Wow. What a great time I had at the retreat. Even without the event, Estes Park is a vacationers dream.

The views were gorgeous. Everytime we stepped outside the lighting changed the look of the scenery for a whole new experience.

We tried different cafes and steak houses everyday and never had a bad meal. I especially loved the Mom n' Pop cafes downtown. Each one unique with local decor and pictures from around the area.

As for the Stanley Hotel, what can I say.... It's beautiful and historic, but not very comfortable. If you've never been there and want to experience the paranormal during your stay I recommend staying there. If you've already stayed there, don't want the chance of activity ruining your night of sleep, or just want a nice modern room, I highly recommend getting a room down the road.

We stayed in the Manor House Suite 1309 (Nothing much sweet about it). We were just around the corner from the 'famous' room 1302.

It's hard to say if we had any activity in our room because the winds there are so strong at night it sounds like the whole hotel is shaking apart.

I didn't do any audio or video recording in my room because I was afraid if we did catch something everyone would see what slobs we are on the video.

And as for the audio....with the winds rattling the windows, pretty much day and night, I think the noise pollution would have been too high for any recording. 

I have all the audio and video I recorded on the laptop and plan to review it later. If there is anything worth showing I'll post it.

Stanley Hotel Retreat Investigation

November 17th - Group Two - 10pm - 2am

I just want to start off with a couple acknowledgements.

While looking through the camcorder LCD screen, I noticed quite a few dust looking objects float across the screen. It happened quite offen. I'll have to give them a second look while reviewing the footage.

Also alot of other people reported flashlights, recorders, etc. turning on and off by themselves. While talking to some girls in the second floor hallway, a couple who apparently knew the girls, came out of room 215 and said their tv was 'doing it again'. I got the story from the couple and the girls that the couples' tv had the habit of turning on at various times on its' own.

I don't think audio is going to be worth listening to. We were broken up into groups of 25+ people and getting any good EVP's with all that noise pollution will be challenging.

On a personel note...packing 10 to 20 people into a hotel room was extremely uncomfortable for everyone. The heat, noise, and lack of room to work was frustrating.

Room 1302 -- Celebrity Guest Chris Fleming

Chris started with some advice on investigating, then led us in a K2 meter session. He had a female in the group hold the meter and read the meter when it appeared to be registering answers from entities.

I did hear several strange things during the investigation. One of which was what sounded like a groan, as hokie as that sounds.

Also what we believe was the bathroom exhaust fan was making a tapping noise. Like I said before, though, it was really windy outside and it would be impossible to say that the noise wasn't just caused by the wind.

It was funny to a couple of us in the room that the 'tapping' seemed to happen after Chris Flemming or others in the group asked for the spirits to show us a sign they were there. We didn't hear the noise until after they started asking for verification. Coincidence? You be the judge....lol.

Room 217 -- Celebrity Guest Patrick Burns

We as we entered the room Patrick was jumping out from around the corner to welcome us to Stephen King's room.

After everyone got settled we started with Patrick revisiting past groups experiences so far during the weekend.

He admitted he would be trying to capture an EVP on his cellphone. Apparently he normally listens in live to his recorder to hear sounds as they happen, but that night he was experimenting with the audio qualities of his cellphone. I thought that was pretty interesting.

It wasn't long before more from our group knocked on the door breaking the silence Patrick had asked for during the EVP session. We asked them where they had been and they said they were in the employees passageway. Patrick said if anyone wanted to head down there to go ahead, so away I went.

Employee Passageway

For the first time I was able to get a quiet place to do some EVP's. Several people entered the small crawl space before I got there, so I wasn't able to to look around back there.

A girl walked up to me and asked if I smelled sour milk. Later I was asked if I smelled tobbaco. A couple feet from an employee breakroom I was surprised they didn't smell egg salad, doritos, and root beer.

I did notice an opening in the ceiling next to the crawl space where I could see into the MacGregor Room above. It was covered over with a grate. There is no doubt any noise from the MacGregor Room would easily bleed into the passageway.

Room 418 -- Celebrity Guest Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Next we headed up to the fourth floor. We were told room 401 (Jason Hawes room from Ghost Hunters) was full and we should go down to 418.

Lets just start out with the fact that a couple of people in the group seemed to feel they were 'sensitive'. They were feeling 'Sam' the controling entity Rosemary said resided, I believe, on the third and fourth floors.

They were also trying to persuade a female entity Rosemary described as being held there by Sam. Rosemary believed her name started with an 'S'. At this statement a female member of the group said the name 'Sophia' and said that she was getting that name.

When Rosemary asked the group if they were experiencing any activity they claimed shadows were moving near the closet and one was standing in the bathroom staring at one of the group.

Rosemary asked the group to help Sophia. She apparently needed help crossing over because Sam was keeping her and several other entities from doing so. She asked us if we would join her in concentrating our energies towards closing the light behind her as she had broken free from Sam with our help.  

Concert Hall -- Celebrity Guests Jason Hawes & Grant Wilson

Jay and Grant started out with some info on previous group experiences and a warning to try and not walk across the floor while people were in the basement because of the noise level it created downstairs. Let me tell you....filming Jason and Grant with the IR Illuminator was surreal. It felt like I was watching Ghost Hunters live in person. Very cool.

I wondered around when I eventually settled on a room with some people setting up their equipment. They were using their K2 meters to try and get some responses. They threw some things on the floor and asked if the entity that was responding to them could move something for us. They threw a light, quarter, and some batteries on the floor trying to entice some movement but nothing. I was really hoping I could catch something on camera.

Over all I had a great time despite the aching feet. All the celebrities were really accessible. I was seriously impressed how easy it was to walk right up to any of them and just talk. It was weird at first, but they are so great you get over it pretty quick. I didn't know what to expect going to this retreat and now I can't wait to go again.

The Reveal

Well I listened to some of the audio and immediately decided it was idiotic to even attempt recording anything during the investigation. With so many people making so many noises it's impossible to know if any potential clip was an EVP or an investigator whispering, stomping, creeking, etc.

I watched through the video and was very impressed with how well the IR Illuminator worked. It was definiately worth the extra cost.

Newbie Thought: While reviewing the video it occurred to me it was my second chance to review the audio. I realized that I could get a better feel for who and what was in the rooms, and what was making any noises of interest.

I still had to ignore much of what was interesting. I pretty much was only interested in reviewing the audible noises I heard during the walk through.

I did hear what sounded like a groan in room 418. I didn't say anything until a couple others asked if anyone heard something. I listened to that portion of the tape and it does sound like a groan. As I've said before it was very windy that night so I can't be sure what the noise was, but I felt it was interesting enough to keep.If only because it was the closest thing to evidence I came back with that weekend.

I'm in the process of trying to extract it from the video, chop it, and amplify it so I can post it. I'm kinda stumbling around the tech stuff right now. I'll do my best to get it up as soon as possible.