Our search for a better understanding of the metaphysical world and years of personal experience with paranormal phenomena, has led us on to the path of helping others. We investigate paranormal occurences using various scientific methods and approaches. If you are being tormented by sights, sounds and chills, we will gladly help - free of charge.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Another haunted home in Rowallan Park, Port Elizabeth, with photographs, video and audio clips of findings

Evidence 1
Click on the image to enlarge

Email received from client 6 Sept 2010


Good day

Hope you can help me, theres a black shadow in my little boys room, he cant sleep at night and every morning he wakes up at about 3am crying, his piano also plays during the night for no reason at all, and i heard my name being called the other morning followed by scratches on the window, the room is ice cold, and i have seen a women in black walk in to our room as well, please help as im very scared, you can also feel something always watching.


On Monday 7th Sept 2010, we met with the client to discuss the activity and, to see the area of concern.  

The activity was predominantly in her 2 year old son’s room (which is next to their main bedroom).  

 He often woke up and sat on his bed crying while pointing at the opposite corner.  

 They have seen a dark shadow figures in the room, experienced sudden temperature drops and heard noises on occasion (knocking and scratching).  The toy piano in his room would suddenly start playing in the middle of the night and then suddenly stop on its own (it has buttons that activate pre-programmed songs to start playing, and a button to stop the song from continuing).  

Their cat refused to enter the room – when one carries the cat into the room, she clearly gets distressed and runs out.  They reported having sudden strange feelings in the adjacent main bedroom aswell – as though someone was watching them. 

The client requested a short preliminary investigation.   

As the evidence collected at the prelim yealded too much background noise created by the other residents, we had to dismiss all of the recordings.  There were a great number of knocking sounds and, it sounded as though someone was walking above us.  Our initial thought was that there was a second storey with occupants.  After the prelim we discovered that the second storey of the home did not extend to above the room that we were investigating.   

The client agreed to us conducting a full investigation at a later date, when they could arrange for the other occupants of the home to go out for the night.


The client contacted us to let us know that the activity had become worse and, they were getting more frightened.  A shadow figure was seen in the boy’s room, the door started shaking as though someone was pulling on it and, the little boy woke up screaming while pointing in the corner.  The toy piano has also played on its own again. 

Friday, 10th Sept 2010 – Full investigation

Our photographer, Vicky, was taking digital photographs of the rooms and passage while our other team members were setting up the equipment.  The client’s husband carried the cat to show us how frightened the cat was of coming into the boy’s room – the cat immediately became agitated the moment it was carried towards the doorway. 

One of the photographs that Vicky had taken in the passage way, showed a strange anomaly  

Upon review on a larger screen, it looks like the figure of a little boy.  Interestingly, at the prelim we asked twice if the entity is a child and on both occasions there was an audible knock.  Likewise, we received a knock for the same question during the ‘full investigation’.

Chantel and Vicky started with the EVP session in the boy’s room while Jan was sitting in the adjacent main bedroom.  

While asking the entity to prove that it was there, and saying that it was welcome to try and scare us, Jan heard a scratching and knocking in the adjacent room.

Evidence 2


Our camcorder spontaneously paused shortly afterward.

About 5 minutes later there was a sudden temperature drop and, both the camcorder and digital camera malfunctioned at the same time.

We changed rooms – Jan and Vicky continued the EVP questioning in the boy’s room (this time in Afrikaans), while Chantel sat in the main bedroom.  Unfortunately, we did not have an extra camera in the main room during this part of the investigation.  


After Jan playfully asked the entity to play with one of the torches in the boy’s room, the torch lying on the main room’s bed where Chantel was sitting acted up.  It switched off, on, started flickering slightly, off, on, and then completely off (this was over a span of a minutes and a half). Note, that we put fresh batteries into this torch at the start of the investigation and, that it did not act up again for the duration of the investigation (approx. another hour).  The torch was lying untouched on the bed. 

Evidence 3


There was also a knocking sound afterward. 
 Evidence 4


There is a short whisper after Chantel acknowledges a sudden drop in temperature 
Evidence 5


When we asked whether we may take a photograph of the entity while it’s playing with the torch, we got a short very faint whisper which sounds like ‘no’ in Afrikaans ie. ‘Nee’ and a bump sound.  
Evidence 6


This was the second occasion that we asked for the entity to do something and it chose to do it in the opposite room.

Jan then asks the entity to do something to Vicky’s camera.  Shortly afterward she reports that her battery power had suddenly dropped.

During the investigation, we heard many knocking sounds.  Some of these came from the cupboards.  These were captured on both the digital voice recorder and, the camcorder.

Jan joined Chantel and Vicky in the main bedroom.  The camcorder was left in the boy’s room with the hope that we might get a response in the opposite room again.  


While continuing to ask EVP questions in the main room, we experienced sudden temperature drops followed by knocks and bumps against the bed (these were audible and could be felt as though someone was bumping against the bed) This coincided with strange audio recordings in the boy’s bedroom – occasional taps and, it sounds like sniffing or scratching

Evidence 7
(the sound of talking in the background is our investigators in the adjacent room.  There is a distinct whisper towards the end of the clip.  This whisper coincides with us asking why it chose to stay behind and didn’t go into the ‘light’.  Jan then cracks a joke about it playing with our light and that is when the loud whisper happens in the boy’s room.  Note that the giggle is Vicky laughing at Jan's joke.)

We left the recording devices in the boy’s room and went to the lounge to chat to the client.  


She voiced her concerns again over how much it was frightening her and her son.  She wanted it gone and asked for advice on how to go about it.  We suggested that she addressed it directly by telling him/her/them how she felt and that it was not welcome in her home anymore.  


More drastic measures are only necessary if this method doesn’t work.  


Chantel offered to go back into the room with her and, to initiate the ‘conversation’.  We realise that most people don’t sit down and talk to paranormal entities.  It is sometimes more comfortable for the client if we accompany them and, help them along this part of the process. 

Chantel and the client sat down and started telling the entity that it was not welcome in the home anymore. We spoke Afrikaans as it seemed to be more responsive during the investigation when questions and requests were made in Afrikaans.  As it was told that it was no longer welcome, the piano started playing a portion of a song.  
Evidence 8
(note the camcorder is pointed at the toy piano that starts playing – no-one touched the buttons)  


After the client told the entity how its presence made them feel and made it clear that it had to leave, the temperature dropped drastically.  The client felt an ice cold chill next to her ear (on the side where she saw a shadow figure a few days earlier).  As Chantel tried to comfort the client, the K2 meter gave a quick and sudden response at the same time that the camera went out of focus.  
Evidence 9

CONCLUSION

We believe that we have collected evidence in the form of audio and visual recordings and, had personal experiences substantiating that there is indeed paranormal activity in both the rooms.  The evidence seems to point that there might be more than one entity present – a child (see evidence #1 and considering the playful nature tampering with our equipment and the toy piano) and an adult (see evidence #6 – this does not sound like a child).


POST INVESTIGATION FOLLOW-UP

There has been no reported paranormal activity since that night.


**** We have acquired additional video cameras and equipment since this investigation.  We believe that we lost out on valuable evidence as a result of the equipment having been set up in one area at a time.  At P.I.P.E. we strive to constantly analyze our techniques and equipment to ensure thorough and accurate evidence collection.****

Latest investigation - Sneek Peek

Our most recent investigation was absolutely awesome! The full blog will follow soon...

Here's a sneek peek of what we found...

Sunday, August 29, 2010

HAUNTED ABANDONED BUILDING!

Hi, I found this interesting shadow figure on an abandoned buildings website.  http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/news.php. It was taken in Kings Park State Hospital....it was a lunatic asylum. I tried to contact the head of the web site to no avail.

Submitted by:  Tom on www.ghoststudy.com

Monday, August 23, 2010

POLTERGEIST YouTube

Found an awesome YouTube video that will give people who haven't experienced poltergeist acitivity a clearer idea of what we went through at POLTERGEIST - VILLA D'ESTE

Home in Rowallan Park, Port Elizabeth, with audio clips of findings

Client: Client wishes to remain anonymous – we’ll refer to her as ‘Jane’

‘Jane’ contacted us on Saturday distressed about possible paranormal activity in her granny flat. One of the children reported to have seen a spirit in one of the rooms a couple of years prior. The main concern was sudden eerie feelings that ‘Jane’ and some of her friends had experienced in the flat on various occasions.

On Saturday, both ‘Jane’ and a friend, simultaneously saw something (or someone) in the flat, out of the corner of their eye. The flat was empty. They were both overcome by a strange, daunting feeling as though there was a spirit watching them.

P.I.P.E was immediately contacted to investigate. As the client sounded very distressed and needed urgent help, we immediately rushed to the scene.

THE INVESTIGATION

After the ‘Jane’ gave us a short briefing of the hotspots and activity, we proceeded with our investigation.

We started with the room where the full bodied apparition was reported to have been seen a few years prior. It was thought to have been the same location where ‘Jane’ and her friend saw motion earlier that night.

While asking EVP questions, the EMF detector showed a sudden increase in the electro-magnetic field. Upon, sweeping the closest corner of the increased EMF, we saw a radio on a small side table. The radio proved to be the cause of the EMF disturbance. We switched the radio off and proceeded with the EVP questions. (See evidence #1)

The investigation ended in the first room with no personal paranormal experiences. The second room also proved uneventful. Despite the fact that we did not have personal experiences in either of the rooms, we were hopeful that we might have recorded some evidence on our equipment.

While one of our investigators sat in the lounge area, she suddenly felt a rush of cold air behind her from the dining room area. Then what sounded like a breath and a soft whisper. She pointed the voice in the dining rooms direction and started an EVP session, with the hopes of recording the whispers that she had heard. (*See evidence #2 and #3)

Unfortunately, the neighbours had guests over and the sound from their side starting becoming audible. We decided to cut the investigation short in fear that the sounds from next door might cause contamination of the EVP sessions.

THE ANALYSIS 

(You can listen to the audio recordings of the evidence under 'Presenting the evidence' at the bottom of the page)

None of the photographs or, video footage provided any evidence of paranormal activity.
Upon playback of the recorded EVP sessions, we had a couple of interesting sounds.

One of the recordings taken in the first room sounded like whispering (*See evidence #1), but we could not make out what was being said. There was question as to whether it might have been caused by the camera’s zoom lens that was causing a bit of havoc at that stage.

The EVP session conducted in the lounge area (when our investigator heard a breath and whisper behind her in the dining room), also had a recorded EVP of breathing and a whisper (*See evidence #2).

Another sound was what sounded like someone saying something followed by ‘ching, ching’ (*See evidence #3) – also taken in the lounge area. It didn’t make any sense to us but, we were hopeful that the client might be able to shed light on it.

The strangest recording was that of a squeeking noise that occurred a couple of times towards the end of our investigation. None of our equipment made this sort of sound. None of our investigators recall hearing it nor, was any reference made by anyone at the time on the voice recorders. If we make any noises during an investigation, we note it on our recording devices so that the sounds are not taken into consideration at analysis. This way we eliminate any false EVP findings. Our only explanation was that it could have been from a squeeking floorboard that we somehow didn’t hear during the investigation. (See evidence #4)

PRESENTING THE EVIDENCE AND THE CLIENT’S FEEDBACK 

Be sure to turn up your speakers' volume when listening to the audio recordings below - some of the whispers are very faint.  The ticking sound in the background is a wallclock.

We presented the above evidence to our client.

Evidence #1:- The sound of the whispering –we told the client that we felt there was a slight possibility that it was caused by the zoom lens. Upon hearing it, the client’s eyes filled up with tears. She claimed that she recognized it as her ex-mother-in-laws voice – without a doubt. She said that the lady had emphysema and her speech was difficult to understand. ‘That is definitely her’. 



 

Evidence #2:- The breath and the whisper. The client once again confirmed that she recognized it as her mother-in-law.

Turn up your speakers volume when listening to the audio recordings below.


Evidence #3:- whisper followed by ‘ching, ching’. The client couldn’t make out what was being said. However, the ‘ching, ching’ made sense to her as her in-laws used to enjoy gambling. Ching-ching would not have been an ‘out-of-context’ phrase for them to use.

Evidence #4:- Strange squeeking. We sent one of our investigators along with the client to follow up on the squeeking floorboard theory. The theory was immediately debunked as there were no wooden floorboards in the entire granny flat. It was a cement floor. They bumped against all of the chairs, tables, obstacles in the area. They tested our torches and equipment. Nothing could recreate the sound. The client then froze and asked where exactly the sound was recorded. When our investigator showed her, she was stunned. It turned out that it was the same area in which the ex-mother-in-law’s rocking chair used to be. When she listened to the recording again, she confirmed that it was the exact sound the rocking chair used to make.



 

CONCLUSION

The evidence does prove that there is some paranormal activity in the grannyflat.

Though we had some interesting EVP recordings, we don’t have conclusive evidence of an intelligent haunting. There is a possibility that it might only be a residual haunt.

Even though we could only investigate the premises for a short period of time, we do not feel that the entity is threatening. There were no threatening EVP recordings, such as ‘Get out!’, nor evidence that the entity was violent.

We strongly believe that the client does not need to fear going into the grannyflat.
There is no history of the paranormal entity having harmed or threatened the occupants.

We hope that ‘Jane’ will now have some comfort in having identified the entity.

As the client is not living in the flat herself and, the current occupant is not frightened by the entity, we suggest that she should leave things as they are.

Should the occupant become frightened, and they decide that they no longer welcome the ghost’s presence, we recommend they all sit down and talk to the ghost. Tell her that she is no longer welcome and, that you need her to leave. Yes, it sounds strange, but it does work in the case of a non-violent entity.

We thank “Jane” and the occupant of her grannyflat for the opportunity to investigate.
We hope that the evidence has given her proof that she was not imagining things and, that the knowing that it was not a threatening entity, has eased her fear.


Saturday, August 21, 2010

Testimonial - submitted by 'N'

OMW!!! For as long as I can remember, I've had these "funny feelings" and seeing things that apparently aren't there.  So after being called silly once too often. I started ignoring them.  That was until I met a new friend - Chantel.  She assured me that I wasn't all that silly after all!!  I made another new friend - let's call her Bea, who also "felt" some strange things - in her own home.  A couple of years later Chantel and her brother decided to start investigating these "happenings" and immediately I thought about Bea.  Well, I asked Chantel to come and do an investigation and begged her to be present because I needed to know just how silly I've been all these years.  WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!!!!
During the investigation I got the feeling that not much was happening, but when listening to the audio afterwards - AMAZING!!!

I will definitely recommend Chantel and Jan without a doubt.  Not only because I know them both personally, but because of the professional en thorough way the whole investigation was conducted.  Job well done you guys!!!

At least now I know - I'm NOT all that silly!!!

N

Thursday, August 19, 2010

REDHOUSE

A couple of years ago we did housesitting for friends in Redhouse.  

I kept on hearing strange sounds in the house – knocks, shuffling noises and footsteps.  I dismissed it as just being the noises of an old house settling and creaking wooden floors.  There were also occasions of sudden temperature drops followed by an eerie uneasy feeling. Once again, I dismissed it with a logical explanation – drafty old house. 

But, one afternoon something happened which did not have an alternative explanation. I was home alone and in bed with a nasty headache.  The sound of steady footsteps came from the kitchen area, down the passage and into my room.  I closed my eyes, terrified.  The footsteps stopped at my bedside.  The room was suddenly ice cold. I kept my eyes shut, too frightened to see what was standing next to me.  Then, I heard what sounded like a man clearing his throat and, a voice.  I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but there was no doubt he said two or three words in a deep masculine voice, right next to me. Suddenly, the temperature went back to normal – he was gone.  

About two days later, while I was cleaning the room, it happened again.  Somehow I managed to summons up an ounce of bravery.  As the footsteps entered to room and headed towards me, I closed my eyes and firmly said “Go away! Leave me alone”.  Immediately the footsteps stopped and the room’s temperature increased. 

The ghost did not make his appearance again in the few remaining days.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

TANTALLON CASTLE GHOST!

WHEN psychologist Richard Wiseman launched an online investigation into the photographic evidence for ghosts earlier this month, he never expected such an overwhelming response. The project – undertaken as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival and profiled exclusively in The Scotsman on 10 March – invited people to send in ghostly photographs for analysis and, once they were put up online, asked web users to vote as to whether or not they believed they were the real deal. To date, the site has received 250 photographs and more than 250,000 votes. While many of the images can be easily discredited, even Wiseman is finding it particularly tricky to disprove one – the spooky face of a woman at a window at Tantallon Castle in East Lothian. The image came out top in the experiment, with nearly 40 per cent of online voters believing that the photograph shows a bona-fide ghost. "The study has been a huge success," says Wiseman. "The sheer number of people who've got involved shows just how much interest there is in ghosts. We've been amazed to find that, even when an image obviously just shows the camera flash reflecting against a surface, around 10 per cent of people still believe it's a ghost." A high number of the supposedly ghostly images can be given a simple explanation. What look like mysterious lights, mists and orbs can, in reality, be anything from a camera flash reflecting off dust particles to condensed human breath in front of the lens. However, the Tantallon Castle image has even the logical Wiseman stumped. "It's a tough one," he says. "This experiment has been a big success, not only because we've had so many responses, but because we've come across this one very curious image that we simply can't explain."

Brought to us by the Scotsman Website

Submitted by:  Bill Zinger - GS on www.ghoststudy.com

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

ROCKING THE CRADLE

Recently, my mom told me about a paranormal experience which involved me when I was still a newborn baby.

My dad kept my cradle next to the footend of the bed at night. Everytime I cried during the night, he would stick out a leg from underneath the covers and rock the cradle with his foot until I fell asleep.  One night, I started crying again.  He was about to rock me back to sleep again when, I suddenly went quiet.  He thought it to be unusual for me to stop crying without being rocked.  Confused, he opened his eyes.  There were two misty white figures standing alongside the cradle, rocking it. 

Throughout my life I have been strangely ‘comfortable’ with paranormal things.  Hauntings and paranormal experiences have been rife since childhood.  And, it doesn’t frighten me as much as it would others around me.  I can’t help wondering if the presence of paranormal events as a newborn has somehow desensitised my fear response.  Or, was I born sensitive to spirits and, hence attracted paranormal manifestations / activity?  Do ghosts sense that someone is sensitive to them? Do they then try and communicate with such sensitive individuals – which explains the increased paranormal experiences in that person’s life?

Monday, August 16, 2010

HUSBAND COMES BACK AS A SHADOW!

My previous husband died 8 years ago to cancer. I am remarried now to my new husband of 6 years he is a retired Chief in the Navy. Here is my story. One night in November at 11:30 pm I was cleaning our fish tank. I felt like someone had just walked into the kitchen. The light in the kitchen was off but the living room light was on so it still lit up the kitchen. I saw a shadow standing in the kitchen up against the counter. I thought it was my husband Michael. So I said, what is the matter honey could you not sleep? There was no response. I focused and realized the shape of the body was not my husband. At first I thought someone had broke into the house. Then when focused I realized I recognized the silhouette it was James. I was filled with pure terror. I jumped up to the couch behind me and covered my eyes and repeated out aloud don't be scared. I stood up and peaked into the kitchen and he was gone. I ran into the bedroom and woke up Michael. I was hysterical. Michael so tired but he said, don't worry honey if it was James he will not hurt you he loved you. I had to call my parents in the middle of the night and wake them up. It was very traumatic to me it effected me till this day. I would get up extra early and take a shower while my husband was still here before work for months. I am still afraid of walking into a dark room. Two months later in January Michael's parents came to visit our home for the first time from Missouri. We were cooking in the kitchen. I decided to take some pictures of their visit. When the pictures were developed there was a shadow in the kitchen behind Michael's mother. When my husband saw the photo he said, that was freaky. It made me feel good that someone else could see what I had seen. Except when I seen James he was more defined I could see his legs and arms as if he was a person standing in the kitchen. Just wanted to share this with you and get your thoughts. God Bless.



Submitted by:  Albert on www.ghoststudy.com

Sunday, August 15, 2010

POLTERGEIST – VILLA D’ESTE, PARK DRIVE, PORT ELIZABETH

When I was about 13 years old, we moved into a flat in Park Drive.  

A few months later, weird things started happening.  

Toilets spontaneously flushed, things got displaced, taps opened by themselves, lights would get swithed on /off, and there would be strange foul smells emitting from the laundry room.  There were also strange noises, and sudden uneasy feelings. 

The activity rapidly increased in intensity and frequency.  

One day, while I was home alone, it reached its climax.  All of the taps suddenly opened, the lights were flickering, and the atmosphere was incredibly terrifying.  I ran to my mother who was visiting a neighbour.  
As we came down the corridor, we could see the lights were still flickering while no-one was inside.  

My mom’s friend, who was a devout Catholic, gave her a small vile of holy water.  She sprinkled the holy water throughout the flat – and, shockingly, on me too (see the footnote).  

As we entered the laundry room and sprinkled the holy water in the one corner, there was a freezing wisp of air that rapidly moved past us towards, and out, the front door.  

The following morning we were all awoken by a knocking on the door.  The continuous knocking escalated to an angry banging.  As I reached the door to see who it was, the noise was as though someone was kicking the door, trying to break it down.  Frightened, we peeked through the little front window.  Nobody was there, yet the door was still vibrating violently in tune with the kicking noise.  After a while, it suddenly stopped.  We believe that it was a poltergeist.  The holy water sent him out the front door and, the following morning he was desperately trying to be ‘let in’ again.  Needless to say, we didn’t let him in.

Footnote:-  

When my mom sprinkled holy water in my room, a few drops landed on a Johnny Depp poster next to my bed (still not sure if it was intentional or, acccidental).  
That, in conjunction with her eyes being as big as saucers, sent me into a hesteric of giggles.  

The sight of her at that moment and, poor Johnny Depp getting holy watered would make any sane person laugh!  In turn, my mom, believing that poltergeist activity was coupled with an adolescent reaching puberty, thought that the poltergeist had possessed me.  

Thus, along with ol’ Johnny, I got holy watered.  Come on, wouldn’t that make you laugh even louder?  This moment was tremendously funny to me and, my reaction to the humour fueled my mom’s fear that the poltergeist had finally reached its goal, possessed her little girl. 

Saturday, August 14, 2010

STRANGE ENTITY UNDER THE BRIDGE

I hope you have the time to have a look at the attached picture – I’d be more than happy if you could have a look at it and help me to find an explanation for the anomaly in it. A friend of mine and I spent last weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland, and took a photo of an arch of a bridge. The picture shows an abnormality we have no explanation for and we would like to analyze the figure on the opposite side of the road in front of the wall. The picture was taken at Cowgate, Edinburgh, and the arch you see is the only visible arch of the South Bridge. The date & time set on the camera are not correct – the picture was taken on August 2nd at around 10:45 pm. The camera & setting details are the following: 

Camera maker: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
7.2 Mega Pixels Digital Camera
Model: EX-Z12
Settings used for the photo: Highest resolution, ISO speed: 400, no zoom

What looks like a person walking on the pavement under the bridge cannot be a real person - when my friend took the picture, I was standing right behind her to look at what she was capturing and I am 100% sure that there was no one walking along at the time the picture was taken. I was so startled when I saw the picture on the display that I immediately took the camera and had a closer look at the photo. We took a few other pictures of the same scene immediately afterwards to see whether we’d capture it again, but we didn’t. I am sending you two of the photos we took afterwards for comparison, one without anything in it, the other one with a person walking underneath the bridge. It would be great if you could analyze the picture and let us know what you think. We are wondering whether it is possible to use photo analysis software to get rid of the blurriness and sharpen the figure. I’ve already tried my luck stretching and sharpening it a bit (attached picture “Edited&Zoomed”), and that’s all I can do with my software… We also took quite a few pictures of the surroundings the next day (unfortunately during daylight) and are happy to provide you with more information about the surroundings of the bridge if you feel this would be helpful. Thank you very much in advance and kind regards from Ireland.

Submitted by:  Andrea Hoffmann on www.ghoststudy.com

ABANDONED FARM RESIDENT

My husband and I are just down the road from this abandoned farm, which is across from Shahan Cemetery, one of the older ones around here.  We habituate our bunnies in the area before they are returned to the wild.  We had finished putting out food for them last October and were taking pics of the bunnies and their new spot. I was categorizing our pics the other day and noticed an odd spot to the left.  When I zoomed in, we were both shocked.  This is in OK, taken with a Fuji digital video cam as a still shot.  I've included the pic, with a zoom in on the area.  There were no filters or other changes made. Weather was beautiful.

Submitted by:  Ron Lanpher on www.ghoststudy.com

Seaview Road Disappearing Car

One late night, I was driving back from Seaview.
The road was quiet.   


Halfway through my trip I suddenly noticed a vehicle’s lights behind me.  I still thought it strange that I didn’t notice it approaching, but there it was - on my tail. It remained right up behind me for a while. 


Irritation boiled up inside, as I couldn’t understand why the idiot wouldn’t overtake.  Finally, I saw the headlights appearing in my side mirror and, heard the drone of the revving engine. The headlights were shining in the mirror for a little longer than normal. Idiot! I slowed down slightly so that it could get past (because clearly their vehicle just didn’t have the ‘oomph’ to speed up enough to overtake mine).  Then, nothing, THE CAR WAS GONE!   


I spun my head around, thinking it turned off somewhere – nope!  For those who are not familiar with the road – it is dark, really dark, no lights alongside the road.  There were no hidden driveways/roads along that particular stretch.   


Then, I got concerned that the vehicle somehow went off the side of the road and ended up in a ditch.  U-turn! Slowly, I drove back down the stretch of road, expecting the worst – grabbing my cellphone and unclipping the safety belt so I could jump out to help. Nothing! Another u-turn, slowly checking the other side of the road. Nothing!   


Eventually I stopped my car – ice-cold, confused and desperately looking for a logical explanation. Grasping at straws, I decided to carefully investigate the area again for hidden driveways/roads.  There were none!  It was then that I realised that what I had seen was not a real vehicle - it could not have been.  


As I returned home, I was saddened by the experience (and still slightly shaken up), knowing that it was probably a ghostly manifestation of an accident.  Did he/she have an accident on that same spot while overtaking another vehicle? With the lights having shone in my side mirror so long, does it mean that the vehicle they were overtaking sped up, not allowing them to pass?  Was the drivers spirit stuck driving that stretch of road or, was I just in the right spot, at the right time for a residual haunting to appear?  Has anyone else experienced this ghost vehicle on the Seaview road?

Friday, August 13, 2010

Little Doggy

They claim that renovations of a home or, building can stir up ghost activity. 

About two years ago we decided to remove the carpets in our lounge and passage. 

The day after ripping out the carpets, I kept on seeing the fleeting glimpse of a dark mist resembling a small dog. The figure would scoot up or, down the passage. 

The ‘ghost dog’ appeared a couple of times over the span of 3 days. Once, the dark figure remained still for a few seconds in the lounge’s doorway then sped off down the passage. It hasn’t appeared again since. 

The previous home owners did have a little dog that passed away many years before they sold the house. I guess we must’ve disturbed one of the pooch’s favourite areas of the house – sorry, doggy!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Little girl of Aisne Avenue, Lorraine

Meeting Sarah


I still don’t know if it was a dream, or if I really woke up and saw the little girl.   
She was a pretty little blonde of about 4 years old.  She was standing outside in the rain, sobbing.   
Her little shoulders were shaking and she looked so frail in her thin white summer dress.  Then, suddenly she vanished.  That was the first and the last time that I saw her.   

But, that was only the beginning of the years to come, of living with the little ghost girl.   

*From here on, I’ll be referring to the girl as ‘Sarah’ – though I never called her by a name, she was too real and, the experience too personal to refer to her as a ‘little ghost girl’.

The Dream and Ghost Mom
A few nights after seeing her, I had a strange dream of a couple who had ‘lost’ their child.  I did not recognise anyone in the dream.  They kept on referring to the child as being ‘lost’ – I did not know whether it was meant literally though or, if she was deceased.  

 For days, the dream weighed heavily on my mind and, I couldn’t understand why.  A few days later, the topic came up in a conversation with my grandfather.  He was a strong and wise soul with a keen interest in anything metaphysical.  Though we didn’t speak of it often, I always had the sense that he saw spirits more often than what he admitted to.  

I started telling him about my dream as it was still troubling me.   
Soon, he interrupted me, asking me if I had the dream on the Thursday night – which I did. 
He grinned and, told me to continue my story.  Though, I was confused as to how he pin-pointed the exact night, I continued.   

When I was done, he told me that there was a ghost in their grannyflat (which was opposite my room) on that same night.  He was awoken by a noise in their lounge.  When he entered the lounge, he saw a lady frantically looking for something.  He realised that it was not a living human being – it was a ghost.   

Carefully he walked towards her, gently asking her what she was doing.  

 She replied ‘Ek soek my baba’. 

He told her that he would help her look for the child. Shortly after he started searching, the lady disappeared.  What are the chances of my grandfather experiencing ghost activity and, my having the troubling dream on the same night – and, for both being related to a lost child.  Was this related to our little Sarah?

Experiences with Sarah 
Since the night I first saw Sarah, it was as though she decided to make her presence known more often.  I would mostly get a slight chill, feel as though I’m being watched and then get the sense that someone was standing there, that someone being Sarah. On occasion, I would see a swift movement, or the small figure of a girl in the corner of my eye.  Often one would hear light footsteps up and down the passage, like that of a child. 
 
And, if one said  ‘Hey, dogtertjie, hou op, jy maak ‘n geraas’, the footsteps would stop. 

My grandmother never spoke about ghosts, hauntings or anything paranormal – I always thought that she was quite the opposite of my grandfather and ‘didn’t believe in weird stuff’.  She overheard me saying something about Sarah one day, and asked me what I was talking about.  When I told her about my experiences, she (shockingly!) responded ‘Oh, so you’ve seen her too?’.  My grandmother told me that she had sometimes seen the towel in the bathroom lift and shrivvel slightly as though a child was drying their hands.

Who is Sarah?

As Sarah’s activity became more frequent, I decided to somehow find out more about her.  Researching any child deaths in the neighborhood would hopefully turn up something to understand who she was and why she was still there.  I found some contacts to assist in my research and, was delighted in the prospect of finding some answers.  My poor family had to endure my endless chattering about it the dinner table every night.   
But, that soon came to an unfortunate end.  

Terror

One night something terrifying happened.  
 I woke up, with what I thought to have been an intruder choking me.   
The black figure was sitting on my abdomen, one hand pinning my arm down and, the other hand firmly gripping my throat.  I tried to see his face but, I couldn’t, it was too dark and tears were welling up in my eyes. I tried to push him off, but he was too strong. 

I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t breath.   

I still remember kicking and hoping it would wake my parents.  Tears were running down my face, I thought I was going to die.  

 Suddenly, he vanished!  I grasping my throat – still aching and not able to scream.  Frightened and confused I looked around the room – he was gone.

There was no intruder.   
It was not a real person trying to kill me.  
I believed it was a warning from a spirit who didn’t want me to investigate Sarah’s background.   
I was a mere 18 years old and didn’t have the guts to persue it any further nor, any interest in finding a way to keep myself safe from the dark spirit/ghost – the experience frightened the living daylights out of me.   

To this day I wish that I had the knowledge then, that I have now.  
If only I had taken measures to deal with the dark ghost, protect myself and to find out who Sarah was.  
If only I could find out what had happened to Sarah and, if the dark ghost had something to do with her death.

The Goodbye

The most memorable experience with Sarah was when we moved away.

The last load of our belongings was taken away and the house was an empty shell.  I was home alone, busy getting ready to have a bath and go to work.  The only belongings left in my room were my uncovered bed, work clothes and my handbag.  I picked the handbag up from the floor by its shoulder strap and placed it on my bed to get something out of it.   

While having a bath, I heard the faint childlike footsteps up and down the passage, infront of the bathroom door.  
I knew it was Sarah, after all the years I could distinguish her faint steps from anyone else’s.  And besides, no-one else was home. 

Sadenned by the realisation that moving house might mean leaving Sarah behind, I decided to explain to her what was happening.  It felt like I was telling a little sister that I’m going away forever and, couldn’t take her with.  I felt terrible.   

I went back to my room to get my handbag so I could head for work. As I grabbed the handbag by the shoulder strap, I saw that the one end of the strap was loose.   

The little metal ring that joins the strap to the bag was missing.  It was like that of a keyring so couldn’t ‘snap’ or break off.  It had been removed and was nowhere to be found – not on the empty floor, the uncovered bed nor, under my towel.  The ring had vanished.   

Suddenly, I sensed Sarah again at the door and, I could’ve sworn I heard a little giggle.   

Then I knew, by doing something she’s never done before – by removing the strap’s ring and making it disappear (probably hiding it somewhere) - my little Sarah was saying goodbye.

*******************The photograph underneath the heading is not that of Sarah - it is merely a photograph added for effect.****************************************


Sunday, August 8, 2010

Interesting WWI photo

Found this interesting photograph from WWI while browsing the net.  Click on the pic to enlarge it to full size.

Residual Hauntings

This is the most common type of 'ghostly' activity.
Residual hauntings are not malicious and with no 'intelligence'.
They are merely old energies that keep on replaying in current time.  You can compare it to an old record that keeps on playing over and over.  The energy somehow gets trapped, and generally replays itself at the same time of the day/week/year.

For example, imagine a cleaner that washed the guestroom's floors every Monday.  Somehow her routine became stuck in time for no particular reason (as if the atmosphere had clicked the recording button on its VCR) and, 50 years after her death, people might still catch a glimpse of her, only on Mondays, washing the guestroom's floors.  Her apparition is not going to react to you walking towards it, nor to you speaking to it, as it is not really a spirit - only the image of her daily routine that got recorded.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Research Tools and Methods

EVP and Digital Recorders
It is commonly believed that spirits / ghosts can communicate verbally should they wish to, however the frequency of these utterances are not always within a human's auditory frequency range.  This is described as EVP or, Electrical Voice Phenomena.  With the use of digital audio recorders, EVP's can be recorded should they occur. In our investigations, we record EVP sessions where we ask the entity questions, pause and hope to get responses upon replay of the recorded sessions.  The recordings are analysed by two of our team members.  Any findings are then shared with our client.  

*Our most interesting EVP session to date has been where there was a recording of a strange 'creek' on more than one occasion during the session.  One of our investigators was sent back to the premises to check for creeking floorboards or anything that could have made the weird sound.  It was a cement floor, no floorboards, nothing could recreate the sound, video footage also proved no-one accidently did something to cause the sound.  Baffled we approached the client.  It turned out that the area where the 'creek' was recorded was where her deceased mother-in-law's rocking chair used to stand, MANY years ago and, it was the exact same noise that the chair used to make.  The client also identified the strange muttering on the EVP recording as that of her deceased mother-in-laws way of talking towards her last days (she suffered from emphasema).


K2 and other EMF Detectors
EMF stands for Electromagnetic Field Detector.  This device is used to detect the electrical fields in your home.  It is essential for investigators to be aware of where these fields are as they may interfere with their findings.  Another important reason is to ensure that there are no areas where these fields are extremely high.  High EMF causes what some call 'fear cages' - the human body is extremely sensitive to high EMF's and the side-effects range from nausea, headaches, anxiety, digestive problems, dizzyness, depression and even paranoia and hallucinations.  

The K2 meter is also an EMF detector but, with a higher sensitivity and with five LED lights.  It is believed that this device can be used to detect entities and, to communicate with them.  Entities / ghosts / spirits emit EMF and thus, cause fluctuations in the K2 (which causes the LED's to light up, depending on the strength of the frequency).  Should the entities be communicative, we ask them to communicate using the device. We explain how the device works and ask them to use it to answer 'yes' and 'no' questions - eg."To answer 'yes', please touch the device so that it will light up".  Our video camera gets pointed at the investigator and, the device so that any responses can be shown to the client.

Mini DV
Handheld video cameras are useful in visually documenting changes on K2 meters, and to backup evidence or disprove it, depending on the situation.  It may confirm that an EVP was not caused by an investigator (as in the abovementioned case under EVP) or, it may provide an alternative angle to something captured on a still camera.

* There has recently been Mini DV's developed that can record the full spectrum of light waves.  Simply explained, full spectrum technology enables the recording of things that we cannot see with the naked eye.  We cannot see certain wavelengths of light, and with the help of this technology, we may be able to see the materialization of entities as they are illuminated by certain wavelengths of UV.  PIPE is in the process of sourcing and acquiring these full spectrum mini dv's and, we hope to find more evidence of hauntings with this technology.

Still Photographs
During our investigation we take numerous still camera photographs.  With a keen eye we filter through the photographs, methodically searching for the slightest abnormalities, faint shadows or fluctuations of light.  Photographs are considered possible evidence, are compared to the mini dv footage to ensure that there was no contamination / logical explanations for the abnormalities.

We are constantly trying to keep our equipment up to date with the latest technology.  There are still many tools of the trade that we need, however the cost of these are astronomical.  We acquire the new technology according to it's effectiveness and, lol, our personal budgets. We have never and, will never charge for our services!  What we have has already proven to be very effective in investigating hauntings!