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I would like to make all aware  that paranormal underworld no longer exist, nor dose on line production .  This was my creation. I had the idea and , brought it to the paranormal community . We have not done a alive event in over 2 year. Nor has there been  attempt. It was a great concept. But unfortunately  it never took off . I will not have my name associated with something that boarders on fraud.

    I am more than willing to share the temp plates , and the technology, and what is needed at the location,  and how  I set this up  for free .I will gladly explain  what server I used, and how to  present a event what equipment  that is required, and how  it was promoted ,  also I will tell you the problems I ran in to so you can avoid them, as well as what I enjoyed about this,  my experience is at your disposal, all I ask  for is a invite to the event . 

         If any one is interested you can contact me at shadow71414@yahoo.com. I will do my best to get back to you in 24 hours. Or I am more than willing to give my cell number out and I do return calls promptly .

 

Joel Collins           

The dilemma that I am now presented with is the fact that giving the paranormal community is based on a belief system that life after dead does in fact exist.  With this false material being presented, we (the paranormal community as a whole) will never be taken seriously.  What many paranormal investigators strive for almost seems unreachable, and yet those who continue to display false data are a direct reflection of all us in the community tarnishing our good name.  It’s bad enough that we have do go up against skeptics everyday, but to have self proclaim paranormal experts producing faked evidence, certainly is a disgrace to us all, and should apology for his dishonesty and misleading those who ever gave him the benefit of the doubt. 

 

    They were my photographs, taken with two different cameras. One was an Olympus Trip AF 50, a kind of instamatic type 35mm, and the other was a Yashica J-7. In all photos where the anomalies were captured, the film type was fuji , ASA 400 color film. The photos were scanned in at 400 dpi. The digital copies were enhanced to show up better o

 

You can pretend you didn't see the analysis and the
accompanying write up, but you would be lying. It was posted on the
PP site by the Zoellers as well as passed around in an e-mail to
everyone. You also know that the person asked to remain anonymous as
he is still active in the service... He also has ten years of
experience working for a photographic studio.

The photos are an old argument. If you recall, (and let me refresh
your memory as you seem to have selective memory since you came over
to this group) when I gave the originals to John and said I would no
longer respond to any more questions concerning the photos. As I
stated then, let john have them analyzed. He could just as easily
send them to whomever.

 

 

 

When I went to College there was no degree for Audio Engineering. You specialized in Acoustics and electrical Engineering.

 

 

    Articles that he supply and that mentions his name and explains what he dose for a living.

 

http://www.bssaudio.com/news_view.php?id=50

 

http://systemscontractor.com/articles/publish/article_590.shtml

 

http://www.admark.cn/manage/31/200677144117.htm

 

http://www.aes.org/member/profile.cfm?ID=1435424442

 .

 

 The articles listed below were uncovered by Melanie K. Hale and have come into question regarding the same.  Numbers don’t lie, I guess people do.  Mr. Roundtree seems to think  that it is right to lead us to believe he is something he’s not, and that all published material is his for the taking.

 

  So I did a little math and found the actual percentage of original material in each of David Roundtree’s papers I linked.  I did this by opening in word, then selecting “Tools”>”Word Count” and wrote down the total for Words.  Then I deleted all linked materials and did the same “Tools” > “Word Count”.  Then I took the second number and divided it by the first number.  Here are the results linked to the original document on David’s site:

 

Analog_or_digital. doc  =  38% original material – 62% taken from other sources

 

Biofeedback_ Experiment. doc = 10% original material – 90% taken from other sources

 

EVP_Project_ Phase_1.doc = 31% original material – 69% taken from other sources

 

EVP_Project_ Phase_2.doc = 43% original material – 57% taken from other sources

 

Orbs-The_Search_ for_the_Truth. doc = 32% original material – 68% taken from other sources

 

The_Magic_that_ is_Light. doc = 0% original material – 100%

 

 

 

Photo in the file section under Dave Rountree

 

 

David M. Rountree - AES IFSA
> > > > Director
> > > > Skylands Paranormal Investigations

David Rountree" <ghost_hunter_01@yahoo.com David M.. Rountree - AES  IFSA

Director

Skylands Paranormal Investigations

 

here  a great sight  to check out    http://www.mindreader.com/

RANDI'S CHALLENGE:
A Big "So What!"

 

Loyd Auerback

 

From www.victorzammit.com/

 

Loyd Auerbach, M.S., is the Director of the Office of Paranormal Investigations. He is a Consulting Editor and columnist for FATE Magazine, an adjunct Professor at JFK University and President of The Psychic Entertainers Association. He holds a degree in Cultural Anthropology from Northwestern University and a graduate degree in Parapsychology from JFK University.
He is the author of a number of books on the paranormal including Ghost Hunting: How to Investigate the Paranormal, Hauntings & Poltergeists: A Ghost Hunter’s Guide and Mind Over Matter, besides videos and CDs.
His website is http://www.mindreader.com/

---

I might actually title this essay "Why I no longer care about Randi's One Million Dollar Challenge," but honestly "So What!" sums up my feelings these days.

Over the last several years, I've been somewhat outspoken about the specific details of the rules of Randi's challenge. But recently, when being harassed by yet another disbelieving type about the test, some kind of light - an epiphany of sorts - went on in my head. The individual made a statement, with a question, that I often hear in variations from self-described Skeptics (actually disbelievers):
"The Amazing Randi offers one million dollars for anyone who can demonstrate something paranormal. If psychic abilities are real, why has no one won the prize?"

Rather than responding as I have in the past with a discourse as to why I don't believe anyone will win that money, I spontaneously switched gears. [The following is an approximation of the conversation]

"What would that prove?" I asked.

"Huh?" said the Skeptic.

"Why is Randi offering the money?" I asked.

"For anyone who can prove something paranormal," said the Skeptic.

"If someone did win the million, what would that actually prove?" I asked.

"Huh?" said the Skeptic.

"I mean, if a psychic won the million dollars, other than the psychic walking away one million dollars richer, what would that prove to the skeptical community or to Science?" I asked.

"That someone could do something psychic," said the Skeptic with some confusion in his voice.

"Would it? If someone won Randi's million dollars, would YOU accept that psychic abilities are real? Or even just possible?" I asked.

"Huh?" said the Skeptic.

"Would mainstream Science accept the probability of psi, if not the reality, if some psychic won Randi's million?" I asked.

"Uh-uh-huh?" said the Skeptic.

"Would the organized Skeptics accept that psi is real, or would they be more likely to believe that Randi was simply fooled, scammed out of his million? Would you?" I asked.

I received a blank stare from the Skeptic, then saw confusion appearing on his face.
I continued to push at him. "The fact is that people who do not accept the laboratory and other evidence for psi that already exists are unlikely to change their minds or their beliefs simply because someone beats Randi's challenge and wins Randi's money. In the name of Science, many keep raising the issue of parsimony, of Occam's Razor where psi is concerned. In this case, wouldn't the simpler explanation as far as the Skeptics are concerned be that Randi was scammed out of the money? In the name of Science, many raise the issue of repeatability. If someone beat Randi's Challenge once, how does this meet the criteria of repeatability? What does this prove?"

The Skeptic was silent, confusion and frustration (and a little anger) continuing on his face.

I finished with "If you can honestly tell me - I mean look me in the eye and tell me honestly - that you would be open to psi's existence if a psychic won Randi's money, I'll give you 20 dollars right here and now. It's not a million, but to be honest, your opinion isn't worth that much to me."

He walked away (okay, he stormed off).

I've since used this argument on a few others, whenever Randi's Challenge is raised like a weapon against the field of Parapsychology, and against the existence (real or just potential) of psi.

To recap: If someone wins Randi's million, he/she will be one million dollars richer. However, as far as Science and the Skeptics are concerned, the simpler answer to this conundrum is that Randi (or his chosen panel of judges) was fooled.

In other words, So What if someone wins the money. It won't change the prevailing attitudes towards parapsychology, or the prevailing beliefs of most who waiver to the disbelieving side of the center where psi is concerned.

As this is the case (prove me wrong, somebody - please!), we waste our time even giving Randi's Challenge the time of day.

It's not a benchmark for Science, or even the Skeptics. Why should we care?

So What!

Loyd Auerback

Media Skeptics... James Randi
The Randi Prize
Current Controversies page

Copyright © Loyd Auerback January 2005
Acknowledgement: thanks to Loyd Auerback for permission to reproduce this article

Coffins In Disarray, Families Sue Cemetery

CHICAGO (STNG) ―
Five families are suing a south suburban cemetery Friday after visits
to their loved one's grave sites have become a rather gruesome
experience.

The
families of five deceased people filed suit against Homewood Memorial
Gardens after the cemetery allegedly misplaced bodies, had corpses and
broken coffins strewn about and guided the families to a general area
of where their family members could possibly be buried, according to a
suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court Friday.

Peter Liace
was supposedly buried in the cemetery, 600 Ridge Road in Homewood, on
Oct. 25, 1988, according to the suit. Liace's family purchased a
headstone from the cemetery and over the years has witnessed the
headstone in a number of locations throughout the cemetery--including
on the along a gravel road "side by side with approximately several
dozen other headstones."

All of the suits filed describe the
"disrepair" at the cemetery, including plywood caskets dug up and out
in the open in no particular order. The Liace suit states the caskets
"emitted a foul odor and showed signs that animals had disturbed them.
Body bags could be seen protruding from the inside of some broken
caskets."

Each of the five families accuse the cemetery of
intentionally inflicting emotional distress upon them, interfering with
their right to possess, preserve and make appropriate disposition of
their descendants remains, breaching their contract and violating the
Illinois Burial of Dead Bodies Act.

In some cases, the
cemetery didn't bother to let the families of the deceased know when
their loves ones were buried and when asked to locate the grave site
family members were directed to a large dirt mound, the suit said.

(Source:
Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights
Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.)

to everyone  i know and  to those i don't  marry x -mas  and happy new year  may it  beall you hope for and so much more

shadow

this is ut and pasted but i like it

 

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters when compared to what lies within us."

Each and everyone of us possess the ability to communicate with spirit. 

The depth and clarity of our communication is a different matter.  There is an age-old saying, " what you put in is what you get out", and there is nothing more true than that when discussing mediumship.  To communicate effectively requires more than just the wish to do so; it requires the intent to do whatever it takes to develop your ability.  This usually begins with intense reading, study, practice and dialogue with others of like mind.  Even those that were born with the ability to see spirit and talk with them had to go through a period of understanding what they were experiencing and how to best use it.

The very first step to developing your own abilities is to decide why you want to contact spirit? If you do so out of a sincere longing to be of service to others, or to just communicate with a loved one that has passed over, you should be in fine shape.  A word of warning; " Like attracts like."  If you wish to use this ability solely for the purpose of gaining notoriety, possessing an awesome power, or using it in any way that would cause harm to others, you will be sadly disappointed with the information you receive.  Those of low intent contact lower entities.  Period. Spirit communication is not a game.  It is not a means to quickly make money with very little effort nor is it a means to acquire power.  What it is remains constant--- it is a service extended with the purest of intentions and with the full cooperation of the spirit world.  We draw to us those types of spirit that most identify with our own beacons of light.  Please make your light of the purest and highest intent.

The second step is to decide what your basic belief system is.  This does not mean you must be of any particular religious background.  It does require you to examine how you believe and why you believe that way.  Ask yourself again " Why do I want to become a Medium?"  Examine how you feel about life after death, what you have read or learned about the other side.  Examine your own spiritual beliefs, write them down if necessary.  In order to know how to communicate you must first know yourself.

The third step is to understand what spirit communication is and what takes place.  Each and every person will experience different ways of receiving communication.  Some of the most common ways are as follows:

Clairaudience
The ability to hear spirit as if they were standing next to you whispering in your ear.  It is an audible voice different from your own and can be quite startling.  Another aspect of clairaudience is when the words seem to come from inside your head.  With practice you will soon learn to discern whether they are your thoughts or those of spirit.





Clairvoyance
The ability to see spirit as if they were right there in the room and you could reach out and touch them.  Another aspect of seeing spirit is a flash of an image in what is termed your minds eye.  I have experienced spirit as small, distant, perfectly clear images, as well as seeing only parts of the physical body.





Clairsentience
The ability to sense the presence of spirit, while not quite seeing them as a three dimensional being or hearing a voice different than your own. This is a common occurrence for me and I express the communication as " I feel".  The medium will often experience the pain or feeling of the persons passing.  It can be a small sharp pain or a feeling of suffocation, drowning etc..  However, it should not be very uncomfortable or long lasting.  The medium using clairsentience will "feel" the emotions of the spirit.  For example, a person who is afraid at the time of their passing would cause a feeling of fear.  The most common feeling is that of overpowering love, although every range of emotion imaginable is apt to be experienced during a communication.  It is important to remember that you are always in control and can actually determine how much you wish to feel.

Preparing for Communication

Before even learning how to open to the spirit space you must learn how to protect yourself while doing so.  As said before, "like attracts like", and in most cases if you are a very spiritual person not inclined to play with mediumship as a "lets see if I can do it" experience, you should not have any problems. 

 We must always remember that once we have lit the flame of our candles we cast light into all the dimensions.  It is always a good idea to learn how to shield yourself from unwelcome energies.  Often a person you are attempting to help will draw lower forms of spirit to them and you being the medium will have to deal with it.  It is very simple to protect yourself.  Imagine a shield of white light completely surrounding your body; accept and acknowledge this light as your protective shield against all harmful energies.  You do not physically have to feel or see this light, just imagine it in your minds eye.  If you are of a religious background you may wish to say a prayer before attempting contact.  When I feel uneasy about an upcoming session I always use the Lords Prayer.  You may have a favorite prayer, saying or something else that you like to use for strength. 

It is important to say that you may not need either form of protection, but prevention is always better than dealing with the aftermath of not using it.

Meditation

Bet you were hoping I would forget to mention this.  Most of the people I talk to that wish to be mediums do not meditate.  There are many misconceptions about meditation and I won't go into all of them here, but the idea that you must meditate in some particular position and do it for hours a day is just not true.  You do need to develop a ritual of trying to meditate once a day, every day.  This is a discipline that helps you to clear the mind to easily receive communication not only from spirit but from your own guidance as well.  It is as simple as sitting down in a comfortable position, blocking out the everyday sounds and trying to get your mind to stop racing.  You must learn to experience the silence or you will never get past your own mind to experience the spirit. 

You can find more details on our page for Meditation.  There are several good books on the subject, as well as at least a thousand sites on the Internet to help you.  Look at our links page for a few of them.

Initiating some type of protection and learning to listen to the silence of the mind are the two main prerequisites for spirit communication.  Take the time right now to learn how to do both.

Well  first off good Tuesday
to you all of you.

   I have some
advice  for  the new people out there ,I’m not trying to
be  big head here it just a heads up , so
please don’t take this the wrong way.

 

    Today I have been approached
by  a newbie with a evp  of  footstep
walking towards him. He was very  excited
about this and he posted this  all over
the place , Now I didn’t question if this happened or not  . I don’t this young person that well but I tried
to explain this to him that he has open himself to  some hard questions that are not going to be
nice.

  I have been
attack  for   my theory’s and just who I am  by many out there.

   So here it
goes  evp 
is so easy t fake  . I mean  footsteps coming closer to you with out any
other evidence is great for you but it can be so easily to be fakes it not even
funny  . so I’m trying to save you
all  the bull that you would have to go
through .

 

     My group  got a great evp  . we were 
in a racket ball court talk abut dark and quit,  it’s a perfect place to see what some of your
newbis  are going to act  they need patience and  not to freak out , well we did a bit of
evp  and when I went back to listen you
never know  I have a ball bouncing not
just on m recorder but on few others   as
well  . we also hade three people touched
. but no  pics nothing on video we were
shotting in to the room about 15 to 12 feet away no audio on the tape. So I wont
post it . can’t confirmer it.

 I have shared it  with everyone that was with me  and a few friends that have been investigating
with me for a long time. But other than that I wont post it  . not even on my web sight  to many possibility’s. And no way to confirmer
it beside the recording.

  So to save you all
from being attack ting long and hard before you post some of the evp you do
get  of noises like foot step ot  a  . It
just a kind word of advice    for all
of you . have a great week

shadow     

Serial Killer Belle Gunness




LaPorte County Times News Paper

Researchers plan to extract Indiana murderess's DNA from old letters FOREST PARK, Ill. - They dug up Belle Gunness the other day.
Or did they?
Was the headless skeleton exhumed from the unmarked grave in Forest Home Cemetery the remains of the notorious 'Lady Bluebeard,' who lured perhaps dozens of men to her northwest Indiana farm, took their money, then killed and dismembered them?
Or was it what many historians and amateurs have claimed all along - the remains of a woman Belle beheaded and planted as herself before her farmhouse was torched because she feared her crimes were about to be discovered?
DNA testing in the next few months should solve this century-old mystery about the woman who started her curious career in the 1890s in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's west side, where buildings seemed to catch fire and yield insurance payouts and where two of her children died from symptoms later indicating poisoning. In her wake she also left two husbands - Mads Sorensen in Chicago and Peter Gunness in LaPorte - who both died under suspicious circumstances, and at least three children who probably died at her hand.
But it was her butchery at the farm on the edge of LaPorte, where perhaps more than 40 people disappeared in pieces into the ground, that made her notorious nationwide.
'I really think that, given her history and how prolific she was as a killer, answering the question of whether she did or did not die in that fire is an appropriate historical question,' said Andrea Simmons, who is among the modern researchers who think Belle did not die in the fire on April 28, 1908, at her farmhouse.
Simmons, 47, is a LaPorte native and master's degree student on a team of forensic anthropology graduate students from the University of Indianapolis that exhumed the body in the cemetery on a blustery Nov. 5. Onlookers included Suzanne McKay, 63, of Portland, Ore., a great-granddaughter of Nellie Larson, Belle's older sister who lived in Chicago.
An excited Bob Cutler Jr. of Cutler Funeral Home in LaPorte was there, too. On June 18, 1908, his great-grandfather and great-great-uncle shipped to Forest Home Cemetery four zinc-lined caskets containing Belle and her three children, who were found dead in the cellar with her after the fire.
Many LaPorte residents have been weaned on the story of Belle Gunness, and Cutler was feeling the excitement of this new chapter in its history as he arrived at the cemetery. He brought with him a picture of the four caskets lying next to a carriage with two white horses, as the caskets were about to be shipped from the train station in LaPorte to Chicago. He also had in hand documentation from his funeral home of the purchase and shipment of the caskets.
'It's like a lore, a legend,' Cutler said. 'For generations of LaPorteans it's gone on and on. Now we're going to find out. And if it's her, then it doesn't end,' he said, noting that if DNA shows the remains are actually Belle's, that still wouldn't explain what happened to her head, nor who removed it.
Simmons has been working feverishly to wrap up her thesis and answer the mystery of whether Belle staged her own 'murder' by the 100th anniversary in early May of the discovery of the Norwegian-born woman's crimes. Her current studies fulfill a lifelong ambition for a woman who until now spent her time in courtrooms as a lawyer specializing in wrongful death and personal injury cases.
Headed by professor Stephen Nawrocki, a board-certified forensic anthropologist, the university team mostly works modern-day Indiana crimes in which bodies are too decomposed for autopsies.
On this day, Nawrocki, Simmons and three young female graduate students brought their van loaded with plastic buckets and dustpans, small trowels, paintbrushes and other items of the scientific digger's craft. After a backhoe dug a few feet, Nawrocki carefully scraped around with a shovel and poked with a long metal pole, establishing the depth of the dirt to the remains and the outlines of the casket, or what was left of it.
From midmorning on, the five team members took turns jumping in and out of the grave to do painstaking scraping and dusting. They handed up buckets of dirt and shook and sifted it through a screen. They called out the types of bones they were finding, then put them in envelopes.
Nawrocki, wearing a hat with flaps, was pleased with the dryness of the grave and condition of the soil. 'We could not ask for a better situation,' he said.
All that was left of the wooden coffin, and perhaps the wooden crate it was shipped in, were many small pieces of wood. As the team scraped and brushed, the outlines of the skeleton emerged, with the bones seemingly embedded in the zinc lining that apparently had fallen on the remains over many years.
The long leg bones, a shoulder bone and the rib cage were among the features that were clear. The team found what it thought were obvious signs of burning of bone and what appeared to be charred flesh, although there was little flesh left. The flesh looked more like dirt.
If the skeleton, as expected, is not Belle's, the next step for researchers could be pursuing the remains of Esther Carlson for DNA.
In 1931, Carlson, who would have been about Belle's age if the latter was still living, died while awaiting trial in the Los Angeles area for the murder of a wealthy man she and an accomplice allegedly poisoned. Carlson's MO seemed like Belle's, and two former LaPorte residents who knew Belle in LaPorte and saw Carlson's body in the morgue said the two were the same woman. The alleged accomplice was acquitted of murder.

The Legend of Belle
Article taken from the Legends of Belle Gunness
In the early morning hours of April 28, 1908, a farm house on the outskirts of La Porte, Indiana burned to the ground. The home, located on McClung Rd., belonged to Belle Gunness who had lived in La Porte since 1901. Later that day, while workers sifted through the ruins, four bodies were discovered — one adult female and three young children. At first these bodies were believed to be those of Belle Gunness and her three children Myrtle (age 11), Lucy (age 9), and Phillip (age 5). It was soon noted, however, that the family's piano, which had been located in the parlor on the first floor of the home, had been discovered on top of the bodies. This would have been impossible had the victims been in bed, on the second floor, at the time of the fire which occurred at approximately 4 a.m. It quickly became evident that the four victims had been killed and their bodies placed in the basement before the fire, which had probably been set to cover up the crime.
The county sheriff, Albert Smutzer, began investigating the fire. The day before the fire Mrs. Gunness had been into town to see her lawyer. She had asked him to make out a will leaving everything she owned first to her children and then to an orphanage in Chicago. At the time of the meeting she is quoted as telling her lawyer, M.E. Leliter, that she was deathly afraid of her ex-handyman, Ray Lamphere. Specifically she was quoted as saying "I'm afraid he's going to kill me and burn the house." Upon learning of this statement, Sheriff Smutzer picked up Ray Lamphere for questioning.
Lamphere's first reaction was to deny any knowledge of the fire and he wanted to know if "Bell and the kids" had gotten out. The sheriff, however, also had an eyewitness who claimed to have seen Lamphere fleeing the scene of the fire. Lamphere was charged with four counts of murder and arson.
A new and bizarre twist was added to the story when, on May 2, a man by the name of Asle Helgelein showed up in La Porte looking for his brother Andrew. Andrew had come to La Porte to visit and, he hoped, marry Bell. He had answered a lovelorn advertisement which had been placed in a Norwegian newspaper by Bell. They had corresponded for several months and Bell had invited Andrew to come and visit. Andrew had sold his property, liquidated his assets and had come to La Porte with approximately $3000. After not hearing from his brother for several months, Asle contacted Bell about the whereabouts of his brother and was told that Andrew had left La Porte and gone to Norway. Not believing this story, Asle came to La Porte to talk to Bell personally. He contacted Sheriff Smutzer on May 4, explained the situation and his suspicions that Andrew might have met with foul play. He asked the sheriff for permission to search the Gunness farm and possibly do some digging.
There are two different stories about how the sheriff reacted to Asle's request. The first is that the sheriff refused to give him permission and Asle searched the farm anyway. The second is that Asle's accusations aroused the sheriff's suspicions and he gave his permission. Either way, the search began. Joe Maxson, Belle' hired hand at the time of the fire, pointed out a likely place for the men to start digging for bodies. On May 5, four feet below ground level, the first body was discovered. Unfortunately for Asle, it was his brother. Twelve bodies and several miscellaneous body parts were eventually discovered.
Questions began to arise about the identity of the adult body discovered in the fire ruins. If Bell had killed all those people, could she have set the fire to cover her escape from La Porte? The adult body discovered in the fire was missing its head. With no head there would be no chance of checking Belle' dental records to identify the body. Also, the body appeared to be too small to be Bell. Bell was a large woman, approximately 5' 9" tall and weighing in at between 210 and 225 pounds. The body discovered in the fire was approximately 5' 3" tall and the remains, minus one foot and the head, weighed approximately 75 pounds. Several prominent doctors felt that the remains of the body would have been too small to be that of Bell.
Dr. Ira P. Norton, Belle' dentist, said that if the teeth and dental work of the corpse could be located he would be able to tell if it was Belle'. Sheriff Smutzer decided to sift through the ruins again in an attempt to locate the head. Louis "Klondike" Schultz, a former miner, was hired to build a sluice and began sifting the debris. On May 19 a piece of bridgework was found consisting of two human teeth, porcelain teeth and gold crown work in between. Dr. Norton identified them as work he did for Bell. Based on this evidence, the coroner's inquest found that the adult female body discovered in the fire ruins was that of Belle Gunness.
Ray Lamphere was brought to trial in November of 1908. Although the coroner's inquest had declared the body found in the fire to be that of BelleGunness, the main defense was that the body was not Belle'. If this were the case, then Lamphere could not be guilty of murdering her. Lamphere's lawyer, Wirt Worden, brought forward evidence that contradicted Dr. Norton's identification of the teeth and bridgework. A local jeweler testified that while the gold in the bridgework had come through the fire almost completely unscathed, the gold plating on several pieces of gold jewelry and watches was melted away.
In a rather spectacular experiment, two local doctors produced a human jaw bone, attached a similar piece of bridgework to it, placed it in a blacksmith's forge and burned it until the bone could easily be crushed. Remember, the head was never found, just the teeth and bridgework. The results of the experiment??? The teeth, being bone, crumbled, the porcelain bridgework was pitted and checked and the gold crowns were "somewhat melted". The condition of the original bridgework, discovered in the fire, was much better. The defense also produced Belle' hired hand, Joe Maxson, who testified that he had seen the person in charge of the sluicing, Klondike Schultz, pull the bridgework out of his pocket shortly before its "discovery" This testimony was corroborated by another witness, who saw much the same thing.
On November 26, 1908 the jury found Ray Lamphere guilty on the charge of arson and sentenced him to 2 to 21 years at the State Prison in Michigan City. On the charges of murder, however, he was acquitted. At this point, Belle's background might shed further light on the case. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 22, 1859 in the small village of Selbu, Norway to Paul Pedersen Storset and Berit Olsdatter. The family was extremely poor and at an early age Brynhild hired out to surrounding farmers to work as a cattle girl/dairy maid. Not much is known of Brynhild's early life. Sometime after 1881 she immigrated to the United States to live with her sister Nellie Larson in Chicago. It was at this time that she Americanized her name to Belle. Belle was soon employed as a house servant. It probably didn't take Bell long to discover that the streets were not paved with gold and that there wasn't money to be made around every corner. Her work as a servant would have been grueling. The work was hard, the hours long, the pay not very good and, of course, there were no other benefits such as vacation, sick leave, insurance, etc. Most immigrants at this time worked hard and hoped for better for their children. Not Bell. She saw the lifestyle of her employers and wanted it. As her sister was to say later, "Bell was crazy for money. It was her great weakness."
In 1884, she married a man by the name of Max "Mads" Sorenson, a department store detective. He later got a job working for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad for $12- 15 per week - hardly enough to keep Bell in the lifestyle she wanted. In 1896 Bell and Mads opened a confectioner's shop in downtown Chicago. It was not a very successful enterprise and within a year the building the business was in burned down. Bell told the insurance investigators that a kerosene lamp had exploded and set the fire. Despite the fact that no lamp was ever found in the ruins, insurance money was paid. It was probably with this money that the Sorensons bought their first home in the suburb of Austin. This home was also destroyed by fire in 1898. Insurance was collected once again and another home was purchased.
Bell and Mads had four children, Caroline, Axel, Myrtle and Lucy. Caroline and Axel died in infancy. They were said to have died of acute colitis. The symptoms of acute colitis, nausea, fever, diarrhea, lower abdomen pain and cramping are also symptoms of poisoning. Both were insured and the insurance paid off. Caroline died in 1896 and Axel in 1898, the same years as the fires.
It seems that Bell had discovered her own way of making the American dream come true. Nellie, Belle' sister, had said that Bell was crazy for money. After the 1908 fire which supposedly killed Bell, Nellie told reporters that Bell had lots of money and property but she had no idea where Bell had gotten all her money.
Mads died on July 30, 1900. This happened to be the only day that two life insurance policies on him overlapped. Mads' symptoms were those of strychnine poisoning, as diagnosed by the first doctor to see him, but since the Sorenson's family doctor had been treating him for an enlarged heart, no autopsy was deemed necessary. Bell had even told the doctor that she had been giving him "powders" because he had not been feeling well. The insurance companies awarded her $8500, a large sum of money in those days. It was with this money that she bought the farm on the outskirts of La Porte. She moved in with her two young daughters and a young ward, Jennie Olsen.
The house itself had a colorful history. It was built in 1846 by one of the original founders of La Porte, John Walker, for his daughter Harriet Holcomb. The Holcombs moved to New York in 1864 because they were Southern sympathizers. La Porte was a pro-Union town during the American Civil War and the Holcomb family was not well liked. Twenty-eight years and six owners later, Mattie Altic, a madam from Chicago, bought the property in 1892. She built a fancy carriage house and boat pavilion. Most of her clientele came in from Chicago. When Mattie died, the house again went up for sale. Eight years and another four owners later it came into Belle' possession. Shortly after Bell bought the property both the carriage house and the boat pavilion burned down. One wonders if they were insured.
Bell married a man by the name of Peter Gunness on April 1, 1902. One week after the marriage, Peter's infant daughter died while alone in the house with Bell. Peter lasted less that a year with Bell. He died in December of 1902. Bell told the coroner at the inquest that an auger from a sausage grinder fell from a shelf and struck Peter on the head. One of Belle' young daughters, however, was said to have told a friend that "Momma brained Papa with a meat cleaver." This aside, authorities ruled Peter's death accidental and Bell collected $3000 insurance. Phillip, Belle' last child, was born in the spring of 1903. She continued to run the farm with a succession of hired farm hands. Lamphere was hired for this position in 1906.
After Peter's death, Bell began placing lovelorn ads in Scandinavian newspapers around the country looking for a husband. Her ads would read something like this
"WANTED — A woman who owns a beautifully located and valuable farm in first class condition, wants a good and reliable man as partner in the same. Some little cash is required for which will be furnished first-class security."
Neighbors recall seeing several middle-aged male visitors come to visit but never leave. When questioned Bell would reply that the man had to leave unexpectedly and late at night. It seems that Bell would strike up a correspondence with the men who answered her ads, eventually pledging her undying love, begging them to sell all they had and come to marry her. One of her last letters to Andrew Helgelein said this, "But, my dear, do not say anything about coming here... Now sell all that you can get cash for, and if you have much left you can easily bring it with you as we will soon sell it here and get a good price for everything. Leave neither money or stock up there but make yourself practically free from Dakota." Many of her corespondents appear to have done just that.
Belle' young ward, Jennie Olsen disappeared in late 1906. When friends asked after her, they were told that she had been sent to a Lutheran College in California. Her body was the second one discovered during the digging. Perhaps she had discovered Belle' activities and threatened to talk. It also appears that about this time Bell had begun getting inquiries about her missing suitors.
Ray Lamphere, Belle' hired hand (and perhaps lover), was fired. He seems to have been madly in love with Bell and was probably very jealous of the many male visitors she received. He began making scenes. Bell went to the courthouse and declared that Lamphere was "not in his right mind" and requested that authorities hold a sanity hearing. He was declared sane and sent on his way. He was arrested a few days later for trespassing on the Gunness property. Lamphere began making thinly veiled threats and wouldn't leave Belle alone. It appears to have gotten so bad that Bell told her lawyer the day before the fire that she was afraid of him, hence his arrest.
It seems apparent that Belle had discovered ways to make large amounts of money fairly easily but could she have been responsible for the deaths of her three children and the fire that destroyed her home?? There were two people that were believed to be able to answer that question. One of them was a woman named Elizabeth "Liz" Smith and the other was Ray Lamphere.
Liz was probably Belle's closest friend in La Porte. She came to the area shortly after the end of the Civil War and is believed to have been a mistress to several prominent La Porteans and, rumor has it, had a daughter by a local attorney. She and Bell often exchanged visits. Wirt Worden, Ray Lamphere's lawyer, believed Liz knew more about the murders than she was telling. Liz promised Worden that she would tell him the whole story before she died. Unfortunately, Worden was on a trip out west when Liz became ill and she died before he got back to La Porte. Her secrets, if there were any, died with her.
Lamphere, on the other hand, gave a detailed deathbed confession before he passed away on December 30, 1909 of tuberculosis. He insisted that Belle Gunness was not dead. He claimed to have assisted in her escape the night of the fire by taking her to Stillwell, a small town about nine miles east of La Porte, where she caught a train to Chicago. He then returned to the farm and set the house on fire to cover her escape. The headless body in the fire, according to Lamphere, was a woman from Chicago whom Bell had hired just a few days earlier to be her housekeeper. According to Lamphere, Bell had killed the housekeeper and the three children. She then planted the bodies in the house to make it look as if it were an accidental fire which killed them.
Lamphere admitted to helping Bell bury and otherwise get rid of her victims but denied that he was involved in the extortion or murders. Belle' modus operandi was to get her victims to La Porte and make them feel comfortable. They would visit the bank, store or wherever she might have needed to pay bills and then go home. Bell would then poison her victims and then often hit them over the head with a meat cleaver, just to be sure they were dead. The bodies would then be dismembered, covered with lye to help them decompose and disposed of, often buried in the chicken yard or hog pen.
There have been two different scenarios for the events which have been mentioned so far. The first is that Belle Gunness and her children were the victims of the fire and were murdered by Lamphere in a jealous rage. The second is that Bell murdered her three children and an unknown woman and had Ray set the fire while she escaped.
There is a third, lesser known, possibility. It is possible that Bell had accomplices in La Porte, other than Ray Lamphere. These other accomplices, perhaps highly placed, could have helped Bell cover up her crimes, which might explain why she was able to get away with her activities for so long. When the inquires about her victims became more persistent, Bell and her accomplices might have decided to cut their losses and planned the fire to get Bell out of town. Instead of Bell escaping, however, it is possible that her partners decided to kill Bell as well, to get rid of her so she wouldn't be able to name them if she were caught. Ray claimed that there was at least one other accomplice but wouldn't give his/her name. Perhaps someone other than Bell got away with all the money.
There were many "Bell" sighting in the twenty or so years after the fire, actually starting before it was thought that she might not have died in the fire. Train workers claim to have seen her board trains going to Chicago on April 29 and on May 8, a woman who fit Belle' description was pulled off a train and detained until her identity was proven. Most of these "sightings" have been investigated and discounted. There is one sighting, however, that seems more likely than the rest to be Bell, if she did indeed escape the fire. In 1931, in Los Angeles, a woman going by the name of Esther Carlson, was arrested for the murder of a man she was caring for, August Lindstrom, for his $2000 bank account. Mrs. Carlson died in prison before her trial and before her identity could be proven. Two former La Porteans, who had moved to California, viewed the body in the morgue and came away convinced that they had just seen the body of Belle Gunness.
Did Belle Gunness die in the early morning hours of April 28, 1908 in the fire which destroyed her home and killed her three young children or did she live another 23 years, continuing to kill only to die in a prison in Los Angeles or did she truly get away with her crimes and never get caught???? It will probably never be known what really happened to Belle Gunness and so it is up to you to decide for yourself what happened that night so long ago.


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