West Sac a Port or Portal?:

Shadow People & Ghosts! By Paul Dale Roberts.

The date is February 23, 2007 and I have been contacted by H.P.I. (Haunted and Paranormal Investigations) of Northern California to investigate a residential haunting in West Sacramento.
West Sacramento is known to be a port of the Sacramento River. West Sacramento is a lazy industrial town that is connected to the Capitol of California, known to the world as the city of Sacramento. The location of the residence and the homeowners will not be identified. They requested confidentiality in regard to this investigation.

As I drove to this residence, I set the mood by listening to "Someone is Watching Me" by Rockwell and "Thriller" by Michael Jackson". I always love to psych myself out before going on an investigation.

Shannon McCabe is like Agent Jim Phelps from the TV show Mission Impossible (I.M. Force). She checks the bios of her investigators, looks over the pictures and determines who will be on the investigation team for any given case. For this case, the roll call included: Shannon McCabe - President of H.P.I. and Paranormal Investigator; Paul Dale Roberts - Ghost Writer/Paranormal Investigator; Alicia Perry - Paranormal Investigator/Video Manager; Mary Casiano - Paranormal Investigator; Brian Colbert - Equipment Operator/Paranormal Investigator.
Brian Colbert and Alicia Perry set up the HP Pavilion laptop, temperature meter, thermal infrared monitor device, audacity audio editing equipment, video cameras, digital cameras. The resident explained to us that her Chihuahua "Sierra" was sitting in the living room, looking towards the kitchen (the kitchen and living room are a "great room" with hanging cabinets between the two and a raised counter) and Sierra was staring at something for about 30 seconds. Then she slowly moved her gaze to the left until she was focusing on the doorway to the bedrooms. Then she trotted off to do something else. But about 15 minutes later she returned to the same spot and repeated the whole process again. And then when it happened a third time, the resident decided to take some digital pictures to see if she could catch whatever it was that Sierra was seeing, and captured clear images of what appears to be a shadow person. When Sierra was focused on the kitchen cabinets three times and barked frantically the resident started taking digital pictures and captured clear images of what appeared to be a shadow person.

Note: I want to make note that all pictures and videos that I mention in this article can be requested through Shannon McCabe - email: SNMProductionsco@yahoo.com.
The residents of this home keep a detailed log of video footage and pictures and will provide them to Shannon if requested. They will release any photos or video footage for the public's scrutiny.

The Shadow Person was captured by digital photos by the homeowner, as the homeowner went into a full circle snapping pictures, this occurred February 3, 2007, between 9pm and 10pm. I asked the homeowner how old the home was. She said it was built in 1939. Past stories of this residence are as follows:

a) When homeowners watch TV, they see what appears to be Shadow People at the corner of their eyes, darting around in the kitchen area.

b) Orbs seen floating around in kitchen in January 2007.

c) Video footage of one of their Chihuahuas looking at an orb. The dog Tuya just stopped in its tracks as the orb darted past her. This video was shown to me, a very clear picture of the orb and how the dog turned her head around to watch the orb.

d) Cupboards heard opening and slamming shut.

e) Baby crying sounds caught on EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon). The baby crying sounds occurred while homeowners slept.

f) The homeowners have lived in the house for 12 years and have witnessed ghostly spiders in the closet. One spider was as large as 6 inches in width. Also, pink orbs have been seen floating in the bedroom. A ghostly hand was seen at the bedside one night.

g) On one EVP, you can distinctly hear a mischievous woman spirit say 'do you want to hear a fart?" The EVP then records a child's laughter. Another EVP detects a woman's voice say 'What the hell do you want from us?"

h) One EVP recording sounded like a woman's voice saying either 'sister I love you' or 'Mary I love you!'. Then later there is a sound of Native American drums beating (what appears to sound like Native American drums beating).

i) The homeowners feel like they are being watched by unseen entities. One evening a candle flew off the TV set. Another day the coffee maker came on by itself. Homeowners said that when they moved into the home, something just didn't feel right about the house. The house was even blessed, but the hauntings continued. The resident felt that a negative presence was somehow attached to a built-in workbench in the garage. She and her father tore it out and took it to the dump, hoping the presence would leave with it. However, a roommate shortly afterwards had a frightening experience in which something brushed up against her, thumped into the window and thrashed about the blinds. She called the homeowner, scared out of her wits, saying she thought the entity wanted to hurt her. When the mother of the homeowner came over to visit, she slept on the couch and something awoke her in the middle of the night. She was heard screaming, "Get behind me Satan!". She didn't know what frightened her, just that it was something negative and she knew to tell it to leave. She would never explain what she saw. Another guest merely had something touch her shoulder as to comfort her.

j) The other homeowner claims that she was induced with 3 vivid dreams by the entity, in sequential order, one dream per night, three nights in a row. 1st dream was 1st Dream: That both home owners were in the living room home owner #1 said to home owner #2 (the one dreaming) to look in the middle of the living room very intently and you can barely make out the features of a female face. #2 homeowner proceeded to stare and the entity started to manifest into a person, until she was able to see a woman, in her late 30's, early 40's. She was dressed in a black blouse with a lighter skirt (1800's style). Her hair was dark and pulled back in a bun. Her face looked serious. 2nd Dream: This took place in the home's kitchen, and home owner #2 was looking out the kitchen side door and she could see in the distance a tall, thin man dressed in old western garb. And he was staring at her and he appeared to be floating above the ground. 3rd Dream: This one took place in a "mall" of some sort, both home owners were present. And all of a sudden a little girl 15 months to 2 years old came running up to #2, she had long dark, curly hair with big beautiful brown eyes. She came up to #2, smiling and hugged her by the neck as #2 bent down to her. And then all of a sudden a woman came up and grabbed the child and took her by the arm and walked away with her. And the child started screaming in protest. As #2 was watching this, the woman stopped in the doorway and turned and looked back at her. Her hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head. She had a light colored blouse and long dark skirt (early 1900's style). And somebody that was standing nearby said, "she's a nun". As I walked around the room, I felt a spike of cold air hit my arm. Another time, I felt static energy on my leg. As I sat in the middle of the kitchen, orbs flew all around me. This was captured on the TV monitor. I could look at the TV monitor while sitting in the kitchen and orbs were flying around my legs, across my chest, around my head. I could see on the live TV monitor, 3 orbs flying in unison. When Shannon sat in the middle of the kitchen, orbs circled and engulfed her and even appeared to chase her around the kitchen. Then an incredible amount of orbs, some small, some as huge as a grapefruit circled around Alicia Perry. This was all captured on video. Shannon, Alicia and I lightly touched a wine glass with one finger and enticed the spirit to move the glass through our bodies. Our fingers delicately touched the outside rim of the glass and the glass moved deliberately three times. On the live video, you could see the orbs go through Alicia's body, down her arm and through her fingers when the glass was moving. Everyone was stunned at the footage! I practically fell out of my chair in disbelief. Every time the glass moved, an orb would go down someone's arm and through their fingers. At some point of time, when I was enticing the spirit Izzy (you will see how she got this name later in this article), I felt a cold spot on my leg, that felt like a cold hand, I was completely astonished!
Shannon, Mary and I felt a cold spot together and this occurred around 9:44pm.
At 10:03pm, the footstool in the living room starts rocking on its own. Chino, another pet Chihuahua detects a presence and is focused on one part of the room and the temperature meter detects a cold spot at the area where Chino is focused upon. At 10:07pm, Mary and I feel another cold spot near the kitchen. As all of the investigators watched the video footage, we would tell the entity Isabel or Izzy to have 2 orbs fly by for a 'yes' and 3 orbs to fly by for a 'no'. The homeowner feels the entity's name is Isabel or Izzy, because this is what a medium told her and another entity by the name of George shows up.

By going through years, we determined when Izzy died, it was 1913, in the month of July. I would say, I will name off months, fly by once during the month of your death. When I said July, a huge orb flies by. I confirm this by doing the months again and when I reach July, another orb flies by confirming that it was the month of July. By using this technique we gathered that Izzy is in her 20s, died of some kind of heart failure. That she absolutely loves the homeowners, that she protects them from a portal in which George, a shadow person or other entities may enter near and around the garage area by the back of the kitchen. Izzy keeps the other entities at bay. She did some strong confirmation on this, with flying orbs. We asked about the crying baby we heard on the EVP and Izzy said the baby went to heaven and that she would help out in finding a ring that George (another spirit) hid.

West Sacramento is known as a port to riverboaters, but it also seems to hide another secret. A portal in an undisclosed home in this sleepy little town. May Izzy always be the guardian to this portal.

An added note: There was a follow-up on the EVPs, in which the female ghost called one of the investigators a leprechaun (because of her size?), the EVP sounds like it says..."that's what you think leprechaun!" Another EVP says..."should I f with her?' or words to that effect.

For more information about H.P.I., go to: www.HPIparanormal.net

A Child Haunting in North Highlands

By Paul Dale Roberts

As I left my home, I threw on the X-Files theme song, because I knew I was headed for a ghost hunt. This time around I engaged my ghost hunting activities with the S.P.S. (Sacramento Paranormal Society). I drove to Donovan Turner's home. Donovan Turner is the founder/paranormal investigator/leader of S.P.S. His wife Melissa is the case manager. The day is the 24th of February, the year 2007. The time is 1700 hours. I prepare for my briefing from Donovan. Paranormal Investigation Team roll call included: Donovan Turner, Jason Kowing/Equipment Handler/Intuitive, Deona Joya "DJ" Vastine-Sharp, Janet Michalk/Intuitive, Paul Dale Roberts/Ghost Writer. Location of the haunted home is somewhere in North Highlands in Sacramento County. The occupants of this home wish to remain anonymous. The equipment we are bringing for this investigation are as follows: infrared camera; standard mobile infrared camera; stationary infrared camera; VHS recorder; tripod; temperature gauge; EMF detection meter; digital recorders and sealed recording tapes that are sealed and a witness is used for the opening of the tapes and the sealing of the completed tapes.

The briefing consisted of who the occupants were of the home, the location of home, what their religious beliefs are, how long they lived at this address, which was 1 year and 3 months and many other questions that were provided to the occupants of the home. The occupants related in the questionnaire that they smell cigarette smoke in the house and no one is allowed to smoke in the house, in fact cigarette ashes have been found near the toilet. They heard loud bangs from the pots in the kitchen. Their small child had blankets moved off of him. The blankets moved from the bed to the floor on its own. The whole family sleeps in the living room together, because they are afraid of their own home surroundings.

19:28 hours, we arrive at the residence. The ominous clouds have turned into a rain storm with winds blowing. I think to myself...'ahh, what a great night for a ghost hunt!' We set up equipment in the garage, various teams go into the house at various intervals. Janet uses her E.V.P. (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) device and her intuitive instincts to track any presences in the home. Jason in front of me uses his EMF detector and registers no spikes in the garage. So far everything is normal. The mother and daughter of this home explain how they have seen shadows crossing the walls, cigarette ashes found in and around the toilet area and the distinct smell of cigarette smoke in the bathroom. She goes on to explain that in the master bedroom, objects have moved on their own accord, such as hats or a basket. We set up a still infrared camera in the master bedroom to see if any objects will move. The mother goes on to explain how the TV has shut off on it's own and then came back on and at times the channels change. In the kitchen she has heard the freezer door open and the jiggling of ice cubes. On the stove is a picture on a stand and the stand is knocked off on its own, the daughter and mother have witnessed the knocking down of the picture in the picture frame.

At 20:01 hours, Donovan and Jason is the first team into the house, they walk into the son's bedroom. The room is warm and then at some point of time, they walk into a cold spot. The cold spot lasts for about 2 to 3 seconds, the air felt thick at this time. Jason explains on how his voice recorder had a new battery and the battery was instantly drained. Could this have happened because of spirit activity?

Janet & DJ do a walk through, Janet the intuitive feels the following:

a) When entering kitchen she is drawn to the sink, she feels a presence there. In her head, she feels she is being told to look into the backyard, she calls it a 'knowing'.

b) In living room, she felt nothing, while walking in the hallway, she is compelled to go into the master bedroom, she says it's a decisive heaviness in the air, pressure drops in the room, she finds it hard to breathe, there is distress in her voice, there is a tightening to her solar plexus and she feels a slight pain to the right side of her stomach area.

c) In the master bedroom, she feels something old, she is drawn to the hairbrush and hand held mirror. She detects an 'add-on' in the bedroom. In the 'add-on' section, she detects no presence, in the older part of the bedroom, she feels a presence, in fact she claims to detect 3 entities. The atmosphere of the bedroom goes from heavy to light. Heavy in the older section, lighter in the add-on section.

In the little boy's bedroom, she feels energy. In the bathroom, she senses giggling. She believes the spirit is young. Other comments from the team, is that the spirit is of a little boy. Janet feels a pain on her left side of her torso. She tries to entice the spirit from the garage area, with me present. While Janet explains to me what she felt inside the house, she feels a tingle on her shoulders. She explains that when a sensitive walks into a haunted home, the spirits are immediately drawn to her, she is like their light. She explained to me feeling body pain, twitching of shoulder area, shortness of breath, because the entities of this home recognize her as a sensitive or intuitive.

Paul and Jason use an Olympus digital voice recorder as they enter the home. We are the next team up. The video camera shuts down twice on its own, for no apparent reason. When DJ was outside taking a break, she felt a presence, she felt like someone was standing on the right side of her. She felt warmth draping part of her back area and then it was gone. Janet approaches DJ and was able to describe where the incident took place at. Janet felt like something was near them.

At 20:45 hours, Donovan witnesses the garage door that leads into the home opening and closing on its own accord. I investigate to see if possibly an open draft could have done it, but the door is too heavy and when it closes, it stays closed, no wind could have opened it, let alone close it again.

Next team is Donovan and I. We investigate the master bedroom, we detect nothing. Then we go into the boy's bedroom and things start happening. Well, they start happening for me anyway. I use the temperature gauge and detect a spike, from 91 to 65 in a matter of seconds in the same area. One area remains at 65. I place my hand in that area and feel a cold spot and then before my very eyes, a small orb, the size of a pinhead floats up for about 1 foot in length and dissipates. I couldn't believe it. This was my first experience in this home!

The intuitive's Jason and Janet relate the following.

Jason: That there was a spirit of a little boy in the house, over 5 years of age. Maybe Portuguese or Filipino. There was also a grown man ghost in the house. This man ghost was frustrated or sad. The little boy was playful and enjoyed playing tricks.

Janet: There was a little boy in the house, about age 7. Little boy had dark skin. He was playful. She also felt like there was a relative of the family in the house and that he had been shot, the family of the house confirmed that what Janet said was true. Janet felt shivers, discomfort and she almost felt like crying. She couldn't explain it, but she felt a sense of sadness in this house. Janet believes their are 3 entities in the home, but the 3rd one was never identified.

When the investigation was over around the time of midnight and as I drove home in this stormy night, I couldn't help wonder what was in store for this family. A family that was happy to have us around, they felt safe with us at their home and even wanted us to stay the whole evening so they could get a peaceful sleep. I remember the paranormal investigative reporter named Kolchak: The Night Stalker of the once hit TV show and how he would encounter so many things of the paranormal. Everything from werewolves to vampires to ghosts. Everything he encountered was of the negative. But, can most haunting's be of the positive? I didn't feel any negativity in this home and I believe this family is relatively safe.

After Donovan briefed the family of our findings and how he will do a follow-up from the audio/video tapes, there was a glowing smile on the mother's face. She felt more at ease, especially with the comforting of Janet's soothing words.

As I approach my home, wouldn't you know it, on my car radio, the song "Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon" starts to play!

For more information about S.P.S. Sacramento Paranormal Society, you can find them located at: http://sacramento-paranormal-society.blogspot.com
Paul Dale Roberts, Jazma Freelance Writer
www.jazmaonline.com
5606 Moonlight Way Elk Grove,
Ca 95758
JazmaPika@cs.com

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A Haunting in Jackson

A Haunting in Jackson By Paul Dale Roberts

This is my first time experiencing a true paranormal investigation. Call us ghost hunters, ghost busters, ghost tracers, but to be more formal, we can be called paranormal investigators. The outfit is called H.P.I. (Haunted and Paranormal Investigations) of Northern California. The president is the lovely Shannon McCabe. Shannon is a unique individual that also is a vocalist and is involved with vocal lessons, recording, band management and bookings, event planning, floral design and has a website at www.SnMPProductionsCo.com or www.MySpace.com/SnMProductionsCo.

This talented woman also seeks the truth of hauntings and maintains a skeptical mind on all events that are witnessed by her outfit H.P.I. She seeks a scientific explanation, or when all scientific possibilities are eliminated, it leaves only one answer. The paranormal.

January 20, 2007, Saturday, I found myself arriving at The National Hotel, 2 Water Street, Jackson, CA. Roll Call for H.P.I. Investigators that don't mind having their names disclosed were: Shannon McCabe, President; Brian Colbert; Julie English; Paul Dale Roberts; Mary Casiano; Anne Temple (Spiritual/Psychic Reader); John Wachter; Jonathan Russell; Alicia; Michelle Paykel. There were 28 H.P.I. paranormal investigators and other names will be withheld for their privacy.

The National Hotel in Jackson, California dates back to the 1800s. Guests of the hotels have witnessed many paranormal events. The total number of entities in the hotel have been documented to a big 30.

When I arrived, their was a band playing and patrons gyrating on the dance floor to rock and roll and R&B. One of the songs, fit the mood for us: She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby. One of the buzzed patrons yelled out..."happy ghost hunting!" The HPI investigators were setting up video cameras in all locations of the floors of the hotel. The lap tops were turned on to analyze electronic voice phenomenon. In one recording you could distinctly hear a female voice say the word 'chill'.

I became familiar with a Gauss aka E.M.F. (electro magnetic field reader). Brian Colbert, another paranormal investigator briefed me on a Tempgun, which detects the influx of temperature. Very good in reading 'cold spots'. When the band and patrons left, the lights went out and the investigators had access to more rooms. In one room called The Bordello, I felt a thickness in the air. When leaving this room and returning perhaps an hour later, the thickness was gone. Armed with my digital camera, I took pictures of various areas of the hotel. The method is to take two pictures of each area, so there is no misinterpretation of the picture taken. The spirits must have been attracted to Julie English. She took many photos with her digital camera and picked up many 'orbs' in her photographs.

Julie English at 1:52am took a photograph of a bath towel in Room 55 and an orb appeared in the photo. She snapped another photo of the bed in Room 55 and another orb appeared. I snapped photos of the same areas and no orbs appeared on my photographs. One unsubstantiated claim was that intuitive Anne Temple claimed that a little girl made her presence known and followed John Wachter. During this incident an electronic magnetic field monitor device was used and witnessed by Michelle Paykel. The little ghostly spirit of the girl that followed John Wachter whispered 'Cindy'. Some of the patrons of the bar were curious on what H.P.I. was doing and one patron, name unknown claimed he was a psychic and claimed an angry man entity was walking up and down the hallway and that he was angry. This entity was mumbling gibberish and was completely incoherent. The psychic patron claimed this was a troubled spirit. Anne Temple followed up to say that he smoked a cigar and that he was yelling 'get out'. The patron psychic said he was 5' 10", average aged man with an ethnic background. Observing the patron psychic, I detected that he was somewhat intoxicated. There was a time he was glass eyed and standing up against the wall. Shannon McCabe asked him...'what's wrong?' He later told me that he receives headaches when there are too many ghosts around. One of the investigators asked him to leave, because we felt he was hindering on our investigations.

Shannon McCabe showed me around to various rooms. She is a seasoned investigator and as we sat in the dark, she would entice the spirit to show itself. While Shannon was trying to detect any Electronic Voice Phenomenon, any kind of noises that were being made, she would make the comment..."someone's footsteps are being heard" or "Paul coughing", so there is no confusion on what those noises are. Shannon enticed a spirit named "Jeffrey" and I snapped one photo over the bed area and captured 2 orbs on my camera. I snapped again, in the same direction of the orbs and there were no more orbs present in the 2nd photo. This was in Room 52 of the hotel. One of the lady workers of the hotel related all kinds of ghost stories to us. She told us how a crashed echoed throughout the hotel, sounding like broken glass or broken wood and when walking into the room where the sound came from, they found no broken glass or wood. She explained that rooms with many sightings, were rooms 61, 47 and 45. One room, a cowboy male ghost is seen and that this ghost once told a little girl with a video camera...'run bitch!' Shannon and about 4 other paranormal investigators sat in that room, trying to entice the cowboy ghost. We had no results in this room. I later sat in this room by myself and felt no presence. I even dared to sit in dark closets by myself and even investigated the attic and no results.

One unidentified woman paranormal investigator took a photo and got a misty white cloud on her digital photo. Michelle Paykel took a digital photo and a white blob appeared on the staircase digital photo. At 4:20am, more digital photos were taken in Room 60 and orbs appeared on the photographs. The final story for this evening occurred in Room 47, the infamous Bordello Room with it's lavish provocative maroon decor and mirrors. I don't know if this was my imagination, but at one time, when entering the Bordello Room, I smelled musky perfume. Now this story is related to me by Mary Casiano, Jonathan Russell and Anne Temple, the Spiritual Reader of www.Bluepantherspirit.com/ They witnessed or experienced everything from a poke in the neck, whispering, hair pulling, tugging on hair, a touch or brushing of the face, hands feeling cold, hair pushed back. Jonathan Russell claims he was sitting on a chair and felt a pressure on his lap and even felt like he was being groped. I went into the Bordello Room by myself and sat in the same chair as Jonathan. I sat in there for a good 20 minutes and experienced nothing. The only thing I experienced in this room, was earlier in the evening, I felt a thickness in the air. Overall this was a fun learning experience and I hope our next investigation into a haunting will produce some exciting results. All digital photographs and Electronic Voice Phenomenon will be analzed.

The results are pending. For anyone interested in this field! Like the patron told me...."Happy Ghost Hunting!"

THE HAUNTED ART STUDIO

What is the day today? Oh ya...March 17, 2007, Saturday. I'm sorry if I seem sort of discombobulated. I feel like I just came back from Disneyland. Disneyland of the Macabre. There was so much to see, so much to do and the added bonus is the fact that this art studio is truly haunted! On this night I went out with H.P.I. (Haunted and Paranormal Investigations) in Northern California. We all met first at Starbucks and had a quick briefing and I sucked down my Venti Caramel Macchiato.

Let's take a roll call for the H.P.I. Paranormal Investigators, (the time is 8:45 p.m.): Shannon McCabe/Lead Investigator, President; Tim Hawkins; Michele Stump; Brian Colbert; Kristen Sheley/Researcher; Mary Casiano; Alicia Perry; Tech Supervisor, John Wachter;Lead Investigator Michelle Paykel; Julie English, Paul Dale Roberts; Ghost Writer.

After the briefing at Starbucks, we convoy to the art studio. The resident tells me that the place has been around since the 1930s. She is an artist and has all kinds of stories about this place. I will tell you why I call it the Disneyland of the Macabre. I'm not saying this in a bad way, believe me, the place is like a museum, there is so much to look at. But again, let me not jump ahead of myself.

The resident, a very elegant lady, sits comfortably and explains to me that one time around 10pm on some given evening, she saw a dark shadowy figure of a man in one of the rooms. He just stood there, then glanced at her and walked away. During her first month at this art studio she was painting and listening to her music, not having a care in the world and then all of a sudden she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The footsteps became louder...a clonk, clonk, clonk! It was very pronounced and startled her. She went to investigate and there was no one there.

She has witnessed activity in the kitchen, bathroom and living room. In the kitchen, objects have flown off the wall. Full size apparitions have been seen by her guests in the living room area. According to the resident, one guest saw someone in her bathroom and thought nothing of it, then came to realize that there was no other guests present. The person she saw in the bathroom was a 55ish year old man, who looked Italian and had dark hair. When she went to the bathroom again, he had vanished.

Another guest was sleeping on the couch and saw a man's face (the Italian male ghost/spirit) staring at him, face to face.

Another story was of a plant that moved on its own accord. There have been hot spots in various parts of the dwelling. Yes, I said 'hot spots', not cold spots. Another artist, who was a guest of this studio, had dreamed that there were 13 entities surrounding him as he laid on the couch.

The history of this elaborate studio is that there was a restaurant downstairs and a nightclub upstairs. At one time this place was a "speakeasy" during the Prohibition period equipped with it's own escape route. During the 50s, it was a jazz club. It has also been a brothel and a Japanese Gambling Parlor. This studio has a lot of history. You can even see where the stage was for the band and a fairly large dance floor for patrons of yesteryear.

Now let's get back to that Disneyland thing I was talking about.
The studio is like eye candy filled with relics. A guest of the studio tells me that she describes the studio as an "eclectic mixture of religious icons which represent Catholic and Buddhist religions, with a variation of rebellious punk rock added." Yes, I would have to agree with her, this art studio is all that and more and delivers a bag of chips!
As I surveyed the studio I saw various pieces of artwork, such as decrepit dolls, maniacal dolls, candles, dried flowers, voodoo type of dolls, skulls, disco balls, old photographs, beads, religious paraphernalia; plants, circus material, Gothic material, X-Mas lights and other assorted pieces of art. In fact the studio itself is one big art piece!
While the investigators were in awe of this studio, they walked around with their video cameras, walkie talkies, EVP monitors, temperature gages, while the TV monitors displayed what was being recorded. Did we see orbs? We saw orbs flying around everywhere, inside the studio and outside of the studio. Another guest at the studio, along with his girlfriend led me and another investigator to the cellar. In the cellar, we didn't discover any ghosts, but we found some old relics such as a cat's skull, tax forms dating back to 1942, an old jug, old bottles, light fixtures and a broken down chair. The cellar was treacherous to walk through, there was mud and huge gaping holes in which we could easily fall into. The resident even found some mummified feral cats in this cellar. I discovered a nasty black widow and I knew it was my time to leave. As we headed back into the living room, one investigator's Electro Magnetic Field meter starts to fluctuate like crazy. Another EMF meter does the same thing. There is activity in the living room and two investigators feel a presence behind them. The presence is sort of ominous. The video camera records an orb that floats over to one and settles at her torso area and dissipates. About a minute later, she hears a rustling sound near her and jumps up from the couch in a fright! Was this the Italian ghost that the resident affectionately calls "Tony"? The two investigators capture some gorgeous orbs on their video cameras and are delighted to show me their photos. Around midnight, we started rounding up all of the equipment and were headed for home. When everyone works as a team and we all experience something out of the ordinary, it brings a closeness to the H.P.I. team. A closeness of all sharing similar experiences, which leads to a feeling of being part of a family. A family that greets and departs with warm hugs.

We all know that we braved through another investigation and we survived this adventure into the unknown. As I drive away, headed for home, I put on some mood music and one of the songs was "Sail Away" which picked up my spirits and the next mood song was the theme from the Exorcist. Oh no, let me pull out this CD! I don't need to hear that! If you would like more information about H.P.I., please visit their website at: http://www.HPIparanormal.net

The Squatter, the Pacer, Bride & Groom and The Dark One
By Paul Dale Roberts

There is a full moon out this night. I can only wonder what is in store for me this evening as I get together with H.P.I. (Haunted and Paranormal Investigations) of Northern California. H.P.I. will be headed down to Brookdale Lodge in the Santa Cruz mountains sometime in the future to conduct an investigation. Due to family obligations, this is one investigation I will not be able to attend. Imagine this. A family calls H.P.I., they have some pesky ghosts in their home and they want to know what they are dealing with. H.P.I. shows up with black or dark blue windbreakers on, emblazoned with large letters H.P.I. on the back of the jackets, similar to what the DEA, FBI, ATF wear. All members are wearing sunglasses and have RAP4 Secret Service Ear Piece with Secret Service Throat Mic, prepared for action. HPI Investigators pull up in 3 black SUVs with HPI displayed on the driver side of the vehicle.
There I go again, daydreaming on how this investigation will turn out. HPI unlike the DEA, FBI, ATF are not seeking criminals, but are seeking ghosts, poltergeists, shadow people, demons, etc. Of course, since we are all paranormal investigators, we would not turn down the opportunity to investigate an alien abduction, Bigfoot or anything else classified as 'paranormal'. This night we will have two new paranormal investigators on the team, their names are Amanda Hopper and Janice Cameron. I met Janice through my neighbor Nick Asevedo. Nick paid his membership dues to HPI, but has yet gone on an investigation. He has experienced the paranormal. He relates an incident in which he lived in Reno/Sparks, Nevada and his family saw a ghostly little boy sitting on the edge of their bed, they learned he once lived there and drowned in the tub. The little boy ghost threw a plant off the coffee table at the family and the family decided it was time to move.

Nick has gotten his family involved, his niece Tiffany Cameron and her mother Janice Cameron went to their first HPI meeting at the Coffee Garden and brought along Nick's girlfriend Jamie Warden. Tiffany, Janice, Nick and Jamie are all paying members of HPI, but only Janice is the lucky one who pulled the lucky number from the passed around hat and was selected to go on this investigation!

The H.P.I. meetings are a lot of fun, because we get to analyze the audio and video footage of various investigations. The meetings are a learning experience.

Now let's get back to reality, the investigation begins, well almost. I bring along Janice Cameron who lives in my neighborhood and we stop off at Amanda Hopper's home to pick her up. Amanda is quite the character and greeted me with a third eye attached to her forehead. We head over to Starbucks on Broadway/15th Street. This is a popular Starbucks because it's located in a part of downtown in which you can sit outside on a warm nice day and people watch. You get some interesting characters on Broadway, there is always plenty to watch. Too bad, we couldn't have met at the Starbucks in El Dorado Hills, because the Starbucks in El Dorado Hills has a restless spirit that is known to toss around coffee filters at the employees.
Janice as a token of thanks, bought me a nice hot grande caramel macchiato. Shannon and the crew arrive and Shannon briefs us on the investigation. Shannon goes through her spill of being professional at all times, respect the home, no drinking, no excessive loud talking, etc.

Roll Call for HPI Paranormal Investigators are:

Shannon McCabe/President; Paul Dale Roberts/Ghost Writer/Assistant Organizer; Carol Gillis/Secretary; Tim Hawkins; John Wachter aka Vlawde; Michele Paykel; Mary Casiano; Member who wishes to remain anonymous; Janice Cameron; Alicia Perry and Amanda Hopper. I am introduced to the occupant of this house, that looks like a miniaturized Amityville Horror home, with the 2 large windows that look like eyes. The occupant of the house identifies himself as Scott Bailey, a locally known artist. In fact he works at the B Street Theater which is reputed to be haunted also. Scott's artwork is all over the house, such as a Barbie Doll entrapped in wire mesh and gothic type of drawings. Carol Gillis comes over to me and reports that she felt a sharp coldness on her back. In my interview with Scott, he relates that he has a low grade intuition and constantly feels like someone is watching him from the closet. There are possibly 5 entities in the home. Scott has a name for each one, there is the Squatter. The Squatter is in the closet and he squats and stares. He believes the Squatter is a Hispanic man. The Pacer, an active ghost that paces the hallway. He believes this is the ghost that gets right up in his face and he feels a face right next to his face. Bride & Groom, his sister detected the presence of a bride and groom in the home. The Dark One is a spirit that seems to have a darkside to his character. The Dark One is a weak spirit, but seems to be somewhat on the sinister side. A friend of Scott once spent the night and dreamed about a family, a man, woman and a child naked in the field and being forced down a grain chute into a grinding machine and being scattered into the fields as fertilizer. He believes this dream came to him by The Dark One. Scott relates that the prior owner was combative in his persona and would stir up the spirits.

When Scott first moved in, there seemed to be a lot more activity. There seems to be more ghost activity in the bedroom and hallway and at times the ghosts seemed bored and fall into stagnant energy where nothing occurs. This is how Scott describes how the ghosts of his home behave.

The home was built during the 1800s, the bathroom is a newer addition to the house and built in the 1940s. The lower floor was once a deli and they would serve sandwiches to the dairy that used to be across the street in the 1940s through the 1950s.

While the investigators were setting up video cameras, using their EMF Readers, there was detection at the closet area, the same area the Squatter hangs out at. The reading jumped from 1, jumped 2 more times to 1 and then there was no more readings for this area of the closet. EMF Reader is an electro magnetic energy sensor.

I went into the back room and Michele felt like she was pushed in her chair. There were some orbs captured on video. Some cold spots detected. Amanda, a sensitive was picking entities in various parts of the room, she would breathe deeply and sense the area around her and feel where an entity may be at.

Hmmm....what did I personally detect, you might ask? At one time I felt a cold sensation on my back, then I turned around and I was next to a window. I was looking through a video camera on a tripod and thought I saw some orbs, but they were only dust particles. I had Mary shake her jacket and when the dust fell from her jacket, they appeared to be orbs on the camera.

Now the West Sac orbs moved erratically, especially when you have 3 flying in unison. I didn't see that kind of orb activity at this haunting. I'm not from Missouri, but I do enjoy the State's motto..."show me". I experienced more at the National Hotel in Jackson and the West Sac haunting, than what I experienced here. Of course, we haven't received our results yet from the audio and video tapes. Sci Fi Channel's Ghost Hunters weren't always successful and perhaps there are ghosts in this strange looking home, but I guess I wanted to see something that was extraordinary. Enough of the feelings. Two words..."show me!" As I got home, I turned on the Cartoon Channel and guess what was on? Yep, Scooby Doo and the gang doing some ghost busting. I thought to myself, when will we have a haunting that is as frightening as the ones you see on the Discovery Channel's A Haunting? What I like about Shannon is that she has a skeptical eye and she seeks the truth through science, in fact she was the one that told me to always make sure that orbs are not dust particles or reflection of light from another source. Shannon is seeking not a Scooby Doo haunting, but the real thing and I must agree with Shannon on that! If anything, this is a learning experience. For more on H.P.I. go to: www.HPIparanormal.net

Paul Dale Roberts,
Freelance Writer
www.jazmaonline.com
5606 Moonlight Way Elk Grove,
CA 95758 JazmaPika@cs.com
(916) 203 7503 Editing by: Shannon McCabe