Ghost Story
Texarkana investigators probe paranormal
By JAKE BECKWITH
Texarkana Gazette
DOMINO, Texas?Gary Whitlatch says he believes in ghosts. And occasionally he looks for them.
Whitlatch and nine other ghost hunters?ranging in age from early teens to mid-50s?visited an abandoned home Friday night just outside the city limits of Domino in search of paranormal activity.
In the back bedroom of an old, abandoned and decrepit house, Whitlatch says he spoke with the spirit of 19-year-old John Mitchell.
?I had my first real experience,? Whitlatch said.
Christi Faulknor, one of three psychics participating in Friday night?s expedition, said she served as a vessel for Mitchell to communicate with Whitlatch.
Faulknor stood in the back corner and observed while Whitlatch scanned the 8 x 10 room with a heat-sensing gun to measure any sudden change in the temperature. Paranormal investigators say a sudden temperature change indicates the possible presence of an orb?described as a sphere of electromagnetic energy produced by a ghost. It?s the first stage of a ghostly manifestation, according to local psychic Melba Long, who also tagged along on Friday night?s ghost hunt.
Long said it generally takes a while for ghosts to come out and communicate with ghost hunters.
?They are going to check us out here for a while. See what kind of equipment we are using,? she said.
In addition to his heat-sensing gun, Whitlatch also held a home video camera in his other hand to document any signs of paranormal activity at the site. In a deliberately soft voice, he informed any spirits in the room that his crew of ghost hunters did not mean to cause them any harm. He said they were just looking for evidence to document the existence of paranormal activity.
In addition to his heat-sensing gun, Whitlatch also held a home video camera in his other hand to document any signs of paranormal activity at the site. In a deliberately soft voice, he informed any spirits in the room that his crew of ghost hunters did not mean to cause them any harm. He said they were just looking for evidence to document the existence of paranormal activity.
The room maintained an average temperature of 75 degrees, though it did fluctuate a couple of degrees depending on whether Whitlatch aimed the heat-sensing gun towards the ceiling or down toward the dirty brown carpet littered with leaves that crunched under his roaming feet.
Whitlatch and Faulknor chose to examine the back bedroom closet because a number of Texarkana paranormal investigators, including the psychics, said they felt a strong presence in that particular area. Whitlatch said the investigators entered the house at separate times to avoid contaminating each other?s initial impressions of the site. He said they conferred outside of the house after each of them had an opportunity to explore the site.
?I felt short of breath when I walked through the door. Kevin (Christi?s husband) said he felt it, too,? Whitlatch said.
Christi Faulknor said, ?I wanted to run and hide in the closet.?
The bedroom closet happened to be the location where Whitlatch and Faulknor would later focus their investigation for paranormal activity. Whitlatch asked any paranormal presence near the closet to please communicate with him and requested he be given a name. After a brief pause, Faulknor introduced herself as John Mitchell. Whitlatch asked ?John? what year it was. Faulknor answered by saying it was 1871.
According to Faulknor, Mitchell was a sharecropper who worked the farm and raised a family. Faulknor said Mitchell had a wife named Sarah and a son named Johnny. Faulknor later sounded surprised when Whitlatch informed her that she spoke using the first person narrative when answering questions as Mitchell.
?I do not like to do a lot of channeling,? she said. ?I really don?t care to do that. It kind of is a violation of a body.?
Whitlatch also sounded taken aback by the events that transpired from 6:30 and 7 p.m. that evening.
?It?s getting deeper than I?m used to. I?m used to getting pictures and photos,? he said. ?I felt someone touching me when I was in there ... He touched me on the shoulder. I had my first real experience.?
It would not be his last real experience before the stroke of midnight. In addition, Whitlatch would not be the only member of the Texarkana Paranormal Investigators club who would claim experiencing a brush with the afterlife.
Sixteen-year-old Amanda Powell of Texarkana, Texas, said she was alone in the small room adjacent to where Whitlatch claimed he spoke with Mitchell through Faulknor. Amanda said she was tape recording the empty room for the purposes of practicing Electromagnetic Voice Phenomenon, the theory that any voice that appears on the tape and is not accounted for must belong to a paranormal presence.
?I was freaked,? Amanda said. ?I felt something come up behind me. It was like he wrapped an arm around my neck and one around my mouth. It was the most weirdest thing I ever felt. I started freaking out because I couldn?t breathe. I was trembling, I was so scared.?
Though she described her Friday night experience as ?too much,? Amanda said it was not enough to dissuade her from continuing to participate in the ghost hunts. However, she did say she would make sure she never found herself alone in a dark room of an allegedly haunted site again.
Christi Faulknor said she could understand why Amanda was frightened but said she did not think the alleged presence had any negative intentions against Amanda.
?She (Amanda) may have been picking up what he (John Mitchell) was going through,? she said. ?There is such a thing as empathy, which is picking up on what they were going through and what was causing them pain.?
Whitlatch agreed, saying he spoke with Mitchell again before the crew collected their equipment and left at about 8 p.m.
?I asked him if he meant harm,? Whitlatch said. ?And he said, ?No.? He said he does not mean harm to (the family living on the property near the abandoned home).?
The 10 ghost hunters made a pit stop at the Exxon gas station off State Highway 59 before making their way to Shadyvale Cemetery, the location where Whitlatch experienced his first ghost hunt in October. Traveling down the dirt trail toward the open cemetery, dust kicked up into the air and was illuminated by the headlights of the traveling vehicles. The swirling dust created a misty fog leading them towards the location where they found what they consider to be a ?full-body apparition.?
Another psychic, Tamatha Williams of Redwater, Texas, snapped a picture of a tombstone for a stillborn infant named Timmy Yancey, who died on October 14, 1966. When Williams inspected her picture, she found what appeared to be a hazy white image sitting on top of Timmy?s tombstone.
Williams announced to others in the group that she captured an image of a ?full-body apparition.? About half the members of the group abandoned their activities and quickly surrounded her, eager to see the image and judge for themselves. The group?s verdict was favorable and unanimous.
?I was walking and I felt something,? Williams said. ?When I catch a full ghost, that is what really grabs me. I was just feeling drawn. Something was drawing me to him.?
A couple of the ghost hunters shot their own pictures of Timmy?s tomb with hopes of replicating William?s results. However, only Williams can boast of capturing what appeared to the group to be a full-body apparition that night.
Sharon Howe, founder of Texarkana Paranormal Investigators club, said it takes a lot of energy for apparitions to appear in the form of a human figure.
?When they project a body, it is for us. They appear to us as we would recognize them for our benefit,? she said.
Christi Faulknor said she did not want to visit the next destination, a place the group referred to as Buchannan Cemetery, located off Highway 67. She said she had a bad feeling about the place and chose to stay in the car. Other members of the group snapped pictures in the dark with their digital cameras. Howe said the Ku Klux Klan and other cults desecrated the area in the past by performing unholy rituals on the sacred ground. Howe said those actions may have contributed to the agitated and less than welcoming spirits in the cemetery.
Within a few minutes, the other two psychics in the group, as well as a few members without paranormal abilities, said they were getting negative vibes from the area. Long said she was feeling ?apprehensive anxiety? and told the rest of the group to hurry back to their vehicles.
?We need to leave now,? she said. ?We are getting too many negative impressions. Kevin, Christi and I felt something circling us.?
Long said she felt a ?suppressive feeling like you can?t breathe? while her daughter, Tamatha, said she started feeling nauseous shortly after crossing through the gate and into the cemetery.
The members of the TPI club got back into their respective vehicles and high-tailed it out of the cemetery. Whitlatch said he picked up an extra passenger in his red Ford Ranger pickup. Less than 10 minutes after leaving the second cemetery, Whitlatch veered hard left into the front parking lot of a warehouse adjacent to a Liberty-Eylau Volunteer Fire Department station.
The driver-side flew open and Whitlatch popped out of his vehicle like a man possessed. He shook his entire body like an epileptic man enduring vertical convulsions. The remaining members of the paranormal investigators group pulled over to the side of the road to see if their friend was all right. The Faulknors and Powells had opted to end their night of investigating following their encounter at Buchannan Cemetery.
After Whitlatch calmed himself down, he lit a cigarette and explained his situation.
?I felt a presence ... like there was someone in my truck other than me,? he said later. ?I wanted to get out of that damn truck. I felt like I had creepy-crawly stuff on my back.?
A couple of the ghost hunters started snapping pictures of his pickup, trying to capture an image of Whitlatch?s alleged guest, while Howe actually jumped into Whitlatch?s pickup truck. She later said she did not make contact with any presence, though she did not discount Whitlatch?s assessment.
?You just get that weird feeling. I was scared. I was shaking,? Whitlatch said. ?I never felt like that (while) doing this stuff,? Whitlatch said. ?My heart is just pounding. I don?t think it (the presence) was hostile. It was just kind of like, ?Hey, I?m here with you.?
?This was the worst experience I?ve ever had.?
Tamatha Williams heard Whitlatch?s comment regarding his evaluation of the experience.
?No, this is the best experience you?ve ever had,? she said.
Everyone in the group, including Whitlatch, broke out laughing over her correction. The remaining participants of the group then gathered to decide their next destination. Whitlatch?s phone rang and he answered it. When the call was completed, Whitlatch informed the group that duty called and he had to go to work. They made plans to contact each other Saturday before their Sunday meeting.
The Texarkana Paranormal Investigators monthly meeting is at 7 p.m. today at Books-A-Million. Whitlatch said anyone interested in learning more about investigating paranormal activities in Texarkana is welcome to attend the meeting.
Source: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/article ... news01.txt
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