Schools Still in Session

Schools Still In Session Old Village School
Wells River, Vermont
With Special Guests: North Eastern Paranormal Investigations (Anthony Ardolino, Nancy Fortin, Lewkis Gates, Phyllis Ardolino) and Honorary Investigator: Barbara Smith.

I honestly love this building. The outside of it gave me goose bumps, good ones though. The inside was quant, lots of rooms, lots of history. Lots of spirits? Maybe. The building is now part apartment, part saloon, part massage, part yoga...Let's be out with it, this place has everything. We couldn't go in all the rooms, but the rooms we did, we got a few chills. Even outside when were just talking to Barbara, Anthony could of sworn he saw a shadow in this room that was between the two main doors. We didn't have access into the room, but there's always a next time.

A brief history: It was built in 1874 for a total of $10,000-$15,000 dollars. The school was built by a well-known architect (rumored to be Lambert Packard-a legendary Vermonter). The building was so impressive that a model of it was exhibited at the Paris Expo in the 1890's that was said to be an outstanding example of an American schoolhouse. Just to give an impression of the times, back then a teachers annual salary was $2,148 dollars back in 1904! Ouch! And today's teachers are complaining? But back then, that was a lot of money, but today, the building still stands tall...and somewhat creepy looking. I honestly wanted to move in. What can I say? I got a thing for macabre.

I won't name the businesses at hand in respect of the businesses who wished not to be mentioned in this article as well as the locations:

First Place: Sitting in the nice comfy chairs we decided to do an EVP session to try and contact the spirits who maybe still residing there. This room would soon talk in ways I haven't experienced before. During the EVP session, Anthony told Lewkis to take a few pictures right in front of me, asking me if I saw what he just saw. I said, "No" as I was watching over at the open counter which leads to the waiting area. Apparently, he saw a white orb fly pass, right in front of me. You usually see orbs in pictures or video (which about 95% of them are proven to be just bugs or dust), but to actually see an orb?

I would soon have the same experience as I was watching right in front of me as Anthony tried to get what we thought was a spirit to show itself, out of the corner of my eye I saw what I can explain as a white hump going past the counter.

I would then get my very first set of goose bumps during an investigation. Now, it wasn't cold in this room and I wasn't feeling any fear which are two causes of goose bumps, but some experts in this field say that goose bumps are a sign that a spirit is touching you. As soon as Anthony asked if the spirit was touching me it went away.

After this, Anthony said something about how he had a strong feeling in this room that ran right next to these two rooms (the saloon and the tanning room). Before you went into this room, you went down this long, narrow hallway which I referred to as the "creepy hallway." May not be clever, but Nancy and Lewkis agreed to it. The room looked like another massage room. Since the other possible massage room had no activity, I'll just refer to this as the prominent massage room.

Second Room: Keep in mind I wasn't in this room for about three quarters of the time, Anthony and Lewkis were. I was still in the saloon where I saw a ghostly hump walking across the hallway and could of had a spirit touching me. Nothing was happening, so I joined them. Anthony told me how he heard footsteps coming up in back of him and how they heard knocking. Things were heating up and they were only going to get better!

We came inside and did a trade with the girls who were upstairs. They had no success up there, saying they got nothing, but Anthony had a good feeling that something wanted us up there. He wasn't going to be disappointed.

Third Room: This was my favorite room, because it's the room where we got a lot of chills. Now, this room was somewhat dark, somewhat visible because of the street lights outside these tall windows, so we could make out some details. One detail is this big door frame which leads out to the stairs. The first thing I experienced was a shadow walking past and something looking back in at us. I thought I was going mad until Anthony said, "You saw that too?" I saw it and it was startling, not to mention awesome!

The second big incident was when we were all standing up and trying to get some energy going. It seemed like every time Anthony would start clapping his hands and yelling, something would happen. We weren't clapping or yelling anymore, we were talking amongst ourselves, but then something weird was about to happen. We heard this dragging noise right next to me. It was loud and it was right in that room with us. One of us asked if they could do it again and it did! The dragging noise happened again, only it seemed louder, and more prolonged. It startled someone so much they nearly leaped in someone's arms. That someone was...Anthony! Okay, okay, it was really Lewkis. Yep, we'll go with that.

Before we left, we placed a tennis ball in the middle of the floor as a trigger object. We then placed a cup next to it for a visual to keep track of how far of a space is between the two just incase it moved. It didn't take long for it to move as we looked and the ball already moved a little bit. We then took a picture of the ball and planned to return to see if it moved any when we came back.

We went downstairs to take a break, but before we could, the ladies team was telling us how they saw a big black shadow figure in this empty room with them. Could this have been the same black shadow we saw upstairs peeking at us before heading into a room we couldn't go in? After we turned the lights on Lewkis was using my EMF meter which measures the electronic magnetic field (which ghosts are said to disrupt when they are around) and it started going off. I went over with the K-2 meter and sure enough mine was going off as well, but as soon as it happened, it stopped. We kept going back to that spot to see if it would happen again and it wouldn't. Strange.

Next we went back to the Third Room to see about doing a Ghost Box Session. A quick review on a ghost box: it's a device that can sweep through different frequencies or channels and ghosts supposedly can pick out words from these channels to make contact. It all seems pretty odd to those who've never done it, but when you are there and hear your very own name being called out, all skeptical questions go out the window. Recently though, the ghost box hasn't really given us much relevant evidence. Did it this time? Well, we got a few names, and after we did we put the Ghost Box away, Barbara got out her very own pendulum to do a session. One of the questions was were the names we heard on the Ghost Box here tonight and the it did a spin for a "Yes."

After this we went downstairs and got ready to pack it all in and go home. Outside we all stood, looking back at this wonderful building that looks normal to most people, but inside there's a few special occupants just waiting to make an appearance. Don't be afraid, just smile, wave, and walk away. Some spirits still think they are alive and just do the normal things they used to do; maybe these spirits still think they are still alive and are amongst us and know no difference. They are a few though, such as the shadow that walked past the door frame that raise a few questions: Why would it walk past, stop, and look directly at our direction? Do they know we are here or are we just ghosts to them?

The businesses that didn't want to be mentioned is understandable, but we'd still like to thank them for allowing us into their building. Also, a very special thanks to Barbara Smith who is a good ghost hunter herself. Until next time this has been Scared Sheetless. Happy Hauntings, keep it scary, and have a great Halloween!

Resources:

www.theoldvillageschool.com - I seriously thought I was going to have a hard time trying to retrieve historical information on the school, but I found this great website that's full of information on this great, historical building.

The Figures in Black(Shadow People) by James Paradie

The Figures in Black(Shadow People)
Written by James Paradie

Shadow people, shadow men, or shadow folk as they are sometimes referred to are just another slice of the paranormal line of entities. They have a Grim Reaper type of appearance and some have said to have red eyes. These shadow beings have no define classification of what they are or could be: ghosts? Demons? Nobody really knows for sure. Shadow people are being seen more often and instead of just seeing them for a quick second, they are staying a lot longer in sight. How can we explain this experience? If I could choose a few words:

DOWNRIGHT SCARY.

This was a night that I remember quite vividly; I was sleeping, but yet I was dreaming. Wasn't quite a nightmare, wasn't a dream, I was dreaming about people's faces. Sounds weird I know, but that will be discussed later. I remember waking up and the lights in my room were turned on. Figuring it was someone in the house coming into my room, I turned to see what it was and to my astonishment I saw a shadow/mist like figure leave my room. It went right threw my door and as soon as its fingers or what appeared to be fingers were the last to go threw my door, the lights turned right off. Vowing to be the paranormal investigator I am, I said to myself, I'm going to stay up and see if this shadow figure comes back...sleep triumphed.

Not that I'm saying this experience has gone into a waste basket of many experiences I've had. Quite the contrary, as I'll say it belongs in my top three of the most frightening experiences I've ever had. I wasn't scared, more fascinated than anything, but I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. It was such a thrilling experience. Every now and then, when I'm in the room, I can sometimes sense something is watching me. Is it the shadow figure or is it just hallucinations?

I found one of the strangest articles on Shadow People that fit the description of the faces in my dream. This article is on Wikipedia.org and I know that a large portion of researchers, writers, journalist have red flagged Wikipedia as a source for anything since anyone can edit it, but the fact that this described my dream and my experience almost in detail is downright eerie. Apparently, according to this source, there is a condition called Hypnagogia, it's were you are in a conscious state of being awake and asleep. When this happens, you believe you are awake, but you are actually in a dream like state. The condition is also known for "the faces in the dark phenomenon" where people who experience this (such as myself) will see random faces before them. Thing is, I knew I was still asleep and dreaming of the faces; I woke up, turned my head, and saw the cloaked/mist figure walk threw my door and my light shut off. Some religions say that this could be a visit from an angel...or a demon.

If there's one thing I've learned since becoming a paranormal researcher/investigator is that if you've seen one ghost...you have NOT seen them all. Until next time, this has been another Scared Sheetless. Happy Hauntings my fellow Graveyard Disciples.

Need more scares? Go to scaredsheetlessncn.blogspot.com and check out New Hampshire's most frightening locations!

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people (information on Hypnagogia)

James Paradie is a paranormal columnist as well as a paranormal investigator who has been seen in such newspapers as the Northcountry News, Littleton Record, the White Mountain Shopper, and the Trendy Times. His stories can also been seen on paranormalnews.com and mostlyghosts.com where he is a regular contributor.

Where Evil and Innocence Reside(Extended Version)

Note: Due to paper constrants I was not able to get the full version published, but here it is. Included you will see photos from the actual investigation included the photo of a blue "mist" or form coming up from behind fellow NEPI investigator, Nancy Fortin, on the staircase. Tell me what you think it is.
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Special Edition: Where Evil and Innocence Reside(Extended Version)
Bethlehelm, NH
Written by James Paradie (With Special Guests: NEPI-Anthony Ardolino, Nicole Ardolino, Nancy Fortin, Michelle LaFontaine, Lewkis Gates, Dustin Starr)

Online/Extended Version

"Did the little girl spirit die here?"

"Is there any evil in this house?"

"Is this house a portal to Hell?"

Lights out time came and it was time to see if what the countless people have experienced in the house was going to happen to us and we would not be disappointed. First, we went down in the cellar which was quite spooky in itself. Earlier in the night, when we were setting up our infrared cameras, the camera down in the basement was actually moving by itself. When Anthony, Nicole Ardolino, Lewkis Gates, Dustin Starr (returning NEPI investigator) and myself went to investigate ourselves, the camera wasn't even moved. But yet, according to those watching upstairs, it looked like it was moving; this camera would end up playing mind games on our eyes for the rest of the night. Since this kind of activity was happening we wanted to see if we could provoke any spirits down there to come out.

One team went downstairs into the basement and another team went into the upstairs. I was apart of the team that went to the basement. First off, going down those steps even when we had the lights on was a task (there narrow and by the end of the night I started to refer to them as the "stairs of death") imagine going down them in pitch black? They weren't fun, but a few interesting details happened when we got down there:

First, it wasn't warm down there, but at the beginning it was edging somewhere near 60 degrees; we also closed the door to the basement to get lesser contamination (noise interference). We start out every investigation with an EVP session. EVP or Electronic Voice Phenomena, records spirit voices in the white noise frequency and captures it onto a audio recorder. In order to do this, an investigator has to ask the spirit questions. We start out by saying who's down there, naming of all our names, then we start out with the questions; the most typical are: "Can you tell us your name?", "When were you born?", then after awhile you can get into the "How did you die?" But make sure you respect them just like you would any other living person.

One thing that did happen was that we kept hearing pounding on the walls, as if there was something right next to us. Also, Nancy Fortin (co-founder of NEPI) felt a cold breeze as if something was passing threw her and the sound of something gliding past the pipes over our heads. The temperature went from the 50's down into the 20's, dropping nearly thirty degrees while we were down there according to our handheld thermometers, it was freezing cold down there when before it was bearable. Even though we were making progress, we heard the other group coming down the stairs and decided to rejoin them. Fortin, however, stopped at the middle of the steps, feeling dizzy and had to stop. She then regained her composure and went back up the steps. In one of the photos taken by Nicole's camera, you will see a blue figure, almost like a mist, going past Nancy and up the stairs. Was this what made Nancy feel dizzy on the steps?



(Look to the left side of the photo by Nancy, you will see a blue figure. Some can actually see this spector holding her hand. Can you? Also, others such as myself, can see a more translucent figure on the landing of the steps.)

We would then go out to the living room and would not be disappointed. While we were sitting on the couches, Anthony's movements went still as he pointed to the kitchen and said with a stern excitement, "Shadow just walked from the kitchen into the bedroom!" Going in to investigate, we found no evidence of anyone who could make such a shadow; Anthony explained that it even blocked out a green light on a cabinet. No one else was down there with us as the rest of the team went upstairs.

We then all decided to go down into the basement, all nine people (including those who joined us during the investigation) to see if we could somehow corner the spirit. We would not be displeased with the results we got. First, nine people in a small basement, we didn't have much room to play with, but it ended up being a good idea. First interesting note to make is that we kept hearing something being thrown in back of Nancy, Nicole, Lewkis, and myself. When we looked, there was nothing, at first to pinpoint. The second time it happened, we looked, and to our astonishment there was a can on the floor that wasn't there before. We decided to use it as a trigger object and propped it onto a table to see if the spirit would knock it off again.

Another thing to note was every time we heard something being thrown in back of us, my K-II EMF Meter would spike. To those who don't know, an EMF Meter measures the electromagnetic fields which ghosts are said to disrupt when they are around these devices, so essentially the EMF Meter can be used as a "ghost detector". This is why we shut off all power when we conduct an investigation, so appliances with electricity won't interfere with our devices. Other handheld devices such as a cell phone going off or a walky-talky can make the EMF spike, so keep that in mind. But, when it spikes, and there's nothing giving off electronic vibes around, could it be paranormal? The mischievous spirit was definitely there to play with the many new faces in the house. Keep in mind, a little girl spirit is allegedly been spotted in this house before.

Anthony was about to come face to face with one of the alleged spirits as he was doing an EVP Session; on the audio tape you can hear him talk and then suddenly he stops and Nancy asks, "What?" Tony then says, "I just saw a face right there in front of me." When we were done and heading back up he said it was scary coming face to face with a spirit who he said had a white face and even facial hair features. Even though it came and gone in a flash, the image will surely stay implanted in Anthony's thoughts for years to come. Another interesting thing to note was that not only did Anthony saw the ghostly face, but also one of the guests of the night got scratched by an unseen force on the neck. One of our photos actually shows two distinctive red marks on his neck. These spirits meant business tonight.

The next session we did upstairs is called a Pendulum Session. There are many various types of Pendulum's, but in most paranormal groups who do use them-it's a chain with a stone at the end to simply put. You ask for the spirits to show you a "Yes", a "no", and a "maybe." Most times YES is counter clockwise, NO is back and forth, and MAYBE is clockwise. The spirits were definitely here and there was a touch of fright in the air. Here's some highlights of the session:

"Did the little girl spirit die here?" and we got a YES. "Do you want (one of the guests) out of your house?" and we got a big YES for the response. When we later asked if the little girl wanted to be with her parents we got two big NO's. During this session we would keep hearing pounding noises coming from the upstairs; the owners do own a cat, but it was downstairs the whole time. When we asked if the spirit was making the noises we got a YES. We would then ask if this is the same spirit who scratched (the other guest) earlier in the night, down in the basement, we got a MAYBE. It was asked if the spirit was ever going to be honest and we got a NO. It was then asked if we should feel threatened in any way-YES. Did the spirits mean us any harm that night?-We got a huge YES. The chain was spinning so widely that it was hitting Nancy's fingers. Was their a murder committed in this house?-We got a YES right away. Not only was this an interesting paranormal investigation, it was also turning into an episode of CSI: New Hampshire. When we asked if the little girl was murdered here-it said YES. After we heard something that sounded like a rock being thrown at a window, we shifted back to the former owner of the place when we asked if they moved the can downstairs-YES.


(Photo taken from the Pendulum Session.---Photo will be up soon)

We then decided to try a technique we used at the Sugar Hill Inn called Glass Swirling. Glass Swirling is where you take a drinking glass, put it on a table with a nice smooth surface, just barely put your index finger on the top of the upside down glass; you would then envision yourself in a bright light, and tell the spirit to use everyone at the tables energy freely as long as they meant you no harm. After you get a response (the glass moving), then you can ask it questions.

Could it be that we are moving the glass not knowing? Unlikely, as in some points of the session we could actually feel the glass turning in place with all our fingers not moving at all; this also happened to us at the Sugar Hill Inn investigation back in April of 2010. The questions mostly revolved around if there was evil in the house, each time the glass almost went crazy.

We then decided to write down answers on pieces of paper to see where the glass would land. "Yes", "No", "I don't understand", and "Infinity." These helped us out immensely and maybe the spirits as well. The main questions that we got were great, but down right frightening. Here's some highlights:

"Who makes you the angriest in this house?"-The glass would always, no matter how we put the question, go to one of the two occupants of the house at the time, and at one point it even came as fast as it could and smacked the person right in the arm and fell of the table into that person's lap almost. Every time we asked if there was any evil in the house, or demons, it would go to YES. We would then ask how long the identity has been here and every time we asked, it would go to Infinity. We would then ask if there is an afterlife and to our shock it started making 8's on the table; 8 means eternal life, but the big reason why this shocked us the most was because this also happened at the Sugar Hill Inn. This was starting to get deep and when we thought things couldn't get more creepier, but they did; Nancy then asked if this was a portal to Hell-YES. In unison, all our fingers came off the glass and we just all stood there with our fingers in the air and our thoughts and adrenaline rushing.

After this, we decided it was time to leave. We have been invited to go back to this residence for a future investigation, so look out for that within the next few months. But until then, if you have a house that you think is haunted and want North Eastern Paranormal Investigations to come in, call Anthony Ardolino at 444-7142 or email him at tony@northeasternparanormal.com and tell him what's going on and maybe you can witness these strange occurrences as well. Until next time, this has been a special edition of Scared Sheetless. Happy Hauntings my fellow Graveyard Disciples.

Contact me:

E-Mail: scaredsheetlessncn@hotmail.com
Website: scaredsheetlessncn.blogspot.com

James Paradie is a paranormal columnist as well as a paranormal investigator who has been seen in such newspapers as the Northcountry News, Littleton Record, the White Mountain Shopper, and the Trendy Times. His stories can also been seen on paranormalnews.com where he is a regular contributor.