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A Real Ghost Hunt at
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Are you going to join the Pennsylvania Paranormal Investigators on their annual Ghost Hunt at the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum?
Do you believe in ghosts? Are Pennsylvania ghosts fact or fiction? Here is your chance to find out for yourself!
The "Ghost Research Foundation" has been busy investigating various haunted locations through Pennsylvania. Every once in awhile they offer guided ghost tours to the public. The Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum is one of the places they offer these tours.
You have no excuse, take that first step out of your safe little world and discover a world that's both mysterious and fascinating. Subscribe to my newsletter {Things To Do in Pennsylvania}and you'll be one of the first to know when and where the next ghost hunt will be.
Warning Ghost hunting is addictive!
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Share Your Pennsylvania Ghostly Tale or Read What other Visitors Wrote
Join Pennsylvania Ghosthunters
The Ghost Research Foundation
Are ghosts real? I enjoyed a haunting education one evening at the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum's Annual Pennsylvania Ghost Hunt. It's an annual event and held several times a year. Anybody that has doubts about ghosts or haunted attractions through Pennsylvania should attend this event.
Are energy orbs really energy from ghosts? You be the judge. I have the pictures and I'll tell you the facts.
Does anybody really know what a real ghost is? According to Ghost Research Foundation, No. But they have documented proof that they do exists!
I know many people that have been frightened by real ghosts, including my family, we have lived in several haunted houses in Pennsylvania.
The Ghost Research Foundation was offering the public a chance to join them on one of their guided ghost tours at the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum, in celebration of Halloween a few year ago. So I decided to attend one and experience this rare event. After all, I had the opportunity to spend the night in a haunted museum! Of course, just like in the movies, it turned out to be a dark and rainy night.
We were encouraged to bring our own equipment. I brought a flashlight, a digital camera, and a tape recorder. As suggested in the brochure I also brought extra batteries.
The picture below is one of the pictures I took at the ghost hunt, as you can see, there was a huge ghostly orb sitting on the a piece of furniture in the dark hall.
The Pennsylvania Ghost Hunters equipment was much more advanced than anything I had. They often use, video cameras, tape recorders, compass, non-contact thermometer, electromagnetic field detector, Geiger counter, radiological survey meter, digital camera, and 35mm camera, and plenty of batteries.
The Ghost Research Foundation introduced themselves, as we gathered in the conference room of the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum. Scott Crownover and Patty Wilson (a well known author of many books about PA Hauntings) lead the paranormal investigators group.
We were warned before the ghost tour started that we may experience an uneventful night, or it may be an extremely active night. You just never know what to expect on a ghost hunt.
About 35 people bought tickets for the Altoona Railroad Museum Ghost Hunt. We were divided into groups of eight. Each group had their own guide. We were then instructed to meet back at the conference room at the end of the evening for debriefing.
My group was to go to the 4th floor. That is the office area, and it's rarely opened to the public. This area is known to be the most active area as far as ghost sightings and unexplained sounds.
Needless to say, I wasn't feeling as brave as when I bought the tickets.
YOU CAN FIND A LINK TO THE ALTOONA RAILROADERS MEMORIAL MUSEUM WEBSITE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
What Are Ghostly Orbs?
This picture is the digital picture I took while in the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum Ghost Hunt Conference Room.
If you look closely you will see several ghostly orbs. The conference room was full of ghostly orbs, some were floating, others were resting on the ceiling, walls and seats.
What is an ghostly energy orb? I certainly had no idea before I attended the Pennsylvania Ghost Hunt.
We are all creatures of energy. Every living thing, people, plants, animals, all have energy fields. This has been proven over and over by science. The naked eye can't see an energy orb. Although, the naked eye can see or catch a glimpse of a spirit, or ghost.
The Ghost Research Foundation's Ghosthunters explained, when we die our bodies will eventually start to decay but our energy lives on. It's a matter of choice where you place that energy. Some have no desire to leave their homes, or place of death, or a favorite place they frequented in life. Maybe they just want to stay near family and loved ones. Nobody really knows why these energy fields are in a certain place at a certain time.
A ghostly energy orb is perfectly round and transparent with a waffle-like texture. Some people confuse energy orbs with dust or moisture caught on a digital camera, when you look close you can tell the difference.
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4 Floors of Ghosts
In Every Nook and Cranny
The first place our guide took us was into the office conference room on the 4th floor. He turned on his tape recorder at the Altoona Railroad Museum Pennsylvania ghost hunt and asked if Big Boss was there. He explained, he had talked to a spirit at an earlier date and the ghostly spirit called himself, Big Boss.
We were instructed to ask questions but strangely, my tape recorders batteries kept going dead, and so did our guides. I just put new batteries in all my equipment before leaving home. My camera batteries also seemed weak. Our guide explained this is common when there are spirits nearby. They draw on energy fields and drain batteries.
Our guide introduced us to the children's play area on the 3rd floor at the Altoona Railroad Museum. He explained he couldn't stay in there with us because he has had many disturbing encounters there.
The children's area was once the Pennsylvania Railroad Infirmary. This is where many Railroaders went when scolded by the steam.
In this area our batteries kept draining and everybody felt a strange vibration over one table that couldn't be explained. It felt creepy and I wondered why they would make this area for children to play in.
This was also the area that the Ghost Research Foundation picked up children laughing on their tap recorder after the museum was closed.
Our guide was more than ready to go to the second floor where Kelly's bar is located. Below is a picture I took over a case of empty beer bottles. It looked to me like our ghostly railroader was sucking on the beer fumes!
Kelly's bar is a replica of the original Kelly's bar, located in Altoona. Many railroaders stopped in to chug a few beers down after a long day working on the Pennsylvania Railroad.
I noticed our guide taking out his pack of cigarette and tearing off the filter and laying it on the bar. He explained he does that each time he visits Kelly's Bar. He was told they only smoked Camel cigarettes, so that was why he ripped the filters off. He went on to explain, when he comes back to the bar later the cigarette is either moved or gone, and you can always smell smoke.
Later, during the debriefing, the second group that followed us into the bar exclaimed how they couldn't get over the smell of cigarette smoke in the bar. Especially since there is absolutely no smoking allowed in the entire museum.
Pennsylvania Ghost Hunt Debriefing
Once again we gathered into the conference room on the first floor for the debriefing. The Ghost Research Foundation went around the room and heard stories from each group.
This is where I heard the stories of the group after us smelling cigarette smoke in Kelly's bar. They had no idea our guide left a cigarette behind.
The Ghost Hunters listened and told us of the many stories of sighting, pictures and sounds they have captured at various Ghost Hunts in the museum. We listened to several different recordings of ghostly sounds they have documented.
One in particular was painful to listen to. The Ghost Hunter asked, "How did you die?" The answer was unmistakable. "Steam, steam burn, Lord it was painful."
Read the testimonies of many employees and more proof of ghost sightings at the Altoona Railroad Museum.
There are many fascinating stories from around the Allegheny Mountains, and more pictures. Follow the link back to Haunted PA and read more stories from our area.
Visit the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum Website
Return from Pennsylvania Ghost Hunt to Haunted PA
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