Bartonville Insane Asylum

We survived Bartonville!!!

Despite the very chilly temperatures, we had a great time touring through this very old institution. As I said in my earlier post, Bartonville has a very interesting history. It is located a few miles outside of downtown Peoria, Illinois. The asylum used to take up 1100 acres in Bartonville, but is now contained to about five acres total. (if that!) Don't let the pictures fool you. There are a lot of retail stores and restaurants around this building so it is not as isolated as it appears. The building is 60,000 square feet, no windows and has several floors which are partially blocked off due to unstable infrastructure. According to the current owner, he would like to open it up as a haunted B & B and maybe some retail establishments. I know that there are a lot of folks out there who just love staying at haunted hotels and B & B's so this will be a winner for him for sure!

Of course I would be remiss if I failed to mention our hosts for the evening. Renowned Ghost Hunter Patti Starr and the infamous Medium Chip Coffey (Psychic Kids and Paranormal State) led us through the building and shared some of their ghost hunting wisdom (and stories!) with us. Patti and Chip have worked together for many many years and brought a lot of useful information to us regarding their shared experiences.

Our team collected lots of pictures, analog and digital recordings from our six hour ghost hunt. We will be processing that information and hopefully will have something to show for it! Once we have something I will definitely updated the site with any fun EVPs or pictures we managed to catch.

If you have not been to Bartonville, they are open for tours at any time. They do charge a nominal fee for this privilege but all proceeds go to the Save the Bowen fund which has been set up to aid in renovations of this historic site. I highly recommend Bartonville for your next ghost hunt!

Scarefest - 2009

Scarefest 2009 will be held in Lexington Kentucky on September 11 - 13th. If you like the paranormal or enjoy horror movies this is the place to be in September. Chip Coffey will be in attendance again this year as well as members from Ghosthunters International.

Bartonville Insane Asylum

Our team is up for the time of our lives on April 11th when we travel to Bartonville, IL to visit the old, abandoned insane asylum. This is a journey that most of us have wanted to take in our pursuit of the truth. Are there really such things as ghosts?

A little background history for your viewing pleasure - Bartonville Insane Asylum

I have included a video on the right side of my page. It is a teaser youtube video from a team who have already investigated the sight.

We will have the good fortune of teaming up with two of the most knowledgeable and most experienced ghost hunters living today - Patti Starr and Chip Coffey. Chip Coffey has recently worked on the television series "Paranormal State".

More information coming on our journey to Illinois. It should prove to be an eventful evening!

Scarefest

This weekend a few member of our team attended Scarefest in Lexington Ky. Presented by Ghost Chasers International (aka. Patti Starr), its targeted to those folks who love paranormal stuff and horror movies. Interesting combination wouldn't you say? Of course, we went down to mainly partake in the paranormal side of things but were quite surprised at the other vendor booths and seminars dedicated to the best the horror movie industry had to offer.

I am not a horror fan myself. I love a good suspense/thriller but just can't handle the blood and gore movies. For those who do really dig that type of thing, there were a few celebrities who were more than willing to sign pictures and paraphernalia for you. Some of them included Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes and One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest), Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects) and Kane Hodder (portrayed Jason in Friday The 13th) just to name a few.

I was there to learn more from some resident paranormal experts. There were many seminars available over the three day event and all offered something unique to everyone. The biggest thrill for me was listening to Chip Coffey (Paranormal State and Psychic Kids) talk about his psychic abilities and field questions from the audience.

He drew a large crowd in his seminar and the Q & A session was lively.

The event overall was well organized and the seminars ran like clockwork. I was also thrilled (completely an understatement!) to see an ad for our investigative team in the program! What a fabulous way to get the word out! Thanks much to Pattie Starr for awarding us that opportunity!

As far as future investigations, we have two possible cases coming in the future - one is an abandoned house here on the east side of Cincinnati (if the owners are willing!) and one occupied home in Louisville Ky. I have stories on both of these houses and we are more than ready to tackle both!


Stay Tuned!

Alcatraz orb

In our excursion to Alcatraz I managed to snap a picture that contained an "orb". I am skeptical of orbs since they can manifest from dust particles, light, etc. What leaves me questioning this one is the fact that I did not see any other orbs in any of the other photographs while I was at the old prison. The place is not a dusty old cavern of a prison, but I guess dust particles could appear just about anywhere. This shot is taken in the old Dining Hall.

Close up shot.