The Dawn Duran Story: Invisible Wall & the Smell of Burnt Flesh
Dawn Duran, Paranormal Investigator w/ C.P.I. - Chico Paranormal Investigations and HPI.
By Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager
www.hpiparanormal.netInterview Conducted at: Starbucks
1610 Butte House Road, Yuba City, CA
Date: Feb 18, 2011, Friday
Time: 1830 Hours
Question: Hi Dawn, before we really get into the meat of this interview, please tell me something about yourself. Your family life, where you were born and raised, pets, hobbies and recreational activities.
Answer: I was born in Pomona CA and raised in Upland CA. I come from a large close family – always very close to my grandparents, aunts and uncles. I was the first grandchild in my family and as my mother (the oldest of nine kids) worked through nursing school, I spent a lot of time with my aunts, uncles and grandparents. At the age of 7 my mother, Connie, got re-married to my now step-father Tom and later had gave birth to my two younger brothers, Tommy and Brendon who are 10 and 12 years younger than me. On vacation visiting my step-dads family in Paradise, CA, my parents decided that it was a nice quiet town to raise a family in and within a few months, we moved. Talk about culture shock! We went suburbia where we skated to school every day to a place that seemed to be dropped in the middle of a forest. Beautiful it was, but not much for kids to do and as a retirement community,.. not necessarily kid friendly. In 7th grade, my step father had suffered severe head trauma due to spinal meningitis and a sinus infection which essentially crushed his brain. He was in ICU for several months not knowing if he was going to make it,.. and if he did what kind of damage would be done. They cut out a piece of his skull to keep the pressure off his brain and sent him home with a helmet to wear except when sleeping for about a year. He did suffer damage, short term memory loss, and had a VERY short fuse and was often confused and angry. At this point, I was becoming a little rebellious. I was the step child and we were never very close,.. tolerated would be more like it and I had a lot of responsibilities.. too much and I started acting out,.. sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night etc. My mother could not worry about me and him, so it was decided that I would live with my grandparents until things settled down. So off I went. I lived with them for the next two years. It was a large older home with three bedrooms and a den upstairs – and the household ghost the family named “Goober” - all to myself.
I am now 33, married with three beautiful daughters, Kayla, Miranda and Tab and live in Chico CA. I work for a construction services company doing accounting for the last 6 years. My husband Mark works in radio and we have one dog name Gidget and our super soft, yet sometimes grumpy cat.
I enjoy spending time with the kids and my husband and love to visit family in So Cal whenever we get a chance.
Question: How did you become interested in the paranormal?
Answer: I guess you could say it’s something I’ve always been exposed to growing up. My grandparents home was very haunted and it was always something the family was talking about and something I later lived with there over the years.
Question: Have you ever had any paranormal experiences?
Answer: Yes. Plenty. Most of the things I’ve experienced were at my grandparents. I remember my very first experience I can remember, besides TV’s going on and off that my grandma claimed we’re short circuits” would be the scent of my great grandmother. It was right before we had made the move to Paradise CA.
My parents and I were staying at my grandparents for about two weeks. My great grandmother had a suite downstairs with a bathroom in it. It was bath time and my mom told me to go upstairs but I was too afraid,.. it felt bad up there, so I asked to take a shower in my “Greats” room instead and off we went to get the water going. After a few seconds of being in the room and walking around the room filled with the scent of “Great”.. I didn’t think anything of it,.. after all I was only 7 and I loved her. By the time we had gotten to the bathroom at the end of the long room.. my mother was taking deep breaths and said. “what IS that SMELL?”.. I answered.. “It’s Great”. I didn’t think much of it until her face went white and she said,.. Oh my God.. it IS! Her response startled me a bit and I guess that’s the first I can remember of something being odd. Two weeks later, we moved to Paradise.
But that would not be the last time I lived with my grandparents or experience activity in the house. As I said earlier, I moved back with my grandparents for two years when my step father became ill. I had the upstairs to myself,.. well mostly. My room was about the only “safe” zone up there. There were two other rooms.. the “blue room” which was my uncles and the “pink room” which was my aunts.. neither of which you could pay me a million dollars to go into.. they made me physically sick and every fiber of my being said no way! It was dreadful. After moving up there initially, and having the den TV freakin out turning on and off,.. I made an agreement with “Goober”.. I told him that I knew he was there,. He was scaring me and to please stop. I’ll stay in my room and leave him alone. And that was that. Mostly. The hallway and stairwell was fair game.. specifically in front of the bathroom area where my mother’s best friend saw a man standing and was frequently freezing. The other part was the lower part of the stairs. See, the stairwell went up abut 5 steps where there was a “tri-level” (my grandparents bedroom) door on the landing and then went back up the opposite direction. It was these first 5 steps that over the next two years would scare the hell out of me. My typical routine was to watch TV for awhile in the evenings before going upstairs to bed as I really didn’t like being up there unless I had to. Most nights, everything would be fine. I would get a running start, flip off the lights as I went, swing my hand and thrust myself up the second set. One night,.. just like all the others, I tried this.. only this time, I ran into something solid and BAD. It literally knocked the wind out of me as if I ran into an invisible wall. My body instantly felt overwhelmed with dread, fear, SHOCK,.. it was just BAD and scared the hell out of me. I instantly high tailed it back to the living room area wondering what the heck just happened to me. I watched TV for a little while longer until I would forget and attempt it again. Things would be fine in that spot for months, hence that false sense of security.. then out of nowhere.. it would happen again. This happened several times over a two year period,.. and all equally dreadful as the first.
My cousin Larry had passed away before at the UC Davis burn unit that January. He had been there for 5 months after a botched suicide attempt in Humboldt County that left him with burns on 95% of his body. Treatment was going as well and he was improving but after 5 months, infection had gotten the better of him and the family was called in to say our goodbyes. “Farewell” party with a cake, letters and trying to send him away in peace. Two days after leaving him, he passed. Our drive to Marysville to picked up my daughter from her dad’s house after a weekend visit later that next week,.. I was driving along, minding my own business when suddenly, my car filled with the smell of burnt flesh. It is VERY distinct and I immediately knew what it was. As I glanced over to my dash board where I had taken off my “visitors pass” and slapped on the dash from my last visit,.. I was overwhelmed with the bitter-sweet smell. At first I thought.. No.. that can’t be... how terrible.. why would he come to me like that..?! And then it dawned on me… how ELSE would I know it was him.. duh. At that moment,.. I quickly thanked him for letting me know he was ok and told him I loved him.. and then just as he came,.. he was gone. I was wondering what was going to happen to him after all that.. but I’m glad he let me know he was ok.
Question: How did your group get started?
Answer: My husband found something online about a group called Chico Paranormal Investigations. I was naturally interested and they just so happened to be looking for new members. That week, I contacted the founder Jim Cameron and the researcher Dave Doodly. Ibe Leibenburg is also one of our investigators and great with tech!
Question: I am very excited that your group will be working with HPI on 3 Paradise cases. I also want to thank you for one of these cases. CPI is always welcome on all HPI cases and when you are on an HPI case, you are HPI! If you guys ever start a all female paranormal group, call it C.H.I.C. (Chico Haunted Investigations Command)…I thought that would be a cool name…LOL! Now to the question, how can people contact you?
Answer: We can be reached at Meetup@ChicoParanormalInvestigations, via e-mail at
chicoparanormalinvestigations@yahoo.com or by phone 530-570-6416, 530-966-7199 http/Chicopi.yolasite.com
Question: Fun question. If you had 6 people at dinner, 3 historical and 3 fictional, who would they be and why?
Answer: Einstein – he’s smart, Adam Sandler – he’s funny, Bob Marley – he’s love. Marilyn Monroe – she’s beautiful, Dr. King – he’s inspirational, Hercules – he’s badass.
Question: What are your favorite books, TV show, movies?
Answer: Books: Anything by Neale Donald Walsch, The Outsiders. You’ll always catch me watching paranormal shows – Paranormal State, Ghost Hunters etc. I hate to admit this.. But I’ve found myself addicted to Jersey Shore (thanks to the teens in the house – ugh!) It’s like a train wreck.. you don’t want to watch.. but ya just can’t help it! I also like crime shows, unsolved mysteries, bio channel, travel channel and History channel – documentaries rock! Favorite movies would be those that evoke emotion.. The Green Mile, The Color Purple, Where the Red Fern Grows.. oh.. and of course Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell and Jack Black. – Love those guys!
Question: Another fun question, what is your all time favorite song?
Answer: This is a hard one! I don’t know if I can name JUST ONE.. I love Tesla’s Love Song, Good bye to Romance and Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide. Good stuff
Question: Thank you for this wonderful interview, are there any words of wisdom for your readers?
Answer: Keep an open mind and an open heart. We are all one
END OF INTERVIEW!
HPI AND THE TRAVEL CHANNEL:
Recently the Travel Channel contacted Shannon McCabe and I, and wanted to know if we knew anyone that had sexual encounters with entities. Our celebrity psychic/paranormal investigator Belinda Bentley had such an encounter and now she is featured on the Travel Channel, you can watch the preview here:
http://www.travelchannel.com/Places_Trips/Travel_Ideas/Haunted_Travels/Get_To_Know_The_Ghostly_LoversPaul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager
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Sat Feb 19, 2011 6:19 am