Happy Halloween from the Gang at SEFGR (SouthEast Florida Ghost Research)

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Blog #30 We've changed our blog's domain

Hi everyone,
We now made it easy for you to log on to this blog.
The Haunted One Too is now.
http://www.haunted12.com

Sorry, to make this blog a very short one, but we are still putting the final touches on the SEFGR event.
Which has a new domain as well....
http://www.sefgr.info/

Blog 29 SEFGR takes a trip to Tampa

In June SEFGR went up to the Ybor City Area of Downtown Tampa’s Cuban Club. We got the special chance to meet up with the guys of Ghost Hunter International, Robb Demarest, Angela Alderman and Brandy Green. We had a great time working with all of them and they are very nice and professional about what they do. Robb Demarest is from Fort Lauderdale and he wanted to trade my book for his photo. I thought that was a great deal. Robb is great guy and very down to earth. He says he’s heard about me due to my websites about the haunting of Fort Lauderdale’s Historical Landmark. He’s done some of the same landmark with his old group here in town. Hope to be able to show him some new places for him to investigate with us or with the show.

Team was excited but tried from the trip. The Cuban Club investigation was broken down to 3 locations. The Ballroom Area, the Cantina/pool room and the Theatre. We didn’t have much to report in the ballroom or pool room. The Theatre was where we had the most luck. Robb was the leader of that room, which was perfect for our team.


According to Robb, it was the most activity he’s seen in that theatre. We tried to have the spirits do many things for us. We got disembodied voices, EVP’s, EMF spikes, K2 device communication and a shadow captured on the balcony, which was first seen by Robb Demarest, then caught in a picture by me.

up in balcony, circled in red, click on picutre to see larger

Here is the two films for you to watch….

And part 2.....

Part 3 and 4 will be out this November, be sure to come back to see the amazing photoage of a ball of light coming out of nowhere  and swooped by us in the next episode.

 

Blog 28 When we challenge a ghost.

There are so many new shows that are coming out on the network and I want to warn everyone, not to challenge a ghost till you contact somebody from a paranormal research group. What I mean by challenge is to confront the ghost with anger or ridicule, unless you are willing to suffer the consequences for your actions. I have on some occasions challenge a ghost to do something to show us there are here. These are o.k. to do, but to have a ghost abuse you or let them abuse you. I draw the line.

Plus, never ever do a ritual ceremony without know what to do. Pagan, Christian or Shamanic rituals are not games, but serious ceremonies. One must be ready in many ways. Mind, Body and Spirit must be at one during the ceremony or it might be useless. Plus, never try what you see on television to your own home. You might be opening doorways into different area you might not want open.

There is much talk about when people do rituals in their home that uninvited spirits come into the home. After a place is sold to someone else, the unexpected new home owner has issues with a ghost. I find this to be true. Yet, I never call it demonic or Satanist until I know the full facts. You never want to give a ghost a boost in his ego by calling him a Devil or Satan himself. It’s like me call somebody a god, because the opposite of god is that, Satan.

Find first by using the internet to see who is local in your area for the nearest paranormal research group or ghost hunters. Then let them help you on how to go about your own haunting.

Blog 27 OMG, What is that smell?

I was posed with a question yesterday on a different blog and I tried to give her my opinion and would like to expand this abit. I quote


"Have you ever hunted ghosts with somebody that stinks? LOL We went on an investigation with a guy that stunk to hi heaven. How do you tell this guy to clean up before going with you? He's going with us again for Halloween? He's really a nice guy so I don't want to hurt his feelings. "


My reply,


“That's a double edge sword; I’ve been with people who wore fragrant stuff, which would have made it hard to pick up a smell of cigar that wasn't there. Well, maybe not a cigar, lol, but a cigarette or faint perfume of a dearly departed.


You must tell him to "clean up his act", due to the overwhelming body smell that you would not be able to pick up evidence of a clairessence of a spirit manifestation. Soap, it doesn't have to have a fragrance. If he does that and still smells, it's his diet. Unfortunately, it will have to be him or the group, and because you will lose evidence all the time if his smells continue.”

At SEFGR, we must be careful of both situations and thankfully it was not due to bad body odors. There have been occasions of those who use to much body spray, cologne and or perfume. This can be remedied by a quick wash off. Girls tend to fall victims to this, wanting to smell good. I would rather have you smell neutral, which is good, but is fine with a light fragrance that cannot be smelled unless sniffed off the skin.


Remember, ghost can give us clues by sense of smell. A familiar perfume of a favorite aunt or the cigar smoke of a killer, we log those in our experiences, so if there is historical documentation of this, we can classify the ghost of family or from other sources.

I also want to mention about bodily functions. If someone does pass “wind”, it’s best to let those around you know it was you. The smell of sulfur is common on some haunts and don’t want to confuse a spicy meal. LOL

Blog 26 Website for people like us.

I've been going to social networks to share stories, get information or to just stalk you favorite Ghostly celebrities. You know who you are. LOL there is a couple of them I want to put a shout out.


I Am Haunted is the first one on my list. Has all the bells and whistle like my space but now you are with your own like minded social group.

http://www.iamhaunted.com/

Another place for us is Ghost Village which is Newsletter based.

http://www.ghostvillage.com/

There is a sense of community, yet not like facebook or myspace.


For those into the pagan community there is a place for you as well.

http://paganunderworld.ning.com/

It’s does give the sense of community with a style like the forum and chat rooms. For those who have alternative views on religion or spirituality, this might be home for you.


Remember, never take one person's opinion as fact, look up everything that you read or that is given to you.

John's Lecture at Nova Southeastern University's Library. Oct 21st at 6:00 p.m.

I will be discussing everything from growing up in a haunted house to new advancements in ghost research.

John Marc Carr Lecture Event Site

click here

Time will be at 6:00 p.m. till 7:00 p.m.

List of discussion










 John' personnel haunt on Long Island.

 His decision to do ghost research

 His ghost tour from development to new places.




 His formation of SEFGR



 SEFGR events in the news and how to attend their events.

 Some of the new advancements in ghost research

 If time permits, open to questions from the attendees.











We got a lot to cover within an hour. John will be handing out flyers and information at the event about some of the things discussed.

Blog #26 John on Talk Radio WFTL 850 with Michael Wolfe.

Please visit our event site at http://www.sefgrevents.blogspot.com .....
Charity Event for the Fire Museum of Fort Lauderdale
They teach out community children about Fire Safety.
Please help out and maybe get a encounter with a ghost.

 




For the event click here....
www.sefgrevents.blogspot.com

for my book click here....

www.hauntedfortlauderdale.com

for SEFGR.......

www.sefgr.com

for Fort Lauderdale Ghost Tour.....
www.fortlauderdaleghosttour.com

Blog25 Can emotional stress leave a ghost behind?

Yes, it could.


These types of ghosts are residual haunts. An event so strong that upon its conclusion will leave a ghost of that emotion in the area in which it occurred. This type of haunt could last for centuries and cannot and will not be stopped by communication with a ghost hunter or paranormal research like myself.


For example,


Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the battlefield from the Civil War back in 1862 was one of the bloodiest battles in our own country. Brothers against brothers, North against South, this war has some of the most residual haunts left for us to deal with. Scars, emotional scars that will never be healed even though the war is long gone and forgotten by some can continue today as a residual haunt.



People who do reenactments seem to get these residual haunts as they prepare or while they are doing their reenactments for the public. There have been many reports of people who will get dressed up in either Confederate or Union clothes would sometimes wander off, only to find themselves in a heated battle that they weren’t to be a part of. Soldiers shouting at them to “get down” or “run over here” could be heard. As they look around misty figures would appear to them, running towards or away old trails that were carved out by troops make their way to capture a hill or territory.


These haunting are brief, and seem to rewind themselves back to a starting point, only to have the whole scene happen over and over again.


As a young man, I studied Shamanism, which is a spiritual belief amongst indigenous tribes all over the world, not only with the Native Americans. Belief in power animals, spirit guides and the use of different world i.e. the under and upper worlds were all a part of Shamanism. There is also the belief of “Soul Shattering”.


Soul Shattering is one a event can be so traumatic that a piece of your soul can be left behind and stuck in that place where the event happen or worst yet, taken away to the under or upper worlds. We see this with victims of severe abuse. Victims sometimes say their minds go to place were the abuse cannot hurt them. Sometimes never to return till there is a safe environment to come back to. Sometimes the abuse is so great, that it never comes back, leaving only a shell of a person who seems not to have any feelings at all. A Shaman is called in to find those pieces and bring them back to the victim to make them whole again.


As a ghost investigator, I deal with the residual haunting on a regular basis. The emotions scars left behind, only to disturb the living that occupy that area. The ghost of a woman’s cry due to the loss of her baby, the person whose pain was so great that they commit suicide, the torments of a victim as their abuser continues to take every bit of their emotion left behind to haunt us the living.


Can we fix a Residual Haunting? In most cases, “no”, and we could only see if the haunt will slowly go away, which sometimes occurs. Sometimes it takes a “holy man” to make things right again, to join those pieces of souls back to whole and then to send them back to their loved ones on the other side or as some would say, cross over.


So, in conclusion, if you are a victim of abuse, it’s time to get help before “you” will be that residual haunt. Find those pieces of self you left behind. There is a good book for you to read called, “Soul Retrieval” by Sandra Ingerman who teaches the process of putting those pieces back together. I highly suggest it to those who are victims and those help victim of abuse, mental, physical or sexual.

There are enough ghosts we cannot help due to this, try to stop another ghost that we cannot help in the future.

Blog 25 Orbs….. Ghosts, Dust, or Aliens

Science hasn’t really caught up with these phenomena. There is a division amongst those who get this these balls of lights that come up on photos.


In the digital world we are living in and the end of the “film” age, orbs are coming out more than ever. Sure, orbs used to come out during the 35mm days of taking pictures too, but more in our jpegs file that we take today.


In the ghost hunting/investigating end of evidence collecting, we sometime have to discount those pictures we think are dust, due to shape and certain criteria that we look for while doing investigations. So all I could tell you of experience I have with them and what I know.

On Halloween night of 2004, I was at Queen of Peace Cemetery in West Palm Beach late after midnight. Chris Rodriguez was with me to do a investigation of reports of a ghost at a mausoleum. Reports said at a certain spot, a ghost would appear and pick up her flower that fall out of the shallow vase that is there. We scanned the area for EMFs, which we did pick up some, but discounted them due to electric line that were buried in the ground.


We were in between two mausoleums and took a picture of this huge orb. Both Chris and I got the same orb that hovered over our head for at least 20 minutes. I took out my laser thermometer and we could actually measure its temperature at 41 degrees. It was 85 degrees that night and this orb is at 41? We tried to communicate with it using recording devices. I had equipment failure and Chris says she didn’t get any EVPs. After the 20 minutes, it was gone. I chucked it up as a spirit just checking us out, making sure we don’t disrespect those who were at rest. It was freaky experience, as this orb hovered over our heads. Its radius could be seen by use of this laser gauge by going across the sky where it hovered. It was about 5 to 6 feet wide. Never threaten us at all, just watched us watching it.

For those who call orbs dust, this orb was stationary for 20 minutes on a breezy night hot night. Why the temperature of this piece of dust was measured 41 degrees? It seem to have a will of its own by following us for about 10 feet as we backed away, it would get closer.

There are some in the UFO investigators who are trying to say these are aliens from another dimension. Since I don’t investigate UFO phenomena, I really can’t comment, but, I quite doubt it. UFOlogist is still debating the issue. Since I’m out of the loop, again I can’t comment on this.








So, what’s your believe in Orbs? Let me know!

Blog #24 Do ghosts have feelings?

The answer to this question is yes. As I mentioned before, ghosts/spirits were people at one time. Now to be more define, I will explain by each category of haunting and why they would feel the way they do.






Intelligent Haunt


These are spirits that we are able to communicate back and forth. Either through use of EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena), which we get on our digital recorders, through use of dousing rods, via yes, no or maybe/I don’t know answers, a medium and through (which I do not suggest), Ouija Boards. They let us know what they are feeling and sometimes why they feel the way they do. Let me tell you a story about one ghost.


In the Stranahan House, there is a ghost of Ivy Stranahan’s sister. Her name was Pink. She died giving child birth to baby to a then known bigamist, Randal Moss. She bled to death due to loss of too much blood after giving birth to a still born child. Her spirit is mostly known in the parlor area of the house.


During an investigation at the Stranahan House which was filmed by Comcast during a Séance, something bizarre happen. A lady who was not part of SEFGR, nor with Comcast, but was invited in by the Stranahan House stood up and said, “before we start, I got something to say”. I, thinking how rude this is, but allowed her to continue said, “sure, what do you have to say”? She turned her head my way and started to say……. “Why do we have to talk about the baby so much? Is the baby so important to you that you have to talk about it every time you are here? Can we stop talking about the baby once and for all?” She then proceeded to cry and say, “I don’t know why I’m crying or why I said that?” We calmed her down and answered her questions, of why she said what she said. I told her that she got possessed for a brief time, which upset her more. The spirit of Pink Cromartie Moss came through to tell me off. I will not talk about Pink’s baby again during a séance inside the Stranahan House again for fear Pink might take possession of someone else.






Residual Haunt


This type of haunt is one of emotional trauma. It’s found on battlefields, murders scenes and site of tragic loss. The cries of a child lost, the anger of a murderer during his rage, the laughter of a party celebrating an occasion. A residual haunt will occur the same way, every time, over and over again. We do get this on digital recording also, but we are unable to communicate with the spirit to let them know that their murderer has been found, or that the party is over. It all of sudden will stop, rewind the event and wait for the appropriate time to do it all over again. Like a scene on a DVD, to press play and it starts again, and again.






Poltergeist


These spirits are too filled with emotion. They are sometimes one of the angriest ghosts I have to deal with. They hate the fact that they are dead and you are alive and in their space. “This is my home, this is my stuff, that is my wife” as the anger mounts and are filled with vengeance. Sometime they will be load and make lots of noise to try to scare you away. Then, on the other hand, they can throw things at you, or hide things from you, like those keys that you know you placed on the key hook. These spirits can be dangerous as well. Scratching, pushing, yanking hair, biting or worst yet, raping the victim to cause deep emotional scars. Their pain becomes your pain as well and they will use it to push you out of your own home.


I hope I was able to convey that ghosts are filled with emotion and that is sometimes why they are stuck here. Either through choice or just reliving emotional events, but they feel never less like all of us. Remember, Ghost were people too.

Blog #23 Do ghosts believe in God?

Whew, this is a hard one, but a question I get from time to time. I will try to answer this as simply as possible. The answer is….. “That depends”.


I view ghosts as people who don’t have any bodies anymore. Since all people are different, the same is true about ghosts. Those spirits that are High Level Spirits (those who cross over and come back) tell us there is a god and all will be learned upon crossing to the other side. Low Level Spirits (never crossed over) have the same view point as a live people do.


When we are on this earthly plane, religion plays an important role in some of our lives. There are highly religious people, and then there are some who don’t worship but believe in a god, and even some that don’t believe in a higher power at all. Our religious believes are deep rooted into our consciousness. It keeps us on the path that we choose to be on. Some may choose different paths along the way and might stray from the original beliefs that we were brought up with.


Ghosts (low level) are the same as humans. Many get caught up in their beliefs of god, heaven and hell. Some stay and don’t cross over because they think they can be judged by the actions they may have done here in this earthy plane. Murder, suicide, or just plain evil, may cause a spirit not to cross over. Fear is the reason for decision.


I believe in a forgiving god, so I will cross over with no fear of whatever may have on this plane. I also know that I haven’t done anything that bad that I would want to stay here for. Even though I was raised Catholic, which is a strict order of religion, my life path has taught me as humans we forgive those who might have hurt us and that god will do the same. This is only an opinion and don’t wish to go into any deep philosophy about religious moralities of what is right or wrong.


Sometimes we have to convince a spirit to cross over that might be reluctant due to their actions here on earth. This is a very hard thing to do, since they might have strong opinions about what might happen to them if they do. We explain there is comfort in the light and there is nothing to fear. All of our loved ones that crossed before us are there waiting for us with open arms and hearts.

Remember this scene from poltergeistl





So, when your turn comes, go into the light, there is nothing but heartache and pain here. There is love, joy and the best yet, the answers to everything you may ever want to know.

Blog #22 Debunking Photo Evidence

On investigations we come across lots of evidence. We do take many pictures that will have shadows, orbs, vortexes, ectoplasmic manifestation and ghostly apparitions. As a ghost investigator I will take my pictures to scan them while they are in the camera to see if anything unusual will appear. If it does and we are on the site of the haunt, we will try to see if we can debunk the picture.

Shadows /Shadow people

Can you make out the figure?

We look for light sources and see if anything could have come across the light to make the shadow. Then we see if there was anybody near the event that might have walked across the source of light to make the shadow that was picked up on the photo.
There is a phenomenon that is called, “Shadow People”. They are usually seen by the corners of our eyes, but sometimes we get these shadows that will appear in the photo. This type of happening are rare, but we must check out to see if this was produced by somebody or something coming across a light source.

Orbs

See the layers

Orbs are balls of light that will appear in the photo. These orbs cannot be seen by our normal eyes, but are shown in the photo, larger than life. Most orbs are dust or dirt that is flying across the lens. At the time of taking the photo, the dust will be illuminated by the flash, making this yellowish ball or even sometimes it will be brownish is color. There are times when we get these orbs in different colors; these are the ones that we will enlarge to see if they have the characteristic of a true ghost orb. These will be perfectly round, or what we might call a perfect cell membrane with no rough edges and will have a definite nucleus center. In between the center and the membrane will have these things floating around the orb, just like cytoplasm in a living cell. Do not try to look for faces inside of these orbs. That will start pareidolia and you will find faces, shapes of things that really aren’t there.


Vortexes

Notice the spiral light

These are swirl of lights that spiral across the picture like a cork screw. Vortexes are allegedly doorways in which the spirit will come and go through. Vortexes are often debunked as camera cords, stands of hair or even laser lights that come out of other people’s cameras. We just got back from St. Augustine, where there is Spanish Moss grows over everything. This can be confused as a vortex as well is dangled in from of the camera.


Ectoplasmic Manifestation

Ectoplasmic Manifestion in woods

This is a mist that will creep into the photo. Swirls like smoke or foggy layer covers the photo. This does occur during a haunting. It also occurs if someone is smoking as well. In SEFGR, we are not allowed to smoke while the investigation is happening, but sometimes we are not in control of area. Incense is a no-no as well, not only because of false reports of ectoplasmic manifestations, but sometimes a haunt can have a smell as well. We have gotten smells of toilet water or a pipe smell of a spirit’s of his tobacco. We eliminate those chances of false personnel experience, so my group we are not allowed to wear perfumes or colognes. If you get this mist, look around you for someone who could be smoking, check the lens for fog, if not, you got yourself photographic evidence of haunting.

Apparitions

Can you see the eye forming in middle of picture?

These are the hardest to debunk. Photos of faint images of a person floating, walking, sitting or doing everyday work sometimes could be captured in digital photos. Sometimes if someone would cross the paths of where we were taking the picture, we would get this faint image. Blurry, often see through and these images do look creepy, so we use elimination to see if there is someone else in the space that might have moved while taking the photo. Otherwise, these are hard to debunk if no other person is present.

Blog #21 Does a home have to be old to be haunted?

I get this question all the time on my tours. The answer is “no”. A property does not have to be old to be haunted. Since my tour covers places as old as 1890’s, it doesn’t mean age equals haunted.

Here at SEFGR, we do a lot of Historical Landmarks because there is more information about its history. It make it easier for us when we get evidence to check facts, names, places, births, deaths and what not. We have done private residences where the building is new. This makes it a bit difficult, due to lack of background information. We don’t shy away from these sites, but it might take longer in doing research to get all of the answers the property owner may want.

Newer buildings are being built every day. The land might hold clues to the newly haunt for people moving into a new construction. News archives and libraries are good tools to find this information. In some towns the information of property owners, deaths, births, and marriages records can be found at city hall. As we get more into the electronic world, some of the information is online. My computer has been a very useful tool in discovering many clues to haunting situations.

So, just because you are moving into a newly constructed building, home or office it doesn’t mean that it won’t be haunted. There are states that require full disclosure of a haunting if selling the property. Don’t be afraid to ask, “Is this house haunted?”
I know, that’s probably not the answer that you wanted to hear after spending all that money in a new place, but it’s the truth.

Blog #20 Saint Augustine Investigation

As you might have notice, I missed Friday's blog posting. It was due to us traveling to Saint Augustine to do an investigation in the Lighthouse and Lighthouse Keepers home. It was an event by Tampa Ghost Watcher's who were wonderful hosts to this event. We all enjoyed doing the investigations and having fun running up and down the old town historical district.


During our investigation several members, including I got touched by ghost children that were in the LightKeeper's home. We still haven't gone thru all of our evidence, we hope to get some evps and some of the disembodied voice we thought we heard.


Here is a slide show of us frolicking around the old street of Saint Augustine, The Oldest Towne in America.

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Blog #19 The Basement Door

I always get the question of  how did I get interest in ghosts. I tell them I lived in a haunted house on Long Island. Here is the story of how it began.......

Some people remember their childhood as a Happy, Fun times and then there was my house..........

I lived in this house in Garden City Park, L.I. New York which was haunted. It all started when my father decided to remodel the house. While we stay in the basement and the construction site was above us of our new 2 story colonial. In the middle of the night we would hear, SLAM, footstep, footstep, We all thought it was somebody trying to get scrap wood left by the construction worker.






As the Construction was at its final end, My parents decided to go to a party that evening, leaving me and my brother behind. I was about 11 at the time and my brother was 9. The evening started fine with television and a fight over what to watch. The Brady Bunch or a repeat of Eddie and his father. Then SLAM, SLAM, SLAM.......We looked at each other and was startled but wasn't too afraid yet.


We were still in the basement, which was fully furnished with the works but upstairs had all the doors and windows in and was secured, we thought, so what, or who was that upstairs right above our heads. SLAM, SLAM, SLAM, the T.V. took second over find out what was going on upstairs. This time we heard a door open and make a creek sound.


Of course, by this time I was Scared Sh#tless. My brother elected me to go upstairs to see what was going on and I did feel a sense of duty. I opened the doorway up to the first level of the new construction of the New Colonial house built over the site of a old Cape Cod.


Everything was still dark because the electric still wasn't hooked up but we were supposed to be secure.... My dogs followed up to the stairwell up but would go into the new site, the cat came up and started to hiss. Well, my heart raced a mile a minute; I went downstairs to get a flashlight hoping my brother would have enough nerve to come with me. No luck, up I went, turned on the flashlight and walked the house with the flash light. NOTHING! SH#@! What's going on?


I went back downstairs; my brother questioned me for what was the noise all about. This time Slam, footstep, footstep, SLAM, footstep, footstep, I turned to my brother who was at a panic point, wondering should we call 911 for someone breaking into our house or Flee out to a neighbor’s house. We called a neighbor who said he would come by and see if anyone is outside and would knock on the door for me to let him in to check out the house for us.


We felt a little more secure until the door knob at the top of the stair started to rattle and turn real slow like. I was so scared, my heart felt like it was in my mouth, pumping hard, my hand went cold and I felt a shiver run up my spine like a cold spike. I called out "Danny", our neighbor but that was only a second ago. No answer, but the door knob stopped turning. No footsteps leaving just no more slamming or doorknob.


We heard Danny outside with his dog. And then he knocked on the outside door. I had to go upstairs again and let him in. What if someone is upstairs? What if there is nothing again? I had to go, but I did it fast as anyone could. Once I let him in we went all over the house, every closet, every room. We didn't have an attic any more but our new bedrooms were on the second floor. The door all closed and no one , nothing, nothing. I felt like an A##. He assured me no one was there and since I took the tour with him,


I agreed, but.....