Hinsdale Psychic and Parafest 2013!

May has been a busy month for the team, but somehow we managed to get another productive weekend in! This weekend we enjoyed the Hinsdale Psychic and Parafest 2013 at the Hinsdale House in New York. Our team had its own table where we showcased some of the equipment that is used and previous EVP's (as well as getting our name out there). It was great meeting new teams and teams we already had a chance to meet last weekend. We got to ask other teams questions in relation to some great locations we can scout out for future investigations and once again, the Zombie Outbreak Response Team was there again to entertain the crowd and add to the fun.

 Photo above taken by Paranormal Crossroads Live.https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paranormal-Crossroads-LIVE-Buffalo/164704930239232?id=164704930239232&sk=photos_stream


Diana, Nicole, and myself had Tarot card readings...they were incredibly accurate for all three of us. Unfortunately for me, all of my cards were rather dark in nature, but I'll take life as it comes charging at me!

One of the team's founding members and team leader, Diana, also found an incredible hotel for us to stay in so if you're ever in need of a hotel in that neck of the woods, I would totally recommend the Holiday Inn Express in Bradford, PA (junior suite). Awesome find Diana!

Later that night, Diana, Nicole and I participated in the investigation of the Hinsdale House and surrounding grounds. Our group was the first to go upstairs and I had something happen which I still haven't quite been able to explain. While our guide was giving some information on the background of the house I began to feel like the back of my head by my neck was cold and a static type feeling running down the length of my hair. I immediately thought of spiders and tried to quietly ask Diana to please check my hair to make sure nothing was in it! She said no, but the sensation of something (or someone) stroking my hair - but with static instead of a hand - continued throughout my time in the upstairs area of the house. I still haven't decided what I make of this yet as it was an experience I have been trying to rationalize ever since...

The rest of the night was great (although we were freezing!) and the history of the property and the house was amazing. I hope our team gets a chance to g back there this summer and spend the weekend by ourselves to investigate more and without the "contamination" of other people present.

To check out more on the Hinsdale House, you can go to the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TheHinsdaleHouse or their webpage at http://www.hinsdalehaunt.com/.

If you, or someone you know has been here and had similar experiences or stories, please let us know. If anyone also has recommendations for some great spots to investigate (especially in the New York region), leave a comment for us either here or on the Blackhawk Paranormal Investigators of Rochester Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BlackHawkParanormalInvestigatorsOfRochester?fref=ts.

Until our next adventure....keep on believing!

Carnival of Parahorror 2013!!!

I know it's been awhile, but my schedule never seems to slow down long enough to get on here and write about all of the awesome new things our team has been doing this spring, but you can always go onto our team's facebook page and check out the latest posts and pictures at https://www.facebook.com/BlackHawkParanormalInvestigatorsOfRochester !




Last weekend the senior staff of our team (Diana A., Amanda A., Nichole C., and myself, went to the Carnival of Parahorror 2013 ( http://www.parahorror.com ) in Niagara Falls, New York. It was fantastic! I personally wanted to meet Joe Chin from Ghost Hunters International and not only did I meet him, I got to sit down with him, Brian Harnois from Ghost Hunters, and his trusty cameraman Carlos during the V.I.P. party that was held the night before the convention! I also had the opportunity to meet cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard,  Rosalyn Bown from Ghost Hunters Academy, Dan Hooven from Haunted Encounters, some of the cast of The Walking Dead, Tim Shaw, author Corvis Nocturnum (which I have two of his books which I will have to later report about), fellow paranormal investigators and teams, Riley Schillaci who is one of the few female sword swallowers in the world, and so many others!

The day of the convention was held at the Rapids Theatre in Niagara Falls. The venue was absolutely beautiful and an amazing time was had by all. I personally attended the lecture by Ken Gerhard as I have had many students (and still do) that have been interested in the possible existence of creatures such as bigfoot, lochness, mothman, and others. I had to get a picture with him and his autograph so I could prove to my students (and Tony who is always watching these shows on television), I did indeed meet him.

The team got to spend time with Brian Harnois and get some valuable advice and feedback. He even gave us some great contacts and helped us order our first official banner for upcoming conventions.

I of course, had to have Joe Chin autograph a GHI t-shirt for me! ...and just for Tony, I got my picture taken with Jason from Friday the 13th.

That evening our team was able to investigate the Rapids Theatre along with other fellow paranormal investigators, and Kevin Galbraith from The Walking Dead also joined our group. We had some interesting experiences, but due to the amount of other teams also investigating throughout the building, much of what we heard and experienced could have been contamination.

Next is the Hinsdale and Psychic and Para Fest 2013 tomorrow (or today considering I am up writing this at 1:00 AM), May 11!!! 
( http://hinsdalepsychicandparafest2013.webs.com ) We are here in Olean settling into our hotel room for the night and I will be sure to report about our experiences later.

I can't wait until tomorrow nights paranormal investigation of the historic and haunted Hinsdale House...until then, keep believing!

A New Little Investigator

My posts have been more sporadic than I would have preferred, but it is due to a great cause. I have a new little girl in my life! Her name is Lily and she just turned five months old. She has already caught on to so many new things even though she has no hearing and is terribly clumsy. As I have read and watched documentaries about animals being more sensitive to paranormal activity, I am wondering if Lily will be my partner in crime along with the rest of my team members? Interestingly, because she is completely deaf, any noises wouldn't necessarily affect her, but she is hypersensitive when it comes to smell, touch, and sight...and maybe even spirits?

Only time will tell...

Psychic Connections

In one of my previous posts, I wrote about the experience of my first official paranormal investigation. The special guest for that night was Chip Coffey. He is also the author of the book titled "Growing Up Psychic" and has starred in A&E's Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal, and has appeared on many other television programs over the years. I figured I would focus this entry on my personal take of Chip's book "Growing Up Psychic" as I am not only a new investigator with Black Hawk Paranormal of Rochester, but as a teacher as well.

So, I don't overwhelm myself or my readers with all of my takes on everything I will be reading, I thought I would do several short blogs that correlate with the separate chapters and topics found within the book. There are seven chapters and several additional sections that provide additional information and suggested readings.

For this blog I am going to discuss Chip's Introduction, Chapter 1 (What Does "Psychic" Really Mean) and Chapter 2 (So You Think Your Child is Psychic). I had to re-read several sentences to make sure I had read them correctly. It seemed like every other personal experience Chip had while growing up was one that I had experienced too. He also went on to discuss something that another person had also told me that would help to validate a claim this person had made.

The claim was that everyone has intuition, but some have a more keen sense of it and are able to tap into it more often and have control over when to use it and turn it off. Previously, when I had been asked about how I know things I simply said that I am in tune with my intuition and that I am able to read people's body language and "read the situation" as a whole. I never would have thought of myself as being psychic! With that said, it is also said that many people have the ability to be psychic but only a few recognize what it is and work to improve their ability to utilize it.

The next chapter focuses on children that are psychic which is a topic of high interest to me as a teacher. So that will be my next blog...Thank you all for following, and feel free to leave me comments! I am always open to learning new information and sharing with your personal experiences as well!

To Be Continued....

To Believe or Not to Believe...

To Believe or Not to Believe...that is the question.

If you had asked me this same question about five years ago, I would have swiftly replied with a "no" and gone into no further detail. This was mostly because of my fear of scrutiny and/or rejection from not only the public, but my family and friends.  Now, paranormal events and investigations have been televised and portrayed through the media as being real events that are scientifically measurable. I had a student who was animate that he wasn't going to read because there weren't any books he liked. He did however, love a show called Ghost Adventures which he frequently talked about. I made sure to watch this program so I could then go and find books that may mirror what it was about. I was hooked after the first ten minutes and the rest is (and will be) history!

To go back a few years...or maybe more like thirty, I had many experiences as a child that I couldn't explain. I came from a Catholic family that had never discussed the paranormal and did not openly accept the existence of ghosts. I would rationalize many of my experiences as, "I just know things" and as I got older, I would play off my experiences as, "I must have heard it from somewhere" or I was overtired.  I continued to "just know things" throughout the years. It wasn't until recently, when discussing this with a fellow paranormal investigator, I realized that my gut feelings and intuition were something that we all have, but only a few truly understand and can control what they experience.

So if you were to ask me today, do I believe...I most certainly do!

Do you?

Iron Island

My first paranormal investigation was on Saturday night four days before Halloween (October 27, 2012). This was a Halloween celebration as no other I have done or experienced before. When I was young, Halloween meant dressing up (for me, mostly as one of the Barbie's with the waxy blonde hair that would always get tangled up, sweaty masks you could barley breathe in, and strong smelling plastic dresses that tied in the back) and going around the neighborhood with my sisters trick-or-treating and never having the opportunity to give out one of the tricks I had conjured up over the last few days before Halloween. Everyone always gave a treat and never wanted the trick! No fun!

As I became a teenager, Halloween meant praying you were going to receive an invitation to one of the most popular girls in school Halloween party and then you would have to try and find the absolute cutest costume and that no one else wore the same one or else you might die from the embarrassment. Those Halloween parties were never about candy or scare tactics. They were a Halloween costume version of junior high / high school speed dating, and did I mention that those days were insane! Thankfully those days are over.

Then as an adult we would go to each others homes for party's that gave awards for best costume, scariest costume, cutest couple costume, and so forth. These were more about alcoholic consumption than the trick-or-treating of the original celebration. Even that didn't have any connection to the real reasoning behind Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The American version of Halloween gives children the opportunity to get free candy, and adults to act like kids again. The real Day of the Dead celebrates the souls of family members and loved ones.

My new Halloween tradition will be paranormal investigation! This was my first one, but definitely not my last! Iron Island Museum was more than I could have imagined. We arrived there with twenty minutes to spare for the book signing with Chip Coffey. He was amazing and personable! We were able to talk with him and ask questions without there being a mob scene trying to get to him. The capacity was limited to twenty-five people. It wasn't long into Chip's speaking that we were interrupted by knocking sounds coming from the attic. We were all accounted for in the chapel, so the noise was none of us. Chip let us know who it was and there was another faint tap to acknowledge Chip's response. That was only the beginning of the night!

During the actual investigation of the location I didn't feel any strong changes in my mood or the environment of the rooms, but let's just say; for all who were there, the flashlights were awesome! I have never seen anything like it...and it was apparently record breaking!  I had one personal experience in the basement where I felt as though my hair had been pulled. I thought my hair had gotten caught in the back of the chair I was sitting in or someone had walked past me, but there was no one around me and nothing to indicate it was the chair.

I can't wait to go through the recordings on my digital recorder to see if I caught anything and I am going to read Chip's book Growing Up Psychic. I will update everyone on my findings in my next post.
Until then...keep believing :)

Inaugural Investigation

This is my first blog about my upcoming inaugural investigation. My adrenaline starts pumping every time I think about what it will be like when the lights go out. I have spent several hours learning the many functions of my new digital voice recorder. I've been practicing what type of questions I may want to ask, but what will I say if I actually get an answer?

In the past, I have gone running and screaming from the exits of haunted houses that contained cheap Styrofoam gravestones, costumed actors in dimly lit passageways, and the roaring of "chainless" chainsaws and gas fumes. So why would I ever want to go out and purposefully seek out haunted locations and the "real-deal"?

The "Dynamic Diana","Awesome Amanda",and the "All-Knowing Nichole" (my friends and "trainers" from Black Hawk Paranormal based out of Rochester, New York) made a great point about the fact that haunted houses are meant to scare the people within them through the use of obscene props and people jumping out at you in the pitch dark and at the most inopportune times. They want people to have that thrill and return again but with more friends and more money. Paranormal investigation is scientific in nature and utilizes our natural curiosity to help drive our mission to learn more. Real Paranormal investigation is calm and collected in how the location is approached, what technology will be used to support the investigation, and what historical information and previous evidence will be used to help support the investigation itself.

I feel like I am still a little scared about my possible over dramatic reaction to something happening, but I am definitely prepared to meet the expectations my investigation team has set for me and I want to make them proud.
As I am a fan of many of the shows that depict "ghost hunting" and paranormal investigations, I am also very interested in having the opportunity to meet Chip Coffey at this weekend's event. Chip will be signing autographs for his new book just released titled "Growing Up Psychic" which is of high interest to me as a teacher. I am interested in his view point of how many of the cases he has been involved in find deeply psychic children as opposed to inituatives and what he thinks is best for them in using, controlling, and enhancing their psychic abilities.

Tomorrow is the day! I will post and let my followers (if any? I'm hoping to get a few :)know how everything went at the investigation and what possible EVP's (electronic voice phenomena we were able to find, and any other paranormal events that will occur. I can't wait! Until we meet again...