Katie's impressions, part deux
I've had the opportunity to interview the store manager who allowed us access to the building and have gotten some clarification and new information regarding the reputed hauntings at this location. In my interview, we discussed her experiences and she explained that she was psychic and her first encounter with the child's spirit was a psychic one.
She stated that she was in the building on the second floor, cleaning up prior to the store's first day of business, when she psychically heard a child's voice going "here kitty kitty kitty." There was no power in the building so it was very dark, but she said she got away from there as quickly as she could. Later on she had psychic communication with the child and explained to her that she preferred to have communication in a less shocking way.
The child who died apparently did not trip over her cat but instead somehow fell in the stairwell for some other reason. Bearing in mind that the manager has only been in the building for six and a half years, I can't really say for certain that anyone really did die until I can verify at least part of the information presented in some way. I did get what could be the child's full name, which is something to start with, and it is possible that the child was visiting a relative in the building and not a resident. It was possibly her grandmother that she was visiting and the cat could have been the grandmother's cat.
A few other experiences were recorded, including a second hand account of seeing a ghostly woman dash quickly up an invisible stairway leading to what would be a non-existent third floor. The building is not known to have ever had a third floor and the area in which this was seen shows no visible evidence of a stairwell ever having been there. Another episode in the history of the site is that there could have been a 19th century brothel present in the building at one time. Legend has it that a prostitute was murdered by her pimp and that could be the woman rushing up the stairs.
It is possible that someone observed what could have been the dead child's grandmother, that of an older woman sitting in a rocking chair. Another experience was recounted of a (living) child asking her mother "who that man is over there?" when there was no one present (the pimp?). Lastly was an incident where a baby said the name of the "visiting spirit" out of the blue. However, the child's older brother shared the same name so the baby could have been simply practicing saying his brother's name.
There was also discussion of people working in the building reporting the feeling of "not being alone", including the following account. I had the opportunity to talk to one of the tenants in the artist studios on the second floor. She is in the habit of being in the building alone late at night. She told me that the evening before, while going down the hallway to visit the restroom, she suddenly go the distinct feeling of something being there in the darkness so she aborted the trip half way there and went back to her studio.
I want to clarify the situation between the two stores a bit more. A subsequent visit to the street side of the two shops revealed that there is a smaller sign for the second store, but it is not as obvious as the first. Also it should be made clear that the manager who let us into the building for our investigation is not the main lessee, but is actually subletting her space from the manager of the second store. This is the reverse of their earlier relationship, where she had previously been the main lessee, but for financial reasons had to make this arrangement with the manager of the other store. This could be contributing to some of the tensions between the living in the two stores.
Also, the fact that the building was once two separate buildings (and structurally still is) could be a factor in the reputed hauntings as there have been more reports of experiences in one than the other. The room referred to earlier as the "rave room" could have been a dance hall at one time, and the manager reported hearing (psychically again) 1940s dance music from it once.
Because of the problems caused by our inexperience with our initial visit to the store, we have asked (and been granted permission) to return for a follow up investigation on April 9. This time we will be going with fewer people and following a strict strategy for coverage and control of both the investigators and the investigation. The camera will probably be set up in the same spots, but I am also considering bringing along a boombox and playing music from the 1940s to see if we can get any response that way.
Hopefully we'll get more positive results this time.
She stated that she was in the building on the second floor, cleaning up prior to the store's first day of business, when she psychically heard a child's voice going "here kitty kitty kitty." There was no power in the building so it was very dark, but she said she got away from there as quickly as she could. Later on she had psychic communication with the child and explained to her that she preferred to have communication in a less shocking way.
The child who died apparently did not trip over her cat but instead somehow fell in the stairwell for some other reason. Bearing in mind that the manager has only been in the building for six and a half years, I can't really say for certain that anyone really did die until I can verify at least part of the information presented in some way. I did get what could be the child's full name, which is something to start with, and it is possible that the child was visiting a relative in the building and not a resident. It was possibly her grandmother that she was visiting and the cat could have been the grandmother's cat.
A few other experiences were recorded, including a second hand account of seeing a ghostly woman dash quickly up an invisible stairway leading to what would be a non-existent third floor. The building is not known to have ever had a third floor and the area in which this was seen shows no visible evidence of a stairwell ever having been there. Another episode in the history of the site is that there could have been a 19th century brothel present in the building at one time. Legend has it that a prostitute was murdered by her pimp and that could be the woman rushing up the stairs.
It is possible that someone observed what could have been the dead child's grandmother, that of an older woman sitting in a rocking chair. Another experience was recounted of a (living) child asking her mother "who that man is over there?" when there was no one present (the pimp?). Lastly was an incident where a baby said the name of the "visiting spirit" out of the blue. However, the child's older brother shared the same name so the baby could have been simply practicing saying his brother's name.
There was also discussion of people working in the building reporting the feeling of "not being alone", including the following account. I had the opportunity to talk to one of the tenants in the artist studios on the second floor. She is in the habit of being in the building alone late at night. She told me that the evening before, while going down the hallway to visit the restroom, she suddenly go the distinct feeling of something being there in the darkness so she aborted the trip half way there and went back to her studio.
I want to clarify the situation between the two stores a bit more. A subsequent visit to the street side of the two shops revealed that there is a smaller sign for the second store, but it is not as obvious as the first. Also it should be made clear that the manager who let us into the building for our investigation is not the main lessee, but is actually subletting her space from the manager of the second store. This is the reverse of their earlier relationship, where she had previously been the main lessee, but for financial reasons had to make this arrangement with the manager of the other store. This could be contributing to some of the tensions between the living in the two stores.
Also, the fact that the building was once two separate buildings (and structurally still is) could be a factor in the reputed hauntings as there have been more reports of experiences in one than the other. The room referred to earlier as the "rave room" could have been a dance hall at one time, and the manager reported hearing (psychically again) 1940s dance music from it once.
Because of the problems caused by our inexperience with our initial visit to the store, we have asked (and been granted permission) to return for a follow up investigation on April 9. This time we will be going with fewer people and following a strict strategy for coverage and control of both the investigators and the investigation. The camera will probably be set up in the same spots, but I am also considering bringing along a boombox and playing music from the 1940s to see if we can get any response that way.
Hopefully we'll get more positive results this time.
posted by Midwest Preternatural Research at 12:51 AM
1 Comments:
I'm looking forward to going back on April 9. This time I will have walkie-talkies, and Katie and I have been talking strategy.
Besides what Katie already said about placing the cameras where we had them last time (by the doll and the stairs where the girl died), we're going to leave the middle floor empty. Each floor gets a walkie-talkie, so we can all rotate zones at the same time instead of people just going where they want. I want everyone to take better notes this time. If you don't want to stop every 5 minutes to do that, you can just record notes into your voice recorder. But let's only talk when we have something to record, keep the chit chat down please. And speak at normal volume.
We'll be starting this time at 7PM, and we'll meet at the store a half an hour beforehand to set up the cameras while everyone is refreshed on what they should be doing.
--Matt
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