WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE

Maxx and I (Gene the lousy speller) paid The Winchester Mystery House In San Jose California a Visit a few months back. We did a podcast on this mysterious and wonderful Gothic Victorian Mansion built by Sarah Pardee Winchester, heiress to the fortune of the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. It is believed that a curse was placed on Sarah Winchester by those killed by Winchester repeating rifles. Sarah was adviced by a psychic medium to move west and build a house. As long as the building continued, the vengeful spirits would be thwarted and Sarah would live. 

Construction began in 1884 and didn't stop for 38 years until Sarah passed away.

 

IS IT HAUNTED?

MY answer is yes! It is haunted, but given the amount of foot traiffic that travels through out this California national landmark on a daily basis it is rather tough capturing ghostly phenomina. Maxx and I had our last flash light excursion some months ago and it was a ghost hunting disaster. Flashlight beams polluted every nook and crannie, a drunk couple stumbled and staggered and giggled their way through the tour preventing any chance for a civilized and determined straggle from yours truly. 

You might be asking yourself, "Well Gene, if this place is lousy for ghost hunting then why do you claim it to be haunted?" Well, good question. You see back in October of 2004, a time of immense solar activity I managed to take a private flashlight tour without all the drunken shinanigans and I captured some rather profound EVP and some fantastic ORB shots but I don't care to much for ORB shots anymore so never mind those. Anyway check out these EVP's and tell me what you think. 

 First allow me to explain my setup and what you are about to hear. I had on my person, attached to the backpack I was properly wearing and facing away from our group of 15 or so people a digitial audio recorder with fairly terrible fidelity. This thing can't pick up much other then noise unless your practically kissing the microphone as you speak into it. So I must rule out, given the ambiance of my surrounding and the distinct imprinted voiced captured on this recorder that they are non other then paranormal.

 

This was captured immediatly upon entering the first room of the tour.

 

I remember this one distictly, I stopped and stooped down to pull something out of my bag and I sat my flashlight down on the ground. You can hear what sounds like an old mans voice say "flashlight" followed by some gibberish that I couldn't make out

 

This was an intersting EVP captured somewhere in the house.

 

This is what I originally thought was some weird music, but after some tweaking I managed to pull out a voice, I have no idea what is being said here but I thought it would be worth while pointing out how dynamic EVP can be. 

 

Also, you can take this with a grain of salt but Sylvia Brown paid the WMH a visit back in 2000, she claimed to have seen a couple of what looked like servents angerly staring her down, as though they did not want them there. Plenty of unexplained cold spots and flashing lights (no pun intended here) coming from knowhere.

Here are some intersting tidbits related to the Winchester Mystery House taken from the WMH website:

 

Number of rooms: 160

Cost: $5,500,000

Date of Construction: 1884 - September 5, 1922 (38 continuous years!)

Number of stories: Prior to 1906 Earthquake - 7; presently 4

Number of acres: Originally 161.919; presently 4

Number of basements: 2

Heating: Steam, forced air, fireplaces

Number of windows: Frames 1,257; panes approx. 10,000

Number of doors: Doorways 467, doors approx. 950 not including cabinet doors.

Number of fireplaces: 47 (gas, wood, or coal burning)

Number of chimneys: Presently 17 with evidence of 2 others

Number of cars at her death: 2 (a 1917 Pierce Arrow Limousine & a 1916 4 cyl. Buick truck)

Number of bedrooms: Approx. 40

Number of kitchens: 5 or 6

Number of staircases: 40, total of stair steps - 367

Number of skylights: Approx. 52

Number of gallons of paint required to paint entire home: Over 20,000

Number of ballrooms: 2 (one nearly complete, and one under construction)

Blueprints available: No, Mrs. Winchester never had a master set of blueprints, but did sketch out individual rooms on paper and even tablecloths!

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 9th Annual Bay area UFO EXPO

 

 

Check out podcast #5 when you get a chance. This was a great paranormal excursion that Maxx and I did. Got to meet George Noorey from CoasttoCoastam amongst many many other people.

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 2007 Remote Viewing Conference

Into Remote Viewing? I will be heading out to the IRVA annual Remote Viewing Conference in Las Vegas Next Month.

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Eureeka Springs Arkansas

Maxx and Lisa will be paying the very Haunted 

Eureka Springs area a visit next month.

 

In the Mid 1800's settlers in this northwestern area of Arkansas found many natural springs that came right from the rocks. They claimed the water miraculously healed many ailments.

Legend says earlier native americans used these springs for the same purposes.

When word of the "healing" springs spread, thousands of people flocked to the area almost overnight. Before long the population surged to over 10,000 and developers saw an opportunity and decided to build the most Luxurious resort in the country at that time.

Eureka Springs and The Crescent Hotel quickly became the hot spot for wealthy upper class people to come enjoy the healing springs and bath in the water that cures all.

 

After the turn of the century, either the springs lost their miraculous properties or people lost faith in the healing springs and people started to move away.

The once luxurious hotel had to close its doors and soon become a young women's college.

For 16 years it remained a girls school then it was again abandoned.

 

In 1937 a man named Norman Baker bought the place to open a cancer hospital and health resort. He claimed anyone who came would leave "cancer free".

Although he made millions from his elixirs, he was a complete fraud with no medical training at all. He had already been convicted of practicing without a license in another state.

 

In 1939 he was again arrested for fraud and had to spend some time in prison.

 

After this, the building passed through several hands and even suffered a devastating fire.

 

In 1997 it was purchased by some people determined to restore it to its original grandeur.

The rest is history!

 

Reported Hauntings:

 

A stone mason named Michael fell to his death during contruction where room 218 now sits.

People report seeing the red haired Irish mason. He is said to turn lights off and on, play with the television and pound on the walls.

I have stayed in this room before but unfortunately, Michael was absent that night.

 

The ghostly apparition of a nurse is sometimes seen pushing a gurney up and down the halls on the 3rd and 4th floor, some who do not see her, claim to hear the gurney roll by.

 

Others have reported seeing Dr. Baker himself wondering around the basement looking confused. Could this be the figure the ghost hunters captured on their thermal imager?

 

A man in a suit is often spotted in the lobby, he is said to simply vanish.

 

There are many more strange occurances taking place in this hotel and all around the town, in fact my mother lived there as a child, in a very haunted house. We returned to the house 40 years after she left to inquire whether the ghostly residents still resided there, and the new residents confirmed the place is still being visited.

 

The entire town has a very eerie feel, many homes are Victorian and look like gingerbread houses. Defiantely a great place to go even if your not looking for ghosts.

 

 

 

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SEDONA ARIZONA

 

So far I (Maxx) have only driven through Sedona, and I have to say it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. The landscape is amazing and words can not do it justice.

There are some claims that Sedona is an energy power source and there are vortexes located all around Sedona, I'm not sure what my beliefs are concerning this but soon, I will go and find out.

 

Here is some info on these vortexes:

 

 There are several energy centers, or vortexes of subtle energy, located in the Sedona area. (In Sedona, the energy centers are referred to as vortexes rather than vortices.) The energy from these vortexes saturates the whole area in and around Sedona, and can be noticed in a subtle but general way anywhere around town. If you actually go to one of the vortex sites, which is where the energy is strongest, it can be a very uplifting experience. The energy you take in at one of these energy centers can stay with you and affect you positively for days afterwards.

In addition to being a beautiful and serene place, Sedona has long been known as a spiritual power center. This is because the power that emanates from the vortexes produces some of the most remarkable energy on the planet. This energy is the reason Sedona is full of people that are "on the path", that is, people who have made a commitment to grow and become as much as they can spiritually. It is also the reason that such a large New Age community has sprung up in the Sedona area, bringing with it a variety of spiritual practices and alternative healing modalities, and it is the reason Sedona has sometimes been called a spiritual Disneyland.

 

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TOMBSTONE ARIZONA

 

Ah, yes...The Town Too Tough To Die !!

Tombstone is well known for the famous shootout at the OK Coral that involved Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, and the Clanton Gang. There are many more stories of shootouts and wild times that surround Tombstone than just the OK Coral. There are said to be haunting around every corner, and why not, people were shot on every corner.

 

The Birdcage theatre was a wild place where gamblers and Cowboys traveled long distances to party a few nights there, the place still shows the bulletholes in the walls from these wild and rowdy times. 

Music can still be heard playing there, voices of past patrons are heard as if they are still there enjoying the dancing, drinking, and girls that danced in the "cages" upstairs.

 

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WAVERLY HILLS SANITARIUM WITH THE NIGHTWATCHERS

 

 In May 2008, we will be flying to Kentucky to meet up with the Nightwatchers and investigate Waverly Hills Sanitorium.

 

Im sure most of you know all about it, but over 63,000 people died here from TB in the early 1900's. If that isnt the recipe for a good haunt, I dont know what is.

All sorts of paranormal activity is reported here, I mostly hear stories of footsteps, shadowpeople, and disembodied Voices, I hope we capture something good here, its the mecca for all ghosthunters and is supposed to be very active. 

 

 

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