghost Hunters, arrived in the pool area about approximately 3:30am. We set up the TAzPRS energy emitting devices and turned them on while we finished getting our personal recording devices. Perhaps it was due to the salt water surrounding the ship, or maybe the spirits in that area didn’t need much energy, but within a few minutes I noticed a shadow running around on the upper deck. I turned to say something to the rest of the team, but when I did I saw everyone else looking up and pointing at the upper deck because they were seeing what I was seeing. Frank started an EVP session, so we were all doing our best to be still and quiet, but I couldn’t help myself from going upstairs where I had seen the shadow. After I got upstairs, I looked across the pool to the other side and saw the shadow walking across. I was taking pictures as fast as my flash would allow me, but it seemed that wherever I went, the shadow would be across from me walking across the deck. I called to Randy to come up and we stood shoulder to shoulder snapping pictures in all directions. It was decided to take a break since one of the team had to leave in order to catch his flight home, but before we left, Randy and I placed our video cameras on the ground and left them recording. Unfortunately, my camera, for some reason, didn’t focus properly, so all I got from that was a dark picture. When we got back, we did more EVP sessions, and from that point on I didn’t see the shadow anymore. We investigated for about 2 hours then packed it up and returned to our rooms.

Side notes: During the day, Michael, Brian, Randy and I went exploring. Although the ship has a way of making you feel very small, I didn’t get any feelings of anything paranormal. That is, until we went into a small room that encompassed one of the propellers. The room was added to the side of the ship and there was sea water in it. As soon as we entered that room, my heart started beating really fast and I started shaking. The room was not overly small, and I have never been claustrophobic in the least. Yet there I was, shaking and sweating. It was overwhelming. Randy, Michael, and Brian also reported feeling strange in that room, and Randy even told me to get away from the rail I was leaning on. I asked him why and he said, I don’t know, but I think you should get away from it. I definitely think that room deserves more attention next year.

Also, upon returning to our room, Frank got dizzy and nearly fell on the floor. Luckily he made it to the bed. Randy grabbed the Geiger Counter off of the table in the center of the room and got a reading of 1.5 rads. NEVER, have we gotten a reading on the Geiger Counter before that, and shortly afterwards, it dissipated and Frank started feeling better. Randy and I took Frank out for some air and Lori stayed behind. While the three of us were outside talking to Todd, Lori came out and reported an experience she had in the room while she was talking to what she felt was a woman in the room. She told us that as she was talking, the bed started shaking and that she felt that it was a spirit trying to scare her. Randy and I had enough at that point and we went in to “encourage” the spirit to leave the room for the night. I feel that every spirit has a right to be wherever it likes, but when it attacks one of the team and puts them in danger, I take exception. After capturing it in “the net” we told the spirit that it needed to leave the room for the night and that we would be gone in the morning so it could come back then, but for the time we were there, it needed to find somewhere else to go. Randy held the door open and I turned “the net” off and Randy felt a cold breeze go past him. We had no more trouble for the rest of our stay.

In Closing: I would like to thank Todd Bates of HVRN for inviting us to come along and help with the conference. Meeting him, along with Michael and Brian was a great experience. Special thanks to Matt of SDGH for his professionalism and help during the investigation. Finally, Thank you Pat and Brian of Beyond Investigation Magazine for allowing us to come along, hosting Ghost Fest III, and giving us permission to investigate.

Gino Madrid
T.Az.P.R.S. Adminstrator/Investigator and Assistant Technical Director

We arrived at the Queen Mary on Jan 23, 2009 at 7:30p.m. Upon arriving, we met up with Todd, Mike, and Brian from Haunted Voices Investigations. A little later, we met Matt from San Diego Ghost Hunters. After dinner, we went up to top deck, where we started investigating.

I started getting EMF spikes near a working exhaust vent. After further investigating, we seem to have made contact with the spirit of a little girl by the name of Ellen. We asked several questions and received several answers through our equipment. We then proceeded to the front of the ship where Brian was testing the equipment that he had developed (they worked very well). We worked our way back to the exhaust vent and had asked more yes and no questions. we were still getting answers on the EMF, K-2, TriField EMF meter and TriField Natural EMF meter. We continued this session for a little while longer until our exhaustion set in, so we then decided to call it a night and went back to our room to rest.

Saturday, we got up and had breakfast with Todd and his crew. Gino, Michael and I then proceeded back to the top deck afterward and again made contact with the little girl during the morning, which was awesome.

Afterward, while exploring the ship, we found a small cubby hole behind the main engine room. Gino, Michael, Brian and I started our recorders and asked questions. Michael and I heard a “no” response to one of our questions. Later on, we moved over into the propeller room where instantly Gino felt very strange as did Brian and I. Michael indicated that he obtained an EMF spike as he walked in. I kept getting the feeling as not to get too close to the railing that separated us from the propeller. I could see that Gino was sweating, as if something was really bothering him. About that time, Michael sat his EMF meter down. Brian said “take my picture” as he got a hit on his device. I took the picture at that time but there with nothing paranormal captured in the picture. Soon after, we all felt a breeze go past us. As we journeyed through to the engine room, no EMF spikes or EVP were recorded at that time. We investigated the whole area and decided to take a break afterward that night.

While waiting in our room, Frank felt a dizziness sideways feeling while sitting on the bed in our room, I hurried and gave him some Motrin before he started to pass out. At this time Lori and I knew something was trying to drain him of his energy. Gino and I took him out of the room while Lori stayed in the room. Frank felt better as we got off of the ship. Lori came out after a few minutes. She made sure Frank was alright and told us of what happened after we took Frank out of the room. As she was laying the law down to the spirit that attacked Frank, the bed started to shake. She wasn’t scared but was angry at the spirit and waited for something else to happen. After a bit, the bed stopped shaking and she came out of the room to check on Frank and then told us what happened. It was then that Gino and I went in to regulate!

We turned on our audio recorders and set up three of our experimental devices, but didn’t turn them on just yet. We set up various meters as well, which started to fluctuate as we were asking questions of why it was attacking one of our team members. Gino and I gave it the third degree and then turned on one of the devices, a few seconds later another. We gave it some more hell and told it to leave the room as we turned on the third device. We let the final device do its job for a bit and soon after I went over to the door and opened it. We kept two of the devices on and turned the other one off. Gino said “now leave the room and don’t come back while we were staying there!” After he said that, he turned off the last device (the net) and I soon felt a wisp of cold air blast past me and out the door. We left the room and went to smoke and check on Frank who was feeling back to his old self again.

Todd had asked us to take some people around the ship as he and Frank went on the Ghost Fest tour. We took them up to the top deck to see if we could make contact with the little girl again. We did in fact make contact again and started to ask her questions. I had asked her if she could make all of our hands cold as we all put our hands close together. There was no change in temperature. At one point, one of the people we were showing around said he felt the sensation of hair moving across his hand. I did too, it was a rush! After communicating with “Elle” for a while, we walked to the stern of the ship and asked questions for recording EVP to no avail. After us giving the tour, we went back to the room where we stayed and rested until the next Ghost Fest tour.

We went on the last Ghost Fest tour of the evening and afterward (3am) we had the pool area to ourselves. We did our set up in record time as we didn’t have much time left. Not 5 minutes after turning all of our devices on, we all were seeing shadows on upper area collectively. We conducted an EVP session, asking numerous questions. Just before we went on break, I set up my camera on the upper level aimed down the corridor towards the stern. Upon reviewing the tape, no shadows were recorded but did record on camera audio some weird sounds like clicking and something being dropped near the camera. After break, we asked more questions but the room felt inactive so we turned off the devices and continued to ask more questions.

I had my recorder in a Faraday cage at the “slide” end of pool and audio from my camera as well as another recorder. No conclusive evidence was captured in still photos or video but I did get lots of interactions with the little girl with meter spikes on video.

All in all I would say the ship is haunted.

Randy Arbogast
T.Az.P.R.S. Case Manager/Investigator and Technical Director

The T.Az.P.R.S. team arrived at the RMS Queen Mary around 7:30pm on Friday January 23, 2009. We were anticipating meeting the Haunted Voices Investigation team. Todd Bates and Michael Chappell came down from the ship to the front entrance where we were and there was hand shakes and hugs all around. It was truly incredible meeting them for the first time and our previous phone conversations finally had the faces behind them. Our van was loaded to the ceiling and the Queen Mary staff was very helpful in loading up their carts and taking our equipment to our room.

Later on, we met with HVRN Equipment Developer- Brian Simpson and had a great dinner and later, met with tech manager, investigator and sdGH webmaster- Matt Schulz from San Diego Ghost Hunters. These are a great set of people with backgrounds in the technological and paranormal investigative field and we couldn’t be happier to have met them all.

Todd became ill and was encouraged to set the first round of the speaking engagement out so he rested while the rest of us had dinner and explored the ship. We made our way to the top deck where we laid out our meters on a railing and started having, what seemed to be, interaction with a spirit. This continued for a while and was captured on video. We then proceeded to the bridge side lookouts where Brian’s new equipment items that he had developed were tested and was deemed successful. After such a long drive and staying up late, we were exhausted and decided to call it a night and went back to our room and rested until morning. The next morning, I woke up and noticed that Gino and Randy were gone from the room. Lori was still asleep so I looked out of the portal and there was a fog over the water that looked cool so I started to shoot video. No sooner than when I stopped shooting. I heard a woman’s laugh whispered right in my left ear. I turned to look at Lori but she was still asleep. I thought it was cool and started to get ready for breakfast when Randy and Gino came back in the room. Randy had explained that earlier he had heard a woman’s voice and laughter in the room. We exchanged stories and found it to be quite strange that we both heard a woman in our room very early that morning. Breakfast was indeed a feast. Afterward, we all split up and gave ourselves a walking tour throughout the ship. This was very enjoyable and relaxing for each of us. Soon, it was lunchtime and while in line at the deli, we came across fellow investigators from S.C.O.O.P.S.. It was a pleasure to meet founder Lorraine Sullivan and her team. Lori and I left the ship to purchase supplies for the investigation later that evening, taking in the sights of Long Beach, a city where I had lived as a child. After a couple of hours, we returned to the ship and went to the room where Randy and Gino were resting.

I believe I then experienced a “psychic attack”. I suddenly felt dizzy, nauseous and thought I was going to throw up and pass out. My vision seemed to turn sideways and I started to feel lethargic as well. I fell back onto the bed and if was hard to think of anything. After a bit, Randy and Gino helped me out of the room and off of the ship while Lori stayed behind, angry at whoever was responsible. As she was addressing the spirit in the room, she felt the bed starting to shake to and fro. Lori continued to express herself and after a bit, the bed stopped shaking and she went outside to find out how I was and to relay what had happened in the room. I was feeling much better, as if nothing had happened. Randy and Gino stated that they were going back to the room to take care of the situation. I had asked them to record the event on my recorder that was on the table in the room and there were EVP recorded. They broke out with the equipment that we know is a deterrent to spirits and went to work ridding the room of this negative spirit.

It was reported that at the end of this “session”, the door was opened to the room and the spirit was told to leave and not return until we were gone the next day. A rush of cold air was felt whooshing out of the room.

We never did have any further problems in the room! It was finally time for the “Ghost Fest 3” lectures and tours to begin and I attended the first one while the rest of the team took a small group to the upper deck where they had established electronic communication with a spirit earlier.

Todd was one of the speakers there with Michael chappell assisting him and I had a back stage pass with Pat Wheelock, Brian Patton, Jerry Reynolds and a few others. The lectures were very informative and some basic equipment was handed out to the lecture guests and we were off to the depths of the ship.

The tour was great and I just couldn’t believe the size of the inner belly of this grand vessel. One area of the tour looked vaguely familiar and I remembered a scene from a movie from the ’70’s called “The Poseidon Adventure” where Gene Hackman’s character fell to his demise after hanging from a large valve, turning it off as to let the rest of the passengers continue their journey to be saved. That scene was filmed there aboard the Queen Mary. What a rush! The last part of the tour took us to the swimming pool area where everyone was cut loose to investigate on their own. The swimming pool looked smaller than what I’ve seen on the “Ghosts and Legends of the Queen Mary” web cam but that soon changed after being in there for a few minutes. The area was dimly lit and had an eerie feel to it. The echo was immense but tolerable. We all had a great time listening to Pat tell us all about the area we were in. Afterward we made our way back to the lecture area. On the second tour, we were joined by the rest of the team and once again was off to the innards of the ship. One just can’t get enough of the amazing creation that stands before them on these tours.

On the way back, the T.Az.P.R.S. team along with HVI brought up the rear, watching for lagging guests. We were the last to exit the huge staircase, making our way to the door when I looked up and saw a man standing at the top of the stairs looking down at us, then pull back out of sight. I was going to go up the stairs to get, what I assumed was a stray guest, him back to the group. When I had mentioned that I saw someone up there, everyone that was downstairs indicated that there was no one lagging behind as they were watching everyone in the group ahead of us.

I don’t know who it was I saw standing there in dark clothing, but he was out of sight very quickly. Approximately 3am, the tours were over and it was time to investigate the swimming pool area. We didn’t have time on our side so we hurried back to our room and started getting our necessary equipment together for transport to the swimming pool area. As soon as we arrived to the swimming pool area, (approximately 3:30am), we began running power and setting up our recording devices as well as experimental energy emitting equipment.

We had a new device that our tech director Randy Arbogast had developed and we were anxious to see what results would be obtained from it adding energy to the environment of the pool area. Minutes after all devices were in place and powered up, we were collectively seeing shadows in the upper levels, peeking in at us and darting behind the pillars. There seemed to be one shadow in particular that was getting our attention the most, but unfortunately, they all seemed to escape being caught on camera or video.

We all heard Todd make a “surprised” noise as he stated that he felt hands grab his butt, lifting him to the point of moving him forward. He looked around and the only people near him was Lori, who was 12 feet away to his left sitting in a chair, and Randy, who was 12 feet to his right sitting in a chair as well. It was not humanly possible for anyone to do that to Todd as we all were very still. Lori says “the look on his face was priceless!”

After witnessing all of the shadows collectively, we started an EVP session by the pool’s slide area. We did hear some responses with our own ears collectively and managed to obtain many very good EVP responses to our questions.

One humorous point was when we were seeing the shadows moving in all different areas on the upper area of the pool, Gino went up there to investigate, unnoticed by us all as we were concentrating on the other areas being very quiet. As we all stood by the pool slide looking at the upper deck, Gino quietly steps around one of the pillars and we all saw him at the same time startling us all. It was a hilarious moment, one we won’t forget for some time. We soon took a break, left the recorders run while we were gone and recorded some strange sounds that were not from us. We returned and continued our evp session and investigated throughout the entire pool area until it was starting to break dawn. Once again, the theory of our changing the environmental energy attributes were successful and before too long, it was time to pack up and leave this wonderfully active area. It was a great time all around. Meeting and working with these great people was a fantastic experience that I look forward to doing again. The T.Az.P.R.S. team I could not have been more proud of. Thanks Lori, Gino and Randy. Thanks Todd, Michael, Brian, Matt.

Frank Madrid
President/Founder T.Az.P.R.S
And
Lori Marshall
Vice President/Co-founder Public Relations Mgr. T.Az.P.R.S.

About T.Az.P.S.:
Formerly known as “The Arizona Paranormal Society” (T.Az.P.S.), “The Arizona Paranormal Research Society” is an experienced paranormal investigation organization based out of central Arizona. Since 2006, we have been proud to have served and helped many clients throughout the entire state of Arizona free of charge. We bring to each client our experience, compassion and our understanding of what situation the client may be experiencing in the home.

To learn more visit: www.tazps.com.