School Building - Castana, IA
Location Information
Date:2nd April, 2005 Type:Business
Location Title:School Building City/State:Castana, IA
Investigation Times:11:00 PM - 04:00 AM Status:Analysis
Weather Information
Sunrise:06:04 AM Sunset:06:51 PM
High Temperature:66 °F Low Temperature:24 °F
Sky Condition:Overcast Wind:SSE at 4 mph
Humidity:44% Precipitation:0%
Lunar Phase:Last Quarter % disk visible:45%
Solar X-Rays:Normal Geomagnetic Field:Unsettled
Pressure:30.02 mmHg
Investigators Present
Beth McLenaghan
Hugh McLenaghan
Kelli Patrick
Becky Ray
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Question: How long have you lived here?
Answer: Since September 2004.
Question: When did the phenomena start?
Answer: Almost immediately.
Question: Any visual apparations?
Answer: Shadows.
Question: Any sounds?
Answer: Voices, children.
Question: Any physical attacks?
Answer: No.
Question: Any past investigations, priests or clergy?
Answer: No.
Question: Any use of Ouija boards, seances, automatic writing, etc?
Answer: No.
Question: Did previous occupants, neighbors or landlords know of phenomena?
Answer: Not reported.
Question: Have there been any deaths or violent occurances in the the property?
Answer: None known.
Question: Give a brief explanation of what you have experienced:
Answer: Shadow movements, sudden complete darkness.
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Investigators Notes
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Beth McLenaghan:Enjoyable investigation experience- old building with a history of several unusual happenings. Felt almost an electrical/magnet pull toward one of the upstairs classrooms- and when we advanced into that room, there were hundreds of dead flies laying on the floor in there. But ONLY in that room. The only other significant experience I had was in the gym, I felt a horrible aversion to one of the "under the stage storage doors". In the basement/boiler room, I felt a strong pull into the back/corner room where I got a few orbs in digital pictures, but the room was too dusty/clutered to value the pictures as anything paranormal.
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Kelli Patrick:This was a great building to investigate. I used the Sony nighshot camera, regular 35mm camera, EMF and laser thermometer. The nighshot camera was set up in the second floor hallway, right outside the Principal's office and faced the corridor area. The only thing I have on video is the sound of shuffling feet on the concrete floor. The sounds comes from the side or behind the camera. Nothing was found on 35mm camera, EMF or laser camera. It was noticed in one room that there were a lot of dead flies. This is the only room that had them. We spent the night there in the staff lounge. We went to bed at 4am and I kept being awakened by the lounge door oepning and closing approx. every hour.
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Becky Ray:This was an interesting investigation! Definitely one I can't wait to do a follow-up on. As we did the initial walk through, there were certain places that I had the unmistakable feeling of being watched.
This feeling continued as we began setting up our equipment. In fact, every time I was in the gym I felt someone sitting in the middle of the bleachers just watching us. I felt the presence even with the lights on, although nothing was visible. It was very uncomfortable for me to be in there.
After an hour or so I returned to the gym to reposition my video camera from the facing the middle of the gym to facing the storage areas under what was once a stage. After doing so, I walked away from the video camera and turned around to scan the gym before leaving. As I looked to the left of my camera at the dead center of the gym, Kelli took a flash photo, and in the light of the flash I saw what appeared to be a man! He was either wearing jeans and a blue windbreaker, or an old 1970s era navy blue jogging suit with white tubing stripes. But he was in the flash and gone.
Later in the night on the second floor, a group of us were exploring to see what we could find. We returned to a room we had discovered was covered with dead flies during our walk through and moved through the floor from there. Back in the hallway I saw what appeared to be a shadowperson at the end of the hallway turn and move down the corridor to the end room. This corridor has no windows and gives me a bad feeling before we get near it. As we walk down the corridor into the end room, there is definitely a presence in the room with us. Paul (one of our Iowa team members) remarks that he can see a young child in the corner of the room when cameras flash. Paul continues to be drawn to this room for the remainder of the night. I can't get far enough away from it quick enough.
As we are walking back down the hallway to return to base, I hear children laughing, but it is a controlled laugh, classroom sounds! I look to my left and I am right next to a door. But just as quickly the sounds stop.
When we finally did lie down for the night, I heard strange sounds almost all night long, like someone moving about in the building. I even had odd dreams about the school that night, and that rarely happens to me.