HPI Chronicles:

Do I Really Believe In Ghosts?

By: Shannon McCabe, President H.P.I. International
Haunted & Paranormal Investigations International

It is Saturday, March 29th 2008 and I am sitting here at my computer waiting to go on a an investigation at an H.P.I. member’s home. The member is Angel Kesti and she has been with H.P.I. since Halloween 07’. I really liked the way I met, Angel. She called me up last Oct 30th and asked me about our annual Ghost Hunters Ball and said, “I know we haven’t met, but I’d like to help you out with the party!” I said, “sure, I can always use the help, you’ll be working the door for us.” She jumped right in and became an great part of our ghost hunting family. As the leader of over 300 members, it’s the ones that jump up and offer their help and time, that I appreciate the most.

Do I believe in ghosts? Tonight’s investigation has me in a quandary. I have seen some pretty decent evidence come through from Angel’s home, but I, personally, am not completely convinced yet. I must be from Missouri, because I want you to “Show Me”. I’ve become kind of a hard ass lately, and want to get the evidence myself before I deem a place haunted. I guess it’s just my own controlfreakedness that I need to get over. Anyway, I had two different teams of investigators go to Angel’s home and one team came back and found all kinds of great evidence and one team had nothing. The team that brought me the evidence had numerous EVP’s, eight to be exact, some interesting light anomalies on film, smells of baking bread and cologne, cold spots, and a great video. Here is what the investigator had to say in her write-up…

“This was a first for me, I have never had an entity try to channel through me… I was immediately overwhelmed by static electricity all over my body…At one point I had to run out of the room because I was overwhelmed by nausea, it wasn’t until Brian C. asked the entity to leave me alone, that the feeling finally subsided…”

The other team did not have as much fun as the first team, but Paul Dale Roberts, H.P.I’s official Ghostwriter, wrote a story called “A Hauntingly Quiet Night at Brougham Way”. In Paul’s article he interviews Angel, a foster mom, and here is what she had to say…

The activity began in February 2007 when they purchased two beds from a local thrift shop. She thinks that maybe the children that occupied these beds may be haunting her home. They also had a child in the home that was into the Goth culture, and that Angel often caught her chanting. She thought she might be into the mystical arts. She has also opened the closet door to have a blast of cold air hit her, and the TV shuts off on it’s own accord.

Another pretty significant event happened when Paul, or PDR as I like to call him, took a group of H.P.I. members on an HPI Scouting Mission to Angel’s home. You see, we have a small core group of investigators that do our private investigations and a large group, 300+, that we take on Scouting Missions, public haunts, events, etc… This group had a pretty insane séance and this is what Paul had to say…

“It sounded like the freaking walls were ripping apart, Shannon! You would not believe it!” I know that is why I want you to show me… “We had a voice come through the walkie talkies! It was a man’s voice saying, “Get Out”. To me, it could be some trucker messing with them, who knows!? “We got tons of EVP’s!” Now those are pretty good, I must admit. It’s hard to dispel an EVP when an entity answers you back. Okay, I kind of believe you now, PDR.

Now, you might be saying to yourselves, “What the heck is Shannon’s deal? What the heck does it take for her to believe some place is haunted?!” And as I said before, “SHOW ME!” So that is what I am going to do, I am going to get my Red Bulls and head myself on over to Angel’s house to see for myself!

I am going to hit “save as” and pick this article up after the investigation at Angel’s home, see you tomorrow. Wish me luck…

I’m baaack! I still believe in ghosts! We had a great time at Angel & Sam’s home. They had some delicious snacks set out for us to nosh on. Have you ever had a Sweet Tart Jelly Bean? Go get some now, they have them at Safeway on the 50% off Easter rack. Anyway, as the HPI Core Group ascended on Angel & Sam’s home, we all had high hopes. After hearing about PDR’s Scouting Mission séance, we were expecting A LOT to happen. We convened in the living room and had Angel, Sam & Paul brief us on the activity. I must say, there was a lot of activity explained and I’ve also seen the prior evidence. Insane.

The HPI investigators present were: Angel Kesti & her husband Sam, Jen Baca, Michelle Paykel, Michele Stump, John Wachter, Paul Dale Roberts, Kristen Sheley, Chris Grissom, Donna Reynolds, Tim Hawkins, and me, Shannon McCabe. We headed upstairs…

When we reached the top of the stairs, the air was thick with excitement. We loaded our equipment into a bedroom to the right, with only a queen sized bed & small shelf unit. Angel, is a foster mom so she keeps the bedrooms in a minimal state. Maybe this way the kids can fill them with items of their own to make them more comfortable?

After we got all our IR cameras in place we had the investigators sit on the floor in a circle. With a white candle and a ‘hedge of protection prayer‘, the séance began. I have A.D.D. so I sat on the bed and watched my monitor for activity. If you know me, you’ll know that I am a ball of energy and can’t sit still to save my life. Maybe I should lay off the Red Bull? Nah. As I sat there focused on the monitor PDR lead the séance. He asked if anyone was “here with us” and as far as I could tell, there wasn’t. Until…We got a bleep on the walkie talkie. We had 6 walkie talkies out, because the last séance they had a little girl answer them through one of them. Now you may be asking yourself, “Could this have been interference from a local dispatcher?” Sure, it could have been. But you can make your judgment when you listen to the EVP for yourself. It is available at www.HPIparanormal.net under “Angel Kesti Investigation”. And when you get finished with that one, go to “Home in Citrus Heights” and listen to the other 8 EVP’s. I think you will agree that the paranormal does exist.

And if that wasn’t enough for me, as I sat watching the monitor, a nice bright white orb came off of Kristen Sheley’s head. Then John Wachter said he felt cold around him. I did a temperature reading and it was 68 degrees in the room, and 59 degrees around John. And I almost forgot, while we were being briefed by Paul downstairs, Sam, homeowner, turned around quickly to look at the stairs behind him and heard a phantom running down the stairs into nothing! Yeah, good times.

So even though the walls didn’t rip apart like I wanted, I am convinced now that the paranormal does exist and is residing in Angel and Sam’s home. I’d like to thank Angel and Sam for their wonderful hospitality and willingness to let us continually investigate their haunted home.

Do I believe in ghosts? Uh, DEFINITELY.

Shannon McCabe

I am a Taurus. I have a husband, Bruce Kubel, and a little black 7lb. poodle named Rocket. I live in Curtis Park, a small suburb near downtown Sacramento. In my daytime life, I run a flower shop and manage a touring musician by the name of David Brookings. In my spare time, ha ha, I take boudoir photography, DJ weddings & parties, give singing lessons, cook, attend rock concerts, love Harry Potter and Emile Hirsh movies, shop online for stuff I probably don't need, love the band Marcy Playground, travel to as many Renaissance Faires as possible, guest speak on various paranormal radio shows, and just all around try to have a good time at whatever I am doing! Whoosh! I need a breath!!! I took over H.P.I. Paranormal in 2006 and it's been going great! We have an H.P.I. comic book coming out soon, H.P.I. radio, and we're working on our next series of paranormal conferences. Stay Tuned....

Shannon McCabe
President, HPI International
www.HPIparanormal.net
For comments on this story or if you have a paranormal investigation : 1-888-709-4HPI H.P.I. Official Website features investigatins of allegedly haunted areas of the area as well as video, photos and stories on paranormal phenomena in California.

Also see: 20 QUESTIONS WITH Shannon McCabe

Copyright 2008 Shannon McCabe, H.P.I. International, all rights reserved

Want to check out some reported real ghost photos start here! Free Ghost Photo Gallery

The World's 100 Most Haunted Places