Experiences & Evidence so far

At this point, I have only done recreational investigations, where we don't have clients who are scared in their homes... so it's been just for fun... until this upcoming weekend (my first client case).

Before it gets too far behind me, I just want to go over my personal experiences and evidence so far.

Preston Castle - Ione, CA

Preston Castle was SUCH an amazing building with an interesting history, in a town without much else going on.  It was a very cool place to be able to experience my first investigation.  I was there from 8pm-4am, and was so tired by the end, but very happy too.
Despite the fact that the building has holes in the walls and windows, holes through some parts of the floor, peeling paint, crumbling plaster, no electricity or lighting (or heat... COLD night), it never felt uncomfortable or threatening.

When in operation (1894-1960), "wards" (not called inmates) were 12-24 year old boys who would now go to a juvenile hall.  Back then, before the castle was built, the kids were being sent to Folsom Prison and San Quentin State Prison.... so it was a good thing that these kids had a less threatening place to go, once it was built.  Throughout the years of operation, a typical number of deaths occured on site, due to regular illnesses and injuries.  One or two due to gunshots obtained while trying to escape.  And in 1950, the head housekeeper Anna Corbin was beaten to death by a ward.  Despite a popular rumor, her killer was found, convicted, and sent to prison elsewhere.
For more history and pictures: http://www.prestoncastle.com/

One of my favorite places in the castle was "company b" room, a large dorm room for the wards.  While in here, we did receive a strong knock on the wall in response to talking about football.  I saw several shadows and movement that did not make sense based on the humans in the room and sources of light, but I have nothing to document this, so it's just a personal experience.

On the third floor in an old staff apartment, I witnessed something blocking out light coming through a hole in the wall.  No humans were in the area, and we were on the third floor, so it wasn't coming from outside, but again, this is just a personal experience.  We did, however, get some good response when asking the entity or entities to change the temperature.  It began to change rather quickly, and as we all watched the digits move on the thermometer we had, we heard a loud, distinct heavy breath.... the type you might hear when you are breathing out to purposely see your breath fog up when it is cold.  We did get a recording of this, and here it is:
(if you want to hear ANY of these EVPs properly, you will need a set of headphones, or at least some great speakers)

While still on the third floor, but in another room, I was asking for somebody to please knock, as a form of communication.  I got a clear, vulgar response, below.  

Let me clarify something first:  An EVP is an electronic voice phenomenon.... it is something you don't hear with your ears at the time it occurs (because it is theorized that spirits/ghosts/entities do not make sound waves, but communicate through electromagnetic fields, which CAN be picked up by digital recorders).  SO, I did not hear this when it happened:

Did you hear that?  I have had several people, including experienced EVP analysts, listen to it, and we all hear "F--- you"

Friendly guys there, don't ya think?

There were several other possible EVPs, but since there were about 15 people in the building, I don't really count on many of them being true and accurate.

I had my hair pulled while in Preston Castle (which I had been inviting them to do as a form of communication), and immediately stayed where I was and had someone else check all around and above me to make sure my hair hadn't just been caught on something that was moving. I was 2-3 feet from any walls, standing still, with nothing hanging anywhere near me.  Again, just a personal experience.   And there were footsteps in a debris-filled hallway that I could clearly see, and there were no humans causing the sounds - another personal experience since I don't have video to capture that.

All in all, Preston Castle was an awesome first exposure to paranormal investigations!

Historic Cary House Hotel- Placerville, CA - http://www.caryhouse.com/

The Cary House was interesting... I only investigated for a few hours at this location because it is still a hotel in operation, so we had to be quiet for the paying guests, and stop investigating altogether at 2am.  There was considerable shadow movement in some of the rooms were we did some EVP sessions, but that, AGAIN, is just a personal experience.  I did, apparently, make friends with one entity who was polite enough to say "hello":

And at another point, we were talking as if we were communicating with someone who might have worked there, since that is one theory on who, if anything, is 'hanging around" there at the Cary House, so we asked them if they worked there, and there is a quiet but distinct "yes":

And that's about it for the Cary House... nothing earth-shattering there.

I have my first out-of-town and overnight client case near Clear Lake this weekend, so that should be interesting.  I may or may not be able to share about that one, since it is for a client.  So stay tuned!  Thanks for reading!