Then...
Now...
I still have to go over my audio evidence, but here are the pics I took. I wish I would have thought to bust out my cell phone earlier in the night - my regular camera stopped working while we were at the Theater (oddly...) and I didn't even think about using my cell camera until later on.
So I'll kind of walk you through them...
These first ones were taken in what I'll call "Josephine's Room"... upstairs. A dance room that's said to be reportedly haunted by a woman named Josephine (I forget the last name) who was a much-beloved ballet instructor in the not-so-distant past. We did, in fact, catch numerous voices trying to communicate with us via the Spirit Box while in this room, but none stood out as being Josephine, herself...
There are a lot of photos of what seems to be the same shot... (welcome to the life of an investigator). It's best to take multiple photos of the exact same area within seconds of each other... that way if/when we do find something we label as possibly paranormal, we can look at the photos both before and after it to compare and/or see what may have caused the anomaly...
This next set of pictures was taken in the other dance room at the end of the hall... I'll call it the "Strict Room"... bc the vibe in this room was very much all-business-and-no-play (whereas Josephine's room had a very easygoing, fun, and even laid back feel to it).... I could also call this "Jon's Weiner Room"... (Hahaha!) because almost the moment we walked into this room, we caught a voice on the Spirit Box referring to Jon's weiner.... true story!
This next set is in my second favorite room of the massive building (my first being Josephine's Room), the "Puzzle Room." This was in the basement of the building. As you can see in the pictures, the limestone walls are original to the building (built in the 1800's, and survived through two fires and a flood)... and are decorated by 1,000+ piece puzzles that stagehands over the years would work on while they were twiddling-their-thumbs during shows and such in their down time. Very, very cool room (it was more of a hallway in my opinion).
And just for point-of-fact information, limestone is said to store massive amounts of energy... which I believe contributes greatly to the 'trapped' energy inside the Victoria Theater....
These next pics were taken a little further down the hall in the basement. The streaks of light you see are caused by the fluorescent lighting in the basement. Don't get too excited folks, nothing paranormal about the streaks. ;)
These doors (in the pic down below) lead to the Orchestra Pit... my absolute least favorite room in the entire building... or in all of Ohio for that matter.
Let me tell a brief story about what happened in the Orchestra Pit. We went down to the Orchestra Pit at about 3 am (give or take, I don't remember exactly). It was myself, Medium CJ Reeves (Cyndi), and Dave Jones. We had done a walk-through earlier in the night, during which I expressed my ill-ease to a few people I was standing near at the time. (I had actually said it felt like there was a man hiding in there, waiting and watching.)
As Dave, Cyndi, and myself entered the pit that second time later on that night, I told them both this was my "least favorite room" and I was absolutely not looking forward to going in there.
You have to understand that I have been investigating haunted locations for years now. I am a kid in a candy store at locations that would send even grown men running and screaming in the opposite direction. It takes a lot to scare me to the point of my knees shaking... but it happened in that Orchestra Pit that night.
The three of us set up our equipment, and Dave left to go use the restroom - leaving Cyndi and I in that room alone. The pit itself is about a 15' long room (from what I remember). You walk up about 3-4 steps onto this platform that is about 4 feet wide, fifteen or so feet long. There is a space between the edge of the platform and the wall where there's a drop off of a few feet (my guess - it was pitch black, mind you).
Before Dave left, I was already nervous. Whatever was in there wasn't good. Not necessarily evil, but definitely not good. The second Dave left the entire atmosphere in the room changed. I started fidgeting, pacing, and telling Cydi, the Medium, how much I disliked the room. I felt like a scaredy-cat, but I'm empathic - I know myself, my feelings, thoughts, and I know darn well when to trust my instincts. I kept feeling like my left elbow was being touched. I had my equipment bag slung over my left shoulder, and I felt like someone was fucking with my bag. My knees started to tremble. Meanwhile, Cyndi is trying to calm me down. She's telling me to take deep breaths, and I'm trying to listen obediently - if she's not scared, why the hell should I be? But I couldn't shake it. And then bam - it hits her like a mack truck. She says, "You know what? I think we should get out of here. I don't like whatever's in here." So we get up and start down the steps, and she actually asks me to wait for her, bc she felt like whatever it was was going to push her down the steps or off the platform.
We finally get out into the hall, and Dave comes walking down to meet us. My knees were shaking horribly, but I was trying with everything I had in me to keep my cool - this was my first time investigating with this group and quite frankly - I didn't want to look like a chicken!
It took awhile, I'd say at least a half hour, for me to fully shake it off. Later, we were discussing it with Dave. Cyndi told him, "I was trying to calm Shelly down, but then I realized - she's right... this thing does not want us in here. I absolutely felt like it wanted to knock me off that platform. It was like the second you [Dave] left that room, it thought, "Now you're mine " (referring to her and myself)... it wanted to hurt us. I could feel it."
Not only did I feel completely validated - but now I was a bit infuriated. Who/what the hell was this thing, and why did it want to hurt us?
So we get to this back entrance... which they use to load equipment into the pit with (it's a long downhill ramp, you can't really tell by the picture). Joanne (works for the Victoria Theater - she was amazing to work with) was with us at this point and had the master key. Cyndi was ready to confront this thing again and ask it what the hell it's problem was. So Dave walked up to the double doors and unlocked them, but they wouldn't budge. So then Joanne tried - no luck. Then Cyndi tried - no luck. She says it was like she could almost feel whatever it was on the opposite side of the door holding it shut.. preventing us from going in there.
Whatever/Whoever it was... I want to confront it. He had no right to petrify me the way he did. I can't wait for the opportunity to go back there and confront this bastard. Cyndi did mention sending in her guides with a net to drag his ethereal butt up to Heaven (where they can deal with him.. lmfao)... so I'll have to follow up with her and see what came of that....
But anywho - sorry, didn't get any pictures inside the orchestra pit (didn't think to grab my phone at that point), but I do have audio that I still need to review... so stay tuned.
(That's Cyndi off to the side in the purple.)
Another area in the basement...
Dave and I investigating the lobby...
Another area in the basement...
Dave and I investigating the men's room... we got a few voices on the Spirit Box...
At one point Dave says, "This is my friend Shelly. Say hi to Shelly!"
And you hear, "Hey Shelly!"
Incredible... haha... I have it on audio.... (I've heard my voice on EVP audio dozens of times, but I swear to you, it will never get old!)
Coat check... where a grumpy old man resides....
And lastly, a shot of the lobby from inside the men's bathroom.....
That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned for audio evidence.
<3
