Location: 1227 & 1244 Esplanade Ave, New Orleans, LA

Date(s) of Investigation: March 19 - 22, 2009

Reason for Investigation (historical interest or called in): client contact/request

Known history of the site: Rathbone I - built in 1850 for the Haughton family and then purchased by Henry Rathbone, a banker and only one of the few Americans to be truly accepted into Creole society. Rathbone II - built for Belle Elizabeth Aubert,  the first free woman of color in the city of NOLA allowed to own property

General information/phenomenon reported by persons at site:

Rathbone I - Main Inn

• Beds Shaking
• Cabinets opening and closing
• Doors opening and closing
• Footsteps
• Appliances and Heating & Cooling Units being cut on and off
• 3rd floor the feeling on not being wanted up stairs
• Guest having nightmares and dreams
• Feeling of a presences
• Slave quarters a heaviness and a feeling of being watched
• Tools and items goes missing and showing up in strange places

Rathbone II - Bridget's Home and Second Inn

• a lady in a black dress being seen walking on porch
• Hearing some one walking around upstairs while no one is up there
• Doors opening and closing
• Dog acting strangely

Team members on investigation:  Shawn, Jake, James, Deborah, Marty, Shelly and guest investigator: Kirk from Louisiana

Equipment Used:  Digital cameras, digital voice recorders, video camera, EMF detector, KII Meter, ambient room thermometer, hand-held IR non-contact thermometers, "Ghost Box".

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences:  (NOTE:  Director's experiences detailed in Director's comments)

Thursday 3/19/09

During walk-thru and overall "feel" of the place, Marty reports that she got a vision/image of a woman approximately in her 40's with dark hair, in a bun with a very skinny face.

Friday 3/20/09

• Room 305 Late night - Shawn, Marty and Deb - No Activity
• Room 306 10:20am - Deb/Shawn report that the air conditioner was previously set on high, found to have been cut off and turned to Heat
• Room 306 4:20pm - Ghost Box session - Possible juvenile spirits in house detected
• Room 306 appx 9:00 pm - Jake, Shawn, Marty, & Deb - Ghost Box session - confirmed earlier readings of the Lady & Teenage boy
• Room 306 10:10pm Ghost Box session: did not produce any significant activity, the number 7 seemed to be a prominent number - possibly related to the age of a kid seeming to come through the box.  Attending investigators felt a "creepy" feeling for about 10 minutes then all activity seemed to stop - ended Ghost Box session at approximately 11:30pm.
• Room 307 - 8:30pm - Shawn, Marty & Jake - No Physical activity still having the feeling of some thing there but no hard evidence.  We did think we saw a shadow figure at one point.
• Room 307 - approximately 1:25am - Shelly stayed in this room over the weekend.  Settling down in bed for the night and decided just to try an EVP/Investigation session for a short time before going to sleep.  Had already set the KII meter up and it was set on the bedside table.  Turned to switch off the lamp on the stand and saw the KII meter spiking to orange and red (red is a VERY high EMF reading).  Turned on digital camera to record KII activity and with questions asked, it certainly seemed as though answers were being given through the KII meter.  After about 10 or so minutes of Q & A session, activity decreased and the investigation was ended.  Debunking attempts listed below.
• Room 308 - 9:08pm - Shawn, Marty & Jake - No Activity

Saturday 3/21/09

• Room 301 - Shawn, Jake, James
• James in main part of 301 starting to go to sleep & hears what sounds like walking above and behind the bed (which would have been the storage area above the bathroom between the main room and small back bedroom).
• Shawn and Jake in small back bedroom:  Jake and Shawn tried to sleep in the back room of 301.  Jake was on the floor on an air mattress and Shawn was in the bed  About 20 minutes later as Shawn was lying in bed, he felt as if someone, a male presence, was standing over the bed.  It felt as though someone blew into his ear.  Shortly thereafter, Shawn and Jake both moved back into the main part of Room 301.

Saturday 3/21/09 - room by room:  Shelly & Marty

• Room 301 - 11:35pm - Average room temp 68.  Stayed in main part of room for about 15 minutes with no activity, moved into the small back bedroom for the rest of the session.  This room gave Marty an uncomfortable feeling and within a few minutes we began hearing knocking in the walls during which time we also experienced a temperature drop but not a big one, just noticeable.
• Room 303 - 12:15am - temp 73 - no activity - left this room rather soon not sensing anything here
• Room 304 - 12:20am - temp 71 - quiet for a while then starting hearing a light tap in the room like on the window - unable to isolate the sound
• Room 305 - WEEKEND - Marty stayed/slept in this room over the weekend and did not experience any noticeable activity in this room whatsoever.
• Room 307 - Shelly and Marty downstairs beginning to wrap up the night and head to sleep, hear a broadcast assuming it was coming from room 301 where the other team members were - then hear music playing loudly - Shelly says it sounds as though it's actually coming from the 3rd floor above.  They go upstairs only to find the radio in 307 was playing and after looking at it, appears the radio alarm had been switched to turn on at 1:45am.  Again after starting to settle in, the KII meter began spiking irregularly - Shelly asked some questions, seemed to have gotten responses then the activity stopped again.  (Shelly's personal thoughts on this is the "lady" spirit who resides on the 3rd floor "I feel that she just checks out her visitors out of curiosity then basically goes away.  That's why there was so much activity Friday night, she was checking me out then Saturday night she just came in to find out if it was still me in there or someone else.")
• Room 312 - 12:50am - temp 72.  Besides what seemed like "impeccable timing" of appliances making their usual running noises after investigators asked for a sign of any presence, there was no significant activity in this room.  Shelly, however, got quite nauseated in this room with no particular reasoning and it eased up upon leaving the room.  (we find out later that an inn guest had died in this room or 314 to which we're likely to believe since there was no activity at all in 314, it might have possibly been this room).
• Room 314 - 1:05am - temp 72 - no activity - left this room soon after not sensing anything here.

Debunking Attempts: 

• KII Meter activity - Friday - Room 307:  held meter up to light switch, radio, a/c control panel (steady high reading on all of these appliances when held directly at the source) all of which were within frequency distance of the KII meter.  Besides when seemingly responding to questions, the KII meter stayed at level 1 (within usual EMF range).  Unable to purposefully make it spike irregularly at any time.
• knocking in walls on Room 301 back-room:  tried to find the source of the knocking sounds but found out at the time that there was no one in the Inn at the time of the noises and specifically, no one in the adjoining rooms. 
• Room 304 - tapping sound:  originally assumed to be a bug or something hitting the window (from where the noise seemed to come) and could not see anything causing this noise. 
• Radio playing in room 307:  Shelly states she did not change anything on the radio and no one can understand why it was switched to "alarm" and it had not gone off on Saturday morning (1:45am) before.

Hard evidence collected:  No EVPs captured.  Working on downloading the digi-cam video of the KII meter activity.

Lead Investigator's Closing Statement:  I am personally looking forward to returning for further investigation and I believe this place does have some intelligent presences here.  I did not at all feel threatened by the "lady" spirit, nor did I have much experience with the young kid (boy, I feel) but I believe he is the one responsible for the bedposts shaking (most likely jumping on the bed for fun like kids do) and he could possibly be responsible for turning on the radio alarm since appliances are frequently manipulated.

Director's findings/insight: 

Shawn's Reading on March 19th:

• A Lady 35 - 45 Stays on the 3rd floor will move about the house because she is the lady of the house. She was a thin lady with a skinny face and thin nose .  She does not like people on the third floor especially at night because that is her living quarters.
• A teen age boy 15 - 18 mainly stays out back in the slave quarters and courtyard (feel this is the man who died of AIDS who has gone back to his youth to walk on the earthly plane)
• I do not like to communicate with children but there is defiantly a 7 year old child here.  The child and the teenager will play tricks on guests and mess with people for fun with no malicious intent.
• A Creole man 50 - 60 can be seen all over the block and stays around the main house for some reason.  He once was a high practicing Voodoo Doctor and was a well known person in his era.  He does not think he is as well known as he should have been.
• When I walked in the back room of 301 it had a very heavy feeling of death and sickness.  When I looked at the room intuitively the room looked red and I called it the red room the entire time until Saturday.  I was asked about what red room I was referring and they informed me that the room was actually green, not red.  The energy in that room gave me a red glow.

Thursday 3/19/09 - I slept in Room 306 - I had a lot of weird dreams and one was definitely a physic dream where the Creole man appeared and showed me around a strange area that had a large group of people, white, black and Creole people in a park.  They seemed to be having some kind of ritual celebration.  I woke up at 3:20 am.

Friday 3/20/09 - Slept in Room 301 - Had strange dreams again.  Nothing bad, just dreams where it seems the spirits are trying to communicate with me.  Woke up at 4:40 am.

Kirk's Reading on the place March 20th

• He picked up on a lot of past ritual activities outside
• A lady of the house stays on the third floor and doesn't want people up there
• He picked on a possible brothel and sexual attack
• Got very dizzy in the courtyard and the slave quarters and mentioned a possible "vortex" feeling
• Picked up on a child between 7 - 10
• He got a sick feeling in room 301

• Walk-thru tour during the afternoon with Patrick, one investigator felt as though we were being followed around.  The feeling most prominent on the first floor in the restaurant area - "...I had this funny feeling that whatever the spirit or energy was in this place it liked to be around people...that he/she ... liked being on the first floor in the restaurants where there were movement and entertaining going on."
• During an "unconventional" approach/psychic session the following occurred:  in the Nobles dining room, 5 investigators upstairs on the balcony/dining area and 3 on the floor below.  Shawn specifically began communicating with a couple of resident spirits here with answers being displayed on dowsing/divining rods handled by Beth Anne.  This was a very enlightening and interesting event.
• Two people "picked up" on at least 4 different spirits/presences:  a woman who hangs around liking to watch people; the man in the "suit"; and two spirits that travel between buildings on Montgomery Street, wherever the highest energy is.
• After the psychic session we all took a break.  Upon return from the break we started another investigation heading down to the basement under Nobles - no activity.
• Returned to the dining room area to continue an investigation and brought with us two Nobles guests, Sandy and Keith.  We again tried to make a connection with the woman spirit that hangs around people.  After a while getting no response, we heard a loud bang after asking the spirit to make a noise.  Deborah tells Shelly that it wasn't she that made the noise but a chair that was about 3-4 feet from her had flipped over on its side.

Location:  Mabry St, Selma, AL

Date(s) of Investigation:  February 28, 2009

Length of Investigation:  2 hours

Reason for Investigation (historical interest or called in):  historical interest

Known history of the site:  SPR knows little of the history of this house, however, the Edgar Cayce Society meets at this location on a fairly regular basis.

General information/phenomenon reported by persons at site:  unaware of any reported activity

Team members on investigation:  Shawn, Jake, Marty, BethAnne, Shelly, Guests:  Shae and AGH, Charles Moss, Robert Gordon and a friend.

Equipment Used:  Digital cameras, digital voice recorders, micro-tape recorders, video camera, EMF detector, KII Meter, ambient room thermometer, hand-held IR non-contact thermometers, "Ghost Box".

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences:   Ghost box session produced contact with some spirit(s) but it is unknown without further investigation if the entities were of the house or transient.  Several members in the group during the ghost box session felt heaviness and uneasy feelings.  At least three members of the investigation group felt a strong heaviness in the first rooms to both the left and right when entering the front door.  A few members felt/saw two presences at different times in the second room on the left (separated by a large pocket door) - looks like a small study/library.  Both sensed the presence of a male there and they also picked up on a woman as well.  Neither of these entities seemed to "fit" in this place so without further investigation, it cannot be confirmed that these presences even belonged in this house.

Debunking Attempts:  Nothing really occurred in the house that necessarily required debunking.  Base readings (EMF, Temp, etc) were taken upon entry and all were normal.

Hard evidence collected:  None at this time.

Director's final verdict (haunted - residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning:  We were really excited to have an opportunity to investigate the alleged Edgar Cayce house in Selma, Alabama. Our team did a great job and although none of us had any personal experiences or collected any hard evidence, we had a great time and we appreciated the opportunity to investigate the house. As a sensitive, I did not feel an earthbound spirit but I definitely felt a lot of residual energy. Especially in one room of the house. If Mr. Cayce did any readings in the house, I do feel that it was less than three and that they occurred in the room with the heavy residual feeling.

Location:  Selma, AL

Date(s) of Investigation:  February 7, 2009

Length of Investigation:  2 hours

Reason for Investigation (historical interest or called in):  historical interest and possible future event location

Known history of the site:  This house was built prior to 1861. The grounds of this home were the scene of a skirmish during the fall of Selma. It is reported that a wounded Union soldier crawled under the staircase and died following the battle.

General information/phenomenon reported by persons at site:  report of blood stain under staircase, footsteps on 2nd story which is now an attic.  Mr. Brooks reports to have seen an apparent shadow figure in the den area.

Team members on investigation:  Shawn, Jake, Hump, Mike, Marty, Shelly, Beth Anne, Scottie and guests Charles Moss and Cindy Stoudenmire of Selma and Mrs. Brooks (homeowner).

Equipment Used:  Digital cameras, digital voice recorders, micro-tape recorders, video camera, EMF detector, KII Meter, ambient room thermometer, hand-held IR non-contact thermometers, Ghost Box.

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences:   KII Meter on constant high reading in the attic.  The KII meter was a puzzle because in whatever room the base reading levels were relatively normal and low, but both groups experienced that once settling down the KII meter would move up a level or two and remain there.   Sounds produced by something (not another person or group) upon request - unable to find source of the noises.  Two investigators at one point thought to have audibly heard whispering in the room with them.  A team member and guest saw what appeared to be a shadow in the room adjacent to the "ladies parlor".  This is also the area from which the sounds seemed to have come.  The Ghost Box session and general personal experiences included the possibility of reaching one of the ladies of the Baker family.  Also possibly the soldier that apparently hid under the stairs during the "skirmish", could even say contact went as far as the possibility that this soldier had actually been one of OUR soldiers disguised as a Northern soldier which may have attributed to him not being able to be found by his family.

Debunking Attempts:  KII meter high reading:  base readings taken throughout the house were generally normal barring being near electrical boxes (namely one down in the main porch putting off a very high EMF frequency).  Noises & shadows in the room adjacent to the ladies parlor:  Team members looked into the room to find no one there and confirmed no one had been there at the time of the witnessed events.

Hard evidence collected:  None - mostly all personal experiences.

Lead Investigator's Closing Statement:  It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to investigate this beautiful home.  While a few members reported some personal experiences here, at this time, the overall feeling is that there is possibly something here in this home but is not bothersome just periodically curious.  There is no hard evidence at this time however to fully substantiate this location as being "haunted".

Location:  713 Mabry St, Selma, AL

Date(s) of Investigation:  January 23, 2009

Length of Investigation:  3 hours

Reason for Investigation (historical interest or called in):  historical interest, rumored haunted history, legend

Phenomenon reported by persons at site:  prominent footsteps on 2nd floor, shadow movements, knocking in the walls

Known history of the site:  built in 1853 by Thomas H. Lee for Edwin Watts and his family.  John E. Parkman and his family moved into this home in 1864.  Legend has it that Mr. Parkman was wrongly accused of embezzlement at the bank in which he was president and was imprisoned in Cahaba in/around 1866-67.  It was sold to the Gillman family who presided there until 1957 at which time the house was sold to the City of Selma and became a museum and named Sturdivant Hall in honor of the endowment of Robert Daniel Sturdivant.

Team members on investigation:  Group 1:  Shawn, Jake, James, Jay, Marty, Guest: Greg.  Group 2:  David, BethAnne, Shelly, Guests: Shae - AGH, Charles, Robert and Cindy of Selma.

Equipment Used:  Digital video recorder(s) both tape & hard drive, digital audio recorders, KII Meters, EMF Detectors, ambient and hand-held thermometers, Ghost Box, Shack Hack.

Debunking Attempts:  Knocking sounds heard in the wall on the third floor - Initial thought was that the sounds came from the attic on the other side of the wall but we were unable to reproduce or identify the source of the noise.  Prominent footsteps heard on the second floor - investigators looked to see if anyone was walking on the 2nd floor during the happening, as well as we tried to reproduce the footsteps and the sound of us walking on the floor vs. the sounds we heard during the investigation was entirely different.  The stride of footsteps above the group would indicate a clear path to move so easily across the floor, however, there were all types of items around the room (this being called the "children's room" that would prevent a person to be able to casually walk around the room in comparison to what the group was hearing.  Again, we were unable to debunk this sound.

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences:   Some members of Group 1 situated in the warming room used the Ghost box.  Questions were asked and a few of them were answered in kind.  Many members of this group felt a presence of some sort.  Group 2,  investigating the 3rd floor, a few minutes in their investigation, hear knocks inside the walls and above them in the main "watch tower" area.  Assuming some of these knocks could have been the ductwork expanding and contracting, the attic was investigated.  No noises discovered in there, it was described as the "silence in the attic was deafening."  The group, however, continued to hear this banging inside the walls without the sounds coming from the attic.  They were unable to determine exactly where these noises came from.  Group 2 also utilized the "Shack Hack" (another type of ghost box) and seemingly made contact with a presence.  One member picked up some light presence of a male and possibly a female or child's presence as well.  There were at time significant changes in temperature as well during apparent communication and/or feeling of presences.  After Groups 1 and 2 switched places/floors, Group 1 settled in on the 3rd floor "watch tower" area with the Ghost Box.  While there was less activity on the ghost box this time, one member felt a strong presence with them and throughout the rest of their investigation, they constantly heard walking and thumping/banging noises like doors being open & shut on the floor below them.  They contacted Group 2, only to find that this group was situated quietly on the 1st floor.  Group 2 had settled down in one of the front parlors.  After about 20 minutes or so, walking was heard above them on the 2nd  There were a couple of times the temperature dropped noticeably and one of the members of the group sensed a shadow moving around behind another investigator and to other parts of the room during the investigation. floor.

Hard evidence collected:  recording collected of the footsteps heard on both audio and video tape.

Director's final verdict (haunted - residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning:  Sturdivant Hall was an investigation I have wanted to do since I started SPR. It is a beautiful old home full of antiques. The one thing that stands out to me is on the second floor the old chest-of-drawers with the Masonic Symbol inside what looked to be a Horse shoe. That's very   symbolic to me personally. We all had personal experiences-hearing someone walking, the feeling of someone in the room, but we were light on hard evidence.  I do feel like there is some thing there, but we cannot yet prove it.

Location:  4 Martin Luther King St, Selma, AL

Date(s) of Investigation:  December 6, 2008

Length of Investigation:  2 hours

Reason for Investigation (historical interest or called in):  historical interest, invited by client

General information/phenomenon reported by member(s):  one or two members sensing a "presence" and a loud bang/stomp in attic during ghost box session, piano music heard by some members coming from the second floor.

Known history of the site:  c. 1891 formerly known as the L&N Railroad Station has become a museum of Selma's past from its founding through the Civil Rights Movement. 

Team members on investigation:  Shawn, Jake, David, Marty, Shelly, BethAnne, Scottie and Guests, Shae Whitehurst with AGH and Cindy Stoudenmire of Selma.

Equipment Used:  Digital cameras, digital voice recorders, micro-tape recorders, video camera, EMF detector, KII Meter, ambient room thermometer, hand-held IR non-contact thermometers, Ghost Box.

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences:   Some members had a couple of experiences in the attic including feeling a presence of some sort, the KII meter spiking and at that time also hearing a loud stomp or bang.  Another member mentioned hearing the faint sound of an old piano (possibly from the one on the 2nd floor).

Debunking Attempts:  loud bang/stomp in the attic - Jake was able to make a similar sound by stomping hard on the floor in approximately the same place the original stomp was heard.  The original sound, however, seemed to sound heavier.  The original occurrence was also recorded on a team member's video recorder (audio) AND her digital voice recorder.  Piano music - sounding as if it came from the old piano on the second floor could not be substantially debunked or proven - can only be recorded as picked up on a video recorders audio track.

Hard evidence collected:  there is little we can provide as hard evidence in this particular investigation as most of the overall experiences were personal experience.

Director's final verdict (haunted - residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning:  While some members reported their own personal experiences during our investigation, in my own opinion I cannot deem this location as haunted at this time.  I was impressed with the museum and appreciate the opportunity to investigate it.

Site Name:   Kings Tavern

Location:  Natchez, MS

Date(s) of Investigation:  November 8, 2008

Length of Investigation:  3 hours

Reason for Investigation (historical interest or called in):  Historical interest

General information/phenomenon reported by member(s):  Upon entry to the tavern, a few team members experienced feelings of nausea and dizziness, cold spots and general unease.  Two team members were drawn almost immediately to the hand-painted picture at the base of the stair described to be a psychic's rendition of Madeline (Bonnie), the former mistress of the tavern.  Two members felt as though they had been touched, one on the head, the other a chair bumped into her, although there was no one directly near them at the time. One team intended to use a digital video camera and record their session, however, when they tried to use it, the camera seemed to have no power and would not turn on.  Later another investigator was able to get it to run (as if nothing had happened before) and tried to set the camera to record in a side dining area and immediately the tape wound itself up into the camera - unknown how/why exactly this happened.

Upstairs 3rd floor Bedroom:  Team worked with the Ghost box and pulled though possibly the presence of a little boy named Seth?  When asked through the ghost-box age, name and disposition we received between the ages of 8 & 10 (tried to verify 3 times got 8, 8 & 10), name Seth and "trapped".  Based on responses to certain questions asked through the Ghost Box, the team surmised that he was there with more than one presence including his mother.  After a team shift, it seemed that Seth followed 2 team members to the second floor as we did not experience this presence anymore on the 3rd floor and the two team members thought they saw a shadow about 4 1/2' to  5' pass them on the 2nd floor.  A short time later a rather heavy, commanding presence joined the team in the bedroom and they were unable to communicate with Seth any longer.  A possible EVP which is under review seems to be reacting to one of the investigators as they are wrapping up the session upstairs.

1st floor main restaurant area:  Teams experienced KII Meter spikes.  One session KII activity appeared to be completely random with no rhyme or reason to it.  Another session with the KII did seem to be active in specific response/reaction to questions.  At one point during the KII activity the room itself seemed to go dark as if a shadow had engulfed the room.  One investigator experienced a shadow glide across the walkway near the staircase and vanishes, and unexplained noises were heard.  Last KII activity again seemed to react in response to questions but didn't last long, three team members felt as though the presence abruptly left and went upstairs. A creak on the stairwell was heard by all three members. 

Known history of the site:   It is said to be the oldest building in Natchez, MS. It was built in 1769 from a home to a mail stop to a Tavern.  Upon renovations, bones found behind a wall near the fireplace - rumored to be the bones of at least the mistress of the house Madeline (Bonnie).

Team members on investigation:  Shawn, David, Jake, Shelly, Marty, BethAnne, Christine and Scottie

Equipment Used:  Ghost box, Digital Audio Recorders, digital camera, digital video camera, KII meter, motion detector, ambient temperature gauge, hand-held IR thermometer.

Debunking Attempts:  KII Meter activities:  Reviewed prior and current electrical readings with EMF reader and appeared to be within normal range, also tried reproducing KII activity by holding to silverware, lights, etc. with no extraordinary readings.  Shadow figure that passed the two investigators on the second floor, confirmed there were no other investigators on this floor when they saw this figure go by them.  No power to video camera - checked it when returned to it on team shift and worked properly, however, upon placing recorder in record mode the tape wound up inside the video camera. This was a new tape and fully charged battery - only logical explanation on the tape was that it was bad, can't explain the no power on the battery. Ghost Box activity is difficult to debunk, very interesting however that the receiver of messages through the ghost-box had head phones on & was unable to hear the questions asked for responses. The responses seemed logical & in place with questions asked.  Dizziness/nausea experienced during investigation, there could be attributing factors to these experiences including but not limited to the building is very old with stairs & floors that are uneven and shaky which can sometimes cause a "funhouse effect" with some people.  Some were unsure if the meal we had eaten earlier had caused the discomfort and Thom the owner stated that the other "paranormals" reported high EMF readings when they were there but we did not find this as the readings we obtained were within normal range except for the few times of the KII activity.  Cold spots/drafts pretty much had to be disregarded simply because of the age of the building, lack of sufficient insulation, natural drafts from outside and cold temperature outside.

Synopsis of investigation:  Most team members agree that this location does have at least residual energy as well as some intelligent energy.

Hard evidence collected:  EVPs still being reviewed for authenticity.  Video taped KII activity in response to questions asked.

Director's final verdict (haunted - residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning:  Kings Tavern was a place I always wanted to investigate, I was very excited at the opportunity. I was not let down at all. Not only is the place full of history, it was a place I would say defiantly has paranormal activity. So many of these places we go I don't really have a personal experience to mention but on that night of the investigation myself and Jake Bell both saw a lady out of the corner of our eye and when we turned around to speak to the lady she was gone. I had a great time. It was a very good investigation and I do feel there is some paranormal activity at King's Tavern.

Site Name: Mississippi Old Bank and Trust

Location: Natchez, MS

Date(s) of Investigation: November 8, 2008

Length of Investigation: 3 hours

Reason for Investigation (historical interest or called in): historical interest

General information/phenomenon reported by member(s):  Main Lobby:  Two investigators felt as though there was possibly a presence in the vault but it was reported that upon entry to the vault, the presence basically left.  There was some question of the sound of faint footsteps but there was nothing recorded on the recorder that was with this team.  One audio recorder used on this floor appeared to be working properly and recording, however, after review, NOTHING recorded on this particular recorder on the main floor.  (It is unknown whether this is what would be called a “paranormal” event, however, this is sometimes something that can occur when there is paranormal activity around.)  The other part of the team was in a room beside the vault and at one point noticed the temperature dropping.  At checking the current temperature, it had dropped to about 42 degrees from 69 within only about 10 minutes.

The basement itself has a great "creep-factor" even WITH the lights on.  One team used the “Ghost Box” and picked up a growl which was interesting, especially with the information prefaced by Eric and activity previously experienced by past employees of the bank and other businesses at this location.  There are several rooms in the back that were very dark & creepy – especially the records room.  One investigator is evaluating video taken in the boiler room.  At one point it appeared as though there was a shadow or figure of possibly a small girl standing next to one of the investigators.  We have been unable to find any extraordinary EVPs picked up on any of the recorders with the exception of the growl heard on the Ghost Box.

Known history of the site:  As informed by the owner, this property was "Territorial Jail" on that site from 1790 to about 1815.  The lot was vacant from sometime around 1815 until 1880 when the current building was built.  The building had a major overhaul in the 1920's and began to operate as a bank in 1927.

Team members on investigation:  Shawn, David, Deborah, Marty, Shelly, Beth Anne and Scottie.

Equipment Used:  Digital cameras, digital voice recorders, micro-tape recorders, video camera, EMF detector, KII Meter, ambient room thermometer, hand-held IR non-contact thermometers, “Ghost Box”.

Debunking Attempts:  Confirmed general temperature in the main lobby around 69 degrees on a regular basis.  Checked the “shadow/figure” on the wall in the boiler room and unable to reproduce the image seen in the video camera.

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences:  During the investigation  there was a personal experience with the Ghost box that was unexplained but no hard core evidence to support it.  

Hard evidence collected:  None at this time that can be substantiated except the temperature drop in the room to the left of the vault.

Director’s final verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning:  The Natchez Mississippi Old bank and Trust was a beautiful old building and I feel very honored to have the opportunity to investigate the historic building.  The Owner of the building was very cooperative and informative about the paranormal activity and history of the building of the building and area.  I feel that there is some paranormal activity in the building but I believe it has more to do with the area than just the building.  I appreciate the opportunity and I would love to visit again for a second more in-depth investigation.

Since Shawn Sellers was not present for this investigation we do not have an official "final" report. However, you can read the blogs of investigators who were present on our blog page. Below is evidence they collected and be sure to scroll down to our first investigation report for more evidence and the history of the location.

1.) The first EVP is quite interesting. The team was sitting by the cooler outside and down the hill from the main house. No one else was around, yet you can very distinctly hear what sounds like a man screaming in pain. Though we have no evidence to back this up we wondered is this is a residual sound from Mr. Younge's murder.

2.) The second EVP is also pretty interesting. It's not totally conclusive, but very interesting. It isn't completely clear what the whisper is saying, but it sounds like it might possibly be "I don't like" and then something. You or it. We're not sure. The original file will be played first:   Now, here's a filtered version where much of the background noise has been taken out and the whisper becomes clearer. Our investigators can be heard talking on these clips so we feel fairly confident it is not one of them whispering:

3.) There are two clips from inside the home. Both are sighs. These are inconclusive as we have no way of proving that these sighs did not come from one of our investigators. However, they report that the recorder in question was sitting upon the mantle of the fireplace while they were sitting across the room on the floor. The sigh sounds to come from a source very near the recorder and so not likely one of the investigators. We're not willing to call this "evidence" since we can't 100% verify one of the investigators did not make the sound, but we're putting it out there as something interesting:        

Site Name: Hotel Talisi         

Location: Tallassee, AL

Date(s) of Investigation: August 9, 2008

Length of Investigation: 6 hours

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in): This was our third investigation of Hotel Talisi and we were requested to come back in due to some strange occurrences within the Hotel, specifically with room 121.

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: Seeing shadow figures, hearing noises, doors opening and closing, bad feelings in certain areas

Known history of the site: From the hotel’s website: The hotel was opened in 1928, with three floors, 72 rooms with baths and a restaurant/coffee shop. It was built by two brothers, Dan and Jacob Marion Woodall and they named it the Woodall Hotel. The original ground floor of the hotel building, in addition to the hotel lobby and coffee shop, once housed two adult clothing stores, a finance office, a variety store, a beauty shop and a children's clothing store. After 1962, walls were removed and virtually all ground-floor space was consumed for what is now the hotel's massive dining areas, which seats about 400.  In 1962, the Woodalls sold the hotel to Mr. & Mrs. Patterson which later changed the name to Hotel Talisi, using the original spelling of the Creek Indians for the village they inhabited along the Tallapoosa River. In 1991, the Pattersons sold Hotel Talisi to Bob Brown and Roger Gaither and renovations began to take place. They made changes to the kitchen, dining rooms and the overall hotel. The second floor originally contained 36 rooms, each with its own bath, when the hotel opened in 1928. Today, the number of rooms has been reduced to 19. The current owners hope to open the third floor as apartments in the future. The Hotel Talisi is not only known nationally, but internationally. Word-of-mouth testimonials have brought visitors/guests from England, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Russia, Japan, Hong Kong (China), Iran, Canada, Mexico, Korea and other foreign countries. They like the hospitality, inexpensive lodging, and the fine food at the Hotel Talisi.

Team members on investigation: Shawn, Jake, David, Jay, Michael, Stacey, Earl, Toye, Rheatha, Jordan, plus 3 guests

Equipment used: Handheld digital voice recorders, DVR system with 4 cameras, handheld video cameras, EMF detectors, digital thermometers

Debunking attempts: We spent considerable time in room 121 trying to debunk the “shadow figure” accounts. We turned off the lights, let our eyes adjust so that the circumstances were recreated of a sleeping person waking up and seeing the shadow figure. We had a single person then multiple people walk outside the room door to see if the light was blocked out, but no matter how far or close they were to the door they made no impact. We noticed 2 possibilities. First, a light outside the room cuts on and off and can make different shadows. Secondly, the mirror is old and has some marks in it that can create weird reflections. Overall, though, we were not able to recreate the shadow figure.

As for the third floor, we tried multiple experiments to recreate the shadow figures there, including waiting for cars to be nearby and shining lights from different parts of the building but were unsuccessful in creating any shadow figures. Also, though we examined the floors and doors carefully we could find no natural reason for the doors to close on their own. We did note a high EMF reading due to wiring which could explain the “bad” feelings sometimes experienced in this area.

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: We began the investigation with Shawn, Jake, Jay and David in room 121, which was a room of particular concern for this investigation. Initially we tried to debunk the shadows reported in this room, but with no luck so we started with EVPs. 15 seconds into our recording we received a Class B EVP. The only reason it’s a Class B and not a Class A is that we were unable to make out what the entity is actually saying, but that it’s saying something is very clear. There’s diction and a voice pattern. We were shocked to get something so fast. Actually, when the EVP occurs on the recording we had not sat down to start the EVP session. Jay had turned on his recorder and set it on the dresser, but Jake asked him to move a lamp off the table, all of which can be heard. As this happens the EVP occurs and it very clearly is not any of us nor a noise we heard. Within seconds of sitting down to begin the investigation we all saw a man in “southern aristocrat” clothing standing in the corner. We were amazed at how fast all of this occurred. Jay experienced an extreme cold on his leg, verified by David, then it seemed the entity left. Nothing else occurred in 121 the rest of the night, so most of our excitement came within the first 5 minutes of the investigation.

Early in the day, before the investigation began, Earl was checking into his room (room 132) and witnessed a man in a brown hat appear and disappear. This is the same room we had several experiences in back in October.

Earl took a team of himself, Toye, Rheatha, Jordan and our guests up to the third floor. They heard a door slam and upon investigating found a door closed they had previously known to be open. This was at the far end of the hallway in the last room on the right. Again, this matches up with a room where we had several personal experiences last October. Jordan tried provoking in the “Christmas tree” room and was struck with what he described as “a force feeling like an air cannon.” One of our guests experienced an overwhelming feeling of nausea and weakness, which could possibly be attributed to the high EMF readings. Several shadows were seen moving down the hallway.

Hard evidence collected: One Class B EVP recorded in room 121. There were a couple of other potential EVPs, but due to the fact that some rather loud (and apparently drunk) ladies had decided to camp out in the middle section of the second floor we had to dismiss those because they could have been made by that group. We tried to note on the recorder whenever we noticed outside noises, but the two other potential EVPs sounded too much like this other group to be submitted as evidence. Still, we were quite pleased to finally get a piece of solid evidence after our previous personal experiences but no evidence.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: With three investigations under our belts at Hotel Talisi I think I can now say there is definitely a residual presence. We have experienced many of the phenomenon reported by other people and it seems in line with a residual style haunt. However, some of our recent experiences, and especially the EVP, lead me to believe there is at least one intelligent presence in the Hotel Talisi as well. Who this person is we cannot yet say, though we might be able to determine that through further investigation. I am finally confident in saying that Hotel Talisi is haunted.

Site Name: Buena Vista Plantation 
Location: Prattville, AL
Date(s) of Investigation: July 25, 2008
Length of Investigation: 6.5 hours 

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in): Historical interest

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: Music heard, shadows seen, voices heard, things moved, footsteps

Known history of the site: Buena Vista was begun in either 1821 or 1822 (a couple of reports differ on the exact year) by John W. Freeman, who stopped work before the home was finished. It was completed with a Federal Style façade in the 1840s by Captain William Montgomery, a contemporary of Prattville's founder, Daniel Pratt. Interesting features of this structure include the delicately crafted fanlights over the front entrance and in the gable ends. A circular mahogany staircase spiraling 24 feet to the third floor highlights the interior along with the elaborate plaster cornice moldings and spectacular ceiling medallions. Legend has it that Andrew Jackson visited Capt. Montgomery at one time, and when his house burned down he had a spiral staircase put in at the Hermitage that is very similar to the one in Buena Vista. An expanded design of the staircase was used when the Capitol was built in Montgomery.

An article about a 1901 reunion of the Prattville Dragoons (a Civil War regiment formed in Autauga County) held at the home states that at the time it was known as Montgomery Place or Montgomery House and that this was the original name. Family tradition says that in the 1800s the house had a heart of pine fence around it and a planked road, lined with pink and white Cherokee Roses, that led down the hill to the Alabama River. All of the finishing materials for the house were shipped from Birmingham and Bristol, England, through the port of Mobile, and up the Alabama River to Washington Landing, which was located directly in front of the house at the foot of the hill.

In 1910, the Stewart family, specifically Mary Emma Scott Stewart, bought the house and changed the house from Federal Style to the Greek Revival Style we see today by adding the Greek Ionic columns and a full length wooden portico. Very little is known about the Stewarts and for some reason their name is not included in the official name of the house (the Montgomery-Janes-Whittaker home). This is odd since the Stewarts owned the home much longer than the Janes’ (they were only there a couple of years). Rumors have been spread that the Stewart family held regular gambling sessions and had a “speakeasy” of sorts in the third floor ball room. Legend has it that they weren’t well liked and no one speaks of them, which explains why their name is not on the house, but that’s not verifiable. It has also been said that the third floor was used both as a small ballroom and an infirmary during different points of the house’s existence. In the late 1920's and early 1930s, the house fell into disrepair and at one point was even used for hay storage. The Fred Whitaker family bought the house in 1937 and restored it to what we see today.  It was apparently at this time that the house received the name "Buena Vista" which means "good view" in Spanish. Since 1982 the home has been owned by the Union Camp Corporation (now called International Paper) and is maintained by the Autauga County Heritage Association. Buena Vista was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Team members on investigation: Shawn, Jay, Jake, David, Leslie, Judy, Earl, Wendy, Toye, Rheatha, Leslie

Equipment used: Handheld digital voice recorders, DVR cameras, hand-held video cameras, K2 meter, EMF meters, temperature gauges, stationary condenser mic

Debunking attempts: We did discover that if someone is walking around upstairs a person in a room on the second floor would hear the noise as if it is coming from the hallway on the second floor. We searched for some source of the music that is heard, but found nothing.

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: Blogs from two of the investigators are on the blog page. We tried to keep from getting too bunched up during the evening so one group would be out side while another was inside. At the graveyard as the investigation was getting started, the group consisting of Shawn, Jake, Wendy and Jay began picking up on some presence. As this occurred a very large tree limb suddenly fell from a nearby tree. When Jay went to investigate an acorn or something small was thrown at him and hit him. He was not standing under the tree when this happened. Shawn also picked up on a woman who was shot, fell out of the window on the second floor, and then secretly buried. An interesting side to this is that the director of the plantation had reported a very similar story told by her young daughters. She had no idea where they picked up on the story but she told it to Jay who did not mention it until Shawn picked up on the same thing.

Audible voices were heard by both teams. One team heard a whispered “no” in answer to their question while the other team twice heard a child/baby’s voice say “Momma.” This particular experience was so loud that Jay was convinced one of the dolls on that floor had to be a talking doll. However, this turned out to not be the case. These experiences all occurred on the second floor.

Several members of both teams saw shadows moving through the second floor bathroom. Unexplained cold spots were picked up throughout the home. No unusual EMF readings.

Some of the more sensitive team members sensed various beings present throughout the evening, but we have no verification.

SPR thoroughly covered the house, both inside and out, during the time of the investigation. Every room on every floor received personal attention from at least one of the teams.

***Follow-up: At the reveal on August 3, 2008 Jay, Jake, Shawn, Hump, Toye, Earl, Rheatha and Rex all heard music quite loudly. It sounded like 1920s style jazz coming from upstairs. Since all team members were on the first floor we can't be sure if it was second or third floor. Jay and Jake initially thought someone had turned on the radio as some team members were out in the hallway while they did the reveal in the kitchen. Kristen reported that this music is exactly what she hears on a fairly regular basis. There was no explanation. Also, Jay and Hump did an SPR Radio Show from the house. While they were doing the show, Earl, Rheatha, and Rex were on the third floor and witnessed some very solid shadow movement. On the second floor Earl witnessed a full-body apparition of a man walk from the hallway into the office. Jay and Toye saw a shadow on the first floor and experienced a sudden, overwhelming smell of cigar smoke.

Hard evidence collected: We had one EVP collected on the second floor where a whisper is definitely heard. Some think it says “Get out right now.” Can’t say for sure. We’re concerned that the EVP does not fit the usual spectral pattern for EVPs, so we can’t say for sure what it is, but we’re certain this whisper is not made by a member of our team.

We also were able to catch on audio the tree limb falling. The interesting part about this particular clip, other than Shawn picking up on something as it happened, is that just before the tree limb falls you can hear 2 thumps like someone hitting the tree. We could clearly see the tree and no one else was around.

On two recordings you can clearly hear people talking around and behind us, yet we knew no one else was in the area.   Both of these recordings occurred near a place where there are rumors of a lynching,

A final EVP was really interesting. As we were at the grave we could see 2 men come out of a house in the neighborhood behind Buena Vista. You can hear them talking on the recording with no problem. However, 10 seconds into the recording a moan is heard followed by a distant scream at 13 seconds. Then at 27 and 34 seconds a growl is recorded.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning:

The investigation at Buena Vista was a wonderful and exciting investigation because of my love history and the beauty of the house. Not only was the house rich in history but so was the surrounding land. We did a thorough and complete investigation, covering every room within the house as well as the outside property. I feel that there is paranormal activity at Buena Vista largely caused by the residual energy within the home and outside property. Based on the evidence we obtained we cannot say for sure whether there is any intelligent spirit activity at Buena Vista. If the EVP truly said “get out right now” that might indicate an intelligent presence. Also, if the item which hit Jay was thrown, not just fell, as it appears, then that also might indicate intelligent presence. There are just too many “ifs” to say one way or the other. However, I definitely feel there is some sort of paranormal activity going on at Buena Vista and that this property merits further investigation.

Site Name: Penn Yonge Home       
Location: Spring Villa, AL – near Opelika
Date(s) of Investigation: May 24, 2008
Length of Investigation: 5 hours

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in): Spring Villa had a long history of paranormal legends. We contacted the historical society due to our interest in history and were invited to come investigate.

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: Seeing a little girl, seeing a man in the window of the upstairs of the new building next to Spring Villa, being touched by an unseen entity, hearing footsteps, voices, seeing shadows, cold spots. A previous investigator recorded an EVP in the house master bedroom.

Known history of the site: Home originally used by Penn & Mary Yonge. It was built by Horace King, a freed part African/part Catawba Indian slave who once belonged to John Godwin, Mary Godwin Yonge’s father. Mr. King was one of the most famous bridge builders in the South. King’s fame led him to being contracted to build several famous buildings in Alabama, including the Bryce Insane Asylum in Tuscaloosa in 1860 as well as the current Alabama State Capital building in 1850. When Mr. Godwin died in 1859, Mr. King was given his freedom by the Godwin children, but he continued to look after them as his own children, thus his reason for building the house for Penn and Mary.

As for Penn Yonge, his father, Arthur, came over from Great Britain (possibly Ireland) around 1812. He moved first to the West Indies, then to Florida, and finally to Georgia where Penn was born. Penn’s father died when he was 12. He received no inheritance, so had to make his own way in the world from that moment on. He wedded Miss Mary Anne Godwin, of Girard, Alabama, the wedding being celebrated about 1846. Mr. Yonge was living at Girard at that time, being engaged in merchandising there. In 1849 he went to California, spending eighteen months in that state, during which time he traveled extensively over the gold fields and was reasonably successful in his search for the precious metal. In 1851 he returned to Alabama with the intention of going again to California but while in Columbus, Georgia, he was shown a piece of raw limestone. His attention was thus called to the fact that there was valuable limestone in Russell County in eastern Alabama from which good lime was being made on a small scale. He became interested in the matter and after investigation organized what was known as the Chewacla Lime Works. Mr. Yonge was actively in charge of the enterprise as superintendent. The company was chartered under the laws of Alabama with a capital stock of one thousand dollars and he successfully conducted the business until 1872 or 1873. During the Civil War he manufactured the large amount of lime that was used in fortifications for the Confederacy. He also owned what was known as Spring Villa in Lee County near the Chewalca Lime Works, where he maintained his home. This was known as the finest country home in that part of the south because of its proximity to the lakes, its beautiful flowers and splendid orchards. William Penn Chandler Yonge was a man of excellent financial ability and keen business insight as was manifest in his capable control of the lime works, but he spent much of his money in lavish entertainment at his country home and died in 1879 in limited financial circumstances. The date of his death is not in question, though the method is. SPR was not able to confirm through any official records the manner of Yonge’s death, but legend says that a servant hid in a cubby hole which is located on the stairway of Spring Villa. Mr. Yonge was supposedly stabbed to death on the 13^th step of his home then beheaded. Various reports say that Mr. Yonge was a rather cruel, hard boss and thus the reason for the murder. Some legends say that it was a slave which killed Mr. Yonge for various reasons, including the slave’s family being sold, but obviously this is a mythical portion of the legend as slavery ended with the Civil War some 14 years before Yonge’s death.

He was small of stature, weighing perhaps one hundred and twenty to one hundred and twenty-five pounds and his educational privileges were extremely limited, for owing to his father’s death he has to rely upon his own resources from an early age. He did not have the opportunity for an education that other members of the family enjoyed, yet he gave people the impression of being a well educated man, possessing a Chesterfield manner. His knowledge had been acquired through reading, observation and experience and was largely supplemented by a natural adaptability. He was of an impulsive nature, generous in the use of his money, and entertained his friends and gave freely to every enterprise that promised to be of benefit to the community at large.

Mr. Yonge’s grave is on the side of a hill about ½ a mile from the house. SPR was quite curious as to the location of the burial, but The Columbus (Georgia) Enquirer said, “All that remains of John Godwin are the shade trees around the place where his beautiful home was long since been burned and the lonely graves on the little hill top to half a mile distant that mark the spot where he and the greater number of the members of the family lie buried. On a tombstone are engraven these words, ‘John Godwin, born October 17, 1798, died February 26, 1859. This stone was placed here by Horace King in lasting remembrance of the love and gratitude he felt for his lost friend and former master.’” This Masonic tombstone (King was also a Mason) was in Girard, Alabama, one mile west of Columbus, Georgia.

As for the Spring Villa house itself, this former Southern plantation listed on the National Historic Register dates back to 1850 and was built on land featuring a clear 30-acre spring-fed lake. Mr. Yonge had a glass-bottom boat he used to take his guests out onto the lake and to a private island in the middle of the lake. In the 1930s a new building was built next to Spring Villa using the same architectural design. The downstairs was a kitchen area while the upstairs was for guests. The upstairs was only accessible by a breezeway that went from the second floor of Spring Villa over to the new building. The breezeway has been torn down due to rotting, so the upstairs of the new building is now only accessible via a ladder. Another house for caretakers of the land also used to sit in front of Spring Villa but has now been torn down.

Early Architectural Drawings of Spring Villa

Team members on investigation: Shawn, Hump, Jake, Wendy, Leisha, Earl, Toy, JC, Donna, Dustin

Equipment used: DVRs (Digital Voice Recorder), various infrared cameras, EMF Meter, Temp. Gauges

Debunking attempts: Seeing the person on the second floor of the new building could very well be matrixing. We observed the windows in various light conditions and matrixing would be extremely easy. As for hearing voices, sound carries very well through the house. When one team was in the children’s bed room upstairs they were able to still hear a separate team talking downstairs. However, most of the reports were of whispering type voices and the only way to hear the voices upstairs was when the downstairs team was talking in normal to slightly loud voices. An attempt was also made to debunk the circumstances of Mr. Yonge’s reported murder. We had Dustin hide in the cubbyhole on the stairs. We actually found that it was completely plausible for someone walking up those narrow stairs under dim light conditions (such as candlelight) to not see someone hiding in the cubbyhole until they had reached the point where the victim could attack – right about the 13^th stair. While that in no way verifies the legend of the murder, at least the circumstances are reasonable.

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: Earl, Toy, Donna, Wendy, and Dustin (Team A) focused primarily on the house while Shawn, Hump, Jake, and JC (Team B) focused on the land, though both teams covered every area. Earl reported hearing some whispering and possibly a growl in the house. Also in the house, JC saw a shadow move and JC, Wendy, and Shawn heard what sounded like some object drop (like ball or something similar) in the children’s’ room and roll across the floor, even though there was nothing in the room which could have produced such a sound. Earl verified the sound on his recorders later.

Neither team had any personal experiences at the gravesite, though it is quite a spooky location in the dark. Team B thought they saw some shadows moving near the grave, but it was impossible to determine what was actually seen. Team B walked down a closed road along the property towards some sink holes. A young rattlesnake crossed the road directly in front of them, so they turned around. Not long after turning around they began to hear something walking in the woods not 10 yards away. As the team walked, the sounds of walking moved with them. When the team stopped, so did the walking noises. It sounded very large and more like a person walking through the woods than an animal. At one point Hump and JC shined their flashlights into the woods in the direction of the sound and all members saw a pair of eyes looking back at them. The eyes were about 6 feet off the ground, so much larger than animal height. Shawn picked up on a person which he described in great detail. Upon later seeing a picture of Horace King we saw that Shawn had unknowingly described him almost perfectly.

Team B also had an experience near the cold well. They set up on a bridge crossing the stream. They, again, heard noises, cut off the lights and all members saw an approximately 6’3” shadow figure walking down the path towards them. It moved unnaturally fast. Attempts were made to contact the shadow figure, but no satisfactory response was received. Later, on the same bridge, Team A also experienced something brushing past them to the point that it unnerved several members. 

Both teams experienced very strange phenomenon with the fireflies. Sometimes there would be none, but it seemed when the personal experiences occurred suddenly it seemed as if there were millions of the fireflies blinking in extremely rapid fashion. At times the fireflies did not just blink, but remained lit, leaving a light trail behind them as they flew around. Most all of the members of the teams were raised in the South and are quite used to fireflies, but several members commented that they had never seen light phenomenon like this.

Hard evidence collected: We did have an instance of a possible growl on the audio recorder while the recorder was sitting on the grave of Mr. Yonge. Initially we thought this sound could possibly be a frog and did not want to submit it as evidence. However, upon reviewing video of the same moment, the same noise also appears on the video. It is quite clear in the video that none of the people present – Jake, Hump, Shawn, and JC – made the noise. You can hear the sound about 4 seconds into the video just before Shawn starts to speak. What is interesting is that the noise sounds louder/clearer on the video than on the audio recording. This implies that the source was close to the video camera, which pretty much eliminates any type of animal. Also, had it been a bug or something similar the noise would have shown up on one recorder, but not the other. So, we now believe this to be a legitimate growl.

Earl collected one EVP of a little girl laughing which occurred just before JC, Shawn, and Wendy heard what sounded like a ball or something drop, bounce, and roll across the floor of the children’s bedroom. When listening to the laugh, you’ll hear it throughout the recording. We have a second recording (not included) which picked up more laughter about 2 minutes later. As you can hear the investigators talking you can be quite certain it is none of them laughing. In fact, the investigators do not react to the laughter at all as we did not hear it with our own ears when it occurred. We also picked up a second EVP close to the same time where a female voice is heard to say something. On the recording you hear the voice start talking about 7 seconds in. Wendy, the only female present at the time, is talking over the other voice. Then at 11 seconds you can clearly hear what sounds like a little girl’s voice while the investigators are not talking. Though it’s extremely difficult to make out, we felt it was possibly “Can you see me.” Because the other responses are spoken over you can’t distinguish what they are saying, but you can hear the voice. The voice definitely does not belong to Wendy or any other female investigator. 

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: Spring Villa was very interesting and a much larger area than I first expected. We did a thorough investigation and the team did an excellent job. We hope to have an opportunity to go back in the fall and focus a little more on the house. With the evidence that we picked up  and with many of our investigators having personal experiences I feel that there is definitely paranormal activity going on around the property and in the house, but we need to study this case further before being able to determine whether any intelligent entity exists on the property as the EVPs and growl both occurred on their own without prompting from us. If the EVP did say “Can you see me” that would seem to imply something intelligent, but we cannot confirm that at this time. My leaning is that there is a residual presence of a little girl in the house and possibly and intelligent entity on the property, but, again, we need to do further study.

Site Name: Grancer Harrison Grave
Location: Kinston Alabama

Known history of the site: Grancer Harrison was Born in Edgefield County, S.C., Harrison came to Coffee County in the 1830s. He homesteaded land along the Pea River and built his home on a bluff overlooking the river. From his plantation home, Grancer Harrison hosted barbecues and dances with fiddle music. As the popularity of Grancer’s parties grew, he built a large dance hall to accommodate his guests. Grancer often entertained his guests with his dancing skills. He had specially-made clogs and even a suit for his parties. As Grancer aged, he began to lay out how he wanted to be buried — wearing his dancing clothes and clogs and lying on his feather bed. He wanted to be within earshot of his dance hall. And when he finally died, Grancer was buried as specified in what today is known as Harrison Cemetery. The dances continued for awhile after Grancer’s death, but they were never the same. Eventually, guests stopped coming. It wasn’t long after the dances ended that stories were told of fiddle music and tapping shoes being heard near the area of Grancer’s grave. There’s even an account that if you touch the four corners of his grave, Grancer himself will come out and hand you his fiddle. The landscape has changed around Grancer Harrison’s old homestead. The wooden structure that once covered his tomb is gone as are his dancing hall and home. Grancer’s tomb has been vandalized and rebuilt twice. But it’s hard to miss Grancer’s large above-ground tomb, surrounded by the graves of his family.

Team members on investigation: Shawn, Leshia, Jake, David, Jordan

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning:We investigated Grancer Harrison's grave and cemetery because it was in 13 Alabama Ghosts and one of the many places in Alabama that I wanted to investigate. It was an interesting place to investigate. I would recommend people visit and show their respect to Mr. Harrison. However, no one on the team had an experience, nor did we catch any evidence. I did not feel anything or have any experience that would make me say the place was haunted.

Team members on investigation: Shawn Sellers, David Humphrey, James Kirkley & Guest Mike Humphrey

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: We videoed the court yard, took numerous photos, and did evp work. We conducted a basic investigation. No one had a personal experience.

Hard evidence collected: We were not able to collect any hard evidence as a result of the investigation.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: The Andrew Jackson Hotel is a beautiful old hotel with a lot of history in the heart of the French Quarter. Although we did not collect any hard evidence, and did not have any personal experiences, we cannot completely discount the years of personal accounts after 1 investigation. So, at the moment the case remains inconclusive.

Site Name: Huntsville Train Depot
Location: Huntsville Alabama
Length of Investigation:  5 Hours

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in): The Huntsville Train Depot is a wonderful historic site in Huntsville, Alabama. We were requested to contact the Depot by a couple of my members with connections to Huntsville. We contacted the Depot and they graciously gave us the opportunity to do the investigation.

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: Emily, a five-year-old girl, haunts the top floor. Jacob's son also roams the location. People have been tapped on the shoulder. Shadows have been seen.

Known history of the site: Built in 1860. Union army occupied it during the Civil War. 2nd floor served as a hospital. 3rd floor held Confederate POWs. Their writing can still be seen on the walls.

Team members on investigation: Shawn Sellers, Jake Bell, Mike Burnett, David Humphrey, Patti Davis, and Brooke Worley

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: Shawn and Jake’s group picked up on a few residual occurrences on the 2nd and 3rd floors. We felt we found “Emma” or “Emily” on the 3rd floor.

Hard evidence collected: I have included two possible EVPs from our investigation. The first EVP is very light and I have amplified it at the end of the file. The second EVP has no amplification at all. They are both Class “C” EVPs.   

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning:  As this was my first time at the train depot I did not know what to expect. I was wonderfully surprised. It is a beautiful place full of history with wonderful employees whom you can tell share a love for the depot. We had a very good investigation picked some interesting evidence and I would say that the depot has some residual and potential intelligent activity.

Site Name: University of Montevallo
Location: Montevallo, Alabama

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in): The University of Montevallo is a beautiful historic university; It also contains the family home of the King family that was one of the first Brick homes in Alabama. We contacted the university due to reports we had heard about the location and they granted us permission to investigate.

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: Right before Mr. King died at the age of 82, he was said to have buried his money under a tree on the property to prevent the Union Army from stealing it. Many have said that they have seen Mr. King's ghost wandering close the house, carrying a lantern and a shovel. Students passing by this house have also claimed to have seen Mr. King passing by windows with his lantern, waving at them or sitting at his dining room table counting his money. On another occasion, someone held a wedding reception in the house. All of the guests were in the dining room and they witnessed a white robed apparition appear under the dining room table and float out of a near by window! 

Reynolds Hall Haunting:
The spirit of Captain Henry Clay Reynolds is said to roam these halls. Captain Reynolds is said to have been in charge of protecting the army hospital during the Civil War. It is thought that Captain Reynolds's unrest is due to the loss of his men during the bloodbath inflicted by Sherman's troops. Captain Reynolds's apparition has been spotted, as well as felt by students in this building. Many have claimed that this specter actually followed them while they were on their way back to their dormitory! Many have also complained of hot and cold spots, cold chills and doors and windows that open and close on their own. On one occasion, the portrait of Captain Reynolds that hung in the lobby was taken down and replaced with the portrait of another person. The next morning, Captain Reynolds' portrait was mysteriously backed in its place and the new picture lay on the floor under it!

Old Main Hall Haunting:
The phantom of Condie Cunningham supposedly haunts this building. Her apparition has been seen running down the hallways ablaze like a human torch. Sometimes only the sounds of her feet running or her agonizing screams are heard. Doors and windows are said to open or close themselves. Some have heard a voice saying "Help Me". And, some have even claimed to see her flaming face in the door of her former room. According to the legend, which seems to have some historical evidence to back it up, Condie was in her room with some classmates cooking something (some say hot chocolate, some say fudge) over a bunson burner. This was not allowed. When they heard someone coming they knocked over the burner in their haste. Condie was set on fire and ran down the hallway. She later died at the hospital.

Palmer Hall Haunting:
One of Palmer Hall's former designers, W.H. Trumbauer, is said to haunt this building. Apparently Mr. Trumbauer was a passionate sponsor of the college's theatrical arts and is said to still give his opinions on the student's performances. During the final dress rehearsal, he is said to swing the battens over the act he enjoyed the most.

Hanson Hall Haunting:
A former housemother to this building still watches over the students. Many who have stayed up late to study have felt her presence. Students have complained that they were alone and then suddenly felt like someone was watching them.

Known History of the Montevallo Campus:  The University of Montevallo opened October 1896 as the Alabama Girls’ Industrial School (AGIS), a women-only technical school that also offered high school-level courses. AGIS became the Alabama Girls’ Technical Institute in 1911, further adding "and College for Women" in 1919. The school gradually phased into being a traditional degree-granting institution, becoming Alabama College, State College for Women in 1923. The school's supporters lobbied the Alabama Legislature which passed a bill on January 15, 1956 that dropped the designation "State College for Women", effectively making the school coeducational ( though its student body still maintains a 7:5 ratio of women to men). The first men entered the school that same month. On September 1, 1969, Alabama College was renamed the University of Montevallo. Montevallo is located in the geographic center of the state of Alabama in an area rich with Civil War history. With slightly over 3,000 students, the university generates a significant economic impact on the surrounding communities in Shelby County. Many of the buildings on campus predate the founding of the college, including King House and Reynolds Hall. The King House is reserved for special guests of the campus, and Reynolds Hall is still used by the Theater Department and alumni relations. King House was reportedly the first home in Alabama to receive pane glass windows. Montevallo's campus is considered an architectural jewel. Its appearance is more in line with private, elite institutions. The central part of campus is a National Historic District. The main portion of the campus was designed by the Olmsted Brothers, who also designed Central Park in New York City and the Biltmore House grounds in North Carolina.Montevallo is often regarded as primarily a teacher's college; however other courses of study are available. Music, theater, art, and mathematics majors are common

Team members on investigation: Shawn Sellers,  Jake Bell, Mike Burnett,  David Humphrey, Brooke Worley, Jeremy Cromblin, Patti Davis, Jay Christian                         

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences:  We all felt Mr. King’s presence strongly in the King House. A number of team members also had some experiences in the main hall that corroborated.

Hard evidence collected: We did have an occurrence where one of our researcher’s cell phones went off seemingly in response to a question asked. His phone was had previously been set on vibrate. The caller ID said “Unknown Call”. I have included the audio of this occurrence with this report.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: The University Montevallo was a wonderful investigation so many of my investigators had personal experiences, although we weren’t able to capture much of what we picked up on with our instruments. The University of Montevallo is a beautiful, historical campus and my self and my team are very blessed to have the opportunity to investigation the University. The verdict is mainly residual with some intelligent activity in the King House.

Site Name: 1853 Carriage House
Location: Savannah Georgia
Date(s) of Investigation: October 27, 2007
Length of Investigation: 4 Hours

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in):This was an investigation that was assigned to us while we were at Ghostock. This place was originally investigated by Patrick Burns.

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: FBA’s have been seen at the Carriage House. EVP’s have been captured as well as some photo anomalies by the investigative teams at previous Ghostocks.

Known history of the site: Carriage house that was built along with house in 1853.

Team members on investigation: Shawn, Jake David, Leslie, Don and owner of the house Jacqueline

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: Several Members had personal experiences: temperature fluctuations, EMF Spikes, change in room atmosphere and the feeling of being touched.

Hard evidence collected: 2 level B EVP’s. Nothing on Video nor photographs. With this first EVP you'll hear a faint whisper. In this second possible EVP you'll faintly hear a noise. You'll hear a short break in the recording then the noise again isolated and amplified. We were not able to determine what (if anything) this second noise was saying.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: I feel that the 1853 Carriage House is haunted by two intelligent spirits. A Little Girl age 11, a young man around 18, and also a residual upstairs in the closet of an African American Male.

Site Name:  Pickens County Courthouse/Pizza Doctor/Carriage House 

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: 

1.                  Pickens County Courthouse: Heard noises throughout the courthouse, doors opening and closing, cold spots, seeing shadows, out of the corner of your eye, screaming noise, atmospheric changes in the rooms. 
2.                  Pizza Doctor - All employees reported seeing a male figure, items missing and ultimately showing up in other places, items being tossed about, calculator tape running completely out, numerous other personal experiences. 
3.                  The Carriage House - This was a reported haunted local home. 

 
Known history of the site: Historic Pickens County Courthouse – Face in the window.   Pizza Doctor – one of the oldest original buildings in the square and was a former grocery store.  Carriage House –  A home built in 1854 and actually one family lived in this house until recent times. 

Team members on investigation:  Shawn, Jake, James, Mike, Chris, and Leslie.

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: Throughout the evening we had numerous personal experiences.  The courthouse was not as active as it was during our first investigation.  Inside the Pizza Doctor, we had several EMF fluctuations and cold spots.  We also picked up something very interesting on the video. Several of us crossed over an apparent energy field causing the hairs to stand up on our arms.  The Carriage House – After our investigations while we were trying to sleep we heard walking throughout the house, the sounds of something similar to a child running through the house, someone tapping the piano. 

Hard evidence collected: On video we obtained an interesting possibility. On audio Chris and Leslie were in the courtroom. Chris asks, "Bill are you here?" and immediately you faintly hear what sounds like a crowd yelling, somewhat like a mob.  No one else was in the building with Chris and Leslie at  the time of this recording.  Besides this recording we had set up a recorder in the basement jail cell where Henry Wells (and others) died, turned it on and left. No one was in the building, but out of this room came three distinct knocks. Chris experimented with the sounds and these sounds are clearly coming from inside the jail cell and not due to some ambient noise.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: It was a wonderful night of investigations.  I really hoped that we would have obtained more hard evidence but we didn’t.  We took on a tremendous undertaking trying to investigate three locations in one night.  I really feel that inside the Pickens County Courthouse there is an intelligent as well as a residual haunt.  Inside the Pizza Doctor, there is definitely something there but I am not ready at this time to make a final decision.  The Carriage House, we all shared personal experiences and I feel there is definitely an intelligent haunt inside the Carriage House. 

Site Name:      Corn Stalk Inn
Location:         New Orleans Louisiana
Date(s) of Investigation:         September 15, 2007
Length of Investigation:         9 hours

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in): I have been going to New Orleans since I was a teenager and have always loved the Cornstalk Inn. The Cornstalk Inn is beautiful with a lot of history. Honestly, I have never really heard any paranormal stories about the inn. I had our case manager contact the inn and we found out that they did have activity so we set up an investigation.

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: This inn is apparently haunted by children who supposedly like to use your camera and take pictures of you while you sleep. Most of the activities are located in two rooms, which we occupied.

Known history of the site:  The early 1800's home of Francoise-Xavier Martin, a native of Marseilles, France, is now a landmark to locals and tourists alike visiting the historic French Quarter. Judge Martin, a Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court and author of The History of Louisiana was the first of many illustrious names connected to the house. Harriet Beecher -Stowe was inspired to write Uncle Tom's Cabin while staying here; Bill and Hillary Clinton were guests here; even Elvis himself has stayed at this lovely hotel, so centrally located in the heart of the Vieux Carre'.

Team members on investigation: Shawn Sellers, Jake Bell, James Kirkley, Cyndi Wells

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: Our team spent almost nine hours investigating the inn, occupying the two rooms with the most reported activity. The inn was completely booked, which meant a lot of traffic, and which I felt made the investigation very challenging. We made the best of the situation, but none of our team had a personal experience.

Hard evidence collected: We had seven hours of video and about five hours of Audio plus over 1,200 photos. Our tech team reviewed all of the evidence and found nothing.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: Having the opportunity to investigate and stay the night in such a beautiful and historic inn was a wonderful experience. I was disappointed that we did not have much activity and did not get any hard evidence to support the stories we heard about the inn.  I cannot say that the Cornstalk Inn is haunted based upon our experience, but we cannot dismiss the various stories told about the inn. I did fill a strong residual presence at the inn, which I believe was from the many antiques. We did not collect any hard evidence nor did we have any personal experiences, but I think the inn being full did take away from the investigation. I would like to have an opportunity to return and investigate this inn again. Every one associated with the Cornstalk Inn was extremely nice and went out of their way to make us feel at home. They made both our investigation and our stay at the Cornstalk Inn a wonderful experience.

Site Name:      Bourbon Orleans
Location:         New Orleans Louisiana
Date(s) of Investigation: September 14, 2007
Length of Investigation: 7hours

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in): The Bourbon Orleans is a historic hotel that has been featured on the Travel Channel and History Channel. It is rumored to be the most haunted hotel in the city. In New Orleans, that is saying quite a bit. So Southern Paranormal Researchers wanted to check it out for ourselves.

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: Children playing in the halls or inside guest rooms. Ghosts dancing in the ballroom. A Male spirit that blows on women's necks and touches them.

Known history of the site: This active hotel, at least before extensive renovations in 2004, may have you seeing children playing in the halls, or inside guest rooms. You may see other ghosts dancing the night away in the ballroom. John Davis opened his famed Orleans Ballroom in 1817. Davis would make a fortune by catering to the city's love of dancing and balls. On the neighboring land, Davis built the Orleans Theatre. Davis would eventually lose his enterprise and a bloody war would destroy the city's nightlife. The great ballroom and theater that Davis built would fall on hard times - an occasional variety show, ball or theatrical novelty. Eventually in 1881, the Sisters of the Holy Family, an order of African American nuns devoted to teaching, would acquire the property for a motherhood and school. Where once the halls had rung with music and convivial laughter of opera and beleaguers, for the next 83 years only the occasional sounds of a Latin call would be heard. Finally in 1964, the Sisters, pressed by a need for expanded facilities, would sell the property to hotel interests. New additions would replace some of the structure built by the nuns

Team members on investigation: Shawn Sellers, Jake Bell, James Kirkley, Cindy Wells

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: Our team worked in groups of 2 and we even went out of the norm and let Cindy work alone in some active areas around the ball room in order to see if she had an experience with the male spirit that supposedly approaches women when they are alone. Our team covered all the floors, but spent most of the time in the ballroom and the surrounding area. The only one of our investigators that had a personal experience was Cindy. It happened when she was by herself near the ladies bathroom. She explained she felt a cool breeze go by and a tingly sensation all over her body. She also reported the whole atmosphere of the area changed. Cindy noted the feeling left as quickly as it came. Her full experience can be read in the investigation blog section of our website. Other than Cindy's experience, nothing else happened out of the norm.

Hard evidence collected: We had several hours of video and audio and over 1,000 photos. Our tech team reviewed all of the evidence and found nothing.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: Having the opportunity to investigate and stay the night in such a beautiful and historic hotel was a wonderful experience. I was disappointed that we did not have much activity and did not get any hard evidence to support the stories we heard about the hotel.  Whether the hotel is haunted or not is still left up in the air. I, personally, did not feel anything. While we do not dismiss the previous reports, with the team not picking up any evidence we could not say the hotel is haunted.

Site Name: Private Home
Location: Millbrook Alabama
Date(s) of Investigation: August 24, 2007
Length of Investigation:  5 Hours

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in): The homeowner contacted us after she saw an article in the local newspaper about SPR. 

Phenomenon reported by persons at site:Seeing shadows move about the house, hearing unexplained noises, children playing, cold Spots and guests refusing to spend the night in the house because of an overwhelming negative feeling.

Known history of the site: The house was built in the 1850’s. The present owner said she bought the home about 30 years ago. At the time, the home was in very poor condition, but she always felt drawn to the house. She and her husband bought the home and renovated it. They have consistently had activity but never felt threatened.

Team members on investigation: Shawn Sellers, Jake Bell, David Humphrey, Chris Perry, Leslie Kirk, Joan St. Arnold

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: I feel this investigation is explained best by the investigators, so please read the investigation blog for their reports.

Hard evidence collected: We obtained two EVP’S. One Joan recorded at the church - while the other was recorded by Chris at the home (listen at the 9 second mark) though it was not as clear.  The two sounds are quite similar. Chris recorded the home sound first, then Joan picked up the other sound when we felt the presence went to the church. We did not have any video evidence.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: Wow! This home was a very active. I feel that we had a residual, intelligent and some demonic activity in this home.

Site Name: Shorter Mansion
Location: Eufaula Alabama
Date(s) of Investigation: Two Investigations July & August of 2007
Length of Investigation:  Both Investigations totaling 12 hours

Reason for investigation (historical interest or called in): Early one morning I received two phone calls back to back; one from my mother and the 2^nd call from my associate director.  Both informed me to turn on my television to watch a local news station report on a beautiful mansion in Eufaula, AL, which also reported some paranormal phenomenon at the mansion. As soon as I started watching the story on the news, I knew it was a place I wanted my team to investigate.  Our associate director made the contact and set up the investigation.

Phenomenon reported by persons at site: There are reports of a man with a top hat being seen in the house and through out the property, A woman in her 60’s being seen in different parts of the house, different photo phenomena, things being moved, hearing someone upstairs moving about, phantom smells, and the feeling that someone is always watching you. Numerous employees have had personal experiences.

Known history of the site: The Shorter Mansion was built in 1884, by Eli and Wylena Shorter and was re-modeled in 1906.  The Mansion is recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is an excellent example of neoclassical architecture.  It also serves as a museum honoring the six Alabama Governors from Barbour County as well as Admiral Thomas Moore, a former chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. 

Team members on investigation:
Both Investigations: Shawn, Mike, David, Jeb, Jake
One Investigation: Chris, Joe, Leslie, Patti, Chris H

Synopsis of investigation, including any personal experiences: All of our team members had some personal experiences. These included hearing a loud laughing and banding coming from the room adjoining the Mayor's Room, experiencing slight nausea and intense head pressure in certain rooms, and feeling a presence in the room.
I saw what appeared to be a man standing behind the glass counter and looking toward the windows.  I blinked my eyes a couple of times and when I looked again, it was gone. Several of us saw a shadow pace back and forth in the hallway outside of the Wedding Room. Chris experienced cabinets shaking strongly in the Mayor's Room.

Hard evidence collected: Throughout our investigation we had a lot of personal experiences.  We did have a few EMF fluctuations and we obtained 1 possible Grade “C”  EVPs.  Because of their poor quality, we don't really want to post it, but if you contact Jake he would be glad to send it to you. We took approximately 800 photos, we had 3 hours of video footage, but the only hard evidence obtained was the EVP and an interesting photograph.

This picture taken by Jeb shows a shadow moving across the camera. Chris, Mike, and Jeb spent about 45 minutes trying to recreate/debunk the shadow, including putting hands/fingers over the lens, but no matter what we tried we could not reproduce the image.

Director’s Final Verdict (haunted – residual/intelligent/demonic or not haunted) and Reasoning: My Final verdict of the Shorter Mansion is that I feel that the Mansion has a strong residual presence, but evidence seemed to support the idea of an intelligent presence in the house as well. It was a wonderful opportunity and experience for our team.  Everyone that was associated with the Shorter Mansion went out of their way to make us feel welcome and we look forward to our return visit and investigation.

BEAR CREEK SWAMP

SEPTEMBER 3, 2006

Bear Creek Swamp was our first investigation.  The dirt road which is County Road 4 or Bear Creek Swamp Road in Autuaga County, Alabama goes through a swamp with the same name and connects Highway 82 and Highway 14.  The road is two to three miles long and winds through woods/forest, a couple of fields or pastures.  There are just three houses on the road that are filled with Cypress trees and ponds and the swamp.  The swamp used to be huge and the surrounding area was a virtual forest or jungle.  It used to have a side spot in the road.  I do not know if it is still there.  There is also an artesian well (a pipe sticking out of the ground with forever pouring water) which I will attempt to locate during our second investigation of this area.

The swamp is not as big as it once was.

There was a Creek Indian village in the area until after 1814 and a lot of the settlers that settled that area were vetereans of the Creek Indian War.  The indians used the artesian water as healing water.  The stories behind the Swamp are sightings of Little People by local residents in addition to the lights seen by cars.  There have been Civil War Soldiers seen by a few people who live near the Swamp.  The people also heard noises and have had an unusal amount of snakes and lizards around homes in the area and even in the swamp.

Through our research, before our investigation, we found that the area has natural underground springs.  The area was settled by soldiers who fought in the war after the Creeks were defeated.  We could not find any Civil War encampments or activity in the area.  We feel the sightings of soldiers are soldiers from the Creek  Indian War.  With the natural spring waters, Indians and settlers felt the water had healing power and with the indian background, could explain the sightings of little people which come into Native American beliefs.

On September 3, 2006, as we moved forward toward Swift Creek, we concluded that this would be the area the soliders would make camp and hide out in the deep swamp.  We did pick up some suspicious things and very good video footage and photos of orbs.  There was one particular orb that crossed the road and turned, which was one of the most impressive things seen in our experiences.  We heard what sounded to be two knocks from the area of the back of the truck which we have on a recording.  We can't say with certainty that the area is haunted but there is definately something there.  We would like to return to the area and continue the investigation after we do more research into the history of the area.

CRY BABY BRIDGE, MULLINS CEMETARY & CAVE INVESTIGATIONS

OCTOBER 9, 2006

On October 9, 2006, we conducted our initial investigation in the remote area of Cry Baby Bridge, the family cemetary where David Crockett's sister is buried and also a cave which is believed to be a location where they stored small arms and ammunition during the Civil War.  This is all located in a remote area in Chilton County Alabama.

Bridge in Refuge - There is a bridge in a place called Refuge.  It is a little one laned bridge in the middle of nowhere and legand has it that if you go there at night you can hear strange sounds and see balls of light.  Some people have said that when you get out of your car, you can hear and feel someone walking right next to you and feel a menacing presence.  A lot of people have seen fog chasing them and there is one area that no trees grow and everything looks dead.  People have reported that their cars will start rocking and being chased by an unknown entity and you can feel an evil presence on some nights.

Cry Baby Bridge - legand has it that one foggy night, a very long time ago, there was a war going on and this woman had a baby and these men were chasing her to kill her child, so she threw the baby in the little creek and the baby died.  Now if you go to the middle of the bridge and leave a candy bar and walk away, when you turn back around, the candy bar will be gone.  Some people say they hear the baby crying and sometimes you may even look into the water and see the shadow of the baby.  There are numerous Cry Baby Bridges throughout Alabama, but both bridge stories fit the area we investigated.

The cave that we investigated was on a dead end dirt road and seldom traveled.  It is rumored that the cave leads to Cry Baby Bridge and there are numerous outlets throughout this area.  A creek actually runs in the middle of the cave.  When you travel in the deep wooded area around the cave, there are several holes where you can see down into this area.  It is a very unique and beautiful area.  However, when we arrived at the cave, there was a fire burning inside.  The fire actually occurred on top of the rock formation and fell toward the cave.  The fire was actually unexplainable.  We spent a lengthly amount of time investigating in the area of the cave.  The large hills in the area are all in close proximity to Cry Baby Bridge, the cemetary and the cave.

On October 14, 2006, we conducted a follow-up investigation. 

Again, on October 18, 2006, we returned to Cry Baby Bridge and Mullins Cemetary.  Throughout these investigations we obtained interesting photos and actually had a microphone slapped off of a tombstone and a very audible EVP.  We concluded there is definitely some paranormal activities in all of these areas.

BIGFOOT & PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION

OF THE AREA OF MULLINS CEMETARY

The area around the Mullins Cemetary has a cave.  The cave has a stream inside and caverns that run in three different directions.  The stream is rumored to run to Cry Baby Bridge which is a couple of miles away.  The area is a very wilderness, hilly area.  Also, several miles down the one lane dirt road, there is a small trail that leads to an old town call the "Jumbo Community" which was founded around the 1820's and died off around the early 1900's.  Some of the locals we spoke to informed us that the community was infested by a disease and the community was disbanded.  There was also a gold rush in the area in the mid 1850's.

Through the initial investigation, we never saw any wildlife.   The suspicion heightens due to this being a very heavily wooded, hilly/mountainous area.  We have had first hand reports of persons actually seeing a Big Foot.

In the Chilton County area there have been several Big Foot sightings in Walnut Creek which is the exact area we were investigating, and also in the area of Canteche Church on Highway 69.  There have been numerous eye witness sightings in Chilton County in the Walnut Creek area of a Big Foot in 1960, 1970, two sightings in 1998, 2001 and 2005.  There was also a sighting reported in Shelby County in 1998.  There were news articles in the Clanton Advertiser that was written regarding a sighting of a Big Foot and it was also on NBC 13 television regarding a sighting of a Big Foot in Chilton County.  This would be a prime area for one to actually dwell.  Reasons being, this is a heavily wooded area, no visibility if traveling the area of the creek bed, the cave in the area and the distances that can be traveled within the cave.  Also, this could actually explain the coolers and other items found inside the cave which could have been drug inside the cave by a Big Foot.  Entering and exiting the cave is quite difficult and would be especially difficult if intoxicated.  If a Big Foot lived in the cave, he could drag things inside the cave and travel throughout the cave.

We camped out November 3, 4 & 5, 2006 in the middle of the old Jumbo Community.  We will be doing some Big Foot research and some paranormal investigations.  This was a very interesting investigation in a hot spot for paranormal activity and if there ever was a place in Alabama for a Big Foot to exist, this would be the area.

We talked with eye-witnesses and there have been documented reports since 1960 on the news, in newspapers and on radio stations of Big Foot sightings.

The SPIT investigative team investigated the Auburn University Chapel on two different nights of November 18 & December 2 of 2006. We had a Psychic reading on the area and the Chapel which supported some of the paranormal evidence we obtained.

Some Information on the chapel

The Auburn University Chapel, located at 139 South College Street, stands as a landmark of more than a century of Auburn’s history. The Chapel, constructed in 1851, is the oldest building still on its original site and is still used by the University. The Chapel is also the oldest public structure in the town of Auburn. In 1976, the Chapel was given an imaginative restoration and designated a bicentennial building in the National Register of Historic Buildings.

This chapel has had a colorful past. It was used as a house of worship for the Presbyterian and Episcopal communities. It has also served as a Civil War hospital, a civic center, the Y-Hut (YMCA and YWCA headquarters), and a USO. In 1887, when the main building burned at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, the college used the Chapel for classrooms. Auburn University acquired this property in the early 1900's. For forty years it served as the playhouse for the Department of Theater. It has now come full circle and again serves the Auburn University community.

A Confederate Solider by the name of Sidney Grimlet has been seen here. This Chapel was a confederate hospital along with the old main building which was later burnt and Samford Hall was built in its place.

The tale of Grimlett is something of a legend on campus. Supposedly a British citizen came to the United States to fight alongside Confederates in the Civil War, joining the Sixth Virginia Calvary. He was wounded during the Atlanta campaign in the fall of 1864 and was sent to a Confederate hospital in Auburn.

Today's University Chapel, the oldest public building in Auburn, was a hospital during the War Between the States, says Peter Branum, the reference archivist with University Archives.

Built in 1850 from slave-made bricks, the chapel was originally the Presbyterian Church in Auburn. During the war, it was used, along with Old Main (which later burned and Samford Hall built in its place) as a Confederate hospital.

As legend goes, Grimlett was brought to the chapel and ended up having his leg amputated before he died. He is thought to be buried in a mass grave in the city's Pine Hill Cemetery along with 97 others from the Texas Regiment who could not be identified and sent home.

The Episcopalians worshiped in the chapel in 1883, and it was later used as a classroom when Old Main burned in 1887. When the new Presbyterian Church was built in 1917, the chapel became a center for YMCA activities. Four years later, Presbyterians traded it to AU for an adjacent lot.

For nearly 40 years, it was used by theatre for the Auburn Players, and lore has it that that was when Sydney appeared. Some even say it was due to a performance of an English play and he disliked the accents of the Southern students.

The SPIT Team did a thorough investigation on both nights while at the chapel. We took photos, did several hours of video work, EVP with digital and audio recorders, used EMF detectors and dousing rods. After analyzing all the evidences, including the psychic reading, our results was that through some of our research we found that the Ghost of Sydney Grimmlet is no longer there at the Chapel, he moved with the Theatrical department but we can not prove this either way. The reading we had done on the chapel and occurrences during our investigations support some of our findings. The Chapel was very beautiful. After reviewing all the evidence, I can say that we do not have enough evidence that would support that the Chapel is haunted but we did have enough personal experiences and unexplained EVP sounds to support the fact something is there. I personally feel that there is a residual type of haunting present and that is why we are picking up on the Orbs where the energy hangs in the ceiling and balcony area.

I really enjoyed this investigation. I love Auburn University and its history and once again I would like to thank Auburn University for allowing us the opportunity to investigate the Chapel.  We are most appreciative.

ALABAMA THEATRE INVESTIGATION

NOVEMBER 24, 2006

The Alabama Theatre was built in 1927 by Paramount Studios as an Alabama showcase for Paramount films. It was used primarily as a movie palace for 55 years, with the exception of the annual Miss Alabama pagent and the weekly Mickey Mouse Club. In 1987, the owners of the facility declared bankruptcy and the theatre was purchased by Birmingham Landmarks Inc., a non-profit corporation.

The new Alabama Theatre for the Performing Arts hosts many live events, as well as films. Each year the Theatre hosts over 300 events attended by a half million Birmingham area citizens.

In 1998, the Theatre underwent a complete front door to back door restoration. The work was done by EverGreene Studios from New York City. In 8 months, the theatre went from its look of faded grandeur to a sparkling 1927 look with all the gold leaf paint either replaced or cleaned. In addition to the restoration, new carpet was installed in the ladies lounge and new drapes were installed on the stage and organ chambers.

The Alabama Theatre is deceptive from first appearances. From the outside this building appears to be run down and at the most a mediocre theatre. However, upon entering this Theatre you see a beautiful, extravagant and ornate theatre which you would never expect to see such elegance from outside appearances. History has it that during construction of this grand theatre in approximately 1927, a construction worker fell from the rafters and fell below to his death approximately 8 rows back from the left side of the stage. Supposedly, it is the ghost of this construction worker that haunts this theatre.

When I found out about the investigation at the theatre, I did not know what to expect.  I did some research on the internet but found out that the internet did not give this grand ole theatre justice.  When we arrived at the Alabama Theatre it was an absolutely beautiful place, rich in history and arts.  When we entered the concert hall, it was breathtaking.  All the investigators present had some personal experiences.  As for myself, I had several.  As I was going up the steps in the balcony on the right side, I was pushed down by some strange, unseen force.  As I sat there on the steps trying to collect my thoughts, my heart raced and I had almost like a shortness of breath.  I have been pushed one time before when I was present at an exorcism.  However, on this night at the theatre, I almost felt as if the unseen forced passed through a side of my body.  It took me several minutes to recover and I resumed my investigation.  While in the film room with a fellow investigator, we heard something move in front of us and go down a set of steps.  We could actually hear some unseen force go down the steps.  We only had until 9:30 to complete the investigation and this being such a large building, I wish we could have had all night.  However, I was thankful for the time we had.  After we got home and reviewed the evidence, we had some very interesting EVP's and also some photos with large orbs in them.  I feel we had enough supporting evidence along with personal experiences to definately say that the Alabama Theatre has paranormal activity.  I am almost sure if we were able to stay the night, we would have been able to obtain even more hard evidence to prove the haunting.  It was an honor and a pleasure to be able to investigate the Alabama Theatre.  Everyone there was very nice and helpful and we are looking forward to future investigations.

FORT MORGAN INVESTIGATION

DECEMBER 16, 2006

The SPIT Team was invited to take part in an investigation at Fort Morgan with another investigative Team out of Mobile. Who we respect their work and think a lot of and we graciously accepted their invitation.

Fort Morgan was constructed from 1819-1834 as part of the defenses of Mobile Bay. Fort Morgan, like Fort Pickens at Pensacola, was designed by the French military engineer Simon Bernard, who had been hired by the United States as a consultant and appointed to the board of engineers. The early Third System fortifications show the influence of the French school of design, whose most notable member was Vauban. However, the primary mission of defending a harbor, rather than their own location, led to characteristics which make them a uniquely American type of fortification.

Fort Morgan became well known during the Civil War, when Union Admiral D.G. Farragut lead a fleet to close the bay. During the attack, the U.S.S. Tecumseh struck a mine, and in the confusion, the fleet hesitated under the guns of Fort Morgan, prompting Farragut to order "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!". The fort continued as a coast artillery post until after World War II.

When Federal warships steamed into Mobile Bay on the morning of 5 August 1864, Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan stationed CSS Tennessee, his flagship, and her unarmored consorts, gunboats Morgan , Gaines and Selma , at the head of the channel. As the enemy moved up, exchanging fire with Fort Morgan, Buchanan's ships shot at them from ahead. The Union monitor Tecumseh, maneuvering to engage the Tennessee , struck a mine and sank, temporarily throwing the Federal column into confusion. Rear Admiral Farragut's flagship, USS Hartford , forged ahead and drove off the Confederate gunboats, but Tennessee remained in the battle zone, firing on the U.S. Navy ships as they passed and doing considerable damage to the last in line, USS Oneida.

With the enemy  safely inside Mobile Bay, Buchanan understood that the Confederate forts at the bay's entrance would soon be untenable unless the Union ships could somehow be destroyed. In a desperate, solitary effort, Tennessee steamed toward Farragut's ships. As she slowly moved along, the sloops of war USS Monongahela and Lackawanna repeatedly rammed her, doing more damage to themselves than to their target.

When Tennessee reached the Federal anchorage area, she was also rammed by the Hartford and subjected to a terrific cannonade. The U.S. monitors Chickasaw and Manhattan then engaged her at close range with their heavy guns, while other Union ships fired from a distance. Tennessee's smokestack and most other exposed fittings were hammered away, further reducing her never very great speed; her gunport shutter chains were cut, closing the ports so the Confederates could not shoot back; and her exposed steering chains were severed, leaving her unmanageable. The Manhattan blew a hole in Tennessee's armor with her massive fifteen-inch gun. The twin-turret monitor Chickasaw stationed herself off the beleagered ship's stern, firing her eleven-inch guns "like pocket pistols" and seriously weakening the after end of Tennessee's armored casemate.

This view depicts, none too accurately, the CSS Tennessee in the center at the time she surrendered, surrounded by the Union warships. The latter include (at right) the twin-turret monitors Chickasaw and Winnebago at right. One of the single-turret monitors would be Manhattan . There was no second single-turret monitor present at this stage of the battle. The large ship in the left foreground is presumably USS Hartford . Fort Morgan is shown in the right distance

The Team we joined from Mobile has investigated the grand old Fort several times and had obtained some very good evidence has already concluded that there was a lot of paranormal activity there. But the SPIT team was anxious to see for ourselves.

We investigated the Fort for several hours.  The Fort is very dark and spooky and can be very dangerous if you are not paying attention to your surroundings and watching your step.  There are steep steps, high walls with no warning bars and low hanging walls when you enter and exit different rooms.  We were taking numerous photographs, using EMF detectors, temperature readers and recorders. 

EVIDENCE:

Temperature - We had several temperature fluctuations throughout the evening

EMF's - The EMF meters spiked several times throughout the night and a lot of times when we were having personal experiences

Photographs - We took over 300 photos, we got some photos with orbs and we have two very interesting photos with a strange mist

Video - We have about an hour of video and we did not get anything on this

EVP's - We have about 60 minutes of EVP work recorded.  The first and only thing we got was something saying "GO".  There was only myself and one other team member in the room when we were doing the EVP's.

I was looking forward to hear what we got at the end of the night as far as EVP work when the entity was seen behind me and my teammate.  To my disappointment, the batteries died on the recorder (note that they were brand new batteries) at the time of this occurrance.  This supports the paranormal activity we witnessed at the battery.

Personal Experiences - Every one of our members had personal experiences at the Fort from hearing whispers and there being no one there, my seeing the shadow figure and when we had the paranormal experience in the battery together.

In closing, I can say that we had enough evidence and personal experiences at the Fort to say it is definately haunted.  It was a great experience for the whole team because of the wonderful history, beautiful Alabama coast and of course, the GHOST.

THE LOBBY

ONEONTA, ALABAMA

The Lobby, now an antique shop, was formerly known as The Garner Hotel.  Weaver Builders built the Garner Hotel in 1927.  It opened in April of that year.  The hotel consisted of three floors.  On the first floor was a lobby, a dining room to the right and a kitchen.  Mattie Garner, the wife of John Garner and the mother of Jackie Garner, started managing the hotel in 1928.  The Garner Hotel had 22 rooms to rent.  This building was one of the first brick buildings in Oneonta.  Next to the hotel was a drugstore called Garner Drugs.  John Garner bought the drugstore from Dr. Sprayberry in the 1920s.  After the hotel was finished, they put a door between the hotel and the drugstore which connected them together.  The 2nd floor of the hotel had 22 rooms and a parlor.  The third floor of the hotel were the private bedrooms, an area for Jackie and her parents and a few other rooms.  There used to be a grape arbor in the back of the hotel where everyone could sit and see the afternoon train arrive in Oneonta. The train depot was located behind the Garner Hotel.

The first group of investigators traveled to Oneonta on the morning of January 13, 2007: Shawn, Deborah, Dana, Greg, Sarah and Sarah's friend, Greg arrived at The Lobby at approximately 2:15 p.m.  The second group of investigators: David, Patti, Kristie and David's friend Crystal arrived at approximately 8:30 p.m.  The investigation concluded at approximately 11:30 p.m. with everyone in awe of the findings and activity detected in this historical place.

When the first group arrived, they talked to the owners of The Lobby about paranormal experiences they had encountered in this lovely and quaint location.  We were told by the owners that they had lovingly named the ghost "William".  They had many unexplained experiences including the smell of coffee brewing and the smell of pipe tobacco when no one was present in the building but them.  Some of the employees had also experienced the sounds of furniture moving on the second floor, the sound of someone whistling and papers being shuffled.  All of the sounds and odors were unexplainable by the occupants of The Lobby.

EVIDENCE:

We obtained several EVPs that were very audible.  We also obtained some very interesting orbs via video, moving in and out of rooms and up and down the hallways.  This could not have been dust because the orbs had a specified path when traveling.  Most of the investigators experienced their own personal experiences.  This is was actually one of the most active places that we have ever investigated.  The activity in this place was not deniable and was evident to everyone present.  Through our vast experiences, we had numerous and extremely high EMF fluctuations that supported our findings.  We were definately dealing with an intelligent haunting that interacted with us throughout the evening.  Through our investigation, we concluded there were at least three entities present.  The male entity was the most intelligent haunting that interacted with us.  Also, possibly a teenage girl who could have been more of a possible general haunting.  Possibly the very unexplainable shadow figure that was seen, in our opinion, was in no way related to the teenager or man but is the third entity who moves about in the house.

In conclusion, after review of all the evidence and everyone's personal experiences, none of our investigators felt threatened or in any danger.  There is no doubt that The Lobby is haunted.  There are at least three active spirits in The Lobby.  This was a great experience and a lot of fun.  We would like to possibly, in the future, visit again and do a follow up investigation.  If anyone is ever in the Oneonta area, please drop by The Lobby and visit the gem of Oneonta and meet all the wonderful people and ghosts that are there.

WETUMPKA JR. HIGH SCHOOL

FEBRUARY 3, 2007

Background:

There have been several witnesses who have actually heard the sound of very heavy footsteps up and down the hall.  They believe the haunting is that of a man.  They had a security guard who dozed off in the auditorium who came out visibly shaken and very pale and stated that he heard someone say "I now introduce to you the Class of 1967".  Also of interest is the fact that there was a child on child murder which occurred at Wetumpka Jr. High School about 8 years ago in the hallway.

In the gym of the Wetumpka Jr. High School, the old pool, which is now under the floor, was closed down.  At certain times you can hear voices and see flashing lights.  You can also hear the sound of water sloshing around as if someone is drowning.

Investigation:

The sensitive members (medians) of our team picked up the image of a boy.  However, the original story is that a young girl drowned but there were actually two deaths in this junior high school, the other being that of a boy that was murdered.  The murder of the boy is known to be a true fact.  As for the young girl actually drowning in the pool, that has not been verified at this time.  While our medians were in two different groups, both of them picked up a child of approximately 12 years of age.  Shawn personally picked up a female at first and the other team a male and another member on the 1st team picked up the feeling of being that of a 12 year old male.  While in the hallway, we had several experiences involving the sounds of footsteps in different areas of the hallway.  We did not detect anything on our audio or video.  Several of the team members had personal experiences.  While investigating under the steps, we have several members in the basement under the gym floor and all members were accounted for and we heard running and walking above on the gym floor and we also heard a scream or yell.  There was no one in the gym area but the remaining team members in the weight room had also heard the same noises.  At one point while inside the gym, we did hear a sound which was similar to someone running down the steps.

As far as hard evidence, we didn't pick up anything on the audio or video.  We did have some personal experiences.  Our medians did pick up on a spirit of a 12 year old.  My personal assessment of the Wetumpka Jr. High School, I definately feel that there is some paranormal activity present, possibly a residual haunt in the old auditorium, a memory being replayed almost like a record of energy.  I concur with our medians that there is a free spirit that roams about the school and it is a teenage spirit be it male or female.  Dealing with the age is difficult to determine with specificity whether it is male or female.  We do feel there is definately a spirit present that roams the Wetumpka Jr. High School.  We are unable to provide hard evidence to prove our findings with regard to our equipment and research, but this is my professional opinion.

The S.P.I.T. Team is very grateful for the opportunity allowed through the graciousness of the members of the Wetumpka Jr. High School to conduct this insightful investigation which was a wonderful experience.  If there are more occurrences or experiences, please feel free to contact us and we will be glad to perform a follow-up investigation.  This could possibly be a location we would like to return to in order to investigate further.  We had several new members who took part in this investigation and did an outstanding job and we look forward to having them join us on future investigations.

TUSCALOOSA MENTAL HOSPITAL

FEBRUARY 10, 2007

Our investigative team was involved in a monumental investigation of The Mental Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  The land was purchased in 1852 (326 acres).  Construction began in the Spring of 1953.  Nine years after construction began, it was finished on July 6, 1861.  This mental hospital is Alabama's oldest and largest inpatient psychiatric facility and was added to the National Register of Historic places in 1977.  The first person was admitted in 1861.  The use of shackles, straitjackets and other restraints was discouraged and finally abandoned altogether in 1882.  During the 20th Century, the patient population expanded while standards of care fell to abysmal levels.  In 1970, this hospital had 5,200 patients living in conditions that a newspaper likened to a concentration camp.

Shawn Sellers and his investigative team went to a local area gas station and asked for directions to the Mental Hospital.  To be safe, we decided to inform the local police that we wanted to go to the Mental Hospital and the police officer escorted us to the facility.  The place was breathtaking.  The officer radioed his Lieutenant and the Lieutenant came to the Mental Hospital and met with us and had no problem with us investigating the Mental Hospital.  Our team was ecstatic about the opportunity to investigate the old mental hospital.

We had 8 investigators including myself, Shawn Sellers.  First, we decided to investigate the Old Main Building which burned on December 23, 2004, and was damaged and vandalized.  This was the creepiest place we had ever investigated.  We would hear movement above and all around us.  We continued to pursue noises and unexplainable occurrences.  We felt as if we were being followed and watched.

To the left of the Old Main Building is an old hospital/nursing home that was operational until the year 2000 which had also been heavily vandalized.  During our initial walk through of this building all doorways down the hall were closed.  When we returned to investigate the hospital/nursing home every door was opened.  At several points throughout the investigation, each investigator heard the patient call buttons go off.  Once again, we had the constant feeling of being followed and watched.  At one point, a door slammed in another wing of the nursing home.  Several of our team members saw a shadow move across a doorway.

We returned for our 2nd investigation of the main building.  We went to the 3rd floor and determined it was the children's wing.  Local residents told us the 3rd floor was also known as the orphange.  We heard movement on the lower floors and the sound of a male's voice but no one was there.  Shawn and three of the female investigators were in the downstairs lobby area.  Shawn took a photo of the girls for our website.  Shawn turned to look behind him because he felt a presence and there was a 6 ft male shadow figure standing at least 5 ft away from him and another investigator saw the same thing.  The shadow figure walked away.  It did not dissipate but actually walked away down the hallway and faded away.  We proceeded to one of the areas that we believed housed some of the insane due to there being numerous old mattresses in that particular area.  This was the area that the shadow figure I saw turned and walked away to.  The Associate Director actually heard a growl or a moan.  We heard numerous knocking and banging sounds and a sound of a male as if he was moaning.  A couple of members saw a shadow move out of the restroom area and out of the room.  On the 2nd floor we split into teams.  When we met in the middle, there is like a crossroad of hallways that leads to three different large areas,  we heard the sounds of someone running.  Guests who were conducting their own EVPs actually picked up the sound of something saying "HELP".  Every one in the investigative party saw the 6ft shadow figure at the end of the hall to the left and chased the shadow figure who ran from us, we could see it's legs moving but it did not make any noise even though it was running through an old dilapidated burned out building.  It was as if the shadow figure was playing with us as we made our way out down the same hallway, we could hear something on the parallel hallway almost taunting us by hitting the wall and running back and forth.

Eight hundred years ago, Moundville looked much different from the way it does today. As many as 3,000 people may have crowded into the 300 acre city. Smoke from fires would have been visible for miles, but Moundville’s most impressive sight would have been it’s mile long wall nearly 12 feet high. Studded with towers along its length, this imposing palisade was covered with a mixture of clay, forming a solid wall that would have been difficult for enemies to penetrate. The mounds were topped with large structures. Food, potter, and other goods were traded in large quantities throughout Moundville.

From A.D. 1000 to 1500, Mississippi Indians constructed large earthworks topped by temples, council houses, and the homes of their nobility. Moundville Archaeological Park contains more than two dozen of these surviving flat-topped mounds, remnants of a ceremonial and economic center whose trade routes extended across the entire southeastern United States. Today, the park, located on the banks of the Black Warrior River in Moundville, preserves 320 acres of what was once one of the largest and most powerful prehistoric Native American communities in North America.

The earliest recorded excavations in Moundville began in the mid 19^th century, with discoveries continuing into the 21^st century. The largest excavation at Moundville started in 1930 under the direction of Dr. Walter B. Jones, state geologist and director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History. He enlisted the service of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933, and under Jones’ direction, archaeological and building projects continued until 1942. During that time, archaeologists excavated 45,000 square feet uncovering 75 structures, 1,000 complete ceramic vessels and more than 250,000 pottery fragments.

Under the scrutiny of The University of Alabama and the scientific community, archaeological investigations continue today at Moundville. More than 100 years since the first excavations, Moundville still holds many secrets to Alabama’s prehistoric past and the Mississippi community that thrived there for 400 years.

Though portions of the Park are set aside for re-creations of prehistoric life, much of the park exists in its natural state and remains the best preserved site of its kind in the eastern United States.

The tallest of the park’s 26 mounds is the Chieftain’s Mound. This mound towers nearly 60 feet. Experts believe the paramount chief’s house or temple was built atop this mound. Mound “A” because of its central location and rectangular shape, experts believe this platform mound may have held a structure with interior seating for meeting or ceremonies.

As we do in every investigation, the investigative team said a protection prayer upon entering the park. When we go to a burial ground, we pray each step as we walk into the grounds. I say, “I honor you, my ancestors, I am here to pay my respects to those of you who have gone before me. I ask for your protection for myself and my family as we tread on these Sacred Grounds.”

We took numerous photographs, interviewed and obtained statements from many of the employees in the Moundville office all of whom had personal experiences in the paranormal realm. They had unexplained events of doors closing, seeing shadows and hearing unexplainable sounds. Our team is very interested and plans on returning to Moundville to conduct a complete investigation of this historical site.

Upon arriving at the investigation spot, we will leave a gift to honor the spirits that are present and the people who are buried there. This will be done before entering the site. This has to be done at each mound or investigation spot we visit. The gift will be one that the tribe that is buried there found to be necessary in their lives. For example, if the tribe used copper, an old copper penny would be a good offering. Before entering a mound, our group will get down on our knees and say, “I thank you for allowing us to enter this sacred ground where your spirits rest.” Then we will lay an offering at the base of the mound. Getting off our knees, we will take a pinch of ceremonial tobacco and offer it in four directions starting in the north, east, south and west. It is imperative to start at the north side of you. Each person entering the mound will offer the tobacco in this manner. We plan on bringing with us Kinnikinnick, which is Indian ceremonial tobacco for everyone to use just a pinch to spread in the four directions. Upon leaving the mounds or investigation spot, each investigator will be instructed to be sure to thank the spirits for protecting them and once again to leave an offer of the tobacco to the four directions, again starting with the north. Each tem member will have prayer bags to carry with them during the Moundville investigation.

It is believed that the tribe who is buried in Moundville is the Creek tribe. The Creek Indians used a lot of clay beads. The team will be instructed to try and obtain any clay beads they could prior to the investigation to be used as an offering (gift) before entering each of the mounds to be investigated. Using 4 beads at every offering would be better because the Creek do most of their spiritual ceremonies using the number 4 in some way, they have 4 logs to start a fire, the logs have to be cut from a certain part of the tree at a certain angle, their songs each had 4 verses and each verse was sung 4 times.

A newspaper article came out in the Montgomery Advertiser regarding the achievements of our paranormal group and advertising a Meet-And-Greet in Montgomery, Alabama at Nellie Cameron’s Coffee House for which there was a large showing. There were several persons present at this meet-and-greet who provided us the opportunities for new investigations. One of such was a lady who was recently divorced and had moved into a new residence with her three children. Also, her sister and her two children were also living in this residence. This lady stated she had been unable to sleep at night and her children had also been disturbed. She would smell the scent of burnt wood and male cologne in the house. One of her sister’s children had actually felt the bed shake at night as if someone was up under the bed physically shaking the bed. This lady was very concerned and scared to live in this house which was to be her home. Our team prioritized this investigation due to the severity and the evident discomfort of this woman.

Our associate director, case manager and a lead investigator met with the lady on February 20, 2007. They interviewed her, walked through the house, and found out that the owner newly divorced had recently moved into the house with 3 children. This lady’s father died approximately 2 years ago. There was possibly some sexual abuse issues inside this family history. This lady and her father did not talk to each other. The sister of this lady was also recently divorced from an abusive husband. Since her sister and her sister’s children had moved in with this lady, the 8 year old child of the homeowner had become increasingly violent and exhibited a sporadic change in attitude. This child may be happy one minute and turn extremely violent the next minute. They had had numerous scents in the house of burnt wood, cologne and a constant sensation of fear throughout the house to the extent the entire family sleeps in the den. The team took photographs and did not have any significant feelings but did sense a heavy energy. The team reported their findings to me. I took into consideration the heavy energy could possibly be due to the negative energy consisting of a nasty divorce, she brought a lot of the personal belongings from the marriage into this house, therefore dragging the negative energy into her new home. Also, the sister dragged in negative energy from her abusive marriage and subsequent divorce. With a possible history of sexual abuse on the mother’s side in regards to the sister’s children there is some question as to whether that negative energy was also brought to the home as well.

The owner of the house is very withdrawn, suffers from lack of confidence and is very scared. A cleansing of this home was scheduled for February 21, 2007. Myself, the associate director, case manager and 5 members of the investigative team were present for the cleansing. We began the cleansing by having the 3 ladies around and about the house placing salt as the remainder of the team did the cleansing of the house. One of our members conducted EVP work and recorded the cleansing. Although nothing significant occurred during the cleansing, we talked to the family and advised them if anything came up to please contact us. Upon leaving this home, myself and several of the members could definitely feel a difference in this house. We explained to the family that also the house could be cleansed at this time with positive energy but it could actually change with any actions that they may have which may bring negative energy back into their home. We reviewed the photographs and EVPs and there was nothing found of any significance. We performed a basic cleansing of the house and hopefully the family can feel better. In my opinion, I do not believe there was any type entity present. I do believe there was some form of heavy, dark energy within this home which caused a lot of the problems and fear. Fear can open the door for demonic energy to come into the home and work against the family and continue to bring them down. I do not see any possession or any actual haunt inside the home. After the cleansing, I do feel this family will be better off. We will follow-up in a week or so to make sure everything is going good for the family. At this time, we will close the case and the investigation and prepare for our next investigation in New Orleans, LA.

We have agreed that we will return to this area which is very interesting due to all the Indian activity in the area. Also, it is near Ft. Toulouse where Andrew Jackson signed the treaty with William Rutherford, also known as Red Eagle. There was a Creek Village in that area. Ball Knob is the highest area and I have learned from my readings that the highest area is the holy area where Indians could do prayer and things of the nature. Myself and 5 of our team member were on Ball Knob Hill. Kristen remained in the truck while me and the team were walking around the area and taking photographs. On three different occasions while we were checking out the area, the alarm on the truck went off. The keys were not in the ignition and there was no explanation for why the alarm went off. It was very strange and actually did coincide with some of the stories of batteries dying on cars up there and things happening to vehicles which is very strange and something to note. This is an encouragement to return to this area for a further investigation in the future.

At this time we are going to do another quick investigation of an area that is listed on Shadowlands. We traveled to Tallapoosa County, Alabama to Harper Hill Cemetery on Old Prospect Road off of Highway 49. Upon arriving, we found an old church and cemetery. As soon as you get there, you can feel the presence of something near you. It is rumored that sometimes in the front window of the old decrepit church, you can see a misty substance in the form of a body. You supposedly can feel what is left of the church floor actually vibrate. Also the tombstones are very interesting. We took photographs, we got some very interesting orbs. We were able to go inside the church and walk on the side of the floor. We took EVPs. On several occasions we could hear someone walking around outside the church. At one point we actually picked up a misty form standing behind us in some photographs. The feeling I got from this area was that it was some type of residual haunt inside the old church of a man. I did pick up very strongly a spirit of a young boy around 12 years old. We did a search in the area, investigated and had some very high EMF spikes and there was no electricity whatsoever in that particular area that would have contributed. We did some EVP work which was not audible due to the very windy conditions the night of this investigation. Inside the cemetery we did a search looking for a young child. We actually did find a young man named Virgil who died in 1927 which he was 15 years old. We talked to Virgil throughout the night and got several high EMF spikes during that time. This was a very active area and our team plans on returning to this area on March 10, 2007 in Tallapoosa County. We plan to return and investigate Harper Hill Cemetery again. We also plan on investigating the Liberty Graveyard also in Tallapoosa County, Alabama.

The Pope-Golson Plantation was originally constructed over a period of 5 years beside the Alabama River on land that is now owned by International Paper Company. Daniel Pratt is believed to have been the architect. In 1850, following an outbreak of the "vapors" Dr. Pope had his home dismantled and the pieces numbered with Roman Numerals. They were then mounted on logs and pulled approximately 6 miles uphill by slaves and oxen. It took 2 years to reassemble the home on a 1,600 acre site which was massive undertaking.

There have only been 7 owners of the property:

Dr. Pope – Built on Wadsworth Farms and had house moved.

General Alexander – A Civil War General

Mr. John Bell Golson

Mr. & Mrs. Philip Guiderre (granddaughter of Mr. Golson)

Mr. & Mrs. William Brewer

Mr. Charlie Brown

Betty Corbin

The Historical Commission believes this house to have been constructed by Daniel Pratt in the period between 1815 and 1820. The War Between the States did not occur until 1865. Prior to that time, none of the Southern Antebellum homes had Green Revival columns. They were either built at a later date or added after that time. Thomas Jefferson was a visitor to the house. There is a connection that is not clear. Blood relatives, but don’t know who or how. Visitors have come by this house on their way to the Hermitage for the family reunions. He built his home in 1820, but it burned while he was President. He sent a letter (on file in the Prattville library asking for the name of the craftsman who built the staircase here and at Buena Vista. If you go the Hermitage, his staircase is identical except that it is a right hand staircase where this particular house is a left hand stair case. There are exceedingly few of these homes left and almost none with a stair case that spirals three floors.

There are two large chandeliers that have not been re hung. A giant one in the foyer and a large one in the living room. They were made from 3 chandeliers that came from Jackson’s home in Mississippi. They are the old gas lights that have been converted.

The Alabama Historical Commission visits every few years. Robert Gamble has included this house in several of the books he has written. His latest one is regarding the woodwork in these old homes and includes this house. He tells that some of the mantles in this house are of importance. The house is definitely qualified for the National Register of Historic Places. Habbs has paid several visits from Washington, D.C. The Cahaba Trace Commission paid particular attention to this house and views it to be of particular importance in this area.

The investigation at the Pope Golson house was a great opportunity for the Southern Paranormal Research team. We really appreciate Joe and Melody arranging this investigation for us. We knew from our initial view of the home that it was a beautiful home but did not realize the historical value.

The team consisted of myself (Shawn), Jeremy, Jake, Kristen, Joe, Melanie, Patti, James and Hump. The team was very excited. The owner gave us a personal tour throughout the home, showed us some photos and told us about a painting of Napoleon which he got in Europe that was on his wall. The owner is a major in the Air Force who has recently been sent to Iraq to fight for his country. The home is filled with beautiful antiques and full of history and stories. This home is a very valuable asset to the City of Prattville. We really appreciated the opportunity to investigate this home. There were numerous personal experiences throughout our investigation. The owners have had numerous experiences such as seeing shadow figures walk past doorways, hearing knock on the wall, hearing a party taking place on the 3^{rd floor ballroom, and constantly hearing someone go up and down the winding stairway. The home has been renovated and since then there have been numerous incidents of unexplainable activity.}

The team began our investigation. The first thing that came to our attention was a beautiful 1841 painting of Napoleon and there were numerous stories about this painting. We took numerous photos of the painting. The painting was that of a trick painting that hidden persons depicted. This painting is very old, expensive and a wonderful, wonderful painting. Throughout the evening we did obtain numerous EMF spikes, photographs of orbs, numerous temperature fluctuations by several degrees by using a digital and regular temperature gage. The team had numerous occurrences where batteries died in their cameras throughout the investigation. During the EMF spikes we did review our compasses were reacting at the same time which supported our EMF spikes. We did take into account that this was an old home regards to the EMF activity, but it would register a low amount and then spike, it was never a steady reading. We investigated the entire house inside and outside. We went into every room. One of our investigators while in the master bedroom at 8:30 p.m. was touched on their shoulder. We had another team member in the master bedroom who had an EMF spike and was also touched on their lower back. Several members observed cool breezes pass by them and the temperature fluctuation that was experienced was definitely colder than a breeze. During our investigation we heard footsteps on the 3rd floor and on the steps. The team went to the 3rd floor and no one was there but we could hear the sound as if someone was breathing. Throughout the evening there were occurrences of doors slamming during our investigation that was unexplainable. Several of our sensitive members picked up on the spirit of a young girl and a mother figure in the house. At 5:40 p.m., the blinds were moving in the house, the windows were closed and there were no fans operating within the house to make the blinds move as if they had been knocked off the window pane. This investigation was a wonderful experience. All of the team members concur that there is definitely a presence in the home and possibly a residual haunt. We did not obtain anything as far as EVPs from our recordings. We did obtain some interesting photographs as far as possible orbs. This is definitely a location we would like to return to and spend the night and investigate further and perform an even more thorough investigation which will require more time than was allotted on this date. We definitely feel there is something here but at this time we did not obtain enough evidence to prove our theory and beliefs that this home is haunted. It is certainly a beautiful home with a lot of history. We thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to perform the initial investigation but we work on performing a subsequent investigation in the near future.

The Rawls Hotel

Enterprise, Alabama

We arrived at the Rawls Hotel around 4:00 p.m., myself (Shawn), Jake, Pattie and Christi.  We checked into room 106, we met the owner, did a walk through of the area and developed a game plan for our investigation which will begin after 9:00 p.m.  once the restaurant and bar closes.  The owner informed us that the building mainly had servants that were of Oriental dissent that came in and built the railroad.  In regards to the stories and activities, the lady who was actually thrown down the steps was an Oriental lady who was rumored to be a mistress at the time who was having another affair.  There have been numerous reports of activity throughout the hotel which our interviews will state.  There are also reports of children screaming on the third floor.

SPR began their investigation at 9:00 pm.  The team arrived, we had a quick briefing on known evidence, and prepared a game plan.  Jake did a walk through one more time with Ronnie, the gentlemen over the Rawls Hotel who allowed us the opportunity to perform this investigation.  Jake returned from the walk through with the captains.  On the 3rd floor, they had an experience where chills ran through each of them as they made the turn and we all experienced an extreme heaviness and shortness of breath which we all concurred.  We became very exctied anticipating the possibility of what we might experience once the investigation actually began.  We split into three teams, David lead the team consisting of Joe & Melody, Burnett lead the team of Patti and Leslie, Shawn lead the team consisting of Christie, Jake and Jeremy.  Shawn's team began their investigation downstairs in the basement with David's and Burnett's teams covering the upstairs area.  Throughout the evening, we used EMF detectors, digital cameras, compasses, digital and regular thermometers.  The first thing to note, on my behalf, was during the walk through with Ronnie.  Ronnie made sure all of the lights were off.  Jake came downstairs and got us and came back through and there was a light on upstairs in one of the rooms.  Throughout the eveing some of the things that occurred with Burnett's team at 10:00 p.m. on the 3rd floor on the southside of the hotel, Burnett's team had a feeling of heaviness and it was hard to breathe.  They had a flashlight got out which had new batteries.  At 10:10, Burnett's team heard what seemed to be a child screaming.  At 10:20, a light cam on in Romm 302 and these lights are not timed.  An unnumbered room on the 3rd floor on the southside also had a light come on in what was a locked room.  We had Ronnie come up and unlock the room and there was nothing there to be found the light was turned off.  There was no explanation for this light coming on by itself.  Burnett used dousing rods and asked questions.  He asked if it was a male or female intity.  When he asked male, the rods crossed.  Burnett asked if it was Hayde, who was a former owner who renovated the hotel, and the dousing rods tapped.  Burnett asked if crying was what he heard earlier and the rods crossed again.  At that time, Leslie had a tightening in her throat, Burnett felt something touch his neck, they all three concurred they felt a definate temperature change and very cool breeze.  Again, they heard someone crying.  At 10:29, Leslie experienced a tightness in her throat once again and they definitely had a change in temperature at 10:30 and apparently whatever had been there had left.  Throughout the evening, Burnett's team had numerous EMF spikes which went back and forth and never remained steady along with temperature fluctuations.  Leslie actually had her hair played with and touched and it was witnessed by Patti and Burnett.

David's team had numerous personal experiences, EMF fluctuations, temperature changes, personal experiences of feeling touched, constant odors of cologne/after shave.  Joe became sick on numerous occassions.  When Melody went to the area where Joe was sick, Melody became sick also.  All members of David's team felt fullness at different times throughout the evening.  David's team had experiences that were consistent with experiences of Burnett's team.

Shawn's team had numerous personal experiences.  The investigated the main hallway and the basement.  Nothing of note was detected in the basement, the ballroom, the resaurant or the downstairs.  On the stairwell we did feel a sense of heaviness, we had some EMF spikes, and some temperature changes.  On the 3rd floor we had numerous EMF spikes, temperature fluctuations, feelings of heaviness.  My team smelled an odor of smoke during our initial investigation.  Our team witnessed a light come on while on the 3rd floor at 9:58 p.m.  We also picked up on an older gentleman in that area.

We returned to the room to pack up and have a briefing on our experiences.  During this time, the room filled with odor of smoke again which was not explainable.

In conclusion, in regards to the Rawls Hotel, it is beautiful.  Everyone was extremely nice and hospitable.  they took up time with us to enlighten us on their experiences.  We thank everyone for the opportunity to investigate this lovely piece of history.  I recommend this place to anyone who loves small town hotels and bed and breakfasts.  Also, if anyone wants to stay in a truly haunted hotel, this is the place.  The entire S.P.I.T. team concurs that the Rawls Hotel is definately haunted.  If anyone loves a good ghost story and loves haunted places, I recommend the Rawls.  We did not pick up on anything threatening.  It appeared to be an intelligent haunt throughout.  We sincerely enjoyed our visit.  This is one of the few places we can say, without a doubt, that it is haunted.