Recent Investigations by Long Island Paranormal Investigators:

Stanley Hotel
Estes Park, CO

Long Island Paranormal Investigators: Investigation March 2007

Long Island Paranormal Investigators: Investigation November 2008

The Stanley Hotel (front view facing North)

Night view Stanley main building.

Prolog: In November of 2008 Long Island Paranormal Investigators traveled again to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO to take part in 4 day retreat and investigation. The weekend was hosted by TAPS and Darkness Radio. It included lights-out investigations at the hotel with TAPS founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, as well as several discussions lead by well known leaders in the paranormal field including Tiffany Johnson, Patrick Burns, Chris Flemming, Dave Schrader, Father Andrew Calder, Jeff Belanger, Loren Coleman and Bill Chappell.

Psychic Tiffany Johnson loves LIPI!

LIPI Members Attending: The following Long Island Paranormal Investigators members were in attendance at this event: Michael Cardinuto, Robert Levine, Jaiem Fleischmann, Michael Bainbridge, Andy Forte and LIPI guest Jean Hennessy.

Day 1 (Saturday)

LIPI members left Islip McArthur Airport in New York and arrived at Denver International Airport on Saturday November 8th. Although the weekend event wasn't to start until the 9th we chose to arrive a day earlier to relax and enjoy the scenary.

Flying to the Stanley in CO.

Driving into the mountains to the Stanley.

Mountain view from the Stanley parking lot.
 

We arrived at the Stanley, checked in and walked around the grounds to re-familiarize ourselves with the location.

An unusual rock cliff behind the Stanley.

Lead investigator Mike Cardinuto explains how to use a Natural Trifield Meter to another weekend guest
who was staying in room 401.

Lead investigator Mike Cardinuto explains the use of a digital voice recorder to a couple
who were staying in room 401.

Our group had rooms on the 4^th floor of the main building and a suite in the Manor House (between the main building and the lecture hall).

Front view of the Manor House.
 

View of the Manor House and main building from the lecture hall.

One of the few remaining working models of the 1906 Stanley Steamer vehicles in the lobby of the Stanley Hotel.

Dinner the first night was at a quiet local restaurant.

Later that evening we hung out in the Stanley bar with several of the weekend presenters in a more relaxed setting before the start of the weekend festivities.

LIPI investigator Andy Forte about to have a "slimer" in the Stanley bar.

 

Day 2 (Sunday)

LIPI slept in a bit Sunday after our long trip the day before. We had a leisurely Sunday brunch at the Stanley then took in some more of the sites around town before returning to the hotel in the afternoon for the event check-in.

LIPI enjoying Sunday brunch at the Stanley.

The event check-in at the lobby.

The events began Sunday afternoon with a presentation by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson from TAPS. They gave a slide show presentation covering the types of haunting, do's and don'ts of paranormal investigation, some evidence they collected over the years, and their famous "case studies" audience participation where they present scenarios of real paranormal investigations they have conduct and the audience tries to guess what the conclusion of the investigation was (haunted, not haunted, debunked etc).

Sunday evening was the charity auction and costume party. Darkness Radio auctioned off many great items and special investigations to raise money for a charity. Most of the event guests dressed up in a wide range of costumes. LIPI members came as Eric Cartman (from South park), a MIB (Men In Black), a girl scout, a doctor, and a Ghost Buster. It was a fun time!

LIPI in costume for the party!

The evening was spent doing some general investigations of the main building then more socializing in the bar.

Day 3 (Monday)

Long Island Paranormal Investigators members were up early to enjoy a mountain sunrise with a bit of snow on the ground before having breakfast in town and starting the day's presentations. The first presentation was by Dave Schrader of Darkness Radio. Dave gave his presentation on common sense approaches and methods to paranormal investigations.

Pre-dawn clouds in the mountains by the Stanley.

Pre-dawn clouds coming through the Estes Park valley by the Stanley.
 

First light over the clouds coming through the Estes Park valley by the Stanley.
Note the peak of a mountain barely visible above the cloud line on the left.

The next presentation was Father Andrew Calder (who performed the "live" exorcism on a recent episode of the TV show "Paranormal State"). Father Calder gave a very insightful presentation on protection for the investigator during an investigation and a discussion of demonology.

Father Andrew Calder gives a presentation on demonology and protection.

After Father Calder's presentation LIPI took a brief lunch then returned for Patrick Burns' presentation on photographic evidence. Patrick, host of the TV show "Hunting Evidence" on Court TV, explained the common mistakes of photography and how to better determine if a picture is paranormal or not.

Patrick Burns gives a presentation on paranormal photography.

After a dinner break at  a local Mexican resturant we returned to hear a presentation by author Jeff Belanger about famous ghost hauntings from the Tower of London to the infamous Amityville Horror.

Finally, it was time for the main event - the official investigation!

Long Island Paranormal Investigators first went to room 217 (the Stephen King room) in the main building with Father Calder.

LIPI investigator Andy Forte outside room 217.

While several unusual "blips" were detected on the K2 and Natural Trifield meters no other activity was detected during our stay in the room.

LIPI lead investigator Robert Levine takes digit photos inside room 217.
 

Father Calder uses a K2 meter in room 217.

After room 217 we went down into the service tunnels under the Stanley.

LIPI in the service tunnels under the Stanley Hotel.

An old tree stump still in the rocks under the Stanley Hotel.

Photography was very difficult in the tunnel area as dust was easily kicked up. Also, due to all the loose and unshielded wires EMF readings were abnormally high.
 

Investigator Mike Bainbridge in the side tunnel path where Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson experienced
voices during the first TAPS investigation of the Stanley Hotel.
Note all the dust orbs from the loose earth and soft rocks.
 

A photo of the same side tunnel taken without a camera flash, just an LED flashlight.
 

LIPI investigators in the service area and cafeteria.
 

LIPI investigators in the service cafeteria.
 

View of the service tunnel from the other end.

After investigating the tunnel area, LIPI went up to room 401. This is the room Jason Hawes stayed in during the first TAPS investigation at the Stanley. He experienced the closet door opening and closing as well as the drinking glass on his night stand shattering for no apparent reason.

Patrick Burns was in the room. He was using both a Ovulus and Puck. These devices are designed to facilitate  paranormal communication by audibly (the Ovulus) assigning words to various EMF and other environmental factors, or by stringing text (the Puck) via software running on a laptop.

LIPI investigators with Patrick Burns (right) in room 401 of the main building
Note the Ovulus and Puck devices in the floor in front of Patrick.

Both these devices yielded some very curious results during our hour long stay in the room. But nothing overtly paranormal. LIPI will continue to explore the use of these devices in future investigations.

We then went to room 1302 in the Manor House building. This is the room where the table moved while Grant Wilson was sitting at it during the first TAPS investigation of the Stanley Hotel.

LIPI investigator Andy Forte sits at the table in room 1302 that moved for Grant Wilson of TAPS.

Psychic/Sensitive Chris Flemming was in the room also using an Ovulus device.

Chris Flemming using an Ovulus device in room 1302.

The whole LIPI team in room 1302.

Finally for the evening's investigation Long Island Paranormal Investigators went over to the lecture hall building. As we walked in we were informed that just a few moments before a stack of chairs had been seen to rise and lower. It was reported this had been capture on video but we didn't see it.

LIPI investigator Mike Bainbridge taking digital video in the lecture hall.
 

LIPI investigators in the lecture hall.
One of the stacks of chairs along the far wall was said to have risen and lowered
just before we came into the building.

We investigated both the main floor and the lower floor of the lecture hall.

LIPI investigator Andy Forte with Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson in the lower service hall way.

Finally, in the late hours of the morning we were done and got some much needed rest.
 

Day 4 (Tuesday)

After a long night of investigating we took a well deserve morning off. In the afternoon LIPI attended another presentation by author Jeff Belanger. Jeff discussed the history of spirit communication from early spiritualists and mediums through EVPs and other technical achievements.

This was a great presentation as it paved the way for the next speaker Bill Chappell, inventor of the Ovulus and Puck devices.

Bill Chappell presenting on new technologies.

Bill, a retired electrical engineer, was very clear in his presentation that his devices Ovulus and Puck are not to be taken literally. He means them to be used the same was as a recorder for EVPs in that not all sounds are voices even though it may appear so. Bill said he invented these devices as just something to do after retirement and never expected them to lead to possible spirit communication. He cautioned strongly about become too dependent on these devices rather than more common paranormal investigation tools and approaches. He said he is also working on a device to modulate EMF based on our voice as a way to communicate back to a spirit, based on the idea that spirits modulate EMF rather than air for making sounds.

During the presentation Bill gave away some of his devices in a raffle. LIPI lead investigator Jaiem Fleischmann won a kit for a voice modulator that converts EMF into audible sound. Investigator Andy Forte won a "grand prize" - a Puck device! LIPI is now the only group on Long Island to have such a device in our inventory! Good work Andy!

Investigator Andy Forte with this Puck he won from Bill Chappell.

Following Bill was a presentation by Loren Coleman on the subject of Crypto Zoology.

Crypto Zoology by Loren Coleman.

Loren discussed the many aspects of crypto zoology, the facts and the theories, and his hopes for future discoveries.

LIPI dined that evening on buffalo burgers in the Stanley's bar.

The final event of the trip was a paranormal panel discussion. Panelist were Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Tiffany Johnson, Patrick Burns, Chris Flemming, Father Andrew Calder and Jeff Belanger.

But before the panel a special "paranormal" event - an event attendee proposed to his girlfriend of 8 months in front of the group! Long Island Paranormal Investigators spoke to the couple afterwards and we wish them well in their life together.

Jonathan (on one knee to the right) proposes to his girlfriend Shannon
while Jason, Grant, Patrick and Chris kneel around the couple in support.

During the panel discussion many questions from the attendees were addressed including favorite places to investigate, protection during an investigation, hopes for the future of the paranormal field, and up coming books and other projects the panelists are working on.