Wednesday, October 29, 2014 | 75 cents
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Halloween Fun Kids and parents throughout the area will again be able to enjoy a safe and fun Halloween, courtesy of various organizations who create a festive spirit. • Enumclaw’s Cole Street will be closed in the downtown core, with the exception of Griffin Avenue. Hours of the closure are 4 to 6 p.m. so kids in costume can scramble from business to business. • Buckley’s Chamber of Commerce presents a downtown Halloween “trunk-or-treat” event from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday along Main Street. There will be a costume contest beginning at 6 p.m at the Thunderbird Park gazebo. • The residents and staff at Enumclaw Health and Rehab will welcome trick-or-treaters from 6:30 to 8:30 Friday night. • In Buckley, Heritage House will host a trick-or-treat open house from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday. The facility is at 28833 state Route 410. • Also in Enumclaw, Hope Lutheran Church will present a free Halloween carnival for the community – and, as usual, promises nothing spooky or scary. The carnival runs from 5 to 7:30 Halloween night. The church is at 1316 Garfield St., across from Montgomery Park. • “Trick-or-Treat Tales” will be offered from 10:30 to 11:15 Thursday morning at the Enumclaw public library. All ages are welcome to attend, with an adult.
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Plateau Ghosts come tapping
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By Ray Still Staff Writer
f you’re looking for a frightfully good time this Halloween, there are many attractions on the Plateau. But at the end of the night, that psycho clown with a chainsaw isn’t some undead apparition – it’s an actor with a red rubber nose. So where on the Plateau can you see some real ghosts?
AGHOST
Ross Allison, the president of Advanced Ghost Hunters of Seattle and Tacoma (AGHOST) and the owner of Spooked in Seattle Ghost Tours, has investigated several places on the Plateau for ghosts. In fact, it was in Buckley where AGHOST investigated its first cemetery. Presently, Allison tours around the country, giving lectures on paranormal investigating and taking students on ghost hunts. “One of the most amazing experiences we had was in Buckley cemetery,” Allison said. After obtaining permission from the City Council, AGHOST set up camp in the oldest section of the cemetery. “We got this really strong electromagnetic field reading. We couldn’t figure out what was causing this, but right then I took a picture,” Allison explained. “Sure enough, as we were getting this reading, there was what we would describe as ectoplasm in the picture. And at the same time that I took the picture, someone else has taken the picture at a different angle and captured the exact same thing.” Many paranormal investigation groups claim that ghosts can emit an electromagnetic field (EMF), which can be picked up by an EMF reader. This is one way ghost hunting groups can collect data and evidence of a ghost or haunting. On a different investigation in the same cemetery, Allison also recorded an electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) of a little boy saying, “Mommy.”
An EVP occurs when a paranormal investigation is recorded on an audio track. Initially, the investigators do not hear the phenomenon – only when the recording is rewound and played back can it be heard. If the phenomenon is heard without the aid of a recording, it is a direct voice phenomenon. Allison had a different experience altogether when investigating the Enumclaw cemetery. “Enumclaw was the first time I experienced seeing an orb with the naked eye,” he said. “Orbs have been reported since the beginning of time – balls of light floating through the air, changing colors. I watched an orb float in the cemetery and go behind a tombstone and never came out on the other side.” “People ask me, why investigate a cemetery?” Allison said. “You have to understand that cemeteries have been treated a lot different than they are today. People visited the cemeteries a lot back then. It was a common thing, to visit a cemetery and see loved ones, even every week.” Allison explained how ghosts are often attached to a person, place or thing. In cemeteries, ghosts can be attached to their old bodies, or are waiting for friends and family to visit. “But then the family stops coming
because they moved away or died off, and the ghost is still there waiting for somebody,” Allison explained. “Those are two of the most common reasons a cemetery can be haunted.”
Puget Sound Ghost Hunters
While AGHOST specializes in open investigations, Puget Sound Ghost Hunters focuses on private investigations in people’s homes. “We could do open investigations, like well known mansions and houses, and we would only be there for us. It is entertainment,” said Ken Arnold, co-president of the group. “But helping private clients, that’s a whole different plane.” Puget Sound Ghost Hunters was founded by Stephanie Davisson, who was the vice-president of AGHOST until she left in 2004. Puget Sound Ghost Hunters was formed in 2008 in order to conduct private investigations. Presently, Ken and his wife Donna are co-presidents of the ghost hunter group. On one of their most recent cases in Shelton, one of their newest investigators felt a ghost pat him on the head. On a recorder, Ken was able to catch an EVP of a male voice that told the investigator, “I care.” On an older case in Graham, the group was only just setting up when phenomenon started.
“We were bringing in our equipment, and I had to ask (the client), ‘Does your chandelier always swing like that?’” one investigator said. Later on, when Donna Arnold was asking questions in the house, she felt her leg being burnt. “It was a round burn, like the size of a cigarette. Left a nice little scar,” Donna Arnold said. It was the first time that Donna Arnold was ever hurt on an investigation, but it wasn’t the last. Several female members of the group have experienced scratches or bruises on cases. During a case in Bonney Lake, while investigating a house rumored to have previously housed a cult of devil-worshippers, Donna Arnold and Davisson were slammed into a door. On the same investigation, Donna Arnold was scratched so hard she started to bleed. “Most ghosts are not harmful,” Donna Arnold explained. “And when they scratch you, they don’t always mean harm. They’re just trying to get your attention.”
Resolutions
AGHOST and Puget Sound Ghost Hunters agree that many times, ghosts are not aware that they have died, or stick around because they don’t know how to move on. On one investigation, Puget Sound Ghost Hunters were asked to perform a moving-on ceremony. The investigation was at a house where a young man had overdosed. The group was contacted by the man’s mother to investigate whether the overdose was accidental or on purpose. “We were able to contact him,” Donna Arnold said, “and he didn’t mean to do it. It was an accidental overdose.” At the mother’s request, the group gave the young man his last rights. “It gave the family closure, because the family members were all there,” Donna Arnold explained. “And we think he moved on.” more ghosts online… www.courierherald.com
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