Gettin' wet and dirty in the name of ghosts
http://firefox.org/news/articles/1424/1/Gettin039-wet-and-dirty-in-the-name-of-ghosts/Page1.html
Nadine Wilson
I am: demiurge, incipient storyteller and honourary mamacat. Occasionally acid. Prone to biting. Given to bouts of TMI (you've been warned).
Language is important. Words are important. Use them well, please. By Nadine Wilson
Published on 04/23/2008
Anatomy of a paranormal investigation.
Or: Why I'm betting Ghost Hunters is a lot less entertaining on-location than on-screen.
I aten't dead yet!*
*Granny Weatherwax, of Discworld fame, by Terry Pratchett.
No, I'm not dead. Nor was, as far as I could tell, anyone else at the Pisgah Covered Bridge, a location I was privileged Saturday night to visit and investigate with the Winston Salem Paranormal Society, a local paranormal investigative group similar to TAPS. It was my first official investigation, as well as my first time meeting the WSPS, and while I can't speak for them regarding me, I can say that I was very pleased to finally make their acquaintance.
The legend: There is not much local, supernatural legend attached to the Pisgah Covered Bridge, aside from a difficult-to-track-down internet rumor that there is sometimes visible an apparition hanging from the rafters. Another local paranormal group recently posted online images of an investigation they carried out there, in two of which can be seen mist or vapor. I am not convinced that this isn't from team members' breath-- from their dress in the photos, it seems to have been a cold night, and the positioning seems plausible-- but not being a professional analyst, I won't pass judgment. I cannot find a source for the rumor itself.
The facts: I have had conflicting information regarding the bridge's history. Wikipedia (all hail the hive-mind!) gives the date of original construction as 1911, and cites the NC Zoo's website as its source (the NC Zoo Society assists with the bridge's upkeep and maintenance). Both websites detail its initial construction and its reconstruction on the original site after it was demolished in a flood in 2003. I had initially gathered, from comments made during the investigation, that the original bridge was further away from the road, one of the footbridges we crossed while following the path around the site, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Ah, well. Who you gonna trust: word of mouth or the internet? I mean, really. I cannot find recorded reference, in my brief digging online, to any deaths on or near the bridge.
The investigation: While there were initially ten WSPS members slated to nose about the bridge, eight of us actually performed the investigation. We arrived at our location between nine and nine-fifteen, fought with the padlock on the gate, parked, blinded each other with headlamps, and got our equipment prepared: new batteries into cameras and tape recorders; flashlights checked; rain ponchos struggled into. We had several digital cameras, two or three voice recorders, both digital and analog, a 35mm camera, and at least two EMF meters. And flashlights. Lots and lots of very, very bright flashlights, each of which, at one point or another, were shone directly into my eyes. Between them and the camera flashes, I am now 76% blind in my left eye, and 59% in the right. No lie! I'm fairly sure this isn't covered under my health insurance plan, but I consider it worth the price.
Once preparations were finished, we began at the covered bridge itself and made our way gradually along the paved trail, voice recorders and EMF meters running constantly. Investigators spied what could be one or two anomolous images taken with the digital cameras, but nothing really extraordinary. Just past one of the footbridges, one of the EMF meters spiked, and one of the digital cameras caught a drift of mist or fog quite near to the investigator holding the meter, but nothing further appeared. It was a single moment of excitement in an otherwise ordinary, raining, misty night. I recorded perhaps an hour of audio footage, and I caught nothing that could qualify as an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon, for the uninitiated). To my knowledge, no one else on the team caught anything on their audio, either.
We spent quite some time making our gradual way along the footpath that wends around the site, encouraging any potential paranormal entities to reveal themselves, either via an EMF spike or through audio footage on the recorders, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. I cannot count as paranormal the appearance of someone's sweater hanging on a tree- it looked like it had been there some time, and while it startled us when we saw it, I have yet to hear of a ghost requiring Tommy Hilfiger to keep warm.
After several hours spent in and out of the rain and the bridge itself, the group came to the general consensus that the Pisgah bridge is not, in fact, haunted, much to our chagrin. Personally, if I am going to get nearly drenched out in the untamed wilds south of Asheboro, I'd like a little paranormal goodness to make it worth my while, but then again, I'd like to win the lottery, too, and what are the odds of that happening? The WSPS is performing another investigation this Saturday, in which I intend to take part -- perhaps this will bear more significant, interesting, spooky fruit. Cross your fingers for me, and hope for ghosts!
As ever, I'm always on the lookout for the strange, odd, bizarre, bewildering, unexplained and blatantly paranormal. If you've heard about or experienced something that you feel fits those criteria, please feel free to comment here, or drop me a line. I can't promise fame and fortune, but if your story catches my interest (and offers enough material to appropriately pad a column), I can offer ten seconds of glory here at Firefox.org.
*Granny Weatherwax, of Discworld fame, by Terry Pratchett.
No, I'm not dead. Nor was, as far as I could tell, anyone else at the Pisgah Covered Bridge, a location I was privileged Saturday night to visit and investigate with the Winston Salem Paranormal Society, a local paranormal investigative group similar to TAPS. It was my first official investigation, as well as my first time meeting the WSPS, and while I can't speak for them regarding me, I can say that I was very pleased to finally make their acquaintance.
The legend: There is not much local, supernatural legend attached to the Pisgah Covered Bridge, aside from a difficult-to-track-down internet rumor that there is sometimes visible an apparition hanging from the rafters. Another local paranormal group recently posted online images of an investigation they carried out there, in two of which can be seen mist or vapor. I am not convinced that this isn't from team members' breath-- from their dress in the photos, it seems to have been a cold night, and the positioning seems plausible-- but not being a professional analyst, I won't pass judgment. I cannot find a source for the rumor itself.
The facts: I have had conflicting information regarding the bridge's history. Wikipedia (all hail the hive-mind!) gives the date of original construction as 1911, and cites the NC Zoo's website as its source (the NC Zoo Society assists with the bridge's upkeep and maintenance). Both websites detail its initial construction and its reconstruction on the original site after it was demolished in a flood in 2003. I had initially gathered, from comments made during the investigation, that the original bridge was further away from the road, one of the footbridges we crossed while following the path around the site, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Ah, well. Who you gonna trust: word of mouth or the internet? I mean, really. I cannot find recorded reference, in my brief digging online, to any deaths on or near the bridge.
The investigation: While there were initially ten WSPS members slated to nose about the bridge, eight of us actually performed the investigation. We arrived at our location between nine and nine-fifteen, fought with the padlock on the gate, parked, blinded each other with headlamps, and got our equipment prepared: new batteries into cameras and tape recorders; flashlights checked; rain ponchos struggled into. We had several digital cameras, two or three voice recorders, both digital and analog, a 35mm camera, and at least two EMF meters. And flashlights. Lots and lots of very, very bright flashlights, each of which, at one point or another, were shone directly into my eyes. Between them and the camera flashes, I am now 76% blind in my left eye, and 59% in the right. No lie! I'm fairly sure this isn't covered under my health insurance plan, but I consider it worth the price.
Once preparations were finished, we began at the covered bridge itself and made our way gradually along the paved trail, voice recorders and EMF meters running constantly. Investigators spied what could be one or two anomolous images taken with the digital cameras, but nothing really extraordinary. Just past one of the footbridges, one of the EMF meters spiked, and one of the digital cameras caught a drift of mist or fog quite near to the investigator holding the meter, but nothing further appeared. It was a single moment of excitement in an otherwise ordinary, raining, misty night. I recorded perhaps an hour of audio footage, and I caught nothing that could qualify as an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon, for the uninitiated). To my knowledge, no one else on the team caught anything on their audio, either.
We spent quite some time making our gradual way along the footpath that wends around the site, encouraging any potential paranormal entities to reveal themselves, either via an EMF spike or through audio footage on the recorders, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. I cannot count as paranormal the appearance of someone's sweater hanging on a tree- it looked like it had been there some time, and while it startled us when we saw it, I have yet to hear of a ghost requiring Tommy Hilfiger to keep warm.
After several hours spent in and out of the rain and the bridge itself, the group came to the general consensus that the Pisgah bridge is not, in fact, haunted, much to our chagrin. Personally, if I am going to get nearly drenched out in the untamed wilds south of Asheboro, I'd like a little paranormal goodness to make it worth my while, but then again, I'd like to win the lottery, too, and what are the odds of that happening? The WSPS is performing another investigation this Saturday, in which I intend to take part -- perhaps this will bear more significant, interesting, spooky fruit. Cross your fingers for me, and hope for ghosts!
As ever, I'm always on the lookout for the strange, odd, bizarre, bewildering, unexplained and blatantly paranormal. If you've heard about or experienced something that you feel fits those criteria, please feel free to comment here, or drop me a line. I can't promise fame and fortune, but if your story catches my interest (and offers enough material to appropriately pad a column), I can offer ten seconds of glory here at Firefox.org.