PIM Newsletter January 2016 - Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee

NEWS from the Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee
January/February 2016
Special Points of Interest
PIM offers scientific investigations of suspected
paranormal activity in
homes, businesses, and
historic sites. We pride
ourselves on providing
confidential, professional
services free of charge.
Issue 40
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Happy new year everyone!! PIM is very excited to kick off 2016 and do what we love to
do, paranormal investigations.
But first lets look back at 2015. This past year PIM had a great time traveling throughout
the Midwest on investigations, doing public events and presentations and the Milwaukee
Para-Con.
Together we have come up with so many new techniques and ways of investigating that has
been so very exiting. We strive to make ourselves stand out in our ways of investigating to
give our clients a thorough and scientific investigation that hopefully brings them piece of
To have PIM conduct an
mind. This past year we have implemented the use of Faraday cages for all our audio reinvestigation for you, con- corders for every investigation. This helps block radio signals from interfering with our autact Noah Leigh (Lead
dio recorders thus causing false EVP’s. We also bought a van to help with our travels. This
Investigator) through our
helped us tremendously during our long road trips. It was exciting to not only fit all our
website or by the phone
equipment easily in the back but to fit all the PIM members comfortably in the front too and
number listed above.
lets not forget it has air conditioning. What a comfort that has been in the summer months!!
We wish you all a very wonderful 2016 and hope you enjoy looking back on 2015 with
us….
We look forward to meeting you at a public event,
investigating with you, or
just hearing from you on
Facebook or Twitter!
Inside this issue:
Special Points of
1
Interest
Happy New Year
1
Upcoming Events
2
PIM Welcomes New Members 2
Monster Hunters Gets Top
Pick
2
Investigation Of Ashmore
Estates
3
Noah’s Narrative
4
Paranormal Investigators
of Milwaukee
Find us on Facebook
Or
Follow us on Twitter!
Phone: 414-215-9746
Website:
www.paranormalmilwaukee.com
No Charge.
Confidential.
Professional
Upcoming Events
April 8th-9th: Twisted
Dreams Film Festival
October 15th-16th: Milwaukee Paranormal Conference
PIM Welcomes New PIM Members
PIM would like to introduce two new members, Mike and Chris. We are very excited to get
them both involved in our PIM family!
Mike has worked as a private investigator, youth counselor, and is currently working towards
becoming a mortician. He has always had an interest in the paranormal and is very like minded
when it comes to the scientific approach of paranormal investigation utilized by PIM.
Chris has been involved in film for many years and is a founder of Milwaukee Movie Talk. He
knows a lot about audio and video technology and has a keen interest in the paranormal. Chris is
the co-director for the upcoming Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival specifically dedicated to the horror genre. More information about this Festival can be found on the Milwaukee
Twisted Dreams Festival FB Page.
PIM is very excited to have Mike and Chris as part of our team!
Monster Hunters Gets Top Pick
In June of 2015, Milwaukee Author, Tea Krulos, released his latest book Monster Hunters, On The
Trail with Ghost Hunters, Bigfooters, Ufologists, and Other Paranormal Investigators, in which
PIM was very honored to be a part of.
At the end of the year Loren Coleman, who is the director of the International
Cryptozoology Museum and is also featured in the book, selected his list of top
books on the subject of cryptozoology, the science of examining unknown animals.
Monster Hunters took the top slot on “ The Best Cryptozoology Books of 2015” .
PIM would like to send a huge congratulations to Tea for his great success.
Tea also organized the first Milwaukee Paranormal Conference in June of this year
and is in the midst of organizing the second which will happen October 15-16 at the
Zelazo Center (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Campus). More information
on this event can be found at www.milwaukeeparacon.com.
Investigation Of Ashmore Estates
On November 7th PIM members Missy, Gravy, Noah and Denys investigated
Ashmore Estates in Ashmore, Illinois.
PIM members Noah, Missy and John first investigated Ashmore in May of 2014.
That evening new owner Robbin Terry took over ownership of Ashmore and in
the year and a half that he has owned it he has made huge changes. Robbin has
cleaned and secured the building and PIM was very impressed with the renovations he has made. He has even added two bunkhouses for investigators to stay
in during their investigation.
Ashmore Estates has a very colorful history. From 1857 until 1869, the Coles
County Poor Farm was located in Charleston Township near the small town of
Loxa, Illinois. In 1870, the county purchased 260 acres from A. N. Graham in
Section 35 of Ashmore Township for a new farm, which sat astride the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad. This small timber and brick
building, constructed by H. B. Truman, was the first to sit on that property. It was 38x58 feet and two stories tall, with an attached
kitchen. By 1911, the Auxiliary Committee of the State Board of Charities condemned the almshouse for its "vermin infected walls,"
"rough floors," "small windows," and improper ventilation. It was reported that "flies swarmed everywhere" and "were especially noticeable on the poor food prepared for dinner." In January 1915, the Almshouse Committee received bids for the construction of a new
"fireproof" building at the location. The building contract for the new almshouse was granted to J.W. Montgomery in March for
$20,389, and the cornerstone was ceremoniously laid on May 17, 1916.
Coles County sold the almshouse to Ashmore Estates, Inc. in February 1959. That corporation
opened the building as a private psychiatric hospital by the same name. In October 1964, after
only five years in operation, the psychiatric hospital closed down because of debt. The institution reopened in 1965, but changed its focus from a private facility to one that accepted patients
from state mental institutions. By 1968, the shelter care facility housed forty-nine residents,
including ten afflicted with epilepsy.
Paul Swinford and Galen Martinie purchased the institution in July 1976. Swinford and Martinie invested over $200,000 in the construction of a modern addition onto the old building. Construction began in 1977, but was not finished until the 1980s. Once the addition to Ashmore
Estates had been completed and the rest of the building was brought up to code, the institution's
future appeared brighter.
In February 1986, Paul Swinford entered into a limited partnership with a Peoria-based company known as Convalescent Management Associates, Inc. to help manage the institution's finances. The departments of Public Aid and
Public Health dragged their feet over the issuance of proper licenses and certificates for nearly a year, leading Swinford to file for permission from the Illinois Health Facility Planning Board to close the facility. At that time, Ashmore Estates' financial losses exceeded
$1.5 million. By the end of April, all of the residents had been transferred to area homes, and Ashmore Estates closed its doors.
In 1998, a resident of Sullivan named Arthur Colclasure paid $12,500 for the property and announced that he planned to renovate the
building and turn it into his home. However, continuous vandalism prevented him from ever realizing his plans.
In August 2006, Scott Kelley purchased Ashmore Estates from Arthur Colclasure and began renovating. To finance the project, the
Kelleys offered flashlight tours of the interior. To discourage trespassers, they erected signs and moved onto the property. Their haunted house opened on October 13, 2006. In the off-season, Scott offered overnight stays in the building.
In January 2013, Ashmore was hit by a fierce storm, with wind speeds reaching 80 to 100 mph. Ashmore Estates suffered heavy damage; its roof was blown off and the support gables were destroyed. Shortly thereafter, new owners took over the property and made
plans to restore the building to its former glory.
However, after a little over a year the owner's sold the property to Robbin Terry who
immediately started cleaning out the building and making repairs to the windows and
roof.
Many claim to have paranormal experiences at Ashmore Estates. PIM has had strange
experiences but nothing they can deem “paranormal”. During their visit two investigators heard a very loud bang that they could not find the source of and also heard it on
their audio review but did not see anything fall on their video cameras. No EVP’s were
captured during either of their visits.
Ashmore is certainly an exciting place to investigate and PIM hopes to return some time
in the future.
NOAH’S NARRATIVE
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a nice and safe holiday season. In PIM we are looking forward to another year of education and investigation
regarding the paranormal. When I last wrote a narrative, I mentioned that I wanted to talk about the Tennessee Wraith Chasers (TWC) of Ghost A sylum fame
who were involved in the televised exorcizing of a house. As I alluded to in that article, the exorcism of the house was not the only foolish thing that the
members of the TWC participate in, and that is what I want to talk about in this month’s Noah’s Narrative.
First, I thought I would give a little history about the TWC for those who are unfamiliar with the team. According to the TWC website, the group was founded in November of 2009 by Chris Smith. Chris became interested in the paranormal due to an experience he had with what some in the field call “shadow
people” or wraiths (in some cultures).
Here I would like to pause to explain something. “Shadow people”, as they are termed are most commonly reported as being seen out of the corner of your
eye. This event is commonly referred to in the field as the “corner of the eye” effect. This phenomenon occurs due to the physical makeup of the cells that
reside in the corner of your eyes. These cells are called rod cells and they are designed to sense light and movement, but cannot sense color. Multiple rod
cells merge together to form an interneuron cell. This merging of rod cells has the effect of reducing the resolution of what a rod cell can “see”, much like
merging pixels reduces the resolution of a TV screen. The tradeoff is a higher sensitivity to movement. This evolutionary trait is what kept our ancestors
alive when a predator was located in our peripheral vision and allowed our ancestors to escape while those with poor peripheral vision were eaten and thus
didn’t pass on their genetics. Due to the characteristics of rod cells things seen out of the corner of your eye can not be trusted and are often described as dark
or shadowy in nature but when you look directly at the “shadow person” there is nothing there. This is due to your brain misinterpreting the information from
the rod cells as a human shape or face (due to pareidolia) and when you look at it using your cone cells, which have much higher resolution and can sense
color, you don’t see anything because nothing was there in the first place. The funny thing is that the fact that “shadow people” are seen in your peripheral
vision is referred to on the TWC’s website but the corner of the eye effect is not mentioned at all.
But I digress.
His interest lead Chris to apply to the Ghost Hunters A cademy TV show in November of 2009 where he appeared in episode 5 and 6 of the first season. According to the TWC website, “[Chris] was asked to return for the second season but turned down the offer to pursue (sic) his own paranormal endeavors and
founded what is now the Tennessee Wraith Chasers.” Now this is interesting because it states elsewhere on the website that the TWC was founded in the
same month as when Chris participated in Ghost Hunters Academy, however it also states that Chris turned down the opportunity to participate in season two
so he could pursue other paranormal opportunities and form the TWC? So it seems that Chris’ brush with TV lead him to create a team to try and pursue
more opportunities on TV and the evidence seems to support that. After forming the TWC some people came and went and in June of 2011 three members of
the TWC competed on Paranormal Challenge hosted by Zak Bagans. A year later, the group shot the pilot episode of Ghostland Tennessee which aired on
Animal Planet in February 2013 and was later purchased by Discovery Networks Destination America and became Ghost A sylum.
Now my problem with the TWC is not that they are on TV, but what they are putting out into the field as evidence or techniques that simply aren’t good science. First off, the entire group is based on a phenomenon that is known and completely explainable (“shadow people”). Second, a couple years after the
group was formed, the TWC started using a dog during their investigations. From the TWC website, “In the early months of 2012 TWC implemented a K9 to
their team in order to further the research of paranormal sensitivity in animals. “Bourbon” the Old English Bulldog is a big part of the TWC family now and a
valued member of the team.” “Bourbon” was apparently included in the first episode of Ghost A sylum but was ultimately cut from the show “due to the
extreme disarray of the buildings and harmful carcinogens present.” Well at least someone had some sense to not perpetuate yet another fallacy in the field.
In brief, many people think that animals are able to “sense” the paranormal better than people due to the heightened senses that animals have compared to
humans. This is only half true as although most animals do possess greater abilities to hear, see, and smell compared to humans, there is no evidence the
animals can “sense” the paranormal. Animals CAN however smell things, see things, and hear things that humans can’t but those things are usually other
animals or natural things that elude our pitiful senses not paranormal beings, but I digress once again.
Perhaps the biggest issue I have with the TWC and their show Ghost A sylum is the use of “traps” to “catch” ghosts at the locations the TWC are investigating. This harkens back to the movie “Ghostbusters” and you half expect the TWC to come out with proton packs (which is not far off from some of the
“traps” they construct). I do give the TWC some props for ingenuity as they construct a new “trap” for every episode and they use a lot of theories or actual
scientific jargon to explain why the trap will work making the whole endeavor seem very legitimate. However, in the end there is no hard science to support
the claims the TWC make about how the “trap” is supposed to work and the whole gimmick smacks of a request from a production company to give the show
a hook. Overall, it makes the show seem farcical to me and undermines any good investigating that may have been done prior to the building of the “trap”.
To the less knowledgeable, however, this technique may seem legitimate and lead them to believe that ghosts, which have no definitive characteristics making
them very hard to trap, can be captured by using materials located at your local hardware store.
The TWC are not very different from a lot of paranormal teams out there. They are formed based on flawed knowledge and due to lack of understanding
about basic biology and investigative skills (purposefully or otherwise). However the TWC are different in that they have been given a national platform to
spew their ignorance and fantastical claims which make the TWC more dangerous than most teams out there who have a limited reach. So as always, be sure
to question extraordinary claims and do your own research to determine if something you hear, see, or read is true. The TWC and Ghost Asylum are entertaining at best, but a guide to investigate the paranormal they are not.
Noah Leigh is the founder and lead investigator of PIM. He founded PIM in 2007 and
firmly believes that utilizing the best that science currently has to offer combined with
thinking outside of the box will be the best way to find answers regarding the paranormal.
Noah is a trained scientist himself with a BA in Biology and two MS degrees, one in Epidemiology and one in Cell Biology and is currently employed as a scientist.
Noah uses his scientific training to conduct PIM’s investigations as much like a controlled experiment as possible and believes that true evidence of the paranormal needs to
be determined by careful experimentation and measurement.
Noah has chosen to write a monthly article to keep you informed on the latest news and
debates occurring in the world of the paranormal.