Investigations

Saturday, June 16, 2006

Shiloh Church & Blast Battleground/Cemetery, Cowpens National Battlefield, South Carolina

Time Started: 10:15 pm

Temp: 68 - 70 degrees F

Conditions: Clear night, no moon, little to no wind, no humidity

Tina's Observations:

First of all, I want to welcome Frank to the group. We are so glad you were able to join us. We also welcomed a guest, Jeremy, to our investigation as well. I hope both of you enjoyed yourselves and will continue to join us on future outings.

The investigation consisted of Shiloh Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Blast Battleground/Cemetery, and Cowpens National Battlefield. 12 people were present.
Shiloh seem quiet, although some members reported personal experiences. 2 members reported seeing something bluish in the woods, and 2 others reported hearing a woman's voice.

One member experienced a feeling of lightheadedness. The group was fortunate enough to have a FLIR thermal imaging camera in our midst (many thanks to Frank). He may have captured a thermal image, but most download it first to see. (We're keeping our fingers crossed on this one!) Members who took pictures and/or EVP recordings will
post their findings once they review their evidence. (update: unfortunately, the camera didn't record the apparition )

Moving on to Blast. We arrived just after midnight. After a couple of attempts to find the right location, we stopped and began our investigation. I must say, Blast proved to be somewhat of a disappointment. It was very quiet. Nothing was captured on film, or thermal, and not much picked up by our sensitives. This was the New Moon. Would be interesting to see if the energy changes at the Full Moon. (The only creature we found here was a harmless house cat strolling through the graveyard... ......... ..lol)

And lastly, since we were only 5 miles away, we decided to check out Cowpens Battleground. We had been there a couple of years ago and had gotten a few orbs and our sensitives picked up on a soldier or two. It too proved to be very quiet. Nothing captured by anyone. At this point, we ended our evening and headed back to Charlotte.
Of course, any evidence from any of the above locations will be posted.

Kimberly's Observations:

Several new members joined us on this outing to one of the group's favorite sites.

You never can gauge what sort of activity awaits at Old Shiloh. We've had nights of extreme weirdness…strange pics, EMF fluctuations, mists, sounds of growling dogs right in front of Elizabeth Dover's headstone. Unfortunately this was one of the quieter nights.

The only constant was the disorientation one experiences in the cemetery proper. I don't know if this is a paranormal event or merely the lay of the land, but most people get really turned around in there. I've been to this location several times and experienced this phenomenon, as have several of our team. On this night it seemed that some experienced this more than once. It's almost like a Bermuda Triangle experience. You look up from the path and find that you're quite far from where you intended to go or where you thought you were.

The air was stagnant and became overwhelming. Nancy had to leave the investigation early, so I assisted her out. I didn't sense the presence of anything otherworldly, not even the "crazy lady" who usually comes out to say hi. In all it was uneventful, but a great chance to hunt with some of the new members…and drool over Frank's FLIR camera!

After Old Shiloh, and the obligatory tick check (found'em!)…we headed over to Blast. I was a little unsure about this one. My last encounter with Blast had been unsettling and more intense than I was prepared to handle. That was a long time and another group ago, but if you come to an investigation, chances are you'll hear the story.

After driving around the block a few times (a CAPS trademark…hahaha!), we decided to park at the nearby church. A good idea to stay as close to hallowed ground as possible at this place.

Blast turned out to be a bust on this night. Briefly, I thought I'd seen a white-robed apparition cross in front of other members of the team, but without EMF data or another witness to back this up, I'm going to chalk it up to tired eyes and a sleepy demeanor.

The scariest thing we did see was a neighbor's nude torso menacing through his trailer window. He did manage to play some sort of Halloween sound effects tape of a woman screaming to set the mood.

 At least I hope it was a recording…

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Philadelphia Presbyterian Church - Mint Hill North Carolina

Time started: 10:17 PM

Temp: 70 degrees

Conditions:  clear, no clouds, half moon in sky, no humidity, no wind

Tina's Observations:

We welcomed two guests for last night's investigation, Michelle and Summer, who came with Sarah. I hope that you both enjoyed your time with us. I'm glad you all could make it down to Charlotte for this one. Also present were Nancy, Kimberly, Kurtis, Joe, Jack, Laura, Frank and myself.

We started our investigation at the 3rd (and present) site of Philadelphia Presbyterian Church cemetery. This church was established in 1770. We began in the cemetery beside the church.
Some members captured orbs here, but for the most part, all was quiet.

We then went across the street to investigate the older walled in cemetery as well as the newer graves that surround the walled in area. Members picked up somewhat more activity here. We had many reports of cameras failing due to low or no battery levels. Outside the wall, in the area of newer graves, activity was also reported. Camera malfunctions and photographed orbs were reported. Around midnight, we left and headed for the 2nd site of Philadelphia Church and cemetery.

This cemetery has a fairly large servant/slave burial section outside the cemetery wall. This is one of the largest slave cemeteries known in Mecklenburg County. Members reported feelings
of heaviness here. Orbs were captured by digital camera. Not much else was reported here. It was approximately 1:30 am at the conclusion of the investigation of this site. Since many of our
participants had long drives home, we decided to end our night here. We did not travel to the 1st site of the church and cemetery as it was getting late and this particular site has limited parking
and is in a densely wooded area. Both the 2nd and 1st sites are undergoing restoration work by members of the church. There were also yellow and white "caution" signs posted throughout the
cemetery as well.
Thank you all for your participation.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Blackstock & Providence Cemeteries - South Carolina

Time started: 11:00 PM

Temp: see summary

Conditions: Rainy, cloudy, FULL MOON

Tina's observations:

We had planned to meet at 9 PM for this investigation. At 8:30 PM, there was no rain and the area was completely dry. However, when we got there at 9, it was raining slightly. We hoped for the best in that it would stop soon. Wrong. We waited out the rain, and distant lightning until approximately 10:30 PM. We loaded up and headed for the cemetery, arriving at 10:55 PM for the investigation to begin. Temperature in the parking lot was 78 deg, but quickly cooled due to the rain to 71 deg when we were in the cemetery. It had rained for at least 1.5 hours. As expected, the trees were dripping, and vegetation was wet. Clouds obscured the view of the Full Moon.

 Present for the investigation were: Jack, Kurtis, Laura, Michelle, Nancy, Nikki, Sarah and myself. We welcomed two guests; Laura's niece Michelle and her friend Stephanie. Hope you both enjoyed your time with us, and come back anytime.

As we were walking up, we picked up on a watchful spirit almost immediately. Our Sensitive felt it was the spirit of a Native American that has been reported by numerous people. As we were about to enter the cemetery, we stopped to take several digital shots. Unfortunately, the cemetery was overgrown. Weeds were 5 - 7 feet tall and you could barely spot a tombstone amid the brush, but members still managed to walk around.  Moving around in the center was almost impossible, so many members stayed on the perimeter to investigate. I stayed near the front, and concentrated on recording for possible EVPs and gathering  EMF data. A couple of times, the EMF went off to a very high level. Our Sensitive felt it was my little girl ghost. I tried on several occasions to get her to talk to me while watching the EMF readings continue to spike. The presence of a  man was felt just outside the wall. I tried to capture EVP from him as well.  Sarah captured an amazing EVP of someone laughing, you can here it by clicking HERE.

Michelle and Sarah had an experience which they related to me. To summarize briefly, they saw a mist moving across the cemetery wall and Michelle felt she was touched. Nancy was bothered by something in the cemetery, and had to leave that area. Nikki felt several distinct spirit energies. With my personal experiences of the high EMF readings and feeling a presence there, this investigation proved to be most eventful. If anyone else had personal experiences, I wasn't aware. We decided to stay until after midnight to see if the energy changed. For the most part, we waited out the last few minutes all standing at the front in one large group. We left around 12:15 AM to head to Providence.

After leaving Blackstock, we headed to Providence for an investigation there. Arriving around 1AM, the temperature was 67 - 68 degrees, still cloudy. It was not as wet as Blackstock. As we entered the cemetery proper, I had to visit an old friend, Mr. Matthews, who tends to follow me when I come to this cemetery. Most of us went directly to his gravesite, and I immediately got high EMF readings. I tried to get him to talk to me so that I could capture EVP, and many took digital shots during this encounter. EMF readings soon returned to normal, so we left his grave and walked back to the entrance path. I pointed out that the left side of the cemetery is primarily graves from the 1900's, while the right side is much older with graves from 1800's and 1700's. The right side extends for hundreds of yards. There are some Revolutionary War soldiers buried here as well as some signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence signed in May 1775. At the end of the entrance path is a gate in the rock wall. We went here next. This is the slave cemetery section.

The slave cemetery lies to the left behind the rock wall of the cemetery proper. There is a path down the hill which leads to a natural spring. A small metal footbridge allows you to cross the spring.
This is at the bottom of a very large gully. Members captured orbs here. There is also a feeling of oppression here. This area also bothers some of our more sensitive members. I myself refer to it as "the Hellmouth".

Upon leaving this area, everyone gathered near the top of the pathway beside the slave graveyard. Kurtis was sitting on an old block of concrete, and experienced someone pulling his hair and playing with it (this is not unusual, as I have had this happen to me). I got EMF readings behind him. Nikki got an impression of a large man we believe the same one who bothers Kimberly on occasion, as it was in the same area as the concrete block.

Last but not least, we headed for "the scary path".

 At the beginning of the path, my EMF detector was going off wildly. Everyone in the group was taking pictures at the time. This pathway parallels the cemetery proper behind the rock wall. We continued on this path to the place that I felt my hair being pulled once before. After reaching that point, we waited for a few moments. Soon, the EMF detector was going off wildly again. The highest levels possible were being recorded, as I could actually feel the energy. Others in the group felt it too, and everyone was taking pictures. I continued to try to capture EVP while these high EMF readings were being recorded. After this flurry of activity subsided, we made our way to the end of the path and back into the cemetery itself. I wanted to see if the EMF readings would spike again on the cemetery side of the wall from where we had just been, and as I expected, they did. Sarah and Michelle were walking with me, and we witnessed the same high level of EMF activity as we did previously while behind the wall. There seems to be something in that area, either in front or behind the wall, the activity remains the same.

At this point, it was getting late and many of our members had long drives ahead of them. We gathered at the entrance path, and made our way out of the cemetery.

It was shortly after 2am when we concluded this investigation.

Sarah's observations - Blackstock

We arrived at Blackstock and made our way through the jungle of weeds and vines to get to the graveyard. The graveyard was very overgrown with weeds approximately 6 feet tall. We took pictures on the outside of the graveyard before we entered. Temperatures were around 68 degrees. Michelle and I wondered over to a corner of the graveyard that was away from the rest of the group. Michelle felt very uncomfortable with her back to the brick wall that surrounds the graveyard. She then moved to the other side of where I was standing. A moment later, I saw a shadow move around the outside of the graveyard. I turned to look and there was nothing there. Michelle and I had our recorders going and we began to ask the spirit to show itself or to make a sound so that we can hear it. As soon as we began to talk to the spirit, we saw a fog appear and move in front of us, at  approximately eye level. It was a very thick fog and it moved from left to right. It appeared  to swirl around and come closer toward us. We began to get uncomfortable and left the area after taking some more pictures. We then proceeded over to the area that Tina had been getting some high EMF readings earlier that evening. Nikki thought she felt the presence of a little girl in that area. As I was standing there taking photos and Michelle was taking temperature readings, I felt a tap on my shoulder twice. I turned to look and there was nobody there. It was not a rain drop because there was no water on my shoulder and I did not feel any moisture at all. The temperature began to drop drastically, from around 68 to 49 degrees. A couple minutes later, the temperature is back to normal. Michelle and I began to make our way back over to the area that we had seen the fog. We talked some more and while I took photos, Michelle watched the temperature. The temperature began to fall again and then Michelle felt something touch her finger on the hand that held the temperature gauge. We continued to take readings and do some EVP work. We left that area after things returned to normal. We left the graveyard shortly there after. Some of the other member stated that they heard footsteps behind them as they were leaving graveyard. They stayed behind to make sure that the spirits did not follow us out of the woods.

Saturday, July 15, 2007

Brattonsville, Bryson Creek, & Bethesda Presbyterian Cemetery, South Carolina

Time started: 8:30 PM

Temp: see summary

Conditions: clear

We arrived at Brattonsville around 8:30 PM. Present for the investigation was: Gary, Joe, Kimberly, Laura, Nancy, Nikki, Susan, and myself. We parked by the stone marker at the beginning of the small village. I could already make out the outline of "my soldier" between the two trees. Our Sensitives picked up on 4 other distinct presences near there as well. One reported a young, round-faced fellow peering in the truck window, as well as a few children playing in the field across the road from us. We attempted to obtain EVP, video and photography of the Revolutionary sentry who was on watch. One of our Sensitives kept getting the name Sumter (unknown to her, I had asked the soldier if he knew General Sumter, George Washington, Lord Cornwallis, Colonel William Bratton, or Captain Christian Huck). Not knowing whether he was American, British, or a Foreigner, we also attempted to speak with the soldier in French (just in case). I did pick up some slightly higher EMF readings in this area. I and other members also noticed movement in the field beyond the two trees and the soldier. Pictures, EVP and video were attempted here also. We then moved down the road closer to the house where the Victorian Lady spirit comes to visit. Many of our team have seen her. She is probably from 1890 according to her style of dress and hair. As before, we attempted pictures, EVP, and video. We returned to the vehicles and set out for Colonel Bratton's house, much further down on the left. This house has been reported to have activity by the staff of Brattonsville. One lady told me of a picture taken at their Christmas program showing a man in a tri-cornered hat standing in (what is now) a cabinet. Team members investigated here, orbs were captured on digital. Attempts were made to sit in the chairs on the porch to see if anything out of the ordinary would occur. We left here and crossed the street to the slave quarters and the "big house". The slave quarters have been the scene of orb activity in the past. The big house has also been reported by the Brattonsville staff to have had activity. This is the large white house featured in the movie, The Patriot.

(THIS AREA WAS WHERE THE RE-ENACTORS WERE CAMPED. SMOKE FROM CAMPFIRES, MUSIC, LAUGHTER, AND TALKING FROM THE RE-ENACTORS MUST BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT .MOST EVIDENCE HERE WOULD BE HIGHLY SUSPECT AND BE DISCOUNTED. THEREFORE, AFTER A BRIEF DISCUSSION, WE DECIDED TO LEAVE AND HEAD TO BRYSON CREEK.)

We arrived at Bryson Creek just before midnight. Of note here, there had been a huge tree where many team members had gotten orbs before. This tree was now cut back to only the very tall stump remaining. We conducted an investigation here with EMF, EVP, photography and video. I picked up mildly higher EMF readings on a few occasions. Members reported hearing voices here. I had an entity follow me around for quite a while. At one point, I detected a smell of cologne, and was alone in the area where I smelled it. (This has happened to me before at Bryson Creek). Sensitives did pick up on a couple distinct spirit energies; one in the back corner of the cemetery and one of whom was deaf and was signing to our Sensitive. He was in the front right of the cemetery near the road. After hearing dogs and howling in the distance, we decided to leave and head back to Bethesda Presbyterian Cemetery. (Wild animals had

been reported in the area and we did not want to take any chances with a surprise encounter.)

Bethesda Presbyterian cemetery dates back to 1769, and actually has some members of the Bratton family buried there. Upon arrival, several people reported seeing movement in this cemetery, and our Sensitives had already picked up on many spirit energies. It appeared they were lonely and wanted to come out and say hi. (We usually visit this cemetery at the time of our visits to Brattonsville, and this seems to be the case every year.) Since this was a fairly large cemetery, we split up to better cover the area.

Nancy and Nikki entered the gate near the main road and worked their way back up. Gary and Susan went in the top gate and went down all the way to the side road of the cemetery. Joe, Laura and I entered the top gate and stayed in that section. After investigating in our separate sections, we all met back at the pathway leading to the top entrance gate. After a brief discussion, we decided to end our investigation. I announced that it was 5 minutes after one, so maybe we better call it an end to the evening since we had an hour drive back to Charlotte. At that point, I felt my left ankle being grabbed. (It was as if someone didn't want us to go). I pointed my EMF detector at my ankle and the ground, but got nothing. Members tried to get pictures, but by the time we got our equipment back out, the sensation of being grabbed had already passed, and I felt no further touching. Gary and Susan left shortly after occurred. Nancy and Joe reported hearing something from the left side of the cemetery, so they, along with Laura, went to check that out. Nikki and I remained on the path. They soon returned and we walked out of the cemetery together.

All in all, it was a good set of investigations. All 3 sites were deemed to have activity, and can be said to be "possibly haunted".

Thank you all for your participation.

WV State Pen
August 4, 2007

SARAH AND MICHELLE

We arrived at the prison around 8:00 pm and was signed in and given a tour of the building by an awesome guide by the name of Todd. He showed us where all the hot spots in the prison were and told us the types of activity that his group has picked up on in the building. After the tour we were allowed to roam the prison on our own. Most of the prison was available for investigation and there were very few locked doors. The hot spots were the basement was where a prisoner was beaten to death, the “Sugar Shack”, solitary confinement, cafeteria and the psych ward. We immediately set out to the sugar shack which is part of the basement where prisoners were allowed to have "private time". Guards never entered this area of the prison. Because of this – there were also many violent acts committed in this area of the prison. The three of us (Michelle, Nancy and I) entered this area and nobody else was down there at this time. We began to do some EVP work and ask some questions. After a few minutes and trying to taunt the spirit into communicating with us, I asked if the spirits wanted us to leave. I was standing directly beside Michelle and we both heard a whisper that said Yes. We both looked at each other in disbelief and said "did you hear that". Well, we decided to go ahead and leave that area since the spirit was not happy with us being there. As we were walking out three guys were walking down there to go in and they asked if we had any type of luck – we told them yes that we heard a whisper. They went in and approximately 20 minutes later we were told that one of those guys who went down there was pushed. He said simply – I feel like someone is touching my shoulder and soon as he said this – he was thrown up against a wall. We investigated the rest of the prison but heard nothing unusual or saw anything that wasn't explainable. We did get some feelings of being watched and some heavy feelings up in the psych ward. Later on that evening Michelle and I were headed up the stairs to go to the psych ward when we heard people downstairs running very fast and screaming. Michelle and I both weren't too scared by the sound cause there were bats everyone in this prison and we figured that the bats had scared away some people. Later on that night we were told by witnesses that 3 guys were down in solitary confinement and one of them got pushed very hard and that all 3 guys ran out of the prison – didn't stop running until they were in their cars and they never came back. They refused to sign out and from what were heard – they almost knocked people down trying to get out of there. Something really had these guys spooked. It is too bad that we didn't get to see the "pushing" incidents first hand. Also, one girl there allowed several of us to hear an EVP that she had captured. I am not sure what it was saying exactly but it was a very scary voice. It sounded almost inhuman – very demonic sounding. One of the girls who had been with her when this EVP was captured couldn't even listen to the playback of the EVP because it scared her so much. I have gone over all my evidence and I have absolutely nothing on camera or camcorder that I captured. The only weird thing that happened is that I used my voice recorder throughout the night – probably should have had about 1 hr worth of EVP work on it. I get home and there is nothing at all on the tape but static. I can hear where the tape recorder is clicked on and off but nothing else – not even our voices. It's like something erased it. I even thought that maybe it was my recorder or tape that was fault but I tried to record at home with the same equipment and it worked just perfectly. I can't explain what happened to that tape. All I know is something erased it. Something did not want me to hear what was on there. But, there is no way of proving that. All in all I had a great time and would love to go back!

McAlpine Park Investigation Charlotte NC

Saturday August 18, 2007

Participating in the investigation was Frank, Nancy, Curtis and Dana.
We hiked in on the trail and stopped in front of ruins of the old  mill. We wanted to get close in to the mill but our desire to not get wet crossing the creek or getting bit by a snake caused us to
reconsider. We remained on the trail as the Shadowlands reference mentioned a presence on the trail. We saw nothing on the infra red camera but Nancy caught some possible orbs on her digital camera. We did have some personal experiences such as hearing branches snap and Dana saw a shape in a long gown. No one else saw that. We all  noticed that at one area on the trail was definitely colder to the point where we were getting goose bumps and the hair on the back of my head was standing straight up. Nancy asked for indications or signs of any presence but none was given.

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