This hunt was the beginning of POE. We hadn't formed yet, but when we came together for a hunt, we realized something; four of us in this group of 7 were adept, serious, intelligent and focused, as well as hoping to do hunts without clients and counseling, simply focusing on research, experiments, gathering information and coming to conclusions about paranormal activity.
So, this hunt at the BirdCage was not only a highly anticipated hunt in a place we had all wanted to go for a very long time, but it brought us together in conversation and speculation.
The members of our group, I will keep anonymous. There are four of us. I will refer to the senior male as "sound guy," the junior male as "science guy," and the other female as "photography girl."
We had a group of 7 of us that night and I tend to like to go with the feeling of the building, the way it's laid out and the personal energy of the people involved. The actual attack for the evening was planned out on the spot as I observed the people and the building.
The entire building was well mic'd everywhere. It was quite impressive. We had the usual equipment and with the breakers thrown, the place was powerless with a basically undetectable baseline EMF reading.
Some of the obstacles about this building included piping throughout the ceilings with dripping sounds, some creaking and settling, perhaps even some mice scratching around. The rooms are in split levels and creates an insane sound trap where everything can be heard in every room quite easily. It also was near the streets, but we lucked to have the place from 10-1 on a Sunday night without a person anywhere in sight.
During the night, we experienced some goosebumps, feelings of being touched, voices, footsteps, a documented cold spot with EMF spike at the same time, feelings of being watched.
Hard evidence? We got some EVPs that were impressive including one that seems to correlate with a voice captured there 4 years previously. This is something that gives us lots of speculation. I pulled up an archive of American dialects, knowing I'd heard that dialect somewhere else. I narrowed it down to a region. So, the next question is, did anyone die at the BC who was from that region?
Techniques: We had everyone sit around a central table while groups of 2 went off and introduced themselves to the rooms of the building, by calling out their names and something about them. Everyone assumed a friendly and affable demeanor as friends, parents, easygoing folks. I made the decision to present myself as a brassy redhead ready to give it away free to the gambling cowboys. This actually produced a "Thank you" response from a man with a southern drawl on a recorder. I spent a little time alone in the basement teasing and flirting with any lingering gamblers. We also spent some time as a group focusing on willing the apparition to appear. We did a controlled EVP session and we let 2 people stay inside for 20 minutes while the rest of us left and walked far away from the building so we could control the sounds in the environment and know that when those 2 people were there, they were the only voices that should be in the rooms.
Now that we are planning our next study in July, we will go over the location, history, geology, reported happenings, and come up with a series of things to try for that particular environment. Much of what we will do is planned, but until we get there and see what occurs, we will have to be ready to adapt. There is no set way to do a study, no cookie cutter. There is a team with equipment, concepts, and complete adaptability on the spot. This is the kind of hunting I've been waiting to do with a group of smart minds, thinking on our feet.
More research to follow.
