Looking for ghost at the Fresno County Central Library

This last Friday night I had the privilege to have the chance to do a ghost hunt at the Fresno County Central Library in downtown Fresno. This was one of the events that the library was putting on for the Halloween season and the investigation was lead by several members of Central California Paranormal Investigators. There were about fifty people that showed up to the library at 7:00 and after a brief overview of what to do on an investigation, the group was broken up into three smaller groups of about 17 per group. I decided to go with the group that had my friend Jen leading it as she’s sensitive to things and have always had good luck when I’ve investigated with her.

We started on the first floor and decided to go to the children’s section as Jen had felt something there. An EVP session was started as she wanted to show the group how one was done. I shot a few photos at this time as well as did some video of the rest of the first floor. At this time we ran across one of the night custodians, Jackie, who said she works alone. She has felt a presence there several times and said she even saw books flying off shelf (ala Ghostbusters).

After that I decided to wander off on my own and went near the front entrance when I felt a strange presence. As I’ve said in the past I’m not sensitive in the least, but was feeling pressure on my chest. And in the past when I would feel that, it usually meant something was near. I went and grabbed Jen and she said she felt the same thing. We did a bit of EVP there, but to my knowledge nothing was heard.

We next went to the second floor. Here we were told that one of the employees had recently passed away after working at the library for several decades. His former co-workers felt he was still around, though to be honest I don’t know how valid this was. I was told this from one of our group guides who had heard it from someone else. Still, while taking some photos I heard something being moved or knocked over in the distance. Upon investigating the noise, I felt the same heavy presence I had felt on the first floor. Now I’m not saying this could be the same thing, but still interesting.

I was able to wander off again and shot some more video. Unfortunately I was “scolded” for going off on my own. So I had to join the group again. Which is fine since we were headed to the basement and I had heard there was a bomb shelter down there in case Fresno was nuked (who knew it was a target?).

I was excited to be heading to the basement. The idea of a Cold War era bomb shelter was just too good to pass up. Plus this is where some of the archives are kept.

I’ll be honest, when we got down there I was a bit disappointed. It was well lit (mostly) and didn’t seem as spooky as I had hoped. Still I shot a bit of video, though I had to stay near the group as I didn’t feel like getting reprimanded again.

After that we headed towards where the bomb shelter was at. Now here’s where it got creepy. Long hallway barely lit and the air was very heavy. Here one of the devices that measures the electromagnetic field starting going off. Some thought it was a ghost, but I personally believe it was due to being near so much electrical equipment.

After that all three groups met back to discuss what they had seen, if anything. Most agreed that the large number of people made it hard to investigate fully, but all had fun. And that was what this investigation was really about, just having fun and showing people who never had been looking for ghosts what it’s like.

Want to go ghost hunting with Weird Fresno?

For a while I've talked about some of the places in the Fresno area that are rumored to be haunted and what, if any, experiences I have had at them. Also I've mentioned some of the techniques and equipment that one could use to get started. Well now I'm going to be offering something else to anyone who is interested in the paranormal. A chance to go ghost hunting with Weird Fresno.

While on the Dirty Dowdy podcast last week, Chris Dowdy had mentioned how he want to check out a local haunt and possibly bring a few listeners along and record it for a future podcast. I talked to him last night and he said it was definitely going to happen and asked for me to post something.

A date has not been worked out yet as he's trying to get a psychic to go along with us, but we are planning are taking a trip to Channel Road one night this month and see if we can see the ghost of the mother that lost her children wandering up and down the road. Both Chris and I will be recording for future podcasts, so whoever goes has to be ok with this.

Later today at the 4:00 hour, Chris will be on New Rock 104.1. He will go into detail on what's going to occur. Listen then to find out how you can join us as we investigate Channel Road.

Weird Fresno on the Dirty Dowdy podcast

About a year ago I was on a local internet broadcast called the Dirty Dowdy Podcast. The creator of the show, Chris Dowdy, called me at the beginning of the month and asked me if I would like to do a show before Halloween to promote Weird Fresno. Me, being the ever attention whore I am, readily agreed.

I was the first guest on the show and was able to talk about some local ghost stories and favorite horror movies. Best part for me though was bringing up all the crap they gave me for predicting the Giants would be in the World Series and how the Giants are now in it.

We also talked about doing a live broadcast from a haunted location in the Fresno area. Still working out the details, but when I find out more info I'll mention it via Twitter and here.

Direct link to the podcast can be found here.

I also have to mention the guests that were on after me. They were a local band named From the Fallen and they kicked some serious ass. Love their sound, nice guitar crunch just the way I like it. I know this isn't a music review site, but I had to mention them. I downloaded their album off iTunes and it was definitely worth it. You can find their site here.

More strange lights seen over Clovis

In the early morning hours of October 13, 2010 a witness reported to MUFON that they saw a strange light in the sky. Upon first seeing it, they assumed it was nothing more than a star when it began to flash colors as well as changing in intensity. It then began moving in an erratic motion (the witness reported it to be a zig zag like motion).

Recovering from the initial shock, they went in and woke up their roommate who also witnessed the object. After watching the object for almost an hour, a second one appeared. At that time the witness reports that they called the Fresno airport to see if they were seeing the same thing. They state that the two officers in the tower did admit they saw something but didn’t report it as they felt it wasn’t threatening, so they didn’t report it.

They two witnesses watched it for another hour and at around 3:45 when the first witness called KMPH Fox 26. They spoke with a reporter, but for some reason they didn’t have a camera ready. The witness goes on to state that they contacted MUFON the next day and also found out that a police officer had seen the same thing (there was no record of this report, so I’m not sure how valid this claim is).

Its hard to say what this person saw, but I do find it curious that both the officials at the airport and the reporter at KMPH didn’t take this too seriously. I can almost understand why the airport would say they don’t think it’s serious as they would want to downplay the sighting. But I can’t figure out why 26 didn’t act more on this. The excuse of not having a camera ready doesn’t seem plausible for a television station. Either they were taking the sighting seriously (which could be possible) or they were told not to. As I don’t want to seem the conspiracy theorist, I will opt more for the first option. Though you think they could have given a better response than the half assed one they did.

Still I may have call them and see if I can find out anything more.

MUFON report: Went out for a late night cigarette and saw them!

I am fascinated by space and the stars so when I am outside at night I always look up. Well as I lit my cigarette in the backyard of my house in Clovis, and began to gaze up, I noticed a star-like object in the sky as I looked to the south east. It was flashing many different colors. (red, green, blue, purple, white) Not only was it flashing colors, but it was pulsing, dimmer, brigter, dimmer, really bright, dimmer etc. At this point I knew I was definately not looking at a star or any type of airplane or helicopter. Then I saw it do something I will never forget, it moved! It didn't just move it zig zaged down, and then shot up at a fairly rapid pace. I don't know of any man made aircraft which can hover, stop, and instantly change direction. It also could go from a very high rate of speed to a complete stand still. When I got over the intial shock, I ran inside and woke up my roommate *(Name deleted--CMS/sg). I was so excited I yelled and shook him rather hard. When he woke up he was terrified and upset that I woke him up so abruptly when he had school early in the morning. After he heard what I was yelling at him we both ran back out in the backyard. He even noticed the object moving and changing color without his glasses and turned right back around to run in and get them and a pair of binoculars. I stayed to keep an eye on it and he came running back out and was even more shocked when he saw it with his glasses. We both took turns using the binoculars for about 45 minutes and that's when we spotted the second one. It was more to the east than the first one we noticed. It was doing the exact same thing; pulsing, changing color, and making very erratic movements. However, this object seemed to be higher up. At about this time I had *(Name deleted--CMS/sg) go get the Fresno Air Terminal Security phone number. I called and spoke with a young man named **(Name deleted--CMS/sg) who said he could't get outside to see but he would phone the tower. The two officers in the tower did admit they had seen some strange blue/green lights, but they did not think they were threatening so they didn't investigate further. *(Name deleted--CMS/sg) had to go to bed because he had school so early. I continued to watch as I proceeded to call anyone and everyone of my friends and family to try and wake them up so they could see. Unfortunately, nobody woke up and my webcam wasn't good enough to see anything on. I continued to watch for another hour then called Fox 26 newsroom at 3:45 or 4am and spoke with a young lady. I was hoping they would have a camera handy, they did not. (I found that hilarious) About this time I noticed something even more shocking, I could see many more that were farther away (not higher). In total, I counted at least 9 or 10 different objects. The next day I contacted MUFON and learned a local police officer had reported seeing the same thing! I felt so validated when I heard that, and that made up for all the crazy looks I'm gonna get telling this story. This was the most incredible night of my life, and I will definately never ever forget it. I know some people I talked to last night and today might not have completely believed me, but both (Name deleted--CMS/dr) and I know what we saw and we will tell anyone who will listen! We have a video camera tonight so bring it on! (I am currently working on a sketch)

Top 5 movies that scare the hell out of me

Since this is the last week before Halloween it seems that there’s an abundance of horror movies showing. AMC has been airing classic horror movies all week and the 1,298th installment of Saw is about to hit theaters. So that got me thinking, what horror movies scare me? I love a good horror movie, but it takes a lot to scare me. So I thought about it for a while and came up with the top five movies that scared the crap out of me.

Number 5 – The Shining

Stanley Kubrick already does some nutty ass movies (2001, Clockwork Orange anyone), but team him up with a Stephen King novel and you got some good ‘ol fashion nightmare fuel. Now I know Kubrick didn’t stay faithful to the novel, but still it scared the hell out of me. Maybe because the first time I watched it, it was 3:00 am and I was home alone and couldn’t sleep. Why I thought watching this would help me get to sleep I have no clue. I jumped when I saw the elevator of blood, but even though I knew about the twins, nothing could prepare me for the sheer terror that is the twins.

Yeah after that I had no desire to sleep. I blame this movie for the genesis of my fear of twin little girls.

Number 4 – Signs

Ok I know this isn’t really a horror movie, and some people (like 98% of the population) consider M. Night Shyamalan a hack, but I love this movie. Mostly because it plays among one of my paranormal fears, aliens. This was different than most alien invasion movies as it focused mainly on a single family amidst a global event. When I saw this opening night I was tense, I didn’t know what Shyamalan was going to do, but I knew it involved aliens and I had already psyched myself up to be scared. I know people hate the ending, but I enjoyed it (probably that whole faith thing), but the part that really got me was this scene.

To me this is the perfect scene. You really aren’t sure what is going on, the birthday party video is chaotic, and you have Joaquin Phoenix interjecting a bit of humor with his “Move children! Vamanos!” line (even funnier since the kids were Brazilian and most likely spoke Portuguese). Right after that is the money shot, the first glimpse of the alien. And the score adds the perfect touch. From what I read they were going for a Hitchcock Psycho feeling. Well they sure in the hell got it. When I saw this, I was so on edge that when the alien finally did appear the entire audience gasped, but not me. I yelled out “Oh shit!” that’s how freaked out I was.

Number 3 – War of the Worlds (1953)

Let me just say this. I hate the remake of this film. It sucked ass and I was routing for the Martians to get Dakota Fanning. And I know it’s not a horror movie, but it’s another that scared the living piss out of me. This time I was six years old and couldn’t sleep. So my mom said I could watch TV, thinking that would get me to go to sleep. Well the thing she turned on was KMPH 26 (way before it was affiliated with FOX) and the original War of the Worlds was on. So I started to watch it. And get freaked out. Hearing that California was being invaded (and destroyed) terrified me to no end. I didn’t watch the movie for a good ten years or so and even when I finally did, the memories still had me terrified when I saw it again.

Detecting a theme here? Yeah aliens scare the hell out of me. I was almost tempted to put Communion on here, but that would have meant me watching clips of Christopher Walken being abducted by aliens and I'm not that brave.

Number 2 – The Room

Ok this isn’t a scary movie, but has to be one of the WORST movies ever made. It makes Ed Wood look like Martin Scorsese. The director/writer/producer/lead actor (who I think is part French, part Croatian, and part cyborg) claims this movie is a black comedy, but when it was first released it was labeled as a drama. Now that it has a cult following, he says it’s a black comedy.

What’s scary about this you ask? The guy spent over $6 million of his own money to make this thing.

Number 1 – The Blair Witch Project

Blair Witch Project, love it or hate it. Me, I love it. To me this is the perfect horror movie. You have an antagonist you never really show, leaving your mind to try to fill in the blanks, and you have an ending that leaves you saying “WTF?”. But you want to know what about this movie terrified me? That it could happen to me. I wasn’t investigating yet, but I would go search out local legends and take a friend or two. Watching this with my best friend Tom and thinking this could happen to us scared the shit out of me. That and we saw it when it was still thought it was real footage (best marketing ever if you ask me).

I remember driving home at 1:00 am terrified as I lived in the country and knew something would get me. Thankfully I got home safely, but I didn’t sleep very much that night. I still say it's one of the greatest horror movies ever made. It played upon our fears in a realistic way that movies over a decade later are trying to emulate.

So that’s it. Those are the top five movies that have terrified me in one way or the other. Bit different I know, but hey since when have I followed the norms here?

Haunted attraction opens up at Sierra High School

With Halloween fast approaching, I've been asked for scary places to go? Though this place isn't haunted by any actual ghosts, it still does sound fun (and a bit creepy to be honest).

The place is called "The Farm" and is located across the street from Sierra High School up in Tollhouse. There are three seperate attractions to the The Farm and it starts off with a haunted hay ride in the Cattle Truch. From there you take a walk thru Catcher Creek. And if you are lucky enough to survive that you then have to make it through the haunted Rodeo Grounds.

Now The Farm only runs from October 28 - October 31, so get your tickets. This is the fifth year the FFA (Future Farmers of America) have put it on and I heard it's the best yet. The fun starts at 7:00 pm and tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children.

The address for Sierra High School is 33326 Lodge Road, Tollhouse, CA 93667. To get there you take Highway 168 to the stop sign at bottom of 4 Lane and continue for about another mile or so. The Farm is located at the Bert Weldon Memorial Farm, which is across the street from Sierra High School. For more information you can call Bo Hamilton at 855-8311 or e-mail sierrahauntedfarm@gmail.com.

All proceeds go to Sierra FFA, so it's for a good cause.

Win free VIP passes to the Screamup Tweetup

Halloween is nearly upon us and it looks like Weird Fresno was able to get a couple of treats early this year. The Fresno Beehive has asked me to give away a pair of free VIP passes for their Screamup Tweetup happening this Thursday, Oct. 21, at the Fright Night Scream Park in Clovis at 7:00 pm (there’s a pre-tweetup at Rio Grill at Sierra Vista Mall beginning at 5:30 pm).

In order to be entered to win you must leave a comment telling me the scariest thing that has ever happened to you. Pretty simple huh? Just make sure to leave an e-mail address so I can contact you to let you know that you won. Deadline for entries will be Wednesday, Oct. 20th at 3 p.m.

Even if you don’t win, all is not lost. For the tweetup, the folks over at the Fright Night Scream Up have a special deal going on (presumably to get more victims). Individual attractions are $5 (regularly $10) and the VIP passes, which get you into all the attractions, are $20 (regularly $35). To be able to attend the tweetup and be eligible for the deals, you must RSVP to @FresnoBeehive via Twitter to be added to the guest list. For more information, you can see the original post here.

I will definitely be there for this event. Hopefully none of the inhabitants there will try to kill me this time. But we all know they will.

UFOs seen over NYC on Oct 13 were balloons

As I had reported on Wednesday, a supposedly retired NORAD officer had predicted in his book that on Oct 13, 2010 alien spacecraft were to make themselves known by hovering over major cities throughout the planet. Unfortunately there was no such occurrence in Fresno, or for most of the planet at that. But there was something strange seen over New York City that day.

As this video shows, multiple objects were seen over the Big Apple in the mid afternoon. Were they the alien spacecraft that were promised? Unfortunately no, turns out that they were balloons that were “accidently” released by students for their teacher who had an engagement party.

According to the New York Daily News one of the student’s parents brought about forty iridescent pearl balloons to the school for language arts teacher Andrea Craparo, when a gust of wind sent several of the balloons floating away.

Experts with the National Weather Service confirmed that a wind was blowing between 5 to 10 mph at the time, which does lead credence to the balloon theory.

Both police and the FAA were receiving phone calls from concerned citizens wondering what the objects were. Police officials said they believed the objects were most likely balloons.

Then there is Stanley Fullhan, author of the book that started all of this. I have contacted his spokesperson, a Mr. Randy Kitchur, in hopes of getting a response. If I do I’ll post it here to share with everyone.

Full source: NYDailyNews.com

Written by Erica Pearson and Lukas I. Alpert