When Being First Means Second...

A lot of paranormal shows (as well as paranormal groups) relish in the idea of being the first investigators allowed into a reputedly haunted site. It can be a big announcement if there's enough publicity. But sometimes, things turn out to be incorrect. With a little digging, anyone can find these mistakes.

Such a claim was made back in an episode of Ghost Adventures aired on February 18, 2011, when the team went to Salem, Massachusetts, for a two-part investigation including the Lyceum Restaurant and the famous Witch House owned by Jonathan Corwin. The episode talked about the Witch House investigation and the difficulties of getting access and permission to film at the site. They showed a local Salem News article about the show which stated, "This may be the first time ghost hunters have been allowed in the home. . ." Unfortunately, this guess was snagged by Zak Bagans and mentioned several times as false truth.

"That's cool, man! We had to... you had to go to a committee and a board hearing..." Zak said while talking to author Jeff Belanger during the filming, "but we won! We won lockdown at the Witch House!" Later, inside the home, Zak went on: "This is a huge moment for the Ghost Adventures crew being the first allowed to investigate the historic 'witch house'. . ."

Actually, he might be right that no one has ever been "locked down inside" for a night in the museum. (Not many people feel the need to lock themselves inside a haunted building at night.) But as far as being the first people to investigate at the house... well, that's wrong. Another television show actually did investigate the Witch House just a few years back. Episode six of the second season of Dead Famous aired on October 18, 2005, in search of Betty Davis. (Click here to watch a clip.) During their hunt for the famous actress, they stopped for a brief ghost hunt inside the Witch House. They even interviewed warlock Christian Day briefly for the show. (If you have seen the episode, Christian was the one performing the ritual inside the house for Zak and the gang--much to their horror.)

With so many paranormal shows having come and gone in the last decade, it's easy to forget about them. And as always, we do love to forget our history, be it recent or long ago.

Having watched both of these episodes--and the reactions of the hosts--it makes me glad, in a way, that I am who I am. Both Chris Fleming and Zak Bagans seemed completely clueless about witchcraft or anything outside traditional Christian beliefs. Most of my life, I've experienced different things, different places, and different people. I've exposed myself to so many ideas, religions, and types of people that nothing really seems bizarre or foreign. Some things are definitely different, but not too shocking. It's always amusing to see people be shocked (or overreact) to anything outside their own view of "normal life." This world is a complex, unique place where everyone sees things in a different way. It's hard to find out what really is average or normal when it's all relative and subjective.

While our life experiences shape who we are, we tend to limit our view of the world to what we know or familiarize ourselves with. That leads to misunderstanding people and beliefs as well as coming across as ignorant or self-righteous in front of a camera or a crowd. There is no true right or wrong, only different. Opinions, morals, and views of truth and history are all based upon a society or individual point of view. But one thing is for certain; only one person can be the first.

Some Things are Better Buried...

Another long week is drawing to an end and is heading into a bit of a busy weekend. Finally, my library talk on Australian ghost stories and legends went off without too many hitches on Tuesday. I did enjoy the experience and everyone seemed to enjoy both the presentation and prizes, yet for many reasons I'm just glad I can toss everything back in a box and forget about it.

Now that's not to say I suddenly dislike Australia or have anything against the country. That's certainly not the case. But after a few events earlier this year, the last thing I wanted to do was reflect more on my trip and dust off my box of brochures from my various adventures. I guess you could say there were some bittersweet experience in the months following my big trip. Those fun trust issues I can have from time to time were brought forth in the most severe way yet. I would even hazard to say that the events of this year have permanently altered me. Whether it's for the worse or better is still up in the air.

Normally, I'm a very lax person when it comes to getting over petty disagreements or situations, but there are always exceptions to the rule. I'm not one to hold a permanent grudge on most matters and I've gotten over a good many things over the years (and amazed some friends and exes at how forgiving I can be sometimes). That doesn't mean I always make nice, though. Sometimes, a string of events, behaviors, and issues connect into one big ball of bile that taints something so strongly that you have to either lock it all in some trunk to be shoved between empty rafters in the far recesses of the subconscious... or let it make you bitter.

Bitterness can be a tough thing to shake, but I prefer blocking things out over becoming a grumpy old man.

A lot of people who know and have met me have realized I can appear tranquil on the surface while there's a hurricane going on inside me. I can smile and be friendly with just about anyone—even if I can't stand them—and at other times, that extreme shyness I've battled most of my life can downright paralyze me (yes, even lead me to have a cocktail too many in a social situation to calm my nerves, which usually leads to even more shyness since I don't want to sound like an idiot by opening my mouth with liquor in my system). I can be a very complicated and hard-to-understand individual. And with that, there are plenty of faults which come with the territory. But I do believe in giving people benefit of a doubt. I also have come to expect the same in return; it just doesn't always work out like that.

There's a quote that I love, often attributed to Einstein, which seems to pinpoint the source of so much of my disappointment and bad experiences: “Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe.” Sometimes, this stupidity can be downright hilarious. At other times, though, it can be the source of anger, frustration, sadness, or any one of a number of negative emotions. Too often lately, it's been the latter instead of the former. I have to work on bringing the balance back in favor of laughing at all things stupid instead of wishing it were some terminal illness.

In a lot of ways, my inner turmoil has been one of my biggest writing blocks this year. In previous years, being busy with adventure has kept me from getting much written. Having an emotional battle raging through my mind and body might be vastly different, but it produces the same effect. Hopefully, I'll tackle some of this baggage and depression and get things sorted out in time to start some new projects. One thing we can't change is the past; but we can stop looking over our shoulder and focus more on the journey ahead. At this pinnacle in time, I honestly can't say where the next ten years of my life will take me or even where I'll be at the end of it. Hopefully, there will be some more interesting books and projects woven in with the madness. I have ideas in my head and a few good people I consider friends still in my life. Hopefully I'll bring those back to the foreground soon, get back to actively writing more, and start back at making my life an eye-opening, awe-inspiring experience instead of something to cringe at.

Paranormal Misdiscoveries...

There is a ton of absolutely mind-boggling ghost hunting out there. And even more, there is an unending wealth of erroneous history, bad investigating, and sheer stupidity. Most of the time, I just breeze by these things and roll my eyes. But yesterday, after watching a half hour video by Discovery Paranormal, I just couldn't bite my tongue any harder. It was begging me to pick it apart... and shed some truth on the reality behind the "Lehigh Valley Train Crash of 1911".

The video starts off with a walk down railroad tracks to the site of the accident, which occurred on August 25, 1911 on a trestle near Manchester, New York, spanning the Canandaigua Outlet. Three passenger cars plunged off the bridge when a faulty steel rail broke apart under the train (which was traveling at excessive speed). According to Michael Angley, the narrator for the show, they also investigated the nearby roundhouse which was "the last place the passengers were before the crash." We'll get back to that major mistake later, but first let's get to the bridge investigation.

It's obvious from the terrible audio that he's using the same full spectrum HD camcorder I have (and didn't feel the need to bother with an external microphone). Heading down the tracks, he says that the train "went down in the ravine," which is a partial truth. Three of the 14 excursion cars went down; that is all. The team's psychic Tammy sensed "it's like fear... it's like 'oh my god, we're going down' kind of feeling... people were scared; I hear children crying and... crash." Really. At a train crash site? But then, Michael goes on: "...back then, those trains they had no safety devices; you know, it was 1911. We're talking about... you're going down 40 feet in a wood and metal coffin; essentially, you're dead."

The first railroad safety improvements (beginning with air brakes) were made in the 1870s. He makes 1911 rail travel sound downright rustic. But if you look at photos of the crashed cars, you will see that they were a far cry from the old wooden cars heated by wood stoves used in the 19th Century. Very little has changed with passenger car design since that time. Today, if you plunge 40 feet off a bridge in an Amtrak car, the only safety feature you can brag about is emergency exit windows. That doesn't help when you're already dead. Michael went on, "...they used that shop back there as the temporary morgue." Actually, the makeshift morgue was in the basement of a country furniture store in nearby Shortsville, just south of the crash site. But I digress.

After many more obvious revelations from the "psychic", the team headed down the ravine to the bottom where the crash happened. And they brought their trusty dowsing rods. Thanks to the wonders of high definition filming, you can watch as the hands of the dowser rock back and forth ever so slightly, causing the rods to cross over and over. And they don't even wait for a question sometimes! While busy talking to a ghostly little girl, the group fails to address an important point: this train carried a number of Civil War veterans and their families returning from Rochester. The brooches worn by unidentified women from the wreck may have been mourning jewelry bearing the initials of dead soldiers. You would think the psychic would have at least picked up on that much, or that someone had bothered to actually read all the newspaper stories about the accident.

But the ghosts were far too busy trying to rush the intrepid ghost seekers to the more important destination: the roundhouse to the west. Ah yes, the roundhouse; that place where passengers wait to board trains. Oh, that's a station... nevermind. For those of you who don't know, a roundhouse is where locomotives are stored and repaired. There is absolutely no reason any passenger would be wandering a roundhouse unless he or she was an employee of the railroad. Still, the team decided this was the most likely spot to look for ghosts (instead of the makeshift morgue, that actually would make any sense whatsoever).

"...if a crash happened here, the victims--or the passengers--would go back to the place that they knew the most, which is the round house [sic]." Inside the old locomotive warehouse (I mean "passenger waiting area/place they turned around trains"), they bring out recorders to capture really vague nonsensical "voices" and sounds. Michael says, "the historian said that the train was still, uh... that the platform was probably still here." Once again, roundhouses did NOT have station platforms. Oops. Just then, the psychic says the first thing that actually makes sense: "...there's a man here... he's really, um, getting people to work..." Finally, something that talks about what the building was really used for--locomotive repair.

The dowsing rods come out yet again and questions fly while the rods swing back and forth a lot. You can really see the hand movements better here (around 15 minutes into the video) when he's asking how many ghosts are inside the building. And the questions keep getting better. "It was a grand building at one time, wasn't it? It was round all the way around?" Both get a 'yes' from the rods. (A roundhouse is commonly a half circle or smaller, otherwise there'd be no place for locomotives to enter. Only a few full circle roundhouses were ever constructed.) There's just one minor problem with this place. The round house was built in 1916, five years after the accident.

The psychic (and by now I use the term loosely) goes on to tell about sensing the passengers. "It's like they were anxious to see their relatives... and they were going on a trip and they couldn't wait to get there. They were almost there..." Thanks for that obvious report. "This is where they changed over, they got a little rest and something to eat..." (This town was NOT a stop for the speeding train in 1911.) Here they bring out "Pete's Ghost Box" to communicate with the spirits. Of course, when using a Ghost Box, you don't actually need to pay any attention to what words are coming out of it (as the team wisely shows us). Never mind that it sounds more like an Ovilus than a "Frank's Box" sweeping radio frequencies. In sure it's just coincidence and they really know what their equipment is called.

After reading off the list of the dead (and getting different answers from the dowsing rods; watch for the hand movements yet again), they announced they "found a bunch of spirits that have not moved on" at the roundhouse. Michael ends it with "Who knows when a train will ever come for them." If they're waiting in the roundhouse, my guess is probably never. And so ends a bafflingly unresearched investigation. Could it have been worse? Absolutely. But this is one video that makes me wonder why some people call themselves serious "paranormal investigators" who, as the website states, are "dedicated" to "collecting hard evidence of paranormal activity."

The Ghosts of Railroads Past...

In keeping with my last post, I've been thinking a lot more lately about how much I've enjoyed railroads over the years. They're still my favorite means of transportation, and it's quite sad seeing how rail travel has died out over the years. People might say that the automobile killed streetcars and passenger railroads, but that's not entirely true. They were still very popular when the transit systems were dismantled. It was mainly a change in public mindset brought on by billions of federal dollars spent to build national highways. In nearly every metropolitan city across the nation (and many small towns in between), it was possible just 60 years ago to get almost anywhere via interurban streetcars and trains.

Since the mid-1800s, railroads shaped and formed this land and our cities. The stories of Casey Jones and John Henry are forever remembered in their old folktales. And it's hard to travel anywhere without passing (or crossing over) an old railroad line, if you know where to look. Many of our towns sprang up from railroad lines snaking across the landscape. Sadly, many of them died out when the trains disappeared. In the Cuyahoga Valley alone, I can think of several towns that have disappeared off the map when the Cleveland Terminal & Valley Railway was sold and switched entirely to freight.

Slowly, I'm working on compiling together some of the thousands of old legends and myths associated with the railroads. Eventually, I'll be setting aside part of my website for them, but there's a lot to wade through before I get there. I find railroad ghost stories just as fascinating as the golden age of steam. Just in Ohio, there are dozens of ghosts associated with train wrecks and accidental deaths from the Ashtabula Train Disaster to the tragedy outside Republic, Ohio, or even the specter of Lincoln's Funeral Train. Even one of my first visits to a haunted place as a teenager was train related: the old depot in Galion, Ohio.

All of the hauntings I've heard have involved steam locomotives, oddly enough. I'm sure there are diesel engines behind hauntings out there somewhere, but I'm content to stick with steam. It's a dying technology; if we don't keep teaching generations about operating old steam engines, they'll become mystifying museum relics. Few people who are alive today can operate an old engine. They require skill and finesse you won't find in a simple diesel engine. Perhaps that's why when it comes to historic preservation, I think railroads are so important.

Interestingly enough, we owe much of the current railroad preservation efforts to two men: Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg. They pioneered railroad pictorial books and started the California State Railroad Museum. Much of our history would be forgotten were it not for these two men. And what's even more interesting is they were a couple. Yes, railroad preservation owes a lot to two gay men. You can still see their private car the Virginia City (complete with its elegant interior that would make Liberace jealous) in California.

Local Ghosts by Rail...

Back around 2004, I was trying to put together a ghost tour on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be; there were some issues raised by the fact that it was both true ghost stories and locations in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I can't blame anyone for the plans being thwarted. There was (and still is) some threat of vandalism within the park system, and inviting people to start exploring the valley for ghosts late at night always carries with it the risk of unscrupulous individuals wreaking havoc on historic places.

But times have changed. Ghosts and hauntings have gained popularity and are seen as a possible source of revenue for many businesses. Slowly, the National Park Service has opened up to the idea of telling ghost stories. They may deny any possible existence of paranormal phenomena, but seeing how popular Gettysburg is with tourists looking for a few ghosts and scares can be an influential power. And now, even the scenic railroad has opened up to otherworldly possibilities.

For anyone looking for something spooky to do this weekend (or during a few other weekends this summer), one option is the new Train to the Paranormal on which visitors can leave Northside Station in Akron for a trip full of ghosts and psychics. On the journey south, guests are accompanied by two mediums—Anne Miller and Helen Mayor—who will offer personal readings to anyone interested. The train stops at North Canton where passengers disembark and board a bus for Canal Fulton. At the Warehouse on the Canal, they will have dinner and drinks in the style of a Victorian wake followed by a ghost walk of the old canal town. The 5 1/2 hour round-tour costs $80 per person and ends back at Northside around 11:00 PM.

Canal Fulton is a lovely (and spooky) little place, full of many ghostly tales. I have been there several times, both to investigate the Warehouse and take Sherri Brake's tour. I've been on a few investigations with Sherri over the past decade and highly recommend her Haunted Heartland Tours. I have also worked with Anne Miller and her daughter, Brenda Brand, on a few investigations (all four of us investigated a few places in the valley together back in September 2005 for the Akron Beacon Journal) and find them both delightful people. Undoubtedly, this is one railroad trip worth taking.

Hopefully, one of these days I'll give another go at an event tied in with Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. I have a few ideas kicking around inside my head as we speak, but they'll require plenty of planning and cooperation with a few businesses. But until that time, at least you can enjoy a few ghost hunts dreamed up by other creative people.