The Charlie Challenge

I know this "Charlie Challenge" has been going on for a while and I basically ignored it, thinking it was just a teenage slumber party game.

I WAS DEAD WRONG

The Charlie Challenge is a ritual to summon a demon.

Yes, I said demon.

"Charlie" is not a friendly ghost giving advice to naive teenagers. The set up and wording is an ancient, supposedly, Mexican ritual to summon demons. Much like the Ouija board, it summons unwanted guests into your home. I have been researching this and if you don't say Goodbye to "Charlie", things will start happening in your house. Like bad things. Because that's what demons do. They play nice at first but things will turn sinister fast.

I don't know who started this stupid game, but they need to have some sense knocked into them. You DO NOT mess around with this stuff. Many of the teenagers doing it have no idea what they're doing. They have no idea that they are summoning demons into their home. They have no idea they are inviting demons into their lives. And most of all, they have no idea how powerful these demons could be or how dangerous this game is.

DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME!

Even if you are an experienced paranormal investigator or demonologist, DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME

If you are one to the naive teenagers or curious adults who have done this game, I suggest contacting someone who can do a blessing on your house and cleanse it. If you have played and you are experiencing strange things happening in your house, contact someone who can help.

And hopefully you'll have learned your lesson not to **** with demons.

SPREAD THE WORD, THE CHARLIE CHALLENGE IS DANGEROUS.

Hiatus

Hello Hunters

I have taken a break from Ghost Hunting. Thus this blog will be on Hiatus while I am. Thank you to everyone who has read and shared this blog and hopefully we will return in full swing.

Have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New year and as always Happy Hunting

Peach

Update

I know it has been since Feb since I have made an update.


I regret to say I am no longer a member of Arkansas Ghost Hunters for private reasons, but I am currently co founding a group of my own. And when we begin to investigate, will update her accordingly.


Now, that being said, I did have the chance to investigate with the Kling Brothers, Brad and Barry, of Everyday Paranormal. (they have several ghost hunting events through out the year. You will not be disappointed if you go to one) at the Duff Green Mansion in Vicksburg, TN back in April. Life, among other things prevented me from blogging about it but I guess better late than never, right?


Duff Green Mansion served as a hospital during the Siege of Vicksburg (many times mistakenly called the Battle of Vicksburg) It served wounded soldiers from both sides of the conflict, the only hospital in the entire war to do so.


I'm not going into details as it has been months and because of the amount of people at this investigation, we didn't catch anything clear, although several investigators, including yours truly, had experiences. And I broke my camera :( (Ok it took until October for it to finally quit on me)

But all in all the investigation was a fun one and I met some pretty awesome people there and got to see some pretty cool toys. I would love to investigate with Brad and Barry again. Maybe they'll have Chip Coffey in tow ;)


Happy Hunting!

~Peach

Side Trip: Marks' Mill

True Stories of a Paranormal Investigator

presents

SIDE TRIP TO MARKS' MILL

CLEVELAND COUNTY, ARKANSAS

Sometimes we at Arkansas Ghost Hunters have little side trips enroute to investigations. We hit Warren several hours early to hit the local library with no success. After grabbing lunch and meeting with Jordi, Joseph and Angela, we were told by a couple of the locals about a nearby Civil War battlefield. Nearby turned out to be about several miles north and into the next county. But the drive was worth it.

The Battle of Marks' Mill was fought on April 25, 1864 and resulted in about 1793 causalities, not counting any civilians (1500 on the Union side, 293 on the Confederate side)

Marks' Mill was owned by John H. Marks and his homestead was about a mile from where the battle took place. He and his family witnessed the first shot and causality of the battle, the driver of the lead supply wagon. After the battle, his home served as a temporary field hospital and his daughter testified that several soldiers were buried on their property. Not far from where the house once stood is Marks' Cemetery  where members of the Marks family are buried.

Now the area where Mark's Mill, the Marks' homestead and a small portion of the battlefield is now a State Park. A dirt road leads to the cemetery and along the road is various markers about the Mill, the Battle and the Marks themselves. There are also equipment from the mill and the Marks' homestead in the area. The park also sports nature trails.

Now we didn't go out there to investigate anything. We just went out there as history buffs.

The Coker Hotel 2/16/13

I haven't forgotten about you. We just took a break during the holidays.

Our first investigation of 2013 was in the small town of Warren, Arkansas in the southern part of the state. Now Warren is a quaint little town (this from someone who has lived in big cities and good sized towns all her life) Very quiet and the people are quite friendly. And the homes there! A good majority of the houses there are old good sized homes (We were even told by a librarian that several of the houses have had reported activity) I should stop talking about the houses before I side track myself as I'm a sucker for houses built before and during World War I.

Ahem...

The History

The land that Warren sits on now once belonged to the Quapaw and Choctaw peoples. The town was built in 1851 and according to tradition was named after a slave freed by Captain Hugh Bradley, the man the county is named after. Around the turn of the century, the timber industry hit a big boom and folks flocked to Warren and the surrounding towns to work in the field and in the lumber yards ad sawmills. In 1914, Philip Coker, who had previously owned mercantile businesses*, along with his wife, Fannie, built the Coker Hotel to house those passing through and also serve as a type of boarding house. Folks that worked at the mills and lumberyards would live there when they first got to town. The hotel was in operation from 1914 until the 1980's when it was closed. It currently is mostly boarded up and abandoned, although one of the lower rooms has been converted into an apartment. From what I could tell, hooligans break in regularly and spray paint all sorts of crap in the upstairs portion of the building. Parts of the floor on the second story are weak and warped. in 2012, the Coker Hotel, along with 9 other locations, was placed on Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas' Endangered Places list, which, I believe, is a step towards being placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Now we haven't been able to find much on the history of the building aside from word of mouth from folks that live in Warren. We were told that both Mr and Mrs. Coker died in their apartment there.

The Investigation

Only four of the team members went on this investigation as one was sick and the other couldn't get off of work. Trish, Justin and I rode together. Jordi met us there. We were also joined by another paranormal group, Off the Grid. Their members, Joseph and Angela, were some awesome people. While I never actually investigated with them at the hotel, they are a couple of very professional investigators with a unique investigation tactic. We were also joined by a member of Warren's Chamber of Commerce, his daughter and  the client's daughter, although she only stayed briefly. Like I've mentioned before, two of the rooms on the ground floor had been converted into an apartment. The rooms opened out into the courtyard, thus the tenet doesn't have to actually go into the building itself. The tenet has complained of hearing a conversation and footsteps from behind his apartment. (He is the only tenet in the building. Behind his apartment is where the hotel's kitchen is located.)

To start the night out, Jordi and I went upstairs to test out how bad our footsteps could be heard downstairs. Chamber of Commerce (called henceforth CoC), his daughter and the client's daughter joined us a moment later ad we began the investigation, while Trish, Justin, Joseph, Angela and the client investigated downstairs. Now, CoC was quite chatty and regaled us with stories that his grandfather told him about the hotel and Warren itself. We did find out that across the street where a parking lot and a drive through bank is now was a bus station, making the Coker Hotel perfectly situated to welcome travelers and newcomers. He directed us to a library/music room where the Cokers' grandson lived before he moved out of state. Jordi and I did an EVP session there and we even got a slight hit on the K2, the only time the entire night it did anything. After hearing what I thought was a footstep, we went back downstairs and were met by Justin, who'd stayed in the building while the others went to check out the apartment. He, Jordi and I went back upstairs while the client's daughter left and CoC and his daughter went to have dinner. We all heard another footstep and Justin were able to debunk it as a door hitting a chair propped against it. We explored the library and did another EVP session before going downstairs, where we found that a door had been closed. We explored the kitchen area and did an EVP session before we headed over to the apartment ourselves and did an EVP session there.

I'm going to stop right here and say that it was freezing that night and the hotel has no electricity. Luckily, we were able to take refuge in a beauty shop that was nice and warm. After I regained feeling in my fingers, Jordi and I were rejoined by CoC and his daughter and we went back into the apartment. After doing an EVP session there, we joined Justin inside the hotel and did some more EVP sessions.

All in all, the Coker Hotel was a wonderful place. To see all the history that the grandson collected and to see all the furniture that was left that wasn't destroyed and seeing the places where the community bathroom was. You don't see that a lot. I really hope the Coker Hotel finds itself restored to it's original condition. Makes me sad to see a wonderful piece of Warren's history being left to crumble like that. The Hotel closed the decade I was born and seeing old places like this being allowed to deteriorate makes me realize how much my generation is going to miss out on.

Bonus Investigation

And here you thought I was done...

After we finished at the Coker Hotel, Off the Grid invited us to their second investigation of the night, an early 1900's building. While Arkansas Ghost Hunters didn't stay very long, we did walk through the location and gather some of the history that the clients could gather. While it was more of a mini investigation for us, Off the Grid has been there before and we were told to start our recorders right away. (I've listened to one of the recordings we'd done and Justin another and together we've gotten about 8 possible EVPs. Farther analysis pending.) We were able to see how a ghost box works first hand (Joseph made theirs) which was pretty nifty. I would like to return and actually do a full blown investigation there and work with Off the Grid again.

Until next time, ghost friends

~Peach

Check us out on the web at www.arkansasghosthunters.com or on Facebook at Arkansas Ghost Hunters

Having unexplained activity? Need answers? Email us at arkghosthunters@yahoo.com

* http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~arbradle/in_county/from_files.html  14 Mar 1940

http://searktoday.com/2012/05/02/warren-hotel-named-to-states-2012-endangered-places-list/

Undisclosed Location 8/4/12

~The client has requested we not disclose the location or the name of the building we investigated.~


Welcome to another investigation.

First, I apologize for not blogging about the last two investigations, but I'm afraid there really wasn't anything to write about.

But our last one was an awesome one.

The building was, it's believed, built in the 20's or 30's and was originally an orphanage. The client told us a story of how the neighborhood was referred to as Shantytown and the kids in the area were forbidden to play around the orphanage. We were also told that more than likely the orphans were mistreated. The most common story was that of a boy the clients call Jason. During the time it was an orphanage, children who got sick would be quarantined in a small room in what is now the basement. (We've come to understand that parts of the building have been closed off for some reason over the years) Now this hidden room is being used for storage. The story is that Jason got sick and he was quarantined to keep the other children from getting sick. Unfortunately, the caretakers forgot about him and he passed away in that room. The building then was turned into a school and then a business and has been in its current life for the past 30 years. (Since the only history we know about the building is what little the clients have gathered, Trish and I are planning on making a trip to the local library to do some research and I shall either edit this blog or make a whole new post)

The clients said that toys would be played with, keys would be messed with and a TV would be turned to anything with cartoons on it. In the basement, the clients would feel very uncomfortable and feel a bit freaked out in a few of the rooms. In their darkroom, you can see where a staircase is. The client told us the staircase is sealed off and they didn't even know about it, until a fire broke out in the building. The firefighters found the staircase on the other side of a firewall (left over from the bombing fears of the Cold War). The clients reported feeling uncomfortable there and in the back area of the basement. In the farthest back room, the clients said that a few of them were in there and, although they never would say what happened, they said they would not go back into the room. There are reports of footsteps and voices and a very creepy Native American statue that moves. And when I say creepy, I mean creepy as in talking dolls creepy. (I can handle getting touched but I swear if that statue moved, I was going to have a major freak out and move on out of there.) As you can tell, I'm not a fan of lifelike inanimate objects.

Now for the good part:

After we set up our equipment, including a few news toys thanks to our newest member, Jordi, Brandon, Justin and I went into the basement area while Trish, Eric, Debbie, Jordi and the client stayed upstairs. As the smallest person, I volunteered to climb into the crawlspace and check it out. And got a face full of cobwebs. Which proves how much I love this, I hate spiders. I sat in the crawlspace, which is the size of a small room and went the length of the room it's hidden in. At least from what I could tell, it's full of boxes and old electronics with a small amount of space for me to walk around in. I'm about 5'6" and I could stand easily. After doing an evp session, we moved on the the "creeped out feeling" room where the clients had said they didn't want to go back in. Earlier, during our walkthough, I'd felt uncomfortable and felt a pressure on my head but when I walked out of the room, it went away. This time, I didn't have the pressure. As we did an evp session, I began to feel uncomfortable. Now I have a bad right knee from a fall several years ago, so at times it'll randomly flair up with shooting pain. As we did the investigation, my left knee started hurting. At first, I brushed it off. Until I felt a burning sensation on the inside of my knee. I pulled my pant leg up to reveal a scratch the length on my knee. Which is the first time that has happened. After several videos and pictures of my leg, we traded places with Trish, Eric, Debbie, Jordi and the client. We had the Ovilius, an EMF reader and a Mel Meter (which measures both EMF and temp) The EMF reader was going crazy during that time. Debbie ended up rejoining us after a little tumble up the stairs (See, I'm not the only clumsy investigator on the team!) Justin saw a shadow and heard movement down a hall. When he asked, if there was anyone over there and if they would give us a sign, a walkie I had in my equipment bag went off with a woman's voice. I run over there and Justin follows me. I find the walkie that had somehow turned on and as I'm holding it, the same woman's voice comes through it. I check the other walkies and they are turned off. "Why weren't we using the walkies?" you ask. The batteries were low and I didn't have enough extras to replace them. Trish and the client come upstairs and ask if we were stomping around. Now I did run, but I'd taken my shoes off since it's very rude to put your shoes on someone else's couch. They also asked if we'd dragged anything across the floor. We hadn't touched anything.

Later, the others joined us and we did a group EVP with the flashlight trick. And the flashlight and our equipment went crazy. As we did this, I glanced into the hallway and saw a glimpse of someone walk out of one of the rooms and down the hall. Naturally, I get up and go check it out. I find nothing. Several of us had personal experiences during the investigation.

Over all a great investigation and yet another place I would love to go to again. As long as the Native American doesn't turn and look at me...

Until next time,

~Peach

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Having unexplained activity? Need answers? email us at arkghosthunters@yahoo.com

Cell Phones and the Paranormal

I am having to put this out there as it is becoming a problem with the rise of the iPhone and other cell phones with the ability to take pictures.

Recently our group was contacted about an alleged haunting. During the course of the back and forth info gathering emails on Facebook, I was told that pictures had been taken. The photos showed the alleged spirits haunting this family. Naturally, I asked to see the photos. The contact complied and I received an email with the photos. Of course, I was expecting to see random photos of dust particles being claimed as orbs. Instead, I opened the attachments of 5 random photos with images from an Android ghost app in them.

Can you say disappointed?

Thus the reason for this post

Because we have had experience with someone trying to pass of an app photo as the real deal, we are quite familiar with all the apps out there. And these photos were obvious fakes. When confronted, they admitted they were taken with an app.

With the rise of all the paranormal shows out there, there has also been a rise of iPhone and Android apps to go along with it. Which people take seriously. Granted, these apps were originally meant for you to scare your friends and be fun. But people in recent years have begun to hoax pictures and destroy the creditably of established paranormal experts.

Which is frustrating to we paranormal investigators.

Personally, I don't believe cell phone pictures. Cell phones are not an investigators best friend. If you are going to take pictures at an alleged haunted location, do it with a digital camera, not your phone. Now I understand iPhones take great pictures, but leave it in your pocket when it comes to the paranormal. Any photo we are sent, we set out to debunk. Because we were not there when the photo was taken, we go over them with a fine tooth comb, so to speak.

Now about the apps in general

In the words of our tech guy, if it has ghost in the title, it's BS. For example, iPhone's "Ghost Radar". The way the "Ghost Radar" works is it "scans" the area around you and pics up any "ghosts" that are around you along with having random words pop up (usually depends on the conversation around you what those random words will say). I will admit that the "Ghost Radar" is quite fun to play with and that is the point of the app. For fun. And it recently came to my attention that there are apps that will insert disembodied voices into your recordings. Again, fun to scare your friends but just BS

If you are a budding paranormal investigator, I suggest staying away from the phone apps with the word "ghost" or "evp" in the title. It will only cause embarrassment if you attempt to pass them off as the real deal. Stick with your handy dandy digital camera, camcorder and digital recorder. These are your best friends and they will never let you down when it comes to gathering evidence.

Until next time

Peach