A Temporary End to a Permanent Hobby

[phoenixrising79]

My time with C.A.S.P.E.R. investigations is at an end. I enjoy going out, and makeing new friends while hunting ghosts and such, but when group politics interfere with things such as my health and seeing my kids or my wife then it is time to choose, and I said so long to the group. I finally had enough of the last minute planning, shelling out money that I didn't have, canceling investigations last minute, being the last to know and other such things. The drama was getting too much to bear as well.

What finally made my mind up was that the investigation that was planned for last night at the Nehalem Bay Winery, north east of wheeler, Oregon included me but not my wife. It hasn't made any difference before if a member was sick or not, and for some reason last night it did. To make things even more interesting was that they wanted to take both of our cars to do the investigation, but not my wife to drive her car. Is it just me, or is something wrong with that picture?

My wife and I have been wrestleing with moral delimas involving this for sometime as well. The group leader has wanted for some time to take the whole ghost hunting to an extreme, and go to places where actual physical injury has been inflicted through a paranormal medium (aka ghost), there are some things that no matter if you believe in them or not, can and will hurt you if you don't take the right precautions. Most of the stuff that we were dealing with was not for ametures. My wife and I both have been practicing witches for 15 plus years, trust me there are just some things that you don't get into without being prepared. To say "I don't believe in ghosts, there for they cannot hurt me is like an ostrich sticking it's head in the sand, and saying nobody can see me because I can't see them." Ludacris, isn't it?

I cannot in my right mind bring in a bunch of people who are "curious about the paranormal" into a situation where they could get hurt. You wouldn't go into a lions den with out a gun, why would you do something else equally dangerous with out preperation?

Everything came to a head when I told them that my wife and I wanted out of the group, and requested our equipment back. Our equipment consisted of two different sony voice recorders, a software cd, and a data cable which connected the recorders to a computer so that the recordings could be moved from the device to the computer to be saved and analyzed at a later time. I was told that we could have them back when they decided to tell us we could have them. Each recorder was $199.95 a piece, and were purchased by the Dept of Veterans Affairs for my use while in school. So since that was the route they decided to take, I told them that if they weren't returned before the group left on their trip, that I was going to have to report it to the police. They finally agreed to have me go over there to get them back. We spent another hour searching for all of the pieces with the help of Nat (btw thank you Nat for your help) who was innocent of the whole thing. So, we have both recorders back, the cable, and the software cd. We also were able to get our movie back which was loaned as well. granted everything is scratched, dirty, and the cd has stuff on it that I don't know how to get off with out ruining the disk. Does anyone know how to clean a cd without scratching it?

Eventually, Kristin and I are going to be starting up a group of our own. Right now isn't the time, due to time constraints and money. Everything should work itself out in the near future I hope. If anyone is interested in joining, let me know and I will get applications.

<font color="#F8F8FF"><font size="1">[ September 22, 2007 09:18 PM: Message edited by: phoenixrising79 ]</font></font>

<font color="#F8F8FF" size="1">[ September 22, 2007 09:19 PM: Message edited by: phoenixrising79 ]</font>

[Rogue Angel]

the best way i know of to clean a CD other than with a cleaner specifically designed for that purpose is simple... soap and water... [img]wink.gif[/img] i learned that via Netflix when one of my DVD's wouldn't play. Just wet a paper towel, put a little Dawn dish detergent on it, and rub gently.... then take a damp one and wipe it back off again. In all fairness, though, these movies were rented, and had nothing of any importance on them, so i wasn't afraid to try it. If it is something that's really important to you, i'd probably ask someone with a little more expertise on the subject... s*

[BlackMagicRose]

I would like to express C.A.S.P.E.R.'s point of view on the topic. I believe that Daniel and Kristin expected paranormal investigating to be more of a hobby, than as a "second job." He expresses concern about last minute planning and last minute cancelations. First and foremost, last minute cancelations happen due to many reasons. Not enough people to attend due to personal issues, client can't make it, etc. etc. This is beyond our control. I have always tried to let everyone on the team know at least three or four days in advance of an investigation, or at least make the aware that there may be one. Now for example with the winery, I did not get confirmation of the investigation from the client till the day before they wanted us to go. I warned the client we may not be able to make it due to vehicle restrictions. Daniel and Kristin had both told us prior they were opting out of the investigation cause she was sick, and if well enough, they were going to an event for his kids. On the day of the supposed investigation he sent me a text saying they were going to come with us. Well I called and asked him how Kristin was doing he said she was still coughing and sneezing, but she felt that she was up to it. Not only do coughing and sneezing affect audio recording, I did not feel right with having her go while sick cause she could expose all of us to it, could get worse at some point and not be able to investigate, etc etc. This winery is an hour and a half away. These were factors that I did not want to chance. So I said she should stay but he could come.
This was NOT the first time that a decision like this upset them. There was a similar situation in the past where just a couple of us guys were going to go out and check out a local place and we thought it would cool to just try a guy thing. Daniel was ok with the idea, but Kristin was offended and they had threatened to leave after that before. There had been a time or two before that someone that was sick had gone on an investigation and it was not a good experience for anyone. So i figured with an investigation that far away, it would be best time to learn from our mistakes. We never at any point said anything about taking both their cars and not Kristin. I'm not sure where he got that from but that is false. They both DO have very dependable cars, and as long as they were given gas money in the past they had no problem driving.
Now, as far as going to places where people have been hurt there has been NO physical injury of any sorts. Yes we have had investigators drained of their energy, because spirits need energy to "be." As far as going to these locations how the hell are we supposed to know what we're getting ourselves into? Do residents call up a fire department and say.."Yes I was wondering if you guys could come out next thrusday cause we are going to have our furnace blow up and it's going to burn down our entire house?" The whole point of paranormal investigating is to INVESTIGATE. We go to supposed haunted locations, try to prove or disprove these rumors, and if it IS, and is too negative for the location, we seek the help to rid the spirits of the place. Daniel and Kristin had no problems with us doing that when they had 5 spirits in their home, one including a demonic presence. Anyways, you may not go into a lions den without a gun, but you sure as hell already know there are lions in there.
Lastly as far as the recorders go, basically there was a miscommunication issue there. Which Daniel is now aware of. We never said that we were keeping them till we said they could have them back. We were just planning on going to that investigation and didn't want to have to wait around, or be held up by something that could easily be dealt with the next day or so. It's not like either of them didn't know where we work (in the daytime) or where we live.
I wanted to point out these issues cause I didn't feel all the information was accurate, and it felt as a casper bashing. I wanted both sides of the story to be heard.

-Brian Robertson
Founder of C.A.S.P.E.R. Investigations

Posted by C.A.S.P.E.R. on September 22, 2007 - Saturday at 11:40 PM
[Reply to this]


Daniel


Unfortunately, my wife and I had a falling out with one of the members, which by no means was a reflection of the group as a whole. This has caused alot of issues that unfortunately will take time to fix, and most unfortunately alot of feelings were hurt in the process. To those who it indirectly affected, especially brian, I'm sorry.

Certain things were said and words exchanged that I now regret. Sometimes, when two people are mad at one another, they say things that they don't mean.

There seems to have been a massive amount of miscommunication, or lack of communication. I feel that there are lessons to be learned by all of us, and hopefully we can mend anything that needs it so we can move on.

I also thought about what I said about the moral dilemas. Brian has a point, that we have absolutely no idea what we face in the spiritual realm until we come across it. It is true that there are many inexperienced individuals in the group, but maybe the answer isn't banning those people from a group, but allowing them in to gain the experience necessary to be able to be successful. The best way for people to gain this experience in my opinion is with people who are familiar with what is out there, and for those people to try and make the learning enviroment as safe as possible while allowing individuals to learn from their mistakes.

Life is about second chances, and learning from our mistakes. If we fail to learn, we are no longer in touch with our humanity, if we part with that we cease to be.

Posted by Daniel on September 23, 2007 - Sunday at 12:10 AM
[Reply to this]


Kristin Marie~


But you also have the fact that we were told if we came to get our belongings that there would be possible criminal trespassing charges brought against us from John. And the fact was the way it was stated about our belongings was that "you can have them back when we say you can." So that made it look and sound like we were not going to be getting them back any time soon. I personally feel that if it is your (Brian's) group then you should be the one making the decisions instead of always having John weigh in on it and basically blackballing other members. Daniel failed to state that he wasn't going to leave me alone as sick as I was in case something did go wrong here at the house. It also wasn't mentioned that as long as I stayed quiet I was fine. Which the whole point of investigating is having to be quiet for long periods of time and tuning in to what is around you.

Posted by Kristin Marie~ on September 22, 2007 - Saturday at 11:57 PM
[Reply to this]


C.A.S.P.E.R.


this is John as for defense of myself I have been investigating for 5 + yrs now and brian comes to me for information or to deal with issuses he does not have the experience to deal with. Yes we have decided before kristen and daniel left for another member to leave the group deal to "emotional" problerms she was dealing and that were effecting the group as a whole. Now as i have stated to them before this is not a social club sometimes one member of a marriage can not go like my wife and she does not throw "temper tantrums'also we have had issues with kristen talking during investigations. Her being sick was the main motivation of fthe decision we were concerned with audio also for her well being.and they blew everything out of whack my exact words were that we were leaving for the investigation after work and they could pick them up when we called them. I did tell them that if they did not leave promptly after recieving the recorders that tresspassing charges would be brought on them do to "kristen" constantly over reacting and did not want them making a scene at the place where i live. As for their experience in "witchcraft" people who dabble do not only put themselvers at risk but those atround them hence the entitys that we had to remove from their house. Personaly I would not recomend any client to these two they are inexperienced in the field and also their faith they are like children stumbling around a china shop crashing into things and opening others and playing with things that they should not. for the hour you said you took finding your stuff I have nate here and he is saying that there is no way it took an hour so alot of the things your saying are made up and half truths.

Regards

Joh

Posted by C.A.S.P.E.R. on September 24, 2007 - Monday at 12:09 AM
[Reply to this]


Kristin Marie~


Actually it was Betty and your wife talking during the investigations. Funny things is that you dabbvle in everything you state we have as well so wouldn't it be more like you guys crashing around like kids in a china shop too? I have never in my life seen a "second job" as disprganized and completely out of whack as this one. And your WIFE has plenty of issues with the scheduling so she cannot go either so maybe you might want to think before you make accusations of temper tantrums. I am honestly glad I don't belong in this because if you really want to look at it all your little group is is a social club filled with nothing but drama and jealousies over this person or that one being with this person or that one. So maybe you want to take a look at what you are saying and just drop it. There was no scene made and the only scene that would have been made would have been by you. Also if you really want we can post all of the text messages between you and Daniel and let everyone decide on EXACTLY how it looked.

[BlackMagicRose]

Is it just me or are WE the ones getting blackballed. I mean get real. We have practiced for years and years compared to majority of the people in that little "group". I guess our priorities didn't weigh into anything. We have priorities to work, school, kids and family. THAT is where our priorities lay and if this is something that takes away from that and the unreliability and workability then FUCK THEM!!!