Bullock Hotel, Deadwood, SD, March 22-23, 2008

Seth Bullock arrived in the Old West gold-mining town of Deadwood the day after Wild Bill Hickock got shot at Saloon #10. Bullock had come to move his hardware store from Montana, but he happened to have a background in law enforcement. Deadwood in 1876 was full of saloons, brothels and chaos, and Seth Bullock seemed like the perfect person to restore order. Bullock was appointed Sheriff just a few months after his arrival.

In the 1890s, Bullock built Deadwood’s fanciest hotel at the time:

 

Bullock died in 1919, but during his life, he had a very close friendship with Teddy Roosevelt. Bullock even erected a memorial to his friend after Roosevelt’s death, shortly before Bullock himself passed away.

Deadwood is an interesting town. I’m embarrased to say I’d never heard of it until recently. The population now is only about 1300, but the entire town is on the National Historic Register. Read more about Deadwood here.

Here’s where it gets really interesting:


Unsolved Mysteries filmed a segment on the Bullock Hotel in the early 1990s regarding the following incident: A 70-year-old psychic named Sandy Bullock (no known relation to Seth) living in England named began to receive communications from someone named Seth Bullock in 1989. The psychic had never heard of Deadwood, nor the hotel that Seth mentioned. However, he felt compelled to write to the hotel staff after receiving several messages from Seth.

Apparently, Seth was very worried  about the future of his hotel and of Deadwood itself. I saw a copy of the letter that Sandy Bullock had written to the hotel staff. It’s in a book at the front desk along with ghostly pictures taken at the hotel. In the letter, Sandy says Seth is concerned that Deadwood will go downhill and turn into a town something like Las Vegas. Seth had warned Sandy about the year 1993, which, at that time, was still four years into the future. (Oddly enough, a law was passed in ‘93 that loosened up the restrictions on gambling in Deadwood).

To verify that Sandy was really in touch with Seth, a newspaper reporter answering his letters asked him to explain the location of Seth’s grave in location to his friend Roosevelt’s memorial. Sandy was able to give a detailed answer, describing the trees that blocked the view from Roosevelt’s memorial and Seth’s grave in Mt. Moriah Cemetary.

I went on the ghost tour at the hotel, and our guide told us about many unexplained encounters in the hotel. Some involved Seth appearing in the basement kitchen and frightening workers; some involved barstools at the basement bar mysteriously being re-arranged as soon as the staff left the room, and others involved a kindly “tall cowboy” who would return lost children to their parents. The basement is also believed to be haunted by a little girl who died of a sicknewss in that area before the hotel was built. In fact, children are often lured downstairs to play with a “little girl” before Mr. Bullock (supposedly) finds them and returns them to their parents.

Seth apparently still takes great pride in his hotel, if it is indeed Seth that haunts it. Employees have been tapped on the shoulder or witnessed doors slam if they get lazy or slow on the job. Seth also prefers that the radio be set to a country music radio station, and has been known to switch it back if he doesn’t like what you are playing.

I stayed in room 214 — not a room with a history of activity, but to be honest, I was quite relieved after two nights of no sleep at the Alex Johnson!

My room was very near a particular doorway that Seth Bullock had been seen standing in, and it was also right next to the back stairs that staff and even our tour guide prefer not to use.

I got several photos of orbs both in the basement and on that back set of stairs.

 Most interesting, however, was the mirror at the top of the main stairs. Our tour guide told us that this mirror is one of the “hot spots” in the hotel and warned us not to get too close to it because people loose battery power and have had their entire memory cards in their cameras erased.

I cautiously took some pictures, but was careful not to get too close. After depositing my camera safely in my room, I approached the mirror for a closer look. Like everything else in the hotel, the mirror was spotless. I observed this several times — during the tour, as well as when I was all alone, both after the tour and the next morning. I took pictures at each of these opportunities as well.  I was certainly surprised to see the “A” mark in the mirror when I got home and downloaded the pictures onto my computer! 

 

 

I had looked through some other pictures at the front desk taken by past guests and occasionally this “A” would show up in them as well….sometimes upside down. Our tour guide called it “light writing” and also told us there is a maltese cross known to show up in the mirror  that Seth Bullock, who is believed to haunt the hotel, used to mark his cattle on his ranch. This mirror is the only piece of furniture left in the hotel that belonged to the Bullocks.

Perhaps Seth is reminding all of us, “This is MINE.” 
 

Hotel Alex Johnson, Rapid City, SD, March 20-22, 2008

I stayed in two hotels last weekend that are supposed to be haunted. The first is the Hotel Alex Johnson in downtown Rapid City.

This hotel was built in 1927. Read about its history here.

There have always been rumors of activity on the 8th floor, but I specifically requested room 812, the “most haunted.” The front desk worker, Tyler, told me that they do not typically book people in that room unless all of the other rooms are full or someone specifically requests it.

This is going to sound odd, but I’m not sure the room wanted me there. When I checked in, Tyler handed me the keys to room 912. “But I specifically requested 812,” I said, producing the faxed confirmation of my request from several weeks earlier.

Tyler said the room did not appear to be available. He checked with housekeeping, who replied via walkie-talkie, “Why do you need it?” Tyler went to the telephone and when he came back, told me that it was indeed available but I would have to wait 30 minutes or so for it to be cleaned. I obliged. Whatever necessary, as long as I got that room!

 812 is supposed to be haunted because a woman jumped/was pushed from that window in the 1970s, at least according the most reliable version of the story I could find.

It’s a long way down….view from the window of room 812:

In that room, bureau drawers have been removed and inserted upside down. In the next room, a couple reported being unable to sleep due to the noise in their neighboring room 812…while that room was empty!

 Nothing odd happened to me while I stayed there, although I was so nervous that I slept with the lights and television on both nights! I left the digital recorder on in the room with a preface asking for communication, but the voice-activated recorder did not pick up anything other than the sound of the door as I left and re-entered the room later.

However, when I first walked into the room after Jeff dropped off my suitcase, I gave it a good walk-through, and noticed a cold spot in one corner. It was in fairly close proximity to a window, so I wrote it off. Just to be sure, I took a couple of photos, and sure enough, got orbs in them:

I read the history and several newspaper clippings at the front desk about the hauntings. Another couple, this time staying in room 804, reported waking up to piano music being played in their room in the middle of the night! Puzzled, they went back to sleep. I think I would have left!

Jeff, the security guard, was kind enough to take me up to the 10th floor and the condemned roof (I had to sign a release form first). It’s certainly spooky, but despite on or two distant orbs, I really didn’t find much. No EMF detector readings, either. However, I did get this stunning view of Rapid City (and of Jeff!):

The Queen Mary, Long Beach, Calif. March 9, 2008

 

A history of the Queen Mary can be found here.

 The enormous ship, which is one and a half times the size of the Titanic, permanently rests in Long Beach now and serves as a hotel, banquet hall, museum and tourist attraction.

 We (Marcus, Kay and I) went on the Ghosts & Legends Tour. For $25, it’s a bit pricier than other ghost tours but isn’t everything in California?

 The tour guide led us through the ship down the boiler rooms, through a doorway (#13) where a young sailer was crushed…

 

and into the now-empty pool, which was once frequented by Hollywood celebraties and other 1st Class passengers.

The pool is supposedly haunted by a woman in a tennis uniform and a little girl. There have also been reports of a bride and a little boy in a suit.

I did get some orbs in my photos, which you may or may not be able to see in the pictures posted above. Part of the dramatics of the tour involved fog coming out of the pool and in some cases, splashing visitors. I need to mention this because it’s possible that water droplets compromised the photos taken in the pool room.

Finally, a shot in the “hotel” area of the ship that showed multiple orbs. I’ve enhanced it so you can see them better:

Southern California, March 2008

Just got back from a trip to LA and several ghosting detours, including the Whaley House in San Diego (2nd visit), the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Also visited the Mission San Juan Capistrano…no rumors of hauntings but there were some deaths there. I was excited to try out my new E.L.F. Zone EMF detector, but disappointingly, got no results. I have tested it around electronics before, so I know it does pick up electromagnetic fields. Here are a couple pics of me playing with my new toy:

On Thursday, I’m off to Rapid City, SD, to spend two nights at the Hotel Alex Johnson’s famously hanted room 812. After that, I’m off to the old goldmining town of Deadwood, SD to stay in the haunted Bullock Hotel. I also have a new motion detector that I plan to use in the room while I’m sleeping to see if I get any visitors. That is — IF I can sleep!

Haunted Chicago (Part 3 of 3)

Remember when I said a lot of people have died some pretty awful deaths in Chicago? Think more than 600 people, mostly children, dying in a terrible fire in one of the city’s largest theaters less than a month after it opened.

Eager to start making a profit, the owners rushed construction on the Iroquois theater and possibly made some shady deals to skirt city ordinances. In fact, weeks after it opened, the fire escape from the upper balcony was not even completed. The door was in place so that from the inside, theater goer could assume adequate escape routes existed in case of a fire. But beyond the door, there was only a steep drop to the alley below.

On December 30, 1903, approximately 1,900 children and parents attended a matinee showing of a popular children’s musical. A little after 3 p.m., a hot stage light started a flame that began to eat away at the curtains. The fireman on duty at the theater had only a small quantity of powder which could be sprinkled on a fire to extinguish it. Unfortunately, this powder was useless in fighting a fire high above his head. Thanks to management, the Iroquois Theater had no fire extinguishers or hoses, unlike most theaters in 1903 who had learned from past disasters. The fire spread to the oil-paint-soaked canvas backdrops next.

 The crew attempted to lower a fire-proof curtain that was supposed to keep the audience protected from a backstage fire. Instead, the curtain got stuck on its cheaply-made wooden tracks, and quickly incinerated, causing question about whether the curtain was really made of fire-retardant material in the first place.

As the fire spread, the actor on stage urged the patrons to stay seated. The orchestra was ordered to continue playing to prevent panic. The bodies of those who stayed seated were later found in their chairs; they had died from smoke inhalation and explosive flames. As for those who thought they had a better chance trying to leave the theater, some were trampled to death. With no ushers to direct them toward the exits, patrons had to fend for themselves. Once they made their way to the exit, they were horrified to find that management had put iron gates up in front of the doors. These gates were not locked and could be opened, but most theater guests were unfamiliar with how to operate the lever that opened the gate, and certainly didn’t have the patience to figure it out now. Other doors opened into the building, so when the panicked crowd rushed at the exit and pushed on the doors, they found they would not open. Those who figured out they needed to PULL the doors to open them had difficulty doing so because of the crowd pushing on them from behind.

 

 

 

 

On the upstairs balcony, one woman noticed the fire exit. She ran to it, flung open the door, and stepped to her death. Someone must have seen her do this, but not realized that she had fallen to the street below or not cared. Another person tried the fire escape, and then another, and another. Bodies piled up in the alley outside the theater. Those who survived the drop did so because they were caught by a cushion of bodies of other theater patrons. This alley is now called Death Alley.

The theater has since been torn down, but another was built in its place. Our Haunted Chicago tour bus took us to Death Alley and dropped us off so we could walk around. Our tour guide, Ken, told us that people often felt as though a child were trying to hold their hand in this area. He also pointed out a couple of areas where he sensed activity. I snapped some pictures, and sure enough, some orbs appeared in them.

   

As I turned to walk away from Death Alley and board the bus, one girl from our tour hung back. She claimed to feel something touching her hand. I took a picture, and while I didn’t see anything necessarily by her hand, I did get a shower of orbs in the photo.

One more note: The alley smelled like shit, at least to me. Our tour guide attributed that to homeless people, but I’m reminded that the smell of excrement or sulfur or rotting meat is often present in locations affected by a demonic presence. But why would something evil be present here? There were no signs of occult activity or devil worship in the alley. According to Ed and Lorraine Warren, demons seek out pain and suffering, death and misery. That’s why you are more likely to encounter a demon in a cemetery than a ghost, they say. Death Alley is certainly a place of suffering and misery. But one observation of an odd smell isn’t enough to assume there is demonic activity there.

 

Chicago…continued: Resurrection Mary

Resurrection Mary is one of my favorite ghosts because she represents a classic urban legend in ghostlore: The Phantom Hitchhiker. Part of my interest in hauntings – besides the adrenaline rush that comes with being scared and the curiosity about the unknown – is the anthropological side of the folklore. Fact or fiction aside, who started telling these stories in the first place, and why?

 

Mary’s story might seem familiar, as many cities have phantom hitchhiker legends. Maybe the only reason Mary’s story has prevailed is that it’s quite possible she was more than a myth.

 

Since the 1939, the story of a young, pale blonde woman in a white dress hitchhiking near Resurrection Cemetery on Archer Avenue has circulated in Chicago. Once a (usually male) driver picks up Mary, she accompanies him to a ballroom or nightclub where she dances the night away. Mary’s “companions” have described her as secretive and very cold to the touch. When it is time to leave, Mary once again climbs into her companion’s car, giving vague directions to her house. Suddenly, she orders the driver to stop right in front of Resurrection Cemetery. At that point, Mary either gets out of the car and runs right through the cemetery gates, or simply vanishes from the passenger seat of the car. Other versions of the tale have Mary silently climbing into the backseat of someone’s car as they pass through the area, or just materializing out of thin air as the driver goes down Archer Avenue past the cemetery.

Unsolved Mysteries segment on Resurrection Mary:

 

Historians in Troy Taylor and Ursula Bielski’s group have used details from the encounters to tentatively trace Mary to a young Polish woman buried in Resurrection Cemetery. The woman, 21-year-old Mary Bregovy, was killed in a car accident in 1934 on her way home from a dance. However, Bregovy had short, dark hair and was buried in an orchid-colored dress.

Different neighborhoods and ethnicities in Chicago have at some point claimed Mary as their own. Historians suspect at least two other candidates buried in the cemetery could be the “real” Resurrection Mary.  

One curiosity involving the legend of Resurrection Mary are these oddly bent bars on the front gates of Resurrection Cemetery. Some say Mary’s ghostly hands pulled them apart so she could re-enter — or escape from — the cemetery. Visit http://www.hauntedchicago.com/images/b8rea232.jpg to see another photo.

Chicago, June 2006

Chicago is a wonderfully, albeit tragically, haunted city, and if you’re ever there, hop on the black “ghost bus” and take a tour of the city. Tours are run by paranormal author and investiagors Troy Taylor and Ursula Bielski, and one folks from their group will be your tour guide. According to Ken, our tour guide, Troy and Ursula’s group is made up of physicists, historians, and other professionals that have at least a master’s degree in their field of study. And some of them, like Ken, are psychic. Ken has helped psychic Irene Hughes with missing children cases before.  The expertise on the TT-UB team meant the tours were well-researched and very interesting, rather than a collection of urban legends and cheap thrills (see Atchison, Kansas!) My sister, a ghost skeptic, even enjoyed the history of the city that is presented on the tour.

A lot of people have died some pretty awful deaths in Chicago, and in fact, Lincoln Park was built over an old cemetery that contractors haphazardly “relocated” to another area. Apparently they missed some bodies, because lots of creepy stuff goes on in that area, according to Ken.

During the bloody Fort Dearborn Massacre in 1812, a Native American tribe shot and hacked to death with tomahawks 148 people, including 12 children.

As the city of Chicago grew, construction in the 1980s unearthed the bones of what were discovered to be the victims of the Fort Dearborn Massacre. The bones were reburied in another location, and construction continued. However, soon afterwards, people began to report seeing  semi-transparent figures of people dressed in old-fashioned clothing and old military uniforms wandering, running about, or moving in slow motion. Some looked frightened or appeared to be silently screaming. According to Ken, business people still report seeing these apparitions today in the middle of this busy intersection at Michigan & Wacker while sitting in traffic, and more frequently as the anniversary of the massacre approaches in August.

 The Chicago Eastland Disaster in 1915 was a case of Titanic-ish arrogance that cost the lives of more than 800 people who drowned in the Chicago River — while the boat was still docked.

 The Western Electric Company had chartered a passenger steamer, the S.S. Eastland, to transport employees and their families over to Michigan City, Indiana for a company picnic. The Eastland had a reputation for being top-heavy. In fact, its passenger limit had been reduced several times in attempts to compensate: From 3,300 to 2,800 to 2,400 and then unoffically to 1,125. However, three weeks before the picnic, an inspector amended the passenger limit to 2,500. The morning of the company picnic, 2,572 people boarded. Still docked, the boat tipped and rested on its side; 844 people drowned.

Chicago in 1915 did not have the capabilities to efficiently house 844 dead bodies and handle their funeral arrangements in a timely manner. As a result, the victims’ bodies were housed temporarily all over the city, from department stores to what is now Oprah’s television studio — and many of these places are now though to be haunted.

The intersection of Clark and LaSalle in Chicago, where the Eastland was docked, is also a point of interest. Looking into the river from that intersection, some people have reported seeing faces or people in the water so real that the observers have summoned help for what they believed were drowing victims…not knowing that the victims had already drowned 90 years ago. Ken told us that policemen and firefighters like to trick the new members by sending them to the river to rescue the “victims.” Supposedly, the law enforcement newbies see the faces and are convinced there are people in the water…until their superiors tell them the truth.

More to come soon on Chicago!!!!

Villisca Ax Murder House, July 9, 2006

The world’s largest unsoved ax murder took place in the small town of Villisca, Iowa in 1912. It happened something like this:

On the morning of June 10, 1912, at 5 a.m., Mary Peckham went into her yard to hang up laundry. She noticed no movement in the home of her neighbors, the J.B. Moore family, which was odd. No one had begun the chores. No little feet belonging to the Moore’s four children stomped up and down the porch steps. The house was still.

By 7 a.m. there was still no sign of activity. Mary grew concerned and approached the house. She knocked on the door, tried the knob, and found it locked. She tried to peek in the windows, but found all were covered with curtains, blankets or towels. Mary then called J.B.’s brother, Ross Moore.

Ross brought over  key and unlocked the door. Upon entering, he found a grisly scene: Mr. and Mrs. Moore, their four children (ages 11, 9, 7, and 5), and the children’s two houseguests (Lena and Ina Stillinger, ages 12 and 8 ) murdered in their beds. All eight were bludgeoned to death in their beds, apparently with an ax that was left at the crime scene, leaning up against a wall.

The Moores had not been robbed. A single plate of uneaten food sat on their table. All of the mirrors and windows had been covered with some type of cloth — a Victorian tradition that is supposed to keep the soul from becoming trapped in a mirror upon death.

An incredibly sloppy and chaotic investigation followed, even by 1912’s standards. Hundreds of townspeople trapsed through the home to gawk at the murder scene before police could secure it.

Several suspects were questioned but none were ever convicted. You can read more about that here: http://www.villiscaiowa.com/

Here’s a little history on the hauntings:

However, I found no evidence of hauntings, but none to the contrary, either.

I’ll share with you some interesting pieces of information my tour guide shared with me, which cannot be found on the Web site:

-The home had been rented to families off and on over the past 95 years. One tenant spent only one night in the house, and then slept in the barn for every night after that his family occupied the home. They were aware of the home’s history when they rented the house.

-Small children on the tour with their parents (who would take a child to such an awful place?!?) are often distracted by, but not afraid of, playmates the adults can’t see. One child told his mother he wanted to go into the kitchen to play with “that little girl” when there were no other children present in the house.

–Several paranormal investigative groups, including Troy Taylor’s, have stayed overnight and documented activity in the house.

On the sunny Sunday afternoon I toured the home, I didn’t get so much as an orb in my photos. But here they are anyway.

 Please note: The owners of the J.B. Moore home have made an attempt to set up the home as it was believed to have been a the time of the murders. However, none of the furniture in the home belonged to the Moores. Most of it is not even antique, and the walls and ceilings have long been papered over and painted.

 

 Above: The first-floor bedroom where the Stillinger sisters were found murdered.

The murderer left the ax (believed to be taken from the Moore family’s shed) leaning against the doorframe into this room.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Moore slept in this room. Although no trace of now exists, at one point the marks made by the ax as it swung upward were visible indented in the ceiling.

 

This attic area, accessible via a small closet in Mr. and Mrs. Moore’s bedroom, is thought to be where the murderer(s) hid while waiting for the family to retun home on the night of June 9.

The children’s room.

The Lemp Mansion, St. Louis, Mo.

 

The history of the Lemp Mansion is so extensive that I couldn’t do it justice here. Basically, the Lemp family owned and operated a successful brewery in St. Louis in the late 1800s and early 1900s, until Prohibition, among other things, killed their prosperity. Three of the Lemps have committed suicide, and two of them in the mansion itself. For more, visit: http://www.lempmansion.com/history.html .

Charla and I spent Saturday night, Feb. 3 in the Lemp Mansion. After the staff left and the other guests were in their rooms, Charla and I explored the mansion. This was at about 11:30 p.m. until about 12:30 p.m.

Nothing supernatural happened during our exploration or while we slept, except for a creepy feeling Char got about going into the basement — we decided to postpone that exploation until the next morning.

I had an odd dream in connection to the mansion. They are probably nothing more than coincidence. About a week before Charla and I went to St. Louis, I had a dream that we were there staying in the mansion, and that someone, a woman, was tugging at my arm and trying to wake me up, calling, “Billy…Billy…”

I shrugged it off as excitment about the trip. I later found out that William Lemp Jr. was always called “Billy.”

If orbs are an indication of a haunting, the mansion is not very. I got very few orbs in my pictures. However, I did get some other anomalies:

We were walking around in the dark, with no one else on the main floor when I took this picture

The picture above looks out of focus, but the sofa isn’t, at all. There are streaks in the mirror above the sofa and coming from the desk light. (The figure by the desk is just another guest.)

There is  thick orange streak in the right edge of the picture. I don’t know what this is — it doesn’t look like a fingr to me.

There is a bright purple orb above Char’s head in this picture. Below, I’ve zoomed in:

I may have gotten an EVP, but it sounded too much like Char’s croaky voice (she had a cold.) I still have to listen to the analog tape.

Before seeing the pictures, Char and I weren’t very convinced of the mansion’s haunted status. Char is somewhat sensitive to supernatural things, yet besides a hesitant feeling about going into the basement, she felt nothing. If a stroll through a local cemetary can produce feelings in Char, I would think this mansion could, too.  However, the pictures haven’t changed our opinions much, either.

Life Magazine named the Lemp Mansion one of the 10 most haunted places in America in 1980. Of course, back then, the Pointers were doing extensive renovations on the home to turn it into the Bed and Breakfast it is today (more work is needed, we both agred — peeling paint, thick layers of dust and an archaic 70s-ish bathtub should all be corrected). But in the last 27 years, perhaps the ghosts have gotten used to the changes and are no longer as active. Still, Char and I are keeping in mind that we only spent one night there, and maybe it just happened to be  dormant one.

Seekers Investigation

Background 

I accompanied Alan R., founder of the now defunct “Seekers of the Unknown,” to a tiny rural town in Central Kansas about an hour from Great Bend. This was in the summer of 2005.

Alan has an admirable amout of experience dealing with the paranormal, and has investigated domestic and foreign hauntings with Lorraine and the late Ed Warren (http://www.warrens.net/).

This haunting involved a man in his 40s or 50s living alone in a 100+-year-old home in this rural Kansas town. Alan and I arrived early in the evening so the resident could brief us on the activity, and the returned much later that night to conduct a formal investigation.

Activity

 The man told us the activity began when he started doing some minor remodeling on the home. The television, lights, and other electronic appliances in the home would shut on and off of their own accord, often all at the same time. In the bathroom, where the majorty of the remodeling was taking place, the man could stand and hear the sounds of a couple arguing coming from the living room,when, of course, there was no one there.

Once this strange activity began, the man contacted previous tenants of the home. They told him that on one occasion they opened the door to the attic and went up to explore. They found an old box which apparently held photos or some sentimental things left over from the previous owners. The tenants took the box downstairs with them, and, the current owner quotes, in their words, “All hell broke loose.” The lights, televison and appliances flashed erratically. The tentants stayed for three days after bringing the box downstairs, and then left, unable to cope with the activity.

Upon hearing this story, the current owner of the house –the man who had contacted us — either bravely or stupidly decided to explore the attic. He had no more than climbed the stairs and stood in the attic when something bit him on the ankle. He quickly descended the stairs and examined his ankle, to find what looked like human bite marks on is skin.

The homeowner’s significant other spent the night not too long after that. When the homeowner awakened the next morning, he was surprised to find his partner was gone. The homeowner called his partner to find out why the man had left in the middle of the night. The parter told him that he had awakened to “something” trying to strangle him. He refused to enter the house again.

Following this incident, the homeowner began to frequently wake up in the mornings to find bite marks, scratch marks and bruises on his arms and chest. He never remembered receiving any of these injuries during the night.

The man said he had known an elderly woman who had lived in the home before and died there. She was a sweet, harmless person, and he often came over to relight the pilot light in her furnace. He did not believe she was the source of the activity.

In additon to all of this activity, the homeowner had begun having terrible headaches, sometimes accompanied by visions. He had a vision of his boss driving to work and getting in a car wreck and killing a woman in a grey car. He warned his boss and begged him not to drive the next day. Surprisingly, his boss listened. Later that day, his boss had a heartattack — which would have been disastrous had he been driving.

One one occasion, the homeowner had a very realistic dream. He was in the living room talking to a woman, but he couldn’t hear her. He thought he could make out that she was trying to tell him that her name was Charlotte, but he couldn’t figure out what she wanted to tell him.

The man had a friend call in a Celtic priestess of some sort who attempted to do some sort of cleansing on the house. The phenomena didn’t stop, and the priestess found scratches and welts on her arms the next day. After this incident, an image appeared on the bathroom wall that the man thought looked like a face. Alan and I both saw an indiscernable smudge on the wall, but niether of us would call it a face.

After hearing all of this, I asked Alan once we were alone if he thought the activity could be demonic. He said he didn’t think so. Demonic actvity is usually much more violent — furniture shooting around the room, for example. Alan had told the man to put religious figures or symbols around his home and to pray. The man hung rosary beads on doorways and said this helped somewhat. But not enough that he didn’t want us to come and investigate.

Investigation

When Alan and I returned later that evening, prepared to investigate, the man sat us down in the living room and said he needed to tell us something. “Alan,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell you this earlier, but I knew what you looked like before I met you.”

I was still pretty new to this, so I watched Alan for his reaction. “Oh?” he asked.

“I had a vision,” the man continued, “That a man with black hair and black eyes was being flung out of that window over there,” he said, pointing to a picture window.

“I don’t know how it happens. It didn’t make sense when I saw it before. But that man was you. And I just — please, just — everyone, be careful tonight. Please stay away from the window.”

“Right.” Alan nodded. “Okay.” He turned to me. “You want to help me get the equipment out of the car?”

Once Alan and I were outside, he said to me: “We’re not going near the window.”

Alan and I set up an analog tape recorder and attempted to capture EVPs. We asked a series of questions and waited for answers. We, of course, heard nothing, but we hoped the tape might pick something up. Then we left the tape recorder on as we walked the house.

We turned off all the lights, and, by flashlight, walked around the house, snapping pictures, talking, trying to concentrate on weird feelings or cold spots. Nothing. Alan even climbed the attic stairs and poked his head upstairs. Nothing scary. He snapped a few pictures anyway.

As we wrapped up our investigation, the man suddenly told us he didn’t feel well and would wait for us on the front porch. “I just feel very sad,” he said. “I don’t know why.”

When Alan and I came out to say goodbye, the man was crying. I gave him a hug, and we promised to let him know what we found. The man told us this was the last night he was going to stay in the house, and that he’d only held out this long waiting for Alan and I to come, but it wasn’t getting any better and he couldn’t handle it anymore. Alan recommended that he get his  home blessed by a priest – ”Sometimes, when you move, it will follow you,” Alan warned. But the man insisted on moving.

Afterward

I asked Alan in the car if he believed the man. “Yes, I do,” Alan said. “I’ve been in sales long enough that I think I have a pretty good bullshit detector.”

“What do you make of the tears?” I asked him. “And the visions?”

“They can be very powerful, very influential,” Alan said.

“They? I thought you didn’t think it was demonic.”

“I think it could be.”

“But nothing happened while we were there,” I said. “I wasn’t even scared after a while.”

“That’s actully not that unusual,” Alan said. “They like to f**k with you, or with the victim. They don’t want to be run off. It’s in their best interest to lay low when we come to visit and make it look like he’s nuts.”

“Do you think they knew we were coming?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “That vision he had — about me going through the window — that was a good indicator.”

The next day we listened to the tape on the drive back to Kansas City. Nothing. In between our questions, there was only silence.

 A few weeks later, I asked Alan if he had heard from the man. Alan said he hadn’t been able to get in touch with him, but he had received an e-mail from the man after he moved. “Basically, he said it followed him,” Alan said.