"Sleuths Detect Spirits in Animal Shelter" 27 October 2007 Marija B. Vader - Vail Daily News, Vail CO http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20071031/COMMUNITY_NEWS/71030026 "GRAND JUNCTION — The voice came through the speaker Saturday night at the Roice-Hurst Humane Society. It was clearly human, whispery, ethereal, and somewhat ghastly. “... I’mmm down here.” The voice from literally stopped all human movement at the animal shelter. Humane Society Manager Jenny Key and her boyfriend Bob Pena exchanged wide-eyed looks. Others did the same and begged to hear it again. And again. “ ... I’mmm down here.” People gathered on a dark and stormy night for the “reveal” of paranormal evidence collected a week ago at the Clifton animal shelter. Paranormal investigators Cliff and S.J. Christ, along with their team of volunteers from MAPSS Paranormal Investigations showed video and photos and played audio collected and pared down from more than four hours of investigation the week before. On Oct. 13, the team collected evidence using regular digital and infrared film at the animal shelter. They approached the case much like police approach a crime scene, said S.J. Christ, a retired firefighter from the Chicago area. Her husband also has a public safety background. Cliff Christ is a retired police officer. “Our primary function is to study the paranormal,” Cliff Christ said. “We won’t come out and say, ‘You’re haunted.’ We make the client make their own determination.” And, “We don’t try to get rid of them,” he said, referring to the spirits. Evidence unexplained Some of the evidence collected at the shelter last week could have been shelter animals, Key said. Some of the employees and family members agreed. But other evidence, like the scratchy voices and lights inside the kennel, will go unexplained. To the Christs, the evidence shows paranormal activity. “This definitely was an interesting place,” S.J. Christ said. The team experienced unexplainable equipment failure in batteries, flashes, radios — malfunctions that “could not be duplicated later in a controlled environment,” she said. Cliff Christ said spirits need electronic energy and will often rob that energy from electronic equipment. It’s not uncommon in paranormal investigations to quickly or immediately lose battery power from fully charged and fresh batteries, he said. A banging noise at the old horse barn turned out to be a roof panel that simply needs another nail or two. “Don’t be afraid of the barn. It’s just a loose roof,” S.J. Christ said. Uneasy feelings in one hallway could be explained by electromagnetic fields coursing through fluorescent lights and electrical conduits, Cliff said, showing the group an electromagnetic field meter. The meter chirped to life when it became close to the light and wires. At one point during last week’s evidence gathering, the MAPSS team closed all doors and turned off all lights in the pitch-black kennel area. Then they turned on the camera. Hearing voices Later when they reviewed the evidence, they watched “a fireworks show, basically,” S.J. Christ told the group gathered Saturday night. “It is the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen.” S.J. Christ spent six hours, frame by frame, analyzing a 1.5-second video clip of the “light show.” She found orbs and flashes of light, unexplainable and obviously not from any outside source flashing across the floor. As a roomful of people stared at the computer screen, S.J. Christ said the personal experiences were far more powerful than “What we’re showing you. I think each and every one of us heard voices. One investigator heard music.” Investigator Ron Firm took the infrared camera out to the barn the night of the evidence collection. There, he heard and recorded an audible voice. “A voice standing right in front of me said, ‘I’m right here,’ ” Firm said. “It was so audible, it shocked me.” Firm continued to ask the voice questions and reassure it — Is anybody out here? Do you want to talk to me? What’s your name? Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you. On voice analysis later, “there were answers to every question,” Firm said. It was another voice that whispered “ ...I’mmm down here.” The MAPSS team sent the audio to a third party who will research it and report back to the Christs what they find, normal or ab. “Abnormal is normal to us,” S.J. Christ said." "Talking to the Undead" 31 October 2007 Marija B. Vader - Grand Junction Free Press, Grand Junction, CO "Coolness settled over Potter’s Field, the cemetery for poor folks who died in Grand Junction’s 1800s and early 1900s, on a dark night before All Hallow’s Eve. The air did not move. Lights from the Department of Energy compound across the street complimented light from a hazy full moon, inching its way over the bluff overlooking the cemetery. Each of the dozen or so volunteers with MAPPS Paranormal had an assignment: • Digitally record for sound, known as EVP, or electronic voice phenomena. Later, on playback, voices from the undead can appear on digital and tape recordings. • Record the ambient air temperature. The undead can decrease and increase the temperature as a way to show they’re around. • Using infrared technology, videotape areas known to show spirits. Again, later on playback, unusual energy fields can show up. Four cameras were placed atop fence posts, recording. • Listen and pay attention. The volunteers were on a mission with MAPPS Paranormal, run by Cliff Christ, a retired policeman, and his wife, S.J., a retired firefighter. They conducted an investigation at the Roice-Hurst Humane Society two weeks ago. That investigation revealed unusual phenomenon at the Clifton animal shelter. About once monthly, MAPPS Paranormal records activity at Potter’s Field. There, volunteers have found some interesting things, they said. When a spirit manifests itself, it draws energy. When that happens, it gives off electromagnetic frequencies, so sometimes, this is how spirits communicate with investigators, Cliff Christ said. Sometimes, spirits will communicate through temperature change. Once, they said a spirit showed himself through the night-vision glasses. “He was standing behind me. When I would pivot, it would pivot with me, trying to stay behind me,” said S.J. Christ. “He was wearing a sheepskin jacket with a wool collar.” Saturday night, with assignments made and teams divided, paranormal investigators slowly fanned out across the small acreage of the cemetery. They were careful to show respect to the dead buried here, careful to not disturb the crude wooden crosses and plastic and silk flowers — careful not to trip on Bertha’s gravestone. They waited to hear from the people buried there. Potter’s Field contains at least eight known burials, each documented behind a large sign announcing the cemetery. There’s Mrs. A.A. Middaugh, 1890-1913, and possibly her daughter, Mary Middaugh, 1908-1913. There’s the last recorded burial, Julian Pacheco, 1913-1936. There’s Baby Garland, with only one date, 1881, and there’s 5-year-old Bertha Kaufman, who was buried in 1911. Stuffed animals adorn some of the graves, placed there by people who believe these spirits should have something to play with. Two law enforcement officers allegedly drowned together in the line of duty in 1883. They’re buried there too, B. A Scott, or Bob, and P.H. Gordon, or Patrick. S.J. Christ’s team, made of Jenny Key, Matthew Hetland and S.J., walked up to the corner, where the officers are believed to be buried in unmarked graves and where S.J. had her experience with the sheepskin-clad spirit. Ghost-hunters began asking questions of the spirits, recording any answers digitally. “Is there anyone here who would like to talk to us tonight?” “Is there a reason why you’re here?” “Can you show us a sign of your presence?” S.J. Christ measures the temperature. The thermometer was calibrated at 45 degrees Fahrenheit at the parking lot. When she turned it on at the grave site, it measured 39. After coaxing whom she believed to be the dead officer Patrick, the thermometer plummeted to 28. The air in front of the small cluster of people suddenly felt cold; behind them, it felt warmer. “I’m elated,” S.J. Christ said. “It was nice talking to you, Patrick.” “I put my hand up and it would just be freezing,” said Key. The volunteers took a break, moving outside the cemetery fence to reporting findings. They also wanted to find out who stopped and talked to Cliff Christ earlier in the evening. Earlier, while investigators were inside the cemetery, a Department of Energy security guard in a car stopped and talked to Cliff Christ. “He said, ‘Hey, you! Get the F over here NOW,’” Cliff Christ said. Cliff Christ told the security guard he was conducting a paranormal investigation. Mocking the group, the security guard replied, “Is this paranormal for you?” and flashed his flashlight under his chin, Cliff Christ said. “I said I don’t need to deal with this crap, and turned away,” Cliff Christ said. “He leaned out the window and said, ‘F-You!’ “That was real professional ... This was a prime example of some of the ridicule we have to face.” After the equipment is collected, packed away and volunteers regrouped at the Christ household, this is when the real investigation gets launched. Film will be studied frame by frame. Voice recordings will be analyzed second-by second. There, Cliff began replaying the video from the infrared cameras. One segment clearly shows a figure floating up the hill and on up into the air. It’s shadowy and white, shaped like a peanut. Investigators make a note to dissect this segment later. To meet the ghost frame by frame."