Today Old Town Spring is a shopping destination. This lovely turn of the century town just north of Houston has an interesting past. Life began here in the early 1800’s when the French and Spanish came to trade with the local Indians. After the Civil War the railroad came through. A group of railroad workers named the area “Camp Spring” after one of the worst winters in Texas history because they were looking forward to better weather. Camp Spring was then platted by the I. & G.N. Railroad Co. and became a permanent settlement. The word “Camp” was dropped where Spring became the official name of the town. It was the base of operation for the workers and became a boom town from all the business the railroad brought in. Spring became a crossroads for two intersecting rail lines in 1901. The yard then added a roundhouse and 14 track yards of track. During the years of growth Spring had sugar mill for syrup making. two cotton gins, 5 saloons, an opera house, hospital, two steam saw and grist mills, bank, hotels, three churches, several schools and even had a gambling hall.

The decline came when the railroad headquarters moved to Houston in 1923. Prohibition and the depression then happened as well which forced businesses to close. The town was then reduced all the way down to a small settlement. In the late 60′ business minded individuals started to return to all the abandoned homes. The Goodyear airship America was also based here from 1969 through 1992. The Oil boom which began in the 70’s then made the town grow and become what it is today.

It is now known as a shopping destination! Old Town Spring also has museums, art galleries and restaurants all within an easy stroll from one another. People from all over the world come to visit. The town has several festivals and events every year like the Texas Crawfish & Music Festival. The town is also voted one of the top attractions in Texas each year

Old town Spring is also affectionately known as the most haunted town in Texas. Paranormal groups and television crews have visited to catch evidence of the reported activity. The many stories of spirits bring in people from all over looking to have their own experience with a ghost. I will share a few of the ghost stories with you. One about the bank and one about a spirit named Sarah

The original bank of Spring was robbed several times including once by a couple resembling Bonnie and Clyde. It was never confirmed that they were in fact the famous duo. Current ghost tours all tell the story as if it is a fact though. Today you can see bullet holes in the banks facade from one of the attempted robberies. That particular attempt was made by a trio of felons however they were unsuccessful. Photos taken in the old bank sometimes have strange anomalies.

There is a spirit named Sarah who is said to haunt one area in town. The original barn is still on the property which was once owned by Henry C. Doering. His daughter was friends with a 12-year-old girl named Sarah. Long ago while playing in the barn Sarah fell from the loft breaking her leg. An infection set in which caused her death within a few weeks. It is said she still plays in the barn along with some other young spirits. People report cold spots, noises on the roof, the feeling of being watched, objects are moved, hearing voices and the sounds of children playing. Photos taken in the area sometimes contain an anomaly in them that cannot be explained.

Go check out the photo gallery for Old Town Spring

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

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

Here is the story behind the Newport edition you have been waiting for. In the year that the movie Poltergeist came out on the big screen there was another similar drama playing out in a town in Texas. In the early 1980 a new housing edition went in called Newport. Sam and Judith Haney purchased a home in the Newport area of Houston. The family decided to have a swimming pool put in the back yard. As they began to get started an elderly black man showed up out of nowhere and told them that they was about to dig up human remains. The reason he gave them this information was that he knew they were buried because he had seen them years before. They decided the old man was crazy and started digging for the pool anyway. As they were digging the two bodies were just where the old man said they were. Scared they began doing research and found a man named Jasper Norton who as a young man had worked as a gravedigger. Norton told the Haney’s that their home and the surrounding houses were built on top of an old cemetery called Black Hope. He also told them that most of the deceased were former slaves.

They found out that last burial had occurred 1939 and that there as many as 60 people were in graves. Norton identified the two people buried in the Haney’s backyard as Betty and Charlie Thomas who former slaves. They had died sometime during the thirties. As they lived in their house the activity became more negative. They heard disembodied voices, an unplugged clock in the began shooting sparks and glowing, sliding glass door open but there was nobody there and the door was locked. The next morning after to door incident Judith couldn’t find her red shoes. When she finally located them they were outside miraculously sitting side by side on top of Betty’s grave. They also realized that the date was Betty’s birthday.

Unable to keep all of the information to themselves they had a neighborhood meeting. They found out neighbors whose houses were built on top of the abandoned cemetery also had all kinds of activity. They reported lights, televisions/water faucets turning on and off, unearthly sounds and apparitions. Sam and Judith decided right then to fight back. They sued the developer for not disclosing that their home was built over a cemetery. They won and were awarded $142,000 by a jury. The judge ruled on legal grounds that the developers were not liable and reversed the decision. He then ordered the Haney’s to pay $50,000 in court costs. Unable to pay and plagued with health problems they were frightened of remaining in their house. They made the decision to file bankruptcy and abandoned their home.

One of the other families lived right across the street with similar problems to the Haney’s. Ben and Jean Williams lived there with their young granddaughter named Carli. They reported activity that the house was cold year round, the feeling of being watched, toilets flushed by themselves as well as the garage door and other household appliances would operate on their own. They even had rectangular sinkholes open up in the yard and for whatever reason they couldn’t be filled in. As soon as she thought she would have the problem solved the sinkholes would reappear within a few days. Another oddity was Jean couldn’t get any new plants to live on the property even though she always had a green thumb. On their property they noticed strange markings on an old oak tree by the sinkholes. It was an arrow pointed downward with two horizontal slash marks beneath it. They attended the meeting and discovered their lovely home was built over the cemetery. As they began to research a long time resident of the area told them he had marked the tree as a way to identify where his two sisters were buried. The activity began to increase and they would hear phantom footsteps in the hall, an apparition hovering over them when they slept and six members of their extended family were diagnosed with different cancers where three of them died within that year.

The Haney’s were not the only family to try legal recourse. They were all told that without definitive proof of a cemetery on their property nothing could be done. Ben and Jean Williams decided to prove their home was built over a cemetery. So Jean began to dig in one of the sinkholes beneath the oak. When she became overwhelmed from exhaustion to her daughter Tina took over. After digging for about a half-hour Tina collapsed and was dead 2 days later. Jean was convinced their desecration of a grave had precipitated their daughter’s death. They decided to leave no matter what it cost them. The loss they already experienced was more than they could bear. They abandoned their house and escaped to Montana. After a period of time passed they later moved back to Texas.

Subsequent owners of their homes say they have noticed no unusual activity. They seem content to live in the houses even with the negative history. Would you buy a home here? If you google the story you will find some people report activity and some say they never experienced anything. The fire department will tell you there are more alarms that go off in the part of the neighborhood that covers the cemetery. Do you think some people are more sensitive than others and this is why the new owners do not have activity? Do you think that the Williams or the Haney’s would make up such activity to give them a reason to loose all the money they had invested in their homes? These are some the same types of questions my group puts to the test every day as we deal with homeowners. Is it real or imagined? Can we find evidence to back up the claims? I spent time in Newport on several occasions. I can tell you that the area has a strange vibe to it for me. The woods have shadows that dart about even when nobody is there. I believe the place to be haunted. I will be uploading photos and other evidence I collected while there in the future.

Go see the Black Hope photo gallery here

[singlepic id=7 w=320 h=240 float=right]One place that is very active according to several paranormal groups is located in Humble Texas and known as the 1960 overpass. If you read through the forums online you will read that people call this area the doorway to hell. You can read the stories of businesses that have failed as a result of the activity. One place was a dollar movie theater that failed because the employees would quit after encountering what they called a demonic presence. The place shut down and has been broken into by many times by thrill seekers wanting to encounter it for themselves. Today the dollar theater has been purchased and breaking in would land you in jail if you were caught. People don’t know what the ruins are next to the cemetery behind the old dollar theater.

[singlepic id=1 w=320 h=240 float=left]Through my research I found “the ruins” to be an old kerosene refinery that was closed when the need for kerosene diminished. The area is in an unincorporated part of Harris county Texas commonly known as Bordersville. Humble had decided to pass laws making the area all white and forced all people of color out of town thus Bordersville was born. It was the most poverty stricken of the whole Houston metro area. The train went through the east side and this is where residents decided to have their cemetery. The cemetery is said by some to have been moved out of the way when the railroad came through. I found that it was never moved from it’s current position. It was never cared for and had fallen into a horrible state. It is today a secluded spot where the homeless have taken shelter on and off over the years. They could jump onto a passing train or jump off and stay at this location unseen.

In the years before commerce had taken over this spot was where the area train station was located. On December 13, 1922 there was a train wreck that claimed 19 lives and injured many others. The Southern Pacific train #28 was crowded to full capacity and was bound for Shreveport when it came into the station. There was a freight train stopped on a nearby track that happened to be too close. The engineer tried to stop the train before the collision and was not able to do so. All the destruction was caused by a 2″ pipe leading from a water tender to the boiler which had been stripped of it’s mooring along side the engine. This caused the pipe to break through the windows of the passenger train which was attempting to stop. The pipe burst through the windows releasing deadly hot steam and water. This sprayed the passengers and filled up the coaches with steam causing 19 to be scalded to death. The newspapers of the day reported skin had fallen off from hands and faces and was clinging on the backs of seats, window latches and laying everywhere.

In 2008 three privileged teenagers from nearby Kingwood decided desecrate a grave. Kevin Wade Jones and Matthew Richard Gonzalez who were both 17 as well as a 16-year old dug up a grave with shovel. They removed the skull of Willie Sims from his coffin and converted it into a bong in their home. Willie was 11 years old at the time he died on September 11, 1921. The teens were charged with misdemeanor abuse of a corpse and Willie was laid to rest again. They were unable to locate any of Willies relatives to participate. This is also the same area where the body of a child was found murdered. Secluded areas are usually places for crimes to be committed. I wonder how many other things happened here that we do not know about.

Perhaps the pain from segregation, poverty, tragedy and disrespect has the spirits of the area up in arms? Many times we find activity at sites with such pain. While I was investigating I had a sense of the tragedy of the past. To me it hung around like the thick humid air.
Sometimes I will go into an area and my senses will be heightened. Many people have experienced this but don’t understand what that feeling is. Your gut tells you that you need to leave. As a paranormal investigator I wonder if there is high emf provoking this feeling. Instead of going with “fight or flight” I pull out meters to try to collect the data. If I was by myself I would go with my gut instinct and leave because I know it is possible that I had disturbed someone and they were watching me from the woods. Perhaps I had disturbed something else that I couldn’t see. I am still reviewing evidence collected and will share what I find with everyone

Go see the photo gallery for 1960 Overpass

One of the places I lived as a child was on Long Island in a place called Ronkonkoma, New York. I have wonderful memories of the town. I remember enjoying the things to do in the area and spending time with great friends. One activity we had was to go to the lake. This lake had many stories attached to it which I was fascinated by. The lake was haunted by the ghost of an Indian princess. When I was in the water I never went too far out because I wondered how I would react to her touching me. One day I spent the day ice skating on the lake and wondering if she would break the ice. I was not so worried about her hurting me because the stories all really involved her needing a man or a young couple. I remember laying on my stomach on the cold ice trying to hear her or see if I could see her. It was too cold to stay like that for long. While driving along the lake I have seen a fog hanging over the lake that looked eerie. I saw lights and could not figure out if they were boats or what they were. One day while riding along Lake Shore Road from out of nowhere a dog came running into a car next to us. I was very upset until the dog got up and ran away. When I went home and told some friends about it they all said it was the lady who did it. Everyone who lives there knows the stories. Let me give you some history of the lake.

Lake Ronkonkoma is known as a kettle hole lake that was carved out by a retreating glacier 20,000 years ago. It is the largest lake on Long Island..The lake was considered the most sacred lake by the Indians and it was the meeting point between different tribes. It was settled by Europeans in the 1600s. In the 1900s there was a population explosion due to the waters of the lake being known at that time as having healing qualities. The lake was considered a resort and a place for summer homes. Today you can see evidence of the early 1900s in remnants of old resorts which can still be seen around the lake’s shore.

The lake has of a number of urban legends. There is a mysterious rise and fall of the lake that doesn’t have a relationship to local rainfall totals. There is fresh water coming in from an unknown source. With this in mind it is said that there is a tunnel that leads to Connecticut and another one that leads to Sayville New York. One tunnel is said to lead to hell. The lake been rumored to be bottomless, however it is really approximately 100 ft deep at the southeastern side. The bottom is hard to find because of the loose particles at the bottom. Piranha are said to inhabit the lake. There have been stories of people being attacked by piranha most likely from people dumping live fish into the lake that they could no longer care for. Some say the bites have to come from pike which are well known to be moderately aggressive.

The most prevalent stories concerning the lake come from the legend of “The Lady of the Lake”. In one story every year the lady calls a young man between 18 and 28 years old out to be her lover. She lures them to the middle of the lake and drowns them. The most popular story is that every year two lovers are killed by the vengeful spirit. They usually die in an automobile accident. Who is this
“Lady of the Lake”?

The lady is a Native American princess who herself drowned in the lake. Her death story varies from it being an accident to a suicide. The Native American Princess Ronkonkoma fell in love with a European settler named Hugh Birdsall. She was forbidden to pursue the relationship and was forced into an arranged marriage. The forbidden relationship however persisted. One evening she tried to swim all the way across the lake to meet her lover. On the way she suffered fatigue and drowned. One variation is that she rowed to the middle of the lake in a canoe to await her lover and when he did not come she committed suicide by drowning herself. Another variation is that he was coming to join her and drowned so she decided to join him in death because she was too overwhelmed by grief. There are several other variations to the story.

The fact is that locals and historians will claim that almost every year for 200 years someone has drowned in the lake and it is usually a male. From 1877 to 1977 there were at least 147 drownings. Another fact is 32 deaths by drowning in the lake have taken place since1963 and are all men.One lifeguard said that in 32 years of being at the lake there have been at least 30 drownings that he was aware of.

Sometimes I think about Lake Ronkonkoma. I would love to be able to go back and run the equipment that I have now to see what is there. I do believe legends are born from some truth. I know some of the facts about the lake help perpetuate the urban legend. Whether the legend is true or not the stories are fantastic to toss around a campfire! Would you go swimming in the lake now?

Shadows are around us during the day and night. It is light on an object where that object blocks some of that light. Shadows seem more ominous at night sparking our imaginations as to what it might be. We notice out of the corner of our eye and usually toss it away as the TV casting a shadow or the headlights of a car just having passed by outside. On occasion the shadow does something that makes us get up to look and see what it is. Is someone getting ready to ring the doorbell? Was it a car? When you find nothing there you may think about something sinister.

I have watched full shadows manifest and appear to hover, walk, run or crawl to wherever they were going. Once I saw multiple shadows run from us as we were performing a house cleansing. One of the shadows jumped in the tree in the neighbors yard and crawled out of sight. That was not the only time I have seen a shadow move onto or into a tree. Goose bumps went all over my body as my mind tried to wrap around what I was witnessing. It was amazing! I feel blessed in my life to actually have personal proof that something is out there. Is it proof of life after death? A parallel universe? It is just fantastic to be there when something happens like that. It is hard to try to explain this scenario to anyone. Will they believe you?

The paranormal is really something you have to personally experience in order to believe. We all have our own ideas based off of religious upbringing. We also have stories we have heard from family and friends. We believe and trust are they are telling us the truth. So we have ideas of what we think is there or not there. Turn on the TV and almost all of the channels have some sort of show on the paranormal. Some of us watch these shows and wonder if it is fudged at all for ratings or really real. I have been on a show several times where I know it was real because I was there. That doesn’t mean every show on TV is real.

I know shadow people are real from personal experience. I cannot explain what they are scientifically with 100% certainty. Why? I have never had one of them walk up to me and give me an explanation of their origin. I can tell you what the theories are related to shadow people. As the case manager for our group I encourage you to call or email me and tell me your stories. I love to hear the things that most people feel they cannot share with anyone. Many feel they have nobody to talk to. Well you can talk to me!

Here is a video I put together to give you a better idea of what a shadow person might be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9wCZNwDRoQ&list=PL6351CDC938E06C3B

Last weekend we had a full day of running around to different locations. This included picking up Lindsey Ladd from the National Paranormal Society to join us for our adventure. We had a preliminary investigation scheduled for the old Cushing Hotel now known as Cimarron Towers. Due to a cancellation we were able to make it a full evening. Let me begin by giving you a brief history of the town and the building. Cushing is known as the “Pipeline Crossroads of America”. The town’s most exciting era began on March 17, 1912 when an oil boom began. Twenty-three oil companies and five oil-field supply houses located there by 1915. The boom ended however sixteen companies still operated there in 1930. The town’s population had reached 9,301 which was the largest population ever. The need for a hotel was huge thus the Cushing Hotel came into existence in 1928. This was during an era where “Nations Business Magazine” had labeled it an unparalleled prosperity for the area in Oklahoma. In stark contrast the eastern United States most people were standing in line for soup. The area of Oklahoma was dry but farmers had a bumper wheat crop. It was such a big crop that wheat was literally everywhere including blowing in the street. This dropped the price of wheat from .68 cents a bushel to .25 cents in 1931. This made farmers go broke and abandon their fields. By the time 1940 rolled around the town only had 1,500 residents. Most people had left by then and only three refineries were active. The hotel was beautiful but was having a hard time staying open. One of the residents talked about the doorway into the hotel being grand and all the woodwork that was amazing. Today that woodwork is no longer there. The hotel which had once thrived now stood vacant from 1975 until 1983. The hotel had declined during those years and needed to have something done with it. It was purchased and remodeled into what is now the Cimarron Towers for senior citizens and the handicapped. Downtown Cushing is a quaint old town with the same buildings that have stood there for years. It takes you back to a different time until you notice the new cars that line the street.

We began the evening by meeting Andrew who was one of the tenants. He had invited us to come check out the building because of strange activity that had been noticed over the years. We interviewed him first and then he gave us a tour to different rooms and floors within the building. While on tour we stopped in different rooms where we talked to almost a dozen of the residents. Some of the residents did not want to be on camera or named. They had all felt and seen different things. One man had been pushed off of the toilet, was scratched and had seen things on his web cam. While he was away Hank Williams was playing in his room with the web cam recording. When he returned it appeared as if something was in the room mouthing the words to the song “Hey good looking” while bouncing back and forth. One woman reported to hear voices, shadows and had a general uneasy feeling in several of the areas of the building. Several residents reported that their dogs would growl at the hallway. They would get up to look and would find that nothing was there. . While we were interviewing residents I had become physically ill in different areas of the building. I asked others on the team and it was confirmed that we all were experiencing the same feelings. The feelings were nausea, dizziness and headaches. Some places I almost needed to sit down because I was so sick. I noticed Mike grab onto the wall a few times in some areas.

When the interviews were complete we began to investigate the building. We separated into small teams where we went from floor to floor running audio, video and taking photos. The building has 7 floors and has a basement as well. We also investigated the stairwell where we had heard that voices had been previously recorded by a resident. I spent more time in the areas where I felt sick. I saw a shadow once in the hallway appear like it went into a wall which was confirmed by Lindsey Ladd. I took a few pictures that I noticed had something which I couldn’t see well at the time. I watched Lindsey conduct an experiment where she was pulling energy to herself with my dowsing rods. She was asking questions of whatever entity that may bearound at the time and she was getting responses. A few team members had heard laughing coming from within the stairs and nobody had been laughing. One of the residents approached us and communicated to us that he had been scratched while showering. In the end it was a fun night as usual. We got to spend time in a historical location. We need to review all of the evidence before we make a conclusion. It seems at the very least that there is residual energy that seems to be lingering. Certain spots in the building hold more energy than others. From the scratching it also seems that they have an intelligent haunting going on.