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The mausoleum was built in 1923. It is a large white building with stained glass windows. This place has never disappointed the G.I.S. members whenever we have conducted the many investigations there. The proprietor of the mausoleum has had ghost experiences himself, along with several of his staff, which is probably why he allows us to investigate the cemetery grounds and the mausoleum building on a fairly regular basis.
One of the stories that he related to us concerns two of his staff members. The two gentlemen were preparing a body for a funeral. Across the room where they were, a fly-swatter hung on the wall. One of the morticians noticed that the fly-swatter began to swing like a clock pendulum where it hung, and he mentioned it to the other man working with him. They both witnessed this for several seconds, when to both of their amazement, it swung in a complete circle, still attached to the little nail in the wall. The one gentleman ordered "Stop it!", which it immediately did.
Another story that he told us concerned a secretary that used to work for him. One day in the summer, he was talking with her in the parking lot of the cemetery grounds. She had brought her small daughter with her, who was approximately 4 years old, and the little girl was playing on the lawn of the cemetery as they stood there and talked. After a while, they heard the child laughing, and they noticed she was running and looking back over her shoulder, as if she was being chased by an unseen playmate. Over about a 15 minute period, the proprietor and the mother watched the child continue talking, running and laughing. The child's actions seemed to make the mother nervous or apprehensive and she excused herself to her boss and called the child over to her, asking the child, "What are you doing, honey?" The child responded, by saying "I'm just playing with all those kids", and pointed over to where she had been. There were no other children there that could be seen, of course, but it is a section where many children are buried.
When the proprietor was a young boy of about 11 years old, the first experience he can remember having took place inside of the funeral home, which is there on the premises, and about 100 feet from the mausoleum. He told us he was following behind his father and a man who worked for his father. As the two older men proceeded up a short flight of stairs which leads to a chapel room where funerals services are conducted, he followed behind them up the stairs. As he took a step onto the landing, he suddenly felt someone give him a hard push from behind, making him fall into his father. His father turned around and caught him from falling. He said he thought it was one of his brothers joking around, and angrily turned around to reprimand him but to his surprise, no one was there! He said that he stammered to his father that someone had pushed him. This experience scared him instantly. Sitting down on one of the pews to gain his composure, his father quickly picked up on his sons' fear, and sat down next to him. He said his father told him that sometimes things like this happens here, and that he himself had unexplainable experiences many times, but it was something he had learned to ignore over the years...it was just part of the job.
While we were in the mausoleum, we were sitting very quiet, listening for any little sound. We had not turned on any lights inside so it was extremely dark. The high ceilings of the room and the marble walls made any sound echo, so we were all trying to be very still and quiet. It was quite an intimidating place to be in, and we all stayed close together, as it was the first time any of us had been inside of a mausoleum. As we were sitting there in the dark, we began to hear low deep voices talking. They were not clear voices, and we could not make out any words, but it was the definite sounds of two men talking to each other. The voices sounded almost like low mumbling, and it sounded like it was coming from everywhere yet nowhere. Several members got up, and walked around, trying to find the source of the voices, but the voices ceased shortly after. It was really quite creepy to be in this place for the first time. Now, it's very familiar to us, and many of us will wonder away from the others in the dark, and not think anything about it.
We progressed on with our investigation to the cemetery grounds outside. We had to drive from the mausoleum to the oldest section of the cemetery that we wanted to investigate. The road in this older section is very narrow - room for only one car going in one direction - and it is lined with large trees on both sides of the road. It was extremely cold and after midnight. Now that we look back on it, none of us can figure out why we stayed so long out there. We had been out there taking pictures and recording EVP for about 2 hours! A few of the members had gone to their cars, which were parked close by, to get warm. We decided to wrap up the investigation and go get some nice hot coffee. About four of the die-hards of the group were standing on the road and one of them said she would go check with the few already in their cars to see if they wanted to meet for coffee at a all night restaurant. As she walked away from the die- hards and was approaching the first parked car, which was only 10 to 15 feet away from the group she had just left, out of the shadows walked a man towards her and the group. He was wearing a military parka. She could not see his face in the dark, and mistakenly thought it was Lee, one of the members who had gone to his car to get warm. Thinking he must have retrieved this nice warm coat, she wondered why in the heck it had taken Lee so long to go and put it on! As he passed by her, he pleasantly said "Hello" and she jokingly mimicked him and said "Hello" back. She realized the man in the parka was not who she thought it was as she passed by the side of the car, and saw Lee flash his flashlight at her from inside the car! He was laying on the back seat, covered with his thin leather jacket he had been wearing earlier. Later, on inquiring the members while we were having our nice hot coffee that night, she asked if any of them had seen that man pass by them that was wearing the parka, but no one had. We were all kind of puzzled by this, because the man in the parka was walking towards the group not more than 10 or 15 feet away, and he never passed by them. Upon analysis of his voice that was recorded when he said ‘hello', it registered in the Hz range that is impossible for a human voice to register. Was he a ghost taking a midnight stroll through the cemetery? He looked so solid to the G.I.S. member who saw him, that she still has her doubts that he was a ghost, but the analysis of his voice shows that he definitely was.
THE FLOWER INCIDENT
The member that had picked up the key earlier in the day handed it to the proprietor so that he could unlock the door. As we entered and walked up the short flight of stairs into the large main room, we followed those who had flashlights, leading our way into the dark. We began to take our friends on a tour of the mausoleum, and as we did, we were telling the proprietor of some of the previous experiences we had there. As we proceeded down into the basement, we walked straight ahead from the bottom of the stairs, walking towards the far end to turn right down a main hallway. (This large sprawling building has several corridors, some of which meander through the entire basement, and others come to dead-ends.) As we reached the hallway to turn right, we all stood in awe as the flashlight beams revealed a massive mess of flowers on the floor. Flowers were scattered everywhere, all over the floor, along the entire length of the hallway, which is about 150 feet in length. It looked like a tornado had tore through the hall! The proprietor said in astonishment, "What happened here?", but none of us, of course, could give him an answer. In this hallway, the ceiling is approximately 15 feet high, allowing four body vaults from the floor to the ceiling. These marble vaults are lined on both sides of the hallway, with brass flower containers on each vault. All of the flower containers in this hallway were completely empty of any flowers.
We quickly began to check all of the corridors and hallways of the mausoleum for any intruders and checking other hallways to see if any where in the same condition as the one we had found in such disarray, but there were no intruders, and all of the remaining hallways and corridors where as they should be. Throughout the mausoleum, all of the flowers were neatly in their vases, except for that one stretch of hallway. The proprietor mentioned that he was going to check with his staff the next day, to see who was in there last. With that, one of the G.I.S. members responded that she was glad that he had showed up before we went into the mausoleum.
We called him the next afternoon, and he told us that one of his staff had been down there the previous morning, cleaning in that hallway. (Which was the day of the flower incident). She told him that as she was cleaning, she suddenly felt as if someone was behind her, but she knew no one was there. She then began to get a bad feeling and began to feel very uneasy, so she had quickly left without finishing her duties. But, she told him, nothing was messed up or in disarray when she had left.
The mausoleum is always locked. The door locks automatically on the outside once you enter. Anyone who wants to go into it has to go to the office and request the key, and return the key to the office before leaving. Usually, people who go into the mausoleum are friends or family of someone who is interred there. Not too many people go inside, except for around Memorial Day. The staff told the proprietor no one had requested the key until the G.I.S. member came and picked it up for that night's investigation. Who threw the flowers on the floor?
