Jun10

Smalley’s Inn Investigation Cartoons

by Terri J. Garofalo on June 10, 2011 at 7:02 am
Posted In: Entities Blog

Alcove where we saw the lighted mist. (from the same angle I saw it).

Today begins the comic version of what happened on my team IndyParanormal’s investigation of Smalley’s Inn, Carmel, New York. The opening cartoon begins with an actual personal experience Kelly and I had as we waited to begin.

While talking with co-founder Donna, I saw a white light/mist about child height zoom behind her. I didn’t say anything at first. Then, investigator Kelly piped up and said she saw a light zip behind Donna. Comparing notes, be both saw the same thing from separate angles. We examined the possibility of car lights or other sources and were not able to debunk it. Too bad we didn’t catch it on camera!

Smalley’s Inn was established in 1852 by James Smalley. He wore many hats in the town as sheriff, coroner and treasure. The hotel basement was used to store bodies at the time. James’ daughter Elizabeth passed away at a young age. The cause of death is unknown. A headstone was found nearby on Gypsy Trail and brought to the Inn for safekeeping. At that point people began to record paranormal experiences. It appears Elizabeth haunts here. Accounts of child voices, apparitions of a young girl in “Little House on the Prairie” attire are numerous.

The place burned down in 1924, including much of Carmel, NY. It was rebuilt and later divided into separate businesses. There was once a hanging across the street. The restaurant was purchased by the Anthony Porto Sr’s. family back in 1950’s. Anthony and his son still run it today.

Other ghosts on the premises appear to be James Smalley, a woman who sits at booth 21, and possibly a former employee who passed away tragically (not on the premises).

It is possible Kelly and I saw Elizabeth scooting around the restaurant. This was in the back by the alcove that looks over the parking lot. If you are ever there, watch out for speeding spooks!

Tj

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Jun07

Smalley’s Ghost Hunt

by Terri J. Garofalo on June 7, 2011 at 7:12 am
Posted In: Entities Blog

Recovery from this one has been slow for me. I didn’t arrive home until after 6:30 in the morning. We were running on adrenalin and coffee all night.

Smalley’s Inn Restaurant in Carmel, NY is a known haunted location. Many teams have investigated it, including Linda Zimmerman (a renowned local investigator and author of the Hudson Valley).

My team, IndyPara – Independent Paranormal, consisted of Co-founder Donna Parish-Bishcoff, Nathan Schoonover (from Extreme Paranormal and host of Ghost and Demon Radio), Tech guy Andrew Seidel, and investigator Kelly Leiberman. We were joined by Big Guy Media who filmed us for Valley Paranormal web TV.

I was unsure about the filming thing… I like to investigate for the sake of it, the only thing I care about filming is evidence. However, Big Guy’s team was professional staying out of our way and taking an honest account of what happened. Nothing was staged. We were not asked to set up any shots. This was an organic process that followed our natural instincts as investigators.

I brought along some unconventional tools. Paranormal investigation is about trial and error. We never know what is going to work, so often it’s fun to just punt. I showed up with a key chain version of an Etch-A-Sketch, a “Magic Drawing Slate”, a bunch of ghost hunter apps on my iPhone, AND my infamous Magic 8-ball. (Yes, I brought my camera, digital voice recorder, emf detector, etc.)

The toys would hopefully inspire the young ghost Elizabeth Smalley to play. Both Etch-A-Sketch and Magic Drawing Slate were a wash. These items were not from her era. Also, she might not be strong enough to operate them. I will try them again at the Shanley in July. The 8-ball however answered positively when I asked is Smalley’s was haunted it said “Yes, Definitely”… we all left and went home after that having our questions answered. YES I’M KIDDING! But it DID say it was haunted…

The phone apps were interesting. Ghost Radar works like an Ovilus tossing out words and purports to point out where ghosts are on “radar.” While it was interesting, we had no proof of whether these energy spots were existent. I also used an app created by a pal of mine from Twittered called Ghost Words. The theory is the ghost is supposed to press the words and make the phone speak. However, this didn’t work too well according to the spirits who said on EVP, “It doesn’t work.” I guess these folks were not strong enough to manipulate my phone. Good thing as they might use up my minutes. However, Ghost Words also has a motion detector that picks up vibrations. This is a really cool device. I didn’t delve too deeply in it, but I will in the future. I also have a couple EMF apps that I want to experiment with. Smalleys has a high concentration of EMF fields which makes it difficult to discern what is what. So, that will be another day… or evening.

___
I wrote the above last week… So, excuse the lateness of the post.
Last night we went to Big Guy Media for our interviews. We wound up spending a considerable amount of time plucking through the myriad of EVPs for ones that would work on TV. You have no idea how difficult that is! Sheesh! We also were able to debunk one of them via camera footage of me growling at Nathan for turning a light on. You can see me on camera uttering my annoyance. It would have been a class A if I wasn’t alive! Ha!

I’ll keep you posted as to when this episode is up. Meanwhile, take a look at Big Guy Media’s other shows! http://www.yourbgm.tv/

Eat Cookies Hunt Ghosts!
Tj

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Jun04

Missed a day! Oops!

by Terri J. Garofalo on June 4, 2011 at 11:27 am
Posted In: Entities Blog

Sorry gang. I’ve been backed into a time corner this week with the paranormal evidence I’ve had to sift through and various deadlines. I forgot to load Fridays and Saturday’s comics. Saturday’s is in place. I’ll run the other on Monday.

I am going post the results of the Smalley’s investigation. We’re going Monday for individual interviews. The episode will appear on http://www.yourbgm.tv/ when it’s done. I’ll tell ya when it goes up!

We caught some awesome evidence that would blow the Ghost Hunters away!

I’ll have ya back in my focus soon! Eat Cookies! Hunt Ghosts!

Tj

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May24

Consignment Haunting…

by Terri J. Garofalo on May 24, 2011 at 7:26 am
Posted In: Entities Blog

This week starts the Entities series based on the Hyde Park consignment store investigation my group did back in April. I’ve posted some of the EVPs already. Today, we flesh out the rest.

This little house was once a residence. It was moved from a former location to where it sits now. It’s now a lovely little 2-story consignment store called Surviving Sisters with a reputation for helping women in need. The owner Kim, is a delightful woman who is eager to please and tell a good story. She had quite a few stories to tell! Jewelry is moved around the shop. A pair of earrings in particular managed to vanish when someone requested them. Voices are heard and the shadow of a man has appeared.

During the initial client interview, I turned on my digital voice recorder. As usual I picked up some interesting EVPs. The irony of this is I always catch more when I walk in, then we all sit down for an organized EVP session. I guess the ghosts are more relaxed. While Kim was telling her stories, a male spirit felt she wasn’t truthful. He said, “Bullshit!” He kept making commentary. Finally, during a heartfelt story, a female spirit told him to lay off. It was an interesting dialog. (I suspect the ghost wasn’t being truthful, for he denied treating his wife badly in life).

While we were talking, I could feel an energy next to me. I ran my hand through it at waist level and remarked about it. At the moment I picked up an EVP that said, “Look up.” It seems our male friend was standing next to me.

We split up the team. My group included IndyPara co-founder Donna Parish-Bishcoff, reporters Sarah Bradshaw and Christina Williams of the Poughkeepsie Journal. We began in the bar area in back. It seemed pretty quiet, but we did pick up a few clips.

Upon heading upstairs to join Nathan Schoonover formerly of Extreme Paranormal and his Paranormal Puck. The puck is one of those questionable devices. Nathan likes to use it for reading EMF fluctuations. We were mesmerized by the words. Soon it became apparent there was some connective meaning. The words “tweak,” “coin,” “bush,” “flag,” “nation,” “quarter,” “cabinet,” “believe,” and others kept repeating. I finally decided to investigate. I went downstairs to ask the owner if there was any method to the madness. Then I saw the plant or “bush” on the checkout counter “cabinet” with American “flags” stuck in it. The owner noted there was a quarter from another country that she put in the saucer under the plant. She looked… it was gone! She looked around and eventually found in in the draw of the counter “cabinet”… It was a Chinese “quarter” which explains the “nation” comment. This particular spirit is known for moving jewelry and objects to different places. To really validate this, I picked up an EVP that said “coin.” I guess the ghost decided to “tweak” the “coin.”

Here’s a photo of the coin.

Chinese Coin discovered after paranormal goose-chase courtesy of a Paranormal Puck.

Here are some of the EVPs we collected. I’ve posted some of these before, so excuse the repeats.

Click Here: SS-11-Bullshit – This is the one that says “Bullshit.” Ghost doesn’t believe Kim’s story.

Click Here: SS-17-PleaseDontUpsetHer – Female spirit defends Kim.

Click Here: SS-25-ItsMe – “That was me.” Spirit taking claim of the dark shadow of a man seen by owner.

Click Here: SS-29-LookUp – “Look up.” This was picked up when I was feeling energy and looking down at my hand as I ran it through the source.

Click Here: SS-18-ILoveTeasingHer – “I love teasing her.” This followed “Please don’t upset her.” (Yeah, I’m out of order here.)

Click Here: SS-36-ThatsAPieceOfShit – “That’s a piece of shit.” Ghost denies being rude to his wife.

Click Here: SS-38-Please_AwayWithIt – “Believe it.” (Ironically the word believe appeared on the paranormal puck several times that evening.)

Click Here: SS-42-WhistlePhew – Hear a whistling “Phew.”

Click Here: SS-43-ImHurtorHer – This EVP is one of those that sounds different each time you listen to it. After listening again, it seems to say “I’m very….” or “I buried Martha.” See what you think!

Click Here: SS-48-WantThem – “Want them.”

Click Here: SS-53-Stuff – “Stuff.” Must be commenting on the contents of the store…

Click Here: SS-60-GoNowToThePathAndDontComeBack – “Go out the back (or to the path) and don’t come back.” We were all leaving to take a photo out front.

Click Here: SS-63-HelloPauline – “Calling Pauline.” This one was picked up upstairs.

Click Here: SS-64-Call – “Call.” Ghost wanted to call Pauline apparently…

Click Here: SS-65-Hi – “Have photo.”

Click Here: SS-92-Singing – “I hope you hear…” Sounds like singing behind Donna talking.

Click Here: SS-96-GoHomeIDontWantYouHere – “Go home. I don’t want you here!”

Click Here: SS-97-GoHomeGoHome – “Go home. I don’t like you and I don’t want you here.”

Click Here: SS-102-Percy – “I’m Percy.” This is very faint. Ironically, Donna has a psychic impression of the name Percy.

Click Here: SS-106-GoTheHeckHome – “Go! Go home!”

Click Here: SS-114-Coin – “Coin” This was taken upstairs before we began the Paranormal Puck investigation.

Click Here: SS-115-ItBroke – “It broke.” Nathan was setting up his computer. Apparently the spirit thought is wasn’t working right.

Click Here: SS-117-Puck-Quarter – Here begins the dialog that led me to the quarter.

Click Here: SS-121-Puck-PushCupboardSizeSure

Click Here: SS-136-Puck-NationDetails

Click Here: SS-147AlreadyCrossoverAboveQuarter – You can see that there is some sort of direction going with this in this clip. Needless to say, I went on a goose chase soon after to find an international quarter….

Click Here: SS-154-IAmHome – “I am home.” This is a female singsong voice that seems quite pleased.

Click Here: SS-156-HeLiesToYou – “He lies to you.” I guess the male ghost is a liar according to this female one… Perhaps she figured the goose-chase was just that.

Click Here: SS-158-TheyKnow – “They know.” We know something… I don’t know what this spirit is referring to…

Click Here: SS-223-GoAway – “Please go away.” Apparently they were tired of us. Initially in the attic room, I felt a heavy energy as if someone didn’t want us there. It lightened up later in the investigation. There was a report of a doll moving to the other side of the room unassisted. Also, footsteps were heard by previous tenants.

This is definitely a haunted location. The spirits are reasonably friendly… although sarcastic sometimes. One of them would prefer we left them in peace. The all seem to like the owner Kim. The place has a good feel over all. You should check it out and do a little shopping while you’re at it.

For those of you who did not see the article and corresponding video about it, here it is (They’ll probably make ya buy it). http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/poughkeepsiejournal/access/2319455261.html?FMT=ABS&date=Apr+14%2C+2011

I’m ghost hunting Smalley’s on Friday! Stay tuned for more haunting news!

Eat Cookies, Hunt Ghosts!

Tj

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May20

Jim Morrison & Kris Williams

by Terri J. Garofalo on May 20, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Posted In: Entities Blog

For those that saw last Sunday’s Guest Draw with Ghost Hunters’ Kris Williams and the Doors’ Jim Morrison, here’s the rest of the series. When I do a Guest Draw of a para-celebrity, I don’t plan on making a series out of it. However, this one, on a personal level, warranted it. Allow me to explain…

The character Woodsworth is one I invented years ago. The inspiration came to me in a dream back in 1994 or so. Jim Morrison appeared to me in a dream – one of those really clear, in color, memorable ones. He showed up at my door (no pun), when I opened it, he proceeded to tell me what he thought he should look like if he were still alive and living in the woods as a poet. I woke up the next morning and drew Woodsworth.

I called him Doug (Jim Morrison’s middle name was Douglas) initially and attempted to make a comic strip of him in a camper in the woods living with Elvis (Elvin). That didn’t go anywhere, so he sat in my files for several years. Back in 2006 I began to hear Doors music everywhere I went. Every time I got in the car, The Doors were on the radio. I’d switch stations, more Doors. In the Mall, The Doors. Always in odd places… I finally admitted it must be a sign. So, I revisited the old comic. Was I supposed to draw Jim Morrison?

A bit of sketching led me to creating an entirely different comic strip. I ditched Elvis (too obvious and derivative). I put Jim back in his camper, complete with a guest teepee, in the wilds and called him Woodsworth the poet. I then assigned him a ghost named Fred, former owner of the camper. Fred, an avid anti-social fisherman wanted to barbecue a batch of trout, doused his Kingsford Edge with gasoline, applied a match, and was suddenly no longer interested in food. AND, his barbecue was missing… It was eventually seen as space junk by the Russian on the International Space Station. I think the guy’s name was Chekov…

Woodsworth does not believe in ghosts… at least he denies it at this point. As of this time, he’s had quite a bit of experience with the paranormal, though he insists on rabid skepticism. Believe it or not, Woodsy dates Erna of Entities-R-Us. Through her, he gets a referral for the ERU team to rid him of Fred. This is where Entities-R-Us evolved from.

Arno and Merv were too funny to leave as a sideshow. I extracted them, along with Erna, the psychic and Vlad, the Demonologist for the comic strip you read and hopefully love. 😉 You can thank Jim Morrison for showing up psychically in a dream… and for the universe sending me Doors music. By the way, before I wrote the Kris Williams strip I was hearing Doors music again like crazy. It only let up this week when I completed the last of these cartoons. Apparently, Jim is on the other side and wants to be heard in cartoon form.

I would also like to add… Kris Williams of Ghost Hunters International plays in her own Doors tribute band. Thanks to Twitter I know these remote facts. Ha! Pays to pay attention!

There you have it, my psychic journey into comics… at least this comic.

Upcoming events…

SMALLEY’S Investigation

Next Friday my team IndyPara is investigating Smalley’s Inn restaurant. We will be the first team to have the place to ourselves! AND, we are being filmed for this one. It should be a hoot. I’ll keep ya posted.

Check out the cool logo I did for us!

ARMAGEDDON

The Rapture is happening Saturday. According to some dude it is officially Judgment Day where it will be decided who gets to heaven and who is sent to hell. Simon Cowell is on the judges panel, so we’re all going to hell… It’s B.Y.O.B. so hit the store first. I’m going to make sure I have a nice bottle of wine for Saturday, that my thesis is done, and my house is clean.

The beauty of the world coming to an end is that all responsibility is OVER! Just think… you don’t have to clean the cat box! WooHOO! I’m considering how I’m going to spend all my free time. What are your plans?

SUNDAY LEP RADIO SHOW! Almost forgot to mention this…

Yup. I’m guesting on another radio show this Sunday, May 22, the day after Armageddon. Guest Drew Steve and Shawn a few week’s back. Here’s the info for Into the Darkness Radio:

Steve and Shawn are LIVE this Sunday evening from 5:00 – 7:00 pm est with a great show lined up! We will kick off the show with our usual paranormal talk and updates as we talk about some of the latest paranormal issues and give everyone a quick L.E.P. update. Around 5:30 we welcome to the show our special guest Terri Garofalo from Entities-R-Us. Terri is a paranormal investigator and creator of the awesome comic strip titled ” Entities-R-Us “. Terri does amazing work with her comic strip and was kind of enough to feature our team as a guest draw last month. Please be sure to check out her website and be sure to follow her comic strip daily! We will also be taking your calls live throughout the show so we hope to see you in the chat room!! Thanks!!

www.intothedarkradio.com

Eat Cookies, Hunt Ghosts!

Tj

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