Arrival
The group arrived at the theater at 7 pm for the night’s investigation – Gravy arrived later as he was coming from work. John, the owner’s brother-in-law, joined the group for the investigation to test out some equipment he created. After Noah and John went into the theater to get the generator started for the lights, the rest of the group members waited until they were told it was okay to bring all of the equipment inside.
Once in, Karen and Marty went to do their sensitive readings at 7:25 pm while Noah took the rest of the group on a tour of the building – many had never been there before. Once Noah’s group completed their tour, they began setting up equipment throughout the theater. Noah wanted to wait until Karen and Marty returned to see if there were other parts of the building the group should place their equipment.
At 9:19 pm, Karen and Marty returned to the theater and gave their thoughts on where to place additional equipment and then went through their impressions of the building. After all equipment was set up, the group broke down into two smaller groups, and would investigate different parts of the building.
Investigation
Before beginning the investigation it was decided to split into two groups. The first group was made up of Noah, Marty, Mary, and Eric, while the second was Karen, Gravy, Jarod, and John.
Theater – 10:08 pm
Group 1 began its investigation on the main floor of the theater. Noah sat in the front row, fifth seat from the center aisle on the right side of the house; Eric sat on the left side of the Orchestra pit platform; Marty sat in a seat further back in the middle section; while Mary sat in a seat on the left side of the house. After several minutes of silence, an electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) session was started in order to provoke the “angry lady” Marty picked up in the area where Noah was sitting. Marty also sensed a “scary man” hanging out on stage right – the same spirit he thought followed Karen and him during their walk-through.
At 10:09 pm, Noah heard a sound, which was debunked as falling water. At 10:15 pm Marty saw a “green haze” approximately three seats in front of him. He also heard a noise in the seats behind Mary at 10:17 pm.
Marty began to pick up that the “angry lady” was an obese woman named “Vicky”, who for some reason could not leave the area in front of the seats at stage right. This area was her “personal hell” and although she didn’t die in the theater, she was stuck there.
At 10:20 pm, Marty felt a spirit “try to enter him.” He picked up it was a young white man about 22-25 years old named “Tucker”. “Tucker” didn’t want the group to make “Vicky” angry as “it made it harder on them” (meaning the other spirits) who were trapped in the theater by “her”.
At 10:25 pm the group heard a wooden-chair type creaking noise. Eric felt he was tapped on the head at 10:26 pm, while Marty heard footsteps in the balcony at 10:29 pm. At 10:31 pm Mary heard the sound of metal scraping several rows behind her.
At about the same time Marty started picking up on a couple sitting near him: “Tom”, a 40-year old man, and “Terry”, a 30-year old woman – both of whom appeared to come from the 1940’s. They communicated that they felt protected from “Vicky” when they were near Marty. Then at 10:40 pm Marty started feeling dizzy and nauseous and felt the “scary man” from the stage was approaching him. Noah brought the Mel-Meter over to Marty, but did not obtain any anomalous readings.
According to Marty the “scary man” then retreated toward the lobby door, so Marty and Noah followed. Marty was able to sense the “scary man’s” name was “Dominic”, who at one time was known as “the Enforcer”. He died in the 1960’s at around 40-years old, and killed many people in his lifetime. He did the dirty work of oppressing the other spirits in the theater for “Vicky” since she was stuck near the stage.
At 10:55 pm Noah decided the group should relocate to the balcony. Eric then went outside to do an interview with Aaron Powers from Forest City Paranormal Society for the documentary that PIM has worked on since November.
On the balcony, Marty sat in the back on the right side, while Noah sat on the left. Mary sat in the front on the left. Midway through this session Eric returned with Aaron, who did some filming and observed.
During the session both Marty and Mary experienced ringing in the ears. According to Marty, there were approximately 30 people in the balcony from the 1930’s waiting for the show to start – he sensed several people telling the group “shhhh”. There was also a boy who was watching a western.
At 11:13 pm, the group heard a loud bang from below in the main theater along with the sound of people murmuring. Radio contact with Group 2 suggested the murmuring might have been them talking, or passers-by on the street outside.
Marty again felt as though “Dominic” approached him at 11:16 pm, which caused him some anxiety. Mary heard a whisper behind Eric at 11:19 pm. Several other knocks and thumps heard during the remainder of the session, which ended when both groups met outside for a short break.
Offices/Basement – 10:08 pm
Group 2 – The group started the investigation in the recording portion of the office area. Jarod and John sat in the main recording area near the stairs while Karen and Gravy spread out in the hallway that lead toward the rest of the offices. Prior to starting the investigation, they went over the normal protocol of EVP sessions to John as this was his first investigation with a group. They all then sat in silence for about five minutes to observe the normal building and street sounds.
The group then conducted an EVP session trying to contact the female patient Karen picked up earlier in the night. At 10:26 pm, Gravy thought he heard a sigh and a laugh. Shortly after, Karen felt extremely cold on her right side, and mentioned she felt the woman was standing there. Thinking she saw a shadow walk into room 212, she got up and headed toward the door. John, while using his IR scope, stated at 10:29 pm he saw a shadow walking with Karen as she stood up and walked into the room. When Karen came out of the room, John stated the shadow did not follow her back out.
The group then gathered in room 212 and conducted an EVP session by provoking the female patient. John had other equipment he was testing out, including one that listened to other frequencies the human ear cannot hear. He stated he kept hearing a high pitched cry, but this was not recorded for the rest of the group to hear and determine what it was.
After stepping out of the room, Karen thought the female patient moved toward the sound recording room again. Gravy headed toward that direction and stopped right by the recording room’s entrance. He stated it was freezing in the corner. John pulled out his temperature gauge that can show, in color, the temperature differences. It showed it was colder in that corner – whether it were paranormal in nature or not was not determined.
Karen and Gravy then headed into the recording area to conduct an EVP session, while John and Jarod stayed in the hallway. No other activities occurred at this time.
John then asked if Karen could come by him near the Gent’s restroom as he thought he saw something when he walked by. She didn’t feel anything. While looking around with his IR scope, John thought at one point he was pushed. He then realized the stairs were right in front of him.
Deciding to head downstairs at 11:18 pm, the group went down the middle stairwell to the basement. While walking around several of the rooms, the group stopped to conduct an EVP session. Karen stated it had an odd feeling and wanted to focus on talking to the male that may have followed her and Marty earlier in the night. She picked up on the names of “Betsy MacDonald” and “Jacob”. She wasn’t sure if this was in relation to those individuals or not.
While conducting an EVP session, Karen felt her right ear get really cold, and thought her right hand was touched. After asking a few more questions, the group concluded the session and headed back upstairs to the theater level.
As they were heading back, both Karen and Gravy heard what sounded like a woman’s voice call out at 11:32 pm (SEE EVIDENCE).
End Time: 11:32 pm
Deciding to head outside for a quick breather, both groups met up right outside the main door to the back of the theater. Group 1 decided to head to the office space, while Group 2 went to the theater.
Offices – 11:30 pm
Group 1 began this session in the recording studio with Noah sitting in a chair in the main room, Mary sitting in the smaller side room and Eric in the larger side room. After several minutes of silence, Noah began questioning the spirit of the mentally disturbed woman the sensitives picked up previously. At 11:50 pm Noah heard an unexplained squeak. After that, it became apparent that there was a lot of street noise filtering into the area, partly from the sound of Marty and Aaron interviewing in the alley outside. The group decided to move into the office area until the interview was done, with Eric settling by the window with the pigeons, Noah standing in the main hallway, and Mary sitting in the room with the big pile of wire and the wooden paneling.
At 12:05 am, Noah heard a tapping noise in the hallway near him. Shortly after, Jarod from Group 2 radioed to check whether the group left any seats down in the main theater. The session was otherwise uneventful, so the group returned to the recording area at 12:15 am, where the batteries were changed in one of the voice recorders. Jarod again radioed, this time about seats in the balcony.
An EVP session was again attempted in the sound recording area, with little result. After Karen called about taking a break, the group headed downstairs.
Theater – 11:30 pm
Group 2 – Wanting to see if doing an actual performance would stir up some activity, Karen and Jarod read from a playbook version of “Tom Sawyer”. After reading a couple pages, the group then sat throughout the seats on the main level and then sat in silence for five minutes.
At one point, Gravy asked if the spirits in the building could sit in their favorite seat for the group. At 12:04 am, Karen thought she heard what sounded like the material of a seat being messed with behind her, but wasn’t sure. At 12:06 am, the group decided to head up to the balcony, but in the process of heading up that way, Karen noticed a seat located in the 3rd row from the back, middle section aisle seat was now down. Jarod radioed Group 1 to see if they sat there before, but Noah replied no group members had. Gravy made sure all of the seats on the main floor level were up prior to the start of the investigation. John brought out his temperature gauge and saw the seat was about 9 degrees warmer than the others around it – the temperature went down shortly thereafter.
The group decided to see if they could recreate the sound of the chair moving for Karen as she sat in the same seat she heard the noise originally. After making several attempts to put the seat down, she stated the noise sounded exactly the same.
Deciding to head to the balcony at 12:16 am, all group members spread out, but Gravy at one point thought he heard something in the Projection Room. It was found to just be the sound of water dripping. Jarod shortly after the group started the EVP session complained that he wasn’t feeling well and thought he needed to go home. Noah radioed him asking him if he wanted to do an interview for the documentary the group is working on. The rest of the group followed Jarod outside at that time at 12:33 am.
Unfortunately Jarod decided he was feeling too ill to continue and went home at 12:45 am. John was also to be interviewed by Aaron for the documentary. At that time, Group 2 then met back with Group 1 in the theater to talk about how they thought things were going, and where they wanted to go from there on with the investigation.
John and Aaron would leave shortly after, and the group then broke down into smaller groups. Group 1 headed back to the office side basement, while Group 2 went to the Orchestra Pit.
Offices/Basement – 1:37 am
Group 1 began this session at 1:37 am with a thorough walk-through of the basement rooms and restaurant, concentrating especially on the “Beanie Baby” room where Marty felt children possibly were molested.
At 2:04 am, Noah decided to attempt another EVP session in the recording studio, so the group relocated there with Noah once more settling into the chair in the main room, Mary sitting on the floor on the other side of the main room and Marty just inside the larger of the side rooms. Marty immediately began to pick up on the mentally disturbed woman, whom he described as “rambling a mile a minute” and “unable to focus enough to answer questions”. She was wearing a hospital-type gown with bandaged wrists. She spoke of knives and wanting to hurt everyone. Apparently she committed suicide by cutting her wrists. Marty also saw a large gash down the middle of her chest, which he said he had not picked up on earlier in the evening.
At 2:06 am Mary started hearing a high-pitched ringing in her left ear. Marty indicated that the woman, who he then realized was named “Sarah”, was standing in front of Mary. She was “googly-eyed” and crazy, and probably killed the doctor in one of the offices. Marty appeared to be anxious at this point, and began moving around the room as he spoke.
No activity was noted. At 2:30 am Noah radioed the other group and the investigation was wrapped up.
Orchestra Pit – 1:37 am
Group 2 – While situated inside the Orchestra Pit, the group sat in five minutes of silence to observe the normal noises of the space. During the EVP session, at 2:01 am Eric and Karen heard a noise near Karen – he thought it was her at first but she didn’t move (SEE EVIDENCE).
No other activities occurred at this time.
They then headed back up to the theater at 2:07 am. Karen, Gravy and Eric decided to try to do improvisation skit on the stage to see once again if they could get a reaction. No activities occurred, and the group then decided to spread out throughout the main seating area of the theater at 2:18 am.
The group conducted an EVP session, but nothing occurred during that time. Noah radioed the group at 2:30 am and stated it was time to pack up before their cars would be ticketed.
END TIME: 2:30 am
The group then gathered all of their equipment, and headed out at around 2:45 am
Evidence
Basement – 11:33 pm
A audible woman’s voice is captured while two investigators discuss movement
Orchestra Pit – 1:53 am
Movement heard in proximity to another investigator
Theater – 2:12 am
A faint female voice is caught between investigators speaking
Sound Room – 9:21 pm
A faint whisper can be heard just before an investigator begins speaking
Stage – 2:12 am
A voice can be heard between investigators speaking
Conclusion
This was to be the final investigation for PIM at the Paradise Theater since the owner was finalizing a sale of the building later in June. PIM was further saddened by this because of the great audio evidence that was captured during this investigation. For PIM, this was a normal investigation with no abnormal occurrences that were detected. However, upon evidence review, PIM found several EVP’s that were quite striking. It is quite evident that the Paradise Theater has activity. PIM would like to thank the owner for allowing us to investigate the theater so many times, and allowing us one last investigation.
