by Paul Dale Roberts, H.P.I. Ghostwriter
Can you believe this weather? It's November 3, 2007, Saturday and the skies are so blue and the sun is shining down, beating warmth upon the people who are embracing this California Indian Summer. People are walking around in shorts, I am tempted to throw off my t-shirt while walking my dogs Pika and T-Rex, but I attempt to stay modest. This day started like any other day, my friend Mark Greer stops by and loans me a book on ghosts in Pennsylvania and while we discuss this book, paranormal investigator Debbie Talani is in the neighborhood and she wants me to hear some EVPs she picked up at a residence in West Sacramento. I had to cut my visit short with Mark and Debbie, because I had a meeting with paranormal investigator and intuitive Holly DeLaughter. Holly wanted to scout out some areas near downtown Sacramento and Curtis Park. We stopped over at Shannon 'Ms. Macabre' McCabe's home and briefed her on the areas we would do a preliminary investigation and scouting mission at. Shannon gave us her blessing and off we went.
The Donner Home
This is a huge red brick mansion in Curtis Park. It was one of the original structures in Curtis Park. When Holly lived in this area, she saw a man and woman apparition. Another time she got a whiff of what smelled like bacon cooking and there was no one in the house. Holly tells me that this house is always vacant, as soon as the new owners move in and discover that the house is haunted, they move out as fast as they came in. There were a few times when the realtors would take potential buyers in the house and mold and blood would be forming on the walls while the potential buyers were there. We went in back of this home and did some EVP testing and took some pictures. As I placed my Listen Up Sound Enhancer through the garage area, I heard voices inside. Holly using her sound enhancer and heard a repetition of thumps.
Curtis Park
The whole park is reputed to be haunted. A woman was raped and murdered at the tennis courts. Holly can feel the negative energy that generates from this tennis court.
Sacramento Children's Home
Holly has felt the presences of many spirits at this establishment. Holly and I also stopped over at I-5/Sutterville, where I will do a scouting mission at this location tomorrow. This is the site of a murder scene, in which either Roger Kibbe aka the I-5 Strangler or Randall Woodfield aka I-5 Killer raped and killed their victims. Holly leaned up against one tree and focused on this crime scene and came up with the name of Shirley or Shelley. I believe one of Roger Kibbe's prostitute victim's name was Shelley. Also Holly was envisioning deep water. Perhaps the I-5 Killer took the bodies to an area of deep water along the Sacramento River?
After I left Holly, it was time for ghost hunting in the town of Coloma. A quick paranormal investigation team was assembled that consisted of Shannon 'Ms. Macabre' McCabe - President of HPI, Paul Dale Roberts - Ghostwriter/Scout, Jennifer Baca - Scout, Chris Grissom - Investigator/Technician and Tim Hawkins - Lead Investigator. We all piled up in the Ectoplasmobile aka Ecto1, Shannon's 06' Jetta, and headed up the road.
The Sierra Nevada House
Shannon didn't drive as fast as usual, which caused only a minor nosebleed, I was grateful that the G-Forces were moderate this time around. On this night, we were in search of Isabelle or some may call her Isabella. For this article, I will merely call her Isabella. I interviewed Howard Penn, owner of the Sierra Nevada House. A very nice establishment that has been around since the 1800s. At one time this establishment was a brothel. Howard explains to me that sometimes doors and windows open on their own accord. Sometimes employees have heard ballroom music and it sounded like 20 or 30 people were dancing in the dancing area of this hotel. Stoves have turned on, the refrigerator door has swung open and shot glasses have been known to slide down the bar. Isabella is described to be in her 60s or 70s with long silver hair. She is seen with a long gown that seems to flow. Pink or red orbs have been seen through the establishment and many patrons believe that it is Isabella. The most haunted rooms are Room 1, Room 2 and Room 4, also known as the Bridal Room. These rooms are the ones most frequented by Isabella.
Howard tells me there is nothing to worry about, Isabella is a prankster, but she is harmless, there is never any negative energy. Legend has it that Isabella fell in love with a prospector and when she discovered her love cheating on her, she died of a broken heart. Howard explains that Isabella has turned 4 lights off in a row and when told to turn the lights back on, she does exactly that, she turns all 4 lights back on. There are two other ghosts in this establishment, one is of a young boy named Mark or Matthew. Mark either died in the fire of 1902 or 1926. Another ghost is Sara, who died of a childhood disease. Patrons have heard kids upstairs playing kick ball, when they go upstairs to investigate, there is no one there. Lotus the cat plays with an invisible yarn ball, as if he is playing with invisible entities. One time a door opened on its own and a blast of cold air came through the hallway. Many patrons have been touched. One night when people were dancing a woman felt a spirit pass through her body, she immediately thought it might have been Isabella. People say Isabella loves to dance!
Coloma Café Club
Shannon interviewed a patron named Harold who said he lived in the 1960's Haight Ashbury, San Francisco. He dabbled with the occult, that lead him into the dark arts and became possessed by an evil spirit. When eventually this evil spirit was pulled out of him, it felt like a magnet. Harold said he has a great story to tell me and will email me his incredible story of possession. Shannon said,"You never know what you will encounter when you meet someone. Harold looked like any normal guy that would hang out at a small town bar.. but wow! One hell of a story came out of him."
The crowd was festive at Coloma Café Club. The regulars of this club welcomed us with open arms. The karaoke DJ even announced our arrivals and said he had guests here from Sacramento. Then after seeing our dancing and singing techniques he said we were from Hollywood. Songs like Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stand Back & Stop Draggin' My Heart Around by Stevie Nicks got everyone on the dance floor. One girl patron got so excited, she tugged on my shorts and thank god I had a belt on, because she nearly pulled my pants down. I took her to the side and didn't ask for her number, but I asked her if she ever experienced anything paranormal in this establishment. She told me that Jiggy haunts this establishment. I asked who Jiggy was and she said Jiggy is a party animal and when the music becomes lively he has been known to appear on the dance floor and get 'jiggy' with it. She said one time it was rainy outside and there were wet footprints on the dance floor where Jiggy had danced. She said it the footprints were not the patrons, because no one was dancing in that area. Could it be the beer? Maybe...
Since the atmosphere was so festive, it was hard to interview anyone. So Shannon gave up, and since she is a professional singer, started belting out some songs that got more people in a festive mood. Before I knew it, Tim Hawkins, Jennifer Baca and I, were country line dancing. I did some fancy swing dancing with Shannon and Jennifer. Tim blew away the crowd by doing some karaoke to a song called Rock Lobster by the B52's. I've never heard this song, but it was hilarious! As I surveyed the crowd, I thought I saw an orb fly past the dancing patrons heads, I immediately went to investigate and someone had blown up a French tickler condom and released it. It shot in many different directions while deflating. I debunked the orb, and identified it as a useful household commodity.
I finally got the nerve to go up and sing with some tall blond, we sang Rock the Casbah by the Clash and then my bravery became tenfold and had Jennifer come up and sing with me The Devil Went Down to Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band. Jennifer and I kept up with the lyrics and the crowd went crazy. Jennifer and I, felt like rock stars. I could see jealousy in the eyes of Shannon, it was like she witnessed the rebirth of Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin singing in duet. Sometimes ghost busters need a break from all the serious investigations, and it was nice to finally let our hair down and get 'jiggy' with Jiggy! I even took over the mike from the Karoke DJ and yelled out, "Sacramento is in the House!", "Elvis has left the stage!" and "Last Call for Alcohol". Of course the crowd again went wild with my witty remarks, if you don't believe me, just ask Shannon! Let's see what Shannon's findings and conclusion were, I bet anything she is going to admit I am the next Rock God! Let's see what she has to say folks!
SHANNON'S FINDINGS: I found Paul to be a terrible singer. Jen Baca to be a great new friend. Chris Grissom will NEVER do karaoke, even if his job with H.P.I. depends on it. And Tim Hawkins can seriously imitate the B52's. Nice.
SHANNON'S CONCLUSION: Paul a Rock God? Please! Basically when Paul grabbed the karaoke mic from the DJ and yelled out "Last call for alcohol at 11:30pm... I said, "oh $#!^, it is definitely time to make our exit! This is our cue to leave." Last thing we needed was for the locals to turn against us city folk!