I had heard that the area around Bear Creek Park in Houston, Texas is haunted. So I began to research and see what I could find out about the location. I love how history and rumors get caught up with one another where you have difficulty finding the truth. One problem I had with research was another paranormal team had posted something online about a civil war battle taking place in this park. I cannot confirm this story is true. There are tales that north Harris County did see skirmishes. Perhaps one of these stories is where the rumor began. Tall tales can begin their life with a thread of truth somewhere in the mix. Perhaps the town of Addicks which was destroyed in the 1900 storm and was rebuilt only to be flooded again is the cause of the haunting? Addicks was eventually turned into a ghost town and became a reservoir because of the flooding in 1929 as well as 1931. I tried to find where the old town of Addicks was located and even had difficulty with that. There is conflicting information about the location. One map online points to the area by the blue light cemetery and another place says the town was south of I-10 and highway 6.

This area is famous even with all the conflicting information. Over the years teams from all over have gone out and investigated the claim of a haunting. We were there last Saturday to find out for ourselves. What we did know from all of the previous investigations is that tapping occurs when you stop on the bridge on Patterson road. Is the tapping from acorns falling from the tree, real ghostly encounters or the car cooling off? There happens to be 2 bridges along this stretch of road. We decided to test both bridges with the vehicle as well as our other equipment. We heard the tapping on the bear creek bridge. I couldn’t figure out what the tapping was caused from. It was a hot 87 degrees while we were there taking readings. I did not get any meter activations at all that night. I did have one of my temp devices register a cold spot a few times that couldn’t be explained. One member was able to feel a cold spot as well before I started taking readings. We had an occasional car pass. We had a good time hanging out while waiting for any activity to happen. Nothing happened but that doesn’t mean we didn’t capture something. Be on the lookout for me to post evidence if we find any.

Go see the Bear Creek Park Gallery here

Last Friday after a long day playing with computer code I thought it might be nice to watch something to try to unwind. So I turn on the TV in the bedroom and find Unstoppable which I had not yet seen. It had already been going on for a bit but I thought I could catch that part of the movie at a later time. Besides I wanted to just watch for the tiniest little bit where I could stop thinking about code. I remembered that the movie had been filmed in one of my childhood towns called Bellaire, Ohio. My friend Linda had sent me pictures of the filming that she took from her house. I knew some of the places to watch for. So I settle down and started watching hoping the code in my mind would be gone in a bit. Guess what happened? I got caught up where I could not turn it off. I watched it until the very end! OMG why did I do this to myself? Well the train was not going to stop and it had an interesting play between the characters. Denzel was in his element where I enjoy watching him. His character was the sincere good guy. Of course I was also noticing the parts of the movie where Bellaire was.

Now I was wound up tight ready for action. I was waiting for the trail to derail. My adrenaline had been flowing as I watched. Now how was I going to go to sleep? This movie reminded me of the movie Speed. I was waiting for the bus in this movie to run out of gas, crash and explode. I also had watched Speed late and was awake all night with my mind racing. I finally shut down on Friday around 5 am. The movie should come with a caution tape around it and something saying beware this movie is prone to make you feel like you just drank a pot of coffee. Nope I can actually drink a pot of coffee before bed.

Have I told you yet about the Denzel look-a-like at my Walmart? I walked up to him years ago and told him how much he looked like Denzel. He could be his brother. One of these days I am going to get his picture and post it but for now I will leave you with this picture of a distant stunt Denzel

As case manager it is my job to screen our clients and make sure we have legitimate claims to investigate. I take it personal if anything goes wrong. Over the years we have had 2 cases stand us up. One time the owner was on the phone with us telling us she had to cancel as we were on her doorstep. I had called her the night before to make sure and she had said yes she was looking forward to us coming out. Last week we were stood up in a strange way. The client had told me she was older than she was and everyone in the house was experiencing the activity. She said everyone wanted us to come out and help. She even wanted to be a member of our group and would like us to interview her.

On the night of the investigation I get a call from the group telling me that the grandfather answered the door to say she was at the movies with friends. There was no activity in the home. If there was anything his granddaughter was experiencing she brought it in herself. He also spoke in a way that he wanted us to help her.

I was floored! How can someone get by my screening? If you look at how many places we have investigated over the years my track record for setting up investigations is good. For the most part we go to legitimate homes or businesses where the people believe they have paranormal activity. We may debunk that activity but they genuinely believe they have a ghost before we show them what is happening. Sometimes we go out and find evidence that what they are experiencing is real.

Those two times we were stood up make it harder on me in the screening process. I now have to ask more questions. Being stood up could make it harder on the group to believe we have a real investigation in the future. How do I get the group to travel out of state to help someone who seems to be real if we ever get stood up? Knock on wood that both cases were local where we didn’t spend very much in travel expenses.

1410 Seawall Blvd,
Galveston, TX 77550

A few weeks ago I was in Galveston on an investigation. We decided to stop at Denny’s. IHOP and Denny’s are places my group can go to in the middle of the night to talk about what happened and grab a bite to eat before heading home. Places can be clean or dirty, the help is decent or bad and the food is ether good or bad. Well this night we hit rock bottom.

For starters we waited forever for a table. We were seated next to the women’s bathroom which was apparently dirty. The waitress did not come for 20 minutes so the manager took our order and gave it to the waitress. We watched a manager chew out several employees a few feet from our table but not our waitress. Why he didn’t do this in the area back is beyond me. The manager was holding a large drink from whataburger! Why? Is the food that bad here that he cannot even eat the free food I am sure he gets?

When the food finally came out I was surprised that it was decent. This still didn’t explain that whataburger drink that the manager was carrying around in front of all of the customers. The food was cooked properly and everything tasted ok. Still the behavior of the staff and the cleanliness of the place left such a bad taste in our mouth. Our cups ran dry with nobody came to check on us until we were getting up.

When we got up to leave and pay at the counter we waited for another 15 minutes. One of the waiters was standing looking at us talking to a customer at the counter the whole time. There was a new group of people that had come in when we got up to leave. They stood next to us in an almost empty restaurant waiting the whole time to be seated. That same waiter at the counter was looking at them too. I never saw him come to help them. Actually when we paid that group of people were still waiting and had not been helped yet either! As soon as I could I logged into urbanspoon to give a review and could not find this particular location. I will never eat at this location ever!

I have eaten here many times not only because it was on the way from work but it happens to be a good place to eat. For those outside of Texas it can be difficult to describe what an ice house is. This is a place where you go get a beer. It is comfy as in plastic outdoor chairs, outdoor decking, fans and everyone is in jeans. The middle of the tables have paper towel holders to catch all the juices that run down your arm. The food is quick but good. Last weekend I got a bacon burger and it was really good. If it doesn’t drip down your arms it is probably not going to be memorable. This one ran!  Drip, drip, drip….. yum!

Champions/FM 1960
4561 Fm 1960 Rd W
Houston, TX77069

Taking the sous chef practical exam for the American Culinary Federation was one of the best things I have done in my life. I took the test along with several other accomplished chefs back in January and was the only one who passed. The exam is meant to hold those in the commercial kitchen to a certain level of competency. In order to move up eventually to Master Chef you must be proficient at each level in the art of food. Knowing what is expected makes me respect the chefs who want to not only gain a title but to excel at everything they do.

I was lucky in my food career to be able to participate on a culinary team. I believe all the experience with attempting perfection in order to compete helped me.  To julienne a carrot where it will be measured exactly 1/16″ x 1/16″ x 2″ straight cuts as fast as you can is difficult. I can still feel the chef walking the room eyes on me to make sure I didn’t break any sanitation issue. As you are cutting the carrot it wants to curl naturally which makes the cut not perfect. Anything not perfect costs points on the team.

After you are done with everything you get a critique of your work. Where the untrained eye sees only beauty the chef sees flaws and points them all out. This criticism is meant for you to think about how to get better. Many cannot handle the criticism so they go away. It is sad that a person cannot just take it as a non personal thing. I soaked up everything the chef offered and tried to correct my mistakes the next time. I practiced every day without fail. Remember the saying practice makes perfect? It really does!

A huge fire destroyed one of the businesses in downtown Shawnee overnight. The business was Loco’s at 107 E Main St. which was a small antique shop and had only been open for about 9 months. The call about the fire came in to the department about 1 a.m. According to the fire chef the crew could not make an interior attack due to the heat. The fire was so intense that it collapsed the roof. It took almost 8 hours for the fire to completely be put out. Two other buildings sustained heavy smoke and water damage.

When I heard about the fire I ran to look up the address. I have been in many of the businesses along Main Street and have done investigations of several places. Loco’s it turned out was not one of my past investigations. I was still upset to see it destroyed. In previous investigations in this town we have found active hauntings and what we call residual energy. This residual energy is like a recording on a cd that happens for unknown reasons. When the conditions are perfect the recording can replay making anyone that happens upon it to think the place is haunted. I wonder if Loco’s had any activity? When they rebuild they may notice things happen in weird places like someone walk up a staircase that is no longer there.

It is sad when history is lost! It seems that lately several historic locations have caught fire. Just a few weeks ago Fort Chaffee Hospital Complex burned to the ground. The Fort Smith Fire Department has deemed that it was an accident. Members of the Kentucky National Guard who are fans of the show Ghost Adventures were doing training at Chaffee and decided to go see it for themselves. It is believed that one of them discarded a lit cigarette into a grassy area near one of the buildings at the Fort. The fire burned approximately 90 acres and more than 120 buildings. Back in February The Sisters of Charity of Providence school in DeSmet, Idaho burned down. The building was more than 100 years old and was a historical landmark. Reviewing the history showed two earlier buildings on the property were destroyed by fire in 1881 and in the early 1900s.

Today there is an old building 15 miles east of Springfield in Buffalo. The house was built around 1840 and it is now on the schedule to be burned down! If you care about history perhaps you will be upset enough to contact the people who will be responsible for letting it go! The house was a “12-mile house” for stagecoach drivers and their horses who would be traveling between Springfield and Decatur.
Drivers could stay the night and rest their horses before finishing the trip the next morning. Some historians believe that Abraham Lincoln may have even stayed there.

Apparently the owners donated house to the Buffalo Fire Protection District because they want it gone. It is scheduled to be used for live fire training in September when the weather will be cooler. The chef said they would like to burn it for training because it is in a sate of disrepair and an eyesore. They must get permission before they burn it though. I am hoping that they will not be granted their wish. The Historic Preservation agency can deem the house to be historic because it is more than 50 years old and has some type of historical significance. I am concerned that yet again we are going to loose another piece of history if the house is destroyed. Are you? I would love to be able to get inside the house and just sit. I think it should be made into a museum or saved in any condition. If you are as upset as I am please make contact those responsible:

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.state.il.us/

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency http://www.illinoishistory.gov/

Chief Mike Thompson of the Buffalo Fire Protection District
114 S
Wells Street
Buffalo, Illinois 62515

The property manager Jeremy Crouch with Heartland Trust in Forsyth

1401 Koester dr, Forsyth, IL 62535

Springfield-Sangamon County
Regional Planning Commission
200 South 9th Street – Room 212

Springfield, IL 62701
Phone: (217) 535-3110

A reporter working the case is Jackson Adams from the Illinois Times

jadams@illinoistimes.com

We investigated a historic Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanitarium last weekend. It is nestled in the hills in it’s own complex as a self sustaining city of its own. Tuberculosis also known as consumption is highly contagious. Hospitals were built to handle the treatment of this disease which could take years before the person passed away. This complex had a municipal water/sewer system, a fire department, and even had a farm with dairy and swine in operation. It was built in 1910 covering almost 1000 acres of land. It was closed in 1973 after the discovery of antibiotics.

This was the second time we have been to the facility. Driving through the gates again brought up the mortality rates of the people that passed here. With 70,000 patients treated here combined with the mortality we were wondering what kind of activity we were going to get. We were told the whole complex offered many different types of activity. It was also said that sometimes people would leave empty handed where they believed that nothing was going on here.

We however did not go home empty handed. Through the night we all experienced different things. Cold spots, shadows, lights, sounds, door opening, whispering, feelings of being watched as well as being touched. We were running all of our equipment and were getting positive results. I just got done reviewing my photos and noted several pictures with anomalies which I will be uploading. I am going to be turning my attention to the audio next. I can’t wait to see what I caught if anything. Keep logging back on to see what evidence we caught

I had posted an article to the blog before. Go read Tuberculosis Sanitariums here

Also go see the photo gallery for the Sanitarium here

Woodlands, Texas location

2520 Research Forest Dr
The Woodlands, TX 77381

This is one of the best places I have been to in the Houston metro area. Everything has tasted wonderful. So far I have tried and loved the fried ravioli, chipotle chicken pepper pasta, black walnut lemon chicken, lasagna and a burger. The tomato sauce is apparently from scratch and was incredible. The atmosphere is also nice. Upscale casual is what I would call this place. The focus is on fresh and unusual ingredients. I am looking forward to going back again and again!

When you enter there are menus waiting to be picked up. You can sit in the entrance to decide what you want or walk to the back where you place your order. There are usually dishes made up for you to see what they look like before you order. You seat yourself and get your own drinks. When your order is ready you go back to the back to pick it up. In the middle of the Black Walnut is the bar and dessert area. There is an assortment of pastries and gelato for you to pick from if you have any room after your meal.

Posted on August 4th, 2011 at 3:34 pm Wimgo Staff

To read the rest of this article go to the link

http://blog.wimgo.com/2011/08/04/the-phantom-programmer/