Provoking Spirits

There’s a common practice among ghost hunters today.  It’s called ‘provoking’.  The theory is that you can goad a spirit into action by angering or distressing it.  Investigators will taunt the spirit, insult it, call it names.  Anything to get a reaction.

I sort of get it.  I’ve been on long, boring investigations where nothing is happening.  Your ears strain for any creak or rap.  You’ve taken the same picture of the same corner a dozen times.  The questions you pose to spirits on your audio recorder begin to sound a lot like begging.  (“Please, please, please, Mr. Ghost.  Please talk to me.”)  You’d do almost anything to get some action going.  You’re beginning to get really irritated at that stupid ghost who’s not cooperating at all.  It’s tempting to try and stir things up a bit.

Some investigators will try to trigger a negative emotional response from the spirit.   They mock, ridicule and sneer.  They egg the spirit on in the most insulting terms.  And sometimes it works.  They get results—a whisper on their audio recorder, a shadow on their photo, an orb streaking across the room on their film.  For the investigator, the end clearly justifies the means.  Unfortunately, this is just as untrue in paranormal investigating as it is in any other area of life.

The goal of the paranormal investigator is to study phenomena and document it, not to create it.

Firstly, if the haunting is residual, an unconscious re-enactment of a traumatic event of the past, then there is no conscious spirit to interact with.  It’s a little bit like shouting comments at a movie screen.  No amount of cheering or booing is going to change the outcome.

Second, if your objective is to identify the spirit and discover why it haunts a particular location or person, throwing a new set of factors into the investigation will only confuse the results.  The chances that you will be able to discover any information helpful to your client will lessen significantly.

There is an accepted scientific theory that the presence of an observer always changes the nature of the observed.  A serious investigator in any field tries to minimize this as much as possible.  By provoking the spirit, the paranormal investigator is impacting the situation in the most dramatic manner possible.  If your aim is just to get a result, any result, it might be worth it.  But if your aim is to discover the nature and purpose of the spirit and to help the client deal with it, perhaps even convince the spirit to move on, you’ve just defeated your own purpose.

Provoking spirits is ultimately irresponsible.  When the night is over, the investigator gets to go home with another anecdote to add to his collection.  But the client is stuck with a pissed off ghost.  Very few clients come to a paranormal investigator because they’re comfortable with the activity in their home or place of business.  They come to us for help, for answers and for understanding.  The least we can do is act professionally.  We can’t promise results but we can promise to do no harm.

The most important tool an investigator should bring with them is respect.  Respect for the client, respect for the location and respect for the spirit. 

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Patricia Davisson is the EVP specialist for Puget Sound Ghost Hunters. 

The Paradox of a “Private” Case

One thing that modern paranormal investigators struggle with is balancing the drive to promote unity and cooperation within the paranormal community and our commitment to helping our clients, most of whom demand free and confidential investigations.  Let’s face it with today’s saturated paranormal market, if you don’t offer investigations for free and promise confidentiality clients will just go somewhere else.

 

As investigators, we want to share our data and techniques with other teams.  We want to make our findings available so that the results can be tested and duplicated by other investigators.  Only by adhering to recognized scientific methodology can we hope to be taken seriously.  But how to we do that and still meet our client’s expectations of privacy.  When we offer confidentiality and promise not to publish names and addresses, how are other investigators ever to be able to validate our work? 

 

I believe that it is possible to be faithful to our promises to the client and to share our data with other researchers in the paranormal community.  It’s possible as long as we take adequate precautions to protect our client’s privacy.

 

One way is to publish our data as blind experiments.  To do this we must maintain a database of cases with enough detail to make our experiments reproducible but still keep the client’s name and location confidential.  Assigning case numbers is one sure way to do that.  But still we want to be able to track possible ley lines or paranormal geographic hot spots so some kind of location identifier is necessary.  Using a telephone prefix or zip code will help with identifying a general location without giving the details that will violate confidentiality agreements.

 

As paranormal investigators we walk a fine line, balancing our need to research and experiment with our desire to help our clients.  We must be able to continue to offer them the confidentiality the need or we will find that those private cases are no longer coming our way.   It may take a little extra effort on our part but in the end all that hard work just might pay off in a big way.

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Stephanie Davisson is the president of Puget Sound Ghost Hunters.  She has travelled around the US lecturing on the paranormal and has had the privilege to investigate numerous sites in the US and Europe.

Do paranormal investigations follow the scientific method?

You see many groups out there who claim to be scientific in their approach to the paranormal investigations.  But are they just confusing using technical equipment with using scientific methods?  And with paranormal investigation as long as the client is happy does it really matter?

The scientific method is a specific format for obtaining and reviewing data to answer a question or come to a conclusion.  There are very specific steps that have been used for hundreds of years and allow the investigator to be assured that the results of any experiment will be repeatable.

So, what is the scientific method?  Quite simply it is six very clear steps that anyone should be able to follow:

Step 1.  Ask a question.  All experimentation starts with the question.  In paranormal investigation, the question might be is this location haunted? 

Step 2.  Do background research.  Has this question been asked before?  Has someone already reached a conclusion?  Look at historical examples of similar cases and see what conclusions were drawn from other experiments.

Step 3.  Construct your hypothesis based on your question.  State your hypothesis in a way that is easy to test.  “Client A experiences cold spots whenever her uncle’s name is mentioned.  If we say her uncle’s name three times, the temperature will go down three times as much.”

Step 4.  Test your hypothesis by conducting an experiment.  Remember to repeat your experiment several times to validate the results. 

Step 5.  Analyze the data and come to a conclusion.  How many times were your results repeated?  Were the variables always the same?  In the case of Client A and her uncle’s cold spots, did you say his name at the same time each day?  Were weather conditions exactly the same?  What conclusion can you draw from your results?  Was it only colder on winter nights when the window was open?

Step 6.  Share your results.  Write up a report of your experiment and share it with other paranormal groups.  This is exactly what professional scientists do whenever the publish study results.

If paranormal investigators want to be taken seriously by other scientists, using the scientific method is the first step to gaining acceptance.  It’s a challenge but one that needs to be met head on and with gusto.

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Stephanie Davisson is the president of Puget Sound Ghost Hunters.  She has travelled around the US lecturing on the paranormal and has had the privilege to investigate numerous sites in the US and Europe.

Ghostly Definitions — Nancy Reed

Puget Sound Ghost Hunters are paranormal investigators, specializing in the observation and inquiry into phenomena that are understood to lie outside of science’s current ability to explain or measure. That’s the long winded explanation for what we do. We pretty much are the ones who check out what could be causing things that go bump in the night . . . or day.

Our first priority is to observe anything that happens in a particular area. . . inside or outside. We measure and record what we can, and we do our best to recreate or determine what made the noise or image or whatever it was. Usually we can come up with a natural, normal explanations.

But sometimes . . . things aren’t so easily explained. Sometimes, evidence leads us to special entities.

Ghosts were people, too.  It’s a fact paranormal investigators try to remember when we can’t find a “logical” or “regular” reason for an event.

When most people hear the word “ghost,” what comes to mind is the Intelligent, or “disembodied spirit at unrest.”   This is a manifestation of a spirit that is aware of itself, and is usually anxious for interaction with living people around it.  The theory is that most desembodied spirits remain bound to the earth because of a traumatic death or unresolved conflicts from their life.  These spirits have personalities and can sometimes exhibit the will and power to show themselves in the physical world of the living.  This is called a “manifestation.” A manifestation can appear to a person via any one of the senses: by sight, sound, touch, smell, and ocassionally, taste.

People sometimes experience the same phenomena over and over, in the same place or the same time.  This is referred to as “residual,” and its more a psychic imprint from the past than anything else.  Any of these experiences are not from a concious mind at work.  Violent acts, or strong emotions can attach to a place and the incident is “played” over and over again, like a video on a loop.  What the living experience is a quick glimpse into the past.  The entities cannot interact with those observing, and the observer cannot interact with the impressions: there is no consciousness there to interact with — it’s just an image, or scent, or some other sort of left over energy.

There is another type of manifestation that a has a bit of a controversy, a poltergeist.  This type of manifestation usually involves strange noises, objects that move, scratches on a living person, and sometimes events such as fires and flooding.  These events usually center on one person, usually an adolescent and very rarely woman in menopause.  There is debate over whether the person is using the enegy of the extreme hormonal shifts going on inside the body to tap into latent telekentic or psychic power and is subconsciously doing the deeds, or if spirits draw upon that energy to produce the effects.  Further investigations may shed some difinitive answers on this phenomenon.

The last type of spirit energy involves an malevolent entity that appears to defy any human intelligence or behavior.  There is a theory that these energies never lived upon the earth as humans and are considered not just rare, but potentially dangerous.  The range of activity can go from mild to include symptoms of insanity, and the accompanying dangers.  If a “demonic,” or “evil” entity is suspected of lurking about it is advised that a religious authority be called in to help manage things.  A paranormal group will most likely not observe this phenomena unassisted.  There are no experts in the paranormal field (yet), but in this case, religious officials at least have historical practices to call upon.  This is a energy force that does not require study as much as it requires special handling for the health and safety of all involved.

These are the basic types of spirits.  Despite what television may show, the majority of encounters with spirits are harmless.  They may be startling, but nothing to be seriously worried about.  Most paranormal investigators have no fear of these entities.   Just remember, “Ghosts were people, too.”

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Nancy’s a substitute teacher by day, and a paranormal investigator by night.  She’s decided shewould rather face a whole class of ghosties than real, live middle schoolers. If a spirit tosses a paper airplane, she’d make sure a camera was going. If a kid does it, she has to go into “teacher mode” or the class goes nuts.

Octo”boo”er – My Favorite Month – Dani Davis

Not only is fall my favorite season, but October really is a fun month.  As the weather turns a little more crisp, there is so much to do.  Here are a few ideas to check out, some scary, some family friendly and some are just down right fun!  Check out their listed website for prices and times.  Some locations will allow you to purchase tickets online to avoid waiting in line.  Also note that some of the haunted places have a no scare/walk event during the day for families.

Maris Farms — Buckley, WA   www.marisfarms.com    It’s the 11th season at the quaint and historic dairy farm location.  Fall attractions featured: Haunted Woods, Pumpkin Patch, Pig Races, a thrilling Courtyard full of activities for children, Pedal Cart Racing for children and adults, lots of new tube and roller slides…and much much more!

Haunted Fairground — Bremerton, WA  www.kitsaphauntedfairgrounds.com     Where your darkest nightmares come to life!  Expanded this year — two haunts for the price of one — all indoors.  Waiting lines are in heated building and concessions are available.  Open last three weekends in October.

Dark Hallow Haunt — Maple Valley, WA  www.darkhollowhaunt.com     A new Halloween tradition!  Follow the frightful trail through outdoor and indoor screams, er, scenes that are sure to thrill!

Scary Nights — Monroe, WA  www.scary-nights.com     The season is upon us and it is time for Scary Nights to thrill and chill you through an exhilarating maze.  They will shake you through a sense stimulating experience as you wander through their hall of haunts.  From ages 10 to 80, you can go for an exciting night that will be par none to anything else you have experienced before, if you dare!

Fall Festival at Remlinger Farms — Carnation, WA  www.remlingerfarms.com     You are welcome to bring your family out to enjoy the Remlinger family’s signature event.  Amusement rides, corn mazes, pumpkin patch, petting zoo.  So much to see and do!

This is just a sampling of what’s out there, for more info, check out the following:

Haunted Attractions: www.hauntedhouse.com

Family Friendly Events: www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/WApnw.php

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Dani Davis is a member of Puget Sound Ghost Hunters, a sensitive and former guide for a paranormal tour company in Seattle.

Was that a ghost or just my mind playing tricks on me?

There were a lot of topics I considered for this blog.  I thought about the nature of haunting and how the explosion of paranormal tv, radio and webcasts have influenced our society, I even thought about how to handle a case where you really just think the client is off his meds.  But I decided that what I really want to get into is why we have to be careful when reviewing our evidence or listening for those illusive ghost voices that whisper to us from the invisible world.

The human brain is an enormously wonderful muscle. It is fantastically complex and simple at the same time.  Our stimuli recognition capabilities are out of this world, letting us see three dots and recognize it as a happy face, or hear some clicks in the static and find a voice whispering our name.  It’s truly amazing that we can make instantaneous decisions based on information we already have stored in our brain filing cabinets without consciously sorting through those files.  But here’s where we have to be careful because those dots might just be dots and those clicks might just be clicks.

Pareidolia is a brain malfunction that lets us misinterpret those dots and clicks as something we recognize instead of what it really is.  We see shadows on a hill in a picture of mars and find a face.  But the face isn’t really there.  There were no little green men who built some kind of stone structure just for us to find.  As a matter of fact, if you look at photos of the same location taken at different times during the planet’s rotation when the shadow aspect is different you won’t see a face at all just a lump of dust. 

As paranormal investigators we need to be aware of our own limitations and understand that we aren’t always right in our interpretation of our evidence.  We need the eyes and ears of others to help us recognize when we have made a mistake.  This is where the team evidence review is so important.  Verifying our interpretation with others helps to reduce the claims of pareidolia from skeptics.

Here are a few tips I recommend when reviewing evidence.

1. If it’s a photo anomaly, attempt to return to the location and visually inspect the site for shadows that might cause objects to appear as something other than what it is. 
2.  Re-create the moment to the best of your ability with a critical eye for what might have caused the anomaly. 
3.  Don’t be fooled that zooming in on a digital photo will give you greater clarity.  Trying to focus too closely on one specific point may cause the digital photo to become more obscured.
4.  For audio and video files, play them straight through the first time.  Make note of the time code for any possible anomalies but don’t dwell on them during this initial review.
5. Go back over just those points in your audio and video files where you found anomalies during your initial review.  Isolate those sections and play them back once.  If you don’t hear the same thing during the second playback, cross it off your list and move on. 
6.  Save the remaining anomalies as separate video and audio files and number them. (EVP1, EVP2 or VID1 & VID2)  Do not make any note of what you think you see or hear in the file name.
7.  Share your anomalies with the rest of your team.  Let them listen to or view the anomalies individually with headphones and write down what they think they see or hear.  No one at this point should share what they think they see or hear until everyone has had a chance to review the anomalies.
8.  Compare the interpretations of all team members for similarities.  If it’s just a matter of hearing a voice say “Hi I’m Bob” or “Hey I rob” those are similar and you can assume that yes, you have something worth sharing with the client.  If you hear “Hi I’m Bob” but your team hears nothing but static, then you have fallen victim to pareidolia.  Accept it but don’t be discouraged.  But never put forth anything that your team has serious disagreements over. If you, as a team, aren’t sure it’s true evidence, then your critics will be sure it’s not. 
9.  The most important piece of advice I can give is not to be seduced by the evidence.  Don’t keep going over your audio and video files hoping that you’ll find something you missed the first time.  If it wasn’t there during your initial review, it won’t suddenly materialize during a second or third review. 

 

But please don’t get hurt feelings if I just don’t hear or see what you do.  I’m not doubting your ability as an investigator, nor your honesty about your evidence.  Working together to make sure that any evidence of the paranormal that we put our name on will only help to increase our credibility and the credibility of field.

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Stephanie Davisson is the president of Puget Sound Ghost Hunters.  She has travelled around the US lecturing on the paranormal and has had the privilege to investigate numerous sites in the US and Europe.

“Seeing is believing in Seattle: Down Town/Bell Town” By: Dani Davis

So, don’t lie to me, you didn’t drive in to Seattle to check out the water front did you? No, no, that’s ok. I understand. Maybe it was: too rainy, too cold or you were fearful of the traffic, all valid excuses. Perhaps you need a little more to convince you into visiting. Maybe you need a few more tidbits of odd history or folklore that you couldn’t possibly resist? OK, I’ll try again….

Mahoney Trunk Murder – New Baker House/New Oregon Apartments – 1 Av/Bell St

1920, 67 year old Kate Mooers became a very affluent woman thanks to her now ex-husband. She wore expensive jewels, drove a seven passenger Westcott sedan and was well known. However, she was also miserable, short, stout and balding. From her new found riches she purchased the New Baker House, which offered nice living spaces. This building was managed by her friend Nora and Nora’s 35 year old daughter, Dolores. Upon visiting one day to assist in collecting rents, Kate was introduced to Jim Mahoney, Nora’s 36 year old son.  According to reports, sparks flew and the two were married in February 1921. After a few months of marriage they decided to finally take a Honeymoon. April 15, Kate collected nearly $2000 cash from her safe deposit box and then purchases a few travelers checks and  informs friends and neighbors she’s leaving the next night for King St Station. Eleven days later, the groom returned home without his wife. Stating that she was enjoying the vacation too much, he was now in charge of all her affairs. He emptied her accounts, attempted to sell her assets and businesses while enjoying the high life. Family started to get worried when they received letters and postcards from Kate but not in her hand writing. After an investigation, it appears that on April 16, Jim hit Kate over the head with a club, stuffed her body in a steam trunk and poured quicklime over her body. He then hired a transfer company to take the trunk to a rental boat dock near Lake Union. There, Mahoney rows out to the middle of the lake and dumps the trunk overboard. The police search the ship canal for weeks but find nothing.  The trunk finally floats to the surface some 4 months later. The remains were identified as Kate Mooers Mahoney, although the face was gone, the false teeth and wedding ring inside the trunk were hers.  Autopsy results indicated she was drugged with over 30 grains of morphine prior to the head trauma. Having been a mean woman in life, why not be a mean woman in death. There have been reports of Kate wondering the hall of the New Baker House/New Oregon Apartments, possibly attempting to collect rent. Tenants have heard the clicking of heals in abandoned hallways.   Just think she might have been the first cougar in Seattle?

The Rivoli Apartments – 2100 Block of 2nd Avenue

Thanks in part to the political views of Former Pres. Regan, many sanitariums were shut down for being considered inhumane. One patient in particular found her home here at the Rivoli Apartments, as at the time during the 80’s this was considered low-rent property. She had been institutionalized since infancy and required a quite a bit of attention. Twice a day nurses tended to her needs and administered her meds, however that just wasn’t enough. Often times she would plug up her toilet causing a plumber to come out, sometimes for up to a few hours a day to assist in retrieving items flushed away. Since her passing, this is the only documented haunted toilet in Seattle to date.

Around that same time a young couple found themselves living in these same apartments.  One night the other tenants report hearing a loud argument between the Cuban male and Eskimo female. It was reported that both parties left the area. A few weeks later the landlord came by to collect rent but there was no answer at the door. He then waited a few more days and gained access into the apartment. Upon entering he was overwhelmed by a horrible stench, after searching for a few minutess – the landlord found the female tied up and decaying in a Murphy Bed. The case is still unsolved as the boyfriend’s whereabouts are unknown.

The infamous apartments then took a starring role in the tv show “Unsolved Mysteries”. A few psychics visited the apartment building hoping to assist with the prior issues. Little did they know they would get visited by two other tenants who lived and died in the building. The two spirits spent most of their time caring for HIV/Aids patients who lived in the building, before both succumbing to the disease themselves. With the lowest reports of DV (domestic violence) and police calls for the area – perhaps they are still watching over the tenants.

Moore Theatre/Josephinum

Built in 1907, The Moore Theater was and still is an important part of Seattle history. Many bands got their start in this theater and to this day the theater hosts a wide range of entertainment. Notably known is the Moore Hotel located next door, host to an overdose by front man Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. Although he didn’t die here, he did have a near death experience. 

In the late 80’s two employees playing with a Ouija board were walked in on by a manager – fired on the spot, the two were never able to properly close the board. Many things have happened since that incident and many employees were unable to walk into that office without uneasiness or the unsettling feeling of breathing down ones neck. Management turned it into a very large and spacious closet.

A certain chair up on the balcony has a history of ghost scent. No matter how many times this chair is cleaned or reupholstered the scent of cigar smoke is still present. Mr. Moore himself just can’t be taken away from all these headliner acts!!

Just further south from the theater is another creepy, er, um, I mean lovely building. Built taller because of the jealousy with Mr. Moore. The Josephinum was built up since it couldn’t be built out due to zoning. However, what the owner didn’t know is that he built this facility on sacred grounds. Having been the first unofficial cemetery in Seattle, some bodies still remain under the structure – not all families could afford the price to have their loved one moved. After sitting abandoned some time after the depression, the Catholic Church purchased the building and turned it into a retirement facility. Maybe this upset the buried clients because a female voice can be heard crying loudly up and down the stair cases. But no one ever seems to be found.

As always: Feel free to check these places out, respect private property and no trespass signs, if posted. Use common sense and be respectful to your surroundings. And be prepared for the unusual! Happy Hauntings.  

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Dani Davis is a member of Puget Sound Ghost Hunters, a sensitive and former guide for a paranormal tour company in Seattle.

Where are the ghost hunter’s rehab centers?

by Stephanie Davisson

It’s summertime.  That means cookouts, beach, family reunions and lots of fun in the sun.  I’m having a great time and working on my tan.  And man is it ever cutting into my ghost hunting time!  I’m starting to go into haunted house withdrawal.

Am I sick because I miss sitting in dark musty rooms talking to people that no one else can see?  Are my family planning an intervention?  Does SCRAM make a bracelet that detects ectoplasm?  If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then I’m in serious trouble.  Next time you see me I may be standing in front of a room of other ghost hunters, all drinking bad coffee.  “Hello, my name is Stephanie and I haven’t recorded an EVP in four weeks.”  Applause!  Applause!  Applause!

Seriously though, summer is a very difficult time to find places for investigations.  First off, calls from private clients dry up in the warmer months.  It’s not so much that the paranormal activity only occurs in the fall and winter, no it’s more a case of out of sight out of mind.  With the warm weather brings more outdoor activity, keeping people out of their homes.  They are less likely to notice subtle paranormal activity and more inclined to attribute it to their imagination or coincidence.  When the weather turns colder and people start spending more time indoors, they begin to see patterns that they may not have previously noticed and question whether or not something odd is going on.  That’s when they start looking for someone to help them find answers.

Outdoor investigations are also more challenging during the summer months because it stays light for so long.  It’s hard to justify scheduling an investigation for after sun down when it doesn’t get dark until 9:00 or 10:00 at night.  Many locations don’t want to stay open that late.

Cemeteries are always a good place to visit, when other options aren’t available.  But many of them are located in residential areas and that means back yard BBQ’s and parties.  Fun in the sun equals noise, which make EVP recording impossible.  It sounds funny to be complaining about the warm weather when we end up cancelling many outdoor investigations in the winter months because of rain and snow, but I wouldn’t really be the me everybody loves if I wasn’t complaining about something, now would I?

So, where does that leave me?  Yup!  Looking in the yellow pages for a ghost hunter rehab center.

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Stephanie Davisson is the president of Puget Sound Ghost Hunters.  She has travelled around the US lecturing on the paranormal and has had the privilege to investigate numerous sites in the US and Europe.

“Seeing is believing in Seattle: The Waterfront” by Dani Davis

First off, have you ever been to Seattle? OK, using my psychic powers, I heard both yes and no, and one very sarcastic, of course?! (Not very nice mister!) However you answered, would you be interested in learning some very odd and interesting history that may include some paranormal activity?? Yeah I figured as much!  I’d like to tell you about a few known & unknown sites that you may be surprised to learn have an interesting past… 

Ivar’s Fish Bar/ Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe – Waterfront, Pier 54

If you are from this area guaranteed you’ve heard of both of these, if not…Ivar Haglund was a local celebrity and made dancing clams famous and synonymous with good seafood for the Average Joe! Right next door to this awesome eatery is the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, a Seattle landmark for over 100 years, with trinkets of all kinds and Seattle souvenirs. Located in this store are shrunken heads, Sylvester the Mummy, totem poles and even a whale’s jaw bone. What you may not know is in the attic above these adjoining locations, is a show piano once feature in one of Ivar’s more high-end locations. Late at night, employees from either location have heard the piano being played. Now, this may not seem like a big concern, but having once been authorized to tour the attic, I was taken aback to see the piano in shambles and unable to be played.  Creepy huh…

Waterfront – Pier 70

Further north on the waterfront, you will find the famed location of “Real World Seattle”, which aired on MTV in the 90’s. However in 1899, it was the scene to something a little more interesting. At this same location stood a lovely piece of land that was used a day beach/picnic area. A large party enjoying the day, noticed an elderly native walking along the surf. This wouldn’t have piqued anyone’s interest except for the fact that he left behind no footprints. Some believe this was Chief Sealth looking after the city named for him. Chief Sealth died in 1866 and was the chief to the local Suquamish & Duwamish Tribes who settled nearby.  How am I doing so far…?

Western Ave – Heritage House

Located in the shadow of the well known Pike Place Market, stands a modern day nursing home, catering to a few wealthy clients. A few of the residents have reported seeing an unknown elderly female shaking their beds. This same location once housed the home of Princess Angeline, Chief Sealth’s oldest and famed blue eyed daughter. Not a common feature among Native heritage.  Because of this rarity, she was considered a spiritual figure through-out the tribe and the pioneers who settled around the area.  The Denny party, now this name has to sound familiar, knew of her significance and kidnapped her. Placing her on display with a pigmy goat (side note: ever wonder how the Woodland Park Zoo started?). Realizing that she was a person, not an animal, they freed her and she lived out her life in a cabin on top a mound of discarded shells from the above mentioned Pike Place Market. She spent her time making baskets to sell at the, get this, YE OLDE CURIOSITY SHOPPE! She lived to the estimated age of 82, and has been seen in full body apparition at this retirement center with the same description as the day she died, Long Whitish Hair, Piercing Blue Eyes, dressed in Native attire. Maybe she wants a better bed?

Post Alley – Kells Irish Pub

If I were to tell you there once was a 4 story funeral home, named Baker & Butterworth’s, which included the city morgue, funeral parlor and living space for the director and staff just a half block away from Pike Place Market , would you believe me? What if I were to tell you that the basement, aka the morgue, now houses a well known Irish Pub, would you believe that? Well you should. Kells staff may not want to talk about it, but apparitions and orbs have been seen frequently in this business. If you enter the main area of the bar, on the south wall, tables or should I say examination tables were once set up to assist in the embalming of the recently deceased. If you plan on visiting the bar, take note that on that south side the patrons never stay in this area for long. Maybe the liquid spirits aren’t the only ones they are seeing? One floor above used to house another bar and is currently under renovation. However, staff used to witness a female apparition descending the stairs from the living quarters to the parlor area, ready to greet mourning family and friends. Funny how the businesses that open here never stay for too long… very interesting.

So this makes you want to go find these locations doesn’t it? Feel free to check them out. As always respect private property and no trespass signs, if posted. Almost every place I’ll be bringing to you has public access, but please use common sense and be respectful to your surroundings. And be prepared for the unusual! Happy Hauntings.  

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Dani Davis is a member of Puget Sound Ghost Hunters, a sensitive and former guide for a paranormal tour company in Seattle.

Poltergeist – just a messy ghost or something more?

The term “poltergeist” translates from the German as “Noisy Ghost”.  Poltergeist activity includes knocks and rapping, disembodied voices, shadows, furniture or other objects moving on their own, and sometimes violent physical assault. Sounds like just about any intelligent haunting, right? So why do so many paranormal investigators think there’s something else going on?  Let’s look at some famous cases to see for ourselves.

The Bell Witch case is possibly the most famous American ghost story.  The haunting began in 1817 when John Bell and his children first noticed that something was just not right at their Tennessee farm.  At the time, the source of the activity was thought to be a curse placed on John Bell by a neighbor that he had cheated in a business deal.   Simple knockings and whispers escalated into a full phantom assault on John Bell and his teenage daughter Betsy.  Soon the family reported that Betsy became the main target of the attacks with scratches, hair pulling and punches all delivered by unseen hands.  The family became so afraid for Betsy’s life that they attempted to remove her from the home, but the attacks just followed her into hiding.  The Bell Witch haunting lasted until John Bell’s death in 1820 and then simply stopped. 

The Enfield case is probably England’s most famous poltergeist case.  The story begins in 1977 with Peggy Harper and her 4 children in their London home.  As with the Bell case, the phenomena began slowly and quietly with furniture vibrating and moving then progressing to knocking sounds and toys moving on their own.  Peggy first called in the police who referred her to the Society for Psychical Research (SPR).  Investigators came out to the home on numerous occasions over several months.  At first the home was quiet when the investigators were in residence, but soon, Peggy’s 11 year old daughter Janet became the focus of the activity.  And while not as violent as the Bell case, the activity was just as disturbing to the family.  The activity suddenly stopped 2 years after it began.

The Smurl case happened in Pennsylvania, again in the late 1970’s.  The home occupied by the Smurl family was a duplex, with Janet, Jack and their children living in one half and Jack’s parents living in the other.  As with other Poltergeist cases, the activity began slowly but soon progressed to more violent behavior.  This case, however, differs from the other with the inclusion of the apparition of a dark shadowy figure.  Soon activity became increasingly violent toward their young daughter Dawn, causing the family to become afraid to remain in their own home.  They called in renowned demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who identified 4 entities in the home, one of which was demonic.  Attempts to rid the home of these entities failed.  Even when the family moved they continued to be plagued by violent activity until the mid-1980’s.

As we look briefly at these three cases, we can see some striking similarities.  Each family was originally tight knit before paranormal activity began to tear them apart.  And in each family was a teen or pre-teen girl.  Even the activity reported was, in essence, the same.

If these cases are so similar why did three different sets of eyes looking at the evidence come up with three entirely different causes? 

A curse.  According to history record, John Bell entered into business with his neighbor who should have read the fine print.  When, at the end of the deal, she came out with much less than she expected she took John Bell to court but lost her appeal for justice.  She was heard to say that she would make him pay.  Shortly after that the strange activity at the Bell farm began.

A Hoax. In the Enfield case, on one instance Janet was thrown out of her bed and upon reviewing the photographic evidence investigators began to suspect that she was faking the activity.  At that point what began as an interesting haunted house became just another child seeking attention.

A Demon. In the Smurl case, Ed and Lorraine Warren said they felt demonic forces were at work in the family home.  The dark figure seen by both women in the family had a menacing presence and led to an atmosphere of anxiety within the home. 

It appears that the word “Poltergeist” has become a kind of catch-all for the type of significant activity that can be seen in just about any intelligent haunting where the entities involved exert enough energy to interact with the environment.  It is even possible that investigators interpret the evidence based on their own point of view in regards to theory. 

The current popular theory is that a human agent who is undergoing strong hormonal or emotional changes unconsciously creates the activity with previously undemonstrated psychic ability.  A kind of impromptu telekinesis, if you will.  These human agents are often teens of both genders, women undergoing menopause, women who have recently given birth or miscarried a child.  Theory holds that as soon as the human agent’s hormones re-balance, the activity stops and their PSI ability leaves, never to be demonstrated again.  But even this cause can’t be applied to all cases.  Certainly not those cases where activity continues for several years like the Bell case and the Smurl case. 

In addition, not all Poltergeist cases seem to require a human agent.  Although there is often a human focus, the term human agent implies that the phenomenon has a human source and we have no conclusive evidence of that.  As a matter of fact, poltergeist-like activity has been reported in locations where there is no single human agent. 

Waverly Hills Sanatorium sees hundreds of visitors each year and paranormal research and ghost hunting groups investigate the site almost every night of the year.  In this location, the transient nature of the occupants would seem to eliminate the human agent theory; however poltergeist-like activity is still reported.  Trigger objects move on their own, knocks and raps are heard and even some physical contact with investigators and visitors has been reported.  So if there is no human agent creating the activity through psychic means and there is no trickery, which would require some mass conspiracy, then what are we left with as an explanation? 

This brings us back to the question at hand.  What is a poltergeist and are all poltergeist cases created equal?  Should we continue to use a word that has so thoroughly lost its meaning?  Maybe we, as investigators, need to quit trying to label things we don’t understand and get back to the business of observing and cataloging phenomena and looking for correlations. 

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Stephanie Davisson is the president of Puget Sound Ghost Hunters.  She has travelled around the US lecturing on the paranormal and has had the privilege to investigate numerous sites in the US and Europe.