Brisket Basket/Trippets
Nov. 3, 2007
Brisket Basket 11-03-2007
Debbie’s Report

Members present:  Brandy, Denise, Evie, Kim, Verna and Mary.

Time: 7:30 p.m. 

The Brisket Basket is a small diner business located across from St Petersburg High School.    This location requested our services due part to paranormal occurrences and part to legend.  There is a report of a student that was killed while crossing the street in recent years.  There is also a story about a phantom delivery truck that shows up from time to time.  Denise, Brandy and myself began investigating inside the diner while the rest of the others skirted the exterior.  While setting up my camcorder and just prior to switching it on, a large bright spot moved across the viewing window.  Causation may have been a vent near by but this specific anomaly seem to contain it’s own light and appeared to have purpose of movement.  I did mention this to both of my co-investigators.  Here is also where I captured my first EVP and this was only 5-minutes into the investigation and only one of over 18 EVPs in all.  This first EVP seemed to correlate to our sensitive’s view that the entity was afraid of her.  You can hear me call out,  “a big orb just shot across the screen”, then you hear in the recording, “how to hide” as an EVP.  We ran a short EVP session to try and develop further information but had very limited success.  I believe the only consistent EMF spiking centered on the entity’s need to get a message across but no amount of guessing on our part coaxed much more to the surface other than the entity may be Jewish.

Denise felt the entity was afraid of her specifically.   I believe we may have determined the time of death came while the entity was a sophomore, maybe just graduating to junior status at the school.  The entity continued to elude us.  Denise at one point stated, “He won’t come down”.  We switched places with the other group and began working our way around the outside premise.  Denise captured a green mist in two photos that we were unable to debunk.  Multiple picture taking ensued but only Denise was able to capture this green mist on one of Brandy’s cameras.  We convened to discuss findings in our usual manner.  The EMF measurements inside and out did not show any consistent spiking outside of the EVP sessions.

At one point in the investigation I stationed my EVP computer in the building while the rest of us were outside.  Some of the diner’s equipment, like the freezer and air conditioner were running a consistent background noise that I hoped would make a good white noise substitute.   What I captured on the computer recording devices was pretty startling to me.

Over 18 EVPs, mostly during this isolated period, brought forward something entirely unexpected, based on the information exchanged by both other investigators of the night and the property manager.  Beginning with the first EVP of “where to hide” moving on to several answers to questions that were asked, indicating a possible intelligent haunting, to a possible murder or murder-suicide statement. 

During the usual questions I received various responses. 
1.Is there anyone here with us?  Response:  “Hi”
2.“(Manager) I’m getting the bathroom keys”. Response: “Come back”
3.“Do you know the woman…”? Response”  “Yes”.
Also included in the active session were EVPs with the more typical “get out” and multiple unclear EVPs.  However, while the computer remained isolated on the counter inside the business and all participants of the evening were sitting outside and away from the building, the following series of EVPs were taken, all in a female voice.
1.“Help me”
2.“Stop me”
3.The sound of what could be a small caliber gun
4.“I killed him, Michael………..I killed him”

The above EVPs were recorded in about as controlled an environment, as can be created field research.  All of the EVPs, except the very first one, appear to be from the same female. At no time during the above session is it discerned that anyone entered the building while this recording was made.  The back door is very loud and the front door has a string of bells on it. 

This is the first time I have encountered such a disparity between the subjective and the objective information obtained during an investigation of the paranormal. Nothing picked up that night indicates a phantom delivery truck and the only male voice heard was the one in the beginning of the recording.  All other EVPs appear to be coming from the same female voice and does not appear to be random but bares a distinct purpose.

Hopefully, the research group will be able to shed some additional light.
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Evie's report:
Members in attendance were Brandy, Debbie, Denise, Kim, Mary, Verna and Evie.  Investigation started at 7:30 in a local eating establishment that caters mainly to the lunch crowd.  The weather was cool with low humidity making for a very pleasant evening.  There are power lines all around the building along with security cameras that give off high emf readings.

We opened the investigation and split into two groups, one starting on the inside and the other starting outside. After both groups completed inside and outside investigations, we came together to compare notes.  Our sensitive felt a strong male energy but felt it feared her.  Another member felt an area of increased energy also at the back of the building in the parking lot.  We had several pictures of possible orbs and one camera picked up what appears to be a green mist. Our evp specialist thinks she picked up several evps but all the evidence has to be verified and approved.

All in all, it was a very pleasant investigation.  We were able to meet with the business owner and briefly meet the business manager and both are open to our findings.Our research specialists will try to verify our findings by researching the areas events changes over the years.

I took about 20 pictures but only found a couple to have orbs.  I will send them in a separate e-mail
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Kimberly D. Dietrich
I did not get any sense of a presence after extensive walk-through, both indoors or outside in the time we were there (approximately 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.), although this could have been due to the lower ambient temperatures and the traffic on Fifth Avenue.  The traffic also created a sort of "wind tunnel effect" around the building, especially towards the rear of the building. 

Even so, inside the building, I did not have any sense of energy or spirits with us.  I also did not see anything on my photos that I reviewed while still on-site.  However, after review this morning on my computer, looking at #18, there is an unusual finding near the taillights of the car.  However, in shots #19 and #20, this does not appear.  I really cannot explain this.  I am not saying this is an orb and I am not saying it isn't.  I just cannot explain why this would be on 1 photo but not 2 subsequent, essentially similar photos taken within 5 or less minutes. 
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Brandy’s report:
Trilett’s
Nov. 3
7:30 start time, finish 9:30.

Present:  Brandy, Debie, Denise, Mary, Evie, Kim, Verna

Others:   Owner, manager and son.

Note:  Aroma of fries

.6 EMF base reading on 0 – 3 scale.

Kitchen:  Stove, deep fryer, ice maker, cash register all had EMF.

Back room:  EMF = .6

Questions with meter:
Are you male?  2 spikes
Female? 1 spike
Do you have a message to pass on?  Spike
Denise:  Felt like we were being watched.
ON the way to the investigation had an idea of a child being killed as it crossed the street.

Meter:  What is the last year that you remember?  (We tried various decades; no response).

What class rank were you in when you died?
Response:  spiked on Freshman and Sophomore

Outside:  Denise had a sense that the entity was above us.
EMF = .4
Denise said energy remained in the building.

Discussion:
Evie:  Nothing
Kim:  Nothing
Mary:  Not much of anything inside; by the canopy meter went off
Verna;  1 photo (needs to be examined); wondered if someone was killed out there; felt something near the bathroom, breezeway, parking lot; nothing specific, just an energy.
Debbie:  Felt as if we were chasing him; very shy energy, not really going to communicate
Denise:  Impression coming over:  Freshman who was hit and killed; feeling watched male (dominant energy), scared of us, doesn’t know us
Brandy:  Few spikes, no orbs, only consistent response was for “Message for biz owners.”

Second walk through:  Outside, as we were discussing investigation Denise noticed a green mist (relative to the Green Devils, the high school mascot related to St. Pete High across the street?)

Tried the back room:  Do you have a message?  Spike.
Tried outside:  Do you have a message;  Spike
Denise got another green mist image outside in the same area.

I tried asking ethnicities:  Are you Black, Hispanic, Asian, White, Jewish?  Spike on Jewish.
Repeated:  Are you Jewish?  Spike.
Why are you here?  Are you waiting for the angel?  No response.
Are you a dybbuk?  Spike (meaning it died in a state of sin)
Are you scared of us because of your religious beliefs?  Spike


Biz owner discussion:
Reports a phantom delivery truck; According to legend, kids got mad at original business owner.  They rented a truck and drove it around and around the business; the truck fell over.  No kids were hurt, but since then several have reported hearing the truck come in.

A customer came in and reported that a few years ago a kid got hit near the business, actually dying as it crossed the street.

Current owner bought the business in November, did some renovation and reopened in April.  Does report some Jewish clientele.

Conclusion:  I was quite surprised with the aspect of a possible ghost associated with Judaism.  I would liked to have heard the delivery truck, which has been seen and sensed (as well as heard) by both employees and customers alike.

Mary's research:
11-25-07
I have not yet been able to locate any thing that involved a shooting there   The only info I have so far is that it was opened in 1946 by Dean and Hazel Triplett who seem to have come to St Pete from Ohio.  The business known as Triplett's (the SPHS hang-out for many years, commonly called Trip's) was established in 1946 and was sold by the owners in 1969. Mr Triplett died in 1977 at the age of 66 and his wife died in 1973 at the age of 59.  The first car-hop was Ted Lundberg. I may have located him living in Largo!  Perhaps he is the one that came into the restaurant and told Linda the story of the over-turned truck...he would be about 80 now....may be worth a phone call :)

The man who bought Triplett's was named Charles Lusk.  He owned it from 1969 until 1971.  The business continued to be known as Triplett's until 1982.  Harry's Red Hots opened on the site in 1982, but closed in the late 1980s. 

In 1998 Vito Farese purchased the site and did some remodeling to the structure.  He had stated that he wanted to re-open as Triplett's but am not sure if he ever did at this point.


Updated information:  June 28, 2009:
Reguarding TRIPLETTS Drive in.

The origional Owners: Dean Triplett is in fact dead, HOWEVER his wife HAZEL is not. She resides in a nursing home near Largo.

I am her grand daughter. She isn't dead. Thank you for your attention.


Kim D's photo
Listen to this EVP for the investigation (submitted by EVP Debbie)
Though there exists some tension concerning the topic of ghosts, many religions do have stories associated with the spiritually restless.  Often, the topics presented in scripture address how the living should (or should not) interact with the dead.  However, in paranormal investigation there is an interesting reversal of this idea:  how do ghosts deal with religious concepts when interacting with the living?

In November 2007, the SPIRITS investigated the Brisket Basket.  While it appeared to be a fairly inactive investigation at first, several interesting results came from it.

The Brisket Basket, itself, has a long history.  Located across the street from St. Petersburg High School, also a reputed haunted hot spot, it was originally opened as Triplett’s (fondly called “Trip’s” by the locals) in 1946.  The original owner sold it in 1969, and, though it went through several changes of management, it remained known as Triplett’s until 1982.  A new owner changed the name to Harry’s Red Hots, though this incarnation ended later in the decade.  The current ownership bought the business and reopened it as the Brisket Basket in 2007. 

Several of the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg members reported fond memories of eating at Triplett’s during various decades when they were students at St. Petersburg High, whose mascot is, ironically, the “Green Devils”.

The investigation started out on a strange note.  There was very little interaction inside the building, itself.  Sensitives could feel something hovering about, but it was keeping its distance and often felt “out of reach.”  It would interact briefly with EMF, but after a time ceased to use the meter as a communication device.  Temperature remained consistent and images showed few to no orbs.  However, when the team went outside, things started to change.  The entity continued to “hover” and remain distant but it did interact with us somewhat.  One unusual images appeared along the back wall.  An investigator asked if the ghost was a “Green Devil.”  The EMF meter spiked, and an image taken shortly thereafter produced a light green mist along the back wall of the building.  Several cameras and many shots taken to replicate it produced only a small second green mist, located lower than the first one.

When no other results were produced, one member attempted to try a variety of questions, using the meter as a tool for the entity to respond. The question that first brought response concerned ethnicity.  After a series of options were offered, the EMF meter spiked on “Jewish”.  When asked to confirm “Jewish”, the needle spiked again.  At this, the entity became more active.  Sensitives were able to feel the entity’s hesitancy to interact with the team, partially because it was not supposed to communicate with “necromancers” (the EMF meter also spiked to confirm this).  

When the aspect of Judaism was revealed, the SPIRITS turned to their knowledge of the religion to learn more about it.  The entity identified itself as a dybbuk, a type of ghost derived from a person who died in a state of sin.  According to Jewish folklore, the dybbuks are said to either be escapees from Gehenna (“hell”) or barred entry into the afterlife because of extremely serious spiritual sins, such as suicide. 
EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) taken on the site and reviewed later revealed one odd statement:  “I killed him, Michael….I killed him.”  Could this be the act to which the spirit referred as being spiritually unclean?  Was this what created a dybbuk?  So far, there is no research that supports this finding, and no known reason for the entity to be near the area.  The entity does not appear dangerous, but is remorseful and standoffish.

The owner of the Brisket Basket reports other, milder phenomena.  On occasion, small items, such as a broom and a spatula, appear to have been moved.  Also, many employees have heard a phantom delivery truck pulling up to the building.  The sound is so real that even customers have asked if anyone was going to go out back to pick up the delivery.  Local lore says that many years ago, some high school students rented a truck and drove it in circles around the building as a revenge-joke against the owner.  The truck fell over onto its side, ending the prank, though no one died or was injured.  This may have created some sort of impression in the location that is “heard” by others from time to time.

The only other news items worthy of interest involve memories of stories about students who were killed crossing the street from St. Pete High in front of Triplett’s.  No recent deaths have occurred, though sensitives wondered if one spirit there was of a Sophomore-aged male who had been killed in the area. Again, information was sketchy as it did not interact much with the team equipment or sensitives.  If there is a secondary ghost, it may be the prankster who moves items to gain attention.  He is harmless and seems comfortable with the staff who are present.  Thus far, articles have not been produced though the current business owner has worked to create a safer school zone in the area.  The bus stop has been moved, and a walk way created, to ensure student safety.