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The Court House in Green Cove Springs and a return Visit to the Old Jail
We might send a team to Little Ruth Church and Cemetery again if there is time.
We will now have access to the section of the old Jail that we could not enter on our last trip.
We will also have full access to the Court House with the exception of one room.
The investigation has been completed for now with a re-visit pending, No paranormal activity was noted in the Court House, But the Old Jail proved to be vary interesting again. Several EVP's were noted. We will be returning again at a later date.
The Little Ruth Church and Cemetery was interesting, The mosquito's we in abundance, and we had an enjoyable visit with several of the Church Members.
Updated Investigations Report:
1894 Clay County Jail
Green Cove Springs Fl.
Investigators Cumulative Report:
The historic 1894 jail and archives were investigated on June 20, 2009. The original Clay County Courthouse was also investigated. This was the second time the jail was investigated by C.A.P.E.. This was the first time we had access to the archives section of the jail.
The day was very hot, in the 100’s. Humidity was at least 80%. There was virtually no breeze. The evening hours brought temperatures down only into the high 80s. Humidity remained high.
Earlier in the day, at about 4 PM, members of C.A.P.E. arrived and set up the static cameras and DVR system in the jail. Other equipment was also dropped off and placed in the archives for safekeeping.
The C.A.P.E. team arrived, and opened the jail, archives and courthouse for formal investigation at 8 PM. At this time the sensitive investigator, Karolene C. and her son, Brandon C., did a walk through of both buildings.
Other investigators participating that evening were Al and Wanda Thackrah, CAPE founders, Daniel B. and Shanda K., Shawn M., John J., Paul C., and Vishi G..
The June 20, 2009, investigation ended at around 12:00 am.
Recap of Previous Visit to the Jail in January 2009:
Some of the evidence previously captured was: a black shadow mass in still photos, unexplained photographic phenomena, electronic voice phenomena, interference with our handheld radios, feelings of nausea by one investigator, the smell of perfume, singing heard coming from the archives section of the jail, and unexplained noises heard by investigators.
Evidence:Camera 8 catches white apparition
Like all the cameras used that night, Camera 8 is a zero-lux night vision camera. Camera 8 was aimed down the second floor, left hallway of the jail. This hallway is on the HWY. 16 side of the jail. It has windows on its left side and jail cells on its right. It is connected to the stairs/catwalk area (Camera 5) by a short walk of about 8 feet.
The second floor right hallway also had a camera in it. This was Camera 7. This right hallway faces the courthouse. This hallway is also connected to the stairs/catwalk area by similar distance. The two hallways are connected by a short hall, creating a u-shaped second floor.
At 22:17 hours a white object moves into camera 8’s view, lingers for a few seconds, then goes off camera. No one was in the jail at the time this object appears on camera. The white figure appears close to the camera. It moves and appears very bright. It then goes off camera.
Simultaneous review of the other cameras does not show anyone coming out of the upstairs, or appearing in front of any of the other cameras. Camera 5, the camera closest to Camera 8, picks up nothing; not even the shadow of a person walking by the open door to go hide in the cells. To leave the top floor you must go past camera 5.
No one goes past it. The camera in the right hallway (Camera 7) does not record anyone. There is no way out of the top floor of the jail except through the hallway and door covered by Camera 5.
There were two other cameras upstairs in jail cells. They did not record any anomalies. The only way in the jail, through the front door, was blocked by our DVR equipment and manned by Al Thackrah, our organization founder. He reports that no one went in or came out during this time period until some of the first teams went in to investigate.
For reasons unexplained to CAPE, the DVR system did not record Camera 4’s picture even though it did display correctly during the investigation. Camera 4 is not relevant to the analysis of the white object because it was not in a position to record anyone leaving the upstairs of the jail.
The video first shows the simultaneous view of 8 cameras (minus number 4’s malfunction). This is the screen visible to Al as he manned the DVR system. And monitor.
Suddenly, in Camera 8’s screen, the white object surrounded in blackness appears. The rest of the screen around the object goes completely black and the object moves around in front of the camera. This video is running in real time. Then, the object moves away and the picture of the corridor returns to normal. During this time frame nobody was in the old jail, the previous video, and log proves no investigator was in the build at the time. The only entrance and exit available was past the command table so no outside intervention could have been accomplished. We have attempted to debunk this even to the point of sending in two investigators to stand and walk around in front of the camera for comparison.(even though the camera did react to their presence they look nothing like the object captured on video). And to add to the photos taken previously this object might be the same black mass that was captured but having a bright white center.
Other Video Evidence: ORBS
Orb Activity Many beautiful orbs were recorded on video. While C.A.P.E. does not consider Orbs in as evidence because, most are dust or insects, some maybe real energy orbs. We do not consider them as spirits.
The dust orb usually drifts down with gravity and appears very translucent or pale. It is reflecting light and may be close to the camera lens. The trained observer can easily detect insect orbs.
Genuine orbs may be concentrations of energy or light.
The January night these orbs were captured was a cold, cold night with static electricity in the air. Some paranormal investigators consider them to be the actual physical manifestations of spirits. Orbs may emit their own light and can show independent and purposeful flight. Whatever they are, they are often encountered whenever there is paranormal activity or a haunting. This might be from spirits attracting them and attempting to draw in energy to be used by them.
June 20, 2009 Evidence:
Electronic Voice Phenomena:
A digital audio recorder was used in an attempt to capture electronic voice phenomena (EVP). EVP's occur on recording media; they are picked up during a recording session. The person making the recording may hear no sounds at the time of the recording. Later, upon review of the audio, sometimes sounds or voices are revealed.
In this case, Investigator Daniel B. placed an audio recorder in the solitary confinement cell. Investigator Shanda K. was with him. Captured on the audio at about 4 minutes and 18 seconds into the taping was a deep, moan sound.
The loudest sound is that of the investigator breathing but very clearly in the back ground is the moaning sound. At approximately 7 minutes and 54 seconds into taping Daniel B. is explaining to Shanda K. the poor behavior of some inmates while in jail and a quiet voice, perhaps female, is heard to say: “hey.” The “hey” is in the background of the investigators’ voices but sounded very close to the microphone.
Video Evidence: Four static, zero-lux video cameras, one with extra infrared lighting, were used.
A moving orb of light was captured on video in the second floor, right hallway of the old jail. This orb originates about half way down the hallway and moves forward towards the camera, then moves up to the right and disappears. This hallway is very dark. The orb appears to emit its own light.
It does not appear to be a bug, moving too fast to be a firefly. The orb's movement, as it shoots upward, is almost angular. Lightning bugs tend to float, fly erratically and show wings, tails and appendages. This orb does not. Also, this is not a beam of light or flashlight beam on the wall. No one was in this portion of the jail when this orb was captured. The orb is free floating in the hallway.
The location of this orb is also significant because this is where paranormal activity had been captured in the past. This hallway produced the black shadow mass that blocked out portions of photographs during the January investigation. This is also where the female laugh was captured.
Personal observations:
1) At about 8 PM Sensitive/Psychic Investigator Karolene C. and her son Brandon, while doing the initial walk through of the jail, reported the movement of two cell doors in the central first floor corridor. At the time they were the only persons in the building. It was still daylight. These doors are solid steel, very heavy, rusty and require some force to move.
2) Karolene sensed a presence in the second floor of the archives, the former jailer's quarters. Previously, at the January investigation, singing was heard to come from the archives. At that time, the archives were locked and no one had access to them. Through further investigation C.A.P.E. learned that there were no music sources in the archives playing at that time.
3) Later in the investigation, the static zero-lux camera placed in the second floor of the archives experienced some interesting camera activity. It appeared that the camera was being moved and that something moving very fast darted past the camera. Upon analysis, the camera had created a double exposure in two frames on the video. However, the camera had not moved. The camera continued working perfectly the rest of the night. We are not what caused this, if it was electrical, the software, or paranormal reason. But do to the amount of paranormal activity we have ruled out equipment failure.
4) Investigator Shawn M, who briefly stepped into the jail earlier that night, wrote that she felt “very oppressed “in the jail. She wrote that she felt “afraid” of the place.
5) Investigator Shanda K. and Daniel B. were in the solitary confinement cell on the first floor. During this time she felt something cold brush up against her arm twice. The digital thermometer was unable to be used fast enough to capture any temperature anomalies.
6) While in the solitary cell the two investigators, Daniel and Shanda, also heard footsteps and creaking coming from the second floor. Again, they were alone in the jail. Further, they heard the sound of a cell door slam shut at that time.
7) Battery drain: Shanda attempted to take photos in the solitary cell but when she did the camera battery had drained completely. When she moved to the next cell the battery recharged itself and the camera functioned. Battery drain is a common occurrence in the presence of paranormal activity. The theory is that entities use batteries to “energize’ themselves to manifest.
8) In the recent past, Investigator Vishi G., who is a volunteer at the Clay County Archives, always feels the presence of several persons in the jail whenever she uses the restroom in the jail. This occurs during daylight hours and when she is the only person in the old jail. She has also heard footsteps in the archives portion of the old jail when she is the only person there.
9) June, 2009. A juvenile Teen Court participant, while completing his community service hours at the archives, had to use the jail bathroom. He came right back and appeared a little unnerved. . He explained that the place was “creepy” and that “people were watching him in there.” He was not talking about the mannequins that are placed throughout the jail. He also reported hearing a cell door close. After that, he was told of the paranormal activity at the jail by Vishi G.
10) June, 2009 unnamed maintenance personnel mentions to Vishi that as he worked outside the jail he heard a voice coming from the jail asking him, “Hey, what are you doing?” The jail was locked up and no one was inside or outside in the surrounding area.
11) August 13, 2009 Harrison, the 4 year old son of archives volunteer Vishi reported hearing music and signing as he played cars on the archives floor. He asked, “Momma, can you hear the music?” She could not. Vishi continued on with her work as to not to draw attention to what Harrison had just told her. There was no music being played. It was about 8:30 am, Thursday morning. The archivist, Mr. Bass, was not in the building; he was at a meeting. Later that morning Mr. Bass played an old gramophone record for Harrison. We note this to delineate the two experiences. When questioned the next day Harrison reported that the music was that of a violin. “It was loud”, he said. “Why didn't you hear it Momma? Harrison concluded that the ghosts at the jail were playing music for him because he had visited them.
Children, in their innocence and open minds, often experience the paranormal. To them, it is not frightening, just another experience.
Conclusion:
After careful consideration of evidence gathered from the January investigation and this investigation CAPE concludes that the 1894 Jail not only has significant paranormal activity, but it's haunted.
There appears to be both intelligent and residual activity at the old jail and archives.
Discussion:
Haunted means that intelligent human entities exist in the building and that they have attempted to interact with the living. There appears to be a female entity at the jail and archives.The female laugh and the “hey” EVP lend to this.
Residual activity is like a tape recorder. Given the right circumstances, the activity “plays” itself over and over. It is not aware of the living. It has no active intelligence behind it and cannot interact.
The source of the music, singing and other noises could be residual in nature.
The jail, in terms of human experiences, is ripe for paranormal activity. There was at least one suicide in the jail. There were an unknown number of executions in front the jail. A photo of the last hanging in Clay County sits in the in the archives displays. Sheriff Cherry, who was murdered, bled out his life's’ blood on the floor of the present day archives.
While death was ever present at the old jail, life was there to. At least one child was born in the jailers residence side of the jail. The children of the jailers grew up there.
The old jail is a place that if investigated by other paranormal groups, could allow investigators to capture truly convincing evidence of the paranormal.
There was no paranormal activity found at the courthouse.
CAPE appreciates the opportunity to investigate the historic jail and courthouse and hopes to continue to have future access to the jail and other historic properties in Clay County
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