Northeast Oregon Paranormal investigates the claims of an Oregon family being haunted by unseen entities. More specifically, spirits. The mother of a five-year-old claims that her son can speak and interact with the unseen within their Milton-Freewater, Oregon residence. The Paranormal team encounters several unexplained occurrences in the home, including the recording of a disembodied voice and even points out “something” moving across the room.
Sandy Fujan, the lead investigator of The Northeast Oregon Paranormal Team points out something moving across the room. (Photo by Derek Bratton)
The existence of ghosts and spirits have been haunting mankind since the beginning of recorded history. The ancients would have burial ceremonies based on the belief that the soul would move to another realm after its time on Earth. In his article "A Brief History of Ghost: Commentary on Paper by Laurel Moldawsky Silber," published in the Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Gary Schlesinger expands on this. Schlesinger writes, "Since the beginning of recorded history, ghosts have been a force to be reckoned with, as they serve to transmit pain and to suffer from one generation to the next. Almost 4000 years ago, the Mesopotamians believed that ghosts were created at the time of a person's death, taking on the memory and personality of the deceased."
In current times, people still believe in the notion of life after death. A poll conducted by YouGov in 2012 shows that about 64 percent of people believe in life after death, and only 15 percent did not believe in life after death. The remaining 21 percent are not sure what happens after death and if ghosts do exist.
The same poll shows that 28 percent of people sampled claimed to have personally seen a ghost or spirit, and many of these encounters happen at an early age. It seems that most experience the supernatural at an early age. But what are these young kids seeing?
According to an article titled "What are ghosts, anyway?" by Sherron Bowen writes "One definition says that a ghost is the energy of a person or animal caught between this life and the next."
In the article "Ghosts: seeing is believing," Teresa Nordheim says Americans want proof of what happens when we die. Nordheim writes, "In the united states, we have professional ghost hunters and famed haunted locations. While American beliefs are new compared to those of Europeans, Africans, and Asians, we have many believers, which increase the number of ghost stories. These tales encourage investigators to seek scientific evidence. Americans want proof, and many refuse to believe in something they can't see or hold in their hands."
Dave Schrader is the lead investigator on the Discovery plus show "The Holzer Files" and the host of the long-running radio show "Darkness Radio." Schrader recalls the first time seeing a spirit was at the age of three.
Schrader said, "I have been surrounded by the supernatural my whole life. My grandmother's ghost would visit me when I would stay with my grandfathers. I would tell my mother that grandma came to see me, and my mother would say, "grandma is in heaven, and you were just dreaming." I would say "no," she came to see me, and she misses us. I would say it's funny because she did not have any teeth. I would describe her dress and necklace that she was wearing."
Travel Channel’s “The Holzer File’s” lead investigator and host of the paranormal radio talk show “Darkness Radio” Dave Schrader explains how the smart phone is an “all in one” ghost hunting tool. (Photo by Derek Bratton)
After making this claim several times to his mother, his mother asked her sister (his aunt) about it. His grandmother had a closed casket funeral, and the only ones that knew what she was wearing were his aunt, grandfather, and the mortician. Schrader's aunt verified his claim of seeing the spirit of his grandmother. He was correct in what his grandmother was wearing before she was laid to rest.
In "The Divine or the Physician? Fears of ghost and the Supernatural in approved Social Work, Martin Smith writes, "Children are apt to misperceive noises and sights, particularly when these are half-heard or only partly seen." But Cindy Kaza, a psychic medium, has a different answer to why children can see spirits.
In an interview with Marcus Harvey on the Discovery plus show "Fright Club," Cindy Kaza, a psychic medium, said, "As we get older, we are in the past or future thinking, where kids are more in the present. They are in the imagination phase sometimes when you have a psychic experience, it feels like you imagined it, but you did not."
Braxton is a six-year-old boy who lives with his mother, Kelley, in Milton-Freewater, Oregon. According to Kelley, her son can see and interact with spirits in their home, but she says her child does not fear the ghosts. Kelley also says she hears footsteps at night and shadow figures darting from the corner of her eye. These "darting" shadows are standard in hauntings and are referred to as shadow figures by paranormal investigators.
Kelley recalls when her son told her about the passing of a friend and says there was no way of him knowing. She said, "My friend passed away, and I got a message about it on my phone. When I read the message, he (Braxton) said, "poor David," then he said, "don't worry, mama, he is home now." Then he turned around and walked out of the room."
Kelley says that she has had activity in her home since she has moved in, and the entire family has had experiences. Lights will turn on and off on their own, and the sound of running water can be heard when all hours of the night when there is none. The most profound experience that Kelley experienced was a slap on the foot while laying on her bedroom bed.
With all of the paranormal activity in her house, Kelley called the paranormal group Northeast Oregon Paranormal lead by lead investigator Sandy Fujan, her husband, Roger Fujan, and four team members, Shelly Trenchard, Kathy Thorberg, and Lee Hales.
Sandy Fujan has been investigating the paranormal for ten years. Her journey into the supernatural also started as a child, much like Braxton's. "It was after my paternal grandmother died. I was eleven. I remember seeing her standing at the foot of my bed a few days after she died," Fujan said, "I have had a love for the paranormal since I was a child. I loved watching scary movies and reading books regarding ghosts."
The inferred camera used set up and used by Roger Fujan to monitor the investigation. Four of these cameras were set up throughout the house. (Photo by Derek Bratton)
Her husband, Roger Fujan, sets the equipment. He primarily monitors inferred cameras that are strategically placed around the house. Before setting up, Sandy Fugin will take a tour. In this case, Kelly points out all of the "hot spots," including the stairs, Braxton's bedroom, and her bedroom.
After the cameras are set up, the team goes through the house to turn off all the lights. There are a few reasons paranormal investigators investigate at night and in the dark, but the main reasons are ovoid outside contamination. Generally, people are not out, causing noises that can be confused for paranormal evidence, and most equipment used in paranormal investigations works better in the dark.
The team's primary source of gathering evidence of the paranormal is the use of devices that can communicate with spirits, such as digital voice recorders. It is said that spirits can be heard within the white noise upon playback. This Phenomenon is known as Electronic Voice Phenomenon or EVPs. EVPs were first discovered by two priests in 1952 using a magnetophon. They found that phantom voices could be heard upon playback. According to Schrader, one of the most powerful tools a paranormal investigator can use to capture EVPs is the smartphone. "it's an all-in-one device," Schrader said. "a voice recorder, a flashlight, and an ITC device." Kathy Thornburg uses her phone as an instrumental transcommunication device or ITC device, with a ghost hunting app that will display words on the screen. "It's a phone app," said Thorburg, "I don't know how accurate it is, but it's worth experimenting with."
Common tools used during a paranormal investigation. Most can be purchased from places like GhostStop or Amazon. (Infographic by Derek Bratton)
The investigation went on for about three hours, and several of the claims were confirmed. The team used techniques that resulted in one claim verifying the other. Including a flashlight technique where the investigators would ask a question, and the spirit would interact with the flashlight to turn it off and on. This is done by unscrewing the top to the point where it barely makes contact and turns off the light. The spirit can then turn on and off the light by touching the flashlight.
Sandy Fujan is doing a Question-and-Answer session using a flashlight. The flashlight turns on and off on demand. (Photo by Derek Bratton)
Fujan explained how this worked, "it is a question-answer session, we unscrew the top of the flashlight to the point where it turns off, then they (the spirits) can turn it on or off by hitting, tapping it, whatever they do. It's how we can get some answers."
Roger Fujan watches the monitors and keeps a running log of events that occur during the investigation. By the end of the night, he had two pages of logged events. He said, "during a normal investigation, I only end up with about a half of what we are getting here. I typically don't even have enough to fill up a whole page. This place is extremely active."
Roger Fujan watching the cameras throughout the investigation. (Photo by Derek Bratton)
After Fujan went through the evidence, she emailed the teams finding to Kelley, which included three EVPs or phantom voices caught on her voice recorder. She also noted all of the interaction that the unseen was having with her crew, including the flashlight experiment and, at one time, a bubble-like thing distorting lights from a laser grid.