8/03/2010

Ghost Hunting....the beginning

I have always been sensitive to ghostly presences. My grandmother who came to America from Norway in the early 1900's could see and feel ghostly presences. Her sister too. I guess it only makes sense that I inherited this sensitivity to the supernatural. Over the years I have had experiences such as feeling unseen presences, and a time or two seeing a person in my mind during those times that I have felt an unseen presence, as well as glimpses of apparitions. The first time I saw a ghost was years ago when I was dating my husband and going to college in Bemidji, Minnesota. A couple we knew were living in the house that Jerry's deceased grandparents had lived in. On that property, I felt the presence of a man and in my minds eye I saw a man with wire-rimmed glasses, and a balding head. Turns out that is what Jerry's grandfather looked like.

Fast forward a few years, after we were married and we were living in our first house, I was walking my pups at 5:00am, and I saw a phantom runner, jogging down the street. I heard no sounds, there was no sound of feet on the pavement, nothing. I looked away for a moment and then back after I realized it was so quiet, and the runner had vanished into thin air! The pups were twitchy, acting a little odd, and I realized the jogger I had just seen wasn't a person, a live person anyways. That was the first time I saw the "jogging ghost", but definitely not the last. I saw him a few more times over the years we lived in that house, same time of day, same time of year.   I did a little research into this phenomena, and discovered that there was a person hit by a car and killed near there a few years before, and that person had been jogging, in the early morning.

Our paranormal group formed with the investigation of a bar where my husband Jerry worked years ago.  Two of our members had worked there, and they often experienced paranormal events while on the job.  I myself had an experience several years ago.  I was upstairs listening to my daughter and her friends play in their garage band one afternoon, I felt something strange that had the hairs on my neck standing up, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a glimmer of a woman with long brown hair, she looked like she was from a different time. When I turned to look there was nothing, but I felt her presence pass by me/through me.  I told Jerry what I had seen and he told me others had seen this same female with long brown hair.

Ghost Lady in left window
So, that first investigation we went there with all of our equipment and all that we have learned from watching TAPS, and went hunting. We weren't disappointed. I felt many presences in the upstairs, where I had felt and seen that woman before. I took many pictures in the dark, and I gasped when I saw one.  It is a ghostly image of the woman I had seen years ago. If you look at this picture, you will see a yellow light, and directly below that in front of the window you will see the face of a woman looking our way. Go ahead, click on the picture at the left and open it up. She is there. I could feel the presence when I was there, and I called my daughter Kacie over who also felt the same thing. It lasted maybe 30 seconds, and then we felt it leave us. We looked at every possible explanation for this image, and could find absolutely none.  This is the ghost woman I had seen years ago. 
During the investigation, Kacie while downstairs in the basement sitting at the desk, felt something scratch her neck, and sure enough, there were marks. We also caught some things on audio, breathing and sounds we didn't hear when we were there. At one point when we were in the basement, no lights, pitch black, doing evp work (electronic voice phenomenon), one of our members felt and heard a breath on her ear. None of us were on that side of her. It was scary. In that basement, there's an entrance to the tunnels that run underground in Minneapolis. It was close to this section where Mae felt this breath on her ear. I couldn't make myself go very far into that room where the tunnel entrance is blocked off. I felt dread coming from that area, and hopelessness, and something I can't put my finger on, but it did prevent me from venturing in more than a few feet. What's there? I don't know. Maybe someone at some time got lost in the maze of underground tunnels and perished? I don't really know, but definitely there was something there.

Our first investigation was a phenomenal way to start our group.  I will be posting more notes in the days and weeks to come.  Happy Reading!