Strange Mountain Encounters

Hello to all friends and followers of SPI, and a special welcome to our future followers. 

            I’m Don, the old guy of the group, and I’d like to tell you a story that has my son, Mitch, and me totally baffled.  Please remember that we treat the field of paranormal investigations with respect.  We don’t stretch the truth or put anything on this website that is not 100% factual or clearly stated as our opinion.

            First, some background: Every summer, Mitch and I travel to Colorado for a week or so of hiking.  Colorado has 54 “14ers”—mountains that reach an elevation of at least 14,000 feet.  Most of them can be summited with strenuous hikes and maybe some mild scrambling or boulder-hopping near the top.  The average round trip on a 14er is around ten miles—quite a trek for somebody from the south, considering how thin the Rocky Mountain air is. 

            In June of 2017, we hiked several of these mountains.  The last one we summited was Mount Shavano.  This is a high mountain that looms over the Arkansas River Valley just west of Salida. 

As usual, we got an early start—around 3 a.m.—so we could be off the exposed slopes and ridges before any afternoon thunderstorms could build up.  When we started, Mitch’s truck was the only vehicle at the trailhead, and during those first few dark hours, lit only by flashlights and moonlight, we were totally alone. 

Even after breaking the tree line at dawn, we were alone.  The trail on Shavano emerges from the trees and runs along the southern slope of a high ridge as it ascends toward a low point, a saddle, between Shavano and another peak.  As we progressed out of the trees that morning, the entire route up to Shavano’s summit became clearer and clearer, and we both commented that we were alone on the trail: there were no signs of anybody behind us, and certainly, there was nobody on the slopes ahead of us.

We commented that we might actually be, for the first time ever, the first ones to reach the summit.

As we neared the saddle, we finally saw signs of life on the mountain.  A group of four hikers—little more than specks from our vantage point—were coming up the slopes approximately two miles below us.

Again, this was the first time we’d seen any other hikers or climbers (some prefer to reach the saddle via a snow slope just below the main trail) on the mountain….  Yet, when we reached the summit, we were surprised to see a female hiker there, getting ready to descend.  She was around forty and wore a lavender-colored top or jacket and a cap that hid her eyes.  In a rather stern, firm voice, she said hello and proceeded to tell us that she’d come up the mountain via an alternate trail, or a “back” way.  Mitch asked her if that meant she’d come over Tebeguache Peak, a nearby fourteener that many people climb with Shavano via a connecting ridge. 

She said no and began to descend.

We shook our heads and wondered where she’d come from.

To be clear, there are only three established routes to the top of Shavano: the main trail, the previously mentioned snowfield, and the trek over Tebeguache.  Any other route would be a bushwhacking wilderness romp—not something a solo hiker should do.

We sat for a few minutes, ate a snack, and decided to go down.  As we picked our way around and over the summit boulders to begin our descent, we were shocked to find that she was nowhere in sight.  We could see all the way down to the saddle, across to the top of the thirteener on its other side, far down to the trees to the east, down into the deep valleys to the west…  We had nearly 360 degrees of view, and there was no sign of the lady we’d just talked to just moments ago.

We did, however, see the group of four hikers we’d spotted earlier.  They were cresting the saddle.

When we reached them, I asked if they had seen a woman hiking down from the summit.  I briefly described her.  All the hikers said no.

We kept hiking, and at some point I turned to Mitch and said, “I think we talked to a ghost.”

We half-laughed about it, but I was very serious and still am.

This was, as I said, in June, 2017.

But just a few days ago, on October 7, 2018, we learned that a woman’s bones were found on Mount Shavano.  Authorities believe they are the remains of a homicide victim from the early eighties.  After reading about this, I again started thinking about that woman we met at the top of Shavano. 

Based on my experiences with the paranormal, I believe a spirit will wait as long as it takes to speak to someone who can help them.  I don’t know if there is any connection between the hiker we met on the summit and the human remains found on the mountain.  I do know that the woman—where she came from and where she went—remains a mystery.

Again, we don’t know much, only that the woman we met was around forty.  She was in good shape.  She wore a cap and a lavender top or jacket. Mitch and I would be willing to re-hike Mount Shavano with proper equipment if a friend or relation wished to make contact.  I truly hope that anyone with any potential knowledge about this will contact us through this website (sebournparanormalinvestigations.blogspot.com) or via email at sebournparanormal@gmail.com.

Haunted Hill House

Date: September 2, 2018

Location: Haunted Hill House, Mineral Wells, Texas

Over the Labor Day weekend, my dad and mom, Don and Beverly drove down to Texas from Arkansas for an investigation at the Haunted Hill House in Mineral Wells. John and I joined them, and this time we were accompanied on the investigation by three friends, Karen, Cindy, and Richard.  

The Haunted Hill House, Mineral Wells, Texas

The Haunted Hill House is located near downtown Mineral Wells, TX just a block away from the legendary Baker Hotel. The Hill House is believed to have been a brothel decades ago, and since then it has undergone many changes in ownership. Although the house was purchased by the current owners in a very rough condition they have made it functional for investigations and furnished much of the house so that overnight stays can be comfortably accommodated. To add an extra level of “spooky” to the evening, we also got to spend the evening with several dolls, dummies, and other assorted ghouls that were being set up for an upcoming Halloween event.

Before beginning our investigation we took a stroll down to the Baker to peek in the windows and imagine the potential of the old building if it is someday restored to its former glory. It was at the beginning of this walk that I captured a couple of intriguing orb photos (see below).

First photo of the Baker Hotel. Orb visible in tree line.

Enlargement of orb from first photo.

Subsequent photo of the Baker taken seconds after the first.
Orb is brighter and closer to the hotel.

Enlargement of the orb from the second photo.
Notice, the orb has moved and is now on the other side of the power pole.

After returning from the Baker the Hill House’s very kind owners gave us an extensive tour of the property and told us many stories regarding the numerous spirits that are believed to inhabit the home, including a couple of children, several women, and some aggressive male spirits.

Moving pink orb in the "dark room."

Our first experience of the evening occurred while we were on this tour. We were all clustered together in the attic near the fireplace wall, and one of the owners was telling us about the ghost of a young disfigured boy. I was using a Kinect SLS based camera and which was picking up some anomalies standing around Don near the fireplace. As we were getting ready to move onto another room, we all heard a very audible growl from near the back wall of the room.

I also caught our one and only orb photo from the house while we were wrapping up the tour. There is a small closet or “dark room” off of the living room that the owner encouraged each of us to check out. I snapped a couple of photos, and one of them contained a pink orb in motion.

Around 10:30 p.m. Don and Karen were investigating in the “scratch room,” so named due to the number of people who are scratched by a male entity in the room. The table in the room was set up with a poker hand dealt out, and all of the cards on the table were laying face up. While Don and Karen were talking, Karen looked down at one point and noticed that the cards at her seat were flipped over. Unfortunately the infrared camera didn’t pick up the card flip because of where Don was seated.  The incident may seem simple, but it certainly caught their attention. None of us experienced any scratches in the room that night; however.

Much of the night was quiet, but two of us did have interesting personal experiences later in the evening. My mom and I were sitting on a sofa in the back living room looking through a scrapbook of findings from other investigations. The book was lying on the coffee table, so we were sitting towards the front of the couch seats. First my mom felt something sit down on the seat next to her, then she felt that cushion begin to bounce. She asked if I felt anything, and I told her “no”. While she was describing what she was feeling, she felt it move closer and felt as though it sat down behind her. As suddenly as the sensation started, it stopped and none of else felt anything else like it.

Beverly sitting on the couch after she felt something sit down with her.

Later in the night, I went out into the hallway and stood at the foot of the stairs to see if I could get the little boy from the attic to come down. A floor-length black cloth hangs down over the staircase, and the owners indicated that people often see the imprint of the little boy on this sheet, as though he is hiding behind it and pressing on it gently. I never saw anything on the stairs, but I did feel as though something was playing with my hair right before I went back into the kitchen. It didn’t last long, but I felt something gently lift the hair on top of my head as though someone was lifting and running fingers through it momentarily.

Although I was not quite brave enough to go back up to the attic after hearing the growl and stories about potential demonic entities being bound up there, my dad did not share those fears. Early in the evening he and Richard went and sat in the room where we all heard the growl during the tour. My dad spent much of this time sitting against the back wall. There were no toys in this room at that time.

Don investigating a sealed bathroom.
The room cannot be accessed from inside the house.

Much later in the night, my dad went up to this room again with Karen and my mom. Since his first trip to the attic no one had been back in this room. While in this room the K2 meter my mom was using detected low levels of energy, lighting up to the middle yellow light. What was more curious, though, was that when my dad went to take his former seat against the back wall, there was a little toy fire truck in his spot. No one else had been in this room since he and Richard left it the first time.

Towards the end of the night my dad decided to go alone into the bedroom located off of the living room. Although the owners indicated that this was the least oppressive room in the house, it is known as the “Shadow Man” room because Charles, a sometimes-unpleasant shadowy man, is often encountered here. Soon after he went into the room he captured our only EVP of the evening. My dad was sitting in a chair in the room and asked Charles if he was in his seat. My dad then whispers to himself “I think I will get up and move,” and a very fast-paced male voice says over him, “Don’t go over there.” The tone of the voice is similar to my dad, but the speech pattern is much faster and the voices overlap. The new seat my dad was talking about moving to was the bed where, according to the stories, many women have felt Charles’ touch while laying on that bed. The audio clip of this EVP can be found below. 

While we were all a little sad that we didn’t catch anything more tangible, such as photos or video evidence, we all felt and sensed enough in the Hill House to know that there is definitely something paranormal living there.

Hayley

Coming Soon

In a few weeks, over Labor Day weekend, SPI will be traveling back to Mineral Wells, Texas. This time to investigate the Haunted Hill House. The house is in close proximity to the famous Baker Hotel, and is believed to have once been a brothel. The house is believed to be haunted by multiple spirits.

We are looking forward to this upcoming adventure, and will keep you all updated on what we find!