Questions were answered by SRI at their investigation of the Orphanage on February 18th 2011, Gettysburg, PA.
Who are you?
Kendra: Spirit Realm Investigation is a group based in Gettysburg, PA, and consists mostly of Ghostly Images Tour Guides: myself (Kendra Belgrad), Karen Milewski, Chris Smith, Dwayne Pope, Eric Nelson, and Darin Conner. Our newest member is Becky Lam. We all have different backgrounds as far as professional experience in life, but it’s our continual paranormal experiences that really brought us together.
Explain your Methodology?
Kendra: Our group uses the scientific method and the spiritual method. We have sensitives that help locate the energy in the area of the investigation. Sometimes they use tools such as dowsing rods and pendulums, and then the group monitors their findings by using mechanical equipment such as k-2, digital recorders, cameras and laser thermometers. The data is collected and documented. The findings are then contrasted to see if there is a connection between the two methods that may verify the evidence. If we can we return to the location again to see if the evidence can be reproduced. We investigate the probabilities of a residual or cognizant haunting or if there is a logical explanation. For us, the investigation is always open and continually under scrutiny.
Favorite Haunts?
Karen: I love the Jennie Wade house and Sachs Bridge.
Kendra: I am drawn to many locations. In Gettysburg, the Orphanage pulls me and Sachs Bridge pulls me, but drive me by any old cemetery and I want to get out, walk the grounds and visit!
Dwayne: Well I had a really good time at the Orphanage (Soldiers National Museum, Gettysburg, PA) tonight, so I’d have to say that might have just leaped into number one. Second favorite haunt would be the Cashtown Inn.
Becky: The Jennie Wade House.
Personal Experiences?
Becky: I had a very personal experience this evening. (Investigation in the Orphanage February 18, 2011) This would be the freshest one that I had while here in Gettysburg. While I was in a room here in the Orphanage, I felt on the left side of my head, someone going through my hair, running their fingers through my hair, twice.
Dwayne: Well had a really nice experience here about an hour ago. I was sitting with my legs about shoulder width apart and we were doing some talking down there (basement of the Orphanage) and all the sudden we saw a bright white light that basically went through my legs and behind me. I wasn’t the only one who saw it. My second favorite was when I was about twelve years old. My brother had just gotten his driver’s license. We were driving through Gettysburg, it was right before the school year began and we were up here about eight o’clock one morning. We saw a man walking out of the woods, he was barefoot. We passed the man, he looked happy, and dressed in a confederate uniform. Soon as we passed him, I turned around to look at him again, and there was no one there.
Karen: The one that stands out the most, I was in the Jennie Wade house, Dwayne had left and I was all by myself upstairs. I had gotten a really good picture, said thank you and asked if they could show me another way they were there. Then I heard a noise. It sounded like someone was pouring sand on the floor, three feet away from my foot and I watched the sound move across the floor to my left foot. By the time it got to my left foot, it sounded like sparks. It was clear as day. It was amazing.
Kendra: I’ve had so many experiences we’d be talking for hours. One of the most compelling though happened a few years ago when I was out with a group of people near Culp’s Hill. It was about 1:30 in the morning and we had been taking pictures and documenting an experience that everyone was having, but me. They kept seeing a man in a brown slouch hat, he was in a wooded area, looking out at everyone. They were so excited because he kept moving and I wasn’t because I couldn’t see him. I made the comment “Nothing ever happens to me!” and stomped around to right side of the woods. Another investigator followed me and we were trying to get some sort of reaction from the spirit, by using dowsing rods. Most of the group passed us and walked further away. The other investigator stood close to the tree line in front of me, and I heard him say, “Do you see the red? Knock it down.” At the same time I felt a sharp pain in my neck and became dizzy, then fell backwards as if someone pushed me. I was startled. The investigator turned around as I was falling and called to the group. They started back to where we were and he asked if I could get up. I turned to do so, when I felt a hand in the middle of my back push me down face first into the grass. I ate grass in front of twenty people. Their first reaction was to take photo’s. A friend knelt close and asked if I was okay. I told her about the pain in my neck and she helped me crawl away. When I did the pain left immediately and I was no longer dizzy. The experience startled me for a few minutes, and then I exclaimed, “THAT WAS SO COOL!” Everyone laughed until I explained what was said before I fell and the strange pain in my neck. Was it a phantom bullet that hit me and then a soldier pushed me down? When I tried to get up did someone else tell me to stay down by doing it again? The photos taken that night, showed bright orbs around me and I certainly looked like death warmed over.
Why was the group was formed?
Kendra: Originally the group was formed in the hopes of leading investigations in the Historical buildings we lead tours through, but then evolved to investigate the battlefield, historical landmarks of Gettysburg and private dwellings and business within the surrounding states.
What’s Next?
Kendra: The new season of ghost tours is starting up in the middle of March. I know we all are anxious to begin tours again. We will also be attending Phenomenology 103 in Gettysburg at the end of the month. We have a few interviews planned with some of the guests and hope to have those up in April. As well as plans for a few private investigations that we will be lining up in the next month and locations in the Fall.
Strongest Evidence with link to it?
Kendra: We recently conducted three investigations; The Soldiers National Museum (The Homestead Orphanage), Gettysburg Battlefield Resort, and Beanies Bar and Grill in Mt. Joy, PA. I believe that the evidence in these three cases are our best so far, but they will not be posted until the end of March, after the reveals. When they are added, they can be found at: http://www.spiritrealminvestigation.com. Of course we have also gotten some strange mists out at Sachs covered bridge here in Gettysburg and those will be up by the end of the month as well.
What’s your most asked Question by people?
Karen: Have you ever seen anything?
Dwayne: As a tour guide, definitely have you ever seen anything, or do you believe in this? Which I have seen enough, and again tonight just reinforces my knowledge that, yes it does exist.
Kendra: It’s always: have you seen a ghost. And then when I say yes, they always want to hear a story. I think for a lot of people, they want to believe, but they need to experience it for themselves. I’ve taken non-believers through the Jennie Wade house and seen their faces change to believers when something profound rocks their world. But, they wouldn’t have believed if it had not happened to them.
Dream Case/Investigation?
Dwayne: The Cashtown Inn, or outside of Gettysburg, the Lizzie Borden house, or possibly Alcatraz.
Karen: I want to go to an old castle, probably in Ireland.
Kendra: I’ve always wanted to visit the Saint Louis Cemetery, in New Orleans. It’s my dream investigation because it’s not only a haunting location, but it is fraught with danger. One place I could go tour, but not investigate, so it is a dream for me.
Becky: I want to investigate out at the Seminary (in Gettysburg), where all the wounded were taken. And I want to have that experience with the men and women tended the wounded. I would dearly love to have that conversation with them.
Do you think that paranormal shows gives groups like you a bad reputation?
Becky: I think that there are some that are credible, I also think that there are those that are just pure hype. And so I guess it just depends on which you tend to believe, but I believe that groups like us get a bad rap from the ones that are all hype.
Karen: I think they are good to bring more exposure to the paranormal. Get people thinking and wondering about the unseen. Some of them are credible and some are not, but they are pressured by producers to make things happen. You can’t always do that. They fake stuff sometimes and that’s not good for us, but at least its bringing exposure.
Dwayne: Well I’m a little biased, because I have really good friends that are related to Jason from Ghost Hunters, so I think there are shows that do it right. The ones that do it right, just stir up more interest from the public. As we saw last year at Ghostly Images, when the shows appeared on television, we seemed to get pretty busy. If it’s done right and it’s credible that they can most definitely help the paranormal.
Kendra: The paranormal shows are great for interest, but they also cause a lot of grief when they don’t get the history right. We’ve had to do some corrections over some of the shows that visited the Jennie Wade house and Orphanage. They wanted some interesting things to say, unfortunately they were incorrect and people believed them. Because of this, I don’t really watch many shows about spirits and those that hunt them. I am too busy investigating.
Tell us a strange but true fact bout you?
Dwayne: I was born with six fingers on my left hand. I had it surgically removed when I was nine months old. You can still see the scar on my hand.
Becky: I danced on the bar at Coyote Ugly!
Kendra: My blood type is a mutation. The combination of my mother and father’s blood would not have produced me naturally. Therefore I’m a mutant.
Karen: I have pet rocks that I’ve named and they live in my bathroom sink. Stop laughing. It’s strange but true.
