Things Go Bump in the Night at One Buford Bistro
By Tom Maicon at October 30, 2009 | 12:06 pm | Print
Buford – “I think we should setup base right here,” says Ed Laughlin, pointing to a small two-top near the front door of Aqua Terra Bistro (55 East Main St., Buford Tel: 770.271.3000), a popular Buford dining destination.
Laughlin, founder of a local group called Ghosts of Georgia Paranormal Investigations (GOGPI), is a real life ghost hunter. Think TAPS, minus the tattoos.
“Hey guys, come take a look at this,” Beth Peters, case investigator and sensitive, gleefully calls out to the rest of the group, while previewing a series of pics she took moments earlier with her digital camera.
“I’m usually not fond of orbs,” she explains, “But this one is pretty impressive.” Her eyes fixated on the camera’s display screen.
The investigation hasn’t officially begun, and she’s already captured a light-emitting orb hovering over the dining room.
This group is the real deal, arriving with infrared video cameras feeding into a high-powered DVR. They’re heavily armed with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos, including an impressive arsenal of audio recorders, and even electromagnetic detectors (EMF and K-II meters) to measure any renegade electromagnetic pulses that might be floating around the walk-in cooler, or elsewhere.
Having joined Laughlin on two other investigations in the past (with a different group), I was impressed with his professionalism. Three years ago, we investigated Hot Dog Heaven in Woodstock, after receiving numerous reports from the employees of buns flying off the shelf and kitchen equipment turning itself off.
In past years I’ve written these articles based on my experiences during the investigation. This time around, I thought it might be interesting to show you the findings of the investigation as provided by Ed Laughlin and Beth Peters.
Investigation Report:
September 26, 2009 GOGPI investigated claims of paranormal activity at Aqua Terra-Bistro in Buford, GA. Claims of activity included: Uneasy feelings by different people in the basement, glasses flying off the shelf hitting the floor at a distance away, tip money missing from a jar only to be discovered across the room stacked neatly at the top of the stairs, and unknown voices being heard.
Investigators & people present at investigation:
Investigators: Ed Laughlin, Beth Peters, Christine Riley, Corey McHargue
Investigator Trainees: Patrick Riley and Kari Kesley Investigator Guests from Atlanta Cuisine: Tom and Melanie Maicon.
Weather conditions: Moon phase- 1Q at 12:49 AM
Condition of Bistro: Currently in operation full time and in good condition for a building of its age, built circa 1870’s. All utilities were in good working order, the structure, including walls, roof, ceiling, and floors, were sturdy with very little floor squeak. Windows and outside doors were well sealed.
Equipment used by Investigators:
Cameras: One Rebel digital camera, Four IR Video Cameras connected to a J2000 DVR.
EMF Meters: Cell Sensor cellular phone/EMF detection meter, Electro Sensor EMF Meter, and K-II Meter.
Audio Recorders: Sony P210 digital voice recorder, Olympus D-10 digital voice Recorder, Olympus VN-4100PC.
Thermometers: Cen-Tech mini non-contact infrared digital thermometer, Omega HH68K ambient thermometer.
Before we began the investigation, Beth, Corey, and Christine did a sensitive walk through and base temperature/EMF readings at 11:00 am. No unusual readings were noted, however, some unidentified noises were heard, and a couple areas in the basement seemed to have peaked the interest of the sensitives. While Beth was standing in the serving area of the basement (an area of interest), the overhead light turned off for no reason. Corey had to reach up and move the light around to get it to come back on.
Investigation began at 11:40 am:
Team 1 – Beth, Ed, Kari & guests from Atlanta Cuisine
11:40 pm – Basement 1 – Average temp, EMF readings .0-.4
* Sensitive report – Benign feelings
11:46 pm – Storage Area off Basement 1 – All investigators heard a loud thud sound, and went to investigate. Average temps – EMF readings 2.0-3.0 (normal for kitchen/storage area with lots of electrical boxes) – Never found source of thud sound.
11:50 pm – In Freezer of Storage Area off Basement 1 – EMF 1.5
* Sensitive report – Benign feelings
11:56 pm – Ed heard a man’s voice in storage area – source not found
11:57 pm – Kari heard a growl/scraping sound coming back into Basement 1 area from the storage area. Ed heard the same sound, and was walking behind her. EMF readings still .0-.4 – Did not find source of sound. Recorded voice on audio recorder.
12:05 am – Storage Area – EVP Session 1
12:06 am – Beth heard running footsteps upstairs, like a kid running (verified, nobody was running upstairs)
12:10 am – Compressor from drink machine released while asking EVP questions (strange timing)
12:11 am – Cold breeze came from around water heater room and around Ed. Tom heard lots of whispering sounds around pipes and such at the same time.
12:12 am – Beth and Melanie heard clinking sound upstairs (sounded like 2 wine glasses clinked together) – went upstairs and verified nobody was moving around glass or was in the kitchen. The kitchen was above the team and while investigating to find cause of noise, we tried to reproduce it by tapping glasses together along with other utensils in the kitchen, unable to reproduce the sound.
12:13 am – End of EVP Session 1
* Sensitive Report – Benign feelings.
Prior to leaving the area we had the other team walk and run above us to try and reproduce the running sound heard, could not reproduce the sound.
12:31 am – Basement 1 – average temp and EMF readings. Conversational EVP captured. Session 2. Kari explains how she feels sadness/glooming during some parts of investigations like in Basement 1. Claims she had the same feeling when she investigated the second floor of a previous investigation at another location.
12:36 am – Tom and Melanie hear a clicking sound by the back wall door – Ed checked it out and feels it may be the vent. The A/C was running and an occasional ticking sound could be heard from the vent.
12:37 am – EMF spike all the way to red on the K2 while sitting on the table in the middle of the dining room during EVP session.
12:44 am – K2 started spiking and moving lights like crazy sitting on the table during EVP session. Base readings in the area registered .01-02 Miligause. The K2 seems to be responding to questions and communicating with the team.
12:45 am – Beth started asking questions. The unexplained would respond by moving the lights on the K2 to yes and no questions. Through a series of questions we have concluded that it is a man over 50 that was scared.
12:48 am – Ed asked yes and no questions as well, the K2 responded with lights to his questions, but stopped suddenly. End of EVP session
*Sensitive Report – Beth felt like we were communicating with a spirit.
1:05 am – Upstairs Bar Area, – started investigating again after small break.
K2 started going off again, and communicating with the lights to yes and no questions again. We stayed in one spot to let the spirit continue talking to us until it stopped. Average temps and EMF readings other than the spikes during communication.
*Sensitive Report – Beth felt like spirit is walking around with us and continuing to communicate with the team.
1:06 – 1:08 am – walked through 2nd dining area, and down to Basement 2.
1:11 am – K2 started communication again and was letting us know he was walking with us through yes and no answers we were getting. Average temps, and EMF .1-.3 when not spiking to red during communication.
1:13 am – Room in Basement 2 with stairs to nowhere EMF went to 1.0
1:19 am – Room in Basement with loading dock – Ed got a sick feeling, nauseated, and Tom hit cold spot. K2 started spiking again while they stood in one spot and Beth was holding K2. Also picked up EVP’s at the same time.
1:23 am – Ed asked the spirit that was moving the lights on the K2 to drop the temperature on his thermometer and it seemed to respond by dropping temp from 72.5 to 71.0 in almost 3 minutes standing in the same position and area of the room.
1:30 am – Basement 2 – heard footsteps upstairs, believe it to be one of the members of the other team that had checked on a noise that they heard while in Basement 1, – Begin EVP session 3
1:37 am – Basement 2 – end EVP session 3 – no communication on the K2 with the lights
1:45 am – 2nd Dining Room – Begin EVP 4
1:44 – 1:50 am – K2 started communicating again to yes and no questions while sitting at table, he says he is scared again. He responded that he was sitting next to Melanie. Melanie started asking questions and he responded to her with the K2 as well.
1:45 am – heard a loud pop in the kitchen area during EVP session
1:54 am – End of EVP 4
1:55 am – Tom saw something block the light on the wall in the 1st Dining room. We went to investigate sounds in kitchen and shadow Tom saw – no explanation found. EMF – 2-3 (normal for kitchen area with equipment)
1:58 am – Near the Kitchen area in 1st Dining room and bar area, K2 started going off at various times with lots of communication to yes and no questions, then stopped. Team 2 borrowed the K2 to take down to Basement 1. They had no communication with the K2 like Team 1 did. Melanie felt a cold chill while standing near the bar, temp and EMF readings were normal around her, the feeling then subsided.
2:20 am – Team 2 brought K2 back to us sitting at Bar area – K2 stared taking to us again, responding to yes and no questions very clearly.
*Sensitive Report – Beth feels a spirit joined us at the start of the investigation, liked our team, and stayed with us throughout the investigation.
2:30 am – End of Investigation
Investigation began at 11:41 am:
Team 2 – Christine, Corey, & Patrick
11:41 pm – Basement 2 – EMF .0-.1, temp 73
11:47 pm – Basement 2 – Christine asked, “can you make a noise?” A man made an audible answer “no” in a whisper.
11:50 pm – Basement 2 – Christine hears a “tink” noise
12:02 am – Private room upstairs from Basement 2 – EMF .0-.1, temp 69
12:10 am – 2nd Dining room – EMF .0-.1, temp 73
12:25 am – 1st Dining room – computer and DVR was unplugged, Team 2 plugged it back in. (someone may have kicked it leaving the bar earlier)
12:40 am – 2nd Dining Room – Team 2 reports hearing clicking sounds coming from private room/restroom area.
1:06 am – Started investigation again after small break – Basement 1
1:09 am – Basement 1 – Christine heard a man singing when the team was singing.
1:11 am – Mechanic room off from Basement 1 Storage Room – EMF .0-.1, temp 74
1:14 am – Basement 1 – Corey saw a round ball that made her heart jump. Heard enormous amounts of noise upstairs, team quickly went to investigate, discovered it was a giant icemaker.
1:22 am – Basement 1 – Patrick saw a white light in far right hand corner of the basement.
1:33 am – Basement 1 – Christine feels cold chill on right arm, wrapped around arm – temp change to 72 in room
1:41 am – Basement 1 – Patrick, Corey, Christine heard what sounded like a cough
1:43 am – Basement 1 – Corey saw a light at top of stairs. 5-10 min. prior, Christine saw a shadow cross the top of stairs. Corey and Patrick saw movement in far right corner of basement right after Christine saw shadow.
2:18 am – Team 2 left Basement 1
Findings:
We were asked to investigate claims of paranormal activity at Aqua Terra Bristo. While we were unable to debunk or confirm claims of the glasses flying off the shelf and objects disappearing and reappearing at a different location in the restaurant, the investigators had some personal experiences of their own that were unexplained.
Some of the personal experiences included, but not limited to the following, while in the basement areas there were sounds of some one running, chairs being moved, and conversations going on in the rooms above. Upon investigating the noises we found no one in those rooms. We also tried to recreate the noises, but were unsuccessful.
Two investigators felt unexplained cold spots and one got nauseated as he enter one of the rooms, the nausea feeling left when he exited the area.
Two investigators heard the clank of glasses but we were unable to find the source.
Audible disembodied voices were heard and recorded with our audio digital recorders.
Numerous EVP’s were recorded, some were in response to the investigators questions and others seem random. One team received responses to their questions via the K-II meter in three separate locations. The EMF reading in the same areas were within normal range. Nothing Paranormal showed up on our still pictures but all the video data has not been reviewed at this time. What has been reviewed has not yielded anything Paranormal.
With the stories of paranormal activity from several different people, the personal experiences of the investigators, and the EVP’s, along with the K-II activity, we feel that Aqua Terra Bristo is haunted. We also feel that there is nothing malicious at the location and that the activity includes both residual and intelligent activity.
We feel that follow up investigations are warranted to find out more answers to questions that were raised on this investigation.
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