Time: 2130 - 0400
Location: Mississippi Belle Restaurant
Weather: Overcast Sky, Temperature 62 degrees, and Light wind
Geomagnetic and Solar conditions:
Moon: Waxing Gibbous
Solar: Geomagnetic Field - Quiet, Solar Activity - Normal
Members Participating:
HPT – Judy and Tim
Moondance Paranormal – Deb, Steve, Jane, and Theresa
Authorized Guest - Cassie
Background Information:
The purpose of this investigation was to investigate claims by the owners that there had been another escalation in the activity at the location. In May, the owners Hope and Bill began planning for some renovations for the location to include some painting in the bar area, new furniture in the bar area, rearranging of the dining area, updating tapestries, and the removal of carpeting in the bar area.
HPT was contacted in July that Bill requested that HPT contact him due to some concerns about the escalation. A time was arranged to meet with the owners and Tim went to the site to gather some information.
Hope and Bill stated that there was an escalation in the activity at the site but not on a level previously reported. Hope stated that on numerous occasions they would hear what was described as “Old Time” music playing in the dining area at night after the business was closed for the day. She stated that it sounded similar to the type of music you would expect to hear from decades ago being played on a phonograph. While a female was heard to be singing, on occasion a male could be heard also. She also stated that they would hear this being played in the dining area and if someone would get up to go and investigate, the music would stop. Hope also stated that when see was seated at the bar by the door leading to the wine cellar, she experienced on more then one occasion what she described as cold spots and also a feeling that there was someone near her. On one occasion she got a tingling sensation in her arm and when Bill approached and sat down, the sensation appeared to leaver her arm and affect Bills arm. Hope also reported incidents where the kitchen doors would open and when someone approached them they would close on their own. There was also a report of the phone being found off the cradle in the locked office. Other employees also claimed that they had experienced “something” within the restaurant that could not be explained.
While the Owners and Employees were concerned about the recent escalation, no one felt threatened or had reluctance to continue working within the location. Tim believed that the recent renovations could have a significant influence on the escalation. While there did not appear to be a potential safety concern as in the past, the escalation would warrant an investigation in an attempt to determine what could be causing the activity. Tim also discussed a few options for the investigation. One would be to perform an equipment drop overnight, two, bring in another team on a collaborative investigation with HPT playing a lesser role and allow the other team to evaluate the activity, three would be to hand the investigation over to another team and HPT to withdraw.
It was determined that HPT would collaborate with another team. Tim contacted Deb with Moondance Paranormal located in Stacy MN and inquired if they would be interested in joining some HPT members on the investigation. Deb stated her team would be able to investigate with HPT and a date and time were set.
Also, this was the first investigation whereby an observer was allowed to accompany HPT on an investigation. This “guest” would be allowed to accompany team members during the course of the active investigation and was required to sign a contract similar to other HPT members in regards to information disclosure and confidentiality. Cassie, Judy’s niece was the participant on this investigation. She had never participated in a paranormal investigation before.
Investigation:
The two teams met up at the Mississippi Belle at 2130 and proceeded to take their equipment up to the banquet room to allow customers that were still in the restaurant time to depart. Judy and Steve went on a walk-through of the location per Deb’s instructions. After equipment set up, Tim went and spoke to Hope and Bill about the investigation. Bill provided Tim with keys to the location to allow the teams to move around the building freely after they departed.
While Tim set up the DVR Judy, Cassie and members of MP ran cables, placed cameras and dropped recorders within the building. The teams split off to begin the investigation with Steve and Tim remaining at the command center to monitor the cameras. Deb and Theresa went down to the boiler room while Judy, Cassie and Jane went into the wine cellar. Within a short amount of time, Deb came up from the boiler room and stated that shortly after she entered the room, she started to get a headache and pain behind her eyes. Tim informed her that other people who have gone into this room have also reported similar symptoms after being in the room. It could be possibly due to the dampness and lack of air movement when the boiler is not running, but others have reported these feelings with the boiler operating also.
The teams then reassembled and Deb went down to the wine cellar with her dowsing rods. When she returned she stated that she asked any entity in the room to tell her how many others were there. She counted up to five and the rods crossed. When she went to reaffirm this, she got up to seven without any movement from the rods. When she retried it, she got six on this attempt. Judy, Jane and Cassie were in the boiler room at this time and stated that when they went to leave, Jane turned and found that there was a bucket in her way that was off to the side when they entered the room. After they came up to report this, Steve went down with some other team members to the boiler room to investigate the boiler room/bucket incident. When Steve returned, he and Tim took a break outside while Judy took over monitoring the DVR.
After Steve and Tim returned, they picked up their recorders and other equipment and made their way down to the long hallway in the basement. When they got to the end of the hallway, Tim asked Steve to position himself with his back up against some shelves. Tim then began calling “William” in an attempt to bolster a response from him either by making a sound or touching one of the investigators. After about 3-4 minutes of calling, Tim thought he heard a noise from the end of the hallway that sounded like someone shuffling. Tim asked Steve if he heard something also. Steve replied that he heard something, but it did not sound like that. Tim then resumed calling in an attempt to see if he could get any other type of response. After about another 5 minutes, Tim thought he saw a face starting to materialize in between him and Steve. He asked Steve if he saw anything, he stated he did not. Tim again resumed calling, asking if William could touch Steve, pull his shirt, or put his hand on his shoulder. Tim then noticed a light at the end of the hallway which Steve stated that it was a light stick that was placed by a motion detector in front of the dish room door set to alarm if the door opened.
The two investigators went down and retrieved the light stick and returned to the end of the hallway. After a short period of time Tim heard another sound, when he asked Steve if he heard something, Steve said he had not but it felt like something tried to pull the IR thermometer out from under his arm. Then Tim stated that he felt something touch his left arm. Steve then took a couple of pictures of the area around him and Tim. Tim then saw something white flash in front of Steve. When asked, Steve stated he did not see anything.
Tim continued calling in an attempt to gain a response. After a approximately another 15 minutes, Tim asked if there was anyone else around. Steve then asked if there was anyone around to please make the temperature drop because it was warm down in this area of the basement. After another 20 minutes, the two investigators moved over into the dry storage area and tried calling here. This is an area where it has been reported that when one of the owners is in this area, the light will turn off and back on by itself. It was also the scene of some packaged tablecloths that fell from a shelf during the first investigation in full view of the Owner, employees and multiple investigators. Tim attempted to entice the any entity in the area to provide some form of sign that they were in the area. After a short period of time, Tim informed Steve he was going to look back around by the water heater because he had heard some noised coming from that area. The investigators looked around the area but could not find anything in the area.
They then moved back into the hallway area of the basement and again tried calling. After about 10 minutes, Tim again heard some shuffling coming from the left side of where he was standing. He was not able to locate a source. Tim then asked Steve if he could whistle as an experiment. Tim explained that he had heard from his son that a friend of his Grandfather was Native American and was raised on a reservation. During the course of the conversation, the Grandfather stated that some cultures believe that if you whistle you could potentially “call for” a spirit. The investigators then engaged in a casual conversation about some of the other philosophies and different viewpoints on life after death. The investigators checked the time and at 0230 hours they left the basement and went back up to the command point. Once they got back, Tim asked Judy if she had seen anything on the DVR while Steve and Tim were down in the basement, she stated that she did not.
The two teams took a short break and Deb relayed an experience she had in the Loft area where she stated she got a uncomfortable feeling especially in the kitchen area, when she returned to the dining room, the feeling again subsided. When the investigators walked towards the bar area, a piece of note paper left by Bill on the bar spun around when the investigators walked past. Tim approached the bar and moved towards the right side of the paper and was able to recreate the movement. A fan pointed in the general direction of the bar had the air flow generated by it diverted towards the bar thus moving the paper. Judy, Cassie and Deb went down to the wine cellar again to investigate while Steve, Tim, Theresa and Jane stayed up by the command center. The teams then described some past investigations they had been on and some of the experiences they had. After a short period of time Judy returned with her team and stated that they were not able to detect any presence down in the wine cellar on this vigil.
Tim then asked Judy if the Sony cassette recorder was up in the loft area and if she thought the tape would need changing. She stated yes so Deb, Jane and Tim went up to the loft area to change the tape in the device. After changing the tape, the investigators stayed in the lower area of the loft and attempted calling. Deb joined in with the calling after a few moments. Tim stated that after a few minutes in the area, he got a feeling of chest heaviness in the lower area, but did not feel the same sensation when he moved to the upper area of the loft. Tim and Deb both continued calling in an attempt to gain a response. Jane then asked if any entity in the area would like us to leave, to which Tim added that if it did, to please give us a sign and the team would leave.
Tim then asked if Deb would stand in a small walk-in closet. After a couple of minutes, Tim asked Deb is she felt anything happening. She stated that she felt her heart rate escalate a bit. Tim then asked if she felt like she was moving backwards. She stated she was getting a sensation of moving side to side. Deb got out of the small closet and Jane went in to see if she too could experience the same thing. Jane stated that she felt something like the whole building was vibrating. The investigators tried to find a cause for the strange, “fun house” effect that they were experiencing. After this experience, the team headed back down to the dining room and then proceeded to go down to the basement area in the long hallway.
Once back in the area where Steve and Tim were, Jane attempted calling with Deb joining in. Tim then asked if “William” could touch one of the investigators; touch their hair, their shoulder, etc. The investigators continued to try and entice any entity in the area to provide some form of sign that it was around. Tim then relayed experiences that other investigators had felt or experienced in the area. He then asked if he could relay a “story” of how or why William remains in this area. Shortly after relaying this story, Deb got a slight sensation of something or someone touching her. Again Deb stated that she was getting a cold, tickling sensation going down her arms and up into her neck, almost like the hair on her arms and neck were standing up. Tim then asked William if he could do the same thing to Jane to prove to her he was around.
Tim continued to try to get William to show himself in any manner he was capable of. Suddenly all of the investigators heard a shuffling sound coming from the stairway area. Immediately after this incident, Tim commented on how it seemed to be getting cooler in the general area the investigators were. Both Jane and Deb admitted if felt cooler to them also. The investigators again attempted calling and Tim asked if someone moved directly in front of him, because for a brief moment, what little light was filtering down the stairway got blocked out. Deb stated she did rock slightly forward and but did not move from her position by the shelves.
The investigators then moved up towards the dish room for a short vigil. Tim shut off the motion detector placed in front of the door to alarm if the door opened and Jane, Deb and him entered the room. The investigators tried calling once they got into the room to try and gain a response from the entity believed to remain in the room. Tim asked if he was the one opening the door whenever Bill closed it. He asked if the entity wanted to leave the area, and if it did, they could help with that. The investigators continued to try to gain any form of response from any entity in the room, but were not able to. Deb stated that she felt like someone was messing with her hair again, or gently tugging on a single strand. Shortly after this statement by Deb, the investigators went back up to the dining room to begin breaking down the equipment and depart. Steve, Tim and Cassie then went outside the building to cool off a bit and to walk the perimeter of the building to get a better idea of the location itself. While outside Steve admitted that while he was in the basement area the hair on the back of his neck stood up also. While outside Tim was relaying where he last was, in the dish room. Cassie stated that she could feel “something” as soon as she entered the room during the walk through but did not say anything at first.
The investigators walked around the corner of the building and a short distance down the alley looking over the building and sub station located behind the restaurant. After about 10 minutes they returned to the dining area and helped packing up. The two teams departed the site about 0430.
Occurrences or Experiences:
- Numerous EVP’s were collected to include two, which substantiated client’s claims of recent activity.
- Orb activity was recorded on IR cameras
- Several investigators had personal experiences to include…
- The sensation of being touched
- A piece of equipment being pulled out from beneath an investigators arm
- Pain in the head, behind the eyes of investigators in certain locations
- Chest tightness within a certain location
- An object, bucket, was found to have “moved” into the walking path of an investigator when departing a room. Upon entry the bucket was located off to the side of the walking path
Conclusion...
This investigation was requested by the owners of the establishment due to an escalation and variance in the type of activity they and other employees had been experiencing at the restaurant. While no one felt threatened by this increase in activity, the owners were still concerned.
HPT opted to enlist the assistance of another reputable team to take the lead in this investigation due to HPT’s familiarity with the location and entities believed to remain there. Moondance Paranormal out of Stacy MN agreed to assist with the investigation. A mutual date and time was agreed on between the business, HPT and Moondance Paranormal.
The teams used equipment ranging from digital and tape recorders, digital cameras, IR thermometers, DVR and IR cameras and their own abilities during the course of the investigation. Upon review of some of the audio recorders EVP’s containing what sounded like a woman singing were discovered which coincided with claims by the owners that they had heard similar music/singing. Also there was another incident, which appeared to replicate another incident that was reported by the location, whereby a bucket that was not directly in an investigators path appeared to relocate directly into their path when they began to depart the room they were in. While the original incident occurred by the ice machine in the basement and this one occurred in the boiler room, the incidents were similar enough in nature to warrant notation and possible substantiation of the previous claim.
While a few investigators did have what they considered personal experiences, they were of a nature previously experienced by others during the course of an investigation with no new experiences being reported.
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*We are now adding the name of the team member who carried the device that picked up the EVP*
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