Foot Prints in Your Mind - IS18

Volume 2, ISSUE 18
BOB
BOBSCHMALZBACH’S
SCHMALZBACH S
August 2010
Foot Prints in
Your M I N D !
FEATURE WEBSITE OF THE MONTH!
A BRAND NEW CONCEPT IN WEB SITES!

This is the only site where you control the contents. We want you
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pictures, your stories, your poetry, your music... all for FREE!
We want YOU to be able to use our free online magazine as a

vehicle to advertise your talent in front of as many people as
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The concept is really quite simple, the more contributions of
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The mission of FOOT PRINTS IN YOUR MIND is to do for

artists of all types, what the television show AMERICA’S GOT
TALENT does for physical entertainers! CHECK IT OUT !
http://www.footprintsinyourmind.com
FOOT PRINTS IN YOUR MIND AUGUST 2010 ISSUE 18
TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
Horoscope 3
Wild and Edible Plants 4
Artist’s Corner 5
Possible Bigfoot References in the Bible 7-12
Todd Baily 13
Northern New York Encounters 14-18
Protagonists of the Paranormal 19-22
Kris Allen 22
Phil Jenson 23
The Haunted 25-35
Cheryce 35
Listen on line
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Portions of this magazine are reprinted and sometimes edited to fit the standards of this
magazine under the Fair Use Doctrine of International Copyright Law
as educational material without benefit of financial gain.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
This proviso is applicable throughout the entire Foot Prints in Your Mind Magazine
2
AUGUST 2010 / HOROSCOPE There is more in Heaven and

Horoscopes Provided By : Astrology Online
earth than man will ever know!
ARIES Renovations or purchases made for home will payoff. A little rest will do
wonders. Your ability to be a self starter will help get things done and motivate others. Your
efforts won't go unnoticed; however, someone you work with may get jealous. your
TAURUS Someone around you may not be trustworthy. Focus on forming business
partnerships. Stand up and propose your ideas, and you'll be surprised how many people will follow
you. Don't push your mate if you want to keep this union going.
GEMINI Your dedication and fortitude when dealing with humanitarian groups will
enhance your reputation. Don't make mountains out of molehills if you want to avoid conflict. Don't
expect new acquaintances to be completely honest about themselves. Make changes around your
house and plan to do some entertaining.
CANCER All your energy should be directed into moneymaking opportunities. Try to
enlist the help of those you trust in order to fulfill the demands being made of you. You will find
that you are able to clear up a number of small but important details. You're in the mood to spend
time with your lover.
LEO A trip to visit relatives should be rewarding. Don't be too quick to respond to a
plea for help. Rely on the one you love for support and affection. You will find their philosophies
worth exploring.
VIRGO Romantic opportunities will develop through friends or relatives. Avoid letting
children and friends borrow. You'll find travel or involvement in large groups gratifying. Your mate
will enjoy helping out.
LIBRA If you're uncertain of your feelings, keep your opinions to yourself. You could
have a change of heart if an old flame waltzes back into your life. Unexpected bills may set you
back. This is a great day to mingle with people you would like to impress.
SCORPIO Do your own thing without drawing attention to it. Expand your knowledge and
sign up for courses and seminars. You might not be as reserved on an emotional level as you'd like.
You'll have great insight.
SAGITTARIUS Don't let your emotional upset interfere with your professional objectives.
Limitations with females could lead to unfortunate circumstances. You will find that friends or
relatives may not understand your needs. Don't overspend on luxury items.
CAPRICORN Don't hesitate to sign up for creative courses or physical fitness programs.
Travel will be fun and entertaining. Avoid any over indulgences. Your contributions will be valued and
helpful.
AQUARIUS Don't overreact if your partner has a poor attitude. Control your temper by
getting immersed in your work. Partnerships will be successful. You will need to do a lot of research
if you wish to get to the bottom of things.
Your luckiest events this month will occur on a Sunday.
PISCES You can expect to face opposition on the home front. Pleasure trips will bring
you into contact with new and interesting people. You may be uncertain about some of your
coworkers and your boss. You'll find it easy to talk about your feeling this month. Don't hesitate to
find out what your mate's intentions are.
3
WILD EDIBLE PLATS

When picking edible plants it is crucial that you can properly identify them, because many
are similar in appearance to poisonous plants. The optimum time to ensure proper
identification is when the plants are flowering, since most have a unique appearance of
flowers or fruits. If in doubt observe the plant through the growing season, if it is possible.
If not possible, do not eat the plant!
Arnica
Arnica spp.
Description: Arnicas are perennial herbs growing
from a rootstock 2 - 5 cm long. They have erect
stems and stand 15 - 60 cm tall. The leaves are
opposite, simple, entire or toothed. The composite
flower head is yellow and flowering is from July - August.
Distribution & Habitat: It can be found in mountainous regions throughout the
Rocky Mountains. There are many species with similar properties.
Preparation & Uses: Arnica is well known as a stimulant. This herb is almost
always used in the form of a tincture. It is one of the best painkillers to use
for sprains, fractures, and bruising. It is effective as an external liniment and
is extremely fast acting.. It should not be used if the skin is broken and the
area is bleeding as it is toxic if it enters the bloodstream.
This herb should not be used internally, except under special conditions,
because it can cause, among other effects, blistering of the intestinal tract.
Bearberry or kinnikinnick
Arctostaphylos uvaursi
Description: This plant is a common evergreen shrub
with reddish, scaly bark and thick, leathery leaves 4
centimeters long and 1 centimeter wide. It has white
flowers and bright red fruits.
Habitat and Distribution: This plant is found in
arctic, subarctic, and temperate regions, most often in sandy or rocky soil.
Edible Parts: Its berries are edible raw or cooked. You can make a refreshing
tea from its young leaves.
4
A RTI S T ’ S C O R NE R
THIS MONTH FEATURES B E C K Y S AW Y E R
The moon shown brightly on her face
While the darkness of the night embraced her.
The sounds of the water rushing down stream

and the strong smell of pine permeating the air.
Animals scatter with the rustling of the underbrush

Screams in the night alert her that she is not alone.Becky is not just a
Native American
Adrenalin surging through her veins Poet, she is also an
should she stay there or run...being scared was not an a c c o m p l i s h e d
option. tracker and Big-
foot Researcher.
She's had her dreams, She has been on
Her hearts fulfilled, Places she's been expedition with the
and the stories that she now has. Searching for Big-
foot team, along
Wonder as you all may, with other groups ,
She will always be there...Deep in the shadows in the many times.
darkest of the night.
She is even seen in
You are the one that is still searching, my book Mon-
And she is the "One" sters Myths and
not found. Me!
D O Y O U H AV E A FAV O R I T E P H O T O , P O E M , O R D R AW I N G T H AT
Y O U W O U L D L I K E T O S H A R E ? I F Y O U D O , S E N D I T T O M E AT ;
J AVA B O B @ I N B O X . C O M I N T H E F O R M O F A J P E G O R W O R D F I L E .
I F I T I S A S G O O D A S Y O U T H I N K … I T J U S T M AY G E T P O S T E D
HERE! SEND IT TO:
JAVABOB@INBOX.COM
5
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permanent foundation, featuring 2 bedroom, 2 baths approx. 1,100sq-ft.
Enjoy amble light in the kitchen with the built in skylight. Dining area has a slider
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Outbuidings include elevated storage makeing a great cover for RV parking with full
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Front of Main home Kitchen and dining Fruit trees in back yard Front yards
Second home Kitchen area Living room
In beautiful Happy Camp. California

While Happy Camp cannot offer crowds, streetlights, long
waiting lines, or a large populace, its setting among
magnificent natural resources and the unhurried pace of life are
just compensation for those who choose to live here. Here the
air is sweeter; a unique microclimate allows residents to grow
more varieties of plants than can be found most anywhere else;
the natural beauty and serenity of the area are unmatched in the
hurried pace of life that rushes past across the mountains in
every direction, leaving this community to provide a unique opportunity to raise a family, live
out your "golden years," or have a unique vacation in "God's country," almost untouched by
the rest of the world.
6
Possible “Bigfoot” Bible References:

A question posed by; Bob Schmalzbach
Many of us have heard about the reference to the “Giants” in Genesis in the King James
Version, (KJV), of the Bible. The following are some interesting comparisons from
several different Bible translations of references that might be construed to be about
the modern phenomena we commonly refer to as “Bigfoot”
Genesis 6:1-4 (KJV)

1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and
daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took
them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is
flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of
God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same
became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Let’s compare that to some other common translations and see if the consciences of
translations give us a clearer meaning.
Genesis 6:1-4 (Authorized Standard Version)

1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and
daughters were born unto them,
2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took
them wives of all that they chose.
3 And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for that he also is
flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.
4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of
God came unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were
the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.
Genesis 6:1-4 (Youngs Literal Translation)

1 And it cometh to pass that mankind have begun to multiply on the face of the ground,
and daughters have been born to them,
2 and sons of God see the daughters of men that they are fair, and they take to
themselves women of all whom they have chosen.
3 And Jehovah saith, `My Spirit doth not strive in man--to the age; in their erring
(Continued on page 8)
7
(Continued from page 7)
they are flesh:' and his days have been an hundred and twenty years.
4 The fallen ones were in the earth in those days, and even afterwards when sons of
God come in unto daughters of men, and they have borne to them--they are the
heroes, who, from of old, are the men of name.
Genesis 6:1-4 (New Century Version)

1 The number of people on earth began to grow, and daughters were born to them.
2 When the sons of God saw that these girls were beautiful, they married any of them
they chose.
3 The Lord said, "My Spirit will not remain in human beings forever, because they are
flesh. They will live only 120 years."
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also later. That was when the sons
of God had sexual relations with the daughters of human beings. These women gave
birth to children, who became famous and were the mighty warriors of long ago.
Genesis 6:1-4 (The Living Bible)

1 Now a population explosion took place upon the earth. It was at this time that beings
from the spirit world looked upon the beautiful earth women and took any they desired
to be their wives.
2 The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives.
3 Then Jehovah said, "My Spirit must not forever be disgraced in man, wholly evil as he
is. I will give him 120 years to mend his ways."
4 In those days, and even afterwards, when the evil beings from the spirit world were
sexually involved with human women, their children became giants, of whom so many
legends are told.
The possible connection to Esau
Could there be any possible connection between the biblical giants and “Bigfoot”? And if
so, what might it be? Some say yes. They often refer to the story in Genesis
concerning Esau to support their theories:
Genesis 25:25 (KJV)
25 And the first came out red, all over like a hairy garment; and they called his name
Esau.
Genesis 27:11 (KJV)
11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and
I am a smooth man:
8
As the story progresses, Esau moved into the land of the giants, Seir, where he made
his home:
Deuteronomy 2:10-12 (TLB)

10 "(The Emim used to live in that area, a very large tribe, tall as the giants of
Anakim;
11 both the Emim and the Anakim are often referred to as the Rephaim, but the
Moabites call them Emim.
12 In earlier days the Horites lived in Seir, but they were driven out and displaced by
the *Edomites, the descendants of Esau, just as Israel would displace the peoples of
Canaan, whose land had been assigned to Israel by the Lord.
(*Note that Esau is sometimes later referred to as Edom)
If this is all true, then what would happen if a “hairy man” mingles his genes with
“giants”? Is it possible that their descendents would be large hairy men? And, what
about Cain, of Cain and Able?
Genesis 4:5-17 (KJV)

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the
field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not:
Am I my brother's keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me
from the ground.
11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive
thy brother's blood from thy hand;
12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a
fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy
face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall
9
come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be
taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should
kill him.
16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on
the east of Eden.
17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city,
and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
Now there are many who believe that both Cain and Esau are children of Satan or the
Devil. Could it be that their descendants are living among us as “Bigfoot”, or as some
also believe the Illuminati? The speculation is tantalizing, but requires someone with
much more in depth biblical knowledge than I have. It is just enough to invoke even
more questions than I, personally, had before I started looking.
The Mormons take on this subject too:

Taken from The Miracle of Forgiveness written by LDS Church Apostle and later
President Spencer W. Kimball
The Murderer
John wrote that "no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." The murderer denies
himself salvation in the celestial kingdom, and in this sense he cannot be forgiven for his
crime.
The instance of the first murder is instructive. Though thoroughly taught the gospel by
his parents, Cain "loved Satan more than God." He became rebellious, "carnal, sensual,
and devilish." Cain was to become the father of Satan's lies and to be called perdition.
His culminating sin was the murder of his brother Abel, which he did by secret covenant
with Satan and to gain Abel's possessions. As a punishment the Lord consigned the
wicked Cain to be a fugitive and a vagabond and placed a mark upon him which would
reveal his identity.
On the sad character Cain, an interesting story comes to us from Lycurgus A. Wilson's
book on the life of David W. Patten. From the book I quote an extract from a letter
by Abraham O. Smoot giving his recollection of David Pattern's account of meeting "a
10
very remarkable person who had represented himself as being Cain."

As I was riding along the road on my mule I suddenly noticed a very strange personage
walking beside me.... His head was about even with my shoulders as I sat in my saddle.
He wore no clothing, but was covered with hair. His skin was very dark. I asked him
where he dwelt and he replied that he had no home, that he was a wanderer in the
earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very miserable creature, that he had
earnestly sought death during his sojourn upon the earth, but that he could not die, and
his mission was to destroy the souls of men. About the time he expressed himself thus,
I rebuked him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy
Priesthood, and commanded him to go hence, and he immediately departed out of my
sight....(Lycurgus A. Wilson, Life of David W. Patten [Salt Lake City: Deseret News,
1900], p. 50., as quoted by Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness [Salt Lake
City, Bookcraft, Inc.]18th printing 1991 p.p. 127-128.)
And more, as posted on Mormon-News:
News about Mormons, Mormonism, and the LDS Church

Sent on Mormon-News: 05Dec01
By Shane Lester
Bigfoot and Mormons?
EVANSTON, WYOMING -- Clan of Cain: The Genesis of Bigfoot is a newly published book
that offers a different dimension to the Bigfoot mystery. A recently uncovered document
reveals a possible connection between the origins of the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and Bigfoot. Searching through the archives of historical church
documents the author; Shane Lester uncovered an extraordinary story that becomes the
foundation of a new theory about the origins of Bigfoot.
"I uncovered an obscure historical document that sheds new light on the Bigfoot mystery. I
used this encounter as the basis for a fictional story that links the mystical, legend of Bigfoot
to the origins of Mormonism." says author, Shane Lester.
Deep in the woods of Tennessee in 1835, an unparalleled encounter occurs. David Patten, an
early Mormon Church leader, unwittingly opens a new facet of the future mystery of
Sasquatch. His story will lend new credence to the existence of Bigfoot.
"What does Clan of Cain mean? David Patten described an encounter with a person that
represented himself as Cain, the brother of Abel found in the Holy Bible. My first chapter is a
representation of the actual dialogue that was reportedly exchanged during this encounter.
The book asserts the theory that Cain is in reality the legendary Sasquatch. The rest of the
book is a fictional extrapolation based upon the validity of that account," explains Lester.
From the legendary tale the story then propels the reader to the last remnants of
undiscovered wilderness of the Pacific Northwest where a young man takes a journey of a
11
lifetime. Spencer James joins a group of scientists in their quest to find the legendary Bigfoot
in the Pacific Northwest. Egos, deception, and conflicting agendas are brought into a
singular effort by a millionaire consumed with revenge and hate. Spencer becomes the moral
compass, standing alone in a forest of scientific amorality. Despite their technology the truth
becomes more allusive, challenging their intent and ethics, questioning the morality of their
methods and the very reason for the hunt.
Recent creditable sightings, such as the one by Psychologist Dr. Matthew Johnson on July 1
2000, have reinvigorated the interest in Sasquatch. ( http://www.sasquatchsite.com/ ). The
Skookum Cast discovered in September 22 2000 ( http://www.bfro.net/NEWS/BODYCAST/
index.html ) mentioned in the book is also an important find as we continue the search for
Bigfoot in the new millennium.
A man, a myth and the obsession to know the truth will reveal a story that will forever change
the way you think about Bigfoot.
I wish I knew more… perhaps you do and would like to share it on our new
blog page:
http://footprintsinyourmind.wordpress.com/
12
Todd Douglas Bailey

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native Todd has always had a
passion for movies. Since a young age he has been making
home movies of himself and his friends. Todd chose to
attend Mansfield University and graduated in 2003 with a
Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Communications
and immediately joined the workforce. While still in college,
Todd created Tizodd Productions as a small film production
company in which he used to produce many short films and a
feature-length film. Since then, Tizodd Productions has
evolved in doing production of weddings, music videos,
commercials, and documentaries. Todd's job at News
channel 36, WENY-TV has offered many different experiences and learning
opportunities as the chief editor and videographer for the station since he began
working there in November of 2003. Todd has had the opportunity to film, edit, and
direct for the 6pm and 11pm newscasts. He has even had some on-air opportunities. In
August of 2008 Todd was promoted to the position of creative services commercial
producer. He now creates commercials, promotions and other graphics for the station.
He has continued to keep himself busy by taking on projects of his own including
wedding and social formal events videography as well as some small feature film
projects. Todd even took on the project of editing his own wedding. Of course he
didn't film it himself! Some close talented friends of Todd's helped by filming the
wedding and reception to ensure he would have a truly special wedding video. You can
visit his website at: http://tizpro.com/
Some of Todd's recent work includes these full length feature films:
You can find out more about Todd and get contact information at:
http://www.todddouglasbailey.com/
13
Northern New York Encounter(s)

By Jason Weaver
Does anyone remember back in the '70's n early '80s, when the Bigfoot craze
was poppin' all over the country? Hoax after hoax-Ray Wallace stories,
Biscardi, etc was all that you ever heard about, and everybody thought you were
nuts for even BELIEVING? Well, this particular summer, (1980), smack dab in
the middle of all that hype, was when my family had our encounters.
I grew up in a dairy farming family. In Chaumont, NY, we had a small dairy(80

head, maybe) and we worked a farm that was my great grandparents. Well, my
dad's health got bad, so we had to sell. We ended up buying my mother's
parents place, near Sackets Harbor, NY, where we still had a small farm, but
more of a hobby farm. We had about a dozen cows, some milkers and some
heifers, and a horse or two. I also raised rabbits, guinea pigs, duck and geese.
Well first, something started harassing our cows at night in their pasture. We
would here them running and bellering all damn night, but when we'd go down to
check on them...all we'd see were spooked cattle. Now their pasture was only
fenced with a single strand of electric fence, so we figured we had a coy-dog or
something running them around, and scootin' away before we'd get there.
One July night, one of our calves just disappeared. We went out in the woods
looking for her(our pastures butted right up to a thick wooded area 4-5 miles
deep), just to find the carcass about 100 ft in, legs gone, head and neck torn
off like something twisted it off. Very scary...
Next thing to happen, a white goose of mine was found dead-it was found in a
notch of a tree, 6 ft off the ground, head and legs ripped off, and the breast
area devoured. The geese were in a pen that was partially covered on top, maybe
enough room for a hawk to fly in, but carry off a big white goose? A bobcat,
maybe? This is how my family tried to rationalize it...and it worked...til the
rabbits and guinea pigs started vanishing.
14

They were in hutches that had doors on the top of the cages. The little bolt
locks had broken off, but we kept them closed with wooden pegs. Now the one
thing that one would need to open these cages, were fingers. No four legged
animal would've been able to get those pegs out. Plus, they were on a table that
was 3 ft off the ground. My parents started thinking that maybe one of the
neighbor's kids were playing a mean joke on me. Then we started finding the
piles of fur and bones in strange places throughout the property- like on the
roof of the barn, which was approximately 11 foot high. At this point, we
weren't even thinkin' Sasquatch, cuz he's just a hoax, right? I'm thinking owl...
or hawk, or bobcat...
I had a horse, Czar, (gelded Arabian), that I had to keep separate from the
other horse and cows, 'cuz he was kind of mean. I had him in the other pasture,
tied to a long bridal(20 ft or so) and it was tied down to an old tractor tire. He
could graze in a circle, and when his grass would get scarce, we'd move him and
his water trough to another part of the pasture.
One morning, I came down to the pasture, (our house and farm were on a hill,
with the pastures below), to find him tangled up, and lying down. He had a few
cuts and abrasions from the bridal rope, but the strangest injury was his
bottom lip. It was as if something had grabbed it, and tried to rip it off. the
cartilage was stretched so badly, he couldn't close it. you could see the stretch
marks in it, the striations of blood under the skin. The vet checked him out,
gave him some antibiotics, and within a couple of wks or so, his lip did heal. But
it was very strange...
About a month or so later, we had some cows that broke through the fencing
and wandered into the woods. My brother Jake-17, (big ol' rugged farmboy-full
beard at 15!!!), 2 of his friends, 2 of mine,
and myself had to round them up.
When we found each one, 2 of us would run them back out of the woods, and up
15

to the barn.
My brother and one of his friends went deep into the woods, and were gone
about 20 mins. In the meantime, the rest of us found the last cow, and 2 guys
ran her back, and the other 2 of us waited for my brother and his bud.
All of a sudden we hear them yelling, and running. (My brother's nickname for
me was, and still is Charlie.) I hear Jake scream, "RUN CHARLIE RUN!!!!!" SO I
DID!!!!
When we got back up the hill, and to the barn, we asked them; “…what was the
trouble?” He says; "We saw big monkey people in the swamp, and one of them
chased us!!!"
Now his friends, except the one that was with him, really started to razz them
pretty hard, and they all laughed it off as a prank on Jake's part ...but he
wasn't laughing a bit.
To this day, Jake still lives on the property. He won't go in that part of the
woods anymore. To this day, he will not discuss it with just anyone, and will
barely discuss it with me!!
When I introduced him to my wife for the first time, she asked him kiddingly,
"Seen any Bigfoot lately?" He got very stoic and said; "I guess Charlie told you
about THAT, huh?" It STILL bothers him. He said that when the ONE that
charged looked at him, it was as if he could "see right through me". He said it
was NOT the eyes of an animal...
My own personal experience, happened the very next summer. My cousin Jerry,
(9 at the time) and I, (11) were picking berries down in the woods. We had a lot
of blackcaps, (blackberries), and raspberries down there, and we would have a
contest to see who could pick the most, or fill up the bowl faster, something like
that.
16
Anyway, we were picking at what we call the "The Thick Patch", it was a huge
thicket of berry bushes, and the berries were big, too!! Well, Jerry's picking
away, and suddenly, he just started crying, and saying "I wanna go home!!!". He
dropped his bowl, half full of berries, and just takes off running! Not knowing
what his problem was, and thinking he was a weird kid anyway, I seized the
opportunity, and started picking the fire out of those berries! Approximately 10
-15 mins had passed since Jerry's meltdown, when I started to feel this wave
of “anxiety”, I guess that’s what it was…, go through my body. I didn't know
what it was, but I remember that it felt odd. As I'm picking, I hear a whistle to
my right, which is in the direction that Jerry had ran. I look, but no one was
there. Still anxious, I continue to pick and eat, pick and eat... and again, another
whistle. As I reached into the thicket, still looking in the direction of the
whistle, I suddenly realize that I'm touching fur!!! As I touched it, I looked to
see what it was that I touched, and all I saw was a huge shoulder. It made a
sort of a snorting growl noise and started to move, and what I saw was taller
than I was, but it was still crouching...
That's when the "feeling" came over me. I became immediately terrified. I wet
my pants. I felt as if I was being bear hugged slowly!! I then dropped MY
bucket, and ran!!!
Now I have been blessed, and cursed with a vivid memory. I am 40 years old,
and can still remember my childhood days, as far back as the day before my 3rd
birthday. My most vivid memory, to this day, is that "accordion squeeze" I felt
that summer afternoon in 1981. I tried to tell my parents about it, but was told
to, "Stop with this Bigfoot nonsense!!"
After 30 years of trying to forget it, I finally decided back in November of

2009 to embrace my experience. I have gotten involved with the research field,
and am hoping to grab this fear by the horns, and try to heal, so to speak.
Although my encounter was far from scary, as I really wasn't threatened in any
17
way, I can still see that figure in that thicket, rocking as it squatted. I can still
feel the "squeeze", slowly shutting my body down. I can still remember losing
control of my bodily functions.
It was an amazing, terrifying experience…
If you like this artwork… see page 23

18
National Inquirers: Baylor University Sociologists

Study America's Protagonists of the Paranormal
July 8, 2010
Baylor University sociologists Dr. Carson Mencken and Dr. Christopher Bader lay
on the ground at 1 a.m., shivering in 19-degree December weather in a Texas
forest with a group of hushed men hoping to lure Bigfoot.
Then one hunter pushed a button, triggering piercing howls -- purportedly a
recording of Bigfoot sounds -- from a huge speaker mounted atop a tree.
"Animals were freaked out," Mencken said. "Things were rustling around in the
woods that probably sounded bigger than they are. There were mooing cows,
dogs barking . . . Very interesting."
Whether Bigfoot was afoot to hear the ruckus doesn't concern Carson, a
professor of sociology, and Bader, an associate professor of sociology.
They're not in search of the paranormal, but rather in quest of people who
believe in the paranormal -- and that makes for some abnormal research.
Besides tagging along with Sasquatch seekers in Sam Houston National Forest
near Conroe in 2006, the colleagues/cronies have spent the night in reputedly
haunted houses, interviewed people who say they have seen UFOs and joined
folks who visit palm readers to learn whether romance is in their future.
Mencken and Bader, along with co-researcher Dr. Joseph Baker, assistant
professor of sociology at East Tennessee State University, tell about their
findings in the book Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings,
Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture.
The 272-page book -- slated for release at Halloween -- chronicles the types of
paranormal experiences, beliefs and activities claimed by some Americans;
whether those who hold unusual beliefs are unconventional in other ways; and
how/whether those beliefs tie in with religion.
Along with conducting thousands of interviews, the trio drew from findings of
the Baylor Religion Survey -- a multi-year national random sample delving into
religious values, practices and behavior.
In a recent interview, Mencken and Bader talked about the project, which they
began in 2006.
19
Q: How did you all get interested in the paranormal and the people who
believe in it?
Bader: I've been studying them for about 20 years, since I rode around with a
guy looking for Bigfoot.
Mencken: I grew up in Charleston, S.C., and there are a bunch of stories from
there. A good friend of mine makes a living giving haunted history tours. My
parents claimed we had a haunted house. It was never really clear what you
were supposed to see and when; it was that you knew it when you saw it. That
was part of Old South culture. There are a lot of good stories but not a
systematic analysis of clean data from a reliable source. A book on statistics on
Bigfoot and UFOs would be interesting, but we felt we needed a personal touch.
We got the data and thought, "We can do this better than anybody else."
Q: How did you approach the people who believe in the paranormal?
Mencken: We were very honest with them that neither of us was believers or
had had an experience, but we were interested in their experience. The first
time, I was a little spooked. Some were there trying to convert you - but that's
not why we were there.
Bader: You're as respectful as you would be of anyone. It's one thing to laugh
on CNN, but you're not going to giggle in their faces. For us, it doesn't matter
if Bigfoot exists. That might be kind of cool, but that's not our purpose. What
we want to know is how does this affect these people's lives? Do other people
make fun? We're not Geraldo Rivera.
Q: Who are the most memorable people you've run into in your research?
Bader: There's a woman named Laura, a retired postal worker from Washington
State, who is one of those who has experienced everything. She's from another
planet, she's reincarnated from another universe, she's an astrologer, and she's
a palm reader who believes in Bigfoot. She just sees the world differently. She
saw no conflict between those things; she just sees the world as a mysterious
place. We all share a soul, and she has a memory of people sacrificing
mammoths.
Mencken: I think the Bigfoot guys were most memorable. They're normal guys,
20
but they've had an experience in the woods that caused them to seek more
information.
Q: What did you discover in your research?
Bader: One general finding is that there is no general finding. There's the idea
that people who believe in the paranormal are unconventional, that you'd know if
you saw one, that there's the guy that has the tinfoil on his head or mental
illness. But the paranormal is becoming more and more normal. We contrast
normal guys like Bigfoot hunters with Laura and people who wear flowing robes
and talk about Chakra. More and more people who seem conventional are
spending their lives exploring it. The more things they believe in, the less
conventional they are.
Q: How does religion figure into the paranormal?
Mencken: One of the most interesting things about religion is that not all
Christians feel the same about the paranormal. A friend of mine who's a Baptist
minister was very negative across the board. The people who believe literally in
the Bible don't have room for it. More conservative denominations of
congregations are less likely to believe in the paranormal; those with more
liberal backgrounds are more likely. Spiritualists are strong supporters of the
cosmic, hard-core paranormal. To atheists, it's all hooey.
Q: How do believers in the paranormal see themselves?
Bader: I think these guys we spent time with looking for Bigfoot think, "Either
Bigfoot is real or I'm crazy." It threatens their identity. They'd be quite happy
if they found it (Bigfoot). They won't be looking for giant beavers or
woodpeckers. They've got this tension in their life. You'd think Bigfoot people
would understand people who believe in UFOs. But they think, `Those UFO
people are crazy.' They don't see themselves as similar to people reading their
auras.
Q: What are your hopes for the book?
Bader: This is meant to be read by anybody. We didn't want to do something
only 30 academics would read. Go look in the back of the book, and you'll choke
on the statistics and methods. We're extremely confident about the statistical
21
analysis that's weighted. But we hide the ugly tables in the back.
Mencken: It's very user-friendly. People that believe in the paranormal can
read it and not be offended. A preacher could use it. And a hard-core atheist
would be interested.
Q: So what was the conclusion of the Bigfoot hunters after your night in
the forest?
Bader: The hunters did think Bigfoot was likely around. They found a footprint
they suspect was Bigfoot's.
The Baylor Religion Survey
Here are some results from The Baylor Religion Survey of 2006, which included
1,721 nationwide respondents.
75 percent believe alternative treatment is as effective as traditional medicine.
52 percent believe dreams can sometimes foretell the future or reveal hidden
truths.
37 percent believe places can be haunted.
28 percent believe it's possible to influence the world through the mind alone
(telekinesis).
25 percent believe some UFOs are probably spaceships from other worlds.
20 percent believe it's possible to communicate with the dead.
18 percent believe creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster will
one day be discovered by science.
13 percent believe in astrologers, palm readers, tarot cards, fortune tellers and
psychics.
Source: Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion and The Gallup Organization
22
A good friend of mine introduced me to an

artist friend of his. The man’s name is Phil
Jenson, and Phil makes special cards for special
occasions. These are truly pieces of art and
stand out as totally unique.
Phil sells his cards and has about 200 examples

to choose from. I have posted a few so you
can see how special and
unique they are.
If you are interested in

purchasing these unique
art works as gifts, just
for their artistic
content, or for resale,
contact Phil by emailing
me at:
javabob@inbox.com
Leave me a phone number and I will ask

him to contact you so you can discuss
about retail, wholesale, or quantity pricing.
Phil does not have an email address. I will
not give out his home phone number or
address on this public forum.
23
Kris Allen
Kris Allen was born and raised in the
small town of New Braunfels,Texas. For
half of his life he lived in Hernshaw,
West Virginia. His music is a captivating
mix of high energy and soulful country/
southern rock. He was inspired by
legends such as Merle Haggard and
Johnny Cash. Keith Whitley and Lynard
Skynard are the biggest influences on
his style. Currently finished with four
albums, Kris writes many of the songs
and music that he performs. He also
plays guitar for some of the tracks. His
music has received worldwide attention,
topping the charts on the world, U.S. and
Nashville charts consecutively for months on MP3.com. There are also many
radio stations, internet, FM and XM that play his music. Some of these are "The
Wave" in Oshawa, Ontario
Canada, MCWC Country Radio in
Mora, Sweden and recently Bill
Mack's "The Open Road" and the
Dave Nemo show on satellite
radio. (XM) He has developed
fans in many countries. "There
are not many artists who can get
so much energy and feeling into
songs. Kris is one of them!
Awesome talent!"
http://
You can purchase Kris's CDs at:
www.cdbaby.com/cd/krisallen
24
The Haunted
The debate about whether ghosts exist will never be settled, but
for paranormal investigator John Warfield, it's all about the
search for proof
By Lauren Wilcox
Among the residents of the tiny town of Claremont, on the James River in
Virginia, there is a long-standing tale: In the early 1900s, a little girl was killed -
- by whom, no one can say for sure -- in the basement of the square, brick
schoolhouse in the center of town. Soon after the murder, in 1919, the students
had their photograph taken on the school's front lawn. In the photo, a couple
dozen children are lined up on the grass. High above them in a second-floor
window, against the darkness of the room beyond, there is someone else -- a
small figure alone in the frame, barely more than a white smudge but definitely
readable, if one is so inclined, as a little girl.
Almost a century later, on a fall evening at dusk, John Warfield, paranormal
investigator, stood in the same second-floor room of the building. Warfield,
head of the ghost-hunting outfit D.C. Metro Area Ghost Watchers, had come to
Claremont with a couple of his team members to investigate the schoolhouse,
now the Claremont Town Hall, considered by some locals to be haunted.
Warfield strode across the empty room to the windows, his footsteps echoing in
the dimness.
"In the picture, her head came up to about here," he said, holding a hand
partway up the window frame. "Which means she was my height. Unless," he
added thoughtfully, "she wasn't touching the floor."
Ghost hunting, as Warfield approaches it, is a curious combination of procedural
rigor and leaps of faith. During a typical investigation, he will use digital
recorders and night-vision cameras to collects dozens, even hundreds of hours
of audio recordings and video, all of which he sorts through himself. For
Warfield, 41, a former Navy medic who took over DCMAG from its founder in
2006, his hobby is less about thrill seeking than an exercise in patience and
persistence. It is his meticulous approach, he thinks, that sets him apart from
less serious investigators -- "a couple of people with a camera who go stomping
25
The Haunted
around a graveyard."
The pursuit of ghosts, which has its roots in 19th-century spiritualism, has
undergone a revival in recent years. The current movement is generally
considered to have started with the 2004 debut of "Ghost Hunters," a reality
show on Syfy about two plumbers whose hobby is paranormal investigating. It
inspired a rash of similar reality shows -- "Paranormal State" and "Paranormal
Cops," both on A&E; "Ghost Lab" on the Discovery Channel; "Ghost Adventures"
on the Travel Channel; and "Celebrity Paranormal" on VH1 -- as well as dramatic
series such as CBS's "Ghost Whisperer" and "The Medium," and movies such as
the ultra-low-budget hit "Paranormal Activity." But "Ghost Hunters" did
something else: It made paranormal investigating seem less like the province of
esoteric geeks (as with the 1984 movie "Ghost Busters") than of regular Joes
with inquiring minds. In short order, regular Joes were trying it.
One of Warfield's team members, Chris Schlosser, poked his head in the door.
Like Warfield, he was wearing the team's uniform: a gray golf shirt
embroidered with their logo, and black pants. Schlosser, 28, is studying for his
master's degree in forensic toxicology at George Washington University; the
other investigator along tonight was Logan Reed, 19, a rugby player on an Army
ROTC scholarship at Maryland's Loyola University.
"Did you sense anything?" Warfield asked Schlosser, who shook his head.
"Something drew me to that room" -- Warfield gestured at a small storage
room at the back of the building's cavernous hallway -- "when we first came up.
Could be nothing," he said. "Could be something."
The investigation at the Claremont Town Hall had been arranged in part by a
friend of Warfield's, a former Navy SEAL named Greg Labenz, who had
offered his house as a base camp for the evening's activities. A few hours
earlier, Warfield had been sitting at Labenz's dining room table discussing
paranormal activity in Claremont.
"This place is mad spirits around here," said Labenz from the kitchen. Labenz
said that local hauntings included the houses around the town hall and possibly
his own property, which he said was the site of an old Native American burial
26
The Haunted
ground. At the town hall, locals had long reported unusual occurrences, like the
sound of footsteps in other rooms and someone calling their name in an empty
building. Recently, the town's vice mayor had reported hearing, in the mayor's
office, the voice of a little girl asking for candy.
Warfield, a compact, red-haired man, began outlining the plan for the evening:
First, perform a sweep of the building with electromagnetic field (EMF)
detectors, to find the sources of electricity. Spirits don't have bodies, he said,
"so they need a source of energy, like an electrical storm or the full moon." An
EMF reading might, theoretically, spike in the presence of a ghost, but it also
could spike in the presence of a refrigerator on the other side of a wall. Next,
he would set up his cameras, and the team would move from room to room with
its voice recorders, attempting to make contact. Warfield had brought what he
called trigger objects -- a tattered doll and some chocolate bars, given the
ghost's apparent fondness for sweets -- that he thought the spirit might
respond to.
Warfield, whose work as a Navy medic often involved rescuing people by
helicopter, has an unflappable, pragmatic mien that seems slightly at odds with
his fascination for the paranormal. He was optimistic about the investigation,
but his expectations were modest. He has investigated plenty of places where
he is confident he has encountered paranormal activity, but he says that "for
me, to say a place is haunted, you have to have a smoking gun, like a full-bodied
apparition," which he has never seen.
The data he relies on most are EVPs, or electronic voice phenomena, unexplained
sounds that turn up on the hours of recordings he and his investigators make,
some of which he interprets as attempts at communication from spirits. He
played us a few of the sort he hoped to collect that night, short clips in which
he had located an identifiable phrase: "hey, you," "get out of here," "whore." On
one, which Warfield said was from a "demonic investigation" (and then
corrected himself, as though the phrase sounded a little hysterical -- "They
don't use the word 'demonic' anymore; it's 'malevolent spirit' "), I could make
out something like footsteps on a wood floor, and then an electronic whooshing
27
The Haunted
noise, like an e-mail being sent. It was admittedly creepy, but on the whole, even
the clearest of the recordings sounded only like the crackling of heavy static at
the end of an LP. Warfield nodded when I said I couldn't really hear the words.
"When I first started doing this, I couldn't hear them," he said, "but then they
just started popping out."
***
Paranormal investigating is the latest incarnation of the movement called
spiritualism that began about 160 years ago in Upstate New York. Propelled by
the phenomenon of Maggie and Kate Fox, two young sisters who said that the
dead spoke to them by knocking or rapping on walls, the movement grew into a
nationwide craze. It became trendy in Victorian households to host séances,
where people reported seeing furniture levitate and spirits write messages.
Mediums traveled the country and the world supposedly facilitating
communication with the dead.
The admission from the Fox sisters, in 1888, that for 40 years they had been
cracking their toes and knee joints to produce the knocking sounds they said
were spirits, did little to derail the burgeoning spiritualist movement. Instead,
it galvanized a faction that had been growing in step with the movement: those
who sought to prove the existence of the paranormal by using scientific
methods to weed out the frauds. Many in the faction were intellectuals and
academicians, all fascinated with the paranormal, in search of hard data to
explain the unexplainable. Calling their new field parapsychology, and focusing
mainly on the role of the human mind in unexplained phenomena, these first
researchers were the predecessors of today's paranormal investigators.
Meanwhile, such phenomena were becoming stranger. During sittings, mediums
began producing a substance from their noses and mouths, supposedly material
evidence of the spirit world, which researchers called ectoplasm. The ectoplasm
occasionally assumed a human shape or contained images of people. In a 1932
photograph of the medium Mary Marshall, a giant white blob descends from her
nose; wedged in the middle, like a piece of food in a beard, is the face of avid
spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who had recently died.
28
The Haunted
Over the years, the most egregious fakers were outed, but by then
parapsychology was well established, albeit on the periphery of the mainstream
scientific community. Horror movies about hauntings and possessions have been
popular for decades, but it wasn't until recent years that the interest began to
shift from being terrorized by ghosts to actively seeking them out.
There are no globally accepted guidelines about what constitutes good
investigating. As the number of groups has grown, the scene is at risk of feeling
like the era of old-time medicine shows, with most investigators positioning
themselves as the experts and everyone else as quacks.
Nor are the parapsychology field and a related field, anomalistic psychology,
eager to associate themselves with the current craze. Chris French, head of
the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London,
and editor of the Skeptic magazine, wrote in an e-mail: "I suspect that most
serious academic researchers ... would share my view that, by and large, these
amateur groups do not really know what they're doing. ... Despite all the
trappings, it isn't science."
Sally Rhine Feather, daughter of founding parapsychologist Joseph Rhine, says
it is "the beginning of a science ... the beginning of organization. Hopefully, with
enough effort, [investigators will] set those standards."
***
Before the team left Labenz's house, Tommy Hopper, and his wife, Alice, who
live a couple of blocks from the Claremont Town Hall, stopped by. The Hoppers
had brought a copy of the 1919 schoolhouse photo and some stories of activity
in their own house: the occasional sound of something big falling off the wall in
the dining room and breaking; unexplained smells, such as flowers and tobacco;
cold hands on their necks.
"I'm not a believer in spiritual things," said Hopper, 47, a big, weather-beaten
man. "Never have been; never will be. But there are things in that house I can't
explain. You never sleep alone in that house."
It was getting close to sunset. Warfield, his curiosity piqued, had decided to
take the team through the Hoppers's house before setting up at the town hall,
29
The Haunted
and we drove over to their snug wood-frame cottage, which had been in
Hopper's family for years. Warfield and his team shined their flashlights
around the rooms as Hopper described the ghost's antics. When he and Alice,
53, were first dating, he said, they were sitting in the living room while from
the kitchen came a cacophony of "crashing plates and dishes."
"Doesn't that bother you?" he recalled Alice asking him. So he got up and went
into the kitchen. "Knock it off, you're scaring her," he said, and the crashing
stopped.
Alice, a slight woman with glasses and long brown hair, said that one night after
getting into bed, she watched an invisible pair of hands tucking the sheets
around her legs. In the dining room, candles would relight after she had left the
room. "At first, I thought I just hadn't put them out all the way, but then it
happened while I was standing there looking at them," she said glumly. "So, I
don't leave candles in that room anymore. I'm afraid they'll light when I'm
away." The couple seemed less like ghost enthusiasts with overactive
imaginations than like the beleaguered owners of a badly trained dog.
Back at the town hall, the event had begun to take on the feel of a slightly
madcap barn raising. A small knot of onlookers, attracted by the activity, had
gathered on the lawn. Warfield was greeted by Claremont's vice mayor, George
Lee Edwards, a lanky man in a green shirt whose family had lived in the area
since 1642 and who called the story of the little girl being murdered "genuine
accepted folklore" in Claremont.
"Paranormal activity is kind of an accepted thing around town," he told us. "It
happens on such a regular basis, no one pays much attention to it anymore." It
was Edwards who had heard the voice in the mayor's office, as he had helped
himself to one of the candies they kept in a bowl on the desk. "Someone
whispered in my ear, 'Can I have some?' " he said. "It was a small child's voice.
It was plain as day -- it made the hair stand up on my arms."
It took Warfield and his team almost an hour to set up, unspooling reams of
cable through the cavernous building and its labyrinthine basement for their six
infrared cameras. In the big room at the back of the building where the town
30
The Haunted
holds its city council meetings, Warfield set up a giant monitor that broadcast
the view from each camera simultaneously, each off-kilter scene awash in an
eerie luminous gray. Setting up the cameras had been the bulk of the evening's
work so far, and I wondered what types of things the team generally captured
on camera. "We've never gotten anything on camera," Logan Reed said. He and
Schlosser were munching on the candy bars Warfield had set out. "You guys are
welcome to have some of those; just leave some for my trigger object,"
Warfield said.
"Once you start your investigation, I can put this place on lockdown," Labenz
told Warfield, "so you don't have people meandering around causing a
disturbance in the force."
When the last of the onlookers had been ushered outside -- a few set up lawn
chairs in the parking lot to keep an eye on the action -- it was after 10 p.m.
Warfield turned out the lights, and we proceeded by flashlight to the upstairs
room where the supposed apparition had appeared in the photograph. We were
accompanied by the vice mayor's girlfriend, whom Warfield had allowed to join
us, although he usually limits investigations to team members. Warfield started
his recorder, warning the team to speak in regular voices rather than whisper,
lest it be confused for EVPs on the recordings.
"I'd like to start off -- my name is John," he said. "Is there anyone in this room
that would like to speak to us? It's okay, you can come out and talk to us; we're
friendly. We just want to know why you're here."
The building was pitch black and still, but so far the investigation felt about as
frightening as a slumber party. After 20 or 30 minutes of trying to contact the
spirit in various ways -- complimenting the pretty dress she was wearing in the
picture, guessing her name ("Susie?"), asking whether she needed help "finding
the light" -- with no discernible response, Warfield and the team moved down to
the mayor's office, a tiny interior room off a long hallway.
The mayor's office was too small for all of us, so the vice mayor's girlfriend and
I stood in the doorway. After more pleasantries, Warfield took a different
tack, pressing the spirit on what had happened to her. "Did you know the
31
The Haunted
janitor? Was he a nice man or a mean man?" he asked. "We definitely want your
story to be told; you just have to find a way to tell it to us. Tap on an object,
turn on a light, speak to us!" Warfield exhorted. "Why are you still here?"
There was a pause. "If you are here," said Reed, "could you knock twice, like
this?" He rapped sharply on the mayor's desk, once, twice. A few yards behind
me in the hallway, faintly but distinctly, I heard another two taps: once, twice. I
opened my mouth to say something, but, just like in the movies, nothing came
out.
***
Like virtually every other investigator I spoke with, Warfield attributes his
interest in ghosts to strange experiences he had as a child, in his family's old
house in Lansdowne, Md. "We heard hammering sounds in the basement, and
when we would get to the top of the stairs, it would stop," he told me. Once,
lying in bed, "I heard a crashing sound and the sound of glass breaking all over
the place." A neighbor told him that the home's previous owner was a carpenter
who died of a heart attack in the basement.
Warfield enlisted in the Navy at 17, went to boot camp at 18 and trained to
become a medic. He spent the next decade performing rescue missions, many by
helicopter, including, he says, pulling 17 people out of a burning 747 that had
crashed into a mountainside in Guam. He married a woman who also was in the
military, and they had a daughter, Courtney. Along the way, spurred by his
childhood memories, he read extensively on ghost hunting and the paranormal.
After surviving a helicopter crash, Warfield decided it was time to explore
other career options, and he began training to be an occupational therapist.
When he retired from the Navy after 20 years and took a job as a therapist, he
found he had enough free time to pursue ghost hunting in earnest.
Since Warfield took over DCMAG, he has assembled a team of seven volunteer
investigators from the legions of interested wannabes whose e-mails flood his in
-box. Previous experience is not a requirement, nor, necessarily, is fervor; the
ones who profess their obsession with ghosts are rarely the ones who work out,
he says.
32
The Haunted
Warfield and his crew investigate private residences for homeowners as well as
public buildings that are thought to be haunted, as a way for the team to hone
its skills. Like many investigators, Warfield does not charge for his services.
"When you start putting money into the equation, people start expecting
answers," he says; he also thinks that charging a fee would lessen the team's
credibility, as people would think it was fabricating results simply to have
something to show. Along with his team members, he has performed more than
50 investigations, including a case in a private residence in which people were
being scratched and pulled from their beds. He has heard what he considers to
be a malevolent spirit speak to him while he was on the phone -- "I heard a voice
say, 'You're going to die in 30 days' " -- and has seen the top half of a man in a
leather jacket passing through a closed door.
The issue at the core of paranormal investigation -- how to prove (or disprove)
what one perceives -- can be ticklish for investigators, who would like their
findings to be accepted by mainstream science but often pride themselves on
their openness to nonscientific methods. Warfield uses a medium in Virginia, for
example, whom he consults by phone when starting a case, and he is studying to
become a medium himself. He says that his communication with spirits, including
the quality of the EVPs he records, has improved as he has become "psychically
more open to them. I sort of describe it as a radio; you have to tune into a
certain station to listen."
The fact that research is still being done to disprove what one feels to be true
speaks, at the least, to the willingness to trust the senses: Even the most
skeptical researchers in these fields are still spending time and money to
disprove what has never really been satisfactorily proved in the first place.
For Warfield, his experiences in the field have been convincing enough. "You
realize there's another world out there; maybe there's more to life than just
life itself," he told me.
***
Some weeks after the investigation in Claremont, I visited Warfield at the
apartment he shares with Courtney, now 13 -- he and his wife split up when
33
The Haunted
Courtney was very young -- in Columbia, to take a look at the data he had
gathered from the investigation. In one of the rooms in the basement, Warfield
said, a little voice had repeatedly answered "uh-huh" when a team member
asked whether the spirit wanted candy. "It was so perfect, I started to
question it," said Warfield, who thought it might have been an owl or other
animal, and sat outside for half an hour to see whether he could hear it, to no
avail. The vice mayor's girlfriend left the investigation early, and, after she
left, the activity "sort of died down," so Warfield theorized that the little girl
might have felt close to the woman and retreated when she departed, or even
that the woman might have brought the spirit with her -- people, he said, can be
haunted too. And, he said, "there's always a way [the girl] could possibly fool
me. You've always got to think of that."
Warfield's apartment is neat and cozy and decorated, somewhat jarringly, with
a collection of "haunted art." There is a small, colorful abstract done by a man
who committed suicide, the ghost of whom Warfield says "acts up" every
December and opens Warfield's refrigerator, and a large painting of a shotgun
through which another painting, the portrait of a woman, shows faintly through,
reputedly done by a man who killed his wife.
The team had caught nothing on video, but Warfield said he had gotten some
interesting EVPs on his audio recording, and he called them up on his laptop. On
one, made in the basement, Warfield asked, "What is your purpose for being
here?" He and I strained for the response. "That was pretty clear," he said, of
the resulting static. "I think it said, 'Get out of here.' You hear it?" Now that
he had mentioned it, I could make out the shape of the words, but it was like
seeing faces in clouds. The "uh-huh"s that he and the team had heard so clearly
had shown up only faintly on the recordings, which he said was not unusual:
Sometimes the recorder caught words the team had not heard, and vice versa.
And anyway, Warfield said, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."
In the time since the investigation, I had replayed the scene in the mayor's
office a hundred times in my mind, and always, in my mind, there they were: two
taps, behind me in the hallway, the same rhythm as Reed's taps on the desktop.
34
The Haunted
Like an echo, only too delayed to be an echo. Like an answer. I was fascinated to
find, as I toggled the scene back and forth in my mind, that the moment was
like a line I had crossed: On one side, I was utterly skeptical, and on the other
side, I believed. What else could it have been? The building was empty. No one
was behind me. I knew what I had heard.
And yet, I could see, from the looks on the faces of my family and friends as I
had described it to them later, how it sounded to them. To heck with the
absence of evidence; I wanted proof. Would it be possible, I asked Warfield, to
find the place on the recording where I had heard the taps? Warfield had not
flagged that spot in the data, but he obligingly clicked through dozens of files
until suddenly there we were in the mayor's office, Warfield and Reed asking
about the janitor, their voices close in the cramped room. "If you are here,"
Reed was saying, "Could you knock twice, like this?" He rapped on the table, and
I held my breath. The static unspooled past my memory of the moment,
uninterrupted, as steady as rain. There was nothing there at all.
Lauren Wilcox is a writer living in New Jersey and a frequent contributor to the
Magazine. She can be reached at: wpmagazine@washpost.com Reprinted from
the Washington Post.
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Volume 2, ISSUE 18

A BRAND NEW CONCEPT IN WEB SITES!

We want YOU to be able to use our free online magazine as a

The mission of FOOT PRINTS IN YOUR MIND is to do for

AUGUST 2010 / HOROSCOPE There is more in Heaven and

earth than man will ever know!

WILD EDIBLE PLATS

The sounds of the water rushing down stream

Animals scatter with the rustling of the underbrush

Second home Kitchen area Living room

In beautiful Happy Camp. California

Possible “Bigfoot” Bible References:

Genesis 6:1-4 (KJV)

Genesis 6:1-4 (Authorized Standard Version)

Genesis 6:1-4 (Youngs Literal Translation)

(Continued from page 7)

Possible “Bigfoot” Bible References:

Genesis 6:1-4 (New Century Version)

Genesis 6:1-4 (The Living Bible)

The possible connection to Esau

(Continued from page 8)

Possible “Bigfoot” Bible References:

Deuteronomy 2:10-12 (TLB)

Genesis 4:5-17 (KJV)

(Continued from page 9)

Possible “Bigfoot” Bible References:

The Mormons take on this subject too:

(Continued from page 10)

Possible “Bigfoot” Bible References:

very remarkable person who had represented himself as being Cain."

News about Mormons, Mormonism, and the LDS Church

(Continued from page 11)

Possible “Bigfoot” Bible References:

Todd Douglas Bailey

Northern New York Encounter(s)

I grew up in a dairy farming family. In Chaumont, NY, we had a small dairy(80

(Continued on page 15)

(Continued from page 14)

(Continued from page 15)

Northern New York Encounter(s)

(Continued from page 16)

Northern New York Encounter(s)

After 30 years of trying to forget it, I finally decided back in November of

(Continued from page 17)

Northern New York Encounter(s)

It was an amazing, terrifying experience…

If you like this artwork… see page 23

National Inquirers: Baylor University Sociologists

(Continued from page 19)

Study America's Protagonists of the Paranormal

(Continued from page 20)

Study America's Protagonists of the Paranormal

(Continued from page 21)

Study America's Protagonists of the Paranormal

A good friend of mine introduced me to an

Phil sells his cards and has about 200 examples

If you are interested in

Leave me a phone number and I will ask

(Continued from page 25)

(Continued from page 26)

(Continued from page 27)

(Continued from page 28)

(Continued from page 29)

(Continued from page 30)