[IGHS] Newsletter, October 10, 2004 Topaz Lake, Nevada

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Mission Statement:

The Ghostweb is the official Web Site of the International Ghost Hunters Society. Membership in the IGHS is always FREE. The IGHS is an international society dedicated and committed to the research, documentation, education, and investigation of ghostly phenomena recorded through EVP, digital, film and video photography. The IGHS is a society of ghost believers, ghost hunters, and ghost researchers with over 14,000 members in 87 countries worldwide.

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International Ghost Hunters Society Newsletter

October 10, 2004 from Topaz Lake, Nevada

Dr. Dave’s Notes:

IGHS members sometimes contact us regarding whether we have ever been frightened while conducting an investigation in a cemetery. For the most part, we are not. However, there have been three times in our fifteen years of investigations that we found ourselves a bit unnerved. I would like to share these three spooky times, simply for your amusement. We laugh at them today, ourselves.

A few years ago, after filming a segment for A&E, we stopped by an 1849 cemetery in Kings Valley, Oregon. This was an old pioneer cemetery where after Indian raids, the victims, both white and red, were buried in the same cemetery. The white portion of the cemetery was well taken care of, lawn mowed and looked peaceful, but the Indian portion was unkempt, the grass and weeds had taken over and most of the headstones were buried in tall grass. Very unsightly and not respectful to those buried therein.

We finished filming about 7 PM at the farm home and drove a mile or two to the cemetery. It was still daylight. The cemetery sat on a small hill overlooking the valley. The fog was just beginning to roll into the valley, still below the cemetery. The coyotes were howling and the full moon made a perfect accompaniment to the low fog rolling into the area.

We had parked on the upper edge of the cemetery above the Indian section, as this was the area we wanted to investigate. Sunken graves and gopher holes were randomly scattered over the field we had to walk through. We walked down to a grave with an attractive headstone and started to take 36 digital photos with an early version digital camera put out by Cannon. Sharon was using a 35 mm camera.

Suddenly we felt a psychological terror descend upon our minds. We felt threatened with our very lives if we lingered any longer in the Indian cemetery. The anger and hatred for the whites by the Indians was still in force one hundred fifty years later.

Sharon returned to the car after taking a few photos, but I refused to be driven off by this ghostly psychological threat of fear that clouded my mind. I continued taking digital photos until I had snapped all 36 frames. It was hard on me standing alone by the dilapidated headstones snapping photos while this cloud of psychological fear ate away at my mind.

I turned to walk back to the car, but in my mind, I wanted to run. I did not want to give any acknowledgment to the fear eating away at my mind and nerves. Suddenly I had the terrible thought, "What would happen if the car wouldn't start?" In movies, just before the monster attacks, the car does not start. In the mean time, Sharon had returned to the car, locked all the doors, and started the Honda.

I made it to the car and again felt secure in knowing that at least I was in the car and it was running. We quickly drove out of that old cemetery with haste. A sense of relief flooded us as left this haunted cemetery. When Sharon's film came back from the lab, she had captured several ectoplasmic clouds near headstones while I captured nothing, but dust orbs.

Another event took place when we stopped in Douglas, Wyoming. They had a large cemetery that we decided to investigate that evening. No signs posted that the cemetery closed at dark so we entered and walked along taking photos. There was a full moon so it was easy to walk and see the headstones in the moon light. We found the small children's section where there had been a recent burial, which meant there was fresh dirt. I walked along the edge and suddenly my right foot slipped off of the grass and into the soft dirt.

My shoe sunk down in the dirt to my ankle. My immediate thoughts were that someone had grabbed my foot and would pull me down. This thought came from watching too many horror videos where the monster raised up out of the grave, grabbed an innocent victim, and pulled them down into the freshly dug grave. Well, I screamed, and my scream scared Sharon who screamed, and I heard her scream and thought that she must also have gotten grabbed by this grave monster, so I screamed again. We both laughed when I lifted my foot from the soft dirt and realized how silly I had been. Here I was a ghost hunter and I was spooked by something as innocent as fresh dirt.

A few years ago, we held a ghost conference at Skykomish, Washington. We held our field investigation at Wellington, a railroad switching town at the mouth of Cascade tunnel that went through the mountain. An avalanche destroyed the town one hundred years before and at the same time, buried a passenger train and all those onboard. The local newspaper reported that about 100 people perished in the avalanche. We drove up to Wellington a week before the conference to check out the directions to the lost town, located just below the summit in the Cascade Mountains. We found the abandoned town site and the entrance to the Cascade tunnel. The railroad ties had been removed leaving only the railroad bed.

Sharon stayed in the Honda while I climbed down the bank and entered the tunnel with our night vision scope. I walked into the tunnel until the light from the entrance was no longer interfering with the night vision scope. As I scanned down the long tunnel, I suddenly saw yellow eyes staring back at me. I realized that the yellow eyes were not at ground level, but were about two-thirds of the distance from ground to ceiling. I estimated that the yellow eyes were about 12 feet off of the ground. The longer I starred at the yellow eyes, I slowly came to realize that the yellow eyes were coming toward me.

I got spooked and turned and quickly made my way out of the tunnel and made record time climbing the embankment. I got into the car and locked the doors. It never dawned on me that the glass windows were absolutely no protection from a creature that might want to have a snack. Sharon asked what was wrong, as I was drenched in sweat. I said to give me a moment to catch my breath. Suddenly we both heard a loud thump, as if someone took a board and hit it hard against the rock wall. The loud thump echoed and we both looked at each other, wondering what in the world was down there. It wanted us to know that it was there, yet not to intrude.

We hurriedly retreated from the wilderness site, glad to be alive and hoping the low ground clearance of the Honda would not be a problem in our escape. The following weekend, we held the conference. On the Friday night before the Saturday event, six of those attending wanted to see where I had observed the mysterious yellow eyes. So I agreed and we all got into our vehicles and headed up to Wellington. When we arrived, the six big men were joking and laughing as we climbed down the embankment to the entrance of the Cascade tunnel.

They walked into the darkness. I followed behind them and while they took photos, I offered them the use of the night vision scope. Each man who looked through the night vision scope saw a pair of yellow eyes, but this time it was lower to the ground. First one man would say it was on the far left, when the night vision scope passed to the next man, he would report the yellow eyes had moved to the middle of the railroad bed. Eventual all six men had observed the yellow eyes and when the last man said it looked like the yellow eyes were getting closer to them, they decided to abandoned the search and return immediately to their vehicles. This time, they moved rapidly and there was no laughter or joking en route to their vehicles, only the thunder of footsteps.

When the conference was over and we all departed for our homes, we stopped at the Bigfoot statue to get some coffee from the gift shop. While we were chatting with the clerk, we learned that a Bigfoot had been sighted the previous weekend two canyons away from Wellington. The area was known for sightings of the Bigfoot, and perhaps we were lucky enough to experience a Bigfoot. While this has nothing to do with ghost hunting, they were our experiences were because we were ghost hunting.

We never know what outcome will occur when we conduct an investigation. Three times in fifteen years isn't too bad. Now we can look back and smile as we remember the times we experienced ghostly fears and the time we experienced fear coming from our own minds, or the fear of the unknown, as in yellow eyes. Now regular ghosts and apparitional sightings are mundane for we have known fear and have survived and been made stronger because of it.

Happy trails.

Sharon’s Notes:

After reading Dave’s rendition of some frightening experiences, I can look back and see how influenced we are by television. That adrenaline rush from scary movies and the constant warnings as kids to be careful were really effective. Fear is mostly in our minds when it comes to paranormal events and the unknown. As adults, we can look back over these types of events and see where the fear comes from. As we watch movies and programs on television today, we can see where the producers are trying to go with the programming. Even in reality shows, the fear factor is always there and supposedly, true investigations are hyped for the audience. After all, who wants to spend time watching ghost hunters who take photographs and record EVP without the thrill everyone tends to expect. In reality, true ghost hunting involves focused effort and documenting evidence for evaluation, without the monsters looming overhead.

Just as Dave and I felt the psychological fear in the old pioneer cemetery in Kings Valley, when evaluating the photographs, we realized there was a presence that caused us to feel the way we did. The ectoplasmic vapor gave valid evidence of presences in the cemetery that still hold onto the negative emotion, which we were picking up on. Regardless of how ghost hunting is portrayed on television, the experience is gratifying in the knowledge gained, not in the horror factor.

I received the following recipes from a woman who came across these on a website. After reading through them, I felt they were definitely worthy of sharing, to add to the fun of Halloween. These are something that kids will get a kick out of and you can throw them together as grossly as you desire. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

AQUARIUM JELLO
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Great idea for a simple dessert at kid's parties!

goldfish bowl, nice and clean
red hots or Jelly Belly gravel beans
blue Jello
ice cubes
cold water
purple endive
parsley sprigs
gummy fish

Use a new or well cleaned goldfish bowl. In the bottom, the original recipe called for red-hots as the 'gravel,' but I plan to use the Jelly Belly beans that look like rocks. Mix up as much blue Jello as your bowl will hold. Mix using ice cubes & cold water instead of the cold water called for on the box. Pour this into the bowl over a knife blade or something to keep from disturbing the gravel. If you want it to have 'seaweed,' poke a couple of pieces of purple endive or something similar down into the gravel. When the whole thing starts to jell, use a wooden skewer to push gummy fish into different parts of the bowl. If you're going to be able to supervise the serving, you could even add a plastic diver man, etc.

TOXIC AQUARIUM JELLO
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Well, what we'd do for a Halloween party would be to make a Toxic Aquarium. Mix orange and blue jello to get a putrid shade of green. Lifesavers make old tires and you can toss in other junky things for trash on the bottom of the sea. Something barrel-shaped for that illegally dumped toxic waste. Float your fish upside-down on top, and add a plastic skeleton or two. Haven't figured out a good way to put something on the bottom to represent the sand.

Boogers On A Stick

Recipe By:
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories: Halloween

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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8 ounces Jar cheeze whiz
Green food coloring
25 To 30 pretzel sticks
-----TOOLS-----
Waxed paper
Long handled spoon
Platter

With an adults help, melt the cheeze whiz in the microwave or on top of the stove, according to directions on the jar. Allow the cheese to cool slightly in the jar. Using a long handled spoon, carefully stir about three drops of green food coloring into the warm cheese, using just enough to turn the cheese a delicate snot green.

To form boogers: Dip and twist the tip of each pretzel stick into the cheese, lift out, wait twenty seconds, then dip again. When cheese lumps reach an appealingly boogerish size, set pretzels, booger down, onto a sheet of waxed paper. Allow finished boogers on a stick to cool at room temperature for ten minutes or until cheese is firm. Gently pull boogers off waxed paper and arrange on a serving platter. Serves 5 to 6 booger buddies. Sicko Serving Suggestion: Place a bowl of chunky red salsa in the center of the platter so that guests can turn plain buggers into bloody ones. From the Book: Gross Grub by Cheryl Porter.

Happy Haunting.

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Kind regards,

Dave, Sharon & BooBoo

International Ghost Hunters Society