News
Visit haunted Waverly Hills Sanitarium (Examiner)
by MarieColby on Apr.24, 2009, under News
Chicago’s Ghost Research Society (GRS) will be leading an overnight investigation of the haunted Waverly Hills Sanitarium on Thursday, June 11, from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
GRS President Dale Kaczmarek said the group will be “using the most advanced state-of-the-art paranormal gadgetry with hopes of uncovering some real supernatural evidence.”
Kaczmarek is the author of a number of popular books, including Windy City Ghosts, Windy City Ghosts 2, A Field Guide to Spirit Photography, and Illuminating the Darkness: The Mystery of Spooklights.
Waverly Hills Sanitarium is in Louisville, Kentucky, and currently owned by Charlie and Tina Mattingly. They have a neat history of the place and great photos at their web site.
The Mattingly’s saved this structure and it appears they have a most interesting business and restoration project going there now. Several networks have done television shows here.
The site opened in 1910, but the large structure there today opened in 1926, built to house tuberculosis patients. In the early 20th century, Jefferson County had a huge outbreak of tuberculosis cases - and this site was used to construct the existing structure. There are many myths and legends about this property - and some of those can be read on this Wikipedia page.
Watch this excellent History Channel video about the place.
About Ghost Research Society
GRS describes itself on its web site: “The Ghost Research Society was formed as a clearing house for reports of ghosts, hauntings, poltergeist and life after death encounters. The society members actively research and investigate all reports that come their way including private homes and businesses. The society also analyzes alleged spirit photographs, video and audio tapes that they come across from ordinary people or society members.”
The group, based in south suburban Oak Lawn, has a variety of ways to become a member. In addition to the group, Kaczmarek and co-founder Jim Graczyk also operate Ghost Research Society Press, founded in 2004, which publishes books on the paranormal.
Graczyk is the author of several paranormal books, including A Field Guide to Chicago Hauntings, Field Guide to America’s Most Haunted, and Chicago Hauntings for Teens.
The group also operates Excursions into the Unknown - Haunted Chicagoland Tours. Find out more by calling them at 708.425.5163
Ghost-hunting teens encounter live robbers (Exeter, RI)
by MarieColby on Apr.23, 2009, under News
EXETER, R.I., April 23 (UPI) — Five Rhode Island men have been charged with giving ghost-hunting teenagers a real scare by robbing them in an abandoned state school.
State police said the suspects were students in the Job Corps at a building on the grounds of the Ladd School, The Providence Journal-Bulletin reported. They were allegedly armed with knives, clubs, BB guns and axes when they held up a total of 12 teenagers over the past three months.
They allegedly stole cell phones, money and credit cards from their victims.
State Police Capt. David Neill said the Ladd School, which opened in 1907 for people with mental disabilities, is closed to the public. But he said ghost hunters manage to get in.
Visitors claim they have heard voices and have been touched or hit by invisible hands. Some have reported cameras malfunctioning for no apparent reason.
The defendants were identified as two brothers, Kou Xiong, 21, and Benjamin Xiong, 19, of Warwick; Sidney Chay, 19, of Providence; Anthony Deloge, 18, of Warwick; and Jonathan Wilson, 25, of Charlestown.
They were ordered held without bail pending a hearing May 6 on charges of armed robbery and conspiracy.
Newark Haunt Includes 'Ghost Car' (Examiner)
by MarieColby on Mar.11, 2009, under News
Newark Haunt Includes ‘Ghost Car’
Associated Press, Examiner.com
NEWARK, OHIO - Homeowners here called the Ghost Hunters Ohio Search Team for some answers after experiencing a continued haunting in their 1898 structure that included sound and visual anomalies and a “ghost truck” that seems to come home once in a while.
Newark is a city in Licking County, Ohio, 33 miles east of Columbus with a 2,000 population of 46,279. Robert Silverberg’s novella, “Born With The Dead” is set partly in Newark, and references the Great Circle and Octagon Mounds; as do parts of The Tales of Alvin Maker series of novels by Orson Scott Card. Isaac Asimov also references the Newark Earthworks in a short story.
Investigation date: August 29, 2008. Team members present: Brenda Shupe, Darla Daugherty, Bev Nance, Christian Stewwart, Chris Barnes.
What the client reported from the past - Brenda Shupe reporting:
Back stairs: Three people sleeping in different areas of the house awoke to the sound of someone running up and down the back stairs. Upon checking they found no one.
Bedroom: Friend sleeping in this room awoke to find a man standing over him. After blinking a few times the man was gone. Client has always had an uneasy feeling in this room.
Living room: Client has caught a glimpse of a black shadow figure in this room.
Outside: Client said a ghost truck goes up the driveway and around to the back of the house. The head lights and tail lights can sometimes be seen. But when they go out back to check there is no truck there. The driveway is the only gravel driveway in the area. Client says there is no mistaking the sound of a vehicle on the gravel driveway. Recently friends staying over night heard the truck. Several minutes later they heard the back door open and close and foot steps. There was no one there. This scared them so bad that they didn’t want to stay another minute in the house and they left. Client told us that this car appears several times a year, going back to when he was a child. He also assured us that no one was ever using drugs or drinking when the car was seen.
Attic: Uneasy feelings.
History: The history of the house presented no clues as to what may be happening in the home. We did find documentation that in 1942 six members of a flight crew and two Newark residents were killed when a B-25 crashed into an apartment building located very close to this home.
Observations: Video & wireless cameras were positioned in view of the driveway, back stairs, living room, second floor landing and second floor stairs.
We decided to spend some time in the attic. We didn’t have a video camera up there as nothing has really happened up there other than uneasy feelings and we felt we had the video cameras in the most active parts of the house. Boy were we wrong. The attic consists of two finished rooms with a set of doors separating the rooms. The doors make a lot of noise when you open them. We were in the second room and had the doors closed. A light was left on in the first room. We had been discussing the temperature monitor when it sounded like someone was opening the doors. The door shook like someone was trying to jerk it open. We could see through the cracks the light from the room beyond and we could see no one was at the door.
Sound at the Door
At first we thought it was someone from downstairs coming to join us but then realized we did not hear the attic door open and we had not heard any foot steps on the wooden stairs. When we opened the door there was no one there. A video camera on the second floor landing verified that no one opened the attic door or came up the stairs. Later a vanity light just outside the doors in the other room came on by itself.
This happened just after we had heard a light tap and Chris had asked for a better sign. Again video verified that no one came up the stairs. The client said the light is never used. The light has a switch that turns. Thinking that maybe the switch had been left in a halfway position we tried to recreate the event but could not.
One evp was recorded in the attic and another one that we are not sure of at this time. The first one was picked up when we were just sitting quietly. It sounds to us like “come in here.”
Another evp was picked up in the living room. The question was asked “are you here alone or is there someone with you” As the last word “you” is spoken we hear the name John. Earlier in the night the client and I heard what sounded like three loud thumps on the wall from the living room area. Everyone else was outside taking a break at the time.
A video camera that was positioned to see the back steps went badly out of focus several times through out the night. There was no visible change in the lighting or any movement to have caused this. Nothing of interest was found on any of the other video cameras or audio recorders.
Although we did not find an immediate cause for the light turning on and the doors
rattling we are not ready to call these events paranormal until we can do a few follow
up investigations and look further into natural causes.
Conclusions
Paranormal events recorded on video: None
EVPs recorded: 1, possibly 2
Other audio recorded: yes, sound of door trying to open
Photo evidence: None
