Ghostrider Paranormal Investigations

Investigations Discussions :: The Paranormal Past and Present of Fort Lowell

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:02:58 -0800

by Cherlyn Gardner Strong on Jan.16, 2010, under General Paranormal, Ghosts and Hauntings, Life

http://tucsoncitizen.com/paranormal/2010/01/16/the-paranormal-past-and-present-of-fort-lowell/

The Paranormal Past and Present of Fort Lowell

During my two-year stint as a resident of the Old Fort Lowell Historic District on Tucson�s northeast side, my paranormal curiosity was continually fed by intriguing tales of ghosts and hauntings.

These accounts of hauntings aren�t limited to Fort Lowell park, where remnants of the United States mililtary camp are preserved. Reported paranormal activity circulates well outside of the boundaries of the park, and even into some of the old homes in the general vicinity. The accounts of ghosts and hauntings are known to have been circulating since the year 1900, nine years after the last living soldiers left Fort Lowell.

According to many accounts, the spirits of soldiers who died at Fort Lowell have never left.

It was first reported around 1900 that the ghost of a solder haunted the ruins of the old Fort Lowell. Residents of the area allegedly spent much time participating in a crude early form of ghost hunting. The residents were said to have spent countless hours, along with countless rounds of ammunition, firing at the ghostly soldier. The soldier would simply disappear upon attack.

It is said that the soldier turned the tables on one attacker and fired back in defense with a blast of rocks.

The newspapers of the time started covering the story. On December 14, 1900, the Arizona Daily Citizen (predecessor of the Tucson Citizen newspaper) reported that �reputable citizens� continued to see the ghost. The story stated that these reputable citizens were preparing for a gun battle with the said spectre soldier, scheduled to take place that very evening.

The ghost was victorious, as the paper reported on December 28th that the ghost had returned to steal resident�s turkey on Christmas Eve. The Republic in Phoenix also ran the stories, as interest in all things paranormal grew at the time.

If the reporting stemmed from an �inside joke� of some sort, there seems to be a missing article somewhere and we don�t get the joke today. Perhaps the stories were inspired by a reporter�s vivid imagination?

We�ll never know.

Interestingly, the stories have sparked my imagination about those pre-Tucson Citizen / pre-Paranormal Old Pueblo weird news accounts by the Arizona Daily Citizen, written well over a century ago. The newspaper published their last story about the ghost April 13, 1901 - not long before the name of the newspaper changed. Later that same year, records indicate that the Arizona Daily Citizen changed their name to the Tucson Citizen.

Isn�t it ironic that not long after the Tucson Citizen ceased distributing a printed publication in 2009 (transforming into the online TucsonCitizen.com) that the Paranormal Old Pueblo blog was born into it?

We seem to have come full circle here. The thought intrigues me.

However, I am also intrigued by ghostly tales around Fort Lowell.

There are still reputable citizens living in the Fort Lowell area more than a century later. The reports of ghosts and hauntings in the area have not ceased.

For example, a woman I know shared with me that her father�s home, the home she grew up in, is haunted. The old house stands near Craycroft and Fort Lowell Roads, and it houses at least one ghostly resident. The woman�s father still lives in the home and claims to have witnessed strange events, in and around the house, over the span of more than four decades.

Most interestingly, he said that he began hearing the sounds of the wagon wheels turning, along with the clomping of the horses� hooves upon the hard, dry desert ground. He stepped outside one day and witnessed a ghostly horse-drawn wagon, steered by spectral soldiers. The eyes of the soldiers remained focused on their destination ahead, toward Fort Lowell Park. Then, the ghostly wagon simply vanished. According to the homeowner, he witnessed this event on more than one occasion and got used to it.

After a while, when he would hear the sounds approaching, he would simply go about his business and let the wagon drive by in peace. He says that the neighbors have learned to do the same.

Is the Fort Lowell area haunted? Or does the area simply spark our imaginations into a wild frenzy when we think about the soldiers who risked (and even lost) their lives at Fort Lowell?

We�ll never know.

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Investigations Discussions :: Case #100308: Investigation of Fair Play Cemetery

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:26:24 -0700

By: tomcat

Title: Case # 100308 Investigation of Fair Play Cemetery

Reason: Fresh investigation and a desire to research.

Date 10/4/08 around 11:00am.

Location: Fair Play, California.

History:

In the 1850�s Fairplay was a thriving mining town with several stores and hotels. Later it became a trading center for drift and hydraulic mining.

In the 1880�s agriculture prevailed as it does today with vineyards and wineries around every corner. The cemetery is near Perry Creek near the south end of Perry Creek Road. There is a wonderful hand painted sign to lead you down a dirt road to the one acre cemetery.

The earliest marker remaining is from 1863. Since the community began in the early 1850�s, it would follow that there may have been earlier burials. This cemetery has been used by the community for over 150 years and remains open for burial of pre-needs. Ground Penetrating Radar done in 2001 found 397 possible burials, only 189 of these are marked.

Reported paranormal activity:

None noted to date. Did note a possible hasty exit of someone leaving a part of a hat on the ground.

Findings:

It was raining when I arrived. I was alone in the cemetery. It was in fair condition and looked to have reasonable maintenance done to it, but did have some overgrowth and a number of stones in poor condition.

Conclusion:

Due to rainstorm during my visit, I kept it brief. But it was very productive. No less than six evps noted in a seven minute visit. This cemetery is worth a revisit with a team and is ideally located away from the road and also very private. This is a high-priority case for a GRI revisit. I rate it as paranormally hot and an evening investigation is on the board for this one.

Equipment Used:

Sony ICD-P620 and Kodak Z740.

Investigations Discussions :: Investigation 101808 - Morning investigation of Placerville Cemetery near EID Office

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:29:23 -0700

By: tomcat

Title: Placerville Cemetery near EID Office

Reason for investigation follows

Never been there to investigate and decided to run pre-investigation during daylight hours.

Location:

Placerville, California, next to Highway 50 and close to EID office.

History:

This cemetery was around since mid-1800s - Need to acquire more history on it.

Reported paranormal activity:

None in records and establishing baseline here.

Findings:

EVP runs were inconclusive. Too much highway noise and it'll take an evening investigation on a late night to get noise levels down and perhaps some video gear in to get results.

Conclusion:

This cemetery has potential, but it is hampered by it's location. This requires either a power outage and highway blockage to be truly quiet - say a snowfall that produces the right conditions to give complete silence. Still, it had a good feel to it and may be worth an investigation in the future for video purposes and using digital cameras.

Equipment Used:

Kodak Z740 and Sony ICD-P620 recorder.

Investigations Discussions :: Case 101208 - La Casa Drive Haunting.

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:41:42 -0700

By: tomcat

Title: La Casa Drive unmanned investigations.

To validate if a full investigation of La Casa Drive is warranted.

Location: La Casa Drive in Shingle Springs.

History:

American Indians known to have lived in and around this area. Mountain on site of the haunt has had a history that has spooked many people and our investigators had family who inspected property there and would not buy it because they sensed something wrong in the area. It is known that there were clashes and battles in the area, but not specifically with this location as a sure piece of knowledge.

Reported paranormal activity:

Reports of mists and American Indian haunts at this location. Music is heard playing late nights and early morning.

Findings:

A drop recorder with 5 hours of evidence captured was done for this case. The case is not over. We are waiting for a stormy night and will place a recorder in a new quadrant of the reported haunting area to see what we pick up. There will be a total of three drops before we conclude the case.

Conclusion:

To be concluded sometime in early 2009.

Equipment Used:

Sony ICD-P520.

Investigations Discussions :: Case 101808 - Article Evening investigation of Shingle Springs Cemetery

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:31:56 -0700

By: tomcat

Title: Case 101808 Evening Investigation of Shingle Springs Cemetery

Follow-up visit to evaluate evening activity at the cemetery. We believe we may be the first investigators to visit the cemetery for this purpose and thus this missions was a first foray with video and audio gear to see what we might capture.

Location: Shingle Springs Cemetery

Investigators

Jon Almada and Kevin Gilligan.

History: Shingle Springs cemetery was established in the mid 1870s, but evidence suggests it was in use long before this time frame and perhaps had American Indian burials in the area also.

Reported paranormal activity:

Unknown. We are aware of some paranormal activity near French Creek road, not far from the cemetery itself, but otherwise, no evidence of activities noted in historical records we could find, which were scarce and hard to come by.

Findings:

There is paranormal activity at night in the cemetery. One shadow was seen by J. Almada to move from left to right when looking south and up the hill towards the middle section of the cemetery. This is not evidence, but only an experience.

Actual evidence came in the form of two EVPs that are noted in the media case folder. One was a strange set of beeps and odd clash of voices that does not appear to be a malfunction of the recorder. The next was a voice calling out that was picked up as we walked the cemetery. The recorder was carried by K. Gilligan and the voice sounds like a call out by a woman. It sounds like the word "Tessa" or similar utterance.

The shadow sighting has us convinced that a longer nighttime investigation, near midnight and with infrared video recorders is in order with a team running video hard lines to the area of the sighting and where our EVPs keep getting recorded. We will be returning to the site frequently as a result of this great investigation.

Conclusion:

place conclusion here.

Equipment Used:

list equipment here.

Investigations Discussions :: Case number 100308 Shingle Springs Cemetery Investigation

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:12:55 -0700

By: tomcat

Title: Case number 100308 Shingle Springs Cemetery Investigation

Date: 10/3/08

Weather: Colder with intermittent rain. First rainstorm of the season.

Reason: Pre-investigation run to examine potential for future investigative work.

Location: Shingle Springs Cemetery just behind business district in downtown Shingle Springs

History: Cemetery established in late 1870s, but evidence suggests native American burials may have been going on here for a long time before that.

Reported paranormal activity:

None noted in prior research.

Findings:

Post-evp investigation revealed a clear EVP and a couple of lesser possible hits. Clear EVP was a class A, clear voice and very noticable.

Conclusion:

There is paranormal activity at the Shingle Springs Cemetery and it is worth follow-up missions on a continuing basis to effectively gauge it's level and potential reasons for existing.

The Class-A EVP recording was deemed to be the voice of William Palmer, an influential rancher who died in the 1895 time frame and whose grave the EVP recorder was near when the recording was taken.

There were no other people in the vicinity and the investigation took place during intermittent rain storms.

Equipment Used:

EVP recorder - Sony ICD-620 recorder.
Camera - Kodak Z740 digital camera.

Investigations Discussions :: Boilerplate for investigation stories

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:34:35 -0700

By: tomcat

Title

Reason for investigation follows

Location:

address here...

History:

place history here

Reported paranormal activity:

place paranormal activity report ere

Findings:

None

Conclusion:

place conclusion here.

Equipment Used:

list equipment here.

Investigations Discussions :: Arabian Way Haunts

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:17:53 -0700

By: tomcat

This is to document haunts noted on Arabian Way. Shingle Springs.

10/6/08 - Myself and my mother witnessed a six foot five apparition - my mother watched it pass her out of the corner of her eye. I witnessed the head pop in and look at us as she told me about it an hour later.

Investigations Discussions :: Re: Spencer Civil War rifle EVP

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:57:44 -0700

By: tomcat

This investigation was done in response to a fellow worker who felt that there was a spirit attached to his civil war rifle. A rare model called a "Spencer'. In it's day, it was one of the most technologically advanced items on the battlefield.

This particular model had three marks on the wooden stock, indicating three potential kills. The investigation used EVP recordings to try to make contact with the spirit who was connected to this rifle.

Our first EVP session captured the loudest and clearest of several captures. The voice said "Averett" in response to my asking about who owned this rifle. A check of the Civil war websites showed Averetts in abundance in Georgia.

The evidence is being re-reviewed to see if we've got any more and we'll post updates to this thread if we discover any more.

Investigations Discussions :: Spencer Civil War rifle EVP

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:48:12 -0700

By: tomcat

Well, I'd never tried this before. I did an EVP session with a Spencer civil war rifle at my house. For fifteen minutes, I asked questions and I got several hits. The loudest was when I asked the name of the owner. I got 'Averett' as a response. Check the Media Gallery to listen for yourself. I'll post others later this weekend after I wash the audio and clean it up.