Ghost Hounds, Dragon*Con and
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
8.30.02
Brandy's Report:
First, I would like to thank the Ghost Hounds for their hospitality
(Picture at right). Thanks for the batteries, Holly!
The Ghost Hounds (GH) were guest presentors for Dragon*con 2002.
As in years past, they ended their presentations by selecting five volunteers
from the audience to go with them on a ghost hunt in Atlanta. This year, Mark,
a friend who lives in Atlanta, and I were additional guests for the hunt. This
was Mark's first investigation, and my first in Atlanta.
We went to two locations: Cooke Elementary School, where a civil war cemetary and hospital once stood. We arrived at 11 PM. In my group was Mark Tisdale, myself, Holly Simpson (GH), Brian S., and Nick N. Patrick Burns, (GH) lead the investigation.
The area near the school is currently recovering from hard economic times. It was once a high crime and drug area. However, during the Civil War this area was just on the outskirts of Atlanta. It housed a hospital; legend has it that the hospital took in around 11,000 dead and injured war soldiers in a single day.
The investigation was centered mostly around cameras, digital video recorders, and digital cameras of various brands, which the volunteers brought with them. (Mark had an Olympus digital camera, I had my Pentax 35 mm with 400 speed black and white film. When that ran out, I switched to 400 speed color film. The Samsung digital camera was also used).
Though many in the group captured orb images, there was no other equipment with us to validate paranormal activity. EMF and temperature readings were unavailable to provide additional readings or to confirm paranormal activities in the areas.
However, it was an interesting investigation. At the site of the school, my digital camera picked up one mist image. I was skeptical of the image, as it was very humid that night and I was unable to look at it other than on the LCD screen on the camera. Could the mist have been caused by humidity alone?
The question was answered when a few days later, after I returned home. I noticed that this was the ONLY image with mist on it, including images taken 30 seconds before and after that shot. Holly and I attempted to reduplicate the image and the duplications were null. The mist seems to be too fine to be humidity. There was NO smoking on the hunt, and no smoke noted in the area that night. (see below)
One of the two orbs in the image is strange. To the left is a small white orb, which seems to fit the standard orb pattern. The larger orb, however, is a yellowish shade. It could be a reflection of the school security light but the orb image is not the same shape as the light and is twice the size of the light itself. It is my understanding that images that are refractions tend to be the same size and shape of the light source.
During this area of the investigation, Mark also noted that he felt a cold sensation. He captured several orb images on his camera.
Fog Image with Orbs. Cars in background belong to the drivers of the GH investigation. The image before and after this shot had no mist. None of the other photographs had mist images. (Below): My attempt to replicate the images.
The pictures just before and just after the fog image at the school.
The images show up darker here than on my computer....but, I have NO IDEA what this one is. No moon in the sky as far as I noted.
Light mist appears on my computer screen, but is not well replicated here. The mist is to the right (on the monitor) of the tombstone.
(left) Grave shot: tree with flowers, two tomb stones. Note the flower at the top of the images.
At first, I thought there was an orb near the wall of
this tomb, but I now believe it is plant matter
reflecting light.
The second stop was to Oakland Cemetary, est. in 1896. It was locked, so cameras were lifted over the walls for pictures.
Several people reported getting orbs there. Discussion panels afterward also lead to the discovery of a dark red anomoly in one of the images. I believe it is a traffic light in the background. Several of my images picked up green and red images, one showed traffic stopped at the light.
Here, I got a couple of poetential images. A light mist may show up to the right of one picture. Another almost looks like an orb at the top of the image (though it may also be light reflected from a flower). I have one image that I have no idea what it is. A large circular image appears at the top right corner of the photo, and what I believe is a tree branch is lower in the left hand corner. (Below)
One guest, Paul E., heard noises from a building across from the cemetary. Though it appeared locked and abandoned, several pictures were taken, with at least one showing orb images.
Crystal and Arana heard high pitched voices during the investigation.
Mark picked up several strong orb images, visible to the camera's LCD display, at the cemetary.
Several images were shown at the discussion panel that Sunday, which reviewed the investigation. Some of the images had been lightened through a computer program to help reveal the orbs and anomolies. The images posted here from my camera are as they were from the computer and have only been compressed in file size, unless otherwise noted.
I was surprised at the amount of images that appeared on the film of various individuals. Some of the images, I believe, appear to follow the standard manifestation patterns of a haunted area. However, without back up readings, along with the high humidity and light pollution of the area, I cannot state certainty that outside factors were not present. I can, however, validate that during the investigation no images were in anyway influenced by the members of the ghost hunting party.
Holly, Pat, and Mark.
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Mark's info:
I read your recount of the ghost hunt. Meant to mention when you were here,
but I figure to be fair, I gave Patrick the best picture, so I'll give you
the balance of pictures and if you want to post any feel free. The first
picture (14) is one taken in the vicinity of your mist picture. There's a
small orb near the tree above the sidewalk.
Second (#31) I'm less inclined to think much about but figured I'd give you
for the heck of it so you can get a glimpse. It's sort of a group picture
just before we left the old hospital site. If you look WAY above Holly's
head in the sky, there are two orb shapes? Some sort of moon reflection??
I didn't see the moon??
Picture #38 is of that grave you mentioned when we were there you saw some
sort of light. And I said I thought you were just seeing the white of the
gravestone. As you can see the base is significantly lighter. However, if
you look to the left of the foot stone, there's what looks like the tiniest
little orb. I guess a chance that it's something in the grass but it looks
like it's above the grass. I hate looking at photos after the fact. It
makes me want to go back and double-check things and now it's too late to
even be practical.
Pic #42 is VERY faint. But if you zoom in a little to the left and above
the fire hydrant (really in front of it, but I don't have any other landmark
to use. I see the faintest image of an orb or maybe some sort of light
refraction. I really can't decide what this is. I saw it better on my
camera LCD than on my PC. On the LCD I saw it w/o zooming in??? Why would
that be?? On PC, I have to zoom in to find it. But then when I back off
and know where to look I see it again...
<----Green orb? This does not appear on any other images I took of the building. This is near the area where several heard noises. The building is located across the street from the cemetary.
See? I told you, we were only lifting the cameras over the walls!
