Ghosts & the Supernatural – Mendocino County’s Highway 1 to Fort Bragg is strewn with ghost barns and shuttered lumber plants, abandoned as redwood logging became illegal. In Fort Bragg, the rusty maintenance yard for the number 681 Skunk Train, which began operations in 1885, is the creepiest. Train employees who work late nights on the adjacent, newly restored and active Skunk Line claim that the ghost of C. R. Johnson, founder of the railroad, lurks in the old depot.
We were destined for Ft. Bragg and what lay ahead of us was only to be seen.
The occupant Jennifer Van Wormer gave a briefing of the activities in her flower shop. She told us the following:
1. Object manipulation. Objects being thrown around.
2. Finger imprints from an unknown source in her candle wax.
3. Footsteps heard throughout the flower shop.
4. Poundings on the walls are heard.
5. Shadow figures moving up the stairs quickly.
6. Clients have heard what they thought were people walking around and there was no one walking around.
7. Objects disappearing and never seen again.
8. Jennifer saw 30 entities one time in the main part of her flower shop.
9. Jennifer has seen facial expressions in the glass.
10. Doors opening and closing.
11. Alarms going off on their own.
12. Lights turning off and on.
13. Jennifer has experienced strange ringing sounds in her ears.
14. Smells of sweetness or something raunchy in various locations of the flower shop. Note: Jen S. on this night smelled a strange odor that she would consider as sweet smelling.
15. Cold spots are felt in various areas of the flower shop.
16. The feeling of being watched.
17. Hearing things moving around or shuffling around.
18. Sensors going off on their own.
19. Jennifer’s employee was once shoved by an unknown force.
20. Glass breaking for no apparent reason.
21. Jennifer saw in the back area of her flower shop a large entity. She could not make out the face. The face seemed blurry and the skin on this entity was bumpy. I will call this entity The Bumpy Skinned Ghost. The Bumpy Skinned Ghost moved from one area in the back to another area and at one time stood there in a threatening manner looking at Jennifer.
Note: Very close to this flower shop is Gray Whale Inn. Gray Whale Inn has a reputation of being haunted. Also, near the shop is the Rose Memorial Cemetery. Some interesting facts about Fort Bragg are that many movies are filmed here such as Overboard with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.
One of my new investigators named Ann Dupire did some researching about the Fort Bragg area and this is what she discovered.
1. Gray Whale Inn was once the Fort Bragg Hospital. It was built in 1915. It supposed to be haunted by a Lady in White. She is often seen in the garden. Sometimes people have seen a man peering through various windows at the hotel.
2. The Lodge at Noyo River. Built in the 1860s. It is supposed to be haunted by 3 women and 1 man. There have been 100 plus sightings of these entities.
3. Fort Bragg has a lot of history according to Ann. She says that General Armstrong Custer and his Army marched to Pudding Creek. Some of Custer’s soldiers fell off a sheer cliff and there may be residual haunting activity because of this traumatic event.
4. MacKerricke State Park: A young lady entity is seen looking for her lover and wearing clothes that date back to the 1800s.
5. Heritage House known to be extremely haunted is located near this flower shop. Heritage House is now closed down.
The Franklin Street Cafe is actually connected to the flower shop. Forrest allowed us to investigate the bar/restaurant. We adjourned to the bar and did a 40 minute investigation. The bar may have some residual haunting activity there. One photograph captured there shows a strange black mass, the duplicate shot of the same area, there is no black mass. We captured some orb activity at this bar. Nothing substantial and no EVPs.
Forrest told me that at the Heritage House a little girl entity is seen running around the house and sometimes she is seen riding a toy wooden horse. Forrest had his head pressed down by an unseen force at the Heritage House. The force pushed his head all the way down upon a table. Forrest has also seen the little girl entity at this house. Forrest also saw file folders in a drawer at this house move, all the folders were being flipped in one continuous period of time.
First Investigative Session Briefing – Evidence Presented:
Video captured unusual orb activity and movement and moving light anomaly. Stephanie heard a noisy movement behind her and she felt guarded as possible a feeling of something behind her. Chantal said that on the Ghost Radar the words Italy and Dick popped up. Jennifer Van Wormer said that the previous owners, now deceased were from Italy. David Mace heard a shuffling noise and could not locate the noise origin. Timothy captured orb activity in his photograph. Chantal heard faint taps on the walls. Ann saw a possible light anomaly and heard a stepping noise on the roof. The lights have been dimming on their own; this has happened a couple of times. Chantal smells an odor that smells like fire. No EVPs recorded. Note: Fort Bragg has a history of structural fires and Chantal was unaware of this history.
2nd Investigative Session Briefing – Evidence Presented:
Randy Annis and David Mace see on their monitor a strange round light source that moves around corners and goes up the stairs. The light source dims and then brightens; it is perfectly round and appears to have a membrane. Stephanie records what sounds like a baby crying, the baby crying EVP is debunked as an electronic static noise.
3rd Investigative Session Briefing – Evidence Presented:
More orb photos and one possible EVP that sounded like a whispery hello. EVP is being analyzed on Audacity.
Séance Session – Evidence Presented:
Flying orbs seen on monitors. Ann did some provoking. Possible taps or knocks on the walls. One possible EVP that may have said ‘no’.
CONCLUSION:
Orbs are not an indication of paranormal activity. Some of the orbs may have shown signs of intelligent movement via video footage. This all needs to be analyzed further. Some photographs taken at the bar and the flower shop showed strange shadowy shapes with orbs. Stephanie and 2 other investigators felt ‘sadness’ during the séance. Everything needs to be fully analyzed for a final conclusion. Right now as I write this, I would have to say the investigation is inconclusive.
Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager, Paranormal Investigator & Ghostwriter
Shannon McCabe’s HPI
Haunted and Paranormal Investigations International
www.HPIparanormal.net
