Ghost Case: The Shadow Person At the Register


It was an all-nighter at a haunted restaurant. The land and history provided good incentive to attend. The concept of activity after having a crowded bar running had me doubting. Plus, there was traffic noise outside. So, gathering evidence might not be too productive and yet I was compelled to go. I had long heard of how haunted this location was.

We set up our cameras around the facility and then hunkered down for some serious EVP sessions. But, before that, I walked through as I always do and noted the active spots. I pointed out to my son the center of the bar and then the men's bathroom. I didn't know any stories yet of what this place held in the way of activity, but I like to go into a site with no knowledge, if possible.

Strange things began. There were some stacked chairs atop of tables rattling, a woman sobbing softly, footsteps on the dance floor. Then, the towel dispenser in the men's bathroom started cranking. You know the kind, with a metal crank. Some members got up to investigate it. It doesn't turn on its own. Several times in reply to questions, it cranked. Still, being of a skeptical bend, I chalked it up to good timing and some kind of issue with the dispenser (even though the other hours we were there, it never did it, only did it during the EVP session).



Then, as my son and I were sitting facing the bar during the EVP session, the investigator asked if the spirits knew the owner of the restaurant (who lives in England where he has a sister restaurant). I saw a dark human-like (but smaller than a human) head pop up in the center of the bar behind the counter, (the hot spot I had determined) and stood a little over 4 feet tall. It moved over from the register at the center of the bar to the one at the end of the bar and then seemed to go down below the counter as the computer screen there turned on. Then, the receipt machine started spitting out a long spindle of receipts.

I looked at my son and he looked at me. "Did you see that?" I nodded.

The manager was shaking visibly. "These computers were powered down for the night. You saw me turn them off. We can't turn them on without a password. You have to turn on the center one to make the others turn on." We looked at the receipts and they were blank except for the name of the owner and the restaurant in England. There were dozens of them spindly to the floor below.



What I can tell you is that at first I was confused by the shadow head popping up. I turned to see if anyone was able to cast a shadow. Everyone was firmly seated. I looked back and it began its movement to the other computer. My rational mind told me, "perhaps there was an employee we didn't account for?" I knew that wasn't possible but when you're seeing something exceptional, you tend to grasp for reality rather than fantasy, at least I do. I had the sense of it having command of this whole thing and I had to just go along for the ride, as if he had commandeered the cockpit of a 747 and I was just a passenger. My sense that the power in the place emanated from the center of the bar was an accurate description and the activity in the men's bathroom. I later found out that people reported issues in the women's bathroom and so had I done research, I might have dismissed my pull to the men's bathroom. This is one of the reasons I like to know nothing going in. Sometimes, the intellect and ego get in the way. More on that later in another post tomorrow.

You never really know what or how these things will present themselves. Most hunts are incredibly boring and lame and you begin to wonder why you hunt. Then, when you don't expect it--boom! boom! boom! I have a few driving forces in why I hunt such as wanting to know where this phenomena comes from, why it's only brief and fleeting, what seems to stimulate it, and how we could possibly have more predictable and longer interactions. This case was one of those kinds that left me shaking my head and wondering.

Comments

  1. I still get chills when I hear this story. We will have to do a ghost hunt there with POE.

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  2. very cool blog! keep it up!

    follow me for extreme randomnism!
    http://all-around-toto.blogspot.com/

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  3. Intense! It's a wonder you can sleep at night!!

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  4. Lil--I grew up from a baby upward in a very active haunted house. To me, it's sort of the norm and not the exception for nature.

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  5. Love this story...keep them coming. Also, I have decided it is a crime you do not have your own show.

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  6. Melanie--who should we arrest? Syfy? They like Jael. They're scared of sassy redheads. I have a feeling my ghost hunting show would be a bit like Josh Gates. I have a tendency in a tense moment to kind of lose it. Upon occasion in a really dead hunt with no action, I start giggling because I realize I'm talking to the walls and that reminds me of that movie Shirley Valentine where she talks to the walls all the time. If I went into that room in the daytime at a hotel or restaurant I'm hunting and stood in the middle of the room and called out "can you give me a sign of your presence," the waiters would usher me out.

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  7. See, in my opinion, that is all the more reason a show of your's would be awesome!!

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