Contemplating the World Beyond

When you hear the word "poltergeist" you probably think of the 1982 Steven Spielberg film.  While much of this movie is just Hollywood dramatization and special effects, the basic premise is not far off.  There have been numerous eyewitness accounts of poltergeist activity in homes built on what was reportedly sacred Native American land.  In those cases, spirits attached to the land became somehow disrupted by unwanted human behavior and lashed out at the uninvited guests.  However, not all poltergeists are vengeful Native American spirits, so this begs the question: what exactly is a poltergeist? According to Google, a poltergeist is "a ghost or other supernatural being supposedly responsible for physical disturbances such as loud noises and objects thrown around."  The word itself is German for "noisy ghost" or "loud spirit."  So this suggests a poltergeist is basically just a ghost with a grudge, or a spirit that can produce a great dea...

Pee Dee Region Paranormal Group's investigation of St. Albans Sanatorium began as soon as the dark settled in on Friday evening, May 4, 2018.  None of us knew what to expect, but we were excited to get started and see what the place had in store for us. We commenced investigating down in the boiler room, where the man who liked to smoke, listen to Johnny Cash and get touchy-feely with women was said to reside.  As I mentioned in my last entry, a collection of cigarettes laid atop the boiler as peace offerings from previous visitors (I did not happen to notice if the smokers in our group contributed to this).   So, like in most PDRPG investigations, we started with an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) session using the Rob Box to get things going.  For those unfamiliar, the Rob Box is a bluetooth speaker modified by our co-founder Rob Humphries and connected to a special mobile app, which generates a series of recorded voices played backwards. ...

It has been just over a year since my last post, and now seems like a better time than any to start blogging again, as I just completed a two-night investigation of an infamous former sanatorium. A lot has happened in the past year, most notably that I joined a local paranormal research team called Pee Dee Region Paranormal Group.  Along with getting to investigate purportedly haunted locations with proper equipment, I have also been tasked with building and maintaining the group's website .  Overall it has been an amazing opportunity filled with incredible experiences, and I've met lots of great people along the way.  But all of this was just in preparation for what awaited us at St. Albans Sanatorium. St. Albans is a large, looming complex at the top of a hill in Radford, Virginia, overlooking the New River.  It is a maze of old, decrepit buildings connected by additions and other changes throughout its 126-year history.  The facility began as a L...