Let's Make this Clear

My job is to provide you with as much opportunity to have a paranormal experience as possible. Everyone has a different belief as to what a ghost is and as to what the experience is.

With my experiences I have my opinions. With your experiences, you have yours.

In the words shared by my good friend Dusty Smith with the Daytona Beach Paranormal Reserch Group, there is no right or wrong.

I don't like it when passersby start saying "boo" and other things while we are investigating. And I don't like it when I think you are too busy looking at a blinking meter that you don't really know what it means than being aware of the actual activity around you. I want you to have experiences that you remember for the rest of your life and I will work hard to put you in that situation with the right attiude and knowledge to do just that - but only if you let me instead of walking in with total preconcieved notions generated from a tv show. It is not an easy job trying to keep so many people with so many diverse backgrounds and desires happy.

The previous writer's grumbles centered around a cemetery investigation on a hot day rather than an evening home investigation. The cemetery we visited has been written about in at least 4 different books because of screams heard, apparitions seen, and more. As I have asked before, do you want the opportunity of a paranormal experience or are you just trying to fill your social calendar ?

I am fortunate, I already have a busy social calendar.


At our recent visit to the Belleview Biltmore, several attendees went into states of fear and depression in one of the wings. Observing and sharing that experience will be continually with me as I remember paranormal investigations. I want to have and to share paranormal experiences that are bigger than the last, that is my simply defined but very complex task for Tampa Ghost Watchers.

Tarpon Springs Investigation

INVESTIGATION FOR PAID TAMPA GHOST WATCHERS MEMBERS ONLY !

Sunday, May 17 from 7 PM as we investigate a building in downtown Tarpon Springs built in 1894. The building was used as a bar, office, brothel, and more over the years. Reports of apparitions, voices, and more. There will be NO Cost to attend this investigation, however, this is exclusively for paid members of Tampa Ghost Watchers ! If you are not yet a paid member you can still join here. Be sure to tell me what size t-shirt you require.

RSVP BY SENDING ME AN EMAIL WITH YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS.
I will send you the exact address upon receipt of your RSVP.
The investigation will be from 8-10:30 PM. BUT some of us will be meeting nearby at Snookers Grill at 6:30 PM. Get directions to Snookers here.

In planning this investigation I have had discussions with author and psychic Caryl Dennis. (You can find out more about her here) We have planned the Tarpon Springs investigation in two parts. (Date for second part will be Sunday, June 14 from 6:30 - 10 PM) The second visit will feature a spiritual workshop and investigaton involving Caryl and International speaker Bruce Moen. (More info about him here. ) There is not a cost to attend the event on May 17 if you are a paid member, but there will be a cost of $20 to attend the June 14 event. More details to follow soon.

My Comments About Hans Holzer

With Sadness I report the death of the Greatest Ghost Hunter of All -

Hans Holzer.
(more about Dr. Holzer below)

With over 100 books to his credit, he investigated using spirit mediums with followup support using more scientific methods. Reading his first book when I was in high school is the basis for my involvement in paranormal investigations.

I have been frequently angered by investigators that have become totally reliant on "meters that go blink" for reasons they don't really know why instead of recognizing that we are seeking the remnants of a former real human spirit and that maybe a more spiritual approach is the most valid method of investigation offering a greater opportunity for personal experience. The "meters that go blink" have become the staple for tv ghost shows such as TAPS and Paranormal States. Jason, Grant, and others experiences pale in comparison to the worldwide investigations of Hans Holzer. He was best known for his investigations in Amityville NY.

In planning our upcoming Tarpon Springs investigation, on Sunday, May 17, I have had discussions with author and psychic Caryl Dennis. (You can find out more about her here) We have planned the Tarpons Springs investigation in two parts. (Date for second part to be announced, but tentatively Sunday, June 14.) The first on Sunday, May 17 is for our members exclusively to visit with the "meters that go blink" and then a followup with a spiritual workshop and investigaton also involving International speaker Bruce Moen. (More info about him here. ) My plan is simply to provide you with the opportunity to experience and learn for yourself what I feel is the real way to investigate paranormal activity rather than the hype generated by well produced tv shows provided for entertainment.

It is hard to take any supposed investigator seriously if they haven't read at least one of Hans Holzers books. He will be missed.

Bill

Hans Holzer Passes to the Other Side

Hans Holzer, whose investigations into the paranormal took him to haunted houses all over the world, most notably the Long Island house that inspired "The Amityville Horror," died Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 89.

The death was confirmed by his daughter Alexandra Holzer.

Mr. Holzer - who wrote more than 140 books on ghosts, the afterlife, witchcraft, extraterrestrial beings and other phenomena associated with the realm he called "the other side" - carried out his most famous investigation with the medium Ethel Johnson-Meyers in 1977. Together they roamed the house in Amityville in which a young man, Ronald DeFeo Jr., had murdered his parents and four siblings in 1974.

The house had become notorious after its next owners claimed to have been tormented by a series of spine-chilling noises and eerie visitations, set forth in the best-selling 1977 book "The Amityville Horror: A True Story," written by Jay Anson.

After Johnson-Meyers channeled the spirit of a Shinnecock Indian chief, who said that the house stood on an ancient Indian burial ground, Mr. Holzer took photographs of bullet holes from the 1974 murders in which mysterious halos appeared.

Mr. Holzer went on to write a nonfiction book about the house, "Murder in Amityville" (1979), which formed the basis for the 1982 film "Amityville II: The Possession"; he also wrote two novels, "The Amityville Curse" (1981) and "The Secret of Amityville" (1985).

Hans Holzer was born in Vienna, Austria, and developed an interest in the supernatural when his uncle Henry told him stories about ghosts and fairies. He studied archaeology, ancient history and numismatics at the University of Vienna but left Austria for New York with his family in 1938, just before the Nazi takeover.

After studying Japanese at Columbia University, Mr. Holzer indulged an infatuation with the theater in the 1950s. He wrote sketches for the short-lived revue "Safari!" and the book and music for "Hotel Excelsior," about a group of young Americans in Paris, which opened in Provincetown, Mass., and proceeded no farther. He also wrote theater reviews for the London Sporting Review.

He earned a master's degree in comparative religion and a doctorate in parapsychology at the London College of Applied Science. He went on to teach parapsychology at the New York Institute of Technology.

In 1962, he married the Countess Catherine Genevieve Buxhoeveden. The marriage ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter Alexandra, of Chester, N.Y., he is survived by another daughter, Nadine Widener of New York City, and five grandchildren.

In pursuit of ghosts, Mr. Holzer began investigating haunted houses and recording the testimony of subjects who believed that they had had paranormal experiences. This field research, usually conducted with a medium and a Polaroid camera, provided the material for dozens of books, beginning with "Ghost Hunter" (1963).

Mr. Holzer called himself "a scientific investigator of the paranormal."

From the San Francisco Chronicle

Investigation - Saturday, May 9

Tampa Ghost Watchers will be visiting the American Victory Ship on SATURDAY, May 9 from 7-10:30 PM for an investigation. The ship is located immediately behind the Florida Aquarium at Channelside in downtown Tampa.

This ship was launched in 1945 and has seen duty in the North Atlantic during World War II, the Viet Nam War, and the Korean conflict. In March 1953, the SS American Victory was assigned the grim task of retuning the bodies of 370 GIs who lost their lives in Korea. Get info about the ship here.

We will board the ship at exactly 7 PM. Our event will include a discussion on the history of the ship followed by an investigation until 10:30 PM. YOU MUST WEAR SOFT SOLE SHOES !!!!

SPACE IS LIMITED. Cost to attend is $25 per person. Sign up here.

Our Group

We had a great investigation at Myrtle Hill Memorial Gardens on Sunday. Almost 50 attended. It as a near perfect day and while it is only just over 24 hrs since our visit, several attendees have reported some interesting experiences that occurred. If you have some pictures or more to share, please click on the COMMENT link below and let us know what you thought of the event and about your experience.

Sunday, April 19 was the date of the visit. April 12 was Easter Sunday, on March 22 we had a FREE cook out at Phillippe Park, on March 13 over 40 attended an investigation of the Belleview Biltmore before they close for over two years. Since January you should have received over 20 emails from me and of course, this blog has been updated as required.

We have a group of 14 going to Gettysburg the end of May and have put together a trip to Andersonville/Camp Sumpter in South Georgia the end of June. (PLEASE SIGN UP ASAP, as we will have to release rooms at the haunted Windsor Hotel soon if not reserved - get details here) We also have a planned campout investigation to Pat's Island in the Ocala National Forest in early August. This was the location of a post office, small settlement, cemetery, and large sinkhole, also the Yearling Trail.

Our next event will be on the American Victory Ship in downtown Tampa on Saturday, May 9 from 7-11 PM.

With all of this going on I received this email yesterday afternoon:
Hi Bill. I know you are busy but what is happening with the club. Several of us are very dissapointed. There never seems to be any investigations. I myself have only been to the Trelis Clinic. There has to be more to it than that. Is no one contacting you for assisstance with activity? Please don't take it the wrong way. It's just that I expected something....(Name withheld)

The Tampa Chamber of Commerce charges over $350 per year to join, plus costs to attend their events. They have a full time staff of over 10 to organize their events. We charge $25 to join - once- and you get a t-shirt (the Chamber doesn't even give you a t-shirt)

Tampa Ghost Watchers is quite possibly the largest paranormal group in the US with almost 200 members now. We do our best to provide you with plenty of events of every type and cost. Thank you to everyone that helps to make our events successful and to keep us operating smoothly. But if you are expecting events 7 days a week/24hours a day you can expect poorly organized events, plenty of repeats, and the need for a lot more money to be spent on a full time staff. The experience of paranormal investigations can be exciting, BUT if ghost hunting represents your entire social and event calendar, then maybe you need to get some help.

Investigation - Sunday, April 19

Cemetary Investigation at Myrtle Hill Memorial Park
Sunday, April 19
4 PM - Dusk


Location: Corner of Martin Luther King and N. 50th Street in Tampa.

Founded in 1917 on over 100 acres this beautiful location has been known to have generated calls to Tampa Police of screams and moans, with nothing ever found. Stories of full body apparitions at various mausoleums have been reported as well.

Directions: On I-4, just East of Ybor City, take the 50th Street/Columbus exit North approximately one mile. Look for the Cemetary entrance on the left just past the Martin Luther King intersection. You will see a very large American flag on the right just past the cemetary entrance.

Bring any equipment you may require.
Bring comfortable shoes and water or beverages as there are no facilities nearby.

PLEASE NOTE: Follow my directions clearly, there are 3 Cemetaries adjacent to each other at this location. Look for my bright yellow Smart Car on the left as you enter the gates. Do NOT drive on the grass.

THIS IS A FREE EVENT !
NO Cost to attend. Members, Guests, and spirits invited.

IF YOU ARE A NEW MEMBER OR I OWE YOU A T-SHIRT AND YOU PLAN TO ATTEND, PLEASE EMAIL YOUR SHIRT SIZED AND I WILL BRING IT TO MYRTLE HILL.

PLEASE RSVP by sending an email to bill@tampaghostwatchers.com