Paranormal with a Purpose Gets Wild and Weird

Dave, Barry, and Ron
Photo by Angie Breeden

Last month, Brian and I were honored to represent Spectral Research and Investigation as well as Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State as speakers for the first ever Paranormal Discussion Group, created and hosted by the St. Albans On Purpose Project! The group, which started as an idea by Barry, a young man with quite a bit of knowledge and love for the paranormal, is a monthly meeting of paranormal enthusiasts that meets on the last Wednesday of each month.

This month, I attended as one of those paranormal enthusiasts, and sat back and enjoyed a delightful presentation by some of my most respected colleagues in the field. These presenters were none other than Ron Lanham and Dave Roberts from Wild and Weird West Virginia/The West Virginia High Strangeness Collective! But before there was Wild and Weird WV...there was Ghost Watch RIP, the paranormal investigation group that Ron and Dave were members. After giving some heartfelt background into how they came to be involved in paranormal research, Ron and Dave shared quite a bit of information on some of their favorite Ghost Watch investigations, in particular, the old Purity Bread Factory on the western end of Charleston.

The Purity Maid Bread Factory is a location that I've been hearing about for years, so I was excited to hear about some of the paranormal activity that has been witnessed over the years. Several apparitions have been spotted, including a man on the 'bread floor' with glasses, a pot belly, and a blue and white striped uniform, matching a type the workers at one point wore. In addition to actual apparitions, disembodied voices seem to be a recurring event at the factory, some of which were caught on voice recorder. Other voices, not heard by the human ear at time of recording, were also captured, and a number of these EVPs were played for the group. 

Ya'll know I love and appreciate the technical side of paranormal investigation, but my heart really lies within the context of historical research. Dave provided us with a heap of information from the history of the bread factory's years of operation...but I was impressed to see that they took this back even further. Not only did they examine where troop movement and skirmishes were fought during the Civil War's Battle of Charleston, but also took a look at where the old plantations stretched, and what exactly was on that land way before Charleston became the capital city of West Virginia. But they took it back even further, with research into the Native American populations that lived, hunted, and traveled through the area. 

One especially interesting piece of research they shared was a map of West Virginia's magnetic pull, and the area around Charleston, where both the bread factory AND quite a number of burial mounds, was very very dark blue, meaning it had a low (-500) level of magnetism. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but that's the kind of stuff that we need to look at and study further if we want to evolve the field of paranormal research. 

A couple of other locations were discussed, such as my old stomping grounds---The Lakin Industrial School for Colored Boys, located outside of Pt. Pleasant, and plenty of ideas on paranormal theory were shared. Once again, the members of the audience were eager to ask their own questions, which were answered thoughtfully and honestly. As an added bonus, Ron has a wonderful way of making people feel comfortable and heard, and inspired quite a few people to share their own stories and experiences. And as he pointed out, these stories are a hugely important part of what we do as paranormal researchers and investigators. They could provide the missing pieces of the puzzle...we just need to encourage people to document them, share them, and don't let them get lost to history. 

Overall, it was another successful meeting of the Paranormal Discussion Group!  I got to see my friend Ike, who has joined SRI on a few adventures already, and also got to meet Eric and some of the members from WV Unseen Paranormal. St. Albans On Purpose Project's Paranormal Discussion Group is an awesome resource to have here in the Kanawha Valley, and I'm so lucky that I had the opportunity to be a part of it.  I'll continue to come as long as it's in operation, so keep an eye on Theresa's Haunted History as well as On Purpose Project for updates.  Next month's meeting will again be at the St. Albans Historical Society at 6pm on May 25th. Suggested donation is $10.