UV Light and Still Photography
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural

by Anita Brown

The idea of UV light being used in paranormal investigation has been tossed around for quite some time now amongst several paranormal groups.  In a blog that I did for the OHIO~RIP page, I expanded on Barry Fitzgerald's own blog on UV light and paranormal phenomena, and agree that it seems to do no favors as far as keeping activity around goes.  What is more important, however, is how the lights can affect the evidence that we have.  Cryptic Investigations decided this past weekend to experiment with some still photography using no flash and only black lights to see if we could recreate what could easily be mistaken by some as paranormal phenomena.  What we discovered is that a combination of reflective surfaces, black light, and a slight movement of the camera can prove to be deadly to an investigation.  The photos are in our photo album.

Even when not moving the camera, the results are sketchy at best.  What is seen in the photos is barely there, and if there is a window or another reflective surface nearby, it can cause double images and the appearance of transparency in the figures captired in the photos.  When a slight movement of the camera occurs when depressing the button, everything streaks in the photograph.  If a larger movement with the camera is made, havoc is wrought on the photo, causing large blurs, severe transparency, and even skeletal looking images.  Each photo in the album is labeled as to what you are actually looking at.  Some of these photos could easily pass as paranormal phenomena...not a single one of them was taken during the actual investigation, and each was deliberately taken to show the distortion caused by the black light.  Our conclusion?  Not only does the black light seem to drive paranormal phenomena away, but it destroys any hope of finding evidence in still photography.

Before you all toss your black lights out the window, however, be aware that we did some experimenting with them at The Sidney as well.  Instead of keeping the black lights with us during our investigation, we chose instead to place them in the rooms we were not in, and kept ourselves in complete darkness.  The majority of photographs that we took were only after a significant event, such as a noise or large temperature drop.  We were much more successful in gathering EVP and some very interesting photographs, and had many more personal experiences as well.  We are going to continue this method on our next few investigations to see if this works consistantly.  If you decide to try this as well, please contact us and we can compare our results!  Just be sure to keep them away from those cameras...

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More History on The Sidney
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural

by Susan Confer
Researcher for Cryptic Investigations

The location of the Sidney, Ohio, Wagner, Chakers theater is currently part of the judicial and merchant locations of Sidney's past. Wagner was the main land holder in Sidney and big on manufacturing and owned most of what is now downtown Sidney.

It might be stretching the facts and, at least, is an assumption that the possibility of a public hanging took place at the now Sidney theater. Trials drew the entire town, and an area that could accomodate 300-400 people like the third floor opera house at the Sidney. This was an emotion packed trial since it involved a father starving his 11 year old daughter to death. He was not even given a proper burial. Is he reliving his crime and punishment over and over again?

Ok, I'll keep searching.

Here's the artcle from the Sidney Democrat.



"The evidence presented was chilling. Little Emma was kept chained from November 10, 1853 until she died. Deprived of sufficient food, water and clothing, she endured subfreezing temperatures. After she attempted to run away once, Artis placed an iron collar around Emma's neck and fastened it to a pole at night. He would beat her on occasion with a pole he kept nearby. There was also testimony that Emma's hands and feet had been frozen during the time she was chained in the shed. After two days of trial, jury members reported to a packed courtroom that they could not reach a verdict. A stunned silence was followed by outbursts of anger. The prosecutor announced immediately that he would retry the case.
A new jury was impaneled on November 15, 1854. The men who served on the second jury included Henry Dickensheets, George Michael, Benjamin Robinson, David Wilds, Adam Baylor and Jacob Henry. After the jury deliberated for the better part of a day, a verdict of guilty was returned on the charge of murder. Artis was ordered to be hanged by his neck until dead on February 23, 1855, between the hours of 10 of the clock in the forenoon and 4 of the clock in the afternoon."

It is interesting to note that in the 1850s, hardly a time for crowded court dockets, it took over a year for the Artis case to be concluded.

The hanging of Alfred Artis presented a particular problem. Because he was so strong and would resist every attempt to execute him, Deputy Kingseed was ordered to make a special set of chains for Artis the day before the execution. Although this day happened to be a Sunday, Kingseed consented to perform the work, even though it was against his principles to work on a Sabbath because he was a God-fearing man.

The day of the execution arrived at last. Coroner Isaac Harshbarger was deputized for the occasion. Sheriff Dryden, along with Deputies Eisenstein, Kingseed and Harshbarger arrived to lead Artis to the scaffold. Halfway up, Artis dropped to the steps and braced his body lengthwise along the stairway of the gallows, refusing to budge.

Losing his patience, Kingseed choked Artis and beat him to insensibility so that he could be dragged up to the gallows. Sheriff Dryden then did his duty before a large crowd. For his work he was paid the substantial sum of $300. Thus ended the first and only public execution to take place in the history of Shelby County. The 400 residents of Rumley quietly celebrated. Emma Artis is buried in Barnett Cemetery, which is located 12 miles northwest of Sidney. Alfred Artis was denied a decent burial and had to be buried in a corner of his own land. It is said that the north side ditch of State Route 274 passes directly over his grave.

(another juicy tidbit-Gertie Jones was arrested 60 times for 'loitering' in this location and given a $10 fine and jail time of 10 days with bread and water each time.)

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More on Alien Presences on the Moon
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural

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Cryptic Investigations-Return to the Dorman Residence 11-29-08
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural

by Anita Brown

When we first investigated the Dorman house in September, we were unable to find anything in our review that suggested this location was haunted.  One of our investigators was to have contacted the family and let them know what our findings were, and we assumed the case was closed.  Two months later, however, we were contacted by the family once again, wanting know when we would have the results of the first investigation, and if we could come back--they were still experiencing the same activity and needed some help.

We decided after this miscommunication on our former member's part, the very least we could do is go talk to them about our findings from the first investigation in person and check out the location one more time.  Obviously, these people felt like they had some sort of paranormal activity in their home, and they were wanting some sort of explanation.

Once again, as the night wore on, we were unable to experience or document anything other than the smell of the grandmother's powder that she used, as it drifted through areas of the main floor on occasion.  The family's main claim of activity was the sounds and feel of their grandmother still going about her daily activities as though she had never passed.  A possible explanation for the smell that we were experiencing was that the powder had gotten in the ductwork at some point, as it seemed to correlate with the furnace kicking on and off.  We were also able to associate our K2 meter and EMF detectors going off with the kicking on of the furnace.

Other activity that had been noticed by the residents was much like before, noises and doors shutting where there was no one to shut them, the occasional out of place voice or object being moved.  They described the activity as subtle, but definitely there.  Having the Ovilus with us this time, I went from room to room with it in combination mode, seeing what I could pick up.  Many of the words that came up in the upstairs area were numbers. '08, 11, 20,  and 6 came up quite frequently, possibly related to the experiments with the oijua board.  I also got the word "wheelchair" several times,  which the grandmother had used for quite sometime before she passed away.  The sound of her wheelchair in the hallways was one of the family's claims.  Also, in the downstairs parlor area, were the words spirit, demon, board or bored, and priest, along with phrases, such as  "They won't go in there" and "I am here".  A lot of the Ovilus' main responses surrounded a closet in the hall just past the parlor, and were breaking up until I opened it.  Once the closet was opened, the words came through clearer, still along the spirit and priest theme.

With the Ovilus backing up a lot of the history and claims of paranormal activity regarding this location we couldn't completely dismiss it.  We sat the family down and told them what we were able to debunk and experience during our investigation.  While we hadn't analyzed our audio yet, we were confident that if there was activity in this house that we had been unable to witness, that it is of a residual nature.

With a residual haunting, there is absolutely no direct interaction whatsoever.  A residual haunt is thought to be leftover energy patterns from an event that happened in the past and/or a strong emotional imprint in the area.  A good example of this type of haunting is the armies of soldiers sometimes seen marching across a battlefield.  There is no awareness of being in a different time or place, no awareness of others that are there or of their surroundings.  A residual haunting is much like a movie being played, and often happens at the place, time, date, or a combination of the above that the event being shown had actually occurred.

Sometimes a residual haunting can just be what was someone's routine being shown, such as a servant walking up the same staircase over and over.  This type of haunt will show no interaction whatsoever.  If an EVP is recorded from one of these hauntings, it will often be out of nowhere, and will make no sense in comparison to the questions being asked.

What can make it difficult for an investigator going into a location such as this, is that we have no idea what routines were followed, how they would sound, feel, etc.  When a family member has passed, such as in the Dorman case, only the family may be able to pick up on these familiar sounds that a loved one made, and documenting it can be next to impossible.  While we were unable to back up the family's claims with any hard evidence, we were able to give them an explanation for what they were experiencing, and leave them with a peaceful feeling.  We explained to them that while it may seem as though their grandmother is still there, she is not, and that the activity that they were experiencing would not be able to interact with them in any way, nor would they be able to communicate with it. We came to the same conclusion regarding the activity that possibly surrounded the use of the oijua board in the home so long ago.  Whatever had been attached to or had come through that board so many years ago, had moved along with it.  What remained, if anything, was the emotional imprint that those terrifying experiences had left behind.

The Dorman residence, currently being worked on and on the market to be sold, is a jewel in and of itself just to be able to walk through, and we are glad that we were able to leave the family with some answers before they place the home that their family had held for so many years into someone else's hands.  This time, it seems, the case is really closed.

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For All of Our Readers From OHIO~RIP...

We wish you and yours a very

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Eerie Analysis-A New Series from Brian Yount!!

Welcome to Eerie Analysis, OHIO~RIP's latest series, done by our newest member Brian Yount.  Brian will be writing an article about a different haunted location every month, so check back for more after this!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eerie Analysis 1: The Stanley

Facts or Fiction?

Stephen King made The Stanley Hotel his home for the five months it took him to write The Shining. King claims to have seen a child calling out to his nanny.

I find it interesting that he wrote about a man who went nuts writing a book, in the exact place that he was staying, to write his book. Stephen King is known to put stuff in his books that have actually happened to him, so maybe there is more truth to the Shining than we realize. Just a freaky thought.

Who are the Spirits?

F.O. Stanley is the one that is most often seen. He can be found most of the time in the Ballard Room. One­time he actually appeared during a tour.

Flora Stanley can be found in the ballroom, playing the piano. The keys on the piano have moved by them­selves, and then abruptly they stop.

The rooms not to stay in are:

407: This is where Lord Dunraven stays; he was the owner of the land before Stanley bought it. Let's just say Dunraven is not happy being a guest. If you decide to stay in this room, Lord will be standing in the corner  waiting on you. Many people have claimed they have seen a man standing at the 407 window, even at times when the room was not booked.

418: This is the room that has the most spiritual activity. The spirits of children play in this room. Impressions of little hands have been found on the mattress, after the maids have already made the bed.

Some of the guests have said that the sound of kids playing outside the door could be heard, during the night.

Examining the Facts:

I wanted to prove some of these so called facts true or false, so I interviewed Gordon Banta. He is a psychic, who actually has been to the Stanley.

The Interview:

Gordon Banta

http://gordonbanta.com

YOUNT:

First off tell me exactly what you experienced when you stayed at The Stanley Hotel.

BANTA:

I had many experiences at The Stanley. The first night there I was asked to go into the Annex building which was empty inside. It was a shell of a building. I was told that something evil was in there and I didn't believe that there was anything that could frighten me. I was doing a seminar that night and the proceeding night. It was Halloween and it wasn't long after the movie The Shining came out.

So I went inside with a flashlight while about fifteen people waited for me outside. I looked all along the building up and down the walls and beams overhead. I was clear across the building on the far side when I suddenly heard a growl or what I thought was a growl from the rafters. I shone the light upwards and im­mediately saw red eyes staring at me and growling. For the first time since I was a child I felt fear. I took off running for the door. When I hit the door and flew outside I ran into a bunch of people standing there and knocked them over like bowling pins. It actually was pretty hilarious.

Everybody was scrambling and running for cover. And that was my first experience at The Stanley.

YOUNT:

On a supernatural level of 1-10, what would you rank The Stanley? Explain.

BANTA:

I actually would rate the Stanley an 8. I have had experiences in other hotels in the country, but the Stanley Hotel was the scariest one.

YOUNT:

Do you think the spirits there are evil or more on the benevolent side?

BANTA:

I think that the spirits there are a mixture of good and evil.

YOUNT:

Do you know anything about rooms 407 or 418?

BANTA:

I cannot remember the room number, but the manager told me that because of people asking to be in the room that Stephen King was in he changed the numbers. He asked me if I would like to stay in the same room and I said I would love to. In the middle of the night I woke up and saw the Pig like man sitting on the edge of the bath tub just like in the movie. I did not see anything else.

The Pig like man is what Stephen saw according to manager back then in 1984 when I was there.

YOUNT:

Why do you think the supernatural entities refuse to leave The Stanley?

BANTA:

Because no one has sent them on their way. This is what I do best, but was asked to let them stay. I have chased spirits out of other places without too much trouble.

YOUNT:

Do you believe Lord Dunraven haunts the hotel?

BANTA:

If Lord Dunnraven is the same guy that hung himself then I must say yes, because I saw him and told the manager what I saw and he said it was the original owner of the Stanley.

YOUNT:

It has been stated that the ghost of children haunt different areas, of The Stanley. Do you know the story be­hind this? I can't find any info as to why children would actually haunt this hotel.

BANTA:

I saw no children and don't believe that children haunt anything. They are usually taken into the light. But I did have an experience in New Jersey once with a child in the oldest house in NJ. It is now called the Spy House Museum and I thought I ran over a little girl while driving into the place to do a TV Show. I was told that this little girl often does this to people, jumping into the path of their vehicle. They say she was killed by a horse and wagon in 1776.

YOUNT:

I found one story about Stephen King seeing a child calling for his nanny. Do you know if there is any truth behind that and is that the only thing King saw?

BANTA:

Stephen King saw many things he did not mention in his book or movie. He is very psychic and that is why he is an excellent writer. I don't know about the child calling it's nanny.

YOUNT:

How did you feel after you left there? Calm, scared or somewhere in between?

BANTA:

I felt pretty calm after I realized that I was not in harm's way.

YOUNT:

You went back in 2000, did you feel or experience anything new?'

BANTA:

When I went back there I felt nothing new or even what I had experienced in the past. And they rebuilt the an­nex building. 

The Bottom Line:

There are many tales of the supernatural that are connected to The Stanley Hotel do some research and you'll find out for yourself. If you're brave enough you can stay there and email me any findings.

After my Eerie Analysis, I've got to say that The Stanley is indeed haunted. What do you think?

________________

The Ghost Story Tours Include:

* Hotel History and stories about F.O. Stanley

* The retelling of documented accounts of the paranormal

* Some explanations for the hauntings of the hotel

* Information about the Hotel's relationship to Stephen King and "The Shining."

* And the occasional visit from one of the many spooks, specters and ghosts of the Stanley Hotel.

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Shadow People
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural

by Jeannine Hammons

Many of us have experienced seeing things out the corner of our eye, only to look in that direction and observing absolutely nothing. According to folklore, shadow people are said to be dark figures that disappear, move between walls when noticed and are only seen in the peripheral vision. There have however, been reports of being face to face with these shadows while they linger for more than a few seconds. Have you ever been followed, chased or even attacked by a shadow person? There are many reports of these incidents actually happening to people. These incidents are said to come with a feeling of dread, and they have no definite details or features. As they may not have any clear features they are said to have red or yellow glowing eyes. They move very quickly with a jerky jello-like motion. Many people believe that it is all their imagination and that their minds are playing tricks on them. They dismiss seeing these shadow people as no more than being tired or maybe passing headlights going by. Can we dismiss this phenomenon as mere imagination? As we may want to refer to these shadow people as ghosts this is just not the case. The biggest difference between a ghost and a shadow person is that a ghost is typically misty white in color while a shadow person is the dark ominous looking figure. People can give details, as far as type of clothing, facial features, among other details when reporting a sighting of a ghost whereas shadow people rarely are reported in detail except for the eyes. An interesting concept has been that these shadows are actually figures created from "out of body" experiences. Could these figures actually be astral bodies from our dreams or are they the beings that live in a parallel dimension that we have yet to discover? We may never know the truth to these mysterious figures that move so quickly and without warning. If you have a story you would like to share or an experience that you have had in your life with shadow people we would like to hear from you.

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Cryptic Investigations/Doorway Investigations Group- The Sidney Theatre
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural

by Anita Brown

THE SIDNEY THEATRE--Sidney, Ohio--November 15, 2008.  The Sidney Theatre, once known as the Ohio Theatre, has been a part of downtown Sidney since most people can remember.  Outside the historical building, the large old marquee from the 1920's still looms out over the sidewalk, and an old-fashioned ticket booth is in place outside of the main doors.  Inside, the theatre is currently undergoing remodeling.  The auditorium, once four seperate movie theatres, is now one large stage theatre with a main auditorium, a balcony, and box seats.  There are also two large old basements, a projection room, a catwalk...the areas that had been reported to have paranormal activity and needed investigating were endless.  We were ecstatic.

Two lifelong residents of Sidney since 1933 and 1935  were able to give us a little background on the theatre, as finding any history online about the building has been vague.  In the early 30's, the theatre was named Checker's according to the two men.  It was changed a little later to the Ohio Theatre.  They can remember as young children going to see Hank Williams Sr, watching in awe as he sang Rye Whiskey standing next to a white horse on the stage. 

The two men also remember their father telling them that the apartments up above the theatre, where the current owner lives today, was once a brothel.  The dancing ladies of the stage in the evening became the entertainment for the stars after hours in the dead of night, living upstairs to serve the theatre in what evidently was a few different ways.  This backs up the theory that the current owner had about his living quarters.  "I think there was a brothel up there at some point, even though I have nothing to back that up," he told us.  "Based on the original layout, it had to have been.  There were several small bedrooms and one small common bathroom with no tub, only a toilet and wash basin.  In another area, there was a larger two-room living quarters with its own bathroom that had a small claw-foot tub, about half the size a tub like that normally would have been.  This seems like the type of living quarters a madam of a place like that would have had."  It turns out the owner's theory was accurate.  Although we did not investigate this area, the owner turns on a fan at night so that he can sleep without hearing the sounds of a newborn crying and small children laughing and playing.  The sounds would occur nightly, he told us, if he didn't use the fan to drown them out.  Did some someone who lived there after the days of the brothel have small children, perhaps?  Did one of the ladies of the night give birth only to have her baby taken from her so that she could continue to provide her services whenever needed without the distraction of a child?  Horrible at is it to consider, that was a common occurance in brothels.  My theory on the phenomena occuring in the apartment area is that it is residual, an emotional imprint left within the walls of the upstairs by the many women that were sold and used there.

Our team began our investigation in the front basement of the building, where the owner and another worker had had experienced uneasy feelings of being watched.  Neither one of them were fond of going to the basement alone, and they never stayed down there any longer than necessary.  We turned out our lights and took a seat in the center part of the huge basement with our equipment.  We began by asking if anyone was with us.  After several minutes of silence, we heard a loud crash in the room to our left.  We checked the area to see what may have made the noise, but there was nothing obviously out of place.  We then asked if the temperature could be dropped from 53 to 43.  After about 10 minutes, we were at 43.8, experiencing a ten-degree temperature drop in the same spot.  In one of the rooms in the basement, I and another investigator from Doorways Investigations Group experienced a feeling of pressure and unease.  The best way that I could describe it was that there was something in there that was just not quite right.  D.I.G. investigator JayB said that it felt "as if the wall was going to cave in on him."  When we left the room to ask the owner of the theatre where it was in the basement that he felt uneasy the most, his reply was "It was always in that room you two were just in.  I have never liked that room."

Upstairs, there were noises coming from the projection room on several occasions.  We were able to debunk this after noticing that noises from the apartments would carry into the projection room area.  From the projection room, however, we were able to take pictures of the stage area after noticing faint movement down there.  One of these photos appears to show a possible figure of a person standing in front of the television we had set up on stage for our DVR system.  Upon inspection of other photos taken of the same area from the same angle, the figure cannot be explained as it is not present in the other photos.  When we zoomed in on the figure we were not able to see much detail due to pixelation, so we will let you be the judge.  This photo, along with others from the owner, the workers, and our investigation will be posted in an album soon. 

Backstage between the stage and the catwalk, there is a platform at stage right.  The owner had been told that although he could not verify the story with any records, a previous manager of the theatre had been experiencing family problems and lived in the theatre itself most of the week, rather than going home.  One night he had decided he'd had enough and climbed up to the platform, took one of the ropes, and hanged himself over the railing.  We knew that this area needed to be investigated, so JayB and I climbed the ladder rungs on the wall 35 feet or so up to the platform.  Once we reached where we needed to be, we sat down and began asking questions.  Surprisingly, we received the noise responses that we asked for.  The problem was that they were coming from the smaller walkway directly opposite of us on stage left, and there was no way to access it.  Could the story have been inaccurate, and the suicide have occurred on the opposite area of the cat walks?  I snapped a photo in the direction that the noises were coming from and captured an orb with a large streak of light behind it.  After snapping several other pictures, and looking over the area as best as we could, there was nothing we could find that would have caused this anomoly to show up in my photo.

After several hours of investigating, our three teams had decided it was time to wrap it up.  More may be found once all pictures, audio, and video are reviewed, and we will be sure to keep you updated.  In the meantime, if you should attend an event at the Sidney Theatre, be sure to watch for any ghostly visitors that may randomly decide to pay you a visit, and tell them we said hello!

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Provoking on Investigations

Since I was a child I have had paranormal experiences that I could not explain, Which brings me to provoking.. Some say its forbidden to provoke a spirit, and some say, Its a Thrill! But to me, its asking something of someone in a firm manner, just like when you discipline your children, Also setting rules and small guidelines. Just as a disclaimer, I am in no way saying it is okay to disrespect an entity, or use name calling as a provoking method, none of that is tolerated in my paranormal research.

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Remember POWs/MIAs

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