Paranormal Activity at Heritage Junction
Written by Jeff on August 20th, 2008A paranormal research group (snicker) says it has recorded voices inaudible to the human ear in the old buildings at Heritage Junction and is offering to take you on a exclusive ghost hunting expedition of the property for only $185.
Such is what passes for news these days over KHTS, which devoted a pretty long advertisement article to the strange and wacky phenomena experienced in the historical area, consisting of an old train station, school house, a tiny Ramona chapel and other buildings.
If you’re like me, you probably checked your calendar after reading the story; alas it is not April 1 nor is it the week before Halloween, so let’s dig in to this seemingly serious report.
Reporter Jon Dell states that things have been getting “spooky” at Heritage Junction lately and that many people are starting to ask questions.
Pat Saletore, the SCV Historical society’s Executive Director, confirms the suspicions:
“I sometimes tell stories that I have heard or experienced, but mostly we have tried to avoid the subject,” says SCV Historical Society Executive Director Pat Saletore. “I hear things all the time that I chalk up to spending time in old buildings, my imagination or whatever. Every now and then, though, I find myself walking out to the main entrance calling ‘Hello? Is someone there?’ –when there isn’t anyone there.”
Somehow, and Dell doesn’t detail how, an obviously enterprising group called the American Paranormal Research Association (website) contacted the Historical Society and was apparently invited in to search the property for wizards, poltergeists, ghosts, gremlins, trolls, and goonies.
Not surprisingly, they did find something. Cue Saletore:
“They found primarily EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena—recordings that are not heard by investigators, but recorded on electronic media like tape recorders or digital recorders) and audio recordings that were actually experienced by investigators. The really spooky thing is that some of them supported the stories we have been told by psychics who have been invited to visit!”
So evidently this isn’t the first time the Historical Society has brought paranormal experts on site to investigate goblins. Saletore says they’ve had psychics who have heard the same words recorded by the audio devices.
Sadly, no hint on what those words were or whether the ghosts have any insight into the things that trouble Santa Clarita currently.
The paranormal association website says they are committed to researching “all things Paranormal and related to Parapsychology” and says its purpose is to obtain “absolute proof of paranormal events.” It invites people in the field of Paranormal studies and Parapsychology to join the Association as researchers, and hopes to build a group of researchers in every state to find “undeniable proof” of the other side.
Actually, check all that. There are so many “Association of Paranormal American” groups it was hard to find this group’s real website. After some more digging, I found that the group hosting the Heritage Junction party doesn’t even have a website; rather they only have a MySpace page and describe themselves as “a team of paranormal researchers and musicians,” in a “band known as Vow Of The Repentant.” They are based out of Bakersfield and their MySpace page has some audio and video clips of supposed paranormal activity (unclear if it’s from Heritage Junction).
They’re also apparently enterprising. Dell ends the article saying that the group “offered” to host a Ghost Hunting Party for up to 16 individuals for only $185 per person. For that, you’ll get to spend the night in the Saugus Train station “freight room,” a catered dinner, a continental breakfast, a lecture about “ghost hunting procedures and equipment” and a DVD of “evidence captured after review by APRA and sent to each participant.”
In any event, it looks like the Historical Society stands to benefit at least partly from this event, and if it gets more people interested in SCV history (yes, even 16 more would be great), then I’m all for it. But I feel it sullies and cheapens the SCV Historical Society to partner with a couple of musicians moonlighting as paranormal experts who sell tickets to the public.
Then again, what did I expect? Gravitas about Santa Clarita history? I wonder what Jerry Reynolds or Doc Rioux would say?
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Do they serve Cocoa Puffs at the continental breakfast, as in “They are Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?”
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What would Doc Rioux say? Why don’t you pony up the $185, sleep over, and ask him yourself? Spends a lot of time in the old Ramona chapel, I hear.
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What would Doc Rioux say? Why don’t you pony up the $185, sleep over, and ask him yourself? Spends a lot of time in the old Ramona chapel, I hear.
You sound indignant. Tell me, what did Doc Rioux tell you the last time you spoke to him? What’s he think of the Mayo expansion, west side annexation, and does he read my blog?
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BTW, this story just begs for some I Heart commentary.
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First he says, don’t do drugs. I don’t, but the first thing you loose is your intuition. Maybe being dressed normally today makes one look like a 1990s drug user.
He was actually quite repentant. You see, he and all the ghosts of The Junction recently had their street address change on them. Changing spiritual stationary is far more expensive than it is in this world and he didn’t care much for the baggage that “Newhall Ave.” came with.
So he actually went and sought out Atholl McBean and apologized for pushing through the re-naming of Stevenson Ranch parkway and trivializing his memory in print. McBean, who is a much wider and busier man than he once was, just chuckled, “I never cared much for that side of town anyway.” He continued, “You have no idea how much of a burden this is, having a street named after you. If Tim Myers had his way, people would curse my name every time they turned from Orchard Village.”
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OK, now Jeff’s work is getting close to causing me to vote for, rather than against the demise of the SCVtalk. The newly added photos where great, but this last article, not so!
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RE: IHeartSCV should weigh in…Hahaha–I don’t know if I should be flattered or insulted. I’m thinking the latter as I sit here at 1:11am listening to Coast to Coast am ala George Noory. (Fittingly, I just learned that ghosts are not, in fact, quantum traces of humanity peeking through from other dimensions! Silly me!)
Honestly, I think these ghost listeners are going at it the wrong way. When you want to learn stuff from typically not-so-talkative beings (e.g., coots, geese, ghosts), you perform an interview, not an eavesdropping. Not only does it demonstrate personal interest in the interviewee, but it’s way less rude than just sitting there, listening in.
Still, I completely believe that they found something. After all, when you uncover definitive proof of ghosts, the way to handle it is definitely NOT to go the media, make waves, write some best-selling books, go on Oprah, etc… No, if you really want to make money and get the message out, you need to keep the amazing recordings to yourself and let just 15 lucky Claritans join you to try and replicate the paranormal experience at the heritage junction. It’s the only way.
RE: Other comments…
I agree that $185 is a bit much–speaking of which, how exactly did they arrive at that figure? Does every trace of ghoulish evidence add another $15 to the final tab? Then you add in the catered dinner and continental breakfast and tada…$185!
All I can say is that I desperately hope this ghost hunt thing happens. Sure, the pretend company will make $3000 in one night, which makes me a bit nauseated, but what a glorious show it would be! Every creak would be interpreted as a spirit desperately trying to reach us from another dimension, every cold spot would be blamed on the imprint of a restless soul…what a treat!
Maybe us scvtalk readers can pitch in $10 to send Jeff on this overnight ghost hunting expedition. That way, no one would have to be burdened with the knowledge that they spent the full $185 on a night of bullcrap but we’d still get to find out what happened. We can call it the “Send Jeff to Ghost Sleepaway Camp” fund. Excellent. Now start collecting pledges. I’M SERIOUS!
P.S. I do totally believe in ghosts. Good posting.
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“In any event, it looks like the Historical Society stands to benefit at least partly from this event, and if it gets more people interested in SCV history (yes, even 16 more would be great), then I’m all for it. But I feel it sullies and cheapens the SCV Historical Society to partner with a couple of musicians moonlighting as paranormal experts who sell tickets to the public.”
The Society will make a few bucks off the deal if 16 people sign up. If there is no interest then the event will be cancelled in the interest of economics. This isn’t the first “sleepover” held at the station. Reportedly the participants from the first event had “the time of their life” though some didn’t make it (alive?) ’till the next morning. The event may be a tad pricey but when all the expenses are figured in and the fact that only 16 tickets can be sold it makes for a rather cozy and memorable affair. Besides that, it is the kick-off event prior to the Great Ghost-a-thon that is being put together as we “speak”. If you miss this year’s ghost party at Historical Junction you don’t know Halloween!
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I would like to thank Navigator for getting the point. Many people don’t get the importance of our community or its history. But most will at least allow others to have a good time telling ghost stories and considering the possibility of life after death…or something after death.
But some people are so insecure and self centered that all they can do is criticize and ridicule others in an attempt to make themselves feel important. Too bad.
I don’t normally read these blogs. Generally speaking, I am not interested in what these people have to say. Most of the ones that have been called to my attention are completely inane wastes of time. But I kind of resent the attitude represented here– The SCV Historical Society is run by volunteers who care enough about this community to work at maintaining what little we have saved from a really spectacular history. Some people waste their time exposing their uninformed opinions daily to the world.
Hey…freedom of speech allows that. But it doesn’t mean that we all have to sit back and allow the uninformed opinions to go unchallenged.
But anyone who is interested in helping preserve and educate people on our local history…or anyone interested in staying all night in buildings that might be haunted…give me a call…Jeff just gave you my number, right?
Pat Saletore
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so this isn’t a joke?
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No, it’s not. We are literally having a small event aimed at hunting for ghosts. We have had ghostathons in the past, with more like 30 people and the participants are always happy with the experience. This one is going to have a more intimate feel, with instruments like those used on SciFi Channel’s GhostHunters series. They already have some interesting video and audio evidence. I personally am still keeping an open mind either way. But some of their evidence is kind of compelling.
And odd things have been known to happen at our old ghostathon events.
Any really honest person will admit that ghost stories are fun. Looking into things we don’t yet understand…also fun. This event…I expect it will be entertaining as well.
But you need to keep an open mind. Just because you don’t believe in something…doesn’t mean it’s not there.
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Oh…and BTW…Doc Rioux was not an expert on local history (or for that matter many other subjects)…and Jerry Reynolds used to tell ghost stories at the ghostathons!
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Pat:
You are RIGHT ON!!!
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OK, but can I at least get a chuckle for my Doc Rioux-as-as-ghost imagination?
Best of luck and in all sincerity, I marvel as what the Historical Society has done for this community. Keep up the great work. My skepticism will not damper my enthusiasm for what you do.
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Thank you both Pauline and Mike. By all means, keep your skepticism…mine is alive and well. But keep an open mind. A great many things were only imagined just before they were found to be true.
If man were meant to fly, then he would have been born with wings
The giant squid was just a sailor’s tale until they caught one.
Conventional wisdom does not always equal truth.
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Maybe I am beating a dead horse here, but I am with Pat. However, I am also Biased, being one of the core members that are putting together the Heritage Haunt.
Very few of us who are working this event are serious believers in the “Paranormal”, however we have been presented with some ‘evidence’ that is intriguing if nothing else.
I personally have been present while these people have been conducting there investigations of some of the Junction properties. These are young, enthusiastic, students, who are attempting to explain the unexplainable. They do not go into a place and automatically assume there are ghost or spirits or what have you. They do not take every speck of dust or every creek of a floor board as evidence of the supernatural.
Every thing they find, every thing they capture before they put it out as ‘evidence’ they attempt to find a plausible explanation. Even afterward they are not jumping from the rafters proclaiming undeniable proof of spirits from beyond, they have been pretty low key. They are aware of the skepticism and of the outright hostility from some, for the work they do, but they enjoy it. They are seeking answers, aren’t we all?
No one is claiming this is a historic event, no one is trying to make this more than what it is.
What is is, is a fund raising event for the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. we have had it before, and if history proves true, we will have it again. The event is fun. Those who have been on it before had an enjoyable time, and more than one person left scratching his head wondering what the heck just happened, and several have called asking when we will hold it again. As of my last update, at least 9 people have signed up so far. So there must be some interest.
And it is all for what I think it is a good cause, and a well deserving group. Enough so That I give 4 hours a month as a docent at the train station Museum and probably several hundred hours in building and working the ‘Heritage Haunt’. Which by the way will be open as of October 10. The whole purpose of these event is to have fun, while at the same time at least exposing people to what the Historical Societies has preserved at “Heritage Junction”, so maybe they will come back again to be exposed to our valleys rich history.
Oh…and if you don’t want to ‘hunt’ ghosts, we have plenty of other Halloween activities planned for October. Including the Newhall Pumpkin Festival. We are pretty sure most of you will find something of interest.
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Jeff, do your research before you go badmouthing people you have never met before, in the end you will be judged just like everyone else.