Haunted America: Spirits of '76

There is nothing like a cookout. I sat with Lex, Jay, and Ashlin around our fire pit in the backyard, within view of the porch where Ida had killed herself in 1905. Paul was bouncing on the trampoline nearby. 

We'd decided to have a little post-birthday cookout together. We were roasting hot dogs, and Lex had brought her barbecue macaroni and cheese in a crock pot, for which I'd run an extension cord out the window. We'd been discussing some plans to investigate Gettysburg sometime.

"Just so everyone knows," I said,"I'm going on our annual camping trip next weekend. I'll be away from Friday to Monday. If anyone needs me, I'll be checking my cell phone."

"We'll miss you," Jay said immediately.

"I'll miss you guys, too," I said. "I'll keep you updated. The camp where we go is midway between Fort Freeland and Fort Augusta, so I'm assuming there may be some Revoluntionary War ghosts there."

"Gonna do some hunting while you're there?" asked Lex.

I nodded. "I usually find something cool to investigate when I'm away."

"I'm sorry, you can't check in early today," said the park ranger. "There's a tree down, and it took our power. We're working on getting it fixed. I'm sorry."
"Well, that's not your fault," I said. "We'll just kill a little time and come back."

Michelle and I walked out to the car. She asked,"Is there anything you wanted to do?"

"Kind of wanted to see Fort Augusta while I'm here," I said. "It's in Sunbury."

"Okay, what's the address?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I didn't think it was going to be this easy."

It took a little time, but we had plenty of that, and in a while, I was walking up to the front of Fort Augusta. Or at least, where it had stood. There was a museum and a replica of the fort there now, and I cruised around, taking some photos.

I got out my EMF detector and checked around. Nothing right away. I saw a small sign directing me to the old well from the actual fort, which struck me as interesting, so I walked over. It was amazing; a well that was two hundred and seventy years old, right here along Front Street. Not far behind it was the old powder magazine, and I got some EMF readings there. I took photos and walked back to the car.

"Did you see what you wanted to see?" asked Michelle.

I  nodded. "I got photos and a few readings; I'm happy. We can go see if the campsite's open yet."

"Can we get something to eat first?" asked Paul.

The camp was a Yogi Bear camp, which I'd never heard of until I married Michelle. They were very kid-friendly camps with lots of activities. All of which Paul and his little friend Amelia took one look at, and then decamped for the pool.

I got out some of the ghost-hunting equipment and decided to just test around randomly a bit. The cabin was a nice one, right along one of the main stretches, and there seemed to be a small family right next door.

"Nice shirt," the mom said to me.

"Oh. Thanks." It was the one with the ghost drinking coffee. "I'm a paranormal investigator."

"Oh, that's cool."

"You hunt ghosts?" asked the little boy.

"Yeah, I investigate ghosts, UFOs, monsters, all sorts of stuff."

"There's a ghost up by the bathrooms at the pool! I saw it making the door move!"
"Oh, yeah?" I smiled.

"I'm Lily," said the girl. "This is Max. He likes ghosts and stuff."

"That's cool. Me, too."
"He's always digging in our yard for buried treasure. I fall in the holes and trip."
"I'm told Indiana Jones's sister had the same problem. You guys are, what, six, seven?"

Lily looked impressed. "I'm seven and he's six. You're pretty good at that."

"I got a kid. Max, I'm gonna check up around the doors there later, and see what I can find." It occurred to me that I was talking about ghosts to two children who were about to sleep in the woods. "This place is right between two forts that were built about two hundred and fifty years ago."

"That's when America was started!" said Lily delightedly.

"You're right, it was. And I think any ghosts here might be soldiers, so they were probably pretty good guys."

"Not mean," said Lily.

"No, that's usually not what happens. Most ghosts are pretty cool. I'll let you guys know what I find, okay?"

It was my first lead, so after dinner, I walked up with the EMF detector and looked around. I walked down around the two ponds---The frog pond and the fish pond, though the frogs didn't seem to consider any one pond exclusively their territory. I stood pleasantly by the fish pond for a moment, then walked up to the area Max had described. And the EMF detector lit right up.

I was a little surprised. I checked for power lines, underground cables, engines. Nothing that stood out. In spurts, though, I was getting EMFs. 

I smiled. Max was going to love it.

I walked down to the other end of the park, and into the ranger station. A blue-haired short woman was working the counter; her name tag said MEGAN.

"Hey hey," she said. "How are you doing?"
"So far, so good. Got an odd question for you."
"Okay."

"Are there any interesting haunted stories around? Ghosts, Bigfoot sightings, anything like that?" Was a time I'd felt stupid asking things like that, but that was a long time in my past.

She grinned. "Have you heard of the Todd Sees case?"

"I have not."

She tapped the screen of her phone and handed it to me. I looked it over.

It detailed a missing person---Todd Sees of Northumberland County had disappeared in early August of 2002. A search party had failed to find him for over a day, until a helicopter had spotted his body from the air. His clothes and all his gear were missing. His body had been found in a very dense, hard to reach area under some power lines. Locals reported seeing UFOs near the power lines, which had led to some rumors of alien abductions. I read through it, fascinated.

"This is perfect," I said. "UFOs, a missing person, and it happened right around here on this very weekend twenty-two years ago? This is the perfect campfire story. Thank you, Megan. This is gold."

A bit later, I sat on the front porch of the cabin, and did what I like to do when I'm away from home. I called Chloe.

The kid had promised to pick up the phone when I called, unless she was driving---She'd recently gotten her permit. I tried to call her for information, though the truth is, I always like to have someone to talk to back home. It makes me feel a bit better. For the past year, I'd designated Chloe.

"Hey!" She sounded cheerful. "How are you doing?"

'Doing good. We're here and safe. No big rush, but I need you to look up something for me."

"Sure! You name it."

"Todd Sees. He's a big mystery around here, and I need you to find anything I may have missed. Whenever you get to it; don't drop everything, okay?"

"Won't be hard. I'll get that to you soon. Can I text this number?"

"Sure. It's my cell---It won't get photos or anything, but just words, sure."

"I'll have that to you soon."

"Thanks, Chloe. Love you."

"Love you too."

It took the kid less than an hour. My phone made a noise, and there it was, everything Chloe had dug up for me. And it was weird, allright.

Twenty-two years ago this weekend, Todd Sees had gone missing while out hunting. A search party of over two hundred people had failed to find any trace of him. Finally, a helicopter had seen his body in some brush under a power line, wearing only his underwear. No trace of the clothes had ever been found. The body was in a very hard to reach spot, among heavy brush.

Local fishermen and farmers had reported seeing lights in the sky near those same power lines, behaving strangely and causing the lines to spark. The FBI had jumped in at this point, oddly, taking the body for an autopsy and keeping it for eight weeks. No official cause of death was ever determined, and the FBI had finally blamed it on cocaine.

Chloe had included the report from the National UFO Reporting Center, with a little note saying she wasn't sure how accurate it was. I grinned. She was well aware of how hard I was on other investigators' standards, but NUFORC is actually pretty good.

Max walked by the porch. "I saw a shadow figure that wasn't from us," he told me.

I smiled. "I'll make sure to check that out, too. Thanks."

The sun was beginning to go down. I could, I supposed, do a little investigating. Or I could go inside the cabin and watch TV.

Ten minutes later, I was out in the woods north of camp wearing my shoulder bag. There were trails on the camp property, and I'd taken one of the loops. Then I'd slipped off onto another trail leading north, off amp property, until I'd gotten to somewhere near where Sees had disappeared.

Flashlight in one hand. EMF detector in the other. I turned it on and walked around. After a few passes, it lit up red and beeped. No power lines close enough to set it off, no batteries nearby. Could possibily be the ghost of Todd Sees.

And that had been the easier part. Next up, the UFOs.

Paul and Amelia were in the back room, building forts out of their bunks by hanging the sheets on the top bunks and threading glow sticks into the beds. I watched for a while, then went outside to the path.

I could see the power lines across the mountains in the distance, likely the same power lines where Sees was found. How the hell does that happen, anyway? How do you get lost near power lines, even on cocaine? You just follow them for a while, and they'll always lead to someplace. The more I thought about all this, the less sense it made.

I walked along the path toward the ponds, keeping an eye on the mountains. A few times, I pulled out my optical scope and looked out at the lines. Then I remembered to remove the goddamned lens cap. There were four towers up there, holding up the lines, with blinking red lights. I walked to the pool area, and back, judging the view.

And, in the end, the best place to look was from right on the front porch of the cabin.

I sat down with the scope, lifted it, and found out immediately that it was too dark and I couldn't see shit. So I put it away and watched without it.

The thing about UFOs is they're kind of hard to investigate. You can go to the site and check for clues, but when it happened two decades ago, there's not much point. I immediately did another step, which was to send Chloe a message asking her to find out where all the airports and hospitals were---That might explain unusual lights in the sky. Back in 2002, drones weren't a consideration. So I settled in to do the next step  could think of---Stake the damn thing out and see what I noticed. Designate this one NC-02.

So for the next two hours, I sat on the porch with a cup of microwave coffee, my equipment, and a copy of one of my favorite books. (Steel Beach by John Varley.) I read a bit, got interrupted by Paul a bit, and kept a watch for anything unusual on the mountain near the power lines.

I sat for the next couple of hours, and nothing happened. I hadn't really expected it to, but sometimes you get lucky. 

Finally I gave it up for the night and went to bed.

The next day, it was pouring. I climbed out of bed and had to put on my waterproof LHPS jacket to go get a shower. When I got back I made another cup of coffee and heated up a burrito I'd brought for specifically that purpose, and then retreated back to the porch.

I thought things over while I waited, and none of it made any sense. He'd gotten lost, apparently, in a reasonably populated place with plenty of landmarks. From these mountains, there was civilization around within a hike of a couple hours, tops. His clothes and equipment had been missing, and never found, which is weird to begin with. Even if the lights were unrelated, it was a strange coincidence.

There's a phenomenon called paradoxical undressing, where hypothermia victims remove their clothes, but I didn't find hypothermia to be much of a possibility in early August. And how far could he have gotten without clothes and shoes anyway?

At some point, Paul rousted himself and came out on the porch. Blearily, he looked out at the weather.

"It's raining," he noticed.

I nodded. "Probably gonna be like this all day."

"Can we go shopping?"

"I don't have anything else to do. It's okay with me if it's okay with your mom."

We drove into Selinsgrove, and I convinced the family to let me off at a thrift store while they went to Wal-Mart. I managed to score a pair of nice slip-on shoes and pajama pants with skulls on them. Then we drove over to a nearby mall, which apparently is still a thing.

As we walked through the mall, Paul looked over at a shop that seemed to be all about cryptids. "Hey, Dad," he said.

I veered off and walked in. There was a Mothman sculpture by the door, and Bigfoot shirts hanging everywhere. I liked it. The owners were behind their counter, and a flat-nosed dog came to greet me.

"Oh," I said, and knelt down to pet her. "You're a cutie."

She licked my face.

"That's Raven," said the owner. "She loves everyone."

"So, you guys do cryptids," I said, stepping up to the counter. "Are you familiar with the Giwoggle?"

The woman smiled. "I'm not. I thought I knew them all."

"That one's pretty obscure. It's the official cryptid of Clinton County."

She typed on her laptop, and said,"Oh, here it is. Are you Lou?"

"I am. I wrote most of the Giwoggle stuff."

"You're a writer?"
"Freelance. PA Wilds and NCPA, mostly."

"You know, we work with Strange Knocks magazine," she said. "The editor has been looking for content. Would you be interested?"

I handed her my card. "Sure, I wouldn't mind. I'm not even all that picky about the money. Get in touch." I picked up a couple of Squonk stickers. "I'll take these, too."

When we got back, it was still raining. But they appeared to have opened the splash pad, which Paul took one look at and lit up.

"The splash pad is open! I'm going over!" And the kid who takes forever to get ready for school was in his swimsuit in four seconds, and racing for the pad.

I sat down on the porch with the scope, and sighted it in again. I checked the power lines on the mountain, and had a good enough view through the fog. I zoomed in on the slide tower over at the splash pad, and saw Paul at the top. He saw me looking at him through the scope, and held up two fingers, peace-sign style. 

I grinned and returned the sign, and he disappeared down the slide.

So apparently we had a new thing.

When it got dark, I called Chloe again.

"How's it going?"

"Having fun. Miss you guys; looking forward to getting home." This kid had started out as just The Kid On My Tours, years ago. And then, last year, she'd become my sidekick and occasional coffee meet-up, and now, finally, my teammate and one of my best friends in the world.

"I can understand that. How's the mystery going?"

"I think I'm gonna have to file this one as unsolved for now," I admitted. "I've tried what I can from here, but nothing makes any sense. I'm going to have to work on this one again next time I'm out here."

"It is an interesting one."

"Thanks for your help. Couldn't do it without you."

"It was the least I could do, after all you've done for me,"

"By the way, I'm bringing you a little gift when I get home," I said. "See you soon."

Dance The Night Away: To Haunt A Home

I grabbed my bag and carried it out to the jeep. Shoved it into the back with Paul's costumes and Michelle's luggage, I went back inside, turned off lights, and locked the doors. Then I petted the dogs and went out to the vehicle, where my family was waiting. 

I got into the jeep.

And then we headed off for Utica.

This is a different kind of story.

"There's supposed to be a ghost around here," I said, turning on my EMF detector. "Town of Owega, New York. A Native American singer named Sa-sa-na Loft was killed by a train, and they say she still sings some nights." I glanced at the detector. I wasn't getting any readings yet.

"Did you hear about the theater we're in, Dad?" Paul asked.

"I checked it out. Why, you look it up?"

"Emma did. There's a cold spot trying to push people out of their seats in the front row, backstage and stage haunted, and the ladies' room is haunted."
"I hadn't heard about the ladies' room. Rylan, you can check that out."

Rylan, Paul's little friend, grinned and nodded at me from the back seat.

"We're going to check that all out," I said. "The Stanley Theater is almost a hundred years old, and it's said to be very haunted. If I get a chance, there's also a haunted high school near where we're staying. It was built on top of a Colonial cemetery."

"You know you can't go in the high school, right, Dad?"

"I know. The last time I went into a high school at one of these things, security was all over me. But I can check outside, which is where the ghosts are likely to be anyway." I looked down at my detector. It had flickered up to a 1.7 for no explainable reason, which was a good start to the weekend.

"Emma texted me," Paul said. "She wanted to know if we can come to the theater when we get there, and look for ghosts."

"I brought your equipment, too. We can."

The Stanley Theater, in downtown Utica, turned out to be a huge, beautiful place, very elaborate. The security guard stopped Michelle on the way in, and searched her bag. He asked,"Is there any outside food in here?"

"No," said Michelle.

I pulled off my shoulder bag and reluctantly handed it over. At least I didn't carry any food in it.

He started looking through it. His partner looked me over and said,"You're an investigator? I thought that there was some sort of communicator."

"You're close. EMF detector."

"Ah, cool." He glanced at the other guy. "He's okay." The guard handed me my bag back, and I slung it over my shoulder. "You looking for anything specific?"

"Well, whatever I can find. I'm sure you know there's stories about this place."

"Yeah, we get custodians overnight who say they see stuff. Haven't seen anything myself, but I don't work nights. Hope you find something."

"Thanks. You're a lot cooler than the last security guard I met at one of these things."

At least nobody had mistaken me for an ICE agent this time.

I walked inside. Paul and Rylan had already linked up with the Emma, and they were exploring the lobby. I got out the EMF detector and started looking around.

"Anything?" asked Rylan.

"Not yet. Place seems to have real good wiring. Which, good news and bad news. The bad news is, no readings yet. The good news is that if I do get something, I know it's probably paranormal."

Paul and the girls went upstairs to get something to eat. A woman asked them to slow down and walk carefully on the stairs, and I continued walking around with the detector for a while. Then I walked over to the woman.

"So I assume you work here?"

"Oh, yes, I have for eight years," she said pleasantly. "You're looking for ghosts?"

"I mean, I'm here because my son is in the competition, but yes,"

"My granddaughter is in the competition," she said. "It's why I agreed to have it here. And, yes, the place is almost a hundred years old, and people say it's haunted."

"Have you ever seen anything?"

"No, but some people have. We've had volunteers say they saw something up on the balcony."

"It's a beautiful old theater."

"Did you know the stairs over there are modeled on the Titanic's?"

"I didn't, but now that you tell me that, I can see it. That's really cool."

I found Paul and the girls upstairs. Paul had ordered a Caesar salad. I asked him,"You see anything?"

He shook his head. "Not yet."

"Well, we just got here. You excited for tomorrow?"

He nodded with a mouthful of salad. "I need to be here by seven, so we should get up at six."

"About my plan, too, yeah."

"And we'll need to steam my outfit for tomorrow."

"We will. I mean, your mom will. Gonna be a good day, buddy."

The place Michelle had gotten us was a nice little apartment with two bedrooms. One had three beds, and the other had one. Paul wanted to have his sleepover with Rylan, and Michelle agreed to take the third bed, leaving me to have the other room to myself, on the other side of the apartment. I didn't tell anyone, but I felt that was preferable.

It was, technically, in New Hartford, a small suburb of Utica. I'd checked the maps, and discovered that not only was it right on the New Hartford town limits, but the entire house wasn't even inside the line. The corner that had my room extended over the line and out of the municipality, so while everyone else was staying in New Hartford, I was sleeping in Oneida County.

I woke up in the morning before everyone else, which was about right. I got out of bed in my Bigfoot pajamas, and started making coffee. I took a mug and sat down by the window, looking out at the sunrise. It was going to be a busy morning.

Paul and I walked into the theater, and he immediately veered off to find his team. I found some of the prop dads talking with a few other parents in the lobby, and joined them.

"Any ghosts yet?" asked Jason, the leader of the prop dads.

"A few flickers on the EMF detector," I said. "Nothing too conclusive yet, but I got all my stuff. I'll be checking today."

"Do ghosts really hang out in cemeteries?"
"Some, it seems. Probably not as may as people think, but some."

One of the balloons decorating the lobby popped. Everyone jumped, and then a couple of the moms turned to me. "Lou!"

"I know. Probably just a balloon, but I'll check it out." I got out the EMF detector and walked over to the balloons. The place was well-wired, so nothing at first. Then I got a little bit of a jump, and said,"Yeah, maybe something here."

I walked upstairs and found Paul sitting at the table with Lilli. He said,"Dad, can you get me something to eat?"

"They're doing breakfast right now. They have bagels."

"A bagel, please. Butter."

"You got it."

As I walked across the upper level, some of the girls were practicing. There are always kids doing their dance moves all over the place at these events; I've learned to get good at dodging them. A few of them said,"Lou! Are there ghosts in here?"

"That's what they say," I said. "There's supposed to be some onstage, and backstage. So I need you guys to be my eyes and ears. If you see anything, you let me know."

"Cool," said Tall Addie.

Juliet looked over at the balcony. "I'm a little afraid of heights," she told me. "I get nervous up here."

"Well, it's a good thing you're so short."

I got Paul his bagel and walked back to the table with it. He took a bite from the edge. I pulled a chair over and sat down; I enjoy these moments I get with my kid. He said,"I hate these body tights."
"You're offstage in less than an hour," I said. "Hang in there."
The EMF detector went off. Spiking to red, it went to 2.0 for five solid seconds. Paul and I both looked at it. Lilli asked,"Was that....?"
"Yeah," I said. "Might have been a ghost."

"Don't forget to check for wires and outlets, Dad," advised Paul.

They grow up so fast.

"There is a house....Built out of stone...."

I stood backstage wth the prop dads, watching the kids dance on stage. It really was amazing. In between shows, I sometimes started to forget just how talented and professional these kids were. Watching them, it always came back to me just how incredible this whole thing was.

The EMF detector beeped. Red light. I looked at it, then turned it off and put it in my pouch. The ghosts, for a change, could wait five minutes. They were all dead and not going anywhere. I wanted to watch my son.

"Cause I built....A home....For you....For me....."

The routine was really cool; they started with some furniture onstage, and danced around it, assembling it as they went into an entire living room. I'd helped get the furniture out there, but I was really unneccessary. It was about them, the kids.

 The kids came off into the wings. Paul ran straight to me and threw his arms around me. He was crying. I hugged him back, tight. Pain? Stress? I didn't know, and it didn't matter. My son needed me.

"You're doing great," I whispered. "It's okay. I love you. You're doing great."

He held on for a moment. I asked,"Do you want to talk later?"

He shook his head, and I hugged him. "I love you, buddy. Proud of you. You're doing great."

After a moment, he released me and rejoined the team. The girls all gathered around and hugged Paul. They'd all been through backstage breakdowns before. He dried his tears, and then a moment later, was back out on stage with the others, all of them dancing their hearts out. Everything feels better when you're with your team; I understand that. It was beautiful. For the rest of my life, I'll cry every time I think of it.

I'm crying now.

This is a different kind of story. It's the story of my son, how he's still growing, becoming the person he will one day be. How in some ways, he'll be like his father, and in other ways, he'll be his own person. And that's a good thing.

Last year, this story ended with Paul and I sharing a moment on the lobby floor of a hotel in Lancaster, sitting peaceably together. 

This year, it ended with my morning coffee. I woke up earlier than everyone else again, and I walked across the county line to get a shower and get started. There are advantages to not sleeping well. I got dressed and made a pot of coffee, and sat down to begin the final day in Utica.

I walked around, got everything packed up, The temperatures had dropped and, unbelievably, it was snowing outside. I sat down and read a book for a while.

Paul emerged from the bedroom. Paul is not exactly famous for waking up in the morning. I looked up at him as he stumbled through the room, bleary-eyed, on his way to the bathroom.

"Love you, buddy," I said.

Sometimes it's all I really want to say.

"Love you, too," he said.

Sometimes, it's all I really need to hear.

Dance The Night Away: Undead Emily

This is a different kind of story. There are ghosts and adventures, but it's not really my story. It's my son's. And that's why it's also got kids, and dancing, and when he tells it in the future, hopefully, a caring father who is proud of him.

The Lancaster hotel was just off Route 30, a pleasant little place with an Amish feel to it. I dropped my bag on the floor by the bed. Paul was on the phone with his friend, who was staying in the same hotel.

"I'm going to go find Emma," he announced.

There are like fifteen girls in his class named Emma. I'd pretty much considered them interchangeable, and begun referring to them that way. ("Paul's on the phone with an Emma.") I said,"Think I'll check for ghosts. Don't stray far."

"I won't," he assured me, and went off.

I was wearing my "paranormal investigator" sweatshirt and a green bandanna---Green is the color of Paul's dance studio. I dug in my pack and got out my travel pouch, a smaller version of the ghost-hunting bandolier. I slung it over my shoulder and walked out into the hallway.

When I'm staying somewhere, I always try to familiarize myself with the place. I also try to talk to locals if I can, and see what they can tell me. It doesn't always pay off---The week before, in Scranton, nobody knew nothing---But sometimes you find a prize.

OUr room was near the end of a long hallway that turned the corner into another long hallway, and led down to he lobby. I walked down, checking around with my EMF detector. When I got to the lobby, I poured myself a cup of free hotel coffee and looked around.

They'd tried to make it look as quaint and homey as they possibly could, playing up the Amish theme. It was Amish in the same way Star Trek conventions are in space, but it was a nice place. Two guys were on the desk, and I walked over.

One of the employees was white, and one was Asian. I leaned on the counter and said,"Okay, weird question. You guys know of any interesting haunted places around here? Ghost stories, old legends?"
Was a time I'd felt stupid saying things like that, but that was long in my past. I'd gotten used to it by now.

The white guy shook his head. "I don't really know any....Maybe down in Strasburg."

"Well, I haven't seen anything myself, but they say this place was built on top of a graveyard," said the Asian guy. "It was from the 1800s, I think."

"Really? Now, that's interesting," I said. Sometimes you hit pay dirt. "I'm going to look into that."

I topped off my coffee and wandered over to the little nook with the hotel computer in it. Usually you can trust a hungry wendigo more than you can trust a hotel computer, but I could get away with a little research. I searched up some old maps of Lancaster and found a good one from 1854. I looked it over---It can be tricky to work out where the current roads would have led on some of these old maps, but this one was easy enough. I found it---On the site of the hotel now, there was a small graveyard listed there back then.

My part in the dance competition had just gotten a lot more interesting.

I was sitting in the room reading a book when Paul walked back in from hanging around with the Emma. I said,"Been waiting up for you, kiddo. We should get some sleep now. Big day tomorrow."

I changed into my new Bigfoot pajamas and climbed into bed. Paul never had seen much difference between regular clothes and pajamas, and he just laid down in his sweatsuit, looking at his phone, on the other bed. He said,"Dad? Can we get me a soda tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Okay."

"Hey, kid, I found out something neat tonight. You want to hear it?"

"Sure."

"This hotel was built on top of an old graveyard."
"Oh. Cool. Did you check that out?"

"Yeah, it's on an old map. It's accurate."

"Cool."
"Get some sleep, little man. See you tomorrow."
"Okay."

"Love you."

"Love you, too."

Most of the time, when we stay in hotels, I'm the first one up. There are very few things that will wake up Paul and Michelle if they don't want to get up. I got a shower and got dressed, debated a moment, then pulled my travel bandolier back on, and walked down to the loby for breakfast.

The hotel had what is called a "continental breakfast." The word "continental" in this context means "probably not enough, but better than nothing." I got a bagel and some coffee, and sat down at one of the small tables.

I turned on my EMF detector and set it on the table while I ate my bagel. I saw it rise---Not a quick flicker, but a weird rise to red, hold for a moment, and then back again. I picked it up and moved it around a bit, held it up against the wall, looking for some reason for the activity.

Nothing came up. I couldn't replicate it. Then I looked over---There was a small refrigerator on the counter, in the corner, holding some milk and fruit. Nobody was near it. For no reason, I saw the door open a few inches, and then swing closed again.

I had some more coffee. Things were looking up.

"You got everything, buddy?" I asked as we walked into the big hotel.

"I have it under control, Dad," said Paul, and jetted off to the dressing room.

Studio policy is to have the dancers at the venue two hours before the dance. That way they can get into costume, do their makeup, and everything else. And it gave me time to walk around and look for ghosts or whatever.

I roamed the hotel a bit---Same hotel the competition had been in last year, when I'd looked into the Augusta Bitner grave. I found Tall Addie and her mom, Carrie, in the lobby.

"Hi, guys," I said. "How's it going?"

"Addie's having a rough day," said Carrie. "We accidentally hurt her ear getting her hair right."
"I'm still mad at you for that," said Addie.

"You're gonna do great, kiddo," I said. "Can I give you a hug?"

She smiled and hugged me. I said,"This will cheer you up. I found out last night that the hotel we're staying in is built on top of a graveyard. I'm checking it for ghosts."

Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yep. And the theater we're in next month, the Stanley in Utica, is said to be highly haunted. So I'm putting you guys to work. I need you to keep an eye open for ghosts, and I'll have my equipment with me the whole time."
She smiled and held up one thumb. I said,"Knew I could count on you."

"First things first....Start the scene in reverse...."

I stood in the back of the auditorium, watching the kids. Paul was up there dancing with Juliet, Tall Addie, Short Addie, Georgie, Lilly, Eloise, and all the others I can never remember. And they were a team. I loved that.

"If I could take us back....If I could just do that...."

I have my team. My son has his. The way I work with Ashlin, Chloe, Jay, and Lex, that's the way he works with these girls. I'd seen them together, and I loved watching how supportive they all were to each other. The way they all came together....I never got tired of seeing it.

I was in the hotel bar with some of the other dance dads when Michelle found me. She said,"Paul just won a scholarship."

"What?"

"And he wants to know if you can get his costume."
I left the beer and went backstage, where Paul was with his teachers and some of the kids, holding up a  certificate and grinning. I hugged him, and whispered,"I'm so proud of you, little man."

"He won it for showmanship on the stage," said Rachel, the owner of the dance studio. "We're all so proud of him."

"Me, too," I said. "I love you, buddy."

"Do you want a picture together?" Rachel asked.

"Yes."
I stood with my son, and we got a photo, holding his award.

I found Amanda, little Juliet's mom, in the lobby. She said,"Congratulations for Paul! We're all so happy for him!"

"I can't say enough how proud I am of him," I said. 

"This morning was a rough morning," she said. "Addie hurt her ear getting her hair together, Juliet forgot her shoes....Everyone was stressed....But now, everyone is happy and things are going well. Paul fixed everything."

"I'm going to the pool with Emma," announced Paul, gathering his towel and heading for the door.

"Allright, kiddo," I said. "Have fun. Think I might go check the hotel for ghosts again."

I put on my bandolier---The real one this time---And walked down the hotel, checking around with the EMF detector. I got a couple of flashes. There was a young woman working the desk when I reached the lobby.

"So," I said,"Working night shift?"
She nodded. "Yeah. It pays for college."

"What're you studying?"

"Graphic design."

"I work with a couple of graphic designers," I said. "My day job is in a small print shop."

"And your night job?..."

"Paranormal investigator."

She smiled. "And do you have one of those meter things?"

I held up the EMF detector. "Funny you should ask. My name is Lou."

"Emily."
"You ever encounter anything in here, Emily?"

"Occasionally weird things happen. Usually late at night. Things occasionally appear on the security cameras."

"I've found out the hotel was built on top of a graveyard."

"I'd heard that."

"I was able to verify it with some old maps. It's true."

"That's pretty cool.....Hey, look! There!"

I leaned over the counter. "What?"

"Do you see that, on the camera? There's a sort of misty shape by the pool. See it?"

I looked at the screen, and I could make out a moving, swirling sort of smoky shape in the room that I couldn't immediately identify. I said,"I see it. I'll be back."

Ans I turned and bolted down the hall.

The pool room was all the way on the other side of the hotel. I ran down the hall, turning the corner into the next hallway, and continued racing. Nobody was out in the hall, which made it easier. I slammed my way through the doors and into the pool room, waving around the EMF detector.

I didn't see the shape now---But the EMF detector went off. All the way to red for a moment, and then dropped back down to green.

As I stood and watched the detector, Paul looked up from the pool, where he was splashing around with the Emma. "Oh, hi, Dad," he said.

"Hi, buiddy," I said. "You having fun?"

"Mhmm. You find any ghosts?"

"I may have."

"You want to hang out and watch us swim?"

I sat down in a pool chair. "Yeah, kiddo. Yeah, I want to spend some time with you."

Dance The Night Away: Mister Electric Boo

This is a different kind of story. It's more Paul's story than mine. I'm with him doing the paranormal investigation, and I suppose parenting. But I wouldn't be there if it weren't for him, Paul and his dance class, supporting his little friends. 

"Can we go look for ghosts?"
I looked up at the kids. Paul and some of his little dance friends were standing there, during the fundraising Bingo game on the third floor of the Piper Museum. Lilly, Kendra, Tall Addie, Short Addie, Georgie, all wanting me to go and distract them.

Well, hell. It's better than Bingo.

"Let me bring my stuff," I said. I grabbed my small travel bag from my backpack and hung it over my shoulder. "Come on, let's go check out the west side of the building."
We walked across the hall and into the big meeting room. Lilly said,"What if we get caught in here?"

"Just play innocent. They can't be too uptight about it; they didn't even lock the door. Who wants to hold the EMF detector?"

Several hands went up. I handed it to Short Addie and said,"Everyone take turns."

They began taking readings with the detector. Kendra said,"Hey! There's candy on this desk over here!"

"Can we steal some?" asked Tall Addie.

"I should be a good example, but there's peanut butter cups. One each."

We ate someone else's candy. I said,"Wait until the competitions, guys. We're gonna be in Scranton, Lancaster, and Utica, and I've already got some of the good ghost stories researched out. In fact, the theater we'll be in up in Utica is said to be haunted."

"Can we help investigate?" asked Lilly.

"Of course you can," I said. "I'll bring extra equipment."

I watched the numbers tick down on my GPS, and said,"Coming up on the overpass, kiddo. That's the one just outside of Scranton where the Suscon Screamer is said to haunt. Oh, and there are Squonk sightings, too, so keep your eyes open."

"Bet that," said Paul, in the back of the jeep.

I'd bought the GPS from Chris, and programmed in the coordinates for the overpass. As we approached, I got out my camera and turned on the EMF detector. It showed nothing as we passed under the overpass, and I didn't see anything worth noting.

Michelle glanced over from the driver's seat. "How's it going?"

"Well, that was anticlimactic."

"That didn't look too hard."

"That's what she said. Of course, the Suscon Screamer may just be an urban legend anyway. There's still stuff to check out in Scranton. There's a UFO sighting near there, a UFO that was said to have crashed in Carbondale back in 1974. It landed in a pond, and people said they saw a green light for days afterward."

"How much longer until Scranton?" asked Paul.

"About ten minutes or so. We're almost there now, buddy. Did you know that Scranton had the first electric cable cars? That's why it's called the Electric City."
"Nope, didn't know that," said Paul, texting someone.

"So you guys will be dancing Mister Electric Blue in the Electric City."

"Cool. Can we stop at Dave's Hot Chicken?"

"Are you really a paranormal investigator?" asked the guy at the hotel desk.

I'd forgotten I was wearing the shirt that said that. "Funny you should ask. I really am."

"What's the scariest thing you've ever encountered?"

"That'd be my sister-in-law. You aware of any interesting ghost stories or old legends around here?"

He thought it over. "Not really. My stepsister thinks her dad is still haunting her."

I usually ask around a little, and try to talk to some locals. Sometimes it pays off, and sometimes it doesn't. This was looking like it was going to be that second one.

"Bigfoot, UFO sightings?"

"No, but we have a woman who works breakfast in the morning. She might know something."
"Okay, thanks." I carried the luggage up to the room.

Paul was practicing one of the dance routines in the bedroom. I said,"You make sure you get sleep tonight, little man. You're not on until Sunday, but we can go tomorrow and you can support your friends, if you like."

"Yeah," he said. "I want to."

I was standing at the breakfast counter, getting some more coffee. The woman working asked me,"Are you really a paranormal investigator?"

I was still wearing the same shirt from the night before. I said,"I am. Are you familiar with any interesting haunted places around here?"

"No, not really," she said. "I'm a spiritualist, but I don't know of anything too close."

Some days it be like that. I said,"Do you know of the Carbondale sighting? A UFO crashed into a pond in 1974?"

"No, I've never heard of that one. I'd believe it, though."

I walked outside and strolled around the hotel property. I walked past the Triple-A office next door, making a note to come back when it was open and check for maps. I walked down the hill to the Sam's Club parking lot, and checked around with the EMF detector. Nothing. The strip of forest land between the hotel and the highway was covered with litter, and therefore not likely to be any sort of a harbor for the local Bigfoot sightings. Scranton, so far, was turning out to be a bust, paranormal-wise.

I looked up the hill at the hotel, through the strip of trees. If I hiked up the hill, I could use it as a shortcut to get back. I walked up, and found a stone wall with a fence atop it blocking my way.

I stopped and calculated a bit. I could climb the wall easily enough. Then maybe I could make my way along the fence until it ended, and be back on hotel lawn in a moment. I grabbed a handhold and began climbing.

There were plenty of handholds, and I got to the top and found myself standing on a very thin strip of grass on top of a ten-foot drop. With branches and obstacles in the way. It occurred to me how easily this could go wrong, and how badly hurt I could be if it did.

I grabbed the fence and braced myself, and began carefully working my way along the top of the wall. I wouldn't have thought twice about all this when I was sixteen. Of course, I got injured a lot more often back then.

In a few minutes, I'd made it to the edge of the fence, and with some relief I stepped onto the safe grass. Already risked a serious injury once today, and it was just now ten AM.

I made my way back to the Triple-A office. They wound up light on local maps, though apparently if I wanted one of Ontario I could have my pick. I did find an interesting catalogue about Lackawanna County, and took that. I walked back to the hotel, sat down in the lobby area, and began paging through.

Now, this was worth it. Pages on Bigfoot and Squonks, haunted spots, UFOs. There was a full page on the Carbondale sighting. And I found a photo that looked awfully familiar.

I got out my cell phone and called my friend Dani. Dani is a performer who does acrobatics and stilts; I'd known her for thirteen years.

"Dani, it's Lou."

"Hey! How are you doing? How's your family?"

"We're all good! Paul is in a dance competition in Scranton. Butters is doing good; he needs a haircut." We'd gotten our dog from Dani. "Dani, have you ever performed up in Lackawanna County?"

"Quite a bit!"

"I think your photo appears in a local catalogue up here. You're wearing a fedora with feathers, holding up two hoops, and standing about four feet taller than everyone else."

"That would be me, alright."

"I'll send you a copy."
"Thanks! I keep a scrapbook."

Over the years I've met some interesting people.

I went back to the hotel and sat down on the stairs, taking a moment to text Chloe and let her know how thing were going. I barely text, but Chloe is one of my few exceptions. I'd gotten used to having her as my lifeline when I was away, and she was reporting back to the rest of the team.

I took the catalogue back to the hotel room. Paul was on the bed, watching his cell phone. He looked up at me. "Can we have Dave's Hot Chicken for lunch?"

"Maybe," I said,"Hey, little man, check this out."

I showed him the picture of the Squonk. He said,"Awwww."

We walked up to the Scranton High School together, the whole family. Until Paul saw the first friend of the afternoon, said."I'm good now, Dad," and peeled off.

"Well, we used to have a kid," I commented.

Michelle and I walked through the door, and there was a line going through security. They were scanning people with metal detectors. I swear, it's easier to get into the goddamned Pentagon than your average school. The security guard stopped me and said,"Do you have anything in your pockets, sir?"

I sighed. "I have a pocketknife."

"You can't bring that in here," he said. "You'll have to leave that in your car."

I held my hand out to Michelle. "Gimmie the keys. I'll meet you."

I walked back out to the car, dropped off my knife, and started walking back. Jason, the studio owner's husband, caught me and said,"Lou! If I bring the truck around, can you help me unload that window for the act and wheel it in?"

"Oh, sure, absolutely. I'll wait here for you."

Five minutes later, he was back with his big panel truck and we unloaded one of the set pieces. It was a big window on wheels; I'd helped paint it. I wheeled it into the door, where I encountered the same security guard.

"You didn't have that before," he commented.

"I figured," I said,"If I have anything else I shouldn't, I'll just throw it out the window."

To give him credit, he laughed pretty hard at that.

I rolled the window across the floor and turned it over to Miss Nikki, one of the teachers. I walked around the lobby for a while, and spotted Paul with a whole gaggle of his little teammates, gathered in their costumes.

Miss Rachel, the studio owner, joined me. "I'm glad you guys made it," she said. "The girls didn't want to get ready without Paul. They demanded to come out here and wait for him."

I smiled. "I love what a cohesive team they are. I have my team, and Paul has his. It's always nice to see what a great group they make."

With Paul secured and everything done for the moment, I walked around the lobby a while more. I wound up back near the door, and nodded at the security guard.

"You really a paranormal investigator?" he asked.

"I'm getting a lot of that this weekend," I said. "I really am. Lock Haven Paranormal Seekers, out in Clinton County."
"That's really cool, man. Have any good stories?"

"We just recently had a pretty active investigation at an abandoned funeral home."

"Cool."

"Been looking into the UFO crash landing in Carbondale. You happen to know anything about that?"

"Oh, sure, I worked the festival once," he said. "They have a big thing up there. There's one guy who says he caused it all, though---Threw a lantern into the pond as a teenager, and then just never said anything when everyone thought it was a UFO."
"I'd heard that," I said.

"I actually talked to the guy," he told me. "He sounded pretty convincing."

I knew how that went. I'd spoken to some people who have given me the real story on paranormal events over the years. I'd also seen how something simple, like a lantern thrown into a pond, could fly completely off the rails and become a huge legend.

"I suppose I can cross that one off my list," I said. "Every once in a while, I find something like that. I had a field day with Raystown Ray a couple of years ago."

I circulated some more, watching the kids. They were sitting by one wall, and they'd get up and practice for a while, three or four of them. They'd take some photos, and laugh together, and it wasn't the first time I'd thought of it....What an amazing team they'd all become. I had Jay, Lex, Chloe, and Ashlin. Paul had Team Edge and all the other dancers.

"He was a stranger....He walked in looking for danger...."

I stood backstage, watching Paul and his team dance. Mister Electric Blue. I was always amazed at how professional they looked, in their costumes, doing their thing on stage.

"And I said, oooh! Mister Electric Blue....I believe in you....."

I ended up in the audience, with Michelle, as they brought all the kids out to sit on the stage for the awards. The announcer came out and said,"Okay, before we start, we're going to need a couple of volunteers. We need some of the dads to come up here. We're going to have a dad dance-off."

The girls all called out. From the stage, Paul glanced at me.

I stood up.

"We have our first volunteer! Come on up! What dance studio do you represent?"

"Rachel's Dance Unlimited," I said.

Three other dads joined me on the stage. The music began to play. I haven't danced since I was seventeen. I wasn't all that good at it then, and being middle-aged hasn't helped that any. But I did a little of what I remembered, and incorporated a high kick, which I knew from karate.

The kids all cheered. Paul's friends were delighted. One of the other dads won the contest, but they gave me a pair of sunglasses for my kid.

I handed them to Paul. He grinned.

"You came in second, Dad!" he said. "Can we get Dave's Hot Chicken?"

#150: Moth To A Flame

It was a nice evening.

I was leaving the store with some crackers for an upcoming trip, and some root beers for Paul. I got on my bike and pulled into Kite Alley, when I found a friend of mine walking over.

"Hi, Wendi. How are you?"

"Hi, Lou! Doing good, how about you?"

"Doing good. Planning my haunted tours for the year. You want to come?"

"Oh, of course I do. You know I love that stuff. Hey, while we're on the subject, I wanted to tell you about something!"

"Oh?"

"Yes, I was picking my daughter and her friend up in Beech Creek and we saw Mothman. It's not much, but...."

"No, Mothman is one of my favorites! Tell me about it."

"We were picking her and her friend up in Beech Creek. In the woods, we saw something really quick---Big and black, wing ten-foot wings, flying. It was only for a moment, and then it was gone."

"Well, this is gonna give me something to look into," I said. "I love the Mothman. Now I gotta do some investigating."

I'd seen the old lady before, occasionally. She'd approached me a few times over the years to ask me questions about local history, or tell me things she thought I didn't know. When I got to work, she was in the front office, making some photocopies. Tom was helping her. When I walked in, she showed one to me. It looked to be a newspaper story about thunderbirds.

"Ah, cool," I commented.

"They've been seen around this area," she said.

I nodded. "I've written about some sightings."

She continued, giving me no sign she'd heard me. She was the kind of person who only heard what she felt like hearing. "Thunderbirds have been seen out near Bald Eagle Creek, you know. Out near the Castanea Fire Hall."

"Have they? I didn't know that."

"Oh, yes. I've seen them out there. There used to be a man who knew my dad, he lived out near the old storage building, and he would talk about seeing them."
"Well, now I'm interested. Oh, that reminds me." I turned to Tom, still making copies. "You live in Beech Creek. You ever see the Mothman down there?"
"Wait, what?"

"Or any weird flying creature that you can't explain. I've had a Mothman sighting in the Beech Creek area."

"Mothman?"

"Sort of a big bug-person creature. Usually sticks close to West Virginia, but he's been seen in Chicago lately. I haven't heard of Mothman being out this far in central Pennsylvania before."
"Oh. No, I haven't seen anything. I'm not really out enough to see anything like that."

"Well, if you happen to be out at camp or something, and you have a sighting, let me know. I got a job to do."

"B...Forty-two. B....Forty-two." 

I walked across the Bingo hall and sat down with Michelle. She was playing two cards at once, while I'd been walking around helping out. It was a fundraiser for Paul's dance class; Paul himself was back in the small kids' room playing with some of his friends.

"Just got done telling the kids some ghost stories by request," I said. "How's it going?"

"Okay," she said. "How you doing?"

"Kind of a rough day," I said. "Tim fired me from SPI this morning for my refusal to work with psychics."

She looked at me in some shock. "What happened?"

"Tim included a fucking psychic in our last investigation. When I had to submit my report, I stated that we'd damaged our credibility by including a fraudulent psychic, and the whole investigation should be scrapped and done over due to the whole thing being compromised. Tim ran it past the lawyer, who said that I could be in trouble for defamation. And Tim dropped me from the team."

"Could you really be sued for defamation?"
"I'd love to see her try to prove in court that her abilities work."

"Are you and Tim still friends?"

"I guess so. I'm pissed as hell right now, and I think it's going to be a while before I want to hang with him. But I don't plan on cutting off contact or anything."

"Did you have to say that in your report?"

"I think it was the only ethical thing I could do. I do historic research and prove what I say; I can't go letting people make stuff up as if it's actual documentation."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, look into Mothman and the thunderbird a bit; I've had sightings. And Chloe asked me to do some research on her house."

"I mean about the team."

I shrugged. 

"I still have LHPS." I could see Paul signaling to me from across the room. "Gotta go. The kids want more ghost stories."

I get home from work every day about four, usually just in time to beat Paul inside. I walked the dogs and brought in the mail, and when the kid got home, I tossed him a small package.

"What's this?"

"Your new ghost-hunting outfit, if you want it," I said.

He tore it open and pulled out a fanny pack, black, with a thick strap. He looked it over, and said,"I approve."

"With me changing mine so I don't look like an ICE agent, I didn't want you running around in a tac vest, either," I said. "You like to wear these across your chest, and I thought that was a good look. I'll transfer your equipment into it. You still want the skull gloves?"

Paul nodded, heading for the refrigerator. "Yeah. I like those."

"Okay. Good. With me out of SPI, it looks like it's likely to be you and me doing investigations for a while. Just got a Mothman sighting down around the county line; you want in?"

"Sure."
"Maybe down to Bald Eagle State Park one of these weekends to take a look? Sometime after we get back from our bus trip to Baltimore."

"Maybe. I asked Rylan if she could come along."

"What'd she say?"

"She's going to check with her mom. But she wants to wait until her mom is in the right mood."

"I get that. I used to do that." A thought occurred to me. "Do you have to do that?"

"Not really. Well, sometimes with Mom. But you're usually in a pretty good mood, except for when there's problems with your friends."

"You mean like this thing with Tim and SPI?"

"Well, yeah, like that."

"Well, I'm not too bothered by that, buddy. And don't worry about asking me stuff---A lot of the time, when things are bad, you cheer me up considerably."

"Okay, buddy. Have a good day at school."

Paul headed out the door and down to the bus stop---He doesn't let me walk him down there anymore. I went to the kitchen and poured myself another cup of coffee. Alone with Rosie, Butters, and the hamster.

I sat down at my computer and looked up the number for the Mothman Museum in West Virginia. I tried calling, but they had a long, rambling message, so I settled for e-mailing instead. Then I stepped out on the porch with the coffee and looked outside.

It was pouring out. I sipped some coffee and looked at the horrible rain, considering. I had some stuff I'd wanted to do, but it wasn't pressing. I could stay home and avoid the rain.

I smiled.

On the other hand, is there better weather to investigate a thunderbird?

Across town, I did the title search on Chloe's house at the courthouse annex. I got as far back as 1945, where the deeds suddenly dropped---Someone may have typed a wrong number in 1951, leaving me clueless after that. I scribbled down a list of names and dates, and then gathered my stuff and walked out.

Since I was on the east end of Lock Haven anyway, I biked out to Castanea. Still pouring. I turned and rode down past the Castanea Fire Hall, and down along Bald Eagle Creek. The irony is that I was practically right across from my own house; Castanea Township begins about two blocks from where I live. But because there's no bridge across the creek, I have to go the long way around.

I stopped along Lower Creek Road and got off the bike. I was wearing the huge poncho I'd bought a while back, and still getting wet. I worked my way through some trees and thorns, beating my way back to Bald Eagle Creek.

The slope had turned completely to mud, making the footing somewhat hazardous. I clung to some trees as I carefully worked my way down to the creek, standing on some large rocks.

No signs of thunderbirds. I hadn't exactly expected one to be sitting around and waiting for me anyway. I knelt on the rocks by the creek, looking things over.

Bald Eagle Creek routes from the Susquehanna, which in turn runs down and into the Chesapeake Bay. When you're looking into a flying creature especially, you have to consider what's called an OOPS---Out Of Place Specimen. In other words, a creature that isn't usually seen in a certain area. Stop me if I'm getting too technical for you.

Theoretically, thunderbird sightings could easily be caused by an especially large bird, say a condor, flying too far inland where they're not supposed to be. A logical route would be for them to follow the water, form the ocean up the Susquehana into Castanea Township. Water is where prey is.

I looked down the creek and saw it; I remembered it being there before. An old Native American fish trap---A V-shaped weir in the water, designed to funnel fish into a spot where they could be easily caught. Fish clustered in one spot would certainly be a food source for a large bird, which might explain the thunderbird sightings.

I climbed back up the bank. I still had time to buy groceries before I headed back home.

From my office in the basement, I sent Chloe a message. I loved having a small office in the basement; I'd always dreamed of underground hideouts when I was a kid. It helped that the boss didn't really care much what I was doing down there.

Because of all the rain, the south end of the basement was leaking badly. Up near the ceiling, water was pouring in through a pipe, making a sort of pretty waterfall down the wall. It all pooled into a pond on the floor, and ran into two holes in the floor before it drained. Excess water ran across the floor to the north and into a pit under the stairs. So when it rained hard, my office had a water feature.

I sent her the historic information I'd found on her house. She was online.

I got fired from a ghost hunting team I'm on because of my refusal to work with psychics. So I needed a little cheering up!

She responded a moment later.

If it makes you feel any better about the ghost hunting team, I'm glad you stood your ground. As someone who is definitely a people-pleaser, seeing you stand your ground and not give up your beliefs is something to look up to.

That helps, actually. Thanks. Makes me feel a lot better. 

I agree with you completely. If you're gonna pretend to be psychic, at least be creative. It really paints a completely misleading picture for the field of ghost hunting, and makes it seem like it's based on instinct instead of research.

Exactly! You get it. You're making me feel a lot better, actually. Thanks for that. I figure if I did something that you can respect, I probably did the right thing.

I'm glad I could help! I look up to a lot of what you do, your serving as a great role model for me right now! Especially regarding how you don't back down when your beliefs are threatened.

So, excitement tomorrow---My family is going on a bus trip to the Baltimore Aquarium! My wife's company does these trips sometimes. I hope to do a little research into water cryptids, and show Paul some good stuff, and maybe look out the window for a Maryland flying cryptid, the Snallygaster, on the way. Because what else will I have to do on the bus?

That's awesome! I just found out today we booked a trip to Gettysburg for Sunday/Monday! I am so freaking excited!!!! We are staying at the Farnsworth house in  the McFarlane room. I'm planning on bringing my EMF detectors. I want to ask if you have any other tools I might possibly be able to borrow for my trip?

Absolutely I do! How about a laser thermometer? I can easily loan you one.

I smiled, down in my basement hideout. I like talking to Chloe, and trying to be a role model for her. Sometimes the young kid needs reassurance.

And sometimes, so does the older one.

Paul and I looked down on some manta rays and other fish from the upper balcony. The Baltimore Aquarium is an enjoyable place, and it was the fourth time I'd been there---The first for Paul and his little friend Rylan, who'd come along. They were both carrying orange sodas that had cost about $3.50.

We walked into a dark hallway with a tank of anemones. Paul gasped, looking at the bright colors. Rylan was staring at them, and a moment later, the water in the tank burst with bubbles.

"What did you touch?" I asked Rylan.

"Nothing!" she said. "I swear!"

The next tank had some crabs in it. Rylan asked Paul,"What's your favorite part of this?"

"All of it, I think."

"I liked touching the jellyfish."

"I think this is fun," Paul said,"But I liked the Pittsburgh Zoo better."

"Oh, yeah?" I asked, interested. "Why is that?"

He shrugged. "They had all the animals separate. They were all in their own cages."

"I see."

Michelle asked,"What do you guys want to see next?"

"I want to check out the boats outside," said Paul.

Outside the aquarium, on the Chesapeake Bay, there was an operation that rented small boats to ride around the harbor for half an hour at a time. We'd gotten a pirate ship with a kraken on the side, which I liked, and Paul was steering it. I got a photo of another boat shaped like a sea monster.

"Closest I've ever come to finding the Chesapeake Bay serpent," I said.

"There's a serpent out here?" asked Rylan.

"Yeah, Chessie, the Chesapeake Bay cryptid. We've encountered that one before." I'd looked into Chessie years ago, on a family trip to Virginia. 

"What's that?" Paul asked.

I glanced over. There was something swimming in the water by the buoy, sticking a long neck up out of the water. I took a photo and got all excited for a moment, until I realized what it was.

"It's a duck," I said.

It came up out of the water, and then a moment later, flew away.

After a long day at school, Paul likes to relax by going insane on the trampoline. He and Serina were bouncing around, burning off any inexplicable excess energy.

"Find any ghosts?" Serina asked me. She's always interested in these things.

"No ghosts recently, but I did bike out to Castanea to look for thunderbirds the other day."

She looked surprised. "You went all the way to Castanea?"

"It's not that far. Truth is, we live practically next door to Castanea. Castanea Township is right over there. But everyone thinks we live far away, because you have to go the long way around. We could just walk right to it if there was a bridge over Bald Eagle Creek...."

I trailed off. Paul glanced over at me, and said,"Dad?"

"Just had a thought," I said. "Be right back."

I went inside and came back with a Clinton County map. I unfolded it and said,"Okay, so I've had a thunderbird sighting in Castanea and a Mothman sighting in Beech Creek. The Jersey Devil was seen at the paper mill in 1909. Now, it's normal for some birds to follow along waterways; that's where the food is. People see large birds sometimes, out of area specimens, and mistake them for cryptids."

"Have you seen cryptids turn out to be large birds before?" Serena asked.

"Egrets? I've had a few. Beech Creek runs into Bald Eagle Creek, which runs into the Susquehanna River, which ends up in the Chesapeake Bay. So large birds could theoretically fly up the river right in from the coast. Which means....They'd end up at the paper mill. It's why there are all those ducks and geese in the mill ponds."

I looked up from the map. they were both staring at me.

"So I need to check out where all the birds go."

It was autumn; the sun was going down earlier, and it was almost dark when we picked Paul up from dance class. I made him a pizza---He's always starved after dance, plus most of the rest of the time---And he sat down at the table to eat it. I went up to my office and changed into my outift.

Sling bag with the bandolier. Hood, Fingerless gloves. I was ready.

I walked downstairs. Paul asked,"Where are you going?"

"Down to the paper mill to look for the Mothman. I'll be back in a bit."

I got my bike out of the garage and rode toward the paper mill, a couple of blocks away past the Lock Haven city limit. It was a bright moon, not quite full. I turned toward the paper mill.

Birds had been flying up Bald Eagle Creek for probably a hundred years or more. Once I saw it, I couldn't quite unsee it---Even the alleys in this neighborhood were named after birds. Grouse Alley, Finch Alley, Crane Alley. The ponds at the paper mill were a good stopping point for traveling birds, even ones not generally seen in the area.

I pulled up at the gate. Mostly I forget just how close I live to the very edge of Lock Haven. I was in the parking lot of a local bar, which was reasonably quiet on a Thursday night. The ponds with their usual flock of geese were right beside me, past the gate.

I walked along it, looking through, checking for cryptids.

Something moved behind me.

It rustled through the tall grass as I turned.

Showtime.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

It was giant---At least four feet tall. Dark grey. It came at me, making a crowing sort of sound, and I flailed out at it, punching and kicking.

The Mothman!

I punched out, scraping up my knuckles, and then kicked. It backed off. I'm not gonna get killed by a cryptid; I'm gonna have a heart attack sometime. Once I got my pulse back under control, I realized that it was a bird---A huge one, some sort of crane.

It came at me again. I backed up and kicked. I wasn't using any kind of specialized martial art, I was thrashing around in pure panic hoping to hit something. I raised my arms, and held up my shoulder bag, hoping to make myself look bigger and more threatening.

The crane bought it and took off. I chased after it for about ten yards before deciding I really didn't want to do that. I fell to one knee in the parking lot, catching my breath, as it launched itself over the fence and disappeared.

"Birds of a feather," I said.

I was printing envelopes at work when the back door opened and Tif rolled in with her new wheelchair. "Oh, hi, hon," I said.

"Hi Dad," said Tif. "I came to get a copy made. What the hell happened to your hand?"
I looked down at my right hand, scratched up from the night before. "Oh, this. I got into a fight with some kind of sandhill crane."

"On purpose?"

"Not really; the bastard snuck up on me and mugged me. I thought it was the Mothman."

"And you were so disappointed it was a bird that you had to start a fight with it?"

"It started a fight with me. I didn't even see it coming. Apparently they can be aggressive to humans if they're defending their territory."

"Don't some of those things get about five feet tall?"

"This one looked like it was close to Paul's height. It was pretty alarming."

"So the crane accounts for the Mothman sightings?"

"They often do. A sandhill crane was probably responsible for the original sightings in 1966, but nobody really wanted to hear that."

"I think people need cryptids," said Tif.

I grinned.

"I know I do."

Philadelphia Phantom

"How about in August, we go to Philadelphia?" Michelle asked me.

I looked up from dinner. "What's in Philadelphia? I mean, there's a lot of stuff, but what specifically this summer?"

"There's a Chinese lantern festival. I'd really like to see it. I know you've been to Philadelphia plenty of times before, but...."

"I was born near there. But that actually sounds pretty cool. Sure, if you want to, see if you can find us a place to stay." I turned to my laptop and did a search.

"Oh....Wow," I said.

"What?"

"It's very near Fairmount Park," I said. "I've been dying to get to Fairmount Park for years now. You know what's in Fairmount Park?"

"The Philosopher's Stone, kid," I said. "You know the Philosopher's Stone?"

Chloe nodded. "Sure I know the Philosopher's Stone!"
I'd invited Chloe out to Dunkin' Donuts for coffee and a fruity drink she was having. Chloe is a teenager about to start college, and the words "awesome kid" come readily to mind with her. She'd been coming on my tours for a few years, and had shown a strong interest in local history. We'd recently reconnected, and were hanging out and chatting.

"So there's this old legend down there, connected with some history," I explained. "The history part is that there were a group of monks living in Fairmount Park back in the seventeen hundreds. They lived in some caves down there. You can still apparently see the cave of their leader, Kelpius. He died there, but before he died....Here's the legend part...He gave his assistant, Geissler, a box of ancient magical artifacts."
I took a sip of my coffee. Chloe was listening intently.

"Kelpius wanted the artifacts thrown into Wissahickon Creek so that they never fell into the wrong hands. But according to the story, Geissler decided to preserve them for future generations. So he buried them somewhere beside the creek. Now, the magic part is also kind of plausible---The local farmers believed that these guys could do magic; when their crops failed or a cow got sick or something, they'd go to the monks. One of the artifacts that was said to be in their possession....And therefore buried....Is the Philosopher's Stone."

Chloe smiled. "So....."

"So someplace down in Philadelphia, buried, may be the Philosopher's Stone, or at least an item that the monks believed to be the Philosopher's Stone. I've been dying to go after this one for years. So when we go on vacation down there....Now's my chance."

"That's so cool," said Chloe. "I hope you find it."
"That brings me to a favor I wanted to ask you, kid," I said. "When I'm away, it kind of makes me feel better to have someone back home to talk to....A message or maybe a couple of phone calls. Would you mind being my lifeline while I'm away?"

"Oh, sure," said Chloe. "Feel free to message me. I'd love that."

"Great. I appreciate that. It always makes me feel a bit better to have someone to keep in touch with, you know?"
"I can understand it."

"I may be trying out a new paranormal uniform," I said. "I always wear a tactical vest when I'm investigating, because it has enough pockets for all my stuff. But lately....Well, honestly, I just look too much like an ICE agent."

Chloe made a face. "Yeah, you don't want that."

"No. I don't like the image, I don't want to scare anyone by accident. I've been wearing this thing for years now, but I look at photos of these guys and I cringe. So I'm thinking about a temporary change to the outfit."

"Have anything in mind?"
I grinned.

"I've been thinking of something a little more ninja."

"When I was a kid, Pipper, we used to come to Philadelphia," I said. "My dad would bring us; we lived not too far from here. I had some fun times here. Look! There's Boathouse Row!"

"That's cool, Dad," said Paul, sitting in the back of the Jeep. I looked at Boathouse Row, lined in white lights, as we passed along the Delaware River.

"There's a few haunted spots near where we're going to be," I said. "You want to check them out with me later?"

"Sure," said Paul. 

"We have the Chinese Lantern festival tomorrow night," said Michelle. "Should be at the apartment any minute."

"On our way out on Thursday, I'm going to look for the Philosopher's Stone," I said.

"Harry Potter already found that," said Paul. "I saw the movie like five times."

"This one was owned by a group of monks," I said. "They lived in Philadelphia."

We found our parking garage around the corner from the place Michelle had rented. There was a psychic shop on the corner as we passed by, offering tarot readings. Typically for Philadelphia, everything was tagged---The whole city is pretty much held together by spray paint.

"Look over there, Paul," I said. "That's the Delaware River. And across from there is New Jersey. We're on the very edge of the state here."

The apartment was a nice one, with a bedroom and kitchen area, and a living room with a pull-out couch. I dropped our stuff and dug out some of my maps and charts, sitting down at the desk for a while. Then I looked up at Paul.

"Want to go for a walk?" I asked him.

"Sure."

We came out of the building, and I was wearing my new uniform. 

I'd dropped the tactical vest. I'd always loved it, but I don't want to be dressing like the bad guys. So I'd spent some time redesigning my outfit.

I needed something functional that could be carried places, and would hold all my equipment. Something that stood out a little, but didn't mark me as too unusual. And after some work, I'd come up with it.

The fingerless gloves remained. I had a shoulder bag slung over my left shoulder, with a strap across my chest, bandolier-style. It had a couple of small pouches on the strap to hold my most important equipment. And I had a black hood, pulled down.

"What do you think, kid?" I asked. "This is the new outfit. I'm thinking I look like a ninja, or maybe Robin Hood or something."

Paul looked me over.

"Not bad," he decided. "But with the hood up, you look like a kidnapper."

'Not a ninja?"

"Kind of a ninja. But I'm definitely getting kidnapper vibes here. You're not going to wear the forest ranger jacket again, are you?"

"No, that was for Covid. I'm done with the forest ranger jacket."

"Okay. What happened to the skull gloves?"
"I traded them for these plain black ones. You like the skull gloves?"

"Yeah, I liked those."
"Maybe I'll re-add the skull gloves."

"There's a Seven-Eleven over there. Can I get a hot dog?"

"Yeah. I'll buy you a hot dog."

We walked peaceably down the street while Paul ate his hot dog. I was pointing out stores and things I remembered from Philadelphia when I was a kid. I saw a sign and said,"The Betsy Ross House! Do you want to see the Betsy Ross House?"

"Sure."

"Have you learned about Betsy Ross in school?"

"A little. Didn't she put nineteen stars on the flag because there were nineteen states?"

"Yeah, that's right. The house is said to be haunted, maybe Betsy Ross herself." I got my EMF detector out of the pocket, and turned it on. It didn't react for a minute, and then flared up to .14, and then back down. 

"Now, that's interesting. And now it's back to nothing. Yeah, kid, we may have a ghost here."

I sat at the small desk, maps spread out in front of me. I'd sent Chloe a message asking where Benjamin Franklin was supposed to be haunting. I was drinking coffee from the only mug that had been provided---The Airbnb people had left us ten coffee pods but one mug. Michelle came out of the bedroom.

"How's the kid?" I asked.

"Still asleep. Where are you off to?"
"Thought I'd take a walk, do a little exploring and investigating. There's plenty of haunted spots around."

"No Bigfoot this time?"

"You don't get a lot of Bigfoot sightings in downtown Philadelphia. I checked."

"How long are you going to be out?"

"Probably not too long. I promised Paul we'd take him shopping a bit later. I think he might like the Fashion District."

My cell phone blipped. I checked my messages---Chloe had answered my question: Independence Hal.

I smiled.

The kid had come through.

I walked through Philadelphia wearing the new uniform. Turning south, I went toward the City Tavern. It had been a meeting place of the Founding Fathers, when they'd wanted a beer, and if that was the catalyst I figured we should send a few cases over to the White House right now. It had burned down, but a reproduction had been rebuilt, and it was thought to be haunted by a bride who'd died in the fire.

The new outfit was working. It did what I needed it to do, and in the city, it didn't stand out excessively. In Lock Haven, where I was known, I could get away with a lot. I'd wondered about Philadelphia, but it wasn't attracting a whole lot of attention. I'd already passed like six guys with similar chest rigs.

I got to the City Tavern, which was right across from our parking garage. I pulled out the EMF detector and walked around the outside of the building. No readings initially, just like last night at the Betsy Ross House.

I found a small garden on the southwest side, and it didn't look exactly closed to the public, so I walked up into it. Pretty little place. As I walked across, I got a reading on the EMF detector---Just for a moment, and then it was gone.

I walked back and retraced my path twice, and I couldn't get it to come back again. No power lines. No lights. No reason that I could see for the flicker I'd gotten.

So, maybe a ghost. It made at least as much sense as the Philly Phanatic.

Philadelphia knows what it is. The city promotes its historic sites with the same intensity it pushes food trucks on the corner. I walked through the historic district with my EMF detector, reaching Independence Hall.

It's amazing to me, the way you can just....Be somewhere. Two hundred and forty-nine years ago, our entire country was created right here, just a few blocks from where we were staying. And here I was, in the same place that great men had walked. All you have to do is sit in a car forever, and you can just be there, in the same place they'd been. There's really something magical about it.

My EMF detector did it again---A spike, for a few seconds, and then a drop to zero. No reason for it. No lights or cables. I lowered it to the ground to test---Other places I did this routine, I'd attracted stares. In Philadelphia, I wasn't even close to the most unusual thing going on today. No readings, meaning that underground wires weren't causing the signal.

I smiled. I'd have to tell Chloe.

We walked through Franklin Park, looking at the Chinese Lantern festival. I had to admit, it was worth the trip. Elaborate, colorful Chinese lanterns were on display throughout the park, in a variety of shapes. My personal favorite was the bear.

We walked through a tunnel of lanterns, made to look like flowers with bees flying among them,

"Bees," I said. "Why did it have to be bees?"

"Can I get a hot dog?" asked Paul.

We sat at a table with hi shot dog, and he ate half in a single bite. Michelle smiled. "This is wonderful. I've always wanted to come to one of these things."

"I got to go shopping this morning," said Paul. "This is the best day ever!"

"My favorite part, buddy, was walking around the city with you," I told him.

I'd been on plenty of trips with the family. Me being me, I'd always had to have some sort of a side quest---I always tried to find out where the ghosts and cryptids were, have something to sneak off and go investigate. And more than once, I'd been so excited about the upcoming adventure that I'd almost missed the smaller moments.

It hadn't been like that, this time. I'd been enjoying all of it, every little stop along the way. I'd been having a good time with my kid, and not trying to leap forward to the next thing.

Maybe, finally in my fifties, I was learning to enjoy the moment.

"Well," I said,"All I need to do is find a Philosopher's Stone, and I'll be having a pretty good vacation, too."

I sat at the small desk, drinking coffee. Outside, the sun was rising over the Delaware River. I was wearing my black alien T-shirt. It was already looking to be a nice day.

Michelle came out of the bedroom. She said,"Is there still coffee?"

"Should be plenty. How's the kid?"

"Still asleep."

"Yeah, that sounds about right. I got all my stuff packed."

"We have to be out of here at ten. And he has dance tonight."

"We'll be headed home in plenty of time," I said. "I just want to hike out to the Cave of Kelpius, and then we'll be on our way."

"Hermit Lane," I said. "Pull in there. It's named after the hermits who lived here."

"Seriously?" asked Michelle.

"Oh yeah, really. Back around 1700, they were pretty big in the area. Look, there's a playground we can park in. Paul, you want to come with me, or stick around the playground?"

"I think I want to play," said Paul.

"Okay." I got out of the car. "I'll be back soon."

Wearing the new uniform, I walked through Wissahickon Park. I followed the trails listed on my map---I like working in a print shop; I can print off as many maps as I want. The park was a nice place, with a lot of forest area to explore. 

I came out of the forest in what appeared to be a backyard. An elaborate garden surrounded what appeared to be an old mansion. It could be the hermitage where the monks had lived, but it was equally possible that I'd gotten misdirected and stumbled into someone's private property.

No, it was the hermitage. I walked up the stone stairs alongside, and found another trail. After a moment to check the map again, I walked down into the woods.

After a while, the path split off to the right. I took the turn, and made my way along a winding footpath that led up and over a hill....And there it was.

The Cave of Kelpius.

I stopped to admire it for a moment. It reminded me of my father's root cellar, back on the farm. A small stone door built into the hillside sat next to a stone monument that explained who Kelpius had been. I took it all in, standing in the woods. I'd wanted to come explore this place for fifteen years....And now I was here.

I'd actually made it.

I stepped inside and looked around. The stone walls surrounded a dirt floor, a little bit smaller than Paul's bedroom. After a moment, I walked back out into the sunlight.

A path led down to the river. I followed it, and a few minutes later, came out beside Wissahickon Creek.

This was where Daniel Geissler had stood, and thrown artifacts into the water. Or buried them, depending on exactly which version of the legend you selected. 

I walked back and forth along the path for a moment. Then I stopped, and began to make a few concentric circles through the woods, walking with my EMF detector. At one point, I got a faint flicker, and I stopped there and looked around.

In one spot, there was a place where the grass was growing differently than the rest. For about a foot, the grass looked mangled, twisted.

Like there was something underneath it, affecting the way it grew.

I knelt down beside it. I pulled a trowel out of my pouch---I'd loaded the new outfit up with all sorts of useful stuff---And began digging.

About a foot and a half down, I found it.

Something was there. I wriggled it out of the ground. It was wrapped in a sort of waxy parchment paper that fell apart as I lifted it. And as the paper fell away, I saw it.

A stone.

It was roughly egg-shaped, golden and glittering. Like nothing I'd seen along the path. It sparkled in the sun as I held it up.

The Philosopher's Stone. The stone that Kelpius had believed to be the mystical one.

I slipped it into my pocket and stood up. I started walking back up the path. My family would be waiting.

"Well, I'm glad you had a good time in Philadelphia, Dad," said Tif.

She was finishing up dinner at the table. I was washing the dishes. I said,"Yeah, it was great. Did some exploring and some ghost hunting, Paul went shopping, Michelle got her Chinese lantern festival. We had a good time."

"Good."

"So, you want to see the new look?"

Tif's eyes lit up. "Yes!"
I walked out, and came back a minute later wearing the new uniform. She looked it over. "I like it."

"It does what I need it to do. It's functional, carries my stuff, and I've wanted a hood for years now. I think it's got kind of  a ninja look."

"I'm getting Robin Hood, for sure."

"Yeah, there's some Robin Hood in there, too."

"So how about the Philosopher's Stone? Did you find that?"

I grinned.

"Funny you should ask."

It ended the way it began---Having coffee with Chloe.

"So how was Philadelphia?" she asked me, sitting across from me in the little café on Main Street.

I smiled. "It was pretty amazing. We had a great time, saw a lot of cool stuff. We all got to do something we liked. Michelle got her Chinese lantern festival, Paul got to shop...."
Chloe grinned. "I can understand that."

"....And I got to hunt ghosts. By the way, thanks for helping out with that."

"Well, thanks for letting me. A lot of the time, people will say they might ask for help, but they don't. So it was nice that you followed through."

"Well, I really did need the help. And maybe you helped me find Benjamin Franklin's ghost." And I was pretty sure I'd also found a new partner.

She leaned across the table. "So, did you bring it?"

I brought out the Philosopher's Stone and showed her. "See? It sparkles. It was pretty much right where I expected it to be."
"That's really cool. I mean, what are the odds?"

"There's always an adventure out there, kid," I said.

Decades Ago

"Emily, would you mind printing me off one of the signs for my books? I'm going to need it down in Lancaster this weekend."

Emily smiled. "Sure, Lou. No problem. That's right, this weekend is another Lancaster trip."

"Yeah, some of the team and I are in for a Cryptid Weekend event at a club down there. It's called Decades, and it's made from an old armory. So we're investigating the first night, staying over in a hotel, and then I'm trying to sell some of my books at the event the next day."

"Sounds like fun."

"I hope. I been all excited; I'm looking forward to it mostly."

She glanced at me. "Mostly?"

"This coming weekend kind of bothers me a little. Sunday is one year since I died in the emergency room. I mean, it's also the anniversary of the Roswell crash, but I'm a little less concerned with that."

"Oh, wow. Yeah. I can see how that would bother you."

"I don't really expect anything is going to happen. But it's still on my mind, you know? Just a little apprehensive about the day."

"I'm glad you made it," said Emily. "Glad you're still with us."

"Yeah," I said. "Me too."

I was a little surprised to see Devaughn already waiting in the parking lot when we pulled in. I got out of the car and said,"Hey! Were you on guard duty or something?"

He grinned. "I saw you guys getting here through the window. Here's your key."

"Thanks. Everyone else here?"

"Yep. We just got in a little while ago. We have four rooms booked."

"Excellent."

Tim came through the front doors of the hotel. "Millie's looking good," he said. "She's walking without her cane today."

"Good news," I said. "I'm sure she's all excited."

"She's loving this. She said she's starved."

"Me, too, to be honest. Let me get our stuff up to the room, and then we'll head out for food."

"I got us some Golden Corral gift cards. That should work."

"Love Golden Corral. Be right with you."

The room was much nicer than I'd expected. I had two large bags---My camouflage travel bag and my gym bag with the paranormal stuff in it. I set them beside the bed I expected to be using. I tend to travel pretty efficiently, with all of my stuff staying packed unless I'm using it so I can just grab it and go. Michelle and Paul, by contrast, would have their crap all over the room within five minutes.

Michelle came in behind me and looked around. "Hey. This is nice."

"It really is. I'm pleased with it. They say there's a free breakfast."

"Probably just toast and stuff."

"Still. If there's coffee, I'm good. You ready to go to dinner?"

The Golden Corral is what would happen if someone piled all of the food in the world together and let everyone go nuts on it. I'm always interested to see what Paul's going to go for---He's a picky eater, but he loves buffets and things. He likes to make his own selections; in this case, four slices of pizza and then dessert.

I walked through the salad bar, then got some pork steaks and seafood salad, and joined Millie and my family at the table. I said to Millie,"You remember the bat incident? That time I got chased out of a stairwell by a bat during an investigation?"

She grinned. "The old VFW, around, what, 2010, wasn't it?"

"That sounds about right."

Michelle asked,"Are you guys going to investigate after dinner?"

"Yeah, we'll come back to grab our stuff and then head out," I said. "Paul, you can come along, or you can stay with your mom. Either way. I should be back around ten."

"I want to stay with Mom," said Paul.

"Okay."

"We can go see a movie," Michelle offered.

"Find out if we can see Lilo and Stitch."

I changed from my Bigfoot Research Team shirt to my LHPS uniform. I got my tactical vest out of my bag and pulled it on. The fingerless gloves with skulls on the back. I strapped on my LHPS belt and clicked it shut. Checked and made sure everything was secured in my pockets.

The others met me down in the lobby, and we walked out the door. We walked across the parking lot to the vehicle.

There was an outdoor elevator at Decades, and we all stepped on it. Me, Tim, Millie, Vince, Devaughn, and Petey. We rose up to the garage door as it opened, almost in slow motion, and we stepped through it into the building.

The ghost hunters had arrived.

Go time.

"We have an art show down here in the basement," said Tony, the owner of Decades. "But nobody should be in this section. You're welcome to do anything you need to down here. I'm excited."

At the end of the hall was a set of big rooms that appeared to be storage. Vince set down the case and started digging for equipment. I got out an EMF detector. Tony asked,"Does anyone need anything? Drinks? Water?"

"I could go for some water," I said. "I'm on a blood pressure patch that leaves me dehydrated."
Tony nodded. "Be right back."

"Okay, guys," I said,"I think we're best sticking to video and measurement readings on this one, and not bothering with any audio. With everything going on upstairs, there's no point. So let's do cameras, EMFs, laser thermometers, and see what we can come up with."

Vince began setting things up, and Tim started going around taking readings. Millie sat down and began looking through the FLIR. I took my EMF detector and wandered into the next room, and immediately saw that there was going to be some trouble.

The entire wall was covered with electrical junction boxes---All the power in the place ran right through here. My EMF detector spiked right away, and stayed high. I walked all the way across the room, and the readings continued.

Tim walked in. He asked,"What do you think?"
"I can see some of this already," I said. "This whole wall is electric. The EMFs are off the charts. Been a while since I've seen this. We have a fear cage going here."

"Oh?"

I nodded. "Some people are sensitive to EMFs. High ones can make a non-haunted place feel haunted, and a haunted place feel worse. Sloan Hall back in Lock Haven is like that. I did an apartment building a few years back that also had the same effect."

"I'm getting some odd temperature readings in the hall," Tim commented. "Millie has some stuff on video---There's a blob of light moving around in there, and she's getting it on tape. She says she has a new friend."

I grinned. "Well, that's cool. I'm going to go and see how far this field goes."

I walked back around to the other room. Tony had left some water bottles for us, and I took one and got a drink. It helped. I was now to the point I could tell when my blood pressure medication was working because I was dehydrated or tired.

 I walked through the far room, and found Devaughn taking some readings. I said,"We're getting high EMFs, even over here. Right through the wall. This would explain a lot."

He nodded. "Yeah, they're pretty high."

We walked out into the hall. A woman was there looking at the art exhibit, and she said,"Oh my god, you guys are ghost hunters! Is this place haunted?"

"Looking that way," commented Tim.

"This is awesome! I'm really into this! Can I take your picture?"

So we posed a moment for a photo at the end of the hall. 

I walked through the hallway quietly, checking with my EMF detector and the laser thermometer. I stopped to look at some of the art, too, which was pretty good. 

A year ago, I'd gotten up in the morning and been quickly rushed to the hospital. I'd actually died for thirty seconds when my heart stopped and I'd needed CPR. I didn't remember a whole lot; I'd basically returned to life in a Williamsport hospital room with a nurse standing over me. 

The anniversary was on my mind. Nobody else seemed to remember exactly what day it had been. Emily got a pass; she hadn't known me then. I didn't particularly expect everyone else to be dwelling on it or anything, but I myself was thinking about it a lot as the one-year anniversary came.

Vince had put a homemade Theremin on a bench down the hall, because apparently he'd had a few minutes available to make them. I could hear it go off thirty feet away. Tim and Tony came out into the hallway, and Tim said,"It's not supposed to be doing that."

"Not while I'm about thirty feet off, it's not," I said. I waved my fingers near the antenna, and it went off when they got too close. "See, I gotta be like an inch away."

"Something is making it go off," said Tim.

"Getting photos." I took my camera out of a pocket and rotated through the hall, snapping photos. "Tony, would it be okay if I did a walk-through upstairs, and just get a few readings? I can take off the vest if you think it would make people nervous."

He grinned. "Yeah, I think it might. But you're welcome to check around upstairs."

I dropped the vest on the table by my pack, and walked upstairs with the EMF detector. The upper floor was packed with people, eating and playing the arcade games. It was also packed with EMFs; I got readings just about everywhere I stood.

The bouncer approached me. "You're one of the ghost hunters, right? How's it going?"

"Place is probably haunted," I said. "But there are also electromagnetic fields making it seem a bit crazier than it really is."

"That's really cool," he said. "You do a lot of this?"

"All the time, but mostly back in Lock Haven. Sometimes I get out of the county, though, and do some traveling. Been spending a lot of time in Lancaster lately."

"I like those gloves," he said. "I need to get a pair like that."

I was wearing the vinyl gloves with skulls on the back. "Amazon," I said. "About eleven bucks. I wear these on most investigations."

"Cool!"

I walked around a bit more, and then headed back downstairs. Tim caught me in the hallway and said,"What do you think about packing up and getting ready for tomorrow?"

"Been here a couple of hours. It's probably about time."

"Find anything up there?"

"Place is still bleeding EMFs. The bouncer likes my fashion sense. How's it going down here?"

"Plenty on the spirit box. Millie got her video. It's been pretty busy. Tony is happy."

"Good. Good."

I don't care if I wake up on fire, my first priority is going to be coffee. I got up in the hotel before Michelle and Paul, and went looking for coffee in the lobby. I got a cup and brought it back upstairs, where I found Tim in the hallway doing essentially the same thing.

"How's it going?" I asked.

"We're getting everyone up and ready," he said. "We'll get checked out and head for Decades for the event. Great night last night."

I nodded. I leaned against the wall and drank some of my coffee. "We got some good results. I'm pleased."

"Millie loved it. She's having a great time. I'm glad we could get her out for this."

"Me, too. Millie and I go way back. She was essentially the first person I recruited for the team back in 2007."

"You ready for today?"
I took a drink of my coffee and grinned at him.

"Getting there."

A giant cardboard sign of Bigfoot stood across from me in the lobby. I sat at the table with my vest spread out in front of me, much of my equipment on display, and stacks of my books for sale. I'd been fielding questions and explaining things for a couple of hours. It was a good event.

Tim and the SPI team were across the lobby, with Millie beside them. I caught her eye and gave her a thumbs-up, and she smiled and returned it.

Paul sat down beside me. "Are there any more tokens?" he asked.

I pulled a small black sack out of my pack and handed it to him. "Plenty more, buddy. You enjoying the games?"

He nodded. "I played the basketball one for a while, and a Jurassic Park one. I also played one where I shoot aliens."
"Cool. Just in case we get invaded again."

He looked at me. "It was this time last year when you went to the hospital."

I glances dat him with some surprise. "Yeah. Tomorrow, in fact. How did you know that?"

"You weren't there the first week of my summer camp. I wasn't happy when I woke up and you weren't home. You know that big dent in my top bunk? That's where I kicked it when you didn't come home.""

"It was pretty traumatic for all of us, buddy. But everything seems to be allright now." I gave him a hug. "In fact, everything is just fine."