Aaron's Windy City Paranormal Blog

Just a few things I've created recently

2009-05-06T19:41:00.001-07:00

a few things i've made to promote the company.

btw... send me some business!! lol

Busy!

2009-04-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

I am getting fairly busy here with not only life but paranormal as well!

Tomorrow night i'll be going to an investigation with Julie and another group we have befriended. Most of the team isn't able to make it but since this group has reached out to us we wanted to be able to have a few of us attend and lend a hand.
It's in Manteno, IL at a bed and breakfast. From what I hear there is alot going on there and it's a fairly big place. It should be interesting
Wednesday we'll also be making a return trip to Carpentersville. So much is going on in that location and we still don't have many answers. Sometimes it takes many trips to figure out exactly whats going on. Hopefully we'll have the help of a close family friend who has been doing paranormal investigations for quite some time now. This isn't for sure yet but she could be a great help to the situation.
The graphic stuff is taking off. I have a target market of two different worlds, the paranormal and entertainment. See, for those that don't know, I am in the radio and club entertainment industry here in Chicago and i've targeted alot of DJ's, on air personalities and clubs that have an interest in my graphics and websites.
Now that is taking off, it's making for a busy life!

Plus the second kid on the way is making for interesting things happening around my home as well, no paranormal, unless you want to call a wife who's hungry at 3am paranormal lol

spring fever is setting in and this cold weather is getting to me, I can't wait for it to warm up around here and so far it seems mother nature keeps screwing with us. Hot one day, cold and rainy for the next 5 days and repeat. I used to be a cold weather guy but as I'm getting older that is changing quickly.

for now, happy hunting!
Aaron

Ever expanding my business

2009-03-26T02:39:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I expanded my business even further with the addition of providing web hosting and domain name purchasing through my company!

This adventure of running a media based company is continuously growing for me and who knows where it will end.

I can offer you web hosting for 3.99 and a domain name for 1.99 with a web hosting account.

www.blitzproductions.com

Spread the word!

NEW WEBSITE!

2009-03-21T05:20:00.001-07:00

I have just completed the design phase of our new WCP website (VER 2.0!)

I've got to say i'm proud of the design and the new layout. Much more functional than it was before. Now we have enough room for everything we are planning for. More than likely at some point in time the design will change again, maybe for our two year anniversary! For now though, we are VERY happy with the new one!

Which brings me to this point, I have started to re-group my old design company and incorporate it into my current business wich is media based. Currently my company only offers DJ services and audio editing services, soon that website will be changing around too to include my design work as well. www.blitzproductions.com
If you or your group is looking for a professional, custom logo, for $30 you are able to get one! Either you can leave it completely up to me, or be apart of the design process. We'll talk aboout concepts, color schemes, layout and more. You'll have a turnaround within 24-72 hours.

Need a website for yourself or group?

$100 will get you a custom website template that you will be able to input your content into.

$250 will get you a fully functioning website with buttons, links and content uploaded to a web server of your choosing. Need to purchase a domain name or a hosting server? I can direct you to a VERY affordable service! Need some examples of my work? No problem, click this link to be directed to our forum to view examples

http://www.blitzproductions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=91

We just completed our first trip back to carpentersville this past monday and have a return trip again planned for this upcoming monday. I won't be attending this one but a couple of the new members are signed up. Marv and Julie did an outstanding job last week and we expect big things from them in the coming months.

We DO have evidence for this location, so far we have two EVP's that can not be explained, we haven't even finished going through all the audio yet so there very well be more.

Stay tuned!

Wow, this weather is great!

2009-03-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here in my living room with all the windows open and a beef brisket smoking on the smoker outside enjoying this weather! it's rare to have a 60 degree day at the start of March in Chicago so we take what we get.
Too bad it's gonna rain all weekend and get colder next week. At least spring is almost here. I've been getting cabin fever and this year it's been rough with the cold.

So we get to go back to a clients house in the next couple of weeks. The old owners moved out and the new tenants are still experiencing activity that they can not explain. We are hopeful of catching some more EVP's and getting more personal experiences that we had the last time we were there.

The team is gearing up to head off to Waverly this April and I just wish I was able to make it. I'll be able to thoroughly scrutinize their stuff though when they get back ;)

lots of updates coming for the website, this thing is going to be very interactive and extremely open to the public. WCP wants to portray it'self as an open group and a friendly atomosphere, we believe that making the website more accessible to all that this will help. We are even contimplating open forums. Although not entirely agreed upon yet it looks more to be a reality then it did before.

I would like to welcome Marv and Julie to the team! We had a chance to meet them a couple weeks ago at our meeting and they seem like top knotch people :)

Thats all for now but stay tuned for more!

Aaron

New Year

2009-01-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

With a new year comes new hopes. Our website will be undergoing some minor and major changes. Some updates have already been made. We have befriended a local team in the Chicago area, PACTpara.com (PACT PARANOMRAL).
There are many ideas floating around the table right now within our group. We are sifting through them all and testing out new things as we go.

Well I know it's a minor post, not much to say at the moment but Happy New Year to all and happy hunting!

Holidays are for the most part over.

2008-12-27T02:37:00.000-08:00

Well I've been absent lately, mostly due to work and holidays. All that is finally almost over. This is the part of the year where I have HUGE downtime. Unfortunately it also means money will be tight.
Which is unfortunate because I will have to miss the group trip to Waverly in April :( :( :(

I was really looking forward to that but reality set in and it wasn't possible. However I am looking forward to seeing the results first hand. At least I have that.

I've heard we have another investigation in the works thanks to our newest member Ed. The holidays and work schedule have prevented me from meeting Ed yet but I hear he is pretty cool :)

Right now I'm just working, tinkering, on new equipment ideas. Who knew radio shack would be so handy with supplies. Now if I could just get them to stock a flux capacitor. Oh if you're looking for a relatively inexpensive supper bright led night illuminator, for a little spare change (ok a bit more then spare) I'd be happy to make you one. Get in contact with me for info.
these things have made total darkness look bright as day on camera. It's well worth it.

Thats all for now, it's 4:00am and I got woken up by some lightning... go figure, it was -30 with windchill last week and now it's 54 and raining cats and dogs. This is crazy.

Happy hunting and a Happy new year!

Illinois Politics

2008-12-10T04:45:00.001-08:00

Well, I guess my state took a huge hit today. Our Governor was arrested, 6 possible senate candidates are under the microscope to take Obama's seat. Apparently they were all willing to cough up money to make the seat their own.
Politicians for sale, this is nothing new in Illinois. However I am glad they are finally getting what is coming to them. This entire state is corrupt and I think the "shit" will start rolling down hill from this point. It will start with the Governor and trickle all the way down to these low life politicians who have held their seats cause of this. It's time this state get's cleaned up and we finally get rid of deadbeats like Stroger, Blagojevich and Daley. Which I might add no matter how many scandals are brought to light in Daley's name, he plays the dumb card every time and claim he never knew about any of it. Talk about the biggest scammer of them all.

This better be a new day for Illinois.

How?

2008-11-11T11:53:00.000-08:00

How do ghosts become ghosts? Why is it that some people stay behind and others move on and what exactly decides this?
I'm still not sold on the whole ghost's are real deal but I'm getting further proof than I had before. However what makes something stick around as a ghost? Is there some scientific thing at play in regards to "left over energy" or is it something to do with the religious factor? I'm not one that believes the whole god created everything ritual. There are too many variable in this universe at play for me to believe one supreme being created all life. I am stumped though as to why paranormal acts keep happening? What is a ghost and will we ever find out why they are here? there are many questions in this post but they all are ones that we are seeking every day. I think the big reason that I am involved in the paranormal is because I "want" to believe that there is something after the physical world but I am still searching for that answer. Most people believe in a religious afterlife... I don't buy the whole religious aspect but I do want to know, before I am gone, is there something after this life or are we really just here and gone in a blink of an eye.
There is so much we don't know about the universe. We weren't physically around millions and millions and billions of years ago and didn't know that one day we would become a living life form and where exactly were we then? was I an atom? was I some sort of gas? what was I before I was born? these are the questions that I am pondering to this day cause you have to come from somewhere. You don't just magically appear as an egg in your mothers womb... some sort of chemical reaction or particals had to have eventually come together to create that egg. What was it?

I'm stumped on that. Where do we go after this? or is there no after at all and we just become part of the great divide once again never to have existed to anyone but those who knew us. Even then, once they are gone, whos to say we existed at all?

I know, this is all deep, smoke some weed, type stuff here but it has me wondering all these years.

Ghost Hunters Live Halloween Special

2008-11-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

There has been EXTREME debate over this years live episode. I for one was one of thousands who were annoyed with all the technical issues going on. First, it's not easy to do something live, especially when it is not rehearsed. Second, the production team really did need to get their act together cause they seemed lost and all over the place. Is it their fault? Maybe not. There were alot of variables in play for the production team and I guess the did as good as they could have done under the conditions they were given. The fort wasn't built to house a production studio, nor was it even considered over 200 years ago that there would be a need for RF signals to come in and out of the fort for a television show. As much as they have been given a hard time (by myself included), maybe they don't deserve all that is being said about them.

10-31-2008

The "incidents" -

The voice "you're not supposed to be here". I find this hard to be faked after looking at the spectral analysis of this piece. People are going to believe what they want to believe but some of this stuff that is being said is just plain ridiculous. Here is the analysis I've done on the audio of this voice. Grants voice reverberates with the structure of the building as you can see in the wavelengths. The voice heard, does not reverberate. If this were to be an audio recording pumped inside the building digitally, it would reverberate just like every other voice in there. This would be a hard fake, the only way it could not do this if it was only added in to the live feed. However, how would grant know the exact moment it was said if he didn't have an earpiece on? Jason was the only one with the earpiece and he was on the other side of the wall when Grant heard it.
Believe what you want but all the signs point to disembodied voice.

The Jacket Pull -

I'm not going to get into a heated debate with anyone over this, all I can say is that if you have gained as much faith in the TAPS team as most paranormal investigators have over the years. You know that this is beneath them to attempt a fake like this and not even a producer of a show is going to make them fake something.

Like I said, believe what you want but all the people coming up with the stupidest of excuses as to what happened need to get out of their homes more and put that mental energy into doing some good rather than focusing on destroying the rep of a great bunch of guys who sacrifice their family life to provide them with things like this.

that is all.

Who should be investigating?

2008-10-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

There is much debate on this topic. What type of person does it take to investigate the paranormal? Personally, I don't think this field or investigating is for the faint of heart. If you are easily scared or get paranoid at strange sounds than you need to be elsewhere and not waste your time with this.
I see new groups popping up left and right as if candy was being handed out. Some of these new groups have the type of people who should not be going on investigations. If you have someone of this nature in your group who is constantly freaked out by the investigation or anything potentially going on in an investigation, you need to remove them from those duties immediately. At the same time you need a better screening process when choosing new members.
This type of person can scare a homeowner or clients. By them showing fear or emotion towards what is happening, it will reflect back to the homeowner and they may not take you seriously if you have a person on your team flipping out that they saw a shadow. You need someone who is calm, cool and collected in these situations. Not necessarily unafraid of what is happening but they do not wear their emotions on their shoulder.
It's ok to be scared, afraid or even a little nervous about a situation. If you are showing that though it is not a good thing, your fears will spread like wildfire throughout your team and all of a sudden everyone is hearing and seeing things.

If you have someone like this on your team or if you are someone like this, think of a different capacity that your talents can be used. Field investigating may not be for you. It doesn't mean you can't still work in paranormal. Just in like an office setting or something along those lines instead.

Oh what the heck..

2008-10-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna have a lot to write about here, so please if you don't have the time then read later.

What the hell is wrong with our world? Economies going in the shitter, corporate giants taking "Spa Weekends" in the middle of a financial crisis, governments who's top priority is to bail out the FAILING corporations rather than the people that keep them in business...

I don't say this often but seriously.... WHAT THE F***!?!?!?!

Why does the government think it necessary to keep the companies around who's sole purpose was to trap or entice people into sub-prime mortgages, loans and so on. Their whole basis for operation was the literally trick or F*** people out of money and they are considered bail worthy?

WHY DON"T WE GET THE BAIL OUT?

How about, in dipshit Alaskan barbie terms, joe the plumber? why don't we give him the debt relief that him and 100,000,000 other Americans deserve? While these banks keep getting bailed out and their debts forgiven, the people who actually get impacted by their demise or survival get NO RELIEF AT ALL!

Why is it that my local bank will get money thrown at them left and right to pay off their debts yet when it's my ass on the line I get little more than a legal notice to say fuck you, pay off your debt hahahaha??? I wouldn't have to be in debt if it weren't for these asanine banks raising the interest rates on my credit cards or my employers who have to cut my job cause of cutbacks and budget cuts to save money. Now i'm forced to live off of credit and the very banks who have me by the balls to begin with get EVEN more money out of me cause they know I have to live off of credit.

Screw this economy, Screw this government for not stepping in when the time was right and screw the financial institutions who took advantage of a bad situation to make a few extra bucks.

Heat Signatures on IR Thermometer Cameras

2008-10-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a very valid question. If ghosts supposedly create "cold spots" then why is it when they are supposedly caught on Infrared Thermal Cam's... they are registered as heat signatures?

Something very weird about that. I've experienced cold sensations before, along with something that felt like it was brushing up against my hand. But I've never felt a "heat" spot. so why is it that this happens? Can ghosts or spirits be cold and hot? or are they two different types of spirits?

I don't know what to make of that. Maybe the heat signatures are real people? or maybe a cold spot is just what it is.. a cold area of the room that has nothing to do with paranormal, that it's just a draft or a colder area of the house. Maybe the real spirits give off heat. In human form, you give off heat, so why not in spirit form?

Now, speaking of spirits, we've just finished up our investigation on the 6th of this month. Some weird things happened but i'm not completely sold on the paranormal legitimate side of it. I still think it has much to do with other factors in play but I am not at liberty to discuss that at this time. Needless to say though, we did catch some audio that can not be explained and seems to point to intelligent style haunts. Again though, i'm not 100% sold on that just yet.

I'll let you know.

Orbs

2008-10-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Orb this, Orb that, OMG IT'S THE BEST FRIGGIN ORB PICTURE I'VE EVER SEEN....

I am so sick of Orb photos.

Example: Someone took a picture of two men CUTTING WOOD which CREATES SAWDUST and all around them were "ORBS" and another person comments that it's the best orb photo's they have ever seen.

Present me with Orb photos and I'll bitch slap you. Use your common sense people.

AIG Insurance.

2008-10-08T06:58:00.000-07:00

WHY ARE MORE AMERICANS NOT OUTRAGED AT THIS!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Days after it got a federal bailout, American International Group Inc. spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings, according to lawmakers investigating the company's meltdown.

tapped into an $85 billion loan from the government it needed to stave off bankruptcy. The resort tab included $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees, according to invoices the resort turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The retreat didn't include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove AIG under, but lawmakers still were enraged over thousands of dollars spent on outing for executives of AIG's main U.S. life insurance subsidiary.

"Average Americans are suffering economically. They're losing their jobs, their homes and their health insurance," the committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., scolded the company during a lengthy opening statement at a hearing Tuesday. "Yet less than one week after the taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation."

This is ridiculous. They get a government handout and they take it on a spa treatment spending spree? Where is the spa treatment for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are filing bankruptcy? Where is their bailout?

Here we are admist the worlds greatest financial windfall since the great depression and we are letting companies like this abuse the bailout.

More people need to step up and put a stop to this bullshit. All these executives should be replaced and I am not just talking about AIG. ALL EXECUTIVES that made the decisions that put our economy into this mess.

Why not us?

2008-10-07T21:23:00.001-07:00

I am and avid Chicago Cubs fan. I have been for the most part of my life. Mainly the part where I realized how important sports were to me.

Teams have come and gone to win it all. The Yankees over 27 times, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, White Sox, Giants and so on.

My Chicago Cubs have dissapointed me yet again this year. This city supports the Cubs more so than it does the White Sox. If the Sox proclaimed that they were up and moving to Alaska at the end of the season, You might have 10,000 people who give a rats ass over it. For that fact, they only draw 10-15K people during a regular season game to begin with. Even after they've won the world series back in 2005. Thats not saying much for your team now is it?

The Cubs on the other hand, regardless if they are having the worst season of their life, will sell out 98% of games all season. Why you ask? Cause they are one of the last teams to sell out to this "commercial" bullshit that has become sports. They havn't torn down their almost 100 year old stadium in favor of one that can support a Ford F-150 driving into the middle of the outfield for a mid-inning in game commericial like the Sox have. They give us what Baseball is at it's fundementalist level. A sense of pride to take your kids to a park that your dad and grandfather took you too, to watch a baseball game. You get to relieve that through your children at a place like Wrigley and a team like the Cubs.

One of my "teary eyed" moments I have ever had was bringing my own son to the park for the first time. To a baseball park that my own dad had taken me to as a kid to enjoy a game. No matter who was in first or who was in last, I was able to spend that time with my father at a ball game. Realizing the signifigance of that with my own son now, you don't know how special it is until you acutally do it with your own kids. It brings back memories and very good ones at that. I still remember when it was a big deal that we got lights at Wrigley.

Bottom line is, it's been a 100 years since the Cubs have gone to a world series and won. over 64 years since we even appeared in one. The red sox had a long drought and they've won two this decade alone. Hell, even the hated team in Chicago won one. Why can't my Cubs win one?

There are people who die never knowing the glory of their team winning it all. Luckily i've been able to watch the Bears play in two superbowls (only one of which I will choose to remember). The Bulls winning 6 champinoships in the 90's. This will forever leave me with the imprint of what it is like to win.... however, I will continue to feel like a loser until the Cubs round it out for me. They are the last step to complete this Chicago legacy of winning. No matter how many NBA Championships the Bulls win or however many Superbowls the Bears play in... It still means nothing cause 1 out of the 3 can't close the deal.

There are Cubs fans all over the world. Literally. No one could care less for the White Sox, how many fans across the world can they boast too? Not many. Yet they've gone ahead and won for this city what the Cubs havn't. I love my Cubs, but when is Next year going to be "The Year".....

Very Dissapointed Cubs fan.

My other life

2008-10-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

The people that know me, already know the other half of my life.

I love house, euro, dance, HI-Nrg type of music. I started Dj'n clubs back in 1993 (yea, I was 13) I was never really good until a few years later and then it all kicked off for me. Club spots, guest spots out of state. Mix compliation CD's in stores and so on. For the first 9 Years I only mixed music and didn't create music. In 2002 I started to learn production softeware and it's uses. I've since created quite a few tracks that have been used in various forms. Some have been on Chicago Radio and some have and are currently being used by Chicago DJ's.

I thought I would share some of my current work with everyone.

New Original Track - http://www.blitzproductions.com/Jump_DJ_Blitz_Radio_Edit.mp3

Remix of Grant Wilson (yes that Grant) - Cured - http://www.blitzproductions.com/Cured_Grant_Wilson_DJ_Blitz_What_the_Frig_remix.mp3

I have plenty more but not all of them online.

Enjoy!

To be or not to be - part 2

2008-09-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, this has been bugging me for some time now.

I go and read alot of paranormal message boards and one of the more popular ones out there seems to have alot of this going on. Someone will give their account of a supposed paranormal event.
Here is an unrelated example of this:

"I was sitting in my living room a few nights ago and I was watching TV when all of a sudden I heard one of my kids toys go off on its own. I didn't think much of it but 20 minutes later it happened again. Could this be a ghost setting off this toy?"

The reply by most people to these goes STRAIGHT to paranormal causes rather than rational thinking. I'm not kidding, people give answers like "well this entity that is setting off these toys doesn't seem like it's harming anyone, have you thought of bringing in a priest to bless the place?"
You can't be serious?? from a toy that went off on it's own, people are suggesting clergy to come to a residence and bless a home for that?
First and foremost, look into the logical explanations of whats happened. Could this be a motion sensored toy? are the batteries in this thing dying and this is a mechanism that tells you of this? did your child just get done playing with it and it's on a timing sensor to get it to come back and play again?
There are 100 ways and counting of reasons why this toy went off on its own but people will throw paranormal around like it's water.
This is the problem with our field. Everyone wants EVERYTHING to be explained by the paranromal that they forget to use their common sense in these situations. If paranormal is used to explain everyday occurances in every situation then its lost its entire meaning.

This is another reason why people second guess the use of paranormal investigators because there are groups and individuals that will suggest paranormal only or most of the time rather than using their common sense.

If you are a potential client of ours, rest assured we are going to use every single, however remote explanation is out there to find out what is going on in your home or business. I, personally, will not accept paranormal off the bat and neither will our group. This is why our equipment that is brought along is catered to the debunking of paranormal rather than the proving of it.

EMF Meters - Help us to show where there are energy leaks in the home that can have health related causes.
Temperature gauges - help us to figure out why you got that cold spot, a drafty window most likely..
Cameras of all sorts - after we go back and review them we can find explanations for the sounds in your attic (animal)

People forget there are a number of logical reasons why something has happened. Going to paranromal causes right away is not only wrong, it gives the homeowners a false sense of what may really be happening.

IF and this is a big IF... there is something paranormal happening, with our group you will know it to be the case cause we will have expensed every hypothetical reason to prove the otherwise first.

People who don't, give this field it's bad rep and also give people in need a false sense of fear.

To be or not to be?

2008-09-22T07:51:00.000-07:00

Evidence - Again

So who is to say evidence is evidence? do we really take this person at their word or do we use caution when accepting potential evidence as proof?

Here is the problem with evidence. Most evidence is presented by one person, who was the only one around at that time and is claiming this is proof of paranormal. How are we to know this? We weren't there, we can only speculate what really happened. Only the person who is presenting the evidence really knows what happened and do we trust them enough to take them at their word for it?
If you are any type of investigator you need to take all evidence with a grain of salt. If you don't believe what is presented to you, it's ok. As an investigator you need to be skeptical of things presented to you and "investigate" into the possibilities of what happened. If a police detective took one look at a murder scene and a bystander he's never met before came up and said "this person fell onto that knife sticking out of his back", does the detective write off the incident as an accident right away and call it case closed? Or does he know to trust his instincts and do his own investigation into what happened by digging deeper to find out that the bystander owns a knife shop, had an argument with the murder victim and eventually stabbed him in the back with a knife that had his fingerprints on it?.
I think you can see my point. This isn't police work but it is very close to it. Take caution when accepting things right off the bat. Not everything is what it seems. Do your own analysis and make your own conculsions based off of fact, not what someone is telling you is fact.

Skeptics vs. Believers

2008-09-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

There is a fine line when it comes to being a skeptic or a believer in the paranormal world. Unfortunately there are too many of the extremes of either one out there.

Hardcore Skeptics even faced with large amounts of undeniable evidence will flat out not believe what they are hearing, seeing or even feeling. They will always come out with the off the wall excuse to rationalize what has happened...."swamp gas that reflected off the surface of venus that collided with mars and bounced back to earth made me see that black shadow run past me".

Then there are the Hardcore believers who no matter how reasonable the explanation, it is always paranormal and a ghost, demon or orb hid their keys on them... when in fact it was probably their 3 year old son or daughter.

The fine line is a cross between the skeptic and the believer rolled into one package. These are the types of investigators that are needed. People who can decifer between logic and the unexplained, rule out the scientifically explainable vs. the paranormal phenomina. Many people claim to be apart of this category but in reality they are on one extreme or the other.

To have the best of both worlds you need to learn or already know when to say there is too much evidence pointing in one direction and either present it as confident evidence of a haunting or just the opposite, that too many variables could have made this happen and not present it as evidence no matter how cool it looked. Alot of people will pass up solid evidence cause they can't get past their own stubborn belief system and many other people claim too much to be paranormal because they are desperate for the cool factor.
What I can't fathom and maybe it's just me but if there are 3 different very explainable reasons why this bit of evidence can be naturally explained, why people still press the issue that it's "real" evidence. Why take the public humility? To be in this field you need to have the belief that there will be that day when you have such clear evidence that you can sit their and confidently present it to the public and say look at this, look at what I found and gosh darnit if it isn't the best evidence ever to prove the paranormal.

Well because of both extreme sides, evidence will forever be scrutinized by the masses. We could have already seen proof that ghosts and paranormal really do exist but because people take it to the extremes, we'll never know what is reality and what is not.

think about that when presenting your case to the world, can this possibly further hurt the field indirectly by putting something that could have been human tampered out there as evidence?

food for thought.

Here comes October

2008-09-17T22:23:00.000-07:00

Baseball playoffs, football getting back into full swing, paranormal junkies coming out of the woodworks... ah yes the joys of October :)

i'll be watching my cubbies make it down the stretch this year and hopefully getting their butts back into the big one (and winning!)

the Bears... well what can I say, they are the Bears.. I still love em though.

October is notorious for people looking for groups to join, usually never to be heard from again (until next year that is). We have a good system in play to weed out the fly by nighters. I'm sure we will gather a few very good individuals out of it but I am very positive we are going to get our share of one timers. I'd use different wording but I have to remember this is public and not private.

The good thing will be a solid rotation of members so that if 2 or 3 of us can't make it, we'll have a solid team of 4 regardless to go. Most of the investigations we will do will only require 4 people anyway.

That brings me to my next point. October also see's a rash of people contacting about investigations but also, never to be heard from again either. We are looking for serious people who have serious needs and problems in regards to the paranormal. Remember, we can disprove almost everything we come across and sometimes we are left with good evidence that can't be disproved and has to be taken into consideration. People who are bored will contact us and waste our time and it's tough to weed those out cause we are here to help the general public and how can you decifer who needs help more than the other? You really can't, so you have to investigate almost all of them to genuinely help. You can see how a prankster or jokester can waste our time and someone elses who really could have used us instead?

with that in mind, Have a happy and safe Halloween folks and I'll chat soon!

RE: Stereotypes post.

2008-09-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, It has been pointed out to me that I may have been unfair in the comments I made in that post. Let me clarify what I wrote. When I said "Roadie" types I was speaking generally of the people or groups who don't bother to clean themselves up or act appropriately when on investigations.

Now, the unfair part was that I basically made it seem that EVERY one who dresses that part does that, untrue and my apologies for making it seem that way.

I know some people who LOVE nothing more than to rock out with metallica and let their shoulder length head of hair loose when the time calls for it, at the same time though these people know when to tone it down and act like a grown up and be professional.

What the post was directed towards are people who don't know when it's time to act their age or be professional.

I tend to ramble sometimes and it gets the best of me. What is coming out in my head may seem differently written on paper (or posted) than what it was originially intended to mean. I do however know when to write a rebutle or clarification and can own up to it If I truley believe I may have said something to an injustice. Unless of course I firmly believe what I wrote to be fact :).

sorry for the confusion.

Now that all my RANTS are out lol, I should be able to get back on track with the nice posts!.

BTW, we have our Indianapolis investigation this upcoming tuesday and then we have our carpentersville investigation on the 22nd of this month... Things are looking up on our end!

Aaron

LAST RANT OF THE DAY I PROMISE!! lol

2008-09-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

Audio evidence.

why is it that even when audio evidence is plain as day, there are people who will hear something COMPLETELY opposite of what is being said? I know the mind can play tricks on hearing and you can and will matrix some sounds out there into something else, I am though under the assumption that everyone knows basic english? sounds and pronunciations that we have all heard since we started to talk, yet there are people out there who if a clear as day voice on a recording said "I'M OVER HERE" they would make out "TWO IN THE CLEAR" ?????? Of course that is not a real case scenario at the moment, it's to prove a point.
I have worked in audio for over the past 15 years of my life, I have distinquished different sounds and pronunciations and have a mental database of what sounds are and can either reproduce them or find logical explantions for them, hence my specialty in this group. I am usually the first person to debunk audio and rarely am I one to claim I have audio as evidence unless it is clear as day and can but understood and not accounted for in the form of another person in the place. In a nutshell I'm a hard person to get and EVP past without scrutiny, So when I do hear something, 99% of the time I give it the stamp of approval, it is paranormal.

I guess i'm getting sick of the so called "experts" I have been finding left and right, whats even worse are the "orb chasers" who I have classified as a person or group of people who claim anything and everything to be paranormal right down to what they ate for breakfast. Most of the time they have audio of themselves talking on the phone and claim it is ghostly, or they have a video (cough cough) of a guy swatting a bug while laying down and then seeing the bug fly away and calling it a paranormal anomoly... yea, it's paranormal that the mosquito wasn't smarter than the people calling it a ghost!

I can't wait till I get all my thoughts together and write a book.

Evidence

2008-09-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

I find it hard to take evidence seriously when all you are presented with is 8 seconds of footage and 4 seconds of evp.

how am I to know what took place prior to that? what was the scenario? did someone sneeze 2 seconds before that supposed evp clip? whos to say it wasn't the echo of that sneeze that just so happened to sound like a voice responding to a question?

same thing for video evidence, what exactly am I looking at? you've given me 8 seconds of footage but I have no clue if 2 seconds prior to that someone turned on a flashlight or walked into the middle of the frame making it look like you caught something.

No one is ever going to know the full situation of what you caught but at least give them a fighting chance at debunking the thing or not. Give a few minutes of footage prior to what you catch and even after what you catch so that you get the full picture... THEN isolate what you think is evidence into that 8 seconds or however much time it is and let people come up with their own conclusions or suggestions. There will never be conclusive footage if all we ever get is a few second clip of audio or video.

I see alot of investigators present this type of stuff as rock solid evidence of a haunting. They can give you the scenario verbally all day and all night but it makes no bit of difference if you can't see it yourself. Who is accounted for? is there other footage that shows investigators in different locations? did your dvr just so happen to pick up a cat roaming around earlier in the night or even after this evidence? anything along those lines can immediatly toss suspect evidence out the window and move on to the important stuff that has no explanation.

Heres how I see it, if there is even the slightest possibility that evidence can be explained and that possibility can be recreated or even matched then you don't have evidence. Give me that video with the guy dressed in a period suit who you can see through and is walking up the stairs... thats solid evidence, not an orb (bug, dust), strange noise in the wall (pipes).

hence another reason no one takes evidence or investigators seriously as I posted below in "stereotypes". The footage that people present to the world is half ass crap most of the time. Not to mention the fakers out there who get kicks out of faking evidence and calling it real. It's no wonder no one believes evidence and is so quick to dismiss it without taking the time detail through it.

Then there is the "know it all's". They know it's a fake just by looking at it and aint nothing going to change their mind. They don't even try and have explanations, they just call it a fake based on their "extensive experience". Well let me be the first to tell you, no one is an expert in this field. How can you expert something that can't be (hasn't been) proven to exist??? Like the Warrens (god i'm gonna get myself started here!). These people go around saying that demons are everywhere and their ONLY proof is their gut feeling......... anyone see something wrong with this? They scare people into believing them and then perform rituals to "rid" them of demons. HOW CAN YOU PERFORM A RITUAL ON SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN'T PROVE EXISTS??? who exactly came up with the ritual and has it EVER been proven that it works? No.
Use your own belief system folks and come to your own conclusions and most of all, realize that almost 90% of "paranormal activity" can be explained by natural causes.

Stereotypes

2008-09-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Why is it that when you find a group of investigators their web pages and myspace and so forth are decked out it ghostly gouly type stuff with blood dripping off of it and heavy death metal or hard rock music playing in the background? I mean what the heck. It gives the impression that the only people interested in the paranormal are of the goth type origin. I have nothing against anyones beliefs or music tastes (unless it's polka then we got issues!) but it seems that everywhere you turn most groups have that stereotypical atmosphere around them. I mean I am 28, a club DJ who just so happens to make his living in the clubs (very well I might add) listens to dance music, wears polos and business suits and golfs religiously yet if I was in a lineup consisting of myself and someone with an ozzy shirt on with long hair and a goatee and a few arm bracelets and asked which one is a paranormal investigator... resoundingly people would pick the band roadie next to me without hesitation.
This is part of the reason I like TAPS, J and G are normal guys, Grant plays the piano and creates his own classical music and Jason.... well he's jason who happens to like rock (from what I can see) but doesn't dress like he's about to headbang all night and get stinking drunk off whiskey.
I am HUGELY interested in the paranormal and love to investigate it. Looking at me in the real world though you wouldn't think it. It's the ones who have skulls, bones and blood dripping off their websites that give that stereotype about investigators. Why can't more groups have a professional classic look to their websites or even the attire they wear? This field gets a very bad rap cause of stuff like that and most people do not take it seriously cause they think if you investigate or are interested in the paranormal you must be attracted to the dark side of things. Not true at all!
Now granted this rant may seem a little out of line but if you understand where I am coming from you may see why I say this. People hesitate or even shy away from the paranormal cause of people like this. They neglect to seek help cause they don't want what turns out to be the equivalent of a band roadie in their house who looks as if they could run off with the family silverwear. This field needs more professionalism and business mentality. That means cleaning up your act, not using metalica's hardest songs on your webpage to signify the return of satan and so forth. I've managed for two corporate giants and I firmly believe you dress for the amount of success you want. Why can't investigators do the same? Maybe then we can start getting some respect and when you go out in public and people ask what you do, they won't snicker at you and think differently about you and make stereotypical remarks.
Just cause i'm a paranormal investigator does not mean I am into death metal or worship the devil. I have curiousities just like everyone else does and I am searching for answers.

Now if I came to you with a resounding bit of evidence that caught a ghost smack dab in the middle of a video camera and that band roadie i've already mentioned came to you with the same exact evidence, who are you more likely to believe? the clean cut guy or the one who looks as if he could be chewbacca's cousin?

Like I said before, I have nothing against the way people want to dress, look, smell or even present themselves publically but if you want to be taken seriously then give us a reason to take you seriously. Who knows, maybe clients will WANT to refer you to their friends who need help instead of being embarrassed at who they brought in to help.

Nothing new to report

2008-08-22T02:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy summer for me and my wife.. oh yea and our 1 year old too :)

not much to talk about right now but I will post some video from our recent investigation and my trip to Philadelphia in the next few days here. There are a couple spots at Eastern State that I found interesting and also I'll post some video of casemate 11 at Fort Mifflin too. These weren't investigations but my family vacation this summer in July.

Blackberry

2008-08-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

I just picked up a Blackberry a couple days ago from ATT, let me tell you it's probably the best thing that's happened to me. I can now get out of my office and do everything I needed to right from the blackberry.

Check email, get my office calls, send contracts, take credit cards ect.... I'm finally FREE!!!

One heck of a month - August

2008-08-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

This month is the culmination of all the phones calls and work I have done over the last year in building my new business off the ground.

I used to work for a mobile entertainment company for almost 10 years. I broke off to start my own company and so far so good. August (while I won't get into specifics) has surpassed all my other months in sales. Lets put it this way, I sold in dollars the equivalent of a 1/4 of my old salary with a corporate cell phone company just in this month alone. Fairly darn good month if you ask me.

Down side, I'm working every weekend till the middle of September with one weekend off, 22-24th of August.

I can't wait to get into some more of these investigations. We finished up the Wheaton one and presented evidence to the client. For the most part we thought we had caught more than what turned out to be reality. We debunked a bunch of evidence on the reveal, which is great for the clients sake but kind of a downer for those of us wanting evidence. Oh well, I guess that keeps the drive for the future of WCP alive and kicking!

Ok time for sleep, it's 1am and I just got back from a gig.... tired as heck!

Aaron

Business as usual

2008-07-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

So today I'm trying to do some evidence review, finish up a production project i've been feverishly working on and making sales for my business I own. I juggled all that for the most part today and then to top it off was left with my son while my wife was out half the afternoon doing her things. Even so, I still sold about $3,500 in business for next year and while typing this I received another email (at 11pm no less) regarding a gig for next year as well. Busy busy busy.

Evidence review has brought up a few interesting things. I have one more piece of evidence to receive, then submit and reveal to the homeowners and afterwards we'll post our findings here.

Oh I would also like to extend a warm welcome to our new contacts out on the east coast, Keith and his team. Along with P.I.G.S from Ireland whom we had just realized had their forums up and running. They have a few investigations under their belts and are seasoned investigators from overseas. I look forward to meeting them in person at a future juncture! I have offered my services to them if they are in need of second opinions and so forth.

Best of luck out there to Stoner and team!

stay tuned!

WHAT A WEEK!

2008-07-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

So between doing the investigation last Friday the 11th, then working from 3pm till midnight on the 12th and then leaving for Philadelphia at 4am the next day... oh yea and then nonstop stuff until i just sat down in front of my home pc tonight at 11pm on the 18th. Talk about a week!

I literally just got done driving almost 14 hours from the east coast not less than an hour ago so please excuse the dust here lol.

So lets see, Fort Mifflin. WOW... that place was AWESOME. WCP gained a great contact out there by the name of Keith. Keith is a tour guide at the fort who will be forming his own group after he has "tied the knot". Wedding plans are a priority....(Keith if you are reading... TRUST ME... I KNOW ! keep the mrs. happy!)
We are ready and willing to help them out when they are ready to form their group and I believe they will be a great ally on the east coast as I hope we will be for them here in the midwest. Casemate 11 is everything it is hyped up to be. I also felt very special being one of the few people who have been allowed to venture down into this new discovery. While it was found almost two years ago, it had not been excavated up until about two months ago. Even still it had not been opened to the public until July 5th of this year (2008). Having attended just over a week after that... Once again I am very honored to be one of the first handful of civilians to tour it.
Oh yea, Jason was not kidding when he said that the ventalation shaft was VERY tight. I am a fairly big guy, 6'4" 225lbs and I barely fit in the opening. I can now see why Grant was the only one able to fit out of that group that night.
I can't wait to go back, I have started the process to get us in for an overnight sometime next July, all tenative of course.

Oh yea I also went to Eastern State Pen.... holy cow what a creepy place. It gave off an very ominous feeling and I think I even caught something on my camera while there. I was by myself in the Death Row Building. No one else was around me or even in the vicinity at the time. I'll post the video later but all you hear is something getting tossed or moved and me turning around VERY fast to find it. The whole section was blocked off but I was able to peek in and video tape a few things. I would love to get into this place for an overnight but I can imagine they will charge BIG bucks no doubt.

I am almost finished with evidence review for the case on the 11th this past week and after we compile our findings together, we will post it in one of the blogs for the public to view. The homeowner has given us full permission to publish these findings. Although as always, we will keep the names, addresses and personal info private as a courtosy.

Well, I would like to thank Vinny for all the help he gave me this week with phone call after phone call asking him how to get to the fort and looking things up for me on the web when I had no access all week! THANKS BUD!

Aaron

Tonight

2008-07-11T08:32:00.001-07:00

Well tonight is the night.

We will be conducting our first "team" investigation as WCP. I'll post details afterwards.

oh and for those who know, I am still working on the remix of Grant Wilson's "Cured" his original piano piece. The guy is a genius on the piano and I am honored that he is allowing me to do this. I hope I can do it justice for not only him but the Electronic Dance world alike.

Aaron

New Equipment

2008-07-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

It is always a good day when you get new equipement

Just to add to my fun list of electronics I went out and picked up a Mini DVD Camcorder with Nightshot (IR Illumination). below is a full list of my equipment that I personally own.

4 Digital Audio Recorders
2 Camcorders (the new DVD one and a standard mini dv with no nightshot)
1 IR Temperature gauge
1 Digital Camera, 12x Optical zoom (one of those expensive $400 ones by sony)
1 Digital readout EMF Gauge.
1 Laptop with a plethera of programs, Adobe Audition 1.5 and Pinnacle 10.5 professional video editing software.
1 Wireless audio kit with a 100 ft range (we found it can be boosted with a make shift antenna)

Of course what kit would be complete without a number of cords, batteries, wires, flashlights and so on. Fairly any cord you could imagine i've got it stashed somewhere just in case.

You know it's odd but looking at the list it doesn't seem like much, however when you see it in the case you wonder how the heck it all fits.

We are getting really excited for our investigation this upcoming Friday. Not for the fact of anything more than we are finally getting back into the field. While I will not be around for a full evidence review, I will be on vacation starting that Sunday going through the next Sunday. I will be taking the evidence I gather with me though for the long car trip to Philidelphia (oh yea which by the way I get to go to Fort Miflin as well... I'll blog about that after the trip)w

We are all excited about Waverly in April. This is group has got to be the best group dynamic i've seen yet. We all have the same goals in mind and we all have our ego's in check, basically meaning I have yet to see one yet.... G O O D!

Until after the investigation, i'll see you later!

Aaron

Upcoming Investigations

2008-07-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well I am eagerly awaiting our next investigation. Vinny and I did a preliminary interview with the homeowner last week and came up with some very interesting results. We brought along some of our equipment to do some tests prior to the actual overnight investigation. We pulled out a few digital recorders and an EMF gauge.
We did find that the house has some high EMF responses from some electrical outlets and other power sources. We at one point though had the emf stationary while conducting the interview and it was reading a base of 1.2 and 1.3 and then shot up out of nowhere to a 12.4 at the highest. It would stay steady at a 4.0 and then go back down to a 1.2 or so. Now we are keeping skeptical that this is anything paranormal. Just due to all the appliances that were on and around us at the same time. While we couldn't find a source for all the spikes we were getting it sure was never the less interesting. We also did pick up some audio stuff on those recorders. We also had a chance to test out our wireless recorder at the same time. It however we found is useless beyond a certain range. We'll need to figure out where to place the computer so that it is close enough but doesn't "taint" the audio feed with sound.
Going back to what we found on audio. This so far is the only thing we can not "Debunk" or identify as anything but an EVP. Tell me what you think.

Link to EVP at Wheaton Location

You are going to hear me say "Cash, go, go" and in between that is something that did not fit the voice of anyone in the room and or the frequency of anyone else in the room either. Cash by the way is the family dog. The family just so happens to be my brother and sister-inlaw along with my nephew. They have since moved from their previous location to a new one not far away and whatever was with them prior to this location seems to have followed them. Our researcher Cherie has found some interesting facts about the new location but we will wait till the investigation is over to go over that.

Well, that is all I have for now. I'm starting to learn how to use blogs a little more each day so it is getting easier to do.

The Beginning... Again

2008-07-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well let me first say i'm happy to be apart of a team again. I was involved with another paranormal society in Chicago, which I left for personal reasons. I attempted to start a group with no success. Thus my old group (me) has merged with Windy City Paranormal. Not only will I be part of the lead investigation team, I will also be heading up the audio department seeing as I do this for a living (the audio stuff that is).
On top of those duties with the group I will also be designing and maintaining the website. Lots of work ahead of me with this group and I couldn't be happier.

We have a few investigations in the works along with a trip out to Waverly Hills next spring around April. I can't wait for that. This July 11th we have an investigation in Wheaton, IL. We have previously investigated for this family however they are in a new location and everything seems to have amplified it'self times 2. Without giving anything away, we just did a preliminary interview at the new location and had a few interesting things happen. I'll post details after we are done with the investigation.

We are all excited here at WCP and can't wait to get out into the public and start some hard investigating.