Paranormal

What follows are various brief articles I wrote while involved in the hobby of ghost-hunting. I feel that it is time I get out of the world of ghost-hunting. I have personal reasons, mostly on philosophical grounds, for permanently leaving paranormal research in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. With the risk of sounding negative, I would rather live my life, than worry about what the dead may or may not be doing.

I want to stress that I have no animosity toward the members of Mystic Ghost, my former ghost-hunting group. They are a swell bunch of people. I wish that other people in this small field would conduct themselves in Mystic Ghost's professional manner.

I think I might have been guilty of not looking at all possible explanations. An example of this is a lot of my "orb" photos, that in the early days of my ghost-hunting, I was so proud of. These are probably just dust. In hindsight it seems strange that a ghost would need a camera with a flash to appear. I used to quietly groan to myself when ghost-hunters would claim to see a face in their orb photos. This phenomenon of seeing faces in random things is a by-product of our little monkey brain's evolution. Don't believe me? Check out that clock. Doesn't it look sad? Awwww!

I've gotten a lot of requests from friends to participate in this hobby. I suppose I developed a reputation as someone who really understood ghosts. The truth is there are no authorities or scholars in this field. Anybody can call themselves a paranormal researcher. If someone were interested, I would recommend just going to an allegedly haunted hotel and deciding for themselves. No guru or teacher is needed. I have met "experts" who I consider to be either self-deluded or just plain charlatans.

VFW, Undisclosed Location

I recently went ghost-hunting with our ghost-hunting team, Mystic Ghost. It was certainly an experience. I'm not sure if the managers or owners want us to mention the location of the place we were invited to, but it was a Veterans of Foreign Wars outpost. I liked that it was frequented by a mostly conservative bunch, this wasn't a new age bookstore full of True Believers. The commander of the base gave us a few anecdotal tales, most of which I can't recall. Like an idiot, I misplaced my expensive digital recorder! I can't find any historical information about it, but this building was built over a hundred years ago, and served as a insane asylum and an officers club for helicopter pilots. We did find a few bibles upstairs, that were extremely old.

Right away we got stuff on the night-vision cameras. However, I was disappointed because I felt that it was dust. What was frustrating to me is that we would get video, that was most assuredly dust, and then get glowing orbs, that didn't have the tell-tale look of dust orbs. A skeptic would simply dismiss all our footage as dust contamination. We might have to start rigging up some kind of control for that. On occasion I got the I-Thought-I-Saw-Something-In-The-Corner-Of-My-Eye phenomena. This happened in the bar area.

Our investigation was done after all the patrons went home, and we did the standard "lights out." Most of the tech was provided by our group leader, Michelle D. We were fortunate to have a video camera in multiple locations.

On a subjective level, I felt that there was definitely something oppressive and wrong there. Toward the end of the evening I was up on the second floor, which was used mostly for storage by the current occupants. For whatever reason, I literally swooned and had to stop. I will admit that I hadn't had dinner, and so I guess it is possible that my blood sugar was low. Anyway, of all the places we've ever investigated, the upstairs of this place, was one of the most uncomfortable. We were told that they used to do lobotomies and electroshock therapy. It was obvious where the inmates of the institution lived, but it wasn't so obvious where the surgery theater was. Most of the second floor isn't currently used, so there are bits of medical equipment strewn about, which added to the feeling of unease I got.

8J Ranch, Oklahoma

The house we were invited to investigate is a completely re-built, two-story Frank Lloyd Wright inspired dwelling in a somewhat rural yet affluent neighborhood. The owner, a Mr. O______, was kind enough to let us do our investigation there. One of our team members is acquainted with him on a first name basis. His hobby is buying older homes, and fixing them up, and he currently uses this house as a sort of office for his companies. Many of his employees and friends have stayed there, and even without prompting, they have had unusual experiences. Our host will not spend the night there alone.

We arranged all of our equipment up and did a lot of preliminary photography. Our wealthy host didn't arrive until around 10:00 pm or so. I was relieved to find him to be a charming, erudite gentleman, and not the stereotypical image of a Captain of Industry. He stayed and chatted with us for about an hour. We talked about various encounters people have had there. He didn't strike me as very superstitious, but he was afraid of the house, and challenged us all to go downstairs and stay in the closet alone; the entrance to the house was actually the upper floor. He and some of his guest have seen a strange dog on the property that would lock eyes with people. This dog allegedly would disappear. He also spoke of the impression of a small girl downstairs. His girlfriend has heard a woman crying also downstairs. There were foxes reportedly living nearby, in the woods, and sometimes a fox's cry can sound very disturbing to the uninitiated, much like injured children. They said this wasn't a fox.

After our host left we did more photography and sound recordings. Alas, this morning we learned that all we got on the video cameras were snow.

I didn't personally experience any phenomena, but my friend Michelle D had her ankle touched by some unseen force. I did get the chills walking in the closet, which was a source of a lot of ill feeling for everyone. I was so tired that I had no problems falling asleep in the bedroom with the most activity.

I didn't get any photographic evidence of paranormal nature. I did get these strange EVP sounds. Listen below:

Michelle W's sister and law and I were good-naturedly arguing about the merits of Elvis Aaron Presley.

I say, "Who Elvis?"

Malinda replies, "I'm not an Elvis person..." You will hear a breathy whisper that we are unaware of.

Chris asks, "Maybe it's a dead outlet?" You will hear a very distinct whisper that no-one is aware of at
the time.

I'm referring to a simple penny on a circle experiment that Michelle D and I set up. I ask Chris, "Has the penny moved?" There is a pause and then a small voice of a child says, "Yeah." I then immediately reply, "I guess not."

Here are two Adobe Acrobat documents which have the results of our experiments with pendulum dowsing. We also marked down on the map of the house where we were feeling strange sensations.

Dead Famous

So far, this has been the funnest ghost hunt and investigation I've participated in. We were contacted by Twofour Productions, a British television crew, to assist with their program. On their show, Dead Famous, the hosts Gail Porter and Chris Fleming go on a sort of road trip to various locations. In the episode they were filming, they were to investigate the historic Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. See my earlier comments on the hotel below. On their show, Gail takes the role of the sceptic, where Chris is something of a psychic and true-believer. Our ghost-hunting group, Mystic Ghost, was assigned to Gail, and our fellow ghost-hunting associates, Spirit of the Baker, were with Chris.

Luckily for us, we got tons of activity. The two groups investigated different floors of this large hotel. We were assigned to the Lobby, the Brazos Room, the fifth floor where Bonnie and Clyde stayed, the seventh floor and the top Cloud Room.

The most exciting thing that happened is when we were in the expansive Brazos Room. We set up our cameras and literally within seconds we got streaks of unknown origin flying around. We got "cold spots" that were twenty degrees cooler than the surrounding area. The wildest thing that happened is that we gave Gail my EMF detector. The Baker Hotel hasn't had electricity in a long time and is quite dark and decrepit. The EMF detector started pulsing all the way up to the red area. It's as if someone turned on a microwave oven on and off. I made sure that she didn't have a cell phone on or any other energy source. These weird readings went on for several minutes. I have taken that EMF detetctor on other occasions and have never had it actually do anything.

Unfortunately, there will be footage of me acting like a complete prat for British television viewers to enjoy. Someone suggested that we start dancing and singing. I stood in the darkness, while being filmed in infra-red, and sung and danced old-timey songs. When I did this the place erupted with streaks of light visible only on camera. We all sung nostalgic songs and danced around.

The Mineral Wells police were kind enough to supply us with security. His name was Butch. Gail became frightened and kept asking for Booch in her charming Scottish accent. Butch was checking other areas of the hotel. The director Maria Knowles and Gail wanted to go to the fifth floor to shoot some footage of the Bonnie and Clyde room. I volunteered to go with them instead of Butch since I am the only guy in our group. We walked around the very quiet and dark fifth floor. While filming in the rooms, we all kept hearing small noises in the hallway, and I kept seeing darting shapes out of the corner of my eye. I would jump. Which made Gail really jump. At one point, I admitted that I was scared. That was a mistake, because it caused Gail to become unsure about the whole creepy place. She was literally shaking. Once again, the little EMF detector Gail was clutching on to for dear life, start blinking. Gail asked, "Where is the police officer? Where is Booch?" The director reminded here that I was there. "Oh great, Brad is just as scared as I am!" I then knew it was time to be more professional and I swallowed my fear and we got through the rest of that dreadful floor.

The Dead Famous show got picked up by a major American network, and so looks like everybody can watch us this year! I'll let everyone know when the show airs.

Below is some possible EVP I recorded that night at the Baker Hotel.

I ask, "What are you wearing tonight?" There is a sharp ring, and then a voice. Some hear the name Gavin.

In another seemingly empty section of the recording, a voice says, "House of the Dead."

Here's a link to Chris Fleming's Unknown magazine.

Gail Porter is one of Britain's most beloved tv personalities. She hosted BBC's Top of the Pops. Here is a pretty decent fansite dedicated Gail Porter: Gail Porter World

Jefferson, Texas.

Jefferson has been called the most haunted small town in Texas. The locals have capitalized on this and seem to actively market their notoriety, which is fine with me. I imagine it keeps the bulldozers away and old buildings still standing. There are many, many allegedly haunted places in Jefferson and I'm intimately familiar with three of them. Jefferson has so many allegedly haunted places that I haven't experienced them all yet. I try to make it out to Jefferson at least once a year.

The Jefferson Hotel

This former bordello has a long and dubious history in this little town. The front of the Hotel you see in the street is actually the back of the original building -- the old front used to face the river. On a trip in 2003, my wife and I requested, "the most haunted room you have." We were given the infamous Room 19. We were also told that if we got too scared that we could switch rooms if we needed to.

We live in Dallas, so we made the trip to East Texas and unpacked all of our stuff into the small room. This wasn't our first visit to Jefferson, but the first as "ghosthunters." We decided to take a small voice activated recorder and our camera. This was the extent of our ghosthunting gear. After we shut the door, we walked down the hallway, and for whatever reason we both peered over our shoulders back to Room 19.

I would swear that I saw a large man, dressed in a black and white checkered shirt go right through our door. The shirt had large, solid patterns and was a long sleeved shirt. I want to say he was wearing jeans and a cowboy hat, but I can't swear to it since it was all so fast.

My wife and I stopped what we doing and asked each other, "who was that?" I assumed it was part of the hotel staff, because I knew that I had locked the door. There really isn't a way for people to get to room 19 other than the stairs in the middle of the hallway. I was kind of embarrassed to go back, I didn't want to bother the hotel staff and we just both shrugged it off.

That night we both felt a definite presence in the room. It's a feeling of being watched. We set the tape recorder in the bathroom. The entire hotel creeks like any old building. However, my wife got up to pee in the night. As she was in the bathroom (having temporarily turned off the tape recorder) I was lying on my side in bed. I heard a loud CLACK! as if two billiard balls suddenly were banged together right in the center of the room. All night we heard footsteps shuffling along the hallway as well as animated conversations amongst the guests staying on our floor. We later learned that we were the only couple staying on the second floor that night! (the hotel only has two floors). Our little voice switched on quite a number of times, usually by the sound of the train. There were muffled voices on it. Perhaps it was picking up guests or staff on the bottom floor. If you would like to hear one of the better sounds, listen to this. I think the voice either says "Come to bed" or "Sudafed." Every time I would wake up in the middle of the night I made sure I didn't open my eyes, I didn't want to wake up to the girl who whispers to you, which is supposed to be the ghost in that room.

The next night we stayed in a different room, Number 23, but we got less sleep from the class-less rednecks staying in a room across the hall. That night we weren't scared at all only a little annoyed by the too-loud talking of the country-fried hicks and their teenage children. However, it was a prettier room than 19.

The Excelsior House

The Excelsior is beautiful. Unlike the staff at the Jefferson Hotel, the staff of the Excelsior downplay the haunted aspect of it. According to local legend, Steven Spielberg stayed in the Jay Gould room and was so frightened that he took his entire staff out of the hotel in the middle of the night and drove to Marshall which is about 20 miles away to stay in a Holiday Inn. This is supposed to be the inspiration for producing Poltergeist.

We had heard the Spielberg story and so that was the room we wanted. However, I'm sad to report that we didn't see any ghosts. There was a nice blank book that guests could sign and write their names in. Half of it was things like, we're having a great Honeymoon written in a feminine hand. However the other half of it was writings by people who saw crazy things in the night.

We often visit Jefferson, so we just recently at the time of this writing, stayed in their beautiful Diamond Bessie suite. Quite nice. Zero ghosts, but my favorite room in the hotel.

The Grove

The mere mention of The Grove makes local residents of Jefferson shudder. I think it's Amityville Horror status isn't deserved, but if there is a place in Jefferson that's haunted this is the place. The house's current owner is a quite charming writer named Mitchel Whitington. Mr. Whitington is more than happy to offer you a tour of this place. He has lot of first and second hand ghost stories. He says he sees many strange things but feels quite safe there. I'll refer you to his books for these tales. His house is really neat inside, but there is nothing Addams Family about it. The only strange thing about it, is that it seems to be made entirely of trapezoids. There are no straight, right angles. The very floor also seems wrong. This can be unsettling and somewhat unpleasant. He's got a good book you might like called Ghosts of North Texas which you can purchase at the link below.

Here is a photo of The Grove, you will notice right away the "orb." This looks something like a brake light. I haven't posted this until now, because I'm not sure if this is simply lense flare from the yard's yard light or not.

The Schluter House

This isn't open to the public, but every time I see it I get chills. According to legend, a doll appears in the window of the completely empty house and moves to different windows the next time you see it. I even heard a local say he saw it in the yard once. The doll was supposedly a gift to a child who died.

Ghost Tours

Jefferson Railway has a kick-ass ghost tour that is extremely well-done. You can visit many points of interest in Jefferson by horse drawn carriage and then get on an old steam train and go into the dense and ancient bayou by steam train. The train ride was dark enough and scary enough to cause even the most boorish members of our tour group to shut-up.

Jodi Breckenridge, a former manager of The Jefferson Hotel, offers a comprehensive walking tour of Jefferson. Her email is jodibreck@aol.com

Texas Bigfoot Festival

According to legend, there is a Sasquatch or Skunk Ape that haunts the area. The forests, swamps, and those bayous are dense enough to hide several unknown creatures. I have a passing interest in this subject and will try to attend the annual conference this year.

Mineral Wells, Texas.

Every year Mineral Wells has their annual Crazy Water festival. I didn't know this, but the mineral water that comes from Mineral Wells is actually high in the psychoactive compound lithium. By drinking the water, you actually alter your brain chemistry. I didn't touch their water, but I did have a good time at the historic Baker Hotel. Fellow ghosthunters, Spirit of the Baker sponsored a tour to raise money for much needed renovations.

I got plenty of orbs, several in almost every single picture. Unfortunately, they are most assuredly all dust particles. It was quite dusty through the entire hotel. As the electricity is off, it was dark in some areas, especially the stair well.

The hotel is fascinating, full of history of many celebrity guest including some Presidents. Our tour guide mentioned FDR in passing, and I cringed when a local Mineral Wells teenager asked who that was. That was the only scary part of my tour.

The hotel does have a dark past in some respects. I was intrigued by the tale of the bellhop who was murdered by the Mineral Wells equivalent of La Cosa Nostra. He was upset over the prostitution that went on in the hotel, and complained to the authorities, who were in on the problem. He had an arranged accident in an elevator.

The hotel used to be something of a health spa and resort, and I was amused by some of the "fitness machines" from the past that were in excellent condition. I'm not sure in what way they helped you to exercise. The hotel also had a whole area reserved for colonics. I saw an industrial sized, cardboard box of KY Jelly®, which read STERILE LUBRICANT in no-nonsense, san-serif letters. I was amazed that it had somehow survived the decades. In the interest of good taste, our tour guide skipped over this vitally important history of the hotel.

The hotel has evidence of break-ins, arson, and vandalism. There were numerous beer bottles, empty Copenhagen cans, and cigarette butts on even the top-most floors. The hotel seems to be made of concrete, but there are areas that I wouldn't wander around in the dark. I would be afraid of falling through the floor!

Kellar, Texas.

Bourland Cemetary

I was invited by a few members of Mystic Ghost to do an informal investigation of the Bourland Cemetary in Kellar, Texas. I was hoping to see paranormal activity, and I wasn't disappointed. At one point I thought I was being touched by several ghost hands. I kind of yelped in panic, but luckily a member of Mystic Ghost said, "Uh, Brad. You just walked into a big spider web." Early on in the evening, I walked to a much older area of the cemetery, I did get the "heebie-jeebies." This admittedly subjective feeling was confirmed by others who walked over to that area.

We got a lot of "orbs" on our digital cameras. The most amazing thing was photographed and filmed by Michelle D., founder of Mystic Ghost. It's difficult to describe, but it looks like a large trail of mist. This was filmed and photographed.

Here is a dowsing experiement we did at Bourland Cemetary in January, 2005. Click on the icon to download the results.

Carter Ghost Town, Texas.

When I first heard of the Carter Ghost Town, near Weatherford, I was expecting it to look like some kind of stereotypical Western movie back-lot. In that sense I was disappointed. Most of the structures have crumbled, leaving just trace evidence of their existence. You can still see outlines of buildings. Most of our investigations took place in the old church, although very rodent eaten, it is still in pretty good shape. Carter used to on American Indian land, Comanche, if I have my history correct, and was the site of some real nasty attacks. We did get some real strange stuff on film, but everything is so dusty, I can't say what it is with any degree of certainty.


Home	Paranormal	Bio	Reviews	Groovy Links