Mothman Festival 2017

The third weekend in September is always my favorite time of the year! Not only do we celebrate my son's birthday...but that's the weekend of the annual Mothman Festival in downtown Point Pleasant, WV!

This year, the festival celebrated its sixteenth anniversary, and took place September 16th-17th.  And, once again, the family and I were there for both days. However, it was in a slightly different capacity this year. I decided not to do my own table, but my mother-in-law and her sister-in-law DID decide to do a table! Aunt Betty, a renowned local potter, made several beautiful Mothman dishes, car coasters, and key chains. Gayla, my mother-in-law, an excellent artist and crafter, designed a variety of hats, bags, fans and other small items adorned with hand-drawn Mothmans (Mothmen?) on each piece. I was even able to sneak a few of my own items (used books, treat bags, pins and magnets) onto their table and sold enough to pay for parking and and a few souvenirs...but more on that later, lol.

Anyway, my boyfriend and I helped man the family vendor booth Saturday. We were located in a prime spot, nearly right across from the world's only Mothman Museum. Not only did our location allow plenty of visitors to walk right past us without being too squished...it also allowed us a first look at Mothman, Batman, and Sasquatch. Yes, this unholy trio was using the cafe directly behind us as a staging area. Several times throughout the day, we'd watch them enter the cafe for a quick break, and then reemerge. The greatest part of all of this was seeing Batman carry out Mothman's wings through the narrow door, and then placing them on his back for him when they made it safely to the sidewalk. It was a very surreal experience.  Later on in the day, a fourth character emerged from the cafe and I immediately ran over and accosted him! It was none other than Mothman's Braxton County cousin, the Flatwoods Monster! I did have to laugh, however. The Braxton County/Flatwoods Monster costume contains a wide hoop skirt-like bottom. When going up and down the narrow staircase to the cafe, his handlers had to lift his skirt and turn it sideways, revealing a pair of work boots and hairy people-legs underneath. It kinda killed the magic, lol.

For a couple of hours on Saturday, we were also joined by my Mom and my son, Luke. I have yet to figure it out, but Luke absolutely loves the Mothman Festival and insists on coming every year. This year, his big highlight of the festival was going to his very first haunted house! This 'haunted house' was just an inflatable maze you could walk through for $5, but it was actually quite well done. There were a few spooky props set up along the path, but what surprised me was that there were a few actual scare actors hiding in there, waiting to jump out at you. At one point, we had to squeeze past a butcher knife-waving maniac to exit the maze, much to Luke's chagrin. It did scare him a bit, but he took it like a champ and I'm really proud of him. He had seen this maze on the way into the festival and had made up his mind that he was going to go through it. It was an excellent introduction to 'real' haunted house attractions, but given that he just turned 8, I think we'll wait a couple more years before moving him up to the next step!

With all of this going on, my boyfriend and I still managed to catch one of the speakers on Saturday. The lectures were once again being held in the historic (and haunted!) State Theater and once again, covered a diverse array of paranormal topics. The speakers are absolutely my favorite part of the Mothman Festival! I cannot stress how awesome this aspect of the festival really is. The festival is technically free (this year there was a fee for parking), but the quality of the lectures and lecturers is outstanding. You'd pay a lot of money to see the same or similar speakers and topics at other festivals. Anyway, the lecture we chose for Saturday was 'The History of the Infamous TNT Area' with Tad Greathouse. 

Obviously, I love lectures that are of a paranormal nature, but ones that are history-based are even better! Tad had done a ton of research into the early years of the WV Ordnance Works, later known as the infamous TNT area, where Mothman was originally sighted and believed to have lived. It was an interesting talk, and inspired me to start doing some additional research of my own on the area.

We were back Sunday, but this time, my boyfriend and I were by ourselves. We volunteered to take over the table so that his mom and aunt could rest up after sitting there all day Saturday. Since Sunday was kind of a slow day, we decided to pack up a little early and enjoy the last few hours of the festival. We caught another speaker, Bill Brock, who gave a talk on portals. We also took advantage of the smaller crowd to get some shopping done. We both bought a Mothman t-shirt at the museum. We found Luke the greatest hoodie of all time---complete with leather Mothman wings and studs. And of course, I chose a book to take home. This year I went with David Weatherly's Black Eyed Children. I'll be posting a review soon, so keep an eye out for that!

Finally, we rounded out our evening with a stop at the Mountain Monsters tent. This was the second year the AIMS team attended the Mothman Festival, but last year, they were so busy you couldn't get anywhere near them. We got some autographs and chatted for a few. All the guys seemed like really sweet, down-to-earth people, but Buck and Willie seemed especially kind and humble. They were really taking the time to meet with and talk on a personal level with all the fans. It was actually kinda touching, and I'm so glad we decided to go over there this year.

Overall, it was another fabulous event. Parking is always a pain, and this year, the shuttle service was convenient, but at $10 was still a little overpriced in my opinion. Aside from that, though, it was wonderful. There seemed to be more food vendors this year, and they were spaced out a little better, so the wait for food was significantly shorter than last year. As far as vendors in general, there was an excellent mix and everyone had such creative and clever merchandise. I could have easily spent thousands of dollars on all the handmade jewelry, print art, sculpture, etc. And, everyone we encountered was so incredibly nice. I don't know what it is about this festival, but it seems to bring out the best in people, lol. People from so many walks of life come out, many in awesome costumes, and just for a few hours, get along with everyone, lol. It really is my favorite festival and I'm already making plans for next year!

My boyfriend shot some video of the festival. Please check it out below!

The Perfect Paranormal Investigation Website

I feel like I'm writing this blog ten years too late, lol.  With the popularity of Facebook and other social media sites, it seems like more and more paranormal investigation teams are going away from the traditional website and relying solely on social media sites.  While I agree that its important to integrate social media as an easy way to interact with people in your community and to network and share information, a well-built website is still an important part of a group's online presence.

Luckily, there are plenty of FREE and easy-to-use website builders for those of us who are less than savvy when it comes to such matters. Unfortunately, despite the ease of such programs, I'm still constantly running across REALLY bad paranormal websites and websites that have a lot of potential, but that could improve drastically with just a few tweaks. So what are those tweaks? What does a good paranormal investigation team website need to be successful? Here are my suggestions, broken down into two categories: 1. how the page actually looks and 2. what you have on it.

Aesthetics:
* Pick a background color and font color that are easy to read and don't strain the eyes.

*Make sure your font is legible. Avoid fancy lettering and stick with something simple and easy to read. Don't make the font too small or overly large.

*Avoid clutter. You want a streamlined appearance to your website to allow your visitors to easily find the information they are looking for.

*Avoid distracting music or animated clipart

*Keep it professional. Avoid any gory or scary-looking graphics. People are coming to your site for information and for help on issues that they may find unnerving. Scary graphics are just going to turn them away, or confuse them as to what the true purpose of your page represents.

*Proofread. Make sure your text is spelled correctly and that you use proper grammar and sentence structure. Also, make sure that the layout looks okay. I know from editing my own blog/website that pictures can get kinda wonky, text can get off-center, and any number of other weird things can happen, making the visuals of your site off-putting, lol.


Content:
*If you are an investigation team, make it VERY clear where you are located and what your coverage area is. Even if your name incorporates your geographical location, don't assume that there aren't OTHER areas of the country with towns, regions, and counties with the same or similar names. I can't count the number of times I've come across a group's website and based on their name, I assume they are local. After looking for the information FOREVER, I discover that they live in a county with the same name as my county...but they are located in a completely different state.

*Make your contact information readily available and easy to find, and make sure that you check your messages often. If you want people to contact you for investigations, you need to make sure your information is up-to-date, that all links are working properly, and that you actually check your correspondence on a regular basis.

*Provide some examples of your investigation work. People are interested in where you've been, what you've found, and how you've come to your conclusions. Just make sure you NEVER post a client's personal information/address, and that you receive permission to share  where applicable. I'm not normally a huge fan of the pay-to-play locations (locations that you pay to investigate), but these are actually great locations to help you build up a public resume, so to speak.

*Clearly state your mission and what type of services you offer. Do you conduct residential investigations, or do you just investigate public spaces in your spare time? Do you take a more scientific or a more spiritual approach? Do you offer house cleansings/blessings or other such services? Do you charge for services? Do you specialize in a certain aspect of the paranormal? Let people know what they can expect from you.

*Update Often! Even if its just a little blurb now and then, make sure you keep your website updated and make sure any links are working and current. If a website appears 'dead,' then it may be assumed that you are no longer active and people will pass over you. You'll also lose rankings in search engines if you fail to update your site.

*Members Bios. If your team feels comfortable with it, consider adding some member bios. Let people know who you are, what your specialty is within the group, and what your qualifications are. I like to think of an investigation website being like one big resume, especially if you're actively seeking clients.

*If you aren't posting original content, please, please, please make sure you have permission to share and that you give credit where credit is due.

To be honest, there really ISN'T a 'perfect' paranormal investigation website. Each team, individual investigator, and non-investigator paranormal enthusiast with a website has their own goals and their own purpose in having a site. What works for one person or team may not work or even be applicable to another. However, there are a few things that everyone should keep in mind no matter what:  Make sure your site looks nice and has good plenty of good content. It's that simple!

Theresa Travels Back to the WV State Penitentiary

View of the prison from atop Grave Creek Mound

Instead of taking one big vacation this summer, my family and I decided to do something a little different and take several mini-vacation getaways. One of those trips was an overnight stay to Moundsville, West Virginia, home of the infamously haunted former West Virginia State Penitentiary.

I had been to the penitentiary twice before, once with my friend Carrie as part of girl's day trip where we toured the Castle Halloween (a Halloween museum that used to be located in nearby Benwood, WV), took a historical tour of the prison, and then topped the day off with a trip to The Palace of Gold. The other time I had been was an actual overnight investigation of the prison with several members of HPIR.  However, Aaron and Luke had never been to Moundsville, and I'm always up for a trip to a haunted prison, so we decided to make a weekend out of it.

Mason-Dixon Line

The fun started on the way there. We took Route 2 for a big chunk of the trip, which allowed us to drive through some beautifully historic little towns, some of which are known for their own ghost stories. We even got to stop and examine a marker for the Mason-Dixon Line, which was REALLY unexpected.

Anyway, we arrived at the prison shortly thereafter. As we approached the parking area, Luke and Aaron were already in awe of the massive structure. Luke kept exclaiming how much it resembled a castle. We walked into the lobby area, and just caught the next tour leading out. Our tour guide was Chuck Ghent, a former correctional officer for the prison while it was in operation.

Now, I love Maggie Gray, another tour guide and former CO, to death and I think she's an excellent tour guide and resource. However, Chuck was absolutely awesome in his own right. He had a really dry, even sort of dark, sense of humor that I love, and that I'm sure he had to develop to cope with his work at the prison, especially his years in North Hall. He was extremely knowledgeable and had a great laid-back personality. In several areas of the prison, he'd give us the tour spiel, and then give the group plenty of time to explore the area on our own. There were even a few areas he let us in that weren't technically supposed to be on the tour, but are big areas of interest (such as the haunted boiler room where R.D. Wall's ghost is said to linger). He said that since many people traveled a long way to take these tours and might never again get the chance to visit, especially on the designated dates and times where those areas were accessible, then it didn't seem fair to not let us see them.

Where the 'Shadowman' was photographed

I am SO glad he had that attitude, because those extra touches really made the tour special for my son Luke, who was still 7 years old at the time. Luke is a great kid, and he's definitely his mother's son. We drag him to so many weird places its not even funny. He's been to more haunted locations than most adults, and he genuinely seems to enjoy visiting these spooky, yet historic locations. He was having a pretty good time, but his fun really started in the kitchen area.

Chuck had allowed the group to explore the dining hall and kitchen areas on our own, and its pretty damn dark back in some corners of the kitchen. That's the area where my team and I also saw and experienced some pretty weird stuff during our investigation. Even during the first historical tour that Carrie and I took, DURING the tour, while no one was back there AT ALL, we all heard noises like someone walking and a meal being prepared. Anyway, it was dark back there, yet Luke wanted to explore every nook and cranny and tiny room he could find. Being the ever-prepared investigator I am, I had put new batteries in my flashlight that morning, and had thrown the flashlight in my purse. I fished it out and gave it to Luke, but it refused to turn on. This was a well-made, fairly new flashlight and actual name-brand batteries, so I thought that maybe it had turned on while in my purse, and the batteries had drained. Luke gave the flashlight back to me, I put it in my pocket, and we continued with the tour. While walking down the hall to our next tour stop, Luke noticed that there was a light shining IN my pocket; that darn flashlight had turned on and was working perfectly. I switched it off, put it back in my pocket and we continued on.

Boiler Room Area

As I stated earlier, Chuck let us go down into the old boiler room and for some reason, Luke was super excited for this part of the tour, even though Chuck plainly told us about the murder and the rumors of the area being haunted. Luke, who sleeps with a nightlight on that is brighter than the sun, barged down the steps and started prowling around in complete darkness. Again, I fished the flashlight out and gave it to him. Again, IT DID NOT TURN ON. This did not stop my son, lol. A lot of people were down in the boiler area, so we could see fairly well thanks to their camera flashes and cell-phone flashlights. However, we ended up in some far away corner as everyone was leaving, and only by the grace of some woman who happened to walk by with a light did we make it out of there.

I thought Luke would be terrified, but he had no qualms with being in a pitch-black haunted boiler room. I don't think I had ever been as proud as I was at that moment.

We're locked in!

The tour continued with another highlight being the part where you can get 'locked in' one of the old cells. There are only a few cells available for the lock-in, so it takes a couple of rounds to get everyone through that wants to experience a few moments behind bars. And, like they do on a lot of tours, the guide pretended that one of the cell doors got stuck, and that the people inside would have to wait awhile until they got it fixed. It didn't happen to Luke and I, but he thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world that it happened to this other family that was on the tour. He talked about that for days afterwards, lol.

When it was finally time to end the tour, we spent some time in the museum area and gift shop. I think Luke's favorite part of the tour might have been learning about all the weapons the prisoners handcrafted out of various materials. That was another thing he talked about for days afterward. He picked out a souvenir fidget spinner and a t-shirt, and I bought a couple of books, including C.J. Plogger's The Tour at the West Virginia Penitentiary, which is largely about Chuck and his time at the prison. As I was at the counter paying for our goodies, the best part of the whole visit happened. After the last time my flashlight failed us, I just threw it in my purse. I had to open up my purse to get my wallet out, and lo and behold, that damn flashlight was in there, turned on full blast. I showed it to Luke, who was flabbergasted. He then begin to loudly theorize, much to the amusement of those around us, that this place was haunted and that a ghost had been messing with our flashlight all day long. He was sure of it...and, to be honest, the places where the flashlight refused to work were some of the haunted hot spots, so who knows.

Luke in North Hall cell

Each time I visit the West Virginia State Penitentiary, I have a great time and learn something new. This visit was no exception, except I think that most of my enjoyment stemmed from seeing my son have such a great time. Oh, and Aaron seemed to enjoy himself, too, lol.

The penitentiary was definitely a high point of our trip, but it wasn't the only wonderful place we were able to visit during our trip. We also visited the Archive of the Afterlife museum (which will be a blog all its own), the Grave Creek Mound and museum, and of course, we had to spend a huge chunk of time at New Vrindaban and the Palace of Gold. We had a lot of fun adventures this past summer, so keep an eye on the blog, as I try to get caught up with sharing them all with you!

*Want more prison ghost stories? Check out my blog about the true facts concerning the penitentiary's most infamous ghost, Red Snyder!*

Scarefest 2017

Well, it's Sunday night and I'm still completely exhausted from yesterday's festivities! On Saturday, September 30th, my boyfriend and I drove down to Lexington, KY to attend the area's biggest Paranormal/Horror/Sci-Fi convention...The Scarefest!  While this was our fourth...or maybe fifth...time attending, 2017 actually marked the convention's 10th anniversary, and trust me; things have changed A LOT since we first attended back in 2008.

Once again, the convention was held at Lexington's Rupp Arena. We arrived about 15 minutes prior to the doors opening, which was a bit of a cluster fu...uh, you know. There was a HUGE line to get in that stretched back into the food court area of the arena, yet before you even got into that line, you had to go get in another line to purchase your tickets and receive your arm band. And once again, there was absolutely no one around pointing you in the right direction. Luckily, we noticed that the long line was NOT where we needed to be, at least not yet, so we didn't waste too much time standing around like idiots, lol.

When the doors finally did open, out of the several entryway doors available, people were only being herded into ONE set. Still, people were fairly polite and made it in pretty quickly. We needed to be quick this year, because the first speaker we wanted to see was scheduled for 11am. We went directly to the room where the speaker was to be but the doors were locked. We walked way onto the other side where there was another entry to the lecture rooms, and found that way blocked off. Upon asking how to get where we needed to be, we found that the volunteers had no idea. Since most of the other lectures were to start at 11:30, it was surmised that they just weren't ready yet. At this point, my back was already starting to hurt and I was ready to just leave, lol. We finally walked back to where we went first, yanked the door open, and barged in on a lecture already in progress.

The lecture I had chosen for our first of the day was Ken Boggle's Paranormal Hangover. At this point, I have to make a confession---I had no idea who Ken Boggle was. However, I was intrigued at the title of his lecture, as the phenomenon of the investigation "hangover" is one I've been studying for awhile. As it turns out, the lecture had absolutely nothing to do with the energy drain and sickness that tends to plague paranormal investigators after an investigation. Instead, the lecture was more of a gossip session with Ken, who not only was at the convention as a speaker and tarot reader, but who had been a sponsor for several years.

Because of his work with Scarefest, he has had the opportunity to meet and hang out with a LOT of the paranormal and horror celebrities that come each year. And he was HILARIOUS! I swear, I have never laughed as hard in my life as he told tales of Corey Feldman's weird behavior and demands, getting into fights with festival organizer, Patti Starr, and Zak Bagans' legendary demeanor. I'm pretty sure I had met the male version of me and was quite disappointed that I didn't get to go back and get my cards read by him. Please go check out his website, Tarot by Ken, and give him some love!

I was in a much better mood after seeing Ken, and since we had a few minutes before our next lecture, we took a short stroll around the front section of the vendor's floor. Aaron immediately made a beeline to the table for the Kentucky Browncoats, a group that apparently does all sorts of really cool activities devoted to Firefly. Again, a confession: I have never watched that show and have no idea about anything pertaining to it...but everyone at the table was really, really nice and Aaron seemed to be in absolute Heaven, lol.

Soon, I reached my own state of ecstasy when I stumbled upon the booth selling tons and tons of paranormal non-fiction books...at $2 a piece! There were lots of other great deals on ghost hunting equipment, home decor, DVDs and shirts, but I'm a book nerd, so I walked away with $20 worth. Apparently, Patti Starr is closing her physical shop or something, and was liquidating. She was stopping by to check on the booth while I was dragging my huge bag of books out, and was very kind. She thanked me several times for the purchase.

By that time, it was getting close to our next stop of the day...the Mystery Science Theater 3K panel!  Unfortunately, Joel had to cancel, but Bill and Mary Jo put on a really great question and answer session. I absolutely love MST3K AND Rifftrax, but since I was kind of young when the show was in its heyday, I never really knew a whole lot about its early years. So, the panel discussion was hilarious AND pretty informative for me. Bill was especially hilarious, especially when discussing the learning curve for controlling the Crow puppet.

Next up was a lecture by Adam Bonnett, otherwise known as Glider. Adam Bonnett is a former employee of Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, and has really made a name for himself by being one of very few paranormal investigators in a wheel chair. His talk, The Paralytic Paranormal Affect, focused on not letting physical limitations stop you from doing what you want to do. He also talked about how being in a wheelchair made him somewhat of a 'rolling trigger object,' and that his mere presence seemed to draw out activity at times. It was an interesting talk, especially since I've been to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum enough times to be able to relate to his experiences there.

After Adam's talk, we made a difficult decision---instead of going to another lecture right away, we had to take a lunch break. The Rupp arena has a few places in its food court, but in years past, we never had a great meal there, lol. This year was better, but still not great. We both got subs at Subway, and while we were waiting, ran into our friend Matt and his son, Ryan. We talked a bit as we ate, then made plans to meet up later that evening for dinner....because Aaron and I had to run back over to the lecture section for our next speaker!

Last year, we had seen Kyl Cobb give a talk about the real facts behind the case used as the basis of The Exorcist. We were both really impressed by the amount of research and fact that was presented, so we were thrilled to see Kyl back this year. Kyl was scheduled to give several talks this year, and we chose the one entitled The Exorcism of David Glatzel and The Devil Made Me Do It Murders. Holy cow! I wasn't super familiar with this case...another of the Warrens' fraudulent debacles...and I really learned a ton of really interesting information. Kyl Cobb is one of the best researchers I've ever come across and I cannot recommend him enough. If you never get a chance to see him in person, definitely pick up one of his books. As a disclaimer...if you're a huge fan of the Warrens and their work, you MIGHT not necessarily agree with Kyl's views, no matter how much evidence he provides, lol.

Speaking of great researchers, our final speaker we saw Saturday was Shannon Byers, the Paranormal Genealogist. She gave an excellent presentation on the real facts concerning Waverly Hills Sanitorium. As you probably know, there has been a lot of misinformation passed around as fact about this favorite spot for ghost hunters. Shannon did a great job breaking down her research and showing how things like the estimated 63,000 deaths just couldn't be true. She also shared some fascinating facts, such as why the 'death tunnel' stopped being used as such prior to 1945, an air show disaster that took place on the grounds, and the story of a murdered orderly that many people tend to overlook in favor of the less than truthful tales.


As a weird side note, during the talk, the lights in the room kept going off or dimming. Within seconds of a volunteer turning them back on, they'd lower, flicker, or completely turn off again. It was comical and kind of spooky...but was nothing more than the people in the adjoining room turning the lights off to show a film. Since the rooms were actually one big room, divided by a dividing wall, the lights were on the same system, lol.

We rounded out the evening by hitting the vendor floor one more time, making the full rounds this go-around. I'm really proud of myself---I kept my spending under control, buying only books. It wasn't because there wasn't anything I wanted to buy, though! This year, the vendors seemed to really outdo themselves. There were tons of great artisan pieces, as well as vintage toys, apparel, books, etc. I could have easily spent a thousand dollars. I think one of the things holding me back was just sheer exhaustion. We crammed in as much as we could this year, seeing lectures almost straight between 11am and 7pm. The day flew by and we capped it off with a fun dinner at Red Robin with our buddies.

I was left completely exhausted, but I wouldn't change it for anything. We got an opportunity to see some great speakers, visit with out-of-town friends, and get an excellent kick-off for the Halloween season! If you were at this year's event, check me out on Facebook, and let me know what your favorite part was!

Friday Night Funnies: BOO-BIES!

I have a white bra that shall be receiving a makeover soon! 

You Might Be a Paranormal Investigator If...

True Story: Not only do I have a standard flashlight kept in my car for emergencies, I have a pair of dowsing rods, an EMF meter, and a spare digital recorder....just in case! You never know when you might come across a spooky location that needs checked out. Anyway, happy Funny Friday, and if you want more "You Might Be a Paranormal Investigator if...funnies, check out my previous blog post! 

Friday Funny: Ghost Stories

Who doesn't love a cute cat meme....especially one about ghost stories! With September finally here, its officially Halloween season, and I'm definitely ready for some good ghost stories. What about you?  If you have any awesome spooky tales you'd like to share, feel free to head on over to Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State Facebook and let us hear what sends shivers down YOUR spine.