WACO, Texas (KWTX) – This time of year, many of us love to get into the spooky season by trick-or-treating, watching scary movies, and going to haunted houses.
Central Texas has its own pretty spooky legends, with haunted locations all over the area.
From downtown Waco to Cameron Park to the Dr. Pepper Museum, Waco is said to be full of paranormal activity.
But you might not notice it unless you look for it.
Ghost Host Adam has been a paranormal investigator for nearly 30 years and now uses his knowledge of the paranormal to guide people through Waco’s most haunted places and give them the chance to connect with Waco’s dead. I am. Waco Ghosts and Legends Tour.
“People come from all over the world, and a lot of them have a lot of questions and maybe they can help… and they don’t know who else to turn to,” Adam said. said. darkness. “
He started the tour in downtown Waco and took us to the intersection of Austin Avenue and North Fourth Street, directly below the historic Alico Building.
Adam says using a spirit communication app that detects something called electronic voice phenomena can give people the chance to communicate with people who are long gone but whose spirits still remain. I say.
Next, we headed to the Hippodrome Theater, which opened in 1914 and is famous for being haunted.
Stories there include staff seeing figures in hallways, hearing singing and applause in empty auditoriums, and seeing objects mysteriously moving or falling from their usual places. .
But the dressing room below the stage is where people most often feel their presence, even on our own tours.
Our last stop was Jacob’s Ladder in Cameron Park. That’s where a ghost named Grubby likes to hang out.
The story goes that during his lifetime, he murdered dozens of pregnant women and threw them into the Brazos River. The entity reportedly grabs people as they walk up and down the stairs.
During this part of the tour, Adam interacted with Grubby using a so-called dowsing rod and asked him to move the rod.
But why do so many people claim that these places are haunted? Cindy LittleThe paranormal investigator and parapsychologist says a lot of it has to do with the history of the place.
“A lot of times that activity is associated with some kind of big tragic event,” Little said, “and the reason we think the downtown area in particular is really active is because in 1953 the F-5 The tornado came through Waco and completely wiped out most of downtown. ”
It was the deadliest tornado in Texas history, killing 114 people and injuring about 600.
According to Adam, traumatic events like this are thought to be the cause of what we define as ghosts.
“When we leave this world, and pass on, and move on to the next life, we pass through the veil, and we pass cleanly…but we tend to make a mark upon our exit, and we remain “That mark is a ghost.” “If it was a normal death, and there was no pain or trauma associated with it, the sign would not be so strong. But if we attribute so much pain and suffering to it, it would be even more intense.” It just becomes.”
That is why many claim that their presence can still be felt 100 years later.
“That energy somehow gets stored in the environment and can later reproduce or cause paranormal phenomena,” Little explained.
And when this happens, people often try to find an answer to something that should be impossible.
“It doesn’t happen often, but it happens pretty consistently…and it’s just weird things happening, these unexplained connections, confirmations, or things you see, shadows, or maybe objects moving. “I know there’s something that’s just very out of the ordinary,” Little said.
This is where paranormal investigation, or ghost hunting, comes into play. And while there are plenty of fancy tools available for this, paranormal enthusiast Georgina Holzmeyer warns that it’s not always easy.
“We don’t know what the paranormal is, we don’t know what a ghost is. How can we detect something we don’t even know what it is?” That being said, if something happens “There are things that can prove that there is…EMF, tri-fields, those meters that indicate something different is going on,” she said.
Most of us don’t know what those ghost-hunting tools are, but most people have smartphones, and these days there are plenty of apps that claim to help users detect paranormal activity. there is.
There are many reasons why people try to reach out to the other side, whether it’s out of fear or wanting to connect with the deceased.
But if you do decide to give it a try, Adam says to be careful not to accidentally contact an organization that isn’t very friendly.
“If you don’t do your research and take proper precautions, you can become attached very easily,” he explained.
So it’s up to you whether it’s real or just a fun activity during this time. Either way, happy hunting!
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