Forwarding from Dayna Smith Writes blog:
I grew up in a very religious family. To be specific, both of my parents were devout Catholics. I remember spending the majority of my youth in several churches cantar hymns, sitting in confessional, and receiving the Holy Eucharist, better known as the body and blood of Christ. Needless to say, I lived a sheltered life. I was to be in cama por 7:30 every night, I was banned from watching anything other than G-rated filmes and my parents had monitored closely who I was making associations with. As I became older and mais independent, I felt that I was missing out. My mother and father told me countless times how the Lord was proud of me for “living a life not of sin”, but I relentlessly thirsted to expand my horizons.
When I turned 36, my 18 ano old niece, Katie, had begged me to get a Facebook. I told her I didn’t agree with it, as social media can be unsafe. Katie informed me if I got a page I could keep it private and use it solely for the purposes of keeping in touch with her and my sister since they live all the way in California. I currently reside in Northern Michigan and the occasional letter or phone call just wasn’t enough. Katie is the best thing to happen to me as I could never have any children of my own. Well, the obvious happened - I caved and never looked back. Before I knew it, I was addicted. I found many family members, co-workers and community sisters hiding away on Facebook. I was overjoyed to be connecting with them all in one central location.
One dia while chatting with Katie over Facebook, I had noticed a friend of mine had shared a link about a haunted civil war fort in Michigan. At first I was alarmed. “Haunted?! por what? Demons??!” Growing up with such strict religious parents my entire life, I was uneducated on what a haunting meant. The only ghost that I was taught to believe in or pay any mind to was the Holy Ghost. In a desperate attempt to find out what was lurking inside the walls of this former fort, I went to my procurar engine and started doing my research. I browsed through the sites and fotografias horrified, half expecting to see some red eyed demon looking back at me through the web. Instead, I had spotted a fotografia of what could only be described as a dark figure. The caption on the fotografia read, “The founder of the Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society, Nicole Beauchamp, captured a notable photograph in the tunnels of Fort Wayne (Detroit). The shadow-like figure appears to be in an antiquado, à moda antiga military uniform (hat and boots). The figure also appears to be leaning against the wall. At the time no one was in the sally port except for 3 TCGHS members (all female) and they were all accounted for. After trying to debunk the photograph with no luck, everyone has come to the conclusion that the figure was around 5 foot tall. Other photographs taken afterward appeared to be free of any apparitions. This photograph was the 3rd picture ever taken of a spirit at Fort Wayne. ” I was spooked.
My first response was fear to what I was seeing. Shortly after, the Catholic so deeply ingrained in me became fired up. Ghost hunters society? What the hell does that even mean? I felt offended to be perfectly honest. What were these people doing in this historic place, disturbing our beloved dead? In my eyes, they had no place to be there. I felt that they had been conjuring up some dark entity and I wanted no mais of it. I pressed the button and shut my computer off for the rest of the day. The seguinte dia I decided to go back and investigate further.
Who was this team of investigators stirring up the shadows? I needed to know. I typed in “Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society” and was invited to click on several different sites. I chose to go to their facebook page and dig around for dirt on them. I found their postings to be actually quite pleasant – not at all the dark and demented posts I was expecting from such a team. They responded to what I assume to be their clientele with care and consideration. As I scrolled through their page, I was astounded at the following they had. Thousands of people had befriended them on facebook and wrote in support of their services. I still wasn’t convinced these people were as sweet as their posts. I moved on to the fotografias section, where I noticed a very wholesome looking blonde with the words “Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society” plastered all over her chest. Upon further investigation, I found out that her name was Nicole Beauchamp and that she was the founder of the team. I immediately messaged her atuação as if I needed an investigation, in an attempt to get her to tell me a little bit about herself. Her response blew me away.
She started off por telling me that she was in her early 20′s and going to school to become a sign language interpreter. She then went on to tell me about her passion for paranormal investigating as a tool to put people at ease. “So many people are terrified of ghosts, but if I can be that one person to honestly say, ‘It’s okay. You’re gonna be ok’, I am going to help a lot of people feel mais comfortable in their homes and sleep easier at night. To me, that makes it all worth it.” I appreciated her thoughtful response, but then I wanted to ask her, “What does putting people at ease in their homes have anything to do with a civil war fort?” She responded. “Our society also works to preserve and restore crumbling historical locations. If we get the opportunity to investigate somewhere and are given permission to distribute any evidence we find, we can use it as a tool to promote interest in the location and get people excited about checking it out. If we can’t distribute the evidence, we will treat it as a private business case and still visit, of course. Either way, the business will still benefit. We will go and pay for an investigation or make a donation to the place. Our goal is to help them rebuild and restore through both, awareness and funds, so that our future generations are able to go and be enlightened por the history of that location, just as we were.”
Nicole’s explanation was powerful and really touched me. When I was younger, a church my parents often took me to caught fire. The whole building was not destroyed, but a great portion of it was. I remember feeling devastated and hoping that my friends were all ok. For a dividido, dividir segundo I had thought about the future of our children and how they wouldn’t be able to attend that church, due to it being charred. I have a lot of respect for people who live selflessly and work toward a common good. After all, that’s really what God would have wanted. Sure, Nicole’s efforts to help the community are certainly unconventional, but she knows that. She’s said it herself. Nonetheless, consider this – how many 20-somethings go around thinking up ways to preserve our history? Not too many. Nicole is definitely a rare breed and in the best way possible.
When I confronted Nicole about my initial thoughts she laughed. “Why Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society? Haha. Well, we don’t hunt aliens and goblins.” I informed her that I was being serious. I told her briefly that I was raised Catholic and that while I agreed with her reasons for founding the team, I wanted to make sure she wasn’t dabbling in dark things. “Not at all,” she wrote back to me. “My goal is to erase the stigma associated with many paranormal and ghost hunting teams. We do not engage in black magic, devil worshipping, sacrifices or anything of the sort. Our goal is to help people and show the community that paranormal teams can be a positive influence on society. I feel that I was born with an interest in the paranormal and history, so I thought instead of keeping it to myself, why not try to do something great with it?” Those words taught me a very important lesson, “Never judge a book por it’s cover”. At first, people get the wrong idea about the intentions of these paranormal teams. People assume that these people enter a início or business like a white tornado and stir up all sorts of ghastly beasts. As I have learned, this couldn’t be further than the truth. Sometimes, people just need someone to talk to who can sit with them and listen. Other times, people are just curious about what happens after we die. Whatever the reason, there are many paranormal teams that are extremely ethical and willing to volunteer their time to comfort another human being. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with that!
I encourage you all to check out the Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society, and most importantly, to open your minds and hearts. We all come from a different path in life, but supporting someone who is different than us is, perhaps, mais God-like than going to church every Sunday.
God bless!
Dayna S.
I grew up in a very religious family. To be specific, both of my parents were devout Catholics. I remember spending the majority of my youth in several churches cantar hymns, sitting in confessional, and receiving the Holy Eucharist, better known as the body and blood of Christ. Needless to say, I lived a sheltered life. I was to be in cama por 7:30 every night, I was banned from watching anything other than G-rated filmes and my parents had monitored closely who I was making associations with. As I became older and mais independent, I felt that I was missing out. My mother and father told me countless times how the Lord was proud of me for “living a life not of sin”, but I relentlessly thirsted to expand my horizons.
When I turned 36, my 18 ano old niece, Katie, had begged me to get a Facebook. I told her I didn’t agree with it, as social media can be unsafe. Katie informed me if I got a page I could keep it private and use it solely for the purposes of keeping in touch with her and my sister since they live all the way in California. I currently reside in Northern Michigan and the occasional letter or phone call just wasn’t enough. Katie is the best thing to happen to me as I could never have any children of my own. Well, the obvious happened - I caved and never looked back. Before I knew it, I was addicted. I found many family members, co-workers and community sisters hiding away on Facebook. I was overjoyed to be connecting with them all in one central location.
One dia while chatting with Katie over Facebook, I had noticed a friend of mine had shared a link about a haunted civil war fort in Michigan. At first I was alarmed. “Haunted?! por what? Demons??!” Growing up with such strict religious parents my entire life, I was uneducated on what a haunting meant. The only ghost that I was taught to believe in or pay any mind to was the Holy Ghost. In a desperate attempt to find out what was lurking inside the walls of this former fort, I went to my procurar engine and started doing my research. I browsed through the sites and fotografias horrified, half expecting to see some red eyed demon looking back at me through the web. Instead, I had spotted a fotografia of what could only be described as a dark figure. The caption on the fotografia read, “The founder of the Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society, Nicole Beauchamp, captured a notable photograph in the tunnels of Fort Wayne (Detroit). The shadow-like figure appears to be in an antiquado, à moda antiga military uniform (hat and boots). The figure also appears to be leaning against the wall. At the time no one was in the sally port except for 3 TCGHS members (all female) and they were all accounted for. After trying to debunk the photograph with no luck, everyone has come to the conclusion that the figure was around 5 foot tall. Other photographs taken afterward appeared to be free of any apparitions. This photograph was the 3rd picture ever taken of a spirit at Fort Wayne. ” I was spooked.
My first response was fear to what I was seeing. Shortly after, the Catholic so deeply ingrained in me became fired up. Ghost hunters society? What the hell does that even mean? I felt offended to be perfectly honest. What were these people doing in this historic place, disturbing our beloved dead? In my eyes, they had no place to be there. I felt that they had been conjuring up some dark entity and I wanted no mais of it. I pressed the button and shut my computer off for the rest of the day. The seguinte dia I decided to go back and investigate further.
Who was this team of investigators stirring up the shadows? I needed to know. I typed in “Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society” and was invited to click on several different sites. I chose to go to their facebook page and dig around for dirt on them. I found their postings to be actually quite pleasant – not at all the dark and demented posts I was expecting from such a team. They responded to what I assume to be their clientele with care and consideration. As I scrolled through their page, I was astounded at the following they had. Thousands of people had befriended them on facebook and wrote in support of their services. I still wasn’t convinced these people were as sweet as their posts. I moved on to the fotografias section, where I noticed a very wholesome looking blonde with the words “Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society” plastered all over her chest. Upon further investigation, I found out that her name was Nicole Beauchamp and that she was the founder of the team. I immediately messaged her atuação as if I needed an investigation, in an attempt to get her to tell me a little bit about herself. Her response blew me away.
She started off por telling me that she was in her early 20′s and going to school to become a sign language interpreter. She then went on to tell me about her passion for paranormal investigating as a tool to put people at ease. “So many people are terrified of ghosts, but if I can be that one person to honestly say, ‘It’s okay. You’re gonna be ok’, I am going to help a lot of people feel mais comfortable in their homes and sleep easier at night. To me, that makes it all worth it.” I appreciated her thoughtful response, but then I wanted to ask her, “What does putting people at ease in their homes have anything to do with a civil war fort?” She responded. “Our society also works to preserve and restore crumbling historical locations. If we get the opportunity to investigate somewhere and are given permission to distribute any evidence we find, we can use it as a tool to promote interest in the location and get people excited about checking it out. If we can’t distribute the evidence, we will treat it as a private business case and still visit, of course. Either way, the business will still benefit. We will go and pay for an investigation or make a donation to the place. Our goal is to help them rebuild and restore through both, awareness and funds, so that our future generations are able to go and be enlightened por the history of that location, just as we were.”
Nicole’s explanation was powerful and really touched me. When I was younger, a church my parents often took me to caught fire. The whole building was not destroyed, but a great portion of it was. I remember feeling devastated and hoping that my friends were all ok. For a dividido, dividir segundo I had thought about the future of our children and how they wouldn’t be able to attend that church, due to it being charred. I have a lot of respect for people who live selflessly and work toward a common good. After all, that’s really what God would have wanted. Sure, Nicole’s efforts to help the community are certainly unconventional, but she knows that. She’s said it herself. Nonetheless, consider this – how many 20-somethings go around thinking up ways to preserve our history? Not too many. Nicole is definitely a rare breed and in the best way possible.
When I confronted Nicole about my initial thoughts she laughed. “Why Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society? Haha. Well, we don’t hunt aliens and goblins.” I informed her that I was being serious. I told her briefly that I was raised Catholic and that while I agreed with her reasons for founding the team, I wanted to make sure she wasn’t dabbling in dark things. “Not at all,” she wrote back to me. “My goal is to erase the stigma associated with many paranormal and ghost hunting teams. We do not engage in black magic, devil worshipping, sacrifices or anything of the sort. Our goal is to help people and show the community that paranormal teams can be a positive influence on society. I feel that I was born with an interest in the paranormal and history, so I thought instead of keeping it to myself, why not try to do something great with it?” Those words taught me a very important lesson, “Never judge a book por it’s cover”. At first, people get the wrong idea about the intentions of these paranormal teams. People assume that these people enter a início or business like a white tornado and stir up all sorts of ghastly beasts. As I have learned, this couldn’t be further than the truth. Sometimes, people just need someone to talk to who can sit with them and listen. Other times, people are just curious about what happens after we die. Whatever the reason, there are many paranormal teams that are extremely ethical and willing to volunteer their time to comfort another human being. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing wrong with that!
I encourage you all to check out the Tri-City Ghost Hunters Society, and most importantly, to open your minds and hearts. We all come from a different path in life, but supporting someone who is different than us is, perhaps, mais God-like than going to church every Sunday.
God bless!
Dayna S.