Then…
“We’re Under Here”
Years ago, a young and impressionable inventor by the now infamous name of
Thomas Edison had an irregular (for that period in time) and unusual theory that one of
his amazing creations could not only be considered a form of high value entertainment,
but also possessed the unlikely ability to intercept eerie, sometimes disturbing
communication from the other side. To all of you out there that cannot utilize the ability
to process context clues, this invention was called the “phonograph”.
How, some may inquire, does this intricate and most of the time underestimated
tool of our modern society serve as a telephone service to the nearly departed? Well, as
you may or may not know, sound waves are nothing more than an invisible form of
energy. Theoretically, when a spirit materializes, it causes an absence of energy in the
position in which it does so. This is why paranormal investigators claim to be coming in
contact with an entity when they experience a “cold spot” or a place where there is an
absence of heat in an otherwise heated area without the presence of a draft or cooling
source…because heat is another form of energy. In theory, regardless of whether it is a
residual haunting (events that are possibly trapped in some kind of time loop) or an active
haunting, ghosts can use sound wave energy to communicate. This communication is
commonly referred to as EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) and can be picked up and
recorded with the most basic of recording devices, if in fact, you’re lucky enough to have
a spirit want to conversate with you. Now that I have a somewhat basic explanation of
EVP out of the way, I can continue on to the fun stuff, my first official investigation!
For months, I had been dying to begin what I had been dreaming of for
years. You see, being a young and impressionable child in the midst of mid eighties pop
culture heaven, you wanted to be one of two things when you grew up: A Jedi or a
Ghostbuster! Well, trying frantically, sadly, and unsuccessfully to move things with the
power of my mind had made the Jedi dream unobtainable. However, paranormal
investigation technology and popularity grows more everyday. There may not be
backpacks that fire beams of proton energy and one hundred foot tall marshmallow
sailors threatening to destroy our lives, but our televisions are bombarded with shows
detailing the chronicles of professional paranormal investigating organizations, no matter
how “hokey” some of them are. I personally think that one of my biggest and most
recent influences is an investigation group out of Rhode Island known as T.A.P.S. (The
Atlantic Paranormal Society). These guys go into places with reported paranormal
activity and try to “debunk” activity by giving occurrences a scientific and normal
explanation. However, when they do discover something that is unexplainable, the
footage is usually amazing…unlike some others who turn the camera and scream or
claim to be possessed. Getting a member of T.A.P.S. to say that a location is actually
haunted is like getting a three time scorned man to say “ I Love You “. There was only
so long that a television show could captivate my longing and I was literally dying to go
out and conduct these investigations on my own. Another of my greatest influences, of
course being my partner in everything that I do, my girlfriend was just as excited as I was
to begin this hunt into the unknown.
Early one afternoon as I was conducting my daily routine of suiting up for
work, I presented her with a spontaneous idea that I had concocted while showering,
which is where I have been known to come up with some of my most brilliant ideas. My
presentation contained the key words “tonight” and “cemetery” which, in fact, are two of
the words contained in the combination to unlock one of her most devious and seductive
grins. It had begun.
Something was missing, though. Knowing that neither of us would run
hysterically into the night screaming at the discovery of any type of paranormal event,
we decided to invite one of our female friends along, not only for the value of her
company, but for the fact that every Scooby Doo organization needs its own “Shaggy”.
She normally acts a little skittish towards these types of scenarios and I thought that it
would make the investigation more enjoyable if she were to come along…not to mention
that she owns all of the camera equipment. To my surprise she made not a whimper,
acting highly professional, and I personally hoped that she would remain the third
member of our team regardless of the barrage of personal criticism that I knew she would
have to endure if she decided to do so. With the plan in motion, I left for work, eagerly
awaiting the end of my shift to begin the fulfillment of my childhood dream of becoming
a paranormal investigator.
As we entered the darkened gates of McWright cemetery, the three of us
unanimously and simultaneously agreed that flashlights would have been an awesome
idea but were not readily available or obtainable in this wooded, country cemetery at
10:30 pm on a Sunday night. Once I extinguished the vehicle headlights, it seemed an
eternity before our eyes could adjust to the ambience of the moonlit cemetery. I pressed
“record” on my micro cassette recorder and began to recite aloud the place, time, and
date in which our investigation was being conducted but was suddenly distracted by the
hysterical laughter of my co-conspirators in this midnight intrusion of afterlife privacy.
Perhaps they believed I was taking this a bit too seriously? Perhaps I was, and regardless
of the personal experiences that I had witnessed over the past couple of years, there still
remained a bit of a skeptic in me, a belief that nothing would be discovered and all that is
“paranormal” would continue to remain a mystery to me revealing nothing. As we
walked along the white rock pathway that circled the perimeter of the weathered
headstones we came upon the landmark that made McWright remain in my mind as my
initial investigation choice. In the center of the cemetery lies an open air mausoleum
that, over time, had sunken into the ground revealing only about three feet of the walls,
the headstones, and a roof that now begins at chest level of the average man…which
means it begins at neck level for me! My girl snapped a photo on the digital camera, and
upon its appearance on the camera’s view screen, she noticed that it contained an “orb”
next to the roof of the sunken enclosure.
Some say that orbs are balls of spirit energy that can be digitally photographed
and are highly regarded by some paranormal investigators to be proof of the existence of
life after death. I, on the other hand, feel that some investigators go for years without
finding any other evidence and possibly even begin to falsify their findings. Orb
photograph, personally, is nothing more that a camera’s flash reflecting light from dust
particles or even nocturnal flying insects. Passing this oddity off as either of the above,
we pressed on into the darkness occasionally enduring the temporary blindness caused
by the flash of the camera. We began to hear human voices nearby; possibly from one of
the homes in the area wondering what was causing all of the flashing. It was at this point
we came to the decision that we should draw our maiden investigation to a close
before we inadvertently became the receivers of a shot gun blast by one of the curious
members of the living. Disappointed, I made the suggestion to take more photos and
recordings near the sunken mausoleum for the simple fact that it was the only spot that
we had encountered anything out of the ordinary, even though it was just an orb. (o.k.,
now I was reaching!) As we were venturing through the labyrinth of headstones, a bright
ball of light passed quickly a few feet above my head! I never said that I didn’t believe in
orbs that can be seen with human eyes!
“Did you just see that”? I asked the other two excitedly.
Luckily, I wasn’t the only one who had seen it and together we brainstormed to
figure out its origin. There was no rain in the forecast which ruled out lightening and
heat lightening was out of the question due to the fact that it was late October. We had
no flash lights and no pictures had been taken in quite a while. With a renewed sense of
enthusiasm, we continued towards the sunken structure.
When we reached the mausoleum, my girlfriend began to share with us a little of
the history of McWright cemetery and informed us that at one time there had been two
mausoleums, side by side, but one had mysteriously been destroyed by a fire long ago.
She recalled some of the writing on one of the headstones that had since been erased by
time and the elements.
“A Loving Wife, A Mother Dear, A Faithful Friend Lies Buried Here”. “Kind of
creepy, huh?” she inquired.
We shuffled back to the car to put an end to the events of the evening and I spoke
aloud to all that were listening.
“If anyone has anything to say, you’re running out of time.”
I lit a cigarette and, one last time, did a 360 degree viewing of the moon
drenched, peaceful landscape. When it’s my time, I thought, this is where I’d love to be.
No city lights to block the view of the stars, and nothing to hear but chirping crickets, the
distant howls of a pack of coyotes, and the chatter of country dwellers loading their guns
and wondering what is really going on in that cemetery down the road. Receiving
another set of twin laughs from my female companions, I spoke aloud into the recorder
“end of recording”. I started the car and turned towards the other two, congratulating
them for we had now had our ghost hunting cherries popped. I activated the headlights
and off we sped into the darkness of normalcy.
Once we returned home, the audio tape was rewound to the beginning and we
huddled close together, eagerly awaiting the presence of anything that didn’t belong,
anything that was not spoken by any of us, and anything that was paranormal. We
attentively listened and, half an hour into the playback, the only discovery that I had
made is that everyone I know has been right all this time: I am, indeed, the cockiest
person that I’ve ever had the displeasure of listening to for half an hour! I have since
apologized to almost everyone I know and even a few complete strangers. With my ears
on fire, the playback continued.
As we came to the spot in the audio tape in which we encountered the orb, there
was no type of disturbance caught on the tape that we could decipher and nearing the end
of the recording our morale began to plummet. We continued, listening ever closer,
waiting for anything to reveal itself.
“A Loving Wife, A Mother Dear, A Faithful Friend Lies Buried Here, pretty
creepy, huh”?
“Carla”
STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“What was that? Who in the heck said that?”
We ran the tape back again and again and clearly, each time, a male voice whispers the
word “Carla”. Our spirits soared to new heights as we had discovered our own evidence
of any otherworld existence. We had just captured our first EVP! High fives and hugs
all around. Thinking that this was the pinnacle of the night’s findings, we settled in to
endure the remainder of the recording, not knowing that the best, if not the eeriest
moment of my life, was merely minutes ahead.
“If anyone has anything to say, you’re running out of time”.
This is it. We had captured an EVP and were ecstatic about it, believing that
nothing more awesome than that could have ever been found in our initial data
collection.
“We’re Under Heeeeere”
Electricity engulfed my spine and both our jaws fell open as the ghostly words
were spoken again and again as the segment was repeatedly rewound and reviewed. A
distinct female voice upon my taunting had stated to us the obvious explanation as to
why no one could hear her speak….
”We’re Under Here”.
We were no longer people who had an interest in hunting the paranormal. In two
hours time, we had been christened by the voices of the unknown, given the title of
paranormal investigators. Not just any paranormal investigators, mind you, but such that
had obtained evidence. Our own evidence!! I have since played these recordings to
friends and co-workers, skeptics and hard core believers, with the results resembling a
shocking likeness to my own upon first discovery. I have so wanted to post these on the
web site to share with the world but I’ve hesitated due to the fear of an investigator being
less fortunate and copying them and claiming them as their own.
We needed a name. A clever name, like so many others, that could spark easy
recognition and, when the time came, would look awesome on a T-shirt!
Thus, P.R.I.N.T. was born: Paranormal Research and Investigations of North
Texas. I haven’t yet discovered the time to return to McWright to see if I can find the
identity of “Carla” because we need to go in the daylight hours to be able to read the
headstones…not to mention that neither of us had gathered the nerve to enter a sunken
mausoleum in pitch black conditions. Not yet!
It had begun:
P.R.I.N.T. is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to furthering the research and exploration into the scientific aspect of paranormal investigation. We are not psychics, nor are we "Ghost Busters". However, we believe that there is something more out there than what the powers-that-be have led us to believe. If you believe that you have a paranormal problem, or blessing depending on if you're one of those "glass is half full" kind of people, we would be honored to assist you in discovering and verifying the activity in a scientific and rational manner. To initiate an investigation, leave us a personal message containing your name, a phone number that you can be reached at, and a brief description of the activity. From there we will conduct a telephone interview to determine if your problem requires further investigation. Please do not falsify information or contact us because you are a skeptic that finds those sort of things humorous. We take our work and beliefs very seriously. By no means will you be charged for any of our services. If you have not experienced paranormal activity personally but know of a particular location that has, please feel free to contact us also. It's all about discovery and the quest to further our knowledge into the unknown to share with one and all. Until then....Keep believing.
Now…
Wow…how naive we were. A borrowed digital camera and a cheap tape recorder. I actually still have the tapes in my equipment bag but I haven’t listened to them in ages…probably because we’ve uncovered a ton of evidence since then that runs circles around a few simple EVPs. Equipment wise, we roll out with multiple digital night vision cameras and several digital audio devices now…not to mention a few other really sweet toys that have been invented since that fateful night. Clients are required to submit to a video taped interview that is reviewed by professional lie detectors before we will even step foot in their house instead of a simple phone call. For the record, I think T.A.P.S is a joke now. Sometimes I yearn for the simpler times though. Trial and error…
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