Investigation Report
Date: 04/28/07
Case Number: SPI04282007-S-TMCOM
Location: Tombstone Motel, Tombstone Arizona
Weather: The Ghost-Station data was invalidated by an unexpected
Investigators: David Delgado, Dave Webb, Danielle Waluck, Paul Bradford, Tom Rasmussen, Sandra Senecal
Room 119
Temperature: (averaged) 76.5f
Humidity: (averaged)45.4%
EMF: 0.0 with the following spikes:
Electrical Outlet opposite entrance door: 0.2
TV (with TV on):16.6
Heater: 0.9
Thermostat: 0.4
Back Wall, approx 5ft from the floor: 0.4
Initial setup: At (15:15) Dave Webb did the baseline EMF sweep, placed fresh batteries in the Carbon Monoxide meter and the audio recorder, and placed the equipment as indicated on Paul's map. At 15:29, Danielle, Sandy and Tom entered the room to assist. Immediately, Sandy smelled mold. David W reported feeling hot, sweaty and enclosed. Tom noted that the carpet could be part of the problem, stating that he believed it could have been shampooed recently and that residue of the cleaner used was still on the carpet. Tom took a temperature and humidity baseline sweep. Shortly after this, the A/C unit for the room turned itself on and ran for a few minutes before shutting down again. This dropped the temperature by a degree but did not change the humidity.
We determined that we could not turn the gas heater on, since the pilot light appeared to be out, so we left the room and decided to return two hours later, per plan, to ensure that the room was safe to investigate. Room 119:
The Carbon Monoxide test was negative. The heater, which we felt could have been the source of the problem, was not operational at the time due to the pilot light being out, presumably for the season.
An EMF sweep of the room yielded no anomalous results. We did get a reading on the top of the TV while it was on ? it rose to 16.6 using a single axis Sperry EMF meter ? but more than an inch away from the set top this dropped back to 0. This would be considered normal.
The magnetic oddity we found there was still in evidence, but this can also be explained as normal for the type and age of the TV.
Several electrical outlets were also checked, and found to be normal.
During the initial test period, with no one in room 119, we ran audio and didn't find anything unusual. We noted that the room does pick up a great deal of sound from outside; traffic, wind, passers-by and conversations and movement from other rooms are all clearly audible at various times.
One of the phenomena reported in 119 was flickering lights. We found that the bedside lamps are connected to a wall socket on the back wall of the room. When we arrived, the plug was only partly connected to the socket and movement near it did cause the lights to flicker. If this is the normal state for that connection, anyone cleaning the room and bumping the bed might cause the connection to move and this might cause the lights to flicker.
We had also been told that the lights change color. We did not witness this ourselves, nor did we record an instance of it happening.
The Investigation Proper:
We split into three teams, each team spending some time in room 119 doing EVP work, changing tapes and taking readings.
Video:
We recorded one instance of an orb moving from the right of the screen and then up towards the ceiling. On further examination, we determined the following:
The object appears in a shadow, and then grows brighter as it moves into the camera's field of view. We lose it as it leaves the top of the picture. This means the object is reflecting the IR from the camera's night vision. This means it's a solid object. It is not producing it's own light and is therefore not a light anomaly. It is important to note that it appears to come from the window area and float upwards. We believe it to be either dust expelled by the air conditioning or a bug.
EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena):
Although each group conducted EVP work no responses or other anomalous voices were discovered. We have no EVPs in Room 119.
EMF/Temperature:
The room cooled off during the night, which was to be expected. We had a storm that night, so this would have cooled the outside air too.
The EMF meter placed in 119 as a motion sensor did not activate without a person being present to act as trigger.
EMF sweeps of the room did not record anything anomalous.
Audio (other than EVP):
No anomalous audio was picked up in Room 119.
Overnight Vigil
Paul Bradford stayed in 119 over night.
He reported nothing unusual.
Room 121
Since the heater in 121 was working, we ran a Carbon Monoxide test here as well. It was negative.
Baseline temperature and EMF readings were much the same as for 119 ? nothing we would consider unusual.
It should be noted that all the investigators reported that Room 121 felt less oppressive than 119 and did not smell the same.
Video:
We did not record anything unusual in room 121.
EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena):
We were able to run audio for most of the night.
As with Room 119, Room 121 picks up a lot of ambient sound from outside. Again, we could hear traffic noise and passers-by quite clearly. During the EVP sessions we did not record any anomalous voices or voice-like sounds.
Audio (other than EVP):
We do, however, have some unusual audio.
On two occasions, both involving David Delgado and Paul Bradford, we have instances where the recordings become distorted and sound as if they have been sped up. The first instance seems to fade in and drown out their conversation before fading out.
The second seems to involve their conversation being repeated, much faster, after about a second?s delay.
The recorders we used are digital and this would normally rule out things like stretched tapes or other mechanical problems. We researched this further and discovered that digital recordings can become distorted if they are copied or moved from machine to machine. In this case, however, we were able to check the originals which were still present on the recorder we used on the night. The recorder itself shows these odd distortions.
Furthermore, the distortion only seems to happen when David Delgado and Paul Bradford are in the room. None of the other investigators seemed to produce the effect.
We cannot say for certain what these are. We know they are not classic EVP's, in that they are not voices that weren't heard when the recording was made. We are also reasonably confident that the equipment itself is generally reliable since it doesn't show the same effect for other people. Without having access to the same people and the same location we are unable to test this further and are forced, therefore, to call the sounds anomalous but inconclusive.
Conclusion
Sonoran Paranormal was unable to capture or directly substantiate any of the reported phenomena at Tombstone Motel. SPI did note some environmental factors which could explain some experiences reported by motel patrons including reactions to mold. SPI did attempt to rule in our out as much environmental factors as possible by conducting tests related to electromagnetic fields and carbon monoxide. While our CO test did come out negative for both rooms, we cannot rule out that CO may have played a part in the experiences by our investigator during the initial visit when temperatures out doors were in the 30?s and the heat was on and in use at the time. SPI considers CO to be an unlikely factor in room 119 as room 121 was tested with the heater on, and results were negative for CO, however due to the limitations of the test in 119 it cannot be completely ruled out.
Examination of the evidence collected during the investigation did not reveal unusual findings. We were not, however, able to explain all of the phenomena reported by patrons and thus would not consider this case closed. There remains the possibility that the investigation simply occurred at a time where activity was low. Given that the paranormal does not perform to command, Sonoran Paranormal can only conclude that we did not find evidence supporting a haunting. SPI would, however, have hoped to be able to provide clearer explanations for the things that patrons have witnessed. As a consequence this case remains undetermined and SPI would be happy to conduct further investigation should the motel owners desire. Sonoran Paranormal does not feel that the health and safety of the public are in jeopardy from any paranormal activity in the location and do not find that the phenomena and experiences reported are of a malicious nature.