What’s New with OKPRI?

What’s new you might ask?  Well plenty!  As some of you might already know, we completed our Tulsa Residential investigation which was a success.  We got a lot of really good data in the way of EVP, in fact at this location we actually were able to record what we consider the “Best Class “A” EVP Ever Recorded!”  It’s of a little girl saying, “Ah, I want my din din!”  For those of you who haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, please do so by visiting the Tulsa Residential Investigation listed on our “Investigations Page.”

We also held our first “A Haunted Evening at the Stone Lion Inn” in Guthrie, Oklahoma which was quite a fun and exciting evening!  We were served a nice dinner and given the colorful history of the Stone Lion Inn, given by it’s owner, Becky.  She is a very charming lady and if you ever get the chance to go to one of our events, I highly recommend coming to this!  After the dinner was over, we gave our guests a little run down on some of our equipment and a sneak peak of some of the evidence that we recorded there while investigating the Stone Lion.  We then took our guests on a tour of the inn where we allowed them to use some of our EMF meters and also encouraged them to use their own digital cameras, camcorders and audio equipment to conduct their own “mini-investigation!”  We also had several of our team members on hand to give insight as well as share personal experiences that we all had.  We had a great turn out and had the guests tell us that they thoroughly enjoy it.  I personally had a great time showing off that great old house and the history that it holds.  This writer’s opinion is that the Stone Lion Inn is a great place for a paranormal investigation!  Check out all the evidence that we recorded from this location on our website which brings me to my next topic!!

For those of you who don’t already know, Christy has updated our website again and the Stone Lion Inn Investigation with evidence, including the Stone Lion Inn Movie Documentary is now available for viewing!  You might be amazed at what we have to show you through the evidence that we recorded and through our own personal experiences shown in the movie documentary.  Speaking of which, our thanks goes out to Christy for the great job that she does on our website AND the great work that she does on each of our movie documentaries.  I can honestly tell you from talking with Christy that she puts hours upon hours of work into our website & movie documentary updates.

Now for a bit of sad news….  Due to OKPRI’s increasingly busy schedule with investigation requests, the month of May will be the last time that we will be hosting our “Haunted Evening at the Stone Lion Inn.”  The last scheduled date is set for May 25th with the admission price being only $25 instead of the original $40.  We decided to leave the dinner part out to help lower the cost for those who really want to attend this event.  There is updated information about this next upcoming event on our website for those interested in checking this out.  Now….the good news is that we are talking about later on in the future, hosting a similar event somewhere local here within the OKC area and hosting it on a weekend.  So….look for that to possibly happen in the near future!

Do any of you have any creative talent out there?  We ask because we will be holding a “Newsletter Contest” in order to change the name of our newsletter!  All entries must be submitted no later than June 15th as the winner will be announced in our July’s Newsletter and all those who submit their creative names for our news letter should include a small paragraph about how they came up with the idea for the new name and their thoughts and opinions on our newsletter, along with a small profile photo of themselves.  The winner’s written entry will also be included in our July Newsletter and this lucky winner will also be given a prize of their choice, which includes one of the following items:

An ELF Meter:  What this meter lacks in resolution it makes up with ease of use and very low cost. Meter measures ELF/VLF magnetic fields in the frequency range of 20 - 10,000 Hz, with a minimum sensitivity of .25 mG. Laboratory tested and documented for accuracy.

Three LED lights signal field strength:

       0 - 2.5 mG ("safe")

        2.5 - 7 mG ("caution")

        8 or more mG ("danger")

Single axis sensor, on/off toggle switch. One fresh 9V battery required. Useful for preliminary surveys of home, car, or office. Very popular for paranormal work too!

Or, they can choose from any one of the following OKPRI items below!

                               

    An OKPRI T-Shirt         An OKPRI Mouse Pad       An OKPRI Journal

 

Reader’s Realm

Okay, if you all remember our last ideas for this “Reader’s Realm” section, we stated that we wanted to dedicate this portion of the newsletter to those of you who had questions about different areas of paranormal research or to those of you who just want to share your own personal stories, experiences, photos, etc.  Please remember that if you have something that you would like to share with us, but you wish to remain anonymous, we will also honor your request and keep details of who you are confidential!  So feel free to send us your questions, stories, experiences, photos, etc!!!! 

Now what do we have to share with you for this month’s Reader’s Realm section?  A very good question was asked to us not to long ago in an e-mail.  Below is the following e-mail question with our response:

“Hello,

I think I may have some activity taking place in my home and I thought about getting an audio recorder to see if I could record some EVP.  My only problem is that I really don’t know what type of audio recorder to get because I am not really familiar with digital recorders and I’m not sure if I should use a digital recorder or a cassette recorder.  Would you please help shed some light on what it is that I need to get?"

Thanks,

-Joanna K-

---------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Joanna and thanks for trusting us with your questions!!

First, our group recommends the Olympus VN2000 as a digital voice recorder.  We like it because it is reasonably priced, easy to use, has great clarity and 7 hours of recording time on the longest setting.  These are available in many stores and can also be found pretty reasonably priced on the Internet.  Our preference is for digital over the more traditional cassette style analog recorders.  This is because digital recorders do not have the moving parts inside of them that analog recorders do and, as a result, will not pick up the sounds of the internal mechanisms as they record.   This also eliminates the chance of a flaw on the tape used in analog recorders that might provide a false positive.  Finally, digital recorders are easier to upload to a computer, if desired.

Along with the digital recorder, we recommend an external microphone.  You can either use a handheld or clip-on style.  This will also eliminate the possibility of the internal microphone picking up any sounds the recorder itself might be making and will give a little more flexibility in using the recorder.  Regardless of handheld or clip-on styles, we highly recommend an omni-directional microphone, as this will pick up sounds equally as well from all directions. It has been our experience that those audio recorders that have external microphones seem to pick up EVP (if present) better than an audio recorder that doesn’t have an external microphone.

Again thank you for trusting us with your questions and we hope that our advice has been helpful!

 

Upcoming OKPRI Events

The Month of May also looks like a busy one for us!!  I will let you in on a few details of what we have going on!  We have already conducted an initial investigation of this historical hotel in Southern Oklahoma!  The multi-story hotel has been around for almost a hundred years, since the beginning of Oklahoma’s statehood and wow…what a great little historical location!  The town’s historical society is also trying to preserve its heritage as they are in the process of restoring it as a museum.

I honestly couldn’t soak it all in one day’s time!  I know our group will be returning many times to this location to conduct further research and let me give you a little sneak peak into some of the data that we have already collected from this location.  We had a very interesting shadow person captured in one photograph along with some great EVP.  I would love to show you the photograph in this newsletter, but unfortunately Christy is making me wait until next month to share this with you!  I know, I know, oh the disappointment there with having to wait, but you can blame that one on Christy!  LOL Anyway, we are really fond of this location however and can’t wait to keep going back and getting more recorded evidence!

Have I got your full attention yet?  Well another location that we will be investigating in May is also a historical location, which dates back to the Civil War era!  Yep, a location so big and so old that our group has decided to do a long an extensive first initial investigation of this location!  More details will be coming on this location with next month’s newsletter!

 

Paranormal Articles, News & Weird Facts

I found this next article to be a very interesting one and one that I have personally experienced a few times myself.  I was excited whenever Christy gave this article to me for the newsletter as I feel like it is very informative and has a lot of good points that can possibly help someone else that has experienced the same thing.  I can honestly say that my own personal experience with this subject below is what first sparked my interest in the paranormal.  Do I know for sure now if my experience was indeed connected somehow to the paranormal realm?  Well no, I can’t really say for sure now since I have read this article, however at the time when it happened to me, I was fully convinced that it was paranormally related.  I’ll just let you read this article and make up your own mind!

 

Sleep Paralysis (AKA: The Old Hag Syndrome) 

Is It Really Connected With The Paranormal Realm?

Written by Christy Selfridge:  Founder/Director of OKPRI

Have you ever experienced this?  We have had several people, including one of our members who have stated that they have had weird experiences, which occur usually at night or in the early morning hours when they are coming to full wakefulness.  When talking to one of our group members (Jim) about this, he described his experience as being a bit frightful because after waking up from sleep, he felt as if he couldn’t move and felt like someone or something was holding him down.  He also reported feeling an unpleasant presence standing close by him and then stated that he heard a “hum” or “buzz” type of sound.  He reported being totally aware of what was going on around him and said that he felt fine with the exception of his body not being able to move. 

So what does Sleep Paralysis have to do with the “Old Hag Syndrome?”  The name of the phenomenon comes from the superstitious belief that a witch - or an old hag - sits or "rides" the chest of the victims, rendering them immobile. Although that explanation isn't taken very seriously nowadays, the perplexing and often very frightening nature of the phenomenon leads many people to believe that there are supernatural forces at work - ghosts or demons.  This condition has been around and reported for hundreds of years by men and women and recent statistics show that it happens to at least 15% of the population at least one time in their life. 

So is “Sleep Paralysis really connected to the paranormal realm?  Well, that would depend on whose opinion you decide to believe, but according to medical studies, sleep paralysis is “Not Paranormally Related.”  On the flip side, those experts who study metaphysics state that their case studies have shown that there is a high percentage of people who experience sleep paralysis which have no connection to narcolepsy or symptoms that typically would cause the “sleep paralysis” condition.  They believe that the “sleep paralysis” state may be connected to OBE’s (Out of Body Experiences).  A global survey on the OBE conducted by the International Academy of Consciousness (IAC), a leading research organization in the fields of out-of-body experience and paranormal phenomena, revealed that 52.57% percent of individuals who have had an OBE claim to have experienced sleep paralysis in association with this phenomenon. These individuals who reported having had OBEs also attested to having no known existing health condition that would trigger sleep paralysis.

As a way to test and control sleep paralysis and the range of psychic phenomena that is said to be associated with the dreaming and out-of-body experiences, subjects are advised to use techniques for relaxation and concentration for controlling body movement such as breathing more deeply or moving a finger or the tongue.  The ability to be able to master one’s own subtle energies is know as bio-energy, chi or prana by those who study metaphysics and this strange phenomenon. 

So what exactly is “Sleep Paralysis?”  According to medical studies, sleep paralysis is when the mind has awakened from sleep to discover that the body is still in slumber mode.  When this occurs, they body appears to be in a “paralyzed state” since it is unable to move.  Studies have also shown that when the brain is in the sleep paralysis state, it will cause the person to have dream like hallucinations which can then cause the person to imagine things that are not really there.

For most of us who have studied Psychology in depth, either in school or college, we know that there are several brainwave stages involved in sleep ranging from the highest activity levels to the lowest activity levels.  These stages are known as Beta, Alpha, Theta & Delta. 

In the Beta stage, the brainwave frequency ranges between 15-40 cycles a second which indicate a strong active and engaged mind.  An example of this would be someone who is lying in bed and are thinking about all of the day’s events or perhaps what it is that they have to do the next day or maybe lying in bed engaged in conversation with their spouse.

In the Alpha stage, the brainwaves are slower with the cycles being 9-14 cycles a second which indicate a person’s state as being more relaxed and calm.  A good example of this could also be someone who is in a meditative state.

In the Theta state, the brainwaves are even slower with the cycles being 5-8 seconds a cycle.  This stage is also one where a lot of creative ideas are formed.  A good example of this would be a person who is daydreaming. 

In the last stage, the Delta stage, the brainwaves are at their slowest, ranging from 1.5-4 seconds a cycle.  The cycles can’t go down to zero because if they did a person would be brain dead.  

Researchers and scientists have divided non-REM sleep into different stages, which accounts for about 75% of total sleep. In each stage, brain waves become progressively larger and slower, and sleep becomes deeper. After reaching stage 4, the deepest period, the pattern reverses, and sleep becomes progressively lighter until full REM sleep, the most active period.

Sleep studies have shown that most people dream in 90 minute cycles and can have several different dreams in any one given sleep period even though they may not remember all of the dreams they have had.  Dreams are stored in the short term memory area of our brain and so if a person does not try to recall their dream(s) within the first 5 minutes of waking, it will be removed from their short term memory area which can then cause them to forget their dream(s).  Thus dreams mainly occur when a person is in the deepest sleep cycle known at REM (Rapid Eye Movement) where the body’s breathing, heart rate and brainwave activity increase.

The treatment for psychiatric conditions often positively affects sleep cycles as well, typically inducing some desired change in sleep habits. For example, antidepressants like Prozac usually quicken sleep onset and lengthen REM stages. People who take antidepressants often benefit from the effects they have on the quality and duration of their sleep cycles.

So what really occurs in the REM stage of sleep?  When our brain starts to go into REM, it causes the body to secrete hormones, which relax certain muscles causing muscle paralysis, which is meant to keep the body from acting out the dreams that occur during this intense dream stage.  The stage of sleep has also been known as paradoxical sleep.  The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes with each recurring REM stage lengthening and the final one lasting for one hour.

So is the Sleep Paralysis state harmful?  Sleep paralysis is most often associated with narcolepsy, a neurological condition in which the person has uncontrollable naps. However, there are many people who experience sleep paralysis without having signs of narcolepsy.  Sometimes it just runs in families and as of now, there is no known explanation why some people experience this paralysis. No, it isn’t harmful to the person experiences this even though most people report feeling very afraid because they do not know what is happening, but usually within minutes they gradually or abruptly are able to move again.  This “paralyzed“ state is often terminated by a loud sound or a touch on the body.  According to research, in some cases, when hypnologic hallucinations are present, people feel that someone is in the room with them, and some experience the feeling that someone or something is sitting on their chest and they feel impending death and suffocation. That is where the nickname “Hag Phenomena” originated from and since it has been happening to people over now for centuries, the legend of the “Old Hag” was created and passed down with each generation of people who have experienced this weird phenomenon for themselves.   Although this weird state of sleep causes people much anxiety and terror, ultimately in the end, there is no physical harm that happens to them.

So who can be affected by Sleep Paralysis?  The answers are quite simple.  Those who suffer from the above mentioned narcolepsy, or those who aren’t getting enough sleep over a certain period of time or who have irregular sleep patterns/habits, even those who have high levels of constant stress, or those who sleep on their back, or who are experiencing puberty, or suffering from depression and bi-polar disorders.

Over all, the process of waking up might seem quite simple to some, but it is a complex process involving many physiological changes. One of these is the reversal of the paralysis. People experience sleep paralysis when the body’s secreted hormone doesn’t wear off fast enough as they wake up. They remain paralyzed though conscious. Because they have little sensation from their body, if they are lying on their backs, it can feel like someone is sitting on their chest. Eventually the paralysis departs and normal functions can be resumed.

So given the facts of this article, you be the one to decide if you feel that Sleep Paralysis is paranormally related or if it is just simply a frightening medical condition that has plagued mankind for hundreds of years!

 

This is a section of the newsletter that we are going to dedicate to our founder, Christy Selfridge, to bring you all the information that she might feel is vital. 

  

Hello everyone and thanks for subscribing to our newsletter.  Again I would like to take this time to welcome everyone to OKPRI, whether you may be receiving our newsletter for the first time or those of you who are not first time readers.  We are just glad that you have decided to be a part of our remote paranormal enthusiasts as we appreciate your support.  We do strive very hard to maintain a friendly & professional atmosphere and work very hard to bring you our latest investigations and current updates taking place with our group.  We’re always looking for ways to improve our website & newsletter so feel free to drop us a line anytime.  As always, we do not charge for any of our investigations and are always looking for interesting locations to visit so feel free to contact us with places that you may have in mind or need help with. 

I would also like to take this time to thank Jim for the compliments on our website as I do strive to make our site an enjoyable one with each update better than the one before!  Again we welcome any comments, compliments, suggestions or ideas that you all might have for us!

As some of you all might have heard already, our group had the pleasure of meeting the TAPS team from the infamous Sci-Fi show called, “Ghosthunters.”  Even better, we were able to hang out with them in depth and then prior to this, myself and one other OKPRI member had the chance to be guests on the “TAPS Ghosthunter” show and did the filming with the TAPS team at the Stone Lion Inn on the 15th of February.  Along with the show’s producer, Jason & Grant have informed us that the episode we filmed with them at the infamous Stone Lion Inn in Guthrie, Oklahoma, will be featured on May 17th!!  Our group is very excited about this and wants to extend each of you a special invitation to watch the episode that night! 

As Jim has already stated, each month seems to be busier than the one before for our group and we are doing our best to keep up with the investigative requests that we receive.  We do have another VERY special location that we will be doing in June, (yes, the month of June is already quickly filling up) so we will be giving you some more insight in the next month’s newsletter.

Again we appreciate each and every one of you who read our newsletters and who keep up with our site!  We hope that you’ll continue to subscribe to it and keep up with us here at OKPRI!

Sincerely,

Christy

Founder/Director of OKPRI

 

Jim’s Final Words

 

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