Developing Psychic Awareness….Possible?

Last weekend we were at ParaCon, the big paranormal convention held yearly in Mahnomen, Minnesota.  It is always an amazing experience, this year, made even better because our friend Jen who is a very gifted Psychic Medium/Reiki Healer was in the booth next to ours.  Over the course of the two days, there were several times Jen would motion me over to her booth while she was working her magic on someone, so that I could feel the energy flow.  Amazing? Yes.  It felt warm, even hot, electric and and I could feel it stretching a couple feet up and sideways. Think of stepping into a warm bath, or the warmth of the sun on a cold day - that's how it felt.  It also felt like it was fluctuating becoming bigger and brighter.  Although I am no stranger to feeling my own energy, this?  Was simply astonishing and exciting.

In the afternoon of the second day, Jen came and asked me to come to her booth and help.  The client she was working on has a daughter who disappeared over a year ago, and she has not been found.   Jen told me that she is dead, a dark circumstance, and she wanted me to ask to be shown where her body lies.

I thought “gee, I am NO psychic, I may be intuitive and an empath,  but…..”, and promptly asked “what do I do?” 

Jen indicated that I should sit on the chair, gave me pen and paper, and told me to ask to be shown where this girl can be found.  If I received any answers at all I was to write it all down.  Suddenly I felt the shiver of spirit and knew that the daughter was with us even before Jen confirmed it. 

I closed my eyes and tried to communicate and meditate; no easy task when there is so much hustle and bustle going on all around, but somehow I managed.  Then I saw complete blackness; after a few minutes brilliant purple came into view. 

I thought “weird, wonder what that means” and then with activity that is ParaCon happening all around me, my concentration was broken.

I sat there for a bit thinking about that purple.  I stood up and I told Jen that I all I had seen was the dark and the purple; she nodded and showed me their notes.  And there it was; the color purple was written at the top of the list.  Had I been shown this by the missing girl?  Maybe, and it made me feel crazy weird – I couldn’t fully focus for a while, except on the weird feelings I was having. 

Back at my booth I couldn’t shake it, and I thought about all that had transpired.   Can psychic ability be learned?  Or is it something that goes hand in hand with intuitiveness, and one can learn how to use it?  Awaken it in other words?  I have no idea – but what I do know?  It was a phenomenal experience, and I am grateful to Jen for giving me the opportunity to be all that I can be. 

Later that day when things were settling down, I asked Jen where she thought this young girl was.   She told me that she believes that this girl is in a lake, underwater not far from the shore resting in the silt of the lake under a boat, and that the girl has something purple. So it all makes sense now; the darkness I was shown could be the underwater world of being in silt and under a boat and the purple?  Either something she has or  had.

Difficult to discern just where she may be, but I do hope they find her soon.  She and her mother needs that closure, and perhaps then, she can rest in peace.  Of course should I find out that she has been found?  I most certainly will report back.

Five years.....

Five years ago today, on 3/13/2010, I went on my very first paranormal investigation. A group of friends and family that included Jerry, Kacie, Mae, George, Katie and her husband Chad, and me went to investigate an old bar where Jerry and Mae used to work. We knew it was haunted, heck I had even seen the female ghost a time or two.   Armed with voice recorders, still cameras, and flashlights (I still believe those three simple items are all you need to have when you are investigating the supernatural), we took what we had learned from watching TAPS and hoped we would find something.

It turned out that we captured stunning evidence there, on our very first foray into the world of ghost hunting. The image on the right is of the female ghost taken on the second floor of this building, that very In the first section of the window you will see her. She is the same gal that I experienced a few times while Jerry worked there. Well, needless to say, we were all bitten and formed Supernatural Investigators of Minnesota.

With the exception of Chad, SIM began with the six of us, and over the past few years we have grown, and now we are 15 members strong. We have investigators in northern, central, and western Minnesota, in addition to our large team right here in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. 

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Along with the SIM Crew, I have investigated numerous commercial properties, private residences, vacant land, and old abandoned medical facilities (the subject of a multi-year study to determine whether or not they are more haunted than other buildings). We even were fortunate enough to travel to Kentucky and investigate the old Waverly Hills Sanatorium, said to be one of the most haunted places on earth. And I believe? It most certainly is, I experienced spirits throughout the monstrous old hospital, and take a look at the image below I captured on the 5^th floor of this old building. Something or someone was telling me to shoot photos of this area, and this man turned up. Who is he? I wish we knew.

Those of us on the team who were sensitives to begin with have experienced phenomenal growth in our abilities over the years; those on the team who were not intuitive have learned how to identify energies that may be supernatural.  We have become stronger and have learned much throughout these past years, and we will continue to grow as investigators of the supernatural. We intend to search for Bigfoot again this summer, and hopefully learn more about UFO’s; several Minnesotans have told us of their encounters, something is happening in the land of 10,000 lakes; without a doubt.

This past year I have been fortunate enough to meet some of the TV investigators who we still watch and learn from.  In October we had a booth at PARACON where I met Grant Wilson from TAPS, the Ghost Adventures Crew of Zak Bagans and Aaron Goodwin, just to name a few. 

Grant Wilson and Amy Bruni from TAPS with the SIM Crew

Zak and Aaron from GA with the SIM Crew

 

And, of course I have to mention that while I was visiting with Joan Jett backstage in Tulsa before her show, I gave her one of SIM's glow-in-the-dark flourescent green wristbands, which she wore onstage, and I might add, there are several pictures of the Queen of Rock online sporting OUR wristband!     

The Queen of Rock sporting a SIM wristband!

The journey thus far has been amazing and enlightening; what am I hoping for next? Well.......first off, I want to look Bigfoot in the eye.  Yep, that would be such a thrill!  Then, I would like to actually discover some concrete evidence on UFO’s. Certainly there are a lot of Minnesota folks out there who have experienced both Bigfoot and UFO’s, it would be awesome to catch some evidence, until I do?  I am a skeptic where UFO's are concerned ;)

On Saturday our team will be gathering for a celebratory anniversary luncheon that we are all looking forward to.   It will be awesome to catch up in person and lay out our plans for the upcoming year.

What do I think about all of this?  I will sum it up on three words:  WHAT A RIDE!

--Steph

Under Attack

Uncomfortable and frightened is how I felt this past Saturday.  A dark supernatural presence enveloped me at Walcott Mills, and I couldn’t get away fast enough.....

In the area by the cross; I am unsure what that fogginess is in the lower left hand corner, it does not appear on the other photos taken within a few seconds.  It could be caused by the cold weather, or could it be something else?

We held our last Paranormal 101 class of the season in Faribault last Saturday.  Cold and snowy, we had some pretty tough cookies in the class, and after the classroom instruction we all drove out to what once was the Walcott Mills and Grand View Farm Colonies south of town. 

In the early half of the 20^th century the Faribault State Hospital built the farm colonies so that they could instruct some of the higher functioning patients in art of agriculture, so that they could potentially be a working part of society.   What went on there?  Bad things, dark things; although we are unable to find any true records, we have some pretty good ideas.  These types of institutions were not nice places; patients were abused and neglected and I have to assume that the same experiences were the norm at these farm colonies.   From area residents, we have heard of patients being chained to the walls for control, along with incredibly sad stories involving dead babies.  Patient abuse was rampant in the hospital and female patients were raped by the staff and other patients alike.  Many of their babies died and were just thrown into the ground in unmarked graves.  Tales of murder have also come to our ears, indications that babies were born alive only to be killed.  Of course I hope these are false, and it's true we will never know for certain.  But?  Just the thought is awful beyond belief. 

There are two different places that we investigate; the land with two still standing buildings, and the land with a cross and headstone, which is just up the road.    This whole area exudes such a feeling of sadness and hopelessness; darkness and despair. Even the vegetation is twisted and deformed.  The cross and headstone were constructed by a local Lutheran Church to mark the graves of the babies.  For me personally, the vacant land where the babies are buried is perhaps one of the most haunted places I have been.  When getting out of the car I can immediately feel souls all around me, and it is at times almost overwhelming.  This is the place where I encountered a full apparition of “the man in blue”.  Dark hair, blue shirt, he was clearly visible and standing not far from me near the treeline.  Others have seen this ghost as well and we wonder if he is still there looking after the babies?  It is what I  like to think.

On Saturday, our first stop was the land with the buildings, and we were investigating the big building on the first property.  While Jerry and Katie are always able to somehow communicate with spirits there, I have not had as many experiences there.  All of us were in one room, and the K2 meters were lighting up, in fact there were many times that all lights were lit up.  Whomever was chatting with us was giving answers, but what was interesting to me was that I didn’t feel them.  As a sensitive, I am always aware of ghosts when they are near and so why not this time? 

Then suddenly it happened.   I felt the cold shiver of a presence just behind me, and I could sense that it was moving close.  I turned and looked but though I could not see anything, it was there.  I didn’t say anything, but soon this entity was at my back and I asked "who is here behind me".   Of course I had everyone's attention, and everyone looked, no one saw anything, but I could feel it and it was definitely not a nice presence.  In fact, I felt the need to flee, and I began to walk out of the room, uttering to everyone that I had to get out of there.   It came with me and I knew that I was definitely under attack; it was dark and evil, I believe it wanted to hurt me.  It was the same kind of feeling that you might feel walking down a dark street, knowing there is someone walking behind you, lurking, maybe trying to hurt you.

My heart was beating fast, and all I could think about was getting outside and grounding myself.  I felt almost sick to my stomach, and the moment I was outside I walked quickly to a big tree there, took off my mitten and placed my bare hand on the tree for much needed help.  Slowly the fear resided, and I breathed deeply, grounding myself, protecting myself against any further intrusion.  My heart began to slow down, and I breathed deeply concentrating on getting myself back to normal.  The entity had left me at the door, and I didn’t want to go back in.

I took these two photos while outside simultaneously.

Jerry soon came out and asked if I was okay, he was clearly worried.  Not one to be scared of the paranormal, it was worrisome for my team that I had fled and was so clearly upset.  A couple years ago in the same building Jerry had come under attack.  You can watch the video on our home page at www.siminnesota.com.  After that attack we all learned to GET OUT when something like this happens.

 Is that diaphanous vertical line something supernatural trying to materialize?

After we chatted for a bit, he suggested we all go into another room.  I unwillingly went back into the building, hey, we were teaching, it wasn’t good for one of the investigators to be afraid.  The moment I got into a room, Kelli – one of our investigators – asked me I was okay?  My skin was crawling, and I knew I had to get out of there once again.  I did, and the investigation progressed for a while longer, no one else feeling what I had.

What was it?  I have no idea but I do know it was very DARK, and I believe it wanted to hurt me.  I also believe whatever creatures are in that building seems to choose one person to harass, it would seem to prefer a person with abilities as Jerry also is a sensitive, so that they know what’s happening.  I was scared, and that happens rarely with me.  What I am very thankful for is that I was fortunate to have taken an Intuitive class last spring, and knew how to quickly ground and protect myself to prevent further damage.   Heidi?  You are an awesome teacher, and I thank you for this knowledge.

Will I ever go back in that building?  I am unsure at this time.  It is experiences like this that make me wonder why I even chase ghosts.  It is dangerous; but at the same time?  It’s amazing when we can prove that there are spirits.  This is what keeps me going, not that dark stuff, the dark supernatural creatures that were never human, and in this case I believe they are what keeps here.  It is a very sad and desperate place, and judging from the EVP's we have collected there over the years the spirits who there are tied to this place against their will.  We are hoping to at some point bring in an army of folks with abilities to try and move these spirits over to the other side and give them much needed peace.  That would be an amazing feat.

For those of you out there who have been to this place, either with us (three classes this fall) or on your own, please don’t venture out there alone, I would suggest you stay far away from it.  In closing, we will be going through our recorders over the coming days, and any evidence we have captured we will of course share. 

BE CAREFUL.