Arrival
All members of PIM arrived at the Alchemist Theater around 7:00 pm. After unloading their equipment, they all took an extended tour of the areas the group would focus the investigation on. Michael and Karen, both group sensitives, took this time to see if they could pick up on anything while there. Noah also brought an electromagnetic field (EMF) detector along with to get baseline readings.
| LOCATION | READING |
| Bar | Hot spot by cooler in bar – 4.0 Hot spot by longest wall – 3.0 (no source found) EMF is typically low in the bar as a whole |
| Theater | Stage area – 4.0 Large amounts of EMF first seats of each row – possibly from ground piping in the basement |
| Dressing Room | 0.2 Average |
| Men’s Bathroom (Basement) | 0.0 Average |
| Women’s Bathroom (Basement) | 3.0 Average |
| Basement | High EMF on the left side of basement possibly caused by the ground piping Water Heater Room – 6.0 |
NOTE: A normal EMF reading should be 1.0 or under. Anything higher than this may cause headaches, nausea and the feeling of being watched.
Average temperature readings were 64 degrees in the basement and 70 degrees on the main floor.
The focus of the investigation was going to be the theater, the basement corridor where doors have been said to slam, as well as the water-heater room.
After walking through the building, around 8:00 pm. the group set up their equipment throughout the building.
EQUIPMENT:
Video Cameras
Sony DCR-SR82 – Theater
Sony DCR-SR42 – Theater
Sony DCR-SR80 – Carried by Noah
Panasonic Mini DV – Basement
Sony DCR-HC280 – Basement
Voice Recorders
Sony P520 – Carried by Karen
Olympus 210S – Bar area
Sony ICD-UX70 – Back area near water heater room
Additional Equipment
EMF Detectors
Motion Sensor
Laser Level
UV Flashlights
Investigation
The group began its investigation in the theater. After sitting in silence for about 10 minutes, the group began an EVP session. During this part of the investigation, the only thing that occurred was that Michael thought he heard a chair spring next to him, which was probably not paranormal.
Moving to the dressing room, the group attempted at conducting an EVP session. Unfortunately, noise from the music studio bled through the floor from below. No activities occurred during this part of the investigation.
After spending some time in the dressing room and in the apartment hallways, the group moved down to the basement to investigate for the remainder of the night.
The doors in the corridor were left in position for the group to be able to see if anything moved. A laser level was left to help with evidence review of video footage to see if the doors moved at all.
After the group was able to begin its basement investigation, all group members spread throughout the large layout – Karen in the women’s bathroom, Michael in the corridor with the doors and Noah was in between them. No activities occurred during this portion.
Regrouping by the corridor, the group members conducted a mini EVP session as well as tested the doors more.
Prior to investigating this part of the evening, the group took a closer look at the doors to see how they could move like they did in the You Tube videos they had reviewed. During this evaluation, it was found on one of the doors was a piece of black thread that was taped to the inside of the door. The string was long enough for someone on the inside to pull it shut without being seen – even with an infrared camera.
Also, during experimentation, it was found another door that appeared to be thrown open during the YouTube video could indeed be kicked or pushed open from the inside in a way that a person could be hidden from being seen while doing it.
Clips of these reenactments are being submitted to the owner for evaluation.
After spending some more time in separate locations in silence, the group then moved to the heater/water heater room. No activities occurred at this time.
The group then packed their equipment around 1:15 am and headed out.
Conclusion
Overall the investigation at the Alchemist Theater was uneventful. Excepting a few noises that seemed out of place, there were no personal experiences by any of the investigating team. The location is very interesting architecturally and had a lot of history that could lend itself to a haunting. This does not guarantee that a haunting will occur and it is PIM’s opinion that the Alchemist Theater is not haunted.
PIM became aware of the Alchemist Theater after a member had watched some videos that were posted on YouTube from three separate investigations that were conducted by one individual. The videos showed some amazing footage of what appeared to be activity, and were the only evidence PIM is aware of that has come out of the Alchemist Theater. Upon arriving at the Alchemist, PIM went about debunking the events shown in these videos. While debunking, we determined that all of the evidence shown could easily have been faked. We even found some possible evidence of this on one of the doors in the basement that had “moved” in one of the videos. There was some black tape holding black thread onto the door that, when we experimented with our IR cameras, was invisible to the camera and was able to close the door with similar force as shown on the video. The footage on YouTube had been edited and this combined with the fact that this is the only evidence that we know of for this location along with our findings, left us no choice but to conclude that the videos had been faked.
We are not making any assumptions as to who faked them or who knew about the videos being faked, but we do not believe the owners were involved. Noah spoke at length with the person who had shot and posted the videos and the person was quite adamant that he did not fake them, but couldn’t attest there wasn’t someone else in the basement when the videos were shot. Unfortunately, the evidence PIM found while at the Alchemist Theater contradicts the claims of paranormal activity. Without seeing the unedited video, PIM can’t consider them to be evidence.
That being said, it is possible there is activity at the Alchemist Theater – it just did not occur while we were there. As with any paranormal investigation, there is no guarantee activity will occur, even if the place is legitimately haunted.
PIM would like to thank the owners of the Alchemist Theater, Erica and Aaron, for allowing us to investigate their property. PIM would also be willing to review any further evidence captured at the Alchemist Theater from other investigations. More evidence captured by multiple groups would lend credibility to the other videos.
Impressions
Karen’s Impressions
Original Visit:
Bar area – felt presence of a woman sitting near the middle section by the wall. Felt she had long black hair, thin, wearing a black dress. I got the feeling there was something drug related with her.
Felt a man on second level near the windows when I felt got to the location. I believe he moves throughout the building. He appeared to be in his 40’s or 50’s. Think he moved down to the basement level and was at the bottom of the stairs, but he never moved from that point to any other place in the basement.
Investigation Visit:
Bar – Weird dizzy spell in the middle of the room. Some type of energy was there but couldn’t figure out what it was. EMF detector didn’t pick up anything.
Dressing Room – Picked up on an older woman who I picked up was knitting or crocheting. She was not aware and appeared to be a residual energy.
Dressing Room Bathroom – I felt there was an event of a male in his upper 20’s shaving and he cut himself. He brown hair, green eyes and was thin framed. I can’t tell if this was a serious accident or not he had.
I didn’t pick up on anyone in the theater nor in the basement.
Michael’s Impressions:
Felt there was a man sitting in one of the chairs in the bar area.
In the dressing room, picked up on a woman. She may have been German as I picked up hearing the language being spoken.
While walking up to the apartments upstairs, I did pick up on a male spirit in one of the apartments. He didn’t want to leave the apartment.
