Tri State Paranormal 13

We were invited to investigate Range school (actually near Range cabin, noticing a pattern?) by the principal and a teacher whom I graduated Milligan college M.ed with (Wendy), who teaches at the school. The school has an interesting and gruesome history. Near the original setting of the school there was a murder/suicide between lovers that appeared in the paper. I have copies of the news article and will try to scan them in here. One thing that struck me odd about the article is that in it, there are pictures of the dead couple. I don't mean like pictures of them being happy, I mean pictures of their dead bodies found as they lay. The school has since been moved closer to the main road that goes through Watauga, Tn. The school has some other strange history as well as some strange pictures of former people that attended the school. The school was named after the people who owned Range cabin (which we investigated). The principal, Gil, Wendy, some other people that came with them, and myself all took turns using different equipment in different rooms of the school throughout the night. The other people with us all claimed all kinds of differing experiences. From the intercom going off at random times during the night, to voices, sounds, things moving, lights flashing, a sort of explosion of light, and the almighty zone of fear that John Keel mentioned in his book “The Mothman Prophecies.” The school is not large, but turned out to be a real fun night. Meeting new people, sharing stories, and investigating. It seems that the principal thinks that the activity is more active when school is in, which makes sense if ghost are being that have to have energy to manifest. Nothing major happened throughout the night other then a door kinda slamming in Gil's face when no one was on the other side. That happened in the computer room, and to Gil and I this room seemed to have a sort of negative energy unlike the other rooms in the school. I was told by the principal, that she had seen a person on the outside of the door one night and thought someone was really out there, but upon further investigation, nothing. We plan on doing a follow up investigation very soon so be prepared for an update soon.

Sept 1, 2012

Return trip to Range. Having Jody in from Ky we had to do an investigation. Jimmy Rouse and Gil Hale joined us yet again. Wendy, the principal Pamela Espinoza and a couple others joined us also. We were to meet them at the school at 9. Gil, Jimmy, Jody, and I got there at 8 to look around outside and try to find the site of the original and second school. We only knew that the sights were up past the field behind the school. So off we went, jumping a barbed wire fence and I'm sure trespassing, by the way don't do stuff like that. Always have permission from the land owner. Jody and I reached the top of the field where some over growth was growing. Jody being the experienced outdoors-man, was about 10 ft in front of me. He made a quick turn toward me and waved me to start heading back. I obliged and he said that when he got to the top a large animal made a sound to let us know it was there. I trust Jody. So I was out of there, moving down the field toward the fence quickly and looking back often. Jumped the fence, and decided to drive around Turkey Town to try to find anything of importance. Trying to put together the Range cabin and the school was difficult. Why would both places close together both have hauntings? My only guess is the river. Spirits are said to not to be able to cross water, so maybe this is why this area is such a hotbed for the paranormal. Having heard more stories of other spirits residing in the school (cheerleaders, former librarian) we decided to try to start in the gym, library area. So Wendy unlocked the door for us, and we barely made it in before a loud bang startled Wendy. I didn't hear it but quickly made my way to the place she said the sound came from. Nothing. So onto the gym/library area. As soon as I entered the library cold chills took over my body. Every time I made my way back, goose bumps all over my arms. I decided to show Jody around the school, only to find a strange occurrence in the classrooms. Every single room in which there was electronic equipment, something was on. A Promethean board, computers, projectors, etc. This was on a long weekend from school. Being a teacher I am aware that all of the electronic equipment is generally turned off. Accidents do happen and forgetfulness also, but to have every teacher in the building forget to turn something off seems strange, especially a projector being on. The bulbs are very expensive and every teacher I know cuts them off at the end of the day and especially on the weekends. We decided to split up the girls, Gil and Jimmy, and Jody and I. The girls took to the gym, Gil and Jimmy to the computer room, and Jody and I to Wendy's class room. While Jody and I experienced nothing unusual, the same can not be said for he other groups. The girls did some evp work that turned out impressive, more on that in a few. Gil and Jimmy used the spirit box and digital recorder and they too got some good results. Gil and Jimmy started on something I hadn't done in my last trip there. They started using the names of the people that were in the murder/suicide. Ada Thompson and Frank Kidwell. The article said Ada was shot three times and then Frank laid down beside her and shot himself twice in the chest. Seem strange to anyone else? Jimmy used the names and got some responses via the spirit box and they stated that the aura in the room changed. Jimmy while conducting his investigation in the computer room started to ask if Frank was the one that killed Ada or had they both been murdered? While no distinct answers you could tell something weird was coming out of the spirit box. We meet back up. Wendy and the girls headed to her room to listen to their recording, while the boys went to the library. cold chill when we entered and then nothing. No feelings of anything. No EVP's, notta. we sit down at various parts of the room, I start to voice my frustrations. When suddenly and without a touch the computer in the library turned on. The excitement starts to build. I had cut off my digital recorder but wish I hadn't for what came next I don't think I will ever forget. I turned on the spirit box. I asked "Who is here with us?" The response was clear and came out much longer than that of the time it spends on any single radio frequency. The response was "Ada..." My mouth dropped I screamed at Jody "did you hear that?" "No" he responded. I asked the spirit to repeat what it said and once again a female voice came though and the word "Ada" came out of the spirit box. Then as soon as it was there it was gone. Nothing again, back to silence. This boosted everyone's moral. We knew who we were dealing with. We went to tell the girls after a long period of no activity. When we got there they were excited because they had most certainly captured a class A evp. They had told Wendy to turn her phone over, when a male voice clear as a real person in room full of girls said "don't do that" or something to that effect. If i can get the copy from Espinoza I will post it here asap. The rest of the night went by quickly and it was almost time for us to go when we headed to the computer room for one last attempt at communication. In the computer lab everything was off, including the air conditioner which didn't even have a light on the plug in which should have at least on since it was plugged up. I started trying to talk with Ada and Frank. I was using a digital recorder to record the session. When I was telling Ada that all we wanted to do was comfort her the air conditioner as well as the light on the outlet suddenly kicked on. The air conditioner was not on automatic and it appeared that it was not receiving any sort of power from the outlet. I got a feel of nausea and shortly after that was it. It was time to go. Upon listening to the recording at the first there is a definite female voice saying something or laughing or maybe a cry. I couldn't make it out but will try to put it up asap. We have decided to head back again on Nov 11. The anniversary of Ada and Frank's deaths...

Here are a couple of newspaper articles other than the one listed in the pictures above.  The pictures of the the bodies also appeared in the paper in 1901.   The star article is from 2009 and the tazwell is from an earlier date.