OCTOBER EVENTS!! Come, or we will haunt you, bwahahahaha!!!

The Empress Theatre

August 19th, 2017 Investigation.

I need to start this post off by admitting I was very nervous to do this investigation. I am a huge fan of Ghost Adventures and shows like it, but I had only been on one investigation before and I was only there as a mere security personal. I have always had a passion for the afterlife and the mystery that lies there, but this time I was going to actually be in on the action. I figured I would observe this time, rather than bombard the team with questions, and bother the people that had come for their experience. The Empress Theatre has so much history, most of which you can find here. https://www.empresstheatre.com/ 

I walked into the hundred year old building with much anticipation of what I might experience. I was greeted by one of the team members, and Kris Langman, the co-head investigator for M&L Paranormal. I still felt nervous, and a little out of place. I wanted to be able to find a way to expel that feeling before the investigation actually started. I followed Kris into the main Theatre, and found the Halloween Expo team whom I know and absolutely love. That made me feel so much better knowing I was in the company of friends, but I knew I wouldn't be completely at ease until I found Lydia. We have become fast friends, and she is the founder of M&L Paranormal. Once I found her selling her jewelry and merchandise, I could finally pull out my pen and paper and start my process. But this was so much different than anything I had ever experienced before. Everyone in the room was anxious to start the investigating. I looked into the seats around the room, and there were quite a few first timers, and some that had been doing this for many years. Announcements were made and they split the group up into three different groups. I felt a little bit like a puppy with different people calling it's name. I frantically searched the groups and tried to figure which one to follow.  Half of The Halloween Expo friends all needed to leave for the night once again leaving me feeling out of place.  https://www.facebook.com/utahhalloweenexpo/

The lights went down, and I realized I would need to put the pen and paper away, I wouldn't be able to write in the dark, lol. 

I wish I could tell you I wasn't scared, but I was. I didn't have any clue of what might pop out of the shadows, or the shadows themselves. I decided to go with Kris's group. A couple of my friends had stayed for the first session. Since I was only observing I can't even begin to think of the names of all the equipment they pulled out to converse with the other side.

We all sat on the west stairs watching and listening as Kris and a few other investigators tried to talk to the spirit that decided to make it's presence known. Every time they asked the spirit to make a noise, the sound of a tap, a shuffle, a creak of a chair, or something small dropping, would sound right on queue. I had observed Kris one other time before and she is very cool and collected when talking to something unseen. After a few minutes I realized I no longer felt scared, but relaxed and comfortable. A reverence fell over the room for a while. My friend started to get a little agitated, walking around, almost pacing. He is sensitive to the other side, and appears to have a message for one of the girls in our group. It's a message of love. Many people only wish for these kind of messages from loved ones that have passed on. It was neat to see that come through for her. As Kris asks more questions, the mood lightens a little. A different spirit decides to visit, they ask it different questions with it answering in clicks on a small box, once for yes, twice for no. I hear a loud tap from behind me on a piece of sheet foam. "Kris, something is tapping behind me." 

"really?" she asks.

I point to where the tapping came from. Then she asks the spirit..."can you tap that again?" As soon as the words came out of her mouth the room erupted in laughter. It's good to know that these investigations are just as fun, and funny as they are spooky, and serious.

Okay, meme happy, sorry. Moving along. The time came to change rooms, and as the rest of my friends left, I followed the group to the basement. 

Okay, this really wasn't the basement. Although at some points it felt that way. I started in the dressing room with one group, the air was not as thick in this room as the main theatre. I observed and listened, the mirrors that lined the walls reminded me of Bloody Mary. As I'm psyching myself out at this point I felt more comfortable being with someone I knew, so I joined Kris in the other room. Immediately the feeling is thicker, I feel a darker presence over my right shoulder in the corner of the room. Maxine snaps some photos, she wants to show me what she is seeing, to see if we can debunk the glowing orb in the photo. As I go to stand a very loud banging comes from the stairs behind me. I scream, and find that Maxine and I are holding onto each other for dear life. Apparently when the air conditioner shuts off it makes a very obnoxious banging. Ha! I wasn't scared, you were scared! lol

The presence in the corner does not leave, so I ignore it and listen as Kris makes contact with a spirit named Mary.  (No relation to bloody Mary, I'm sure.) She has a connection with the building as a dancer, possibly a burlesque dancer from back in the day. Words keeping popping up on the communication app: hurt, painful. We listen but keep getting the same words, until I decide to ask Mary a question. This is the great thing about M&L Paranormal, they say it's your investigation, ask anything you want. I chime in asking Mary about her pain, again the word "hurt" pops up. Then I ask, "Who hurt you, Mary?" Immediately a name pops up, because the name of the person has escaped me at the moment, we will call him George. All of us in the room have a reaction and become very excited knowing we are communicating with an intelligent spirit.  Another investigator pokes her head out of the dressing room and asks, "Are you guys talking to a Mary? So were we a few minutes ago." That group decides to join us and we continue taking pictures, and asking questions, a total of 3 spirits occupied that room while we were down there. Answering, yes and no to our questions. The smell of smoke from a fire fills our senses. We start to question each other if there had been a fire at the theatre at one time or another. We wrap up investigating the basement and decide to check to see if maybe there is a fire outside. Nope, no fire. Just clean, smooth summer air. Thanks to modern day phones an internet we look up to see if there was a fire at one time in the theatre. Apparently there had been a fire in the attic that ruined the top of the building and needed to be repaired just before the theatre was sold to a new owner. Now that is some deep history my friends.

Upstairs brings a different feel than the rest of the theatre. There are windows, and you can hear the laughter of people on the sidewalk outside, and cars passing. They set up a rem pod (Hey look I remembered the name of something!) I think this is the thing that puts up a million green dots on the wall, it shows if anything passes in front of it...I think. My head was pounding at this point, I don't know whether it was from something up in that room or my senses were just fried, and I needed to rest, needless to say it had been an emotional roller coaster and I was ready to be done for the night.

This room also had a giant mirror, and I kept moving seats to avoid seeing myself in it, or anything else that might want to join us. I felt very uneasy with it there. During the investigation, we didn't have much activity in the room, but I kept seeing shadows by the plant at the top of the stairs. I tried to debunk it as something outside, but I could hear the cars as they passed and no shadows. So do I believe it was something else...yes. Do you have to believe me? No. But that's the great thing about these investigations. Every place is different. One place might have so much activity, you just might pee your pants. Another might not have anything. What someone else sees may not be the same thing you see, or hear. 

I loved this investigation, it was perfect for me to get my feet wet. I promise all blog posts will be different. I will have the chance to follow around the other investigators, and watch their techniques for communicating with the other side. I have a feeling much scarier things have happened. And I possibly may need to wear an adult diaper for future ghost hunts if that is true. The Empress Theatre, is enchanting, and charming during the day, and mostly at night. But, I would not want to be left there alone at anytime, lets just leave it at that. 

Here is a small clip of the flashlight session Kris did in the basement!