Monday, August 24, 2009

Introducing the Shadow Seekers

Hi my name is Tammie Mccourt and i am the founder of The Shadow Seekers, we are a small paranormal group based in Brunswick Ohio. We are just wanting to let people know that we exist. We are a small group of friends and family who have at one time in our lives had a paranormal experience that has peeked our curiosity. Me and my sister Me-Lang Clark used to live in a haunted house in Cleveland. It was located on west 58th and Wakefield right behind the Fir Avenue cemetery. I have posted a story on Creepy Cleveland before, and the story behind Fir Avenue cemetery is mine as well. We have experienced some very scary stuff growing up that we did not understand. Today we do local investigations around Ohio, so we can try to find some understanding and some answers.On August 7th we did an investigations at the infamous Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville Ky, yes i know it isnt in Cleveland but let me be the first to tell you this place was well worth the trip. I do have pics of places we investigated on some of our pages, we are relatively a new group so we do not yet have a website but our pics can be viewed on our personal pages.We just wanted to introduce ourselves, and we will be sending in stories of future investigations and submitting some pics. Thank You very much.

Tammie Mccourt - Founder
Me-lang Clark - Co-Founder
www.myspace.com/shadowseekers
www.myspace.com/angelvoice6006
Facebook Group...shadowseekers.
Seeking the secrets in the shadows.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

O.P.U.S.

Hey, this is Jen from O.P.U.S. We are going to do an investigation at
Gore Orphanage/Swift Mansion next week. We are also going to check
out that cemetery by Kmart in West Park tonight. Also, we have been
told our home is haunted and we will do a mini-investigation here. We
don't have much on our myspace or blog, but hopefully this will give
us a start. Let us know if you're interested in our findings.

Thanks for your time,

Jen Clark, Case Mgr.

http:www.myspace.com/opusonmyspace

http://www.opus-ohioparanormalundergroundsociety.blogspot.com

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Haunted Movie Theater (Parmatown Mall)

From the Creepy Cleveland Archive
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Contributed by Russ

Webmasters Note: Russ sent me this interesting tidbit on July, 22, 2001. Check this one out - verrry creeepy!!


I worked at a five-screen movie theatre located in Parmatown Mall for four years until is was permanently closed on May 28, 2001. The theatre opened its doors 1967 as the first two-screen movie theatre in the Cleveland area. It has since been renovated into a 5-screen plex. Throughout the duration of my employment, I have witnessed, along with many other coworkers, an extraordinary amount of paranormal activity at the theatre. Most activity took place at night, after close between 10pm-midnight. There were usually two staff members present during this time, a manager and a staff lead. The manager stayed upstairs completing closing issues, while the staff lead, myself, cleaned and stocked the concession stand. These are just a few of the hauntings that come to mind:


  • Various nights after close, I witnessed blurred images of a person or a mist heading towards cinema 5’s hallway and a figure of a teenage boy wearing a baseball hat near the photobooth.


  • I twice felt a negative presence approach me at the concession stand while cleaning. It felt like something was about to strike me, so I recall jumping back instantly while my heart pounded profusely.


  • On at least two occasions, I heard my named called by some unknown voice -- once at the stands after close, and a second time while I was taking pictures of an upstairs’ room on the last day the cinema was open.


  • It was quite common for the staff to observe the doors in cinema 5 frequently opening and closing by themselves and the faucet at the concession stand sink turning on when no one was around.


  • While popping corn years ago, I remember hearing the sound of footsteps going up and down the stairs and the hall door opening and closing. I would look and nobody was there.


  • One night after lock-up I discovered a knife in the men’s restroom. I walked away to inform the manager, but when I returned it was gone. Nobody was in the theater.


  • We had a Disney Store promotional tie-in for the movie, "Dinosaur." We displayed Disney merchandise above our concession stand for about two months without any strange occurrences, except for one instance where the merchandise started to rock back and forth and before we knew it, it came tumbling down near some patrons.


  • We have reasons to believe that cinema 5 is the most haunted. Despite numerous attempts to adjust/fix the heat/ac, cinema 5 always remained cold. When the theatre was empty, we would often hear loud noises coming from that auditorium. Generally some nights when business was slow, auditoriums would sometimes remain empty for the entire evening. On one of those occurrences, one of my coworkers perceived a child around the age of ten wearing blue Adidas pants and a white t shirt in cinema 5. When she turned around, the child was gone. On a separate occasion, during her first summer working there, this same coworker was cleaning cinema 5 after a movie emptied and noticed a big man by the left exit doors in the theatre. The man had an older, yet scary appearance. He disappeared when my friend looked away. Also, one night after lock-up when my manager was exiting the theatre by herself, she felt and presence and heard breathing directly over her shoulder. My manager thought it was one of us playing a joke on her, but soon discovered that there was nobody in the auditorium. She ran out.
    I have no doubt that my manager is inclined to this sort of paranormal activity. She frequented the ghost more than anyone, witnessing the office radio turning on by itself and a projector turntable rotating at an unordinary rate while the machine was turned OFF. She also heard the sound of footsteps, doors opening and closing, and somebody calling her name upstairs. Whenever I would visit her after I completed my staff lead duties, she always jumped when I knocked on the door. She was never comfortable upstairs in the office. Also, while sitting in the office one evening, my manager and another employee heard a woman’s scream originating from cinema 2. When they investigated, there was nobody in the theatre and the movie was off.

  • One time about a year before we closed, a mysterious bare footprint appeared in the floor dirt outside the office door. We tried duplicating the print with our own feet and some water and cleaning solution, but we had no success. My manager said the print disappeared soon after and then reappeared the next morning. The following day we mopped and scrubbed the print and it never returned.

  • We took a few pictures of cinema 5 on the last day of business. The prints could not be developed.


After 30 years of business, the cinema was closed on May 28, 2001 because the mall wanted to bring in another company that was willing to pay a higher lease. It currently lays abandoned and untouched since our departure. Three weeks after we closed, myself and a friend re-entered the cinema with a spare key. The power breakers were all turned off with the exception of cinema’s 2 and 5. I never told my friend about the hauntings at the cinema, but after we walked around cinema 5, my friend told me that she felt a great negative presence in that auditorium. She felt like somebody was watching us and she could not believe that I didn’t feel the same energy as her. I told her that I must have grown used to it after four years of paranormal activity. I have no doubt that if the new theatre opens at Parmatown the hauntings will prevail -- specifically in cinema 5.

Sincerely,
Russ from Parma, Ohio

Webmasters Note: I emailed Russ and thanked him for the great submission...and I got this response on July 23, 2001


Actually, it's interesting that you asked me if I had any more stories. Yesterday, I was at the mall and was inspired, by my recent submission to your site, to re-enter the cinema with my spare key. I took a walk upstairs after turning on some of the electrical breakers. While walking through the long hallway upstairs near the projection booths and manager's office, I heard a noise in the wall as I walked. It seemed like it was following me down the hall. It sounded like a scratching and like somebody was hitting metal with a screw-driver. Like i said, I worked there for four years and I've never heard anything like that before inside the wall. I never heard anything about anybody dying at the cinema, but I wouldn't doubt it. It's been open for over 30 years and it had its share of renovations and expansions. If anything, it could just be an old person who had a heart-attack while watching a movie. But like i said, I'm not certain if anybody has ever died at the cinema -- at least not in the last 15 years (that's when my manager first started working there and she would have told me if somebody was killed/died).

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Tombstones in the Woods?

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Berea, Ohio - Contributed by Patrick

Hello, I stumbled upon your webpage 'Creepy Cleveland', and think it's pretty cool. I've read through most of the stories. I currently reside in Austin, Texas, but grew up in Brookpark, Ohio. I know a place in Middleburg Hts/Berea, that you may find interesting. Friends and I used to hang out in woods surrounded by trucking warehouses and a marshy lake. If you look at the map below, you can see the area. Basically the borders were Eastland Rd, Sheldon Rd, Engle Rd, Bagley Rd. I hung out here in the late 80s/early 90s, but people had partied there since at least the 70s. There's a big clearing where people used to ride dirt bikes and stuff.
Anyway, there was always a rumor of tombstones hidden in the woods. We spent a lot of time searching for them, but I always figured someone had seen the 'St. Adalbert's cemetary'(see map) from the woods, and mistaken this as the hidden graveyard. One of the tombstones was also rumored to be the grave of Daniel Boone. I didn't really think it was a true story. Especially since a few friends and I had been to virtually every nook and corner of these woods, and knew them well. Most of the woods along Bagley and southern Eastland Rd eventually would meet with private property(usually fenced), as there are houses along these streets. I believed if the tombstones did exist, they were someone's private plots or something. Anyway, over the years the land has been developed. Lots of crappy businesses popped up. I came home for the holidays a few years back. My friend Bob told me that "They found the tombstones". They as in the developers. Weird part is that the graves were very close to a section we'd hang out in often. We probably walk within 50 feet of them many times. These tombstones are from the 1800s, and were found as the land was leveled for a strip mall/movie theater. I've included a map.

The star is '17840 Bagley Rd', the nearest landmark (Kmart). If you get off of I-71 and drive west on Bagley you will pass the Kmart and St Adalbert cemetery. Soon after that look for a movie theater on your right (north) side. Drive into the lot, and you'll see the graves enclosed in a fenced off area. Pretty weird to see these century old graves surrounded by strip mall hell. Sadly, almost all Abrahm's Lake woods has been developed. It was a pretty creepy place in itself. Even in daylight. I'm not sure what part of town you live in. Maybe you've been there already? Anyway, I thought it might be worth seeing, if you're ever in that neck of the woods.
Take care
Patrick

Somewhere in Parma Hts

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by DmxNautica@xxxxxx.com

I've been to about all them haunted places u talk about on ur website, but so far the most haunted place I have seen is this one house in Parma Hts., its near Holy Name and the Metroparks.... I guess about 30 years ago some guy murdered his whole family there, and now its abandoned... I think there have been a few families that have tried to move in, but they all moved out within months b/c they claimed it was haunted. its a really weird old looking house... the yard is overgrown, there's an empty pool in the back, and a lot of the windows are boarded up. the house just looks haunted. there have been a lot of strange things that have happened there when I went... the one time there was a light on upstairs in one of the bedrooms... and another night every light in the upstairs was on... but no cars were in the driveway and nobody was walking around upstairs... u could tell that nobody was in there.. and on the wall of the one bedroom there was writing on the wall that said "sex bell" and I also heard that on the one wall downstairs there's writing that says "murder". one night I decided to take some pictures, and my camera wasn't working so I was trying to figure out what was wrong with it, so I kept pressing the button but it wouldn't go off, then while I was pressing the button as I was walking off the property onto the sidewalk to flash went off, so I figured it was working and I went back towards the house but it wasn't working again, so I was doing the same thing pressing the button over and over and it didn't work... until I stepped on the same exact spot on the sidewalk and the flash went off......
my friend also said that one time he was there he went up to the door and he heard some weird noises coming from inside the house... it sounded like some man screaming, and he said he thought he saw blood on the door handle. my other friend was doing a report on the house for school, and she was video taping it, and in the tape u can faintly make out a ghostly figure looking out one of the windows upstairs. and tonight I was there with a few friends and we were looking at the house and I went up to it and all of a sudden these lights came on from upstairs...... but like I said nobody lives in the house and the city/police weren't there cuz there were no cars in the driveway... and if u think about it, if its abounded who pays the electric bill? I think u should post this house on ur website, cuz I think without a doubt its haunted

Webmasters Note: Got another note from Russ, I think he may be talking about the same place. What do you think?...


By the way, have you heard anything about the back woods by Holy Name High School being haunted? A good friend of mine was back there years ago with her now husband on a date. They were driving around Big Creek Parkway one night when her boyfriend had to goto the bathroom. He didn't want to go inside the woods so they drove down the street to their alma mater Holy Name. When they arrived, they parked near the statue of Mary in the back and her boy friend left her to go to the bathroom. The entire time my friend felt very uncomfortable and experienced a lot of negative energy in the air. She was afraid that he would disappear. When her boyfriend returned they began to talk in the car. While they were talking, a black cat emerged from the left side of the woods and headed towards the front of their car. The cat walked in a straight line and did a perfect 90 degree turn to face, sit, and watch the couple in the car. After a few moments my friend asked her boyfriend if he thought that the cat appeared strange. He agreed and so they decided to drive away. As they were departing from the lot, my friend watched the cat begin to walk behind the statue of Mary and then disappear.
-- Russ from Parma

Woodland Cemetery

From the Creepy Cleveland Archives
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Contributed by Mic

Have you ever walked past a cemetery and thought you were being watched?
Do you whistle when you stroll through or by a cemetery?
Ever wonder why the used wrought iron fencing around cemeteries? Iron being know for being a cold metal that has power over some ghost and creatures...
Well I found out one night in the summer of 1989 that cemeteries are a place to get a lot of exercise and a place where you could find the answers to some questions that are best left unanswered!
I was on my way home in the hot august night of 1989, it was a full moon that night and I was walking home from shaker heights the only way I knew. I was walking down Woodland Ave towards E79th street when I decided to take and cut through part of the cemetery in order to get home quicker.
I quickly climbed over a part of the cemetery and started to walk diagonally through to E 79th, well, as I first set foot on the ground I felt a chill run up my spine, I also thought I heard a grunt off in the distance. Well I was tired and wanted to get home, I had three beers that night and I being a Big boy even then wasn't feeling it any more. Well as I got half way through I heard a scraping sound then a splinter sound of wood. The wind was blowing towards me and I could spell the rotting smell of Death. Thinking my imagination was getting the best of me I continued to walk.
I got near a tall monument when I saw it. Near a grave stone I saw a out line of a person digging at a grave, I first thought it was a homeless guy trying to get some sleep, well I crept around but as soon as I got close to it it stopped....
Its' head snapped around and I say the reddest eyes I have ever seen, the skin looked like leather that was really dry, its mouth was full of jagged nasty teeth...
It sniffed twice and started to get up! All I could think was "Mic ( not my real name but my nickname) this is it, Boy you are about to enter the twilight zone!" When my legs and feet kicked into motion!
I took off running out of a sense of self preservation, the whole time I could hear the creature behind me, I Never ran as fast as that night and I doubt I can to this day! Well as I snatched glimpses over my shoulder to make sure I was a head of it I could see it was man shaped, About 5'7 or so and ragged thin, it kept snatching at me with nasty claw like hands, when the wind blew from it's direction I could smell the decay and filth!
Well it almost caught up to me when I made it to the fence! I started to climb up and over and thought it was going to grab my leg...But when I got to the top I noticed that it wouldn't get with in 3 foot of the wroght iron fence.
When I hit the sidewalk I ran as fast as I could away, and it was pacing me on the other side! when I last saw it I could see another set of red glowing eyes from the cemetery watching me...
I got home and locked my house up tight, My Dad, who was woken up by me coming in in a rush yelled at me! When I tried to tell him he yelled at me that I should have know better to tempt fate and dance with the devil like I did!
To this day I will not get near the Woodland cemetery, and I find it really scary that the old wrought iron fence has been replaced in certain spots with chain link fencing!
What was it? I believe it was a ghoul or possibly a demon, but it was on so called consecrated holy land!
Tales of Ghouls have been around for centuries and what if they are real? For me they are!

Mic