My husband, fellow team member Chrissy, her boyfriend Tony, and myself went to see ‘The Apparition’ in the theater on September 1, 2012. Going into the theater, I was hoping that it was worth the money to see it, and hope that it lived up to my expectations of a good ghostly film. I have to say, that I was a little bit let down by the movie.

The movie had its really good parts, but then again, it had its really boring parts. I know, most movies do. I love scary movies, and horror movies, and I like to see them, no matter what they are about. But, when the movie is paranormal related, I have very high standards for the movie. Probably because I’m a paranormal investigator. A lot of paranormal investigators that I have met over the years hate movies that have anything to do with the paranormal. I am the opposite. I enjoy a good paranormal movie.

This movie revolves around a young couple (the female is Alice from the Twilight Saga). What the female doesn’t know is: is that her boyfriend dabbled in paranormal investigation, and conducted a highly experimental ‘project’, that opened a door to the other side, making everyone involved in the experiment ‘haunted’. And since she was the girlfriend of one of the participants, she became haunted as well.

With that being said, the rest of the film is the couple, and one of the other paranormal investigators fighting for their lives against this entity they let in.

There were about four big ‘shock’ factors in this movie, that I actually found interesting, but my fellow investigator Chrissy, found very frightening.

Out of Five Stars, I would rate this film at 2.5 stars. I enjoyed the fact that they gave the back story of the haunting, which a lot of paranormal based movies do not do, until they decide to make a sequel. Other than that, I believe they could have done more with the movie. They even left it open for a part two. The most disappointing part, to me, was the ending. The ending is what can make, or break a movie, and to me, it broke the movie.

I would recommend waiting for it to come out on DVD or BluRay before seeing it. Not worth the $20 to see it in the theater!

Although, in the main house, we did get some interesting activity while it was still daylight, the most activity seemed to happen in the loft, after dark. We made contact with a Russian man, who had passed away in the mid 1800′s. He died a very violent death, by being stabbed to death, in the chest, and stomach area. He was only 24 when he passed away.

He seemed to be very attracted to one of our newest members, Autumn. Shortly after our investigation of the loft started, she was sitting in a chair, with her legs stretched out in front of her, with her legs stretched out, and crossed at the ankles. Suddenly, out of no where, she falls backwards, in her chair. A few of us laughed shortly, because we thought she had lost her balance, and fell back. However, after she had sat back up, she told us that someone, or something had pushed her back. When she described it to us, she said ‘It didn’t feel threatening. It just felt like something one of my kids would do, playing around.’

After that encounter, about an hour had passed. She was then standing up, and she felt like someone was rubbing her arms. Both arms were covered in chill bumps. She then had the feeling of being groped. When she moved away from that area, the feeling went away.

Upon photo analysis, we found a very interesting piece of evidence. In the loft, towards the stairs, there’s a window. And in that window there appears to be a figure of a man. All that can be made out is the upper torso, and the head was cut off by some white in the window.

Video, and audio analysis isn’t yet complete. However, we’re hoping we uncover more evidence from this location, and get to learn more about this Russian man.

But what could cause so much activity at one home? There are many theories. One, the most obvious – Since this home is newer, the spirits could be attached to the land. There’s one other thing that our member Krista had discovered. Not too far away from the home is a cemetery. Behind that cemetery is a creek. She followed the creek all the way to the property we were investigating. That same creek runs behind the property. As most know, water is a perfect conductor of energy. And since the creek goes from the cemetery, and to the home, it could be a portal that spirits from the cemetery travel through. And since the clients have a swimming pool, that water could also serve as an energy source for the spirits, hence the amount of activity all over the client’s land.

I wanted to post a quick blog about Grayson Paranormal Society’s upcoming Hill House Manor located in Gainesville, TX (and as seen on My Ghost Story) event. There are two different tickets for sale. One  is for General Admission, which will include A Full Ghost/History Tour of Hill House Manor, as well as Evidence Showings from Grayson Paranormal Society, the team’s ghost Stories related to Hill House Manor, a small dinner, and door prizes to ticket holders! (Additional door prize tickets will be for sale for $1 each at the event). The second ticket is for the Full After Hours Paranormal Investigation with members from Grayson Paranormal Society! This ticket will be able to participate in the General Admission event with those ticket holders, but will also get to participate in the Investigation after the General Admission event ends! General Admission is $15 each, and the After Hours Investigation is $40 each! Tickets can be purchased ONLINE. Get your tickets before it’s too late! Ticket prices at the door will be an additional $5 each! So General Admission at the door will be $20, and the After Hours Investigation will be $45 each at the door. So pre-order yours now!!

Our team investigates locations as much as possible. A lot of people ask, and wonder why we do so. We all see it the same way: If you investigate a location only once, to me, you can’t officially label any activity you get as true paranormal. In my opinion, it takes several times investigating a single location to be able to call the happenings paranormal.

We have a number of locations that we investigate on a regular basis. One – Hill House Manor in Gainesville, TX. We have been there A LOT. Why? Because the paranormal activity there is so high, that we feel as if each time we go there, we get something new. Especially on EVP’s. Another location we go to a lot is Reindeer Manor in Red Oak, TX. The situation here is the same with at Hill House Manor. We never leave empty handed, and each time we leave with something new.

We also frequent locations such as cemeteries, and ghost towns. So, when investigating a location, especially for the first time, always keep all the situations in your mind, so that during your analysis, you can pin point what is paranormal, and what isn’t. Then, try to revisit a second, and third time, because it could be that whatever you captured isn’t paranormal at all, and can be easily debunked as something natural during your following visits! After all, us paranormal investigators are here to present the FACTS! And if you don’t investigate a location fully, then your evidence could easily be debunked to others.

Thurber Horseshoe Bar

Thurber Miners

Hotel Knox & Thurber Mining Office

Thurber Cemetery Apparition Captured by G.P.S.

Thurber, TX is one of the largest Ghost Towns we have ever investigated. Standing today are two resturaunts, the Thurber Museum, and two Cemeteries. As well as St. Barbara’s Catholic Church, a Miners Cabin, and a small Train Cart, all of which cannot be accessed (the inside). One cemetery is very small, and is right next to the Thurber Museum, which can only be accessed during Museum hours, and by permission only. The bigger cemetery is where we captured the above apparition.

The history of Thurber is very intense. It was established, and within 50 years, it became a Ghost Town, due to a major Fire that took most of the town. This happened during the depression, so the city did not have the funds to rebuild the town. Thurber was popular for many reasons. For their oil, their coal, and eventually their bricks. In fact, if you visit the Fort Worth, TX Stockyards, and look at the brick on the roads, and some sidewalks, you will see that the bricks came from Thurber, TX.

The cemetery in the above picture, was badly vandalized. A local man went into the cemetery, and literally bulldozed 99% of the gravestones to the ground. Thankfully, the police found the man, and he is now serving time in prison for his crime. Now, the local historical society is working on redoing the cemetery. The last time we were out there to do an investigation, they had put up several markers stating who lays where, and the story behind several of the mass graves, one mass grave of which contains the remains of several children who died from the Flu Epidemic. Also, for the cemetery’s protection, they put up surveillance cameras at the gates to keep an eye on those who go out to the cemetery.

My interpretation of the apparition in the above photo is simple. The grave that this woman apparition is standing by belongs to a child. I believe that this woman is this child’s mother. As you can tell, she appears to be holding something in her arms. I believe this is her child, and I also believe that she is buried some place nearby, but due to the vandalism, we cannot tell.

There are a lot of different feelings you’ll get from this cemetery. The front of the cemetery seems to be very calm. However, the further back you go, the more aggressive the feeling gets. Up until the last visit, we only had time to investigate the first half of the cemetery. The most recent time we went, we ventured out to the very back of the cemetery. Earlier in this investigation, I was picking up on the name ‘Jim’. This was when we were still close to the front of the cemetery. We all got in our cars, and drove to the very back. I told Jack to stop the car because something was calling me to a certain grave. Once we went to the grave, we found out that it was the grave of a man named Jim. We spent the remainder of the investigation communicating with Jim.

Fellow investigator, Tanya, started receiving constant spikes on her EMF Meter. She was putting her hand out, asking the spirit present to touch her hand, or arm. I was constantly taking photos during this. And, amazingly, we captured a single red orb right at her hand. Each time this orb was captured on film, her EMF Meter would spike, letting us know that there was some type of energy near us. And there are no power lines that would interfere with the EMF Meter, so we found that some orbs do contain energy that spikes EMF Meters. I would take many photos, back to back, both while the Meter was spiking, and while it wasn’t. Each time it was spiking, there would be the same red orb near her. When it wasn’t spiking, there would be no orb anywhere near her. Eventually, the activity died out, and the spiking and orbs completely stopped.

Thurber, TX is a must visit location. Even if you’re not an investigator, but love history, this town would be worth a visit. Take in the great food, and do the full Museum Tour. The history at Thurber, TX is begging to be heard!

The Ghost Town of the topic is called Carter, AKA Cartersville, TX. It was established between 1866-1867. It once had a post office, and a flour mill. The flour mill burned to the ground on November 14, 1891, and was never reconstructed. Carter was also the site of the last murder of a white man from a Native American in Texas. The town ‘died’ when nearby Weatherford was established.

The remains include an old Church, and a small covered pavilion area, as well as many historical markers, and dedications on sites where significant history took place. Also inside the pavilion area, there remained an old piano. There was a sticker on the piano that stated that it was last serviced in the year 1973.

My team has had the chance to investigate Carter on several occasions. It is a very active area. Due to the amount of people that were going out there, and the amount of vandalism on the part of teenagers, the area has now been marked as No Trespassing. If anyone is found out there by local police, you will be arrested. However, that has not stopped some from going out and vandalizing the area even more. Reports say that they completely boarded up the Church, as well as the remaining pavilion area. The boarded up Church has been broken into since it’s been put off limits.

Our first visit out to Carter was the most active, in my opinion. That night was a night during a Full Moon. The moon was so big, and bright, we did not need our flashlights to see where we were going. We had two camcorders set up on tripods. One was in the Church, and one was in the pavilion. Both had recorders with them, and a third recorder was on top of the piano. In the Church, we captured on recorder the camcorder being tampered with. We actually captured the camcorder turning off. You can clear hear something fooling around with the camera, followed by the sound of it turning off. There was no one in that building at that time. While investigating other parts of Carter (including the land surrounding the buildings), we would periodically check the camcorders, to make sure we still had plenty of battery life, and recording space on them. When we checked on the camcorder in the Church for the first time, we realized it had been turned off. However, it was still in the ON position. So, our first thoughts were that the battery got drained, and went dead. However, when we tested it, by turning it off, then back on, we realized we still had several hours of battery life left on the camera. There was no explanation for the camcorder shutting off.

While we were investigating the land nearby, we were all hearing movement within the trees across the street from where the remaining buildings stand. Naturally, we all figured it was some type of animal, so we didn’t think much on it. However, seconds later, three investigators heard the distinct sound of footsteps running across the graveled road. They could actually hear the gravel moving, as if one of us was running across it. Upon discussing this experience, the three investigators all agreed that it sounded like a Native American running, with weapons and such bouncing on the spirits back, just like it would happen if I were to do the same thing. All of us went to where this was heard to investigate it further, and there was no trace of anyone crossing the graveled road, such as foot prints, or any other type of evidence you would find if you, yourself ran across.

During the same investigation, while we were investigating the Church, we left a recorder going in the pavilion, on top of the piano. Upon the audio review, we uncovered someone trying to play some of the keys on the piano. This, like the other experiences, was a bit shocking. When we went back the second time, we tried playing the piano, and it would barely play. On the recording, however, it played almost perfectly. So, again, we could not debunk this experience.

Carter, AKA Cartersville, is a very active location, with tons of history. It’s a shame that due to all the vandalism, that it is now off limits. But, hopefully now, the history will be preserved, and restored for future generations.

I previously wrote about our most recent investigation to a Texas Ghost Town. This post is continued from that post.

I want to discuss the photo shown above. This was captured in what was once the town’s General Store. As you can see, there are three shadow figures together. This is the first time I have seen this ever. Not only with our evidence, but overall. This is the same building where a male figure showed himself to me during our first investigation to this location. This is how I interpret the photo…

The shadow figure in the middle I believe is the male figure that showed himself to me, and one other member during our first investigation of this location. The other two shadow figures I believe are this male’s family members. There is nothing concrete that confirms this (since we’re still currently going over the audio collected). But that’s just what I pick up on by looking at the photo. Some have commented stating it looks like it could be demonic, others say it looks like the Mothman. I highly doubt it’s anything demonic. And, if you look long enough, it does kinda resemble the Mothman. However, I just believe it’s three human spirits standing together. If you look closely, you can make out different features with each shadow figure.

But what do YOU see??

A lot of people have requested more information about orbs. So here it is. The photo above shows a building with a ton of orbs. Some believed to be genuine, some believed to be dust. The ones that we believe are genuine are the ones circled in red.

What makes the circled orbs different than the others? First off, pay close attention to the colors of the orbs, not just the ones circled, but all of them. Compare the circled orbs with the ones not circled. If you look closely, you can clearly see the differences between the circled orbs, and the orbs that aren’t circled. The orbs that are more see through, and have less coloring, and shaping to them tend to lean more on the ‘dust’ side.

But here is a perfect photo example showing, what I believe is the difference between dust orbs (“dorbs”) and possibly genuine orbs.

“We neither confirm nor deny that Reindeer Manor is a real haunted house or not, we simply will present you with the facts and let you decide.

The grounds and buildings of what is now Reindeer Manor Haunted House have experienced a unique, mysterious, and somewhat stormy history. While documented facts are sketchy, by talking to various people who were around at the time, and through extensive research of public records, we have been able to piece together an accurate history.
In the early 1900’s, a two story wooden house stood on the site of the current house. The owner of the house was James Sharp, a prominent Texas oil pioneer and banker who was partnered with Howard Hughes Sr. in the famed Sharp-Hughes Tool Company. He leased the house and property to a family of Swedish immigrants because he was often away on business. Unfortunately, in the quiet early hours of one morning in 1915, the silence of the farm was shattered by screams. Lightning had sparked a tragic fire which quickly consumed the wooden house house. The entire family of sharecroppers, including several small children, perished in an unspeakably horrific death.

Upset by the fate of his tenants, or maybe just mad because of the loss of property, Mr. Sharp decided to build on the property again. He decided that this time the land and the buildings would be the crown jewel of his dwellings and would include a grand Main House which would forever be the family home. In so doing he made sure it would not succumb to something as pedestrian as fire. Even though it nearly tripled the cost of construction, he made sure all the buildings on the property were as fireproof as possible. This explains the unusual construction of virtually all the structures at the Manor, they are all almost entirely engineered with concrete, brick, and steel.

However, Fire was not the only tragedy looming. Before the Main House could be finished, Mr. Sharp suddenly perished. Records are sketchy at best, but he either shot himself or was shot by his mistress in his bedroom at his city house in Oak Cliff. With his wife and children still in New York awaiting the completion of their palatial estate, the only person in the house at the time of the incident was his personal secretary (who some say was also his mistress) and there is some suspicion that in fact it was she who pulled the trigger. The details are vague because of the bare semblance of an investigation at the time; the Widow Sharp didn’t want her husband’s rumored infidelity widely known and applied pressure on the County Sheriff to quickly close the investigation and thus end the wild speculation of the press and neighbors.

The coroners report simply states that the cause of death was due to “the loss of 2-3 ounces of brain substance” without further elaboration.

In 1917, shortly after the death of his father, James Sharp’s eldest son, James Jr. moved into the newly completed Manor, but the legacy of misfortune soon continued. He developed quite a prosperous operation farming the land, ranching, and breeding horses for harness racing. Between 1918 and 1928 many other buildings were added to the grounds, from servants quarters to a carriage house with various and sundry additions which a large Manor of a wealthy family is expected to have as well. Everyone thought the Sharp Family had survived the untimely death of its patriarch and had even come out better for it.

However, James Junior’s stewardship of the property was cut short with the onset of the Great Depression in October of 1929 which thrust the once wealthy family into abject poverty. His wife, a prominent spiritualist at the time was convinced that the family and the Manor itself were cursed and with ever falling income and creditors threatening, he began to act strangely. As the rumors of insanity spread within the staff he receded more and more into himself, shunning those with whom he had formerly been quite open and spending more and more time with his wife in her “unholy pursuits” as the help called it.

Constantly tormented by the whispers of a Sharp Family curse James and his wife were obsessed with finding a solution to their woes. Strange folk were seen going into and out of the Great House… from psychics to witch doctors, Mr. & Mrs. Sharp had invited anyone with access to the occult to his bedroom in the vain pursuit of lifting the hex. His wife held séances to contact his father from beyond the grave seeking his advice and council. Potions were mixed and incantations were chanted to rid the home and family from the string of bad luck. No one is sure if they were instructed by a “spirit” or simply came upon the solution on their own, but soon the couple found a way to bring the Sharp Family out of the shadows.

The final chapter of the Sharp family in the history of Reindeer Manor ended with the discovery of James Junior’s wife dead by poisoning in the main dining room and his lifeless body swinging from a noose strung from the rafters of the barn. To this day it is not clear who killed whom or if it was a suicide pact. Either way the curse was lifted from the Sharp Family at the very least. There was no heir.

After that tumultuous period the Manor fell into ruin. Since then a few brave souls have tried to turn this house of disaster into a home, but all have failed. The construction of the house proved too difficult to remodel and make livable and the locals were afraid of incurring the wrath of the curse themselves. Thus, the house stood vacant and abandoned until 1974 when it became The Haunted House at Reindeer Manor.

Over the years, folks that work and visit Reindeer Manor have experienced many strange occurrences. Unearthly noises are heard by those who spend the night during the work season. Locals have seen eerie lights dancing in the windows of the buildings when the entire property was vacant. And most everyone who enters the house alone feels as if someone is watching them or feels “cold spots” in some places. Some have professed to see actual spirits or objects floating in thin air.” – Reindeer Manor

Grayson Paranormal Society has had the privilege of investigating Reindeer Manor on several occasions, and is one of our team’s favorite locations to investigate. Each time we investigate there, we seem to get a lot of EVP’s. There is no hard facts about any children dying on the Reindeer Manor property. However, during our first investigation at Reindeer Manor, we captured a very stunning, and saddening EVP. We were in the main manor house, in a lab room, which was formerly the kitchen/dining room. I was suddenly getting very ill. And I was trying to communicate with the woman who died by poisoning in that room. However, at this time, we were not aware that there had been a poisoning anywhere on the property.

We were in the lab doing an EVP session. I was sitting, and Jack was standing a few feet away from me. We were the only two in the area. I started feeling very ill, as if I had been poisoned. Before I started feeling ill, I had a very strong feeling that a female spirit was trying to communicate with me, but I could not figure out what she was trying to say. She refused to try to communicate with Jack, because she is very afraid of men (since her husband poisoned her, that doesn’t surprise me). After I had started feeling ill, I asked, out loud “Did your husband poison you, which is how you passed away?” And immediately after I asked that, the sick feeling went away. During evidence review, we captured a very interesting EVP. As I started feeling sick, there was a child voice saying “Mommy?” Followed by an adult female voice saying “Go, run!” To me, this was residual, reliving the night when the family was murdered. We later learned, that after the husband poisoned his wife (again, no records of children), he then went out to the barn, and took his own life by hanging himself. The part of the barn where he took his own life still stands today. Every time we’re investigating the Manor, we always seem to get very interesting orbs around that area. All sorts of orbs, in a variety of color. We have captured white, green, red, orange, etc.

During another visit to Reindeer Manor, it was one of our members very first investigations. She and Jack went into the left side of the barn (it’s divided into three sections). Sarah felt very threatened in that area. We later picked up on the name Frank. After spending no more than ten minutes in that side of the barn, Sarah left the building, with three scratches on the side of her neck, that only lasted about five minutes. This could be an indication of a demonic entity, however, we just believe it’s a human spirit that does not like women.

After she had left the building, physically shaken (naturally), we were all right outside the barn, trying to calm her down. My digital recorder was going. A few minutes after Jack and Sarah left the barn, we captured a Class A EVP of a woman singing “Good morning, good morning, it’s fun to stay up late.” When that EVP was captured, it was about 11pm.

There’s also some ruins that is now known as the ‘Slave Quarters’. This area is also very active. It’s rumored that the Sharp family treated the slaves very well. The family’s names, that are known, are Jorge (the Father), and Lillie (daughter). The Sharp family treated the entire family as if they were related. However, once the adults grew too old to work, they began to get mistreated. During the same investigation as discussed above, we investigated this area. We decided to leave a recorder going, while we left the area for a few minutes. During which time this EVP was captured. It simply says “He hurt my baby”. I believe this is the Mother talking about James Sharp hurting Lillie.

During one of our last investigations at Reindeer Manor, the activity seemed to increase. I believe it could be because the spirits there are more aware of us now, and even know us better, so they feel more comfortable talking with us. While we were getting the tour for those who had never been there before, myself and another investigator stayed behind in the lab (formerly the kitchen area), because we were feeling spirits present. All of a sudden, we both got the feeling as if they were closing in on us, telling us to get out. So, feeling threatened, we left.

Later on, after we started investigating, we were again in the main manor house doing an EVP session in the ‘library’. Jack excused himself, not saying where he was going. At the right timing, we heard footsteps going up into the attic, followed by loud footsteps and other noises coming from the attic. So, naturally we all thought that he had gone up into the attic to investigate a little up there. All the time, we were noting our recorders, saying “That’s Jack up in the attic”. A few minutes later, Jack rejoined us in the ‘library’. We were asking him why he was making so much noise up in the attic. He looked at us confused, and said “I didn’t go up there, I went outside to get something to drink.” We all thought he was joking, but after five minutes of him swearing up and down that it wasn’t him, we were speechless. The spirit that did this was obviously very intelligent, and was able to pull one over on all of us.

Needless to say, Reindeer Manor is an awesome place to do an investigation. If you are a skeptic, visit Reindeer Manor once for a full investigation, and I promise, you will leave a believer.