November 22, 2006

The Witchcraft Connection: Metaphysical Investigations into the Paranormal

Part Five of Belle Gunness: McClung Road and the Blood Farm Horror
By Marcus Foxglove Griffin

Patton After Dark
There was an unspoken excitement amongst the members of WISP as we readied our equipment and prepared for our nighttime investigation of Patton Cemetery. My gut instinct told me that the investigation would produce some compelling evidence of paranormal activity, and I was eager to get the mission underway. WISP had recently acquired two new digital camcorders that incorporate IR (infrared) technology, and tonight’s investigation would be the first field test of the new equipment. We had also recently developed several new metaphysical techniques for paranormal investigation, and we would be trying them out at Patton as well. After a final check of the equipment, WISP piled into the van and headed for LaPorte, Indiana and the ghosts of Patton Cemetery. 

As we drove toward our destination, several fireworks displays lit-up the horizon. It was nearly the end of July, but the celebratory illuminations had shown no signs of stopping for the year. About twenty minutes into the drive, WISP discovered that we had unwittingly acquired a new team member; there was a ghostly presence in the van. Becca had felt a pair of unseen hands brush over her face and down the back of her hair. Sampsun had felt something brush against him as well. Our uninvited guest had apparently hitched a ride with us at WISP’s base of operations. Becca and Amber were excited about our paranormal tag-along, and they made comment about how unique an opportunity it was to have an active spirit join us on an investigation. I on the other hand, wasn’t so enthused. Unique opportunity or not, in my opinion allowing the spirit to accompany us without forethought or foreknowledge meant only one thing: contamination of the investigation. I relayed my concerns to the girls about allowing the spirit to remain in our presence. I explained to them that during examination of the evidence, there would be no way to discern between paranormal activity indigenous to Patton Cemetery and activity generated by the spirit we brought along with us. Any evidence collected at Patton Cemetery would be useless. I asked the girls to remove the spirit from the van. At that point Amber made an interesting proposition. She proposed containing the spirit in the van rather than expelling it. Amber argued that having the spirit in our presence offered a rare opportunity for scientific and metaphysical study. She was interested in seeing how and if the spirit would react to the investigation. I reluctantly agreed to Amber’s request to allow the spirit to remain in our presence, but put the kibosh on containment. Attempting to imprison an entity that we knew nothing about was a bad idea, plain and simple.

As we neared LaPorte, flashes of light once again lit up the skyline; this time the flashes were lightning. A storm was brewing, and there was nothing we could do but look to the blackening sky with feelings of forlornness. The investigation was looking like a wash in more ways than one. I was considering turning the van around and calling it a night, but the girls coaxed me to press on. We were still several miles from the cemetery, and they were confident that the storm would blow over by the time we arrived. As it turned out, the girls were right. 

Although it had been raining heavily in downtown LaPorte, by the time we reached Patton Cemetery the storm had subsided to a light drizzle. There were ever-growing breaks in the clouds, and the sight of twinkling starlight filled us with newfound hope for a successful investigation. I navigated the van to the tier section, and parked near the grave of Andrew Helgelien. It was at that point that our ghostly hitchhiker made itself known to me. Not long after I had killed the engine, I started hearing a whispered voice inside the van. I turned on the interior lights and queried my teammates as to whether or not anyone had been whispering or if anyone else had heard the voice. Their answers to both questions was no. I asked Becca to dig my digital recorder out of the equipment bag so I could attempt to capture the voice on audio. I instructed my teammates to begin prepping their equipment as well. After recording a decent amount of audio inside the van, we exited the vehicle and walked the short distance to Andrew’s grave. The nighttime investigation of Patton Cemetery was officially underway. 


Next Month: Part six of Belle Gunness and the Blood Farm Horror: Hunting the Ghosts of Patton Cemetery

Marcus Foxglove Griffin has been a student and teacher of the occult for over twenty years and is the creator and lead investigator for Witches In Search of the Paranormal (WISP). He is High Priest for the Temple of Aradia located in northern Indiana and teacher in the temple’s school. Under the penname Lord Foxglove, he is the author of Advancing the Witches’ Craft (New Page Books, 2005) and numerous articles in the areas of Witchcraft and metaphysics. "The Witchcraft Connection" is Marcus Foxglove Griffin's monthly column on the metaphysical and paranormal.