March 2008
Where would a bunch of paranormal investigators go for a weekend getaway?
Why, someplace old with a reputation for being haunted. How about America's oldest city, St.
Augustine, FL.
A bunch of us decided to get away for the holiday weekend in march so we packed in to the car and headed north. A short five hours later we arrived at what might as well be another world. Beautiful and historic St. Augustine, FL is one of my favorite getaways.
The plan was to see the sights, take in a tour and relax on the bay in a place that is as far away from the day to day as you can get for a weekend trip. This was the plan anyway.
The first thing we had planned was a tour of Henry Flagler's most extravagant resort, the prestigious Ponce de Leon Hotel, now turned Flagler College.
Almost right away we noticed something unusual. Unusually bright orbs had our attention. When they started responding to commands it really got our attention.
This was our first guest, The photograph above was taken by Yolanda showing an unusually bright orb near the third floor of dome ceiling. What makes this orb unusual is the brilliant and clear light it emits. It was pretty cool, but as investigators, we tend to take orbs with a bit of skepticism.
What was unusual is when we went to a quiet corner before the crowd started to gather. I sat for a while and psychically tuned in to the enrages there. It seemed full of energies that walked the main lobby at all times. One would respond to my call though. It was the energy of what seemed to be a middle-aged woman, she had others with her but was the one clearly in charge. I did not get the chance to communicate very clearly with her - it was more of a response to directions. I took several pictures as things were happening and told my friends what I was experiencing.
When we first sat down there was nothing. I took this picture of the view I had. In the following photographs I will zoom in a little so you can see more clearly. But you will notice my position did not change and there was no crowd there to be stirring up dust.
Then I felt the energy
approaching from the main lobby.
I asked it to come closer.
I told my friends it is right in front of us now, ant took this picture.
Events such as this make me question orbs more seriously. Yes it could be dust or moisture, but why is this dust or moisture responding to me?
When the crowd began to arrive the energy dissipated. I do not think they like big crowds so they left. Ironically, we took lots of picture of the beautiful building yet I had no more psychic impressions and no additional orbs showed up. Even though we were around some very dusty rooms with a big crowd that kicked up a lot ot dust. The only paranormal activity we encountered on the tour was us acting silly!
I am not saying that orbs are spirits. I think they may be a residual energy that results from spirit activity, similarly to a cold spot, a cold spot is not a spirit, it is an indication of possible spirit activity.
And not all orbs are paranormal, there is a great deal of dust and moisture orbs, they usually look different. They have weird shapes and angles or a clear nucleus or no jet at all. If you ask me, the topic of orbs is still up to debate.
This happens to me again and again. I go in to dusty dirty places with no spirit activity and get no orbs. The minute I make contact, all of a sudden the photographs taken show orbs. Not only do they show orbs at random, but they show orbs exactly where I am sensing the energy to be.
Even people who are not tuned in to their psychic abilities can test this theory. If you feel like you are being touched or pushed, have someone take a picture. If your EMF goes off, take a picture. Most of these pictures will show an orb exactly in the right spot. I will have more on this later...
I want to share with you the rest of my vacation now...
After the lavish ladies lounge and the dining hall adorned with tiffany lamps, glass and gilded ceilings we walked around the city. We went antique shopping and walked all the way down to the bay past the bridge of lions, on one side, and the fountain of youth on the other side.
Our room at the St. George Inn overlooks the old spanish town and st. George Street. This beautiful place was originally recommended to me by Bandora, who visits St. Augustine so much, she should be made an honorary resident. The beautiful hotel is right on the main walking street, unfortunately though, very not haunted from my experience.
In the evening we took in a ghost tour, there is a man we knew from our last visits named Harry C. Sanfford who runs the best ghost tour in St. Augustine that he calls the Paranormal Investigative Tour. The storytelling style tours seem to be abundant and perhaps more popular. You will see lots of them as the sun sets with various themes, from pirates, to hearses and even wenches and monks will lead a tour. But nothing compares to Harry's walking tour. It is an in-depth experience for novices and experienced investigators alike. He keeps groups small and provides a wealth of information. Before any details are revealed, he will want you to investigate each site on your own, then he will tell you the history and best of all, he gives you gadgets to play with which is always a thrill for first timers.
The only anomaly I got that was not an orb on the night we took the tour was a strange light above the sign marking the Tolomato Cemetery.
The control photo shows no such anomaly.
Also, notice in both pictures the sign itself is sharp and perfectly in focus.
During Harry's introduction, I kept feeling an energy moving in the back of the courtyard. When I took the photo shown above, the distinctively yellow orb appeared.
When the group went to work investigating the space, I felt the energy move to the second story by the balcony. The above photo shows the same yellow orb.
I had talked to the energy urging it to try and communicate with the others in the group, but it wasn't until we were about to leave that it finally made it close to the others. Here you see two orbs, one in front of and one next to Harry. The yellow one in front of him is our gust. I never made contact with the other.
Here I told Ed that there was someone standing in front of him and took this photograph. I am still not sure if Ed saw this energy or not, in fact, I am not even sure he heard me. Either way, I like the picture!
This orb appeared in the tree where an apparition of a boy had previously been seen.
This one appeared during an EMF spike.
Harry dazzled us with his album of paranormal evidence and then we went back to the cemetery where we noticed a paranormal group named POPS was conducting a training session.
We talked to the team and exchange stories. They are based out of port orange and conduct investigations of historic places all over the country. A really nice group of people.
We finally got home at around one in the morning.
All in all, St. Augustine left us with the escape we were looking for. We learned something about ourselves though. At least I did. Being a paranormal investigator is not a job. It is part of you, something that circulates through your veins and fuels your drive to seek out the unexplained. Even when on a vacation we find ourselves knee deep in the search.
overlooking St. Augustine Bay!
1 comment:
Although i am not a big fan of orbs I have done 3 investigations in St. Augustine and agree there is alot of activity. The only city in the south with more in MAPRC's ( my group)investigations (which number in the 500+ investigations) was Savannah. Have you tried that yet? Just if you do don't waste your time with the ghost tour. Do the tour yourself.
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