Apparition Experts
IE’s Paranormal Investigation Team Takes on Downtown Riverside
By: Jamie Solis
What would you do if there was a perverted spirit in your bathroom
who stole your money and shared a preference of you wearing silky
panties? These aren’t obscure occurrences from horror films like The
Conjuring or The Shining . . . these are documented findings of a
paranormal investigation team right here in the Inland Empire.
As humans born into this chaotic world, we’re given one guarantee
with life, and that is the inevitability of facing death one day. There
are countless uncertainties surrounding our encounter the grim reaper,
and it’s quite normal for one to develop a curiosity into what the
afterlife entails. Despite your religion, beliefs or faith, there’s no
absolute way of knowing for a fact what follows life. However, a group
of curious individuals may have found a way of validating that the other
side does exist. These brave analysts are the paranormal investigation
team Cal~Para Research.
I was lucky enough to meet up with four members of the Cal~Para
Research team at a haunted location that they’ve had intelligent
communication with spirits at in the past. The investigation took place
in the beautiful and historic downtown area of Riverside that is home to
wide streets lined with historic buildings. Americans first began
settling in Riverside as early as 1873, while it was home to the Spanish
colonials before then, and Native Americans lived on the land even
earlier. It’s safe to say that there are generations on top of
generations of potential spirits lingering on this land—a perfect place
for my first ghost hunt.
Downtowne Presence
It’s a hot fall night and I find myself standing outside Downtowne
Bookstore. The white stringed lights hanging against the brick building
illuminate a path down a narrow walkway towards the entrance of the
bookstore. The sun has set for the day, but there’s still enough light
to make the experience feel less creepy. After all, I know I’m heading
into a location that has been deemed a hot spot for paranormal activity.
Upon entering the quirky bookstore, a friendly and inviting woman
behind the counter smiled at me and graciously offered her assistance. I
introduced myself, and she eagerly let me in on the many ghost stories
that have happened within this old brick building.
While the exact history of the building is largely unknown, the owner
of Downtowne Bookstore, Nadia, shared the little knowledge she has
about its past. In 1927, this building was home to the newspaper
Enterprise before merging with the well-known publication that’s still around today,
Press Enterprise.
At some point trophies were made here, and later it housed a record
store. By 1974 it was a bookstore, which it still is today. Nadia has
been here for 11 years, and throughout the years there have been
countless instances that make her believe in the ghosts that inhabit
Downtowne Bookstore. The first clue to the haunting was when Nadia and
her sister opened up shop in ‘03. She explained, “On the top shelf, one
book, we both saw it, eased out and dropped—all on its own, no
earthquake, no wind, just all on its little lonesome.” Aside from this,
Nadia frequently hears unfamiliar and unexplainable noises. Since then,
Nadia and her sister have had multiple paranormal groups come to
investigate the bookstore, and each group has had similar findings.
Nadia met the Cal~Para Research team when she was spending a day at
the bookstore. Cal~Para had gotten a tip that all the downtown buildings
lining Main St. are haunted, so they came by door to door offering
their paranormal investigating services. Nadia graciously accepted,
which started a long friendship of allowing the investigators to
research this location frequently. The team has even installed a
live-feed camera (a para-cam) in the basement, which catches footage
between midnight and 4a.m. The first time Cal~Para Investigators came to
the Downtowne Bookstore they caught an EVP (electronic voice
phenomenon) on a digital audio recorder. An investigator asked the
simple question out-loud to the spirits, “Can you come over?” The
recorder picked up a clear EVP response, “No, I’m dead.”
Downtowne Bookstore has had multiple instances of validation of the
paranormal world existing within it. A photograph that was taken when
Cal~Para first investigated this location years ago shows a glowing orb
hovering in the basement—a proven hot spot for spirit activity. The hard
evidence as well as the personal experiences that Nadia and her sister
have had in the store validate their beliefs. Nadia assured me, “We
really believe something’s here.”
Keep an Open Mind
After speaking with Nadia, I knew it was time to meet the Cal~Para
Research team. I looked around for the ghost hunters, but didn’t see
them anywhere . . . there was absolutely no one wearing white jumpsuits
or oversized ghost hunting machines that resembled backpacks. Instead,
Nadia pointed me to her right, where a group of friendly and regular
looking women and one man were sitting in a circle. Here I’m introduced
to my paranormal team for the evening, Kd the director and lead
investigator, Jean the assistant director and lead investigator, Sue the
investigator and John the web developer and investigator.
Made up of a group of about 20 individuals, the Cal~Para Research investigators are far from the
GhostBusters portrayed
in television and movies. These confident members all bring different
strengths and perspectives to the group. Many in the team are
self-described as “sensitive.”
While you may be more familiar with the terms medium or psychic,
these individuals prefer to avoid the preconceived assumptions that may
come with these labels. Rather, they have different levels of
sensitivity into perceiving the spirits and paranormal world. On the
other hand, there are also those in the group who identify as
open-minded with a healthy sense of skepticism. The team’s diversity is
centered on an eagerness to find the supernatural and is dependent upon
using scientific means to validate their findings. While many of the
group members are sensitive, they never base their case-findings off of
perceptions alone.
Running into ghost activity seemed highly likely for the night as the
team informed me that three spirits hang out in the upper floor of the
bookstore, while a child and unfriendly male spirit linger in the
basement. Headed down to the dark and book-cluttered basement, we began
our ghost hunting session sitting in a circle with multiple
investigative tools in the center. Early on, the child spirit showed
itself to us by lighting up the K-II (Electron Magnetic Field Meter)
twice, which is Kd’s favorite way to communicate with spirits. While the
sporadic illumination of the red, green and yellow lights on the K-II
shows a spirit may be present, an even more spooky experience that
absolutely confirmed the existence of the child ghost within the
basement didn’t happened until after the investigation concluded.
Nearly every member of the Cal~Para Research team carries a digital
audio recorder, because EVPs are more common that disembodied audible
voices that you would hear first hand. The team members frequently get
EVPs, hearing the otherworldly voices on the recordings alone, because
it takes a lot of energy for a spirit to project their voice from their
fourth dimension into our third dimension, but they come through audible
on recordings. I personally recorded the entire interview session in
the basement, asking the team questions about their different
experiences as ghost hunters. It wasn’t until I went home later that
evening that I noticed 15 seconds into our basement session that there
was a small child laughing on my recording—loudly and clearly. Where had
this come from? There were no computers or TVs on . . . let alone any
children in the area. I may have been extremely skeptical coming into
this experience, but there is no denying this child’s laughter on my
recording when nothing was present that could’ve accounted for that
sound—it was just five adults in the dark basement. I didn’t hear the
laughter at the time, even though the recording sounds as if the child
was sitting right next to me. I recall Kd informing me that the spot I
chose to sit in was also where they captured a video of white mist
hovering—apparently I had chosen to hang out in a known hot spot.
Evidence Doesn’t Lie
The paranormal team shared other stories from previous haunt
sessions. One of the investigators, Sue, is convinced the supernatural
world exists, because it has reached out and physically touched her. One
time in particular, the ghostly touch was backed up by an EVP.
Sue explained, “We were all sitting around doing EVPs, somewhat in
the dark, in a young girl’s bedroom. And I just was standing in the
doorway and basically just hanging my hands down, and I felt something
go like that to me. (tickles the palm of her left hand with her right
fingers.) And I thought ‘that’s weird.’ I thought it could be bugs—it
was a hot night and we had doors and windows open. But I said something,
I said ‘something just touched me . . . touched my hand,’ and we had an
EVP, and it sounded like a little child saying ‘it was me.’ So that
probably was my most compelling [evidence that the paranormal world
exists], because I thought something and we got it confirmed.”
It is common for the team to collect evidence; however the evidence
frequently disappears without reason. For example, Jean once captured a
shadow dart across a room on her video camera. She went home and shared
the tape with her daughter. When she went back to save the video, the
three frames that the spirit was originally in had gone completely
black—the image had disappeared. John is a skeptic who joined Cal~Para
Research to find proof firsthand. He explained, “Once I turned 50, I
started thinking about dyin’ so I’m thinkin’ what happens afterwards?”
His ultimate goal is to capture a full-bodied apparition one day. On two
separate occasions John has caught a visual mist on his video camera,
and when he went back to save the image, it was gone. There is no way to
explain why this happened without spirit intervention.
Going into this experience skeptical, I was impressed by the findings
of the paranormal investigators, as well as my own. After having
first-hand experiences and collecting indisputable evidence, my
skeptical side has shifted towards open-mindedness. And although I
didn’t run into any life-threatening or utterly terrifying events (which
I’m grateful for to say the least), I did learn a great amount about
the ins-and-outs of ghost hunting.
If you’re convinced that the house you’re living in has some unwanted
guests, feel free to call the Cal~Para Investigators. Not only is their
service absolutely free, but they pride themselves in keeping your case
100 percent confidential. You may find out that the lingering spirit is
really your grandmother watching over your children, which is a common
finding. The best advice Cal~Para Research shared would like to share is
that you shouldn’t tamper with what you’re not educated about and
experienced in when it comes to spirits. After all, you wouldn’t want a
spirit attaching itself to you. And one other word of advice . . .
whatever you do—don’t burn your Ouiji Board.
www.calparainvestigations.wordpress.com
Originally Published by IE Weekly on October 24, 2013:
http://ieweekly.com/2013/10/feature-stories/apparition-experts/
