Paranormal Staging from Owners

hkolln · Mist Joined: Jul 16, 2004 Posts: 260

I have a question. We did an investigation recently at a highly known haunted location and while setting up our equipment we had a situation happen where the owner actually staged some paranormal activity for the guests. The only reason he did this was he overheard a guest say something to the effect "Oh this place is a joke! Nothing ever happens here!"

We didn't find out until after we had pulled out our equipment and all the guests there watched us try and take readings. I even went so far as to interview the witnesses and log it in our base logbook. The owner then pulled me and another team member aside and confessed to doing it all himself (laughing the entire time!). Kinda hurt our investigation but we did speak to the owner privately afterwards. I explained our mission statement states "Honesty, Truth and compassion" and now that this happened it made us question any evidence we have obtained (in previous investigations there) and were going to obtain in our investigation that evening. He apologized all night for his actions but it still leaves a question mark inside my head.

Has anyone here had something similar to this happen? What did you do or what would you have done?

I doubt we'll ever go back for another investigation there. We almost packed up all our equipment (to make a big statement) and left but decided to go ahead after we spoke to the owner.

I'm still in shock at the situation cause I never expected it to happen being this place is well known. And I'm pretty sure he never confessed to the guests cause some hung around waiting for more to happen even hours after the event.
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Helen

mooneybeams · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:10 am Post subject:

I can guess where you are talking about I think. I was very suspectful (is that a word?) of that myself there. Very disappointing.
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goohsmom · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 6:47 am Post subject:

If it's the location I'm thinking of, I think the new owner is trying very hard to play on the haunted reputation of his location to increase his business. I've noticed a trend in a few well-known locations in tourist areas, where they've decided to take advantage of their reputation to make money, and I think it's a terrible trend. I haven't yet (that I know of) run across any owners that have staged an event during our investigations, but then again, most of our investigations are initiated by us, and are of places that really don't want their activity public.

If I ran across a situation like that, I think I would have to throw all the evidence out, and explain the reason to the owner. Deciding not to return is a good idea, as is sharing the information with other groups. That way, other reputable groups will be able to make an informed decision on whether to investigate that location or give it a wide berth (I'd be giving it a wide berth myself).

Pam
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Santa2 · Mist Joined: Mar 14, 2006 Posts: 261

Send me a pm of the location and what happened please.

ebbsmom · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:41 am Post subject:

I agree with Pam. It is hard enough sometimes to get people to take us seriously, and if things are being staged, that will hurt our image as paranormal investigators period. I would explain to the owners that spirits are everywhere and if they want to be seen or heard they will be without any help from the living world.

Debilee · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:54 am Post subject:

I'm very disappointed to learn that this location (which I'm sure I know exactly which one it is too) has begun this practice. All they are doing are hurting their business by doing that instead of increasing it. Well....at least hurting their business from those of us who know better. Unfortunately, the general public will be fooled and think they had some real experiences there.......
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michelemybell · Guest

ok, someone PM me this place. I am obviously out of the loop. Shocked

Fireman4u · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:13 pm Post subject:

goohsmom · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:54 pm Post subject:

I'm hoping that hkolln will post it to the general board, so everyone knows the location. I think that would be the best way to keep other reputable groups from experiencing the same thing.

Pam
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hkolln · Mist Joined: Jul 16, 2004 Posts: 260

I wasn't sure if it was ethical to post it?

I think everyone should know and it disappointed me greatly. I did discuss that with the owner directly in private and he understood but my thought was he did this when we were THERE....He had us thinking we needed to investigate it in front of about 10 or so people and then he tells me he did it all! After that my heart really wasn't in on the investigation. He kept telling us all night "I'm sorry if I offended you." and you could tell he knew we were upset. We had this investigation planned for months and he did that.

I can tell you guys the location but I'm not sure if posting it here is a good idea? Maybe PM me and I'll send it to you?

I just don't want to look like I'm starting something. I just want other teams to know about this so when you do go and ever investigate here your guard is way up!

Oh and for those I spoke to at GS3...it is the investigation site I told you about we investigated on Saturday night. That may answer your question without having to PM me Smile

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Helen

Fayelle · Mist Joined: Jun 07, 2006 Posts: 246

If you are talking about a location while at GS I am pretty sure I know the place too hehe....

My friends and I questioned something having been staged when there was enough already that didn't need staging.....We were treated to a nice small tour and appreciated that to be sure but were pretty sure the person giving us the nice sweet tour was giving us a few questionable incidents when we were away from him....

Not that it mattered to us except we felt like our intelligence was insulted some.....Although I was not privy to the experience first hand since I was off discovering some real experiences at the time in another area of the place....He tried and it was sweet, until the set up experience occured hehe.....

One plus of having a very thorough friend is that she will investigate something to death before just calling it true....Or inexplicable....

I understand trying to drum up some business and keeping guests intrigued, but when dealing with people who actually investigate and are not there just touring its a little insulting.....

Fay

hkolln · Mist Joined: Jul 16, 2004 Posts: 260

Fay,

Yeah that is what I was trying to say...It was "insulting" to us. That is the word I was looking for! LOL

Like he insulted our intelligence and here we have our base station all hooked up to the DVR and 4 video cameras and looking forward to the investigation and BAM...that happened!

And I was interviewing the people there...and logging it all on our base log and then the owner motions me over behind a partition and tells me he did it. I thought he was joking at first but then I could tell he was telling me the truth. I had one team member very angry that night about it all and I normally don't see her like that!
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Helen

Debilee · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 2:19 pm Post subject:

I agree that it should be made public. I guess quite a few of us there felt that things were staged already while we were visiting. However, until you tell us for certain, we can only guess that we are talking about the same location.

I think it's very important for groups to know this about them and I think that the owner should hear from us about our opinions on their actions and let them know just how far reaching the reprecussions can be. Their reputation is at stake now and they should know what they've done is only going to hurt themselves. Make them think twice about doing it again.
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hkolln · Mist Joined: Jul 16, 2004 Posts: 260

Yeah, I made a point when I spoke to him to let him know our reputation was important to our team and our seriousness was also an issue. I told him we considered our team professional, serious and reputable and when he did that it disappointed us. I also explained that "Truth, Honesty, and Compassion" are our mission statement and doing this is not truthful to the people around that night. After that we said we could not consider any evidence since we can't be certain if it's real or not. Very disappointing and when you have that happen...well some of the team probably know that feeling. I was sick to my stomach. I had people coming up to us saying "Do you need our phone number and address to interview us?" etc...very disappointing to know they thought it was something.

I told him also I didn't want anyone there to think our team staged anything also. That is not us! He said he'd speak to the people there and let them know we had nothing to do with it. I felt like he should have told them HE DID IT...but I don't know if he did or not.
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Helen

Fayelle · Mist Joined: Jun 07, 2006 Posts: 246

Helen I can only imagine when you are setting up to investigate and are told outright that they staged something....

It is important to many people who actually take the time and sink money into this that it is taken seriously by the people who are allowing you to do an investigation.....For many of us its not something we take lightly and it is so important to find the proof at some point.....It's a thrill to find something, and a dissapointment when we have to distrust what we do find due to questionable antics....

We are not in it for money, or to drum up fame or money....To me at least it is about validating my own belief system and a hope that the other side will communicate with me enough to give me that validation.....

Besides evidence is so hard to come by in the paranormal investigation world, it is rather upsetting when even one misplaced action discounts everything you could have gotten from the place...Including personal experiences....

sigh

Fay

hkolln · Mist Joined: Jul 16, 2004 Posts: 260

I was sitting on it for a few days cause I was uncertain how to go about it. I thought hard about it and felt everyone doing investigation seriously should know about this. I know we put alot of effort and money into all our investigations and we all know how long evidence review can take and how hard it is to get something positive.

I felt if I kept it secret then someone else would not know and go there and think something staged is positive evidence. I would wish to know myself from anyone who had this happen so I know not to send my team there so I felt I needed to say something.

I hope I didn't hurt anyones feelings about it and I surely don't wish to stir up any hatred. I'm just trying to help out my fellow paranormal investigators that take this field seriously.
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Helen

Fayelle · Mist Joined: Jun 07, 2006 Posts: 246

Bingo that was the place LOL!

I am glad we were not the only ones who felt that way....

We were not even told and felt like there was a question....Which upsets me some because I was with one other person in one place and experienced some very intriguing things and there was a photo that I felt validated a moment of personal experience I had....however I doubt that moment could have been set up in all honesty....I am not sure many people knew we were in that area alone either......

Fay

goohsmom · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 5:38 pm Post subject:

I'm very glad you shared this information, Helen. We were considering repeating the Friday night visit for GS4, but I'm not sure now if we will.

On a positive note, at least the owner told you he had staged something for some guests, rather than trying to insult your intelligence further by pretending it was truly unexplainable. And such a shame too, considering the history of this location. I know there is some activity there, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to investigate there. Sad

Pam
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hkolln · Mist Joined: Jul 16, 2004 Posts: 260

Yeah, I'm glad we knew but just the fact he insulted our seriousness kinda upset us all. We were there for a professional investigation and it sorta put a huge damper in our plans. I have to say I was very inclined to pack up our video cameras and stuff and leave and not even start our investigation. The only thing was there were TONS of people asking us questions and interested in what we were doing. It wouldn't have looked too good if we just left like that. But we did decide we won't be going back again.

I feel bad for him cause he doesn't realize he doesn't need to do that to get business. There is enough stuff there to keep people coming back without having to stage something like that. And it all started with a guest saying to someone "This is a joke! Nothing ever happens here!" I guess the owner overheard that and then did what he did. I know that doesn't excuse him by all means but that is the reasoning he told Dave and I.
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Helen

Fayelle · Mist Joined: Jun 07, 2006 Posts: 246

When my friend told me about what she thought I was disappointed, but only mildly as I figured I was not going to investigate at any point really anyway....And I felt the experience I had was enough for me at the time....If on the other hand I had gone back to investigate it might have really bothered me since I consider my time valuable as well....

I suppose I was more upset by the fact that it was widespread and many had experienced a staged event....I was sort of hoping it would have been a situation where it happens every now and again with one or two staff members....

Ahh well.....Lots of other places to do an honest to goodness investigation....The place was fun to hang out at though.....And it had a nice atmosphere....The artist who did many of the darker paintings is a really interesting artist and I would have loved to meet him....his art speaks mounds about him, I imagine he would be someone I would enjoy talking to.....The deep colors he uses are so intriguing and it gave me some real inspiration.....I could not get a clear picture of one of his paintings though just a grainy light middle and then a clear picture around the rest....I even tried without a flash and it was the same....I might go get a pic when I go to GS5 just to see if I can duplicate it......I might even have to go a day early just to hang out and try different stages of the day for lighting purposes.....

The place is set up for tourists, unfortunately not for honest to goodness hunters unless it is made absolutely clear to the staff that there is to be NO funny business....Perhaps it would be best to have 1 person on staff at a time the place is closed and do an investigation then where that staff member can be accompanied at all times.....

Even then it would be tough to trust the situation.....

Ahh well....

I did feel accomidated as a patron though that I certainly can say! The staff went out of the way to make sure we were given tours, that we were not bothered too much when we wandered on our own, and in serving drinks etc....I felt welcome and enjoyed the experience in that context.....We were also told about things we asked about around Savannah......I was also helped in choosing something to drink, and given a taste of various things before I bought one.....

Fay

Miss204 · Mist Joined: Jan 29, 2006 Posts: 302

Okay, I am a true blond - it took me quite a while to figure out where we were talking about, but now it kind of makes me sick. The reputation of the place is so huge, and Spoofy and I have had a real experience there that could not have been staged (unless someone had their hand in his pocket...hey...wait...they better not have!)

Anywho, it was fun to hang out there, but I don't know that we should go back for GS4, sort of as a passive protest to their practices. How would it look if we went back? Almost like we condoned it?
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hkolln · Mist Joined: Jul 16, 2004 Posts: 260

We did get to visit Bonaventure Cemetery instead on the way out to go home. Smile

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Helen

denisee · Guest

I'm really disappointed to be reading this. The place has activity and obviously it just wasn't necessary. Bummer. Sad

gizgremlin · Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:25 pm Post subject:

somebody pm me with the location please.
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ghostgalnwga · Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:36 pm Post subject:

Oh wow. i just read this. I would like to know where this is if you can PM i to me. That is just sad that someone would do such a thing.