by Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Ghostwriter
Today is September 16, 2007, Sunday. I have been receiving a few emails from people who read my articles and they have asked why I don't have HPI investigate Sutter's Fort. Supposedly, there have been EVPs picked up in and around Sutter's Fort, where a man is yelling that he needs his rope. Another EVP picked up the galloping sound of horses. When I read the emails, I knew it was time to do a scouting mission. I called upon HPI Paranormal Investigator-In-Training / Scout / Sensitive / Ghostwriter: Athena Quinn. Yes, Athena is a ghost writer in her own right and has ghost stories of her own experiences published at various ghost websites. Athena says she is my fan and I am her fan too.
The equipment we would be using this day is 'Listen Up,' which enhances sound, and a digital camera. As we walked around Sutter's Fort, which was prominently active from 1839-1850, Athena feels a fluctuation of energy in certain areas of the Fort. We take time to pause, so I can learn when she was aware she was a sensitive. She tells me that when she was 4 or 5 years old, she became aware of spirits around her. She was able to pick up on their energy. She has also lived in a haunted house growing up. She has explained this story in one of her articles. While living in this haunted house, she witnessed objects moving from one area and deliberately placed on a table by an invisible force. She saw the apparation of her baby dog Jellybean. She also has the gift of psychometric. Her brother collected foreign coins and he could place them in her hand and she was able to tell him what country the coin came from.
As I got the basics of her life, we continued to investigate. At one tower of the Fort, she felt a presence and was able to see a dark silhouette. At another corner of the Fort, she felt death and violence in the immediate area. What was interesting, we both were drawn to that particular corner of the Fort. During our investigation at the Fort, I took no unusual photos, nor did I hear any EVPs with my sound enhancement device.
But, things were a bit more interesting at the Pioneer Congregational Church. As I stuck my sound enhancement device through large wooden gates into the church, I picked up a voice of a small boy, I heard footsteps and a cabinet opening. I heard a moan that sounded like a man's voice. When Athena tried the same thing, she heard a double thud noise and a choir singing inside. The church from all practical purposes was empty of people. The reason why we probably couldn't pick up EVPs at the Fort, is that the Fort was closed when we arrived and we couldn't get inside, plus the sound of moving cars and people walking around added a lot of interference. With the Church, I was able to squeeze my sound enhancement device through the crevice of the door, eliminating any outside sound interference.
I would like to look more into Sutter's Fort/Pioneer Congregational Church, but I think it needs to be investigated during late hours, when the traffic dies down and people are asleep.