Note that paranormal gear is quickly evolving and this information only expresses my personal opinion as of September 2010. It’s very likely that superior products will come out not long after, so if you’re looking for gear advice, make sure it’s timely!

The Digital Voice Recorder

For my part, easily the most invaluable piece of equipment to today’s paranormal investigator is the digital voice recorder. EVPs are shockingly common during investigations and arguably have the potential to be more convincing than any other form of evidence we are able to capture with today’s technology. Before acquiring any other gear, I strongly recommend picking up a good, dependable voice recorder.

So what should one look for when picking up an entry level recorder? Here are my thoughts:

• Reasonably high recording quality – When comparing recording quality, there are really two specs to look at. The first is bit rate, which measures how much information is captured over time as you record, and kind of determine how “rich” the sound will be when you play it back. Like anything, there are differing opinions as to what is acceptable here, but as a rule, I would say that the highest bit rate supported should be at least 128kbps for an entry-level device.In addition to bit rate, you’ll also want to look at the sampling frequency response range, which tells you how much of the audio spectrum the device is capable of capturing. I’ve heard several sources claim that most EVPs occur in the 150 HZ to 4000 HZ range of the audio spectrum, but since we’re only working in theory still, I’d advise you to get as wide a frequency range as possible so as to not miss anything. Note that, since most digital voice recorders are not created specifically for use by paranormal investigators, some of the more expensive devices have fairly narrow ranges and don’t always make them easy to find on their packaging, so it’s important to take a hard look at specs before making a purchase. When in doubt, check the manufacturer’s website.One last comment on quality – It probably goes without saying, but on devices that have multiple quality settings, you should always try to use the highest quality setting so as to capture the richest and cleanest sound possible.
• Easy PC connectivity – I’m guessing that you’ll want to be able to get your files uploaded and edited without too much hassle, so a USB port is a must. This is a feature that is often taken for granted, but it’s surprising how many digital voice recorders on the market today to not have USB connectivity. Always double-check.Also, if the voice recorder stores data in a commonly used audio format like .mp3 or .wav, it will probably save you some extra conversion time when you’re ready to upload.
• Adequate storage space – Depending on how often you are using your device and how often you are able to upload and review your evidence, this may or may not be a significant consideration for you, but nevertheless it’s a factor to consider. Most voice recorders on the market today – even the lowest end models – hold dozens of hours of audio, and when you consider the average investigation probably runs under 8 hours, it’s hard to find one that doesn’t meet this criteria. Note that the sound quality setting has a big impact on storage space, however, and that a recorder advertised as capable of holding hundreds of hours of audio may hold exponentially less at high quality settings. As a rule, 1GB is adequate and 2GB is pretty good.
• Optional features – A jack for an external mic can be extremely useful in reducing noise from handling and allowing for much more precise recording locations. A safety lock or “hold” toggle switch can be invaluable in preventing any accidental button presses. Also, a stereo input jack can be useful for experimenting with directional data.

My personal recommendation for an entry level investigator: Sony ICD-PX820 Digital Voice Recorder (Currently about $50 on Amazon as of Sept. 2010)

This probably isn’t the cheapest model you can scrape by with, but the extra money is absolutely worth it in this case since this device will likely be seeing continuous use during your investigations. The ICD-PX820 supports recording of Super High Quality (192 kbps) audio, and claims a sampling frequency response range of 75-20,000HZ which is exceptional for what it is. Its 2GB internal flash memory holds over 22 hours of highest quality audio, which is enough for 2-3 lengthy investigations. In addition, uploading and editing files is fairly cut-and-dry thanks to native .mp3 format recording support and a drag-and-drop interface. Overall this is a great product at an appealing price with some added features that really make it stand out as a great investment for a budding paranormal investigator.

I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any thoughts!

Location: The Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, PA

I’ll say one thing about TAPS and co. – they know how to book great investigation locations! A paranormal investigation at the oldest zoo in America is a proposition that could get any investigator’s blood pumping. With all the thousands (millions?) of different people and animals that have passed through that place, one would imagine that energy and activity there are deeply ingrained and profoundly unique. For that reason, I would venture to say that the Philadelphia Zoo is one of the most innovative and compelling locations that any paranormal group has investigated to date.

That said, I felt like the zoo didn’t really get its fair shake. Blame the editing team, but this episode continued a disconcerting trend that I picked up on last week as well: The opening minutes focused solely on showcasing claims and didn’t detail any casual history that might explain why these things are happening. Beyond mentioning that the zoo was possibly built on an Indian burial ground (as these places often are), I didn’t note any mention of historical context that could support the rather bland (IMHO) claims. The importance of this, as I mentioned last week, is admittedly in the eye of the beholder, but generally the history of each location is the most interesting aspect for me personally. Like the Otesaga, there’s not much documentation on the zoo’s supposed paranormal activity online either, so going into the investigation the viewer is left with an unfortunately shallow picture of the Philly Zoo as a haunted locale.

On a related note, for a location so intrinsically linked with animals, I was disappointed and surprised that there was no talk whatsoever of animal spirits! All of the claims reported were attributed to human spirits, and TAPS didn’t really mention or comment on the potential for animal spirits (If I recall, Grant asked Kris about it during the drive-up briefing and got a chuckle in response). I guess if there is no history of animal-related claims, then it is what it is, but I feel like there was a bit of a missed opportunity to provide some authoritative commentary on one of the most highly-contended types of paranormal phenomena at a venue where it would seem most appropriate.

Areas investigated include:

• The Solitude (the oldest building on the site, dating back to 1784 and kept close to its original state for the purpose of hosting tours. The basement contains an old tunnel-like area.)
• The Treehouse (a building filled with larger-than-life, kid-friendly exhibits)
• The Shelly Building (office space)
• The Penrose Building (office space)

Reported activity includes:

• Audio phenomena (mainly voices and footsteps)
• Apparitions
• Lights turning on and off
• Cold spots

The Investigation

The Solitude.

The investigation started off well with Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson working to debunk an apparition that had been seen through a plexiglass window in the lobby of the Shelly building. While trying to replicate the effect reported, they heard the loud slam of a distant door shutting. Though they were unable to find the cause immediately, their client later commented that it sounded like one of the gates outside, effectively debunking the sound. The duo later have some experiences in the Solitude; at one point they claim to hear voices and music in the tunnel, and at another point Grant claims to see their thermal camera get knocked down a few steps on the stairwell leading to the attic by an unseen force.

While J&G appeared to have several substantial personal experiences, TAPS’ duo of relative newbies Britt Griffith and KJ McCormick didn’t seem to have a whole lot of luck during this investigation. They started off in the offices of the Penrose building with a pretty fruitless session, the high point of which was a brief cold spot and a sound that was later debunked as a computer hard drive. They later come a little closer to witnessing activity in the Solitude, where they claim to hear humming in the basement and then a door slamming upstairs, but never encounter anything too dramatic.

TAPS’ female investigators Kris Williams and Amy Bruni started by hitting the Treehouse to do some audio, and when they attempt to get spirits to finish the “shave and a haircut” knock, they get a pretty consistent response multiple times, but they cannot locate any possible cause. Later the ladies are in the tunnel below the Solitude and we see Kris react as if something touched her hair. This may be paranormal, but it seemed like it could just as easily be debunked as a cobweb or insect.

The Evidence

Although the team seemed to have a decent number of personal experiences during their investigation, they didn’t turn up with any compelling evidence beyond a handful of B-class or lower EVP’s and some video of unexplainable thumps and bumps. They debunked a lot of what happened, but despite that fact and the lack of solid evidence, Jay and Grant still showed a lot of enthusiasm about the place as a haunted locale as the episode concluded.

In Closing

When I first saw the teaser trailer for this episode, I had all these images pop up in my head of TAPS walking into vacated animal exhibits to hold audio sessions and trying innovative methods to provoke the spirits of animals and zoo keepers that died there tragically. I know I got a little out of hand with my imagination, but I did expect something a little less pedestrian than office space and an (admittedly creepy) underground tunnel.  I enjoyed the episode and am always excited to see TAPS trying to branch out to different types of venues for their investigations, but I felt like this episode just didn’t quite deliver on its potential.

Next Week: TAPS is investigating the 1875 Inn in Tilton, NH and the Shippen Manor in Oxford, NJ.

It’s only late August, and my preternaturally patient wife is doing an outstanding job of putting up with me asking whether or not the Halloween decorations are out yet every time she runs out to the local department store. I can’t help it though, this season energizes me unlike any other time of the year. The crisp Autumn breeze, the crunch of flame-hued leaves, the pumpkin pie and apple cider, the subtly mystical feeling in the air… I’ve always loved Halloween above all other holidays, and it seems the older I get the more I appreciate it, especially now that I’ve got a wife and little ones to share it with.

On this fine Friday afternoon, I’d like to talk about Halloween movies, so I hope you’ll forgive my indulgent departure from the strictly paranormal subject matter. Now, I’m not really a slasher film type of guy, and I do love a certain flavor of horror movies, but I will confess that one of my biggest pleasures around Halloween time is kicking back with some popcorn and apple cider to watch family-friendly Halloween movies with my boys. To kick off the season a little early, I thought I would share this list of my personal favorite family-friendly films for the spookiest time of the year. Enjoy!

5. The Haunted Mansion

Perhaps it’s my Disney World nostalgia or the dearth of big-budget Halloween movies, but I’ve gotten to where I really have a fondness for the Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy. I’ll be first to admit that it’s a really flawed film that doesn’t quite work in many ways - poor Eddie Murphy’s attempts at humor are nearly as lifeless as the spooks themselves – but the movie’s redemption lies within the mansion itself, which is chock full of delightfully ghoulish inhabitants and spooky set pieces (many of which have been ripped directly from the titular Disney World attraction). While I know this movie certainly has its detractors, the Haunted Mansion is nevertheless a frequent guilty pleasure for my family and I, and I am nearly literally frothing at the mouth for the supposedly darker, Guillermo del Toro-helmed reboot that has been recently announced.

4. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Forget about Mr. Toad. The real reason for the inclusion of this double-feature is the retelling of the chilling Washington Irving classic, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It’s not very long, but seeing it again evokes many special memories of my childhood. Bing Crosby’s unmistakable voice is perfect for the spooky narration, and Ichabod is portrayed as a wimpy, 18^th century geek prototype, which makes his harrowing experiences all the more hilarious. I also love the more adult-oriented Tim Burton retelling of the Sleepy Hollow legend, but for pure nostalgic adrenaline, nothing beats the final chase sequence of this animated classic.

3. The Corpse Bride

What “Best of Halloween Movies” list would be complete without an offering from the cobweb-riddled mind of Tim Burton? This pre-Twilight paranormal romance is about as close as any movie has come to a bonafide flagship film for the Goth crowd. Highlights of this unique film include a stirring score from Danny Elfman and a stellar voice cast that includes several of Burton’s usual cohorts like Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The ironic contrast between the mournfully drab, Gothic Victorian world of the living and the colorful, New Orleans-inspired underworld is pure brilliance. My boys aren’t quite as big on this movie because of its somewhat sluggish first act, but I really like it, even moreso than the ever-lauded Nightmare Before Christmas.

2. Hocus Pocus

I have a strangely unfounded affection for the city of Salem, Massachusetts despite never having actually been there, so it’s only natural that I would also come to love a Halloween movie set there. Besides, what other kid-friendly Halloween movie can boast a zombie with Robert Smith hair named Billy Butcherson? Now as a rule I’m not usually big on any of the female leads in this film (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy), but they all offer up unforgettably quirky performances as the Sanderson sisters, a trio of witches brought back from the grave when a virgin lights a mystical candle in their house. It’s a toiling and troubling riot, at least until your first grader asks you what a virgin is.

1. Halloweentown

Forgive this movie for its silly plot, made-for-Disney-Channel budget, and goofy dialogue, for it embodies the essence of Halloween condensed into celluloid format. This movie tells the story of a Halloween-obsessed girl named Marnie Piper who is whisked away by her witchy grandmother Aggie (played with impish glee by Debbie Reynolds) to Halloweentown, a place where every day is Halloween. This film doesn’t try to take itself seriously in any way, and that’s why it’s so much fun – it puts the focus on the childlike wonder and spectacle of Halloween in its purest form, and what it lacks in special effects, it makes up for with heart.  The three sequels get progressively worse with each successive iteration, but the original Halloweentown is a classic for the ages, at least in my family’s book.

So there you have it, my personal selection for my five favorite Halloween family films of all time! What are some of your favorites?

(Depending on how well this review is received, I may or may not do more of these episode reviews, so please let me know if you enjoyed/disliked reading this!)

The Location

For the midseason premiere of the show, producers picked a uncharacteristically lesser known venue to return with. Built in 1911, the Otesaga Resort Hotel in Cooperstown, NY (also home to the Baseball Hall of Fame, by the way) is a beautiful and stately location, but one that is relatively obscure and does not seem best known for its purported hauntings. Online research turns up scant few details on paranormal phenomena at the Otesaga, and the limited information that is available seems rather long on claims and short on causal historic events to back them up. This impression seemed to be supported during the walkthrough portion of the show, as the host had plenty of claims to report from guests but very little in the way of actual history.

The combination of a somewhat undefined history and an appetite for tourists makes me a little apprehensive about taking this place seriously as a legitimately haunted locale, but admittedly, the theory that a location requires a dramatic history to be haunted is just that – a theory, and even if it were true, there could be history tied to the land as well. The city of Cooperstown is reportedly haunted enough to have a candlelit ghost tour, so maybe there’s something in the water there?

Anyway, the Otesaga really does look to be a charming and inviting resort, so I can certainly see a person falling in love with it and forming attachments to it that last beyond death, but nevertheless the lack of significant, documented historical context makes this place a somewhat difficult venue to get truly excited about straight out the gates.

Reported activity includes:

• Sounds of phantom children running around the third floor
• Noises heard above the fifth floor (above is the roof)
• Piece of molding from the wall “shooting out” at a guest
• Shadow people
• Ball of light in the ballroom
• Assorted other phenomena

The Investigation

Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson kicked things off in the ballroom, where a ball of light had reportedly been seen. They spent some time talking about light reflection off of the chandelier and windows, which I thought was a feasible explanation, and I was happy to see them trying to debunk a little bit. Their investigation continued with some audio phenomenon that sounded like physical manipulation – slamming of doors or something similar – but they were unable to find the cause. They headed up to the fifth floor and saw their K2 meter spike rapidly in the room where movement was reportedly heard above them, and lo and behold, they did hear a dragging sound above them as their K2 lit up. They didn’t talk much about possible mundane explanations, although from my perspective this sound could easily be explained by a critter on the rooftop.

Meanwhile, Kris Williams and Amy Bruni were in a room on the third floor where a an apparition was reportedly seen walking from the bathroom to sit on the bed, and they decided to try and appeal to the children spirits heard on that floor by playing a music box and asking the spirits to turn on their flashlights. I have to admit, I have a hard time when they start doing the “turn on the flashlights” trick. If I recall, TAPS first started experiencing this phenomena a couple seasons ago and now it seems like they get spirits to turn their flashlights on and off on command every investigation, to the point where it’s not really a shock anymore when it happens. We had this phenomena happen once (to my knowledge) in PINK and when it happened it was a pretty big deal. Now, TAPS might have some greater attunement to the spirits, better locations, or whatever, but it seems weird to me that Amy and Kris seemed so unimpressed by this significant phenomena occurring for them repeatedly on demand.

After this session, the female duo spent some time on the fifth floor and experienced some possible audio phenomena coming from room 585. Shortly thereafter, a camera man thought he saw a shadow move into that same room during an OTF (on the fly) interview with Kris, so the investigators followed into that room where Amy heard a strange whimpering sound on the bed that was also audible to viewers. This was an interesting audio clip, as it did not quite sound human.

Elsewhere in the hotel, Britt Griffith and relative newbie K.J. McCormick had some personal experiences of their own. While working with a laser grid on the fifth floor, they experienced some technical interference and both of them saw what appeared to be shadow people darting into doorways. After following one such shadow into a room, Britt heard a voice behind him while standing near a closet. I appreciated the fact that they tried to be more active in their pursuit of spirits, trying to seek out the sources of the sounds they’re hearing rather than standing around asking further questions; it’s a nice contrast to Kris and Amy’s more conversational approach.

After the investigation, Amy and Kris stayed the night in one of the more haunted rooms to try and capture additional activity, although the only potentially significant thing to happen was the closet door opening off camera. Wisely, the group did not pay much credence to this as evidence.

Interesting tidbit – the show clearly presents the investigation as occurring during a single Tuesday night, but according to a local news source, TAPS investigated the Otesaga for two weeks. That’s probably commonplace for them, but I wonder why they feel like they need to portray the investigation in a different way?

The Evidence

Flashlight footage notwithstanding, pretty much everything TAPS captured was audio phenomena. Besides some unexplained thumps and bumps, they got the clip of the weird whimpering behind Amy from room on the fifth floor, and also on that floor they captured a decent EVP when Britt heard a voice in the closet behind him. TAPS seemed convinced that the voice was saying “Amy” as in Amy Bruni, but I clearly heard “Mommy”, which I think might be a more appropriate thing to say if the spirits in that hotel really are children as claimed.

Jay and Grant felt that the Otesaga was indeed haunted, and that any spirits there were probably benign entities that just really liked the place. Based on their evidence, I would hesitantly agree with their assessment, and lean more toward residual energy as an explanation since nothing they encountered really showed signs of direct awareness (excepting that dang flashlight!).

In Closing

I found this to be a decently entertaining (if not particularly memorable) episode. While there was nothing really exceptional about the location’s history or evidence captured, I felt like the team did a solid job investigating and the various styles of each duo were showcased well. I really need to be convinced about those flashlights, though!

Incidentally, next week’s investigation of the oldest zoo in the U.S. looks straight up BANGIN’.

In the second case, our clients had reported several occasions when they overheard family members having conversations in other rooms when they weren’t even in the house. Interestingly enough, during our investigation in that house this past Friday, I heard our group leader talking in the basement only to find out after I called down to him that he had actually been in a room adjacent to me on the first floor.  

Surprisingly, I have not been able to track down a lot of documentation on this phenomenon. However, in his book “Shadow World”, esteemed para researcher Brad Steiger does talk about a type of entity he classifies as a spirit mimic, which a review on his website describes thusly:

Spirit Mimics: Beings that assimilate a solid form, sometimes mimicking known living people, some just assimilating people. They often mimic human form and voices, but usually speak in outdated lingo and have strange mannerisms.

This seems to be a close approximation of what we’ve experienced, although it seems that we’ve only noted audible experiences and not visual thus far.

An alternative explanation might be that the phenomenon is not caused by an intelligent entity at all – perhaps the places where these events occur are particularly prone to capturing residual energy, and tend to record and replay events at random. If this were the case, it would seem to go against the popular theory that residual events are caused by trauma or repetition, since I heard my colleague being impersonated during his first time in the house. On the other hand,  much of the other activity reported in these locations (particularly the first) seemed residual,  so a proclivity for this type of energy makes sense.

At any rate, I’d like to learn a little more this phenomenon and what others have experienced. Have you encountered a similar phenomenon? Care to speculate at another possible explanation?

I won’t waste time detailing the building’s storied and fascinating history, as there are better places to educate yourself on that. If you aren’t familiar with Waverly, I highly recommend you head over to the official site and read the write-up there, as this place really deserves a better historical synopsis than I can provide. I will caution you that there is some really wild misinformation about Waverly out there, even when it comes to the paranormal activity that has been witnessed there.

Jumping right in, we arrived on time around 8:00 p.m., and were scheduled to investigate for 8 hours, from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. There were 14 of us in all, 7 of us being PINK investigators and 7 friends and/or family, and we had reserved the building exclusively for our party.

Forgive the triteness of the phrase, but the pictures in no way do this place justice – the sense of scale is startling. When you drive up that wooded hill and catch your first glimpse of the sanatorium, it really does instill a sense of awe and reverence at the history and decrepit majesty of the place. You can clearly see the renovation taking place in many parts of the building, with brand new windows installed in a good portion of the building, which is heartening to see.

The onsite staff (including co-owner Tina Mattingly herself) greeted us in the separate building that served as a gift shop & meeting hall just outside the sanatorium. Even this building itself was fascinating and covered with historical relics and photographs from Waverly’s earlier days. Interestingly, I learned that the only way to enter the building now is through an underground tunnel that connects the outside building to the sanatorium; due to vandals, all of the building’s originally entrances had been heavily padlocked and boarded up.

After setting up a base camp of sorts, we started out with a walk around the building’s perimeter, which served as an apt prelude to our investigation. Again, the sense of Waverly’s sheer size is somewhat overwhelming, and as we walked we were able to peer into the windows to catch glimpses of the aged and (in some cases) vandalized rooms inside. The outer walls were an interesting dichotomy of decay and rebirth – in some places, newly restored windows gleamed in white frames, while in other windows a thick network of vines gave the appearance that nature had reclaimed the building as her own. Each window seemed to tell a different, tragic story, and the building was positively mesmerizing to look at.
Before venturing in for our tour of the building, our tour guide stopped to mention that the previous night another investigative group had rented out the place and someone got scratched, and apparently there was an entity being seen frequently as of late referred to as “the crawler” because it’s always seen crawling on the ceiling or floor. Tall tale or no, these tidbits ratcheted up our anticipation impossibly further.

We stopped to grab some gear from our base camp and, without further adieu, headed into Waverly Hills Sanatorium.

We walked down the long, humid underground tunnel and emerged on the first floor. Unique from the other floors, the first floor had been used as a local haunted house around Halloween time and the garish paintings and decorations used to that end had largely been left up. There were murals of phantom nurses, an empty coffin set up on a table, and even some rooms painted to look like ghost-riddled dungeons. The resultant effect was somewhat disorienting, but did not detract from the experience.

We took a few moments in some of the more notable rooms, including a tile-floored room with locker-like antechambers and the morgue, which was surprisingly small and only contained 2 body-drawers. One thing I might mention about the first floor is that it is dark, and by dark I mean seriously low visibility even during daylight hours. Unlike the upper floors, which are mainly open air and covered with windows everywhere you look, the first floor hallway doesn’t have many direct lines to windows, and to make matters worse, most of the walls were painted black. For me personally, when I was on the first floor but not within a few feet of my teammates, I felt an intense dread, perhaps more than on any other floor.

We headed up to the second floor, which had a drastically different feel. The first of the open air floors, the 2nd floor was pretty much a straight shot of a hallway compared to the first floor, with patient rooms on either side and an open air causeway on the back. The sun was setting and everything was bathed in a beautiful golden light.

Not long after arriving on the second floor, we started to see a great deal of shadow movement. While piqued at first, we quickly realized that the setting sun was nestled in the treeline outside, and that the shadows were caused by the trees swaying in the breeze. I now would wager that a lot of the shadow activity that was reported in the building may have been caused by this as well.

After we swept through most of the building, we decided to start our sessions. Now, earlier on as we were concluding our initial walk of the building perimeter, our guide had remarked that the presences within Waverly were attuned to her and she could reliably coax them out if we needed her to. Since we weren’t getting much activity up to this point, our leader Mike suggested we test that theory, so we asked her to come in and sit in on some audio sessions with us to try and stir something up.
We all regrouped on the first floor in what was apparently the original gift shop, which turned out to be one of the rooms painted up to look like a dungeon. Our guide explained that one of the investigators who had been there the previous night had been scratched on the neck in that room, and that they suspected it to be a janitor who used to work at Waverly. We spent some time doing call and response with no real personal experiences, and then our group headed up to the second floor cafeteria with the guide while the 2nd group stayed behind to work the first floor. By that time, night had fully fallen outside, and even the upper floors were dark.

The cafeteria is a unique and somewhat daunting area of the sanatorium. It’s a wide open hall similar to a small gymnasium, devoid of furniture, with immense windows lining one wall. I’m not agoraphobic, but something about a cavernous, pitch-black is uniquely unsettling.
We took various positions in the room and I took up the dowsing rods for an EVP session. The rods were somewhat erratic, but I got a distinct impression that I was communicating with a little girl. She seemed confused, possibly caught up in her own time and unaware she was dead, like some kind of residual / intelligent hybrid. The energy felt weird, and inconsistent.
Now what happened next was possibly the most maddening moment of my paranormal career thus far. I had put the rods down and we were asking this child spirit to try and roll the ball on the floor before us. There was a flashlight on the ground point ahead of me, and on the other side my teammate had a flashlight beam crossing mine that was pretty much shining directly at me. Between us sat the ball, lit on both sides by the two flashlight beams. While we were verbally imploring this little girl to move the ball, I started seeing little sparks of pure white light out of the corner of my right eye. It was strange, but I assumed it was due to the flashlight reflecting from the many glass surfaces in the room. After this happened a third time, I turned my head to the right, and what I saw knocked the breath out of me.

Out of the wall facing the windows, I saw what I claimed at the time to be the distinct full body apparition of a little girl, blond hair with puffy princess sleeves, move quickly across the cafeteria only to dissipate near the windows. It was easily the most unsettling phenomenon I have ever witnessed – this figure didn’t move with a human gait, she moved quickly and smoothly in an unerringly straight path, almost as if she was on a conveyor belt.

I called out to the group, babbling and swearing as ice-cold goosebumps covered my skin. Ironically, even as I struggled to catch my breath and form words to explain what I had seen, I was already running scenarios through my mind to try to debunk and dismiss the image. I had a flashlight shining directly at my eyes at the time, I reasoned, and there were some white discolorations on the wall where the figure appeared to emerge. My final deduction ended up being that the light in my eyes and the white spots on the wall combined to a streaking effect when I turned my head, and by coincidence it ended up looking strikingly humanoid. It may be a stretch, but what I saw was sadly not unmistakable enough for me to bank my credibility on. The situation could not have been more frustrating, especially since I was the only one who saw anything; why can’t these apparitions just manifest directly in front of us?

As I came down from my adrenaline high, we finished up our otherwise uneventful EVP session and headed up to the fourth floor, where we set up for an EVP session in the hallway at the center of the floor. 

Now, I don’t know if spooking visitors was part of our guide’s job or if it was just her own genuine impressions, but she was barraging us with a literally nonstop string of claims, like “D’you see that peeking its head around that doorway?”, “Is someone in our group walking around over in that room?”, and “He’s got something moving by his feet”.

It was so dark that the eyes couldn’t focus properly and I could see how someone unaccustomed to a setting like this might be swayed to see things based on that fact, and I’m sure casual visitors and even amateur groups eat this stuff up, but to be honest our guide’s goading turned out to be a little much for me and at least a few others in my group. I don’t want to make the assumption that our guide was deliberately trying to provoke power-of-suggestion responses from us, but we didn’t experience any of the things she did.

After dwelling on the fourth floor for a while, we headed up to the fifth floor, where the rooftop solariums and the infamous room 502 are located. Speaking of the latter, it might have been because of my mindset at that point in the investigation and my apprehension at all the conflicting legends I had heard, but I found the room extremely unremarkable. It was much smaller than I had imagined, and was divided into a very small box-like chamber and what appeared to be an attached bathroom; I guess it actually would’ve been the bathroom window that the nurse would’ve had to jump from if that particular legend is true. Anyway, we didn’t spend a whole lot of time in 502; my group and I didn’t really feel any strong impressions so we moved on.

We took a short break on the solarium then headed down to the third floor, sans our guide, who went to help the other group.

What happened next, I’ll admit, was pretty terrifying, and I don’t say that lightly.

We set up for an EVP session at the center of the hall, and began asking questions in-character as if we were hospital staff. I decided to speak as if instructing patients on a breathing treatment, asking them to hold their breath while I counted, then release.

We started to hear what sounded like the shuffling of feet and clinking of plates down the hallway. It was LOUD, so much so that we called out to make sure the other group hadn’t decided to change their plans and come up from the first floor where they were investigating. When we got no response, we radioed them.

All seven plus the tour guide were on the first floor, 2 stories below us.

We radioed base camp next, and asked them about the potential for squatters or vandals. They said all entrances had been monitored and no breach had occurred.

At this point, I was pretty exhilarated. We still heard the plates clinking at a fairly regular interval, and even what sounded like the low murmur of voices. After a little coaxing, I continued to speak in character, again instructing patients on the breathing treatment.

The sounds continued, taunting us.

We kept on, and asked that the nurse or doctor came forth for an emergency. The sounds became even more dramatic than they already were, evolving into something more akin to knocking.and clanking. We radioed the other group and told them to come up on the double.
After they came up the sounds were still ongoing. Finally, we mustered the courage to venture down the hall to find the source of the sounds. Peering into each room, Mike announced that he had found the apparent source – there was a family of raccoons living in the ceiling in one of the rooms that had been rustling about. We all breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a strange mix of disappointment and skepticism – disappointment that we debunked what we thought was an incredible paranormal experience, and skepticism that we had debunked it all, that the well-defined sounds we thought we heard just came from raccoons.

A little dazed from the adrenaline high, we soon wrapped up our investigation in the sanatorium proper and concluded the evening with a jaunt into the so-called “death tunnel”, which was a long tunnel connected to the properly that was allegedly used to transport corpses. I found it to be more or less just as I expected it to be – long, dark, steep, and somewhat nondescript. We didn’t stay there long as it was more or less time for us to take our leave at that point, so shortly thereafter we departed.

It’s really difficult for me to surmise my thoughts on the experience into a few sentences. Surprisingly, I got no substantial evidence in any medium, nor did my teammates to my knowledge, which was a pretty big shock for me. Coupled with debunking of the sounds we heard during our tense session on the 3rd floor, I really should by all rights feel a little cheated. However, I knew there was more to that place when I walked through it. From the sense of dread on the first floor to that fleeting apparition I may or may not have seen, I feel like I still got a full experience from Waverly, and I am not disappointed even in the slightest. In fact, I can’t wait for my return visit next year, when hopefully I will return something more tangible.

My recommendations, if you go:

-Be mindful of the shadows cast by the forest outside

-Watch – and listen – for critters living in the ceilings/floors

-Don’t let the urban legends influence you, trust your senses and equipment

I’m two days away from my first investigation at Waverly Hills Sanatorium, purported to be one of the most haunted locations in the U.S. (the world?). I don’t have words to express how excited to finally get to walk the halls I’ve seen so many times now in various paranormal shows and documentaries. I suppose that this will be my first “one of the world’s most haunted” investigation, and I’m anxious to see just how different the experience is and whether or not it will live up to the mountains of hype.

My group was able to secure the whole building for a private overnight investigation. I believe there are about ten of us going, mainly PINK investigators with a few friends of the family going along as well so that we could meet the quota for a private investigation. I’m particularly happy that we will be a self-contained group, and can coordinate our locations so as to minimize cross-contamination of our evidence.

I suspect that the biggest challenge for me personally during the investigation will be separating that hype and my own expectations from the reality of what I’m dealing with. I somewhat lament the fact that I already have a good deal of preconceived notions about Waverly and its associated paranormal lore, but honestly it’s hard to be an investigator (let alone a Kentucky investigator) and not have some degree of knowledge about the place. I know the story of room 502, and the nurse who killed herself there. Then there’s the shadow people of the fourth floor, and Big Black. There’s the smell of food in the cafeteria. The little boy who likes to roll balls. I feel like I could practically write a book about the place, and I haven’t even been there yet!

This is a brand new scenario for me, as PINK favors private residence investigations and I generally walk into each investigation knowing absolutely nothing about what to expect. I would say that the risk is that the power of suggestion will, at some point, trick me into having an experience based on my own expectations, but I have a feeling that once I get there and I’m in the moment, my preconceptions will mean nothing.

Has anyone else ever had to deal with this at a notorious locale? Did you find that your own preconceptions hindered your experience, or did they help you focus on the most prevalent activity? I’ll be sure to share some thoughts upon my return. Wish me luck!

Without further adieu, here are my personal recommendations for 10 books for the budding ghost hunter’s bookshelf:

1. Ghost Hunter’s Guidebook: The Essential Guide to Investigating Ghosts & Hauntings by Troy Taylor

A basic primer for newbies, American Ghost Society founder Troy Taylor’s how-to offering  provides a solid foundation of philosophy and methodology for a fledgeling ghost hunter to set out with. This is a well-balanced book and probably the best of the multitude of “How to Ghost Hunt” books currently crowding the market – it’s authoritative without being preachy and technical without being opaque. As with any books of this nature, however, I would caution you not to view all of the author’s opinions and instructions as gospel – learn the basics, but give your own intuition some credit as well and develop your own conclusions over time.

2. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Rosemary Ellen Guiley is one of the most well-known and respected experts on the paranormal world, and this tome of is one of the most comprehensive and definitive paranormal works that have thus far been published. Not only does it contain an exhaustive collection of ghost-related lore and terminology, it also includes entries on important figures in ghost hunting history. Functioning as a reliable reference guide as well as an enthralling tome to just sit down and page through cover-to-cover, there’s really no other book on the market like it. Highly recommended.

3. The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

A great companion piece to Guiley’s Ghost and Spirit Encyclopedia, with just as much practical and fascinating detail for investigators to draw upon. Much like its sister volume, this book details not only the creatures themselves, but also the people, places, and history surrounding them.

4. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places by Jeff Belanger

This book provides a great anecdotal overview of some of the most notoriously haunted locales in the world, and also provides contact information for reference as well. Much like Guiley’s encyclopediae, this volume does a great job as both a reference and an educational material.

There’s a similar book on the market by Dennis William Hauck entitled Haunted Places: The National Directory, which is also a quality volume with more listings and a broader scope than Belanger’s, but it seems to be more utilitarian in purpose – it provides shorter anecdotes for each locale, opting for quantity over quality. For newbie investigators, I recommend Belanger’s Encyclopedia for the value of it’s depth.

5. America’s Haunted Road Trip Series or other local books

Once you’ve pored over a broad scope book and have learned about the the big national and international hotspots, a great next step is to track down a book specially tailored to your neck of the woods (if one exists). If you live in one of the states covered thus far, I find the America’s Haunted Road Trip series to be pretty slick – it has a fun tone, well-rounded narratives composed of historical and eyewitness accounts, and a series of reputable authors such as Rosemary Guiley and Patti Starr.

6. PSIence: How New Discoveries in Quantum Physics and New Science May Explain the Existence of Paranormal Phenomena by Marie D. Jones

This is a pretty solid place to start if you want to learn about the most current scientific theories that may finally explain paranormal phenomena. Much more readable than comparable books on the market, PSIence presents many forms of paranormal activity and attempts to theorize their causes through modern scientific concepts such as quantum reality, multiple universes, and zero point energy. Heady reading to be sure, but also essential for any investigators who claim to pursue a scientific methodology.

7. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
This seminal work by the late great Carl Sagan champions the skeptic’s point of view, systematically placing a variety of paranormal phenomena under microscopic scrutiny and deconstructing theory after theory in a whirlwind of critical thinking – great examples of macro-debunking. Also discussed is the dichotomy between science and spirituality, and how they may be able to peacefully coexist.  This book is a real eye-opener.

8. The Book of the Damned: The Collected Works of Charles Fort by Charles Fort
Charles Fort was a curious man who wrote eccentric works about the unexplained. He was a prophet of the bizarre, and is certainly a pivotal figure in the history of our movement. Though this compendium can be a difficult read for modern eyes, there’s a reason why Charles Fort is considered by many to be the father of the unexplained, and indeed the renowned International Fortean Organization (INFO) is named after him. The Book of the Damned is his defining work and is undoubtedly worth your time and effort.

9. Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum

This book does a great job of illustrating the bravery of the earliest instigators of the paranormal research movement, who risked their reputations and livelihoods to attempt to bring the truth of the afterlife to light. A riveting portrait of a group of unsung heroes, this book also possesses a host of fascinating details about the spiritualist movement and the role of mediumship in paranormal research.

10. Will Storr vs. The Supernatural: One Man’s Search for the Truth About Ghosts by Will Storr

Will Storr vs. The Supernatural is a unique and entertaining look at the modern paranormal research movement through the eyes of an unbiased journalist. Self-professed skeptic Storr takes the reader through a brisk jaunt of the modern paranormal community, including an encounter with the infamous UK show Most Haunted. It’s a fun read, and a good document of what the paranormal struggle is like in our day in age.

Comments? Alternate suggestions? What do you think? I hope you found this list helpful!

Greetings and thanks so much for visiting Spirits Walk with Me Paranormal Blog!

To kick things off on the right foot, I thought it would be apropos to talk a little about my intentions here and my personal thoughts on this pastime, pseudoscience and obsession we refer to as paranormal research.

I began my journey in the field of the paranormal research in 2008 as a bona fide skeptic. My singular personal goal was to find out for myself if life after death existed, and frankly, I expected to be disappointed. I attended a membership drive held by Paranormal Investigators of Northern Kentucky (PINK), and was granted membership into one of the most active, talented, and professional teams in the region. Two years later, I can tell you with complete certainty that there is some unseen form of intelligence that coexists in this reality with us, and is even capable of limited communication with our plane of existence. Moreover, I am strongly compelled to believe that this intelligence is indeed a manifestation of the spirits of deceased human beings, and I don’t make that claim lightly.

While persuasive evidence has now been captured in a variety of aural and visual media, I have come to believe that the EVP is the first real key to bridging our world with the next. The advent of this phenomenon has been a monumental breakthrough that I don’t think has been properly discussed or attended to in our global society, and through my work I have come to reject theories that dismiss EVPs as projections of our subconscious or even errant radio transmissions. I’ve captured firsthand EVPs in which disembodied voices repeatedly provide direct responses to me during prolonged questioning, stating verifiable facts that no one present could have known. In addition, thanks to the passionate work of my colleagues in PINK, I’ve heard a male presence clearly remark that he was glad to be dead. Disputing theories aside, the face value implications of these findings are mind-blowing.

While I readily admit that everything we do is still based in theory and conjecture, I cannot deny what I’ve experienced and the personal revelations that have followed. Without a doubt, paranormal research has changed my worldview. At first I only wanted to convince myself; now I want to help find the proof that will convince the world.

To that end, the goal of Spirits Walk with Me is to contribute a unique voice and point of view to the paranormal community, and hopefully along the way to educate, promote new ideas, and if nothing else, entertain. Content-wise, you’ll likely see me skew toward personal pieces such as features, essays, editorials, and reviews. I encourage rigorous discussion and debate regarding the stories and opinions I share here. I don’t claim to be an authority on the paranormal by any means, and honestly I don’t believe that anyone truly is. Until we find the undeniable truth, we’re all on the same mist-shrouded road to understanding, so all we can do is try to help one another push forward through the fog.

Just to be clear, you’ll often see me use the word “paranormal”, but really I’m singularly focused on what is known colloquially as ghost hunting. The term “paranormal” has become synonymous with ghost hunting in popular culture, but out of respect for the other paranormal studies such as Cryptozoology and UFO research, I want to make that distinction very clear.

Again, I thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read what I have to say. Please feel free to introduce yourself and/or share your comments!