2005: January 7, March 1 2007: May 7
Tampa, Florida
By Brandy Buchanan
The cool air, muted pastels, and starry overhead “sky” create a supernatural atmosphere in the historic Tampa Theatre. The building is a mainstay in the ever-changing skyline of downtown Tampa; both were birthed at nearly the same time. Built in 1926 for an astounding $1.2 million dollars, the theatre has many loyal followers. Some, in fact, are so devoted to this historic site that they have returned after death to spend time there.
Who can really blame them? In declining status, the theatre was sold to the City of Tampa in 1976, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and made a Tampa City landmark in 1988. Known for showing foreign movies, beloved classics, and daring releases, this movie house continues to be refurbished and returned to its former glory.
The S.P.I.R.I.T.S. of St. Petersburg traversed to Tampa in order to investigate reported haunted activity. Arriving bright and early on a Saturday, the S.P.I.R.I.T.S. were greeted by Marketing Manager Tara Schroeder, our contact for the hunt. After being escorted into the main lobby, the team was joined by a two-man camera crew from a local television station. Once everyone strapped on gear the group headed for an area known for its strange phenomena: the projection booth.
Almost immediately, activity happened towards the rear of the room. One of the EMF meters registered an energy spike from a section of wall near the doorway. At the same time, the accompanying TV cameraman experienced equipment malfunctions. The tape inside the camera began to fast forward and the viewfinder lost focus. The cameraman was surprised, for in order to fast forward the tape, a cover must be removed to access the control panel, and a button firmly pressed. He remembered doing neither. Shortly thereafter, the camera batteries lost power and had to be replaced.
Upon descending the staircase to the second floor landing, another EMF spike occurred, which was recorded on video. In addition, the thermal scanner indicated a temperature fluctuation, dropping from 72 to 68 degrees, then returning back to 72 degrees a few seconds later.
The second floor was hopping after that! In the balcony, one member smelled a woman’s perfume, but could not find its source.
From the higher vantage-point, several members opted to take photographs of the main seating section and the stage below; several pictures from this session developed with orb images, indicating high ghostly activity.
The second floor mezzanine provided our greatest treasure. It was here that direct contact with the entity was established. The group neared an area where Tara reported unusual activity had occurred before.
One teammate investigating a doorway returned to the group. She suddenly felt heat, which consolidated on her upper left arm, shoulder, and lower left face. The EMF meter she held registered a fluctuating energy spike within the range of suspected spiritual manifestation. Temperature readings showed a 7-degree difference between her shoulders; the heated areas were 81 degrees whereas the unaffected areas registered 74. The effect lasted for 45 seconds, slowly fading. Other energy spikes were registered in the area, each of the three EMF meters present picking up anomalous energy during this time.
Wanting to take advantage of a possible presence, an experimental question and answer session was held using a set of divining rods. Utilized by some ghost hunting groups, divining rods consist of two individual metal prongs, which, when held, cross and uncross to indicate spiritual activity. A precedent was declared: if the ghost wanted to communicate, crossing the rods meant “yes”, uncrossing mean “no”.
At first, progress was slow until Tara volunteered to question the entity. Everyone stood transfixed as the rods crossed and uncrossed to her questions. At several points during the session, Tara asked the ghost to uncross the rods before asking her next question; at each request the rods obeyed.
The information revealed that the entity was male. He worked there during the 1960s, possibly in the box office, projection room, and/or as an assistant manager. The ghost also admitted to creating the sound of jingling keys, which a variety of staff heard in the theatre when no one else was present.
The session was exhilarating and exhausting. Members felt drained, and the rods’ responses slowed. All opted to end this strange Q&A to take a short refreshment break.
Upon resuming the investigation, several other “hot spots” were detected. The team moved through the front foyer and was rewarded with more activity from the divining rods. One member was fascinated with a table and snapped a picture. A vortex image manifested upon development.
Entering the main seating area all three EMF meters registered energy, spiking at intermittent intervals though the meters were not moved. A voltage sensor could find no electricity in this area.
Backstage, EMF was again detected near an old piano that had been stored there since the 1970s. An orb was caught on film, dancing over the piano before vanishing.
In the orchestral pit, another vortex image was taken.
Even as the S.P.I.R.I.T.S. team prepared to complete the hunt and leave, additional orbs and one other vortex were captured in last minute photographs.
Overall, this has been the most productive hunt in the S.P.I.R.I.T.S.’ history. Strong results were obtained not only by the S.P.I.R.I.T.S. team but also by others outside the group. For a second time, a member experienced physical contact from the other side, and a proactive experimental Q&A was rewarded with possible information. Isn’t it wonderful when the dead cooperate?
Several of the ghost hunters feel that there are multiple entities that currently inhabit the theater, all of whom appear friendly. Are these former long-term employees who want to keep an eye on things? Or are these former patrons reliving the thrill of watching talking films shown on the big screen?
The S.P.I.R.I.T.S. have been invited to present their findings during a special tour at Tampa Theatre. The event is free to the public, and takes place Oct. 20th at 12 noon in the main show room. Tampa Theatre is located at 711 Franklin Street, Tampa. For information and directions call (813) 274-8981, or go online to www.tampatheatre.org.
For individual reports, more detailed information and lists of findings, check out the S.P.I.R.I.T.S. site at http://centralflghosts.homestead.com/home.html
Special S.P.I.R.I.T.S. event! The S.P.I.R.I.T.S. will be hosting a seminar on basic ghost hunting mechanics, Wed. October 24, from 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Learn about equipment used, and see actual hunts. Contact Baywinds for details, at 1 – 800-300-6994, or go online at www.baywinds.net.
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January 7, 2005
The Tampa Theatre remains one of the SPIRITS most active areas of investigation. A new group of members recently explored the theatre’s spectra side when a local television news show called upon us to demonstrate our skills. Once again, the spectral energies present hailed our visit.
The conditions were not typical for the group and the methodology of research was much more relaxed than our standard investigations. We arrived in the area around 3 p.m. in the afternoon, which is not a high time for ghostly activity. Because the staff started to arrive around 4, we had only a short window of opportunity to see what we could find in as vast an area as Tampa Theatre. Plus, there was the additional pressures of the media crew; ghosts are notorious for their shyness when the camera is on.
Sensitives in the group reported immediate phenomena upon walking through the front gate and into the lobby. A cool breeze greeted us and standing on the stairwell was a male presence dressed in uniform. At first, one sensitive thought it was an old Army uniform, perhaps from the Civil War days. However, she revised that idea; the man was dressed as an old time movie usher.
Moving to the second floor, sensitives felt called to the lobby area near the bathrooms. In this area the EMF trifield meter began a series of spikes, moving from .6 to 1.2 on the scale. The spikes continued to occur on and off; timing them indicated that they were sporadic and most likely not produced by anything electronic. The entity that contacted us here was amazing. Referred to as the “Lady in White” or the “Lady in Waiting” she was the most active of the spectral energies that afternoon. She often waited on the balcony for a loved one that she was looking for and went by the name of “Jesse.” It was sensed that she was a woman of expensive tastes and possibly referred to herself as “Jezebel,” an unusual self-reference. She lived in the 1800’s and died around 1920. According to what sensitives picked up, she was hit by a horse and buggy while waiting for her fiancé, for whom she still waits.
While filming the session with a video camera in infrared mode, one person captured a “rod,” or an orb on film. These images appear as elongated shapes that move very rapidly; to view the image clearly it must be slowed down via computer. Rods often moves in a way contrary to dust or insects, making sweeping arches in space. This particular rod appeared behind the director of the news crew who had walked up. As he stood in the doorway, the spirit shot past him, moving from the upper left of the screen behind him then disappearing from view.
This woman continued to work with the group. As we moved through the second floor to the projection booth a sensitive felt that the ghost stood in the window and often gazed down at the audience. One orb image was captured in the projection area and appeared to match the other orbs photographed at the stairwell.
The SPIRITS left the booth and moved down to the second floor where the team split up. Part of the team worked with the news crew while the other explored the stage area. The woman’s spirit followed with; she began to dance on the stage. The stage group requested that Jesse “dance with them” and took a series of pictures. Again, powerful orb images matching those taken earlier in the investigation appeared in the frame.
The most remarkable aspects of this investigation, outside of the rods and a very communicative spirit, are the orb images themselves. Though different digital cameras were in use, orb images throughout the theatre were consistent. The orbs appeared multi-dimensional and had a cross-shaped nucleus. They manifested in areas where activity had happened before or continues to happen during the SPIRITS time there. Their unique appearance matched with other readings and events taking place and indicates that they hail from a common source.
Another unusual result of the investigation is that this particular entity manifested. Tampa Theatre is a known haunt of “Fink Foster,” one of the long time projectionists. No book mentions a woman within the walls of this Mediterranean-styled marvel. However, twice she has manifested for the SPIRITS. The first group, who “met” Fink, also experienced her. She was described as sitting in the second floor balcony wearing a fancy light-colored dress and smelling of perfume. Could this be the same woman? If so, then she is a long term resident.
Her identity is not known by the staff at the theatre, her true story is a mystery. She simply appears to sit and wait for her beloved to come for her. At least she is in good company and well entertained in the process. What better place to wait in eternity than the ever-changing venue of the Tampa Theatre?
Tampa Theatre
1/7/05
Brandy’s report
Others present: Cameraman, producer, Tara, different staff from the theatre, though they did not interact with us for the investigation.
Time: 3 4:30 p.m. (awkward for an investigation, and also remarkably short for such an investigation, but still able to yield results).
Due to the time constraints, the investigators went through the theatre for a few minutes on their own. I was present on the first investigation. This was not as tight or as well organized as I would have liked it to be, but the sheer size of Tampa Theatre, and trying not to tip my hand to the others, who came completely cold (not reading the site, etc.) made this difficult. There were added distractions with the camera crew.
We stayed together as a group. We started on the second floor. One sensitive felt drawn to the area of the men’s room. There she and another investigator both stated they felt that there was a woman waiting at the Theatre when we first arrived. She was tentatively called a Lady in White, or a Lady in Waiting. She had a long white dress on and stood on the balcony. She was very welcoming and was waiting on a loved one. She went by the name Jezebel, “Jesse”. Her last remembrance was in the 1920s. She lived in the 1800s.
During this session, my EMF (0-3 range) meter started to register a series of spikes. They went from .6 to 1.2 twice, there was a pause, then once, then a pause, then once. I asked another investigator if he would time the seconds between the spikes to make sure that it wasn’t something mechanical. For the next 3 spikes, again within the same range, he timed 15 seconds, 10 seconds, and 24 seconds.
I used my video camera to record this session. Upon review (post investigation) I was aiming my camera toward the door in the narthex outside the men’s room. A sensitive investigator was talking with Jesse. The producer came to stand in the doorway. A rod shoots behind him and across the doorway; the video was viewed by others of the SPIRITS team who also believe it is a rod image.
I asked how she died; the sensitive answered that a horse and buggy hit her. She was waiting for her fiancé.
We asked who “Rodger” was; both the sensitives stated they had picked up a male involved with the military. One thought it was military while another said she thought he was in an usher’s uniform.
We continued up into the projection room. There we got some orb images. One investigator said that she felt the Lady liked to look down on the audience from the projection booth; she thought some people who came to the theatre could look up and see her, too.
We were also called down to the stage. At one point, when I was not present, she sensed the lady coming to the stage and twirling around. She asked the spirit to dance for her; Amy, who was coming on the stage, also started to dance. Denise took pictures; orbs appeared above and in front of Amy as she danced on the stage.
Post investigation:
Upon review of the video, I discovered two rod images. One (discussed above) was during a time of activity. The second was at the end of the investigation. Denise and David were being interviewed; I walked alone to the second floor Mezzanine (where I had a prior experience). As I pan across the room a rod bounces at the bottom of my camera’s lens.
I read the original report. I was stunned to re-read that both Lee and Karen (the original co-founders) sensed a woman during the first investigation. She was described as wearing a long dress, frilly, and she also had perfume. She hung out in the second floor balcony, and she also created EMF. I had forgotten any details of the first investigation, other than a female entity who had a perfume smell on the second floor balcony. I was stunned that so many on the second investigation seem to have sensed the same persona.
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March 1, 2005
The Tampa Theatre is famous for its ghosts. A new group of members recently explored the theatre’s spectral side when a local television news show called upon us to demonstrate our skills. Once again, the spectral energies present hailed our visit.
The conditions were not typical for the group and the methodology of research was much more relaxed than our standard investigations. We arrived in the area around 3 p.m. in the afternoon, which is not a high time for ghostly activity. Because the staff started to arrive around 4, we had only a short window of opportunity to see what we could find in as vast an area as Tampa Theatre. Plus, there was the additional pressures of the media crew; ghosts are notorious for their shyness when the camera is on.
Sensitives in the group reported immediate phenomena upon walking through the front gate and into the lobby. A cool breeze greeted us and standing on the stairwell was a male presence dressed in uniform. At first, one sensitive thought it was an old Army uniform, perhaps from the Civil War days. However, she revised that idea; the man was dressed as an old time movie usher.
Moving to the second floor, sensitives felt called to the lobby area near the bathrooms. In this area the EMF Trifield meter began a series of spikes, moving from .6 to 1.2 on the scale. The spikes continued to occur on and off; timing them indicated that they were sporadic and most likely not produced by anything electronic. The entity that contacted us here was amazing. Referred to as the “Lady in White” or the “Lady in Waiting” she was the most active of the spectral energies that afternoon. She often waited on the balcony for a loved one that she was looking for and went by the name of “Jesse.” It was sensed that she was a woman of expensive tastes and possibly referred to herself as “Jezebel,” an unusual self-reference. She lived in the 1800’s and died around 1920. According to what sensitives picked up, she was hit by a horse and buggy while waiting for her fiancé, for whom she still waits.
While filming the session with a video camera in infrared mode, one person captured a “rod,” or an orb on film. These images appear as elongated shapes that move very rapidly; to view the image clearly it must be slowed down via computer. Rods often moves in a way contrary to dust or insects, making sweeping arches in space. This particular rod appeared behind the director of the news crew who had walked up. As he stood in the doorway, the spirit shot past him, moving from the upper left of the screen behind him then disappearing from view.
This woman continued to work with the group. As we moved through the second floor to the projection booth a sensitive felt that the ghost stood in the window and often gazed down at the audience. One orb image was captured in the projection area and appeared to match the other orbs photographed at the stairwell.
We left the booth and moved down to the second floor where the team split up. Part of the team worked with the news crew while the other explored the stage area. The woman’s spirit followed with; she began to dance on the stage. The stage group requested that Jesse “dance with them” and took a series of pictures. Again, powerful orb images matching those taken earlier in the investigation appeared in the frame.
The most remarkable aspects of this investigation, outside of the rods and a very communicative spirit, are the orb images themselves. Though different digital cameras were in use, orb images throughout the theatre were consistent. The orbs appeared multi-dimensional and had a cross-shaped nucleus. They manifested in areas where activity had happened before or continues to happen during our time there. Their unique appearance matched with other readings and events taking place and indicates that they hail from a common source.
Another unusual result of the investigation is that this particular entity manifested. Tampa Theatre is a known haunt of “Fink Foster,” one of the long time projectionists. No book mentions a woman within the walls of this Mediterranean-styled marvel. However, twice she has manifested for us. The first group, who “met” Fink, also experienced her. She was described as sitting in the second floor balcony wearing a fancy light-colored dress and smelling of perfume. Could this be the same woman? If so, then she is a long term resident.
Her identity is not known by the staff at the theatre, her true story is a mystery. She simply appears to sit and wait for her beloved to come for her. At least she is in good company and well entertained in the process. What better place to wait in eternity than the ever-changing venue of the Tampa Theatre?
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News presentation
5-7-07
Present: Channel 8 “Daytime”
Brandy
Tara (Tampa Theatre)
Time: 1:00 – 4:30
Areas of activity: Flux near stairs (constant and consistent)
Only one image showed up for my camera….at the start. I asked “Jezzie” to come out and be in our images. I took multiple shots, but only the one after my inquiry showed the image.
Toward the end of our time there, Tara asked to use the meter. She took it to the 2nd floor balcony in the theater. She asked me what it meant when the meter spiked; we determined that there was some potential paranormal activity being detected. Meter was set to 0 – 3 scale; most spikes went from .2 – .6/.8; the largest spike we had went to 1.2.
We asked a series of questions:
Did you live near downtown? Yes
Female: Yes
Will you spike the meter one time for yes? SPike
Repeated, spike.
Repeated, spike
Repeated, spike.
Did you used to go to the theater? None.
Did you have a boyfriend? Yes
Do you have decendants? None
Mother? None
Did you marry your boyfriend? Yes
Children? None
Did you die in an accident? None
Do you know how you died? None
Are you waiting for someone here? spike
Can you show us a no response? Can you make the meter spike twice for no? No response.
What was your age? None
Did you live in the 1920’s? None
1910’s? None
1890s? None.
Can you make the meter spike for yes? Spike.
Repeated question: spike
What did you think of Dave and his pants? spike
Are you tired? spike
(I felt heat coming from my hands; Deb felt a cold spot).
Do you want us to go away? None.
Do you want to rest? spike
Repeated question 3 times, spikes.
After this investigation, I was exhausted. I’m not sure if it was the theatre or the interview, but I haven’t felt this fatigued in a while. It is sometimes common after an active ghost hunt to feel this tired.
Of all of my images, only one appeared to me to be possibly paranormal. It was one of the first series I took, when I asked Jezzie to come and be in my image; Debbie said that the meter was fluctuating, but the meter had just spiked. Images before and after did not show any images; dust shows up as considerably lighter.
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Tampa Theatre
May 7, 2007
Present: Brandy, Tara, Manager for Tampa Theatre, two members of Channel 8 and myself.
Equipment used: Sony Digital Recorder, Fujitsu Lifebook Tablet PC with WavePro recording software, Casio Exilim 6.0 digital, Sony Video camera with IR capability and Extech IR thermometer with probe.
One of those rare “being in the right place at the right time” developed as I went to drop off my equipment for Brandy to use for an interview she had been requested to give for Channel 8. A quick invite to help “lug” all the equipment over to the historic Tampa Theatre and you didn’t have to ask me twice!
Brandy and I met with Tara, who manages the Tampa Theatre, a very pleasant woman who has her own stories to tell about the magnificent historic Theatre and it’s relation with the paranormal.
The Tampa Theatre most certainly has a personality of it own. Embedded in the grandeur and opulence of this landmark building is an energy that is uniquely its own. With 81 years of active history and with the multitudes of performing artists who have each added their own energies to the Tampa Theatre along with the patrons, it is no wonder at all that a few “folks” have decided to spend a little extra eternal time within its walls.
Though these remaining few, Jezzie, Fink Foster and a past theatre manager, where not overly active during our visit, I was able to capture a few orb shots during times when Tara was with us. During one filming episode, I saw through a stage light beam, that the air was filled with normal daily dust and it did surprise me that I did not capture more dust-orb shots. The orbs that did appear in my pictures all took place accompanied either by an energy shift and more so whenever Tara was present with us. A large orb was captured in her presence by the Men’s Bathroom, which is Jezzie’s known haunt. Again an orb is found when Tara used the EMF detector and was receiving positive responses to her questioning. What spirits may reside in the Tampa Theatre seem especially appreciative of Tara’s efforts in tending to the needs of this structure.
I am still reviewing all recordings for EVPs and will add an addendum to this report if any are found. It was an honor to visit the Tampa Theatre and I do hope that the SPIRITS may return there for further investigations.