Devil in the Delta (9 page)

In the living room, Joanne wrung her hands with worry. She couldn't understand why “nothing was happening.” I explained to her that this sometimes happened when new people came into a place and that it's common to think nothing is happening during an investigation, but then discover later during a review of our audio and video surveillance that we did, indeed, have something paranormal going on. This was when Joanne said something that completely took me by surprise.

A Demonic Moth and a Practical Joke

I had just taken a seat on the couch when Joanne stated that she did not understand why nothing was happening in the trailer since a “demon” was watching us “right now.” This was the first mention of anything to do with a demon or anything religious, so it immediately struck me as an odd thing for her to say. Cautiously, I took a look around the trailer. Nothing seemed amiss.

When I asked her where this demon was, she pointed at the wall directly over my head. Cautiously, I peeked in that direction. There was a moth that was perched on the wall just above me. “Huh?” I asked to make sure. “You mean the moth?”

She nodded. “It likes to watch us.” Simply put, I was dumbstruck. I had no idea of what to say to this. I struggled to hold my tongue and suppressed the urge to swat the insect dead. Instead, I nodded politely and asked Tom and company to take a walk outside with me. This had to be discussed.

Though I had experienced several unexplainable things over the course of the evening, and it was apparent that paranormal activity was actually happening on the property, I now had serious misgivings concerning the veracity of Joanne Martin. Could she simply be paranoid and actually believe she is under constant surveillance? And why was she suddenly talking about a demon being in the trailer? And, more to the point, why a moth?

I was discussing this very subject with Tom and Blake when Joanne came outside with the remaining members of the team. As the women talked about the lack of activity in the trailer, I saw Blake reach into his pocket and grin. He held out three or four coins in his hand for us to see, and then he snuck around the backside of the inoperable car in the driveway. I groaned as I realized what he was about to do—re-create the materializing coins incident—but then decided to let him do it.

The way I figured it was this: when he tossed the coins into the air to drop in front of Joanne, she would be startled to find money that “materialized” in front of her—which would beg the question, “If this has happened before in the past, why are you so surprised?” Of course, when Blake threw the coins into the air, the exact opposite happened.

After settling in behind the car, Blake quickly flipped the coins into the air. They landed right at the feet of the astonished group talking outside the front door. Terri and Patricia immediately reacted with surprise and excitement. Joanne and Tim barely blinked an eye. Joanne picked up one of the quarters, handed it over to Patricia, and said, “See? This just keeps happening.”

While Tom and Blake struggled to control their laughter, I found myself even more perplexed. With such a complete lack of surprise, it was obvious to me that they had experienced this very thing before and were not lying about the previous incidents involving materializing coins and rocks.

I could feel my head beginning to throb … Everything was getting quite confusing and it was becoming harder and harder to know what was fabrication and what was truth concerning this case.

Wrapping It Up

With the night waning and activity that had (apparently) ceased, we decided to wrap up the evening's investigation. We gathered up the gear, said our goodbyes, and drove back into town. For me, it was only the beginning of a very long drive back to Memphis. During this ride, I would mentally assess everything that had happened during the investigation.

On the one hand, I had experienced activity in the master bedroom for myself (there was the loud rumble and the materializing watch) and witnessed a massive black shape move into one of the children's bedrooms. This had been corroborated by the large spike on the EMF detector.

On the other hand, it was apparent that not everything happening in the trailer was of a paranormal nature—there was clearly an element of hysteria that managed to turn things as mundane as a moth flying into the room into a thing of ominous portent. Of course, it could also just have been wishful thinking or desperation on Joanne's part to prove her case. Either way, I had a hard time believing I had encountered a demonic moth.

And on top of this, there was clear evidence of drug use, as well as articles used for magical/ritual purposes. Maybe the Martin family actually
wanted
something to happen in their home—and that, coupled with their obsession with ghosts and the occult had attracted something to them. Something that was pretending to be a little girl named Emily or Julie's dead father. Or maybe even John … whoever that was.

It was all very confusing for my extremely sleepy head, but any way it went, I would have to go over the audio, photographic, and video evidence from this investigation very carefully. The results would have to be the deciding factor that would help form my final opinion as to whether or not the place was, indeed, haunted.

As I drove the seven or so hours back to Tennessee, I went over several past cases that I had conducted along with the other members of Paranormal Inc. Perhaps there was an experience or lesson learned from a previous case that I could draw upon for guidance. There have certainly been moments of enlightenment and, of course, terror over the years …

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4

War Stories

The road trip back to Tennessee was long and boring—perfect for doing some thinking and reminiscing. As I mentioned earlier (probably several times), personal experience can make a huge difference in just how a paranormal case is investigated and interpreted. And I was convinced that, despite the outright challenges of the Martin case, there would be past instances that could help me discern what was what in this investigation.

For most investigators, personal experience can often determine the verdict concerning the disposition of a haunting—and whether a place is even haunted at all. The problem can be, though, that different people have different experiences, so oftentimes there can be multiple opinions concerning a haunting (or lack of) and various ways to approach investigating it.

Personal experiences are also essential because they teach investigators important lessons in the field—some basic, some more advanced and unique. Things you would have never known had you not gone out and visited a place for yourself. Despite the plethora of information available about the paranormal, nothing beats actually working on location with clients and capturing evidence for yourself.

Since the formation of my investigative group Paranormal Inc, my team has explored hundreds of unique locations—state parks, battlefields, hotels, restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, museums … well, you get the idea. And no two investigations have been the same. At least that has been the case when the place has actually been haunted!

If a location is
not
haunted, it's pretty much like every other investigation that goes nowhere: boring. You can probably imagine how much fun is involved with sitting in a silent, dark place and having a conversation with nobody for hours on end. It's the kind of situation that often drives paranormal wannabes back to watching ghost hunters on television instead of actually doing it. But visiting places without hauntings is extremely important to researchers in the field.

An investigator has to learn what constitutes paranormal activity and what does not. Ever notice how people on paranormal television programs always seem to encounter a ghost and how they always appear to be in an actual haunted location? Well, it's not like that in real life. In real life, finding a real haunt is a rare and exhilarating thing—but it does happen on occasion.

And there are always lessons to be learned and personal experiences to be had when you investigate these real places. As I went over some of my past investigations in my head while driving (always with my eyes on the road!), I just knew that there were some past cases that could help me with the Martins.

Devil's Backbone

One of the hardest things for new paranormal groups to do is to get their first real case. As a result, most first-timers usually end up doing a public, outside location. We (Paranormal Inc) were no different. Though Mike and I had already been investigating the paranormal off and on for many years, actually doing a case by the book and working as a formal investigative group would be a new experience for us, so we wanted to do it right.

Since we wanted to avoid going to any local cemetery (nobody dies in a cemetery and who would want to haunt one?), Mike, Brandon, and I researched haunted places in and around southeast Missouri for some time before deciding to make Devil's Backbone Park our first investigation. And in retrospect it seemed a perfect choice.

We had several reasons for choosing this particular location: it was reasonably close by in southwest Illinois, it had a great reputation for having regular paranormal activity, and information about the haunting and the site was readily available on the internet (though the actual history of the area was rather scarce).

Also, it appeared that the haunted area in question was relatively small, which was important. Since we only had a limited amount of gear between the three of us (buying all that electronic equipment is expensive!), we wanted to investigate a place small enough for us to cover with our handful of audio and video recorders. We also wanted a place that three investigators could manage with ease—possibly working well into the night. Devil's Backbone was a perfect fit.

Once we decided on this location, the three of us gathered to discuss how we would approach the case. Logistically, it would pose no real challenge. It was a mere two hours from Cape Girardeau, Missouri (our home base), to Grand Tower, Illinois, and it was a public place, so we would not need to get any special permission from anyone to visit. The only issue I could imagine springing up involved the hours of operation.

Most state and national parks close relatively early and we wanted nighttime to investigate so we could use our nifty new night-vision-capable camcorders. If the park closed at sunset, like many do, we would only get a limited time in the dark there before having to leave. Unfortunately, the park's website did not tell the hours of operation. But I did notice that they had camping.

My thoughts were that, worst-case scenario, we might have to purchase a campsite (even though we would not be camping that night) so that we could stay a few extra hours in the park after dark. This would also give use the option of an all-night investigation. We were pumped up and ready for our first case, so we would most likely be fueled up on adrenaline all night anyway! We just hoped that our limited amount of electronic equipment could handle that much data.

Next, we talked about the actual case. Devil's Backbone was known throughout southern Illinois as a haunted place, so finding details about the ghost(s) was no challenge. The problem was that most of the information from the websites all said the same couple of things! Most of the tales seemed to be of two varieties.

The most common story told about the old rocky ridge overlooking the Mississippi River concerns the ghost of a young girl. During its heyday, Devil's Backbone was known for its iron furnaces and workers would flock there from all over the country for meager pay and dangerous work. The girl was the daughter of the foundry boss who lived in a small stone house in the vicinity of the furnaces.

It's said that this girl fell in love with a migrant worker, and that after her father found out about the crush, the worker was persuaded to quit his job and to move away from the area. As a result, the girl's heart was broken and she pined away the remainder of her days until she died—either from grief or from an unspecified natural cause.

Today, the ruins of the old foundry house can still be found in the wooded area just outside the campground (though some say it is nothing of the sort, but just a random abode that someone lived in sometime over the years). It is this spot that's said to be visited by the ghost of the young girl. She is usually seen in and around the ruins of the house and residents/visitors have reported hearing her screams of anguish in the night.

The second story concerning spirits at Devil's Backbone involves the generally sinister reputation the area had for many years. Besides the fact that the cliffs were often dangerous to those traveling along the river, the location was typically used by river pirates to swoop down on unsuspecting people. Because of this, the area is said to have had a large quantity of murders, robberies, assaults, and crimes in general. Many believe that the misty spirits that are often seen wandering the cliffs are the souls of these poor victims.

Either way, we knew exactly where we needed to go—the top of the cliffs and the area around the foundry house ruins. On paper, it seemed that this would be a simple and straightforward case—but, of course, nothing is ever simple and straightforward!

After we had packed all of our gear and gotten on the road, we learned our first lesson concerning investigating an outdoor location: always check the weather. As we crossed the Mississippi River, clouds were already gathering in the sky and it was fast become apparent that we were in for
a large storm that evening. Suddenly we no longer needed a campsite; our time at the location would clearly be limited.

Once we arrived at the park, we managed to spot the landmarks that would lead us to the infamous cliff and foundry house, so we quickly parked, grabbed our gear, and trudged through the brush and trees to the reputedly haunted area. This brings us to lesson learned number two: it was a much harder and longer trek than we imagined. We should have given ourselves more time and left Missouri earlier.

With barely a smear of daylight remaining in the sky—partially because it was getting late, partially because of the incoming storm—we eventually located the ruins and set up some audio and video recorders. I made a mental note to allow more time for travel in the future. (What if there had been a client anxiously awaiting us? We would have appeared unprofessional by cutting it so close.)

After our surveillance of the ruins was in place, we then slowly circled the cliff tops to take some photographs and to do some EVP work. Finally, we were starting to feel like real ghost hunters! But this feeling of elation would be short-lived. We were a whopping forty-five minutes into the investigation when a massive bolt of lightning came crashing out of the sky! So, frustrated and fearing for our lives, we made a mad dash to grab all of our gear before the rain hit and destroyed all of our electronic gear.

Once all of our equipment was gathered, we sprinted through the first torrents of cold rain to our nice, warm vehicle and quickly loaded up. Moments later, we were back on the road. With a few laughs and some jokes about Murphy's Law, we assessed our first “investigation” as we drove back to Missouri.

On the positive side, we had gathered forty-five minutes of audio and video footage, taken approximately a hundred digital photos, and had learned a couple of valuable lessons. On the negative side, we had
only
gathered about forty-five minutes of audio and video footage and our investigation was possibly the shortest ever conducted by a formal paranormal team.

Many people would have been frustrated by all of this—and may have even been tempted to ditch the entire case. But we still treated the footage we had gathered as something to be seriously scrutinized—besides, we needed to practice reviewing audio and video footage anyway. Much to our surprise, we were rewarded with a couple of interesting pieces of evidence.

Though the audio and video recorders had not been running for very long, both devices located at the foundry ruins contained some interesting tidbits. The audio recorder captured a couple instances of what sounded like a female screaming! Since we were always in the immediate area and had not heard any such sounds for ourselves, this was an interesting find. It also matched up with the tales that are told about the old ruins.

In addition, the camcorder that was set a mere two feet from the audio recorder also captured something. For a brief second, a strange blob of visible light appeared in the frame of the video and, just as quickly, disappeared. It was clearly not one of our flashlights (these appeared quite differently on video and can be seen moving through the trees in the background) and we had seen no other lights that evening. Also, the sounds of the female screams were present on the camcorder, too, which indicated to us that these were probably audible sounds (perhaps even a disembodied voice) and not an EVP.

Obviously, we were all elated that our first “case” had gone so well. Despite being in the location for less than an hour, we had walked away with our first paranormal evidence. And this taught us perhaps the most important lesson learned yet: always take an investigation seriously and use your time wisely. Because we had still done things by the book, despite having limited access to the park, even less daylight, and inclement weather, we had managed to get some great evidence to corroborate the stories told locally about Devil's Backbone.

If there had been a client involved with this case, we were sure that he/she would have been pleased, but unlike the Martin case, there was no family in need. Much like with Devil's Backbone, nothing could be taken for granted with the Martin case. It would be easy to write off some of the eccentricities of the family and to dismiss many of the claims concerning the Mississippi case—but this would be a huge mistake.

As I learned at Devil's Backbone, reserving judgment about a case until after the review is a must, and I would have to make sure to scour every second of data I had captured at the home.

The Old Talbott Tavern

Though the rumbling in the master bedroom of the Martin trailer had startled me—and even caused me to approach my investigation there more seriously—past personal experiences have taught me to be prepared for almost anything when venturing into a haunted site. And I knew from previous cases that sounds in a location were often the least of my concerns. Just take the case of Talbott Tavern for instance …

Dating back to 1779, the Old Talbott Tavern in Bardstown, Kentucky, seemed a great place to soak up some history and to get in a quality ghost hunt. We had managed to get a handful of investigations under our belt at this point (including some indoor locations, thank goodness), but we felt like we were ready to tackle a place that experienced
a lot
of paranormal activity. And so we found Talbott Tavern.

Despite the fact that Talbott Tavern is extremely open about their haunting (there are links to paranormal groups who visit the place right on their website), I still thought it best to obtain permission to visit and ghost hunt there—as well as to write about our experiences there on our brand-new website. The innkeeper I spoke to was extremely nice and helpful, giving us suggestions as to which rooms had the most activity and where the hot spots were.

But he also warned us that there would be non-ghost hunting guests staying in the tavern, too, so we would have to respect their privacy. You see, in addition to having a killer dining room and on-site lounge (the Bourbon Bar), the Old Talbott Tavern has bed-and-breakfast style rooms for rent—so we would actually be staying overnight during our investigation. And thanks to the innkeeper's suggestions, Mike and I would be staying in one of their most active rooms: the General's Quarters Room.