Wow... Where do I even begin? The Creatures of the Night... A name that means so much more to us now then it did 10 years ago. 10 years ago all it really meant was a name attached to a really weird photograph that was caught in a graveyard after having a couple of unexplained occurrences... We decided then, that this was an image that EVERYONE needed to see, not just the two of us. The Creatures of the Night became the term that meant discovery and proof of the things that many others would only discuss in hushed tones. 10 years ago, believing in the paranormal wasn't really the kind of things that even the closest of families would talk about with open minds. 10 years ago Wendy and I had just realized that the two of us, even after having been friends for years before this moment in 2010, had just realized that we were destined to be on the same path. And it all happened by shear coincidence...
Ok, so it sounds like I'm about to tell you something epic. I am not. In fact when we both realized that we shared the same interest in the paranormal, it was because Wendy had Ghost Adventures on her TV. I was over at her house with a large group of other people because Wendy was having a New Years Eve party, and like I said earlier, I knew Wendy for years prior to this. Mutual friends of ours were there as well as our families, and it was just like any other get together... Accept Wendy and I decided to visit a local cemetery once the party had pretty much died down. She had a Sony hand held camera with night vision, and I don't think I had any equipment with me on the night we made it to one of our little towns most legendary cemetery's.
We were pretty much flying by the seat of our pants too and like I said moments ago, nothing epic happened that night. Well nothing epic in the paranormal sense , anyways. What did happen 10 years ago is that we both realized that the paranormal was something that the both of us wanted to know more about. And we went after it. Unlike all the other mothers in the area with their book clubs or side businesses keeping them up late at night, Wendy and I were out skulking through the dark cemeteries and wooded areas around town investigating claims of haunts or other local legends. These areas quickly became our training grounds, so to speak.
When the first big adventure to explore ghosts in other areas of the US presented itself to us, we jumped in head-first! Wendy found an amazing location, just a short 8 hour drive away. The Watseka Wonder House in Watseka Il. Look this is a location that is no longer available to explore. The owner remodeled the house and now lives in it, but this is a legendary location that is all but unknown otherwise. This place has a huge historical foundation in paranormal happenings and for our first time out exploring locations with a haunting background, this was such an amazing first for us. I'm not going to tell you the whole story, but I HIGHLY recommend looking up Watseka Wonder online because its a story that everyone should know.
From the amazing Watseka Wonder house we found ourselves exploring the Waverly Hills Sanitarium which is a very large and very foreboding building with a lot of very long dark hallways. But we were ready and again found ourselves questioning the things we encountered. Whispered voices, strange pictures, other noises that didn't make sense. Answers to pendulum questions and breathy EVP's... Every place we were exploring now gave us more questions then answers and the two of us spent a lot of late nights discussing our thoughts, beliefs and our plans for more locations.
At this point we were hooked. Every rush of unexplained cold air. Every time we had a strange feeling or heard voices coming from no living person. Exploring new paranormal locations became our purpose, and we couldn't wait to visit the next one. In this case the next one was the James Eldred house. Another 8 hour drive there and back. Oh, did I forget to mention that? At this point we were still running straight off of adrenaline. We would drive there, investigate thru the night and as the sun just barely began peaking up over the horizon, we'd pack up and head home. And the James Eldred house did everything possible to try and run us into the ground. The spirits there were highly active and seemed to be visual for me and sensory for Wendy. We both had completely different experiences at this location, but both were completely unlike any experiences we'd had, thus far...
Then we decided to sleep in a haunted location. How'd that turn out you might ask, well I think we both slept about 30 minutes that night. Maybe? This was at a location that was only 2 hours away though. We could have gone home that night. Why didn't we? We stayed for the full experience. This was the Magnolia Manor Bed and Breakfast, and it was another location that proved itself to us in a big way. We saw shadows that would clearly indicate people moving around only to discover that the whole floor was empty. We caught a tremendous amount of disembodied voices, one was even heard coming out of the audio recorder while it was still recording. Not to mention that while inside our haunted cabin, Wendy and I felt compelled to barricade ourselves in the bedroom because of the footsteps we were hearing just outside of the door. This is another historical location that was both beautiful and full of paranormal activity that is now also no longer available for paranormal investigations.
After our visit to Magnolia Manor we didn't visit another paranormal location for several months. But when we did, it was none other then Ashmore Estates. After having been on Ghost Adventures this was a location that was been on every paranormal explorers radar. And finally after making it to the location ourselves, it was every bit of spooky as it appears on their show or on-line. Again another location filled to the brim with EVP's and strange occurrences. We witnessed a shadow moving across the hallway directly in front of us and block out sections of green lights from our laser grid. This was something quite impressive and again something new for both of us.
Shortly afterwards we drove to Ohio for a totally bizarre investigation. The whole night we were made to feel like we were a nuisance for notifying the others when we heard other voices or even saw or felt something odd... Strangely by the end of the night, after what had seemed to have been a build up of some type of energy, one of the most amazing things happened to both of us at the same time. I witnessed a dark shadow figure in the stairwell coming up the stairs the same time Wendy felt as if she was being forced towards me as if to pull me away from whatever it was I was seeing. She had no idea of what I had seen, yet she was overcome with this intense feeling and we were both left questioning everything. Leaving this investigation we stopped by briefly at the world famous Bobby Mackey's. We couldn't investigate the inside of the building though we captured EVP's around the outside of the haunted building.
These are all adventures that took place within the first two years of us realizing that this was a journey that both of us were meant to take. The things we saw, felt and experienced had all been very life changing. Leaving Sedamsville in Ohio and our quick visit to Bobby Mackey's actually landed me in the hospital having an emergency appendectomy. I was left questioning if that was due to the things I experienced at Sedamsville, the shadow figure in the stairs or some of the other things we attempted to alert the group to, or if by chance it was due to the fact that I had taken home a small trinket from Bobby Mackey's Music world. A place said to contain a portal to hell.. The further we explored the paranormal, the more I felt that we were becoming beacons to the spirits. It was as if they noticed that we were out looking for them and I didn't realize then how scary that thought could actually be.
Well "scary" ok... But we're still actively searching for answers to the unknown. After all of the experiences we've had I can say that we are a lot less naive about it. We understand how important it is to be respectful, and how necessary it is to prepare ourselves and gear with cleansing rituals and techniques that will prevent ghostly attachments which can occur. Though I don't know why any spirit would want to follow me home, however something has at least tagged along for a short ride. Before I end my story on our immersion into exploring the paranormal, I feel that I should leave you with this one story.
During one of our late night graveyard hunts, we had to rush out due to the discovery that we were not alone in the cemetery that night. Meaning there were other people nearby making noises and basically contaminating our mini-investigation. We packed up and quickly left. So quickly in fact that most of my gear ended up being left on while in the back seat, and as we headed down the long dark road out of the cemetery my EMF meter began beeping loudly. It continued to beep until we made it out completely and were on our way to the interstate. When I went back and listened to the audio we recorded that night, I was surprised to find a voice that was captured while the devise was in my back seat. It was a low whisper but loud enough to let me know that something was there. The voice said "You didn't get far."
The voice was right, we didn't get far. In fact the moment we stepped out into the cemetery that night I wanted to get back into the car. I had been determined since I heard that voice on my recorder that there was so more still so much more to find out. So much more left to learn. And yet coming back to Wendy's New Years Eve party that happened just 2 years prior, this life altering quest of ours might have never happened. All of these adventures and the ones that followed are all now very tied to me emotionally. Happy 10 years anniversary Wendy and Creatures of the Night! I expect to be swept away on many other life altering events as we delve even further into exploring the paranormal...
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