ArtRojasDesign

Shadow Boxer

John heads out to Missouri to visit two locations with a variety of activity. For his first stop he visits Kansas City and the Whatsoever Center where children are seeing apparitions, the boxing equipment swings on it’s own, there are footsteps and one person even claims to have felt an energy pass through her.

As the investigation gets underway, Jason and Jesslyn go to the boxing arena and low and behold they hear the ring buzzer go off. This is the same activity the owner has experience. That certainly sounds like a short, but he’s had it checked. At the same time the upstairs camera that Brian has placed starts snapping photos. It appears to have captured a figure against the back wall of the hallway.

The team also learns about the boxing death of "Tex", who mysteriously died in his bathtub. Since boxing was linked to gambling and the mafia, they wonder if he met with an untimely end by not throwing a fight. It’s later discovered that he in fact died of epilepsy and that it was most likely an accident.

On the second night of the investigation while Jason and John are down in the boxing area, one of the bags starts to swing. None of the others appear to be moving. Brian, while watching the monitors, sees some plume of dust from under the boxing ring so they bring out their snake camera and check it out. They pull out a wrapped up bottle of phenol barbital and smelling salts. These definitely look to be related to boxing and more specifically to Tex. Phenol barbital would have been used to control seizures. This may have been Tex’s medication or it may be totally unrelated.

John links all the items together and feels the spirit energy is Tex even though he didn’t die anywhere near the boxing ring. Also, the idea of Tex doesn’t explain anything related to the two girls that have been seen on the stairs. John takes the bottle and the smelling salts away and the activity dies down. But as stated at the end of the segment, people still report the girls.

I think this is another one of those times when John may have jumped the gun and tried to link too many things together without taking all the evidence into consideration. The items he found more than likely have nothing to do with Tex and since he didn’t die there, John is making a leap. It does make sense and they certainly can be linked, but that doesn’t mean they really are.

Ghost Storm

The second part of the trip takes John and team to Joplin, Missouri, site of the massive tornado of 2011. Bob Wilson, the owner, claims he sees shadow figures, feels a dark presence and images appear in an old mirror on the stairs. Interestingly, John brings in Chip Coffey who picks up on some energy on the stairs and feels something is odd about the mirror. He also feels there is some sort of pounding or lashing rage in the daughter’s room. This coincides with the daughter saying her furniture shakes, which the guys do experience, but it comes across as more of a large truck driving by than anything else. It’s still weird nonetheless and would be freaky as hell to wake up to that.

Too bad Chip doesn’t stay around for the investigation. He’s only there for a minute before whisking off. But the team sets up a laser grid on the stairs to see what they can capture. While Brian asks if there is something the family should know, he gets the words "Let go" as an EVP. At the same time the Rem Pod goes off and there appears to be a shadow moving across the laser grid. Within a couple seconds they get multiple hits on different devices.

Shortly thereafter a strange thing starts to happen with the mirror, it appears to be forming shapes and swirls. John can’t see any of the activity himself, it’s only visible with the camera. He tries to check for light sources and moves the chandelier, but it doesn’t change the effect. Oddly, John says he sees the number 22 in the patterns and associates that with the tornado since it happened May 22.

John begins to give Bob the evidence he’s collected when Bob drops a bombshell of a story. He said before he helped pull 19 people from the rubble of a building right next to where he worked. He tells of sitting with a man telling him everything is going to be fine knowing full well it won’t be. As he puts it, he lied and he is utterly torn up about it. Bob stayed at his side until the poor man passed away. How completely heart wrenching.

John associates the "Let go" with Bob and that he needs to let the story out and release his emotions about it. This could be the root of the problem. It seems Bob is dealing with "Survivor’s guilt" and needs to talk about the things he’s seen and experienced.

His story is strange because something appeared to go through the laser grid and energy caused the Rem Pod to go off. If we go with Chip’s feelings, he felt a presence as well. Something tangible seems to be going on, more so than just Bob letting his feelings out. While John overshot the root of the problem in the first part of the episode, I think he falls totally short for the second part. I don’t think he’s discovered or unraveled anything at all. But yet, they claim all the activity has stopped since he told his family about helping the victims. Again, parts of this just don’t tie together correctly.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Haunted Collector – Hollywood Haunted and Gold Rush Ghost – S03E10
• Haunted Collector – Emmitt House Ghosts and Shadow Intruder – S03E05
• Haunted Collector – Lakeside Terror and Pythian Secrets – S03E09
• Haunted Collector – Cigar Bar and Childs Play – S03E02
• Deep South Paranormal – I Fear That Train A Comin – S01E01
• Haunted Collector – Ghost Behind Bars and Haunted Brothel – S03E03
• Haunted Collector – Ghost of Geneva and Fort Fear – S03E07
• Haunted Collector – Haunted Rectory and Grand Midway Ghosts – S02E05
• Haunted Collector – Haunted Seminary and Ghost Games – S03E11
• Haunted Collector – Farm Stalker and Echo Club Spirits – S03E01

Geneva, New York

For the first part of the episode, John heads to Geneva, New York to help a woman who’s having some problems in her own home. She’s experienced being pushed, the shower curtain has been whisked open, her sheets have been torn, she’s been scratched and she’s seen an apparition. Margaret, the home owner, also notes that she had a relative convicted of murder. Oh, he was indeed a bad guy; responsible for raping and killing a woman. Sounds like a hell of time in her house!

They start off an investigation with Margaret participating. She claims she’s heard the names Beth and Tom. When calling out those names, they get a response for Tom and then John nearly jumps off the couch as he’s being touched by something unknown. There was a lot of bleeping going on there.

Brian and Chris investigate the bathroom and quickly dismiss the claims of the shower curtain. Much to their surprise, as they leave the bathroom they hear the sound of the shower curtain moving. Did it really move? Is it truly level?

For the second night of the investigation Jason and Jesslyn visit the site where William Fee would have been hung for the murder and rape. When asking about the beams and if he was hung from them they get multiple responses. It seems William is ready to confess to his crimes. However, he doesn’t give any responses when asked if he’s causing the issues at Margaret’s house. Seems there is another spirit.

Brian and John investigate the bathroom and capture what appears to be a figure in the shower curtain. The first question to ask, isn’t that a reflection of John or Brian? They just proved that John’s heat and reflection were projecting onto the shears, but that same principle wouldn’t apply to the shower curtain? I must say, I’m a bit confused by that. I think they’re looking at themselves.

John does some investigation and finds out there was a boy abandoned during the war who took on the name Thomas. He was taken in by the soldiers, but would die of smallpox within a year. Tom is the name that Margaret says she heard and it’s the name John was saying when he was touched. He draws the conclusion that Thomas is the boy they saw in the shower curtain and is the spirit in the house. John makes a small marker to commemorate his passing.

That all sounds well and good, but let’s back up a minute. Margaret says she was pushed, pinched, scratched and that the bed sheets were torn. Thomas is responsible for this and there is nothing to worry about? It we take Margaret’s claims as true then this is one vengeful kid hell bent on destruction. To me there is a massive disconnect here. What John is saying and what Margaret is supposedly experiencing don’t match up. Are we just going to ignore all the violence?  Are you really saying a three year old would be capable of all those things? If not, then maybe you ended thing a little soon and more investigation needs to be done.

Fort Wayne – Detroit, Michigan

For the second part of the episode, John heads to Detroit, Michigan to investigate Fort Wayne where there are reports of people being pinched, hair being pulled, the sounds of footsteps and the sight of a figure who then rushed the two tour guides. His presence left a cold blast of air behind.

During the first part of the investigation, Brian believes he sees a dark figure darting across the grounds outside. He and Chris give chase, but they aren’t able to find anything. They also hear the sound of pencils falling to the floor, but Brian isn’t convinced it had anything to do with the paranormal. This may also explain some of the noises other people here.

On the second night of the investigation, Chris, Brian and Jason search the grounds for this shadow figure. They come across a building with a bulb flickering in the basement. Like moths to a flame they investigate. It leads them to a box where they uncover roofing spikes that would have been attached to your boots. They believe these correspond to the death of a roofer during the riots of 1967, where a man was mistaken for a sniper and was gunned down. He was in fact trying to fight the fire that had broken out. John believes this is the connection and feels the spikes should be placed on display.

It seems awfully convenient that the light was flickering and that after all these years a pair of old roofing spikes would be in a cardboard box just waiting to be discovered. They didn’t have to do any digging or even any real searching. They just turn around and poof there a box full of relevant antiques. I wish I had that kind of luck.

Both of these episodes come across a little suspect to me. I don’t think John has his facts straight for the first part and the second has a tinge of planted evidence to it. But maybe that’s just me.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Haunted Collector – Lakeside Terror and Pythian Secrets – S03E09
• Haunted Collector – Island of Fear and Tropical Terror – S01E04
• Haunted Collector – Spirits of Gettysburg and Headless Horseman – S03E06
• Haunted Collector – Cigar Bar and Childs Play – S03E02
• Haunted Collector – Emmitt House Ghosts and Shadow Intruder – S03E05
• Ghost Adventures – The Copper Queen Hotel and The Oliver House – S06E03
• Haunted Collector – Ghost Behind Bars and Haunted Brothel – S03E03
• Haunted Collector – Slaughterhouse Ghosts & Supernatural Sword – S01E06
• Paranormal State – Haunted Homecoming – S05E13
• Haunted Collector – Casino Phantom and California Nightmare – S02E07

Spirits of Gettysburg

Gettysburg, perhaps on of the most famous names and places in the US. John heads out to the Herr House in Pennsylvania to investigate reports of knives embedding themselves into the floor, doors slamming, apparitions and even disembodied body parts. It all sounds a bit gruesome, but the house was seized during the war and turned into a Confederate hospital. Amputations would have been common so death and the removing of injured limbs would have certainly taken place.

Chris spends the night in the house and hears someone trying to open the door to his room. This leads him to investigate and he feels he hears the trap door opening. This is a trap door reportedly used by Davey Lewis and his partner Vincent Connelly to smuggle and hide counterfeit money.

As they continue the investigation they capture what looks to be a very solid and very tangible shadow figure walking towards that same trap door. Chris and John search the small little room and find an usual key. It turns out to be the key to the pick proof lock. It would have been expensive and would have been used to keep people out of something like a small strongbox.

John believes this key is linked to Davey Lewis who was hiding money from his partner in crime Vincent Connelly. Is John trying to find the money or is Vincent? It makes for a good story, but the team doesn’t capture any of the evidence surrounding the place. There are no footsteps, there are certainly no knives flying around the place, there are no severed limbs, scream or footsteps. There is the doorknob shaking which is interesting, but no conclusive on it’s own. And there is the figure walking across the room. Now, that could have been the shadow of someone behind the camera or a play of light coming in from outside. But if not, that definitely looks like a figure crossing the room. Tying it to Davey Lewis might be a stretch, but it’s worthy of more investigation.

Headless Horseman

This has got to be the most absurd and preposterous story I’ve heard in a long time! Are you really going to believe in Headless Horseman outside of a Disney story? Now, there is truth to this legend in that Julian Garesh was indeed decapitated by a cannonball while his friend, William Rosecrans rode along with him. A complete accident that may have happened more times than we would think.

The claims of the paranormal include blood on the stairs, apparitions, footsteps and of course the headless horseman. Nothing even remotely close to this makes an appearance during the investigation. To be honest, this all sounds like wishful thinking by a Bed and Breakfast owner who wants to generate some business for himself.

About the only thing they do come up with is the name "Rosie" when Jason and Aimee get to the end of the path and enter the family cemetery. While at the Bowyer mausoleum they speak to John and he hears that name in the static. Is this referring to Rosecrans who was there when the Garesh was killed? It’s quite a stretch but to keep things moving the get reading off a military patch that would have been worn by officers.

John links the two and takes the patch out of the house which causes all the non-existent activity we’ve seen so far to stop and there are no further reports of the headless horseman.

Really? Words fail me at how to describe the second part of this episode. No more reports of a headless horseman, who would have thought that possible????

Other Articles of Interest:

• Sleepy Hollow – S01E01
• Haunted Towns – Fall River MA – Lizzie Borden House – S01E07
• Haunted Collector – Ghost of Geneva and Fort Fear – S03E07
• Haunted Towns – Bisbee Arizona – S01E05
• Haunted Collector – Ghost Behind Bars and Haunted Brothel – S03E03
• Ghost Adventures – Upper Fruitland Curse – S14E08
• Haunted Collector – Hollywood Haunted and Gold Rush Ghost – S03E10
• Ghost Adventures – Palmer House Hotel – S07E04
• Haunted Collector – House of Pain and Antique Spirits – S03E12
• Haunted Collector – Island of Fear and Tropical Terror – S01E04

Emmitt House Ghosts

The James Emmitt House was built in the 1850’s, but burned down killing 3 people. The house was rebuilt, but this time out of brick. James Emmitt was the first millionaire in the area and ruled over the town because of his wealth. As with a lot of those towns in that time period he would have had a major say and influence over how things worked. Currently the house is under renovations and Ashley has experienced many things including apparitions, shadow figures, voices, the smell of smoke and even the feeling of being choked.

For the first part of the investigation Brian and Jason turn on a smoke machine to simulate a fire. Since this is when 3 people died they view it as a trigger object. Strangely while the machine is running it looks like there is a whirlpool where the smoke is draining away. It looks like water going down a drain. It’s very visible on the camera, but when Brian and Jason look for themselves nothing is there. Is this some weird camera glitch or matrixing?

Meanwhile, John, Aimee and Chris ask questions if someone was hurt. They get the response of "Emmitt".

To try and find the cause of the weird whirlpool effect, Brian gets a snake scope and looks under the boards. They find what look like articles of clothing and pull up the boards. Turns out to be a black lace veil and a patch box. These would have been used to hide the effects of the smallpox epidemic. It also becomes known that James Emmitt lost most of his family to smallpox. John removes the veil and the patch box as a reminder of the dark time and that seems to stop the activity.

Shadow Intruder

For the next part, John meets up with Pam who’s being attacked by spirits in her home. She has multiple deep scratches, but there is also pounding on the windows, shadow figures and someone playing the piano. Pam admits that there have been multiple deaths in the family recently. It seems there is a lot of energy surrounding Pam.

As they start the investigation they feel the scratches might be perfectly normal, that Pam may have simply hurt herself in the middle of the night. To that end they set up cameras to watch her sleep. Low and behold during the night a shadow figure is seen sweeping across the bed. Pam seems to react to it by rolling over right as it would have touched her. Certainly and odd thing to have happen while you’re sleeping.

When Aimee is investigating the living room she asks if Pam is in the spirit’s space, the piano in the next room starts to play. It only plays for a moment then stops. Oddly, when Chris gets it to play, it’s a different tune. It’s a player piano so starting up on it’s own wouldn’t be that big a deal, but a different tune?

While Jason is investigating with John, he asks if someone came in with the coin that Corey took from the cemetery. Moments later John says he feels something on is arm and there is a welt.

Suspecting there is something related to this coin, since Corey took it out of a cemetery which is a totally bad idea (didn’t he see the cursed idol episode of the Brady Bunch), John has the coin investigated. Turns out it’s related to the Wallace Brother’s Circus. In their day circuses were huge and elaborate attractions. Unfortunately, there was a major accident associated with this one. The Wallace Brother’s had two trains that slammed into each other killing 26 people. John feels the coin is related to someone who may have died on that train and when Corey brought it home, he brought that energy with him. Out goes the coin, bound with salt and placed in a glass jar and all the problems come to a happy end. not only did the paranormal activity stop, but the wounds on Pam’s arms healed.

As always, I feel there is a lack of evidence here. The swirling "pool" in the Emmitt House is very interesting and I’d really like to know what that was all about. It could have been an odd optical illusion, then again maybe it was a sign.

The shadow figure drifting over Pam was also very intriguing. Was that a real spirit moving or was it more an anomaly with the camera? Could it have been headlights outside making an odd shadow? I don’t think alone constitutes anything. Who knows where Pam got those scratches from, but it’s just as likely a natural event as anything else. But what about John? Did he experience something?

It’s sort of hard to say if all these events were truly paranormal or not.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Haunted Collector – Shadow Boxer and Ghost Storm – S03E08
• Haunted Collector – Burning Spirits – Ghosts of the West – S01E03
• Haunted Collector – Cigar Bar and Childs Play – S03E02
• Haunted Collector – Lakeside Terror and Pythian Secrets – S03E09
• Haunted Collector – Hollywood Haunted and Gold Rush Ghost – S03E10
• Haunted Collector – Hulbert House and King House – S02E02
• Haunted Collector – Ghost Behind Bars and Haunted Brothel – S03E03
• Haunted Collector – Ghost of Geneva and Fort Fear – S03E07
• Haunted Collector – Haunted Rectory and Grand Midway Ghosts – S02E05
• Eastern State Penitentiary with the Ghost Hunters