Bedford Downtown Dead event 10/30/09

hello folks:
I had the dubious honor of Presenting The Evidence we collected from the Lawrence County Museum to the local event in bedford to the downtown dead event on Friday october 30th, 2009. The presentation of the evidence that south indy paranormal left the attendees in awe and amazement. It was my understanding that anyone who had a tie to the museum was not aware of the happenings that was going on in the museum after the doors were closed and everyone had left. We believe that the museum is in the process of a residual haunting and continues to go about thier daily and nightly routine without any interuptions. South indy paranormal was really fortunate to catch this evidence and present it to a standing room only event.

i want to thank Rowena and her Staff at the museum for all thier great help in this investigation and we hope to return soon for another in depth look at whats going on in the museum.



Anthony Keene
Case manager
South Indy Paranormal Investigations
http://www.southindyparanormalinvestigators.org

Grave markers from 1800s wrecked at Indiana cemetery - WTHR |

Grave markers from 1800s wrecked at Indiana cemetery - WTHR | Things like this I know for a fact pisses South Indy Paranormal Investigators off! As a group and family we need to do something! Any suggestions or ideas?

Hannah House Halloween 2009

South Indy Paranormal Investigators would like to welcome you out this month every Friday and Saturday to enjoy a historic tour along with the commercial haunted house at Indy's One and ONLY Historic Haunted House! Yes thats right the Hannah House =) You will find our group, along with several other booths set up in the yard while you wait for your group number to be called! Come and stop by an get your photo taken with your head in a guillotine for only $5.00! All proceeds are donated to the Hannah House! You can also pick up your glow bracelets 3 for a $1.00! Hope to see you there!

Article on South Indy Paranormal with the www.examiner.com

Examiner.com

South indy paranormal investigators
October 13, 2:54 AMIndianapolis Paranormal Investigations ExaminerAmy Hansford

Tonight I had the privilege of interviewing one of Indianapolis'
paranormal teams, South Indy Paranormal. I actually had the opportunity to interview them on their live radio show. This was my first experience with an Internet radio show. If you have the chance to listen to one of their shows you can find them on Blog Talk Radio Mondays from 10:30pm to 12:30am.

The members I had the opportunity to speak with this evening were Dennis, Terri, Tony, Jason, and Kat. Dennis and Terri are the founders for the group. Dennis is also the Tech manager. Tony is the team's case manager. Jason is the PR person as well as tech assistant. Kat is their sensitive/medium out of Washington state. Their team was established in mid December 2008 and their team consists of 8 members.

All paranormal investigators have their reasons for getting interested in the paranormal. South Indy Paranormal is no different. Their reasons range from being the team skeptic, trying to find out all the information one can and hoping to see something to make one believe to lights turning on and off by themselves.

South Indy Paranormal's list of equipment: 4 infrared day/night vision cameras, 2 K-II meters, 3 EMF detectors, 4 digital voice recorders, 4 digital cameras, a digital camcorder, camcorder, DVR system with 500GB hard drive, duct tape, and an Olympus multi directional recorder which was donated to their team by Steve Abney of Stone Graphics paranormal out of Iowa.

When it is time to investigate a property South Indy Paranormal has a certain way they go about investigating. There is an interview process with the potential client. Then they research the property and set a time to come out and investigate. When they get to the property there is paperwork that needs to be signed by the client and the group. Privacy statements and liability waivers. They ten ask the client if they want to stay or leave. This is totally left up to the client. Before the actual investigating begins they do an EMF sweep of the property so they have a base reading to go by. When it gets dark, they go lights out! The investigating begins.

South Indy Paranormal has had several investigations. They have had two residential investigations. They have investigated Spring Mill and Lawrence County Museum. This group is a close knit group who have fun while striving to do their best when it comes to investigating. They do not charge their clients to come out and investigate. They do not have membership dues either. All of their equipment, shirts, hats, etc...have been purchased by the founders of this team.

They have been working as volunteers at the Hanna House this month helping with their haunted house. Two of their members are monsters in the haunted house and they also helped with the construction. On Friday and Saturday nights from 7pm - midnight during the month of October they have a booth out in front of the Hanna House. They are selling glow sticks and taking pictures of people with the guillotine. Which all proceeds benefit the historic Hanna House. Coming this Christmas they will be helping with Coats for Kids and Toys for Tots. They insist on giving back to their community.

South Indy Paranormal can be reached at their website. Check out their website, look at their pictures and videos. You can also listen to EVPs. You can also call them at 317-641-0005, you can leave them a message and they will return you call. You can also email Tony, case manager, at itzmetony@comcast.net.

'Dirty Dancing' star Patrick Swayze dies at 57

LOS ANGELES – Patrick Swayze, the hunky actor who danced his way into viewers' hearts with "Dirty Dancing" and then broke them with "Ghost," died Monday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.
"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," said a statement released Monday evening by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were given.
Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from a particularly deadly form of cancer.
He had kept working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting "The Beast," an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot. It drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran in 2009, but A&E said it had reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.
Swayze said he opted not to use painkilling drugs while making "The Beast" because they would have taken the edge off his performance. He acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.
When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was "considerably more optimistic" than that.
"I'd say five years is pretty wishful thinking," Swayze told ABC's Barbara Walters in early 2009. "Two years seems likely if you're going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I'd better get a fire under it."
A three-time Golden Globe nominee, Swayze became a star with his performance as the misunderstood bad-boy Johnny Castle in "Dirty Dancing." As the son of a choreographer who began his career in musical theater, he seemed a natural to play the role.
A coming-of-age romance starring Jennifer Grey as an idealistic young woman on vacation with her family and Swayze as the Catskills resort's sexy (and much older) dance instructor, the film made great use of both his grace on his feet and his muscular physique.
It became an international phenomenon in the summer of 1987, spawning albums, an Oscar-winning hit song in "(I've Had) the Time of My Life," stage productions and a sequel, 2004's "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," in which he made a cameo.
Swayze performed and co-wrote a song on the soundtrack, the ballad "She's Like the Wind," inspired by his wife, Lisa Niemi. The film also gave him the chance to utter the now-classic line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
And it allowed him to poke fun at himself on a "Saturday Night Live" episode, in which he played a wannabe Chippendales dancer alongside the corpulent — and frighteningly shirtless — Chris Farley.
A major crowdpleaser, the film drew only mixed reviews from critics, though Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times, "Given the limitations of his role, that of a poor but handsome sex-object abused by the rich women at Kellerman's Mountain House, Mr. Swayze is also good. ... He's at his best — as is the movie — when he's dancing."
Swayze followed that up with the 1989 action flick "Road House," in which he played a bouncer at a rowdy bar. But it was his performance in 1990's "Ghost" that showed his vulnerable, sensitive side. He starred as a murdered man trying to communicate with his fiancee (Demi Moore) — with great frustration and longing — through a psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg.
Swayze said at the time that he fought for the role of Sam Wheat (director Jerry Zucker wanted Kevin Kline) but once he went in for an audition and read six scenes, he got it.
Why did he want the part so badly? "It made me cry four or five times," he said of Bruce Joel Rubin's Oscar-winning script in an AP interview.
"Ghost" provided yet another indelible musical moment: Swayze and Moore sensually molding pottery together to the strains of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody." It also earned a best-picture nomination and a supporting-actress Oscar for Goldberg, who said she wouldn't have won if it weren't for Swayze.
"When I won my Academy Award, the only person I really thanked was Patrick," Goldberg said in March 2008 on the ABC daytime talk show "The View."
Swayze himself earned three Golden Globe nominations, for "Dirty Dancing," "Ghost" and 1995's "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," which further allowed him to toy with his masculine image. The role called for him to play a drag queen on a cross-country road trip alongside Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo.
His heartthrob status almost kept him from being considered for the role of Vida Boheme.
"I couldn't get seen on it because everyone viewed me as terminally heterosexually masculine-macho," he told the AP then. But he transformed himself so completely that when his screen test was sent to Steven Spielberg, whose Amblin pictures produced "To Wong Foo," Spielberg didn't recognize him.
Among his earlier films, Swayze was part of the star-studded lineup of up-and-comers in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel "The Outsiders," alongside Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez and Diane Lane. Swayze played Darrel "Dary" Curtis, the oldest of three wayward brothers — and essentially the father figure — in a poor family in small-town Oklahoma.
Other '80s films included "Red Dawn," "Grandview U.S.A." (for which he also provided choreography) and "Youngblood," once more with Lowe, as Canadian hockey teammates.
In the '90s, he made such eclectic films as "Point Break" (1991), in which he played the leader of a band of bank-robbing surfers, and the family Western "Tall Tale" (1995), in which he starred as Pecos Bill. He appeared on the cover of People magazine as its "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991, but his career tapered off toward the end of the 1990s, when he also had stay in rehab for alcohol abuse. In 2001, he appeared in the cult favorite "Donnie Darko," and in 2003 he returned to the New York stage with "Chicago"; 2006 found him in the musical "Guys and Dolls" in London.
Swayze was born in 1952 in Houston, the son of Jesse Swayze and choreographer Patsy Swayze, whose films include "Urban Cowboy."
He played football but also was drawn to dance and theater, performing with the Feld, Joffrey and Harkness Ballets and appearing on Broadway as Danny Zuko in "Grease." But he turned to acting in 1978 after a series of injuries.
Within a couple years of moving to Los Angeles, he made his debut in the roller-disco movie "Skatetown, U.S.A." The eclectic cast included Scott Baio, Flip Wilson, Maureen McCormack and Billy Barty.
Swayze had a couple of movies in the works when his diagnosis was announced, including the drama "Powder Blue," starring Jessica Biel, Forest Whitaker and his younger brother, Don, which was scheduled for release this year.
Off-screen, he was an avid conservationist who was moved by his time in Africa to shine a light on "man's greed and absolute unwillingness to operate according to Mother Nature's laws," he told the AP in 2004.
Swayze was married since 1975 to Niemi, a fellow dancer who took lessons with his mother; they met when he was 19 and she was 15. A licensed pilot, Niemi would fly her husband from Los Angeles to Northern California for treatment at Stanford University Medical Center, People magazine reported in a cover story.

9/3/09 Radio Show - StoneGraphics

Well lastnight we were honored to be a special guest on Steve Abney's Stonegraphics talk show on blog talk radio. If you missed the show you can listen to it here! We want to again thank Steve and all his co/host for a wonderful show! We hope we can return the favor soon!

Update 8/28/09

Hi there friends and followers! Hope everyone had a great month of August! I know our group did. We have been so busy this month. First I want to wish Terri (our cofounder) a late happy birthday! Her birthday was 8/23/09!

Our group has picked up volunteer work at the Historical Hannah House here in Indianapolis, Indiana. We love spending our weekend helping out others along with the community. This month through Halloween we are helping build the Hannah House Haunted House Tour! Cant give much detail.. you will have to come out an see when Oct hits :) and I promise you... you will not be dissapointed!

Anyhow... we just did a residential case here in Indianapolis, everything is still in the works of reviewing. We have 5 hours of investigation to go over... so all together with recordings, video, photo's and such we are looking at close to 50 - 60 hours of work ahead of us! Stay tuned for results of CASE # 82209!

As you can see, our website is in the process of being updated. We would like to hear your feedback on what we need to change, add or remove. Not only do we make this site to present paranormal to you... but this is YOUR site! We have forums, guestbook, and blog! Feel free to email your stories, your link to your sites, your photo's and or video's. We will be happy to post them for others to review!

Also don't forget MONDAY NIGHTS @ 10:30pm EST is South Indy Paranormal Radio Show! Would you like to be a guest on our show? You dont have to have a paranormal group, be involved in a paranormal group to join us! Have questions to ask other paranormal enthusiast? Want to tell your own story? Please send us a email @ tony@southindyparanormalinvestigators.org or terri@southindyparanormalinvestigators.org and we will be happy to schedule you!

Take care an have a wonderful weekend!

South Indy Paranormal Investigators!
~Building a bridge between two different worlds~

4th Annual Paranormal Meet & Greet at the Hannah House in Indianapolis, IN 8/8/09

Our group attended the 4th Annual Paranormal Meet & Greet at the Hannah House in Indianapolis, Indiana. We had a blast. Lots of groups and the public showed up. Not only was it a paranormal meet and greet for other groups from all around to get together and meet, but the hannah house held a garage sale along with the Hannah House tours. Some of the people that were their and we go to meet was: MRIPA, The white crow (paranormal magazine), Ingomar Paranormal Investigations, SMP (southern michigan paranormals), Micheal W Judd D.D. Ph.D. (certified parapsychologist), ASPRN, Indy Ghost Hunters, Columbus Ghost Trackers, Rob Conover (investigator & psychic guide), Paranormal 911, Ghost Hunter's Investigation Group, Crossroads Paranormal, Indiana Ghost Tech, IPS, N.I.G.H.T. Paranormal and more!

I want to thank Crossroads and everyone else who worked so hard to putting on this event. It was a great turn out with lots of people. I think the only downfall was that the food vender never showed cause of a flat tire and was stuck up in Gary, Indiana. Our group cant wait until next year's event!

South Indy Paranormal Talkshow!! Dont miss this one!!

This Monday Night ( 8/3/09) at 10:30pm we are very proud to have Danielle Garrison as a Guest on our show to talk to us and everyone about the 4th Annual Meet and Greet Live from the Hannah House in Indianapolis, Indiana.. If you are Attending this event along with us you will not wanna Miss this show. Find out all the info about this event by joining our show Monday Night August 3rd at 10:30pm with the chat room opening at 10:15pm...

www.blogtalkradio.com/itzmetony66


call in Number Is (646)727-3051

call in and ask questions and find out info on this Great Event

if you are scheduled to be a Guest at this event please call In and let us know

We will be there....Will you

Bones lead to mystery Miami graveyard from 1900s

MIAMI – When Enid Pinkney was a girl in the 1940s, her grandmother would tell her stories about a black cemetery nestled in the northwest corner of Miami in an area once called Lemon City.

Pinkney never saw any headstones or tombs on the former farm land, which gradually became surrounded by small homes, car lots and industrial warehouses starting in the 1950s and 1960s. Interstate 95 rumbles past a few blocks away.

But Pinkney's grandmother was apparently right. The bones of at least 11 people — and possibly dozens more — were recently discovered during construction of an affordable housing project. A local historian says the site was probably a cemetery for settlers from the Bahamas who came to South Florida in the early 1900s to tend to wealthy whites and to help build Florida's most cosmopolitan city.

Now Pinkney, a 78-year-old activist and civic historian, is among those who want construction halted and the site designated as historic.

"Even though the people are dead, they are speaking to us," said Pinkney, who went before the city's Historic Preservation Board last week to discuss the discovery. "Their spirits are saying, we were here. We laid the foundation for this community and we are being disrespected."

The scattered bones were first discovered in April. Someone called Pinkney about the find and she started to ask around in the black community to see what people remembered.

Pinkney approached Teresita DeVeaux, a 100-year-old woman who was born in the Bahamas and came to Miami as a child. DeVeaux remembered that a young man named Theophilus Clark was buried there. Pinkney mentioned this detail to a reporter from The Miami Herald — and when a story with Clark's name was published, a local historian named Larry Wiggins took note.

Wiggins said he plugged Clark's name into a Mormon genealogy Web site, and discovered that the man was buried in 1926 at a place called the Lemon City Cemetery.

There is no known cemetery in the area by that name, so Wiggins ran a geneology records search using the keywords "Lemon City Cemetery." A total of 523 names came up, all of black people, many from the Bahamas or infants of Bahamian settlers. The majority were buried between 1915 and 1925, right around the time when millionaires began developing Miami Beach.

But if this was a named cemetery, why wasn't it on any city maps? And why didn't anyone remember it or fight for preservation when the land was developed over the years?

"It's so mystifying," said Paul George, historian for the Historical Museum of Southern Florida.

He has an idea of what happened, however. It's likely that the former pastureland was owned by a private citizen and used as a black cemetery. Because it served the poor and marginalized immigrants, the city never paid much attention. Then people forgot about it as a number of things changed the surroundings: whites driving blacks out of Lemon City in early decades of the century, the nearby placement of I-95, a rapidly changing ethnic makeup of the area, which is now heavily populated with Haitian immigrants.

"We've obliterated our history, especially for the unempowered," said George. "We don't have a great reverence for our past. Things are forgotten very quickly."

Another unanswered question surrounds the status of the housing development on the property. The developer was going to build three towers for affordable and senior housing on the site. One of the towers is almost finished; work has stopped on the other two.

Patrick Range Jr., an attorney and spokesman for the developer, said the project is in limbo while more archaeological work is done.

"We're trying to come up with a solution that is both respectful and appropriate," said Range, who is the son of Athalie Range, one of Miami's well-known black leaders. "It certainly is clear to us that it's some type of burial ground. We're still a bit baffled as to what exactly took place, why it seemed to have fallen off the radar. Certainly it was a segregated time and certainly it's not beyond imagination that this cemetery would have disappeared."

Range said that the developer has finished an extensive radar scan of the property; he said there are a few areas where there are definitely objects underground. The developer will hire archaeologists to hand-dig those areas in the coming weeks to find out what's in the soil.

"We certainly do intend to bring the project to fruition," he said. "What it will look like at the end stage, I don't think we're ready to say."

But Pinkney and other black community leaders insist that the people that lay under the ground be remembered. City officials have speculated that there may be little they can do in the way of historic designation because there are no historic structures on the site and that no one of historical note is buried there. State rules say that construction on former cemeteries is acceptable if remains are appropriately moved.

In the meantime, Miami's Historic Preservation Board voted unanimously last week to approve "in principle" that at least part of the property be kept undeveloped as a memorial park. But the resolution is not binding by law.

"These are the people who helped to make Miami what it is. They laid the foundation for what we have. They were pioneers," said Pinkney. "This is so typical of what happens to black people. It's like you get eliminated, discounted, disrespected and when something like this happens, it's almost like it's your fault that the city doesn't have a map to prove you existed."

Research cemeteries before buying plots; BBB gave Burr Oak an "F"

nvestigators comb the grounds of the now-closed Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip on Monday, continuing to look for evidence where four former workers allegedly dug up bodies to resell burial plots.



The crimes allegedly committed at Burr Oak Cemetery have shaken people's faith in the cemetery business.

No one wants to experience the nightmare Burr Oak families now face, where it's possible that their loved ones' graves were exhumed from the Alsip cemetery, their bodies dumped and the plots resold.

While the state considers whether to regulate cemeteries, is there a way to protect the graves of deceased loves ones, short of setting up a 24-hour "grave cam"?

No one suggests any of the Burr Oak families are at fault for what happened, but experts say there are a few pre-burial steps consumers can take to protect their families' eternal resting places.

The first step should be to check with the Better Business Bureau. For the past three years, the South suburban Burr Oak Cemetery had an "F" rating from the bureau - the lowest rating possible - because of numerous customer complaints, said BBB president and CEO Steve Bernas. The complaints included the inability to find a headstone and graves that weren't dug in time for the funerals.

Burr Oak Cemetery is one of five Chicago area cemeteries that currently have an "F" rating, Bernas said. He's not allowed to release the names, but said people can call (31... and inquire about specific places or request a businesses that has BBB accreditation.

After a burial, the only way to really keep tabs on a grave is to regularly visit. If you can't, find someone who can, suggests Roman Szabelski, executive director of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago, which manages 44 cemeteries in Cook and Lake Counties. Szabelski has been named to oversee Burr Oak as investigators try to sort out what happened and correct the situation.

"It starts out with being proactive. If you're not visiting, is it that important to you?" he said. "We, as consumers, have a responsibility to check on people. Visiting our graves, visiting our hospitals, visiting our nursing homes ... sometimes we're too quick to turn it over to the professionals."

Szabelski also stressed the importance of planning in advance, and not waiting until two days before a funeral to shop for a cemetery plot. That way, families aren't forced to make rushed decisions while grieving.

Shopping for a burial plot should be done with the same rigor as buying a house, said Duane Marsh, executive director of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association. Look closely at the property. Listen to your gut feelings. Ask to see the plot so you know where it is and how to find it.

"Take a look. Is (the cemetery) cared for? Is the lawn mowed? Is it kept up? Look at the headstones," Marsh said.

Also ask questions. Talk with local funeral directors and see which cemeteries they like or dislike. Meet with the cemetery personnel, and make sure they're friendly and helpful.

"If people in the office don't give a hoot as to what's happening, I'd turn around and leave and go to the next cemetery," Szabelski said.

Just as you can't 100 percent protect your home from being burglarized, there's not a foolproof way to protect your family's graves from criminal activity. The people with relatives buried at Burr Oak might have taken all the precautions and still become victims, Marsh said.

"What happened (in Burr Oak) ... is not the norm," he said.

"It's a crime," Szabelski added. "When there's evil in the world, I don't know if there's any way to regulate and control evil."

Local cemeteries express outrage over Illinois case

he owners of two local cemeteries can't help but grimace as they watch law enforcement officers continue to comb the grounds of Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill., where it is estimated that more than 300 bodies were dug up and thrown in a pile so four workers allegedly could resell their plots.

Although they insist the travesty at a predominantly black cemetery in Illinois is an isolated incident, the owners concede it puts a mark on the entire industry nonetheless.

"This is three to four individuals acting on their own to basically not only hurt the families involved, but to destroy the cemetery as well. We're all disturbed by this," said Frank Milles, vice president for administration of StoneMor Partners LP in Levittown, Pa., which oversees more than 280 properties in 29 states, including Calvary Cemetery in Portage.

"This cannot happen at a properly run cemetery without everyone on the property being involved," said David Shipper, president of Indiana Memorial Group, which owns 42 cemeteries including Graceland in Valparaiso.

"In the end we'll find out the whole story. I don't think it's been told yet," Shipper said.

Shipper and Milles were the only two of several cemetery owners in Northwest Indiana who would comment on the Illinois scandal.

Meanwhile, Indiana already has in place rules governing the funeral and cemetery industry, and agencies to oversee those rules, unlike Illinois, where lawmakers are scrambling in the aftermath of the Burr Oak incident to come up with more stringent policies.

Cemeteries are licensed in Indiana, and rules and regulations governing them are provided on the Indiana State Board of Funerals and Cemetery Services Web site, said Molly Butter, information officer for the Indiana Attorney General's Office. Complaints are filed with the Attorney General's Office, and are heard by the state licensing board, she said.

While Butters said there is one complaint before the Attorney General's Office, it has to do with misuse of funds, not disruption of graves.

Indiana rules call for disciplinary action in the event of any fraud, and a 90-day suspension with adjudication if an employee is found to present a danger to the public's health, safety or property. They also state that cemetery plots can be sold by the cemetery owner after 50 years if they are not used and no improvement to the site, such as a monument, has been made. But the plot's owner must be notified.

Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes wants both Burr Oak and another cemetery owned by Arizona-based Perpetua placed in a receivership. He is calling for Perpetua's $5.9 million in trust funds for cemetery maintenance and prepurchased funerals to be frozen. A hearing is scheduled Friday.

Both Milles and Shipper said while their corporate offices are not located on the cemetery's sites, several management layers would prevent this type of criminal activity from occurring

"We have a local manager on site and a regional team that does individual work at each cemetery. We review records and transactions. I believe we have good control," Milles said.

Shipper said at all his properties there are computerized records, maps of cemetery sections, paper files and burial cards, all of which provide physical evidence of a burial having taken place in a given plot. All of that information is also on computer, he said.

The Chicago Sun-Times contributed to this story.

Shouldn't the state have as much control over cemeteries as they do over barbers?

The one thing we found out almost from the beginning is if you get your hair cut, a barber is more highly regulated than the people who operate cemeteries. There is virtually no regulation whatsoever.

-- Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart

Families with loved ones buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Belleville and Valley View Cemetery in Edwardsville have many questions now that the cemeteries -- already missing $300,000 from prepaid burial accounts and struggling to keep the grass cut -- apparently have closed.
The situation isn't as bad as Burr Oak Cemetery in Cook County, where employees allegedly dug up hundreds of bodies so they could resell burial sites. But it's bad enough.

Imagine finding out that slip of paper that promised perpetual care is meaningless. And what should Belleville and Edwardsville leaders do? Take on the expense of maintaining a cemetery? Or let the weeds grow and put up with complaints about an eyesore?

Comptroller Dan Hynes just notified the owners that they can't just quit. But how can the state force a business to keep going?

Along with these new questions, we're still waiting for an answer to an old one. Hynes discovered that money was missing in October, yet eight months later no criminal charges have been filed. What's the holdup?

Gov. Pat Quinn has appointed a commission to look at regulating cemeteries. Hynes and some lawmakers tried to get regulations enacted this week, without success.

It seems reasonable that the state should have at least as much control over cemetery owners as they do over barbers

Two Illinois cemeteries shut down without explanation

KSDK -- The owner of two Metro East cemeteries packed up and took off last weekend, closing the business for good. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions about what will happen to the cemetery and prepaid customers.

Edwardsville police say they've had problems with the Valley View Cemetery off Route 157 for more than a decade. Police say there have been several irresponsible owners, but this is among the worst they've seen.

Police started getting complaints about the cemetery when the current owner Hillman Crowell took over Valley View and the Mt. Hope cemeteries in Belleville a few years ago. Callers told Edwardsville police the grass was too long and the cemetery was poorly maintained. Officers ticketed Crowell and they say it got better for a while. But when Crowell died this winter, his daughter took over. Police say the problems got worse.

Officers say she didn't have enough money to pay the bills, so on Saturday, she packed everything up, laid off her employees and left.

Now a lot of people, including customers and the City of Edwardsville are left wondering what's next.

"I've got papers to be cremated here too," said Nova Farrell, whose husband is buried at Valley View. "I don't know if they'll take care of that."

"This is a pretty big cemetery," said Lt. Scott Evers of the Edwardsville Police department. "It requires a lot of maintenance. That's one of the issues we're trying to resolve now. Working with the comptroller, the state's attorney and city officials to find a short term solution and a long term solution."

We contacted the owner's daughter, but a woman at her office referred all calls to the Edwardsville Police Department.

Ideally, the City of Edwardsville would like to see the state step in and take control of the cemeteries until they can find a responsible party to buy them, but with the state's current budget problems, that may not be possible.

Vandalism is not Ghost Hunting.

As ghost hunting grows in popularity, the number of people setting out in the middle of the night to catch a glimpse of the paranormal grows daily, or perhaps we should say nightly. While this may be a commercial boon for some business owners, some owners of haunted sites are finding the interest in their property more of a curse than a blessing. Many are trespassing on private property, and in some cases breaking into and vandalizing these properties.
The Rock House in Georgia was plagued by such late night visits, and owners were forced to employ 24 hour security. When the Stanley Mill in Ohio was listed as a haunted location on a website, the owners claimed they had to spend thousands on security measures to keep the curious away. They eventually won a $125,000 lawsuit against the website owners and the site was forced to take all information on the mill down. In 2008, 6 Texas youths; Jorge Montoya, 17, Gerardo Santoyo, 18, Felipe Ochoa, 23, Carmen Salazar, 17, Rene Nunez, 21, and John Carrillo, 20 were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing when then broke into Magic Landing Amusement Park, where they were allegedly ghost hunting. Earlier that year, the park was the subject of arson and suffered nearly $500,000 worth of damage. It is unclear whether the two events are related.

n Salem, Massachusetts, a group of three ghost hunters broke into an abandoned hospital in October 2005. Police in the station across the street were alerted and they were arrested, charged with trespassing on private property and fined. The abandoned Danvers State Hospital, also in Massachusetts, has suffered from vandalism and trespassing all in the supposed name of ghost hunting. Prior to the sale of the property to developers, police arrested on average of 5 people a month for trespassing.
The list goes on and on. Strawberry Chapel, a 300 year old church is plagued by vandals. The historic building has suffered over $50,000 in damages and priceless hand blown glass windows have been shattered. All across the country, old cemeteries, buildings and homes are being subject to this kind of mistreatment. Thanks to the immature and disrespectful, places such as Bachelor’s Grove, a historic cemetery in Illinois are now off-limits. A once quaint cemetery hidden in Rubio Woods Forest Preserve had been nearly destroyed by vandals. Headstones have been smashed, moved and defaced, alcohol containers and other trash littered the site, and graves have been desecrated.

While many paranormal researchers work hard to bring credibility to the field, this type of criminal behavior continues to bring a bad name to ghost hunters. Some paranormal groups are now working to restore these historic sites; however the damage has been done in more ways than one. Not only are beautiful and historic locations defaced beyond repair, but many owners of these properties are now forced to take a zero tolerance approach when it comes to paranormal researchers.

As Jason Sullivan, founder of Midwest Haunts and creator of the popular Ghost Hunting 101 series, says in his video Respecting the Paranormal. “Ask permission, and if the owner wants nothing to do with you, then I’m sorry- you need to walk away.” Great advice, Jason! And here’s one more suggestion, while you are walking away, why not stop and pick up the empty beer can littering the area and throw it away?

The video series Ghost Hunting 101 can be found on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/ghosthunting101 and YouTube, and is a must see for anyone interested in becoming a ghost hunter.

4 Ill. cemetery workers accused in grisly plot

A close friend of the groups pointed me in the direction of a horrific news story! This story makes me sick and makes my skin crawl! How can or why the hell would someone do such a thing!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ALSIP, Ill. — Three gravediggers and a cemetery manager unearthed hundreds of corpses from a historic black cemetery south of Chicago, dumping some in a weeded area and double-stacking others in existing graves, in an elaborate scheme to resell the plots, authorities said Thursday. All four were charged with felonies.
Frantic relatives of the deceased descended on Burr Oak Cemetery — the final resting place of lynching victim Emmett Till and blues singers Willie Dixon and Dinah Washington — in hopes someone could tell them their loved ones' remains were not among the pile of bones that littered a remote area of the property in Alsip, 12 miles south of Chicago.
Some found apparently undisturbed plots, but others wandered, unable to locate loved ones.
"This is a mess. We can't find our people," said Ralph Gunn, 54, of Chicago, who filled out a report for authorities after a futile search for the headstones of his brother and nephew.
Others cried and clutched cemetery maps as they waited for a chance to look themselves. They listened as Sheriff Tom Dart said the displacement of bodies "was not done in a very delicate way," and that remains were dumped haphazardly, littered with shards of coffins. For graves stacked on top of each other, Dart said it appears they "pounded the other one down and put someone on top."
A visibly shaken Rev. Jesse Jackson voiced the mounting anger at those who would toss the bones of the dead like trash.
"In my judgment, there should be no bail for them, there should be really a special place in hell for these graveyard thieves who have done so much, hurt these families," he said.
By late afternoon, orange flags marking grave sites that might have been disturbed could be seen throughout the 150-acre cemetery, where as many as 1,000 burials are held a year. Officials took phone numbers and told family members they would call within 72 hours. Dart said FBI agents would help sort through evidence and identify bodies and that it could be months before investigators fully understand what took place.
"I feel betrayed and violated," said Gregory Mannie, 54, a Chicagoan with four relatives buried at Burr Oak. Mannie was particularly worried about his grandmother, whose grave is in a more secluded area he did not visit as often as the others. He grew suspicious when he saw it Thursday — it seemed too clean.
"It's almost like killing them all over again," Mannie said.
The suspects, all of whom are black, were identified as Carolyn Towns, 49, Keith Nicks, 45, and Terrence Nicks, 39 — all of Chicago — and Maurice Dailey, 61, of Robbins. They each have been charged with one count of dismembering a human body, a felony.
Bond was set at $250,000 for Towns, the cemetery's manager, and at $200,000 for the other three.
Authorities said Towns also pocketed donations she elicited for an Emmett Till memorial museum. She has not been charged in connection with those allegations. Court documents show she was fired from the cemetery in late May amid allegations of financial wrongdoing.
Cook County state's attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said Towns is being represented by a private attorney, but Simonton did not know the attorney's name. The Cook County public defender's office said it had not yet assigned attorneys to the other three cases.
The investigation was prompted in May, when a groundskeeper discovered skeletal remains in the part of the cemetery that wasn't supposed to be used, and cemetery officials notified Alsip police. Around the same time, the cemetery's Arizona-based owner, Perpetua Inc., called Cook County authorities to report the alleged financial wrongdoing.
Towns allegedly took cash for new graves, then instructed the three gravediggers to empty existing plots and move the remains inside to an unused part of the cemetery covered with chest-high grass and dotted with trees.
Perpetua Inc., said in a statement Thursday that the company is cooperating with investigators.
"We will make every attempt to insure and maintain the dignity of those that have been entrusted to our care," the company said.
It's the second time in recent years that Burr Oak has been at the center of an investigation. In 2005, the body of the 14-year-old Till, whose slaying in 1955 in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman helped galvanize the civil rights movement, was exhumed as part of a reopened investigation of his death.
Dart said Till's grave was not disturbed in the alleged plot-selling scheme, but he did not have information about the graves of Washington and others.

Tuesday 7/7/09 Investigations

Well, as many of you know Tuesday night (7/7/09) was a full moon and lunar eclipse. So our team decided to get together an head out to investigate several places inside an around Morgan Monroe State Forestry. Our first stop was a unknown location of a cemetery deep in the forest called Gose Creek Cemetery. It is said on the stone it was established in the 1800's. This cemetery seemed to be somewhat well kept, burials were as recent as 2003, hidden down an old logging road.

Our second stop was at an unkown named cemetery, with a total of 4 headstones showing, completey unkept, and forgotten about. Only way we knew it was a cemetery was walking up throw tall grass and weeds was a tall monument headstone.

As the night went on, we tried really hard to locate several others that we were unable to locate. They were thought to of been moved to a different location. We then perceded to go to Stepp Cemetery were we started our evenings investigations.

Stepp Cemetery seemed quiet calm this night, unlike other nights and even days we have ventured there. One disturbing find was a freshly dug grave by a headstone with the name Walls on it. Thinking this was a new grave that was set, our Case Manager Tony spoke with the Rangers and there have not been any new graves since the Professor of IU was layed to rest in 2002. So our group is up in arms and trying to find the truth behind this disturbing find. ((Stay tuned for updates on this matter)) We did however come across a few photos that were taken that again, came up red. These red photos had the simular 2 red cirlces over lapping each other with a red glow around them.

As we ended our night, we ventured to Pleasant View Cemetery located just outside of the Forestry to the south. This again was a very calm night, excpet a few other photo's turned out being red.

Log into our website to see findings of that evening. ((Coming soon!!))
http://www.southindyparanormalinvestigators.org

~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~
7/10/09

After doing more research on this new grave that was put in, it was Margaret Walls. She passed away May 12, 2009 at the age of 89. Our group is in the process of contacting the funeral home who was in charge of placing her at Stepp Cemetery. They did a piss poor job!

Tonights show 6/22/09 on Blog Talk Radio: Spring Mill Pioneer Village

Hi friends and followers of South Indy Paranormal Investigators! I want to first off give a shout out to all our "father" friends! Hope all had a great Father's Day weekend!

Tonight at 10:30pm EST, South Indy Paranormal will be discussing a new project in the making! Spring Mill State Park. As some of you may know, our Founder and Co/Founder took a vacation to this park this year, not only for vacation, but also for studying their past and possible activity. We are not saying this place is haunted, but we all had some personal expierences. Two nights in this week we also had our Case Manager Tony join us on this adventure, the second night we didnt do much, as a storm an thick fog rolled in at the beginning, but the one night he did show was very adventurous and exciting.

Before I do go any farther, I would like to note.. This place is open to public during business hours, but our group got special permission (as if you do go, please get... this place has so much history, I would hate to see idiots go in and trash the place!) ... That is one way to piss our group off, if we publish a place, an inturn find out it was vandalized an trashed... our group will no longer post interesting places....

Anyways, as I was saying before, Tony our case manager and Terri our co/founder along with our Founder Dennis have done extensive research on this place more so after last weeks show. Last weeks show was just about the experiences and what they knew just from being their, while fresh in their minds. So tonight we will be discussing the history and the past of the village along with the Hamer Cemetery. If you miss our show tonight you can catch it on archives an sometime this week the report of history will be posted!

Hope to see you all there! Chat opens at 10:15pm EST

Methodist Cemetery investigation 5-14-09

this last Thursday our group was fortunate to investigate methodist cemetery up in beechGrove indiana, it gave our group a chance to test out some equipment that we have been in dire need to test and without much dismay we found out all of our equipment was in working order. i will post some of our equipment pics in the photo section later on today. When we were on our way to the cemetery We encounterd a few kids hiding in the woods who liked to throw rocks at vehicles but thats another story in itself.

As we arrived at the cemetery just before dark,it gave us a chance to set up a 4 camera wireless system, and as well all of the emf, evp and thermal thermometers which played a big part in this investigation.the weather was good, we were all ready.

The Story behind this cemetery was that a few people had trounced into this cemetery, and experienced a sensation of Being watched and when some of the people had stumbled, they had the feeling of being helped up after stumbling. So the History was not known to an extent, Needless to say, we were just starting


One of the first things we do is take an Emf- temperature sweep of the area... the Ambient temperature was 49.5 degrees with a base EMF reading of .1 which at that point on a cool night was pretty normal. as me and terri walked through the back of the cemetery, we kept hearing Footsteps in the woods behind us, so we snapped some Pics which revealed Nothing, dew falling off of the trees onto the leaves is what we accounted it for.

As we approached the upper part of the cemetery we noticed alot of Kids Graves Brushed back into the Mini-woods area, Un maintained and very un legible to read. We have seen this in alot of cemeterys when children are involved. One of the First activities we experienced was Temperature Fluctuation from the Ambient temperature of 45-49 degrees to a spike of 80+ degrees. this occuring in a matter of Moments and then dissipating just as quick as it came.

Ive heard of temperature Changes to the colder but not nearly as warmer Changes, if anyone can explain this please help me out here. We did catch a Phantom mist on film and i will post that pic here soon. we also caught a few what i like to label as "Digital Flares" i have no explanation for these and i hope someone can Give me a logical Explanation. Energy ribbons is the Paranormal term i think is used.

Other than the fact that this cemetery was next to a Amtrack Rail yard and a Police Station behind it, it was a very noisy area, so EVp's were very hard to distinguish in this area. We relied on pictures and video.

The group worked really well together and had a very interesting Adventure in this cemetery. Although What was claimed we did not experience and the Noise factor was an issue. we experienced a few unexplainable instances, I myself was drawn to a huge tree in the center of the Cemetery with no Known reason.... it was just My personal Experience that intrigued me.

is this Place haunted? No i don't think so, Does this place have Paranormal Activity? yes it does. each member in our group experienced something....all we can do is lay out the evidence and let you judge for your self...

Thanks for Listening

Anthony Keene
Case manager
South Indy Paranormal

Contact Us

Hello friends and followers of South Indy Paranormal Investigators! I want to take this time an let everyone know we have a new contact number. You can reach us at (317) 641-0005. Starting today, this will be the best way you can reach our group members. Also you can send us emails at:

Tony (case manager / host of South Indy Paranormal Radio Show)
tony@southindyparanormalinvestigators.org

Terri (cofounder/investigator/web master)
terri@southindyparanormalinvestigators.org

Dennis (founder/investigator/tech)
dennis@southindyparanormalinvestigators.org

Lana (investigator in training)
lana@southindyparanormalinvestigators.org

Ronnie (investigator/tech assistant)
ronniek@southindyparanormalinvestigators.org

Angels and Demons film release causing expected uproar

The storyline for Angels & Demons, which stars Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor, centers on a plot by the Illuminati, a secret society of intellectuals, who are intent on gaining revenge for a brutal massacre of their predecessors by the Church centuries ago. Although the society once existed, there is no historical evidence that its members were butchered by Catholics.

The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, the Bishop of Nottingham, warned that the film could stir up anti-Catholic sentiment."This is so outlandish, it's total rubbish," said Bishop McMahon, who is one of the Church's most senior bishops. "It's mischievous to stir up this kind of anti-Catholic sentiment. It's a gratuitous knocking of the Church and I can't see any reason for it."

Ron Howard, the director of Angels & Demons - expected to become the first blockbuster film of the summer when it is released this month - has fired back that Catholics will enjoy the movie, which is based on a previous novel by The Da Vinci Code's author, Dan Brown.

His comments will intensify a feud between some prominent Catholic leaders and the Da Vinci Code team over claims that the film smears the Church.

The bishop, who chairs the Church's Department of Evangelisation and Catechesis, said that Catholics were "getting tired" of the sensational stories and plotlines contained in Brown's novels and subsequent film adaptations. "I don't think that Catholics will be interested in seeing this as it's so far removed from the truth," he added.

Brown's book includes a number of other episodes guaranteed to upset the faithful - including a Pope conceiving a child via artificial insemination, thereby circumventing celibacy rules. Sony Pictures has declined to say whether those incidents make it to the movie.

Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the US, accused Howard and Brown of "smearing the Catholic church with fabulously bogus tales".

The frenetically outlandish plot of Angels & Demons centers on a race against time by Harvard professor Robert Langdon (Hanks) to thwart a plot by the Illuminati to blow up the cradle of Catholicism with an anti-matter bomb during the conclave to elect a new pope.

But Mr Donahue is exasperated by the way that he says Brown and Howard blend fact, fiction and conspiracy theory.

"I have never dealt with two more disingenuous people," he told The Daily Telegraph. "They wouldn't dare treat any other religion like this."

Howard responded in forthright fashion, "Let me be clear: neither I nor Angels & Demons are anti-Catholic. And let me be a little controversial: I believe Catholics, including most in the hierarchy of the Church, will enjoy the movie for what it is - an exciting mystery, set in the awe-inspiring beauty of Rome."

The Vatican, which was predictably offended by the Da Vinci Code plot that involved Jesus fathering a child with Mary Magdalene, did not allow Howard to film in its churches or property. "Normally we read the script," a Vatican spokesman said. "But this time it was not necessary - the name Dan Brown was enough."

There has also been high-level discussion within the Holy See about whether to urge a boycott of the film, according to Italian media reports. It took that step with The Da Vinci Code, but the film enjoyed staggering box office takings of $758 million and some Vatican insiders fear their high-profile opposition backfired.

"Let's be careful not to play their game... by giving them free publicity," said Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, the Vatican economics minister, who still made clear his derision for the book as a "manipulation in anti-Christian key of people, events and history".

But Sony Pictures is not backing away from the controversy and will stage the film's world premier on the Vatican's doorstep in Rome on May 4, 10 days before it opens in British cinemas.

"We do not believe the film is anti-Catholic, and we don't believe the nearly 40 million people worldwide who purchased the novel were confused by the fact that this is a fictional mystery thriller," said Steve Elzer, the studio's senior vice-president.

Jack Valero, a spokesman for Opus Dei UK, which is portrayed as a secretive, all-powerful sect in the Da Vinci Code, criticized the new film's central plot.

"It's bizarre and a total fabrication," he said. "I find it offensive, as will other Catholics, but I'm not going to bother spending too much time thinking about it."

But he found some agreement with Sony Pictures. "If anything, this will give us a chance to talk about the Catholic Church and the real things which happen within it," he said.

The furor can be doing no harm to the prospects for Brown's eagerly-awaited follow up The Da Vinci Code. His publishers announced this month that the first print run for the September launch of The Lost Symbol will be five million copies - arguably a modest initial total for a sequel to the bestselling hardcover adult novel of all time, with 81 million copies in print worldwide.

NOTE: first off...it's a novel. It's fiction. It's more than dogma vs. science. For those who have read the book and who try to stay impartial, it's a very good blend of intrigue, wit and history. The basic question, who is good or evil...or is there no real distinction? I'm looking forward to the film, though, I hope it is not edited as much as 'The Da Vinci Code'. If you read 'Angels and Demons', please post your comments...Lon

(information from: Phantoms and Monsters)

Ghost hunters raise funds for preservation - ILL

Story Created: May 5, 2009 at 10:11 AM EDT

SHELBYVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Scaring up money these days isn't easy.The Chautauqua Auditorium in Shelbyville needs about $1.7 million to restore it to its 1903 splendor and prevent leaks and dry rot from becoming the grand old structure's final act.

So who ya gonna call?

One answer has turned out to be a bunch of ghost hunters who relish things that go bump in the night and who have friends who study cryptozoology, which is the field of Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster and so on.

They are gathering at the Chautauqua on Sept. 19 for "Chautauqua-Con 2009," a one-day conference to explore and celebrate the quest for the strange and scary that will be used as a fundraiser for the building.

It won't be cheap to get in tickets go for $40, renting booth space will cost another $15 but the organizers say visitors are due to get a lot of ethereal bang for their buck. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the huge round auditorium, which measures 150 feet across with perfect acoustics, and the conference will feature at least 10 speakers.

The lineup includes some of the leading names in the twilight world of the bizarre. Michael Kleen, for example, has written books with titles like "Legends and Lore of Illinois: Case Files" and "Six Tales of Terror," and his work ranges over almost every aspect of the paranormal.

Chris Dedman (that really is his name) had his first paranormal experience after being shot in the head with an errant firework as a boy and has been probing the supernatural ever since. His talk will include a presentation on the darker side of ghost hunting and detail something very nasty that happened in Quincy in 2008.

Other speakers have backgrounds in the area of spiritual mediums, hunting Big Foot and even the development of computer systems designed to probe for evidence of a haunting.

It's a heady lineup, and the organizers, such as Shelbyville paranormal researcher Brian Hendrian, are hoping for a good response for both the Chautauqua's sake and the wider effort to explain that paranormal research is a serious issue.

No one knows if the Chautauqua Auditorium is haunted, but a 106-year history throws up some interesting possibilities. Built at the turn-of-the-century height of the Chautauqua movement, it played host to once-popular traveling road shows featuring everything from opera to variety acts and hosted fire and thunder Biblical speakers such as William Jennings Bryan and temperance crusader Carrie Nation.

When the Chautauqua movement faded, the places built to house it faded away, too, and now the Shelbyville structure, built like a giant drum with no interior columns supporting its vast, cathedral-like roof, is the last of its kind left in the nation. The building's owner, the city of Shelbyville, appointed a Chautauqua Auditorium Preservation Committee to raise the $1.7 million needed to save it, and the committee has welcomed the assistance of the paranormal investigators.

"Now, I may or may not believe what they believe, but I think what they are doing for us is great," said Wayne Gray, chairman of the preservation committee. "We've got to find a tremendous amount of money and we need donations, a lot of them."



WSBT News

Dom DeLuise, Comic Actor, Dies at 75

Dom DeLuise, a pudgy actor whose manic grin and air of desperation added comic bounce to films like “The Twelve Chairs,” “Blazing Saddles” and “The Cannonball Run,” died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 75 and lived in Pacific Palisades.

The Associated Press reported that his son Michael had told a television and radio station in Los Angeles that his father had died after a long illness.


Mr. DeLuise first made his mark on television in the early 1960’s as Dominick the Great, an inept but determined magician trying desperately to maintain his poise as one trick after another failed. He created the character for “The Garry Moore Show” and brought it to the CBS variety series “The Entertainers,” where the ensemble cast included Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett, and “The Dean Martin Summer Show.”

Before long Mr. DeLuise was appearing in films, usually in broad comedies as a nervous sidekick, a schmo or a preposterous fraud.


He was a favorite of Mel Brooks, who cast him as the greedy Father Fyodor in “The Twelve Chairs” (1970), the director’s silly assistant in “Silent Movie” (1976), the Emperor Nero in “History of the World — Part I” (1981), the voice of Pizza the Hutt in “Spaceballs” (1987) and the Godfather-like Don Giovanni in “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993).


Burt Reynolds, another fan, teamed up with Mr. DeLuise in several films, including “Smokey and the Bandit II” (1980), “The Cannonball Run” (1981) and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982).


Dominick DeLuise was born in Brooklyn and, after graduating from the High School for Performing Arts in Manhattan, attended Tufts. He broke into show business in the late 1950’s in parts like Tinker the Toymaker in the daytime television show “Tinker’s Workshop.” (The show’s creator and first host, Bob Keeshan, had gone on to create and star in “Captain Kangaroo.”) He then made regular appearances on “The Shari Lewis Show” as a bumbling private eye.

After making his Broadway debut in 1963 as the cheerfully nervous mountebank Muffin T. Ragamuffin in “The Student Gypsy,” he appeared as a nervous flier in the cold-war thriller “Fail-Safe” (1964). This serious role was atypical. His chubby face and hysterical laugh made him a natural for comic roles, like the dimwitted spy in the Doris Day film “The Glass Bottom Boat” (1966). These parts he attacked over the ensuing decades with scene-stealing abandon.


Working with Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Brooks, Mr. DeLuise went on a tear in the 1970s and early 1980s. Gene Wilder cast him as a hammy opera star in “The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother” (1975) and as the mad studio chief Adolf Zitz in “The World’s Greatest Lover” (1977). He made a cameo appearance as a wild-eyed agent in “The Muppet Movie” (1979), took on a tragicomic role as a compulsive eater in “Fatso” (1980), and directed his first film, “Hot Stuff” (1979), in which he also took a starring role opposite Suzanne Pleshette.

Mr. DeLuise’s performances, never marked by restraint, stuck at fortissimo as time went on. Films like “Loose Cannons” (1990), in which he played the obese pornographer Harry (the Hippo) Gutterman, did him no favors, and he reached a nadir in “The Silence of the Hams” (1994), a horror spoof, in which he played Dr. Animal Cannibal Pizza.


As his film career declined, Mr. DeLuise found a creative outlet in food. A talented amateur chef, he began doing cooking demonstrations on television and wrote several cookbooks, including, “Eat This . . . It’ll Make You Feel Better!” (1988) and “Eat This Too!: It’ll Also Make You Feel Better” (1997). He also wrote “Charlie the Caterpillar,” “The Pouch Potato” and other books for children.

In 1965 he married the actress Carol Arthur, who survives him. In addition to his son Michael, he is survived by two other sons. Peter and David, and three grandchildren.
His toughest acting assignment was his first, he told the writer Ronald L. Smith in 1992 for the book “Who’s Who in Comedy.” He was handed the role of a penny in a school play. “The part called for me to roll under a bed as soon as the curtain went up and stay there until I was found in the very last scene,” he said. “It was my hardest role to date. I detested having to be quiet and out of the action for so long.”

New York Times

Month of May!

I want to first start off with welcoming Lana our new investigator to the group. She has, if you have checked out her story on our website been through alot of paranormal growing up in a home. We took her out for her first training over the weekend, had a blast! We look forward to working with her more an having her apart of our family!

May is also the month of Mothers Day! We want to wish all those mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers etc a WONDERFUL MOTHERS DAY! Take this day ( May 10,2009) an tell your mom how much you love an appreciate her.

Now back to the group, this month we are planning a few items, along with getting ready for a week investigation in the southern part of Indiana. We are all very excited about this an cannot wait till its time to pack up an head south!

Lastnight on our blogtalk radio show, we had a special guest Justin from L.C.G.H. (lakecountyghosthunters) on our show. You can check out our archives to listen if you missed it. He shared alot of great information with us an our listeners. We are looking forward to him returning in the near future to let us know what him and his team has been up to.

We have updated our website and added a new page. Our Friends! We love talking with other groups out there, learning new information and exchanging stories, photos, evps an such. If you would like to post our banner on your site an let us post either your banner or your site name, please send Terri an email. She is our Co/founder and Web Master. terri@southindyparanormalinvestigators.org



Have a great day!

Amityville Ghostbuster Hans Holzer dies Sunday aged 89

Dr. Hans Holzer Passing! Repost

Body: Hans Holzer Passing! (Repost of Alexandra Holzer) REPOST


Press Release: Amityville Ghostbuster Hans Holzer dies Sunday aged 89.



Hans Hozer, known as the Father of the Paranormal, died Sunday at his Manhattan home after a long illness

Dr. Hans Holzer, PhD, authored over 145 titles including Murder At Amityville, which was the basis for the 1982 film Amityville II: The Possession.



Having earned his PhD from the London College of Applied Science, he spent over five decades traveling the world to obtain first hand accounts of paranormal experiences, interviewing expert researchers, and developing parapsychological protocols and terminology such as 'sensitive' and 'beings of light’.



Holzer had hundreds of national and regional talk show appearances, co-hosting/hosting programs such as Ghost Hunter on Boston's Channel 2, NBC's In Search Of with Leonard Nemoy (an Alan Landsburg productions), Murder in Amityville, Beyond The Five Senses in Louisville, KY, Explorations with Brownville Productions in Ohio, Radio including a continuous segment with New York City's WOR with famed radio personality Joe Franklin who still is a family friend.




Contact details:
Alexandra Holzer
Cel (845) 234-1077
Fax (845) 782-0526
E-mail: gargiulo1971@optonline.net

Publicist:
Cyn Felthousen
CLF Publicity and Promotions
5670 Las Virgenes Rd, #344
Calabasas, CA 91302
Phone: 818-836-9650
Email: ckfelt@yahoo.com


The Crossing of An Original Modern-Day Pioneering Ghost Hunter Who Broke The Haunted Barriers.



Professor, Parapsychologist, Writer, Humanitarian, Vegan, Spiritualist, Friend, Mentor, Son, Brother, Father, Grandfather and Spouse-Author, Dr. Hans Holzer.



If anyone knew and could grasp the concept of what death really was, it was my father Professor (as he liked to be called) Dr. Hans Holzer.



What can I say that already has not been publicized throughout six-decades via the media, television, lectures, radio, film and literary libraries brimming to it's shelf edges on a grand field covering so many topics. He even wrote a book on poetry, plants that he felt actually 'felt' and so on. He's been around so long that many of his book publishers don't even exist anymore and the ghosts have run into him on several occasions! One could say he probably met the same ones a few too many times having quite the conversation. Yeah, he's been around the paranormal block a few times I'd say.

;-)

A lover of all things of the living and of the dead with layers in-between to the
unknown, my father was the pinnacle of a foundation that later on caught
attention yet again with new technologies at our disposal, furthermore propelling the future of the field via popular cable shows, continued interest for
documentaries and internet radio surges.



Honestly, I can go on but that's why I wrote Growing up Haunted and why father wrote all that he did. It's very easy in this day and age to google him, pick up a book or two and familiarize yourselves if not already as to who he was to a growing field, still leaving us with many unanswered questions into the abyss of what is called the unknown. More importantly, he had a wit about him that could go unmatched as his uncanny ability to work over any room with any persona perhaps will not be experienced in my lifetime. Father came from a time and place (some say another planet) that today's generations cannot relate to or comprehend. It is this back-story that cemented his ideals and future visions to unlock some of life's mysteries without disrespecting or competing in-order to obtain results and anything else that came with the para-territory. He was the real deal and will be a hard act to follow.



Although not perfect as no human being is, he had his downfalls and 'issues' but that's what made him the real mackoy. He didn't really pay attention to the James Randi's of the world as he stuck to his faith and systems that never failed him. So much so I have in turn adapted many of his techniques not because he's my father but because they really are genuine to what being in this field is all about. He carried a plate full of persona's covering a gambit of ways to express and serve the paranormal and literary communities from around the globe, as he became a beacon of hope for many internationally. He was never one to have managers or agents as he'd say, "What's the point? I do it myself!" He just gang-busted his way through the years learning and discovering himself teaching others around him at all ages. Yes, he did prefer the 'younger' ladies and many of them ended up on his 'doctors' couch in his office lair to be taught mediumship. I often wondered about that technique.

;-)

Look, Elvis Presley was a fan of my father's owning several of his books and when I found out I was floored but yet at the same moment, understood why. If you get 'it' in your lifetime about what and why were here then someone like a Dr. Hans Holzer is a person you'd follow, respect and admire.



Holzer retired in 2008. He resided and passed peacefully in his Manhattan home of which he lived half of his remaining life. He loved Manhattan. It certainly was one of many 'apples' in his eye.



Services and a big to-do was not what he wanted and so having said that, what we are doing will be at a disclosed location for private family members only. If you want to contribute in some way to his life then please buy one of his books and have a good read.



I will now leave you with some quotes from the good Doctor and let you read his biography.



"There are two ways of doing things.

There's the highway and MY way!"

"I never met a ghost I didn't like!"

"Some ghosts were my best friends.

"


Thank you.



In Love and Light To Everyone,
-Alexandra Holzer


A LOOK BACK ON A HAUNTED LEGACY


Dr. Holzer was a renowned parapsychologist best known for his extensive involvement in researching the supernatural which included investigating The Amityville Horror and some of the most prominent haunted locations around the world. He appeared on hundreds of national and regional talk shows, hosting programs such as Ghost Hunter on channel 2 in Boston, In Search Of with Leonard Nemoy on NBC, Beyond The Five Senses in Louisville, Kentucky, Explorations with Brownville Productions in Ohio, radio with personalities such as Joe Franklin, films such as Murder in Amityville, The Amityville Curse and Mars in the House--An Original for Stage and Music.



Dr. Hans Holzer, PhD, was a former newspaper reporter and foreign correspondent who was trained to be skeptical and in that disciplined, ever-questioning mindset became one of the most noted and revered paranormal researchers the world has ever known.



Nevertheless, he had been involved in psychic phenomena since the late 1930s when his research into psychic phenomena truly began. Holzer believed that such things as ghost, poltergeists, precognition and other psychic occurrences did exist and always had.



Since then he authored over 140 books including "Haunted Hollywood," "ESP and You" and "Psychic Investigator" which are non-fiction. Other novels included "The Amityville Curse," "The Unicorn" and "The Clairvoyant." Dr. Holzer was a former writer-producer of the TV series "In Search Of", and had written screenplays and made countless Radio and TV appearances.





DR. HANS HOLZER, PH.

D

Father Paranormal

A Biography


Dr. Holzer pioneered and paved the path for the field of study of the science of unexplained phenoma. He was the first of his kind to mainstream the term 'ghost hunter' which became the title to his first book in 1963, 'The Ghost Hunter' which went into an unheard of eleven printings.



Writing genres included parapsychology, the supernatural, the occult, some fiction, poetry, religion and healing. Most famous for Amityville Horror II: The Possession, Ghosts, Americas Haunted House, The UFOnauts, The Journey of the Magi and Murder in Amityville: Fact or Fiction.

Most of his titles can be found on http://www.barnesandnoble.com.



Holzer was a leading authority in the field of the paranormal, known as Father of the Paranormal. Having earned his PhD from the London College of Applied Science, he has spent over five decades traveling the world to obtain first hand accounts of paranormal experiences, interviewing expert researchers, and developing para-psychological protocols. He taught parapsychology at the New York Institute of Technology for a decade.



He was a member of the WGAE, Dramatists Guild, Producers Guild, SAG, Authors Guild, AFTRA ASCAP, Archaeological Institute, NY Academy of Science, NY Historical Society and Who's Who In America.



Fun Facts: Hans Holzer was a technical advisor on the 1971 MGM feature film, Night of Dark Shadows.



Fun Facts: Holzer became a vegan at age 11.



Fun Facts: From the International Vegetarian Union at http://www.ivu.org/people/writers/holzer.html: Dr. Hans Holzer, AUSTRIA, Writer, Scientist, Parapsychologist: source: HE IS MY BEST FRIEND. notes: He was a vegetarian for over 30 years and now has been vegan for over 40 years.

A few of Jason Sullivan's Ghost Hunting 101 Videos

Here is a few of Jason's videos we wanted to share with you. We got his permission to repost them and to post them to our page. These are ones that we feel are very informative and wanted to share with you.

4/20/09 Special Guest Jason Sullivan

WOW is all I can say about lastnight's blog talk radio show with special guest Jason Sullivan. It was a great and informative show lastnight. Alot of interesting facts, stories of his investigations and alot of info on his video's on youtube. If you missed our show, you can catch the archive on our homepage.

New Member to Join SIPI

We would like to welcome with open arms Lana Hunt to our group. She was a special guest on our show last week and is very interested in the Paranormal World. She will ofcourse be in training for awhile to get to know the in's and out's of being a paranormal investigator.

Blog Talk Radio - 4/20/09 - Special Guest

Join us as we welcome Jason Sullivan from Midwest haunts and Youtube Video programmer of many Introductory Videos in the field of paranormal Studies. We will take questions on the phone and in the chat room for Jason as he tells us of his Investigations and videos from youtube.


http://www.blogtalkradio.com/itzmetony66

Yahoo Messanger

Hey everyone! Hope your having a great start to a great weekend! We know we are. We have a few things we are working on, and one that I want to proudly announce is South Indy Paranormal now has Yahoo Messanger. Want to ask our team questions? Get to know our team, etc just add us to your Buddy List and we will be happy to chat with you!

southindyparanormal@ymail.com

Have a great weekend!!

Last Nights BTR Show

I want to first off apologize about lastnight if anyone tried to view our show at 10:30pm. Some how, some way, blog talk radio kicked us out of our scheduled slot and when we tried to revive it, it was full. So our show was bumped to 11:30pm. We at South Indy Paranormal was not at all happy about this, but once we got ahold of our special guest, and she understood, the show went great!

If you missed our show lastnight due to the mishap, you can find us on archive, featured show( 4/13/09 ) and again we apologize fully!!

I want to thank Lana Hunt for letting us interview her on her life as a young'one living in a house that had a trapped spirit. You will be able to find her story on our "Your Stories" page on the website as of Wednesday 4/15/09 in the early evening. Please check out her story and get a chance to listen to the show as we will post that along with it.

Again thank you, and we are truly sorry!!

~South Indy Paranormal Investigators~

Blog Talk Radio

Come join us every Monday night at 10:30pm on Blog Talk Radio. Chat room opens at 10:15pm. Discussing all topics related to the paranormal field related to Indiana and surrounding areas.

Our show is hosted by our very own Case Manager Tony Keene and co/hosted by Dennis and Terri founders of South Indy Paranoramal Investigators

We love having special guest on our show to share with us their paranormal experiences. If you would like to be apart of our show, please send Tony a email at itzmetony66@comcast.net

**If you are unable to make it to our show, all shows are on archive**

Upcoming Guest:

Monday 4/13/09 @ 10:30pm : We will welcome Lana JHunt to our show, we will be discussing the trials and tribulations she endured living in a house with a trapped spirit and what effects it had on her as a kid and as a adult.

SIPI venting about 3-21-09

Man o' man what a night! It started out great, well kinda. We went out lastnight to "try" an do an investigation. Everything started out fine at dusk, then a group of people who claimed to be a "group" showed up. We asked them nicely to kinda keep it down we was trying to do an investigation, they replied they was a group .. didnt mention who.. and was there to also investigate. Our group finally gave up like a hour an half into the investigation cause it was no use! These adults who claimed to be a group acted like high school kids. LOUD as hell, even when we asked nicely to keep it down, and annoying as hell! Im sorry but if you claim to be a group, then why not act like one? When they got outa their car an was heading to the cemetery, we introduced ourselves as "south indy paranormal invesetigators" said we what we was doing, an asked for them to be calm while up there cause we had 2 groups there. YEA OK! that went well!!

Once our group was calling it quits there, another group found us there "N.I.G.H.T." We ended up chatting with them and following them to a few hotspots they pointed out. We got more activity in those hotspots then we did all night at Stepp. They are a great group of people!! We are hoping to get with them again really soon.

So my point is, if you are going to claim yourself as a paranormal group, it would be nice to act proffessional an responsible, introduce yourself when others introduce themselves. Otherwise you are just gonna give all of us hard working investigators a bad name.

"sorry SIPI just had to get some things off their chest"

Well Its March

Hello everyone, welcome back to ~S.I.P.I.~ blog, alot has gone on this month with just picking up a new case, so we have all been working hard on, and our Stepp Cemetery investigation has been bumped to the end of this month, due to illnesses in the group. I think we have all ended up coming down with that nasty flu bug that has gone around. I know personally it sucked! lol.

With it now being March we are hoping the weather will co-operate with us, but you know how Indiana weather is... nice one day and cold as hell the next.

If you have not had a chance to look at our new features on our site, please do. We have added a few unexplained photos, evps, videos along with a new chat room, guestbook and forums. Please check those out and leave us a comment!

Well I need to get back to work, just wanted to kinda fill everyone in on what is been going on! Have a great day!

Hannah House 3-1-09

Welcome back everyone to our Blog. I know we havn't wrote anything in awhile, we have been really busy with things.

Today our team went out to the Hannah House in Indianapolis, Indiana for one of their monthly tours. This was a very interesting tour to say the least. Our team learned alot about the history of the House, the history of the property and the History of the Hannah Family.

If you already havnt, check out our VIDEO page on our website, one of our team members gave us some photos they took to turn into a slide show. Please, there is one picture in this video slide show that you may believe is a "orb" this is NOT an orb. It happened to be just a dust particle that flew into the photo as it was taken.

We are working with the Hannah house to try and get an all night investigation going. Will keep everyone updated as this unfolds.

Have a great week!

Update on things

First off I want to give a big thank you to those of you who posted on the last blog about our "random" photo. Like I said before we was not on an actual investigation, we was just on a dry run, to get a feel for the place.

Well Im sure you all are waiting to see what we will come across next. We have had several leads of places and also a few Clients came forward to ask us to check things out. We are all excited to get out there and help other's with answers.

Central State Mental Hospital Jan 11, 2009

Today we visited Central State, located in Indianapolis, just to look around. We didn't have any equipment with us, just the usual digital camera's. Really it was just test run to get a feel for the place and the surroundings. We did happen to catch something, not sure cause NOONE was smoking while taking photos, We hope to return and investigate further and be better prepared.

Welcome

Welcome to South Indy Paranormal Investigators Blog. We feel its very important to keep everyone up to date on Investigations, and our Investigators. Everyone here on the team takes every investigation very very seriously. We are here to help other's find the answers. We are not alone in this world and nor will we ever be alone in this world. I hope we can help you find those answers you are looking for. Just send us an email and we are sure to help! Also every investigation is 100% FREE!