Hi everyone and Happy New Year! Here is our latest EVP video, voices captured in our home part 2.  In the summer we hope to hit the road and visit more haunted locations.  We will keep you posted.  Enjoy, stay safe! ely and dona
 

 After our road trip and exploration of Alcatraz, we drove to the eastern side of CA to experience the ghost town of Bodie, turned state park.  Bodie State Historic Park is a gold-mining ghost town that once had a population of nearly 10,000 people.  

Bodie's story began in 1859, after the Gold Rush period in California.  4 prospectors struck gold in this small valley 75 miles from Lake Tahoe.  Soon a mining outpost popped up in search of more gold.  The town was hit with a blizzard which killed one of the prospectors by the name of W.S. Bodie.  Thus, the towns name.  Companies excited by the possibility of a rich mine, began buying claims at Bodie, developing multiple mines and two stamp mills.  However, the gold rush ran dry and by 1868 Bodie was mostly abandoned.  Yet, a small group of prospectors and miners held out hope for finding more gold.  For seven years they dug mines, tunnels and shafts to strike more gold. 

In 1875, a mine known as the Bunker Hill, caved in.  Which could have meant the end of Bodie,  however, the collapse revealed a huge body of gold.  Bodie was back and folks started pouring into Bodie.  The gold mine was so rich that a group of capitalists formed a company, the Standard Company, in Bodie and bought the entire claim.  The Standard Company ended up benefiting from the purchase of the mine to the tune of $784,523 in 1877.  That is roughly equal to over $17.5 million today.  

Folks from all over came to Bodie, in spite of its isolated position.  More wealthy companies invested in Bodie, hopeful it would become a wealthy town like New York and San Francisco.  By the end of 1878, 22 mines were dug in hopes for a huge payout.  The population grew quickly with those wanting a piece of the golden pie.  This crazed greed brought with it violence and Bodie soon fell victim to becoming yet another violent wild west town.

Over the next couple of years the gold in Bodie began drying up.  Residents were not able to keep mining in a mine without gold.  Mines were being abandoned and by 1881 people began leaving Bodie.  The population dwindled and over the course of the year the population dropped to some 800 residents.  Some hard worker hopefuls continued digging mines, finding small amounts of gold, but not enough to sustain a town.  In the 1900's new technology was brought in to Bodie in hopes of once again finding a motherload.  Determined miners and the original investor, the Standard Company, kept trying but by WWII Bodie was abandoned.  The remaining residents left whatever they could not carry behind.  Homes were left with furnishings and the general store and bars were left stocked.  Bodie was left to sit abandoned, as if time stopped.  In 1962, Bodie became a National Historic Site and a State Historic Park to be preserved and protected.   

Today, visitors can tour what is left of the well preserved town.  The structures are off limits to walk through, but you can look in windows and walk the streets of all but a small percentage of what is left of Bodie.  National Park tours are available to share the history of Bodie and even have a ghost story or two, as a few rangers live in a few of the original houses.  

We arrived in Bodie in the morning, as even in the spring the temperatures were hot.  Our first impression was just how isolated this town was/is.  In the middle of nowhere does not express the location.  We took to taking video and photos.  I had a ghost box in my pocket and ear buds, as I hoped to hear and/or communicate with a spirit or two.  It was quiet though.  Almost as if the ghosts of Bodie were in hiding as visitors flocked to their town, looking into their windows.  The only thing I managed to capture was a light anomaly in one of buildings.  The cemetery on the hill was an eerie sight. 

Bodie is not a very "spooky" place during the day.  I have no doubt that at night, when the tourists are gone and the wind blows through the decaying structures that spirits roam.  I for one would love to stay there for a few days to experience Bodie at night.  Even though we did not experience much in the way of ghosts we still give it a ghost rating of three ghosts.  

                                                 

Light anomaly in upper left corner of above photo.  It is not in the second photo.  Spirit trying to hide perhaps.

Firehouse

Church

Undertaker

School House

  

Greetings to all! We are finally able to travel and investigate a bit more seriously and recently headed to California to ghost hunt.  Our first stop was Alcatraz Island in San Francisco.  Alcatraz was once a military fort, but later was used as a maximum-security federal prison that housed Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly to name a few.  It has been investigated by paranormal teams for years and seems to house many spirits within its walls.  Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to do an official "ghost hunt", however I ran my ghost box and heard someone say "YO" really loud in my ear.  We also captures an EVP on our video's audio of a male voice but can't make out what he says.  We did not capture any other paranormal evidence.  Which, did not surprise us given the amount of visitors descending upon the island.

There were restrictions due to Covid 19, but we did get to see most of the island and enjoyed the boat ride across SF Bay.  If you are interested in visiting Alcatraz or its history try this link:  Alcatraz Island Tickets | Tickets for Visiting Alcatraz Island – AlcatrazIslandTickets.com

Ciao fellow paranormal and travel enthusiasts! We are in the process of planning a road trip to explore a few ghost towns and haunted places in California and Nevada.  So, be on the look out for that.  

For now, we wanted to post some EVP's (electronic voice phenomenon) inside our home.  It goes to show you that there is energy around us constantly.  A place does not have to be haunted in order to have spirit energy about.  

 

Hi everyone! We wanted to post this cool and unexpected video capture.  Dona was in her painting PJ's creating yet another beautiful work of desert art and this spirit light came by for a visit.  D recently lost her auntie and we were talking about her.  We think she came to say "hi."  The interesting part of the video (which I put in slow motion so the orb can be seen more easily) is that when it passes over the computer it seems to gather more energy, gets bigger and pulsates with light.  It came in front of me and darted off.  Amazing!
 

Gone for so long

Hello everyone old and new...we have been gone for so long now and due to COVID longer still.  It has been a rough year for everyone around the world, so much loss and uncertainty.  If you have endured loss, please know our sympathies are with you.  We, as everyone else around the globe has had to navigate this heavy time of isolation.  We hold on to the hope that in time we will all find a new normal and once again be able to gather with loved ones and travel once again.

We have not given up on our tramping around the world, exploring histories and sharing our adventures.  As soon as we are more free to travel we hope to include visiting haunts in Canada and Europe.  We also hope to create a YouTube and Facebook site to share our historical and paranormal finds.  

We are taking this time of restriction to acquire new equipment and scope out interesting historical and haunted locations.  We posted some pictures of an adventure "BC" before COVID.  Locations included:  The Thing, Roswell, Monument Valley.  

We hope you will join us in the near future! Stay tuned! Stay safe and stay healthy.  We will get through this together.

Many thanks for your interest,

E and D

Hi, Ciao, Bonjour, Holla.....

our apologies for being away from our blog for a couple of weeks....too much heat and then monsoon storms making travels a challenge.

However, we took a day trip to the Sedona, Arizona area this week and wanted to share our adventures.  Enjoy!

On I-17 North, as you head from Phoenix to Flagstaff there are signs that say Montezuma's Castle. We decided to check it out.  On the way........we had to stop and sample Native Frybread!

Montezuma Castle National Monument is a protected, preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling near the town of Camp Verde, Arizona.  The dwellings were built and used by the Sinagua people, a pre-Columbian culture between 1100 and 1425 AD.  The name however has nothing to do with Aztec emperor Montezuma.  It was a mistaken belief that he had been connected to its construction.  However, the dwelling was built 40 years before he was born.  It is not a "castle" either.  It is more like a high rise apartment complex.

The main structure comprises five stories and twenty rooms, at 4,000 sq. feet.  It was built over the course of three centuries.  The walls are examples of early stone and mortar masonry, constructed almost entirely from chunks of limestone found at the base of the cliff, as well as mud and clay from the creek bottom.  The ceilings incorporate sectioned timbers as roof thatching, primarily from the Arizona sycamore tree, a large hardwood tree native to the Verde Valley.  

You can't get close to it, as it is far above the ground and strictly protected.  The dwelling is situated 90 feet or 27. 43 meters up a sheer limestone cliff.  The dwelling faces Beaver Creek which drains into the Verde River.  It is one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America.  During its use the dwelling was accessible via portable,wooden ladders, which made it difficult for enemy tribes to penetrate the natural defense of the vertical barrier. The high location also kept the dwelling safe from floods in the floodplain.There are ruins closer that you can view and appreciate as well. 

We found the area to be awe inspiring more than haunting.  Although a night in the castle itself would more than likely shift that...lol.  A powerful place and a testament to brilliance of the early peoples of this area.

We headed back on I-17 North towards the Sedona exit via I-179.  It you turn left here you will drive up the small highway into Oak Creek Canyon and on to Sedona.  If you turn right you will find yourself in front of a dirt road road with a sign that says, "Montezuma's Well" (again no connection to Montezuma).  It is considered a "detached" unit of Montezuma Castle and built by the same people.  

Of course we had to investigate and we are glad we did!

This strange place is not a well known location, and takes a rocky drive to get to...but it is free and simply amazingly beautiful.  The "well" is a natural limestone sinkhole through which some 1,500,000 US gallons or 5,700,000 Liters of water emerge each day from an underground spring.  The Well measures 386 feet (118 m) in diameter from rim to rim and contains a near-constant volume of spring water, even in times of drought.  The water is highly carbonated and contains high levels of arsenic.  No fish live in the well.  At least five endemic species are found in the Well:  a diatom, aspringtail, a water scorpion, an amphipod and leeches....many leeches, as well as Montezuma Well spring snail.

The Sinagua people and possibly earlier cultures, intensively farmed the land surrounding the Well using its constant outflow as a reliable source of irrigation.

You can hike down to the bottom and the source spring of the well.  There are dwellings at the top, above the well and at the bottom.

And as usual....snakes.

The source spring at the bottom

We found the area near the spring to be very charged with spirit energy.  In fact, two of our cameras went dead at the bottom after these photos were taken.  Once we hiked up to the other side they worked.  Strange.  

On the other side of the well are trails and ruins of several prehistoric dwellings scattered in and around the rim of the Well.  It is believed that they belonged to several indigenous American cultures that are believed to have occupied the Verde Valley between 700 and 1425 CE, the foremost of which being a cultural group termed the Southern Sinagua.  At the entrance of the Well there is a place you can stop and view a "pithouse" ruin.  It is possibly the earliest ruin, and dates to 1050 CE.  There are more than 50 countable rooms inside the park boundaries.

All in all this visit was by far they most amazing to us.  The Well is a strange oasis, surrounded by history and ancient energy.  

We give Montezuma's Well a ghost rating based on energy feel and our cameras shutting off at the same time.

After our Well visit we headed up a connecting road to the V Bar V Heritage Site and the largest "rock art" site in the Red Rock Country.  It is a part of larger Beaver Creek area and the rock art style of the Sinagua culture.  The site consists of more than 1,000 petroglyphs diveded on 13 panels.  It was once part of the V bar V ranch established in 1907, which gave it its name and was bought by the Coconino National Forest in 1994.  Ranchers did their best to preserve the site from destruction, which is the main reason why the drawings are so well preserved.

Part of the original Ranch

There is a visitor center with a small bookstore and restroom.  There is a small fee to view the site.

Once in, a gentle half-mile walk under old trees will lead you to the fenced site where a tour guide will give you information about the rock art and the early people of the area.  Volunteers from the Verde Valley Archaeological Society and the Friends of the Forest provide interpretive tours and on-site management.

About 20% of the petroglyphs are zoomorphs, including snakes, turtles, coyotes, deer and antelope.  

The most common types are anthropomorphs and geometric figures, such as spirals and grids.

V Bar V is unusual in that all of the petroglyphs are of this one style, and almost all were well-spaced without overlap or newer designs drawn over older.

Red Rock Country is rich with historic sites scattered around the area.  From Paleo-Indian culture to the Pueblo, all of the people living here in the past left some part of their lives, be it cliff dwellings, petroglyphs or tools they used, the land is alive with history.