investigation:
So I was fixing a sink during my plumbing job, when I got a call about an investigation... No, I'm kidding. Although, funny enough, this investigation started off kind of that way....
There had been talk in our group about checking out an old abandoned building that used to be a hospital in the 1930's. Paul said that no one except for a few workers had been in the building for many, many years. I was really excited about the prospect of investigating a hospital, because, let's face it, people have more than likely actually died in a hospital, therefore upping the chances of a haunting. In theory, of course. :)
Well I got some bad news and that was that the investigation was limited so only a couple of ppl could go and I wasn't one of them. I wasn't mad, and I totally understood, but I was disappointed.
The day of the investigation was a hot day in May, 2008. I (thought) I wasn't going, but I had to meet Jackie at the mall to show her a jewelry idea I had. When Jackie and I were having Starbucks, she could see my enthusiasm about the hospital and told me I should just come anyway, one more person can't hurt. I said it was ok, not a problem, I didn't have to go I could just chill at home and hear about it later.... Then she mentioned that in addition to the old hospital there was a huge haunted mansion next door. And I said "...Or, you know I could just call Paul and have him pick me up." :)
I called Paul and we were both psyched. We got to Jackie's at around 8pm and she looked sad. She said "Oh didn't you guys get my message? The investigation was called off..." My heart sank, then she goes "Just kidding! You guys I am SO excited!!!" Paul and I laughed a sigh of relief and I couldn't help thinking that Jackie would make a pretty good actress!
When we finally got to the hospital building, we could not believe our eyes. The place looked like a cross between The Addam's Family House and The Bates Motel. It really looked like it was right out of a movie. We could not wait to check it out.
The team members that evening were me, Jackie, S. Soul, Paul, Chris, Deb and Deb's daughter. Deb said to watch our step and she wasn't kidding. The house was completely gutted. There were holes in the floor, dirt and dust and parts of wood everywhere. There was graffiti on the walls and not much else. It looked really ugly, but it was nice and warm because of the hot day.
I had my recorder going the entire time. We walked around the hospital. As I carefully climbed the crumbling stairs, I found what appeared to be the jaw of a cat. The other team members looked at it and said that it was probably a possom because it was long. I was just glad it wasn't human. S. Soul said it was a good thing it wasn't human because then we'd have to file a police report and all that noise. Anyway, we then decided to break into groups. My group was Jackie, Paul and Chris.
We went over to the old mansion. The mansion was more of a big house, BUT it was JUST like out of an episode of "A Haunting". It was fixed up, but not completely. It needed work, but unlike the hospital it was VERY clean inside. We went down to the basement. Not so clean and I found a spine. Again, probably a possom's. There was also a dice, a poker chip and a gross spoon from when it was a convolescent home. Then we went out to some of the servants houses. They were all gutted and boarded up. When I was walking outside with Jackie, Paul and Chris, I felt something "biting" my arm. I cried "Something attacked me! It did, it did! Something bit me!" and Jackie was like "What attacked you?" It didn't take me long to realize it was my imagination playing tricks on me. I guessed the something was a bug on my arm, there were no marks and it didn't hurt. So we moved on.
A bit later, Jackie, Paul, me and Chris went back into the old hospital. We decided to do an EVP session upstairs. S. Soul was downstairs talking to Deb. There was no where to sit upstairs and the floor was all rotting and filthy. Jackie sat on an upsidedown bucket. I sat on a board.
The only thing that happened (that we knew of at the time!) was that Jackie's meter spiked all the way up. The walkie talkie was not being activated and there were NO live wires or electricity of any kind in the building. We spent the rest of the time talking in the dark until we decided it was time to go home. Jackie said "Maybe this place isn't haunted. It's just creepy."

evidence:
Well, it turns out that it's not just creepy. :) The old hospital is where I got my very first EVP!!! As I was listening to my audio recording, this is what I discovered:
FIRST EVP: "Okay"
Place: On the second floor of the hospital, front room
Team Members Present: Me, Jackie, Paul and Chris.
Event: During the conversation we were having, Jackie says she wants to rent out St. Mary's in Virginia City. Chris says "Okay." I said "Wait, we're gonna do what?" and Jackie says "We're gonna rent out that St. Mary's Art Center. It's Fivehundred bucks..." a faint whispered voice says "Okay..." and Jackie continues... "Five hundred bucks for 2 nights." after that, I said "Oh. Hmm".
Then who said "Okay"???
Not Jackie. She was talking. Not Chris, she did not whisper. Not Paul, he said nothing and would not have whispered. Not me, I didn't whisper and my response was "Oh, hmm" in a normal tone. S. Soul was speaking loudly on the first floor, we could hear him on the recording, so was Deb, we could hear her.
That left me with the idea, the very possible idea, that SOMEONE unseen and unheard at the time said "Okay". Could it be that they were repeating what Chris said just moments earlier? This is actually not uncommon, believe it or not, spirits have been known to repeat words in the conversations of people. This is later heard when the investigators listen to their audio. Weird? I still can't believe it, but there it was. And it's about to get even STRANGER!!!

SECOND EVP: "No"
Place: On the second floor of the hospital, front room, barely a minute after the EVP above was recorded
Team members Present: Me, Jackie, Paul and Chris
Event: I don't even think a full minute went by when both Paul and I got this next EVP. And it happened RIGHT as Jackie's meter spiked!!! The meter spiked. Jackie asked: "Are you here? Is somebody here?" a whispered voice then replies, very clearly, "No..."
Jackie continues, "That was weird..." and you hear one more faint "No".
During the first "no", on my version, you hear the static from the meter which is the same kind of static you get on the radio or if your cell phone goes off near a speaker etc... In Paul's version, you don't hear the static, because he was standing a little further away. In my version the first "No" is much clearer than the second. In Paul's version, it is the opposite.
The whisper sounds more female than male. Again, it was none of us. The answer is slightly amusing, since Jackie asked "Is someone here?" and someone WAS, but they said "No." This is about as genuine an EVP as you can get. I've spent months trying to come up with a non-paranormal explaination for it, and can not.
I think what really does it for me, is that the "Okay" AND the "No" EVPs were recorded right as the meter spiked. I didn't get any other EVPs in that room at that time. It was as if the spirit came in to check us out then decided to go off into another room.

THIRD EVP: Weird Voice
Place: Second floor of hospital, doorway of back room.
Team Members Present: Me, Jackie, Paul, Chris
Event: We were walking around talking about how the new owners would fix the place up soon. As we are talking, two strange vocal sounds are heard. These are almost over looked. Then, as I am leaving the room I say "The floor is all rotting..." and you hear a strange, alien-like voice say what SOUNDS like "Oh well."
At first I thought it must be one of us. But it sounds NOTHING like Paul, who had already been talking, Chris and Jackie have high girlish voices and although I say "Oh well" a lot, and although I have a rather low voice for a female, I could never drop my voice that low. I'm not even sure it's saying "Oh well", but whatever it is, its origin is unknown and can not be explained.

More EVPs were recorded by Paul and Jackie during that investigation. For the official accounts and MORE amazing evidence from the Old Hospital, please visit SPIRIT

personal conclusion: (Please note this is MY personal conclusion, and may not be the same opinion of the other members of the SPIRIT team) Even after the Dance Studio investigation, It took me sometime to even accept that I got my own EVPs at the hospital. After the Dance Studio, I told myself that there might be a chance that the noise we heard on the stairs was something other than paranormal, after all thumping could come from anywhere, right???... Paul's EVP from the Dance Studio was amazing, but I wasn't in the room when it was recorded... I had seen hundreds of ghost shows, and listened to many EVPs online and heard countless ghost stories... I claimed to believe in ghosts a million times... but to get my own EVPs was another thing altogether. It made me realize that I was holding the truth in my own hands. There's no longer a chance for a rational, normal explaination for everything anymore. I got my OWN evidence. There's no where else to go, but to just believe.



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