Lithia-Pinecrest was the first investigation in 2005.  Initially, the home was presented as a "control," or non-haunted, location.  Perched at an odd angle on cross streets with one of the oldest cemeteries in the area a few scant blocks away, the home had several surprises in store for the group.

Three SPIRITS members attended the investigation; a fourth member was present but he lived in the home.  With a small area to search, the silent walk through was not as strictly enforced.  One visitor was in attendance for part of the investigation as was the other roommate, Aaron. 

The phenomena was pretty basic.  There were constant levels of low EMF, reaching 1.5 to 2.0 on the 0  3 scale.  There were periodic surges of EMF, however, that were accompanied by cold spots.  Various members of the group felt a thin ribbon of a cool breeze blowing by them.  The windows were not open and the heat was not turned on.  Even when the doors to various rooms were closed the cold draft remained, particularly in Aaron's room.

Of the two sensitives present, one immediately picked up the image an older woman.  She was grandmotherly and came to visit Aaron, who she said was her great-grandson.   Oddly, when asked why she was there, her answer was "Because you [The SPIRITS team] are."  Could it be that we have a reputation with the spectral crowd?  Perhaps it was the only way for her to know that she could be heard.

She had no message to convey, other than to voice her pride at her descendant's progress through life.  Her brief contact with the group seemed to quickly drain her.  The EMF dropped and her messages also petered out.

The other sensitive picked up an "A" name as soon as she walked in the door.  She said the name "Angel" and felt the being was related to the SPIRITS member who lived there.  Only at the end of the investigation did we learn that this individual believes he has an angelic protector watching over him, and that he has seen it.

Other phenomena in the home may be drop-in visitors, possibly from the cemetery down the street.  Aaron, who resided there longer, reported two strange events.  Once he felt as if someone was watching him; it so unnerved him that he quickly left the house.  He was careful not to turn around, certain that he would find someone standing right behind him. 

Another time, he had a guest staying with him who was going out for the evening.  Just as he reached the front door, the bathroom door slammed shut.  No one was in the proximity to push it closed and the door displayed no anomalous behavior before or since that time.  He has also experienced something akin to Old Hag syndrome and said that he was awakened late one night by a voice "speaking rudely" to him. 

Yet, as per its function, the control investigation reminds us to look at the natural first for a source of phenomena.  One SPIRITS member believed that she saw a red orb traveling across the wall.  The homeowner later explained that lights from the street reflect oddly in the home to produce that particular result.  Another member reported a strange shadow figure reflected in a mirror.  Closer examination, and attempted reduplication of the images, showed that the camera was simply at an odd angle and, by chance, captured the reflection of a shadow cast upon the opposite wall, possibly created by the flash of her camera. 

To wrap up the night, the SPIRITS, with Aaron in tow, trekked to the cemetery.  One sensitive picked up the presence of an old colonel standing near the American flag.  Pictures snapped that night showed no phenomena, though pictures taken before did have luminous white orbs floating above some of the gravestones. 

This control investigation was a wonderful tool to hone our skills.  It reminds us to watch for explanations and to never jump to conclusions.  Ironically, it also cautions us that even a non-haunted house can contain a spook or two.  As is this world, the Otherworld is unpredictable and can be filled with contradictions.

Lithia-Pinecrest

1/8/05

HOME

Double orb images; cold spot going through the area.  Brandy's image.

Denise's images:

Brandy's report

Lithia Pinecrest

1/8/05

Start:  8:30 p.m.

Investigators Present:  Brandy, David, Denise, Cindy

Others:  Aaron, his girlfriend (for part of the investigation), 1 cat, a fish tank with turtles and a bird named Charlie.

We stayed together as a group.  This is David's home; he is the contact.  He came with us on the investigation but could not say anything.  Because the area was so small and it was such a small group, the silent walk through was semi-discarded and a more casual investigation took place.

Aaron's room:  EMF 4.2; temp. 78 degrees.  Cold spot; a breeze felt.  Cindy noted the cold spot too, after I did.  Said it felt as if the breeze was going through her.  There was no anomaly in reading Cindy. Denise got a chill and also felt the breeze; I felt a chill.  When Denise put her hand out to feel the breeze I took a picture.  I saw a small spark out of the corner of my eye, but I had a headache on and off throughout the day.  It could have been related to a migraine.  (The day after the investigation I had a headache for the afternoon).  My batteries were depleted in my digital camera. We noted that there was an air freshner in the room.

I went out to the living room to get another set of batteries.  Is aw a red light cross the room out of the corner of my eye.  I asked the others and no one else saw it.

David's room:  EMF 4.75; temperature 78 degrees.  I felt a chill in David's room.

Living room:  3.5 EMF, 80 degrees.  Denise's camera stopped working.

Kitchen:  4.0 EMF, 80  82 degrees.  We were talking to the girlfriend, who was getting ready to leave.  I got a chill during the discussion and had a brief headache while waiting in there.

Discussion:  Brandy:  Aaron's room; chill, breeze, spark, batteries died.  Living room:  alone, saw the red light; David's room:  chill.

Cindy: Heard the term "angel" when she came in; cold breeze through hand in Aaron's room.

Denise:  on the way over heard a woman who was related to Aaron; she was in her late 60s or 70's; she was a grandmother figure with the name Gretta, Grechen, Algeria.  I asked her why she (this spirit) was there; she said because we were coming over.  Felt that it was a great-great grandmother somehow related to the 1800s.

She also heard an "A" name come through when she first came in. 

During the discussion, I felt a cold spot form on my hand.  The temperature on my hand dropped form 95 to 85 degreesand there was a slight movement of EMF.

EMF started to go up; Denise sensed a woman in the room.  She was proud of her grandson; densie felt pulled back to Aaron's room.

Aaron's room:  Densie's camera came on; computer came on (it was supposed to be turned off).  Aaron came in with us; he felt very cold.  My head started to hurt.  There was a knocking sound in the living room, which David, Aaron and I heard.  David went out to answer the door; no one was there.  The energy kind of seeped out of the room; felt warm, and "dead"  -- no energy.

Homeowner interview:

David senses an angel around him. 

Aaron has had old hag syndrome; tall dark figure appeared 3 times to Aaron at his mother's home.  Aaron has lived in several haunted houses. 

In current home:  6 months ago he heard a voice talking to him rudely.  A year and a half ago he was walking to the door and he felt as if there was something right behind him; he didn't want to know and didn't turn around but left the building as soon as he could. 

He did explain the lights on the wall:  the wall was at an angel to the street and he often saw head and taillights through the blinds.  Because of the odd angle of the wall to the street he believes the lights are explainable as a trick of light through the window.  I tend to agree with him, and that would discount my experience.

Aaron also said that one day the bathroom door slammed shut on its own.  About a month ago he had a friend staying with him.  The friend was leaving and turned around to say good bye.  As he did, the friend witnessed the bathroom door close by itself; Aaron heard the door slam but didn't see it shut.  No one was near the door.  The friend made a statement that the door closed by itself, the dismissed the thought and left the room quickly. 

David has some SLI-der phenomena happen around him; both have experienced some form of de ja vu/clairvoyance (dream about something, then it happens). 

Both were uncomfortable with the mirror in the living room; it had belonged to Aaron's father who had some negative energy attached to him.  However, in recent months the mirror was "cleansed" by both men and neither felt as uncomfortable with it.

Conclusions:  This was mostly a control house.  David is a member of the SPIRITS and sensed some minor strange energy in the home, but for the most part did not have phenomena.  The potential results that the SPIRITS received appear to be related to our coming to the home. 

The location is also very near an old cemetery; I wonder if they have some minor entities crossing through the area.  The door slamming on its own is unusual and that Aaron reports feeling watched at least once in the past indicates that there is very minor activity in the area, but not enough to be worried with.

Lithia Pinecrest

Saturday, January 8, 2005

Report written by David Michaels, on January 13, 2005.

This investigation hit a little close to "home" for me.  Mainly, because it was my home.  This was where I lived.  My humble little two bedroom apartment.

From time to time, SPIRITS members offer to have their homes investigated.  Sometimes because they truly believe it's hauntedsometimes because they know it's not.  Occasionally we'll do a "control house," meaning, a place we know isn't haunted, to test the accuracy of the team's findings.  Originally, I had intended to offer my place as a controlled investigation.

That was, until I told my roommate about it, and he started to tell me of minor paranormal occurrences that I wasn't aware about previously.

Okay, so maybe there's something here after all.

Additionally, there's an old confederate graveyard not even a block away from where I live.  I've visited it before, to pay my respects and see the resting places of some key historical figures that helped found and establish this area.  While there, I believed I sensed an entity or two.  I was alone, so I was unable to verify any of this, unfortunately.  (I went in the middle of the day, in broad daylight.  I was NOT there with the intent to investigate anything.)  Nonetheless, I believe I may have briefly connected with some spirits of long-deceased former citizens of this town.  To the best of my knowledge, this graveyard is seldom visited by others, if at all.

So I wonderedif I had connected with actual spirits, could they have possibly followed me home, or seen where I lived?

Spirits are just like peopleminus the body.  If you ask someone not to follow you home, or leave you alone, or give you privacygenerally, people will respectfully oblige.  At the end of every investigation, we "close" the investigation by speaking out loud and politely asking any/all spirits not to follow any of us home.  But remember, I didn't visit that graveyard as an investigator.  I was curious about the historical figures who helped establish this city, back in the 1800's.  I was outside enjoying a beautiful day.  I was just visiting.  So I wasn't intending to pick up any ghosts.  I wasn't intending to verify if any existed.  I wasn't there on an investigation.  So, after I left that day, I never thought to say "please don't follow me" either.

I don't believe any did.  I didn't go straight home from there, anyway.  And any entities I did seem to sense, all seemed very peaceful and benevolent.  So I didn't care.

Nevertheless, this thought crossed my mind: since I live so close, and since I may be the only spiritually "sensitive" person they've seen in a long time, could they have stopped by for a visit?

Denise, another SPIRITS member and psi-sensitive individual, also lived in the general area and paid the graveyard a visit recently as well.  She, too, picked up a couple entities.  She confirmed that they seemed friendly.

Not long after, Denise and two other SPIRITS members were at my apartment, doing an investigation.  Hmm.  Opportunity for nearby ghosts?  Perhaps

As expected, the team didn't find much at my apartment.  Every room was more or less completely inactiveexpect for one room.  My roommate's bedroom.

My roommate has a history of paranormal experiences himself.  Although not crazy about the idea of us picking up unusual events in his room, he was pretty much used to it over the course of his life.

In his room, the three other team members (everyone besides myself) felt bizarre chills and cold breezes at different times.  The chill only affected their hands and arms, and sometimes seemed to touch one person right before moving to another.  We, of course, checked for cracked windows and open A/C vents.  We were unable to find a natural source.

Photos taken in that room later revealed orbs, as well.  No orbs appeared in any other room in the apartment.

By the end of the investigation, the team had pretty much figured out it was a control house investigation.  Cindy, one of the members, picked up "Angel"although she couldn't tell if it was a male or female.  It was here, she felt, but not necessary related to anyone.  I couldn't help but smile.

I've sensed an angel around me for quite a while.  I do believe it was my angel, coming through to say "hi" through another person.

Denise also picked up on another person/entity, although we were unable to verify who it was.  The entity apparently had some connection with my roommate.  He jotted down the name and information, and planned to research it.

After the investigation, Denise noticed something frighteningly unusual in a couple of her photos.  In my living room is a mirrora mirror that both my roommate and I used to have uncomfortable feelings around.  (The mirror used to belong to a man who practiced witchcraft and magick.)  A month or two prior, my roommate and I stopped being bothered by it.  Maybe we got used to it.  Maybe the weird "vibe" just went away.  But we did make mention of it, after the investigation, to the SPIRITS team.

So when Denise reviewed her photos and noticed the unusual large human figure shadow appearing in the mirror, she sent the pictures to the team right away.

It freaked me out.  It looked like one of those "shadow people" I've heard people talk about.  And only the day before, I had seen "White Noise" in the movie theater, which included an evil entity that looked very similar to that.  Needless to say, I was not happy.  I didn't want one of "those" living in MY apartment.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a false positive.  I was able to reproduce the shadow effect, using known light sources and locations people stood at the time.  It was just an eerie coincidence that Denise's photo happened to be angled correctly to catch the reflection of Cindy's shadow in the mirror.

Whew!

So overall, aside from the rare and occasional unusual events around my apartment, the place was confirmed to be non-haunted.  As for the unusual and unexpected findings in my roommate's room, we can only speculate.  Was it ghosts from the nearby graveyard, visiting to say hello or get noticed?  Was it lingering stuff from my roommate's previous history with paranormal experiences? Or perhaps something else?

Whatever the case, my apartment was and still is pretty "quiet."  No ghost sightings, no moving objects, no unexplained phenomena.  Any seemingly paranormal events were too few and far between to draw any conclusions.

The only real finding was the unusual level of EMF throughout the entire apartment and surrounding area.  It remained consistent between 4 and 5 on the meter, whereas most houses are between 0.2 and 1.  Granted, there are several low-hanging power lines just outside my apartment.  My only concern is the potential long-term risks of being exposed to above-average levels of electromagnetic fields.

On one hand, it's good to know that my roommate and I are the only "residents" currently living here.  On the other hand, part of me thinks it might be fun to have a ghostly friend hang around the place.  Still, it was nice to hear my personal angel come through.  So perhaps I've got that spirity friend after all.

# # #

Cindy's report

Lithia Pinecrest

1-8-05

8:35 p.m.

silent walk thru:

living room: 77.5-80'  got the word/name Angel asked homeowner if the word/name Angel meant anything but not to answer as of yet. homeowner asked male or female? and i said that i couldn't tell it was like a not a male and not a female either!!!!!

kitchen: 79.5-80'

A's room: 77.5' emf 4-5-4 range

wind blowing thru my hand while standing in middle of room.

D's room: 76.5 emf 4.75 range

group walk thru:

felt absoutley nothing during this walk thru and the silent walk thru.

Homeowner verification:

Controlled home no activity at all

Homeowner has said that he offten feels his guardian angel is around him.