There is a blue moon tonight, so that makes things even more eerie. I think back when I was in the Army. The Army had scouts to check things out, before a unit made their move on an enemy site. H.P.I. (Haunted and Paranormal Investigations) of Northern California has their own scouts. Tonight HPI Paranormal Investigator Jennifer Baca and I, will scout out two haunted locations in Elk Grove and one haunted location in the Pocket Area of Sacramento. Today is June 1st, 2007, Friday. Jennifer with her big smile arrives at my home in Elk Grove, she is eager to do some ghost hunting. I bring along my Jack Russell Terrier named Pika. Pika has sensed a ghost once at the Old Broadway Cemetery, so he might be useful in this investigation. You can say Pika is a paranormal investigating dog, while my black Chow T-Rex is oblivious to any kind of hauntings. Pika will sit and watch the Cartoon Network or the Animal Planet and T-Rex is only concerned with food. So, unfortunately T-Rex stays home, while Pika gets to go on this ghost hunt with Jennifer and I.
When my son Jason lived at home, Jason and his friends would party near the wetlands. Some of the kids would party at a clump of Eucalyptus trees and also party at a historical site called the Lee/Wightman site off Big Horn Blvd. Jason's friends claimed they have seen a white wisp near the trees and at the historical site. I never took any credence to their claims, but later discovered that the clump of trees were imported from Australia. Because Eucalyptus trees usually grow in clumps and they are tall, they make for good shelter. Shelter that were used my early settlers of the Elk Grove region. The historical site that Jennifer and I will also investigate is the Lee/Wightman Site. A site that once had a blacksmith shop there in 1865. Renovations done in 1907, and later a barn and tenant house that was built on the site in 1936. There is nothing there now, except a sign describing what was once there. The sign says that it was a ranch with a main house, blacksmith shop, smoke house, barn granary, pumphouse, harvester shed and a storage shed.
Let's talk about who Jennifer is. Jennifer is a very interesting and beautiful lady, from January 1994 to September 1995 she was in the Navy. She was an E-2 Electrician Mate. She was stationed at Washington State and lived in Bremerton. She also performed duties on the USS Camden. All her life she was around the military. She grew up as a military brat and lived in places like Yokota/Okinawa - Japan. In fact she graduated from high school in 1992 from Okinawa. She lived in Texas, Oregon, Florida, Charlevoix - Michigan from 99 to 2000 and once vacationed in Hawaii. She has been married twice and is now very happily married to a great guy named Tony and has two children named Cameron and Makayla. She has experienced the paranormal through her ex-sister-in-law Karen, who is a medium. (See article - Ghostbusters at the Old Historical Cemetery - which details her past paranormal experiences). Jennifer is a very enthusiastic young lady that has a sense of adventure. She loves driving Quads, she is set to take scuba diving lessons. Her other recreational activities include hiking, biking, swimming and reading good horror books.
She has a unique ancestry, she is quarter Japanese, quarter Taiwanese, Irish, French, American Indian - Senaca. Her favorite movie is Titanic and she always had a desire to be an actress. A song that she plays all the time is "How Deep Is Your Love by the Bee Gees" When relaxing in front of the TV, you will find her watching American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, House, Sopranos, all of the CSIs and Gray's Anatomy. I was getting all of this information about Jennifer for this article, while Hannibal Rising movie was playing in the background. Jennifer was glued on this horror movie. Yep! I can tell she loves horror, she makes the perfect paranormal investigator! Jennifer has always had an interest in the paranormal, she thinks its in her DNA!
Now that I have told you everything about Jennifer, let's talk about our ghost hunting adventure. As we arrived at the clump of Eucalyptus trees, Jennifer worked her EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) monitor. There is a lot of graffiti on the trees, probably placed there by my son's friends. Jennifer, Pika and I walk over to the historical site and again used the EVP monitor. Both Elk Grove areas look "haunted". The clump of trees swaying in the wind and the beckoning glow of the blue moon above us was frightening in itself. The historical site feels old. As we walked around this area, we felt a forbidding strangeness. I felt like I was walking in the past as images in my mind told me what was once there. As we stumbled around in the dark and Jennifer talking through her EVP monitor, we came across a gorgeous, but very dead white owl. We can see that it recently died, but the beauty of this dead owl made us both say..."ahhhhhhh". We didn't see anything significant, so we headed back to my car, a 2003 Maroon Stratus that I affectionally call "Ghost Tracker" and headed out to the Sacramento Pocket Canal Area.
A little history about this place, the Pocket Area homes near the canal area were supposingly built over a Portuguese cemetery and it has been known that some of the Pocket homes are haunted and it has been documented and entered in a few books in regard to California hauntings. As Jennifer, Pika and I walked down the canal path next to these homes, we found a park next to the canal. We took several digital photographs and captured some orbs, but what was so surprising is that I took a picture towards the park and the picture showed a huge light image. Well, the strange thing is that where I positioned myself to take that picture, it was totally dark! Where did that light come from? I took a second picture at the same location and the picture was naturally dark. Jennifer takes a picture at the same location with her digital camera and it's still a naturally dark picture. So, where did this burst of light come from? Did a ghost make his or her presence known by coming directly to the lens of my camera as I took that picture? During my many haunting investigations I have taken a zillion pictures of orbs, I have seen other investigators take pictures of white mist, but never have I or any other investigators taken a picture of a burst of light in a totally dark area! As we walked away from this area, Jennifer got frightened twice, she heard a big fish hit the water and a goose in the background making a strange quacking sound. It was time to shut down this investigation, now it was time to get home and analyze what we found through the EVPs and photographs! I asked myself driving home, were these three areas credible for a future haunting investigation or were the two areas in Elk Grove where my son and his friends would party at, just a place where they imagined seeing a white mist, due to some wild partying and drinking unknown beverages? Who knows, Jennifer and I still had to check it out to make sure. The Pocket Area holds more credence, since many people who live in this area have said that their homes are haunted.
Jennifer and I seek out the unknown. When the unknown is searched out, the unknown will find you and reveal it's secrets. It's just a matter of time. As for the EVPs, we couldn't detect anything because of the wind, but we did get some unusual photographs in the Pocket Area. For more on H.P.I. (Haunted and Paranormal Investigations) of Northern California, check out their website at: www.HPIparanormal.net
Findings:
Faint orbs photographs taken at Pocket Area.
Burst of light photograph taken in a naturally dark area - unexplained - Pocket Area.
No EVPs due to wind activity for Elk Grove and Pocket Area.
Natural photographs taken in Elk Grove area.
Conclusion:
More investigation needed under better environmental conditions.
Too much wind interference for EVPs. Pocket Canal Area has potential for paranormal activity due to unexplained photographs taken.
Paul Dale Roberts, Freelance Writer, HPI Ghost Writer
and Paranormal Investigator
www.jazmaonline.com
5606 Moonlight Way
Elk Grove, Ca 95758
JazmaPika [at] cs [dot] com
(916) 203 7503
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Thanks for the story and pictures! ❤