"What an exciting evening! Thanks to Project Paranormal and their wonderful team for providing our guests with an evening they will remember for a long time to come! I want to thank them for their professionalism and a well-planned agenda for the evening. Johnathan C. Brown I am impressed with how you scheduled the evening. Everything ran smoothly! Brian Hensley it was wonderful to see you again. A special thank you to mediums CJ Reeves and Shelly Moore. Also thanks to the other teams who joined Project Paranormal last evening to ensure a successful event. It was refreshing to watch the teamwork and respect you shared with one another."
- Jo Ann Brown, Victoria Theater (via Facebook)
"Well it was a great investigation at the Dayton Victoria Theatre last night 2-2-13. The public/guests were very interactive and stayed with us until 3am. We will be posting the results on a seperate webpage for this event. The evidence will be broken down by teams. It's gonna be interesting to say the least. Our P.A.N. members working the event captured some really cool evidence. Always a great place to experience the paranormal. Please stay tuned for a chance to get in on some of these type of events. We love to share our experiences with people and get them involved in their own. It's life changing and brings you one step closer to your own spiritual journey."
-Dave Jones, PPI
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This past Saturday, February 2nd, 2013, our group helped host an exciting event at the beautiful and historic Victoria Theatre in Dayton, Ohio.
Our members (John, Jamie, Ericka, Connie, Taryn, Betsy, myself, & Dave); P.A.N. (Paranormal Alliance Network) members Lori, Robert, and Ralph from Shadow Hunters Paranormal, & Marcia Treadway and her friend, Anna Ray, from NightShade Paranormal Investigations of Bellbrook, Ohio; along with guests Brian & Tracy Hensley, and medium CJ Reeves, were all in attendance.
We had around 24 guests, which had been a part of a fundraising event held at the Victoria Theatre, who joined us that evening for our investigation.
Our group has investigated the Victoria 25+ times, and each investigation reveals new and exciting events and possible evidence, so we were thrilled to bring in some 'newbies' to experience all the Victoria has to offer... and as usual, she didn't disappoint!
We started off the evening by taking a quick walk-through of the buildings (we also were granted access to the Metropolitan Arts Center a.k.a. the "MAC" building, which included an area which has never been investigated prior to this event - The Loft Theatre in the MAC building - very exciting for PPI!).
Here are some pictures from the pre-event walk-through...
(*Please Note: You can click on any picture to view it larger.)
(*Please Note: You can click on any picture to view it larger.)
Above & Below: Our team members and Shadow Hunters Paranormal team members on stage, setting up and getting ready.
Above: John in front of the ramp entry to the infamous orchestra pit. See our previous investigation blog for info regarding why the orchestra pit is to 'infamous'.... click here.
Above: CJ Reeves, Marcia Treadway, and John brown in the "Puzzle Room" in the basement of the Victoria.
Above: Shelly Moore (myself), CJ Reeves, and (I forget his name - I'm so sorry! I emailed Jo Ann - so waiting to hear back, then I'll replace this with his name!) of the Victoria Theatre, (who was extremely helpful and accommodating - thank you!) in the "Puzzle Room" in the basement of the Victoria.
Above: John Brown in the room our group had yet to investigate, or even set foot in for that matter - The Loft Theatre in the MAC building. And boy-oh-boy, The Loft Theatre didn't let us down! We had multiple experiences while investigating in this area that night. Three separate teams heard male voices coming from the theater so distinct, I swear - personally - I would testify in front of a judge and jury that I thought, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that there was another team sitting in that theater speaking to one another as CJ and myself walked outside the theater area.
We walked into that theater fully expecting to see another team, but boy were we surprised when we realized it was completely vacant!
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After our pre-event walk-through, Johnathan Brown started off the event by introducing us all to the guests, and letting them know a little bit about the role each of us play in each of our groups, respectively. We told the guests this is their investigation, and we are here to lend a hand and help guide them along as they learn how to be paranormal investigators. We provided a few of the guests with our own equipment to use for the evening, and we then broke into teams of four; with 2-3 of our own group or P.A.N. members heading each group. The Medium/Empath team, CJ Reeves and Shelly Moore (myself) were floaters, and we were to roam the building throughout the evening, and teams could walkie us if at any time during the night they felt they needed a Medium's assistance. (... And boy-oh-boy did we get our exercise that night!)
Each team was color-coded, and provided with their team's color glow bracelets to wear throughout the night... as beautifully modeled by our group members, Jamie Wilson. (Yes, they were bracelets, but Jamie had a better idea... Haha!)
The astoundingly beautiful Victoria Theatre consists of five floors and a basement, and of course we had the MAC building and Loft Theatre to investigate, as well. Our teams had their work cut out for them! We split the buildings into sections, and each team was given an hour to investigate each section as they saw fit. We'd then meet back at the 'house' (which we designated as the lobby/theater itself) for a quick 15 minute break, in which we'd use to talk about experiences, ask questions, etc. After the break, we'd head back to our next designated section, so on and so forth. The investigation lasted until about 3 am.
Here are some pictures from throughout the night.... Enjoy!
Above: A few guests investigating the "Puzzle Room" in the basement of the Victoria.
Above: John helping a guest with his equipment in the basement of the Victoria, in a very well-known (by our investigators and Victoria staff members) room where some risky-business had taken place decades ago.
Above: A guest investigating the "Puzzle Room" in the basement of the Victoria.
Above: A storage room that the Medium/Empath team, CJ Reeves and myself, had never been in before. I walked into the room first, and felt an instant heaviness - like I had elephant legs, and had suddenly put on another hundred pounds. I felt a heaviness in my chest, and felt 'unwanted'.. as if we were trespassing in someone else's area. I then asked CJ to step into the room and see what she could pick up, and she instantly noted the heaviness, saying it felt "hard to breathe." She went on to say there were people hiding in this room, as well. (Spirit energy.)
Above: Medium CJ Reeves "reading" an area of the basement of the Victoria for guests.
Above: "Nelson's Area." An area where a respected employee of the Victoria worked for many years before passing. PPI believes we may have spoken with Nelson not just on this investigation, but during previous investigations as well.
***Picture above: Possible Evidence***
We were conducting an EVP session in "Josephine's Room." I was speaking directly to Josephine's spirit, telling her how much I'd absolutely love to see her dance. We played instrumental music for her, and I told our that I would like to take a picture of her dancing, if she's okay with that. I snapped several pictures prior to saying this (some above), but this is the picture I took after saying that. I'm not a big believer in orb photos, to be frank with you - I believe 99.99% of them can be dismissed as dust particles, snow flakes, rain drops, condensation in the air, etc... but I have taken about a half-dozen over the life of my career as a paranormal investigator that I was unable to 'debunk' as being anything explainable. This may be one of them to add to the half-dozen. I saw this with my naked eye as well as I was taking the photo, but no other person in the room saw it. You can believe what you want to believe, I'm not here to make anyone a believer, but I will tell you from an Empathic stand-point, I firmly believe that Miss Josephine herself, a much respected and beloved dance instructor at the Victoria, was dancing for us that night, and afforded me the absolute privilege of being able to take a photo of her energy as it performed in her old studio.
Thank you Josephine.
Above: A few guest investigators in the Victoria. The stuffed monkey isn't being held for security purposes! (Although he is certainly cute enough to cuddle...) Believe it or not, he is a very important piece of electronic investigative equipment which belongs to Shadow Hunters Paranormal.
Above: Lori & Ralph of Shadow Hunters Paranormal on the 2nd floor of the Victoria, outside of the balcony area.
Above: Robert of Shadow Hunters Paranormal on the 2nd floor of the Victoria, outside of the balcony area.
Above: Jamie taking a video in the basement of the Victoria. (And Brian on the left.)
Above: Dave, CJ, and some guests conducting a spirit box session in the basement of the Victoria. (Again, the Mystery Machine isn't just a toy - it's an important piece of electronic equipment!)
The group had several personal experiences, way too many to count and keep track of here on this blog, but here are a few:
- One guest claims to have been repeatedly touched on the arm in Josephine's Room. When CJ Reeves (medium) entered the same room, she felt as if someone was holding her hand and squeezing so hard it was going numb.
- Another guest claims to have had their arm touched as well later in the night in the same room.
- John Brown claims that when he went to The Loft Theatre floor to catch up with his group after having left them for a short bit, he distinctly heard a male voice coming from the theater as he exited the elevator. When he entered the theater, it was completely vacant. In fact, he was the only person on that floor at all.
- Later that same evening, (before hearing John's account of what happened in The Loft Theatre), CJ Reeves and myself had decided to do a walk-through on our own of that area/floor. We exited the elevator, and started towards the theater. As we approached, we very clearly heard two to three male voices talking (somewhat loudly) in the theater. We commented to each other that one of the groups must still be in there (we assumed Brian & Tracy's group were in there at the time), so we proceeded into the theater to join them - only to find the theater, yet again, completely vacant. Yet again, there wasn't a single other living soul on that floor, other than CJ and myself... and like I stated above, I would testify in front of a judge and jury that I thought Brian & Tracy's group were in there talking with one another.
- Brian caught an amazing "Class A" EVP while investigating the "Muppet Box" in the Victoria Theatre. Here is Brian's account of the events that played out in the Muppet Box that evening: "While we were up there Tracy and one of the guests named Charity (she goes by Keke) were sitting up in the box. They began to feel cold and uneasy. The closer they sat together they say together the more intense the feeling became. I began to tell them about the lady that was assaulted in that area. Tracy and Keke began to try to make contact directly with the lady and figure out what happened. Tracy asked the question, "Do you know who hurt you?" and immediately following the question you hear, "Yes... I did."
- Marcia Treadway from NightShade Paranormal Investigations of Bellbrook, Ohio, says this: "Walking into the Victoria Theatre brought back memories of riding the trolley bus down Main Street with my grandmother to the Victory Theatre (what the building used to be called) to watch Mary Poppins on the big screen. I saw in my minds eye of a time gone by when everybody dressed up to go to the movies.
We entered the building through the door on stage left and while the stage was empty, I could feel the energy of the chaotic hustle and bustle of stage hands and actors preparing to entertain.
I also felt relief that this building, that opened for its first performance as an Opera House in 1866, was able to survive two tragic fires and the flood of 1913. The basic structure of the building is soft brick and limestone.
We divided into teams and the Blue team used digital recorders, digital cameras, a Mel meter, a KII meter, an infrared camcorder and a full spectrum camcorder.
Our first stop was the ballet room, also known as Josephine’s room. This room was named after Josephine Schwarz who founded the Dayton Ballet. She and her sister, Hermene, opened the Schwarz School of Dance in 1927.
Josephine, known as Miss Jo, studied ballet in Chicago and New York. While performing in New York she sustained an injury that forced her to return to Dayton where she continued to teach the art of dance.
After a lifelong career in dance, she retired from the Dayton Ballet in 1990 and moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1994 where she passed away at the age of 95 in 2004. It is said Miss Jo’s spirit lives on in the Victoria Theater.
As the Blue team entered the large room, with hand rails around the whole room and a wall of mirrors, another memory flashed back to my childhood when, I too, was a ballet student. I attended the Carol Jean Dance Academy that was located on North Main Street. My mother wanted me, her only daughter, to become a prima ballerina. I knew she wore rose-colored glasses because I was short and had flat feet, but she was fulfilling her dream through me. I remembered the fateful day in that exact room when my mother decided I was going to try out for the Dayton Ballet. She had read the notice of the tryouts in the newspaper. Women study for years before they try out and I, just a kid, had a total of a couple of hours to prepare. No need to tell you that I was the black sheep in that tryout. In fact, my ballet teacher was in the tryouts!
I decided to keep that my little secret as I believe Josephine was running the tryouts and I remember her strictly calling out dance moves that I never even heard of!
A young woman on the blue team fit the description of a tall and slender ballerina. She began doing ballet steps in the room and it wasn’t long until we began picking up what looks like a mist in pictures and on full spectrum video. We are still reviewing the data.
As the teams switched investigation venues, when the blue team entered the Loft Theatre, which was the first time being open for public investigation, it felt like we were being watched. I took many photos through the camcorder in infrared mode and I believe we caught some kind of apparition. Again, we are still reviewing the evidence.
I never felt threatened throughout the night. I didn’t feel anything benevolent. While I do believe we were not alone in the Victoria Theater, I had a wonderful time teaching some of the people investigation techniques and how to use some of the equipment."
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A big thank you to all who joined us that evening. We had a ton of fun, put some miles on our shoes, had too many personal experiences to count, met some incredible people, and had an all-around fantastic night!
We will all be going over our audio, video, and photographic files this week (remember, we have day jobs we have to work around, too!), so stay tuned for more possible evidence!
*A note to all of our wonderful guests that joined us that evening -
If you have any photos you'd like to share on the blog, I'd love to put together another blog specifically for anything taken by the guests! Just email them to me at:
Thank you, everyone!
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***Click here to view our prior investigation of the Victoria Theatre!***
***Click here to read about a recent residential investigation in Kettering, Ohio!***
