Interview with Bruce Cline of the Little Egypt Ghost Society

June 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Bruce ClineBruce Cline is a paranormal investigator and ghost historian. He received B.S. and B.A. Degrees from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. Bruce has had a long time fascination with history, folklore and ghost stories. In 2007, he formed the Little Egypt Ghost Society. Since that time, other team members and he have traveled extensively throughout the Midwest in search of the history, mystery, and hauntings of interesting people, places, and things.

You have been interested in ghost stories and the unexplained since a young man, when you formed the Gaslight Ghoul Club in 1967. What was it like being interested in that subject at the time? What was your favorite ghost story as a child?

When I started the Gaslight Ghoul Club in 1967 my friends an I were all fans of the TV show Dark Shadows.  We would meet in my backyard treehouse and tell spooky stories.  Our favorite stories revolved around vampires, witches and werewolves.

You formed the Little Egypt Ghost Society in 2007. Why did you decide to form a group at that time, and do you believe the paranormal field has changed since then?

In 2007 I started the Little Egypt Ghost Society as a more “grown up” version of the Gaslight Ghoul Club.  We still liked telling spooky stories, but now, we also went out and investigated some of the stories that we head about.

What is the most haunted place in southern Illinois? Have you investigated it? And if so, have you ever had a paranormal encounter there?

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Sylvia Shults Takes Us Inside Fractured Spirits

April 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Fractured SpiritsSylvia Shults’ new book, Fractured Spirits: Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital was released this spring by Dark Continents Publishing. The asylum in Bartonville has long been an acknowledged hotspot of paranormal activity, due to what Shults calls “a perfect storm” of circumstances that can lead to supernatural occurrences. Fractured Spirits is a fascinating look at these ghosts. Join us for this Q&A with the author.

Peoria State Hospital is an abandoned asylum, right? So of course it’s got to be haunted…

Hey, hey, not so fast! The PSH is haunted, no doubt about it. You got that part right. But not for the reasons you might think. For one thing, the village of Bartonville, where the asylum was located, is in the center of a perfect storm for paranormal activity. Let’s take a look.

Way back in the early days of Illinois history, the land that’s now Bartonville used to be a Native American settlement. We’re not sure if there was an actual village there, or just a burying ground. But investigators have recorded the sounds of ghostly drumming, and what appears to be fragments of Native speech.

The geology of the hilltop where the asylum was built is set up for paranormal activity. There’s limestone all over the place. In fact, the Bowen Building (the old administration building and world-famous nurses’ college) was built out of limestone from the oldest quarry in the United States. The hilltop is also honeycombed with natural springs, and the ravines encircling the hilltop are sometimes filled with the rush of running water. To add to this powerful psychic attractant, the Illinois River runs just a few hundred yards away from the hilltop. It’s the longest river in the state, and the source of lots of history all on its own.

When the state closed the asylum in 1973, the buildings sat empty for a while, while the village of Bartonville tried to sell them. Not many businesses wanted to buy, because of the lingering stigma of mental illness. So the cottages were eventually bulldozed, and the rubble pushed into the ravines. There are still dishes and plates and all sorts of other rubbish down there to this day. That’s a big reason the spirits still hang out – all their stuff is still here.

So we’ve got a Native American presence, loads of limestone, artifacts, and running water all over the place, any one of which is a great conduit for spirit activity. But what makes the Peoria State Hospital so very haunted is this: a lot of people lived here, and died here. But! The asylum was one of the very best places for psychiatric care in the world for most of its history. This was not a place of fear and pain and abuse, like many asylums. Far from it.

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Interview with Linda Godfrey, Author of The Beast of Bray Road

March 11, 2013 By 1 Comment

lindamug87jpgLinda Godfrey is an author and investigator of the unknown and strange, and works from her home in southeastern Wisconsin. 20 years ago she broke the first news story of the Beast of Bray Road, giving it that now-familiar name. After 10 years as a reporter she began chronicling her research in books and websites. She’s been a guest on many national TV and radio shows such as Coast-To-Coast a.m., Monsterquest, Sean Hannity’s America, Inside Edition, America’s scariest places and many more. Go to LindaGodfrey.com for a listing of books and more info.

After being a journalist for many years, how did you get involved in writing about werewolves and other fortean creatures.

Actually I started right at the beginning of my journalism career when I broke the story of The Beast of Bray Road in the newspaper’s December 29, 1991 edition. To my surprise, the story went national within a couple of weeks and people started coming to me with more sightings that I felt obligated to research and record. 20 years later, people are still sending me their witness reports and I have 15 published books, four of them on the topic of unknown upright canids along with another on werewolves (which I think are something different altogether).

When you first started writing about the Beast of Bray Road, did you ever imagine it would take you where you are today? Is there anything you would have done differently in terms of your writing career?

When I wrote that first article, I never dreamed that it would lead to any more articles, let alone national book publication. Even when I wrote the first book, I really believed that I had set everything down for posterity and that would be the end of it. Evidently, I am terribly un-prophetic. I’m not sure that there’s anything I would have done differently in my writing career because each book was written only as I had the research, information, and ability to do so. Things just unfolded rather organically, and my interest in the mystery has only grown over the years.

How convinced are you of the authenticity of these sightings? Do you believe there is actually a creature (or creatures) out there, or do you believe it is something else?

I do believe that the great majority of sightings are reported by very sincere and credible people relating what they believe they saw in the most accurate way they can. Of course, I’m aware that there are hoaxers and jokesters out there and I always address this in my books. 10 years as a reporter also gave me a somewhat suspicious nature and I do always try to verify things people tell me, when possible. I don’t claim to know what this upright, wolflike creature is but in over 90% of the eyewitness reports it behaves oddly but not supernaturally. Canines can walk and run on their hind legs, but they don’t usually do so unless they are strongly motivated or trained. Why so many wolflike creatures should be seen doing this is still the great mystery. A small percentage of sightings involve things like creatures suddenly disappearing or morphing and I think that these may be a separate phenomenon.

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Interview with Becky Guymon of IMPS

January 21, 2013 By 1 Comment

Becky Guymon, also known as Zitania, was born and raised in Central Illinois. She is a professional Genealogist and has been doing family history research for 20 years. After having her first paranormal experience at the age of 8, she has always been interested in the paranormal, and has been doing paranormal investigations for the last six years. Becky is currently working on her first book, which blends both the Genealogical, Historical, and Paranormal stories of Campground Cemetery in Mattoon. Becky is available to speak at events and can be contacted at becky.imps@gmail.com.

Tell our readers a little bit about your team and what your team’s approach is to paranormal investigation.

IMPS was formed by a group of close friends who had similar interests in the paranormal. While the group does do paranormal investigations, its main goal was to raise awareness of the paranormal and metaphysical fields (tarot, crystals, etc.) Our team is made up of “normal everyday” people ranging from business professionals to nurses and everything in between. Our team takes a very caring and concerned approach when it comes to our paranormal investigations. Our goal is to provide answers for our client and to put their mind at ease. We always try to find a logical explanation for experiences and leave our clients comforted in knowing that their home or business is safe and secure. Our team spends a lot of time researching the history of our locations. We have a strong Genealogy background and we use those skills in order to provide our client with a detailed history of the location.

Why did you decide to start the Illinois Metaphysical & Paranormal Society in 2008? Was it a particular event that got you involved in paranormal investigation, or had you thought about creating your own team for a while?

I have been interested in the paranormal and metaphysical fields since I was a young child. I had some experiences at a young age that lead me to be a believer in the paranormal and I have always wanted to learn more about the field. I met someone from the Chicago area who was a paranormal investigator and he became a good friend and mentor. I joined his team and drove to Chicago area for investigations a few times a year. However, the drive was a bit tedious so I began exploring the option of creating my own team in the Central Illinois area. As I started asking my peers I quickly found several people who were interested in forming the Illinois Metaphysical and Paranormal Society, and so it began.

Tell our readers a bit about the former Charleston Community Memorial Hospital. Why do you think it is haunted and what kind of things have people experienced there?

The former Charleston Community Memorial Hospital is a truly wonderful building. Four of our team members have worked, or currently work, at organizations that have offices inside the building. During my three years in the building I witnessed several strange occurrences as did my co-workers. The position that I had required that I spend a lot of afterhours time in the office. My co-worker and I often stayed until 7 or 8 in the evening and that is often when we would notice the strange events. Some of the events included lights turning on and off in the restrooms, restroom water turning on without anyone near it, stall doors opening and shutting.

On several occasions, workers in the building would report standing by the bulletin boards or water fountains and feeling like someone, a large man, was standing behind them. When they would turn around there was no one there. We named this spirit John. Although a psychic later told us that she believes the spirits name is David and that he used to work in the hospital. We have not been able to confirm this relation thru our research as of yet.

Other experiences in the building include objects being moved, knocking on walls, scratching sounds on doors, shadows, and voices.

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Interview with Steve Litteral, Executive Director of Tinker Swiss Cottage

November 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Steve Litteral is a native of Rockford, Illinois and he is currently the Executive Director of Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum. He spent two enlistments in the US Army as an airborne infantryman (paratrooper) until he started his academic career in 2000. Currently, Steve has earned an A.A., B.A. in history, and an M.A. in military history. Tinker Swiss Cottage was recently featured in an episode of the SyFy Channel show Ghost Hunters.

When (and why) did you first contact TAPS about coming to Tinker Swiss Cottage and what was their initial response?

I had called TAPS many years ago to get some advice, but I never thought we would be on their television program. Thanks to Michael Kravchuk (The Ghost Gadget Guy) who knew they were in the Chicago area, and he told them they should check out the museum while they were in the area. I soon received a call from the producer of ‘Ghost Hunters’ who asked if TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) could film an episode at the museum, and of course, I said, “yes.”

Tell our readers a little about what Tinker Cottage is and why it is a Rockford landmark.

The museum, which is actually a Victorian mansion, was built in 1865 by a gentleman named Robert H. Tinker. Robert was a former mayor of Rockford and he was also one of the founders of the Rockford Park District. The museum also contains all of the Tinker’s original artwork, furniture, journals, and books. It is not only important to local history, but Victorian American history as well since it is a time capsule to contemporary visitors. When you walk through the mansion, it looks like they just left for the afternoon. We also have a Native American burial mound near the mansion and the first buildings in Rockford were built on the site in 1834.

Have you or other staff members experienced anything unusual while working at the museum? What are some of the most “active” areas?

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