Ghost Hunt Evidence - Chair Moves By Itself And More

2008-10-24T14:08:00-05:00

The first of the evidence from the Paranormal Investigation at The Tavern in Abingdon has begun to reach us. The Haunt Masters set up several video surveillance points throughout the building during our investigation there, and review of the recordings has revealed a very strange and anomalous event.
This chair, on the first floor of the restaurant, appears to move by itself. According to accounts from the Haunt Masters, this event happened about 3 AM. At this time, no one was in the room that the event happened - a few members were at the base of the stairs on the first level, and our reporters and another member were upstairs. One of the team on the first floor did hear a sound about this time, but assumed it was coming from upstairs.
“We’ve gone through it again and again,” said Justin Guess, Co-Founder of the Haunt Masters Club, “We don’t know how the chair moved.”
The chair is located in the room called the “Poker Room”, a site of a murder over cheating in a card game. Strange events have been reported occurring there before.

Update
The Haunt Masters have sent me three EVPs they identified from the recordings made during the investigation. Click below to listen:

Rife’s Room: “Pretty upset when I saw that”

After Tammy completed on-camera interview about the ghost of Captain Rife: “Not gone yet.”

Cleaning up Poker Room before closing interview with Angie. “Go forth.” or “Go for it.”

Furthermore, a video from an EVP session in the room of a murdered prostitute contained a muffled voice.

Download the video in Flash format.

The Tavern Investigation - After Thoughts

2008-10-21T19:14:00-05:00

Last night, I spent five hours inside The Tavern in Abingdon with Kelly Cales and members of the Haunt Masters Club. We ran a live video stream and blogged the happenings throughout the night - I hope you all had a chance to get in on some of the fun.
Now, with the sun out and the experience a few hours behind me, I think I can make some good, objective reflections on the previous night.
The Tavern is certainly a storied old building. It is hardly possible to step into any room and not feel the weight of more than a century of history upon you. Like an iceberg, what you see is only a tiny sliver of what has been there. I felt like the most temporary of visitors there; seeing the place, but certainly not a part of it.
At first, I was very skeptical whether we would get any kind of confirmation of paranormal activity. While the group performed their base temperature and EMF readings, everything seemed clear. During the first EVP session, nothing out of the ordinary was noticeable to my ears. As we moved through the house though, peculiar things did seem to happen.
During an EVP session on the second floor, members of the group heard whispering coming from the next room over, and a thumping downstairs. I believed I heard a scraping at the wall behind Kelly’s head - a sound reminiscent of wire bristles brushing something. When the EVP was repeated, the noises from downstairs grew more noticeable, and Justin, a member of the Haunt Masters, went down to investigate to make sure no one had entered the building. He found no one.
Later on, more whispering that was described as a muffled voice was heard by a member of the group.
The Haunt Masters Club are spending the next few days reviewing their evidence; searching the EVP tapes for sounds that we possibly missed and watching recordings of video cameras placed throughout the house. They will get their evidence to me to post here when it is collected. Keep an eye for that.
In my mind, it is hard to say whether I believe ghosts inhabit The Tavern. I did not hear a lot of the noises that some heard, and nothing so overt as to make an instant believer of me appeared. Also, the building is very old, with odd doors, creaky floors, and a puzzle box of rooms, hallways and stairs that could easily cause misleading sounds. Yet, the amount of anecdotal evidence to support hauntings is staggering, and there is no doubt some very heinous and violent events occurred within.
More evidence will be forthcoming, and Kelly Cales will be providing her own take on the events for the Bristol Herald Courier and News Channel 11. Stay tuned for that as well.
What do you think? Did you see anything on the live video feed? Hear a ghost during our EVP sessions? Have another story you’d like to tell? Let us know in the comments!

Paranormal Investigation - The Tavern in Abingdon

2008-10-21T02:00:00-05:00

UPDATE 2:45 AM

Things have gotten lively. Whispers, jingling, knocks, a muffled woman’s voice - we have heard all of these. As the night wears on, we are finally starting to get some real activity.
During one EVP session in a room where a prostitute (though rumor has it she despises being called that) was killed, one member of the Haunt Masters had another check outside to make sure no one was around, so clear was the voice she heard. I asked later what the voice had said - she responded that she couldn’t tell, because the voice was muffled. I asked how the woman had died. Her answer? Her throat had been cut.
Kind of explains the muffled voice, eh?
This may be my last check-in for the night. Kelly Cales will continue to record video when she can, and she’s planning on spending the night as well. The webcam will remain running as long as Kelly is here.
We’ll get back in a couple of days after the Haunt Masters have had a chance to sift through all of the data and records and see what we have come up with.
Aaron Littleton, signing off.

UPDATE 1:50 AM

Doing some EVPs in a room supposedly the site of a murder of passion, we have picked up some whispers and thuds and perhaps jingles coming from other parts of the building. We have decided to move the EVP recordings, as we are not 100% sure that the room we were in was the actual site of the shooting.
Stay tuned! Keep refreshing the page for more updates!

UPDATE 12:53 AM

We have completed our first EVP session in the attic. Questions asked included “Are you a soldier?” “What keeps you here?” “Are we angering you?” and others.
After tonight, the Haunt Masters will review the tape and let us know of any anomalous readings.
We will continue the EVP sessions in other rooms inside the building. I’ll go along and report back. Keep an eye on the camera and post in the comments if you see anything strange.

UPDATE 12:13 AM

We are about to conduct EVP readings. This will necessitate our turning off the lights and asking questions. An anecdotal report says that the number inscribed on the walls from the former hospital beds glowed once when the power went out.
If the camera is dark - please be aware that it must be so for this reading.

UPDATE 11:32 PM

We are nearly alone in the building now. Much of the wait staff is gone, but Max the owner is still around, giving us the full disclosure about what he knows.
The Haunt Masters are beginning their sweep now. They’ll be using a variety of tools; EVP detection, temperature gauges, cameras, EMF (electromagnetic field) detection and all of that.
I’m going to go along with them on their sweep and report back.
Stay tuned and keep your eyes on the feed.

UPDATE 10:47 PM

I have just spoken with Donna, the Haint Mistress of Abingdon. She gave me a detailed rundown of some of the stories in this building.
She does not believe that the house was a Civil War hospital, because it was owned for over one hundred years by a black family. Fearing capture during the turbulent years of the Civil War, the family would seek refuge in the cellar when soldiers and the like would come through town.
The family, to keep their children quiet, became adept storytellers, spinning yarns to keep the young ones happy. Many, over the years have heard the laughter of children coming from the cellar when no one was around.
Do the spirits of the children return to the cellar because they had happy times there?
Please continue to refresh the page as the night goes on for more information.

UPDATE 10:23 PM

The Haunt Masters are largely set up at this point - I’m just about done myself at this point.
We’ve got a couple of local storytellers swapping info behind us, and a solitary light bulb chasing away the darkness.
News Channel 11’s Kelly Cales will be going for the record tonight, staying in the attic until at least 7 AM. We’ll see if she makes it.
Please refresh the page often for more updates.

LIVE Ghost Hunt Tonight From The Tavern In Abingdon

2008-10-20T16:37:00-05:00

Just in time for Halloween, I, as your host of the TriCitiesBlogs.com Paranormal blog, will be joining Kelly Cales from News Channel 11 and the Haunt Masters Club for a LIVE Ghost Hunt inside of The Tavern in Abingdon tonight starting at 10 PM.
The Haunt Masters Club is a noted Paranormal Research and Investigation society working in the Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina regions. They have investigated a number of intriguing locations around our area, and have an extensive website detailing their hunts, findings, and information. You can see them on the web at their official website. We’ll be following their investigation tonight and doing a little of our own as well.
I’ll be live blogging during the investigation right here on the Paranormal blog. In addition, I’ll be hosting a live, streaming webcam here as well. Please check back tonight and prepare to have a front-row seat for a live, ghost hunting expedition.
Recently, a member of the Haunt Masters Club sent me an audio file which is supposed to hold an EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) of a woman speaking. This was from an unrelated interview, as the investigator was conducting research regarding a family who had died from poisoning from a peculiar hybrid tomato crop.
Listen to the EVP here.
The voice that appears in the background seems to be saying “Ione”, which is a Native American tribe from Texas. It is an odd thing to be saying, for sure, but the voice in the background is undeniably there.

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Update: 3:15 PM

Speaking with the Haunt Masters Club today, I have learned the stories of some of the ghosts that are reported to appear at The Tavern.
The first floor kitchen has an apparition that appears to be a woman in white. Also on the first floor is a poker room supposedly haunted by a murder that occurred there one hundred years ago - a shooting based on a cheating allegation.
The second floor has a spirit that is supposedly a prostitute that appears and tugs on the hair of girls that it deems too pretty. The third floor has a confederate soldier that visitors have reported.
The attic, well, let’s just say that no one has yet to stay a whole night there…

10-14-08: The Lightship Comes, Or Just Another Tuesday?

2008-10-14T15:28:00-05:00

A minor stir has rippled across the internet today - according to a website which your faithful moderator did not find until yesterday, a group of people believe that today, Oct. 14, 2008, a “Light Ship” will appear from the stars, probably in the morning. It is 11:30 AM now, at least Eastern Time, and the light ship has yet to appear.
It’s a little hard to get to the bottom of where this all came from - the main focus of the community, as far as I can tell, is a Blogspot (Seriously, a Blogspot webpage? The light ship of “pure love and light” is coming and you can’t afford to pony up $10 for domain registration?) which is viewable at:
10-14-08 Blogspot
As of this writing, the owner of the site, one Mr. Brad Johnson, has yet to chime in since the light ship’s failure to appear. His last communique to the faithful has been an audio comment from last night assuring people to just wait until at least sunrise. He is predicting a North American sighting, though giving himself enough wiggle room to be wrong. The three-minute message itself nearly made me believe the whole thing was a joke as he went on to describe how the love and light of the ship would not be defeated by chem trails in the sky. I think he nearly lost it on that line.
So check it out, decide for yourself, and keep your eyes on the sky for the rest of the day at least. Word on the street is that bookies for major gambling organizations have ceased taking bets on this, as they stood to lose a significant amount of money should the ship appear.

Knoxville Illuminati?

2008-09-19T13:12:02-05:00

Our neighbors down I-81 may be dealing with that most secretive and manipulative of secret, manipulative organizations - the Illuminati. Or, you know, a kid trying to get some experience points.

I’m going to have to guess the latter.

Apparently, police received a call from 25 year old Richard Smith, telling them that he was stuck in an air conditioning duct inside the Knoxville Museum of Art. Surely mystified by the call, KPD arrived on scene and found a rope trailing down into an air duct on the roof. Inside the duct, they found Smith, who promptly informed them that he had failed his mission and spilled the beans about being a secret agent for the United States Illuminati, badge number 0931. He further went on to tell police that he had been sent on a mission by “Director Womack” that the police report says was to “Defuse and Confiscate a Soviet made MERV 6 SS-22AN war head with a 14.5 Kilogram of enriched Uranium and a Plutonium Trigger capable of delivering a 40 Kiloton yield.”

The nuke was supposedly hidden inside a blue cow sculpture in the basement of the museum.

Anyway, long story short, Smith says the mission was called off in mid-heist and he was informed by his Illuminati superiors that had made a mistake and the device was actually in a museum in Memphis. I’m not sure about Smith, but I think at the point that my shadow government of choice couldn’t tell the difference between Knoxville and Memphis, I would begin to have serious doubts about their ability to govern the world.

Smith’s CH2 Huey that he supposedly repelled onto the roof from also failed to materialize, but police did find an ash tray pushed up against the side of the roof that they believe he used to climb on top from. Smith was charged with aggravated burglary and taken to the clink.

Download the police report here.

I’m going to go far out on a limb here and guess that this kid was actually NOT a part of the Illuminati. If he was, they’ve greatly decreased their standards of admittance since I last checked. However, it does bring up a good point about secretive organizations - real and imaginary. Have one that you love, or love to hate? Want to talk about it?

Comments, folks! Put them in there!

UFO Shoots At Missile?

2008-09-08T18:22:00-05:00

I know it’s been a while since we’ve had new content on the Paranormal blog, and I apologize. We’ve been quite busy around the TriCities.com offices recently, which has been quite unproductive to my updating this blog. I’ve got a couple of things on the boiler plate, but let’s start simple and slow as I try and get back into the groove with a UFO sighting.
This story is not overly local, but compelling enough to warrant a look and some discussion. Admittedly looking a little like the old video game Asteroids, we now have a video of some thing flying around and shooting at a United States Air Force missile. This video and story was presented recently on Larry King Live. Take a look at the link below:
“UFO Shoots At Missile” Video
The man telling the story Bob Jacobs, Ph.D., former Air Force officer, claims that while performing a test on a new rocket, the Air Force captured video of an object that flew around the projectile, shooting beams at it. Naturally, according to Dr. Jacobs, the commanding officer ordered a hush-up around the whole affair. It is all very strange, but there is some video to look at, which is nice.
I’ll keep an eye on this and see if I can dig up some more information.
In the mean time, what do you all think? Have you, or anyone you knew, experienced a government cover-up regarding UFOs or any other paranormal activity? Let us know! Leave a comment or send an email.

Georgia Bigfoot A Hoax; The Internet Is Not Surprised

2008-08-21T18:16:05-05:00

While it is not really worth mentioning in and of itself, I’d hate for the TriCitiesBlogs.com Paranormal Blog’s record of the Georgia Bigfoot to be an incomplete account of the event. In case you haven’t heard yet, it was just a rubber gorilla suit stuffed with roadkill and entrails.
These sheisters, who briefly went into hiding, recently poked their heads back out to tell everyone it was a joke and that everyone should have known it was a joke. Well, we all love a good joke, that’s for sure. However, by definition, a joke usually ends with people laughing, or the joker pulling out before any real harm is done. Calling a press conference and taking cheques for undisclosed amounts of money usually don’t factor into the equation. In fact, you might call that a lie instead of humor. In fact, I am.
I think it’s pretty safe to say that interest in the paranormal has hit a high recently - the success of TV shows like Ghost Hunters is proof enough of that. I hope that a fraud like this perpetrated at a time of increased visibility doesn’t do irreparable damage to the real hunt for Bigfoot. I’m not saying that I believe Bigfoot is real, I’ll believe it when I see it. But I do hold it to be a small possibility; nothing is impossible. The thing about Bigfoot is that Bigfoot is FUN. Bigfoot captures the imaginations of people; he stirs those emotions that make you want to get out there and find something that no one else has. Get out in the woods and tromp around a bit - look for Bigfoot. Why not? Even if you don’t find anything, you’ve still spent a nice day hiking. It would be a real shame to see that fun diminished by a hoax.
I think I will continue the discussion about Bigfoot in general in the next blog post, but let’s not muddy the waters of that with this foul story.

Bigfoot Press Conference

2008-08-15T19:54:00-05:00

“Is this a hoax?” jeered some unknown spectator at the Bigfoot press conference in Palo Alto, California today.
Tom Biscardi seemed buffeted, but stayed strong. “This is as real as you’re standing right where you are, sir.”
Many in the audience were clearly unconvinced at the press conference, a bizarre spectacle thin on answers and thick with questions. Even if by some miracle Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton’s Bigfoot find turns out to be the real deal, most will still believe it a hoax, considering how badly the whole thing has been managed. The two Georgia men, dressed more like they were on their way to the local watering hole, and less like they were participating in an international press conference, seemed notably uncomfortable and stiff in front of the audience, as they attempted to explain away blunder after blunder with the discovery and preservation of the body. For the most part, they claimed ignorance.
That, at least, was not hard to believe.
Two new photos of the creature were shown: a close-up of the mouth with the tongue hanging out, supposedly proving that the head was not a mask, and your standard long distance photo of the creature loping away. Biscardi held these 8.5 x 11 prints up for the crowd to see, but promised copies to those who attended.
Sadly, I was not able to convince Media General to bankroll a plane ticket to California to attend a Bigfoot press conference, so you’ll have to get those elsewhere.
Perhaps more information will be forthcoming in the following days. One thing the the trio did manage to do was leave my hunger for more information largely unsatiated. I, like most, want to see this handled by the scientific community at large. Get me a biologist notable in their field. Get me a zoologist, a horse trainer, a dog groomer - anybody that might have the slightest idea about animals. Get me somebody that knows to contact a university or a Federal Wildlife Marshall or at least someone that knows that putting a valuable scientific specimen into a freezer full of water isn’t the best way to preserve it. Most of all, get me a decent photographer. Get me somebody besides Tom Biscardi, Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton.
Please.
I continue to be unconvinced,but I’ll follow this in case more developments of a slightly more believable nature come in.

Bigfoot Body Found?

2008-08-13T12:28:00-05:00

Bigfoot websites have been thrown into a tizzy recently at the announcement of a possible bigfoot body being found in North Georgia. Surprisingly clear photos (but with a touch of trademark Bigfoot blurriness) of the corpse have been circulating around, following a press release announcing the body’s finding and a subsequent press conference this Friday.
I’m not going to post the photos on the blog, due to some legal chest-beating by some groups over their exclusive ownership, but if one wants to see the photos, and one knows where to look, one will find them.
The press release states a few “facts” about the find, including:

The creature is seven feet seven inches tall.
It weighs over five hundred pounds.
The creature looks like it is part human and part ape-like.
It is male.
It has reddish hair and blackish-grey eyes.
It has two arms and two legs, and five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot.

And what about Bigfoot’s titular feet? They measure up at 16 and three-quarters inches long, close to a whopping size 27 in men’s shoes.
Naturally we have to be a bit skeptical about this find, but the level of excitement it is generating in the Bigfoot community is palpable. Whoever has taken control of the body before the press conference also seems to be taking this very seriously, as reports of armed guards around the creature accompany discussions online.
There’s not a lot of hard evidence around currently - I suppose we’ll have to wait for the Friday press conference for more of that, but there’s nothing to keep us from speculating. I am naturally inclined towards skepticism here, and the “press conference” (why in California instead of Georgia?) along with the nature of the press release (why is Searching for Bigfood, Inc. claiming they own all rights regarding this creature?) do nothing to alleviate my fears along these lines. Those who keep up with paranormal happenings may remember a previous post-dated “press conference” earlier this summer regarding an alien video in Denver. Not surprisingly, very little came of this press conference, but it did manage to stir up quite a bit of interest for a few days.
Of course, the photos are fairly impressive, and the idea of a Bigfoot finding so close to home is exciting enough to keep an eye on this thing. I’ll make sure to get some info from the press conference and post more information on Friday.
What do you think? Bigfoot or no?