Manchester Paranormal Investigations – The Blog

Someone recently had a discussion with me regarding Ouija boards. They wanted to know how the can be considered dangerous if they are sold in stores. Something truly dangerous would not be sold in a store was the point that was being made to me.

True, if you buy one and have it in your home – it is not dangerous. It’s when you use it, especially incorrectly, when it becomes a risky proposition.

“Well if it was proven dangerous, a store would not sell it.”

As long as there is demand, a store will sell it – that’s the premise of a free market. How many clinical studies indicate tobacco use can cause various health ailments including premature death. But yet, cigarettes can be purchased at stores. Chainsaws are not dangerous by themselves, but use them incorrectly; you can cut off various parts or have a tree land on you. But yet, I can walk into any home improvement store and buy one. I can fall off of a ladder, blow off a finger with fireworks, or mix the wrong cleaning chemicals and cause a toxic cloud, but I can easily buy any of the mentioned items. So just because a store sells something does not mean there are no consequences if used incorrectly or even risks if precautions are in fact taken.

“It’s just a board with letters, numbers, and a yes and no”.

That’s right, but it is the attempt to communicate that is risky. Any time you try to talk to a spirit, you never know who (or what) is on the other side ready to communicate. Without proper techniques and protection, you can be inviting more spirits in and who knows what else. They look for open lines of communication and when you open one, you are asking for trouble if you are not experienced. Even experienced people can be tricked.

“I’ve used one, and nothing happened.”

Well you were lucky. We know many people who had serious issues after they “played” with Ouija boards. There are some people who have been harassed by spirits or have truly frightening situations because they did not know what the consequences are. Just because it didn’t happen to you, doesn’t mean it never happens.

“Some paranormal groups actually use them in their investigations.”

We do not have to answer for them. We discourage it – but everyone is entitled to their opinions and their techniques. Some groups provoke spirits – we don’t. We know the consequences and we are not going to cause a situation to become worse for a homeowner.

For more information on why we consider Ouija boards to be dangerous, please visit our Ouija board article on our website. To visit our comprehensive paranormal information page, please click here. 

Recently I came upon the musings of a very famous parapsychologist that caused me a little concern. In his writings he stated his disdain over paranormal groups that believed in demons and believed demons are evil. He then used a few examples in his attempt to illustrate his view that one should not consider demons evil. He used earthquakes and sharks as an example of why things should not necessarily be termed “evil.”

His theory is that earthquakes destroy lives, and cause an incredible amount of destruction, but yet no one considers them to be evil. He claims that sharks which can occasionally kill people but are not evil because they are fulfilling their need for nourishment. So using these examples, he considers it irresponsible for people to think demons are evil because that is their nature, such as earthquakes and sharks.

Looking at this scenario, I can’t help get over the fundamental flaw in this theory. Sure I agree earthquakes and sharks are not evil – they should be feared and their power should be respected and precautions taken, but to use these as examples is truly irresponsible. Earthquakes have no thought, no emotion – it is a natural process of the Earth’s tectonic plates. Sharks, have thought, however they do not relish in the torture of their prey. They do not intentionally go after surfers or swimmers for their enjoyment. Sharks do not make people question their victim’s sense of self or question their belief. Sharks do not try to influence their victims to act out. So in this sense he is correct in his assumption that earthquakes and sharks are not evil.

Demons however, do intentionally create nasty situations for their personal pleasure and enjoyment; therefore we can consider them evil. Demons are the very definition of evil. They want to influence the living to do their warped desires. They want to destroy lives, ruin relationships and careers. They want you to second-guess yourself and to move away from your religious beliefs. So how is this not evil?

I can understand his frustration as there is a lot of misinformation out there – but to create more in an attempt to discredit others is a bit ironic. He states he is campaigning against people believing that every paranormal entity is a demon or evil. That’s an admirable goal, but it can be done differently. I admit demons are not as prominent as many think – but they do exist. Human nature is such that we fear the unknown. In general, whenever we hear claims of demons, we try to relay other’s concerns, because they are rare, and communications by spirits are often misunderstood or feared. But we will never say that they do not exist.

After the shark and earthquake comparisons, the writings continue on that demons do not exist because in his many years of experience, he has never come across one. I find it ironic, because in other writings or books, he admits his impatience towards closed-minded skeptics and those that do not believe in ghosts or spirits because “they never ran across one”. Talk about taking a good look in a mirror.

How does one prove something does not exist? I would like for him to answer that one.

For more information on paranormal phenomenon, please visit our Paranormal Information section on our website.

Mmmmmm....Ghosts

Last year my Halloween message was a joke about how the most scary thing around Halloween are the politicians that are going door to door looking for votes. Now, excuse me for getting a bit political, but here in Connecticut a state legislator has come up with a proposal to make Halloween fall on the last Saturday in October. As expected, this man made Connecticut the laughing stock in the nation with his notion.

He claims it is tough to race home after work, get your children fed, trick or treat, then get them to bed on a school night. Okay, I understand the logic, being a parent with a full-time job, two children, running a paranormal group in whatever free time there is – and, oh yeah, the billions of leaves that fall each and every hour. (Deep breath) However, it’s been done for decades and as far as I can tell, life expectancy has gone up in those decades even though kids might go to bed later on one night.

About safety – did he think that there are more drunk drivers on the road on Saturdays? Gee, wouldn’t it be great (sarcasm) that Mischief Night would always fall on a Friday night? People do not have jobs and losing their homes and his concern is on Halloween.

Even better was he claimed that Connecticut’s economy would improve if we moved Halloween.  Yeah, Connecticut is in big trouble.  I’d be all for moving Election Day up one year for the state elections, but take your darn hands off of Halloween! To him, I say Boooooooooooooooo! not Boo.

Here’s hoping that you enjoy a safe and happy Halloween and remember your lost loved ones on All Soul’s Day on November 2nd.  And don’t forget to lock your doors securely, the politicians will be stopping by your home like some 1950′s zombie movie.

Manchester Paranormal Investigations just completed our return investigation to Houghton Mansion. What we brought back was hours and hours of video and audio data to review. The mansion was very active, especially between 3:00 – 4:00am. The little girl in the basement was very comfortable with us, and Mr. Widders was a bit disturbed throughout the evening. We should have some great EVPs to share. However, the departed Masons in the lodge played a trick on us as they figured out our trick in trying to catch them on motion activated camera.  More details will follow as we review the evidence. Since this is not a residential location, we will upload all evidence to our website in the near future.

It’s hard to believe it has been 10 years since the terrorist attacks that claimed about 3,000 lives in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.  That fateful day, families were torn apart and a world grieved.  This week we will see countless images that will stir up the emotions of that day. 

Here, at MPI, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of that day and with their families and friends.

September 11, 2001 -  Never Forget!

Recently MPI conducted an investigation of Shanley Hotel in Napanoch, New York.

The Shanley Hotel - Then....

The hotel claims to be home to forty restless spirits. We set out to see just how many we can interact with. When you enter this historic structure, you will walk under a sign that states “The Spirits are Inn” – they were not exaggerating. While the evening was peculiarly quiet in regards to residual noise and energy, we did capture some pretty interesting EVPs and ghost box responses.

The most shocking response came during a relatively light moment in the investigation. Two men named Oscar and Grover were roommates. They were friends first – loved to argue second. Their spats revolved around who was the more accomplished “ladies man”.  Of course being named Oscar and Grover brought to mind a couple puppets from a well-known show for children. It was easy to ask for “Bert and Ernie”, especially when the evening wears on and the exhaustion kicks in.  Well, Oscar and Grover didn’t exactly roll out the welcome mat.  What we got was a death threat and an insult . Now the boys were a little belligerent while alive, in the spirit world, they still have their bar room brawl mentality.

Shanley Hotel - July 31, 2011

The response may seem a bit aggressive, but it is important to note that they are harmless and there was never a negative or overbearing feeling to the location. Maybe they heard the same thing every day and we were the ones the lashed out at. Spirits are human after all – they just lack a physical body of skin, bones, muscles, tendons, etc.

That night, it seems like the spirits were more than happy to reply to a little light banter. The serious sessions in which we tried to find out murderer’s identities and heavy information seemed to garner very few replies. The one-half of one percent where we just let loose is when they chose to respond. It was a location for drinking and merriment – so perhaps the spirits are still a bit playful.

I’m still waiting for payment for my poker game in the Gentlemen’s Club. I even made a deal that I would call it even if they appear in a photograph for us. When we return in the future, we’ll be sure to gather our winnings and say “Hello” to “Oscar” and “Grover”.

The audio evidence for the Shanley Hotel is now online and can be found on our website.  http://www.manchesterparanormal.org/Shanley-Hotel-2011.php

We still have hours of video to review. If we see anything noteworthy on the video, we’ll post immediately and get the word out.

We’re preparing for our next investigation, a residential location. Since it is a residence, our privacy rules limit what we can release as we take privacy seriously.  Enjoy the evidence!

The Barnstable Gaol and the cell in which the touchy prisoner resides. Does the civil war era coffin carrier have attached energy?

On May 4 – 5, 2011 Manchester Paranormal Investigation returned to the Barnstable Gaol (jail) to investigate. After a full night of investigating and only two hours of sleep, the three hour trip back has taken its toll. We will dive into all of our audio and video and have any evidence online shortly.  Our goal is by the weekend – barring any unforeseen issues and priority changes.

So what happened?  Well, the spirits this time were actively avoiding us as we brought the whole toolkit to capture them. We may have tricked them as we set up a motion triggered IR camera and left the room. We may have video as it was tripped numerous times.

We also ran into the touchy inmate who was a bit mischievous in 2010. He had fun touching a couple people, poking, and grabbing shirts.  There was also the playing card that may have moved on its own. There was not breeze as all doors were shut.

We are sure that we’ll have new evidence soon.  Stay tuned….

We all know the story. The world was going to end on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 6PM in our timezone.  Being the day of my child’s first birthday party, the rapture could wait.  Thanks to a downpour the ribs were not done at 6. I would have been haunting that grill if I was taken away from them before I at least tried one.

Now, the claim is the calculation was off and now it will be later this year. Since the beginning of time, a select few claimed to know the exact time/day of the end. We will hear this story again later this year, and then next year. Truth is, no one knows the exact date or time. Those that do….don’t (if that makes sense). Keep living your life and enjoy what is really important in life…those that mean most to you.

On another note, Barnstable Gaol investigation is upcoming very shortly. We’re very excited to return. Last year was amazing, but they knew how to make our cameras malfunction. We saw the shadow figures, but our cameras failed when we attempted to record them. We will try tricking them this year.

Unfortunately due to several personal losses, our anticipated investigation of Shanley Hotel was postponed. We would have had evidence up any day now. We will reschedule. We’ll make sure to reschedule before the next rapture (joking).

A.C. Houghton wasn't too thrilled when we visited in November, 2010. What will he do this time?

Spring has arrived and our investigators are well-rested for another exciting year of paranormal investigations. We will visit some of our old haunts in 2011 and visit many new locations.

Coming up in 2011, is a return to Houghton Mansion. We intend to try a few new experiments in order to capture more amazing evidence. A.C. Houghton played some tricks on us to get us to leave last time. We’ll be back and look forward to reacquaint ourselves.

We also will return to jail – Barnstable, that is. Last year was amazing, this year we will bring our whole cache of equipment to record the amazing amount of shadow figures at that location.

We are excited to investigate the Shanley Hotel for the first time.

This year, we will try something a little different, with almost instant updates on Facebook.  As things happen you will be the first to know.

Our schedule is starting to fill up, so if you have a location you wish for us to investigate, contact us and we can investigate your claims.

We also have an exciting service we will announce in the future. We’ve been working hard this winter and spring for a later launch. Sorry, it’s a secret.

If your home is haunted and you live in Connecticut or very close to Connecticut, you can contact us for a free investigation.  There is never a sales pitch and your privacy is ensured.  Please go to www.manchesterparanormal.org for more details.

Could a paranormal perfect storm be brewing on March 19, 2011? According to theory, the things that go bump in the night may be a little louder. We are not talking horror movie type occurances, there’s no need to hide in the bunkers with a supply of water. Signs point to the fact that it may be an interesting night.

One reason is the lunar perigree that will occur on March 19. On this date the moon will be the closest to the Earth in 18 years. Add to that the full moon that will also occur on March 19 and the vernal equinox that will occur the next day, the planet’s geomagnetic field will be a bit unsettled. To further complicate matters, we have been in a stretch of strong solar flare activity. There will be a lot of energy for paranormal entities to harness.

What does this mean? The knockings and footsteps may be louder. The residuals may be more noticeable, and the intelligents can make their presence known much easier.

We have been saying for a while now that we are heading towards some active times – the peak may just be around the corner. If you experience an incresase in activity, be sure to share with us by emailing us. If you are in Connecticut or parts of Massachusetts or Rhode Island, don’t forget we offer free investigations.