The Occult Section

I first heard that a movie was being made about suspected Staten Island serial killer Andre Rand about 6 months ago. I had all but forgotten until I visited the Ghost Theory blog about 2 weeks ago, and they had the trailer posted. The movie is called “Cropsey,” and I was able to catch it this weekend at the IFC Center in Manhattan.

So why am I blogging, on a paranormal blog, about a documentary based on a serial killer? Well for one thing, the mystery is still unsolved, at least in my mind. But we’ll get to that in a bit. But the movie also examines these child murders from the point of view of urban legend, the myth of the boogeyman who lives in the woods, and how these myths and legends can sometimes be based on fact, or sometimes even come true. In this case, a series of child disappearances and murders was taking place on Staten Island, New York, starting in the late ’70s and into the ’80s. “Cropsey” is the name of an urban legend on the east coast, usually told at summer camp, of a deranged man in the woods who kills children. Sometimes he has a hook for a hand, sometimes a bloody axe. The story is a little different depending on who tells it. The filmmakers tie this urban legend to what actually happened with these child murders. Lastly, the movie deals with the old Willowbrook School and Seaview Hospital, and I want to talk about the stories of hauntings that we heard as paranormal investigators about these killings and these locations.

First the movie itself. If you have a chance to see it, I strongly suggest you do. It’s an interesting story, and I think one that will cause a lot of controversy. The movie tells the story of some missing children, who started disappearing on Staten Island beginning in the early 1970s and continuing until the 1980s. In all, police suspected 7 children were the victims of the same serial killer. Only one body, that of Jennifer Schweiger, was ever found. Her nude body was found in a shallow grave in the general vicinity of the camp of a homeless man named Andre Rand, on the grounds where the Willowbrook State School used to stand. It is now home to the College of Staten Island, of which I am a graduate.

The Willowbrook State School, for those who may not have heard of it, was a “school” for mentally retarded children back in the ’60s through the early ’80s.  In 1972, Geraldo Rivera got his big break by doing an exposé on the school, showing its deplorable conditions (you can view the report here). Overcrowding, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and illegal experiments were just some of the things that went on at Willowbrook.  It was finally closed in 1987.

Back to Andre Rand. He actually worked at Willowbrook, and once the institution closed, he lived on the grounds in makeshift campsites and shelters, possibly even living in the tunnels underneath the facility. He was arrested in 1969 of kidnapping and attempted rape of a 9-year-old girl. He was working in a complex where Alice Pereira vanished in 1972. Witnesses saw him with Holly Ann Hughes when she disappeared in 1981. And of course, the body of Jennifer Schweiger was found in the vicinity of his camp in Willowbrook in 1987. After that, he was arrested, charged and convicted of Jennifer’s murder. Just recently, he was convicted in a second murder, that of Holly Ann Hughes.

The film uses lots of archival footage as well as recent interviews with detectives, witnesses and community leaders who were involved in the initial investigation of the crimes. The filmmakers, Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio, present an interesting film, part urban legend, part crime drama, and it works well. It is thought provoking, it is sad, and it is creepy.

Andre Rand

And it is frightening just how easily Andre Rand was convicted. Granted, this is a man who probably should not be allowed to roam the streets. But all of the evidence against him was circumstantial. Yes, he had prior charges against him, and while that doesn’t mean he should be around children, it doesn’t prove he committed these specific murders. Some witnesses did place him at the scenes of some crimes, but it is revealed in the film that most of these eyewitnesses were alcoholics or drug addicts who couldn’t give specific details at the time, but now 20 years later and after drug and alcohol rehabilitation, can miraculously “remember” seeing Andre Rand, in great detail, with these girls. The film even shows a witness in the Holly Hughes trial, a woman who claims that she saw Rand, in a mask, kidnapping Holly. Not sure how she knew it was him if he was in a mask. She also claims to have known most of the other victims of this series of crimes. Her eyes are bloodshot and sunken in. She looked like she was smoking crack moments before being interviewed. And yes, the body was discovered near Rand’s campsite, but it should be noted that there were many other homeless men living in the same area, and no forensic or DNA evidence has ever been found to link Rand to the one body they did find.

Do I think he’s innocent? Not necessarily. But is he guilty of all these murders? Nobody really knows. There is a lot of reasonable doubt. Yet he is serving jail time, 25 years to life. Not only that, but he has been convicted twice. Because a body was found near where he lived and some drug addicts said it was him. And because he looks crazy. That’s like any of us being convicted of the murder of the tenant in the apartment below ours, just because they live close to us and people have seen us talking in the past. There is no evidence, and save one, no bodies. Are we better off without him on our streets? Undoubtedly. But did he commit these murders? Nobody knows except for Andre Rand and/or the real murderer(s).

Seaview Hospital

There was some mention in the movie as well that Rand may have been involved with a Satanic cult, which supposedly held its meetings in the abandoned Seaview Hospital, which at one time held tuberculosis patients. There are many rumors on Staten Island about the old Seaview facility and what goes on there, and perhaps the biggest rumor is that it’s the home of Satanic cults and their grisly rituals. I’ve been there, and while it’s definitely creepy, there’s no sign of anything going on there besides some kids playing paintball and scaring each other at night, as well as some homeless people spending some nights there. The filmmakers even venture there one night in the flm, with some humorous results.

But an interesting note. While we were ghost hunters, we were told by many of the staff at the College of Staten Island that the grounds were haunted. Not too hard to believe, as the facility had a very tragic and turbulent past (even before Willowbrook, the facility was used as a World War II hospital and there are rumors that POWs were also held there, and probably not treated well). Most of the stories were of children crying, appearing as apparitions, things like that. But one security guard told us of a girl who had been found dead on the grounds, the victim of a serial killer. We were shown the location, and it was said that the first floor women’s bathroom in the building adjacent to where the body was found was haunted by her. We never found any solid evidence when we went to check it out, but we did encounter very strange and very high EMF spikes. We also heard footsteps, voices and chairs being moved on the second floor, in classrooms that were locked, when we were the only ones on campus late at night (with the security guards). Was it a ghost? The boogeyman? We’ll never know for sure. Just like we may never know who took these children from us.

Technorati Tags: andre rand, boogeyman, cropsey, geraldo rivera, media, new york, new york city, News, people, satanic cult, seaview, serial killer, staten island, the last great disgrace, thoughts, unexplained, unsolved, willowbrook

This story is just…wow. So apparently a ghost hunting group in Missouri was out investigating a cemetery on the evening of June 5th, and they are now claiming that they captured the image of a UFO in one of their photos. There’s all sorts of things wrong with this, and so many jokes to be made. But first, the article from Before It’s News:

Original photo

A Missouri paranormal investigation group visiting two cemeteries near Richland on June 5, 2010, are speculating that they may have caught a UFO on a photo at the first location, and may possibly have heard an alien craft at the second location, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.

The object on the photo was not seen by the naked eye at the first location.

The following is the unedited and as yet uninvestigated report filed with MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If Missouri MUFON State Director Debbie Ziegelmeyer investigates and reports back on this case, I will release an update.

MO, June 5, 2010 – Ghost Hunting and took a picture of a possible UFO. Also heard a loud constant humming noise at another cemetery. MUFON Case # 23649.

On the evening of Saturday June 5th our paranormal group decided to do a investigation in a cemetery near Richland Missouri in Pulaski County. It was just the group leader, his wife, and myself that night.

Enlarged "orbs"

So the photo in the story is what they are claiming is a UFO. Personally, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. The enlarged picture shows what looks to be orbs. Orbs are not UFOs. Hell, they’re not even ghosts. And this is really the main problem with investigating cemeteries. In order to do scientific research, you must have a controlled environment, or as controlled as humanly possible. Cemeteries are pretty much the furthest thing from a controlled environment possible when it come to typical ghost hunting locations. EVP sessions will be contaminated, since there are many sounds from the surrounding areas that will be captured, such as traffic on the streets, planes overhead, and people talking or shouting in the distance. You may even have other people in the cemetery, such as kids drinking, or other ghost hunters trying to photograph dust and pass it off as “ghost orbs.” Which brings me to the actual orbs. Cemeteries have way too much particulate matter in the air, so much so that it’s almost difficult to take a series of pictures and not have orbs in at least some of them. Bugs, dust, pollen, water droplets, all of these things can reflect the flash and appear as orbs on the final photo. At least this group isn’t saying that their orbs are ghosts. Just extraterrestrial spacecraft. That’s much more plausible.

Technorati Tags: cemetery, debunking, extraterrestrial, flying saucer, ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, missouri, News, people, picture, thoughts, ufo, ufos

Back in April, I blogged about Stephen Hawking’s point of view concerning alien contact with Earth and what it might mean for us earthlings. He basically said “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.” So basically the doomsday scenario. The Columbia Daily Tribune is now commenting on that article, and includes some of the criticisms of Hawking’s opinion, from the scientific community:

Hawking noted such aliens would probably be nomads living in massive spaceships after having exhausted the resources of their own planets and shifting from one interstellar refueling station to the next. “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.” Hawking has issued this warning for several years. In a 1996 essay, he said until humans become more sophisticated, they should be “wary of answering” aliens.

In response to Hawking’s warning, The Journal of Cosmology, a scholarly journal of astronomy and astrophysics associated with the Department of Astronomy, Center for Astrophysics, at Harvard-Smithsonian in Cambridge, Mass., published the views of 12 scientists commenting on Hawking’s ET statements. According to the Los Angeles Times, “some criticized Hawking’s use of human behavior to predict what aliens would do, but others said human behavior was a reasonable yardstick. Few, however, questioned the premise of Hawking’s statements — that alien life forms probably exist and we are likely someday to encounter them.”

I, too, mentioned in that initial blog entry how it was somewhat irresponsible to use human behavior to predict how an alien race might act towards us. To quote myself:

Again, why would they come to colonize? Why would they come to steal our resources? These are very human, and honestly unimaginitive, theories. Plausible, but unimaginitive. And if you’re going to go with human-like theories, then why stop there? Maybe they would want to come here simply out of curiosity? Or maybe they will come here to open a new chain of superstore?

I’m a bit saddened that none of the other leading scientists mentioned my intergalactic superstore theory. Oh well.

The other interesting piece of news that this same article mentions is that Carl Sagan, a very vocal skeptic about the theory that we may already be host to some alien spacecraft, once confided in Dr. J. Allen Hynek that he actually saw a UFO, but did not want to risk his credibility in admitting so publicly.

A May 5 report by Zland Communications Network also added to the UFO/ET discussion. That report said in 1984 beloved astronomer/astrophysicist Carl Sagan revealed to J. Allen Hynek that he, like Hynek, believed UFOs are real. Hynek, a former professor of astronomy at Ohio State University and at Northwestern University, served as civilian scientific consultant to the U.S. Air Force’s seminal UFO study know as Project Blue Book (1952-69).

At the outset, Hynek was a UFO debunker and, as he said, was an “arch-enemy of those flying saucer groups and enthusiasts who very dearly wanted UFOs to be interplanetary.”

But after leaving Project Blue Book, Hynek wrote: “Now, however, documentation which puts the UFO-U.S. government controversy in quite a new light has become available” and shows “that the CIA and NSA protestation of innocence and lack of interest in UFOs are nothing short of prevarication. … For the government to continue to maintain that UFOs are non-existent in the face of the documents already released and of other cogent evidence … is puerile and, in a sense, an insult to the American people.”

Sagan’s alleged UFO revelation was cited by Hynek’s former colleague, photojournalist and investigative reporter Paola Leopizzi-Harris.

“My recollection is that Hynek said it was backstage of one of the many Johnny Carson Tonight Shows Sagan did,” Leopizzi-Harris said. “He basically said” to Hynek “in 1984, ‘I know UFOs are real, but I would not risk my research funding, as you do, to talk openly about them in public.’ ” This comment was in stark contrast to many of Sagan’s earlier statements, including one at a 1968 meeting of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Astronautics at which he said: “I do not think the evidence is at all persuasive, that UFOs are of intelligent extraterrestrial origin.”

If this is true, it would be incredibly interesting. Sagan was extremely smug and took a holier-than-thou approach to the study of UFOs and ufologists, basically dismissing the possibility that any alien race could get here. Basically the old “We already know all there is to know, and nobody in the entire universe is smarter than us” philosphy. Or as I like to call it, “We already know all there is to know, and nobody in the entire universe is smarter than us-ism.” (Yes, the only thing I took from my college philosophy course is that most models of philosophy end in “-ism”).

Technorati Tags: alien, aliens, carl sagan, celebrity, cover-up, extraterrestrial, flying saucer, j. allen hynek, media, News, people, project blue book, stephen hawking, thoughts, ufo, ufos

The new season of Ghost Hunters Academy started last week, and while I really don’t watch any of the “spinoffs” of Ghost Hunters, I happened to catch it in a rerun late Sunday night (or rather, early Monday morning…thanks, insomnia). And like most things TAPS has been doing for the past 4 years or so, it made me angry. I appreciate everything Ghost Hunters has done for the field of paranormal investigations. But I also despise TAPS for everything they’ve done for the field of paranormal investigations. Sure, they brought attention to the field of serious and scientific paranormal investigations. Before they went on the air, all we had were things like Most Haunted. In the first season, TAPS brought a sensibility to the field that was sorely lacking. They brought, most importantly, level-headedness and skepticism. In the first season or so of Ghost Hunters, good evidence was hard to find. Jason would hardly ever call a location “haunted.” And even the best evidence was left in the “we don’t know what it is” category. Flash forward a few years, and now every little bump or sound is an amazing EVP! Everyone has personal experiences, every week. Which are presented to the client as evidence. Guest hosts abound. Residential cases are largely ignored in favor of commercial clients. “We’re here to help.” Yeah, you’re here to help the business attract customers since they were on a nationally broadcast cable show. I’m not the only one who’s a little fed up with Ghost Hunters and the spinoffs. E! Onlline takes some jabs at them too:

In 2004, after a paranormal experience he won’t discuess, Roto-Rooter plumber Jason Hawes created the Syfy channel show Ghost Hunters. Who knows what dark, evil mass inspired him, but now—like an aged carny handing down his tricks—the clean-domed spook chaser is training new recruits in Ghost Hunters Academy. It’s not an easy job. There’s a reason it’s not called Ghost Catchers.

Hang on. There are a couple more tips that really help if you want to see ghosts:

1. Be delusional.

2. Get thwacked out of your mind on hallucinogens.

3. Make sure you’re a plumber who wants a reality show and are willing to make a complete idiot out of yourself to get it.

They also include a video clip, from the season premier of Ghost Hunters Academy, and Jason talks about the 5 qualities of TAPS members that are super-important to him. Watch the video, and I’ll dissect each point.

1. Skepticism – look for any explanation other than paranormal: Ok, how does Jason even say this with a straight face anymore? Oh yeah, huge paychecks from SyFy. These days, TAPS assumes everything is a ghost or paranormal. Every EVP. Every little spike in the EMF detector. Every time a flashlight blinks. They used to try to debunk things like that, and very rarely do so anymore.

2. Technical knowledge -master the equipment and know how to interpret the readings: Really Jay? So why do your seasoned investigators think that an EMF reading of 1.9 is “high” and therefore, possibly a ghost? Background EMF readings can get into the 2.5 range and even a bit higher. Why is a loose battery cap on a flashlight, making intermittent contact with the batteries and thus causing the light to flicker on and off, interpreted as communication from the spirit world?

3. Honesty: Ok, I have first hand knowledge about TAPS and their “honesty.” I will blog about this specifically in the future, but let’s just say that Ghost Hunters did an episode where they investigated a place that my former group investigated twice, before TAPS ever got there. In the episode, they say that this location called them in because they needed help. False. The producers of the show called this location asking if they could investigate, probably after seieng my group featured on TV investigating it. They then asked this client to lie, on camera, about some experiences that happened in the past, specifically changing the story from “another paranormal team” found this to “some kids” found this. Way to be scientific and fair, TAPS. Jason then decides to debunk said evidence, and when the client tries to explain how Jason’s explanation isn’t correct at all, that gets cut out of the episode. Lies of omission are still lies, guys. Not really very honest of you, Mr. Hawes.

4. Composure: Brian’s “Dude, run!” Steve getting scared out of his skin by a spider on almost every episode. Steve and Tango daring each other to do ridiculous things, on camera, for money, at a client location. This is composure? This is serious investigating? No, this is reality TV and ratings and advertising dollars.

5. Patience – because paranormal activity doesn’t always happen on cue: Well, not the first season anyway. And not for most of the real, hard working, serious paranormal groups out there. But nowadays, for TAPS at least, paranormal activity does happen on cue. Usually right before each commercial break.

And lastly, to address the claim in E!’s article that Jason has a paranormal story he won’t share, that’s not entirely true. he didn’t share it for free on TV. But if you buy his book, “Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from The Atlantic Paranormal Society” for $15.00, you can read all about it.

Technorati Tags: debunking, ghost hunters, ghost hunters academy, hoax, jason hawes, media, News, paranormal, people, syfy, taps, thoughts, tv show

The Patterson/Gimlin footage

Uwharrie, NC (PRWEB) — ”This is the most important footage of a Sasquatch since Paterson/ Gimlin film taken over 40 years ago,” said Matthew Moneymaker, head of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization ( BFRO)as he introduced guest speaker Michael Greene to a crowd of 250 Bigfoot researchers in Yakima, Washington, at an invitation only tribute to Bob Gimlin.

In 1967 The Paterson/ Gimlin film of a Sasquatch striding across a creek in northern California made headlines around the world.

Since then there has been only dubious additional footage, usually crudely made fakes.

Until now.

In April 28th,2009, some three minutes of video of a Sasquatch were taken through a thermal imager (FLIR) by Michael Greene, in the Uwharrie National Forest, NC.

This footage, known as “The Squeaky Thermal” was first shown at Bob Gimlin’s birthday party 2 weeks later. It was viewed with wild applause and a heartfelt “Thank you, thank you so much” from Bob Gimlin, who was finally receiving some well deserved vindication of his efforts so long ago.

Michael Greene is the retired Chief of a State Fraud Investigations Bureau. has a Master’s Degree in Psychology, and is a Court Qualified Questioned Documents Expert ,and former Investigator for the Public Defender’s Office .His hobby for the last 20 years has been searching for proof of this elusive beast. This quest has taken him from glacier fields in the Yukon, to a giant meteor crater in northern Quebec, the Everglades of Florida and the rain forests of the Pacific Northwest.

In 2008 he briefly saw a Sasquatch in the Uwharrie National Forest , and spent the next year repeatedly camping at the spot, trying to encourage its return and gain some semblance of its trust.

“Over and over I left out bananas, apples, peanut butter, Zagnut bars, and little squeaking bathtub toys that my grandchildren like to play with. Hence the name ‘Squeaky’, one of the toys the Bigfoot took. Sometimes things would be taken , most times not. At the time I could only record for about 2 hours, the battery life of the thermal , so a lot of the night went unrecorded. This is definitely a patient man’s game.

“A thermal imager sees only images made by heat. FLIR, or Forward Looking Infra Red, is most familiar to viewers of police reality shows like COPS, where a fugitive is seen from a helicopter as a white image, running through backyards. You cannot fool a thermal imager as it is recording only the heat signature of what it sees. Thus, a man in a costume would look splotchy and irregular, as his costume would suppress the body heat to varying degrees, unlike a naked man, or Bigfoot, which would appear primarily as a solid color.”

Greene continues, “Around 11:30 on the night of April 28th, 2009 I was setting up the thermal recording stuff, to try hiding it in the back of my Toyota Highlander when I heard movement in the woods down in the area I expected it to show up. On an impulse I took the thermal imager and put it on a tripod, with the DVR ( Digital Video Recorder) on the ground next to it. Then I got in the car and drove away, leaving my campsite very obviously deserted . I drove to the one entrance to the area ( which had no one else in it) and parked for two hours ( the approximate life of the thermal’s battery ). When I returned the battery was indeed dead, but the bait was gone.

“On reviewing the tape I saw that about half an hour after I drove away, the creature very cautiously approaches, crawling up the hill behind the stump, then reaches up with its right arm and grabs the Zagnut bar. Then it crawls backwards , moving almost out of sight and moves off to the right of the screen. A few seconds later, perhaps emboldened by its success, it reappears on the right side of the screen and moves, standing upright, to behind a tree, where it slowly sways back and forth, giving the viewer a good idea of its enormous bulk. This swaying behavior has been repeatedly reported by other witnesses. The height I estimate at around 7 ½ feet, but it is hard to exactly pin down as the ground slopes down , away from the viewer so one cannot exactly tell where it’s feet hit the ground.

“My website, www.bushloper.net, gives a thorough explanation of the area, and how it was filmed and a reenactment of the Sasquatch’s movements by me, wearing only shorts, taken from the same spot, with the same equipment. You can see the difference, and I’m 6’5” tall and 190 pounds .By comparison, this thing is huge. The website also contains the complete Squeaky Thermal video (Copyrighted).

The BFRO at one point had an excerpt of the video on their YouTube Channel, but it has since been removed. I’m not sure why. If you go to Mr. Greene’s website, you can only view the video if you pay $2.00. I actually bought the video, as I was naturally curious (and hey, it’s only $2). I would post an excerpt or screen shot, except that Mr. Greene sates on his site:

Mike Greene’s Squeaky thermal video is now avalible for download in the .WMV format. Each download costs $2.00 US dollars which will be paid to PayPal. The video once downloaded may be viewed forever. If anything is at fault you must pay again to download the file. The footage is governed under US COPYRIGHT LAWS even though the watermark may be blurry. Mike has spent over $5,000.00 in documentation (lawyers included) to reserve this right and if it is found reposted on the web or in any other form you will surely be prosecuted!!! Please enjoy Mike’s video if only because he has spent a lot of time and cash in this pursuit, not pastime.

So yeah, I don’t feel like being sued, and he seems pretty serious about litigation. But again, I have to wonder why. If he feels that this is legitimate proof of Bigfoot, and quality proof of Bigfoot, why charge money for people to view it? And why so blatantly threaten a lawsuit against anyone who posts any part of the video, in any form? I would think that any serious researcher would want the evidence out there to as many people as possible, so other researchers and scientists could confirm or deny what he captured.

That being said, this video, like so many others before it (except perhaps the Patterson/Gimlin footage), is grainy and ambiguous. The supposed Bigfoot is behind trees and crawling behind a stump for most of the video. You can definitely tell it’s bipedal at points, and the head looks like the typical conical shape reported in Bigfoot sightings.  But when all is said and done, it’s still just a grainy, blurry, black and white video of a small figure in the distance moving around. It could be a man in a costume. Or it could be Bigfoot. I wasn’t all that impressed by it. And I’m always a little suspicious when people charge money for their ”evidence.” I understand wanting to copyright it, but the fact that the excerpts on both the BFRO YouTube Channel as well as Mr. Greene’s website are now missing makes things even more suspicious. Mr. Greene seems otherwise to have pretty impressive credentials. What are they afraid of? I believe in the possibility of Bigfoot. But until we get a body, a live specimen, or at least some convincing DNA, the videos are just one more piece of the puzzle.

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