Shapeshifting monster in Steytlerville

The sleepy Karoo town of Steytlerville has reportedly been terrorised by a shapeshifting creature for over a month now. One man witnessed the creature changing from a man in a suit into a pig, then into a bat.

P.I.P.E. is planning to lodge an investigation into the sightings next weekend and, if the shape shifter does in fact exist, we are hoping to find concrete evidence of the fact.  As per normal, we will approach the investigation from a scientific perspective and rely on visual and audio evidence to document our findings.

Please contact us at paranormalpe@gmail.com should you have any information that might assist our investigation.

News24 has just reported that the creature has struck again.

Quoted from News24:

Steytlerville 'monster' strikes again

2011-04-25 22:44

A ‘monster’ plaguing the sleepy Karoo town of Steytlerville struck again over the Easter weekend, Eastern Cape police said on Monday.

Another two sightings of the "shape-shifting creature" were reported on Sunday evening, said Warrant Officer Zandisile Nelani .

“Two men were walking near a tavern when they saw another man wearing a black jacket. One of the men, identified only as Nozipho, went up to the stranger and asked him, “What is your problem?” said Nelani.

A dog or a cow?

When the stranger did not respond, Nozipho went closer and saw that the man had no head. The man then turned into a dog that was “very angry” and “as big as a cow”, Nelani said.

He said that as Nozipho and his friend ran away, the monster allegedly turned on another group of people in the same road. “They said it turned into a big monkey, and then it was gone,” Nelani said.

He said that since the monster was spotted near the tavern, people were afraid to go there at night.

Last week police were told by residents that the monster changed shape while one looked at it. One man had reported that it changed from a man wearing a suit into a pig and then into a bat.

There had also been rumours that the monster could fly. Previously, the monster had only been spotted near the church. It had even been seen peering through the windows during a service, but had vanished by the time the congregation came outside.

Nelani said that the community had dubbed the monster “Bawokozi”, meaning ‘brother-in-law’.

Photograph

Sightings of the monster began over a month ago when it was seen by mourners attending two separate funerals, Nelani said.

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 7^th 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, 10^th 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...

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

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.

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