OPS Central - 2 for 1 Special

Written by Kevin Woodrow

This installment of “This Week In OPS” is a “2 For 1 Special“. You heard me right. You get 2 investigations for the price of 1. We made a trip to 2 areas on Friday night, spending most of our time investigating a barn at an undisclosed location in Clay County, and we made a follow-up visit to a cemetery in Munford that yielded some interesting evidence on a previous outing.

Therefore, in this week’s report we’ll talk about the barn investigation first, and then we’ll move on to the information we collected from the cemetery, if that’s okay with you. Well, since I don’t hear any protest, let’s move right along.

A few weeks ago we received word that the residents at an undisclosed location in Clay County claimed to have possibly experienced paranormal encounters on several occasions in the past. On all occasions the incidents took place in a barn on their property.

One of the residents had seen what appeared to be an apparition of a man in the barn. And, a young nephew of the residents, also has claimed to have seen a man in the barn. The child was convinced that it was an actual man, not a ghost. However, upon investigating, no shoeprints were ever found on the dirt floor of the barn.

The residents also informed us that the previous owners had also discovered something strange. The previous owners had apparently taken a photograph of their young daughter in the barn, standing in front of an old door that had a name written on it. However, when they developed the photo, the name was reversed on the door, and a dog appeared to be standing beside the little girl.

Therefore, in this case, we have reported visual sightings of a full body manifestation. Also, photographic phenomena without a visual sighting, as the dog was not seen, but was captured on film. So, with this information and more, we moved forward with our investigation.

The OPS team arrived at the location at around 8:00 PM on Friday night. Lance and Mark began setting up the equipment, Dewey and myself recorded exterior and interior preliminary readings (EMF, barometric pressure, temperature, etc.), and Deborah began setting up voice recorders.

We placed two wireless inferred video cameras within the barn, one inside the largest room and one in the rear room, which is where it is believed the man was seen. We also placed two voice recorders in the rear room, one in the largest room, and one was carried by an investigator. At all times, we had at least one investigator outside watching the display monitor to keep track of what was being seen by the wireless video cameras.

Once everything was set up, Danielle and Hannah sat alone in the back room for quite a while with voice recorders, while white noise played from a CD player. They asked various questions in attempt to get a response on the voice recorders. While doing so, Hannah reported, on several occasions, feeling warm on her left side, while ice cold on her right. And, Danielle said that she kept feeling something touch her on the back of the neck. This had to be a little unnerving for them both.

Later, in that same room, Deborah said that something cold touched her shoulder several times while she was alone. We were never able to explain what Deborah, Danielle, or Hannah felt.

We never saw anything out of the ordinary, but we did capture numerous orb-like images with digital cameras. However, dust was easily stirred up from the dirt floor of the barn, and we concluded that most of what we caught on film was probably dust particles. A few of the “orbs“, though, seemed to be much brighter than the obvious dust particles. Those photos are still being analyzed.

The most interesting piece of evidence of this investigation was apparently recorded by Dewey. While in the back room of the barn, he was asking questions while holding a voice recorder. He made the statement, regarding the power of the spirit that we might be dealing with, “Whoever is hear, turn that radio off.”. Then, he asked, “Or, are you too weak to do it?”. Right after he asked that, on the audio recorder, it sounds as if he may have gotten an answer. We are still conducting further analysis on the sound. This apparent EVP can be heard on the “EVP’s Page” of this site.

Probably one of the most entertaining moments of the night, however, was when Dewey and Deborah were in the back room conducting EVP work. I was in the largest room of the barn taking photos. All the sudden, I heard Dewey say to Deborah, “Did you hear that?”. She responded, “Yeah, I heard it. It sounded like something growling.”

“Growling?“, I thought. That’s all I needed to hear. So, I started making my way out of the barn, with Dewey and Deborah right behind me.

They had heard something apparently growling somewhere outside the rear of the barn. The owner of the barn, being very familiar with the wildlife around there, decided to walk around behind the barn and investigate, and I accompanied him… just in case he needed protection (or at least that’s what I said, anyways). We eventually heard the noise, and at first, he and I both agreed that it sounded kind of like a growling / humming in the distance. Finally, though, we heard a very distinct “Mooooo”, and determined that the noise was in fact a cow. Honestly, though, it didn’t sound like a cow at first.

The investigation of the barn concluded shortly before midnight, with plenty of video footage, a nice collection of audio recordings, plenty of digital images, some strange feelings from those who had felt something, and yet another animal encounter. All in all, a productive night.

We’d really like to thank the owners who allowed us to investigate their property for their cooperation and hospitality. We truly do appreciate it.

A few weeks ago, as you may already know, we investigated a cemetery in Munford where ghostly Civil War soldiers has been reportedly seen. On that occasion we took some strange photos showing mists, that were visible to the naked eye, near a few graves. And, we recorded a few strange sounds there as well. After our investigation at the barn in Clay County, we decided to return to this cemetery to see what else we could record.

Immediately upon arriving at the location, we began hearing a strange noise coming from the far corner of the cemetery. It was coming from the area where we captured the strange photos and sounds on our last visit. It sounded like a “creaking”, and it echoed across the graveyard with a definite eeriness. We opted not set up our inferred video cameras. Instead we headed straight for the source of the noise with digital cameras and audio recorders. Soon, we discovered the source of the sound. In the woods directly behind a grave where we had captured some strange mist photos, a tree had fallen against another tree. Consequently, every time the wind blew the fallen tree would rub against the other one, and it would create the “creaking” sound.

Although we had found a practical explanation for the sound, the wind kept blowing, and the sound never stopped. Therefore, for the rest of the night, those two trees provided our eerie soundtrack at the cemetery. You can find a link to this sound on our site.

After our discovery, we began taking preliminary readings for temperature, barometric pressure, and electro-magnetic fields. Then, the group broke up into a pair of teams and we swept the cemetery, taking digital photos and doing EVP work. Most of time, however, was spent in the lower corner, where we had recorded strange evidence earlier.

Throughout the investigation, several orb-like objects were caught on camera, but never seen. All of these images are currently being analyzed. Also, several strange sounds were once again caught on tape, and we are currently trying to determine the source of those sounds.

The most exciting and interesting incident, since I have joined OPS, happened just before we left the cemetery and concluded our investigations for the night. This incident was interesting for a few different reasons.

Dewey and Deborah were looking at a grave that was surrounded by an iron fence. Mark was a few feet away from them, and Lance and I were standing by the truck discussing some images we had taken. Suddenly, Deborah said that she thought she felt something near her. Just a few moments later, both Dewey and Deborah heard something “clank” along the fence, as if a stick had hit several of it’s posts quickly. Immediately, Mark rushed over to take some photos. He said that he had FULL battery power in his digital camera, but as soon as he arrived where the sound was heard and was about snap a picture… his camera died. He tried to turn it back on, but the batteries were dead.

Mark quickly replaced the batteries, and snapped two back-to-back photos. What was caught on film was very interesting. The first photo showed an “orb” near the headstone of the grave Dewey and Deborah were looking at. The second, taken immediately after the first, showed the same “orb” as it had moved further away. These photos can be seen on “Case Page” for “Old Cemetery“.

This incident was significant for several reasons. First of all, there was a feeling and a sound associated with the photos. Dewey and Deborah both heard the “clanking”, which initiated Mark’s photos. Second, this is the first time we’ve caught back-to-back “orb” photos, showing what was apparently the same “orb” in two different spots, as if moving away. And, possibly most importantly, the third reason is that Mark’s camera batteries mysteriously died before trying to take the photos. Everything I have read about “true” ghostly encounters is that their energy can drain batteries or effect electrical equipment in some way. So, with this in mind, why did his camera batteries suddenly die?

All three of these points are very important to The OPS Team’s future investigations. It is incidents like these that we will have to keep note of, and compare them to other similar encounters. Finding similarities and differences in various unknown events is the key to scientifically understanding exactly what we’re dealing, whether that be something paranormal or something very practical that we are oblivious to.

I think that The OPS Team had a very eventful night; ghostly touches, strange EVP’s, eerie cemetery soundtrack due to wind and trees, orb photos, clanking fences, and drained camera batteries. Oh, and there was even another animal encounter… just for good measure. Definitely, in my humble opinion, an eventful night.

So, now that you have received your “2 For 1 Special”, was it worth the money? Oh, wait a minute, this is free. Well, I hope it was at least worth your time, which often can feel like the most valuable thing in the world. But, no matter what, I know this for sure - it was definitely worth ours. Thanks for reading.

Until next time,

-Kevin-