What’s New with OKPRI?

May was and June will be really hot for us, not only weather wise but for our investigations and exposure to the media.  Historically speaking we got to tour that Fort I mentioned in May’s newsletter, what a place that was!  I did promise that I would get you all more information as I get the approval from Christy.  Just be patient because once you see the stuff we got from there it will hopefully keep you very entertained.

I also mentioned that we were going to try to set something up at the Stone Lion Inn’s request to have a sleepover investigation.  Who knows?  They say that midnight is the witching hour and what a better time to investigate the inn than pulling an all nighter!  I can tell you the response to the two fundraisers we had were great successes, and I bet this one will be as cool as they were.

I would like to remind our loyal readers that we have not received many responses to our name the newsletter contest.  I am really excited about the prizes we are offering and as I stated last month, I can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

All entries must be submitted no later than June 15^th 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:

****We are also adding another prize of choice!  If the winner does not choose any of the prizes below, they can choose to accompany OKPRI on an investigation!***

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

OK, the next thing on the agenda is the reader’s realm column.  I am beginning to become a big fan of this one and I can’t wait to get a few of my questions answered as well!  I also want to say that if you have something that you want to ask one of us and are not the outgoing type, you can always email us or just jump right on the message board and give us a holler… now on to this months question:

A very good question was asked to us not to long ago on our message board.  Below is the question with our response:

Hello,

While doing investigations it's very interesting to hear and see the many different spirits out there, but what if you are trying to reach a specific spirit. What would be some things you could do to achieve this?

James

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

Thank you James for posting an excellent question!

We think one of the ways would be to acknowledge them by calling their name and specifically inviting them to talk to you.

You also might want to hold a possession of theirs (if you had one) as a trusting bond type of issue.

We have always said that you have to treat ghosts how you would like to be treated.....pretty much with the “Golden Rule" ya know.  Just because they are not in physical form doesn't mean that they don't have emotions like those of us living!

Once again, thank you for your wonderful questions.  Keep them coming!

Upcoming OKPRI Events

June is going to be an exciting month due to the fort investigations and wrapping up on the hotel documentary which as of this writing is still under production.  I can’t wait to see the magic that Christy spins on that one!

Also, there are a few requests for residential investigations.  As I stated before, these can often produce some really fascinating data.  You never know until you go check them out.  Once I have information on what we are doing, I will pass it on to you all.

Paranormal Articles, News & Weird Facts

Are Psychic's Beneficial or Harmful To the Paranormal Field of Study?

Written By: Christy Selfridge    

The term “psychic” is defined as:
Psychic: psy·chic [s’kik] adj
1. of the mind: relating to the human mind
2. outside scientific knowledge: outside the sphere of scientific knowledge
3. supposedly sensitive to supernatural forces: claiming or believed to have extraordinary perception and sensitivity to nonphysical or supernatural forces

Most of the time when people think of a psychic, they automatically assume that the psychic knows all, sees all & has endless answers to the questions they seek. Although it is true that different psychics have different gifts and some stronger than others at giving spiritual knowledge, it doesn’t mean that every psychic has all the answers or that they are 100% accurate with their impressions or readings.  Even the most popular & renown psychics such as Sylvia Brown, John Edwards & James Van Praagh will tell you that they are not always 100% accurate in their readings  If a psychic tells you they are, then they are not a true psychic that can be trusted.

For countless numbers of years, psychics have been used as a means for spiritual message & communication. The use of a psychic brings up a wave of different emotions & opinions amongst different cultures, races, religions, and yes, even paranormal investigators!  Some people are open to the idea but some are very closed off, especially those that view it as against religious beliefs. Whether you believe in psychics or not, they DO exist and there are many legit psychics that choose to use their gifts to help others. How do they get the information? Where does it come from? Why are some people psychic and some not? Let’s take a look at some of these different questions.

It is said that everyone has a psychic side to them, some just have their spiritual side open and awake and some do not. It is theorized that most people are born with their spiritual side open and it is through gradual learned beliefs and convictions, this “door” to the spirit world is slowly closed over time, thus putting ones spiritual side to “sleep.”  A good example would be a child’s fear of ghosts while growing up. Normally children are very open to the spiritual world until they are taught differently. Most parents in order to subside their children’s fears will tell their children, “There’s no such things as ghosts” and by doing so, over the passing of time causes the child to close off any thought or belief that ghosts exists.

Psychics a lot of times are given spiritual insight or message when needed and often times are given images of the past, present or future.  A lot of the times when a psychic is given information, they may not always have a full understanding of the message they have received. This leaves the psychic to try to find the meaning in order to convey the message correctly. It would be a lot like trying to but a jigsaw puzzle together that had many, many small pieces to it. This would partly be the reason why a psychic may not always be 100% accurate and you have to trust the individual psychic that you are dealing with.

For example, I once heard a well known psychic talk about a message that he had interpreted wrong.  He began telling the story of a client that had come to him for help. The man wished to speak with his recently deceased wife. During the reading, the departed wife came to him and had a message of her own to give to her husband. The woman insistently kept pointing to her neck, desperately trying to get her message across. The psychic at first thought she was trying to tell him about her neck with possibly an injury that had occurred while she was alive. The psychic asked the husband if his wife had something wrong with her neck at the time of her passing or any time at all. The man replied, ‘No, there was no neck injury that he was aware of.”  The communication continued for a while longer and after a short period of time, the psychic learned that it wasn’t the woman’s neck that she was trying to talk about, it was a necklace that she wore around her neck.  As you can see from this example, a psychic may indeed be getting a message, but it’s how they interpret it that makes all the difference in their accuracy.

So what exactly does a psychic investigator do while on a location? Most times while conducting the investigation, a psychic will pick up impressions in the area that they go into. Some psychic investigators choose to keep a personal written log as they get the impressions or messages while in a particular room or area. They may choose to use these written logs for reference later or for discussion with their peers. Other psychics may keep a walking audio log of their impressions and others will just announce the impressions out loud to those they are working with or around. Most of the time, groups that have more than one psychic while on the same location may choose to split up their different psychics to be able to more accurately access their impressions later on.

I know that whenever our group goes on investigations, our first and foremost priority is to document and observe any activity that might be taking place at the location.  I do use my abilities to feel out the different areas that might have activity, but our group does not base our investigations or our findings on psychic impressions.  Our goal is to be able to record the alleged activity taking place.  Many times when I personally go to a location, I won’t even open up to use my abilities because I think that ultimately in the end, in can affect the data results.  For example, I believe that psychic communication affects the recorded EVP.  Most people would think that when a psychic is in communication with ghosts, they would get a lot of EVP recorded; however in our experience, 9 times out of 10, no EVP has been recorded during this time.  My theory on this is due to the vibration & energy levels present by both the spirit(s) AND the psychic.

For example:  I think that there are 3 basic levels of vibrations:  HIGH, MEDIUM & LOW.  When a psychic communicates with a spirit(s), they have to raise their vibration level.  When a spirit chooses to communicate, they have to lower their vibration level while maintaining the highest level of energy possible.  I believe that when a psychic & spirit communicate with each, they have to meet somewhere in the middle!

Now if there is NO psychic in communication with a spirit(s), I believe that a spirit lowers their vibration level closer to the individual’s vibration level in order to communicate.  A good example that I have heard would be a ceiling fan with 3 different speeds.....on high, medium & low.  On HIGH, you normally cannot see the spinning fan blades moving individually.  This would be the high vibration level that a spirit resides on.  When a ceiling fan is on MEDIUM, it is still difficult to see each individual blade moving, but every once in a while your eyes are able to follow a blade.  This would be the level that the spirit & psychic communicate on.  The LOW speed of a ceiling fan is usually slow enough for our eyes to not only see each individual blade, but to also be able to follow each blade.  This would be the vibration level that a spirit would most commonly use when trying to communicate with those individuals who are not psychically inclined. 

It is theorized that high energy levels have to be maintained by a spirit in order for them to be seen & heard, especially if they are not in direct communication with a psychic.  We can only imagine how hard this must be on the spirit to try & regulate their vibration & energy levels, thus possibly the reason why it is hard for them to manifest in form, verbally communicate and or move things in our physical plane.  This needed energy can easily be understood by investigators & researchers because of their continued experience while on a locations with equipment malfunctions, battery drainage, flickering lights, quickly burned out light bulbs, physical energy drain, etc. 

This leads me to believe that perhaps the reason for no recorded EVP during the times when psychics are in communication with a spirit is due to the spirit's level of vibration (medium level).  It would be much easier for them to have to only lower their vibration from high to medium to communicate with the psychic, rather than having to lower it all the way down to low in order to communicate with those that are not psychically inclined by interacting with equipment present, manifesting or the act of moving physical objects, etc.  By keeping their vibration level on medium, they would use less energy by choosing to communicate with just the psychic. 

A neat thing happened back in 2002 when myself & a few other investigators (3 of us which were psychically inclined), conducted an investigation of a private residence.  (See Meeko's House under our "Investigations Page")  We were still researching my theory and decided that when we did the investigation, we weren't going to communicate with any spirit(s) if they were present in the home in order to see if we could get them to react with our equipment first.  Eventually if our attempts were not successful throughout the investigation with this experiment, we would then open up communication at the end of the investigation in order to give any spirit(s) a chance to communicate in case their energy levels were to low to do this. 

Our methods proved successful as we had a meter activation on the Gauss Meter (which had no battery) and recorded a drop in temperature in on the rooms.  Later on one of the investigators was reviewing audio and came across an EVP that said "Oh no, they're psychic!"  What is also fascinating about this EVP is that it was recorded 10 minutes into the investigation so we found it unique since this was during the time that we agreed there would be no psychic communication.  Later on during our “sit-down” we opened up for any spirit message and as we suspected, no EVP was recorded during this time.  Now I’m not saying that it doesn’t ever happen, but in my opinion the chances of recording EVP during this “communication time” is very slim.

Should psychics help people with their haunting by giving their impressions of the ghosts that might be present?  Some investigators say no, as they feel that no psychic should give their impressions just in case they are not 100% correct. They argue that investigators and psychics alike should simply try to record the evidence (if any) turn it over to the owner of the location and then let them draw their own conclusions. They feel that the psychic should not tell them anything about the spirit(s) they have present. However, as our group has encountered, there are many home & business owners who want to know and are usually thankful to know a little history behind the ghosts.  So what is the right thing to do?

OKPRI tries to find a happy medium between the two arguments. Our main goal of course is to research & study the paranormal field by recording evidence of a “haunting.”  We go into each location we investigate with a skeptical but open mind and by doing so, have found that about 75%-80% of the time, we ARE able to DEBUNK the “haunting” taking place.  There is however, still that 20%-25% of a chance that we will and DO find evidence of a haunting. We also make copies of the evidence that we record and turn the evidence we have collected over to the homeowners. If the owner of the location asks us either previously to the investigation, or after the investigation about any background our psychic has picked up on, we will then go ahead and give them any impressions or message that we picked up on during the investigation. We have found that the owners are very grateful for our group coming out and all the information that we have provided to them.

How do you know which psychic is legit and can be trusted? This is very important as there are many psychics out there who may not be legit or they may have some spiritual talents, but they charge such outrageous prices that most “normal working class” people cannot afford their rates. You may also encounter those who charge for “getting rid of your ghosts” or they tell you they “can guarantee you that they can rid you or your home of ghosts.” Beware of these people as they are not truthful in their actions and words.

If you do seek out a psychic or spiritualist to help you with a haunting (whether with a paranormal investigative group or not), they may be able to help a few of the spirits within your location cross over, but just like all of us living, ghosts have free will and free choice and cannot be made to do anything, no matter HOW experienced a psychic claims to be.  Psychics have NO CONTROL over all aspects of the spiritual realm, so they should not guarantee you that they can rid you or your home of a ghost(s) when that is something that cannot be guaranteed.  As always, beware of those psychics who charge you for their services.

Overall, true psychics can be beneficial to the paranormal field, especially when the client you are investigating for, wants to know the personality and story behind the spirit(s) residing in their home or place of business, but it is our opinion that if you use a psychic, use one that you know is legit and one that will not just “feed” you a story line.   Check their references or with people that know them or who have worked with them in order to check their legitimacy. 

   OK this next section is one that is near and dear to me, it is a spotlight article written by one of our team, telling a little about themselves or something they have experienced while on an investigation with the OKPRI team:

 No flashlights... No one talking... Just sitting in a dark dreary hallway, waiting for some response. In this dark and haunted hotel ... I sit there.. on a bench up against the wall... We had been hearing footsteps down this end of the hall way for most of the night...So we decided to sit down and take a listen and see if we could actually be up in close with who ever.. or what ever was down this hallway. Waiting. and Waiting... Finally we hear a couple of noises so... Cameras start flashing... as I they were flashing, My eyes are WIDE open ... Looking into the door way.. I see a woman in the moment of a flash.. about 5 feet tall... with a long black and white dress on... that had a wrap of such around her neck, Her hair was up in a bee hive type bun. I didn’t get her facial expression... Because it only lasted during one flash... I couldn’t believe I had actually seen some thing like that. Why would I only see it through a flash of a camera? Well... Maybe spirits can draw energy from the flashes of a camera... Maybe that’s why we get them on camera. .... This experience for me is what convinced me among others that this hotel is haunted... I know I’m not crazy and I know what I saw... My goal now... Who is that woman? Where did she come from?  History is the answer to every question... as History repeats its self... we will soon find the answer to everything.  Always keep your eyes open... Just because you cant see it... Doesn’t mean its not there.

Hello all of you out there in paranormal land, it's time for another edition of "A day in the Life of J.T. the Troll."  Hopefully since I last wrote, some of you out there have had their own paranormal experiences.  If you have, we would love to hear about it.  Don't be afraid to speak up, no one here will think you're crazy.  Trust me, you can't be any crazier than the group we have here at OKPRI (sorry my OKPRI family, I had to put that in!).  I would like to try to include some of your stories in our future articles, so let's hear it guys, what have you seen or heard or felt that you couldn't explain (and don't say your wife's meatloaf because that's not what we are talking about!).

Let me tell you what's been going on with OKPRI.  We have been super busy lately!!! It's a very exciting time for all of us.  We went on an adventure to a historic fort in Oklahoma, and let me tell you, that place ROCKS!!!!!  I can't give you the name yet because we are still working on the documentary for the website, but trust me, you don't want to miss that documentary!!!  We had some wild experiences while we were there.  It was an overnight investigation and we still could have spent another night there and got more evidence.

As a side note, being from Louisiana, I learned about something new here in Oklahoma that I wished I never did. I learned from first hand experience about a little thing called a CHIGGER!!! Going into the night I was asking "what the hell is a Chigger", but by the end of the night I was asking "how the hell do you kill those Chiggers?"  For those of you readers who don't know what it is, it's kinda like a mosquito but they hurt a lot worse.  Between the chiggers and the ticks, that was an adventure all on its own. Back to the investigation, (sorry, sometimes I get off topic and it may take days before I get back on).

We arrived there that afternoon to set up our equipment and to kinda map out the place so we could be prepared before it got dark, because you know what happens when it gets dark, IT'S SHOWTIME!!!!!  This place was huge, if I'm not mistaken, I think it was around 100 acres, and no it wasn't the 100 acre woods from Winnie the Pooh!!!  We had over twenty buildings (and in some cases ruins from buildings) to investigate so we split up into two groups to cover more area.  We weren't into our investigation for ten minutes when it got real interesting.  The first thing that happened was our group leader Christy heard someone walking next to her, so as soon as she said that I turned around and took a picture.  Once I saw the picture I took I freaked out!!!!  There was one of the hugest red mists I have ever seen that covered almost the whole picture which was not on the comparison picture (for all you amateur ghost hunters out there, it's good to always take 2 pictures of everything so you can compare them to each other.)  At that moment, I knew this place was gonna be wild! We heard footsteps, saw "shadow people", heard horses and buggies and many other unexplainable things that night.  We even had two of our members experience the feeling that someone was pushing on their chests and neck at the same time!  Not to mention, we got some great EVP's as well.  We had so much evidence to review it took days to finish.  That's another thing you learn about being an investigator, it may take 2 hours of footage or audio to catch that one 2 second piece of evidence!  But believe me when I tell you, when you find it, it's definitely worth it!

This trip was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had.  We had so much fun that I'm ready to go back again!  It's a cool thing when you can go out in the woods in the middle of the night with your closest friends and get to investigate one of the most haunted places in the state.  Make sure you check out the OKPRI documentary coming soon about this location.  And also, make sure to check out some other great investigations we recently did.  Tell all your paranormal friends about the OKPRI website so we could all have some fun and talk about some very interesting things together. Remember, if anyone has any paranormal experiences or questions they would like to share with us, e-mail me at jdaquin@sbcglobal.net and I will try to put them in my column.  Until next time, this is J.T. the Troll wishing all of you a great month and all the haunts you can handle!!!

If you would like to reply to this column, you can e-mail J.T. at jdaquin@sbcglobal.net.

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 again everyone and welcome to another edition of the OKPRI Newsletter.

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read our newsletter and for showing in interest in keeping up with our group.  I would also like to thank those of you who have submitted your suggested name for our "Renaming Our Newsletter Contest."

Our group is growing and so is our popularity as each day we seem to be in contact with more and more people who show an interest in the paranormal.  We think that it is great that there are so many who are not afraid to come out and show their interest in the paranormal field.

We have also been receiving a lot of new membership applications and for those of you reading this newsletter who have submitted your membership application to us, please know that we are currently reviewing those applications and we should be picking those candidates toward the end of July, first of August where we will then proceed to the next level of potential membership.

Our group has some great things coming up for us and we are looking forward to sharing them with you in the near future.  As we speak, I am in the process of updating the website again and hope to have it up and going very soon.  Please keep checking our website for the updates and yes, this new update will have our member's bio pages, the historical hotel investigation and much much more!

Again thanks to everyone who takes the time to read our monthly newsletter and we hope you will continue to enjoy them!

Sincerely,

Christy Selfridge

Founder/Director of OKPRI

Jim’s Final Words