Today is May 27, 2007, Sunday - Memorial Day weekend. The time for barbecues and family get togethers. If my life was normal perhaps I would be doing these things. I guess it's somewhat normal, I did attend a wedding in Lockeford Springs on Saturday and I had a guest coming in from Stockton, that stayed with me until Sunday. That is when the normalcy of my life fades, because this Sunday night I was doing a paranormal investigation at Dyer Lane in Elverta, California with H.P.I. (Haunted and Paranormal Investigations of Northern California). My friend from Stockton left Sunday afternoon and I started getting things ready for this investigation. Hmmm...I guess it's pretty simple, all I need is my digital camera, pen and notepad. The tools of the trade for a ghost writer. Since, I got ready so quickly, I decided to prepare for this ghost hunt by reading a good paranormal comic book, which is called O.C.T. (Occult Crimes Task force) #4 by Image. Since I started freelance writing, by reviewing comic books, many comic books have used my quotes. I love to get a feel for the paranormal comic books out on the market today, such as B.P.R.D. (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense) by Dark Horse Comics. They are just so much fun to read before a true ghost hunt! If the reader of this article doesn't know it already, H.P.I. is coming out with their own comic book. A comic book in which I wrote the script. H.P.I. is sent by the C.I.A. to Transylvania to deal with none other than Dracula and his breathren, they are terrorizing Romania. So, look out for this comic book when it comes out, the artwork is being done by famous Haunted America Tours artist extraordinaire Ricardo Pustanio! He is also the art director for the "Krewe of Mid City" that makes floats for the New Orleans Mardi Gras Parade.
Anyway, back to this ghost hunt. I head up I-5 North towards Redding, playing Men in Black by Will Smith. The only paranormal song to psyche me up that I could find in my CD collection. At 9pm, I meet up with HPI paranormal investigators at Taco Bell on Elverta and Watt. Shannon gives us a briefing and checks to see what equipment we are utilizing for this investigation. While she was doing this I was looking at the #2 Special on the Taco Bell screen.
Before I went on this investigation, I got a call from my cousin Patricia Boyd in Texas. Patricia was telling me that when she lived in Sacramento that she had to travel down the famous Dyer Lane one time to get to her friend's house. She saw a man walking down the road by himself. The man was wearing an Army jacket and looked haggard, his appearance frightened her. She looked in her back rear view mirror and the figure of the man walking down the road was no longer there. She said she drove like a bat-out-of-hell to get off Dyer Lane. Patricia welcomes your comments at her website at:
www.jazzysboutique.com Roll Call for this H.P.I. Investigation are as follows: Shannon McCabe, Nick & Christie Martisko, Sai Kumar Reddiboyina, Bruce Farrington, Jennifer Baca, Anne Temple, Tim Hawkins, John Wachter aka Vlawde, Michelle Paykel, Cherie Vincent, Emily McCarthy, Chris Grissom, Jimmy & Suzy Campbell, Lisa Holt and of course me...yours truly...Paul Dale Roberts. When I arrived to Taco Bell, I encountered two new investigators Nick & Christie Martisko. I asked them how did they get interested in the paranormal, here is their story.... Christie says that when she lived in Dundee, Oregon, the house that she lived in had many paranormal disturbances, such as a mirror that hovered above her and slid through the air until it finally settled down. She goes on to say that the lights would become brighter, or dim down to a lower level of lighting on their own accord. Her husband Nick when living in Hillsboro, Oregon, outside of Portland lived in a home in which he saw a shadow move across the hallway and his wife Christie said he was as pale as a ghost. Nick and Christie now seek out answers by becoming paranormal investigators for H.P.I. I can see why.
The time for the investigation was about to begin. We all had to caravan to the location about 1/2 mile away. I went with Cherie Vincent and Jennifer Baca. Cherie was driving her suped up muscle car that vibrated on every bump on the road. It was an experience to ride in the backseat of this maverick vehicle with Cherie in control. Cherie zips around corners as if she is an experienced Nascar driver.
The reader of this article is probably wondering how this investigation came about. Here's how it started. Tim Hawkins, Secretary and lead investigator for H.P.I., interviewed a young man a few weeks ago who had this to say..."My friend and I both heard the name "Ellen",and then we both saw an apparition by the side of the road." The road he is referring to is Dyer Lane.
The original email to Tim Hawkins said: "One month ago my friend and I accidentally passed the turn off to his house and went a mile and half out of our way. the intersection we passed was antelope and P.F.E. road which is located in antelope CA.(very close to Elverta,CA) I began to look for a place to turn around (still on Antelope) I saw a street sign which read "Dyer Lane". I thought to myself "what a creepy name" I began to turn onto the street just enough so I could back out on to the country road and do a three point turn, when my friend Kaleb began to freak out on me. He told me not to go there!! He said the street was haunted. Naturally, I then had to travel down it.... We decided to come back that night. We experienced several strange happenings. voices, random temperature changes things had been moved between the night and day travels. All of these things are logically explained but the feeling one gets when traveling down this road can only be explained as other worldly. "
Signed: Confidential in CA.
Tim Hawkins did some more research and took this off of Wikimapia.com : "Dyer Lane can be accessed from Watt Avenue, between Center High School and where Watt ends in Antelope. Dyer Lane leads directly into Tan Woods Road, and then into Kasser Road. These roads are supposedly haunted. Whether they are actually haunted or not, they are still pretty creepy. Large trash such as old couches and refrigerator boxes litter the sides of the roads, while the roads themselves are often covered in chalk graffiti including satanic messages, racist hate speech, and outlines of bodies. Most of this can be seen on Tan Woods Road. Probably the creepiest thing about these roads is that they don't seem to actually lead anywhere. Kasser Road just ends at 16th Street in Elverta. The two roads off of Dyer Lane, labeled here as "driveways," are gated off, and appear to lead to abandoned houses out in the middle of the field. Outside of those, and a few houses along Kasser Road, there does not seem to be any apparent purpose for these roads. I can't for the life of me think of why anybody living on Kasser Road would want to take Dyer Lane to get home. In the mid-80's Bill Mullen, a Rio Linda High School student, was killed on Dyer Lane in a racially charged gang fight. Rumor has it that if you come here at night, park your vehicle at the corner where Tan Woods Road turns into Kasser Road, turn off the ignition and the lights, your car will not start again. The person who told me this rumor claimed to know from personal experience."
H.P.I.'s members all tried this experiment, and we all were able to start our vehicles. One member lost her keys, but after we found them..no problems.
Tim and Shannon brief the H.P.I. investigators and tell them according to folklore, in the 1930s and 40s the K.K.K. (Ku Klux Klan) would hold secret meetings in this area. And that there was once a cop killed on this stretch of road. Some people think they see that ghostly cop in his ghostly police car, thundering down the road with his lights on. As the ghost police car gets closer, it dissipates into thin air. Yep, this is a good urban legend! H.P.I .tonight will determine if this is only an urban legend, or is there some foundation of truth to the stories. As Cherie drove down this very dark unlit street, I noticed a sign that read: "Subject to Death". Death was in the shape of a dog skull that Cherie later found that night. The teams broke up into 3 parts, of course Shannon, Tim and I, floated around to the different teams to see what their finds were and teach some of the newbies. All 3 teams had walkie talkies, so each team knew where the other teams were at all times. Jimmy and Suzy captured brilliant orbs on their digital photos and are enthusiastic to show their findings. Jennifer and I were walking down the street and we felt something following us. Was it a ghost? No, it was a lost cat that was constantly meowing. The cat actually followed us everywhere we went and before we knew it we actually had a large herd of cows following us. I felt like Doctor Doolittle. Could it be that these animals were following Jennifer and I because of the smell of my musk cologne or could they smell the enchilada I ate earlier? Whatever it was we definitely had cows and one lost cat following us. While Jennifer and I were having this adventure, there was a team that consisted of Bruce Farrington, Lisa Holt, Emily McCarthy and Anne Temple that began hearing contemporary rock music. It was playing from a source that no one could figure out. As they sought out the music, they found nothing and the music faded away.... Lisa captures a moving orb on her video camera. A sweet smell emanating from the trees hits this teams smelling senses and as fast as the smell came, it also resides into nothingness. Emily feels compelled to walk towards a certain tree and she feels her hand twitching. She becomes apprehensive to go any further towards the tree and in her mind the name "Margie" comes into focus. Could Emily have a sixth sense? I ask her and she is unsure if she is a sensitive, she can only tell me what she felt.
As this investigation came to a close, Cherie Vincent pulls out her Ouija Board in puts it on the trunk of her car. With Nick Martisko and Shannon McCabe, she tries to entice a spirit to make it's presence known. The Ouija Board relates a 60 year old man with the initials BF is trying to communicate with them. All of the investigators have their fingers so light on the planchette that their fingers shake. Bruce Farrington comes up to me and says...'hey, B.F., that's my initials!' Jimmy Campbell produces a EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) recording where a spiritual voice says 'whoo hoo' or something to that effect. We'll have to analyze it further to see if it is truely something or an Owl. Needless to say, it was a fun filled night and as the investigation came to a close, there was good news for the lost cat. He now has a name, Anne Temple gives him the name of "Rascal" and is taking him home! Rascal will now have a home to live in free from starvation and fleas... Yeah for Rascal! Is anyone taking home those crazy cows?
Below are some testimonials from some people who have experienced Dyer Lane or know something about Dyer Lane, let's see what they have to say:
From Deborah Johnson:
"Ha, ha, ha - we used to go down that road late at nite on the weekends
in the mid 80's, but I've never heard about any of these stories. We
used to go and park at an old abandoned house/farm that was rumored to
have been a slaughter house, where the daughter had hung herself in a
closet (or killed by her father). Then the family just disappeared. I
drove my kids out there about a year ago and noticed that the house had
been torn down."
From Jeannette Lehman:
"Jake, my husband, seems to have encountered a farmer on a tractor
during the day who likes to cut off motorcyclists......who really isn't there!
There were supposed to be a batch of high school kids who were killed
there in car wreck, well, so the story goes.
I told Chief (name undisclosed) about the road used for cornering practice and he went down it once and didn't like it at all. He will not ride there anymore. Jess and I went on this road at midnight, on Halloween, that's when I heard the ghosts are active and we didn't see a thing. I have gone down there many times at night on
purpose and haven't seen a thing. But it's uncanny how the farmer whose land exits to Dyer can get his tractor to move so quickly and cut off motorcyclists moving at high speeds. He did it to me so many times I started to expect him to do it
and he seems to just drive down the road really going nowhere come back
a few minutes later and there will be no trace of him or the tractor. I
have made a high speed rung down the road passed him and got to the other
end turned around and rode the full length of the road and there will be
no sign of him anywhere along the full length of the road and this was in
broad daylight. It wasn't funny the first time he pulled out on me I was doing about 80 on that little yellow Suzuki and I almost ran into him after the second time. It seemed like an actual tractor it blew dust around and was noisier than hell but next trip back was in less than a couple minutes there was no sign of him and he moved real slow except getting out into the roadway."
From Renee Vincent-Finch:
"They (Renee's family) all reported having really creepy feelings, hearing strange things, and funny things happening to their car radios. One niece actually saw 'people', although she rarely talks about it anymore, (it scares her) she has seen the same little girl (ghost) every time she's gone out there - strange?"
From Letisha Correa:
"I don't know much about Dyer Lane, but your story brought back memories of when I was in Washington state. I was 12 years old and lived in a haunted house. The ghost(s) were most likely in the upstairs room. The ghost(s) would affect my mother, one night her eyes were glazed and she just went into a staring mode, then she hissed like a cat. It was so weird. Some of the family members remember being touched or tapped by an unseen entity. We would hear running up and down the stairs. One night, my dad had a strange ghostly face in his face. I was very happy when we moved out of there! "
FINDINGS:
Jennifer Baca and Paul Dale Roberts capture pictures of orbs from the fields.
Jimmy Campbell capture pictures of orbs from the fields and an EVP.
Some investigators hear sounds of high heels clicking on the pavement when no one is around.
ATTACHMENTS:
Photos from Tim Hawkins
Photos from Suzy Campbell
Photos from Paul Dale Roberts
Photos from Jennifer Baca
CONCLUSION: Shannon McCabe, President of H.P.I.- "Well, Dyer Lane is certainly a creepy stretch of road. I didn't see much that would make me believe it was haunted. I have to go through hours of audio to make sure. I'd say another investigation down the road might be in order. Hey, at least the little cat found a good home, I'm satisfied!"
PS: There was another investigator at this outing named Jade, she doesn't want her full name mentioned in the article.
Paul Dale Roberts,
Jazma Freelance Writer
H.P.I. Ghostwriter/Paranormal Investigator
www.jazmaonline.com5606 Moonlight Way Elk Grove,
Ca 95758
(916) 203 7503
JazmaPika@cs.com
Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:08 pm
