U.S. Hotel II
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A New Perspective on an Old Friend
By Jon McClintock AMG Investigator |
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A long-anticipated visit by a leading figure in Pennsylvania (and national) paranormal research highlighted January 2002 for AMGhosthunters. Kelly and John Weaver of the Capital Ghost Forum visited with members and joined us for a haunted dinner and investigation at the U.S. Hotel on a Saturday night. John's background in the scientific tools of the trade and Kelly's documented prowess as a renowned psychic were welcome additions to a storied building we've snooped for more than a year. The Yoder Family, who have recently restored the bloom to this turn-of-the century rose, welcomed all with open arms on a busy night, and we endeavored to tiptoe into the restricted areas upstairs. (Kelly has been featured on MTV's Fear and with John co-hosts a weekly radio show Wednesday nights [8 p.m.] on http://www.pawebcast.com) |
In an effort to control as many variables as possible, the Hotel investigation was a one-off, invitation-only affair. But was well documented; three IR camcorders (digital and analog), countless audio microcassettes, EMF meters, digital still cameras (SONY PS-5 & Kodak), a motion detector and temperature probe helped create a log of an enventful night. AMG members remained studiously silent around Kelly about previous findings and anomalies. Only Kelly, investigators Jon McClintock and Ben Mazur, both also video documentary producer's from Digitize-Media, comprised the first touring group to investigate the paranormally-active 2nd and 3rd floors. (The first floor has a resident ghost or two. Nicknamed Sarah by the Yoders and waitresses, Sarah is apparently playful and benign and visits guests during meals as well as moving the odd item or two overnight. Kelly's long earrings fascinated Sarah). We set up base in a Parlor atop the steps from the second floor. Member Al Brindza, the most intuitive and sensitive AMG member, was awaiting this night for a year. While the rest of us measured activity and gathered EVP and visual anomalies, Al reported a half-dozen encounters resulting in physical and emotional symptoms. The AMG, to a person, knew Al experienced things others couldn't - but Al wanted and needed an iron-cinch validation. He paced the room as McClintock and Mazur trailed Kelly. 
A few words about Kelly and John) Weaver: They live in the suburban Harrisburg community of Camp Hill where Kelly has a full schedule of clients and engagements. Most want some form of psychic reading, and the ones that please her the most involve PETS. From a horse to a dog who commented on his master's flatulence, Kelly has reunited old friends with a variety of hooves and paws. She also does past-life regression work and is an expert on aromatherapy. Pay a visit to www.kellysmagicalgarden.com for more on Kelly. She carries herself with class and adapts well to the company and each circumstance. "Classy is a word that may make her blush, but it's true of her and John and they "fit" perfectly after only a few minutes. A detailed report on the investigation is elsewhere on the site. I was tasked with escorting Kelly down the labyrinth of halls and rooms that AMG members know by heart (and have labeled with pet names). Among the more significant observations (and validations of scientific/empirical evidence) was Kelly's immediate contact with a "greasy-haired, foul-smelling guy with rotten teeth," a man from another time who was rough and gruff and felt he controlled the (now) abandoned top floors. 
The man, whose name Kelly immediately felt was unusual and began with an "S", was angry at the intrusion. Perhaps the feeling justified. EVP collected in April, 2001 yielded one name: Spiro. The immensity of this validation cannot be overstated. AMG member's have woven several theories that involve violence about anomalous readings in certain rooms. Our pet name for an especially large orb is " Spiro-Class". That the dominant "personality" and one of the few non-residual hauntings at the U.S. Hotel was a stinky guy - possibly Spiro - has our head's shaking. Equally interesting was Kelly's description of the full-time resident. Many of us recall an October investigation that almost never got started, thanks to a stinky event. We arranged a pre-Halloween 2001 visit to accommodate a newspaper reporter. Al barely had time to make it in the door on October 14th, just as he set down his equipment he got up and nearly ran from the room and out of the Hotel. He reported later that "some guy" (who looked to Al as real as anything) ran to him menacingly and told him to leave. Kelly advised Al, just a month before, to use a "safety" ritual involving smudging with burning sage as a protection-with the belief Al was on a journey to becoming a psychic medium. After smudging, Al ventured upstairs and returned when he began to feel what he has since learned are symptoms of an active entity.
Until Kelly Visited photos by Jon McClintock © all rights reserved ***************************************************************************************************** |
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Some thoughts on a January 2002 visit to the U.S. hotel by psychic Kelly Weaver and husband John, from an AMG member who is on a first-name basis with the Hotel's entities. |
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by Al Brindza, AMG Investigator |
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I have investigated the U.S. Hotel in Hollidaysburg, Pa. since the fall of 2000. It's hard to think of a time of day or season that several of our paranormal investigators have not been at the historic site, including sunrise one Easter morning. Day and/or night, I've been part of teams in search of answers to the inexplicable activity that occurs in this place...answers that are just now being validated...while many more remain a mystery. This wonderful, old hotel building has a long (about 160 years) history, some which is literally missing from the public record. And so we wonder what really went on there, that it would produce so many restless souls? Before I get into why the AMG (and I, especially) wanted Kelly and John to visit this site, here's a little background on some of my personal experiences. It all started on fall night as another investigator and I entered a 2nd floor hallway and the temperature started dropping at an amazing rate. As we opened a nearby door (and tried to snap a picture), on the bed was an apparition of a young woman. She was perhaps in her late teens or early 20's and was holding her head in pain. My first thought was that she had to have been attacked with an axe, or similar object. The image lasted only a split second, mind you...and as all investigators experience occasionally, my camera failed to work. Later the same night I saw a shadow figure standing in the doorway of the same room. It appeared to be holding something with a long handle that I later reasoned was the weapon used on the woman. This shadow figure, we would learn in subsequent visits, would become an important character in our investigations. I cannot swear this is the same entity we had begun to call Spiro, a name taken from an EVP that I got on my audio recorder. We are just now beginning to call him Stinky Guy in light of Weaver's visit and another encounter I had. We do believe that this entity is the dominating spirit at this hotel...and one of the most active. There are apparently several other resident entities, one that the hotel staff call "Sarah." (I feel her name in life was Mary, based on an EVP I captured on the first floor, where she is usually found). Mary/Sarah is a friendly, harmless spirit who seems to remain on the first floor, which is an upscale restaurant and bar. Stinky Guy is bad news and mainly confines his escapades to the vacant second and third floors. I've learned a little more about our main male character at the hotel, getting bits and pieces of information about him and where he can be found. He has also figured out who I am. I suspect it was he who visited me at home for several weeks trying to intimidate me late at night while I slept. How have I "learned" about a vaporous entity? Well, first I have to say I've always seen things other people don't. It's happened my whole life - including the appearance in my yard a year ago of a spirit I believe to be a Scotsman, who warned me to be cautious of certain people and later this warning proved to be true. I'm learning to trust my instincts more and, in some cases, things I can smell, feel, hear and see. Still, it was more than my insight that gave Spiro or "Stinky Guy" a personality. Less intuitive investigators captured EMF changes and pictures of orbs where I sensed Spiro, and the team that regularly visits the Hotel with IR camcorders has literally chased orb activity from one room to another. Finally, in October 2001, we were conducting an investigation with a reporter doing a Halloween newspaper story - and right from the start Spiro was in my face. Later that night he let me know how vulnerable I was, right there in the room while surrounded by my friends and fellow investigators. Try and picture this: I was getting a drained feeling (my way of knowing an entity is at work) in front of everyone; this - thing - was right behind me with his hands around my neck, his face up against mine and whispering something. I could feel his beard stubble against my skin and he stunk so badly I could feel myself getting ready to barf. Imagine the smell of rotten meat as you open an unplugged refrigerator. Everyone could see I was looking bad, but no one had a clue as to what was going on. If I could have told them at the time, scared isn't the word for it! How could this be happening, this can't be for real? I managed to draw a sketch of the entity a little while later and showed it to Jon McClintock. We called him Stinky Guy, shook our head, and I put it away in my backpack. Kelly came to the Hotel three months later, totally unaware of the October event. As she began reading the place, Kelly gave members a description of a guy standing near her, and later I had a chance to compare notes. Imagine our surprise when learning that we both saw the same entity right - down to the stubble of whiskers! There was just one difference from my sketch; when he harassed me he was wearing a hat. Kelly also noted that the man's nose was more pointed than what I had drawn. Spiro (or Stinky Guy's) presence during Kelly's visit was fundamental to her whole evening. While sitting on the steps relating what she saw, heard and felt, she sensed that he wanted to push her down the stair. I was keeping my distance from Kelly's walk-through ( in another room) because I didn't want to influence her in any way. She insists that she go into an investigation "cold", with little or no background while she "is wide open." Sitting in the Hotel's former parlor, I was sensing that Stinky Guy was very angry with me for bringing Kelly to the hotel. I could hear him saying "Why did you bring that B**ch here? Get her the hell out of here!" He must have been going back and forth between where Kelly was at the time, and to me. We were both getting signals from him, but different ones! I was so intrigued and alarmed that I immediately told videographer Ben Mazur to mention this to Jon, who was leading Kelly on the tour. For a few moments I feared for Kelly's safety. Ghosts, we believe as a general rule, do not intentionally harm people (though scaring and draining a live person is easy enough), but I felt the need to be cautious with this one. I've always had a belief that the way a person lived their life on earth is how they would be when they cross over. In other words if you were mean and nasty in life, then in death you would remain the same. No harm befell Kelly, but she was very aware that Stinky Guy didn't like having someone around who could see him at work! For me, there was a degree of relief that a respected outsider came to visit the U.S. Hotel and verified the existence of a rather nasty entity I'd met. We now both believe Stinky is a nasty piece of work, but feel his actions are in the past and/or only on view on the other side. Visit our Favorite Places page for John Weavers' account of his and wife Kelly's visit to the U.S. Hotel. |
All was fine for a moment - then waves of nausea swept over him and his head came to rest on his arm on the table.| Home | U.S. Hotel | Investigatons |
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