PI:Past & Present: Erin Mallette

Erin Mallette

Hailing from Hastings, Minnesota USA, today I speak with Erin Mallette, Director of Hastings Paranormal Team.

 Allen: "Erin, how did you become interested in the paranormal?"

Erin: “My farthest back memory of anything out of the ordinary was playing with "fairies" in my great grandmother's garden...since then I've been a fan of odd and gardening....”

Allen: Erin, have you had anything you would deem “paranormal”, or “supernatural” occur in your life?

Erin: “ Too many things to actually list...as a teen and young adult I let the 'fever' die back and shut things off...but when I took a job at an ice cream parlour here in town I heard a strange noise in the back room.  The kids who worked there as well as myself had

always had strange things going on during our shifts, but I went to check on it and found a man standing by our power boxes back there behind our trash can with his arms outstretched to me.  He didn't say anything and turned and walked right through the wall there...I proceeded to run towards the spot and feel the wall for any openings or whatever...  I had to go to our city hall and do some research and found that during the '50s the place was a diner owned by a couple.  The wife was a terrible flirt and cheat, the husband hanged himself in what was the kitchen area...the back room of the ice cream shop...I believe that's who I saw there.  Since then my curiosity is unquenchable!!"

Allen: “How has being a paranormal investigator changed your life? 

Erin “Becoming an investigator has been a mind opening experience...actually, I am a Christian and it has opened my faith and also tended to back up my learning experiences.  I'm not the sort to claim all paranormal is demonic either...just the sort to question the spiritual world as we're actually supposed to.  I don't know if ghosts exist....there are strange things out there though that some folks claim are ghosts.  I don't know what it is, but my mind races trying to figure it all out sometimes....which I may never do, but in the meantime, I'm busy, right...and that's a good thing!”


Erin loves to investigate private homes, It gives her a chance to interact and help someone in need, and possibly debunk something that may be causing fear to the members of the home, this, in turn, offers understanding through educating the client, and peace within their home.

Erin has also been privileged enough to investigate the Old South Pittsburg Hospital in Tennessee, considered one of the most

haunted places in Tennessee – Erin had this to say of the hospital

 “ It was amazing due to the amount of activity going on there on a daily basis.  We were 'locked in' for two days and nights and obtained numerous EVPS and actually caught some interesting things on the night vision cameras that were set up.“

   

Another place of great interest to Erin and the Hastings Paranormal team is Pachyderm Recording Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, USA. Erin and team investigated the studio a few years ago, but a change of ownership has blocked re-entry of the premises for now

Erin ”We investigated here a few years ago and have been wanting to go back since then, but it was up for sale and then sold and haven't worked things out with the new owner although he seems interested.  A recording studio whose property abuts what used to be the sanitarium for the area...not to mention the recording acts who have been there (Nirvana, Live...etc...) and the lifestyles of those who have stayed there have created some fascinating energy there.  We obtained a couple of the most interesting still shots I've ever taken there and numerous evps.  A very active location!”

Another great location, (sure to make some of our Australian readers jealous) is The Villisca Ax Murder House, in Villisca, Iowa, USA a very well known location after being exposed on international TV via the Travel Channels “Ghost Adventures” team. Erin's thoughts on the house? That it has been “over investigated”

I asked Erin if she had any interesting stories related to her investigations she could share with us all...
Erin: “ We were investigating at a cafe here in Hastings and another investigator and I were in the basement....we saw a thin outline of a man pass right between us followed by a large black shadow type of man(?)...then the very air in the room seemed to turn a deep red color.  We followed the shadow to various rooms in the basement where after a few minutes in each room we seemed to be led...the air took on the same deep red hue.  It did not show on our cameras or any other device that could have documented it however so even though it happened you'd have to take our word for it.”

Allen: “Has anything you cannot explain yourself, or that would deem “paranormal”, ever happened on an investigation that you have been involved with? 

Erin “ I wish I could share it all with you!!  On our recent excursion to Old South Pittsburg Hospital, however, we were just entering the building and coming down the hallway by the nurse's station when I saw a woman walk across the hall at the end...I thought there was maybe another team there or something but it was just the owners and who I saw was neither of them.  We did catch on a night vision camera something following us across the same hallway and a door opening completely by itself...possibly more as well as we haven't been through all of our audio/videos from this one yet.”

Allen: ”What is your best piece of evidence you have captured, and can you tell me about why it was a good capture?   

Erin: “ Something following us down a hallway as aforementioned....it is extremely rare to catch actual video evidence of anything at all.  Also, I have a favourite evp....it seems to predominantly be a woman's voice, but it also seems like a multitude that we obtained from a restaurant here in town that says,  "We're dead...what do you want with us here?"  This is good because they seem to realize their situation and are as curious about us as we are about them.”

Like most modern paranormal investigators, Erin is very much a fan of EVP work, and list her voice recorder as one of her favourite pieces of para-tech to use whilst investigating.

Hastings Paranormal Team runs Information Presentations at their local library, if you are in the local area and wish to attend, please follow the links to the teams' website at the bottom of the interview.
Erin has also appeared as a guest on “ The Secret Lives of Women: Women in the Paranormal” a reality television program that features on the WE (Women's Entertainment) Channel.

Erin has also been a guest on various local radio programs and on “Fringe Radio” as a guest of Annie Wilder

You can find Erin and Hastings Paranormal Team by following the links below:

   www.hastingsparanormalteam.com 

or 

https://www.facebook.com/HastingsParanormalTeam?ref=hl

Many thanks to Erin and the Hastings Paranormal Team for allowing me to interview you, I and my team wish you all the best with your investigations, It has truly been a pleasure interviewing you :) - Allen Tiller

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

All content on “Eidolon Paranormal & The Haunts of Adelaide” sites, blog and corresponding media pages (eg Facebook, twitter etc) is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means or process without the written permission of the author. © 2012, 2013

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Some photos used here on this site are sourced from The State Library of South Australia, and The National Library of Australia and http://www.gawler.nowandthen.net.au - all photos are out of copyright and have no usage restrictions implied.

P.I.: Past & Present: Tasmanian Paranormal Research and Investigations

Tasmanian Paranormal Research and Investigations

Today we meet Peter and Ryan from Tasmanian Paranormal Research and Investigation in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Peter is the lead investigator and founder of the team and Ryan acts as the team historian and researcher.

Both men have had experiences with paranormal phenomena which piqued their interest and led them to find each other and becoming teammates. Ryan, originally from Adelaide, had moved to Tasmania and found Peter through Victorian team Australian Paranormal Society's Facebook Page ( I profiled Bill Tabone from APS in an earlier blog)

Peter, who was born in Hobart, had always had an interest in the paranormal and read a lot of stories about ghosts through that interest, but it wasn't until he began watching UK television show Most Haunted that he decided he wanted to go out and seek answers for himself. Peter is still sceptical about what he has experienced, and what is going on out there, but tells me has seen things he cannot explain.

Ryan too has stories of unexplainable occurrences, that piques his interest in the paranormal even more “ I’ve had several paranormal experiences I can’t explain the first starting when I was about 9-10. I was at a camp with the football team I was a part of at the time and we went to an old castle located near Victor Harbour South Australia called Mount Brecken which is now an aged care facility as far as I know. I was one of the first people to enter the building and I swear I saw what looked to me to be a full body apparition of a nun or old woman in period clothing glide across the top storey of stairs from left to right although I never told anyone at the time what I saw."

Both men have had their eyes opened to a world most don't care to know exists, their studies and research have expanded their minds, led them to ask questions, seek answers and search deeper into the unknown

Being a really new team in the paranormal community the team hasn’t had too many investigations as of yet, but that doesn’t mean they haven't had quality investigations! They have been to the Hobart Penitentiary Chapel, a place that the team loves because of the history and the stories associated with it, this is also a place the team got “some cool orb movement”.

Peter also tells me the team had an experience at The Sandy Bay Battery where they saw a set of glowing green eyes in a place where no-one could explain how they got there, in the same area the team also experienced moving shadows in a tunnel and in Princess Park, Peter experienced his first cold spot, a sensation he cannot explain that also coincided with a camera malfunction

  The team is still collecting equipment and studying how to use it most effectively, they are making plans for many new investigations, and also making many new friends across the country and the world from which they can learn and share experiences.

We wish the team good luck on their future endeavours and look forward too seeing them progress through their journey of discovery.

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

All content on “Eidolon Paranormal & The Haunts of Adelaide” sites, blog and corresponding media pages (eg Facebook, twitter etc) is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means or process without the written permission of the author. © 2012, 2013

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Somphotos's used here on this site are sourced from The State Library of South Australia, and The National Library of Australia and http://www.gawler.nowandthen.net.au - all photos are out of copyright and have no usage restrictions implied.

P.I. : Past & Present: Dr William G Roll

Dr William Roll

William Roll was born 3rd of July 1926 in Bremen, Germany, where his Father was an American vice-Consul. His Mother was of Danish origins, and due to this, he attended Holte Gymnasium in Denmark. Later he received a BA from the University of Berkley, a B. Litt and M. Litt from Oxford University and a PhD from Lund University.

In his time William became a President of the Parapsychological Association and also a lifetime member.

Dr Roll had a lifelong infatuation with his work, in 1957, he moved to Durham in North Carolina USA to a position working at the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, under J.B Rhine, who is often referred to as the “Father of Modern Parapsychology”.

It was under Rhine that Dr Roll began his extensive research into poltergeist phenomena, which would soon become one of the most studied parapsychology subjects, and one in which Dr Roll contributed the most of his talent and work.

Between 1964 and 1985, Dr William Roll conducted countless experiments as the Director of the Psychical Research Foundation, testing numerous psychics and the effects of extra-sensory perception, it was also during this time he coined the phrase RSPK or, “Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis”

Some of my readers here may recognise Dr Roll from his appearances on Unsolved Mysteries and the Discovery Channel series “A Haunting”, he also appeared on various other TV documentaries and specials.

Dr William “Bill” Roll was truly dedicated to his research, and during his time he contributed over one hundred scientific papers, edited eleven volumes of “Research in Parapsychology”, contributed articles to anthologies and wrote four books:

1. The Poltergeist
2. Theory and Experiment in Psychical Research
3. Unleashed: Of Poltergeists and Murder: The Curious Story of Tina Resch
4. Psychic Connections (with Lois Duncan)

Dr Roll also received the Outstanding Career Award from the Parapsychological Association and in 2002 he received the Tim Dinsdale Memorial Award from the Society for Scientific Exploration. 

Dr William Roll died on the 9th of January 2012, he is survived by his wife Lydia, his daughter Lise and sons Leif and William G Role III, plus 7 grandchildren

Many in the parapsychology world speak positive things of Dr William G. Roll, he was known as a devoted and loving Father (and Grandfather) and a man who enjoyed the great outdoors, hiking, sailing and travelling the world.

Forever known as a lover of animals and to everyone who met him as a man full of warmth and kindness...may his work and memory live on...

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

PI - Past & Present - Gertrude Schmeidler

Gertrude Schmeidler

As a past President of Parapsychological Association in New York, USA, Gertrude Schmeidler has long been admired for her extensive career and balance with home life. A Professor Emerita of Psychology at City University New York, Gertrude is also a Mother and Grandmother

Gertrude started her career as an experimental psychologist with research into perception and memory, and in 1942, whilst working part-time at Harvard, Gertrude sat in on a seminar that completely changed her perspective and future.

Gardener Murphy was instructing on psychical research, and it was this seminar that changed the future for Gertrude, his explanations and recommendations for future readings would lead her on to a path of research, experiments and discovery.

Gertrude's experiments tried to address criticism that ESP is a fact without a theory, she divided her subjects into “Goats” (people who totally reject any type of ESP of being a possibility) and “Sheep” (people who had small to firm belief in the subject). She was able to ascertain that the “goats” would always have lower results in testing, as they chose not to believe that the test could work.

Through her work, and the rebuttal of criticism, Gertrude was able to establish 4 outcomes that rebutted criticism.

1.  – Different aspects of personality have differing results on personality, which as it turns out, is true also in psychological theory.
2.  – Telepathy can transmit information, but can also block information about ESP or block particular abilities.
3.  - Precognition is a reality, and people have a wide range of unexplored stimuli.
4.  – Psychokinesis is an effect that needs to balanced with physical changes elsewhere, in other words, we can influence things around us.

Gertrude did extensive experimentation with students on ESP and PK, some were financed by the company behind the invention of the Xerox machine, but, throughout all her experiments, she could never define one rigorous enough, but practical enough, to obtain the desired outcomes she hypothesised.
Often a lack of money into this area of research stalled her efforts as well.


Gertrude will always be remembered as a dedicated woman in this field, searching for answers to the unknown.

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au