Stamp Camp and a GHOST HUNT

STAMP CAMP:

Liverpool, NY and 

A GHOST HUNT

Utica, NY

Sept. 26th 2015

This September I got to do one of my BUCKET LIST check items....I got to go on a GHOST HUNT!!! Yep!!! A real live ghost investigation. 

But to start off my day of fun and my NIGHT of Scare. I attended the CTMH annual Stamp Camp with Sandy, Kim, Phyllis and several other team members under Linda...

I'm not sure who made this cute little Halloween box,,,,but it is super cute.

I just love these Ladies and we had a great time doing projects that Linda developed for the days event. Stamp Camp is a day long event that features the CTMH products with a business sense spin on it. Linda is amazing a pulling this event together and we had multiple projects when we finished..

 Here are some...

 Arn't they GREAT!!!!

We did cards and a journal as well.  Not only is Stamp Camp a great time to re-start the inspirational juices, but it is spent with great people and we had an amazing soup and salad lunch.  As Great as Stamp Camp was...I had my mind on the events of the evening....and struggled to focus, I was on my way to a real life GHOST HUNT.

We all got the VIP tickets which included two INVESTIGATIONS, dinner and two lectures. But best of all I got to go with the GIRLS and got the POOP scared out of myself!!!

All set for some serious GHOST HUNTING...Bonnie, Renee, Mindy, Kelly and I

Mary and Alex meet up with us at the Historic haunting site in Utica NY.

We got lost on our way in....too bad we didn't know we were following Dr, Dave one of the Rome Investigators...where he turned right we went lest and got all backwards...After asking some locals where the Rutgers Mansions were located we finally found our destination and OHHHH!!! These places sure looked a fright!

There were three properties on the Historical Society lot, two which are still standing. The nice thing about the tour was that our ticket profits went directly to the Historical Society. I love the idea that we were getting some good times while lending to a cause. Despite the fear factor of these charming old Mansions...they were beautiful but definitely in need of MAJOR repair.

The first building and more updated was the Rutgers Mansion. We unfortunately missed the Historical tour and information on this place, but it was pretty NEAT!

We did get a historical tor of the old nursing home...(Below) and got some historical facts about it. After touring it, we all struggled to understand how it was able to house elderly people,  it was easy to understanding why it was shut down by the State in 2006. From the looks of the interior however it is amazing that it has only been 9 years since anyone inhabited the place.

Despite the fallen loose paint and cracked walls, some of the original structure and interior design remained and it was beautiful. Simply look at this doorway.

I tried to take random shots as we passed through the rooms in hopes of catching a not so shy spirit looming in the corners.

As we moved through the building we started to see the poor shape this building was in..Look at all the paint that has fallen and flaked off the walls. It really added to the haunted emptiness of the place.

Oh...but the beauty of these fixtures and added detail to the molding and fireplace.

Hi GIRLS!!!!

A few random pictures of the building interior. Can you understand now why we struggled to believe people were actually living here in 2006?

We ascended to the floors above and walking on the winding stairs had to be one of my most terrifying of the evening for me. About 20 of us all walking up those OLD stairs at the same time had me a mess. I even pushed Mindy to go faster just to get away from my fear that the stairs would suddenly tear away from the walls and we would all come crashing down. (not my best shot, but I wasn't doing to well with the focus while taking it.)


 (Bridges/elevators/and apparently stairs....I just have a BIG fear about being on them and falling. Odd but true..)

At the second floor we found the investigation equipment all set up..Seeing this and reminding myself that soon we would be investigating in this very building took all that fear away, and we continued on the historical tour.

Some more beautiful light fixtures, and the ghost mirror. Our guild told us of her own ghostly encounter and it had to do with this mirror. She claimed to see someone in the mirror and when she looked at the location where that someone would be there was nothing there. She even states she has a picture. I tried to recreate that claim and this was my result. Disappointing yes....but not discouraged.

Mary and Alex pose in the room that has claim to a little boy spirit. I wish I could remember the name, but we spent some time in here later trying to contact him. Kelly claimed to be touched on her finger,,,but I never felt or saw anything. When we attended the second lecture on Investigations later that night we listened to an EVP and heard someone or something state his name, and it did sound like a little boy.

This picture below is taken through the rooms into what appears to be a crawl or attic space. Later that evening we went into the area, While there a girl claimed to have heard someone or something knock on that very window,,,,

After the nursing home historical tour we headed back to the main building.

We were in for a real treat.....A lecture on BIG FOOT!!!

 where we attended a lecture on BIG FOOT!!! If you google youtube and big foot you will surly get multiple videos and several supporters both for and against the belief of this mythical beast.  I am still on the fence even after the lecture despite the evidence presented to support this animals existence, If your really interested check out some of the 1976 footage which has some of the best evidence and one of the few films that cannot be disproved as a fake.

After Big Foot we had nice pasta meal with meatballs and hot coffee before hearing ALL about GHOSTS. The Rome Investigators of the Paranormal (RIP) offered a very INTERESTING lecture on their own personal investigations, as well as some of the supernatural events that had been obtained at this very location....At this point I am both scared to death but excited at the same time.

Here's the team. 

One of the light fixtures in the main house..

I pose with one of the lead investigators...

Is that a ghost I caught there in the mirror???

We head to the old age home first, eager to see something happen,,,,but scared to death if I do....

The dark hall to the back bedroom. 

Our investigative team started on the first floor. Right off the bat,..I am convinced I saw the curtain move. We wait in the dark to see if anything else happens,,,,and boy is it dark. The dark can sure play tricks on you,...I watched the small gap that just let in a slight gray for the longest time waiting for a slight change in the color. It's hard to say, but when it is that dark, you can see pretty much anything if you make up your mind to do so. OHHHH!!! I think it moved....Kelly agree's we are both spooked...the team investigators pulls the curtain together and asks the spirit world to move the curtain for us all to see. I stare as hard as I can at any gap in the curtain for movement. We all wait..nothing. We decide to move on,,,,As were walking into another room Renee is in front of me. I stop to listen to the lead investigator as she describes something in the room we just passed...I stop listen and when she has finished I return to walking thinking Renee is far ahead in the next room, I turn to go forward and run right into her and of course .....I scream. Damn humans will get me everytime..
Once in the next room, one of the group member in the party who has been snapping pictures gestures that he caught something peeking out around the corner that we just passed on his camera. I looked and yes there was something there...but what I am not sure....so we all stare intensely at said corner as the lead investigator voices..."Are you playing hide and seek come out so we can all see you."  as if pre-staged one of the other investigators comes around the corner just as she stated that and again...I scream. These damn humans....

One of the two bedrooms in the back hall

On to the second floor....(yes I had to climb those creepy stairs again). Once on the second floor, there are several groups of investigators using some type of equipment in the room to the right of us. Green, yellow and red lights with an odd humming noise is seen scanning the small room. I wedge myself in to get a look. There seems to be something being picked up.... I wait for a bit as several people ask questions of the spirits. Over here...over here, there is a spike in the the baranomic (I am not sure if this is the correct term...apparently I was not paying enough attention in Ghost school at the previous lecture)reader...more questions and it seems the lights on these hand held machine are escalated in the center of the room where the string to turn on the light is.....(curious....as these machine do indicate electric fields, I did remember that from the ghost education class).....but as a non-skeptic...convinced that there is a ghost standing right there in front of us all.
One thing I have been told....ghosts do not perform on cue, and I have the patience of a flea,(there must be a better comparison, but you get the picture). At any rate...I was sick of waiting and soon moved on to the next exciting area. The room where the little boy had been heard. (I so wish I could remember his name.) Our groups....had at this point taken on a life of its own. We were no longer a group and people were pretty much heading where ever they liked.  I had no idea where most of my gal pals were...although I did have Kelly stuck close to my side as we entered into the darkend hall towards the back bedroom.
 In the lecture we were told something rushed by them in this hall and they played an EVP of a child like voice from this room. Kelly and I entered the room and there was only one solo person in the room with yet another investigative machine. I decided to see if we could get something and called out for this kid to come play with us. I heard nothing and saw nothing...Kelly swears she was touched on her hand. So I asked the little boy to touch me too. Still nothing soon our gal pals found us and I asked Alex to call for the little boy....maybe another child would get some results....nothing. We all spent a little time trying to get the little boy to push the toy cars (trigger items), and still nothing.  

The trigger items in the back bedroom.

Our group had been the last small group to leave, and we were unfortunately without any investigative tools, so Mary found our group leader to ask if we could have some equipment. She did and the investigation took on a new twist. (Although mine did absolutely NOTHING the whole night.)

Mindy found some spikes in one of the rooms and we all attempted to connect with something in there. We returned to the back room tried in there again, and continued to wonder the second floor for any sign of the paranormal.

Pictures of my attempt to catch something on film.

In one of the rooms they were using a spirit box to communicate. The spirit box (I only know the name from watching Ghost Adventurers) is a machine that allows spirit voices to answer questions over a series of repetitive radio frequency waves. (again I know I have failed Ghost school 101). The noise if incredibly annoying to say the least......but apparently questions can be answered above these frequencies....I'm not sure and I really wish the RIP guys would post any results they found that night, but it did sound like there was some actual discussion that was happening in that room that night. PLEASE POST THE RESULTS RIP!!!!

Some more random attempts to catch a spirit in the darkness....maybe taking a bath perhaps.

On the third floor, we were invited to participate in making contact. Alex and Mary attempt to ask the ghosts of the house to make contact. I lure Kelly into one of the back rooms and ask the spirits to move my flashlight as it lay on the floor. I so totally do NOT have the patience for ghost hunting.

This attic space although we didn't see or hear anything was sure CREEPY!!!! Bonnie and I ventured up to the widows peek area. Only two people at a time allowed. I lead but I was scared to death. I didn't see anything but between the stairs, the creepy attic space and the two human encounters on the first floor the walk up and the fast backwards down (no way was I going to descend with my back to that darken space above me where anything could blow on my ear or touch my back). This was one of the scariest.

Okay....end of investigation number 1....and on to the next. The night was a pretty cooperative stage for a ghost hunt....check it out.

Time for a bathroom break and a cup of coffee... before we had free range of the main building.

There was not much investigation going on in this building, we pretty much walked around and enjoyed the once incredible designs and architecture.

Although not finished some of the rooms were displayed with artifacts from the period.

Weird crawl space in the closet. I have to admit I simply LOVE these old homes. I should have pushed for a historical house when Mark and I were looking. They have so much character.

The late night ended with some disappointment and YET a big triumph. I had started the investigation pretty sure I was going to see something, but scared to DEATH to see something at the same time, I recognize that there was a slim to none possibility that I would encounter a calling from the other side, but just like when I play the slots.....I convince myself I will win. Disappointed I didn't walk away with a personal story to tell, but I am THRILLED to have had the opportunity. I walked away with confidence that I could do this in the dark with much less fear and anxiety, and excited to have been a part of what I have spent years questioning. Has my experience made me a skeptic simply because I didn't have a personal experience? Absolutely NOT. I would do it again in a heart beat. And to have my friends with me in the fun was supper GREAT! The experience was one for a check mark off my bucket list. (if I ever do come across any finding that the team found for that evening I will definitely update on this blog.)