Excerpt from Chasing Shadows

By Larry Wilson

Laughter in the Mess Hall of Kemper Military School

(Kemper Military School has been the location used to film several movies, including Childs Play 3 from the series of movies about Chucky the possessed doll !)

 

 

Paul and the two team members from St. Louis decided to set up our base for the investigation in the old mess hall of the barracks. While they were doing this, Gary and I started setting up surveillance cameras in the kitchen and a stairwell that led up to the second floor. The kitchen was in a separate room from the mess hall, and where we were setting up, was only seventy-five to one hundred feet away from where the other team members were setting up base camp.

After about 30 minutes, as Gary and I were finishing setting up the cameras in the kitchen, we heard a woman’s voice coming from the mess hall. She was talking loudly and laughing. I said to Gary, “Who’s the woman that Paul and the guys are talking to? Did the lady from the city come back already?” “I don’t know,” Gary replied, “but I wonder what’s so funny.”

Then I said, jokingly, “I don’t know, Gary, but it’s just like Paul to find a girl and hold out on us so he can have all the fun!”

Gary replied, “Let’s finish setting up this last camera then go see who is here. We need to tell them to tone it down so our video cameras don’t pick up their conversations.”

Gary and I finished setting up the cameras and then headed back to the mess hall to see who the lady was. When we walked into the hall, Paul and the two investigators were setting up equipment on a table, but no one else was in the room. I asked Paul, if the lady from the city had come back?” “No,” he replied, “why?”

“Well,” Gary demanded, “who was the girl that you guys were talking to and what was so funny?”

“There has been no one else here but the three of us,” Paul replied. “Why do you think there was a girl here?”

We explained that both Gary and I had clearly heard a conversation and the laughter of a woman that seemed to be coming from the mess hall. Her voice was loud and she seemed to be having fun. Paul again assured us that no one else was there but the five of us and that they had not heard the voice or laughter of a woman. Unfortunately, at the time Gary and I heard the voice, our equipment was not recording yet because we were still setting up. Due to this occurrence, and so as to not miss out on possible evidence again, I now turn on a recorder and carry it with me as soon as I enter a location.

Gary and I wonder if we had heard the voice of the female who was murdered in the kitchen at the hands of her former boyfriend. I mean, who else would haunt this area of the building and why? The woman’s voice was definitely one of the weirdest experiences that I have had as a paranormal investigator. It would have been one thing if I was the only one to hear the voice, but it is quite another when you have a witness who heard the same thing!

Read this and more in Chasing Shadows by Paranormal Investigator Author ~ Larry Wilson

 

From Author ~ Larry Wilson

Excerpt from 

"Dark Shadows and Creepy Places"

 

The Thrill at the Hill

2012 Investigation at Ridge Cemetery

(Tower Hill, Illinois)

After we finished the SB-7 box session, I decided, I would move one of my audio recorders to a different part of the cemetery. While Bondsy, Sarah and Tunamelt, remained near the grave of the young man, I walked back toward the big oak tree in the center of the cemetery. Approximately twenty yards past the tree, there is a clearing where there are no headstones. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out, why no one was buried in this spot, since it seemed to be the perfect location in the cemetery to bury someone. 

On one occasion, I spoke to one of the locals who live at Williamsburg Hill; and he told me that Native Americans are buried in this particular spot.  He told me that the Native Americans, used stones to cover the graves, and that over the years; soil caused by erosion had covered the stones.

Even before I knew that the Native Americans were buried in this spot, there seemed to be something unusual or different about this area of the cemetery. At times it is much cooler in this part of the cemetery than others, and occasionally I have had a feeling that someone is there, that I am being watched, even when I was alone.

After walking across the cemetery to where the Native Americans are buried, I placed the audio recorder near a grave marker, located just a couple of feet from the Native American graves. After I placed the recorder, I returned to the group to continue the investigation. Nothing unusual happened in this spot during the investigation, with the KISS FM radio team, but when I reviewed the audio from the recorder, I had recorded one of the coolest and in my opinion, one of the most pertinent pieces of evidence that offers validation of spirit activity, based on knowing that part of the heritage of the population of the graveyard is Native American.

When I reviewed my audio from the recorder, which I had placed near the graves of the Native Americans, I had recorded a very clear EVP. The EVP was not just you standard disembodied voice, but the voice sounded like Native American chanting. What I recorded phonetically sounds like “Ye-ya-he-he.” It is definitely some type of a chant or singing.

Its evidence like this that has kept me coming back over the years, evidence of what the supernatural has to offer! To me, when an audio recorder is placed next to the graves of Native Americans, and you record what sounds like Native American chanting or singing, it's hard to dispute that it evidence of the supernatural! There was no place nearby, where this chanting could have been coming from.

Earlier, I mentioned, how I wanted to try an experiment with the girls at the grave site of the young man! So after we finished with the box session, Sarah happened to be walking by the grave. I asked her to stop, and told her that I wanted to try something. I asked her to simply stand there and then tell me how she felt.  After a few moments, she said that she didn’t feel anything!

Then I asked Tunamelt, to stand next to the grave!  Immediately, she said. “I don’t know what it is, but I’m doing all I can do to keep from crying!” Bondsy in disbelief, looked at me and said, “No way!” You had to of told her!” “No I didn’t!” I responded. I hadn’t met Tuna until tonight and hadn’t said anything to either her or Sarah.

So why was Tuna affected by the grave like the other two ladies had been and Sarah not affected at all! Bondsy and I later talked about this, and I agreed with his assessment, that Sarah was so worried about what else might be out there lurking in the woods such as wild animals or someone looking for a seclude location to make a drug deal, that she wouldn’t have notice anything, anyway! 

Read this and more from Author Larry Wilson's latest book Dark Shadows and Creepy Places coming soon!

Spring Street Haunting

From Echoes from the Grave
by Larry Wilson

It was on December 30, 2011, that I was contacted through email by a good friend of mine named Janice Hibbert. Her email simply said, “My daughter needs help with stuff going on in her house, can you call me?”

She listed her phone number in the email for me to contact her, so I immediately called her back. I have known Janice for over fifteen years, as we both work together at the Illinois State Board of Education, but I also know her through our likeminded interest in the field of paranormal research.

Janice is a very knowledgeable and respected paranormal investigator in her own right, and has investigated many locations herself in the Central Illinois area. Since her family was involved, Janice wanted an independent investigator not emotionally connected with the family to look into the strange happenings at the house, so she contacted me.

Janice explained to me that her daughter Hannah and Hannah’s boyfriend Sam had moved into a two story white rental house along South Spring Street in Springfield, Illinois on November 1, 2011.

The house is located in a lower middle class neighborhood in the south central part of Springfield that is made up of a mixture of both owner and tenant occupied homes. This particular house is divided into two apartments, an upstairs unit that is occupied by an older gentleman who likes to listen to jazz music and who is also known to consume more than his share of alcohol. The downstairs apartment is where Hannah and Sam lived.

On several occasions after moving into the house, Hannah and Sam experienced very uncomfortable and odd feelings. They felt like they were being watched and were not alone in the house. On one particular occasion, as she was putting some things away in a closet near the front of the apartment, Hannah thought she heard a voice coming from inside the closet. She shrugged it off as her imagination or possibly just someone walking past the house on the side walk to the front of the apartment.

The uneasy feelings of being watched and that some unseen force was present continued, so Hannah contacted her mother and explained to her what was going on. Janice told me that she too had a similar uneasy feeling in the house both in the bedroom and the basement areas, and especially in an old storage room in the basement…

Investigation Tonight

 

All night investigation tonight at what is reported to be an active cemetery located in North Central, Illinois. An update with details will follow later this weekend.

 

Follow on twitter  Lwilson_UP

 

 

Elkhart Cemetery - Elkhart, Illinois

From Echoes from the Grave 
by Larry Wilson 

Elkhart Cemetery is the final resting place of Richard J. Ogelsby, the fourteenth Governor of the State of Illinois. It is located in Logan County approximately nineteen miles from the state capitol of Springfield. A place that I will never forget as long as I live.

Oglesby served as the Governor of Illinois between 1865 and 1869. After his first term ended, he practiced law until 1872. He again ran for, and was elected Governor. As it turned out, this was only a ploy and after the inauguration Oglesby turned the office of Governor over to his lieutenant governor in return for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

He served as a Senator until 1878. In 1884, he was reelected governor for the third time, and was the first man in Illinois history to serve three times as governor. Governor Oglesby retired and died at his estate in Elkhart and was buried in Elkhart Cemetery.

Over the years, I had heard the eerie stories about the deceased wife of Governor Ogelsby, seen by many, visiting her husband’s grave. As the story goes, the ghost of Mrs. Oglesby is seen sitting outside of her husband’s tomb. Shortly thereafter, a group of Native American Indian ghosts approach and chase her off and over a bridge leading to a nearby road.

If one legend was not enough for a cemetery, Elkhart Cemetery has a second legend. There is a timber at the edge of the cemetery in which a fence separates the cemetery property from the forested area. Just over the fence is a path.

Legend has it, that if you explore up the path, you will hear voices, footsteps, see black apparitions, and feel like you are being watched and followed. At the top of the hill, the path branches and splits so you have to choose which way to go. According to the legend, if you choose the wrong direction, you will not make it back.

I went to the Elkhart Cemetery in June of 2010 with the intent of finding out if the legends where true, especially the legend of the Native Americans chasing the spirit of Mrs. Ogelsby out of the graveyard. I was hoping to get a glimpse of this event, as many say they have witnessed it!

Read about the phantom that Wilson witnessed at Elkhart Cemetery, in the summer of 2012, as well as how batteries on four separate pieces of equipment drained simultaneously , while recording at the graveside of a former practicing warlock.

Second Addition- Huntzman Publishing

Rockcliffe Mansion Hannibal, Missouru

Excerpt from Chasing Shadows

Rockcliffe Mansion, was built in 1900 by wealthy lumber baron John Cruikshank. Cruikshank wanted a house that would showcase the finest woods and furnishings that money could buy. The mansion was built using the finest Walnut, Oak, and Mahogany available at the time. The exterior of the building is of double brick construction. Once inside, you will find most of the original furnishings used by the Cruikshank family.

The family consisted of John, his wife, and four daughters. They lived in the mansion along with their butler until the death of John Cruikshank in 1924. After his death, the mansion was left vacant for over 40 years.

It was weeks away from being torn down, when a local group got together at the last minute, purchased the old mansion, and restored it to original form. Today, tours are conducted at Rockcliffe,  and it is also a seasonal bed and breakfast. The mansion is enormous, spanning 13,300 square feet, including nine bedrooms and seven bathrooms.

Rockcliffe Mansion is said to be haunted by the Ghost of John Cruikshank, his wife, four children, and some say their butler. The owner of the mansion, at the time of our investigation claimed that he once saw a 5-foot, 4-inch impression of a figure in the bed sheets in one of the beds. Many guests claim to smell cigar smoke, which guest smell, in one of the rooms in which Mark Twain once stayed. Twain gave his last speech in Hannibal in 1902 and stood on the third step of the mansions main staircase, as he addressed some three hundred invited guests.

There are reports of camera crews who have come to film events at the mansion, and the batteries will go dead and their cameras will malfunction.

On the day of our investigation, Gary and I arrived at the mansion at 2:00pm. Paul arrived a short time later. The plan was for Paul to start conducting interviews and videotaping eyewitness accounts of people who had experienced paranormal activity at the mansion. Paul had also advertised for several people to attend the investigation who were interested in ghosts and hauntings, but had never been on a ghost hunt. The reason for this was so that he could film their candid reactions to any activity that may occur during our investigation. Over forty people applied for the opportunity to attend and Paul selected three of them. They were due to arrive between 5:30 and 6:00pm.

While Paul was busy setting up for the interviews, Gary gave me a quick tour of the mansion. As we were walking around, we were stopped by a young lady who works there. She wanted to let us know that she was leaving but would be back a little before 7:00 p.m. to finish setting up decorations in the basement. From 8:00 p.m. until 10:00p.m., she was hosting a small bachelorette party for a close friend of hers, and she stressed that they would keep the noise down because she knew we were conducting an investigation. Gary let her know that this would not be a problem as we would investigate the basement after the party was over. Actually, the mansion is so massive, we didn't even hear the party as it was going on.

The young lady told us about an experience she had only a few weeks before. She was working in the mansion one evening and was sitting at a desk near the main entrance. “Of course", "It was raining outside", she laughed. The doors were locked and she was alone in the mansion. Suddenly, she heard footsteps directly above her. She thought, “You didn’t hear that,” trying to convince herself that she only imagined hearing the noise. Moments later, she heard the footsteps again, and a few minutes after that she heard the footsteps a third time. The third time, she stood up and walked to the foot of the staircase and yelled upstairs, “If you are trying to scare me you are not doing a very good job!” After confronting the noise, it stopped.

Read about this investigation and more in Chasing Shadows by Larry Wilson

Excerpt From Chasing Shadows by Larry Wilson

 

Located in the heart of Illinois, the city of Springfield serves as the hub of the state’s political activity. In 1839, Springfield became the state capital with the help of a young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln.
Many believe that some of the citizens from these bygone days still roam the streets and buildings of Springfield; citizens of a more spectral nature, who appear out of nowhere,haunting those whose paths they cross. The Legacy Theater, located at 101 East Lawrence Street, is such a place.

Housed in an unassuming location, the quaint and friendly atmosphere of the theater gives you the feeling that you have taken a step back in time. Located not far from the State Capitol Complex, the Springfield Theatre Center (as it was formerly called), was the venue used to host performances for the Springfield Theatre Guild.
On November 8, 1951, the Theatre Center opened its doors with a performance of the Broadway show Born Yesterday.

The Center received numerous congratulatory telegrams from many famous celebrities, such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Broderick Crawford.

One of the members of the Theatre Guild was an actor named Joe Neville. According to some, Joe was a little odd and at times arrogant. Some of the other cast and crew were not fond of him. Joe also had a mysterious side to him as well. It was rumored that he previously acted in England under a different name, but being a talented and dedicated actor, his past was overlooked by his fellow actors.

In 1955, Joe was given the lead role in the play, Mr.Barry’s Etchings. But,things were not as they seemed. After a dress rehearsal for the opening of the play, Joe returned home and committed suicide by overdosing on pills.

Never performing in the show, it was later determined that the reason Joe ended his life was due to an audit at his place of employment. Funds had been misappropriated and Joe was the likely suspect.
But as they say “the show must go on!” After Joe’s death, his role was assigned to another actor only one day before the show was set to open.

Even after his death, many of those who frequent the Legacy believe that Joe’s spirit continues to linger inside the theater. Reports of paranormal activity began almost immediately following Joe’s demise and continue to this day. Actors and stage crew have reported strange sounds (such as doors opening and closing on their own), lights turning off and on without reason, and costumes and tools that disappeared only to be found later folded or placed in places which had been previously searched.

Many claim to have seen Joe’s spirit wandering the Theatre Center prior to the opening of a new show. Joe was known to use large amounts of Noxzema cream for a skin condition on his legs, so whenever Joe was around, the pungent odor would annoy many of the other actors and staff. After Joe’s death in 1955, the use of Noxzema cream was banned from the theater. Some still claim to smell the odor of Noxzema in the old dressing room…

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N71PTS2

Copyright 2014 Huntzman Enterprises.

 

 

KEMPER MILITARY SCHOOL

From Chasing Shadows by Larry Wilson.

Located between St. Louis and Kansas City is one of the most interesting places that I have ever investigated, Kemper Military School in Booneville, Missouri.

The institution, originally known as a “Boonville Boarding School,” was built in 1845 by Frederick T. Kemper and became a co-ed institute in 1862, when was renamed Kemper Military School. At one time, Kemper was the oldest boys’ school west of the Mississippi River, until it officially closed in 2002.

Kemper Military School was the original choice for the location of several films, including National Lampoon’s Animal House and Taps, but the school turned down both offers. It has been used as the setting for a number of other movies, including Combat Academy (a very low-quality takeoff on Police Academy) and Child’s Play III. During the filming of Child’s Play III, some cadets and instructors served as extras.

In September and October 2007, Kemper’s abandoned campus was used for location shots for the movie Saving Grace, which is about a little girl’s trip back to Boonville in the summer of 1951, the year of the great Missouri River flood. Many downtown Boonville buildings were also used for filming, with Kemper the setting for an asylum. The movie, released in 2008, was directed by Connie Stevens and stared Penelope Ann Miller and Tatum O’Neal.

The first investigation in which I was involved there took place in September of 2007 and we were not able to do a follow up investigation until December of that year due to the filming of Saving Grace.

I became familiar with the academy when Paul Robinson and Gary Hawkins asked me to help with the filming of a paranormal documentary about the haunting and things that went on there.

Over the years, many have reportedly seen the ghost of a female cadet jogging around the track, but she seems to disappear when she nears the location where she was killed. According to legend, the girl had broken up with her boyfriend, but he talked her into going for a walk with him. During the walk, he raped and killed her near a bridge located on campus. People driving by have claimed to see the girl walking and then vanish without a trace.

D Barracks is reportedly the most haunted building on campus. Stories have been told about the fourth floor, in which a figure is seen standing in window at night. The fourth floor was closed to students and when I asked a former cadet the reason why, he told me because no one could stay up there. He said there was something about the floor that made visitors feel uncomfortable and even scared.

People also claim to hear footsteps in C Barracks. Several years ago, while the barracks was being refurbished, construction workers reported hearing phantom footsteps. When they investigated, however, no footprints were found even though there was sawdust and dirt on the floor from the construction…

Read about the Kemper Military School  investigation and other in Chasing Shadows by author paranormal investigator ~ Larry Wilson

Dark Shadows and Creepy Places

Excerpt from Larry Wilson's forth coming book

Dark Shadows and Creepy Places

 When I began investigating the paranormal, I was warned, by a psychic medium, to make sure that investigating the supernatural was something that I really wanted to risk doing.

 I was told that the more I investigate and delve into things that are supernatural in nature, the wider the door to the other-side would open, and I would see and experience things that I may not want to see, and that I wouldn't understand!

I was also told, that "I wouldn't have to go looking for these things", that "they would come to me". Well, my psychic friend was right! She also explained that once the door is opened, it may not be as easy to close as it was to open in the first place. So far, she has been right on all accounts!

There are so many strange and unexplained mysteries that are reported around our planet on a daily basis. Things so bizarre, that even if we read about them in a Stephen King novel, we would all shake our heads in disbelief. I had one such experience, in the spring of  2009, while in Arizona. If you remember the old TV series, The Twilight Zone, you'll remember host Rod Serling's great opening monologue, which is so fitting to what I am about to share with you. So much so, that I believe that I had my own experience with the  real "Twilight Zone!"

"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone."- ROD SERLING

My wife and I were in Arizona, to watch my son Cory, play baseball for his college team. We were in Chandler Arizona, and the incident I am about to describe, occurred on the morning that we were leaving to return home. It was early, around 5:30 a.m.. I had just pulled into a very large gas station, with many kiosk and fuel pumps to fill up with gas. 

Pulling up to the island closest to the convenience store on the premisses, I parked on the right hand side of the kiosk. Stepping out of our vehicle, I pulled opened the door to the fuel compartment which was located on the drivers side of our SUV. I opened the door, and removed the gas cap, then placed the nozzle from the pump in the fuel tank. 

After doing this, I turned and pressed the appropriate buttons on the keypad on the fuel pump to start fueling my vehicle.  I noticed an older Cadillac pull up on the opposite side of the kiosk, and stop one pump ahead of the pump I was using. So the Cadillac, was on the left side of the kiosk that I was parked by, but one pump further up. I watched as the drivers door of the Cadillac swung open. I saw a very young,  attractive lady, who I estimate to be in her late twenties, step out of the car. She was thin, and very tall. Her hair was very long, and beautiful. It was a shinny black in color. She had a dark  complexion and I surmised that she might be Native American. The girl now out of her car, swung the drivers side door closed.  She caught my attention for two very good reasons. One, it was a very cool or what some would call a cold morning for Arizona. I know the  temperature was fifty-nine degrees, because I had checked the temperature on the dashboard of our vehicle just before I had exited it. The lady was wearing a very skimpy denim two-piece bathing suit, which didn’t seem appropriate for the cool morning temperature, but looked very attractive on her. The second and most obvious reason that I noticed the young lady, was that she was drop dead gorgeous!  After she slammed the door of the Cadillac shut, she hopped up on the kiosk, took one step, hopped down off of the kiosk, then jogged approximately fifteen yards into the convenience store. I distinctly remember watching the door of the vehicle slam shut immediately after she exited it. That I am one-hundred percent positive of!

At this point, I turned around and checked the nozzle that I had placed in the fuel tank, to make sure that it was securely in the tank. This took maybe three or four seconds at the most. I turned back around, and as I did this, I noticed the drivers door of the Cadillac swing open again, just like it had done moments before! I watched and saw the same young lady,  wearing the same skimpy denim two piece bathing suit,  with a beautiful dark completion, long shinny black hair, step out of the car, swing the door closed again, hop up on the kiosk, take a step, hop down off the kiosk, then jog the fifteen yards into the convenience store. I again watched as the door close behind her. 

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Witnessing this, caused me to shake my head in disbelief. So I quickly finished pumping the gas, and hurried into the convenience store, to see if possibly the lady had a twin sister, who for some reason, may have exited the vehicle from the drivers side. 

As I walked into the convenience, and as you can imagine, the lady was easy to spot.  She was selecting some food items, from the pastry isle, but was alone. I made a point to walk around the store, to check for her possible identical twin, but there was no one else in the store that even remotely looked like the girl. I paid for my fuel, then returned to my vehicle.

When I got in,  I asked my wife if she had seen the girl that was in the Cadillac? Kathy immediately said that she did and mentioned how she must be freezing in the outfit that she was wearing! I agreed, then asked her, how many times, she saw the lady get out of the car and enter the store. “Once” she exclaimed! Then Kathy asked me why. I explained what I had seen, and Kathy again reiterated that she had only seen the lady go in once. 

We waited and watched as the lady come out of the store, and when she did, she came out alone. As she pulled away from the station, I could see that she was the only person in the car!

So, what did I see, and was I suppose to see it?  Were the stranger and I some how spiritually or supernaturally connected to the point, that I knew what she was going to do, before she did it? Was there a time slip, that I somehow, became entangled in? It didn’t seem to be the  classic case of Déjà vu in which, a person, has the strong sensation that an event or experience being experienced has been experienced before, whether it has actually happened or not, because I had just witnessed this particular event two times in a matter of moments! Did I possibly catch the proverbial fork in the road in this ladies free will and saw both of her decisions? If that was the case, then did I see the alternative choice, turn into a parallel reality. 

Even if my conclusion or theory is wrong, the even bigger question that I have had since I witnessed the event in 2009, is! If this is a case of witnessing a doppelganger, where did either the first or second person that I witnessed go? Plus, when I went inside the convenience store, which lady did I see? The first, or the second lady!

Larry Wilson's third release... DARK SHADOWS AND CREEPY PLACES-Coming soon!