Every last Wednesday of the month, the St. Albans On Purpose Projects hosts a Paranormal Discussion Group at the St. Albans Historical Society building. This all-inclusive group of paranormal enthusiasts gets together each month to hear presentations from those in the field of paranormal research, share their own spooky stories, and generally just enjoy being in each other's paranormal-loving company! 

The June meeting, however, shook things up slightly. Members were invited to bring in items they suspected may be Haunted, tell their stories, and....have them actually investigated through various pieces of paranormal investigation equipment!

I chose to bring in my memento mori hair locket, which I don't necessarily feel is haunted, per se, but my mom does hate it, thinks it's evil, and is uncomfortable with it in her house. And while I don't think it is actually haunted by an intelligent entity that has an attachment to it, I do agree that it has a strong energy associated with it, which would be expected, as it was worn by someone in deep mourning over the loss of a loved one. Through what I believe is spontaneous psychometry (also called token object reading), I've caught glimpses of the previous owner through my mind's eye.

Anyway, there were some interesting objects. Barry brought in a hand-made box filled with old documents, Angie brought in a horrifying ceramic bunny that seemed to have a little girl attached to it, and there was a whole freaking basket worth of spooky dolls. But, probably the most active piece investigated that night was an old card table that was donated to the St. Albans Historical Society.

I don't want to spoil it, as there will be more information coming later, but this card table seemingly was still in possession of a prominent judge and St. Albans resident. And, this dude was eager to communicate! His dominating personality was left completely intact in the afterlife, as he had some pretty strong reactions to certain lines of questioning, and even tended to steal the spotlight from any other entity that may have wanted to communicate with us---including his own wife. 

The investigation of the items was led by Ron Lanham of Wild and Weird WV and Jess of WV Unseen Paranormal. The judge seemed to respond to direct questions through the use of what is commonly referred to as The Flashlight Method. This method of communication utilizes the type of flashlight (such as a Maglite) that switches on and off through twisting. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that this technique can be controversial in the field of paranormal investigating, as it lends itself quite easily to false positives. There are numerous articles and YouTube videos explaining the process in detail, such as this excellent example from Paranormal TV.  However, the technique isn't something that we necessarily have to completely dismiss, especially under certain conditions. 

As you can see in the video that Ron put together, this method was used in conjunction with other pieces of equipment, such as the tri-field EMF meter, which actually gave corresponding readings whenever the flashlights would light up. Further, with some exceptions, they did tend to light up AND turn off on command. 

So overall it was a really interesting evening, and a great way for different paranormal teams to meet up and work together to further this field, and share our findings with others paranormal enthusiasts!

The next meeting will be Wednesday, July 27 at 6pm. Ike Fauber, friend of SRI, will be there, discussing dreams, sleep disorders, and how it all fits into the paranormal field. Follow me on Theresa's Haunted History for updates! 

Check out the video:

Can Items Be Haunted? Can We Measure Paranormal Activity Around Haunted Items?